Category: Post Visit

One of my outdoor temperature sensors went to 32.5° Friday morning. I didn’t check the other, but they have been nearly the same until afternoon when their locations show a slight difference. The airport reported 39°.

Thursday my truck was fitted with its new Leer canopy. I’m shopping for a large vinyl decal (horses ?) for the tailgate and maybe smaller images for the side windows of the canopy. Alternatively, maybe a nice mountain panorama.

Todd worked on the electric this week. The south side power is back and the front room has ceiling lights. There is outside wiring and lights to do, but the temperature morning and evening is now too cold to make much use of the deck, but next summer it will be a nice place to sit and contemplate the cosmos.

Jesse and Willy finished the siding and framing, and, on Thursday caulked all the edges and abutments of the planks. Friday they covered all the windows and such with plastic. Walter came Saturday morning and sprayed primer and then blue paint. As that dried, he painted all the finishing “smart board” around windows, doors, and corners. All this framing is now bright white, while the siding is a blue-gray.
Interestingly, the new blue seems to be blue-er than that painted last year. If the new blue doesn’t cure to match the old-blue, then there is another 24 feet of wall to paint. The five of us here today noticed this. Walter’s wife came out to visit. She had painted the original, and noticed the difference without getting out of her fancy red Outback.
The other two were Kathy and Francisco from west of the Cascade Crest.
Getting here (for them) was delayed because of Highway 18. Why this wasn’t part of the Interstate System many years ago is a mystery. Use Google Earth, or similar, and search for WA-18. They brought the large gray trailer and we filled it with hay, plus more hay and old straw in the bed of the truck. There were a few other things loaded, and we visited over lunch.
Their return trip was easier, and it is more downhill, being 2,000 feet lower. Snoqualmie Pass is about 1,000 feet higher than here at the house. This side, only three small sections to the Pass are steep. the rest is very gradual.

Back on July 28th I found a dead deer (large, adult, male) in the pasture beside the hay shed. I moved it out of the way, and under trees. Today we walked over and found the remains – a few of the larger bones were there, and a faint lingering aroma. At the time of death, the antlers were still “in velvet”. Today they were nowhere to be seen.

I have filled the trench in the front with small rounded basalt rocks. This is the sump for water coming off the front of the house; or rather half of the house. The other part will drain into the area where the walnut trees are. This draining sort of works now, so I haven’t done anything there this year.

The rocks for the sump have mostly come from a planned flower and plant space just east of the house. There are two fir trees there, and I’ve lowered the base level around them by 18 inches. Dirt is going back in, along with pine kitty litter and other organic material. One landscape project feeds into another.

I expect the outside of the house to be essentially finished early next week. The inside work, likely, will wait for further deterioration of the weather.

I’ve contracted for a sundial that will be placed about 20 feet to the south of the new deck. It will be placed on a nearly white granite stone piller (18 inches square), itself about 3 feet high. In the image here the side-to-side dimension will be about 3 feet, and made of iron. [Disregard the green disk.] More at another time. This type is called an Equatorial Ring Dial. The numbered part is aligned with Earth’s Equator.

From the Naneum Fan
John

Nancy would have been 78 on September 1st. Spare her a fond moment.

Monday, shortly after Noon, I had a sneezing episode. I don’t recall doing anything that would have caused this, such as eating or inhaling something. It is dry and there is dust, and smoke occasionally, but I couldn’t make a connection.
Phyllis was planning to come Tuesday about 10:30 so in the interest of extreme caution – ’cause I might have the Δ covid virus – we changed the timing to Friday.
The sneezing went away after a few hours, but sniffles lasted until Tuesday afternoon. That’s it – end of story.
I stayed home, and Phyllis and Cameron came on Friday. I had pulled about 2 dozen boxes – packed many years ago – from the big shed. Phyllis opened those and called me to look at some of the stuff. For example, there were several sets of drinking glasses. A set from Atlanta had designs from there, such as Stone Mountain. The box indicated it was from our wedding day, but not that it was a wedding gift. No clue. There was a large old suitcase with drawings from a 3-to-5 year old Nancy. Phyllis offered to look through the collection to see if there was a Rembrandt or an authentic version of “The Scream” by Edvard Munch. Maybe a $5 bill. Cameron and I loaded things in his pickup — filing cabinets and furniture.

During the week I worked on rocks, dirt, wood-chopping, watering plants, and wood pallet disassembly (fire wood also). Many pallets came from CWU surplus – 65 or 70 at 50¢ each. Some are only good for kindling. Some composite ones are trash, but one bids on a “lot” and you have to take the entire stack.

Our local fire (Schneider Springs) produces smoke and slowly expands but not toward occupied land. The early part of the week was clear here. Friday and Saturday – smoke.

Unfortunately, for EBRG and the County this is Fair and Rodeo time with multiple outdoor entertainments, displays and booths. Scheduled activities end Monday night. Take down and clean up will be Tuesday. The smoke and haze are supposed to last the entire time.

Long time friends live in South Lake Tahoe, CA. A large fire started to their southwest and rapidly expanded. It was threatening the town but now appears to have passed by – with luck and lots of hard work by fire fighters with 523 fire engines, 84 water tenders, 27 helicopters, 62 hand crews and 95 dozers.
The image below shows the closeness to the town of the fire.

The Airport is on the lower right. The small white lines are residential streets. The green area has had the fire go through from right to left and is still hot. The brown area is very active burn and the bright red line on the lower left is active advance. Near the center of the image, the light brown (odd shape) blob is the landfill (aka dump). From the small blue star to the fire perimeter is about 0.8 miles. Several bulldozer lines were carved along the hillside. One is just a quarter-mile [440 yards] south of the house of friends. They have been gone for a week. Yikes. Home soon, I hope.

Sending good thoughts.
From the Naneum Fan
John

Washington State has a mail-out & return voting system. There are a couple of ways to return the ballot (or get one). Yesterday both the information pamphlet and the ballot arrived. For most elections the information arrives a week before the ballot.
Living on the Naneum Fan means I don’t get to vote for the city of Ellensburg’s offices.

So for this primary I get to vote for just a single office. At least I don’t have to drive and stand in a line to do this. I’ll drop my vote into a box in front of the County Courthouse next week.
Why do I mention this?
Other places in the USA seem not to have mastered voting. Washingtonians read and watch the news and wonder what the …. are those people doing?
There is coordination between the State and Federal agencies to keep the roll of voters current. For example, if someone goes to another state and asks the Post Office to forward mail, then the PO notifies the State and there is a check to see if this is a temporary move (say snow-birding in Arizona) or a permanent exodus.
Only one info pamphlet and one ballot arrived this year. Deaths are reported to Secretary of State Kim Wyman, who scratched Nancy’s name from the roll. See the 4th paragraph here:
https://www.sos.wa.gov/office/kim-wyman.aspx

The birds go for cherries as soon as they turn red. The yellow/red ones are not taken as soon, and then mostly the ones exposed. Those hanging under leaves are often left. I could get about 15 pounds, but so far have only picked 2 pounds. I just cut branches off and save the best fruit. I also cut small branches from all the cherry trees. The pie cherry tree has an abundance. There is also one apple tree. The deer eat all I cut – – fruit and leaves.
They then bed down for rest and naps.
Thursday morning I cut a pickup load of brush from behind the house and shed. This I took over and put in with the goats owned by one of the workers for the remodel. A short trip of about a mile.

Left photo is through a bedroom window. Right photo is from the newly converted room from the garage. The house has an ‘L’ Shape.

Early morning and near sunset I have been finishing the demolishing of the camper, plus other cleanup, getting ready for a dumpster. A 20 cubic yard one is on order for next Friday. And I keep watering trees and plants of various sorts.

None of this is very exciting.

From the Naneum Fan
John

I put The Flag out at the end of driveway.
At 9:10 I can still see, but it is time to bring it down. At the time the declaration was made public there was not a “United States”. That didn’t come for many years.
It took until June 21, 1788 for the finalizing of the effort. No one much cares so July 4th, 1776 it is.

I began early with a hair cut on Saturday morning. This is the first time in about 53 years I sat in an actual barber chair in a commercial place. Yesterday I went by a recommended place – the parking places (about 10) were full. This morning I stopped by and was 8th in line with their 4 or 5 chairs full. I was turned off by that and the ambiance (none). There was no reservation allowed – just wait.
Two blocks away is The Barber Chop, with 3 chairs, only two in use.
They have a web-based reservation, so I got signed up for a chair in ½ hour. That allowed me to tackle two errands, and I got back with 5 minutes to spare.
My barber, Arielle (Ari), had to deal with a mass of overgrown hair. We talked this through as she worked. My hair resembled a combination of Albert Einstein’s and Bernie Sanders’, so it was time. She earned her pay and a tip, and we were both pleased with the result. I promised I’d be back before it got long again.

The license plates for the truck arrived today, with a listing of all the fees (costs) totaling $189.00.

But wait, there’s more.
It appears the seller has to contact the State. The plates and title get mailed back. Then the plates and title are re-mailed to me at a cost of $4.80. Next year cost should be a lot less as there are first time items listed.

From the Naneum Fan
John

Monday brought a 30 cubic yard dumpster to my yard.
Tuesday brought help.
I lost track of all that was going on. Tuesday night I wrote the following and sent the message to the folks that were here:
– – – – –
We’re gonna need a bigger dumpster

Nearing 11:00 o’clock and I am about to cash my chips and head for bed.

My computer acts like there is a parasitic Leprechaun stealing cycles when I type or use the mouse. Useful work is difficult. Then, for awhile all is well. Stuff happens.

Anyway — WOW!
I am stunned by the amount of work that was done today. The dumpster is almost full – 30 cubic yards – despite playing with Minnow, fixing an old stock trailer, trips to EBRG (did you notice nearly everyone was mask-less?), good food, fine wine, and great company. And before y’all arrived electrician Todd spent about 3 hours in the living room cutting holes in the ceiling, installing light canisters, and then cleaning up most of his mess (a fine white dust).
Had I managed to get the old camper totally demolished the dumpster could have been filled with the remaining debris from that ancient structure.
Did I mention I ended up with extra food and 2 cast iron pans?
Within an hour of folks leaving the two inside/outside cats showed up. They must have been watching, and waiting.

Know that I am indebted to each of you.
Sincerely
John
– – – – – –

Note the trips (s) to EBRG. The old stock trailer was jacked up and the wheels removed. The Les Schwab Center replaced the tires, and then the activity was reversed. Meanwhile, others of us went to the Department of Licensing (DOL) and finalized the truck and car sales. The young members of the Dieguez family continued carting stuff to the dumpster, and Cameron loaded and covered a pickup load for transitioning stuff to new homes in Grant County.
I started to dismantle an old camper for a pickup bed. I soon found one does not dismantle such things. Rather they need to be demolished. I hope to finish this, and get the remains in the dumpster by Sunday evening.
I worked on various outside chores about 2 hours this morning, until Phyllis and Cameron came for a second load. When they left about 10:00, I had had enough of the wind and moved inside. Gusts of over 40 mph makes being outside unpleasant.
Before dark, I went back out for an hour and busted up more of the camper.
Wednesday was mostly an inside day, but Thursday I did the weekly run to town – 6 stops, including at the Ford dealer to show my “new” truck to my contact there. He reset the time – Alaska to WA – and showed me a few other things. While there I scheduled an oil change & service.
I’d promised one of the remodel crew that he could buy the old Chevy truck. He has a birthday this week and his significant other agreed to pay for it. {I didn’t ask.} They came late Friday afternoon, and now the truck is gone. I still have to go with him next week and sign papers at the DOL.
He has to pay sales tax, and we have to report the mileage on the date of sale. And I sign over all my rights to the vehicle.
The unused garden has been growing nasty weeds, so I attacked those. I sprayed a week ago, so about half were already dead. Nearer the house I’m slowly working on a ditch and dry-well. Now this is simply digging rocks and dirt out to make a hollow volume where water can drain. Eventually it will be covered with a small-rock landscape, somewhat like that shown here.
I change jobs frequently because I’ve learned long effort using the same muscles is not friendly for old muscles and bones.

From the Naneum Fan
John

This has been a busy but not an exciting week. I had to take extra sets of keys to the truck dealer in Union Gap. Round trip 100 miles. And from there I retrieved the cargo-cover for the Crosstrek. It was in the Forester, along with the one that was supposed to be there.
The local lumber and tool place had a Milwaukee Day. That’s a tool company. I bought a combo kit with 2 battery powered tools – a drill and an impact driver (bursts of power when it feels resistance). I need to dismantle an old pickup camper. Why?
I have a 30 cu. yd. dumpster arriving Monday, and help coming Tuesday. The camper (not used since about 2001) has hundreds of fasteners (mostly screws with various heads). Snow, rain, and time have made a mess of it.
The door, windows, attachments, inside panels, heater, icebox – all need removed. In reverse mode, the impact driver is the right tool and there is a kit with 32 different heads. So, started today. Not finished.
The remodel of the south wall of the living room started. It will soon have a French door (and more) opening on a covered deck. The siding has been removed and the rest started, but there is a bit of electrical work needed before more is done. Part of the electrical things got done Friday, to be finished Monday.
I signed a Power of Attorney for the CPA so he can contact the IRS as my agent and get the information he needs to complete tax filings. I did a little landscaping (rock and dirt moving) – mostly because I need the physical activity. I ordered a Leer canopy for the truck. The company has a glass supply problem, so I won’t get the canopy until September.
The right-side image is a close look-alike. That truck has back seats and a shorter bed.
I took Almond beverage, Fisherman’s Friends throat lozenges, eye drops and a few other things to the Kittitas food pantry. These things were all purchased just before Nancy’s decline. Now gone. So 1 completion.

I haven’t stopped looking to see where the horses are. After 11 years of expecting a visual fix each morning, or just coming in the driveway, the habit is still there.

There is a storm in the Pacific, off of Oregon and Washington. It is coming ashore late Saturday evening – Sunday morning.

From the Naneum Fan
John

IMPORTANT: Get your system backed up, and do it on a frequent and regular basis.
There are many dozens of files, tips, addresses, phone numbers, and more now gone.

Since last Friday (see previous post- Stuff Happens) I have had to get a new computer and jump through hoops to get it functioning properly at home. Having accomplished that, I now have to get sites – such as WordPress {WP} – to accept the new configuration.
I lucked into getting WP to like me on the Dell laptop. So this is from that machine. However, I have a tendency to touch the track-pad that is below the space bar. Further, the pointer (mouse) acts oddly, or maybe the cpu doesn’t keep up, and the keyboard doesn’t have all the keys I am used to.
There have been interesting happenings these last 2 weeks (not significant), but I need a real computer to work with. Not there yet, but maybe in another day or so.
It is almost 10pm. I’m headed for sleep.
John

A planning note at the end.

Tonight is going to be heavy on images. The first is frivolous.

I ordered a small cable to connect an iPhone to a tower computer. I need a USB-A to Apple’s Lightening connector. The deal I found was from Best Buy, and the item is in a small box that hangs on a pin in a store display. There is a plastic hanger glued to the back of the white box.
The white box came in a brown box; the volume of the white one is 6.2 cubic inches. The other is 334.7 cubic inches, or 54 times larger.
The two-dollar bill is for scale. It was not in the brown box. Nothing other than the small white package and air was therein. And, yes, it rattled in there. It took 5 days to come from 35 miles east of LA.

Now a prettier item.
Because of Panic2020/21 I need an official Certificate of Marriage for the Social Security Administration. The previous post showed a false one from our Book of Memories. Below is a modern certificate.

I am certain we never had any such thing. Note the last line –As appears in my office this 14th day of April, 2021

Actually, also appearing in the office that day was friend Dot. Dot is Nancy’s longest known friend. She and hubby Bill provided a party for us the evening before our wedding. I called and she knew where, who, and how to get the necessary Marriage Certificate. Good friends are a blessing. Thank you, Dot.

Next is a certificate saying a cluster of trees will be planted in memory of Nancy. This friend, Paul Baumann, came to us via the University of Cincinnati. The story, provided by Paul, is below the document.

With respect to the University of Cincinnati, I had one of the first graduate assistantships at the University’s Academic Computer Center and when I left UC in 1966, Nancy received the assistantship that I had held. The Center had an IBM 1620 and Calcomp Plotter. The 1620 was a second generation computer that was programmed to use a very early version of Fortran; thus, Nancy was exposed to the digital world during a period when most colleges and universities had not yet acquired their first computer. This exposure made her an early user of this technology in the field of geography, especially in the areas of computer mapping, GIS, and remote sensing.

When I worked in the Center, it was necessary at times to use an IBM 1410s employed by the University Administrative Office and an IBM 7094 maintained by the Med School. More than likely Nancy, during her tenure in the Center, worked also on these machines. To provide some historical perspective the 7094 was IBM’s largest computer at the time and it was based on vacuum tube technology. Cincinnati was one of the few schools to have three computers mainly due to its strong engineering program.

After leaving Cincinnati I kept track of Nancy’s career but it was nearly twenty years later, around 1985, that we came together again. This time we were both participating in the joint meeting of the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and the American Congress of Surveying and Mapping. The meeting was held in Anchorage, Alaska. One evening Nancy and you and Barb and I drove down south of the city and had a very nice dinner together. Nancy and I shared some of our experiences at Cincinnati. It was about this time that Duane Nellis who is now the president of Ohio University asked me to chair the NCGE’s Remote Sensing Task Force. Shorty thereafter I got Nancy to join the Task Force.
Over the next twenty years Nancy and I put on major computer based workshops at the NCGE’s annual meetings. These workshops were sponsored by the Task Force and were two to three hours in length. On many occasions we offered two such workshops at a meeting. They dealt with GIS and remote sensing. These workshops were physically and mentally taxing. One of the first workshops that we gave was at the annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. The workshop was held in a large room with 20 PCs situated on nice tables. There was a master PC with PowerPoint. The day Nancy and I arrived we had a late dinner and after dinner we went to check out the room. Our first workshop was at 8:00AM the next day. As we tried to boot-up the machines in order to load software and data sets we discovered that none of the machines worked. The machines were not plugged into any electrical outlets. Then we found out that the room had only one electrical outlet and there were no extension cords available. At midnight we were able to get one extension cord provided by the hotel. We connected this cord to the master PC and redesigned the entire workshop using PowerPoint. Over the years we had other such experiences in offering the workshops. Our last workshop was in Portland, Oregon. She told me at the meeting that due to health issues she could no longer participate in the workshops. I elected not to offer any other workshops after that meeting.

John now: The Portland (2011) meeting, being fairly close did not involve a long airline flight. She had been warned by her cardiologist about blood clots and other dangers because of a replaced Mitral valve. The next NCGE meeting was to be held at Texas State University, San Marcos.

A note from, Sharon, a more recent friend – one of the music group – wrote of the emergence of new life around their home. I had the same thought that day and took a photo of one of the piles of dirt and rock scrapped from near the front of the house. These were piled up as the new front to the house was begun a year ago. The red arrow points to a single Daffodil. I rescued many of the bulbs, but missed some.

PLANNING
I have set May 29th, a Saturday for a time to deal with Nancy’s clothing and other items. A friend will come from Moscow, ID so I’m thinking she can get here about Noon. We can work for a few hours, and have dinner (here or in EBRG). If need be we can do more Sunday morning, followed by lunch.
I am flexible on this, so if anyone has ideas let me know.
1-509-925-3304 or nancyjohnhultquist@gmail.com

That’s it for this week – from the Naneum Fan
John

Photos below from July 12, 1969

We were in Cincy from summer of 1965 until June of 1967. June 11 began “the long hot summer” in the City, including Avondale, just west of the University’s Scioto Hall tower where Nancy lived. I only remember a few things from the graduation time.
I remember the riots, watching from the balcony of her apartment. I remember seeing Jeeps with Nation Guard folks tucked under trees along the Campus walks.
The ceremony was held outside in the football stadium. Dignitaries were on a raised platform in the field. Mid-ceremony a large Collie came onto the field, wandered out to the platform, and anointed it with his pee, providing a highlight to an otherwise less than memorial event.
I also remember taking the photo of Nancy in the gown she wore. I did then, and still do think it is the best of the many photos taken of her.

The other two images were taken two years later. After years, scanning, and digital adjustments for the web, quality is not great. Shame.

Nancy’s father died when she was in 9th grade. Her mother’s second husband died when Nancy was on a 9 week tour of Europe; at the end of her time as a student at Georgia State University. Nancy flew home and missed the last few days of that trip. Just a short time after the funeral, she traveled north to graduate school in Cincinnati. Her mother did not handle the situation. Nancy went home to her mother and a teaching job at GSU. I went to The University of Iowa. Thus, our wedding was delayed by 2 years.

The car – Fordie, a 1935 Ford, was a company car that her dad drove for 2 years, then bought when the company replaced it. Nancy learned about cars and motor sounds with her dad and an elderly mechanic. It was her mobility when she got her driver’s license, and became our honeymoon transportation. Years later Fordie was sold to a lady who also had a childhood connection to ’35 Fords. She also had the money to have it restored to new-like status, and protect it, something we did not have the resources to do.

One of the many photos from the wedding. We had a joint ceremony of Baptist and Catholic, held in the church of Nancy and her mother. The catholic church was a few blocks away. We sat with the priest and minister and wrote the wedding vows. An audio recording was made; I think we listened to it once. I don’t remember a lot of the day, but do remember a child of the caterer tripping while carrying a large bowl of melon balls in the asphalt parking lot.
We stayed that night in a motel at Stone Mountain, then went back to her mother’s place to help her settle in to being alone again. Next we went to my folks place in Clarion, PA for two weeks before heading west to Iowa City. We stayed on there for 2 years after my degree, as an assistant in a research office, Nancy as a student. We moved farther west and settled in Troy, Idaho in 1974.

Next weekend I hope to have a few insights about “what happens after.”
John

{News of the hour: I-90 is closed in both directions because of snow and related accidents. Here: sunny, cool, windy}

Stunned at the void

First, I’ll suggest if you are new to these pages you can get the background by scrolling down until you get to the beginning of March, then read forward.
I provided Brookside Funeral with a text and photo (2019, April) of Nancy holding her violin. I have tried to show important things in her life that many may not know. Most will know that her career was that of a geographer at the college/university level.

Friend Elise has provided a ‘pdf’ of the obituary that you can see by following this link:
Nancy’s Obituary

The Funeral home – Brookside, Ellensburg – folks, Kelly and Charity have been great. On that page – Brookside – they have added the banner across the top, and the “remembrance” things under her photo. Please do not do those things. We planted lots of trees, some now 50 feet tall, and our Tulips and Daffodils are soon to bloom.
I have not yet gone there to see the guestbook nor the condolences. It is too soon for me.
While there has been much to do this week, the hardest was taking the obituary to the facilities where the Fiddlers and Friends played and asking if they could place the page on a bulletin board therein.

There is no service planned. Later in the year I expect there to be a couple of gatherings with sort of a theme list; maybe neighbors one time, musicians another, just friends another. I suspect these to be more spontaneous, rather than planned or elaborate.

Nancy’s ashes will be brought back to the Naneum Fan, her home for 32 of her 77 years.

There are several things about what happens when a person dies that I want to share with family and friends. That will have to wait, until next Saturday or the following one. They are just “things” and do not belong here.

Thanks for all the good thoughts.
John