Oregon Living 2024 – Blog #26 – Party Time and More Mowing

 

Sunday, June 23^rd., 2024…… Today was the big day!  We started out with a run to get donuts. Ok, two runs!  Last night we discussed the morning meal and the subject of Sugar Vibe donuts came up. There was mention of a donut run but no one volunteered. So, this morning I took off at 6:00am (and saw these guys off the road…) 

 

to go there and also to Walmart for ice and water. But when I got to Sugar Vibes, Mike’s truck was already parked outside. I surprised him when I walked up behind him! He bought the donuts and I headed on to Walmart. So now we had had leftover biscuits and gravy and donuts to snack on.  Later, I got all of the drinks out and in coolers and put on the deck.  After that, some of us played cards while some rested. We were ready! A little before 2:00pm, people started showing up. I had moved the Honda out and the others were in the garage, so people could park in the driveway behind all of them. I cordoned off the septic tanks but allowed parking on the lawn next to them. They went double deep there too! As more folks came, I managed to get them all parked so most could get out when needed. Not counting us and the campers, I counted 17 cars!  I had all of the drinks out so we had plenty of room in the garage fridge for all of the food folks brought.  The party was on!  We played games, and sat around and visited for a bit before I fired up the bbq and got going. Shaun volunteered as sous chef and we got the burgers and dogs ready. With all of the great food everyone brought, I think everyone had enough to eat!  After that, we cleared up and we started the Club meeting. This meeting was the end of Wanda’s term and the start of Signe’s term, so they transferred responsibility going forward.

 

After the meeting, we cleared the deck and Shaun called for us!  We had two squares who danced. 

Cat and I had decided to order special dangles for those who danced at our event. It will say “Terry & Cathye’s Deck Dance 2024”. I have to contact our local badge guy who will help me with design. After the party, with all of the cars out and gone, we all started stowing the tables and taking down the awning.  I had them leave it on the lawn so I could separate all the pieces and get each awning back in storage. After that, the guys started unhooking their trailers and 5^th wheel. Shaun and Lila left first because they had to stop at the dump station on the way back. Plus they live the farthest out and both will have to go back to work tomorrow morning. Mike and Cheryl and Frank and Maryanne left too. That was the last of the duties for us. I will bag the games and get the drinks put away tomorrow. Long day and so much fun!      

Monday, June 24^th., 2024…… Back to our routine this morning. Almost! We decided to skip the gym and stayed home and ate the rest of the breakfast leftovers. I think it took most of the day with us hanging around just vegging, but we did get the awnings put away. There was still ice in the coolers so we left the drinks out for now. I sat down at my desk and drew out some ideas I had for the dangle. I called Sqdini and talked with Bob. I bounced my ideas off him and he said it sounded good and to send them to him and he would work with it. Later, we ate leftover burgers and hot dogs and potato salad and cake. Tv and spa and an early bedtime!   

Tuesday, June 25^th., 2024…… The weather is terrific here now. Temps in the mid to high 70s except for the cloudy days where it’s in the high 60s. Both are great! The plan this morning was to go to breakfast at Roger’s in Albany and then stop by the bottle drop to turn in our cans and bottle recycling and then go on to the battery store to replace Cat’s battery in the Shasta. BUT, Cat got a reminder that we had haircuts in 15 minutes! We barely made it!  So, we would have to put all the rest on hold until tomorrow. Later, we left for the class. Cathye barely danced because she was playing phone tag with someone working with Jamie’s health care. When she did dance, she was exhausted. The girls at class noted this and suggested she go to urgent care. I dropped her off and went home to feed the dogs. She texted later and said they ran labs and vitals and she was waiting for the dr. It took a while because he wanted to see the labs, but said there was nothing conclusive. He would call back later and say he reread everything and said her potassium was a bit low and to eat a few bananas and avocados to help that. He said she was ok to wait until the upcoming echocardiogram next week which will hopefully help find out more. Oh well! I sure wish she felt better.       

Wednesday, June 26^th., 2024…… Nothing on the schedule today. Cathye had a good night’s sleep last night and was feeling ok. She went with me to walk the girls this morning but since we didn’t have anything, we had another lazy day at home. I heard back from Bob and we are good to go with my design. He said it will take a few days and then he will mail them to us.  Later, I went out with the zero turn to try to clear a path out on the perimeter of the field. We have a tree down out there and it’s hanging over where the guy will be mowing later this week. My plan was to cut it in firewood size logs and drag the rest of the brush to the burnpile. So, I got out the truckster and we went out and started in. I have a new DeWalt pole saw and that made it pretty easy work.  We made 4 trips in and out with brush and firewood and now the path is cleared for the mowing on Friday. We were done for the day – or so I thought!  Cheryl called and asked if Cathye wanted to go with her and her sister and Mike to Spirit Mountain for the evening. They came and got her around 3:00pm. I hung around the house and later, fed the dogs and fixed myself dinner. For me, it was tv until she got home. For her, it was a relaxing fun evening. No, she didn’t bring back any money but she said she had a relaxing time out!    

Thursday, June 27^th., 2024…… After walking and feeding the girls, we headed out for the morning. We had plenty to do. They had the gym closed for parking lot resurfacing so we went straight to breakfast at Kristi’s. After that, we drove to Albany and dropped off the recycle bottles and cans, then went and got the battery for the Shasta. It’s a special AGM style and was VERY expensive!  The last one lasted 10 years, so we hope this one will too. Once we got home, I installed the battery and checked that everything was working. Once that was done, we came in and relaxed with the pups. We need to mow but neither one of us could drag ourselves out there today. I spent time working on trying to catch up on this blog and Cat relaxed and watched tv and caught up on Facebook. Later, I got a call that our mower was ready for pickup. Good news – it is covered under warranty!  It was too late for me to get down there to pick it up today so we’ll add that to our list for tomorrow.  I got a confirmation text from Mark, saying that he would be here tomorrow with his tractor to get our ‘west 40’ mowed.    

Friday, June 28^th., 2024……  A busy day. I was up and going while Cat slept in a bit. She is still struggling with exhaustion. She is going today for an hour of biofeedback treatment. It’s sort of an electrical charge. I don’t understand it but she wants to try it. Ok, it’s later now and she’s back. She says she feels great! Not sure how long that will last but we’ll see. While she was out, the urgent care doctor called again and said they found an anomaly on her ekg. He conferred with her primary doctor and said someone would be calling soon to schedule a stress test. Finally!  While she was gone, I needed to stay and wait for Mark to come with his tractor to mow the field. I doublechecked his text and saw that he would be coming around noon, so that gave me time to hook up the trailer and go pick up the mower. That went well and I was back home in no time. He said that the pto clutch was burned up. He has never seen one do that before. But, it was covered under warranty so he got paid for his work. I unloaded it and waited for Mark. It was right at noon when he started in. We hung around the house until 6:15 before we were picked up by Cheryl and Mike and headed out to a Luau dance in Springfield. But I had paid Mark and we would finish and go. The dance was really fun. This is my favorite dance floor! It is cork and has a polish on it but is still smooth enough to slide your feet on. We had a good time and got back home around 11:00pm and went straight to bed. Cat was just a little tired. Must have been all that electricity charged in her!     

Saturday, June 29^th., 2024…… Today was mowing day for us. Penny has Jody coming in today so we needed to start a little early. Problem was only the field would be dry enough at 9:00am. So, we all concentrated on that for today. We got it all done in record time and left the mowers out for the next day when Cat and I will tackle the lawn. Since I have the irrigation system shut down for mowing, Cat had to water the flowerbeds by hand. Her raised bed is looking good!  We’ve already had strawberries from there. Marionberries are doing well and tomato vines are getting big! We spent the rest of the afternoon resting. Around 4:00, since we didn’t have lunch, we decided to feed the dogs and head over to The House of Noodle in Albany for a nice relaxing dinner. But before we left, Rylee started barking out the back door. She must have seen the wind pick up the awning on the Shasta and throw it over the top of the trailer! So, we had to go out and do damage control. There were two brackets that came out but no other damage. We cleaned up and left.  We pulled in the drive at the noodle place and saw that they are open from noon to 3:00pm for lunch and then reopen at 5:00pm for dinner. We had to sit outside for 15 minutes. You’d think we’d be the first served when we went in. But, nooo!  They had a large party trickle in and they worked on them. Even some folks who came in behind us got their orders in before us! They were almost done when our food finally came out!  Was it worth the wait? You bet! Cat had pad Thai and I had drunken noodles. Kind of new to our palettes but boy, it was tasty! We forgot about the poor service. While we were there, Penny texted and asked if she and Jody could come over to pick up some tables for their upcoming yard sale. They want to organize and the tables will help. When we got back, we played with the girls and watched tv until spa and bedtime.