We are having to reconstruct this text.\u00a0 John started writing this morning and I kluged some comments from early in-the-week emails.\u00a0\u00a0 So now I will add in more and you will be able to tell the different styles of our writing.\u00a0\u00a0 He writes below with an obituary for my MacBook (dual system with Windows) that caused the necessary reconstruction of this week\u2019s blog.\u00a0 He also puts in some stuff about the horse-damaged car and about our Friday night potluck.\u00a0 I have weaved his comments into this story for the past week.\u00a0 So, going back to . . .<\/p>\n
Sunday, 1\/22\/12<\/p>\n
We ended up with almost 12 inches of snow the end of last week, but yesterday a lot melted.\u00a0 We started with four inches of snow before we had to leave for Yakima to visit our friends and pick up my 6-string classical guitar, visit Costco to grab Turbo Tax 2011 at a $10 discount, gasoline, and a few other needed things.\u00a0 We were on our way to have lunch with them.\u00a0 The snow was falling hard and got worse as we drove west of Yakima, past Wiley City.\u00a0 It is about 20 minutes in good weather — located west of the Yakima airport.\u00a0 They live up on a hill in a \u201csubdivision\u201d and the roads were not plowed.\u00a0 Lunch was a great \u201cYakima Salad\u201d (Grilled chicken, lettuce, crumbled Roquefort cheese, Fuji apples cut up, bacon bits, sugared walnuts with sesame seeds, onions, with huckleberry or raspberry vinaigrette dressing, and French bread.\u00a0 John and I took pears and a chocolate brownie-like cake with our own walnuts plus chocolate chips added and covered with chocolate frosting.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t need dinner tonight.<\/p>\n
Our drive was a little touchy, but we made it all right.\u00a0 I think we will have the all-weather radials checked because we were in my 2004 Subaru for the trip down, and after we returned home, we had to turn around and go back to Ellensburg, to take John\u2019s Subaru to have its door and window replaced.\u00a0 (At least 4 or 5 more inches had fallen since we left at 10:15 a.m.)\u00a0\u00a0 Happily, our neighbor came back with his little machine and cleared more out of our driveway and also out in the pasture on the way to the barn, where John feeds the horses.\u00a0 He plowed a path so John does not have to make 3 trips to feed.\u00a0 When the snow is like this, wheelbarrows do not wheel, although the \u201cbarrow\u201d part still functions. \u00a0(find the part about Shapes of Thinks to Come at the end of this linked page:)<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.word-detective.com\/061405.html<\/a><\/p>\n Still Sunday night:\u00a0 I have to take my meds for the night, and we probably will have dessert and hit the hay.\u00a0 I actually have snacked some on some Peanut Butter Filled Nuggets from H-K Anderson out of Lancaster, PA, that we bought today.\u00a0 They are REALLY good.\u00a0 I had bought a small bag (5 ounces) for a buck at the dollar store the other day, and John saw a 52 ounce big plastic container of them for $7.79 at Costco.\u00a0 We bought them, and I checked the bag from the $1 store. At the price we got at Costco we were paying $ .74 for the dollar bag amount.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.hk-anderson.com\/enjoy\/pdp\/peanut_butter_filled_nugget\/<\/a><\/p>\n Monday, 1\/23\/12<\/p>\n John has burned a few calories moving snow.\u00a0 I have been working on in-house projects.\u00a0 Here’s a slight run-down.<\/p>\n Missed my exercise SAIL class today.\u00a0 No sense driving all that way in the snow on not all plowed roads, to spend 45 minutes and turn around and drive back home using a gallon of gasoline.\u00a0 Started by sleeping in till after awaking at 7:30 a.m. and then going back to sleep.\u00a0 Guess I was tired from yesterday\u2019s activities and stress of driving in the snowstorm.\u00a0 Have been reading a masters thesis, switching and doing some music transposing, eating lunch, and doing email.<\/p>\n A friend in the Southwest wrote to see if we were all right, because the Blog was not posted this weekend. They read it faithfully and were worried.\u00a0 That was the first we knew.\u00a0 John sent it out late Saturday night (thought so), but neither one of us checked it, and apparently he hit the wrong button.\u00a0 It got out there about 2:30 p.m., Monday.\u00a0 John went back out shoveling and did not cook the roast for dinner as planned so it\u2019s frozen teriyaki chicken and rice bowls.\u00a0 I\u2019m stayed in the house doing various chores, interspersing with editing and still proofing that masters thesis.\u00a0 Nope, I\u2019m no longer paid, but I\u2019m still serving on a couple of graduate committees with students I worked with in the past.<\/p>\n Tuesday, 1\/24\/12<\/p>\n I went to the hospital on the way to massage therapy and gave blood for my INR test.\u00a0 Then to massage.\u00a0 I was hurting some today; don\u2019t know why.\u00a0 Afterwards I was too, more so than usual.\u00a0 Then my doctor called at 7:30 p.m. reporting in on my INR (he was really late working).\u00a0 It was way high (4.3) and we don\u2019t know why.\u00a0 He told me not to take the Coumadin for a couple of nights and to retest it on Thursday.\u00a0 It has been running at 2.0 since October when it went up to 3.2.\u00a0 I have not had any alcohol nor Vitamin K veggies.\u00a0 Oh, I mentioned to my family physician that I had had dental work last week and was on Predisone (4mg) for six days.\u00a0 More the first two days and less till Sunday night before the blood draw.\u00a0 I was given it for an anti-inflammatory.\u00a0 He suggested my idea could be correct that the med could have caused it.\u00a0 Spent the rest of the night feeling bad.<\/p>\n Wednesday,\u00a0 1\/25\/12<\/strong><\/p>\n Evelyn (banjo) and I played and sang at the food bank without music, and did really amazingly well.\u00a0 I don’t need sheet music but she does on many of the songs.\u00a0 There were 45 people there for a lunch of polish sausages, beans, chili, and a peach cobbler to-die-for.\u00a0 I brought a piece home for John and I to share. \u00a0After lunch I wanted to take a nap rather than go to exercise class, but I went and we had 13 people there.\u00a0 Driving in was a real mess on the roads, but the sun was shining.\u00a0 In the 3 hours that passed, the road slush got cleaned off so the return trip was not nearly as bad (at least the north-south roads); E-W, less traveled ones were still in bad shape.\u00a0 We thought we would pick up John’s Subaru tomorrow, but NOT.<\/p>\n Got a phone call at 4:00 that our car we hoped to have back tomorrow, and had taken in, Sunday night in all the snow, after our trip to Yakima, all in the snow, will not be ready because the “door” from Portland got lost on Greyhound, from last Thursday.\u00a0 It showed today, and can be picked up at the bus station tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m.\u00a0 Who knows when we will get the car back and fixed.\u00a0 Likely not till early or the middle of next week.\u00a0 Oh fun.<\/p>\n About my INR blood test.\u00a0 I\u2019m taking Coumadin and have to have my INR checked once a month.\u00a0 [The next few sentences are from a web site: \u00a0A laboratory test called an INR (International Normalized Ratio) measures the time it takes for blood to clot and compares it to an average.\u00a0 Monitoring the INR can be an important step in managing health.\u00a0 An INR is useful in monitoring the impact of anticoagulant (“blood thinning”) medicines, such as Warfarin (Coumadin).\u00a0 Patients with atrial fibrillation often take anticoagulant medications to protect against clots that can cause strokes.\u00a0 While taking Warfarin, patients have regular blood tests to monitor their INR.\u00a0\u00a0 Just as patients know their blood pressure numbers, they also should know their Warfarin (Coumadin) dosage and their INR.\u00a0 In healthy people, the INR is about 1.0.\u00a0 For patients on anticoagulants, the INR typically should be between 2.0 and 3.0 for patients with atrial fibrillation, or between 3.0 and 4.0 for patients with mechanical heart valves.\u00a0 However, the ideal INR must be individualized for each patient.]\u00a0 My cardiologist wants it closer to under 3.0.\u00a0 An INR can be too high; a number greater than 4.0 may indicate that blood is clotting too slowly, creating a risk of uncontrolled bleeding.\u00a0 An INR less than 2.0 may not provide adequate protection from clotting.<\/p>\n Thursday,\u00a0 1\/26\/12<\/p>\n Let\u2019s see —\u00a0 today was music in the afternoon at the Hearthstone care facility and a retake on the INR.\u00a0 Turns out it was 2.6, so don\u2019t know if it was really the Predisone effect or if it could have been a faulty test.\u00a0 We\u2019ll never know, but I have to be retested in 12 days.<\/p>\n Our other \u201cstory\u201d today, related by John:\u00a0 Less serious news this week involved taking the horse-damaged Subaru to the shop for a new side door and re-painting.\u00a0 The time-line slipped a bit on that.\u00a0 The new door was shipped from Portland, OR (about a five hour drive away in bad weather) on a Greyhound Bus.\u00a0 It got lost.\u00a0 Well, not the bus.\u00a0 So the door finally showed up but not in time to get the car back on Thursday.\u00a0 However, still in that car was the University\u2019s gift to Nancy (upon retirement) of a campus parking pass.\u00a0 This she needed on Friday to go to a noon luncheon.\u00a0 So we had to stop by the fix-it-up shop.\u00a0 We learned there of the damage to vehicles caused by the snow and ice covered roads.\u00a0 All regular stalls were filled with damaged cars.\u00a0 Another was still in the outside parking lot, and ours was forlornly waiting for the wayward door.<\/p>\n Friday, January 27, 2012<\/p>\n Today I awoke to my laptop computer not showing anything on the screen.\u00a0 Took it in to my fix-it guys, but it is toast, and would cost more to repair it than to buy a new one, with much more power and space.\u00a0 Repair would be $400 at least.\u00a0 This one was from 2008, and was my gold watch and chain when leaving the university.\u00a0 Now it is gone.\u00a0 I have been in the middle of reviewing a thesis and this will cause problems not being able to access it.\u00a0 I also only had one copy of the blog I had started last Sunday, and so am having to recreate this week\u2019s now.\u00a0 Usually I keep it up daily, so it\u2019s not such a chore.\u00a0 I took the laptop in today on my way to a scholarship luncheon and they gave the verdict, but agreed to back it up on my external drive so we took it back in on our way to a potluck\/jam session. \u00a0Here is John\u2019s Obituary for her. \u00a0The laptop croaked! [Sept. 2008 \u2013 January 2012] \u00a0She* developed a \u201cseeing\u201d problem.\u00a0 To be precise, she quit providing anything to see.\u00a0 Without a functioning screen, it is quite impossible to make efficient use of the lady within.\u00a0 She would be the one on which the digital-daily update is recorded.\u00a0 Usually, then, on Saturday, the daily file is transferred to the dual-monitor tower-residing computer in the back corner bedroom, also known as (aka) the computer cave.<\/p>\n *She\u00a0 —\u00a0 <\/em>We refer to our computers with the feminine gender in remembrance of a time when women were women, and computers were women.\u00a0 Here are three links to explain:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.witi.com\/center\/witimuseum\/halloffame\/1997\/eniac.php<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.earlyofficemuseum.com\/calculating_machines.htm<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.zib.de\/zuse\/Inhalt\/Programme\/eniac\/history.html<\/a><\/p>\n The middle link has a description and photo of machines called Comptometers and Comptographs.\u00a0 John\u2019s dad brought one of those home that was being thrown out in the mid-1950s at his company\u2019s purchasing department.\u00a0 After his mom\u2019s death (1980) his dad cleaned out the house and moved to Florida.\u00a0 Things such as this ancient machine were given away or sent to the dump (now known as a landfill site).\u00a0 And, Nancy\u2019s recollection and use of a comptometer goes back to working over Christmas vacation (from High School) at Sears (& Roebuck), in the Mail Order Department.\u00a0 I had to check all incoming mail orders from the southeast region, which converged on the Atlanta, GA store for processing.\u00a0 They had to be verified for amount of items, quantity purchased, the totals on each line, and the added tax, for the final cost.\u00a0 It was amazing how many errors there were.\u00a0 Sometimes, it would be every second one.\u00a0 I used a comptometer for that work. \u00a0 [End of Obituary] \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Earlier in the morning before I left for the luncheon, John and I made a large Pineapple Upside Down Cake in our huge 12\u201d skillet left over from his Cincinnati days when he lived in a big old house with a bunch of guys.\u00a0 Everyone at the party thought it was pretty special.\u00a0 We added our own walnuts to it (many more than the recipe called for), and we also took a quart of pears our neighbor had canned for us.\u00a0 John\u2019s version of the skillet cake came out as:\u00a0 \u00a0Friday evening was a music-group pot-luck meal and jam-session.\u00a0 We took our famous \u201cNancy\u2019s Big Skillet Downside Up Cake\u201d made with pineapple rings, red Maraschino Cherries [preserved and packed with a wondrous assortment of dyes and other chemicals**], walnuts (ours), butter, eggs, brown sugar, and a bit of flour. \u00a0http:\/\/www.nationalcherries.com\/maraschino.html<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0After reading John\u2019s found link above, I\u2019m wondering if we should have thawed some of own cherries and used them !<\/p>\n That neighbor who canned the pears ended up falling this morning and shattering her hip, so an ambulance came and took her to the ER.\u00a0 Another neighbor called to tell us.\u00a0 John called me in town, and I called both her sons to let them know.\u00a0 Then I came on home rather than going to SAIL class, because I had several things to do in the afternoon on John\u2019s computer.\u00a0 I worked on music and transposing some, while he napped.<\/p>\n We received some guitar and music books in today\u2019s mail, which is cool.\u00a0 Had a nice dinner and didn\u2019t get home till 10:15.\u00a0 Here was the menu:\u00a0 Turkey, ham, 3 bean salad with peppers and onions, pecan\/sugar covered sweet potatoes, rice and sausage, green Caesar type salad, Jell-O salad, calico beans, cookies, and our special cake.<\/p>\n Saturday, January 28, 2012\u00a0 Mostly today I have been catching up on household chores, except when John was out feeding and exercising the animals.\u00a0 While I was sleeping in, he started rewriting the blog.\u00a0 Now I\u2019m merging them.\u00a0 He had come back to work on some guitar chord handouts.\u00a0 We need to tune the 12-string and the classical, because last night we took the 12 string in to compare to that of one of the guys in our group, (size of mine is slightly smaller), and he played it a little and thinks it is tuned a little differently than his \u2013 Who\u2019s to know but one or both need to be fixed.<\/p>\n I must finish this so John can post it before we leave for the Upper County for a special Grange function, where two of our friends are providing after dinner music.\u00a0 They were at our jam session last night. \u00a0They said it was very relaxing, and something they needed before the big event tonight.<\/p>\n Hope you all had a good week with less drama.<\/p>\n That\u2019s it from Nancy and John,<\/p>\n Still on the Naneum Fan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We are having to reconstruct this text.\u00a0 John started writing this morning and I kluged some comments from early in-the-week emails.\u00a0\u00a0 So now I will add in more and you will be able to tell the different styles of our writing.\u00a0\u00a0 He writes below with an obituary for my MacBook (dual system with Windows) that … Continue reading “SATURDAY — The laptop croaked! 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