Keeping track

Sunday, Jun 30
You already heard about this day’s activities in last week’s blog, but we finally did publish the blog for the last week of June at 11:19 p.m.

Monday, July 1

We left before 9:00 for our first stop with my laptop at the ComputAbility place in Ellensburg. Savannah was going to install the power bar to make the on-off switch work. It worked and she called us at 12:10 to come pick it up. We ate first. I checked it, and it worked perfectly! Thank goodness. Paid my bill in cash (saving 3%, and also got a senior discount of 10%). The total was $75.43. I had already paid last week for the ordered part, ~ $32, so it’s now repaired and I’m very happy.

From there we went in John’s Crosstrek to Les Schwab to have the tires rotated. That took only a few minutes and was free. I grabbed a bag of popcorn in the waiting room, and barely got my laptop running before they called us. Then we left for Super 1, for John to get a head of cauliflower, bacon, and sausage. I sat in the shade and called people to check if they would play at the Senior Center on July 5; count needed for the food preparers.

Also talked with a friend on the road, and she will be calling to estimate her arrival time in Ellensburg. We will meet her in town for supper and a visit. She called sooner than I expected, so we drove to town and met her at 5:00 p.m. Just got home at 7:00. Tired of all the driving to town today (three times)! But it was a worthwhile trip and a great visit.

We have at least two trips to town tomorrow as well. Wishing that gasoline prices were lower.

Tuesday, July 2

We have to be at the eye doctor at 9:15 this morning. I must take my list of medications along with me, because one of the heart medications I take can mess with the surface of the cornea. So far, no problem and I’ve been on it since 2010. We both had good reports with no problems with our eyes and no need for new glasses. We drove two cars so John could drive his Crosstrek to Yakima’s Stewart Subaru to have its 7,000 mile service (cabin air filters were quite dirty) and cost a lot to replace; also had them check out the problem with his telephone not connecting to his Bluetooth, after it has done it successfully for over a year.

John received help with his phone connection which worked there, and then stopped working for a few days, wouldn’t work Friday when he was on the road to WTA trip, but then started working on Sunday, when he was on the same WTA trail. He made a call to home using voice commands, and I am able to call him. Stored numbers in “outgoing calls” appear to have disappeared. Back to the manual.

On my way home I went by the Ellensburg Community Clothing Center (ECCC) with a huge bag of clothing and a box of shoes from another EBRG resident; while there, I traded a shirt from last Saturday’s gifting for one the right size. It was hung on a hanger over an M but was very small needing to be on the small rack. I returned the M sleeveless blouse because it was such a perfect match. I also traded for two pairs of socks for me, because the ones I brought home for John, he did not want. Drove by another house to deliver clothes and picked up some for donation to the Ellensburg Community Clothing Center (ECCC). One more place I picked up 3 bags of clothing, and have gone through one of the 3 to sort out what goes to other friends, to me, or to the ECCC as a donation. Still have two large garbage bags unopened in my car. There is a lot of excess stuff in people’s homes. The ECCC keeps some of it from going, early, to a landfill.

I came home and worked on various computer projects (sending jobs out to the jobs list I manage), and creating an emailing group list to send to folks who attended the End-Of-Year Geography awards ceremony, back on May 21. That’s been way too long in getting to them, and still has not been completed.

We are going back to town to The Palace to meet with our friend from Olympia for supper. She and I will both have Cobb Salads (my favorite meal there). I requested Iceberg lettuce for mine), and John will have a Country Fried Angus steak dinner. It came with a generous portion of butternut squash, gravy, baked potato, and hot rolls. The Cobb salad had a large amount of Blue Cheese crumbles, with bacon, avocado, turkey, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, cucumbers I gave to Jen, and we both chose Blue Cheese dressing. I brought almost half home, and put the toppings left into fresh Iceberg lettuce, some new blue cheese dressing, and added cubed smoked turkey and cubes of apples. I had drained out all the liquid left and removed the soggy lettuce. It made a very nice salad start for my lunch at the food bank on Wednesday.Friend Jennifer with Nancy by historic photos; John, Jen, & me near the old gasoline pump in the Palace Café in Ellensburg. Old implements (e.g., logging) and photos provide the visuals of “The Palace.”

Wednesday, July 3

We played our normal “Lunch Bunch” music for the FISH Food Bank, from 11:45 to 12:15, and then we eat so they can start clearing off the tables and washing dishes before 1:00. Most of the crowd is done eating and out by 12:30. I fixed my salad with John’s help to take to the food bank. Took two bags of clothing there for Evelyn and for Joanie to evaluate.

I managed to come home and wash clothes mostly for John. His black Carhartt pants needed cleaned so he could iron on a patch to cover a frayed area – front thigh.

I got out the email announcement for next week’s July 10th meeting of the retired geographers group. News out, and we have a special cake being baked (carrot) by another member of the group (Mary Ann) for our oldest geographer’s 95th birthday that day. Carrot cake is Dee’s favorite cake.

Finished work on music for Thursday and got Katrina’s help with Friday’s – needed 25 copies (I printed and numbered and sent PDFs for her to make copies). What a relief. It took me 2 hours to get that done, and would have been a ton of extra work to run 13 pages back to back, staple, and have for Friday with all the other stuff going on.

Stacy received my requests and nothing changed on needing 7 chairs for Thursday. I also notified folks and we were able to get elderly friends Bernice Orcutt and Arlane Nesmith there in the audience.

John fixed beef stew with meat from our neighbor (in our freezer for probably 5 years). Although old, it was very well wrapped and in good shape. He added all sorts of veggies, and with it, we had the 3 leftover rolls from The Palace last night. I cut them into toast size widths and toasted them in the toaster, & buttered with whipped butter the restaurant sent along.

Thursday, July 4 Happy Independence Day!

John, Czar, and Annie walked to the end of the driveway to hang our flag. Wind is blowing today, so that will be nice. I stayed behind and just finished loading all the dishes I started this morning, cleaning off the counter, and making ready for frying our bacon for brunch.

Our brunch was nice: John made a large pancake with pecans and we had syrup and strawberries on top, I had two eggs, and we both had bacon. John started it in an iron pan, and I crisped it between paper towels in the microwave.

I also tried on my patriotic pants for today and tomorrow with my vest, and they fit just fine. Joanie altered my vest last year to match my smaller size. She originally found the vest in a thrift store and bought it for me quite a few years ago. I wear it for all patriotic music events, including Veterans’ Day at the senior center. Today, I’ll be dressing in my sequined flag vest and garb to play music at the Rehab center where I “rehabbed” in 2010 for 7 weeks.

Today, we had 7 players there to play our July music which is full of patriotic songs.

I stopped by Briarwood to use their restroom, and show off my July 4th outfit to the folks there in the recreation center. Only two were there: Kelly and Connie. We had a nice visit and I read the flyer on their door about the party on Main St. in Kittitas, WA for the 4th celebration, where friend Amy Davison is doing face painting for the day. Normally, she would be playing music with us. Tomorrow, she and Haley will be with us at the AAC (senior center) celebration.

I went in the back way by the Kiva in the park and found a parking space a half block away from the closed part of Main St. I checked in, and was lucky to find the face-painting the second table into the bunch. I took some videos and pictures of her stand and work, and visited with some of the kids and parents I videotaped, to get their email to send them my captures. I was able to talk briefly with Haley and Dustin, and Amy (but she was pretty busy painting without time to visit). Dustin brought some tacos and I know she was happy to see food arriving. I left before she paused from her painting. She probably had to take bites between painting. Wow, she is so talented.

Video and photos:

Permission granted by parents for youngsters posted here.Fire-breathing Dragon (Davonte is recipient) – Amy painter

Click on underlined title below for watching the video:

Fire-Breathing DragonPhotos of Davonte’s appreciation.

Photos only of Deshawne’s Shark on his face below. I knew the woman there with the boys, so I asked permission to publish the video (of Davonte) and the photos for Deshawne. My friend, Jeanie, contacted their mom for permission; it was granted. This is Deshawne with his beginning shark and ending shark.
I am sorry I don’t have a video of his face painting by Amy.

More photos of Kittitas 7/4 celebration:Preplanning Painting-Haley & Dad, Dustin-then at the event

Ending the Kittitas, WA Fourth of July celebration were fireworks in the city park. Where Evie Schuetz took this “windy” funny picture of fireworks.Taken at Palmeiro Park in Kittitas on a very windy night in the valley.

From there I came on home to attend to things to do before tomorrow.

One thing was to get John to meet me at the end of the driveway to take my photo with our flag, with me in my patriotic garb. Flag not still much in the winds. Couldn’t decide my favorite. Left shows the whole flag, but the right’s nice with wraparound.

Reading up for tomorrow at the Senior Center 4th BBQ Day Late Celebration.

Charged batteries in old camera for video, intending to film the whole ½ hour performance. Charged battery and deleted much on the Nikon, for still pictures.

Wrote the group for tomorrow; wrote the Emeriti group, vacuumed the horse purse, hoping for no fireworks close by to upset Annie. We lucked out. John’s in bed to leave early in the morning.

Friday, July 5

John left at 6:40 a.m. for a WTA work party today at the Granite Mountain trail just west of Snoqualmie Pass. ( Link ) He will go back on Sunday. They are cleaning old drainage ditches and digging a few new ones. Rocks and roots that seem to be the worst tripping hazards are removed and the tread resurfaced.

I was concerned that it was going to be hot outside for our playing music at the late BBQ lunch celebrating the 4th, but we did not have it outside. Found out once we arrived, that it was changed. We ended up with 11 players, and went inside the building because it was too hot on the asphalt and in the sun for the audience. The canopy was also small, and I doubt we would all have fit under it. Inside the Adult Activity Center was nicely air-conditioned comfort. They had a grill outside for the hamburgers, and we went inside to put our instruments and music stands up, and then took a seat at the serving tables. Our music group was fed first. A good meal – cheeseburger (grilled by David Douglas), on bun with lettuce, large slice of tomato, condiments, chips, homemade baked beans mixture garbanzo, white, & other w/ham & bacon (made by Katrina Douglas), cut watermelon, and an ice cream sandwich.

We didn’t start the music until 12:15 p.m. and a large audience sang along with 13 songs. The 13th was “Take Me out to the Ball Game” and our little 6 yr. old mascot, Haley, joined the group on the front row to belt out the song, 3 times (once for every strike). The audience and players were delighted with her entry and performance. The last song is always the most moving part of the patriotic celebration – when everyone stands and salutes the flag, while singing the National Anthem—acapella.

From AAC camera 7-5-19 celebration of July 4

AAC July 5, 2019 on Nancy’s camera

I left there for a stop at Briarwood to ask about Betty (who sends home to John cookies she makes for our music at Briarwood on the 3rd Saturday every month). She actually finally got to meet him in person last month. She is in the hospital, but I have to contact a neighbor to find out. The woman in charge couldn’t give out the information, and hadn’t even heard that Betty was in the hospital. There are 4 Bettys living there. I think if she’d give me the last names, I would have been able to identify the right one, when I heard the names. I know one other of the women.
 
I had to put in all my medications for the week. While doing that I realized 3 needed refilled after this week’s container is emptied. Took care of 3 of my prescriptions this evening at Super 1: Spironolactone & Lasix; Safeway: Warfarin (5 mg halved) for 45 (3 month’s supply) and I also ordered from Safeway, John’s Tamsulosin hci 0.4 mg cap. This is the last refill via Dr. Wood, so we need to request a new one from Chelsea Newman.

Leftovers for supper: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, cauliflower with cheese, and pears.

Saturday, July 6

Message from Super 1 our meds are ready for pickup… will get Monday or Tuesday.

I slept in and have been working on a letter of reference to get out today. This for a student that left here many years ago. I literally spent most of the day on it, but it is done and all is well. Now to get to the other deadlines waiting.

John is home today, but leaves tomorrow for more WTA work at Granite Mountain, where he was yesterday. This is a day of rest for both of us, but he’s currently out doing morning chores, including some watering. He mowed the strip between the road and our fence. The grasses are turning brown and dry – now there is a bit of fire resistant “moat” next to the public road.

I tried working on the blog until late, and went to bed very late.

Sunday, July 7

John left ~ 6:35 a.m. for the WTA work crew at Granite Mountain (same as Friday’s trip). I had him try his cell phone to get back to me this morning on his way out of the valley. He actually got it to work in a strange manner through voice commands. I called him back and so we agreed I would call him after 3:30 p.m. to see where he was on the trip home. Now that he’s home, I realize I should have had him try to call me through his normal way of dialing. He leaves tomorrow morning for Yakima to have his ignition switch repaired, so I will remind him to try again without voice recognition but just the normal switch he uses to see my name Nancy-Home or Nancy-Cell.

After our morning conversation, it was still early, so I decided to lie back down and get some more rest after staying up until almost 12:30 a.m. I did, but woke up about 8:30 a.m. with a horrible nightmare, raging headache, including a way too high blood pressure figure. So, I took a heart medication, put a cold compress on my head, drank cool Gatorade, and laid back down to rest and hopefully feel better. I went back to sleep until 10:00 a.m. Thankfully, my headache was gone, and blood pressure down a little (still relatively high), so I slowly began my day. I didn’t feel like eating until almost 1:00 p.m. I got better as the day went on and my BP stabilized.

John’s trip home (I-90 east) was fine, but the folks heading west toward Puget Sound were in a stop-n-go situation, adding more than an hour of travel time. The choke-point begins just east of Cle Elum when the road from Wenatchee joins the interstate.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, Jun 23
You already heard about today in last week’s blog, but we did get the blog published at 9:20 p.m.My violin classes started in WA in 1991 in Kittitas, WA for 22 years for the WOTFA (WA Old Time Fiddlers Association) summer workshop held there for a week. It was only 10 miles from our house. Today, I had a facebook message from Bobbie Pearce, my teacher all those years, about her left-handed fiddling daughter from Meridian, ID – Katrina Nicolayeff, who won for the 5th time, the National Grand Champion Fiddler of the WOTFA competition this year. This video is 45 minutes of the top 8 contestants for the final round in Weiser, ID, June 22, 2019. Katrina’s fiddling starts at 5:45 into the video. I’m trying to find out the names of the 3 songs she plays. I cannot decipher from the speaker. Closest I can get is Building on Low Ground, Valen’s (unsure of the spelling) Waltz, and the Clarinet Polka.

Katrina Nicolayeff, 5th time, Nat’l Grand Champion Fiddler

Monday, Jun 24

We left early this morning for our first stop with my laptop at the ComputAbility place in Ellensburg. Savannah there was going to assess the problem with my Dell’s on-off switch and find the part to order. We had to continue on to the Yakima Heart Center for my appointment with my new cardiologist.

Before leaving for Yakima, I mailed out the long-awaited Jack Nisbet lecture. Next thing needing sent is the report on the May 21 awards, to the Geography & CERM recipients, which still is not yet completed because of searching for pictures taken by others to add and for email addresses of the students involved. I already put the videos in for our part on May 21 in our weekly blog.

Before my scheduled cardiologist visit, I went to Toni for a device check on my ICD, which had misfired (reported a higher than normal pulse rate) back in February 2 days, right before my oral dental surgery. It did not trigger the kick of stopping the heart to repace it, but it did notify the professionals, who called me to see if I was okay. It was a couple months later, so I studied my calendar and realized what I thought caused it, and reported back to Dr. Dave Krueger my thoughts, in line with the stress I was going under at the time waiting 10 days to remove the bacteria infected abscessed tooth threatening my heart valves until the tooth could be extracted. You’ve already heard that story. He accepted it and we scheduled the first available appointment to meet him – which was today.FACC = Fellow of the American College of Cardiology

John and I had an excellent medical discussion with my new cardiologist, Dave Krueger, MD, at the Yakima Heart Center. You have heard in a previous blog, that he was on the team when I was so sick awaiting open heart surgery Nov – Dec 2009. He agreed to take me as his patient, and he plans to be on board for another 10 years before retiring. That is great news. He also involves the patient in all the decision making and transcribes the details of the visit, the same as my original cardiologist in 2009 (Dr. Anatole Kim) did. He retired 2 years ago, and his replacement left for another job, earlier this year, leaving me without a cardiologist.
I have not received my transcription yet from him, but below is from notes and my memory of what transpired. First, I was seen by his medical assistant (MA), and she gave me an ECG. He later showed it to us, and remarked on the good signs it demonstrated. She then went through my medications list, took my BP and pulse, and we visited about the doctor. We had a very short wait until he came into the room.

We discussed the medications I’m on, and the necessary things to keep an eye on my progress with them. I’m already aware and doing most of the necessary things. Because of the Amiodarone I’m on for stopping atrial fibrillation, I get a Pulmonary Function Test annually. I do have to get him to request the next one because they shortened the length of time to plan for the next year. I used to do it at the time for the next year, but that’s changed. I’ll check on that tomorrow. I have previously asked for the records to be transferred to the Yakima Heart Center (YHC) for my file, but I will check to see if they are in my file; if not, I’ll copy the ones I have.

I learned from Dr. Krueger that I should be taking all vitamins with food in my stomach. We also discussed other meds, and necessary blood tests to have in the next couple weeks to evaluate several things: my thyroid, liver, kidney, electrolytes, and anemia counts. He ordered those labs and I picked up the paperwork as I was checking out. Labs will require fasting, and include HDL/Lipid Profile, BNP, CBC, Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, and TSH. I will also have an Echocardiogram (with Angie) at the YHC in October, at least a week before a scheduled appointment with Dr. Krueger in October or November.

I probably cannot schedule his appointment until August, and it will be on a Tuesday in Ellensburg! One other thing is that I am supposed to let my eye doctor know I take Amiodarone because it can have an effect on the surface of the cornea. I never knew that so because I have an eye appointment coming up this Tuesday, July 2, I called and talked to a medical assistant I know there. She said not to worry; they were aware of that and had several patients on the drug. I was due for a medication update this year (every 2 years), so I will carry that in. But, I have been on it since 2010 and at the same eye doctor. So I’m okay.

We had a nice thorough visit and I went away pleased. Got to visit with my favorite nurse down there since 2009 (Colleen). She’s my liaison for getting messages transferred. Knows both John and me very well.

Tuesday, Jun 25

Checked and paid for tabs on our old Chevy 1980 farm truck and found the correct insurance papers are not in the glove compartment, so I wrote an email to our insurance company in Idaho (for our vehicles), requesting them to send me the one only for the Chevy truck, which only had inside one that expired in March this year. I will pick up the tabs tomorrow, along with getting John’s medications.

I changed my next haircut in July to Friday, 7/19, because we are planning to be at Asahel Curtis Trail head for a special celebration potluck for Pete Dewell’s WTA achievements, working >2000 days volunteering for WTA trails.

John spoke with Pete Saturday this week on the Annette Lake Trail. He sent his regards through John to me, and John told him I would be coming along to his celebration potluck.

Asahel Curtis Trail

I worked on various computer projects (sending jobs out to the jobs list I manage), and creating an emailing group list to send to folks who attended the End-Of-Year Geography awards ceremony, back on May 21. You have already seen that video report in the blog, photographs others took, to my report.

John thawed a pound of older ground beef from the freezer (in very good shape) and fixed homemade spaghetti meat sauce at my request tonight and we had it over rice, because we didn’t have any pasta in the house.

Wednesday, Jun 26

This morning, I called Discover Magazine when I awoke about receiving two issues of same magazine for July/August.

Changed there to expire April 2021 in John’s name, (since 2011). We will still get duplicate copies for this Sept. I called College Subscription Service and see if they can alter it if Discover Mags have not, but they had. Phone # I need (855) – (Ext 212 for Shaku); Monday through Friday from 8:00 am until 4:30 pm Central Time. Shaku is only an agent. She was going to check with the publisher, and she called me back later in the week, but said the expiration date was 2020 not 2021. I’ll wait to see what it says on the October label.

I fixed my salad with John’s help cubing smoked turkey and apple and took to the food bank music and lunch afterward. They had 50 pound bags of small onions – last year’s crop – and loaded one in my car. John sorted them, throwing out about 10, and packaged most of the rest in 5-6 pound containers. These will go to friends and neighbors. Before the few we kept are used, our own crop will ripen; but could be used now.

I picked up John’s meds at the Pharmacy and the tabs for his Chevy ‘80 truck from Meridian Theater building office; better to deal with than the county courthouse.

Thursday, Jun 27

We played music today at Hearthstone for the residents with a large group of 12 players, and a good bunch in the audience.
I also delivered onions today; worked on getting clothing collected for a family who lost all in a house fire.

I still need to set up the July music for the music books I’m in charge of and also for the audiences; next week we play both days, July 4 and July 5.

Friday, Jun 28

We went a long time this week, without a Kittitas Valley photograph by our friend Evie Scheutz, so here are two from this morning.6/28/19 Sunrise in the Kittitas Valley by Evie Scheutz

Followed by a characteristic of the global economy of our valley, with the hay industry:Early morning Hay Field by Evie Schuetz

Our valley grows timothy, mixed grass, and alfalfa and bales it into regular bales, picked up using a Harobed and into megabales for shipment overseas. Both sized bales go overseas and to users in the USA.

I have to put in a few images of these megabales, which many folks have never seen. When I have toured the Anderson Hay and Grain facility here in town they call these sized bales by that title, but on the web, they are known only as Large Square Bales (which they really aren’t) – maybe better called Large Rectangular Bales. I like the term, “Megabales.” I drove to Ellensburg directly into a thunderstorm, with street, sidewalk, and parking lot flooding. I went to Super 1 and did not find what John wanted for mixed vegetables, but I got a 2# pkg. of the closest thing to it for 98₵. I found the Navel Oranges all right. I walked out into a the first few raindrops of a heavy rainstorm with lightning and thunder (with no raincoat in my car). I wrapped up the frozen veggies in some clothing in the back of my car to keep it cold. The worst rainfall happened after I was inside the car. I waited about 10 minutes before I even tried driving away.

I drove to the AAC to pick up feed bags left for me early this morning. On the way back, I left a bucket of last years’ onions by Amy’s house. I had to sit there awhile too, until the rain slowed. Then I drove by Dairy Queen to cash in a free coupon for a chocolate dipped 3 oz. cone for my treat of the day after all the excitement. From there I came back by way of Celia’s to drop off a box with the rest of the onions. That finishes them. We will soon have our own coming on.

John is taking a nap and I think I will too. My escapades took a lot longer than I ever expected today with all the thunderstorm activity. I slept for 1.5 hrs. Guess I needed it.

We had a great stir-fry for supper, and we will have a piece of red velvet frosted cake with ice cream for dessert.

I finished the play list and plans for our group to play patriotic music next Friday at the Senior Center (officially known as the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center). They don’t have a program on the 4th, because there is much else going on in the area.

Saturday, Jun 29

John leaves early for a WTA work party on the Annette Lake Trail, on the west side of Snoqualmie Pass. He worked with 2 others on brushing where the trail meanders under a power-line, for 1/10 of a mile. That starts just 3/10ths of a mile from the parking lot. A fellow has bursitis (hips), and did not want to go very far. Some of the others went 2.25 miles up a hard climb. Tomorrow there are 2 rock & tread projects under the power-lines, and then they will work farther up, but still only about ½ mile up.

My day today was fruitful and frustrating. I started by going by a friend’s porch to drop off clothes and pick up more, but she forgot to put them on her porch. Later before I was out of town, she reached me and I did go back by to get them. I was able to take a skirt out of her bag to add to another delivery made today after the next place I went.

The next stop was at the Ellensburg Community Clothing Center (operated by the Methodist Church volunteers) to check out things for us, and also to donate a lot of clothes. I found a few things: a blouse, floppy cloth hat to keep the sun off my neck and face, a couple pairs of socks, and 2 types of underwear that fit. I left a whole lot more than I took.

I went by a friend’s house to drop off a garbage bag full of clothes for a family who lost everything in a house fire. I met her older brother Paul, who has moved in to stay with her so they can look after each other. We had a nice catch-up visit. Carole has recovered from an earlier stoke, with no problems apparent. We had visited by email and phone so I knew she had drastically improved. It was great to see her up and around and so we exchanged a big hug.

From there I went to ComputAbility, open from noon to 4:00 Saturday, because the part was delivered this morning. However, they wouldn’t be able to get it back to me until Monday afternoon. I have to have it over the weekend, so I will just have to take it in on Monday morning, or Tuesday morning. Yes, I was upset, from information I had learned earlier about the expected turnaround.

John tried calling me through his Bluetooth but the phone is not working. He got into the valley and tried turning it on, dialed my number, and it did not come through. We don’t know what is blacking out the screen, and why it is not working.

After getting the mail and taking the dog for a brief walk, he came back in the house and took a short nap. Then he fixed a nice soup for supper and cooked corn-on-the-cob, but neither one of us wanted any after the large bowl of chicken & vegetable & wild rice soup. Later just before John went to bed, we had our dessert.

Now John has been in bed awhile, but just walked out in bare feet to ask me to bring in the cat food because there was a bad skunk smell coming through the bedroom window. I am still in the den and the smell is permeating our entire house. Yes, I brought in the food. Neither inside / outside cat is in the house, so we hope they don’t get sprayed. They came through clean.

Sunday, June 30
This morning before John left, I awoke and had a circulation problem with my feet from socks I wore overnight for the first time that had too tight a clinch on my lower leg. When I took them off, there was a lump above on my leg, so I wrapped up the socks to give away and not bother with cutting the top elastic. I changed to loose fitting socks; it was better within an hour, but I checked it all day. I think I will postpone exercise one more day.

John left ~ 6:35 to WTA today Annette lake again today, earlier than yesterday because of the parking lot at the trail head rapidly filling up. In mid-afternoon, a thunder storm rumbled along the ridge near them. That shortened the work by about 45 minutes. It turned out the storm went a bit east of them, and they only got a little rain.
He arrived home just after 4:00 p.m. unable to call me because his cell phone is not connecting; only a black screen, and cannot turn on to run through his Bluetooth, or to accept phone calls from me. We don’t know how to fix it. I guess we’ll take it to town and see if anyone can help us turn it on. And, I’ll call Consumer Cellular for assistance.

Finished working on blog today, one more thing and I can turn it over to John.

In between, I emptied and filled the dishwasher, ate brunch, listened to a hard rainstorm, moved a chair under cover in the front yard, planned attendance and number of people eating on Friday at the Senior Center celebration for July 4 on the 5th, where our group is providing the patriotic music.

I contacted a person coming to town tomorrow to coordinate our schedules, but have not yet been in touch. It’s in her lap now.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, Jun 16

We’ll start this week, with a special photo taken on Father’s Day by our friend, Evie Schuetz.
Here’s what she said about it on Facebook, when she posted it:

Father’s day gets me to feeling all nostalgic, so I went out to see what my parents were doing upstairs. Same as when they were here on earth, they saw to it that I received more than I had hoped for. Everywhere I turned I saw beautiful things; a gorgeous moon, fiery sunlit clouds, the greenest fields I’ve seen all year, and a magnificent sunset. This particular scene is what captured my interest the most though. Mom used to call these “cotton candy skies.” I know it defies logic, but sometimes it feels like they’re still sharing things with me in companionable silence.

Clouds and Mt. Rainier from the Kittitas Valley by Evie Schuetz

Next was the same day but taken by my other Kittitas Valley photographer friend, Lise McGowan.Nice partially framed moon through the trees, by Lise McGowan

Monday, Jun 17

We published last week’s blog at 10:04 p.m. I’m staying home today to try to get better and make progress on projects with deadlines. Thus far I have been spinning my wheels, but it’s including things on and off the computer, and we stopped to have brunch.

Got the July music out to KV F&F. Need to finish getting out the May 21 report on awards. I also need to get Jack Nisbet’s talk to the AWG meeting sent to folks I know were there or wanted to be. My time is being spent getting the email addresses of members of the Association of Washington Geographers.

I worked on my receipt filing needs and need to make more progress tomorrow when I stay home.

We had a nice supper tonight–baked chicken thighs, stir-fry veggies (snow peas, bell peppers, carrots, water chestnuts), and our neighbor Ken’s potato salad.

Tuesday, Jun 18

My friend Lise McGowan was out scouting for us all. Here’s her photograph and story:Check the description of contents in Lise McGowan’s text below:

So yesterday morning I was up at 3:50 am photographing the setting of the Strawberry full moon! Most of you were still sleeping (even my friends on the east coast) so I thought I would share. It’s setting over the Manastash Ridge furthest south I’ve seen it in a long time! Cell towers are to the far right. Large transport trucks are camped at the rest stop off of I-82 about 1/2 way down. My friend Nancy B. Hultquist shared this website with me and thought it would be great to share with ya’ll, my friends!!! Enjoy!!!  (Nancy here; see below for the link I sent.)

John adds: {Lise mentions the location of the moon. Lunar movements are very complex, and because they affect tides, and are of interest to astrologers, Lunar Cycles (link) have been studied, calculated, and commented on for thousands of years. See here regarding caring for your hair in January. }

Once you open the link below, please refresh or reload, and then check out the top video (time-lapse of the moon) in the story on space.com:

June 2019’s Full Moon on space.com

John drove my Forester down for its recall on the brake switch light, which controls many things besides brake lights. He is doing this for me because I need to stay home and work on my computer and filing so I can turn it over to the computer gurus in town to assess its problems and order me a new part to send for and when back, they can install. I have diagnosed that myself, and so I have not been turning it off so as not having to risk not being able to turn it back on. I have already mentioned that I was having to press the switch as many as 15 times before it would turn on.

He filled my gas tank on his way home (in Ellensburg), because for once, the price/gal was 6₵ less than at Costco in Union Gap. While in town he checked our number at Bi-Mart. No win on a jar of dry roasted peanuts for the last digit in our number.

Once home, the wind was still blowing 40 mph, and he needed to go out and walk the dog and carry some hay to the lower part of the pasture to get the horses out of the wind.

He napped awhile, and then went back to town to fill his car with gasoline for his trip to a WTA work day at Dorothy Lake on the other side of Stevens Pass. He needs to leave here about 5:15 a.m. to miss the start of construction on Blewett Pass, to get on up through Leavenworth to Hwy 2. While in town, he went by Super 1 and found a large package of smoked turkey breasts.

He cut up cubes for me for my salad that I need to take to the Food Bank tomorrow, and also cut cubes of apple. I cleaned up my head of Iceberg lettuce and put it in to crisp overnight.

More work on receipt filing and organization, on computer projects (sending jobs out to the jobs list I manage), and creating an emailing group list to send to folks who attended a presentation at CWU Geography of the spring meeting of the Association of Washington Geographers. I joined in 1988, when I arrived in EBRG. It also includes people who wanted to be there, but were unable. Our speaker was Jack Nisbet, an author and naturalist from Spokane, talking on the cultural, geological, historical, and natural environments of the Columbia Plateau. It was a fascinating presentation, and the finale to a nice conference over two days. You already heard about it in a previous blog during the week it was presented.

I’m working on creation of another email list for receiving our two events on May 21, that I have to get out to folks. Too many activities are stealing my time from completion of both projects.

Wednesday, Jun 19

John is going past Stephens Pass to a WTA work party with Nate (blue hat), 3 ACLs, a total of 8 Green Hat workers at Dorothy Lake.

We received some photos, Saturday, from the crew leader, and John went through them with me to describe the projects and what was going on. I picked three photos with him in it to lead off the discussion. Prying up a fallen log to be sawn; two other projects. Right-most is the view from down-trail of the 2nd project described below.

You will be convinced after hearing/seeing his explanation of the next two photos. He always does his best to tell me about the projects he worked on, or knew what happened. This time we didn’t have all the before and after photos, so he had to draw the explanation on the finished trail shots.

I asked him to do that and it follows below in two photos, with the description of each one. I’m grateful for his efforts in describing what happened, because I’ll never get out to participate in a WTA work crew, and each trip I get his review of all the photos submitted.John’s description of the photo above and below, follows:

The purple line:
On the right, the uphill side, there was slumping of soil and vegetation, with tree roots above and through.
Where the red F is, there was a sharp drop, not quite 90°, but it dropped 20 feet before there was a change. The fern and log (L) were not there. Likewise, for the rocks at R.
All the material under the purple line was dug or cut out and pushed over the hill, at F. An old log (L) was carried to the site and the larger end placed against the tree (T) base. The smaller end was placed, with rocks on top, against the sawed-off end of the ancient log. Adding woodsy soil and the fern (F) finished the down-slope side.
Mineral soil – orange/brown – was cut out of the hillside and used to make the tread.
The WTA volunteer is carrying a Grub-hoe.Another project

The purple line represents a large tree root removed. On this side the level of the tread was 8 inches higher than on the far side, but the root stuck up another 8 inches. Stepping from the far side, over the root and a few inches down to the tread is the sort of thing hikers hate.
While a volunteer cut the root out, John worked on the hillside and the tread. The trail is now a proper width (length of a pick handle), and there is no pointless up and down – sometimes called a PUD.

Here is a link to all the photos from the trip, without explanation:

WTA work trip, June 19, Dorothy Lake, Photos

I went to the FISH Food Bank Lunch for music playing and got food today (spaghetti & meat sauce) to accompany the salad I took. I brought home a container of Greek Yogurt, an apple, and a piece of good looking cake (I’ll share with John tonight). I have been sorting, tossing, and filing all afternoon since arriving home. I skipped exercise because my feet are not yet up to that.

This afternoon I washed a huge load of clothes and I’m still drying them. If we had a clothesline, they would have dried quickly in the breeze today. Wind speeds yesterday and today recorded 5 miles south of us, at the airport. We have continued this entire week with high winds.

John fixed us a pizza for supper and is now sleeping in his chair. He had a very long day. I’m tired and still drying clothes so probably should finish that and we should have a small dessert and retire early.

Thursday, Jun 20

This afternoon, the Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends provided music at Pacifica for over an hour. We had 13 there, and an audience exceeding that count, with only 11 copies of music to share with the audience (they keep disappearing throughout the 2 months we use them). A few residents come forward at the end, each time, to tell us how much they appreciate our coming. One woman today wanted me to know that a lady who sat next to her never comes out of her room to any event, but loves coming to hear our music, and was there today just for us. I thanked her for letting me know. We know the names of quite a few of the residents and often their favorite songs as well. Others will come forward and talk to members to tell how they used to play a musical instrument and which one. It’s always a rewarding experience. Music is healing.

John’s out retrieving one of our horses from stuffing themselves on grass in our neighbor’s pasture on the south side of ours. He will also have to find the exit route and repair it. The wind is blowing fiercely. We are grateful our neighbor called to alert us. It took John awhile because he had to open the gate between our pastures and the other horses joined the first. Once he got all ours back into our pasture, he could close the gate. She had already corralled her horse. John tried repairing the corner, adding rails, fixing and stretching broken barbed wire, but really is not sure how the horse managed to find his way out. They have remained in our pasture since (until Sunday morning!)

I need to fix myself some brunch so I can leave for music.

I finished the chore of putting all my medications in for the week to the container for daily dispersal.

Once home this afternoon, I spent time registering a marked for tracking $1.00 bill at the Where’s George site: wheresgeorge.comI found it in my own stack of things. Now I will send to our sister in Ohio, and let her put it into circulation, or send on to another friend, after she registers it. We will both be informed of its next destination. Be sure to put the location on your report, if you ever find one in circulation. I think I forgot to put the same type of information in. And I couldn’t see the report below until after I had done my registration. Next time I’ll know better.

This is the report I received on this one. Interesting, it passed through Queen Anne Hill (in Seattle), because that is where my grandmother Wilkins worked as a domestic when she was in Seattle while my grandfather worked as a carpenter on the Smith Tower, before 1914, when my mom was born (their 3rd child). They left for south GA when she was 6 months old. The house is still there in West Seattle, and several family members have visited there and gotten a tour. Pretty cool. John and I actually carried my Granny there after we had reached Idaho and could drive to Seattle to show her.

Here is the following of a tracked dollar bill.I spent more time tonight sorting through paperwork, tossing, and filing.

Friday, Jun 21 Summer Solstice

We spent the day on chores in the yard, house, and computer. Dishes we have to keep up with daily, but clothes are getting more closely needed watched too.

I delivered two white garbage bags full of newspapers (WSJ and local Daily Records) to a gal who needs it for packing to move. On my way home, I stopped at a yard sale and bought two pair of newish black jeans for John: size 36/32. He needs to lose weight and get into them. That’s a good incentive. The price was right, $1.00/pair.

I’m having many problems with trying to organize emails of past events and future events, without enough time to work on them.

We eat well in spite of it, and John fights the wind every day. Plants need water and weeds tended to. We noticed today the Magpies are robbing the cherries and they are not even ripe yet.Sunset in our valley on the Summer Solstice, by Lise McGowan

After 10 days or so, we will start to notice the shorter minutes of daylight. This will trigger the “bulbing” of our onions. onions

Saturday, Jun 22

Frustrating correspondence with the Jacquie Lawson site about errors in greeting card deliveries. Raised my blood pressure, literally.

This came early morning too, and is very interesting. I hope all the lady bugs come in to our cherry trees which last year were covered in such stickiness from aphids. John says our plum trees also suffered aphid infection. He poured an insecticide around the base of the cherries but missed the plums along the back fence.
They are much distressed. Will treat them next spring.Pix by Amy: Chrysalis, Ladybug, Ladybug & eggs on Maple Tree

From Amy Davison:
Haley (daughter, 6 yrs.) pointed out our Maple tree was covered in ladybug eggs this morning. We’ve not seen this before.

We get a sticky misty residue each year from this tree. I thought it was the tree until today. Last year when staying in a campground in Shelley, Idaho, we kept tracking in the stickies stuff into my parents’ RV and cars. It was from aphids hatching. Aphids are a major part of the ladybug diet!

Haley continued her research to their backyard plum tree and found a different part of the ladybug’s cycle of life. Below this photo, I have placed a link to a video, which informed me of much I did not previously know. I expect you will learn from it too. Thanks, Haley and Amy, for the education.Pix by Amy Davison of Ladybug Larva

Life Cycle of a Lady Bug – Instructive Video

Late afternoon we left for Marte Fallshore’s and Dale Brubaker’s home with a dessert (apple & berry strudel, cut into smaller servings) for the potluck and two bottles of White Heron wine. She is roasting a turkey for a supper at 5:00 p.m. They are celebrating their 25th anniversary and her retirement from CWU, where she taught Psychology. While I was there we worked on many university projects and graduate committees. They are a musical family, she plays the double bass and he the fiddle. The music starts at 2:00 p.m., but we are skipping that because of my continued left shoulder problem. Once there we stayed a long time and only got back home about 9:00 p.m. We had a nice visit with friends we never have time to sit down with and truly interact.

I’ve been working trying to finalize the send of videos to an event the first of this month. Maybe I’ll get it out tomorrow, after the blog is completed.

Late tonight, I realized I had not cleaned the strawberries I got Friday, so I did them and John sugared them for me. He beat me to bed. Berries are for Sunday.

Sunday, June 23

I slept in and have been working on this and other things. I must organize my medical records to take for my new cardiologist appointment tomorrow morning in Yakima; that meeting is preceded by a device check (implanted defibrillator). And, on the way, I will leave my computer at a repair facility for an evaluation while we are away for several hours.

This morning we had another glitch present itself with a morning call from our neighbor, Susan, that our horse (Jazz) was again in her high grass pasture. John was able to find where he came through by running him around until he showed him the escape route. Old fence, old wire, gravity. Fixing the corner earlier was wasted effort. He took along his phone and a drink, and managed one call about Noon. He only has one bar on his phone and had trouble getting to me just now. He rarely uses the phone except when in the car and it has a Bluetooth® set-up.

I cannot get through to his phone. Getting my message only, which happens when it’s off or out of reception. It’s now 1:16; I’m beginning to get hungry. I fixed a salad for myself and just finished it. It’s 1:45 and no word from John, so I shall call again. I guess I had better put on walking shoes and go check to see if a tree fell on him in this wind.

I got to the first gate and he was coming through it, so I didn’t have to go far. He had no idea about his phone. It was black and not receiving. We turned it on and checked my phone to him and it went through, so must have turned itself off. He never tried to call me again but sometimes when he turns it on, it is black and he cannot get a call out to me either place, landline or cell. When it works, it is fine, but recently, it’s been not working in his car either. We haven’t a clue. He needs to use it more, and learn. He keeps it charged.

While he was gone, I called the Exxon station because all the information on ‘gasbuddy’ was a long day old. Their price is still $3.05/gal. He plans to take the old ’80 Chevy pickup in to fill both tanks, while the price is down. I just checked another station and found it is $3.03+/gal there (Circle K on Main St.). He went there and filled both tanks with almost 31 gallons of fuel.

The bookstore near the University, Jerrol’s, is celebrating 72 years this week, so is giving away ice cream. He took a cooler and will stop by and bring home 2 cups for us. He also went to the grocery across the street.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Jun 10

We managed to publish our last week’s blog just before noon today.
Here is an appropriate introductory photo for our week of news:This scene was captured by Evie Schuetz. She published this early today on Facebook. She saw these up close and heard the whooshing sound they make. They were on Hayward Road (off Hwy 10) and it was her first experience under a wind turbine. This is northwest of EBRG. John and I went east.

Tuesday, Jun 11

Last week I tried to get through to the UW Hospital complex in Seattle to get a consultation report on my shoulder sent to my PCP. I thought it had been requested and sent long ago. We were in Seattle on March 11, but when I saw Chelsea on a recent Friday, she could not find a report.

I now have a quality control person (Demetri) who responded from UW but it is still not resolved. The first call was reassuring, but the second call was non-productive.

We left today for town about 10:40 a.m. First stop Bi-Mart to check numbers, but we did not win anything. Then off to pick up sunflower seeds for the birds—2 bags. From there to pick up a Papa Murphy’s Pizza picked out by Kristin Ashley, who was working at the Wild Horse Wind Farm today leading two public tours (about an hour long). We were going to share and visit over her lunch hour.

The pizza had zucchini, tomato, mushrooms, chicken, onions, red bell peppers, artichoke hearts, spicy herbs & cheese, with a red sauce (not creamy garlic) on a thin crust. When we arrived, Tiffany took the pizza back to the kitchen and preheated the oven. After the morning tour, with Kristin back in the visitor’s center, the pizza went in the oven. Photo of the product.We got there just before noon, and while we waited for Kristin to return from her public tour (described a little more below, including a few items about the facility), John & I toured the visitor center’s displays. We have been there before, but we saw some different displays this trip. They have comfortable chairs around a table next to a book shelf with reference books on birds, flowers, wildlife, and details of the shrub-steppe environment surrounding us on Whiskey Dick Mountain. Behind the building is a stand of solar panels and all around are wind turbines whooshing in the breeze. These I took adjacent to the walkway up from the parking lot to the visitor’s center.The Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility and Renewable Energy Center is located 16 miles east of Ellensburg in central Washington.Visitor center, old windmill, and turbine with a public tour (white hard hats) that lasts an hour, and visits the base of a tower.

Often they start with a walk by a large turbine blade to give an idea of the size. It was damaged in transit and was unable to be used on a turbine, so this is a fine educational display.Two on the left are from the PSE website, with a woman standing next to the blade for scale; bottom is the entrance to the base of a turbine, which is part of the tour. Top right, I took of my friend Peggy Coble, with her friend Robert visiting from Kenya. They are both ministers (she in Thorp and he in Kenya, where he and his family run an orphanage). They were there the same day we were, and had been included on the tour Kristin was leading for a group of professionals in the industry, who had never visited a site such as this. They came over from the Seattle area.

At the end of the tour, they were brought back in to view the software displaying a map of all the towers at the facility with data about each tower (how much power it was producing, its maintenance schedule, and a number of working parameters that need watched and monitored). I could not get close enough to video her demonstration, but watched from behind the front row.Pretty blue lupine and wind turbines at Wild Horse Wind Farm – that’s Mt. Rainier in the distance. These photos from the web.

The wind turbines at Wild Horse can generate up to 273 megawatts (MW) of electricity. The solar array, one of the Northwest’s largest, can generate up to 502 kilowatts of electricity. Puget Sound Energy’s Renewable Energy Center offers a first-hand look at how these elements are turned into electricity. The issue with solar results from our high Latitude of 47° N. Summer days are long, but so is winter when the high sun is over southern South America.

The next video is especially exciting for me, because Andrea (Nesbitt) Crawford was my student long ago at CWU, and she began her career journey there as an intern (with me as her academic adviser).

Wild Horse Wind Turbine Tour

Here is some more information and there is lots more on the Internet for PSE (Puget Sound Energy) and also on their Facebook site. Name to search for on Facebook is:
Wild Horse Renewable Energy Center.

Fact sheet about PSE areas in WA

Inside the Visitor’s Center:This is a Greater Sage-Grouse, housed in a glass box. This is the largest grouse in North America, and found only in the Western States. This was gathered on the Yakima Training Center lands in 1980 (just to our south), and is on loan from the WA Department of Fish & Wildlife. My photo (lower left) has a light blue exclamation point over it, which is a reflection from the glass of the opposite view window in the Visitor’s Center; the bottom two windows behind are facing west.
So the tour returned, took off their white hard hats, and toured the computer software and display of the wind farm.Kristin’s discussion with crew after tour and viewing the model & maps of the facility; previously they had all been gathered around the computer display shown on a small display screen behind the fellow.

When Kristin was finished with the tour group, she cooked the pizza, and brought plates, napkins, and utensils to our seats in the visitor’s center. Tiffany (the other guide on duty) joined us, for lunch and visit.

Then we went outside for pictures, having a lot of fun posing as wind turbines.Top photo shows how the wind is blowing (look at my shirt) – and the solar panel array is behind John.
Next are fun photos of our tour guides – Tiffany & Kristin – and then the two of them with John
John and I drove home. We were away for over 4 hours, but it was a great afternoon. Now I’m playing catch-up again (still).

Wednesday, Jun 12

I was expecting a call from UW medicine from Demetri, or someone, but nothing came through. Yesterday, while we were gone I received a call, but there was no message left, just the caller ID from UW. Over a week ago I had requested my PCP receive a copy of the Consultation report about my shoulder which was done March 11.

I went to the FISH Food Bank Lunch for music playing and got a little food today (tiny bit of spaghetti & meat; yogurt with fruit, and frosted brownie by Arlene) to accompany the salad I took. I was able to visit with Peggy Coble and Robert over lunch today, and we reminisced about their Wind Turbine tour yesterday.

I left there to pick up something for a newly befriended neighbor and then went by another friend’s house, after going for my INR blood draw. Once home, I received a call from the triage nurse with my INR results. They were good at 2.2 and I don’t have to return for a month.

I’m tired enough at 9:20 p.m. to go to bed now, and try catching up on my rest. I didn’t make it until later, but earlier than usual.

Thursday, Jun 13

Met Kristina at our place to deliver air mattress and pad (I picked up yesterday for their Father’s Day camping trip, from a friend who works at the Senior Center). She previously had borrowed our ice chest.

I carried clothes for two people to Meadows to share after music.
We had 11 people involved: Sharon, Kevin, Evie, Gerald, Charlie, Nancy, Charlotte, Amy & Haley, Dean, Anne, Minerva, with Sandy in the audience helping them handle their music lyrics packets.
I picked up prescriptions at Super 1, Entresto for me and Tamsulosin for John. John’s was more expensive than mine, and mine is the most expensive I take ($40/mo).

Friday, Jun 14

Lots of wind today, but thankfully the temperatures were lower than yesterday. John worked outside some and I worked inside on many different projects.

Saturday, Jun 15

Today is our day to go to Briarwood for music and early supper. John went along, stayed in the exercise room to read while we played music, and then joined us for food and conversation.

Our group had 9 players/singer there today: Manord, Evie, Gerald, Charlie, Nancy, Dean, Amy, Laura with her 2 little dogs, and Sandy. As usual, they put on a nice spread for us and the residents there. We even had two ladies (Margot & Jackie) dance to an instrumental we played, Peek A Boo Waltz. It was very neat to have them up front with us. The audience loved it.

Yesterday was Flag Day – so decorations are red/white/blue – but we did not know and our flag spent the day inside. We had generously filled chicken salad sandwiches (by Lee) and two of her salads (Pistachio cream) and the best green pea salad I have ever had; not too many peas. A potato salad by Connie, and a fruit salad by another resident, not in photo. The right is the dessert table with Chocolate Chip cookies by Betty, Apples with a great cream cheese, marshmallow crème, powdered sugar dip by Lee, cute patriotic cookies by a resident, ginger cookies, and Oreos. Beverages were raspberry lemonade and water.

Afterwards, we went to get groceries; picking up some things at Fred Meyer (Bush Beans @ 99₵/large can and Super 1 (Fritos original, would have preferred scoops), & Safeway (two 50% off packages of ground beef (80% lean) with card savings and store coupons applied to both packages totaled $22.22 for 6.18 pounds. After the 50% off and some other deduction, they cost us $4.41 and $4.21 (total $8.62 or $1.39/lb.). Always, their pricing and paper receipts are the most complicated of any store. While there, I picked up my prescription for Atorvastatin for 90 days, ½ 80mg pill/day. There I use the Amazon Prime (Visa) card to purchase meds to get 2% off the cost (refunded by the credit card). It adds up and does not required insurance, (which has a higher copay). Their cost is even lower than the GoodRx price. I cannot explain it, but I will take advantage of the opportunity.

Sunday, June 16 * * * Happy Father’s Day * * *

John had contemplated being on a WTA trip at Mt. Rainier, if they had it at a location he felt was worth the driving time. He decided he would not be interested in a 2.5-mile steep trail up and down over a ridge to Kautz Creek and 2.5 miles out at the end of the work.

Our alternative is to go to Swedbergs for lunch after 1 p.m. to see Ken’s son Donny from the Wash. D.C. area (actually VA) who is visiting. Cousins Julie, Jessie, and Robert will also be there. They served pulled pork & chicken by Rick, and potato salad (by Ken). We’re taking a chocolate pudding pie to go with an angel food cake Julie’s making, and Robert made brownies. Slaw, Purple potato salad, Stubbs BBQ sauce, BBQ Pulled pork sandwich, dessert (brownie, Angel Food Cake with fruit & whipped cream).

At 5:15 we got a call, expecting to be setting up a meeting for Monday evening with WTA Blue-Hat LeeAnne. CWU is hosting a 5-day training for Wilderness First Responders, where today she learned she would be dismissed early on Monday. She can go back across the mountains and sleep in her own bed – and not camp. So, we went in to EBRG for a visit and supper with her. A busy day.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, Jun 2
We’ll start this week, by going back to photos taken May 18, when John participated in two days of WTA Crew Leader College in North Bend, WA.Crew Leader College, Hats on and Hats off, Mount Si
From the North Bend High School

More WTA Information on Mount Si Trail

Still finishing some follow-up reports and videos from last week:
This is a compilation of materials to set the stage for the field trip to the central Columbia River area (just east of us), conducted by Nick Zentner. [John says: In geologic terms this part of Washington is young. The rocks seen on this trip are all under 16 Million years old. By comparison, we were raised in a landscape of over 300 My, with the rocks much older. The mid-Washington landscape has been shaped by the Ice Age Floods, all less than 20,000 years old. The ice sheet stopped about 40 miles north of the sites along this field trip.]

Nancy: I’m adding information at the beginning of this report that will catch people up to speed to have all the graphics, photos, diagrams, and maps that were in the Field Trip Guide for people on the trip.  I never did hear how many people participated, but I think we had ~30 vehicles after we added joiners at the first two stops.
First, is from Nick Zentner’s own website, which is certainly worth a visit, if you have not seen it before.  The base entry point is at www.nickzentner.com 

More about the Wenatchee June 2, 2019 Geology Field Trip, at another place on his site with the detailed notes and images from all his field trips.
Obtain Field Trip Guide for June 2, 2019 Wenatchee Geology

Click on the image of Wenatchee June 2019 (with locations of the 4 stops) to get the complete field trip guide, downloaded as a PDF.
Folks on the trip studied the pages throughout the stops.  It will help to have them handy to view as you watch the videos at all 4 stops. Below is the second page of the booklet, which outlines the itinerary of the day.
We have videos of something at all the 4 stops.
Stop 1: Crescent Bar – Wenatchee Geology 2019

Stop 2: Sunrise Lane – Wenatchee Geology 2019

Stop 3: Colockum Road, Plat Lot 5 – Wenatchee Geology 2019

Stop 4a: Saddle Rock Trailhead – Wenatchee Geology 2019

Stop 4b: Saddle Rock Questions & Answers

Our view walking to the shelter that was uphill on our left.
Drone view of Saddle Rock from Motojw Photography; this site is just 22 miles from home, but takes about 2 hours to reach by car.

Here’s a follow-up comment about Stemilt/Malaga Landslide, which we talked about but never had a good view of, because of the number of people needing a place to park the many vehicles. You may find this of interest:

Another’s Report of the Stemilt/Malaga Landslide

First, we all want to thank Nick Zentner organizing and conducting this field trip.  Thanks to Karl Lillquist for filling in information on landslides and info in several other instances. Thanks as well to all the participants who offered good questions and food for thought. 

I want to thank my newly found friend from this trip, Debbie Doran, from the west side (all the way from Gig Harbor, with her husband, Mike).  They are avid followers of Nick’s lectures, field trips, and other presentations (such as the Premiere Showing of this year’s Nick on the Rocks programs). I met them at Stop 2, after walking in about half way, and deciding I was not able to make it, so I stopped Debbie on my way out, handed her my camera, and she took it with her to film the lecture at Stop 2.

Sorry it’s taken me so long to process all this for people along on the trip.  I hope you have some use for checking back on something you might want to remember.  I also apologize for not being as close up at Stop 3, and I explain in the description what happened.  

From the above, I am able to show John the Field Trip experience which he normally would be participating in, but today was the final day of WTA’s re-route on the Manastash Ridge Trail. {Fall work? Maybe.} My picks from the photos of the trail reroute are below.
Hats off Work Crew June 1st. Youngest worker: front, in blue.
Oldest worker: back, in orange. Beth Macinko (CL), back-left with blue hat.
In crew leader Beth’s words to those on the crew this Sunday, she said:   

“This year, 4 days of WTA work on Manastash Ridge completed the lower Westberg Trail reroute.  You built 200ft of new tread and did the finish work on 600+ feet to open the reroute for use.  This reroute will avoid the steep grade sections on the original trail that are causing erosion and vegetation loss.  Your work makes the trail more sustainable to support generations of future use as well as the health of the ecosystem.  As we saw, many people are already using and enjoying the trail you built.”

Thaddeus, youngest Green Hat, Saw & Throw – carving new trail

6/1-2/19 Photos WTA Manastash Ridge New Trail work

Monday, Jun 3

Last week’s blog wasn’t published until 1:09 a.m. this morning. WordPress issues with a link was the reason. Consequently, I slept in this morning, and have canceled all normal Monday activities to work on getting tasks completed that use my laptop. Its on/off switch is failing, so I have changed the settings this morning after pressing it 15 times to start, to have it never to sleep the screen or the system. That will buy me time to use it before I need to take it in for a diagnosis and arrange for purchasing a new Dell part for my computer, ordering, and installing it. I’m doing it locally with Computability LLC and saving the time and money to send it to Dell Support in Texas. I have spoken with Savannah there and I know the owner Matt. They can handle it, decide if my diagnosis is correct, and fix it. I will still have use of the computer until the part arrives.

I need to request my consultation report from Dr. Matsen be sent over to “Doc” Chelsea Newman; I thought it was requested at the time, but it was not in their records. I started that process, today, and still have no idea if it generated anything. I was never answered by email or phone and I left requests in both places.

Tuesday, Jun 4

We did various chores this morning, and after brunch, I left for a round-trip of a mile to my neighbor, Celia, who has cut my hair since 1988.

I stopped by the USPS for Forever postcards, and bought 10 at $.39 each. Everything has a story. Here’s the Azulillo flower story about a Forever stamp produced for 2017 postcard for the pretty blue Chilean crocus-type flower.The stamp image is a Chilean blue crocus (Tacophilaea cyanocrocus) from pre-existing artwork by illustrator, Dugald Sterner (1936-2011). His penciled calligraphy under the flower indicates one of its common names – Azulillo loosely translated from Spanish means “little blue thing” – with its botanical name above. The letters on the card are nearly impossible to read, so John found information on the web.

The Chilean blue crocus is native to a small, mountainous area around Santiago, Chile. Though it has survived in cultivation as a landscape and greenhouse plant in the U.S. and other countries, it was believed to be extinct in the wild in its native Chile by overgrazing, habitat destruction, and an unsustainable export industry. However, a thriving wild population was discovered near Santiago in 2001.

Despite its name, the Chilean blue crocus is not related to true crocuses from the iris family. It is one of only two species in the genus Tecophilaea. A low-growing plant, its stalk reaches a height between 3-5” with linear leaves. There are a number of varieties of this species, including the flower featured in the stamp art, var. leichtlinii, with its cobalt blue flowers and white centers. The plant is hardy in U.S. zones 7 to 9.
Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamped card.

While on the subject of flowers, here is a tour of our Iris (we got from Celia).These were all in bloom today, but other varieties (yellow and bronze) are yet to bloom in the same area. While we were looking at the nearby Iris, I walked over to our old 1977 Pace Arrow RV, where Czar demonstrated the exit procedure for the outside female cats winter bedroom.
First, these photos will show the entrance, with John for scale.John and Czar with the entrance to 2 outside cats’ winter home with a light and beds – no heat.

Czar demos exit from winter bedroom for outside cats

I mentioned above the problem with the on-off switch on my laptop and about changing the setting. When I go to sleep, I lay it out, and turn the “light” intensity down to zero, but leave it running and plugged in. That way I do not have to use the switch, which I think is worn out and ready to fail. That’s my diagnosis that came from multiple times of the past few weeks, of having to press the button up to 15 times to turn it on. That was making me nervous.

Wednesday, Jun 5

I did go to the FISH Food Bank Lunch for music playing and got food today to accompany the salad I took.

I had called Brad & Burke to pay our AC bill, and now in today’s mail, I received a receipt for payment for the broken part and the upgrade to make our heat pump provide “cool” when needed and heat with compressors, rather than the resistant heaters. That set us back almost $800.

I believe I’m having an issue with the “injury” caused by wearing the ill-fitting boots for 2 hours last Saturday and compressing something in my feet (maybe tendons or muscles).  I should have taken a picture of the impressions left on both feet when I removed the boots.  At least I took my socks off and showed John, so someone else saw it and can verify this.  Unfortunately, I am the one suffering.

Today, I could not wear any of my NORMAL shoes I wear, without severe pain.  The tops of my feet (above my toes on the foot) are swollen.  I have been taking my diuretic and my blood pressure (it’s fine). When I went to town, I wore different shoes, more like loafers without laces tied down or Velcro straps pulled across the top of my foot. That seemed to help, but still left a small “dent” impression on the very top of the foot from the shoe because of the swelling.

Thursday, Jun 6

I called to make an appointment this Monday with Dr. Cardon in Ellensburg for the foot swelling, but his schedule was filled until June 18th, so I made an appointment in Yakima at 10:15 a.m. I figure if it still is bad tomorrow, I will call in for my PCP’s advice. She is in Cle Elum on Fridays and I’m sure would fit me into her schedule.

Washed clothes, especially for John’s dusty trail work things and also a bunch of underwear for us both.

We are on for music at Rehab. We had 11 people show up and about as many in the audience. A good time was had by all. Cool today and very windy. I don’t mind that at all.

I made it by the P.O. to send a form in by certified mail.

​​I got home and tried on a few blouses Joanie gave me. Most were too large, and she is losing weight too, so they are too big for her. A few fit loosely, but had too low necklines, so I’m sharing them with another of our friends, Amy. A couple I’m passing along do fit but the low neckline in the front exposes my defibrillator scar and it is not a pretty picture. Looks like a big dent with a bump from the metal, the size of a pack of cigarettes, and casts a shadow. I don’t mind exposing the top of my open heart surgery scar, but the other turns me off. Amy wears lots of nice necklace jewelry, so the large open neckline will be perfect for her.

I received some photos today from Elise in New Jersey, and I am including my favorite, an amazing photo of Canada Geese swimming with their goslings. I have seen them in fields or on walkways in a park, while they were begging for food. The sunset over the lake is beautiful. Taken in Sussex County, NJ in Kittatinny Valley State Park 

Friday, Jun 7

Just before 7am, John was off to Gold Creek Trail, just this side of Snoqualmie Pass. Except for the 4 days at Manastash, Gold Creek is the closest to home that is regularly visited by WTA volunteers.

I called Dee & Barb about the Emeriti meeting tentatively planned for next Wednesday. I think I will write another note mentioning at least 4 people have conflicts, and we are swamped too, so maybe we should wait until July 10. (Subsequently, we cancelled the meeting this coming week).

Swollen feet likely started from a pair of hiking boots

Here are photos of the culprits:Today, I began pursuing the problem with my feet that began last Saturday night, the night before the Wenatchee Geology Field Trip with Nick Zentner. I decided there would be uneven ground and I needed to wear my hiking boots. I couldn’t find my old tried and true work boots I have worn in the past on all Nick’s field trips, so I resorted to another pair I found in the house (origin unknown).
I honestly don’t know where they came from. They are black and look like my work boots. I figured they had just been moved to the end of the hallway (but they had their shoestrings tied, and I never do that with boots, or pairs of shoes). The make is Harley Davidson. I truly have no idea how they got into our house. I did not buy them at a yard sale or at Big Five or any local store. And, they were not given to me on any of the Free Facebook sites. The size is larger than I would normally wear, Size 11, but they fit okay (so I thought when putting my feet in and lacing them up), but they pressured the back of my calf, and both feet on the top, particularly, and up the leg above my ankle.
I wore them around the house for two hours and decided I didn’t think I should wear them (they are also heavy), which I guess makes sense if you were riding them on a Harley Davidson and took a spill from a motorcycle into gravel or onto pavement. I switched to my old Brooks Addiction Walkers for the trip Sunday.

When I took the boots off, my feet, ankles, and up my leg ~5 inches was compressed and red looking. I called John over to look, so I had another person seeing what had happened. I SHOULD have taken a photo.

The next day (Sunday), I went on the trip, and clocked on my Fit Bit almost 2 miles, but it was done in my walkers. By Monday morning my feet were hurting, on top, and on my ankles around to the back of my sole. The top of my feet (each foot, above the toes) was swollen. I had continued taking my diuretic and I believed the swelling was unrelated to my heart issues and my blood pressure was normal. I skipped my Silver Sneakers class in order to stay home and rest and not walk much.

The next day (Tuesday), I put on my Velcro fastened shoes and wore them to town for stops I needed to make. I stopped by the AAC and told Roxanne (exercise physiology knowledgeable) and she thought (as I) that I might have caused something with the hiking boots). Wednesday, I could not stand the pain from the Velcro fastened shoes or the walkers (with lace up enclosure on top), and I had to wear more loafer-like shoes. That has continued, although I have tried the others on, and the pain is down now that the swelling is down.

I asked a nurse in our music group and she was concerned it was heart related. I never figured that (although I took my blood pressure as normal). I did figure it was related to wearing the boots Saturday night before leaving Sunday. I was some better by Thursday, but still wore the loafer type shoes and by then the swelling had mostly gone down. Friday, it was still somewhat sensitive, but I was able to put all my shoes on without much pain. I continued when out driving and walking to use the loafers. The first time I wore them on Wednesday, the swelling was still enough to show a mark from the top of the shoe across my foot. It didn’t hurt though. At home I always switched to bedroom shoes that do not have hard top support or I sit with only socks on and no shoes. I always sleep with my feet elevated. The top foot swelling was down completely the next day.

Meanwhile, yesterday I called and made an appointment with my foot doctor. I could not get in right away, (not until the 18th), so now next week, as it continues to heal, I will cancel the appointment. If it had not gotten better yesterday, I would have gone to my PCP today.

Meanwhile, I looked up different things on line, including typing in this question: What causes pain and swelling on the top of the foot.

Found this on line—must be what happened to me. “The shoe fits perfectly” with what I experienced.

What causes pain on the top of the foot?

Conditions caused by overuse include: Extensor tendonitis: This is caused by overuse or tight-fitting shoes. The tendons that run along the top of the foot and pull the foot upwards become inflamed and painful. … This condition causes pain in the top of the foot and outside the ankle.

That is an accurate description of what I suffered.

4:00 – 7:00 Lawyer Jeff Winters had a retirement party to provide an opportunity to meet his replacement, Attorney Ann Reidel-Thomas, and her assistant, Jennifer Stewart. We had a good conversation with all three. Jen works only on Mondays & Tuesdays. She lives in Zillah. We had a lot of common interests to share.
We both were happy to meet Ann. She will be great to work with on following up with the work we did previously with Jeff on our estate planning, to make it official. Jeff will be moving to Tampa, FL so I got his personal email address so I can introduce him to my cousin and her husband in Tampa.

Evening sunset was lovely pastels, but I didn’t get out quite soon enough; however, this will give you a clue through the trees. As I was taking it, I was enjoying the sound of the creek rushing in front of me (and on the other side of the hill beneath the ground you see at the center photo). Much rain in the hills has caused higher flows into the valley. Several of the trees pictured are across the stream, one of the many crossing, and forming, our Naneum Fan. Academics call them distributaries.

Alluvial Fan

Late sunset from our patio – getting too dark to see the sky well.

Saturday, Jun 8

John off to WTA and Gold Creek Trail, 6:55 a.m.

Today is CWU’s graduation and I’m no longer walking in my academic regalia, as I did for 20 years here. I also “hooded” graduate students in the Resource Management program. Now the new name for the program is Cultural & Environmental Resource Management, which more properly applies to the material covered in Natural and Cultural resource management, which we have been doing all along.

Late Friday night, I sent a request for personal email addresses to students at their cwu.edu addresses who won awards (scholarships & GIS Certificates) at the 5/21 end-of-year CWU ceremony and food fest provided by the Geography Department and the Cultural & Environmental Resource Management graduate program.
Five of the emails bounced. All but one were caused by spelling errors, but one is left unknown. I found him on Facebook and private messaged him with the problem and asking for the correct CWU account’s spelling of his first and last name and also for his personal email address. I heard from him and now know his first name. He goes by his middle name, so that was confusing my email creation from the list of recipients.

Sunday, June 9

John left by 6:50 a.m. to WTA work at Gold Creek again up the valley. This is to finish the trail tread fix-up. They will have a good bunch of before and after photos of all the work for 3 days this weekend, but we won’t be able to report them until next week’s blog. LeeAnne is the Blue Hat (with camera and candy) leader in this section of WA, and is now in her 5th year with WTA. She loves what she does with WTA, or she would move on, and up the pay scale.

Wow, this is a terrifying date in my past, 6-9-2009, when I was diagnosed with bacteria in my blood that would alter my life and almost take it. Before John went to bed last night, he showed me the way to a Wall Street Journal article he had read and wanted me to read. I put it on my computer, and finally made time to read it midday today.

It’s a powerful reminder of the advances of medical technology. Here’s a link to a story which is much worse than mine, but has similarities, mostly the support of a loving husband who acted as a translator to the medical staff after I emerged from an 8-day episode on life support after all my systems shut down, and was unable to communicate (be totally understood) with anyone but John.

The WSJ journal story follows from a woman in Denmark (it’s an inspirational read):

Rikke Schmidt Kjaergaard: Surviving a Coma

The WSJ is a fee site, so unless this is available elsewhere, you will only see the beginning. I have the text in a PDF I can send you if you wish, but you will have to request it.

My mom was in a coma in 1977 for a month after undergoing brain surgery to remove a subdural hematoma. The first words she spoke were to our liver Brittany who flew with me from Idaho to Atlanta. She came out of the comma in a nursing home in Marietta, GA. I took him into the home and they wheeled her into the visiting room. She saw him, smiled, and said, “Choc Baby.” He put his head in her lap to be petted.

John managed to get home at 4:40 p.m. I-90 gets overloaded on Sundays with folks headed back to the Puget Sound area. With him heading east, there are normal 70+ speeds. Westbound the traffic is slow and sometimes stops. Today, about 17 miles west of EBRG, there was an accident on the lanes going west. On his side, drivers slowed as they approached the scene, and both lanes slowed to “stop & go” for about 7 miles. This phenomenon is inexplicable to the average person, but multi-mile long backups created by the “lookie-loos” (technical term?) are common.

He was very tired, napped a little, fixed pizza for supper, and went to bed early.

This will be published Monday morning.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan