Keeping track

… but the Naneum Fan still has Autumn

Sunday, Sept 24

Memories of Sunday’s trip John made to the Fremont Lookout Trail at 7,100′ today.

These photos came through after he returned all taken by Hannah Tennent and “Sam” Ortiz took the one of John and Eric on the trip in. John & Eric arriving at work site with nice view of Mt. Rainier, one of the main reasons he loves to go to work parties there; later John flipping a rock for the rock wall project.Left, the crew in two locations, John is in the one farther up trail; right, the crew minus a few, sitting on the finished wall.

Monday, Sept 25

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 24: SpO2 low 86, 3 events <88% with overall avg., 92.1%. Avg. low SpO2, 88.5%. Pulse avg. 56.8, low 53. Slept 8 hrs 57 min.

I stayed home today to recuperate from the bug I got.

No music preparation today. All day spent on blog and pix, and trying to get better.

Tuesday, Sept 26

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 25: SpO2 low 86, 3 events <88% with overall avg., 92.2%. Avg. low SpO2, 88.4%. Pulse avg. 56.3, low 53. Slept 9 hrs 25 min.

I’m staying home today to get well. Work on music for F&F for Oct/Nov to send to Evie, for review. Never got to the Dell laptop.

John took Jessica (Subaru Crosstrek) to Yakima to get the oil change, lubrication, and other standard service things done. All prepaid at purchase. Most of the mileage for 2017 is logged but the next service will be at nearly 30,000 miles – one of the major milestones for replacement and preventive maintenance. This will be a several hundred dollar hit in early 2018. Ouch.

We met WTA Alan tonight for dinner, before John and he went to the meeting about the Manastash Trails planning process of WA Fish & Wildlife and Dept. of Natural Resources (land managers). Dropped off the music for Thursday at Hearthstone with Kayvonne.

Wednesday, Sept 27

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 26: SpO2 low 85, 3 events <88% with overall avg., 92.0%. Avg. low SpO2, 89.6%. Pulse avg. 54.3, low 50. Slept ~7 hrs 30 min.

I missed music at the Food bank and SAIL, staying home today to recover.

Set up eye surgery for Oct 30 at 10:45 for Nancy to have Laser removal of the film occurring in post-operation Cataract surgery after 20 years. Only a small procedure, done in the office, not in the hospital. John will drive me there and back. I won’t have any pain, no sedation necessary, won’t hurt, and no patch to wear, just eye drops for 4 days. Should be covered 80% by Medicare, and the rest by Kaiser Permanente – they who ingested WA’s Group Health.

Found out my Wall Street Journal is paid ($49.00) through March of 2018. Nice at the educator’s rate. Changed our email address from the old to the new.

John’s been doing outside chores and I’ve been doing inside chores. Fruit and veggie season is 99% done but the Walnuts have started opening and dropping. Walnut husk fly, click is an issue. The larvae are in the husk, causing a mess, and turn it black. The hard shell of the nut gets stained but this does not endanger the nut itself. John’s is trying to get the nuts off the trees before the larvae can drop onto the ground. This reduces the following year’s fly population. Might need to get more aggressive. Chemicals!

I got the mail off to the Fiddlers & Friends group that the music is there for them, and I won’t be. I will collect numbers of people expected and report it to the Activities Director tomorrow morning at Hearthstone.

I spent a ton of time trying to change the email address on my VISA Costco Credit Card account. I think I was finally successful, after trying and failing on line, and then waiting for a person. It is fixed now.

John caught my cold, and is heading to bed early at 8:45 p.m. Poor guy. I did everything to keep from giving him germs, but I guess I failed. Usually colds affect him less than me, and that seems to be the case this time.

Thursday, Sept 28

No CPAP — Oximetry for Sept 27: SpO2 low 85, 5 events <88% with overall avg., 91.6%. Avg. low SpO2, 88.8%. Pulse avg. 53.9, low 50. Slept 9 hrs

John went to town in my car for several stops, to get sunflower seeds, his meds, go by Sears for a correct handle for the lawnmower that broke, and the nicest thing he is doing for me is going by Les Schwab for new tires for my car, which is sorely in need of them. I hope he is able to go by for my black music book at Hearthstone. Have heard from John, but not yet from Kayvonne, so maybe I will just have to pick it up tomorrow. Found out she went home very sick, and did not remember to leave out the music. But the group shared and the audience went without, and it all went well.

I stayed home to treat myself to more recuperation time, but thankfully, we had 9 musicians going to Hearthstone to play today.

Cold Remedies: What Works, What Doesn’t

Expectorants
Expectorants such as Mucinex thin the nasty mucous draining down the back of your throat, which helps you cough it up and out. These products can help, but the best expectorant may be as near as your kitchen sink. “All you need to do is drink more water,” says Dering Anderson. If you find water too bland for your tastes, try lemonade, tea, or even coffee, she says. You can also turn on the hot water in the shower and breathe it in or try a cool-mist humidifier.

Tonight spent a bunch of time on the new laptop working on music, and finished a medley of two new versions (corrected) of old songs, Tiny Bubbles & Pearly Shells.

Friday, Sept 29

No CPAP — Oximetry for Sept 28: SpO2 low 90, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 93.7%. Pulse avg. 55.5, low 52. Slept 7 hrs 30 min. – best ever night off the CPAP.

John went to Snow Lake WTA work at 7:00 a.m. He returned after a misty/sprinkles day of lifting/digging rocks and digging trenches.

I went to the Ruth Harrington Scholarship Luncheon in Bouillon (building I was housed in for my office from 1997 to 2008, by Safeway for my prescription and more Musinex®DM. I also went by Hearthstone to pickup music books and audience copies, which were not properly given to the group yesterday.

The lawn mower handle (see Sears above) has its own story. I picked it up today at “Washington Tractor” – a major central WA company that sells and services big farming equipment, Stihl chainsaws (+), and John Deere garden and lawn machines. Here at home and at Sears, the model number of the lawnmower entered into the Sears on-line data base returns parts for a rear engine riding mower. So, the handle could not be found. Two months ago John tried twice to order a handle via internet and phone. Twice the wrong handle was sent. Entered into the Washington Tractor data base, the correct mower and handle flashed onto the screen in an instant. John paid yesterday, and I brought it home today. One example of why Sears is a struggling retailer, and likely on the road to oblivion.

Today, Jeri Conklin posted a photo of our Daisy dog standing beautifully at the breakaway. She didn’t place today, but check tomorrow for her winning a placement in Open Gun Dog, picture. Cedaridge Kip’s Camelot Shay Tre’ JH

Saturday, Sept 30

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 29, SpO2 low 87, 1 event <88% (Avg. Low Sp02% was 87) with overall avg., 94.2%. Pulse avg. 58.7, low 51. Slept 9 hrs 20 min. Another great night.

Going to town for Musinex®DM because I bought the wrong thing yesterday. Amazing find on the way home on the Kittitas Hwy. of tons of music books from the old Dorothy McDonald Music store on 3rd and 5th in Ellensburg a long time ago. She has since died. (I need to look up the history of that store; I’m sure it was not here when I arrived in town.) I tried, but cannot find anything anywhere. I will put my reference librarian friend on it tomorrow and ask at the CWU Music Library as well. I got music books from the 30s -70s, with chords, notes, and lyrics. I’m never going to have to ask Dr. Dave, anyone else, or search on the web, or buy from Musicnotes’ scores again. I can toss a lot of paper music I have from the past I don’t have to transcribe from hand-scribbled copies to make it legible. And, use the space in filing cabinets I have from throwing or giving away all my class materials from over 40 years of teaching !! Nice! I haven’t even counted the number of books in the two boxes. I introduced myself to the person in charge and told her my use for them, to play music and give audiences the lyrics, in assisted living homes. She had said on my way in, that everything was 50% off, but when I went to pay, she said, I told you I’d give you a good deal, so $7.00. I told her I expected to pay a lot more, and would be happy to give her more, but she said, nope, you will make good use of them for a lot of happy people.

I came home to find John mowing with the newly “handled” Craftsman lawnmower. He was under the Carpathian Walnut trees, where he had picked several boxes. He’ll eventually crack, clean them, and finish with roasting.

Good news from Corning, CA tonight, by phone, pictures to come tomorrow. Our Brittany, Daisy, got a 3rd placement in a 25-dog stake, Open Gun Dog, at the Northern California Brittany Club field trial. Jeri Conklin called with the good news.

Sunday, Oct 1

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 30: SpO2 low 86, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 91.8%. Pulse avg. 61.4, low 56. Slept 6 hrs 12 min. Up at 4:45, need more sleep

John went to Mt Rainier Sunrise at 5:20 a.m. I stayed up. Fed cats. Tried to assess my condition after a rough night of coughing and difficulty sleeping.

Finished revising my medications list for October, in case I have to go to the doctor for this crud. I think I’m feeling a little better, so may not have to in the morning, but I will not go to SAIL again Monday.
Switching to work on music for Evie’s review.Daisy, with Scott Azevedo, Jeri, and Leo, his friend holding her 3rd Place ribbon. They were at the Northern CA Brittany Club Field trial in Corning, CA. Proud of them all! Photo by Deanna Beals-Azevedo. Leo is their son.

Here was what was put on Facebook with the picture:
“Daisy” placed in the Open Gun Dog, handled and trained by Scott Azevedo of Nelson Kennels, scouted by John Moynier, and owned by Jeri Tory Conklin and Nancy Hultquist, at the Northern California Brittany Club Field Trial — at Clear Creek Sports Club.

John got home early from Mt. Rainier. Winter arrived and they were freezing and it was snowing big time. They quit at 11:15, then ate and visited in the Ranger Station. Working in the snow and wind was doable but the condition of the road out was not known and several folks had 2-wheel drive vehicles. This link has a photo and description. Sunrise Road The photo was taken from the upper most switchback, looking back toward the Mountain (6,130 feet). The Park Service closed the “in” gate mid-morning.

John got home at 2:30, and it is cold and windy here, but sunny, no snow!

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, Sept 17

We put out last week’s blog tonight, without photos of the last trip to Mt. Rainier’s Fremont Lookout Trail. Here are pictures of the project John worked on with Meagan and Stephanie – aqua shirt spent her childhood in Ellensburg, WA! Small world.Left: Meagan tosses the last rock on the wall, and then climbed up to push rocks in behind and on top. John and Stephanie did some of the work, too.

Monday, Sept 18

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 17: SpO2 low 82 (spurious?), 10 events <88% with overall avg., 93.3%. Avg. low SpO2, 89.5%. Pulse avg. 55.9, low 50. Slept 7 hrs 27 min.

I went to town for my SAIL exercise class at 1:30.

John left early for Liberty Lake trail work southeast of Spokane.
[Years ago, before autos, the small Lake was a summer attraction for the folks of Spokane. An electric interurban train made it easy to get to Liberty Lake. Now there is a county park that is harder to get to because the area between Spokane and the lake has been metropolitanized – read expensive.]
John was late coming home because of I-90 being completely closed to remove electric wires from across both east and westbound lanes. A telephone pole caught fire and caused the stoppage about 3:00 p.m. Luckily, he drove to Idaho for inexpensive gasoline and picked up a Carl’s Jr. supper that he ate during the long traffic stoppage until the electric company hoisted the wires and the pole up with about an 80′ foot crane.John is in there somewhere. East bound lanes are on the right and the stoppage is behind the camera.

He was stopped for an hour, but got restarted on the road home about 5:00 p.m. Most of the vehicles are based in Spokane so once 5 miles west of the city, traffic became normal.

Here are the reports on line: SPOKANE, WA-Traffic on I-90 in both directions is now closed at the Hamilton Street exit. As of 3 p.m., Avista says the pole will be replaced in the next 45 minutes.
(3:20 p.m.): Avista has confirmed a power pole fire at 2nd and Helena. A crane is being brought in to help stabilize the damaged pole. An estimated 1,800 customers are currently without power.
(4:50 p.m.): All customers now have restored power. Both directions are now open. But lanes will need to be closed around 9 p.m. tonight for 30 to 45 minutes to continue to repair the damaged pole.

Not much else going on, except music preparation.

Tuesday, Sept 19

No CPAP — Oximetry for Sept 18: SpO2 low 82 (could be spurious), 5 events <88% with overall avg., 94.2%. Avg. low SpO2, 89.6%. Pulse avg. 56.5, low 50. Slept 8 hrs 18 min.

I went to Funercise while John checked the Bi-Mart prize number and went to the grocery store. Exercise was late starting, because of a board advisory meeting. John returned on time, at 2:35, but had to wait for us.

Afterwards, we did go to Big Five today, and then to Costco. We had the manager helping us, (I met her on the phone over the weekend, while trying to get an extension on a sale price on boots, that ended Sunday). She said she would extend to this week, when we were able to get down there. She did gave us special discounts on the boots we got for John, as well as the shoes I got for me (Dr. Scholl’s for exercise, at 1/5 the price and the same style with better support than the Brooks Addiction I have sworn by for years (which cost ~ $120/pr). I have pretty much worn them all out. The Dr. Scholl’s are men’s size, but fit me well. While I was trying on shoes, John found a nice rain hat (camouflage) with a wide brim, and the manager gave him a few dollars off that as well. I didn’t realize there was more than one there, or I would have gotten me one for only $6.00. I wore his on Wednesday when it was raining hard for my trip to the Food Bank.

Wednesday, Sept 20

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 19: SpO2 low 85, 8 events <88% with overall avg., 94.1%. Avg. low SpO2, 89.2%. Pulse avg. 57.7, low 50. Slept 7 hrs 49 min.

Food bank and SAIL exercise with no Gloria, Stan, or Shirley. They are in Leavenworth for 2 days and nights.

Trying to get some time in on the KV F&F music for Oct / Nov.

Thursday, Sept 21

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 20: SpO2 low 85, 7 events <88% with overall avg., 93.5%. Avg. low SpO2, 90.0%. Pulse avg. 53.9, low 50. Slept 8 hrs 32 min.

MUSIC AT Pacifica. John drove his car, and got gasoline for his trip tomorrow, plus went to Super 1 for stuff at a good sale price. We had several people there and a large audience of happy people, including my longtime friend in the balcony, Arlane Nesmith. Then on the main floor I was pleasantly surprised to see two new additions of people I know at the SAIL exercise class, and did not realize they were at Pacifica. One sad note was finding out a long-time acquaintance and president of our fan club there at Pacifica since the time it was called Dry Creek, had died. I didn’t ask about him last month, but we missed him then. Today I asked one of the people who always was by his side, and she told me the sad news. No one knew he was ill and near death, including her. That was a very sad moment so we were early enough to share our grief without anyone overhearing us. We both had happy memories of him. His first name was Floyd. He always used to tell me I could remember his name by saying, Pretty Boy Floyd.

The folks who contributed music today included Amy & Haley (singing and dancing), Minerva, Gerald, Nancy, Sharon, Dean, Amy & Haley, Tim, & Joanie.

Friday, Sept 22

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 21: SpO2 low 87, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 94.6%. Pulse avg. 54.5, low 50. Slept 8 hrs 15 min. – an excellent night off the CPAP.

John going to Snoqualmie Lake WTA work – left at 6:00 a.m. Unfortunately, he got there to find the access road closed for construction, so they had to relocate to Talapus Lake to finish dismantling the puncheon bridges. That put him 20 miles closer to home when he left.

I spent time on the phone with Diana and Laura at our Primary Physician’s Office in Cle Elum. We owe $78.98 for last visit (5/1/17) with Dr. Schmitt for John and I found out we were NOT scheduled for our annual physical in November with the new doctor (Wood), as was supposed to happen. Now we are, but well into November because of a screw-up with scheduling last year. Insurance won’t pay for another annual wellness physical until a year and a day from the last date.
Last year we managed to do this on one day, but rules changed and we have to see a nurse first and then go back a week later for the real deal. So trips on two Tuesdays and sadly, I’ll have to miss my Jazzercise (Funercise, it is called) class. It’s the vigorous exercise I truly need.

I went to AAC today for lunch/scrabble, taking John’s Nikon for pix. For lunch, I had a couple of the meatballs from the spaghetti casserole, and gave the rest to Joanie and Ken. I ate my own container of smoked turkey, tuna fish & egg salad, grape tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, with no dressing. Their salad served was very nice, but it had too much dark green stuff in it for my restrictions for Vitamin K (being on a blood thinner).Joanie and I (in shirt she gave me), our table playing Scrabble.Here is Nicole waiting for Tina to bring more tape; letters were not sticking to the wall, so they moved to the window.Last of the game, and final board on the right.

On the road home I came over Bar 14, which has a one lane bridge over Naneum Creek (which flows behind our house). The high volume of spring melt from the hills north brought down tons of rocks to block the creek bed and change various directions of flow. Damage to this bridge occurred, as well as filling the channel with rocks and cutting off water to a number of us upstream, in addition to eroding some folks creek banks 25′ taking away their property.Left shows the one lane bridge and right shows the view upstream, and the lowering of water by the inundation of rocks in the channel.

I came home and about later started with a sore throat and runny nose – I do not need a cold! I worked on dishes, while gargling hot saltwater, to relieve the sore throat. The sniffles and coughing continued, and my favorite Fisherman’s Friends lozenges are not working to soothe it. {John’s advice is to place a silver spoon in my mouth for a couple of minutes several times each day, but I don’t do a good job of always listening to him!}

John got home from the WTA trip and took a quick nap, and I handled re-re-gifting some plywood to a woman who gave us a bunch of 2x4s and particle board/plywood. We told her that if she need any back for her chicken coop, we’d bring it. So she wrote on a Facebook message she was almost ready to go the chicken route. The woman (Renee) will call when she knows what her chicken coop needs after the roof is on (for inside, a couple pieces of her new and using our old plywood as well).

Saturday, Sept 23

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 22, SpO2 low 84, 17 events <88% (Avg. Low Sp02% was 88.6) with overall avg., 94.5%. Pulse avg. 54.8, low 50. Slept 8 hrs, 8 min.

Awoke with the continuation of the sore throat and blahs, and outside temperature, 45° near the front door. We bundled up and went to town early to pick up the concrete sidewalk pieces, and bag up elm shavings from a large tree that was taken down. John had great help from the guys of the house, Johnny (dad), sons, Trip & Beck, and Beck’s neighbor friend, Carlos. Mom Laura, took pictures, but I don’t have them yet.

We left for Super 1’s 6-hr sale and John went in and bought some boneless bottom round beef, and some produce. We came on home by Naneum road and dropped off 10 bags of the chips at a house, where we knew the family, but I did not recognize the daughter by her married name. We had ridden horses with her and her parents years ago. We ended up giving them more that the 1/2 we originally intended to share (10 large black garbage bags full). Father, George, was there and helped unload. He is going to spread it in their large horse arena to soften up the base of sand with something organic. His daughter wasn’t there, but she had told him we’d be coming.

So tired of this cold, runaway nose, cough, and sore to dry throat.
Worked on changing emails from nancyh@ellensburg.com to NancyJohnHultquist@gmail.com What a huge chore. I keep trying to do a few / day.

Sunday, Sept 24

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 23: SpO2 low 85, 6 events <88% with overall avg., 92.2%. Pulse avg. 59.7, low 53. Slept 7 hrs 51 min. Coughed all night and nose ran.

John was off to Mt Rainier, Sunrise at 5:10 a.m. to stop in Naches, for gasoline. I said goodbye, and went back to sleep, awaking early to Magpies fighting over the hard cat food at the front door, put out for Sue, when John left in the dark. I went and grabbed it and scared them off. I did a few things on the computer changing our email address to a few people, as I wrote a new message to send out to everyone (slowly) on our old address list to the soon-to-be-gone account.

I came back to follow the webcam and capture photos at 7:43 a.m. and worked on it through 9:02. I have some captures with John in it, his car, and others gathering around the flag pole at Sunrise (in the morning sun) for the introductions, and overview of the day’s work. I got back on later when the sun is out of the photo, colors show on the cars, and the parking lot fills. I did, and the flag is flying, with John’s car** very visible, and nice blue skies. I hope they had such a nice day to work on the trail at 7,100′.
**Car has been named after the song: Jessica
Writer/performer in hat – Dickey Betts – is also the creator of this classic:
Ramblin’ Man From John’s arrival, gathering talk, and after the crew is on the trail, midday. John’s car is the light blue one on the right front.Crew returns 3:30, cookies & drinks, goodbyes, and John’s gone.

I enjoyed watching the proceedings from the webcam at Sunrise.
Now to get on with the day.

I remembered last night after I was in bed, and miserable still with my runny nose and cough that I had taken some Musinex the last time I was so sick (for 6 weeks). I cannot afford to go that long this time. John and I both searched the cabinet this morning and found none of it, but lots of other stuff that has been expired for years, so will toss it. I’ll check my past notes in the blog, and see what I was approved to use last time and drive to town for it. I’m totally miserable.

Thank God for writing it up in my blog (one of the major purposes of this blog). I found it in October 14, 2016 when I was approved by my cardiologist to take it without conflict to my heart medications. It helped me then, so I am going to find the best price in town and go in today for some. Musinex DM is the OTC I’m allowed to take. Last year, it had a $5.00 off coupon for mail in, and I hope this year as well. (nope, no coupon this year, but I did find the Maximum Strength, so I can take fewer tablets twice daily for a week. Details: Maximum Strength Muscinex®DM, only 1 tablet every 12 hours (in a 14 pack).

I found them at Super 1 – Sherry is putting at the front desk “for Nancy,” and I headed out with a bottle of water to take one there, at 11:06. Sherry was the cashier at the front desk, and had them ready for me. It was Maximum Strength, 1200 mg, 14 pack, $15.18. I will have to stay up late tonight to take my second one 12 hrs. later. I will be so grateful, if this works.

We need to get our new cordless system installed, but we have to stay home long enough to do that and a bunch of other things.

My cough is not gone yet. The mucous part is working with the use of the Muscinex®DM and the cough is manageable, if I don’t talk and keep pumping in Fisherman’s Friends.

Via the Sunrise webcam, see the process above, I just found the WTA team is back in the parking lot for drinks and cookies. WTA buys. Cookies are the Pepperidge Farm’s “places” series (small packages, get eaten, few stale cookies left) that is described here:
branding smarts

John finally got reception on his cell at Naches, and called me with his estimated time home, to be 7:00 p.m. Annie was ready for him!

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

I have decided to play catch-up this week; my decision, as principal editor. John is the final editor and not here today.

Talapus Lake Work – Sept 9, 2017

Last week we mentioned John was closed out of Mt. Rainier, and went instead to a work party on the I-90 corridor. Nancy’s opinion is that it was a strange work party. They spent the day removing a set of puncheon bridges on a trail that had been abandoned – after a new section of trail was completed. Before (the old puncheon) and during the removal process. Bob, Jim, and John on one section. Ladies are all up the trail.

John is still hopeful the National Park Service will open Sunrise access again before the season ends. They would still be able to make more progress on that trail. Turns out they got one more day, Sunday, but snows are called for, so it is unlikely they will return this year. If the forecast is correct there will be a foot+ of snow on the trail by Thursday evening. Still, after 10 or so years of neglect, 90% of it is a decent hike.

Sunday, Sept 10

We put out last week’s blog very late tonight, again without the following catch-up from week’s ago. These show John in his old orange faded shirt, we replaced with a nice new orange one you have been seeing in recent photos. Evonne has been good for years, taking photos of John for me on our camera, so I can see him out working on trail maintenance. Then last year she photographed us in our WTA shirts at the annual November WTA Appreciation dinner. This year it will occur again Nov. 3, and we intend to be there, unless there is last minute snow on Snoqualmie Pass. That’s I-90. Evonne took these early morning and afternoon to thank him for coming over again for the long trip to assist her on the trail crew. He’ll be just north of Snoqualmie Pass this coming Friday, to work on the Pacific Crest Trail, and the first 2 miles is also part of the Commonwealth Basin Trail. Then the PCT forks to the right and goes uphill to the Kendall Katwalk.
Picture here

Monday, Sept 11

No CPAP — Oximetry for Sept 10: SpO2 low 87, 1 events <88% with overall avg., 92.2%. Pulse avg. 56.7, low 52. Slept 7 hrs 46 min.

Received these great photos today, from Jeri Conklin, my co-owner, about our Brittany, Cedaridge Kip’s Camelot Shay Tre’ JH (Daisy), in CA in training. DAISY pointing and working a bird. “Daisy is steady as a rock. She just needs the Brittany major to be a Field Champion,” states Jeri. Photos by Deanna Beals-Azevedo, trainer, Scott Azevedo, Nelson Kennels, Los Banos, CA.

I went to town for my SAIL exercise class.

Tuesday, Sept 12

No CPAP — Oximetry for Sept 11: SpO2 low 86, 3 events <88% with overall avg., 92.2%. Pulse avg. 60.0, low 55. Slept 7 hrs 59 min.

I spent a bunch of time on the phone this morning trying to change our email address and notify customer service to send our bill for the connection service to our domain, and pay for our extension of our domain we used to send this blog (rocknponderosa.com) . We do not have an associated email with that new domain, and we are losing our email associated with the old ellensburg.com. Someone else owns the ellensburg.com domain, and is not willing to carry on with other people using it. I spend a little time every day notifying people about changes from that email to our new one on Gmail. You will likely be hearing from me, if you haven’t already. We lose access to that account at the end of the year. If you have been using nancyh@ellensburg.com and see this message, go ahead and send me an email message to that account, and I will send you the changed address and eliminate you from that address book. Near the end of the year, I will send an email to all the people left in my address book whom I haven’t yet notified. This is a major project that takes a ton of time I don’t have to spare, but it must be done.

I went to Celia’s for a haircut at noon, with a few yellow plums, and she gave me some tomatoes in return. I need to remember to check my schedule 7 weeks out for my next haircut and make a reservation.

Stopped at Bi-Mart for Fisherman’s Friends (but they didn’t have any of my favorite original hardy ones, that are on order), GUM Soft Picks, checked my numbers, and I found a special wide-brimmed orange summer hat for John. Pretty classy, for 50% off an already good price. We’ll include a photo of him in it with his new orange shirt on, in next week’s blog.

Funercise was at 2:00 p.m. I took a pan of yellow Shiro plums to share. People there really like them. That was the end of them; John picked the tree clean. We never had time to pull out the dehydrator to keep some for winter months. We had a good turnout: Connie, Evelyn, Lynn, Nicole, and me, orchestrated by Katrina. I had my FitBit on, as usual, and today my heart was at cardio range for 14 minutes of the 35-minute program.
I dropped by the Rehab to sing Happy Birthday to Jeanne Gordon, on her 88th. She showed me the pearl bracelet Gerald gave her today, and smiled her very big smile.

Then on the way home, I dropped by Joanie’s with some corn and yellow summer squash, and picked up five ! pair of pants. which will now fit me with new elastic she put in for me.
Hope to go to bed early. Sent out jobs on our Google Groups NW Geography Jobs (list serve).

Wednesday, Sept 13

No CPAP — Oximetry for Sept 12: SpO2 low 83, 6 events <88% with overall avg., 91.4%. Pulse avg. 58.8, low 50. Slept 8 hrs 27 min.

Took care of putting the Culligan auto payment billing on Discover instead of the old American Express it was still on that died. I thought it cancelled a year ago when Costco changed to Visa.

I dropped off egg cartons, and took in a 5-gallon bucket of flowers, for the food bank. Also fixed a supplemental lunch to take that I could eat in place of the free pasta choices on Wednesdays after we play music. The other container of flowers went to the AAC with Gloria and me when we went to SAIL exercise together. Everyone was grateful. We are at the end of our beautiful dahlias and glads.

I left a 2X navy blue dress jacket at Carole’s house on the way to the AAC.

Thursday, Sept 14

No CPAP — Oximetry for Sept 13: SpO2 low 86, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 95.9%. Pulse avg. 56.4, low 49. Slept 7 hrs, 9 min.

Our KV Fiddlers & Friends (5 of us) entertained at the Meadows, and then John and I went around town on errands, and to get gasoline in his car for tomorrow.

Friday, Sept 15

No CPAP — Oximetry for Sept 14: SpO2 low 86, 4 events <88% with overall avg., 93.5%. Pulse avg. 54.0, low 49. Slept 4 hrs, 59 min. (actually slept longer, but battery died)

Still need to send Audra my food intake report so she can review it.
I went to the Food Bank early for lunch at 11:30, just in case they needed servers. They didn’t, so I sat and visited with two friends there. I took salad to go with the pulled pork. It was very good, having been donated by one of the new BBQ restaurants in town.

Went by Super 1 for meds. By Bi-Mart for Tears and Fisherman’s Friends and by Safeway for refresh colas.

Saturday, Sept 16

No CPAP — Oximetry for Sept 15, SpO2 low 84, 4 events <88% with overall avg., 94.9%. Pulse avg. 56.7, low 49. Slept 8 h, 33 min.

John set up our new Cuisinart 4-slice toaster (from Costco). Our old one is “toast.” It has the best price and reviews on Amazon. It’s a pretty silver chrome color.

We are going to Briarwood for music and food today… and gasoline for John’s car, for the early morning trip to Mt Rainier tomorrow. We had 6 people there and a nice audience, who were very involved joking and singing with us. We all had a good time. We had a good meal they served us after the music … tacos, salad, cookies, brownies, and Pumpkin ice cream. John joined us and one other hubby, Ken.

I rested an hour and did go to the Bar 14 Ranch, for a one yr old little girl’s party, and carried a loaf of Zucchini/Pineapple bread cut to share. It was given to me by a friend at Briarwood, who today gave me a new one he just tried that has all ingredients I CAN eat. I cannot eat zucchini, although I cheated and have in the past. This was frozen, so had to thaw for tonight. The new one is made as apple/ banana/ nut bread with caramel/coconut frosting. Plus, he brought a loaf cut up for the Briarwood meal after we played. I had a piece there, and it was quite tasty. They served tacos (and I had all the ingredients on my plate, except the shell, plus put salsa on it). I even had one of Lee’s Ginger cookies. I had a good meal and did not have to eat anything at the later party. I was late getting there, but it meant I had a nice visit with two former students, and the Lundys and their year old granddaughter, Uma (and her mom, Raychel, who was my student). I took a few pictures and left and was happy I went. There was music, and one of the musicians is a new surgeon in town for 2 years (Tom Penoyer), general surgery, young talented man who plays the guitar and banjo, and his wife and 3 young children were there as well.  It was worth my trip, for sure. I brought a cupcake and piece of carrot cake home for John.Raychel with two images of Uma, one of the cakes they had, Uma with grandma, Linda, and the parting sunset.

Okay. back to work. I have a ton to accomplish today, and John won’t be back until late. This may be his last trip to his favorite workplace, because Mt. Rainier is scheduled to receive many inches of SNOW in the next few days, and while this work party is large, they may not have enough people to carry out all the tools that have accumulated for the summer’s work.

Sunday, Sept 17

No CPAP — Oximetry for Sept 16: SpO2 low 88 (only one event at 88), 0 events <88% with overall avg., 94.0%. Pulse avg. 54.7, low 50. Slept 7 hrs, 31 min. I'm sure that is my best ever, since starting with the CPAP usage in 2014. NOTE: I obtained my first CPAP machine on the Buy Nothing Ellensburg site because the girl who had it lost 50 lbs, and no longer needed it. It was more portable than mine, and I figured would work for traveling if I needed to take the CPAP along. I wonder if my weight loss recently (since 6/26) is related to this. I surely hope so, because I detest using it, especially because the only reason I'm on it, is to keep my % oxygen saturation level in my blood above 88% while I sleep (to keep oxygen circulating to my organs).

I just found a Mt. Rainier orange tee shirt in a back room wooded closet. I was looking for something else at the time, and I have no memory of where or when I got it. It has not been worn, so I expect John will wear it on his last trip to Mt. Rainier next weekend.

I’ll hear when he returns tonight, if they were able to cart out all the tools from the summer’s work. That is going to be a tough job.

Six of the lesser used tools were locked in the Lookout and, if snowed in, will be waiting there next June/July when the snow melts off the trail. Then, a dozen people carried out all (26) the rest. No more than one per hand, but some were strapped to or carried in backpacks.

Rain, predicted for 11 AM at Mt. Rainier, did not arrive until the WTA crew finished at the work site and started the hike back. However, the threat was such that the Park was going to start chasing people with cars out of the 6,400 ft. Sunrise parking area at 4 PM. WTA left at 3:05. Much rain and mist in the Cascades and a light rain at home. Fires are slowed, but still burning.

John got safely home, fed livestock, us, and we are ready to do the blog.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Well, it was a slow time for us, but others were busy.

Sept 1, 2017

On my birthday, I mentioned my activities, but we did not yet have the photos back from John’s trip that day. I will share a few with you.Pacific Lutheran University crew on the trail. The Cross Country and Track Team (“The Lutes”) – colors black & gold – in the bright shirts. Way back on the upper left – that’s John. [Bright yellow in front is named Aidan – means fire in Gaelic – but John did not get to visit with her or most of them – it was a big group and they kept busy.]Left image: Big rock, lots of people. Hannah had them pose when they got it to where it would be used. When where needed, they get tucked in bed – a trench on the inside of the trail. Right photo. John wasn’t part of the carry crew on this one, so he did the tucking.

Finally, the last photo of my birthday:This is the Norse Peak Fire smoke viewed to the east from the Fremont Lookout Tower at Mt. Rainier, at the end of the trail. All the photos above were taken by Hannah Tennent, the Blue Hat (WTA Crew Leader) at Mt. Rainier this summer.

Mid week following, the Park on the east side was closed as a precaution. Folks were advised to leave and Park Rangers were alerting hikers and climbers to exit on other trails, if they could. Trail work for WTA was scheduled through October 1. Park folks will reevaluate each week. 9 work trips remaining, or not!

Monday, Sept 4 (Labor Day)

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 3: SpO2 low 85, 7 events <88% with overall avg., 91.8%. Pulse avg. 56.7, low 50. Slept 8 hrs, 21 min

John started our morning appetizer with a bowl of pear pieces.
Brunch: Sausage, piece of omelet of little tomatoes and many mushrooms, served with strawberries.
Supper: steak, onions, corn-on-the-cob, dessert strawberries.

We put out last week’s blog (tonight about 7:00 p.m. PST).

Tuesday, Sept 5

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 4: SpO2 low 86, 6 events <88% with overall avg., 91.4%. Pulse avg. 56.5, low 50. 6 hrs, 46 min

Breakfast: 1/2 small tomato/mushroom omelet, 1/2 large pear, 1/2 banana, 1/2 small link sausage.

I stopped at Bi-Mart on the way to town for Moisture Tears, Brush picks, and to check my numbers.
Snack: 1/2 banana, mixed nuts.

Funercise class today with only 3 of us, the teacher and a new AmeriCorps staff member, Nicole Jones (from Shelton, WA), and my friend from S. Cle Elum, Evelyn Heflen, and me. We had a decent vigorous workout.

Wednesday, Sept 6

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 5: SpO2 low 86, 3 events <88% with overall avg., 92.1%. Pulse avg. 56.5, low 50. 9 hrs 6m sleep.

Breakfast: nothing much; coffee

Started by picking up Gloria, and going to Safeway Pharmacy with her to pick up her meds needed to take one pill after lunch.
On to the Food Bank, unloaded violin, Gloria, and music bag.
Visited and then played music for 1/2 hour.

Lunch: slices of yam, leftover steak, onions, mushrooms, bunch of cantaloupe pieces (I took), and had a little light green salad from the Food Bank lunch, while visiting with the singers/players after.

Then we left to drop off plums at Carole’s house on the way to the AAC, where I carried in a 5-gallon bucket of flowers and my violin to keep it out of the heat. We stayed for SAIL exercise class. Drove by a friend’s house to drop off a couple N-95 face masks for the smoke. On home, but first to fill up my car with gasoline, drop off Gloria, and then get my stuff in the house.

Snack: nuts and plums
Supper: steak, brown rice (a little), onions, mushroom, yams, cantaloupe, and strawberries.

Worked a little on music for Oct/Nov for the KV Fiddlers & Friends. Wanted to go to bed early, but it did not happen. Sent out 4 jobs on our Google Groups NW Geography Jobs (list serve). Checked out the stats on fires in OR and WA. Did get some protective N-95 masks today (free, thanks to the Public Health Dept.).

Sad to report this fire, started by teens with fireworks (seen and caught). This is being called Eagle Creek fire (Oregon). Below are before and after photos looking from Washington across the Columbia Gorge.This fire closed I-84 and is threatening Multnomah Falls Park, Lodge, and facilities. The rock in both photos is Sentinel Rock, or Phoca Rock, as originally named by Lewis & Clark. Follow this link for more details:
Phoca Rock

This afternoon John took some photos of 17 Merriam turkeys in our drive! That is the most we have seen this year. I’m glad he took the photos, because I wasn’t home to see them.

MERRIAM TURKEYS3-pix collage to show the 17 turkeys. Top shows all 17 and a flowerbed (dahlias & gladioli). Middle: can’t decide who is leading nor which way to go. Bottom shows them deciding on south, and away they went.

Supper: Bowl of John’s homemade chili, tomato, 1/2 piece toast.

Thursday, Sept 7

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 6: SpO2 low 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 91.7%. Pulse avg. 56.1, low 50. Slept 7 hrs, 46 min

I went for my weigh in and measurements taken by my friend at the gym. She calculated my weight is down another 4#, inches another 5″, and body fat is still 42%. Total wt. loss is 14# and measurements are down 22″! (since 6/26/17). My clothes are showing it.

On to Rehab, where we played music for a number of happy people.

Dinner: salad of Iceberg lettuce, with smoked turkey**, small grape like tomatoes John grew, cauliflower, orange pepper, and pistachios, with a bit of bleu cheese dressing.
**A local grocery does smoked meats. This was a leg that required a bit of fuss at home (thanks, John for your efforts), making small salad sized pieces and getting rid of all the non-usable parts.

Friday, Sept 8

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 7: SpO2 low 85 check, 11 events <88% with overall avg., 91.4%. Pulse avg. 58.6, low 50. Slept 9 hrs, 14 min

Still need to send my numbers and a couple questions to Audra and get her my food intake report so she can review it.

Sadly, our trip to the annual Chef’s Extravaganza, at White Heron, was cancelled just this afternoon (4:30 p.m.), because of the smoke from the Jolly Mt Fire. Cameron explained their cook of the evening cancelled after spending the weekend at Spokane in smoke, and not wanting a replay, especially after finding out the forecast was for the Cle Elum fire plume of smoke to be aimed right at the vineyard, and not wishing to subject the singer to the smoke either. I was truly looking forward to seeing in person a banjo/harmonica playing singer (whom you can see on line on his website):
Forest Beutel

Check out some of his videos there. We were going to meet friends from Seattle there, who are into Bluegrass and Rock music, and meet my banjo-playing friend from Ellensburg and his wife. We hope there will be a future opportunity, but probably not at the same location any time this year. That smoke is going to plague us for many more weeks.

Dinner: salad of Iceberg lettuce, with smoked turkey, small grape-like tomatoes John grew, cauliflower, pistachios, with a bit of bleu cheese dressing and a very few Cheez-it® for croutons.

Saturday, Sept 9

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 8: SpO2 low 86, 5 events <88% with overall avg., 91.7%. Pulse avg. 55.3, low 49. Slept 9 hrs.

John left at 6:30 a.m. for WTA work at Talapus Lake, on I-90, replacing (sadly) his Saturday trip to Mt. Rainier. Talapus is a much shorter drive, but work was in a forest with no views. Two miles up trail there are views but the crew only went ½ mile.
I slept in another ~2 hrs., fed two cats, and started on chores.

I changed Consumer Cellular emails for billing and info, from our one email we have had since 1995 to the new one. That’s turning into a tedious project.

Worked on processing the photos I took 8/12 at the Lundy’s 50th. She told me after receiving them it was a wonderful memory and they were the only ones she had seen taken there. I surely hope others send some to them. In mine I tried to capture members of their wedding party, some who had come from many states away (CA, MN, and I didn’t get them all, nor all the guests there).

Brunch: piece omelet, sausage, cantaloupe, small part of toast with Marionberry jam.

Afternoon snack: mixed nuts and yellow plums
Dinner: Petite sirloin steak cooked with our onions & tomatoes in a Crockpot all day. John put them in before leaving this morning.

Sunday, Sept 10

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 9: SpO2 low 87, 3 events <88% with overall avg., 92.0%. Pulse avg. 57.0, low 53. Slept 8 hrs, 3 min. (Best night, since I started recording this in 2014, with CPAP or not).

John’s been outside. Fed the horses, cut a few weeds, picked strawberries, grape-sized tomatoes, and 2 ears of corn. I’ve been inside watching the hurricane reports. John came, worked on his computer awhile, and we shared info of the expected hits to Florida. Irma was bad but not as serious as was expected a few days ago.

A British news service went bonkers, calling Irma the “most deadly storm in history,” that to the time of their story had killed 10 people. Because some storms have killed multiple thousands, the question became what the writers at ‘The Telegraph’ were drinking or smoking. The serious results in Florida are just now appearing, so will leave this sad story.

Afternoon snack: small salad of Iceberg lettuce, with smoked turkey, small tomatoes, cauliflower, with a bit of bleu cheese dressing and a few Cheez-it®.

Supper: enhanced Crockpot creation yesterday – black beans and corn added – and flavorings.

Might as well end with an air quality chart after being subjected for a couple of weeks to a smoke-filled valley, and having various of our normal activities cancelled. That’s why it as a slow week for us.Thank goodness for a/c in our house and cars and for protection masks while out when it’s the worst. Just having them on hand is a relief, even if we don’t have to use them.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Aug 28

No CPAP – Oximetry for Aug 27: SpO2 low 87, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 92.1%. (Avg. Low SpO2 <88% is 89.9, Avg. Low SpO2 is 87.0. Pulse avg. 57.0, low 50.

We put out last week’s blog (tonight about 8:30 p.m. PST).

Tuesday, Aug 29

No CPAP – Oximetry for Aug 28: SpO2 low 86, 8 events <88% with overall avg., 91.6%. (Avg. Low SpO2 <88% is 89.8, Avg. Low SpO2 is 86.9. Pulse avg. 53.5, low 49.

John picked about 4-5# of plums for me to take to the AAC today.

Breakfast: 1/2 small tomato/mushroom omelet, 1/2 large pear, 1/2 banana, 1/2 small link sausage.

In contact with Craig Scrivner and got access to the old FTP site where I used to store stuff for classes.

Must go for my INR reading and on to Funercise class at the AAC, to Bi-Mart, and other Tuesday stops. Made it to KVC but didn’t hear the results of anything. Strange. (Heard the next morning, everything A-OK, INR and Potassium).

Went by Super 1 for my Entresto, and need to pick up tomorrow, because Dawn offered to halve half of them.

Supper: Chicken breast pieces, some boiled shrimp and enough to take to lunch tomorrow at the food bank, fried yams and yellow squash with onions, half ear of corn, and then later, strawberries for dessert.

Wednesday, Aug 30

No CPAP – Oximetry for Aug 29: SpO2 low 87, 3 events <88% with overall avg., 91.6%. (Avg. Low SpO2 <88% is 86.7 (includes spurious readings), Avg. Low SpO2 is 89.6. Pulse avg. 54.0, low 50. 8 hrs sleep.

Breakfast: leftover piece of omelet, 1/4 piece Rosemary Olive toast, small piece of sausage.

Lunch (taking to food bank): boiled shrimp, slice of yam, BBQ skinless chicken breast, yellow plums, had cherry filling there.

While in town, I went to pick up Gloria, dropped off her Costco purchases, and we started at the Food Bank, for music, primarily. I signed in last as #55, and some folks missed signing in. Wow, big crowd today! I had help carrying in my “stuff,” and got a close parking space. I was presented a card and a walnut muffin with a candle and everyone in the building singing, Happy Birthday! Gloria and Dean also gave me a card.

John went to town to return rock specimens that John Lasher collected during a Tieton Andesite study. He went on to get his car filled with gasoline for his Friday trip to Mt. Rainier. We both made trips to the grocery store.

Thursday, Aug 31

No CPAP – Oximetry for Aug 30: SpO2 low 85, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 92.1%. (Avg. Low SpO2 <88% is 89.4, Avg. Low SpO2 is 86.8. Pulse avg. 55.1, low 50. Slept 8 hrs.

On my way to downtown Ellensburg, I stopped by Amy and Haley’s to pick up some awesome 100% cotton bandanas Amy bought for us in a craft store in Issaquah. They are perfect for what we need. John wanted one to match his bright orange work shirt and WTA hard hat – no good reason, just a fashion statement. Chuckle!

Met Jan Naragon at 11:45, for lunch at EBRG’s Thai restaurant. Marissa is the person who was so helpful prior to our arrival. I’m taking Jan and her some yellow Shiro plums.

My choice, Princess Cashew, a Chicken breast quick sautéed with cashews, baby corn, onion, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, celery, bell pepper and special chili sauce (I chose a #1=Low on the sauce spiciness). Served with rice on the side. Marissa is an excellent waitress. I called in advance to discuss dietary restrictions, and she was more than helpful.

Dinner: Leftovers from lunch, plus shrimp (boiled), small tomatoes (John grew), and yellow plums. One big old plum (cling-less seed). I still have enough for another meal!

Latest on the fire NW of us, one of two sending smoke to our valley. It continues to grow, with some guidance by water and retardant drops. The fire agencies use the term “values”, as in, so far there has been only minimal loss of values within the perimeter. Still, it is close and of great concern for rural and small town residents. For a another story, follow this local link from our Ellensburg Daily Record News, 8-31-17 report (photo from the Swauk-Teanaway Grange included).
Link

Friday, Sept 1: (my Birthday !)

No CPAP – Oximetry for Aug 31: SpO2 low 87, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 92.4%. (Avg. Low SpO2 <88% is 89.9, Avg. Low SpO2 is 86.5. Pulse avg. 53.6, low 50.

John took off for his WTA trip to Mt. Rainier at 5:15 a.m., taking along some cooled plums in the cooler for sharing with the crew at the end of the day. They really enjoyed some last week. Now this will be a different crew leader (Hannah), and perhaps some of the same crew, with others added.

What a great birthday I’m having!
First phone call after 9:00 a.m. from my 91 yr. old friend, Gloria; and she sang the entire Happy Birthday song, even adding on the “and many more.” Then about 10:00, I left for town, for the food bank (see below). I got home about 1:15, and was home not too long, before I got a nice birthday wish from New Jersey, from my friend, Elise. Then ~4:00 p.m., I had a nice call from Peggy, my sister-in-law in Parma, OH. She was going to a neighbor’s party, and was going to have a glass of wine as a toast to me.

As I was talking with her, Annie my dog barked. She seldom barks except to announce someone’s arrival in our driveway. I didn’t know until later, it was a half dozen+ Merriam turkeys. I watched them and got John’s camera for a couple of pix. We have posted better pictures and videos in the past, but I still shot a few to show John. Toms did not gave me a pretty show, one just a small shot of the start of a fan. First, they left the front yard walking, and then came back and cackled some more, got my attention, so I looked out the window in time to see 4 take flight to leave. Earlier, a few had departed walking up the driveway, and I thought they were gone. This must have been the rest of the 12 recently visiting our place. John has seen more of them than I because of his greater outside time. Sometimes the horses will alert him to the turkeys whereabouts. Horses find turkeys very interesting. Go figure.

John sent Anna Roth (WTA Hiking Content Manager) a correction for the WTA Trips site, and in subsequent e-mails a warning about our local fires. She is headed to our south – Naches music weekend.
Then she wrote: “Of course, the band we want to see is playing Friday (9/8), so we definitely want to be there in time for that. This is the band we are going to go see at Naches Chinook Fest. They’re very talented musicians and songwriters.” 

The Lil’ Snokies “San Fran” (going to Naches Chinook Fest, Naches, WA) Link

I surely enjoyed the YouTube link she sent me. but I will have to be there in spirit with them. They are going for the weekend, (the write-up is at chinookfest.com ).

She also sent this link to Mark O’Connor’s , Appalachia Waltz. Mark O’Connor’s beautiful ‘Appalachia Waltz’ features, Yo-Yo Ma on cello and Edgar Meyer on bass. This is absolutely incredible, almost 7 minutes of the nicest music you will ever hear, and I thoroughly enjoyed it on my birthday! I’m sharing with the rest of my friends and relatives, via this blog. Nice b.d. present.

Mark O’Connor’s Appalachia Waltz Link

My other celebration today was at the Food Bank. I got there early to carry in a 5-gallon bucket with some water and a lone sunflower, several dahlias of 2 different colors (one a variegated red/orange and 2 different gladioli. My friend, Lori, there cut and arranged them, and then we had our picture taken.Lori Skov is in charge of all the food at the F.I.S.H. Food Bank; I went in on my birthday to help make sandwiches to put into bags for Saturday’s late afternoon Food Bank use. This picture we took before the noon lunch bunch came in, and before the sandwich making occurred. John says except for the wind trying to blow them over, it was a good year for blooms.The process of making peanut butter/jelly & egg salad sandwiches, and packing into paper bags with fruit, chips, & cupcakes. 35 bags in center. I wrapped sandwiches in plastic. Two others (Aloha & Ginger) made the sandwiches.

5:10 call from John at White Pass. He had to drive with lots of traffic; I was happy to hear from him that he took lots of water on the trail this time, and had no problem staying hydrated. He had more packed for the trip home. He’s going by Yakima for gasoline at Costco. I just checked on line. The price is $2.73/gal. Good move on his part, as our prices in Ellensburg are $2.85, possibly it increased here because of the long Rodeo weekend activities through Labor Day. We are staying away from town.

Here is another “trail” (Pacific Crest Trail) story in our Friday (9-1) paper, in which our friend, Jim Huckabay (formerly a Geography Prof with me at CWU), writes a Friday column about the Outdoors. Check this link:

Hams, Wildfire, 100-mi Runs
Link
Supper: leftovers from yesterday, added carrots & boiled shrimp, some small tomatoes, 5 Shiro plums, and strawberries for dessert.
6:51 p.m. Phone call from John coming through the Selah Gap, will be home in 45 minutes, probably. While on the WTA trail work, he saw a big plume of smoke from the Norse Peak fire but did not snap a photo. Says there is better stuff on the web.

This b.d. card just came from Dawn & Victor Link

Collage of two wishes, described below:Funniest left, prettiest right, Dave Covert’s, Indian Blanket Flower

I received quite a number of wishes (some very cute) on Facebook. Funniest is from Julie Lind Orvald, who just celebrated her own birthday 8/28.

Indian Blanket Flower photo from David Covert was the prettiest birthday wish I received on Facebook. David said later in an email, his identification for it: “Indian Blanket Flower, Gaillardia; butterflies love this flower.”

Gaillardia
This is an excerpt from that article (I removed most of the hyperlinks in the description on line): Gaillardia /ɡeɪˈlɑːrdiə/ (common name blanket flower) is a genus of flowering plants in the sunflower family, Asteraceae, native to North and South America. It was named after an M. Gaillard de Charentonneau, an 18th-century French magistrate who was a patron of botany. The common name may refer to the resemblance of the inflorescence to the brightly patterned blankets made by Native Americans. I had to look up some of the words used in the description.

John took this sunset on his way back from Mt. Rainier.With smoke in our valley from two major wildfires, our sunrises and sunsets have been dark orange (difficult to capture on our cameras without the proper filters, tripod, and remote release). We tried one of the moon at 1:45 a.m., 9-3-17, and did not succeed. It was a small bright orange circle on a black background.This is a collage of my attempt from our patio, 9-1-17, using John’s Nikon camera. Pix shot a minute apart.

Saturday, Sept 2

No CPAP – Oximetry: SpO2 low 86, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 92.3%. (Avg. Low SpO2 <88% is 90.1, Avg. Low SpO2 is 86.0. Pulse avg. 51.7, low 49.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, toast, sausage.

We went to the Beard’s Ranch down the road 2.3 miles to attend the beginning of their 70th wedding anniversary celebration. We took them a vase with two beautiful dahlias, a box of yellow Shiro plums, and a nice anniversary card. Frank took us on a tour of the memorabilia in their house. It is rodeo but mostly Native American art based. He grew up on the Yakama Reservation, so he knows a lot of the language and has known many of the people.

I took some videos of his explanation to share. It was a historical and cultural experience in a short time. I’m glad we got their early and had his time to cover things, while the Ellensburg Rodeo parade was going on in town. I’m sure a bunch of folks will inundate the home later today.

The next photo appeared in our local newspaper yesterday:My collage of John & Frank & Charlot Beard & Nancy in front of wood carvings of Indians, John’s and my favorite of all the displays.Collage of the wall with the wood carvings in Beards’ home, and a close-up of the one on the right.

I added some of my own videos, of John’s and my walk around with Frank, describing his memories. This was a wonderful step back to the past cultural history of our region. Frank grew up on the Yakama Reservation and learned many of their customs, language, and life, participating in many facets, but mostly centered on horses.

1- Frank Beard on Jackson Sundown & Wenatchi Link

2- Frank Beard on Ida Nason Link

Speaking of Ida Nason and her son, Allen Aronica, this appeared yesterday on Facebook, on the Community Connect Kittitas County group site; I will share with you: This photo was taken by the Nancy listed below, as she was walking with a cousin along the road on the east side of the fairgrounds. The path leads up Craig’s Hill, and the Yakamas ride horses down the hill to start formally the Ellensburg Rodeo & Fair events for the Labor Day Weekend.

My comment on line to the photographer: Allen Aronica is my neighbor, Ida Nason’s son, and is involved every year at the Fair. He is not a member of this FB group (Community Connect, Kittitas County), but I will capture the information and encourage him to see this link. Thank you, Nancy Kibler Bevilacqua-Madrigal, for sharing such an awesome photo.

Here’s a link to the official start of the Ellensburg Rodeo: (link spells the Yakama incorrectly), but it is correct inside:
Link

Back to our tour of the Beards’ home, by Frank.

One print is visible in their living room, behind the flowers we took them for their 70th, and others are on the walls. I put into a collage below and will tell you the story of the Indian artist below. Photo quality decreases from left to right in my collage. Left is from camera and right two are snagged from my videos.Left, our dahlias block the first, with 2 more to the left; middle is on the wall of their stairs to the loft; right is their front door with more George Flett work. I thought Frank was saying “Flint”, until I looked up the artist on the Internet.

Frank showed us and talked about several of the many prints done by George Flett (died in 2013, at 66), which he and Charlot have collected over the years. Flett was an Indian artist who was part of the Spokane tribe. He was diabetic. Here he is in 2007 tracing the outline of a Prairie Chicken Dancer on a strip of ledger paper fixed on canvas at his studio in Wellpinit, WA. (I found this in his death notice in an article reported online in the Spokesman-Review).More videos to share:

#3 Beard Tour: Bronze statues, Lampshade, & Desk Link

#4 Beard Tour: Billy Charlie, Reservation, & 1880s Saddle Link

#5- Beards’ Guest Room-Cowboys’ Theme Link

#6- Ellensburg Rodeo 50th Anniversary 1997 Guest Room Wall Hanging. Link

#7- George Stillwell, Hops Grower’s Saddle, Sunnyside, WA Link

#8- Frank Beard Four Seasons Part 1 Link

#9- Frank Beard Four Seasons Part 2 Link

I found this trip to the past intriguing and I hope you do as well.

Brunch: mixed nuts, plums, banana Supper: John and I went to the Cottage Cafe for a selection of 3 meals, eating some, and bringing home parts to have for dinner tomorrow night, when he gets back from Mt. Rainier. We had parts of a Cobb Salad, Black and Blue Steak Salad, and Steak & Eggs.

Content: Fresh greens (Romaine) with grilled chicken (strips), bacon, tomato, hard-boiled egg and Bleu Cheese crumbles with Bleu cheese dressing; Cajun spiced steak, fresh greens, roasted corn and black beans, tomatoes, bacon and blue cheese crumbles; Grilled 6 oz. Tri-tip steak with two XL eggs (over easy), sweet potato fries, & English Muffin toast.

Here was a link today about the fire: Link

I took a photo of the Jolly Mountain Fire cloud of smoke behind the Cottage Cafe. I won’t publish it because there are better photos on line. I wish I had taken a photo coming up Hwy 10 of the two fires affecting our valley. Norse Peak (the fire John has had to detour around for 15 minutes to get to Sunrise at Rainier for his WTA trail work) was shooting in smoke from the Southwest and Jolly Mountain was sending its plume of smoke toward Wenatchee and Cashmere. Coming across Bristol Flats (7 miles east of Cle Elum) offered an incredible view. In addition, there was no smoke above us except higher up. The air circulation was amazing. By the time we left, the fire had settled down (as they do in the evening). Strange phenomena.

Jen Lipton lives in Roslyn; she is on the CWU Geography faculty. I have known her since she was interviewed. She is our Remote Sensing & GIS expert. We’ve offered help if she needs anything. So far they are in the “Have your things in a vehicle and be ready to go” status.

Sunday, Sept 3

Oximetry for Sept 2: SpO2 low 86, 4 events <88% with overall avg., 91.4%. (Avg. Low SpO2 <88% is 89.0, Avg. Low SpO2 is 86.3. Pulse avg. 55.1, low 50. %artifacts 9.4, total events 40=4; total time: 7 hrs 57 min.

I got up to see John off at 5:15 a.m. for Mt. Rainier WTA work crew. 57°F. When dawn came it was very smoky and overcast with a red morning sun.
I found this link when logging on, and following a link on a photo. Talk about unusual! Link

Lunch: nuts and plums

Supper: leftovers from our dinner last night.

John called about 4:45 p.m., from White Pass and will call me in another hour.

Here is the latest on the Jolly Mountain Fire from KOMONEWS in Seattle. Check out the video and photo gallery. Link

Here is a collage I made from two shots, yesterday and today I got from Jen Lipton.Left, High Country Log Show & imagery of the fire at 375m/cell using VIIRS data (Thermal Infrared Heat signature). Back with the former wildfires in our area, I utilized MODIS data to keep people informed about the extent, but its resolution is 1km/cell.

Monday, Sept 4 (Labor Day)

No CPAP – Oximetry for Sept 3: SpO2 low 85, 7 events <88% with overall avg., 91.8%. (Avg. Low SpO2 <88% is 85.6, Avg. Low SpO2 is 87.8. Pulse avg. 56.7, low 50. %artifacts 6.7. Total time: 8 hrs 21 min.

John started our morning with an appetizer – a bowl of pear pieces.

Breakfast: Sausage, piece of Omelet with little tomatoes and lots of mushrooms, and with strawberries.

We’ve been in touch with friends in Roslyn who are on notice to evacuate. EVACUATION LEVEL 2 – GET READY – ISSUED FOR RONALD AND ROSLYN (9-1-17).

Last view of the fire from nighttime:Ronald and Roslyn are the soft yellow lights, Interstate-90 traffic headlights at bottom. Photo by Bill Crawford.

Here is a description from Jen Lipton: “Absolutely amazing night photo of the Fire. Lake Cle Elum is to the far left of image, Interstate 90 is the road along the bottom, the night lights of Roslyn are in the center, Cle Elum is to the right center, and Mount Stuart rises up above the smoke cloud.”

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

This video (and following report) is left over from Saturday’s early morning activities (8-19-17):

Thanks to EvieMae Schuetz for processing this video of us at the Rodeo/Fair Kick-Off Breakfast, and to her friend, Gene, for taking it (click on the link below):

Rodeo Kick-Off Breakfast

On stage, left to right, front row: Tim Henebry (Bass Mandolin), Roberta Clark (guitar), Nancy Hultquist (violin), Joanie Taylor (violin), Amy Davison (flute, penny whistle, & small washboard), Anne Engels (tambourine);
back row: not all visible, Kevin Gibb (banjo), Gerald Gordon (guitar), Charlie Firkins (12-string guitar), Dean Allen (harmonica), and EvieMae Schuetz (violin).

It was a cold & windy venue at 7:15 a.m. :-), but followed by a nice warm breakfast of blueberry pancakes, link sausage, orange juice, & coffee.

Monday, Aug 21

For Aug 20 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=1.65. Events: 9 H, 1 PP, 14 RERA. Time on 5 hrs 27 min with (max = 10 L/min). Slept for 2 more hrs.

We put out last week’s blog late (tonight).

Tuesday, Aug 22

For Aug 21 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=1.79. Events: 2 CSR, 8 H, 15 RERA. Time on 4 hrs 28 min with (max = 10 L/min). Slept for 3 more hrs.

Sent Norman Wood & Lacey the 7-page write-up (with photos) on the diagnosis of my severely arthritic shoulder by Dr. Roux, for my file and Dr. Wood’s review, along with my request for a pain pill. (The report was previously supposed to be there, but my medical file is rather large.) Sent from P.O., $1.19 postage. I put it in a large manila envelope, so I didn’t have to fold it to mail it. I hope someone appreciated my efforts. It beat driving to Cle Elum to deliver it in person.

Brunch: two eggs, peach, bacon

Went to exercise at AAC (2:00) taking windfall plums, which were loved by everyone there. I will be taking more tomorrow.

I finished the survey for my medical supplies complaint to Medicare through quality care and grabbed to share with Jason Rittereiser’s team for 2018 for Congress. I went to the “rally” downtown at the 402 building (old City Hall), at the invitation from his mom, Wendy (whom we knew from CWU’s Human Resources). I saw many people there from my past CWU connections, and a few others from the community. It was a nice event, even though I do not like such political fundraiser activities.

Wednesday, Aug 23

For Aug 22 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=0.00. Events: 1 PP, 19 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 11 min with (max 11 L/min). Slept/rested a half-hour.

Breakfast: Over-easy egg, bacon, 1/2 tomato, 1/2 large peach.

Evelyn will be back, so I do not have to worry about music today, but will put in the car just in case. Pick up Gloria, go to the food bank, “Soup Kitchen Lunch,” for singing & playing, and on to SAIL exercise. I must leave early to take her back home, and get back for my teeth cleaning at the dentist. I also need to get ready for tomorrow’s music planning – a new song to replace Ragtime Cowboy Joe, and get count for # chairs needed at Hearthstone. Not done, because of bad reaction to the cleaning. The group, with Evie leading, ended up doing the song (Ragtime CJ), and it sounded great.

My 3:00 appointment is for cleaning. I remembered to take my Amoxicillin at 2:00 p.m. during SAIL exercise, with several people watching the clock for me so I didn’t miss the necessary preparation an hour before the work. I have known about that need since I was 17 and it was detected by a cardiologist friend of my mom (an RN), who was doing a required health exam for my entrance to college (in Atlanta, GA). He detected my heart murmur (prolapse of Mitral valve) and gave me all the good advice I have used since then, and continue to protect, even though it now is a Porcine valve replacement). His name was Dr. Goza.

Lunch: was limited to yellow plums (Shiro) and a small green salad.

We played music and visited until leaving and getting to the AAC at 1:05. I carried in the glads and dahlias, and a small container of Shiro plums for Katrina, and got her to go out and bring in the heavy cooler. She washed the plums and put them on the coffee counter. I realized she missed the “cherry” red tomatoes, so I went back out to get them. She planned to share them with Tina (AAC volunteer) to take home. We stayed for SAIL exercise and left early for me to take Gloria home and come back to the dentist for my teeth cleaning. It took less time because I did not have to have X-Rays, or an examination. Still was a lot of money ($178), because my dental deductible has been reached for the year. Next one will be Jan 10, 2018, so I will be on a new year. I have switched to cleaning every 4 months, and I was encouraged to get my Sonicare up and working.

I need to remember to send Gary and Suzy Cox information on our timeshare so they can plan a trip to Canada coming soon. Turned out I delivered it this Saturday, with a recommendation in British Columbia, at Sun Peak, but had to relearn the web site for searching and confirming. It has been awhile since I participated in a search on RCI, and they have changed it, significantly.

Supper: We had a wonderful bowl of homemade stew (by John), with carrots, pork, beef, and tomatoes.

Thursday, Aug 24

For Aug 23 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=0.00. Events: 2 CSR, 14 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 25 min with (max 16 L/min).

Morning excitement. Excessive bleeding of gums upper left after deep cleaning yesterday afternoon and I was on the CPAP (bad move). I did not realize I had the damaged gums from cleaning tartar from the upper back left tooth. Eventually, a blood clot formed there.

I fought with it all day, hoping it would clot; my commercial cold packs were not in the freezer so I used a package of frozen veggies on my cheek, and gauze pads. I will postpone my blood draw (INR) until Tuesday. I will not use the CPAP for several days. When I had oral surgery over a year ago, my sleep doctor told me I should wait at least a week. You will remember from the blogs then, I rewrote the oral surgeon’s post opt instructions to add a note for CPAP people (especially those on blood thinner). I did a lot of research at the time, so when I awoke with the symptoms, I didn’t think I was dying and remained calm. Not fun to awake in a cascade of blood.

I needed to carry in the music books for some of the group and the lyrics packet for the audience participation. John drove me in the Ford-350, let me off at the front door for our gig at Hearthstone. I was a participant from the audience. I took videos of the whole presentation for a few people who will appreciate them. Most are still on my camera, unprocessed.

John had the carcass of an old refrigerator in the truck, doors off and so on. The County charges a $12 fee for such things and tacks on the weight cost, in this case nearly $7. We need to get rid of a few other bulky things and aluminum cans and regular food cans. There are so many other more interesting things to do.
The refrigerator was 32 years old. It was in the house when we moved in, in 1989. Likely, it had been here since the house was built in 1981. Somewhat amazing, actually. We bought a new one last year that fit into the space. Moved the old one to another room and kept it going for the overflow. It died 3 months ago and the new one was not enough – in the country, we like to have extras on-hand. We bought a chest-type freezer as a replacement and are slowly loading it with frozen fruit, specials from the meat department, and clean water in 2-liter soda bottles. I found the cold-packs (one of flax seed; other a chemical, of some sort, with a lavender aroma—when heated) and they went in the new freezer too.

I will include a video of Haley dancing to Irish Washerwoman. It was near the end of the hour, my camera battery was heating up, and difficult to focus and follow her. I needed to be farther away, but then I would have had people in the way. She is our little 4 yr. old mascot who always goes with us to assisted living homes on Thursdays, and tickles residents with her antics. She knows the words to many songs (such as Home on the Range and Dixie), and she loves to dance.. Her all time favorite is Hey, Good Lookin’ !

Here is a glimpse: [Irish Washerwoman]
Link I. W.

Here’s one more of the group, today:

T for Texas
Link TfT

Check for this on the video above top intro to this week’s blog, from the Rodeo Kick Off Breakfast video, at 21:28 seconds in – (almost at the end). You can see the whole group (me included), harmonizing on the yodeling.

I came home starved, having only had a very ripe pear for breakfast, not wanting to aggravate the bleeding gums.

Afternoon (late) 4:00 I had my snack. Warmed up a sausage patty from John’s breakfast this morning that I was unable to eat, with a hard-boiled egg, small teardrop tomato from the garden, 1/2 banana, and for dessert, a 1/4 of a very large peach, sliced.

We delivered our recycled Wall St. Journals today, while on our way home. The fire northwest of Cle Elum flared up near Jolly Mountain and is streaming smoke into our valley. Jolly is 30 miles to the northwest.
Below is a collage created from the pix I took on the way home.Our neighbors’ barn across the street from our house – their west pasture – the entrance to our driveway (to the left, off Naneum).

I worked more this afternoon on finalizing the song titles on my YouTube videos from the 8-12-17, 50th anniversary bash we attended. I need to finish cropping the photos I took, and share with the honorees, Linda and Dave Lundy and their family & friends. That chore still awaits my spending more time. I have the You Tubes corrected now, however, thanks to Barb Riley’s and Tim Henebry’s input (and a message from Raychel Parks, who lives at the Bar 14 Ranch, with Lundy’s son, Myles, and the Lundy’s grandchild, Uma).

Dinner: Steak, beef/pork stew, yellow squash, white onions (Ringmaster) – grown and fried by John. Dessert was strawberries (John’s) with a teaspoon of ice cream.

Friday, Aug 25

There’s no CPAP to report, for 8-24, because I did not use it last night, after the bad problem with excessive bleeding from the gum’s injury. I’m leaving it off for several days. I did have a nice sleep from about 9:50 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., with one break at 4:15 a.m. I will add an Oximetry report here: Oximetry: SpO2 low 85, 13 events <88% with overall avg., 91.5%. Pulse avg. 55.8, low 50.

After a good night’s sleep off the CPAP, this morning I got on the Daily Record electronic site and captured some photos I heard about yesterday of the Ellensburg 8-19-17 Rodeo/Fair Kick-Off Breakfast.

Here is a starter you should be able to reach:

Little Cowboy & Cowgirl Contest

Our first place Blue Ribbon winner in 5 & under girls, Haley Davison, was on stage. While she made it into all 3 photos, in the award ceremony report, the paper misspelled her name (I reported it to the Daily Record News). She’s the one with the red cowgirl hat, 4th in line from left.

Photos from the Daily Record News:Her mom has better photos on her Facebook site. On Facebook, search for Amy Hall Davison.

Below my collage of Haley Davison (created from Amy’s photos):
Junior rodeo parade

Kittitas County Solar Eclipse

John did not schedule a WTA work trip today, for farrier Dave Hazlett to trim Myst at 11:00 a.m., but Dave cancelled so John did some (not a lot) work here. Yesterday, I also had cancelled my trip to the F.I.S.H. Food Bank to fill lunch bags for the last day in the park for the kids – school is starting. I wanted to be sure I was recovered from my episode, Thursday morning. We will go to Costco for a much-needed replenishment of our shelves of foodstuffs and supplies.

While John was out watering trees, I went through my pile of receipts to the left of my recliner, looking for the Costco receipt to put with the returned (unopened) Probiotic container I bought over a month ago. In the process, I found a bunch of stuff I buried and that need attention. The BEST find was my Oximeter I had misplaced. Now if I could only find my Nikon camera. I need to, so I can give to John to take on the trail at Mt. Rainier. The only problem will be that it may not fit well in the belt buckle container my old one is in. Maybe he can use his cell phone carrier and connect it to his belt somehow (snap hook, too floppy, John says). First, I have to find it. I’m worried that it hasn’t turned up in any of the possible places. I think I misplaced it a month ago after capturing a video of the guys trying a new song.

Our trip to Costco. We purchased a number of things, including things such as 2 new USB 64G Flash drives, 3 packages of different nuts (allowed for my snacks), 2 large bottles of dishwasher gel, meats – frozen raw shrimp (I love to take for Wednesday lunches), and a nice package of chicken breast (bone & skinless). We spent over $225, but doubled up on major purchases, at reduced prices: items such as two boxes of reams of 8.5 x 11″ paper for copying (it took a whole ream for Aug/Sept for players copies & audience lyric sheets), and also, we use paper on our computers’ shared Wi-Fi printer/scanner. As we were leaving Costco, we splurged on a strawberry frozen yogurt sundae, sharing it on the way home. We didn’t get home until 4:00 p.m.

Supper: Steak, chicken, Alisa Craig onions (John grew), and yams (an allowed good carb).

Saturday, August 26

No CPAP report for last night, except I will wear my oximeter all night and record it (SpO2 and pulse). That is the only reason I’m on the CPAP, and may be a reason to stop its use, if the cost for the supplies is exorbitant with congressional decisions about Medicare’s coverage of medical supplies. Mine have been covered since 2014, and today a letter arrived from the Medical Supply company in Yakima (with a branch now in Ellensburg – Kittitas Medical Supply), which has been providing the compressed air pressure tubing, head mask, machine, and filters at virtually no extra out-of-pocket cost. I’ll have to wait to see how much the retroactive cost will be. I’m not happy about going back to previous purchases for which I may owe several hundred $.

Brunch: left-over piece of mushroom/tomato omelet, squash, plums, half piece of toast, & sausage patty.

Delivered flowers and plums to two people (in an assisted living home), and plums to two others. One person gave us homegrown tomatoes and another some “Brush Picks” to try on my teeth (they are quite good).
Supper: Steak, chicken, fried mushrooms, strawberries for dessert.

Sunday, Aug 27

I was only on the Oximeter last night. No CPAP for a few days, until I’m completely healed, for sure. I do not want to risk a repeat.
Oximetry: SpO2 low 82, 26 events <88% with overall avg., 92.1%. (Avg. Low SpO2 <88% is 85.8, Avg. Low SpO2 is 88.2. Pulse avg. 57.3, low 39.

John left at 5:15 a.m. for Mt. Rainier. He found his cell phone in the truck (where he left it under the seat, when he went to the transfer station last Thursday). I fast charged it, so he will be able to check in (usually from Naches), on his trip home.

This morning brought another great photo from Jeri Conklin of our dog, Daisy, handling a bird in an event at Hastings, CA during an Open Limited Gun Dog stake. The trainer is Scott Azevedo of Los Banos. The walking field trial was sponsored by the North California Brittany Club, Aug. 19-20. I will add two other photos Jeri took of Deanna (Scott’s wife) and their son, Leo, who is Daisy’s best friend.

I’m eternally grateful for all the work Jeri has put into raising and training our Brittany, and for documenting photography to keep me “in the field” too. I appreciate the photos Deanna takes in the field and shares as well.

Here is more detail (copied from last week’s OLGD 4th placement award mentioned in this blog) – today, I received this photo below, from Jeri (JH is an AKC title for Junior Hunter; Daisy is working on her MH [Master Hunter]).Here Daisy holds for Scott Azevedo to flush the bird (Chukar).

Lunch (late): chicken/egg salad, tomato (from a friend we delivered plums to yesterday), a banana, and I was going to have a peach for dessert, but will likely wait until John gets home and share it as an appetizer.

5:45 p.m. John just called, from White Pass, having got a late start from Mt. Rainier, and he is stopping more often than usual on the trip home, because of a cramping right leg. He stops, gets out, stretches, and walks around. He may have to stop another couple of times. I told him to keep in touch when he had reception. He thinks that won’t be until Naches. And, he likely won’t be home until over 2 hrs. He just called again from Naches, WA, at 6:50, about 70 miles away. So he should be home about 8:00 p.m. (he arrived about 7:50 p.m.!). I was happy to hear he is better. He was at a Circle-K buying a huge cola drink. A slightly shorter route to the Park is closed because of active work on the Norse Peak fire. Houston, send us some of that rain!

I made a chicken and egg salad today, so he will be able to eat when he gets home. Annie will be happy to see him, and so was I, especially to find out the stopping and stretching was able to prevent serious cramping.

Supper: Chicken salad (John had an open-face sandwich with cheese added, and melted), we shared parts of 2 tomatoes, but they were too ripe for our liking, I ate 4 Shiro (yellow) plums and 4 Methley (purple) ones. For dessert, we shared a sliced peach.

Monday, August 28

I’ve been working on this blog to hand over to John for editing and entry to WordPress. He is working on breakfast, and will be going out to pick plums soon.

No CPAP — Oximetry for Aug 27 : SpO2 low 87, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 92.1%. (Avg. Low SpO2 <88% is 89.9, Avg. Low SpO2 is 87.0. Pulse avg. 57.0, low 50.

Breakfast: Sausage, 2 eggs, peach slices.

We wen to town today to deliver plums (about 25 pounds) to Mary Ann Macinko for her upcoming family reunion at Suncadia. They are gathering to celebrate Papa George’s life. And, I will go to SAIL exercise. John found a soft chair in a quiet room and snoozed. We also carried in a few plums for the staff there.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

John posted a short note 2 days ago, so go back 1 post if you want to see.

Monday, Aug 14

For Aug 13 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=0.49. Events: 1 CSR, 2H, 9 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 9 min with (max = 8 L/min). Slept for 2 more hrs.

Breakfast: Piece of omelet (mushroom & onions), ham pieces, and 3/4 slice of toast with Marion-berry Jam, thinly spread.

John put in the beans, onions, and a little beef to the Crockpot to take to tonight’s dinner. We’ll be leaving at 3:30 p.m. for a visit with friends from Eureka, CA we knew here in the 1990s, through Geography teaching, Bruce & Michelle Seivertson. They are staying with Ken & Jo Hammond. Other friends plus the Hammonds’ family will be there.

We put out last week’s blog late (today).

For the appetizers, before dinner, we had wine, crackers, cheese, and conversation. For dinner, marinated beef skewered by Ronnie, (John’s) baked beans, along with fruit salad with blueberries, strawberries, cantaloupe (most of the fruits & veggies were from Ken’s huge garden, green beans/almonds from the Huckabay garden, casserole with eggplant, zucchini, onions, tomatoes, a slaw with carrots, more wine, and a Bruce-made apricot/blueberry pie (I just ate the fruit filling), and we were served Winegar’s Amaretto ice cream. Also was a chocolate zucchini cake. Flowers were the only thing I photographed, early in the evening. One vase was Jo’s Zinnias, and John’s gladioli and dahlias were in another on the table. I hope Michelle shares some of the pictures she took on her phone camera of the people there.

Great visit and dinner tonight, starting at 4:00 p.m. and we got home at 10:00 p.m.

Tuesday, Aug 15

For Aug 14 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=0.44. Events: 3 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 51 min with (max =8 L/min).

I worked on music for Saturday morning breakfast (Rodeo/Fair Kick-off Breakfast). Finally, got the music sent out at 4:45 pm. and left soon for Joanie’s and Ken’s for dinner, with another bouquet of flowers. Dinner was ground lamb and eggplant casserole with a fancy topping of cheesy crust, cucumber dish, another side dish of something in yogurt, and potato/olive bread & butter.

Brunch: piece of toast, omelet, strawberries, & 1/2 banana

Went to exercise at AAC (2:00)

Aug 15 FitBit

4312 steps at 11:19
1.82 mi
1706 calories burned
21 min very active exercise
What’s the little exercise man, hands in the air ? 109/250

Wednesday, Aug 16

For Aug 15 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=0.15. Events: 1 H, 1 PP, 15 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 42 min with (max 11 L/min).

Breakfast: Over easy egg, piece of toast, ham, coffee.
I worked on fixing the music for F.I.S.H. Food Bank Soup Kitchen to take today, picked up Gloria, and we went to SAIL exercise. We got all the parts taken care of, and I made it home to a cool house, and of dirty dishes, and tons of email to process. In addition, I need to get ready for tomorrow’s music planning and number of chairs at Pacifica.

John left for the dentist to get to a 9:00 appointment for cleaning. He made it home after I left the house, but he managed to stop by the grocery store, and go across town to Love’s for filling up his car with the least expensive gasoline in town ($2.659/gallon).

I took music in for our audience singers, and we managed to do 13 songs in 1/2 hour. I also took music for the players there today. We only had a few, but we managed. Reta Hutchinson singing, with her lovely soprano voice (she’s Jeanne Gordon’s younger sister), Dean Allen (voice and harmonica), Joanie Taylor & I (Nancy Hultquist) on violin, Andrew Grove on keyboard (a full 88-key piano), with a prelude of music by Andrew and Joanie of Celtic music – reels, etc., and Rob Fischer on guitar. We missed Evelyn Heflen (banjo), Bob Olsen (guitar & harmonica), and our setup man for chairs and music stands, but Andrew and Ken Matney (Joanie’s hubby) took over for set up and take down).

I was astounded when I was the last to go through the buffet for lunch line, and signed in as #54. That’s the most we have had in my memory of several years. As normal (for the Wednesday lunch), the main dish is donated by the Ellensburg Pasta Company. The staff adds the garlic bread, mixed green salad, today’s treat a cup of raw carrots & a Snow pea with dressing dip, if desired, with a little cake muffin for dessert. Beverage choice: Unsweetened iced tea & milk.
On my new food intake menu, I cannot eat most of the meal, but I had a large amount of salad, the carrot/pea cup, and my own box lunch (banana, 3 yellow Shiro plums from our tree, mixed nuts), and iced tea. Fine lunch and quite filling. Gloria and I went on to the SAIL exercise class, where Katrina led our class with about 15 people.

The temperature only got to a high of 89° today, but it felt a whole lot hotter in the sun and walking from the car to the building from the parking lot, and back, at two places.

Lunch: described above.

Supper: Baked chicken thighs, onions, mushrooms, and 2 of our tasty tomatoes.

FitBit readings at 11:40

3651 steps
1.54 mi
1,633 calories burned
14 min hard exercise

Thursday, Aug 17

For Aug 16 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=0.14. Events: 1 H, 21 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 54 min with (max 19 L/min).

John’s out to make ready to receive hay from Mario.

Dinner: We went to the annual Audubon End of summer party at the Lindstrom’s house on Hansen Rd for a wonderful array of food: Hamburger, squash, onions, Cole slaw, fruit salad, lettuce & tomatoes, stir fried (on a grill) onions, and a couple bites of desserts, John shared – one the yummy insides of a blueberry apricot pie. Met some old friends, and made new. We carried 3 bottles of wine from White Heron, one Rose’ of Syrah, the pick of them, by Gloria Lindstrom, for their 66th anniversary (today). Their shady yard with plants and trees of many sorts was the location. To share with the group there, we also took a bottle of Roussanne (fine white Swiss grape) and a bottle of Syrah.
Night report on FitBit:
10:50
3093 steps
1.31 mi
1,566 calories burned
28/250 I need to find out what that means.

Need to take my BP, meds, and hit the hay. John beat me there, ’cause he leaves early for a WTA trip in Mt. Rainier, he has to go the long way around to get to, because a lightning caused fire that is burning east of Chinook Pass (HWY 410).
Called the Norse Peak Fire, it is 1 of 2 burning close enough to us that we can see smoke. The road is mostly 2-lane through a forest and with trucks and fire fighters there, they don’t need more people. The few small settlements nearby still have access and are not in danger.

Friday, Aug 18

For Aug 17 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=0.18. Events: 1 H, 10 RERA. Time on 5 hrs 25 min with (max 9 L/min). Slept a much-needed 3 hrs more.

John and the WTA web page do not communicate well. He thought there were no Sat. and Sun. trips, just Friday. So – John left at 5:15 a.m. for Mt. Rainier. Having to by-pass Chinook Pass wildfire adds about 15 minutes to his trip. [He found the glitch in the communication issue, and so then signed up for Sunday, too.]

Leaving soon for Food Bank – busy doing last minute stuff for tomorrow’s gigs, & getting stuff ready to take various places in town.

I stayed longer in town than desired, but accomplished a lot. I went to the food bank for lunch and thought I would stay to make sandwiches and fill paper lunch bags (35 they do), but they were well ahead of me and had already finished when I arrived. John picked yellow squash and I donated 6# to the Food Bank for distribution to their patrons. They were happy to receive it. I stopped in the bread room and got some whole grain bread for a friend’s family.

I went by the bank to cash a medical refund check I’d unexpectedly received yesterday. I’ve no idea why. I saw a yard sale on my way to Amy’s to drop off some stuff and pick up a bag of old-fashioned clothespins to use on our music in the wind (good thing we had it both venues on Saturday). They were donated free on one of the free giving Facebook sites, by a friend of Amy’s and dropped off on her front porch, saving me a trip to the country.

I hit the yard sale on my way home, and got a nice heater for winter and a 3-Crockpot set with a hot plate that holds the smaller Crockpots. Now we can do meat in one, veggies in another, and ?? in another, or just use one or two. Finding a flat spot will be the challenge (maybe the top of our chest freezer where we use our 5-quart one from when we married). Both were at extremely low prices, so I figured I couldn’t lose. She had another carrier I decided to buy, very light (came with her from Hawaii), and they are moving back there to take care of her parents. She gave me a deal off the price she had marked, which was already a great price.

Saturday, August 19

For Aug 18 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=0.00. Events: 1 CSR, 1 PP, 6 RERA. Time on, 5 hrs 32 min with (max =9 /min).

Rodeo breakfast: We got to Umpqua Bank parking lot before 7:00 a.m. and over to the stage. It was cold, and then became windy. Had to use the clothespins I packed for several people’s music. We played for an hour, with a few interruptions. I was handed the microphone and asked to introduce the group. John carried my fiddle and music to the car, and we had breakfast.

They served blueberry pancake(s), sausage links (I had 5 and ate only the inside of the pancake where the most blueberries were concentrated. For a drink, I had orange juice. It was still cold in the shade, so I went back for coffee to warm my hands! Then, we watched the kid’s cowboy/cowgirl contest, and Haley Davison won a blue ribbon. As usual, her mom had her dressed in a cool shirt and skirt with a red cowboy hat & carrying a horse on a stick.

After visiting with a few folks, we walked to the Farmer’s Market. I met and visited with Gary Cox, from the Cox Canyon Vineyards, where we used to take our summer class, Wine: A Geographical Appreciation to on their first field trip intro only a few miles down on the Yakima River Canyon Road, from Ellensburg. Gary also visited our class through the years as a guest lecturer on the meaning of Terroir, in wines. Also visited with Steve Verhey, while there, and bought a box of gorgeous peaches he grows in Royal City. He had my mom’s old wind-up 60-minute timer, he offered to fix, and he never succeeded. He still has it and told me he was hoping for the guts of one so he could try to switch them. I have one that I will give him to see if he can manage to fix the very old one. At least I know where to find him now on Saturday mornings.

John put a couple of photos in the placeholder of us at the morning music – so I will wait until next week when Evie should have the video processed that her friend Gene took of us playing. In that placeholder, John called them, my group, but officially, we are the Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends. The group has been in the valley since the 1950s, and one original founding member still plays guitar and sings with us.

I need to remember to send Gary and Suzy Cox information on our timeshare so they can plan a trip to Canada coming soon.

We ate a snack before we left; sharing a peach we bought this morning at the Farmer’s Mkt. It was excellent and the size of a softball.

Briarwood. John picked and took a beautiful bouquet of flowers, and Lee Keisel fixed them gorgeously in a big cut glass vase. She put it in the kitchen of the office for everyone to enjoy. We told her to take them home with her. She is the organizer for all our 3rd Saturdays at Briarwood, providing a meal for us after we play for an hour.

We played outside for at least an hour dodging the sun and trying to stay in the shade. Finally, we stopped in time to eat before all the food was gone. They offered grilled polish sausage, hamburgers, orange juice, onions, relish, mustard, and ketchup. I just had a hamburger, no bun. I came home and have low blood pressure (88/41, pulse 64), so I sat down to rest. John’s out taking care of outside chores. We stayed and visited with members of the group, and had a very good afternoon with two gigs. Just starting at 7:00 a.m. was quite the trick, but we made it through with lots of compliments. The wind blew both places.

Thanks to Evie, Charlie, Gerald, Kevin, and Dean for our back row group on a tight stage, and Anne, Amy, Joanie, Nancy, Roberta, & Tim, for the front row crew. We played for the folks to eat grilled breakfast: blueberry pancakes, link sausages, with chocolate or white milk, orange juice, or coffee. Quite a nice spread.

Great email from my friend Elise in NJ. She walks in the park as often as possible and today took a photograph, collage below, of the beginning of a Monarch Butterfly. Cool or what?10:10 pm FitBit Charger 2
4489 steps
1.90 mi
1675 calories burned
8 min vigorous exercise

Sunday, August 20

For Aug 19 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=0.17. Events: 1 CSR, 1 H, 8 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 0 min with (max = 13 L/min). I slept in for another ~ 3 hrs!

We thought this was not going to find John at Mt. Rainier for the first Sunday in awhile, but he went on Friday and learned he needed to be there today, so is going.

He took off early, dropped off some plums to friends his trip to the mountain (at the end of their driveway). Some were tree fall from yesterday’s winds while we were away in the afternoon, and one little box of yellow Shiros we shared that we picked last night late. He also carried some on ice in a cooler for the end of the day for the crew. WTA provides cookies and drinks.

Here is John’s special for the day:
Mt. Rainier shed a mass of snow and ice from near her top on Sunday. Our work site is about 6.5 miles away and at half the top’s elevation.
There was a loud, almost explosive, sound.
Here is an image with a few reference points: “A” including 2 pointers, and “B” just a marker.At the ends of the pointers, there is a snow/ice cap on this, the north facing side of the Mountain. A curving shadow is showing between the two end points. The shadow is a vertical face or side of the remaining ice/snow. “B” is how far down where we could still see the cloud of particles coming up out of the valley.

The mass of snow and ice broke away from up there and fell thousands of feet, from about 13,500 feet to 9,800 feet.
This is not quite a vertical drop, but after dropping 3,700 feet there is a change in slope where the Carbon Glacier begins. You can see what this area – the Glacier’s accumulation zone – looks like by clicking:
See the landing area

When the sound reached us, the WTA crew stopped and watched. It took me, John, about 15 seconds to remember I had a small point and shoot camera hanging on my belt, and another 15 seconds to get a picture.
Here is a wider angle view of the scene (more of the same photo). On the left of the photo are the tops of the Emmons and Winthrop Glaciers. The ridges and valleys across the 6+ miles do not show in this photo.

Below shows Eric digging out a rock – 15% showing. On the right is one showing moving of a rock. Note the iron bars under it so that it will slide without friction from the ground.I paused to use John’s camera to take photos of a very young and thin skunk who returned through the fence to eat the dry cat food at our front door. It was 1:40 p.m. and during a shady part of the day. I didn’t have the heart to send him away. Pix are still on John’s camera. We have now moved the food to a cable table, where we think he cannot climb.

Brunch: Egg & Chicken Salad (homemade here), with 3 different types of plums (Yellow Shiro, dark purple something, and lighter purple something). We will show and name next week when they are riper. I also could have had a tree-fall couple we found when we came home yesterday afternoon, but I’ll save them for supper. Also had to load my meds for the week, and take today’s “morning” dose.

Finally, I’m back after a long wait for a late brunch, and then putting together more of the videos from 8-12-17 at the 50th Anniversary party at the Lundy’s at the Bar 14 Ranch. I’m getting Tim Henebry’s help identifying the songs I videotaped of Scottish/Irish/French tunes played by a group, consisting of Barb Riley & Isabel Robertson (using my violin), with Tim Henebry on guitar and his wife Roberta Clark on a Bodhrán (Irish drum) and autoharp.

Folks who are interested in listening to the Scottish Music of the evening. Here is a glimpse; I’m still working on the details, but I need to check some things with Barb Riley. I’m going to leave it that anyone interested in the whole bunch, please write me an email at “Nancy-Music Hultquist” (nancymaps@gmail.com) for a list and I will return the rest of the evening (as below).

(2) “Arran Boat Song”/“Swallowtail”

(6) (dedicated to Linda and Dave Lundy for their 50th Anniv). Irish tune by Bill Cunningham.

“Eternal Friendship”

(9) A Scottish/Irish Set — Consisting of “Da Full Rigged Ship,” “Da New Rigged Ship,” and “The Gravel Walk”. I didn’t know the first two songs, but I once learned Gravel Walk in Roberta Pearce’s WOTFA Summer Workshop class for Intermediate & Advanced Violin.

A Scottish/Irish Set

(10) Final Best Wishes to the Lundys: Their daughter Alisa introduced the Lundys, Linda introduced members of their wedding party (Maid of Honor, Best Man, Bridesmaids, Groomsmen, and others; and Alisa’s husband, Christopher, introduced and provided the devotional at the end. I’m sorry I missed getting any part of the ceremony and Bible reading, after all the well-wishers crowded forward.

The Benediction

11:26 pm FitBit charger 2, 8-20-17
lower than normal, because I charged it most of the day
970 steps
0.41 mi
1,352 calories burned
0 min vigorous exercise
86/250

The really good news of my day came from CA.

Daisy placed 4th in an Open Limited Gun Dog Field Trial in a large stake, in CA. She handled 4 birds and had 2 honors (backs on another dog’s point).

I’ll just put the photo here I received yesterday from Jeri Conklin (my co-owner) of Cedaridge Kip’s Camelot Shay Tre’ (Daisy) JH Handler, Scott Azevedo with Jeri Conklin, & Daisy

Monday August 21 SOLAR ECLIPSE across the USA

For Aug 20 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=1.65. Events: 9 H, 1 PP, 14 RERA. Time on 5 hrs 26 min with (max = 13 L/min) + 3 hrs.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, bacon, plums, toast (1/2 piece), 1/2 a large peach.

Lunch: chicken salad, plums, nuts

Between the BBC and KOMONEWS, and dimmed darkness here, we ate breakfast during the solar eclipse. Now to try to finish the blog before we are over a week behind.

Skipping SAIL – no time today. Must run to town for some essentials.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan