Oregon Living 2022 – Blog #51 – A Good Week on the Deck & Getting Ready for Christmas!

 

Sunday, December 18^th., 2022……  Cathye went off to church today but before that we both did the dog walk! I’m feeling much better. When she got back, we went to Albany to Kohls and Costco and stocked up on a few things. We’re now in a hold mode until Christmas, just hanging around the house most of the time. I did talk to Treasa who is working on their plans for excursions for our cruise next summer. We will both build a spreadsheet and see what works for us and for them.   

Monday, December 19^th., 2022……  I feel that I’m repeating myself each day – not much going on. But today we went down to Eugene to see Avatar.

We had watched the original the other night just to get caught up on the characters and the plot. I had gone online to my movie app (Cinemark) and chose 1:45pm showing today because it would be less crowded. But this theater has it on multiple screens and all of the theaters have recliners and I am able to pick our seats ahead of time. That meant we could hang around the house and see what the guys are going to do today. Russ had texted me yesterday that he and his guy would be here to help John and they would get all the holes done and filled. We left for Eugene and saw they had the machine and were making good progress.  I read reviews and saw that this movie was 3 hrs. and 18 min. long!  Penny would be coming over around 4:00pm to feed the dogs and let them out. Thanks, sis!  When we got back home we saw that the job was about 90% complete. The plan is for them to call for the inspection tomorrow. John needs to be here to make sure that the water is pumped out before the inspector measures each hole. There is a bit of backfill so he can spend time doing that beforehand. Fingers crossed that the inspector comes quickly and finds no issues and authorizes concrete pour.    

Tuesday, December 20^th., 2022…… No rain so far this week. But we are monitoring the weather just like the rest of the nation. Treasa feels that whatever weather we have here gets to her in Ohio in 3-4 days!  Well, right now we have a trough coming down which is going to hit almost all of the states east of us. For us here in the central Oregon valley though, it’s not supposed to be so bad.  Josh is flying out on Friday heading back to New Hampshire for the holidays and we are worried that he is going to hit bad weather and may encounter airport closures. Fingers crossed!  On the worksite here, things are finally happening!  Yaay!  The holes are all finished and the inspector will be coming today to sign off so they can pour. Meanwhile, Russ and his guy are also here today installing the steel posts for the deck roof. At the end of the day, it looked terrific!

Plus the inspector came and signed off with no issues. We pour tomorrow!

Cathye had volunteered to go pack food boxes from her church group today.  These boxes contain Christmas meals for those in the Sweet Home community who need it.  Since the guys got everything ready for the inspector and left here early, I had no reason not to go help Cat!  I was actually glad I went! They had a bunch of us volunteers so once all of the donated food was gathered and sorted, all we had to do was pack the selected items in the 10 boxes, making sure to follow their list (potatoes, turkey or ham, beans, rolls, etc.). They also got extra bags for the kids as required. We had packages for 2 up to a family of 7. The whole process took less than an hour and we left with two of the boxes to deliver. They took a pic of the team

then we left and took care of our two deliveries. Both families were thrilled to see us and receive their boxes! We felt good as we left and headed back home. Cat made stuffed salmon for dinner and we watched tv until bedtime. It was a very good day!    

Wednesday, December 21^st., 2022……  Pour day! As we left to walk the girls, John and his guy were already here prepping for the cement. The driver got staged and set up her truck so they could wheelbarrow the cement to the holes.  We got back and Cathye fed the dogs while I went out and got us Starbucks and Jack in the Box sandwiches/burritos for breakfast. When I got back, they were still working. I think the whole job took a little over 2 hours. The truck pour was finished and she left. The guys smoothed and finished the forms and cleaned up and were gone before 2:00pm. Russ stopped by later to check out their work and plan his next steps.

Due to the craziness with the cement work, he had his lumber order on hold til now. So he’s not sure when everything can get pulled back together. He also got a call from the county inspector’s office while he was here. Seems they needed a full-sized reprint after the material change from wood to steel. Engineering calculations, which were in the original specs are now changed and the guy argued that the email just wasn’t enough for the county! He finally agreed to redline the changes and sign off for a go ahead with his acceptance, Russ will be going back to the engineer for a full revision (free) and he will file that with the county ($145.00) just in case future inspectors might have questions. I’m good with that because I want the final to go smoothly and everything on file for the property to be accurate going forward!  So, all that said, I’m now thinking we won’t see much more work being done until after Christmas, maybe not til next year! We had leftovers on the stuffed salmon and settled in for tv until bedtime.    

Thursday, December 22^nd., 2022…… Cathye is still concerned about Josh and his travel to New Hampshire tomorrow. He said he has been looking to get an early flight out (today) so fingers crossed. If things go as predicted and the airports are closed, there will be no flights back east happening for several days, most likely until after Christmas. He will then need to get down here to be with us for the holidays. More later. Meanwhile, Cathye has convinced me to go to urgent care because I am running a fever and have the chills. She went out early this morning and got a covid test kit. I am negative but she is insistent.  We went to the new place just about a mile from us and got right in! They found I have no lung congestion just upper respiratory congestion. I know that my cold is in my lungs and still needs to go through the process of loosening up. They wrote a couple of prescriptions and sent them off to Walgreens. We went home and I rested for the day. I had ordered a .22 rifle from the local store here and had to go pick it up. Cathye walked down to the Teen Challenge Thrift store to look for a desk. We’re changing hers out in the office. They had one and it will be ½ price on Monday so we’ll wait.  

Friday, December 23^rd., 2022…… The weather is really bad here today!  Temps in the 20s and icy rain. There is white all around but it’s not snow.  The guy on tv showed a leaf that was crystalized and took a sculpted sheet of ice right off of it!  Everything is closed. Walgreens had a problem with my insurance and didn’t get anything done last night and they sent a text that they are currently closed today due to weather. But I am doing a lot better. Stuff is loosening up now and that will take several days to clear. I just have to try to stay down and limit the coughing.  Cathye got a text from Josh saying that his job is making him work the full day today. But he would leave for the airport later in the afternoon. He hopes to bump up his flight.  We have been watching the weather and it doesn’t look good!  But he got a flight out was routed to New Hampshire via Atlanta. Long day but he made it! Daniel picked him up and all is good!  We received a shipment from Arizona today!  Pumpkin bread!  Thanks to you Frances!

Saturday, December 24^th., 2022……  CHRISTMAS EVE!  Weather changed again!  We had several things to do before Christmas day! But luckily they didn’t involve driving. Mostly cleaning up around the house. I am still taking it easy but we did walk the dogs this morning. Cathye is amazing!  She steps up and takes charge of everything! I love this woman!  She got all of our tasks completed and we settled in for the day. I think we’re ready for Christmas!        

Oregon Living 2022 – Blog #50 – A Nice Party & Another Slow Week in the Yard!

 

Sunday, December 11^th., 2022……  Cathye’s party is today. She has 8 people coming for her Christmas party. She’s had a few things to clean up but she’s ready. I’ve spent most of the day relaxing and only had a few things to clean up. The girls showed up at 4:00 and had a nice time. I stayed in my room for the most part. Funny, the next morning she told me she totally forgot to take pics!

Monday, December 12^th., 2022……  Weather is finally looking better!  No rain in the forecast for the next week!  John showed up late and then promptly had to go get waterproof material before he could start!  He got back around 2:00 but stayed until dark. Yeah, all the way til 4:30!  At this rate it will be 2023 before he’s done!   

Tuesday, December 13^th., 2022……  John didn’t get here until 10:30. He’s a new contractor subbed by Russ and he’s learning.  But it’s about time we complained. We hired Russ to get the job done and they are both letting us down!  Today was another day when not too much got done. I asked him about his schedule and he knows I’m not happy. But at least today he got some good progress made. I also spoke to Russ, who is upset as well. Plus, John is trying to upcharge him for his time. Yeah, that will happen!

Meanwhile, Cathye headed off to take Jamie out to lunch and then Christmas shopping. I’ve got Cathye’s cold now so I’m staying around the house and doing very little.  I have lost my voice and don’t need to be out in the cold if I can help it.  So, we’ve occupied the days scanning all of the shore excursions for our cruise next year. We have some days at sea cruising the glaciers but there are dozens and dozens of options for tours and such at the ports of Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, and Victoria Island. We will have to decide what works for us. Bill & Treasa are doing the same.    

Wednesday, December 14^th., 2022…… We’ve got really cold weather now. Temps are below freezing. I know the SoCal folks think this is terrible but we enjoy the different seasons! I will admit that I do not like my truck being left outside at night. They have the sonna tubes in the shop garage where I park and if I need my truck, I either have to scrape ice off the windshield or wait until the sun hits the truck.  Plus my truck bed has rhino lining sprayed in it and has no weep holes so rain water builds up. That water freezes and never thaws during the day so it’s building up!  John has promised that he will have the tubes in the ground this week so that will help. If that actually happens.....!  Meanwhile we wait. Christmas shopping is pretty much completed so we are now just making sure we have everything we need and haven’t forgotten anyone. Cat put together envelopes for our newspaper guy, mail lady, hairdresser, housekeepers, masseuse, and dog groomer. We just have to go get those out now. I have a few more Christmas cards to get in the mail. There are always a few I forget. I’m feeling ok but don’t have a voice. And we both are still coughing a lot so we try to limit our outings. Tv tonight. We watched finales of Masked Singer last week but were behind in Amazing Race and Survivor so we got caught up on those. Lego Masters is another show we got hooked on so we need to watch the last two of those.        

Thursday, December 15^th., 2022…… Both of us are feeling much better now. Cathye is still making me stay in from the dog walking in the mornings because it’s so cold out and I still have my cough. Hers is way better.  She takes them out while I make coffee and get the dogs bowls ready for them so I’m at least doing something! We need to stay on this path because we have tickets to go see LeAnn Rimes on Saturday!  We want to be ready for that!  Russ came over late in the day to check on John, his sub on the digging/concrete project. He can see the disappointment in both of us and I’m sure he feels bad for having such a rookie on the job. Later, we finished up watching our Lego shows and already saw Survivor and Amazing Race so they are all caught up.  

Friday, December 16^th., 2022…… Bad news on the concert!  The LeAnn Rimes concert for both tonight and tomorrow are cancelled!  Due to unforeseen medical circumstances is all we know. Bummer!  We were planning on headed over to the coast to The Chinook Winds Casino there. It was going to be an over-and-back drive because the casino hotel was full (we had standby reservation). Even though it shows only 93 miles one way, it is a two-hour drive each way over the Coastal Mtns.  So, even though we were disappointed, we at least don’t have to drive the route in maybe some bad weather.  John worked for most of the day and has decided to bring in some heavier equipment. He said it’s a suction machine – or in his words ‘a super vac’! He might be back tomorrow so in John speak we’ll see him on Monday!  He did ask if I wanted my garage back? Heck yeah! So, he moved the tubes around in there so I can get the truck in. But first I had to break up and remove the 1’ thick truck bed of ice before I could park it!    

Saturday, December 17^th., 2022……  No concert tonight so we had no other plans. Weather is still below freezing during the early morning hours but warms up to mid-40s during the day. Still not doing much outside. I did take some shots to track progress so far.  As you can see, there are more holes to finish (total will be 14) and install the tubes in!  

We stayed in and watched tv most of day and into the evening. Coughs are getting better but still there!  

Oregon Living 2022 – Blog #49 – A Pretty Slow Week

 

Sunday, December 4^th., 2022……  John was back at it today. Needless to say he was pretty frustrated. Russ came by with an empty trailer for the dirt and moved it closer so at least they weren’t wheelbarrowing the loads anymore. The excavator can make it there on a swivel. But the problem is the dirt. It’s clay and very mucky and sticky. Plus, the paper weed barrier and rock that is out there already makes it difficult for the skids to get traction. But he will stay at it!

Ok, it’s later now and the work is going a lot better. He’s figured out how to make it work even though it’s slower than expected. There’s 18 total holes and 6 of them have to be 36” deep for the steel columns. Those are the tough ones. He worked all day and was by himself and it was very cold out there. Russ came by and helped for a bit when he had to move the trailer out to dump. He worked out there until dark and since I think there are only 6 done, he will be back tomorrow.  Cathye ordered pizza and I took a couple of slices out to them. Later, after they left, we relaxed and watched tv. Cathye still has a terrible cough so we’re still hanging around the house and resting.       

Monday, December 5^th., 2022…… I was up early and out with both dogs. Yep, Jama came looking for me to take her too!  She must know her grammy is feeling better! I showered, made coffee and then went out and got us breakfast burritos. John didn’t show up until 10:30 and is by himself again but since it’s a one-man job, he is at it alone. He says he will finish up today and will set the sonna tubes and call for the inspector to check the job before he can pour. I finished up some garland around the doorways and then got all of the boxes out of the house and off the porch and out to the garage. It's pretty cold outside. Temps in the mid 30’s. Poor John. I should feel bad for all of the guys but they really should have gotten all of this sorted out a lot sooner when it was warmer!

Tuesday, December 6^th., 2022……  We’ve had so much rain lately that the deck work has become pretty much non-existent. They may show up for a few minutes and maybe run lines or check drainage and such. But not much else. No finish dig and no sonna tubes yet. At this rate, I expect it will be 2023 before the deck gets built!!  I’m now taking bets for which month!  We had haircuts this morning and then had to drop off Jama and Rylee at the groomers. I called Raymond this evening to wish him a happy birthday. Tomorrow he will be 12!  Wow, they grow up so fast!  

Wednesday, December 7^th., 2022…… HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAYMOND!!  Rain again today! Pretty hard actually. We were up early and decided to take one of those days where we don’t take the dogs out. They were ok with just going for a quick run in the yard to do their business and get dried off and eat breakfast.  We headed off to Kevin’s for our breakfast but for some reason he was closed ?? so we went to Kristi’s instead.  Cathye is making stuff for mailings to family. I had to run out and get some stuff while she was cooking.  Among other things, she is making some of her really great chocolate fudge. Yummy!  Ok, it’s later now and she has come in to tell me she made a slight error in the recipe!  Instead of using the required one cup of butter, she put in two!  So, now we have fudge that is having trouble setting up!  We’re going to call it Dead Pecker Fudge. You see, that’s fudge that will never get hard!  Haha!  

Thursday, December 8^th., 2022…… I got a call yesterday that the keys I had ordered for the truck canopy were in. I will go tomorrow and get them. For the most part, we have all of the boxes ready to ship to family. I still have to make labels but they will go to the post office tomorrow.  Nobody showed up to work on the deck today. Grrr!

Friday, December 9^th., 2022……  Still no one here to work. John called and left a voicemail that he wouldn’t be back until Sunday, when the weather was supposed to clear up. Meanwhile, life goes on. We walked the girls and then ate breakfast and Cathye got her packages filled and taped up. I made labels and then headed off to Corvallis to get the keys. I also stopped and got more supplies for her for more baking.  Corey was supposed to come today to work on the yard but he rescheduled for another day when the weather is better. Not much else going on so we ended up catching up on some movies we had taped. I also needed to get the dvd player squared away for Sunday. Cathye is having some folks over on Sunday for a party and they are planning on watching a Christmas dvd in the living room. That system is hooked up to a surround system with an amp several remotes.  I have to switch and change the settings and I wanted it to go quickly so I practiced I found the right combo so they should be good to go!  Later, Cat took the packages to the post office and came back and we rested and hung around the house.  Like I said, it’s been a slow week!

Saturday, December 10^th., 2022…… Today was another slow day. Nothing happening around here. The rains are still here. Forecast is now lasting through Sunday. Bummer, because John said he would be hitting it hard on Sunday! We both hung around the house. Cathye has some things to prep for her dinner tomorrow and a few items to wrap for shipping. I don’t think I even went outside today! Except to take this picture of the holes all filled up with water!

At least he’s put boards up around it so he can get to them!

Oregon Living 2022 – Blog #48 – A Ballet, Deck Work Starts, and Dealing with a Sickie!

 

Sunday, November 27^th., 2022……  Cathye headed off to church after we walked the doggies and had breakfast.  We had tickets to see Babes in Toyland so we had to head off to Eugene after that. We decided to meet in Brownsville and leave a car there. I met her there at 12:30pm and we drove down to Eugene and parked in the theater garage.  We had some time so we decided to go across the street to the bar for a drink and lunch. If you remember our last time there, we had a horrible experience with service because the placed was jammed but since the food was really good we decided to give it another try. This time we got great service and had plenty of time to eat and make the curtain call. We also got lucky because there was no one sitting in the row in front of us! Cool! When I made the reservations, we thought this was a musical. Turns out we were wrong! It was a ballet version. So, we had a laugh about that but decided to just go ahead with it anyway. I think both of us were very surprised. Yes, there was a lot of plies (bends), releves (rises), sauters (jumps), etendres (stretches), arabesques (jumps with back extensions), and assemble (jumps to the side) - yeah, I had to look those up!  But it was all fun to watch! We actually enjoyed ourselves!  

 

We got back home and let the girls out and then fed them and then we all settled in and relaxed from the day.

Monday, November 28^st., 2022…… The rains have been crazy this week. After the kids left, we saw that there would be a large front coming through that would be lasting for several days. Russ has the steel but he is worried about the footings and the inspections with all of the rain. So we wait….

Cathye has been trying to get a prescription filled at Walgreens for a few days but just found out that the pharmacist has been out sick for the last few days and that her prescription is now being filled in Albany. So, we decided to go there and stop at The Depot for dinner first. So, we fed the dogs and then headed over. We got all of that done and came back and put the Christmas tree up, then rested for the evening. We’re all caught up on Dancing with the Stars and saw the finale. Great season. Sure wish they would put it back on ABC next season though!

Tuesday, November 29^th., 2022……  Rains again today. We have all of the Christmas decorations on the front porch and Cathye wanted to decorate the tree this morning. So, I brought the ornaments in and she started in on that.  Meanwhile, I went to Albany. On our trip to AZ I broke the key for the canopy on her truck while trying to pry open a package (duh!) and needed to go see if they had a replacement. No luck but they can order a couple for me. I got back and Cathye had most of her task completed. We finished that up and moved on to the next project. We needed to get our cruise booked!  If I didn’t put details in my blogs in the past, here is what we are planning - we want to go with Rick and Janie and Bill and Treasa on an Alaskan cruise, preferably in late June or early July next year. I have been doing extensive research and we actually came close to booking several weeks ago but we all didn’t have our ducks in a row. Since then, we have had conversations with both parties. Anyway, bottom line is we will move forward with our plans. Probably will book tomorrow. Russ texted and said his concrete guys were coming over and also would be dropping off some of the deck material and take some measurements. Well, that didn’t happen this evening! Besides being too dark to see anything, it was raining pretty hard.    

Wednesday, November 30^th., 2022…… Last night the skies opened!  I don’t remember it raining that hard last season! The winds were also going crazy!  We thought that the boxes of decorations on the front porch would be soaked but all of the winds and water hit from the south so they survived!  But we did move all of them in the house today. Russ’s guys came by and dropped off the material. We’re now told that they will need to call 811 to get the ok to before digging the footers. “How long will that take?”, I asked. “Oh, maybe a week or so”. Oh, great, more delays. At this rate we will have the deck in by next summer. But some good news!  I booked our cruise this morning!  We are now officially going on a cruise. We chose Holland America this time since we’d already been on a Carnival cruise and wanted to maybe tone down on the “party atmosphere” that Carnival is known for. Our cruise is 7 days on the Westerdam, leaving July 2^nd from Seattle.

 

Oh, yeah, Cathye booked Leann Rimes in concert for later in December! Yaay!

Later, we started in on decorating around the house. We have tons of ‘stuffies’ which we needed a place for. I suggested the elf on the shelf ledge in the entryway. I added some lights first and then placed all of these guys up there. We think it looks pretty good!  

 

Dinner in and then tv until bedtime.      

Thursday, December 1^st., 2022……  Cathye is not feeling well today. She said she had a sore throat yesterday but thinks it’s a sinus infection so she has been using her nettie pot. I think she’s coming down with a head and/or chest cold. We’ll see. But she will be taking it easy for now. I get to take care of her. I made her coffee and got her some yogurt and fruit and toast for breakfast and then headed out to walk the dogs. We spent the rest of the day working on putting the empty decoration boxes away and cleaning up the house enough for the housekeepers who will be here tomorrow. I also started in setting up my Christmas village. It took some time but I think it’s looking good!

 

Friday, December 2^nd., 2022……  We have a few things going on today. I got Cathye squared away then went out to walk the dogs. Ok, Jama won’t leave Cat’s bedside so just Rylee and I went. I went and got my breakfast and came back and worked on my bills then headed out to pick up a Christmas gift. It’s for Cathye so I can’t say any more.  Cathye has Corey and Vicky coming today to work more on the landscape and Bailey was out of school today since there was snow up in Salem where they live. She got them going and Bailey set up with Disney+ while I was out. We both have massages today so since I was already out, I was able to make it for the first appointment. Cathye got there just as I was leaving.

Yaay, the deck project is on! The guys came out with an auger and started digging the footings for the deck today. Russ has subbed that to a fellow contractor (John) who will also pour the concrete when all of the holes are dug and tubed and inspected. The guys only got barely started when they ran into the wet sticky clay which made digging go slower than planned.

They barely got one hole dug and decided to approach it with an excavator instead. They will be back tomorrow.  Cathye went to bed and tried to rest and get some sleep.     

Saturday, December 3^rd., 2022…… John and his guy were back at the hole digging project again today. The excavator works a lot better but today was another problem. 

They already had the 811 inspector give them an ok to dig but they only scan for electric, water and gas lines. I guess the low voltage electric lines for the sprinkler system didn’t register on their machines!  Turns out the line runs completely around the house and was under the dig!  So, they had to remove the rock and paper and dig it up so they could see where it was so they could work around it.  Cathye rested and between wellness checks, I was outside most of the day dismantling the porch steps that I had built. I salvaged a few of the boards and the rest went out to the burn pile. The guys got three holes dug today. Several more to go so they will be here on Sunday since the rental machine goes back on Monday. I have been trying to help her get fluids and some food in and she knows to keep hydrated and nourished, so that helps.  We stayed around the house and I fixed her some leftover meatloaf and I had a chicken pot pie. Pretty easy and both were tasty too! TV in separate rooms until bedtime. I am sleeping in the guest room just in case….