Keeping track

Monday, Jun 10

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

Tuesday, Jun 11

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wild Horse Wind Turbine Tour

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

Fact sheet about PSE areas in WA

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

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

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

Wednesday, Jun 12

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

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

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

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

Thursday, Jun 13

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

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

Friday, Jun 14

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

Saturday, Jun 15

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

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

More WTA Information on Mount Si Trail

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

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

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

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

Stop 2: Sunrise Lane – Wenatchee Geology 2019

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

Stop 4a: Saddle Rock Trailhead – Wenatchee Geology 2019

Stop 4b: Saddle Rock Questions & Answers

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

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

Another’s Report of the Stemilt/Malaga Landslide

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monday, Jun 3

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

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

Tuesday, Jun 4

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

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

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

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

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

Czar demos exit from winter bedroom for outside cats

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

Wednesday, Jun 5

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

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

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

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

Thursday, Jun 6

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

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

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

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

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

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

Friday, Jun 7

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

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

Swollen feet likely started from a pair of hiking boots

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What causes pain on the top of the foot?

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

That is an accurate description of what I suffered.

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

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

Alluvial Fan

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

Saturday, Jun 8

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

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

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

Sunday, June 9

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

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

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

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

Rikke Schmidt Kjaergaard: Surviving a Coma

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

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

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

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

This will be published Monday morning.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, May 26

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

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

Monday, May 27 Memorial Day

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

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

Movie from the end of our driveway:

Memorial Day – Naneum Fan 5-27-19

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

I’m back to filing receipts.

Tuesday, May 28

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, May 29

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

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

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

Thursday, May 30

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

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

Packed cameras for use tonight at Science Hall geology talk.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our late sunset view – – – almost home

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

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

Late night for Nancy working on images/videos.

Friday, May 31

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

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

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

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

Saturday, Jun 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

John Bowen comments before introducing our speaker

Jack Nisbet Geography of the Columbia Plateau

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

Sunday, June 2

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

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

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

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

Crescent Bar – Stop 1

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

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

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

Monday, May 20

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday, May 21

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kaatz Award
Awardee: Ryan Waldbillig (absent)

Macinko Award
Awardee: Andrew (AJ) Fangman

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

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

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

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

I took the only video we have of the awards:

Weston Morrow, CWURA Graduate Award & Thanks

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

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

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

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

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

I slept in this morning, but still am tired.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Flight of the Bumblebee

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

Duo Singers with Violinist – The Mountain Song

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

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

The Woodpecker Song and the Bear Song

The Coyote Song

The Raven Song

The Beetle & Hummingbirds songs

The Salmon Song (I made it home)

Field of Flowers Song

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

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

Evie & Pete Schuetz’s Anniversary Trip Slideshow

Thursday, May 23

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday, May 25

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday, May 26

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

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

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

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

Sunday, May 12

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

Monday, May 13

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday, May 14

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, May 15

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

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

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

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

Thursday, May 16

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

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

From The Hooter Newsletter, May 2019

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

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

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

Videos of the evening’s presentation:

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

Martyn Kenefick KAS final Q & A

Friday, May 17

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday, May 18

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday, May 19

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

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

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

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

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

Birds, Bees, Bats, and Butterflies!

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

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

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan