Keeping track

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Sunday, Feb 7

For Feb 6 CPAP. Reported figures 5 hrs 31 min with AHI=0.54. Events: 3 H, 2 CSR, 12 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=20 L/min); oximeter on & AOK.

John started morning chores and I started eyelid/eye doctoring and sending emails to people about this blog. Some folks prefer to obtain an email notice and link, so if that appeals to you, let me know. As soon as it is published, I receive an email from WordPress that I can forward. Currently, I’m only forwarding to one person who requested it to keep from having to go to her computer (I guess from her iPhone or iPad). We have neither so cannot experience the issue.

I need to coordinate music for Anniversary Dance of the Blue Agates Round and Square Dance club, to be held at the Ellensburg Fairgrounds, April 2, at 6 p.m. and invite those from previous year’s playing, knowing we have limited space on the stage.

John came in from outside chores and fixed an omelet, hash browns, last of the zucchini bread from the 50s party, and ham. I am cleaning kitchen dishes that piled up after I cut my finger. John did a load yesterday, but there are still more. We go through many dishes when you include four cat dishes twice a day (some days). Occasionally, one of the orange cats will not show twice / day. And, very occasionally, one of the orange ones will not show for a couple of days.

Just received a call from Jeri Conklin still at a field trial. She called to say Daisy took a 4th place in Amateur Gun Dog with 15 starters. Great news. Pictures to follow. She only had one bird, it was about 4 baby quail, in a covey, running all around her and not getting up to fly. Finally, Jeri managed to stop chasing them and throwing rocks to make them fly, and crawled in the bush to flush one, blanked it (fired her blank pistol), and Daisy held through it all.

This was Jeri’s report on Facebook:

What a busy weekend this was. I have lots of pictures to post and it will take some time as I shot over 1600. But to start you off, the San Diego Brittany Club Field Trial at Camp H, California City, CA. Proud to announce the 4th place winner of the Amateur Gun Dog – drum roll please – Cedaridge Kip’s Camelot Shay Tre’ JH – Ms Daisy! Nancy Hultquist got the first telephone call and we couldn’t be prouder of our girl. She had pretty much shut down last year on birds and it has been a slow journey to get her fire lighted again [breaking a young dog at two can cause that — and Jeri has been working hard with her to get her through the situation–thanks, Jeri], but her spirit was running high today. The wind decided to blow gales at the start of our braces. Thank you Steve Crabb for scouting Daisy. At first I thought, no, Daisy doesn’t need a scout, then she topped one of the ridges and she was gone! I have never seen her run that far, that fast. Steve kept track of her as she ran a nice forward race. She did start to tire when we turned into the wind, but then she caught scent of the water tank about 3/4ths of the way through. She went “snorkeling,” as Steve said. She would have been diving had it been any deeper. She caught her second wind and was off. We were coming up the last ridge and she had been birdless till then. She quickly went on point. She was solid, her little tail as tall as it could be. It was a covey of 4-5 small quail. We did the chase from bush to bush. They ran back at her. I was throwing rocks at them trying to get them to flush as they just stayed packed tight together and moved as a mass. Finally, I just climbed in the bush and one flushed, so I blanked it off and then the other 4 ran! Daisy held through the whole process. I watered her, walked her off, whoa’d her so I could get on my trusty steed Westy ,who belongs to Linda McDonald, I whistled her off, she shot straight up the road and the judge called “Time.” I was never so happy to hear that! I let Daisy run in to the water tub. I couldn’t quit telling her how proud I was of her. She came a long way, she is definitely back. Thank you Judges Arlette Vogel Hennessey and Raul Pineda for recognizing Daisy today. Thank you Linda McDonald for loaning me Westy! Thank you Linda Ouellette for all your encouragement this past week; Craig & Leslie Troncale or all those cold mornings of training her. Photo credits to Kurt Conklin.

Collage above of breakaway, Daisy (Tre’) checking in from ridge, and on point of covey of baby quail.

Start to finish – Jeri & Daisy at stock tank, Daisy, Jeri, and Judge Arlette Hennessey holding 4th place ribbon from Amateur Gun Dog event in California.

Monday, Feb 8

For Feb 7 CPAP. Reported figures 6 hrs 44 min with AHI=0.00. Events: 0 H, 10 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=12 L/min); oximeter on entire time AOK.

John was out this morning with Dave Hazlett, come to keep horses hooves in proper form. Just trimming. They no longer need steel on because we are not riding.

Early, I sent the photographs I took at the AAC Fifties party last Friday, so the staff could put the chosen ones on their Facebook page. This morning they were posted (link below). You saw a few last week in the blog, but many more are on the public Facebook page. You do not have to have a Facebook account to access it:
AAC Fifties party

Scroll to the Soda Pop Shop: 1950’s Potluck page – – old folks at a green table, click on the big image and a photo gallery will load. Put your pointer near the top of the red jacket, on the right. Click the arrow (sidewise V) to see the next image. We are in those images – they don’t appear to be numbered, so just fast forward to see our stunning faces.

Nancy stayed home with paperwork and clothing sorting (to get rid of extras for our upcoming clothing share with BNE group, planned March 22). I have been helping coordinate pick-up of clothing and delivering to the sorting site at a woman’s home in Ellensburg. I’m only picking up things from people who are on my route to or from Ellensburg. Others are helping from different sections of town, or in Kittitas.

This news arrived today, from a couple of weeks ago.

Above is a picture of Ginny (my dog Daisy’s mom, whose pedigree goes back to our lines) with her first place Open All-Age win (16 starters) at the Greater Phoenix Brittany Club trial and her 3rd place win (60 starters) at the American Brittany Club’s Chukar Classic Grand Open Limited All Age. Ginny is owned by Jeri Conklin, in CA. The photo on the right is taken of Ginny on point at the field trial she won, Feb 2.

Tuesday, Feb 9

For Feb 8 CPAP. Reported figures 6 hrs 4 min with AHI=1.48. Events: 9 H, 1 CSR, 17 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=17 L/min); oximeter AOK entire time.

While John was out to open the gate to be ready to leave for pruning, at 7:11 PST, I received a call from this number 011-202-7666. A recorded message gave me a number to call (202) 766 7168, and stated, “This is your final call to inform you the IRS is filing a lawsuit.” I figured this was a scam and I did not call the number. The IRS does not contact people that way. (The caller ID said OUT OF AREA). Just in case it was Cameron calling with information before John left at 7:30, I answered. Normally, I do not answer calls with that caller ID.

Normally, we would go to the Emeriti Geographers meeting from 9:00 to 11:00, but this week our “leader” Jim Brooks is in the hospital from a fall. We decided to cancel until he is well and able to rejoin us. John wasn’t going to be able to attend anyway, because that is the starting date this year for 5-6 weeks of wine grapevine pruning at White Heron — 3 -4 days/week from 9:00 a.m. to noon. He drives 1 hr 20 min to get there. Another person has a one hour drive and another about 15 minutes.

I left a little early to pick up two bags of clothes for the share on my way to AAC today. I succeeded and then dropped them off at our “leader’s” house on the way to town. I had time so I took our voting ballots to the Courthouse, and to drive by to check Jerrol’s (a local office supply place) to spend my free $10 coupon. I freely got three 3-ring notebooks, two 1.0″ and one 1.5″. Some of my music books are falling apart and have been duct taped more than once.

I wore John’s Bronco shirt to get a photo to give to the AAC’s Director’s husband (Hawkman) from the Sportzapalooza party, where he was wanting us to root in the Super Bowl for the Broncos. Interestingly, back in 1970, John and I attended a pre-season Bronco game in Denver. A University of Iowa grad student, Dick Smith, was at Longs Peak (CO; 14,259 ft.) as a rescue climber.

Climbers fall and need carried off

So we started that trip from Iowa City. Denver, in a straight line, is 50 miles to the southeast. We drove to about 9,400 feet and that is as high as we got. Later, on that trip, we went a few places higher (Trail Ridge Road to 12,183 feet) and we walked a little up there to take photos in the tundra. I used those photos in geography classes for years following.

I posed in front of the wooden intarsia (search ‘images’ with the word) horse there in the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center, AAC, for Seniors. I put the artist’s information as a separate picture on the right in the collage. It is on the wall to the bottom right of the horse and rider, but I enlarged so you could read it. On the left is a wooden sculptured fish.

Jazzercise started at 2:00 at the AAC. Forty-five minutes of hard stretching work occurred today and I was rather sore from it.

I stopped by Grocery Outlet for ice cream on my way north to Rainier off Cora to pick up hangers and clothes for the BNE share. I met the woman giving things for another member I would see tomorrow, and I picked up my hangers (heavy-duty ones she had for me and a couple of tote bags for music). While I was there she gave me clothes for the share and offered me a wool coat, if I wanted it. It is beautiful. Below are some snapshots of various parts of the coat that John photographed. He loved it and tried following the label (La Mode Super; fait au Canada), meaning something like super style or fashion – made in Canada. He always tries to find what such things are – like maybe made in Asia with a Canadian tag, or what? He searched around the web and found nothing to identify its history – except a company that was “La Mode Apparel Group” and since 2002 known as “Golf Apparel Brands, Inc. (GABI).” The web site shows “La Mode” as a brand. Anyway, here is my gift. I wore it Wednesday and got many compliments.

If anyone has any idea of where this wool coat/jacket might have originated, please share your ideas. The person who gave it to me said it was gifted to her by a friend, who had bought it at Goodwill. The 2 bears decoration is 14 inches wide on the lower back.

On my way to town tonight, I dropped off the bags I picked up for the clothing share, to clear out my trunk. I was on my way to play music at Hearthstone with The Connections. I was sick for last month’s dates, but am all right from that (I thought, but we seem to be getting cold symptoms again), and my latest health concerns (with my eyelid and tooth) will not affect my participation. We had a nice appreciative audience, most able to sing along, but only three other leader singers were present, with a pianist and me on violin (I also sing). Another regular couple in the group was admiring spring flowers in Death Valley.

I ran by Super 1 for fried chicken for dinner and a dozen donuts at the reduced price. The chicken was good and made a couple of meals for each of us.

Wednesday, Feb 3

For Feb 2 CPAP. Reported figures 5 hrs 47 min with AHI=0.52. Events: 3 H, 1 CSR, 10 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=12 L/min); oximeter on, AOK.

John left at 7:40 a.m. to go pruning at White Heron.

So much for telephone connections with Dental Surgeon’s office supposed to come at 9:30. I called at 10 and she was not in today.

I picked up Gloria to take around town with me today, and returned her empty plate from last week’s cookies. John told me I should have filled it with something.

We made it to the Food Bank where I got her coffee and a blueberry tart. I wore my new coat given to me by a BNE member (described yesterday) when I picked up heavy duty coat hangers and another bag of hangers for someone else. Additionally, she had some items for the clothing share. We had many participants and an involved audience — woohooing, applauding, and singing. It was neat.

After eating some of the pasta lunch, and loading my car with food going to a family in my neighborhood, Gloria and I drove by a BNE member’s home to take coat hangers and leave large plastic bags. The husband had packed a bunch of stuff in a large box too big for me to handle. He’s going to repack in the bags for pickup after our class.

We had about 17 people in the SAIL exercise class. Left there and went back by to grab the clothes from where I left the garbage bags earlier. Two went into the backseat on top of my violin case and beside it. This was on our way to her home, which is on the way to mine.

I came home only a short time before we left for the Hal Holmes Center at the Ellensburg Public Library to attend the first lecture in the series of four new geology ones by Nick Zentner: John and I sat on the front row, which was exceptionally close to the stage, as can be seen in the videos below.

2016 Zentner Feb New Lectures

First, on 2/10/16, Are We Really Overdue for the Big One (Earthquake)?

Green Board, Parts I & II:
I: Introduction, 29 minutes

II: 15 minutes more of chalk talk

Nick’s Visuals, with slides and videos
First 29 minutes

Visuals continued; 2 minutes

In case you know anyone that is interested in this issue, these are being taped and will be spruced up professionally, at least for the first two, and we will provide links when available. For now, you can listen in from my lap in the front row. The rows began close to the stage, to allow for the large number of people expected. His lectures always fill a large auditorium.

Thursday, Feb 4

For Feb 3 CPAP. Reported figures 6 hrs 55 min with AHI=0.87. Events: 6 H, 1 CSR, 17 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=12 L/min); oximeter on AOK.

John left at 7:40 a.m. to go pruning at White Heron.

Our Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends arrive today at 1:30 p.m. at the Meadows Place. I called in an early morning’s count for chairs, for 9 total, but with 7 armless chairs. They fixed chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, and a cute little young boy passed them out to the residents. I added Let me Call you Sweetheart to our February playlist for Valentine’s Day.

By the time I got to the end of the play set, my voice was completely hoarse, and my arms tired from fiddling.

In preparation for Valentine’s Day, our flute player made her daughter Haley’s hair into a braided heart. The residents were thrilled as she went around and backed up to them so they could get a proper view.

Friday, Feb 5

For Feb 4 CPAP. Reported figures 6 hrs 58 min with AHI=1.01. Events: 6 H, 1 CSR, 1 OA, 14 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=16 L/min); oximeter on AOK.

Weather did not permit John to go pruning today.

I wasn’t feeling up to par, so not much got done.
John took me in a heavy fog to pick up a large bag of clothes from a gal on the BNE site, who lives only a mile away.

I stumbled through the rest of the day, and finally at 3:00 laid down for a 20-min power nap, and awoke 1 hr 20 min later. I felt rested, but needed to doctor my eyes. They are not feeling well. I still have another week to go on the medications from last Friday, but I notice no change. I guess I will go back to my regular doctor next week for another opinion. He was out of town when I originally went for an evaluation.

I cancelled meeting friends (in EBRG for a daughter’s participation in the Spirit of the West fiddling contest) because I figured I needed the rest, but mostly not to expose them to any germs (more details below in Saturday’s write-up).

I searched some for a song the Kingston Trio did, but did not succeed; was looking for Charlie on the M.T.A., or The M.T.A. song. Dave (our Bass player) found some parts on line and sent to me, tonight after I was off the computer, and more on Saturday morning, but we are still missing the score for part of it. They often do that on line, requesting $5.50 to get the entire score. It’s not worth that to me when I can play it by ear, and print the lyrics and chords for the use of the other group members. Our flute player has a great singing voice, so if we don’t have notes for her, she just sings along.
I managed to load the dishwasher full, and succeeded in that chore.

Saturday, Feb 13

For Feb 12 CPAP. Reported figures 7 hrs 22 min with AHI=4.48. Events: 33 H, 15 CSR (w/6 & 7m one), 13 RERA. Significant period of major mask leakage; oximeter on entire time. But, I went back to sleep for over 2 hrs, without my oximeter. I am not at all sure what caused those extremely high bad numbers.

As mentioned yesterday, I cancelled going to the Fiddling Contest associated with the Spirit of the West to support the daughter of a friend (Muriel) from my WA Old Time Fiddling class summer workshop for 22 years, and her other daughter, Trinity, now a geography student at CWU. I was in bad shape yesterday, and I did not want to expose the mom (who just had stem cell replacement) to any germs with her compromised immune system.

I just heard Sunday morning that Noemi got a 3rd place in the competition in the Junior Division. She is 16. Her mom recorded this and put on her Facebook site.

Noemi plays fiddle

She’s playing three songs there in the first round Saturday morning — Cattle in the Cane, Nancy’s Waltz, and Texas Serenade.

I planned on working on The M.T. A. song from the Kingston Trio, as mentioned yesterday, Dave Perkins sent me some help, but I never got to it. As well, I need to work on the Banks of the Ohio, supposedly an Irish ballad, to add to our songs (with Loch Lomond) for our March Irish collection for the Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends group.

I’m having trouble uploading my oximeter data from last night. I hope the third time is a charm. It wasn’t; more likely was the ninth.

Sunday, Feb 14 (click here) HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY

In case you haven’t read this at the beginning, then please click on the words above and read our Valentine Day’s Card to you.

PLEASE be sure to sign your name to your reply, or it will just come to me as being from me, and I won’t know who saw it.

It’s overcast with slight drizzles here today, with temperatures in the 40s. Certainly different from our friends and relatives back east. And they are not having the difficulties of some folks in Asia. Jeju Island—just south of the mainland of South Korea (Charleston, SC is similar) When you get zero snow in 32 years (wonder about the time before that), then any snow of a couple of inches can bring everything to a halt. The site linked below claims they got 4.7 inches and stranded about 86,000 travelers.
South Korea’s Jeju Island

There is a very nice photo from NASA’s Terra satellite.

For Feb 13 CPAP. Reported figures 7 hrs 25 min with AHI=0.54. Events: 3 H, 1 CSR, 10 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=11 L/min); oximeter on entire time with normal graphs of SpO2 and pulse. Certainly different from yesterday’s concerning readings (for unknown reasons).

John’s out working on yard chores, and I’m trying to complete this blog, so I can switch to other pressing paperwork chores I have not felt up to doing the past week. I just looked out the window and saw him carrying a large piece of frozen snow pieces dug out from between the garage and big shed. I’ll see if I can get a photo. He’s dumping it over the pile at the end of our driveway. The first time I saw him the piece was probably 4 feet long, but I didn’t have my camera. You’ll have to view a smaller piece in the collage below.

Lower left is one of the several deer resting on snow just east of the house. They are eating pine needles and hay at our place. We think a family ½ mile away have been throwing apples to them.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, Jan 31

For Jan 30 CPAP. Reported figures 5 hrs 3 min with AHI=0.99. Events: 5 H, 0 CSR, 6 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=15 L/min); oximeter on entire time and additional 3 hrs -24 min, with lower SpO2 off the machine and normal pulse.

Monday, Feb 1

For Jan 31 CPAP. Reported figures, 7 hrs 1 min with AHI=0.71. Events: 5 H, 1 CSR, 17 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=10 L/min); oximeter on entire time with fine stats.

John took care of the animals, I took a shower, and then we both soaked and washed our feet for the 10-week trimming via the doctor and helpers up from Yakima, saving us a long drive. Being still early in 2016 our Medicare deductible hasn’t been paid so this comes right out of the bank account. We got there and were taken right in together, although we are scheduled 15 minutes apart. We get to visit for 30 minutes about all sorts of things because the trimming doesn’t occupy much of his mind. He had been to meetings in Chicago. He learned about genetic/DNA variations and combinations of viruses and bacteria and how standard exams find the most prolific agent and miss many others. When the full range of biological agents are identified, better treatment is possible. I’ll see him on the Ides of March and follow up, for laser surgery, after we are down in Yakima to see my cardiologist. Nice when we can combine trips. We’ll hit Costco too.

I had worked in the morning setting up a pickup south of town on a freely given bar stool that matches one we got last year. We managed to pick it up today, after going by Safeway pharmacy and filling out the paperwork to get my Telmisartan medicine at 1/3 the price. I mentioned it in last week’s blog that we’ll pay $62.90 for 3 months, rather than $206.01. Then we went to Super 1 for some ground beef for dinner, and some cauliflower on sale for $.88/lb, after buying some last week, at Safeway for thrice the price. Seems folks are eating more cauliflower just as bad weather decreased the harvest. John plans making a casserole for dinner.
On home by Grocery Outlet where we get great prices on a couple of food items we use regularly, and then I stopped at Brooklyn’s Pizzeria and bought a nice pizza for John’s birthday (from a coupon sent to us on a reward program I joined on my birthday last year, but couldn’t use until 2016). While waiting for them to cook it, I took a $4 gift card into a neighboring business that I thought was ONLY selling a buffet of Frozen Yogurt with a variety of toppings. I was surprised to find out that the shop had sandwiches, drinks, and pastries. I checked them and found a large brownie (4″ square) and a very large peanut butter cookie. I bought them for our dessert for lunch and dinner, using my gift card plus $.23.

Once home, John had planned to clean out the Chinook wood stove, and I took a video of the process. It’s below. It lasts for 7 minutes and is a little longer because the ash-plug didn’t fall into its hole easily, possibly because of a piece of charred wood that had not dropped.

John Emptying Ashes from Wood Stove

Because some of the fragments were still hot, the whole lot got dumped in a foot of snow, above a pile of yard litter. Later the mixture will be widely dispersed in the garden. There won’t be a lot of ash, so this will not be a problem.
Wood Ash in the Garden

Tuesday, Feb 2

For Feb 1 CPAP. Reported figures, 5 hrs 44 min with AHI=0.70. Events: 4 H, 0 CSR, 2 PP, 12 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=15 L/min); oximeter on entire time, 8 hr, 5 m, with an AHI=0..49. The extra.3 hrs were okay with high SpO2 and normal pulse.

John got all the morning chores done, and came back in to heat up leftover pizza from yesterday’s lunch. I frosted the large peanut butter cookie for dessert. Our day was organized based on a 3 P.M. appointment in west Yakima.

Nice trip down, with John driving. We left about 12:30 and took an hour to get to Costco, where we filled up with gas (only 7 gals @ $1.699/gal) — WOW. Too bad we couldn’t fill up the Ford Truck at that price. For once, the parking lot was not full. John went ahead of me and I stopped off at the return merchandise desk to ask a question about an SD card (for my camera) I bought the last time. It was not as large as advertised, at 64 Gigabytes. One has to read the fine print, ’cause what’s on the front is not the whole truth. I should have known that (I sort of did), but the drop seemed excessive. When I got through, and caught up, John was talking with a sales person about new laptops currently on sale. They have a nice one for $150 off until March 3. John’s going to investigate. It seems one should spend time typing on the keyboard for suitability for the user (me). Most of the rest of the stuff inside is very similar (at like price), commoditized, and likely has more capability than I need.
We had a list of things we needed and also needed to get 3 items for a friend. For a change, everything we went for was in stock. We were happy to find strapping tape (we use a lot of) on sale for $7.00 off a package of 8 rolls. The automatic dishwasher gel we like was also on sale, so that was nice. Apple strudel was as well, so I bought a box of 16 for the Emeriti Geographers meeting I will attend alone this coming Tuesday. John will be starting his wine grapevine pruning that day at White Heron. Good we took and filled up his car.

From there we drove west to the Oral Surgeon’s office, west on Nob Hill Blvd. We spent 2.5 hours there in consultation for two dental implants for me, on the bottom back left, for the gold crown I lost Christmas eve, and the one missing in front for over a decade. I decided then not to have a bridge installed, and I’m not sure implant technology had reached the level it has today.

More about that later. I had previously completed a long medical history for them and the chief assistant had been in contact with Dr. Schmitt (personal Phy.) for his assessment. Basically, I have to wait 3 months from my defibrillator surgery to begin the tooth surgery. So we are looking at after March 18. It will take about an hour, and John has to drive me down, stay in the building during the procedure, and drive me home. Part of the procedure is to build new bone in my jaw by adding bone fragments and my blood platelets to promote growth of bone to seat the screw implants. Then it has to “grow & heal” for about 3 or 4 months. After the waiting time, and approval, my own dentist will construct a crown for it.
In the image below, the left side is natural, the right side is the reconstituted view.

From there home, taking some pretty sunset photos, (a bit different from the one at our house in last week’s blog).

These above are views from I-82 and on the right is descending into the Kittitas Valley, with the Mt Stuart range in view, and Mt. Stuart on the far right, with a peak elevation of 9,415 feet.

We were hoping to arrive before dark but barely made it. Ebony was in her station waiting for grain, apple, and carrots. John took care of them, fed the three outside cats, and hauled in all the groceries we had purchased.

Once home, we had a treat of a frosted brownie with two cashews on top. Then, for dinner, we had leftovers of beef casserole, with peaches, and a Honeycrisp apple. For our final dessert, we had some Dutch cherry pie to go with ice cream. No comments from anyone out there.

Wednesday, Feb 3

For Feb 2 CPAP. Reported figures, 7 hrs 52 min with AHI=0.64. Events: 5 H, 13 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=20 L/min); oximeter on entire time, AOK.

Started with John doing his normal feed the animals chores of the morning, and then he has to turn around and do it all again in the evening, but Ebony only gets her special vittles in the late afternoon. Deer are sharing hay with the horses and eating the needles as John trims the driveway pines. We should send a bill to the wildlife department. [Actually, providing feed is not advised. It causes problems.]

I took off before 11:00 to pick up my friend, Gloria, to take around town today.
Food Bank start. We had several extra singers there and a nice visit with friends and newly met folks. I was asked by food bank personnel (who know where I live) to carry away and deliver a large amount of food for neighbors. On our way to SAIL exercise, I dropped off 4 of John’s smaller shirts to a gal who gave us a bunch of cinder blocks last year. Then by the US Bank for Gloria to get some cash for paying for her bus rides to see her hubby in an assisted living facility in Cle Elum. On our way to SAIL exercise class, I dropped off an old Pyrex dish from the late ’70s to a gal who just had her 7th child. It was a special promotion by Parkay margarine, made by Pyrex with a spring pattern, in 1977.

SAIL was fine with about 17 people there. After that, I had to go by the hospital lab for a blood draw for my INR. A call later in the day noted the value was 1.9, a little lower than they would like. Too bad I didn’t have some wine with dinner last night (it raises the INR). Unfortunately, I have to go back in 2 weeks for a repeat draw. Then off to Bi-Mart. Gloria needed a couple of things, and my neighbor did too. By then it was snowing quite hard and I took her home. Earlier when I picked her up, I had given her things we brought for her at Costco. She had made nicely frosted chocolate cookies to send home with me.

Thursday, Feb 4

For Feb 3 CPAP. Reported figures, 6 hrs 31 min with AHI=0.61. Events: 4 H, 2 CSR, 11 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=6 L/min); oximeter on entire time.

While washing dishes this morning I sliced my right ring finger on a cat food can. I couldn’t stop the bleeding with pressure, but managed to slow it and John wrapped a Band-Aid on it. Glad it was not my violin fingering hand, but just the bowing hand.

I went to REHAB for Fiddlers & Friends music with eight players. We had a good bunch and a happy audience with about six people participating well. Little Haley entertained the crowd, dancing around the room visiting people, and showing them her coloring drawing book.

I delivered a Seahawk’s colors basket to a birthing room in our hospital. It was my first time in that hospital wing. It was for a someone on the Buy Nothing Ellensburg (BNE) group. On by another home to drop off two bags of clothes to be sorted for our BNE clothing share.

Home to a nice warm wood stove heated den that John started in my absence.

John fixed a nice pot roast for dinner with beef, carrots, cauliflower, potatoes, and mushrooms,with gravy. He toasted some slices of rye with sun-dried tomatoes and put butter and parmesan cheese on top. I took a photo as it was a very pretty dinner.

Friday, Feb 5

For Feb 4 CPAP. Reported figures, 7 hrs 42 min with AHI=0.78. Events: 6 H, 6 CSR, 18 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=14 L/min); oximeter on entire time, AOK.

I finally managed to talk to a person to get my WA Delta Dental login username and password fixed, so that I could see my benefits and claims history activities.

We found clothes to wear today for the ’50s party at the AAC (Senior Center. It was a potluck, so I put cut-up squares of zucchini bread with pineapple in a 1950s spring patterned Pyrex vintage dish. They served us Tuna Fish Casserole as the main dish.

This has both of us smiling in the top photo, but it is out of focus. You can see I have on a mink hat (was my mom’s she got in Canada), and a red wool jacket with black velvet collar I don’t know where I got, a fifties lapel pin and John’s in his black leather jacket with black pants and shirt. We both have on silver jewelry give to us by a former student and his wife — howling wolves motifs from the Wolf Preserve in Northern Idaho.

I added some other collages from the day:

Today I saw another doctor in my eye doctor’s office because my regular one wouldn’t return until 11:45 next Tuesday. I had a bump on my left eyelid that needed attention. Turns out I have Blepharitis, and an external hordeolum (feels like a stye but is a clogged oil gland), but not draining or big and red. I’m now set back $17.98 for an ointment to apply 3 times a day, and a $22 box of 30 scrub lid wipes to use twice/day. I have to put a hot compress on throughout the day. The ointment is Maxitrol. I applied it last night to the outside of my lid, because that was what I understood in the office. However, after reading the accompanying literature and checking on line, I found:

To apply the ointment:
Hold the tube in your hand for a few minutes to warm it up so that the ointment comes out easily. Tilt your head back slightly and pull down gently on your lower eyelid. Apply a thin film of the ointment into your lower eyelid. Close your eye and roll your eyeball around in all directions for 1 to 2 minutes. If you are applying another eye medication, allow at least 10 minutes before your next application.
Do not touch the dropper or tube opening to any surface, including your eyes or hands. The dropper or tube opening is sterile. If it becomes contaminated, it could cause an infection in your eye.

Maybe I will get competent with this procedure after a couple of days. I’m supposed to do it 3 x / day for 2 weeks.

Happily, I no longer have to go to Yakima for my CPAP supplies (every 3 months), because the company has opened an EBRG outlet. It is close to our preferred grocery store. Today, while I awaited my prescription, I went over for replenishment of supplies: new mask, tubing, and filters.

Saturday, Feb 6

For Feb 5 CPAP. Reported figures, 5 hrs 42 min with AHI=0.53. Events: 3 H, 13 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=14 L/min); oximeter on entire time, AOK.

We had a great brunch today of sausage, eggs, heated buttered zucchini bread with pineapple, left over from yesterday’s party, and some pears. The pears came from Grocery Outlet and were grown in China. Neither of us liked them – except the price.

Doctoring eyelids & eye, while John’s out taking care of yard chores.
I’m working on the blog and on photographs to include, while also entering my medical data for the day.

That last picture goes back to memories of high school sweethearts (in the center of the picture) from North Fulton High School in Atlanta, GA, from which I was graduated in 1961. Four years later, in 1965, I traveled to Europe on a Geography Field Trip for 9 weeks, and came back to enter graduate school in Cincinnati where I met John. That same year, the sweethearts from GA were married August 15, 1965. They are Camille (Clements) and Jimmy Sudderth. This past year, they celebrated their 50th Anniversary, and had the beautiful professional photograph taken with their family. Today was Jimmy’s birthday, and when I sent a birthday card, I realized I didn’t have their anniversary date, so I asked for it. Thus, the arrival of the picture in email. 🙂 We are 4 years behind them… well, closer to 3 years now.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, Jan 24

For Jan 23 CPAP. Reported figures, 5 hrs 41 min with AHI=0.35. Events: 2 H, 0 CSR, 6 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min); oximeter on entire time with high SpO2 and normal pulse.

We published the blog at 11:24 a.m. today!

Rainbow on Kitchen Floor, 1-24-16
Rainbow in Motion

Speaking of rainbows, check this out. Late this week (Friday), as we were traveling home, we saw a rainbow, but it was rather washed out. I got home and the same day, my friend from Moscow, ID who hired John and me into one position at the University of Idaho in 1974, Sam M.W. Scripter, posted a photo taken in Moscow on June 15, 2011, from the back of his home. He put it on Facebook today. I asked if I could use it with credits in this blog and he agreed. This is one of the nicest rainbow photographs I have ever seen. I am sure you will agree. I wish I could have seen it in person.

Photo by Sam M.W. Scripter, with Paradise Ridge in the background; Moscow, ID taken 6/15/2011

Now I will start timing chores to keep me going and not spend the rest of the day on only one thing.

John fixed a brunch of sliced ham, mushroom & cheese omelet. We also had a cream-cheese-frosted cinnamon roll of which I cut off most of the roll’s yeasty non-cinnamoned bottom and shared with the dog, even though she doesn’t need any more weight gain.

The sun has shined all day and the temperature is up to 43°. John is outside doing various chores and, after loading the back, he just drove the old truck up the driveway to dump snow near a young pine tree. Now he’s headed to the old red barn to make kindling.

I managed to try on 3 sweaters and decided I would give them to a friend a mile away. Now I am loading dishes to soak and then put in the dishwasher.

Next chore is to read my data from my medical devices, store it, and make graphs, alternating with listening to a version of Four In the Morning that two of our guitar players sang for me to record to fit the music score to their voice version. We think we finally have the chord structure in place, and just needed the correct melody for the few of us playing it..

We had a really spectacular sunset tonight, that John called to my attention, as it was “behind” me, outside our back patio door:

God was truly the exquisite landscape painter tonight. It can’t be seen in this photo but the top of Mt Rainier is out there, 63 miles, on the horizon. [summit elevation of 14,417 ft (4,394 m)]

Monday, Jan 25

For Jan 24 CPAP. Reported figures, 6 hrs 36 min with AHI=0.00. Events: 0 H, 0 CSR, 16 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=12 L/min); oximeter on additional time, extra 3 hrs showing a lowered SpO2 to 85%, when CPAP off.

I called Dr. Schmitt’s office about my possible sinus infection, and my doctor recommended I take Amoxicillin 3 times/day for 10 days. I think not, because that is the only antibiotic I’m allowed and I have significant dental work coming up. I do not want to risk affecting the ability of it to protect my blood stream from bacteria entering as happened in 2009 and caused additional heart valve damage. I healed on my own by the end of this week.

Tuesday, Jan 26

For Jan 25 CPAP. Reported figures, 6 hrs 35 min with AHI=0.15. Events: 1 H, 0 CSR, 4 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=12 L/min); oximeter on entire time.

Many of you know that John volunteers work with WTA, and this announcement just appeared on their website today, with a photo he is in, at Crew Leader College in 2015.

Crew Leader College, Mt. Si in the background, photo by Kindra Ramos. John is in the lower right on the ground.

You have seen this photo before in the blog, but here is a link to the reason it appeared today: Boeing Grant to WTA

John has been an assistant crew leader (ACL) working with folks from Boeing a couple times in the past. This grant is for $40,000 for each of the next two years, for WA trail maintenance activities.

I attended Jazzercise today and it was a tough workout, especially considering I have not been since before my surgery, 12/18. I have been hurting for 4 days following. Afterwards, however, I met another gal from the BNE site to deliver three aluminum pans with plastic tops she plans to use with her kids to start seedlings, and act as little greenhouses. This will be a neat experiment. From there, I went by Super 1 for meds and got a real shock at an increase in my co-pay for one of my necessary heart drugs, Telmisartan. Story immediately below my candy-craving statement.

I soothed my sadness shock by stopping by Bi-Mart for Almond Roca on sale.

Here is my note I wrote to my cardiologist’s nurse, Colleen. It is very important for Dr. Kim to consider a switch from Telmisartan (Micardis). Because of a change in “formulary” at Group Health, my co-pay shot up in the “3rd Tier non-preferred drugs” from November ($11.55), to December ($16.45) to January ($68.67) yesterday, for a ONE month’s supply of the drug.
I HOPE there is another drug (doing what I need), in the first tier category that will be less costly for me for this year, please.
I need Dr. Kim’s advice on which other I could substitute, and I will have the pharmacist run the cost from Group Health. I know I need the medication, but $824 seems quite excessive if something else covers the need.
Please advise. I will continue with this month’s supply as I paid for it and cannot return it.

From the Mayo Clinic, I find examples of Angiotensin II receptor blockers include:
Azilsartan (Edarbi)
Candesartan (Atacand)
Eprosartan (Teveten)
Irbesartan (Avapro)
Losartan (Cozaar)
Olmesartan (Benicar)
Telmisartan (Micardis) — costs Nancy $68.67/month /Group Health
Valsartan (Diovan)

I wrote the above and sent as an email at 8:30 a.m., Wednesday morning.

This response arrived at noon, Wednesday, but I’m putting it here with the story.

Nancy, Dr. Kim asked me to look into other sources. There is a program called GoodRx. You pay cash for meds. In researching the site, it is estimated that your cost for Micardis (Telmisartan) 20 mg, # 90 would be $62.90 at Safeway in Ellensburg. I have a coupon for you that I could mail or try to email to you. You may want to look at site first, GOODRx and let me know how you wish to proceed.

See the rest of the story on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, I stopped to get two bags of baby clothes from a BNE gal for our clothing share coming up in March. While in town and so close to Dominoes Pizza, I picked up a free large two-meat pizza from a coupon I won at the New Year’s AAC event earlier in the year. I picked Philly Beef and Pepperoni, and John added sharp cheddar cheese and mushrooms. Here’s the starting and the final product.

Wednesday, Jan 27

For Jan 26 CPAP. Reported figures, 8 hrs 17 min with AHI=1.09. Events: 9 H, 3 CSR, 17 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=17 L/min); oximeter on entire time, with good SpO2 and normal pulse.

I had arranged to pick up my friend Gloria (who is 90), to drive around town with me and visit places I go on Wednesdays. We started by going for me to deliver and pick up some BNE items on our way to the Food Bank.
We arrived at the Food Bank and went inside to join only 3 others for music making (missing our banjo player from illness). Gloria sat at the table in front of us and had lyrics to the songs, so she sang along. First, we were there early to help setup, so I introduced her to people and the staff, and then got her a cup of coffee. She stayed at the table and several people joined her with their food, but I had told her she could sing along and wait to go though the line with us at 12:30, and we’d eat together. We did. Serving today was a choice of pasta (Chicken Alfredo or Tomato w/sausage, or a little of both). I just had the white. We had bread, salad, a piece of raspberry cheesecake, and lemonade. Our table was full of people with connections to West Seattle or Woodinville, and she really enjoyed reminiscing with them. Some of them had been graduated from the same high school, twenty years apart. She was graduated from high school the year I was born. Later the new director joined us (her name is Brooke), and she also had connections to share about West Seattle. I shared my grandmother’s & grandfather’s story about his carpentry on the Smith Tower, and his building a house at the corner of 44th Ave & SW 102nd St, uphill from the Fauntleroy Electric Trolley stop. It is still there and being kept in good condition by the owner’s son, who lives there, and who is a carpenter.

From there on to SAIL, where we had a nice visit with all in the class, and made it through all the exercises.

Continuing from there, I drove south of town to pick up a gift from the BNE site that I’m going to pass along to a friend when the weather is nicer for a photo op, and while on that end of town, I delivered another gift from the BNE site to a woman. It was a book on building a chicken coop that I “won” on the site by giving the best answer. The giver’s challenge was, “Freely given to the person who can give the best reason the chicken crossed the road.” My response was, “Because the chick wanted to be poultry in motion.”

I returned Gloria to her home on my way home. We enjoyed our time together. Her husband used to be in the SAIL exercise class, but now he is in an assisted-living home in a nearby city. He is 93.

Thursday, Jan 28

For Jan 27 CPAP. Reported figures, 8 hrs 58 min with AHI=1.02. Events: 7 H, 2 CSR, 1 CA, 2 PP, 15 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min). The extra 1 hr was consistent with high SpO2 and normal pulse.

I took a packing box (my defibrillator’s transmitter arrived in) to Hearthstone today for a BNE person to come by and take away to use. I also took plastic coated hangers to a gal for a project she had in mind. She returned a photo two days later with her creation. Here is my collage of the before and after. She made a holder that also dispensed thread from a large spool.

Below is a photo John found on the web. There are many and some are simple, others fancy and commercial.
This one seems historic and authentic.

Another great gift from the BNE site we picked up today, in the previous house of an old colleague, on Anderson Street. Lauren gave me a brand new Honeywell HEPAClean Table Top Air Purifier that she bought for her husband, who never used it for his allergies. She decided to share it with me rather than let it go to waste. We are going to set it up next to my recliner to provide purified air. I am quite excited.

Friday, Jan 29

For Jan 28 CPAP. Reported figures, 4 hrs 55 min with AHI=2.64 . Events: 12 H, 3 CSR, 1OA, 1 PP, 11 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=18 L/min); oximeter on entire time with nothing out of the ordinary.

We called John’s sister Peggy for a happy birthday wish and found her dealing with a Raspberry insurrection. We think that is what she said, but it could have been a respiratory infection. It didn’t make any sense to us, either. So we hung up.

John and I dressed in our sports team colors and went to a Sportzpalooza at the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center, a special party they have each year with trivia games, a meal, and fun. I have become the designated photographer while the staff keeps all the food, fellowship, and organization happening. The organizers were hoping the Seattle team would be playing in Super Bowl 50, so there was some disappointment.

There are usually many Seahawk fans there, so I dressed in their team colors and wore my vintage Seattle Seahawks cap. John wore his Phillies jacket (although he was, in another life, really a Pirates fan), and with all the snow falling, I forgot to give him my Chicago Cubs hat to match. Next year. He also has a Broncos tee shirt, and he should have worn it. I got the jacket in a Goodwill “all that will fit in the bag for $5” sale.

I will add a few pictures I took or were taken on my camera (as below):

John & Nancy with David Douglas (Hawkman), the MC, and husband of Katrina the director. I ducked my head so you could see the Seattle Seahawks. This is one of the better photos of John. Cannot usually get him to smile in photos. Also, I have on exercise pants, with a bright green and white stripe on both sides of the navy blue pants, and my tops are team colors too. We are standing in front of a game board used after we ate to play, for points with answering sports trivia questions, in the categories of WHO, WHAT, WHERE.

Our table was picked first to go to the buffet – there was lots to eat, all prepared by the staff and volunteers in the small in-building kitchen.
See the video of that excitement, lead by Hawkman 12. [Seattle fans are referred to as the 12th man on the field. The team colored ’12’ signs are everywhere in town and throughout Washington.]

Our Sportzpalooza Table Picked to Start . . . Our Table

They fed us a baked potato buffet with chili, steamed broccoli, chives, cheese, real cooked bacon (not bits), and sour cream. The salad was made with the Seahawks colors: Green Jello, with mandarin oranges, blueberries, and bananas.

More fun from MC, David Douglas, as Hawkman

The rest of the story will be in collages below:

Olivia and David (Hawkman) and the rest of the staff serving lunch – Alice, Katrina, Carly, and Tina, at the Baked Potato Buffet Bar.

John’s serving – note Seahawk Salad colors.

A bunch of tables (not all), check out the video. Left are the staff and the Douglas family; middle are others there, including Sandra, Myrna, and Mary Ann; right are Pat & Richard, and three members of the Platz family.

Pat Carney (AAC Board Member) top left. Top right is the results of our table’s second place finishing (1100) after the Platz table’s win at 1600 points. The bottom tier is the MC entertaining the crowd, while the staff gets the food ready to serve.

Just as we started eating, Starla Lynn brought me a dozen green & brown eggs and picked up a bag of cartons I had for her. She’s the one I gifted the book, Building Chicken Coops, mentioned on Wednesday’s entry.

On our way home, we stopped near the hospital to pick up a Bionaire humidifier from Kristina, that her mom had given her. They used it a few days and then it has been sitting for a long time. It is a 2008 model and looks new.

Saturday, Jan 30

For Jan 29 CPAP. Reported figures, 3 hrs 52 min with AHI=0.52 . Events: 2 H, 1 CSR, 2 PP, 7 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=9 L/min); forgot to start my oximeter so no results.

Whenever John starts or adds to the wood stove there is a bit of smoke and gases let into the room. The main AC/furnace fan cleans it up rapidly but he tries to distract me with food. Just now he cooked brunch for us, of an omelet type fold over, special broiled toasted roll part, hash browns, and bacon. We need to read the directions and get both the air filter and humidifier operating.

Here are my captures of the fire through chimney smoke visualization:

Shadow Chimney Smoke – 1 Direction

Note the activity in the next one with two directions.
Watch and listen as a log shifts and bumps a burst of smoke out the chimney. When the stove is hot enough there is a handle that closes a vent and thus runs the smoke through a catalytic combustor. In that mode there is nothing to see coming out the flue, but there is some water vapor and it can play with the sunlight. If there is sunlight.

Shadow Chimney Smoke – 2 Directions

I’ve worked on getting rid of extra clothing via Buy Nothing Ellensburg. I found a recipient for a Filson wool hunting cap with flaps that did not fit me, and will go to a young man who got his first elk on the last day of hunting season last year. I hope to meet him tomorrow when his step father comes to retrieve it. John also brought in one of his and my favorites, a nice shirt that is too tight for him. It is a men’s Large, in excellent shape. I also got rid of a lined straw basket, and am working on some other containers, in addition to more shirts John presented me with this morning.

Sunday, Jan 31

For Jan 30 CPAP. Reported figures 5 x hrs 3 min with AHI=0.99. Events: 5H, 0 CSR, 6 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=15 L/min); oximeter on entire time and additional 3 hrs.with high SpO2 and normal pulse.

Plans today include a visit from a BNE recipient of my Filson hunting cap. I have probably had it over a decade. It was too small, even though marked large. To decide who gets things on BNE, we ask for a number, need, or story. I asked for a number, who would be wearing it, and a story of interest. This came back: # = 32. My stepson, Gus. I have been taking us hunting for a couple of years and this was the first year he was successful, got a cow elk on the last day. His hunting coat is a black and grey plaid double mackinaw cruiser (Filson) and he has grey Wilson hunting pants. All he needs is this hat and he will be set. Willing to repost on BNE if he does not like it.

This was the picture I posted with my search for a new owner:

I found today that the name of the hat I had and gave him is a Double Mackinaw one, so that really completes his outfit.

Here is Gus, the happy recipient. Nice kid, with red hair !! Like in John’s family on both sides. Maybe he is related.

Gus wore it home and on the way told his dad he thought it was “cool,” but it was too hot to wear in the truck. Once home, he packed it away with his hunting clothes for the fall. I found out his birthday is Feb. 13, so this will be a “double” nice gift.

Today is sunny, but chilly. Not as much as Antarctica, most likely… referring to news from Mérida, a former student here at CWU who became a long-distance friend. She was raised in southern Chile and after being here, she has been in Santiago for 2 decades. International students of CWU held a dinner of national foods and Mérida came out here and we made empanada de manzanas (apple turnovers) with her mother’s recipe.

Here is Mérida’s view of Antarctica:

John,  Nancy Hello!!!
I just had the trip of a life time….we went to the Antarctica! Really unique!

A duty trip (now in January summer time) where eight of us had to inspect the place for the projects we are working on. We spent 24 hours there (stayed over a night …by the way there was no night at this time of the year. At 11 pm, 3 am, etc., it was bright as the day…)
We stayed at one of our Chilean bases: Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva, the only one which has a runway and from which every international base depends on. In other words the only runway in the South Pole!!

Here, sending you some pictures:

Me saying hello from with the Antarctica sign (to prove I was there and not in Alaska, ha, ha!!)
A tree, today a stone. When the continents got apart the forests did too. Later glaciers, eruptions, etc., made them disappear. I send you this picture because I thought you may find it interesting.
A panoramic view from the aircraft (C-130) arriving at King George Island where most of the international bases are, including ours with our runway.
Me in the area and the team.
Me and the penguins and a penguin which I forgot to ask if it was Emperor or other… sorry.

Hope you enjoy them.
Love,
Mérida

And, here are my collages of her photos after her panoramic entrance:

Mérida and the petrified wood.

Penquins, the team, and Mérida (smallest in height on the team).

Her jacket has a simple version of the Chilean Air Force coat of arms:

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Ways snow is like the government

Freedom of movement and assembly are restricted
Disrupts children’s education
Capable of complete government shutdown
Small inconveniences are hyped endlessly
Prevents Businesses From Operating Freely
Mighty and powerful
Sometimes a threat is just a threat …
. . . . Not this time. Sorry snow souls

But, look below at a beautiful collage of snow shots from our friends, Sonja and Kevin, snowshoeing 1-23-16 in South Lake Tahoe, with their Brittanys from our lines, Tug (granddog and brother to our Daisy you see so often in blogs), and Kip, their father, who is from our home, in 2005.

For a larger image of the following images throughout the blog, right click and “Open image in a new tab.” Descriptions follow the photos.

Left, Tug running toward camera, Kevin looking back; Tug; Kip (a Tri-colored Brittany), and Sonja, whom we have known since 1977, when she first got Tic, a Brittany puppy, from us in Idaho.

Monday, Jan 18

For Jan 17 CPAP. Reported figures, 6 hrs 20 min with AHI=0.31. Events: 2 H, 0 CSR, 20 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=18 L/min); oximeter on entire time with okay SpO2 and pulse.

We stayed home. John worked in the yard, and I washed dishes and clothes and worked on paperwork.

Tuesday, Jan 19

For Jan 18 CPAP. Reported figures, 7 hrs 10 min with AHI=0.14. Events: 1 H, 1 CSR (3m), 14 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=4 L/min); oximeter on entire time with high SpO2 and normal pulse.

I stayed home to recuperate. Feeling better, but won’t go with my cold tonight to the Rehab and The Connections, and I skipped Jazzercise. It has snowed all day, and I haven’t heard a plow, so it might be yucky road driving. I have to leave tomorrow a little before 11:00 so perhaps that will give them time to get the road plowed. I can always hope.

Over the last hour with breaks for the clippers to cool, I gave John a much-needed haircut. Now he can go out in public again without a hat covering his hair and ears.

Wednesday, Jan 20

For Jan 19 CPAP. Reported figures, 8 hrs 6 min with AHI=0.38. Events: 2 H, 1 CA, 16 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=11 L/min); oximeter on entire time with high SpO2 and normal pulse.

I was up early and saw a beautiful sunrise, even prettier colors of pink and blue with the white snow than the camera lens captured, but here are collages of some of my shots.

Doe in her favorite spot on our driveway (background is a shed almost 600 feet away across the county road), front gate with horseshoes holding in the luck, and our heat pump backed by neighbor’s Ponderosa pine.

Mountain Ash in front, Ponderosa pines in back, looking toward corral and hay shed where feral cats hang out and eat.

Left looking toward Naneum Rd, then over a wooden fence east toward the pole barn, and on the right, the edge of our house next to Tamarack (Larch) trees.

This documentary on penguins was on bing.com today and is worth watching.
Emperor Penguins – Nat. Geog

I took off early for the Food Bank, and it was a smart move. The roads were unplowed and awful. I drove very slowly, taking over 40 minutes to get to town.
I stopped on N. Iowa Street (on my way there) to drop off a large stainless steel dog food pan for a girl in town (from the BNE site) for her Pit Bull, “Tiny.”

Then I drove another block and met a former student at the Food Bank to exchange 6 drawers from his car to mine for which he wanted to find a new home. John will likely use them to make shelves, because we were not given a structure that held them – just the drawers (with white handles and a plastic covering on the front, separated in some places). The wood (Pine) of the 4 sides of the “box” looks unused, however. The drawer bottom is particle-board.

Food Bank was fun and we had a good appreciative audience, with a bunch of singing and dancing going on. One little 22-month old girl had her mom bring her to the table right in front of us because she loved the music.

From there I went to the AAC and my SAIL exercise class. I carried a box of sugar cookies for the group to have afterwards. Usually some folks stay around, have coffee and a treat and visit; Wednesdays is also a Yoga class at 2:45. I don’t stay for it, because the movements for my arms over my head and shoulders don’t work. I stayed in the parking lot until 2:45 to meet a gal from the BNE site who brought me 4 bags of clothes from another person for me to deliver Friday on my way home, to the coordinator of a clothing share we are having March 22. She also picked up some stuff from me that I was offering on the BNE site (a too small chamois shirt, a too large knitted hat, some plastic containers, and a large dog food pan for her Great Pyrenees and a smaller one as well, because he is only 5.5 months old now. A bit farther on, I delivered 4 more. The pans are from our “dog-period” while in Troy, Idaho. So, I’m downsizing on doggy things and accumulating music things.

I dropped by Bi-Mart to buy some calendar ledger books at 50% off to put in our cars to keep track of mileage. The one I got previously won’t fit in my rig’s glove compartment, and I bought a “camera” battery for my under-tongue digital thermometer I’ve had for over 5 years. I didn’t get home until 4:00.

John did the normal outside chores plus moved a little snow and split a few rounds of pine into kindling. Before 5, we made a phone call to the place in Mukilteo from where we purchased 100 Cedar Fire Starters that were supposed to arrive by UPS on 1/15/16; or so we thought. The business had a bunch of east-coast orders in front of us, but the label for ours was made and triggered an auto-email. Our box was still empty when the UPS pick-up occurred. But, his words were happy to hear. He said they got behind with orders. He knew for a fact our box had gone out this morning, because he remembered the shipment to Ellensburg. Neither he nor we knew the WA DOT was about to close I-90 for avalanche control. The pass was closed for an entire day, and we were still late receiving it from the expected delivery, on the 21st. At the pass there is 7.5 feet of snow and more on up. They trigger avalanches and then the DOT must clean the roads. That doesn’t 100% prevent serious road issues but removes most of the threat.

Thursday, Jan 21

For Jan 20 CPAP. Reported figures, 6 hrs 29 min with AHI=0.46. Events: 3 H, 2 CSR, 19 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=7 L/min); oximeter on entire time with high SpO2 and normal pulse.

When we heard our UPS package would be delayed, John drove me to town and shopped while I was playing music. The Safeway store had 2 L. colas on sale so he went there. It is not his preferred shopping experience. The store has numerous gimmicks regarding pricing and you have to have a “Club Card” and read the fine print of their paper ad so you don’t go on the wrong day. Also, some items are less if you use a smart phone in the store to scan a tag on the shelf. (We don’t own a smart phone so have to ask and say “pretty please.”)

We had an excellent turnout for players today on a nasty day for traveling. We had 11 people come to entertain at Dry Creek (now renamed Brookdale). We used 10 Coca Cola themed chairs and our bass fiddler (Dave) stood. Guitars: Minerva, Maury, Manord, Gerald, Charlie; Banjo: Evelyn; Fiddle: Nancy; Flute: Amy; Tambourine: Anne, and singer: Bob. Our audience was most appreciative and came up afterwards, or stopped us on the way out to say thank you, and remind us they really enjoy hearing the old music they grew up with.

John fed the animals before we left for town, and found a small deer in not so good condition lying beside the barn. It let him approach and cover it with old hay (for warmth), and put some newer hay under its head. Not a good sign.

We went back to town for the Ellensburg Blues lecture at the Audubon Society meeting at the Hal Holmes Center, part of Ellensburg’s City Library.

I videotaped it, from my lap, so the quality is not as if from a tripod, but following Nick around with a tripod, is not an easy task.

Nick’s INTRO Greenboard for Ellensburg Blue Agates (17.5 minutes)

Nick’s Visuals for Ellensburg Blue Agates (20 Minutes) 1-21-16

Nick’s Ending Message (24 seconds)

We had trouble getting back into our driveway with all the soft snow. We have had several snows of just a few inches. It has been regularly driven over and packed hard – until the temp got about 5 degrees above freezing. Now it is about 8 inches deep and in places the tires dig in until they hit gravel. Then a harder section lets you run on top. Repeat. It is time for removal.

Friday, Jan 22

For Jan 21 CPAP. Reported figures, 7 hrs 36 min with AHI=0.40. Events: 3 H, 1 CSR, 21 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=9 L/min); oximeter on entire time with high SpO2 and normal pulse.

John had to deal with the dead deer, which he found had died overnight (as expected). I spent awhile on the phone trying to find the way to get rid of it. There are 2 options for removal. Folks often just drag a deer (or whatever) to a far corner of the property and let nature take care of it. The downsides of that are it attracts coyotes or cougars, and vultures in the summer. For us, we have had dogs find the carcass and bring parts home – or roll in it if it is ripe enough. Not good. The second option is to get it to the road and have the county road crew pick it up. They dispose of it someplace – that, apparently, is a secret because others might use the same place if it is known. Problems happen.
The deer weighed about 50 pounds and looked okay. He looked for wounds or broken bones and found nothing. There was a nasal bot fly larvae in its nose. At first sight he thought a big seed or something had lodged there from the old hay he had used to cover it.

Deer; hoof pick for scale — Behind snow pile, at Naneum Road

After a half hour of talking to people, I finally found the answer. Take the deer to the side of a county road, call 962-7523, and report the location to Public Works. The lady there was very helpful. I took a photo as I left for town, and it was gone by the time I returned 4 hours later.

Now to find out what the larvae was. A friend from NJ, Elise, sent this link,
Hat Tip to Elise

And I found this: Fastest of all flying insects?

and this one, which indicates mule deer are included:
Ours are Mule Deer

This little dear deer must have had too much of a load and suffocated.

I wrote our neighbors’ son who is a Fish & Wildlife employee in northern WA. He sent back some more information, and a pdf file on them in mule deer. I can send via email if anyone is interested.

John stayed home to work with our neighbor removing more snow that slide off our shed roof into the small space between the house and the shed (you saw that in a previous blog, Jan 7). Ken cleared out the driveway just prior to my departure. We had a horrible time getting out and back in last night to go to town. John did a little “finish work” (and more the next day).

I drove a mile south and got into a thick still fog. Not the “pea soup” type found in Sherlock Holmes mysteries – swirling and greenish-yellow – but still disheartening, so I had to slow way down and put on my headlights to be seen. First place I stopped was south of the university to pick up 4 bags of clothes for the March 22 BNE clothing share.

I took a photo there of my cleaned right front tire to compare in the following collage that I did not have to share in last week’s blog.

Dec 31, Tire 2 Days after ditch — Jan 22, after cleaning on Jan 14

Then I drove a couple of blocks to the Ruth Harrington Scholarship Luncheon. I carried along a BNE gift to share, but the gal was called away to an off-campus meeting and didn’t attend. We’ll exchange on her porch next Wednesday when I drive by.

We had a nice group of people and were served Turkey Chili (tomato base), various toppings, a chopped Kale salad (I cannot eat being on Coumadin). It is at the top of the do-not-eat list for Vitamin K content. For dessert, we had brownies and sliced strawberries with Cool Whip.

I left there for a stop by a beauty salon to give away two stainless steel dog food pans to the mother of a gal that lives >7 miles from me in the wrong direction from my trips to town (she lives closer to Kittitas, WA). It was nice that her mom was willing to deliver. Then, I drove right down the same street to the courthouse to pick up shared beef (ground and steaks) from a friend who raises a special variety of cattle, British Whites. I have been personally introduced to her small herd and they are very cordial.

The day turned into a beautiful sunny day after starting as fog and cold. This photo I took of the Naneum Canyon a few miles down the road from home.

On from the Courthouse meeting to my SAIL exercise class at the Senior Center. Surprised to find 19 people made it to class today. I got there early enough to give some cookies and a package of 10 Seahawk color decorated muffins for their freezer to share at next Friday’s party, Sportzpalooza, where we are supposed to wear our favorite team’s colors and paraphernalia. I hope to get John to go along with me in his cool Phillies red/white/blue jacket. He was a Pirates fan but the jacket is nice and came to us recently for free or practically so. Folks at the Senior Center are planning a big shindig. I went last year, as well, and had a blast.

The UPS truck arrived at the end of the driveway at about 4:30. The fellow was carrying the package, not wanting to (likely a regulation) take a chance on the driveway snow. John was on the way to feed the horses and met the package halfway in. Saved the driver a few steps and a minute or two.

Saturday, Jan 23

For Jan 22 CPAP. Reported figures, 5 hrs 21 min with AHI=0.19. Events: 1 H, 0 CSR, 7 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=5 L/min); oximeter on entire time with high SpO2 and normal pulse.

I did some paperwork and moved my EBRG-Blues videos onto YouTube. It was a long process when our Internet connection decided to stop working twice today (and once yesterday). We have a couple of little glitches in the use of our computers. Dropping the internet link is the one I hate. John has 2 monitors and the 2nd one mostly restarts with the wrong aspect ratio (stretched across) and without the “wallpaper” image. It takes 5 mouse-clicks to resurrect the proper look. He’s looked and can’t find the answer.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

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