Autumn

Monday, Oct 26

John says: “Nancy and Elise introduce autumn colors today. My hometown of Clarion, PA began an Autumn Leaf Festival in 1953; I don’t remember it. Soon after the town and the College combined home-coming week with the Festival. An outbreak of influenza at Clarion College slowed the growth in 1957. In 1962 a young lady from our neighborhood – a year ahead of me in HS – and now in a sorority wanted real “autumn leaves” for their float. Another neighbor, with a Jeep and small trailer, and I visited numerous trees not far from town, and a colorful float was made.” Link to History
Autumn Leaf Festival in Clarion, PA postponed this year, by COVID restrictions. Usually held in September.

Autumn colors in New Jersey – Photos by Elise Schlosser

I realize Poison Ivy is not the normal photo pictured in autumn leaves photos, but Elise took it at the same time and I was drawn to it, because of my past history in GA with poison ivy on an adjacent lot to the house where I grew up in Atlanta, GA. I was extremely allergic to it.
I knew to avoid it when in the woods, but I never saw the red-colored leaves of it, probably because we received a lot of rain in Atlanta, GA. I looked that up and found this explanation online: Poison Ivy with red stems and/or red leaf edges are less common, but hardly rare. When poison ivy doesn’t get enough water, the leaves will turn red.

Back to now: I slept in, but I need to go to Yakima Heart Center for two routine visits for a check of my implanted defibrillator and an appointment with my cardiologist. While there, we’ll make a Costco run.
Printed my Immunization record and added to info for Dr. Krueger.

Morning call from Ellensburg Animal Hospital about Annie’s pain medication (TRUPROFEN – chewable tablet 100 mg). We just cancelled it. Long story, but they “by law” cannot refill a prescription from 2019 without another visit. She’s seems to be doing fine without it. She was only taking a ½ tablet a day, first a.m. & p.m., but recently, only ½ a day.

John has been out to feed birds and horses, and confirmed the temperature is freezing.
Need to send the current blog to 3 people whose photographs I used. We’re leaving here about 11:30 for Yakima.
I’m having an Ensure chocolate shake with peach yogurt, and John’s having bacon and fried potato.
Supper: Sandwiches grilled cheese with crumbled sirloin tip roast, cinnamon pears, yellow apples, fried onion rings, and French fries. Dessert: Nanaimo bars with blueberry swirl ice cream.

Tuesday, Oct 27

Slept in until 8:25 and John helped me get my medicine tablet out of the new container. The company changed what was an easy peel back method to a more difficult one in my opinion. Thanks, John. I’ve taken it and have to wait a half hour to eat. So, I set up my backup drive.
Today is our day for several important errands.

I will review those briefly below. We’re using this symbol to indicate stops: ∞∫∞ First stop, to drop off two 35mm slides from long ago of John with his sister and brother at Jade Cove in CA to transfer to a digital image we can share with the family. ∞∫∞ By another friend’s house to leave some things. ∞∫∞ I took the paperwork to the WA Dept. of Licensing, for a handicapped yearly parking sticker, for use on CWU campus, and was surprised it was issued right away. ∞∫∞ Next to Bi-Mart to buy slippers for John, as his fell apart, and to buy some cat food on sale. While there, I bought some OTC ointment for my “dry skin” that Dr. Krueger recommended, Eucerin cream. ∞∫∞ Next, we’d both decided to go to Super 1 Pharmacy for our 2nd Pneumonia shot (supposed to be a good thing if we get COVID virus; makes it a lighter case), but it was to be only for me. (I called ahead and found out) that they were not marked with our names, so they gave away all but one dose. They ordered another for John and he will get it another time, but his name will be put on the serum and he’ll be called. I received mine today. ∞∫∞ Next, I went by Jerrol’s to pick up my Roadside Geology (RG) book that arrived last week. It’s RG of Southern CA.

Set up the stuff for the study group tomorrow to send to newly added members.
We ate dinner late but this sunset was taken by a friend who submits many photos to the Kittitas County Visual Delights Facebook site, and she’s given me permission to include them.
This was taken late in the evening-she called the fading sunset. The bottom two clouds earlier on other photos submitted looked like salmon swimming upstream. Photo by Barb Bailey.

Supper: Stew heated, added fried long sausage split, half yellow apple, half cinnamon pear, Cheez-its; dessert was another of the Nanaimo bars with blueberry swirl ice cream.

Wednesday, Oct 28

Morning sunrise 7:23 a.m. by a friend south of us with a better view than we have.Lovely sunrise at 7:23 a.m. by Sid Peterson

Before 8:00 a.m. robocaller (blocked) so rang only once.
Warmer today, and sunny. John worked a lot outside and I worked inside.

He left with the Ford truck, with canopy, to drive to town for supplies: grain, cat food, returned to Bi-Mart loafers too small, for slippers that fit, and was able to get his 2nd pneumonia shot.
I got off the note to the study group about this, but now am listing some research paper links.
Talked to Summer at Cle Elum Clinic and reported John’s 2nd Pneumonia shot received today, and she updated his immunization record.
3:01 Blocked another robocaller from Colville, WA (690); 3:14 Jeez, another robocaller from Darien, WI.

John called from Bi-Mart and will be here about 3:50 p.m. So I need to get Annie out to great him. She’ll be happy.
Supper: Hamburger with cheese, sliced yellow apple, last of the summer squash fried with onions. John grew the last two. Dessert: shared two small Nanaimo bars with blueberry swirl ice cream.
I did a lot of tax receipt filing before and after supper.

Moon rising photographed by Lise McGowan, in our valley

Thursday, Oct 29

Morning call from Gerald reporting in fine today. John’s now out taking care of the animals morning feeding. Sunny day, still chilly temperatures.

NOON to 1:10 pm: Game day AAC led by the CLC at CWU – Jeopardy. Dress in orange shirt/jacket via ZOOM. Neat; I was on the winning team (we played with volunteers). Our team had 4000 points vs. the other with 1,200.

Had a late lunch of leftover Oriental flavored Ramen pasta soup, with added cooked chicken breast meat and Cheez-its.
Was 66° at airport 2:00 p.m. but due soon for an update.
Outside house was 56.3° and at airport 67° at 3:00 p.m.; our sensor needs relocated – or theirs does.

I need to post for a cat litter box (open, no top). Posted request on Buy Nothing East Ellensburg, Kittitas FB Free site. And on Ellensburg The Free Box. Just got my first offer from the lady who gave us the child’s gate, Eva Frink. We’ll pick it up next week (Tuesday). And, we need to carry her the empty egg cartons.

Supper: Spaghetti sauce with ground beef, mushrooms, onions, diced tomatoes covering spaghetti pasta. Strawberry Lemonade flavored PowerAde for Nancy’s drink. Dessert: Nanaimo bar with blueberry swirl ice cream. End of those.

Friday, Oct 30

We completed our voting ballots this morning, and John drove to the Courthouse to deposit them in the Ballot Box. On from there he went to Kittitas, to deliver a 16# bag of cat food to the Kittitas Pantry, as a donation. They repack it in smaller Ziploc bags for clients.

2 robocallers today; blocked for future calls.
Geology stuff: #88 – Exotic M: San Juan Islands, 2:00 p.m. went very long today, until 3:45 p.m.! Good program.

‘Nick from Home’ #88 – Exotic M: San Juan Islands

Added another study group member today.

The local paper reported on a need: I talked to Peggy Beals via email about donation to the Ellensburg Community Clothing Center to help buy a new more secure drop-off bin for clothes. She gave me the address to mail my check, and we got the check in the mail. Also, mailed another check to pay for our reconfigured plumbing in the new utility room and the well “shocking”. So, that’s behind us.

Lunch: John had bacon and fried potatoes. I had a late lunch, a bowl of chicken soup, with cooked chicken breast added.

Saturday, Oct 31

Woody was ready to eat on the front porch at 5:00 a.m. So I fed her, took my Acetaminophen, and went back to bed.
Set some of our clocks back an hour to daylight saving time tonight. A couple more need doing.
John took mail for pick up to the mailbox.

Early a.m. I had a Chocolate Ensure Shake with Vanilla Bean Yogurt.
Brunch: Bacon with Blueberry Pancake.
John went to feed horses, and I finally finished loading the dishwasher. Phew. Started it at 6:00 p.m.
Two more robocallers blocked today (within a half hour of each other).

Supper: Fish, Sausage, Cheese Biscuits – Dessert: peach pie with sea salt caramel ice cream.Lise McGowan’s Masked Halloween Blue Moon not to happen again on Halloween until 2039. Last time it happened was 1944. The mask is very appropriate for our 2020 pandemic year!

“Blue Moon” is now used when there is a 2nd full moon in a month. Rarely do atmospheric conditions cause a blue colored moon. But it does happen.

Sunday, Nov 1

Moon is setting as the sunrises in Kittitas Valley this morning:Taken early 11-1 by photographer, Tamie Schaut published on Kittitas County Visual Delights site.

Two more robocallers blocked today (within a half hour of each other).
Up before 8:00 a.m. to follow the geology pre-show comments.
Nick’s 9:00 a.m. lecture, went long this morning for ~900 viewers worldwide—1 hrs. 51 mins.

‘Nick from Home’ #89 – Exotic N: Western Cascade Foothills

Having a hot cup of coffee to warm up, and sipping a French vanilla yogurt in chocolate Ensure milkshake.

Brunch: Small (& simple) Philly cheesesteak sandwich (Costco purchase) shared with John, with a cut-up pear.

From last week’s 3 yr. old Birthday Party for Natalie Sandman:

Our entry into the family was in 1974 because of Brittanys and attending all-breed pointing field trials and shows, and our friends, Karen & Bob Oppie, also Brittany breeders. Top left is Karen Oppie, Nancy & John Hultquist, right is Karen’s daughter Chris Sandman, grandma holding Nora (1 yr. old) and Natalie in front opening one of our gifts, sharing with Nora a smaller version of a Unicorn. Bottom photos, Natalie with homemade cake by a family member, Christina Frantz and someone else.

We were treated to much food before dessert: pizza, fruit, and appetizers, hot coffee, or cold drinks.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Not so Nasty News October 30th

Item #1: Rabbits

This from Australia.
Too many

Here is a link for the history buff: beginning in 1859

Apparently rifles are not allowed in AU, so shooting them for food isn’t a solution. Tasty. High quality protein. What’s not to like?

Item #2: Cat, turkey, Flag
Seems there are more cat photos and videos of cats on the web than grains of sand on the World’s beaches.
In this photo a family of 8 or 10 is facing the photographer. Miss Kitty uses the opportunity to have a few bites of turkey (?), I think.
Note, there is an American flag on the left side. This was a family of Asian ancestry.
Do you have Old Glory next to your dining table?

Item #3: Mother would approve

Before there were so many distractions in people’s lives, folks found ways to pass the days of cold and dark, or other induced inactivity, to produce useful things.
Mother crocheted doilies. Use that as a search phrase in images and see the possibilities. They appeared on the arms of the couch, on chairs, and under such things as a vase.
I do not recall a mask. However, just the thing to keep glasses from fogging up. Three cheers.

Item #4: WHAT?

This information appeared in a newspaper when they explicitly promised it would not.
I may have to go into hiding for a year or two.
Perhaps I can sue for millions of dollars.
On the other hand, my aunt that wondered if I was ever going to finish school and get a real job would be satisfied.
.

Item #5: Things not thought about

Not talking about moving to Florida or about Halloween – –

Ten years ago, when Nancy had a walker for a time, I don’t remember considering the height thereof. First use was a borrowed one. Then we bought, and ordered with large wheels. When no longer needed, we gave that to the group that loaned the first one to us. So, I can’t check if the height was adjustable, or just made for an adult.

Cute kids.

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

Seems a month too early

10 second video of snow

Monday, Oct 19

Slept in until 8:30 a.m. and so did John! I was actually up a little sooner to feed the hungry cats on the front porch, Woody & Sue.
John’s been out working in front yard, and doing morning chores, but came in for lunch, and missed the 43 mph wind gusts! Our home is still being buffeted in the breeze.

We had to tie a plastic bag to the fence at the lavender farm with packing materials to leave with the folks on the corner of Rader & Fairview. Bridge work on Fairview meant a small detour over a bit of gravel road.

I logged into the KVC medical portal for Nancy’s records and succeeded – found my Immunizations record. Yesterday, it wouldn’t give it to me. Maybe restarting my computer helped.
Unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher. For two people, we surely dirty a lot of dishes; I guess we have to count in the 4 cats and 1 dog.

I sent our current blog from 10-18-20 with the specific Blog entrance to folks whose photos I used in last week’s published one.

We had a gift card so went for ice cream: Figured the best price of Winegar’s ice cream: One pays $6.49 for a quart of their ice cream; 8.99 or a half gallon. Two quarts in a half gallon, so 2 * 6.49= $12.98. A ½ gallon is the way to go.

Brunch: We had a small bowl of soup and two kinds of crackers. I had a Chocolate Ensure shake with Peach yogurt, earlier in the morning.

Supper: after going to the SW side of town tonight to the Pilot station to fill John’s Crosstrek for his trip to Quincy tomorrow, getting it for $2.459/gallon, we went to Safeway for the Monday special dark meat fried chicken for $4.99 -4 thighs and 4 drumsticks. We bought two, and then I grabbed a Just 4 U savings of $5 for a grocery bill of over $5. Such a deal. We paid $5.81 for 16 pieces of chicken, which will go into the freezer for later. With our fried chicken we had a half of a cinnamon pear each, and a half of an apple, each. For dessert, we each had a bowl of Winegar’s special flavor: Kookie Kayla-peanut butter ice cream with a sea salt cookie fudge swirl. Very tasty choice.

Tuesday, Oct 20

Slept in until 9:00 couldn’t get my medicine tablet out of the container. Peeler wouldn’t work. Finally, took the pill. Set up my backup drive. It worked but won’t let me disconnect it. I’ll just turn off the machine later and pull the plug. That worked.
I had set up my backup drive, after taking my Alendronate, and finally finished getting ready to leave @ 10:40 for the first stop of all my errands today, alone, because John left this morning at 7:30 a.m. for bottling Malbec at White Heron Cellars, and then they will have lunch afterward. He carried along a plate of thinly sliced sirloin tip roast he cooked until very tender, and then used his new meat slicer to thinly slice it. We have enjoyed the roast sliced across the grain and thin. We should have bought a slicer years ago.

It took me a long time in town to do all my errands and stops, but I succeeded. I will review those briefly below. We’re using this symbol to indicate stops: ∞∫∞ . Porches of people in free giving sites to me to use for birthday gifts for a young child at a weekend party. I visited 3 locations of givers and received some interesting items. ∞∫∞ I left a package of something at another’s front door. ∞∫∞ Then I drove to Jerrol’s, our bookstore in town. A good friend gave us both a significant gift card at the store, and I utilized it to buy “textbooks”, for Nick Zentner’s livestreams from home, twice a week. They are all Roadside Geology books, of different states, and also Canadian provinces. Today’s stash included Oregon, Montana, N. & Central CA, and the other is of Southern British Columbia, Canada.

John called at 2:00 p.m. to say he was on his way home from bottling, and would be home about 3:15 p.m.
I just had to pick up the cat food dish, because two Magpies came in to take their share. I heard their squawking that alerted me to look and saw one sitting across from it on the rock wall.

Now I must get off this computer and load dishes to soak to be put in the dishwasher. They finally were done in time for supper, so we had dishes and utensils to use.

Two phone calls incoming, one a surprise from Ruth Harrington; it’s already the 4th Friday and we are having a Zoom luncheon again from CWU with Ruth and Peggy Eaton. Unfortunately, Friday came around and I had the wrong link so missed joining.

Supper: Fried chicken (dark meat), half each of Cinnamon pear, and yellow apple, fried onion rings. Dessert: Cherry pie with crumbles on top, with peanut butter chocolate cookie ice cream.

Wednesday, Oct 21

Morning started noisily, early, with Jesse and Rubin on the front landing. Annie (dog) wasn’t thrilled, so barked, and barked some more.
The crew had to remove a piece of rock siding, placed too high, and then frame windows with an engineered wood called “smart board.” Next was cutting a piece of stone siding to fit under the window. Noisy! Above the stone the finish is a cement & fiber panel called HardiePlank – using noisy nail guns.

Meanwhile, this morning @ 9:30 a.m., Kelly Hunter and sidekick Ken showed up to rearrange our water pipes and treatment tanks by making changes to the existing setup, which will make it save wall space in the new utility room. After discussing the job, Kelly left. Ken was very thorough and left it in super excellent condition—one fitting has a tiny leak and may need tightening, if it doesn’t soon heal itself.

I need to wash clothes and towels today to get ready for our foot care appointments tomorrow at the AAC. Got the check written and details in an envelope in my carrier.

Supper: Chicken stir-fry by John, rice with spicy gravy from where the chicken was cooked; side of last of yellow summer squash grown by John, cooked with onions he grew, and pieces of red bell pepper, I think that was all. I skipped dessert to take a shower.

Thursday, Oct 22
Counterclockwise sunrise right with Zoe by Lise McGowan, 7am Badger Pocket; 7:15am Hwy 10, by Charles McIntosh; 8:00am No 6 Rd, by Barb Bailey.

Taking off at 9:20 for foot care at the Center (AAC). First stop was at MidState Coop to buy Salt Pellets claiming to help remove iron; how it doesn’t say, so some research is needed regarding water softener things. Then on to the AAC where we checked in with Katrina for our temperature to be taken and to complete the 4 pages of paperwork required (maybe only the first time in). We had not been there for several years, because the Long Term Aging funding had been cut back and they had to eliminate some of the regulars who could afford getting it done elsewhere. Now our foot doctor has not been available since Panic2020 closures. We were allowed into utility rooms at the AAC, but not into the main space.
That took us until about 11:15. We had a couple more places to stop on the way home, but got home in time to for lunch and feeding several of the cats.

Lunch for John was Pizza. For me was a hot Chicken flavored noodle soup, with cooked chicken breast pieces, I added.

Good gracious—robocallers are working overtime to bug me. Today & yesterday, two; tomorrow, one. Two more Saturday.
Call from Jerrol’s today. My next ordered Roadside Geology made it into their store, so we’ll add it to our to do list for this coming Tuesday, when we’re in Ellensburg next week.

35° at 8:00 p.m. on our front porch and 40° at the airport.

Supper: John made spaghetti with ground beef, onions, diced tomatoes and sauce. Cut up a yellow apple to share.
Hopefully will be in bed by 11:00 p.m.

Friday, Oct 23

I slept in this morning to a wake-up call from a Robocaller. It was a rainy and cold morning, freezing again last night.

Today at Noon is a Zoom luncheon for our Ruth Harrington Scholarship luncheon. I planned to attend, but unfortunately, I had the wrong link address and tried but failed to join the group. I reached the leader by email (not by phone because she uses her phone to control the meeting on her smartphone), and I knew she wouldn’t see it until after it ended. It’s now been postponed until January, when we will resume our Zoom meetings on 4th Fridays of each month until May. At least by the 2nd week of December my Nick Zentner videos at 2:00 p.m. will have ceased.

It rained and was cold all day. John did get some mowing done on the north side of the driveway, during the sunny part of the day.

Nick Zentner returns at 2:00 p.m. today, with a very interesting presentation (1 hr. 32 mins). He reported thank yous at the beginning of the time (during the 17 mins. prior to the start of the lecture). Most exciting to me was that a fellow from Switzerland, sent him the dates his grandfather came from Elm, Switzerland to the US, and the docking place across from Ellis Island at a lower port of entry.

‘Nick from Home’ #86 – Exotic K: Wrangellia

Lunch: John had eggs, fried potato, and bacon, and I had a bowl of chicken soup, with cooked chicken breast added.
Supper: Cinnamon pears and spaghetti, meat, onions, and diced tomatoes in the sauce.
Our dessert was appropriate for Nick’s Exotic Terrane lectures, as it is the related food item for the geological feature. He used a German Chocolate Cake for the Columbia River Basalts. We had Taneum Meadows Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream served over a heated piece of Costco Fruitcake, our last piece this year from our freezer. They have the best and least expensive fruitcake in this area.
Too much time spent soaking dishes, so they’ll have to wait until morning to be cleaned.

Saturday, Oct 24

Awoke to a small amount of overnight snow. Fed the outside cats and went back to bed.

About 7:30 a.m. contractor worker came by to pick up bags of concrete-mix stored here for 4 months. John had just moved them to our barn to get them out of the carport area, so had to redirect Willie to the new spot. No advanced warning.

Running the dishwasher 10:00 a.m.; completely full.
Morning call from Gerald; all is well, but staying inside today. Snow over there too.
Called Jerrol’s and ordered the Roadside Geology of Alaska book, the newest one by Cathy Connor, $26. Alaska is full of accreted exotic terranes, and we will be covering it in weeks to come.

Called Fred Meyer pharmacy about ordering Annie’s medication but only–one bottle not two. The refill needed to be renewed by Dr. Fuller, so the Fax was sent. I called Ellensburg Animal Hospital to be sure they received the request. Their website says they’re open Saturdays until noon. NOT SO. I got a recorded message they were closed this weekend and to go to Valley Vet.

Fixed a blueberry Ensure chocolate shake (hate the blueberries, but have said that before).
Brunch: bacon, eggs over easy
Supper: warmed up fried chicken thighs & drumsticks, mashed potatoes, with a mixed pasta sauce and turkey gravy, with half of a cinnamon pear each (thanks again to Louaine). For dessert, John used a bowl of Winegar’s Taneum Meadows Blueberry Cheesecake flavored ice cream – (cheesecake with blueberry swirl) with cashews and hot chocolate fudge sauce atop.

Sunday, Oct 25

Wake up before 8:00. to follow the pre-show comments.
Nick’s 9:00 a.m. lecture, #87 with Karin Sigloch (an exotic terrane researcher person, not a terrane name)—went very long this morning for ~900 viewers worldwide—2 hrs. 5 mins.

‘Nick from Home’ #87 – Exotic L: Karin Sigloch

Nick announced next Friday’s lecture will be back in WA – the San Juan Islands, so we will be back to Marli Miller & Darrel Cowan for their Roadside Geology of Washington book, we often use as a reference.

Having a hot cup of coffee to warm up, and sipping a Wild Cherry yogurt in chocolate Ensure milk shake.
Brunch: I’ll skip because I know there will be lots of food at the party. John had some leftovers from last night’s supper.
I found my pumpkins-in-love sweatshirt with lighted pumpkin necklace too, which I will wear this evening to the birthday party dinner celebrating Natalie’s 3rd year birthday at Sara & Mike Sandman’s.

We went at 4:00pm to the party, and met many people of the family we’ve known since moving to Idaho in 1974. This family was the Oppie family we met through being Brittany breeders, and competing in field trial pointing dog tests and also AKC shows for conformation. We have been close to the family, their kids, grandkids, and now these are their great grandchildren.

We ate first, pizza, fruit, and visited. Stayed for the opening of presents, and then visited longer with the family left at the end. Got home late.

I took many photos of the evening but they’re still on my camera, and I’ll share a few in next week’s blog. We need to get this published so we can leave for the Yakima Heart Center in the morning for a device check for me, followed by a routine meeting with my cardiologist, and then we will make a Costco run.

Need to work on my paperwork to take to the Yakima Heart Center tomorrow. Finish the request for the Yearly handicapped parking sticker (red) for Dr. Krueger to sign for me to take to motor vehicle department. All is now in an envelope with my medication list and appointments.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Not so Nasty News October 23rd

A hard frost Wednesday night caused the Carpathian Walnut leaves to fall. On Tuesday I picked the last of the yellow Summer Squash, and brought the onion harvest inside.

Item #1: murmurations

Birds and fish in group flights
There are many videos of Starling murmurations; massive numbers. Not shown here.
This one shows the birds on the ground. Fun to watch also.

Knots

Item #2: Choices

Found this and it reminded me of the time we took visitors up to Washington’s false Bavarian Village of Leavenworth. Many things there, most of which no one needs. This is about food.
Stocked shelves in grocery store

Item #3: Driver is in the truck

This comes from the Siberian Times without much explanation.

Polar Bears like garbage

Sad thing here is that the little ones miss out on the “food”.

Item #4: People have way too much time

Item #5: Missed us!

About half of Washington State has snow on the ground. We have had a bit of rain. The snow is moving south and may reach us tonight. In the last two hours the wind direction shifted from out of the North to an East Wind. In the image below, imagine air flowing from the distant hills (top) and coming toward you. That air is encountering the air already here (warmer) and we get rain. The red line is our normal wind direction – off the Pacific Ocean, over the mountains. The moisture falls on the west-facing slopes of the Cascade Mountains.
Tonight the wind is shifting and the blue line shows its direction – east to west, and up the gently sloping approach to the Cascade Crest. The air expands and cools. If it cools enough the water vapor therein will chill. That’s what is happening tonight, and we should get snow sometime during the next few hours. The Weather Service estimates a maximum of 2 inches for us, or some rain.
This will be followed by cold air out of the north again – – and 16°F by Sunday morning. Ouch!
The temperature will rebound Tuesday to 47°, and not go to freezing in the next 7-day forecast period.

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

October days

Monday, Oct 12

It rained most of the night.
Starting this morning with an October image from the Super 1 grocery store entrance by my friend in Kittitas, WA:
Captured the fall scene on a nice cold morning, from photographer EvieMae Schuetz.

At 9:00 a.m. it’s cold (50°) and breezy (38 mph gusts), but sunny. The horses are way down in the 7-acre-pasture at the south end, standing in the lee of the trees to cut the wind. John drove his pickup with hay down to them to feed there.

Here’s the morning view from the GOES West Satellite:The visible brown area is dry central Washington.
I have several projects to complete and then, I’m switching entirely to filing and organizing tax receipts. Never made it until late night, and now need to change folders. I did the rest of the ordering, but had two things from a different month I have to refile.

Brunch: I had leftover chicken soup and also a milkshake with Chocolate Ensure and blueberry yogurt earlier this morning.

Supper: John fixed a stir-fry of chicken breast meat, with gravy, onions (our own), mashed potatoes, corn, and carrots.

Ending with a photo I just saw today, that was taken Sunday in the hills NE of our home on Colockum Ridge, south of Wenatchee,Photographed by Kevin Dwight (my friend & former student)- Larches (Tamaracks) turning yellow, 4600′ Colockum Ridge, 14 mi. NNE, 10-11-20
That ridge on the south side is NE of our home and would be the way Kevin drove to where he took his photos.

If you like helicopter rides, you may enjoy the following video by Wenatchee woman named Maria, who lives on the north side of the ridge, and who pilots a helicopter we’ve been along on trips with, with her sidekick Nick Zentner describing the geology seen below. This one is a survey of the fire damage from an arsonist set fire that swooped up the canyons of Colockum Ridge in July 2020, and you will see its proximity to her home she’ll point out as well. And, there are more comments below her video. You can stop the video and read about before or after you watch it.

Wildfire Damage, Helicopter Survey (12 mins)

Tuesday, Oct 13

Miles and miles of clouds. Raining again here this morning. Cats never appeared for their Monday a.m. feeding, and now their dinner table is inaccessible until later this afternoon, probably.
Early a.m. arrival of contractors to put the rock face siding on the bottom of the house along the new concrete at the front door.

Our trip to town has been delayed in its intended starting time. No problem, as John cannot work in the rain, anyway. Will give me time to start loading dirty dishes to soak and to unload the dishwasher’s clean load.
I took my weekly medication tablet on an empty stomach and hooked up the Backup Plus drive for its noon backup.

We did not win anything on our Bi-Mart numbers today. John drove and took extra set of his keys for me to go back to the car at different stops, and make phone calls from his car in the parking lot. Stops are separated below by ∞∫∞. He drove me by the Senior Center (AAC) to drop off materials from the game day last week.
∞∫∞ Then, we were off the KVC Medical Arts Building, south of AAC, across from Super 1 Grocery. There I received a blood draw for my INR (monthly) and also my Potassium (quarterly). ∞∫∞ From there we continued to Super 1 Pharmacy for our Flu Shots. The paperwork required was very involved and time-consuming, but we got our shots from our favorite Pharmacist. She’s given us our shots for many years, and I have known her as a fiddle player with our group, earlier until she started working full-time. ∞∫∞. After that, John went shopping for groceries, and I went to customer service with a receipt from last Tuesday, for Reese’s peanut butter cups for which I was overcharged higher than the on-sale price of $.78 for some of them. The cashier was surprised, but agreed, and handed me a $2.20 cash refund. Normally, I check my receipt while still in the store, but I didn’t last week. Then I went back to John’s car to complete some telephone contacts. He bought some boneless sirloin tip roasts at a great price/pound. All he bought were at a sale saving prices. ∞∫∞ From there, John drove us to Midstate Coop and bought a bag of Senior Horse Complete grain and a 40# bag of Black-Oiled Sunflower Seeds for our birds. ∞∫∞ To Safeway, for Just for U bargain coupons that end today, and got some other on sale items. We got 2 dozen large eggs @ 99₵ ea., Bananas for 56₵/#, Red Seedless Grapes for $1.70/#, and PowerAde at 49₵ ea., by buying 5 bottles.

Lunch: Leftover chicken stir fry with onions, gravy, corn, and red seedless grapes.

3:00 p.m. the winds have increased for the past two hours to 40 mph gusts. John is sitting in a chair across the room from me resting, and the winds are hitting our house very noisily. The contractors finished their work and left before they got knocked down putting up our house siding. They accomplished a lot in the time here this morning. Finally, one of our outside cats has made it in for food this afternoon, Woody. Her mom Sue hasn’t shown up yet.

John and I just spent 16 minutes in a frustrating conversation with Citi Bank about our Costco credit card, trying to replace his credit card lost (?) Aug 4, that we’d put a hold on. Now we should get a replacement card in the regular mail in a week or less. After originally telling us that, the card came priority delivery via FedEx in 2 days.

The very same day, later in the afternoon, we got a phone call from our neighbor who works at Fred Meyer that our card had been found Aug 4 at their store. He noticed our name and called us. He doesn’t get them until they’re over a month old. So, we thanked him, and told him to cut it and dispose of it. Interesting.

At 7:15 I took 2 Acetaminophen and have to figure the remainder to take before going to bed of two 2 smaller Mg ones.
Supper: beef stew with biscuits atop, including added chicken meat, carrots, potatoes, with Cheez-its on the side, and red seedless grapes on the plate around the heated stew.

Nice sunset tonight from the west side between storm clouds:Water is Puget Sound; the land in the background is Fox Island. Photo by Pat Jack, long-time friend at CWU, who now lives in a condo, in Tacoma, from where she took this photo.

Wednesday, Oct 14

Morning call 8:20 a.m. from Haley in the Coumadin clinic KVC-Cle Elum, INR=2.1 (monthly), Potassium=4.3 (quarterly). I asked her to update our immunization record on the Hospital’s Medical portal, to record yesterday’s Flu Shots for each of us on 10-13-20; I checked and our last pneumonia shot was 10-22-18 (it’s the first dose, so we only need the 2nd). That’s ordered for us both, and Tuesday (our pharmacist’s name) will give it to us on Oct 27.

Started first thing this morning, loading dirty dishes in dishwasher.
John’s back out working again. Shorter day length and some not so nice weather has cut into his exertions. He’s starting to cut calories to compensate.
Need to send papers from Jerome to the study group.

Brunch: Bacon, blueberry/pecan pancake.

John worked outside on various projects moving lumber – – sorting out a few of the better discards (side planks and others) and piling the rest for a 5-mile distant neighbor. [Fellow that removed the concrete slab with a big backhoe.]

Supper: Long-roasted boneless sirloin tip roast, onions, and baked potatoes, with a bowl of red seedless grapes.

Thursday, Oct 15

After a late night staying up, I slept in until 9:00 a.m. and then have been doing double time ever since with emails and telephone calls.
Started with setting up my computer for the day, receiving a phone call from a friend about her medical emergency of having congestive heart failure and looking for the cell phone # of a mutual friend to give her, writing an email to another neighbor about coming down today to cart home some firewood. We had a morning visit from FedEx to deliver John’s replacement lost credit card, and a phone call to arrange filling a drug prescription to pick up next Tuesday. I did email the study group the 2 scientific papers from Jerome in BC to prepare for Nick’s Oct 23 lecture on Wrangellia Exotic Terrane.
I sent the next email to the Zentnerds study group, both To_& Bcc_ lists, and to other friends interested in Native American Culture, and especially our Native American storyteller and legend spreader, Randy Lewis.

John reads this link daily (wattsupwiththat) and asked me to send this to Randy to see if he was aware of this: about the Ancient North American cultures and/or the history of the domestication of the dog). It’s probably reflected in your native American storytelling of legends.

Shaggy Dog from Watts Up with That

Finally, here is the link you might want to follow to learn more about Randy Lewis, himself. After reading the “biography,” then visit to the right, the link to his video there, and then follow the icon to get to the other YouTube links of videos by Randy.

Overview of the man Randy Lewis

Once there, you’ll see this:

and to the right, you’ll want to click on the icon to the right of his first video’s name header, the 4 lines with right arrow after the words: Randy Lewis Seattle Civil Right… That will access all 9 videos in the playlist for Randy.

Robocaller blocked again from Colville, WA (we receive so many from that exchange that I know the 509-690 prefix by heart; yet, it always comes from a wireless caller. Blocked another from same prefix as this, 29 min later with another Colville number.

John loaded a month’s worth of firewood into the neighbor’s truck. He was cutting with the chainsaw and she showed up early, so she got less than he had intended. He was also cutting a few pieces with knots to take to one of the bottlers for “turning” pieces. He had some Black Walnut, Carpathian Walnut, Mountain Ash, and Poplar.

He is now fixing lunch. He’s having left over onions and sirloin tip meat from last night’s dinner. Later this afternoon, he’ll be getting our new slicer set up, to slice the roast into thin pieces that I can chew. And, he’ll take a plate for the bottling crew’s lunch after bottling Malbec, next Tuesday. That will work nicely, but had he realized he’d be going there he’d have waited to cook the roast. Now he’ll have to freeze it today to use next week. Will have 2 Reese’s Peanut butter cups for my afternoon snack.

John’s back to the wood culling (the milled wood) as some was left 12 feet long. Some odd pieces he cut for firewood, but most of the rest is being carried off by Pat, who said he fired up his wood stove this week. We anticipate below freezing temperatures next week.

Just had a phone call from Katrina about foot care at the Senior Center. She hopes to have us scheduled for Thursday Oct 22 at 10:15 & 11:00. She will let me know by tomorrow. She’ll send the material we need to bring via email. Yes, both happened, and I’m very grateful for the special treatment.

I’m busy with activating John’s new CitiBank (Costco) credit card that came via FedEx today. Unanticipated, so the driver had to hang it on the fence. I’ve first had to update my records on the computer in a folder under Credit Card-Info. It’s now activated. Apparently, the first time you use it, you have to swipe it, and after that it becomes a contactless chip card (touch and go).

Need to work on proofing Janet’s Word document, then, put time in the kitchen on dishes, and have my snack, and get some tax filing done! Guess what did not get done.
I worked and made good progress on unloading the dishwasher and putting up all the silverware and stainless steel flatware. Time to get my snack for the next round. OK, it was a DARK chocolate one instead of the regular. Interesting.

John just returned inside from his latest chain sawing project, but it is completed now before rain and snow gets it wet. Now he will return to landscaping – rocks, dirt, gravel.
We’re about ready for a heated popcorn feast John is fixing. My second snack of the afternoon.
John set up our new meat slicer and is thin slicing the sirloin tip roast from yesterday’s slow-oven roast. We will have some for supper tonight, and then freeze some for later.

Call at 7:30 p.m. from Walter Davenport that he is delivering the rock wall siding that needs to be attached on the porch house front. He’s coming tonight to deliver it, and John will get on his boots to help unload the sheets. Willie and Jesse will first finish a job in Cle Elum, and then come down here.

Supper: Thin-sliced sirloin tip roast, fried onion rings, cinnamon pears (gifted by our neighbor, Louaine).

Imagery below is from a sagebrush/steppe part of the region 25 miles southwest of us.

These two photos were taken by Jessie Walling (my friend and former student) on her trail running journey this evening. Evidence of the wildfire’s destruction is consistent with the fiery sunset colors.
The Evans Canyon Fire started on the afternoon of Aug 31, 2020. Photos from the week are on the web if you search-up images with – – Evans Canyon Fire. And if you look back to our weekly blog during that time you’ll see our views from our valley.

Friday, Oct 16

Dark and dreary here. Beautiful sunrise elsewhere in the valley.

Published in KC Visual Delights. Gayle McIntosh’s photograph from her back porch looking east from Hwy 97; posted by a son. I neither get up early enough nor have the viewpoint from home to take such gorgeous scenes.

I won the Wheel of Fortune Game Day at the Senior Center. 1600 points, next was 950, and lowest was 650. Sad because the lowest started ahead of us all, and then the wheel spun a bankrupt. We all had a good time, regardless. We played it on Zoom.

No Nick lecture today at 2:00 p.m. He’s back in Wisconsin visiting his mom and sister.
Cheryl Paul’s birthday is today; I called her and sang happy birthday to her voicemail.
Call from Susan Donahoe that my voter ballot was not in her mailbox. I’ll wait a few days to see if it shows from farther down the road. Then report it lost. John’s was delivered fine yesterday. Didn’t have to wait long, as it was included in delivery today with no explanation.

Brunch: Bacon, eggs, Cinnamon Pear (shared with John), eggs over easy with cheddar cheese, and I had a slice of English Muffing Toasting Bread, with Apricot Preserves atop, made as gift by my neighbor Ken.

John’s afternoon on yard projects were affected by the high wind gusts:

Supper: Appetizer, cheddar cheese in Fritos Scoops. Progresso soup with beef added for rest of meal.

Saturday, Oct 17

Up and down a lot through the night, so ended up sleeping late.
Cat fight on front porch; unsure who was involved but Rascal was the aggressor. Likely Woody – she dislikes Rascal which is befuddling. Czar was inside sleeping on his blanket.

Morning greetings from Gerald who is doing fine, and had talked with Maury and learned they were fine as well.
From LethaLee sent the link for Nick’s October 23rd Friday afternoon 2:00 lecture, but that channel is not showing up dated links on mine. Checked out later after a restart of my computer, and it is still not listed. However, I can access the URL.

I finished an email to Jana Goodey and sent it, and then work an hour or a few pages on the thing for Janet Lane on COVID-19.

John’s out working for an hour, and will come back in and cook some pork sausage we don’t know where we got. It is one pound in a “not for sale” wrapper from 2017.
Worked on proofreading Janet Lane’s COVID -19 chapter of a book on the use of GIS and sent her what I have as of today, to be sure it was useful and understandable.

John retrieved the afternoon mail and it included a statement from Costco about my enrollment. It was misleading, but I opened it and found a certificate inside I need to take there to cash for only $33, our next time at Costco. It reflects the excess bonus of 2% on purchases through the year only on Costco goods within the store. We get another much larger check in February, for reward paybacks for using the VISI CitiBank card to buy gasoline at a 4% discount, among other perks such as using it at restaurants. We’re on automatic renewal (Dec 1) for the next year’s business card membership. We haven’t been doing much because of Panic2020, so these perks are reduced.

I read through John’s Not So Nasty News this afternoon and found a nice link to the story of the lemur stolen from the San Francisco Zoo. He re-opened his report and it is there now.

I worked on filing some tax receipts and will do more tonight before going to bed.

Brunch: spicy pork sausage patties someone gave us with a Blueberry/pecan pancake topped with cutup nectarines and maple syrup.

Supper: John created from some leftover Chicken Alfredo, our main dish for tonight. He added red & yellow bell peppers, pepperoni, cheddar cheese, cashews, & I’m not sure what else. I washed and destemmed some red seedless grapes. I also had two different kinds of crackers with my supper.

Sunday, Oct 18

Slept in again, but not soundly. Awakened throughout the night with various interruptions including rain at 3:20 a.m., so I am kind of slow starting, on a dreary overcast day.

Restarted my computer this morning hoping it will correct some of the errors I’ve been having accessing data.

John went to feed the birds, and the horses about 9:35 a.m.

10:23 a.m. a call came from Gerald Gordon, my 90-yr old friend in Thorp, and we had a 10 min conversation. Then at 10:36, he called back and said he had a gift for me, and started singing every word of the song, It’s Just a Little Street Where Old Friends Meet, in his beautiful voice he has not at all lost with age. We had been talking about getting together with our group in a jam session and having him play again with us (as our lead singer). I know that will happen and it will be healing music for us all.

Load my gift cards for Jerrol’s bookstore) in my wallet for Tuesday. I suppose, also, I will take the ones for Winegars’ (local ice cream), although the ice cream one will just be in my wallet for when we run out of the 5 quarts we bought last week.

Fixed a protein drink for this morning. It was one of my Strawberry Ensures mixed with strawberry yogurt.

After restarting my computer this morning, I logged into the KVC medical portal for Nancy’s records and succeeded, but I was unable to find my Immunizations record, as I had found John’s yesterday on his account.

Brunch: Spicy sausage, with two eggs over easy covered with melted cheddar cheese crumbles; John had potatoes and onions (his own little white ones, called Sterling, that will store for 8 months), and I had a cup of coffee.

John went up to the irrigation ditch today in 40mph gusts, to fill the dog & cats watering bucket. There is also a similar pail outside. We’ll soon have to switch to the heated bowl. He had on his bucket hat, and the wind blew it off his head into the ditch!

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Not so Nasty News October 16th

I don’t know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.
{Will Rogers}

Things Get Better With Age: I’m Approaching Excellent {unknown}

Item #1: Animal stories
Upon first seeing this video, I though it was likely staged with a trained bear. I found the following site with some explanation, so with some hesitation I am willing to believe. It is a neat maneuver, in either case.

Highway helper

Similar: There is a story of a small owl riding on the co-pilot’s seat of a water-dropping helicopter:
Helicopter Owl Just a bit of info and a photo. Maybe a Western Screech Owl.

And from San Francisco, this about Maki, an arthritic Lemur: “Police said Friday they arrested a man suspected of stealing a ring-tailed lemur from the San Francisco Zoo, where officials rewarded a 5-year-old boy who helped recapture the endangered primate with a lifetime membership.”
My first thought was that Maki already had a lifetime membership at the Zoo. I think I’ve figured it out, though.

Story with photo from CNN: Link, so click here.

Item #2: Just trying to help

In this case the helper was well meaning, but not without fault. I’ve worked on numerous hiking trail bridges. Here’s one: a major project near Liberty Lake at Cedar Grove:

Part One . . . . . Part Two

If you glance at the end of the logs in the photos [see #18 in Part Two, and following] you can see we built a rock filled wire enclosure (gabion) with plates under and steel rods extending up. A large wood beam is on top, with the threaded rods sticking through for washers and nuts. Then, iron (rebar) goes through the logs into the wood beam.
In the photo below there is nothing of that sort. The support logs (stringers) going across the “creek” are small and rest on the ground.
I used quote marks because the creek is dry. Not much imagination is required to envision roiling water pummeling this new bridge.A Maine town is trying to identify the person who built a replacement bridge next to a collapsed one along a hiking trail on a popular 308-acre preserve.

Story here

Although its one-person parks and recreation department routinely receives calls about felled trees or animals along the path, Windham town manager Barry Tibbetts said the broken bridge had not been reported to the town, which maintains the preserve with help from partners.
A related problem is that the town, now knowing of the bridge, has a safety and liability issue, and will be “inspected for functionality.”
My guess is, they will have to bring it to modern trail standards, or take it out. Search-up – hiking trail bridges – for ideas.

Item #3: Weird

On August 4th we went to several places to shop. Later, for a reason I’ve forgotten, I realized a credit card was not where I thought it was. We called the card company and placed a “hold” on the number. I expected the card would show up in the car, or a shirt pocket, or under a book or newspaper. It never did.
Finally, this Monday morning we called the card company again and had that card removed from the system and a new one sent. Cased closed? Not quite.
We got a call in late afternoon from a neighbor that works at Fred Meyer. One of his duties is to handle credit cards found in the store. He recognized the name, and brought the card home. I forgot to ask where the card had been for the previous 10 weeks.
The trip to the store was odd too, and might be related, but how, I don’t know. I could have just dropped the card in the parking lot.
When I started unloading the cart at our car, there was a bag in which there were several items we did not purchase. A helpful “bag person” had drifted by and helped load things at the lane we were in. One of the items was a large bottle of whiskey; easily seen sticking up in the small plastic bag. Definitely not ours.
I carried the bag back to the check-out lane and explained the issue to the young lady there. She said the bag was left off to the side so its owner could visit the loo. The floating “bagger” wasn’t aware of that, so he put it in our cart.
That was weird, but doesn’t really explain the missing credit card. The really weird bit was cancelling the card and the neighbor calling within hours, after a 10 week interval.

Item #4: Smartest person in the room

She seemed to have all the facts, and they wondered if she had notes in front of her.

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett holds up her notepad as she speaks during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020. {AP photo]
She was asked: “Is there anything on it?”
“The letterhead that says ‘United States Senate’,” she responded.

Item #5: Eat or nail to wall?

Lochel’s Bakery ‘cookie poll’

Surprisingly, to me at least, is that the place is making and selling these things to the exclusion of everything else one expects to find at a bakery. Operating procedure is to make, sell, and close for the day.

.

.

.

Explanation? Maybe if there are none of these, irate political types would throw a shoe through a window. But what if I want a “Bear Claw” pastry or a loaf of bread? Either is more appetizing than a decorated sugar cookie.
Nail the cookies to the side of an old shed, I say.

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

House remodeling project & Skyscapes

Monday, Oct 5

Early morning call from Kelly Hunter; coming at 9:00 a.m., Wed, 21 Oct to reconfigure the water plumbing in utility room. It was jerry-rigged when the new floor was constructed.

Late last night I put out on 3 Free Facebook sites, that I was in search of a Child’s Gate:

This morning, my wishes were fulfilled, when a friend (Eva Frink) in Ellensburg offered us a metal one with a door that opens and swings both directions. Exactly “purrfect” for our needs to keep our cats and dog from entering the new room of the house. It’s between the kitchen door and the washroom, with access to our new livable space room where the old attached 2-car garage was. Now John has moved his computer out there and a radio/CD sound system, among a few other things. We want the access for us to go back and forth, but we want to keep the dog and the cats from going out there.Gate closed vs. Gate opened out—it goes both directions.

John had planned to go to Super 1 for a Deli tray, but ended up buying cheese slices of provolone, some Gallo Salami round slices the size of the top of a can, to accompany the package of crackers he brought home from his tray taken to last week’s Pinot Noir bottling. Tomorrow he leaves at 7:30 a.m. to go to White Heron Cellars, for bottling Arvine wine, with a lunch afterward on the hill above the Mariposa Vineyard. He has come back to meet our contractor Walter, late afternoon.

Supper: John fixed a double pepperoni pizza with added diced tomatoes, and grated cheddar cheese. Dessert: Apple crisp heated and vanilla ice cream.

Nancy spent a lot of time on the web with planning a couple of gigs, and then a bunch of time loading dishes into hot soapy water for putting into the dishwasher for running tomorrow.

Tuesday, Oct 6

John left at 7:30 a.m. for White Heron bottling.
I have to do a bunch of stuff to get ready to go to Ellensburg for things on my to-do list.

It’s Tuesday, so I took my weekly medication tablet on an empty stomach and hooked up the Backup Plus drive for its noon backup protection of all the files on my computer’s hard drive.

I went by Bi-Mart to check the winning numbers, and one with my last number in my membership number being a “1”. It was a set of two soft toothbrushes. We have plenty of them, but I got them anyway. Need to find a home for them?
I went by Super 1 for Reese’s peanut butter cups. Got 37 for 78 cents each (2/pkg), with one pd 98 cents for so next Tuesday when we’re in there for our flu shots, I’ll have to get my 20 cent refund.

Went to my bank & deposited a check written to John H, in our joint checking account.
I walked across the street and climbed the stairs to The Gym for 28 capsules of ABX for November, (will be on antibiotics for my dental teeth cleaning in November, and it’s necessary because antibiotics raises my INR reading). Also bought a bottle of Complete probiotic for October & December – I used my VISA Chase (Amazon.com) card for the medical expense, even though it will not be recognized as a pharmacy for the 2% deduction. I know goes into my medical expenses for taxes.

Went by Safeway to obtain my Just4U coupon, and bought 5, Powerade drinks @ 49₵ each. From there on by Amy’s to leave a jar of Peanut Butter, can of tuna fish, and a bag of individual packets of Doritos flavored chips for Haley’s lunches.

Walter came at 4:30 p.m. to consult about the pouring of the concrete walkway in the morning. Hoping not to waste the delivery (and any extra in the truck), John built a 3.5 x 10 ft. form at the entrance to the shed, and three 2 x 2 ft. non-attached forms.

Supper: Long cooked BBQ Pork chops, with onions, Yukon Gold Potato baked, Red seedless grapes. Dessert: Apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.
I washed a huge load of dishes tonight.

Wednesday, Oct 7

4 people here on porch before 7 taking out an old post and setting a new one. 4X4 out; 6×6 in. A 2nd 6×6 will be centered between that new post and the house wall. Walter and son Jesse set the new post in metal bracket and removed old post; concrete will be poured on the floor up to the concrete step seen in the middle bottom of the left photo.
John worked on a forms in front of tall shed. That’s him in the distance. Ellensburg Cement Products truck arrived at 8:05.
The essential item was the slanting ramp under the tall cover. I was the photographer and videographer for all this work. We didn’t get in the house for lunch until 1:00 p.m.

Below is a video I took from the door of the new room where the attached 2-car garage once was, so you’ll need to click on the link to watch the pouring of the concrete for the last few feet to the front entrance door to our house.

Wheelchair Walkway Front Entry Concrete Pour

John went back outside after lunch and then came in for a nap.
He’s back out working again.
Late phone call at 4:00 from friend in Thorp, Gerald, who got his annual physical completed today; earlier in one day than we will. In December we’ll have to drive two round-trips 30 mi each in the winter weather to our PA-C in Cle Elum for two appointments a week apart. I’m still unhappy about that. A “year & a day” between these visits is required, but scheduling always seems to stretch to a year and a couple of weeks.Above taken this evening at 5:49pm facing west from West Ellensburg Park; by photographer, Jennifer Yenter.

Geology today: I researched this past episode from June, to send to the study group with 3 papers sent by Jerome Lesemann from Nanaimo, BC to have for background reading for Friday’s talk.
This was Nick from Home with Jerome Lesemann as a live chatter on British Columbia Geology.

Episode #56 British Columbia Geology? 6/2/20

Supper: Fajita beef, with frozen colorful bell peppers from a package, added one of John’s purple onions, and cheese-its, bowl of red seedless grapes, Apple crisp and vanilla ice cream for dessert.
Going to bed late after writing the KV F&F and the study group.

Thursday, Oct 8

Peggy Coble photographed this from her deck about 7 a.m. today and published it as a gift from God to share with all.

Walter came over early before 7:00 a.m. to remove the concrete walkway forms and check out the project. All’s well, and he was out of here by 7:30. He and John are pleased with the results. There was just one glitch — cute Woody foot prints. Woody is the lightest and the most inquisitive of all our cats. She’d examined all the walkway from the start to the front door where the cat feeding station has been. The first part of the ramp was in the sun and was dry on the surface by 7 AM. The part nearer the house was shaded and not quite dry as she made an afternoon visit. That’s where her tiny footprints are. We had managed to keep our heavy dog and ourselves off the concrete as it dried. Woody’s tiny feet to remember her & her eating (Longhair Tabby)
{John says: The camera had trouble with focus on the plain gray surface, so I added the lens cover for scale, and the cardboard for color.}

Another Robocaller from Out of Area, came through at 8:30 a.m. I have blocked them.
Morning call 9:30 from Pharmacist Tuesday Bosch that our flu shot serum is in and marked for us. She will be on duty for the next week (except Sunday), so we shall go by for our shots, and are to carry in our Medicare cards (just in case they’re required). We’ll do it on our one day in Ellensburg, next Tuesday.

10:00 call from Gerald morning hello; had his exercise, and tomorrow morning goes to Dermatologist in Yakima with daughter driving.
Another Robocaller at 2:43 blocked from Colville, WA 690.Beautiful evening sky behind Barn right off the exit at Thorp, taken at 6:45 pm tonight, by photographer EvieMae Schuetz

Supper: We had a stew like (tomatoes, beans, 2 kinds of meat, pork & chicken, covering of spaghetti noodles, with fried carrot sticks on the side, and dessert of vanilla ice cream topped with strawberries and hot chocolate fudge sauce.

Friday, Oct 9

Friday, October 9, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. for AAC Game Day of Duo. I canceled doing this to work on the music in parking lot project and to send information to the study group for Nick Zentner’s afternoon lecture at 2:00 p.m. today.

John was out working this morning mostly separating dirt (to garden) from rocks, and graveling his trench of rocks on the drip line of the new walkway. He spent time putting unsorted dirt into the old Chevy pickup truck and moving it to a low spot, and rocks into buckets to fill a loading ramp for accessing the back of a pickup. Should mention the Naneum Fan has lots of rocks.

I had a 2:00 p.m. viewing of a Nick from Home show today that lasted 116 mins. Note, there will be nothing on Exotics next weekend, Friday & Sunday because Nick is visiting his mom and sister in Wisconsin.
Added two people to the study group members Earth Science Weekly distribution list from the Jobsnancy@gmail.com account and also put on the Earth Science Weekly mailing list for Zentnerds to receive.

‘Nick from Home’ #84 – Exotic I: Stikinia

Supper: French fried onion rings. Cordon Bleu split, some stew-like soup, and small home-grown cherry tomatoes. For dessert, peach pie with butter pecan ice cream.

Saturday, Oct 10

After a long stay up and not getting to bed last night until after midnight, I slept in this morning till 9:30 a.m.
Phone call from Pat Jenkins he’d be coming by around noon to pick up some more discards of the log milling project. John is separating potential rails; side slabs, if they are stout.

We each had all sorts of projects awaiting our attention.
John’s out working in 56.8° temperature with 38 mph gusts measured 5 miles south of us at the airport. He just came in to say he’d had enough. Says, there is a short story he started thinking about – about wind and dust in an “old west” town {by Dorothy Johnson ?}.

I finally got the email off to study group members for Nick from Home series with the information about background materials (scientific papers) for tomorrow morning’s lecture on the next Exotic Terrane being studied, in British Columbia.

Brunch: Bacon, Oven-heated Cinnabon® type Cinnamon Roll on a new layer of brown sugar with chopped pecans.
Supper: Lasagna, Battered Cod, Crispy Fries.

Sunday, Oct 11

Wow, long morning show– almost 2 hrs with Nick Zentner. I began the morning with a cup of coffee and a chocolate milkshake of Ensure and peach yogurt to tide me through until lunch.

John searched for and found a video I wanted to share with the group about Ida Nason, and we previewed parts of it, but it does not have audio with it as the site we obtained it from implies. I need to check with Allen Aronica to find out if one with sound exists. To make it understandable we need sound, or a transcript of what we’re viewing. The video lasts for 41 minutes, plus buffering. It was taken during or after the burial ceremony a mile north of us at the ranch where Ida Nason died (age 103, 1992).

Clear, cold at 42°, sunny, no rain or wind, for Nick’s 9:00 a.m. program outside.
I started at 8:06 a.m. on line to capture comments on starting with pre-show of the lecture. This is a premiere showing by Nick Zentner in ‘Nick from Home’ fall series on Exotic Terranes.
Today’s lecture was long at 116 mins, with a “field trip to his basement” to hear the history of his grandfather, Nikolaus Zentner coming from Elm, Switzerland to America and Wisconsin to the family farm in Civil War times. The family is searching for details of the trip’s destination point (maybe Ellis Island, or Baltimore) and have been unsuccessful. He was seeking advice from his viewers for help tracing the voyage, and showed us the grandfather’s Steamer Truck brought across the Atlantic Ocean. Now to find out the rest of the story.

‘Nick from Home’ #85 – Exotic J: Alexander

Currently, John is mowing some of the high stuff next to the irrigation ditch. He only worked outside a couple of hours because of intermittent rain.

Need to write a note about the music in the parking lot not being held yesterday (for good reason) strong wind gusts to 38 mph, temp 56°. It would have been difficult to tie down the heated tent in the front parking lot (in the grassy spot near the entrance), and uncomfortable for residents to be outside the building.

I had a phone call from a member of the study group from the Tri-Cities, and he and I talked for 23 mins about a project he has coming to me to forward to our group.

Fixed a late chicken noodle soup lunch for me.
Started raining about 2:00 pm and now darkening from cloud cover. We are near the State’s center; the red dot.Yep, that’s a lot of cloud cover all over our region. Rain at low elevations. Stevens Pass got snow; 4,000 ft. and above.

Supper: Chicken breast stir fry, carrots, and more.

Tonight the newly converted room was getting cold. We turned the small wall-inserted heater on and the ceiling fan also came on at its slowest speed. At the moment both have gone off. Nice.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Not so Nasty News October 9th

Item #1: Fall arriving

A storm – to reach us about 11:00 tonight – has come ashore on Washington’s coast; the northwestern tip thereof called Cape Flattery. This is the north-western-most point of the contiguous United States. ***From Wikipedia: “Cape Flattery is the oldest permanently named feature in Washington state, being described and named by James Cook on March 22, 1778. Cook wrote: “… there appeared to be a small opening which flattered us with the hopes of finding an harbour … On this account I called the point of land to the north of it Cape Flattery.”
It is nicer on a clear and calm day.
_ _ _ _
***In the phrase “north-western-most”, the key word is “north”, because there is a small place a bit more to the west, called Cape Alava.
See: Land, but not much

Item #2: Not my onions!


I did not plant Walla Walla Onions this year – they do not keep as well as those types I did plant. Still, Walla Walla is a Washington town, and the onions are well known. Thus, I clicked on the story.
The photo here appeared on Facebook for a time, and was removed;
The company wrote: “So we just got notified by Facebook that the photo used for our Walla Walla Onion seed is ‘Overtly Sexual’ and therefore cannot be advertised to be sold on their platform… Can you see it?”
Story here: Onions are roundish

Item #3: I prefer puns

The past, the present, and the future walked into a bar. It was tense.

Item #4: Remember: vote early and often

Our booklet with information about the State and National elections arrived today. Ballots are to be mailed next Friday. We have a mail process in Washington. Most other states haven’t figured out how to do this. The latest glitch was in Ohio. Story here: 50,000 oops

When we arrived in Washington State the neighborhood voting was in a church. That changed, and we went to an elementary school. People we knew were there to direct the process and check us in the list of eligible voters. We usually knew each other by first names. Nine years ago that changed. One neighbor was miffed because the folks got $100 (I think) for serving at the polling place.
After voting, we got a sticker to put on our shoulder – see image – and then by walking around town or shopping, others would know you had done your civic duty. How quaint.

Item #5: Duck & Cover

The virus, now known as the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and the disease it causes is called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have – along with much else – generated some funny things. Below is an old photo (1950-ish) with a modern caption.
I think that is me on the very right side. I started school before I was 6, and I was scrawny.
Do a search with the images tab for ‘covid-19 cartoons’ if you have some time to waste. My thought is that most are not done very well, nor are they funny – if that was the intent.

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

Robocall week

Monday, Sept 28

Temperatures are not really high today. John has been out, landscaping (rocks, dirt, and gravel), exercising Annie, and feeding critters.
Lunch: John came in and found some fried chicken in the freezer (thigh & leg). I’ll share a bite of the thigh and have one of my nutritious drinks (Ensure and Yogurt) to accompany it.
I put in all my medications for the week, as this morning I used the last for this week.
Then started loading dirty dishes into the dishwasher. Ran after supper tonight.

Two more robocallers today, now blocked. One wireless from Colville (60 miles north of Spokane), and the other in a person’s name, Sobel Robert from NE Illinois, and Chicago northern suburbs. The geography of these is intriguing. Plus, a previously blocked one came through today as well; one ring happens and the system shuts it down.

Supper: John fixed us fried onion rings and a pizza full of all sorts of things: including pepperoni, ground beef, bell peppers various colors, sausage, and cheese.

Rest of the day filled with computer work, washing dishes, and going shopping tonight in my car with boxes to get my donation paperwork receipt from last week of some onions, summer yellow squash, and about 15# of two kinds of dry cat pellets to the Kittitas Pantry.

Tuesday, Sept 29

Early morning visit before 7:00 a.m. from contractor Walter Davenport, who viewed the problem with roof drainage. Concrete pour for the walkway is scheduled for the following Wednesday, so the drain issue needs attention. I stayed sleeping but at 7:40 a.m. Walter called back to say the concrete would be delivered at 8:00 a.m. next Wednesday, Oct 7. He ordered an extra 2 yards, because John wants to pour concrete in front of our tall shed, for which he will need to build the “forms” to pour it into.

I took my weekly medication tablet on an empty stomach and hooked up the Backup Plus drive for its noon backup of my computer’s hard drive.
John drove today because his car hasn’t been moved in a while.
Our first stop was at the WA License bureau (DOL) to get the disabled parking sticker paperwork to take to my cardiologist’s appointment the end of October. We have to renew yearly. This requires a valid MD’s signature. This, the DOL, is at the Meridian Theater building adjacent to the Bi-Mart parking lot, so not out of our way. Our “hay” guy Mario was visiting with someone in the doorway, so I got to say hello.
I don’t have much need for using the permit. I only need it at one campus building where I’ve attended meetings monthly. The university converted all the spaces near the building to Handicap Access Only (HAO). The closest parking spaces not HAO which allow me to use my CWU Faculty Parking Permit, are at least two blocks away. To access those, one must have a valid STATE permit in addition to the CWU Parking permit.

John parked near the Bi-Mart Pharmacy for me to pick up 4 Original Fisherman Friends Menthol Strong cough drops, added to my Atorvastatin refill. John picked up the page of prize numbers and met me back at the car.
On by the AAC, where I picked up the packet for Game Day of Balderdash, for Thurs. Oct 1, at 10 AM Zoom Game Day. From there, I called CJ that we were on our way around the block from her house.
We went by CJ Anderson’s house to pick up something from her, and leave some gifts for her from our garden (onions, summer squash, and a bucket of Dahlias). She came down to meet us and we had a nice visit in the shade to catch up on things. On the way home, we added a stop by Amy’s house to leave some gifts on her porch for their family.

Another scammer called-Ronald Maxey (out of Colville again, so they are now blocked).

Supper: Chicken, fried onions (ours) and mixed vegetables (not that great from a can). Dessert, vanilla ice cream with chocolate hot sauce and cashews.

Wednesday, Sept 30

We left 9:15 a.m. for the eye doctor visits for both of us. Arrived at the Front door ~9:40, noted the number of our parking space to tell them when I called inside to have them send a technician out to take our temperature (we had to put on our masks). Had new things happened and paperwork required, we would have had to fill it out in the car. We waited a few minutes for the assistant to come take the temps. Then, we waited a few more minutes for an assistant to take John to his appointment. John took the car keys with him so he could return there when done. I waited in the car until they came for me ~10:00 for my appointment, and I locked the car when I left.
I was taken first for my Optimap imaging (which John also had), and for the machine recognition of my needed correction to eyeglass lenses in both eyes. Plus, they measure what the current glasses have for a prescription for range and close-up vision. Each eye is evaluated separately and then both together. My eyes are even at 20/20 each. Also, eye pressure is taken. Mine was 15 and 17, well within range.
Once in the examination room where the doctor arrives eventually, the assistant continued with questions about eye dryness, conducted a peripheral vision test, and ask a few other questions while preparing notes for the doctor. Then she took my BP (which was higher than normal, 135/85). I guess all the stuff happening raised it. Then she left the room and left, saying when Dr. Davis finished John’s examination, he’d be down to visit me. I was out of there and in the car with John, after going through checkout procedure at the front desk and a restroom break, by 10:38 a.m.
All the charges will be submitted to our insurance policy, and because this being so late in the year, our deductible will have been met and this visit will cost us nothing. We’ll see. Neither one of our prescriptions changed, so no replacement eyeglasses needed. That will save us a lot of money.

From there we went up the road a little, to the Pilot Gas Station, and filled John’s tank in the Crosstrek, which he’ll drive tomorrow to bottling and lunch at White Heron. The price per gallon was the best in town at $2.50; not low compared to some places in the USA. From there we came on home.

John ate some brunch (leftover pizza) and I had drunk a nutritious protein drink earlier (chocolate Ensure & vanilla yogurt), so I had ½ of two donuts (sugared & chocolate covered).

John went outside to move some more gravel into the area under the new added carport. Gravel now covers most of the area in front of the house, and the dust is gone. This is the initial covering, so more to follow.

Supper: onion rings, shrimp boiled, cod breaded fried.

Thursday, Oct 1

7:30 AM: John leaves for bottling Pinot Noir with a lunch after outside as the weather is nice. Site overlooks the Columbia River above West Bar with its Giant Current Ripples. Ice age floods rolled across this region, and because of the turns of the ancient river, deposits of sandy material of gigantic size were left. The vines of Mariposa Vineyard are planted on deep sand. The canyon walls are of basalt.
John is taking a deli food tray with Pepperoni, Hard Salami, cheeses, and crackers. Others bring other stuff to share. There are 5 others involved in the bottling process and lunch.

Received a nice morning call at 9:30 a.m. from Gerald, my 89 yr old friend in Thorp (Guitar player with our KV F&F music group). The end of January 2021 he’ll turn 90! He’d finished taking his morning exercise, walking out front around his driveway loop.

I fixed a nutritious drink, vanilla bean yogurt with chocolate Ensure for drinking with my coffee, during the Zoom session. At 10:00 a.m. I participated in a Zoom Game Day at the Senior Center to play Balderdash, with 4 players. Erin & Jacquie played as a team and they won the game over the other two of us.
Today is a diuretic day, but I waited until after the Zoom was over before taking it.

At Noon John called from White Heron, will be delayed until 3:00 to 4:00 getting home, because they ran out of corks midway through the bottling, so they broke for lunch. Just outside the door was a big box of just delivered corks. So lunch. Then back to finish getting the 2016 Pinot Noir into bottles. They had 2 long food and wine events and John did not get home until 5:30.

At 11:00 I returned a call to Tuesday, the Super 1 Pharmacist, who called me during my Zoom Meeting. Can’t interrupt the game.
I talked to Tuesday about the flu shot and need to tell John she has us down to receive the next 2 doses that come into the pharmacy.

I finished an email to send to the study group with recommendations for background materials to supplement information about the topic of the lecture Exotic Terrane – G tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. broadcast. It included links submitted by 3 study group members (including me), a gal from Australia, and a fellow from Seattle, WA.

The temperature outside is 69° at our house, and at the airport at 12:00, it was 65°.

At 12:23 p.m. I had a scammer call from Brunswick, MD that I blocked. Yesterday, I had blocked 3 calls in the same day from the same location, Kennewick, WA. Yesterday, I had a scammer call from a Wireless number registered near Colville, WA so I blocked it. Yesterday morning while we were at the eye doctor, we had a scammer call from Shelly Gagnon with a phone near Colville, WA. These guys are persistent. I blocked that one.

HOLY CRAP! I just spent 20 minutes on the phone making an annual physical appointment at Cle Elum KVH Family Medicine for the same day for John and me to visit our PA-C, Chelsea Newman. {photo below}
The scheduler’s name is “Passion” and she is the “replacement” for Laura at the front desk who retired. We have had 32 years of Laura.
I think I knew more about getting the two of us scheduled than she did. We finally decided on December 10th (Thursday) for the first part, and John is scheduled in for 3:00 p.m., but I’m scheduled in for 4:00 p.m.; the next appointment is December 17th (Thurs) for the second part, John at 3:15 p.m. and me at 4:00 p.m. I don’t know why they need to be so separated. Soon, because of the year +a day rules, we will get pushed into January. Won’t be the end of the year but the beginning. She didn’t realize about the 1 year after a year’s date from before. By the time I called, Chelsea had no openings close to the date last year.

Just off the phone with the Dentist’s office and Tiffany there. Yesterday in the mail we received paperwork from Delta Dental (DD) Insurance that we owed $90.40 toward my tooth repair on 8/25. Tiffany brought up our account and says we have a zero balance, because the insurance picked up all the cost after what we had paid already. Don’t know why their paperwork from DD is out of date, but I thanked her.

I’m new to Instagram, so today a learned to click on the airplane and send a message. Taught myself that today. Managed to send to Nick 3 papers sent by a researcher of Exotic Terranes who is at the University on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. These will help Nick prepare his Sunday morning lecture on Cache Creek Exotic Terrane.

Friday, Oct 2

Started with two robocallers 20 mins apart both from Colville, WA (509-690-XXXX) different numbers on last 4 digits, first with a name (Tracey Rieckers). Both now blocked.

Lunch: Bacon, eggs over easy, and I had toast. John had toast early, so switched to potatoes for this.

Our 2:00 p.m. meeting of Nick from Home met for an extended time today because of an overheated iPhone that Nick was using in the hot sun. After the initial warm up time before 2:00 and into it through his giving thank you messages for gifts from viewers, he started his lecture on the blackboard and only got a few drawings and words in, when the screen went black and we totally lost him. We could still comment on YouTube Livechat, so we knew what was going on. He had to go cool down his phone in the freezer. He was talking to us on his laptop. He did not have to make a new livestream to continue, but the whole process took about 24 mins. He had to change position in the backyard to get out of the sun, around the building into the shade, and take the cozy fort and the blackboard with him. A bunch of people left as viewers, and we were down to about 18 diehards. The rest of the show went all right, and we ended up gaining almost 900 viewers worldwide. That 2:00 p.m. viewing of a Nick from Home today went very long to 1 hr 52 mins because of the technical difficulties. This makes me wonder how all the remote learning is doing for public schools.

‘Nick from Home’ #82 – Exotic G: Quesnellia

Supper: French fried onion rings, John had fried potatoes, and we had a bowl of Progresso soup with smoked turkey added to the carrots, tomatoes, with wild rice. Dessert: Cherry pie with vanilla ice cream.

After dinner and the cat food bowl had long since been brought inside, we had a RACCOON visit to front porch feeder station!!!! Annie the dog and I heard him hit the wood as he climbed up and looked in the window and we both saw him. I screamed and she ran to the front door and barked. John heard the commotion and came out to the front door. He saw the motion sensor light was on where I park the Forester. He didn’t see the critter.

Saturday, Oct 3

Slept in for me after a late start to sleep.
I finally got the email off to study group members for Nick from Home series with the information about the Earth Science Weekly site. I included the ones from this week’s send from Mark, which then I must distribute through the Jobslist to get to everyone (including adding them to the Earth Science Weekly email distribution list).
Diuretic day for me today.
Continued with Tax prep; very small amount of filing done today.

Another Robocaller blocked on my Panasonic land line.

Brunch: Bacon, English Muffin Toasting bread, and eggs.

Supper: A soup bowl of several mixtures of leftovers, best described as a bowl of chili-based stew with corn, Alfredo noodles, pork, smoked turkey, chicken, diced tomatoes, pinto beans, and a small amount of spicy spaghetti sauce. I added Cheez-its for a replacement to the noodles I didn’t take many of.

Sunday, Oct 4

John started outside with Pat Jenkins; he previously did the removal of the concrete in front of the 2-car garage. He is taking some of the outside slabs from the lumber milling. John can make use of a few for fencing material, and Pat’s loading his to cut up later to use as firewood for his wood stove. Also, I have to call Maryann (up the road neighbor) and have her bring her pickup soon for some free firewood from us.

Clear, sunny, no rain, and nice for Nick’s 9:00 a.m. program.
I started at 8:26 a.m. on line to capture comments on starting with pre-show of the lecture. This is a premiere showing by Nick Zentner in ‘Nick from Home’ fall series on Exotic Terranes.

‘Nick from Home’ #83 – Exotic H: Cache Creek

John came in and baked an apple crisp for us to have for desserts, or an afternoon snack. He’s been cleaning out our old chest freezer in the tall shed, and found these frozen apples already cut, sugared, and with cinnamon, ready to have a crust added (and he did from Pancake mix). I finished unloading the dishwasher so when I have time, I can load some soaked dishes.

For brunch, I had a nutritious protein drink made with Chocolate Ensure and a Chobani peach yogurt. I’m not sure what John had. We had some of the Apple Crisp for an afternoon snack and it’s quite tasty. I’m working on the daily entries for my blog. He’d like me to be done earlier than late, but I need to get typing and organizing fast.

John’s making a rock-filled trench under the drip line of the new car-park area. Sifted dirt goes to the garden and rocks go back in the trench. Then, more gravel all around.

A music person, Laura Nelson, has suggested our group do a gig in the parking lot at Meadows Place; not being allowed in – and all that. I have names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses – and no interest in outside performances. Anyway, I followed-up on her request. A few may be able to do a Saturday thing, and maybe the weather will cooperate. It is now up to Laura.

Supper: All leftovers tonight. That’s the end of such for a while.

I need to get my $60 donation check I wrote tonight for the CWU Foundation to cover the scholarship luncheon group donation put into a stamped envelope and into the mailbox, when John walks up to open the gate. I suspect such things won’t be sustained for long as virtual encounters.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Not so Nasty News October 2nd

Item #1: Weather

Long term records for our area indicate that a serious frost (28°F) has about a 60% chance of happening by October 1st. We have not had even the lesser frost (32°F). Therefore, the garden, such as it is, still grows. The next 10 days look to be frost free, too.
There are no reporting stations that fit us well. The nearest place is 500 feet lower (5 Miles away). The next is 22 miles away and 300 feet lower. The higher the elevation the faster the ground cools when the sky is clear.
I’ve been planting Dahlias each year and taking the blooms to places, such as the Senior Center. They generally do not over-winter here, but this spring one did not get that message. We haven’t had any place to take them, so as the blooms fade, I cut and toss them into the compost.
This week we had to make a stop at a friend’s place – so along with 5 pounds of onions, I picked yellow squash and a ½ dozen blooms for her. All is well that ends nicely, I say.

Item #2: NO!

If I have to explain this, you are not a cook.

Item #3: Which line?

We had routine eye exams. Well, not exactly routine. Masks are required.
With a mask, if I look up and breath out my glasses are fine. Looking straight ahead or down, breathing out causes the glass to fog over. The fog takes about 3 to 5 seconds to clear.
Sometimes the answer to “which line can you read” was “None of them” or “Wait a second.”
My eyes are changing so slowly that I do not need to get new glasses, and otherwise the eyes are fine (for my age).
The other nice thing is that the current glasses, now several years old have not gotten scratched. To buy those, we went to a place where Nancy knew the Doctor/owner. She might or might not have known we went. The fitter-guy was nice enough, but the glasses seemed expensive. Previously, I ordered glasses at Costco; best cost place.
The Costco glass (supposedly having a hard coating) scratched badly, such that I seriously wondered if the coating I paid for was there.
Thus, there will be a quandary next time I need glasses.
[The other issue is that Costco is 50 miles away, while the EBRG place is only about 8 miles and we usually go in once a week.]

Item #4: Helpful road signs

Item #5: What do tests mean?

There is a problem with the testing, and reporting of, the “cases” with respect to COVID-19.
Simply, there are “false positives” and no one seems to know exactly what percent that is.
But consider that it is around 1% {0.8% to 4% is cited; but some estimates are higher}, and a nation does 1 million tests per day. Suppose nobody in the million tests has an active infection. Then, with a false positive rate of 1%, 10,000 will be incorrectly identified as “new cases”.

Every single day.
With this in mind, I suggest we find something else to worry about.

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