Oregon Living 2025 – Blog #41 – A Trip With a Surprise Birthday!

      

 

Sunday, October 19^th., 2025…… A rainy morning. We are supposed to get 4-5 days of clear weather but we’ll see. Today was a kick back Sunday. Tv for both of us and me working on this blog. I can post  We leave on Saturday for New Hampshire. I’m not sure if I’ve posted this before but we are going back to celebrate Terisa’s birthday. Cathye’s daughter will turn 50 on December 23^rd. and she wanted to plan a surprise party for her. Trouble is, in December the weather in New England is pretty bad and being so close to Christmas, most all of the venues will be booked. So, they decided to have it early and REALLY surprise her!  She has been incahoots with Daniel, Tate, and Liz to get this planned. I used my membership in the Elks to get her a discount on the local Elks lodge there. Tait has been working on decorations and a food choice. Cat will be calling the place tomorrow to get the order placed. Daniel has created a special Facebook page to secretly invite al of their friends. Michael and Crystal and us are flying in on Saturday for the party on Sunday. We have a rental car and hotel rooms. So, it is coming together!  I am only writing about this now because I’m not sure if Terisa has been following my blog or not. But, by the time I post this one, it will be over! So, haha – Terisa – SURPRISE! We got you!  

Later in the afternoon, we left to go to our beginner’s class. No, we did not go to pizza afterwards! Maybe in another few weeks, but tonight I wasn’t ready for that. Besides, I need to fast because I have labs first thing tomorrow morning.  

Monday, October 20^th., 2025……  HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANCES!  I was up and out early to go get my labs done. Once that was over, I had to wait an hour or so before America’s Best opened next door. I was there to get my glasses adjusted. The temple arms are a bit short and the arc is not right. I was surprised when this big ole boy just bent them!  He said he’s been doing it for years and if he broke them, they would be covered. I could try but if I broke them they would not be covered. They are better but I won’t know for a bit whether they will work for me. Once I got back, we worked on the house to get it ready for carpet cleaning tomorrow. I want to replace the carpets because they are really stained. Cathye wants to replace the furniture because they are as well. So, we decided to try another professional cleaning. The main guy here in town is not friendly, charges too much and didn’t do a very good job last time. So, she found another one. This one is owner run.  

Tuesday, October 21^st., 2025…… The weather is off and on this time of year. We can get sunny days with crisp mornings, or rainy mornings with warmer air. Today it was dry but overcast and cold when we took the girls out for their walk.  Justin will be in and out here this week working on prepping the yard for winter. He was here today. Once they got going, the carpet guy showed up and got going as well. By that time, I had to leave for the workshop. When I got home everyone was done. The carpet looks great!  He got all of the stains out and said it was high quality and has several more years left in it! The couches and recliners maybe not so much. The microfiber material is worn in a few spots. So, Cat now has new furniture in her radar!   

Wednesday, October 22^nd., 2025…… We are now in travel mode. I got out the two carryons and my backpack and we started putting in what we could. We will only be gone 4 days so we don’t need much. We are packing all black for the surprise 50^th party so that’s easy. Jackets and hats/caps and maybe gloves if we need them. There is no rain in the forecast for the time we are there, but we both will pack light raincoats just in case. But before all of that, we headed off to get our haircuts. More washing clothes and getting things organized. Cat has been in contact with Daniel via texts and she said he is still unsure about how many will come to the party. Meanwhile, Cat has researched the deli’s website and has ordered enough for 30-40 people. Sure hope that works! Tait has ordered the cake and Michael and Crystal are packed and ready to fly out from Missouri as well. All is coming together!      

Thursday, October 23^rd., 2025…… We were up and going early again. After our walk, I fed the dogs and Cat got started on a crockpot stew for dinner tonight. It’s a new recipe which we are taking over to Frank and Maryanne’s.  Today we called the vet for Rylee.  In the last few days, we noticed that she is really slow in getting up and down and limps after getting up. We have noticed this recently and I first thought that she stepped in a mole hole or something and hurt herself. But it could be something else.  After she walks for a while, the limp goes away.  I know that her weight isn’t helping her issues, so I have had her on a diet. We went to the feed store and talked to an animal specialist about what we can give her to help with joint support. She pointed us to glucosamine and chondroitin in dog treat form (@ two per day).  Her appointment isn’t until next week when we return. Pointe Pest Control came today to do the scheduled service for the house.  Today was massages again and I left for that. Later, Cathye showed up for hers.  We had asked Emily to get us back on schedule since we were delayed last month by the Hawaii trip. This will make two massages in a week!  Tough life huh!   Later, we headed over with the crockpot . Frank is now on a knee walker and is doing ok. He’s nowhere near out of pain and still needs to take it easy. But he has been Maryanne’s primary caregiver for many years now and doesn’t know how to ask for help. It will take some time to get used to that.  We played cards for a few hours and then came home for the night.

Friday, October 24^th., 2025…… Nothing on the calendar for today – except for us to get everything ready for our trip. We need to be out of the house and on the road to Portland around 3:30 to make our early flight.  Penny came by to double check on everything she and Cherrelyn will need to do here. Cherrelyn will do Saturday and Sunday and Penny will do Monday and Tuesday. The dogs love both of them so they will be happy. We ate a light dinner and went to bed early. Cart went right to sleep but it was no good for me. I layed awake until at least 12:59am when I checked the time!     

Saturday, October 25^th., 2025…… Yep, fast asleep at 3:00am when the alarm went off. It will be a long day  - but I felt pretty good with just a few hours sleep.  Cathye was doing ok too.  We showered and got everything ready and grabbed our coffees and were on the road at 3:25am and made it to PDX and even had time for breakfast before boarding.  Cathye books the flights and then lets me choose the seats. We had a stop in Chicago and for the first (longest) leg, I chose exit row seats. Very comfortable and we both relaxed and slept for a bit. Next leg was to Hartford Conn. We were meeting Michael and Crystal there with a rental car. We went over to the rental car area, found the National Car Rental desk, and the lady said, “You have Emerald Club status!  Let me show you the cars! Take whichever one you want”  I chose a Dodge Durango SUV with third row seating. We dropped the rear seats and had more than enough room for all of our luggage.  After we got out of the airport, we headed off to eat dinner since their flight from Springfield MO was running 1 ½ hour late. We found an Asian Bistro close by and had dinner. Cat had soup and I chose shrimp hibachi. It would turn out to be the best meal (for me) on the trip!  

We got back to the airport and picked up M&C and were on our way on the 77 mile drive to Walpole, NH.  Since we were running late, Cat contacted the bed and breakfast and they arranged to leave our room keys at the entry table since no one would be there that late. It was almost midnight when we finally got there. Needless to say, we went right to bed! Long day!  

Sunday, October 26^th., 2025……  Today was the big day!  We got dressed and went down to breakfast. There were 11 of us today so they chose to make it a buffet. They had pancakes and waffles and bacon and eggs – all of which came from either the farm directly, or close by. It was delicious!  After we ate, we made plans for the day. We wanted to drive over to the Elks lodge to check out the setup and see what we needed to add. We met up with the staff that Cat talked to. They gave us full access to the room and we left to go get some more decorations. Since it was Sunday, most stores were closed. But we found a Dollar store and got a lot of things. We drove around and then after a bit found the local 50s diner and had lunch. We ran into Tait, who will be joining us later. We went back to the room and set up the decorations we bought. We hung around until it was time to go get the food and then Cathye and I left to do that. She bought several platters of sandwiches, wraps and croissants, plus fruit and veggie trays. Daniel asked folks to bring sides for that. Cat had also hired a bartender to serve us just for that room. So we didn’t have to buy drinks. We got everything there and set up and then we waited. Folks slowly began to arrive around 5:00pm and filtered in. Daniel brought her in around 5:15 or so. Turns out she wasn’t surprised at all!  She told us later that she got suspicious when she saw all of Daniel’s text messages. She either read them or he told her – no admission so we don’t know for sure. But all in all, she enjoyed the party!  I think I counted 20-21 or so there.  We ate, danced, played games and broke a piñata. Felix sure like that!  Here are pics from the day and evening.

After we cleaned up and headed home, we went straight to our rooms and rested for a bit before calling it a night. No tvs here, so I kept checking my phone for the Dodger game scores. I wouldn’t know until early in the morning when I got up to go to the bathroom that the game went 18 innings! But we won!