Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #47 – Saying Goodbye & More Family Time!

 

  

Sunday, November 5^th., 2023…… Yep, it was an early morning!  We were up and going by 5:15am! The drive to the train depot was pretty easy and there was no rain – yet – it’s coming later today. They say Monday we will have the most rain of this cycle. But, so far, it’s not too bad. We have decided that we will need another mowing before the season ends. But we’re not sure if that will happen. Oh well!...  We said our goodbyes to the kids and then headed home. After we walked and fed the dogs, I went out to get us breakfast. Cathye is doing the communion intro/reading/message so she needed to research to find some passages before church. I printed out some she had found and she edited and picked and chose her message and got it ready for today. She left and I began working on the blog. After that, I was able to relax and enjoy the last three Nascar races of the season. I have also been interested in the F1 race in Las Vegas. The tour hits there on Nov. 19^th.  It has really impacted life there. This is a street race so for the last several weeks, they have prepped the area. They now have monster grandstands occupying the sidewalks on the strip. That impacts the water shows and venues viewed from the strip. The overcrosses are completely covered and shielded so fans cannot occupy the bridge to try to view the race. The folks going there to just enjoy the city and gamble are not happy! But Vegas will get big big bucks from the organization and the event. Glad we’re not going though!

Monday, November 6^th., 2023…… The weather is cool and wet.  Temps in the 50s. But everything stays wet so no mowing for now. Forecast shows more rain in the next several days. Today was gym day. We headed off after walking and feeding the girls. Breakfast after at Kevin’s. We forgot to bring Jamie’s typewriter ribbon and his new Medicare card so we’ll have to take those to him tomorrow.  Not much going on after that. We hung around the house most of the day and worked on cleaning up. We discovered ants in the kitchen and in my room. We are spraying Windex on them for now. If they get too bad we’ll have to call our service out to address the areas.  Chicken soup for dinner and tv and spa until bedtime.

Tuesday, November 7^th., 2023…… No rain this morning but still a dreary day. We have been watching our neighbor’s house for them while they are away. He has asked me to keep an eye on the ditch out front. He has the main drain grate that goes to the river across the street. It tends to get leaves running through that clog it up. I have to rake it out every other day or so. But not today.  Today is laundry day. We got that going and stayed around most of the morning to take care of it. Cat did go out to take Jamie his stuff but that was about it until we left for our senior center square dance class. Having Charlotte offer that up for the seniors (at no cost) gives Cat more floor time and she gets to review lessons from Sunday.

Wednesday, November 8^th., 2023…… The weather has been on and off. Mostly off!  We get a little break and some sunshine, then it clouds up and rains. Temps in the low 50s. Even with the colder mornings we still get out with the dogs. We were up and out and got that done with no worries.  Mary comes in (from Tucson) later this evening. She is here for her son Justin’s eye surgery. It’s a rather serious one so she wants to be here with him and will go stay at the hospital in Portland with him later next week. We made the drive down to Eugene and got her and brought her home and she got settled in our guestroom. We visited for a bit then she headed off to bed. It’s only one hour time difference but she had a long layover on her flight.  So we hit the spa by ourselves then went to bed.    

Thursday, November 9^th., 2023…… We are winging most of the schedule now. We gave Mary the Honda to use while she’s here. The plan today was for her to go get Justin and Amy from their home in Sweet Home and they will meet us at Kristi’s after our workout. They brought Amy’s son Skyler and we all had a nice meal. But we did have to order before they got there because we had to dash back home and change for a funeral service we needed to be at by 11:00am in Sweet Home. We made it to the service and the luncheon and paid our respects and came back home. Mary went back with the kids and spent most of the day with them at their house. Later, they all came here for a bbq and we had a nice visit. Her daughter lives in Seattle and may come down but those plans aren’t firmed up yet. After everyone left, Mary came out and joined us in the spa before we all called it a night. Long day!        

Friday, November 10^th., 2023…… It was raining pretty hard so we skipped the walk with the girls this morning. They got out and did their business in the backyard and we got them fed. Cathye made breakfast and I cleaned up the dishes. Then we cleaned the house.  Mary pitched in and helped Cat. in her part.  As I was finishing up the vacuuming and was getting ready to hot mop the floors, they headed off for a day out. They had some shopping to do in Albany and then planned to hit some yard sales on the way back. They found Shaun’s estate sale and got to visit with him. Cathye placed a bid on a nice wool rug but won’t know until tomorrow afternoon if she wins it or not. She hopes to put it in the entryway and take that one out to the deck to replace one out there that has seen it’s better days. Pretty good plan. Hope she gets it! Leftovers from yesterday and then the girls headed off to the high school in Sweet Home to a show presented by an African children’s choir kids on a fundraising tour.

I got caught up on my auction while they were gone. Tv until bedtime.

Saturday, November 11^th., 2023…… More rain expected for today. We hung out at the house this morning. Heather and Charley were on their way down and would be here alter in the afternoon. Penny came by. Today was two years since she lost her dog Quincy. She was going around and spreading her ashes in all her favorite hangouts. She had been by the Santiam River by her house where they walked, and then came by here since Quince spent a lot of time here playing with Rylee as a pup. She was a great dog and it was sad. But she lived a full life. 

Afterwards, Penny came in and met Mary and visited. Heather and Charlie got here in the afternoon. Cathye got the call that her bid ($75.) was accepted on that rug), so we headed over to pick it up. We got everything moved and it looks great in the entryway!

Later, the plan was to split up. Cathye had Lyn’s birthday party to go to. 

Justin and Amy came here and then the five of them went out to dinner at Bigfoot Grill. I had already eaten and stayed home and let them have family time. After Justin and Amy left, Cat got back and joined me in my room. Mary had never seen the Golden Bachelor and wanted to watch it from the beginning so we found it on demand and she settled in the living room to get caught up.  Heather and Charlie joined her. They don’t get to see each other that often so this was a good time to spend together and relax. Later, they all hit the spa and after that we called it a night and left them to watch tv.