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.