Sunday, Dec 9\u00a0 On a day when it’s forecast for 20% of slight snow, the white stuff has been coming down since early.\u00a0 John’s taken the dogs for their morning exercise, but started early just after out of bed by dressing to go make the dogs come in the doggie door without its being propped open.\u00a0 We’re rather sure the cat figured it out, came, and went last night.\u00a0 Then John took care of moving the charger around and bringing to the garage a battery from the travel trailer he’d charged after the truck a couple days ago.\u00a0 Now he has the tractor battery set up charging in the old barn.<\/p>\n
I managed to cut his hair this afternoon, and just in time.\u00a0 My clippers stopped working at the end.\u00a0 I thought they’d overheated, but they are dead.\u00a0 It’s okay.\u00a0 I have at least 2 others I can use.\u00a0 These that stopped came from a yard sale for $1.00.\u00a0 John’s dad showed me how to cut John\u2019s hair with hand manual clippers. That was before we were married, when we were in Clarion, PA for a visit from Cincinnati grad school, so this has been going on for over 46 years, at least.\u00a0 I think the cost of haircuts back then were a lot less than now :- ).\u00a0 John claims they were told in school that one\u2019s hair ought to be trimmed every two weeks.\u00a0 Had we done that, and banked the going price of a haircut all these years, we would have a nice piece of change.\u00a0 The cat and dogs are using the new doors.\u00a0 John made brownies for dessert, with walnuts and chocolate chips in the batter.\u00a0 For the last batch, we used our last store bought plastic tub of icing several months past its \u2018best-before\u2019 date.\u00a0 A sale price of about 89\u00a2 enticed us to buy several, all now gone.\u00a0 Current price in the local grocery is close to $2 each.\u00a0 So, with the chips in the batter and a short trip through the microwave oven, the finished brownies are fantastic.\u00a0 The chips come in a large bag from Costco.\u00a0 The walnuts come from trees along the east side of our house.<\/p>\n
Monday, Dec 10\u00a0 Wow, last night was surely a weather event.\u00a0 We were subjected to Chinook winds that raised the temperatures to the high forties and remained all night after I last saw 29 degrees before retiring.\u00a0 The winds were shaking the house and noisily blowing against the windows, for several hours at 33 mph sustained with gusts to 47 mph.\u00a0 (That was 5 miles south of us at the airport).\u00a0 A friend to the north a half mile said it was truly blowing there.\u00a0 She is not protected by trees as much as we are.\u00a0 Then on Facebook, I saw this morning that another friend in the Teanaway said the Chinooks melted all the snow there.\u00a0 Washington has a town called Chinook but it is on the Pacific coast.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/funbeach.com\/villages\/chinook\/<\/a><\/p>\n This fits with the idea of a moist warm wind blowing from the sea but is at odds with the more common notion of the downslope wind:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.answers.com\/topic\/chinook<\/a><\/p>\n John went with me to town today and dropped me off at SAIL exercise, and went on to two stores for things needed. \u00a0We seldom go to Safeway, but he did today to pick up a whole ham at 99 \u00a2\/lb. for us to cook for the music group potluck this week.\u00a0 While there he found 2-liter colas for a good price (68\u00a2), so he loaded up on a few. \u00a0He returned to pick me up and we went on to Super 1 for my meds refills, and we took advantage of several great sale items.\u00a0 The funniest was a Marie Callender Pecan Pie.\u00a0 We had just talked with John’s sister recently about her getting a Peach one and not liking it.\u00a0 They were on sale today for $3.40 off, making the price $4.98.\u00a0 John will be making his mom’s famous pecan pies for a scholarship luncheon this Friday, but I wanted to compare Marie\u2019s to his.\u00a0 I know it won’t be nearly as good, but it will satisfy my curiosity.<\/p>\n Tuesday, Dec 11 \u00a0Day full of computer problems and washing dishes.\u00a0 Never made it to the clothes, or sorting.\u00a0 Did print some music and copy a CD my friend loaned me with instrumental Christmas music.\u00a0 It is very nice.\u00a0 I don’t know the group, but there is a piano, harp, and something else, some sort of percussion.\u00a0 We went to The Connections religious music group tonight, and what usually takes 45 minutes, went for over an hour.\u00a0 Sadly, John had decided to go to town with me and was done shopping and back but had to wait over a half hour for me to finish.\u00a0 Oh, well, we had a nice time singing Christmas songs with the residents of Hearthstone Cottages (assisted living).\u00a0 John bought us some Razzleberry pies from the Marie Callender sale \u2013 there were none there yesterday.\u00a0 They are a combo of raspberries and loganberries.\u00a0 We have not tried any yet.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.gardenology.org\/wiki\/Loganberry<\/a><\/p>\n And note the date at the upper right on this one:<\/p>\n http:\/\/ir.library.oregonstate.edu\/xmlui\/bitstream\/handle\/1957\/16406\/ExtensionBulletin165.pdf?sequence=1<\/a><\/p>\n The first paragraph explains why this berry is more important in Oregon than in other parts of the USA.<\/p>\n Wednesday, Dec 12\u00a0 Our day started out way too early, with two phone calls before 9:00 a.m. (my mom’s rule for telephone calls was never before 9:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m.).\u00a0 The first was at 7:45 that our truck was ready.\u00a0 John decided to go to town with me to let him off to pick up the truck.\u00a0 It cost us $213 to get the drain on the battery fixed, and because it is driven so rarely, we had a battery tender added.\u00a0 We will have to plug in a unit to the truck when it’s not in use.\u00a0 The battery draw was diagnosed as 24.2 ma, charging at 14.2 amps.\u00a0 The second call came about 8:20 and was our neighbor about the work on the ditch above us, to keep it from flooding.\u00a0 John had to go up and explain what he was doing and why and how it should not be changed at the diversion Y.<\/p>\n Today is the birthday of four of my friends.\u00a0 I told them this is a special day in the history of the world.\u00a0 On this day, at 12:12 it will be 12:12 on 12-12-12 !\u00a0 I was playing and singing Christmas songs while people ate at the Food Bank, and at 12:12, I got up after we had done Frosty the Snow Man, and I told them about the special date and time.\u00a0 Today’s meal was relatively good.\u00a0 The pasta was little green round things called Insalatonde.\u00a0 (I tried to find on the web what makes them green and cannot — was a little worried that broccoli or spinach had been added, but it seems that usually it is green coloring). \u00a0The original idea is to use a green leafy vegetable, such as spinach, but folks will throw in just about anything green from the home garden.\u00a0 John thinks that for commercial production a dye is used:<\/p>\n http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fast_Green_FCF<\/a><\/p>\n He plans on checking a package in a store if there is green pasta sold there.\u00a0 Anyway, it was baked with a nice spicy sauce and large slices of chicken breast meat.\u00a0 With it was a vegetable mixture I could not eat any of (the dark green veggies with high Vit K).\u00a0 They had some good garlic bread and I got two nice Christmas sugar cookies.\u00a0 On from there to the Adult Activity Center.\u00a0 I put on the CD of the music I burned yesterday and returned the original to the owner.\u00a0 Then I walked around getting 16 signatures on a card for a lady in our SAIL exercise class who will be 87 tomorrow, and is in very good shape (except for having macular degeneration).\u00a0 We completed the exercises and I drove home.\u00a0 I will have to start carrying my camera.\u00a0 On my way in the driveway, I saw a bunch of deer; counted 10.\u00a0 The next to the last two were bucks, and one buck had two small spikes.\u00a0 The other we have not seen around here this year.\u00a0 He had 4 points on each side \u2013 called a 4×4 here in the West.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.myhuntingbuddies.com\/east-vs-west-method-of-antler-point-counting-54572.html<\/a><\/p>\n In the eastern US this would likely be called an 8-point.\u00a0 Either way, he was well appointed.\u00a0 He stood and looked at me, and I wanted so much to have my camera.\u00a0 I didn’t get my camera and go back up because I doubted I could walk there without spooking him.\u00a0 Perhaps I should have gotten in the car and gone back with a camera. They are used to our driving by them and do not spook.\u00a0 To retrieve the truck, John had to ride in with me and, with supper in mind, right before we left for town he put a chunk of boneless beef in the crock-pot with onions, later adding winter squash.\u00a0 Then tonight he made biscuits to go with it.\u00a0 It was very good.\u00a0 Just before 10:30 we ate a piece of chocolate Bundt cake I’d brought home from the Adult Activity Center.<\/p>\n Thursday, Dec 13\u00a0 Well, it was a very, very long day.\u00a0 I don’t know how much time I have to remember the day before falling asleep.\u00a0 Phone visited with a down-ditch neighbor early in the am.\u00a0 I tried to clean the kitchen to make way for John to bring in the huge ham and meat saw to cut it.\u00a0 That got done and it took him awhile to clean it up and get it ready for the oven, where it baked most of the day.\u00a0 While he was outside again, I ran off more copies of Frosty the Snow Man in G for the rest of the group.\u00a0 After a bite of lunch, I left for playing music at the Rehab center where I stayed for 7 weeks in 2010.\u00a0 I always have interesting memories, and see great people I knew while there.\u00a0 Then the fog started moving in.\u00a0 After playing, I went by the grocery for some pineapple and mustard to add to the ham for the last 2 hours.\u00a0 Came on in, and we fixed the rest of the “topping” for the ham.\u00a0 Finally, we left in the fog (heavy and thick) in the dark, to drive the 7 miles down the road to our friends’ home for the potluck.\u00a0 The fog was so bad I turned one driveway too soon and had to back out.\u00a0 One of our members did not find it in the fog and didn’t know the address.\u00a0 I didn’t have my cell phone with me in the house, but she also did not call until after she went home (lives 30 miles away in S. Cle Elum).\u00a0 I could have told her the number of the house.\u00a0 She and her salad didn’t make it, and another member and her husband didn’t make it because she is recovering from a hip surgery and had overdone herself earlier in the day.\u00a0 Still, we had 10 people show for dinner.\u00a0 Food to go with our ham included scalloped potatoes, yams, calico beans, and warm cinnamon rolls for dessert.\u00a0 We all had double helpings of everything.\u00a0 Then we played music until after 9:15.\u00a0 Came home to ice over everything especially the walkway out front from the car to the house.\u00a0 Sometimes with the snow broomed off the concrete will dry off \u2013 not so today, so as the temperature dropped the wet surface turned to ice.<\/p>\n Friday, Dec 14 \u00a0Started the day early with John getting up and starting on fixing two pecan pies from his mom’s recipe.\u00a0 It was for us to take to a scholarship luncheon at CWU.\u00a0 I have been a member of this group since 1988, and John made two pies that first year (he was still in Idaho, and I was over here teaching, going home each weekend).\u00a0 It has been a tradition that he always bakes two Pecan Pies for the group.\u00a0 They claim to look forward to it all year.\u00a0 He always joins our group for the Christmas Potluck.\u00a0 Today we had Hawaiian pizza, fried chicken, enchiladas, egg rolls, chicken-celery-cranberry-peanut salad, pasta salad, a bean salad with peppers & onions, hot apple cider, soft drinks, and our pie.\u00a0 We actually brought some leftovers home with us, including some pecan pie.\u00a0 There were a smaller number of our group there today, only 10 (counting John).<\/p>\n Five of our members missed the good time had by all.\u00a0 No students are on campus, so finding a parking space at the Student Union Recreation Center (SURC) was not a problem.\u00a0 On the way back, with John driving, I called my good friend (colleague, who had to retire because of health reasons).\u00a0 Today was his birthday.\u00a0 I managed to reach his cell phone and got him in person, not on a message recorder.\u00a0 He was in Flagstaff, AZ ready to go in a day or so on a Colorado River raft trip with about 12 river guides who invited him along to describe and explain the landscape.\u00a0 He sounded SO good to me; it was the best birthday present for me on this, his birthday.\u00a0 Actually, it’s perhaps the best Christmas present I will get.\u00a0 They had had almost a foot of snow, and the roads were not yet plowed, so he had walked to the grocery store to pick up lunch items for the guides he is with.\u00a0 I was tickled he answered the phone \u2013 not knowing whether or not he was in WA or AZ.\u00a0 On the way home we detoured by some places to see what was happening with new construction projects (seems strange to start construction this time of the year).\u00a0 In addition, we drove in and out our neighbors’ driveway to make it look as if someone is home. \u00a0We’ve been rather lazy this afternoon because of not much sleep last night, and awakening to 2 inches of snow with ice beneath.\u00a0 I have a feeling we will sleep well tonight.<\/p>\n We heated a brownie John made–the last of that–and had with ice cream atop for dessert.\u00a0 We had a nice supper of leftovers:\u00a0 chicken, ham, biscuits, with sliced apples and pears.\u00a0 That is the last of the pears.\u00a0 We have many apples left, however.<\/p>\n I took the pictures off my camera before hitting the hay, of us holding our pies yesterday.\u00a0 John made it more colorful by adding a frame.\u00a0 It will be appropriate to add to our Christmas greetings letter, if we ever get it started.\u00a0 We’d better hurry, or people won’t receive it until Valentine’s Day.<\/p>\n Saturday, Dec 15\u00a0 This day I go to Briarwood at 2:00 with more to eat after we sing Christmas songs with the residents.\u00a0 Now I’m stopping to give this to John to fix up and post.\u00a0 We just got 2 inches of snow so I\u2019ll have to leave earlier than usual.<\/p>\n Hope your week was a good one.<\/p>\n Nancy and John<\/p>\n Still on the Naneum Fan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sunday, Dec 9\u00a0 On a day when it’s forecast for 20% of slight snow, the white stuff has been coming down since early.\u00a0 John’s taken the dogs for their morning exercise, but started early just after out of bed by dressing to go make the dogs come in the doggie door without its being propped … Continue reading “The world is white, again!”<\/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-1120","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-i4","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120","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=1120"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1122,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions\/1122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}