Oregon Living 2022 – Blog #45 – First Snow!, Paying Taxes, Painting, and Emergency Plumbing!

 

Sunday, November 6^th., 2022……  Time change today!  I was up this morning, changing some of those clocks that do not auto set – funny, the stove clock changes automatically! Still have the cars to do when we use them next.  The weather here is getting colder. That front that has come in has some arctic air behind it and they say lows will drop around 37°.  It was drizzling when we took the dogs out this morning, but not too cold. It can’t get cold yet – I still have my shorts on!   Cathye headed off to church and I went out to get breakfast on my way to my sister’s house. She had asked me to come by to fix a few things and to set her clocks. I got what I could done but I found I need to go to the hardware store and get some hinges for her cabinet doors. Once that was done I came back and rested and watched my race. I looked out the window and thought I saw heavy rain.  BUT, it was snowflakes - huge snowflakes!  Temps were still in the mid-thirties, and it wasn’t sticking but it was pretty!  I took a video and then captured a screenshot. If you look closely, you can see the flakes in the dark background! 

Like I said, it didn’t stick. But Cathye was out in it (about 20 miles from home), so I was a little worried it would be heavier in the foothills around Sweet Home. I texted her and she said she was just seeing it and would proceed carefully. She called a few minutes later to let me know she was pulled over because there was a heavy flurry and she wanted to be extra careful because the Honda is not 4-wheel drive.  But she pulled in a few minutes later and all was well. We stayed around the house the rest of the day anyway so no worries. Russ got back to me and said that the drain cloth was working as it should and not to worry. We also discovered that the back sliding door was off the track. It has been super hard to open and close lately and I checked it out. I can’t lift it on my own and I think it needs a new track anyway so we will check that out on Monday. Luckily, there is a window and door store about a mile and a half from the house and we will plan to go there tomorrow. Pretty much a jammie day after that!  The Masked Singer was on tonight (because of the World Series) so we watched that. There are supposedly 22 masked singers (not counting duos and trios) this season. They only have 2 or three new masks each show so this is why we do not like the format.

Monday, November 7^th., 2022……  Rain again this morning. It started out light, but as we got dressed, it got heavier and we decided against the walk this morning. Cathye let them out for a quick romp in the yard and they did their business there.  We had an agenda this morning. We decided to go to Kevin’s for breakfast, but stopped first at LR Windows. We made a flexible appointment for them to stop by on a service call which they may be able to squeeze in as early as tomorrow since we are so close to their shop. After breakfast, we drove to Albany and paid our taxes at the courthouse.  On the way back, she said she needed to hit Kohls to return a top. We did that and headed back.  Once we got back home and settled back in, we discovered that it was Josh’s birthday. He’s the grandson in Portland. We thought about driving up there this afternoon to see him and take him out but decided that she would go tomorrow or Wednesday. But we also decided that we missed the boat this morning!  Since the sliding door folks might be here tomorrow, we needed to go back to Albany today and get the hinges for my sister. We made the drive there again, and went to Lowes and got the hinges. After that, we went by Sherwin Williams and got a gallon of paint. Cathye has decided that she wants to paint her office. She chose a color to compliment the new drapes and we even took one panel with us so they could color match it. We got all of that done and got back and Cat got stuffed salmon out and in the oven. We ate and then finished up the night watching tonight’s Dancing With the Stars episode before calling it a night. 

Tuesday, November 8^th., 2022……  ELECTION DAY!  We have mail-in or drop-off ballots, or voting booths (all are your choice). I guess that is a problem in other states but I understand that Oregon has been doing it that way for a very long time with no complaints. We’ve done it ever since we moved here. Cathye has too so we’re good with it. I’m just glad to be rid of all of the backstabbing campaign ads on tv!  Record rainfall for this time in the season. This last storm hit California too so you know it was a large front that hit us! You can see snow now up in the lower Cascades (about 40 miles east of us). But the good news is that we will be able to dry out in the next few days before the next rains come. Maybe we can burn. We have been calling the burn hotline number for our county (Cathye has it in her contacts!) but it’s always been a no-burn day for us – unless it’s raining! We’ll keep trying though.  Later, I found that there is a troupe touring around that I have been interested in and will be at the Whiteside Theater this Friday. So, I went online and got us tickets. We are going to see Super Diamond, a tribute group to Neil Diamond. More on that later….

Wednesday, November 9^th., 2022…… The weather has cleared up in the last few days. No rain in the forecast. But the days are still chilly. We have to start thinking about covering the water spigots around the house and yard again since we are getting temps below freezing at night. But I can still paint inside the house! So, today was spent moving the furniture and getting the trim taped up in prep for paint. But first I headed over to Penny’s and got the hinges installed on her doors. That went quickly and I came back and started in on the taping and got that done with a few breaks in between.  

Thursday, November 10^th., 2022……  Cathye baked this morning while I painted. I got the first trim coat and roller coat on and then rested for a few hours to let that dry. Later, Cathye headed off to go visit Josh and take him out to dinner for his birthday. She also took the lasagna and birthday cake that she had made for him. Meanwhile, I got the second coat on the walls and was done with that. I waited until later in the day to pull off all of the painter’s tape. I had taped off the 4^th wall, which Cat has decided to keep as an accent color. l discovered that I will need to touch up where it bled over. Problem was that Walt never left any paint cans here so I will need to color match it. The good thing is that we have one of those painter’s ‘color wheels’,

which I can use to match the color. I drove back to Sherwin Williams in Albany and got a can. I remember the good old days when the paint stores and Lowes and Home Depot would give you small 3-6 oz bottles or cans of samples of the paint for touch up work (or just to try out as a room color). Most all of the samples I have gotten lately have been one-quart size! Plus, the cost of a quart now is about what a gallon used to cost. Inflation!      

Friday, November 11^th., 2022……  Today was the concert in Corvallis. But first up, I needed to get the touch up done and get the furniture moved back in. I managed to get that project done but I guess I must have pulled a back muscle while I was doing all of that taping and painting. My back was really hurting!  I spent the day resting and using lidocaine patches and muscle relaxers. I have to get back in shape to be able to get on a plane next week!  Corey came by to do some work on the yard. He brought his new girlfriend, Vicky.  They were here to work on our landscape. Cathye had called another guy who came over a few days ago. We really liked him and wanted him to do the winter cleanup now and maybe continue on in the spring with weekly maintenance. Problem was he texted back his quote for the project and it was waaaay too high for us to consider!  She has asked Corey and he said he and Vicky could use money right now and would be glad to take on the project. While they were out working, I rested up and stayed in the house until we left to head to Corvallis for the concert. We got there early and got front row seats. I guess that was ok but we didn’t expect everyone to get up in front of us to dance!  As I said, we saw Super Diamond. They are a Neil Diamond tribute band from San Francisco. Formed in 1993, they consist of vocalist Randy Cordeiro, guitarist Chris Collins, keyboardist James Terris, bass player/keyboardist Rama Kolesnikow and drummer Vince Littleton.  This guy was amazing!  He calls himself ‘Surreal Neil’.  He sure didn’t look like Neil, but if you closed your eyes, you would swear Neil Diamond was right there singing live!  

As I said, everyone was up and dancing, even Cathye. I felt pretty loose and nothing hurt so I got up and danced a few numbers myself! That probably didn’t aid in my healing process – but I couldn’t resist!  We left happy and talked about the show all of the way home!  We were sure glad we went!

Saturday, November 12^th., 2022……  This morning when I got up and took my shower, I knew something was not right.  No, not my back - I had low water pressure!  I had experienced this once before when a sprinkler line burst and was shooting out water. We got dressed and walked the dogs and I checked out all of the faucets before we left the yard. Nothing. After we got back, I went out to the well and found the problem. A few years ago, Penny had noticed a lot of water pooling around the wellhead and that was a burst pipe. Since we have experienced a few days of freezing temps, I thought it might have happened again. Sure enough, there was water shooting out from under the well cover. Same pipe!  Cathye called her plumber, who had worked on her trailer, not knowing I was on the phone with Russ, asking him to refer a plumber. He said he could fix it himself and would be right over, so we told Shaun we’d get back to him if needed. Russ and his worker got here and I showed them the problem. They went out and got the parts and fixed the leak in quick order. I paid him and they left.  We were back in business!  Corey and Vicky came over again, this time with Brandon and Vicky’s daughter (Bailey). They are both good workers and got one side of the flowerbeds along the driveway done. Even Brandon and Bailey were out helping a bit. Cathye had let Penny know about my back so she came over to help her put the furniture back in place in Cat’s office.  Penny left and the kids finished up and left and we settled in and relaxed for the rest of the day. I fell asleep in my chair in my office and woke up and decided to just go to bed early. I slept for a few more hours then got up for a while to sit and watch tv with Cathye. Once we finally went to bed, I slept through the night. The back feels a bit better.