Keeping track

Ellensburg has a major rodeo and the County holds a fair each year ending on Labor Day (?). Not counting the preparations, things begin to happen a week before as the rides, food vendors, and commercial booths arrive. This year the opening was on Thursday. Festivities will finish on Sunday, and take-down will be Monday. Typical scenes {from the web} are below:

The Rodeo is a big draw, bringing participants from all the western states, including Texas and South Dakota. The image at the top left is about all I could see as the Fair and Rodeo are separate entries. All the rodeo folks will leave Tuesday for the next event with big money awards.

After staying away for 25 years, I volunteered to be a “greeter” at the Adult Activity Center’s Lounge – – 2 hours each on Thursday and Saturday. The Lounge provides a cool spot with ice water, lemonade, coffee, and cookies. I am allowed free parking and entry to the Fair grounds. The Rodeo is a different entry, but its presence is the most impressive aspect. As mentioned, folks come from many places with trucks, trailers, horses, dogs, kids, and western hats. If you don’t have one, you can buy one for $25 and up. See the lower right photo. Anything else western can be purchased, such as boots, handbags, jewelry, . . ., generators, and hot tubs.
Prices (to me) seem exorbitant. A stuffed toy horse was $20. Cotton Candy = $7; a simple hot dog = $8; fancy “Big Dogs” = from $12 to $16. A pounder baked potato with multiple toppings = $12. Lemonade for $6, $9, and $12. Maybe that was the pricing on the little cups of mini ice cream balls. I passed on all the offerings.
For my role as greeter, I arrived about 9:30 before most things were underway, such as the rides and food booths. Expecting hot and sunny, I choose the early shift from 10 to Noon. After Noon, the temperature and sun were uncomfortable but I might have been the only one in the crowd that cared. On Saturday, about half way back to the truck, a long-ago student and fair worker recognized me and I got a ride in an electric cart. We had about 2 minutes to reminisce.

Wednesday was Pétanque Day and on Friday the host of that venue came over and picked up some posts and used lumber for a new table to go beside his boulodrome. When I have cool and shade, I work on the landscaping near the house. The Raspberries that were against the house are gone [ think of them as a fire hazard gone] and I’m 75% done with rehabilitating the space with gravel and decorative rocks.

I’ve order a foot massager with “soothing heat” to use while at computer tasks, a couple of three hours a day, especially in the evening. I get plenty of exercise during the day – one of the suggestions to relieve cold feet – but keeping feet moving while at a desk is not easy. This is not a very expensive device, so it seems to be a worthwhile experiment. It is to arrive on Wednesday. A report will follow in a month.

And so august ends.
Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

Wouldn’t you know? Sunday is National Banana Split Day and I ain’t got no bananas.
I do have a nice ice cream that will have to substitute. “Umpqua” is a native term for a region on the Oregon Coast, south of Portland about 145 miles. A banking concern there recently took control of my local EBRG bank.

The Pacific Northwest is having a week of November-like weather in the middle of summer. Temperatures are about 15 degrees cooler than might be expected and it is raining hard in the mountains. I only get a little of that, say 1/10th inch when west of me and inch or two is received.

I built a ramp this week along the side of the newly built-up and graveled area. It is wide enough for my garden cart (Gorilla brand), that admirably serves as a wheel-barrow.
A second chore was the final removal of the large piles of dirt and rock pushed just off the drive near the front of the house; at the time of initial remodel in spring 2020.
I’ve ordered a bunch of deer-deterring flowers for the area. The list: Daffodils {Maliee & Pink Champagne, Allium Ostrowskianum, and a mix of Hyacinth}. [See: dutchgrown dot com] I will get tulips, also, but they have to be fenced or the deer destroy the leaves as soon as they show up.

Other news: I got a haircut. I have signed up with the Adult Activity Center to be at the “Senior Lounge” at the Kittitas County Fair on Thursday and Saturday for 2 hours each day. Often it is overly hot, but this year looks to be quite nice. As a “senior” I could get into the grounds for $6.00; so I save $12 assuming I would go, but I wouldn’t. Anyway, I got a hair cut so I would look presentable. Questionable.

During the last 36 hours I think my sick cat, Woody, is declining, related I think to her “odd-shaped” heart. After medication last month, she seemed better and ate better. Yesterday she didn’t really want anything I offered for her to eat. This morning she threw up water, mostly. At the moment she is by a window in morning sunlight.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

Years ago there was a local Ellensburg Telephone Company. Fewer years ago, that became Fairpoint and then part of Consolidated Communications (CC), a company that bought up many small operations. Meanwhile, there was a company over in Tacoma that became Rainier Connect. In 2023, Palisade Infrastructure (an Australian Co.) bought Rainier Connect and small Washington parts of CC, including a couple of units east of the Cascades, including the EBRG area. Yippie!
The new name is Lightcurve. I was notified of the changes because the auto-pay set up via Consolidated could not transfer. I had to fix that. Meanwhile, my internet connection was dropping more frequently than I can tolerate. Two issues – coincidence? {update: As of Saturday morning the internet is working great!}
The first billing from Lightcurve seemed odd. My previous bill was just over $164 and the current one about $112. The billing was easily explained as a mid-month completion of the creation of the new company, so 1/2 of a Consolidated payment went to Lightcurve. Further, the “bundle” of services from CC does not exactly match the of Lightcurve. As I tried to wade through this stuff on the website, various pages still had old information and old names. In other words, the melding of the new Washington parts have not been completed. A support person called with the caller ID as Rainier Connect while the actual technician’s phone came through as “Private Caller.” Had I not been expecting the call, I would not have answered. He would have had to leave an answer, complicating his and my day. (He says this happens.)
As I write Wednesday morning, he (Dan) is here checking my internet and trying to install a new modem. Issues are (a) this is not his normal job. He is an installer/splicer/connector of cables. The local office is short-handed. He was instructed in this new gig. However, things are not going as he was told so he has been talking to several folks trying to configure the new modem. My old one is at least 4 years old, or more. Many sites on the web suggest a new modem every three years. Oops!
At 10:45 a second person has shown up. So, two here and 3 or 4 chiming in via phone (Dan had to find an outlet to charge his), all trying to figure passwords, codes, and a lot of other stuff. I passed through and they were talking about sending a supply of modems back and using a different one. I think. The passwords and “keys”, I told them, could be simplified. Nancy set some of these things years ago and there is nothing special about them except they are more complicated than they need to be.

Solved at 11:40. 🤠 A new and better modem is working. I just entered the new “key” and connected to the web. The second upside is that the folks here and on the phones learned quite a bit and feel more comfortable responding to future service calls. I should send them a bill for using my home and equipment to learn their trade. Ah! So far the new modem seems to be at no cost to me. I’m not 100% sure on that – Jessica at Lightcurve thought there would not be a charge.
Outside, the creation of the boulodrome (playing surface) for Pétanque continues, as does the gravel road around the buildings. This involves many loads of crushed rock (Basalt). The base is 1.25 inch or smaller, the surface of the playing surface is 5/8ths and smaller. Much raking and smoothing is involved. Our 90+ daily high temperatures have dropped 10 or 12 degrees, making the effort more pleasant.
A side benefit of the effort is the removal and use of several piles of rock and dirt that were created years ago as we made horse-projects. One such was a serious leveling of an area for a training space – a “round pen.” That pile was pictured in the previous post.
I work about 2 to 3 hours, when I can do so in the shade. After the sun sets or shade appears where there is something to do, I can do another couple of hours.

Saturday evening a storm came ashore in Oregon and moved north along the Cascades, reaching Portland OR at 5:00, the Seattle area at 8:30, and me at 9:15 PM. Most of the storm was west of me, but I had rain/thunder/lightning. Nothing serious. Residents in the Puget Sound region are reporting a good display, but not great. The rain would have depressed fires from the lightning – and rain is good.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

This past week involved moving rock & dirt with a small Skid Steer as pictured below. I’ve mentioned the project before – July 23rd. The idea has two purposes, (1) adding an expanse of gravel for fire resistence, and (2) making a boulodrome (playing surface) on which to engage in games of Pétanque.
The selected area, just south of the house, had a slope and and needs to be level. So, the northwest end (blue line in the photo) was taken down, and the southeast end (purple arrow) was raised. The change in height was over three feet.

The white pole in the lower right photo is the gauge for the
Hilti™ rotating laser level (current models list for over $8,000). A wave of photons is sent over the area and marks on the pole indicate how high or low your surface is. In the photo, the crew found a “too low” spot and dumped fill there. This spot is just left of the tree as seen in the larger photo.
The EBRG company, Ellensburg Cement Products, has a crushing pit 2.5 miles northeast of me, so a run from there to here only takes a few minutes. We had 3 loads of basalt brought for a base. It is not yet evenly distributed. That happens Monday. Later we will get a finer material for the surface, from ECP’s near-EBRG location. Tuesday likely.
More fill was added to the half-circle road being developed as a fire break. The July 23rd post shows that route with yellow dots. Rock needs to go there too.

I am also clearing up rock & dirt piles created 3 years ago when we began with the conversion of the 2-car garage to living space. I am working on those (by-hand) when the places are in shade. All that should be finished by mid-week.

Update: Woody, the fluffy but sick cat, is much better. Sounds of respiratory infection are gone. She eats better and is purring a little. There is a bit of new coat, although with warm summer temperature, she doesn’t need much.

Lightning in the mountains west of Ellensburg on Friday, August 9, started 13 fires in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. The Kittitas Valley had a lot of smoke, but near the ground there was no smoke smell. There were too many spot-sources to claim where my smoke came from.
An earlier and larger fire near Mt. Adams is called the Williams Mine Fire. It and others are in this report: FIRE REPORT: Williams Mine Fire expands rapidly | Columbia Basin Herald

Keeping Track
On the Naneum Fan
John

I have two plum trees with a good crop this year. Two others not so much.
The earliest ripening is Damson (small purple), next will be Shiro (yellow).
I’ve been watching the Damson fruit to harvest when ripe, but before the wind blows half to the ground.
In parts of Europe, Slivovitz -fruit brandy–
is made from Damson plums.
[ see Wikipedia page “Slivovitz ]
A simple and cheap drink can be made with a gallon glass container, nearly full of the little plums, a cup of sugar, and a bottle of vodka. Some folks suggest adding slices of lemon peel; some take the pits out. About Christmas time, the liquid will be tasteful and colorful. The year 2020 had a good crop and that is the use they were put to by friend Audrey. I think there will be sufficient plums this year for both of us to make a gallon.
While inspecting the tree, I found a critter. It was there the next day and gone the third. At least I haven’t found it, but it could still be there.

On the right edge of the photo there is a pink {not ripe} plum half hidden. Maybe the caterpillar found a cooler place.
The EBRG airport reported 106°F Friday. Here it did not quite make 104°. At 9 pm, it in the low 80s. By morning, 70. Saturday has been ten degrees cooler.

There has been smoke Friday from a grass fire about 20 miles south of me on the hills east of the Yakima River. It is not large and winds have been in my favor until Thursday evening. Now, again the wind is coming from the northwest and likely will clear the air by Saturday morning. Wind out of the northwest was 25 mph at 4:30 pm Saturday.
Here is a map of active or recent fires and a photo of the type of stuff burning. The photo shows the Swawilla Fire about 100 miles northwest of Spokane. Nearest to me was 25 miles south and now contained.

The western US has Cheatgrass – the yellow/brown – and some places under Ponderosa Pines that litter the ground with needles, cones and branches. Under the trees there is more fuel and it all burns hotter. It grows rapidly in the spring, sets seeds, and dies, and burns.
“Cheat” was the reason fire got into the vineyard last year. My report is here:

Cherries on sale & fire

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan

John

There is not much to record for this past week. There are fires in WA State, but the nearest to me has been 20 miles to the south west. I have seen smoke but it was high and I never smelled any. Two of the cross-Cascade highways have been closed, making commerce and recreation problematic. Again, no impact on me.
While moving dirt-&-rocks, wood, and watering a few plants, I took a few photos. The first is of the wood moved and needing stacked.

The first chore is to get it closer to the shed. Here, I’ve thrown about 15% from the original stack that was moved with a truck and dumped. On Saturday, I am 95% finished with the tossing.
Next (lower left), is Czar, having just examined the soil I’m using to cover a drain – placed two years ago. I’ve been sifting soil from piles nearby, but taking most to level the garden. Now the ditch gets covered. Czar comes around to see what I am doing and either approves or disapproves by peeing on something there. I’m not sure of the message.

The top photo is of Hollyhocks, grown from seed provided by Mark – – one of the vine pruners. Last year they were all the light pink, here on both the far left and right. The highly saturated pink and the white were not in the first-year plants. A mystery I have to investigate.
I did collect seed last year and planted them ‘outside’ this spring. None grew. I have now read that is not the best procedure. Mark is a Master Gardener, so I need to contact him about both issues.
The lower right photo is of a common weed, namely Field Bindweed {Convolvulus arvensis}. It got that “bindweed” name because it has long roots that can wrap around tillers and require hand removal. The flowers are pretty, but small and close to the ground. Wikipedia has a page.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

The four images here show results of the yard work this past week.
The 4th one shows the location relative to the house. Start there.
The yellow dots show a house-surround road, newly dug to dirt and rocks.
The purple area was a fenced area mostly used as a firewood storage area with a shed and covered cords of wood. The shed housed aa small electric splitter.
Back at the top, image #1, shows the cleaned purple area, with house to the right. Fences are temporary to protect small plum trees. This will become a Pétanque playing surface, called a boulodrome.

This photo is from the SE edge of the purple area (as was the first photo), farthest from the house. Parts of the shed and other things cleared from the purple area.

Swinging way around to the left of the previous image is a mound of rock and dirt; from 25 years ago when the area was leveled for a round pen. Last week, we had an excavator and small dump-truck, so worked some to move this pile. At the end of July or maybe August 1st, we will rent a skid-steer and get serious about using this pile and a couple of others to fill and level the boulodrome, with any extra going on the road. The road will need rocked and graveled. The playing surface will be packed gravel.

I received two email scams. They look like this, but what else is there I don’t know. I trashed them.
I don’t know either of the names and haven’t ordered anything in the prior month. When I order from Amazon there is an immediate confirmation to email and it looks very different. The bottom one has, in the subject line: “Hey there! We are thrilled to have you as a …”
Online orders I’ve done never have a person’s name. Rather there is a company name. A line that sounds like a neighbor shouting across the street doesn’t engender confidence.
An internet search explains that opening such a thing will reveal they are charging you for several thousand dollars, like $5,350, and they want you to respond. Such things lead to trouble. Ignore.

The high temperatures here have been near 100°F with another three days of that before dropping a little into the high eighties. My main concern is that I can only do outside things from 6:30 to 10:30 am, and then from 8 to 9 pm. Age has something to do with this. At 10:00 this morning (Sat) I drove to town and made three stops, the most important was buying ice cream and red-grapes on sale. Sunday is smoke hazy with thin clouds above.

Contractor Walter came a week ago and wanted to get started on two projects we talked about many months ago. I had shown him images of little buildings (from garden shed sites) with an idea of having one as a “waiting for the bus” space for school kids. Just a landscape and selling point feature, ’cause I got no kids. That idea morphed into a bigger project involving completing a “firewise” component.
The idea is to get rid of the old horse-loafing shed I was using as a firewood splitting and storage space just 20 feet from the new roofed deck. The debris and wood so close to the house is a bad situation according to fire inspectors. (debrE, not debriS – why is that?) More gravel, More gravel!
So, we rented a small excavator and dug into the dirt and rocks. Worker Jonathan (Johnny) ran the machine.
First we had to remove fences (posts and wire) and a lot of accumulated waste. Meanwhile, another worker (with occasional help from Johnny & John) dismantled the 8 by 12 building.
The area is now cleared and partially leveled, but it is not yet horizontal. Next week we will try to rent a machine with a front bucket and finish the job with fill.
A partially completed road around the house was attacked by the little machine. Fire-crews do not want an entrance to the back of a property to be a dead end. Two years ago I got half way done when the fellow changed his day job and left my project undone. The initial work is now completed – a 14 ft. dirt and rock track now is completed. I could, but haven’t, driven the truck on it. However it has been used by two of my neighbors. I think mamma is off to the right, but I couldn’t see her. Photo below is from 50 feet away, through a sliding-glass door, with an iPhone.

At the yellow dots, there is a drop of 10 inches. Past the purple dots there is a steep slope covered with a few tons of basalt cobbles. To finish, the surface needs to be rocked, graveled, leveled and compacted.

Woody: The once feral female cat got taken to the vet this week. (over $300) She has a double coat – very full and fluffy. I got her inside the new room (old double-car garage) in the fall of 2020. I spent more time with mother Sue because her coat was clumpy. This was a slow process because of being wild. I got Woody to accept being touched. Her coat was matted and difficult to work with. She is small, but as I got hair off, I released she was thin. More recently she has had a respiratory issue. Also, I don’t know how old she is. I’ve thought she was too young to be doing the “old cat fade away” routine. Maybe not.
At the vet’s office, they took most of the hair off – Yikes! She is really thin. Radiographs revealed her heart is misshapen – elongated and pinched some. How that fits in is a mystery. She is on an antibiotic called Clavamox, a combination of amoxicillin/clavulanic acid that is commonly used to treat susceptible infections.
She is eating well, maybe more than before. Nothing more to say at this point.

Keeping Raack
on the Naneum Fan
John

Following Willy’s visit yesterday afternoon [7/11], this morning Jonathan (Johnny), son of Walter “the contractor” showed up at about 7 am. Shortly after, Walter came, then still later, Willy. Discussion and decisions. Still later, workers Rubin and James came. Walter and Willy left for other jobs.
We checked my on-site paint and have about 5 gallons of the newer blue-blue, not the old gray-blue. Rubin and James are washing the 2 front walls that can be seen from the driveway. When dry, they will paint those. Johnny is setting up ladder-scaffolds to finish painting the big shed. After painting is done the Copper-looking metal will go on the decorative walls in front of the passage between the shed and the house, and in front of the main entry door. Repairing (smoothing) the walls inside the big shed is on the agenda, but maybe not today. Temperature is 86° at 11:30, on the way to 93°. To quote a famous person: “Anyway,” as regards the remodeling – the light at the end can be seen and it is not the train.
Willy’s visit yesterday interrupted my cleaning. Phyllis and Cameron arrived about 5:20 after a 2-hour meeting with an EBRG estate planner. I had managed to do some cleaning and move a table and chairs – and wine glasses – into the remodeled/recovered room with double-swinging doors and a view to the outside. “Recovered” fits because as originally built, the room was nearly useless. Now it is bright with skylights and recessed ceiling lights, doors, and half knotty-pine paneling. The difference is hard to convey, but it is stunning.
We visited and ate in that room – a first.
Back to on Tuesday:
I went to Yakima Tuesday (108°) to meet with Bob & Suzy after repeated delays – – 2 months. COSTCO’s food court is a mess, but that’s where we met. Cool inside. I bought some things after, even though I don’t need anything. Seemed a waste to go and not stockpile something. I bought a multi-pack of Zip-Lock sandwich bags and put it beside the (unaware-of) pack I already have. I won’t ever need to buy more. Gas there is about 50¢ cheaper than in EBRG; got 12 gallons. I use 4 gallons going down and back. WA State price is over $4 average, Mississippi is about $3. Building and maintaining roads in mountains is expensive. And, WA has a “Carbon” tax, that makes everything in the State more expensive.
At a large rally in Butler, PA a shooter (now-deceased) nicked Donald Trump’s right ear. Details are not available as I get ready to post this.
Butler is about 45 miles from Clarion where I lived. I only remember going through the town on the way to Pittsburgh. There was a large building – 8 or 10 stories – at the turn we had to make. The only things in Clarion that big was the County Court House and the Catholic Church {both with tall spires}. Sister Peggy visited a women’s clothing store a time or two. Otherwise, Butler was a non-entity for us and almost everybody else on Planet Earth. Now it will be a famous footnote to history.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

The doe with two small fawns just went past the window. I saw them yesterday when bringing the big flag down. The little ones are curious but cautious. One came around some tall brush, saw me and the flag, and headed for momma, 20 yards away. Cute.

Summers in central Washington State satisfy the characteristic of being hot. Here is what the National Weather Service thinks about the coming week.

Tuesday at 102° is the warmest here. Farther south a hundred miles, and lower, they may get to 110. Lower is 1,800 feet lower than here. Prolonged summer heat means clear sky, and that allows radiation to space. I cool rapidly after the sun sets. An afternoon high of 100°F will drop to 75 by 10:00 pm and I can open windows. The core house temperature, that got to 78°, will be 69 by morning. Mostly, I get by without using the AC system. When the temp went to 116 in June of 2021, I had to turn the AC on about 4 pm, then off about 9 pm. This is an advantage of being over 2,000 feet elevation. It does make growing vegetables a challenge.
A image from space of WA, OR, & ID has no clouds showing. Mountain peaks have snow, and a plume of smoke from the Swany Fire south of Boise trails to the southeast. That is now contained.

At 4:30 pm the airport reading is 99°F (between runways) and 5 miles away, I am at 95. Elevation, trees, and grass cause the lower temperature.

On June 13th, I ordered a replacement spring for a pruner. The item was $1.15 plus 9¢ tax. No shipping – being a member of Amazon Prime.
This took 23 days to arrive. The source wasGuangzhou, China, only 6,500 miles from me. I had not checked local stores, but often such things are not offered. Driving to town and back costs about $6 for gas, so only a multi-purpose trip would make sense. A bigger city with a bigger hardware store might have these, but if the purpose of going to a city is important, running around looking for a $1 item seems silly. With the probability of finding the item, I didn’t bother.
I find the internet (& Amazon) useful.

In contrast to the small cost of the spring, I just learned that the highest paid staff member of the White House earns a salary of $251,258. That extra $8 bothers me. The total for all staff is $60.8 million. It doesn’t say if that includes the cooks.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John