Seems we are in EBRG too often

Sunday, Apr 1

We published last week’s blog tonight at 10:31 p.m.
We already covered stuff in the blog about our Easter Sunday.

I heard late about the closure of I-90 Snoqualmie Pass road because of amounts of snowfall dumped in winter storm, closed in both directions all night from Ellensburg to North Bend.
Bad accidents and one fatal.

Monday, Apr 2

We awoke to a snow covered ground day after Easter, but John checked the weather at the vineyard and left for pruning. The wind continues to blow.

I worked on a problem with March/April music, Beautiful Dreamer, and sent it off to members of our music group for Thursday’s playing of the KV F&F at Rehab, needing a count for chairs. I added an announcement about a performance this Saturday in Ellensburg for dancing and music. See the story below on Saturday this week.

Fixed myself a brunch of eggs, ham, toast, zucchini nut bread, and shared leftovers with Annie.

I went to SAIL exercise and at 2:30 by Seth Motors to pick up John from leaving the F-350 for a complicated 60,000 mile fix-up. It is not at that mileage yet, but some vehicles has a tendency to blow spark plugs and cause major damage. Time-wise it was ready for regular service.

Tuesday, Apr 3

John left for pruning at the Mariposa Vineyard, after 7:45.

I called Chad at Seth’s about estimated pick up time of the truck. We hatched a plan.

I had a huge bowl of two bran cereals for breakfast with a lot of peaches. Later I finished with sliced oranges and zucchini-pecan-pineapple bread.

John called and I waited for him to get to a stopping place off the state highway from Quincy to George, so I could give him a phone number at Seth Motors to check on when the truck would be ready for pickup.

I took off for Swing Dancing class at the AAC late but got there in time to sign in and visit with a few folks before the class started.

April 3, ’18 Swing Dancing’s Last Dance

This was the only video of the day. I spent the first part of the class dancing with Evelyn Heflen. We should have demoed our technique in the middle of the circle for the SAIL class the next day, although my muscles were still aching from the workout the day before.

John drove back to Ellensburg, did some other chores in town, before he went to get the truck to drive home. He left his car there so we could get it this afternoon when we drove the truck back to the Washington Tractor dealer to leave our riding lawnmower for maintenance and to pick up our new tiller. John has hauled silt, sand, and horse manure from our place into this older (sunken) garden plot. Then last year we got bags of leaves from a lady, and wood shavings from a stump removal at another place. It needs some high Nitrogen fertilizer and several tillings to make a garden of it. This year will be big Strawberries, Tomatoes, and Butternut Squash. That’s half the space. The rest is in “continuation mode” and all the material is beyond just a shovel and rake. Thus the tiller. See it below.

Here’s John with his Sales Rep, Janie, watching the tiller be loaded into the truck. It had to be tied in place and all we had was an old dog lead. Janie and John

Our trip went well, but we didn’t get home until after 5:00 p.m.

Wednesday, Apr 4

John left for pruning.

I called the staff at Cle Elum to complain about my refill requested from my pharmacy and request checking on the one for John’s that was supposed to have been ordered from Super 1 several days ago. Neither for John were in their system. An urgent refill on both is supposedly is on its way. Later, I checked at the doctor’s and it had been sent down. The pharmacy have the medicines on hand. Nice thing is that if the pills are about to run out, and a refill is required, the pharmacy will give you some to tide you over until it is filled. We didn’t have to test that case. When you are 15 miles away, planning ahead is a better idea.

I also learned that my Atorvastatin prescription had been rewritten for 90 tablets and sent in to Costco Pharmacy. Although I told them that it had to be written for 90 tablets, they sent it through as only 30 on 3-23-18, and I didn’t know until we were 50 miles away that all I could get was 30. I lost $6 on that deal, and obviously, I was not happy. NOW, it should be fixed for my next trip down to Union Gap, WA; however, I will check before I pay.

I went to Food Bank music, taking empty containers for food to bring back for my neighbors any leftovers from the excess food there (donated by the Ellensburg Pasta Co). There was enough for 3+ meals sent back with me, and I delivered it on my way home.

From there I went to SAIL exercise class and sadly, met the daughter of a fellow SAIL class member I have known since 2010, with the very sad news that she is nearing death. Several of us had visited her in the Rehab, where she remembered us and was happy to see us, and planning to be back. She had left there yesterday for home and hospice care. Her daughter was bringing a thank you card to the Senior Center class for all our kind thoughts and prayers, recognized me in the parking lot, and gave me the card for delivery. Her mom had stage 4 Cancer and only a short time to live. Mickey passed the next morning.

I sent Lise McGowan the video of Nick from his museum lecture I took, and I called Sadie at the Kittitas County Historical Museum, to see if I can get the one they taped put on a flash drive, or if they will put it on their museum page, which outsiders could get to. The answer is that it was a live broadcast during the talk, seen on Facebook, and they have no way of giving me the original.
I will give you the link below but it has some problems. The advantage is it is stationary and in the middle of the room in front of the screen. I was sitting behind, having to deal with the windows of the building, and the camera in the way. But, my video, while jumpy at times, follows Nick around the room and zoomed in on many of the slides. You already have that link to mine from last week’s blog on Thursday. Personally, I think it is the better video of the evening.

If, however, you wish to view the stationary one, via Facebook, you will need an account. Suggestion is to jump ahead to around the 7:15 p.m. mark because the museum started the video early and cannot edit out that section.

Facebook Link to Nick Zentner’s talk at the KC Historical Museum last week

Thursday, Apr 5

Morning I spent a lot of time on the phone about bills, and some time on music changes to hand out today. John spent a lot of time outside in the mist with Annie, and then came in and fixed a nice brunch (ham, cheese, mushroom omelet; orange slices; and toast).

John did not go pruning, so he was able to come along and help me get to music at the Rehab, for a huge turnout of players and audience. We started playing 15 minutes early and ended a few minutes after 3:00. Long hard day, and I was happy I had taken a pain pill to get me through. John made a trip to Super 1 picking up needed groceries on a special Thursday (mostly produce) sale, and he was able to get his prescriptions I managed to honcho yesterday.

I drove us to campus because my car has the CWU Emeritus Parking permit. We visited a lot with friends and enjoyed the talk very much. We got our normal front row seat so I could videotape the proceedings. There was a planetarium visit afterwards, but we skipped that.

Here is the program we enjoyed very much.

Intro to IAF future events, & tonight’s speaker, Andrew Fountain, Portland State University Geologist, 4-5-18

Andrew Fountain Ice Dam Failure of Glacial Lake Missoula, 4-5-18, IAF

Check out Andrew’s fantastic web site:

Questions & Answers 4-5-18 IAF Mtg CWU

Friday, Apr 6

John stayed home from pruning because Cameron will be in Seattle at Pike St Market working on plumbing in their new shared place with a couple other businesses.

I took my Nikon camera to attend the AAC’s first Friday of the month event, Spring Fling. Menu: Open face turkey sandwiches, gravy, mashed potatoes, gravy, and mixed veggies. I thought of taking a small salad in case the veggies weren’t appropriate for my need not to have stuff high in Vitamin K. I should have taken it and didn’t. The veggies were mostly green peas and broccoli. So I skipped them and gave them to my neighbor. Here is a link to the photos I took and put on Google photos so those without Facebook accounts could access them:

Spring Fling at the AAC

I took my lab orders for Dr. Lisa Stone (Endocrinologist in Wenatchee) and had those drawn between my lunch and SAIL. I found out the hospital is no longer charging for medical record printouts. I wish I had known that before paying $10 last year for some.
I returned to the AAC for SAIL exercise. Then home by way of Grocery Outlet for ice cream.

Saturday, Apr 7

You all have heard our stories about John pruning wine grapevines every spring for many weeks at Mariposa vineyard west of Quincy, WA on a hill overlooking the Columbia River, where the river makes a 90° turn south at West Bar & Crescent Bar.

We have known the owners Cameron & Phyllis Fries since 1998, where they started their winery in George, WA. Before we started taking field trips to the winery and paring it with food in their amphitheater, Cameron came to our classroom to share his information and provided a wine tasting in the classroom in Ellensburg. We were teaching a summer class, “Wine: A Geographical Appreciation,” at Central WA University. Part of our content was the wine production itself, in conjunction with all the cultural, regional, economic, agricultural, biological, regional, and physical geographic factors involved in the process world-wide. We combined lectures, videos, and local field trips to vineyards and wineries in the Columbia and Yakima River valleys. We taught the class for 10 years, until I was sick in 2009, and we had to cancel the Summer ’09 offering of the class. You have heard follow-up stories of our personal visits to events at the winery and of the field trips with two vans of students.

I want to share White Heron Cellar’s story of a “new” tasting room and distribution center in Seattle at Pike’s Place Market. They are located on the 5th floor. The photos below show part of the story, and the space is shared with two others: a meat market from Cle Elum and a chocolate company from Seattle. Two night photos and a sunny day from the 5th floor, Northwest Tastings

Pike’s Place Market Vendor

On this link above, look under Specialty Foods, and then Wine for Northwest Tastings to see other photos of the tasting room, and a description, which I revised to date: “We are a collaboration space between White Heron Cellars, Soulever Chocolates, Glondo’s Sausage Co., and soon local cheese mongers. Offering wines by the glass and bottle, dairy free and vegan truffles, and cured meats.  Glondo’s is now offering charcuterie boards. Stop by and enjoy the warm atmosphere and the great view!

Websites for those there now are:
White Heron Cellars
Glondo’s Sausage Company
Soulever Chocolates

It had rained all night, and much of the morning, but finally the sun came out, and John and Annie got to do some work before the rain started (sprinkling) again. John’s out for one last time, and then we will grab a bite to eat before driving to town for a performance we both want to experience.
Marte (caller) Sono, Vivian, and Jay

It’s an evening at Hal Holmes with Vivian Williams and her band “Not4Sissies” (Vivian, fiddle; Sono Hashisaki, fiddle; Jay Finkelstein, guitar) playing for a contra dance, 7:30 – 10:30 p.m. Our friend Marte Fallshore is the caller, and her husband, Dale Brubaker, we have known for a long time. Marte is a musician as well (Bass Fiddle) and Dale (Fiddler). We attended from 7:15 to 8:45. John and I visited with friends we knew there, watched the dancing, and listened to the music. With severe arthritis in my left shoulder, there is no way I can do the moves necessary with some of the steps, because I cannot raise my left arm up to my side, or over my shoulder in any direction. I took videos while we were there for your viewing pleasure. Several friends were there dancing, and I have their emails, so I will send them the coverage.

Contra Dance, First Circle Lesson with Additional Steps

2nd lesson with a few additional steps

3rd lesson with a couple more steps

The First Dance with Music

Intro Lesson to Second Dance

The Second Dance with Music

Last Short Lesson with Star & Dosido

The Third Dance with Music

Sunday, Apr 8

Morning start with outside feeding chores (all the cats checked in early for attention and vittles), and they arrived last night when we returned in the dark, from our trip to town. After feeding the horses, John has other required outside projects he has created for himself with his gardening efforts. Annie is his helper, but now back in the house with me, lying at my feet. She gets bored if not out moving around the pasture and yard; as well, it is chilly this morning, cloudy, and is expected to be windy. Rain may happen somewhere in the county, but John hopes not here.

I’m alternating clean-up work and transcribing videos from last night. I have some other chores to tackle today, after finishing the blog draft.

John will be back in for a brunch, late morning. I hope the sun peeks in on the proceedings. My hopes were answered.

We are not scheduled away from home today.
Tried out the tiller – Second Try Tilling Naneum Garden before Stalling

We found we had a stalling problem after a short while tilling.

John thinks he has found the reason.  He was raking the hay where the tiller was parked and found a bolt (new), like others on the tiller. He did not find the nut, but came in to check the user’s manual again. He’s going back to take a photograph. We thought of all sorts of maybes, but we may be on the trail of the cause. John took a picture of the hole that goes through the drive-train. The bolt fell out in the shed, so maybe the nut was never put on. We do not think damage was done, but don’t know. He’s writing a documentary to send to WA Tractor via email, because by the time they arrive tomorrow morning, he will be on his way to pruning vines.
More next week.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

TW’NSNN April 6

{Yellow text seems not to show up well on my screen.}
Item #1: Ours are 3 weeks behind
In the western part of Washington State, Daffodils have indicated spring just arrived. There are 59 photos here;

Is yellow your color?

A small article here and more photos: in the Skagit Valley

This next page will show how to pronounce “Skagit” and other Washington place names. It also points out that the State’s name is not “WARSH-ing-tun.”
placenames

Item #2: D. C. Cherry blossoms
Over in the other Washington (D.C., that is), the Cherry blossoms reach their fullness this week. The weather is not great – a chance of rain, snow, and wind – on Saturday, but Sunday looks better. Next Thur. & Fri. will be nice – so says the NWS.

Item #3: Huh?

I read this article:
Bush Tucker, and still hadn’t a clue.

The meaning is “. . . any food native to Australia and used as sustenance by the original inhabitants, . . .”
Other people use the term – I don’t get out much – but it was new to me. It reminded me of Euell Gibbons’ Stalking the Wild Asparagus.

Item #4: Table tennis

Anna is an 11-year-old from Wales. Her claim to fame is that she can wipe your butt in a game of table tennis.

Anna Hursey

Item #5: Only the birds know
Finally, what’s this? →
It is a bird’s beak.
Yes, in the dark under ultra-violet light.
This is a Puffin, but other birds have bills that light up.
Why would this be?

Researchers are working on the issues: Which birds? Why? Who benefits? What else don’t we know?

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

March ends with fire and wind

We had wind. China’s space station provided the fire. (OK, it was April)

Sunday, Mar 25

We published the blog tonight at 10:00 p.m.
After that, I finished the letter for a scholarship reference and submitted it on the web to Indigenous Education, Inc. in New Mexico.

I wrote a note to my co-hostess about co-hosting the scholarship luncheon this Friday.

Monday, Mar 26

John left a little early for pruning, because of road construction near Quincy requiring him to go around an extra loop.

I called Stewart Subaru Service and scheduled John’s 2016 Crosstrek in for its 30,000 service visit; it will be Thurs. at 2:30 p.m. We will drive separate cars so we can use the 2+ hours they require to work on the car to do our shopping at Walmart and Costco, so we can get back in time for an early evening lecture.

Yesterday, I wrote a note to my co-hostess about co-hosting the scholarship luncheon this Friday. Today, I emailed all the possible attendants to see if they are planning to be there for Friday’s luncheon. We need the count for fixing our food fare and for the number of place settings.

John made more good progress outside on things needing done in the yard. I made progress by staying home to take care of several of the many things I have ignored for a couple months. I still have more tasks awaiting attention. It all takes time.

Tuesday, Mar 20

John left for pruning at the Mariposa Vineyard, after 7:35, and had to stop at George (I-90 Exit) for gasoline because he didn’t think he had enough. A cheaper place in Quincy is out of his way. Prices in Ellensburg went higher today.

We now have 14 people planning to be at the Friday Scholarship luncheon (one of the largest attendances I remember). I’ve been a member of this group for 30 years!

I filled my container of meds for the week and loaded dishes; still more to go. Ate a small salad and got to town about 1:00 p.m. The wind has been blowing ferociously all day, making being outside a challenge (even driving a car). I stopped at Dollar Tree, for something for the centerpiece of the table and the place settings. I found some Easter bunny napkins, plastic colored eggs, and little decorated malt chocolate eggs to put in each plastic one for people to take home or eat there. On from there to Bi-Mart to check my number, but I did not win anything. For the last digit of our membership #, they were giving away a nice pot of flowers. Then on to the AAC for Jazzercise, with only three participants. Others must have been out working in their gardens.

I carried in my Nikon camera to get help from Nicole Jones (the AmeriCorps staff member), who was so helpful last week with teaching me how to get my photographs properly onto Google Photos. Today’s quest was to reset my camera’s storing date on pictures taken. I had the instructions from the user manual which I was unable to follow to reset the date on my camera, from storing as Jan 1, 2013. She is so sharp, she took the camera and had the settings changed within seconds. Now it is good as new. I’m very appreciative and any time I thank her, she always says, “My pleasure – it’s my job.”
Jazzercise was a little tough today. I couldn’t keep up on everything with the class, but I kept moving and made it for 45 minutes. I’m still regaining stamina from my lost time with Pneumonia for 3.5 weeks.

I drove by Amy Davison’s house to pick up salad servers and wooden bowl to borrow for Friday’s luncheon.

Of all things, I had another long nap late afternoon. A 20-minute power nap went to 1.5 hrs. Guess I needed it. John says I start naps too late in the afternoon. I actually seldom take naps, so he is only talking the last two weeks.

Wednesday, Mar 21

John left for pruning later than usual.

I have to get all the music for soup kitchen time delivered to the Food Bank, because our leader is out of town, and she left them with me last week. I finished my salad to take for my lunch and set up my red bag for SAIL exercise that follows at the AAC.

We had a good turnout for music with lots of singing and applause at the soup kitchen for FISH, and on my way to SAIL I stopped by Safeway to get the lettuce I need to clean and crisp up for Friday. While there I checked on medication for our Brittany Annie (a controlled substance to prevent seizures – Phenobarbital). Lowest price is through GoodRx, but while the drug is cheaper through Costco Pharmacy, the local vet will not send a refill to a non-local pharmacy. The pharmacist at Costco said that is not a state law.

We had a good class and Jessi (our teacher) gave us all a cute Easter present. We had a large class of 15 today.

Thursday, Mar 29

John came past an accident on the way to the vineyard. People were out of the cars, talking on phones, but the police had not yet shown up. John followed a pickup down a gentle grade to a service road and proceeded. Lots of stuff on the road and air bags had inflated. It was all cleaned up by Noon when he came back through. No news about it have we found.

I have much stuff to accomplish toward the luncheon tomorrow, started by making a list of things to fix and to pack to carry in.

Call from Sonja my long time friend now in S. Lake Tahoe, with an invite May 4 night for a Saturday family gathering at Diamond Lake (NE WA). Once a couple years ago, I visited them there for a family reunion. I guess I’m considered family after all these years. We met through Brittanys in 1977 in Idaho, by selling her a Brittany puppy. She’s had several out of our lines since, and still has a pup (whose sister I co-own in CA), so I will get to see hers again. He’s a beautiful and sweet liver & white Brittany.

Off with John to Yakima, in separate cars. His Crosstrek was due for its 30,000 mi. service. We left it and got in my car and went first to Walmart for different types of bran cereals and some other stuff. Then off to Costco. We got our call there on my cell, and went back to pick up the little blue car John calls “Jessica” – when he thinks to do so. She is a very complicated thing, but fit as a fiddle.

We both drove to Ellensburg. He went to Super 1 for smoked turkey and I picked up fast-food chicken sandwiches. We met at the Kittitas County Historical Museum for a lecture by Nick Zentner. The audience was larger than the number of chairs in the small room. It was an extraordinary lecture, as usual.

Nick Zentner: Kittitas County Historical Museum, Is Mt. Stuart from Mexico?

Friday, Mar 30

First here is a photo introduction to The Musical Mountaineers, Anastasia Allison (darker hair) & Rose Freeman (lighter hair):The young ladies travel to well known places, mostly hiking in the mountains, carrying in their instruments in backpacks, set up, and play. Sometimes they start their hike in the dark. Below is a video of early morning music from Manastash Ridge – above the Kittitas Valley, in Ellensburg, WA – opposite side of the Valley from our Naneum Fan location.

Facebook link for a better image of all three songs:

Facebook link to The Musical Mountaineers on Manastash Ridge
This video was shared to me on my Facebook timeline, and from there I shared it. The original share to me happened early on the same day it occurred (today), and as of Sunday night, there have been ~ 20,000 views!!

The second below is my attempt at capturing their Facebook link, which cannot be reached by many reading our blog (without Facebook accounts). This is my capture from videotaping my laptop screen. Apologies for the image focus, but the sound is there for all three songs and I’m zoomed in a little more on The Mountaineer Musicians, Anastasia Allison (violin) and Rose Freeman (76-key keyboard). They backpack their instruments into a number of mountainous terrains in our state.

Manastash Ridge Concert – Anastasia Allison & Rose Freeman, Violin-Piano, 3-30-18. The three songs they played were (1) Hallelujah (2) Simple Gifts and (3) “Circle of Life” from the Lion King.

Manastash Ridge Concert

The next video is the best quality, from Anastasia Allison (the violinist): taken the same day (3rd song played in their concert)

“Circle of Life”
That one is from the Lion King.

More about the Simple Gifts song and a link to it with lyrics:

Simple Gifts – Yo-Yo Ma & Alison Krauss
Some research onto their sites brought forth many more videos of their superb musical (& hiking) talents.

This one is a must visit:

The Musical Mountaineers
That is from “Evening Story” on Seattle’s King 5 (NBC affiliate TV).

A link that reaches a number of their videos is below:
Performances in Nature

Our morning started by getting ready to prepare the rest of the food and all the stuff to take to CWU for the scholarship luncheon. I am so grateful for John’s help with this. Originally, I thought he would be gone, but Cameron had a wine seminar to attend, and they decided against pruning today. John was willing to help make ready and to drive to school with me, help me carry in two large boxes of materials, for the setup. He then drove my car for two other stops in town, and returned to pick me and the leftovers up. Did I say how grateful I was? While I cleaned and packed, he ate salad and cake.

There was a lot of work by both of us this morning on the scholarship luncheon food. John cut up 98% of it (smoked turkey into cubes) & Honeycrisp apple cubes, I boiled eggs and cut them, putting into two packages so I could assemble there into two bowls, and waited until the last minute before serving to add the Bleu Cheese dressing. I also packaged salted pistachio kernels to put in the mix (then left them in my fridge), and torn up Iceberg lettuce to bite size pieces. I was also in charge of the beverages (used only lemonade, Crystal Light), in two 2-liter bottles, but only one bottle was drunk. In afterthought I should have provided some two different flavors of Powerade Zero – I have orange and strawberry on hand. I also took the cake, a special Tres Leches, from Costco. I borrowed an Easter tablecloth, added the center piece, and at everyone’s setting, we put a plastic egg filled with a malted milk decorated egg (edible), along with a cute Easter bunny napkin. I had assembled those this morning too.

John sliced the Zucchini/pecan/pineapple bread loaf and the Como Italian bread to go with the soup, and repackaged them.

We were expecting 14 but one got sick at the last minute, another did not show, and one that came did not eat anything. We only had 11 eating. I didn’t have the soup and the other one not eating did have soup, but not salad. John and I ended up getting 4 salad meals out of the leftovers. Actually 5, counting what John ate at CWU.

My co-hostess, Mary Aho (also retired) provided a special Italian soup served at the Olive Garden restaurant: Zuppa Toscana Soup. It was full of things I cannot have – Kale, Basil, and Italian sausage (I could have had that). It also has potatoes, onion, and other ingredients. She also had quite a bit of leftover soup.

John helped me carry all the utensils (except soup & soup bowls) to the 2nd floor (good there is an elevator). And he loaded two large boxes on an old luggage crate I have had for years.

After we ate lunch, Ruth Harrington announced her good news, about the fund she originally established at CWU. Ruth Announced the Total Reached $1 million in the Scholarship Fund and there’s a Celebration, April 29, 2018, for past and present members. She then passed around a book to sign up for making a pie for the first Pie Sharing Party, which will be then. She wants John to make Pecan – he has done so for several Christmas-time and other dates.

I grabbed my camera and asked her to start over again so I could record her.

Ruth Harrington
I need to get this on our desktop size calendar that hangs on our kitchen wall: Invitation to the 4-29-18 Celebration at the Sue Lombard Hall – Sunday 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Here is an article in the Yakima Herald about Ruth’s involvement (since 1973).

Yakima Herald Interview with Ruth, 12-22-17

Here is a collage of pictures from today’s luncheon:Top: Amy, Mary, Monica, Kristina, Christine, Peggy, Tina
Bottom: Mary, Vicki, Nancy, Bobbi, Ruth, Courtney, KristinaFood served today at the Scholarship Luncheon: Salad (Lettuce, Smoked Turkey, Honeycrisp Apples, Hard-boiled eggs, Spicy Baguette Croutons, with Bleu Cheese dressing; Zucchini bread w/pineapple & pecans, Como Italian bread, Zuppa Toscana Soup, and Tres Leches cake.

Yesterday, late afternoon, I had a call from the financial accountant at the CWU Foundation about our own scholarship. John and I contribute money for two, a graduate student in Cultural & Environmental Resource Management and an undergraduate student in Geography. The title of the scholarship is the Hultquist Distinguished Service award. Right now the cwu.edu web page for Geography is down, so I won’t put a link to it. I was following up on an incorrect statement of what I thought our balance was in the account. They are going to look into it further on Monday and clarify details. I was sure I had more than $100 in the account, considering I contribute something each month directly from my checking account.

In the evening we had a nice long conversation with our sister, Peggy, hearing about her trip back last weekend to PA (from OH) to the 100th birthday party we mentioned in last week’s blog for their cousin Ethel. She asked if I had not gotten the pictures she sent. I missed them at the time, because John had opened them and didn’t tell me, and once they are opened in email, the bolded subject line turns to unbolded and is easily lost. She wondered why I had not acknowledged the pictures. I only mentioned the one in last week’s blog that her daughter Pat sent us. So, I will put a few below. Thanks !! Peggy for sending them.

For her 99th the family had asked what she thought her 100th should include. Peggy gave me the run-down on the story. Ethel’s answer was the Chippendale Dancers, fireworks, and Vince Gill to sing. We’d seen all the dancers on one of her cakes and one in a cardboard statue, which people posed with.

The little kids there had a marching band with trombone and bongo drums. They marched in playing Happy Birthday and other kids had little “poppers” that make firecracker noise, but someone had one loud one that shot confetti all over. Someone else gave her a Vince Gill tee shirt.

Previously unseen photo review, Ethel’s 100th birthday party: Chippendale appearance, Peggy with cardboard, Ethel, Pat (daughter), and her hubby Ken. Ethel with another cake, with confetti, and with Vince GillRod, Peggy, Ethel, Barb – our Hultquist family blog readers.
Rod and Barb are John’s brother Ken’s kids; Peggy is his sister.

Saturday, Mar 31

Happy Joyous Easter (Garden) from Jacquie Lawson animated cards from the UK (on this eve of Easter): If you didn’t get this sent directly to you, then please go look now; just follow the link.

Floral Awakening

This next one I especially made for a few youngsters in my current life (we don’t have any grandchildren):

A Splash of Spring

John has been out working in both gardens and other places on our property, getting garden plots ready for tilling and planting onions today too in our original garden. Yes, he has two garden spaces. A break includes a snack and drink, and taking Annie for a short prowl. She finds garden time boring.

I have been doing kitchen clean-up to make the dishwasher ready to accept our electro-static furnace filters which have to be washed, and John will come in about 4:00 p.m. to load them. It’s ready for his arrival. I have been working on many parts of the blog, uploading videos from last week, photos, and numerous other computer things.

He got the filters cleaned and installed. It’s running a lot quieter than it has been. We’ll have to clean and replace all filters (metal and paper) sooner. It was 39 days run time, and the timer is set for 45 – a bit of a test, as we have had it set for 30 days.

Before retiring, I sent a few people a Happy Easter card that I really liked (described above). One was more fun for little kids in families (didn’t send many of those) – with an Easter basket, decorated eggs after the colorful chicks hatched to create flowers, and bunny in the scene appearing. Pretty clever and with an ending animated puzzle. You have both links above.

Sunday, Apr 1 HAPPY EASTER

Beautiful Easter cake designed by my friend, Amy Davison.

Also, Happy April Fool’s day! This was the day 4/1/2010, I officially retired from CWU. No fooling. How time flies! My last actual day would have been as Thanksgiving vacation started, 2009.

We have a chilly but sunny and windy day here today, probably will blow off a few Easter bonnets. Two local (apparently resident) Canada geese flew over this morning, noisily honking. Explanations on the web leave a lot to be desired. We wonder why they do that. John sees them flyover (low) every day and if I am home, I hear them. A large flock went north on Sunday – quite high. The ridge to our north is over 6,000 feet.
Our resident deer were in for their morning visit out front, and earlier out the back door near the creek, we saw a bunch of deer with one having apparently lighter colored hair (or maybe a thin spot) on her sides we haven’t seen before.

He’s fed the horses, taken Annie for a morning walk, brought back one cat (Woody) for me to feed, and now is back in the 28 mph gusts in sunshine, planting onions in our garden.
We got 5 bunches, about 75 baby plants each, of Ailsa Craig (very large & mild), Copra, Ringmaster, and Sterling – all white. The 5th one is a red called Redwing. Redwing is more pungent than the others and keeps longer than the others, except Copra, that may last 8-10 months. You can learn more than you need to know about onions, here: Texas source

John will be back in later for brunch of ham and eggs. I’m continuing working on the blog, and responding to Easter greetings from around the world. Oh, John’s been following the location of the satellite space station that will likely crash to Earth this afternoon between 43° N and 43° S Latitude – hopefully in the ocean: Update: Reentry time was 5:16 p.m. our time zone. It fell in the Pacific Ocean east of America Samoa.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

TW’NSNN

March 31st: This week’s not so nasty news.

Item #1: Paint crew gone wild
30 miles north of Seattle, Machias area drivers have had to navigate through a tricky section of Storm Lake Road.
A new subdivision was expected to increase traffic, so the developer was required to expand the road width. With that done, sections of the double yellow lines were also repainted. Such lines are supposed to be in the center of county roads, but the painter had a different idea.
He or she zigged or zagged rather than producing a smooth transition, and put the new stripes off center.
On one side the lane was barely wide enough for a large pickup truck. The other side was wide enough for a tank. Still, the overall width is wider than before. All is well then. I think.
No, you are not hallucinating

Item #2: Chicken Little – the sky is falling
The good news is that at 47° North Latitude, we are/were not in danger of having space junk from Tiangong-1 fall on us. By the time you read this, someone, someplace may discover bad news from the sky.
Tiangong-1, a China space station, was launched in 2011, and, originally, a controlled reentry was planned. Firing the craft’s engines would have enabled controllers to allow the craft to burn up (mostly) over a large, unpopulated region of the South Pacific ocean. Any surviving pieces would have fallen into the ocean. But, in March 2016, something failed on the space station and ground teams lost control. This has led to the uncontrolled reentry … soon, or done.

Item #3: Busy, busy.

I have about 300 baby Onions and 75 Strawberry plants to get in the ground. It is early morning, and I’m out of here – playing farmer.

And that, for this week, is the not so nasty news.
John
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Trips – Doctor – Music

You have seen a few of the photos and a couple of videos in last week’s blog on Saturday, St. Patrick’s Day, but here is a rejoinder I didn’t have then, with all of the stills I took that day. Not many, and a couple are out of focus. Some you have seen in previous collages.
Google Photo link to St. Patrick’s Day 3-17-18

Sunday, Mar 18

We published the blog tonight at 9:46 p.m.
I succeeded in uploading all the pictures from Friday’s AAC, 3-16-18 from the End of the Rainbow party from my camera to my computer, annotating them, and cropping to a decent composure. Later, (Wednesday this week), I will give you the link as above to all the photos taken last Friday at the senior center party.

Monday, Mar 19

We went south today … for several hours. First, we had a nice breakfast, which had to sustain us until supper after 8:30 p.m., with only a snack of chocolate about 5:15 as we left Zillah.

Our first stop was the Yakima Heart Center for a device check for my ICD (Implanted Cardioverter Defibrillator), which has to be done yearly. Remotely, they check it every 3 months. I sleep beside a monitor that sends my data over phone lines about 2:00 a.m. each day. The technician checked the battery life, and it is at 12 years. Good !! the last one only lasted 6 years, and was replaced a couple of Decembers ago. This is a different make, a Boston Scientific. You’ll see it in an X-ray tomorrow (in this blog). Mine doesn’t pace often, which uses the battery to raise my pulse to 50, if it should go below while I sleep. It doesn’t happen often, and I have an Oximeter I can wear all night, to keep tabs on that and on my SpO2 (blood oxygen saturation).

Here is the definition of a Pulse Oximeter, as I own: “A pulse oximeter uses two frequencies of light (red and infrared) to determine the percentage (%) of hemoglobin in the blood that is saturated with oxygen. The percentage is called blood oxygen saturation, or SpO2. A pulse oximeter also measures and displays the pulse rate at the same time it measures the SpO2 level.” I have also worn it while exercising, just to see what happens over the hour.

After the device check, we were ushered to the other side waiting room to wait for my appointment with my new cardiologist. It was a longer wait than we expected, and I was sorry I had not taken my laptop computer along to work on things needing attention. They have Wi-Fi there but do not allow cell phone usage.

We finally went in, I was weighed, set up for an ECG, (many say EKG), prescription medicine review, and blood pressure reading. Then we waited. Met the “new” Dr. Kim (Antony) and had an informative visit. He said he’d reviewed my ECG, and it was fine. He asked about my device check, and I told him it was just done, with good results, and they were sent over on the computer for his review. He checked and was happy. He asked a few questions, and then examined me, listening to my heart, said he heard my murmur, but everything was in good shape. We talked some more, and he said, keep up the good work, I don’t need to see you for 6 months.

So, we left after seeing our old Dr. Kim’s nurse, Colleen Meyer, who still is my contact for questions for the old Dr. Kim (Anatole), who has ‘retired’ (a change, actually but maybe taking a hiatus), and for also for refilling my prescriptions from the Yakima Heart Center cardiologists. At checkout, I received a review of the visit, and I will get a copy of the transcription notes of my visit mailed to my home.

We jumped in the truck and headed south on I-82, destination Paradisos del Sol winery and organic vineyard, north of Zillah. The world’s first Zero Pesticide Vineyard. We have known the owners (Paul Vandenberg & Barbara Sherman) for many years, and they were always a favorite stop for our summer class, Geog 465: Wine, A Geographical Appreciation (3 cr.) – on our field trip to the lower Yakima Valley and the Rattlesnake Hills AVA.

This is an American Viticultural Area located in Yakima County, WA. The United States Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) awarded Rattlesnake Hills its appellation status on March 20, 2006, making Rattlesnake Hills Washington’s ninth federally recognized American Viticultural Area. So, we were a day early, celebrating the 12th anniversary of the AVA, in which we played a small part in the creation, as professional geography consultants. There are 29 wineries in this region and a “trail” map to follow for visits to those 12 members.

Here’s a link to some of the Rattlesnake Hill Wine Trail Wineries.
Rattlesnake Hills Wineries

Meanwhile, here we are at Paradisos del Sol.Forsythia with their winery signage, with a cool wall of used wine bottles; suns on their house – bottom right added today from us.

And here is an invitation from Paul & Barbara to come to their uniquely housed winery for tasting and a visit to their family farm.

If you missed it last week, here is a great video accessible on YouTube about their winery. Take a 3½-minute tour:
Virtual Tour Paradisos del Sol Winery and Vineyard

Their tasting is a great experience, and our class enjoyed the special treat, trip, and education each year (for a decade). The name is: “Sip Sip Bite Sip.” From Angelica to Zort, each wine is created with a particular food pairing in mind (and the Bites are provided with the wine for each tasting). Slow wines for slow food, friends, family, and fun. Traditional wines with a unique twist. No faux château here–it’s “the House” with turkeys, pigs, geese, cows, chickens, cats, dogs, fish, frogs, cherries, and melons… family friendly. Come Taste Paradise in our Garden of the Sun!

We feel as if we are part of their family. One of our Brittany pups, Max, joined Ellie (another Brittany), in the early part of this century. Now they have two dogs, neither of which are Brittanys, but are very loving and sweet companion dogs: Digley (small) and Marshall (larger), but with like markings! (black and tan).

If you have Facebook, check out their events. My favorite event is their Wedding Anniversary Weekend, closest to Sept 3, their own anniversary. This year it will be on 9/1 (my birthday) and 9/2. During that visit, all wine anyone buys is sold at a discount of the number of years you have been married, i.e., 49% for us this year. What a deal! I think the most they have honored was 67 years. My second favorite I suppose would be Spring Barrel Tasting in the Rattlesnake Hills, two weeks this year, April 21-22; the next weekend is Spring Barrel Tasting in the Yakima Valley, April 27-29, of which all the AVA wineries are included. Occasional music fests happen as well, and are enjoyable; take along your lawn chairs.

See more below on the cultivars in their vineyard. I have not included all the ones they have but they number ~ 15. Paul & John lifting the roofing from our truck onto their forklift.

First, was this transfer of the metal roofing, it will be used to cover their small structure out at the edge of the vines. This video below demos the move.
Transferring the Roofing from our Truck

The roofing was from our old red barn (replaced by a composite roof, in 2010). Why? Because it was a shoddy install, and leaked, despite a couple of tubes of sealant.

We had a great tour of the vineyard and winery, after the exchange noted above. The re-purposed roofing will be used by Paul, Barbara, & workers in a new bottle-walled tool/shade/rest spot ¼ mile from their house.

Next, in the parking lot we exchanged gifts (long time coming).Sun and moon curtain, sun face, place mat. John and Barbara on our way to the vineyard.

We took a tour from their parking lot down to see the vineyard and tool shed in progress.Before the walls were done; John & Paul on the inside, 3-19-18. The separators are railroad ties buried in the ground. Two outside bottled walls vs. inside the non-metal-roofed tool shed. The far right “last” wall panel will be finished to the top very soon.

In a subsequent email to Paul, I learned this neat fact about cultivars. This is commonly called “grape variety,” but they are really recognized as cultivars according to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants because they are propagated by cuttings. The term variety is so well entrenched in viticulture that a change of usage to the term cultivars is unlikely.

Here is Paul Vandenberg’s response to my email.

Hey, thanks for the questions.

I think our only unique one is Xarel•lo. The nursery people say we have the only producing planting in the USA. The only other planting is the nursery mother block.

The AVA is probably the most diverse of the sub-appellations. Last time I tried counting cultivars it was over 40 in production blocks.

The state now has 100+.

Regards,
Paul

Finally, here is a great addition from 3/24/18 of the inside of a Barn Owl’s nest high up in their vineyard. Barbara sent it to me, and I put it on YouTube, unlisted.

When you watch the video below of the Mama Barn Owl sitting (rocking) on her eggs, you will understand the following description from Barbara about the video recording. The left picture below I snagged directly from the video.

Barbara says: “We finally got around to checking up on our barn owls. This box is in our vineyard and only accessible via the forklift and a fruit bin. I put my phone camera in the opening, and took this. Mama isn’t too pleased with the intrusion. I assume she is sitting on eggs because of her behavior. And dad is taking good care of her. There are at least three meals in there.”

Barn Owl Nest in Vineyard-Mom on eggs, food around her brought by Dad
There are two different nest boxes. The colored photo is from the one in the vineyard and the black and white one is from the box in the Elm tree near the tasting room. There are at least four fluffy baby owls in that one.

Two more photos: the famous Elm/Apple tree with the Owl Nesting Box. Explanation below photo that Barbara took for me.This cracks me up. The Apple computer is to the right in front of the Owl Nest Box, way up in the Elm tree. Barbara wanted to make it an Apple-Elm tree. [John says: This appears to be an iMac G3 Tray-Loading, Bondi Blue – 1998; designed by Jonathan Ive.]

Mr. Turkey, they call Blue because he is a Blue Slate Heritage.

As we were leaving the tasting room, after meeting their turkey and some of the chickens and cats, they gave us a case of special wines (tonight we had their Sangiovese with our long-roasted beef dinner). As well, they shared two dozen fresh farm eggs. So neat, having the dark orange yokes from free-ranging chickens. We also saw some of the unique places the chickens lay their eggs. We enjoyed our visit very much, and we shall return this year in John’s little Crosstrek. Barbara likes large rock specimens and we have a few to share, and I have another special surprise for her.

On our way home we drove back by Union Gap and the Costco store to get some needed items, and fill John’s truck with less expensive gasoline than we can get in Ellensburg. It’s crazy how much the difference in 30 miles. There is 12¢/gal. difference. Was $2.79 with a 4% discount taken from that! This week, prices jumped a dime, across the region.

Tuesday, Mar 20

John left for pruning at the Mariposa Vineyard, after 7:35.

I left at 9:45 for Cle Elum for an 11:00 a.m. appointment, driving on I-90 to make faster time. Except, I pulled off the road to take a photo of Mt. Stuart, which called me. It was so strikingly beautiful. Above is my photo. Below is the geology about the mountain.

From Nick Zentner’s downtown lecture 10/13/2010 (we were there), here is a link to his talk:

Mount Stuart: A Closer Look

My need for traveling to Cle Elum this morning was to follow-up with a P.A. there who diagnosed my pneumonia a month ago, and he scheduled a chest X-ray for today to be sure my lower left lobe was clear and my breathing was back to normal. All’s well, and I have resumed my activities. Here is the X-ray he shared with me and let me photograph.My ICD and the wiring from it to my right ventricle is quite visible. Also, the wire that “sewed” my chest incision during open heart surgery back together always looks like a coat hanger message. To me it still shows something covering the airways in the left lobe below the ICD, but it is apparently not of concern. I wish I had taken a photo of the 2/20 X-ray John and I both witnessed. It was no longer in the system available for him to pull up, or else he didn’t want to take the time. They were having problems with their new computer system. All appointments this morning were reset back to 6:00 a.m.

I found the link to for the pronunciation of egophony:

EGOPHONY pronunciation

Back on 2/20 in the blog, I mentioned the term and how that recognition by my doctor revealed I had pneumonia. What he heard through his stethoscope when I said the letter e (dragged out) sounded like the letter a.

You can hear the difference in this link to sounds on line; this is my first reference to these two links above and below, which were not in the February 20 discussion.

Sound of letter pronounced through a stethoscope
Note: from another source on line: Crackling or bubbling noises (rales) made by movement of fluid in the tiny air sacs of the lung. … “E” to “A” changes in the lungs (egophony). Your doctor may have you say the letter “E” while he listens to your chest.  Pneumonia may cause the “E” to sound like the letter “A” when heard through a stethoscope.
(That is demonstrated in the link above).

I plan on going to Jazzercise today, but I imagine I will have to take it easy. Turns out, I did fine and my Fit Bit recorded 26 minutes of aerobic exercise.

Wednesday, Mar 21

John left for pruning.
I called Anne about my maracas, but probably she’s already left for Montana. She got my message and brought them to SAIL class to give me for our visitor from England to use tomorrow !!

I made my salad to take to food bank for music, which is followed by lunch. From there I went to the senior center for my SAIL exercise class and with my laptop computer to confer with Nicole about getting the pictures onto Google Photos.

Here is the link we created to get anyone who wants to all the pictures I took last Friday at the senior center Irish party you have seen a few pictures of in the last blog. These went by email attachment to the AmeriCorps gal (Nicole). She also assists with the Jazzercise class on Tuesdays.

Link to all my photos from the 3-16-18 event which will be put on the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center Facebook page, but many of our blogs readers do not have Facebook accounts. So, here you go with an alternate access:

Really End of Rainbow – 3-16-18 AAC

Really End of Rainbow – 3-16-18 AAC is the name, but published under Jan 1, 2013 for some strange reason because my Nikon Camera reset itself, and the manual gives me instructions to change the date, but it is not working. I will try to get Nicole to help me with that problem reset too, on my Nikon camera that was returned after so many months away.
Note the last few photos that show are taken the next day at Briarwood.

This morning I called Yakima Heart Center and left a detailed message with the nurse’s station about a needed refill on my Entresto.

I came home to a telephone call from Elaine Harvey that they have all her paperwork submitted for her Ph.D., but she needed me to act as a reference (she thought just a phone call) for a scholarship, but it will likely be more than that – I have to follow a link to submit my comments in a PDF file. So, I’m going to rewrite my Letter of Recommendation for entrance to a Ph.D. program to instead focus on the Cobell Scholarship, a Native American possibility for student financial support.

Thursday, Mar 22

John went pruning. I slept in.

I called in chairs we need for us, and carried all the stuff in.
My first stop actually was at the Rehab center to say hello to 3 different people there, in three different places. First stop was in the PT room, where I met up with Bernice Orcutt and her family, celebrating an Easter buffet put on for residents and family. After visiting there, I walked down to the east-wing dining room and saw Jeanne Gordon and her family. Finally, on my way to Hearthstone (in a heavy rain), I stopped off to visit in her room with Mickey Thayer and two daughters I had not met, and her friend visiting. I left rather quickly so Mickey would finish eating her meal. The others had left before me.

Great time at Hearthstone today:

The first video below is a long video of our music for 49 minutes. If you just run through a few you will get a review of most of our hour with them. But, spend your time watching the 3 videos that follow. They are the best of the day. DON’T miss the final jam session of Mountain Dew – we were having a lot of fun with that one.

Celtic Music, 3-22-18, Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends

Next are videos of our guest, David Kay, from England, who entertained us with two songs and storytelling.

First Song (Caledonia) by David Kay

Storyteller David Kay (about 3 Scottish brothers)

Second Song by David Kay

Mountain Dew Jamming, 3-22-18 (after the program)

Wow, after visiting with friends and residents who have been my friends for years, then having a lovely musical time at Hearthstone, I came home to some more awesome news.
This came via Facebook by a tag from Amanda Taub, about an article, “Who are the woman pioneers and leaders in the Geospatial Industry?” by Greg Babinski, March 8, 2018. I had not seen this at the time.

Women Pioneers & Leaders in the Geospatial Industry

Within the article is this text: (a nice surprise)

Here are some GIS pioneers and leaders in Washington State
• Linda Gerull, Former Pierce County GIS Manager, WAURISA 2004 Summit Award winner, and now City of San Francisco CIO.
• Nancy Hultquist, Central Washington University, Geography Department, GIS mentor, and WAURISA 2006 Summit Award winner.
• Joy Paulus, former Washington State GIS Coordinator and WAURISA 2015 Summit Award winner.

To reach my interview and the award presentation, visit the following link to the story on p. 5 of the 2006 Summit Award in the summer newsletter from WAURISA.

Nancy’s 2006 Summit Award & Interview

Do note that I have lost weight since that year, and the gray hair streaks also disappeared after my heart surgery in 2009. Now I think I look younger than then. Weird.

Friday, Mar 23

Today, John took off again for pruning. I fed cats and stayed up. It is now 9:00 a.m. and SNOWING here. I knew it was a gray day, and cold, but wow. Wonder what it’s doing over at the vineyard. Guess it was cold, and they got a few flakes, but then the sun came out and they just looked in the direction of where I was and realized I was probably getting a lot more. I just checked here, where the temp is 35° and Woody was at the front door wanting fed again. She’s now eating more !! I guess we missed seeing them come in for dinner last night.

This morning they had cleaned the bowl of hard food in their house, and turned over the box. John refilled it before he left this morning. I listened for Czar and he announced himself, so I fed him. He ate a ton. Sue didn’t make it in until evening.

I ordered from my PCP office a new refill of my Atorvastatin at the Costco Pharmacy in Union Gap, for a significant savings over ½ price what I have been paying with insurance co-pay, and there I don’t have to use my insurance. Just print the GoodRx coupon, which they already have there in my file.

I fixed my brunch (sausage, eggs, orange, & toast) and washed & dried a load of clothes. I have more to do tomorrow.

I have been sending videos to You Tube, and have more to do.

My computer will restart at 4:00, so I have to be ready. I was ready, and in fact, restarted it myself at 3:50 right before we called and talked to Ethel Reynolds, John’s cousin in Brookville, PA (where he was born), who celebrated her 100th birthday today. Except for macular degeneration and the loss of her sight enough to dial her phone, she can still see clouds in the sky and enjoy the view. Her mind is sharp and the rest of her body, while aged, is in good health. What an awesome situation. She still knows all the scoop about our family back into the last century of her life, and is the encyclopedia we turn to for family questions. The only disappointment we have is that we cannot be there with 82 others tomorrow for the official celebration, with pizza, salad, cake, and ice cream. We’ll have to be there in spirit, and we will be! They will send pictures, I’m sure.

Mary and I are entertaining the Ruth Harrington Scholarship Luncheon bunch (on Good Friday). We are having soup (Mary will fix an Olive garden soup with Italian sausage), and I will be taking a salad, bread, tablecloth, the utensils, napkins, plates, and the beverages.

We called Ethel Reynolds this afternoon in Brookville, PA on her 100th birthday. She is amazing!

SAIL met today, but I stayed home to work on things needing attention. There are many, and I need the rest of not having to be anywhere today, tomorrow, or Sunday. It’s been a busy week.

Saturday, Mar 24

John’s home today. It’s supposed to be cold and windy, so he will probably be unhappy about spending time in the garden activities and anything out needing done in the yard or pasture. It snowed and blew and then the sun came out, and it wasn’t so bad after all.

Today, people gathered in the activities room where John’s cousin has an apartment to celebrate her 100th birthday. Her daughter, Pat, sent this picture with the title, “Party Animal.” We enjoyed a good laugh. Happy Birthday to Ethel, 100 years young !!!

Late night visitor – the skunk is back. John suspected this, but we had neither seen nor smelled the little devil. We think he may be climbing the cat ladder (steeply leaning pallet) and crossover to get to the food. So we shall not put food out except in the day time when the cats come to eat (morning and afternoon).

Sunday, Mar 25

John has worked outside all day, except for coming in to fix brunch. Onions have arrived from Texas, and Strawberries are expected late next week. Places for both are not quite ready.

I have washed a load of dishes and worked on the blog.

Just now he moved the canopy off the Ford truck. He’s also been working on a loading dock to get the non-running riding lawnmower in the truck to take for service. I’m not sure how he will get it from the barn over to where it will be loaded, but I’m sure he has it all figured out.

Now I’m ready to wash a load of clothes and submit my letter for the Native American Scholarship for my former student. Never ran the clothes, but did fill the washer, and I have been working on the letter; now need only to proof it and submit.

John just fixed us a nice dinner (leftovers from yesterday), with an added gravy with the cut-up meat (two kinds), onions, all on potatoes, and with beets (and wine).

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

TW’NSNN

Item #1: Little BirdsThis group is mostly Gold Finches. Earlier, those with a raspberry color were in the majority. They seem to share the Black Oil Sunflower seeds. We chase larger birds, except Quail.
20 minutes later a dozen Dark-eyed Juncos showed up.
Other outside news: I opened the garden gate where established Strawberries grow. These are supposed to be mowed and cleaned after harvest. I let the deer do this. After a few days I close them out again and let the plants start to grow.

Item #2: Attitude
If you have a good Picture Dictionary and look up the word “attitude”, you will find a photo of a Moose.

At the link below, when you click to start the video, a short ad runs – just a few seconds – then the actual video will play. It is just over 2 minutes.
A person in a vehicle would like to get by the animal and seems to expect a Moose will get the hint and leave the road.
The driver should have known better. Moose have their own idea about how the world works.
(The Moose in the video is a littler older than the one here.)

Don’t mess with a Moose

Item #3: A bird rescue story

This seems a happy story, although likely illegal:
A Great Cormorant took refuge under a honeysuckle shrub outside a home near Conception Bay, Newfoundland. That’s the part of Canada that hangs out into the North Atlantic Ocean.
The owners brought it inside, thawed some fish, and after a good meal and a cozy night in a warm house, the bird headed out the next day in, seemingly, fine shape.
Cormorant Dinner and a Room

Cornell Lab of Ornithology {may be a slow loading site} LINK

Tatarian Honeysuckle

I always wonder where the names for plants come from, and go to this site for information: Latin and Greek Meanings

For the common honeysuckle in Newfoundland Michael Charters tells us: Lonicera tatarica comes from:
Lonic’era: named for Adam Lonitzer (1528-1586), a German herbalist;
and …
tatarica means a native to Siberia — refers to the Tatars

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

Sunday, Mar 11

We published the blog today at 4 minutes to 2:00 p.m.
Finishing the first load of dishes, with at least one more full load to do, and still have to do a load of clothes, but might not have enough hot water until tomorrow for either.

I’m starting this week, with a follow-up photo from last week’s blog. The boxes we delivered to a “carrier” last Wednesday you heard about made it to Idaho and this is the resulting thank you picture of the twins with their twin Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. Made my day! Monday, Mar 12

John went to White Heron to prune. I fed the cats, and put in my meds for the week.

While in town, I picked up my Coumadin at Safeway and corrected their discounted price to the correct GoodRx price, $15.85, not their calculation of $19.75. I found only 3 navel oranges at Super 1, because the picking was not good.

I went to SAIL exercise and tried to take it easy, on being back after a layoff of several weeks. I still got very tired.

Tuesday, Mar 13

We experienced a beautiful sunrise this morning. John called my attention to it, but I did not get my camera in time to capture it; however, two of my acquaintances who have shared photos with me previously, did, and gave me permission to reprint here. The top photo by Cindi Crawford Ackerman is the closest to the view and colors we saw from our house (through the trees). The bottom one by Mikka Jameson is interestingly awesome.

I went by bank with our signed check, the returned escrow from our paid off house mortgage in February. I deposited it, but could not set up online, to have the taxes paid automatically to the County Treasurer’s office April 30 and Oct 31, because my cell phone doesn’t text to get the required security code to do through their computer system at the bank. The phone number stored for calling the code is our home phone number and no one was home. So tomorrow, I’ll call in from home for instructions while logged into my online banking account on my computer (task accomplished now!).

I climbed two hard flights of stairs to the Gym, to get my Klaire Probiotic I take one of each night. That was all the exercise I needed today.

I went to Bi-Mart to check numbers, but didn’t win anything. I went for some more navel oranges at Super 1 at the good price, on the ending day of the week’s sale. They had taken my complaint yesterday and filled with a few better choices. Also I got some Iceberg lettuce for our salads at a reduced price. Nice, because that’s the only lettuce my need for low Vitamin K content greens allows.

I canceled going to Jazzercise earlier in the day, because my stamina has not yet recovered to that level.

Stoneridge Resort in Blanchard, ID has our maintenance (for timeshares) on auto pay, but we are billed anyway and it doesn’t say on the billing that they will take care of it and mail me the receipt. I called and talked with Karen Conley, and she assured me she would be doing it.

I put into our truck’s backseat the package for Barbara & Paul to take next Monday when we visit the Yakima Heart Center, and go on to deliver metal roofing to them, in Zillah, at Paradisos del Sol winery, vineyards, and farm. John will load the panels in the truck this Sunday. It will be about an hour’s worth of his time. Add some time to that to charge the truck’s battery.

Wednesday, Mar 14

John took off for pruning. I made my salad to take to food bank for music first, followed by lunch. From there I went to the senior center for my SAIL exercise class.

I conferred with Brandy at our bank, and we succeeded in going through setting up the auto-pay payment for our property taxes on the Naneum, this year, and subsequently every 6 months, on April 30 and Oct 31. I may have to adjust the amount every year. As mentioned earlier, it was necessary for us to take over the payments because our mortgage is now paid off on our property, and we have to start paying our own property taxes rather than our mortgager paying them for us from the escrow part of our monthly payment.

Tonight, we went to the Bridge of the Gods lecture, the last one in this series of new lectures by Nick Zentner, on Washington’s Geology.
Talking at the triple chalk boards

Last 15 min of visuals – my camera malfunctioned & lost 1st part
Camera ate the rest

That first 15 minutes of the visuals was excellent, probably the best of the evening, so I await the edited YouTube version that will be coming through in a month. The first one in the series, arrived this Friday, and I will add it at the very end of Friday’s doings. It is titled, “Exotic Terranes of the PNW.”

Thursday, Mar 15

John went pruning. I slept in. Called in chairs needed for our group today, continued drinking water, and will eat, in prep for going by the lab at the hospital for my standing order blood draw and also will take the orders for the labs for Monday’s appointment with the new Dr. A. Kim, cardiologist.

I did make it to Pacifica, dressed in green, with a green hat, a yellow/green bead bracelet, and shamrock and green necklaces.

We had a great performance and an appreciative audience.

Friday, Mar 16

Today, John took off again for pruning. I went with my found Nikon camera, to the AAC for an event starting at 11:30 a.m.

The event is named, “End of the Rainbow.” I dressed in green again, and wore the yellow-green bracelet little miss Haley made for me last year.

I called and found out the contents of today’s lunch, and it was all ingredients I can eat, so I did not have to take a salad for lunch. We also played two games. It was a fun party, and I did my best to document it with photographs. I will make a collage below, but most of the rest I took will be found on the Facebook site for the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center. I send them to the AmeriCorps gals and they put them out there. Irish Beef Stew, Soda Bread, Lime Jell-O; Nancy with End of the Rainbow & Pot of Gold, wall decoration for pictures.

Leprechaun game: I was looking at the eyes (for a wink) from the designated leprechaun (while all of our eyes were closed), and when we opened them, we had to make eye contact with all participants who had not yet frozen when they received a wink. Behind me are two participants in a frozen condition. I’m making eye contact with the lady in front of me, but not receiving a wink, so I turned to check out another person. The right photo is a gold coin toss game, Betty is on the left of Frank who is tossing a coin toward the bowls around the paper leprechaun.

The most exciting news of the day was notice of the publishing of the video of Nick Zentner’s first 2018 downtown geology lecture, which occurred February 21, when I was sick with pneumonia, diagnosed the day before, and I was unable to attend. John went.

Here is the link from Nick that arrived this afternoon while I was away from my computer. At all 4 presentations, 3 students from Wildcat Filming (at the university) have operated a different camera and then someone has edited the footage into this final to put on YouTube. This one is 1 hour, 9 minutes. Nick always starts with a chalk board introduction, followed by excellent visuals with a fast-moving discussion. Every minute spent with him is an enjoyable education, in person, or on You Tube. I know you have heard us sing praises of Nick for years, so you should already have your hand ready to click for the video’s start!

Exotic Terranes of the Pacific Northwest

Saturday, Mar 17 St. Patrick’s Day

Thanks to John for fixing an early morning breakfast (sausage, eggs, toast, & orange slices) to prepare me until our 3:00 p.m. St. Patrick’s Day meal at Briarwood after playing Celtic music.

Also this morning, I tried to renew my educational Wall Street Journal subscription on the day it ran out. I was supposed to go to this link: subscribe.wsj.com/professor , on March 17, 2018 for my $49.00 price – as Giselle of customer service told me earlier in the week. The effort failed, so I called Customer Service. I was happy to complete this call this morning because the person renewed me then, directly. I expect to get our delivery Monday morning. I need to call back next year on St. Patrick’s day to renew again for a year at the same price (this includes both the digital and print version of the Wall St. Journal at a tremendous savings over the regular price.

Greeted this morning with photos of the Chicago River dyed green for the day.From 11:00 to 1:00 at the Hal Holmes Center (Ellensburg, WA) during their annual St. Patrick’s Day presentation, our little Haley was asked to dance by Barb Riley, with her students (Fiddlers of the Wind), playing the Irish Washerwoman. So cool. She has been practicing for this with our group for some time, and was able to lead the kids. This is awesome. I have recorded it and put on YouTube to share with those of you not on Facebook.

You need to watch the Facebook link below mine, if at all possible, and then if not, view the copy I made from my laptop, where the visuals and sound are not as good. Here is the non-Facebook link on YouTube:

Fiddlers on the Wind ~ St. Patrick’s Day 2018 ~ Hal Holmes Center
If you have Facebook, check this version for the original captured by Amy Davison, Haley’s mom. This took place at Hal Holmes Center downtown for the St. Patrick’s Day celebration 3/17/18 from 11:00 – 1:00 p.m. Then they came over to Briarwood for another performance with our group from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.

Facebook members ONLY for St. Pat’s Day Irish Washerwoman
I wrote this note on Facebook about Amy’s video. Full names are included here for those who were being tagged on my send to Facebook (who were there). I’m so happy you posted these, Amy Hall Davison. Haley was a great little leader, and thanks to Barb Riley for bringing and leading her students (Fiddlers on the Wind) to play Irish Washerwoman, and for inviting Haley to dance. She did excellently leading the kiddos, and I think had a little advanced practice from dancing with our group since she was 3 yrs old. Thank goodness for her audience presence. Along with the group playing drum and guitar are Tim Henebry and Roberta Clark, also members of the Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends, who came over to Briarwood Commons afterwards and entertained with Celtic music again, with a huge crowd of residents participating in a lot of songs with Leta Poppino Kiesel there singing Celtic music we played. Lee prepared with the help of other residents there, a wonderful food fest in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Kudos to Barb Riley for being there at Hal Holmes to conduct her group, left-handed, because of her recent right- shoulder surgery.

Here is our story from Briarwood. They feed us afterwards, always a special treat, but particularly on holidays! First we played music for an hour.

Laura Landon was there with her two sons (Trip plays violin with us), and she recorded our songs on my video camera. I will select a few and post here, starting with our version of Irish Washerwoman with Haley dancing, and mom Amy, playing it on a Penny Whistle, on a much smaller dance floor than above.

Irish Washerwoman (with Haley dancing)

Danny Boy

Cockles and Mussels (Haley singing)

Whistling Gypsy Rover (Nancy & Amy start with whistling)

We performed 20 more songs, but I only picked these above to share. If you want more, write me an email.

Finally, here are a few photos taken before and after the meal.Haley being silly after sharing a gold coin with Bill, a resident. On the right after eating, are my friends Jackie Herum, Sharon Rosell, and Haley. Jackie and Sharon attended the Hal Holmes event too. This week Jackie sent me (& John) my first ever received St. Patrick’s Day card.

Here are the treats the Briarwood bunch provided us. Thanks! Dessert table and large buffet table at Briarwood, 3-17-18.

Sunday, Mar 18

John spent a lot of time outside working on yard and garden, and loading the metal roofing into the truck to take with us to Zillah tomorrow.

The folks in Texas that provide onion sets shipped a week early because they were expecting rain this coming week and would have had wet fields. Turns out that storm system is landing farther east, clipping eastern Mississippi, and developing in Alabama and Georgia. Montgomery AL up to Nashville TN are expecting serious weather. Nevertheless, we got 350+ baby onions waiting for John to get the onion-area shaped up.

Monday about lunch time I get a device check (implanted defibrillator) followed by a first visit with my new cardiologist.
Then we have to visit Costco, and then on to Paradisos del Sol Winery, video LINK to trade our old roofing for Paul & Barb’s new wine. Both are seen in the short You Tube video.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

This week’s not so nasty news

Item #1: Fun in snow

There seem to be dozens of Corgi-in-snow videos on the web.
Snow – one Corgi deep
This appears to be the most recent, as the mountainous west has been getting lots of snow.

Item #2: Ghosts are fun too
Windsor, Canada had a courthouse and jail, built in the mid-1800s and named after Alexander Mackenzie, the second Prime Minister of Canada. It is now called the Mackenzie Hall Cultural Centre and used for many different social functions.
Prior to an event a local group thought to search it to see if there where ghosts or spirits about.
One of their EMF detectors, short for electromagnetic field sensor — was missing after the society completed a sweep for spirits.
The police were not amused.
the little blue light will flicker

The spokesperson said there were “strong signs of paranormal activity — especially in the old jail, dressing room and basement.”
Okay, then! I’m thinking the person either needs a glass of wine or psychoanalysis.

Item #3: Win big or not

My father attended the University of Maryland for a short time. I seem to recall he was a “sprinter” and got some financial aid. For no other reason, I report the score of a basketball March Madness game:
U of M versus Virginia, 74 to 54. Not even close.
This is considered an historic upset.
Bracket Buster

Two of the blokes I prune vines with are interested in March Madness and fill out brackets (See image here ).

There are lots of bets on these games and then there is Warren Buffett’s NCAA tournament bracket challenge: Perfection earns $1 million a year for life for a Berkshire Hathaway employee. [ LINK ]

I wonder how many people picked Maryland over Virginia?

Item #4: A little win for the good guys
A part of Seattle is called SoDo. SoDo was originally named for being located south of the (King)dome, but since the stadium’s demolition in 2000, the name has been taken to mean south of downtown. This is an old industrial district, but now there are artists’ lofts, art galleries, and an assortment of other businesses, one being a large Costco warehouse store.
Three people decided that 5:30 Wednesday afternoon would be a good time to do some shoplifting. This did not work out well.
Busted
What were they thinking?

Item #5: A strawberry story
Japan, curling, snacks

Japan and South Korea are in a tiff over strawberries. This became international news when the ladies of Japan were seen eating large strawberries as snacks during and after curling matches. A South Korean newspaper claimed $200 Million in losses because Japan “Plagiarized” Korean Strawberries. It didn’t help matters when the South Korean women’s curling team bested Japan, taking the silver medal.
Fun story from my point of view. I have 75 plants due to arrive at the end of March. They are the variety called Cabot, and produce the largest berries we’ve ever seen. The best berries in Japan sell for $6.75 – – per berry.
Say we get 4 from each of 75 plants. That works out to be over $2,000 worth. All I need is to invite those ladies to the Naneum Fan.

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

Spring things

Meteorologists, the weather folks, work under the assumption that spring begins March 1st. Mother Nature doesn’t always get the memo.

. . . …Snow in Tahoe … S. Lake Tahoe, Sonja Willitts’ place, 3/3/18, 3 feet in 3 days.

This Sunday morning {11 March}, on the Naneum Fan, the blue sky, morning sun, and little birds at the Sunflower seeds are companions as I work to get Nancy’s prose into WordPress.

Sunday, Mar 4

Late yesterday afternoon, we published the blog about 4:40 p.m. I was so tired, I lay me down for a 20-minute power nap, with an alarm set for 45 min, but I slept through it and John’s trip to feed the horses. I think I slept for over an hour. Guess I really needed the rest.

I have been working on finishing the music sheets (PDFs) to send to the group but am only part way through now, and found a missing one I have to contact my cohort with the software for Finale SongWriter 2012 music on her computer to get her to send me her copy tomorrow morning, I hope, of the .mus file created. We normally share those so we can share and she can edit the music score. [update: She had one of the two I requested, but only the PDF document for the other (Whistling Gypsy Rover) so I’ll just go with the PDF from last year and worry later about finding the SongWriter version apparently in my old system (for 2010) on the old Toshiba laptop. I thought I moved over all the old ones to the new Dell computer.] We have to print from the SongWriter or create a PDF from there to share with the group so they can print on their own computer all the songs for the next month (or two).

I sent all the PDFs to the group, the Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends, and most of them can print the additions, to add to last year’s play list for March & April.

Even with my nap yesterday late afternoon, I slept in this morning. John has been out to take care of the animals and I have fed two of the outside cats.

I continue working on Elaine Harvey’s Ph.D. letter of recommendation to UI, but I’m still a long way to go before I can submit it. [update, 3/10, finished the last draft and sent electronically to be there Monday a.m. for the Admissions Office to add to her file].

Monday, Mar 5

I worked on getting the master setup to print back to back six songs for 3 add-on pages to audience copies. Need to make a new cover for the audience copies and then find them and get John’s help taking out two staples from each copy. I will then have to remove the ending pages that are being replaced, and the cover, which also needs replaced.

We left for town at 12:30 to get our toenails trimmed at 1:15 p.m. It’s normally covered by Medicare every 3 months, but we will likely have to pay for this first one, because we haven’t reached our deductible yet this year.

We went by Super 1 for Pate’ cat canned food. It was an awesome price at 44¢/can. Normally 47¢ at Costco, but only with 4 flavor choices in a box of 32. This sale included ‘bits’ as well, but the only place in town selling them the cheapest is at Pet$ense for 49¢. Our 4 cats go through a can per day. They have hard kibbles 24/7 in a feeding house.

We went by Safeway for stuff – getting Powerade Zero at a great price 79¢/32 oz when buying 5. Why they do stuff like this is beyond comprehension. Along that line of thought: I collected my refund for a pricing mistake last week. A sale (~1/3 off) of Pillsbury brownie mix did not make it into their register. The receipt never shows the cost, but rather someplace on the tape there will be an amount subtracted. I’m usually home for an hour before I figure out what they have done. Crazy! So, I got my refunds, and I received an extra $1 for my time & trouble.

Tuesday, Mar 6

John stayed home from wine grape vine pruning to hold Myst for David to trim her feet at 10:00 a.m.

I left for a haircut around our rural block to Celia’s at 12:00. I was very ready for the cut.

Then back to get John and drive to Yakima for my 2014 Subaru maintenance and 30,000-mile work over appointment at 2:15. We got there in good time and checked in. I had taken my laptop because we were expecting a long wait. They did not disappoint us… taking 2 hrs, 20 min. 30,000 is one of Subaru’s mileage points (also 60K & 90K) where they do numerous things not part of the standard oil/lube package. Our dealer’s charge seems to be less than many other large city areas, from what John has seen on the web. Anyway, this is a good income stream for the dealer, and it seems to keep our cars running as they should.

Modern cars are complicated machines with many moving parts.
See this article for an example: Lineartronic Continuously Variable TransmissionThis is a “steel” belt that moves, and acts like the “chain” on a bicycle. It needs to work perfectly. If it fails, it is like sudden cardiac death for your car. Okay, the belt can be replaced and the damage repaired more easily than your heart.

Back to my communication issues at the Subaru service window: I started with giving them my cell phone, and asking them to notify Greg, the service manager to check out my Bluetooth set up because it has been experiencing alternately unintelligible messages to others when I call from my car, using the Bluetooth connections. I have started parking and turning off the car and dialing on my cell phone without going through the Bluetooth. That makes it a pain for not being able to call hands free from the car when I’m on my way home, and only have to push HOME on the screen. Because the problem is intermittent, I don’t think they were able to do anything about it, but I have tested it once on my way home and it worked all right. I will continue the testing next week, when my trips to town resume.

While there, we went to Costco, and filled my tank, only needing 5.5 gals, but the price is right at $2.69/gal. and the lowest in Ellensburg is $2.87/gal. Then inside for a few stops.

We got our cash refund, from using our Visa card on the premium membership, where we get 2% rewards for all purchases from Costco, 4% on gasoline there, and 1% on all other purchases anywhere. We receive a nice total with every February statement. This year’s (for last) was $286.35. Costco is a membership place, so this isn’t quite the good deal that it seems, with the membership rate being over $100. Their pharmacy prices in some cases are significantly less (more than ½ the price of any pharmacy in Ellensburg).

Checked on my Good RX coupons (for what they have in my file) for prescriptions. They only had Atorvastatin, and I forgot to ask if they had my refill instructions in on anything else. I’ll have to call on that.

I went by the optical dept. to have an adjustment of my sunglasses. Seemed crooked, and they also fixed a place of the metal frame exposed that would cut my finger when removing my glasses. All fixed now.

We detoured through EBRG on the way home, for the principal reason of going by 14th St. & Water to pick up two boxes of baby clothes and toys, which are going later this week to Idaho with a friend of a friend to receive in Moscow, ID. Because we had to pass by Super 1 Grocery, we stopped in to see and buy some of the sale priced cat food.

Wow – I got my add-ons for the audience copies (three back to back pages to add to the end and one list at the beginning, and now need to get John’s assistance un-stapling, so he can re-staple the rearranged 24 copies.
Saves me a trip and money to Xerox. Costs us our time and some paper & ink. John had to replace my Magenta this morning.

I put Jennifer Webber’s phone in my cell phone. She lives on Fox Rd, across the county road from friends, the Orcutts. It’s 11.1 miles from us via Rader, Fairview, Brick Mill, Venture, Lyons, to Fox Rd. She is donating a Raggedy Ann and a Raggedy Andy doll for the packages going to Moscow, Idaho. Destination: Laura (Applegate) and Robert Heinse for their newborn twins! Here are the recipients: Laura Applegate Heinse with Reija and Otto, born 2-15-18.

Laura was a CWU student, lived, and worked in EBRG. We’ve kept in touch since she moved to Idaho, and got a job in the Palouse Conservation District office.

Wednesday, Mar 7

I did not have to call Jennifer to pick up the rag dolls. She will put them out at her gate by the road and I will pick up there this morning. I set up the meeting with Stephen (friend of Laura, whose wife is about to have their first baby) tonight to pass over the boxes and the dolls. I glanced at the stuff (clothes & toys) – the mothers will have to sort it all out.

Wash dishes. I started running the add-ons for the audience copies and ran out of black ink. I will wait for John to get home to change and not risk screwing up the only replacement cartridge we have left. Note: time to order inks.These two dolls were given to me north of Kittitas, WA to send to the twins. An interesting side note. These dolls are washable in a (preferred front loading) washing machine!

Raggedy Ann is a rag doll with red yarn for hair and has a triangle nose. Johnny Gruelle received US Patent D47789 for his Raggedy Ann doll on September 7, 1915. The character was created in 1915 as a doll and was introduced to the public in the 1918 book, Raggedy Ann Stories.

Washed dishes, and put Stephen’s phone into mine. Now I need to charge my phone and get a snack.

John replaced my black ink cartridge in the printer and I finished assembling all the audience copies. So, he was ready a little after 4:00 to staple them all together; two staples in the upper left corner. Now I’m set to go.

Thankfully, I was well enough to attend Nick’s geology talk tonight. We arrived before the doors were to open at 6:30, and got a front row seat, just 2 away from the center of the room.Burlingame Canyon – 40 Floods; right pic by Bruce Bjornstad

Tonight’s presentation was titled: “Dating the Ice Age Floods”

(1) Nick’s Introduction via Chalk Boards of the topic for the evening
Introduction via Chalk Boards

(2) Nick Zentner 3-7-18 VISUALS, “Dating the Ice Age Floods”
Introduction via Visuals

Recall, the video version will be replaced by a later triumvirate videoing team capture and editing into a professional recording of the evening, which will be uploaded to YouTube, for all 4 nights of this year’s Hal Holmes Downtown Lecture series. When they are completed, I’ll include the links in this blog.

Once done, I turned on my phone and caught the message from Stephen that he made it town and was several blocks and around the corner from where I was. So, we went and met him parked in front of the Courthouse, and transferred the baby goods and toys to his car.

We got home late, but John had already fed the animals and we had eaten chicken sandwiches while waiting for Nick to begin.

Thursday, Mar 8

John took off for his pruning activities this morning. It is snowing and changed to rain for my day out. They had okay pruning weather over at the big bend of the Columbia River.

I fixed breakfast and fed the cats. I still was working on finishing the music copies to put in my own book and one to give to two of the players. It got done in time and I loaded everything in the car to take off early for my blood draw before going to the Meadows Place.

We had a good turn-out at the Meadows of players and audience. This was our first time for some of this music, and for some of the players, a very first time for all of it.

Haley was there in her Leprechaun outfit and danced hard to Irish Washerwoman, delighting all the residents. Friday, Mar 9

Wind blowing severely started in the early morning, reaching 38 mph gusts. Sun is shining and John has fed and left for White Heron. I’m staying put today, missing my SAIL exercise class. One more rest day, and I’ll resume those activities Monday.

I have my agenda cut out. I must finish the letter of recommendation for my former student to enter a Ph.D. program. I have other projects that must be completed that have been ignored while I was sick.

I received the results of my lab draw yesterday (INR=1.8) and have to increase my dosage of Coumadin tonight to raise the low reading. I also will have wine with dinner to raise it. It will be checked again next Thursday by blood draw.

Through the kitchen window John saw the Merriam turkeys in the front yard. I grabbed my camera and went for pictures (first at the window). They kept coming. It was amazing. I think we ended up with 17 or 18. And a couple of videos, you see below this collage of images.

Merriam Turkeys Coming – Mar 9, 2018

Merriam Turkeys Going – Mar 9, 2018

Saturday, Mar 10

We both slept in until about 7:30.

Early this morning my friend Maude Buszek (‘Nancy J’, friend since the 6th grade) sent via Facebook this picture of an albino doe she took this morning on a walk in Michigan. An albino doe, photographed by my long-time friend, Maude Buszek, Michigan. About an hour north of Detroit.

Sadly, I’m missing the wedding in Vancouver, WA of Rebekah LaBar and Vincent Lo. I’ll have to be there in spirit. Check down in this blog later today to 1:00 p.m.

Only people with Facebook can follow this video of Pan Handler Rag practice for March 17th in Nampa, ID with Bobbie Pearce (piano), her daughter Katrina Nicolayeff (left-handed fiddler) and others.

Facebook Entry ONLY

But check this link BELOW out: (if you don’t have Facebook access)

Panhandle Rag by Bobbie Pearce (piano), daughter Katrina Nicolayeff (left-handed fiddler), and others, in practice for Mar 17th Junior Jammers’ performance.

Panhandle Rag by my former teacher & daughter

The link they posted on Facebook (FB) is not reachable by many of our friends (including John) without a FB account, so I played it in my lap and videoed from my computer laptop. It is not as good on sound, but you get the idea. I gave you the Facebook link in case you want to experience it on FB, and there you can set the sound to be on when it starts. You’ll see on my capture, I have a few seconds without, until I could reach for the mouse and turn the sound on. I don’t know why it reset to mute, after I viewed it once.

I found this other version or Panhandler Rag by fiddler Dave Reiner and Andy Reiner backing him on an Octave Mandolin. I have never known of an octave mandolin. This was filmed at Mark O’Connor Camp.

Pan Handler Rag by the Reiners – Mark O’Connor’s Camp
Before I leave this subject, check out this link, for the history of Mark O’Connor’s Fiddling Camp:

Story of the Formation of Mark O’Connor’s Fiddle Camp

I sent off my draft LOR to Elaine Harvey, and she has okayed it, so I will now find the link and upload the document digitally to the Admissions Office at the University of Idaho.

John fixed us brunch today, and is out working again while the sun shines. We had (baked) eggs with ham, mushrooms, and cheese, half each of a navel orange, and a piece of toasted Hazelnut with sesame seeds bread.

1:00 p.m., now the bewitching hour has arrived, and I’m sad to be missing an international wedding I planned to attend today in Vancouver, WA to participate in the ceremony to join Rebekah LaBar and Vincent Lo, in from Sydney, Australia for the week. My pneumonia got in the way and I had to cancel my trip. I have been enjoying a wonderful photographic lead in to the day all week. It continued this morning and I await the wedding photos.

Here are a couple of engagement pictures in Vancouver, WA at Orchards Community Park, taken by Clarissa Noel, Photographer, earlier in the week.I’m going to take a break and submit on line digitally, my Letter of Recommendation so that is off of my list of to-dos. I’m tired of the stress. I’m the only one who can do this.
~~ IT IS DONE ~~ acknowledgment copied and sent to Elaine.

Now – for last minute photos of the wedding. Thanks to Caitlin for publishing these tonight after the festivities. We will see the professional ones later on, on the photographer’s website.During the wedding, Robin, John, Caitlin, Rebekah, Vincent; right, after, coming in to the reception (Vincent, Rebekah, with Mom, Robin)

Sunday, Mar 11

Publishing this midday, after enjoying the rest of yesterday’s omelet with trimmings.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

This Week’s Not So Nasty News

. . . . from John, awaiting Nancy’s draft of her week’s news.

Is less bad news good news? Maybe there is less bad news this week than there has been, but it was hard to find the good news stories.

Item #1: Snowpack Pale Ale
Proceeds from Snowpack Pale Ale will support avalanche education classes

Not sold in EBRG, but otherwise I can see buying a couple of 6-packs.
Fremont Brewing

Local TV story

Note the colors on the can. Seems these are a match for the next photo from across the country. Coincidence?”

Item #2: Wash. D. C. Cherry Update
The so-called indicator tree is consistently a week to ten days ahead of the others. As of Thursday morning, it had some puffy white blossoms ready to pop.
Where is the Indicator Tree?

Expecting cool nighttime temperature through Friday of next week. Nothing that will kill unopened buds.
Main link to page: Cherry blossom update

Item #3: Road Trip
Mzungu and Shaba daughter, Kebibi, just 20 months old is off on a 750 mile trip.
Many years ago we gave a horse to a friend, then living in Eastern Idaho. The trip is about 700 miles. Although most of the distance is Interstate Highways, some isn’t and there is a lot of up and down. For 2 weeks before the trip, I took Teak on road trips around our County. At the end of 2 weeks our route took about one hour.
This is a similar story.

About Kebibi

Item #4: Wildlife
I’ve read of folks in large cities thinking something special is happening when they see a hawk or deer, or some wild animal in their neighborhood.
Today I saw several Bald Eagles, a dozen deer and a flock of quail. Then, late in the afternoon a couple of Canada Geese flew over, and back in the house and looking out the window – – 17 (?) Turkeys came past the front door. Nancy got photos of those, I think.
What’s not to like?

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