Keeping track

Sunday, April 21

Still Happy Easter and we have not yet published the blog. John’s been doing many different outside chores and is out again.

We just now published the blog at 9:31 p.m. and are both tired and ready to go to bed. I found some changes needed in my YouTubes from Thursday night, so I will make those corrections and then hit the hay. First, I had to recharge my FitBit, because it was dead, so I stayed up longer than I wished.

Later this week, after our blog was published with the photo of some decorated Easter eggs, we were sent a photo of some fancy decorated eggs from a long-time blog reader Nancy Bridges, in Sandia Park, NM (north central part).These are amazing. They came from her neighbor. I asked for a higher resolution images of the egg photos sent, for an explanation, and learned that Donna and her young daughter Addie live across the street from them and are like family. Nancy says she gave them a web site that tells how to make them using silk fabric from and old tie. Nancy’s husband, Denney had a tie with birddogs on it that he gave them to use. (Side note: the Bridges had Brittanys from our lines. Denney is a pilot, and flew into the Ellensburg airport from Montana, bringing officials of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to a meeting. On their flight back, he carried back a puppy to deliver to folks in MT to a town near the Canadian border, far away from a commercial airport. John thinks it was Wolf Point, MT, but I do not recall. I should have asked Denney, but they will see this and maybe remember the details better to tell us.

Monday, April 22

John leaves for White Heron for pruning, and I’m get work done that needs to be sent soon – or done yesterday.

Guess I was tired. I awoke to say goodbye to John and earlier to put out the cat, cat food, and greet Sue’s morning arrival with a pet. Then I laid back down and slept until 9:30 when a blocked call came in. I’m so happy our new Panasonic land line system allows blocking calls. I have managed to block two which have been harassing us for months. (Now later in the week I’m up to six being blocked). It still rings in – but only once, and immediately hangs up. I wonder what happens on the calling end, and if they can tell it is blocked or if it just indicates the call was answered and hung up. We are still getting calls (up to four/day from some places, namely the Fire Charity Fund). That is a definite scammer call with only 4% of the funds collected going to fire victims.

While editing a resume for a friend in New Jersey, I recalled a long-ago memory of my Business School education, between college attendance in fall, 1961 (starting with a $500 scholarship at Emory University) and then during the summer of 1962. I’m happy for the memories, but quite grateful I re-entered college at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, GA (Brookhaven), for summer classes and caught up on all my freshman English and Mathematics courses. In fall quarter 1962, I began classes at Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta, from which I was graduated on time, allowing me to catch up with John at the Univ. of Cincinnati for our graduate work in 1965. We both were 1961 high school graduates.

This postcard depicts the Marsh Business College, formerly located at the northeast corner of Peachtree and Harris Streets in the heart of the Atlanta downtown business district. The corner is now part of the Regency Hyatt property.

I was off working on my jobs list, forwarding an opportunity for graduate school in CA, and while using the Pacific Coast email for transfer of a job, this came up… an interesting history of APCG of which I am a member (through AAG, the main Association of American Geographers, of which I’m a lifetime member, my reward after 50 years of paid membership.
History of the APCG:

Founded in 1935 by a gathering of geographers including graduate students and faculty from universities, normal schools, and junior colleges, the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers has a long and rich history promoting geographical education, research, and knowledge. Members gather at its annual meetings for social and intellectual interaction. They receive the annual Yearbook, first printed in 1935, that includes abstracts of papers from the meetings and a number of full-length peer-reviewed articles. The Yearbook is now part of Project MUSE, a widely used academic database that provides full-text coverage for over 400 journals. We thank the Yearbook’s publisher, the University of Hawai’i Press, for helping make this possible. Members also receive the bi-annual newsletter Pacifica. Since 1952 the APCG has also been the Pacific Coast Regional Division of the Association of American Geographers, serving AK, AZ, CA, HI, ID, NV, OR, WA, BC, and YT.

John arrived home from pruning and we ate separate lunches. He went outside to shovel manure into the pickup, and I returned to filing receipts and paperwork for the current and past year. John came back in to invite me to tour the yard to see flowers, trees, and garden things he’s growing. So I took a break and went on a tour with him, our companion cat, Czar (Mackerel Tabby), and Annie, our companion dog (Brittany).

These daffodils and tulips are in 3 locations in our “front” yard.

Upper left is long-haired mackerel tabby, Woody; rest are of Czar, short-haired mackerel tabby. Czar is the most recent one in the family of four “feral” cats. We wonder about Czar’s origin. He must have been dropped off in the neighborhood, because he is < 3 yrs. That was determined when he was neutered. He befriended us and we did not have to use a trap to capture him, as we did the other three several years ago.

Neighbors in our 1st garden; hens & chicks beside asparagus.

Today has been a crazy day. John just left to pick up tabs for our 2003 Ford Truck which expired 3/12/2019. He has to get there before they close at 6:00. He needs to drive the truck to White Heron tomorrow with a load of manure. This will be their last day of pruning.

Fortunately, he noticed the expired tab and came in the house to look for where I might have put the registration. We could not find it. I started going through the stack of paid and unpaid bills on the table beside my recliner. I didn’t find it, and decided to check my computer for receipts for vehicles. Not there. He couldn’t find anything but 2018 and 2017 in the truck’s glove compartment. So as a last minute hope, I checked the DOL site where one renews tabs. Sure enough, they needed renewed and had not been done. I rushed through to request it, and got almost to the end and realized it was 5:20 p.m. and they closed at 6:00 p.m. I gave John the phone number and he called to ask if he could come get them tonight. Yes, and I printed a receipt for him that it was paid, even though the cashier said she could check on line. I was still processing it when he called her. He took my Forester papers too, because I had just renewed them a couple days ago and not picked up yet. He got there in time to receive both. So it was a good deal all around.

He left there and went to Bi-Mart, where he bought some spray (like Round-up but cheaper), 3 tomato plants, some seed packets, and came on home. He was tired from his long day of pruning, loading manure, feeding livestock, and so he sat down for a nap. I went and took my shower, so I could do it while he was in the house. Once out, we fixed our supper. He had cut an apple and some smoked turkey into cubes for me, so I fixed a salad with Iceberg lettuce, turkey, apples, pistachios, tomatoes, and bleu cheese dressing, using Cheez-its® as croutons. He had tomatoes & broccoli with dressing and a bowl of chili with the few pieces of smoked turkey I didn’t need in my salad.

I have been processing the photos I took on our tour of the yard this afternoon, which you have seen above.

Tuesday, April 23
John left for White Heron and the last day of pruning. The back of the truck under the canopy was filled with dry horse manure. Eventually it will get put on the purest sandy parts of the vineyard. After the morning pruning, Cameron and John unloaded the manure. Sadly, while John had his camera along, he did not take a photo of the load. Instead, I’ll show you what he brought home after a stop in Kittitas for a load of Poplar chips given to us.

The picture below shows the pile of chips and it’s alongside of a photo of the load when John arrived home this afternoon. He backed the truck to the pile, and shoveled/raked into truck bed. He will use it to cover paths in his gardens and up through the sagebrush & steppe vegetation on our property closest to the road.

Chip pile in yard and truck bed what got brought home (about 6x8x2 = 96 cu. ft.). The load of manure filled the entire space, except a small amount at the back. [about 8x6x4 = 192 cu. ft.]

I had other tasks I was working on this morning before I left for my haircut. The biggest was trying to sort out the return trip for the chips, as John did not have the telephone contact to call the fellow in Kittitas with the expected time of arrival.

There were other things I spent time doing – getting ready to leave and trying on some clothes to see which would work for an upcoming event, and checking the size of another few. Also had to finish emptying the dishwasher and reload and soak more dirty dishes. I still am not through with that.

John fixed us a pizza tonight. I’m continuing work on filing and mixing in cleaning up the cameras for tomorrow’s last Nick Zentner presentation for April. I need to charge camera batteries.

I’ve been working on several different projects, and now we are ready to have dessert and crash for the night.

Wednesday, April 24

We called our farrier and scheduled Myst for a trim, May 1.

I have to get ready for leaving at 10:50 for the Food Bank, to setup music stands and chairs. I’ve made my salad with John’s help cubing cheese, apples, and smoked turkey, to take along for lunch. Need to fill my car with expensive gasoline, go by the pharmacy, and grab some razors for John. I may not have time to go to SAIL today. I need to get home and be sure my cameras are ready to film tonight.

I succeeded in downloading a camera manual for my Nikon S9500 a couple days ago. I have been searching the manual for the way to get rid of the sound of the shutter when taking a still photo. I just finally found it and made the correction. A search on sound settings revealed the directions. I turned off both sounds for shutter and button sounds.

From the front row of Morgan Performing Arts Center in Ellensburg, WA:

Nick Zentner’s fourth (and last this year) “downtown” lecture April 24, 2019 is titled: Hells Canyon and the Ringold Formation.Nick begins his lectures with chalk boards and moves to visuals.

Here are the links:
{If these don’t start at the beginning, move the dot back to the left.}

Hells Canyon & the Ringold Formation (Part 1: Boards)

Check the visuals near the end for the story of Lydia Staisch’s (** SEE BELOW **) research on our area and the USGS changes she is providing with her research. She was on campus last year and introduced many to her procedures of studying the zircons in sandstones from sites of the past.

Hells Canyon & the Ringold Formation (Part 2: Visuals)

. . . and a special entry:

West VA story from Nick’s past, Whitewater Rafting New River

The one above was filmed on my Nikon camera – the story about Nick as a recent grad trying to predict the age of the river canyon of the “oldest” river in North America. It’s hilarious and worth viewing the separate clip. Because I was operating one camera with my left hand for the Part 1 (Boards) of the entire lecture, and this with my right hand, following Nick around the stage. Trying to keep his head in view was difficult, but you can follow. This story goes back to 1990. He arrived at CWU in 1992.

** Lydia Staisch was with us last year, the end of May:
Lydia Staisch-Research Geologist–Ringold Formation White Bluffs

FOOTNOTE: regarding Lydia Staisch’s May 31, 2018 presentation at CWU to the IAF chapter meeting (abstract):

Lydia Staisch, USGS Research Geologist, will present her team’s research on the “Sedimentology and U-Pb detrital zircon provenance of the Ringold Formation: implications for the ancestral Columbia and Snake River drainage” at 7:00 PM on Thursday, May 31, in Central Washington University’s Science II Building, room 103.

The research team of Lydia Staisch, James O’Connor, Christopher Holm-Denoma, and Jeremy Alexander have been using detrital zircon provenance and age dating of volcanic tephra to potentially rewrite geological understanding of the ancient river courses of the ancestral Snake River.

The Miocene–Pliocene Ringold Formation has been an important marker for understanding where and when the ancestral Columbia, Snake, and Salmon/Clearwater Rivers flowed. Over the past century, many researchers have provided important insight into the river history, and most studies have focused on fish fossils and river cobbles as evidence. However, the details and mechanisms for river reorganization are still debated. To add to the story, we provide a new data set of detrital zircons, which provide a unique fingerprint to identify source terrane.

We analyzed fluvial sandstone samples from the Ringold Formation on the north side of the Saddle Mountains for detrital U-Pb zircon provenance. Above and below the sampled sandstone, we dated interbedded tephra layers that bracket the time of sandstone deposition between 7.0 and 3.4 Ma. Importantly, these new ages show that the Taunton fish fossils are older than previously interpreted. For comparative analysis, we dated detrital zircons from modern Columbia, Okanogan, Spokane, Methow, Yakima, and Salmon River sands, and supplemented this with existing detrital zircon ages from the Snake River Plain.
Our new evidence, along with extensive paleontological data from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, entirely change the story of drainage reorganization. We show that the Snake River was in Pasco Basin and depositing sandstones before 3 Ma, which is when most other researchers suggest it flowed elsewhere. Whether this means that Hells Canyon was carved before 3 Ma is still up to debate, but we have several weeks of fieldwork immediately before this talk that is specifically aimed to answer that question.

My videos while she was here from Thursday night: May 31, 2018
{If these don’t start at the beginning, move the dot back to the left.}

Lydia Staisch Ringgold Formation Sedimentology & Provenance

Lydia’s Q & A

Nick Zentner’s invite to tomorrow’s noon lecture by Lydia
2+ minutes

I also followed her to a noon lecture on the Yakima Folds the next day, which if anyone is interested, let me know and I’ll pass along my video of her talk and one of the Q & A.

John and I also went on Nick’s Field Trip June 10th, and filmed as much as possible. If you are interested, let me know. It will be a hassle to share but I’m willing. I have ~ 10 videos at the 4 stops on the field trip. It was a great exposure followup to Lydia’s lecture.

Current 2019 Information on Nick’s “downtown” talks at the new venue – Morgan Middle School.

Follow-up Professional Filming by Julian & Sierra:

Meanwhile, below are 3 of the ones on the CWU YouTube Channel.  You can search on that and subscribe, and you’ll be able to reach much of Nick’s stuff, and next week you’ll have access to the professional version of the April 24th lecture.

However, check his own collection at his own website for all of his story.

Nick Zentner’s Personal Web Site

The professional versions of the first 3 lectures at Morgan are now posted on the CWU YouTube Channel:  with one more to come, next week.
{If these don’t start at the beginning, move the dot back to the left.} 
1-Professional version of Nick Zentner’s 4-3-19 lecture:

Supercontinents and the PNW

2-Professional version of Nick Zentner’s 4-10-19 lecture:

Plant Fossils in the PNW

3-Professional version of Nick Zentner’s 4-17-19 lecture:

Supervolcanoes in the PNW

Thursday, April 25

I charged the battery in my mic, good thing, because I had to loan it to Charlie as his was dead. He leads the singing and he needs the mic so the players can hear his interpretation of the music. Also, I called Gloria and Clare to remind them we would be there today at Hearthstone to play the last of the March/April music.

When I got there I was excited to be presented with a gift from Sharon Jenson (our bass guitar player), who knows my desire to dress in clothes for the music we are playing. I had worn a green shirt and green pants for the Irish music we were playing still from March. I put on the gift vest and wore it today. I did not get my photo taken while there (should have), but came home and took this to show her and thank her for the gift to add to my box of clothes for special music occasions. I have a whole wardrobe for Christmas as well. And, patriotic stuff for July.

Irish vest (Thanks very much, Sharon!)

John and I went to the CWU Foundation Scholarship Donor and Recipient Reception, at the Lombard Room starting at 6:00 p.m. It finished earlier than planned and we got out before 8:00 and were home before dark. Cats were happy to see us returning.

We were seated at ~16 tables, and once there, we were unable to mingle with other tables. The desire was to have the donors meet their recipients and to share their progress since the award.

We succeeded with one of our recipients this year, Mallory Triplett, a graduate student in the Cultural & Environmental Resource Management [CERM] program. Our conversation was enlightening; we learned about her current assistantship research and about her planned thesis research to be completed this coming year. She will be studying a stone used by the Native Americans for implements (arrowheads, spears, projectiles, etc.). It is Tachylyte, a glassy volcanic rock found in thin dikes or sills of basalt near where the basalt has come in contact with water, and was cooled rapidly. Her topic is fascinating, and I will be following her progress. She has a geology minor and also majored (with husband Josh) in Anthropology with an emphasis in archaeology at the University of Idaho, where John and I were before arriving in WA. Josh is also in the CERM program at CWU.

Here’s our photo last year at the time of the award presentation, to 2 recipients of the Hultquist Distinguished Service Award: Caleb Valko (undergrad Geography) and Mallory Triplett (graduate Cultural & Environmental Resource Management). Caleb, Nancy, & Mallory

Nancy & Mallory *********** Josh, Daphne (~5 mos.), Mallory

Dale Comstock was at our table (he is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics) as the donor of scholarship awarded to a young man who is an Abstract Mathematician, well above John’s and my head (knowledge) of mathematics.

Also at our table was Tim Englund (originally a mathematics faculty member), but now he serves as the Dean of the College of the Sciences. He and John worked on a trail maintenance trip through Washington Trails Association (WTA), where they volunteered together in 2006 and carpooled to the work site. It is an amazingly small world. They will be joining the trail work again on the first weekend in May and June, working on our local Kittitas valley’s Manastash Trail, with ironically, the crew leader being Beth Macinko, who is also a student in the CWU Cultural & Environmental Resource Management program. Beth is the granddaughter of George & Mary Ann Macinko. Mary Ann was there tonight, at a table across the room from us, visiting with her scholarship recipient.

Shortly after we were seated, we were encouraged to go for food. It included such things as meatballs, skewers with onions, peppers, mushrooms, pastries with various contents, shrimp on lettuce leaves, several cheeses (Brie, Cheddar, Gouda) and crackers. Desserts: mini pies (pecan, cream & fruit), brownies. Beverages offered were coffee, flavored water, and canned drinks. The meal was served buffet style. After eating and visiting, there was a program with a few speakers; two were scholarship recipients, one remotely by video from Japan, and the other, a Hispanic student, first in her family to attend college, only possible through scholarships, and a part-time job.

I did not see Caleb (he was likely at a table elsewhere with another donor, or he might not have been there because the other donor was unable to come because of being in the hospital for 3 weeks in Seattle). Caleb received more than one of the scholarships presented by Geography.

The principal reason for the meeting tonight was to introduce donors to their recipients. While I do still know some of the students, other donors do not. We enjoyed many stories among the 3 of us, Mallory Triplett (CERM grad), John, and me. John was also talking WTA/trails with Tim.

Mallory explained the assistantship she is working on and I asked about her thesis topic. I have described a little about that above. I learned that her minor was Geology, she is from Sandpoint, ID, and had a horse while still there. I found out she’d be interested in many of the lists I moderate/maintain to share videos taken at CWU on Geology or Ice Age Floods research. As well, I provide a service weekly to send Earth Science Web Sites to over 100 people, and those are passed along from a geographer friend in central Michigan, Mark Francek. He sends his out weekly, except during major school breaks (as December and Spring), and he does not publish them in the summer months. One year he went with a few students across the country on bicycles studying U.S. geography. I succeeded today in adding Mallory to all the lists.

Friday, April 26

I am going to a Scholarship Luncheon today, in Barge (oldest building on campus), Room 115. We had a nice lunch of Tortellini soup, BLT pasta salad, and cookies (which I forgot to take). It was held in the office of the CWU Foundation, the folks who put on the Donor/Recipient Scholarship Appreciation program last night.

At 10:40 a.m., I sent out this week’s links for Wednesday night’s Geology lecture.

The rest of our day was busy with outside chores for John and inside ones for me.

Saturday, April 27

Below the Wind Gusts map are the temperature and winds recorded at our airport this afternoon. We never made it to 52 mph, thankfully, as forecast as a possibility by the Pendleton National Weather Service.

We did experience high winds today. At 9:53 a.m. the airport weather station, 5 miles south of us, reported 43 mph gusts. Down the road a couple miles from us, we shall put in an appearance today at the Bar 14 Ranch for a party. The party will have a Taco Bar, grilled thin marinated steak (Carne asada), salads, desserts, and more. There is live music, and they are planning to hang a Piñata. We got there just in time to see the kids trying to knock it open for the Mexican candy inside.

Composite photo description: Piñata (day before), Birthday boy, Jude eating cake outside at the party, live music behind Uma (purple hat), mom Raychel (light blue jacket) holding Jude. Taco Bar behind photographer.Piñata, Jude 1st BD “spring” party, Uma, Raychel, Jude-Live music

John needed to go to town for some colas and for some Black Oil Sunflower seeds on sale at Ace Hardware, so we hit the party on the way home, hoping we wouldn’t get blown away.

Once there, we visited with Dave & Linda Lundy (Grandparents of Uma & Jude), and the rest of the family. We decided to give the Lundys the wine to share, one a Red Blend of 2/3 Merlot & Cabernet Sauvignon (1/3), and another, Rose’ of Syrah, one of my favorites. In addition, we gave them 3 large lemons from our stash sent from the Resslers in Cathedral City, CA, which Linda is going to use to make her favorite dessert (from the UK), called Lemon Posset. I wish we could taste her creation, but I asked her to send me a photo of them when she makes it. Luckily, she can freeze them after they are made, because the lemons need to be juiced soon. Lemon juice & zest, cream, and sugar are the main ingredients. Can be served with fresh fruit, if desired.

Visited with a couple of my former students and their children, ate from the great taco bar, had dessert (awesome cake made by Linda covered with strawberries), and we left because we were getting cold in the wind. The temperature was below 50, the wind was constant and creating a cold wind chill.

Once home we continued house projects. I followed up on searching for the map above of wind gusts, and learned of this NWS forecasting maps current for the week. I went back & forth with a meteorologist at Pendleton about this. Open the link and click on None Selected. I selected Day 1 and for the forecast, I selected Wind, and I clicked GO. It gave me similar information and I found out the software used to make them is Python; also learned that the National Weather Service still relies on much weather related software written in Fortran (which was the programming language I learned in the sixties and taught during my graduate assistantship at the University of Cincinnati Computer Center, where I was stationed.

Access to Nat’l Weather Service Forecast Maps

Sunday, April 28

John has been outside late morning, doing yard chores. He just returned for our brunch. I have been working on computer issues, mostly finalizing my blog draft for him to review. Also, tried to straighten out problems with a Jacquie Lawson card sent to our friends the Wests, in Yakima, to a valid email address. For some reason it is not being delivered. I just sent another entry they can add to their address book to allow the delivery. We will have to try that by sending another card, to test the theory. My fall back is I sent a copy to myself, so I can always forward that from my account (which won’t be blocked).

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, April 14

You’ve already heard in last week’s blog what we did today.
Most of our evening was spent working on the blog, or doing email correspondence. John read some more in his book, loaned by a friend, Tim, titled “Longitude.” He already knew most of the story, but enjoyed reading the details.

We published the blog at 11:55 p.m.

Monday, April 15

We left for town at 9:15 and didn’t get home until afternoon. Our original trip was to have our toenails trimmed by a foot doctor (Medicare covers the cost, after deductible paid). We were an hour late being seen, because of a busy morning and only one doctor being there. We also learning of a vascular test we should have once a year to check on the circulation in our legs to our feet. The test takes about 15 minutes, and a blood pressure cuff is wrapped around your thigh, and on down your leg to your ankle. We decided to go to the Yakima office for our tests because the only day they do it in Ellensburg is on Thursday (afternoons), and I cannot get out of music at assisted living homes until too late. So, we will combine our trip with going to Costco, which we need to do anyway. We are scheduled for 2:30 and 3:00 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, April 30th.

Once in we had a nice visit and found out he and his family were going to France in May & June. Once home, John turned on his computer while eating brunch, and saw the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris being destroyed by fire. So sad, but I have the memories of being inside there in 1965 on a Geography Field Trip to 17 European countries, which ended in Paris after 9 weeks.

The rest of our morning trip was to two grocery stores. We loaded up on drinks, chips, ground beef, bananas, and on BBQ sauce of which we now have a lot, on sale for $1. John splurged and bought a container of Maple Syrup, which was still expensive, but marked down $16.00. I told John that for me, I’m fine with the sugared water in regular Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup or something cheaper. I think I paid 99₵ last time I got a bottle. Then, off for Fred Meyer’s special on PowerAdeZero for me at 59₵ each, and some Colas for John, 77₵ – and two boxes with 24 Pepsi cans, each – $6/box. I dislike shopping there, but certainly don’t mind taking advantage of their tremendous mark-downs. I guess they are “loss leader” specials to get you in the store. I have always been intrigued by that concept pricing strategy.

I came home to some magnificent news. I had a phone call from Colleen Meyer at the Yakima Heart Center. She had delivered my report and request to Dr. Dave Krueger, and he has agreed to take me as his patient. What a huge relief! He is in charge now of all the cardiologists and was not taking any new patients. I wanted someone who was there at the time I had my open heart surgery and during the time building up to it in the fall of 2009. I’ll be scheduled to see him in 2 months and get another device check while there. The appointment has been made for June 24th.

Below is what he writes in his biography on their providers’ site, and I LIKE this, particularly his comment, “On Patients”:  

On Patients:  I strive for full patient involvement in their own care and their medical decisions. I love prevention and a healthy lifestyle is the best medicine.
On Cardiology:  What an exciting time to help cardiovascular patients- new medicines and tools keep improving patient care.
On Yakima Heart Center: I am proud to be on Team YHC, where every individual is dedicated to “patients come first”.

You can see the whole statement and his photo at the link below, but you have to click on the bottom of his picture (Dave Krueger):

Dave Krueger, MD (my new cardiologist)

Returned to some more email requirements. Have to set up the attendance for two music events this week; one at Pacifica and one at Briarwood. I just finished that. It was more involved than usual.

I still have not figured out what it is that is on our kitchen calendar in John’s handwriting, that says we are out for dinner at 5:00 this coming Tuesday (23rd). We’re hoping it was accidentally put on the wrong day (maybe in the wrong month).

John went out to work on the logs and house-number sign at the end of the driveway, which got knocked off their “podium” a couple months ago. Note the yellow marker added to the photo indicating our structure. Approaching our driveway from the north there is ½ mile of straight road, then a turn. In the photo, a driver has to make a sweeping left turn, and come toward the camera. Once every 3 years or so the vehicle (sometimes pulling a trailer) follows a more straight path and either comes out the neighbor’s drive, or makes contact with the fence support. Less frequently the vehicle turns onto its side.

John made a fabulous meatloaf tonight, cooked a little bowl of carrots, and cut us some Jarlsberg cheese slices.

I worked on the jobs list.

Tuesday, April 16

John left for White Heron and pruning today.

I have to go drop off size 18 pants and 2 blue medicine bottles to Karen at Briarwood; and look later for any 2X blouses. I’m sure I have some stashed around the house in stacks or containers. We need to have a serious purging of our house contents.

I first stopped by the Ellensburg Community Clothing Center with some things to donate and check out what’s there. Wow – a treasure trove! Stuff for John and for me and for others, if they don’t fit me. One thing is a leather coat for me with embroidery on the sleeves and back (but not the front). Very nice; made by Roper. I found a similar one on EBay that claims the original cost was $250.

Another item (for John) was a brand new Helly Hansen manufactured jacket with a logo of UniSea Renton, WA (Seafood company in Alaska), on the front left side, instead of their normal HH logo. We assume it was paid for by the company for their employees at their Renton, WA facility (cold storage, in the global market). Their company is involved in harvesting wild, seafood products in a sustainable manner, including: Alaskan Pollock, Alaskan King Crab, Snow Crab, Bairdi/Tanner Crab and Golden King Crab, Pacific Cod, Halibut and Sablefish. They are proud to describe these are sustainably harvested from the deep, pristine waters of the Bering Sea, according to Federal law and State of Alaska law. A visit to their web site (particularly to the Galleries tab for some videos), is worth your time.

UniSea, Inc.-Pride of Alaska

The economic geographer in me and my past teaching made me provide the information above.

Another geography connection:

This appeared on Facebook today from Cameron Fries at White Heron Cellars with a glimpse at part of the Mariposa Vineyard, where John has been pruning wine grapevines since February. Cameron’s comment is below the photo.“We lived in the wine making region of St. Saphorin in Switzerland for a while. The vineyards there are very steep and terraced with rock walls. Those walls have thousands of the same flowers that you can see flowering in this photo. When we had to terrace the hillside next to the winery we deliberately recreated a small part of that landscape, including training the vines into the traditional ‘Gobelet’ style. And thus we welcome spring to the Ancient Lakes Viticultural Area.”

On my timeline on Facebook, I shared this comment:

We hold a special place in our hearts for our friends, Phyllis & Cameron Fries, owners of the White Heron Cellars winery and Mariposa Vineyard. Starting in 1998, Cameron started coming to our class at CWU in summers to discuss the cultivation and history of wine grapes, and to provide a tasting of wines in the classroom. Our jointly taught class was held every summer through 2008, and hasn’t been taught since. It was called, Wine: A Geographical Appreciation.

We had field trips, and when Cameron & Phyllis moved to their current location, west of Quincy, WA, we continued his participation at the vineyard and winery. There, they arranged for a 6-course dinner with different wines for all the students at an incredibly reasonable price.
John and I drove CWU vans of students each year there for our first field trip of the year. With the view over the Columbia River, it provided a beautiful setting for learning and enjoyment. Below are some of our photographic memories of their vineyard, winery, and one view from their house on the hill above.Mariposa vineyard – Summer, Fall, Winter by Nancy & John – Columbia River

If you want to see why the vineyard is named as it is, it is not because it’s Spanish for butterfly. In fact, it’s because of the Mariposa Lily found throughout the vineyard in grassy areas.

Check out their own web page and look at the first photo you see:

White Heron Cellars & Mariposa Vineyard

More memories at White Heron Cellars winery events:Sept 2018 John, Phyllis (Altesse dog), Nancy, Cameron (tall guy) & Nancy

Memories inside the winery:Cameron, Pétanque balls, Nancy, John, more White Heron wines for tasting

I have great memories of an event I attended alone for playing Pétanque, while John was volunteering as an Assistant Crew Leader for WTA (Washington Trails Association). My involvement on the winning team of 3 members brought back memories of my earlier life bowling skills. The Moscow, ID bowling lanes closed after I left the state and my high series record was never topped. It was a 679 series accomplished in sanctioned league bowling.

Wednesday, April 17

Finally got in touch with College Subscription Services to renew my Smithsonian and Discover magazines. I reached my old friend Shaku Ext 212 again, back after being gone from May to November last year, traveling around the world. I thought she had gotten another job. It’s nice to have a continuing contact at such places we do business.

Sent my chair count for KV F&F music for tomorrow at Pacifica.

Nick Zentner’s third “downtown” lecture is tonight. We got there just after 6:00 p.m. to get our seat up front for me to film. My videos are below. Following later will be a professional edited version on YouTube that will be distributed by Nick Zentner to the email addresses he has in his system. I have also subscribed to the CWU YouTube Channel so I’m aware when they are published.Cougar Point Mattawa, WA Tuff from Idaho Supervolcano, Jarbidge-Bruneau (these photos from the Nick Zentner lead, IAF Field Trip November, 2018 (John was present on the trip).Nick Zentner’s 4-17-19 lecture on Supervolcanoes in the PNW

Be sure to always check the beginning of the video to be at zero minutes… and move it back (as on the Visuals).

Audience for Nick at Morgan Performing Arts Center

Supervolcanos in the PNW (Part 1: Boards)

Supervolcanos in the PNW (Part 2: Visuals)

While we are on Geology, check this out. Joseph Kerski, my geographer friend in Colorado, sent this to me. You saw his photo in last week’s blog. I used to cover this technology in classes for years. I wish this local coverage existed at the time.

Geologists in Washington State use different bare-earth LiDAR products to map geology, landslides, and faults, to study volcanoes, glaciers and rivers, and to model tsunami inundation.

Give it plenty of time to load – much information is included. Yakima River in the canyon south of us in Ellensburg, WA is featured nicely, early in the presentation.

LiDAR exposes Geology and Natural Hazards in WA

Thursday, April 18

It was raining this morning, but turned into a nice day by the time we left for town at 12:50 p.m.

I used the time to finish loading and start the dishwasher so we had something to eat on and with.

John fixed us a nice breakfast: home fries, cut banana, fried bacon, and I fixed two eggs over easy for myself.
John had things to do outside after the rain stopped.

I charged the battery in my mic for music and called in the count of 11 to Pacifica Senior Living, where we played today. We had a large audience turnout and they were appreciative, with a couple of comments about how they wished we would come more often than once a month. We get that comment often, and have no control over it, with all the places we already are locked into from years past.

Tonight, I went back to town with John to attend this gala.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 30th Anniversary of the Kittitas Audubon Society ^ ^ ^ ^ ^The meeting tonight was planned to be a silent auction of donated art work, books, statues & figurines, bird houses & feeders, and other paraphernalia associated with birders. It was a fundraiser for the scholarship fund to provide to college students to help with their research, given annually by the Kittitas Audubon Society (KAS).

I arrived early and took a tour of the tables set up with art and books. Each one below is a small amount of viewing time. The two videos of the speaker on snakes, Wendy Shaw, are longer (with 8 and 9-minute viewing times).

First, are the tables of materials:

(1) 1 Prints Priced $1 – $5

(2) Prints by Donation

(3) Silent Auction Bids (Jewelry priced)

(4) An auction item, Figurines priced, rest free things

(5) Many books, Matted Prints, & 2 birding vests

(6) High-priced books and framed prints

This was before the speaker program began:

Wendy Shaw Gopher Snake & Haley

In the above video, at 19 seconds in, Haley says, “I’m used to touching snakes at the STREAM events.” In case you’re wondering – What are these? They are educational meetings with youngsters.

STREAM educational events for kids – build on STEM events, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics—into STEAM by adding the Arts, and now the accepted acronym is STREAM, by adding Reading (which includes writing). 

I asked Amy (Haley’s mom) to describe the local program for me so I could educate myself and put in this blog for our readers. Here’s her helpful description:

Yes, there is a group called the Early Learning Coalition of Kittitas County that offers a free event for birth to 5 (kindergarten) to get parents and kids “playing with purpose” and talking to kids about the STREAM areas of education before they start school. The kids get lots of hand on activities and then get a bag with an age specific “learning tool” aka toy – things such as magnifying glasses, counting blocks, scissors, rulers, and a free book each event. I think there are like 16 events, 8 in Ellensburg – 8 in Kittitas. Each month is themed and so both towns get the same theme each month. This month was Farmers Market. There is also Science of the Night, Frozen, Helping Hands (police, firefighters, construction).  I love these events.

The next two are of the program speaker (total time 17 mins):

KAS with Wendy Shaw, Rattlesnake Conservationist

KAS Discussion – Q&A with Wendy Shaw

We bid our adieus and drove home, only to view a beautiful almost full moon (not yet pink).

Our Moon View 4-18-19 Coming Home

Friday, April 19

We worked around the house, inside and outside. I mostly worked on the blog.

I finished the descriptions on Nick Zentner’s videos from Wednesday night, and now need to get them sent off to the folks for whom I have emails. DONE !!!

I have spent much time uploading videos to You Tube, from Wed & Thursday, and keeping the two inside-outside male cats who dislike each other, from tussling.

Saturday, April 20

John worked on loading a pickup with dried horse manure (destination, Mariposa Vineyard), and on cutting our backyard lawn. The soil of the vineyard is short of organic material, being mostly sand deposited in a temporary lake at the time of the Ice Age floods.

I left for Briarwood music at 12:50 p.m. to get there in time to carry all my stuff in, and also help set up. We had a good turnout considering so many people had conflicts with Easter being tomorrow and having family away or coming into Ellensburg. We ended up with a good bunch of players: Marilyn, Maury, Kevin, Gerald, me, Dean, and Amy. Also had our usual happily singing along audience.

We started a little early and finished an hour later, ready for the pretty tables of Easter-themed cookies and iced water (or coffee).Colorful cookies shaped as bunnies, eggs, chicks, crosses, and others.

My morning was spent working on the blog. Afternoon was spent working on emails, after returning home from Briarwood’s music.
I still have a ton of emails to finish, but the first thing is to finish this blog draft, proofing, and additions.

After Briarwood, I took Amy by Jerrol’s to spend my $10 coupon and she got some pompoms (pea-sized) and a can of Masters Brush Cleaner for her paint brushes. She will use them to help teach her Gallery One art class with young children.

I picked up 4 pies at Grocery Outlet and a fistful of broccoli for John. The pies were Marie Callender’s Cookie Dough Cream pie with chocolate bits atop; already at a discount. One cost $4.99 and the other was free BOGO (buy one get one). So I bought two and got two free. $2.50 for a pie is not a bad deal! We didn’t have freezer space for any more. Amy found some Oreo cookie candy on sale that Haley likes.

I went from there to Mt. View Park to let her off at her car with all her stuff, and then she could go meet her family at the birthday party in the park pavilion. From there, I went to Super 1 to pick up my 3-month supply of Lasix. Now I’m all set to put my meds in for the whole week.

We enjoyed Lasagna for dinner tonight with Key Lime pie for dessert.

Sunday, April 21 ^.^.^.^ HAPPY EASTER !

Evelyn gave us and others fancy decorated eggs. We put mine in a salad. No photo. Some of her family came and they made more today. We did receive her photo that we now pass on as a Happy Easter good wishes.
For a look at some fancy eggs do a search on the web with the phrase ‘decorated Easter eggs’ – use the Images tab. Wow!

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, April 1 April Fool’s Day

Peggy Coble photographed these and sent out on Facebook with this quote: “God is painting with brilliant colors this morning.”Two photos merged together by Nancy. Both by Peggy Coble.

John left for White Heron Cellars and wine grape pruning in the Mariposa Vineyard this morning, will do one more day tomorrow, but not again the rest of this week. Cameron needs to be in Seattle.

I checked and cleaned out the top of my violin case so that I could meet this afternoon with Bryce Van Parys (from Hammond Ashley Violins in Issaquah) to obtain a new set of PreLude strings and have him install them at the CWU Music Building. They are fantastic, mellow, and warm sounding, and I have enjoyed playing with them two days this week. They have stayed in tune as well.

I took care of bill paying with our insurance company in Idaho, to save money by having our vehicle insurance come due in a lump sum and taken from our checking account. We save lots of payment charges by switching from a monthly credit card fee of $5 each, plus we will get a discount for paying all at once.

I also worked with a member of the CWU Foundation: Catherine Scarlett, Director, Compliance and Liaison to CWU Retirement Association, (cool interesting title), to get our donation for two scholarships (Hultquist Distinguished Service Award) straightened out to have enough money in the account by September payout time. We fund this via monthly credit card withdrawals to cover two awards: one for a graduate student in the Cultural and Environmental Resource Management program and one for an undergraduate in the geography program (although it can be service to geography from another major). We have the two again this year. We had to play catch up because of new “rules” of dispersal to have $1,000 available at the first part of Fall Quarter (in September) for payout and not spread out over the year by 3 quarters (fall, winter, spring). The award is made in May, 2019 at an outside ceremony, where I videotape the proceedings every year at the End-Of-Year Geography potluck.

Tuesday, April 2

Peggy’s out again for today’s morning sunrise that I’ll display with her three photographs: Captures of a beautiful sunrise by Peggy Coble, 4/2/19
At bottom-right, above the ridge line is a row of wind turbine towers.

Awoke to say goodbye to John, who left for White Heron. I wanted to lie back down for some more rest, but stayed up instead to take care of things that have been ignored the past couple months.

I called in our reservations for next Tuesday’s Volunteer Recognition Dinner at the Presbyterian Church. Then, I spent much of the day calling musicians about the volunteer recognition dinner sign-up deadline being today.

I worked on a bunch of emails. Need to do more work on paperwork. It just keeps piling up. I arranged for payment of our membership in Kittitas County Historical Museum on-line so as not to have to go by the museum and write a check.

My lack of sleep caught up with me, and I finally took a nap for about an hour around noon with two calls interrupting.

I managed to pay our Pend Oreille Shores bill on line. Boy, the yearly maintenance cost has really increased over the years. We have to get some of our friends to use up those credits we have space-banked. We are not in a position to travel ourselves with all the animals we must care for daily. We need to get rid of these weeks at the resorts, but we are just kicking this can down the road.

Late afternoon, I took care of the payments for our house insurance with Blue Ridge Insurance here in town (through Lana), and we have the payments coming out twice a year, paid by our VISA from Costco (only $2 service charge) twice a year. The alternative I’m using with the other Safeco policy on the vehicles (in Idaho) costs more here on the house, going through our checking account. Why such a difference between two adjacent states is beyond comprehension!

John and I both need to respond to more questions about our service activities in the region, in preparation for the May 21st CWURA {old folks} banquet award presentation we are receiving.

This afternoon my new battery for my Dell computer arrived in the USPS mail from Amazon. John got out a wrist-style grounding strap and a teeny screwdriver and did the replacement while I was away from home. It works wonderfully. This one is flat (3.5 x 7 x 0.3 in). Because he was using the web to find and buy the correct battery, companies are now “pushing” ads to his computer. None are the correct size and shape for my laptop, and – of course – I no longer need one. This is a glitch in their business model.

I worked tonight getting ready for the music for May & June, to check with Evie to be sure it was fine to stay with what we did for 2018. Makes my job incredibly easier providing the music scores for the Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends group. We worked tonight on our biographies for the old folks award, as requested by the President of the CWU Retirement Association. Before the weekend is over, I need to finish these and get them sent. The award is for service to the community and university since retirement.

Wednesday, April 3

John is home from pruning the rest of the week. I’m going to the Food Bank for lunch music and then coming on home. I don’t think I’m quite ready yet for SAIL exercise class, with my left shoulder’s range of motion. Next Monday, however, I believe I will retry the Silver Sneakers exercise class.

Tonight we are going to one of Nick Zentner’s lectures, the first at the newly remodeled Morgan Middle School Performing Arts Center. Doors open at 6:30 for the 7:00 p.m. start. We got there and sat on the front row. Nick Zentner at Morgan – photo by Joyce Swart, and Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park photo by Perri Schelat. Colored rocks; why so?

When you listen to Nick’s lecture, you’ll understand the connection of the photos. Nick traveled from Wisconsin to the mountains of Montana as a young man for his first summer job, and the experience changed his life – – drifting into the study of geology.

Supercontinents of the PNW (Part 1: Chalk boards)

Supercontinents of the PNW (Part 2: Visuals)
Please move back to the start of the video to view. It starts 3 minutes into the video.

Thursday, April 4

While I was out running around town, my friend Evie Schuetz was hiking to Umptanum Falls to celebrate her birthday a day early. Here is her time exposure using a 10 Stop Neutral Density Filter for Long Exposure Photography:Umptanum Falls by EvieMae Schuetz, 4/4/19. 8 miles south of EBRG.

Today John was busy with onion starts and other garden things.
I went to town for music at the Rehab center and we had 11 people playing, plus our old accordion player, Jeanne Gordon, sitting in the circle in her wheelchair, as a permanent resident there. She always enjoys our music. Today, I put a shamrock necklace on her with blinking green lights.

After that I came home to make ready to leave again for town with John. We went by Burger King for their two specials for $3.00 each (John had a Whopper and I had a Crispy Chicken). I also used a coupon for a large fries combined with Chicken Fries, which we ended up sharing with friend Angela who did not have any supper, but did have a 90-mile drive to home afterward. John and I carried our own bottle of Coca-Cola to share. I brought home some of the French fries and half my sandwich because I was too busy talking to finish eating it. It was part of my lunch the next day.

We arrived at the Science II building on campus prior to 6:30 to be sure we got the seats up front we use for me to videotape the proceedings. We met a bunch of new people there and some from our past. It’s always a fun place to go, each month. It is for the Ice Age Floods Institute local chapter meeting.Nick Zentner introduces speaker Michael Poland from USGS, Cascades Volcano Observatory who also wears another hat as a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey and is the scientist-in-charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. He has some interesting comments at the end of his Questions and Answers section after his talk.

First, the introduction to our speaker: Move your start below to 3:30 for Michael’s background info.

Nick Zentner about Michael Poland {starts @ 3:30}

Then, the presentation:

Michael Poland, Deformation of Cascade Range Volcanoes

And, finally we ended with the Questions & Answers:

Michael Poland Fields Audience Questions

Friday, April 5

I slept in till 8:15 and John was up earlier. We had rain early and then a lot more later in the afternoon.

I started uploading the talk from last night, and something is really slowing it down. It has taken too many hours. I guess the next time I do this, I’ll need to carry my laptop to the university to upload on a faster connection. I’m even using my old Exilim camera which records in a much smaller bandwidth than my Nikon.

Today John finished the onion sets just before a major downpour. The next few days will be cool and/or wet so the little plants should do well. It is late to be planting them, but it couldn’t be helped. I have been working on numerous projects today, including washing a load of dishes, so now we have some utensils and plates to use.

We had rain for a couple of hours, then it cleared.
Lise McGowan photographed another beautiful landscape mostly a “skyscape” of this evening’s sunset.Lovely photograph by Lise McGowan, of the skies after the storm.

Saturday, April 6

We awoke to rain, but if you were up earlier as our friend Peggy Coble was, you would have experienced a striking scene. Sunrise by Peggy (& God) continue.April 6 morning in the Kittitas Valley, by Peggy Coble.

I was up a little before 5:00 while it was still dark, and two of the outside cats had arrived for some food. I provided it and petted the one who would let me (Sue). Then I went back to bed.
I slept in longer than John. It rained a lot this morning, but now in the afternoon it has dried out and the sun is shining.

I managed a few things on email. One was the weekly Earth Science Web sites “reader” that comes from my Geographer friend, Mark Francek, in Michigan. He usually sends it the end of each week. I then check it out and send along to over 100 people on my forwarding list.

While following the Earth Science Weekly entry today, IRIS How Will 3 Buildings, Engineered Equally, on Different Bedrock React to an Earthquake, I found this that followed: (this is the corrected version from the one that appeared first).

Great Alaska Earthquake, 3-27-64, Mag 9.2

I have sent this to Mark for a possible future send. It is an important follow-up to the lecture we heard Thursday night by Michael Poland; details above.

I guess I should give you the link that got me to the one on the 1964 Anchorage earthquake. John and I visited Anchorage in 1987 and saw much of the aftermath (23 years after) of the earthquake and tsunami’s destruction.

How will buildings, engineered the same, but on different bedrock react to an earthquake?

During the development of western Washington there was an assumption that the area did not get strong earthquakes. Enlightenment came in 2001 with the Nisqually event of February 28. Among many other things, the State Capitol building was damaged.
Previous large quakes (1949 & 1965) happened before the rapid expansion of Seattle, but earthquake-resistance work
was not very high priority. A really big quake is in the region’s future.

Today arrived a box of large lemons from CA from John and Diana Ressler (he was the Geographer here who introduced me to the job possibility at CWU). I was hired in 1988. I saw him at a geography conference and he told me about the opening. I applied and the rest is history. I have never regretted my decision.
We sent 3 bottles of wine to them from White Heron – well, we paid shipping but the wine came from John’s pruning stash. The Ressler’s Lemon tree is returning fresh fruit northward. The largest, a Eureka, weighs 1 pound 3 ounces.

Sunday, April 7

A light mist of rain began about Midnight. At 2 AM to 5 AM there was actual rain. We have had mist+ since then. In the mountains, west of us, the snow pack is below average. Light rain adds to the water content, heavy rain melts snow and causes flooding.
John says: Our governor, Jay Inslee, who is running for President, has declared a drought emergency for our basin and two others to the north of us.
So far, the only plank in Jay’s political platform is global warming. The odd thing is that every other western state has snow pack depths above average. It seems Gaia directed the winter storm tracks to bypass Washington State just to give Jay a shouting point.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Here is a gorgeous photo of Mt. Rainier from a few years back:
Mt. Rainier, Photographer, Jennifer Stone (permission granted). Taken from Paterson Road, Carbon River Heights, WA; the resolution is low because Facebook significantly changes it.

Maxine Herbert-Hill posted this the day before her birthday. When I questioned her if she had taken it, she said that it was taken by a friend of a friend. It was a gift for her birthday. She said she would ask for permission to pass it on. She agrees it is an amazing shot that she loves too.
Personally, I have seen lenticular clouds over it before, but never stacked that high, and we usually see it from the eastern side of the mountain.

Monday, March 25

We were up early and I started drinking water to make my blood draw go more smoothly.

We finally packed and left. Our trip to Ellensburg, took a Lot longer than ever to get my blood drawn, but I met lots of folks in the waiting room and gained some interesting information. One person I met and had not seen for over a year or more was Bonnie Clement. Her health has not been good since September.

We proceeded on down to Costco, filled my car with gasoline (at $2.75/gal) cheaper than Ellensburg, and it was dreary driving in the clouds, down and back. Once we arrived back in the Kittitas Valley it was truly cloudy and overcast. This is what we returned to:The right photo looks a little nicer than the left.

Amazingly as we got closer to home, some sunshine appeared. A welcome sight.

An afternoon call brought the news of my results from the blood draw this morning. My INR=2.7, so I’m staying on one Coumadin every day, except ½ on Wednesday & Saturday. My Sodium was up to 135, and Potassium was 4.7, with Chloride 98.

Today we came home to an interesting and surprising email, from Marilyn Mason (President of the CWURA [CWU Retirement Association] that the Retirement Association Board had nominated both of us for this year’s Distinguished Retiree Award. The award recognizes the contributions made to the community and university since retiring. They would like to honor us at the CWURA Annual Banquet, May 21.

Tuesday, March 26

I’ll start today with photos of pretty flowers (Azaleas) sent by my cousin from Sullivan’s Island, SC. I used to spend my summers in that house and all around the island, including fishing, and ski boarding in the inland coastal waterway. We also traveled around into south GA visiting relatives, water skiing there. Great memories of the southern flowers, and my mom had about 18 different Camellia bushes in our home’s front yard in Atlanta, GA on Piedmont Road.

John’s leaving for White Heron at 7:40 a.m. for pruning. I stayed home today trying to catch up on things, and it seems impossible after all the things that have accumulated needing attention since I was unable to do much, while feeling so crummy. John was kind enough to go through town on his way home from pruning, to check our numbers at Bi-Mart and find out we “won” with the last digit of our membership number, a large box of Idahoan Potatoes dehydrated (I guess) to make into mashed potatoes. We have had a small one before and liked them.

He also went by Super 1 Pharmacy to pick up two of his meds that were ready, and by another place in town. I was grateful.

I did talk with the Triage nurse in Cle Elum about meeting with my new PCP Chelsea, to put in refills at a higher dosage that can be split with a pill splitter. I also needed to know my return date for another INR checkup to be sure we were back on track after all the antibiotics of the past couple months. They raise it and play havoc with the numbers, requiring dosage changes to be adjusted. My next draw is April 8th, so that gives me a rest from weekly.

The two drugs involved you have heard previously in last week’s blog are Atorvastatin & Coumadin (Warfarin). Our normal Pharmacy at Super 1 has to use our insurance co-pay, but at the local Safeway Pharmacy, we can process them through GoodRx . com and get a significant discount using our credit card and paying cash price (not using the insurance co-pay). This time they even were willing to split the pills for us. (Previously, they would not.) So we had to do it. Super 1 Pharmacy has always split pills for me. I have one that needs to be split into quarters. That’s a tough one!

I spent a bunch of time today, backing up telephone numbers from our old land line phonebook list so as not to lose when we install the new Panasonics later today. In between, I washed clothes and dishes. John did a nice job yesterday of adding batteries and charging five phones for 7 hrs.

Started a load of clothes. Ended the day doing two loads.

John fixed us a nice bowl of beef vegetable soup for supper with broiled sourdough toast with butter and Parmesan cheese.

I stayed up working on emails later than I should have.

Wednesday, March 27

Photos of the day: California Poppy – Poppy fields in Lancaster, CA beautifully captured by Jeri Conklin.

John left late at 7:50 a.m. for White Heron; back at 1:30.

He helped me pack the rest of the stuff I’m taking today (except my violin and music), which I will have to add with my lunch and pills to take.

I’ll take my Fiddle and music to the Food Bank arriving between 11:00-11:20 to meet a couple for transferring things mentioned below. I took one of my drinks Ensure & Yogurt for ease in fixing lunch. I don’t enjoy having pasta (the main dish on Wednesdays).

I am taking some hygienic stuff (shampoo, deodorant soap, toothpaste, washrags), and clothes: socks, shirts & sweatshirts) to give to Lisa & Leonard Muhr to deliver around the state to Homeless Veterans through Stand Down events. Stand Downs are typically one-to-three-day events providing supplies and services to homeless Veterans, such as food, shelter, clothing, health screenings and VA Social Security benefits counseling. I appreciate their meeting me at the Food Bank, to save my driving to their house on Hwy 10. While they were there, they were able to eat lunch. They also were coming back in the afternoon for food distribution (they are registered for), but loaded some bread out of the bread room, while there.

I started loading dirty dishes this morning, but only made a small dent.

Got a call from Safeway Pharmacy my prescriptions are ready to be picked up, so I guess I will go by on my way home, and not wait until Thursday, when we have so many more things on the schedule. Well, I got there without my coupons printed and realized the price was not right, so I’m printing my coupons and going back tomorrow after John’s dental visit is over.

Thursday, Mar 28

Sunshine at the moment after John emptied all the buckets in the roof drip line to prepare for the rain that did not come.

We started at Johnson’s Auto Glass by taking John’s Crosstrek in for a windshield replacement after 8:30 a.m. and then on to his dental teeth cleaning appointment at 9:00 a.m., running into closed streets for the procession from the funeral home to the CWU Nicholson Pavilion Memorial for Kittitas Sheriff’s Deputy, Ryan Thompson.

I carried along my laptop computer to sit in the waiting room and work, while John had his teeth cleaned, X-rayed, and evaluated.

After that, we picked up my meds at Safeway at a reduced price, even more off than what I expected yesterday. While there we bought some colas for John and PoweradeZero for me, on sale, along with bags of Honeycrisp apples (on sale) for my neighbor who likes to have an apple / day, and particularly likes Honeycrisp.

We came home for lunch, and John fixed us a ham slice, and 2 eggs each. He had home fries, but I had English Muffin toast with apricot preserves.

We left for music in town at 12:50. Our destination was Hearthstone today. We had a nice bunch of players there with a challenge playing through the replacement of a window in a door behind us, that had been shattered (I wish I had had my camera there to take a photo or asked someone with a phone to take it). I found out it was shattered by a piece of plywood they were using above to knock of the icicles from the roof that had been threatening the glass windows on an angle above the room. The glue they were using to seal the glass pane about did us all in, making us loopy from sniffing the fumes. It was particularly troublesome for our two flute players, who have to inhale a lot of air through their noses to play. Then the hammering began, and not in time with the beat of the music we were attempting to play. We had a smaller audience than usual, but they were very attentive and appreciative. They served hot beverages to the audience and gave out cookies with chunks of chocolate or regular chocolate chip ones.

Folks playing today included: Sharon, Maury, Marilyn, Kevin, Gerald, Charlie, Evie, Nancy, Dean, and Amy.

John and I left and went to the Senior Center to use the computer room until we could pick up his car with the replaced windshield, after 4:00 p.m. We had not counted on the long service, with much Pomp & Ceremony, for the Deputy killed last week. We walked in on the ending final 45 minutes or so of the Live Streaming Memorial from CWU’s Nicholson pavilion, with 2,813 seats. They set up large screens in another room in Nicholson for those who couldn’t fit in the main room. We watched until the end on the big screen at the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center. Likely there were many other places that did the same.

There was a lot of coverage on KOMONEWS with videos appearing later on Facebook of the entire service.
You can reach a nice presentation of parts of the memorial here:

Komonews Coverage Ryan Thompson’s Memorial

If you have a Facebook account, you can get the entire Memorial at this link:

Entire Memorial Service Using A Facebook Acct

We drove by to get John’s Crosstrek, and it cost us only $100 deductible, for an almost $500 job.

Friday, Mar 29

John took off for White Heron this morning at 7:40 after feeding the livestock and birds, taking his companion dog and cat along, and doing stuff around the house.

I slept in, and realized late that I was supposed to be at a scholarship luncheon today at the SURC 3rd floor boardroom. I called Cameron’s phone and caught him and John side-by-side, so talked to both on speaker phone.

This morning I had called Safeway Pharmacy about the count of my halved pills picked up yesterday. It’s now all set with Kayla the Pharmacist. She will put my missing pills in a container and leave it hanging with only my name. Glad I asked. (I had counted them twice last night and found I had only 84 of Atorvastatin (instead of 90) and only 88 of Coumadin (Warfarin) of the 90 needed. I asked if it was possible when they halved them, if they could potentially lose some, and she said, it could happen.

A long time contact from the west side, Bryce Van Parys, is a music instrument guru (and seller of things) with Hammond Ashley Violins, and the good part, is he has a cabin northwest of us where he stays the weekend, and comes by Ellensburg visiting CWU’s musicians on his way back to Renton, WA on Mondays.

He will meet me Monday afternoon at 3:20 p.m. at the CWU Music Building to sell me two sets of 4 strings (one for the future) and help me restring one set on my violin. For me, this is a wonderful service. Thank you Bryce!

Tonight, we went to a Music Antiqua concert by the music faculty at CWU. Below was the email invitation.

Date: Wed, Mar 27, 2019 at 9:42 AM
Subject: CWU Presents Musica Antiqua Series Final Concert
The CWU Department of Music will present the final free program of this year’s Musica Antiqua concert series on Friday, March 29 at 7 PM in the McIntyre Music Building Recital Hall. Directed by harpsichordist Margret Gries, the program is based on old English popular music and conveys a kind of storytelling at the most basic level. Even our title “Old England Grown New” refers in its original form as a commentary on seventeenth-century economic and political changes. In today’s world, the same story can be heard as a narrative on Brexit! {the current removal of the UK from the European Union} CWU music faculty and alumnae perform traditional instrumental settings of ballad tunes for string ensemble and soprano Jennifer Samples brings the traditional ballad repertoire to life with tales of love and loss, the fear of ghosts and the dangers of eating pudding! With variety of tunes and textures, and the insightful observations on human nature, English country ballads never seem to lose their appeal to today’s audiences.

Musica Antiqua performance at CWU Music Building Recital Hall: “Old England Grown New: Songs of Love and Country Life in Early Modern England.” Here is a list of the performers:

Jennifer Samples, soprano
Vanessa Moss, baroque violin
Maija Henderson, baroque violin
Michelle Rahn, baroque viola
John Michel, baroque cello
Margret Gries, harpsichord

Link to Baroque violin

My video captures of the evening I sent to YouTube, but I have the full set to share on a thumb drive with the group, if they are interested. John thinks he may have seen it being videotaped from the back of the recital hall. As you can see, I was right near the stage. We were close enough to see the soloist’s expressions.

If you only want to check out a couple below, I would pick the first, third, and fourth, for the overall content. I’m sorry I cannot provide the lyrics here. I was amazed at Jennifer’s ability to memorize so many songs, and deliver them with such gracefulness and interpretative meaning.

Margret Gries explains the English Ballads

The Country Lass by Jennifer Samples

Harvest Home by Jennifer Samples

When as I Glance – Baroque Instrumental Group

Saturday, March 30

Earlier than John, our friend Evie Schuetz was up to view the stars, from Olmstead Place, Historical State Park on Ferguson Road east of Ellensburg. Here was her incredible morning capture (time lapse 6 seconds), with the lights of a semi-truck on I-90 illuminating the barn (with barn quilt), and continuing to make a “lighted fence” beyond. Olmstead Park, photo 3/30/19 by EvieMae Schuetz

Below is a capture I made from the Street View of Google Earth Pro, taken in July of 2012, before the Barn Quilt was installed. I adjusted the colors to improve the red barn, but I think it actually has been painted since 2012 and looks much brighter. I need to drive by in person on my way home with my camera to get it now in the daylight.This originates from Google Earth Pro’s street view camera coverage in July of 2012.

John was up early to say good morning to the outside cats and put out their food. Then he finished his normal gathering of news and interesting things, which I kept him away from yesterday by taking him in the evening to the concert you have heard about. His “Not So Nasty News” is out now, as of this morning.

Except for tonight when I have a Clothes Swap meet to attend, I will be working on chores around the house and on the blog. Thus far I have done mostly work on my computer, which has lost the chargeability of its battery, so I have to determine what the battery is to be replaced, or whether I should just get a new computer. I truly hate setting up a new computer with all the software I need to install, so I guess we will go with a new battery. John found one on line for just under $50 for one that fits, and John will have to unscrew about 9 screws on the underside to replace it. Now if I have to leave home with it, I have to take the power supply and plug it into a wall (as I had to at the dentist office Wednesday).

I called Dee Eberhart about the planned meeting at Hearthstone of the Retired Geographers and their wives. I sent a note to the members about who can come on April 10 at 9:00 a.m. I always take something sweet to have with coffee, tea, or hot chocolate, provided by the activities director at Hearthstone.

I removed the videos taken last night on my camera at the Music Antiqua performance at CWU Music Building Recital Hall. Now I need to remove them from the camera and recharge the battery that barely made it through last night. That was accomplished Sunday.
I am currently uploading a couple of my favorites to represent the night. I will not upload all to YouTube, but hope to locate some of the musicians to offer my videotapes of their performance. I was up close to the stage with a good perspective on most of the group.

After brunch and John is now outside preparing to plant onions and a few other things. The long spell of cold and snow chased the pruners out of the vineyard, and no garden work got done here; except John shoveled 8″-10″ of snow off the places he wanted to get to first. Normally, they have finished by April. They are only half done.

I took myself to an event tonight at the Ellensburg Foursquare Church. This happened because of trying to clean up old clothes that no longer fit me. This event was a Clothing Swap (just for gals), and the entrance ticket was bringing in during the previous two weeks, 12 items to be distributed freely to those participating tonight. Things that could be included were clothing and accessories, including pocketbooks, hats, shoes, jewelry, scarves, and gloves.

Tonight, I was surprised to find some things to bring away, and realize I still have many things to go through at home to donate to the Ellensburg Community Clothing Center (ECCC) at the United Methodist Church. I found a colorful winter beanie that will fit John (and Sunday morning I found it would fit me too). I even found some earmuffs for me and a pair of winter gloves. Several pairs of pants, jeans, and a lovely vest, two cardigan sweaters, some blouses, and a denim shirt. Anything I change my mind about or that doesn’t fit, I’ll pass along to the ECCC, orshare with a friend. Now I just have to hope they will do this again, but I know it was a major undertaking requiring a lot of volunteers. I participated in such an endeavor several years ago, and realize the incredible amount of work collecting, organizing, and putting on. Still, re-purposing such things is good.

Sunday, March 31

Ending the last day of March with an EvieMae Schuetz’s photo: Here are my reflections upon Evie’s photograph: Now that is nothing short of fantastic! We lived in Idaho for 15 years (starting in 1974) and took field trips to the Bunker Hill Mining Company (in Kellogg, ID), where we toured the facility with our students. The Sunshine Mine was located between Kellogg and Wallace. We even went “down” (~8,000 feet) into the Lucky Friday Mine in Mullan, ID. Wow, was that a trip! It got pretty hot climbing around on ladders, and walking along beside miners, and little mining cars on a small railroad track. I doubt anything like that would be possible anywhere today with OSHA regulations. So your photo brings back incredible memories, and certainly is a classic photo. Thank you, Evie!

Our day today has been inside the house (Nancy) and outside (John), first preparing ground, fixing fence, and removing mulch from strawberries. New green there, he says.
Frost this morning, but Monday – maybe not.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan