Keeping track

Sunday, Jan 10

For Jan 9 CPAP. Reported figures, 6 hrs 38 min with AHI=0.00 (perfect). Events: 0 H, 0 CSR, 14 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=11 L/min); oximeter on entire time with high SpO2 and normal pulse.

I sent photos to Olivia at the Adult Activities Center (AAC), and she sent back a thank-you, and a note that she had put many of my photos on the Facebook page for the Senior Center.

Here is a link to the page- open to the public – you do not need a Facebook account.
Cut & Paste the following
https://www.facebook.com/Ellensburg-Adult-Activity-Center-284070647576/

If you look at the New Year’s Party ones, most are mine. Look back to Dec 15, and see more of the Christmas celebration. They put on good parties there (free to members), and they have started depending on me to be the photographer at large.

Continuing daily with medical issues. Changed filter in CPAP. I took a bunch of time to contact Medic Alert to update my database with the new AICD, and now we have had group numbers changed on our Group Health card that I need to report to providers. I still need to finish paperwork for dental before I go down Feb 2. Always something.

John made a nice brunch, and then he concocted a neat stew with cheese-infused biscuits on top (used left-overs) for supper.

Monday, Jan 11

For Jan 10 CPAP. Reported figures, 9 hrs 4 min with AHI=0.00. Events: 0 H, 0 CSR, 20 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=17 L/min); oximeter on entire time with high SpO2 and normal pulse.

I sent my meds list to Dr. Tew’s Office in prep for my tooth implant consultation, but I still have more to do with them on my records and referral. I took my Amoxicillin and made it in to Carla at my local Ellensburg dentist’s office for teeth cleaning. Good for another 6 months.

While I was gone today, John started the wood stove. It is beautiful but got too warm in the den, especially overnight; and now he has gotten a better idea of how to control the room heat. Later a ceiling fan will no doubt help in two rooms of our house. We have the fans (modest ones by Hunter) for installation when we get the skylight openings built. Each fan needs a support box built to handle the weight.

For ANY of the pictures below, if you want to see a larger image, right click on the photo and click on “Open image in a new tab.”

Here you can see the new screen we are still fiddling with to use. The andirons now are set to keep Rascal (cat) from going around and getting into the wood stove area. Notice the nice fire – it is real. I have learned how difficult it is to take a photo of a burning fire. The horizontal slots across the stove are outlets for hot air. Intake of air is on the back near the bottom. Small fans pull cooler air in there and John built a louvered passage through the tile and the wall behind. The so called living room is on the other side. The inside top of the firebox contains a catalytic combustor that ignites and burns the “smoke” so that about all that goes up the flue are hot gases and much of that is water vapor. A bit of explanation can be found at this site:
looks like a chunk of honeycomb

I have to send notes every Monday to remind people about where the Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends are performing each week. This week it is at the Meadows Place. I forgot to remind them of our Saturday performance this week at Briarwood, so I will need to send another. Two of our players do not have access to email, so I have to notify them by phone. Last fall we made a nice little poster for people to place near their home calendar. That seems to have been a waste of time.

Tuesday, Jan 12

For Jan 11 CPAP. Reported figures, 2 hrs 43 min with AHI=0.00. Events: only 10 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=9 L/min); oximeter on entire time, 7 hr, 57 m.

I took donuts for Emeriti geographers and went to the meeting where we talked to Jen Stoogle, the director of Hearthstone and another person on the staff there, Mike Probasco. Oddly enough Jen knew me from when I was so ill and in for Physical Therapy at the Rehab facility down the road. We have come a long way since then.

We came back and I drove John’s car to Celia’s for haircut, because as I drove mine out the driveway, I did not like the sounds emanating from the front wheel, at all! Afterwards, I delivered a sweater to a gal down the road from where I had my haircut. I skipped Jazzercise and The Connections. I needed to rest my arm.

John decided to make a red velvet (box) cake to try our new Bundt pan. I helped by washing and greasing/flouring the pan. The activity and result did not please me. The cake was fine – I meant the greasing and flouring part.

John went two days later to buy some non-stick veggie (actually Canola) spray for our next venture. Now, he wants to try the “tunnel of fudge” cake but we are about out of Walnuts – a required ingredient. On the Costco list.

Wednesday, Jan 13

For Jan 12 CPAP. Reported figures, 9 hrs 51 min with AHI=0.91. Events: 9 H, 5 CSR, 2 PP, 16 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=19 L/min); oximeter on entire with high SpO2 and normal pulse.

I called and left a message for my device technician, asking about what might have happening at 11:43 last night and at 2:14 a.m. night before, when I saw the “Latitude” machine transmitter light up and send data from my ICD. Two days later, I found there was nothing out of order.

I called neighbor Kenny about moving piles of snow that John created when moving said snow from around the car and truck and nearby paths. Kenny was kind enough to come back over with his “bobcat” and clear them out. The last couple of little snows have been heavier than those earlier and so don’t push easily with a broom.

No Food Bank or Sail today for me. Instead, I drove my 2014 Subaru to Seth Motors – our long time car place – and John followed in his 2009 one. Because it was making such an awful noise, we realized we needed to have it checked out locally, and not drive it all the way to the dealer in Yakima. That’s a “con” of not having an in-town dealer. Had we gone to the dealer and something needed fixing that required an overnight stay we would have had to come home in one of the demonstrators. Essentially that amounts to a no-charge rental car, filling out and signing paper. Then, there would be the trip back again the next day. The Subaru dealer is 50 miles away, Seth Motors is just 12.

While out, we made a delivery of two bags of clothes and three dresses to a family in town.

More news from our Brittany in CA about her continued field training exploits. Nice to get these photos of her in action. Thanks, Jeri Conklin, for all you do with training and photography. These actually took place on January 12.

Left to right, 1-Missy on point with Daisy honoring; 2-Daisy on point; 3- Daisy watching bird flush; 4-Daisy backing Missy. Daisy’s registered name is Cedaridge Kip’s Camelot Shay Tre’ JH

Thursday, Jan 14

For Jan 13 CPAP. Reported figures, 6 hrs 30 min with AHI=0.46. Events: 1 H, 1 CSR, 2 CA, 2PP, 14 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=15 L/min); oximeter on entire time, 7 hr, 36 m, with an AHI=0.40. Okay, high SpO2 and normal pulse.

We had 7 people show for our performance and a bunch of audience folks with even one from next door at the Rehab. The activities director served us tea cookies that she made. During the event, she brought some to those in the audience. At the end of our playing, she brought us some and offered to give us some to take home.

John took me to the Meadows Place (behind Rehab) and dropped me off at 1:15. We had a call on the home phone answering machine at 1:45 and later on my cell phone, but I was playing music. John went to Bi-Mart and Super 1 and by Seth Motors to check on the car. My car was done, so he came back for me, and we went back. John had talked to Chad at the first stop, and then, we picked it up from Justin. The $99 bill included $89 for labor and the rest tax. As we had suspected, the mechanic found gravel, mud, dirt, rocks in the wheel. He removed the wheel to get to the brakes and cleaned them out. Here is what the work order said:
“Removed R/F tire, removed brake caliper and cleaned rocks and mud from caliper. Removed rocks from bed of tire, Test Drove Good. ”
Somewhere in there is deflating the tire, cleaning and resetting, and re-inflating.

I was certainly happy to drive the now-quieted car home. The trip to town was quite concerning, as the trip up the driveway had been on Monday.

More photos in the mail from Jeri today. Actually, she’s putting them on my timeline so some of you who are my FB friends will have seen these already.

Daisy in training, Jan 14, ’16: 1-3 on point; 4 honoring from a long distance, the entire photo is hidden behind, and the dog she was honoring was buried in the brush and couldn’t be seen anyway.

Friday, Jan 15

For Jan 14 CPAP. Reported figures, 8 hrs 11 min with AHI=0.73. Events: 6 H, 2 CSR, 16 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=18 L/min); oximeter on entire time.

We decided to drive in good weather today to Yakima, for a couple of stops. First place was to spend our $5.00 Walmart gift certificate, obtained from Stewart Subaru via one of their promotions – Win a new car or one of these other great prizes! We used it on cat food. Then on to lunch at Costco, and a trip through there, for $209 worth of purchases. Well, I suppose $13 of that was for a neighbor. Gasoline was only $1.959/gallon, and John’s car only needed 9 gallons. Home by way of Home Depot, but we couldn’t find a really stiff-bristled push broom, and did not have anything else in mind. Might try on line. I did but John has changed his mind (or at least into pause mode) and will make his own push-broom snow mover with a plank of wood.

When we got home, John started the wood stove and we soon had a lovely fire. While waiting for it to get regulated, he started pork & onions in an iron skillet in a slow oven. Thus, a few hours later we had a great dinner with baked Yukon gold potatoes and beets.

Saturday, Jan 16

For Jan 15 CPAP. Reported figures, 4 hrs 34 min with AHI=1.10. Events: 5 H, 1 CSR (3 min), 7 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=19 L/min); oximeter on entire time with high SpO2 and normal pulse. Reduced to 1.06 with SpO2 added.

We watched many deer in the back and then in the front of our house. John has been providing some food for them, mostly by cutting limbs or falling trees for the purpose of thinning as well as feeding the deer. We were both quite surprised at their interest in the needles on the trees. Most is Ponderosa pine branches but he has cut 2 trees out of a closely growing bunch. In addition, John cleared a place of snow where he can throw apple cores or carrot scrapings. His prime feed are the needles on branches. Almost every morning, several are bedded under the back trees, and one faces the house looking at the patio door to beg.

This collage above shows 3 deer, two eating on the branches of needles, and the 3rd next to the post, eating a branch from the dugout snow bowl for apples or carrots. The middle photo shows two larger does nibbling needles, and a smaller darker one doing the same. He is not the smallest we have on our place, but thus far I haven’t gotten a picture of the littlest guy. Finally, the photo on the right has at least 6 deer in it including the one lying behind the pole watching the door. We have seen 11 at one time out back.

Snowing a lot in the morning. Maybe 5 or more inches. Our roads were not plowed, but I made it to town and back, with only a few “oh” remarks. The roads with tracks and snow ridges are scary now after being pulled off into the ditch.

John fixed brunch – fried eggs, sausage patty, and a split Danish pastry (cherry and cream cheese). The latter came from a package via Costco, so there wasn’t much fix’n to do.

I left early so I could take my time driving. The N-S roads were better than the E-W ones, and when I finally got to the Kittitas Hwy, more black pavement was showing. I made it there in time to meet a gal from the BNE site who tried on my boots, and wore them away, happily. They did not fit my feet comfortably. I am happy they have a new home where they can be appreciated. Here were my “ads” on the BNE site:

The boots collage is on the left, and the orange Meow Mix containers will go to a gal who teaches Science Education at CWU, and is a member of the BNE list, as well as the scholarship luncheon group I’m involved with there. When I advertised for free 40 such containers, this gal said, “These would be perfect for an experiment I like to do at science education outreach events with dry ice, water and dish soap. It would be nice to have a set of 20.” I asked her if she could use all 40 in two different rooms, and she said yes, so I will deliver them to her next Friday at our scholarship luncheon. The little containers were given to us, our cats got the food, and the containers move on. Neat?

My music group is working on the song, Four in the Morning. Several of us tried to figure out the song we have to add to our repertoire, once we get it correctly noted and chorded. I carried along my camera to record the sounds so I can try to adjust the music from the incorrect melody we have on the score.

We had a nice small bunch of folks to listen, with 3 fellows in the audience. One of the guys in the audience is married to our flute player, and he attended to help take care of their little girl, Haley, almost 3 yrs old. You can see her in the Christmas week blog. She has boundless energy, and dances in front of us in circles. The audience loves her. They enjoyed themselves and sang along on all the songs. For musicians playing, we had a few guitars (Maury, Manord, Gerald, & Charlie), a tambourine (Anne), a fiddle (me), and a flute (Amy). We played an entire hour. Then they fed us a great soup mostly vegetables but with ham pieces, punch, and a table with sandwiches (chicken salad and egg salad), several wonderful desserts, and a Jello salad with fruit.
I came home by way of The Palace, an old restaurant in town, to pick up John’s Chicken Alfredo dinner free for his birthday. We added mushrooms, cashews, bacon, and chicken to it. Reheated it and put in the broiler with shredded sharp cheddar cheese on top. The dish had nice fettuccine noodles, zucchini slices, mushrooms, and a nice Alfredo sauce. We did not eat the garlic bread that came with it. We have that and leftovers and left over pork to have for dinner tomorrow night.

Sunday, Jan 17

For Jan 16 CPAP. Reported figures,7 hrs 19 min with AHI=0.27. Events: 2 H, 2 CSR, 14 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=7 L/min); oximeter on entire time with high SpO2 and normal pulse.

The graph above shows that something (medication change?) is causing my pulse to go below 50 through the night, and the ICD is kicking in to raise it, with its pacing feature. I need to discuss this with my cardiologist when I see him in March, (or maybe before with his nurse). I think I already mentioned this in the blog, but my new device is pacing at 15% and the old one was only pacing at 9% of the time. Last night was a good night, and it only went below 50 two times.

This morning we have snow again. I started out by spending almost an hour on cleaning the kitchen. Then a bunch of time on my computer to acknowledge our Brittanys accomplishments in California. Yesterday, my co-owned Brittany Daisy’s mom, FC KWK Windswept Guinevere of Camelot JH (aka Ginny) won a 4 point major in an Open All Age event with 18 dogs competing at the Greater Phoenix Brittany Club field trial.

Ginny . . . . . .On point . . . . . . . . . . Daisy

Some of the paths and walkways got cleared before it started snowing again. John lit a fire in the wood stove before leaving, and then came back in to fix brunch. Currently, three deer are eating from the branches in the back, so he won’t go back there now. We just finished following the score on the Seahawks game, and now he’s added wood to the fire and planning to go out and cut some more limbs for the deer out front and make his way to the old red barn to make pine kindling. From the center part of an older tree such stuff is called fat-wood, or other names in some places; pitch wood. Do an image search for – fat-wood. Then you can look here: natural stumps of Ponderosa pine trees

Early, we both were working on our computers and heard a noise I first thought was a cat but it turned out to be a lone doe “bleating” while walking toward out front door; maybe calling for her friends. She is still out front making noises.

Okay.. time to publish this, now that John is back in the house from all the outside chores. I’m not sure what the weather will have in store for Martin Luther King’s day, but at least we do not have to drive to town for any reason. Friends east of the Rockies are going to get very cold weather. Stay warm.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, Jan 3

For Jan 2 CPAP. Reported figures, 4 hrs 35 min with AHI=0.87. Events: 4 H, 0 CSR, 2 PP, 6 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=20 L/min); oximeter on entire time, 8 hr 13 m, with an AHI=0.49. The extra 4.4 hrs were consistent with high SpO2 and normal pulse.

Some larger snowflakes falling this morning. Probably got over 2″ today and the temperature is higher than expected in the 20s. We are to get warmer, upper Mid-West to get colder. Sounds OK.

We spent a lot of time on the blog, and finally got it published, with the story of our car sliding off the road Tuesday evening, and the Raclette on Wednesday. Our photos were still getting scrunched and requiring people to right click and display in a different tab or window, but now that has been fixed. John downloaded the new “2016 Theme” of WordPress and that seemed to correct the problem and put a frame around our blog text, and making the presentation a little larger or at least different. We don’t have the time to go back and take out all the special instructions before the photos, but we can cease worrying about it in the future, so that’s nice.

Need to install my AICD reader/recorder/transmitter tonight before bed. Done, thanks to John’s help. The digital world is hurtling at us. If you are not ready and willing, read a book titled Future Shock.

Monday, Jan 4 ♪♫•*¨*•.¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Happy Birthday, John ♪♫•¸.•*¨*•♫♪

For Jan 3 CPAP. Reported figures, 8 hrs 40 min with AHI=0.69. Events: 6 H, 4 PP, 12 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=14 L/min); oximeter on entire time, with good readings throughout.

John’s fed animals and us, and now is working on Vanguard stuff. Not only does he help me by being a great chef, but also he is my financial guru, not to mention yard work and farm worker, craftsman, and Mr. Fixit, in addition to editing and publishing this blog, for all of which I’m very grateful.
I am working on data, making photo collages, sending birthday wishes, and dealing with Yakima Heart Center personnel (Toni) to be sure my transmitter is doing its job. She verified that it is.

John shoveled the driveway entrance and in front of the mail and paper boxes, and neighbor Doss Roberts came to the rescue with a large snow mover, coming on down our driveway. I took his photo, but will leave it out of this write-up. I’ve put one of our other neighbors below, in a smaller vehicle that fit between two closely situated buildings to remove piles of snow that slide off the metal roof of the shed next to the house.

I was rather useless all day but finally did a load of dishes. John composed a note to birthday well wishers and I think I got all the e-mails collected to send his out. Then I crashed. I still have more to do, but ran out of time. For those who didn’t receive his treatise, here it is below. I don’t want to see it wasted. Check out his sister’s note after reading the following (italicized).

Hi all you birthday well-wishers!

Thanks for the good tidings. I need to write a sort of general, rather than individual (thus a bit longish) note as a response because, well, it is my birthday and I have things to do. Ha!

Several folks mentioned snow. Yes, I know what that is. Best guess is we’ve had maybe 18 inches total. That’s not much for folks in snow country, but we are on the “dry side” of the Cascades. Most has been very fluffy and I used an old push broom to make paths and piles – then shovel it out of the way. Another John mentioned his tractor malfunctioning. My little one did also and I haven’t used it much. Big investment, no return. Maybe in the spring I’ll get some help with it and then move some dirt around.
Anyway, after the accumulating snow began to be a hassle, a good neighbor from up Naneum Road came down and got rid of it. Thanks, Allen. My birthday snow on top of snow from 2 days ago became a hassle quickly. I was out at the road making a path for the mail carrier through the thick stuff the county crew threw that way. A neighbor from the other direction came by with a big Case front-end loader. He cleaned snow away clear to the house. Wow. Thanks, Doss.
I was thus able to concentrate on paths to the hay barn and around the side and back of the house.

I got two gifts from Nancy this week. Through an exchange site called “Buy Nothing Ellensburg,” she wrangled up new-like boots. Heavy duty; waterproof Chinooks – Company name. The second thing is she didn’t bang me over the head with a frying pan for driving her nearly new Subaru Forester into a ditch. Luckily, the ditch was just 4 feet deep and had 3 feet of snow (and mud and water) in it. She’s just had her ICD replaced and the left side near her shoulder has stitches in it, so trying to get her out the driver’s side with the car leaning as it was to her snow/ditch side was not going to happen. Neighbors, Sheriff’s Deputy, and a big tow truck (via AAA) made short work of the little episode. Lots of flashing lights, like a parade. Might have been short work, but the wait was over an hour for Nancy wedged into the passenger door. Thanks, all. Look at our blog for the story with pictures and video. [ rocknponderosa.com ]

I had a free afternoon last week and cut a few limbs off the Ponderosa Pines hanging over the drive. We have a small herd of Mule Deer hanging around and they started munching on the pine needles. Surprised me. So I’ve cut some more. I carried a big limb out toward where the deer were laying; they moved. Then came back within a few minutes. One looked at me and, I think, said thanks. Maybe not. Work and fun, all in one! During the past week, birds cleaned all the red fruit off of the Mountain Ash just outside the front door. Watching them is cheap entertainment. But now what?

A couple of you invited us to visit – better weather, new scenery, activities, and so on. It is not likely that will happen. We are down to one dog and a cat, plus 3 feral cats, and 5 horses. We no longer ride but they are family and look pretty out in the snow. And they have to be fed. There is an inverse relationship between temperature and how much they eat. When it is near zero, as it was last week they eat most of the time. Today it was about 28 and they played and rested a little.

The other thing is that I grew up when family and friends could walk into a plane and help get the traveler seated, meet the pilot and crew, and watch the plane taxi away. Okay, that was a DC3. When we flew from Iowa, the plane was a Fokker 50 – wings on top – that flew to Chicago at about 10,000 feet. Good views from all windows, fun, no hassles. Now planes (and airports) are all hassle, no fun, no views. While Nancy and I really do like all you folks – home calls. Thanks.

Compare me with friend Rebekah. She travels as much as the US Secretary of State. She could likely do a better job than the one we have or the one before that. The position isn’t one we vote for, so run for president, Rebekah – when you are old enough.
Thanks for all your responses.
Well, I’ve likely missed something. That would not be news.
Nancy can add to or edit and we’ll get this off.

From my Irish Grandmother:
“May your heart be light and happy,
May your smile be big and wide,
May your pockets always have
A coin or two inside!”

======== nothing to add, just to perform and get this returned to everyone who emailed, and if I have email addresses, then to those who LIKEd on Facebook.
(Nancy here today 5 days later – and still I have not responded to everyone).

Below was John’s sister, Peggy’s, comment to the above.
Glad to hear you had so many birthday greetings.

I’m also glad Nancy didn’t hit you with the frying pan. But she would have no right to do that. I just heard on the news that an airplane in Spokane skidded off the runway because it hit a snow drift. If the airplane pilots do it, guess you can to.

Tuesday, Jan 5

For Jan 4 CPAP. Reported figures, 7 hrs 31 min with AHI=0.53. Events: 4 H, 2 CSR, 6 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=15 L/min); oximeter on entire time. SpO2 okay.

We both slept in some, and now all outside cats have been fed and the horses, and John has gone outside to resume elective snow removal.

I canceled going to town to Jazzercise today because I’m still not up to par with my left arm, shoulder, and healing incision. It is still bothering me. Not going to town was a good call – now at 2:00 p.m., snow is here. Seems heavy but we are not expecting much.

Our neighbor made some chocolate chip pudding cookies for John’s birthday and delivered them today. Very tasty, after a wonderful tender chicken dinner with mushrooms and pineapple.
John’s continuing to do work on the ice and snow around our place.

John Removing Icicles from Garage Roof on 1/5/16
Click this to see the action.

Wednesday, Jan 6

For Jan 5 CPAP. Reported figures, 7 hrs 56 min with AHI=0.76. Events: 6 H, 4 CSR, 2 PP, 16 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=19 L/min); oximeter on entire time with high SpO2 and normal pulse.

Early morning call from dentist to hear my tooth must be taken completely out–root and all, by an oral surgeon, Darrell Tew, DDS PS in Yakima, at the SunRidge Oral Surgery practice, who specialize in dental implants. Did not start my day well. You can check out their practice and watch a video on implants. Link to Dr. Tew’s site. It is a nice informative site, and I can even fill out a 6-page registration form to send in advance of my first visit (for a consultation). Over the next couple of days, I have to find all the information requested and submit it.

I went to the hospital lab today for a blood draw for my INR, to the Food Bank to play music, where I grabbed some apples and a loaf of bread from the bread room, and on to SAIL exercise at the AAC (Adult Activity Center) – we affectionately still call the Senior Center – going against the word police. When I paid my yearly AAC dues, Tina pointed out there were numerous sixes on my check — and receipt number, and that I should go buy a Powerball ticket. Maybe I should have bought six! Afterwards, I bought 2 Powerball tickets (one for John and one for me, two mega millions, and two lotto). Why not? there were the 6 tickets. Maybe it will keep the Gov from raising taxes if the State earns enough from gambling. Also stopped by Grocery Outlet for buckets of vanilla ice cream – a for-sure winner.

Did all of the above, but failed to make contact with the physician’s nurse about my INR reading. They left a message on the home phone to call them but not what the value was, and when I returned the message at a reasonable hour, no one answered. My cell phone was not called. Oh well. I now have filled out a form to give them the permission to leave such with my hubby or on the telephone recorder.

We’ve been waiting for delivery of our fire wood stove screen, and it is not yet here at dark, but they can still come by, for they claim it will be delivered before 8. So we cannot close the gate yet. The local paper is being delivered after dark now, also. Snow, fog, and dark make for slow going. We got a delayed notice on a Bundt pan, but not on the screen. I think they both were coming UPS, but probably in different shipments. Neither came, and it is almost 10:00 p.m. Our old Bundt pan lost its internal non-stick capability, got put in a bag, and stashed away. John wants to try a few things, including the old-fashioned Tunnel of Fudge Cake, and ordered a new pan. Look out waist line.

Thursday, Jan 7

For Jan 6 CPAP. Reported figures, 8hrs 18 min with AHI=0.12. Events: 1 H, 16 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=17 L/min); oximeter on entire time with high SpO2 and normal pulse.

Finally made contact with my family physician’s office. My INR was 2.2. Whoopee, right on, no more blood drawing until 2/3/16.

Picture of deer eating from back tree, and snow slid off shed roof next to garage John now has to move so it won’t melt and flood the garage. The previous owner could have had the shed built another 10 feet away. Years ago snow from the shed roof made a 5 ft. high mound and then it rained. Water came under the side and onto the floor of the garage. Now there is so much stuff in there we would have a disaster. File that under the heading of Poor Planning. Left of two deer eating from the downed tree John provided for them, as part of his thinning project. Right photo still shows one eating and seven resting under the trees.

This left photo shows the same tree as above, but also branches with needles that John has cut from another tree and put out for the deer. They have almost finished those now. The right pix is of a spike antler our dog Annie found in the snow and brought to John. The Cross mechanical pencil is for scale.

I expected 11 people today coming to Rehab, but all could not make it, and parking spaces were limited because of the snow and people not parking correctly. We were short one guitarist and one singer. It was new music and I didn’t feel I did a very good job of leading off the songs. I think we need to practice a little more on the starts.

I arrived home about 3:30 to find our neighbor Ken helping John by removing snow from between the shed and the house. They had this thing to move cow dung around so John calls it a pooper scooper, Ken calls it a loader, and often it is called a Bobcat™, but this one is from a different company.

This trio shows a before shot I took in the morning before I left for town. The middle is Ken in the vehicle, and the right is John after the majority of the snow has been removed, but he is moving more to the center from the side of the buildings. Ken made one more run to remove the snow. THANKS !!

At 6:32 p.m. our screen for the wood stove arrived a day late and quietly. (I learned of the time it was delivered to the front door an hour after it was put there, from an email from UPS tracking.) We were both in the room by the front door, with the dog, and no noise of TV or radio. Two people must have walked the 2 packages in the front driveway (the gate was open and the drive was cleared of snow). They did not ring the doorbell or knock. We were here with the lights on. Weird. The box says 1-piece, but that wasn’t so. It has come apart but because it isn’t meant to arrive this way, there are no instructions. John determined it was not going to be real easy getting it back together. Thus, a project for tomorrow. He’ll have to clear a flat space on the carpet to work on.

Friday, Jan 8

For Jan 7 CPAP. Reported figures, 7 hrs 1 min with AHI=0.29 . Events: 2 H, 13 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=15 L/min); oximeter on entire time consistent with high SpO2 and normal pulse.

Talked to the oral surgeon’s staff assistant and got on the schedule for my consultation, Feb 2.

Today is New Year’s Party at AAC, and we are taking for the potluck dessert – brownies. It starts at 11:30 a.m. The staff fixes the main meal which was 3 kinds of meatballs: turkey, BBQ beef, and Italian Parmesan beef. Large selection of mixed salads, rolls, and numerous items brought by the folks attending.
I took a bunch of pictures to share with the staff at the AAC, because they were busy entertaining and feeding and organizing games for after eating. They are always grateful for my photography.

AAC Jan. 8, ’16 New Year’s Potluck Party

I took photos and videos; here is the first:
John Talking with Arvin and Pat

And here is Arvin’s Bull Story

Left is the end of the buffet line with desserts. Our contribution was brownies with walnuts and chocolate chips. We are in the center (taken at the end of the event), and the right is the other end of the table with the three kinds of meatballs (turkey, BBQ beef, and Italian ones), rolls, mixed green salads with all sorts of stuff, chips, fruit, and a large selection of different desserts, some acting as salad for me who cannot eat all the things in the large dark green salads.

Saturday, Jan 9

For Jan 8 CPAP. Reported figures, 6 hrs 19 min with AHI=1.27. Events: 8 H, 2 CSR, 5 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=20 L/min); oximeter on entire time. Okay readings.

There is another video I want to share (not mine) but it is for all owl lovers out there, here is one for you:
Watch the Snowy Owl
Be sure not to miss the video and the repeat and slow down at the end.

Just warm enough for water to drip off the roof, then run or freeze. After feeding the horses he cleaned up some ice and snow, and emptied the 5-gallon pails catching water from the roof-valley out front.

I’m working on about 10 different projects, including this blog, which John wants to publish today rather than tomorrow. He has managed to assemble the wood stove screen, which did not arrive in one piece as expected. Then he wrote a not-so-nice review on the Amazon feed back site. It has not been a good week for receiving undamaged shipped items from Amazon.com – via UPS and FedEx and the USPS (nothing arrived damaged from them). In one box of food-stuff, packages moved around, broke the bubble packs, and generated minor damage. It is not serious but enough to discourage me from ordering those sorts of things again.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Dec 28

For Dec 29 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs with AHI=0.72 Events: 5 H, 1 PP, 1 CSR, 12 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=11 L/min). Used the light AirFit 10, bottom tube mask, happily. Lowered to AHI=.56 after CPAP off for added 9 hrs, with good activity the whole time, high SpO2.

Minimal activities today – just the usual things. Thinking of it as resting up for the rest of the week because of activities planned – and unplanned.

Tuesday, Dec 29

For Dec 28 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs with AHI=0.33 Events: 2 H, 2 CSR, 8 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min). Lowered to AHI=.29 after CPAP off for added 1 hr with good activity the whole time, high SpO2.

We drove into Ellensburg and met Carly C at Hal Holmes parking lot at 10:00 a.m., after passing a car in the ditch, already being helped. From her we received (almost new) Chinook Steel Toed Work Boots (her husband did not like them), freely given from the Buy Nothing Ellensburg (BNE) site. Many of the things given via BNE are ordinary items but this is one of those fantastic things that happen. John is hard on boots and he needed something stouter than the “specials” from Bi-Mart or Big-5. So, something for John:

Chinook-Tarantula; BNE view . . . . Now presented on John’s feet.

While in town, we stopped by Super 1 and went to Bi-Mart for a non-stick fry pan, and got an 8″ one on sale for $7.99. The last one I bought John is nice, but a little large for eggs for the two of us. So, it is getting used for other cooking. Our old pan had lost its non-stick character from years of use.

I dropped off empty clean recyclable containers, with tops, at AAC, wished the staff a Happy New Year, and got two pieces of Bundt Blueberry Cake to take home in one of my donated containers. I’ll have to try that trick again, soon. The center is very generous with cookies, cake, and pastries to go with free coffee, and encourage us to take some home.

We left about 12:30 p.m. for Yakima. Got there in time to stop off at the Subaru place we buy our cars, to check our number, on a special mail flyer wanting us to by a new car. Got there at 1:20, found our favorite salesman with a couple doing the final paperwork on a sale, and gave him a hug. Then I answered questions from another guy, and picked up my big winnings (Wal-Mart $5 Gift Card). The potential big prize is a new car – yeah, right.

We made it to YHC just in time at 1:45. John let me off and continued on to Costco to fill my gasoline tank. Last time we were in Yakima for my surgery, 12/18, we drove his car, and paid a nickel/gallon less. I checked myself in with all the paperwork and gave my signature required, for first visiting my device technician, and was given the paperwork to forward me to the cardiologist for my follow-up appointment in the same building. Before I was called in for my first appointment, I met a couple from 7 miles down the road, the man of which plays guitar with me in the music group that travels around town. He had the same heart surgeon as I did 5 years before mine. He also has an implanted device and goes to the same technician.

Soon, I was called by Toni for device check (on the new unit), and to obtain the new wireless reader for the database that is shared about 2:00 a.m. via land line to the Yakima Heart Center staff. It was fine, and showed it was pacing at 15%, up from 9% with the last unit. That means if my pulse goes below 50 while I am sleeping, it boosts it to 50. I need to question my cardiologist if the changed medication of Metoprolol increased dosage (from 50 mg to 75mg) is causing the more frequently occurring slower pulse, or what? While there, I had taken my old Biotronik and wanted her to pull out her examples of the new Boston Scientific that was implanted recently. She did the best she could to find a close match to what I had. Then we took photos to compare. They are close to the same diameter but the new one is thinner. The doctor thinks this new one might last 10 years.
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New thinner Boston Scientific on top. Units compared. I had to turn my old Biotronik upside down to be able to read the print on the side.

From there, across the hall to see a Physician Assistant (PA) for my cardiology update. PAs seem to be the “new thing” and frees up time for the more highly trained doctors. This is my first time with Kari. She was very nice and thorough. Dr. Kim was supposed to be there for consultation, but he had been on call yesterday and was not there today. We discussed all my new meds and questions, she and I visited about various things of my health, she listened to my heart, lungs, and reviewed my labs. She was pleased with several things and with my recorded blood pressures the preceding week taken at different times during the day. She answered my questions about the possible side effects of conflict with a new drug I’ve been on about a month, and noted that my uric acid in my blood had decreased, so that was good. We’ll check it in another couple months – so I will return to see Dr. Kim the end of February or early March.

The implant I got this time is called an AICD on my identification card; “A” meaning automatic, apparently. I mentioned that to my device technician, Toni, who said they still refer to them as ICDs.
The difference between a pacemaker and an ICD

We left Yakima about 4 p.m. and expected to be home about 5. No such luck. The Forester got spooked by something and jumped into a ditch. The overcast sky and fading light did not provide any definition to the hard-packed snow covered road. The right front tire met snow on the road from a plowed driveway and that shifted the momentum ditch-ward. This is a spot just 2 miles from home. There is an intersection with a stop sign, and we were slowing for that. The ditch is about 4 feet deep with only a little water now, but lots of snow. Was a good thing. Waited an hour for a tow. I was in the passenger seat, but my door could not be opened because it was in a snow bank – and we were at a 45° angle.
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This is the view I had. Note the black triangle on the lower left of the left photo. That is the dashboard, leaning, a little less than, a 45° angle. The bright dot in the center is the Stop sign. We stopped. The right photo is taken out the right window and shows the right side mirror with the snow bank behind, which kept me from opening my door. I am not sure I would have wanted to anyway, because I did not have on my boots, but just regular shoes for going to the doctor.

John was able to open his door and climb out, but I couldn’t because there is a console, and the hill was probably too steep even if I could have gotten on the other side of the vehicle (uphill). We did not think it would be a good idea to put any strain on my left shoulder because the recent ICD implant was on that side.

I called our neighbor, Ken, who came and picked up John, and I called AAA who came an hour later, and pulled us out. Ken drove John back home to feed the animals, and I stayed put to answer calls from AAA and talk to people who stopped to help. [At that time, we did not know if the Forester would be drivable, so we wanted another car.] About 6:00, I called John and told him the “tow” was 6 miles away. He drove our other Subaru down. Luckily, it was a clean slide into deep snow, a little water, and some mud. Two body parts come together there on the front right. They separated but popped back into place with a smack from the tow truck driver. I was still in the car. I had John show me and I took photos later. See some on Thursday’s write-up below.

The worst part was the cold wait, and the angle of repose, slammed against the door. Before John left, he handed me two pillows from the backseat that I slipped in between the door and me. Again, tough because my weight and gravity on the slope were working together to make it uncomfortable.

While I was there alone, several people stopped to see if they could help. One guy named Stephen lived on farther east on Rader Road. He stopped once and opened the driver’s door and I turned the key for him to roll it down a little. Otherwise, no one could hear me talking to him or her when someone came up to the car. A neighbor came by and called the Sheriff’s Office and, so, Deputy Ben arrived just before John, who arrived just before Bernie and the truck. Thus, we had 4 vehicles with flashing lights. It looked like a parade. The deputy also set out flares on Naneum at the intersection with Rader.

Subaru Off Road Story of Snow, Ditch, & Removal

If you watch the video above, you will see the majority of the pullout after the tow chain was connected to the front of my car. Also not seen in the video is the need to jump my battery so it would start my car for us to be able to take the car out of park and put into neutral and then drive. I had sat with the emergency flashers going the entire time, and once turned on the engine to blow some heat in. I would occasionally turn on the inside right light when a person stopped and came to the window so they could see there was a person in the rig. When I made the comment to deputy Ben, I had run down the battery, he said cars do not like running from that leaning position. We were surprised that the battery would have run down that fast.

You’ll notice our comments (calm) as we are being pulled out, and I think the noise we heard near the end, once up on the road, was perhaps the time the end of the tow chain shield popped out the front fender. (See that discussion on Thursday below.) Once the car was unhooked, the three fellows checked all around all sides, declared there was no damage, and those were the kind of accidents they liked.

I was now able to get out my door, and walk around to get into the driver’s seat. I drove my car home. John drove his Subaru. We got home, before 7:00 p.m., warmed up, and John fixed a great supper we fast finished.

Wednesday, Dec 30

For Dec 29 CPAP. Reported figures.5 hrs 26 min with AHI=0.35 Events: 2 H, 2 CSR, 18 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=10 L/min). Lowered to AHI=.27 after CPAP off, total 7 h, 24 m with good activity the whole time, high SpO2.

We drove by and took a morning shot of the place of last night’s activities. Thank God, we missed a culvert. John and Ben, the Sheriffs deputy, knew it was there, but I did not until this morning, and had not heard them talking about it. Yikes – that would have caused much damage and probably deployed the inflation of the air bags.
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This collage was taken on Wednesday and Thursday. You can see the culvert in the left hand photo, and our tires footprints from the top of the photo, where you can follow the descent. Looking from the west in the right photo, you can see the place our tires went to end up in the ditch. Our right side tires went over the top of the culvert. [The above left picture was taken as we headed to White Heron Winery for the Raclette, and the right was taken on our way home from the dentist, Thursday morning.] We were extremely lucky!

We left for our trip to White Heron for the Raclette a little before 10:00 so we could take pictures of the accident site. We also carried our favorite Crockpot Chocolate & Peanut Clusters. As well, we took a loaf of sourdough bread cut into serving size for scraping melted cheese over. (95% of the wood is from our place – John took about ½ chord over in the truck last year.)

Raclette 2015 pruners, Dec 30, 2015 – also had one January, 2015 for 2014

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Looking from the bonfire, downhill, over the Mariposa Vineyard, to West Bar and the Columbia River. Middle are our hosts, Phyllis & Cameron Fries owners and workers of White Heron Cellars, and on the right shows the only photo I got this year with the melting cheese over the hot coals, a rectangular piece on a metal holder, with John’s right knee behind, and Cameron in the driver’s seat for scraping the cheese onto plates of food for the participants.

You’ll have to follow the 2014 web page description until I manufacture one for 2015 – to find the descriptions in more detail than are going here. Check the link below:

For Details on 2014 Raclette

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Left shows some of the potluck food brought. Middle is my favorite, Roussanne wine, in a special Wenatchee Wine Country glass. Right are 5 of the pruners, and another there at the Raclette didn’t make it into the picture.

Here are three videos I took during the Raclette:

John, Mark, Tom & Pennsylvania State Liquor Control Laws
In a little over 3 minutes, you will hear an interesting discussion about buying alcoholic beverages in another state. So unlike what many in the west are used to experiencing.

Cameron Reflects on Plutarch’s Lives
In only 1/2 minute, Cameron describes his reading of Plutarch’s Lives written at the beginning of the second century A.D., supposedly a brilliant social history of the ancient world by one of the greatest biographers and moralists of all time.

Followed by another discourse:

Cameron on Plutarch’s 3 Theories of Causes of Meteors

And, clothing preparation for cold weather at Raclettes:
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I wore my new suede boots, given to me from Katie R on the Buy Nothing Site, along with leggings and fluffy socks. I put on wool socks, and I took my last pair of toe warmers, but waited too long to put them in, and my feet were too cold to recover. I could not put my feet close to the fire for long enough to warm them, because the rubber sole starting smoking. The right photo shows me trying, and my leg has gray gaiter on it, which Lynne (a pruner’s wife) knitted for me. She also repaired a couple of holes in a favorite blue alpine-design sweater I bought in Denmark from Iceland in 1965. I got it back from her and put in my cedar chest drawer in a chifferobe, and totally spaced on wearing it this year. I WILL wear it for the next Raclette.

My friend Lynne also had extremely cold feet. She brought a hat (with a hole in it) back to me without the hole that she repaired, after I gave it to her when we were there in September. I wore it most of the afternoon, after trying on and modeling a furry hat with ear flaps, given to me by Marla F on the Buy Nothing Ellensburg site. I took it along in case the wind was blowing in the cold temperatures. It was not, so I didn’t keep it on the entire time. I could have tied the ear flaps up and worn as a hat but it wouldn’t cover my ears as the other, unless the flaps were down, and without a wind, it was too much hat with which to contend.
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I came home and got on Amazon.com to investigate foot warmers. I found a complete insole to cover the ball and heel of my foot. I bought enough pairs (at a 5% discount), to use myself next year and to share with Lynne, who expressed an interest in the toe warmers. I will have enough for others there, if someone needs it. We will start early. I will put mine in at home, and they have a long lasting time (9 hours) that goes beyond our Raclette. I think we were there for five hours. When spring comes, and John sees Tom, I’ll send along a pair for Lynne to have ready to put on ahead of the Raclette.

Thursday, Dec 31

For Dec 30 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 22 min with AHI=0.14. Events: 1 H, 0 CSR, 26 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=15 L/min). AHI=.12 after CPAP off for added 1 h, 10 m with good activity the whole time, high SpO2.

I got up early to take Amoxicillin an hour before dental work. We left and got there right at 9:00 a. m., and John left to go shopping at the grocery on the south side of town. I had to wait for two people ahead of me. My tooth was re-glued in. Unfortunately, there was very little to connect to, and my dentist found some decay in the root and is hoping it is not down to the bone. For now, he put the old gold tooth back on temporarily, and he will have to rebuild the structure and create a new crown. He took an X-ray and a picture – needed for the insurance company, I guess. I go back Jan 25 for 1 hr 20 minutes for a more complete assessment of the required solution. There was no charge for the repair work today.

After leaving there, I had John take me around the block, south, to drop of a bag of knitted hats (we have “stuff”) to be delivered Saturday to the homeless in Yakima.

Once home, John pulled my Subaru that went in the ditch out of the shed. Luckily, it started right up. He drove it ~10 miles to check it out, and then parked in the driveway to show me all the things I wanted to see. I took several photos, but below is a summary collage.
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Far left is the right side rear, showing lots of mud and snow, and no apparent gouges or scratches. Middle is the passenger side mirror and front door and part of the windshield. Right is John’s hand on the line where 2 panels join. The lower one coming around under the lights came out from the one where his palm is. These go together in the manner of assembling something, as in “put tabs A into slots B, and press together.” That was done and the tow truck driver smacked it with his hand. We did not find any dents or scratches but need to get the snow, ice, and mud off and have a serious look. Goodness, we were fortunate.

At home, I found a note on Facebook from the person that got firewood about 2 weeks ago from us. That was on Dec. 19 and it has been cold ever since then. She has a Ford Expedition (picture then, in the blog). Her kids have to be in the back seat (in car-seats) so we can’t lower those and fill the thing. She needs another load, so John has taken the old pickup, through the snow, to a pile and is loading some so it can quickly be transferred when she comes.

Friday, Jan 1, 2016

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Happy NEW Year !! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For Dec 31 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 33 min with AHI=0.15. Events: 1 H, 0 CSR, 9 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=14 L/min). No extra oximeter.

I do not know what I accomplished today. Felt as if I just was spinning my wheels all day. About 1 p.m., John and Jess transferred firewood into her car from the back of of our old truck. He made sure the horses had water and lots of hay. Then on the computer he determined the Chinook boots that were given to him were actually the waterproofed version. He got on line at the company site and found them. The first he found had yellow lining and highlights, but these were blue. As he checked further, he found that the blue indicated they were waterproofed, whereas the yellow were not.

I worked on dishes, and John cooked two nice meals, brunch, and a pork roast dinner with carrots and mushrooms.

We did not get a lot of sleep last night, so may get to bed a little sooner, I hope. Didn’t work. Still 11:00 p.m. bedtime.

Saturday, Jan 2

For Jan 1 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 15 min with AHI=0.55 Events: 4 H, 15 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=15 L/min); oximeter on an extra 2 hrs 10m. Good activity the whole time, high SpO2 without CPAP on. The H events were right before waking up from a weird dream at 6:30. Quiet night otherwise.

Lightly fluttering of tiny snowflakes (not much moisture in the air, so it was more like frozen frost particles), and it has been ~15° since midnight. We slept, with potty breaks, for 9 hrs.

John fed animals and cooked a brunch of omelet, home-fried potatoes, and ham. For supper, John fixed leftover heated pork roast mixture, he poured his over potatoes, and I had mine over two little pieces of the sourdough bread, toasted. I cleaned dishes and he fed another cat that showed up. So two ferals have had food, in addition to Rascal, the inside/outside cat.

Rascal noticed something on top of the wood stove (unlit) and jumped up and sat there awhile looking at something. We’ve been meaning to get a stove guard so the cat prompted John to act. He measured across the alcove and searched for a guard “fence-like grate” to reach from side to side. Most such things sold are about 50 inches and we need over 80. He found one: UniFlame 3 Fold Oversize Stove Screen, for $75 – due to arrive next Wednesday. It is not fancy, nor overly expensive. But, wow. Check out ‘wood stove screens’ and see how much you can spend on one. Fire-place screens are not the same.

Sunday, Jan 3

From a temperature of near zero at Midnight we have had higher altitude air move in from the south and things have warmed up to 20 or so. This flow has more moisture in it than what we had been getting and most is sliding up over the cold air. So, it is snowing! About 2 inches, so far.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

For Dec 20 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 17 min with AHI=1.27 Events: 8 H, 23 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=20 L/min). Top tube, from left across body to right top of pillow. Lowered to AHI=.83 after CPAP off, for 3h, 20m and good activity the whole time, high SpO2 without CPAP on.

Snowing hard since early, canceled trip to Costco. Maybe tomorrow. We ended up with a foot of snow, maybe more.

John moved snow. It was heavy wet snow, not easily brushed. So, he shoveled, and then later he fixed his broken push broom.

John made these images to show the crack in the left photo to compare with the fixed handle displayed in the right photo. When new the broom was fitted with a handle, now replaced with a metal one – slightly smaller. With the new crack, the pipe did not stay fitted into the attachment. Now there is duct tape on the pipe to increase the diameter and 2 screw clamps to snug all things together. On the right side image, note the green line in the upper-right corner. When new, the yellow bristles were about 4 inches long. They seem not to be as hardy as the black ones.

I spent the day on the computer and washing dishes, and we have filled the sinks again.

I was able to resume my aspirin tonight, which, along with Coumadin was suppressed for the surgery. The Coumadin resumed the night of the surgery.

The water trough heater issue is not resolved. More discussion of help from friends below (on Wednesday), but the situation is still a problem, and John has carried hot water and broken morning ice every day.

Tuesday, Dec 22

For Dec 21 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 19 min with AHI=0.94 Events: 5 H, 0 CSR, 67 Pressure Pulses (PP)!, 4 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=17 L/min). Used the light AirFit bottom tube mask, happily for a quiet night. Oximeter on for 4 additional hrs. I am not sure what a Pressure Pulse is, and why so many or with what they occurred in conjunction. Those are not graphed on my computer graph reviews, as all the others, plus more not listed above.

Awoke to beautiful blue skies and not snowing, but nice snow scenes for a White Christmas, early, and for our trip to Yakima.
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Left is out our back patio window, top right is of the snow-capped hills south of town, we viewed on our trip to Yakima (a couple more scenes below), and the bottom right is Woody on her cable table, waiting for her morning feeding. She climbs up a slanting pallet to come over the fence into the front yard, and John keeps the table top and the stairs cleaned. When it is raining or snowing, he feeds her under his car (close) or in the shed (nearby) where the Forester gets parked.

Early morning call from Williams Florist delivery person. They had a floral arrangement from Erik & Andrea Bestrom they wanted to deliver, or know if we would be in town today. I told them definitely not to try to deliver as we had had at least a foot of snow, and we would come pick it up later.

Left is the flower arrangement before the lilies showed from buds; card attached. Erik was my student at CWU. What a nice surprise! We have enjoyed them over the entire week, and they are still nice on Sunday, as we finish this blog.

We left for Yakima, and here are some parting shots from the valley…

The clouds (left) are arriving from the southwest and we were soon under them. The picture on the right above is of a snow/ice covered self-propelled irrigation line that moves across a field (not a pivot). Some readers might remember from our 2012 annual greetings the story of the export hay grown in our valley and sent worldwide.

We went in John’s car to Yakima. When we left, the gauge indicated he had 70 miles before he would run out of gas. The county roads were snow covered the first 15 miles in the valley but fine when we got on I-82. We filled up his car for $2.099/ gallon at Costco [Ellensburg’s best price is $2.219].

We bought $315 worth of groceries. I was in good shape for walking but not for resting my arm to keep from the weight pulling on my incision’s sutures. As we walked, I held my left arm up by the cuff, providing support like a sling. When we would stop moving, while John searched for something, I’d prop my left arm up on the handle of the cart. The place was like a disturbed ant hill. Finally, with two items left to buy, and huge lines at all of the cashier stations, I decided to sit down to wait, and prop my arm from the hanging pressure. I picked a table at the end of the row where I could watch for John, and decided with the long lines for food service, I would wait until he came through the cashier. When John arrived the lines for food were still long so we just drove north without having any lunch. We had stops to make in EBRG.

At Costco waiting, I chose a table with an older couple. She was leaving to shop and he was going to wait. So we got into a conversation. He asked if I was from Yakima, I said I was from Ellensburg, and where was he from? He said, Prosser. I laughed and said, “Isn’t the Costco in the Tri Cities closer to you than here?” He said, “Yes, it certainly is, but I’m here because of a doctor’s appointment this morning.” I questioningly asked, “Yakima Heart Center?” He seemed surprised and said, “Yes.” Then I asked who his doctor was. “Dr. Pham,” he said. I laughed saying, “That is the doctor who just was my surgeon last Friday morning.” I asked if he was going to have a defibrillator implanted, and he said, “No, they are going to try to regulate my atrial defibrillation with medication.” We got into more discussion about that, because I told him I had been on Amiodarone successfully for that since 2010. They had tried it with him and he experienced all the bad side effects, which I have been spared, thankfully. John showed up in about 20 minutes, I introduced them, because by then I had found out he was a research scientist (retired) from the Prosser Irrigated Agricultural Experiment Station, and we knew some of the same people from our past. It’s a small world, after all.

We came back via Ellensburg, by Super One pharmacy for Nancy’s meds, went on by Grocery Outlet for ice cream, sharp cheddar, and 2 candy bars (our lunch). Our last stop in town was at the florist for the flowers pictured above. The flower shop has moved twice since we arrived in the area, so it wasn’t where I expected it nor where John had seen it many years ago. We don’t get out much, and seldom for flowers!

Good conversation when home with my cardiologist’s nurse, who gave me the good results of my lab tests ahead of finding out this coming Tuesday, and she was happy to hear I had successfully come through the surgery.

Wednesday, Dec 23

For Dec 22 CPAP. Reported figures. 8 hrs 26 min with AHI=0.95 Events: 6 H, 5 CSR, 1 OA, 2 PP, 15 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=18 L/min); oximeter on no extra time but good activity the whole time.

Awoke to a couple added inches, sunny, now overcast.

John shoveled, fed two outside cats, the horses, and sadly found the new horse trough heater is not working. Not sure what’s the problem. The outside socket in the ground fault electrical outlet will run a drill and supports a nightlight to test the reset button. He might have to move over to the barn (and he’s unhappy about that). He’ll work today, while I’m gone to town – fiddling.

So, with the water trough heater issue not resolved John wrote the issue in an e-mail and asked a friend to pass it along to a sister, an electrician. We could have called but don’t have her e-mail. Suzy’s hubby, Bob, called with ideas. Now, Suzy (from west of Yakima) will be visiting family nearby us on Christmas Day so Bob is sending along a portable ground fault interrupter, and John will go over to the family’s Fox Road home to pick it up. The shed has several outlets not wired for tank heaters and this will allow testing the setup from a different outlet.

I finished assembling the group’s music for Jan/Feb for those who cannot print it. Next time we meet is the first Thursday in January, at the Rehab where I was.

I’ll leave in an hour for a blood draw check on my INR to see if it has returned to normal. Then, will head on over to the Food Bank to set up chairs. because our normal helper is on the west side spending Christmas with grandkids. I got to the food bank early because I left extra time for the hospital visit that went smoothly. I checked the bread room and found some Rosemary Olive Oil bread for us and some bananas.

Evelyn and I were joined by 4 singers, some of whom were singing with us earlier in December. I just received that picture today, so will add it to the collage with the two of us.

Evelyn & I, 12-23-15 Peggy, Bob, Lowell, Kyle, Evelyn, and Nancy, earlier.

From there, Evelyn and I went on to Hearthstone, where we had a huge audience turnout and 12 members of our group to entertain the troops. Unfortunately, I forgot to hand my camera to one of the staff to take our photo, so the only one I have is below, taken on her phone by the mom of this cute little girl, Haley (not yet 3 yrs old). Her mom plays flute with us. They had made Christmas cookies for each of the players, and Haley delighted in handing them out. Mine was fashioned as a brightly decorated Christmas tree complete with a top star and a holder at the bottom. Every one was different. Candy canes, etc. I didn’t see them all.

Nancy and Haley at Hearthstone, 12/23/15 her homemade Christmas cookie

The hat I’m wearing in today’s photos was given to me by my good friend, since 6th grade. She (another Nancy) is in Michigan. We played violin together through elementary and high school orchestras, and we performed around town at various functions singing as a duo, with guitars. I continued with guitars until the 1990s, when I resurrected my rusty fiddle talents with lessons from Bobbie Pearce at the Washington Old Time Fiddlers summer camps for 22 years. Last time was in 2014 when it was moved from Kittitas, WA to Moses Lake, WA. I did not attend this year, and neither did Bobbie and her daughter, Katrina, also a teacher.

I heard from my family physician’s office that my INR was still low (1.8) so that means it has not yet regained, so I jokingly said, “Good. I will feel comfortable drinking wine next Wednesday at a dinner I’m going to attend.” That will be our annual Raclette at White Heron’s Mariposa Vineyard, for grapevine pruners, and in thankfulness for grapes and wine – proof that God loves us.

Our mail was not there until after dark. We don’t know when it arrived.

Thursday, Dec 24

For Dec 23 CPAP. Reported figures. 5hrs 1 min with AHI=0.20 Events: 2 H, 0 CSR, 1 PP, 5 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min); with AirFit 10, very quiet night. Oximeter on the whole 9 hr 10m, with final AHI=0.18.

John brought in the mail from yesterday, and it was filled with more surprises. The biggest was a package from a former student who has always called me “mom.” That’s more common with foreign students from my past. This fellow is from Sudan. He is married now with a little girl. He planned to come over to visit on Christmas Day, but I thanked him and convinced him not to drive the pass in the winter. Below, you’ll see below the wisdom of my comment.

Meanwhile, before that, is a collage of the gift and us:

This was his note with the ornament, which I did not put anything beside it to measure the scale. The apple measures 2.5×3 inches. The picture on the right was taken in 2010 at my CWU retirement party. I was still recuperating and not 100%. Visits and gifts are not unusual for him. He visited me several times from the west side while I was incarcerated in the rehab here for 7 weeks. Every visit he brought something special. His tastes in candy match mine. Mostly, I was appreciative of the concern he showed. Later, he visited John and me with his new wife. We do feel he is part of our family.

Below are the reasons I asked him not to come this Christmas:

RESTRICTIONS EASTBOUND:
Pass Closed
RESTRICTIONS WESTBOUND:
Pass Closed
CONDITIONS:
I-90 will remain closed today from North Bend to Ellensburg due to heavy snow fall, trees leaning over the roadway, and high avalanche danger on Snoqualmie Pass. WSDOT crews worked throughout the night performing avalanche control work as well as clearing the roadway of snow, spin-outs, and collisions. The roadway is expected to remain closed today and conditions will be evaluated this evening to determine when the pass can be reopened.

We kept up with the situation via the following link
Tells me about WA roads

and recommended it to others who had family traveling. We decline any reason to go across Snoqualmie Pass in the winter. The railroads dug tunnels to solve this problem. The Great Northern RR first dug a short one. It was too high on the mountain so they dug another one. Link:

Great Northern at Stevens Pass

Nearly everyone drives too fast and snow and ice just makes accidents a sure thing. The Westbound I-90 was opened at 7:00 p.m. Christmas Eve, and Eastbound I-90 wasn’t opened until 1:15 a.m. Christmas Day.

Our driveway was plowed by a neighbor using a farm tractor. John noticed overhanging limbs brushing the cab. Removing these was on the “to do” list for fall but somehow they are still there. John is out getting the most bothersome of them now. I’m working in the house. Later he cut some other branches and dropped a medium sized Cottonwood tree – giving the resident mule deer a source of buds for meals over the holidays. Next summer the tree can be cut for firewood.

Above John is cutting evergreen branches and tossing them into the old truck. The bottom right shows much of my view from my recliner out the new patio door (with built-in) blinds. The blinds side shows our inside/outside cat, Rascal, who had jumped to the “drain” roof and was coming back down to the dry patio beneath. The right door shows the large Ponderosa pine out back beyond our heat pump. The roofed structure behind the cat covers near-house firewood. Finally, the upper right is a split Danish we shared for an afternoon break. Since then, I have only eaten 1/2 because they are so large. That is a wide bowl it’s in, however, not a complete dinner plate.

Here’s an historical look (John found and passed along to his relatives), for a look at Christmas eve temps for 1955 stations in the United States. [BIG — USA map loads slowly]

View temperature map

Check this map.

In 1955, three fourths of the country was over 60 degrees, and Ashland, Kansas, Geary, Oklahoma, and Encinal, Texas were all over 90 degrees.

In Irving Berlin’s 1954 musical “White Christmas” – the story line was 70 degrees in New Hampshire on Christmas eve and no snow. That was why they were “Dreaming of a White Christmas.”

Well, we’ve got a foot and 50 miles west they have 12+ feet (it is still snowing there). The WA-DOT was encouraging folks NOT to travel with the roads the way they were and snow in the forecast. Eventually they had to adjust that message.
Cascade Mountain roads are closed.

Merry Christmas eve.

Friday, Dec 25 Merry Christmas !!

For Dec 24 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 41 min with AHI=0.18 Events: 1 H, 14 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min); oximeter on whole time, 8 hr 36 m, AHI=0.12, good activity with high SpO2 without CPAP on.

Wishing you ALL: Merry Christmas, and a Happy HEALTHY New Year.

I chewed out a gold crown last night eating nothing sticky. It’s a clean pop-out. No blood and no rough edges. Just lifted right off. I plan to chew on my right side for awhile until I can get a temporary put on. And, then we have to assess the replacement. Some people take “selfies” with the President and celebrities. Not me – I want something golden. Look at this:

My dentist’s office is only open M-T-W and I don’t know their holiday schedule. I’m tied up this week on Tuesday and Wednesday, and really don’t wish to have it done before I go for my surgery check up. I suppose if there is no need to break the skin, and a temporary can just be glued in, I’m okay.

It left a little indentation with the base of the cement base (I suppose). The gold crown on the right looks like stainless steel, but that is the camera capture. It is very gold.

We called cousin Ethel today about 1:45 p.m. in PA at her daughter’s house for Christmas lunch, first talking to Pat to wish her a happy birthday. They had roast beef, as we will tonight late. We had a large brunch today—blueberry pancake, sausage, egg, hash browns, and a Banana half.

For the first time in 38 years, there will be a full moon on Christmas Day. The moon’s peak will occur on Dec. 25 at 6:11 a.m. EST. This month’s full moon, the last of the year, is called the “full cold moon” because it occurs during the beginning of winter. This won’t happen again until 2034.

I tried taking a photo and failed, so I will post a collage with my failure backing some better ones from friends in WA and CA.

Above left with her copyright on the horse, is Jessie Walling’s photograph in Ellensburg, WA. The small one upper center is taken in EBRG too, by Glenn Engels (both are my former students). Mine is below Glenn’s and was taken at 6:02 a.m., 12/26. The two on the right were taken in Lancaster, CA by my friend, Jeri Conklin. She is the co-owner of my last Brittany female left to carry on our Cedaridge Brittany lines. You’ll the dog below in a collage with her relatives. She will be wearing reindeer antlers.

Another thing happened today that started back in November. I saw a note on Facebook, on the Community Connect, Kittitas County group site, that a woman was asking for items to put in five baskets she was assembling to give to people in the community who give of their time to help others.

We still had many of the Honeycrisp Apples we picked from the Eberhart orchard, and I asked if that would be something she might like to include. Yes, she would be delighted. So, I carried a box with more than two dozen apples. At the time I gave them, I didn’t realize the delivery date would be Christmas Day! I’m not sure I would have expected them to stay fresh and not brown inside for that long. However, she posted pictures and names of the recipients today. Nice, yes?

It’s cold here.

Christmas with Cedaridge Brittanys in southern CA, CA near NV, and WA.

Left is miss Daisy in Lancaster, CA. Top from S. Lake Tahoe, CA is her father, Kip, our dog from a 2005 breeding here, sleeping with Cheese, and below is Annie with firewood, his full sister, born in 2007. Annie and Kip’s mom, Shay, looked so much alike, it could just as easily be her in the photo in Ellensburg, WA, 12-17-15. Both parents died this year, after good long lives of 15 years.

Saturday, Dec 26

For Dec 25 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 37 min with AHI=0.00 Events: none 12 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=9 L/min); oximeter on an extra 2 hrs 10m. Good activity the whole time, high SpO2 without CPAP on. I wore the bottom tubed, AirFit10 mask.

It was cold this morning, but not snowing. Talked with my Aunt Marise (will be 85 in Jan), and lives alone in Guyton, GA, where the temperature was 80° today and they were in shorts. Started the conversation with my cousin Susan Sykes, up from Tampa, FL with hubby John to visit her mom.

I spent a lot of time on kitchen cleanup, the computer, and photographs, but need to get to work on this blog.

I was hoping to be done sooner so I could really tackle the boxes in front of the new wood stove before John removes them so he can start a fire in it. Now he has to worry with the problems with the horse trough heater, so I hope he’ll give me a little leeway.

John also cleaned our furnace air filters because 30 days had passed since the last time.

I photographed some icicles and the Mt. Ash tree out front.

Mountain Ash tree berries, birds partaking, icicles forming to watch.

All three cats showed up for dinner. Sue has been gone for over a week, at least, apparently not liking to travel (where?) in the snow. Once the ferals are away, we have no idea their location.

Sunday, Dec 27

For Dec 26 CPAP. Reported figures, 4 hrs 30 min with AHI=5.60 (worst ever). I have absolutely NO clue why the poor reading. Events: 22 H, 1 OA, 6 CSR, 2 PP, 9 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min); oximeter on entire time, 7 hr, 59m, with an AHI=2.88. The extra 3.5 hrs were consistent with high SpO2, and normal pulse.

Awoke to a little snow, 1.5 inches. John fed and watered the horses, fed the two outside cats, came in, fixed a nice breakfast, and moved our WiFi router from a back room into the den where we are with the hope of providing a better signal for his computer. Its a bit soon to know if this helps. My laptop seems to generally do better than his big box with antennae on the back.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, Dec 13

For Dec 12 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 50 min with AHI=3.60 Events: 21 H, 13 CSR, 13 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=20 L/min); oximeter NOT on an extra 3 hrs. I had on my older P-10 Air Fit. No clue what’s going on with the high AHI. Maybe was just congestion.

Nice dry sunny day, blue skies, and John stayed out to move the logs out of the pasture so the horses don’t tangle with them when they are snow covered. These are trees John felled to make way for the new driveway to access the back of our house with large equipment if needed (e.g., fire trucks) that cannot turn around in front of the house where we park. First use was the delivery of a load of fire-killed pines from just north of us.

I have continued working on updating our annual greetings list. I am finding an advantage for Facebook in this endeavor to contact people who have changed their email addresses from what we had previously. I finally managed at the end of today to notify all our email correspondents of the change in our computer domain.

Kitchen clean-up and then switching to den clean-up interspersing with computer work. Never really completed the needed den work.

I think we have agreed on Dec 30 for our annual Raclette this year at White Heron Cellars, in the Mariposa Vineyard, to thank the volunteer wine grapevine pruning crew. Now we can hope for decent weather. That is a Wednesday so I will have to miss my play date at the Food Bank that week and SAIL exercise.

Monday, Dec 14

For Dec 13 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 7 min with AHI=0.28 Events: 2 H, 2 CSR, 22 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=12 L/min); oximeter on an extra hr. with a lowered AHI and good activity the whole time, high SpO2. Top tube, from left to back of head, top of pillow.

Two horses trimmed, garbage bag of clothes packed to take tomorrow night to a family. Sunny outside, but <40° -- yet at John's brother's in CA it is 50°, and at his sister's in Cleveland, it is 60°! I sent out music to our group for January & February play dates around town, and made an announcement for this week to get a chair count. Today was pretty much a lost day for getting much accomplished.

Tuesday, Dec 15

For Dec 14 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 14 min with AHI=3.60 Events: 26 H, 13 CSR, 16 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=20 L/min). Bad night, no clue.

Up very early for me. Finished some music things; need to do more. I’m finishing a letter of recommendation for a student who took two classes in 2004 and wants to go to graduate school at the Univ. of Idaho, in the College of Natural Resources.

John found our heater for the horses’ water trough is not working. He is on line to find a replacement.

I have to shower and run music and clean up the stuff in den and go play music at rehab tonight. I did, and succeeded making it home in the snow, to a nice dinner John had prepared. It was Copper River salmon from Alaska.

Wednesday, Dec 16

For Dec 12 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 54 min with AHI=1.26 Events: 10 H, 4 CSR, 24 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=19 L/min); oximeter on an extra hr. with lowered AHI and good activity the whole time, high SpO2.

All the message for Wednesday disappeared, so I’m adding a little something here. Wednesdays always are the day I go to play music at the Food Bank, arriving at 11:30. Today was different, because I had to be at the hospital for a blood draw prior to noon, so the tests could be run for my INR and submitted to the surgeon for consideration of my dosage change of Coumadin prior to coming in the day of the surgery. Coumadin is a blood thinner, so it must be changed when they are cutting into my body. I went earlier than I needed, and it was a good thing, because just as I walked in the front door, the fire alarm was blaring, and I along with everyone in the lobby was asked to leave the building. We were out for maybe 5 minutes and had to stop people from entering. Never did know the cause, but I was told it was NOT a fire drill.

I checked in and proceeded back to the lab. I was told it would be 12 minutes at least before they could draw my blood. My blood was being drawn for 3 different doctors. Finally, I went in and it was done, but not before the fire alarm went off again. I left and drove to the Food Bank.

I was there early, but I checked the bread room and picked up a couple of loaves of bread. It was quite full because now the CWU students are on break, and the grocery store bakeries haven’t yet adjusted to fewer people in town. On inside where I helped set up for our music. We played, and then were served a thank-you lunch. We had 4 instruments and 8 singers. All instrumentalists there also sing as they play, until the Thursday group I play with.

From there to SAIL exercise class. That went well, and I came home by way of Grocery Outlet to buy mushrooms and frozen hashed-brown potato patties on a very good half-priced markdown.

Thursday, Dec 17

For Dec 16 CPAP. Nothing to report, except oximeter on and fine for 9 hours. My nose was too chafed to want to wear the mask and needed to get it better before surgery Friday.

Awoke to a couple inches of snow and more up to probably 5 inches, so poor John shoveled or swept off paths, driveway, and front yard. 95% was done with a push broom. Works well with powder-snow under 4 inches.

The image used is from the web – ours has a yellow plastic part where the handle (ole one broke, now use a metal conduit pipe) attaches. The plastic cracked today, so in need of repair or replacement. But, he “gotter done.”

I went to town over roads unplowed about 12 miles to play music. Only a few of us made it. We had 1 guitar, 1 fiddle, 1 flute, 1 tambourine, and 2 singers. Our audience outnumbered us. They were happy we came to play Christmas songs and wish them well. Their parking lot was not plowed. Happy I put on serious boots, and I will wear them tomorrow to the hospital in Yakima.

The UPS truck (with chains and 2 brown-suited young men) made a delivery late in the afternoon. Our drive was mostly cleared because we must get out early in the morning. The driver mentioned the easy access – they had a few places the chains were needed. One box had the horse tank heater and a kitchen timer. The other had a silicone cooking mat with indentions as big as those in a waffle – for chicken parts, rather than for things such as cookies. John didn’t have time to install the heater – the tank holds 100 gallons and is full.

Last minute prep, for surgery: I spent time talking by phone with a woman at the Yakima Memorial Hospital about their expectations for my defibrillator replacement surgery tomorrow, the times, paperwork, and things I needed to know or bring. I’m now getting things in order. We are expecting in at about 8 AM and out by 11.

Needed a copy of medications. Get to ER entrance, by 8:00 a.m. for check-in. John gets to accompany me to the room for set-up and then when they take me for surgery, he’s given a pager, sent to a waiting room, and called back when I’m back in the room. (That didn’t happen; he stayed in the prep room and read about the periodic table, or rather the discovery of each of the elements named therein.)

They will put me under “conscious sedation.” (from Merriam-Webster): Medical Definition of conscious sedation is an induced state of sedation characterized by a minimally depressed consciousness such that the patient is able to continuously and independently maintain a patent airway, retain protective reflexes, and remain responsive to verbal commands and physical stimulation—compare deep sedation.

I’m to remove my watch, but keep on my wedding band and my medic-alert bracelet. Paperwork is the normal photo ID and insurance proof. They provide socks, I keep on my underpants, but have to wear a typical hospital gown. I hope I don’t freeze. Biggest surprise is they will keep me for up to a couple hours after the surgery to give me something to eat and be sure it stays down.

I need to remember to ask about Tagaderm (Waterproof patches for over incision when I shower).

They will administer Penicillin for the antibiotic through my IV. I reminded them of my problem with Heparin, and she said none would be used in the IV or procedure.

We went to bed a little earlier than normal.

Friday, Dec 18 **HOSPITAL DETAILS**

For Dec 17 CPAP. no reported figures. I did not wear the mask nor my oximeter.

We left about 6:35 a.m. for Yakima Memorial Hospital to check in for surgery at 9:30 a.m. with Dr. Dao Pham to replace my ICD (Implanted Cardioverter Defibrillator). My battery ran out after 5.5 years.

I will try to report on the day’s excitement. I think we had over 8″ of snow here over the past two days. John had the drive and walkways swept. We got to bed relatively early for us last night. Roads in our valley were snow covered and it was dark. Some corners were slick. John drove my car, because it had been under cover and his (with newer tires) was covered with two days and nights of snow and sleet. We saw some cars off the road, but I-82 was basically plowed and sanded, but still a bit slushy. We made it to the entrance at 7:55 a.m. — so far, so good.

First trip was into an office to answer a bunch of questions and give signatures for the surgery procedure to be allowed to happen. I had already made a color copy of my photo ID (Driver’s license, Medicare and insurance cards), and handed a list of my medications (which that person didn’t want). “Save it for the nurse,” she said. I think that was all with her (10-15 minutes), and then we walked back to the front registration/lobby area, where a volunteer got a wheelchair for me. The reason escapes me, but it is the procedure. John had to walk – Destination: the “Cath Lab” – the Cardiac catheterization laboratory and services area. We did not learn the reason for the hospital policy for all patients to be wheeled in and wheeled out. Maybe it is because a person could get lost in the maze of intersecting hallways, side doors, and people milling about. The volunteer did the guiding and the wheeling.

She and I talked as we rolled along. We finally got there and I was taken into room #3, across from one of the cath labs where the procedures such as mine occur (not the one I eventually traveled to).

Then the fun began. John was with me and would end up staying there – against the wishes of the area supervisor, but the nurses didn’t care. They had me undress and brought me a potty to use before getting into my gown, socks, and under two heated cloth covers (called blankets). After I redressed, and hopped into bed, the stuff began. First, a guy (Sam) came pushing a rolling table and then placed an instrument that looked like a short printer on the table. He introduced himself as being with the Boston Scientific company, the maker of the ICD I was about to have join my body parts. He needed to read the data off the Biotronik unit still in my body to store in the new unit, so there was a smooth turnover of data on my heart. He had to wait until a nurse (PJ) got me all hooked up to nodes for an ECG/EKG during my surgery, and she connected a blood pressure cuff to record that with my vitals every few minutes. She put an oximeter on my finger (to read my pulse and SpO2); I am not sure how my respiration was being measured and recorded, but she took my temperature and started the recorder. The system was not cooperating, so nurse PJ (who was to be my scrub nurse in the operating room) left for someone with computer savvy to try their hand at it. She fixed it. John was facing the screen (and it was behind me), so he kept me informed about my vitals.

The next step was to have another person come in to set up the place on my arm for IV entry of the antibiotic during the 45 minutes preceding the expected surgery at 9:30 a.m. Her name was Nancy. She seemed to find the vein well, but the needle apparently was hitting a nerve and hurt me the entire duration. Once she got it placed, there were two connectors, one for input and the other for withdraw. She needed to take blood to check my INR before the surgery. It was down to 1.7. That was down from missing only one Coumadin 2.5 mg pill the afternoon before. Wednesday morning 2 days earlier, the INR was 2.4. As nurse Nancy was leaving, she asked if I had any more questions about what was to happen in the procedure, and I said, “Yes, when can I expect to be taken into the Cath lab for preparation there for my 9:30 scheduled start of the procedure, (setting me up on the operating table, scrubbing, infusion of the sedation, and whatever.). She paused and said, “Well, the doctor has been delayed, and there are two people ahead of you, so I estimate it will be about 11:00 a.m.” WHAT ?? It is too bad my vitals were on Standby at the time, because I am sure my BP rose significantly. Why the heck didn’t someone tell me sooner? I wonder when we would have been told anything, had I not asked her the question as she was walking out of the prep room.

John and I wondered out loud what had happened. It was 8:45 and I could watch the clock above his head. He and I talked awhile and I covered myself with a second warm cover, and tried closing my eyes to relax, hoping to forget the pinching pain of the IV needle (IV not yet hooked up). I decided if I turned my hand backwards, it took off the pressure some.

A new cheerful young nurse appeared, named Sarah. Both she and PJ were going to be with me throughout the whole procedure. I asked her if she had any idea what had happened to delay the operation. She said she didn’t know about it, as she had just arrived at work (not even clocked-in yet), and she would go find out and report back. She returned shortly to say it would be a little while until the doctor arrived, that he was returning from Seattle last night, and got stopped/stranded on Snoqualmie Pass and spent the night sleeping in his car. [John knew avalanche control crews closed the highway during the night.] He had made it back to Yakima and was on his way to the hospital. At least we now knew something. So, she told me would check back in and keep me up on things. She brought me another warmly heated cover. The room we were in had curtains for its door, so while we couldn’t see who was outside, I could hear all the conversations, even from the supervisor’s desk around the corner.

I relaxed, John read, and I listened to all the conversations. I heard the staff talking about the really good fudge someone brought in to share. I heard Dr. Pham’s voice when he arrived, and his telling the story about his crazy night. I heard my two nurses outside the door talking about their husband’s foot injuries. I continued resting. At some point Sarah returned, hooked up my IV, and told me rather than Ancef, I would be receiving Vancomycin, a stronger antibiotic. I had her bring me another warm cover, because it was chilly in the room. (It was even chillier once I got to the operating room.) John was watching the flow of the IV and keeping me in the know. At some point in that process, Sarah again came in to check. I told her about the pain at the needle entry, and she felt my arm above my wrist to be sure it was entering properly and not sending the IV fluid outside my vein. It was all right, but she went away and brought back a heating pad for the insertion point, and it really did help. Finally, I heard the door across from me open (to the other Cath lab), and I recognized Dr. Pham’s voice, as he was going in for the person’s surgery ahead of me. All of his patients this morning were relatively simple exchanges, with no new wire leads being inserted into the heart chambers. Not too much time passed before Sarah came to get me to go to my Cath lab for last minute preparations. I jokingly said, “Please grab me a piece of that yummy sounding fudge to go with my meal after surgery.” She said she would (and she did !).

She asked if I could walk on my own. I was happy to do that. We walked about 25 feet, I guess. I entered the big room and climbed up on a little step stool to get on the operating table. Three attendants stayed busy setting me up. I requested another pillow for my head and one for my left arm. I was able to watch the screen with my vitals. At some point, they added oxygen enhancement in my nose and I saw the SpO2 increase to 100%. John had told me it was 97 to 98% in the prep room, and I breathed deeply a couple of times to increase it to 99%. My BP was fine the entire time.

Another person, Presa, took over for Sam with the Boston Scientific equipment. One thing she had to do was to magnetize the old unit to take away its ability to shock, so that we would not set it off during the removal procedure. Good idea! They continued working on me, building up to the final scrubbing with, I guess, some high-powered disinfectant on the part of my skin to be cut. It was a very wet process, and it left ugly green stains all over my neck, upper body, and shoulder. On the other side, Sarah, warned me she was putting a very cold item on my abdomen. It serves as a ground. Finally, SJ covered my incision-to-be area and taped me in. She had me turn my head away to the right, to prevent any contamination. Eventually, my face and eyes were covered with a blue tarp like covering. My head already had a cap from the original prep room. Finally, the doctor arrived and our conversations continued. Nurse Sarah asked me to tell her my name, birth date, and why I was there. I obliged. I joked with the surgeon, and told him I heard he had a rough trip back across the pass, and I was happy I was third in line, so he’d had a chance to wake up. He laughed and said he got very cold sleeping in his car, but he was okay. He began making the incision with a scalpel. I heard another strange noise, and asked what the sound was. He said, “A cauterizer.” I said, “Oh, to stop the bleeding,” and he agreed. He opened me and managed to get the unit out without too much pushing around. At one point, he commented he was examining the pocket. There was enough moving and pushing that I knew I would be sore afterwards. Acetaminophen every 6 hours has handled it. Another noise of riveting ensued when the wire was removed, and then reinserted into the new unit. I commented and that was acknowledged, as well. The new unit is about the same dimension in length, but it is thinner. They gave me my old unit as a keepsake. I think I will take it to my device check appointment Dec 29, and take a picture of it beside a like unit that is now part of me.

Dr. Pham sewed me up, put on strips over the sutures, and covered it. Then they took off the cover over my head, and I saw him for the first time. I said, “Hi, Dr. Pham, welcome back to Yakima, and thanks for doing my surgery.” We then talked a little more about his trip. He actually had flown to Belgium to pick up a relative to bring back to Seattle. That was his vacation. I mentioned the weather had been bad in Europe, and he said, “Yes, it was. It rained the whole time I was there.” Then he left and the nurses moved me to the stretcher to go back to the prep room. I asked if I could walk back. No. I should have asked them to raise the stretcher higher. There was a 4-6″ drop I had to make to move from the operating table. I would have preferred they let me step off the table and get back into the bed, to be rolled back to the room, if I wasn’t allowed to walk. So we got back and I said hi to John. We agreed that it took longer than we anticipated.

We were talking and one of the nurses came in to give me the final orders, and then she was followed by Dr. Pham. While he was in the room, Sarah brought me the piece of fudge I had wanted. The surgeon said he wanted a piece too, so she went back for his. He told me I had no restrictions, except I couldn’t shower for 3 days, and I needed to let them know if I had any signs of infection. The covering tape and gauze protecting the major cover needed to be removed tomorrow. The other was not to be gotten wet, and would be removed and the red & silver slips underneath the patch, but over the sutures, would be removed by the device technician, Dec 29th. He told me to withhold aspirin until Monday (48 hrs) and to resume Coumadin tonight. He bid us adieu.

We had food – a drink and leftovers of chicken & shrimp and dried apples. Now it was 12:15. A staff member asked if I could sit on the side of the bed to eat. I did. She rolled the table over with a tray of food: a half of a large turkey sandwich with 3 pieces of bread and 2 large pieces of dark green lettuce. I took off the lettuce (I’m not supposed to intake Vitamin K) and the middle piece of bread, added mayonnaise, and ate it. A cup of fruit had one slice of orange with a peel and the rest of the cup was without peels, but sectioned nicely. I tasted one without a peel, and asked John to taste one. It tasted like grapefruit to me and to him. I pushed the “light,” the nurse arrived, and I asked her if it was grapefruit or orange and she said all was orange. I hesitantly ate the rest of the slices. One of my medications prohibits grapefruit. I still don’t think it was orange sections. There was a cup of coffee, but it was cold. I imagine my lunch was ordered for the old schedule of the operation to be over at 10 or 10:30, and this was two hours later. There was a very large cup of water that I drank. Once I was done eating and dressed, I could leave. However, they had to wheel me out in a wheelchair. I asked for some Tagaderm patches to over my incision dressing when I showered. The assistant pushing me out found me some on the first floor in a storeroom. If I need more, I will go by the hospital here and ask, next Wednesday, when I go in for my INR check blood draw to see if my value returned to where it is supposed to be.

On the way home the roads were fine, although we did see a car that had gone skiing off to the right on a long downhill section. The car had gone off where there was a gentle dip with no guard rail. After the dip it went upslope a little, then down again and was resting against the outside of the (now present) guard rail. Wish we had a photo of that but it wasn’t the time nor place for one. We assume the retrieval will require a heavy lifter.

When we got home we heated leftover pot roast.

Saturday, Dec 19

For Dec 18 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 50 min with AHI=0.64 Events: 5 H, 0 CSR, 10 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=17 L/min). Oximeter report good. I wore my Dreamwear top tube mask, and the tube went across my body, to the top, and over my right shoulder.

Today started with a request for firewood from a friend of at least a decade. John went out and drove the pickup truck around making paths so she could survey the various stacks of wood. Her 4WD Expedition had good tires so that allowed them to eliminate a truck-to-SUV transfer and saved time and work. She does have an old pickup that would have held more, but it does not have a back (or crew) seat section and thus isn’t legal for kiddy transport. After the loading, she took a photo. {RIGHT Click, select ‘New tab’ on images to get proper aspect.}

We had a nice sunny day, but while the loading took place, a fog moved over, as seen in the top right corner of the photo. No matter, she had about as much wood as she could get and was on her way–about 20 minutes to home. She reported back a thank you later on Facebook that she he unloaded it, split some, and started a fire in her wood stove, increasing the temperature from 55° to 68°. Nice for the family, with three little girls under the age of 8 (the oldest is 7).

Now back to body parts. I managed to remove the surgical tape covering the incision-protecting pad below my left collarbone. It was two overlapping strips with gauze protecting the main cover of the sutures, and was cumbersome — two strips about 6″ long and 3″ wide, each. At the hospital, the material wasn’t staying in place very well. A nurse applied something sticky (& brown) under the corners and edges. That was all that needed to be removed today. I succeeded, so likely it wasn’t Gorilla glue.

I wrote a story for another request on the BNE site, and next Wednesday, I will be picking up a nice pair of lined suede boots and leggings to keep me warm. I plan to wear them to the wine & Raclette festivity scheduled for Dec. 30, midday.

I took a couple of photos of the snow, icicles, and Rascal.

This collage above shows photos taken out the new patio door. Left shows two structures with metal roofs, the closest to keep roof runoff from splashing on the new outside (unfinished) door. Drip line shows in the snow in front. On the back side on the patio are 5-gallon buckets to catch the snow melt or rain. The back structure on the left is the protected wood pieces for our stove. On the right is our heat pump and both photos show hanging icicles.

Above is from our bedroom window looking back to the cat’s mow, and the outhouse-looking feature that serves as the heated “cat house” for our 3 outside feral cats. The cat in this picture is Rascal, our inside-outside cat. In the right photo, between Rascal’s right ear and the hay mow, is the location where John has some piles of cut wood (he gave from this morning). See above.

I spent a lot of time on emails today and working on the blog, but it is not yet finished to go through John’s editorializing. Perhaps in the morning when it is too cold and snowy to be outside, after morning feedings.

John fixed supper with the frozen chicken I bought last week, and mushrooms this week, and some canned Pineapple rings and Butternut squash (not ours, but “fresh”).

Sunday, Dec 20

For Dec 19 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 41 min with AHI=1.17 Events: 9 H, 2 CSR, 21 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=19 L/min); oximeter on entire time, no longer with good activity the whole time, on SpO2.

Awoke to snow, falling hard, while John fed Woody (after she appeared on her perch on the cable table). I took a picture from the front door, and then he took the food plate out to put under his car where she was more protected from the snowfall. More explanation is below the collage, next.

Woody sitting on the cable table inside our front fence, waiting to be fed. This is a morning ritual. Evenings she normally eats out back with the other two ferals, Lemon and Sue. Middle above she is watching John walk through the front gate to put her food dish under his Subaru for protection. Right photo shows her headed to eat.

We are now getting ready to sit down to pizza for lunch, and then John will transfer this to WordPress, I will proof again, and we will publish later this afternoon.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

… and Old Dominion visits the Naneum.

The name, Old Dominion, was given to the Colony called Virginia, by England’s King Charles II. See History of OD.

Sunday, Nov 29

For Nov 28 CPAP. Reported figures. 9 hrs 35 min with AHI=0.63 Events: 6 H, 1 CSR. 14 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=15 L/min); no oximeter. A very quiet and long night. Either I was quite tired, or got the forced air pressure hose fixed right, or the new pillow worked better for support of the head connector for the compressed air pressure hose. Whatever the reason, I enjoyed the good night’s sleep.

Dreary day spent on finalizing the blog for last week. I made a call to Costco to check on their Vitamin D3 prices that were advertised in their monthly flyer today. It looks as it my better deal is to go to Rite Aid tomorrow. I hope they received their shipment; they were short the last two times I went shopping there for the advertised price break. I found out the price for 2000 unit capsules is best from Costco, and even if not making a trip, you can get it from the web with no shipping charges added. I have enough to get by until we are down there next.

No deer in sight today.

Thank you, Anne Engels for gifting me an Advent Calendar from Jacquie Lawson in the UK. Those are very special items, and make each day of the month of December interesting.

Monday, Nov 30

For Nov 29 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 31 min with AHI=2.53 Events: 19 H, 6 CSR, 24 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=16 L/min); no oximeter. I think I will go back to my other AirFit P-10 mask. This one is too erratic and bugging me. Perhaps if my oximeter comes today, I will measure it with the new one before switching.

John fixed us a great brunch of sausage, fried potatoes, eggs, and pears. Got my shower and went 1/2 mile around the block for my haircut at 1:00 p.m. Then I had to go through a scheduler in Yakima, but we finally sorted out my blood draws to occur on the same day, Dec 16. They were duplicative so we merged the dates. I went to town to Rite Aid for getting my buy one-get one free on some vitamins. On my way to the University for a Lecture, I went by the bread room of the food bank to look for old apples for our horses. No apples were there, but a loaf of John’s favorite Rosemary Olive Oil bread was, so I picked it up.

I went to the talk at Dean Hall and it was interesting. While there, I picked up my mail in the office. I still have a mailbox there, but don’t get a lot anymore.

My oximeter USB connector made it to me today.

Tuesday, Dec 1

For Nov 30 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 37min with AHI=0.60 Events: 4 H, 9 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=10 L/min); oximeter on an extra 3 hrs. with AHI=.31 and good activity the whole time, high SpO2 without CPAP on.

Jazzercise today at 2:00 — recorded my oximeter for the 45 minutes of exercise. Compared it to one done back in March, and either the exercises have changed, or my heart is improving. I’ll try it one last time this year with the same exercises as last Tuesday, this week.

I went by the post office to mail a package, so I would be able to track it.

Wednesday, Dec 2

For Dec 1 CPAP. Reported figures. 8 hrs 27 min with AHI=2.01 Events: 17 H, 5 CSR, 20 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=19 L/min); oximeter on for another 1.5 hrs.

Today was Food Bank and Christmas songs. We had nice participation but SAIL was less well attended.

Today, via Consumer Cellular, we bought new phones. Although John hasn’t seen his old one for about 6 weeks, the purchase was prompted by the Company wanting to switch us old procrastinating folks to a 3G network from a 2G network. The newer Generation is supposed to be much better for text, video, and launching rockets to Mars – none of which we do – perhaps we will have reception on the cell phones at our home (the man on the other end of the line said so). I also bought a charger for my car from a place on the web and saved $20 Consumer Cellular wanted for a non-AARP person. Even if an AARP member, it would have cost $13.80. I paid $5.14 and it may well beat the delivery of the phones, which are not coming until Tuesday, 12/8. They only had to come from Portland, Oregon. I shipped a package across the country yesterday, and it made it to NJ, in 3 days. Why does it take so long to get a package from Oregon to us? More about this on Friday.

Thursday, Dec 3

For Dec 2. CPAP. Reported figures 8 hrs 14 min with AHI=1.70 Events: 14 H, 1 CSR, 17 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min); oximeter on 2 hrs more.

There is music this afternoon at 2. I left home at 12:45 to stop for my rice heating bag for neck and shoulders — a freebie gift from Joni Zehner who works on Anderson Road. Near her work-place is one of the largest hay brokers/shippers in the Northwest. Anderson Hay & Grain Co., Inc. I’ve visited there and interviewed their CEO when writing an article. One of the Anderson family was a neighbor until this summer when they moved; getting too old to care for a rural home with land and animals. Anyway, here is a photo of my new, very purple neck comforter:

Today we played at the Rehab — what a big band we had–13 for a baker’s dozen: 5 guitars, banjo, 2 fiddles, flute, 2 tambourines, bass fiddle, and singers, and a grateful audience and staff.

I filled up with gasoline at $2.24/gal. after paying my bill at the computer place here we have our web pages and email. This was just for the email service, using nancyh@ellensburg.com . We’ve had this since 1995 and now pay $5/month to keep it. That email has permeated the world, maybe the entire Milky Way, and would be a monumental loss to the Universe. Okay, maybe not.

Friday, Dec 4

For Dec 3 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 13 min with AHI=1.34 Events: 7 H, 2 CSR, 14 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=11 L/min); oximeter on 3 hrs more.

John stayed home to await delivery of a 596 pound package of wood paneling expected from Mississippi. John ordered this via phone from northern Mississippi, although it may have been in a warehouse in Memphis. The Company used the Old Dominion Freight Line as a carrier and estimate a week transit time after loading. I arrived home about 10 minutes before the delivery and had time to get my camera. At the end of the driveway we turned the pickup around so the Green&Black deliverer could back his truck up to ours. There was nothing exciting to see but MantleCraft (the Seller) does suggest having a camera at delivery in case there is damage that has to be documented. We were next-to-last stop (from Pasco) so the truck (28 ft.) is nearly empty Photo A. {expand by clicking on photo}

We got 26 sheets of 5.2 mm thick (1/5th in.) sheets, a cover sheet of similar but damage something – Photo B, and 2 wood pallets. Photo C shows the lowering from Old Dominion to our truck. The package sticks out – Photo D, from the bed of the truck. John put broom-handle rollers under it, pushed it in, and backed the truck into the hay barn to be protected from the elements. Thank goodness, the delivery was today and not Saturday, because the weather changed dramatically from today’s.

I got home just in time for the delivery. I’d left before 11:00 a.m. to go to the Christmas party potluck at the AAC. I had my camera along, and on the trip in I stopped to take a lovely picture of our fog-filled valley. The Kittitas Valley is shaped like a canoe from SE to NW and the lowest parts fill with fog. Sometimes when it is cold and folks are burning wood (also Interstate 90 is in there) the air contains other significant things besides H2O.
You can see the layer of fog, and also the snowed-upon road I was driving on. The sun was peeking through the clouds, and then came out on my way to town, considerably brightening up the day.

I took a new wallet gift for the exchange and my camera to record the entire event. Sandra Z got the wallet I gave (and she found the pennies I included). I took 6 cans of food for the Community Christmas basket donation: 2 of peaches, 2 beans, and 2 canned dog food (our entry fee for the meal). It was a potluck, so for that I took canned pears and a large bag of honey/mustard pretzel chips. One of the AmeriCorps organizers loved them so much that I gave the remaining of the large bag to her (Carly) when I left. I was one of the photographers of the event and she was the other. Below is a collage of our two AmeriCorps volunteers at the Adult Activity Center. They were primarily the leaders responsible for putting on this event yesterday, but had a lot of help from volunteer staff as well. The director and her husband had to be out of town for a relative’s funeral. Normally, they perform as Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus.

Carly is on the left with the leftovers bag of cheese/honey/mustard chips, and to the right is Olivia, in her Bah Hum Pug vest with the little pug dog on her left side. Carly is from Portland this year and Olivia from Kentucky is in her second year with us.

Another collage of the activities:

The left one is with a friend (his wife took the photo), and he was in the Rehab with me in 2010, going through physical therapy, recovering from a stroke. He has come a long way, and is a regular at AAC events, but is confined to a wheelchair. The picture on the right is with three members of my SAIL (Stay Active & Independent for Life) exercise group, Myrna with me, Judy, and Sandra.

Here is another collage of some of the gifts received, with explanation below pix:

Pat Carney is on the left with Christmas towels, George with his nice warm gloves, and upper right is the table of gifts people brought that were distributed, with bottom right showing some handmade knitted potholders received by Donna.

After leaving, the party, I went by the grocery to pick up some ice cream and some frozen chicken breasts on sale. From there, I dropped by to pick up a very large Rubbermaid container, given freely from the Buy Nothing site. Here it is–

I arrived home and found 5 deer in our driveway–three had antlers. One buck tried to share Ebony’s grain container with an added apple, but she nosed him away. She was out in the driveway away from the other horses. The buck stood by and respected her.

My last travel shot of the day was on the way home, of the ridge behind our home, called Mission Ridge (accessible from Wenatchee, for a ski area). The ridge feeds the eastern side of the Naneum Creek drainage.

Webcams from up there.

I was partied out so, we did not go back in for the annual Anthro/Geog sponsored University-wide Christmas party. We are having BBQ pork ribs tonight. Chowed down this afternoon on candy I brought home from the party, and on one of our Honeycrisp apples. They are mostly gone now, and of those that remain about 1 of 5 is going or has gone bad. By cutting the worst out, the deer and horses will eat them. John decided to make an apple cake and used 6, with about 1/3rd of one thrown out. We cut and froze 2/3rds of it. We still have about 30 in the refrigerator.

Tomorrow is a free day, so we will likely spend time working on clean up & organization. I need to put in time on the annual newsletter and on notifying people of our changed domain for web pages, the place where our annual greetings can be found.

Saturday, Dec 5

For Dec 4 CPAP. Reported figures. 8 hrs 14 min with AHI=0.49 Events: 4 H, 2 CSR, 18 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=15 L/min); oximeter for 1.5 hrs more. Used my older preferred nasal pillow mask.

Big snowflakes falling just now about 10:20 a.m. Only an hour ago, John walked to the back door and commented we needed more snow to cover the brown parts exposed. Ask and you shall receive. We have to drive to the upper county (35 minutes) tomorrow to the Swauk-Teanaway Grange for a Christmas dinner, so I hope the snow doesn’t continue as it did several years ago for the same event. Now it has changed to rain. Temperature is 37.6°. Rain continued into the night, with the sun setting at 4:13 p.m.

Cats and horses fed, and newspapers and mail retrieved by John. Thanks. Now the evening feedings have happened too, and Sue (mamma cat) returned after several days away. She was hungry.

John made another apple cake tonight for us to take along tomorrow to the Grange’s Community turkey/dressing/potatoes/gravy dinner provided free with potluck sides and desserts from attendees.

Sorry there is nothing for scale in this photo–but it is a beautiful Honeycrisp apple cake in a 9×12″ baking pan.

We hope it is not snowing big time up there, although that would be better than sleet. The forecast is for morning snow followed by rain.

Sunday, Dec 6

For Dec 5 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 3 min with AHI=0.85 Events: 6 H, 5 CSR. 20 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=19 L/min); oximeter on an extra 4 hrs. with good activity the whole time, high SpO2 without CPAP on.
Crazy night of nightmares. I explained them to John but I would not venture to share elsewhere or they might commit me. Used my older nasal pillow mask last night and the night before.

Christmas party 1:00 at the Grange. A little rain and fog on the way but clear there. Fewer folks showed than last time and they had lots of prepared turkey, ham, bread stuffing, and mashed taters – thus, big servings of those. People came with other dishes, mostly desserts. A bit lopsided in that sense, but no one complained. Next year, if we go, we can remember to take a roaster of carrots, brown sugar, and pecans, or some other veggie.
We were home before 4 and the horses and outside cats were waiting for their meals.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Beginning this blog with a gorgeous photo of Mt. Hood sent to a friend of mine. This photo was taken by Jim Pankey on Nov 21, 2015, and named by friends, “A Glowing Summit.” Jim gave permission to share.
I’m sorry the resolution is not better.

Monday, Nov 23

For Nov 22 CPAP. Reported figures. 4 hrs 25 min with AHI=0.00 Events: 0 H, 11 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=15 L/min); no oximeter data. Amazingly uneventful sleep on the machine, although not for very long duration.

Today, we started by getting ready to go to town for both of us for trims on our toenails — a Medicare-paid-for perk every 9 weeks. From there we went to the hospital for a blood draw to check my INR (2.3). We left there to travel for a Buy Nothing EBRG (BNE) pickup of a wardrobe-moving box. On for John to fill a 5-gallon gas container for pro re nata (PRN) – medical jargon for as the circumstance arises. Then we drove across the valley to pick up a “desk” (more like desk-with-shelves) from another BNE give. It is rather tall, 5′ high, and almost 4′ wide. Parts are damaged but it is mostly okay – likely we’ll bolt it to a shed wall and use as shelves. I am happy John decided to drive the truck because I’m not sure it would have fit in our Subaru without a lot of work moving stuff and lowering seats. We were on the SW side of the valley from EBRG, where back in June, John left one of his hats at a house not far away. On our way home, we called and stopped by to retrieve it. It was chilly today, but we viewed gorgeous clouds in the sky, and sadly, I did not have my camera along.

Once home we both worked on unfinished chores, and still have many to do. It is snowing slightly tonight. John still has a few finishing needs on the fence and gates for the horses. All of the cats were happy to be fed.

We both felt frustrated at wasting so much time today away from home chores. John is behind on 2015 projects because of being ill all of August. God laughs when humans make plans.

Tuesday, Nov 24

For Nov 23 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 46 min with AHI=1.48 Events: 10 H, 1 CSR. 21 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=17 L/min); no oximeter data.

We awoke to 3″ of snow. I worked on inside chores. John used a wide push-broom and got the snow off walkways, paths, and even the driveway. When there is less than 4″ and fluffy, it is an easy activity and good exercise. We could just leave it but then some melts and refreezes and ice is a problem. A couple of years ago John performed a pirouette on driveway ice and clashed his right hip piriformis muscle with the sciatic nerve. The pain diminished slowly over the next 4 months. Also, today, he fed the outside animals. I fed the inside ones.

Nothing in town today called us away. Jazzercise was cancelled because our teacher, the director of the Adult Activity Center (Ellensburg’s Senior Center) is preparing for the community-wide FREE turkey dinner. Normally, I attend that dinner, going directly from the music at Hearthstone, on Wednesday, but they have set the time later for the dinner than in the past. They used to start serving at 3:00, but now it begins at 4:00, and that makes too long of a day for me, in addition to being an after-dark return home.

John explained his plans for paneling parts of our living space “den/dining” room, around the new patio door, kitchen ceiling, part of the living room, and front door entrance. He has been measuring for several days, and he needed to order from a place in Mississippi to get nice paneling, with no shipping charges, plus a special web discount of 10%. He ordered 3 samples (about 8″X10″ each). We looked at Lowe’s over a week ago and the quality of what they displayed was nowhere nearly as nice. Mantel Craft’s was much superior and will be delivered – from a warehouse near Memphis. Most of what we ordered is called Native Hickory with randomly spaced “beads” (meaning indented dark lines) as in the photo here:

Panels without the vertical lines will be used for the boxes or light shafts to the already installed skylights. We ordered several special sheets that have about a dozen graphics per sheet on them such as deer, quail, …, and geese, as below:

These will cover closet-like spaces in the dining area. One of those spaces does have shelves and the other has the hot water tank and the heating/air-handler. A few years ago we cut part of the wall away (next to the folding doors) to get a failed water tank out. The folding doors are very dark and look like plastic wood, besides not working very well. So a somewhat decorative replacement covering is in the future. That plan is in the formative stage.

Quail are in the backyard under the old pickup – no snow there — I tried getting their picture but they went out the other side. Later, I saw them leaving the yard beyond tops of shrubs cut off but not yet removed. I took this photo.

They prefer to squeeze through the fence – a tight fit – rather than fly.
The video (below) is better, even though a bit out of focus at times, as it shows nine (I think I counted right), going through our backyard, inside the fence. The fence post has lost some of the 3+ inches that fell overnight and this morning.

Quail come to our yard

This afternoon John pared some more Honeycrisp apples, found two bad ones from our frig stash, so he tossed them over the fence for the deer, and then made another wonderful looking (& tasting) pie. I’m in charge of watching it while he’s out feeding our oldest equine, Ebony, her special grain and apples, as well giving hay to the rest of the horses. I monitored the apple pie, and then replaced it with cinnamon/sugared crust to cook for treats. John finished yard chores before dark, I handed him food for the three cats showing up for dinner outside, and I also fed the one in the house. That cat is spending a lot of time in the house now and, being bored, picks a bit on the dog.

Just spent some time on the jobs announcements list serve through Google Groups, but need to stop to deal with receipts, bills, and filing for income taxes, not to mention other chores. I have washed two loads of clothes, so that’s good.

Early this morning I opened Facebook as I do daily to see if there are any birthdays of friends needing a happy wish emailed card sent. I saw a note from a Buy Nothing Ellensburg (BNE) person that she had a large amount of Metamucil to give away. I picked my lucky 13 # and told her it was for my hubby. This evening I got a message that she was giving it to him. I am happy and will pick it up on my way by her house about 7 miles down the road on which we live! The PA who saw John last week recommended some such stool softener.

The interesting thing he has found about it is that 3/4 of it is (sucrose) table sugar. They sell the stuff without sugar, but hey, this batch was free. He’s taking a little with coffee and a generic capsule in the afternoon. These seem to be doing what they are supposed to do but whether or not the minor pain he has had is being treated is somewhat fuzzy.

Wednesday, Nov 25

For Nov 24 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 13 min with AHI=1.29 Events: 8 H, 2 CSR, 21 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=12 L/min); no oximeter data.

This was a full day. I started early going by Safeway for 2-liter colas for John, and then on to the food bank to set up chairs for our entertaining group to play and sing music. We had a special dish today just for the holiday, Seafood Ravioli, donated by the Ellensburg Pasta Company. They provide the main dish every Wednesday. We only had three instruments, but two extra singers, one an audience member. From there I went down to the south end of town and stopped first at the feed store to get bags of senior food for my old horse, Ebony. John feeds her the pellets and an apple every afternoon. I got several bags so we do not have to deal with holiday shopping for the rest of the year. Here she comes for her evening treat, a week before the snow:

She talks to us from early morning, asking for treats. We think she is nearly 30 years old.

I went on south in town to deliver some cat food to a gal from the Buy Nothing site who asked for someone to get her through to the first of the month. Four cats and no food – another person brought a lot and I took a little, so the cats are fine for now. She is hand sewing me a long rice-filled heating pad to cover my neck and shoulders. I donated one of my larger winter coats to her daughter several weeks ago. She was thrilled and wanted to show me her progress on the rice bag creation. My other bag is squarer, and I actually used it tonight on my aching neck. Now it’s on my left shoulder. On my way home from playing music, I stopped off for the Metamucil mentioned above.

Thursday, Nov 26 Happy Thanksgiving Day

For Nov 25 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 47 min with AHI=0.52 Events: 3 H, 1 CSR, 22 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=15 L/min); no oximeter data.

Sunny cold morning. Colder in the valley at the airport 5 miles south of us, 11°. It got up to 36° today for only one hour, and John was outside building a small shed for firewood just on the edge of the patio-slab. The parts are about 97% scavenged. The top will have plywood from disassembled pallets and metal roofing sheets from the small barn that was re-roofed about 6 years ago. Those are 12 feet long and have to be cut to the desired length. (Done but not on yet.)

All three outside cats came for breakfast and supper today. They have dry food 24/7, but during this cold weather, they need more, especially now that the mice are not as prevalent. About mice: Waiting just beyond John (above) is a small pile of firewood, covered to keep it dry. The cut shrubs about are Nanking Cherry that produce loads of fruit with a bit seed. A mouse carried about a quart of cherry pits under the cover and stockpiled them on one of the split pieces of pine. John gathered them and tossed the whole lot over the fence. So, how many pits can a mouse carry at one time? Or, how many mice did the work? If one mouse carried just one pit each trip, there ought to have been a path. Do you work as hard?

Just before noon John got the Crockpot out for slow cooking a piece of beef with onions, tomatoes, and spices. Eight hours later the beef is tender and tasty. We did not leave the house today, spending our Thanksgiving Day together, quietly. We did spent some time on the phone with John’s cousin, Ethel in PA and her daughter. We heard it was in the 50s there and sunny.

Others today are having traditional Thanksgiving dinners. I must share this cute photo sent by a former student couple from CWU. They have several large dogs, and one of them got into their desert early. I’m still laughing at this photo and hope you enjoy it too. I’m surprised she left any in the plate.

House projects were the concentration here today for me, but I made only small steps up a long staircase, metaphorically.

I managed to get a package set up for a friend back east, but I will not get it in the mail until Monday, because I have to go to the post office to mail first class with tracking. That’s a nice feature but it failed with a package I sent back east last week that needed to be returned to me (a second replacement USB connector for my oximeter). It made it there and they returned it with a tracking number saying it had left Chicago Metro and was due in Ellensburg for delivery on Friday, 11/27. Nothing has changed in several days. Wonder when I will get it. Actually, today, Sunday, I received an update of delayed delivery. It left Spokane, WA this morning at 4:18 a.m., 11/29/15. I expect it will be in tomorrow’s mail.

John realized our Thanksgiving cactus was blooming right on time. Here are a couple of tries to capture the beautiful scene merged into a collage, on the day.

We have done better photography in previous years, but here you are for 2015.

Friday, Nov 27

For Nov 26 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 54 min with AHI=2.28 Events: 18 H, 6 CSR. 23 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=20 L/min); no oximeter data.

John’s sister lives in an urban setting but has wooded bottomland nearby. Recently a deer jumped a 6 foot fence and seemed headed for her picture-window. It went around the house and through the neighbor’s yard. Our less exciting deer encounter was with a nice buck a few hundred feet from the house. John was feeding horses and 7 deer (3 with antlers) were on the brushy side of the fence. John came for his camera and then weaved a winding path through the horses so as to not frighten the animals. The smaller bucks and does have been around, but the biggest one we have not seen before. Still, he was not overly concerned about John and the camera.

With the fresh snow this week we have seen many quail and thus their tracks, such as on the left, below. On the right is an imprint of the tail feathers as one of the birds jumped into the air. Larger birds, such as Pheasants and Owls, will launch and make “snow angels” with tail, body, and wings leaving impressions. There are a few photos on the web to be seen if you search Bing images for:
impression in snow from pheasant take-off

In the evening after dinner, we went across the street at the parents’ place to visit friends down for Thanksgiving from Tonasket (4 hours drive). We took along a thawed chocolate crème pie I took from the freezer earlier – and no, it was not made by either me or John.

Saturday, Nov 28

For Nov 27 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 57 min with AHI=2.14 Events: 17 H, 3 CSR. 15 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=17 L/min); no oximeter data.

Sunny and cold. Moisture is starting to freeze on trees, fences, and anything else. This is likely to continue into Tuesday and if so we will have a bounty of Silver Frost. Very pretty landscape but it also means the sky is completely fogged in and the temperature has not gone above freezing for days and there is almost no wind.
Here is an old web page I made two years ago.

Silver Frost

Now I’m including it for your viewing pleasure at our new domain site. I’m slowly going through these old ones and correcting any links to our old domain, ellensburg.com/ The only thing we get there any more is email to nancyh@ellensburg.com and we do not have email at the new domain. Only this blog, and our old (or new) web pages.

Nice telephone visit with his sister Peggy in Ohio just 12 miles from the north coast of the USA, where she has warmer temperatures (for now). Just wait!

Sunday, Nov 29

For Nov 28 CPAP. Reported figures. 9 hrs 35 min with AHI=0.63 Events: 6 H, 1 CSR. 14 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=15 L/min); no oximeter data. A very quiet and long night. Either I was quite tired, or got the forced air pressure hose fixed right, or the new pillow worked better for support of the head connector for the hose.

Cold and gray here today, with “patchy freezing fog” and low visibility. We had 13 degrees this morning and now it is all the way up to 21.7. Maybe snow coming on Tuesday.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Nov 16

For Nov 15 CPAP. Reported figures. 8 hrs 24 min with AHI=1.67 Events: 14 H, 3 CSR. 25 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min); no oximeter.

Morning arrangements with Scholarship Luncheon group planning for this Friday’s attendance. I am one of the hosts with Mary Aho. She is making Angus Beef Stew, and we are bringing Honeycrisp apples and two Pecan Pies from John’s mom’s recipe. He is expected every year to contribute them as he has done since 1988. Currently, we have 11 coming, and there are still several more who have not responded. Fifteen were invited. We may have to bring in more chairs. Two others are unable to be there.

I’ve done a bunch in the house, and John has done a lot more outside. We both have been busy all day.

Here is our resident deer in the garden.

Tuesday, Nov 17

For Nov 16 CPAP Reported figures. 5 hrs 39 min with AHI=0.06 Events: 5 H, 1 CSR, 1 OA & PP, 16 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=8 L/min); no oximeter.

Up early for TRANE heat pump maintenance fellow Nick Jensen to arrive between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m.— came 9:15. We started a contract, $400/year for 2 times. We will have him come after the temps reach 60 degrees, next June. That’s because the tune-up can be done more precisely if the air conditioning unit can be run hard. Will continue in June with this.
I made it to Jazzercise today, with my new fancy red Jazzercise tee shirt, given to me by one of our group. (She won it in her past but it is too large for her, so she gave away 4 of her awards). I think mine is the prettiest. Four of us were there for our teacher to lead and guide us through the movements (much like dancing, but as it progresses, we raise our heart beats from the increased exercises).

Returned my too-large new mask to Kittitas Medical Supply. In the evening I went to the Rehab assisted living place, getting there early to meet a Buy Nothing EBRG (BNE) person to give a bag of winter clothes. I went in and visited with three residents before we set up to play. That play date is for The Connections, a religious group that leads the audience in church anthems and some other uplifting music (such as He’s Got the Whole World in his Hands.)

Wednesday, Nov 18

For Nov 17 CPAP Reported figures. 6 hrs 41 min with AHI=2.09 Events: 14 H, 2 CSR, 24 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min); no oximeter.

Picked up a freely given quilted vest from Heather and gave her a big box of Honeycrisp apples. Grabbed some Rosemary Olive Oil bread from the bread room and some cornbread and bran muffins for my neighbor. We are encouraged to take from the bread room, because they get so much, and it doesn’t keep long. They also have a lot of bread in the regular food distribution area. Subway sandwich shops in town (two) have started donating rolls to the Food Bank. I didn’t get any because I don’t like taking open bags, but that is an interesting community contribution. Most of the bakery goods come from the local grocery stores. Donations from Starbucks of pastries and cookies are brought in daily for morning coffee at the food bank for those interested. There are many things available for free in the county – one just has to know about them. Ten years ago if someone asked me about how to get help I did not have a clue. Now I can say, go here, or go there. And I do. Since 9/1 this year, I have contacts for 4 organizations in town to provide free clothing to families. EBRG also has every night of the week covered for homeless people to go for a warm sleep in a different church.

We played Christmas music at the Food Bank during lunch. We had our old standbys, and were joined by another community lady who actually lives in Thorp, but loves to sing. We had 3 singers, and 3 instrumentalists singing winter / season’s greetings songs. Pretty cool. The audience entered on many of them—such as Rudolph, Jingle Bells, Silver Bells, Blue Christmas, and Winter Wonderland. We are served food after we play. Today’s food was chicken Alfredo plus Chicken Parmesan, salad, and dessert. I never know how much salt I get there and only recognize the garlic hours later.

I went to SAIL exercise class at the Senior Center, and we had a good turnout there, as well as a good workout.

Went by Rite Aid and bought some Vitamin D3 and Magnesium at a good price. The best price for Vitamin D3 is probably at Costco, for 2000 mg, but this was a pretty good deal for 1000mg (~1.5 cent/gel capsule). I have to take a lot (5000 mg / day), so saving money is a good thing. The deal was a buy one bottle, get one free, but they were out of most I needed. I’m to go back later (rest of the story below).

Thursday, Nov 19

For Nov 18 CPAP Reported figures. 6 hrs 4 min with AHI=0.66 Events: 4 H, 1 CSR, 10 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=19 L/min); no oximeter.

John visited the doctor (actually a physician assistant) in Cle Elum because of the gut pains and noise he has had the past couple of days. He called me on his way home. Likely, it’s a hernia issue just to the left of his belly-button; cause unknown. He will try eating more fiber, less ice cream/hot chocolate, and maybe try Metamucil in the future? I have DOK (Sodium Docusate) 200 mg on hand, so he might as well start with that. He decided to consider 100 mg until we can get to Costco again, where meds are much cheaper. We eat a lot of fiber with apples, strawberries, raspberries, carrots, potatoes, beans, and legumes.

We played music at Dry Creek today (now named Brookdale), and had 10 people participating. We started our December music today. Realized I had two songs not repaired for a key change from last year. The new folks had them in the wrong key. I have corrected that now.

We’ve been eating apple pie (and need to fix more filling – a few apples have been thrown out, but all now are in refrigerators). John and I made two pecan pies tonight. He did most of the work. Earlier today, I spent a good amount of time sorting good apples and then washing them thoroughly, and packing them and the other stuff I had to take for the table. I also made 8 liters (4 bottles) of Crystal Light Lemonade (Yellow and Pink). I probably could have gotten by with only two. At one point, we thought we might have 15 people. We had plates and real (metal) tableware for all. Mary brought bowls for her stew, cups for my lemonade, and napkins. I took large Chinet plates and smaller dessert plates. I missed getting a photo of the entire group and the table. But, I did capture 3 photos of some of the activity, seen in the collage and story on Friday’s entry.

Friday, Nov 20

For Nov 19 CPAP Reported figures. 6 hrs 5 min with AHI=0.99 Events: 6H, 17 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=10 L/min); no oximeter.

Early this morning I walked out front to the cable table to feed Woody, the feral female you have seen before. She’s there every morning, about 7:30 a.m. The others go to the back of the house to the cats’ mow. And, Rascal is the only one coming into the house to eat and sleep (uses the doggie door).

As I walked out, I saw an ice crystal that had pushed up from the frozen water fallen off our roof into a plastic bowl. I went back for my camera, and took a photo. It was on the ground, shaded by the big stump you have seen Woody sitting on in a former blog. I picked up the bowl and put it on top of the stump so it received the sunlight. The picture on the right is the results. I think that view resembles a Madonna. Isn’t that a cool picture in more than one way?

Some call these Ice Spikes. John has a comment there. Ignore the Doug.C comments – he is on a different planet.

Today is our noon Ruth Harrington scholarship luncheon with Mary Aho as co-hostess with me.

This is the centerpiece of our table. This is a luncheon normally held on the 4th Friday of the month, but we had to jump back a week because of Thanksgiving. A dozen people attended. John helped me carry all the stuff into the building where I had an office from 1997 to 2008. He helped me cut the largest Honeycrisp apples for two plates that served as our salad to go with beef stew made by Mary. The other apples went home whole with each person. Members contribute $5.00/meal at the beginning of the year and only have to fix one table for everyone. The $50.00 donation goes to the Ruth Harrington Scholarship Fund for needy CWU students. Cost (contribution for student scholarships) has doubled since I started.

I didn’t get in any of the pictures, and missed getting one of the whole group at the table when everyone arrived, but below is a collage of a few there, early.

Left-most – 4 of the first 5 to arrive (middle is the 5th). The beef stew was made by orange-sweatered, Mary. Left: Allyson, Mary, Vicki, Kristina; Middle: Estelle serving stew and Mary peeking around her; Right: Ruth (the originator of this program way back in the last century) is in the winter-themed sweater. I joined in 1988, and it was well underway before that. Blue sweater is Peggy, whose office offered the conference room for our lunch.

Saturday, Nov 21

For Nov 20 CPAP Reported figures. 8 hrs 27 min with AHI=1.30 Events: 11 H, 1 CSR,18 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=20 L/min); no oximeter.

On my way to town for music, I left early to get to the post office. They have one window open from 11:30 to 1:30 to pick up a registered mail. Here is what I got:

The package came from Germany via the Deutsche Post. On the form about having to pick it up, our carrier wrote what appeared to be “Dutch.” Who’s that? Ronald Reagan was called Dutch – likely not from him. Well, John ordered it through Amazon.com and didn’t realize it would be coming registered, requiring a signature upon receipt. It is moisture meter to determine when wood is within the proper moisture content (is it dry enough, or too dry) for use in a fancy wood stove. Stihl is the maker (in Virginia Beach, VA) of our chainsaw.

From the post office I went by Rite Aid for some more Vitamin D and Magnesium for me, but the supply had not been replenished. [Walgreen’s appears about to buy Rite Aid.] They offered me a buy one-get one free offer on another brand, Nature Made, but I calculated the price and it was not worth the added price. The sale is on until the end of the month, and they are going to “hard order” some for me. I’ll check next week. I just realized she said to check next Thursday, but that’s Thanksgiving, so I expect I will wait a day at least.

I made one more stop for John for Dulcolax (stool softener, not laxative), and bought a box of 25 tablets, 100 mg each. He found a special deal from the company to pay up to $10 for the purchase (minus tax). I found it for $6.29 on sale at Bi-Mart. It was over $9.00 at Rite Aid. He’s got all the paraphernalia set for me to put in an envelope to mail in for our rebate (that comes in the form of a VISA gift certificate). Generic copies are 90% cheaper.

We had a great turnout of players and audience at Briarwood this afternoon (9 musicians, and at least 20 in the audience). They fed us a nice bean soup, sandwiches, and desserts afterwards. I ate light because of the salty soup, and because I knew John would have dinner for us tonight.

Sunday, Nov 22

For Nov 20 CPAP Reported figures. 5 hrs 47 min with AHI=1.90 Events: 11 H, 2 CSR, 13 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=19 L/min); no oximeter.

It’s sunny and John is out cobbling gates and fence so the horses can have 24/7 access to the heated water trough. The airport had 19° F. last night. It is warmer for about 3 days and next Wednesday it will get colder – so they say. He’s moved to the back of the house and is adding temporary siding around the new door. He has one more board to add but stopped to feed the horses and cats – the Sun had gone behind the Cascade Range with a deep orange, “Goodbye.”

I skipped around between physical tasks (dishes and laundry) and computer and phone stuff. We thawed and are cooking lasagna. We still have a piece of Pecan pie, too.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Nov 9

For Nov 8 CPAP. Reported figures. 8 hrs 2 min with AHI=1.37 Events: 11 H, 1 CSR, 14 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=19 L/min); no oximeter.

Rain squalls made a hassle of John’s outside work, including finishing the support posts for a heavy iron “farm” gate. He is trying to get a dry cord of firewood to a needy neighbor and so cuts a little, then splits and loads – then covers with a tarp until the rain stops.

My multitasking continues, with working on the email address list to warn people of our change in domains for our web pages and the blog. I wrote another letter of recommendation for my former student to go into a Ph. D. program in Australia. Retired now for over 5 years and I am still involved in some of my old job expectations. I made chocolate chip cookies to take tomorrow to our Emeriti Geographers meeting, and took out donuts to take along (halving) to provide another plate of goodies, not knowing how many people might show up. We are having a guest speaker, the new Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, Kevin Archer, who was hired here 3 years ago, from Florida, to chair the geography department. Shortly after arriving, he was selected to be the Interim Graduate Dean. That lasted 2.5 years and then CWU advertised externally and narrowed to 3 candidates, with 2 external, but he was chosen to be the new dean. Our Interim Geography Chair who replaced him, was just recently elected to be the new chair. I’m very pleased to announce that John Bowen is on board. I finished running and collating music for Thursday for three new people to our group.

Tuesday, Nov 10

For Nov 9 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 25 min with AHI=0.40 Events: 3 H, 1 PP, 18 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=12 L/min); no oximeter. First good night with adjusted new Dreamwear mask. Set up from machine on left, over right shoulder in front, not from behind. Nice. Works better.

We left at 8:30 a.m., taking a handout to Hearthstone about upcoming Geography Department events, two plates of goodies: one with 2 dozen cookies and the other with a dozen halved donuts. Hearthstone provides the coffee and hot water for tea or hot chocolate.

John came home from the meeting to work on projects, and I drove myself to Yakima for laser treatment on my right foot’s toenails. On my way home, I stopped off at Les Schwab, got my 2014 Forester tires rotated, and turned in snow chains for my old 2004 Subaru that I had never used. I had the receipt from 2008, and they took them and credited my credit card for $73.89. Currently, the cost of chains is in the $90 range, but my current tires would be larger and require a bigger size of chains that would cost even more. I do not wish to drive in conditions where chains are necessary on an all-wheel drive vehicle, so I didn’t discuss an exchange. Returned home by a neighbor’s to deliver some candies bought for her from Costco.

Now tonight I will turn around and drive back to play music this evening at Hearthstone (where I was for this morning’s 9:00 a.m. meeting). May go by Super 1 to see if they have any donuts/pastry/baked-things marked down from the day’s cabinet selections. At $7.98 / dozen, it is nice to get them for $4.98. They seem to have stopped putting chopped nuts on any – or maybe those are the ones folks buy at full price.

Wednesday, Nov 11

For Nov 10 CPAP. Reported figures. 8 hrs 17 min with AHI=0.60 Events: 5 H, 15 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=19 L/min); no oximeter.

We took off for Yakima first to go to Costco for gasoline, before my cardiologist appointment, to eat lunch, and to shop. Then we went catawampus across a big intersection to Lowe’s, to look at a few things. We did not buy anything but they have stuff we didn’t know existed and stuff that makes you wonder. A leisurely look might be fun.

John went with me to the Yakima Heart Center. First, was to meet with Buffy Sawyer, a Physician Assistant (PA), who is well versed in cardiology. She first examined me and reported on the findings of all my recent tests. All systems are go, and my “numbers” were overall very good. Great news that my ejection fraction (EF**) of my heart (learned from the Echocardiogram) is ~33-35%. Five years ago it was at 25%. Healthy individuals have a value for the EF above 55%. This reading is great for me with my past history of congestive heart failure.
** The left ventricle is the heart’s main pumping chamber, so ejection fraction is usually measured only in the left ventricle (LV). An LV ejection fraction of 55 percent or higher is considered normal. An LV ejection fraction of 50 percent or lower is considered reduced. (Mayo Clinic)

After her discussion and listening to my heart and lungs, my own cardiologist (Dr. Kim) came in to consult and listen to it, as well. He reviewed the same test results that she had discussed with us. He and she determined a change in medications (increased dosage of Metoprolol and adding Allopurinal, for lower uric acid in my blood). Mainly, the discussion centered on my doing well enough NOT to qualify me for an extra wire implant from the new unit to the upper part of my heart’s side where the other wire currently is. This changes the surgery from major, overnight required, to an easier and faster procedure. Take out the Biotronik defibrillator unit (whose battery lasted 5.5 yrs), and replace with a smaller Boston Scientific unit, which has a longer-lived battery (9-10 years). I’m obviously thrilled, that I can go home (John driving), after release. The surgeon expects it to be only a 1/2 hour surgery.

I check in at 8:00 a.m. to Yakima Memorial Hospital, December 18, and the surgery is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. I cannot eat anything after midnight, but I can drink a little water.

Thursday, Nov 12

For Nov 11 CPAP. Reported figures. 8 hrs 25 min with AHI=0.24 Events: 2 H, 16 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=11 L/min); no oximeter.

For John, today was work again outside. He finished loading a split cord of the “new” wood, Ponderosa pine, to take over to a friend’s house a little over a mile away to put on her porch.

For me, today was all about music and apples. Before the music started, I gave a box of Honeycrisp apples to one of our guitar players who drives each week to join us, from Cle Elum (30 miles away). Our group met at Meadows Place and entertained a happy bunch of residents. We had a new singer join us with her 3 yr old son, and our flute player with her 3 yr old girl was there too. We had a male singer, three guitar players, and me on the fiddle. From there I went to my pharmacy for my meds, and then succeeded in getting apples to a gal in the community for baskets she is making for thanks to six people influential in our community of providing volunteer service to others. From there, on my way home, I stopped by the home or the widow of one of my colleagues in Geography at CWU. She loves Honeycrisp apples as well and had picked up a few from the senior center we had taken in. I was able to help her open a mailed package she could not open. It specifically said, “Do not use scissors.” Weird, unless they were trying to protect the scantily tissue paper-wrapped cashmere sweater inside.

Cool receipt today of the after picture of a give several weeks ago on the BNE (Buy Nothing Ellensburg) site. I made a collage for comparison.

Left photo you have seen before, and the right is from its new house, where it’s being used for an old record player stand. It was ready to be packed in the truck heading to the transfer station, when John asked me what it was, and I said I thought a record player stand. I am so happy it found a new happy home. We have no room for it in our house.

It wasn’t wet this morning so John finished the cord of the “new” wood. While cutting the larger diameter pieces he noticed the saw wants to cut at an angle. He commented: “I will have to do more than just a quick file to the cutters – flip the bar and check it for faults, and file the depth control or gauges. The cutters are likely in need of more uniform shape or a couple hit something hard – like a stone. Ouch!”

Friday, Nov 13

For Nov 12 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 56 min with AHI=0.72 Events: 5 H, 13 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=17 L/min); no oximeter.

I dressed in my patriotic flag vest for a post celebration of Veteran’s Day at the Senior Center. The program included a lunch, with meatloaf, peas, potato, and a colorful red, white, and blue dessert. Eleven Veterans were honored. I stayed for my SAIL (Stay Active and Independent for Life) exercise class and received more compliments on my vest. {Click on photo to see larger image.}

Left is Katrina Douglas, Director of the Adult Activity Center (Ellensburg’s “Senior” Center), her husband, David Douglas, our Master of Ceremony, me (who took photos for the staff because they were busy serving us). The photo on the right was my close-up of the certificate made by an AmeriCorps volunteer there to present to the eleven veterans who went to the front of the room and shared their story — of the branch of the military, the years, the location, and anything else they wished to share. It was rather fascinating. The neatest was the oldest one there, who is 101 and totally with it. His name is Louis Kollmeyer. He was a CWU faculty member for 25 years and the chair of the Art Department. Below he is with his wife, Faye, who is in my SAIL exercise class. She is 98, and in great health, one of the most flexible and active in our class, but she has macular degeneration. She recognizes us by our walk and our talk. She’s known around town by many people because she was a Realtor here for years.

Louis Kollmeyer—101 yr old veteran 2015

Go into this one below about a minute into the video to see Kollmeyer’s comment about his age. This starts with another veteran’s story from Jim Cummings.
Hereeers Jimmy!

Saturday, Nov 14

For Nov 12 CPAP. Reported figures. 3 hrs 44 min with AHI=0.54 Events: 2 H, 2 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min); no oximeter. Awoke at 3:00 a.m. to go down the hall to the guest bathroom, and tried to put the mask back already connected to the hose, back on my head. That didn’t work, so I removed it. The set-up is more involved than I wanted in the middle of the night.

John was up after the rain stopped, working on the fence that will, again, allow the horses’ access to the heated water tank. There is still a small amount of water in the center ditch for the horses, so they will need access to this tank when the water stops and/or freezing happens. Most of the fence is ready and he is working on a small gate that in a past life was a pallet. I haven’t taken any photos recently. Maybe when the sun shines, I will try, but rain is in tomorrow’s forecast. Today was a gray day.

This afternoon we left for the 90th birthday party dinner for a friend, Gloria, given by her daughter and her husband at their home about 20 minutes from us. Fun time with 16 people present. Actually, her sister Shirley’s birthday is Nov 17 and hers was Nov 11. Her sister is visiting from CA until the first week in December. She will be 86. We had homemade lasagna, salad, bread, fresh fruit skewers, various pickled things, and a piece of chocolate-frosted white layered cake.

Table of honor—Cindy, Gloria (90), Phyllis, Shirley (86)

Cindy and Phyllis live in the part of Seattle quite close to where my grandparents built their house in the early 1900s – when Fauntleroy Way was a trolley line.

Here’s Fauntleroy – West Seattle
Two videos follow for your enjoyment.

Gloria’s Introduction of Guests at her Party

Then, Happy Birthday song to Gloria (90th) and her sister Shirley (86th). Link — sing along

Sunday, Nov 15

For Nov 14 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 2 min with AHI=0.40 Events: 2 H, 9 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=17 L/min); no oximeter.

Rain began and the wind was blowing about 8:30 a.m. Just before 9:00 a.m., snow started falling making the already started rain, slushy. John put on a Safari hat over a knitted cap to go take care of the horse feeding.

We had a nice phone call from John’s brother, Dick and his wife, Kit, in San Jose’.

I will end this week with the story of my new CPAP mask I’m still learning to use. I thought I had found the best alternative for me, with a nasal pillow, (the AirFit P10), but it started chafing my nostrils. I have now switched to one called Dreamwear, pointed out to me by a friend who also uses a CPAP machine. This mask has nothing entering the nostrils. The compressed air hose connector is on the top of my head and not beneath my chin. It has been a little worrisome to get used to the connection above, but when properly set, the mask provides a more comfortable and definitely quieter sleep.

The story started over a week ago with the wrongly sized head gear. The medical supply place allowed me to request a replacement of the a Medium I was given for a Small, and it was drop-shipped to me, arriving Friday, Nov 6. I didn’t manage to get it set correctly until Tuesday night this week. The picture collage below will give you an idea and I will describe a little bit more beneath it (especially for my friends and relatives with whom we share CPAP evaluation information). I’m serving as the guinea pig for this newly released mask (also evaluating it for my medical supplier).

The shot on the left shows the new mask with the air tube connecter on the top of the headpiece. That is awkward and “weighty” on the head because of the weight of the long (somewhat heavy) compressed air tubing that connects to the CPAP machine. The one on the left does not yet have the soft flannel pads attached to the cheek straps. The one on the right shows the cheek pads added to the plastic straps. Now, I have taken the new pads that came with the smaller headgear and added them to the top plastic pieces across the top of my head on both sides. That seems to work quite well. The disadvantage is I have to put my mask on, while disconnected from the tubing, adjust the pillow behind my head and move the tubing across my chest, and then over my right shoulder and back over the pillow, to take the weight off the top of my head. The top of my head is still very thin on hair from the shock to my system (I guess) 5 years ago from the heart valve replacement surgery. My hair thinning/loss is not related to drugs, such as chemo and others cause, but I definitely have very thin hair on top still. I have used all the tricks of the trade, and faithfully use Nioxin shampoo. While it is a little better, it still is not what it used to be. Age certainly is not a factor! My sleep is better with this mask than any of the five I have tried (and suffered with, since October 2014). I hope the success story continues.

Right before our brunch, 3 resident deer arrived out back. John carried out my leftover tomatoes I decided were past their prime. I had been eating about 4/day (they are small) until yesterday, when it was tougher to find enough good ones. Below is a collage I took through the window on our new patio door.

Notice the flying tomato over the top of the post at John’s elbow, headed at the little buck, with a doe looking on. The right shows a few on the ground and one to the right of his right foot and another in front of him. It didn’t take them long to eat up the remainder and move on.

John went out while there’s still light to clean out the horse trough to set up for the horses to have water with a heater as the temperatures decrease. I noticed the sun came out so I went out in 40° temps to walk around his newest fence/gate project.

The sun didn’t last long, but this shows the cleaning materials, and John in the background near the horse trough, in front of the old red barn. In the foreground is the fence supported by pallet structures. And, below is a very short tour around to a gate near the rest of the fence that needs 30 feet completed before the horses are released to this area.

Walk about along with Nancy

On my return trip, I walked around the back of the new garden and admired our little resident buck, laying inside (John opened the gate so all the deer could nibble off and prune the strawberry plants). The buck was the only one inside as I walked around. Others were there, but outside the fence.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan