Keeping track

Sunday, May 26

John went back out while I was proofing his additions to the blog, to set up hoses from the irrigation ditch up along the driveway. Fruit trees, evergreens, and veggies will all need water this week.
I finished and returned to putting dishes in the dishwasher. Now, I’m back checking on a few more computer chores before I tackle accumulating paperwork.

John’s back and putting the text and pictures into WordPress.
We may get this published a lot earlier this Sunday than in recent months. Just published it at 5:38 p.m., but I need to go back on YouTube and tidy up all the ones I listed this week.

Monday, May 27 Memorial Day

On the Naneum Fan, several of us and neighbors display the Nation’s flag on certain days. Ours is out. On the right is the family cemetery of the Nason Band of the Yakama Nation, on Allen Aronica’s land. Ida Nason was his mother. The burial plots are just 1 mile north of us.

I just took a video from here. Cottonwood trees are background for the flag. We have one taller tree on our property, probably over 100 years old, and during the movie, you will see much cottonwood fluff, swirling in the background. It piles up in places all over the area.

Movie from the end of our driveway:

Memorial Day – Naneum Fan 5-27-19

John and I went for a walk up the driveway and Companion Czar (cat), and Annie (dog) walked along.

I’m back to filing receipts.

Tuesday, May 28

Award for our Brittany (Daisy) and her mom (Ginny) in California

I reached TurboTax and found I need an extra home & business app ($10) to include a 1099-PATR form. I have the Premier edition and I should not have to add that to report income from a Co-op (Midstate), where we buy fence equipment, bird feed, and occasionally salt blocks. So, I changed the way I reported it, using a 1099-DIV. It will be included in my form because it has been reported to the IRS, and we will be covered as reporting the income. Actually the check we received with the report was only $13, and the reported dividend was $40 (70% is deferred; that means – we think – we have an additional $40 worth of stock in the Co-op. We need an explanation of this).

Medical: I changed to a 10:45 a.m. check-in to see Chelsea on Friday. She is our “doctor” of the certified physician’s assistant type.

Today I had my gold tooth crown put on. It took over an hour, but ½ hour was waiting for another patient’s dental work to be completed. My noon appointment didn’t start until 12:35, and Sheryl (receptionist, also a previous dental assistant), removed my temporary cap. John went to Bi-Mart (for weed spray) and Super 1 for oranges and got back about the time I should have been finished. From there we went to the KVH hospital lab for my standing order to have my blood drawn. From there on to one more stop and home.

We had quite a thunderstorm this afternoon in the hills. People in Ellensburg experienced hail. Fortunately, we had none or much of the gardens would have been hurt badly.

I spent the afternoon trying to work out problems I was having with TurboTax.

Late call from my PCP, Chelsea regarding my needing update of a standing order. Potassium will go on quarterly standing order, and not with the INR (monthly). Lacey never called, so I don’t know the potassium reading today. INR was 2.0; I’ll be checked again in 2 weeks to see if the antibiotic affected it, and we changed my dosage a little on Saturdays.

I fixed my iceberg lettuce tonight remove the bad leaves and cut out the center with a plastic knife. Then put it in a bowl that John kindly helped me cover. It will be all ready and crisp in the morning to make my salad to take to the FISH food bank to eat after we provide music.

John always helps me by cubing the smoked turkey, apple, and I might have him cut up some yellow, orange, or red peppers. I add the rest to take with me.

Dinner tonight was a nice large bowl of soup: base was Progresso’s Chicken & vegetables with Wild Rice, and John added more carrots, smoked turkey cubes, and colored bell pepper pieces. I added Cheezits to mine. He had a couple of slices of Rosemary Olive bread toasted and some home fries.

I have continued filing and sorting receipts, and he has napped.
He was quite busy in the yard most of the day, plus late afternoon, he loaded rocks in his backpack and walked up and down our driveway several times, getting ready for his weekend of trail work on the new trail at Manastash Ridge. He plans to add carrying tools in each hand in preparation for the steep climb in on Saturday. They will then work on Sunday and carry out the tools. The predicted temperatures are not promising in the high 80s. Sunday I will be going on a Nick Zentner field trip to Wenatchee, driving myself and my friend Roberta Buum. We will have very hot temperatures too.

Tonight we had a scammer call from someone claiming to be our relative. He started by saying, Hi Grandma, this is your oldest grandson.” I said, you have the wrong number, I don’t have any grandchildren. He said, “Oh, I was just joking, I’m your oldest nephew – and asked how I was doing.” I said I was fine and how was he? He said he was not well, and needed to talk to us about something serious. I asked who it was and then mentioned the name Rod. He said yes, and he asked me to get John on the phone. (I had not said John’s name.) Once John got on, he said we had to promise not to tell anyone – that it was just our secret between us. John got on, and he proceeded with the story, but neither one of it thought it sounded like Rod and his story was quite strange. We started asking him questions, such as where are you calling from? From Seattle was the answer. I said what are you doing there? Our Rod lives back east.) John asked where he flew in from and when?
After realizing that we were not believing him, he hung up. Too bad we didn’t talk long enough to see how much money he was going to ask us to send him. The story was he was with a friend in a car, stopped by a policeman, who gave the driver a ticket for talking on his cell phone, held up to his ear; but then the policeman asked the driver to step out and open the trunk. Found it was full of drugs. All were taken to the police station. The call said Private Caller (no number) on our Caller ID. The only Private Caller calls I have ever had are from my PCP’s office.
I did a search on “private caller scam taxi trunk drugs I’m in police station” and this link was first to come up:
Try this Link

Check that out – it’s very familiar to what we just heard. I’m going to tell my doctor’s office to start talking and leave a message, because if I’m home, I will no longer answer a “Private Caller” call, until I hear it is someone with whom I want to talk.
My dentist office sometimes comes through that way as well. So I have to remember to tell them.

See Saturday below for a Letter to the Editor John wrote to our local paper, the Daily Record.

Wednesday, May 29

I’ll be making some phone calls in the morning before going to set up and play music at the food bank lunch.

Must get all my stuff together better than last week, when I forgot to pack significant stuff. I did, and John helped as usual with cubing parts for me – smoked turkey, cheese, and apples. I added all the rest and packed it along. We played music and checked in for all the things, and I set up the chairs and music stands. Then we ate. I had a little spaghetti & meatballs, a large container of applesauce with pieces of apple in it, and brought home a piece of apple cake. Ate ¾ of my salad, so will have it, adding some pistachios, tonight with supper.

From there I went to the Adult Activity Center for an exercise class (SAIL). While there, I picked up a lemon jelly roll that was being given away. After class, I went to Super 1 for dry cat food, but I had been quoted the wrong price for the 16 lbs. I needed it, so I left there and went to Bi-Mart, where I paid $11.99. The cats all eat it, and it saves us the mess and expense of canned food.

Thursday, May 30

I took care of things in the back of the house. Am loading dishwasher. Finished the music to take today – turned out to have problems, once there and we started to play it. The chorus was missing on The Three Bells, and the Ring of Fire needs to be rewritten. Neither were in our software, where we can add lyrics, notes, and change keys.

Cle Elum music and gas trip: We were scheduled to meet at 1:00 p.m. I checked with Storey’s about cost of gasoline with credit card and how to do it (at the pump). I can use Discover. Yes, it will be 10 cents more, $3.27 (still below anything in Ellensburg by 10 cents). Using my Discover gets me 5% off. 12 gals at $3.27 is $39.24 – 5% ($1.96) = $37.28 / 12 = $3.11/gal. Convincing evidence.

Packed cameras for use tonight at Science Hall geology talk.

Going to a jam session today in Cle Elum. We were inside (good thing). The temperature in Cle Elum was 86. We had 9 folks of our normal Thursday group there, plus a guest, a musician friend of two of our members. What a surprise; it turns out he knew me from our days of field trialing. He had German Shorthair Pointers, not Brittanys as we; he was a judge at many Brittany trials.

I picked up some fast food in Cle Elum on my way home, because we needed to be at the university for a lecture at the local chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute meeting, where I normally film the evening lecture (unfortunately the only one filming). Tonight we will hear about Washington before the Cascade Mountains formed.Jeff Tepper presented, “The Eocene Transformation of Washington Geology:  From the Accretion of the Olympics to the Birth of the Cascades.” Eocene was 56 to 33.9 million years ago. Jeff is a geology prof at Tacoma’s University of Puget Sound.

Sad story with my filming tonight. (1) I lost the first 45 minutes (camera malfunction while recording—leaving a file behind with 0 bytes) ending at 7:45; (2) part is 16 minutes of the rest of the lecture, and then (3) is the Questions & Answers, for 22 minutes.

Next video only of the last part of the hour’s lecture.

(2) Jeff Tepper: The Eocene Transformation of Washington Geology

The next video is of Jeff Tepper, answering questions from the audience.

(3) Jeff Tepper: Q & A 5-30-19 Eocene Transformation of WA Geology

Our late sunset view – – – almost home

I started working on the cameras and was sincerely disappointed in the results and failure to capture the fascinating presentation.

Evening dessert: Vanilla ice cream over pecan pie and lemon jelly roll piece with coconut on top. We were taking care of left-overs.

Late night for Nancy working on images/videos.

Friday, May 31

We made it to our friend Kristin’s house to pick her up to go to Cle Elum for lunch, but first stop was my PCP’s office, to visit Chelsea.

Leave at 9:40 for Kristin. We got there a bit earlier than planned and had plenty of time to be at the Cle Elum Clinic in time for my check in. First, I spoke with the medical assistant, which is common for a visit. I didn’t see the doc until ~ 11:00 and spent ½ hr with her. It was a useful visit. We caught up on some of my medical history not in the records (because of the switch of record provider), and she wanted to know more about my heart issues, as she is having to control the refills for heart related issues. She also asked questions about my shoulder arthritis problem with range of motion.

I need to request my consultation report from Dr. Matsen be sent over to Chelsea Newman; I thought it was requested at the time, but it was not in their records.

From there the three of us went to lunch at the Cottage Cafe. John and Kristin had $10 coupons for their birthdays. We probably spent 1-1/2 hrs in there because so many people (more than we have ever seen) were having lunch. We had a chance to have a nice visit while waiting for our food.

Saturday, Jun 1

At 7:40 a.m., John left for a WTA work party at Manastash Ridge. Today and tomorrow will conclude WTA’s 4 days of work on this reroute of an old trail. I stayed home to work on things getting ready for going tomorrow and this afternoon.

John’s Letter to the Editor in Daily Record was published in today’s weekend edition (You were already introduced to this above in this blog on Tuesday, when the phone call arrived):

Old, well-known scam still being tried
To the Editor:
Early last evening (Tuesday) we answered a phone, and the caller told my wife he was our oldest grandson. Having no children, we don’t have grandsons either. He then said he was just kidding and was a nephew, that he was in trouble because of being in a car, stopped by Seattle Police, that had drugs in the trunk. Oddly, his voice was not the voice of anyone in our family.
We have no relatives in the state of Washington, and none within 1,000 miles, so the next question was where did he fly from to get to Seattle. With that, he hung up. Too bad. We never learned how much money he needed to solve whatever his problem was.
This sort of scam is old and well known. Apparently it works often enough that it continues. We live in rural Kittitas County.
John F. Hultquist, Ellensburg

~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~

This afternoon at 3:00 p.m., I’m going to a lecture, by Jack Nisbet, pictured above (from his website).
The long title of the talk is: “I Can Hardly Sit Down to Write”: Imagining the Geography of the Columbia Plateau.

In the wake of Lewis and Clark’s brief visit to the Columbia River drainage, it took a wide range of approaches to flesh out a portrait of the region’s geography. This slide presentation will focus on how fur agent David Thompson, horticultural collector David Douglas, and prospector John Leiberg tapped into long-held local knowledge to make their own touchstone contributions.

I am taking both cameras and my tripod, in hopes the old camera continues working after the problem it suffered Thursday night this week.

John Bowen comments before introducing our speaker

Jack Nisbet Geography of the Columbia Plateau

Jack Nisbet: Q & A, 6-1-19_Columbia Plateau Geography

Sunday, June 2

John will leave at 7:30 and return about 3:30 from the WTA trail work. I leave an hour later for the field trip about Wenatchee area, Columbia River, and Ice Age Floods – with Nick Zentner.

I stopped by S. Maple for Roberta, my sidekick for the trip, early and it gave us time to use her hose and a large squeegee pad on a pole to wash off an amazing amount of bugs. She also had fluid for the tank of wind shield washer. The yellow blinking warning light the fluid was low would have bothered us the whole trip, 223 miles. That was about 9:35 and we had lots of time to get up to the CWU parking lot.

We were on the road promptly from Hebeler behind the lead van at 10:01. We had people to meet at the first stop who were coming in from other locations.

I only have one video transcribed, but this will have you coming back for the rest next week, I hope. We had 4 stops on an all-day (very hot, temperatures 89°). It was very informative and worth taking.

Crescent Bar – Stop 1

John and others with WTA finished the new section of trail, about 2,000 feet total. On Saturday, Anna Roth (an orange hat, like John) came over from Seattle, both to work and to take photos. There is a “National Trails Day” and WTA will have about 20 crews working. Each crew had a photographer and Anna took bunches of photos. We’ll post a link later. The idea, though, is to have a good photo from each location to be printed in the next WTA Newsletter.
In 2018, the many events across the USA involved almost 4,000 miles of trails.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Photo below was posted by WTA on the web, from Crew Leader College last weekend:John is standing up at the end of the group with his orange hat and his plaid blue/white shirt, in a class at “Million $ Viewpoint” where trees need to be trimmed so people can enjoy the view better. I wonder what the speaker was talking about and looking at on the grass.
{John: We are one group of about 20 doing “learning” type things at WTA’s Crew Leader College. Kaci Darsow is looking at notes regarding issues that we as crew leaders might encounter. Things happened in 2018 on trail work events – what to do, what might work best?
The view is from Cougar Mountain, underlain with old coal mine tunnels (now a park), looking north toward Canada and across the eastern Puget Sound Lowland. Lake Sammamish is just down the hill behind the low brush. I’ve written to the land manager and suggested they cut it down.}

Monday, May 20

Last night, we published the blog at 11:40 p.m. and went to bed.

I notified my Silver Sneakers teacher I would not be able to be in class today because John and I have to both visit a doctor to hear the results of a Vascular Test done two weeks ago. It is a test for checking circulation to a person’s legs, ankle, feet, and toes. Seriously poor circulation can result in amputation. Web entries can be found under Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD).
We had a good discussion, and found out we both passed the test, and we will not have to retake it next year.

From there to Super 1, where they kindly gave me the rest of my Entresto prescription that was incorrectly sent by the PCP’s office for a refill. The dosage has not changed since I began taking it. I also called and spoke with the Kaiser Permanente customer service rep about all my meds they cover, and asked about co-pays on each. Except for Entresto, the rest are “One Tier” drugs and the co-pays are all $20 per month, but if you buy 2 months, you will receive a 3-month supply. I shall change the Entresto to come from there, after I am sure Super 1 has another person to buy it. Otherwise, I will get one more month for $40, so as not to leave them with a very expensive drug on their shelf they cannot sell. It is a “Two Tier” drug at twice the cost/month of a “One Tier” drug. However, if you look at the cash only price, you’ll see why: to get 90 pills (for a month), I would have to pay a cash price (no insurance) of $798.73. I just talked with my pharmacist and found I am the only one in town using the drug, and they have a bottle of 30 (left over from the 30 they added for the last prescription refill). So, they will order 60 more, and June 10 I will pick up 90 tablets on my insurance co-pay.

I did check on a recent purchase for my Amiodarone, for 90 pills, from Super 1, and the price was $17.85, actually better than mail order’s $20/mo. So I will check all the others before switching, and I will keep this one at Super 1. However, I do need to leave a message for Lacey about the change to 100 mg and then halving them to get the 50 dosage, twice a day. The quartering of a 200mg was no fun.

I found out that all WA residents on Kaiser Permanente get the 3-month (one free) benefit on all drugs bought through their Renton mail order facility. I’ll just have to watch which ones are a better monetary expenditure and save us money. Thankfully, I’m not on a lot of expensive drugs as many folks I know.

We walked around Super 1 but only bought a few carrots and some lotto tickets (for those that flunked statistics). Oh, Mega Millions, and we have to buy one before this coming Tuesday night! That won’t be hard as I have to be in town at Noon Tuesday to have my new crown installed (set on its base). We came on home via dropping off a piece of clothing for Amy on her front porch.

Tonight’s supper: leftover chicken, butternut casserole, baked beans, panko shrimp, with chocolate tuxedo cake for dessert, under ice cream.

Tuesday, May 21

Took my shower and called the Kaiser Permanente Mail Order Prescription line after receiving a call from nurse regarding PCP Chelsea’s sending in the Entresto prescription for a 3-month supply.

I have been working on arranging an appointment for my PCP May 31 and it has just been made; we arrive at 3:30 check-in for 3:45 that will lengthen the time at KVH. They should have everything on hand and not need me sitting there for 15 minutes. We are combining trips to Cle Elum with a friend, Kristin, to celebrate birthdays at the Cottage Café. Monday I need to call and see if we can push it up earlier on Friday. Then we can get our friend back to town in time to go to a special event at 6:00 p.m.

Scholarship awards at end-of-year Geography party followed by our own CWURA award and banquet:

Presentation of the Geography, and Cultural, Environmental and Resource Management (CERM; graduate degree) awards:
Matt, Nancy, McKenzie before award – Megan Walsh & John Bowen

Monica E-O-Y & Hultquist Distinguished Service Award 2019
Awardees: Matthew Johnston-GEOG; Mackenzie Hughes-CERM

Explanation of the next photos. John and I got to the celebration early because we had to leave shortly after the presentations. Heather found me to introduce herself and put a name with my face, because she had joined the Jobslist I run. I just mailed out an internship possibility in the City of Camas for the summer. She lives in Vancouver, WA (12 miles west) so this was perfect for her. She has applied, and we have our fingers crossed she will get the job. While we were talking she said she was getting a scholarship but wasn’t sure which one. I told her to go ask Megan, because I could introduce her to the donor if they were there. At that point, we had two other women donors, with another coming. I pointed out Lillian Brooks and Carla Kaatz, stopped to talk with someone else, and when I returned to my seat, Heather was visiting with Lillian Brooks.

Nancy & Heather ^. ^. ^. Heather Stewart & Lillian Brooks

Brooks-Shaw Award
Awardees: Meng Yang Chen, Andrew McDonald, Heather Stewart,
Joshua Warwick (absent)

Stoltman Award
Awardees: Jennifer Smith, Demetria Martinez, Amanda Moody

Kaatz Award
Awardee: Ryan Waldbillig (absent)

Macinko Award
Awardee: Andrew (AJ) Fangman

We didn’t stay around for the GIS certificate presentations, because we needed to be at Lombard Hall for the Central Washington University Retirement Association (CWURA) annual meeting, preceded by a banquet, and we needed to be there before 5:30 p.m.

A buffet dinner was served first, consisting of Caesar Salad, baked chicken breast, mashed red potatoes with skins, baked beans, roll. Wine.

After dinner Marilyn Mason (outgoing President) started the program with welcoming remarks, special thanks and appreciation to the CWURA Board of Directors, and election of the officers for 2019-2020.

Next was the presentation of the 2019 awards: the CWURA Graduate Scholarship and CWURA Distinguished Retiree Award.

I took the only video we have of the awards:

Weston Morrow, CWURA Graduate Award & Thanks

Outgoing President Marilyn Mason, Weston Morrow, Nancy with glass plaque for us, Marilyn, and John.

John captured a unique photo of our joint retiree award, which we’ll have to explain below: The engraved glass plaque describes the honor well; the one on the right shows the difficulty of capturing an image because of the mirroring effect the glass presents. That one has the colorful reflection of John in his orange winter cap, holding his camera to make the photograph. Of multiple photos taken, with various problems, clouds in the sky, and himself, I thought this one was so neat I wanted to include it.

The main speaker for the evening was Dennis Francois, Director of Athletics. At CWU since 2013, he has accomplished much. (Link) He was raised in Iowa about the time we were in Iowa City, so John and he talked after his remarks.

I’m sorry no one videotaped our acceptance speeches of thanks. I should have given my camera to someone to film our several minutes of comments relating to things not presented on the full page of the program, but which pointed to our past connections with CWURA members that affected our lives positively.

Below is a full page about us in the 4-page program for the evening, and in addition to the plaque, we were treated to the banquet meal. Many nice congratulatory remarks before the program and afterward made it especially enjoyable for us. Wednesday, May 22

I slept in this morning, but still am tired.

Thanks to John for cutting the smoked turkey, apple, and Jarlsberg cheese cubes for my salad. I used the last of the iceberg lettuce to make a nice salad for lunch. I set up my usual red bag with things in it I needed, but then forgot to take it, so I had no croutons for my salad or pills to take. Luckily, I did pack my salad. They have salad there, but it is full of dark greens I cannot have, while on a blood thinner. Once there Lyndsey checked me in for volunteering music hours and for the Senior Nutrition lunch program, where I had yogurt with multiple fruits, a piece of cake, and apple juice with my salad.

When I arrived, I had to arrange to set up the chairs and move our music stands down to the other end of the building where we play. We had 9 or 10 people there today. I did not go to SAIL today, because I had to come home and get my cameras ready to take to Yakima.

Today John was home when the Brad & Burke heat pump man returned with the circuit board needed to allow us to have A/C. Ours is a Trane, manufactured in March of 2002, and this is the first thing to go wrong. Now, being ready for warm weather, we are running the heater instead.

We left early to be able to fill John’s car with gasoline at Costco (where the price was 20₵/gal cheaper than in Ellensburg.

That put us at the venue for the concert early, so we could visit with people there we knew and get a front row seat. One of my former students, Amy Kurant Matthews is now on the board of the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy and she was there and came over when she recognized me. What a nice surprise. I think she said she was my student in 1998-2000. She now has two children, the oldest being 16. We still keep in touch on email. We also met the “new” executive director, Celisa Hopkins, of the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy. John and I know her predecessor, Betsy Bloomfield, also there this evening, and she was my student at CWU in the graduate program. She and John teamed up on a WTA trail maintenance work party there a few years ago.

Tonight was the Ken Bevis concert at the Seasons Performance Hall, Yakima. POLLINATORS – A HERO’S LIFE {Hear Nature Sing: The Voices of Bees, Bears, & Butterflies}

This was a fundraiser (but with free admission) for the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy, with assistance from Yakima Symphony Orchestra members (Denise Dillenbeck, violin; Mika Hood, cello).The photo above shows the stained glass windows on the west and east of the old church now used for the Seasons Performance Hall; the top photo is from the Flight of the Bumblebee and the bottom from the combined group with Ken Bevis.

As an intro to the evening, we heard from our Symphony members, Denise & Mika playing, “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Rimsky-Korsakov.

Flight of the Bumblebee

They were followed by the opening singing duo of Sally Rose & Julie Conley with several songs. I was truly impressed with their fantastic harmonies imparted to their music. Videos to follow of their combination with the whole group, but here is a short one just with them, a story about The Mountain – wildlife environment.

Duo Singers with Violinist – The Mountain Song

Ken Bevis’s interpretative program revolved around his personal connections with wildlife in our shrub-steppe environment.

Some of the evening’s entertainment are below. Note, please, all the links given in this document are “unlisted” (not public) on YouTube, so please share the links sparingly with your friends.
I received Ken’s okay to film the evening to put in our weekly blog. These below are about the “talking” animals Ken met on his journey.

The Woodpecker Song and the Bear Song

The Coyote Song

The Raven Song

The Beetle & Hummingbirds songs

The Salmon Song (I made it home)

Field of Flowers Song

We didn’t make it home until after 9:00 p.m. The cats and our dog were very happy to greet us.

While checking emails, late in the week, I thought I’d best open Facebook as I haven’t been on it in the past couple of days, and I found this published on Friday. I have been waiting to see the final product, as I knew she was planning to do a special slideshow. I have decided to put it at the end of the Ken Bevis show Wednesday night, because of the wildlife from Louisiana that’s in it. Don’t miss the first part with the swamp wildlife, and get some other beautiful urban scenery in New Orleans, LA and Houston, TX as well. Flowers and birds are included with reptiles, insects, food, history, scenery, and street life of the culture.
It’s from Evie Schuetz about her trip south, which some of you heard about in last week’s blog. Hers and Pete’s 20th anniversary was last Wednesday. They spent it in New Orleans and Houston. She has combined a few of her favorite photos from the trip, using the software PowerDirector to put it on YouTube.

Evie & Pete Schuetz’s Anniversary Trip Slideshow

Thursday, May 23

Today is the Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends time to play at an assisted-living home, for the enjoyment of residents. I got there early and visited with residents Gloria, Shirli, Clare, Lillian, and Tom at Hearthstone. We had a crowd of players there: Anne, Charlotte, Sharon, Amy, Dean, me, Charlie, Evie, Gerald, Maury, and Marilyn. Then, I went by Fred Meyer afterward and bought some items on a special sale.

I spent lots of time transferring videos from camera to external drive and then to YouTube as “unlisted” (to view, a person must have the link).
Tonight’s sunset was full of pastels surrounded by stormy-looking clouds. This is just part of the view from our patio. Friday, May 24

John left at 7:35 a.m. for White Heron Cellars for a morning bottling effort – Rose’ of Syrah, 2018. It’s one of my favorite wines from White Heron Cellars, after Arvine and Roussanne.

Good they are inside, because the winds here are very high. It did not affect his driving over, but the wine and snacks after had to be inside.
Our gust of 30mph didn’t occur here until he should have been inside the winery. At 9:53 we experienced 35mph. John had no wind on his trip. It all remained in our valley and blew over much; empty garbage cans/lids are always subject to moving.

A little after 8:00 a.m. I had a call from my neighbor Louaine about one of our Tobiano horses that looked distressed in our lower pasture. Her handy man walked to the fence to check on him, as he had seen the horse swaying back and forth a few steps as if he was about to fall over. The horse moved over away from the fence and seemed okay. I called John and when he gets home, he will check on him. All seems to be well now and continued through the weekend. We are appreciative for extra eyes on our animals in the lower pasture out of our immediate view. They particularly hang out down there during windy days.

I have had 3 robocalls this morning, and after nothing was left on the message recorder, I blocked them. Nice feature of our new telephone system.

I’m spending time sending videos to YouTube (unlisted) for this week’s activities.

While I work, I have added putting dirty dishes into the dishwasher, so we have some utensils to use for this weekend. Also, need to make some phone calls about recurring charges needing changed. My day is full. I made the call to Office Depot technical support to cease our $15/month computer contract. It is going to take them until next week to sort out the problem as I’m not listed in the proper place in their system, even though I have an account number and have been paying since June 4, 2018. I finally found a manager named Christian, who will take care of finalizing my request.

Saturday, May 25

We went to the Ellensburg Community Clothing Center (ECCC) – and it was worth the time and effort. We primarily went to donate a large bag of clothes and decided to look around while there. I had no intention of bringing any more clothes home, because I don’t have time or places to hang what I have, and I’m still sorting through older larger clothes to get rid of.

The big find of the day was on the men’s side. There I found a pair of Brooks Addiction Walker shoes (black), which were in new condition. Size 8 (fits me because I wear women’s size 9.5). On the web or in a retail store, these cost $120. Also, saw a pair of size 16 dark purple jeans, and decided to get them because my size 18 lighter purple ones now need a belt to hold them up. These are Jordache and claim to be “super skinny.”
They fit but are so skinny at the ankle that I probably cannot turn them up to make a cuff, and so will get dog/cat hair off the rugs in our house, after dressing and making my way to the car.
I found out another problem when trying to take them off. I will need to have John handy to pull them down from the bottom at my ankle, while I hold my feet up. I’m still happy with my two free finds today at the clothing store. John found cute shoes for a baby, but the helper said ‘No could take’, because we don’t have a baby. I’ll alert someone.
Thrilled with my shoes and skinny jeans.

While in town, we went by Fred Meyer to take advantage of their lowered prices on pies and 2 liter colas. It was a mad house, because they had stacked the lanes with food that was to be put on shelves. We found a 6 ft. stack of ice cream that was going soft. Someone lost focus. I went and told a manager. We found what we needed and came on home. Maybe we should have offered to put it in the freezers for them.

Brunch was good, with eggs, home fries, cantaloupe, and sausage patties. I have been working on the blog and other pesky chores. Stopped to fix eggs.

John is out trying to photograph our CWURA award. It’s a difficult challenge, with the glass mirroring clouds, trees, and sky, and as you saw above, his own image while photographing.

Dinner was good tonight, including Lentil/vegetable soup, meat loaf, yellow & orange bell pepper slices, and one of John’s good “dessert-like” butternut squash with miniature marshmallows on top, roasted. The squash was from our garden. Pecan pie with vanilla ice cream ended our evening.

Sunday, May 26

It’s quite overcast today. Rained a little early on, but never as much as predicted. That seems to be the case across the entire State. 58°F seems to be the high for today. Wednesday we are expecting 20 degrees warmer. Hmmm?

John took the dog and cat out for a walk, and he weeded onions. He came back in and got things together for our brunch .

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

John’s favorite place to work on trails is Mt. Rainier. This photo was taken out of a commercial airplane last week by Evie Schuetz on her trip south. Mt. Rainier by Evie
Taken from the northwest, looking toward Salt Lake City. The small lake (low, center) is named Mowich Lake with the South Mowich River on the right.

Sunday, May 12

We published the blog at 11:27 p.m. and went to bed ASAP.

Monday, May 13

I sent out the KV F&F note about scheduling for this week, for BOTH venues with a link to the blog last week on the wedding of two of our players.

John has to leave 9:50 a.m. for an appointment at Subaru for his Crosstrek at 11:00 and I have to be at the AAC by 10 minutes before 11:00 with the toaster to give to Calli Ristine. We met up just fine. I was there for a Silver Sneakers exercise class, followed by a 20-minute meditation / yoga session by Karen Johnson.

From there I went to the FISH Food bank, where we were fed sliced pork roast, cheesy sliced potatoes, and a nice salad with yellow & red pepper chunks, with a fruit punch, and dessert.

Several stops in town kept me busy. I went by and picked up my repaired button on the silk blouse they dry cleaned and lost the button. I drove by Landons for some bags and caught up visiting about family. Then I went by The Gym and climbed 2 steep flights of stairs to buy a new bottle of Klaire Probiotic. On down Capitol Ave to pick a bag of clothes from Pam, but most of these I will be passing along to others—many are size 8, too small for me. A nice white denim jacket marked L is not large enough to fit me and I will pass it along to a friend to whom I pass all tops I cannot button, and they fit her perfectly. It must have shrunk.
I dropped off one of the bags (a backpack for a toddler) for my 2-year old neighbor, Sophia. I stopped at Safeway for a chicken special, and when I got home, John had a leg of the fried chicken for a late lunch. We had fried chicken, butternut squash casserole, yellow pepper slices, apple slices, and cocktail tomatoes, for supper.

I filed more stuff.
John mowed near the road.
We cleaned 4 pounds of strawberries John bought at Costco from Salinas, CA.

Tuesday, May 14

Nothing special on tap today. Stayed home, skipping checking Bi-Mart today, and hoping I don’t win a big prize. Rained on John as he planted the 3 tomato plants. I’ve been sorting through things needed completed, and one awaits to fill in my medicines for the week, plus reordering those I’m out of. Already did Entresto, and need to finish before calling in Amiodarone I also need. That’s finally done, and took my first pills of the day, plus loaded some dishes in the washer. Now to go back to filing receipts into dated order. Then will need to sort by day within the month. So much of this needed to be done in a timely fashion.

I received an email planning for Friday’s scholarship luncheon and realized two members were not on the email recipient list, so I went to work notifying them and the hostesses about the planned lunch.

John came in and fixed us a pancake, summer sausage, and we had strawberries on top that we fixed last night.

He has settled down for an hour’s nap. I’m continuing to work on going through stacks of things, and just spent 2 hours off the computer sorting and recycling. I’m afraid there’s one more stack to attack before putting them in order by day of the month.

Staying home today was a good choice. I wish I could do that more often. Unfortunately, it’s only going to get worse in the next few weeks, not having the time to use for things that must be done.

I just found some more receipts to add to the correct filing folders, in a storage place for another year. And, some checks found under my stack where my weekly medicine box resides, with some receipts for medications (just in case I don’t take the standard deduction). I have three more hanging folders to go through to be sure all the things in the folder are for the correct year. Yeah – I know, keep up to date, and this year I am filing as they arrive, not just stacking them up on a table or shelf.

John made a nice soup for our dinner with beef, onions, mushrooms, asparagus, green beans, carrots, yellow pepper, and stuff, served with crouton like baguette chips, infused with butter, spices, and toasted. It was quite tasty. I ate a big bowl full, and plan to have a piece of fruitcake for dessert.

Renewed our IAFI membership. That’s the Ice Age Floods Institute; we are members of the local Ellensburg Chapter.

Wednesday, May 15

This morning I called the Yakima office and paid via VISA, a doctor’s bill for $46.63 for John, as his Medicare deductible had not yet been reached. John tells me they are considering increasing co-pays on such, so our costs continue to rise. A receipt is being snail-mailed to us. Seems like email would save money.

Thanks to John for cutting the smoked turkey and apple cubes for my salad today. I am leaving for music at the FISH music bunch, at the Liberty Theater to set up stands, which thankfully we have left there in a back room container.

I will come home afterwards to cut John’s hair – we were supposed to do yesterday. Should have done it during the rain. I managed to cut it in only ½ hour.

Got the attendance finalized for KV F&F tomorrow at Pacifica. We ended up needing 11 arm-less chairs and one with arms.

Thursday, May 16

John goes to the dentist very early, being there at 8:30 a.m. Was done faster than expected, and he’s going by Super 1 Pharmacy to pick up my medications. Today’s music is at Pacifica. We had a dozen players present and a large involved audience. Got my mic battery charged and am taking some clothes to a few folks. I washed a load of dishes.

Need to drop off a package on my way home from music, and we need to eat to be at the KAS meeting tonight at Hal Holmes for a lecture on Birding in the islands of Trinidad and Tobago.

From The Hooter Newsletter, May 2019

Home to 482 species of birds, not forgetting 68 different bats, 45 snakes, 50 spiders, 30 frogs and toads, 120 Dragonflies, 765 butterflies and close to 3,500 moths—the islands really are an introduction to the natural history of South America. Get a great taste of tropical birding in Trinidad’s high mountain rain forests, sandy beaches with nesting turtles, and mangroves with Scarlet Ibis evening roosts, as well as on Tobago’s seabird nesting islands and huge protected preserves.

The Asa Wright Nature Centre is a jumping off spot for most field trips, itself set in 200 acres of forest and home to more than 170 bird species. Renowned for great access to specialties including Bearded Bellbird, Tufted Coquette and Oilbirds on site, more than 40 species can be observed from the verandah before breakfast! The Centre is a not-for-profit trust, and eco-tourism funds the conservation and education programmes. For nearly 40 years of the Centre’s 50 plus year existence, Caligo Ventures has been the booking agent for North America. Fully committed to the conservation and education mission of the Centre, Caligo is pleased to sponsor Martyn’s visit to celebrate and highlight this bucket-list birding destination.

Our speaker and the front row tonight at the presentation.Locator map of Trinidad & Tobago (TT), in Lesser Antilles Islands

Videos of the evening’s presentation:

Martyn Kenefick, KAS 5-16-19, Birding Trinidad & Tobago

Martyn Kenefick KAS final Q & A

Friday, May 17

John took Annie to the vet at 8:15 am. Dr. Fuller (Mike) did not find anything wrong with Annie, but she has a slight give in her back so he gave us a sample bottle of Rimadyl Chewables to try to see if it helped. She hasn’t yelped since returning from the vet, and I haven’t yet read the instructions or given her one.
Mike came to EBRG about the same time we did, and we likely met about 1990 or ’91.

I called Laura at the Cle Elum Physician’s KVH office, where our PCP is located; and went through the new system phones. Dial 0 and then 8 to get to an operator. To get to the doctor’s nurse is another number. Listen – might be 3. Laura says most people are upset by the new system. I’m okay with it once I know which numbers give me what. Unfortunately, it includes no way to get to a Triage nurse – except through the operator. Most of my communication is from a Triage nurse, with monthly blood draws.

8:20 a.m. Darren arrived for heat pump. He replaced the 20×20 filter I handed him (we must check more often).

He cleaned (blew dust out) of two very dirty small metal filters, which are supposed to be checked monthly. He did not have a pressure hose for cleaning the dishwasher ones, so he hooked a regular hose to the back faucet and cleaned them at my special request. They need to be checked monthly too. I told him about the clicking sound, and he said it might be the defrost control. Then he went out to the heat pump and found the reverse control wasn’t working. That part changes the heat to a/c at the water pump. It is what the warning clicking I was hearing was telling me. Now the power to the heat pump is disabled and we are on Emergency/Auxiliary heat (only) until the part is put in. “Emergency” is misleading. This just means the heat is coming off the hot coil normally only used when the outside temperature gets down about 20°F. This week our lows have been in the mid-40s.
The part has to be ordered from Trane and might be in by Monday. Darren will call us and come back to finish the job so we will have access to a/c, when needed, in a month or 6 weeks.

I called Cle Elum to report the refill Entresto problem. Now need to call Kaiser Permanente. Did, and am out of the 30 pills without paying extra for them. I haven’t asked the cost of only 30 pills using insurance, but the cash price is outlandish, at $500. I was supposed to get 90, but only got 60. Tough; but, it won’t happen again.

An alternative is to switch to Kaiser Permanente, Renton, WA mail order, which I have decided to do. I can request a 3-month supply for the cost for 2 months here. So, $80 vs $120. Weird.

Scholarship luncheon is today at the main CWU services building, Jongeward (door keys and vehicles; for us in our past). I picked up Amy Davison at Gallery One, after her art class ended, and took her to campus where I can park for free; she cannot.

We had a nice Oriental Chicken Salad made by Christine Tufts, served with a Mandarin orange, roll if wanted, an incredibly good Lemon Cheesecake made by Peggy Eaton, and 2 fruit punches.

Here’s the cheesecake (photo by Amy Davison) along with photos of today’s efforts with 7 students, 10-11:00 art class for 3 to 5 yr. olds, at Gallery One, where the students made an egg carton based caterpillar. Class is an hour, drop in, for $5; parents stay.Student Charlotte’s caterpillar, eyes on another, & cheesecake

Saturday, May 18

John left at 5:40 a.m. for Crew Leader College, a WTA education event for the Crew Leaders and Assistant Crew Leaders. After a photo of everyone in attendance, John drove another 20 minutes to Cougar Mountain Park, once a source of underground coal and timber for the folks trying to get rich in the young Seattle area.
Tomorrow he will be returning for another session on First Aid, but that will be in North Bend at the Forest Service compound.

I was working with emails this morning, and saw a photo come through at 7:48 from a WTA “leader” I know, Rick Zitzmann. He sent a photo taken last year of John near a huge tree along the trail at the West Fork of the Foss River. Taken in 2018 on West Fork of the Foss River trail by Rick Zitzmann.

Here is a valuable link to information provided by the Washington Trails Association (WTA):
WTA Trip Reports
To see a recent report (5-1-2019) on this trail mentioned above, check below, especially for a photo of the same tree with 3 WTA workers & Crosscut saws standing in front.Three WTA workers – Crosscut saws
John says: About 6 years ago, I spent about an hour cutting Devil’s Club from this favorite stopping point. The photo on the right shows the reason for its name – Oplopanax horridus. The ‘oplo’ part means armored and the ‘pan’ part means all. It is very well armored and hikers (especially small children) can ruin a hike if they happen to touch it. Note the large leaves of this plant in the upper right of the photo with me in front of the tree.
Wikipedia has info and photos of the flowers and bright red fruit:
Devil’s Club

Nancy back: I left for town early and went by the Driver License Tabs place at the Meridian Theater, to update my Car Registration, to remove the Lien by Chase Bank, that had never been done 2 years ago when I paid off the loan. They had not sent me the correct paperwork. Now I have received it. Cost me $31.00; I paid in cash rather than put on a credit card, which would cost me 3% more.
While in the same parking lot, I went to Bi-Mart and bought 6 boxes of Fisherman Friends, because I was down to one. From there, I went with all my stuff to Briarwood.

We started the day by welcoming Evie Schuetz back to the fold. She hasn’t been able to play her violin with us since January, so this was an epic moment. She is a chocoholic, so we welcomed her back with a Chocolate bunny. We were all so very happy to have her return, able to lead us with her violin again. She’s still in pain, but it is going to be better with time.We played until about 3:00 and had desserts: several kinds of cookies and a piece of cheesecake with cherries, homemade by Connie. Betty made her chocolate chip cookies and sent 3 left on the plate home to John. She always does.

Before coming home, I dropped by Windy Chevrolet; 10 minutes there and walked out with $5 gift card to Fred Meyer. I’d received a flyer because they are collecting names for future needs of vehicles. The salesman talking to me was rather impressed we still are using our 1980 Chevrolet pickup truck.

John called from Issaquah and I was not yet home. Then from North Bend. So I reached him nearing the Snoqualmie summit. I tried calling him after 4:00 but only got my message that meant he didn’t have his phone turned on. I tried calling later on my way home, but the reception wouldn’t connect.
He told me to put the chicken breasts (all seasoned) in the oven, and I did. By the time he gets home, we will have the main part of dinner cooked.

We ate after 7:00 after we added cut cocktail tomatoes, John made a butternut squash casserole with mini-marshmallows, and we just finished a great meal. That was my first real solid food of the day (except for the desserts I ate at Briarwood, after music).

Sunday, May 19

John left this morning at 6:00 a.m. to be at Bill Weir’s house by 6:20 to carpool to CLC today using Bill’s truck. John’s involved with a First Aid course that includes CPR & AED (automated external defibrillator).

I’m staying home to work on the blog and on bill paying, and filing. Will likely do some more clean-up chores, as clothes and dish washing and sorting through things, recycling paperwork.

This arrived today in email from a longtime friend through Brittanys, Bob Showalter. The introduction follows here ahead of the link to watch below:

This is from within the TED series of presentations, this is a fabulous work of art concerning Birds, Bees, Bats, and Butterflies!

• Take a look and enjoy Mother Nature at her best!  
• Check out the Monarchs toward the end.
• Be sure to watch this on the largest computer screen you have and have your sound turned on.
• Don’t miss the hummingbird doing rolls chasing a bee
• Check out the baby bat under its mother.
• If you never knew what goes on in the garden when you aren’t paying attention, watch this fine photography.

Birds, Bees, Bats, and Butterflies!

John just arrived from his all day trip to North Bend, WA, and had not taken his cell phone, so he didn’t call me on his way home. He arrived at 5:45 p.m.

It’s now 8:15 p.m. and we still haven’t eaten supper. Just finished at 9:00 p.m.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Tulips, between strawberries, onions, and asparagus. You’ve previously seen the purples that bloomed ahead of the shorter ones. Happy they hadn’t been windblown away.

Sunday, May 5

We published the blog at 9:02 p.m. and went to bed at 10:30! You’ve already heard about that day, in our last week’s post, but this one has some photos from John’s WTA trail work here in the valley, shown on Tuesday, when the final report arrived, including photos for the whole past weekend, with additions from workers.

Monday, May 6

I sent out the KV F&F note about scheduling for this week, and tried requesting feedback for the whole month again. Got a few more added.

John worked outside a lot today. Sprayed weeds and watered strawberries, onion, flowers, and trees.

I went to town for a Silver Sneakers exercise class and was extra cautious about taking it easy, after how hurtful I was last week. I opened up the “hatch” back of my car for a gal to leave a bunch of feed bags. She’s done that before, when she is in town and I’m at the AAC. Easy transfer that saves me a long drive to Badger Pocket in the SE part of our valley. They filled the back of my car. We use them for various trash bags to take to the transfer station and once John used to bag noxious weeks to remove from a local trail.

From there I drove to the new location of the FISH Food Bank lunches, now being held at the Liberty Theater in the back room, accessible from Pine St. We were vacated from the back of the Mercer Creek Church facility on 14th and B streets, for our lunches, but the food distribution for community members remains there, until new facilities are built with a kitchen and room for serving. We are not privy to future plans.

The Food Bank Senior Nutrition lunch menu was especially good today. Dan was the cook and it was in the new location I needed to check out for going on Wednesday to volunteer playing music and setup a place to keep our own music stands. Today’s meal was Pulled Pork (nice & tender), served on rice, with Cole slaw, and a bowl of peaches and pears. I didn’t take a dessert. Once home, I finished the Chocolate Chip cookies John brought home from the trail work yesterday.

On the way home, I went by our bank, and deposited 2 checks: another returned one of $127 from a procedure I was charged for after my deductible had been met. I realized that at the time, but didn’t have any choice except to pay it. Luckily, the Yakima Memorial Hospital’s account department is honest and refunded the money. The second check was from the local Co-Op and is part of a reported PATR for income taxes, so I had to deposit the $5.12 for the record to put in my tax file. Then I stopped at Safeway for their Monday Fried Chicken special. In the checkout line I was visiting with a gentleman in front of me in, and when I looked at his face, I realized I recognized him, and asked his name, because I couldn’t remember from where. He told me, and I returned mine, and said I think I know you from the university. He said he is a retired geologist. Of course, I said, well I am a retired geographer, and we shared the same building.
We enjoyed visiting further after realizing our past connection.

John just returned from putting the license tab on my Forester. He realized the paper showed the car still had a lien on it from the original purchase. (It has long since been paid off). I called Chase Bank and found out I had to go by in person, with my registration and social security number to request the lien transfer, and then I will have to go to the Department of Vehicle licensing to have it re-titled. I asked if there was a charge and he didn’t think so. If there is, I will request Chase Bank pay for it. It should not be on my tab, in my opinion.

We are having fried chicken for dinner, with butternut squash casserole by John, and I will finish the rest of the salad I carried along today and didn’t need to eat at the food bank.

Well, I suppose I should tell another bank story; this one is my current bank. February in 2017 we paid off our 30-year mortgage loan on our house. That meant we had to start arranging for our property taxes and insurance. I went to my Umpqua bank and set up a recurring payment for every 6 months for the value of taxes owed. This year, the Kittitas Treasurer’s Office notified me that I could have my taxes automatically paid through my bank at their office. I didn’t realize that the taxes had changed (gone up), nor did I realize the recurring payment did not apply.

After I had deposited my checks and got home, John said, did you have them tell you the balance in the account. I had not requested it, so I got on line and looked at the past month’s figures. There were two withdrawals marked to the Kittitas County Treasurer’s office for similar amounts in the same month. The one for $892.65 had been 4/16/19, but there was another deduction of $913.99 drawn on 4/30/19. A call to the KC Treasurer’s office alerted me to what had happened – the bank was acting as though they still had to pay but took the money from the checking account rather than an escrow account that had vanished. I called my bank, and asked how to alter it. Brandy helped me through the cancellation process, and now all is well. Come October, when the $913.99 is due, I will only pay the difference, $21.34. That was simpler than being refunded the $$ by the county. I have cancelled the reoccurring one for last year’s taxes, and all should be well. I’m glad I reviewed the activity and found the problem.

Started the washer with clothes and my red bag with blue cheese dressing spilled inside it. That was from a leaky container of salad I carried for lunch. It all made it through just fine.

Tuesday, May 7

Had my morning shower, drank a protein drink, so that I had something in my stomach, took my Amoxicillin at 10:00 a.m., and left ~ 10:15 for a stop at the Dry Cleaner. I arrived around a couple of blocks to the dentist before 11:00 and was invited back to start the process. Meant to go by the bank, but forgot, and will save for tomorrow.

My dentist visit went the entire time. I am happy with the results, but have to hope the temporary stays in until I return May 28 for the crown. The crown will be gold, rather than porcelain, because gold is sturdier, and the impression for the new crown it is rather thin from being taken on the old tooth that had worn down significantly. I do not know how long that one has been in my mouth.

I finished too late at the dentist to eat at the Senior Nutrition program, where they were having Chicken with gravy today.

Therefore, I went directly by the Chase bank office in Fred Meyer with my Forester Registration to speak with banker, John. He was off at lunch and when he returned, had 2 people waiting, so the manager listened to my story when I said I wouldn’t wait until 2:15 and he gave me a 1-800 number to call to process the information I needed to remove the lien on my Subaru Forester, that was never returned to us after the loan was paid off 2 years ago (in May). Now the paperwork is in the mail, and when it arrives, I will need to take it and my registration by to the correct office.

While at Fred Meyer’s building, I was next door to Goodwill, where on Tuesdays Seniors get 10% off purchases. I went to the head guy, Jay, and told him the reason I was in search for music stands. An employee standing with him heard our conversation, and she said she would go check in the back. He walked with me to the place any would be on the sales floor. Sure enough, there was a sturdy fold-up metal one, for $4.99, & with my senior discount, it was $4.49. After figuring out how it worked, I bought it, and he pulled out his little notepad and took my name and phone number, saying he would call me when one came in. Nice service. Now I’m busy printing my name to attach to the stand and to the case of another smaller one I have. I’m taking the two of them in a wheeled carrier to collect others from people in the group, so that we can leave them in a backroom standing collected in a corner, and not have to cart them maybe a block from a parking space downtown.

These Nick-Links arrived today from Nick Zentner, the last one of this season is here for the first time; I will put all in here for anyone who might have missed it. The first three have been out for a while.

Nick thanked us all for attending and reminded us the “downtown” series will continue next April at Morgan Performing Arts Center, our new location. Below are the locations and each is followed by a brief description of content.

1-Supercontinents and the Pacific Northwest

Montana’s Belt Series featured.  Tales of supercontinents Rodinia and Columbia.  Glacier National Park.

2-Plant Fossils in the Pacific Northwest

Palm Fossils at Blewett Pass and Petrified Tree Trunks at Vantage featured.  Includes excitement of finding George Beck’s original journals from the 1930s.

3-Supervolcanoes in the Pacific Northwest

Water moved ashfall into a 30 foot deposit (now lifted and exposed) near Mattawa; southeast of us. This is now known to have come from a significant explosion of a volcanic hot-spot. This ash is tied to Bruneau-Jarbidge Caldera in Idaho.  The video includes a visit to Nebraska (ash went that far), and central Oregon.  

This is the latest you have not yet been told about from me (the professional copy) – you have already received my personal front-row videos of Nick in a previous blog.

4-Hells Canyon and the Ringold Formation

Connection between Ringold sediments and Hells Canyon development.  Includes fish fossil work by Jerry Smith. Also, new zircon work by Lydia Staisch.

Change of subject: to WTA trail work in our Kittitas Valley.

Here’s a great report from Beth Macinko on the WTA work on the Manastash Trail that happened this past weekend.

Thank you everyone for coming out to work on Manastash Ridge on Sunday. You built 400 ft of new tread and did the finish work on 200+ more feet for the Westberg Trail reroute – this reroute will avoid the steep grade sections on the original trail that are causing erosion and vegetation loss. Thanks for working hard to move all that dirt from the steeper side slope to make a nice level tread. Your work will make the trail more sustainable to support generations of hikers and the health of the ecosystem. 

Congrats to Jennifer for earning her hard hat today with five work days! Many thanks to Elizabeth for 100 days of trail work with WTA, thanks for bringing your enthusiasm to work parties all over the state! Special thanks to Leighton, Henry, and David for making this your first WTA work party. Thanks to Craig, John S. and Mark for gaining more experience with new tread construction. And thank you to George, Jennifer, Elizabeth, John H., Tim, Jill, and Alan for coming out both days, 1100 feet of trail was built over the weekend, over half of this reroute section.

As Alan mentioned, this work party earned you 8 hours towards a Discover Pass. Volunteering on state lands for 24 hours (3 WTA work parties) earns you a free Discover Pass. Once you have completed 24 hours, you can email volunteer@wta.org, and let them know which work parties you’ve been on. Attached is a link to a shared album with photos from both Saturday and Sunday this week, you can see the trail progress and feel free to add your own photos. Happy trails, Beth

Link to the photos from the weekend:
WTA work May 4 & 5, Manastash Trail, 2019

From that are some favorites, with 3 flower ones below on Saturday’s post.

Here are a few of interest to me from Beth Macinko on May 5th, Sunday.These and one below shows the fantabulous Kittitas Valley from the new trail on Manastash Ridge. Right side, orange hat is Jill – a CWU grad that had friend Ken Hammond as an adviser in 1986, before I arrived. John has orange hat and orange shirt.The photo on the right, taken on the hike IN, carrying all the work tools – by Elizabeth DeVos. Note, John’s orange hat is hooked to his backpack. Two tools are the maximum for carrying and gloves are a must. When actually working, a hard hat is also required, as are boots and long pants. New volunteers get a new green hat on their 5th day; with name or nickname.

I came home to a bunch of deadlines, after running around town doing errands. Went by the dry cleaners, and have my fingers crossed the shirts will be okay for pick-up on Thursday, after I play music at the Meadows Place.

I had to sort out medical bills not covered by Medicare because the deductible (for John) had not been met. I have been in to see doctors enough already this year, that mine is paid up. Also needed a snack after missing lunch. I had not made it out of the dental office in time to go by the Food Bank for a planned meal.

Printed name tags for music stands and for the container to store them at the new location. Thanks to John for his help in adhering them in the right places.

Wednesday, May 8

Got the attendance finalized for KV F&F tomorrow at Meadows. We ended up with 11, with 3 folks making it up from the Yakima Canyon Bluegrass jam.

On my way to the Food Bank (Liberty Theater), I stopped at Umpqua Bank for 3 colorful Frisbees so we could go some not-too-hot day to one of the Disc Golf city parks in town, with another family. It’s supposed to be a lot of fun, but I need to read up on the rules (on line, with demonstration videos). They were given to me by Brandy. John and I both were Frisbee throwers from the beginning of meeting each other, and we also taught our first Brittany, Wisty, to jump up and catch them. She was good at it. We got her in Iowa in 1971. I wish we had had a video camera then to have captured the actions, but all we have now are neat memories.

Food bank music for the first time at the new venue, at the back of the Liberty Theater, in the room managed by the Calvary Baptist Church, Pastor Stephen. Monday, I got a tour from a church member, Steve, when I went in to see the set-up and asked about a secure place for us to store music stands so we didn’t have to haul them in every time we play. Many of our members are just singers and didn’t have their own music stand, so several of us (Evelyn, Joanie, and I) combined our extra pair to come up with 6. Our harmonica player brought his own stand, as did our guitarist. It worked just fine. We had 9 players. Everyone there in the audience thought the music sounded better than in the old place. It’s probably because the floors are a nice heavy tile and not carpeted to absorb the sound.

I took my camera today to get a photo of me taken by Joanie in the new dining area (with a full kitchen and industrial dishwasher), wearing a shirt she gave me last week. I received many compliments on it, especially the embroidery on the neckline. The collar on my right is not set right, but you can see the new venue, and in the back of the photo, the kitchen and serving line.Fellow in red hat is Bob, one of our singers; and me, after music.

Today’s menu was macaroni and cheese with chicken that all I talked with said was very good. I had my own salad, so I did not get a plate, but I did take a bowl of fruit (peaches, pears, apricot, pineapple, and a maraschino cherry). Dessert I also took, but brought home to share with John. We haven’t tasted it yet, but it is a yellow lemon looking cake, with white frosting topped with almond slivers. All who had it at my table loved it. It was made by a volunteer who always is there on Wednesdays and makes desserts to share. I took a Ziploc bag to bring home whatever was there today for dessert. After we played, put up all the equipment into the “back” room, there wasn’t much time to eat and still make it to my exercise class on time. It doesn’t help that the AAC clocks are set 5-6 minutes ahead of the actual time.

I went to SAIL. The new daily schedule program was finally available, delivered just today during our class. I brought one home, went through it, and hung it on our fridge. It covers activities, events, and trips for three months offered by the AAC.

On my way home I stopped at Bi-Mart for some Progresso soup on sale, our favorite: Chicken with rice (and a whiff of wild rice), and veggies. It was priced nicely at 3 cans for $5.

Thursday, May 9

Today’s music was at Meadows Place. We had a dozen players present and a large involved audience.

I went by the dry cleaners to pick up my silk shirt and John’s WTA orange shirt. His is a cotton shirt with an iron-on patch from a WTA promotion of 2 years ago. We did not want to put this in our washing machine. He has orange polyester shirts to work in and washing is okay for those.

Also went to Super 1 for some smoked turkey (planning ahead for my salads); then to Joanie’s to return a carry bag and offer some clothes to her in exchange for what she gave me earlier in the week. She invited me to stay for dinner, but I had two other stops before coming home, so I declined.

My first stop was going back to the cleaners to ask about a button missing on the bottom of the silk shirt. They do have a catch thing that will retrieve buttons that come loose during the dry cleaning operation. However, the fellow behind the counter didn’t have access to the drawer and wouldn’t until tomorrow morning. So I left my shirt and said I hoped they could locate the matching white pearl button, but if not, then a white one that would fit the buttonhole would be fine.

Friday, May 10

Awoke to an early morning call from the Dry Cleaner’s. They found a button that would work and have sewed it on my yellow silk shirt. Will pick up Monday.

Hot weather is not far off, so it is time for an inspection and tune-up of our heat pump. Darren, from Brad & Burke, will come on Friday the 17th, at 8:30 a.m. John wants to remember to spray the outside unit for wasps, and make it safe for Darren, who has a reaction, if stung.

John went to meet Ric Gearhart on Clerf Rd to pick up 20 wood pallets. The old Chevy truck doesn’t have a canopy, so he took it. I went along to take some photos and meet the fellow who gave us the pallets and thank him. These were under hay, outside. Now he has a shed.
Ric outside with some; more are in the shed in front of the truck. They are in good shape, and a few have clean fresh wood that can be used for a neat project.
The internet has lots of ideas, like a box.

Once home, I took a photo of the load. They did a nice job of putting them into the pickup bed. I counted roughly ~ 23.Different sizes and shapes makes counting not straightforward.

I’m switching back to a message I received this morning on Facebook, which I accidentally saw. I do not have time to see all things that come across my timeline in one day.

Jennifer Lipton, whom I taught with in Geography at CWU, sent it about an award ceremony for the College of the Sciences. Here’s her comment (about two students I know); others were included I do not know.

Awesome evening at the College of the Sciences award ceremony, with my amazing graduate student in our Cultural and Environmental Resource Management graduate program Beth Macinko and fellow co-Director Pat McCutcheon. Geography student Caleb Valko has decided to go to grad school at UNT for his Masters after I connected him to my fantastic UT Austin Geography friend, Dr. Matt Fry!  Pat, Beth, Jen, Dean Tim Englund ^.^.^. ^.^. ^ Caleb with Jen.

I spent a lot of time this afternoon, going back to my old Toshiba computer I hadn’t used in a while. I needed to find backups of a previous year’s tax data to use with the TurboTax program. My Dell had an incomplete background folder that needed to be on here (the Dell) to give the history needed to move forward to the software. That meant I had to find my external CD/DVD drive I had bought to use with the Dell (because they do not have CD options on new laptops). Then I had to install the software to run the drive on the Dell.

The process took a lot longer than expected, using a lot of C drive space. I’ll have to back up and delete some of the unneeded things. I don’t like the time to take to do this. Thankfully, once installed, it returned some space on the disk.

Got that done. Now am installing Turbo Tax. I finished and got started but have gone as far as I could without looking up some receipts to put new numbers into the template.

Saturday, May 11

A wedding of musical friendsHumor at beginning – collaring and the rings shared during vows
Today I planned to drive into the Yakima Canyon to the 1:00 wedding friends, Maury & Marilyn. I made it there in time to get a seat but stood through the ceremony, videotaping it.

Wedding Ceremony–Marilyn & Maury, Big Pines, 5-11-19

After ceremony, Marilyn’s daughter Tammy sings Love Songs

Maury’s grandson Liam sings, ‘Old Man Look at My Life’

If you’d like to hear the songwriter, Neil Young, sing his song, and tell his story of the origins, check out this link. The entire lyrics are posted with the video. Liam might appreciate this. (I don’t have his email to share, if someone in the family can, please.)

Neil Young – Old Man

After the wedding, I drove to Costco (21 miles, r.t.) for filling my car with gasoline (@3.249/gal). Circle K in EBRG is the lowest at 3.399. So, the price went down in EBRG from yesterday, and I only saved 15₵/gal instead of the expected 20₵. Still worth the trip, as I needed Acetaminophen. And the drive was beautiful today, down and back. I traveled back to the Big Pines Campground and visited with the family & friends. I took my fiddle, but they were on a rest break, in the shade, and had already served their wedding cake. I got there in time to get a piece with frosting, and brought some of the second layer of 3 small pieces back to John without frosting, which had been left on the tray. He likes chocolate cake and I think got some of the raspberry layer on the top. Visited for about an hour and had another photo made on my camera, by Tamara, with the newly married couple and me beside the tree which provided the nice shade which kept us cool for the service. The temperature was 89 in the canyon, but thankfully with a light breeze. Marilyn, Maury (changed from his bib overalls), & Nancy without her John Deere wide-brimmed straw hat for the sun we escaped by this wonderful shade tree. Maury & Marilyn met in the canyon here a year ago at this Bluegrass Jam event and chose this as the site of their wedding. Several years ago, John and I met Maury for the first time here as well, inviting him to join our Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends music group. The rest is history.

On my way to and from Costco, via SR 821, Yakima Canyon Road,I passed and missed some great photoshoots on the river, of boats and fishermen (& fisherwomen), but I did take some photos on my return trip from Costco: From my Economic Geography teaching days, I love hops fields and the stories accompanying growing, harvesting, and transporting them to users, in different forms. These vines are new in the Pomona area on State Hwy 821. Right photo is farther upstream on the Yakima River with a boater. Many fishing. It is a catch and release stream through the Canyon.

The green hills were lovely, but most of the Arrowleaf Balsamroot golden flowers were past their prime. They were perfect our last trip down. Here are flowers reserved from earlier this week.Manastash Ridge Trail flowers by Vikram Bisht (member of the WTA work crew); Maryhill vicinity south of Goldendale: Phlox and Arrowleaf Balsamroot near the Columbia River, by Jack Powell.

Arrowleaf Balsamroot Plant Description

Sunday, May 12 Mother’s Day

John’s out working before the temperature rises too high. Mostly, he was watering plants in the garden, primarily strawberries.

He came in for brunch, and we have finished a nice Mother’s Day meal of eggs, summer sausage (fried slices), peaches, orange slices, and English Muffin bread toasted with apricot preserves.

Temps have risen in the house to 74, front porch 79 in shade, 76 at the airport 5 miles south, with 27mph gusts to cool things some. All our windows are closed, with no a/c turned on.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, April 28

We published the blog at 10:43 p.m. and we spent another ½ hour making correctional updates.

Monday, April 29

This morning I sent out the KV F&F note about scheduling for this week, and requested feedback for the whole month. Three people replied.

John worked outside today. Multiple projects going on. Nothing notable or special.

I left in time for my blood draw prior to Silver Sneakers.
It went well and I got to the AAC before they started the class. Got my equipment and went through the exercises. I tried to take it easy with my left arm, but I was still aching when done. When I attend next Monday, I’m going to be extra cautious about taking it easy. My muscles are just not yet ready to have a hard workout. Two months away takes its toll.

From there I drove to the Food Bank Senior Nutrition lunch for a very nice free lunch. It was beef & mushrooms in gravy over rice, veggies side, a roll, skipped the dark mixed greens salad, and had a piece of red velvet cake with white icing, for dessert.

On the way home, I stopped at Safeway for their Monday Fried Chicken special of 4 thighs/4 legs ($4.99) normally $3 higher, and picked up small mini marshmallows for topping butternut squash casseroles.

Once home, I moved the music for May/June into my music book and also into the one I carry for two guitar players in the group: Gerald and Charlie. I have yet to put the audience copies into my carrier and replace the ones from March/April. That got done Thursday morning, just in time.

One thing John did after I got home was harvest our asparagus. I made a package for our neighbor, Ken, which he just picked up on his way down to feed his father supper.

John harvested an ice cream bucket full, and here’s a collage of it. This is the first harvest. He will harvest more on Friday this week, and hope for the winds to die down so he can spray the ground to get rid of the weeds and grass.This is a combo of two shots of the same container of asparagus.

We had Fried Chicken for dinner, with French fries, and tomatoes.

I spent a bunch of time unplanned working on changes in Google Groups relating to the NW Geography Jobs list I co-manage with Caitlin LaBar (who got involved when I was in the ICU in 2009). She managed the list until I was able to return to run it. I shall be ever grateful to her. Tonight I sent her the alert and we decided all probably will be fine taking their deferred settings. We are the only two owners of the group, and no one else has privileges to post or otherwise be involved in the process.

Tuesday, April 30

We have an appointment in Yakima this afternoon for a special test to measure our circulation to our feet. More below.
While there, we will go to Costco for a few things.

We ate a brunch before leaving and took off about 11:20 a.m. First stop, WinCo, for our All Bran Buds. Then across the street for gasoline at Costco, at 20₵/gal. cheaper than in Ellensburg! On inside for things we and a neighbor needed. From there, we drove to our foot doctor’s office for the special vascular test.

I tried finding a good explanation on the web and failed, so I will go with my own experienced testing.

Our appointment was for 2:30 p.m. We were not brought in until closer to 3:30 because they were training a new person to administer the test, and she was the one who gave me my test, after John’s. I watched the test being given to John (by the teacher) so I had a good idea of the procedure. They use two measuring devices (a blood pressure cuff to fit the part of the body measured) and an oximeter to measure one’s pulse and SpO2. The parts recorded / examined, included a large cuff around the thigh above the knee, another of the calf below the knee, then the ankle, and then the ankle BP with the SpO2 on the Big Toe, and finally a small BP cuff on the Big Toe along with the SpO2. The order is top down, first the right and then the left for the thigh measurement. Then below the knee (right & left), and on down the same way to the calf, then ankle, and then big toe.

It was accomplished on an uncomfortable examination table. Normally, the test is completed in 15 minutes. With the training happening, and retesting necessary, John’s went ~ 40 minutes and mine was ~ 30 minutes. We did not walk out of the building until 4:30, so going straight home was not going to work.

We were scheduled at the Iron Horse Brewery at 6:00 p.m., so we went to Burger King getting a Whopper for John and a Crispy chicken for me. The mix & match is still on for $3.00/sandwich. We carried our own bottle of Coca Cola. Then we drove to the Ales and Trails meeting, an outreach for WTA (Washington Trails Association). We parked in our bank’s lot next door.Top left, John (orange WTA shirt) talking with our friend and local wind farm guide, Kristin Ashley. I’m to the left in front of them, out of view. She and John went to get glasses of beer, met and talked to one of the firm, and he gave them their beer. Neat.

Daily Record Link:
Story of WTA Trails & Ales

It was a nice presentation and I saw folks from my past there, and also met some new ones. Everyone received a free raffle ticket, and the prizes were nice. I wanted the pair of socks called Darn Tough with a Lifetime Guarantee. They are expensive. We did not win any prize with our tickets.

Read through the article above to Beth Macinko’s message at the end. That will prepare you for this coming weekend’s WTA trail work party even John is serving on as an Assistant Crew Leader (an orange hat), with Beth as the blue hat, crew leader.

Tuesday is also the day to check Bi-Mart numbers, so we stopped there on the trip home. I was tired of standing and walking, so John did the honors of going inside to check. We missed one gift by “300”, and did not win anything for the last digit either. We didn’t make it home until after 8:15 p.m.

Wednesday, May 1

Dave Hazlett, farrier, is coming at 10:00 to trim Myst.
I have to leave ~ 10:50 for the Food Bank to setup music stands and chairs. I’ll make my salad with John’s help cubing cheese, apples, and smoked turkey, to take along for lunch. I will not go to SAIL today, because of special programs at the AAC which cancelled out this Wednesday and Friday’s exercise classes at 1:30 p.m.

Washed dishes, never got to clothes.

After running into Gloria, Jeb, Gia, and Gary at Costco yesterday, I remembered I had never completed sending the videos and report of the KAS 30th birthday party.

I’m now updating the Kittitas Audubon Society’s meeting for the 30th birthday coverage the first week of May and sending to the members for whom I have emails.  I found these after I published the blog on April 18, while cleaning up my camera for Nick Zentner’s talk.  Here they are to finish the evening’s presentations I captured on a different camera.

Gloria Baldi on looking for Sandhill Cranes

Jan Demorest Introduces the Silent Auction

The next one is Lesley McGalliard presenting a delightful step into the past 30 years of our Kittitas Audubon Society’s local chapter beginnings. Check out the comments of when a speaker couldn’t come at the last minute, and CWU offered an 8-track movie of the Life Cycles of Egrets. The content was different from the expected title and provided an interesting evening.

Lesley McGailliard reads Steve Hall’s letter

Gloria Baldi Introduces Speaker, Wendy Shaw

I then changed cameras and you have already seen the videos captured of Wendy’s presentation.

I visited our neighbor Louaine Magnuson this afternoon. I told her about this photo, and will have to follow it with a photo when it flowers. It is a Hall’s Hardy Almond tree. She gave us a dozen seeds but they did not get planted when they should have. Still, we managed to get two trees that are now several years old. This is the largest and looks the best. We will take another photo to put beside it, when it flowers. I hope that happens before Sunday night, at publishing time. Not quite, but half is flowering.
Louaine’s Hall’s Hardy flowering almond-start almond blossoms

Thursday, May 2

John left a little before 8:00 a.m. for the dentist for an 8:30 a.m. appointment.

I finalized the count for chairs today at Rehab and reported them: ten needed. I put the audience copies in their bag and charged the battery in my mic. We may not need it today in the smaller room except for Charlie’s singing to be heard over the players.

John made it home but couldn’t call me on his cell phone, either dialing or through the Bluetooth. He later figured out (but doesn’t know how) his phone got set on Airplane Mode, and would not do anything.

Now I need to eat brunch, get dressed, and go to town to play music.

Before I left and before he ate, the cement on his temporary tooth cap came unglued and the cap fell out. He had to go back to town to have it re-cemented. Sad – it took him 40 minutes to drive in and return, but only 10 minutes to fix. Good thing his appointment was early this morning, because they are not open tomorrow for business. I managed to schedule his trip back in, and then I left for town.

We had 10 players and a large responsive audience. It went well. After playing, I left for Joanie & Ken’s house to offer some tops, but she didn’t want them. So, she offered me some tops and pants that she couldn’t use. I brought home a bag of new clothes and still haven’t had time to try them on yet.

John took a photo of some “yellow” goldfinches on our back feeder. The males are brighter now than when we first started seeing them this spring. See below for that description. Feeder on the patio behind our house on the Naneum Fan. The one red one is a house finch, not a red finch; other are goldfinches. Top right is a pair – male and female (both top pix are from the web). On our feeder, you can see the brightest yellow ones (males) and the duller are females. Interestingly, they are monogamous, having one brood annually.

More colorations with males:Breeding male . ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . non-breeding male

Here are some of the female with her coloration through year:Winter coat – others to the right for other parts of the year.

Description of the goldfinches’ color scheme: (worth following)

David Sibley about Goldfinch Colorations

Be sure to follow the above link and watch the slide show. It is very well done and illustrative, especially for children.

More information from David Sibley:

Molt is the process of feather replacement. All birds do it; they have to grow new feathers once or twice a year to stay warm, dry, and airborne, and in many cases they grow differently colored feathers at different seasons to match their surroundings or to impress others of their species.

Among the small songbirds, virtually all species have a complete molt (replacing all of their feathers) in late summer, and in addition many species have a partial molt (replacing some of the body feathers but not the wing or tail feathers) in the spring.

American Goldfinch follows this pattern. Beginning in September, and continuing for six to eight weeks, they molt all of their feathers, ending up with a completely new and pristine set of feathers (and drab colors) as they head into the winter. In the spring, as they grow new body feathers the males especially transform into bright yellow breeding plumage, but the wing and tail feathers remain from the previous fall. As these wing feathers get older the pale buff edges fade to white and disintegrate, so that by the end of the summer the wings look essentially all black. And in September another complete molt begins.

Watch the slideshow, or click on the main image to advance, and see what other patterns you can notice.

Friday, May 3

The rest of our day was busy with outside chores for John and inside ones for me. First he picked asparagus and I gave some to three neighbors. It was not as much as was picked the first day that you’ve seen above. He picked everything today, so he could spray the ground for weeds and grass.

The purple tulips are in Garden #1, red are across the driveway.

Saturday, May 4

At 3:00 a.m. our friend Evie Schuetz was driving over by the Columbia River near Vantage, WA and capturing star gazing photographs that will blow your mind. She posted two. I recognized the location of one (explained below), and she shared some more information.Skies above the Columbia River at Vantage, WA, 3:00 a.m. Sunday, over the Wild Horse Monument (aka Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies),
{ Unfinished, described here }
. . . a neat sculpture high on a hill above basalt, upriver from Wanapum Dam and Sentinel Gap. Once years ago, John and I and several others from the Kittitas Valley Trail Riders club, rode our horses in from the north to the top of the hill right next to the sculpture. It’s really quite amazing close-up as it is from far away. The 15 horses are made from iron sheets and are about the size of our riding horses.

The last one she sent me after I made some comments and asked some questions. On that one, she said: Nancy, here’s a composite photo of the images I used for this shot, only difference is I used a different stack option, so you could see all the meteors. I (Evie) didn’t post this one because it’s so noisy, but I thought you might be interested in seeing it. I (Nancy) was and I share here as the bottom photo above (look for the streaks) – because of the predicted meteor showers starting this morning.

I sent this link below to Evie when she shared this photo. I received it yesterday from space.com about the predicted meteor showers over the next couple of days (nights). The photo below came from that link.Taken by Astrophotographer Mike Taylor, of an Eta Aquarid meteor streaking through the sky on May 6, 2014 in Maine.

ETA Aquarid Meteor Shower for 2019

John left for Manastash Ridge WTA work party at 7:25 a.m. Not as far to travel as usual. This will be excellent for the next 4 trips serving as an Assistant Crew Leader (Orange Hat), and even nicer being an assistant to the Crew Leader (Blue Hat), Beth Macinko.

John’s day on the trail – Beth put out a nice report this evening with photos. Here are a few I chose with John involved. I was hoping for one of John and Beth together in the same photo.Top left, John explains his saw during the safety use of tools talk, and then is pictured using a McLeod tool (rake) on new trail build.

Jacquie Lawson issues with card dispersal
I’m having problems with no sends and multiple sends on my Jacquie Lawson greeting cards. I need to finish reporting today’s activity to the people in the United Kingdom. It finally was done mid-afternoon. I had about 5 problems to report. No response yet. Might have to wait until Monday.

I continued dish and clothes washing. The relatively new clothes washer is a funky slow thing. Progress!

Sunday, May 5

John left for Manastash Ridge WTA trail work about 7:20 a.m.

He made it home and said the creation of new trail was through more difficult terrain today, but they added 400’ to yesterday’s 700’. Everyone was pleased at the accomplishments.

We’ll end our week with our neighbor’s solar panel installation:April 22 – April 24 – April 28 – 30 solar panels on an old, unused, cattle barn. House is 200 feet past and to the right of the solar array. John took the photos from near the end of our driveway, with a 200 mm lens.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan