Oregon Living 2025 – Blog #17 – A Carriage Ride, Visiting the Babies, and a New Car Coming!

 

Sunday, May 4^th., 2025…… First up, Jo’s car!  I called her about 9:00am to check to see if her car was ok or not. I would run over to help if needed. But I just got her voicemail. Not sure yet.

We were up and going this morning. Mary and Cat walked the girls while I went out to get us breakfast and coffee. We watched the end of the Kentucky Derby which I had taped from yesterday. We all enjoyed the pomp and circumstance of the festivities there and I shared my experience when I got a tour of the facility years ago. Cat and I are planning on going in person for the race one day!  Mary headed back to Justin’s and we left to go to one of our Club member’s house in Brownsville. They had invited several of us to come there for coffee and pastries before going into town for ‘Carriage Me Back’ day in town. We had never been so we were excited to go with our group. We had a nice visit at their home and then headed into town.  I think Mark and Maria had 22 or 23 respond and that was exactly what the carriage could hold!  

The ride took us through the little town and they had folks dressed in period costumes along the stops on the way. It was 1902.  They came to the carriage and each had info to share about their little town and it’s activities. We saw vignettes with the town sheriff, ladies promoting women’s voting rights (and men opposed!), Sigmund Fruend, the town photograph studio with the latest tintype photos offered, etc.  We stopped and got out at the old Moyer House.

This is a town landmark and I had never been inside so it was cool to do that today!  They had the same scenes going inside, with a dancer, a séance, a cook prepping for a chicken dinner, and a coast to coast car racer asking to borrow the phone.

Afterwards, we all headed over to the Brownsville Saloon for lunch and drinks.  It was all entertaining and the entire group enjoyed the ride and the day.  Once we got back, we were done for the day and hung around the house.      

Monday, May 5^th., 2025…… Today we skipped the gym and headed straight to Kevin’s with Mary for breakfast. We took two cars because Cat and Mary were headed to the coast and to Chinook Winds Casino for the day. Meanwhile, I went on to the hardware store to pick up a new sprinkler head to replace one I tried to fix earlier. I put in a used one but should have thrown it away because it wouldn’t rotate properly. I got a new one and also got some more heads for Cathye for her raised bed. The next item on my list was to contact Jose to ask for a start date for the painting. He texted back that he was in Bend this week with family for Mother’s Day and would get back with a date next week. Then I headed outside and worked on my next project. I want to run an irrigation line underground over to the blueberry cage so we can have a spigot permanently there. I found my pick axe and did about a four foot run (about 1/4) before stopping to rest. I also will be starting in on getting everything moved away from the house prior to painting. I know I have plenty of time but will work on it a bit each day.  

Tuesday, May 6^th., 2025…… Weather is nice today!  Temps in the high 70s! I guess we will have to think about mowing again soon!  I was up and out early because I had a follow-up appointment with my doctor early this morning. She went over my last labs and wants more labs done later today. My PSA and TSH numbers are up and after my labs today, she sent in new prescriptions. Meanwhile, Cat and Mary walked and fed the dogs. When I got back home, I checked my email and saw a note from our claims adjuster for the car. Looks like the final result is a total loss. We were dumbfounded! In the letter, we were asked to go to the shop and retrieve all of our possessions and then release the car. The three of us went later and did that. Next up for me was to sign and FedEx the title to the insurance company. Once they clear the title, they will send us a check. I guess it could be worse. The settlement is more than what I thought. But now we have to go out and look for another car!  We won’t do anything until after Mary leaves, but I did do some searching online. Besides the Buick, which we like, I found some other third-row-seat cars we want to look into. Later, the girls worked on curtains for the Shasta. This is the trailer Cathye has given to her daughter-in-law, Crystal. The plan is for her to come from Missouri sometime in September to get the trailer to take back to Missouri. But Cat has had these curtains in work for a while now and Mary wanted to help, so we took the cover off of the trailer

and they finished the job.  While they did that, I got the tractor out and mowed down the grass under Rylee’s pool and then hauled it out there.

We washed it out but didn’t fill it today since the weather is supposed to change later in the week. The girls went out to visit with Amy while I went off to the workshop. First up was to check in with Jo about her car.  Her car’s dome light has been giving her troubles for several weeks now. She said it eventually does go off, so she had no battery issues. That made me feel better. They were short of girls today so I had to fill in. I can do the position but the guys up here are not used to dancing with a man so I don’t do it often! We got enough folks later so I was off the hook – until the Plus tip!   

Wednesday, May 7^th., 2025…… Mary was heading back home today. Her flight wasn’t until this afternoon, so we headed out to breakfast. Justin joined us at Kristi’s

and we had a nice visit. We came back home and let the girls out, then headed off to Eugene to the airport. We got her there early because today is the first day the airports require real id to fly, so they expected everything to be backed up. Mary has her new license but still had to check in. I guess it went ok because we didn’t hear from her until the next day because her flight had layovers and she wasn’t due back in to Tucson until late at night.  

Thursday, May 8^th,, 2025……  We had massage appointments today but Cathye didn’t book hers because she thought she would be in New Hampshire this week. That changed so she had made arrangements to meet up with Omalee for lunch. They left for that and I went on to get my massage.  Emily did tell me that she has some cancellations so if Cathye wanted, she could fit her in on Saturday. That will work since Cat has some soreness in her shoulder. I guess the cortisone shot she got a month or so has worn off!  When I got back, I started back on the irrigation project. I have the gravel dug out now and started in on the grass section just before the cage. That went pretty easily and I just had to make a slit deep enough to slide the pvc in. That way, I won’t have to have any bare spots on the grass. I will need Cathye’s help with that part of the project which we will do later in the week.   

Friday, May 9^th., 2025…… Today we head out to look at cars. This past week, we have talked and searched online for possibilities. It always came back to the Buick Enclave, which we dearly loved. There are plenty of them out there, but we won’t settle for a lessor model. They have the Essence, Premium and the Avenir, in that order. We had the Premium, so that narrowed the search. Not too much to offer in our area but a lot of dealers, (CarMax, Carvana, etc.) can ship from anywhere to a local facility or even to your house.  Most everything we found had too many miles, or was on the East coast (with possible rust issues) so by the process of elimination we found a Premium in Gilbert AZ and an Avenir in Las Vegas NV that we liked. We talked and we both liked the one in Gilbert as our first choice, but either would work. The folks at CarMax in Salem would be the ones getting it shipped. Neither of us has dealt with a place like this – low sales pressure, sticker price, etc., so we learned. We had stopped at Sybil’s in Salem beforehand, but we still got there before they actually were open. They let us in the lot to look around early and the cars were all unlocked, so we did that for a while. We saw some very nice rides, but they weren’t going to work for us. Later, we met with the sales rep and discussed our options and next steps. She quickly found our first choice in AZ and it was available! We decided to pay the shipping cost and get it sent to their facility. That works for us because we are still waiting for the settlement check to be deposited. Here are pics.

Just kidding, not this one!

This is the same year and model. The only things different are the color and the mileage. This one has lower mileage than ours so it’s priced a bit higher than our check. But that is actually good for us, going forward. They said it should arrive between 5/17 and 5/25. Cathye might still be in NH so we will have to work around that, but no worries. We are excited!  

After leaving there, we went on to Corey and Vikki’s to see the littles!  They had just returned from seeing their doctor and they are doing really well!  Both are gaining weight and they were more awake and we got to play with them and feed them today! 

Cathye has arranged a ‘Meet the Twins’ day at our house (May 31^st.).  It is an open house to come by and see the babies. The link Vikki placed on Facebook shares a wish list.  After we got home, we rested from the day. Tv and spa and then bed.     

Saturday, May 10^th., 2025……  Penny and Cherrelyn are taking Cathye (and me) to lunch for Mother’s Day. Cherrelyn is heading up north tomorrow to see her son so today works for all. We had a great time

and the food was good too! After we got back home, I finished up the irrigation project. Cathye helped me and we tried really hard to get the pipe in the slot I had made in the grass. Turns out it wasn’t possible so I had to dig a little trench. But it wasn’t too bad and the grass will grow back quickly. But now we have a spigot inside the cage and I don’t have to move the garden hose every time we mow!  

Cathye went off to get her massage and I came in to clean up for the day. When she got back, she said she felt great. Except her shoulder was still a little sore. We had given some thought to going out dancing tonight but decided that we wouldn’t want to chance someone pulling or yanking her shoulder. So, we just relaxed and watched tv. Among the shows, we watched the last episode of The America’s. We loved this new show and with Tom Hanks’ narration, it is one of the best we have ever seen! This final episode showed the making of the series. They had behind-the-scenes video of the things that the crew went through to get the best shots we have ever seen!  I sure hope they do it again!