Oregon Living 2024 – Blog #43 – A Week of Camping and Dancing!

 

 

Sunday, October 20^th., 2024……  Today was wet! We were told it would be a solid week of off and on rain. The good thing was when we were walking the dogs, it was nice and dry! We spent some time getting the last minute items either packed in the motorhome or staged before the weather changed! I had the Dodger game taped later, but in the morning, I worked on the blog and watched Nascar and the Barrett Jackson auction. Sammy Hagar was the main character. He flew up from his concert in Cabo to sell his one-off LaFerrari as the highlight of the auction. It brought $4,500.00!  Wow! The guy (and his wife) who bought it got to go with him and his wife on their private jet back to Cabo to see him in concert. Later, we went off to our beginner’s class. We skipped the afterparty and came home to relax in the hot tub before bed.  

Monday, October 21^st., 2024…… The plan today was to be on the road around 8:00am. We loaded the last of our items in and I pulled the coach out and hooked up the car. We parked the trucks in the garages and we were off. A few minutes after 8:00am, I think. We drove south and stopped at Pioneer Village Truck Stop to fuel up. After that, I parked the rig and we went in to have breakfast. Frank and Marianne came in to eat just as we were leaving. Mike and Cheryl were about 8 minutes out. Once we all got together, we headed out in caravan and went southwest to Osprey Point RV Resort. We stopped once for a potty break and got into camp around 1:00pm.

Looking from our coach to Mike's.

Turns out the calls from the park about the water leak issues only hit us. We are in the inside ring in a pull through, while the rest are in back-ins around us. We parked there anyway without water. The water will be shut off for those of us inside until they can find and fix the problem. Certainly didn’t happen today. No problem. I have enough fresh water in our tanks and will hook up later in the week when they dig around and hopefully fix the problem.  The group so far today is our three rigs, and three others. There is one person who is staying in a yurt at the county campground about 2 miles from us. She drove over. The six of us decided to go out for seafood tonight, so we drove about 10 minutes to Winchester Bay and found Double D on the Rocks. Their website showed they were open but they were not! So, we walked just around the bay to Griff’s. Their food was ok. Cat had the cioppino and I had prawns and scallops plus clam chowder. I usually rate the clam chowder I try and this one was in the upper-upper ratings. Not the best but I would eat there again. When we got back, we walked over to the Pub for karaoke. But they didn’t start until 8:00pm and we were a little early. We had beer and rum and coke at the bar. The girls were there and I sat with them for a bit while Cathye tried her hand at one of the lottery machines. They are pretty much the same as in the casinos and are in almost every restaurant and lodge in Oregon. She came back in about 20 minutes $20.00 ahead!  We stayed there until the music got really loud and we left to go meet up with Mike and Cheryl and Frank and Marianne for cards. We played for a few hours then called it a night. I walked the girls and we watched a little tv before calling it a night.  

Tuesday, October 22^nd., 2024…… Pat made up a schedule for the 5 days we are here. Nothing yesterday. We have coffee in the lounge and then we are on our own until the potluck at 6:00pm. There are two or three more folks coming in today. One person is going kayaking and will fish as well. We are on the fence with the weather so iffy. They have 4 little motorboats and we certainly don’t want to pay for a day of rain! The three couples met in our rig for breakfast. Cathye made hashbrown casserole for us. Yummy! After we ate, we went down to meet the rest at the coffee bar. They told us they serve many kinds of gourmet coffees. It was a coffee bar but they didn’t have much more than a Keurig machine with different varieties. We met with our six were there but none of the others came by.  Cathye went with the others to The Mill Casino for a few hours of gambling. I stayed back with the dogs and worked on the blog. Later, I took the car up to Reedsport and ran it through a car wash. Boy, the rain and sludge and salty air sure made for a big mess!  Even with the car wash, the windows looked filmy. Maybe we can find a full service car wash when we get up to Seaside on Friday. When I got back, I decided to try a little fishing. I gathered up my gear and a chair and walked down to the water. I think I was out there maybe two hours or so and only had one bite. It it was on the first cast! I was fishing with power bait floating off the bottom so I always reel in after a minute to check the weeds /rocks/etc. in the area. When I was bringing the line in, I had a hit! That’s unusual. I fish with really small treble hooks so I wasn’t surprised when the fish spit it out. I only saw a glimpse of it flipping so I could only guess trout or bass. Yeah, I know – fish story! Later, they came by and said they had the water leak fixed so I went out and changed the hookups. 

Tonight was the group potluck. We met at Pat’s rig and met some more of our club members. They are ALL single ladies! (at least on this trip).

They had made plans for a group dune buggy trip up toward Florence, but one or two of the ladies wanted to go crabbing so they all decided to do that. After the dinner and fire, we headed to Mike and Cheryl’s trailer to play cards. After that, we came back home to watch some tv and then go to bed.      

Wednesday, October 23^rd., 2024……  Today is the day I have been waiting for! It’s time to drive the dunes! We walked and fed the dogs then ate breakfast. Cathye and I walked over to the clubhouse to meet up with the others for coffee. It was just Pat. She told us she was heading off later to go crabbing off the pier in Winchester Bay with the others.  We said goodbye and headed over to get ready for the dune buggies!  We had been to before so I knew the drive to Spinreel Dune Buggy Rentals would only take 5 minutes. I drove Mike and Cheryl and we checked in and signed all of the required paperwork. After watching the video and getting a personal review of what to expect and what dunes we should avoid, we got outfitted and got the buggy checked out. I reserved the turbo 4 seater, which we had last time. It has more power and a way better suspension than the standard model. I drove the first leg, with Mike in the front seat. I told Cathye and Cheryl to tap me on the shoulder if I was going too fast and scared them. Cheryl said she was terrified but didn’t tap or say anything, so I went up and down some of the bigger dunes. Mike was next and Cheryl got up front with him. As he was driving around, Cheryl kept motioning him to not go up or down the hills! But those he did take went well. He did a great job, but when he failed at one of the hills and was forced to slowly back down, Cheryl lost it and was just really scared. Mike ended up driving us back to the parking lot after the first hour, where we dropped her off. Frank and Marianne were out getting fuel for their pickup and stopped by so she was ok with them while we went back out. Cathye drove and had a lot of fun. She also knew the hills so she went up and down some of the larger ones and did great. I drove some more and was able to do a lot more without Cheryl. Mike drove again and took us back when our time got close. We were told to avoid the one large dune closest to the start. Both Mike and I passed it by a few times and later, we learned that each of us was tempted to try it! I think we would have been ok, but we followed their advice and didn’t try them!  Once we got back, they checked out the vehicle to make sure we hadn’t damaged it and we got out and turned in our helmets and goggles and cleaned up the sand in our clothes and hair. Riding the dunes isn’t for everyone, but I can say that, for me, that, under my helmet I had a smile on my face the whole time! It would turn out to be the highlight of my week! 

Since Frank and Marianne were already there, we decided to go out have lunch in North Bend. For the record, North Bend is NOT anywhere close to Bend!  They are clear across the state from one another! North Bend is only a mile or so north of Coos Bay. Not sure why the names are close… Anyway, we found Captain’s Choice and had lunch. More chowder! After that, we stopped at a thrift shop where we all found a few things. I snapped a pic there. This was Cheryl after Mike had scared her today!

 

After that, we came back home to rest. We ate leftovers in and then went over to Mike and Cheryl’s to play cards until bedtime.      

Thursday, October 24^th., 2024…… The agenda items for today were the Myrtlewood Factory in 101, and then dinner in Lakeside at The Stable later. We had called and found out it wasn’t a tour per say, but they had a video. Three of the girls joined the six of us there. We walked through the shop and then went in to see the video. We learned that Myrtlewood is only found in the southwestern part of Oregon. The video showed several craftsmen who made different items form the wood. Cathye bought some spatulas which we will use on her aluminum skillets. When we got back, we took the pups out for a nice walk, then got the bikes out for a nice ride. I had forgotten our helmets so we didn’t venture too far from camp. We did ride into town on the back road to find the restaurant for later. 

Mike and Cheryl went for a walk and then we sat with them at the big campfire area (which no one used all week!). Later, we drove over to The Stable. We had 13 for dinner. They were able to seat us in one area. 

I wish I could say the meal was good. I guess for some it was, but for the 4-5 of us who ordered the brisket special, we were disappointed! The meat was literally un-eatable! After I mentioned it to them, they gave each of us $5.00 off the meal. They did have ‘smashed potatoes’ which were outstanding so we did get to eat some. The others said their food was good. One of the ladies was in a cabin this trip, and it was her birthday. They were supposed to have a little party with cake and all, but we never did get the details. So later, we played cards and had dessert at the Berkeys, then, when we were walking the dogs, we found everyone was out at Pat’s fire ring so we went to visit for a minute and to say goodbye since we were planning an early departure tomorrow.     

Friday, October 25^th., 2024…… The plan was to get out of the campground early. Since we said goodbye last night, we didn’t see anyone out. The three of us were ready and on the round by 8:15am. The drive up the coast was uneventful. Just long and the roads were tiny and windy. We had to stop a few times to let Cat ‘get on solid ground’ for a few minutes. I think we drove for 5 hours!  We got to into Seaside and checked into the Thousand Trails Seaside RV Resort. It was only about 5 minutes from town, so that was nice. Even though we were told this was the ‘go-to’ campground and was very popular, the park wasn’t anything to write home about to us. All sites are first-come-first-served, so we made our through the park and I found a site where I could get a clear satellite signal and we set up. After a bit, we drove into town and checked out the convention center, where the weekend festival is being held. We went to lunch at one of Mike and Cheryl’s favorite places for seafood there. It is called Normans. Of course we had to have chowder. It was good. We got back to the campground and rested before getting dressed and heading back down. We chose to drive by ourselves because of the dogs. The night was a lot of fun! I have been around many, many callers in my years of dancing and I know what I like. Craig Abercrombie is semi-local to our area so we see him from time to time. An older caller but he is very good and so entertaining and creative. But, his partner for the weekend was new to us. Adam Christman. Not sure of his background, but he is as good a caller as I’ve ever danced to!  Very creative! They called together for the first tip and they had great harmony. But, they called super-fast and one tip wore Cathye out! She got a reprieve from Lila who was nearby and filled in for her so she could catch her breath. After that, we took it easy and only danced every other tip or so. When they called Plus, I was able to dance (w/Naomi) and we had a blast! As I mentioned, we had the dogs, so we left early to go home and take them out and then relax for the rest of the night.     

Saturday, October 26^th., 2024…… Today was full-schedule-Saturday They have a turnaround area that is really a roundabout for the main street. This one is right on the beach and is very popular. They close it off for the turnaround square dance. Problem was, it was raining so they went back to the convention center. We danced a bit then walked a ways to town and went back to Normans for lunch. We had 11 for that!

Then we headed back home to walk the dogs before heading over to the second special dance of the day. They always did a dance at the factory outlet in town. The organizers got goodie bags from the shopping center and handed those out. We got t-shirts, water bottles, etc. handed out to us after we danced there. All of the mornings festivities were casual. But next up after resting at the motorhome, was dinner and the evening dance. We tried a few places but no one in town takes reservations. We had 13 from our Club and we all wanted to meet for dinner together somewhere. We checked a few places and ended up at Sam’s Place. I had the steamed oyster special and Cat had coconut shrimp. We walked around town and found a fun center. This place was huge! I think they have every game ever invented! Cathye likes SkeeBall so we found that...

Then it was time to head back over to the center for the dance. Again, they were really quick for the first tip together. Cathye had another fill-in. We sat out a bit and then went to the balcony to watch an exhibition. Apparently, the local club here has a special team that does a horse show. As you can see from the pics, below, they dress up for it!  We were told that they lost a member so they did the dance with three couples. Some special choreography helped and it went well! They were fun to watch!

After the dance, we came back to the rig and crashed from the day. Tomorrow we will head home.

Oregon Living 2024 – Blog #42 – Mowing, a Cardio Follow-up, Seeing WICKED, Buying a New Rug, and More Dancing!

 

Sunday, October 13^th., 2024……  Weather is nice today! We have rain expected on Tuesday, so I want to mow today. I left to go get breakfast and coffee while Cathye walked and fed the dogs. She headed off to church and I worked on getting last week’s blog finished and posted. After that, I had to run up to the station to get some more gas for the mowers. I usually fill up 4-5 five gallon containers in one trip, but since we will probably only get to mow one or two times before the season ends, I only got one container. I also had to get our diesel can filled up. We are hoping to be able to get the burnpile going in the next few weeks. Right now they have ban on fires so we have to wait on that.

I got started on gassing up and moving the mowers out and had all of the gloves, back braces, etc. out for both of us. We have started wearing the back braces lately, just to help with the bouncing and jarring on the rougher areas of the lawn and field. When Cathye got back, we walked the lawn and found it was still too wet to try to mow. We could, but last time we did, we clogged up the bagger with wet grass and we don’t want to do that again!  So, we came in and enjoyed the rest of the day lounging around until it was time to go to the beginners class.  During class, I kept track of the Dodger game one against the Mets. We won! Pizza after, then spa and bed.

Monday, October 14^th., 2024…… Today was a busy day! We thought it was time to start cleaning up for the winter. I started by putting the area bug zappers away, then we put the cover on the Shasta. While we were out there, I started up the truckster and we towed Rylee’s pool over to the flatbed trailer and turned it upside down to store for the winter. We waited an hour or so and came in and rested. I worked on my spreadsheet for our cruise. Still plenty of time, but I needed to gather up what was paid for, what has a deposit on, and what we still need to pay for. That will help as we will begin securing the flight, hotels, and of course, the cruise itself. We did eventually go out and got the lawn mowed. There are some really soggy areas and we did some damage but I think it will come out of it alright.  Once we were done, I rinsed the mowers off, we came in and rested for a bit. Later, we cleaned up and, after I put the mowers back in the garage, we left to go to Dos Arbolitos for a nice relaxing dinner. Pacifico for me and a blackberry margarita for Cat! Very relaxing! Back home, we settled in and I caught up on the Dodger’s game 2. Not so good. The series is tied 1-1. Good luck to them tomorrow. We caught up on some taped shows. Survivor and then spa and bed.  

Tuesday, October 15^th., 2024…… We didn’t have too much on the agenda today. We both need to get our clothes together for next week at Osprey Point RV park.  Since we are heading up to Seaside on Friday for a two-day square dance festival, we need to pack clothes for that as well. But, neither of us did any of that today. We went to class and took some more orders for badges. When we got back home, I immediately went online to order them in hopes that they will be delivered before next Tuesday. We won’t be here but if they come in, I can get them to Lynn to take to class next week.   

Wednesday, October 16^th., 2024……  Today was a cardiologist appointment for me. I had a 10:00am appointment and since we slept in a bit this morning, and the appointment was in Corvallis, I showered and left Cat to walk and feed the girls. The visit went really well. The ekg they did in the office confirmed I was in normal sinus rhythm, which I have been for almost a year now. I chose to have the ablation so they could permanently fix the ‘electrical’ issue with my valves so I could go off the amiodarone completely.  Maggie said I was now off that one. Yaay! Next up would be the Eliquis (blood thinner). She is hesitant only because of my age. I guess they want older folks to have thinner blood, which helps circulation. But she will be consulting my pcp and they will discuss that as well as the thyroid meds I am also on. I’m guessing that once the labs are done in Feb., she will have a handle on if the procedure helped the thyroid numbers or not. BUT, Maggie did say that I can get another tattoo!  She said many folks ask. She said I can go off the Eliquis 3 days before the tattoo and then go back on it afterward. Yaay! This is the next one planned for my right forearm…

After the visit, I stopped by and got breakfast for me (Cathye ate earlier) and came home for the day. We would leave later in the evening to go to dinner before the Club board meeting and then the bylaws meeting to follow that.  Well, as it was getting close to leave, I got a call from the bylaws chair, asking where I was for the bylaws meeting! Turns out it was before the board meeting!  When we got there, they were almost finished. Oh well, I didn’t have too much to add as we are wrapping it up anyway. The only problem would be talked about later at the Board meeting, when we discussed how to get the revised bylaws out to the Club. Some want everyone to have paper copies. I agree that our new members would need a copy in their new Club packet, but since we already have the bylaws on our website, I maintained that if the members were interested in the updates, they could see them when we publish the new one online. Not sure how that ended.  The other thing that happened at the meeting, was Cat volunteered us to chair the New Year’s dance!  Not something I wanted to do, but by the time we got home, we had a rough idea of how we wanted to do it. Theme (Black and Silver Dance) and we came up with some thoughts about the food. More on that as we get going.         

Thursday, October 17^th., 2024……  Today was busy!  A little rainy this morning. We had a few deer make their way through the yard. Rylee saw them from our window and I was able to get a shot next to the ‘moose’. You might need to zoom in.…

We have to be in Portland for our 1:00pm showing of Wicked. We left to go eat breakfast at Kristi’s and then came back to let the girls out before we left. We wanted to leave early and have time to stop by NW Rugs in Beaverton to check out area rugs. A year or so ago, we ordered an 8x10 rug from Wayfair for the living room. It’s polyester and thin and light so it shows dirt.  Well, we are now wanting to get a 9x12 and something in wool that matches better with the one Cat bought last year at an estate sale. That one is in our entryway. I had made arrangements for Penny to come over to feed the girls and let them out. We plan on taking Josh to dinner after the play, so we needed to adjust when she comes so they dogs could be let out. It worked out ok. We found NW Rug and looked around. Cathye found one she really liked. 

If you know me, you know I like to shop around. But when I saw her face, I knew she would not like anything we found after that!  Since we were tight on time, we told them we would be back later. We left and made our way to the parking structure and then met up with Josh and went in. Cathye had bought the tickets 6 months ago and the show was sold out!  It was their second day in Portland and since this is a Broadway production, we couldn’t wait! Our seats were just off-center in the orchestra section, but towards the back. The show was pretty pricey and $200.00 per ticket for where we were was ok. The folks in the front section (aisles a – z) would pay over $600.00 each! Yeah, no! Our seats were fine and the show was amazing. We knew the plot and we were able to follow the witch’s journey from birth as Elphaba Thropp to being the Wicked Witch of the West. All of the actors did an amazing job. We especially enjoyed Galinda, the Good. Yes, she would change it later to Glenda. Anyway, the show was great and worth the price. 

After we got out, we walked to House of Ramen for a delicious meal!

After that, we made our way back to the rug store and made the purchase. The guys were able to fold and load the rug into the back of the Buick and we took Josh home then worked our way back home. It took a while but we had a nice sunset!...

Tyson told us it would be ok to leave the rug folded up overnight because it was wool and it would be fine. We got back and parked the car, let the dogs out, and then went to bed.  Fun day!   

Friday, October 18^th., 2024…… Today was busy too!  We slept in and then went to work changing out the rugs. This was the old 8x10….

We decided to just use it on the back porch. It’s not an outdoor rug, but we can use it out there this winter and should be ok for a season.  I got a cart from the shop, and we unloaded the new rug from the car and brought it around to the front door and then brought it in and got it set up. I think it looks great!

By then, it was time to take the girls to get groomed. We just got them picked up and back home before it was time to go to our rv club meeting at the senior center. That was a mess! We did make some plans for future outings, but there is no leadership and not a lot of organization. We’ll see how it goes next week when we go to the campout. Once we were done with the meeting, we went home and waited for our new prospective landscaper to come by to give us an estimate. Adam just doesn’t have the time (or desire) to work the hours we need. He’s busy with apartment and retirement home work, so we need to move on. We liked Trey, who will begin next week with a crew to clean us up for the end of season. Later, we fed the girls and had dinner. Then I got dressed and we went to the alliance Plus dance in Albany. Cathye likes to go watch and I sure enjoy the plus level dancing. We stayed until about 9:30, then left come home. Straight to bed.  

Saturday, October 19^th., 2024…… This morning, we had haircuts and left to go to that. When we got home, Cathye spent the day working on cooking. She made casseroles for our campout and then later, she worked on her famous sliders for the dance. I got the bike rack installed on the Honda and Cat helped me load the bikes. I parked the car in the shop garage so it would right there on Monday morning when we hooked up to go. Both of us worked on loading our clothes for the week. Square dance clothes and shoes were stored away too.  Later, we would feed the dogs then eat dinner and then head off to our Club dance. We left early and met Grace, who unlocked the door. The three of us were the only ones there. We had assigned folks for the door and table and also for the kitchen, so Cat and I went to work, setting up all the tables and chairs. We had another club visiting tonight, so we needed a few extra chairs and tables. The dance was fun! Our schedule up to now is one Plus tip at 7:15pm, followed by Rounds until 7:30pm, when the dance started. The Club voted this week to change it to alternating Mainstream and Rounds, and every third tip Plus. Tonight, the Independence Wagon Wheelers came with 16. Nice!  I danced the Plus tip and while I rested, Cat got Frank to dance the first Mainstream tip with her. We alternated dancing and sitting out, which worked well for Cat. We both spent some time visiting with our guests, which was fun.  We also worked on the New Year’s dance, recruiting committee members, and coming up with menu thoughts. Right now, we are planning on us doing a spiral ham (or two) and the Club members will be assigned to either: potato casseroles, green bean casseroles, and desserts. Salad maybe….

After bidding goodbye to our guests and cleaning up, we got home around 10:45pm. So we played with the dogs a bit, then let them out and went straight to bed.      

Oregon Living 2024 – Blog #41 – A Nice Party Night and Square Dancing Starts Again!

 

Sunday, October 6^th., 2024……  Mary, Heather, and Charleigh were up early this morning. Cathye made breakfast and we each ate on our own. Except for Mary, who left to go visit her son, Justin. They went to Kevin’s for breakfast.  We all had no plans for today so after Mary got back home, we all just hung around the house. Justin came by as well. Charleigh had given her aunt Cathye one of her glass blowing pieces. It was really cool!

I spent some time trying to get the blog caught up, so I was in my room pretty much the whole day. I watched the Nascar race while I worked. We had to leave for class at 6:00pm so the kids packed up and left before that for their drive back to Seattle. I think Mary has a late flight out tonight so they were in no hurry. We cleaned up and then headed off to class and then to the Pizza Hut after that.     

Monday, October 7^th., 2024…… Today was gym day and then breakfast at Kevin’s. We had the dogs walked and fed and then headed out. I had another bylaws meeting this afternoon so I left Cat and went to that. Afterward, we had pulled pork sandwiches for dinner and then watched Dancing With the Stars before hitting the hot tub before bed.   

Tuesday, October 8^th., 2024…… The weather has really been nice so far this week. We’ve had temps in the mid-70s. It was nice for our walk this morning.

Cathye has a sleep study consult appointment this morning in Albany. Because she may run late, I needed to stay back so I could go on to our workshop to hand out the new badges. On the way, I stopped by Harbor Freight to pick up some more sanding discs for the bartop. At the workshop, I handed out, and collected, for the new badges and took orders for more. They really liked them! After the workshop, we stopped by Walmart to pick up a few things.

Wednesday, October 9^th., 2024……  We didn’t have anything on our agenda today, so after walking and feeding the girls, we left to take the 27-mile backroads drive up to Stayton to have breakfast. We like the drive and also like to go to the Covered Bridge Café when we are in the area. It was as good as usual. When we got back, we worked a little around the yard. Cathye’s goal is to get all of the flowers and shrubs deadheaded or pruned back. She needs to coordinate with our landscaper to see his schedule. By agreement, he comes and goes on his own schedule to work the allotted hours we prepaid him for. Problem is he doesn’t always come when we need something cleaned up. She is looking at another service but we will get our hours out of him first.  My main project now is to sand down the bartop. The epoxy we poured last month was a big miss! It has tons of bubbles and washed out areas so I have to start from scratch! The orbital sander doesn’t work too well since the epoxy is pretty thick. So, I switched to my belt sander. It works well, but takes time to get through all of the thick resin coating. I work on it until the sander gets too hot, then I quit for a while. I’m about a ¼ done so far!     

Thursday, October 10^th., 2024……  Another quiet day here. The weather is all over the place. The nights are down in the 40s and the days can get to the 70s. Most days have been overcast in the mornings with sunny skies later in the day. Light rain showers come and go once or twice each week. We were up and out later than usual this morning. It seems that we are sleeping in longer and longer each day. Maybe it’s the change of seasons! Yeah, let’s go with that! We walked the dogs and then went to the gym and then to Kristi's for breakfast. I waited until it warmed up a bit outside and then worked some more on the sanding project. I am now about ½ done! I had to change out the belt on the sander twice, but I am making good progress now. 

Tv tonight was The Masked Singer that we had taped. Neither of us knows any of the new age singers these days, but it is still fun to watch!

Friday, October 11^th., 2024…… Yep, slept in again this morning! We walked and fed the fur babies then ate leftovers from yesterday. There are two clubs dancing tonight and tomorrow. We are choosing to go to the one tomorrow so Cat invited Mike and Cheryl and Frank and Marianne over for dessert and to play 2500. It’s our new favorite game! I got the task of dessert and chose to make my ice cream sandwich dessert. I chose to use cut-up bananas this time. Never tried that before! When I went to Walmart to get everything, I also found caramel topping so I put that on too!  It goes into the freezer and then we brought it out and they scarfed it up! Frank and Cathye won the two games of 2500 but we all enjoyed the evening. While we were playing cards, I kept track of game 5 of the Dodgers and Padres playoff. Yaay! We won!  Next up are the Mets!  

Before everyone left, we headed out to the front yard to see if we could see the Northern Lights. Cheryl got some great pics early this morning...

When we went out, we could see a little of it and the phone picked up just a bit more, but we have trees and houses directly north of us, and it was early so it wasn't nearly as nice....

Saturday, October 12^th., 2024…… Tonight was the Sweet Home Club dance. We worked some more around the house. I sanded and then helped Cathye take out her cherry tomato plant, which was about done for the season. We took extra time to check each branch and also combed through the dirt, hoping that she had lost her ring while picking tomatoes last week. No luck. We each took breaks and watched some of our taped programs. Later, it was time to clean up and get dressed for the dance. Sweet Home is about 15 miles from us, up hwy 20 towards the Cascades. We go there a lot and the drive up the Santiam River is really pretty. The dance we fun. We get an average of 2-3 squares at the Club dances around this area, and since the Squarenaders have just recently started hosting dances again, the 2 ½ squares wasn’t too bad. Shaun called and that made it fun as well. Back home and instead of hitting the spa, we (ok, Cat) chose to watch the Golden Bachelorette. We each have our favorite guys that we hope get her attention. They are all still in it.     

Oregon Living 2024 – Blog #40 – A Lost Ring, a New TV System & Harry Potter Saturday

 

This has been a frustrating week!  I had written up all this week – up through Thursday only to find it didn’t save! I have searched every file in my computer and finally gave up!  So, this is the week as I can remember it…..

 

Sunday, September 29^th., 2024……  A quiet day. Cathye went off to church and I worked on the blog and watched races and football. Except for later when she came in and said she had lost her ring! 

After searching everywhere around the house and outside, we came to the conclusion that she had it when we went to the dance on Saturday. She remembers taking it off in the car to put hand lotion on. If it was on her lap, she might have lost it in the car. Nope. Or when she got out of the car. Or maybe when she was changing shoes to dance. Or maybe on the dance floor. She also remembers putting money in the offering jar at church this morning. She called Ted at the church to be on the lookout for it. She also contacted the person who collects the monies and she looked. Nope. A bummer of a day. But we headed off to our beginner’s class and pushed on. We got some new dancers both last week when we skipped and tonight. Hope they all stay with us!  We went out to Pizza Hut for the afterparty then went home and hit the spa before bed.

Monday, September 30^th., 2024…… The plan today was to go to the gym and then to breakfast. After we left our workouts, we drove to Corvallis for breakfast. But before that, we stopped by the church where we danced on Saturday night. We walked the parking lot. Nope. The church office was closed but I left a flyer in case they find it or someone turns it in. She also shared it on her own church’s Facebook page in case someone found it there. Tv and spa then bed.   

Tuesday, October 1^st., 2024…… Cathye had a meeting with Julie at her church this morning. I worked on the Directv boxes in preparation for tomorrow when they come to install the upgraded system. We have had these boxes for well over 12 years now and they are starting to give us some problems. These boxes are outdated and can’t be easily replaced so it was time to get the newest system. I went off to the workshop and took the box out of there to turn in. I went to Cat’s office and brought that box out to the shop. That will be the only one remaining from the old system and I will use it out there plus I can take it with us in the rv when we travel. The newer Genie system from Direct doesn’t allow for that. As I was working these, I am hoping the new system uses the same power cords because if not, we will have to move furniture in every room for the new plugs. With Cathye at her church, I took off to class.  I have the order form for the new badges and took orders. I got 10 this first go round. Cathye came by later and helped make a full square so we could dance. We left there and came home to rest.

Wednesday, October 2^nd., 2024…… I got a text message at 7:45am this morning from the Directv guy, who said he was 45 minutes out. So, we got up, showered and dressed. Cat walked the dogs and I waited for him. He got here and got going. Jose was very knowledgeable and was easy to work with. He made quick work on each of the rooms and, yes, they all had their own plugs! The only problem we had was his work order showed one more install than we needed, so it took some time for him to communicate with his office to get that right. While he was here, Cathye left to take Jamie to lunch. As she was coming back and he was leaving, the system went out, telling me we had one box not authorized! Crazy! I had his number from this morning so I was able to get him back and he went back to work on the phone and finally got everything worked out. We are good to go!  It will take some time to learn the new remotes but we’ll soon have shows taped. I spent some time working on my shows and Cat will need to do the same.     

Thursday, October 3^rd., 2024……  Cathye has a pulmonary breathing test this morning so I went with her for that. After we were done, we went to Kristi’s for breakfast and then stopped at Walmart to pick up stuff for chili for dinner on Saturday. Mary is in Seattle today, visiting her daughter Heather and grandchild Charleigh.  They will all be coming down tomorrow evening for our Saturday pumpkin carving and dinner with us and Corey’s family. Penny and Cherrelyn will be here too.

The weather is better today. Temps will be in the 70s, so I decided today’s the day to pour the epoxy on the bartop! I did a final sand and did a tacky cloth on it to remove the dust. 

The directions were pretty easy. You need to mix equal parts of the resin and catalyst and since I will be using all of one package, that was easy. Then you have to stir and stir for 5 minutes to mix all of it together. I spread it all in a row on the top and then Cat and I used rollers and foam brushes to spread it out all over the top and sides. It looked great. I did have to use a hair dryer on a few bubbles. It needs to sit 24 hours, then a steel wool scratch to prep for the final coat.

The problem was when we went out later in the day to check it out, we discovered patches as well as a ton of bubbles!  I ran my sander over one area and discovered that I will have to sand it all down back to bare wood and start over. Oh well, at least the sides look good and will be better with a second coat on them.  

Friday, October 4^th., 2024……  We worked on cleaning the house today. Heather and Mary and Charleigh plan on waiting until Charleigh’s glass blowing class is over at 9:30pm and will drive through the night. It’s about a five hour drive so we won’t see them until tomorrow morning. We got the guest room ready for Mary and the motorhome set up for the other two. I left lights on and the heater going in the rv because temps are getting into the 40s at night here now.  We watched some taped programs and hit the spa and then went to bed.

Saturday, October 5^th., 2024…… I was up to pee around 3:30am and had the dogs outside. Heather’s car was in the driveway and Mary’s door was closed so we knew they made it ok. Mary said later that Rylee didn’t make too much noise when she came in. She just whined with Mr. Quackers in her mouth and wanted petted. Jama was with us and never moved!  Later, when those of us in the house were up, we decided to go to Kristi’s for breakfast. Heater and Charleigh met us there and we had a nice meal. Today was Harry Potter Day as well as a vendor sidewalk sale down Main St. We were finished before they all set up, so we all came home. I stayed behind and the girls all took off.  Cat said later that they shopped

then met up with Corey, Vikki, Brandon, and Baylee and they had lunch at the Harry Potter restaurant.

I managed to catch up on my taped auctions. I wanted to start sanding but when I did, I found I need to get the belt sander out and that will have to wait. I already had all of the tables out.  I added my power tools in case they wanted to use them when they all carved the pumpkins. Once they all got here, the pumpkins got a makeover!  

Cathye had her chili on early and once the cornbread was done, we took a break and ate. Then it was tv and rest before everyone left. I went to bed before the others but they had the tv going and it was loud for me to sleep until Cat came in later. It was a nice day.