Category: Random issues

Sunday has started out a nice day.  I am resting after cutting John’s hair (much needed).  He’s out in the yard working.  Today I go in to hear a family group play and sing blue grass and Celtic-inspired songs.  All eight children play musical stringed instruments and the mom too.  Should be nice.  It will be a good break from being a performer to just sit and listen and enjoy.  I did manage to load the dishwasher, but that’s the extent of my housework thus far.  Need to wash clothes and to clean up stacks of papers.  Maybe later. after the concert.  Nope, I’m back and have just been sitting and resting since.  The concert was fantastic.   Eight kids (oldest 22, youngest 10) played and sang.  It was really a fine concert and went on for 1.5 hours.  Many of the family members play more than one instrument.  One fellow played a guitar, mandolin and violin; another played the drums and a violin; another played the Bass Fiddle and a Bass guitar; many of them sing as well.  One gal played a cello and a violin.  Their mom joined them to sing two songs.  What a talented family.  If they are in the vicinity again, I will return.

Sunday night I was editing a friend’s book and my computer was invaded by a nasty virus that tried to take over my system and lure me into buying some software (a SCAM).  I knew enough not to buy it, but I didn’t know how to rid my computer of the virus.  It had been missed on my Antivirus program.  I thought maybe when I rebooted the next morning all would be well, but it wasn’t.  So, after a frustrating hour with my laptop, I called and took it to the computer gurus in town to doctor my system.  It took them all day and till noon Tuesday to rid it and install two more malware programs to keep an eye out for these horrid things.  They only charged me for an hour of their time, so that was very nice.

Monday had three trips to town.  First to deliver the computer, with a short stop to see my friend in the nursing home.  Back in the early afternoon to exercise class, and to the store for supplies and my meds.  John took the car in at 4:00 to go to the dentist and grocery store.

Tuesday began with a call from the dentist to see how John was doing and a request for me to fill a slot that freed up at 10:30 am for a teeth cleaning I very much needed.  I went in and John went along with me to confirm that the location of the local radio station had not changed during or since weather data were collected there during the period 1954 to 1974.  He learned that the location is the same but the current crew is too new to remember that activity.  With those chores done we went to the grocery store for needed things and then by to pick up my virus-free computer.  Wow… it’s nice to have it back.

Then later in the afternoon I went back again to town, this time for a “tea party” — not that Tea Party!   It was given by a friend (in music in the valley) for her visiting sister from New York City.  The sister has taught at Juilliard Music School for 40 years.  My friend wanted to introduce her to women in music in Ellensburg.  There were many of us there, some from the choral groups in town, several from bands and orchestras, and a few friends who supported the “tea” by making sandwiches and cookies and serving tea.  We had Scones, nuts, little “cocktail” sandwiches, sugar mints, and two types of tea (Earl Grey and a special “organic” market spice tea).  I had the latter and enjoyed it a lot, especially the taste of orange.  I spent much time on the backyard patio in the lee of the house, with a view of the Columbines and large red Poppys in the garden.

Wednesday started with a bunch of chores, and this afternoon I will join my SAIL exercise class.  I hope I don’t have to lead it today.  That’s much harder work.  Now, later, I can say I didn’t have to lead the exercises but I’m still worn out.  The wind was really blowing again today, with high gusts of 45 mph, and several over 40, with sustained winds on average for several hours of 32 mph.

Tonight John made some awesome chicken soup for dinner.  We found out our trip planned for Friday to Leavenworth needs to be Thursday instead.  Good thing our cat and dogs are using the doggie door John set up yesterday.

Thursday will be music at Dry Creek, and I will run home to get John and hit the road for Leavenworth.  We pick them up at their motel at 6:00 p.m.  Our friends are on a cross-country Tandem bicycle trip.  We left at 4:20 and drove through awful traffic and insane idiot drivers on a mostly 2-lane mountain road, but reached Leavenworth

http://www.leavenworth.org/modules/pages/index.php?pageid=1

in front of their motel at 5:40.  We had planned to meet them at 6:00.  We visited, saw their tandem bike (named Alto), and then walked downtown for dinner.  It was a nice German restaurant and we enjoyed, rouladen,  Schnitzels and cabbage rolls.

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

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

Had a nice visit too, and John and I pulled out of Leavenworth about 7:40.  We had a slower trip back home, but almost no traffic and no deer seen on the road or side of road.  We had seen one small in-velvet buck going up.  We got home just before 9:00 p.m. and the dogs and cat were fine.  They had access to the house and the backyard through the previously mentioned doggie/kitty door.  Turns out the German food did not agree with me.  Either a spice or the red cabbage and sauerkraut (?).  But I was miserable the rest of the night burping and awoke in the middle of the night, itching all over.

Friday mid-morning, I am better but the lack of sleep is not good.  Anyway, I went to the food bank and played music.  There were just two of us.  We had a nice spaghetti dinner and salad and a cinnamon roll type cake with white frosting.  Then I went to exercise class, but I was tired.  Checked out a couple of garage sales, but they were expensive and junk (or both).  Went back for Bingo but only had 3 people show, and we needed at least 6.  However, the 3 of us there were fed pie and ice cream before leaving.  I had a small piece of Cherry and also Apple, with chocolate ice cream with choc chips.  It was quite good, and they even gave me two pieces of the Cherry Pie to bring home to John.  Then on home I came.  I’m sitting in my recliner checking email and thinking about the leftovers from Leavenworth. I had some of the Wiener  Schnitzel (Viennese Schnitzel), with toast, but not any cabbage.

Now it’s Saturday and a quiet day, except for the wind blowing hard again.  John’s out preparing his fence around the garden for solid panels on the bottom on the west (prevailing winds) side.  Last year, we took metal off the roof of the small barn and replaced it with asphalt shingles and “torch down” on the “wing” or less steep part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lep0_624CwM

The plan is to have the solid barrier reduce the damage to plants from the wind.  Yesterday, John brought in a 36” blackberry cane (one of his thorn-less ones) broken off from the wind.  He came in just now to say the center shoot (leader) of a Ponderosa Pine has been snapped off on a young (but too high to fix) tree beside the driveway.  I’m getting ready to do inside chores.  I have been putting them off all week, so I must show John that I really can do them.  He told me this morning that I kept saying it but never did.  Well, this weekend we have NO events to attend, so that will give me more time . . . (sound of phone ringing) . . . Uff da ! We’ve just been invited to Father’s Day lunch tomorrow.  I’ll get to those chores another time.  (Actually, John wrote the last couple of sentences, because he answered the phone.  I have done a few chores since, but stopped to come back and “proof” this blog.)  Now I will go back to the den and report next week on progress there.  Hope you all have a nice week.

All our best regards

Nancy and John

in the Valley of the West Wind

 

Sunday wound down with an evening meal in town with friends over elk steak. We sat in the backyard and watched quail, sparrows, and flickers flit around.  It was overcast and yet quite nice, with a few drops of rain, very few.  What a lovely way to end the weekend.

There were only 5 of us, and it was comfortable and casual.  We took a bottle of rose’ wine, a plate of cut up Jarlsberg cheese, and multi-grain crackers with black sesame seeds – that look quite odd.  VERY yummy.  Also carried along some raisin cookies.  There was a Pecan Pie store-bought that was all right, but doesn’t compare with John’s.  I will be ready to go to bed soon, and won’t need any more dessert.

When we first found the crackers with black sesame seeds John investigated. Who knew sesame seeds were so interesting?  Not us!  It’s amazing what one learns when you come down out of the hills.  There are other colors too.  A basic link is:

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

The following has good photos of the plants, flowers, seed pods and more:

http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Sesa_ind.html

. . . and you can learn the name in 84 languages.  Follow the link at the end to “Perilla” and the “crispate foliage” – an issue also mentioned in the wikipedia link.

Monday is a Geography Dept. waffle/pancake feed and the recipe is made with a sour dough starter.  John had a dental cleaning appointment and missed most of it and the award ceremony.  I was there for all, enjoyed a nice waffle with fruit, company of the Emeriti Profs, and also became the photographer of the event.  Several awards were given to Geography and Resource Management grad students along with our donated one for the Hultquist distinguished service award.  The money was split and presented to two students, one an undergrad and the other a grad.

Tuesday we didn’t need to go to town, and just fought the wind all day.  It was blowing hard since yesterday evening.  The last reading was the highest today, 47 mph gusts and sustained 38 mph winds.  Poor John has had to put up with it for two days.  Today for lunch he fixed a great BBQ, made from a longtime-cooked piece of beef and mixed with spices we recently bought (non salt spice).  He mixed in BBQ original sauce and cooked it down until it rivaled the open-pit southern variety of my recent Atlanta trip.

Wednesday.  Finally the wind quieted some, but then it rained.  John added the word quieted – he thinks it would make sense to report wind in decibels and, in fact, he often wears ear protectors (from the old Herter’s company).  See this link; answers #4 and #5:  http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=300215

We both went to town, for my exercise class; John stopped at the airport and the waste management station seeking information about the history of Ellensburg weather station sites.  Afterwards he took me by the hospital for a ProTime blood draw (turned out neat because we saw my friend there at the hospital.  She was my first roommate at the Rehab center over a year ago, and was my inspiration to get back on my feet).  We also dropped off one of his newsletters for the vet who will be speaking on the Horse Equine virus at Thursday night’s meeting.  While I was in class, John went to the grocery for cat food and litter, grabbed some chicken breasts and English muffin bread.  When we came home, however, I was hungry and we had some Jarlsberg cheese and multi-grain crackers.  Late afternoon call came from my family physician’s nurse that my INR is 2.3 and I can stay on my same Coumadin dosage.  Now I’m tired, but do not plan to take a nap because bedtime will be here soon enough.

Thursday – I have music at the Rehab center at 2:00 and then in the evening I will join John and go to the KV trail riders meeting.  It was neat because the friend we met yesterday came with her husband and daughter to hear us play music at the old nursing home where we spent so much time.  On the way home we stopped at a yard sale and I found a western shirt like I have one of in a smaller size that I can now wear and give away the other.  The veterinarian’s talk was very well done and interesting.  She is an excellent speaker.  It was good to see everyone now that I’m in better shape than the last time they saw me.

Friday is playing music and eating at the Food Bank Soup Kitchen.  It’s a beautiful day today, and I’m going to exercise class.  Stopped by my neighbors to pick up a book to deliver to someone in town, and she has lost weight (I have gained) and she gave me several really nice blouses.  I took her two that I have outgrown.  Stopped at a yard sale and bought a blanket for a buck.  We have one dog (11 years old) who STILL chews holes in blankets.  You’d think!  But no, she keeps doing it.  Today at the Food Bank, 3 of us played instruments and we had an extra singer.  We had a nice time and were appreciated.  Food was good too.  It was a chicken/rice/barley/veggie soup, with whole wheat and multi-grain bread, a pasta salad (that I’m not big on), and a nice piece of cake with raspberry filling and cream cheese filling (I guess), along with  blueberry/pomegranate juice.

Off from there to exercise class and there were only 6 of us there, with no leader, so I did the honors of leading for the hour.  We enjoyed ourselves, and I got a good workout.  Came home and found a present in the mail, from the local Classic Hits radio station we listen to.

We frequently enter the monthly contest and respond to the survey of listeners as to which songs we want to hear and how often.  Several months ago we got an album of the Beatles, and then later one of the Doobie Bros.  Today’s is an old re-recording of two live 1974 performances, in Iowa and in Kentucky, of the Grateful Dead; I’ve enjoyed listening to them as background music this afternoon.  John’s outside working with the horses and on his fence around the garden.  I walked out to get the paper and was able to assist him by holding one of his crosspieces.

We still haven’t seen anything in the paper about the fire .6 mile down the road from us a couple of nights ago (during the high winds).  The fire department fought it from 11: 00 p.m. and all through the night to keep it from spreading into one nearby house and adjacent woods.  Turns out it was a Meth Lab.  That’s the word from a friend of a friend, but not even a fire report has been posted in the newspaper.  It was a complete loss of the mobile home house and adjacent buildings, and an RV, and camper, plus who knows what else.  No one was home at the time.

Saturday.  In the morning, alone, while John worked on getting out two plum trees and all their roots, I went to yard sales.  Nothing too exciting was purchased, but a couple of blankets for 50 cents, and some freebies:  a footstool, wooden things, & a large cotton spread.  Also got an almost new dish drain for a buck that we really have needed but didn’t want to pay $35 at Costco.  Also, I got some nice sunglasses for me and some long-bladed clippers for John for a buck each.

Then I went back in another musical performance at Briarwood retirement community and today’s food was interesting.  Little wiener dogs (cocktail type) barbequed and cooked in a Crock-pot.  Nice salad and tomatoes and cukes (I don’t like), and some pasta salads I don’t like either.  A table full of great desserts (no complaints there): Molasses cookies, chocolate cake with choc frosting, brownies, and pinwheels.

The nicest thing that happened occurred after the performance, when a man came up to me and said, “I was your student in a couple of classes back in the early 1990s, and you were a wonderful professor who influenced me incredibly.”  Boy that was nice to hear.  Never hurts to hear compliments, especially 20 years later!!  He even reminisced about things he remembered from the classes he took from me.  He took GIS and Economic Geography.  He knew John too, and had a class from him (Physical Geog).  Before he told me that, when he first came up, he asked how John was.  I remembered him once he said his name, but he does look a lot different from when he was my student.  He still has the same expressive eyes and pretty smile, however.  He was there with his wife (both from Moses Lake), and they were there with his mom who lives down the street on our road, a few miles.  She is going to move into the retirement home where we were today.  We talked a little afterward when I asked him what he had been doing in his career.  He said he had been a development planner in several cities in WA and OR, but just retired from the Moses Lake job.  Pretty cool.

All our best regards

Nancy and John

in Washington State

 

 

Happily for our faithful readers (all 2 of you), this will be short this week.  Last week’s blog was way too long, but I figured I had a lot to say.  It’s been a slow week this week, because I have been resting up from my trip to Atlanta, and tying up loose ends here in WA.  I’m still not done with unpacking even though I really didn’t have that much with me.  I saved $40 by carrying on and not checking my luggage.

Sunday was spent in part with friends who are moving to Reno.  We took some food into Ellensburg to share with them, us, and their worker bee friends and relative.  We took pizza, pineapple salad, and lemonade.  They all appreciated it very much.  John also helped with loading a few boxes and drawers and pieces of furniture during some of the time we weren’t eating.

We also delivered some of our tulips to a friend from my exercise class who wanted to put flowers on her family’s graves, and didn’t have any blooming now.  We are higher in elevation by almost 750 feet, so ours were still in bloom.  Our lilacs are just starting this week.  We have had lots of rain off and on recently, and that hampers John’s yard work and grows the grass even higher.  He’s been spraying for weeds, and has to do it when the wind is not blowing or a rainstorm coming.  That’s been a real challenge.

I also spent a lot of time early this week working on my pictures from the Atlanta trip, and getting them burned into a CD to send to the webmaster for our class web page.  It is nfhs61.com.  All the pictures from different photographers are not there yet.

Have also been emailing back and forth with classmates, while reminiscing about past Atlanta and our memories.  After so many years, It’s been a lot of fun touching bases again with a number of friends from high school days, and before in Elementary school.

Monday (Memorial Day) and Tuesday we stayed home and didn’t go to town at all.

Wednesday, exercise class started up again and John went with me to town to run some errands and wait for me to finish.  We left town for Yakima and Costco, because we needed some printer cartridges for John’s running off the KVTR newsletter this weekend.  He has to have it in the mail by Saturday.  Also, for the Geography Department’s end of the year award ceremony and pancake feed this coming Monday we bought large numbers of dinner plates, hot and cold beverage cups, napkins, and plastic forks, spoons, and knives.

Thursday started with my loading the dishwasher, and John hiding from the wind, in the lee of the house, 10 feet from the front door, trimming our Mountain Ash tree.

http://www.tree-pictures.com/mountain_ash_tree_pictures.html

It was quite bushy with many low suckers, so much so,

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

that we couldn’t see the car, the pasture or anything past it, and it is about to bloom.  Bees love this thing and John likes to remove all the lower limbs so the flowers – and bees – are above us and the dogs. John’s 37^th principle of being a homeowner is to never plant anything that blooms between your front door and your car.  A few years ago he removed a plant given to him as “bamboo” but was actually Japanese knotweed . . .

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

. . . an interesting plant that you are better off not having, especially right next to your front door.

The afternoon was playing at the nursing home where one member of our group (an accordionist) is recovering from hip replacement surgery.  It was nice to have her wheeled in to sit and sing with us.  She’s not yet up to playing her instrument.

Thursday night was a lecture on ‘”Ice Age Mega floods and the Landscape of Eastern Washington” by a professor from Arizona.  It was one of the best presentations I have ever heard on the topic, and we have heard many.

http://www.iafi.org/floods.html

Friday was a special day at the Adult Activity Center.  It’s the first day of the month, so we have a potluck and the theme this month is for Father’s Day.  The music was music from the fifties.  That’s pretty neat considering I just returned from my 50^th high school reunion, where we were given a CD of hits from the 1950s.  The center provided hamburgers and hot dogs, grilled over charcoal.  Everyone attending brought a potluck item.  I’m taking some of John’s pink apple sauce (color from the skins).  Then in the late afternoon we are invited to another party, with the graduate students’ club, ERMA, (Environmental Resource Management Association).  We also had grilled hamburgers (meat and veggie) and all the rest provided by the club, and it was a potluck.  We took a large Lattice Apple Pie we bought at Costco and a colleague brought a fruit flavored cheesecake.

Except for a lot of yard work today before the party, John’s spending his time working on the newsletter for the KV trail riders club, which has to be in the mail by Saturday to get to people in time for next Thursday’s meeting.

Saturday is another party, a surprise 50^th birthday party in the late afternoon. Supposed to be a lot of good food and fellowship there too.  The morning was spent printing, folding, and mutilating the newsletter (complete with printer jams) for 46 copies, and then stamped and taped the edges.  He might make it to the end of the driveway before pick-up.  (He did).  About the party–you have never seen so much food.  There was food for 100 and about 50 came.   We had homemade lasagna (to die for), ham, Teriyaki meat balls, a couple of salads, deviled eggs, much fresh fruit, rhubarb pie, and a huge birthday cake (about 3 X 4 feet) that had chocolate cake filled with strawberry filling, and white cake with the same, and a white frosting with chocolate bits.

Won’t need to eat supper for 3 days.

Came home to the a/c running.  It comes on at a house hallway temp of 77.  Don’t know how it got so hot – except we had all the windows closed and the sun was out.  That’s been rare all spring and caught us off guard.

It’s now Sunday.  John was expecting to work on the blog last evening but couldn’t find it and I went to sleep.  I think I sent it to his computer!?  Don’t know what happened to it.  I’m resending, after reading through again for corrections.  John is out now in the cool, non-sunny, non-windy morning, digging the last two post holes for the fence around his garden (to keep the deer out).  He’ll be back in later to put this on the blog to get out to you all.

All our best regards,

Nancy and John

up on the Naneum Fan

 

WARNING, THIS IS LONG.

I will fill in a few items from last week that weren’t in this blog previously.  All the effort I went to get the letter from my doctor was useless as was putting all my wallet cards in a conference name tag around my neck.  The TSA people only looked at my driver’s license and my boarding pass.  They took my word that I had a chest full of metal and let me stand at the X-ray machine or the one that “takes off your clothes”.  Nothing was said, and because I was in a wheelchair, I think my trip through was faster than most.  I walked through the machines, stopped, stood on the yellow footprints facing sideways, held my breath and was X-rayed, I guess.  Airporter Shuttle bus trip over from Eburg to SeaTac was uneventful and fine.  We did not lose any time with stops for construction.  AirTran was just within the gate and two doors down.  My one complaint was I had to stand in line (a long one) for requesting a wheelchair.  I don’t know what would happen for people who are unable to make it through the line.   You will see later that Atlanta has a different policy in place.

I was wheeled out to my plane and the plane flight was non-stop, a 5-hour trip.  My trip was in seat 27 F (window) and next to me was a couple from Spokane.  We got to talking and found out their son was at CWU and is a pilot on AirTran.  I asked his name because I used to get lots of Flight Tech students in my classes, particularly the Map Reading and Map Interpretation one.  What a surprise when I said, “He was my student; I remember him well.”  I described my memory of him and they pulled up their phone with pictures.  Yep, I was sure that was him.  What a small world!  The man gave me his card, and I gave him one of mine.

In Atlanta I had a wheelchair waiting for me at the exit from the plane.  Then the man who pushed me actually pushed two chairs.  He had to take us both on the train and in the elevators.  It was very nice to have the help.  In the wing where the gate was I needed for departure, there were no electric cars; only moving sidewalks, and it was a long way to baggage claim.

When I got to Atlanta’s baggage claim, there were my friends waiting for me.  I was so happy to see them late that night.  Not too far to the parking garage and “home” to Decatur.

Thursday, my visit to cousin’s houses and transportation by other cousins, went as planned.  The only additions are that we enjoyed a tour of the stables and horses at the Marietta stop.  We met her 30-year old Stallion and what a nice boy, gentle and still willing to stand in a “show” pose.  All of the horses loved the carrots my cousin brought for them.  At the Mableton stop (to meet my 3^rd cousin once removed), we viewed pictures of our old relatives, and talked about genealogy.  It was totally fascinating.  In Marietta, I met a whole bunch of cousins and their kids and grandkids that I had never met.  We did plan a trip for lunch into the day, and had a good meal in a fancy restaurant.  It was not fast food by any means.  Dinner (Pit BBQ and Brunswick stew) we picked up on our way to Mableton and then once done with dinner in Marietta, we had leftovers, of which I carried some home to the place I was staying.  The dinner was scrumptious.  Added to the BBQ we brought, was potato salad , a great cake (cream cheese pound with thick creamy caramel frosting, rolls, chips, fruit, lettuce/pea salad (best I’ve ever had—see the link below for the directions from my cousin-in-law who made it):

http://thewannabecountrygirl.com/pea-salad/

What a fantastic time and beautiful view of the woods down from the house to two pastures for their horses.  They are sited on about 37 acres.  Very neat.  Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of the house and people for John to see.  I did take pictures of my cousin showing us her horses.

Friday. Was another full day, and after a breakfast with the family, the lady of the house and I went to The Container Store.  We have been friends a very long time – because our mom’s raised us as babies together.  Most of our baby pictures have the two of us in them.  Back to the store, of which there is one in Bellevue, WA.  This one was in Buckhead (old neighborhood near where I grew up); a fascinating place. I have never been in one.  For the location of stores, check out this map:

http://www.containerstore.com/locations/index.html

We were in search of a shoe container and two plastic boxes, one an egg box for storing decorated Easter eggs.  While there my friend showed me around and we only saw a few rows of the store.  I was amazed at all the containers I saw, and intrigued by the display of real things in them.  Kinda like a mannequin in the window of a downtown department store with clothes of interest.  We drove around in my old neighborhood of Garden Hills where I spent my grammar and high school days.  She drove me by my old high school and my old grammar school:  Garden Hills Elementary School, which is still in operation.  My old house is no longer there on Piedmont Road, so that was a pity.  Then on the way home we drove by my other house where I lived later in life (after 1963).  I swear it is so ugly and unkempt that I’m almost sorry I saw it.  It had an extra driveway added across the tree roots, and not paved, and a large dark brown fence as if they did not want anyone to see in.  They even fenced off the old carport.  I think something was going on there that they didn’t want seen.  If you look on Google Earth, there is a large white roof in the structure in the backyard.  I think it is a greenhouse and they are growing pot.  We considered reporting it, but didn’t.  In case you want to see what I mean, look on Google Earth, or the Satellite view on

http://maps.google.com/

for 1938 Fisher Trail, NE, Atlanta, GA.  You will see the large white structure in the backyard (west of the house) in the image.  My friend also drove me by Echo Lake further up Briarcliff Road to bring back memories.  That’s where I caught a large fish when I was a kid (won a contest—it was a ¾ lb Catfish).  That’s also where I learned from my uncle, how to fly cast.  My dad had already taught me to do regular casting.

We came on home and I rested for an hour or so, and then my friend and I went to the reception and registration at the Atlanta Marriott Buckhead Hotel & Conference Center at Lenox Square.  She knew many of my classmates from her church, but she graduated from a different high school (and they had their reunion the previous weekend).  She and I met several of our crew in the elevator and found our way to the proper ballroom.   I grabbed my registration materials and we found a mutual friend.  I visited a bit with folks and had a good time.  It was amazing to see how some people had not changed that much in 50 years, but others were unrecognizable.  It was loads of fun to reminisce.  I came from the farthest distance, but there was one fellow who is in Budapest who would have “beaten me for the prize,” but there was none.  After the reception was done we left to be at the Druid Hills Country Club for an evening meal with the couple and me and her friend from my class.  We had a great dinner of scallops with a nice salad, and I had a crème brûlée for dessert.  Yum.  Something I never remember having in my life.  It is composed of egg yolks, white and brown sugar, vanilla, and heavy cream.  With a blowtorch, it is flamed on top to have a little hard crust.  Pretty neat and very tasty.  Check out the you-tube video below to see how it’s done and what the final product looks like.  Mine was served with a dollop of whipped cream and a strawberry on top.  (Don’t even try to start counting calories or carbs or fat or cholesterol !)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_16ZZtTH_Y

Saturday morning I was picked up by a friend from high school days, who lives in Decatur, 1.5 miles from where I was staying.  She drove me to our old high school for the 45 minute tour, led by one of our classmates on the Reunion Committee and still living in Atlanta.  Small groups of about 12 went through, and we went on the “reverse tour” only running into one group we passed in the hallway. John has already included in last week’s blog the use of the school now.  I took a lot of pictures for memories.  After that tour we piled into my friend’s car with the addition of two classmates, and drove to the Varsity down town.  Again, John mentioned that to you last blog, but you don’t know what I had.  I ordered an order of Fried Onions, a chili dog, and a frosted orange.  Twenty of our classmates showed up and we sat at adjoining tables and booths.  A lot of fun was had by all.  The most interesting thing that happened there was hearing from my fellow classmate that he had worked in the medical industry on cardiac devices.  I asked which company.  It was Medtronic.  He showed me his ring from the company.  I said, “Oh, I have a Medtronic artificial porcine heart valve, and pulled out my wallet card for it.  He looked at it and held it over behind his left side and started telling me a story about something he had marketed and the fellow’s name.  It was a neat story and the name Hancock was mentioned.  After that build-up, he brought the card back to the front of us and turned it over and showed me that I had that “issue” of a Hancock porcine valve, called a Hancock^® II Mitral valve.  It has been used in patients for the past 25 years.

On the link below, read more about it, if you want:

http://www.medtronic.com/health-consumers/heart-valve-disease/about-surgery/our-heart-valve-products/hancock-ii-tissue-valve/

Although I met a wonderful bunch of friends all the way back to grammar school days, I think this was the most memorable occurrence while in Atlanta, May 20, 2011.

That evening I saw many of my old classmates and we shared memories.  I’m sorry I didn’t get around to everyone there.  Guess we will have to reconnect at the 55^th.  One other special one was the gal in my class who also was in my church, and we started in the Cherub Choir together at 2.5 years of age.  She brought a photograph taken of us when we were about that age, maybe 3 or 4.  I tried taking pictures of the picture but had trouble with the flash reflection.  I hope to get her to scan it and send it to me on email.  It was very clear where we were and the gal between us was also a NFHS graduate, but she has since died.

I was too tired to make it to the ending at midnight, and I had gone with my friend and her friend in his convertible.  They stopped in Decatur, to pick me up.  I made a call about 10:30 to my friends where I was staying and asked if they could come pick me up.  Thankfully, they did.  It had just been too long a day.  I was fading fast.

I neglected to say we had a fabulous dinner.  Everything was excellent and hot.  That’s quite a feat with 95 classmates (including two teachers from our day and their wives), and about 40 spouses, or significant others.

On to Sunday.  It was going to be spent entirely with the couple I was staying with and their children and grandchildren.  It was a wonderful day.  We actually started out going to an event at the historic Oakland Cemetery downtown — Tunes From The Tombs:  A Weekend of Music and Spirits Benefiting Historic Oakland Cemetery.  The temperature was in the mid-90s and there was no driving through the cemetery allowed.  My father and grandfathers and mothers and great grandparents are buried there.  We decided that parking so far away and walking in was not something I was up to doing and they didn’t want to try either.  So, we left there and went on out to Snellville (by Stone Mountain, where John and I spent our honeymoon, once canoed in the lake to watch fireworks, and also our high school class went there after graduation to climb to the top on the “easy” side.).

A fascinating slide show is on their website of restoration necessary after damage done to downtown Atlanta by a tornado on March 14, 2008.  I didn’t even know about this.

http://oaklandcemetery.com/restoration.html

Another neat website is the Southern Hiker coverage of the 1.3 mile hike up the mountain to the top:

http://southernhiker.com/stone-mountain-walk-up-trail/

Of further interest is the bas relief carved on the side of the mountain of 3 Confederate generals.  The one in the middle is Robert E. Lee with his horse Traveller.  I am kin to him, and my maiden middle name is Lee.  I’m Nancy Lee Brannen Hultquist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:STNmtn_closeup.jpg

will show you the carving on the side of Stone Mountain.  The mountain is an igneous intrusion and composed mostly of quartz Monzonite forming a dome or monadnock.

We were going to Snellville to watch their grandson (#22) play baseball.  We got to meet him before the game, see him bat, and then we had to get back home to meet their son and another grandson.  That night dinner was grilled pork loin roast, snow peas, and I’ve forgotten the rest of the menu.  We had two kinds of ice cream for dessert.  We had an enjoyable visit with the family and with a 2-year old Boxer, who loves to hug people.  He was very well behaved and part of the family, completely at home at the grandparents’ home.

Monday brought another great visiting day.  A college friend and her sister picked me up and we drove to a newly (2006) incorporated town called Johns Creek in north Fulton County.  There we visited with my first geography teacher (1962) and his wife.  They were also the chaperones on my 1965 Geography Field Trip to Europe.  You have already been introduced to a little of this in last week’s blog, with John’s additions and edits.  While there we got a complete tour of their house.  Then we went with them to lunch in an eatery fairly close by, called Egg Harbor.  Really a cool place:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/egg-harbor-cafe-johns-creek will give you reviews, but this is their website:  http://eggharborcafe.com/

My geography professor had Barrington Benedict (grilled Canadian bacon and poached eggs on an English muffin with Hollandaise sauce, with Harbor potatoes.  I had a Bacado Omelet, with crispy bacon, fresh avocado, melted Jack cheese, topped with sour cream and a great salsa, served also with a side of harbor potatoes and an English muffin.  It was excellent, but after looking at the menu on line, I might have ordered something unique such as their GA cheese grits and eggs.  One of us had French toast, and I don’t recall what the other two had.  We took a few group pictures, and left.  Our tour continued down Piedmont Road and to the “Midtown” area, where the sister of my friend lives.  It is right across the street from where my friend who housed me grew up as a child and I visited her and her grandparents’ house on the corner.  Small world, because these people knew each other from their church.

That evening we went to an Irish pub for dinner with one of their friends and had fish and chips.  The guys left and went over to the other guy’s house to sharpen his chain saw so they could take it with them this weekend to cleanup some of the fallen trees at their Lake Burton house that was damaged a lot by the tornado that went through on May 4^th.

Tuesday was another visiting day, first attending the Voter’s Guild meeting and lecture after lunch at the Druid Hills Country Club.  I was fascinated by the hats worn by most  of the women in attendance.  One woman had on a particularly large and interesting light green hat, which turned out to be one she wore to this year’s Kentucky Derby.  I was snapping pictures left and right and meeting people.  The meal was excellent too.  My friend’s husband joined us for lunch, and then went back to work at his office downtown at the State Bar of Georgia, now housed in the old Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta building on Marietta St.  After lunch, we went for a visit and tour of the building.  Meanwhile, we listened to an after dinner speaker on the importance of privacy rights to citizens.  His name is Bob Barr, and he was a former federal prosecutor and former member of the US House of Representatives.  He represented Georgia’s 7^th congressional district as a Republican from 1995 to 2003.  He was the Libertarian Party nominee for President of the US in the 2008 election.  He was an interesting speaker.

We left the country club and made our way downtown, through Georgia State University, and by the parking garage I used to park in.  The school has expanded so much that I didn’t recognize anything.  I was there from 1962 till ’65 and then came back and taught 2 years, ’67 to ’69 in Geography.  John and I returned the summer of 1970 and taught a summer course together and John worked on a research project at the Atlanta Airport.  We made it by back streets to the parking garage of the old Federal Reserve building and went inside to my friend’s husband’s office.  He was the General Counsel for the Georgia bar for many years till 2010 (I think).  He now is still going to the office every day and taking part in business.  Every 2 weeks he is on call for Ethics questions from lawyers all around the state.  The week I was there he talked one day over his 8 hours to 30 lawyers.

He took us on a tour of the building, the old Federal Reserve. It was particularly interesting seeing old telephone booths, the old vault, the windows where John and I bought $100 of pennies for his dad long ago (probably in 1970), we even saw the first floor rebuilt office of Woodrow Wilson, who practiced law in Atlanta, long ago.  They have his old office, the roll-top desk he used, and the wooden door of the office.  There are huge conference rooms and old furniture and beautiful rugs the Feds left there.  We even saw the shooting range in the basement where the guards practiced their gun skills.

That evening we went again to the Irish Pub for dinner.  This time we had Shepherd’s Pie.  We went back because they have an open mike type environment for Irish and Celtic music.  There was one group of folks there who played a little Irish music mixed in with some Appalachian blue grass.  There were several fiddles, a mandolin, and guitar.  I was in heaven but we could only stay for an hour, because I needed to pack for my trip home the next day.

When we got back to the car, my friend put in a CD of Appalachian Fiddle music.  Then she brought it in the house and found another so we sang and listened all the way home and then sat there for a couple hours in their house.  She pulled out her birthday present, a Dulcimer, which she just got last November, and hasn’t yet learned how to play.  I don’t know how to tune one from scratch (yet) but I did play the melody on the bottom string (or I tried).  It was really hard to keep up with the fast tempo of the music being played (even though I knew most of the songs).  If I had had my fiddle I would have not been able to keep up either.

So, we stayed up till late, and we enjoyed ourselves very much for our last night together.  We got up at 6:30 the next morning, ate a nice breakfast, and took off for the airport.  It was a good trip back, and my nicest item to mention about the Atlanta airport is that I did not have to wait in line to request a wheelchair.  Instead, the staging area for wheelchairs was across from the check-in counters (and long lines of people).  I was off and being pushed to my gate, very soon.  I got on the plane easily, and the trip was on time, but when we got over Kansas, we ran into horrible turbulence – the worst I have ever experienced for an extended time.  The pilot even moved down from 38,000 feet to 32,000 and it helped for 5 minutes and then started up again.  I was happy the plane didn’t break up.  We had no view of the ground the entire trip (so much for paying extra for a window seat).  It was raining in Seattle when we arrived, but we had a nice landing and we were early by a half hour.  Unfortunately, that time was made up by waiting on the tarmac for a slot to pull into.  I was the last person off the plane and there was no wheelchair waiting.  I was in the wing without electric cars and the trip to baggage was more than I could attempt.  So, I waited.  They recalled for a chair for me.  I waited.  Finally a person appeared.  I was starting to worry about making it to baggage claim gate 00 where I was to pick up my Airport Shuttle, but thankfully, I made it with only 5 minutes to spare.  Phew.  Rained on us all the way back across the pass and into Ellensburg.  We were early because we didn’t have to stop in North Bend for anyone, and we didn’t run into a 30 minute delay on the Snoqualmie Pass road construction that had happened every day for the past several.  John met me at Starbucks in Ellensburg, and I was so happy to see him and be home safely.  Coming home was also nice when I walked into the house and all the dogs and cat greeted me with open paws.

It’s taken me a couple of days to recover and I have been sleeping as much as 9 hours/night.

Thanks to all the people I saw while in and about Atlanta the region.  This was a very special trip for me and I am very happy I was healthy enough to make it.  I’m very grateful to my friends for housing me for a week and chauffeuring me all over town.  Thanks, as well, to my other friends and relatives who transported me to various visits and events.  I’m already looking forward to the 55^th.

All our best regards from Nancy

(home on the Naneum Fan)

 

Written on Tuesday: I don’t know when John will put this out, but I’m leaving for Atlanta, GA Wednesday morning and won’t return for a week. This is for my 50^th North Fulton High School reunion, and I’m also going to have a mini-reunion with family on my father’s side.

Sunday this week we told you was a birthday party, but we celebrated it without the honoree because of a flood in the church basement where they operate a day care center.  So, they had to mop, suck out water, remove furniture and rugs, and otherwise clean up the mess.  We went ahead and ate without them but with another family member visiting from Spokane.  That was in the middle of the day.  I went to Taize’ in the same church that night, and we met upstairs.  I saw the family there and got the update on the clean-up.  They were pretty worn out and still had a couple more hours of work.

Monday included a trip to town for exercise and to get meds, visit my friend in the nursing home, and come back to work on packing, and deciding what to take.  John printed out maps and directions for me to use while down there.  We got a surprise call late, asking us to come back to the same house for the delayed birthday dinner.  We did, and enjoyed a lovely roast beef with mashed potatoes, gravy, veggies and salad.

Tuesday — working on getting ready to leave, deciding on clothes, washing, drying, and cleaning things; and doing emails, talking to a friend from high school who was planning to come to the reunion, but sadly had a motorcycle accident and broke his collarbone into 2 pieces, and two ribs in two, and cracked in total, six.  He is unable to travel.

Wednesday.  Tripping all day.  Leave on Airporter Shuttle from Ellensburg, get to Sea Tac and get through security.  I have all my paperwork for the ICD Defibrillator and information on having an artificial heart valve.  I have a letter from my doctor and wallet cards from MedicAlert & Biotronix the other about my Porcine valve.  Then make it to the AirTran (now part of Southwest Airlines) non-stop flight to ATL, arriving at 9:35 PM.  My friends with whom I’m staying will meet me in baggage pickup and take me home.

From Ellensburg the preferred airport is Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, known as SEA-TAC; not to be confused with the more recent town of the name SeaTac.  On the best day the car trip is 2 hours.  There are no best days.  Traffic, accidents, and road construction can ruin a person’s plans.  We’ve tried Spokane, Pasco, and Yakima airports.  A 50 mile trip to Yakima gets one a flight to Sea-Tac.  Pasco is a 2 hour drive and Spokane is 3 hours.  Connections are not great from either place.  Years ago I would drive to the SEA-TAC area and rent a room for a night; there then would be a shuttle to the airport and a week’s parking at the motel. That plan eliminated the traffic problems but added to the cost and John did not have to drive.  A couple of years ago the community got the service of a small bus (The Airporter) that picks folks up at about 9 AM (just a 12 minute trip from home).  It takes a little extra time but allows for a potty stop as compensation, and the cost is not unreasonable.

Thursday, plans are for a cousin to pick me up in Decatur, pickup some Old Hickory House BBQ,  take me to Mableton to visit another cousin, and on to another cousin’s house in Marietta.  We will visit her mom in an assisted living home, and then have dinner with all her family and one other cousin’s wife.  That cousin has died.

Friday will be light till late afternoon, when I go to the North Fulton High School 50^th Reunion reception from 5:30 to 7:30, and afterwards to dinner with the folks who are housing me.

Saturday starts with being picked up by one of my classmates who lives in Decatur.  She will drive us to pick up others and go to our old high school — but is no longer a public high school.  Via a long term lease and a multi-million dollar investment my HS has become a private primary and secondary campus for the Atlanta International School.

http://www.aischool.org/page.cfm?p=301

On the left side of the page, click on “Campus” to see a picture.

[Note from John: Nancy is having a grand time and reporting on major changes to the area she once knew well. She just called to say as part of this yearning for the idealized past they had gone to “The Varsity” — an eatery known and loved by all.]

http://www.thevarsity.com/history.php

Sunday.  Will spend all day with the family I’m staying with, their kids, and the grandkids.

Monday.  Will be picked up by a long time friend from college and we will get her sister and travel to visit the couple who started me in Geography—my first geography teacher and his wife.  They were also the ones who chaperoned the Field Trip to Europe in 1965, to 17 countries, with 19 girls and 4 boys.  It lasted 9 weeks.  The friend picking me up was also on that trip.  We will visit and go out to lunch in Johns Creek, a new town in the Atlanta region since I was there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johns_Creek,_Georgia

I don’t return home till May 25 and it will be an all day trip back as well.

All our best

Nancy (in “The South”),

and John (in the Great Northwest)

 

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

Starting this week’s blog on Mother’s Day, Sunday.  Went to our neighbors for lunch, picking up another neighbor on the way.  We had parts of 5 families there, and lots of food.  Too much cake (two chocolate with white frosting); pork roast, potato salad, fruit salad, creamed peas, & rolls.  Didn’t need any dinner, but I went to play music at Taize’ and had another meal: chicken veggie casserole, salad, and more dessert (chocolate and lemon rolls).  No wonder I am gaining weight.  While eating I turned my head and thought I was seeing the outside of my intraocular lens replacement but that wasn’t it.  I came home and went to bed, hoping to awake in the morning with it gone, but it was still there.

Monday:  Ended up going in this morning to the eye doctor because of the little funny things showing in the corner of my right eye (cobweb floaters).  John was really worried about me so I made an appointment with my eye doctor.  Turns out it is Posterior Vitreous Detachment (PVD).

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

My pressure was fine in both eyes, and  I passed all the severe problems tests on my right eye with the “floaters,” but I have to keep my head above my heart, not ride horses or do jolting activities, and wait for it to normally heal on its own.  I decided against going to my exercise class this afternoon. This PVD apparently happens to 75% of people over 65, and for the most part is not very serious and will not be treated, once diagnosed.  It has to heal naturally.  Still this was a little disturbing.

It won’t hurt my going to Atlanta, (leaving May 18 till May 25 for my 50^th high school reunion), as it’s okay to fly on airplanes.  Hopefully, there will be no turbulence to give me a jolt.  Once I was on a flight from Glasgow to London, and we did have a rapid descent from a downdraft (I guess), and once flying into Lewiston, ID a similar thing happened on landing with winds from the Snake River Canyon.  That was like (I imagine) a bucking bronco horseback ride.  Had to hold onto the seat in front to stay steady.  Seat belts kept us from hitting our heads on the ceiling of the plane. ☺  Good thing in Atlanta, there are no bungee jumps planned.

I didn’t want to put anything in the blog before now, because I wanted to be sure I would be able to make the trip and also, I was afraid I might leave someone out who was reading the blog.  I cannot visit everyone I would like to, while down there, so I will have to plan another trip in the future, now that I have my health back.

Tuesday.  Slow day.  To town for my feet.  Bought some new (expensive) Brooks Addiction walking shoes.  They are my only shoe of choice for over a decade.  The price has gone up over the years, now to $110, but it’s worth it to me to have comfortable support.

Wednesday.  Well, it threatened all day, but finally the bottom dropped out and it has been raining and blowing.  We carried John’s computer in today, because it was very noisy and we thought perhaps the power supply needed replaced.  It was very dirty inside (as normal with our house from all the dirt and dust coming in on the dogs’ feet), and so they cleaned it and then took out the one fan that was dying.  They turned another fan around that was blowing into the tower, so it would blow out instead.  The one that was dying no longer is manufactured, so they couldn’t replace it.  They fixed it up and it is quiet and clean now.  Cost us $78.  John was pleased because he expected a charge over $100.  The place is Complete Computer Services and the place that did the set-up for John when he wanted to start this blog back in December of 2009.  John was expecting to pay for a new fan or even a new power supply and, as no new parts were needed that kept the fee just to a basic service call.  These are a nice bunch of guys but they always make fun of John’s mammoth computer, cobbled together from parts from several on-line retailers.

Then we picked up our geography department secretary Marilyn and took her to lunch at Pizza Hut with our free pizza.  We got 1/2 half with tomatoes, pepperoni and mushrooms, and the other half with Italian sausage, green pepper and olive.  John and Marilyn had the latter and also shared some of “my” half.  I had two large pieces and a third of another.  We were stuffed.  We had stuffed crust (with cheese).   It would have cost $14.00 but we got it free with my coupon.  Cool.

We then returned Marilyn to school for a 2:00 p.m. meeting – the purpose of which we knew but she did not.  It was a surprise award ceremony for her.  She got the Employee of the Month award and will be in the running for the Employee of the Year.  She got a check for $125 (before taxes), and a plaque.  It was awarded by the President of the University.  I had given the department head a picture of her and a lady from town designed it into the frosting of a cake, with edible inks. Okay, that doesn’t sound too appetizing. We do better later.

Thursday.. normal / plus music day.  Played at the Rehab center (where I spent so much time last year) and then we went to a music group potluck.  Lots of people, musicians and good food there.  John and I took lasagna (prepared by a well known company) but we added cut and pre-fried circles of Bratwursts on top and covered with two types of cheese.  Yummy.  I stayed to play in the jam session afterward.  A brother of our guitarists’ wife is visiting from Germany.  He and his wife will be in the USA for 3 weeks. John had to eat and leave to get to his Kittitas Valley Trail Riders meeting.  I made it home after 9:30.

Friday… what a crazy day.  Started with a trip to town to get a shoulder massage at the Adult Activity Center.  Followed by a short trip a few blocks, maybe a mile, to play music and eat lunch at the Food Bank Soup Kitchen.  Boy was it good today:  ham-cheese-onion quiche, cut apples, a bran-type cake bread with butter, and some sort of blueberry / something mixed fruit drink.  Then back to a rummage sale at the Catholic Church where I have gotten nice stuff in the past, but nothing today.  On to my SAIL exercise class, but we didn’t have a teacher show and there were 10 of us.  At a few classmates’ urging, I led the class in our various exercises.  They seemed to like what I did, and thought it was good because of my humor and making it fun.  Then off to pick up my meds, and to go to the bank for some cash.   On the way home, I passed but did not pass-by a couple of yard sales.  Didn’t find too much, and still need to try on a new-condition pair of jeans I got for $1.  Also got a wooden salad bowl as from the 70s (although I guess you could put fruit in it as well).  After a 20 minute search of the internet, John gave up trying to find a similar bowl.  These bowls are made of wood chips and something (resin) pressed into various shapes.  Too cheap and too many apparently – no one seems to care.  I also found a nice square frying pan (Teflon coating), in excellent condition.  The last two items were 50 cents each.  Came home and worked on the computer and then walked out to survey John’s work for the day.  He built a “guarded water walkway” with two 27 ft. telephone poles, along the sides of our irrigation ditch. The water passage allows the horses to move from one pasture with little grass to another with more grass and, in the process learn to cross water obstacles in a calm manner.  The three older horses will do this from training a few years ago.  The water channel between the poles is about 3 feet wide, 4 inches deep and 27 feet long.  The original set up was with fence panels and only 10 feet long.

Saturday.  Wow, last night we were awakened by flashes of lightning, clashes of thunder and finally rain.  We don’t often get thunderstorms here, so it was interesting.  This morning we had nearly twenty tons of hay delivered (340 bales; 39,940 pounds)) and put into our hay shed, without John having to do anything except make the place ready, open the gates, write a check, and then put up barricades so the horses cannot get to it. I left for a play date at Briarwood this afternoon where they feed us.  On my way I stopped at two yard sales.  At one I got two Mannheim Steamroller CDs (both Christmas music) for a dime each.  This is one fantastic group, and my friends from West Yakima brought me one of their Christmas CDs while I was in the ICU in 2009.  Their energy was to flow into me and bring me back to life.  So I grabbed these today and then played one around town and all the way home.  One more stop at a retirement home was another great choice of the day.  They were having an in-house yard sale at Dry Creek, just up the road from where I was going to perform and eat.  A lady had clothes (mostly blouses) hanging on plastic hangers.  I’m looking for something that is 100% cotton, so I don’t die in polyester while in Hotlanta.  She was charging a whole quarter for each item.  They are my size and so I grabbed 6 things.

I’m excited.  At least two/maybe 3 will work for my trip.  Made it to the music venue in plenty of time, and there were 7 of us there.  We played and sung our hearts out and the audience loved us and participated.  They are the ones who always feed us.  The food will take care of my dinner tonight.  We had two casseroles, (one, chicken with noodles, sauce, peas and corn), the other had rice, tomatoes, cheese, bacon, sausage, and was rather Mexican tasting), rolls w/ butter, several desserts, and a huge salad of different types of lettuce, tomatoes, and onions.  Oh, and there were two different kinds of chips and salsa and 3 other dips.  I don’t need to eat till tomorrow noon.

Tomorrow we are going to our neighbors again to celebrate another birthday.  It’s nice for them to include us in the family gatherings.

John just returned from checking on the horses.  Just as he got out there another storm started with wind tearing leaves from trees, then rain and thunder.  He sent the three horses down through the waterway to the larger pasture and let the newer horses out via a gate.  With the storm and darkness the horses don’t need additional stress.

Next weekend with Nancy in Atlanta we are unsure of access to a computer for her and so what we will do for a blog posting is unknown.

All our best,

Nancy and John on the Naneum Fan

 

The “shrub-steppe” is the type of natural environment found here and today local experts (KEEN) are out doing an “up close and personal” thingy for children, new comers, and others. It’s the 12^th annual “Get Intimate with the Shrub Steppe” :

http://kittitasee.net/

I am starting this on Sunday, May 1^st,  this week, because you already know what happened yesterday.  You don’t know, however, that we had eaten so much for lunch, that we passed on dinner.  (Well, a piece of toast and a cookie was all we had).

Sunday was the nicest day we have had this whole year.  No wind and sunny, with temps to 65.  John stayed out working most of the day starting with removal of the chain link panels from the truck.  I only had a light lunch because I was expecting a meal tonight at the Taize’ service.  One of the ladies of the church made it and it was scrumptious:  a casserole that is most like Enchiladas but without the tortillas that I don’t like.  She fixed it with chicken, sour cream, green chilies, pepper jack cheese and cheddar cheese, some spices (no salt), chili powder, and I don’t know what else, but it was fantastic.  We had a nice mixed salad with cucumbers (I don’t like, but could pick out), radishes, carrots and several kinds of greens. For dessert, she fixed a cobbler with blueberries, Marion berries (I do not like the seeds), and raspberries, served with whipped cream on top.  Good thing I had a small lunch.

Monday.  Rain today, after the beautiful day yesterday.  That will hamper John’s outside work, which was making pretty good progress.  I will take off for exercise class, maybe a nursing home visit, and then get home to all the chores waiting.  I haven’t done anything but email and eat some snacks.  John has spent the last hour or more planting squash seeds and tomatoes in little pots.  There were only 14 seeds for squash (yellow) in the packet that cost $2.50.  Boy, that’s different from what it used to be.  He thinks there might have been a slight reduction in price, maybe 20%.  The tomato seeds are a special Burpee Big Boy.  There are 30 seeds in there, and it cost $1.79.

Tuesday.  My dental teeth cleaning for the day was cancelled because my hygienist broke her foot in a fall from her horse.  The rest of my day was doing household chores, paying bills, cleaning, and emailing.  Also helped proof an academic report tonight for a geographer friend still employed in another state.  Boy, how nice it is to be retired and not have to be writing yearly performance reports for teaching, research and service.

Wednesday.  Morning spent on chores and haircut for Nancy.  Amazing how much it has grown out in a month (after waiting all those months not to be bald and losing hair in handfuls).  Then John took a break from his outside tasks to go with me and let me off at the exercise class.  He went and bought “stuff” at the hardware store.  He is replacing a small wooded bridge in the pasture – so here’s a bit about that:

Types of structures here:

http://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/htmlpubs/htm07232804/page07.htm

John’s is a Type 3 “puncheon” – the drawing above for Type 2 shows split logs and this sort of surface is the meaning of puncheon.

In this link, near the end, is a drawing (in an oval) of a “standard puncheon” with a curb or “bull rail.”

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/fspubs/07232806/page10.htm

That’s very close to what we now have.  “Bull rail” is a tern from sailing although the name seems to have been used so long no one knows why.

http://www.insidepassagenews.com/bull_rails.html

Trail crews spend lots of time building and repairing small bridges and puncheon type structures.  Another common trail improvement, called a turnpike, is described here:

http://www.justinwp.com/blog/search/trail_work/

. . . go down to “Summer Trail Work Update.  Now you know more than you really wanted too!

Our prior little bridge was a reinforced wooden pallet used primarily to get the wheel barrow across the irrigation ditch.  An initial pallet – not reinforced – was used by the horses but was not up to the hoof pressure.  A pallet is only 4 feet across so the horses were as apt to jump it and the ditch.  The real purpose of the new structure is to provide a structure sufficiently long that jumping is not possible and, thus, the horses will have to walk across it.  The trick is to put it in a place – and them in a situation – where they have to use it, for example, drinking water on one side, food on the other.  They will train themselves to cross without hesitation.  This is expected of horses on trail rides.  The alternatives are not pleasant.

Now, back to the daily story line —

We had skipped lunch, so after getting my Protime (aka INR) blood draw at the hospital, we went for a treat from Burger King.  We had coupons for all except for buying a small drink and small fries.  That made a nice meal.  We halved an original chicken sandwich, and had 4 chicken tenders (free) with honey mustard and BBQ sauce.

Thursday, pretty routine.  Worked on stuff around the house and John worked in the yard.  I went to play at an assisted living home, and came by to visit my friend in the nursing/rehab center.

Friday, I stopped at a sale on the way home and bought us a homemade loaf of cinnamon/raisin/nut bread.  I arrived home just as John was bolting together the bull rails, decking, and stringers for the new bridge.  I got to help by putting washers and nuts on two bolts.  His work platform was across the bed of the pickup and when finished he just drove to the pasture and unloaded it.  He fed the horses and then it started to sprinkle.  Poor timing for it because we got a call from our neighbor’s daughter who was visiting across the street and had a flat tire on her Honda.  John went over and changed to the spare in the rain so she could take it into Les Schwab (a regional tire store) for repair or replacement in the morning before driving to Seattle.

Saturday morning.  John finished up his KVTR newsletter and got it to the mailbox, so we will not go to town today.  It is nice and sunny and not windy for a change.  I have a lot of stuff to do in the house, even though it would be nice to be outside.  He also got the bridge positioned (in the training mode situation) in the pasture and the horses are using it.  In a few days he will move it over to the irrigation ditch and come up with a new “obstacle-project” for the horses.

RAIN ! Wow. We don’t get much rain here – maybe 8 inches per year. A sprinkle started while we ate lunch, just after John said he would be going outside.  The sprinkle turn into a real rain, then into a deluge – about 20 minutes of can’t see through falling water.  Ya’woda thunk we were back east.  Then it stopped.  Then we got a little more and now Mr. Sun has emerged.  Pasture-grass, flowers, and gardens throughout the neighborhood are happy with this. The folks out getting intimate with the shrub-steppe – probably not so much.

We are joining our neighbors for lunch tomorrow and have to bake a cake to take.  Better get to that.

Happy Mother’s Day !

Love from Nancy and John

This starts with where I left off last week, Saturday night.  I played the violin and sang at an Easter Vigil at the Episcopal Church.  There were 4 different clergy people from several churches (Lutheran, Methodist, 2 Episcopal) and 4 musicians (Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran and Methodist).  Quite an ecumenical crowd.  They even had Communion/ Eucharist with either wine or grape juice.   Pretty cool, neat service.

Easter Sunday found us at our neighbor’s house with other neighbors, family and friends.  We had a great meal—ham, with scalloped potatoes covered in cheese, broccoli salad, a large bowl of Fruit (strawberries, 2 types of grapes, cantaloupe, blueberries, and bananas), creamed corn pudding, rolls, and for dessert, an apple-blueberry cobbler John made, and a Boston Crème Cake that one person brought.  We had a little ice cream on the cobbler.  We all were very full and had a nice visit.

We learned from one of the people there about a camcorder focused on an Eagle’s Nest in Decorah, IA, with 3 babies.  How cool.  I have watched it off and on for a couple of days.  Check it out:  http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles

Monday. Rainy morning all morning till I had to leave for SAIL exercise at 1:00.  John was unable to work in the yard and had to feed the horses and run the dogs in the rain.  It wasn’t till 2:30 it stopped and he could return outside.  I made several stops in town, grocery store for dinner needs (yummy bread and spaghetti sauce fixings), a stop at one of the nursing homes we visit occasionally as they have not been answering their phone (turns out it is broken except in one room of the office and if no one is there, it doesn’t get answered).  While setting up for next week’s non-normal performance she told me they were having a special party for our normal fifth Thursday (June 30^th) play date there.  It is a neighborhood party to welcome new residents, with refreshments, entertainment (our Fiddlers and Friends group), and door prizes.  She handed me a flyer announcing the event.  Then on to another friend’s house to drop off a sweater vest that doesn’t fit me, and on to another nursing home to visit a member of our group (the accordionist) who had hip replacement surgery.  Finally I got home at 4:30.  Supper is completed and all is well.  The wind picked up to 24mph gusts, but seems to be slowing again.

Tuesday, light day, just household chores, email, and trying to fix up the medical bill charges with payments by Medicare and Group Health.  Rather amazing how much they can wiggle out of paying and how much I’m charged differently for the same item.  Getting that fixed is a royal PITA.  I will spend an hour of my time and theirs over a $17.43 item.  It’s the principle of the thing.  Then how do you explain a Feb. statement where I supposedly owe 20.xx and then two months later it has increased to 159.60.  Did get a phone call from a former student on her way to Florida, who stopped in Atlanta to call me and say she was in my home town.  That was cool.  She is on her way to see the last launch of the Endeavour.  She won it in a contest on NASA’s Twitter site.

Wednesday.  Kind of a slow day.  Worried with medical bill adjustments.  Then, went to exercise class and afterward by the nursing home to visit, but got there when they were doing physical therapy exercises.  That surely brought back uncomfortable memories.  I was glad to visit for a short while and give encouragement and walk out on my own two feet.

Thursday.  My questioning medical charges has paid off.  Got a call this morning from the accountant at my family physician’s office that we are being refunded $80 on the bill.  Guess that was worth my time and effort.  What makes us wonder is how many people just pay the bills without questioning, and how much money is involved.    Today we are going to play music at Hearthstone and John will go shopping and get gas in his car while I’m there, and then we have an appointment at school at 4:00 to discuss the endowment for the Distinguished Service Award in our name for students.  Turns out we don’t have enough for an endowment  (need $10,000).  We have a fund with $2700 in it, and that will have to be moved into a Geography endowment as seed money.  We have decided to sponsor a scholarship each year as long as we have the money, and put 100 toward the principal.  Nothing else today.  Well, yes there was.  I just got on line to an old Blackboard presence of an Economic Geography class I taught in 2005 and pulled off some good pictures of hog raising in the U.S. to share with a gal teaching Natural Resource Conservation in Geography this spring quarter.

Friday.  I had a couple of things to do midday–play music at the Food Bank Soup Kitchen, and go to my exercise class.  I did stop at a yard sale (advertised as an estate sale), and I should have realized the prices when done by a commercial team, are quite high.  I think the yard sale crowd from Ellensburg will not buy much. Perhaps they will get someone from the west side to come over.  John put the License plates on our old ’89 Ford truck, and moved the canopy off so we can retrieve some chain link panels we loaned to friends down west of Yakima. They invited us for a nice Salmon luncheon when we come down to pick them up.  They are through using them because their puppy is now a 70 pound golden, and John wants to get them before refitting the canopy with new (easily removable) C-clamp style hardware.  Also, one of the panels has a built in gate he wants to use as access to his new berry patch. Too windy to work outside today so John spent his time while I was away, cleaning up the kitchen.  Nice guy.  Nothing like the tornadoes in Alabama and Georgia, but we had 47 mph gusts and sustained winds averaging 37 mph all afternoon.  John’s heading out with the 4 dogs to feed the horses and retrieve the mail, and paper, which I did not do on my way in.  I hope he doesn’t get blown away, nor the hay blown away.  It is very “light” and takes flight in the wind, but is all we have left from a neighborhood purchase last summer.

Saturday. The 1980 truck has a new battery but a myriad of problems.  The 1989 truck has seals around the doors, an air conditioner, power enough to pull a 3-horse trail up a mountain, other nice things, and an old and failing battery.  After a Thursday trickle-charge the truck started.  Friday it would not.  After an all-night charge, Saturday morning it was still dead. http://media.photobucket.com/image/recent/Cloud9Above/mccoy.jpg

John went to town for a replacement and then we headed south – first to Costco for some sale items and $96 of gas, then for the chain link panels and lunch.

We had grilled salmon, grilled veggies (carrots, potatoes, onions), pea pods, and bread.  We took a red velvet cake for dessert.  Also had iced tea.  Filled up amazingly and ate over a 2-hr period, I think.  Visited and listened to music.  Pretty cool.  Home by 6 to a windy and cold evening on the Naneum Fan.

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

Use Google Earth and look here:  47.075719, -120.471724

Zoom out to see the green wedge, then the canyon and mountains (5,000 to 6,000 feet) to the north of us. There is still much snow up there and cold air drains our way.  It still seems like late February.  So, John took hay to a sheltered area at the far end of the pasture.  Horses are skittish in wind (John’s theory) because trees and such move about and their sight and hearing keeps warning them of a stalking cougar or whatever.  Or see:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081217082129AAPXTDg

Our usual best regards to all.

Nancy and John

I managed to get the last full week’s long blog out late Saturday afternoon, so that day was covered.  Now it’s Sunday, and I slept in, catching up on much needed rest from my busy days and nights in Seattle.  John already has started his work, in a chilly, but beautifully sunny environment.  He’s still working on multiple yard tasks, including protection (deer & rabbits) for blackberries, strawberries, and asparagus.  He’s also whacked the old apple trees (severe pruning).  I’m still inside resting.  I did start cleaning up dishes to put in the dishwasher, and will continue that as I can.  Also need to unpack my suitcase.  Nothing on the schedule but Taize’ tonight for me.  I’ve been following up on leads I picked up for colleagues at the conference this week, and need to finish those.  Monday all day was another rest day.  I didn’t even go to town for my exercise class.  I was just too beat.

Tuesday was another very busy day when we left the house about 9:25 and didn’t return till 4:00, and then I went back in for a 6:00 engagement.  Here’s the scoop.  This morning at 10:40 I was due for my 3 month check up on the device monitoring my heart.  They need to check to be sure it is sending signals all right and the battery is still functional.  That was quickly completed, and all is well.  Then we were off for a leisurely drive through the older part of Yakima’s residential area, to enjoy the flowers and flowering trees.  The area is somewhat hilly (mostly a wee bit over 1,000 feet) and “spring” just arrived there.  (Home is 2,200 feet and it will be “spring” soon – we hope.

After the device test and the flowering plant search, we drove down the hill to Yakima Regional Hospital where I spent all the time in 2009-10, in ICU, and visited the mother of a good friend who had a stroke.  She is doing really well getting physical therapy before she returns home to Ellensburg.  After a nice visit with her and her daughter who slipped in on her lunch hour, we went to the ICU nurses’ station to see if there were people there who were my caregivers.  There were two people there who remembered me and others had just left for the cafeteria.  We visited awhile and then went to the cafeteria where we found 3 more.  My favorite male nurse was there, and very happy to see me doing so well.  He was one of the prime drivers telling me I would recover and play music again.  Then off for lunch and on to Costco for dog food and a few other things.  Home by way of KVCH for a blood draw for me (to check my INR for the Coumadin I take).  Home for a short while, and then I took off for a nursing home to visit our accordionist who had hip replacement surgery recently, and then to play at the same nursing home with “The Connections.”  It’s a religious music group.  Now it is only 9:00 p.m. and John and I are both ready to go to bed.

Wednesday:  Great lunch and visit today with a former student from Ghana (now in California), he was a consistent blog-reader through all my illness.  He would call me regularly on my cell phone, once I was allowed to have one.  Check out this link to hear about his master’s thesis work with us, and see the results for villages in his country, suffering relocation by the construction of a large hydro dam and reservoir.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/31753290/In-Their-Own-Words-Voices-of-Affected-People

Yesterday I was walking out of the Yakima Heart Center, and just turned my cell phone back on.  They do not allow them at all in the doctor’s office.  I received a call from him that he was in town for a week, and wanted to get together.  I arranged to meet him today for lunch.  It was really cool, and we had a nice visit, over a piece of pizza and a Pepsi.  He brought me a gift that is a couple of yards of wonderful, colorful cloth he had his mom send over from Ghana.  He cannot afford a trip over right now, as it is $2,000.  He is working part time and going to school taking Biology and Chemistry courses.

I always admired his shirts, and he said he wanted to make one for me but he cannot sew and couldn’t borrow his sister’s machine.  I told him I would either have someone make one for me, or I would frame it and hang in our house.  It is really a lovely pattern of greens and other colors, such as yellow, red, and white.

John moved our old camper today (hadn’t been on the road since 1994) and is all destroyed but is full of cans (aluminum) and dog kennels, and who knows what else).  We need to clean it out and then take it to the dump.  It is beyond help.  One of the jacks is broken.

The camper was out in our orchard in the way of where John wanted to extend his “garden plot”.  So, he moved it back out of the way.  He’s really been doing a lot of yard work since he quit pruning grapes.  I think as soon as all the strawberries and asparagus are planted he might get back to training horses.

He just came in and cut off a piece of the pork loin we bought at Costco yesterday, so we will have a decent dinner later.  It’s baking now and smells scrumptious.  Tomorrow is another lighter day for me.  I will go play music at a retirement facility (Dry Creek), where everyone is in semi-decent shape and sometimes a few get up and dance.  I have finally gotten my stamina back and today after lunch I went to my exercise class.  There were 12 of us there, and we have lost our teacher (she graduated from CWU and has to find a job), so she left town.  We led it ourselves today, and will continue.

The dogs got to be outside in the orchard today working with John.  They loved it.  An older female won’t stay with him if he is cutting brush or trees.  About 8 years ago she wandered under the tip-top of a tree as it came down and didn’t appreciate the experience.  Just her feelings were hurt!  When John isn’t actively urging them forward, they have time to find things.  So, while John worked, one of them dug out a shrew and killed it.  I saw it when I got home, and John picked it up and buried it.  It looks like this:

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/resources/mzm2/43.mr2.jpg/medium.jpg

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

Thursday; not much today but a trip to town for both of us, John to shop while I play music at Dry Creek.  We had a full slate today, with several violins, viola, bass fiddle, guitars and a banjo, plus a singer (who will be getting on her viola to join us some day.  We were missing our accordionist who had hip surgery.  The wind was wicked today, reaching 45 mph gusts a couple of hours in the afternoon.  John managed to feed the horses and take the dogs for a spin, plus work on cutting up apple branches from a tree he pruned severely yesterday.  Last night in the middle of the night, our kitty, Sunshine, caught a mouse in the hallway outside the bedroom and bath.  John retrieved it (with a glove) and launched it into orbit. Well, it was dark, so maybe not.

Friday.   I slept in this morning and then had a small breakfast and took off for a shoulder massage at 11:00.  After that I came out of the door in the Sr. Center and saw a person who sometimes plays harmonica with us.  He told me he had a heart attack last week, and had to have 4 stints put in.  Wow.  Then on to a scholarship luncheon at the SURC (Student University Recreation Center) at CWU.  On my way there I passed a garage sale, so I stopped and got a roll of Burlap for John for $2.  It was a gorgeous day — for Earth Day, too, and John was doing his part.  He planted pines and Rocky Mountain Maples –

http://classes.hortla.wsu.edu/hort231/List04/AcerGla.html

The pair of winged seeds (paired samaras) have a swept-back shape (V-like on a jet plane) while Washington State’s other native maple, the Vine Maple, has seeds like the wings of a Piper Cub.

http://classes.hortla.wsu.edu/hort231/List04/AcerCir.html

On the word “samara” and related maple word lore:

http://www.billcasselman.com/canadian_garden_words/cgw_three.htm

On the way into the SURC, I heard a guitarist sitting on an outer wall, singing and playing.  I slowed down and listened and heard some of the words of the song, with Okanogan in it.  I walked over to him and told him he had a beautiful voice.  We visited a bit and he said he was going to be playing inside for Earth Day at 1:00 to 2:00.  I went down to hear him after lunch. Our lunch was good, with different kinds of Foccia bread (with toppings), salad, and big yummy strawberries.  Lemonade to drink.

The singer/guitarist had introduced himself to me (Dana Lyons), and said he had a web site and I could go there and download his favorite song, he wrote, called Cows have Guns.  I stayed at his concert till he played that song, and then I left, getting to my exercise class a little late.  He plays an electric guitar that sounds very much like an acoustic one, just like the performer on the electric violin I told you about a couple of months ago.

http://www.cowswithguns.com/cgi-bin/home.cgi

. . . will give you a taste of his talent.

Saturday.  John has already started his yard work by packing the “farm truck” with apple tree prunings and carrying down into the pasture to add to the quail condos.

Ours are the California types and sometimes called “valley quail” . . .

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

They frequently cross roads in front of cars but unlike most sensible birds they rarely fly away – they have an elegant running gate.  Because they travel in groups (a covey) they will reverse directions – darting back and forth in front of the car.  This suicidal behavior means you cannot drive for long in the Valley without hitting one.  And they are so cute!  In a compensatory gesture, John makes brush piles with interior spaces for them to hide and nest. The dogs will point them, and that’s fun to see.  Once in awhile a small hawk with quail-for-lunch on its mind hangs around.

It is Saturday evening: I have been doing work inside the house, mostly on my computer.  I’m off to play at a special Easter Vigil service.  I’m expecting another violinist, a clarinetist, and pianist.  It’s not till 7:00 p.m. and we won’t be doing the Taize’ service tomorrow night.

John is to put this into the “cloud” and feed the horses, dogs, cat, and himself.  I get snacks at the church.  Maybe they will have a chocolate egg or a chocolate bunny.  Funny – the things we do.

Happy Easter.

Nancy and John in Ellensburg, WA

We were late getting out the blog last week because of having too much to do.  Such social butterflies we are.  As I write today (April 10) we’re finishing up (I hope) the last of the evaluations of the research proposals from Canada.  Tonight we will share in a birthday celebration – John made apple-blueberry “crisp”. The rest of today will be planning, cleaning, packing, organizing, associated with my leaving Tuesday morning for Seattle for 3 days.

Monday, same ‘ole, nothing new, except my INR-blood test for Coumadin was too high, so I have to leave off my Coumadin for two days and come back for a blood draw test (Protime) this Friday.  Too much wine, we think. So, for me, the Seattle meeting will be an alcohol free zone.  Receptions, no to free drinks, Seattle rain – may get ‘cabin fever’ in the hotel room.

Tuesday, drove to Bellevue and met up with a former student where I left my car at his house.  He picked me up and drove me to my hotel.  I got there just after my “roommates” arrived.  Neither of us had eaten since breakfast and it was after lunch, so we went for a late one in the hotel.  It was expensive, but it was great.  Buffalo wings, Fruit, Cheese and Crackers, Mussels.  The 3 of us shared appetizers, and there was more than enough.  Then off to the convention center.  It’s only 2 block south (flat) and two blocks east (uphill).  I was lugging my computer (in a carrier) with other stuff, and my friend actually took the carrier from me on the hill and kept me from having to pull anything up the hill but my own weight.  I was grateful.  We attended their session on Distance Learning and it was a panel discussion with audience participation, so I participated too.  It was one of the best such sessions I have been to at an AAG meeting.  We were all tired, so we returned to the hotel, walking, and downhill – can you imagine a world where all walks are downhill.  That would work for me.  We intended to go back for the reception but it wasn’t till 8:00 p.m. and we decided it would put us back too late and we should just go to bed early.  Our meal late afternoon was still with us.

Wednesday, I was scheduled to go to some papers given by students or colleagues from my past.  I did not participate in any field trips this time.  The first one was given by my biogeographer friend from Wisconsin with her student.  It was great seeing her again after many years, and nice meeting him.  We got to meet the next day for coffee cake (banana nut and chocolate chip chocolate) and coffee at Tully’s (nope I didn’t go to Starbuck’s).  We had a fancy carbonated lemon drink, and I poured the remainder in my Country Time lemonade.

From their paper, I rushed to a great presentation by a guy from the US Bureau of the Census on “The Role of Geography in Census 2010 and the Census Bureau.”  I talked with him the next day and learned that a friend I was in grad school with in the ‘60s was at the conference.  Our paths never crossed, sadly.  Happily, I met for lunch with a former student who is on the job market again, and her parents gave her a registration to this AAG meeting.  Also, I visited poster sessions and supported several colleagues and some students of the past.

Wednesday afternoon I returned to the hotel for a little rest, but didn’t get much, before having to trek 2.5 blocks from the hotel to the bus tunnel to make my way to a dinner in Chinatown.  From the transit station I had to walk two long blocks uphill and slowly I made my way, finding the restaurant.  All my friends beat me there for our 6:30 time.  There were 6 of us, 5 of us from the Association of WA Geographers, and a guest from Michigan who was an advisor of one of the guys who now teaches at a community college in WA.  The guest is an authority on Chinese history and geography and culture, and he speaks several dialects of Chinese.  He conversed with the waitresses and I’m sure we were treated differently from the normal “tourist.”  We ended up seated at a very large circular table with a lazy Susan in the center, from which we shared food.  The fare included:  Deep-fried squid, very large Prawns, with the head and tail on.  It was like eating lobster.  Rice and bok choy with garlic (I cannot eat dark green veggies on Coumadin), Chicken Chow Mein with crunchy noodles; a large head on and tail Talapia, very very tasty and baked in a great “sauce;”Barbequed or baked Tofu squares.  I didn’t expect to like them but I tried and they were tasty. Tea and ice water.  I couldn’t partake of alcohol, but others did.  We had a lot to eat and a good conversation.  Thankfully, one of the fellows gave me a ride back.

Thursday, rushed to a presentation by another Michigan friend who talked on an interesting group studying the Pacific Northwest, called Sightline Institute, and then from there to another presentation by a mutual friend from Wisconsin.  My WS friend and I left for the fast visit at Tully’s (mentioned above).   I bid adieus to her, her student and friend, as they went for a tour of the Space Needle . . .

http://spaceneedle.com/

On this link, click the second card on the left (black circle; 360^o view); then click on Webcam; then on the ‘move arrows’. Having been there, done that, but not bought the t-shirt — Instead, I went to an Indigenous Peoples, Tribal Schools, etc. panel discussion involving my CWU grad student from Montana; she is of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe.

http://www.cheyennenation.com/

Thence, on to more poster sessions and stopping in the hallway to visit with friends from around the U.S..  Having been geographers for over 45 years, we know a lot of teachers and workers in the computer industry and the book industry.  I spent a lot of time in the Exhibit Hall checking out resources and meeting more friends from my past.  Thursday afternoon after I got back to the hotel, I was soaking wet.  Even with my rain jacket and umbrella the 4-block walk in the pouring rain and blowing wind did its job.

http://www.beautifulseattle.com/clisea.htm

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/picturethis/2014789308_pt_stormy_seattle.html

The last link above is supposed to have photos from Wednesday (13^th) but if they change to something else, you may have to search – or just see what’s there.

I rested and warmed up and dried out and worked on a little email before my roommates returned.  We were going to go to a reception but it was not till 8:00 p.m.  They had had a large Thai lunch, but I had not.  So two of us went down to the bar for happy hour (and treats).  I had a coke and a couple of Buffalo wings and some pita bread with a liverwurst type spread and cheese.  Good thing, because when we got to the reception there was NO food.  Just drink.  We had a free ticket for a drink, so I got another Coke.  Again visited many people and then took a taxi back to the hotel.

Friday, Long day  — My student (now GIS Analyst at the City of Mercer Island – use Google Earth to find, turn photos on, and have a look) was the one at whose house I left my car (saving $20/day parking), and he picked me up and drove me the 25 minutes to downtown letting me off at my hotel door.  This morning he came back and picked me up at 10:10, and we drove back to his house to pick up my car and transfer my luggage, and drive to Issaquah for a neat lunch of sandwich and soup.  We both had the same, a  steak and cheese Panini sandwich (made with two slices of Italian bread, stuffed with steak and (Swiss or mozzarella) cheese, red sweet onions, maybe some basil, brushed with olive oil and pressed between the hot plates of a Panini grill.  Dang it was good.  It was probably 7″ long (half sandwich, or maybe 6″), and with a bowl (not a cup) of New England clam chowder, and an apple.  He also had a large coke.  The total bill was $18.xx (something less than 19).  Cost of eating in the Seattle area is pretty high, so this seemed reasonable.  I did have a ½ sandwich at Subway 2 days before, and it cost me as much as a full one in Ellensburg.

I left there about 12:15 and drove over Snoqualmie Pass in a raging rain storm (better than last night’s snow) to Cle Elum to my doctor’s office for my blood draw on the way home (INR was back within good range, at 1.7, down from 3.7 on Monday), filled John’s car with $50.01 of gas at Thorp, and it is 10 cents less / gallon than in Ellensburg, went to a Bingo game at the AAC, won a candle (whoopee).  It cost me $5.00, and I only won one game.  The woman sitting next to me won two games, and the woman (her sister) on the other side won 5 or 6 games.  I told her she needed to go buy a lotto ticket.  There were two others in the room who won multiple games, and only two of us who won just one game.  Then a bunch who won nothing.  They did provide a great Ice Cream Sundae, choice of sherbet or Neapolitan ice cream, with 4 toppings, plus whipped cream.  Yum.  All was with coffee.  I made my coffee a latte with adding some of the sundae to it.

. . . and I finally got home at 5:15.  We are debating about what to have for dinner, and it is almost 8:00 p.m.  I guess we will have Nachos.  I don’t need much, but need something.

Late afternoon almost 6:00 p.m. Friday, we had a UPS delivery of berry plants (Jewel & Quinault Strawberries and Illini Hardy Blackberries).  We also got some Asparagus plants (a year old in pots for a good deal yesterday in Ellensburg.  So, he will now be busy this weekend planting.  It’s beautiful and sunny, but VERY windy, so John has curtailed his outdoor activities – only so much wind can one take.  He usually stays out if the wind is under 30 mph, but today the average went to 35 with a gust or two peaking at 47.  He took a break at lunch and we drove to town to meet another former student who I missed at the AAG meeting.  He was calling the ‘Nancy” pre-loaded number in his cell phone number, but unfortunately it was his Aunt Nancy back East.  So, John and I drove to town and met him and his fiancée for a piece of pizza and soft drink.  We had a nice, but short, visit because they still had a 2 hour drive to Seattle and a ferry ride before getting home.  They were on their way back from a trip to the Dry Falls area and the Grand Coulee Dam,

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

John’s grape pruning work was on a sand deposit between Moses Coulee and Lynch Coulee . . . (he learned this week that coulee is French for ravine) . . .

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

http://www.dogcaught.com/2011/01/28/flying-down-lynch-coulee/

. . . and like the second of these links shows  — the vine-pruners saw Boeing 737s (covered in green protective plastic) passing down Lynch Coulee many of the days.  The BNSF tracks are along the south edge of the vines. The view in the link is about 1.6 miles up-slope from the vineyard and looking west across Lynch Coulee. (John says he will explain pruning in next week’s update if I don’t ramble on too long.)

Ouch! This has been a long entry, so . . .

Here’s hoping you all have another good week and we send our best regards to all our faithful readers.

Nancy and John in Ellensburg, WA