Oregon Living 2025 – Blog #8 –  More Packing, Getting Taxes Done, & More Dancing!

 

Sunday, February 16^th., 2025…… The only thing on our to-do list today was class tonight. So, we slept in this morning. I guess I didn’t time it right because by the time I got back with breakfast, it was too late for Cat to make it to church. We hung around the house for the day and then went off to class later in the evening. Cathye is doing well with the Plus calls so far. We will have one more session before the cruise. She will have 12 of the 31 calls. We’re not sure what the level of dance will be on the ship. As I mentioned before, most of the group is from SoCal where they dance 100% Plus. The dances listed on David’s flyer says he will call at  ‘floor level’ which usually means calling to the lowest level people can dance. But if there are only a few of us from out of the area (where Mainstream is the norm) it will be his call on what to do. No biggie for us – we are in it for the cruise - and the dancing is just a bonus. I plan to give David a list of the calls that Cat has seen and he can use that as a reference. No promises. After the lesson, we went on to Panda Express for an afterparty with the group. Home, tv and bed.    

Monday, February 17^th., 2025…… The weather is getting better. The front that came through has moved on and we have warmer temps. It got up to the 50s today! Yaay! But we are getting some rain, which will freeze at the higher elevations. No worries for us here at 340’. Penny came by with news that her friend, Jerith, had passed away. She had been ill for some time so this was kind of expected. Jerith was one of my dedicated blog followers and said she really enjoyed reading about our lives. She will be missed. She was also the one who did the calligraphy on our marriage certificate. She had such great talent!  

We each had massages today so I headed off for the first one, with Cathye coming later. When we got home, Penny brought over some goulash that she had made the other day. We went over some things for when we are gone. Not sure what she and Cherrelyn will be doing as far as staying here at the house. It’s their call. But we have stuff written down for the dogs, the spa maintenance, the inside flowers and plants, etc.  We will be driving the Honda (with our luggage loaded) to Penny’s on Monday. We will get her and drive to the shuttle pickup, and then she can bring back the car to her place and park it in her garage. That way our car is out of the weather and hers will be in our garage. Later, we ate leftovers and watched tv. We are trying to keep up with the new shows and I have now got Cathye hooked on Deal or No Deal Island!

Tuesday, February 18^th., 2025…… Just class today. Oops, forgot that Cat was taking Jamie out for a haircut and lunch!

On the way to class, we stopped at the credit union to see if we could order Australian and New Zealand currency. Nope, they referred us to a larger bank. So, we will just use our US cash (or cards) or get some changed over at the airport. On the way out of the CU parking lot, I didn’t see two older kids riding their bikes on the sidewalk and they almost ran into us! I apologized but when one kid kept mouthing out, I lost it! I got out and walked up to him. Just yelling but no contact. I know I was wrong for both pulling out through the sidewalk without looking up and down, but also for getting out and taunting him. Cathye got to see my temper and I’m sorry for that too!  Class was ok and we got back and ate and settled in for the evening.

Wednesday, February 19^th., 2025…… Today was tax day!  We had a 12:15pm appointment with a new person since our lady retired after last season. We liked her and it went quickly since neither of us has complicated items. Surprised us though that we got money back from the state as well!  Later, we fed the dogs and left for the Club meeting. We went early because they scheduled a bylaws committee meeting beforehand. No one was able to come so it got cancelled. I hope they will finish it without me while we are out of town! After the meeting, we came home and relaxed from the day.  

Thursday, February 20^th., 2025…… HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYLEE! She is 7 today!  She got to go to the groomers (just happened to be today!) with Jama and looks like a big fluffy puppy!

Don’t think we did anything else for the day except maybe check in with the airlines on our flights. The one from PDX to SFO is booked but it’s the only one we can’t seem to get seat assignments for. Air New Zealand is using United to shuttle us to San Francisco and neither one can give us seats. It says we will be assigned seats when we check in. No worries, we have the long flight covered and that’s the important one!  Tv and then bed.

Friday, February 21^st., 2025…… Another quiet day. It was 37° when I walked Rylee (Cat and Jama slept in this morning!). They were still asleep when we got back so I just fed Butthead. Later, Cathye got up and had her coffee and fed Jama.  I think we purposely scheduled nothing for these last few days.  Cathye had bought a journal for the trip and I stuck glittery letters on the front and she put clear nail polish over them.   

She will make her notes just like me while we are out and I can use them as well for my blog! We decided to go to the Alliance Plus dance in Albany tonight because Shaun will be calling and at our class he said, “if any of you newer dancers come, I will alternate tips between full Plus and just those calls that I have taught to date”.  We were surprised to see that there were several of the students from Cat’s class there. That made it better because she wasn’t the only beginner there!  She did well (as well as the others) and got a lot more floor time, especially on some of those calls that are a bit more complicated. My fellow dancers know this – repetition, repetition! She has one more class this Sunday and that will be 3 out of 7. I expect she will retake the class but I am glad she is trying.  It was late when we drove home through the sprinkles and settled in and watched tv for a bit before calling it a night.       

Saturday, February 22^nd., 2025…… Weather is weird. This morning, when we went out for our walk with the girls, it was already 51°!  Chance of rain later though. We ate a light breakfast because we are meeting up with Penny and Cherrelyn at Robin’s Northside Bar and Grill for lunch. We had a round of drinks…

and then lunch. It was fun and we went over our plans and they asked us questions about stuff around the house. I think they plan to split up time at our place while we are gone. But that’s up to them. We got back home and I worked on the blog and then tried to catch up on my shows before we leave.  There is another dance tonight, this time in Corvallis, but we both opted to just stay home and relax for a change.  I got an email from United AL about our flight. Turns out they have reassigned the flight number so they couldn’t assign seats. But I was able to do it now and got us legroom seats (as an upgrade).

Ok, this might be the last post for a bit. I am not taking my laptop on our trip. I have both my Kindle and Cat’s tablet and I may decide to try to type on one of those and may post while we are out. We’ll see……    Either way, Cathye plans to post periodically on Facebook so feel free to check in there.  See you in a few weeks!

 

Oregon Living 2025 – Blog #7 –  More Prep, Our First Snowfall, a Birthday and Valentine's Day!!

 

Sunday, February 9^th., 2025…… Weather is just ok today. No rain but it’s a little brisk! I went out and got us breakfast and Cat walked the girls. We ate and then relaxed for the day. It’s Super Bowl Sunday, so I spent the morning watching the pre-game festivities. I have little interest in the game this year. I am rooting for the Eagles because I do not like the arrogant Chiefs! I expect the Chiefs to win (by a large margin) but we’ll see….  I taped the game and watched it until it was time to leave for Cat’s first Plus lesson. Like I said, I pretty much knew how it will end and the Eagles would be way behind. I was pleasantly surprised and shocked to see that the Eagles had a 21-0 halftime lead!  Will watch later.  The class went well and I think Cat enjoyed the new calls. There are roughly 30 Plus calls and the class will go at least 6 weeks. Cat will get 3 lessons before we leave. We went with the group to Panda Express for an afterparty, then came home. We watched the second half together (forwarded through the terrible halftime show!) and we were both amazed that the Eagles held on to win the Super Bowl!  Yaay!  I’m happy to see the arrogant Chiefs and their fans on the losing end for a change. I don’t put blame on many things but it just seems pretty obvious to me that throughout the season and playoffs, the referee’s calls always go against any teams playing the Chiefs. But not tonight! Yaay again!  

Monday, February 10^th., 2025…… We woke up to really cold temps.  It was 28° when we walked this morning.  The heater has been going pretty much all day and night to keep the house at 68°.  Our bill last month and the one I just got last week were 50% higher!  No worries, we are warm inside. We braved the cold and walked then fed the girls then took off to the gym and then to Kevin’s for breakfast. Nothing else on the list today so we concentrated on our packing. I went through all of my t-shirts and pulled out a dozen for the trip. But I have four new ones coming today so I’ll cull out some to make room for them.  They will get vacuumed sucked for the bags. Cathye ordered another pair of Skechers and plans to break them in before the trip. I think I am 90% done – two weeks out! Later, we watched some of our taped shows. I have Cat hooked now on Deal or No Deal Island, so we caught up on that one. 

Tuesday, February 11^th., 2025…… We have class this afternoon but nothing else. I did have a few little things on my to-do list around the house. The temps are freezing outside (and in the shed where the bikes are) so I needed to get the batteries out of the bikes and into the house for the winter. Should have done that last month!  We left early for class and stopped and picked up our prescriptions at Walgreens. After class, we stopped and picked up dinner. We both wanted to try the mushroom burger at Burger King. We got home and ate (burger was really good – we will definitely go back there for those again!) and then settled in for the evening. Tv and bed.

Wednesday, February 12^th., 2025…… HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRANDYN!  We are meeting them at James Gang Pizza later this evening to celebrate. He is 11 today.

Penny had her colonoscopy this morning. Maraglee is driving her there and back home. They told her she shouldn’t be alone at night, so she might be staying here tonight. She called later to say everything went well and she is feeling fine. She needed a nap and would let us know if she would be coming over.

Later, we headed over to pizza and met up with the kids. We invited Penny and she said she was good but didn’t want to drive. We had a nice meal with Brandyn and Bailey and Corey and Vikki. Vikki is due in April but looks ready now! She ate salad. We ordered their Holy Cow. This thing is 30” across. We had tons left.

 

We took two boxes and the kids took the rest (in a large box). After dinner, we took one of the boxes over to Penny. She was doing well and would stay at her own house tonight. She wasn’t hungry but at least she has food for tomorrow!  We came home and rested from the day. We are keeping an eye on the weather. They said we have conditions that should bring snow to the lower elevations. It was 34° when we were out tonight and will get down to 27° later.  Tv and then bed.    

Thursday, February 13^th., 2025…… Yep - we woke up to snow on the ground this morning! It is the first of the season. I think it might have made it to ½” – maybe. It didn’t stick to the grass but stayed on the driveway and walkways and roads for most of the day. When we went out to walk the dogs, we tried the cramp-ons that Cat had bought last season. They were elastic and went over the shoes and have wire on the bottoms for traction. It worked! We felt very secure on the walk. 

But that would be all we would do outside today. We were supposed to go to get massages this afternoon, but after communications from Emily, we decided to reschedule as neither of us wanted to drive today! We stayed in and watched the weather. We got some small flakes but nothing else. By the afternoon, the snow was gone.    

Friday, February 14^th., 2025…… HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!! Since we weren’t out and about yesterday, we decided to go this morning. We had a dusting of snow last night and you could see it in areas, but overall it was safe to drive. So, we went out to Kristi’s for breakfast. On the way and when we parked there, it started to come down. It lasted for 20 minutes and then melted away to slush. We got home with no issues and stayed home until later in the day. Cathye had a surprise for me – I had to get dressed up -  not really, just red shirt and Levis. Before her surprise, I gave her my gift. I had ordered a lighted sign with us on Adirondack chairs looking at sunset on the beach. It was customized with our likenesses and names. Not a big deal for me to order but she liked it!

 

We drove into town and she had me park across the street from Kristi’s. We were going to Le Cirque for a special Valentine’s Day dinner!  Cat had booked us in for 5:00pm and chose for us to be seated upstairs. They had tables set up for twos for the night. The package was soup or salad, appetizer, and Lasagna/Fettuccine Alfredo/Pappardelle Bolognese, and dessert, plus alcohol.

The meal was VERY good!  We enjoyed everything from start to finish and I was delighted she did this for us. We went home with leftovers and still we were stuffed!  We got back home and rested from the meal and watched tv until bedtime. It was a great evening! I love this woman so much!  

Saturday, February 15^th., 2025…… Club dance tonight. That was it for the day, so we relaxed and did some more packing – or rather Cat did!  I have mine almost done. I only have the last minute items for my carryon to pack. Penny came by and we discussed plans for getting us to the shuttle stop next week.  We will pack the Honda and drive to her place and take her to the pickup place. Then she will drive it back to her place and put in her garage and drive her car over here and will have our spot in the garage to use.  We also have a list of things for her to do (watering, adding chlorine to the spa, etc.).  Later, we ate our leftovers and dressed and headed off to our dance. It was lightly attended but was fun. Shaun's wife, Lila, even helped out on a singing call!

We came straight home afterward and watched a show before heading off to bed.  

Oregon Living 2025 – Blog #6 – Two Birthday Dances and a Birthday for Robin!

 

Sunday, February 2^nd., 2025…… No rain this morning – yet. It is forecast for later this afternoon. Cat got the dogs walked and I went and got us breakfast. Cathye already has her cake wrapped and ready so when she got back from church, she changed and we headed over to help set up for the dance. Today is the Lebanon Square Circlers’ 76^th Birthday Dance. We expect 80 or more today, but with the weather, we’ll see.

Ok, it’s later now. The rains and the colder temps have kept the people away from our dance this afternoon. We had a lighter turnout for our dance but it was still a fun afternoon!  We had a few leaders for activities for this dance, and one of those was Rachel, who filled up 200 balloons with either sayings, dance tickets, or money inside. You paid $1.00 for a balloon and picked it out of the playpen, then put your name on it and pinned it to the wall for the dance. At the end, we all got our balloons down and popped them together. We bought 5 balloons and Cathye got a $5.00 bill so we broke even! Rachel spent a lot of time on the project and it turned out to be a big hit!  Our Club’s round dance cuer, Jackie (and her husband Bill) have already left us and moved to Nevada to be with their kids. So, today we had our first look at Sandra Pinion, our new cuer. She did a great job and will be now doing all of our dances and workshops for at least the rest of the year. We had plenty of cake left. Here are some pics from the beginning of the night…

Rod and Ginger

Once we finished helping with the cleaning, we slid out the back and came home and fed the girls. After that, we settled in and caught up on some taped shows.   

Monday, February 3^rd., 2025…… Today was the gym and breakfast. Kevin’s was closed so we went to Appletree. Not my favorite place but at least we ate. On the way home, I dropped Cat off at her old mobile home park. She was riding up with park residents to the state capitol in Salem for a show of solidarity for the park. They, like many others in Oregon are now subject to a continuous rent increase of 10% per year. Given the fixed income from the seniors living in these parks, they will eventually be unable to pay the space fees and will be forced to give up their homes. I think Cathye said they had around 100 folks at the rally, which was represented by council for both parties. No decisions yet of course. But they did succeed in getting much needed tv support, and, when it was shown later on the news, I could see Cat and her friends in the audience.  While she was gone, I caught up on my weekend races and worked on my checkbook. Funny, I write maybe a dozen checks a year now but I still have it in my head that I have to keep a ledger of monies in and out of the account. They are available in my app but I still want to write them down! I also caught up on my blog for yesterday and today.     

Tuesday, February 4^th., 2025…… Today I have an 8:00am appointment with my doctor. I think it is just a follow-up from my physical/wellness check late last year. I headed off and got there in time to check in. Turns out it was for labs for my thyroid level. When I went in for the blood draw last week, they didn’t have my order so I didn’t do anything else prior to today. I had fasted this morning, so they did labs on my way out. I also had her sign my consent form for the Sydney Bridge Walk. She thinks I will do fine. 

Later, I got lab results back. No major issues. She is upping my thyroid med. and wants more labs in three months. We went off to class today and we both danced the whole afternoon session because we only had enough for one square today. We came home and ate leftovers for dinner. Tv and bed.   

Wednesday, February 5^th., 2025……  Today was our haircut appointments. We were up and out and had the dogs walked and fed and ate before we had to go (10:00am). That was the only thing we had to do. But we want to stop at Walmart on the way home to pick up stuff for dinner tomorrow. We are having our friends, Rod and Ginger, over for Cathye’s Turkey Pot Pie. We needed the peas and carrots and I bought some beer.  She already has everything for her cherry cobbler.  Later, we went to Dos Arbolitos for margaritas and tacos. We are still trying to get caught up on our taped programs so we settled in for that before bed.  

Thursday, February 6^th., 2025…… We were up and going early this morning. When I first let the girls out to pee, I saw snowflakes falling!  Nothing stuck and it only lasted for a few minutes, then stopped. We walked them with no issues. We left and hit the gym and then Kristi’s and then it was back to the house to clean. We both worked on laundry, and while that was going, we split up and she did dusting and cleaned both bathrooms, while I vacuumed the house and dusted my office. Forgot ice cream for tonight, so I headed off to get some. Our egg supplier was at the Mexican restaurant last night and said she would have eggs for us today after 2:00pm, so I also stopped and got those on the way home. Rod and Ginger came by at 5:00pm and we had a nice meal and a nice evening. Ginger is a long time dancer. Rod and Cathye went through their beginner’s class together. Both he and Cathye are going to the Plus class starting this Sunday. Of course we will only be able to go the first three weeks before our cruise, and she will miss a bunch. But we think it will still help her to at least get some classes in now.  

Friday, February 7^th., 2025…… Nothing on the agenda for today. So, we slept in and then took the girls out and fed them and ate leftovers from Kristi’s for breakfast. Cat spent some time trying on dresses and stuff for the dinners on the ship. We have two formal nights and we have those already. But we both needed to pull out nice clothes for the dinner seating we have with our group each night on the ship. Like I mentioned before, we will most likely have to do laundry on the cruise, but if we can pack it (and keep everything under 44 lbs.), we can wear it! Cathye is an expert at packing and is showing me how to roll my clothes instead of stacking them in folded up. She bought a vacuum bag kit from Amazon and we tried it yesterday! 

You can use the attachment and suck the air out and the bags are reusable!  So, we can take it all with us and seal them for the trip back as well. The good thing is that we will have lightweight clothing because it’s summer in Australia and New Zealand. Today, it was 77° in Auckland and 79° in Sydney. Yaaay!  Today it got up to 45° here in Lebanon!  We have to remember to pack our swimming clothes. I just ordered some new water shoes online. Should be here tomorrow. Both countries are very strict in their codes for travel into their environment. We were advised that all shoes must be very clean and scrubbed and they will inspect packed bags on entry. They don’t want foreign soil on their soil! My watershoes are %$#@ ugly so I needed a new pair.

We also got confirmation today for payment for the Princess Plus package on the ship, which we recently had our travel agent add for us.  It includes gratuities, alcoholic drinks, wi-fi, spa package, as well as other perks. We hope to be able to take advantage of all of this because it was pretty pricey!  The main reason was for the wi-fi so we can communicate via Facebook. That said, I am still hesitant in hauling my laptop around, just so I can post, so I will have to think about that. In the past, I normally make notes and then write it all up and post when we get home. We may do that this time too. We’ll see.  

Saturday, February 8^th., 2025…… HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBIN! We had a few things on our list for today. The weather is off and on. There are scattered showers around and we got hit with them throughout the day and evening. We left the house and drove up to MacLeay Country Inn, about 10 miles east of Salem. We were there for Robin’s 70^th birthday party!  It was a great time and we all had fun. The meals we each chose were not that good though. Cat had coconut shrimp and the shrimp was a little overcooked. I ordered chicken fried steak and they really oversalted the gravy. So much that I couldn’t finish it. No compensation – they said they would advise the cook! The others, for the most part, had steak, which they all said was excellent. So, we will go back and try it again sometime. We left early enough so we could come back and feed the dogs and then get dressed for the dance tonight. We went to Sweet Home for their Birthday Dance. It was a pretty good crowd and we had a great time. The weather cooperated and we got back home with no issues. We watched tv and then went to bed.

Oregon Living 2025 – Blog #5 – Finishing up the Dance Weekend & Happy Birthday Randy!

 

 

Sunday, January 26^th., 2025…… We were up early and dressed for the dance. It would be a first for us to square dance to gospel music. It was fun!  Not anything different except it was all singing calls. For non-dancers, normally a “tip” consists of a patter sequence, with the caller doing any variety of calls to a background music beat. That is followed by a singing call, where the caller sings along with a known song, using sequential calls to rotate the dancers around and back to their partners. Darrell did all singing calls and has been known for this in the past. It was enjoyed by all of us on the floor for that hour. Once that was over, we danced to the next caller for the morning and then went off to get coffee and biscuits and gravy from the concession stand in the next room. We left and walked back to the hall and danced once again before calling it for us. We said our goodbyes and came back and changed and got the motorhome ready for the trip home. The fairgrounds has a dump site, which I took advantage of since we won’t have sewer hookups at the next outing at Camp Koinonia. We got home and parked with no problems. Oops, one problem – when I went to open the slideouts, nothing happened!  Not sure what is going on, but we will leave it for now. We unloaded the food and clothes and were done for the day. Cathye said her throat was scratchy. I hope she didn’t get it from me! Since we didn’t have any class tonight, we watched tv and later, called it a night. It’s too cold to try to make it out to the spa, plus with Cat not feeling well, we decided to stay in. 

Monday, January 27^th., 2025…… Ok, it’s official!  Cat is sick!  She had a tough night and just didn’t sleep well. I am over mine so I was able to take care of her. I made her coffee and she ate some oatmeal later. She will end up staying in bed for the day. I made scrambled eggs for us and spent the day at home just relaxing and taking care of her. Later, we ate leftovers and watched tv until bedtime.  I did go online and booked the Sydney Bridge Walk for us. We will have free time our last morning in Sydney and the bridge was on our bucket list. Not part of any package, so I went online and signed us up. Turns out I have to get a signed medical permission slip (for anyone 75 and older). It works out that I go in to see my dr. next week anyway so I can get that signed. But other than that, we are all set. More on the bridge later, but here are some pics from the site….

 

Tuesday, January 28^th., 2025…… Cat slept ok last night but it did take some time for her to stop coughing. She went in to the living room to her recliner couch to try to get more upright and it helped. When she woke up and came back to bed, she said she was ok and slept well out there.  But it would be another day at home for her. I went off to help at the workshop and then stopped and got us fish and shrimp dinners and caramel shakes and brought that home. Tv and then bed. Oh yeah, and update on the motorhome problem… when I went out today, everything worked!  I think I had the backup system (solar power) on which ran the batteries down. But they are charged up now and working fine. Whew, problem solved!

Wednesday, January 29^th., 2025…… HAPPY BIRTHDAY RANDY!  Cathye was feeling better this morning. She got dressed and we took the dogs out for a short walk. When we were both finished with breakfast, I called Randy to wish him a happy birthday. We talked for a bit and then stayed in for the day. Cathye has energy but still feels the congestion in her lungs. I’m hoping we will get this over soon. Randy says that Maryanne gives him a dose of garlic and orange slices when he’s sick. I was going to Walmart this morning anyway and added those to my list. He said you cut up one clove of garlic and eat it along with a couple of orange slices (to help with the taste). We both tried it! I guess we’ll have to wait and see! Can’t hurt – except for the breath the rest of the morning!

Thursday, January 30^th., 2025……  Another cold day! Temps here are still in the low 20s. Highs get to the mid-40s. But the forecast is for warmer temps later today. That’s when it rains. They will get snow in the elevations. I think it’s down to 900’. We are at 340’ so we should be ok. That might lower tomorrow.  Cat is a little better. She went back to the couch last night and said it helps. She will use the adjustable bed feature tonight to see if that helps.

Friday, January 31^st., 2025…… Cat coughed a lot last night, but feels way better this morning. Maybe it was the garlic!  We woke up to rain this morning. That means the temps are now warmer. Today would get to the high 40s. Today was Costco day. We walked and fed the girls, then headed out.  No rain right now so far. We stopped at Elmer’s for breakfast and then went on to Costco. Today it was for some basics, so we kept it under $200.00!  Yaay!  Once we got back and got things put away, the rains came again. We had nothing else planned so we stayed around the house and relaxed.  

Saturday, February 1^st., 2025…… This is one Saturday where we have absolutely nothing on the agenda. No dances, no meetings, nothing. Our normal Club dance would be tonight, but it is our Birthday Dance (Club is 76 years old) and for some reason, they do those on Sunday afternoons. Cathye went to Walmart and got some things for our dance tomorrow. She has to make a plain cake to add to others, brought in for our strawberry shortcake dessert at break. We did some pre staging for our cruise packing and both of us now have to plan for the desired amount of clothes we want to take, while considering our laundry plans on the ship. We figure to do laundry maybe twice while on board. We will want to have clean clothes for the land part once we get to that last six days. I think I remember seeing that we had two dress up nights on the ship. That’s not bad for 13 days on board! We both have plans for those formal nights. I think we both will still need to get some casual wear. I have t-shirts but want to get some new ones. Same for Cat. Tv until bed.