Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #26 – Celebrating With Family, Birthday Wishes, & Another Trip for Great Grandma!

 

Sunday, June 18^th.., 2023…… HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!   All of us were up and going around 9:00am. Cat and I already had the dogs out and walked. I fed them while Cathye made breakfast. We made sure Josh and Tait had everything packed up in the truck and we headed out. I think we will be gone most of the day so I asked Sis to come over once to let the girls out to pee. We made the drive up with no problem. It did rain a bit on the way up though. Usually around Wilsonville (about 15 miles S of Portland) the I5 bogs down. There are not enough on/off ramps in that area to support the growing population around there, so it is always hit or miss, depending on day of week and time of day. Like I said, we made it up ok and got to Tait’s place and got parked. Tait moved into an apartment less than 2 blocks from Josh. We got her new treasures unloaded and wheeled up to her door. Her place is about the same as Josh’s – tiny - but it fits her purpose for now. Josh told us his lease is up in July and he has an offer to move in with some friends in a house in Beaverton and is most likely to move. That puts Tait up there by herself, which we don’t like, but she has made many friends already and is in a pretty secure building and since she’s very cautious, she seems comfortable. After we toured her place and saw the amenities, we headed over to Josh’s and dropped off his stuff. He has the Bofeili e-bike that Cat gave him but the throttle assist is not working, so we loaded that up so we could take it home to check out. He still has the mountain bike I gave him so he can still use that to get around as needed. After getting that done, we drove around the corner to Heroes Café to have lunch. Both Cat and I had the flatiron steak. It was so tender and delicious!  We all enjoyed our Father’s Day meal! We said our goodbyes and headed back home. It was great to be able to spend time with the kids and we’re glad they are close enough to see whenever we want!  The drive home was terrible!  We hit that Wilsonville area and stopped!  It was also the same on the other side of the Highway!  We will have to consider this when we head up through here in a few weeks on our way to Seattle and the cruise ship!  We got home and rested from our busy week.         

Monday, June 19^th., 2023…… Today is Juneteenth…. Post office is closed and some businesses also are closed today. Our gym is 24/7 so we got that workout in, then headed to breakfast at Kevin’s. Definitely open!  When we were there, I got a call that the bagger for the new mower (mower is scheduled for the 28^th) will be delivered tomorrow. I also added armrests (shipped separately) that are supposed to arrive tomorrow as well. We had rain here yesterday and forecast is for more today, but it was just cloudy in the morning when we walked the dogs and then went to the gym. When we got back, I went out to the rv garage to address the mess in there. After the yard sale, we have cleaned out 99% of the stuff on the storage racks in there. I just wanted to rearrange some of the other things and get them up on the shelves. Cathye helped with that and then went on to tend to her flowers. Because some of them are under the deck, they needed watering. She leaves for Phoenix on Thursday so I will need a list of what I have to do to water everything out there. For the rest of the day, we hung out around the house. I did go online to Cinemark Theatres to make reservations for next Fri afternoon. Bill and Treasa and us are going to see Indiana Jones. Turns out there isn’t a real need for reservations up here but if the theater gets crowded, we know we have reserved seats and they are where we want to sit!  They come in next Thursday, prior to our cruise which starts on Jul. 2^nd.  We had an early dinner of leftovers and spent the evening watching tv. And then hitting the spa.  We did get more rain later in the evening but it let up and I think this storm is now out of the area.  We are not expected to see much rain for a while.

Tuesday, June 20^th., 2023……  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TREASA!!   Of course we had to call her to sing to her! 

After walking and feeding the dogs and eating breakfast, we started in on our errands for today. Ok, most of them are Cat’s!  Cherrelyn’s car is going in for service and we volunteered one of ours, so Cathye took the Honda and went over to Jamie’s to drop off his computer, which we had stored here, and then make an appointment to get her truck detailed before going over to Cherrelyn’s to get her. We would have taken two cars and dropped one off but I have to hang around today for that bagger delivery from Home Depot. They said arrival date is 6/20 between 9:00am and 3:00pm. This is the triple bagger I ordered for the Cub Cadet which is shipping before the tractor. Same thing with the Cub Cadet armrests – they are shipping separately, also expected today.  I am also still waiting for the bagger to arrive for the Craftsman mower. That one was ordered the 2^nd of June from a third party company (on the east coast!) and I checked in with them this morning. All I got from their recording was that ‘it has been shipped’. Because the invoice says it “usually ships in 7-10 business days”, it is probably on a rail car and then will have to go to a transport hub for trucking to me.  I called and waited out their recorded wait time and found out just that – it’s in transit!  Meanwhile, Cat got all of her tasks completed and brought Cherrelyn back here and she visited a while and then she took off to run her errands.

Ok, it’s later now and I got the bagger delivery. The guy backed in and while we were talking, I asked a question about Home Depot and how they used third party trucking. He looked confused and that caused me to ask where the bagger was shipped from. He looked at the delivery document and said, “Shelby Ohio”. I was shocked! This was the Craftsman bagger that I had just called about this morning! Anyway, we got it unloaded and I opened it and started sorting out the parts. I’ll put it together and install it tomorrow. Yaay!   

Later, I got a text from Home Depot that they were running late and delivery would be on Wednesday. But, again, I was shocked and happy to see a van pull up and two guys pulled out the Cub Cadet bagger! Wow!  I stored that box away.  Of course, the Cub Cadet is still scheduled for delivery on the 28^th. ! Oh well!   Later, we spent time working on getting a few things sorted out for our cruise. Dinner, tv and spa before bed.

Wednesday,  June 21^st., 2023……  The only thing on our calendar today was mani/pedis. But that isn’t until 5:00pm. So, we were able to sleep in a bit before getting up and going out with the dogs and then eating breakfast. Cathye and I went out and got the drain opened up on the spa. We wanted to change the water, clean the filter, and wipe down the tub.  After that, Cathye went out to run some errands and I went out to the shop and worked on putting the bagger on the Craftsman tractor. It is very similar to the one on my zero turn, so I was familiar with the components and got everything together and installed pretty quickly. 

While I was working on that, another delivery came via fed ex. This one was the armrests for the Cub Cadet. I added it to the bagger box since I don’t have that mower yet. Cathye went out to water all of her plants. She has this routine down. She will be leaving tomorrow evening so I asked her to write down all of the watering I will need to do while she’s gone!  After doing that, she worked on some of her packing. She needed to pick up a prescription so we went and did that. We worked on some more gathering of stuff for our cruise. It’s hard to believe but we’re getting close! Bill and Treasa arrive here next Thursday and we leave on that following Sunday. We ate a quick bite then headed off for our appointment. That took an hour and a half but it’s one more thing done before the cruise. We got back home and relaxed and watched some tv before going out to the spa. Then bedtime.       

Thursday, June 22^nd., 2023…… We were up at our usual time and got showered and going. We walked the dogs, fed them, then left to go to the gym. After that, we headed over to Kristi’s for breakfast. We were done just as Penny came in the door! She knows we go there after our Thursday workouts but she mistimed it. We stayed for a few minutes talking to Reese about his new 57 chevy, which is now parked outside the diner, then left to run some more errands. We still have a few things that didn’t make it out to the yard sale that we wanted to donate, so Cat and I loaded them up. I left to go drop them off. We try to go to Teen Challenge when we can. It’s also only about 5 minutes from the house. It took longer than I thought to make the drop. There was only one person working the door and she was on a knee scooter, so I would have to muscle off the items myself. There was a lady there in her truck by herself, so I helped her unload too. Once I got back home, we rested a bit, then we went back to the carport and took the cover off of the Shasta trailer. We are going out to Rally on the River a few days after we get back from our cruise and we want to clean up the trailer and stage it so all we have to do later is just hook it up and go! 

 

The weather is starting to get warmer and warmer here now. So, we were overheated from our task and came back in the house to rest for a bit. Cathye showered and then left to go run some more errands. She got hungry and stopped for a quick bite.   Needless to say, she wasn’t hungry when she got back so I made myself some ham and cheese croissants for dinner. Her flight wasn’t until 8:45pm and it was leaving from Eugene, and she could go straight to TSA, so we left around 6:45 and took our time driving down. We stopped at Walgreens and tried to get her prescription but the car line was too long so I’ll go get it tomorrow. I got her there and said goodbye and headed back home. It doesn’t get dark up here until around 9:30 or so I didn’t have to drive in the dark. I watched tv for a while, then went in the spa for a while before calling it a night. I asked Cat to call or text me when Chris picked her up from the Mesa airport. It was around 11:45pm or so but that’s ok - I needed to know that she was ok and headed to their place.        

Friday, June 23^rd., 2023…… Cathye texted me this morning as I was out with the dogs. She managed to get some sleep and sounded good. They didn’t have too much planned today. The family – and the new grandbaby – would be coming in on Saturday for a party. I think even Mary and Jim will be coming in from Tucson to visit as well.  Pics as she sends them.

Meanwhile, I was working on a few things here. I did some cleaning and rearranging some photos on the walls and in the nooks/cubbies in the living room. We are now getting a good balance of both Cat’s memories and mine!  I did receive four more boxes from Florida. This is the last of the boxes (I think) of Jeff’s personal things that Krista is sending me. This time, among miscellaneous other things, I got more of his collectables and all of his photo albums. I think Randy and Cherrelyn will want to take a look through them to see if there’s any that they may want.  I found some that I will save and add to the family photos. I found some leftovers for dinner and settled in and watched my Barrett Jackson Auction that I had taped. They are in Vegas this Thurs – Sat.  It’s amazing the money people have to spend on cars. There are folks that buy some at the auction and sell some at the same time!  Anyway, it was a quiet night for me and the pups. I hit the spa and then, after talking a bit with Cathye, went to bed.   

Saturday, June 24^th., 2023…… Today was party day in Glendale AZ!  Of course, the main subject was Olivia!  She is so cute! Great Grandma spent some quality time with her and now big sister Sophia, as well as the other grandkids all day. Her sister, Mary, and husband Jim, came up to visit. Jim had never met this side of the family so that was fun I’m sure! Here are some of the pics from the day and the week…

I also captured a pic from FB that daughter Terisa in New Hampshire, posted of Felix. He is so cute!

I had a few errands to run today. We never did find that missing earring so I went into Albany and ordered a replacement. This time, I made sure to get the screw-on backings. Given that  that’s a special order, they won’t be ready for probably two weeks, so she won’t have them for our cruise. I guess I should have gone in sooner, but we were hoping the lost one would turn up before now!  I also spent some time working on the flowerbed watering system. We are having a job walk/estimate on Wednesday for a refresh of the existing irrigation system. I inherited a mess from the previous owner and have been just getting by each season, repairing and adjusting broken and clogged lines. Of course the deck addition played havoc, plus most of the lines are now covered over in bark mulch! It’s time I had a professional come in and assess the damage and give us a quote to get everything working correctly and efficiently again. In the meantime, I re-installed the timers we use for the areas that aren’t on a system. We have hoses with in-line timers to help us water on a daily schedule. So, the blueberries, Cat’s island garden, and the area out by the driveway are all on timers. Weather is getting hotter by the day. Temps in the low 80s today and will hit 88° toward the end of the week when Bill and Treasa get here. More tv and a call with Cathye, then spa time and then bed. She flew via Allegiant to get the best fare, but you have to go in via Mesa.  She has a 12:30pm departure so she and Chris will be on the road by 10:30am. From there, it’s a two and a half hour flight into Eugene.  

Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #25 – Running Errands and Selling Another Tractor!

 

Sunday, June 11^th.., 2023…… We were up late this morning. But we still had a few things to do. We walked the girls, fed them and then left. We were headed to Albany to go to Elmer’s for breakfast. We split the German pancake combo! Always a favorite!

Then we headed over to Costco. I had an appointment for tires for my truck. And Cat had an appointment to pick up her glasses. Of course we had to go in and do some shopping! I got the call that they were done just about when we were done checking out, so it all worked out. We headed home and put everything away and rested for the day.    

Monday, June 12^th., 2023…… This morning I had to leave early for my acupuncture appointment in Corvallis. I stopped in at the Corvallis Home Depot and drove past their mower selection. I am looking for another Cub Cadet mower. This one will be a lawn tractor because Cathye isn't a fan of the zero turn, I think mostly because she hasn't used it very much. Even though we sold the Husqvarna because we didn’t need four mowers, we have decided to also sell the John Deere and get a new one.  But, same as the Albany store, this Home Depot didn’t have the one I was interested in. I made my acupuncture appointment and then headed over to McDonalds to get breakfast and made the 20 minute drive down to Tractor Supply in Junction City. That was where I bought the zero turn. They allowed me the 10% military discount there so I wanted to check them out. Turns out they don’t show the Cub Cadet 54” model in their system. I had been on their website and told the store asst. manager that I could order it online but wasn’t sure about the discount so I came in. He said if I place the online order, he will cancel the order when delivered and recharge it with the discount. Considering the price, I will look into that. But, as it turns out, I didn’t have to!  On the way home, I stopped at the Albany Home Depot. They found my model on their page and the pro desk manager said she would check to see if it would come up with my military discount (there is a $2000.00 limit). Turns out both the mower and the bagger total came back with the full 10% discount.  So, I ordered them both. Delivery will be on the 28^th so we will have to wait a bit, but that’s ok. This is the one.

 

 

Meanwhile, Cathye had Adam coming back today. She will have him work on weeds and deadheading some of the flowerbeds. I got back and we had lunch and then worked around the yard a bit. Cathye is still working on the flower beds. I am working on the sprinklers even though we still have the irrigation guy coming next week. But it’s been so hot that we need to get some water on the grass and the plants! I discovered that I can run the system manually but most of the valves don’t respond to the control box. So, for those, I have to open each zone as we need it. Can’t wait to have all of that looked at and fixed!             

Tuesday, June 13^th., 2023…… Today we both have massage appointments. I also have to go to the Samaritan Sleep Center in Albany later in the afternoon to pick up equipment for my sleep study. They want me to do an overnight test to check on my sleep pattern. Because I have to go straight from the massage center, I needed to cut the massage short so I texted Emily and got that done. When I got to the sleep center, it only took about 15 minutes to get everything explained and I was out of there! We had dinner and watched tv and hit the spa and then it was time to hook up the apparatus. It consisted of a small device which got strapped around and rested on my chest. Attached to it was an oximeter and a nostril device which I had to wear. That I didn’t like! But, we got everything going and I managed to relax and fall asleep. They needed 7 hours of sleep which I made easily so I thought it went well.       

Wednesday,  June 14^th., 2023……  I couldn’t wait to unhook that machine this morning!  My nose was still pretty raw from the allergies so that didn’t help with that tube thingy in my nose! But it was over for now. I took the machine back this morning and then got back so we could mow. Penny was coming over to help so I got out all three mowers. Cathye’s nephew, Justin, was here for the yard sale last week and is interested in the John Deere but isn’t coming over to look/pick it up until Friday so we will take advantage and use all three today!  We got everything done in short term. I was even able to bag the lawn grass this time since we mowed only 10 days ago and the grass hasn’t grown too much. We took some time to clean the one tractor we are keeping. We used a ramp so we could get up inside. Cathye also got to show off her t-shirt that I ordered for her - That's What I Do, I Garden, I Play With Dogs, and I Forget Things - that's her in a nutshell so I couldn't resist!

We’ll clean up the John Deere before Justin comes on Friday. We spent the rest of the day resting and hanging around the house. Dinner and tv and spa and then bedtime! It’s nice to not have anything hooked up to me to sleep!  

Thursday, June 15^th., 2023…… Happy Birthday Cherrelyn!  We had the dog groomer appointments on the calendar for today. Cathye took them in while I was out working some more on the sprinklers. We are supposed to get some rain on Father’s Day but until then we need to get some water on the lawns and flower beds! I managed to get most everything working although it’s still not up to par. Hope the irrigation guys can help! We also decided to ‘hit’ the weeds. Cathye is anxious to try our burnpile torch starter so I got out a propane tank and attached it to a dolly and hooked up the flame thrower and fired it up. It worked great!  She followed along behind me with a watering can as I hit the weeds, first in the driveway cracks, and then out in the ditch. Next up was the French drain. I was especially anxious to see how this would go and it turned out to work pretty well. 

We didn’t finish (I think we got maybe 1/10 of the French drain done) but we know we can do this again another day.    

Friday, June 16^th., 2023…… Justin and Amy were coming over this afternoon to get the John Deere so we decided to clean it up. When Cathye first bought it, she used it a lot in prep for her estate sale and put a lot of hours on it. It developed an oil leak so she had a neighbor load it on his trailer to take it in for service. Problem was he missed the ramp and dumped it! So, there are a few scratches on it. Plus, there is still a small leak which we already told Justin about. He is a mechanic so he should be able to fix it. But we wanted it clean when he comes so we got out the small pressure washer and sprayed it inside and out. We used the ramps again to clean up the cutter/underside so now it looks like new!  They got here after he got off work and brought a trailer and their new puppy!  While Justin and I got the tractor loaded, 

the girls watched Rylee and  Stormy (not so much for Jama) play and run around the yard. I had the sprinklers on and they ran through them as well. Of course, they rested between runs...

So, now we are down to only two tractors until the new one gets here in 12 days. Can’t wait! Later in the evening, I worked on my blog and Cathye headed off to Albany to pick up Tait and Josh at the train depot. Last week, she did a facetime with Tait and walked her through the items in the yard sale. Tait picked out some items for her new apartment which we sat aside. The plan was for her to come down today and she and her Grandma would hit some local yard sales around here tomorrow in hopes of deals for stuff for her place. Josh was available so he came as well. I hung around and watched the dogs.  When they finally got here, we visited for a while and then hit the spa for some more time together before calling it a night.     

Saturday, June 17^th., 2023…… This morning we were up and going early. We walked and fed the girls and then all of us headed off to Kristi’s for breakfast. 

Cat and the kids took her truck. I drove my truck by myself because I was going from there to Costco to get my wheels retorqued plus do some specialty shopping. I was on the hunt for two more 100’ water hoses for the yard. Costco sells the ones we like that are lightweight. I got all of my chores done and headed back home. I got a couple of updates from the bargain hunters as they hit one sale after the other, stopping for lunch while they were out. Turns out they spent pretty much all day out and got home in the late afternoon. They said they hit 33 yard sales!  All I could say was wow!  We all rested for a bit. Tait did some laundry to wash all of the clothes they had bought today. Later, Cat got a call from the lady from her old trailer park who bought her trailer last year, asking her to come by and pick up the kitchen table from her. Turns out they had talked a few weeks ago and she is selling the place. I guess they talked about the furniture and Cathye said she would take that table if no one else wanted it. Guess no one did so she took Josh and my truck and went over to pick it up. Nothing else planned for the rest of the day so we all just chilled. They went through and sorted and boxed everything and reloaded it in Cat’s truck. We’ll all be going back up to Portland together tomorrow to take it to each of their places. Plus, we are going to get the electric bike back that we gave to Josh. Something is wrong with the electrical connection somewhere and he said that he is happy with the other bike we gave him and doesn’t need the electric, so we’ll bring it back here.  We each ate leftovers and relaxed from the day. 

Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #24 – Prepping and Having Our Yard Sale!

 

Sunday, June 4^th.., 2023…… Today we start on the yard sale project. We have several shelves in the rv garage that we have completely filled with yard sale stuff!  Our job today was to get it all down and arranged in the yard. We will need more tables! Penny came over and helped. But all we managed to do today was get ½ of the boxes emptied and staged. The other half we will do tomorrow. But at least they are all out there! We came in and rested and watched tv for the afternoon, going out a few times to empty more boxes. I did have to cover up the material table with a tarp. No rains coming but the wind is blowing pretty hard this afternoon. Tv and spa and then bed.

Monday, June 5^th., 2023……  Happy Birthday Maryanne!  Round two of the staging. We were up and out for the dogs and then left for the gym and breakfast. Afterward, we went out and got everything out and either on a table, or on a tarp. Penny came by and started staging items. She is a veteran at this so we just let her go!!!  But we stopped short and came in for the day. I still need to finish up a couple more yard sale signs and wire them for the poles. I finished that and we were done for the day. Tomorrow we will finish pricing everything.

Tuesday, June 6^th., 2023……  Still working on arranging tables and other items. We got the stereo hooked up and I tested it for records too. It works well! I have decided to sell the Husqvarna tractor at this sale. I paid $650. for it over 6 years ago. It will have a $600.00 tag on it which is firm. Not a bad investment for that time period!  I think the plan going forward will be to also sell the John Deere as well and buy a new Cub Cadet. We’ll see. I needed to charge the battery on the Husqvarna and got that going. Later in the day, we took pics and Cat posted on several sites about the sale. Marketplace exploded and she got dozens of questions. Seems they blow up and search each pic and do a follow up question if they see something they want.  

Wednesday,  June 7^th., 2023……  Happy Birthday in Heaven Lydia!  We finished up everything for the yard sale and all we needed to do was to put the signs up. I left early and went to the local church board and the market’s board to post for the sale. There are folks who go to both of these places to list or look for items and sales so we needed to get the word out. Later in the day, Cathye drove and I got out at various locations to attach the signs to posts and trees.  When we got back, I started the Husqvarna and brought it out and washed it, priced it, and staged it and Cat took pics and added it to the media sites. Again – we got tons of inquiries.  I think we are ready for tomorrow!

Thursday, June 8^th., 2023…… Both Penny and Cherrelyn were here before we opened at 8:00am. They both brought stuff to sell and they did ok with that.  It was a terrific day!  I can just say this – we had a constant barrage of cars lined up on the street and a steady crowd. We didn’t have time to stop and take pics! But these were from the staging and only covered a few areas….

Most everyone was surprised at how reasonable the prices were. At the end of the day, we sold close to 3/4 of everything! Including the tractor which went in the first hour. Folks kept complimenting me on my signs. For those who don’t already know, I did this sign thing for many, many years for my SoCal square dance club’s yard sales.  I did find out that I probably should have listed times on those signs because even though we advertised start and end times (8:00am-3:00pm) on social media, folks driving by didn’t know when we were shutting down. We had folks coming by at 6:00pm wanting to buy. Since we didn’t have anything else planned, we stayed out there until after dinner and then I went out and put caution tape across the driveway. We were tired but it was a very profitable day!

Friday, June 9^th., 2023…… Day two of the sale. The weather yesterday started out nice with overcast and then we saw blue skies in the afternoon. Perfect day. Today was a little cooler and it stayed cloudy most of the day.  The sun didn’t come out until way later in the day. The crowds slowed down a lot too. It’s a small town and the true yard salers hit us yesterday! So, today, for the most part, it was pretty quiet. With the nicer items going yesterday, we knew it would be slower and it was. Tomorrow we mark everything half off to get rid of what we can. There is a boys and girls club that we may call and they will come out but they only will take items they want, not everything. There’s a guy that we’re trying to locate who will come and get everything left. Penny and Cherrelyn were here again. Love those gals!  They know what to do and work hard and that helps us out a lot. Cathye ordered wings delivered and we had a quick lunch. Like I said, it was a lot quieter today and at the end of the day, we know that tomorrow will be even slower. Cat and I will handle it by ourselves tomorrow. There are many folks struggling these days so we think those folks as well as the bargain hunters/resellers will show up for half price day!  

Saturday, June 10^th., 2023……  The day started slower than we expected. Our neighbors across the street came by and we talked about the street traffic. Rick said he counted at one time 30 cars on the street on Thursday.  Not as much today but, as the day went on, we started getting a lot of cars. As I said, we had signs up at the end of the street and I went out and added a ‘½ off today’ addition. And we told them as they came in that everything (except the radios and Cherrelyn’s bed and mattress topper) was half off. Plus, we took everything that we had marked at .25 and put it on the ‘free’ table. All of that meant that we moved a lot of stuff. Later in the day, we had a ‘load up a box for $3.00’ sale and that helped too. Both Penny and Cherrelyn came back in the afternoon.  We shut down around 4:00pm and Penny and I went out and brought in all of the signage. We had already put the radios on dollies and had them in the rv garage. We all worked to put the remaining stuff in boxes for donation and break down and store the tables.  I took this pic of the donations.

Not bad for all we started out with!  Oh, forgot – all of the stuff Penny and Cherrelyn brought over sold so they were happy about that!  So - we were done!  I took everyone out to Gametime for dinner and drinks. It was a long process and we are all through with yard sales for a while!  We got back home and the girls left and we enjoyed some down time. We have some work to do on Sunday to load up the donations but I will have to work on that later in the day because we are taking the truck in to Costco tomorrow morning for new tires. I also want to cut a few inches off the two wooden tables I had made. They are stored upright and are a little too long for the space I have them in.   

 

Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #23 – Memorial Day, Mowing & Getting Ready for a Yard Sale!

 

       

Sunday, May 28^th.., 2023…… Cathye woke up this morning and decided to skip her shower and get dressed and go to the urgent care facility here in town. They don’t open until 9:00am so we had time to walk the dogs. She left and I ate a breakfast burrito and settled in to watch some races. She texted she was 3^rd in line to go in. She called a few minutes later and was done!  Try that in California!  They gave her some cream and a prescription for prednisone. She stopped at Walmart and came back home. While she was gone, I got a call from my sister that she had cut some branches off of a tree hanging over into her yard and did I have room for them in the burnpile? I took the truck and went and got them. She followed me back home and Cathye was back by then. We unloaded the branches, I hosed out my truck, and came back in to continue watching races. Cathye took some pics of the work that she and the guys have done so far…

We only have a few little things to add (more plants, hummingbird feeder, etc.) and we will be done! Maybe…

We both came in and relaxed for the day. Of course her prescription took longer to fill than she hoped!  But once that was done, we were in for the day. Penny and Cherrelyn will be coming over tomorrow for a bbq. TV until bedtime.

Monday, May 29^th., 2023……  Memorial Day – Please take time today to remember those brave soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country.  I always try to spend time thinking about what could have been.  I had friends/classmates who went to Vietnam and never came back. Mitch Silvers was one of my best friends in high school. He was what everyone in the day called a ‘nerd’. Gangly and lacking social skills, Mitch still was a good buddy. Right after we graduated, he enlisted in the Marine Corp. - without telling any of us. Next time we heard from him was when he was in basic training.  That would be the last time I talked to him before he got shipped off to the conflict.  A forward observer, he was first in line and unfortunately didn’t come back to us.  RIP my friend! 

We also took some time to go put flowers on Jim’s grave. He’s in a cemetery just overlooking Foster Lake. We took the girls and walked around a bit and then drove to Dairy Queen to get a blizzard (another of their favorite things to do together!).

Later in the day, Penny, Cherrelyn, Judy, and Lynn came over for a bbq!  I cooked burgers and we hung around on the deck most of the day and evening. It was a fun afternoon!

Tuesday, May 30^th., 2023……  Weather is on and off. One day it is sunny and in the mid- 70s, next day can be cloudy and low 70s. No rain.  We were up and out with the dogs and got them fed. We got going on cleaning around the house.  Today was a close repeat of yesterday. Omalea and David came over. They were bringing plants for Cathye and staying for lunch. I cooked more burgers and we had a nice visit.  First time they had seen the new deck. Fun day – except that we forgot to take pics! 

Wednesday,  May 31^st., 2023……  Today was mowing day – again!  But this time it would be easier. We didn’t need to mow the field this time. I attached the bagger to the zero turn so I could pick up the grass. We got the job done in less than an hour!  I am looking into getting a bagger for the craftsman pro mower. I remember not wanting to spend that extra money back when I bought that tractor when we first moved in here. But, now it doesn’t seem too much! We got everything cleaned up and came in to rest for the day. I did go out later and work on the Nascar shelf. I got everything ready for paint. Tomorrow.  We had leftovers for dinner and watched tv until bedtime. We have been actively treating our rashes (ointment and meds). Cathye is still itchy and doesn’t want to go soak in hot water at this time, so she skipped the spa tonight. Maybe in a few days. Mine is starting to fade and is less itchy each day.                  

Thursday, June 1^st., 2023…… We were up early and had the girls out, walked, and fed before 7:00am!  We headed off to the gym and then stopped and had breakfast (Kristi’s). We stopped at the dollar store and I picked up some poster board and stencils for the yard sale signs. We have decided on next weekend for the sale. We’ll do it Thursday – Saturday. We have a lot to do in 7 days!  The good thing is that 90% of everything has been stored in one place in the rv garage. We decided how we would set up everything so I will need to get all of our tables out and staged. Penny will be coming over on Sunday to help mark and stage everything. Then we can either cover things up or bring the tables out the night before.    

Friday, June 2^nd., 2023……  Housecleaning day!  We have to be extra careful today because we are looking for a lost earring. Cathye noticed it last night on the couch. She found the backing in the closet so hopefully it’s around here somewhere!

Tonight we have a couple of activities. We, with Penny & Cherrelyn, were going to the Lebanon Strawberry Festival tonight to see an Eagles tribute band. But she got invited to a retirement party in Albany for one of her ex coworkers, so she will be going there first. The rest of us will go and she will join us after the party. She left to meet up at 5:00. Meanwhile, we had decided to go the fair at 6:00pm so we could eat and walk around a bit before the 8:00pm show. Cherrelyn and Penny both met here and we took Penny’s car. We parked, went in and set our chairs out on the grass and then went searching for food and drink. We  chose Mexican which was pretty good. We found the beer garden and got drinks and then went to sit. Before long, I got a text that Cat was worn out from her day and the hot weather so she was going home to rest.  The opening act was not the best so I didn’t bother to try to remember their name! They played until 8:15 and it was 8:30 before the Eagles cover band came on. They were called Eagle Eyes. They are from Canada so they are new to this show. I was impressed!  They sounded great!  We took pics both from the seats and Cherrelyn got one from close up.

We stayed until the closing number – Hotel California – and then headed out. I was already having allergies and the walk back through the field didn’t help Cherrelyn and she had issues. But, we got back home and enjoyed the night.   

Saturday, June 3^rd., 2023…… Weather is nice today. In the 70s. We walked and fed the dogs and ate breakfast and then went out to set up tables for the yard sale. I had previously made these super long 14’ tables which we used for our wedding reception and we got them out. They were heavy but we managed to get them staged. Tomorrow Penny is coming over and we will bring things out and get them priced and staged. Later in the afternoon, Cathye left to go meet up with Judy and Lynn. They were going to the fair. Lynn wasn't feeling well and Christie was there and went as well. This time they wanted to see Johnny Limbo and the Lug Nuts. They are an old band from the 60s/70s that are from, the NW area. The girls wanted to go and see if they sounded the same. I stayed home with the dogs and watched tv. The band, who was the opening act for the feature for the fair – Diamond Rio – started at 5:00pm.  But the girls only stayed for the first show and headed back and she was home by 8:30pm. They sat a lot closer to the stage than we did but had to go up close again to take pics. Here is what she sent me…

We did have time to hit the spa before calling it a night.