Keeping track

Free admission to the CWU basketball game on the 22nd (apparently) also got me exposed to a ‘cold’ virus. I went to the grocery store following the game, so an alternative source is possible. It doesn’t matter. I’ll call the County Health folks on Monday and see if they know what is going around.
Sunday evening my throat was getting sore. Usual cold symptoms followed. I didn’t feel seriously sick at any time. However, because I didn’t want to cook meals, I reverted to a large can of sliced peaches. The lack of food and liquids seemed to produce low blood pressure. Having realized that and countering it, the week went by without problems.
I did skip the CWU scholarship luncheon on Friday.
Earlier in Feb we measured for and ordered modern windows for those not previously replaced. They were delivered Friday morning. I had a 10-minute notice – just enough to get shoes on and move the pickup out of the way.

First snow at the house was on Nov 16 but it didn’t last. Mid-December it snowed 3 inches and then more in the following week. This week should be the end of all the snow except the pile on the north side of the shed. It is 5 feet deep and very solid after sliding off the roof. Totally shaded, it will last until April. 13 miles north of me there are 40 inches of packed snow with about 16 inches of water-equivalent, about average.
February has been colder than average here, and up at 5,000 feet that snow hasn’t begun to melt. The local cattle ranches should have lots of pasture and water this spring.
The wine grapes are due to be pruned. A couple of folks worked on Friday. I’ll likely go over Tuesday. We average 4 days a week for six or seven weeks, at 3 hours each day. The number of pruners is 4 to 6 and, rarely, another visitor.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan

John

Plane fuselages on the way west to become Boeing airplanes. Cameron took the photo from the house in the middle of the vineyard.

I read that the holiday that started as Washington’s Birthday has never officially been changed to President’s Day. George was born on February 22nd and Abe Lincoln on Feb. 12th. What the calendar says is President’s Day and that’s how the week started. Not exactly exciting. It got better.

I’ve had a dental appointment scheduled for late March but someone dropped out and I got a call. That is the 2nd time. First one I couldn’t do. So, Wednesday morning I had a tooth ground down and a temporary cap put on. In a town 100 miles south a dentist is advertising a one-visit crown. Here I have to go back in 10 days. So far the temporary cap has stayed on and my jaw is almost back to feeling well.

Thursday evening the local Audubon group had two folks from CWU Biology present on animals in the forests of western Mexico. I know both of the folks and also know some of what they do. Many Audubon meetings use Zoom presentation and after sitting through several failures, I no longer go to those. So Dan is an expert on lizards and snakes and Kris specializes in other critters. She has been the biologist leading the studies of the animals that the I-90 critter crossings are meant to serve. Mostly they used color slides and a few video clips and Dan brought a large Boa Constrictor and a large lizard.

Saturday afternoon I went to a CWU basketball game. The Lady Wildcats’ game started at 4:00. They won. I left at the end, just as the men’s team can out. The Geography Department had tickets. They can get a bunch of tickets just for asking. Less than half the seats were occupied, so I guess it helps to build a crowd with free admission.
Back about 1990 one of my students was on the team and invited us to come watch. They lost that night to a much bigger and better team, Simon Fraser University of British Columbia. At the end of the game we went down to say hello and all the ladies were taller than my then 6 feet. Two athletic events since 1989 isn’t a record.
When I started in towards town there was a mist. As I parked it was sprinkling and it has been doing so since then. I went to the grocery store afterwards, and drove home in the rain.

This was the beginning of a so-called atmospheric river that will likely peak on Monday. There will be some flooding in the Puget Sound region but not here. Overnight Tuesday the atmosphere will clear and Wednesday will be partly sunny. Then our daytime temperatures will go into the low 50s.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

Last week I mentioned the yellow line on the computer monitor. It pops up now and then but goes away. Yesterday the small screen on the telephone answering machine went blank. The image on the upper right should be on the blank rectangle of the machine. The system still appears to work. I’ve called with my iPhone and it answered.
A couple of years ago I dropped and broke one of the cordless receivers. I ordered one but it failed to work. I sent it back. Then wondered if it’s base and charger went bad. I sent it back but didn’t bother to ask for a replacement and threw the base away. It could have been the base. The point is, I’m short one of the remote handsets.
I’ve ordered a new system with 5 handsets.
I’ll have to go through the existing stored numbers and key them into the new. This isn’t the tragedy that it sounds. A couple of years ago the telephone folks started requiring a ‘1’ in front of the numbers. That meant keying in all the numbers. I no longer had a manual to know if there might be a simple one-step process. 90% of the people stored there were ones I never would call, places I never called, or dead people. You have likely guessed that Nancy keyed this stuff in over several years. So in a couple of days I will start with a new machine that will have a much more limited and useful caller list.
Interestingly, the new system doesn’t have a screen like the blank one. It really didn’t serve much of a purpose.

Also, mentioned last week was that I carried all the 2024 tax forms into town. They are now done and I just need to go in and pick up all the papers – what I took in and what has been produced.
The office has started doing things electronically and I have created a digital signature. Before, I would have had to make a trip in just to sign my name. This year I don’t. It looks like a Segoe Script font. A refund will go to my bank in an electronic transfer, maybe by March 10th.

I got a Valentine card! It came from Jocelyn (Jos) Akins of the Cascades Carnivore Project. Other than student scholarships at CWU, this is one of my other minor donation destinations. Part of the text is in the blue box. By 6 weeks they have begun turning brown. By half grown, they are dark brown with some white remaining that varies from one individual to the next.

Baby Wolverines Start Out Cute

Weatherwise, western Washington has transitioned from winter to wet. Here we still have a week of winter. Our transition will begin next Friday with a week from Monday (thus, the 24th) feeling like a new season is beginning. In parts of the world March 1st is considered the beginning of Spring. Forecasts are about to start for the DC Cherry Blossoms. Stay tuned.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John H.

The main accomplishment this week was to carry my 2024 tax papers to Jessica at the CPA office. Nancy had always done “the taxes”, but her illness caused a major delay. Left with a mess I did not understand, I got help. I continue because now I don’t have to do anything but put a dozen pieces of paper in a folder and take them into EBRG. In a few days, I’ll sign off and they get filed electronically. Then in three weeks a refund appears in the bank account.

Under the heading “There is always something”:
I turned on the computer this morning and have a yellow vertical line on one of the 2 identical monitors. These were introduced by ACER in 2012 but I think I got them about 2016/18.
The screen is about 17 inches wide and the line is 2.75 inches in on the left side. While this is a distraction, I don’t have to worry about it. Even if I “snag” part of an image with the yellow line on it, the line doesn’t appear in the copy. The copy is coming from the internal file, not the surface of the screen. So – I will wait and see if something else happens. Update: As I finish writing, the yellow line is gone. Go Figure.

Contractor Walter came by with the main topic being replacing 8 windows from the original 1980s build. The estimate for this is about $5,000.

The R-value of 1980s double pane windows is about 2+. New ones with Argon gas between panes and a Low-Emissivity {Low-E} coating might be three times better at stopping heat and cold transfer through the window. I’ll have to research this a bit more. New windows have to be made to fit the dimensions of the original construction, so they have to be ordered, with a delivery time of about 3-weeks. Maybe in 3 weeks the temperature will be better for the installation.

Here is the coming week’s forecast:

Beginning Thursday a weather change is supposed to happen so that we go from no clouds Tuesday to 90% clouds on Friday. The clouds stop heat radiation and cooling at the surface.
There is a major cold air mass in Canada but it appears to be heading into the USA’s mid-to-east regions. Washington State should start to warm in late February. Yea!

My area has gotten only light snow in the past 6 weeks but what we got in December is still here. It has gone through several softenings and re-freezing. So it has slumped to about 6 inches thick and has become hard enough to walk on.
Seeds for the birds and wood for the stove are stored in quantity, so all is good.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John H.

February is commonly pronounced as “FEB-yoo-air-ee,” while the traditional pronunciation is “FEB-roo-air-ee.” Both pronunciations are considered correct – so says my helpful DudkDuckGo Assist. The Cambridge dictionary sticks with the “roo”.

My National Weather Service office claims the high today will be 34; it is now 42°F. We did get the high wind during the night. Now gone. Western Washington and the mountains were to get snow. Reports are less than anticipated.
During the coming week they say we will have three mornings of ~10 degrees. I’m tired of the cold. Since the 17th (large red arrow) until Friday morning, my temperature has been below the average – in the blue rather than the green. January temperature at the EBRG airport, 2025. The thin read line on the right side points to Friday morning.

If I look at the record lows – bottom line of blue squares – I should not be complaining.

Goings on for the week didn’t amount to much.
On Thursday I talked with my doctor (Chelsea is a Physicians Assistant) about an odd feeling/sensation on the right side of my head. This is a very nebulous feeling, hard to describe, and may just be tight muscles along my neck – or it may be something more serous.
I have a”Wellness” visit scheduled for March 28th. If the feeling is still there at that time, or changes between now and then, there might be a magnetic resonance image (MRI brain scan) in my future.

Friday a scholarship luncheon that was postponed from last week was poorly attended. Expecting 10 or 12, we had four. One of those was the lady that prepared the meal, and another was the mother of the geography secretary. She does come regularly. Friday was the last day for Monica (geog. Sec). She officially retired at the end of December, but with the Winter Quarter starting, she stayed an extra month.
Many retirees are not being replaced; staff and faculty. Anyone trying to contact a department will, we think, find a sign directing them down the hall until they find someone in an office. If there is something else in the works, Monica hasn’t been told. [She and I are to host the scholarship luncheon in March.] I intend to call the office number Monday and see what happens.
The retrenchment at the State’s schools is because of a drop in enrollment that followed the Covid related closures. Some enrollment is expected to increase over the next couple of years, but 10 years out there is a broad decline in college-entry age folks. This is beginning to show up in the small classes in elementary schools, and possible closures of some of those. Idaho is seeing a similar situation at the elementary level. I think the new vice president has acknowledged this nationally with the statement that the US needs more kids. Watch for news.

I need to put seeds out for the quail and the small song birds.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John H.

This was a rather boring week. The one activity that was scheduled for Friday Noon got canceled – – moved to next Friday.

The weather has been the same every day – lows in the small double digits and highs in the mid-30s. By mid-afternoon the snow – since early December – gets soft and a tiny bit of melting happens. Each day is a repeat. The mountains remain snow covered even though not much new has fallen. This isn’t expected to change for the next week. It is supposed to get wet in the California region where the fires have been. Look for news of mud.
A nephew and family lives in the Lake Erie snow belt. They have had about 5 feet of snow this season. Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes and the first to freeze. After a slow start, the surface is now a little over 80% iced over. This decreases the water supply to the air moving over the lake and thus the snow. Another few days and the 2024/2025 Lake Erie snow belt will be history. Lake Ontario has a deep spot in the eastern section and rarely gets completely frozen on the surface. Ontario is only 12% ice covered. The area south of Watertown, called the Tug Hill Plateau, is notable for its heavy winter snowfall, with more expected Sunday.
Use “Tug Hill Plateau” in a Google Earth search to view the area. An images search will bring up many interesting photos.

My night sky: Several planets are visible, but without going outside I see only one. It is in the southwest sky, about to disappear behind trees and the Cascade Mountains in the direction of Mt. Rainier.

The news is full of the things the Trump administration is doing. There are no immediate effects here in rural central Washington. The stock market has been generally up for the beginning of January. Better than the weather.
I found one image on the internet that was amusing:

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

Weather related;
Naneum Fan: Tonight** Mostly clear, with a low around 8. Wind chill values as low as zero. North wind around 7 mph.
** Meaning 8 AM Monday
Washington D.C. will be 23° with 30 mph winds at Noonish when the inauguration takes place.
A small piece of tooth on an old filling broke off. I hope my dentist hasn’t gone to Arizona for January.
Thursday Phyllis and Cameron picked me up in Kittitas and we went to Toppenish, 50 miles south of me. The purpose was to visit the Yakama Nation Cultural Center. The tall building is a large reconstruction of a winter lodge. It is used for many functions, but nothing was happening, so we skipped it. We went to the museum.

There are many displays explaining the natural surroundings and how the ancestors used and interpreted their environment. The right side image below has Mt. Adams in the background. It is on the western edge of the Nation, 55 miles from the Cultural Center. Mt. Adams has a prominent role in their history and cultural.
Any travelers through Washington State should consider a visit. There is a small fee.

I brought enough firewood into the house to last for two days. There is only one period of single digit temperature. Of course, the National Weather isn’t always accurate.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan

John H

Longer daylight is becoming noticeable, or would be if the fog would go away. That is expected Saturday through Monday. I’m getting 8 hours 45 minutes. This is 14 minutes, 34 seconds longer than the December solstice (Dec 21, 2024). For the dates near the solstice there is almost no change. Now we are gaining over 1 ½ minutes each day.
The cold air in Canada is quite far away – in Manitoba and heading over Hudson Bay. At 8 PM Friday it is still 38°F here at the house. A 14 day forecast has us remaining somewhat the same. It has been hovering below 40 since October. Seems to be compensation for the very cold we had in December 2023. Suits me.

Thursday morning an icy fog rolled across the Naneum Fan. My covered ramp had ice half way up, about 12 feet. The roads were a bit tricky. I had to go to the winery and left at about 10 minutes to 8:00. The turn 2.5 miles south had the back end of the truck sliding some. 1.5 miles east at the next turn I didn’t notice an issue and after that the roads were good, except for a 60mph fog going over Ryegrass Summit – about 2,500 feet elevation.
There were no road accidents on my travels, but there seems to be a number of head-on collisions in the State. In the latest, a small (older) pickup hit a large (modern) one. A photo shows a deployed air bag in the new vehicle with a responder at the driver’s side at an open door. The driver’s side of the other truck is crushed beyond recognition. Air bags became standard in 1998 and this little truck looks like a late 1970s model.

On another highway (SR #18) there was a 6 car pileup: “A car on its roof was pushed up onto the hood of the car behind it, and the latter car was partially under an SUV behind it. The back end of the SUV was on top of the car behind it.” This road is one of the most dangerous in the State.

Back to the winery: We bottled 80 cases of a mix-red called Trinidad Red. The name comes from the now gone railroad stop named after a town in Colorado, and land scam promoted on the site where the vines and winery now are. Sites on the web claim Trinidad is a ghost town but there were only drawings used on the east coast to promote sales. There never was a town.

Pictures are being posted: Comet ATLAS (C/2024 G3) is falling toward the sun for a (possibly fatal) close encounter on Jan. 13th. The “2024 G3” is important when searching. So far it is just a speck.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

My birthday . . .

In the upper left of the above image, note “Happy 81st. I intended to stay inside at home on my birthday. Loud noises prompted me to step outside. A fireworks display awaited me. Someone in the neighborhood must have orchestrated this. How they managed the “Happy 81st I have no idea.
The actual colors are from the chemicals, some shown below:

This week, nothing much happened here this last of ’24 and beginning of 2025. Off and on it snows and when it stops there is fog. Sunday or Monday may be clear and above freezing by Noon. A run to town is in order.
Our air is very much coming from the Pacific. It is flowing on to land down where Oregon and California meet. By the time it makes the 400 mile journey to here the temperature drops from 55 to 35 degrees; at night a little less.
The cold air in the mid-part of the USA is totally missing west of the continental divide. I use a web site named Ventusky to see temperatures and snow.
By next Thursday morning the temperature in Iowa is expected to be about 8°F. The cold will continue moving south and east. Clarion PA – – my hometown – – should get down to about 13. I’ll check those numbers next weekend. Many years ago – – the winter of 1968 (or ’67) – – I was in Iowa City and the temperature went to 30 below. Ouch!

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

Christmas morning on the Naneum Fan

Early in the fall I was with folks interested in seeing the Northern Lights. On one occasion they drove 30 miles to look for a display over a lake. Pictures on their iPhones showed faint blue and green streaks. The viewers expressed that the phone videos were more colorful than their unaided eyesight views. We tried it later, and sure enough, the phone video always looked more impressive.
I think my sunrise photos suffer from the same technicality. The colors are intense – almost like there was a wildfire on the horizon. My perspective was not quite so intense. I ought to run the image through a filter to make it more realistic – less flashy.
I wonder if there is and “app” for that?

Phyllis and Cameron had me for Christmas (lunch time). There was some snow on the ground but about one o’clock snow began. This is a place that only get 9 inches of precipitation per year and this is the time of year for it. The heavy snow lasted for 2 hours. Very pretty and impressive. When I got home at dusk – expecting sever inches – there was none.
30 miles NW of me the area near Roslyn, where the TV series Northern Exposure was ‘filmed’, they got a foot or more.

Other than keeping the fire going in the wood stove and not winning the big Mega Millions lottery (I didn’t have a ticket), the week was uneventful.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John