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!