This his week started off slowly and was light with activity, or lack thereof.\u00a0 Saturday and Sunday we stayed home, except for Nancy going to Taize\u2019 Sunday night, and going ahead of time to Safeway to pick up some strawberries for our neighbor.\u00a0 Two friends were there, one a former student who left in 2006 and has returned to finish her Resource Management (REM) thesis and degree.\u00a0 She is a Native American from Montana, and it was great to see her.\u00a0 She came along to the Taize\u2019 evening and had dinner with us.\u00a0 The next day was light too, pretty much.\u00a0 John took off in the middle of the day for Yakima to have his Subaru serviced.\u00a0 I went to exercise class and to the grocery.<\/p>\n
Today, Tuesday, is another light day for me.\u00a0 John left to prune wine grapes and I slept in.\u00a0 Continued working to make a list of REM grads and their job titles and connections\u00a0 to be used to invite folks to an Earth Day fundraiser for scholarships.\u00a0 I\u2019m getting tired of spending so much time as it is taking and keeping me away from the chores around the house I should be doing.<\/p>\n
Wednesday awoke to a sick day, with some intestinal bug.\u00a0 I could have gone a long time without this.\u00a0 Better now, however, than away from home.\u00a0 Heard from a good friend her mom is in Virginia Mason with a suspected stroke.\u00a0 We surely have her and the family in our thoughts and prayers.\u00a0 John went to prune again today and it rained here and the wind blew all morning and still is howling.\u00a0 I will skip my exercise class today and try to get better.\u00a0 John got home and we ate a couple of cookies and he is napping.\u00a0 I might do that too and then will hit the taxes again later.\u00a0 Maybe I should do them while he is napping and not on the computer.\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 I did and completed an extension form to send in for 2010.\u00a0 Now I have to do more data entry.<\/p>\n
Thursday began early sending John off to prune again.\u00a0 I managed to unload the dishwasher and clean up all the sinks and counters.\u00a0 Never had lunch till after I got home from playing music with my \u201cgroup\u201d at Mt. View.\u00a0\u00a0 Worked all morning with my laptop, trying to get it to recharge the battery. \u00a0It has been acting odd for two weeks and is now mostly not charging.\u00a0 I will take it to the computer doctor tomorrow.<\/p>\n
I spent the rest of the time on filing and organizing.\u00a0 It seems like an endless task.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m on John\u2019s computer now, having sent some important files here, to deal with.\u00a0 John just finished writing a series of \u201cGoogle Earth\u201d steps to show his sister how he configures the maps and user-placed photos to learn about places when news reports are incomplete.\u00a0 Now it\u2019s late, so I will have some ice cream and hit the hay, I think.<\/p>\n
Friday, all day, and April Fool\u2019s Day at that.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t get anything pulled on me, however.\u00a0 It was a GOOD day and full. \u00a0Nice to hear that for a change from me, eh? I’m still very behind, and am writing this\u00a0from “John’s computer,\u201d our house one, in the back “bedroom” that has been a computer room forever.\u00a0 I call it \u201cJohn\u2019s computer\u201d because a few years ago we bought a name brand desktop one via their web site, dealt with their poor documentation, poor tech support, their cheap components, and bloated installed \u201ccrap-ware.\u201d\u00a0 A week after it arrived, we shipped it all back.\u00a0 John next ordered quality parts from 4 or 5 different vendors and cobbled them together to make a computer.\u00a0 Two minor components have had to be replaced during four years of considerable use, so out they came, in went new ones, and \u201cJohn\u2019s computer\u201d whirls on.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0The computer room acquired bunk beds for daughters of our friend\u2019s visiting from New Zealand, about a year before the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics came undone \u2013 about 20 years ago. \u00a0The beds are covered with 3 feet or more of dusty stuff. \u00a0John blows the dust out of the computer tower but has refused to touch the (his words) 3 feet of dust on the stuff on the beds.\u00a0 I\u2019ll get to it some day.. ha ha, but there are many other flat surfaces to hit first. \u00a0Good I’m retired. \u00a0Perhaps I will have time to finish this in my lifetime.<\/p>\n
So, here’s the good news. \u00a0I took my computer into the guys on my way to exercise class,\u00a0and guru-Chuck called me it was the power cord that had burned itself out. \u00a0He ordered a part before 2:00 pm and figures they get one day service and will have it in on Monday, and I will get it back then.\u00a0 That is SUCH good news, but not as great as what he said next. \u00a0“It was still under warranty.” \u00a0Wow, I would never have thought that and would have just ordered a new power cord (John found one on line for $79.95, plus shipping), but we decided to get a professional opinion from people we have dealt with for YEARS. \u00a0This is the computer I helped pay for in 2007 with service award funds I had access to and when I retired, it became my \u201cgold watch.\u201d \u00a0But it is like a watch without hands as I long ago wore the printed symbols off of about 20% of the keys.\u00a0 I\u2019m its custodian until it crashes, then they can toss it on their great slag heap of other dead tech equipment.\u00a0 It was good to have the laptop in ICU and the Rehab center.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t have it the first ICU when I was so sick, but the subsequent two times, I could.\u00a0 (John says: Note she calls this good news.\u00a0 Consider \u2013 when it totally fails we\u2019ll buy a new spiffy one.\u00a0 That would be good news<\/em>!)<\/p>\n Next good news was having a great April Fool’s Day potluck. \u00a0They provided ham and scalloped potatoes, and people brought veggies and salads, bread, and desserts.\u00a0 Very\u00a0yummy. \u00a0Then I played and sang with Karen (accordionist)–springtime songs from the 1930s. \u00a0I must admit there were a few that I had never heard, but I just listened and picked \u2019em up. \u00a0Then there were some I knew well, such as Springtime in the Rockies, and I played the harmony, and yodeled at appropriate places. \u00a0Had fun.<\/p>\n Then it was exercise class. \u00a0Have I worn you out yet ? \u00a0Then off to school to pick up a few bottles of \u00a0our wine leftover from our (my) retirement party. \u00a0There were still\u00a0almost two cases left. \u00a0Much has disappeared since we donated it, but I needed some Merlot to repay the gal who did some map work for me with images rectifying them to the ground surface and a coordinate system known to the other layer that I needed to overlay.\u00a0 It\u2019s for the NCGE meeting I’m going to in Portland, in August, and presenting a workshop on the Urban Heat Island there with my friend from NY who we’ve\u00a0known since 1965. \u00a0Paul and I have presented stuff together over the past 20 years, at professional meetings.\u00a0 Pretty\u00a0interesting.<\/p>\n Then called John but he hadn\u2019t gotten to the Conservation District to pick up his “trees” (5 Rocky Mountain Maples and 5 Blue Spruce), for which I had written a check for $15.14 this morning.\u00a0 I called from exercise class and left a message with the District to leave a note on his order to pick up donuts before coming home. A lady had called me this morning from the bakery saying the Apple Fritters were especially nice today, and they could fix me a full dozen. \u00a0He didn’t get the message, but was home when I called later, and so I went down to pick them up on my way home, also getting some ground beef for us to have nachos tonight.<\/p>\n I went to the art gallery (we have several)–but I went to Gallery One (its name); it has been here since 1960! \u00a0There was a write up of a couple from Seattle in night before last’s paper, front page, about their cat, Cooper, an orange tabby, who is a photographer. \u00a0They were putting on his show at Gallery One, so I went and viewed it. \u00a0It is fantastic. \u00a0They bought a special small camera to put around his collar, and it takes pictures every two minutes. \u00a0They wondered what he did during the day on his outings, and now they know. \u00a0Some of them are really quite good. \u00a0I will tell you the sites to check out, but seeing the large framed pictures in person was awesome and better. \u00a0I have some favorites, but you can look at the sites below and see what yours are.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6GzpwrJjtHU<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DDGrXmA6ewY<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0CQwh_v1hDg<\/a><\/p>\n I guess if I’m tired, it’s understandable.<\/p>\n Okay– I must leave this computer. \u00a0Annie just came and asked to go out. \u00a0Sunshine just jumped on the stool in front of me, and will be getting up in the window soon. She just gently stepped across my knees and got on the books (flat space) on the partially pulled out filing drawer and is looking out the window at John working in the yard.\u00a0 It\u2019s Friday night.<\/p>\n John is back in from doing yard chores on Saturday.\u00a0 I will stop this and give my chair to John to put this report on the blog.<\/p>\n We hope you all have another good week and we send our best regards to all our faithful readers. \u00a0We are surprised every so often to hear that people are still followers.<\/p>\n Nancy and John in Ellensburg, WA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This his week started off slowly and was light with activity, or lack thereof.\u00a0 Saturday and Sunday we stayed home, except for Nancy going to Taize\u2019 Sunday night, and going ahead of time to Safeway to pick up some strawberries for our neighbor.\u00a0 Two friends were there, one a former student who left in 2006 … Continue reading “SATURDAY — small towns, computers, dust, & Cooper”<\/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-757","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-cd","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757","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=757"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":759,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757\/revisions\/759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rocknponderosa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}