{"id":1133,"date":"2013-01-12T22:21:32","date_gmt":"2013-01-13T05:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/hultquist\/?p=1133"},"modified":"2013-01-12T22:21:32","modified_gmt":"2013-01-13T05:21:32","slug":"melted-cheese-and-melted-snow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/?p=1133","title":{"rendered":"Melted cheese and melted snow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday, Jan 5\u00a0 We arrived at White Heron at 11:00 a.m. for our first Raclette<\/em>.\u00a0 Phyllis and Cameron Fries put on the event for the families of the volunteer wine grape pruners from last spring’s work.\u00a0 We got behind on our departure because of phone calls and so Nancy didn’t get completely prepared for the cold outside weather.\u00a0 John only suffered from cold feet.\u00a0 We were outside around a wood and vine-cutting fire (\u201cthe real deal\u201d) with a NW wind blowing cold air down the hill toward the Columbia River.<\/p>\n

Upon arrival we all got a taste of Cameron\u2019s newest wine \u2013 Arvine<\/em>, a Swiss vine that makes a white wine with a slightly salty taste.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.swisswine.ch\/asp\/english\/cepages\/cepDetails.asp?ID=11<\/a><\/p>\n

He only has 20 cases but it will soon be made in greater quantities and labeled with the new Ancient Lakes of the Columbia Valley designation.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/northwestpalate.com\/2011\/12\/ancient-lakes\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The picture the above link is from the viewpoint for our Raclette<\/em>.\u00a0 After sampling the new wine we switched to Roussanne, of which he has more:
\nhttp:\/\/www.winepros.org\/wine101\/grape_profiles\/roussanne.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

I wore enough hats, scarves, gloves, and sweaters, but did not have enough pants on (needed long-johns, or two pairs of pants and maybe some Jeans on top to cut the wind).\u00a0 Then our feet.\u00a0 Both John’s and my feet got cold.\u00a0 We had on high topped work boots with wool socks, but that was not enough.\u00a0 Needed some insulated snow boots.\u00a0 I made it three hours, and then retreated to the house for warming my feet and having a cup of hot tea.\u00a0 However, it was a wonderful meal with fun, food, and fellowship.\u00a0 I have a few photos I will put on our web page at this link:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.ellensburg.com\/nancyh\/WhiteHeronCellars2013Raclette.html<\/a>\u00a0 We actually got snowed on the last hour.\u00a0 There were several of these for those without hats:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.costumeshop.us.com\/images_products\/umbrella-hat-1-sz-1908sma.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

On our trip home (1 hr 20 min), the Interstate had a bit of snow and lots of fast traffic.\u00a0 It seems some combination of those or inattentive driving brought grief to someone.\u00a0 Within a couple of miles of our turnoff at Kittitas to come home, we passed a recently flipped car (on its roof, in the median).\u00a0 I had already been a nervous passenger, but John got us through all right \u2013 or, as he says, maybe it was the all-wheel drive of the Subaru.\u00a0 Two WA-State Patrol cars were there, and several people were leaning down (butts in air) looking in the car.\u00a0 We haven’t yet heard the results.\u00a0 We arrived home right before dark (at 4:30).\u00a0 We were grateful we didn’t have to make the drive later.\u00a0 We stopped off at our neighbors to pick up John’s Chocolate birthday cake she baked for him.\u00a0 We both had a piece of it for dinner, because we were full from our warm scraped cheese and baked potatoes lunch.<\/p>\n

Sunday, Jan 6\u00a0 The wild turkeys were back around both sides of the house this morning.\u00a0 First, they were out back (West), and then they walked around to the front area near the house, where John had set up a garbage can on top of a barrel to put seeds on for our little birds.\u00a0 All 5 turkeys were there, with 3 on the ground picking up seeds apparently knocked off by the little birds, and two turkeys managed to jump up on the base (a raised flower bed) and were eating there.\u00a0 Three of the feral cats walked by and were surprised at the size of the “birds.”\u00a0 Rather funny, but John went and shooed them off up the driveway for fear one of the turkeys might sink a talon into a cat, and we cannot catch these cats if they need to go to a vet.\u00a0 OK, took all the pictures off the camera, and I have a few good shots from the food and wine affair and of the turkeys and kitties this morning out front.\u00a0 Worked a lot on kitchen & FaceBook clean-up as well this morning, and we had a late great lunch. \u00a0I cooked the bacon and John used it to make us some nice grilled cheese\/bacon sandwiches on English Muffin bread.\u00a0 Now I’m starting back on the Hay paper.\u00a0 We had a late dinner of baked chicken thighs, cheddar cheese slices, and butter beans (or little limas).<\/p>\n

Monday, Jan 7\u00a0 <\/strong>It’s almost 9:00 and I got through the night with rest and my eye is better.\u00a0 I was up at 3:00 a.m. and it had started snowing.\u00a0 Still is, but slowing down.\u00a0 We have over 5 inches.\u00a0 Happy I don’t have to go anywhere today.\u00a0 An hour later and the sun’s out and snow ceasing.\u00a0 Cat just crawled in my lap.\u00a0 Need to resume Hay paper work.\u00a0 Nice call from John’s sister in OH.\u00a0 Now the sun is shining and the snow stopped.\u00a0 Great rest of the day.\u00a0 John pushed snow off of the cars and shoveled that away, and cleaning off pathways, fed horses and little birds, and exercised dogs.\u00a0 I spent most of the time working on the hay paper.\u00a0 Still much to do, but a lot was completed, especially on photos.\u00a0 We had a nice talk with my Aunt Marise for her birthday (it’s tomorrow).\u00a0 Good talk with cuz Susan and with Marise.\u00a0 Also I got to thank Susan for sending me (it arrived late today), a spare Kindle Fire [there\u2019s a story there, but it doesn\u2019t need to be told here].\u00a0 I’m really excited.\u00a0 I do have to get back to Family Reunion write up for our annual newsletter.\u00a0 Before that, my co-author got back to me and I spent the rest of the night working on the hay paper photos.<\/p>\n

Tuesday, Jan 8\u00a0 What another crazy day!\u00a0 We worked this morning on stuff to get ready for our farrier to be here at 10:00 a.m. so we could finish up things and make it to town.\u00a0 However, the farrier never came so I called at 11:11 to see what had happened.\u00a0 He was sorry, and was to call us tonight to reschedule; something about writing down the date wrong.\u00a0 We had a nice big lunch because I had to take a large dose of antibiotics before my teeth cleaning, and didn’t wish to on an empty stomach.\u00a0 Then off to town, for my appt and for John to run errands.\u00a0 He stopped at the Adult Activity Center to pick up 3 pairs of finger-less gloves (for me) with high parts up the arm, knitted by a lady in town.\u00a0 They are great for playing the violin, banjo, or any stringed instrument.\u00a0 I took a white pair tonight and gave to the harp player in our group.\u00a0 The lady knitted me some socks (light blue).\u00a0 I love them.\u00a0 She donates her time to make knitted things to leave on the table at the Senior Center for people to take and use.\u00a0 John came back and picked me up and we dropped off at the Post Office for me to mail my return package back to Blair to get a correct size.\u00a0 Then off to the grocery and back home in time to turn around and go back to town to play music tonight.\u00a0 Near where trees slow the wind, snow and then ice accumulates on the roads, softens, breaks up, and re-freezes. Tonight in the dark it seemed worse than ever.<\/p>\n

Late home, almost 9 and no dinner.\u00a0 Now I maybe will just have dessert and go to bed.\u00a0 That’s what I did, but stayed up very late working on our hay paper, till almost midnight.<\/p>\n

Wednesday, Jan 9 \u00a0Up relatively early to work again on the paper.\u00a0 Got off some comments to my co-author (who is busy teaching today) before leaving for the Food Bank.\u00a0 I was almost late because of my car being \u2018steering wheel locked\u2019 where John moved it to an uneven area.\u00a0 The area around is still slick with ice.\u00a0 I was changing cars, when John got mine started.\u00a0 So I moved back, carrying all my stuff over the ice again.\u00a0 Made it in time to start just as all the folks were getting their trays of food and being seated.\u00a0 We played for 1\/2 hour and then got some food.\u00a0 Today was pasta with a very spicy sausage, garlic bread, mixed salad, with tomatoes on the side, and coconut cream pie (CCP) for dessert.\u00a0 I had a nice visit with our fan club and let one of the employees (young guy) play a bit on my violin.\u00a0 He knows how to play, learned as a kid (as I did). \u00a0It was fun and I wish he could join our group.\u00a0 I told him to bring his violin next Wed and play with us.\u00a0 Doubt he will, but it was cool just the same.\u00a0 Came on home and went back to work on our paper.\u00a0 After I finish the text reading and occasionally rewriting, I will email it and then get to work reducing our beautiful color photos to grayscale for inclusion in the printed paper.\u00a0 Afternoon and late tonight we finished up the paper graphics.\u00a0 It’s late, my eye is bothersome, and I’m calling it a night.\u00a0 I mailed off the rest of my text comments, and later sent all 8 grayscale photos to my co-author.\u00a0 As soon as he fits everything in, the manuscript goes for review to a colleague with good editing skills.\u00a0 By next week it should arrive to the editor of the journal.<\/p>\n

Thursday, Jan 10\u00a0 It’s late tonight and I’m trying to remember all that happened today.\u00a0 Okay–started by sleeping in late because of late night’s work.\u00a0 Fairly early I was still on my first cup of coffee, I had at least a half hour telephone job reference for a student who left in 2005.\u00a0 That was \u201cout of the blue\u201d and interrupted my proofing more comments on our paper.\u00a0 Then another call and I had to find John (outside) to alert him our rescheduled farrier visit would happen 15 minutes earlier than planned.\u00a0 We were late getting ready to run me to town for music.\u00a0 John went along to buy a 24\u201d fluorescent tube for the one that started blinking in our washroom.\u00a0 The new tube shows no sign of life whatever and will have to be exchanged (another day).\u00a0 We had to turn around and go back to town after eating an early dinner, so we could get a place on the front row to hear a lecture on “Cascadia hazards inferred from mud, sand, tree rings, and brush strokes,” by Brian Atwater, a USGS geologist.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/pubs.usgs.gov\/pp\/pp1707\/<\/a><\/p>\n

We know this story and have the book but Brian is the \u201cmain dude\u201d on this and known by all who know anything about big earthquakes and tsunamis.\u00a0 In the following picture note the level on his jacket of muddy sea water:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/sxcwc.ece.pdx.edu\/ext\/images\/stories\/sx-cw\/atwater2.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

We knew the place would be packed, and I wanted to record a video, so needed a prime place down front.\u00a0 Crowd was 161 in a room only with 120 seats.\u00a0 It was well worth the effort, and even though we had heard the story before, it was great hearing it from the actual person who had the insight about these large Washington coast earthquakes. \u00a0Japanese historical papers record the exact year, day, and hour when the big wave hit their coast \u2013 the evening of January 26, 1700.\u00a0 The western WA coast has \u201cghost trees\u201d — standing trees that died when land subsidence during an earthquake flooded them with saltwater.\u00a0 Parts of the exposed trees have been worn away but deeply buried roots still had bark and the last layer of growth from the year before they died.\u00a0 Brian used the 1964 Anchorage, Alaska earthquake and the tsunami in Turnagain Bay . . .<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.ngdc.noaa.gov\/hazardimages\/event\/show\/2<\/a><\/p>\n

as a point of reference, although the 1700 quake was much larger.\u00a0 John and I had traveled there in 1987 and it was neat to have experienced a trip through the area.\u00a0 As well, he mentioned the Chile earthquake of 1970 and the Sumatra\u2013Andaman earthquake (Dec. 2004) and resulting tsunami on Aceh, Indonesia and nearby coasts.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami<\/a><\/p>\n

All in all, a great day.<\/p>\n

Friday, Jan 11\u00a0 Home today and the next 3. \u00a0Wow.\u00a0 Ain’t that great?\u00a0 Maybe I will be able to catch up on many things looming on the list of TO-DOs.\u00a0 John fixed a cheddar cheese, onion omelet with bacon and a piece of “Texas toast” of his homemade bread for midday brunch.\u00a0 I need to get on the Wilkins Reunion web description.\u00a0 Meanwhile the turkeys just arrived out back and I took some pictures with a little sun showing their colors.\u00a0 We’ve decided there is only one Tom with his 4 gals.\u00a0 Now we just ate the last two pieces of chocolate crock pot candy, so will have to make more.\u00a0 Luckily, yesterday on John’s trip for the light tube, he found all the candy ingredients on sale for much less than we paid around Christmas time.\u00a0 He bought chocolate almond bark and bars from Ghirardelli with 60% cacao for \u00bd the price shown here:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.ghirardelli.com\/store\/shop-products\/collections\/baking-products\/60-cacao-bittersweet-chocolate-baking-bar.html<\/a><\/p>\n

We will make a new load using our Carpathian walnuts and maybe add a few cashews, or not.\u00a0 Remains to be seen.\u00a0 During his baking supplies acquisition yesterday, he bought rye flour (a single package of):<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.bobsredmill.com\/light-rye-flour.html<\/a><\/p>\n

for mixing into regular bread and, for English Muffin bread, cornmeal for a texture coating and the non-sticking help.\u00a0 Sun is still out and the temperature has risen to 30, but low enough that we are leaving the heat on in the “cat house.”\u00a0 Tonight the temp is expected to drop to 9 degrees and then one notch lower Saturday night.\u00a0 After that it warms up a degree each night \u2013 assuming it does what the NWS tells it to!<\/p>\n

Saturday, Jan 12 \u00a0At daybreak the temp was 11 degrees and only managed to get up to about 23.\u00a0 John did what had to be done outside but mostly wasted the day away \u2013 except he did remove a deceased light fixture from the bathroom wall and replaced it with one of these . . .<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/images\/B0085VZY20\/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=228013&s=hi<\/a><\/p>\n

There is a second one to do in the partial loo.\u00a0 The fixtures were purchased from Costco some months ago \u2013 just waiting for that cold or rainy day.\u00a0 That was today.\u00a0 Perhaps it isn\u2019t worth mentioning but, of course, the shape and hardware for the installation do not match the outlet box in the wall.\u00a0 The house was built in 1982 and the shape is round with anchor holes N & S, while the new light is looking for an upright rectangle with beveled corners and anchor holes NW & SE.\u00a0 There seem to be squarish things like that but not rectangular.\u00a0 Maybe they were like 8-track tapes \u2013 their time has passed.\u00a0 Anyway, all this provoked some anguish on the part of the installer (and a few references to god\u2019s wrath) until a work-around sufficed.\u00a0 So, a nice addition.\u00a0 Tomorrow (Sunday) is also going to be cold so the second of these will get installed \u2013 likely with the same issue.<\/p>\n

Many turkey sightings today. \u00a0Spent most of the day, not on my hay paper, or on the reunion page, but on the link to go with this blog on the Raclette held a week ago. \u00a0I hope you enjoy it. \u00a0The link is above where it is first mentioned, on Jan 5.<\/p>\n

Hope your week was great.<\/p>\n

Nancy and John<\/p>\n

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

Saturday, Jan 5\u00a0 We arrived at White Heron at 11:00 a.m. for our first Raclette.\u00a0 Phyllis and Cameron Fries put on the event for the families of the volunteer wine grape pruners from last spring’s work.\u00a0 We got behind on our departure because of phone calls and so Nancy didn’t get completely prepared for the … Continue reading “Melted cheese and melted snow”<\/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-1133","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-ih","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133","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=1133"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1135,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133\/revisions\/1135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}