Monday, February 21, 2022

Oregon Living 2022 – Blog #7 – A Really Busy Week!

 


Sunday, February 13th., 2022……  Super Bowl Sunday!  I didn’t think I had a favorite because I really like Joe Burrow at Cincinnati, but I will be pulling for the Rams since I am an LA boy by birth.  Cathye headed off to church and I settled in for most of the morning and worked on last week’s blog and got it posted. Then it was time to relax and enjoy the day!  We have another glorious day here in Oregon!  The heat is drying up the soggy grass so I am hoping to be able to mow in a few more days. Yaay! Cathye had defrosted the pasta fagioli we had and she made cornbread. We settled in and watched the Super Bowl. I was happy to see the Rams pull it out!  Now, I fully expect to hear about all of the ‘celebrating’ by the idiot fans down there who will set fires and do burnouts on the streets of LA!      

Monday, February 14th., 2022……  HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!!   Well, so much for the nice weather!  The rains are coming!  We are expected to get a major front through here today.  Well, they came and went!  It didn’t last long but it was a pretty decent shower and it spoiled my plans about mowing for a while!  We decided to just head out in it now in case it got worse later in the day. We drove over to Albany and checked in on Jamie and dropped off his weekly allowance. Cathye dropped off the table placecards for the wedding for him to do because he has pretty good handwriting. We also gave him the colored ink pen he needed and gave him the list. When we got back home, it was not raining but still too wet for anything outside. So, I decided to stay indoors and paint the laundry room cabinet. That went pretty easily. Meanwhile, Cathye got a call from the new owner of the mobile home saying that she finally got all of her stuff moved in (we sold the place furnished) and that she has chosen to use her old recliner and didn’t want the one that we had left her, and if we wanted it, we could come get it. We took her truck (with the canopy in case it rained) and picked it up. My plan was to move things around and hopefully use it in the motorhome. We have two in there now and they work, side by side for tv and naps. This one would be a little bigger so it may not work. We managed to get it inside and in place and it looks like it will fit in there and, since it’s perfect for me, we will move the old one out and put it in the workshop. Hey, I have a big screen tv in there too!  Later, we had a very nice Valentine’s dinner. Candlelight and champagne, and stuffed salmon with couscous and for dessert, we decided to try out another flavor of wedding cake. All of that was orchestrated by my love! She is so thoughtful!    

Tuesday, February 15th., 2022……  More rains came in last night. They say we are below average for this time of year so we need the rains, but I would prefer some more days of sunshine to dry out the lawn! It is supposed to lighten up and they say we’ll have some dry days later in the week. I put the second coat of paint on the cabinet and then went to the hardware store to get some shelving material for two other projects. We wanted to add another shelf in one of the kitchen cabinets and she wanted a corner shelf for her plants in the breakfast nook. Two pieces of laminated whiteboard solved both of those projects and I was done with that for the day. 

Next up was removing the bike battery from Cathye’s e-bike. Hers is a 5-year-old folding e-bike that we want to keep so we can take with us on rv trips, plus use on rides around here. But we found that the battery won’t hold a charge any more. There was no key so I had to go through her box of old keys and found it. I will need to research to see how much trouble it will be finding one and if it will be cost effective or not to replace it. Neither Kirk, nor his guys have been here for landscape work in a long time. I had texted and asked if Justin or him would be coming back and haven’t heard from them until today. Justin said he and his brother are no longer working for Kirk, so that answers that, at least for them. He’s a no show at my sister’s too, so we will have to do more to make contact with him. Cathye is looking to get the back island rototilled and we even went to the trouble of ordering a 40v electric mini tiller, which came today.  I put it together and got it on the charger. Corey’s friend, Jacob, will be coming over on Thursday to work on incorporating the peat moss we had previously bought and stacked out there.        

Wednesday, February 16th., 2022…… No rains today. That’s good because we had errands to run. Cathye headed off to SHEM and I went to Albany.  But before I left, I put another coat of paint on the laundry room doors so they could dry and I could install them later this afternoon. Today was tax day for me. Claudyne, my tax lady from past years, has passed and the office where she worked here in town has decided to join forces with another office in Albany and moved in there. I met with my new tax person there and dropped off everything. 2020 I filed with Lydia. 2022 we will file together. This is the only year for me to file single. In the past, we found that the only deduction we had that had us using the long form was Lydia’s medical. Without that, I no longer have enough deductions to use the long form so I am anxious to see if this will be a positive or negative thing for me!  When I got back, I checked that the doors were dry and assembled the handles and installed and adjusted them. The project came out pretty good and now we have room for more junk, -  oops, more supplies!

Later, we got cleaned up and headed off to 1847 for dinner. This is the restaurant in the complex where we are getting married. The prices are higher than most of the ma and pa places in town, but we wanted a nice romantic meal. We made plans to go over to the coast later in the month for a night at a casino there.   We finished up the evening back home, watching tv. The Amazing Race is getting down to the final four!   

Thursday, February 17th., 2022……  Weather is supposed to be nice today!  No rain and temps in the low 70s are expected. Jacob showed up as we were finishing breakfast. He already ate but had coffee with us before starting out in the island. Between trips back and forth out there helping him get going, Cathye worked out in the potting shed. She has a heated potting tray, and got a bunch of seed sprouts planted and going in there. They will be transplanted to the island whenever the weather will allow. Meanwhile, I was tasked today with installing the hitch receiver on the Honda. This was a Christmas gift that I was just now getting around to installing. But today the weather was perfect for it!  I needed to put the car on the blocks but that was no problem. Next, the only task I feared was temporarily dropping the muffler by prying the rubber mounting bracket off. That took a little work. I needed Cathye’s help to hold up the hitch until I could get the bolts started.


Penny also came by and she steadied the center section and got us right where it was aligned perfectly!  But it bolted right in with no other issues. I got the muffler bracket reinstalled and cleaned up, Cathye went back to work, Penny went back home, and then started in on the bike rack (also a Christmas gift!). Now that was a sweet install!  This thing is top notch and will easily support two bikes. I test-fitted my bike on it and found it’s really secure. It folds up (and is locked on the car) so when we travel, we don’t have to take it off when we are camped. Nice!




Tonight was the beginning of the Nascar season. It was the duels at Daytona to determine the starting grid for the Daytona 500 this weekend. Cathye is not a fan, so I was on my own to watch it.        

Friday, February 18th., 2022…… We needed to split up for today. Today Jamie had his second follow-up endoscopy, so Cathye went to get him for that. I had a list for Costco and took off to do that. As luck would have it, as soon as I got home and got everything unloaded, I got a call from Sportsman’s Warehouse telling me my background check was complete and that I could come get my new rifle. I had just driven past there not an hour before!  But I went back and picked it up. No plans for hunting – just wanted to add to my collection. Next up is a Byrna self-defense pistol for the motorhome (legal in all states)!  When I finally got back from my two runs to Albany, I rested a while, then went out to Cathye’s Shasta trailer and installed the rebuilt lock assembly we got back from our guy in AZ.  It wasn’t complicated – went back in just like the old one – but it was very sensitive when you turn the key. So, we will have to remember to be very careful when unlocking. Later, we headed off to Seeds to meet up with Butch and Penny for dinner. She had a gift card and treated us. Thanks, sis!    

Saturday, February 19th., 2022……  This morning we got up, walked and fed the dogs, then headed off to Eugene. The plan today was to go down there and go to breakfast at Prairie Schooner (our favorite place in Eugene for breakfast!), then go see what Pedego Bikes in Eugene has in stock. Now that we know we have a battery rebuild to do on her bike, and that the new bike rack will support two full-sized bikes, we are looking to upgrade. If they don’t have anything in stock, at least she will be able to test ride the 24” and the 26” to see what fits her. Breakfast was great (best chicken fried steak I have ever had!), and we drove over to old town and found a place to park even though they had a street market going on in front of the bike store. When we walked in, we both immediately saw that they had her bike color (seafoam) in both the 24 and the 26!  The owner was working today and said we could take them both out to the parking lot and went out with us. She rode both and decided immediately that the 26” was the perfect fit!  The 24” had fenders. The 26” didn’t.  The guy said he would include fenders to the 26” but didn’t have them currently. So, we went back in and bought her bike. I had him check into black fenders for my bike as well, which will be shipped to our address along with hers when they come in.  We loaded up the bike and headed back home. 


We rested from the day and I watched my Nascar Xfinity race plus motocross. Later, we watched the last day of the Olympics.  A busy week!

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