Oregon Living 2025 – Blog #31 – Hot Days & Trying to Get the Trailer Moved!

 

Sunday, August 10^th., 2025……  Hottest day today so far.  It will get up to 100° later today. Cathye decided to skip church today. We headed to Albany and went to Elmer’s for breakfast before hitting Lowes to get rock salt and weedkiller. I wanted to start on the trailer but it was hard to breathe in the heat!  So, we called it a day and stayed in the house all day and watched our taped tv programs.  

Monday, August 11^th., 2025…… This morning we walked the girls then went straight to work on the trailer. I had added a dolly wheel so it can be rolled up on the flatbed without too much trouble. I moved it out where they could get to it easily. After that, Cat went inside and got everything out that we wanted to keep. I did the storage compartments below. We have an issue with the key mechanism for the door, so we decided to load up everything we wanted to send with it inside, and then wired and screwed the door shut. I don’t expect anyone to be going inside during the transit, and this will help in case the door may open while travelling. I locked the main keys in the outside compartment and will forward Crystal the extra key to that. We will wait until they pick it up just to confirm if it might need to be accessed. Oh yeah, Michael has decided to keep this  a secret from Crystal!  We are shipping to an address in town (where they have a large lot for unloading). He has plans to surprise her after that. I am told she doesn’t read this blog -  so we should be ok with the secret!

Later, I got a call from the shipper, asking if pickup can be on 8/18, with delivery on 8/22 or 8/23. That will work for both parties!  Michael is excited. I’m guessing Crystal will be too! More inside stuff and tv until bedtime. I think we will be skipping the spa for the next few days!      

Tuesday, August 12^th., 2025…… I made an appointment to go see my dr. for today. She has moved from one practice to another and I am choosing to follow her. She was in town but is now in Albany so I have to drive a bit further but it’s worth it. We discussed my meds and general health. Her new system does not talk to the old one so they have to request to get my records transferred. The only thing I worry about is whether or not her new office will be out of network. She told me that her mother in law has my insurance and so far she is covered. I will start with new labs next week.  Cathye is also having to scramble as her dr. has moved on (out of the gp field). She has called a prior dr. to see if she can get back there.

After my drs. visit, I went next door to my optometrist’s office and made an appointment for Thursday. It’s been many years since I’ve had my eyes checked. Tv and the spa (it was cooler outside and really nice!) and then bed.

Wednesday, August 13^th., 2025……  Ok, now for the drama!  We were woken up at 2:30am by the smoke detectors going off here in the house!  Not one – but all of them!  They went on for over 10 minutes. They are hard-wired into the house and I don’t know which circuit they are on. I called 911 and they sent out the fire department (with 4 guys). No lights and sirens so maybe we didn’t wake the neighbors. They asked a bunch of questions – how is it wired, how old are the sensors, did all of them go off….  I remember when we did a final walk thru back in 2017, there were boxes of detectors on the counter (which I assumed were later installed). They took one down and verified they were 2017 units. They last 10 years but they advised they probably should all be replaced, which we will do. We went back to bed and it took me a while before I fell asleep. We’ll see how we do today. Penny is coming by and we will mow today, but after that, we can both relax for the day.

Ok, it’s later. We have the lawn mowed and everything put away and we are in for the day. The Little League World Series starts today, so I will be watching that. Cathye napped. Later, I hooked up the trash trailer and backed it in close to Cat’s potting shed. She has a lot of stuff to dump so this will make it easier. But we will do that another day.      

Thursday, August 14^th., 2025…… We both have appointments today. Cathye went off to her dental cleaning and I left for my eye appointment. It has been a while (5 years?) since I had new glasses. The prescription was very light so I found I would rarely wear anything but the prescription sunglasses. My left eye vision has really changed so it’s about time!  After my exam, we decided to put light changing lens in one pair of glasses that I rarely used. I just needed to go find them and bring them back in!  Cathye got back before me. I spent a while looking around and eventually found the glasses. I will be taking them back to them tomorrow morning.   

Friday, August 15^th., 2025……  This morning we were going to Enchanted Forest. It’s an amusement park just south of Salem. It’s been around since 1971 and was a love affair for its owner and founder Roger Tofte. The park has gone through some tough times in the past, barely surviving. But it’s a very nice place for kids, especially the younger ones, and has something for the adults too. After we dropped off my glasses, we left and met Corey and Vikki and family at the park. We had Cathye’s little wagon which she said she would pull through the park. Of course, the kids had the double stroller and all of their stuff for the day. The park has brick pathways that go up and down the hills all around the park.  We started out and they both noticed it was a rough go on the hills. After struggling a lot, Cathye decided to give that up and had me take the wagon back to our car. Corey did the pushing on the stroller and we made it through the day. We hit the rides that the kids wanted to go on. Some with mom, some with dad. We stayed with the littles. It was a fun day. 

We got back home and rested from the long day!  Not sure how many miles we walked (up and down the hills!), but we were both going to feel it tomorrow!  Later, I got a text message from my shipper that they were not successful finding a driver for the trailer move!  So, it most likely won’t be Monday. I responded that I was disappointed but will wait a reasonable amount of time before moving on. Stay tuned….     

Saturday, August 16^th., 2025…… Today we had backpacks on the agenda. We were doing the first shift at the function at Sweet Home High School. We got there and helped set up tables, banners, and such. I was in charge of the junior and senior high school bags. As we have done in the past, we spread out the color choices on tables and we were good to go. It’s always interesting to see the different personalities on these kids. Some were super nice and appreciative – others were like ‘whatever’. 

We finished up our 3 hour stint, then left to go run our own errands. We stopped at Walmart and then the pharmacy. The rest of the day was spent for me watching the baseball games I had recorded, and for Cathye, working on her meds. Oh yeah, no more fire alarms – so far!