Oregon Living 2024 – Blog #31 – Olympic Games and a Wedding Announcement

 

Sunday, July 28^th., 2024…… A quiet Sunday. We walked the dogs. Cathye fed them while I went out and got us breakfast and Starbucks. After we ate, Cat hurried off to church and I worked on the blog – all the while with the Olympics in the background. I also snuck in the only race on the calendar during the games – F1 racing. The rest of the day and evening was spent lounging and watching tv and hitting the spa.

Monday, July 29^th., 2024……  We got rain today! Ok, last night I guess. When we woke up this morning, it was coming down as a light drizzle. They say it will be off and on all day. That’s ok, we can use it. Not sure if it will help the fires in the area because at the light rate it falls, it just turns to steam before hitting fire. But we’ll take it! Plus, we don’t have to water.  

Tuesday, July 30^th., 2024……  The rains have stopped. So, it was time to get the car washed. We have swallows flying in and out of the garage when either of the doors are open. The little sh#ts are trying to build nests on our lights! It makes for a nice mess on the cars!

 

So, I have to move the cars out, unscrew the lights, and clean them off every few days. We try to keep the doors closed but sometimes we forget. Hopefully the nesting season will end or they will find another garage to hit!  We left for the square dance workshop. Today, there were only enough of us for one square so Cat had to get through the whole time. But she did well. She has her stress test next week so hopefully we will find out more after that.

Wednesday, July 31^st., 2024…… We slept in this morning. I think it was the latest to date! We were out with the dogs and fed them and started in on the Olympics. Because of the date/time differences between the US and France, the evening events are in the morning for us. Of course we could watch the primetime event in the evening and get the highlights, but we like to see them firsthand. We tape everything but wait a few hours so we can watch and fast-forward through the commercials.  So, that gave us some time to work outside. Cathye watered and I sanded some more on the bartop. I have it down to 400 grit and it’s looking pretty good.

But, I broke the palm sander. No worries – I found a 20v Dewalt on Amazon and it will be here later today!  Yaay – a new tool!  Before that, I went out and got Cat set up on her sanding project for her cutting board. It took little effort to get it smooth.

Once I get the 600 paper on the new sander, she can finish it off. We will put a couple of coats of cutting board oil on it and we think it’s going to be really pretty!  I hope the bartop, also black walnut, will look as nice! Of course, that one will get epoxied with a super high gloss finish.

Thursday, August 1^st., 2024……  Today we have massages on our calendar. The weather here is hot, hot, hot! Temps today expected to be in the high 90s!  It was only in the 70s when we walked the girls so that wasn’t too bad. After the gym, we went out to Kevin’s for breakfast today since Kristi’s is closed this week. But I wanted to get back home early today to work on the bartop before it got too hot. The sander came in yesterday and I had already bought the hook and loop discs and did a 600 grit sand on it. Cat also did a 600 on her cutting board. After cleaning it, we put cutting board oil on it and it’s good to go!  I still will need to put some rubber bumpers on the bottom but for now it’s done.

It soon got too hot to be outside.  It hit 99° on the deck this afternoon! Needless to say, we stayed inside after that!  I did go out and clean butthead’s pool and we gave her a chance to run and cool off!  Jama is content to stay inside and watch!

The big news right now – Corey and Vikki are getting married. Corey called his grandmother and asked if they could have the weeding here. Oh, and they want it on Aug. 24^th! Three weeks! He also asked her if she could officiate it! Wow!  So, after the call, I went online and found it was super easy to get her ordained online. I think it took all of 10 minutes to get it all done!  She will get a mailed packet which will have her certificate and credentials plus marriage licenses. I read up on all of the requirements (not many) to conduct a wedding, one of which is to check in with the local courthouse to see if there is anything they might require (unlikely). We know she will have to turn in the correctly completed and signed marriage certificate, which the kids will need to apply for. That’s pretty much it. Next up was the planning. We have a little idea of what they want. 30 or so in attendance. Guests on chairs on the grass. The wedding on the deck area. Tents in the yard set up for food and such. Food/cake table. We are supposed to meet them tomorrow for breakfast in Salem where her family/grandmother will meet us to discuss more details. She called Robin to see if she can borrow the old chairs stored in the church. They also have a pulpit she can use, so at least that is covered. So, we are sneaking up on this. The bad part is that we are leaving the week before in the motorhome for a 5-day camping trip with our rv club. So, we want to get organized asap!   

Later, we watched taped Olympics. I am keeping count on the swimming gold medals. The US and Australia are in a slugfest to see who’s going to get the most golds. I know the US is expected to lead in total medals (especially when we get to track and field) but China is leading in gold and France is really doing well. It’s fun to watch and when I tape the events, I can fast forward through the dull spots as well as ALL of the commercials!  Cathye is watching as well, but she is interested in the gymnastics for the most part. Simone and the US team is doing great so far! We watched taped shows until bed. We skipped the spa tonight since it was so hot outside and we had the house nice and cool.    

Friday, August 2^nd., 2024…… Hot again! Not as bad as yesterday but still in the 90s. We are supposed to get some rain but they said it would only be sprinkles and it was a small cell and didn’t come this way so we didn’t see any of it. Needless to say, we are watering like crazy. We walked the dogs and then left and ran a few errands on the way to Salem. Vikki’s grandmother, who is helping out with the wedding, met us and the kids at Sybil’s for breakfast and a meeting. We really liked this place. It is a ma and pa restaurant and they were so nice to let us eat and talk for longer than most. Plus, the food was good.  So we will put this on our list. The ladies talked and got some more details hammered out. They gave us our invitation plus Penny's and Cherrelyn's too. 

So much more to do. Oh yeah, the headcount is now moved up from 30 to 58!  I guess it’s best we know this now because it affects the layout. They are coming over later to go over more details.

Ok, it’s later…. Cathye got a call from Corey that Vikki has lost her phone! Long story but they won’t be coming today. We had a few options tonight, one of which was to go square dancing. I hesitated because of Cathye’s current issue, and we just took the night off and stayed in.  

Saturday, August 3^rd., 2024…… HAPPY 80^th BIRTHDAY RICK!! I called first thing this morning but only got a voicemail. Will try again later.  Cat went out to get eggs from our supplier lady and then went on to Walmart for a few things. I got the batteries for the Pedegos out and charged up. I was outside later putting the batteries on the e-bikes when Rick called me back. We had a nice talk. Cathye came back while we were talking so she got to talk to him too. I got the bikes out and aired up and test drove them. They are ready for next week. I was in and out watering the one spot where we still don’t have sprinklers, and watching tv. Nothing done on the bar today. It was a pretty lazy Saturday.  We did get Cat's papers in the mail today. All she needs to go now!

Later, Cat asked me if I was still interested in going to the Benton County Fair tonight to see Sawyer Brown in concert. Earlier in the week, she had made plans with her girls to go. I said, “no, you go. I’m not into going into a fair and parking and then sitting in the grass and sun, so I’ll stay home and relax.” The girls picked her up at 4:00pm and I fed the dogs and then put all of the bikes and stuff away and came in for the day. It was tv until bedtime. She got home around 10:30 or so and the dogs woke me up so we talked. She said it was fun and he was very good.