Keeping track

Episode #37 of “There is Always Something”

Thursday: A no water day! Pump and controller are 25 years old.
I had enough running water to make 8 oz of coffee this morning. [I do have a couple of gallons in plastic bottles.]
A worker, Dylan, for a local Pump etc. place came and replaced the controller on the wall but that didn’t solve the problem. We couldn’t lift the pump out of the well so momentarily I’m without running water. [I also had an appointment at the Ford dealer to have the truck serviced.] I was going to cancel that but when we discovered the pump was stuck 80 feet down, I went to town. Dylan and Kelly (well-guru and business owner), returned after supper and finished the job. However the water is the color of dark honey – colored by the oxidized iron and whatever else has accumulated. The well also got a gallon of bleach (this is called “shocking”) so until I pump 100+ gallons out onto the ground (near trees and flowers) and the color goes away – I don’t have running water in the house. House filters would clog in minutes with that water in the pipes. I went to the creek to get water for flushing and got my boots and pants wet. Uff da!
Submersible water pumps typically have an expected lifespan of around 8 to 15 years, although the manufacture often has a 5 year replacement guarantee. So. I guess I’m lucky this one lasted 25 years.
On a lighter note, Wednesday afternoon Geography had a food and awards party. A good time was had by all. I met the Nancy&John awardees and others. I brought home sandwiches, cookies, fruit, and chips that will feed me for three days. The weather was nice and waited until midnight to change to cool and windy with a trace of rain.
Next door to geography is a green house with a resident tortoise named Snorkel. Photo is from 2016. He is now 17 and weighs 120 pounds. I was early, so I stopped into the greenhouse and met one of his caretakers. She is named after Carl Linnaeus who created the system to classify living things. Her dad was a biologist and they named her Linnea.
Today, Friday, was warm (84o) with single digit wind. Saturday Noon that is expected to change. I won’t be cutting trees down this weekend.
Much of the world calls June 1st the beginning of Summer. So welcome to Summer.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan.
John

I did not realize that kissing pigs was a thing.

I’ve been “brushing out” around several dead trees that are destined for fuel for the wood stove. One of the plants is Western Choke Cherry that is near the end of its flowering. It looks like the photo on the left and in late summer will have black berries.
Folks with lots of time have been known to make jam.

These small trees, out in direct sun, seem to grow only about 10 feet tall. In shade the trunk doesn’t get much larger than 4-5 inches in diameter but the upper branches grow long and spindly. This makes for lots of clean-up for not much wood. Cut fresh, it has a high moisture content and seems heavy. After a year or two of drying about 30% of that weight will be gone and the remainder (10-12% moisture) will be ready for winter heat.
Two other common plants I have to deal with: Red Osier Dogwood and Washington Hawthorne. I leave the former and reduce the amount of the thorn tree. The Dogwood has white flowers and berries and red stems. The fruits of all three plants are utilized by birds and other animals.

My new toaster arrived to be tried Monday morning. The slots are such that a long slice – Seattle Sourdough – will fit. The photo on Amazon has tomatoes and an avocado beside the toaster. I’m not sure why. The brand is Mueller. I checked the local BiMart store but didn’t see anything comparable.

The airport’s high temperature on Sunday was 88°F.
The forecast for the next seven days doesn’t have anything that high nor any rain.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

It is Monday morning, and I forgot to post anything over the weekend.
Other than my toaster having a glitch, nothing exciting has happened.
The toaster won’t engage — stay operational — unless I hold the lever down.
I will have to “kick” it a time or two and if that doesn’t work a new one
is in my future.

The relentless wind has paused. It is forecast to start again this evening
and continue until Wednesday morning. With little wind, I should spray weeds
but it isn’t warm enough. Go figure.

John

Mother’s Day: My mother was born on Wednesday April 3rd, 1907. That being 118 years, 1 month, 8 days ago.

After the visit of Ann and Fred last Sunday, this has been a week devoted to watering flowers and brushing. Meaning cutting small trees and scrubs that grow where I don’t want them. Mostly these are west of the house and shed and to lessen fire threat they need to go. I have short paths through the “swamp” {now wet/damp; later dry} that need maintenance. The brush is relentless and occasionally dead trees or limbs block the paths. I also want to get most of the woody parts removed – much can be burned in the wood stove after two years of drying.
Cutting lengths into stove-size pieces happens on the radial-arm saw — works well for pieces less than 3 inches in diameter. I also have a Milwaukee M18 Sawzall for somewhat larger diameters. Larger trees require using a chainsaw. Twigs and leaves land on the path before the larger parts are carried out. I don’t have to go to a gym to exercise.

On Saturday, prior to a few games of Pétanque, I had lunch with Phyllis and Cameron (winery folks). The Pétanque place is only 5 miles downriver on a basalt bluff east of the Columbia River. It is a little farther by road. Garret had visitors from Bainbridge Island (in Puget Sound, just east of Seattle). I’m a novice, they are much much better. Still, I filled out one of the teams of three. I was on Jimmy’s team (he being the best player there) and he gave advice that I tried to follow. The boules (balls) are steel and weigh almost 2 pounds. The target is called a jack [cochonnet (piglet)]. I had not participated since last fall and my throws were tending to fade to the right. I need to strengthen my wrist, I think.
This game is a favorite of French folks, thus the names of the target and balls.

I have several scheduled activities this coming week. While the brush grows. Bummer.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

The pruning of grape vines ended on Thursday. I’ve been doing outside chores, mostly cleaning growth out of the hole (Jay’s Folly) behind the house, making a little firewood, sprayed one tank of weed killer. We’ve had lots of the famous Kittitas County wind that has prevented more spraying. The maximum gust yesterday was 46 mph and today only 38 mph. After Midnight it is supposed to calm a bit, into the single digits.

Last fall I bought bulbs from an internet source. They came and needed to be planted before I managed to get a nice border and fence in place. The photo is the site seen first as one inters the driveway. There are two others. Some are deer-resistant, such as the Hyacinth in the front and Daffodils farther back. The Tulips are showy but deer eat them.
There is/was a small irrigation ditch thirty feet behind the flowers. Trees have been growing along it for years. Some, and perhaps all of them, are invested by boring insects.
On the left side of the photo the result is shown. I’ll cut these down and photograph what is in them, although I have seen borers in others, I want to inspect these. The wood is destined to be firewood.
Lunch today was at the Red Horse Diner in EBRG. The Joyal’s came from Marquette MI. They have family in Spokane and down toward Moscow ID. They visit each summer and we meet, eat, and talk for about 3 hours.
Often we have had one of the wait-crew take a photo. They were busy when we left, so Fred took a photo of me and Ann. We didn’t get to Ann’s age but Fred is about 10 days older than I am. I think I need to lose a few pounds.
The Red Horse hark backs to the Flying Red Horse of 50s era Mobil Gas stations. The place has hundreds of signs of all things automobile from that period. And the food is good and they don’t mind us staying for 3 hours.

I’m late today, so that’s it.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

A couple of cold mornings did not seem to harm the blossoms on the trees. The yellow Shiro Plum has so many blossoms the limbs are hidden. Unfortunately, I didn’t prune it this year. I’ll do some of that when the bees are done and fruit is set. It will need fruit-thinning.
I drive through numerous orchards when I go to the vineyard (grapes self pollinate via wind) and wonder how many bees are among those many thousands of trees. High density plantings are now the norm. The two images below show the many spring flowers (happening this week) and the result in the fall just prior to harvest.

On average there are about 800 trees per acre with 179,000 acres pf apples: that’s 143,200,000 trees. How many bees? Seems this is a large and unknown number. However, here is a WA bee site:

Washington Honey

At the bottom of the page “Interesting Bee Facts” is worth the click but may be too much information for some.
Migratory beekeeping helps meet the seasonal demands of agriculture across different areas. Bees from WA are moved to CA and elsewhere for the blossom seasons and then back to WA for the season here.
Acres of other fruits (Pears, Apricots, Plums) are smaller, but still significant.
Carrying this investigation further: Ask what happens to bee’s honeycombs after the honey is extracted?

https://www.dadant.com/a-deep-dive-into-the-science-behind-beeswax-its-uses/
So much to read and so little time. I have plants to water and brush to cut.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

I took time off from pruning grapes to attend a presentation and tour of new construction on the CWU campus. Pruning has been disrupted by absences and weather. We are 2/3rd done.

On the CWU campus, one building has been torn down and another will go bye-bye next year. The replacement is being called the North Academic Complex or NAC. This new office and classroom structure is being paired with a GeoEcoCenter.
https://www.cwu.edu/about/media-resources/news/2024/8/cwu-is-utilizing-geothermal-technology-as-solution-to-decarbonizing-campus.php

In very simple terms, warm water will be taken from under the campus, cleaned, processed, moved around (both heating and cooling buildings) and then returned to the 800 feet deep aquifer. It is a massive heat pump somewhat like many folks have in homes.
My home system is an “air sourced” one that requires electric-resistance heating on cold days. The CWU system will use water at about 68°F – a temperature that doesn’t vary.
There is much said and written about sustainability and “carbon” emissions [that helped get the funding], but the important part is saving money. New buildings are designed to be energy efficient, as are new houses.
On Wednesday we heard from several CWU folks and three engineers from the companies doing the work on the water, the buildings, and the heat exchangers.
After the presentations with questions from the audience, about 20 of us toured the work in-progress. The academic building is four stories with a large atrium (natural light in abundance). With work going on all about, we could only walk through on the ground floor. The geo-thermal part is still just dirt with the top of the extraction well the only relevant thing to see.
This building is designed for viewing and meant to attract students and visitors. They have nice visuals of the future building and system. Everything is to be ready for fall of 2026. Over the next 30 years the plan calls for three more interconnected geo-eco facilities, new buildings, and retrofitting current buildings for the heat pump technology. The current gas/steam plant with campus-wide steam tunnels isn’t going away any time soon.

I intended to spray weed killer this weekend, but the weather did not cooperate. Today the average wind is about 30 mph with a 45 mph gust. Saturday was slightly more so. The high gust was 47 mph. About daybreak Tuesday all will become more peaceful, so says the National Weather Service. I recall a tradition of violent weather on Good Friday and then a pleasent Easter Sunday. We don’t always get what we want.
I baked a Marie Callender’s Dutch Apple Pie on Friday, so all is good.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

It’s Saturday and the wind is blowing. What’s new? It blew hard all day Friday. I missed the cues and opened the Truck door while parked in the direction that maximized the force on the door as I opened it. At least the hinges held. That was only about 20 mph. Today, Saturday, the maximum gust has been 44 mph at 2:20 – I was inside, so missed it – or it missed me.
I have a few daffodils blooming, and an obnoxious weed, Bur Buttercup.

https://extension.unr.edu/publication.aspx?PubID=3396

This is one of the earliest plants and it is small, usually 1.5 to 2 inches. I’ve been watching for it and hoping to spray before the seeds set. When young it is as soft as silk. Then it turns brown and the burrs are hard and stick like Velcro®. Ouch!
With the wind, if I were to spray, the droplets would likely end up in the mountains of northern Idaho. Sunday looks good for spraying. I’ve been cleaning up some of the small scraps of wood and bark from making chunks for the wood stove.

I went for the 2nd of the two health meetings. The first one amounts to not much except information collection [ Have you fallen recently, draw a clock, and remember 3 words. ] After the time with the doctor they draw blood for a Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP), which measures proteins, enzymes, electrolytes, minerals, and other substances. I seem to be fine except for moderate levels on two tests measuring health of my liver. I have been operating on slightly lower blood pressure than Chelsea thinks is good. One needs to balance the worry of strokes versus that of feeling tired and/or passing out. Face plant! So, we agreed to drop the Hydrochlorothiazide, a diuretic that helps getting fluid out (peeing), thus keeping blood pressure lower.
I’ll go for another blood testing in June – fasting this time – and see what it does to all the other many numbers. Expected will be a lower glucose reading, but what else I have no idea. I do the pressure, sporadically, at home with a wrist cuff. My “finger oxygen monitor” needs charged and I haven’t found the cable that will do that. Thus, I just spent $10 on Amazon, with delivery Tuesday.

Way back in school-days we learned witty sayings [mnemonic rules] to help us to write and spell correctly. A picture of a coffee mug has the word “weird” on it that doesn’t follow the “i before e” rule. The saying is cute though.

The predicted low for Sunday morning is 32°F.
I’ll stay in until it warms by 11:00, and make chili.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan

John

My mother was born on April 3rd in 1907.
Happy Birthday Mom!
Miracles happen.
I last used my Stihl chainsaw in October, an MS 250; the MS stands for “Motorsäge, German for chainsaw. That makes no sense to me.
Friday was sunny so I put the saw in the sun for an hour and then it started just as it is supposed to do. This might have been the easiest time in years.
I just cut some stuff laying in the shed – about ½ hour – but have several dead trees to drop and other odd & large pieces of things I need to work on. New wood needs to “season” (dry) for 18 months or longer.

I had the Heat Pump serviced. It is working fine but it was installed in 2002. The average use by date is about 15 years with 20 years considered excellent. So, what’s the problem?
Parts may not be available for old models and the refrigerant it uses is now banned, while it may or may not be available at a high cost. If it fails at an inappropriate time (what wouldn’t be?), getting it fixed or a new one installed could be a long wait. Why spend a lot to fix one past its usage date when new ones are more efficient. And like truck tires I bought last fall, the longer I wait the less use I will get out of the new model.
Additionally, there are discounts and maybe grants I might get from several sources. Possibilities include a couple levels of government, the utility district, and the manufacture. Sometime this next week I will go to EBRG and consult with the boss of the local company that does the service. I need to pay the recent bill, too. The current unit is a Trane but there is no longer an EBRG outlet. The folks I now deal with install Lennox. These are also sold through COSTCO. I spoke with the sales rep there on Saturday and learned Costco provides a perk of $15%.
Decision time: wait for the 23-year-old unit to fail or install a more efficient and subsidized one now.
Nights are still cool although the days are nice. From the EBRG area snow is still visible on the surrounding hills at about 5,000 feet. Mount Stuart (NW at 9,415 ft) and Rainier (SW at 14,410) are bright white and can be seen from my area. It is still cold at those altitudes.
And speaking of temperatures:
… an April Fool’s joke I saw had the President signing an executive order renaming the Fahrenheit scale as AmeriTemp.
Having learned about temperature scales in the 1960s, we used Fahrenheit and also learned Centigrade. At some point the latter got renamed as Celsius. There is also the Kelvin scale. AmeriTemp it is!
I find the image-making possibilities impressive as is the one shown here. [The original shows the president seated in the Oval Office.]

In honor of my mother’s birthday, I bought a fancy cake at COSTCO.
It’s cake time!

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John H.

Early this week a storm moved across Kittitas County. I went to sleep about 10 PM and missed the lightning and if there was thunder it did not wake me. I think the strikes were closer to the mountains. I’ve talked to folks that saw, but did not hear, the strikes. Others closer to the mountains reported heavy rain. I missed it all.
Having lived where serious storms are common – Iowa – I’ve never experienced anything similar. Okay, almost never. In 2006 I was with a group camped at about 5,000 feet, northwest of EBRG. A storm came by on the ridge tops so we saw and heard much, but only had rain at camp. The thunder bounced around the ridges 1,200 feet above camp and then exited to the north – down a valley. We never got that sort of thing in Iowa.

From the web:
[ https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/yearly-wellness-visits ]
An annual wellness visit is a yearly appointment with your primary care provider focused on preventive health care, where they assess your health risks and create a personalized prevention plan. It is different from a standard physical exam, as it does not include a hands-on examination but rather emphasizes health maintenance and disease prevention.

Medicare covers the cost. It seems to be optional, although the health care providers get paid just for talking to you. A person I know doesn’t do this because she is healthy and considers it a waste of time. I go and while I get quizzed, I also can ask questions. The time is more relaxed than in the “exam” that is held later, called a chronic conditions visit.
I’d like to compare my answers to the national sample but haven’t found that possible. There are other reports that come close.
At the end of the “wellness visit” I get blood drawn, with the results available for the second visit 10 days away. The results of the blood exam are referenced to ranges for the age and sex. These are interesting because we are all different. I have a couple of oddities, and some tests might point to developing issues that can be controlled, such as high blood pressure or cholesterol. I’m on a minimalist doze for each of those.
I go back on Friday the 11th for the physical exam. I changed insurance companies on January 1st so I don’t know what my co-pay will be this year.

The heavy rain early this week has brought muddy water down off the mountains. To get to my health visit I cross a stream [Teanaway River– Tea an a way] that runs into the Yakima River and I can see both.

The color was about like peanut butter. Stream velocity was fast but there wasn’t flooding. I didn’t stop to take a photo. Oh well.

We are not pruning this coming week so I should be able to do things here, like taking garbage and trash to the transfer station and clearing away some messes in the yard. Rain is iffy and cold mornings are likely. Tuplips and similar plants are popping up, although nothing is blooming.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John