Oregon Living 2022 – Blog #31 – Staying Cool and Spending More Time Prepping For Our Trip

 

Sunday, July 31^st., 2022…… First up, CONGRATS to my dear wife!  For the month of July, Cathye was working with her daughter and some of her friends who decided to try to walk and log 100 miles for the month of July! They all have FitBits, and were able to track their steps/miles. Even with the days after her surgery, Cathye was able to make her 100 miles at the end of the day yesterday! Later, we logged in the last 3 miles to make 103. That meant she made an avg. of 3.3 miles each day!  I am so proud of her! She’s amazing! 

Meanwhile, the heat has not let up!  Temps in the high 90s all of last week!  They say we will get a slight break, starting today, where it will only be in the high 80s. Still hot, but we’ll take it! We found out that Corey will have the kids all of the week that he is here and not at work. So, that made us re-think our plans yet again!  We decided to take a hike and sort it out and try to come up with a plan. We took the doggies and headed up to McDowell Creek and hiked around there. It was mostly in the shade but there was just no wind moving and it was humid so that didn’t help relieve us much!  But, Rylee managed to find a couple of areas where she could sneak down for a quick dip in the cool water!

When we got home, I called Cherrelyn and she said she will be able to come work from here next week and can watch Rylee.  But since Jama requires a bed – and people – to sleep with – and Cherrelyn’s not comfortable with animals on her bed, - we have asked Judy and/or Misty who will keep Jama while we are gone. So, we are relieved again!  Once we got that resolved, we can relax and take care of the days ahead, prepping for the trip. But first up, we have an outing tomorrow!       

Monday, August 1^st., 2022…… We were up early and did our walk with the dogs, got them fed, and then headed off to do our walk. Then, we headed over to Sweet Home to pick up the great grandkids. Today, we were surprising them with a day at The Enchanted Forest. Other than grandma and grandpa taking them to breakfast, they knew nothing of the rest of the day. We got them and we stopped at McDonalds for breakfast, before heading the 45 miles up I5 to the park. We had already purchased the entry tickets online, but we had to wait in line for the ride tickets. Back in 2019, Lydia and I and Frances and Penny had had taken Raymond here and at that time they had all-day bracelets.  They said they weren’t doing that anymore so we bought a package of tickets for the kids. That worked out well and they used them up on all of the rides that they wanted. The lines weren’t too bad and the weather was nicer there, so all in all, it was a fun day!  I only had to yell at them once on the way in the car to let them know they had to behave or I would turn the car around and take them home! Again, a very nice day! Here are some pics.

The park was built in 1964 and is still run by the original owners. As you can see, this is a very old park and the rides are more tame than most of us Disney and Magic Mountain veterans are used too!  But the kids had fun and we did too and it was a great day! 

Tuesday, August 2^nd., 2022…… We ran errands today after our walks.  We headed to Albany. I needed some parts for the pressure washer and a new timer for one of the sprinkler lines, plus we needed to go pay Jamie’s rent and give him his weekly money, so we did that and topped it off with a run to Costco as long as we were out! We stocked up on things for the freezer that Cherrelyn can eat (as she wants) while we are gone. We also did laundry so we can begin to pack for the trip.  

Wednesday, August 3^rd., 2022……  We were up earlier than usual today. After walking and feeding the girls, we drove to the high school in separate cars. After our bleacher jaunt, Cathye headed off to SHEM and I stopped and got myself some breakfast on the way home. After posting my blog, I headed out to work on the pressure washing task at hand. My goal this morning was to get the concrete pad in front of the shop garage done and then push out all of the dirt and stuff over the asphalt driveway and into the grass/flowerbeds. I did that pretty easily and was back in the house before Cathye even got back home!   Later in the evening, Cathye asked me to look at her right eye. There was some swelling and it was red. She said it felt like sandpaper in her eye so we suspect the inside stitches were doing that. I put a hot compress on it and she took some Tylenol and relaxed and was better by bedtime.    

Thursday, August 4^th., 2022……  This morning we were up and out with the dogs early. We fed them and then headed over to our walk/steps then went on from there to Albany. We stopped at Rogers Café for breakfast then headed over to my estate planner for our meeting with him. Cathye needed to make some changes and/or updates and I like this guy so we are meeting with him. It went well. First up we made changes to my documents and then she got to ask questions and they came up with a path for her wishes. We were pretty well prepared so we don’t have that many assignments after we leave there. We were also able to go out this evening and catch the show in Monteith Park. In the summer months, they have concerts in the park. They only ask for $1.00 donation. Misty went over earlier in the morning and staked out a spot with blankets. Tonight it was AЯRIVAL. They are a Swedish cover band for Abba. 

They were pretty good but I was never a true Abba fan, so I was not too much into it. Cathye ended up having some more eye pain. She asked to leave early and we came home and repeated the hot compress treatment. She will be calling the surgeon tomorrow.    

Friday, August 5^th., 2022…… The hot weather is letting up but barely. Only a few degrees lower this week! We try to get to the high school early. Still in the low 90s! Misty came by and borrowed my truck for her kayak day out with friends. Cathye called the surgeon’s office and they asked her to take a picture so they could evaluate and see next steps. We did that and they got back to us a little later and said that the doctors conferred and said what we thought – probably a result of a dissolving stitch. No need to go in - we were doing exactly what they said to do to treat it.  Mario showed up today to work because he had other commitments on Saturday.  I had left out the pressures washers so we just started in again where we left off last time. It only took an hour or so and we had everything done!  It feels so nice to have a clean walkway and driveway again. We’re not sure when Walt last did anything like this (or even if he ever did) but we got all of the gunk and muck washed off and it looks better than I’ve ever seen it. Now, we just need to stay on each year. 

Saturday, August 6^th., 2022……   We were out this morning early again and did our dog and training walks and then brought breakfast home to eat. Today was mowing day!  Since we don’t have rain, I have been running the sprinklers every day to keep things green. I shut everything off last night so we could get to work early today. There was wet grass from the dew but it wasn’t a problem in most areas that got early sunlight. I had to run out and get more gas for the mowers (and that is a sticker shock since I have to use non-ethanol @ $6.10 a gallon!) Penny came over and the three of us knocked it out in a little over an hour!  We were done for the day!  Cherrelyn came by and we gave her a rundown of things around the house she needed to get refreshed about. Later, we met with Rich and Linda, our neighbors to the west, who have asked us to water their plants and veggies next week when they leave town. Of course we will be gone and Cori across the street will do it until we get back and then we can take over. But we needed to know when and where we were to water so that was needed, plus we had a nice visit as well.