Oregon Living 2022 – Blog #19 – More Errands and a Birthday!

 

Sunday, May 8^th., 2022…… Happy Mother’s Day!   Headed Home today. The drive for us was only 100 miles. For Rick and Janie, it would be 260 miles to Grants Pass, where they would stay tonight. They headed out a few minutes ahead of us because they were stopping for gas. We met them and headed out. The rains were pretty much with us every day of this trip, whether driving or touring. But we are used to it. Not so much for our ‘California drought’ friends!  But they all dealt with it and seemed to enjoy our travels. I’m glad we made the stops we did. I think it was very diversified in terms of seeing and doing many things. Cathye and I put the bike ride on the top of our list. I’m not sure what Rick and Janie or Mike and Cheri liked most. But we all enjoyed each other’s company for this 13-day adventure! We will miss them and look forward to seeing them again when we head down there in the motorhome in September.

We got home around 11:30. It was sprinkling but we got the coach parked by the house and unloaded with no problems. We got lucky because the sun came out and everything on the motorhome was dry when I backed it in to the garage. We got the bikes unloaded and put in the garage. They were not so fortunate!  It will take a serious wash job before we can ride them again! Once we got in and started laundry, we noticed a gurgling noise coming from the toilet in the guest bathroom. Cherrelyn, who was here housesitting heard it and asked but we had no clue until now. Turns out we have a full septic tank!  It will need to be pumped but not on Sunday. I called and checked and have several companies returning my call tomorrow. Meanwhile, we ate out and minimized the water usage.    

Monday, May 9^th., 2022……  I found out this morning that I could unscrew the cleanout pipe outside and relieve the pressure so the water in the toilets and showers went away. Cathye cleaned the main shower and sanitized it and then took a quick shower and I decided to use the motorhome since the water heater was still on. I found one pump company that had an open appointment and I got it for later in the day. Fingers crossed they make it here.

Meanwhile, we took off to get some banking done. Cathye and I both have several places to go to change our status. We quickly discovered that our first stop would need to be the DMV because almost everywhere we went (or called) said they needed a picture of her new driver’s license. So, that will take some time. She took off to the DMV and I stayed home to wait for the pump truck. I worked on the blog and caught up on some of my races while I waited. She got home after getting the DMV task completed. We’ll just have to see what each institution says about a temporary license vs the new one. Later, the guy showed up and got the system all cleaned up. Here are a few pics but I will spare you the details. Done.

 Nuff said. At least now we can get back to normal. Laundry and showers again!         

Tuesday, May 10^th., 2022…… We continue to work on name changes. Most of today was spent by Cathye online and on the phone working on that!  So much to do! Did some cleaning on the motorhome (inside) and straightened up some of the space in the bay (outside) for next time. We also did a ton of laundry!  The septic system is back to normal and we are good to go. I learned from this new company that the old company didn’t do a complete service when they were here. For two people, they say that 5 years is normal and that was when it was last pumped. But I have made a note to do a 3-year service call just to be sure.

Wednesday, May 11^th., 2022……  Today was a gorgeous day!  The sun was out and it warmed up to the mid-60s. It is short-lived however – there are more storms coming later in the week! But we’ll take it!  Cathye headed off to SHEM and I got to work on my tasks for this morning. I took the bike rack off the Honda and stored it away, then took the car to the car wash. Next up was the bikes, which got a good bath and got dried off and put away. I also rode the bike around to each mail box with our invitations to our reception next month. When Cathye got back, we decided that we needed to get to work again and schedule more meetings with facilities and institutions to get names and statuses changed. Today was Social Security. Earlier, both of us had gone online to SSA and tried to make changes. After registering, neither of us could make any changes other than address and such. %&*#@.  We would need more info from them. Cathye had called and was told the local office was open in Albany and they would accept a temp driver’s license so we drove over thinking we could get in. There was no one ahead of us in line and we both got in and got everything done. They did tell her that the temp id was NOT acceptable, even after the lady on the phone earlier had told her it was!  But they used the marriage certificate and all was good. We didn’t care – it got done! Next stop was home because we can’t do too much until the new dmv id gets here.  Later, we settled in and watched The Masked Singer and Survivor. Survivor is very interesting this season. Neither of us is doing well in guessing the Masked singers!  We have only guessed one!  We know very few of the new age singers these days. But I think it's still fun to watch!    

Thursday, May 12^th., 2022…… When we got back to town last week, we saw that our nail lady had opened up a new nail salon and Cathye made us appointments for today. So, beforehand, we spent the time working on thank you cards and getting them mailed. We left and got our nails done and then came back and relaxed for a bit. The rains have hit again. I am so disappointed that I can’t mow! Also, it is so wet that our contractor can’t come in and excavate for the deck. So, we wait…

Friday, May 13^th., 2022……  Happy Birthday Corey!   Another day of running errands. We made a list of the places we need to contact when she gets her new id. Cathye has made plans to host her girlfriends here for dinner tonight. She makes a creamy chicken enchilada casserole that everyone loves so she made that ahead of time. She also had a little time to get out to her island and also tend to the flowers in the greenhouse. It’s still too wet and too cold to transplant those in the pots out to the yard so she will wait for that. But we had a nice break in the weather so we both wanted to spend it outside. We made plans to go to Corey and Brittany’s to get a wrought iron trellis that Michael had made for Cathye several years ago. She gave it to them when she recently moved  but they said they aren’t using it and it would work well in her garden. Next week we will go get it. 

The girls got here and I was relegated to my room. No worries, I needed to get caught up on races and things. I was able to go in and fix a plate so I didn’t starve!  Seriously, they had a great time and I was glad that she gets together with them from time to time.

Saturday, May 14^th., 2022……  Today was the day we chose to celebrate her grandson’s birthday. We chose Pizza Schmizza because it was close to Brittany’s work. Corey had the kids and met us there. We had a great time and enjoyed the day.