Time to finish it up.

The final winter squash harvest.  A total of 31 this year.  I think that's going to be enough.

It will be leaf raking and leaf blowing time soon.  They're all a bit wet at the moment. 

Jon's dahlias just keep on doin' their thing. Jon is back to feeling his normal self after his bout of bronchitis.  He spends his days out in his woods, doing his favorite things. 

I love the cool weather fall days.  They make me take the time to enjoy the sunshine and take it all in while I am slowly removing all the veggie plants from my garden and putting it to bed for the winter. 

We follow a lot of football teams and enjoy watching the games on the weekend.  We schedule outside chores between games and at halftime.  I'm at the bottom of the pack this year in the football pool, but still hoping to inch my way back up over the season.  The competition is tough. 

 Enjoy this beautiful day.  Another gift. 

Friends

            

I haven't posted for a few days due to catching a virus.  A very bad one that I am still trying to recover from.  After 5 days, I am on the mend though and finally starting to feel like I can function.  

The second day of my virus I felt so awful that my thoughts were, "if this is break-through covid-19, I would hate to get this while unvaccinated".  It was ugly.  I was worried because Jon is recovering from acute bronchitis.  If I had covid, I didn't want him to get it, but I was too sick to drive to Sandpoint to get a test.  

After a couple of days I finally felt good enough to make the drive and I called my doctor so that I could get a test at the drive-through testing site.  They told me I could see my results online after 8:00 p.m. that night.  My virus was not break-through Covid-19.  

I didn't think it was because I had no cough or fever, but I did have every other bad cold symptom.  I am fully confident that my Moderna vaccine that I received back in February is protecting me.  

If you haven't been vaccinated, please get vaccinated.  If you know someone you care about who is not vaccinated, please try to talk to them about getting the shot.  

The people who are not vaccinated are filling our hospitals and they are really sick.  It's a very bad sickness and it's a very bad way to die.  There are people who care about you, people who need you and even if you think you are invincible, you are not. 

Today I am resting and watching football.  It's going to be a beautiful day filled with sunshine.  I am missing a lunch date with my friends, Ellie, Julie, Linda, Ann and Kristine, which is disappointing since Kristine will be heading back to Rhode Island soon.  

Tomorrow is my sister Kathy's birthday.  I am thinking of her and wishing her a very wonderful day.  She's a very special woman. 

                       

From a doctor in Twin Falls, Idaho.  Worth reading.

Jon's dahlias are all in full bloom and lovely.

 I watched a video yesterday of a mob of protestors in Coeur d' Alene who were outside a location where the school board meeting was going to be held.  They were there to protest wearing of masks by the students.  They were pounding on the door and screaming obscenities at the police and school board members.  Some of them then went to the district administration office and the office had to go on lockdown. The police had to be called to protect those in the offices and then evacuate them. 

This is wrong.  What is happening to us?  Where is decency and respect for others? School board members are unpaid.  Yes, they are elected, but they are basically volunteers whose job in this pandemic is to provide an education to our kids and to keep them safe.  

Local boards, councils and commissions are being forced to make difficult decisions because our state officials are too afraid to do it themselves.  This has become a dangerous situation.  

We must step up and support our school boards, health boards and healthcare workers. Yes, people's lives are at stake. 

This is a sweet video and a reminder of how vulnerable our children are at this time.  Please think of them and protect them. 

Take care my friends.

Idaho

A note left on the hospital staff whiteboard by Dr. Kenneth Krell, director of eastern Idaho's largest Intensive Care Unit.  

We have implemented Crisis Standards of Care for the entire state.
 

 Yesterday afternoon we learned that one of our neighbors has passed away from the virus.  We did not see each other often, but if she was in her yard when we walked passed on our way to get our newspaper, we would visit for a few minutes.   She was a sweet and kind, gentle woman.  

We were very sad to hear this news.  This virus has caused too much pain, sorrow and grief.

Please wear a mask to protect yourself and others.  

Please get vaccinated.  The vaccine works.  

In memory of Jody.  She loved her garden.

Happy Monday and Birthday Wishes

 Happy Birthday to a wonderful young woman, our daughter-in-law, Julie!  We are so lucky to have her in our lives and remember the first day David introduced us at a Hollister-Stier family event in Spokane.

What a talented young woman she is.  An artist, who creates very clever logos and beautiful paintings, she also lends her artistic creations to her baking, cookies and cakes.   

You can add to the list - becoming a teacher to teach Ben during the pandemic, which she is still doing.  

She is always there for her family and friends for whatever they might need at the time.  Plus, she's 100 percent ready for any kind of fun adventure. 

On our "Family Cruise" -  Belize and Honduras.  David proposed on the trip. 

At our annual Oyster Party the kids couldn't wait to find out what fun games she had for them.  This one was a "Fill your Bucket" race.

These kids are all now off and running as young adults with new careers and attending college.

 

Musical chairs - if you lost you had to grab a piece of clothing out of the bag and wear it.  

She volunteered hundreds of hours to the Hamilton Players Theater for many of the musicals.  Her stage art and props were fantastic.

Jon and I are wishing her a very happy day!

                                          This is one of her favorite songs.

Yesterday and today

 

September 11, 2001 was a bright, sunny day in New York City.

September 11, 2001 was a bright, sunny day here too.  At 6:00 a.m. Jon and I were driving to Sandpoint Middle School.  We had seen the news before we left.  I vividly remember driving down the highway - passing the turnoff to Northside School.  The sky was bright blue and it was a gorgeous fall day.  How could this be happening?

Today, twenty years later it's a very rainy day in North Idaho and we are all welcoming it.  We need the rain.  

We're still in the middle of a pandemic and we're sad once again because so many Americans are dying and they don't need to.

Yesterday I made-up my peach-jalapeno jam.  The first batch tasted so good that I kept on and made two more.  I have filled every jam/jelly jar in my house except one.

While I was canning away I was listening to my friend Bruce's new CD.  It was produced by Ben Harper's Mad Bunny Records.  Artists are Bruce Bishop, Stanley Clarke, Stewart Copeland, Jesse Ingalls and Jimmy Paxson.  

A Dream Set Free - Out is In

You can listen to the other songs here.  

It's also available to purchase on Amazon and other music download sites.

Today I'm moving on to making salsa today and watching football.  

Remembering 

and

listening

Friday stuff

 It's Friday and I have my Friday nights back since our summer music gig at Trinity has ended.  Don't get the wrong idea because I really do love playing music and the venue at Trinity is one of the best around.  I'm happy it's done, but I'm going to miss it.    

While Jon is recovering from his bout of severe bronchitis I have been lucky enough to play some music with friends here at our place both on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon.  It is a welcome relief to the stress of the last week or so.  Plus, it is so wonderful to just spend some time with friends. 

One of the songs my friends, Kristine and Ellie,  have been rehearsing with me  is, Kathy's Song.   The lyrics are beautiful.  They say that music heals the heart and touches the soul.  I recommend listening to it while you read the rest of my post.

Last night at around 11:00 p.m. our power went out.  There was no wind so the outage was a strange one.  I received a text message from Avista after the power was restored that said there was a tree on the line.  I guess there was a tree out there in the forest that just gave up.  Too much stress and drought. 

 I love trees and hate to see one go.   The same goes for my friend, Ellie who posted on Facebook about one of her favorite trees in her yard.  It was a Butternut Tree that was dying from old age.  The last year before they cut it down it had Chicken-of-the-Woods mushrooms growing on it. 

Things are slowly working their way back to normal around here.  Today's projects include making some peach jam, maybe peach-jalapeno?  Then there are all those ripe tomatoes that need to be made into salsa and they are just sitting there on the counter staring at me all the time. Waiting to be turned into delicious salsa.

A really nice thing about Fridays in September are that I can watch football and make salsa and jam at the same time.  We enjoyed watching the first NFL game last night.  I am actually not a fan of either team, since I'm a Seahawks fan, but I had to cheer for Dallas in this one.  They gave it their all, but just couldn't quite pull it off.  You can't give Brady more than a minute to get down the field.

The football pool so far is a draw since everyone chose Tampa to win.  Things will change on Saturday morning with the first college games.  

The weather forecast called for a lot of rain tonight, but so far I just don't see it on the radar.  I hope that my microchip is still working and that my weather predictions are right.  We need some rain to clear all of the smoke out of here.  It's not good for someone who has bronchitis.  

Soon Retired Mountain Man will be back out there in his favorite place, his woods.   Maggie will be right there along with him to make sure that he doesn't screw up.

Happy Friday and Go Hawks!

Topsy-Turvy Day

 Yesterday was one of those days.  Upside down.  You wake up and think you are going to have a normal day.  Nope.

Retired Mountain Man had been taking medication for a serious nerve pain for two weeks.  The medication side effects caused serious fatigue and drowsiness and after two weeks he was able to discontinue it.  The problem was that his side effect symptoms didn't improve.  He also had developed a cough while he was on the medication.  I won't go into more detail but to make a long story short - yesterday we headed to Sandpoint for an appointment his doctor who then sent us to the emergency room at Bonner General. 

Time: 1:15 p.m.

We had just read that morning that all of the hospitals in northern Idaho had gone into a Crisis Standard of Care mode due to so many being hospitalized with Covid 19 so we had no idea what to expect when we arrived at the ER.  

It was 2:10 p.m.

We drove up to the entrance where there was an intercom button to push on the wall by the door.  After speaking to someone on the intercom, a tall gentleman named Doug met us at the door.  He explained what we needed to do and that I could not come into the ER with Jon because there was a possibility that he might have Covid-19.  He asked if Jon had a cell phone.

Jon has a cell phone, but he didn't bring it with him.  Jon is new to the cell phone use.  He has one basically because his new hearing aids are controlled using his phone.  Other than that, he really doesn't like using it which meant, he didn't think to bring it with him to his doctor appointment.

Communication.  It's important.  

If I couldn't be with him while he was in the ER, I wouldn't know what was happening and Jon has a very difficult time communicating with his hearing loss while everyone is wearing a mask.  He can't read lips while you are talking to him.  

There was only one thing to do.  Drive back home (driving time 45 min.) to get his cell phone.   Doug said that would be fine since it would be at least a couple of hours for them to do all of the tests that Dr. Crane had ordered. 

On the drive home I started to plan ahead.  If his test results required that he be admitted to the hospital, what would he need?  Most definitely his hearing aid recharger and probably his tablet and charger.  All kinds of thoughts start rolling around in your head.  What could be wrong?  Could he really have Covid-19?  didn't seem likely, but...? 

I also needed to contact the family to let them know what was happening. Say what you will about texting and cell phone use, but in an emergency it sure did help to be able to text. 

Time: 3:45 p.m.

I returned to Sandpoint, dropped off his cell phone and found a place to park near the hospital, in the shade.   It wasn't 5 minutes later and Jon called me to let me know what had happened.   He had four separate blood draws for exam, a Covid-19 test, a chest x-ray and an EKG.  We were now waiting the results.

He told me that Doug had stayed with him in the room the entire time.  It had been at least two hours and it would be at least another thirty minutes before we knew anything.  They were looking for some kind of infection, bacterial or viral.  It seemed to me that they had performed a lot of tests in a short amount of time.  

5:45 p.m.

On the next call he told me that they were taking him for a CT scan of his lungs due to a spot they noticed on the chest x-ray, They were checking for a blood clot or cancer.  I can tell you that my alarm bells went off big time on that call.  

I decided it was time to go for a walk and the Healing Garden was not far from where I had parked.  It was a beautiful Fall day, with sunshine and no haze - for once.  

It had been quite some time since I walked through the garden and it really is quite beautiful.  A very peaceful place at that time of day.  I think it was about 6:00 p.m.  There were several areas with picnic tables and several places throughout the garden where you could sit and take in it's beauty.  I didn't sit down because I had spent most of the day sitting in my car.  Enough of that.

Finally, my last phone call came through.  I was allowed to come into the ER and Doug would meet me at the door.  The CT scan showed no clot or tumor.  He had severe bronchitis.  Probably from all of the smoke from the wildfires this year.  We have two air purifiers and have had them running almost constantly this summer, but it wasn't enough.   

Important point: He did not have Covid-19.  He had been vaccinated.

Doug went through all of the dismissal information and we left the ER around 7:30 p.m. headed to Sandpoint Super Drug to fill his prescriptions.  It was very busy there but they said they could fill it just before closing time at 8:00 p.m.  Finally we were on the drive home.  

This morning I had questions regarding one of his prescriptions and had to call Super Drug.  I talked to Scott Porter and he knew immediately what the prescription dosage should be.  Thank you Scott.  

I know that Crisis Standards of Care is a very serious situation, but I couldn't say more how what good care Jon had at our ER and the same goes for the pharmacy.  

We shouldn't have put our healthcare community in this kind of situation.  It's time to start using your common sense.  If you aren't vaccinated, get the shot. 

Those of us who have been vaccinated can tell you that there's really nothing to it.  

Yesterday was challenging enough and we are both vaccinated.  The outcome could have been very different if we were not.  The reality is that people who have chosen not to take the vaccine are affecting the lives of the rest of us.  You are making everything more difficult, from healthcare, to jobs, the economy, education and schools, and you are affecting the well-being of our children.  

Stop now!  Start thinking about your family, your friends and your community.  

I will say that my microchip is working well so far and that I've been able to predict the weather every day since Feb. 12th 2021.  You should be so lucky.

Today it is going to be party sunny with a lot of haze.  Beware.

 

Season Changes

We've switched from watching hummingbirds to chickadees and we are enjoying our new bird feeder.

It's Labor Day.  For many an added day to the weekend to enjoy a camping trip or some kind of getaway - from wherever you live.  Back in my working days it was the final day of rest before the first day of school.  That first day was always exciting.  Students and teachers, bus drivers, food service workers and office personnel anticipating the beginning of a new school year.  

I worked in the school office and the first couple of hours on that day were always controlled chaos.  The office would be flooded with parents and students, some who were just enrolling, many who wanted schedule changes, and those who just had questions about the first day.   The hallways were full of students looking for their classroom and seeing if their friends were in that class with them.  Let's just say there was a lot of exciting crowd noise with the sound of phones ringing in the background.  When the first bell rang signaling time to go to class, the hallways emptied and  everything became quiet.  The year had begun.  

These days Labor Day and the day after are pretty much the same.  There is no controlled chaos, just a leisurely cup of coffee or two to start the day.  We have had a gorgeous weekend weather-wise with sunshine and near perfect temperatures.  There's still a bit of haze blowing in from the wildfires in California and Oregon, but it's not quite as bad as earlier in the summer.

Yesterday I canned eight jars of peach salsa.  It sounded like it would taste good and it does, but I'm a little disappointed in how it looks.  It seemed like it should have a "peachy" color, but it does not.  Hopefully, someone will eat it.

My onions are drying and papering up.  I will store them in the basement soon and will have onions all winter long for homemade soup.  

I am happy that the garden is getting down to the final crops to harvest.  The pumpkins and squash look good.  Plus, it's nice weather to begin taking out the cornstalks and tearing down the green bean poles.  

We have been watching a little football and are ready for the season to begin.  Jon and I are in a football pool, which we have been playing in for as long as I can remember.  Years ago it was all on paper, but nowadays it's all done online.  Each week we make our picks for both NFL and college game winners.  The competition is fierce with the ultimate goal of having the most "wins" over the entire season.   It is officially Fall when the football season begins.

We had new window glass installed a week ago by Selkirk glass.  All of the windows are the original ones from 41 years ago and each of them had slowly lost their seals.  It was time to do something about it.  The installers from Selkirk, Jim Webb and Tyrell, were very good at their job. Jim was one of Jon's students years ago and they had a great time chatting about that.  

Looking out the windows - I can see clearly now.  (Sorry, couldn't help myself)

Along the same lines with home improvement we are contemplating changing our heating system from a wood furnace to another source, probably propane.  It turns out that all of the heating companies are swamped with work and so far we haven't even been able to get someone to stop by here to give us an estimate.  That seems to run par for the course with everything during a pandemic.  

Last spring with the vaccines happening it seemed like we would be getting out of the pandemic, but who knew so many people would refuse to get vaccinated.   The news about our hospitals and how many people are now ill with the virus is deeply sad. So much needless suffering is hard to understand.  Growing up with polio as a life-threatening disease, we were thrilled when the polio vaccine came along.  Especially in our family, since my dad had polio when I wasn't even a year old.  The vaccine was a miracle.

Which brings me back to the first day of school tomorrow.  I am sure that the students are so excited to be back in school with their friends, with teachers and staff feeling the same.  In the era of Covid-19 I am hoping that our school officials and those making the tough decisions about how to keep our kids safe will make good choices.  It was a tough year last year and it doesn't look any easier this year.  Our community is depending on you.  I would like to thank all of the teachers, school staff, and school board members for everything that you do.  You are appreciated.

Labor Day

The chores for today include mowing the lawn.  I'm sure there are others that will crop up from the list.  

Happy Labor Day!