Keeping track

Monday, May 4

Beginning this week with a unique rainbow photographed by Evie Schuetz in our agricultural Kittitas Valley:Wheel line creating a rainbow by EvieMae Schuetz

I’ve got a to-do this morning with a bank transfer for our house remodeling project. At 8:55 a.m., I sent Brandy at our bank, an email requesting a “Certified Check” (virtual) be issued and to arrange for transferring funds from our account to our contractor’s account at the same bank. The stone-tile floor in our new room is patterned after that in the bank.

I plan to start my new medication tomorrow morning, it’s being recommended by my PCP because of the results of the bone density scan I had last week the same day as my mammogram imagery. The mammogram results were fine; no cancer. The bone density has me one-point score away from Osteoporosis, with Osteopenia. I need to begin the medication to prevent bone fracture which can occur with osteoporosis only by walking (a weight bearing situation). The medication is Alendronate. I only take it once a week on an empty stomach, so first thing before having any liquid at all. I must stand to take it and I cannot lie down afterwards, but I must eat something 30 minutes after taking the tablet.

I called Gerald and found out some good news. They are allowing family of the Rehab (nursing home) residents to enter the building to visit. They only allow 2 folks in at a time. Temperature is taken, masks required (and given if they don’t have one), and one person only is allowed in the room. Gerald went this morning with Gene (their son) to see his wife, Jeanne. What a fantastic decision for the families. Poor Gerald has been going bonkers, although they were allowing him to call in and talk to Jeanne over the phone. She always recognized his voice and the caregiver would tell him she was smiling. One day, she even said a few words.

This week’s COVID Bingo card had a special request in the Free Space in the middle: to make up your own random Act (of kindness) & Share it with us. Mine was allowed, so I could X it in, and submit my entry as a .jpg. I completed my Bingo across horizontally through the “Free choice space” for emailing before 7:00 p.m. Wednesday.

I need to walk up the driveway for exercise when Lynn and Walter leave. They have been putting in the floor insulation and he also helped again with the water softener and filters.

I have talked with Culligan folks about changing to the VISA card. Done at 2:55 p.m. and will be deducted tomorrow.

I created a beginning Word Document to collect information for Nick’s groupies (study group) about buying tee shirts to bounce off Kathy—the designer and group member from Brisbane, Australia. I included images of the T-shirts she sent me. This effort lasted over a couple of days and she put all the visuals of the shirts, the sizing chart instructions, and the monetary Australian dollars to USD in the last 3 pages of a 4-pg PDF that I created to mail to the group. The first page was my introduction to Kathy and the shirts and the process for ordering from Kathy.

The Livestreaming lectures this week by Nick Zentner, came off successfully as planned:

Tuesday, May 5

My next rainbow picture is from a friend in Cle Elum who lives on Lookout Mountain overlooking the Teanaway Valley. This is a beautiful double rainbow, which presents some knowledge about optics of which I was totally unaware.Double rainbow by Katie Kallio

She explains: In a double rainbow, a second arc is seen outside the primary arc, and has the order of its colors reversed, with red on the inner side of the arc. This is caused by the light being reflected twice on the inside of the droplet before leaving it.

Nick was brought a fancy cake, and a young admirer Patrick could not come to EBRG for a bite. Nick and I made a plan. Checked with the Post Office about details. I went by Kittitas, WA Post Office with a piece of Carrot Cake that had been frozen in a plastic container. Patrick received it Thursday and sent a thank you note with pictures of the reception at the mailbox and his eating cake later in the house. I was most impressed by this 6-year old classmate’s description of the geological meaning of the use of the carrot cake by Nick as a prop to explain part of his lecture.
Patrick’s words were: The white frosting layers are layers of ash and the brown stuff are slackwater sediment layers in Ice Age Lake deposits. Nick’s photo of Touchet Beds, with cake, & layers of Carrot Cake

The cake weighed 15 pounds and was brought from the Tri-Cities by the owners (Joanna & Neal) of two restaurants there in Kennewick, WA and Richland, WA, named Foodies Brick & Mortar. Joanna and Neal have been viewers of the Livestreaming YouTube Geology videos with Nick from Home since Mar. 17, this year.

While in town, I got John’s colas for the month at Fred Meyer with 10% off Senior Discount, and bought a bunch of special sale priced of our favorites, Reece’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups at 67₵ each.
Took a $400 check by Umpqua Bank’s night deposit in the parking lot, to save driving through the backed-up drive through window.
I went for my INR blood draw and was out in 12 minutes (much better than last month).
Went by Safeway for my refund from John’s shopping trip for 79₵ drinks they charged him 99₵ for. The 80₵ return had 2 old quarters in it.

Drove by Nick’s home with Greg’s honey jar gift, and Nick came out to his mudroom, where I was going to put it, and we had a nice conversation. It was a gift from a member of the audience, Greg from Ten Mile, TN. He and his dad raise bees. Gift for Nick and one for me. Nick tasted the honey on his finger for his toast at the end of his lecture and thanked Greg for the gift.

I submitted my BINGO COVID 3 solution via email to Jodi, the City Recreation & Parks person.

Took my medications list by Super 1 Pharmacy for the Pharmacist Leslie to check for contraindications with my meds of the new pill my doctor ordered for Osteoporosis.

Came home and toured the developing remodeled room. The floor is all in, one door, and another on the way. I have been photographing the process inside and outside as best I can. I’ll occasionally share a few things of interest.

Nick’s evening lecture:

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #36 – 5-5-20 Glacial Lake Missoula starts 4:40 minutes in

Wednesday, May 6

Here’s some reading relating to our last lecture I just found this morning,

Nat’l Park Service: Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail Long-range Interpretive Plan (June 2016)

Dating of late Pleistocene megafloods (multiple floods from drainage of glacial Lake Missoula)

Here’s background viewing for tonight’s lecture Ice Age Erratics.
NOTE: almost at the end of the lecture about 9 minutes, an ad interrupts the flow. Stick with it until you can Skip Ad, and you’ll see the rest.

Vantage Erratics – Roadside Geology, Feb 8, 2012 (10 minutes)

Definitely, check this out from 20 minutes into the visuals:

Wenatchee Ice Age Floods Oct 2, 2013

Also, check out this website of appropriate information:

Glacial erratic boulders of the Puget Sound region

I made this wind report from information on the NOAA Pendleton site and sent to Nick, wind for planning the location of his lecture tonight. I thought it would be too windy for his backyard and perhaps his porch inside the house would be better.Next are some things developing around the outside of our house during the remodeling project mostly affecting the front of our house where the attached 2-car garage is being re-purposed as a livable room (including a utility room for the water treatment instruments, a refrigerator freezer, and a chest freezer.

Just beyond our front door is a Mountain Ash tree. They have clusters of white blossoms and the fruit is bright orange. That hangs on the tree during winter, and after freeze and thaw in spring, birds will eat them. The deer love them. We have others nearby and this one is in the way.

Below is a video of John cutting down the tree. The stump will be pulled later by backhoe guy Pat Jenkins.

John Sawing Down Mt Ash Tree Front Yard
{On John’s computer the focus is fuzzy until 25 seconds. – on Nancy’s it’s perfect throughout}

Nick’s lecture tonight:

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #37 – 5-6-20 Ice Age Erratics start 4:30 minutes in

Thursday, May 7

Created the Tee Shirt Order form, okayed with Kathy Down Under, and sent to Kathy! Now once approved, I’ll put it all into a PDF to send to the study group for ordering from Kathy in Brisbane, Australia.

I sent the background materials for Columbia River Gorge lecture to all members of the study group.

Received the good news that I won another gift card from playing COVID Bingo 3, this week. I chose to receive the $25 to use at the Yellow Church Café. Last time we ate there was with our Australian friends, visiting us after spending time with their family and grandchildren.

More suggested readings for different lectures this week.

Erratic Boulders – Rafted in Icebergs by the Ice Age Floods 2-min Geology, Jun 4, 2013

and, check out the erratics atop Steamboat rock in the Grand Coulee:

Steamboat in the Desert | Nick on the Rocks • Feb 25, 2019

One more left over from our Missoula Floods lecture:
Giant Ripples in the Scablands | Nick on the Rocks • Feb 25, 2019

Suggestion background for Columbia River Gorge lecture tonight:
Columbia River Gorge Apr 5, 2015

Next is in the Columbia River Gorge, and was a downtown lecture John and I attended; I videotaped Nick from the front row and put in our weekly blog. By looking at the end of the green boards lecture, you’ll see some awesome visuals of the Bonneville Landslide into the Columbia River (including actual footage 100 years ago of building the Bridge of the Gods across the Columbia River) – watching the visuals below is a must do!!

Bridge of the Gods Landslide Apr 4, 2018 (start at 30 mins)

Nick from his porch because of the painters covering his lecturing black board space with ladders, while painting his house until the last minute before livestreaming time beginning at 12 minutes to 6:00. Please start below at 6:33 mins to be able to enjoy the thank you thanks for gifts that arrived in the mail today.

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #38 – 5-7-20 Columbia River Gorge starts 6:33 minutes in

We finally received our replacement VISA card today canceled 4-25-20. It was sent regular mail on 4-30-20.

Friday, May 8

Called Cle Elum clinic about Alendronate and aspirin & too much Calcium, and also about my INR from Tuesday (Lacey). Check the portal KVH found INR=2.4. After 1:30 p.m. I talked to Lacey about both items and I need to mark my calendar 4 weeks out for June 2. Also she was going to consult with my PCP (Chelsea) to tell her my concerns about aspirin and calcium supplements along with the Alendronate (because of my pharmacist’s findings on possible contraindications with the tablets).

No livestreaming video lecture from Nick Zentner tonight; his day off (along with Monday).

Here is the background reading for tomorrow’s lecture on Mima Mounds.

This morning I checked the pronunciation of Mima (but it was for names and not specifically for the Mima Mounds). Mima was heard as “ME”ma. I sent the link to Nick and then a couple hours later, I read the Wikipedia article on Mima Mounds, which I shall start with below, and the pronunciation is different with the phonetic given as “MY”ma. The phonetics suggest Mima, with the lowercase letter, I, being pronounced as is in tide. I think I’ll go with that as the better choice, and believe me I have heard it both ways over the years.
As Nick has said, there are many theories but no one really knows the real story of the origin. However, many to choose from below.

Wikipedia: Mima Mounds

My second choice is the Washington Trails Association Hiking site, because WTA is near and dear to our family. John volunteers as an Assistant Crew Leader, working on maintenance of WA trails. Right now they are closed off many of the lands, but I just noted that Seattle Parks have opened their lands, and also this Mima Mound Preserve in WA was also opened May 5 to public use (with social distancing).

Mima Mounds, Hike Info (south of Olympia)

Atlas Obscura – Mima Mounds

This is nice article appearing in the Seattle Times on the MMs:

Mima Mounds: Mystery hides in vast prairie

Great Pyramids of the Gophers: Mima Mound Mystery Solved (2013)

Another “Science” Dec 2013 about computer modeling claim that gophers are the solution

Finally, the following January 2020 article summarizes all the research on the origins as being unexplained by science:

The Mima Mounds in Washington Are a Phenomenon Unexplained by Science

Supper: Meatloaf, pears, French fries, and more.

Hoping to go to bed earlier than usual to be up to watch the early morning geology lecture on Mima Mounds.

Saturday, May 9

This morning from Nick’s backyard: START 5-9-20 at 10:40 to catch a story before the lecture starts officially.

‘Nick From Home’ Livestream #39 – 5-9-20 Mima Mounds starts 10:40 minutes in

I got on again early for the “waiting group” to catch the conversation, because I do not believe that part makes it to the Live Chat that starts the show when Nick arrives.
I checked and nothing appears until Nick checks in.

After our morning Livestreaming Geology with Nick was successfully done, John drove to town to get grain for our 4 horses, and he is stopping by the Bi-Mart store to check for filters for our faucets. With all the remodeling we’ve disturbed our water tank storing well water, which is full of oxidation from the well, and all the water in the house is coming out orange/red. We have cleaned filters and John changed more this morning, to get the water clearer before we wash dishes or certainly white clothes. We are running out of both. He also bought 5 yellow straight neck squash plants and 5 different tomato plants.

I plan to send out a few thoughts on suggestions for background reading for tomorrow’s lecture on West Coast Tsunami possibilities. Here they are with help from a couple members of Zentnerd study group email bunch.

Seattle Tsunami background viewing:

There is a lot of viewing time with these, but if you spend your time on the first 4 you’ll be well set for Nick’s lecture.

Personally, I think everyone should watch this video, now to precede the following ones:

Pacific Northwest Earthquakes—3 Types • Jul 19, 2015 (8 mins)

Note the next one below is the New Yorker article which drew a lot of attention to this Tsunami issue:

The New Yorker article: The Really Big One – An earthquake will destroy a sizable portion of the coastal Northwest. The question is when – by Kathryn Schulz-July 13, 2015

Best of the bunch is by our leader, Nick Zentner! responding to The New Yorker article: (however, it’s hard to see the small screen in some shots, so combining closed captioning might help and turn up the volume because the CC doesn’t translate all his words correctly, but you can hear what he’s saying.

Nick Zentner- Earthquakes: Will Everything West of I-5 Really Be Toast? • Dec 7, 2015 (48 mins)

Followed by another LethaLeeFox pointed me to (and the above was found by Kathy Williams-DeVries. Thanks for the help today.

Tsunami in our future (May 1, 2013) go to 43:28 min in because the green board part of the lecture is not visually well seen

DON’T MISS this Playlist of animations (as we saw a couple of in the cozy fort during Nick’s lecture this morning) – which was created by Theresa Swan, from Mt. Vernon, WA, mother of Patrick, age 6, one of our favorite classmates. Patrick asks the best questions of the whole bunch of us during the Q&A at the end of each lecture:

Tsunami Simulations created by the WA Geological Survey (no sound on most)

The rest I found:

Another very important one narrated by Professor Nick:

The Cascadia Subduction Zone—What can the landscape tell us? • Jan 25, 2020 (2:40 minutes)

and, our friend, Goldfinger (great video):

Toast, tsunamis and the really big one | Chris Goldfinger | TEDxMtHood • Jul 5, 2016 (14 mins)

TV KGW News talking on What you need to know about the Cascadia Subduction Zone | Earthquake Ready or Not • Oct 10, 2019 (1:45 minutes)

Simulations show tsunami threat in Washington State • 8-16-19 (2 minutes)

Tsunami wave simulation for Bellingham, WA • 8-26-19 (2 minutes, no sound)

What can GPS tell us about future earthquakes in Cascadia? (UNAVCO collaboration) • May 8, 2013 (4 mins)

Finally, an interesting presentation of Earthquakes in PNW:

Earthquakes of Cascadia: 1979 – 2019 • Sep 3, 2019 (3 mins)

The last one is just being added now after the lecture. It’s a downloadable PDF brochure from the WA Geological Survey, with good descriptive information on the definition, causes, and responses and precautions needing to be taken, such as evacuation planning:

Tsunami Hazards in Washington State

Finally finished doing the first load of dishes. Very time-consuming project to get all the buildup of oxidation from the red water off to put in the dishwasher, and the filter will likely need to be changed again soon. The water is still red. Even coming from the hot water tank. I still have a kitchen of dirty dishes to do another load when this is through. It takes 58 minutes to go through its wash cycle and we do not put it through the dry, but turn over the cups and let it air dry. At least two more loads to process from over a week ago.

Now Rascal cat is in my lap, so I will set up birthday’s for tomorrow, and I’ll send a Mother’s day card to a few moms I know.

Supper: Meat loaf, pear slices, French fries, cheddar cheese on Broccoli & Cauliflower (sadly because of the Coumadin I’m taking, I cannot have my favorite broccoli). All with a nice Rose’ of Syrah.

Sunday, May 10 Happy Mother’s Day

The photo of us below appeared on a Happy Mother’s Day wish from Sara Brazeau Lorig, to me, on Facebook – with the message: It wouldn’t be a proper Mother’s Day without a shout out to my two phenomenal “Adopted Moms.” I am so fortunate to have had these brilliant and strong teachers in my life just when I needed them most. Their support and advice has played a pivotal role in who I am today. I am so fortunate to have met them and am in grateful awe of the effortless love that they share with me, all of their lucky students, their families, and their many friends. I love you, Nancy B. Hultquist and Betsi Kurzawski! This was one photo she posted and I’m putting it here, because John was also her teacher for Physical Geography at CWU. I don’t remember the year taken, but it was taken at White Heron Cellars winery west of Quincy. This Thursday, John is taking a break in the morning from assisting contractors here and will go over there to help 5 others on bottling wine – a white Swiss grape named Amigne.

Our morning lecture began an hour earlier than the actual startup time, with a bunch of us visiting on line from all over the world in the waiting mode to have Nick arrive and start. It was an exciting topic on problem tsunamis hitting our west coast and affecting people in coastal areas. Viewers from Japan, Alaska where Tsunamis have occurred in our lifetime were watching this morning.

During the morning “waiting session” I began having serious problems with my mouse for navigating the screen on my computer. I also had an enlarged full screen image, which did not allow me to read the Live Chat comments by viewers (to the right of the lecture). Finally, I figured out that problem into the program, but my mouse continued messing up throughout the evening trying to create the final draft of this blog. Finally, John put out the delayed notice, and it won’t be published until Monday night (because from early all day to 5:00, John has to work with two different contractors on our home remodeling project). John is my manager for editing my comments and entering them into the WordPress jargon to create this.

Okay, back to the lecture this morning.
A neighbor of Nick’s rode by on her bike, and she researches this topic of past tsunami deposits of sand in tidal flats. She is a professor of Geology at CWU as well, and has past, present, and future students she is advising on their research for graduate theses. Nick invited her to share her knowledge with us during the livestreaming lecture. She fielded questions from the audience and taught us a lot. We all are grateful for her time spent with us. Her name is Bre MacInnes. You can find her information on line by searching on CWU Geology Faculty.

‘Nick From Home’ Livestream #40 – 5-10-20 Seattle Tsunami ? starts 2:30 minutes in

Here is one of the ones Nick showed this morning in the Cozy Fort.

I wasn’t thinking and should have put that in the suggested reading. I need to ask Nick if there isn’t an outtake somewhere of some of the crew pulling him out of sinking in the mud. I don’t think I dreamed seeing that in my past.
Ghost Forests | Nick on the Rocks • Feb 25, 2019 (5 min)

We called our cousin Ethel (102 yrs young) in PA to wish her a happy Mother’s Day and had a nice long conversation. Found out her father was born 2 years before mine in May of 1895! My dad was born August 3, 1897, and died when I was 14. My mom was born August 27, 1914, and died in 1981 when I was 38.

Supper: Our asparagus from the garden, cauliflower, fish, chicken, fries, and wine.

This weekly blog is not going to be published tonight as usual because John must go to bed. He will be on & off busy helping with the remodeling project. One is working on the inside of the house and the other is working with a construction & roadbuilding backhoe/front-end loader, moving dirt and rocks (we’re on an alluvial fan) / digging holes for posts / pulling out tree stumps / breaking up concrete and hauling off, to create drainage downslope away from the house roof. The house was built in 1981 by a shoddy contractor. We have been correcting things since moving in, in 1989.

Coming out Monday night at 11:15 p.m.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Apr 27

My part in the house remodeling project is to handle paying the contractor. Found out how to do that electronically. We are converting our attached 2-car garage into another room of our home. First, it must be repaired and brought up to code. It’s ceiling is falling, having been nailed with small nails meant to hold cedar shakes down, not meant to hold heavy dry-wall up. Screws are the appropriate fastener. The walls, attic, and floor need to be insulated. Electrical outlets, lighting, and ceiling fan will be added. One window needs removed as it only views an adjacent shed put in 8 years after the house was built, by another owner (not us). We moved in, in 1989. I am in charge of moving things we no longer need out of our home, and into the free giver community in our region (various free sites on Facebook) to be redistributed to folks in need. I like to do this when possible.

So, with respect to $, I called Brandy at our bank and arranged to transfer funds to the contractor. His bank account is there as well, so she could arrange a transfer directly to his business account from our checking account.

I also found the owner of the home with the unique tree (a willow) pictured in our previous blog last week (go look if you missed it, and tell me what animal figures you see in the branches). DO THAT BEFORE you read the description below the photo. I got his name from our contractor (who’s his neighbor). I found their phone number and requested an email address to send the family the photo. We had a nice conversation about the tree. It has been in a “dead” condition for a couple of years, but is still standing for people to admire and photograph.

Meals today: Lunch: Roast beef, beans, carrots.
Supper: Meatloaf and scalloped potatoes.

The Livestreaming lectures this week by Nick Zentner, came off successfully as planned:Let me use this location to print corrections from links related to Nick Zentner’s information that wouldn’t work last week. First, are links related to Lydia Staisch on the Ringold Formation research with Zircons.
The two of our weekly blogs over 2 yrs (2018 & 2019) to connections to Lydia Staisch & Nick Zentner:

See both people below in these weeks on the dates suggested.

Look for Nick & Lydia in several places Wednesday, April 24

Look for Lydia Staisch on Thursday, May 31 & Fri. June 1

Tuesday, Apr 28

I saved myself a trip to town today by calling a friend, Connie, and she checked my numbers at Bi-Mart. We won nothing.

I was scheduled to participate in a 10:30 Zoom presentation with members of the AAC (our local Senior Center), which is closed. I participated. It was a meet your friends for a coffee break.

Palouse Falls

I sent my background viewing suggestions to the group for tonight’s lecture on the Palouse Hills.

Palouse Falls and Dry Falls, 6-12-13 

Goldilocks Miracle of the Palouse|Nick on the Rocks, 2-25-19

Palouse Falls & the Palouse River Canyon, 2-min Geology, 6-4-13

Before starting tonight, let me switch you back to Nick’s #23 on April 16, where you need to add this to your background viewing for the ‘Nick from Home’ Livestream on the Yakima River Canyon. This is a 2-Minute Geology video with Nick singing, strumming, and educating viewers about geology.

Entrenched Meanders, Yakima River (near Ellensburg, WA)

And, Nick’s evening lecture:

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #31 – 4-28-20 Palouse Hills starts 13 minutes in

Wednesday, Apr 29

Sent to the study group for Nick from Home lecture, this for background viewing tonight on Ice Age Lakes.

First—just this morning I found a new video for me and I imagine for most of you, but you may want to put this on your bucket list, after you have followed the ones below on Ice Age Lakes. I have not viewed this video past the first 19 minutes, but I’m hooked. (NOTE: I viewed some of the public comments below it, and was thrilled to see several names of people I have met on the ‘Nick from Home’ Livestreaming). I knew he had a following and now I’m convinced after attending all the Nick from Home presentations since 3/17/20 how worldwide it is.

Nick Zentner in 2015: Speaking to an audience of Pacific Northwest agriculturalists in the 3 Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick, WA attending the PNW Oilseed & Direct Seed Conference.

Ice Age Geology: A Common Thread for Pacific Northwest Agriculture – Jun 12, 2015 (57 minutes)

Ice Age Floods, Lake Missoula, Bonneville Flood and the Columbia River Basalts – Dec 8, 2014 (16 minutes)

Glacial Lake Missoula-Jun 14, 2015 (19 minutes)

Ice Age Mystery of Lake Lewis | Nick on the Rocks – Feb 25, 2019 (4 minutes)

Lake Chelan — Battle of the Ice Sheets | Nick on the Rocks – Dec 28, 2017 (4 minutes)

Lake Chelan Geology – Feb 19, 2017 (67 minutes)

Ice Age Lakes between Seattle and the Cascade Range May 11, 2015 (18 minutes)

Checked into this Zoom class, but did not stay very long because of too much noise (air compressor and nail gun) from the garage and many other things on my agenda.

Topic: Get Moving Exercise Class
Time: Apr 29, 2020 10:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Worked on sending past stuff to the new Zentnerds in the group.

Last week I listed two of the videos a watcher from Brisbane, Australia has created of Highlights of Nick Zentners’ livestreams in 10 episode segments. This week she made her third, and developed a playlist to which you can subscribe.
Here’s the link to the playlist:

Kathy Williams-DeVries, Nick Zentner’s Episode Highlights Playlist

Nick’s lecture tonight:

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #32 – 4-29-20 Ice Age Lakes starts 12:50 minutes in

Thursday, Apr 30

I participated this morning in a Zoom presentation from the Ellensburg Senior Center. We visited 3 neighborhood libraries. Katrina Douglas lead the tour (during cold winds) on her bike.

Topic: Virtual Walk: Little Free Libraries – Part 1
Time: Apr 30, 2020 09:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

I managed to add the newbies to the list from yesterday, so my address list was ready to use. Finally, after several interruptions this morning. I sent out the background viewing suggestions for tonight’s geology lecture on Ice Age Waterfalls. I was rather pleased with what I found and provided, especially when Nick ended up showing 3 of them in the cozy fort.

Background viewing suggestions for tonight’s lecture: Ice Age Waterfalls:

Dry Falls – Roadside Geology August 29, 2012 (14 minutes)

Palouse Falls and Dry Falls June 12, 2013 (44 minutes)

Palouse Falls & the Palouse River Canyon – Ice Age Floods Features-2 min Geology Jun 4, 2013 (5 minutes)

Making our Dry Falls animation Dec 31, 2019 (4 minutes)

Ending with this after numerous mentions of his books:
Link to Central Rocks for Bruce Bjornstad interview on Nick’s site
and go to Central Rocks link below and play Bruce Bjornstad’s
interview (28 minutes).
Once you follow this link, you’ll need to go to Bruce Bjornstad

Nick from his porch because of our strong winds again today:

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #33 – 4-30-20 Ice Age Waterfalls starts 12 minutes in

Supper: succotash, baked potato, baked chicken

Friday, May 1

No livestreaming video lecture from Nick Zentner tonight; his day off (along with Monday).

Here is the background reading for tomorrows lecture on Ice Age Climate.
Attempting to find this information on Ice Age Climate (Nick’s topic this morning) started Thursday night and continued into Friday, but was a very difficult chore. Here are my results:

For Saturday background on Nick’s Ice Age Climate:
Kathy Williams-DeVries, a friend in Australia reminded me of one of Nick’s Podcasts of the topic that I completely missed,

#8 Ice Age Climate!!

For the counterview to global warming & climate change, check out wattsupwiththat dot com, and note the following link where Nick has been featured there:

Nick Zentner recognized on a major climate discussion site

Climate Change-Past and Future –The Ice Ages

Evidence of Global Warming & The End of the Last Ice Age

2-13-20, There Is No Impending ‘Mini Ice Age’ by NASA Global Climate Change

Global Cooling: Are You Ready for the Real Climate Change?

Pleistocene History of Earth’s Climate

Paleoclimatology: the Oxygen Balance

Supper: Baked ham, mashed potatoes with gravy, cubed cooked apples in cinnamon/brown sugar.

Going to bed to be up early to watch the early morning geology lecture on Ice Age Climate.

Saturday, May 2

Ready for Nick’s livestreaming by 8:00 a.m. People get earlier each week, and we have our own conversation before most of the people check in.

Nick’s morning presentation:

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #34 – 5-2-20 Ice Age Climate starts early with Nick’s thankyous at 3 minutes in

We were thanked first and then others. You may wish to start watching at 3:00 minutes in.
First is ours: 3 bottles of White Heron Wine-White, Red, & Rose’.Nick holding the wine and talking about us & him. Better to view in the video (above).

2nd gift, a beautiful water color painting from Jonathan in Portland, of Nick’s opening scene at Dry Falls for all his PBS shows, Nick on the Rocks.Other gifts not pictured, so best to watch the couple minutes at the beginning of the video.

But here is a description of one gift, all the way from Germany.
It came in the mail with rock samples from Germany (Bavaria) near Austria, from Thomas a geology teacher there in high school and the university. Now Nick is going to share specimens from here with Thomas.

After our morning Livestreaming Geology with Nick was successfully done, John and I spent an interesting day with the contractor, moving our water treatment stuff out of the way for the raised floor in our new room. We were without running water from after lunch until 5:30 and dealing with rain and moving a Refrigerator freezer to the front porch, John building a ramp for us to exit the porch, and I was trying to work inside with a ton of noise.

Supper: Biscuits with ham gravy and mashed potatoes

Sunday, May 3

I called my first geography professor in Atlanta, GA, to wish him a Happy Birthday, for yesterday. His name is Sandy Bederman, and had a nice visit with him and his wife, Jolayne. They were instrumental in my life starting in 1962, and influencing my choice to continue in graduate school.

Nick’s morning lecture is #35 – Volcanoes & Climate.

Here was the background information for this morning’s lecture I sent out yesterday afternoon.
I don’t really have much in the way of background material to suggest, so will pick a couple ones I found today, more related to past lectures (for the volcano part) where Plate Tectonics play a big part.

Introduction to Plate Tectonics

And this morning from Nick’s backyard:

‘Nick From Home’ Livestream #35 – 5-3-20 Volcanoes & Climate starts 13:08 minutes in

Very interesting presentation.

Supper: Fried chicken, fish, and cheesy cauliflower, and a small piece of corn on its cob.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Apr 20

Beginning with a sunset from April 18, 2020, I missed seeing until today:Across the Tacoma Narrows from his home on Tacoma’s “West Slope” area by JW Harrington.
JW is a geographer we’ve known for a long time, and he is a painter as well. All his friends are expecting a rendition of this in a future painting (he’s an artist too).

We left before noon today to drive to town to pick up lunch at Burger King, find a shade tree, and eat. That was not a good idea. We got there in plenty of time but everyone is having to go through the take out window, and we were 9th in line. We had called in by phone to have them throw the Crispy Chicken in the fryer. It was to be ready at 12:20. That time came around and we still had two cars in front of us. We waiting much longer to be served. Once done, we ate. I was driving, so I only ate ½ my crispy chicken sandwich, and a few fries, and John finished his Whopper as I drove to McCullough Rd to our contractor’s new house.

John took some photos of the rock siding we will be getting on our house, and he also checked out the HardiePlank fiber-cement siding, which had been written as metal on the bid, but we want the composite for better fire resistance. I videotaped our long conversation about details on the 4 pages of the contract. That took well over an hour.

John and I saw this tree on a neighbor’s property from our contractor’s home on McCullough Road. It is quite aways off and his image (a bit blurred) was only a token. It was useful in calling Evie’s attention to it, as capturing a neat photograph.Creatively artistic tree (taken in the rain) by Evie Schuetz.

She published it Tuesday on Facebook and tagged me, but I didn’t see it until late. I showed to John, whose first comment was he was so happy she found it and took a nice photo before it started to fall. When we first saw it, John saw dinosaurs, and I saw giraffes and then I saw the dinosaur. Interesting how people interpret images differently. Neither of us can see a crab in there that some others see (including Evie), but now that she explained it to me, I realize John and I never watched SpongeBob SquarePants to learn of The Krusty Krab and the Krabby Patty. I need to drive by the home on McCullough Rd, figure out who owns the house and the tree, to get their email to show them the picture. It is a unique photograph. Nature is artistic. Evie took this on 4/22/20.

Finally, we left and drove back across town to get to a road off the Old Thorp Highway. I needed to pick up a freely given pair of Sketchers shoes (found via The Free Box site). I was on there recently to list something I was giving away, and saw the announcement.

Called Gerald on our way to Thorp. It was just 3:04 when I called. He was outside, on his lawnmower and visiting in the shade of his garage with his kids. We joined the party. Our original intent was to pick up a bread making machine he no longer wanted and was giving us. We need to go buy some new yeast and dry milk, and when we get it working, we’ll provide some bread for Gerald. Yeast has followed toilet paper into the netherworld (guess everyone is making bread during this Panic 2020)—see John’s story below in his Friday column, “Not So Nasty News.”

On my way home, John filled my tank at the Thorp Shree’s Station, for $1.39/gallon. Ours cost $1.49/gal because we prefer to buy gasoline with our VISA CITI bank card from Costco, from which we get 4% back. The “discount” actually is summed and returned to us as a check redeemable at the store, as cash. So until we can get there and claim our cash, COSTCO gets the interest earned. The Panic 2020 isn’t helping. We’ve had such a check for a month.

Tuesday, Apr 21

Good Background viewing for tonight’s lecture on Plates Colliding:

Nick narrates animation (on IRIS), Cascadia Subduction Zone—What can the landscape tell us? Jan 25, 2020

Supercontinents and the Pacific Northwest, Apr 11, 2019

John and I were there ten years ago, for this lecture:

Slow Earthquakes at Downtown at Raw Space, 10-27-2010

Nick’s livestreaming geology tonight ~ from his porch because of high winds all day. The high gust was 46 mph.

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #26 – 4-21-20 Plates Colliding starts 13:43 minutes in

Wednesday, Apr 22

This was our day of rain.

Katrina did two livestreaming SAIL exercise classes from her home this morning at 9:00 a.m., and Friday Noon. The pink dress was Wednesday and the others were Friday. Bottom she is having a live chat with all the people who are participating. Both were fun days. We had a pretty good turnout both days.

I worked on submitting my COVID Bingo-1 card to submit tonight by 7:00 p.m. to Parks & Recreation. I had to finish before then because I would be watching Nick’s Livestreaming. I’ll show the card tomorrow and tell you the story that went with it.

Morning receipt from Kathy Williams-Devries in Brisbane, Australia, of a new Video she made of Nick Zentner’s first 10 livestreams. These are hilarious. She has followed with a second version of the next 10 that I will list below:

‘Nick from Home’ Highlights episodes 1-10 by Kathy Williams-Devries

‘Nick from Home’ Highlights episodes 11-20 by Kathy Williams-Devries

Below is an image introducing the topic for tonight, The Straight Creek Fault (named Fraser Fault in Canada).View the geologic fault right down the middle of the image.

Background on tonight’s lecture: Straight Creek Fault

I could not locate any viewable lectures and just glanced at a couple of reports by the DNR and USGS, and some stuff on the Fraser Fault (the fault continues into Canada) and the Kula & Farallon plates.

Tonight’s lecture from inside his house, the porch (’cause of rain):

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #27 – 4-22-20 Straight Creek Fault starts 13:05 minutes in

Thursday, Apr 23

Is it really Bingo if no one can hear you yell BINGO!This is the current panic 2020 solution to people who cannot go to work or to community activities. I mentioned it yesterday. I joined the Bingo Party over the week and managed to get a bingo on the V vertical line on the card. I submitted my proof to the Ellensburg City Parks & Recreation office and I received a phone call that I was one of the winners (luck of the draw).

I had the choice of 3 restaurants in town for a $25 gift card. We chose The Red Pickle. It will be mailed to us, and we’ll go by for a take out.

I called my bank about transferring money between accounts online, and figured out the best way to get a certified check sent to our contractor without going into the bank. Good thing they know us both and we have accounts at the same bank. Made it a lot easier and saved money and a trip to town.

A tree fell over the power lines on Thomas Road, near our neighbor’s driveway. The crew for the Utility had to come cut the power off to deal with it. We were not affected until the main line was shut off, but those closer were without power for about 4 hours. Our power went out at 11:20 and came back at 11:52. I left soon to go to Imaging at the hospital for a 12:45 check in for Bone Density and Mammogram tests. I didn’t get back home until 3:00 p.m.

We had phone calls, e-mailing, printing, signing, and scanning associated with cashing out two small insurance policies for John with Northwestern Mutual Life. One was started in 1966 while he was at the University of Cincinnati. His original intent was to take his parents off the hook if he went to his great reward while a poor student. His parents are long gone to their great reward, and I don’t need the cash either, so it is on the way to our bank account, except for some to the IRS.

Thursday night expect Nick Z from home porch probably because of weather.
Background viewing for tonight’s lecture on Hells Canyon:

Hells Canyon and the Ringold Formation- April 24, 2019

Nick from his backyard:

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #28 – 4-23-20 Hells Canyon starts 11:53 minutes in

Link problems below; John can’t get these next 2, I can. Bummer.
We are searching for reasons why.

The two of our weekly blogs over 2 yrs (2018 & 2019) to connections to Lydia Staisch & Nick Zentner:
See both people below in these weeks on the dates suggested.

Look for Nick & Lydia in several places Wednesday, April 24

Look for Lydia Staisch on Thursday, May 31 & Fri. June 1

Friday, Apr 24

No livestreaming video lecture from Nick Zentner tonight; his day off (along with Monday).

Busy all day on projects.
Supper: Leftover cooked canned pork, tomatoes and more made into sauce on spaghetti noodles, with canned pears.

Going to bed to be up early to watch the early morning geology lecture on Geologic time (originally thought it was on Relative Age Dating).

Saturday, Apr 25

Ready for Nick’s livestreaming by 8:15 a.m.

Here is some background you can get to on the web,
For Nick’s Podcast #1 Geologic Time

#1 Geologic Time

For Nick’s Podcast #2 Relative Age Dating

#2 Relative Age Dating

Next is the livestream, ‘Nick from home’:

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #29 – 4-25-20 Geologic Time starts 13:40 minutes in

These images will partially cover the weekend geology lectures:

John went off to town for shopping at 3 stores. A bad thing happened at the first one. He lost his Costco VISA credit card. No clue what happened to it. Paid for stuff, left the store, went to another, and didn’t have it to pay there, so he used another card, and went back to the first store hoping it had been turned in. No such luck. So, he called me and for over a half hour I called and finally got it canceled. They supposedly will have a replacement card delivered before we will be going to Costco.
Brunch: we had blueberry/pecan pancake, bacon, and orange slices.

To cheer you up today, check out this creative dressing and photography by my friend Evie Schuetz (also a violinist in our music group), she created with her ingenuity and photography of our downtown-homed Ellensburg Bull (you’ve heard about before in our blog). This brings it up-to-date.Ellensburg, WA Bull ready with coronavirus protection and hoarding his TP, photographed by Evie Schuetz.

I continued working on all my projects, and John continued on his out in the yard. He alternates among several activities so he doesn’t overdue one set of muscles and later get cramps.
He continued disassembling the rest of the rotted out wooden patio put in front of our house when built in 1981. He mutters a lot about the dumb things the builders did.

Here’s a short clip of near the end of the process today:

John disassembling a very old wooden deck

Sunday, Apr 26

Nick’s morning lecture is on Absolute Age Dating.

There is a follow-up Podcast for today. I recommend going there and to the two preceding it (for Saturday morning’s broadcast, if you missed listening yesterday to the podcasts).
Here is the third Zentner Podcast for background to today’s lecture (by the same name):

#3 Absolute Age Dating

And this morning from Nick’s backyard:

‘Nick From Home’ Livestream #30 – 4-26-20 Absolute Age Dating

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Apr 13

Beginning with a beautiful photo of Mt. Stuart, from Easter Sunday afternoon on the road to the Party Barn in Thorp, WA.

Evie Schuetz’s Photo from Thorp, WA of Mt. Stuart, which was transported here from Mexico on moving tectonic plates. (no joke). Don’t believe me – check out the link below. Baja to BC.

In answer to my question, Evie said: It was shot with my telephoto lens at 448mm. I tried using 600mm first, but then all you could see was mountain and no foreground. I liked it with the cows best. I took the photo at 2:49pm yesterday (on our way back from Cle Elum).
I agree. The composure is enhanced by the cows in the valley foreground.

The origin of Mt. Stuart in Mexico is explained here by my friend, Nick Zentner. Check this story Baja to BC:

Mt. Stuart – From Mexico? | Nick on the Rocks_1-19-17 (5 min)

More recently, this year, Nick from Home’ Livestream #10 Baja BC Exotic Terranes-3-29-20 (>1 hr)

Monday we met with an electrician and our contractor at our place. Electrical work will fit in after new walls and window, and ceiling are fixed. He had good ideas to improve the room.

Today, I put a check in the mail to The Swauk-Teanaway Grange for scholarship donation, and suggest others do the same; the Grange is another “business” suffering from loss of income by this coronavirus stay-home order. [John calls it Panic 2020.] One of their incomes from rentals (mostly for spring & summer weddings) will not be available. The normal awards ceremony and dinner had to be canceled this year. So, donations received at the dinner will not happen this year, to fund the scholarships as usual.

Tuesday, Apr 14

We went by the Landons to pick up the wine rack for Cameron and baking potatoes. Have a 2:00 appointment at Umpqua bank with a notary. Picked up feed for horses, and Annie’s meds at Fred Meyer pharmacy. John went in to check Bi-Mart numbers, and we called Peggy and talked all the way home, even including a drive-by McCullough Road to see the siding (with stone facing) on the house belonging to our contractor.
When our Great Leader Jay says it is okay to work, a crew will remodel and convert our attached 2-car garage to livable space. Outside, the front “L” will get blue metal siding (3 ½ feet top) and stone on the bottom. We’ll have blue, rather than gray, but the image (right) – from the web – is the concept. [There is no time yet decided on ending the lock-down.]

I just found this and figured I’d include it for all those following Nick’s lectures, during which he mentions former or current faculty members in Central Washington University’s Geological Sciences department. Many of these names will be familiar.

CWU Geology Through the Years presented May 20, 2016 by Nick Zentner

Background on tonight’s lecture, Seattle’s Geology:

Geology of Seattle and the Puget Sound Mar 2, 2015, part of I-90 Rocks Videos with Tom Foster

Seattle Fault | Nick on the Rocks Dec 28, 2017

Ice Age Lakes between Seattle and the Cascade Range (with nice subtitles), May 11, 2015, part of I-90 Rocks Videos with Tom Foster

Nick’s livestreaming geology tonight ~

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #21 – 4-14-20 Seattle Geology starts 11:00 minutes in

Nice sunset with Mt. Rainier photo by Kim Sowers Goudge

Wednesday, Apr 15

John met for an hour with 2 fellows from Washington Tractor to take our Tractor with front end loader, to town for getting operable again and adding a roll bar so we can loan it to our friend Cameron Fries. The vineyard is on sand but parts quite steep. The Naneum Alluvial Fan is basalt cobbles in place for millions of years. The small tractor, bought with good intentions a few years ago just won’t handle the compacted material of the fan.The motor started but had a few issues – malfunctioning joy-stick to move the front loader, and a couple of hose leaks. We have been told this tractor is “like a John Deere” so maybe they can make it work and add a roll bar.

Haircut with Celia today at 1:00 p.m. and also took historic car articles from the WSJ to husband Bobby. I drove into a storm: but we were fortunate it rained hard while we were in her home cutting my hair. By the time I left it stopped. No storm at home, just a mile away.Storm a coming. Photo by Amanda Ross, permission granted. Note bird hunting, right side.

John was home with the old pickup truck when he saw the cloud and decided to come into the house and get the truck back under cover. As mentioned above, that wasn’t needed.

Background on tonight’s lecture:

Snoqualmie Pass in the Cascade Range, May 26, 2015 in I-90 Rocks videos with Tom Foster

Roadside Geology Thorp Moraine Feb 22, 2013

Tonight’s lecture from his backyard ~

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #22 – 4-15-20 Snoqualmie Pass starts 13:30 minutes in

Ending tonight with a great article in the Seattle Times that came out today about Nick Zentner’s Livestreaming. Check here:

CWU professor teaches a global audience during pandemic

Thursday, Apr 16

Late to bed last night, slept in this morning, till 8:00 a.m.
Just the usual at home stuff today. John fixed popcorn for my video watching.

Thursday night Nick Z from home. Background viewing for tonight’s lecture (chronologically):

Roadside Geology – Yakima River Canyon-Feb 22, 2013

Yakima River Canyon Geology, 9-30-13-Nick’s Downtown Lecture
Nick Zentner- Geology of the Yakima River Canyon-Jul 6, 2016 at Biological Sciences Seminar COTS, CWU

Yakima River Canyon | Nick on the Rocks-Jan 19, 2017

Nick from his backyard ~

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #23 – 4-16-20 Yakima River Canyon Geology starts 13:15 minutes in

Friday, Apr 17

We sent the county our request for a flood plain development (sic) permit. They are not open so we had to mail it.
The “sic” means we are not in a floodplain, even though the FEMA map shows we are. The county can’t overrule. If there is a loan involved, then flood insurance is (thousands) required.

Getting the packet together took much longer than ever expected, and then John had to travel to the post office in Ellensburg to send it, combining with two grocery store stops.
His Not So Nasty News on Friday has the trip to the Post Office story – find the picture of the 20¢ George Washington stamp.

No livestreaming video lecture from Nick Zentner tonight; his day off (along with Monday).

Contractor Walter called to come go over the bid with us. Wife Lynn came along and we visited.

Late supper: Salad for me, spaghetti sandwich for John with wine, White Heron’s Trinidad Red. It is a blend from the lowest vines where the soil, when wet, is a red (auburn) color.

Going to bed to be up early to watch the early morning geology lecture on Columnar Basalts in Central WA.

Saturday, Apr 18

Starting today with a visit to the past and current spring.Lf-Fireplace cover Santa by John w/Grid Method Art; Rt-Variegated tulips

We have had Daffodils, mostly yellow, but the tulips have been in a pause mode for weeks. This week the earliest variety put on a spring show. Others still have no blooms.

Back in the blog for April 2 I featured a Tiger head painted by a young woman from Kittitas, WA, Franka, using the method. Follow the link on that date above to see the tiger, after you scroll down the page to the date.

This morning at 9:00 a.m. is a livestreaming video lecture from Nick Zentner on Columnar Basalt. I get on line just after 8:00 a.m. to visit with some of my fellow students from around the world.

Background viewing for this morning’s lecture.
Starting with my favorite:

Geology Video Blooper – Columnar Basalt-Nov 5, 2014

Flood Basalts of the Pacific Northwest_1-25-2017—move to the visuals at 52:45 to view Elephant Mountain flow at 54:54 of the columnar basalts

Columns of Basalt Lava | Nick on the Rocks_12-28-2017

Below is Nick’s livestreaming of Saturday’s morning lecture:

I was on the page early and reminded our group today via live chat that the Ultra-Light Pilot is Tom Taggert (not Tom Foster), a question asked last week. Tom Foster was a photographer and the author of the web site hugefloods.com. Sadly, Tom recently died (3-4-20) at a young age (60); see this report, from the IAFI (Ice Age Floods Institute):

RIP Tom Foster, Remarkable-IAF-Chronicler

Then this morning’s lecture is here, and we really got into it going until 10:30 a.m.!! Longest ever. All the students around the world stayed with him the whole time, and I think even surprised Nick.

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #24 – 4-18-20 Columnar Basalt starts 14 minutes in

John fixed us a breakfast of Blueberry/pecan pancake, with maple syrup, bacon, & navel orange slices.

He’s gone back outside to move dirt and rocks, among other things. He just moved the old Chevy pickup truck into the front yard and is using a crowbar to rip slats of wood from the deck (already rotting) put there about 40 years ago. It’s been a problem for years, but soon will be history. Ignore the pallet on the right.

I’m tackling in house chores, responding to emails, and working on my part of the blog. Must get off here soon and file more receipts that keep piling up. While adding other chores that can run on their own (clothes washer, dishwasher).

Sunday, Apr 19

Nick’s morning lecture is on Plate Tectonics.
This one was difficult to find previous lectures on by Nick. He’s spoken about some of the issues previously, but many of those will be more appropriate for this coming Tuesday’s lectures on Mountains (with the lecture titled, Plates Colliding).
I cannot find any background info for this morning’s presentation except two audio podcasts by Nick (which are amazingly well done without visuals). I have chosen #13 & #14.

I’ll start with a world map of the plate boundaries.Washington State is impacted by the North American Plate running over the small Juan de Fuca Plate which is subducting below – center, near the top.

Here is the first audio Podcast:

#13 Plate Tectonics

and the second:

#14 Plate Boundaries

And this morning from Nick’s backyard ~

‘Nick From Home’ Livestream #20 – 4-19-20 Plate Tectonics starts 13:00 minutes in

The next video is a real surprise, found from arriving early to our chat session for this morning’s lecture by Nick on Plate Tectonics from one of the regular “student” viewers, Kathy Williams-Devries from Brisbane in the Australian State of Queensland.

Washington Geology Rocks

Brunch we both participated in making: eggs, bacon, toast, & orange slices.

This afternoon I worked on a bunch of in-house chores, but one of them was writing up an interesting story for our agricultural valley that began yesterday when a person from Kittitas, WA found a piece of something that she didn’t know what was. She photographed it and put the question on Facebook. I know her, so I followed the question with a comment. And, I sent an email with her picture to a friend. His answer came back this morning. I had not told him what I told the group were my thoughts. So I’ll start with that. I said maybe it might be related to an old piece of agricultural equipment. If it was used with an old loose hay stacker, the Bull family has a nice one down off the Kittitas Hwy, just on the right before Bull Rd. You could stop there, show it to them, and ask. I took a photo recently and they allowed me to drive into their pasture to get a closer view (my photo is below).
Interestingly, the email answer from my friend, Kenneth Hammond, suggested: It looks to me like the protective tip and end of one tine for a ‘buckrake’ that was attached to a frame used to pick up loose hay. There were many side by side tines, each about 30 to 36 inches long. I believe the first ones were pulled by horses but the ones I saw (some 80 years ago) were on the front of a tractor. The driver slid it under and picked up hay ‘shocks’ and, once loaded, went to the hay stack or barn to place the hay on ‘slings’ that were lifted up with a horse powered cable and trolley setup. My first paid job at $.50 for a 10-hour day was to drive a horse pulling up hay into a barn. I was 9 years old, stayed at that job for 12 days and was paid with 6 silver dollars.
I mentioned that information from Ken to the gal and put my own photo of explanation below. Two other comments after me I didn’t see till this afternoon were from Paul Boguslawski (It is a point off an old hay sweep stacker. I’ve seen many of them – before baling hay was the norm) and Lonny White, (It used to be about 8 ft long had about 10 of them connected to a metal frame. Was used to stack loose hay in a barn).
So, I attached my photo, zoomed in on possible tips, included her pix bottom right and suggested she had found a broken tip from one of the tines.When discussing this with John this morning, he found an interesting link on the history:

Historical Implement Loose Hay Stacker Horses Only Tractors Used Later

This suggests the implement used to pick up the hay from the field – hay sweep or buck rake – had such things. Perhaps “stackers” had similar iron points. Maybe I can check with the Bull family again. Maybe they have a “hay sweep” too.

Supper tonight: Salad for me; John’s having chili.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Apr 6

I called the dentist office (they are not operating except for emergencies) and requested 2019 Out of pocket costs be sent via email to me. John has been out for morning livestock feeding chores and work on the fence & road near the garden. For a late breakfast we had a fat pancake, thawed peaches to top it, and we had some maple syrup too; sausage links on the side.

I found the magazine agent for Natural History and my confirmation of our paid subscription they are not acknowledging. It was a royal PITA and I never got through to a person. Kept being offering a Medic Alert bracelet and other special deals. I hung up 3 times and gave up. Will have to figure it out if we do not receive a magazine after the current send would have expired, April 2020. I have a new number to call from the last issue just delivered: 1-800-234-5252 (it’s in Harlan, IA). Ph 1:06 -1:19. Changed our email address from “nancyh at Ellensburg dot com” to our correct joint one. That one they had hasn’t worked at all since 2017. Also she checked, and our account is paid through April of 2021. So I guess I’m happy to have stayed waiting on line for 10 minutes before getting to an agent. I hate these follow-ups. We probably will not renew next year as the content of their magazine has deteriorated.

John came back in and is resting through all this conversation above. Now it is quiet finally, and maybe he can truly rest.
I reached the Valley Vision folks who are closed for business, but staff members are taking days answering phones. I left a message for Christy who will be in Thursday. She can mail me what I need – the out of pocket costs not covered by insurance, for our eyes, for the tax year 2019.

Walked up the drive to take some photos and to see John’s current project with rocks and all four horses came over for a pet. It was cool. My camera was not focusing well (or so I thought), and I only took a couple photos, but enjoyed my trip out very much. I want to have John show me another time how Jazz will bow. That I’ll get on video to show you all.John with Jazz, with Breeze watching me. Right: John and Myst’s backends. Jazz & Cheyenne leading away, Breeze far right.

Supper was spaghetti and pecan pie for dessert.

Tuesday, Apr 7

Full moon & message photo by Lise McGowan

We were up early today. Go first to Super 1 before 9:00 for senior shopping. John did the shopping, and I sat outside on a bench. They have taken away all the chairs near the front of the store, and closed the deli dining room.

Then I went to have my blood draw, but John stayed in the car. They are sending all the hospital lab folks to the place I was going, so I had to wait through 3 others. From there to Bi-Mart to have John check numbers, and he only bought 2 things. On to pick up a package from a gal visually impaired who cannot drive, to deliver to a mutual friend. From there we called our sister Peggy and had a nice long catch-up phone call all the way home and into the parking spot.
Today’s morning blood draw was analyzed and reported by phone. Both potassium (K=5) and INR (2.9) –are good results, and I don’t have to return for a month.

Still working on getting rid of a 32 year old Time Share. Called Pend Oreille Shores today, processed paperwork request with John’s help, and emailed today at 1:45 p.m.

John fixed us a pancake with blueberries and pecans and cooked bacon from a package he bought this morning.

Coming from the agricultural valley where we are situated are two nice photos today from Evie Schuetz:Today’s pix by Evie Schuetz: Top, Setting Full Moon & Mt. Rainier behind Sioux Grain Bins; Bottom: Field Gated Pipe Irrigation. Parallel to the pipe is an old (1950s era?) concrete lined ditch.
Then along came plastic. There is a site with lots of old photos of the lining process – but we had to click on each photo to see them.
Link: Last century irrigation canals

REPEATING this again, in case you missed it in past weeks:
In order to receive the ‘Nick from Home’ Livestreaming Geology lectures, follow this link:
Way to Receive Livestreaming Geology Lectures from Nick Zentner
You need to Subscribe to his YouTube Channel to be involved. Once you hit SUBSCRIBE, also to the right of that, click on the BELL icon and choose ALL for all notifications to Nick’s videos.
You’ll have access to previous lectures and to the live one when it is scheduled (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, & Sundays).

Background on tonight’s lecture:

Lake Chelan — Battle of the Ice Sheets | Nick on the Rocks, Dec 28, 2017

Ice Age Lakes between Seattle and the Cascade Range (with nice subtitles), May 11, 2015

Nick’s livestreaming geology tonight ~

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #16 – Lake Chelan starts 12:44 minutes in

Tonight’s supper was a hamburger, curly fries, and pears. Pecan pie for dessert.

Wednesday, Apr 8

A trio of full moon shots by Evie Schuetz; the-moon moves fast. The one on the top is likely the most detailed of all she has taken.

I started this morning early with a hacked Facebook account. What a PITA! It’s now cleared up after over an hour of trying –thanks to a FB friend (from Australia) who reported it early, because of her time zone, and it’s now fixed.

Got a phone call from Pend Oreille Shores that our paperwork for transferring the deed is underway and we’ll be receiving the paperwork this week to be notarized and returned. We now have to make an appointment to get in our Umpqua Bank, but not a problem. At least they are open for appointments. It would be cumbersome to do a notarization through a drive-thru window. If that is legal – don’t know.

Made an appointment for Tuesday, 4/14/20 at Umpqua for notary usage at 2:00. They’re doing by appointment only and only two customers are allowed inside the lobby. Doing it on the hour, from 9:00 to 4:00 (close at 5:00). We received the first appointment that had been scheduled for that day.

John came in for pizza (from the freezer and I’m going to make hot chicken soup). Now without the wind blowing, for a change, John’s heading out to spray Glyphosate on weeds.

I’m back to do a few emails, and then I’ll be off working on filing tax receipts that haven’t been touched for a couple of days. Oh, I also have to put some checks in the mail for things that cannot be paid by credit card.

Background on tonight’s geology lecture by Nick Zentner:
This one is pretty incredible, even though in draft, preparing for the real thing on stage, 53 minutes long:

Nick Zentner, 11-13-19. “Draft” – Who was J Harlen Bretz?

In the future (this fall 2020), we will have the real full downtown lecture he was practicing for last year. It was canceled this April 2020 because of the coronavirus.

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #17 – J Harlen Bretz starts 12:54 minutes in

Two more “pink” moon photos by friends:Top: In Cle Elum by Sharon Jenson. Bottom from the EBRG Water tower on Craig’s Hill by the combined effort of Johnny Larson (dad) while son Trip provides his high shoulders to get the elevation. Thanks for your efforts.

Thursday, Apr 9

John was up earlier than I and has fed the horses.
I finally got up and cleaned the kitchen.

Meeting with neighbor and “builder” Walter Davenport this morning at 10:00 here. Recent neighbor, actually. Lynn wanted a single story house so they are now as far south of town as they once were as our around-the-corner neighbors.
Had to restart my Chrome and all the things I open in a morning. That takes a while.

First thing I saw was a wonderful full moon shot by my friend Evie Schuetz. This is so impressive. Check it out, and also see her delightful comment below about her trip to view it:An orange moon for the “pink” full moon 4/8/20 in Kittitas Valley by Evie Schuetz. Her explanation follows:

I got a phone call from my cousin last night. He told me the moon looked even better than it had the night before, and that I needed to check it out with my camera. So even though I was ‘in for the night’, dressed in my enormous gray Comfy, I grabbed my gear and went looking for the moon. If you’ve seen The Comfy on Shark Tank or in your local Fred Meyer, you know how ridiculous I felt. No time to change, though–with celestial bodies, time is of the essence. I kept walking and walking, praying my neighbors weren’t watching the world from their porches like the husband and I had been all evening.
As I reached the edge of town, I started to wonder if my sweet little cousin, Danny, had been clowning me. There was no moon in sight. I have faith in him, though, so I continued out into the blackness of the countryside.
After I had reminded myself for the third time that fear of the dark is irrational and statistically my odds of being hit by a brodozer were much higher, I saw it. The barbed wired prison fence in my cover photo had been blocking the most gorgeous orange moon I may have ever seen. I’m so glad I left the cave for this one! Thanks, Dan.

We ate our brunch and John went back out to separate rocks & dirt in the garden. He’s going later to town with our old farm truck to fill it with gasoline. He ended up going to Thorp and to it for $1.49/gal. The lowest price (non-cash) is $2.17 in EBRG. It’s crazy.

I just got off the phone with my pharmacy ordering Annie (our Brittany) her canine Ibuprofen for pain. We’ll pick up her refill next Tuesday when we are in town. Interestingly, I asked the pharmacist if the same comment applied to dogs that taking Ibuprofen would enhance the coronavirus if exposed. She said that whole theory has since been debunked. It was wrong for people. Also, there have been no indications that animals can spread it or contract it from humans. Yet, apparently a Tiger in the Bronx zoo got it from his keeper.

Sent to my Facebook Friends:
4/9/20 Interesting information about fake news that taking Ibuprofen will enhance the severity of coronavirus if you are infected. NOT true! That news has been debunked (according to my pharmacist). I was asking before buying a canine version (Truprofen) for our Brittany.

Photo from the web is of a liver/white Brittany pup being hugged.
Amazing the responses I’m receiving from my above post on FB.

Another interesting finding from the pharmacy is they are sending prescriptions to your home, no charge for shipping, via 2-day delivery via FedEx. One pays for the medication over the phone by credit card.

Background viewing for tonight’s geology lecture:

Intro to Coulees in Nick’s 2-Minute Geology series (subtitles)

Dry Falls | Nick on the Rocks 5-26-17

Helicopter Flight: Nick Over the Rocks, Part 3, 9-25-19 w/Nick & Pilot, Maria Langer views around of Moses Coulee

Nick’s livestreaming geology tonight ~

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #18 – Grand Coulee starts 13:24 minutes in

Friday, Apr 10

John and I both were up earlier than usual for me, and later for John. I stayed in working on cleaning up a dirty kitchen. Mid-afternoon, the washer is taking care of things. John went out to feed the horses, and stayed out working on a sequence project – dig here, move part to there, another part elsewhere, preparing for a load of driveway gravel.

We put in a call to the County’s Water Resource Office to answer her questions about our plans for fixing water-splash damage and converting the attached 2-car garage to livable house space. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has produced a ridiculous map of floodplains in the State. Among other problems the “map” shows much of our house and building in the “100 year floodplain.” The “map” is generated without regard to elevations and water volume, but one cannot disregard the map without a consultation and paying a $500 indulgence. Still, it has been about 7 million years since the house location has had water running across it. [John’s estimate.]

We went to town to get groceries and returned to have lunch. Local telephone towers are south of us, so we get great connections once we’ve traveled about 4 miles. Talked to friends in Eureka, CA on the way home.

No livestreaming video lecture from Nick Zentner tonight; his day off (along with Monday). I’m looking at some things on the web to prepare for Nick’s 9:00 am. Saturday presentation.

Supper: John fixed chicken breast stir fry and peaches. I took some of the stir fry to neighbor Kenny.

Saturday, Apr 11

This morning at 9:00 a.m. is a video lecture from Nick Zentner via Facebook site ‘Learning Geology’. The topic is titled Washington is Disneyland for Geologists. This is a worldwide site I have been subscribed to since hearing about it from Nick. New time to keep people from around the world from having to arise in the middle of their night to watch, and earlier than last week, hoping the streaming load is better and people are sleeping in late.

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #19 –via Facebook Learning Geology site, 4-11-20 WA Disneyland for Geologists starts 7:37 minutes in

No good background for this morning’s lecture, yet; it will come this fall, we hope, with a downtown lecture that will be recorded.

Sunday, Apr 12 Happy Easter

Nick Zentner’s morning lecture on Easter Sunday had a visiting bunny rabbit that delivered a plastic egg with a piece of chocolate candy.

Background to this morning’s lecture:

I suggest you go to the visuals, at 29:04 to see the beginning of the visuals at 29:40, a good follow-up of today’s blackboard delivery in Nick from Home #20 (below)

Supervolcanoes in the Pacific Northwest -4-17-2019

Almost one year later, is this morning’s livestream, 4-12-20:

‘Nick From Home’ Livestream #20 – Supervolcanoes starts 13:24 minutes in

Needed to put in all my meds for today and the rest of the week, because I did not do it last night when I should have.

Easter sunset over the Stuarts by Mandy Weed, with permission

Supper tonight: chili & cornbread;

sharing some with Kenny S.
whose brother Ron sent this cute image:
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Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan