Test for a photo

John is trying to add photos or other images to the blog.

We like to feed small birds and even Quail but there always is a problem with other animals wanting to get some of the Black Oil Sunflower Seeds. The 2 photos below show the issue when the feeder is hung too low. Deer will even stand on their hind legs and reach up and grab the feeder and shake seeds out.  They almost pulled the bottom off.  We tied it up higher in the trees.  The birds liked this but so did a little squirrel.

Mule Deer in winter near feeder
Muley Buck has found the Bird feeder
Thinks maybe John is up to something
Muley at bird feeder
Mule Deer snacking on Sunflower Seeds
Jan. 2011 on the Naneum Fan by John

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As John assembles the photos from the past, we’ll add some more of this story.

This is a test of embedded links

The following statement was in the 1/12/2013 report:

Upon arrival we all got a taste of Cameron’s newest wine – Arvine, a Swiss vine that makes a white wine with a slightly salty taste.

http://www.swisswine.ch/asp/english/cepages/cepDetails.asp?ID=11

He only has 20 cases but it will soon be made in greater quantities and labeled with the new Ancient Lakes of the Columbia Valley designation.

————– You had to click on the full link to go to the page

Below is line that accomplished the same thing but makes it look simple and clean:

Just click on the colored word ‘Arvine’:

Upon arrival we all got a taste of Cameron’s newest wine –“Arvine”,  a Swiss vine that makes a white wine with a slightly salty taste.

I should have learned this a long time ago, John

Melted cheese and melted snow

Saturday, Jan 5  We arrived at White Heron at 11:00 a.m. for our first Raclette.  Phyllis and Cameron Fries put on the event for the families of the volunteer wine grape pruners from last spring’s work.  We got behind on our departure because of phone calls and so Nancy didn’t get completely prepared for the cold outside weather.  John only suffered from cold feet.  We were outside around a wood and vine-cutting fire (“the real deal”) with a NW wind blowing cold air down the hill toward the Columbia River.

Upon arrival we all got a taste of Cameron’s newest wine – Arvine, a Swiss vine that makes a white wine with a slightly salty taste.

http://www.swisswine.ch/asp/english/cepages/cepDetails.asp?ID=11

He only has 20 cases but it will soon be made in greater quantities and labeled with the new Ancient Lakes of the Columbia Valley designation.

http://northwestpalate.com/2011/12/ancient-lakes/

The picture the above link is from the viewpoint for our Raclette.  After sampling the new wine we switched to Roussanne, of which he has more:
http://www.winepros.org/wine101/grape_profiles/roussanne.htm

I wore enough hats, scarves, gloves, and sweaters, but did not have enough pants on (needed long-johns, or two pairs of pants and maybe some Jeans on top to cut the wind).  Then our feet.  Both John’s and my feet got cold.  We had on high topped work boots with wool socks, but that was not enough.  Needed some insulated snow boots.  I made it three hours, and then retreated to the house for warming my feet and having a cup of hot tea.  However, it was a wonderful meal with fun, food, and fellowship.  I have a few photos I will put on our web page at this link:

http://www.ellensburg.com/nancyh/WhiteHeronCellars2013Raclette.html  We actually got snowed on the last hour.  There were several of these for those without hats:

http://www.costumeshop.us.com/images_products/umbrella-hat-1-sz-1908sma.jpg

On our trip home (1 hr 20 min), the Interstate had a bit of snow and lots of fast traffic.  It seems some combination of those or inattentive driving brought grief to someone.  Within a couple of miles of our turnoff at Kittitas to come home, we passed a recently flipped car (on its roof, in the median).  I had already been a nervous passenger, but John got us through all right – or, as he says, maybe it was the all-wheel drive of the Subaru.  Two WA-State Patrol cars were there, and several people were leaning down (butts in air) looking in the car.  We haven’t yet heard the results.  We arrived home right before dark (at 4:30).  We were grateful we didn’t have to make the drive later.  We stopped off at our neighbors to pick up John’s Chocolate birthday cake she baked for him.  We both had a piece of it for dinner, because we were full from our warm scraped cheese and baked potatoes lunch.

Sunday, Jan 6  The wild turkeys were back around both sides of the house this morning.  First, they were out back (West), and then they walked around to the front area near the house, where John had set up a garbage can on top of a barrel to put seeds on for our little birds.  All 5 turkeys were there, with 3 on the ground picking up seeds apparently knocked off by the little birds, and two turkeys managed to jump up on the base (a raised flower bed) and were eating there.  Three of the feral cats walked by and were surprised at the size of the “birds.”  Rather funny, but John went and shooed them off up the driveway for fear one of the turkeys might sink a talon into a cat, and we cannot catch these cats if they need to go to a vet.  OK, took all the pictures off the camera, and I have a few good shots from the food and wine affair and of the turkeys and kitties this morning out front.  Worked a lot on kitchen & FaceBook clean-up as well this morning, and we had a late great lunch.  I cooked the bacon and John used it to make us some nice grilled cheese/bacon sandwiches on English Muffin bread.  Now I’m starting back on the Hay paper.  We had a late dinner of baked chicken thighs, cheddar cheese slices, and butter beans (or little limas).

Monday, Jan 7  It’s almost 9:00 and I got through the night with rest and my eye is better.  I was up at 3:00 a.m. and it had started snowing.  Still is, but slowing down.  We have over 5 inches.  Happy I don’t have to go anywhere today.  An hour later and the sun’s out and snow ceasing.  Cat just crawled in my lap.  Need to resume Hay paper work.  Nice call from John’s sister in OH.  Now the sun is shining and the snow stopped.  Great rest of the day.  John pushed snow off of the cars and shoveled that away, and cleaning off pathways, fed horses and little birds, and exercised dogs.  I spent most of the time working on the hay paper.  Still much to do, but a lot was completed, especially on photos.  We had a nice talk with my Aunt Marise for her birthday (it’s tomorrow).  Good talk with cuz Susan and with Marise.  Also I got to thank Susan for sending me (it arrived late today), a spare Kindle Fire [there’s a story there, but it doesn’t need to be told here].  I’m really excited.  I do have to get back to Family Reunion write up for our annual newsletter.  Before that, my co-author got back to me and I spent the rest of the night working on the hay paper photos.

Tuesday, Jan 8  What another crazy day!  We worked this morning on stuff to get ready for our farrier to be here at 10:00 a.m. so we could finish up things and make it to town.  However, the farrier never came so I called at 11:11 to see what had happened.  He was sorry, and was to call us tonight to reschedule; something about writing down the date wrong.  We had a nice big lunch because I had to take a large dose of antibiotics before my teeth cleaning, and didn’t wish to on an empty stomach.  Then off to town, for my appt and for John to run errands.  He stopped at the Adult Activity Center to pick up 3 pairs of finger-less gloves (for me) with high parts up the arm, knitted by a lady in town.  They are great for playing the violin, banjo, or any stringed instrument.  I took a white pair tonight and gave to the harp player in our group.  The lady knitted me some socks (light blue).  I love them.  She donates her time to make knitted things to leave on the table at the Senior Center for people to take and use.  John came back and picked me up and we dropped off at the Post Office for me to mail my return package back to Blair to get a correct size.  Then off to the grocery and back home in time to turn around and go back to town to play music tonight.  Near where trees slow the wind, snow and then ice accumulates on the roads, softens, breaks up, and re-freezes. Tonight in the dark it seemed worse than ever.

Late home, almost 9 and no dinner.  Now I maybe will just have dessert and go to bed.  That’s what I did, but stayed up very late working on our hay paper, till almost midnight.

Wednesday, Jan 9  Up relatively early to work again on the paper.  Got off some comments to my co-author (who is busy teaching today) before leaving for the Food Bank.  I was almost late because of my car being ‘steering wheel locked’ where John moved it to an uneven area.  The area around is still slick with ice.  I was changing cars, when John got mine started.  So I moved back, carrying all my stuff over the ice again.  Made it in time to start just as all the folks were getting their trays of food and being seated.  We played for 1/2 hour and then got some food.  Today was pasta with a very spicy sausage, garlic bread, mixed salad, with tomatoes on the side, and coconut cream pie (CCP) for dessert.  I had a nice visit with our fan club and let one of the employees (young guy) play a bit on my violin.  He knows how to play, learned as a kid (as I did).  It was fun and I wish he could join our group.  I told him to bring his violin next Wed and play with us.  Doubt he will, but it was cool just the same.  Came on home and went back to work on our paper.  After I finish the text reading and occasionally rewriting, I will email it and then get to work reducing our beautiful color photos to grayscale for inclusion in the printed paper.  Afternoon and late tonight we finished up the paper graphics.  It’s late, my eye is bothersome, and I’m calling it a night.  I mailed off the rest of my text comments, and later sent all 8 grayscale photos to my co-author.  As soon as he fits everything in, the manuscript goes for review to a colleague with good editing skills.  By next week it should arrive to the editor of the journal.

Thursday, Jan 10  It’s late tonight and I’m trying to remember all that happened today.  Okay–started by sleeping in late because of late night’s work.  Fairly early I was still on my first cup of coffee, I had at least a half hour telephone job reference for a student who left in 2005.  That was “out of the blue” and interrupted my proofing more comments on our paper.  Then another call and I had to find John (outside) to alert him our rescheduled farrier visit would happen 15 minutes earlier than planned.  We were late getting ready to run me to town for music.  John went along to buy a 24” fluorescent tube for the one that started blinking in our washroom.  The new tube shows no sign of life whatever and will have to be exchanged (another day).  We had to turn around and go back to town after eating an early dinner, so we could get a place on the front row to hear a lecture on “Cascadia hazards inferred from mud, sand, tree rings, and brush strokes,” by Brian Atwater, a USGS geologist.

http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/pp1707/

We know this story and have the book but Brian is the “main dude” on this and known by all who know anything about big earthquakes and tsunamis.  In the following picture note the level on his jacket of muddy sea water:

http://sxcwc.ece.pdx.edu/ext/images/stories/sx-cw/atwater2.jpg

We knew the place would be packed, and I wanted to record a video, so needed a prime place down front.  Crowd was 161 in a room only with 120 seats.  It was well worth the effort, and even though we had heard the story before, it was great hearing it from the actual person who had the insight about these large Washington coast earthquakes.  Japanese historical papers record the exact year, day, and hour when the big wave hit their coast – the evening of January 26, 1700.  The western WA coast has “ghost trees” — standing trees that died when land subsidence during an earthquake flooded them with saltwater.  Parts of the exposed trees have been worn away but deeply buried roots still had bark and the last layer of growth from the year before they died.  Brian used the 1964 Anchorage, Alaska earthquake and the tsunami in Turnagain Bay . . .

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazardimages/event/show/2

as a point of reference, although the 1700 quake was much larger.  John and I had traveled there in 1987 and it was neat to have experienced a trip through the area.  As well, he mentioned the Chile earthquake of 1970 and the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake (Dec. 2004) and resulting tsunami on Aceh, Indonesia and nearby coasts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami

All in all, a great day.

Friday, Jan 11  Home today and the next 3.  Wow.  Ain’t that great?  Maybe I will be able to catch up on many things looming on the list of TO-DOs.  John fixed a cheddar cheese, onion omelet with bacon and a piece of “Texas toast” of his homemade bread for midday brunch.  I need to get on the Wilkins Reunion web description.  Meanwhile the turkeys just arrived out back and I took some pictures with a little sun showing their colors.  We’ve decided there is only one Tom with his 4 gals.  Now we just ate the last two pieces of chocolate crock pot candy, so will have to make more.  Luckily, yesterday on John’s trip for the light tube, he found all the candy ingredients on sale for much less than we paid around Christmas time.  He bought chocolate almond bark and bars from Ghirardelli with 60% cacao for ½ the price shown here:

http://www.ghirardelli.com/store/shop-products/collections/baking-products/60-cacao-bittersweet-chocolate-baking-bar.html

We will make a new load using our Carpathian walnuts and maybe add a few cashews, or not.  Remains to be seen.  During his baking supplies acquisition yesterday, he bought rye flour (a single package of):

http://www.bobsredmill.com/light-rye-flour.html

for mixing into regular bread and, for English Muffin bread, cornmeal for a texture coating and the non-sticking help.  Sun is still out and the temperature has risen to 30, but low enough that we are leaving the heat on in the “cat house.”  Tonight the temp is expected to drop to 9 degrees and then one notch lower Saturday night.  After that it warms up a degree each night – assuming it does what the NWS tells it to!

Saturday, Jan 12  At daybreak the temp was 11 degrees and only managed to get up to about 23.  John did what had to be done outside but mostly wasted the day away – except he did remove a deceased light fixture from the bathroom wall and replaced it with one of these . . .

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B0085VZY20/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=228013&s=hi

There is a second one to do in the partial loo.  The fixtures were purchased from Costco some months ago – just waiting for that cold or rainy day.  That was today.  Perhaps it isn’t worth mentioning but, of course, the shape and hardware for the installation do not match the outlet box in the wall.  The house was built in 1982 and the shape is round with anchor holes N & S, while the new light is looking for an upright rectangle with beveled corners and anchor holes NW & SE.  There seem to be squarish things like that but not rectangular.  Maybe they were like 8-track tapes – their time has passed.  Anyway, all this provoked some anguish on the part of the installer (and a few references to god’s wrath) until a work-around sufficed.  So, a nice addition.  Tomorrow (Sunday) is also going to be cold so the second of these will get installed – likely with the same issue.

Many turkey sightings today.  Spent most of the day, not on my hay paper, or on the reunion page, but on the link to go with this blog on the Raclette held a week ago.  I hope you enjoy it.  The link is above where it is first mentioned, on Jan 5.

Hope your week was great.

Nancy and John

Still on the Naneum Fan

Happy Perihelion

The word perihelion stems from the Greek words “peri” (meaning “near”) and “helios” (meaning “the Greek god of the sun”).

http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2013/01/happy-perihelion-and-why-winter-is-shorter-than-summer/

Saturday, Dec 29  Stayed home today and it snowed much of the day.  John did his normal stuff, but added taking some bird seed for the quail out to the back of our property and putting on the side of the hill where the deer are not likely to find it, but we can see it from our back patio window.  They usually bed down under the trees or walk by a path on their way around above the creek.  He stomped and packed down their path, so the deer might walk by and not find the bird seed.  I think I mentioned, but maybe not, that the seed he broadcast up the driveway yesterday was eaten by the deer.  He is still searching for our old broken down birdhouse-shaped feeder, which must be behind the fence covered with snow.  Good dinner tonight–Ham and the last of the baby Swiss cheese in an omelet with fried potatoes on the side.  Been sharing my time between newsletter and music chores.

Sunday, Dec 30  Slow day, no trips away, nice!  A little snow, but just cold and getting colder.  The quail never found the seeds John put out yesterday.  John fixed up all the cars with electrical assists (that have it).  The Ford PU got a new battery tender put on to counter the slow drain. The ’09 Subaru got plugged into an engine warmer.  My ’04 Subaru doesn’t have one, so John started it, drove it up the driveway, and back into the 3-cornered shed.  Other than that it was normal chores outside and inside, and I tried to work on the newsletter, but all my time went to emails and to working up music for the group for tomorrow night.  I finalized the number of people coming, and the menu sent out.  We will have 15 and this list of entries (I’m hungry just reading it):  calico beans & cinnamon rolls, ham, exotic bean casserole & applesauce, spaghetti, Apple Crisp and Wine, a dish of Mixed Nuts and a Chicken Salad, a green salad and deviled eggs, Acorn Squash / Feta casserole  & sugar-free Carrot Cake.  The temperature went to 19 and is going further (tomorrow night).

Monday, Dec 31  New Year’s Eve.  Today was rather bland; just eating a little, cleaning off a few things, lots of emails, a couple phone calls, working with music to give out to the group tonight, and organizing music for later this week on Thursday.  We decided to take only one car and turn up the radios loud in each end of the house hopefully to keep the dogs from hearing fireworks we knew would start after 9:00 p.m.  We didn’t get home till 10:00 and all seemed well.  Our ham was a huge hit, and everyone brought what they said, plus a few other things.  Lots of good food and fellowship.  19 people were there for dinner, and 2 more came for the jam session.  It was a great evening.  We brought only a small amount of ham home, and Rascal was pleased to have some.  It didn’t get as cold as they were predicting.  We will see what happens by 5:00 am.  It stayed up, never going below 24°.  That’s very nice.  The problem was our neighbors shooting off fireworks, loud ones, after 11:30, and on for more than an hour.  One of our dogs was particularly upset and we finally had to close her in a crate to calm her down.  So, bedtime was very late, and we were not happy.

Tuesday, Jan 1  HAPPY NEW YEAR!   Nancy slept in longer than John, but we got to see a lot of deer eating the bird seed on the side hill that the quail never found.  John checked out the weather GOES image and found interesting fog in the valleys of WA.  We are out of bread for toast, and need to finally make time to make some today.  John did it all by himself, except for digging out dirty (dusty) pans I helped washed.  We have misplaced our bread pans, not having used them in over 10 years.  He mixed up and made 4 loaves of bread, nearly 6 pounds.  We have had one piece each while still warm with butter.  I have worked on and off all day on the annual 2012 greetings and am making good progress.  I only have 3 more links to finish, and they have been started.  I expect it will get out on the web before Valentine’s Day!  Tomorrow I have two events in town, so I hope I sleep well tonight.  Foggy here, no rain or snow though.

Wednesday, Jan 2  This morning I awoke to the 5 wild Merriam turkeys eating on the far hill where John put the seeds for the quail.  Then we had some of his bread.  I called some people about our exercise class today, and then took off for the Food Bank music and class after.  The pasta company restaurant that usually provides the pasta dish for the noon meal every Wednesday at the soup kitchen was still on vacation, so the volunteer staff prepared baked/fried chicken, veggies, garlic bread, salad, and opened a large cake for dessert.  Went on to the last exercise class until our teacher returns Jan 23 from Germany.  I have been leading the class in her absence, but it turns out because I am not a “certified” SAIL instructor (all-day class costing $175), I cannot do it because of a liability issue.  If someone fell and got hurt or died, I (and the City) could be sued.  I have no desire to become a certified instructor.  I have just been filling in because I could and everyone appreciated my efforts.  John made Brownies with chocolate chips and walnuts while I was away.  We froze most of the brownies after dinner.  I also brought him 5 blueberry donuts from the Sr. Center.  They are now frozen too.

As I left this morning the five turkeys came and stayed most of the day eating the hill-side seeds.  In today’s mail we got a birthday dinner free for him to use in Jan. at the Palace Cafe.  He has a choice of Angus fried steak, chicken Fettuccine (after 4), or up to $10 off any other meal.  Not bad.  Tonight, John gave me a choice of 3 things for dinner, and I picked a cheese/ham/onion omelet with a piece of his homemade bread toast.  I was not in the mood for shrimp or pizza.

Our friend (the chair of Geog for 12 years of my sojourn here) and from whom we buy hay, called to wish John a happy birthday (saw it in the local paper) and to invite us to dinner over a bottle of Merlot.  Unfortunately, we already had plans to go to another birthday party.  We took a raincheck.  His birthday is coming in a couple weeks, so perhaps we can celebrate both then.  (Turns out that will happen Jan 18th)

Thursday, Jan 3  Awoke to 4 of the wild turkeys eating black sunflower seeds on the back hill.  Later, the 5th one (big guy) joined them.  We still cannot tell if there is just one guy with his harem, or if there are two toms.  They stayed much of the day.  I left after 1:15 to be at a 2:00 Royal Vista session.  Eight of us made it there, and while a small audience, they were appreciative.  We all were served cookies at the end of music.  After visiting a few of the folks, I drove by CWU to pick up my mail at Geography (including some pocket calendars from the CWU Credit Union) and to visit with the secretary (since 1997).  Dinner tonight was tasty grilled cheese and ham sandwiches on English muffin bread.

Friday, Jan 4  John’s birthday is today.  I got him a Red Velvet cake but he decided to freeze it for another day with more people.  We are invited to  a friend’s 90th, for a party at Rodeo City BBQ.  Turkeys were back in the driveway this morning grabbing seeds meant for the quail.  John has not yet put out any more seeds on the side hill from yesterday.  I saw only one there early morning.  We went to town in the car with the block heater so other than having to unplug it and turn it around, it was warm and cozy.  It needed gasoline and we wanted to stop at a new German Baptist bakery in town — Daily Bread and Mercantile.  It’s a neat little place with all sorts of pastry making supplies and also cheeses from Ohio and meats.  We bought a blueberry Kolache, some lemon/poppy bread, and a raspberry cream cheese scone to take along tomorrow to our friends for the Raclette.  We may stop and pick up a birthday cake our neighbor baked for John today.  Tonight we were gone when she called.  We both had a ton to eat tonight so will not need any breakfast.  They served tri tip (sirloin steak) slices with BBQ sauce, corn muffin, with a choice of two of the following:  baked potato, cottage cheese, beans, and sweet potato fries.  We split our portions of the last four.  Came home to several birthday wish phone calls and received several cards, yesterday and today.  Tonight at the restaurant they put single candles in front of John and the honored guest, Paul, and the rest of us sang happy birthday to the two of them.  Both have surpassed the life expectancy given for their birth years according to this table:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005148.html

John says this is both good news and bad news.  It is like having a full glass but with more wine in the bottle.  Oh, wait.  Hmmm!

Saturday, Jan 5  We are leaving to be at White Heron by 11:00 a.m.  This will be a Raclette for the families of the volunteer vine pruners last spring.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raclette#Dish

Hope week #1 of 2013 was great.

Nancy and John

Still on the Naneum Fan

Nadir past, Sun ascending

Saturday, Dec 22  There’s a little more text for today after the posting for last week’s blog this evening.  We broke for a late dinner of a great grilled cheese (Jarlsberg and cut-up leftover beef roast) sandwich with a bowl each of the leftover chowder.  We had no idea that much was left.  I found it late last night when I was tasked with cleaning the Crockpot outside and the removable ceramic bowl.  We had filled it too much and some had shaken out, into the box, and down the sides, plus had spilled into the bottom of the box and the bottom of the outside heat unit.  It sat there from 5:30 until 10:00 pm plugged in and heated all night.  Therefore, the crusted cooked spilled part was a mess.  I imagine I spent an hour on the clean up of all parts, but that was a fair share after John spent so much time on the preparation.

Tonight while I was proofing his changes and additions to my original, he made the dinner described above.  The sky cleared today, and the temperatures are dropping.

Sunday, Dec 23  No snow.  No acetaminophen (Tylenol), so we need to go to Bi-Mart for that and to exchange our oil heater that quit working.  We left for town with some ideas about other stuff needed.  We decided to get the ingredients for the special Crockpot candy to try.  First stop was Bi-Mart, where we got the replacement for the deceased oil heater.  They had one up front for us and we just traded, no questions asked, or receipts required.  Boy was that nice.  John carried it back to the car and I went on in for the meds.  John found me there, and helped me decide which bottle was the best deal (we got 1000).  I just calculated that is two cents each pill.  Now I will have to compare with the Costco price, where we usually buy them.  Then we walked on back to check for some other items for the candy.  Found some almond bark we needed but it was the chocolate kind.  Considering we were not making white candy, we went ahead and bought it.  Off to Super 1, bought pineapple for the ham we’re fixing for Christmas dinner with our neighbors and checked the price of dry roasted peanuts.  They were twice as high per pound as they’d been at Bi-Mart, so we went back to Bi-Mart for them, and off to Safeway for a ham and colas on sale.  The 99 ¢/lb. ones were all gone, but we got a $1.29/lb. one instead.  Still a nice deal for the better part of the ham.  It’s much less expensive than a rib roast, and will be quite tasty.  Came on home, with John driving the ’04 Subaru, and I talked on the phone, while I had good reception, which we do not get at home.  Had a nice talk with a friend on her birthday.  On down the road north of our house and saw five Merriam turkeys eating by the side of the road, behind a fence. [A large file, text starts under the first photo – so look there in the green.]

http://www.nwtf.org/conservation/bulletins/bulletin_4_9-9-09.pdf

We drove on by, and said I want a picture of them.  I didn’t recall that I was carrying my camera in case I saw the buck deer with the nice rack.  Therefore, when I found it, John drove me back up and let me out, because they were spread out in the field.  He said they wouldn’t fly, but they surprised me and did.  Another car was coming down the road toward me, and I don’t know if they or I spooked them but they flew into the trees.  I wish I had had my zoom on my camera to catch their pretty tail spread, but once they landed in a tree, I was able to get the silhouettes of two in the top of the tree.  That will work to put in my wildlife part of the newsletter.  We had not seen any for a couple of years and wonder if the fires to the north destroyed their food sources and caused them to come down to our lower elevation.

Monday, Dec 24  Christmas Eve, and nothing planned.  Wonder if the snow will really stop as predicted and sunny weather will be here.  The answer is YES!  And the temperature has gotten up to 40.  Supposed to snow for Christmas, however.  We made a couple of long distance calls this morning that were fun.  We were both on the phone line.  On a related item, I found I could get a “free” 2013 pocket calendar from CWU Credit Union, so I ordered two through campus mail.  I’ll pick them up later this week. We keep a small balance at the Credit Union just to maintain contact there but like most such places the interest rate is very low – the “free” calendars are compensation!  I looked yesterday at Bi-Mart and they wanted $3.98 each for some that started 3 months at the end of 2012 and went only through Dec 2013.  That’s no good.  I spent time getting some photos and videos out on SkyDrive where people could view them and download if they wish.  They were of my geographer friend’s retirement party several months ago, and I gave them the gift of documenting the entire thing.

Lunch was great–grilled sandwiches with Guggisberg’s Baby Swiss

http://www.babyswiss.com/facilities.htm

cheese and roast beef.  Back to working on newsletter.  Made some progress and John fixed a nice dinner with ham, butternut squash, rice, sweet & sour sauce with little pieces of chicken and carrots.

Tuesday, Dec 25  MERRY CHRISTMAS!  We made it over (was still snowing), to our neighbors with the ham John cooked.  It was scrumptious.  I helped make white/cheese sauce for the cauliflower she had cooked, and gravy for the mashed potatoes she’d fixed.  She also made an onion type casserole, and her son brought large Croissant rolls.  She’d also made a Jello, Dream Whip fruit with bananas salad.  We had a nice dinner, with sparkling cider, and also she’d fixed a nice apple strudel type dessert.  We finally stopped our visit, took our gifts, and left.  We left them all some of the ham, and still brought some home for us.  All at the meal had big helpings as well.  Their gifts are the same each Christmas, and we love them.  I received two large jars of homemade Apricot jam, and she always fixes John a couple pounds of her excellent fudge with nuts.  We’ve been home for a couple hours, and I’ve been working on the annual newsletter.  I’m making slow progress.  I ate so much this afternoon that I didn’t want much dinner.

Wednesday, Dec 26  It’s still snowing lightly, but the sun is showing a little.  John has cleaned off snow from the cars and front walks and back walks.  I decided not to go to town today.  Too bad because we are out of bread (even in the freezer).  Too many grilled cheese and meat sandwiches and toast recently.  I just heard some noise and looked out to see our wonderful neighbor with a big tractor and blade on the back, plowing out our driveway.  He and a cousin do about a dozen driveways on our stretch of road – we are sort of in the middle.  Most folks have 4x4s so it is only when the axle housings begin to leave a gouge in the snow that anyone thinks to clear it out – ‘cause any more snow and you have to push it with the bumper to reach the highway.  Now we really do need to make bread, cookies and candy and take him a thank you gift.  I’m busy after a lunch of a Croissant . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croissant

with ham and Swiss cheese, and going back to the annual newsletter construction.  Today I mostly worked on the story about the house my grandfather built in Seattle.  I’m coordinating with my cousin Susan on the details, because she and her husband John visited there this summer, got a tour of the inside and took photos.  The house was built in 1910 and still is there in SW Seattle.

Thursday, Dec 27  Last night I didn’t sleep well at all, so was rather lethargic, but I did accomplish some things before lunch with my cousin (in Florida) Susan’s help.  She sent me two better copies of our grandparents pictures from 1908 and 1910, for me to put in the annual greetings, in progress.  John helped me crop them and I put them on the web page for the Wilkins clan.  I managed to type into my SongWriter software the song, Auld Lang Syne,

[lang syne means – ‘long since’ but here is the full story:

http://caledonianmercury.com/2012/08/30/useful-scots-word-auld/0035077

. . . in the key of G, and put words, and chords on it, plus transposed a copy for our clarinet player.  Printed out some and gave to the folks there.  Only had 6 today:  2 guitars, banjo, tambourine, violin, and clarinet, but we had an appreciative audience who participated by singing and ringing bells and keeping time with shakers to the last of the Christmas songs this year.

John drove me in, and let me off, while he went shopping for yeast (so we can bake some bread, and to buy a loaf of bread we can have until we make some.  He also picked up two of my prescription meds.  And some milk and eggs for the bread and cookies we plan to make (have been planning for a while).  Now to find the time to do that!

Came home to find very little mail, and two deer bedded down under our Ponderosa pine trees by the blueberry patch, right next to the drive.  They didn’t bother to move when we got out of the car and walked by them into the house.  Today, we were invited to our friends for a New Year’s Eve potluck and jam session afterwards.  Guess we’ll thaw a piece of ham recently frozen — people really seemed to like it a lot last time.  Forgot to say this morning when John was exercising the dogs, Annie, the youngest, brought him an antler, about 10″ with 2 points, from a young buck. According to the following site our little buck shed a bit early but what triggers the process it doesn’t say.

http://www.kingsoutdoorworld.com/stories/antlers_story.htm

Possibly the antler came from the deer who has been hanging around and whose picture we took a couple days ago.  Eventually the picture will be in our annual newsletter, I’m still working on.  John is expecting one of the dogs to find a second antler.  The found one is a perfect match to the left antler of the little buck in the picture, outside our computer room window.

Friday, Dec 28  No snow, but cold, down to 19 degrees.  Went for a haircut at noon today, and then went off to town for exercise class.  There were only 6 of us there, but our teacher had health problems and her eye was bothering her with a drooped lid, so she went home and I led the class.  I told her she should go to the eye doctor, but she wouldn’t take my advice.  She’s leaving next Friday for Germany!  Came on home and decided against driving back in tonight for the gospel music hour because the roads were lousy (ice under compacted snow), and people were not honoring staying on their side of the middle of the road (which was not visible with the snow cover).  Truck drivers were the worst, with one-ton ones and even pickups pulling horse trailers!  When I left, John put all the ingredients into a Slow Cooker to make chocolate candy with peanuts.  We think there are too many peanuts, but it did come out well.  Now we have to figure how to pack it away.  They are in little paper muffin cups.  Came back and worked a little more on our annual end of year (I hope) newsletter, but still have a way to go.  Now I’ll go back to that work.

We have a full moon tonight.  Check this out:

http://www.latintimes.com/articles/1722/20121228/full-moon-december-2012-longest-final-celestial.htm

Saturday, Dec 29  Nothing planned.  Will post this on Friday and then if Saturday is exciting we can worry about what to do about that.

Hope your Christmas week was a good one.

Note: 3 x 11 x 61 = Happy New Year

http://www.wallpaper4u.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Cold_Winter_Scene_Wallpaper__yvt2.jpg

Walls for the wind,

And a roof for the rain,

And drinks beside the fire –

Laughter to cheer you

And those you love near you,

And all that your heart may desire!

http://www.rexwallpapers.com/images/wallpapers/landscape/winter-scene/winter_scene_30.jpg

Nancy and John

Still on the Naneum Fan

Solstice Apocalypse . . .

. . . or disclosure – the world did not end.

 

Saturday, Dec 15  Left you earlier in the day on my way to town in a snowstorm.  It was not bad driving but I had to be careful because I knew there was ice beneath the compacted snow.  It was a nice afternoon.  Five folks showed up with instruments, 2 guitars, a mandolin, a viola, and a violin.  In addition, the wife of our recently deceased member came to sit with us and sing Christmas carols and a few other sing-along songs.  The residents entered into the singing and one danced to our last song – Jambalaya, and as there is good food mentioned therein, they fed us.

[John’s bringing-up neighborhood contained a ‘Yvonne’, as does the song.  Not the same one, and he claims the Cajun’s had better food, too.]

http://www.cajunradio.org/wordscajun3.html

They fed us a wonderful spread including hot cider, a great (made from scratch) chicken noodle soup with large pieces of chicken and little cut-up carrots.  It was excellent.  Along with it was a table of meats, crackers, cheeses, fresh veggies, and my favorite, deviled eggs.  There was zucchini-pecan-pineapple bread (by Bill), 5 different Christmas cookies by Lee (who also made the soup), and some other desserts I didn’t try.  It was snowing when I left so I gave a ride to one of the women (named Nan), who lives several buildings over.  Then I needed to get gasoline in the ‘09 Subaru, because when I left, there was only enough to get to town, and the fill light was on brightly.  Worked more today on a job reference for a former student.  Got to talk to a good friend who has been going through medical challenges.  It was great hearing his voice and hearing he was improving.

Sunday, Dec 16  It’s Sunday morning.  My eye is a little better, but I will have to be careful today.  If it starts scratching, I will lie down and rest it after putting some medication ointment in it.  It has snowed another couple of inches (still coming down a little), and we slept in till after 8:00 a.m.  Not going anywhere today.  The Bluegrass Jam is an hour away (in good weather) toward the Cascades and they have a 90% chance of snow.  It can get very messy and dangerous on the roads and up the hilly entrance once there, so we will just stay home.  It also goes from 2:00 to 4:30 so it’s too early to feed before leaving and dark for the whole trip back, plus John’s having to feed horses and outside cats with lights.  Spent our time home on at least two long distance phone calls.  First was to my long-time childhood friend south of Atlanta, who is ill with fibromyalgia and arthritis, and has lost 95% of her hearing in one ear and all in the other.  Second, to John’s sister Peggy in OH.  Now to finish our annual newsletter, which John began this morning.  The way John began it, it should be posted before Dec 21 (the Solstice).  Therefore, I will be busy the next few days.  Already started but so much yet to do.  Tonight’s dinner was an omelet with cheese and onions.  We had bacon and potatoes on the side.  Tonight for dessert, we’ll have pecan pie and strawberries, possibly with ice cream.

Monday, Dec 17  Today we awoke to some excitement.  I was up early, let the dogs out, and talked to Rascal.  He didn’t come into the den for the canned food I put out, but apparently went out the doggie door instead.  I decided to lie back down for some more shuteye.  Finally, we got up a little over an hour later, and were fixing toast and coffee when he came in through the doggie door (he uses it better than the dogs, who have to be urged from the outside to come in), and into the den, carrying a large blue Stellar Jay.  John reached down, scooped him up, and, thinking the bird dead, threw them both out the back patio door, into the snow.  (We had about 5 inches from yesterday — only half as much as friends did west of Yakima who got 10″.  It wasn’t but a moment before Rascal ran around to the entry and came back inside with the bird.  John then scooped him up and put him out the front door, with the bird escaping and flying into the Mt. Ash tree.  Rascal stayed in for awhile, giving us a piece of his mind, but left again, through the doggie door (opposite side of the house)  and made his way around and into the fenced front yard.  Then he climbed the tree where he last saw the bird.  The jay was long gone, but Rascal inspected the tree anyway, searching for him.  Yesterday he’d been in the same tree going after starlings that were eating the berries.  He caught the Jay apparently from the rear, while the bird was eating spilled dry cat food on the hay bales.  How he got him over the fence and into the house is beyond me.  We figure his mouth is not big enough to chew and kill him.  Perhaps he was going to bring him in to under the bed to get a better hold on him.  (We wonder) who knows?  The wind has been blowing all day, sun shining, and temperatures descending.  It is supposed to be quite cold tonight.  John has been winterizing more things outside and also moving snow.  I’ve mainly been working on the annual greetings newsletter.  Decided with a colleague we will share going to meetings of the Kittitas County Timothy Hay Growers and Suppliers annual meeting.  I am going to the 11:00 panel discussion on the topic:  current trends, future markets.  John has to go to the dentist for his teeth cleaning but is being forced to go to a part of the hay conference.

Tuesday, Dec 18  Today was wild.  We left at 10:25 for the County fairgrounds for the hay meeting that included an 11:00 to 11:30 part I was planning for.  It was late starting and John had an appt at the dentist at noon.  He left at 11:30 while they were drawing prize numbers and setting up for the panel discussion.  He walked (9 blocks, ~ 1 mi.) to the dentist.  I stayed and left just after 12:35.  John was just about ready to come out of the chair.  Then off to eat at McDonald’s and on to shop at Super 1.  Came on home and had to turn around after a couple hours and head back to town to play and sing Christmas Carols at a nursing home.  Didn’t eat until after 8:00 p.m..  Very late (midnight) getting to bed because once home from town, I started trying to upload a movie I took at the hay growers meeting, that was very large (4 gigabytes).  I didn’t have a jump drive to put it on to get to my co-author, John Bowen, for our APCG Yearbook paper we’re writing.  John B. attended early morning meetings and, as mentioned, I went to the around noon panel discussion with a moderator (grower) and three exporter/processors, who represented 3 companies of 6, here in Ellensburg.  The video came off my camera rapidly but the trip to my web site was an all evening and night operation.  While we have broadband DSL, we are far enough out in the country not to have access to the very fastest lines, and that was too bad.  Next time I will use my older camera without the high megapixel resolution.  I awoke in the middle of the night and checked that it had made it and I downloaded it, just to be sure I could (there were two, and I started the smaller one).  Once I was convinced it had worked, I sent the links to my co-author.  Later today, he was able to retrieve it.

Wednesday, Dec 19  Let’s see.  What happened today?  Much.  After sleeping in to recover from my late night’s work, I was having coffee and got a 45-minute phone call from a friend.  Once that was done I rushed to leave (in the snow) for town for the Food Bank and the SAIL exercise at the Adult Activity Center.  On to KVCH (hospital) for a blood draw for my INR monthly test on the blood thinner.  When I left, John put the roast that we bought yesterday in the oven and it cooked slowly all the rest of the day.  He made awesome gravy from the drippings and onions, baked a potato for each of us, and fixed some little green Lima beans.  I used to call them butter beans when I was a kid.  I looked on the web, and it is not consistent.  One place said Lima Beans were the big cream-colored ones, and butter beans were the little green ones; another place said just the opposite.  The can our little green ones came from called them Lima Beans and had a picture of the small green ones on the label.  I’m definitely confused.  This evening we have both been working on computers in opposite ends of the house.  We hope the temperatures will not go as low as last night.  We are scheduled for snow tomorrow.

Thursday, Dec 20  Good awakening phone call from my Dr.’s nurse that my INR was fine (2.1) and I’m okay on the same dosage for another month, when I will get another test.  We worked on various projects until we had a brunch of bacon, omelet, and fried potatoes (those from an extra baked one from last night).  I left after 1:00 p.m. for music in town at Dry Creek.  We took music books along for the Christmas songs and one member also brought along a bunch of bells and shakers for the residents to “play” along with Jingle Bells, Silver Bells, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and other songs such as, We Wish you a Merry Christmas.  My trip home was by the grocery for some supplies and to pick up 2 refills of my meds.  I came home to newly received mail (more Christmas cards and gifts).  Not much else tonight but really good leftovers of last night’s roast beef, and little green beans, along with biscuits tonight.  Have been working on our annual newsletter most of the time since arriving home.  Forgot, our new small oil heater stopped working in the back bedroom (computer room), where John does all his computing.  We had bought two not more than a month ago, so we will take it back for a trade.  Meanwhile, he’s using the second.

Friday, Dec 21, the Solstice.  The dogs have finally figured out coming and going from the new doggie doors.  Their follow-the-leader timing has to improve some as the dropping door can bonk them in the head.  We don’t have our exercise class today because the Activity Center closes at noon, for the long holiday weekend.  John and I are going to a Solstice Party. There were latkes (potato pancakes) made by the hostess, pumpkin bread (with a cream cheese layer) and muffins with raisins, deviled eggs, Vinman’s (local bakery) bread with cream cheese and a blueberry/ lavender compote made by the bringer, cheesy sticks, pasta with beans/carrots, and Caramel Corn (homemade in a microwave)–I need to get that recipe, or find it on line.  I found it here:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Microwave-Caramel-Popcorn/

John fixed our contribution using a store-bought white clam chowder soup as a starter and added milk, pieces of cut-up baked salmon, onion, bacon, cubes of orange butternut squash, and as a celery substitute, the green outer layer of a Zucchini-like squash from our garden.  (I personally think his concoction was the best thing on the table.)  I always take along my fiddle, and after we eat, we then sing Sun songs, and because of the roll-over of the Mayan calendar (Doom!) the laugh is we will also sing songs of destruction (we didn’t).  Today on my way to town, I was listening to the radio and they were playing, “It’s the end of the world as we know it.” (R.E.M., 1987)  An explanation (sort of) of the song is here:

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1741

A video is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY&noredirect=1

I ended up being the only instrument besides the man of the house, who played his guitar.  Last year there were many more instruments brought and played around the circle.  It snowed on us a lot going in and also coming home.  We were late getting home.  Okay, the update on this day was just finished the afternoon of 12/22.  I shall tell you why in tomorrow’s post.

Saturday, Dec 22  I had a nice visit on the phone with a friend recovering more from lung complications.  It was refreshing to hear his voice and know his breathing is better.  When John came back in the house, we called his sister and had a great visit for 40 minutes.  She had talked to us last week and told us about a recipe for Crockpot candy she heard about being on Trisha Yearwood’s website.  Try it but don’t get it too hot or it will cook the peanuts.  It is here:

http://www.redbookmag.com/recipes-home/tips-advice/trisha-yearwood-recipes-4

The recipe calls for white “almond bark”.  This is a candy-like thing, an alternative to white chocolate). White chocolate (WC) is explained here:

http://www.essortment.com/white-chocolate-41060.html

“Bark” is made of a vegetable or palm oil concoction without cocoa butter or almonds, although having similar aspects, and when melted, used to cover, dip, or shape candy treats.  White chocolate “WC” is harder to work with than the “bark” that has been developed for the candy-making purpose.  WC can burn and seize (goes hard like a bad fudge).  Now, where does the term “almond bark” come from?  So far we haven’t found the answer but it might be related to Jordan Almonds, a type of dragée:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_almonds#Jordan_almonds

The hard outer shell or coating might be thought of as a protective bark, as the bark of a tree.  The word ‘rind’ is part of the origin of this concept.  Search images for Jordan almonds for some pretty pictures.  Now, back to following the recipe. Peggy had trouble getting all the ingredients, but eventually found them.  A lady sold her almond bark and said it was the same as white chocolate, the difference was whether you were from the American South or not, and what you called it.  We now know that’s not true.  So Peggy made a crock pot load – a lot – and used the paper cups – too big, she thinks.  Now John is thinking about trying it.  She was very happy to be successful, and so were her friends who received some.

Okay, here we are this afternoon after lunch.  John has crashed on the sofa while I finish this blog so he can embellish it with links & comments, change my wording in places, and post it.  He spent the morning on normal chores and cleaning off the snow from yesterday.  I spent the morning trying to clean-up my Facebook account (again).  When we arrived home last night, I learned from a facebook friend my identity had again been stolen.  It took me most of the morning to straighten that out because I was too tired to do anything but fall in bed after midnight.  I dislike facebook very much, but I don’t want to disable my account because there are a few people that’s the only way I can keep up with.  Now, perhaps I can get back to issues of the day and work on the annual newsletter completion.  I want it to go out before the end of the year, if at all possible.  It’s already late afternoon and will be dark in less than an hour.  I’m stopping now.

Hope your week was a good one.

Merry Christmas.

Nancy and John

Still on the Naneum Fan

The world is white, again!

Sunday, Dec 9  On a day when it’s forecast for 20% of slight snow, the white stuff has been coming down since early.  John’s taken the dogs for their morning exercise, but started early just after out of bed by dressing to go make the dogs come in the doggie door without its being propped open.  We’re rather sure the cat figured it out, came, and went last night.  Then John took care of moving the charger around and bringing to the garage a battery from the travel trailer he’d charged after the truck a couple days ago.  Now he has the tractor battery set up charging in the old barn.

I managed to cut his hair this afternoon, and just in time.  My clippers stopped working at the end.  I thought they’d overheated, but they are dead.  It’s okay.  I have at least 2 others I can use.  These that stopped came from a yard sale for $1.00.  John’s dad showed me how to cut John’s hair with hand manual clippers. That was before we were married, when we were in Clarion, PA for a visit from Cincinnati grad school, so this has been going on for over 46 years, at least.  I think the cost of haircuts back then were a lot less than now :- ).  John claims they were told in school that one’s hair ought to be trimmed every two weeks.  Had we done that, and banked the going price of a haircut all these years, we would have a nice piece of change.  The cat and dogs are using the new doors.  John made brownies for dessert, with walnuts and chocolate chips in the batter.  For the last batch, we used our last store bought plastic tub of icing several months past its ‘best-before’ date.  A sale price of about 89¢ enticed us to buy several, all now gone.  Current price in the local grocery is close to $2 each.  So, with the chips in the batter and a short trip through the microwave oven, the finished brownies are fantastic.  The chips come in a large bag from Costco.  The walnuts come from trees along the east side of our house.

Monday, Dec 10  Wow, last night was surely a weather event.  We were subjected to Chinook winds that raised the temperatures to the high forties and remained all night after I last saw 29 degrees before retiring.  The winds were shaking the house and noisily blowing against the windows, for several hours at 33 mph sustained with gusts to 47 mph.  (That was 5 miles south of us at the airport).  A friend to the north a half mile said it was truly blowing there.  She is not protected by trees as much as we are.  Then on Facebook, I saw this morning that another friend in the Teanaway said the Chinooks melted all the snow there.  Washington has a town called Chinook but it is on the Pacific coast.

http://funbeach.com/villages/chinook/

This fits with the idea of a moist warm wind blowing from the sea but is at odds with the more common notion of the downslope wind:

http://www.answers.com/topic/chinook

John went with me to town today and dropped me off at SAIL exercise, and went on to two stores for things needed.  We seldom go to Safeway, but he did today to pick up a whole ham at 99 ¢/lb. for us to cook for the music group potluck this week.  While there he found 2-liter colas for a good price (68¢), so he loaded up on a few.  He returned to pick me up and we went on to Super 1 for my meds refills, and we took advantage of several great sale items.  The funniest was a Marie Callender Pecan Pie.  We had just talked with John’s sister recently about her getting a Peach one and not liking it.  They were on sale today for $3.40 off, making the price $4.98.  John will be making his mom’s famous pecan pies for a scholarship luncheon this Friday, but I wanted to compare Marie’s to his.  I know it won’t be nearly as good, but it will satisfy my curiosity.

Tuesday, Dec 11  Day full of computer problems and washing dishes.  Never made it to the clothes, or sorting.  Did print some music and copy a CD my friend loaned me with instrumental Christmas music.  It is very nice.  I don’t know the group, but there is a piano, harp, and something else, some sort of percussion.  We went to The Connections religious music group tonight, and what usually takes 45 minutes, went for over an hour.  Sadly, John had decided to go to town with me and was done shopping and back but had to wait over a half hour for me to finish.  Oh, well, we had a nice time singing Christmas songs with the residents of Hearthstone Cottages (assisted living).  John bought us some Razzleberry pies from the Marie Callender sale – there were none there yesterday.  They are a combo of raspberries and loganberries.  We have not tried any yet.

http://www.gardenology.org/wiki/Loganberry

And note the date at the upper right on this one:

http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/16406/ExtensionBulletin165.pdf?sequence=1

The first paragraph explains why this berry is more important in Oregon than in other parts of the USA.

Wednesday, Dec 12  Our day started out way too early, with two phone calls before 9:00 a.m. (my mom’s rule for telephone calls was never before 9:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m.).  The first was at 7:45 that our truck was ready.  John decided to go to town with me to let him off to pick up the truck.  It cost us $213 to get the drain on the battery fixed, and because it is driven so rarely, we had a battery tender added.  We will have to plug in a unit to the truck when it’s not in use.  The battery draw was diagnosed as 24.2 ma, charging at 14.2 amps.  The second call came about 8:20 and was our neighbor about the work on the ditch above us, to keep it from flooding.  John had to go up and explain what he was doing and why and how it should not be changed at the diversion Y.

Today is the birthday of four of my friends.  I told them this is a special day in the history of the world.  On this day, at 12:12 it will be 12:12 on 12-12-12 !  I was playing and singing Christmas songs while people ate at the Food Bank, and at 12:12, I got up after we had done Frosty the Snow Man, and I told them about the special date and time.  Today’s meal was relatively good.  The pasta was little green round things called Insalatonde.  (I tried to find on the web what makes them green and cannot — was a little worried that broccoli or spinach had been added, but it seems that usually it is green coloring).  The original idea is to use a green leafy vegetable, such as spinach, but folks will throw in just about anything green from the home garden.  John thinks that for commercial production a dye is used:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Green_FCF

He plans on checking a package in a store if there is green pasta sold there.  Anyway, it was baked with a nice spicy sauce and large slices of chicken breast meat.  With it was a vegetable mixture I could not eat any of (the dark green veggies with high Vit K).  They had some good garlic bread and I got two nice Christmas sugar cookies.  On from there to the Adult Activity Center.  I put on the CD of the music I burned yesterday and returned the original to the owner.  Then I walked around getting 16 signatures on a card for a lady in our SAIL exercise class who will be 87 tomorrow, and is in very good shape (except for having macular degeneration).  We completed the exercises and I drove home.  I will have to start carrying my camera.  On my way in the driveway, I saw a bunch of deer; counted 10.  The next to the last two were bucks, and one buck had two small spikes.  The other we have not seen around here this year.  He had 4 points on each side – called a 4×4 here in the West.

http://www.myhuntingbuddies.com/east-vs-west-method-of-antler-point-counting-54572.html

In the eastern US this would likely be called an 8-point.  Either way, he was well appointed.  He stood and looked at me, and I wanted so much to have my camera.  I didn’t get my camera and go back up because I doubted I could walk there without spooking him.  Perhaps I should have gotten in the car and gone back with a camera. They are used to our driving by them and do not spook.  To retrieve the truck, John had to ride in with me and, with supper in mind, right before we left for town he put a chunk of boneless beef in the crock-pot with onions, later adding winter squash.  Then tonight he made biscuits to go with it.  It was very good.  Just before 10:30 we ate a piece of chocolate Bundt cake I’d brought home from the Adult Activity Center.

Thursday, Dec 13  Well, it was a very, very long day.  I don’t know how much time I have to remember the day before falling asleep.  Phone visited with a down-ditch neighbor early in the am.  I tried to clean the kitchen to make way for John to bring in the huge ham and meat saw to cut it.  That got done and it took him awhile to clean it up and get it ready for the oven, where it baked most of the day.  While he was outside again, I ran off more copies of Frosty the Snow Man in G for the rest of the group.  After a bite of lunch, I left for playing music at the Rehab center where I stayed for 7 weeks in 2010.  I always have interesting memories, and see great people I knew while there.  Then the fog started moving in.  After playing, I went by the grocery for some pineapple and mustard to add to the ham for the last 2 hours.  Came on in, and we fixed the rest of the “topping” for the ham.  Finally, we left in the fog (heavy and thick) in the dark, to drive the 7 miles down the road to our friends’ home for the potluck.  The fog was so bad I turned one driveway too soon and had to back out.  One of our members did not find it in the fog and didn’t know the address.  I didn’t have my cell phone with me in the house, but she also did not call until after she went home (lives 30 miles away in S. Cle Elum).  I could have told her the number of the house.  She and her salad didn’t make it, and another member and her husband didn’t make it because she is recovering from a hip surgery and had overdone herself earlier in the day.  Still, we had 10 people show for dinner.  Food to go with our ham included scalloped potatoes, yams, calico beans, and warm cinnamon rolls for dessert.  We all had double helpings of everything.  Then we played music until after 9:15.  Came home to ice over everything especially the walkway out front from the car to the house.  Sometimes with the snow broomed off the concrete will dry off – not so today, so as the temperature dropped the wet surface turned to ice.

Friday, Dec 14  Started the day early with John getting up and starting on fixing two pecan pies from his mom’s recipe.  It was for us to take to a scholarship luncheon at CWU.  I have been a member of this group since 1988, and John made two pies that first year (he was still in Idaho, and I was over here teaching, going home each weekend).  It has been a tradition that he always bakes two Pecan Pies for the group.  They claim to look forward to it all year.  He always joins our group for the Christmas Potluck.  Today we had Hawaiian pizza, fried chicken, enchiladas, egg rolls, chicken-celery-cranberry-peanut salad, pasta salad, a bean salad with peppers & onions, hot apple cider, soft drinks, and our pie.  We actually brought some leftovers home with us, including some pecan pie.  There were a smaller number of our group there today, only 10 (counting John).

Five of our members missed the good time had by all.  No students are on campus, so finding a parking space at the Student Union Recreation Center (SURC) was not a problem.  On the way back, with John driving, I called my good friend (colleague, who had to retire because of health reasons).  Today was his birthday.  I managed to reach his cell phone and got him in person, not on a message recorder.  He was in Flagstaff, AZ ready to go in a day or so on a Colorado River raft trip with about 12 river guides who invited him along to describe and explain the landscape.  He sounded SO good to me; it was the best birthday present for me on this, his birthday.  Actually, it’s perhaps the best Christmas present I will get.  They had had almost a foot of snow, and the roads were not yet plowed, so he had walked to the grocery store to pick up lunch items for the guides he is with.  I was tickled he answered the phone – not knowing whether or not he was in WA or AZ.  On the way home we detoured by some places to see what was happening with new construction projects (seems strange to start construction this time of the year).  In addition, we drove in and out our neighbors’ driveway to make it look as if someone is home.  We’ve been rather lazy this afternoon because of not much sleep last night, and awakening to 2 inches of snow with ice beneath.  I have a feeling we will sleep well tonight.

We heated a brownie John made–the last of that–and had with ice cream atop for dessert.  We had a nice supper of leftovers:  chicken, ham, biscuits, with sliced apples and pears.  That is the last of the pears.  We have many apples left, however.

I took the pictures off my camera before hitting the hay, of us holding our pies yesterday.  John made it more colorful by adding a frame.  It will be appropriate to add to our Christmas greetings letter, if we ever get it started.  We’d better hurry, or people won’t receive it until Valentine’s Day.

Saturday, Dec 15  This day I go to Briarwood at 2:00 with more to eat after we sing Christmas songs with the residents.  Now I’m stopping to give this to John to fix up and post.  We just got 2 inches of snow so I’ll have to leave earlier than usual.

Hope your week was a good one.

Nancy and John

Still on the Naneum Fan

The bombing of Pearl Harbor . . .

. . . and our first date occurred years apart during this week!  (How nice of John to remember : -)    He always embellishes my start, and he added this line and the title, plus the links below.

Sunday, Dec 2  Nothing away planned.  What a day this was.  We both started early and John did a lot of outside work.  I spent most of the day working on editing a thesis for a friend (in the TESOL program)–Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.  Also, I reviewed a letter and resume final copy for a job application for another friend.  We had some breaks for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but worked most of the rest of the time.  There were no cougar sightings today, or in fact, this week.

Monday, Dec 3  We both got a well-deserved good night’s sleep, awaking to a beautiful sunny day.  John’s been out working in the yard and I have finished making a printed packet of all my comments (on the 116-page thesis) and am ready to go to her defense at 1:00 p.m. on campus near the Library.  Because she’s a member of our musical group, to her envelope with my pages of comments, I added Frosty The Snow Man in 3 keys so she can choose the version best for her voice, and included a Bon Voyage and Thank You card from our Kittitas Valley Fiddlers and Friends group (and the Bluegrass Jam session folks).  She’s on her way next week to teach ESL in Saudi Arabia to women.

On my way from that session, I stopped to get my new Emeritus Parking Pass which now expires every 2 years, because people were misusing the red ones they have dispensed for several decades.  My new one is Orange.  In two years, the color will change.  At least it is free, once retired.  Nice because I think it was costing $120 or more when I retired.

John “fixed” an old Craftsman Sabre Saw last night, and got in about 11 inches cutting before it stopped again.  There is a worn part (surprise; it’s about 35 years old). I’m going to buy one from our local Wood’s-Ace Hardware when I go to pick up the drill bits today.  The best fit for what he will do with it was this link below:  (and you can check the web page link below with additions about the doggie-cat door construction to see it in John’s hands, Nancy)

http://www.blackanddecker.com/power-tools/JS660.aspx#

The first reviewer on this page must be on another planet – the beveling foot plate has a small plastic slider that unlocks it.  No problem.

When I got home, I spent more time on the phone with the gal regarding her resume and letter of application for a job in EBRG.  It started over the weekend with an hour on the phone between the two of us.

Tuesday, Dec 4  The day started rainy but cleared up.  Then rained again on our way back from town.  John had tried starting the ’89 truck yesterday and the battery was dead so it spent the night hooked to life-support – a 2 amp charger.  We’ve been busy and this horse-trailer-pulling truck hadn’t been started in a couple of weeks.  It has a parasitic drain on the battery and needs a brief drive every week or 10 days.  So, time to get it fixed with, maybe, a solar trickle assist.  On my way to foot care we dropped the truck off for an evaluation.  Then on to Burger King for a late lunch.  Then late tonight we had a late dinner of leftover BBQ beef, biscuits, and pears.  Is it time we can go to bed yet?  Last night was too late and the night was too short.  I need more sleep.  Did spend time tonight tallying my volunteer hours this month.  Results:  (All Nancy’s because John didn’t do any trail work in November= 42.5 hrs, driving 357.2 miles.)  Turns out we can use his volunteer hours cutting firewood and doing chores for neighbors.

Wednesday, Dec 5  Change in normal doings today.  I awoke to an early morning call from my partner (banjo) for the food bank that she was ill and not coming.  I was sorry to hear she was sick, but I was relieved I didn’t have to go in today.  My neck was hurting from sleeping wrong on it (I guess).  The last few hours before I awoke I was having crazy dreams, so I had laid down in my recliner to position myself to cure the problem.  While still recovering and getting ready to get a cup of coffee, John’s sister called to use up her cell phone minutes that reset tomorrow.  I’m going to need to do the same thing, with both phones soon (before the 18th).  Went out to take a photo of the doggie door process, which will be added to the continuing landscape change saga.  Take a peek at:

http://www.ellensburg.com/nancyh/LandscapeChangeNaneumFan.html

but if you get there before the update has changed to December 8, then come back in a few hours.  It’s almost complete now, but Nancy has to do her magic to get it updated on the web.

It is a beautiful sunny, windy, day that will likely be our last for awhile, so John wanted to work on finishing the project.  This was the trial run on cutting the oval holes in the wall (crafted from our old barn door). The ovals are about 21 inches high and 13 inches wide.  21 / 13 = 1.61 – using a sabre saw and a 30 year old piece of used plywood, this is real close to the letter, Phi :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phi

From under a pile of “stored” items, he also retrieved a plywood sign (dating from Troy, ID in 1982), which he is going to use for the swinging covers of the holes.  I took some photos of the process and the old sign (Computer Junction) before it is gone for good.  We had a small arcade — Ah, memories.

http://www.algodoo.com/algobox/upload/image/48950_48950_Asteroids_Arcade_Game_v1_1(1).png

Decided to stay home and work on cleaning up the clutter.  So, off to more of that!  I’m doing all right but accomplished much less than I should have with staying home (that saves a minimum of 2 hours, usually 3, and over 4 on Weds.).  Oh well, I’m retired.  John finished the doggie door and I took some final photos.  I should have taken one from inside the house (I did 12/8 and it will be added to the landscape change description).  The dogs have been through both ways, but I expect it will take them awhile to be comfortable with it.  I don’t know if the doors are too heavy for Rascal.  John has propped one open with a piece of wood until they all get with the program.  We’ll have to evaluate.

we got our annual invite to a Solstice party.  It’s always fun, with good food people bring, drinks, and fried latke (potato pancakes) made by the hostess.  People also bring musical instruments and sit around and everyone sings Sun songs and a few Christmas ones.

Well, today I had planned to see which key of Frosty was best for our usual singers, but we didn’t meet.  I just used a Virtual Piano on line to play the notes and to sing an octave lower.  I should have used our keyboard.  I decided on D, so will take a few of those along for those there tomorrow, and we’ll try that key.  (It didn’t work, as you’ll see below).  Also, I need to get all my Christmas music in order for the rest of December.

Thursday, Dec 6  Today was a wild day.  Started by sleeping in later than I ever have (10:00).  Guess I needed the rest.  The first item of business took forever and was not expected.  Someone stole my identity on Facebook and sent a message about the UN (or something) to all my friends.  Also, it asked my friends to add me as a friend (to the false profile), but I already was their friend.  Three friends caught it and notified me, and two of them notified FB.  That stopped it but not before some of my friends unfriended me when they realized what had happened.  It’s unlikely at that point they hadn’t already been grabbed by the perpetrator.  I’ll never know.  I did change my password and added a banner (cover) picture on my news page of our horses with a landscape of ice frost on the trees behind them.  If you saw our 2011 greetings, you have seen the picture.  I did not change my picture that goes along with my messages (which was also stolen by the perpetrator to send to all my friends).  Instead, I checked all the securities on my account and changed the password.  Turns out none was open to “public”, but I had been on a status of staying logged in.  I now log out after each use.  No one knows if that might have affected it or not.

Then I could return to printing the music copies I needed for today’s nursing home gig.  John was out doing chores and came in to warm a piece of pizza for us.  Nothing much new the rest of the day.  Just a lot of email correspondence to take care of.  Hope we can hit the hay early tonight so I can get a good night’s sleep a little earlier in the day than today.  It did snow a little this afternoon and evening, but not as much as in the mountains on the I-90 pass.  All the high Cascades are covered and the ski slopes open.  From the following page you can view small pictures taken in good weather and then click on the webcam for a current view.

http://www.nps.gov/mora/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm#CP_JUMP_551370

Friday, Dec 7  Snowed big flakes this morning but now has changed to rain.  John went up to try to adjust the water flow through the irrigation ditch.  It is still sending too much water down.  He found that someone had undone what he did earlier this week.  (?? do not know who or why but guess another person found it easier to reroute to us rather than just stopping the flow to himself.  These water issues are endless.)  We did chores around the place prior to going to dinner tonight on the west side of Ellensburg at a former student’s house.  We will be having Bagna càuda.

http://www.lifeinitaly.com/food/bagnacauda

It’s a dish from the Piedmont region of Italy.  We have never experienced it before.  It had steak, chicken, shrimp, broccoli, cabbage, red and yellow peppers, mushrooms, all simmered in an olive oil sauce with much minced garlic and anchovies.  (the anchovies were undetectable, serving more as a salty spice).  It was served on sliced bread.  Interesting and good.  Served with red wine.  We took a bottle of Malbec 2005 from White Heron, which John helped bottle, and another bottle of 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon from Bonair’s Morrison Vineyard in Zillah, WA.  We didn’t open the latter one, sadly, because I would have liked to have tasted it.  I still cannot have much wine with being on Coumadin medication. (4 ounces/week with food, but I haven’t had any wine for many months).  It started snowing hard and the wind gusting very high (33 mph) during the hour before we drove to town (in the dark).  It was rough going in, but it stopped while we were there, and was clear (and cold) for the trip home.

Saturday, Dec 8  This morning has been uneventful.  There were many deer around the place (at least 13) including a little buck.  So John “pushed” them to one corner before exercising the dogs.  They (the deer) have stayed around all day, seen last out the front windows eating Oregon Grape plants and tops of weeds.  (Nancy has added photos of that at the bottom of the landscape change story for this week.)  It snowed big flakes for an hour, but stopped and the snow on the outside car and truck have melted their cover.  John finished it just to be sure.  Even though the temperature at noon was up to 39, the wind chill is registering 33 at the airport (5 miles south of us at a lower elevation).

Hope your week was a good one.

Nancy and John

Still on the Naneum Fan

Can you say Cougar?

This-one: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Cougar_closeup.jpg

Not these:

http://www.empireonline.com/images/features/movie-stars-who-should-try-tv/Demi-Moore.jpg

Sunday, Nov 25  Lots of sunshine and no trips away from home required today.  We did not sleep in, but started work rather early.  John has been working on the doggie/cat door structure, and I spent time documenting the progress, among other things.  He also went “up the creek” (without a paddle) to adjust the flow in the water diversion for the irrigation ditch we use.  He wants to lower the flow before freeze-ups – little ice dams that send water out over the field where it makes a sheet of ice.  These overlap and make unwanted uneven surfaces that are a danger for us or for the horses, dogs, and deer to navigate.

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/robertfrost/12117

The surface of the water in the ditch freezes while the water continues to flow underneath.  Then it pops up and starts to flow on top.  Then it turns solid.  A similar thing happens with lava flowing downhill . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xExdEXOaA9A

. . . where the exposed surface cools and turns black.  In our case the dark water turns white.  Ain’t Nature grand?

I’ve added to the pictures of the continuing projects, which you can follow here:

http://www.ellensburg.com/nancyh/LandscapeChangeNaneumFan.html

Today, I made some leftovers into a good lunch.  John will likely use some again tonight, but he used a previously baked potato and made fried ones to go along with meatloaf, Jarlsberg cheese slices, & biscuits.  Our appetizer consisted of cut apples and D’Anjou pears.  Tonight I took John’s suggestion and linked to a web page by a great photographer, Ken Rockwell, and I expect it will help me fix my problems with the color balance and contrast on my Canon compact camera that has been making pictures with a blue overtone.  Thus far, I have not been able to follow his explicit directions with my camera.  John says it ought to be simple so perhaps he can help.

Sad note tonight that another friend in town died.  I have known and worked with him since 1988.  Marty Kaatz was a geographer here since the 1950s.  He and I worked on projects together and he and John hiked in the Cascades and went on field trips.  He took one of my GIS classes late in life and assisted several of my students with their local thesis or project work.  He will be missed.

Monday, Nov 26  We decided that we would stay home today and go after dark to Costco in Yakima.  We are almost out of cat food and the only days this week available were today and tomorrow.  I skipped my exercise class today, worked on stacks of things, paying bills, and all such fun stuff.  John likes to be home during the daylight hours and those are getting short.  By Dec. 5th we will have reached our earliest sunset, about 4:13 P.M. but the latest sunrise (7:48) isn’t until 2 days after Christmas.  The bottom line is that for the next 2 months we will only have a little more than 8 hours of daylight (much of it cloudy and cold).  You can get your location’s Sun and Moon table here:

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.php

For the trip to Yakima, we were late leaving because his trip up the creek to downsize the irrigation took much longer than he planned.  We were so busy today we skipped lunch, not even having any snacks.  When the horses and outside cats had been fed, we took off for town, stopping by the hospital lab for my INR finger poke.  I had the pin prick one that gives instant results.  It was a 2.3, within the range desired.  Only problem was it took much longer than usual.  When I arrived, there was one person ahead of me and it was going to be 10 minutes max.  However, there was an emergency call from ER needing a blood draw.  The phlebotomist . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlebotomist

. . . (night time; only one in the lab) had to respond but the patient was not ready so finally she told them she had people waiting and she would come back (they’d taken the patient for a Cat Scan, after requesting her immediately by a personal walkie-talkie connection).  That set us off a bit more, but the trip down was nice, clear, with no rain or snow, and a bright full moon, which made it a great trip.  There was little traffic and only a few people in the store.  It was set to close at 8:30, so we had time, getting there about 7:00PM.  After we shopped, we ate.  We shared a large piece of pizza (combo with 5 things on it), a Polish sausage, refillable Pepsi, and a large “very berry sundae,” made from frozen yogurt (w/tons of strawberries).  All for $5.57.  Not bad for two people’s dinner with dessert (and no expected tip).  Then off to the gasoline part of the lot.  The price was only $3.21/gallon; the cheapest in Ellensburg is $3.53.  Go figure!  Why?  Local paper had a letter to the editor about this issue a few days ago.  On home, by way of our neighbor to drop off purchases we made for her.  Now we’ve both been spending time on the computer, and it is within minutes of when we can go to bed.

Tuesday, Nov 27  Nothing on tap for today, away from home, but we have been very occupied.  Between other jobs, John’s been working on the doggie door, also known as a SAAEIHO – the self-accuated animal egress/ingress household opening.  So far all materials used have been recovered from other projects (except a few nails).  Prices of purchased SAAEIHOs are about $80 and up, way up.  For example:

http://www.petdoors.com/pet-doors/manual-pet-doors/for-sliding-glass-door.html

I spent at least two hours on the phone with various projects.  I had to determine which way to proceed on dental insurance before Friday, but it turns out I have to wait till May to finalize the end of a private dental insurance policy and the start of a group policy through CWU (outside of open enrollment which ends Nov 30).  I spent some time working on emails regarding a number of different things, including the death of my friend, and also some plans for our music group.  In addition, I spent time on the phone with Duluth Trading Company to buy John some “fire-hose” heavy-duty work pants, and for both of us a fleece thing to put on a baseball cap to keep our ears covered.  John fixed a great pizza tonight.  It was a Costco multi-meat one (5), and he added cheese and tomatoes.  We could have added onions too, but it was great without.  Forgot to say, we had it with pieces of D’Anjou pears.  Really a nice treat.  John came back to the kitchen at 8:30 and made a chocolate cake.  We still had frosting left over from the brownies he made last week.  Before lights-out, we had a nice piece of cake with some cherry/nut ice cream.

Wednesday, Nov 28  Back to the normal Food Bank scheduled music, with SAIL exercise after ½ mile away.  We are expected to have 10 days of rain (better than snow, I guess), but difficult to do outside chores.  Well, so much for that forecast.  I went to town for my two appointments, Food Bank music and SAIL and got snowed on leaving the FB.  I figured it was really snowing at home, and I was right.  We didn’t play the entire time at the FB because it was so cold we couldn’t finger our instruments properly.  So we played about 8 songs quit, and ate.  They had a sausage pasta, artichoke/onion thing, which I gave away thinking vitamin K in artichokes was high and I couldn’t have them.  I just looked it up, and found that it is low.  Last week they had Brussel Sprouts, which are high in Vit. K, but I don’t like them anyway; never have.  I got home this afternoon and started working on Frosty the Snow Man.  It was nowhere near as straightforward to put into music as I thought.  I’m still working on it.  The copy I had only had a couple of verses and not the part where Frosty has to hurry on his way, saying, “Don’t you cry, I’ll be back again some day.”  Also there were other phrases that needed to be added and the music rewritten.  John fixed a late dinner of baked chicken and potato.  We had just finished when a former student called and needed counseling.  We talked for an hour.  Just put in another hour on the music with a break for dessert.  Now it’s time to reset the furnace (the programmable thermostat needs reprogrammed) and get some sleep.  One day this week, maybe it was this morning, our neighbor called with the news of a Cougar sighting on the end of our property where our horses can go and where John exercises the dogs.

Thursday, Nov 29  Back to the normal Fiddlers & Friends music, this week at Mt. View Meadows.  I’m happy John’s going along to go to get his driver’s license renewed and to pick something up at the hardware store, and check other stores.  I worked all morning on Frosty the Snow Man (my new arrangement to add the missing music and words I remember at the end of the song.  They are not in the version I have copies of from the past.  And, there is another verse missing (Frosty the SM is a fairy tale they say.  He was made of snow, but the children know how he came to life one day).  I must enter it because it is in the wrong key for our singers to sing.  Once I have it in the music software, I can transpose for our clarinet player or change to any key for the group.

The trip to town was almost successful.  John didn’t have to wait to get his driver’s license renewed.  Did not take long to take the eye test and answer associated questions, and have his picture taken.  They cost $45 now, but last for 5 years.  His trip to the $ store wasn’t totally successful as the waxed paper was a brand X of unknown quality, but he picked up some potato chips that we have now tasted and they are fine (yet interesting).  They are advertised as cheddar and sour cream, which from another manufacturer’s (Lay’s), have the same colored chip throughout the bag.  However, these are different colors for the cheddar (orange) and sour cream (yellow).  John doesn’t agree with my theory, thinking it is just quality control, but we’ll likely never know.  His trip to Ace Hardware was less useful.  The two things on sale, advertised in their flyer, were out of stock (Dewalt circular saw blades and drill bits).  I will go back tomorrow and get them (supposed to be in tomorrow’s shipment).

Our play date today had a good turnout.  We had 2 guitars, 2 banjos, clarinet, mandolin, 3 violins, singer w/o instrument, and singer with tambourine.  For one of the banjo players, this was her last day with us.  She is going to leave next week for Saudi Arabia for a job teaching English as a second language to women.  I plan to attend her masters defense Monday.  She’s getting her masters degree in the Language Department.

We sort of skipped lunch today, just snacked on chips, but tonight had leftover chicken thighs (cold), heated a previously baked potato, and had some slices of Jarlsberg cheese.  I had a slice of banana nut bread, with a bite off one side (John’s), and I buttered it and made a sandwich.  It passed for date nut bread with cream cheese.  It might have been date nut bread instead of banana.  It was quite good.  I brought it from the Sr. Center yesterday afternoon.  They put out nice goodies to have with coffee they have on all day.  I don’t have coffee while there, just water or my lemonade (Crystal Light).

Friday, Nov 30  We were awakened at 4:30 a.m. this morning from a call from Lifeline Support that our neighbor had fallen and not responded to the unit.  We were called because we are the first on the list, and I guess they couldn’t reach the home phone (although they really didn’t say that).  They had sent a policeman out, and we were supposed to go meet them and let them in the house.  I told them the door would not be locked, but they said I had to push a button on the unit to inform them he was being taken care of.  Then they didn’t leave a number.  I called his wife right away, but the line was busy.  John got dressed and I was getting ready to go along with him, because I was the one talking to them.  I kept calling thinking she was on the phone talking with someone.  It finally went through, but no answer.  So we were on our way out the door, and she called.  She’d gotten the call but nothing was wrong with her husband.  She said the phone said a phone was off the hook, and it said it again while we were talking.  How the heck my subsequent phone call went through is beyond me.

She was alarmed to hear the police may be arriving soon, but I was happy to give her a warning.  That might have frightened her worse than my wake-up call.  Turns out the cat knocked the unit onto the floor from the side table, where he had put it beside his bed.  I told her about hitting the button on the unit and that I would return the call to Lifeline Support.

The only reason I could is that I JUST took on a new telephone plan for 2 years that decreased our DSL cost and comes with caller ID and call waiting.  That’s how I knew the number to call back, but it took me awhile to figure out how to retrieve it.  I then couldn’t get back to sleep for 1.5 hrs.  She had taken one of the phones to bed and it was “off the hook.  Later that morning, she said indeed a huge vehicle (probably an EMT one with a portable bed) showed up at the door, and she apologized to the medics.  They said it was all right, that they needed to come check on every call.  I was happy I was able to warn her.  I guess once Lifeline gets an alert they call the EMT unit first and the neighbors later.  So there wasn’t anyway to stop the EMT folks.  We are 10 miles and about 20 minutes from the Fire Station.  Traveling on our roads means lots of slow turns as they have right-angles from the old land survey system. . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Land_Survey_System

and from going around streams and such things.  Go to this Google Earth location —  47.036928, -120.467633  — and zoom in to see how Brick Mill and Naneum intersect.  Early in November someone speeding south on Naneum went through the fence, across the canal and stopped near the white plastic pipe.  The police painted the tire skid marks with dashed orange lines and I happened by the next day when the landowner was repairing his fence.

Scholarship luncheon was at CWU at noon.  On my way there I stopped at the Campus Police and Parking to get a form to fill out for my Emeritus parking sticker.  They have given out Red ones for 20+ years, and they feel they may being misused, so are requiring the retiree to come in with ID and car registration to get a new one issued for only two years.  All red ones will expire Jan 1, 2013.  I lucked out and found a parking space (with my red marker) just across the street from the place our luncheon was being held.  They served us baked potatoes with all sorts of different toppings.  Very good.  While on my way to SAIL exercise, I stopped by Ace Hardware for John’s saw blades and drill bits.  They did not have the bits, so I asked for a special rain check and they put in the order from the warehouse.  I will pick them up for the sale price Monday afternoon.  Our neighbor saw the Cougar coming across our property again, and called, but I was in town, and John was outside.

Tonight we went to the annual Christmas party put on for anyone on campus (this is the event of the season) by the Anthropology and Geography departments on the 3rd floor of Dean (for those of you who were at my retirement party).  There was food of all types, many appetizers, but much more.  We were able to make our dinner from attending.  The only problem was that the plates were too small, but twice through was allowed (even more).  We had tasty meatballs, a full ham, Chinese noodle dish, little sausages in a great sauce, various salads I cannot eat, several plates of deviled eggs (I dearly love), fried pot stickers, cabbage rolls, Vegan stuff on one end of the table I ignored, crackers with all sorts of goodies, and other specialties.  A large dessert table had pumpkin pie, several kinds of cookies, a special layered thing of which I had two pieces (they were made with gram cracker crust, creme filling, chocolate chips, a butterscotch layer, with a nut crumble on top.  I don’t think it had coconut, but perhaps.  It was sweeter than many people like, but I have no problem with sugar.  There was a nice sherbet non-alcoholic punch I drank.

We had nice visits with former students, current faculty members and spouses, and Emeriti faculty members.  It was worth the trip to town, and particularly nice that it was clear, no rain or snow, and with a bright moon for coming home.

Saturday, Dec 1 — Wow, a new month has arrived and we have so much to do before the end of the year rolls around.  Today, John moved hay from the storage shed into an old horse trailer and parked it way down in the pasture.  Moving the feeding places around keeps the horses from doing excessive damage to any one place and, also, they have to move quite a ways to the heated water trough.  That helps to keep them exercised in the winter.  He took the truck and chainsaw (and camera) to where the Cougar was sighted (2x) and cut a few smallish trees (nice firewood size without required splitting).  No cougar.  It was sunny much of the day and cloudy later in the afternoon, but never rained or snowed until about 10 P.M.  I worked on several editing projects and still have more to do.  I played with this blog throughout the day, and am almost ready to send it to John to go over with his magic touch, and post.  I have added a few pictures to the end of the story listed at the top on Landscape Change.  I forgot to take pictures today of the current state of the doggie/cat door.  It has a newly added (last night before dark) temporary (but usable) ramp.  John has yet to add the In and Out swinging doors, letting the animals get used to the new structure before they have to push on the swinging doors.  Those will be added in a day or so and heat loss to the great outdoors will be much decreased.  It is good that our temps have been very moderate because of the winds from the direction of Hawaii.  Still coming with the rain.  Ski areas are getting snow.  Mount Baker claims to have a 6 ft.+ base.  Cold will come, as it already has to much of the northern latitudes.  It is 30 below in Fairbanks, Alaska tonight.  Ouch.

Hope you are warm and that your week was a good one.

Nancy and John

Still on the Alluvial Fan

Thanksgiving week with several celebration dinners!

Sunday, Nov 18  This morning John did several normal chores, in addition to moving a small volunteer Mt. Ash tree from near our front step, up to a place by the road.  He put a fence around it to keep out the deer, and I hope that works.  They love those berries.

I worked on two projects, first trying to update the web page of our landscape change, still needing a lot more work.  Here is the link for the Nov 24th edition week, much improved over the last you saw on Nov 12.  It is not yet completed, but progress is being made.

http://www.ellensburg.com/nancyh/LandscapeChangeNaneumFan.html

I stopped to get my music ready to take with me.  John went along to the Bluegrass Jam session at the Swauk-Teanaway Grange.  We took a platter of his homemade frosted brownies filled with our homegrown Carpathian walnuts.  I put my music together to hand out, making 20 copies so each of the musicians could have the notes, chords, and lyrics.  In addition, we had enough for the audience to participate, and they did!  The songs I took along were, Oh, Mary Don’t You Weep; I’ll Fly Away, and Blowin’ in the Wind.  I started the circle playing today.  In addition, when it came back to me two more times (because of a short circle), I picked, When It’s Springtime in the Rockies and Jambalaya.  I guess I should have taken along 5 songs as John suggested.  He figured that if someone else took one of my songs (which they didn’t today), then I would have backups.  There were enough people there last month that we only got 3 picks each– maybe only 2; I don’t remember.  Unfortunately, it was late when we left and dark by the time we got home, so John had to feed the horses and the outside cats in the dark.  I guess that’s the breaks with the shortened days. He has two lights to carry.  The first moves around to the direction he looks and both horses and cats adjusted well.

http://ts4.mm.bing.net/th?id=Cmj4vLlvzueVnIQ&pid=Commerce

The other type he carries and places as needed.

http://toolspot-static.co.uk/i/3286z.jpg

The 3-to-a-package ones have a sticky back for a permanent home but he just carries one in a pocket without peeling off the protective cover.

We’ll have leftovers tonight, and I hope to put in some more time on the first project I started today.  It is raining AGAIN.  Rain is called for every day this week.  I guess that’s better than snow.  I arrived home to a phone call from our clarinet player who thinks she needs me to transpose ‘Here Comes Santa Claus’ for her.

Monday, Nov 19  Nothing scheduled for today but the SAIL exercise class, but I always resist from going to town for only one reason.  We shall see what comes up.  Nothing did.  John worked outside and I worked inside.

Tuesday, Nov 20  Another day without anything planned until 6:30PM, when it already will be dark.  Turns out that changed too, not getting dark, but going to the nursing home to play music.  They have a GI outbreak there and are keeping people out.  The sun came out and John used the time outside.  Then a big cloud rolled in and the temperatures dropped.  That was a couple of hours ago, and the sun just came back on the scene.  He is building a larger & tighter doggie/cat door for the side of the living room window for the animals to access the backyard without using the patio sliding glass door.  Since my hospitalization (3 years ago this week), we have operated with a piece of flipping [I think she meant to say flapping!] cardboard, but that leaks much cold air when winter winds blow and or Shay stands with her tail end holding it open.  This new one will be nicely framed in wood as a tiny addition to the house with metal roof and a double glazed window . . .

http://www.austview.com.au/images/linedrawing-ddhg-lg.jpg

. . . facing an outside light already under a corner eave.  Okay…will have to describe later with photos, and after I see the final product.  I’m starting a story link, but the work probably will not be completed in time for this blog to be posted (however, look at the bottom of the link above to see progress thus far).  Raining again.  John stored tools in the cat house and went to take care of feeding chores before dark.  Meanwhile, I spent nearly 2 hours working up 4 copies of the Christmas music for our group to play through the end of the year, starting next week.  Four folks are new to the group since last year and didn’t have the music.  John is cooking Stouffer’s frozen enchiladas for dinner and has added a layer of cut-up red peppers with a layer of grated cheddar cheese.  It smells very good.  It was, and especially good with cut up pears (Bosc and D’Anjou).

Wednesday, Nov 21  This morning started with watching a nice little Buck move around the back “yard” on the other side of the fence.  Today was a busy day that started at the Food Bank soup kitchen for music and a meal (but I ate light); stopped off at Bi-Mart for some stuff still on sale through today, followed by playing music at Hearthstone Cottages, another favorite place to perform, because they participate with the singing and they appreciate us so much.  We are not beginning any Christmas songs until the end of next week and with only a few winter ones; no Christmas carols yet till December.  I joined a bunch of other friends from all over town at the Community Turkey Feed.  It was yummy and they gave me a take-home plate to bring to John.  Turkey & gravy, dressing, potatoes, sweet potatoes, veggies, roll, and a piece of pumpkin pie.  I did not bring the dessert to John but just a plate wrapped with foil.  I have been working on thanksgiving cards (animated) to send to a few friends.  It’s a very clever creation of artistic work put together with a fiddler playing Turkey in the Straw in the background.  If I neglected to send you one, tell me and I will send you the link.  Also, John stayed home and worked some on the new animal door construction.

Thursday, Nov 22  Happy Thanksgiving Day!  We had not planned anything until Saturday with our neighbors but were invited yesterday afternoon to join a friend and her 3 kids for turkey dinner tonight after dark.  That is good for John to be able do his work in the daylight.  This Saturday almost all the neighbors’ family (children and grandchildren) can make it over from the west side, the east side, and down from northern WA.  John is still working on the new entrance — I took some before pictures to add to the continuing saga.  We were taking a late lunch break (just pear and chips) before calling John’s sister Peggy, and she called us.  Had a nice long conversation.  We got ready and left for dinner to arrive right after 5:00 PM.  The turkey took an extra 1.5 hrs to cook, but it was good.  We didn’t eat until late, but had a nice visit before and after eating.  It was a full slate of turkey and fixings.  We didn’t get home until almost 10:00 PM.  Now we are ready to hit the hay.

Friday, Nov 23  I didn’t sleep well, probably too much rich food late last night.  John was up early (I slept in, after finally getting to sleep), and he started working on the doggie/cat structure and worked until just after 11, when we had to motor to an I-90 exit to meet a pass-thru from Federal Way.  We had planned a couple of weeks ago to meet the couple whose wife volunteers for WTA.  John has been on a weeklong WTA trip with her several years ago, before I got sick, and also on a couple day trips this year.  Crew leaders are allowed to buy certain sporting goods at a significant discount (only for their own use, not family and friends).  John is buying 10 pairs of Atlas Fit gloves (including both Therma and #300 light weight)

http://www.atlasfitgloves.com/atlasfit300.html

Click thru to ‘Therma’ to see the heavy duty gray ones.  And, shush!, because – well, just because.  Anyway, these are the best thing since sliced bread.  So, the WTA friend will drop them off for us on her way through town to Spokane.  We never go to the west side during winter months, because of bad experiences with the Cascades, Snoqualmie Pass, when it snows (or even when it rains very hard).  We didn’t go to the WTA Appreciation dinner this year, and John won’t start going to work parties until next spring.  He can use these gloves around here in the mean time, so we are grateful for the delivery.  While in town, we went to the grocery store and then to pick up new cookie sheets our friend picked up for us on the last day of the sale at Bi-Mart.  I was in the store that day, but forgot to get them.  It was a terrific deal for a high quality Bakers Secret non-stick, at over 1/2 off.  Our cookie sheets are all in terrible shape.  The rest of the day was filled with telephone calls and emails.  Finally, the dinner John started was done and we could eat.  He made a wonderful meat loaf and baked a colorful small squash filled with Rome apple pieces and walnuts.

At the following link, scroll down to ‘Sweet Dumpling’ for photo and description (small means no leftovers):

http://whatscookingamerica.net/squash.htm

Saturday, Nov 24  Today will bring another Thanksgiving dinner in the middle of the afternoon (3:00 PM) across the street.  There will be roast turkey (grown locally), ham, and all the fixings.  We will take John’s applesauce.  The timing has messed up our eating schedule.  I skipped breakfast and we lunched on pear and a shared sloppy joe type sandwich born of yesterday’s meatloaf.  It is warming up (to 49 right before noon).  There were 23 people there, and we did not bring any applesauce home.  Nor turkey either.  There was plenty, but 4 people kept some of the leftovers and we came home with an empty dish.  The menu also included mashed potatoes, candied yams, green salad, lime cool whip salad, green beans, roll, corn, and stuffing with gravy.  Many desserts, but mostly made with cranberries** which I cannot eat.  There was a blueberry/apple and a pumpkin pie I could have a little bit of.  I missed the cranberry apple pies, cranberry muffins, cranberry sauce, and cranberry salsa, and cream cheese mixed with cranberries.

**Although the ‘Cranberry Institute’ thinks otherwise:

http://www.cranberryinstitute.org/news/PR/PR122303.htm

Usually the issue with food is one of high Vitamin K but this seems to not be the issue with cranberries.  We’ll have to investigate this some more but it seems wise to refrain until more can be determined.

Seems real winter weather is headed for NW Europe this next week.  Not here yet – rainy and cool for us still while the higher areas have snow.  Washington’s North Cascades Highway was closed for the winter because of snow and snow slides.

http://www.maplevalleyreporter.com/news/180716131.html

Hope your week was a good one.

Nancy and John

Still on the Alluvial Fan