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Sunday, Aug 30

For Aug 29 CPAP. Reported figures. 2 hrs 23 min with AHI=1.26 Events: 2 H. No major mask leaks (max=15 L/min); no oximeter. No clue why I took off the mask, and no clue why the AHI was so high with only 2 H. One of life’s mysteries.

Heading off to town to visit my friend whose house I’m watching while she’s away, and to take some squash and tomatoes to people. Hopefully to trade for some fresh eggs. We received two dozen eggs, and gave away a fair number of squash and tomatoes. Squash are becoming less productive. Tomatoes are starting to come on better.

John is so much better today — all systems go, and this week, he has gained 10-12 pounds back from the 25 pounds lost over the past month. Most importantly, he is feeling better. I’m happy to have him back. (I seem to utter those words every day.)

Monday, Aug 31

For Aug 30 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 48 min with AHI=0.29 Events: 2 H, 1 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=8 L/min); no oximeter.

I spent most of the day working on music masters to take to Xerox after my first stint at the community clothing share. I also put a few more sacks of stuff from our place together to add to the clothing share. I have already submitted about 6 bags of things. I spent more time arranging for people from the community involved with charity clothing operations to come to the end of our share tomorrow, in order to carry away leftovers.

Tuesday, Sept 1 (MY 72nd BIRTHDAY). For the next 4 months I’m older than John.

For Aug 31 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 20 min with AHI=0.19 Events: 1H. No major mask leaks (max=7 L/min); no oximeter.

My day started early, so I could be at the LDS church by 10:00, but on the way I had to stop for a vase of cut flowers donated to me for my birthday, and then I put the arrangement on the welcoming check-in table. At the end of the day, I gave them to the main organizer of the event. The next 1.5 hours was spent carrying in bags and boxes of clothing into the church gym, sorting and setting on different tables for Women’s (petite, S-M, L-XL, Plus), similarly for Men’s, for baby clothing, sized if possible, children’s and teen, maternity, and an accessories table. All shoes were placed along a wall. I’ll show several pictures below in a collage.
First though is this cheerful greeting near the entrance:

This grouping was along the edge of the welcoming table, where we had name tags for the worker volunteers. The birthday tiara and the cake were given to me by the main organizer of the event, Kathryn Carlson, at the start in the parking lot as we arrived. For the first 2 hours of work, I wore the tiara. The Buy Nothing Ellensburg group on Facebook sponsored this community-clothing share, and the use of the LDS facilities was donated. Many of the congregation also donated clothing. The Bishop of the second Ward is my eye doctor and he had told me 6 months ago we would be welcomed there.

My first trip away from the building was to go a short distance around a long block to my friends Joanie Taylor and Ken Matney for a birthday lunch. I carried some veggies to them too, and they reciprocated with a bag of pears from their tree. The menu was great, including a Southwest Salad with Avocado on the side, a generous helping of hot homemade Shepherd’s Pie, and for dessert, Tiramisu. Wow–what a treat! Also great company and a lovely card full of cool cultural-historical bookmarks.

I left their home, and went to copy sheet music to use over the next 2.5 months with our Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends group who entertain in assisted-living and retirement homes, weekly. On my way there, I needed to think about the number of copies with one page for each song and the number of copies of ones with back-to-back songs. I pulled over into a shady neighborhood street that was in front of the CWU President’s house. I rolled down my windows and was sitting there figuring counts, when I heard a loud cracking sound (of a tree limb breaking). I looked up and saw a large limb crack and fall until it was hanging straight down, but still connected. It was still shaking, when I took a picture of it, and I knew it would be dangerous if anyone pulled a vehicle up to the front door, got out and walked into the house. I took a photo, and then called the President’s Office to report they needed to get someone down there fast.
There is a second tree behind the hanging limb. That trunk is easy to see in the left photo (below) while the entire tree shows in the right photo – with the limb gone. {Click to Zoom.}

. . . . . . . . . Tree limb hanging . . . . . . Tree limb removed

The copying turned into a huge chore because the Xerox machine kept jamming or quitting on me, making me late for my next stop at the Adult Activity Center. I went to jazzercise class (and paid my $2.00 monthly fee), but only joined the activity for the last 15 minutes, and then I returned to the clothing share to help and also to meet a friend. It was proceeding smoothly, so I actually sat in front as a greeter, visiting with friends, which was nice, and allowed me some relaxation time on a comfortable sofa. I had done a lot of lifting (heavy bags and boxes of clothing) and carrying-in exercise with the input of stuff from the parking lot earlier in the day.

I arranged to go by the Palace Restaurant on my way home to get my free birthday dinner. I chose a chicken-fried Angus steak, with corn-on-the-cob, rice pilaf, and brown gravy. I called John and told him to pull out of the freezer, a small portion of chicken Alfredo we could eat on the side (to which he had added mushrooms and mixed vegetables). It was a great birthday dinner, with a nice dessert, and 3 different ones to choose from, to which we added vanilla ice cream, with strawberries and pecans. {A handful of nuts is good for health, someone says.}

I left the clothing share that was going until 7:30, but I had helped by contacting three of the local charity givers (church and other), to come at the end and carry away items for their uses. We did NOT want anything to go to a place such as Goodwill or even Habitat for Humanity that would charge for the clothing, but wanted it to go to places who would give the clothing freely to families in need. That also saved our group the effort of carrying away all the leftovers and distributing them. We had invested enough time on collecting them from all over town, packing them to the parking lot, and into the room for dispersal. Kathryn had devoted a room of her house to the organization and sorting of all the incoming bags of clothing, and with help from two nieces over a several week period, she did her magic. A collage below

shows the extent of the clothing, and was taken early in the day, so more was added throughout the day. When people arrived with a bag or box, we requested that they sort their offerings onto the appropriate table. They were happy to do that and we were grateful. Then, they could go through and take whatever their family needed. The whole day was a complete success, but I was worn out, along with all the other volunteer workers.

Wednesday, Sept 2

For Sept 1 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 34 min with AHI=0.93 Events: 7 H, 2 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=6 L/min); no oximeter.

Today was my day to go to join others at the Food Bank Soup Kitchen for music. We decided to go through as much as possible of the new music for the group that plays tomorrow–especially needed as about half the songs are totally new. Near the end of our 40 minutes of playing, we deferred to be the backup to our singer/guitar player as he played several songs on his harmonica. It was cool. The audience loved it.

From there I went to my SAIL exercise class at the Adult Activity Center, and assisted some with one of my classmates who is in her nineties and needs a little support on some of the out-of-chair exercises, and to be handed her walker for going around the circle.

Thursday, Sept 3

For Sept 2 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 42 min with AHI=1.56 Events: 12 H, 1 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=20 L/min); no oximeter.

This morning I put music into final form for this afternoon’s gig. Things are getting a bit chaotic in EBRG because this is the first day of the County Fair & Ellensburg Rodeo. The two events together make for a lively region and bring many visitors with all their money – the raison d’être. {John says, I think that means don’t eat raisins.} We sort of participated for a few years but now try to avoid as much as possible. My first office at CWU looked out on the street where the parade started and I was moving in that weekend, back in 1988, and had a front row seat.

One of our guitarists had to go to the Fair with his wife (confined to a wheelchair and living at that assisted living place), and their son. We had about the same number of musicians as members of the audience because the facility took 2 busloads of residents to the fair. We had 2 fiddles, mandolin, 5 guitars, and a bass fiddle, plus the grandson of one of the guitarists who played several Beethoven songs on the piano. He had to fix a pedal first (the soft one had lost its bolt). He is almost 13 and is from Deer Park, north of Spokane.

John’s digestive system is back to normal, and he has put in some yard work over the past several days.
Over the past year or so a wood-plank bridge has been deteriorating. The bridge is for getting across the irrigation ditch with wheelbarrow, cart, or just carrying something. The horses don’t need it but use it anyway. It has gotten to its use-by date (for horses). John built a new stronger bridge in the back of the old pickup, so he could transport it. This set of photos shows the in-progress building with old lumber. The existing bridge is just one layer – like the top layer of the new one. Only the bolts are new.
In the top photo, note small nails holding the rail in place. Drilling holes for the Carriage bolts was an effort because we have only a 3/8 inch power drill and it is 40 years old. A new ½ inch one would be nice. The yellow pencil in the bottom photo points toward one (of 3 per side) of the bolts with only the round shallow dome-head visible. {Zoom to see detail.}

The 2×4 rails (often called ‘bull rails’ from nautical usage) prevent slipping over the side, and would usually have spacers under them say on a dock (or quay). Note how the rope can go under the rail before being tied. See here: The link.
He moved the worn out one up to a walkway for people only, over the irrigation ditch, nearer our house. The ends have “face-plates” and, when completed, a ramp of gravel will slope up to the bridge deck.

This is the new one, and the horses are using it. For hiking trail bridges the corners often get treated with large rocks (one crew leader calls them gargoyles) – a visual indicator to direct foot-falls away from the edges. For now there is wood to be used and the approaches (rock & gravel) are to be added.

The old one John moved closer to a place with human access only, near the walking trail across our upper part of the irrigation ditch, to view our Mariposa lilies and other wildflowers on the way from the house to the mailbox.

Here is the old bridge repositioned in its new location. It is still under construction so I will show you both bridges after completion (in a future blog).

Face-plate needs to be placed and nailed, then the approach added.

Friday, Sept 4

For Sept 3 CPAP. Reported figures. 10 hrs 18 min with AHI=0.58 Events: 6 H, 7 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=17 L/min); no oximeter.

Friday, we stayed home. We delivered veggies to a neighbor to pick up a 5-gal bucket and other containers we’d taken over previously.
Yesterday, John moved our old wood stove from the back patio, on to the pickup and then out front, and (temporarily) onto pallets stacked pick-up bed high.
Today, he cleaned out the ash from the fire-box and then the bricks lining the inside.

We knew we were hoping to recycle this in a Department of Ecology buy back bonus for turning in the polluting stoves. We have been planning for this for 6 months, and the original date for taking to Cle Elum, came and went in June. I was on several agencies’ notification list, but I never received a phone call or an email. John is very good about reading the local paper daily, and saw this announcement in the evening paper. We are very fortunate he saw this.

We did not know previously that the firebricks and the ash had to be removed. He succeeded in removing 28 firebricks weighing 3.5# each for 98 pounds of brick, and 10 pounds of ash.

Picture of stove, bricks, close up of brick. It is set up so he can back up the truck and load it into the bed to take the 35 miles to the transfer station between Cle Elum and Roslyn (of Northern Exposure fame). Now we just have to be sure we are there an hour early and get in the first 85 for our rebate and disposal needs. John chose to remove it himself and not let the installers of the new stove do the job and take it away, because they wanted to charge $99 for that service. We must dispose of it, because it cannot be sold or given away, because it cannot (legally) be used. It would be nice to receive a bounty instead of having to pay to dispose of it.

Saturday, Sept 5

For Sept 4 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 3 min with AHI=1.13 Events: 8 H. 1 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=18 L/min); no oximeter.

We finally made time to call John’s cousin, Helen Burgoon, in Bradford, PA, who celebrated her 90th birthday on the same day as mine, 9/1/15. We talked to her for 1/2 hour and had a very nice visit. No one was around, so we had her all to ourselves. Had we gotten through on her birthday (the line was busy), we would not have had but a few minutes with her, with all the kids, grandchildren, and great grandchildren there.

It has been very windy here since last night, as you can see on the report at the airport south of us 5 miles.

John worked some outside – in the wind – and we took pictures.

To end the day, we thought we would share a cool photograph of the Orcas (often called Killer Whales) near the San Juan Islands, WA. Back in 1991, I went on such a viewing trip out of Bellingham, WA, and with my friend from GA (since 6th grade), Nancy J (Maude) Buszek, now in Michigan. We saw many pods on our trip, including babies. This photo shows all the people looking away from the action behind them. There are fines and patrols to keep boats away from the Orcas. The animals didn’t get the message. Interesting.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, Aug 23

For Aug 22 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 11 min with AHI=1.94 Events: 11 H, 4 CSR, 1 CA. No major mask leaks (max=16 L/min); no oximeter.

Finished and published the blog. John is recovering some. Keeping food down, and actually ate the majority of a chicken pot pie for lunch.

Our temperature made it to 78° today; with no wind, and apparently less smoke in the valley.

I’ve been fighting with music. Finally, after about 4 different keys, timing, and arrangements, I settled on a nice rendition of Shenandoah, but had to change some notes and keys to fit the way I believe it should be. It is not unusual for scores to have errors, and this one, although on a teacher’s site, was full of them. Maybe it was a test, to see who was paying attention.

Monday, Aug 24

For Aug 23 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 23 min with AHI=0.41 Events 2 H, 3 CSR, 1 PP. No major mask leaks (max=12 L/min); no oximeter.

Our farrier arrives at noon for trimming two horses, Ebony & Myst. He was earlier than expected because someone failed to keep their appointment. John had picked some squash before he arrived. We had one neighbor stop and pick up yellow squash and tomatoes, and on our way to town, we delivered to 3 others, and picked up another bag of cookies from another neighbor on our way home. Nice treats for all involved.

I finally made significant progress on finishing one piece of music, with the help of Dr. Dave, who sent me some different scores of Take Me Home, Country Roads (John Denver, et al.) with the score I’m doing clearly presented on two pages. This will be a great addition to our music for the next 2-1/2 months.

Tuesday, Aug 25

For Aug 24 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 45 min with AHI=1.39 Events: 8 H, 4 CSR (all at end of session). No major mask leaks (max=11 L/min); no oximeter..

Early morning 8:02 call from our doctor’s nurse, that four bacteria had been ruled out as John not having (ecolae, salmonella, and 2 others).

Then 20 minutes later a call from our Dr. saying if there wasn’t something identified soon in the culture, for John to come in Friday. They made an appt., and meanwhile we were to pick up a refill on the nausea pill he’s been taking. Then, on the road to Yakima, the Dr got through the dead cell reception spaces, with a call to say it was Giardia, and it was treatable (where a virus would not have been). He was calling in a prescription to our pharmacy that we could pick up on our way home. We did, and then on the north end of EBRG, we dropped off a full set of Canon printer cartridges we bought for our 89 year old friend in Ellensburg.

We left early to take John’s car to Subaru for a 10:30 a.m. appointment and then by the Yakima Heart Center for my ICD check. We learned that I have 4% left on my battery, so I can expect an alert from the system in November (it’s read every night at 2:00 a.m. from a landline connection that ties in to the medical community in Yakima to warn them of any events of concern). Then, when the battery alert happens, they will have me schedule a health history review. Then I will get a date set, change the dosage of blood thinners to make ready for the surgery. There’s a window for all this of 90 days after the alert. That change in my ICD’s battery will probably occur in January, at Yakima Memorial Hospital (by surgeon, Dr. Pham, a nuclear cardiologist). The details are yet to be determined. Stay tuned.

Shopped at Costco for the inks (mentioned above) and chocolate covered almonds for our neighbor. Just bought regular stuff for us. John didn’t feel like having his regular artery clogging “Polish Sausage with Bun & Toppings”, so we shared a chicken Caesar salad for lunch (while we watched all the funny-looking people) and had a Very Berry (Strawberry) frozen Yogurt Sundae, split into 2 cups – for the trip home.

Wednesday, Aug 26

For Aug 25 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 34 min with AHI=0.93 Events: 7 H, 2 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=6 L/min); no oximeter.

I worked on dishes and cleaning ants off our counter. They seem to be coming and going under the switch cover for our disposal. They are quite tiny. We’ve killed a bunch, but maybe it is time for a more aggressive tactic. I worked on dishes, arranged clothes to take to the clothing share (part of the Buy Nothing Ellensburg group) for next week, and arranged for John to write his documentary on his illness to the patient portal in Cle Elum (today is our Dr.’s day off). John has started working on another documentary report for me to share later in this blog. I’m working on music to take to the food bank group (mandolin, banjo, fiddle, and guitar) to test for our other larger group for the next two & ½ months. These are several new pieces, for which we will check the chords, notes, and lyrics. We made a few corrections, in several songs. Songs include: Oklahoma Hills, Shenandoah. Sweet Betsy from Pike, Take me Home, Country Roads, The Cowboy’s Dream, Whoopee Ti Yi Yo – Git Along Little Dogies, and Shall We Gather at the River. There are more new ones to be added before next week, for Thursday, our first performance of this play list.
The chow at the food bank was great today, and we had an appreciative audience, with people coming up at the end to thank us for the music. We play away from the entrance and exit door, so they have to make a special trip down to tell us, when we break to go through the buffet ourselves. They didn’t seem to mind our practicing music on them. We started early, and only went over the noon hour a few minutes, before switching to the songs for which the audience who wants to follow along, has a set of the lyrics. Normally we play from noon to 12:30, and then sit with a few members of our fan club, and have our lunch, and conversations.

Today was a very smoky day in our valley from fires north of us.

The pictures below do not do it justice, but you get the idea. The large orange ball is the sun filtered through a heavy layer of smoke in the valley, and the other orange sun in the trees, taken later in the evening, still displays the changed color from the smoke. Note also the stressed Ponderosa pines in our back yard. The creek is just beyond them, and their roots (some more so than others) can reach the water table, but the drought and hot temperatures this summer have stressed them. {This picture (only) can be seen a bit larger by clicking on it.}

The orange sun was so spectacular to the naked eye** that our 14 yr old neighbor called us on her cell phone to be sure we saw it. She was standing at the back fence of her family’s property just east of us. Photos don’t do it justice. [**search for – Moon Illusion – on Wikipedia to find this is a confusing issue.]

Thursday, Aug 27

For Aug 26 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 49 min with AHI=0.17 Events: 1 H, 1 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=7 L/min); no oximeter.

John packed the pick-up with-canopy completely for delivery to the transfer station (aka “dump”). I worked on emails, honchoing music and clothing distribution for next Tuesday. We left in time to stop by 4 places before dropping me off at Hearthstone to play our July/August playlist for the last time this year. Next week starts a new list with some totally new songs included. That will take us through Sept, Oct, and half of Nov. Then, mid-Nov, we start on our Thanksgiving, winter, and Christmas playlist. January starts anew with a yet different playlist.

We had a nice time and an appreciative large audience today with a good crowd of players, at Hearthstone Cottages.

While we were playing, John delivered 280# of trash to the transfer station. In addition, he went to two grocery stores for goodies, including picking up one of my heart meds.

Our supper was Stroganoff with our own squash, onions, tomatoes, and grocery-bought mushrooms, red grapes on the side, and cheesecake with ice cream and our strawberries on top. Nice to have John eating again and feeling like cooking our meals.

Friday, Aug 28

For Aug 27 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 7 min with AHI=0.33 Events: 2 H, 1 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=7 L/min); no oximeter.

Today, we started the day with a trip to town to visit our friend, Julie, and her 3 yr old daughter, who were in Ellensburg (from Nevada), for the past week fixing up their house they have owned since 2003. Her two boys stayed with their father because their school has been in session for 2 weeks. {In EBRG school starts later because of the County Fair and Rodeo and then mid-school breaks are much shorter.} I think they always wanted to move back to town, but it doesn’t look possible now. It was Julie’s birthday today. We did not even take her a b.d. cake, but sent her a card she could access on her I-phone. We went early in the cool of the morning, because her mother-in-law was coming at noon to take her out for lunch. From there we went to the other end of town, to check out some keys for a gal I’m looking after her house, cat, plants, and mail for the next 2 months, while she and her son drive east and south and back here in a big loop.

She wasn’t at home, and because I was dialing the wrong phone number, we didn’t meet up, but I checked the house key in the front door, and it worked. Then I went around a long block in the subdivision to the location of all the mailboxes. Checked that key and it did not work. Back another day this weekend to sort out what I missed today. Luckily, they don’t leave until Wednesday.

Once home, I took a photo of a Truck Dolly I picked up last week for $5. John had searched and found a like one, in slightly better condition, for $175 (asked price). I was feeling good about my find. Mine is serviceable.

My $5 one has worn out Glide Belts, a frayed belt, and worn steel-covering plastic pads. Still, it is very usable.

We had another bit of leftover stroganoff with new squash, mushrooms, onions, our garden-ripe Early Girl tomatoes, and red grapes on the side. Dessert was a little sliver of red velvet cake and of cheesecake, vanilla ice cream, with strawberries on top.

After bedtime, our oldest dog Meghan, 15, apparently had a seizure. I don’t know how to describe it other than this way, and it is the first such activity we have ever witnessed with her. She started by sitting up, then standing, and turning her head back and forth, as if she had something caught in her teeth. I then I wondered if she was biting her tongue. She lay on her side and I tried to comfort and hold my hand on her. Her four legs were running at a breakneck speed, but finally slowed. I called John from bed and he carried her outside in case she was dying (and lost fluids). She was very wobbly, and walked a few feet and fell on her side. He waited 20 minutes, and went back into the yard and found her at the far end of the yard, stood her up and she was wandering in circles, and then propped herself next to the fence. He came in and we decided it was not too cold to leave her outside. She had access to the doggie door, if she became able to return inside the house.

We did not get to bed until after midnight, and neither one of us had a decent night’s sleep.

Saturday, Aug 29

For Aug 28 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 8 min with AHI=0.28 Events: 2 H. No major mask leaks (max=8 L/min); no oximeter.]

Started with a surprise that Meghan was still alive and with us. She was up walking around the back yard, and came onto the patio to be let in the back door.

Both of the older dogs–Meghan, nicknamed Skittles, the one with the problem last night is 15, and Dan is 14. The oldest a Brittany in our house lived to slightly over 16.5 yrs, many died at 12 or 13, and at least one before that, of natural causes.

It’s strange, but this morning both she and Dan ate a morning meal of canned food. Now they just asked for a second helping and I obliged. We wonder if Dan (who goes into the irrigation ditch, lays down and drinks) also had a case of Giardia, but he managed to expel it on his own? He is eating again and motoring around, but 3 weeks ago he had no muscle strength in his back legs and had to be helped up the ramp. He lost a ton of weight (over many months) too, because he quit eating. Never noticed diarrhea. Neither of the old dogs hears or sees well, but do do both.

Then it started raining, but now at 10:45, the sun just arrived. John has fed the animals outside, and I fed the ones inside. We are ready to have a brunch of veggies and eggs, in a frittata-type concoction, with bacon pieces, sausage, and an orange on the side. John’s been out a bit, got sprinkled on, came in, put on a dry shirt. Later repeated that sequence. Oh well. Where the fires are burning they are getting the same weather and it helps. High winds and downed trees in the Seattle area are causing havoc with 450,000 without power tonight. Many photos are on the KOMO news site.

We plan to spend today putting out the blog, including the story of the past month of John’s gastrointestinal event, in his words. We even had a telephone visit from a public nurse, whom I actually have known in the community through music. He interviewed John about his experiences, knowledge, and suspected acquisition. They were definitely on the same page. I found it interesting that the state was notified of such cases, and County Health is doing follow-up interviews. We learned there are 400-600 reported cases of giardiasis in WA each year. Actual numbers are unknown because some folks apparently don’t get very sick and don’t contact medical professionals.

Just this morning, John shared his current documentary with me, to add to the blog this week– here goes:

John’s report on Giardia
with some info pulled from [this link].
Giardia lamblia exists in two forms, an active form called a trophozoite, and an inactive form called a cyst. The active trophozoite attaches to the lining of the small intestine with a “sucker” and is responsible for causing the signs and symptoms of giardiasis. The trophozoite cannot live long outside of the body; therefore, it cannot spread the infection to others. The inactive cyst, on the other hand, can exist for prolonged periods outside the body. When it is ingested, stomach acid activates the cyst, and the cyst develops into the disease-causing trophozoite. It takes ingestion of only ten cysts to cause infection. [my bold]
{I wonder how many can fit in a drop of water? My best guess is that our irrigation water is the source – that is, Naneum Creek. Seems that a single drop of water, or less, would be enough. For example, Annie, our Brittany dog sometimes gets very muddy, on her own, but doesn’t like for me to try to wash her off. I occasionally lower her into the ditch and try to splash water on her legs and underside. Lots of fun. Water flies everywhere. I sometimes get droplets on my glasses. Surely seems as if I could get some smeared across my lips. I have also eaten a fresh strawberry or cherry tomato without first taking inside and washing – not often. The next line below suggests why I might not remember such an incident as compared to, say, someone that drank from a stream during a hike.}
Symptoms and signs of giardiasis do not begin for at least seven days following infection, but can occur as long as three or more weeks later.

{I first noticed fatigue on July 31. I checked Mayo Clinic and other such web sites after getting other symptoms. Some things only last 1 to 3 days, so for an adult, the suggestion is to wait it out that long before seeking treatment. So, on the 4th day, feeling a bit better – I relaxed. The next day, feeling the need for something, I ate a handful of chocolate baking chips. Bad idea! About 15 minutes later, they came back up. I did not eat for a day – then started with a small amount of canned pears. Seemed OK, so I repeated.}

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
{I need to find out about the following.} The most common treatment for giardiasis is Metronidazole. It has an efficacy rate of 75% to 100%, but it often causes gastrointestinal side effects such as nausea and a metallic taste as well as dizziness and headache. Despite its effectiveness, Metronidazole is not approved by the FDA in the U.S. for treatment of giardiasis {but is approved (still) for many other things. This was the medication prescribed for me.}

The approved one is Tinidazole. It is chemically similar to Metronidazole—a drug with some unpleasant side effects that is used in the United States as first-line therapy for amoebae. Tinidazole has similar side effects but has a shorter treatment course.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Tuesday, Aug. 11th, Nancy went to a we’re-closing-down Barbeque at Royal Vista Nursing Home and met our Doctor there. He’s been the visiting physician in charge there for many years. She has played music there many years in several different venues. When he saw her, he asked where I was. She told him, and he said, “Bring John to see me.” We did that Thursday AM. Got pills called Ondansetron (AKA Zofran) to prevent nausea and vomiting. Got a stool kit consisting of a big plastic hat to ‘go’ into and two vials with strange chemicals to place the item of interest into. I had quit eating and so had no stool either. Took the pills and starting eating in small quantities. Only took a week to ‘go’ and then get the test kit vials to the lab at the hospital. I had been assured that they did not want the plastic hat back. [A lab tech friend in the Cle Elum office told us a woman tried to return one to her a few years ago.] We saw her when getting a blood draw in the lab, at the visit.

Therefore, the samples went in on Thursday morning. Cultures do not happen in hours as does the blood work. Blood work was fine. Folks at the lab reported on no-shows on Monday (such as ecolae, salmonella, and 2 others) – then found the Giardia. We were on the road to Yakima on Tuesday morning and Dr. Paul Schmitt called. The road has long hills and deep cuts into the basalt layers. The cell phone kept fading and cutting off completely. He was going to have a prescription called into our EBRG pharmacy – we got it at about 3:30. That stuff is called Metronidazole, mentioned above. I did take another anti-nausea pill – but then no more of those.

I did not feel sick going to Yakima or coming back and had a small chicken Caesar salad while there. Took the first pill at about 4 PM and another near Midnight (it is a 5-day deal, with one every 8 hours).

As near as I can tell, I lost about 25 pounds in 25 days. I don’t know for sure, at what weight I started. It is now Saturday Noon (8-28), and I have eaten regularly since Tuesday Noon. Interestingly (or not), everything I am eating is apparently being redistributed to my body tissue. Nothing is allowed through, although the kidneys and bladder are working well.

The Metronidazole pills will end Sunday afternoon.

=======now Nancy=========
John’s been resting while I finished this draft, and I need to make 2 composite collage photos to add before he starts on WordPress entry.

After his nap he’s been out and beginning to restart all the delayed projects – a bit at a time. Thankfully he was able to feed the animals and water plants all along. {Just barely – says John}

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Saturday, Aug 15

For Aug 14 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 3 min with AHI=0.00 Events: none. No major mask leaks (max=7 L/min). Oximeter on 7 hrs 17 min AHI = 0.00

Finished and published the blog, and John picked tomatoes and squash. Now I need to get those delivered, ’cause tis more than we can use.

Our temperatures only made it to 73° today; wind gusts to 40 mph. At least it cleaned the smoke from the valley.

I made it to town by way of one of our players’ front porch to pick up music for another player she had carried for me on Thursday when I thought I might not make it (as I didn’t). On to Briarwood and went in to set up. We had a couple of guitars, a fiddle, a tambourine, and a small, but appreciative audience, who fed us some excellent desserts afterwards.

On my way home, I drove by a house 5 miles east of us to pick up a nice flat pillow to replace my worn-out one; actually, I have alternated pillows to keep my neck pain at a minimum. It’s only apparent when I somehow change my positioning while always sleeping on my back. (I know the danged CPAP machine with facemask and tubing causes the discomfort; so, luckily it is sporadic.). While I was picking up the pillow, I shared some of our garden goodies, partially pictured and described below. In addition, while I was there talking with her dad, she reached around and said, “Can you use this carrier? It is a super neat carry-on type bag, which I might have made good use of when I was traveling by air to conferences and reunions. Now, however, I have quit flying, but I carry around much music paraphernalia weekly to places in town. I mentioned that it would be perfect for that use. The tote is a classy, REXFORD Ricardo Beverly Hills brand, with a zippered side pocket, a good carrying handle, and a nice shoulder strap. I am all set. I checked online and found it is a black, Montecito 16” Boarding Bag, retailing for $80, yet on sale for $40. Wow, what a nice gift, of which I shall make good use.

Our garden delights I shared consisted of yellow straight-neck summer squash, which they grilled that night with their steak dinner. Accompanying that dinner was the described uses of the tomatoes we shared. Below is her thank-you note posted on the Buy Nothing Ellensburg (BNE) site:
Thank you, Nancy! Your Earlygirls are yummy in my bruchetta…and the cherry and pear tomatoes on top of a cracker with fresh goat cheese from the farmer’s market…yum yum again! I love fresh produce! I will probably dream of you tonight!

My collage follows with the description beneath it.

Above, please enjoy Tanya’s presentation of our tomatoes (Early Girl on top), cherry and pear tomatoes on bottom. Not pictured are the Sun Gold ones. Then we have the pillow in the middle and the fancy carrier tote on the right.

Sunday, Aug 16

For Aug 15 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 51 min with AHI=1.88 Events: 11 H, 1CSR. No major mask leaks (max=16 L/min).

Winds have ceased to nothing. Nothing to report today. We both worked a little and rested a lot.

Monday, Aug 17

For Aug 16 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 51 min with AHI=2.19. Events: 13 H, 3CSR, 3 PP. No major mask leaks (max=16 L/min); oximeter on 7 hrs 20 min; no other details.

At 11:16 last night my computer was on hibernate and experienced an unexpected shut down. Getting it going again has been a multi-hour project. John is feeling better today and put in a few hours outside working. One project unplanned for was charging the battery in a truck, which has not be started for several weeks. All the little drains make a difference.

Tuesday, Aug 18

For Aug 17 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 44 min with AHI=3.42 (AN ALL TIME HIGH). Events: 4 CSR, 23 H. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min); oximeter on 7 hrs 7 min, AHI = 3.23. That is my worst, since Oct 2014. The stop in CPAP at 4:00 a.m. was to pick up poop in the hallway by oldest dog. She’s gotten better or I have about her getting out the door before such happens.

John was out for a long while (moving slowly) with horse and garden chores.

I was inside working on music and household chores, and then left for Jazzercise at 1:25.

Wednesday, Aug 19

For Aug 18 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 1min with AHI=1.00 Events: 6 H. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min); no oximeter data available. Connector cord has stopped working again. I’m not looking forward to the cost of packing and sending to Illinois again. I don’t know that they would replace it a 2nd time, in a year. We’ll see.

Off to food bank, played music, and ate. Back from there to Bi-Mart for my replacement watch for the Casio that died. I now have an Armitron. Have to learn how to set it, but it is smoother to operate than the Casio. The Armitron is priced $5 more. So I had to pay that additional cost and they credited me with the entire price of the old one. From there, I went to SAIL for exercise, and picked up a cherry muffin and two cookies for dessert or breakfast. I went by the house of a new acquaintance from the Buy Nothing Ellensburg (BNE) group, named Kathryn. She had a dozen pears to share, and I shared some yellow squash and tomatoes, and carried her a large black garbage bag full of blouses and pants I was given or I no longer wear because of size or selection preference. This is for the 9/1 BNE clothing share. I have much more to comb through, including going through John’s stuff. Time-consuming because we also have to wash them.

Thursday, Aug 20

For Aug 19 CPAP. Reported figures 6 hrs 51 min with AHI=0.44 Events: 2 H, 1 CA, 1 PP. No major mask leaks (max=6 L/min); oximeter not on.

Success !!! with many things in town today.

We visited today with friends from Michigan, Fred and Ann Joyal, whom we met in Iowa in the early 70s. They see us annually because his step-mom and other relatives are near Spokane. They helped us move across country in 1974 to Idaho. We started with an early long lunch, and visited afterwards until I had to go play music at the Brookdale Assisted Living home. They and John came along for the fun, and then we bid them adieu for their trip back to Spokane. We felt guilty for the long travel time they had to do, but we surely enjoyed our visit. We had a huge lunch at the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet at the Golden Dragon. The place was filled, a testimony to the excellent food presented. {click image for big one}

From there John and I went to the grocery and on by CWU geography to pick up some donated clothes for the upcoming Buy Nothing Ellensburg clothing share (on my birthday).

We didn’t get home until 4:00 and our old dog had taken himself outside but could not get back in the ramp and was waiting (in the shade) on the back patio, but panting heavily. I felt really bad for him, knowing the a/c was on in the house with the other two dogs, who can come and go on their own power. His eyesight and general health are on a cusp, or something. Sometimes he will come in the ramp on his own and other times he seems to forget that he can. Oh well – he survived. John was extremely tired from his long day and took a nap for a couple hours. I should have done the same, but did not.
Tomorrow he plans to take a truckload to the transfer station (the dump). That never happened, because his illness flared again.

Friday, Aug 21

For Aug 20 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 34 min with AHI=0.72 Events: 4 H, 2 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min); oximeter off; I cannot extract data so there’s no sense in submitting myself to the annoyance of moving from finger to finger throughout the night.

John picked a bunch of squash. Winds blew all night, topping at 45 mph gusts, and still are blowing. I’ve been busy on the computer and switching chores around the house. We talked to our family physician this afternoon (phone). He was checking in with John. He told us to call if he didn’t get better because he was on call for the weekend.

Now John’s out picking strawberries, which I will fix when he returns (I didn’t). We still have some angel food cake left to have them on for dessert tonight. (We never did).

Then, we had a nice phone call from Richard, John’s brother, in San Jose’, CA,. He was concerned about the fires in north central WA and how close they might be to us. Thanks to all our friends across the U.S., who have been checking in. We are away from the activity, but have friends very close and have other friends whose families have been affected. A couple of days ago the number of houses lost in the Chelan area fires was 75, and while most of the fire is burning in inaccessible terrain where people do not live, it also threatens many buildings and houses in places that are not “firewise”. We’ve mentioned “firewise” before, but here is a [link].
We are working on making our space more defensible – it is slow going. We did get a new road laid out and that also made a break in the trees. There are several more to cut down but it is progress.

Today’s grab from Google Earth shows the severity of the extent of the fires around 2 small Washington towns, Tonasket and Omak.

Here’s a link to a broader based map with some photos embedded and videos. [link].

Saturday, Aug 22

For Aug 21 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 36 min with AHI=0.36 Events: 2 H, 1 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=18 L/min); oximeter not on.

A clever photograph of a local landmark in Zillah, WA came in this morning on our friends’ Facebook account for their winery, Paradisos del Sol. We used to take our class there for a field trip each summer. Barbara Sherman held her hand up and made this photo. The old gas station was previously on an old highway by-passed by Interstate-82, and a couple of years ago, the building was moved to the main street of Zillah, and now operates as a tourist information center.

If you are into history, look here: [Teapot link]

Fires report: A check of the new fires shows a smaller amount near Tonasket, WA. We have smoke in our valley that arrived last evening, and our winds subsided. That may be from increased activity in the woodlands and hills SW of Lake Chelan.

I worked a little on the jobs list I moderate and sent 7 job announcements around the U.S. Last night I delivered another 7, but several of those were multiple listings of GIS jobs in several states. Not all the job announcements are GIS related, but vary all over the disciplines, from biology, earth and environmental science, to forest service, fish & wildlife, parks and recreation, fire fighting, National Parks jobs, geology, geography, and computer science and even Google & Expedia.

I’ve been working on the blog with hopes of publishing today, if John is up to helping edit and get it on WordPress. {Not a chance!}

Our valley is filling with smoke, and our visibility has been down to 4 miles for the past several hours.

About 3:00 p.m., I decided to call the pharmacy to see when they closed, and if there was a refill on the nausea prescription John was given over a week ago. There was not. I called our doctor and was able to speak with him. He said he would call in the prescription (now with refills) and encouraged John to stay hydrated, and if he was not better by Monday, to come back to see him in the office. We hope the results of the culture are back by then to see if it is a known virus, or what.

On my way in, I could barely see the hills on the south side of the valley, from 10 miles away (on Brick Mill Road); I could not see the hills north (behind us) from the same location, which is only 6.5 miles from the hills. See below.

Left is looking south toward a relatively high ridge (Manastash), almost impossible to see today. It is about 10 miles away. The right is looking toward the hills to the north, only 6.5 miles away, but hidden by the layer of smoke. One benefit of the smoke is to make the bees and yellow jackets more docile and, also, scarce. Why this happens seems to be an ongoing debate among bee folks.

On the way home via Bar 14 road, I could barely see the northern hills from about 4.5 miles away, behind the dead tree that (to me) resembles a horse or a horse’s head. I have taken photos of it before, with the hills visible, one of which amazingly I found! The one on the right below was taken 8/3/2012. Today’s shot is on the left. Weathering over the past 3 years is evident.

We’ve had more intense smoke but this is beginning to get a bit thicker, hour by hour. Early morning sunlight is giving everything a reddish cast. Our wind is expected to blow this out by mid-day Monday. John’s voice has been a little husky – illness or smoke, we don’t know. If the smoke goes, we’ll find out. Or maybe not. He is, again, beginning to feel better.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Saturday, Aug 8

For Aug 7 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 23 min with AHI=1.76 Events: 13 H, 1 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=21 L/min).

Finished and published the blog.

Temperatures made it to 91° today.

Sunday, Aug 9

For Aug 8 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 1 min with AHI=1.99. Events: 8 H, 1 CA, 1 CSR, 1 OA. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min); oximeter on 8 hrs 20 min AHI = 1.20

Morning found us picking little tomatoes (cherry, sun gold, and yellow pear) to share with neighbors. I went alone to two neighbors while John met a friend at our gate who was delivering two large containers for tight storage away from insects and mice. Thanks, Glenn E., for retrieving them for us from a Buy Nothing site member, and especially for driving them out to our gate! They are heavy cardboard with latchable tops, and quite old (~1980s?).

John was not feeling good all day, and got his gastrointestinal symptoms back. This is not good.

I tried working on cleanup/sorting/recycling and got very little done. About 4:00 p.m., I decided I should install the download of the new Windows 10. Five hours later, I stopped it, because all it was saying was WORKING ON IT and spinning a white dot in a circle within a fancy new Windows graphic. When John did his download and install, just a few minutes along brought a screen indicating percentages of 3 processes accumulating amounts done. My download never got that far.

Finally, about 5:30, I drove 4 miles to another rural neighbor to deliver a viola for a loan to her 12-year-old grandson, who lives with her. Unfortunately, it was not large enough for him. I took along some yellow squash and tomatoes and she gave me some BNE stuff she had picked up for me, and gave me a popcorn popper for the microwave. Now I have to buy an Orville Redenbacher bottom plate to make it pop better and not stick. Only thing wrong is to get one I have to go to Fred Meyer. I never enjoy going there.

Saw (without my camera) 4 very large antlered bucks a couple miles down the road from us. One doe was with them. Guess I need to carry my camera, especially when out in the evening; although the sun was behind them and I might not have been able to get a good photo anyway. I could have gotten one of the ones on the east of the road. Our hay shed buck just has a spike on one side and a short split on the other. He’d rank last on the status chart if he traveled with the group I just saw – they have been there for months now, in that area.

Both feral cats came home for tonight’s feeding. Wasps (yellow jackets) are a problem, seemingly knowing when to appear. Real cold (it hasn’t been) or near dark are best times to avoid them. It is helpful that daylight is not so long now, and that will get shorter-faster as this month ends.

Monday, Aug 10

For Aug 9 CPAP. Reported figures. 4 hrs 20 min with AHI=0.00 Events: 0 H. No major mask leaks (max=14 L/min); oximeter on 6 hrs 11 min AHI = 0.00

Neither of us is feeling energetic. I have done a few things, more so than yesterday. Cleaning dishes, clothes, some stuff on the computer and in the den. Much more to go though.

Trying to go to bed early tonight for an early rise.

Tonight we had 3 ferals come in for dinner! We waited until dark, or nearly so, to avoid the wasps. Problem is the cats’ timing hasn’t reset from when it was cooler and the wasps weren’t so numerous and aggressive.

Tuesday, Aug 11

For Aug 10 CPAP. Reported figures. 4 hrs 40 min with AHI=0.43 Events: 2 H. No major mask leaks (max=9 L/min); oximeter on 7 hrs 34 min AHI = 0.26

Nicole Linares (BNE site member, but granddaughter of one of my buddies at the Senior Center), met me at Hearthstone today to receive the Frosty Snowman and Rudolph stocking pictured in last week’s blog. I gave her some squash too.
Gave one to Macinkos. We had a good meeting of the retired geographers and were done at 10:15 a.m. I was happy to be able to deliver to Ken Hammond, a planning document for Grant County (east of us), written in 1970, that I found in my paperwork clean-up. It was a nice bound document with pictures. He did not have a copy of it and was thrilled. His son, Stuart, a hydro engineering supervisor works at Wanapum Dam – a Grant county project. That’s the dam on the Columbia River that sustained a serious crack last year, requiring lowering the reservoir level to remove pressure and fix it. That lowering seriously affected the recreation access use above the dam, quite a ways upstream, but the good news is they fixed it under budget in a timely manner.

I came home for lunch and then went back to town for my meds, and on to Jazzercise. I tried taking it easier than last week but it still was a lot of exercise for 50 minutes. I took in 4 squash and gave each to different folks there. From there to the bank, and on by our dentist for leaving five more nice squash for the staff. They await and appreciate our contributions every summer.

Now just back with less than an hour before leaving for the 5:00 p.m. BBQ at Royal Vista, Fête #1, held to say thanks to the volunteers and families of and some of the residents. John did not feel up to going along with me. That was a great meal and good chance meeting with our family physician.

Our family physician, since 1988, is Dr. Paul Schmitt, in Cle Elum. He was there being honored as having been the Medical Physician in charge of the facility since 1975. I said hi, and he asked where John was. I told him, and he said, “Get him up to see me.” Thank God for the chance meeting. I was there because of 3 different groups I sing/play with over the years at the facility. We were invited to say thanks for our volunteer service.

Here is a photo of my longtime (since the early 2000s) friend and former student, Glenn Engels, who attended with his mom, who is also a recent member of our music group, Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends, which has entertained there since the 1950s. They are closing the assisted living facility after 65 years of service to the community. The building would require too much money to renovate it to proper standards.

Glenn took this photo as a selfie, on his cell phone. It was terribly hot, over 100, and tables were placed on an asphalt parking lot, but we managed to pull ours over into the small amount of shade of the building (only available for two tables). The food was fantastic, catered with salads (fruit was the best), tri-tip, chicken, sausage and the normal hamburgers and hot dogs (I only had the first 3). For dessert, we had a quality locally made ice cream by Winegar’s, a previous dairy on the northwest side of town, whose land is now filled with large houses in subdivided pastureland. It was still operational for many years after I arrived in town, and a few students in my Economic Geography class did term projects on the operation. Over the years, starting in 1988, I was able to learn a lot about the industries, businesses, and agricultural products of our valley and across WA State. Teaching it annually to 25 people until 2006, when someone else took it over, was a rewarding and educational experience.

Wednesday, Aug 12

For Aug 11 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 30 min with AHI=0.15 Events: 1 H. No major mask leaks (max=17 L/min).

Called at opening, 8:30 a.m., Dr. Schmitt’s office, knowing he does not work on Wednesdays, but made an appt. for John tomorrow at 10:15.

Today is Food Bank Soup Kitchen. It was a sad but special day. We learned that one of our clients who loved singing along, had died of lung cancer. The director asked if we would dedicate a few songs to his memory. We did the whole program of his favorites and appropriate songs, ending with I’ll Fly Away. We sang Amazing Grace, You are My Sunshine, He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands, Do Lord, and others for ½ hour. Many people applauded and joined in singing, and told us how much it meant to them today. It was 103° when I left the building, on my way to SAIL. I stopped off at the P.O. and the bank. The bank was to deliver squash to our favorite banker. It was too hot to get gasoline in my car. By almost 3:00, we reached the high of 105° today. I will have 35 minutes between ending music tomorrow (assuming I get back in time), and going to a 4:00 meeting regarding my experiences at the local hospital. Is this what’s called a focus group?

Thursday, Aug 13

For Aug 12 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 50 min with AHI=0.29 Events: 2 H. No major mask leaks (max=16 L/min); oximeter on 7 hrs 30 min AHI = 0.27

We are seeing Dr. Schmitt today, although John is feeling better. Tomorrow will be 2 weeks John has been sick. Although at the middle of last week he felt better for a day – and then got worse. He did not eat for about 30 hours and then started with a tin of pears – ate a piece and waited awhile. Repeat. After the consultation Dr. Schmitt said he thought John would live. Doc gave us a kit to collect a stool sample, but – not eating = no stool – so we discussed the best sorts of foods to start with and those to avoid. He had us get a 2-day supply of Ondansetron (Zofran) [reduces nausea and vomiting]. John ate a few simple things and not much of those. We got a few bananas and oranges at the store. Looking forward to tomorrow and more regular food. [Weight: we don’t know what he weighed when he got sick. Last September’s weigh-in and today’s indicated a drop of 18 pounds. He claims all the WTA trail work might have lightened him some.]

Today the fiddlers and friends played at Rehab; several people from Royal Vista have already been relocated there. I did not make it because I went with John and then back to EBRG and the grocery store and pharmacy. The timing of things today seemed just too tight and I told others of the players that I might not be able to come.
Then late afternoon, 4:00 to 5:40, I participated in a forum with 11 others about our local hospital’s perception from community members. It was an interesting experience. My favorable experiences were in contrast to a few of the people at our table. The consulting team provided refreshments and an honorarium of $25 cash at the end of the 1.5 hr discussion. Around the table, I knew five participants.

On the way home, I filled my car with gasoline for the least I have paid in awhile, $2.739 / gallon. It was 102°, but thankfully I had shade. I was ready for the temperatures to go down Friday. I also was able to go by our pharmacy and pick up John’s prescription. It was first sent to the wrong pharmacy. No clue why. We have never gone to that pharmacy in town.

Friday, Aug 14

For Aug 13 CPAP. Reported figures. 4 hrs 6 min with AHI=0.24 Events: 1 H, 1 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min); oximeter on 4 hrs 52 min AHI = 0.21

Wow, the winds in the past 4 hours have gusted to 31, 40, 45, 48, and topped at 49 mph at 2:00 p.m., and then for the next 4 hours, at 45, 41, 41, and 44. Whoa, Nellie. Glad I am not out in it. All the flying matter and trees blowing puzzled our two resident deer. They were in the parking area just outside our front yard and watched. The sounds were diverse and quite loud too. Trees battled with the wind and won. A cardboard box lost and ended far out in the pasture. The sun guard on the back patio window lost the battle too, but later, John reinforced it and it is still standing Saturday morning (when the wind has resumed).

The Puget Sound area had 650 lightning strikes today. Thunderstorm activity was predicted here. I hope not. With this winds and dryness, we are in a serious fire danger zone. Nothing much happened locally, and we had only a few drizzles of rainfall. The winds stopped before 10:00 p.m.
Fête #2: When John thought he was getting well he brought chicken (boneless thighs) from the freezer to the refrigerator. It took about 3 days to thaw but has now been there long enough. He baked it with a bed and covering of onions. He sliced a yellow squash and breaded (with egged pancake mix) and fried that. We also had red seedless grapes. He’s going to have about 2/3 s of a normal meal (for him).

Saturday, Aug 15

For Aug 14 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 3 min with AHI=0.00 Events: none. No major mask leaks (max=7 L/min)

John made it through the night in fine shape. Today I go to Briarwood and will deliver more squash and tomatoes. This is the venue (Fête #3) who feed us afterwards.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Saturday, Aug 1

For July 31 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 16 min with AHI=1.60 Events: 10 H, 2 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=6 L/min); oximeter on, 7 hrs 5 min, AHI = 1.41

Stayed inside because of the heat, after the morning chores already mentioned at the end of last week’s blog.

Finished and published the blog.

After the temperature went down, I retrieved my gifts at the road, gave some squash to another neighbor and got a dozen eggs in return, and took two pie pans with 7 fresh peaches each to neighbors visiting from Omak. We visited in their parents’ front yard for a good time, until I left and was stung by a bee. It’s still not well, 11 hours later. (It took 3 days to stop hurting, itching, and to completely go down on its swelling, even with the use of ice.)

After retrieving my gifts, I checked them out. The most interesting gift is 2 pieces of vintage brown glass cooking ware, VISIONS by Corningware. If anyone has that and cooks with it, please let me know. The person giving it says she always used the stove top, and never in the oven, nor would she suggest using in a microwave. I have found other descriptions online (all videos are with gas flamed burners) and also prices for the glassware replacements. For the 2.5 quart saucepan I got without a lid, the cost with lid online is $99; a little 7” skillet with a top as I got is available for $42. I need to find out if electric burners can be used. One FAQ site says yes.
Also in the mix of gifts were a couple of knitted hats and a CD holder, plastic sleeves, in a large zipped binder.
High for the day at the airport, 105°, not to my liking.

Sunday, Aug 2

For Aug 1 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 5 min with AHI=0.16 Events: 1 H, 2 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=7 L/min); oximeter on, 9 hrs, 41 min, AHI=.10

101° at the airport just before 3:00; was high for the day.
I had an interesting Facebook message from a fellow (John Mutch) in Boise, ID. He sent it back on July 6, this year, but because he is not my Facebook “friend,” it went into my “other” message box (where I typically do not check). I went there to check on a msg I expected from the Buy Nothing site, and found this:

Hello–I am a collector of Idaho tokens, and researcher of the histories of the businesses that used them. One token I recently obtained was from the Computer Junction in Troy, Idaho. Inquiring with Dorothy Anderson, Troy historian, she recalled that this business was set up by John and Nancy Hultquist. Was that you? If so, I’d like to ask a few questions. I’m in Boise and my e-mail is tokens@gmail.com Thanks!

See tomorrow for more on this story.

Tonight we had a visit from our pole barn resident deer that have made their home there. Our front gate was left open and they came in to nibble on the base of the Mountain Ash tree’s foliage.

Monday, Aug 3

For Aug 2 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 52 min with AHI=1.36 Events: 6 H, 1 OA & 1 CA. No major mask leaks (max=15 L/min); oximeter on 6 hrs, 6 min, AHI=1.31

John was very sick last night, but maybe we have a handle on it. Need to keep him hydrated, get some food in him, and get his energy level back up. We do not know what germ or bad food we had. It hit him harder than me. He is sticking with soft food and no fiber.

The interesting contact from our past last night sent an an email this morning with pictures.

A fellow from Boise, ID found my name on Facebook and asked if he had the right persons who used to own a business in Troy, ID called Computer Junction. Yep, that was us. He is a token collector and obtained it from and old resident of Troy.

I have worked on compiling information for our friends on rental connections here in town. I used a Facebook site named Community Connect, Kittitas County. People responded with known rentals or people who would be good contacts. The couple returns next Wednesday to check on several I found.

I dealt with the medical supply place in Yakima that provides my CPAP supplies and they will send my 3-month supply of filters, mask, & tubing. Now getting ready to get off the computer and hit some of the stacks of boxes in the den. It is such a very slow process, but I need to speed it up to get ready and make room for the installation of our new wood stove.

Oh, I just arranged to pick up more fresh nectarines free from the gal in town, tomorrow. I plan to take them to the potluck going away for the teens from Minsk, Belarus (remember Chernobyl ?) who have been visiting Ellensburg for 5 weeks (health, education, and social functions).

Tuesday, Aug 4

For Aug 3 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 22 min with AHI=0.31 Events: 2 H. No major mask leaks (max=8 L/min); oximeter on, 6 hrs, 39 min, AHI=.30

I worked on all sorts of things before leaving for town at 12:45. First, by 3rd street alley to pick up a large bag of nectarines and cherries and to leave yellow straight neck summer squash. From there to the lab at the hospital required for my INR reading because of taking Coumadin. My reading I learned late afternoon was 2.3. From there on to Seattle Ave, conveniently across from the hospital to pick up my 36-cup coffee brewer and 2 containers for coffee. Those two belonged to my rural neighbor a couple miles away. We had loaned them to a gal for her mom’s 70th birthday party. I dropped off the two on my way home. After getting them, I went to the AAC for Jazzercise. It is the first meeting of the month, so our $2 fee was due and we changed exercises to a new set. I was a little tired but managed to get through the 50 minutes. I left squash at all my stops today – seems to be a good year for them. Two other stops on the way home happened, both in the same neighborhood NE of Ellensburg. I had picked up some old oval picture frames from the free table at the AAC and gave them (with squash) to a family north of the university. Once home, I cleaned up today’s nectarines, and fixed about 27 to take to the party in a big “Northwest” fruit box. They were very much appreciated, and many people took some home. Quite a few were left because of the abundance of food, but all were distributed before I drove home.

I carried along a large package of big heavy-duty paper plates, and there were a bunch left, but the tables were cleaned off before I got ready to leave, and they were no longer in sight. I have to retrieve them for our party box.

As I left the party the western sky was putting on a show – changing fast. I cursed myself for not having a camera along. John, while feeding horses, noticed the clouds and ran (Ha !) to the house and got back out in time to catch the rapidly changing view. He stitched 2 of the stills into a panorama using Windows Live Photo Gallery. Behold:

Wednesday, Aug 5

For Aug 4 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 15 min with AHI=0.19 Events: 1 H, 1 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=12 L/min); oximeter on, 5 hrs, 28 min, AHI=.18

Worked on several projects this morning, including helping John pick squash and tomatoes. Left at 11:00 to go to the Food Bank. I dropped off squash for several more people today.

Unfortunately, I missed connections with a BN person, so postponed until next Tuesday morning to give her a special treat for her 8 year old daughter’s August 27 birthday. She will put the plastic snowman on the left into the frosting of her special cake. I’ll have to wait to hear what she does with the little stocking. It’s only as large as the stretch of my hand. The little girl requested a Frosty the Snowman party.

On my way home, I succeeded in delivering two old picture frames to a gal along with some squash for her family. It was a challenge because the address of the apartment complex was not visible on a sign along 18th street. Luckily, I had looked it up on Google Earth and knew the approximate location, and I had the apartment #.

Late afternoon, I was sought as a participant in a group survey of my experiences with the Kittitas Valley Hospital. It will occur next Thursday. That will be interesting. I decided to join the 1.5 hr discussion. Supposedly, I will receive a small monetary compensation for my time and they will have refreshments to keep us hydrated.

John convinced me to go stand in front of one of our blue spruce trees to model a shirt and hat available through WTA. Funny, I had worn another lighter blue one today, he obtained on the celebration of 20 years of WTA trail work (2013). This one is less busy artistically. The WTA logo has a mountain background with trees and the white broad swirl for a trail. This one has the motto “WTA Volunteers to the Rescue.”

Thursday, Aug 6

For Aug 5 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 28 min with AHI=0.31 Events: 1 H, 2 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=9 L/min); oximeter on 6 hrs, 50 min, AHI=.29

Today was the last day we will be playing music at Royal Vista Nursing Home. The company is closing this facility after 65 years. The building is out of date and unfit-for-purpose. Clients are being moved to another EBRG facility or elsewhere. Some people are upset but we wonder if they live in houses that are over 65 years old? We don’t. Rooms at Royal Vista are small, do not have toilets, and therefore, it was a trip down the hall to a shared bathroom.
Back to this Thursday. We had 7 players there, and a cheering couple from Cle Elum, visiting her sister, and singing along. They had a couple of requests. We were able to play Blue Skirt Waltz for the lady, and I asked her husband for his favorite. He said he loved them all, especially church hymns because he grew up hearing his mother play them on an organ in church. So I asked her sister (the resident – there for her memory problems), her favorite old song. She said she couldn’t remember. The husband said, well, she’d probably like, The Old Rugged Cross. Gerald started playing it, Charlie joined in, and I played and sang the lyrics. When we got to the chorus, the older sister started singing along and sang every word. That put her younger sister in tears. She came up to me afterwards and thanked me and said how amazed she was. I told her we see that often, and I was not surprised. That’s one of the rewarding parts of taking music to the old folks in assisted living homes.
I was supposed to loan my Hawaiian shirt to a family for their son to go to Youth Life camp, but we didn’t make connections. I think I will take a nap and then maybe the phone will ring. I slept for almost 2 hours and got a message that she had to pick up her son, and thought she would be too late. Meanwhile her father found a shirt made by her mother 45 yrs ago, it fits the son fine, and he won’t need to borrow mine.
I got very hot playing there today, and the trip was hot as well. I came home to an icy treat by John, with Strawberry soda and pineapple /orange / raspberry sherbet.

We had a late dinner, including some of our own garden potatoes, volunteered from last year and some yellow squash. John is much, much better, and eating and working again, or partly. We managed to print a picture of our 89 yr old neighbor on a Harley with her physical therapist for her son to frame and take to her tomorrow. She’s in the hospital in Yakima to have a pacemaker implanted.

Friday, Aug 7

For Aug 6 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 7 min with AHI=0.98 Events: 6 H, 3 CSR, 1 OA. No major mask leaks (max=21 L/min); oximeter on whole time.

John’s young helper did not show this morning, so he unloaded the rocks he loaded from the front of the driveway yesterday. Then he loaded 15 gallons of sand from the round pen and spread by our front gate so it’s easier to walk-about there to open the gate. I’m happy for the better footing for that chore, when we leave or come back home. He’s fixed a great omelet-like concoction for brunch, with eggs, cheese, red pepper, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and chopped roast beef. I put some fresh salsa on mine. We had a piece of toast and red grapes with it. Nice. Now he’s napping and I’m delving into a mess of papers.

We had an interesting dinner of salmon (Icicle Creek), with dried plums from our tree, asparagus pieces (also ours), and pineapple (Thailand). John doesn’t like for me to put in meal pictures, but this is worth showing. Not much asparagus is on my plate because it is high in Vitamin K, and these were frozen stem pieces he had intended for a stew.

While his dinner was cooking the last minutes, he looked at his computer and Windows 10 was ready to download. He’s doing it now. It installed without need of input from him in less than ½ hour. The next steps took about 20 minutes. I thought that amazing, having heard from others about their experience. He claims the newer system he has is the reason, and that I won’t likely be as happy. He wanted to stop but at first couldn’t find the correct button. Finally, he found “sleep, shut down, & restart, under POWER, a strange place, maybe. MS has had “shut down” under a START button for many years. I imagine the company had many complaints about that all those years with Windows 7 & XP, and decided to make it Power for power on & power off (my interpretation). I haven’t installed it yet on my machine. I want to see how his goes and then can learn from him, as I have about the power button. And I also have to learn about the panorama thing. He used the recent cloud photo for the “wall paper” and that looks nice. Says he has some more customizing to do. We do not have touch screens so some of Windows 10 is not going to work, any time soon, for us.

Saturday, Aug 8

For Aug 7 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 23 min with AHI=1.76 Events: 13 H, 1 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=21 L/min); oximeter on the entire time.

This morning John picked more squash, watered them, and the plum trees, and we will have many small tomatoes to pick tomorrow.

Do you remember when you first had a refrigerator. John thinks his family got their first Philco refrigerator that made ice and had a freezer before 1950. Below is a web photo that resembles what he remembers (a 1950s model). About 35 years earlier the first home refrigerators came with the coils visible (top, mostly) – gone by the time he was old enough to remember things. They did have an actual “ice box” – unless Peggy and Ethel tell him otherwise. In that case, he’ll retract the “did” part.

John’s folks painted the kitchen (when ?) and the Philco became lime-green or some such. How many folks do you know that painted their refrigerator? Nancy here: I don’t recall the year we got ours, but I remember it was a Norge, and sat outside the kitchen in an enclosed back porch entry of the small 5 room house.
Here some info: Coils on top refrigerator

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, July 26

For July 25 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 24 min with AHI=1.10 Events: 7 H, 7 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=7 L/min); oximeter on, 5 hrs.

John’s July 25th was a long and tiring trip to Mt. Rainier so his Sunday activities involved only a bit of watering, picking squash, and then together, finishing the blog.

Monday, July 27

For July 26 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 19 min with AHI=2.69 Events: 3 CSR, 17 H. No major mask leaks (max=17 L/min); oximeter on 9 hrs 39 min, AHI = 1.76. I think 2.69 is my highest AHI of record. Must be stress, or clogged airflow from allergies-caused congestion. At least my SpO2 and pulse are where they’re supposed to be. Thank goodness for my supplemental oximeter record; this should be a part of all CPAP machines.

Haircut for me and while away, we got a phone call from west-side WTA friends. She is thinking of CWU in the fall and they were in town visiting with admissions advisers and looking for a place to rent. We drove in and had a nice visit – as usual, near the Super 1 deli in an air-conditioned room. Cool.

Tuesday, July 28

For July 27 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 16 min with AHI=0.57 Events: 2 H. No major mask leaks (max=19 L/min); oximeter on, 6.5 hrs.

I took data from CPAP & Oximeter, and John watered things and picked more squash. While out he encounter a cattlelady (Mary) about to bring a herd (180 head) down Naneum Road from pasture on the next road north of us. Our gate was closed but next door doesn’t have a workable gate. She said 20 minutes but it was about 40 before the lead rider appeared ¼ mile up the road. John used the time to pick rocks (thrown into a pile for later gathering) and then stood so the cattle would stay away from the open driveway. They used 2 autos, 2 dogs, and 5 riders. As usual the pavement got episodic toppings of cowpee&pies. The latter smell mightily on a hot muffler.

On the way into town, we stopped off to deliver a pair of moccasins that didn’t fit me to a woman on the BuyNothing site; she was thrilled. The rest of the day included a major wearing-out exercise for me at the Jazzercise class. While I was there, John went shopping at the grocery. He spent more time than expected after driving by our dentist’s office to return a write-up on muscle cramps. He got back on time but we went a little over our 45 minutes, so he rested through the cool-downs we were doing. From there we went to get the gasoline for his car we had come to town to get. Price was up to $3.05. Now on Friday, it’s “down” to $2.99/gal.

Stops while still in town, to drop off a Hen & Chicken plant to a gal with 3 little boys. While on that end of town, I picked up my loaned bandanna with crystals to keep cool in hot weather, dropped off some squash to a friend, located another house on the way home to drop off a battery that fit my old Canon camera that broke; there I picked up a computer keyboard for its new owner and we dropped it off, on our way home. I also picked up a pair of jeans to give to another gal I’ll see next Thursday, for her and kids to use with a 4H project of decorating the sheep barn at the fairgrounds. Denim is one of the themes for this year’s request for stable decorations.

Great dinner John fixed from the stuff he bought. First, he cooked a cheeseburger to take for his lunch on the trail work tomorrow, and then with the rest of the ground beef, sour cream, red pepper, and mushrooms, he made Stroganoff. The noodles were Fusilli (corkscrew shaped). We ate more meals from this during the rest of the week, and on Friday, John froze a packet for a future lunch. I must show the results of his endeavors. The only thing we might have added for an extra touch might have been cashews. But, it was scrumptious, with the fresh peaches on the side.

Wednesday, July 29

For July 28 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 24 min with AHI=0.37 Events: 2 H, 3 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=11 L/min); oximeter on, 6 hrs 36 min, AHI = 0.30.

John was out of here at 5:30 a.m. to work on trail at the Martin Creek Connector Trail, with Evonne Ellis as the Crew Leader. He was a last minute addition because she needed more ACL help (as we heard when we visited with her in Ellensburg two days ago). She was going to have a large group from “O2”, as explained here:

O2: Outdoor Opportunities is a City of Seattle outdoor expedition program designed to expose multi-ethnic teens (ages: 14-19) to environmental education, urban conservation, and stewardship.

Read the above carefully and translate as you will.

I awoke at 4:00, and we both had trouble going back to sleep. After he left, I slept off the CPAP machine until almost 8:30, got up feeling a lot better, and fed the outside cat, Woody. We usually only see her mother at evening feedings, but Woody is here both times. Also fed Rascal, the live-in/out cat, and the doggies. Surprisingly, in recent days the older feral tom we haven’t captured and had fixed, returned. We hadn’t seen him in many months. We had named him Lemon because of the facial expression he has that looks as if he just bit into a lemon.

I left a little earlier than usual and dropped by a place on the way to town, to pick up two gifts from the buy nothing site – one a Panasonic turntable and the other a large foam egg crate pad.

It will be a long day for John. He called me from Stevens Pass Summit at 5:36 p.m. to tell me they worked until 4:30 (much later than usual – it’s an O2 thing), and he would be longer coming home than expected. He was 2 hrs away. He trundled in at 7:40 p.m.

Here are pictures from his day on the trail, with a lead-in thank you from the crew leader, for his presence there: John, thank you so much for coming out on short notice! You not only helped remove massive chunks of wood from the trail, your smile and presence out there helped immensely. Thank you so much for making the trip! 

John begins the day explaining the tools and safe use for the day’s work, to a bunch of O2 members from the urban area, most with borrowed boots that hurt their feet. In the middle, John contemplates removing an ancient stump, and on the right works on it with a Pulaski.
This was a long day, because the group is used to working until 4:30, so they can go from the work site to the showers at the local Forest Service compound. Normally, volunteer work crews usually are on the road home by 3:30. These folks were staying in a campground and would have to come back on Thursday.

Thursday, July 30

For July 29 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 0 min with AHI=1.00 Events: 6 H, x CSR. No major mask leaks (max=17 L/min); oximeter on, 6 hrs 33 min, AHI = 0.92

Today was my trip to town alone. On my way to Mt. View Meadows, I stopped to pick up a bag of goodies from a woman who is moving; it was on my way to town without a detour. We had a nice audience turn out and peanuts and popcorn were provided. When I left, without getting any popcorn or peanuts, the activities director gave me a bag of unsalted peanuts. I was amused to see the brand name Kroger on the package. We used to shop at Kroger’s in my hometown, after the A&P closed. I almost never frequent the Fred Meyer’s in town, but John says they are part of the Kroger brand (since 1999). Kroger’s originated in Cincinnati, OH in 1883. John and I lived in Cincy for two years in the mid-’60s and shopped at Kroger’s. The headquarters building was new in 1957 and was a major building in an old neighborhood. See: Kroger Tower
From there, I went by to get nectarines from Wenatchee, via the gal here in town who gave me cherries and peaches last week. I’m going to take the nectarines this Tuesday night to the going away party potluck for the young people from Belarus, who return to Minsk, next week. Seven of our music group will entertain in their backyard.
A Peach of a name.
After getting the nectarines (and she gave me more peaches), I went to the courthouse to pick up another computer keyboard, and to give that person a bottle of aspirin given to me in the first stop of the day for her. And, from there to another two places to share more of our squash. Later, I received a photo of what people had done with their squash for dinner, tonight (and the other from last week) — in the collage below:

Last week’s use and tonight’s use in a quesadilla. The white layer is cheese.

My final stop on my way home was to deliver 3 computer keyboards for a kindergarten teacher’s use in her classroom. One of the three was a vintage one from us, an old KeyTronics one.

Friday, July 31

For July 30 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 22 min with AHI=2.67 Events: 17 H, 3 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=19 L/min); oximeter on, 6 hrs, 33 min, AHI = 2.60
I have NO clue what’s going on. That is very high, one of my higher AHIs, since October 2014. Actually, Monday this week was higher.

Our high today was a scorching 105° at the airport, 5 mi south, but we only saw 99.8° here. John’s morning chores included working 1.5 hrs with our 13-yr. old neighbor on removing brush from up near the road. He moved a few hoses through the day, and sloshed water on squash plants. Otherwise, we stayed inside. John picked a few strawberries and little pear and cherry tomatoes when it cooled down and cooked some chicken breasts which I made into a salad for dinner.

Afternoon treat was a cool rainbow sherbet float, with orange soda, crafted by John. He was inspired about this on his work on the Icicle Creek trail last weekend, when the Forest Service guard station volunteers brought them to the trail workers at the end of the day (two days in a row).

I forgot until almost bedtime to clean/cut up/sugar the strawberries for tomorrow’s use. Our strawberry crop and onions are downsized significantly from last year’s bounty. The squash like the sun and hot temps – but need lots of water.

Saturday, Aug 1

For July 31 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 16 min with AHI=1.60 Events: 10 H, 2 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=6 L/min); oximeter on, 7 hrs

Another hot day predicted today in 3 digits. John was out early unloading brush before his helpful worker joined him at 8:00 a.m. for another 1.5 hrs. brushing into the back of the old pickup. She plans to use her money to buy a pass that allows riding on all the rides at the Fair, coming to town Labor Day Weekend.

Interruption to look for 36-cup coffee pot to share with a person in town for a 70th birthday for her mom. John helped me lift it from a high place in our garage, I tried to clean the 25 years of dust and bugs, and then walked it to the end of our driveway. She’s already retrieved it and two smaller air pots from the friend who picked up some free stuff for me yesterday on her trip out, and left in place of the coffee pot loan.

The temperature is up to 98° here now at 1:20 p.m. Airport reports higher.

I called our neighbor’s daughter-in-law, who’s visiting, to offer some peaches and squash, but I will not deliver it until later when it cools down. She decided the mom is still in ICU and they will only have the peaches. We can make it a multi-purpose trip to move a hose from the driveway, pick up my deposited gifts, get the mail, and deliver the peaches.

We hit 3 digits an hour ago, at 100.9°, but the airport reported 105° at 2:53 p.m., definitely too hot to be outside.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, July 20

For July 19 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 25 min with AHI=1.25 Events: 8 H, 1 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=16 L/min); oximeter on, 7 hrs 4 min, AHI = 1.13

A crazy running-around day — all day, and that’s with only one trip to town. Mostly I worked on cleaning up materials (lots of paper from back to the 1990s and more recently of the past 2 years. Then we both took off for town with squash, gifts, and our election ballots for the deposit box at the courthouse. [WA votes by mail – or save the stamp and drop it in.]

We received a couple of photos to share about our youngest Brittany female in CA with my friend, her co-owner. Just got the news that the Brittany, call name Daisy, won a prestigious award from the California Brittany Club, for 2014 Juvenile Field Dog of the Year, Cedaridge Kip’s Camelot Shay Tre’ JH (the JH on the end represents the title received for a Junior Hunter from AKC hunting test events)

This award was accompanied by a wooden plaque with her photo.

Some field shots below, from an early morning training session in CA today with co-owner, Jeri Conklin. They were taken by her hubby, Kurt.

This is Daisy, displaying the Shay stare, from her great, great grandmother, DC/AFC/CC Sirius Sashay, who would do the same; and on the right ears flying. Somewhere I have a similar photo of her with ears flying at 10 weeks of age.

Daisy again, on point on the left, and all four feet off the ground on the right.

Tuesday, July 21

For July 20 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 33 min with AHI=0.53 Events: 4H, 2 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=10 L/min); oximeter on, 7 hrs 41 min, AHI = 0.53

Leaving at 9:30 for Yakima. First stop, my sleep doctor. Good consultation and I don’t need to see him for another year. I’m doing fine, and he is pleased with my results and consistency with putting up with the CPAP. I believe he enjoys my questions and my graphs of my progress. While there, John realized he had left his wallet at home, so I had to do all the driving for the rest of the trip. Luckily, I took my wallet so we could enter Costco and buy our gasoline and groceries. We were driving on empty, so good thing.

My experience at the foot doctor was a little painful and of concern. I think this treatment has been going on for nearly 2 years and it was only supposed to take 6 months to a year to heal a fungus on all 5 toenails of only one of my feet. It improved slightly but not enough for my doctor’s or my liking. He cut off more nails from all 5 toes and put in a container to send for another culture to see if maybe something else is at work here and needs a different treatment method. We had tried several topical treatments before switching to the laser. I cannot handle the internal medication option because it messes with my liver, and I am already on too many meds that potentially can do that damage. After that, he provided (subjected me to) a very aggressive laser treatment. It was a lot more painful than ever before; part of the reason being the skin above my toenails was hit a lot with the hot beam. It was painful. After completion, I drove us to Costco for gasoline, lunch, and groceries. It was painful walking around the store. The pain continued for another night and day.

Once in the parking lot and loaded, we pulled out of our space and only went a little way into the shade of a tree so I could take my Tylenol I forgot to take after lunch. I looked in the rearview mirror and a man was coming toward us waving and pointing. He said our front tire was low. How the heck he noticed it, I’ll never know. But he was nice enough to follow and tell us. We drove to the back of Costco to the tire service and John asked their opinion. They found a nail, said we had a slow leak, and added some air, mentioning it was safe to drive back to Ellensburg. We asked where the Les Schwab place was. It’s across from Home Depot.

While we waited we had popcorn, sat, and read a magazine, published by Good Fruit Growers. I was reading a May edition on Viticulture and the associated labor problems with vineyards and other fruit orchards; it was fascinating. John’s monthly edition was all on Apples. On the way home, we discussed our learned material. I looked around on their site and found a funny story

One article John read was about a genetically modified apple that would NOT become brown when sliced. He said he would like that for taking a sliced apple for trail work treats and not have to worry about bringing the core out and back home. This is a GMO apple and some people object.

It took them 30 minutes to take the nail out of our tire, repair the tire, and get us on the road (at no cost). Normal charge for a non-Les Schwab person would have been $14.95. I’ve since been told that a friend got his nail in tire fixed for free in Ellensburg, and on non-Les Schwab tires. That’s a great marketing tool, I believe.
We made it home safely, but tired.

Good grief, it has been windy today, but we just had 48 mph gusts right before 6:00 p.m. Now it’s “down” to 40.

Wednesday, July 22

For July 21 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 40 min with AHI=1.35 Events: 9 H, 3 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=18 L/min). Oximeter accidentally left off.

Off to the Food Bank. Not feeling well from yesterday’s activities, particularly the foot doctor visit. I carried along some gifts for people I met through the Buy Nothing Ellensburg site. First person met me at the Food Bank inside before we played. I gave her a bunch of seashells and a little coral from all over the world. Most of it was from a box I got at a yard sale.

Then we played and sang a bunch of new songs for the group and audience, but all were oldtime songs. The audience enjoyed us very much today. One fellow from CA apparently new in town (I don’t know his story yet), but he asked to take our pictures to send to family in CA. He was interested in stories of older people’s reaction to music, in assisted living homes, particularly where they were not able to communicate in person, yet were able to be influenced by music. He wants to volunteer at places in town, so I have given him our schedule and will introduce him to folks where we play to see if he can volunteer at the places.

John’s computer received an update from Microsoft. To activate such things the computer has to be shut down and then started again. His came back on with a simple message saying the “Personal Profile System system” [Yes, it says system twice.] would not work and you might as well take a flying leap off a high cliff – or something like that. 40 minutes on the phone could not solve the issue and then, in dismantling, John snappled a plastic coupling on an antenna. Off to the shop he went – mid-morning.

Thursday, July 23

For July 22 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 12 min with AHI=2.88 Events: 15 H, 2 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=18 L/min); oximeter on, 9 hrs 2 min, AHI = 1.66

It was a rough night (sleeping) for me, I got up at 5:00 a.m., and went back to sleep without my CPAP machine. I seem to have allergies (to what I don’t know), but my nose was running and I was congested all night. Lots of sneezing when up, and through the morning. From that change, I slept extremely well for 4 hours. Those hours were superior to the previous entire night, granted it was only 5 hrs.
Interesting full day again today. John was still without computer. It’s like being without beer – he says; I wrote arms and legs. He went out to move rocks, water plums, pick squash, a few cherry and yellow pear tomatoes, and take care of animals. I stayed in trying to work on chores.

About 11:00, I received a phone call that John’s computer was fixed and ready to be picked up. He went with me, dropping me off at the assisted living home (Hearthstone) for music, and going on to Super 1 grocery. While there, he got grapes, pink lady apples, beef roast, and picked up my meds. Once done, he returned to Hearthstone and saw Mary Ann Macinko waving at him. He went over to join her and her husband at their table. After we ended our program, I joined them for a visit. The volunteer staff served cookies and I had lime-flavored water. We left and unfortunately, I left behind my 24 copies of the audience participation booklets. From there we drove north in town to pick up some cherries and peaches from the person I gave a canister and yellow squash to yesterday. She forgot to put it out before she left town, so I will get it tomorrow when in town. From there we went to pick up and pay for the fixed computer. It seems the “Personal Profile Service” error happens enough such that they knew what to do. The minimum in-store charge is $40 and the new antennae $30. They had only promised it by Friday and it was ready before Thursday noon, so that made it seem good. This is one of those “stuff happens” with computers that seems to have no explantion, could happen again, but likely won’t. Good Grief!

We came home by way of CWU Surplus and put bids on a load of pallets and a pile of lumber.

Have to make up an invite (still not done) to send to people in the KV F&F to invite to a potluck for the Chernobyl kids from Belarus’ going away party, for which we will play music on August 4.

Friday, July 24

For July 23 CPAP was off because of my severely chafed nose. Oximeter on 9 hrs, including early work time before continuing my night’s sleep.

My stops today were several. Hospital to visit a neighbor with pneumonia, to exercise SAIL class and delivery of Costco goods and evaluation of old violin, plus giving a contact for a professional who comes to an office occasionally to Ellensburg. On to pick up peaches and cherries from a friend, to the bank, and by another friend’s to deliver a jacket in new condition we can no longer use, from there by Jerrol’s (a book & office supply store in town for 65 years) to spend a free $10 reward coupon.

I found both of these for less than $10 total. The mini bar magnifier is meant to clip to a book and slide down to read. I am not a reader and can read small print anyway without reading glasses, but occasionally on maps, medical prescription warnings, or watch instructions the print is a little tedious to read. So, I thought this would be a nice addition to my glove compartment, where the notebook will be too, to record mileages.

While there, I saw a friend and former student, gave him a hug, and exchanged email addresses. I have a video of him speaking at a retirement party I took and wanted to share.

My next stop was north of town on my way home, to pick up a gift from the Buy Nothing site, where I shared a couple of our yellow straight neck squash. Once home, I sent out the following picture with my thank you, and the giver returned with a picture later in the evening of our squash cooking in her skillet to have with dinner.

This was my collage of choice, starting on the left with the gifted musical note tote bag, a photo of me in my musical note shirt, and ending with the material of another shirt I have in white and navy, made for me by my friend, Ellen.

Saturday, July 25

For July 24 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 4 min with AHI=1.16 Events: 7 H, 1 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=19 L/min); oximeter on, 10 hrs, AHI = 0.70

Wow, John could have stayed home today for a nice cool workday. Amazing. Outside high is only 68° and it made it to 69° at the airport.
I’ve been working on chores, but stopped for brunch, and I fixed a nice large uniquely interesting salad. I forgot to add a boiled egg, but the contents were: Iceberg lettuce mixture with carrot slices and purple cabbage, leftover Panko-breaded chicken from last night’s dinner (John took two pieces with him for breakfast and lunch on his way to and while at Mt. Rainier), a fresh mushroom, no tomatoes because I was too lazy to go pick them, I added halved red grapes, Rainier and Bing cherries pitted (by mouth). I have no clue where our cherry pitter is packed away. I guess for other uses that would not be politically correct or health-department sanctioned. I mixed it all together with Blue Cheese Chunky dressing. Oh, the funny uniqueness came from reaching to the cabinet for ground pepper and sprinkling cinnamon on it, I put that back and grabbed the look-alike jar of pepper and added that to the salad. Once all stirred it was a tasty treat.
While fixing my lunch, I decided to photograph the remaining cherries and peaches in the refrigerator, waiting for use, or more processing for the freezer (peaches). We’ll enjoy the cherries raw.

My day’s entertainment out the back door next to my recliner and computer was involved with pretty bright colored birds eating the remaining Nanking cherries from the trees beside the patio.

Below is a photo collage of the ones I took through a dirty scarred door, and the other on the right is from the web, taken at Bandelier National Monument, in Alamos, New Mexico. Below is the national parks site description. We had both males and females in our trees, but I concentrated on the males.

Western Tanager
Piranga ludoviciana
The western tanager looks like it should be in a tropical forest rather than the park’s forests. The male is yellow with a black back and red head. The female lacks the red head and has a greenish-yellow back. (RT, Photo Credit: USFWS)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~Nancy’s on left; . . . . . . one on the right, by USFWS.

John made it home safely from Mt Rainier’s trail work day — a little damp but okay. The crew (including a boy scout troop) had to walk in a mile to the work site. He brought home a special 2015 WTA tee shirt and a nice hat; we will have to model those later. He was here:
46.869197, -121.630240

There was a rock-fall on the south side of the valley – very noisy. The rain stopped shortly after Noon but cool and damp remained so all stayed wet. On leaving and 10 minutes into the car trip, the rain came hard. Then at the Chinook Pass rest and view area there was just a mist. 15 miles east of the crest all was dry.

Sunday, July 26

Today’s brunch was awesome, made by John. Blueberry/pecan pancake, with fresh peaches on top, and bacon. Now to post this blog.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, July 12

For July 11 CPAP. Reported figures. 8 hrs 4 min with AHI=0.12 Events: 1 H, 1 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=6 L/min); oximeter on, 8 hrs 11 min, AHI = 0.12

We enjoyed a quiet day at home.

Monday, July 13

For July 12 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 49 min with AHI=0.59 Events: 4 H, 2 CSR, No major mask leaks (max=16 L/min.)

Off early to the Emeriti Geographers meeting at Hearthstone, with our homemade cookies, I made last night, and you saw in last week’s blog, also published on a Sunday.

I have become the self-appointed photographer for special events when the AAC staff is too busy to take photos. I delivered pictures today from the past two weeks activities, and in turn, they gave me some they took July 2, on their camera.

I worked on chores inside the house and John worked outside. Both are continuing efforts.

Tuesday, July 14

For July 13 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 32 min with AHI=0.66 Events: 5 H, 2 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=21 L/min); oximeter on, 8 hrs 25 min AHI = 0.59

What a crazy day of much waiting. We left for Subaru service, got there but had to wait to fill out the registration for a loaner car (a 2015 Forester). They were going to do an oil change and lube and we were to return about 12:30 to retrieve it. We made it to the doctor’s office 10 minutes in advance of my appointment. I filled out all the paperwork, and was told my doctor was running an hour behind schedule. First, we decided to wait and I walked to the entrance to the waiting room to call my acquaintance in Wisconsin on my cell phone. It sadly was almost out of battery, so I went back inside to talk to John about leaving to get lunch instead. We decided to go a couple of blocks to the nearest Jack in the Box. Had no coupons along, so I got a Junior Jack with value fries we shared, John got a big cheeseburger, and I used a free coupon for him for 2 tacos. We ordered with 4 people behind us. They all were served before us, and there was nothing special about our order to cause that. They finally brought it out with an apology, and asked if we would like a free drink. We thanked them, requested a Coke, and they gave us an extra large drink. We shared it for lunch, and then refilled to take back to the doctor’s office. Back there, we checked in and the woman at the front desk forgot to call back to say we were there, but by accident my doctor’s assistant came out to refill her ice water, saw us, and took us in. She was able to give me the ECG I needed and take all the other vital information.

We were with my cardiologist for 1.5 hours. He has upped the dosage on Metoprolol from 37.5 mg daily to 50 mg, to see how I do on it. I am to be on the lookout for lowered blood pressure, lowered pulse, and shortness of breath. This is a trial run to see if he can actually raise it to 75mg with it working all right for me. The significance is pharmaceutical tests for the appropriate dosage to decrease mortality. They found that 75mg worked as well as 150, but other lower dosages were not part of the testing, which somewhat annoys me.

I arranged for a dinner pickup from The Palace in Ellensburg, which gives complimentary dinners on one’s birthday and as well, for an anniversary (only one dinner). I arranged to pick it up after I played music. I pick the Chicken Alfredo because it is easily large enough for two people.

I went to Hearthstone for music with The Connections. We play the second Tuesday evening of the month, from 6:30 to 7:20.

On my way home, I stopped to pick up the meal. When I got home, John added fried red peppers, mushrooms, and cheese to our belated anniversary dinner, Chicken Alfredo Fettuccine (with garlic bread). We each took 1/4 of the tray for tonight. The next night we ate the rest, so it was a nice deal getting 4 meals from only one that cost a generous tip to the server for take-out.

Wednesday, July 15

For July 14 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 42 min with AHI=0.30 Events: 2 H. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min); oximeter on, 8 hrs 24 min AHI = 0.24
One of life’s little mysteries. My CPAP was off for 45 min. (from just after 1:00 a.m. until just before 2:00 a.m. — with my having no memory of turning it off and on (the only way it could happen).

Something must have happened today, but I don’t have any notes. Shall squeeze some in here now 4 days later. It would have been a food bank play date. We had 4 people participating. They fed us afterwards a pasta with meatballs (but too much garlic for me), a nice green salad, cucumbers & tomatoes in vinegar (I had a few cherry tomatoes, but I cannot eat cukes), and for dessert was a very large homemade cookie with chocolate morsels, and there were many leftovers that I was able to bring home to share with John. From there to SAIL and the YOGA afterwards was cancelled until September. Normally, I go to Royal Vista and joining the accordion player/singer, Karen E., for entertaining. That’s been postponed until next week.

Thursday, July 16

For July 15 CPAP. Reported figures. 8 hrs 29 min with AHI=0.12 Events: 1 H. No major mask leaks (max=19 L/min)

I took time this morning to get a correct count for musicians for chairs. The maintenance person transfers them down the hall from their “Coca-Cola Soda Fountain break room.” Most of our players need chairs without arms. I also had to make some corrections and printouts of two songs for the players.

I managed to complete yet another letter of recommendation for financial aid for an international student to enter a university in New Zealand. Recently was the letter for admission. Now he needed another letter to a different government entity for a scholarship.

We had a good brunch, left the broiler on, but were happy to find it before leaving the house. John went with me to do some shopping, get gasoline, and then pick me up for home.

It was a good day at Dry Creek with a nice crowd and 8 players, one with a new instrument to most of us, a Q chord.

Today John brought in a box of our own little potatoes, volunteered from last year’s garden. The original planting was with potatoes that sprouted in the garage. I guess this evens things out.

Friday, July 17

For July 16 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 50 min with AHI=1.92 Events: 15 H, 6 CSR, 3 VS. No major mask leaks (max=19 L/min); oximeter on, 8 hrs 36 min AHI = 1.74

Time all today was spent with cleaning the den and kitchen, and with John working outside.

Someone wrote about the probable (someday) earthquake and massive waves (tsunami) at the Washington State coast. John says he likes her writing style. Grab a drink – it is long.
We are all doomed!

Meghan, our oldest dog (15) was having problems yesterday such that we thought she might have had a small stroke. Today, however she was much better. Here she is in her favorite resting place, on our love seat in the den, to where we had to lift her past couple of days. Now she is able to launch herself up again. She never quit eating, so that is encouraging.

Saturday, July 18

For July 17 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 7 min with AHI=0.49 Events: 3 H, 3 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min); oximeter on, 8 hrs 44 min, AHI = 0.34

John and I did not sleep wonderfully last night. We heard all manner of noises, the worst of which was a barking dog across the creek and through the woods. The magpies and other birds were extremely noisy this morning very early, after 4:00 a.m. He managed to get his breakfast and his lunch and beverages packed and was out of here for Icicle Creek at 6:20 a.m.. He won’t be home until 6:00, so I am in charge. He could be home earlier but would miss out on an ice cream float.

I decided to set timer and switch among boxes and other things. I would move to the kitchen and back to the den, to another room, and back to the den for another box. The strategy did not work completely because I had several interrupting phone calls or emails, all medically related to/with friends of mine.

I mixed more chores of feeding cats, eating breakfast, taking off the data from my CPAP machine and oximeter, fed the dogs, loaded the dishwasher and ran it.

I decided I need to summarize something for Dr. Kumar’s visit next week, but haven’t yet decided what to present. Maybe I’ll just ask questions about what causes hypopneas and CSRs. Why does my AHI range so strangely? Very low for a long while, then a couple days of higher (still not as high as friends I share information with). I have made a few illustrative graphs to show him.

I started with the box closest to me by sorting into appropriate places. Mixed in making an AHI graph for 90 days to show Dr. Kumar. Set up oximetry data for both places on my computer. I’m also gathering change from around the house (but mostly from the box beside my chair), and putting it in another collection place. One of these days, we need to gather it altogether and take to the bank, where they have fast counters and can create rolls of each denomination. If we do that they will just open it and count it again. We did this a few years ago and that was the procedure then. The bank has been bought by a larger one, so we don’t know what will happen now.

I should have written the time I started on sifting through paperwork for recycling into a box and filing some. While working, I was off the computer and on the phone with two people … both involving medical / long-term care concerns.
I am going to have a late lunch now at 2:00 p.m. I’ve got cherry and yellow pear tomatoes that John picked last night for me, leftover Panko-fried chicken, warmed yellow squash/mushrooms, and a piece of sharp cheddar cheese.

John made it home about 5:30 and has decided to go back to the same general location tomorrow. They actually will be re-building a 13 ft. puncheon-bridge over a small tributary of Icicle Creek. We had dinner of salmon from Icicle Creek, given to us by our neighbor up the Naneum. It was very nice with no bones, around the part where the fins are. I wish I’d taken a photo of the piece in the iron skillet. So tasty, but also quite picturesque.

Sunday, July 19

For July 18 CPAP. Reported figures. 5hrs 29 min with AHI=0.00 Events: 0 H. No major mask leaks (max=9 L/min); oximeter on 6 hrs 12 min, AHI = 0.00

John left for another day on the trail, getting out of here at 6:30. He will likely call me on his trip home from Leavenworth about 4:00, when he gets reception. I got up with him at 5:00 and stayed up. I could not get comfortable when I lay back down to rest. Probably will need to take an afternoon nap. (I did for an hour).

On to finishing this blog so that it is ready for him when he arrives and after all the evening feeding chores. He already watered a bunch of things before he left this morning. It’s going to be another warm day. I’ll just stay inside and work on things around the house. It got to 99 here, and only the high 70s where he worked.

For the end of today, I will recap the Buy Nothing Ellensburg activity of the week. Actually, we will end with pictures by John and the description of his day on trail work.

I succeeded in giving away several things on the site, represented in the collage below. Now all I have to do is coordinate with people to deliver the goods, probably starting tomorrow afternoon when we drive to town to deliver about 20# of yellow squash.

Included were a container of plastic eggs, an Almond Roca container, a nice horsey Aztec jacket, and a blanket that folds into a bleachers’ seat pillow.

The real find of yesterday evening was 3 more containers of CANON printer cartridges a giveaway worth about $150 total. What happened was sad, last April when we accidentally clicked on a previously ordered set of color cartridges for the printer no longer working on our old XP machine. We had replaced with an Epson in a different room, closer to John’s new computer, and my recliner across from him & it, where I use my laptop. We should have ordered Epson not Canon. I found a person with a printer that would be able to utilize the cartridges. Once that was done, we thought we had a couple of single blacks in the backroom for the old printer; in fact, we had 3 boxes with various ones, and a complete color box as mistakenly bought. Now we had 10 cartridges to share with this person.

Above left & middle is the final giveaway. Middle & top right is the list of possible printers that could use it. To be entered in the drawing, I requested a picture of the person’s printer so I knew I was giving to someone who would use them and not turn around and sell them on one of the other websites in the county. It ended up going to a friend of one of my friends. Small world.

The trail work involved an easy hike except for carrying large planks — seen as the near-white new wood in the photos below. After 25 years of so wood structures have issues. This one had a hole in the plank and because horses are allowed, someone stuffed a large rock in that hole.

{Open these in a new window for a large view.}
The railings (bull rails) were shot, and so got replaced with new yellow cedar.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Hi all, from John and Nancy.

Saturday, John went to Fourth of July Creek in the valley of Icicle Creek and worked with a small crew of volunteers fixing crossings of small streams for hikers, bikers, dogs, and even horses. We did have a Black Lab puppy come by – with owner.
General info here

Saturday’s task involved brush, rocks, and dirt. The stream was boulder strewn and not wide enough to need to muck around in.
From morning to a bit after lunch was shady – then hot and sunny. John had not planned on going 2 days but the Crew Leader offered a different trail with a gentle slope, lots of shade, and a project using lumber. Temps there Sunday expected to be about 75 for a high – about when we head to the trailhead for ice cold drinks. Here on the Naneum Fan we’re expecting 92. Not much reason to plan on working outside here.

Sunday, John will take a camera. This is very alpine country with nice views that one need not go to the ridge tops to see.
So, no Nancy-Blog for now. We expect to post late Sunday evening.

Nancy & John
Still on the Naneum Fan