{"id":1113,"date":"2012-12-02T00:26:14","date_gmt":"2012-12-02T07:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/hultquist\/?p=1113"},"modified":"2012-12-02T00:26:14","modified_gmt":"2012-12-02T07:26:14","slug":"can-you-say-cougar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/?p=1113","title":{"rendered":"Can you say Cougar?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This-one: http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/f\/f6\/Cougar_closeup.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

Not these:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.empireonline.com\/images\/features\/movie-stars-who-should-try-tv\/Demi-Moore.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

Sunday, Nov 25\u00a0 Lots of sunshine and no trips away from home required today.\u00a0 We did not sleep in, but started work rather early.\u00a0 John has been working on the doggie\/cat door structure, and I spent time documenting the progress, among other things.\u00a0 He also went “up the creek” (without a paddle) to adjust the flow in the water diversion for the irrigation ditch we use.\u00a0 He wants to lower the flow before freeze-ups \u2013 little ice dams that send water out over the field where it makes a sheet of ice. \u00a0These overlap and make unwanted uneven surfaces that are a danger for us or for the horses, dogs, and deer to navigate.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.americanpoems.com\/poets\/robertfrost\/12117<\/a><\/p>\n

The surface of the water in the ditch freezes while the water continues to flow underneath.\u00a0 Then it pops up and starts to flow on top.\u00a0 Then it turns solid.\u00a0 A similar thing happens with lava flowing downhill . . .<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xExdEXOaA9A<\/a><\/p>\n

. . . where the exposed surface cools and turns black.\u00a0 In our case the dark water turns white.\u00a0 Ain\u2019t Nature grand?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve added to the pictures of the continuing projects, which you can follow here:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.ellensburg.com\/nancyh\/LandscapeChangeNaneumFan.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Today, I made some leftovers into a good lunch.\u00a0 John will likely use some again tonight, but he used a previously baked potato and made fried ones to go along with meatloaf, Jarlsberg cheese slices, & biscuits.\u00a0 Our appetizer consisted of cut apples and D’Anjou pears.\u00a0 Tonight I took John\u2019s suggestion and linked to a web page by a great photographer, Ken Rockwell, and I expect it will help me fix my problems with the color balance and contrast on my Canon compact camera that has been making pictures with a blue overtone.\u00a0 Thus far, I have not been able to follow his explicit directions with my camera. \u00a0John says it ought to be simple so perhaps he can help.<\/p>\n

Sad note tonight that another friend in town died.\u00a0 I have known and worked with him since 1988.\u00a0 Marty Kaatz was a geographer here since the 1950s.\u00a0 He and I worked on projects together and he and John hiked in the Cascades and went on field trips.\u00a0 He took one of my GIS classes late in life and assisted several of my students with their local thesis or project work.\u00a0 He will be missed.<\/p>\n

Monday, Nov 26\u00a0 We decided that we would stay home today and go after dark to Costco in Yakima.\u00a0 We are almost out of cat food and the only days this week available were today and tomorrow.\u00a0 I skipped my exercise class today, worked on stacks of things, paying bills, and all such fun stuff.\u00a0 John likes to be home during the daylight hours and those are getting short.\u00a0 By Dec. 5th<\/sup> we will have reached our earliest sunset, about 4:13 P.M. but the latest sunrise (7:48) isn\u2019t until 2 days after Christmas.\u00a0 The bottom line is that for the next 2 months we will only have a little more than 8 hours of daylight (much of it cloudy and cold).\u00a0 You can get your location\u2019s Sun and Moon table here:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/aa.usno.navy.mil\/data\/docs\/RS_OneYear.php<\/a><\/p>\n

For the trip to Yakima, we were late leaving because his trip up the creek to downsize the irrigation took much longer than he planned.\u00a0 We were so busy today we skipped lunch, not even having any snacks.\u00a0 When the horses and outside cats had been fed, we took off for town, stopping by the hospital lab for my INR finger poke.\u00a0 I had the pin prick one that gives instant results.\u00a0 It was a 2.3, within the range desired.\u00a0 Only problem was it took much longer than usual.\u00a0 When I arrived, there was one person ahead of me and it was going to be 10 minutes max.\u00a0 However, there was an emergency call from ER needing a blood draw.\u00a0 The phlebotomist . . .<\/p>\n

http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Phlebotomist<\/a><\/p>\n

. . . (night time; only one in the lab) had to respond but the patient was not ready so finally she told them she had people waiting and she would come back (they’d taken the patient for a Cat Scan, after requesting her immediately by a personal walkie-talkie connection).\u00a0 That set us off a bit more, but the trip down was nice, clear, with no rain or snow, and a bright full moon, which made it a great trip.\u00a0 There was little traffic and only a few people in the store.\u00a0 It was set to close at 8:30, so we had time, getting there about 7:00PM.\u00a0 After we shopped, we ate.\u00a0 We shared a large piece of pizza (combo with 5 things on it), a Polish sausage, refillable Pepsi, and a large “very berry sundae,” made from frozen yogurt (w\/tons of strawberries).\u00a0 All for $5.57.\u00a0 Not bad for two people’s dinner with dessert (and no expected tip).\u00a0 Then off to the gasoline part of the lot.\u00a0 The price was only $3.21\/gallon; the cheapest in Ellensburg is $3.53.\u00a0 Go figure!\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Local paper had a letter to the editor about this issue a few days ago.\u00a0 On home, by way of our neighbor to drop off purchases we made for her.\u00a0 Now we’ve both been spending time on the computer, and it is within minutes of when we can go to bed.<\/p>\n

Tuesday, Nov 27\u00a0 Nothing on tap for today, away from home, but we have been very occupied.\u00a0 Between other jobs, John’s been working on the doggie door, also known as a SAAEIHO \u2013 the self-accuated animal egress\/ingress household opening.\u00a0 So far all materials used have been recovered from other projects (except a few nails).\u00a0 Prices of purchased SAAEIHOs are about $80 and up, way up.\u00a0 For example:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.petdoors.com\/pet-doors\/manual-pet-doors\/for-sliding-glass-door.html<\/a><\/p>\n

I spent at least two hours on the phone with various projects.\u00a0 I had to determine which way to proceed on dental insurance before Friday, but it turns out I have to wait till May to finalize the end of a private dental insurance policy and the start of a group policy through CWU (outside of open enrollment which ends Nov 30).\u00a0 I spent some time working on emails regarding a number of different things, including the death of my friend, and also some plans for our music group.\u00a0 In addition, I spent time on the phone with Duluth Trading Company to buy John some \u201cfire-hose\u201d heavy-duty work pants, and for both of us a fleece thing to put on a baseball cap to keep our ears covered.\u00a0 John fixed a great pizza tonight.\u00a0 It was a Costco multi-meat one (5), and he added cheese and tomatoes.\u00a0 We could have added onions too, but it was great without. \u00a0Forgot to say, we had it with pieces of D’Anjou pears.\u00a0 Really a nice treat.\u00a0 John came back to the kitchen at 8:30 and made a chocolate cake.\u00a0 We still had frosting left over from the brownies he made last week.\u00a0 Before lights-out, we had a nice piece of cake with some cherry\/nut ice cream.<\/p>\n

Wednesday, Nov 28 \u00a0Back to the normal Food Bank scheduled music, with SAIL exercise after \u00bd mile away.\u00a0 We are expected to have 10 days of rain (better than snow, I guess), but difficult to do outside chores.\u00a0 Well, so much for that forecast.\u00a0 I went to town for my two appointments, Food Bank music and SAIL and got snowed on leaving the FB.\u00a0 I figured it was really snowing at home, and I was right.\u00a0 We didn’t play the entire time at the FB because it was so cold we couldn’t finger our instruments properly. \u00a0So we played about 8 songs quit, and ate.\u00a0 They had a sausage pasta, artichoke\/onion thing, which I gave away thinking vitamin K in artichokes was high and I couldn’t have them.\u00a0 I just looked it up, and found that it is low.\u00a0 Last week they had Brussel Sprouts, which are high in Vit. K, but I don’t like them anyway; never have.\u00a0 I got home this afternoon and started working on Frosty the Snow Man.\u00a0 It was nowhere near as straightforward to put into music as I thought.\u00a0 I’m still working on it.\u00a0 The copy I had only had a couple of verses and not the part where Frosty has to hurry on his way, saying, “Don’t you cry, I’ll be back again some day.”\u00a0 Also there were other phrases that needed to be added and the music rewritten.\u00a0 John fixed a late dinner of baked chicken and potato.\u00a0 We had just finished when a former student called and needed counseling.\u00a0 We talked for an hour.\u00a0 Just put in another hour on the music with a break for dessert.\u00a0 Now it’s time to reset the furnace (the programmable thermostat needs reprogrammed) and get some sleep.\u00a0 One day this week, maybe it was this morning, our neighbor called with the news of a Cougar sighting on the end of our property where our horses can go and where John exercises the dogs.<\/p>\n

Thursday, Nov 29\u00a0 Back to the normal Fiddlers & Friends music, this week at Mt. View Meadows.\u00a0 I’m happy John’s going along to go to get his driver’s license renewed and to pick something up at the hardware store, and check other stores.\u00a0 I worked all morning on Frosty the Snow Man (my new arrangement to add the missing music and words I remember at the end of the song.\u00a0 They are not in the version I have copies of from the past. \u00a0And, there is another verse missing (Frosty the SM is a fairy tale they say.\u00a0 He was made of snow, but the children know how he came to life one day). \u00a0I must enter it because it is in the wrong key for our singers to sing.\u00a0 Once I have it in the music software, I can transpose for our clarinet player or change to any key for the group.<\/p>\n

The trip to town was almost successful.\u00a0 John didn’t have to wait to get his driver’s license renewed.\u00a0 Did not take long to take the eye test and answer associated questions, and have his picture taken.\u00a0 They cost $45 now, but last for 5 years.\u00a0 His trip to the $ store wasn’t totally successful as the waxed paper was a brand X of unknown quality, but he picked up some potato chips that we have now tasted and they are fine (yet interesting).\u00a0 They are advertised as cheddar and sour cream, which from another manufacturer’s (Lay’s), have the same colored chip throughout the bag.\u00a0 However, these are different colors for the cheddar (orange) and sour cream (yellow).\u00a0 John doesn’t agree with my theory, thinking it is just quality control, but we’ll likely never know.\u00a0 His trip to Ace Hardware was less useful.\u00a0 The two things on sale, advertised in their flyer, were out of stock (Dewalt circular saw blades and drill bits).\u00a0 I will go back tomorrow and get them (supposed to be in tomorrow’s shipment).<\/p>\n

Our play date today had a good turnout.\u00a0 We had 2 guitars, 2 banjos, clarinet, mandolin, 3 violins, singer w\/o instrument, and singer with tambourine.\u00a0 For one of the banjo players, this was her last day with us.\u00a0 She is going to leave next week for Saudi Arabia for a job teaching English as a second language to women.\u00a0 I plan to attend her masters defense Monday.\u00a0 She’s getting her masters degree in the Language Department.<\/p>\n

We sort of skipped lunch today, just snacked on chips, but tonight had leftover chicken thighs (cold), heated a previously baked potato, and had some slices of Jarlsberg cheese.\u00a0 I had a slice of banana nut bread, with a bite off one side (John’s), and I buttered it and made a sandwich.\u00a0 It passed for date nut bread with cream cheese.\u00a0 It might have been date nut bread instead of banana.\u00a0 It was quite good.\u00a0 I brought it from the Sr. Center yesterday afternoon.\u00a0 They put out nice goodies to have with coffee they have on all day.\u00a0 I don’t have coffee while there, just water or my lemonade (Crystal Light).<\/p>\n

Friday, Nov 30\u00a0 We were awakened at 4:30 a.m. this morning from a call from Lifeline Support that our neighbor had fallen and not responded to the unit.\u00a0 We were called because we are the first on the list, and I guess they couldn’t reach the home phone (although they really didn’t say that).\u00a0 They had sent a policeman out, and we were supposed to go meet them and let them in the house.\u00a0 I told them the door would not be locked, but they said I had to push a button on the unit to inform them he was being taken care of.\u00a0 Then they didn’t leave a number.\u00a0 I called his wife right away, but the line was busy.\u00a0 John got dressed and I was getting ready to go along with him, because I was the one talking to them.\u00a0 I kept calling thinking she was on the phone talking with someone.\u00a0 It finally went through, but no answer.\u00a0 So we were on our way out the door, and she called.\u00a0 She’d gotten the call but nothing was wrong with her husband.\u00a0 She said the phone said a phone was off the hook, and it said it again while we were talking.\u00a0 How the heck my subsequent phone call went through is beyond me.<\/p>\n

She was alarmed to hear the police may be arriving soon, but I was happy to give her a warning.\u00a0 That might have frightened her worse than my wake-up call.\u00a0 Turns out the cat knocked the unit onto the floor from the side table, where he had put it beside his bed.\u00a0 I told her about hitting the button on the unit and that I would return the call to Lifeline Support.<\/p>\n

The only reason I could is that I JUST took on a new telephone plan for 2 years that decreased our DSL cost and comes with caller ID and call waiting.\u00a0 That’s how I knew the number to call back, but it took me awhile to figure out how to retrieve it.\u00a0 I then couldn’t get back to sleep for 1.5 hrs.\u00a0 She had taken one of the phones to bed and it was “off the hook.\u00a0 Later that morning, she said indeed a huge vehicle (probably an EMT one with a portable bed) showed up at the door, and she apologized to the medics.\u00a0 They said it was all right, that they needed to come check on every call.\u00a0 I was happy I was able to warn her.\u00a0 I guess once Lifeline gets an alert they call the EMT unit first and the neighbors later.\u00a0 So there wasn\u2019t anyway to stop the EMT folks.\u00a0 We are 10 miles and about 20 minutes from the Fire Station.\u00a0 Traveling on our roads means lots of slow turns as they have right-angles from the old land survey system. . .<\/p>\n

http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Public_Land_Survey_System<\/a><\/p>\n

and from going around streams and such things.\u00a0 Go to this Google Earth location —\u00a0 47.036928, -120.467633\u00a0 — and zoom in to see how Brick Mill and Naneum intersect.\u00a0 Early in November someone speeding south on Naneum went through the fence, across the canal and stopped near the white plastic pipe.\u00a0 The police painted the tire skid marks with dashed orange lines and I happened by the next day when the landowner was repairing his fence.<\/p>\n

Scholarship luncheon was at CWU at noon.\u00a0 On my way there I stopped at the Campus Police and Parking to get a form to fill out for my Emeritus parking sticker.\u00a0 They have given out Red ones for 20+ years, and they feel they may being misused, so are requiring the retiree to come in with ID and car registration to get a new one issued for only two years.\u00a0 All red ones will expire Jan 1, 2013. \u00a0I lucked out and found a parking space (with my red marker) just across the street from the place our luncheon was being held.\u00a0 They served us baked potatoes with all sorts of different toppings.\u00a0 Very good.\u00a0 While on my way to SAIL exercise, I stopped by Ace Hardware for John’s saw blades and drill bits.\u00a0 They did not have the bits, so I asked for a special rain check and they put in the order from the warehouse.\u00a0 I will pick them up for the sale price Monday afternoon. \u00a0Our neighbor saw the Cougar coming across our property again, and called, but I was in town, and John was outside.<\/p>\n

Tonight we went to the annual Christmas party put on for anyone on campus (this is the<\/span> event of the season) by the Anthropology and Geography departments on the 3rd floor of Dean (for those of you who were at my retirement party).\u00a0 There was food of all types, many appetizers, but much more.\u00a0 We were able to make our dinner from attending.\u00a0 The only problem was that the plates were too small, but twice through was allowed (even more).\u00a0 We had tasty meatballs, a full ham, Chinese noodle dish, little sausages in a great sauce, various salads I cannot eat, several plates of deviled eggs (I dearly love), fried pot stickers, cabbage rolls, Vegan stuff on one end of the table I ignored, crackers with all sorts of goodies, and other specialties.\u00a0 A large dessert table had pumpkin pie, several kinds of cookies, a special layered thing of which I had two pieces (they were made with gram cracker crust, creme filling, chocolate chips, a butterscotch layer, with a nut crumble on top.\u00a0 I don’t think it had coconut, but perhaps.\u00a0 It was sweeter than many people like, but I have no problem with sugar.\u00a0 There was a nice sherbet non-alcoholic punch I drank.<\/p>\n

We had nice visits with former students, current faculty members and spouses, and Emeriti faculty members.\u00a0 It was worth the trip to town, and particularly nice that it was clear, no rain or snow, and with a bright moon for coming home.<\/p>\n

Saturday, Dec 1 — Wow, a new month has arrived and we have so much to do before the end of the year rolls around.\u00a0 Today, John moved hay from the storage shed into an old horse trailer and parked it way down in the pasture.\u00a0 Moving the feeding places around keeps the horses from doing excessive damage to any one place and, also, they have to move quite a ways to the heated water trough.\u00a0 That helps to keep them exercised in the winter.\u00a0 He took the truck and chainsaw (and camera) to where the Cougar was sighted (2x) and cut a few smallish trees (nice firewood size without required splitting).\u00a0 No cougar.\u00a0 It was sunny much of the day and cloudy later in the afternoon, but never rained or snowed until about 10 P.M.\u00a0 I worked on several editing projects and still have more to do.\u00a0 I played with this blog throughout the day, and am almost ready to send it to John to go over with his magic touch, and post.\u00a0 I have added a few pictures to the end of the story listed at the top on Landscape Change.\u00a0 I forgot to take pictures today of the current state of the doggie\/cat door.\u00a0 It has a newly added (last night before dark) temporary (but usable) ramp.\u00a0 John has yet to add the In and Out swinging doors, letting the animals get used to the new structure before they have to push on the swinging doors. \u00a0Those will be added in a day or so and heat loss to the great outdoors will be much decreased.\u00a0 It is good that our temps have been very moderate because of the winds from the direction of Hawaii.\u00a0 Still coming with the rain.\u00a0 Ski areas are getting snow.\u00a0 Mount Baker claims to have a 6 ft.+ base. \u00a0Cold will come, as it already has to much of the northern latitudes.\u00a0 It is 30 below in Fairbanks, Alaska tonight.\u00a0 Ouch.<\/p>\n

Hope you are warm and that your week was a good one.<\/p>\n

Nancy and John<\/p>\n

Still on the Alluvial Fan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This-one: http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/f\/f6\/Cougar_closeup.jpg Not these: http:\/\/www.empireonline.com\/images\/features\/movie-stars-who-should-try-tv\/Demi-Moore.jpg Sunday, Nov 25\u00a0 Lots of sunshine and no trips away from home required today.\u00a0 We did not sleep in, but started work rather early.\u00a0 John has been working on the doggie\/cat door structure, and I spent time documenting the progress, among other things.\u00a0 He also went “up the creek” (without … Continue reading “Can you say Cougar?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-random-issues"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p72iNf-hX","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1113"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1116,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113\/revisions\/1116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}