Keeping track

Sunday, Oct 26
CPAP Report. Lots of sleep, and low AHI. 8 hrs 35 min AHI = 0.00.
I left about 10:00 a.m. Sunday morning for Diamond Lake, SW of Newport, WA. It was a very windy trip, with white caps on Sprague Lake.
I made it to Spokane to Costco and on to the party / family reunion at Sonja & Kevin’s lakefront house, arriving about 2:00 so I could help with dinner preparations. Here is a lake scene taken from their deck. (Click to make bigger.)

We had a wonderful dinner with wine, enjoyed a gorgeous sunset, after other views of Mergansers and Canada geese on the lake. While I took many pictures of family too (a few I had known since the 1980s), I failed to get one of me with our hosts and the two Brittany pups from our lines. Sonja and I began our friendship in 1977 in Moscow/Troy, ID when she bought a Brittany puppy from us. She was 18 at the time. We traveled all over the PNW to dog shows and field trials with our dogs and horses. Today, I carried along some wine I thought they would like for dinner and we managed only to drink 3 bottles, but also I took along a box of huge carrots, from the Columbia Basin, our own sweet onions, and with basin potatoes beneath.


The photo above is 10-month old Cameron, who enjoyed a piece of the large carrot. When he was through teething on it, he gave it to the Brittanys.

I also carried a large butternut squash, pecans, brown sugar, from which Sonja created a wonderful dish for our dinner. As well, I took along tomatoes (cherry, yellow pear, and regular size), and I stopped at Costco in Spokane, where I filled my gasoline tank for only $2.99/gal !! and bought two pies for dinner: Pumpkin and Lattice Apple. We had a lovely dinner, with more food brought potluck by others: rolls, green salad, radishes, mashed potatoes, potato salad, green beans, baked beans, deviled eggs with cut up olives on top to resemble spiders (with only 6 legs).
(Click for better view.)

To the left is Ruth in blue in front of the food island, where the appetizers were first put and later the buffet choices of the main meal. The red, green, and white pieces on a slice of dried bread, directly in front of her on a platter, are described below the pictures. Risteen and Jacquie are behind.

Below the spiders is my plate of colorful food. Wow!

Sonja had bought two pre-sliced rolls of mozzarella cheese, a package of dried bread, and of fresh basil. She had me assemble two large platters of hors d’oeurves for the table. Kevin helped by topping my pyramids with cut basil leaves. I started with the dry toast, then added the cheese, put our sliced tomatoes on top of the cheese, and then the basil went on top. We also had a large dish of cherry & yellow pear tomatoes on the table. I had already washed them, but a couple of people destemmed them for presentation and ate most of them as appetizers before dinner. The main meat dish was presented by Sonja & Kevin — Tri-tip roasts. All 16 of us managed to sit around two large tables.
Here’s the family photo I took, after dinner. It was cool to see members I had not seen in 35 years, and meet or see pix of other grandchildren and great grandchildren I had never met.

The two people in white shirts are Sonja and Kevin Willitts, our hosts. Her sister Jacquie is behind her. Her older brother Mike is in the light blue shirt beside Jacquie.
I skipped using the CPAP machine tonight so there will be no CPAP report tomorrow morning.

Monday, Oct 27

We had a nice breakfast that Sonja put together, including some of the potatoes I took (from which she made hash browns), and a scrambled egg concoction using our smaller tomatoes and onions, with her cheese and eggs. Scrumptious.
Before leaving, I got a tour of the loft and upstairs rooms from Sonja and two of our Cedaridge Brittany lines pups, Tug and Kip (his father).

From last night, here is a cute short video of the two of them playing. Kip and Tug playing

One thing I noticed while there, was that both of them were always wagging their tails, just like their dad and granddad (Dan) here in Ellensburg. Dan and his daughter Annie are always wagging their tails. Must be in the genes.

Yesterday, Jeri Conklin was at a trial in California and sent a photo of Tug’s sister/ Kip’s daughter, Daisy, our co-owned Brittany, with her trainer, Paul Doiron, and Jeri holding all her recent ribbons. The blues are for her Open Puppy and Open Derby points toward her field championship. Sorry for the low resolution of the photo, but I think Facebook reduces resolution.

I made an uneventful trip back from Diamond Lake in 4 hours, but with stops at several rest stops to put gel ointment in my scratchy right eye. I took a photo of a truck carrying 3 very large basalt columns, probably for someone’s expensive landscaping project. I had enjoyed all the basalt columns around the Spokane area on my trip over. Here is a link about the basalt and how it is used in landscapes.Basalt & Landscaping

Tuesday, Oct 28

CPAP report. I got a lot of sleep last night: 8 hrs 32 min with AHI = 0.47.
We left for Yakima a little before noon, after a nice omelet and toast, by John. I had called in the morning to arrange to leave my SD card from my CPAP machine with the Memorial Sleep Center for a report of the past 13 days activity (since the new more accommodating Swift Fx mask). I dropped it off before going downstairs for an echocardiogram with Angie B., at the Yakima Heart Center. We both went in at 1:00. It was a very good and thorough examination. We both were able to watch the monitor and ask questions. The results will be in within a week, but I shall just wait to see my cardiologist on Nov 14, and then I can actually request a CD of the images. From there, back upstairs, where I picked up my CPAP report from their software, Encore. My Average AHI = 0.2 for the previous 13 days.
After that, we went to Costco and on to Howard’s Medical Supply to see about an oxygen monitor that can be synchronized with the CPAP results. Both doctors sent prescriptions for the oximeter but insurance gurus don’t think one is necessary and so, if I want one I have to pay for it. First, I will have to determine the appropriate one for my software tracking of my CPAP machine daily statistics. We found this oximeter, named Blue Finger model CMS 50 d+ and costing $42; supposedly it worked in 2012 on the SleepyHead software, but we cannot find any detailed recent information on it. I’m searching the web with a friend’s suggestions to find the correct one to buy before I do. I definitely think it is important to find out if this contraption is lowering my events of lowering my oxygen blood saturation below the approved percentage. I want a separate unit I can wear when the machine is operating and wear when it is not. When the machine is on overnight, then I can upload the oximetry data the next morning to coincide with my graphic representations of the sleep parameters measured as I slept — such as the events (apnea, hypopnea – [a partially obstructed airway causing shallow breathing], obstructive apnea, respiratory effort related arousal (RERA), snores, & several other recorded measurements), flow rate, respiratory rate, rate pressure (set by machine), AHI, and more. I have never had anything occur (since Oct 4 when I started using the machine), other than a small amount of hypopnea and some RERAs). No apnea (paused breathing) or snoring.

Wednesday, Oct 29

CPAP report. I got a lot of sleep last night: 8 hrs 11 min with AHI = 0.37.
I started my busy day by finally giving John a much-needed haircut. It took about a half hour.
I left for town about 11:00 after loading the car (John helped) with produce to give out a couple of places. I had to clean up some tomatoes and sort through to be sure none was inedible. With John’s help, I packed a few apples, tomatoes, and some potatoes & large carrots. I gave some away at the Food Bank (just to people I knew), and then off to deliver some produce and groceries to a gal who ask on the Buy Nothing Ellensburg Facebook page for help. Everything transferred on the site is freely given. From there on to my SAIL exercise class where I gave away more produce (carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, and apples).

Thursday, Oct 30

CPAP report. Last night I slept: 7 hrs 33 min with AHI = 0.13.
The events of the day started earlier than usual for a Thursday. I had to be at the courthouse at noon to meet a friend from Thorp who was willing to take two boxes of groceries (mostly produce) — some onions, and all the things mentioned above on Wednesday to drop off west of town to a couple. She came out to her truck parked a block away and I met her there. We transferred the goodies from mine to hers, plus I gave her an Acorn & a Butternut squash and some nice large onions for her effort in delivering to the people on her way home. It saved me at least a 13-mile trip out of my way. From there to the hospital for my routine INR blood draw. Got a call on my way home from my family physician’s nurse that it was only 2.5, a perfect number. I had worn my fancy pumpkins in love shirt that cheers up people when they see it.
Our play date today was a place we don’t often get to because there are only about 3 to 4 months / year where there is a 5th Thursday. We have too many assisting living homes to play our music, for the normal number of Thursdays. In 2015, we will have January, April, July, & October. It was pretty cool yesterday. There’s a fellow named Jay, 86, on oxygen, blind in one eye and cannot see out of the other (very well), with arthritis in his fingers, but he is a great honky-tonk piano player. I encouraged him to play for us before we were on at 2:00. Our 93 yr old guitar player walked over and joined him, and then I (71) went over and joined them. We did several songs, and repeated the first, his favorite, “You are My Sunshine,” and another musician, Roberta took a video on her phone. I hope she can figure how to get it off. I will put a link to it on You Tube for inclusion in a future blog, if possible.
John has cooked the Tri-Tip roast tonight we bought at Costco Tuesday. It was the same type (Morton of Omaha Tri Tip and is marinated with spices). It was identical to the one I had eaten at the lake house-dinner party. John added some baked potatoes and a baked Acorn squash. I cut up some of our tomatoes and the last of our pears.

Friday, Oct 31 Happy Halloween

John and I are going to a lunch party with games afterwards at the Adult Activity Center where they provide the food and fun, and we are encouraged to dress up in a costume. I will wear my pumpkins-in-love sweatshirt, orange beads (amber necklace), black mask over my nose and eyes, and an orange/green top hat. John will wear his new orange shirt I bought for him a couple weeks ago that was just delivered yesterday, in time for the party. I also found a nice bolo tie in a drawer that has a dark orange pendant of a skull. Here is a photo of us there (sorry about the focus).

After lunch (chili dogs, butternut squash & black bean dish, spinach salad with pecans and cranberries, Cheez-It crackers (yellow & white cheddar), and desserts, we played games using monopoly money they gave us with which we could win more play money to use in an auction for prizes at the end of the party. I did best in throwing beanbags into a leaning board with little nets and with tossing darts at balloons. We stayed for the auction and I got John a nice new XL sweatshirt advertising a local lumber business. I got myself an Anytime Fitness tee shirt with a month’s free membership, but on my way home, I gave the gym access away to a friend who goes their regularly (the tee shirt wouldn’t fit him). Then I bid (blindly) on something I didn’t know what except that it was for the kitchen. It was a local restaurant’s bottle of special spices for rubbing on steaks (or roasts). The restaurant is one we have gone to a couple of times over the years, The Yellow Church Cafe. The center gave everyone a bag with candy, some free coupons for a McDonald’s Big Mac and an English Muffin, including an envelope with $2000 of play money we returned for the next games day. John didn’t want to play any games (he just visited), so I got to spend his money, to win more. I thought we would leave early, so I had given $2000 away to two friends. Instead, we stayed and I still had enough to buy some gifts.
We are back, it took 4 hours out of our day, but it rained most of the time, so John couldn’t have done much around the property outside. We dropped some of our remaining tomatoes off at Briarwood for the people there (a retirement community), and went home by way of the friend who videoed the honky-tonk music yesterday. We dropped off a flash drive for her and two of our winter squash (a butternut and an acorn), and left the fitness certificate for her husband. He plays the mandolin with our group and she normally plays the guitar, but at Christmas, she will play an autoharp.

Saturday, Nov 1

CPAP Report. Strange one. I slept 6 hrs 29 min with AHI = 0.15, and had my first ever vibratory snore recorded, just one, a little after 5:00. Starting at 5:30 my respiratory rate increased from 16 to 22 just before awakening. I attribute that to a crazy dream I was having before awakening. I was in a strange city, driving my old ’35 Ford, with a female passenger whom I let off somewhere and left to drive across town to another place, where I actually stopped in a room in the building to eat some food at a dinner gathering of an organization I was crashing. They invited me to stay. I was running late returning, because I got in traffic and I did not have her phone number to call and tell her I was okay and would be back to get her. The other strange thing was my guitar case was attached to the car outside on the running board. Once up, I did not replace my mask and slept another 3 hours without it. I have recently been replacing it after getting up, but did not this morning. This mask is much friendlier than the two I started with. This one goes on easy and comes off easy. The others were a real challenge.
John must upload the pictures for use in the blog so we are not set back tonight trying to post the blog, as has frustratingly happened for the past couple of weeks. John has been out in the sun (and wind) moving stuff he piled into the truck in previous days. Now he is back in creating a brunch for us: bacon, pancake, and tomatoes. He’s back out again, this time trying to start his chainsaw. If it starts, he will come back in and put on his heavy duty pants for sawing [Husqvarna Pro Forest Wrap Chaps (Blue)], steel-toed boots, and Stihl helmet with face screen and hearing muffs.

The small bushes with red leaves are Hawthorns — emphasis on the thorns. See the red berries here (LINK that all manner of birds, deer, and horses (others?) will eat. They do not become big trees but the wood is strong and very hard.
So to end, here is a link to John cutting the (waste) wood that he has been gathering from around out place. Making Firewood We store a little just in case the electricity goes off in the winter but almost all of this will go to someone that has a need for firewood.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, Oct 19

Starting with last night’s CPAP report — NOTICE THIS WEEK IS MORE POSITIVE.
Up late with blog till 12:45. Slept on the machine for 6 hrs 22 min., with AHI= 0.31. Awoke with dry eyes, particularly the right. Wetness beneath nose, but not bad. After putting aloe cream in nostrils, I’m heading back to sleep w/o mask. Stayed there until 9:00 a.m.
Finished blog for last week and finally published it late. Our morning started with a little 2 point buck in our backyard. We put his photo in, so if you missed it, go back and check (below) on last week’s blog. We have seen him several times since.
Now we have had brunch of pancakes and are headed to town in the truck to get some free carrots for the horses and next door neighbors’ hogs. That took several hours of our time plus filling the truck’s tank. Gasoline cost $3.299 /gal here at Love’s.
John’s on the tail end of his low fiber diet. Tomorrow will be a clear fluids only diet. I’ll be on my own. I took my old Exlim camera I had uncovered and took some photos of the carrots, but in the clean up, I have lost the holder and connector to take the photos off my camera. I should have gone and taken a picture on my newer camera, but I am running short of time (this was written 10-25) and behind on getting ready to leave on my trip in the early morning).

Monday, Oct 20
CPAP report. On the machine for 5 hrs 8 minutes with an AHI= 0.58
Awesome breakfast for me with all the things John cannot eat on his liquid diet in prep for tomorrow morning’s colonoscopy. He was out of the house, but I took a photo:

OATMEAL with pecans, plum preserves, brown sugar and almond breeze.

I was headed around the block for a haircut from Celia at 2:00. John was working in the swamp (near our natural springs area), clearing trail. Rained, and he had forgotten to take down the front gate so I had to. I managed, but did not really completely get the last log off the driveway. He cannot get reception on his phone in the bottom of the pasture, so I could not call him for help. The gate (2 long skinny trees across the drive from one rock-crib to another) was up because our horses were around the back of the house last evening, and it is a protection in case they find a weak spot and come on around into the orchard (out front), then up the driveway and onto the road (as they have been known to do).
I shared some carrots, onions, and apples with our friends. Bobby, her husband, restores military jeeps and has just finished one with a tag on the front of its year, 1943. That’s my birth year, so I have enjoyed watching the restoration. I had a Jeep jacket, black and never used that I got at a yard sale, and it was too tight for me to raise my bad arm to put get it on. I gave it to him, and he was thrilled, saying, “I love it, I love it, thank you so much.” He’s a Viet Nam vet, and they take their Jeep to military parades or Veterans’ Day events with their grandkids in the backseat. Celia has cut my hair since I arrived in Ellensburg in 1988. When I was recovering in the rehabilitation center in 2010, she came in there and gave us both haircuts (for free). I’ll always be indebted to her for that nice gift.

CPAP MASK COMPARISON
Going to end day’s report with a comparison of masks I have been using. The first is the old WISP and the second is the Swift Fx. A couple of weeks ago I pictured my starting one, the Eson that was so terrible an experience, but thankfully, that’s long past my concern. It was not appropriate for me. The WISP was a little better, but the Swift FX is true to its name. I definitely like it as it is much less confining. My statistics of length of sleep time is much, much better. (Click on photo.)

Forget the shadow behind my head. The nasal pillow (Swift Fx) has a thin plastic top head piece and a cushioned small bottom piece behind my head. It’s also easy to put on and take off. The other two were a real challenge.

Tuesday, Oct 21

CPAP report. Actually, very good, but only on for 4 hrs 45 minutes with AHI= 0.00.
I had to take John to hospital and be there by 7:00 am. He was up to take the 2nd and final clean-out chemicals at 3:00 a.m., so we had a very short night’s sleep. At the hospital cafeteria, I ate breakfast (Eggs Benedict with single serving brought home for John) and was back by 8:00 to the waiting room outside Outpatient Services, where he was. I could have free coffee there and use my computer laptop. I saw staff members, Karen, Chris, Kara, and Nancy from my many times (9 weeks) in for daily IV antibiotics in 2009 & again in 2010) for bacteria in my blood. Today, John had assistance from Annie, Diane, and Kara. Kara retrieved me to come back to the recovery room. John did fine and was totally aware of everything, but had no pain. He was recovering in the room where he started when they had him remove his clothes, get into a gown and hospital socks (with a non-slip sole). While there, they fixed up his IV, put an oximeter on his finger, and had him wired to the blood pressure device. They got him ready there and wheeled the bed on to the “procedure room.” It is considered that and not an operation.
As mentioned, the procedure went well, and he was able to watch the whole thing on a monitor. The doctor found one very small polyp that he cauterized. They had put a cold pack on his hip, which when we asked later, they said was to ground him for a possible cauterization. He did not feel what the doctor was doing. They even gave him 3 color photos taken from inside during the procedure. We waited awhile until the doctor came in and gave us his final report. Then we waited a bit longer for the nurse to return to check us out officially and remove all the measuring paraphernalia, IV, etc. She walked us to the door. Earlier, it was delightful when she walked through the door and we recognized each other. Her name is Nancy and she gave me a big hug and said how good I looked. Kara also remembered me and how I always was given a chocolate Ensure milkshake when I came in for my IV. On my birthday, they gave me a cute little Teddy Bear with my shake.
We stopped on the way home for some stuff from the grocery store, and then John took the dogs for a short run. He had a bite to eat but still had a lot of air inside he couldn’t get rid of. Finally, after drinking and eating some, he did and then he lay down to sleep. He slept hard for several hours. No surprise, he was up from 3:00 a.m. and we hadn’t gotten to bed until 11:30. I had a little more sleep than he did, maybe 2.5 hrs. I went back to sleep without my mask. I didn’t nap in the afternoon because I figured I needed to be available to answer the phone if it rang. We had 2 calls while we were gone, and I had to return those. One was about my appt follow-up in November with the lung specialist. It will actually be here in town and no trip will be required to Yakima. They come to EBRG two days a week. I also managed to wash & dry a load of clothes. While I need a nap, I stayed awake to leave for town to play music for an hour starting at 6:30. I then came home to figure something to eat. John’s still on a low-fiber diet for 3 days. I’m sure we will both go to bed early tonight.

Wednesday, Oct 22

CPAP report. I was on the machine for 7 hrs 16 min., with an AHI= 0.55. We were both very tired, and it showed in our sleep patterns. We hit the hay finally at 11:30, and I slept in my mask until 6:41, got up to go potty, and went back to sleep without the mask. Slept in until 9:00 a.m.! So did John. It’s been rainy all day. I did not go to town today because my banjo buddy is sick with the flu, and I had stuff to do regarding my CPAP and my efforts toward helping with cemetery restoration at the Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, GA of my family plot of the Eiseman-Brannen families. What’s interesting is its location in the Foundation books there, as Lot 748, Hog Pen Corner.
I also found out my SleepyHead software supports Contec CMS50 oximeters so I need to consult with my medical supply place and with my doctors for a “prescription” to get the right device. CPAP machines do not read that O2 level, and supposedly mine decreases when I sleep. I want to see the results and if the CPAP is worth the effort.
Nice brunch today… sausage, pancakes (I had plum preserves and John had our strawberries), and he made a 3-egg cheese omelet for us to share.

Thursday, Oct 23

CPAP report. Nothing to report, we both were tired and slept long. I was 8 hrs. 56 minutes on my machine, with an AHI =0.11 We awoke to a cat growling / protecting (from the dogs) the squirrel he brought in through the doggie door and into the bedroom. I cannot lie; I was happy to see the little fellow taken out of our walnut trees. He’s been taking more than his half of the crop. Unfortunately, there’s more than that one around. Then I was going to cut John’s hair this morning, until we got a 9:30 call from a neighbor needing help on barn repair in expectation of delivery of 2 wildish steers. It took the two of them until almost 1:00 p.m., and I need to be in town at 2. John had planned to go along and shop. However, because he was running so late, we went directly to Burger King for a fast lunch. We took it back to Hearthstone and ate it. Then our group entertained the appreciative crowd. They gave us butterscotch bars that were great, and we brought some home to have tonight with ice cream for dessert. From there to Bi-Mart for some tax record keeping purchases. The 2015 desk calendar (we hang on our wall), was on sale for 30% off, so we got it and a folding fan-sorter for receipts. On to Super One where John went in for frozen pizzas on sale, while I stayed in the car to arrange with the Medical Supply place about my need for an oximeter. Then, I called and left a message for my cardiologist’s nurse. I’m hoping to combine trips next week when I go to Yakima for an echocardiogram on Tuesday. From there, we went by the CWU surplus sale. We bought 6 five-gallon buckets for 50¢ each. Actually they are 18 liters or about 4 ¾ gallons.

CWU uses a lot of paint and they always have these but many are stuck together. It took John quite awhile to find a few. (They’re stuck together because of leaving latex paint in them). We have two sets of two we have not been able to separate. We found 6 quite clean white ones this trip.

We missed seeing the solar eclipse today. John should have gone outside while we were playing to check it out. Many views from our state and some interesting ones, particularly my favorite of the large sunspot cluster and then the next day Mr. Sun was quite active.

Try this site to see what is going on. The rapid changes may require that you search on the site to see things even a few days old. Solar images here.

Friday, Oct 24

CPAP report. A few leaks around my nose piece at the start, but I got 6 hrs. 49 min with AHI= 0.15
I sent a sympathy letter to a former student whose father died of cardiac arrest. He was a podiatrist and only 70 yrs old. Very sad. At least he got to meet his family (wife, Korean) with his 11 and 8 yr old granddaughters. The family had returned to the states last year. I got some mail ready to take to the post office and got two butternut squash delivered, some apples, and an acorn squash. Our scholarship luncheon met at Facilities Planning today. For lunch we were served turkey chili, with many toppings to choose from, including, green onions, grated cheese, small Fritos, and sour cream. A large green salad with grape tomatoes (that I put in my chili). Halloween decorated sugar cookies for dessert. All good stuff. From there to SAIL exercise class, with 23 people participating.

On home to hear from our doctor’s nurse that the biopsy of John’s small polyp was negative and he doesn’t have to consider the procedure again for 10 years.

Another huge surprise — an email from a friend we have lost contact with in recent years, James Gardner, from the Univ. of Iowa, and our days there with him in the early 70s. He was a fantastic guy, teacher, and researcher. He was my advisor for awhile, and we (John and I and another couple of grad students), went to Calgary for a conference to present a paper of our joint research. While there, we stay with his family and after the conference, we got a special tour by Jim of Banff and Jasper on hikes above the Columbia ice fields (glacier) to view them and glacial lakes and ridges, carved valleys and moraines, and at the top of a 4 mile hike we fed mountain goats crackers by hand. I have a set of slides I used parts of in my follow-up teaching of Physical Geography at the Univ. of Idaho and at Central WA University. The best landscape portrait I ever made was of Peyto Lake (azure colored from the glacial silt), within a beautiful U-shaped valley. This photo is from the web and not mine, but it is taken from the same viewpoint and mine is very similar. I just do not have a digital copy or a hard copy to scan. Mine was originally taken as a 35mm slide. Somewhere I have a framed large print; one of the many things still packed away.

We still have many memories of that trip. Also, Jim was the one who helped us name our first Brittany, Lovely Wistful Lady, call name Wisty, we got in 1970, and who is the base of our lines, coming from lines of DC Dr. Joe of Kaymore (Wisconsin Brittany breeding). She was born in a barn in Iowa and we bought her for $25. She was a wonderful gal. Frisbie catcher and great hunter. Jim said we should name her by her characteristics. He pointed out her “wistful” eyes (nice brown eyes — she was a liver/white Brittany with lots of ticking). So, that’s what we went with. Many people thought we were saying, “whiskey.” But not so. I have sweet memories of photos of her on point at the Coralville Reservoir, but this is the only easily accessible photo of her as a puppy with us and my grandmother in Savannah, GA in 1970.

While we are on our Brittanys, last week we told you our puppy in CA got her first place and 2 field points in a derby event. We await pictures of her with her handler and ribbon, but meanwhile, here she is pointing her bird in the winning brace. Jeri Conklin, Daisy’s co-owner with me, was riding behind the gallery in the dog wagon, and took this picture with a telephoto lens. That’s her handler, Paul Doiron.

Dinner tonight was likewise a nice surprise. John put pork ribs in to roast while I was away from home, and then baked Gala apples with buttermilk pancake mix covering, and served with green beans, and a pear (from our tree), I cut up.

Saturday, Oct 25

CPAP report. On machine 5 hrs 55 min. with AHI=.34

Need to get ready for my trip away tomorrow, but first will work on this blog, so John can enter it into WordPress for my review and posting. John came in and fixed a great brunch, which we will finish tomorrow for breakfast before I leave. It was an omelet made of eggs, our tomato & onion, and fresh mushrooms from the grocery, all stirred in with a lot of chipped leftover beef roast John got from our freezer. It was scrumptious. Here’s the view:

Sunday, Oct 26
I’m out-a here. Back at you next week.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

. . . rosin; owned since 4th grade.

Sunday, Oct 12

John left this morning for the Franklin Falls Trail — the last day of the season for WTA work on trails in the I-90 corridor – and, thus, his last such outing. He carried yellow pear and cherry tomatoes to the potluck lunch. Another ACL, our friend Jon N., will provide chicken soup for the crew. John also carried a box of apples and a few regular tomatoes for the 2 crew leaders, Ben and Greg. We are both hoping for no rain as the crew had to contend with yesterday. Update: The day started cool (see photo below) but became pleasant, and the photos are in, but nothing of the large group picnic table of food.

At about 9 AM John still wore a white t-shirt, a red long sleeve shirt, a black polar fleece vest, a purple shirt, and rubber surfaced thermal gloves.
As a start of my email day, I usually run a couple of malware programs to clean my system. For the past 3 days, my Spybot-Search & Destroy has not let me “run as an administrator,” thereby preventing me from immunizing my system files after downloading updates (that can be daily). I decided to uninstall my current version (from 2012) and download the newest one. It was a long process, but currently, the newly installed version is doing what I wanted with all my browsers, except it doesn’t list Google Chrome and that has me a bit worried. That is my choice of browsers. I only use Internet Explorer when some feature of settings on my cwu.edu account won’t work with anything but IE. Others I have on my system include Opera, Thunderbird, and Mozilla. I’m finally through most of the setup for Spybot S&D, and am waiting for it to finish scanning my computer so I can open my browser again and check emails. Meanwhile, I can work off line on Word to update this discussion for my blog.
After a few email exchanges, I was hungry. I decided to fix myself a maple bar with my friend Gloria’s plum preserves. It was a good brunch and very tasty.

Next item of concern is my nightly CPAP report. We were up entirely too late with finishing the blog because John would be gone all today. It was not until ~12:40 a.m. that we published it. I hope we got everything properly entered. I “installed” my CPAP mask about 12:50, figuring I would sleep well because I was very tired. I slept from 1:15 (probably) to 2:30, awoke, adjusted and hit the ramp button to reset it to 5. It gets back up to a forced air pressure of 8 within an hour and that might be the reason with the machine I’m usually sleeping in one-hour increments. Yet, this morning, I managed to sleep until 4:30, when I needed to pee very badly. Once up, I realized I had a stuffed-up nose and did not wish to return to the confinement. Also, I needed to take my acetaminophen, which is much more easily done without the mask connected. I went back to bed without the mask. I awoke briefly when John got up (earlier than the alarm); then I went back to sleep. I imagine he will be tired and need a nap when he returns, or to go to bed early tonight. I heard him leave the house before 7:00 and I continued sleeping until 9:12.
I also need to install the SleepyHead software but I cannot while this computer check is occurring. I’ve waited several days since my friend was checking my SD card and displaying my statistics, and I need to get set up so I can do my own, daily. I just checked and the scan of my system with the newly installed malware finder still has 41 minutes to go, so I will have to wait before returning to email. I need to make a phone call to Alaska to a fellow in Nome, Dan, who is looking for another Brittany from our lines. He has had two of our Brittanys and used to live in Fairbanks. We are no longer breeding, but we know some folks that have our dog’s blood-lines and occasionally have puppies. I managed to get the phone for him (I think it’s him) from off switchboard.com (a very fine resource for people with land lines; doesn’t work with cell phones, however). I hope he receives the message and gets back to me on email, preferably. (He did).
I have been expecting a phone call from John to say his workday is over and he’s on his way home, but maybe his battery ran down. I didn’t remember to check it last night. It does not hold a charge as well as my phone does. Mental telepathy; he just called at 3:42 from the side of the road near Snoqualmie Summit and in sight of a cell tower. He is about an hour from home. Everything went fine with his day, no rain, and mine went likewise. He made it home just before 5:00 and has been taking care of animal chores: dogs, horses, and cats. I’ve been alternately working on dishes in the kitchen and on installing my SleepyHead software, version SleepyHead v0.9.8-1 Testing.

Monday, Oct 13

Nat’l Holiday and my parents’ anniversary. [It is not a holiday for some, and not Columbus Day for all, . . . but that’s another story.]
This day would mark my parent’s 77th wedding anniversary. Considering my father was 16 years older than my mom, they’d have not even gotten close. In fact, he died young, 57 yrs ago.
Last night I had the CPAP SD Card reader software running, but now I cannot run the program again. Totally weird. Rehash of my CPAP experience last night — another one I wish to forget. We tried going to bed earlier because of our lack of sleep yesterday, especially John’s. I imagine I was in bed with mask in place by 10:30. I believe I dozed off soon. I awoke with a leaking mask at 12:30. It seemed to be loose on my head, but I readjusted and stayed in bed. Had to get up to pee at 2:30 and my nose was all stuffed up, eyes dry (added drops), sore muscles, tired, and the inside top of my right arm hurt. I took some Acetaminophen and removed the mask. I guess I had it on for 4 hours. I was unable to go back to sleep in the normal 1/2 hr or at most 1 hr. Things kept running through my thoughts. Last, I remember was 6:30 when I settled back down again, after reaching to turn off my chirping cell phone whose battery was too low and thought I ought to know. After that, I fell into a deep sleep until 9:25. I didn’t know John fixed toast and coffee with honey – the latter to dunk the toast in, but with the honey therein he manages to drink it. He goes to the computer and reads stuff and forgets the coffee when the toast is gone. Microwave oven reheats it.
John went out this morning to search for his missing hook from a broken chain he was using to drag a tree, and he took along the lawnmower to take down some of the weeds/grass. When he arrives back, he’ll fix some brunch. I need to go clean up more in the kitchen. We had BLTs from one of our huge Super-Fantastic tomatoes. John used the mower to clean the area where he had used to pull with and broke the chain (did not find the hook) and now is in the backyard mowing off weeds. He promised to come in about 4:00 so I can take a shower to make ready for tomorrow’s trip to Yakima to the Yakima Heart Center and the Medical Supply place to switch my mask.
We just finished a great dinner — stir fry (chicken, pineapple, grapes, cashews, on radiator-type pasta. It was going to be on brown rice, but when he poured that in the steamer pan, he saw a couple of tiny multi-leg bugs — so the birds will have a treat in the morning. He knows he should have used a glass or plastic container – the 3-layer paper bag had a small hole near the bottom. We don’t need different protein from that in the chicken. I cut up one of our nice medium-sized tomatoes and should have cut more. We could have used them in the very spicy sauce (Korean Chicken via Costco).

Tuesday, Oct 14 Medical visits in Yakima

Today was a visit after 6 months to my principal cardiologist, Dr. Anatole Kim, to whom I owe my life for his insistence to the team of doctors that I wasn’t going to last without the open-heart surgery to replace my mitral valve (even though it was a risky operation for someone in my condition). Mind you my health has been fine for the past 4 years, going on 5 the end of this December. My last visit with him in May resulted in a summer of events which were trying to determine why my heart was reportedly weaker on one side because of numbers created in an echocardiogram and a pulmonary function exam (lung volume capacity). Part of the plan was to examine the condition of my lungs to see if they were involved, possibility through the 4 year usage of Amiodarone for controlling atrial fibrillation. That required a Chest CT scan. He also requested I visit another nuclear cardiologist in the Yakima Heart Center to determine if the addition of another wire (and upgrade) to my ICD wouldn’t help my “situation.” Finally, he thought I should have a sleep apnea test overnight in the Sleep Center (same building but upper floor). All those issues and visits were scheduled and evaluated over the summer. Short version is I had the CT scan, first interpreted by one MD (radiologist), who listed all the potentially serious things I might be experiencing – or not. For a refined second opinion we went to a lung specialist (took 2 months to get an appointment), but we received a favorable report that there was no damage to my lungs and they were healthy. The doctor sat with us for about 20 minutes in front of a display of my lungs and explained all he could to us. Very impressive, he was. I also had the appointment and review of my situation with the nuclear cardiologist, who (2nd visit) still feels I would not benefit right now from an updated 2-wire ICD. He did encourage the plan to pursue the CPAP mask to prevent sleep-time low blood oxygen saturation. [My ICD battery at about 4.5 years still has over 20% capacity so maybe in a year or so all this will be reevaluated. In that short time the new ones are smaller and better – so says Toni, ICD checker par excellence.] She reads my computer chip every 3 months, with a fancy set up over my ICD, all hooked up to electrodes placed in a few places on my chest and legs. (That requires a trip to the recliner in her office in Yakima.)

Review of CPAP experience.
I had my first overnight at the sleep center in June, and at first, it seemed fine. I was not awakened to put on a CPAP mask, so I figured all was well and that I was done with the study. However, two days later, I was called back for another test, with using the mask from the start. I had very few apnea/hypopnea events, (a low AHI), but for a short time my blood oxygen level touched 79% (I was told). I cannot see it that low on the graphs with the report, I obtained. The second overnight test was 2 months later. That time (with mask) I had even fewer events, but I only slept for 3 hrs. 14 minutes, and my O2 level went down to 89%, but for only one minute. Still that was enough for my sleep doctor to recommend my going on a CPAP machine.
I first went to the Medical Supply place to be fitted (9/30). The first mask (an Eson) was a disaster, but I managed to persist for a week, and Oct 7, took my SD card into my sleep doctor to have it read (and summarized). It recorded 1.0 AHI (Apnea Hypopnea Index). Most of my discussion with the sleep doctor (Kumar) was about the horrible mask and my experiences. He determined that I needed a more satisfactory mask, because keeping my blood oxygen saturation level up is important and without being comfortable I would likely quit. John had found some numbers on dropouts that seemed high but the doctor thought them reasonable. There is a qualification. The machine that was given to me came from a young woman that solved her snoring problem by dropping 50 pounds. That apparently shows up as “not using” in surveys. Anyway, the doctor prescribed a change to one of 3 possibilities. We picked one up on the way home. I picked the WISP one, because it seemed to have less head gear over my forehead and head. I used it for a week and was still unsatisfied with the feel and confinement. I was ready for one more change, but needed to see what the readings for the week preceding were. Next week, I will show a photo of me in the WISP, along side of the newest one mentioned below, the Swift Fx. The comparison will be useful for understanding my comments and complaints in my daily CPAP reports.
Thus, we have arrived at today’s meetings. My first stop was at the sleep center where I left my SD card to be read and reported on by their software (Encore). The report was an AHI of .5 (down 1/2 from the week before). Next was my visit with my cardiologist. First, we were sent away for lunch because he was running an hour behind on appointments. We returned and he reviewed with us all the things that had happened since May. I discussed my concern for knowing the oximeter results happening to me because the CPAP machine was not able to indicate that, and the sole reason for putting myself through the suffering was to raise my sleep O2 saturation level. I told him I had found there was a possibility to obtain an oximeter whose data could be synched into the software I have to read the SD card and present daily graphs and summary statistics. I showed him a couple derived (by my friend) from my own data of the previous 9 days. I printed each on a full 8 1/2 x 11 inch page and stood up and showed him the figures, pie chart, and graphs of 3 measured items overnight. He agreed and said it would be a good idea to consult with my sleep doctor and have him prescribe an oximeter to enhance the data summaries. He made a change in one of my meds, by requesting me to half it daily, and requested I have another echocardiogram. My last was in March. I’m going back down for that in two weeks.
Next stop Costco, but I will leave out those details (except to say, gasoline there was only $3.199/gal. On the way back we dropped by the medical supply place to exchange the WISP for a Swift Fx nasal pillow mask (with a lot fewer head and face and neck straps involved than the other two). When I walked in I took my old (free) ResMed nasal pillow mask and asked if I could get a fabric Velcro wrap for the exposed plastic piece that was bothering my neck. For the first time, I looked at the current version of the ResMed Swift Fx and realized it was nearly the same as my old pink one. I showed it to a customer service rep who called over a Respiratory Therapist (RT), (different from the one I first went through there), and he said, those are just as good as they always were. There is only a change to the head piece from plastic to two fabric ones. It has been a popular mask. One of the reps went back and found the Velcro pieces, and then I said something to the RT about the plastic strap under my skull hurting and needing covered. He realized that part should have been on top of my head, so I had been putting the mask on incorrectly. Once I got it on properly, it was much better … and they decided to change my nose piece from a M to a S. That was covered by my insurance because it was a different code (only meaningful to someone in the business), but it was meaningful to me not to have to fork out $29.99. I left the Velcro behind, deciding I would try wearing it the correct way for awhile before buying them. I imagine I will have to pay for them. Because I was able to use my own Swift Fx nasal pillow, I did not have to trade in the WISP. In 3 months, I can get a new mask, and I probably will switch to the newer ResMed Swift Fx. It supposedly has been improved. A couple of friends say it is good to switch back and forth between two, so as time goes on, I will have the option to go back to the WISP occasionally. Right now, I’m much happier with the nasal pillow, rather than the full nose cover.
While there, I asked the “new” RT whether they sold Oximeters. He said yes, and I asked if that was covered by insurance. Yes, but they need a prescription from the doctor. I asked him which doctor, the sleep one or my cardiologist (for whom the real reason for my using a CPAP is). He said the cardiologist. I am working on finding an appropriate one which will synch with the software that reads my SD card on my CPAP machine. We’ll work on getting the sleep and oxygen info together but it seems such a combo is not quite ready for prime time, or at least not automatic enough for the average user. That friend mentioned earlier is a bit of a computer geek so I have hope.
We came back home only for me to turn around and go back to town to Hearthstone Cottages for playing music and singing with The Connections group. It was a good thing I went, because we only had 3 singers (included me, while playing – good thing I don’t play a clarinet) and two instruments (piano and fiddle). I stopped off at Super One on my way there for inexpensive donuts (ones in the glass cabinet put out early morning). At the end of the day they package up an assortment of different ones by the dozen, and sell for $3.00 off the regular dozen price. I got there before the person started boxing them, and it was > 1.5 hrs after they normally do, so I wasn’t early. She asked me to pick what I wanted. Wow, that was nice. Once home, John had heated a meal we bought at Costco, and it was interesting… a ravioli lasagna … too spicy for me.

Wednesday, Oct 15

What a cool day! Started the morning by sleeping in, after a fairly good night with the new (old) CPAP mask with a smaller nose piece on a nasal pillow. I got ~6 hours of time on the Swift Fx mask last night. I might not have slept quite that long, awaking about 5:21 or something with a sort of drooling wetness on my chin. I talked via email with my friend in NM who uses a new ResMed Swift Fx mask. He has occasionally had the same thing happen, but controlled it by raising his head. I haven’t asked him yet or my “new” Respiratory Therapist what MIGHT cause that. It is much more comfortable than any of the others I have tried. I do sleep propped up, and he does too, for best results. I might have been situated a little flatter last night. I’ll try to pay more attention tonight.
I then slept in until 9:00 without the mask.
I left for the day’s activities at 11:00. First, was music at the Food Bank Soup Kitchen. We had a good couple of singers with the two of us (on banjo & fiddle), and a quite responsive and involved audience. For lunch, we were fed a feast. Main dish was barbecued beef made by a local restaurant who always donates the main dish for Wednesday’s lunch at the Food Bank Soup Kitchen. It was great, and reminded me of one similar recipe we used to make in our old Rival Crockpot bought over 45 years ago. I need to find the little recipe folder that came with it, where the recipe is printed. I imagine it is in our better homes and garden plaid covered cook book along with a ton of loose recipes. With the BBQ was an excellent coleslaw with carrots, a salad, mostly tomatoes, with some other additions of cheese, green onions, olives (that I gave to my banjo buddy), and a chocolate brownie type thing for dessert. Also, there was also a piece of focaccia bread, but I don’t like that.
As I was leaving I picked up my violin case and I had not zipped it closed so it dumped some stuff on the floor .. I caught my violin before it hit, but my rosin (since 4th grade) busted into many pieces. I am saddened by that. I picked up the largest pieces and the label (split) on the side of the resin cake, held in cork. I will scan it for my memories. And show you here.

My first violin came from Ned Jarrett & Son’s store in Atlanta, GA, on Ivy St. I still have that 3/4 size violin, but have been using a full size (from Germany, made in 1889), since the early 1990s. I am sure this 3/4 one was only purchased (as the rosin) from the downtown store, and that it was not one of the original ones made by the violin maker, Ned Jarrett. Yet, following this link to an old post is interesting. *Ned Jarret*
I handed out a few tomatoes to some friends at the Food Bank, and continued on to the Adult Activity center where I gave away more to several people in our SAIL exercise class. I was sore and hurting today for some reason, and not alone; maybe it is caused by the weather changes? I left there to drop by Grocery Outlet, because I need the cheaper cat food I used to buy there. It is very sporadically on their shelves – a strange store. None there again today, but I did find some dog food and loaded it into a wine bottle box.

Thursday, Oct 16

CPAP report for last night. I went from 11:50 until 4:20 (had to pee). It was pretty good, no drooling, not as dry eyes, and only a little breathing noise to try to ignore, but otherwise an overall good night. Some dryness in nostrils (more in the right), with a little chafing perhaps. I slept at a little higher angle than flatter. Had a little bit of neck pain.
Large group for music at Dry Creek. John dropped me off and went on for his fasting blood draw. Afterwards he grabbed some food for his lunch from McDonalds. We had the largest turnout of musicians in many months – 11 — included Minerva, Gerald, Charlie, Manord & Maury on guitar (last two had classical guitars), Evelyn on banjo, Bob (singer), Nancy on fiddle, Joanie on viola, Ellen on clarinet, Megan & Dave on Bass, and for much of the time, Dave on guitar or on ukulele. We had an enthusiastic crowd who joined in and let us know at the end how much they appreciated our coming. The last song, Westphalia Waltz, was really special. A fellow disconnected his oxygen, stood up from his wheelchair, and waltzed with the lady next to him. We played two times through the song, and they danced the entire time we played. At the end, they got a roaring applause by everyone including the musicians. John had returned and heard about 20 minutes of music. Then, in the parking lot, we handed out apples and/or tomatoes to all but 3 of the musicians.

Friday, Oct 17

CPAP review from last night. Started at 11:38. Early on, a little bit of forced air opened my mouth. I had a little problem at the first with my position and escaping air. It seemed related to my head direction (straight was better) and height. I awoke at 5:32 with not too many wake-up memories. My eyes, particularly the right one was very dry, needing Gel ointment. I planned to go back to sleep without the mask. It is so nice to have easy access to my nose, eyes, after the mask is positioned and also for on and off access.
I was writing these notes, and suddenly had to return to the potty with diarrhea. Wow. Wonder what I ate yesterday and hope that is the source rather than a virus. It’s John who needs to cleanse his system, not me. However, his “diet” doesn’t begin until tomorrow. I shall attempt to return to sleep. Oops, not yet. Back to the oval office. Maybe I will stay up awhile and work on the computer. I may have to cancel my haircut today. I do hope I didn’t pick up a virus somewhere. Still not settled and I can find nothing in the medicine cabinet to take. Perhaps in my suitcase? I need some Imodium. FOUND IT and took two caplets at 6:40. Its expiration date is 9-13, but I didn’t figure that would matter. Also, the package had never been opened and has been kept in the suitcase in a cool back room of the house. I went back to bed at 7:36, but didn’t get any restful sleep. I took another caplet at 10:30, according to the directions on the package. I finally got better after noon. John never experienced anything, and we had pretty much been eating the same food, at least on Thursday, so I’m not sure what was the cause.

Saturday, Oct 18

Reviewing last night’s CPAP stuff. I went to bed at 11:30 without adjusting my mask in the mirror and just put it on my head. I think it was crooked so I won’t do that again tonight. I will get it adjusted before reclining, and wait to plug in the mask to the tubing (normally what I have been doing). I could not get comfortable and get the mask fitting correctly and comfortably. I think the top plastic strap was not in the right place, and it was pinching my hair and pulling it, when I tried adjusting. (Maybe I do need the Velcro coverings). I tossed and turned for at least a hour, maybe longer before I managed to fall asleep. When I started, I had a very sore eye from the previous day’s happenings and dryness (I guess). I started with gel in my eyes for the night. I slept finally until 6:00 ish, but stayed with the mask until 6:50. My neck was hurting slightly, but okay, no more diarrhea, and decided to lay back down at 7:15. That was after I fed the cat, took some Acetaminophen, and put more gel ointment in my eyes.
I really must have been tired from all of yesterday’s happenings. I slept in until 9:20 !
I hadn’t been up too long, when I got a phone call from Jeri Conklin in CA with the news that Daisy had had a nice field trial run in an Open Derby stake, found and handled her bird well, and might be in the placements. She wouldn’t know until the banquet this evening when they announce all the placements of the day’s runs. I will hear back from her this evening.
I was better but still a little weak and not wanting to do more than I absolutely had to today. The most important thing was music at Briarwood, and I decided against going to the Grange tonight for a potluck and Bluegrass group concert. We only had Gerald (guitar), me (violin), Joanie (viola), Benj (violin), and his wife, Megan (bass fiddle). It was a great success and they fed us a magnificent meal. We had Split Green Pea soup with lots of ham, and cooked around a ham hock, two kinds of very large croissants, regular and whole wheat, a Caesar salad with homemade dressing, a pasta salad, cut up tomatoes from us, and tortilla chips. For dessert, a Trifle home made by Lee. It was made in layers in a large glass circular compote (best description I can come up with). It was made in layers in a large glass circular compote (best description I can come up with). Lee’s had layers of pumpkin pudding, pecans, gingerbread crumble crust as a layer or two, whipped cream, and I’m not sure what else. It was one of the yummiest desserts I have ever had. I wish I had had my camera along. Here is a link (with a photo) to something similar:
Pumpkin-Butterscotch Gingerbread Trifle Recipe
We also had cookies a couple of types, pumpkin bread, and an excellent cherry cobbler with whipped cream, and a platter of Asian pears. No, I did not need any dinner tonight.
Finally, I got home, and later tonight, I heard from Jeri the good news from the Southern San Joaquin Valley Brittany Club trial at Spanish Ranch, New Cuyama, CA. that our Daisy had won the Blue and received her Derby points (2), and she already had 1 Derby point in an Amateur Walking event. She also has her 2 Open Puppy points, and 2 Amateur Puppy points. So, she has 4 points toward her field championship (10 points), and the other 6 required must be in adult stakes that require more specialized preparation. Dogs are not allowed to break their point or at the flush. They must “back and honor” another dog on point, if the situation arises. They must stand on a stop to flush (if a bird goes up near them). Her picture with the winning Blue Ribbon will have to wait until next week’s blog. Interestingly, that trial awarded her great, great grandmother, DC/AFC/CC Sirius Sashay (Shay), her Derby Win, in 1979, and we still use a coffee mug with Benny Gatley’s Brittany Head on one side. Remember, Daisy is the third Shay in our lines.
Finally, for this day’s entry, a lovely photo by my friend Elise in New Jersey of a Fritillary, a bee, and an ant. The ant is in front of the butterfly and shows in the left corner of the second image.

Sunday, Oct.19

Last night our local internet provider must have been doing something and the connection was either slow or giving errors. Photos would not upload at all or took minutes. We went to bed. This morning, all seems to be well again.
When John looked out to the back patio door there were several members of the local deer herd browsing on the brush. A small buck was with a couple of does and their 2014 spring fawns, now well developed. The most we have seen at one time (across the road from the end of our driveway) is 15. So, here he is:

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, Oct 5

John left this morning for trail work at Franklin Falls. You learned about that in last week’s blog – but not that what they were constructing is called a trail turnpike. At the end of the day, photo on left, John’s crew had built and placed 2 log rectangles in a slightly sloping (and often wet) section of the trail. John is straddling a ditch on the uphill side, and as that was dug (mostly by Kaylee – in orange), rocks were tossed into the center section. The pieces are laid end-to-end with cross pieces seen just in front of Kaylee’s feet. Large rocks are put in first, then smaller ones to fill the voids. The work was not finished at the end of the day so the section got some flagging and waited for another crew.

On the right and a week later, John is pictured on the finished turnpike near the upper end of one of the boxes. The 2 cross pieces, and all the rocks, are covered with gravel brought from the parking lot with a powered totter. Use Google search with images and this set of words – trail log turnpike – to see lots of other related photos.

Monday, Oct 6

This morning started out early with the annual maintenance visit for our Culligan systems. Turns out when we were having all the trouble last November with our water-holding tank, the repairman with John’s assistance bypassed the softener and we did not realize it, until today. That means we have had no softened water for almost a year. Guess that’s why we weren’t using salt!

I have had all sorts of problems with the CPAP, but made it through last night without quite as bad an experience as the night before. Still cannot get my pillow positioned right with all the paraphernalia around my head. I did take my friend’s advice and set up the mask ahead of going to bed in the dark, and then connecting the air hose at the start of the night. If I have to get up to potty in the night, I only remove the air hose and not the entire mask. I also changed the crazy Velcro settings that were way too tight and managed to stay in bed for 7 hours, but wasn’t sound asleep by any means. I had many unusual dreams about things (all okay) but that I wouldn’t normally have. I don’t think I remember any nightmares in recent years.
The pillow I was/have been using and even had at both overnight sleep tests, will not work with the headpiece on this Eson mask. I switched to a smaller airplane one, and think I will switch even further down to one from economy class that is not as big. I was flying first class on someone else’s dime when I got the larger one.
Tomorrow is also my day to go to the sleep-doctor and the respiratory gal if I can call today and arrange it. I want to switch headgear to a friendlier one. My claustrophobia is getting to me. I called at 9:00 a.m. and never heard back. Called again at 1:15 p.m. and found their computer system was down, so apparently my message was never delivered.
We had one of our largest tomatoes for BLTs today. It is over 1.25# and here is my proof. John says it is not our largest, and we are not sure of its name. We had three large varieties, Big Boy, Celebrity, and Fantastic, which we think this is. The name above the plant was blown off the fence–perhaps it is called Fantastic or Super Fantastic, which they certainly are.

Tuesday, Oct 7

Good news for a change on my CPAP machine/mask experience. We left at 11:45 today and went to my sleep doctor’s office (45 mi away) for a consultation with the doctor on the results of my second sleep test that occurred 9/20. First, I had to go through an assistant who asked me to describe all my sessions with the machine. I did, and I also asked her if she could read my SD card and give me a report to be sure it was recording properly. She said she couldn’t because their computer system was down. I asked what the software was and she said Encore. It was obvious I was extremely disheartened with the news. She said she would discuss what I had told her with the doctor. Before she left, I gave her a copy of the color graphs I had from data on my own 3 days on the machine, but was hoping to get a check on their software with my SD card. I had printed and taken the results of a SleepyHead graph (from my data) provided to me by my technology aware friend from my long ago Idaho days, who also uses a CPAP machine of the exact same model, but with a different mask. She took them away and the doctor came back and had the graphs with him.
The beginning of the conversation with him was if I had started using the mask and my reactions and response. That set me off on a rant. He asked what was wrong with my experience. I’d already shared all this with the assistant, but I gave him a playback of the past 3 days of pain, suffering, and my lack of decent sleep. After listening to all my complaints, in a very concerned and understanding voice, he said, “Well, we need to get you a different mask that is more comfortable.” Then he told me my results (which I already knew because I had requested from a technician at the sleep center, that both report copies be mailed to me, and I had studied them in detail. I remembered many of the details, some of which I said to him, in the process of the description of my second sleep test. I asked him about the timing on my awake time and if the ramp (controlling the air pressure was reset). As he looked at the data, he observed that yes it was, but that I had only gotten 5 minutes sleep in that last couple hours from waking up and going potty. My total sleep time for the whole night was 3 hrs 14 min. I knew that from the reports, and I asked him if the sleep time was sufficient for useful data. He seemed surprised I knew the timing and said, “You are completely right.” (I doubt he knew I had seen the results). He also mentioned that it was more than enough time for them to gather what they needed. He continued discussing my situation, saying I did not have a serious sleep apnea problem in the first test (nor the second) with the CPAP in place). However, I do have a serious problem that might affect my heart, with my blood oxygen saturation level lowering to 79%. On the second test, it came up to a minimum of 89% with the CPAP engaged and for all but one minute of my time, it was in the 90s. For that reason alone, I am a candidate for a CPAP machine because of my heart history. Related reading at this link: Hypoxemia
During the time we were visiting, the assistant returned and asked for my SD card, as their computer, like Lazarus, had come alive. She took it away and returned with the report. Meanwhile, he had looked at the graphs I brought in, and was happy to know I was going to be able to keep track of my own statistics and that I wanted to. He mentioned that he was not familiar with SleepyHead, but he thought there was an alternative available through the Philips Respironics folks website. I have not looked yet since coming home. I did ask him if I could get a copy of the software; he said no, because it allowed machine changes to be made and they did not want people messing with the settings. (I realize I can also make setting changes on the machine, but am not supposed to.) In parting, he said I was proceeding well, and to keep it up with the trying the new mask; that slowly my nights would be better and I would get used to the system. He gave me 3 possible ones to consider: a nasal pillow (made by ResMed), Nuance Pro, Swift Fx, and WISP. That first one was good to hear, because I have one made for a female for my old machine. The last one was great to hear because that’s the style my friend has and I had seen a picture of his face with it on his head.
With all that news, I thanked him and ask if he could Fax the prescription over right away so I could call the Medical Supply place to go by and pickup a mask on the way home. No problem, he would. He wants me to come back in December, but I can call anytime with questions.
From there we drove to Costco for gasoline ($3.399/gal), late lunch, and shopping for a few things. While sharing a Polish sausage, piece of combo pizza, and a very berry sundae (made with yogurt), I called the Medical Supply place about the CPAP mask change need. I got a very helpful person, Alyssa, and I first asked for my Respiratory Therapist, who wasn’t there. Then I asked for her boss, by name, because we had met him last week. He was not there either, so she asked if she could help. I said, “I surely hope so.” I told her we had just come from my sleep doctor and he had faxed my prescription over for a change in mask(s). She said she would check to see if it was in. It was, so she told me to drop by and try them on to see which I wanted. (I could only take one, but had a choice of 2 of the 3 mentioned above.) I turned in my Eson mask. Once done in Costco, I drove back by the place. I had carried along my nasal pillow ResMed mask that came with my CPAP machine. I couldn’t get it to fit on my machine, so I hoped I could get a converter. I also had my new machine, and the mask along with me. We walked in and there were 4 women present. I asked which one was Alyssa. Alyssa had just gone back to the warehouse. I said — oh my, and proceeded to tell one my story. Her name is Kelsey. She listened and said she could check and help me. Meanwhile another gal, Alejandra found two masks on the counter between her desk and the missing Alyssa’s desk. We decided they were meant for me. One was a ResMed and the other a WISP. When I saw the ResMed (nasal pillow), I asked if it had changed much over the years, and they said, not really. I pulled out my old one and ask Kelsey if she could look at the tubing to see if I could maybe get a converter for it to fit my machine. She pulled out a piece of connecting plastic from the hose, and hooked it right up with the hose on the new one. I didn’t realize that part was removable. So, that fixed it and made it usable on my new machine. I knew I wanted to take the WISP so we went over to fit it to my head and nose. There are 3 nose sizes. Petite, S/M, and XL. She looked at me and said you probably will take the petite. I laughed and said I have never been a petite in anything in my life. We put it to my nose, and she measured (by looking), and said, that’s perfect; you have a small nose. Then to satisfy my curiosity, I tried the next size up, and it was too big. It was probably the size on the Eson, or possibly larger. Regardless, I was happy, and she said, “I will go in the back and find you two other petites you can take along. You’ll want to change them once a month, and when you come back in 3 months, we’ll give you 3 new ones.” The last thing that happened was I mentioned the plastic on my face would likely irritate me. She said, “Oh, I can go see if I have a “fabric” frame and change it. Sure enough, she did. While still on the discussion of plastic, I asked her how best to clean the nosepiece. She said — didn’t your technician give you a “can” of wipes when she fitted you for the mask last week. Nope. She did not, and John was there to agree. She said, “Well, she should have. I will get some for you (they are called CPAP Mask Wipes).” I have now heard from my friend there is also a cleaning spray one can get.

Wednesday, Oct 8

Reporting in this morning on my sleep last night with the new WISP mask for my CPAP machine. Last night I started with resetting it to work right with the machine. It still is probably a little tighter than necessary, but I had to tighten it to keep it from leaking. It is SO much better than the previous one. I can touch my eyes and even intake water from a glass without removing the mask. It won’t just slip over my head, however. I have to unhook one side. I made it 5 hours before having to get up, and then once up, I decided my nose needed to be blown and my eyes needed some drops, and my head needed a rest from the head gear (even though it was much better than the first mask). I went back to sleep and got about 2.5 hours more sleep without the mask.
Being Wednesday, I’ve got a busy day. Food bank music and SAIL exercise class are on today’s agenda. I carried some tomatoes and other produce to a few folks. One house on my way to town I left some onions, squash, tomatoes, and apples, and in exchange received two jars of plum preserves from some plums we had shared. From there on to the Food Bank where I gave more tomatoes and apples to my banjo buddy who with me entertains the Soup Kitchen crew. Today was especially neat because while we played Five Foot Two, the office assistant stood up and started doing a Vaudeville routine. She grabbed a broom and borrowed a hat from a patron. She got a roaring ovation. Then we entertained for over a half hour, and had many people singing along. It was a fun day. For lunch today, they fixed a Shepherd’s Pie that was scrumptious. It was baked in mashed potatoes, with carrots, yellow squash, and included very tender roast beef. They served some sort of squash, cut up with dark green peeling and light yellow inside, but I didn’t like it. Then a nice green salad with cherry tomatoes, with parmesan sprinkled on top, and for dessert, they served an apple chocolate sauce covered cake. We visited with one of the patrons as we ate, and he said he was going to his car to get his guitar and serenade us while we ate. He plays his guitar left-handed. The first song he did was one he wrote himself. It was quite well done. Then his second song was a Roger Miller song, and he did that well too. That encouraged a couple of people at our table to talk about how much music makes the world go round and makes it a happier place for people. From there, I took one of my graduate student friends out to my car and shared more of our tomatoes and apples. On to SAIL class with more tomatoes and apples. On my way in, I gave a large tomato to the bus driver (from Hope Source that gives rides to disabled people). He was surprised and happy to receive it. Some of the biggest ones really excited people and they went quickly, one each to several people. There were only 3 apples left at the end, so I asked a gal who depends on a walker and a ride by the Hope Source folks, with a lift for wheelchairs and walkers on a bus, if she wanted the 3 little tasty apples. She did, so I found a bag to put them in for her. I left there with my planned leftover box of large, medium, and small cherry and yellow pear tomatoes for another music group member who cannot be there tomorrow, and their house is on my way home.
Once home I decided to try out my other CPAP mask (a nasal pillow one) that I got free with an older machine, now that I had the ability to connect to my new machine which records statistics on an SD card. That worked well, so I will use it tonight to see how I can get through the night. It is MUCH more lightweight than any of the other masks, and I assume will be my mask of choice for most of my time. We’ll see. I still have to try the WISP again to be sure to get its head gear completely adjusted to not cause me any discomfort when using it with my favorite pillow.

Thursday, Oct 9

Memories of last night’s horrible CPAP mask experience:
(1) 11:30 – 2:00 used the ResMed from a previous purchase from this provider (that was given to me). It is a ResMed Nasal Pillow model.
(2) 2:10 to 5:30 used the “new” WISP mask again.

Regarding (1) Okay. I tried setting up the ResMed mask earlier in the day. Tonight I started with it adjusted and reclined on the pillow. The back white plastic piece is bumpy and painful. The upper headgear and facial gear straps are covered in cloth. Overall it is better (less intrusive) than the WISP, however the nasal pillow didn’t leak air while I was sitting, yet, it did while in my sleep position. I had to tighten the headgear to manage the leaks. I could not go to sleep. There seemed to be air escaping from the connector to the nasal tube. As well, I had trouble with air escaping my mouth on its own, and not because I was opening it. It was as if it was forcing it to open. I did my best to try to make this work from 11:30 to 2:00, but finally, totally exhausted, I gave up and switched to the WISP.
Regarding (2) The WISP mask seemed okay at the start, but still difficult with having pressure from the pillow on the back piece of fabric gear. I’m going to change to a small foam pillow tonight. I had more trouble with air leaking from the actual bottom side of the petite nosepiece plastic when turning my head ever so slightly. I managed to make it until 5:30 and then removed and slept w/o a mask until 10:00 a.m. (with a short wake-up when John got up).
Talked to my neighbor Jerry Anderson this morning. Jerry is the one I exchanged dates for doctor visits with because he goes south for the winter and was running out of time here. I’ve had his cell# and now have his address in AZ. He seems to have more apnea symptoms than I do but comparing mask issues can still be useful.
Being a Thursday, I went to play music, today at the Rehab. We had a great turnout of players and audience. Megan was able to be there with her big bass, Ellen on clarinet, me on fiddle, our new singer Bob (from the Food Bank), Evelyn on banjo, Gerald on Guitar, Manord on his banjo guitar, Maury on guitar, and Minerva on guitar. We made lots of music and had a lot of participation, including our little walker-supported and singing dancer, a resident named Helen. What’s so cool is she knows the words to the songs and dances along singing. After we played, I shared 4 types of tomatoes with the group. From there off to Briarwood to deliver more tomatoes, and got two blueberry muffins from a resident in return, on to the Senior Center to take a little sack of yellow pear (small) tomatoes to Katrina, who cannot have red tomatoes because of the acid.
Finally, I stopped by Pam’s (the bulk harvest contact) to pick up 25# of potatoes but ended up with ~35# for $2.00 ($.05/pound is not a bad price). The remainder of my $2 goes to pay for potatoes to be donated to the Food Bank. When I was there, Pam had a back trunk full of bags of potatoes for them. I guess my donation would pay for 6# of potatoes. Rather amazing. These are from the volunteer efforts of a local LDS church. Anyone in the community is able to participate, and we have for several years. We had a LDS band member who invited our group to his ward’s potlucks, celebrations, and chili feeds — we played music in exchange for a good meal. This was an outgrowth of that connection and continues after his death.
Back to the CPAP affair:
On my way home, I called the medical supply place with a question about my CPAP mask. I left my number and a request for Kelsey to return a call. I was probably 7 minutes from home, but I left both numbers. As I parked my car at home, the cell phone rang. They could not put me in touch with her, but tried to help me. I would have rather talked to Kelsey, but I tried to explain my question. The woman I had on the phone’s interpretation of their policy of trading masks was that only one trade was allowed in the first 30 days, and I had just used mine this week. That is not what I thought after visiting on Tuesday. Kelsey will return my call tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, the other helper answered my question about the other masks I had not taken. I was under the impression I could only evaluate one at a time, and therefore I could bring this one back if it didn’t work (next Tues). That mask was by ResMed and is a nasal pillow type called a Swift Fx. I have my fingers crossed for a call in the morning.

Friday, Oct 10

Goodness… another rough night with the CPAP. This time I started with the new WISP mask on at 11:00. I slept intermittently, awaking at 1:10 and at 2:10. I made a few adjustments for a leaking around the lower part of my nose piece, which seemed to relate and depend on my position (best with head straight ahead–not to either side). For the last 4 years since my illness, I have slept on my back with an upward tilt. I USED to sleep on my right side. At 2:10 I awoke and had to go potty– had a runny itchy nose, and completely readjusted all 4 headpieces. I needed to put fluid (moisture tear drops) in my eyes, and dry my nose. I decided the mask had gotten off center, and that’s likely why the leakage was occurring. I changed my pillow from the little foam I started with back to my normal one. At the first, my air was doing fine. When I tightened the 4 straps, I put more pressure on the fabric on my cheeks. I think that mask will not work because with the Cherokee Indian blood in me, I have high cheekbones that get in the way of those facial straps to the nosepiece.
I honestly believe I never got back to sleep. I noticed the times and at 30 minutes and 45 minutes and I hit the ramp to reset the pressure with hopes I could fall asleep more easily. I was still fighting the mask at 4:30, when I gave up, and removed it. I knew I had to have some sleep to get up and travel to the doctor with John for his visit to an internist, regarding a colonoscopy. I went right to sleep and slept for 3 hours. I am tired now at the end of the day, because I never took a nap.
Morning call to my CPAP medical supplies provider. I asked to speak to the gal I couldn’t reach yesterday. She wouldn’t be in until noon, so I decided I would call back after noon. Meanwhile, I got a call from Alyssa prompted by my late afternoon call yesterday. This was a wonderful surprise, but I was running out of time to talk for needing to go with John to town. However, she listened to my sad story of woe and impressions of what I thought was supposed to happen, and she said not to worry. They wanted me to be happy with a comfort zone that allowed me to use the machine. While normally I would only get one change of mask within the first 30 days, they would make an exception and for me to come by Tuesday, while down there to see my cardiologist, and they would fit me for the lighter head piece mask, Swift Fx, by ResMed with the nasal pillow feature. A big burden was lifted and I thanked her and told her how much I appreciated all the support she had given me, starting last Tuesday. She told me they could not resell the mask once it was used. I imagine they can rent it out, however. I think I will ask if they can honor a doctor’s prescription, maybe paid for by my secondary insurance as a mask to switch with in the future. I would prefer having at least two masks, depending on my mood, or even if I switch to the nasal pillow and decide I don’t like the nose part of that one. I need to ask if I can change to a new mask at my 3 months time. They are supposed to change every 3 months on the rental agreement. I don’t know if it is a change and I kept the old mask, or an exchange and I have to turn in my current mask. So much to learn. However, I’m happy to be looking forward to the change this Tuesday after my cardiologist appointment. Meanwhile, I will keep trying to use the mask until Tuesday.

Saturday, Oct 11

First, I need to review my CPAP experience last night. I put on my mask about 11:00 and adjusted it in front of a mirror to be sure I was symmetrically set up, unlike last night. Problem always is that the reclining sleep position causes differences in the fit. I awoke hourly, and had a few noises to contend with. I may have made a strap adjustment. Mostly, the sound from the machine was the normal inhale sound and exhale sound the unit makes…sort of a groan in two tones. Around 3:00 I awoke to high-pitched squeaky sound from the nosepiece. I shifted the nosepiece and finally got rid of the noise. Then, however, by 4:35, I had to get it off my head. I was not able to continue. So, then I continued without the mask and slept until 9:00, with a slight awake time at 7:00. I’m much more rested than yesterday.
Early morning before the wind started we took a walking tour of the Northeast Woodlot on our property. We have small wooded areas on all sides except the Southeast side. I shall give you a small picture description of our route.
We started on our way for John to show me the very large cottonwood tree that fell in yesterday’s winds while he was working relatively close by. Behind him, he heard the cracking of the falling tree, and scurried in the other direction. Sadly, it did not come all the way down, but hung up on two other trees (one young and one near dead itself). The combination is hazardous and there is no way for John to remove any of it. The trunk of the big dead tree (about 3 feet thru) failed about 4 feet from the ground – sort of like breaking a bread stick. When John lived with his parents, his mom would claim anything like this leaned toward Fisher (small country crossroads). This one actually leans toward Seattle, or mostly west. He also showed me some of his handiwork near the neighbor’s fence line where he has been cleaning off trees that have fallen on the old fence. I wanted to take some photos of the autumn colors, although they do not compare to the beautiful pictures below from friends in New Jersey and Ohio (but of a place in West Virginia).
Here you go: First, the lovely yellow cottonwood leaves around the little irrigation stream on the NE side of our property.

The partially fallen tree.

John is clearing some of our property to have a reduced fuel load if there is a fire but in this section he is hoping to prevent another “tragedy of the fence line.” The photo below is of the partial skull of a small deer. Near the tree (above) and old barbed wire fence has been nearly flattened by fallen trees. There are many wild roses and others sorts of shrubs there. We think the deer bounded into this mess and could not get out, thus dying there.

In the photo below, the 3rd log from the left (smallish one) was across the fence and that’s where the deer was found. [Smaller trunks on the right with bark are from the clearing and thinning operation of 2013.]

Growth is relentless and the leftovers from downed trees makes a nice pile and that makes a place for the quail to go. We’ve many such piles, and lots of quail.

The foreground plants are rabbitbrush. The blooms are now old but 3 weeks ago they were still being visited by bees.
Winds got to 39 mph gusts twice today and we also got .02″ of rain at the airport (5 miles south). I ran out with my rain jacket and moved under the eaves some boxes of magazines and other things from the garage that didn’t need to get wet. John worked through it down at the lower end of the pasture. Says he was under Alder trees and was somewhat protected. Walking back would have just gotten him wetter. He didn’t go to Franklin Falls today – poured there – but will go Sunday. It is not to rain then.

The next photo is from a morning email from Bill Howard (our best man). He describes it: We are currently vacationing at Pipestem State Park in south-central West Virginia; the fall scenery is magnificent. Yesterday, despite steady rain, we took a long hike in the woods.

Below is from another email this morning — it’s from Elise my friend in Andover, NJ, actually taken at Heater’s Pond, in Ogdensburg, NJ, 10/11/14. She took on a nice hike around a lake about 10 mi from her home, in northern New Jersey.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, Sept 28

John left this morning at 6:40, stopping for gasoline at the I-90 exit at the Love’s Travel Stop, for $3.69/gal (still commonly called Pilot’s in EBRG). He was gone all day working on trail at Franklin Falls.
This is a lovely short trail close to Seattle and frequented by many people. Our friends from 1988, Alli and Paul Martin, sent John this photo of their two daughters, Georgia and Liz at the end of the trail. John has been working at the beginning of the trail, near the parking lot, not within view of the falls, but he has walked up there in the past. The last couple of hundred feet is a scramble along a rock face. Then there is a nice gravel bar and the plunge pool. Fixing this short section is at the talking stage – likely to be done by a contractor. (click to make big)

Georgia and Liz Martin at Franklin Falls

Just west of the parking lot for the Franklin Falls trail, a new trail to the camp ground is being carved out of the forested hill side. This is John removing a root.

Behind him, in a dug-trench, large rocks are being placed – making a rock wall – behind that smaller rocks topped with gravel will make the tread.
Rascal was gone a lot one night and morning and finally came back limping on his back right foot. It was swollen and appeared to be an injury that had scabbed over, but then possibly abscessed. It was the weekend so I didn’t want to have an after-hrs vet call. I tried putting an ointment on it, and it seemed to make it soften and drain, after he kept licking it. Today, it was not as swelled. It had a slight discharge, but I put a Kleenex on it, and it appeared to be clear liquid, not pus. He’s not limping as much. I didn’t have any small antibiotic pills and no triple antibiotic cream. He’s eating and sleeping a lot, and only going outside a little (probably only to potty, because he returns soon after leaving through the doggie door).

Now, to update you all, as we know more results from this weekend. Photos thanks to Alice Benoit and Karen Barrows. Daisy (in the photo), is my co-owned (with Jeri Conklin) female named Cedaridge Kip’s Camelot Shay Tre’ (Daisy, call name). The Tre’ in her name is associated with her being the 3rd Shay in our lines following our female, DC/AFC Sirius Sashay, and Cedaridge Legacy of Shay. With Roy Stockton handling Saturday, Daisy won 1st place (1 amateur point) in the Amateur Walking Derby at the NCBC trial in Corning, CA. Sunday, Paul Doiron handled her to a 2nd placement in Open Derby. We haven’t yet heard about that run and bird work.
Enjoying attention on the stakeout chain.

Displaying her Cedaridge smirk, but it can become a wider grin (of happiness).

Daisy on point of a bird under the bush in her winning race.
Daisy from my birthday 9-1, running at the Oregon Brittany Club in Madras.

On a roll this weekend, her brother, Cedaridge Kip’s Tug Toy (Tug, call name), was at a show in Carson City, NV with his owner, Sonja Willitts, who also owns his father, Cedaridge Tri-tip Kip, out of our breeding. The mom of these pups is Jeri’s female, KWK Windswept Guinevere of Camelot (Ginny, call name). We’re happy to report Tug was awarded Best of Winners (5 pt major), 9/27; on Sunday 9/28, Tug won another 5 pt major (BOW). Yes, it was a fantastic weekend for all of us. Thanks to all people involved.

Sonja had a professional photograph taken yesterday for his first 5 pt major, but we won’t see that for a couple weeks. This was taken by Kevin Willitts (note below on Thursday, Oct 2 for two links to see Kevin in action as a veterinarian working on Cinder, the bear badly burned in WA). When Sonja got home from the last show, at my request she displayed his ribbons and sat his dad, Kip, beside her. NOTICE, the Digital Photo Display on the table at center-left. That is Sonja in a show photo with the judge and ribbon for a 3 pt major on Tug’s great, great, great, great, Uncle (Whispering Tic) in 1979 with from our 1977 breeding in Idaho. That’s when I first met Sonja, and we have been good friends for 37 years now.

Monday, Sept 29

Decided to follow-up on a continued billing from 2 different publishers for a renewal (at a higher price), and a special rate for welcoming us back. We never left getting the Smithsonian magazine, which we have enjoyed for over 40 years. I made a phone call to the place we always got it for $12 for students and faculty members and found out our last subscription through them was in 2009. They apparently lost their contract for a time, but got it back when customers started complaining about the higher charge from a Publisher’s place in VA, who keep calling and bugging us. Last time they renewed us when the $12 one was not available was at $16. Now it is up to $29.95. I had called a year ago and found out the $12 was now available from our old place, so I knew I would renew through them. When I said that recently to the VA based firm, they lied to me again and said they were not carrying it. The name of the organization we prefer has changed their name to College Subscription Service, but it is in the exact same location with the same phone number. I have a direct line to a person who has served us for years. It is now subscribed at $12 and we will be notified next week on our email. The VA place called again, when I was gone in town, and John told them they would have to talk with me. When I was sick this service started their subscriptions through them, after calling John. Now we are finally out from under their painful marketing practice, I think, with the next phone call I get from them.
The rest of our day included inside and outside chores.

Tuesday, Sept 30

We went to Howard’s Medical Supply in Selah (wrong, it was the one in Yakima that no one told me was the location), so I was a little late for my appointment. We left our house at 9:00 a.m. for an appt 9:45 with Arleen Lommers (in the business for 20 years advising CPAP users on equipment setup). I took some tomatoes to Starla the receptionist there, who is from Ellensburg. In addition, I took along my freely given Respironics CPAP machine (which had originally been bought from them), and they gave me a new smart card with the proper air pressure (8) to use as a backup unit for travel. John and I went through the introduction to the machine and mask prescribed by my sleep doctor, Dr. Kumar, from the results of my two sleep studies. Through Medicare, this machine will be rented for 13 months to keep track of my progress every 3 months, and get new parts during the contract. Philips Respironics also make the newer machine, but it is a model that’s lighter, quieter, & better in some ways.
Finally, we left for Selah for the 9:45 appt. Got there right on time, but it was the WRONG place. They have two medical supply stores, and we guess this was the original one, but they expanded to a larger facility on 16th Ave in Yakima (north end of town). We got back in the car and took off. My appointment lasted about an hour and we were showed aspects of the machine and mask. The respiratory therapist programmed its settings to the doctor’s specifications for me. She explained everything to us (except how to make those settings), demonstrated, and answered all my questions. It is a Respironics REMSTAR Auto A-Flex, with a small SD card for the data collection. That will be good for my using free software, SleepyHead, and putting the SD card in my laptop, for viewing graphs and charts in color of the measurements made during my use. Every 3 months, I have to take that SD card to my sleep doctor’s office for them to see the results. The old CPAP machine’s card is larger and different, more the size of a credit card, and would not be accepted by my laptop. It has a heated humidifier (as does the old one). Both units have a Ramp feature; the new one is set for 20 minutes, starting at a pressure of 5. It has a System One humidifier that surprisingly costs more than the CPAP, maybe because I’m only renting the CPAP part. The machine is mine at the end of the rental (I believe). We did not hang around Yakima to go to Costco, but came on back to take care of things in the valley.
The rest of our day was full of going to the hospital in Ellensburg for a blood draw for my INR (3.0), then over across the valley for a couple hours to our friends’ orchard, where during heavy wind gusts, we picked a couple hundred # of apples — Gala, Jonagold, and Honeycrisp. They are mostly for us to freeze, make applesauce, and eat raw. We have given a few away, and likely will give some more to close friends. We did not pick as many as last year and will not deliver to the Food Bank or the Adult Activity Center.
On the way home, we delivered 6 macramé hangers to a family in Kittitas. She was thrilled, and it gives us a few less things to worry with getting rid of because of not having the room to use. If we had an enclosed porch we could hang them, but outside with exposure to sun and rain, the rope deteriorates. In 45 mph wind they move a lot.

Wednesday, Oct 1

Each week, Wednesday is Food Bank music and SAIL exercise class. I carried some tomatoes to a few folks. At the Food Bank, we checked the replaced chords on Froggy Went a Courtin’, and it was just fine. Our two sing along fellows absolutely love that song and harmonize enjoyably. This new sheet should be good for the larger group; Thursday’s Fiddlers and Friends.
Just home and beginning to check mail. We’re driving back to CWU tonight for a lecture and wanted to try to fix up my CPAP to use. Last night we didn’t bother trying to figure out where to put it and get it started properly and me fitted to its use. I was having trouble in the office undoing the left part of the nosepiece and had trouble resetting it back on as well. That concerns me when I have to get up during the night and reset in the dark, by myself. I know I will learn more as I use it. Since worrying about that, my friend suggested just leaving the headgear on and disconnecting the air hose. Why didn’t I think of that?
We went to IAF lecture to hear Paul Blanton, on the topic: “Arroyos in the Foster Creek Watershed.” The issue was rapid erosion of steep walled gullies after early settlers altered the land cover. His study site was to our NE, and just south of the Grand Coulee Dam. It was interesting and well done, but took a lot of time, and put us home late for dinner.
John tried a couple of things gleaned from the web to make our scanner work. What he tried didn’t work, but it will make copies. That will be okay for the changed music I need tomorrow. I don’t understand why it doesn’t use the scanner when copying, but that’s okay. It is late so he will search for a solution tomorrow.

Thursday, Oct 2

Music at Royal Vista. I took copies for all of Froggy Went a Courtin’ now completed, with corrected chords. Pretty good turnout of players. John was the produce man at the end and we shared small tomatoes, larger ones, and some blemished (won’t keep long type) apples, which several people just ate in the parking lot. The blemished we are giving freely for people wishing to make applesauce, freeze for apple desserts, or dry some.
I need to see if I can get my CPAP machine ready to go tonight. I was unable to accomplish it, again tonight. It needs to be lower than my sleeping position (according to the user manual I had to read through before using the machine). The Respiration Therapist never mentioned that to me.
Instead, for the last blog entry tonight, I will share a report from my friend Sonja Willitts about the female bear from Washington’s Methow valley wildfire this summer. Her hubby Kevin is the vet in charge of the bear, Cinder.
Click the following to see: Cinder – link One
She sent that link yesterday and this link today. Both are worth the watch. Today’s is a slightly different link to another story about Cinder. Cinder — link Two

Friday, Oct 3

When John came in last night from his yard work in the pasture, he neglected to close the gate again. We received an early morning call from our neighbor that our horses were in the road. He managed to get by them and turn around to herd them back toward our driveway. He called on his cell phone, and John went right out with a pan of grain. He shook it and the younger horses came in the driveway, thinking they would be rewarded. Ebony, the oldest horse, was a little slower coming but it was for her anyway. So, John closed the gate and came on back down the drive. All the horses returned to their pasture. That botched up our morning plans, but we were extremely grateful to our neighbor for his notification and assistance.
Worked all day on chores, including trying to unload stuff near where I sleep to put up my CPAP unit. Maybe tomorrow. I think I will work to get it set up and try it during the day, in the daylight when I can see the dials and figure how to connect and disconnect my mask.
For dinner tonight, we had fall-apart all day Crockpot-cooked large beef roast, with fried mushrooms, our cherry tomatoes, and golden deep-friend onion rings, made from our Ailsa Craig large sweet onions–better than any Walla Walla or Vidalia onions, I assure you.

John found new ideas for fixing our scanner problem on our Epson all-in-one printer. YIPPEE. Replacing a thing called TWAIN (communications protocol that regulates communication between software and digital imaging devices) worked. The word TWAIN is a backronym used in the early 1990s to reflect the difficulty, at the time, of connecting scanners and personal computers. The official website notes that “the word TWAIN is from Kipling’s The Ballad of East and West — ‘…and never the twain shall meet…’ [The backronym is: Technology Without an Interesting Name.] I wanted the scanner for the music preparation I have to do, and other record keeping paperwork for bills and medical records. Last night he spent an hour downloading new drivers and installing them, but it did not work. Tonight he researched more on line and found some more suggestions to incorporate, but it required the long time of downloading again and the re-installation. This time it worked and we both can access the scanner (on our shared printer) through a wireless connection to both our computers.

Saturday, Oct 4

Excitement this morning the first 45 minutes up — with 12 wild (Merriam) turkeys in our front yard on the cement slab. I photographed and captured some interesting footage, first from inside the house, and then I actually walked out the front door and took more. Will have more evidence later when I process the pix and the videos. The two large males along last year are not with this group. Perhaps these are the offspring of last year’s 13 turkeys. This photo is of the ones mostly inside the fence to show the pretty vegetation colors. Red berries are on a Mountain Ash tree inside the fence, the edge planter has Marigolds, and the yellow tree in the distance is a Black Walnut.

Here is the link to see my video of the visiting turkeys heading over the fence. It is 12 seconds long.
Managed to wash the muddy work pants for John’s trip tomorrow to Franklin Falls, put up blackberries he picked a day or so ago, (4 small bags), added to a freezer bag and frozen. Emptied the double sink of dirty dishes from yesterday’s activities, and all this before my first cup of coffee! John made sure the turkeys had gone away and then took the dogs for morning exercise.

Today John packaged up several garbage bags of tin (aka steel) cans and aluminum ones. He also moved out many boxes of recyclable paper and trash from near our Culligan units, to allow access for a yearly maintenance visit Monday morning. I went to visit a neighbor and take her the last of our yellow squash and a few tomatoes. She is the one I mentioned last week as having started a pineapple plant, and I asked her to call me when this one bloomed out. I took my camera down and captured this for the record.

We managed to get the CPAP machine ready to blow for tonight. I have practiced with it in the daylight such that I hope once the lights are out I will be all right. Here’s my description sent to a friend with the same CPAP machine & mask type, who has been advising me about mine. I sent this at 11:11 p.m. tonight:
I said: I liked your advice about doing it in the daylight. I have my CPAP sitting beside me and it is hooked up but is making air sounds (intake and exhale) I don’t like when I breathe. John says I will get used to it, but I find it aggravating. I don’t know if music in the background would help or not. My ears are very good, maybe to my disadvantage with the CPAP. We’ll see if I can sleep. I need to clear my throat and cough, and it won’t let me. I need to blow my nose and can’t. The sound seems more to be coming from the machine but the other squeak is not as regular it seems to be coming from the right side of my nosepiece.
I just re-ramped it to lower the pressure. I had tried earlier typing on my laptop and it didn’t work well because it’s difficult to see around the nosepiece and head straps. I’m glad I don’t wear glasses. Before I go to bed I usually put gel or drops in my eyes because they dry out (with my intraocular lens replacements for cataracts–successfully in since 1997). Such “liquid” input to my eyes causes me to have either to blow my nose or clear my throat. My other complaint is the constriction of my forehead. I truly don’t like the fact I cannot wipe my eyes or access them, with all the facial nosepiece headgear on.
Okay, here I go to set up for the night. I will give it the best try I can.

Sunday, Oct 5

John left at 6:40 for another Franklin Falls WTA trip.
I stayed in bed, trying to get some sleep after an absolutely horrible first night’s experience on the CPAP machine.
Here’s the story. I finally last looked at the clock at 11:32 p.m. I don’t know how long it took me to fall asleep. Perhaps my SD card will tell me. I had difficulty getting pillow support under my head with the mask on. I felt it was too tight, but didn’t want to try to adjust in the dark, after it had been fitted by the technician. The other problem I had was the back heavy felt-like cloth piece getting in the way of my comfort pillow (under my neck for support). I had interrupted “sleep” for the next 3 hours, and finally took the head apparatus off at 3:30 a.m. and got up to go potty. I had severe neck muscle pain on my right side, pressure points on my forehead, and pain on the lower back part of my both sides of my skull. My discomfort level was high, and my head ached probably from lack of decent sleep. I was cold and had to put on a sweatshirt. Once to the bathroom I noticed a red splotch and indentation in my forehead, so I got my camera and took a “selfie” to show to my sleep doctor and my CPAP technician. I hope you can see the red spot (and indentation) I’m pointing to on my forehead.

I believe I will try resetting the Velcro “pressure” on the top headpiece and try again tonight. Meanwhile, early this morning, I shut off the machine, and went back to bed to attempt to get rested. I was not feeling well at all. Last glance at the clock was after 4:00 a.m. At 6:10 I awoke with John’s alarm and stayed awake to see him off and then went back to sleep. I cannot believe how long I slept–until 10:55 a.m. That is very unusual for me, so I must not have gotten good sleep from 11:30 to 3:30 last night, and caught up with my normal 7 hours of sleep.
After readjustment tonight, if the mask gives me problems, I will switch to the different mask that came on the free CPAP machine given to me. That mask seems less intrusive and I saw an example on the demo shelf in the Medical Supply place next to the one I was fitted with. I also have heard from John’s brother and several others that sometimes a person must go through different style or sized masks to find one that works well. Makes sense – we have different faces, don’t we?

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Click here to learn about the Equinox.

Sunday, Sept 21

On my way home from Yakima, I filled my Subaru with 13 gallons of gasoline at Costco, saving the .18/gal under the price in Ellensburg. I made it home at 8:00 a.m. from my overnight “sleep” test in Yakima. I only managed to sleep for 3.5 hrs, if that, at the start of my study. The mask was uncomfortable and confining and of course, my nose itched and I could not reach it. My bed was raised to ~40°, pillows set, and I managed eventually to go to sleep because I was tired and ready to be done with this experience. I awoke abruptly at 2:30 a.m. and asked what happened. Also, it was impossible to talk with the mask in place blowing air in my nose, because one’s mouth needs to stay closed so as not to leak air. I was afraid I had had an “event” to cause me to awake to regain breathing properly, but that was not the case. She said, “You just woke up.” I realized I was hot and too heavily laden with covers, so asked her please to come help me and to turn the temperature down a little. I had already kicked off the spread. This occurred while my tech was on a break, so another tech came to my room to help me. She adjusted the thermostat and turned on a fan. While she was still there, I asked if she could disconnect me to go to the potty, as I was already awake. She did. When I got up, I realized the fan was blowing too hard, right into my face, and I asked her to turn it off. She had lowered the temp on the heating/cooling system. She hooked me back up but apparently, I got into the bed differently from before, and I could not get comfortable or put the pillows into the positions they had been in earlier when I began the test. I struggled for way too long, trying to go to sleep even moving my knees up to relieve the lower back pain, but I still could not do anything about the neck pain. I had shoulder pain as well. Finally, I called my own tech back in to readjust the pillows and bed. I asked the time, and it was 3:50 a.m. almost an hour and a half since the wake up episode. While there, she also found me a lighter-weight spread. And, because we could not seem to re-orient the pillows properly, I tried another I had carried along (it is the little kind from an airplane). We put it under my neck and that seemed to work to relieve the pain — however, it was pushing my head forward, and I think it was affecting the nosepiece of the mask, because I heard a sound of air escaping. Apparently, that did not show up at the control room (I was told later when I complained).
Regardless, I could not get back to sleep between all that discomfort and sounds. I was hearing water running in the wall (turns out the toilet was still running from my earlier visit, but we didn’t find it until I was completely done with the test), and my technician shook the handle to stop it. She mentioned she thought she heard something over my microphone room tap, but didn’t realize what it was. At 5:00 a.m., I was “awakened”; I am sure I had never gone back to sleep during the previous hour. My estimate is that I barely got maybe 3.5 hours of sleep on this entire visit. (turns out I found out Friday, that I only slept for 3 hrs. & 14 minutes. I think they prefer to have at least 4 hours of data. The only very positive result was the answer to one of my questions, “What was the lowest percentage that my blood oxygen saturation level reached?”
Apparently, it went to 89% for a minute, but was in the 90s the rest of the time. I think that is promising. She could not give me a count of the number of times my breathing paused during the test, but indicated I did have some “events.” I will have to wait until the final chart printouts are reviewed by the staff during the week. I don’t know if I will get any feedback at all until my appointment with the doctor (October 7), but I will ask. I requested a printout of today’s overnight data charts collected, and as expected, I was refused. Not sure why, considering the graphs will not change. I am allowed a copy of them after the doctor has reviewed everything.
My first experience goes back to June 19th with an explanation in June 20th date below in this blog of all the measurements taken and the reason for them.
I received an offer of a CPAP machine, 5 years old, from a person on the Buy Nothing Ellensburg site (it is only for freely given items). I will accept and if I don’t need it I shall re-gift to another member of the site who wants it for her mother as a backup unit. I fully expect them to rule I must have one.
Today, I received a nice boost from a member of my Jobs list serve efforts–with the following she put on her Facebook page and “tagged me” so it went to all my Facebook friends.
She said, I am so excited to announce that I’ll be joining the Washington Water Trust as their newest Project Manager working to restore stream flows in the Yakima, Walla Walla, and Okanogan basins. This is an incredible opportunity for me both personally and professionally and I couldn’t be more grateful for all of the support from my friends and colleagues with the Yakama Nation, my dear friend and mentor Jeanne Demorest, and my amazing husband Caleb L Ribellia. I must also acknowledge the wonderful Nancy B. Hultquist for the daily job announcements that she continues to send out. It’s because of her that so many of us are able to find such rewarding paths in life. Here’s to the next chapter! It somehow keeps getting better and better.
An interesting side note is the previous person in this job was also my student, and he sent me the job description to send to the list.

Monday, Sept 22

Up early (but with 9 hrs of sleep)–guess I was playing catch-up from the bad Saturday sleepless night fiasco. John slept in too. I had to soak my feet before going to the foot doctor for a toenail trim (he does it every 3 months), it’s on Medicare’s tab, and he is the one I go to for the laser treatment every 6 months on the toenails on my right foot. That work has to be done in the Yakima office, and I’m not scheduled until December.
John had to get the horses ready for their trims today at 10:00 a.m. I left at 9:30 and went by Carl’s JR for some of their large Biscuits: Sausage, Cheese, & Egg. I bought 6 at the special sale price, and brought them home for the freezer, yet, I ate 1/2 for my breakfast and froze the other half for a later single breakfast for me. Made it to the doctor’s office in time for my 10:15 appointment, but I didn’t get in right away and was upset at what happened. I had visited with another woman in the waiting room, and she was scheduled for the same doctor as I was, but after me at 10:30. Yet, she was called in before me. I went to the receptionist to inquire if the woman had more of a set up procedure, because my appointment was scheduled before hers. She said, “Oh, well she was here before you.” I told her that was a wrong procedure. She went away and apparently talked to the nurse, who shortly came out and got me. I still had to wait to see the doctor, but it was worth the wait, because he did a very nice job. That’s the same place I have had scheduling problems before, such as being put in a room, and forgotten. I guess he did see me first because when I left, I was in the parking lot making phone calls about my next stops and also arranging my produce in the back of my car for delivery, when I saw her come out of the building.
On from there to deliver some tomatoes to a friend a few blocks from the office, but we were drenched by a rainstorm. I didn’t have a hat or jacket, but did have an extra shirt, which I threw over my head and shoulders. On from there to deliver more produce, squash and tomatoes. During the rainstorm, I made a couple more telephone calls to arrange the rest of my deliveries. The next one was north of town because I knew they’d be leaving for the SAIL exercise class I normally attend, but couldn’t today because of a meeting during the same time. When I got there, they asked me if I wanted to visit and have a cup of coffee, so I accepted. That turned into an invitation for lunch; we had a cup of lentil soup, a homemade muffin, and some slaw. That was a nice surprise. Next stop, back on the south side of town to friends to share more tomatoes. I was beginning to feel like a produce person for sure. I still had a few tomatoes left, and decided to keep them to offer to the woman on my last stop in town. We met after she got off work at 1:00, but she was running late leaving and didn’t call me until 1:15. She decided we could meet downtown at the Dollar store because she had to deliver another gift to someone who worked there. She was cleaning out her house and one thing she listed was a CPAP machine, as mentioned yesterday, which I spoke for. We arranged to meet in Ellensburg.
Once there, she walked the unit over to my car, and took time to explain everything to me. I first asked her to tell me the history of the machine. She got it for herself about 5 years ago to stop her snoring. Her doctor told her if she lost weight, she would stop snoring. She lost about 50 lbs, and it did negate her need for the machine. She showed me how it worked and told me the medical supply place (in Selah, WA), it came from Howard’s Medical Supply. She demonstrated all the working parts, but told me I needed to take the unit to Howard’s Medical Supply, and they would program my “pressure” requirements into a computerized “smart card” (a little smaller than a credit card) to slip in the machine that sets the correct pressurized air flow. I knew that was going to be one of the things in my report from the test on Saturday, and I knew the importance of the technician raising it slowly and watching my body’s reaction to get the proper pressurized flow amount. This unit [from Philips Respironics] has a built-in humidifier, and she showed me how to open, fill , and clean the parts. She showed me the filters and how to remove the humidifier to make the unit smaller for use as a travel version. It is in a nice case with a shoulder strap and barely looks used. She also had had the nasal piece on the head part switched to one for a female, so it fit her better. She showed me how to put the head gear on, it seemed to fit me just fine, and was not as confining as the one I had on last Saturday night. She was careful to warn me not to go home, turn it on, and start using it without the proper adjustment. Her initial testing work-up was done at the same place I went to in Yakima through Memorial Hospital. She was thrilled to take the remaining tomatoes because she lives NW of us, and said her husband’s tomatoes are all still green. It could be she is at a slightly higher elevation. I don’t know her specific address, so cannot check her elevation on Google Earth.
One of the other attempted deliveries today was to give away my contribution to the Ellensburg Buy Nothing group — 6 Macramé hanging flower pot holders. The person they are for lives in Kittitas, but I couldn’t reach her on the phone today, so have postponed that delivery until another day. I have since tried to reach her later in the week, but have been unsuccessful. I am not willing to leave them on her porch by her door. I’m sure someone would walk off with them.
John has David, our farrier, coming at 10:00 to trim two horses. I left a check for him.
Talked to Nan B. at Stoneridge Resort (our timeshare) accounts receivable and am set on an annual automatic payment, so I can ignore any bill I receive from here on out.

Tuesday, Sept 23

We left the house for Yakima at 9:30 a.m. and did not return until dark. It was crazy, mixed with an ICD check appointment for me at the heart center, trying to obtain my sleep study results from upstairs (unsuccessfully), stopping to pick up pizzas to take to our visit 30 minutes west of Yakima (past Wiley City) for lunch. Our friends insisted on paying for the pizzas, and I objected, to no avail. Our lunch was a Cowboy pizza (their choice), and a Papa Murphy Special (our choice), with 1/2 Pepperoni & 1/2 Hawaiian. They had cherry and small orange tomatoes we ate on the side. We had a nice long afternoon visit with them and their golden retriever female, loaded our chipper (we had loaned to them 10 years ago), into our truck in the rain, and left for Costco.
Below is the loading process near the end with John pulling the chipper from the ramp to the front of the PU bed.

Filled the truck with 25 gallons of gas totaling, $90.65 (.18/gal cheaper than Ellensburg), shopped at Costco, and came home to all the animals needing attention and food; we did not get around to eating until very late. They sent us home with some leftover pizza and the great dessert Suzy had made. We saved the pizza for the next day. We put some coconut shrimp in to bake, had it with tomatoes, and then ate the dessert, without blackberries this time, because we had taken all we’d picked and didn’t have time in the dark and rain to pick more. It was made with a yellow cake mix, pouring a sugar pineapple cooked mixture into the cake, and then covering that with Vanilla pudding. Right before we ate it she put on Cool Whip topping, and then poured grated roasted coconut on top. We had taken along some of our blackberries, and we had them on top of the cake. It was very delicious. We also took them one of our Butternut and an Acorn squash. They offered us in trade a spaghetti squash, but neither John nor I are really keen on them, having grown a few many years ago. It’s an interesting concept, however.

Wednesday, Sept 24

Today was a long day starting a little later than yesterday, but consisted of leaving at 11:10, going to town and dropping off two huge butternut squash, the smallest was over 5 lbs, and the other we didn’t weigh, but it was much larger. The idea was to give them to the woman in charge of lunches at the Food Bank to make for lunches for noon. I played and sang there today, with me on the fiddle and our banjo player. We had two folks from the Food Bank (the director, Roger), and Bob, one of the servers and dishwasher loader today, sing with us. Today for lunch, we had quite a spread. The main dish came from Cornerstone pizza, and was LAMB…no joke, and very good. With it, we had a warm pasta with yellow squash, cheese, tomatoes, and some other kind of white cheese, I think. Green salad. A large homemade biscuit, a helping of plum preserves, and some sort of apple cake for dessert.
Answered a few emails, and went with John to help pick blackberries to share with our neighbor. Then I delivered them while he took care of finishing picking some for us. I drove them down the road 3 houses, and carried her the paper and mail, plus the cashews I got for her while at Costco yesterday. Visited with her, her dog and cat, and peeked at her own pineapple plant she started. This is her third time, and it has a little pineapple on it. So cool. She took me back to her computer to see pictures of her previous plant (last in 2008), in all stages of flowering. She will call me to come photograph it when it gets its purple bloom. The following description is from the web: The pineapple is a tropical plant with edible multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries, and the most economically significant plant in the Bromeliaceae family. Pineapples may be cultivated from a crown cutting of the fruit, possibly flowering in 20–24 months and fruiting in the following six months. Pineapple does not ripen significantly post-harvest. Click for a picture of a flower . Her own pictures have more pastel colors and the purple blossoms are lavender. I cannot wait to see the next steps.
We enjoyed a great supper tonight. To the leftover pizza, I added sliced pieces of our own sweet white onions, and some fresh mushrooms we got at Costco yesterday. Ate a handful each of our nice cherry tomatoes we picked this afternoon.

Thursday, Sept 25

Music at Hearthstone. Carried produce for Mary Ann and George, who enjoyed our performance. Got The Old Rugged Cross finished, and got Froggy Went a Courtin’ completed, with correct notes but realized once there, that we still had problems with chords. Tim helped me out and I have checked them out and returned to two people to check who play chords regularly on a banjo, mandolin, and guitar. Fixed up Gotta Travel On, by adding two previously left out chords.
John went along, and read the Wall St. Journal in an adjacent room, and we carried in some produce for several in town, in addition to there at the music venue. We went by the grocery on our way home, picked up one of my meds there, and then drove by the Feed Store for two bags of pelleted feed for our old horse, Ebony, who has made a miraculous recovery, then on to pick up 50# onions. Next to CWU to drop off a bunch of yellow pear and cherry tomatoes in the building where I had an office for 13 years. They are for a pasta salad and the family of the woman entertaining our scholarship luncheon tomorrow.
When we arrived home, there had been a message left at 1:24 p.m. from the Sleep Center, for me to call and get a message from Natalie. I called right away (just after 4:00 p.m.) knowing they would close at 5:00. There is never a live answer there, so I left a message. No phone call was forthcoming. John used the oven for pork ribs with a scattering of onions on top to keep the aluminum foil off the meat. After a couple of hours in a slow oven he added mushrooms and some BBQ sauce. We had some just- picked tomatoes with dinner. Here’s the thing about averages. Put one foot in a bucket of cold water and the other foot in a bucket of hot water. On average, you will feel just right. So, our average 1st frost date is the 2nd or 3rd of September. We haven’t had frost yet and none is expected during the next week – well into October. Compared with tomatoes, the demise of the summer squash seems to have been early but we have had plenty and have given many away. There are still a dozen little yellow ones but they increase in size very slowly now with cooler temperatures.

Friday, Sept 26

Called the Sleep Center this morning, and got the proverbial voice-mail message, so I left another — obviously in a disturbed / frustrated state. I mentioned not having a call returned yesterday before quitting time. I also gave my times at home this morning (only until 11:20 and I would be leaving for town and left my cell phone), because I wanted a response before they close on Fridays at noon. I had a call recorded on my home phone when I got home that had come at 11:29. I was gone (but I had also left my cell phone #). Thankfully, about 11:36, she called my cell.
Backup a moment to earlier today — after I got the message again, I called the direct line to Iona (the sleep specialist scheduler) whom I had to go through for both previous sleep studies. I got her in person (she has an office away from the reception area), and told her my story and she said Natalie would not be back until Monday. I told her I did not want to wait to find out what the message was because I figured it was related to the second overnight test, 9/20. She said she would look on my record and see what she could find. Lo and behold, the interpretation had been done, and Dr. Kumar wanted me to schedule an appointment with a CPAP provider to get fitted. He wants me to start using a CPAP mask to sleep. I asked Iona what some of the parameters from the test were. She did not know, as she didn’t have access to those records. So, I told her I needed to speak with someone right away who could satisfy my concerns. I did not want to wait until Monday to reach Natalie. I wanted to have the figures from the interpretation, my questions and concerns answered, and to visit with the doctor prior to starting the CPAP process of fitting. She said she would notify the front desk.
Back to this morning — on my way to town, now 11:36, I received a call from Justin, (responding to my earlier phone message left on the machine for Natalie). I only knew that because when she introduced herself, I said, “Oh, Iona must have told you I needed to talk about this.” She indicated that message had not made it to her, just my other morning message about wanting to know what the message from Natalie was about. I was driving and talking in my speakerphone; first, I told her I was on my way to town, and could only talk, not take notes. And, she first reiterated that the Dr. said, based on my results, that I needed to go visit the CPAP fitting place before my appointment with him on Oct 7. I told her I did not want to visit anyone (including the doctor) until I had a copy of the interpretation and a copy of the parameters determined, plus the graphs. Then, she said I would have to come down and sign release paperwork to pick up my records. I told her I was 50 miles away and was down Tuesday of this week downstairs to the Yakima Heart Center, and I tried calling ahead to come by and sign any paperwork releases (if needed), to get a copy of my results. I told her that no one ever acknowledged my request.
I had a copy of the June 16 first session, which I got from Dr. Pham. The only reason Dr. Pham had them was my request through Lori before my appointment with him. They had not sent them down and it had been several weeks. My family physician didn’t have a copy either. They seem very protective of the information, which I am entitled to, and which should also go to my cardiologist and my family physician.
This gal’s name is Justin. She was far more professional in explaining things, than most anyone I have spoken to there. After a few minutes talking, she must have decided I was asking intelligent questions and so she said, I can go over the results on the phone. I explained that I was not at a place where I could pull over and take notes yet, but would be in 3 minutes, so to keep talking and answering my other questions, please. She did. I told her my desire to have a hard copy of the results without driving 100 miles and asked if she couldn’t send me the “release” paperwork and let me sign and return it. She said she could and would. I asked her to please get it in today’s mail so I would have time to get it back so they would send the results. (John just picked up the Saturday mail and it is here!). Then I asked if I could request a particular medical supply place to get my CPAP machine or if I had to go with the one I originally checked in June. Now I know more about them and local people’s experiences with providers. I have been highly recommended to Howard’s Medical Supply in Selah, WA. She said yes, they could send a referral to them.
Finally, I got to a place where I could pull into a parking lot and take notes. She provided what she had and then explained further some of the findings. I asked several questions, a couple I already thought I knew the answer to, and I then made some more requests. She told me my pressure setting for the machine would be 8. That is what has to be programmed into the “smart” card on the machine. She also told me I only had 1.9 apnea (paused breathing) / hypopnoea (shallow breathing) events. Of course, that’s with the mask on, so I don’t know how anyone ever gets through the second test without being recommended for a mask. My blood oxygen level this time was mostly in the 90s, with one minute down to 89%. The fact I did not get a good night’s sleep and was not rested by morning makes me question the benefits of wearing a CPAP mask. Perhaps over time and in one’s own bed things improve.
She also said I was asleep only 3 hrs & 14 minutes. My guess of 3.5 hrs was right on.
The other question she could not answer, but said the Dr. could, was my concern IF the pressure was changed (lowered) after I awoke at 2:30 a.m. and never could return to sleep. I know the technician started my pressure low and intended to build it up overnight. She told me she had to keep track of the titration for the results (I guess to get the best pressure to prescribe for me). I asked Justin what the times were on the pressure changes. I assume whenever 2:30 arrived, that the technician did not lower my pressure. I am concerned that contributed to the reason I couldn’t get back to sleep, as well as my uncomfortable positioning. All she could give me was the pressures I experienced over the entire test, without any times associated; they were 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 8. I still have questions about that part of the test. I want to know if I was re-ramped lower when I awoke — and if not, if that’s why I was so uncomfortable the rest of the night. I doubt it was, or at least it was not reported in the list of pressures given over the course of my study. The apparatus may keep people from dying prematurely but the process seems confusing and comfort is low on the priority list.
Then I had one more stop before lunch. It was to the old Lind Hall, where I had an office from 1988 till 1997. Geology and Physics are still housed there, and I was taking 5 historical books and magazines to Nick Zentner. All about Mt. St. Helens and one on the Channeled Scablands. He was thrilled and I was happy to find an appreciative home. From there next door to my Scholarship Luncheon, named for Ruth Harrington, who started them many years ago to raise funds for students. I have been a member of this group since I arrived on campus in 1988. We donate $50 to the scholarship fund, and then we have to fix a meal for ~12 people one month. I’m scheduled to do the October meeting (4th Friday), and then in December, early, we have a potluck. That’s the one they always expect John to come to and make two of his famous Pecan Pies (from his mom’s recipe). He’s been doing it every year since 1988, when he was still in Troy, and I moved over alone for the first year of teaching. I’d go home on weekends, and that is how I brought the pies back over for the luncheon.

Saturday, Sept 27

I started the morning with washing (clothes and dishes), and with doing some emails. About 2:00 p.m., we received nice news from my friend Sonja Willitts with “Tug” a brother to “Daisy” and son of her dog (from our breeding), Kip. She had him in Carson City, NV today for competing in his first Open Dog show event at the Bonanza Kennel Club show. He took a 3-point major today. That’s not all! It is his second major and he now has the 2 majors required for a show championship title, except for getting the rest of the required 15 points. The best news of the day is that he went Best of Winners over all the dogs and 20 bitches for a 5-point major! So, with only a few shows and just over a year-old, he has 8 points (his first 3-pt major was in a previous show from the puppy class, and you have seen that picture below in this blog). I was extremely happy to learn of the news, but enjoyed even more hearing the excitement in Sonja’s voice on her replay of the event. She goes back tomorrow for another show appearance. My fingers are crossed for more points (only get points for a first placement). Later in the afternoon, I had more good Brittany news from Jeri Conklin, the breeder of Tug and Daisy (our co-owned dog). Daisy had won a first place in an Amateur Walking Derby event in Corning, CA. She had an exceptional run, and a couple of birds. She received one field point for that win. Tomorrow, she will be entered in Open Derby and we have our fingers crossed.

We had a nice lunch and John returned to do more tree and brush removal. He has been working on a fuel-laden spot 100 feet or so off the SW corner of the house. Many downed tree limbs are there and a couple of large fallen trees – parts are crunchy like toast. In the middle there is one large Hawthorne and many smaller ones. They are a pain to get out – very hard wood and very sharp thorns.
Source: Janet Pesaturo

He will pick tomatoes today, so we can have enough for him to carry along to lunch on the Franklin Falls trail work again tomorrow. I need to finish this blog so he can finalize it to put out tonight, because he will be gone all day tomorrow. While he was working on the blog, I cleaned the tomatoes and put our dinner on the table. Then our connection went down, but now is back up and he has put the box of tomatoes in his vehicle. Now he can add the photos and the links, and publish tonight.
He has to be up early to leave by 6:50 a.m. for Franklin Falls WTA work day.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

of summer. Yikes!

Sunday, Sept 14

Took 1/2 day to finish and publish last week’s blog because of all the fancy things to describe and picture. John spent much of the rest of the day on yard chores, and I spent time on house chores, and email stuff too. Late afternoon he picked 3 types of tomatoes and some blackberries. I managed cleaning and sugaring them when he brought them in, and we will have on our apple/caramel piece of cake tonight, actually on top of the ice cream on top of the cake. I brought it home from yesterday’s music event. They always encourage us to take some of the leftovers. We are happy to oblige. I gave away my tomatoes I took to two of the musicians and to the lady in charge of the food prep – today she did a superb pulled pork BBQ dish. I was behind on my jobs list email, so processed a few of those. We just finished a dinner of roast chicken with our own corn and tomatoes. Surely is nice having the garden and all John’s hard work is appreciated by us and others we share with. We don’t do canning, but we do freeze a few things.

Monday, Sept 15

Today was catch up day. I managed to pay some bills awaiting, but still have a couple more to do. We picked corn for dinner and feed the horses some shucks along with cut up stalks John gave them. Then he picked tomatoes. We had some of each with BBQ pork ribs (country style, no bones) he had fixed previously.
I took a photo of the prime apple in our almost completely pruned apple tree that John left because of its beauty on a sole limb. We finally harvested it later in the week, and it was scrumptious – except for the bird damage (2 oval hollows). The deer have been waiting near the edge of the orchard each night to eat the leaves off the pruned branches. We have a peach tree but after the peaches got the size of golf balls they froze (we think) and stopped growing. They have been mottled brown and pale green all summer. Now they have softened (ripening just a little) and we pulled some and tossed on the ground. The deer will now eat them and leave the seed. John claims they have no flavor and do not seem sweet. Apples are much preferred but we don’t have many.

Tuesday, Sept 16

Annual physicals for both of us in Cle Elum; mine at 10:15 and John’s at 11:00. By all accounts we are stable and more-or-less healthy. Our doctor is 68 but is not planning, yet, to retire. Still, the clinic – that he helped start and is now part of the local hospital group – could use another 1 or 2 primary care specialists. There is likely to be a shift toward care from middle level trained folks, such as physician assistants and nurses, as a national shortage of regular doctors seems to be in our future. Walk-in care at some places is growing. The Clinic used to have special flu shot days and there would be a line out the door. Now every pharmacy in the area gives flu and other sorts of shots and the clinic no longer even asks about flu shots. Change is good; right?
Back to town for lunch, and on to Rite Aid for a special reopening sale with 2 liter Pepsi products for only 88¢, and no limit. Guess what! We filled the cart. While there, a salesclerk arrived to tell us that through December, we could get 20% off everything in the store by getting our flu shots there. So, while I had had a shot at the doctors visit today, it was a Tetanus (Tdap) /Pertussin, and normally we get a flu shot with our annual physical, but they did not have the vaccine yet in the clinic (part of KVC- our local hospital). Rather strange that they were told there is a shortage, yet all the pharmacies have managed to obtain them. We were able get it at the Rite Aid pharmacy by using our Medicare card. While there, they asked if we wanted a pneumonia or the Tdap (Tetanus I had just had), that includes Whooping Cough protection. We were going to get it for John, but turns out it would cost $41 on our Group Health policy. We skipped and I asked our nurse later if it would cost us to have gotten his with our annual physical, as I did. She checked and he had one in 2013, so is not due even though he is doing outside work that exposes him to the need.
Had to go back to town by myself to play music and deliver some produce. Came home to a dinner by John with a Cajun Jambalaya mix (Louisiana Brand) he bought today in town. It had rice and peppers, onion, and spices. John added our cherry and pear tomatoes and chicken and pork (from last night) – he had found the mix knowing we needed something special to finish off the leftovers. It worked! I cut up two pears (our own) that we had ripened in a bag with a small apple and we each had a full pear with dinner.

Wednesday, Sept 17

Food bank music, and SAIL exercise class. Between I dropped off $8 for 50# of yellow onions from the basin, to be delivered later (we will pick up a few miles from our house, right on the way to town). Gave away tomatoes and Acorn squash today, even delivered a yellow one by a friend’s house on the way to Royal Vista to present pictures of her great granddaughter to my neighbor, who’s in for a fall that bruised her hip and leg badly and dislocated her shoulder. The shoulder is fixed, but the body limb and groin pain remains. While there, I visited with another friend, and at 3:00 p.m., my friend Karen was scheduled for playing her accordion for the residents. She asked me to stay and play along (my fiddle was in the car from my noon engagement). We entertained the residents for an hour, and they truly enjoyed it.

Thursday, Sept 18

Finished 3 music pieces to take to Dry Creek today. Re-did two songs in a different (more sing-able key), and tried The Old Rugged Cross in a different key (G), better for more people, and easier to play than the one we had it in previously. I needed to try out the notes before putting in the rest of the verses. Success! Now I can change for next week and give a copy to everyone for their songbooks. I’m sure we did a lot more today, but it was likely the same ole, same ole. Interestingly, I looked on line to see the history of that saying. It supposedly did not begin as same ole, same ole, meaning the same old thing — doing something you’ve always done; but, in fact, the earliest version mentioned was workmen’s complaints on pay day. Their accents sounded close to that, but actually what they were saying was Same Old, Same Hold, about the money employers held out to pay for “expenses” that the company charged each workman. That reminds me of the history of the coal-mining company town, Carbonado, WA, where the pay was in “company scrip.” It could only be spent in the company-owned store in the town, and only by the employees. The prices were highly inflated, because no competition existed. Country musician, Merle Travis, made a reference to coal scrip in the song, Sixteen Tons, on his Folk Songs of the Hills album.
Chorus: You load sixteen tons and what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
All the words can be found here: Sixteen Tons
I need to find the music score for that and add to our repertoire. It has always been a favorite of mine. This history is very interesting and so here is the link: Ernie Ford
Carbonado was mentioned above. The Story of Carbonado is summarized at the link and John adds a little too. Other small historic towns are mentioned and most are now gone. Many of the old railroad beds have been used for years by hikers and horse riders. Pierce and King Counties now own much of the land and are adding facilities for recreation. I, John, worked on a trail in that area. We wrote about that last fall.
More about Nancy’s connection to an awareness of the company town of Carbonado, WA. Nancy here again with this comment: I served as a major player on a master’s thesis committee (in History) at CWU, after participating as an adviser for a term project in my senior Urban Geography class researched and written by my then student. In subsequent years of my teaching the course, John Streepy made a guest appearance every year to share his knowledge and slides of Carbonado with the class. (He still works in the CWU library, so was available locally.) If anyone is interested in using Inter-Library Loan, a copy of his thesis is available on the 3rd floor, Brooks Library, CWU. See this citation: John Hamilton Streepy. Carbonado: The History of a Coal Mining Town in the Foothills of Mount Rainier, 1880-1937. 1999.

Friday, Sept 19

Busy all day doing paperwork about sleep apnea and never finished. Paid bills and straightened out (I thought) forwarding of my email to nancyh@cwu.edu to come to our nancyh@ellensburg.com account, but it did not refresh and start working overnight. So, come Monday, they will get another call. Tried to pay some bills on line, and that failed too. Computer technology was overwhelmingly a pain today. Our Internet connection has also been sporadic.
Up late washing and drying a huge box of pretty tomatoes for John to carry with him for sharing at lunch on the trail. For 23 ? people, this seemed better than buying donuts for all as he did last week. After our work, John said, They’re pretty as a picture. So guess who ran for her camera !!

At the bottom center (blown up below) is a yellow pear tomato with the stem cap still on it (in the center of the green oval). It is the only one of the yellows to have this. With careful picking almost all of the red ones (Sweet 100) can be picked with the cap intact. Why not the yellow?

Fast jump forward to Saturday afternoon: The box of little tomatoes was a hit at lunch – a few people were inquisitive and envious. About 3:30, back in the parking lot, a couple of wilderness Forest Service rangers stopped by to visit. The WTA crew leader had called the FS to report what appeared to be a Zip Line (aerial ropeslide) over the trail and across the nearby stream. John was transferring tomatoes to empty small cookie bags so he could bring the box home. One of the bags with a dozen tomatoes went up the trail with one of the ladies.

Saturday, Sept 20

At 6:50 AM John needed to head off to Franklin Falls for a WTA trail work trip. Our electricity went off during the night, and I realized it at 5:20 AM as I was returning from the bathroom, so I set a manual kitchen timer for 50 minutes to awake John because I knew his alarm resets when the power flips. Somewhere we still have a wind-up one. So he did get up at about 6:10 as needed. We had him pretty much packed last night, and he heated a Carl’s JR sausage/cheese/egg biscuit from the freezer to eat in the car on his way to Franklin Falls. I finally decided to try to go back to sleep for an hour. Slept from about 7:30 to 9:30. Phew. Guess ’twas needed.
Our “new” microwave is not working correctly. It heated John’s breakfast sandwich, but didn’t do well heating water for my coffee. Odd sounds! I hope we sent in the warranty. It’s less than a year old. John whirled the tray around a few times and it is doing fine at the moment – we reheated pizza tonight with it.
I finished the printout on CPAP and sleep dentists, sleep apnea, and got it ready for my neighbor, who has no computer and wanted to see some information on an Idaho website. He drove up to save me the trip down, and I gave him some tomatoes too. He lives about 100 yards south of us but it is a mile or so by road. He is older and doesn’t walk far. Finally, I finished sending photos I took last week at White Heron to our friends. I managed to wash clothes and pack my suitcase, plus made a chicken salad for lunch.
Tonight, I drive myself to the Yakima Memorial Hospital Sleep Center for my second sleep apnea test, this time wearing the CPAP mask from the start of the test. I hope they will give me a printout of the results when I leave; imagine they will not, and make me wait to go in for an appointment to the sleep doctor.
John made it home at 5:00 p.m. and the dogs were eagerly awaiting his arrival to take them for their exercise.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, Sept 6

We managed to get this blog out (almost midnight) last week, after spending much of the day on it, while John did outside chores. This week it will not likely happen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sunday, Sept 7

I worked on finalizing a special piece of music to take as a potluck special tonight at our music group’s potluck (The Green, Green Grass of Home). John put a pork loin roast (about 9 #) into the oven to take as part of our contribution. He then went outside to find a shady place to work. I helped him cut plums (two types of our homegrown ones) to make a pan of Roasted Plums to take for accompanying the cut pork pieces to be placed individually on plates. I also took a serving dish of pear and cherry tomatoes.
Here is the plum recipe: Preheat oven to 425°. This is for 1.5# of plums. Layer sliced plums in a baking dish. Sprinkle them with a spicy combo (1 tsp each of cinnamon ginger, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, with 1/3 cup brown sugar. Drizzle 1/3 cup lemon juice (concentrate) on top. Toss gently. Cover w/foil, bake 20 minutes. (We actually had 3 times that amount, used a lower temperature, and more minutes).
We had a lot of food and 17 people eating, with 11 musicians jamming afterwards for a couple hours. We brought home leftovers of our pork and plum sauce and froze some.

Monday, Sept 8

Home today; working on various projects. John cut a 15 year old volunteer cherry tree down – such things usually do not have nice fruit, and this was no exception. He cut 3 rounds for setting hot frying pans on and cut the smaller end into firewood length. The rest, about 5 feet, is going to a friend that likes to make inlaid game boards using different woods. Cherry is lighter colored than many other woods and will work for projects of this type. We will deliver the cherry wood in the morning at the Emeritus Geography Professors meeting at the Copper Kettle that starts early this week at 9:00 a.m. John will have blood samples taken shortly after 8 AM, having fasted for 12 hours. Then, he gets to eat – I have coupons for egg/cheese/sausage biscuits. It will be tight. Then we have only two stops before home, but then I have to go back to town for a music thing in the early evening. I will combine that with picking up my free birthday dinner to bring home to share with John for supper. It has to be used before the end of the month, so I must hurry, and only once/month do I go to Ellensburg after 4:00 p.m. (the time after which one can request the dish described below). I was able to pick up 2 dozen donuts for only $3.98 before music at 6:30. They mark down the day’s donuts at 6:00 from the ones that were fresh in the glass counter in the morning. Tonight’s dinner is shown below with leftover pork loin roast, our tomatoes and corn, and our friend’s peaches.

Tuesday, Sept 9

We made it to the hospital for a fasting blood draw for John with a detour several miles out of our way. A moving van was across Wilson Creek Rd, completely blocking both lanes of traffic (he was trying to back into a long rural driveway from a confined space on the 2-lane road). We turned off at a nearby E-W road and went east 1.5 mi. to our own road (where we should have been earlier). We had a wait at the lab w/ 3 folks ahead of John. Then off to Carl’s JR for their sausage/egg/cheese biscuits. By 9:06 we made it to our meeting of retired geographers at the Copper Kettle, with another delay caused by a tractor trailer truck in the drive we need to access to a parking spot. This started as a bad trailer day. After our 2-hour meeting, we delivered the cherry wood. From there to Grocery Outlet for cat food, of which they had none! We bought a couple cans of dog food for our oldest dog, and a Marie Callender’s cherry-almond pie. We had to run a check by the dentist’s office, so we took a box of Early Girl tomatoes to Mark and the staff. Tomorrow I have to deliver more along with some yellow squash.
The rest of our afternoon was spent on projects, until I left for town for another event, but first a stop at Super One, hoping for 2 dozen lower-priced donuts for John to carry along to share with the 16 workers at the trailhead tomorrow morning. I also bought him some nice London broil roast for his sandwich for lunch. We already had Jarlsberg cheese to add. On to Hearthstone for music. I met two friends there and gave them some tomatoes and a just harvested Acorn squash. Left there to go by the Palace Cafe’ to pick up my free birthday dinner, Chicken Alfredo Fettuccine. Their version has tiny mushrooms and thinly sliced zucchini with a decent amount of chicken pieces in a large serving, enough for two. John fried some large mushrooms, sliced, and we added them to the dish. We thought afterwards that we could have spiced it up with pineapple and cashews. Oh well, it was a nice dinner and we even have some leftovers for tomorrow night. It was good getting it gifted and still being able to bring it home and fancy it up some. I know that is not what they wish to happen so I give the waitress a nice tip.

Wednesday, Sept 10

John left at 7:00 a.m. for the Franklin Falls trail – a 70-minute trip. Action starts at 8:30 but early arrivals get to visit (with donuts) – often the assistant crew leaders (ACLs) are apart on the trail and can’t share much info then. I spent 1/2 hour trying to update my SiriusXM Satellite subscription to cancel at the current automatic renewal price of $185.50, for the year. I finally spoke with a gal in the Philippines, and after a lot of hassles, I convinced her I was unwilling to pay the price quoted, for listening only to one station (Bluegrass). From that point, she offered me lower prices, first for $113.13 for a year. I still said no, and she gave me the last available price to keep me on, at 6 months, for $26.06 (includes fees). I knew I could get a coupon from the web for that same offer, but figured I would go ahead and accept from her, and be done with it.
The only hang-up is at 6 months from now (3/10/15) I have to cancel or it will automatically continue for only 3 months at $38.66. I have written myself notes all over to argue again for the coupon rate at that time. If that doesn’t work, then I will cancel and go the other route. By charging me $38.66 every 3 months, the yearly fee is $154.64, which is still better than the $185.50 they wanted me to pay next week. However, if I can keep getting it every 6 months for under $30, I’m happy. Someone that spends a lot of time driving could likely justify the higher fee.

Thursday, Sept 11

Went to Rehab for providing music (today, two of us, the banjo player and I, even stood, played, and waltzed around (individually) as a partner to a sweet old lady with a walker, who also mouths the words as she moves in front of us) – some day I must get someone to video her. She also flirts with the guys in our group, one in particular, who flirts back and who, at the end, tells her he loves her. The residents and staff all love her and applaud each time she gets up. She must have danced 6 songs today. On by Royal Vista for visiting, and continued with all sorts of things to do at home. The most interesting was coming home to find that John had picked a full large wheelbarrow full of squash (Acorn and Butternut).

According to internet garden sites, winter squash do not keep, if frosted, and our forecast was for 34 degrees on Friday morning. The plants had mostly stopped growing and ripening the darn things anyway. Some of the Butternut are still slightly greenish – the one at the top center is one such. They are okay to eat, and we did have one, but long storage is not going to happen – they say. We’ll see. Where the Acorn squash touch the ground they turn orange when ripe. A few were hanging off the ground and so have only green skins – still ripe though. John thinks it odd that folks say to try to pierce the skin with a finger nail to see if it is ripe. If you can, it is not ripe. Then they tell you to try not to scrape or damage the skin because that causes more rapid deterioration during storage. They must have gotten their gardening certificate out of a Cracker Jack box!
The other thing we did today was John cleared a space in the garage to set up his shelves, on which he put all the squash. While cleaning he found some missing items from our past I need to give away. One is a 1986 Norelco Coffee Maker. We never brew coffee anymore, and likely only used this couple times when we had guests for a dinner, long ago. Also found 4 macramé flower pot hangers I must have picked up in a yard sale. Neither one of us has any recollection of them. I had promised one I thought I had that my mom made, with a green ceramic base, to a gal here in town. However, I have never been able to locate it, and still haven’t. Meanwhile, I shall offer her these, for her high-ceilinged house.

Friday, Sept 12

I had planned to get up in the morning and cut John’s hair, but we never made time for it. Instead, I spent time cleaning my car to drive friends over to our favorite winery and vineyard to visit the Chef’s Extravaganza in Trinidad, WA (name comes from a fraudulent land scheme many years ago), a very beautiful spot on a hill overlooking the Columbia River hemmed in by sheer basalt cliffs. There is a recreation area called Crescent bar with condos, houses, golf, and (usually) access to water sports. This year the local economy has been severely affected by the lowering of the water at the Wanapum dam after a crack was found in the structure. All docks north of the dam, particularly at Vantage and north on the Columbia to the next dam (Rock Island) have been left high and dry, with no access for recreationists. There are acres of exposed sediment and as we crossed the I-90 Vantage bridge we looked down on a massive growth of lovely Purple Loosestrife – an invasive plant classed as a noxious weed in the Great State of Washington.
We left the house about 3:15 to go to town to the Feed Store for Ebony’s Equine Senior, and on to pick up our friends. I drove. I can only have small tastes of wine with food, because of heart meds (blood thinner), so become the “designated” driver for such affairs. We arrived about 5:15, and, being early, could drive to the back of the winery where there is a small grassy amphitheater – our friend (Joanie) we took along has knee issues from surgery on both in 5 months. We were there in time for a nice visit, taking pictures of each other, meeting folks, and watching the 3 chefs prepare all sorts of stuff from local products of the Quincy Basin.

Let me give you a small introduction to the annual event, which coincides with Farmer Consumer Awareness Day Weekend in Quincy, WA, during the first part of September each year. White Heron has provided the chef’s extravaganza evening for quite a few years. Much work gathering the ingredients happens by Cameron Fries the 3 days prior to the event. He goes around the basin taking donations of foodstuffs from local farmers. When the chefs arrive, they find piles of local goodies.

They sort through and make various creations. Cameron (the viticulturist, enologist, and owner of White Heron Cellars and Mariposa Vineyard) soaks the dried beans so they can be cooked that evening. That’s the only preparation preceding the evening.
We had Rainbow Trout (from a farm in the basin), prepared 3 different ways by the 3 chefs. One was baked (w/ tomato, onion, peppers), another breaded and fried, and another made a spicy trout chili. One other meat dish provided was BBQ ribs with beans. All chefs had various concoctions of veggies: sliced carrots and jicama (see below **) topped with rock salt; fried/breaded eggplant with Parmesan flakes; HUGE tomato slices (red, yellow, purple, with a slice of mozzarella on top and two types of basil garnishing; cucumbers/onions; a bowl of couscous – a dish made with steamed granules of durum wheat mixed with vegetables; grill-roasted corn-on-the-cob, with shucks and off, cut into small servings; a couple of great mixed salads (one including corn, tomatoes, apples, peppers of all colors and another with zucchini, tomatoes, cheese), all served with clusters of Flame seedless grapes for the sharing at tables. The dessert was my favorite – made with blueberries and others in a little bit of Roussanne wine.
**Jicama is a crispy, sweet, edible tuber that resembles a turnip in physical appearance, although the plants are not related. It has been cultivated in South America for centuries, and the vegetable is quite popular in Mexican cuisine. Jicama’s unique flavor lends itself well to salads, salsas, and vegetable platters. Also known as a yam bean.

We were serenaded by the Massy Ferguson musical group after the beginning courses of the dinner. We were there in time to occupy a table near the chefs, and invited four gals to join us. They were from Kirkland (but she has a condo at Crescent Bar), Seattle, Medford, OR, and another from the west side, but they were sisters, and visiting their 96-year old dad in nearby Quincy, attending this party every year. This weekend celebrates the Quincy Basin Farmer Consumer Awareness Day(s), and on our way home, we could see distant fireworks in Quincy. Some of you remember the huge Honeycrisp apples John would pick up from Double Diamond in Quincy for $10/box. White Heron Cellars and Mariposa Vineyard is very special to us, and that’s where John spends a few days over about 5 weeks volunteering wine-grape pruning. We work up a nice account to be able to have a bottle or two of wine (special with no label), delivered to our table, & presented by the owner of the vineyard and winery. We chose Pinot Noir.
We didn’t get home until almost 10 p.m. and had forgotten to leave any lights on for the dogs, but John fed the horses and cats, and we all went to bed.
National news: it’s a good idea when house hunting or building to have knowledge and an appreciation of coastal geomorphology, along with other such concerns in non-coastal places, such as floodplain prone or other natural forces. This happened at Malibu, CA today.

Saturday, Sept 13

Started with putting in a placeholder for our blog. Now I am creating the text and choice of photos, with John’s help, but I had to leave this afternoon for playing music at Briarwood Retirement Commons, where they feed us afterwards. Our trip to Briarwood was short musicians playing, with only me on the fiddle, Gerald Gordon on guitar, and Joanie Taylor on Viola. Gerald and I led the singing, and the group is very participatory, just as are the residents of Hearthstone and Dry Creek, but the difference is the FOOD they prepare for us (takes the place of supper, a little early). I took along a platter of some of our pear & cherry tomatoes. From the few larger Early Girls I carried, they sliced the largest ones to add to the table of offerings. The main course was awesome BBQ Pulled Pork (exceptionally tender and with a tasty sauce), served with BBQ beans, sliced onions, potato salad, coleslaw with carrots, chips, and the dessert table was loaded, with selections from Caramel Apple Bundt cake, chocolate cake made with Heath English Toffee bits and choc chips, a white frosted lemon cake, molasses cookies, little apple-twisted turnovers, and Bill’s fabulous pineapple- zucchini bread. While he couldn’t’ be there (his day to do afternoon Food Bank Saturday dinner), he sent an extra loaf to John and me as thanks for the zucchini we took to him to make it. What an amazing presentation by a bunch of nice people. They sang along with lyrics I handed out for 18 songs today.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Okay, a wasp?
Anyway, Nancy was busy this week and on Friday we went to White Heron Winery for a harvest festival. We got home about 10 PM. Hoping for a blog post by Sunday, Noon, here in the Pacific Time Zone.

Our day-neutral strawberry plants are still blooming and producing and there are still pollinators. Nancy took this photo on Thursday.