Many exciting events this week: music, school, friendship, kitties , & guitar
Sunday, Apr 29 This morning’s visit to the kitties found them on the opposite side of the room away from their water, food, and play area. Also, found a large Vole in with them that apparently mama brought in. After 12:30, we had a visit from a friend who is taking the last two. She was quite pleased and had a tough time making a decision on one of the four males. We don’t know yet if she will decide to take one with white like the female or one with completely different coloration so that they are easily distinguished. I think the female is lighter orange, but with lots of white (feet, bib, tummy). She’s taking both the female and a brother. That’s nice that all the kitties will stay in our valley and have good homes. We can keep up with them as they grow. We are going to take those last two to deliver and will have chicken/rice dinner Thursday night with the family. Three males go to their new home, Thursday. Now we are concerned about trapping the mom. We doubt we will have a chance once the kitties are gone.
I’ve been working off and on all day on the thesis that is being defended this Friday afternoon. John told me I should not promise to be on any more committees. It is stressful and time-consuming, and I’m no longer paid for my time. We went out again and saw the kitties and they were all on the correct side of the straw bale barricade, with mom up top watching. Wow. I finally finished reading the thesis word for word, about my seventh draft to get to this final one.
Monday, Apr 30 Jeez. I’m running late because I have to shower and get out of here. We had a car not make the curve in front of our house and almost take out part of our fence, especially the timber & rock filled crib at the entrance to the driveway, and also in line with a utility pole and the mailbox. John took me all around and we viewed the two sets of tire tracks and tried to figure out what happened. We will never know. We wrote a letter to the editor for the local newspaper describing it, and the two curves on our road that have been the source of many accidents from both directions, in clear weather, as well as the expected ice in winter. Our neighbor and we are suggesting to Public Works that they make the signage better to alert people to the seriousness of rounding the curves at too high a speed, because of ending up in adjacent fields through fences and deep rocky ditches.
John was really the author on the letter, but we signed it as John F. and Nancy B. Hultquist, and their rules are for only one author. We didn’t realize this, and they must have just taken my name because it was sent from my email account.
Tuesday, May 1 Happy May Day! Shall we go dance around the pole? Actually, a visit to Yakima is in store for the (turned-out-to-be-full day). We left before 9:30 a.m. and didn’t return until a few minutes after 4:00. Ran in and threw the cobbler together to take to our friends’ turkey dinner tonight and to pick up John’s new/used 50-year old guitar. My report at the device check was excellent as was my Cardiologist’s visit. He took longer than ever with us today. He said my ejection fraction was better than ever (37%). It had gotten below 25%, and was still in the 25% range as recent as October 2011. Those measurements come from Echocardiograms. For a normal person the fraction is 55% or higher. Here is an explanation and the source of that percentage:
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/disorders/heartfailure/ejectionfraction.aspx
There is a line in there – “Your EF can go up and down, based on your heart condition and the therapies that have been prescribed.” And my unanswered question is what might have caused it to go up? I just figured it meant it was healing, but apparently, the heart muscle does not heal. Maybe there is strengthening throughout my cardiovascular system. In a few days we’ll get a printed report from the cardiologist and if that still leaves questions I’ll write his nurse (e-mail).
Wednesday, May 2 Wednesday, busy morning and whole day full of activities, but thankfully not tonight. Our neighbor fell and an old heavy TV set came down on his leg, so he called this morning and asked if we could feed the horses, which he had returned to feeding. John went over in the car, but had to come back for the truck, because there was no hay out by the corrals, and he had to load it from the barn. Then he took care of all the morning chores and started building a fence so he could let the horses out in our front “yard” and along the driveway where the fruit trees are (cherries mostly). He had to put up barricades in just a few places to keep them out of certain areas. Well, there is a gate at the end of the driveway, too. I left about 11:20 to go to the food bank Soup Kitchen, to provide music and eat lunch. It was rather salty (biscuits and gravy with sausage in the gravy) and scrambled eggs. In addition, they served chocolate pudding made with whole milk that I couldn’t eat. I grabbed some eggs and bread for our older neighbors. Then off to my exercise class, and then to acupuncture. It was a good time today with most of the work on my shoulders. Then home and to visit the kitties again. We haven’t eaten dinner yet, because I have been on the phone arranging for upcoming events for our music group.
Thursday, May 3 Today’s morning was full of crazy things about the house and barn, emailing, and worrying about the kitties, who were to go to their new homes tonight. John was working in the pasture and came back by to see one of the kitties almost 5 feet up on a board ready to flee the barn. Had there been one more day, we would likely have not kept them in without some additional chicken-coup type fencing. Like this:
http://en.espritcabane.com/img/handmade/chicken-wire-painting.jpg
I went to town to play music at Royal Vista. We had many conflicts with our players, and only ended up with 5 total. We started the first 20 minutes with 3 of us and the other two straggled in. I came home and don’t remember what I did, but we had to leave fairly soon, at 5:00 for dropping off the kitties at their new homes. We had to get them into carrying crates. Also set up a trap for the mom, but we failed to catch her. Three kitties we dropped off at the first lady’s house, and in return, her son gave us a dozen eggs, of different colors. The lady was not home from work yet. We left and drove across the valley with the other two. Up the hill from their house, we stopped and moved them from their crate to a box decorated with birthday paper John had made, with a towel in it, and a top made of the paper, to keep the kittens a secret for the 11-year-old girl whose birthday is in 10 days. They invited us for dinner and we took the kitties with us. John walked in and it was a TOTAL surprise to Jessica. Her mom had cleaned out her closet, and bought a little bed and food and water bowls. The kitties were shy at first and so the kids turned the box on its side leaving the towel in it, and put it beside the little bed. Soon the kitties left for their box. They also put a litter box at the entrance to the closet to somewhat close them in. Dinner was wonderful: Boneless chicken breasts baked in a great covering and sauce, rice, salad, bread, and pear pie for dessert.
Friday, May 4 A very, very long day. I started about 7:00 a.m. when John went to feed the neighbors horses and to check to see if we had caught the mama cat overnight. We hadn’t but she was still around the barn. He went back at 7:30, and she was still around, but not in the trap, so I called and cancelled the appointment for her spay. We postponed it until Monday morning, so we will feed her today and tomorrow, and hope to catch her Sunday night. Then I left about 8:20 for the Board of Trustees meeting at the University, where the retiring Geography Chair was being honored with an Emeritus Professor award for his 18 years of service. He is a year older than I am. Then I stopped off downtown to meet and greet some of the members of the CWURA (retirement association for the university). The first Friday of every month, they meet for coffee and whatever, at the Dakota Cafe. I just sat and visited about 20 minutes. Then off with John’s newly acquired guitar to visit my friend to get some advice about it. He looked it over and thought it would be perfect for John (especially because the strings were so close to the frets and he won’t have to press as hard to get a good tone). He tuned it and played a bit, and the D string (3rd lowest note), the smallest of the brass wrapped strings, broke. He looked to see if he had a replacement, but he didn’t. I am sure I have one and so I didn’t go by the music store to buy strings. On to the first Friday of the month potluck (free) at the Senior Center (aka the Adult Activity Center or AAC). They were fixing ham and scalloped potatoes for us, and I took some of John’s fancy Red Rome applesauce. People brought veggies and salads and desserts. It was quite a nice array of food. After eating, I went to two of the garage sales being held today but found nothing to buy. I was looking for a guitar case, for our new 50-year-old guitar because it hasn’t had one in its whole life. Then back to the AAC for exercise class. Only 11 of us there today. Rushed from there to school for the thesis defense of the gal whose thesis-editing has been raising my blood pressure for, lo these, many months. She did a nice job and she passed the defense. Then off to celebrate with her and a couple of committee members, and her dad (from Wisconsin), and a bunch of her graduate student friends from when she was here taking classes. Unlike our graduate school days, these folks have day jobs and the process drags on for years. She’s been working on this research for 6 years, because she has had a full time job for 5 of those years. The celebration was at The Tav, downtown. It is always noisy, but they are known for their excellent burgers and lots of other good food. I had a Texas burger (with fried onions, sautéed mushrooms, and BBQ sauce). I asked for it to be cut in half (so I could take home 1/2 to John). They brought me a nice sharp steak knife and I cut it myself. We had a nice visit (oh, they started out with 3 appetizers we all shared: battered deep fried green beans, battered deep fried mushrooms, and a large platter of Nachos with added Jalapenos. Finally, I got out and headed for home at 8:05. What a long day! However, a very nice one. Once home, John and I debriefed, and I spent a lot of time on the jobs list sending because of being tied up the past two days and nights. I had 12 job announcements to send out! A neat story happened at 8:30 this morning when I had to get a pass to drive on campus to the place behind the building where the meeting was being held. I was giving my information and name to the gal at the desk, and there was a guy there on the computer. He heard my name and said, “Oh, are you the lady that puts out the Jobs List ? He was on it and reading it right there as we spoke. What a small world. He is a graduating senior (Biology), and he has been on the list for over two years. When I was in the ICU, friend Caitlin jumped in and ran the jobs list and he came on board then. He has found several jobs to apply for, and was very grateful for my efforts. He was as happy to meet me, as I was to meet him.
Part of the debriefing from John was about the new homes for the kittens. We thought we had delivered 3 males to their new home together, but turns out a friend of the lady has a 79-year-old friend who just lost her cat, and wanted one of the 3. Turns out, she picked out two, so one little guy is alone. The other two (male and female) from the litter went to the new home together, where we had dinner Thursday night. A call from them was that they (now named Soda & Dakota – maybe) were doing fine.
Saturday, May 5 I was so tired I slept in and took awhile to get going. John has been clearing cans and bottles from the kitchen and already has done various other chores, fed our animals and the neighbors’. He soon will be going out to move the horses around to get to the grassy areas in our yard and around the back of the house between the outside of our fenced backyard and the brushy area close to the creek. Fire-fuel suppression – he calls it. Also, then he doesn’t have to mow. The past 2 or 3 days, he has been releasing them out front and up toward the road. I thought about going to garage sales today to look for a guitar case, but did not have the energy. Today I must tackle the counters and tabletops. I’ll finish this blog to get to John but he won’t have time to work on it until dark. He’s actually in before dark, but has been working outside in 38 mph winds and is resting till supper time (about 15 minutes away). I went out on the last run to the barn to feed mama cat, and to show the horses their new water tub. With John closing them out of the bottom pasture, he needed to give them access to water. Their normal winter trough with a heater is drained for the summer as it needs to be filled from the well. For the time being we are trickling creek/irrigation water into and out of a cut off plastic barrel. Tonight, I sent out 8 job announcement to the list, now up to 500 folks providing job leads and/or looking for a first or new job. That’s worth a WOW!
Hope your week was a good one.
Nancy and John
still on the Naneum Fan