Oregon Living 2024 – Blog #9 – Dealing with the Weather & Time to Reflect

 

Sunday, February 25^th., 2024…… Cathye and I talked on the phone early this morning. Reminded both of us when we were first dating and she was back in Missouri and Wisconsin and we would talk for hours! Anyway, she said they would be going out for breakfast and then she would leave after that for her drive back down here. They walked to a local bagel place and had a quick meal and chai tea.

I got a call from my friend, Paul. He had sad news. Alice passed last night. They had her on hospice at her son’s house and she was surrounded by family and went peacefully. Services pending.

Cathye texted shortly after that that she was heading back home. With little traffic, she got back with no problems and relaxed the rest of the morning. Later in the afternoon we left to head to Sweet Home to angel the class there. When we got back from that, we ate a quick bite then I left to go to angel Lynn at the Plus class. Cat came by later in the evening and after class we all went over to Pizza Hut for a bite, then home to the spa and then to bed. It was a long day for Cat and she was beat! 

Monday, February 26^th., 2024…… The rains we heard were going to hit last night came a bit late. It was clear and nice when we went to bed and ok when I got up to go to the bathroom.  But it was sure wet this morning! By the time we were up and dressed, the rains stopped and we were able to take the girls out for their walk. We left after feeding them and went to the gym. We have our routines down so we can get out of there in less than an hour now! We went to Kevin’s then back home. Cathye left to go to Walmart and I put the second coat of paint over all of the puttied and sanded screw holes. That would be the end of phase one. Next step is to cut and fit the actual shelving. I didn’t get to that today though.

Tuesday, February 27^th., 2024…… Another rainy day. The rains up here are for the most part just mists or we might get some sprinkles. That was today’s weather. Cat had a major headache so she stayed in and rested while I took the girls out on their walk. I fed them and the Tylenol kicked in and Cat felt better and fixed breakfast. She goes in later today to see her doctor. She has some pain in her thumb and shoulder (arthritis?) and wants to also go over her meds and get updated. But first up was our workshop. We have a couple of old biddies who are large and in charge and one of them went too far with Cathye today. She held it for a bit then responded with a remark to her. After that the woman looked at me and made another comment. Then it was my turn to tell her off.  Our caller later told me, “attaboy Terry”!  Of course it’s not the best feeling to argue in such a fun atmosphere but the woman was going on and on and it is hard on everyone to take for us all because, speaking truthfully, she doesn’t dance much better than the newbies. After class, we left and had to get home in time for her to drop me off to feed the girls and to get dinner fixed while she went to her doctor’s appointment. She stopped by Judy’s on the way home so I ate by myself. When she returned, she said it went well. She got her meds adjusted, plus she will get scheduled for a shot for her arthritic thumb. Tomorrow will be my turn when I go in for my physical. Later, we caught up on some of our taped shows. I am glad to see the Fall shows getting started again! Spa then bed.       

Wednesday, February 28^th., 2024…… Rain again today. They say it will rain for the next 2 weeks. Oh phooey! But I was still up super early this morning. The appointment for my physical was at 7:30am and I needed to be there early, so I was up and out before Cat even got out of bed! My appointment went well. She saw I hadn’t been scheduled in a while for a DEXA (bone density) scan for my osteoporosis so that will happen soon. I also needed a re-take for my thyroid levels and had blood drawn for that. But other than that and getting my new insurance and mail-in pharmacy updated, I was good to go!  On the way back, I got us breakfast and coffee and took it home. She had fed and let the dogs out. We were good to go for the morning so I headed off to Home Depot to get more paint for my shelves. Maybe I will go out later today and set up everything and maybe get a first coat on everything. Ok, it’s later now. I went out and set everything up on my worktable. I did sand down the edges and got them smooth for the paint. I think I’ll wait until tomorrow and make a fire in the stove so the room will be warm enough for the paint to dry. The rains continue to slow everything down for us. Not that we can’t get around in it. That’s no problem. But we so much want to go out and work in the yard and that’s not possible with everything so wet. So, we lounged in the house and caught up on some of our taped shows. I did get a call from Paul later. He told me they had arrangements made for Alice’s service, which we will definitely attend.   Dinner and tv and then it was time to go out to the spa. Did I mention it is cold as hell! Temps in the 30s late at night and with the winds blowing on the deck, it is pretty hard to leave the house and open the spa lid and turn on the jets before we can hit the satisfying hot water! Of course we also have to get out and endure the weather until we can get everything stowed away and get back inside!        

Thursday, February 29^th., 2024…… Today was gym day. We slept in and woke up to a major rainstorm. It was still going strong when we were thinking about walking the girls, so they only got to venture out to the backyard to do their business before coming in to eat. As for us, we have a 10:00am appointment this morning to get our hair cut, so since we slept in, we had a decision to make. We chose to go have a relaxing breakfast at Kristi’s, then go for our haircuts. That worked. When we got back, I went out and make a fire in the stove in the shop and got to painting. I got the first coat on

and cleaned up and came in the house and rested for a few hours. Then it was time to go back out and add more wood to the fire and check the first coat. It had dried nicely so I got the second coat going. It would dry nicely, but I won’t put anything up until tomorrow.  

Friday, March 1^st., 2024…… I mentioned we slept in yesterday, but that was nothing like today. We woke up at 8:45am! That’s super late for us. And yes, it was still raining. I have never seen anything like this since we moved here over 6 years ago. Rylee’s drag strip is really full of water

and there are many places around the yard that are holding puddles of water where there was nothing like that there before.  I will have to wait for a bit before I can go out to bring the shelves in to the house. So, we are holed up at home. We have plans tonight to go up to a dance in Salem. My friend Robbie, is filling in for the Club’s caller and I told him we would go. We will watch the weather before we make the final decision to go or not.

I managed to get out to the shop and got the shelves in the house and got them installed. This last section makes a complete wrap - on two levels – around the entire room. I think it turned out great! 

I have three boxes of cars waiting in the wings, so I will plan to get those up later today.

We saw that the weather was better and we decided to go dance. So, after a light dinner, we took off for and made the 50 mile drive up to Salem. We would be surprised to find that they had a big dance!  8 squares is big for this area! Rob and wife Judy were there and Paul came too. Judy said he needed to get out of the house and square dancers were friends he needed as well. Rob called a great dance and we all had a good time. I danced the Plus tip with Judy and the Mainstream tips with Cat. We sat out a couple with Paul and talked with him a bit. He is having a tough time right now. Cat danced with him before we left. We want him (and Rob and Judy if they are in town) to come over and visit so we’ll try to make that happen. I peeked outside and saw a break in the weather, so we left the dance a little early and got back home before any more storms showed up.   

Saturday, March 2^nd., 2024…… Another cold rainy day. We saw on tv and heard from our friends that there was snow all over the area surrounding us. But since we are in the lowest part of the valley, we didn’t get much more than some heavy rain and some hail. We managed to get the dogs out and walked and then came back in for the rest of the morning and afternoon. We went into our bathroom and pretty much stripped all of the items off the wall. Our bathroom is decorated with beachy stuff and the theme for our dance tonight is Under the Sea. So we had previously volunteered to bring everything. We got them loaded up in the car for later.  We left and met up with Cherrelyn and Penny at Gametime for a light meal and a toast to Jeff. It was three years ago today that we lost him. Sweet Cathye asked us each to share a memory of Jeff and we all did! Thank you! Cathye and I split a light beer so we could still dance later. We came home and had an hour or so before we had to head off to meet the rest of the decorating crew. The room looked great and the dance turned out nice. I think we had 4 squares on the floor most of the night. Afterward, we cleaned up and headed back home to let the girls out and then go to bed.