Keeping track

Sunrise on the Naneum Fan
Photo by Allen Aronica, from just north of us on Naneum Road 1/2/2021

Monday, Jan 4 _____HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOHN !!!

Thank you to all senders of various forms of birthday cards to John for his birthday, including phone calls.

Now to GeorgiaThank you, Gerri & Allen Aronica for their nice gift of a Claxton, Georgia Fruitcake; I’m sure more of a Christmas gift than a birthday gift, but it was so close, John double-dipped. I’m a born and raised Georgia Girl. The bakery is 30 miles from my Grandparents farm, but I grew up in Atlanta and, with my dad, eating fruit cake, and learning about all the geography of the places from where the ingredients traveled to the factory to make it to the cake.

Almost like going in John’s home state of PA to the Hershey PA Candy Factory, where I loved to do the same things with my Economic Geography students. Boy, has that changed since I was younger (and John is the same age), and we could WALK above the tubs of chocolate, right down by the side of the stirring tank, and see the chocolate kisses coming out in front of you all wrapped up in foil. No such views now. You are guided in cars or walking through Disney like characters, occasionally way above completely enclosed windows, and it looks now like no fun at all.

Video of the Hershey Chocolate Factory Plant the largest change of all my memories (probably 50 years).

Hershey, PA – (10 mins)

It’s quite similar to the Sunnyside cheese tour of their packing factory. A person once was able to walk beside those up close.

And with the Cheddar Cheese factory in Tillamook Cheddar Cheese Factory in Oregon. No longer a walk through as once was, and we did that together in 1970.
Time moves on. More memories:

From Fire and Rescue, Sullivan’s Island, SC.
The photo is of Mandy Hawver Hydrick, who is getting a COVID vaccine as a first responder (fire & rescue): Assistant Chief Amanda

This reminds me of my summers there riding bikes around the Island with her mom (my cousin), Cindy Wilkins, climbing on the rocks at Fort Moultrie, and walking the beach.

Tuesday, Jan 5

Town day: Pickup my meds, Atorvastatin, at Bi-Mart pharmacy. Go from there by Super 1 to pick up LASIX at the drive-up window. Exciting!

Wednesday, Jan 6

Trip to Cle Elum for 3:00 PM visit with Chelsea (PCP) regarding swelling in my lower legs and decision on change in meds to reduce by using drugs rather than foods. My food intake has not changed at all, so it has other components and she is involving my cardiologist. Seeking an appointment with him ASAP, in Yakima, WA.

Lunch: John came home with Super 1 fried chicken we warmed and had with peaches.

Supper: Two entrees: Oven-warmed fried chick thighs & legs, plate; and a Bowl of Beef Stew John made with ground beef in the sauce, grated cheddar cheese, and I had Cheez*its spread around the edge of the bowl.

Thursday, Jan 7

Call from KVH imaging for 12:30 Appt for Echo Cardiogram this coming Monday afternoon.
Supper: Cooked Frozen Lasagna, John made baked apples.

Friday, Jan 8

We missed getting food for the family in EBRG both days last week. So back to the Kittitas Pantry where I fell 2 weeks ago.

On the road I called my aunt Marise Wilkins, in Guyton GA. It’s her 90TH year Birthday today. Her hubby, now deceased, was my mom’s youngest brother. Henry was the family’s representative that “gave me away” at our 1969 wedding.

At the Pantry, John walked through with me as the staff and I chose things for the family we are shopping for.

We get stuff too – a single layer chocolate cake for John’s birthday. Through the year when we grow onions, we donate them. When Bi*Mart Kitty Dry Pellets go on sale, we always donate one a 16-# bag. We make other donations as well from around our house.

A couple of kids like the little boxes of raisins as shown on the left.They seemed to have lots, so when I was asked if he should put some in (we are not allowed to touch anything), I said “All you want to give them.” He gave us an entire box – – but it had 24 pounds in plastic bags – – as we found when we started repackaging things prior to the first stop. Likely, we won’t need to get any for awhile.

Seems odd that this small town “Pantry” has more food than they can give away, while we hear of shortages elsewhere in other states.

One of the director there with her husband, is a doctor, at the Kittitas Valley Hospital, had just gotten her shot of Covid vaccine. We visited about the distribution of these, and are glad to know the local medical folks are being served. The County got just under 1,000 doses a week ago.

When we got home, there was a stack of stone siding under the new car port, plus some other things Contractor Walter had dropped off. So, soon we’ll be back to the remodeling.

Supper: Baked potato blue cheese, mushrooms, cooked pears, chicken.

Saturday, Jan 9

Nancy’s awake every morning at 5:00 a.m. to take medication, regardless. Takes care of other things (putting out dog in yard), before returning to sleeping). John is up & about earlier because of going to bed much earlier in the evening. I went back to sleep and slept in very late this morning until at 10:00 a.m. from needing to sleep in after late night hours and with badly interrupted sleep. I’m unaware of when John was up first, but I know he was taking care of animals, inside & outside the house. I guess I’m alert to the comings and goings, but I don’t really wake.

I called “Hay Guy” Mario and he’s bringing 4 tons on Monday. If he can get 2 trips in, double that. I’m driving myself to EBRG for my Echocardiogram at the hospital imaging department. It will take 2 hours! So good I can leave John home to handle the hay.

Brunch: Smoothie with pureed and strained blueberries, plus the liquid ingredients.
Supper: Some butternut Squash cut and baked with Mini-marshmallows on top, baked potato with blue cheese, mushrooms, cooked pears, chicken.

Sunday, Jan 10

We both slept in until 8:30 a.m. John’s been for the mail that comes after dark. I still haven’t gotten the compression socks Chelsea wants me to wear. I talked with Janee’ at Bi-Mart but sizing is an unresolved issue.

Brunch: Bacon, Pancake, with strawberries atop, under Maple syrup.

John started his afternoon moving firewood stacked in a small shed just off the back concrete slab. A couple of holes need to be dug and a sack of concrete mixed and used as a footer. There needs to be space for the posts that will support beams of the much expanded patio roof. The back space will be snow and rain free – about 28 feet wide and 14 feet out from the door. Holes will be dug Monday, by Nate.

Supper: Chicken, fried onion rings, Butternut squash with walnuts in sugar/cinnamon sauce, under toasted mini-marshmallows baked on top, breaded shrimp, PowerAde for drink. Chocolate cake and ice cream will finish off the evening.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Dec 28
Blue Bird Ski Day – White Pass, WA Photographed, by Lise McGowan, Ellensburg, WA, Kittitas Valley, 12-28-20.

John did all the work on the cleanup of the stuff in the Curved Glass China Cabinet had us up at 7:30 to begin cleaning up stuff around patio doors inside our den. I got a little more involved with drying the cleaned stuff and storing those elsewhere. The process slowly continues. Need to do more soon. John’s gone to bed, and I have about 20 more minutes until I can take an acetaminophen, fluoride my teeth, put my gen teal drops in my eyes, and go to bed.

Tuesday, Dec 29

We left home, John driving, so I could make phone calls. I had two blood-draw tests noonish blood draws at Med Arts building on Jackson Street. We dropped off a red package of blood vials at KVC hospital front desk. While there, I called Cle Elum Medical to leave message for Nurse Lacey.

From there by AAC on to drop off package for Katrina,
then Super 1, then we went by Amy & Haley’s with ceramic things and Raisin mini-packets.

This photo in the snow of the Kittitas Depot is awesome taken by friend EvieMae Schuetz.

Wednesday, Dec 30

At 10:00 a.m., James Hickey at Umpqua Bank set up payment to Davenport’s for finish of one of the remodel contracts. Checked with Lyn; later will get a USPS notification the money has been deposited in their business account there at Umpqua Bank.

With this telephone and digital transfer, and not going in person to the lobby of the bank, I’m a happy “kamper.” James Hickey has done this previously and sent to the Davenports and also delivered to us for our records. I’ve also dealt with Brandy, but she is off this week. Didn’t get this done until noon because he spent longer with a bank client, & went to his lunch before calling me.

John went to start his car to leave for Cle Elum Clinic. He left at 10:30a.m. and has an hour (roads okay, but he went the Interstate rather than the Old Hwy 10).
John plans on calling me from the road to report in on the snow situation on timing his trip to Cle Elum for his appointment. He doesn’t want to cancel because of snow that they have in Cle Elum today.

John called at 12:18, they got his ears cleaned out. He is heading down the Freeway to buy gasoline at Pilot, and plans to call me from Bi-Mart Parking Lot in 45 minutes. Going for wild bird seed.

Week coming will be busy. I have two appointments we must go to Tuesday & Wednesday, which John must drive me to. He still have a pickup load of fine horse manure to deliver to the vineyard. And the remodel crew may want to come start on the next project.

I have adjusted to putting a pillow on the end of my recliner because just putting the swelled legs down on the recliner HURTS them way too much. The pillow is difficult to manipulate from the table to my right, but I can manage the pillow while using my laptop not to have the severe pain pressure without the pillow.

However, Chelsea needs to know I still am having slight instability factors, e.g. at the Medical Arts Bldg. Lab yesterday where the better K test was performed, but still some, difficulty moving around the house, some painful muscle movements today, changed from the leather shoes today and now using an open non-laced shoe for walking, but still have on same socks.

Lunch: John came home with Super 1 fried chicken we warmed and had with peaches. He also got some cans of tuna to share among the 4 cats.

Supper: Spaghetti with ground beef in the sauce and pieces of cook chicken cubes, grated cheddar cheese, and I had Cheez*its spread around the edge of the bowl.

We soaked washed dishes in the dishwasher and ran it.

Thursday, Dec 31 New Year’s Eve

We snagged this image from the web, so have no information about it. Odd thing is that the photo is not taken from Midnight.

Seems more like sunset – a good time to celebrate, and then go to bed.

Last Pink Sunrise of 2020 photographed by Janet M. Downs, who only saw this for 8 seconds.

8:46 a.m. we received a phone call from our Contractor Walter, wanting John to view a post & beam patio cover he had built in EBRG. John took off soon as he could to meet him at the home. Here is a photo, but ours will be a little lower and a bit wider. Details in a later edition with our own version over our patio.

Skipping Zoom Game Day today at 11:00 AAC to work on the den moving project. Game was going to be Pictionary.

Lunch: We ate at 2:00 p.m., after blending me a Smoothie Low potassium content. (We re-wrote the recipe on Fridge door). As dessert, we each had a piece of Claxton, GA fruitcake (a Christmas gift from our neighbors, Gerri & Allen Aronica, who likely don’t know I was born and raised in Atlanta, GA! And also, need to thank them for a Jar of Honey made from bees on their property, just a 1/2-mile up the road from our house. John had a grilled cheese & deli ham on one piece of large Wheat bread, folded over & sliced.

Tried calling sister at 6:00, but no answer at either phone; she called back at 6:16 and we decided the phones were at fault for her not answering. We discussed my current medical issues, so I must contact her again after Wednesday’s appt in Cle Elum.

I have large swelling of my legs, calves, and feet beneath my knee. NEVER in my life have they ever been this huge. I have had them raised now since 6:00 p.m.

Supper: Oven reheated fried chicken from yesterday, also served with Russet baking potato covered and sliced, baked into a shell of Beer Batter Mix; later Baked Apple Crumble Cake Topped pie, with strawberry / vanilla ice cream for John, and vanilla for me.

Friday, Jan 1

Sleep: interruptions off and on throughout the entire night by a “dream” awaking me over and over. We have got to get to the bottom of what is causing this disruption to my nightly sleep pattern.

I have more blood draws test this coming Tuesday to see the results. That will last for the next two months. The Potassium test is being continued. I am faithful my medications. On Vitamin K, I have changed no food intakes, except suspended taking the Ensure with the high amount of Potassium. My doctor restored taking two medications related to potassium lowering, and increased my Furosemide to daily up from every other day, with the hopes of decreasing the incredible swelling side of my legs, thighs, ankles, and feet, and will examine me in the office in Cle Elum, also to view the bruising, and blood in contact with the fall outside their building, when my muscle stability tossed me down on the concrete sidewalk.

When the phone rang this morning at 8:43 and John had to leave, I was sleeping intently, and awakened abruptly. A neighbor needed help – it’s a long story – but the short of it was she needed to make long distance phone calls and doesn’t have that on her phone contract. John was going to use the Bluetooth in the Subaru, but would have to go toward EBRG.

John left the house at 8:43 a.m. – returned at 10:45, and is now out feeding horses. I’m doing my morning activities with computer and medications. Additionally, the first day of a month means redoing certain charts for keeping track of daily measurements, morning and night.

Supper: Boiled Cocktail shrimp, with tails to remove, plenty for each of us; Breaded Cod, Potato pancake. Dessert: Heated Dutch Apple Pie, with Crumbled cake topping on pie, served with vanilla Ice Cream.
John finished his Friday weekly blog, Not so Nasty News about 7:35 p.m.

Saturday, Jan 2

I slept in even though I had a good night’s rest, and John slept in a little longer too but got up to take care of the cats, quail, horses, and other things. John is cleaning out kitchen cabinets of china cups, saucers, plates, bowls, we no longer use, don’t want or need to donate to Naomi’s Hope charity.

Brunch: A piece of ham, 2 eggs over easy with a little cheese, small bowl of peaches.
Supper: Best part was Butternut Squash cubed and baked with Mini-marshmallows on top.

Sunday, Jan 3

Decent weather so John cut brush for an hour just west of the house. A fire reduction action. Most every thing else was standard stuff.

Supper: Stew, potato tater tots, I had Cheez*It on the side of my bowl. PowerAde for drink.

Late Sunday night, 1/3/20, my Sunday Night’s blog will create its own new Live Link for the third day of Jan, 2021, from which to begin next week’s blog. Probably will just finish Sunday, and start afresh. Actually, I know we’ll be getting ready for appointments on Tuesday in Ellensburg and also a Wednesday trip to our PCP in Cle Elum.

I’ll have to take my camera along, in case I see a photo
opportunity that I can post on the Kittitas County Visual Delights site.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Dec 14

Starting Christmas a little over a week early, for our blog.
First stops are in Roslyn, WA in the north part of our county.Top pix is snow on the Roslyn Museum and the Roslyn Café.
The bottom are the street signs; photos by EvieMae Schuetz.
(This is the town where outside scenes of the TV program “Northern Exposure” {1990-1995} were filmed.)

Morning wake-up not for Nancy until 8:30 a.m. Then cup of coffee and chocolate Ensure with strawberry yogurt.

I sent thank you email messages to people who gave me permission to use their photo in our weekly blog last week. My note to them always starts with the specific location on the web where the photograph taken may be forever found.

The total number of robocaller connections for Dec 4=3.

Tuesday, Dec 15

Motorized Parade, Kittitas, WA – by, EvieMae Schuetz

Sorry, I intended to have the longer 18 wheeler & hay truck be the longer photos, but I failed in positioning, & ran out of time.

Get up early to take pill, and drink ½ hr. later, shake, coffee. We need to be at our first two stops before noon.
Set up my external storage back-up for its noon start. It did it in 26 minutes.

We left for the AAC for our Foot care appointments at 11:00, getting there 10 min early, and mine was first. John was to follow. We visited a little, were given too many bags of homemade cookies, and we gave the staff some SUN*MAID Raisins Boxes. With almost no visitors to the Center, the normal supply of cookies had trouble finding homes. We paid our donation fee, and Shyla started on my feet. I was done about 11:30 so I left for my blood draws at the KVH Medical Arts building, and while it took a little longer than usual, I was back by noon, John had only to wait 2 minutes.

This is our day for errands, (some already above & below) and we had many; review here. We’re using this symbol to indicate stops: ∞∫∞ On way to town, we stopped along Wilson Creek to hang a bag on an old Pickup Truck: Rustler Jeans (too long for John) ∞∫∞ John wants to take our insulated shopping bag by Winegar’s for quarts of their Ice Cream he and I like. We did, but he sat in the car while I went inside for it. ∞∫∞ Nancy went into Bi-Mart to check numbers, and to buy a large wall/desktop calendar for our kitchen. ∞∫∞ Delivered boxes of groceries we get from the free food place. We take to one place, and she distributes further.

Late afternoon check in call from Gerald; he’s fine.
The total number of robocaller connections: Dec 15=1.
Much fewer than in late November; prior to election.

Wednesday, Dec 16

Christmas lights – ’cause I won’t do this again until the 27th.

^^^This is actually a School District in Utah! Description of how they did it: Shot in one continuous take where all 5 busses are electronically connected together through DMX channel relay boards back to a central computer programmed to control the light show.
They wrote: Special thanks to our Transportation Department, Technology Department and Communications Department and the Utah Symphony Orchestra who made this video possible.

The next video is fixed in a loop, so only watch it for once through, 2:07.School Bus Christmas Light Show video below:

School Bus Christmas Light Show (in loop)

Another restless night, probably because of getting to bed so late, nearly midnight. After being awakened at 7:00 by a Contractor’s employee knocking on the front window to pick up some primer paint. It sat outside for months; John moved it inside when he expected below freezing temperature.

He passed along to expect two in the next morning be back tomorrow to finish the top and end of the stone walls. John and Walter (finally) figured out how they want this done. A 12 inch Cedar board is the solution. Photo next week. An original thought was to cap them with metal roofing-like material. There was a long interlude to develop a different solution.

A lot of wasted time today. I slept in until almost 9:00.
I had to fill in all my medications in my case for the week, and check about some other, also had to check all refills from which pharmacy, and be sure they were correct to give to our P-AC to send approvals for the coming year. We get 90 days at a time. I filled in a separate listing for John and for me, because we may go different directions. Two nurses, different rooms to start. Chelsea, our PA-C “doc”, visited with John and then they both came in for my evaluation (actually, these visits described today will happen tomorrow in Cle Elum, at our doctor’s office there).

John’s now taken care of cat cleanup, feeding, and visiting in the new room, and feeding the horses. I’ve been catching up on emails, and other computer activities.
Started raining today.

Supper: John fixed Pizza for both of us. For dessert, we shared a piece of carrot cake.
Number of robocaller connections for Dec 16=1.

Thursday, Dec 17

9:33 a.m. call from Gerald; foggy over there, otherwise all is well in Thorp, WA.

Ate a piece of fruitcake and fixed a salad for my lunch to eat; planning on a Zoom game. I cancelled that at the AAC with 5 others, and it is Scattergories. I enjoy that game, but I had too much paperwork to document about the problem with my diagnosis from a blood draw of Potassium (K) that indicated I have a seriously high level.

John and I investigated the K in my regular foods. Only the Ensure® seems high.
I’m dressed and ready to leave for Cle Elum at 1:00 p.m.

Once there, Chelsea decided to manage the K with medication changes first, and take me off of Ensure because of its 470 mg/serving), but that was the only food change. I’m also being taken off the drug Spironolactone. We didn’t get home until 6:04 p.m.

The total number of robocaller connections for Dec 17=2.

Friday, Dec 18

A week away from Christmas Day, our last Christmas photos to show again by our same photographer, EvieMae Schuetz.
These are all in her home:Our photographer EvieMae Schuetz is a musician. She created this Musical Christmas Tree. All the ornaments are musical notes, instruments, or something associated with a musical part of her life.

Today begins with a message back from our friend Cameron Fries’ photo of the newly installed roll bar on the backhoe/front end loader. John wanted to add a roll bar before we had it taken over, where sandy soil and frequent steep grades could be an issue. Local shop couldn’t find one. A Quincy area shop found one. Much more something found in that sort of farming region. More fruit and fewer cattle.

Our property is totally on an Alluvial Fan, full of heavy basalt rocks and little dirt. This implement is too lightweight to handle such, but will be perfect in moving the sands of the vineyard:Photo of roll bar taken by White Heron Cellars, Mariposa Vineyard owner, Cameron Fries. He’s taken the backhoe off and is using the front loader. We’ve got rocks. He’s got sand – courtesy of massive floods 15,000 years ago.

We left our house about 12:20 to go to the Kittitas Post Office to mail a large envelope to our sister Peggy, in OH. Stopped off at a friend’s house there to pick up a cat scratching post. A woman took it there for us, saving us the drive across the valley in a direction we rarely go.

Gifted post photographed & given by Rachael Brunson. THANK YOU!

The cats have it in their room, but we haven’t yet seen them use it. It’s 16 inches tall.

From Kittitas to EBRG to drop off now taboo Ensure and pick up a pillow and an egg-carton foam pad for a in a pillow case in the seat of my recliner, at Hospice Friends. Onto Safeway Pharmacy to buy my Coumadin pills. From there, for John to pick up his 2 medications from Fred Meyer Pharmacy. Using gasoline to save money on the meds.

At 5:52 my blood pressure is: 127 / 73 pulse 72. I’ve been soaking dishes and need to load the dishwasher. Done.

Supper: beef sirloin tip roast fried, French fried onion rings, pork & beans, canned pears. I had one Reese’s Peanut butter cup.

John finished his Friday weekly blog, Not so Nasty News.

The total number of robocaller connections for Dec 18=1.

Saturday, Dec 19

We both slept in long this morning, I longer than John. I didn’t get to sleep until after 2:00 am. after going to bed at 11:15 p.m. Not sure why my Friday nights are always becoming restless nights, that screw up my ability to get to sleep and make it imperative I always set up all the proper parts of my recording devices for my ICD measurements every time I’m out of bed and back in again. Guess I’ll also have to insert an afternoon nap into today’s schedule.

Brunch: John fixed bacon, blueberry pancake (high on the blueberries), a bowl of canned peaches, with PowerAde (strawberry – lemonade flavor).

John went out to shovel horse manure into the back of his pickup truck, to take another load over to deliver to Cameron at the Mariposa vineyard. He got in about an hour’s work before rain started. It has continued throughout the day and still is falling tonight at 8:00 p.m. It is noisy on the skylights.

Supper: John, again, made sliced and fried sirloin-tip beef roast, with hashed brown large potato patties, canned small beets, plus his own homegrown fried purple onions. Dessert we are eating now, ice cream. He is having Vanilla ice cream topped with melted Chocolate chips fixed so it doesn’t harden. I’m having Winegar’s special homemade ice cream from Ellensburg, flavor: Kookie Kayla – a Vanilla base with Peanut butter, sea salt cookie and fudge swirl. Kayla is part of the Winegar clan, and clerks at the ice cream counter, and explained “her flavor.”

History: Winegar Dairy Farm (with Holsteins) began a dairy in 1956. The kids suggested started the business of the coffee / creamery. Now, grandchildren are involved, with at least 4 generations. A lot more history with photos can be found on their website, along with their menu. It is expensive, but we were given a gift card.

The total number of robocaller connections for Dec 19=0.

Sunday, Dec 20

Thankfully, it stopped raining. It rained all night and into the morning hours. Not real hard, but rain nonetheless.

Awoke at 8:15, a.m. and John also and took care of things for him and the cats. My first cup of coffee and computer startup at 9:00 a.m. Various interruptions kept me from doing some of the things I wanted to do. Maybe Monday.

We called our cousin (age 103) in PA this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. to check-in how she’s doing at her young age; what a gift she’s given us to live so long with a clear memory to be able to share family members’ past. She’s quite the resource. We had a nice 35 min conversation, and she remembered another recent place, company and a sign from near Clarion. John wanted to know if his sister remembered a sign with a saying on a lumber company.
When John realized he quoted the wrong saying, and talked to Ethel about it, things got cleared up. The sign was:
“If you can’t stop, then smile, when you drive by.”
Ethel knew the name – Fulton Lumber – and the name of one of the workers. He moved into a new house – on the street John and Peggy lived on – and had kids that Peggy did sitting for. That’s 65 or so years ago.
John’s original and wrong saying:
“There is no place like this place, anywhere near this place,
so this must be the place.”
So says this building in Texola, OK – – John has never been there and can’t recall why he knows this catchy saying. Full wording is on the right – not readable in this view.

The total number of robocaller connections for Dec 20=0.

Supper: Roast chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, and last of the beets.
Apple pie in the oven.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Item #1: Did you get whacked?

A sign with this list appeared:
. . I’m a – –
Wooden Spoon,
Lead Paint,
No car seat,
No bike helmet,
Bed of pickup riding,
Garden hose drinking,
. . SURVIVOR.

If I understand the first one – wooden spoon – to mean getting whacked by mother, I’d have to substitute something else; or maybe I just don’t remember.
Now this: The image is of a spoon. Is it a “wood” or a “wooden” spoon? If I write – silver spoon, or silvered spoon – there seems to be a difference. The “ed” on the end changes the meaning. But the “en” on the end of wood seems to make no difference. If you get whacked by one, you’ll not notice either.
“Wool” works the same way: A sweater might be called wool or woolen. If you have a cotton sweater, you don’t call it cottonen. Still you can call a silk garment silken. But does “silken” imply it is like silk, but really isn’t? Consider gold and golden.
More word stuff will follow.

Item #2: White in the air

I followed this link:
Skagit Valley winter home

It is interesting, but the article included this statement:
“A couple of great places to begin when searching for the birds are within the Skagit Wildlife Area, run by the Washington Trails Association. ”
So I wrote WTA’s HR & Finance Manager and friend Kara:
Makes me wonder what else WTA does that I’ve never heard about.
Her answer:
“haha. that is pretty funny. no wonder we are feeling so stretched thin around here.”

The ‘Seattle Refined’ contributors are short a brick or two of a full load.

Item #3: Rawl

An activity this week involved a couple of other of the pending home projects. One of these introduced a new word, namely ‘rawl’. I wanted a 2nd post in the front, an unnecessary addition where the new covered ramped walkway turns and comes to the front door. We had replaced the original 4×4 post with a 6×6; matching the big posts of the walkway. I thought a second post would add a decorative harmonious touch. I do have in mind some sort of functional use, but that is not relevant at the moment.
In any case, this post needed to be set on existing concrete, thus requiring a wood-to-concrete base. The metal base is anchored to the concrete with a bolt that goes through the base, into a hole, and has an in-hole part that expands. The apparatus is often called a throughbolt because the bolt part goes through the base or fixture.
As a man once intoned – Here’s the rest of the story:
{ from Wikipedia }
Rawlings Brothers, a small plumbing and electrical engineering company, was founded in 1887 in London. In 1910, the company was awarded a contract by the British Museum, which required them to unobtrusively fix electrical fittings to the museum walls. The contract led to the invention and patenting of the world’s first wall plug, which became a standard solution for attaching things to walls. John Joseph Rawlings, who is credited with invention of the wall plug, named his product Rawlplug, using the first syllable of his last name, and renamed his business to Rawlplug in 1919.
Walter, our contractor said to Nancy – We need a rawl. That wasn’t in her in-house dictionary, nor mine, nor in fact my computer’s.
Now fixed.

Item #4: more word usage

Sometimes it is just that the wrong word is used. For instance, in the image below, top left the word “common” seems to be better than ‘popular’. On the right, “slow down” would be better. Youngsters often are quick and change direction at random. Old farts are slow.
The bottom left one is cute; shows someone knows how to use words. The other 3 are just silly, and could have been corrected easily.

Item #5: Moving Woody inside Woody’s favorite place in her new home.

We made a deal with our neighborhood contractor regarding several projects of home repair and remodeling. The remodel – new room – of the double garage was priority #1. That’s long since been done and I’m using it daily; now with the addition of Sue and Woody (mother and daughter feral cats). Mother Sue shows signs of aging and her coat started to tangle, so not fluffy as needed for heat retention. About a month ago I carried her into the new space with all the necessary items. I had picked her up many times, then sat her back at the food bowl. Picking her up and carrying her inside was easy for her, and me.
Woody required a different procedure because she has never been picked up. I tacked and wired fence, with a door, leading to where we had been feeding the outside cats. When she came to eat, I closed the gate and opened the door to the room. Her instinct was to climb, but there was no where to go, so she jumped down and ran into the room where Sue (her mother) was.
She learned, almost immediately, how to push through the swinging door. Got her back from the utility room easily. This week, I went out the front door but didn’t have the swinging door blocked, and the door from the utility room (now called a walk-in pantry) to the kitchen was also open. Oops! She made it out and into the house, to a bedroom, and under the bed. It took us about 20 minutes to “move” her back. All’s well.
{The swinging door is full size, solid pine, but with swing hinges. That a small cat can push it open, implies, I guess, that it is well balanced. Surprised me, anyway.}

And that, for this week, is the not so nasty news.
John

Monday, Dec 7

Slept in until 7:30 a.m. after going to bed at 10:00 last night.
Need to get the photos thank you sent to people who gave me permission to use their photo in our weekly blog. That’s done.
Cut John’s hair. Took 35 mins, with set up /cleanup taking more. Our freezing fog is getting worse outside, so happy we do not have to be on the road with ½ mile visibility and treacherous roads.

Get in touch with Cle Elum Clinic to let them know about leaving a pkg. for a family in Ellensburg with the for us to pick up when we go for our Medicare Medical Wellness test this Thurs afternoon Nov 10 – go through Stephanie Walker (office manager there (via email to save the cost of a long distance call). We have no cell phone reception in our house; only our landline.

A little bit of dishwasher unloaded, and none yet reloaded.
Need to finish putting in my night pills for the week.
Supper: Sliced Beef roast, mashed potatoes and gravy with onions, a sliced half of a red apple, fried cauliflower, and diced beets. PowerAde.
The total number of robocaller connections for Dec 7=3.

Tuesday, Dec 8

Get up early to take pill, and drink ½ hr. later, drink coffee and milkshake. We need to be at our first two stops before noon.
Set up my external back-up for its noon backup. It completed the backup while we were gone.

This is our day for important errands, and we had many; review here. We’re using this symbol to indicate stops: ∞∫∞ First, was to Take the F-350 Ford to Seth Motors’ to be worked on at 11:00 a.m., to have its battery tender evaluated and the manual emergency brake ∞∫∞ John wants to take our insulated shopping bag by Winegar’s for quarts of their Ice Cream we like. We did, but he sat in the car while I went inside for it. ∞∫∞ Bi-Mart to check numbers ∞∫∞ No luck. ∞∫∞ Picked up 2 boxes (empty) from where we often drop things off. ∞∫∞ We stopped at Super 1 Grocery store for John to buy only a few things needed for supper, but he got carried away and bought lots more. The temp while spending time in town was 28° – so said the car.

Mid-afternoon snack: John had piece of peach pie and some small candy bars; I had 2 Reese’s peanut butter cups. Girl cats in new room had beef.
Late afternoon check in call from Gerald; he’s fine. Today his daughter took him to the skin specialist (dermatologist) to burn off spots on his back from walking in the sun without a shirt. They topped the Manastash Ridge and left the sunshine and clear blue skies.

Put all the dirty dishes in and ran them before supper.
Supper: John’s planning Beef Stroganoff, with peach pie and ice cream for dessert.
Started raining last night after supper, and sometime overnight switched to a little snow.
The total number of robocaller connections: Dec 8=3.

Wednesday, Dec 9

Up late to start the day. John’s now taken care of cat cleanup feeding, and visiting in the new room, and fed the horses. I’ve been catching up on emails, and Facebook activity. Finally, at 11:11 we left for town, stopped off to pick up a donation of Christmas Cards from my rural neighbor for me to deliver while I’m in town to a person who cannot drive. Then I took John to Seth Motors to pick up the pick up, and run more errands before he came home. Main thing were bags of pine pellets to use in the cats’ litter box. Clay sticks to their feet and ends on the floor. Also, John thinks the wood does a better job of handling the urine.

Supper: John had leftovers from last night; I had a special salad later, after my shower, and a serving of blueberry cheesecake ice cream.
The total number of robocaller connections for Dec 9=3.

Thursday, Dec 10
Mt. Rainier Sunrise from Puyallup by Cheryl Keisel White

I found research papers after looking up Siletzia on duck-duck-go. I loaded those up to a new Dropbox and made a link to send to study group for Friday’s Nick Zentner’s afternoon lecture.
Printed my medications to put it in my paperwork for my annual physical exam. –
Ate a piece of fruitcake and fixed a salad for my lunch to eat before the Game Play began. I need to play my Zoom Game Day at the AAC with 5 others; it is Yahtzee. I enjoy that game.

Get dressed to leave for Cle Elum at 1:00 p.m.
9:33 a.m. call from Gerald; foggy over there, otherwise all is well in Thorp, WA.
John’s outside at 10:00 at 21 deg. We got his meds in a bag to carry. We’re driving up leaving at 1:40; didn’t get home until 6:04 p.m. With the first doctor we had there, we were seen together. Since then there seems to be something new to the routine each visit. It seems way long, but the blood draws got done up there, saving a visit to the EBRG facility.
The total number of robocaller connections for Dec 10=1.

Friday, Dec 11

We had had a scattering of snow overnight. Overcast and cool today. Snow is sticking on the higher slopes north of us, above 4,000 feet. Over the next week we are expected to get just a little bit more. High temperatures are still expected above freezing.

We both slept in late, but I’m tired from a restless night with interruptions. I don’t have time to consider a nap until later, but maybe should because contractor Walter is due at our house at 6:00 p.m. tonight to discuss projects yet to be completed, so we are all on the same page. I’m falling asleep now. Maybe I should rush a short nap currently, before the lecture starts.

While I’m involved in managing the Nick Zentner lecture live comments, John leaves at 11:15 for town for the Community food distribution (plus local Cattleman’s beef). They are promising a variety of things – much from the big conglomerate, Conagra Brands. The local paper says beef, fresh fruits, vegetables, other perishables, and canned and packaged things. John arrived at 11:45 near staging by the Armory Bldg on 7thAvenue, near the north entrance to the Fairgrounds. They offered a lot more than they announced in the city Daily Record newspaper invitation. There is a 3-pound Beef roast, two bags of apples, one Pink Lady and one of Fuji apples; a small bag of baking potatoes; cans of pinto beans, two packages each of dried beans and dried fruit & nuts; a small carton of small curd cottage cheese; a large container of yogurt & a gallon of milk. There is a bag of yellow onions, and a bag of small oranges. There are “tater tots’ and flat potatoes of the same sort. Most of this stuff was in dreaded plastic bags, but there was one sealed cardboard box. We’ll dump about 2/3 of this stuff with the usual family next week, but she doesn’t want onions (and we have plenty). The gallon of milk needs a home too.

I began collecting comments at noon (with my computer), and ate my own lunch. I needed to set up the WordPress format to put the various descriptors in to fill it at the end of the lecture in the afternoon. This was supposedly all ready to go but somehow my document totally lost the links I submitted. I did not realize it Sunday night when processing the final copy that it was missing until after it was published at 12:30 a.m. Monday morning, and it was too late to fix it then.

I’m setting it up now at 9:30 am. Monday, Dec 14, 2020, as I previously.

#100 – Exotic Y: Siletzia

I e-mailed Carl Hurlburt’s research papers on Yellowstone Hot spot information to the study group along with some other links from him that are pertinent for Sunday’s last lecture by Nick.

Late afternoon photo at 4:22 p.m. taken from a drive around town by photographer, Lori Waters, and displayed on the Facebook page, Kittitas County Visual Delights.

I finished loading and running our dishwasher so we had clean dishes, bowls, and utensils for us and the animals.
The total number of robocaller connections for Dec 11=1.

Saturday, Dec 12

Had to be early morning to still have ice on the needles around this colorful Ponderosa pine cone:Christopher Cyrus Peterson took this early morning and published it on the Kittitas County Visual Delights site.

Not sure why my Friday nights are always becoming restless nights, that screw up my ability to get to sleep and make it imperative I always set up all the proper parts of my recording devices for my ICD measurements every time I’m out of bed and back in again. Guess I’ll also have to insert an afternoon nap into today’s schedule.

This morning was a mess and unfortunate situation with Woody in the new room.
John didn’t see Walter coming down the driveway and he got to the front porch window and knocked. John jumped up and went outside the front door and not back through the house, and so he’d not replaced to block to keep Woody from coming into the walk-in pantry/utility room. After he returned inside, he came in and we heard her meowing it the washroom, behind the gate, which she jumped over, and ran down the hallway hot on the tail of a cat she likes, Czar. I ran and closed the outside window on the doggy door so she couldn’t escape outside. I first found her in the back guest bedroom. After an hours relaxation time, we searched for her. John found her in the middle bedroom under the far corner of the bed. He had gotten a probing stick and flashlight. I stationed to watch where she went, and had blocked off some rooms of the parts of the house farther away from the kitchen access to the now opened gate.
Unfortunately, she came into the den, an okay thing, but ran over to the kitchen and not out through the washroom, and instead got up on a kitchen cabinet behind some dirty dishes. She stalled there and had to be encouraged off. She next ran under my recliner and then under the woodstove! He pulled the fencing from the stove and closed another spot in the den, and then he managed to get her out from under the stove, back through the washroom, and into the pantry. We got that door shut. Next, the swinging door to the new room – their room – could be propped open (Sue being still there) and with more encouragement she headed “home.” She hid in the back of her house bed (box), so we left her out there for quite a while. Finally, she came out and seems to have no hard feelings about her failed attempt to escape.

Walter is expected to come and work near the entrance in the morning, so John went out after lunch and took down the wire fencing he had used to capture her last week.
I have to get the dishwasher loaded and run before John wants to cook tonight’s supper. I completed that about 4:00 p.m.

We have to clean near the patio door in the den so the workers can come in and rebuild the edging and the frame around the wall. WE need a before photo. Will need to move the buffet out probably on the right hand side and a small wooden table that holds my ICD (Implanted Cardioverter Defibrillator) recorder (via a landline connnector–cell phones do now work with the unit, and it is read at 2:00 a.m., daily. Boxes, and other containers and other things piled on the floor under the table need to be moved out. I hope not my electric recliner. Now we’ve postponed that from Monday morning.

I wonder if I should send the late research papers that came in yesterday for Sunday morning lecture. I forgot this morning with all that happened. I decided to send them.
Brunch: John fixed bacon, eggs, fried Tater tots with purple onions he grew, and I had leftover instant coffee and PowerAde.

Supper: John started making Salmon Croquettes by a recipe I did not remember from my childhood. They had them at their family dinners too, but we have never had it since being together as a couple. He failed. It was strange. We had it with steamed rice and served with a bowl of canned peaches and lo-fat cottage cheese, small curd sort. That made the “quiche” more palatable. I don’t care to eat any of the leftovers. It started as canned Pink Salmon and ended more as a baked something, like quiche – no patties.

The total number of robocaller connections for Dec 12=0.

Sunday, Dec 13

I got up at 7:35, enjoyed a hot cup of coffee to warm up, plus a chocolate Ensure with French vanilla yogurt. Then on to readying my software and computer to collect information. I was ready to support and watch Nick Zentner’s 9:00 a.m. (this morning started at 8:40) for thank-yous.
Nick’s lecture at 9:00 a.m. (part two) ~ 10:00 when the first quit working. This still had the most viewers (ever I think), which were 1082 worldwide.
I began collecting comments at noon (with my computer), and ate my own lunch. I needed to set up the WordPress format to put the various descriptors in to fill it at the end of the lecture in the afternoon. This was supposedly all ready to go but somehow my document totally lost the links I submitted. I did not realize it Sunday night when processing the final copy that it was missing until after it was published at 12:30 a.m. Monday morning, and it was too late to fix it then.

#101 – Exotic Z: Putting It All Together!

#101 part 2 – Exotic Z: Putting It All Together!

Supper: Small pieces of chicken breast meat, fried, with crusty onion rings, large potato patties (nice & brown), almost like potato pancakes, & strawberries with cottage cheese in a little bowl. For dessert we’ll have Dutch Apple Pie.

The total number of robocaller connections for Dec 13=0.

Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan