Oregon Living 2022 – Blog #16 – Getting Set… & We’re Getting Married!!!

 

Sunday, April 17^th., 2022…… HAPPY EASTER!  We were able to sleep in this morning because we only needed to shower, walk and feed the dogs, and get dressed for breakfast and church. We were going early because on Easter, Thriftway Market in Sweet Home donates everything needed for an egg, bacon and pancake breakfast before the service. We were met there by Corey and Brandon and ate with them and Lona and Robin. Once service was done, we said our goodbyes and headed home. Nothing planned for the day so we just hung around the house and relaxed and watched tv and had salad and orange chicken for dinner and then more tv until bedtime. Janie called to say they were at their first of four stops on the way up here. Mike and Cheri are with them. They will be here on Thursday. Randy should be here on Wednesday. Frances’ flight gets in to Eugene late Thursday night so I’ll be picking her up. Things are happening this week!       

Monday, April 18^th., 2022……  Cathye and I went over to Albany to see Jamie and give him new pants and a shirt and shoes for the reception (and make sure they fit!). When we got back, I went out and started up the motorhome and tested the slides and the rest of the systems and went over the checklist because I don’t think I’m going to find the time later in the week. I also made sure the portable heater was working and would be enough for Josh and Tait while they are out there. They’re from New Hampshire and Cathye says they don’t mind the colder sleeping. Our temps are expected to be in the low 40s at night so they are used to colder than that.  We already have set up heaters in the garage for meals that we have planned for our guests, both traveling here and those locals who want to come over. We needed to go to the store to pick up some last-minute things on the shopping list but I think we’re ready.  We got everything put away and had dinner and then went on to watch tv until bedtime.

Tuesday, April 19^th., 2022…… We are still getting rain up here! We are checking the long-term forecast and keeping our fingers crossed that temps and rainfall will be minimized when everyone starts to come in for the wedding. Janie has called to let me know where they are on the road coming up here. They left on Sunday and are due here on Thursday. Randy changed his plans and is leaving tomorrow and will be here on Thursday. Frances flies in (to Eugene) late Thursday. Treasa has flown to California and then to Portland and will be here on Thursday. Josh and Tate (Cathye’s grandkids coming from New Hampshire) and stepson Chris and Angie (coming from Phoenix) will be here on Friday. Things are coming together! Corey came over and did some planting with his grandma until he had to go pick up Brandon and Lilly and then they all came back here for dinner. I went out and picked up pizza for all.          

Wednesday, April 20^th., 2022……  Today was spent running errands and getting a few things done around the house. Cathye went off to SHEM. The housekeepers were here early and I left for my afternoon acupuncture appointment. Once we were back home, we rested a bit, then headed off to try the new food truck pod, recently opened here in Lebanon. They had a soft opening last week and it looks like they still need a few more trucks to fill out the available spaces. We both enjoyed our meals and ate in the beer barn, but agreed that they do not have enough parking to support all of the activity once everyone gets established and business gets going. After dinner, Cathye went over to the old mobile home park to visit with Lona and Misty and when she returned, we settled in for the night and watched Masked Singer and Survivor. We all know about Giuliani but haven’t seen him yet – until tonight!  I think he’s the Jack in the Box! We’ll see.

Thursday, April 21^st., 2022…… (I was right about Giuliani!) Both Cathye and I have started moving some clothes out to the rv in preparation for the trip. I have a list….  Today was Rylee’s teeth cleaning day!  We had her there at the 8:30am appointment time but they said she would be in queue to go in after their scheduled surgeries. We also dropped Jama off at the groomers. We got back to the house because Pointe Pest Control was coming today for their normal service. We also wanted to move the cars out of the garage and bring in the tables and chairs and heaters we will use for when everyone comes in for meals and such. We got all of that done with no issues. I thought Randy was due in today but I forgot he usually stops in Medford so he can ride the local mountain bike trails in that area. He will be in late afternoon tomorrow.  Rick and Janie and Mike and Cheri came in around 2:00 pm. It was barely sprinkling and we managed to get them in and parked with no problems.

We also got Rylee and Jama picked up and fed. Rylee is showing little effects from the anesthesia and ate with no problem! I was a little shocked but I guess she didn’t have much pain!  Treasa came here before checking in to her hotel and we visited for a while before heading off to Dos Arbolitos for dinner. I was wrong about Rylee!  Mike said they told me not to give her any of her greenie teeth chews for a few days but I guess I didn’t hear them. Well, it must have upset her stomach because we cleaned up after her for a few hours! I had to run back to the vet to get some meds to help with the upset stomach. Sorry, sweetie!  Later, after visiting some more, I had to leave to go down to Eugene to pick up Frances who had an 11:05 pm arrival time!  But no problem. Randy went with me and we got her picked up and dropped off at sis’s house where she will be staying, and then came home to get some sleep.      

Friday, April 22^nd., 2022……  Those of us at the house went out to breakfast at Kristi’s 50s diner.

 

Tait and Josh get here today. I have prepaid for Groome Shuttle to get them to Albany where Cathye picked them up. But first she stopped by Teri’s to work on the flower arrangements. She had prepped the lasagna the night before. Penny took the bread and brought a salad and we fed 18 or so. We had set up tables and heaters in the garage and it worked well. Everyone enjoyed the lasagna and ate up but we somehow managed to have a few servings left to stash away for the motorhome trip!     

Saturday, April 23^rd., 2022……  Today was a busy day. Robin treated everyone to a biscuits and gravy breakfast which she brought over. We also had eggs, bacon and juice and coffee and fruit. It was all yummy!  Later, Chris and Angie came over after checking in at our hotel. Cathye gave them all a tour and then it was time for lunch (sliders). Everyone loved them and recipes were asked for! Janie came in and made two cheesecakes from scratch and we were ready!  After a few hours of visiting, we headed over to Albany to see the carousel. Everyone who visits seems to like seeing this historic classic! Cathye got tokens and a bunch of them took a ride! 

We also toured the carving room, which everyone enjoyed. I take pics of what they are working on because eventually they will make it to the carousel. 

When we got back home, we visited. Then it was time for the potato bake. She had put 38 of them in a roaster earlier and she had all of the fixin’s ready too. Everyone showed up for that! I think we counted 30 for dinner.   Later, Cathye prepped her bags and we headed to the hotel. I was just dropping her off, but we had to do a wedding rehearsal before that. She was staying there with Tait – cause I’m not supposed to see her the day of the wedding. They got checked in and we got all of the table stuff stored away in the room and I headed back home. Those of us at the house rested and relaxed and then called it a night. Tomorrow's the big day! 

Oregon Living 2022 – Blog #15 – Getting Ready….

 

Sunday, April 10^th., 2022……  The weather here is still pretty chilly. They say that we are in record lows for Spring. They keep correcting themselves on the news whenever they mention ‘winter’ storms. Temps are going up but a cold front is coming and the winds with it are expected to blow down trees and cause power outages. Snow is expected in the mountains but they say snow level could get down to 1000’.  We are at 340’ so I don’t expect we will get any. We had the dogs out and walked and fed and then spent most of the day in the house. The rains came off and on throughout the day and it was just too chilly to go outside and try to do anything. Cathye went to church and I hung out and relaxed for the day.

Monday, April 11^th., 2022……  I was up and showered early this morning because I had an acupuncture appointment this morning in Corvallis at 8:00am.  Cathye had to leave too this morning to go get Jamie and take him in for another endoscopy. She needed to leave at 8:00am for that. I left the house at 7:00am and got all the way to the end of the driveway before checking my calendar to confirm the 8:00am appointment. I was surprised to see that I had missed the appointment by one week!  It was NEXT Monday! Duuuhh!  So, I came back in and waited until Cathye took off and then later, I headed off to Walmart to pick up a few things. Imagine my surprise when I came out of the store – it was snowing!  It only lasted for about 10 minutes but the flakes were super big!  But when I got home 5 minutes later, it was sunny with blue skies! When she got back, we stayed in for a while then left again to go up to Dos Arbolitos for dinner. When we got back, we changed into jammies and relaxed and watched tv until bedtime.  

Tuesday, April 12^th., 2022……  Another chilly day. Rains are predicted all of this week. We have 12 days till the wedding when folks will be traveling here so we are watching the weather closely. It looks to warm up a little next week and the Siskiyou Pass is predicted to be clear for the folks traveling up from California. Temps in the 60s for the 24^th. That’s ok with us! We have been working on little projects before the wedding and prep for that weekend. Cathye has a grocery list and a schedule for meals already written down. We have a timeline for the venue and she is going over that this morning. She needed to finalize the meal order this morning and checked on beer and wine.  They have a hotel bar but it will not be open on that Sunday. Our reception room has its own bar and they will stock it with beer and wine and provide a server there for the day, and we needed to confirm our order so she got that done. Then, she headed off to meet up with Judy for another lunch where they went over some more items on the schedule. Right after she got back, I got another delivery. This was the second gazebo, which had got misplaced from the first one and so they had to re-ship. I found a place to store it and we got it unloaded.  Tim and Dana are dragging their feet on starting the patio build. The rains and material shortage have extended everyone’s timelines and delayed our start date. We’ll be lucky if they can get here to just break ground and level the area before the wedding. I’ve dealt with this before and know they are just a crew of two together and they work slowly on their jobs, but Cathye has not experienced them before and is getting antsy. Even if we went with another contractor, at this point in time they couldn’t get to us any faster either!  So, we wait…     

Wednesday, April 13^th., 2022……  Cathye headed off to SHEM this morning and then had to go down to Eugene after that to pick up her dress. David’s Bridal was where she ordered it. Since then, she has called and cancelled it because it wasn’t exactly what she wanted and had found another one somewhere else. Well, David’s Bridal does not refund money. The best we can get from them is store credit. I asked her to ask if they can give it to her in $100.00 cards which she can use as gifts in the future. When she got back, she said they would only split it in half.  She did manage to pick up a bunch of smaller items for the wedding and used up some of the credit, but she says they have a wide array of nice items so she will be using her credits off and on there in the future for things to use as gifts. I did some laundry while she was gone. Once we were done for the day, we ate and settled in and watched tv until bedtime. Tonight, was The Masked Singer and Survivor. We haven’t been doing too well on the Masked Singer, but I did get the last two right. I have an idea for The Ringmaster but most of the others are not in our music genre.   

Thursday, April 14^th., 2022…… We were up and going early this morning. Weather was dry when we walked the dogs but clouded up and rained a bit later in the day. We went up to Kevin’s for breakfast and then came right back home.  Today was spent working on projects. We first needed to prep the motorhome for Josh and Tait to stay in next week. Plus, I needed to do some cleaning on the outside of the coach for our upcoming trip. Cathye said that on our trip home last September, we had stopped close to home to fill up the coach because I wanted full tanks in storage. I didn’t remember that but started the coach and was shocked to see it was still on the full mark! I’m glad she was right!  So, that will save us from the higher costs of fuel right now. Today was also Rylee’s groomer visit. We loaded her up and got there on time. This is Jama’s groomer and was Rylee’s first time there. She was nervous but, later, when I left, they said she calmed down and enjoyed her ’spa day’. She even got their trademark bows requisite bows. Let’s see how long they last!

 

Friday, April 15^th., 2022……  Rylee had one bow out by the time she hopped up on the bed this morning!  We dress them up in their new scarves, made by one of her daughter Terisa’s friends back in New Hampshire. They looked pretty cool, although Rylee is not used to additional foofoo!  

She rolled in the grass after we got back and there went the second bow! Back to normal…

Today was our normal massage appointment. I went first. Plus, it was my turn to pay for both of us. Plus, I wanted to discuss our upcoming wedding reception (more on that later). Emily is terrific!  We have her (and two of her friends) booked for our June reception.  I set up most of the details and she will be calling us both later today to finalize the details.  Anyway, they will have 2 massage chairs and 1 table. Guests can get complementary 10-min. massages. We think folks will certainly love that!  Before her massage, Cathye and Penny had booked mani/pedis for the morning. Cathye showed me later the cat’s eye job they did. Something to do with dragging a magnet across the wet nail.. I don't know any more but it's pretty cool!

When I got finished, I came back and got the wheel off my truckster and took it to Les Schwab to get a new tube put in. I got it back on and got out my tie-downs to strap up the new pool we bought for Rylee so we could use the truckster to drag it to the spot in the yard we picked out for it to go.  With all of the rains we have had recently, the grass is still real squishy, but we got it out there with no issues – other than wet shoes! It will be a while before Rylee can use it but I’m glad we finally invested in one that will last more than one season!           

Saturday, April 16^th., 2022……  No rain this morning! Yaay!  The Calif. rvs head up tomorrow and Randy will be leaving on Tuesday so I’m still watching the weather at Siskiyou Pass in south Oregon. It’s the highest point on Interstate 5 and tends to shut down during snowstorms. The 14-day forecast looks ok so far, but we’ll keep watching. We spent some time today planning for the June reception. It will be on Saturday, June 4^th and all are invited to come join the fun! Since the wedding is limited, we wanted to have a reception here so the neighbors and friends can come celebrate with us. In addition to the massage chairs/table we are hoping to get our friends at Stick A Pork In It to do the catering. They have excellent faire including pork slaw tacos, cilantro tacos, roasted street corn, and potato balls (meat inside a mashed potato ball and fried. All yummy!  Still waiting on confirmation on these guys but we’re hoping….

This afternoon our new guy, Mario, was here to put the final touches on the flowerbeds and gardens before the wedding. Wouldn’t you know it – the rains hit again!  But he was able to work between the showers and it is looking good!  Tonight was spent relaxing and watching tv until bedtime.       

Oregon Living 2022 – Blog #14 – Family Time, Flying Home, Mowing, and Tats!

 

Sunday, April 3^rd., 2022……  Rain last night but this morning it’s clearing up. The sun is out but it will only be for a few hours because the forecast is more rain later tonight and all day tomorrow. Sorry SoCal – wish I could send it your way!! The only thing on my to-do list today was to work on my blog and also work on my checkbook and my bill spreadsheet. The rest of the day was spent watching races and auctions and in general just kicking back. Cathye is going to tea this morning and they are shopping as well. Terisa has taken off work for the entire week. They spent some time planting seeds this afternoon. They are also going to Daniel’s parent’s house later today for dinner. I remember that almost everyone in his rather large family still lives on properties close by each other so that means they spend a lot of time with each other.   

Monday, April 4^th., 2022……  My day started out with some rain but it didn’t hardly get anything wet. No rain is forecast for a few days so I am hoping to be able to suck up the dead grass later in the week.  Cathye’s morning started out with a trip to the maple syrup building on Daniel’s family’s property and they all worked out there helping bring in the tasty stuff.

Later, they headed over to Daniel’s business shop where he bases and has his rock excavating equipment housed. Felix loves his daddy’s trucks!  After that, she took the car and drove over the state line to Springfield VT and the grandkids, (Josh and Tate) took her out to dinner at the Sumner House, a pretty fancy place. They got to take pics around the place. I liked this one on the staircase…

Tuesday, April 5^th., 2022……  One more day until she comes home!  I was up and out with the dogs early. The weather has turned cold again!  Low clouds and early temps in the low 30s! I didn’t shut off the sprinkler lines because I thought we were done with the freezing temps, so I hoped my pipes will not burst!  They did not but I went out to the farthest spigot out and opened it a bit to help from cracking. Cathye spent some time packing for tomorrow. They left for an adventure out on Distance Hill Nature Trail. It’s set up for kids and she said it was really fun. They stop every few yards to read a ‘page’ in a trail book.

Felix really liked it!  Later, Terisa had an appointment and Cathye took him to the park where they had some one-on-one time!

 

Wednesday, April 6^th., 2022……  I was up early again. Guess I don’t sleep late when I’m by myself! I had all of my chores and breakfast done before 8:00am!  Meanwhile, Cathye was on her way to the airport!  The airport is about 2 hours away, so they were on the road early. Cathye’s flight had her going 2 hours to Detroit with a three-hour layover there before she got her 4-hour flight to Portland. I hung around the house until around 4:30 and fed the dogs before Jama and I headed up to pick her up. I had plenty of time so I took the scenic route through Silverton, which I hadn’t done before. It was a long flight but she made it ok and I got her back home with no issues. I’m glad she had a good time with family, but I’m sure glad she’s home!      

Thursday, April 7^th., 2022…… Cathye was up bright and early this morning. She is still on eastern time!  I knew she’d have jet lag, so I didn’t have anything on the plate for today so she could crash and rest up. We went to Kristi’s for breakfast.  We had an early dinner and watched taped shows (Survivor and The Masked Singer) but she went to bed early and I stayed up to watch my auctions before calling it a night.

Friday, April 8^th., 2022…… This morning was spent running errands. Cathye had to order chocolates and pick up her dress. I answered an ad on Marketplace for a bunch of church chairs that were for sale for $5.00 ea. I saw these and thought I had space to store a dozen of them and, for the price, they would be great when folks came by. So, we split up today. She ran her errands and I headed off to Corvallis to check them out. I found the place and saw that these were used but were sturdy and in pretty good condition. I offered him $4.00 ea. and bought 12 and loaded them up and came back home.

Cathye was still out. So, I started my other task.  My goal today was to pick up the dead grass and dump in the burn pile. She got back just as I was ready to head out with the zero turn. It is way easier to pick up the dry grass and dump it after the fact than try to load it up when it’s green and wet.  She set out a chair at the burn pile and helped with the dumping and we made quick work of that task. We got that done and came in and cleaned up. I had heard from Kirk that Justin would be coming by to return my utility trailer and the Husqvarna tractor. I won’t go into details, but let’s just say getting this done as Kirk transitions out of his business and moves out of state, was a major issue!  Justin was coming in just as we were leaving and we talked a bit and then we took off for our 4:00pm appointment.  We had to leave because we were going to get tattoos! Yep, I said that right! This would be Cathye’s 5^th or 6^th, but it would be my first! Imagine getting one at 72!  Penny said her friend Marlin got her first one at 81, so there! Anyway, we had come up with an idea to replicate the infinity symbol that I bought us for our wall. Brad, who is a family friend and has been tattooing for many years, has had a shop in this town for about a year now. We had sent him the image and he worked it to a 3” size, which is what we wanted. We chose our left forearms and I went first. I was surprised that it wasn’t painful at all! Just little scratches. Took about 20 minutes once he got to the ink. I guess if you’re having one done with a lot of ink, it would feel different, but I was good to go! Cathye got hers next and we were done.

We came back home and had dinner and rested for the night and watched tv until bedtime.       

Saturday, April 9^th., 2022……  The weather today is nice and sunny but still a bit chilly. After taking care of the pups, we headed off to Elmer’s for breakfast and then stopped at Coastal Farm and Ranch because they were doing a Saturday sale and they had the blue poly tank that we wanted. I had been buying Rylee a new pool every year now and they only last one season, and sometimes less than that!  So, we kept thinking about what to do and we saw that a lot of the farms here have these 8 or 9 ft. tanks in their fields that are used as watering tanks for their animals. They are made with thick poly plastic and should last for years and would make a perfect pool for Rylee.  But they are upwards of $400. to $500. so we held off on it. But Coastal had the 8-footer on sale today for $359., plus we got one $10. in-store ‘Coastal buck coupon’ for every $50. spent. They are good starting tomorrow, so Cathye found things she will go back to get and will use up that $70. pretty quickly! I drove back to the loading area and they put the tank in the truck. Or should I say on the truck bed.

It was hard to fit it in but we dropped the tailgate and tied it down and headed home. I couldn’t see behind me in the mirrors but didn’t think it was an issue and we made it home ok. But we realized when we got close to home, that we had succeeded in covering up both brake lights!  So, I guess we were super lucky!  We got it unloaded right before the skies clouded up and it started raining. So, I’ll move it out to its final spot next week. No hurry.   

    

Oregon Living 2022 – Blog #13 – Shelves, Gazebos, A Family Visit, and Finally Mowing!

 

Sunday, March 27^th., 2022……  We slept in late today. Cathye headed off to church and I hung around the house and relaxed. Later in the day, it was dinner and a movie!  We hit Bigfoot Grill for dinner and then walked the short distance down to the Kuhn Theater to see The Lost City. It was a fun movie! After that, we had time to watch the last hour of the Oscars and a couple of taped shows before calling it a night. Didn’t see “the slap” live but saw Wil Smith get his Oscar. Way too much drama for me!

Monday, March 28^th., 2022……  The clouds are back so it’s another overcast day. But the temps are in the mid-50s so it’s not too bad. We walked and fed the dogs then headed off in separate cars for breakfast at Kevin’s.  She went off to go see Jamie and do some shopping while I headed over to Habitat for Humanity to see if I could find more support tubing for the shelving units in the rv garage. I wondered about their hours and days they were closed so I stopped on the way and looked at their website. Bummer!  All three of the HFH are closed on Mondays!  So, I settled for some plastic electrical conduit from Lowes. When I got back, Cathye was still gone so I took the dogs out and then went back to watch tv for a bit. She got back and we unloaded the car and got everything put away. She leaves on Wednesday night for a 7-day trip back to New Hampshire. Her daughter and son-in-law and grandson aren’t coming here for the wedding and she likes to travel back there, so she scheduled it for this week. Anyway, she was worried I wouldn’t have enough to eat so she went grocery shopping too!  We got everything done and were ready to go outside to work again when it started sprinkling. So, it turned into a nice cozy day inside.     

Tuesday, March 29^th., 2022……  We were up and going early today. We walked and fed the dogs then Cathye began packing for the trip tomorrow. She did have a lot of it out and ready so it was pretty easy and she went through her check list to make sure she had everything. Terisa says the weather is cold but no snow is expected for the next 7 days or so, so she adjusted and took more sweaters and such because they have jackets and heavy gloves for her there if she needs them. My task while she was doing that was to go off to get one more piece of conduit so I could finish the shelving unit project. I just went up to the local Ace Hardware in town and got what I needed and had everything assembled with no problems. I got all of the yard sale stuff back on these new shelves.

And, yes, all of that stuff is going out for the sale!  Getting these shelves stacked on the wall clears up space in the rv garage which I will need when the gazebo boxes arrive later this week!  

Wednesday, March 30^th., 2022……  Cathye headed off to SHEM this morning. I decided that I would finally put the fenders on the ebikes today. The teal ones for her bike went on with no problem. Ok – one problem!  The room I needed to get the fenders bolted in (there were pre-drilled holes for these) was way too tight between the tires. These were Allen head bolts provided and I figured out a way to get the bolts screwed in and tightened without taking off the wheel. I just needed to cut an Allen head wrench down short to fit in a socket, which fit in there with the air out of the tire!  One down!  When I got to my bike fenders, I discovered that one of them had scratches/blisters on it. I would need to take it back to Pedego. Maybe Tomorrow.  Meanwhile, Cathye headed off to her dentist appointment in Albany. Routine cleaning and she said later no issues. Then it was time to go.  We fed the dogs and I loaded up the luggage and we left for the airport. Her flight was out of Portland this time and she was on the redeye which left at 11:30pm!  So, we decided to leave around 5:30 or so, and leisurely drive up the back roads and stop for dinner along the way. We chose The Olive Garden in Salem, which was really good. She had leftovers of her seafood fettucine and I had leftovers from my spaghetti. That would be lunch and dinner for me tomorrow!  After dinner, we continued on. I drove us around the outskirts of Portland, especially the east side of the river. When I was up there with the rv a few years back, when it was getting work done on it, I had time to explore this area so I showed her the Lloyd and Belmont districts where they have tons of outside eateries. Some we saw that we will have to come back up to for a meal soon. I eventually worked my way to the airport and dropped her off. On the way up, I discovered that I had a headlight out on the Acadia, so I thought I would stop on the way home and remove it and hit an auto parts store and get a replacement and pop it in for the drive home. Wrong!  It was way after hours for most businesses to be open, including auto parts stores, so I found a shopping center that had decent light and parked and opened the hood. I found couldn’t get to the back side of the light housing without a lot of effort, so I just drove home carefully, staying on the freeways mostly. It was no real problem. I got back home and called her before her flight boarded to say goodbye and then went in to bed. Rylee stayed on the floor but Jama got settled in right next to me for the night.        

Thursday, March 31^st., 2022…… I slept well last night. I found Jama had moved up to lay next to Cathye’s pillow, so I found another one and now she has a nest where she can burrow in and sleep. Rylee always gets up on the bed in the mornings and I have to play ‘snarly face’ with her and ‘rub my belly’ with both of them. I have dog duty by myself for a whole week and got them out and walked and fed with no issues. No rain today so it was easy and no muddy paws to wash!  I fed them and went out and worked on the car. I had googled a how-to-video for the lights and discovered that I had to remove the inner wheel well cover just to get access! I got all of the screws and keepers removed with no problem and could reach the wiring but couldn’t get my fingers in there to twist out the unit. So, I put one of the screws back to hold it, put the rest in a baggie, cleaned up, and then headed out. I stopped and got myself some breakfast and coffee then went over to the Valvoline Oil change business here in town. They do headlight replacement and wiper blades and such when you go in for an oil change so it was no problem. Ok, another problem. He got the bulb out but it was one that they were out of stock of. He put the fender cover back in place and I headed over to Napa and found a replacement bulb and took it back to them. They had it in and the cover back in place in ten minutes and wouldn’t take any money for the job!  I will be going back in another month or so for my oil change. I got back home and let the doggies out for a bit, then headed down to the Pedego bike shop in Eugene. I had my fenders and all of the parts and when I got there, Mike, the owner, remembered me and said he was sorry that the main warehouse (in Fountain Valley, CA) had shipped them without quality checking them first. He placed a new order with them for a replacement and told me to just keep these as spares. That’s a class store!  I got back home and rested for a bit and had my leftover spaghetti for lunch. Cathye called to make sure I was eating something. God, I love that woman! After lunch and a rest, I went out to the shop to work. I have about 100 lbs of copper wiring that Cathye gave me from Jim’s shop. You always need wire so I gratefully took it. But now I needed to figure out how to store it. I settled on a spot under the long saw table/workbench, which had some dead space that would be perfect. I just need to find a long piece of round steel stock to mount up in there.  While I was working on this, I heard a truck pull in the driveway. It was my gazebos! Yaay!  Problem was when he opened his truck door, I saw only two boxes. They were marked A and B and 1 and 2 of 2, so I knew that one gazebo was not in this shipment!  We unloaded and got the one pallet stored in the rv garage.

I made a note on the delivery order that I had one missing. The driver has my number and will check but he said that they get their deliveries from the main hub in Portland and it might be a split shipment. He would check. Later, I came in and had ½ of the fettucine for dinner and watched tv until bedtime. Tonight, I had both pups on the bed and found Rylee was still there around 4:00am when I got up to go to the bathroom. Jama was warmly tucked in her spot on the bed!        

Friday, April 1^st., 2022……  Not too much planned for today. The weather is really nice and we have had several days in a row with no rain so I might get to mow later today!  Penny had called earlier to check in on me and I told her about mowing and she said she would be available and if I decided to do that later to text her and she would come help. But that would be after the dew dried out a little so I decided to go get some rebar for my project. I got that and got back and got it cut and drilled. I needed to cut several holes under the cabinet just so I could feed the rod through. I managed to get everything completed and I even found a second location for the rest of the wire!

I came in and had lunch and then went back out and filled up two of the mowers with gas and made a test run on one of the smaller areas next to the house. I left the bagger on the mower for this section but I know I can’t use it for the main lawn because it is so thick and will clog up too fast. So, I went out and dumped what I had out in the field. Cathye had been asking why I didn’t have a burn pile like all of the other folks around here with property?  I didn’t think I needed one or wanted to go through that process of letting brush and grass sit out in a pile all season and dry out, only to burn later in the year. I had been content to just load brush and grass in my truck and go to the recycle yard and pay $8-12. for the load.  But she’s worn me down - so I went out to the ‘west 40’ and picked a spot and cut down the grass in a big circle and dumped the first load out there.  I still can’t use the catcher for the yard today, but now Mario will be able to use it for clippings and brush too. I’m sure that at the end of the season I will see a rather large pile out there!  Penny came by and we managed to get everything mowed all in a few hours. It turned out good for me because it rained later that night!  That means I can’t go back and scoop up the dead grass right away but I’m still thrilled to finally get it cut!  Sis went home and I came in and cleaned up and rested and had a chicken pot pie for dinner and watched tv until calling it a night.  

Saturday, April 2^nd., 2022……  I talk to Cathye a couple of times a day. She knows I am most likely awake by 7:00am and today was no exception. She texts and checks on me and then I call her and we talk for a bit before I get going with my day. I think both Jama and Rylee respond to her voice on speaker and I know they miss her as much as I do!  Not a lot on my agenda for today. After our walk, I went out to Carl’s Jr for breakfast and then went out to the shop to work for a bit. I decided to install those fenders on my bike until the new ones come in and I did that with no issues. I also installed left-side mirrors on both bikes that I had bought when I was in Eugene. I think both of them are looking good!   

Mario is due here today. I didn’t get a definitive answer from Cathye about what she wants done today, so I talked with him when he got here. He went to work trimming the fir trees that line the property line fence to the west of the driveway. I had asked him earlier on to trim them to get them up off of the ground a few feet, like I had done with the large tree next to the house a year ago. Also, Penny wanted to come over to talk with him about doing her yard. With Kirk MIA, she needs to move on as well. He is fully booked but she gave her number to him to pass on to one of his associates who lives here in town and does yard care. After he left, I came in and was done for the day and spent the rest of it watching my races and car auctions, which I was behind on. Cathye has been sharing her exploits with the family back in NH – they are working out in the yard, making a teepee for Felix to play in, playing with pillow forts in the house, and in general, having a blast together!  These are from her FB post –

I am so glad she loves to travel to visit with them. We are hoping to get all the way back there soon with the motorhome and see them and the rest of the NE area as well.