Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #45 – More Isolation, a Couple More Tests & a Burn Day!

 

                                

Sunday, October 22^nd., 2023…… A better day for Cathye! She sounds better and has some color now! She got up and took a shower. Still staying in jammies though!  I walked the girls and fed them breakfast. Cat had leftover scrambled eggs and I used the rest for breakfast burritos for me. Quiet morning. She paid her bills and I worked on the blog then paid mine. We had to skip the Sunday square dance class so she’s bummed about that. We watched our tv programs throughout the day and evening (together) and then called it a night.

Monday, October 23^rd., 2023…… I had dog walk duty again. I have been taking care of them but Cat is feeling better and is bored and wants to do something. She’s tired of sitting and sleeping.  I went out and got us breakfast and we had coffee at home. We worked on a list of Costco items. We’ll do that later in the week.  Tv and quiet for the day and evening.

Tuesday, October 24^th., 2023……  Another day of recovery. She wants so bad to go to the senior center square dance class this afternoon, so she is taking another covid test. Nope - still positive. But she got a response after sending an email to our caller (Charlotte) with letting her know her situation. The caller is taking precautions too since she also has been exposed to covid. Class is cancelled today.  So, Cathye won’t miss anything more.  Based on that new bit of information, we are now thinking that all of the girls (Judy has it now too!) were exposed at one of the classes. Same with Charlotte.  Cathye is feeling better today. She walked the dogs with me but we’re still being careful. There is nothing on our calendar this week until Saturday. Hopefully she will test negative before then.  We hung around the house most of the day. I think I will get to do Costco duty probably tomorrow. We watched more of our taped shows after dinner. No spa time so it was an early night.

Wednesday, October 25^th., 2023…… Another bleak cold day. Temps in the 40s for the most part. They say there are freeze warnings coming as the temps are expected to drop again tonight and tomorrow. We spent it at home. A very lazy day.

Thursday, October 26^th., 2023…… Today was gym day for me. We walked the dogs and then I headed off while Cathye fed them. I planned to make it a one trip outing. Gym first, post office second, then a run to Albany to Lowes. I needed to stock up on rock salt for the water softener. I stopped on the way and got breakfast.  Penny brought over a covid test kit which Cathye took. Still positive. With all the info we have to go by, we figure she was exposed on Tuesday or Wednesday. This makes day 9 or 10. We don’t have anything going until Saturday so we will wait until then and test again. She is feeling pretty good. A little cough and she gets tired easily but no fever or other symptoms. Fingers crossed.  When I got back, she said that burns are allowed today. So, I went out again and got 5 gallons of diesel fuel. Diesel (although a little more expensive) is safer than gas for the fire. We brought out the hose extensions and got ready. The pile has been covered for several weeks now so it’s fairly dry. We got the fuel spread and I used the torch to ignite it in several places. It burned surprisingly well! We had a bonfire going pretty quickly.

Once up to temp, we were able to load some other yard clippings that weren’t quite dried out but burned anyway.

 

After a few hours, we could leave it to smolder. And it did!  I was so surprised to see smoke all afternoon and evening!  I would go out and check on it several times and saw the glow of the embers and smoke well into the evening.  But it was safe to leave for the night. We’ll check it again tomorrow morning.   

Friday, October 27^th., 2023…… Cathye probably shouldn’t have spent all that time out in the cold yesterday. She is coughing a lot more today. I was too from the smoke. Hopefully we’ll be ok. That said, guess what! - Cat went back out to the burnpile and stirred it up. Guess what – it’s still smoldering!  It burned just about everything we had thrown in there!  We also were out this morning checking on the water lines around the house and yard. Cathye cleaned up her garden and I removed the hoses and timers from the spigots around the house. I went to the store and got a couple more insulated covers for the spigots. Then we shut off the irrigation system for the fall/winter. Later, I went to the store and picked up a few things, including a couple more covid test kits for tomorrow. She has been in contact with one of her nurse friends who sent her back a text saying not to worry too much about it. She told us she had tested positive for 13 weeks after returning to work!  She assured us that if there is no fever and she has isolated for 10 days, she can safely go back into the world again. We’ll test tomorrow to be sure. Dinner in and tv until bedtime. 

Saturday, October 28^th., 2023…… Today was a day to celebrate Bailey’s birthday with them at her school carnival and then dinner with them.  Unfortunately, Vikki is a little doubtful about Cathye’s covid status to let us celebrate with them today. Grandma did test positive again. She feels fine but we don’t want to push. So, we’ll wait until another time. The weather is really getting cold!  We’ve had several mornings when it was below freezing. The trees took one frost shock and then when the next frost hit (even with bright sunshine) they dropped all of their leaves!  

We spent the day working around the house. We cleaned the spa filter and polished up the fiberglass and washed up the spa cover.  We added water and some more chemicals for suds and we were good to go! It’s been too cold to really start any projects. Cathye says it will rain next week. Oh joy! We watched our programs on and off throughout the day. I went and got us burgers and fries for dinner. Tv and spa and then bed.  

 

Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #44 – More Classes, Housecleaning, Mowing & then The Axe Falls…

 

          

Sunday, October 15^th., 2023…… As I said last time – we are back in the routine…!  This morning, after walking the dogs, I headed off to get us Starbucks and Taco Bell for breakfast while Cat fed Butthead and The Princess.  Later, Cat would go to church and I would work on the last week’s blog and then settle in to watch races and football. Typical Sunday. Later, we got changed and headed off to our square dance class. She did a good job with the calls that were taught last week. Still some work to do on a couple of the constantly used calls. They did a club level tip at the end which I got to participate in. It’s mainstream and comes back easily. Cat took a pic of our one square!

We are invited to the Club (costume) dance this Saturday. It’s for the new dancers to watch (but I can dance ). The caller said that if there are enough beginners there, they will call a set (aka a ‘tip’) just geared for them.  

Monday, October 16^th., 2023…… I have a dermatology appointment this morning, so after walking and feeding the pups, and eating breakfast, I headed to their office. This was a routine checkup/follow-up from the last time. Nothing to worry about. When I got back,  we went to the gym and then to breakfast at Kevin’s. Nothing else on the agenda today. We are waiting for a few days of dry weather so the grass dries out enough to mow. We are also waiting for a ‘burn day’ to get the brush pile started.  There is a local line you have to call each day to check if burning is allowed on that day. Prohibited today.

Tuesday, October 17^th., 2023……  Nothing on the agenda today except our daytime square dance class. The Sunday night class is run by the local Club (Square Circlers). The caller also volunteers once a week at the senior center for a class that is open (and free) to folks who want to try it. They are totally different folks. The calls are in line with what she is teaching on Sundays so it’s a refresher course and more floor time for Cat (and Judy and Lyn). Another wet day and a non-burn day.

Wednesday, October 18^th., 2023…… I have nothing on my agenda for today. Cathye is going to lunch and then later to dinner with me and Lyn and Judy at the Tallman food truck pavilion.  They are staying for a pre-paid painting session. We ate and then I came back home. The girls brought her home after the class. These are the pics from the project….

I already have it up on the wall in her office…

We finished up what we had left of this week’s Dancing With the Stars, then hit the spa and then bed.

Thursday, October 19^th., 2023…… Thursday is gym day. After we walked and fed Princess and Butthead, we left for our workout. Then breakfast at Kristi’s.  After that, we stopped by Wilco, the local supply store. They have a pretty good selection of things for the farm such as horse pens, fence posts, blankets, chicks, and food for them (and our dogs) as well. I buy most of my nuts and bolts and such there too because it’s so close by.  They also have a section of western wear, from basic farm apparel to nicer belt buckles and fancy boots, etc. Cathye has been sad since we sold almost all of my western shirts at our yard sale earlier in the year – before she decided we needed to go learn square dancing!  So, she bought me two shirts to add to what I still have so we’re good now. Later, we left for our massages. Really relaxing!  We still want to mow today but it’s been overcast and the grass just won’t dry out enough. Not a burn day today either. Cat says it’s because the fog and overcast doesn’t allow the smoke to get up high enough to dissipate. Oh well!  Tv and spa and then bed.    

Friday, October 20^th., 2023…… HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANCES!  We plan on mowing today! Yaay! The weather has been overcast and gloomy and it always looks like rain, but the forecast says no rain – so today we mow! But first up was the usual routine. Walk and feed the dogs and breakfast for us. I cleaned up the kitchen then we started in on housecleaning. I think we finished up in record time. Next up was taking the dogs in to the groomer. They will be a couple of hours there. Next up was some shopping at Walmart.  Later, after we went to get the girls, I had to go meet Penny at the senior center. They were offering consultant sessions with a Medicare specialist who we both needed now. Her and I both have United Health Care as our Medicare advantage plan provider.  Our health care system here in town is mostly Samaritan Health Services. Well, long story short, Samaritan is dropping UHC from its allowed participants. That means we have to switch providers!  Cathye has Health Net and has no issues. But she uses a different primary care doctor. I want to keep Sally as mine. So I went at it from a backtrack process – I went thru Sally’s office staff, and got a list of the providers they accept there. I checked out the differences and similarities in comparison. They accept Healthnet so I concentrated on that one. Penny would be doing the same for her PCP. The guy was very helpful and had a database that, when you load in your specific prescription drugs, it will calculate your yearly costs, including deductibles and such. Penny is going with one provider and I think I will stay with my first choice – Healthnet.  I do need to doublecheck to see if my new cardiologist is in the plan. I am not really that concerned about him but it will be easier if he was. Then I can call one of the agents from a list the guy gave us, who will get me signed up for next year.  Heck of a process!

When I got back, Penny came over and we started mowing. The grass was really high!

 Because of that, we cannot bag the grass, but it will have to do for now. This is a pic after….

 

This is where things went downhill….  Cathye got off her tractor and said she wasn’t feeling well and immediately went in the house. Penny and I finished up and after she left, I went in to check on Cat.  She had a severe headache and fever and was achy and congested. She rested for a few hours and then took a covid test. It was positive! So, we started the isolation process. I know – I’m in the same house and probably destined to get it too, but I will take precautions.  She coincidentally got a text from Lyn telling us that she was sick and tested positive as well. We figure it was either at the paint party on Wednesday, or possibly from the locker room at the gym they both go to. Cat went to bed. Judy said she is ok. I am ok. Penny is ok (and tested negative).  So, I am in health care duty again. She slept most of the day and later her fever was gone. I got her soup and she ate a little bit of dinner.  We’ll see how tomorrow goes…            

Saturday, October 21^st., 2023…… A better morning for Cat. She feels a lot better today. She got up and based herself in the living room so she could sit up and stay awake and watch tv for a while.  I fixed us breakfast and she said she enjoyed her coffee. I’m glad to see the improvement since yesterday!  She’s bummed of course because we can’t go to the square dance tonight!  We even have new costumes. I am a lion tamer and she is the lion. Pics later…Anyway, she is in quarantine. We are at odds because she says the new guideline calls for only 5 days of isolation and then a negative test. She even showed me and sent me a text with a screenshot! We’ll see how she feels and we’ll know more after that test. So, we spent the day hanging around the house. Corey has plans for tomorrow so he asked if he could come over and work today. I would deal with him so we said sure. He is still working on deadheading and cleaning up all of the plants in the yard (and there are plenty), so he worked until it got almost dark. We hung around and watched our own taped tv programs until bedtime.      

 

Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #43 – Boston Trip (cont’d.), a Little Recovery Time & Getting Back to our Normal Life

 

Sunday, October 8^th., 2023…… We had stopped last night and bought bacon to take to the kid’s house to add to the pancakes and eggs and apple bread they made for breakfast. We played with Felix for a while – yeah, more Thomas with Grandpa! – then Terisa and Felix joined us for a day out. Daniel is working on their basement remodel project and only gets to work weekends for now, so he is busy today running plumbing in the basement for the radiators. We went back to the tree farm campground to the craft fair that Liz was doing today. Cat bought some items there and then we left to head over to ‘The Big Buzz’, a tree carving event held over the holiday weekend. It was really cool! We saw them working on projects – this one is my favorite and he told me he only has 4 hours in it so far. I think he’s about half done.

These guys are real artists! We walked around and saw even more fascinating artwork!

Next up was the ‘quick carve’. They had eight carvers and they had one hour to carve whatever they wanted. No judging – but they would auction them off at the end. 

There was a bear, a howling wolf, a lion, a gnome, an owl, a welcome sign, a giraffe, and a feather. Our favorite was the wolf. They had the auction after the hour was up. They said that whoever wins the bid would get the piece completely finished after the show. The wolf sold for $625.00 (the highest). We stopped by and bought a welcome sign from one of the vendors as a gift for Scott and Judy. We also bought Terisa a carved broom as a decorative piece for her home. We left but not before stripping Felix down a bit and putting him on towels. He had fun playing with new friends in the mud.

 

No worries, he was worn out and slept all the way home!  We stopped on the way home to get pre made dough for pizza for Daniel’s oven. He took it down to his parent’s house and set it up. They burned the first one but soon got the temp right and they turned out six or seven more. With fresh greens from Judy’s garden, it was a very nice meal. We gave them the sign and thanked them for the use of their house. I also have ordered a vintage fish skinner from eBay for Scott to try. He is a bigger fisherman than I am and really got excited to hear how I skin my fish. We said our goodbyes to Daniel, who will be gone to work early tomorrow, and then left to go home and pack and then relax before bed.    

Monday, October 9^th., 2023…… We were up and out by 8:00am. Cathye had stripped the bed and we just needed to throw our bags in the car. We doublechecked that we had everything. The only thing that is lost (so far) are my foldable readers, but no worries. We headed down to spend some more time with Felix before coming back to see Scott and Judy and have coffee with them before saying goodbye. It was so much fun to play with my new grandson!  I know he thinks we can just pop in whenever.  But he’ll be ok and besides, he and mom are planning a visit next summer to see us here, and I think he will be ok with that! We headed toward Boston. The plan today is to stop by President Franklin Pierce’s homestead, just a few miles along the way. We were there just in time to for the 11:00am tour. No photos were allowed inside the home but Cat snuck one of the dining room...

We did take a few pics outside and in the visitor center though. The tour guide was excellent and we enjoyed our time there very much!

Next up was a visit with her sister from another mister, Sana (Roxanna). But first we stopped at the Weathervane for lunch. Another good seafood meal - and Cat’s favorite place for a ‘lobsta’ roll!    

Cat and Sana became really close. Sana splits her time between her mobile homes in New Hampshire and Florida. While they spent time together, 

I slipped away and made a short 15 mile drive to go see The New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Now, I have gone to see several other tracks in my travels, and I usually find a way past the gates to go get close to the track itself. Not this time. I got past one locked gate but got stopped by another! Oh well, at least I can say I was there!

After leaving Sana’s we decided to drive to the coast and then go south into Portsmouth ME and Salem MA. We hit traffic and an hour’s delay when we went through a small town that was having a big fair! We got rerouted three times and ended up spending over an hour just to go ½ mile! We also hit Boston traffic as we got closer to the city. Another 40 minute delay before we finally got to the Embassy Suites. Same one as before. And the same room! We went down to the restaurant and split a burger and we each had a drink. Spa then bed. Long day!    

Tuesday, October 10^th., 2023……  We went back down to another omelette breakfast before getting the car from the valet. We needed to be parked and at Gate D at Fenway Park by 10:45am. We were taking the 11:00am tour! Now this was cool!  Something that I’ve always wanted to do! Fenway is the oldest active park in major league baseball. The Red Sox played their first game there in 1912. Wrigley Field is Chicago is # 2 (1914). The next oldest is a surprise – Chavez Ravine in LA (1962). We saw the stadium from everywhere possible (except on the field, inside the scoreboard (you would have to crawl in there!) and the home team locker room. We even got to sit in the bleachers above the green monster!

Here are pics….in one you can see a roof garden which is used for the restaurants in the park. In another, there is the red seat which is where the longest home run (in the park to date) landed. It was 502 ft. and was hit by Ted Williams in 1946. We had a super knowledgeable tour guide and, as I said, it was a great tour. Highly recommended! 

After that, we found we were a bit hungry and went off in search of a Fenway Frank. We didn’t find any of the vendors open so we settled on Cask & Flagon, just across the street from the ballpark. I had a Fenway burger and a Sam Adams. Cat had a pulled pork sandwich. She had enough for leftovers for both of us for dinner!  

We retrieved our car and headed over the Charles River to go see Cambridge and drive around Harvard University.  I was expecting a grand austere campus – and we did see a few large and magnificent halls -  

but they rather spread out more than I thought and not what I expected. After that, we went back to our hotel. We were done for the day! Leftovers in the room but neither of us were hungry. We will toss tomorrow. Cathye had a queasy stomach so we hung out in the room the rest of the night.       

Wednesday, October 11^th., 2023…… We got to sleep in this morning. Our flight isn’t until 8:00pm tonight so we had all day. Checkout was at 11:00am so we waited until then and then got our car. We had decided to take the riverboat cruise but when they called us back this morning, they said they had nothing running today. So, we got 1:00pm tickets ($32.00 ea. for seniors) to the aquarium. We knew we would also get hit with parking down there but we went anyway. The aquarium was really very nice!  They had a huge tank that went up five stories and you could see all angles in the tank as you walked up the spiral walkway to get to the top. They also had several individual displays that I found fascinating. Believe it or not but I cannot remember ever seeing a captive octopus. This one was huge. Also interesting were the yellow and blue lobsters! We took pics all around

and then headed out. We saw the Legal Sea Foods Restaurant across the street and heard it was a good place for seafood, so we went over there and got a patio seat for lunch. We split a seafood meal with champagne and beer. Really yummy! 

Right across the street they had the ducks lined up. No, these are vehicles. ‘Ducks’ for tours on land and water! This was ours….

We took the 2:30pm tour and got to re-live some of the sights we toured when we were here 2 years ago. But we also got to see new sights from the water when they went into the Charles River! The driver took us for a nice long ride and let some of the kids onboard drive the boat. 

Once we got back, we wen to the parking garage and paid our fees (yep, $42.00!). Oh well, but we did spend time at three different venues so it wasn’t too bad. We left there and made our way out of the city and headed for the airport. We knew we had plenty of time so we weren’t in any hurry. We got the car turned back in and shuttled back to the terminal and got through security and found another full service restaurant in the concourse. This one was not so good. Poor service, they were out of what we wanted, and it was overcooked. Even after I told them, they were indifferent. So, I was indifferent when we left them with no tip! As I said, our flight wasn’t until 8:00pm EDT. It was a 6-hour flight, so that put us in Portland and out of the long term parking lot at 11:20pm PDT. The drive home was 1 ½ hours so we got in just before 1:00 am. Cherrelyn didn’t want to leave Rylee alone so she decided to stay. She would leave early in the morning, before we got up. Thanks to her for being here for Butthead and thanks, Penny for taking Jama on her own vacation with you! Love you both.

Summation: great trip. No concern with masks (although we did wear them in the terminal and while boarding). The weather was fantastic! The rental car was comfortable and got great mileage. We were both healthy with no aches or pains (yaay!).  No one else was sick while we visited. We got through the Boston big city traffic with little issues. The fall foliage was breathtaking!  And we got along with each other (yaay again!). Favorite sights -  for me: Fenway Park, Cog Railway, JFK Library;  for her: Cog Railway, JFK, Pierce Homestead, Duck Ride. Of course the first most favorite thing for us was spending time with family. I know Cathye always enjoys going there each year, but I only go every other year, so I was especially thrilled to see Felix and play with him.  He is one terrific grandson!                 

Thursday, October 12^th., 2023…… We slept in and, as I said, Cherrelyn was already up and gone. We decided to hang around the house until Penny got here with Jama, which didn’t take long. Sis visited with us for a while, then went back to her normal life again. Thanks so much for taking our little one. She is always happy to see you and loves to be with you! Both girls got back into their routines and settled in. We left a bit after that to go to breakfast (Kristi’s). Then we came back and dumped the luggage and did laundry. I think that lasted for most of the day! But we didn’t have anything planned anyway.   

Friday, October 13^th., 2023…… We were up and going and back to the normal routine for us as well.  We walked and fed the dogs. Cat made coffee and we had leftovers from Kristi’s. It was another day to chill. I think it’s important to take a few days and recover from the jet lag and the trip. I worked on getting this blog together and that takes some time!  Plus, we both had our own taped shows to catch up on! Later, we would watch some of our saved up recorded shows that piled up while we were gone!  

Saturday, October 14^th., 2023…… A very cloudy day. We were hoping it would clear up so we could view the eclipse. We walked and fed the dogs and Cat cooked breakfast. Then we went out to the deck to check things out. For a few minutes, you could see the sun but the clouds came back in and it hid everything from us. Oh well!  But we were ready anyway!

We came back in and then Cat headed off to the store. Lyn and Judy are coming over later to get some work on the square dance calls they learned last week. The Club puts out an email with the calls so I know what we missed. The girls said they were very confused, so I hope the instructor goes over them again, which will be in Cathye’s favor. But I will go over them as best I can.

Ok, it’s later now. The girls were here and we moved a rug and practiced our calls from the list they gave us from last week.  I think our instructor went over some calls better than others because both girls were confused. Of course Cathye has not seen any of them so she was struggling to understand. But, as I have always said - in square dancing, you learn by repetition. Hopefully, she will go over them again this Sunday and again in the weeks to come. Cathye made a charcuterie board and we visited between reviews. I think everyone got a little something for it so I was happy to do it.

Later, Corey and Vikki and the kids were here. Both the kids were in reprimand (didn’t ask!) so they were sitting most of the day. Corey went out and worked for several hours. Cathye had a list of some things she wanted done, but we are coming to the end of the season so there won’t be too much of a need to have work done as winter sets in. We had a few slices of pork loin last night and there’s more so today she put the rest of the meat in a crock pot and made pulled pork and fed everyone dinner.  Once they left, we settled in and watched some more of our taped shows. We always watch Survivor, The Amazing Race and The Masked Singer, but this season we have added another one!  We were intrigued by a senior version of the Bachelor (which we never watch by the way!) and we decided to give The Golden Bachelor a try. Now we are hooked! We caught up on the episodes we were behind on and can’t wait to see the drama unfold as Gerry has to eliminate the ladies!  Spa and then bed. We are back in our routine!