Keeping track

From Friday Dec 14, which didn’t make it into last week’s blog.Top left is on the special recognition board this December at the AAC honoring the Volunteer of the month. In that photo David (a Veteran himself) is the MC interviewing Ed at the Veterans’ Day program 2018. David Douglas (married to Katrina the Director of the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center [our senior center], has been our Santa Claus at Christmas parties for as many years as I can remember. In this photo above on the bottom, Sandra Zech, Vice Chair representing the Adult Activity Center Senior Advisory Commission, nominates the two of them as providing a wonderful experience for all the members of the center, and Connie Bright, looks on from the right to add another commission member to the thanks, and Pat Carney was talking from the audience (another commissioner) but with a broken leg.

That happened at the end of David’s message about his mom, where he was leaving as Santa to visit her at her home on her birthday today. She was unable to come to the annual Christmas party as usual.Santa Douglas about his Mom (Inspirational video)

On the left, are Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus in 2017 with Nancy and Connie, and right this year, 2018 because Katrina was needed to work in the kitchen, she did not don her Mrs. Santa Claus identity.

The AAC did a nice job of making individual Christmas cards from mine and their photos with members taken with Santa, printed and put into a Christmas Card magnetic frame for one’s refrigerator door. A cute idea appreciated by many.

Monday, Dec 17

Sunday night we published at 10:17 p.m., but I stayed up late working on things needing completed before today.

I got out the schedule for Pacifica today to KV F&F, and have received good feedback from those able (or unable) to be there.

Our farrier, David Hazlett, arrived at 10:00, so I had his check ready and we spoke on my way out the driveway. The fog was terrible, and even though my car was parked under a shed, the back wall is open, and the windshield had frozen ice, blocking my view. I had the defroster on, but David went to his truck and got a large scraper and cleaned it off. I was grateful. I had to drive 20 mph to town because of the limited visibility even through a clean windshield.

I was on my way to Silver Sneakers class today at 11:00 a.m. at the AAC. It was a challenging class and we all got a good workout.

I picked up feed bags from back room, delivered last Friday during the Christmas party, and brought some chocolate frosted chocolate cookies home to John. We have been enjoying them as an afternoon treat (after heating them). Eaten with John’s candied walnuts is a real treat.

I took my flash drive with photos I took at the party Friday to share with the AAC for their records and entries on their Facebook site. While there, I got a few of those taken on the AAC camera. I will combine those in the future and move to a Google Photos link I can share with all the members I have emails for, and also for those who could not come to the celebration. I will eventually put the link in this blog, when it is completed.

While in town, I picked up my CWU Emeritus parking sticker replacement that expires Dec 31, 2018. This was the only retirement gift I received from CWU after 22 years of service. Luckily, John’s Crosstrek is in the system and connected to it as well, so we can drive either car to campus for lectures.

Yakima Heart Center Nurse Colleen called at 4:00 p.m. She is trying to get me in next week to see Dr. Kim before the end of the year. This week is pretty full. We didn’t get in until Jan 8th (Tuesday) at 11:30, but that will work just fine; too much happening the last week of the year.

Late last night, I put in an order for a friend for a package from Amazon, and it will be delivered Friday, this week.

We are going tonight to a Christmas concert by the Ellensburg High School Choruses. I learned of this last Friday from the conductor of the Bella Voce Choir who came to our AAC Christmas party to sing, and you have been given in last week’s blog video links to all their songs that I made. The last one was an invitation to the concert tonight at Morgan Performing Arts Center.

The concert tonight was free to the community, entitled A Winter Holiday Celebration, and presented by the Director of the Choral Department, Gay Ott, with Sara Pope, Accompanist, and Kara Hunnicutt, Orchestra Director, along with 6 choirs: Jazz Choir, In Vox Choir, Bella Voce Choir, Chamber Choir, the Combined EHS Choirs, and ending with the Combined 9-12 Choirs & Community Members, for the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. I have sung that all my life, as well as the song, O Holy Night, which we began with, while the orchestra set up. The orchestra has 12 violins, 4 violas, 5 cellos, and 4 bass fiddles.

I joined the combined choirs on stage. John took the following photo from the audience. Choir members all had on blue robes; others are audience members. Combined Choirs Ellensburg High School & Audience – Hallelujah Chorus

This was filmed by Todd Weber. He recorded the whole event, individually, for each choir.

If you are interested, here is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Singing the Hallelujah Chorus with an Orchestra. It’s a lovely and magnificent production.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir – the Hallelujah Chorus

Tuesday, Dec 18

Started early with rain all night keeping us from sleeping soundly, and awaking to thick fog for our trip to see my Endocrinologist in Wenatchee, Dr. Lisa Stone. Check-in time 11:05. We were a few minutes late, weather related. But the sun came out for the majority of our trip after we came down from Ryegrass and crossed the Columbia River at Vantage. The office is 26 miles north of us, but we had to drive 80 miles to get there.

While we saw both ends of a rainbow (a good sign), my pictures are not worth printing. So, I will make a collage of some of the views we had, mostly of columnar basalt and the Columbia River.Top photo is the Rock Island Dam on the Columbia River. Bottom photo shows the basalt cliffs and Talus slopes.Top photo shows incredible angles of columnar basalt. The lower photo has a high-density orchard, basalt cliffs, and one of the patches of fog/clouds hanging around the Valley.
It was a fruitful visit (pun intended).

Video-1 of Dr. Stone’s explanation of my Thyroid blood tests

Video-2 of Dr. Stone’s explanation of my Thyroid blood tests

My doctor’s explanation of how she broke her wrist hanging Christmas lights

My favorite images of the day at the new office on the edge of the hospital complex. Tongue Depressor trees – with entrance/exit caution sign I love.

From that meeting we took a drive through the hospital complex and made our way across the river to Costco for lunch and a few items. We had a good trip home, as the fog in our valley had lifted.

I was late yesterday sending out the note for music at Pacifica on Thursday, but as of Tuesday afternoon, I have 12 people planning to be there. That’s the fastest return I have had in history. Makes my job so much easier for planning the number of chairs to request.

Wednesday, Dec 19

Worked on things this morning, including making my salad to take for my lunch. Thanks to John for cutting me the generous amount of smoked turkey and a Honeycrisp apple to add to my bowl. We played about 40 minutes of music and provided bells for the audience to ring. I left a little early to get there in time to set up music stands and chairs.

They enjoyed themselves too. You can hear one song below, complete with singing accompaniment from Lyndsey, our photographer, who took a short break from her check-in duties. You probably heard her last week singing as well. I know how difficult it is to videotape songs a person knows, having been there myself behind the camera. It’s difficult not to sing along. With her good voice, it only adds to the scene.

Here was today’s song recorded. I think we did it last week as well, but different people are in this rendition and you get a view of the audience too, many of whom had bells at the Senior Nutrition table upfront on the other side of the building from us.

Silver Bells 12-19-18 at FISH Food Bank Lunch

Here’s a few lunch bunch musicians + Nancy & Mrs. Peggy Claus

After that excitement at the Food Bank, and retrieving my bells from the players and audience, I drove to the AAC for my SAIL exercise class.

Nancy before SAIL and with Carolyn after SAIL exercise class. I’m wearing a sweater given to me by my friend, Anne Engels.

I returned home to a beautiful sunset up Naneum Road:Order above coming up from Rader Rd on Naneum, viewing the sunset, is top down 2-1-3 in the collage.Once home, I saw our view from the patio toward Mt. Rainier.

Checked out completion of John’s roof over the back patio door. This replaces a previous, lower, Rube Goldberg standalone thing; both meant to protect the new sliding glass doors. The entire back of the house needs to be refurbished, and covered with fire resistant fiber-cement siding.

Thursday, Dec 20

John left at 7:40 a.m. for bottling at White Heron. He’ll call at noon, and be coming home, but I will be gone before he arrives to play music at Pacifica.

This morning I got a phone call from Mike at Habitat Store that he could not locate a chuck-key to put drill bits in John’s drill (he lost it somewhere in the yard, garage, or barn on a building project).

I called at Valley Vision this morning about a credit received for John in the mail yesterday, which happened now with a follow-up from July for John Hultquist $163.47 credit to Visa account from an incorrect decision by Kaiser Permanente in June, that John had not met his deductible and we had to pay for his bill. I told them at the time that his deductible was paid up, but they said it wasn’t and we owed the money. So I had no choice but to pay. This Dec 15, Kaiser sent a refund to the eye doctor’s clinic and they credited our account.

Christy looked into it this morning, when I questioned it and said it was just sent and that sometimes payments come in as much as a year later, from Kaiser (and before that, Group Health). That seems very strange to me, but I’m happy to have the credit be applied to our account. Yet, it truly is a weird accounting practice.

I also had a payment for our Distinguished Service Geography Scholarship come through without the proper receipt, so have been checking on that. Thus far, no one has responded to my requests by phone or email. Guess they took off for Christmas break, entirely. Accounting and paying bills is a full-time job and I still have to get ready to go for music at Pacifica today.

Another Kristy in my life today (customer rep at Knudson’s), for the missing part of John’s drill. When he calls at noon, I need to find out where the drill is stored so I can pick up the right tool this afternoon. Prices are from $3 to $9.99. I picked up the most expensive but John says he thinks it is not the right one (I got the one for a 5/8” drill). I’ll take the drill in to find the correct fit. Turns out it was the cheapest one, for a 3/8” drill.

Set up gifting a glass butter dish to a person on the Buy Nothing East Ellensburg/Kittitas Facebook site. Turns out I’ll deliver it tomorrow, and she plans to give me a package of her homemade peanut brittle. I believe that’s called a win-win situation.

We had 12 folks show up at PACIFICA, today: Nancy, Charlie, Evie, Amy, Anne, Charlotte, Manord, Maury & Marilyn, Laura, Dean, Renee (cello). We were accompanied by a huge, involved, and appreciative audience.

I thought I was starting with a full battery, but it only recorded for 38 minutes and stopped.

Music only through Holly Jolly Christmas; 7 songs left

I’ll try to get the whole program our last time this year, this Thursday at Hearthstone. I wish I knew where my tripod got misplaced. I own two of them, and when I need one, have no clue where they are hidden. Story of my life.

Friday, Dec 21

First order of the day, a delivery of 14.83 tons of gravel by Dale Charlton, local kid grown up. The street north of us is named for his family. He claims to be the Mayor of Dog Town, a low part of Ellensburg, considered less than attractive by the pretentious folks of the city.John and Annie visiting with Dale about our neighborhood and the neighbors.

I began in Kittitas, delivering the gift to the lady who wanted the butter dish I offered, in exchange for the best story about a recent recollection or find of something important from their past.Here I delivered a gift bag with the butter dish and some of John’s Candied Carpathian Walnuts to Cheryle, who was wearing a blouse like her mom’s favorite work blouse she found at a thrift store that matched it, after her mom’s disintegrated with age. That was the story she told me that cinched the transfer. She was thrilled it was exactly what she wanted. I’m happy it has a good home. In return thanks, she gave me 2 packages of Peanut Brittle, a wonderful memory from my distant past. We had a nice visit, and I met her two cats and daughter.

On my way to Ellensburg I stopped at the hardware place to exchange the Chuck Key – 3/8″ drill size. John made a list for other things – nails, and fasteners, including a 10′ roll of metal hanger strap.

Saturday, Dec 22

Staying home today to work on projects inside and outside. We needed to catch up on sleep, with poor John keeping himself (and me) awake much of the night coughing. Finally, this morning I had him take a dose of Tussin DM, much to his regret. I hope he will continue, because I think the first dose helped.

My chores have been cleaning up email, working on the blog, and unloading and reloading the dishwasher. He has gotten the paper, fed the horses, and birds. I fed the cats and maintained peace in the family between the two inside / outside male (fixed) cats, who are leery of one another.

I need to check the gasoline prices at the Cle Elum station where the prices have been much less. We will be going to the doctor Monday, there, for John’s follow-up chest X-ray from Nov 20. That one seemed a bit “cloudy” and likely showed lung irritation he is now experiencing. I hope he doesn’t have Pneumonia as I did earlier this year. He will have the X-ray and then we’ll see his doctor for an interpretation at 1:15 p.m. Christmas eve. We must remember to take the paperwork which will be returned to Vanessa at the KVH hospital where she will put the two X-rays on a CD and send to us in the mail, so we can compare them, and try to understand what the techs and doctors sees.

I need to work on the blog, and after it is finished, I need to organize the photos and videos from the recent AAC activities to send to the members whose email addresses I have. Many of them are pictured in them, and several who had conflicts will get to see what they missed.

Snowing now, and we may have over an inch in the morning (we didn’t get but about an inch, but there was still enough that John used a push broom to clear places.

Cats are all fed and bedded down.

Czar our newest cat found his way in the house through the doggie door, and has taken over Annie’s blanket and quilt bed on the den floor. Quite the well-adjusted cat from a year ago.

Sunday, Dec 23

Jennifer Lipton (Geographer at CWU) is a good friend. This is her 6-yr old son, Miles. The ukulele is his dad’s (Stefan).
She put this on Facebook months ago; I could see it but not share—she shared this link for my Christmas present. It’s really worth watching. This kid is talented.

Miles, 6 yrs old, composed and sings an original spontaneous ballad about an old tremendous steam train moving through the woodland forest. (Don’t miss clicking on Miles, 6 yrs old to hear his song.)

Jen Lipton’s son, Miles, rode the Shay #7 Steam Train through the Redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains near the Town of Felton, California

I’m planning to take Miles a Christmas Gift tomorrow of a cup and bowl from Thomas the Train. I have had it for him for some time, and we are going to the doctor in Cle Elum, which is only 5 miles up the road to their house in Roslyn, so we can drop it off.

John fixed us a tasty brunch today of blueberry-pecan pancakes, with peaches atop, and sausage on the side.

Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

{picture from web}
Here we are at “astronomical” winter in the Northern Hemisphere, and so we have a few winter items.

Item #1: Solstice
Our Sun’s energy strikes the surface of Earth head-on at only one point, but that’s just a mathematical thing.
In reality there is quite a large area where intense solar energy strikes the surface. Thankfully that area moves under those rays, both because Earth spins, like a top, and moves forward, like a race car on an oval track.
December Solstice on the Naneum Fan is today, Friday, December 21, at 2:23 pm. Unless you are in the PST Zone, your time will vary.
Our sunrise was at 7:45:28, and sunset at 4:16:09.
If you are on the Tropic of Capricorn – south Gracemere, Queensland, AU is there; 23°26′12.6″. Don’t wait. It (the T of C) is moving northward at the rate of 50 feet per year.
But back to that head-on one and only single point: Over the past couple of weeks, that point has been drifting south – slowly. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow it hardly moves at all.
The fine folks in Gracemere might get the idea that the Noon sun was at the same place above them for a couple of weeks. The Sun would appear to be standing still in the Noon sky. And that is the meaning of “solstice”, or “sunstede” (old English).
After today, the point will begin (slowly at first) to move back north. Daylight hours will increase for the next 6 months.

Item #2: What was he thinking

The photo is of a small child feeding a reindeer. The people of Siberia know cold.
A few places went down to -56°F this week.
Apparently the folks in Spain do not.
“… lost a glove in my sleep and just in five minutes my hand was frozen.”
When in Spain, stay in Spain

Item #3: Literate Elk

One of our geographer colleagues lives 25 miles west of us, closer to the higher slopes and forests of the Cascade Mountains. Winter has settled on the mountains and snow is accumulating.
Jennfer lives in the small town of Roslyn – setting of the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska, and the TV program Northern Exposure (1990-95).
Elk move off the higher elevations during this time of year. In exchange for covering much of their winter range with highways and urban development, the State of WA has feeding locations. Some elk go that-a-way. One herd goes its merry way to the south and east and the lower slopes of the nearby Columbia River.
Sometimes this trek of many miles requires direction. As you can see from Jen’s photo, this elk seems to need a “go left” or “go right” sign, because the one she is looking at doesn’t help much.

Item #4: musical highlights

I may be the only person west of the Atlantic Ocean that had not seen this action.
When doing trail work, many folks wear rubber-faced gloves. They work well in gripping tools, say an axe, that might go flying if the handle gets wet.
Perhaps those playing in a band might want to consider wearing gloves.

the wayward bass drum beater

Who knew?

Item #5: Don’t get hit with one of these

It’s summer in Sydney
Western Washington has just had strong winds and trees fell on houses, power lines came down, and the lights went out. What fun. It happens so much over there that unless it is your house and your lights, the rest of WA doesn’t pay much attention.

We saw some large hail while living in Iowa, and it did a lot of damage. It did not look like a cauliflower, however.

And that, for this week, is the not so nasty news.
John

Monday, Dec 10

Another Sunday night we were up late getting the blog published at 11:17 p.m. Too many videos taking time, but I figured the end was worth it, for everyone’s viewing pleasure.

Today’s schedule changed abruptly at 9:00 a.m. with a call from Katrina at the AAC, cancelling the Silver Sneakers class today at 11:00 a.m. because the instructor was ill.

I had planned several stops in town for errands, but will postpone those until tomorrow when I must go in for a mammogram.

Tuesday, Dec 11

Our package expected yesterday from Amazon to be delivered by our carrier was not. Because of the overload of Amazon deliveries by the post office, they have had to hire additional help just for packages. Our package was not delivered until 8:20 p.m. (long after the gate was shut) and the driver did not know we were expecting it in our mailbox and it would have fit, (we get it every 5 weeks), and there was no notice put in the box either. We learned of it on line from an email. I told the Post Mistress I would come by to pick it up.
I did not know I would have to stand for 22 minutes in one line and not be allowed to pick it up at the first door before the counters. I was not happy about that at all. At least my package was there from my early morning call. A lady in front of me had the same thing happen, but her package was not in the building that they could find. I wish I’d had my camera. It’s no wonder they couldn’t find hers. Boxes were piled to the ceiling behind the counters (3 agents).

This was the email we received. I wonder if we had left the gate open if they would have driven it in to our house.

Hi John and Nancy,
Sorry we missed you. USPS tried to deliver your package today but didn’t want to leave it unattended. 
Please look for a notice of attempted delivery or contact USPS for the next steps:

(again, there was no notice in the mailbox)

I went by Super 1 for my Entresto prescription pick up and received two for John that we had not ordered. No clue why, but I just paid for them (both 90-day refills), and wondered why. Our recent exam might have triggered this, but why? They have never done automatic refills on either of us in the past.

I went back to the hospital today for a 12:45 check-in for a 1:00 mammogram. While there I picked up a CD with both images for two chest x-rays done on me in Feb & March. I will hear back in a couple of weeks about the mammogram results. I actually heard in Saturday’s mail that it was fine and negative is good.

Checked by Bi-Mart, but did not win anything for our membership number.

Went to Rite Aid for a special BOGO (“Buy One, Get One” free) item on 200#, Nature Bounty 500 mg tablets Magnesium jar for $12.99. Unfortunately, they only had 3 bottles, and am not allowed to pay in advance, but can give me a rain check on more. So, they rang up one at half price, and I will receive a call to come back for the other at ½ price. I wonder if I can buy a couple more bottles at that time with the BOGO applied.

Wednesday, Dec 12

I left earlier than usual today, and it was a good thing because the roads were icy all the way to town, and most of the time I did not exceed 20 mph. Got there and found a parking space, before 11:30, when a friend was coming by to retrieve 2 boxes of quite old Christmas cards with a bowling theme. These were bought on sale, maybe 15 years ago. Our bowling lanes are now closed, and all bowlers have to go to Yakima or elsewhere to bowl. Our friends are excellent bowlers. I should have made a copy of the card (we had 2 boxes of 20 each to share). It was Santa Claus rolling a ball toward the tenpins. Ten-pin bowling has experience a decline since 1990. I was a bowler through our stay in Idaho, but got away from it when I moved to WA. The lanes in Moscow, ID closed after we left, and my friend and a bowler on my team got the wall plaque that designated me as having the highest women’s series (676) in sanctioned league bowling for the lifetime of those lanes. I grew up across the street in Atlanta, GA from the Broadview Shopping Mall on Piedmont Rd, and started working there before I had a the necessary (then) social security card, so they paid me in merchandise: bowling shirts, bowling ball, bags, etc. That lasted several years. I got all my bowling free.

We started a little earlier today than usual and played longer, with much audience participation. I didn’t have many people at the start to use my camera to video, but then we did get a few captures.

A Holly Jolly Christmas at FISH Food Bank Dec 12, 2018

Silver Bells

Jingle Bells

Go Tell it on the Mountain

Joy to the World

After that musical activity and eating my lunch at the Food Bank, I drove to the AAC for my SAIL exercise class.

After class, I asked Meagen to take this photo. Carolyn is in our class, and you will see her again on Friday, at the Christmas party. Nancy and Carolyn after SAIL exercise class.

Been working on music for tomorrow most of the evening with breaks to keep the inside male cats separated, and spent some time cleaning up in the kitchen. Also worked on email necessities.

Also fiddled with some other Christmas clothing tops given to me.

Thursday, Dec 13

Meadows Place Assisted Living was our venue today. I need to finish getting the audience copies packed. I found out last night one of my colored copies went out with a person. Dang, that puts us down to 12 copies. I may start with the newer version of which I only have 12 copies.

Sad news from a former friend who now is in Wisconsin, but who have owned Brittanys from us for years. Molly Friesen, 12 years, died after fighting congestive heart failure for 9 months. This picture by their Christmas tree is lovely; Molly is regally gorgeous. She was a sister to Tobie, and I drove them to the Spokane Airport to meet Paul. They were little puppies so they were allowed to ride on the plane in front of his seat (in a carry-on container); to a new home in Wisconsin.

Friday, Dec 14

Call from Confluence Health for (December 18) Tuesday, 11:05 appointment with Dr. Lisa Stone, in Wenatchee. A different building but only a mile less than before (~75).

This morning I got ready to go to the AAC for the 2018 Christmas Party; always a fun time. Here’s the overview of the day, from the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center (AAC), our local senior center.I needed to wrap a gift for exchange. I had a Christmas coffee cup in a little gift box and John had made a bunch of Candied Carpathian walnuts from those he grew last year. I added 8 ounces in a Ziploc bag into the package. My gift ended up going to a friend, so that was nice. Here she is unwrapping and checking to see what she got. Karen, opening my gift and Santa admiring Believe in Santa mug.

But, I’m ahead of the story.

I dressed in pajamas for the contest at this year’s Christmas Party. The theme was a Charlie Brown (Snoopy) Christmas.
My principal reason for going was to be the main photographer while the staff put on the lunch, games, competition, and gift exchange for us.

I was not in on the plans for the musical entertainment. I saw a group coming in the front door and got a photo, not the best, but Roxanne got a better one I think on the AAC’s camera. I’m taking my flash drive along and will trade them the photos I got in exchange for the ones they took.

I talked to a couple of the gals from the Ellensburg High School (EHS) choir and found out what they planned to do, so I positioned myself over near the edge (in hindsight, I probably should have gotten on the other side, where the piano did not override some of the individual voices on duets). However, I did have a good perspective of the group, the soloists, and the audience.

Below are my captures of their program. Excuse the glitches in the videography, as I do not have an easy way to edit.

We received a great performance from the Bella Voce (Italian for Beautiful Voices) choir of young women, singing for us at the beginning of our Christmas party. The conductor is Gay Ott, and the program consisted of 10 songs, as follows: I have entered the YouTube link for each song in the program. It took me an hour to upload each couple minutes of song segment, because I was using my largest resolution camera that I normally only use for still photos.

Choir: A Festive Noel

1- A Festive Noel, Ellensburg High School Bella Voce Choir

Choir: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

2- Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, EHS Bella Voce Choir

Lydia & Olivia: White Christmas

3 -White Christmas

Brea, Maggie, Emma: O Come Emmanuel

4- O Come Emmanuel !

Lydia, Shaedyn: When Christmas Comes to Town

5- When Christmas Comes to Town

Taylor, Kenya: Sisters

6- Sisters

Kaela, Lauren: Baby, It’s Cold Outside

7- Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Lydia, Chloe, Lili, Olivia: Mary, Did You Know

8- Mary, Did You Know

Choir: Christmastime is Here

9- Christmastime is Here

Choir: Mr. Santa

10- Mr. Santa

Thanks & Invitation to EHS Christmas Concerts: 12-17 & 18

11- Invitation to the EHS Choirs’ Christmas Program

Back to the party, after we enjoyed a great lunch with the singers. We were served ham, scalloped potatoes, steamed veggies, and a peppermint brownie, plus eggnog if wanted.
[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggnog#Etymology_and_origins ]

Then we went on with the gift exchange and the pajamas competition.
I received a gift of a Christmas towel and a package of candy. John will eat the candy, ’cause I’m not a fan of Raspberries. I guess I will use the towel. Here is a photo of the contents of the long narrow gift bag, which I guess was meant for a whiskey or wine bottle? Raspberry & Dark chocolate Chips on white “thins” & the snowflake towel.

Part of the event was optionally dressing in pajamas for an event to compete for the best. I wore my jammies, participated, and was awarded a 2nd place. The top was given to me from a gal named Mita, in Kittitas. I was very happy with the first place winner, Jacquie Davis, being someone I have known since CWU times. The 3rd place person was Carolyn (you saw her yesterday with me in our SAIL exercise class).

Here are pix not well in focus, but they do show the placements. Top three: Jacquie, Nancy, Carolyn-winner Jacquie w/antlers gift

Afterwards, we were invited to pose with Santa Claus for photos. This has been a yearly tradition for some years now; I’m sure he is happy I lost some weight.

Saturday, Dec 15

Today is our play date at Briarwood Commons Retirement center.

They always fix us a fantastic food spread, but this Christmas Smorgasbord overwhelmed all past efforts:Menu: Potato salad, veggie plate/dip, deviled eggs, sausage & cheeses, crackers, cherry whipped cream salad, mandarin orange Jell-O, Crockpot (1) Smokies in BBQ sauce, (2) Swedish meatballs. Huge Dessert table. Thanks to leaders, Lee & Jo Ellen, but all the donators, Betty, Connie, Marilyn. Beverages included hot Apple Cider, Raspberry & something iced, and water.

Thanks to all the players and singers for entertaining: Marilyn, Maury, Kevin, Gerald, Dean (Pat), Nancy, Amy (Haley), Tim, and Sandy. Especially a big thanks to all our wonderful audience of singers.Nancy & Haley in a musical Christmas vest she will grow into. Photo on my camera by Amy Davison.

I was given the vest by Anne Engels in my search for Christmas tops, but it is way too small. So I decided to give it to our little mascot for her future use. These photos were taken after we, the Kittitas Valley Fiddlers and Friends, played Christmas music at our usual 3rd Saturday gig at Briarwood Commons, and ate before going home.

Sunday, Dec 16

It’s been a week since we found Rascal with a hurt back leg. We don’t see the problem, so it is likely a muscle pull from climbing. He is back with us now and able to jump to his favorite spots for his sleeping and eating. The other good thing is that the two inside male cats are co-existing. Rascal still seems a bit put-out that there is a new cat in the house. Outside, Sue is becoming increasing friendly. Woody – no.

John’s been out to shovel a little snow that fell last night, feed the horses, and I have fed all the cats.

I’m slowly working on unloading the dishwasher, and John fixed us a treat for brunch – an egg, sausage, served with a blueberry pancake with our strawberries. I worked on the blog and other things this afternoon, sending videos from Friday to YouTube.

John kept the Sunflower seeds topped off for the birds. In the afternoon, with quail there, a small hawk came, and all flew off. We don’t know if the encounter was successful for the hawk, or not. Horses are fed. He’ll be editing my work soon.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Dec 3

Last night we were up late finishing the blog and John’s putting it into WordPress. I finally published it at 11:40 p.m.

I had a bunch of things to do today in town, starting with a new exercise class named Silver Sneakers given at the AAC (our senior center). It started at 11:00 a.m. and went to noon, conducted by Roxanne Laush (one of the AmeriCorps staff). It was my first time being there, because I found out about it too late.

On to pick up Chapstick at Scott Rollins State Farm office. To school to Parking folks for my Emeritus sticker replacement that expires Dec 31, 2018, but they don’t have them to issue until December 17, 2018. So, another trip to campus is in store.

I left there to go to Disabilities Services for a temporary parking permit (with my CWU parking for Faculty & staff) in Hogue Technology building. After a circuitous horseshoe route through the building, because I entered from the wrong door, I found out they no longer do that service from their office. First person said I had to go through the state. I questioned further and another woman (Kendall), came out of a back office and told me the person to see on campus (at opposite end), in Mitchell Hall (Human Resources), because I was eligible as retired faculty/staff.

I had a long search for a parking space, > 2 blocks away. I found the right person, he filled in the paperwork, with my information, and I am ready to go in either car, mine or John’s Subaru. The previous year we were only approved for mine. What was extra nice was he was able to find my faculty ID card # on his computer database, and I did not have to return with it. It was in an old wallet at home. I have not had to use it at all since retiring…not even to check out books from the library. But it is a picture ID. I told him I would fail the recognition test because I was so sick in early 2010, when I had to have it made, for some reason. I should go back and request a retake.

First a photo of the Christmas lights display put up at the Frink house by the man mentioned below, fighting for his life and needing prayers.Ken & Eva Frink’s house in Ellensburg. Photo cropped from one posted on Facebook. I mentioned seeing them in a recent blog, at the end of an overcast day, but not yet dark.

Today, I came home to a couple of messages on Facebook of interest. My friend whose husband is on life support in Swedish in Seattle sent a photo of a card the middle school 6th grade sent to her husband. They know him through his driving their camping supplies for summer camp for all the children. It’s an original hand drawn card.His wife also posted this video below of his cardiologist giving a good medical heart story explanation.

Ken Frink’s Swedish Hospital Cardiologist Doctor

We are all being educated during this sad story, and praying for the best. He should be ready to come off life support this week, and they can assess what the next steps are to save his life and repair his heart. They are even considering a possible transplant because of a hole in the lower chamber of his heart.

I just learned of a former student currently in the hospital with his transplant problems. He’s been operating fine with a transplant since 2012, but now has some serious complications. He’s in our prayers too.

Tuesday, Dec 4

I tried to set up delivery and pick up of empty livestock feed bags through the AAC today. We failed to make connections as planned. Told her to be there before 2:00, and I didn’t go until after 2:00, but nothing was there. End of week, still nothing.

I went for my blood draw INR & K and called Cle Elum to notify Cody or Lacey I’d be back home later for the report. Lacey called with the figures and I said, “Well, the potassium is higher than usual (normally in the 4 range”). She agreed and will ask Dr. Wood. The INR=2.8 was good.

I took my paper lab reports, printed from their portal, to the hospital’s front desk to see why the ones provided at the doctor’s office appear differently – much nicer and 2 rather than 4 pages. I found out it is not under my control or theirs either. It’s best to request it there and not from the portal, except for checking that things have made it through the system.
So, when I’m there next week, for a mammogram, I will request the report.

I did check with the cardiopulmonary office to see if they received the referral from Dr. Wood, and found out it was not provided and is a whole “nuther” story, I’ll deal with later.

Check for printing the results of chest x-ray radiology interpretation. I also stopped by to talk to Vanessa about printing the results of a chest X-ray for John when he goes back later this month. She gave me the paperwork for him to fill out after it is done, and she will mail a CD with the images to our home. He only needs to fill in the information and sign the form to take with him when he goes for the 2nd X-ray in Cle Elum, and they will send the okay to Ellensburg.

Wednesday, Dec 5

Food bank today. I wore the Christmas top from Methodist Church Ellensburg Clothing Center rack, today. Picture below. Many compliments today at Food Bank, and then by different people at AAC SAIL (exercise) class. People really liked it. Left w/o flash, Nancy & Bob (singer) with FISH Lunch Bunch

Below, the video music was recorded on my old video camera, which now has developed an unfocused image on the left side of the lens. Bob is on the far left and out of focus below on these videos because there was nothing to his left to have him in focus on the image. I guess I will have to use my newer camera and just live with the longer upload time for more than a two-minute recording. Some of the songs with bells are worth recording. We don’t have this much participation in the assisted living homes.

A Holly Jolly Christmas

Go Tell It On the Mountain

On my way home, I drove north on Naneum Road and saw the beautiful skies, clouds, and agricultural landscapes. Wind towers add, or subtract, from the view. I thought the white towers backed by the dark blue-gray cloud was neat. Because I had my camera along, I pulled off the road and took some photos. This is my favorite.Viewing east with Whiskey Dick mountain on the right, blue & white Tarp-It tarps over haystacks, fields in front, barns, with lovely winter clouds looking down on Earth in the Kittitas Valley.

From there I came home and have been working on music for tomorrow at the Rehab. Phone call from Gerald at 3:30, after being in Rehab today and finding the floor being torn up and replaced, and no one was allowed on it. He had to get permission to walk out over it to get out of the building. I called and talked to the man in charge, to see if we would be able to access the West dining room tomorrow to play. He claimed it would be completed before he left tonight. He was watching them work on it, and we should come and they’d be ready for us. He asked for the count of chairs but expect to know more tonight, and tomorrow morning for the final call I always make. It was finished in time for us to play.

Thursday, Dec 6

This morning was down to the last minute getting music together for this afternoon. I had to finish running a new version of A Holly Jolly Christmas to replace a copy that was impossible to read because of the small size of the font. I even enlarged it to fit the page, and that did not help. So I entered it into the SongWriter 2012 software, but had some issues. I figured out a way around it this morning, but still had several music books to replace some things in. I needed to add the Chipmunk Song in a different key – G instead of C. I needed to copy and replace the old Holly Jolly with the new, and change the punched 3 holes to the opposite side. I had 12 copies to produce and sort in. I also had 2 other songs to replace for 4 other people. It was a puzzle to work out, but we succeeded, and still were able to start before 2:00.

I carried my camera and got Charlotte to take a photo of 3 of us in our Christmas garb. I try to wear a different shirt each play day in December. Every group I’m in is playing all December Christmas and Winter songs, and we have bells along for ringing. We used to give noise makers to the residents, but we are not doing that this year, except for a few bell sets.

At the Rehab, we had a responsive audience and a bunch of compliments. We had lots of players there today, 11 plus Jeanne who joins in her wheel chair. We had Laura, Minerva, Charlotte, Amy, Sharon, Nancy, Dean, Gerald, Maury, Marilyn, and Manord.

Several residents were there I did not expect, and some I did. I did not realize my friend from the AAC was there. His name is Pat. I found out he fell and broke his leg. He hopes to be back home in a week. He also hears us every Wednesday during lunch at the FISH food bank, where he comes for the Senior Nutrition program. Arlane, another person from my past (horses) was there. She normally resides at Pacifica but is temporarily there recovering. She loves our music. (I need to check the lyrics to Frosty the Snowman). I think they are wrong in the colored pages book. Luckily that one is on a white page so won’t be as hard to replace. I only have 13 copies of those left.

Another woman (named Ray), stopped me on my way out to tell me she very much loves it when we are there, and that today was very special. I invited her and also Pat over to Meadows Place next door, this coming Thursday.

After playing, Charlotte was kind enough to take a photo of 3 of us, Me (violin), Sharon (bass guitar), and Amy (flute, penny whistle, violin, mini washboard).Nancy, Sharon (all the way from Seattle), Amy (Haley’s mom)

From there I went north to deliver some stuff to Amy’s front porch, and then back to Super 1 with my camera, to take a photo of Elf Haley, Amy, and another elf, Kayla, who were operating a booth to collect $ for KXLE million penny drive to fund Christmas baskets to many families in town. You learned about that program in last week’s blog. They were there from 3:30 to 5:00 today.

Here is the photo I had a friend, Cory, take (we greeted as we both entered the store at the same time). Cory took this (I sneaked in between), & I took this of Haley. Left is Amy, elf Haley, Nancy, elf Kayla, and Haley again on the floor.

Later tonight I found this photo on Facebook. I had gone in a different door and missed it. I cropped the photo just to this. The photo on the table is from 2017 and was different from this year’s elf sweater & hat. This photo was taken by Christine Reynolds who has given her permission to use here.

I came home to more chores and dishes. The local paper had an ad for a CWU music event, the Gothard Sisters, from the wet side of the Cascades. We went 4 years ago. So, I got on line and bought our tickets for tomorrow night. Being of an advanced age, we got the ‘senior’ discount.
Press release of the 3 sisters—Greta, Solana, & Willow

We went and had a great time. They are quite talented and very entertaining. They tell a few stories, include some laughable routines, and pitch their CDs (see below).

I think this was written last year on their website as an interview, so perhaps add a year to each of the ages: 25-year-old Greta Gothard, Willow, who is 22, and Solana, 16. All three play the violin. Solana is the lead singer, Willow plays the Bodran (pronounced bow-ran), which is a traditional Irish drum, as well as the mandolin. Greta plays the guitar. Willow and Greta also serve as backup singers and all play several instruments.

Friday, Dec 7

I need to call KVH in Cle Elum to talk to the person who called me Dec 5 at 1:03 and did not leave a message. Later, that same day, I received the call from KVC hospital Cardio-pulmonary that Dr. Wood would not approve a referral for me for 2019, > 11/13.

This phone call was regarding having a BMP today scheduled for the Potassium value 5.3 to recheck high value last blood draw. It is still high, and so is the creatinine and glucose, so Dr. Wise will pass along to Dr. Wood to review Monday, and get back to me. I got the report from the portal, and it is the same. He needs to tell me what he wants to do about it. I wonder what causes a rise in (K) Potassium [Phosphorus → P]. I’m not eating lots of bananas, nor taking a supplement with Potassium. Potatoes? Not more than usual. Soy milk? Likely not enough therein.

I rushed to drink lots of water for my blood draw, and went to the KVH lab in Ellensburg.

While in town, I picked up Sharon’s guitar stand.John had taken the left photo at the Veterans’ Day at the AAC, and the other I used from the web to describe to the activities director at Rehab to search for it (folded up) and where to look in the West dining room.

She found it and I went by and picked it up on my way by to the hospital lab for the blood draw.

I wore another new Christmas vest, and posed with my fave phlebotomist Kim at the hospital lab, after she drew my blood sample. We always exchange hugs.Nancy’s Hug by Kim, taken by Christy, another favorite.

I got in home to eat supper before going back in for the concert.

I took a few videos and will share below. NOTE: they are “Unlisted” so one must have the link to see them. They are not public on YouTube. At intermission, my friend from CWU Scholarship Luncheons for many years, Christine, went out to the table with their CDs. She came back with a package of all 7 of their CDs, including their newest released one, Midnight Sun. They were giving significant discounts tonight to the concert goers. The concert hall was packed.

The package was 30% off retail price (listed on their web site). Christine (as we) had been previously to their concert but she did not have any of their CDs. When I saw them, I decided I would get me our Christmas present. We both enjoy their music and presentation.
Below are the videos I took on my Nikon camera, of my favorite parts of the performance.

See my comments about the song on the description of each YouTube. Watch some to see our home-grown Washington talent.

SHORT Introduction to the 3 Gothard Sisters

Let It Snow!
Irish Dancing
Drum duet – Solana and Willow
The Hat Song You can’t play without the hat.
The group’s Origin Story They all trained in classical music. The Edmonds Farmers Market – 5 hour days – had them branching into some popular tunes. This music begins with Carol of the Bells.

The next is an example of their newly written songs’ material, in the genre of Contemporary Celtic music. We heard more through the program, particularly in the second part after intermission.

Hummingbird
Midnight Sun

And some Christmas songs:

I Saw 3 Ships Come Sailing In Meaningful to me from my past.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

3-min start story time song: Santa Claus is Coming to Town

There were more I did not capture when my battery ran out on the last one above.

Saturday, Dec 8

Slept in until 9:00. I was beat.

We had thought about going shopping in Yakima, but never settled on a day or time. This morning we decided to go. I drove because my car needed more gas than John’s. It was snowing this morning, at our home, but stopped after a very light flurry. We had clear roads with clouds. Supposed to be sunny, but never saw much sunshine.

First stop was WinCo primarily for 100% All Bran Buds, and while there, John found a good deal on Betty Crocker Double Chocolate Brownie Mix, limit 4, at only 68 ₵/box. And even better find was Shasta Cola 2-liter size, limit 6, for 48 ₵ each. That’s a very low price.
Next: Costco gasoline station. Price was right, at $2.89/gal. In Ellensburg, the lowest price is $3.05.

Costco. As expected it was as busy as Atlanta’s airport with cancelled flights. We found most of what we went for. Found Merlot Cheese and dog biscuits for Louaine and her dog, found things we wanted including two fruitcakes, moist flushable wipes, and a box of small portion Cordon Bleu {on sale}. These are raw/frozen and need to be baked in a real oven. We’ve never tried these. John doesn’t make such complicated recipes at home. We’ll report later.

We came home and being cloudy it was already getting dark at 3:00 p.m. I had my lights on all the way from Yakima. So many people drive without lights, it is dangerous.

Started running a few songs from the Gothard Sisters concert. The best were taken on my Nikon camera, which takes a lot of bandwidth, so getting 4 minutes of recording uploaded requires 1.5 hours upload time. You can follow a few of my favorites on yesterday evening’s write-up. I uploaded my first longest one while we were away on our trip to Yakima (103 mi. round-trip).

Sunday, Dec 9

Awoke to no more snow, but found Rascal under the chair, and limping with a hurt back left leg. No clue how it was injured. He does go over a 6 foot fence via several ways – maybe a muscle pull as we don’t see an injury. He’s now on the bed, refused to eat. John put him out for pottying, but he returned and put himself to bed on the top bunk in a back corner bedroom.

Czar has been in the house most of the day; Woody & Sue have been fed. Sue sometimes acts like she will come in the front door. Now that Czar does so with her right there beside him, she may decide it is an okay thing to do.
Finished unloading the dishwasher, while still uploading videos. We had brunch midday. John did shovel less than an inch of snow (?) off the back patio slab and the front concrete slab in front. The horses always need food and their water replenished (when the ditch flow is frozen). Beyond such chores not much warrants going out in nasty weather on a Sunday.

John saved the making of soup for such a day.
We just finished a bowl of lentil/beef soup (+rice, tomatoes, lima beans), with Jarlsberg cheese and Honeycrisp apple slices. We need to package and freeze some of the soup; 8 or 10 servings.

Started snowing big flakes at 2:15 p.m.; now ½ hr later, still snowing but smaller flakes, and at 7:00 p.m., same. We have at least 2”. At 10 pm: it is done or nearly so.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, Nov 25

John found our horses Jazz and Breeze in our neighbor’s pasture, and while he found some fence to tie up, he didn’t really find an obvious exit place. (A week later, they are still in our pasture.)

I worked early to finish the blog as I was getting ready to leave for a few hours to stay with my 95 yr old neighbor to be sure he didn’t fall. His son was going to go to Yakima with a friend to a movie. Those plans changed at 10:51 a.m. when he called to tell me a neighbor at the head of the Naneum Canyon was free and would come down for the afternoon. I was grateful, because I would not have had access to the Internet from 1:30 until 6:30.

Here was one of the things I was able to accomplish, this link to my third Thanksgiving dinner:

Swedberg Family on Saturday Thanksgiving with 15 pictures.

Monday, Nov 26

I will be working today getting ready for visiting the Doctor for the Diagnostic part of our Annual Physical and to discuss the results of the lab tests and chest X-rays we had taken last week.

I was busy all day, and did not go to town to go to the SAIL exercise class at 1:30 p.m. at the AAC.
I was on the phone with doctors and assistants. I’m still far behind on many things.

Tuesday, Nov 27

Today was our one-week follow-up to last Tuesday’s visit for the annual physical. John drove his Subaru, because it was very low on gasoline, and the best price in the area is in Cle Elum. We paid $2.96 (credit card price) / gal and the cash price was $2.86. Cheapest in Ellensburg was $3.15. Tonight John’s sister Peggy called to report in on her weekend with family, and the amazing price she paid when she got back to Ohio: $2.19/gal.

We went the Interstate going and back Hwy 10 by the river returning. On our way up we had a little rain and saw both ends of a large rainbow. We could not see Mt. Stuart, because of the cloud cover. These two pictures are the ends of the rainbow that stretched a long distance across the Kittitas Valley.

We got there on time for checking in according to our records, but they were different from the computer’s. We had been scheduled for both annual visits long ago and the dates were on our desktop calendar hanging on the kitchen wall. We made it there last week and returned this week, only to find out, even though we were going in together, they had separated our times and this week I was scheduled at 10:00 a.m. They finally decided to take us both in at the time we were expecting, that had been written up in John’s name. I checked in, and then questioned the receptionist I know well (she’s my neighbor!), about what could have happened? We had not received the pre-mailed paperwork for our first one last week, and we did not receive a call reminder on the phone as normal. The Nov 20 appointment went all right. For today, however, we again had received no reminder call, and it didn’t go all right. Finally, she tracked it to the reason. They had texted the message to our landline. Our landline is a landline and not a cell phone and does not understand or accept or notify us of a call or a text from anyone. It will take voicemail messages. We have filled the paperwork at all our hospital connections and pharmacy not to text us. We do not get cell reception at home, even if we could receive texts.

Supposedly, Priscilla has fixed it to be a phone call only to our landline. Because we get no cell reception at home, we only give our cell phone to a nurse if we are to be away from home and they need to reach us. We have answered the questions on their interview form NOT TO USE OUR CELL PHONES for home communication. Perhaps this will be corrected now. The fact of a change in the medical records system providers has affected us and many others quite negatively.

From there we were seen by our doctor. He went over our lab tests and the report from a radiologist on chest x-rays. Who or where that was done is a mystery. We did not get to view them. He just told us what the report said. Mine were fine and showed nothing that indicated a hiatal hernia – it wasn’t mentioned. John’s had a fuzzyness in an area which could be related to a previous infection and scaring or could be a “fold” in the lung from not inflating fully while holding his breath for the x-ray machine. [John says no.] Our doctor recommended waiting a month and coming back the end of December for a re-take. We made that appointment for Dec 24, and have put it on our wall calendar. It’s for a 1:00 check-in for a 1:15 appt. He will go first to the lab / radiology for his x-ray and then it will be available for Dr. Wood and the appointment at 1:15 p.m. John and I will both get to see that description and ask questions. Our regular physician and my cardiologist are very good about having us both present for medical discussions.

Comparison of my Thyroid tests today, from last week and from last April. I was concerned that the last test both times was different between the dates, and therefore in my estimation, not comparable: Triiodothyronine, Free LC = 2.1 (note was N1, in April, with a different range, [2.0-4.4] from the Nov. 20 test. The Nov test for the same, was titled Triiodothyronine, T3 LC = 60 (note was N2, in Nov, with a range, [70-180]. While different, the low value was apparent in each. My doctor would rather see the TSH closer to 1.0; but the conversation ended with a recommendation to go back to the Endocrinologist (Dr. Lisa Stone) in Wenatchee who had reviewed my case last November. She had told me to follow up with the April draw and gave me the lab orders for it to be done here in Ellensburg. Those results were better, as expected, and made me happy. She suggested adding the same tests to the annual exam. I did not need a new referral, because she had told me I could schedule an appointment anytime I felt the need. So, I came home and have an appointment on Tuesday, Dec 18. I also called Medical Records and had them FAX these Thyroid lab from both dates to her in advance of my visit. Luckily, that’s something I can do without going through a medical professional.

We didn’t have too much more to discuss with Dr. Wood.
We’d got Crispy Chicken sandwiches for the drive home. Then bought gasoline on the way out of town.

We came home through Ellensburg and got a few things, plus checked my number and we won a package of Festival Coconut Cookie Rolls, which John and I decided was mostly air and not worth paying $1.67 for 3.5 ounces. 25¢ would be plenty. Considering it was a free gift, we tried a few before heading up the Naneum Fan.

Wednesday, Nov 28

I left in the fog and rain on my way to the Food Bank. I stopped off first near the airport to leave Wall St. Journals for a business student. From there to pick up some Box Top coupons for schoolto give to our little friend, Haley, for a possible prize, in getting her school some money for supplies. Another woman donated one box top, and I ended up with 32 with an unexpired date (required).
Here’s the story on that: From Amy about delivery of box tops..
Haley said Mrs. H was surprised with how many she brought in. She now will be entered in 5 times for a chance to win $10 to next week’s book fair. They accept box tops all year. But then occasionally do a bigger incentive to get them in.Their school also hands out “eagle bucks” for good behavior, being respectful, etc. They put their names on them then in a bucket. At the end of the month they draw names force winner. Haley won in Sept. She chose a popsicle at lunch as a reward. Today she and a little boy won. This time she picked a Christmas book with Clifford the Big Red Dog.

From there I drove to the Food Bank and lucked out getting a spot close to the door, plus some help carrying my load inside.
We played and sang Christmas music today and everyone there was happy, singing along, and applauding.

When it was over I went to my SAIL exercise class at the AAC, and heard from several people there how much they enjoyed the music (many AAC members are there for M-Th Senior Nutrition), and supported by the government (the program started as money from the tobacco companies, oddly enough).
I also took a bag of non-perishable groceries to the senior center to put in the Christmas Basket donation box. The Christmas Basket program is an excellent program for our region, upper and lower Kittitas County.

Here’s a local Christmas story: Haley, the Penny Elf
Last year’s Penny Elf, Haley – is on this year’s collection canisters – these below are from Super 1 Pharmacy and in an unclear container. I went by grocery outlet later this week, and theirs had her picture, but were clear, and you could see bills and more than just pennies. Haley ————– This year’s canister with her last year’s pix.

Follow the next link to see this year’s report.

Haley the Penny Elf

From SAIL at the AAC, I came home by way of a lady I met a couple weeks ago, and she introduced me to her chickens and ducks (all named). She gave me a dozen eggs. I gave her a pot of hens and chickens. Today I got one more dozen, but the girls have slowed laying, and she will be keeping all for Christmas baking. I left her 2 egg cartons and picked up one more box top for Haley. I enjoyed the family’s Christmas yard decorations (large balloon figures of the nativity scene, Santa and reindeer on the roof, Frosty the Snowman and others in the yard. Lighted candy canes. Quite a lovely show. It was not quite dark yet, but showed up well on the overcast day. I wish I had had my camera.

Thursday, Nov 29

Today is our normal Bye Day from playing at Assisted Living homes, but one of our musicians, Maury Martin, had invited the group to his house in Cle Elum for a jam session. Weather is the only problem with driving toward the Cascades. It has currently stopped raining in Ellensburg, and the fog is not as thick as yesterday, but it is overcast. We may have a little sun in the afternoon, if the NOAA forecast is correct:.

Made my appointment with Dr. Lisa Stone in Wenatchee for Dec 18, 11:05 a.m. and talked with Jackie in Medical Records, KVH, to FAX the Thyroid test results from April and from November up today to them.

Worked on the dish loading, ran the washer, had sausage, eggs, and toast for lunch, checked the intros for the December music, and packed printed playlists to hand out.

I left for Maury’s jam session getting there in 40 minutes via Taylor Rd from Hwy 10. We only had Maury & Marilyn (their place), Sharon, Charlotte, Gerald and me. No one else could come, because of sickness, or other conflicts. I thought we’d just planned on jamming, but they had their Christmas tree up, and their Christmas music (for December playlist) ready, and had planned to use it. I was unaware of the plans, so I had not included Gerald & Charlie’s music book for December, and only had my own along for Sharon to copy the intros I put into my book last year. After we finished with the Christmas songs we did San Antonio Rose and one other, but then Maury got out the mic and Marilyn sang Kentucky Waltz. Then Charlotte picked out San Antonio Rose and we played it, but then we switched to gospel songs and another couple of non-gospel, but suddenly Sharon and I realized it was 3:30, and we needed to leave for our trip home. One parting song at Marilyn’s request: Amazing Grace.

I went home through Ellensburg and called ahead for Burger King to throw in 2 Crispy Chickens to make sandwiches for our dinner. ’cause we are leaving again. I wanted them to be cooked fresh, and not leftover from lunch under a heat lamp. They had told me previously it took them 6 minutes to cook them, so I allowed for that. I stopped at Super 1 to get a photo of the collection canister for Christmas Baskets that was in the Super 1 Pharmacy. Amy had not seen anything but the label and not any on a container. Now you have seen it above in this blog.

John had fixed cheesy-potatoes and a drink to have with what I brought. We’re leaving now for two meetings at CWU.

First stop was to the student activities building (SURC) “pit” where Bob Carson was signing and selling his authored books by Keokee Co. Publishing, Inc., Sandpoint, ID. Most recent is The Blues, on the Blue Mountains. He has an apparently nice one on Yellowstone, but with much information on the Clark Fork Valley, which in its own right would be suitable for a National Park without others so close by.

Second location was Science II building on campus to get a front row seat for videotaping. Had a little problem with the people in front of me tonight on the floor, but occasionally obstructing the screen. I try to get there by 6:30, and was a little earlier tonight. The talk starts at 7:00. Nick’s Intro to IAF Local Chapter Meeting, 11-29-18

Nick Zentner’s Introduction to Bob Carson, Speaker

Bob Carson: Half a Century of Exploring the Olympic Peninsula

Bob Carson Fields Questions

Friday, Nov 30

Again I went to the SURC for noon Scholarship luncheon. It is arts & crafts time (called Ware Fair), a frenzied selling event, so was happy I have an Emeritus Parking sticker. We’re having Pulled Pork, coleslaw, Ruth’s cheesecake with her own raspberry topping, and mixed fruit drinks.

Then on to the last day the clothing part of the Kittitas Neighborhood Pantry is open until spring. I’m going to take a bag of clothing there to leave, and check for some jeans for some folks who are disabled and unable to drive to Kittitas. They did not want the clothes, so I will take them tomorrow to the Ellensburg Community Clothing Center at the United Methodist Church. Unless people are unaware, unwilling, or can’t motor, there is no reason to go un-clothed or hungry in the County.

I went by an apt. in Kittitas to pick up a Christmas top from a gal (given to me from the free request Facebook site). I took her our last pot of Hens & chicks from this year, and missed getting the shirt until the next day. Her daughter picked it up on their trip to take her mom to Yakima, thinking it needed to go with them.

Saturday, Dec 1

I managed a find and replace and changed all my Novembers to December on the FitBit daily results. And also on my form for scheduling the KV F&F attendance(s) every month. My newest version of Word has changed the method of Find & Replace. Weird.

I went to the Methodist Church’s Ellensburg Community Clothing Center for Christmas tops, after LaRaine Crook told me on The Free Box site I could find a lot of Christmas clothing there. They are only open from 9:00 to Noon on Saturdays and same on Tuesdays. My friend Anne was there volunteering, and brought me two bottles of Bleu Cheese dressing she got a Costco for me while there on Friday. I took her a flowered thank you card with $10. I got there a little after 10:30 by the time I found the place.
I now have 4 tops featuring Christmas. One is a plain red vest I can wear over a lighter Christmas shirt, a nice green jacket type thing, with holly & berries and Santa Claus, twice, making a list and checking it twice. And two others. I’ll try to take a photo next week, or have my photo taken in them when I go to gigs this December. We have at least two every week, and 3 on the 3rd week in Dec.

I took my laptop to Burger King for a sandwich, and took along my thermos with PowerAde Zero in it. I got myself a booth, to eat and check my email.

Left there and went to Bi-Mart for a 2019 Desktop calendar, we put on our wall, because every year about this time, they have a 30% off sale on calendars. It only cost me $4.19. Good deal.

I made another stop on the north side of town, and came back by Grocery Outlet to check out their Christmas Clothing. They had one nice Winter Wonderland sweatshirt I liked, but not at the $14.95 price. So, I left it hanging. But I bought a jazzy pair of lounging pants with HO HO HO and a green and red pattern which will work well with a couple of things I have. They were $8. I have a cool red baseball hat with a Santa hat on top, which says, Merry Christmas. It was given to me by my friend since 6th grade, Maude. I wear it much of the month of December.

It was getting close to 1:00 p.m. so I made my way to The Tav but there were no parking spots on the street. I went around a long 2 block square and parked on Main Street, close to 4th Street figuring I could turn down and find Suzy West’s car to transfer the Fuji apples she brought me they shared from a fruit-packing house in the lower valley. Just as I got my car parked, she called and I said, I’m right around the corner. Took a while to get across the street at the light.
I joined them and met three ladies I hadn’t previously known and one I’ve known since the late 90s at CWU. We had a nice visit. She was parked a block away, so I drove there and found a space right next to her car. Handy for transferring. Then we parted and said goodbyes and carried hellos to our respective husbands.

I then went by the Ellensburg Library and initiated my library card. Until recently we were unable to have a card, by living in the county out of the city limits, but they’ve changed those rules now, and I can use it to check out books or use their computers when we are in town for a meeting in the building, early.

From there to Briarwood. Talked to Lee Kiesel about our date upcoming for our group to visit, play Christmas music, and eat a Christmas buffet she is planning.

I carried by two pair of slacks to a woman there who gave me another Christmas sweatshirt. This one is red with penguins skiing down a hill. I left there and went back for the long-sleeved Xmas tee shirt given to me by the gal in Kittitas where I missed it yesterday.

Sunday, Dec 2

Today is the free Christmas Community Dinner being put on by the Swauk-Teanaway Grange. We are staying home and fixing our own: fresh farm eggs, well cooked bacon, and home fries. There are more turkey and mashed potato meals in a 2-week time span than I can handle. None on Christmas Day, however. We have a frozen turkey breast to fix, if we remember to take it out in time.

Just heard from a newly made friend (via FB) that her husband had a massive heart attack and was air-lifted to Seattle to Swedish. He’s currently in an induced coma after his systems shut down. Been there, done that, and John totally understands what she’s going through.
She called me after I wrote her a note on Facebook and we talked for 20 minutes. The hospital sent her home to her own bed as well as her 3 children (in their 20s) and suggested they would have him on life support for at least a week, and they should come home and try to get some rest.

Washed dishes again today, and finally am doing a load of clothes. There is a huge blanket (probably queen size) included so I only put a limited amount of other stuff in.

Wow, just got tagged two minutes ago (just after 6:00 p.m. tonight) on Facebook from Jeri Conklin in CA about her two dogs running in the field. I don’t always see FB announcements unless I’m tagged. I co-own Daisy with her. I’m glad she found Xena and got back safely. Here’s her post: *That’s Daisy in the Christmas Card.

So it looks like Xena’s Senior Hunter legs 3 & 4 will wait until our February double/double hunt test to finish – after some remedial work on giving mom the finger and blinking an honor today. Everything else was absolutely perfect! Her scores all weekend were 10s and 9s! This morning her and her bracemate came up on a walking bird. She almost stopped to point but the GSP kept on going and put it up and the chase was on 🙂 So we know what we need to do in the next two months.

Daisy did her second MH test today and like yesterday – all 10s and 9s until she retrieved the bird to “almost” my hand and about a foot in front of me :-)Today was all 10s and 9s and “almost” to hand and about a foot behind me. So we are getting close and will work on it. If that is all I have to fix, we are okay. All the judges both days complimented both dogs and tried really hard to pass them.

So it was a great weekend, very long and cold and even though I was left out on the desert searching for Xena on Saturday night – that is a long story, but suffice to say – neither club, gunners, judges or those involved will ever leave another person out on the desert floor miles from camp with 10 minutes to go until it was pitch black, looking for her dog:-) I have survived war, cancer, jumping from perfectly good airplanes and death, but having my dog lost on the desert at night with no one coming out to help me or pick me up once I found her miles from camp and no light to walk back in – that might have been one of those moments that made all the difference in survival. Her tracker kept losing the signal and we are out by Edwards AFB, so who knows what they are scrambling. It was my scariest moment(s) so far.

And finally: Czar (male feral cat, neutered) has moved himself into the house and comes and goes, as does Annie (dog) and Rascal. They pass each other warily, and so far do fine.

We had an inch of snow mid-week. Night temps will be about 17 for a few days, but it is clear. Those two things are related. We are not expecting big changes through all of this week. That’s as far as NOAA wants to project publicly. There are indications the last 3 weeks of the year will be cool and snowy. We’ll see.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan