Oregon Living 2025 – Blog #34 – A Great Holiday & Making Grape Juice

 

Sunday, August 31^st., 2025……  Today we had a few things on the agenda. First up (after another fantastic breakfast!) was the Club meeting. I was asked by the board on Thursday evening to kind of officiate as parliamentarian. The last meeting got out of hand and our poor Secretary barely got through it. Cathye knew that I was familiar with Roberts Rules of Order (even though I haven’t read it for over 20+ years). This Club doesn’t even come close to holding their meetings as I was used to over the years with the Rustlers and Camping Squares. I volunteered to help and also told them I would share the Rustlers Procedures Manual with the President because in it is an agenda that I used back when that worked well for order. Of course I will have to find it and pull it up from my computer so I can tweak it for this Club. Turns out (aside from the Secretary reading (and struggling through) the minutes of last month’s meeting, this meeting was much calmer and went quickly. I didn’t have much to do or say at all!  After the meeting, we headed over to the grassy area where Shaun called a “silo dance”. Tradition has it that the caller climbs to the top of the silo and calls for 20-30 minutes so that folks can earn their ‘silo dancer’ dangle for their badges. This year, Shaun said the rungs were too hot to climb on. Hey, this thing is way up there!  Here is pic from last year….

Besides, Lila was very nervous so she was glad when we convinced him to just call from the safety of the ground.

After the dancing there, they moved to the shaded area in the back yard and did some more square and round dancing. 

All of this time those who weren’t dancing went on to more water balloon fights and marshmallow gun fights and of course more quilting, sewing and card games. Later, we divided up the group  - some went off on an early hayride, while others waited for build-your-own individual pizzas. Frank’s oven does them pretty quickly (4-5 minutes with pre-made Boboli crusts), but with 20-25 people in line, it took a while!  Out of the pics we all took, we could only find this one which almost! shows him on the right sitting at his oven turning out the pizzas from those in line….

Those who ate would then go out on the wagon ride while the others got in line. There were talks all in line about maybe we should chip in to buy Frank another pizza oven!  I heard someone say that there were over 70 people here for the weekend!  After we ate, the others went out on the hayride. Others chose to play cards, which is what we did. After a few hours we headed in for the night.      

Monday, September 1^st., 2025…… Last day - and another breakfast! I was ready to go back and get ready to leave but we hung around for a while and visited. After a bit, we started breaking down the tables and getting things set up to be hauled back to the barns. I helped with one of the two canopies before leaving. The other one was going to be used for those who were spending the rest of the day there. We needed to get back so Cathye could get her dish prepared for her picnic later in the day. Her and her girls always go to Pioneer Park in  Brownsville for Labor Day. She left in the car with the dogs and headed home, while I drove to River Park to use the dump station there before heading home. When I got back, I backed the motorhome down the driveway and we unloaded most of it. Cathye left for her day and I rested for a bit, then went back out and affixed the battery charger wires to the starter batteries, then backed in into the garage. Now I will be able to hook up the battery tender without having to open the engine bay.  Once I got parked, I could open the slides and get to the laundry and such to bring into the house. Later, when Cat got back, she brought me a plate of goodies which would be my dinner. We were done for the day and weekend! Here are pics from the great time!

Tuesday, September 2^nd., 2025…… Nothing on the agenda today except for my workshop. We didn’t have too much to eat in the house, so we headed for the gym first, then to Kristi’s for breakfast. They were surprised to see us on a day other than Thursday!  Before class, I helped Cathye pick the cherry tomatoes that had ripened while we were gone!  We filled up a large colander and I grabbed a bunch to bring to the workshop so folks could help themselves. When I got back, we ate a light dinner and relaxed with tv and the spa before bed.  

Wednesday, September 3^rd., 2025…… I was up and out this morning to get breakfast and coffee and also stop at Wilco to pick up electrical plug connectors for that 100’ cord I used this weekend. This was a newer style connector and had push and twist electrical connections. But I found that when I tried to attach it to the cord, I couldn’t get it to stay fastened. My cord is heavier than the connectors can handle. No worries – I can use them for other cords when needed. I spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on my taped races from the weekend. We watched and got caught up on America’s Got Talent before calling it a night.

Thursday, September 4^th., 2025…… This morning we couldn’t go to the gym because I needed to go with my sister to Corvallis for her consultation. She is looking at shoulder replacement surgery and wanted an extra ear to help get everything understood. Cathye and I took the dogs out and then she fed them, while I left to go pick up Penny. Cathye needed to stay home because she has a window cleaner coming today to do all the windows and screens on the house. We stopped at Wisecracks in Corvallis for breakfast before going to her surgeon’s office. The visit went well and she found out she is a great candidate for the replacement and that it will be worked on to schedule. Looks like some time in November. Meanwhile, the window guy was a cancellation and they rescheduled for Saturday.  So, Cheryl came over and they picked grapes. Cheryl brought her processer and they spent the afternoon making juice. It was too hot to transport so we will deliver some to her in the next few days.   

Friday, September 5^th., 2025……  Nothing on the list today. We slept in a bit, then got up and out with the girls. I had leftovers from breakfast so I was good. Cathye’s appetite has been non existent so she wasn’t hungry this morning. We worked out in the shop garage today. Cathye went through some boxes of material and sewing stuff. She is looking to host a pumpkin making party here soon and wanted to get stock together. I went off and got two more connectors, this time from another store who had what I needed. Later, we drove over to Mike and Chery’s to deliver some juice to them. Once we got home, we were in for the day.

Saturday, September 6^th., 2025…… Our friend, Grace has offered us her grapes as well for juice so today Cathye decided to go over there. She and Cheryl met at Grace’s house and got grapes and Cat brought Grace’s juicer to make more juice. Meanwhuile, I was assigned to babysit the window washer. He is 22 years old and is trying to establish his future. He has a truck with his company on a wrap. He turned out to be a very personable young man. He went about his business and did a very nice job!  I paid him and got a couple of business cards because I would refer him to anyone in the area.  When Cat got back, she spent the rest of the afternoon making more grape juice. We didn’t have any other plans for the evening so we relaxed and caught up on more tv programs.