Keeping track

Monday, Feb 13

For Feb 12 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 4.42. Events: 7 CSR, 1 CA, 33 H, 14 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 42 min with (max = 23 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 93,2%. Pulse avg. 51.8, low 50.

I need to fix the card to send to Dr. Sharma. I’m going to put Charlie’s picture playing guitar in our group, mine with violin at Veteran’s Day by flag at AAC, and mine with Ted Leber and Santa Claus at the AAC, with a thank you for performing our open heart surgeries and wishing him well on recovery from his own.

I went by the Food Bank to register for a PIN to put in my hours volunteering and then to SAIL exercise. I stopped off for ice cream at Grocery Outlet and back by Gloria Swanson’s house to pick up some chocolate chip cookies she made for us from the chocolate chips we gave her. I was excited because we can take them tomorrow to the Emeriti Geographers’ meeting. It meant she saved us the effort of making cookies tonight, to be ready to leave at 8:20 in the morning.

Wow, again, another license tab due for the Ford 2003 truck, and it will cost $106. Whatever happened to the state legislature’s decision to keep it at $45 (after our statewide vote)? At least we don’t live in South Puget Sound where people are being shell (sticker)-shocked by the tab prices in a county where they place the cost on the value of the car. One man with a Tesla paid $500 last year and $1500 this. This was voted in to support a transit system.

Tuesday, Feb 14

For Feb 13 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 3.65. Events: 4 CSR, 27 H, 18 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 24 min with (max = 18 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 89, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 93.2%. Pulse avg. 52.0, low 50.

EMERITI Geography prof’s meeting. We had a nice group with several folks there. We filled the two hours without a speaker. Lots of information to share. John and I drove in separate cars, so he could return home to deal with all the snow and ice problems. The temperature when we left was 19 and when we got to town, it was 9. That’s the problem of living “down in the valley” where the cold air drains. The area was in fog and the frozen fog on the trees was actually quite pretty on the drive in, but my camera was not in the front seat, or I would have taken a photo at the stop sign, where I entered the Kittitas highway. The sun was barely peeking through the fog, and the ice on the trees was striking. Farther down the road, the willows were spectacular. At least the roadways were mostly cleared of ice and compact snow.

After the meeting at Hearthstone (where two of our Geographers live with their wives), I stopped by Bi-Mart to check our number, but we didn’t win anything.

I continued to the AAC for a special lunch (turkey meatloaf, veggies, mashed potatoes, peaches, and milk). A lovely large Valentine’s Day cake was brought in for us by a representative of Pacifica Senior Living, Lise McGowan. We actually had a piece of cake prior to the meal. That’s a great way to start dinner with dessert. After dinner, we had a presentation by the Barbershop Quartet choir.

Here is the best song of their performance of several songs:

Let Me Call You Sweetheart

On the Community Connect Kittitas County Facebook site, I put a help request for volunteer help with ice removal for a woman I met at the Senior Center today (at my lunch table) who walks a couple of blocks there daily, using her walker, because she has no car. She could not open her gate all the way to get through with her walker and has had to disassemble it to put through in pieces. The gate is blocked by ice from opening far enough to let her push through. Her walkway is snow-covered and icy too, but she is more concerned about getting the gate opened wide enough. I tried calling CWU’s Center for Leadership and Community Engagement, after reading (in the Daily Record newspaper) about the snow and ice removal project they did last Saturday. It was the only one this year. See below for the awesome response to my request and the final results.

I carried my laptop with me to the AAC because I needed to stay there until 2:00 for Jazzercise. It worked well, and I got a lot accomplished on our music for the next 2 months, using space in the computer room at the center. There is one counter edge where there is no desktop computer setup. They have WIFI available so I could use my own computer to check email as well. The music software is on my laptop and I cannot access it from the public computers at the center – hence my need to take it.

We only had 3 people at Jazzercise, but we got a good workout.

Wednesday, Feb 15

For Feb 14 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.84. Events: 1 CSR, 10 H, 2 OA, 18 RERA. Time on x hrs 32 min with (max = 22 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 85, 8 events <88% with overall avg., 92.2%. Pulse avg. 52.5, low 47.

Below is the culmination collage of the photos I took over 3 days of the icy & snow-covered walkway to the house, and the frozen partially-open gate. The people who helped were Laci Harrison, who went by a little after the first photos were taken and put down a lot of rock salt. The rock salt was donated by Grace Mackenzie. Meanwhile, Eric Jackson, my former student, went by with a shovel. He managed to remove some ice and get the gate opened a little more so that she could get through. He went back a day later to complete the walkway and put in drain in to get rid of the melted ice and opened the gate even farther. Upper left shows gate & walkway before and after, on 2/15 and 2/16. Lower left shows the gate entrance only, on the same 2 days. Right photo shows the whole picture on Friday, 2/17 with cleared walkway, cleared stairs, opened gate, and drain to the street.

We went to town for the last in the series of Nick Zentner’s downtown lectures, this one was on Mt. Rainier issues from past and future prospects.

Nick Zentner Mt Rainier’s Osceola Mudflow Intro

Nick Zentner Mt Rainier’s Osceola Mudflow-Visuals

My videos were taken from the very close-to-the-stage front row, and the follow-up professional one from the back of the room will appear in a couple of weeks. When all four are out there, I will provide the links. They will be put on CWU’s website via YouTube, and accessible there.

Thursday, Feb 16

For Feb 15 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 4.79. Events: 4 CSR, 23 H, 12 RERA. Time on 4 hrs 48 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 84 (off CPAP), 5 events <88% with overall avg., 91.6%. Pulse avg. 53.5, low 50.

John left a little before 8:00 a.m. for White Heron Cellars and his first day of wine grapevine pruning in their Mariposa vineyard. Their work was in overcast, at first, and then the sun came out. Three fellows (Tom, Mark, & John) volunteered help pruning for 3 hours alongside the Vigneron, Cameron Fries. First time for pruning in snow. John thinks they are 3 to 4 weeks early.

I finalized the videos I took last night and sent to a few folks.

Mostly, I worked a lot more on music and plans for the number of chairs today. Three people originally planning to come are unable, so I had to recall in the number of chairs we need brought to the dining room at Pacifica Senior Living home.

It has started raining again. I hope the driveway is not too sloppy for me to maneuver out. I left a little earlier than normal, to be sure I got out the drive, and also to get to Pacifica to meet the new activities director, Terri, to explain what we need for our group. We ended up with 4 guitars, 1 harmonica, 1 violin, 1 flute, 1 singer, 1 tambourine, and 1 dancer (the ~4 year old).

I also need to write a letter of recommendation for a Masters program in Geography at a school in Taiwan. He has learned Mandarin Chinese, married a gal from S. Korea, and wants to continue his love of geography. He is my former student at CWU, Brian Scanlon, who also received a B.S. in Economics, and a B.A. in Public Policy.

John made it home before 2:00 and cleaned the ice off our back patio. I wish I had a before and after photo of that. He is moving snow from several places, as it softens, so places dry out instead of getting muddy. Some snow blew in, and some water ran into where I park the Forester. That is now cleaned out and starting to dry out. The drive slopes down into that space – another design feature failure. When spring has sprung, John wants to clean the entire place out and spread a ton or several tons of gravel there and bring it up a few inches. Then he will park his car on the other side of the 3-sided building.

Friday, Feb 17

For Feb 16 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.14 Events: 4H, 10 RERA. Time on 4 hrs 24 min with (max = 23 L/min). I neglected to run Oximetry on my report of SpO2 Review, and once it is recorded, the previous night’s erased.

I called about my Delta Dental Insurance issues with getting on their site for checking my payments and their coverage. Next week, I’m going to have the crowns put on the implants, so I’ll be able to chew on the left side of my mouth. I haven’t been able to use it for over six months. Unfortunately, my dental reimbursement costs are limited to $1,750/yr and I will almost have reached that in the first 2 months of this year. That means we will have to pay for our cleanings or any other things that may happen this year. Oh, well, I based my decision upon the desire to have the whole job completed so I could continue life with a full set of teeth.

We left for town to drop off some party bread by Briarwood for use there tomorrow to feed us little sandwiches, to eat with soup, or to give away. They made a plate of open chicken salad sandwiches you can see below in the collage. John and I were on our way to the Health Forum at the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center, with speaker, Tim Roth, nurse from the Kittitas County Public Health Department. I have known Tim for at least 15 years through music in the community with The Connections. His talk was very well presented, and I took a video of his presentation on my old camera. He was the one who administered my Shingles shot a couple of weeks ago.

Tim Roth talks to us old folks – 24 minutes

He was the speaker during a healthy lunch (Vegetable Enchiladas with sour cream and guacamole, Spanish rice, cilantro on the side, salad with iceberg lettuce and red cabbage) served to us by Lauren, and fixed there by Erica, Megan, Alice, and Lauren.

Below is a collage of some of the pictures I took. You can see the remainder of them next week, after the holiday Monday, by looking at facebook.com for “Ellensburg Adult Activity Center.”Here we are at the forum. Tim Roth, is at the lower right with Pat married to Richard, who is in another picture I took, middle bottom photo is Kathy Grapes, Ada Perry (mom of one of my students from long ago, whose 90th birthday party Gloria & I attended with Sandra), Sandra Zech, and Dee Grapes, top middle is the meal we were served, and top right is John with Carla Kaatz. I taught for years with her husband Marty. He has passed across the rainbow bridge. We are planning to celebrate her 90th birthday in an April party that her family is holding in her honor.

On our way home, I took the 3rd day photo of all the work on the lady’s walkway and gate that was iced up. It’s explained and shown in a collage above on Wednesday.

I had a request from Evelyn to lower the keys on a few of the songs we do at the Food Bank. I’m working on that, along with the music for March and April for the Fiddlers & Friends.

Saturday, Feb 18

For Feb 17 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 2.76. Events: 6 CSR, 20 H, 17 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 15 min with (max = 17 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 82, 19 events <88% with overall avg., 92.4%. Pulse avg. 52.6, low 50.

Today at Briarwood was our monthly play date. I picked up Gloria and took her along. She gave me a dozen+ of her great chocolate chip cookies for John and me to enjoy. We had a lovely time with many folks in attendance from Briarwood, and much great food we enjoyed – soup, salads, sandwiches, and desserts.
We had 3 guitars, a violin, a harmonica, a tambourine, and a singer, plus a “choir” of many in the audience singing along on the 22 songs of the day.

Here’s a collage of the offerings and cooks below:Deidra & Lee (Lee is the main organizer of our events each month, and usually makes the soup, salads, and desserts). This month she had help on making the soup from Jo Ellen (middle). The right shot is the main buffet, and the desserts were on the counter with the soup in front of the gals on the left. Several different things are prepared and donated by the residents who come to enjoy our music and the meal. The timing of this interferes with both lunch and supper of a normal schedule. John comes along about twice each year, but the rest of the times he has to adjust meals at home to accommodate my eating at Briarwood at 3 PM.

Sunday, Feb 19

For Feb 18 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.66. Events: 1 CSR, 1 CA, 11 H, 12 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 14 min with (max = 23 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 85 (may have been spurious when battery charge quit working), the only 1 event <88% with overall avg., 93.3%. Pulse avg. 53.5, low 50.

John is checking the snow between the house and the shed, which fills up the space between the two buildings, when it slides off the metal roof (another poor planning issue of our home).

Deer now know where the dry cat food has been on the front entrance, so to keep them away we had a wooden pallet leaned there. That worked for a day or two. They learned to move the pallet – shown on left, below. Left is from > a week ago. Then missing are the 5-gallon bucket filled with gravel on this side and snow shovel and push broom to keep the deer from reaching under and eating the cat food. Right is the new framed structure, but still needs another piece or two, on the sides. With the bucket of gravel and shovel gone, they still could reach in and mess with the container. Not as much food was missing as previously has been. We want only the four cats and not the deer or the dog to be able to get in there. John is waiting for a nice day to hunt for a board, cut it, and nail pieces in place.

John has been moving ice and snow a little each day, feeding livestock, birds, and starting trucks. The newer truck has more gizmos that drain the battery, so he has it on a trickle charger now. The sun has come out and it quit snowing. Interesting weather. Sort of normal for here. Other places are getting less-normal stuff. Some you know about, but look what the National Weather Services reported today for our friends in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.Actual temperature was about 40°F.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Feb 6

For Feb 5 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 2.02. Events: 2 CSR, 4 H, 15 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 57 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 92.1%. Pulse avg. 55.5, low 51.

Last night late, I sent the photos to AAC from Friday. John sent me a note to Nick Zentner about the fossil bowl in Clarkia that I need to coordinate with Bill Rember, a geologist and friend from Idaho. He now lives near Fernwood, ID and Emerald Creek on a fossil site of his own. He gives educational tours.

We received at least 8″ of snow overnight, and John started shoveling before 8:00 a.m. on the paths front and back. He worked for 2 hours, came back in for breakfast, and went back outside. Our wonderful neighbor, Allen Aronica, arrived to clear our driveway. I am sure we would not have been able to get out (either of the trucks would), but the cars are lower. We were fortunate nothing was planned and calling us out. At a cousin’s, Allen got his tractor bogged in an off-road hole and had to bring a tracked backhoe to get himself out. He then did a few more driveways and packed for a trip to Arizona.

My car was parked out of the shed because of all the melted snow in my parking space. We did not want the ice to freeze on my tires, but that meant with all the snow overnight, John had a big cleaning job.John early cleaning snow from my rig, about 9:00 a.m.

Forester being de-snowed

This below is my rig being moved back at 11:45, and Allen leaving with the second swipe of cleaning the driveway.

Back to its lair

GOOD NEWS. I had a robot call from Super 1 pharmacy that my prescription was in. I called the pharmacy and asked if it was the Entresto and it was. So, I asked the co-pay cost – if it was the $40 Group Health was going to charge me. I asked if they had run my co-pay from Novartis and they said they did not have the card, but only the one for the free 30-day supply they had sent in. I had given them all numbers for both the free month and the continuing, over a month ago, but I guess it was not loaded in the system, so I called Boston for the proper numbers needed to obtain it.
The pharmacy assistant was going to call me back either way. She ran it and my co-pay is only $10/month for a very expensive drug. I am so happy I went through all the paperwork to apply, got help from my cardiologist’s office (who had to FAX 17 pages of medical information on me to qualify). It is almost a month since I was put on this new drug (Jan 12) and the paperwork trail started. What an awesome feeling. I am writing my cardiologist’s nurse, Colleen, right now to give her the good news and encourage others who might need the drug to go through the process to save the $400-500 / month cost. The only condition is that a person must have a supplemental “commercial” insurance provider (such as I do, with Group Health). Medicare is my primary, and that will not work, nor will it work for people on Medicaid. The pharmaceutical company making the drug is the one offering the co-pay reduction. Did I say – I am quite happy. The previous drug I was on was a generic and still cost me over $70 in cash through GoodRx. It was more than double the cost by going through my regular pharmacy with the formulary used for the co-pay (that was for Telemisartan/ Micardis). Doctors, nurses, and technology = good. System = nuts.

I worked more on our music and finished a draft copy of Johnny Cash’s “Forty Shades of Green” to send to Evie for review. It’s to add to the playlist of Irish songs for March and April.

John’s got a lot of snow moved but is looking for a snowblower sale at the end of this season. We at leftovers for lunch and put a chunk of beef in the Crockpot.

Medical news: Dr. Paul M. Schmitt has been our doctor since 1988. He’s been wanting to retire but the rural community clinic is not high priority for many doctors. Now a new doctor is coming and Paul hopes to stop seeing patients early in May. John will have one last visit on May 1.
The new guy:Our new primary care physician, Dr. Norman Wood, D.O. That is a different form of a Medical Doctor, which appears on the web to be similar, but without specialization, rather being concerned with the whole body’s skeleton and relationships to organs, nerves, muscles, the whole picture merged with attitude and activities of the person (my translation). If you search on Doctor of Osteopathy, you can find a lot of information. Here is part of the introduction we received from the Clinic (now a unit of the local hospital).

Dr Wood has an interesting and varied background. He received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and worked in law enforcement for over ten years, including six years as a special agent for the U.S. Customs Service. He then returned to school to study Medicine at Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, he became the 15th member of his family to become a physician. His oldest son, Matthew, is the 16th.

We are confident that Dr Wood will be a wonderful addition to our team. He has practiced primary care medicine since 1995 and enjoys taking care of entire families. He owned four medical clinics in Maryland and West Virginia before moving to Washington in 2013. Since moving to Washington, he has worked with the Veteran’s Administration and in urgent care.

Outside of his medical career, Dr Wood is an avid bow hunter and enjoys fishing for trout.

In early 2017, Dr Wood will work closely with Dr Schmitt as Dr Schmitt transitions into retirement after 40 years of practicing medicine!

Tuesday, Feb 7

For Feb 6 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.74. Events: 1 CA, 14 H, 3 PP, 25 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 37 min with (max = 21 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low was 89, no events <88% with overall avg., 93.2%. Pulse avg. 53.8.x, low 47.

Jazzercise went well today, with 5 of us there.

I went to my 3:30 appointment for a Shingles shot at 507 Nanum St at the Kittitas County Public Health Dept.

Report on the Shingles Shot, $23 for administrative costs. I was seen by Tim Roth (who will be the speaker next Friday 2/17, at the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center (AAC) at the Health Forum). He has been my friend for a long time, through music at assisted living homes and later when he was a nurse at Royal Vista. It was neat that he was the nurse (the only one to do injections there) to administer my shot. I started with filling in the form asking for my name, location, phone numbers, primary care doctor, and I answered some questions about my medical records. I asked what the $23 administrative costs charge covered. The gals at the front check-in desk said it was for processing the papers with the state, and to cover the time of the medical nurse to interview and administer the shot. He spent 15 minutes with me going over the meaning of the shot, the cause of Shingles, the expectations of the shot, and went through questions of medications I should not be taking to have the shot. He asked my allergies or reactions to any injections, or meds, and a number of other questions about my medical history. He mentioned about its being a Herpes-related virus, about possible reactions to the shot, and what to expect and what not to do and what to do to exercise the arm after the shot. It is not given in the muscle and it is a live vaccine, so that is why the allergy questions are asked. One with a weakened immune system, say from chemo or radiation, should not have the injection. Or, not if a person has been on a prolonged use of steroids, or is allergic to gelatin, or to the antibiotic, Neomycin. The latter two are included in the injection.

Wednesday, Feb 8

For Feb 7 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.17. Events: 2 CSR, 9 H, 12 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 41 min with (max = 20 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 86, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 92.5%. Pulse avg. 57.8, low 49.

I braved the snow and drove to pick up Gloria, and we went to the Food Bank for music and the SAIL exercise class.

I came home tonight, and decided not to go back for tonight’s Nick Zentner lecture. The weather forecast was for nasty stuff – but wrong in the real world. People were in the ditch on my way home. I traveled 20 mph and was stressed (normally, I am okay driving in snow). This all over town was scary, with ice beneath the snow pack and no visibility. I could not get my defrosters to keep up on the front or back windshields.
We are supposed to get a foot of snow (that changed to 2-3″) tonight, and it is coming down hard at 4:00 p.m. I hope I can get out of my driveway tomorrow.

Tonight before we ate dinner (just about 7:00 p.m.), got a call from our neighbor that she had high-centered her car on the deep snow trying to get into her garage. John worked on it for about an hour, but will wait until morning to see about it. She doesn’t have to be to school until 2:00 p.m. so we have a little bit of time.

Thursday, Feb 9

For Feb 8 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.27. Events: 8H, 17 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 19 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 92.6%. Pulse avg. 55.0, low 50.

John and another neighbor got the next-door neighbor’s car out. Neighbor Ron brought an old tractor-like thing with a rear blade and got the snow out of the driveway. The car, a newer Honda, has nothing to hook on to for pulling – apparently Hondas are not supposed to be used in snow country. By turning the front tires to the side, they got in behind the tire and found a rod or brace made of steel. The rest of the car seemed to be plastic. As the car moved out of the ice holes (she had spun the tires, all 4, hard) John filled those with gravel. Problem solved.

I’m going to town for music at the Meadows Place. I made it there and cleaned the ice off my wipers. The trip in was still a little sketchy with no pavement showing until I reached the Kittitas Highway. All the roads had been shoveled but the view of the edge was not visible, so one had to slow way down when approaching coming traffic.

On my way out, my trip through the ditches across our driveway hit on the ice in the dead cat space and knocked out a chunk of ice. When I got to town, I kicked out the rest I could. On my return trip, I saw what had come out and veered some to the right, but too much, and did not come far enough forward to miss a pile of snow. Sadly, I stopped and added more work to John’s activities to clean up to allow the car to go forward into the parking shed. I am so sorry after all the shoveling he had done for the neighbor last night and this morning.

Friday, Feb 10

For Feb 9 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.93. Events: 2 CSR, 7 H, 17 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 31 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 85 10 events <88% with overall avg., 91.1%. Pulse avg. 55.1, low 50.

I left this morning about 9:15 to drive to the Early Childhood Learning Center, on the CWU campus (in Brooklane Village) to meet two others (Evelyn and Bob, friends from the Food Bank group) to present for 15 minutes to the preschool class of her 5-year old granddaughter. There were 8 children there, a teacher and two assistants. Classes are limited to 15, throughout the day, and they have 50 total students. I got there ahead of the others and asked the receptionist a bunch of questions.

Once we were in the classroom, we each described our musical instruments. Evelyn plays a banjo, I the violin, and Bob had his traveling (smaller) guitar and his harmonica. We visited and met each of the kids and learned their first name. We sang two songs at the start. The first one, several of the kids knew and sang along with us, “You are My Sunshine.” The second one they didn’t know, but we played it, as Bob likes to play the harmonica for it. He starts off and we only play our instruments until the second time through, when we sing the words. Then we did the “Alphabet Song” with all the letters to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and then we did the actual song (Twinkle, Twinkle). The kids knew that one. After that, Evelyn handed a bag of “shakers” to the teacher, who distributed them to the children. We wanted them to keep time to the music, and they did a good job.

The first song we did sang with them (and they did the gestures as well), was

If you’re happy and you know it 
Clap your hands. Clap, Clap. 
If you’re happy and you know it 
Clap your hands. Clap, Clap.
If you’re happy and you know it 
and you really want to show it 
If you’re happy and you know it 
Clap your hands. Clap, Clap.

Other verses include stomp your feet and shout Hooray! Finally, the last verse has all included. They had much fun with that one.

Finally, we sang, “Old McDonald Had a Farm” and had them keep time to the music again. They did well. We tried to have all the kids pick an animal, and managed to get a few different ones, Cow, Horse, Chicken, Kitty, Pig, Sheep, even a Fox for one little girl named Audrey. I asked her what sound a Fox made, and she sniffed – so that’s what we all did. We had 3 wanting Pig, but we only did it twice. Finally, we ended with Dog.

They all stood up to say thank you and goodbye, and we went on our way. We all had a good time.

Ocean’s dad was there and took a video, but had my old camera in his hand and snapped a few pictures. I forgot to set the focus for him, so they are not in good focus, but you can get the idea.Evelyn and I listening to the children introducing themselves.

Bob, Evelyn, and I playing Oh! Susanna. I was wearing my Washington Old Time fiddlers hat.

It was sleeting when we came out, but the fog had cleared. When I left home the skies were blue, sun was shining, and everything was melting. I drove a little over 4 miles and ran into thick fog, so much that I had to turn on my headlights. I was in thick fog for the rest of my trip.

After we left the school, I needed gasoline and stopped. It was still sleeting. I remembered to use my Discover card, which is giving a 5% rebate on gasoline purchases for Jan-Mar. Our CITI Visa card gives 4% year-round. So my per gallon reduction was $.12/gal, making my cost $2.30/gal. We had only paid $2.29 I think the last time at Costco, where we get 4% off.

I left there for the feed store, where I got 50# of Critter 14 for the deer. They seem to be in need of food with all the ice and snow covering everything. We have given them two deer blocks they are also working on, when they are not checking the horse hay for seed heads.

From there I went to the Food Bank. Neither of the other two musicians could go, but I have friends from the horse club we were members of for 20 years, who always cook on Fridays there, so I went alone. I saw the director, Brooke, on my way in, and she was so appreciative I had come by. I set myself up and played for 20 minutes, until one of the regulars (Michael) came in for his meal, said to me, but it is not Wednesday, and I said I know, but I was in town with my fiddle, so I thought I would come by. He came over and stood behind me and sang with me the last song, “Your Cheating Heart.” We had fun. I put my violin away and went to be served. It was a great casserole with sausage, noodles, toasted breadcrumbs, all in a neat cream sauce, a serving of buttery corn niblets, a nice mixed green salad with red & yellow peppers, a sugarcoated cherry-filled piece of cake, and milk for a drink.

While there, I got a couple of donuts for us and some cake. Starbucks donates their day old stuff. The Food Bank encourages people to come in any time during the day for coffee and treats.

I came home to work on music for our group for the next two months. It has to be ready to go in 2 weeks.

Saturday, Feb 11

For Feb 10 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 3.17. Events: 5 CSR, 28 H, 1 OA, 17 RERA. Time on 9 hrs 9 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 1 event <88% with overall avg., 92.7%. Pulse avg. 54.4, low 50.

For music lovers:
From my friend and flute player, Amy Davison, in our music group, if you have access to Facebook, check this out. The Devil Went down to Georgia, a guy, a guitar, and a washing machine.

Devil went down

For dog lovers: one more video of from my friend and dog lover, Rich Kim, of a blind dog whose “seeing eyes” companion is another dog. This will cheer you up, if you have access to Facebook.

Seeing Dogs

I worked more on meds and bills, and music. John started the trucks, let them warm and charge some, and worked more in the yard with snow and ice and icicle removal. This is the first year in about 5 that we’ve had big icicles. Like Goldilock’s porridge, the weather cannot be too hot nor too cold.

He had to feed the horses and cats before we left for the Grange for a Scholarship Fundraiser dinner. Every cent for the ticket entry ($15 each) and any extra donations once there, go to fund the student scholarships. One faithful long-time Grange member covers the cost of all the food. Three students received awards last year, and they sent greetings by video from their respective universities.

We were supposed to be at the Swauk Teanaway Grange, (on Ballard Road, Cle Elum) for the doors to open at 5:30. We got there at 5:15, and the parking lot was already filled, so we had to park on the Ballard Hill Road below. It was an uphill walking trip, but John was kind enough to go get the car and come up to pick me up at the end. I was extremely grateful. While I had on my boots, I did not want to risk falling on the ice.

The meal — a big effort by Jim & Patti Gylling — offered colored pasta, hot veggies (Carrots, Broccoli, and Cauliflower), ravioli, spaghetti sauce, sausage purchased at the local Owens Meats, a quality shop in Cle Elum, garlic bread with cheese, a salad with greens (spinach & beet greens, olives, tomatoes, carrots), and pie for dessert w/ whipped cream. The moon was full and bright on the drive home. We had good roads for much of the trip, except the last 5 miles or so off Hwy 97. John drove us up and back. It is about a 45-minute trip and a little over 25 miles one-way.
All people connected with education in any way were asked to fill out a pink index card with the years, location, and what they did (taught, assisted, drove bus). After dinner each was asked to stand to be honored for their service to education, and the descriptions on the pink cards were read by Claire Lucke, the leader of our Grange. I was the one with the longest record of teaching, 41 years: 22 at CWU, 15 at U of Idaho, 2 at U Iowa, 2 at Georgia State U. I left out my teaching at the Univ. of Cincinnati, where I taught computer programming. I also taught math and English in a downtown Atlanta Business School in my first year of college, where I was taking Gregg shorthand. The courses I mostly taught in 4 states were geography and GIS. John was recognized for his teaching as well in PA, ID, GA, and WA. He started teaching high school math and earth science in 1964/65.Claire’s introduction (pink cards in her hand for later). Part of the crowd being served. John and I are at the far end of the middle table. After dinner, we watched a very nice presentation on the big screen, made by Jim Gylling – including videos of and by each of the three specifically to be shown at the fundraiser dinner. He and his wife, Patti, had put on the dinner and program again this year. Last year, their son was one of three recipients of a $1,000 scholarship. Travis reported about his studies in the Department of Aviation at the Univ. of North Dakota, even taking us up in a Cessna and a Piper (I think).  Going through all his books and equipment was instructive. They reported via video from their respective universities – Holly at the Univ. of Idaho studying civil engineering (and enjoying mathematics classes, such as Differential Equations), and Kimberly at Creighton University, a private school in Omaha, NB, majoring in English and related topics (philosophy, ethics, ?). They all did a fantastic job of thanking the Grange members.  

Here we are after dinner:Many people had left and we were visiting and waiting for the parking lot to clear so John could retrieve the car and pick me up. We visited with Joy Rucker and her mom, Babs Ballard.This was the scene at 5:15 p.m. when we arrived from the east on Ballard Hill. People were coming out of the parking lot to park on the road. We stopped uphill from the driveway. I got out and John parked the car close to the edge. Then we walked down the snow-covered road, up the driveway, and to the front door (right of the steeple, back ~ 3/4 of the building. There is a parking lot in front and behind the building, with a smaller one at the entrance (left above).

Below you can see the setting in good weather.Note the car on the far right – that is about where we parked in the snow and walked.

Sunday, Feb 12

For Feb 11 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=2.83. Events: 2 CSR, 1 CA, 1 OA, 16 H, 16 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 57 min with (max = 19 L/min). Ended 5:00 a.m., back without anything (Oximeter either) until 9:00. Oximetry: SpO2 low 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 92.7%. Pulse avg. 52.4, low 47.

John has done the morning feedings and is cooking brunch now.
Ham, fried potatoes, and a cheese/mushroom omelet. I need to fix the card to send to Dr. Sharma. I am going to put Charlie’s picture playing guitar in our group, mine with violin at Veteran’s Day by flag at AAC, and mine with Ted Leber and Santa Claus at the AAC, with a thank you for performing our open-heart surgeries and wish him well on his recovery (from open-heart surgery). I have been alternating with blog work and washing dishes. John’s been outside some today, feeding animals and moving (not much) snow.

The grape vine pruners are e-mailing back and forth about that, but the nasty weather is not giving up. John thinks it will be another week before he starts. Others may try to get a few hours in, but even that seems unlikely.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Jan 30

For Jan 29 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.91. Events: 5 H, 14 RERA. Time on 5 hrs 28 min with (max = 15 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 82, 13 events <88% with overall avg., 91.7%. Pulse avg. 53.9, low 50.

I finished letters for Elaine Glenn for nomination of her for CWU’s Distinguished Non-tenure Track Teaching Award. She is quite deserving and I certainly hope the process works in her favor. I created one and provided a copy of one with updates for Morris Uebelacker from 2013.

Today, I spent a lot of time working on the jobs list, birthdays, and things we have not been able do without an Internet connection. We still are limping along hoping to get a new modem installed this week.

Front yard activity of the day. John saw our Rascal in the Mountain Ash tree above the bird feeder. No chance he’d be able to capture one, but to get him out, John went to the front door and called him in. He came and was rewarded with cheese bits.

Cruel Clever Cat:

Sally, having swallowed cheese,
Directs down holes the scented breeze,
Enticing thus with baited breath
Nice mice to an untimely death.

{Geoffrey Taylor}

He has not returned, so that’s a good thing. We keep the cats around and appreciate them for their mousing prowess.

Tuesday, Jan 31

For Jan 30 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI 3.16. Events: 1 CSR, 18 H, 2 OA, 2 PP, 12 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 20 min with (max = 23 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 81, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 91.8%. Pulse avg. 53.6, low 50.

I succeeded yesterday in charging my old smaller camera (Casio Exilim) so I could videotape with a lot less bandwidth. Today, I took all the old pictures from the 16 Gig SD card, so it is ready to use. I will be able to store movies in a small enough bandwidth to pass them through wetransfer.com as an emailed file, and even send them to YouTube, which I cannot do with 30 minutes recorded on my Nikon camera (those are almost 4 gigs). I took a movie of the bird feeder today, and a couple of pictures, just to be sure it was working properly. One photo caught one of the deer jumping the fence to eat sunflower seeds from beneath the bird feeder. Most animals, including the pheasant, just walk in the open front gate (during wintertime). Pheasant shares with the quail and deer inside and outside the fence. Right photo shows a doe jumping over the fence. The deer are also raiding our plate of feline hard food at the front door. John now has put 5-gallon buckets all around the entrances to keep the deer out, but allow the cats in. We have 4 feral cats eating our dry food.

Today I went by the bread room for things for friends, on my way to Jazzercise. I stopped off at Safeway for two more dozen eggs on the last day of the lower excellent price as last week. Five people showed up for exercise. On my way home, I picked up two meds for under $10. Nice. One is for my heart and for 3 months is only $5. Why does the other heart medication have to cost over $400 (yet I still do not know what my co-pay will be).

I expected to find out today what my cost was going to be, but Novartis left a message we received late afternoon, by sending a letter to say they had tried several times to reach me by phone, but it was too late to call them on EST. We never had a call from Boston or from Novartis registered on our Caller ID, or a message left last week at all.

I spent some time tonight helping report a stolen identity of a former student (on Facebook). A former student, now in Texas, had done the same favor for me when my ID was stolen several years ago. Knowledge comes from someone requesting you to be their “friend.” If you are already a friend, then you know it is bogus. The stealer will say hello, how are you, and proceed to tell you about how they came into a bunch of money, and saw your name on the list of awardees.

Wednesday, Feb 1

For Jan 31 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.93. Events: 2 CSR, 7 H, 7 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 33 min with (max = 20 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 1 events <88% with overall avg., 91.8%. Pulse avg. 52.9, low 50.

I made an early call to Novartis in Boston. I will have to call again for a clarification because after calling the Pharmacy at Group Health with questions about my cost of the co-pay, I received conflicting comments.

I left to pick up Gloria, give her some chocolate chips from our Costco-bulk package, go to the food bank, and play music. Once there we checked the bread room and found something for her and I picked up 6 packages of hamburger rolls to take to the Senior Center for them to use with the hamburgers they are fixing for the Friday potluck. We went there after lunch to SAIL exercise class.

I heard that my heart surgeon, Dr. Sharma, also had to have open-heart surgery (and a double bypass). I called his office in Yakima and found out where to send cards. I am going to make a special card with pictures of three of us who had surgery on our hearts by him, and get it in the mail.

I called in my prescription refill request to my Pharmacy here in Ellensburg, for a month of Entresto, because I will run out of my free 30-day supply on Feb 12, and they have to order a supply ahead. I am the only person in Ellensburg going through that pharmacy for the new heart drug.

Tonight is Nick Zentner’s talk at the city library on Ancient Rivers of the Pacific Northwest. Actually the rivers are the same ones – they just keep moving around. They existed on an ancient landscape that continues to change.

I took my old camera and sadly, I did not have an extra battery, or my newer camera so I missed the last 15-20 minutes of an excellent talk. At least it was being recorded from the back of the room, and will be available in a couple of weeks on the CWU site via YouTube.

Ancient PNW Rivers – chalk board

Part 2: 12 min. of visuals

I came home and ordered an additional SP50 battery while they are still available. I think I have had this camera since the turn of the century, or at least since 2004.

Thursday, Feb 2

For Feb 1 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.66. Events: 11 H, 20 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 39 min with (max = 16 L/min). Oximetry: None to report. I exhausted the oximeter’s battery, but charged it all night, so it is ready for tonight.

Rich Lange, Fairpoint technician brought and installed a new modem and fixed our reception and speed “in” (download) to 5K and “out” (upload) to 1K. We were previously half that. I hope this finally gives us the Internet service and WIFI we have been paying for and suffering through outages.

Today was a Fiddlers & Friends play date at the Rehab Center. We had a full room (too much so probably for fire safety rules), of audience mostly in wheelchairs, and a good number of our group there to entertain. Sadly, our lead fiddler was sick and had to stay home. We had our tambourine lady, banjo man, three guitar guys, a resident (previously our accordionist), harmonica fellow, fiddler, and flute playing gal with her daughter dancing and drawing a color crayon picture for a favorite resident who loves her and calls her by name (Haley), when she arrives. His name is Mac. He had a stroke and can no longer read, but he knows all the words, sings along, and applauds our songs. In fact, today, he met me at the front door and opened it to welcome me. His wife comes down for every one of our performances from Cle Elum and helps me by handing out and picking up the song sheets. People are in such bad shape there (it is an acute care center), that only 4 or 5 can sing along with the booklet of lyrics. We gave a good presentation. I was able to visit with my old roommate from there (in 2010). Her name is Mae, and she is 95. I also visited with a friend I knew through the Kittitas Valley Trail Riders club. She used to follow our group to events around town, and has continued, while now at the Rehab facility. She loved our Johnny Cash song, “I’ll Walk the Line,” because her husband sang it to her early in their relationship (he has since passed on).

On my way home I stopped by the bread room and picked up some angel food cake loaves to go with the pound of pound cake we are taking to the Super Bowl party at the senior center tomorrow (topped with our own strawberries from the freezer). They were also giving away small apples and I was asked to take some. I brought home 14# (they have to weigh for their records). We have eaten or given away all the Gala and HoneyCrisp apples we previously had from picking across the valley, and gave away most of the recent Fuji apples given to us.

I turned around and drove back to town with John to the Science II building on the CWU campus for an IAF lecture. I took my old camera with a newly charged battery, and managed to record all 1 hr and ten minutes !! Here it is below:First People of the Americas (as revealed by their skeletal remains) by James Chatters [left most above – red shirt, with Nick Zentner, CWU Geologist.] [CWU Anthropology Prof. Steve Hackenberger, right, waiting to introduce Jim]

BONES

You can look up James Chatters on Wikipedia, if you do not recall knowing of him regarding his research on Kennewick man. This evening he used research from several places of North & Central America.

Friday, Feb 3

For Feb 2 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 3.53. Events: 4 CSR, 12 H, 2 OA, 7 RERA. Time on 3 hrs 58 min with (max = 16 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 79, 19 events <88% with overall avg., 92.7%. Pulse avg. 53.9, low 47.

I contacted the Kittitas County Public Health Department and am scheduled for Tuesday, 1/7, at 3:30 for a Shingles Shot for $23 to cover paper processing costs. Cash or check, or there’s an extra fee to use a credit card.
Here you can read the full press release about a free (considering the pharmacy price is over $200) shot that only costs $23:
Free Shingles Vaccine

John and I went to a Super Bowl party today at the Senior Center. It was just a normal first Friday of the month potluck, but people were supposed to wear sports-related clothes. I wore my Seattle Seahawks baseball cap, and the colors, white, blue, green, and yellow. John (seen later) wore his Phillies jacket, red, white, and blue. His was the only special thing insofar as others frequently wear hats or something with the Seattle teams logos. If Nancy had had anything with Atlanta on it, she would have worn it.

We took our potluck offering, a large platter of sliced pound cake and angel food cake with a pound and a half of our own homegrown (and frozen) strawberries. It was a success. The pound cake is around the bowl of strawberries, and the angel food cake surrounds the edges. We carried 4 bags of strawberries, in 8-ounce bags. We only brought 1 bag home, and perhaps only 1/4 of all the cake. I was the photographer, because the staff and volunteers were busy cooking and serving. Therefore, I did not get in any of the pictures, but if you want to see all the photos I took, check on Facebook next week for the page for “Ellensburg Adult Activity Center”. The AmeriCorps gals will post the pictures I took.

Saturday, Feb 4

For Feb 3 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 2.62. Events: 1 CSR, 1 CA, 15 H, 1 OA, 3 PP, 20 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 15 min with (max = 22 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 1 event <88% with overall avg., 93.0%. Pulse avg. 54.8%, low 49.

I went to a neat birthday party at the Hoffman’s home for Noella Wyatt’s 64th. The theme was cats with a Crazy Cat Lady cake. We were served lasagna, salad, and bread with the culminating large piece of cake. The decoration chocolates went home with the birthday gal. Each of the participants took home some lasagna and a large piece of cake. Our servings were large because John was included.Noella Wyatt with cake, photo left by Nancy Hoffman, and ones on right by me of the cake. Note from the back of the sofa, the litter of chocolate cats, and others all over, and under the cake. Notice the very clever scratching marks on the sofa’s right side, middle lower right photo. Even the sofa is edible.

Sunday, Feb 5

For Feb 4 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=1.10. Events: 1 CSR, 9 H, 20 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 13 min with (max = 17 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 92.1%. Pulse avg. 55.5, low 51.

We awoke to snow, but only a little over an inch. It is still snowing, and John has finished the morning chores. About 2:00 p.m., he went back out to feed the horses, it started snowing harder, and now at almost 6:00 p.m., it is snowing hard with bigger flakes. At this rate, our total is going to be over the 1 to 3 inches that was forecast for today. During the night they first thought another 2 to 4 inches; now saying 3 to 5. Are we not blessed? I am glad my dental appointment was canceled, as I will be able to stay home.

I need to get this over to John for his editing and putting into WordPress for publishing. Then I need to get to work on finishing cropping all the photos I took Friday to email them to the AAC to have awaiting them when they arrive at 8:00 a.m. (or sooner).
I fixed cat food today for 3 cats, and await Sue to come to the front door for her dinner. She might stay at a neighbor’s barn and catch a mouse.
I must begin work on Johnny Cash’s “Forty Shades of Green” to add to the playlist for Irish songs for our group’s playlist for March and April.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Jan 9

For Jan 8 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.59. Events: 2 CSR, 4 H, 8 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 44 min with (max = 21 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 71 spurious at start, actual low, 87, on the graphic chart, 3 events <88% with avg., 91.5%. Pulse avg. 55.0, low 50.

We called David H. last night to cancel Myst’s hoof trimming because of the cold and snow. Need to reschedule when the weather is better.

What a great New Year’s Gift! Our neighbor, Allen Aronica, appeared in our driveway with this tractor and blade and made 4-5 swipes to clean out a lot of snow. We always appreciate his help, but this timing was perfect so we can get out to go to the cardiologist tomorrow. This is the second time this winter he has plowed our 300′ driveway and the area near our parked cars. Later this week he made a third run, and plowed out three, or more) other neighbors. John cleans up a bit (1%) after Allen does the 99%.
On the left he has backed up to my blue Forester (John has provided a 4 ft. space for Allen to set the blade into). Check out the video below of his third swipe.John Deere Green in the Drive

I also talked with our leader of the retired geographers and we canceled tomorrow morning’s meeting. I sent emails but then called people in case they did not see their email. This was part weather related and part some folks not able to come.

I think I have corrected all the music for Thursday.

Tuesday, Jan 10

For Jan 9 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.42. Events: 3 H, 9 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 13 min with mask leakage at start. Oximetry: SpO2 low 54 spurious, actual low, 84, was off CPAP; 25 events <88% with avg., 91.3%. Pulse avg. 57.8, low 50.

I rewrote my blood pressure readings for the previous week for Kim’s (heart doc) requested history.

Talked with our Northwestern Mutual representative at the main office in Spokane, because our old rep and friend retired in Idaho. We want to have her send us annual reports at the first of the year, as we were used to receiving.

We were scheduled to leave about Noon to get 50 miles to Costco and lunch before arriving at the Yakima Heart Center (YHC) for a 2:40 check-in.

At 10:27, John was still out doing chores, in the snow, and I received a call from the YHC scheduler, asking if I could arrive earlier because of a cancellation of a 12:40 p.m. appt because of snow. I still had to shower, but I told her we were over an hour away and we would do our best to make it. We did. I drove both ways. It snowed nicely until we were almost there. We got in the examination room before noon, and the nurse gave me an ECG, took my vitals, and other info. My blood pressure was okay (130/80), considering I had driven through some bad patches of snow on the Interstate, and found a main thoroughfare (16th Avenue) closed that we had to detour around in Yakima without the benefit of any detour signs. It is not a nice even grid system in that part of town. John read later there was a water line break.

My doctor arrived about 1:00 and we started through all his concerns by reviewing my Pulmonary Function Test (PFT), my labs, and my fasting lab in Nov. Not all reports had arrived to my file, but I had copies of several (the PFT and the fasting one from my primary care physician). We were interrupted for about 25 minutes, while he had to consult with a PA about a patient that needed his observation and diagnosis, and several more issues. We continued when he returned, and he examined me. Everything was fine. He has been concerned about the medications I’m on for my heart’s health. The reason for the PFT test is to measure my lung diffusion ratio, and mine could use some improvement. We have decided that I should have the test at an interval less than a year as it has been. I felt the last one in December ’16 was too close to my getting over a cough that lasted 4 weeks and kept me home to get well. He agreed and I will be having another test in April. I am on Amiodarone therapy, which can scar my lungs, but I have successfully been on it since 2010, and I am not a good candidate for the replacement drug.

We also discussed the heart medication I have been on for a couple of years, Telemisartan (generic) for Micardis. He has been following the literature on a new drug, Entresto, which is a combination of two drugs, Sacubitril (24 mg) and Valsartan (26 mg). [That’s actually half-n-half, going by the number of molecules.] Dr. Kim is convinced that while it is an expensive drug, he recommends it for me because it will make me feel better now for my activities (not that I have any complaints), and it will prolong my life. How can one say no to that statement? The frustration is, I am being taken off a heart medication that was previously thought to be superior for my case, and we were slowly increasing the dosage to reach the amount shown in cases to prolong life. That medication (mentioned above) was very expensive and my insurance was not covering it sufficiently. I could get it less expensively at a different pharmacy by paying cash and not going through my insurance company (Group Health). The other frustration was that I did not know of this possibility of change, and I had just last week bought 135 tablets of the Micardis. Oh, well. My Dr. said, “Just keep it, in case your body will not tolerate this new one.” I have to watch out for a blood pressure over 140 (systolic) and not less than 100. I need to be aware of my potassium level, and if I experience shortness of breath or flu-like symptoms, I am to go to the ER. Well, that is a bit scary. I am to leave off the Micardis for 2 days, and start taking the Entresto Thursday morning. The cardiologist’s nurse gave me a week’s supply.

We had another interruption while visiting with the doctor. He was paged from the hospital’s Critical Care unit about one of his patients there. He managed that with us in the room. It was a fascinating dialogue. He returned to dictating our discussion of the day, and answering my questions. He is always very patient with all our discussions and John and I both are involved. I always receive a copy of his comments, mailed to me by the transcriptionist.

He finally called in the nurse to go over the new medication with us, and said his adieus, but not before saying he wants me to come back in a month to see how I’m doing on the new drug. I looked at my watch and realized he was with us (including the interruptions) for 2 hours. That is a record. Previously, he has spent normally an hour every visit, and at the most I think we were with him previously was for 1.5 hrs.

When we left, we still had to go to Costco, and we never had eaten lunch. John had packed along two large chocolate chip/nut cookies, a Snickers bar, and Pepsis, so we nibbled on the way home. The snow started hard while we were in with the doctor. Our car was covered when we went out. I drove for the return trip too. First stop was Costco to fill my car, and it was $2.49/gal., which is 9¢/gal cheaper than Ellensburg. Then we went inside and bought over $200 worth of long-term products and some groceries. The ‘Tax’ software was the biggest single item.

I returned a $9 pair of slippers (good) and we forgot a $9 pizza (bad) that got put on the bottom rack under the basket. We came upon slowing traffic and could see it stopped way out in front. I managed to get to the off ramp for the downtown exit and we went around (whatever it was) via city streets and back to I-82 at the Selah Gap. We thought we might have to drive through Selah to enter the freeway farther north, but we were able to re-enter where Hwy 12 comes in from the west. The trip home was complicated by snow blowing across the road making some icy spots. I slowed down considerably. We were getting snow/icy rain all the way home for the last 25 miles. Finally, we made it safely home at 6:00 p.m. in the dark. A couple of cats were waiting to be fed, and our dog was happy to greet us. The horses had been preemptively fed – hay left for them in several places so John only had to unload some of the items from the car.

My cell phone stopped working today. It will not hold a charge, and when it is charged, it will not dial a number, even where I am close to a tower. The Consumer Cellular folks think it is the SIM card, and I think it is the battery.

Wednesday, Jan 11

For Jan 10 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.35. Events: 2 H, 9 RERA. Time on 5 hrs 47 min with (max = 20 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 % low on a 54 spurious start; actual low, 84, avg. low was 89.1, 25 events <88% with overall avg., 91.3%. Pulse avg. 57.8, low 50.

Today was another cold day. I picked up Gloria and her sister and we went to the Food Bank to sing and eat, and on to the SAIL exercise class at the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center. We stopped at Grocery Outlet on the way home, and they got some stuff they needed. Gloria brought me some of her homemade peanut butter cookies.

John checked the web and gave me some links to the Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation site about my new medication. The company is in Boston, MA, so getting through to the Eastern Time Zone could not happen until tomorrow. Meanwhile, I studied their website and found some programs I am interested in, and for which I will apply. One is a free 30-day supply (one time only) of the new medication. Second is an application for a cash rebate on the price for a month’s supply (60 tablets), when paid for through my insurance. It costs me $10 to use the system to apply $100 off the price. In order to qualify for both I have to download and fill out an Enrollment Form for the ENTRESTO Central Patient Support Program. To speed up the process, I could FAX it to Boston. I cannot FAX, so I filled in the form, printed it, along with both sides of my Group Health insurance card, and took it to my pharmacist on Thursday afternoon to send in with the prescription.

We do not yet know the cost to me, but the normal cost ranges from $400 to $500 per month. I hope to know by Tuesday with a telephone call from Boston, MA.

I am happy John found this support. The folks at the Yakima Heart Center were not aware of it, so I sent all the details via email to my cardiologist’s nurse so that they can give that information to anyone else put on the drug. There is one other opportunity for help with the cost of the drug for people in financial need. We do not qualify for that, but it is nice the company provides the option.

I did not have time today to worry about the cell phone problems.

Thursday, Jan 12

For Jan 11 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.34. Events: 2 CSR, 2 H, 13 RERA. Time on 5 hrs 51 min with (max = 16 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 5 events <88% with avg., 91.3%. Pulse avg. 56.5, low 51.

This morning, I dealt with the drug cost reduction request and my cell phone.

I called the pharmaceutical company in Boston and learned that they had received my application this morning that was FAXed yesterday afternoon. At least the process has begun, and they will call me Tuesday with the determination of in network pharmacy vs. out of network pharmacy costs to me.

I also called Oregon about my cell phone problems. We went through several “shocks” to the system but it failed to kick in. They suggested I move to a place in Ellensburg and they would try again. I carried it and John’s cell phone with me to check this afternoon after we finish our music.

Before I change the SIM card in my phone I have to record all the numbers in my cell phone onto hard copy. I have started that process, but have many to go. I have over 500 numbers in my phone! Thankfully, it will keep a charge long enough for me to work on the number retrieval.

We play at the Meadows today, and John is coming along with me to buy groceries and animal feed while I am inside playing music. I handed out the new music for Jan/Feb. We had a turnout of 10 with two new players, one on the harmonica and the other on guitar. We only had two fiddlers there today. The rest of the group was playing guitars. One of our guitar players will be gone for at least 3 weeks for knee surgery.

I attempted calling the cell phone place, and it did not work. The alternative was to go to a Target store to buy a new SIM card. The closest Target store is 50 miles away. She then asked if we had a Sears store. They will reimburse me for the changed SIM card cost ($10). We went by our small local Sears on the way home, and I bought one, but as of yet, I have not been able to put it in my phone, because the new one will not fit. She said they would send me a new one (but if I cannot make the Sears one get into the slot, I will not get a credit). The other one coming is free, in the mail. I plan to continue recording numbers, try to fit the Sears one in the phone, and if it does not fit into my old flip phone, I will wait for the new one to arrive in the mail after Monday’s holiday.

Friday, Jan 13

For Jan 12 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.12. Events: 1 H, 12 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 20 min with (max = 12 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 89, 0 events <88% with avg., 92.1%. Pulse avg. 59.2, low 52. This was a good night, probably the best in months.

Our temperature was -7°F here last night and it was -12 at the airport (located 5 miles down valley).Our full moon has been lovely, and this morning’s sunrise skies were beautiful with pastel colors, but I did not get my picture of the moon before it went behind the trees, so I will show you, but you best get the wonderful views from the Seattle area.
People in Seattle have cameras

Here are my shots this morning, only of the sunrise:Left is our backyard view where the moon is setting behind the trees, and right is out the front door.
See tomorrow’s blog below for the full moon a day later.

John just came in and said the water to the horse trough was not functioning. It is almost full, but he took some water out to add, and the heater is still keeping the water in it from freezing. The heater has to stay submerged. I guess that is what many hours of “minus” temperatures causes. But more below.

I called and found that my paperwork to Novartis had made it, but they will not have a decision until next Tuesday or Wednesday about the cost of my prescription using my insurance.

I called the Cardiopulmonary Services at KVH Hospital to check on an appointment for me in April. I need to have a work order sent to them by my cardiologist. I wrote an email to my cardiologist’s nurse requesting she do that.

We stayed home today.

Saturday, Jan 14

For Jan 12 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.50. Events: 1 CSR, 4 H, 19 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 2 min with (max = 22 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 44 spurious, actual low, 89, 0 events <88% with avg., 92.6%. Pulse avg. 56.4, low 50.

These were my views of the morning’s slightly less than full moon viewed out the back patio door, where I missed photographing it the past couple of days.Compare to the link given above for yesterday from KOMONEWS (in Seattle) of the beautiful full moon.

Travel to town was scheduled – despite the cold. It was only 4° when we got to Ellensburg. It was warmer at our elevation.

The first visit was to a friend from my past and present, Trinity Turner. I have known her mother for 25 years (through fiddling). She is now a student at CWU (in the Geography Dept.), and when classes do not conflict, she plays fiddle with our group visiting nursing homes. Small world. She was giving this desk away on the Free Box site on Facebook, and I asked John if he could use it for his computer and our moved router. He figured he could, so I asked for it, and she was happy to give to a friend. It had been given to her. We got the measurements and John figured we could fit it into the back of my Subaru with the back seats pushed down. It is 56.5″ high, about 3′ wide, and about 17″ deep.It is still in the back of my car, along with 80 pounds of Black Oil Sunflower seeds in 20# bags that were on sale (through the end of January) at Ace Hardware. Buy one at $15.99 and get one free. John has now removed the sunflower seeds.
Maybe on Monday, the cart.

I picked up my one med (cheaper, $5.00) at Super 1 Pharmacy. I wish all my pills were that price. This is for 3 months of Spironolact, one pill daily.

Today we bought a heat tape for our horse trough pipe and the temps went up enough that John got a pencil trickle, left it open, went to feed the horses, and when he returned, the pencil-thin stream had rid the stand-pipe of the ice and it was in full gush. He has wrapped the pipe with a plastic tarp, then mounded wood chips and snow to keep the minus air off. Later he will install the heat tape in proper fashion. We are, in fact, a bit warmer now but a major change will not occur until Tuesday.

We also picked up a package for a gal in town who lives near us, delivered it, and in return she is giving me a sheet I can spread over my recliner. The flannel sheet I have had has worn threadbare, with holes in the part over the right arm of the chair. I cannot pick up the sheet until next week when I drive by her house from town on my way home.

Sunday, Jan 15

For Jan 14 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.96. Events: 1 CSR, 8 H, 19 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 21 min with (max = 21 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 82 spurious at start, actual low, 87, the 1 event <88% with overall avg., 92.6%. Pulse avg. 58.1, low 52.

We just spent a lovely 20 minutes on the phone with John’s cousin Ethel and her daughter Pat in Brookville, PA. Ethel is 98, still living by herself, but goes for Sunday lunch to her daughter’s, when the weather is not too icy for walking. They had temperatures in the thirties today and not much snow. We are at 18.5° now with a little snow occurring.

John made Crockpot candy (Chocolate, Almond Bark, and dry roasted peanuts) today. The ingredients were left from many months ago – and it was time for them to be used.

Late afternoon, we had a call from Jeri Conklin reporting on our co-owned dog, Daisy, in CA. She and her husband were returning from a Vizsla field trial, where her new trainer had run her in an Open Limited Gun Dog stake. Jeri was able to ride along on one of her trainer’s horses.

Here is the story in her own words when she sent the pictures below (and more) on Facebook:
“Today was one of those days when you get to go out and see your child who has been at a trainers for three weeks! Daisy ran in the OLGD this morning at the Vizsla trial – and it was so good to see her so happy! She was confident on her point and the flush was above and beyond as she stood still as a rock. She and Scott have come a long way in a short time and I can only think their relationship will get better and better. The old Daisy was gone and the Daisy Bug that I knew was in there came out in full bloom today. Perhaps her time away from the field made all the difference, she was definitely “hungry” to be out there again and that was very evident. She didn’t place, but she had a gorgeous forward run, sharp/clean bird work – couldn’t ask for more. Thank you Scott for a great job, well done. Here are a few pictures to share with Nancy B. Hultquist and others.”
My choice of photos Jeri took today. First, our Happy DAYSeee gal has returned: (the sparkle is back in her eyes at the end of the run today).Now for a peek at today’s action in California at the Vizsla field trial for Cedaridge Kip’s Camelot Shay Tre’ JH (call name Daisy), co-owned by Nancy with Jeri Conklin in Lancaster, CA. The timing for the trial was good. CA is getting hit with rain and/or snow in great amounts, but today was between storms. Friend Sonja with horses and dogs, in South Lake Tahoe, is up to her keister in snow. The Tahoe area has power outages and washed out roads. At the line, wetting down and ready for the breakaway.Daisy on point, with judge’s boot blocking her face. Holding and turning to watch the flush, made her head visible.
{John says: The judge rode in too close to a dog on point. Unless that’s a camera effect.}Scott Azevedo wetting her down after the find before finishing the stake, and on the right, in the “spa” at the end of her run. Look at the water droplets in each photo.

Thank you Jeri for such wonderful coverage of such a happy day in the field. Placements will return. She is back with us. Thanks for all your hard work bringing back her spirit.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Jan 2

For Jan 1 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.00. Events: 1 CSR, 0 H, 19 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 55 min with (max = 14 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 83 spurious, actual low, 87, is all I see on the graphic chart, 2 events <88% with avg., 91.8%. Pulse avg. 55.4, low 47.

We finally published last week’s blog late afternoon. It had too much in it, but I did not have time to make a web page for the Raclette this year, and put it all in the blog instead.

Before noon, I requested information from the music group about who could print their own or how many I had to Xerox copy. Now I know about how many to run, but need to make a list and number the order of songs on my master.

Whoopee! Tonight about 7:00 p.m., I found my heavy-duty masks (graded N-95) for wearing when John is adding wood to the stove and leaking actual smoke into the room. The masks were safely put in my back bathroom medicine cabinet, but I did not remember for 3 days into this year.

Tuesday, Jan 3

For Jan 2 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.24. Events: 1 H, 7 RERA. Time on 4 hrs 15 min with (max = 16 L/min). Oximetry: Battery ran out after 55 minutes.

I figured out the numbers of pages to set up, and the cost of the copies. Some folks want it printed differently, so I have to make several different runs and a smaller run for additions of the new music to the audience copies. I carried the master, instructions, a ream of paper, and the money for printing. I went by for a blood draw at the hospital, needed for the appt with my cardiologist next Tuesday. By the time I got home, our nurse had called and given John my INR reading (2.3, within desired range).

After that, I participated in Jazzercise, and we had two new people join our class of four. They are a couple. We have never had any men in this class. We have men in the SAIL exercise class.

From there, because Tuesday is check-# day, I was off to Bi-Mart and then back home to assemble music pages, so I can deliver two copies tomorrow.

Wednesday, Jan 4 Happy Birthday to John !!!

For Jan 3 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.56. Events: 7 H, 9 RERA. Time on 4 hrs 29 min with (max = 16 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low spurious 56 while taking off mask, 15 events <88% with avg. 91.3%. 6 with CPAP on; 9 without CPAP, and have lower values of Sp02; Pulse avg. 56.1, low 47.

Below is the graphic evidence that the CPAP helps control my SpO2 (percentage of saturated oxygen going to my organs while I sleep). It still goes below 88% when on the machine, but more so when off. I went to the food bank today, but skipped SAIL exercise class today to run errands so I could get back in time for a much-needed haircut. I stopped by for some sunflower seeds at Ace Hardware that John wanted (on a good sale – buy one bag, get one free). The fellow before me had just bought the last 4 bags, so they will have more in this Friday, will reserve 4 bags for me, and call us. (That did not occur; we went by Friday to no avail because while they had been shipped in, they’d not yet taken them from the back storage area). I went by our car mechanic (Seth Motors now run by the grandson, Justin Seth) also to pick up 2017 calendars for John (his request), and while there he gave me two baseball hats for us and another carrying bag with their name on the side. [When first in EBRG and still giving blood, John met Grandfather Seth – a volunteer providing a steady hand and a glass of orange juice.] I also went by Super 1 for some sale items, and on the way home, I went by Bi-Mart for more of the reduced price canned cat food. All this rushing around, was caused by wanting to make it back home to leave my violin inside in the warmth, and bring in the groceries, so that I could head over a mile to get my haircut at 3:00 p.m. That happened, and I had a nice visit with Celia and Bobby Winingham and viewed their local contingent of backyard deer.

They had a couple of bucks and about 15 deer they were giving “cob” {corn/oats/barley} to, and while I don’t have a photo of them, here is the biggest buck at their place. He is back from previous years. Where’s my dinner (1-4-17) _______ Same buck in 2016 (pix by Celia)

Thursday, Jan 5

For Jan 4 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.66. Events: 1 CSR, 5 H, 11 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 37 min with (max = 22 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 88, 0 events <88% with avg., 92.0%. Pulse avg. 56.2, low 49.

Frustration plus – music problems, sickness at Rehab caused cancellation of our playing activities. Sorry for the folks there. Okay for me as I had changes to make in the last page of The M.T.A. and things to work on with telephone calls to two insurance providers, and my dental providers. We had a misunderstanding of the dental costs, and I already had filled my allowed expenses for 2016 with the implant surgery, so I will have to cover the entire cost of my teeth cleaning in December. Normally every cleaning and X-rays are entirely covered. I’m unhappy about that, but I blame myself for not checking with the dental insurance company. All my coverage went to the two implants (at another dentist’s office).

At 5:00 p.m., the real problem started. I downloaded something from earlier in the day. When I went to answer and compiled an email to send, I found I had no Internet connection. John did. I had him go back and “re-set” and then neither of us had a connection. We fiddled with it and could not make it work again. We now assume the modem failed. The person in town who helped last time works from 8:00 to 5:00. We called the national 24/7 line, but we had already tried all the things we knew he would ask. He could not help us, but had us remove a filter and splitter on the cord line from the wall-outlet to the modem. It did not help. Saddest part of this is our Wireless within the house is not responding without the DSL entry. That means I cannot print from my printer, which means I cannot get an output of the music I need to get to my friend to help me assess the changes. I could have printed and met her in town with it. We are now hoping that John can carry the modem in tomorrow morning, find out it has died, and get another to bring home to plug in.

The rest of the evening, we worked on projects off the computer, and the last thing we did was to put together a casserole of Yukon gold potatoes, similarly thin slices of Acorn squash, grated sharp cheddar cheese, a sauce from a mixture of sour cream, milk, butter, and spices, topped with Parmesan cheese. We will cook in the morning and take to a New Year’s party at the Adult Activity Center.

Ending the day on a happy note — two of our Brittanys in Wisconsin wished their mom a happy birthday and we heard about it on Facebook, after we finally got “connected” to the wired world again. That still a day away.The two on the right are “our” Cedaridge pups, Molly & Tobie. I drove them at 8 wks of age to Spokane and Anna’s hubby Paul flew in from Wisconsin to meet me. He carried them back together in a carrier in the passenger part of the plane. So cool. These are not the first dogs they had from us, but sadly, they will be the last because we are no longer breeding Brittanys, since the last litter in 2010.

Friday, Jan 6

For Jan 5 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.40 Events: 2 H, 3 PP, 12 RERA. Time on 5 hrs 1 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 59 spurious, actual was 79 probably also because of on/off switch, 16 events <88% with avg., 91.4%. Pulse avg. 53.6, low 43, probably spurious because my defibrillator keeps my pulse at 50.

It’s a.m. and we are back on Internet from moving the router to the front of house.

Last night it quit and a long call to tech support did not fix it. John moved the router of the telephone cable (DSL) to a different place in the house, but it still did not work. Both the old and new places have a splitter so a line could be connected to a phone and another to the Internet modem.

This morning he pulled the splitter out and plugged the line directly into the wall outlet from the outside phone line. Bingo! In less than 5 seconds, we had the Internet back.
John continues: The second line is now unplugged – and it is the one that connects Nancy’s automated caller to the heart center that monitors her defibrillator and heart function. That’s a once a day call between 2 and 3 in the AM. Thus, fixing that line to a different location is my big problem for the day. Did I mention it is nippy cold here? Nancy here: John rerouted the telephone lines and all my monitors are back – with a long line taped along the wall, around a corner to a hallway, and hanging on “stuff” to the far wall of the (so called) living room. So why did it quit? Some questions do not have answers.

We left for the AAC (Ellensburg senior center)’s New Year’s Party potluck with our two pans of Irish scalloped potatoes, we named Leprechaun Gold. We described the content above. The theme of the party was New Year’s Traditions around the World.

Small review. More pictures will be available on the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center’s Facebook page, where all of mine will be displayed with staff photos. I try to cover the people participating in events while the staff are serving us or conducting games. The young women in two of the pictures are Megan Willwerth and Lauren Healey, working for 10 months as AmeriCorps employees here at the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center. The left photo shows them starting the buffet so they can go serve Black-eyed Pea Soup to the people at the tables. After lunch, they conducted a New Year’s Trivia game for 3 teams (tables) at the party. The questions were in three categories: Facts about New Years, New Year’s Traditions, and 2016 Pop Culture. The last being a topic that we become farther away with each new movie or TV show.Left is the smaller pan of potatoes we took. Middle shows the larger one in front of the woman in the photo. Right shows part of John’s plate, our shared pie, my plate, and my bowl of soup (black-eyed peas with veggies, bacon, and sour cream). Left is Katrina Douglas, Director of the center; right are her parents Dudley & Sharon Kell, whom we met at our table. They have only been in Ellensburg since June, and we told them about the Dudley Bridge over the Yakima River west of EBRG.Left is a photo of a collection of dolls from around the world that belongs to Marion, an AAC member who brought them to display because of the international theme. Right is a photo op of John and me with props, but his sign said 2017, and he didn’t hold it high enough to be seen behind my little New Year’s Hat (also provided by the AAC). The 17 of 2017 is behind my hat. We enjoyed ourselves at the party.

On our way home, we stopped by Super 1 for groceries and I had a nice visit with a friend (Bonnie Clement) I haven’t seen in two years. She was a daily visitor, while I was in the Rehab for 7 weeks in 2010. She would bring her little dog. While we talked, John shopped. Ending the day with a beautiful sunset, shows snow, of which we got at least 2 more inches the next day, and it is still snowing Sunday, as we finalize this treatise. The plan is for 2″ more tonight and then flurries through Wednesday. West of us, in the Cascades, there will be more snow and strong winds. I-90 is open but a mess (Sunday at 3). We need to go south, on I-82, Tuesday about Noon.

Saturday, Jan 7

For Jan 6 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.92. Events: 1 CSR, 8 H, 12 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 40 min with major mask leakage. Oximetry: SpO2 spurious low 78, actual low was 89, 3 events <88% with avg., 92.0%. Pulse avg. 55.0, low 50.

I have been working on this text, on dishes, and fixing the Chorus of the Kingston trio’s song, The M.T.A. It has given us a terrible time trying to replicate the musical score of the song to match the notes and the way the Trio sang it. No one has successfully reproduced a score with notes, chords, and lyrics that matches the original. Musicnotes sells a version on line but it is not correct either. I believe we now have a good rendition, thanks to Evie’s help. If anyone wishes me to send them a pdf of the two pages of the music, please let me know. Just promise not to give it to someone who will charge others for it.

John has been good about letting me know when wildlife is around. Here are pictures of California Quail in the feeder.Left I took from the kitchen window, and then John told me the sun was on them from the bedroom window. The right photo is taken through a dirty window. That’s the next window to clean. Quail live by having a hair-trigger flight plan so I can’t step outside or open a window. Another problem is that all my photos in the blog are low resolution.

About 1:10 p.m., John called my attention to the beautiful Rooster pheasant in our front yard. I got my camera to record him walking around. Glad he came before the heavy snow. John noted the beginning of the snow so brought in wood and kindling to have us well stocked through tomorrow. The wood stove has been going since mid-day December 31. The air is a bit “dry” and we’ve been talking about (procrastinating) fixing that.Pheasant in front yard. Middle picture-see Mt. Ash berry in his mouth, and the right one shows his foot is banded. Check out the Pheasant in the front yard, 1-7-17 video below.

Ringneck Rooster Under the Seed Tree

This is the explanation on line with the video: “Here is our sole pheasant back again for almost 2 minutes in our front yard (on video) – he was there many more minutes. John called me to see him. He has come onto the porch right by our front door for water and to check-out the hard cat food. Here is he nibbling scratch fallen from the bird feeder (see context of feeder in the Mt. Ash tree at 1:51), and you’ll see him going over to eat gravel by the front of our house, under the eaves. Sorry for the bad views from 51 seconds to 1.01 min. I don’t have an easy way of editing out that part of the footage.” Enjoy.

John fixed dinner. He bought a turkey hindquarter (2X) and cooked 1 with onions and mushrooms. He added the remainder of our potatoes we brought back from the party, slices of pineapple, and rounds of Butternut squash. This was such a lovely colorful dinner, I must share a photograph. The color of the onions is preserved in a slow oven. Pineapple is on the left between the squash and our potato creation.

Sunday, Jan 8

For Jan 7 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.99. Events: 1 CA, 7 H, 22 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 7 min with (max = 22 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 82 (spurious), actual low 84, avg. low <88%, 89.7, 11 events <88%, with overall avg., 91.5%. Pulse avg. 54.3, low 49.

Our resident pheasant is back, and snow has covered everything, but he’s digging and finding something. It’s fun to watch him. We are scheduled to have snow all week. I’m not happy about having to travel in the snow to Yakima on Tuesday this week to visit with my cardiologist.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

I will start with a Joyful picture of musical trees that I left out of Christmas Day’s report last week. The image is quite appropriate for me (music and tree removal around our home) this year. It came from a friend of >50 years, Bob Wittick (Michigan), whom we met in Iowa in the late sixties in graduate school. The Cardinal doesn’t make it out to the northwest but we remember them from our “home” states of GA & PA.Monday, Dec 26

For Dec 25 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.59. Events: 5 H, 2 PP, 16 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 25 min with (max = 23 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 86 spurious, 0 events <88% with avg., 92.7%. Pulse avg. 53.5, low 50.

I contacted the members of our music group, because on the 5th Thursday this month, we do not go any place for music. It is a holiday for us, now that there are only 4 assisted-living homes in Ellensburg.
Worked on bills a little and worked a lot on music that Evie went through for me. We are getting it improved slowly.

Tuesday, Dec 27

For Dec 26 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.26. Events: 2 H, 24 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 45 min with (max = 14 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 84 seems spurious, 2 events of 87 <88% with avg., 91.9%. Pulse avg. 54.6, low 50.

I planned to go to Jazzercise today, and John went along to go to Bi-Mart for some goodies, and to fill his gasoline tank for our trips later this week.

We checked the bread room on the way, and they invited us to take excess food. I explained we were not registered for food dispersal and they said, No problem – we put this on Facebook for the community to come. We have too much and do not want to see it go to waste. There were vegetables, lettuce, potatoes, onions, squash, tomatoes, and apples. John took a bag of quite small apples (not much bigger than a golf ball) for the deer, but left behind 3 bins of people-sized apples.

I am still working on music with huge help from our new violinist in the group, who is quite the musician, with formal training that most of us lack.

Wednesday, Dec 28

For Dec 27 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.11. Events: 1 CA, 0 H, 3 PP, 20 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 46 min with (max = 14 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 88, 0 events <88% with avg., 92.4%. Pulse avg. 54.6, low 50.

I picked up Gloria, and we went to the food bank, sang and ate, and to the hospital for me to have a blood draw to check my INR. By the time I got home, Cody had called and told John it was well in range at 2.3).

Today was a good day at the Food bank for obtaining stuff that was still in excess. Gloria and I were each given 5 lbs. of Russet Norkotah potatoes; the day before John and I got a small box of Yukon Golds. North Dakota State University developed this Norkotah brand and Russet describes the skin color – brown. These were grown in Idaho.

I came home to more news from my friend, Jeri Conklin, in Lancaster, CA, the co-owner of our Brittany, Daisy (call name). Her official name is Cedaridge Kip’s Camelot Shay Tre’ JH. She has field placements (including an excellent placement, second, in the Western Futurity when 2 years old) and show placements. She was going north in California to be evaluated by a trainer there in Los Banos. She passed her test. Her spirit had been diminished during training to retrieve, and she would not do so, and she was no longer standing high on her pointing. Jeri has been working with her and her desire has returned. She has not been pushing the retrieve, however, because that is no longer required in Gun Dog events in Brittany trials. (I find that difficult to believe, after judging gun dog events at Brittany field trials.)

I am sharing that background before showing you the pictures from today in the field of Daisy and Jeri, taken by her hubby, Kurt. This collage is busy, but if you look from left to right across the top and bottom, you’ll see the story unfolding. Top left shows Daisy waiting her turn to run. Middle top shows a Jumbo White Coturnix Quail flushing that she probably thought was a dickey bird. She chased, jumped, grabbed, and retrieved to hand to Jeri. Normally, one would not praise “not stopping to flush”, but in this case, knowing she had previously quit retrieving, made it all okay. Her spirit has returned.

The next collages are her finds of Chukar and handling all the situations just fine. She pointed nicely with head held high, watched intently the search and flush, and held.

Daisy on point and Jeri launching the Chukar. Daisy held for the flush.Daisy on second point and Jeri searching for the Chukar. She had to go around the tree to launch the bird, and Daisy held and watched.

Third Chukar find. Jeri searched and finally found it and flushed. Far right, Daisy marks the bird, but stays put. Good girl.

All and all a successful trip, so they left her with the trainer.

Thursday, Dec 29

For Dec 28 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.17. Events: x CSR, 1 H, 14 RERA. Time on 5 hrs 54 min with (max = 15 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 89, 0 events <88% with avg., 91.4%. Pulse avg. 53.8, low 50.

John had to feed the animals and put wood (for the fire) in the back of the car to take to the Raclette. I fixed the food we took (cherry tomatoes and two desserts). Only one of the desserts was eaten, as there were very many desserts brought as potluck sides this year. One year we had no bread. Next year I’ll bet the desserts are sparse.

We made it to the White Heron fire-pit at noon. John and 2 others unloaded the firewood and then John moved the car out of the way for new arrivals.

A few photos are below in this blog, but if you want a larger introduction to what goes on at a Raclette, check the link following to a web page I made in 2014, which also has trips back to 2013 and 2012. There is a link even farther back with references to past visits with our class, (Wine: A Geographical Appreciation) to the vineyard and winery. We taught it from 1998 to 2008, and White Heron Cellars and the Mariposa Vineyard were always a field trip. For a couple of years before they opened the current winery, Cameron Fries brought wine and educated our students in the classroom in Ellensburg, at CWU. What great memories we have had with his family through the years!

White Heron Raclette Write-up 2014 and before

The winter view of the vineyard is different from what most people see. The Mariposa vineyard surrounds their home and winery (not seen), White Heron Cellars. Foreground vines belong to Jones of Washington and likely is their smallest vineyard. Jones is a major family corporation and this little plot has a storied background.

The pruners prune grapevines for about 5 weeks in the spring. Cameron & Phyllis Fries, owners of the property, vineyard, and winery, hold this event for the pruners and their families. They host this Raclette annually – sometimes the end of December, or in January of the new year.

Pruners for 2016 are in the collage below: Left to right: Erik, John, Phil, Mark, Tom, Bill, & Cameron

Wives of the pruners:Behind Linda (Bill) and Audrey (Phil), on the left is the wood, some of which John contributed this year. Nancy (John)-Phyllis (Cameron)-Lynne (Tom)-Margaret (Mark)
I am wearing a sweater from Iceland, I purchased in Denmark, in the summer of 1965 while on a Geography Field Trip for 9 weeks in Europe. Over the years the sweater had some holes from moth damage, and Lynne repaired (knitted) them for me. She also fixed a hole in the hat I’m wearing, and knitted me some gaiters I wore, but they’re not seen in this photo. Phyllis told her she probably had the colors of yarn in her collection, so the first day of the spring pruning, I am sending my sweater over with John for Lynne to do her special work. The year 1965 is special because that is the year I began in Cincinnati, OH in graduate school and met John there. The field trip was at the end of my undergraduate degree, and it was led by my first geography professor, Sanford Bederman and his wife, Jolayne. It was because of Sandy that I attended the University of Cincinnati, so I credit him with starting my geography career and making it possible for my life with John.

The winery dog is named Altesse, which is a white French grape found primarily in the Savoy wine region of France. Their previous dog, present in 2015, was named Roussanne, another fine white grape (and our Brittany, Annie, is registered as Cedaridge Vintage Roussanne). Roussanne is a white grape grown in the Rhône wine region in France.

Here is a photo of the vineyard animals:Altesse-2016 Roussanne-2015 Chickens protected by dog.
We watched Altesse chase away a hawk from the chickens during our visit this year. Phyllis & Cameron take eggs to west side to weekend farmer’s markets in three different locations, where they go primarily to sell their wine.

Now for the food fest in the Raclette manner:Bonfire (some vine cuttings are required) and side dishesPotatoes (some purple) and sausage steaming over wine and vine cuttings. Tops stay on the iron skillet roasters.

Here is the setup of the Raclette cheese (square this year):The cheese comes from the Puget Sound or left side of the State, because the proper cheese can’t be found locally. Cameron creates the bed of coals for cooking beneath the cheese, which is skewered on a 3-pronged pole mounted device to move it over the fire to melt – and then to swivel away during “scrapping” or the “racletting.”This plate shows a purple potato, some slaw, and a sausage with the cheese coming and being scraped down onto Bill’s plate.Three more plates served, with John on the right.

You have to watch fast the following (only video I took this year) to see the way it happens. This is only 9 seconds and it is a very small serving.

Racletting video 2016

Besides eating, we had fun visiting:My parting shot of the view from our Raclette site, over the vineyard and down toward Crescent Bar and West Bar. The right shows folks visiting and saying goodbyes around the roaring fire.

On our way home, we viewed a nice sunset with a jet’s contrail, and were able to see the I-90 bridge over the Columbia River – about 35 miles from home.It was a fun day. We were gone 7 hours and got home just at dark.

Last year (2015), our blog covered the Raclette

Above is last year’s blog entry on the annual White Heron Raclette; I was not very into it because I was still recovering from going in the ditch on our way home from the surgery to implant my new defibrillator (Dec 18 was the surgery, but this trip Dec 29 was for the checkup of the new one). I took more pictures at the Raclette in 2015, but never put a report together for 2015.
I decided to put this for 2016 in the blog as well and not make a separate web page for it.

Friday, Dec 30

For Dec 29 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.33. Events: 2 H, 11 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 7 min with (max = 7 L/min). Oximetry: I hit the button and reset my oximeter before downloading the data. So, we’ll wait for another day.

Quail in New Feeder in Mt. Ash Tree

We are going to visit the LaBar family this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. Rebekah returned for Christmas with her boyfriend, Vincent, and sister, Caitlin, came over from Longview. John and Robin LaBar live about a little over 13 miles from us (not the way the crow flies). We had a nice visit and Caitlin made a great cinnamon/ sugar frosted orange peel cake, served with hot chocolate. Caitlin also brought her 2nd draft of a monumental creation on Butterflies of the Sinlahekin Wildlife Area, in which she has plates of photographs she has taken at museums (Burke in WA and another in OR) and of her own specimens. She has created a unique classification schema of identification with photos of various types of Fritillary butterflies, using topside and underneath (not the technical terms) of the wings. I cannot begin to describe the incredible contents of this masterpiece, and I look forward to getting a copy of the final publication. We will work on getting our living room set up with a coffee table so we can properly display her book.

I had her pose with her book. John helped me lighten the only one taken without a flash that came out well. Below is a photo of Bekah and Vincent. Vincent is from Taiwan and lives in Sydney, Australia. Bekah has been a meteorologist in Wellington, New Zealand, but her company is moving her to their Sydney office. They did not have a lot of time in the states, and with many people and places to visit, so we were very grateful they shared some time with us. And, a big thanks to John and Robin for giving us packages of some very lean ground beef (best we’ve ever had) from their herd. We have cooked one package, and had a meal of hamburgers one night and then nachos the next. I took photos I will send them, but will not put any more in this week’s blog.

Saturday, Dec 31

For Dec 30 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.51. Events: 4 H, 1 PP, 15 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 51 min with (max = 23 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 86, 2 events <88% with avg., 91.8%. Pulse avg. 54.4, low 50.

Sunny and chilly. 17° upon awakening.
John found a story on the BBC this morning and we followed the links, watched this amazing little girl, an accomplished musician, at 11 years old. She has written an opera, Cinderella, which is being performed (with her playing in it as well), in Vienna.

Young musician

We searched and found many more videos of her back in time. Here’s just one.

Alma Deutscher at Henley Festival

John changed the newest filter on our furnace, after two months (too long). It was filthy.

I needed to go to town and arranged to meet Ann & Keith for the delivery of a water bottle. Here is a collage of her offer on line and my photo of thanks once home with it. I have taken off the BPA-free sign; I meant to show that. I will use the insulated carrier to keep it cold to take to my exercise classes. Thanks, Ann. Hers was a response to my request on line (Free Givers, Kittitas County) for a liquid container after breaking a large glass accidentally while washing the kitchen window so we could photograph visitors to the new bird feeder. She met me in town to deliver my gift.Left are her pictures she shared on Facebook to see if I wanted it. It was new and she was not going to use it. The right pictures my insulated carrier I will use for it. I photographed it when I got home, in front of the woodshed outside our back patio door.

While I went to town to meet them, I also took advantage of coupons, get some hard cat food for all the cats (to save us a trip to Yakima to Costco), and to get a good price on soft drinks for John at two different stores. When I got home, I found that John had cleaned out around our wood stove and started a fire. We had piled too much stuff around it and on top of it since last winter. It is 74° in here (the den), and 72° in the hallway. Wow. Now we are ready for minus temperatures predicted next week.

Wood Stove – 2016 in action (short video)

Sunday, Jan 1 Happy New Year !

For Dec 31 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.71. Events: 5 H, 6 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 1 min with small mask leakage. Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, spurious 76 at start that messes up the avg., 4 events <88% with avg., 91.3%. Pulse avg. 56.3, low 50.

Early morning Happy New Year’s e-card (Neujahrskarte in German) wishing us well (alles gate fur).Lovely card from our friends in Salzburg, Austria, we met in Idaho at the University in the 1970s. Heinz Slupetsky with his family, wife and two girls, has kept up with us all these years.

Normal feeding activity outside and inside. I started the morning working on the last phase of fixing the song Fraulein, with the tremendous help of Evie, our fiddle player. She is talented at being able to transcribe music from a video, and then I can enter it into our group’s repertoire, via the software, SongWriter. Now, I’m set to print the master and get it Xeroxed next week for our first use for Jan/Feb play dates – this one Thursday being at the Rehab where I spent 7 weeks in 2010 (Jan-Feb) to learn how to use all my muscles again and walk. It’s nostalgic to go back to play there now. My first roommate there is back again and not doing very well. She still remembers John and me, but the dementia is taking over her life. I still remind her she is my sunshine, for telling me I would recover and be on my feet again. She was my inspiration there and wonderful she was my roommate. Her name is Mae.

I tried to finish this blog to publish Sunday, but I had too much to finish. John put out a placeholder for the blog, titled Over the Mountain …

Now we will get it published Monday, January 2, 2017.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

and through the snow

Cold is coming to you and to me. Ha.Ha. John

It has been a busy week and Nancy is still playing with all the photos and video she took. So we’ll get a full blog up Monday.
We’ll be spending a lot of time in the house. The weather professionals say it is now (10 pm) 30°F and headed down. High tomorrow is near 17. That’s the good news. We will likely see zero mid-week and will not see 30 again before next Monday, the 9th. If then.

We brought some wood in and have the wood stove going, so we are cozy.
Hope you are too.

John & Nancy
Still on the Naneum Fan