Oregon Living 2026 – Blog #5 – Booking our Cruise Excursions, Finally Mowing! and Our Club’s Birthday Dance

 

 

Sunday, February 1^st., 2026…… A pretty quiet day. The freezing weather is pretty much gone – at least for a while anyway. The rains have come in and have gone through, but we still can’t get to the lawn mowing. The good news is that they are saying no more rain until the weekend, so if we have several warmer dry days this week we will be able to mow later in the week. Cathye walked and fed the dogs while I went out to get us coffee and breakfast. It’s a Sunday thing now I guess!  Not much on the calendar today. Cathye went over to help Penny shower and then they went shopping at Walmart. Penny is trying to get out and that was good for her. After a bit, she got her car out and drove it over her to see the dogs and just get out of the house. She said it’s still tough to drive with one hand but she is trying!      

Monday, February 2^nd., 2026…… Today it was walking and feeding the dogs, then the gym, then breakfast at Kevin’s. Later, we made a run to Wilco because we needed dog food. Jamie’s home called Cat and told her that she would like her to get Jamie a new mattress for his bed. It’s a hospital bed (long twin size) so she will need to go online and order one to be delivered. They said they would be able to dump the old one so that’s good for us!  He should get it tomorrow. The rest of the day was spent working on balancing checkbooks and paying bills and working on the cruise. In the last couple of days, they opened the excursions for booking. We have already figured out what we want to do in each port. In Sitka we are doing the best of Sitka which takes us to Fortress of the Bear and the raptors tour. In Skagway, we are doing the White Pass Railroad and Klondike Highway tour. In Juneau, we have already done the Mendenhall Glacier tour, so we chose to do the underground mine/gold panning tour. The last port is Victoria and we have booked the Butchart and Butterfly Gardens tours there. I got confirmation on all of these so the rest of our friends will need to follow suit quickly to assure they get the tours they want.    

Tuesday, February 3^rd., 2026…… We have nothing on the agenda for today. I have already sent a request in to my urologist for an appointment. Cathye has talked to Cheryl, who told her that it was over a month after Mike’s mri that they got things going. She said they have to coordinate with other doctors (heart, gp, etc.) to figure out next steps. So we wait….

Wednesday, February 4^th., 2026…… Cathye has been helping with Penny’s recovery period. Showering, grocery shopping, medical appointments, etc. but for the most part, it’s pretty easy now. I think she’s done with her antibiotic infusions now. Peny’s driving a bit but still is going slowly and needs time to recover. But that’s progress!  

Thursday, February 5^th., 2026…… We are mowing today!  Well, at least we thought we were! When I got outside with the dogs, I saw that it had rained last night! When we walked them later, we saw it must have just been the fog that got everything wet. So, we waited until the afternoon and checked the lawn again. We are good to go! Cat’s mower had a dead battery and I had it charged up and it started once but not the second time. It’s a new battery so I think I’ll have to get it in to be looked at. We got the black tractor started and she used that. It took a little extra time for both of us because we had to get through the higher grass. But we got it done. We did choose to skip the back field for now though. It still looks ok. We still have the clippings on the lawn but that’s way better than what it looked like before!

We cleaned up and rested for the afternoon. Turns out we timed it perfectly because later that night we got rain!   

Friday, February 6^th., 2026……  Today was busy, but not until the afternoon.  We had the dogs out and walked and fed and then we took it easy for the morning. Later, we decided to split up. Cathye was asked at the last minute to take Lona to the airport in Eugene. She is heading out to spend time with her family in AZ. She needed to be at the airport at 4:00pm. We were supposed to meet up with Teri and Ron for dinner at 5:00pm, so I stayed home to feed the dogs while she took Lona to lunch and then drop her off. I left to meet her at The Honey Hole in Halsey. That worked out because that is on the way back from Eugene so Cat could make it by 5. We had a nice meal and a great visit with them. We had never been to that place before and found we liked it. We shared the French dip, which is a house favorite and was very good and tender. We will be going back!  We each drove back home and we settled in to watch the Olympic opening ceremonies, which I had taped. Entertaining. We are looking forward to watching the Olympics. And of course the Super Bowl this Sunday. But we would have an issue.  More on that later.   

Saturday, February 7^th., 2026…… More rain today. But at least we are missing the winter blast that the east is getting!  As, I said, we have an issue with the Super Bowl. A few years ago, the Club’s executive Board decided to have our special dances (new dancers dance, birthday/anniversary dance, etc.) on Sunday afternoons so people could drive there and back home in the daylight hours. That would pose a problem because our birthday dance this year is on Sunday afternoon (2:00-500pm). Yep, opposite the Super Bowl!  Oh well!  I can tape the game. So, we had nothing to do today except Cat had to make a cake for the strawberry shortcake being served tomorrow. Other than that, it was pretty quiet for us. Olympics for the most part.   

Oregon Living 2026 – Blog #4 – A Birthday and then not Such a Fun Week!

 

  

Sunday, January 25^th., 2026……  We were up and going early this morning!  We made it to the Heavenly Hoedown in the main hall at 9:00am. Last year we really liked the caller and his more relaxed church type music. It wasn’t as much fun this time. The callers chose average songs so it wasn’t what we were expecting. Right after that, it was Shaun’s turn. He shared the mic with another caller and they harmonized pretty well. After that, we called it a morning and headed back to get the rv ready for the trip back home. Cathye took the dogs and went home in the car while I stopped at the dump station. It went quickly and when I got home, I backed in and we unloaded everything before backing all the way into the garage and we were done for a while. Cathye did get a load of laundry going but that was about it for us for the day.  We caught up on some of our tv programs throughout the day and evening and called it an early night.

Monday, January 26^th., 2026…… We had a few things to do today. Cathye had to go over to check on Penny and help her with a few things, but we waited until after the gym and breakfast. I made another adjustment to her thermostat and I think that is working ok now. Later, we ate dinner then headed over to Frank and Marianne’s for cards. I had to cut it short because I needed to take care of my fleet enema procedure before bed. It went quickly and easily.

Tuesday, January 27^th., 2026…… Today would be my scheduled mri. We have waited since May to get this sedated prostate mri done and finally it was time!  We had to drive up to OHSU hospital in Portland but I had an 11:30am check-in time so we didn’t have to hurry. The whole process went pretty smoothly. And, yes, I was totally sedated and didn’t even have to see that tiny tube! After we got going on the way home, I got the preliminary results in my chart. Of course they would be in medical terms and I will need to wait until I hear from my urologist for next steps, but from what we could see, it looks like prostate cancer. That wasn’t exactly specifically stated but we read malignancies and tumors in the report. We also saw that the recommendation is for direct visualization via a cystoscopy (done by the urologist). So, all in all, that’s not the best news….

I also heard from Randy. He told me they put Chuckles down today. He is sad. He said he was 16, so I told him that was excellent for a dog and that it’s always sad that we outlive our pets.

So, not a good day for all of us.  When we got home, we spent the rest of the day lounging and taking it easy.

Wednesday, January 28^th., 2026…… No calls yet. Still waiting so life goes on. We planned on going out to the motorhome and doing a thorough cleaning. I had turned the hot water tank on so we could use that. But we found we just didn’t make it out there today! Maybe tomorrow.

Thursday, January 29^th., 2026…… HAPPY BIRTHDAY RANDY!  I tried calling him and then texted and will talk to him later today. Cathye headed off to her doctor’s appointment and then later took the pups to their spa this morning. She is going to the coast with her girlfriends for a couple of days. Gambling and hanging out with her girls. I get doggie duty. Later, I picked the dogs up and I was in for the day and evening.   

Friday, January 30^th., 2026…… Today I did absolutely nothing!  I did walk and feed the dogs and then just hung around the house and relaxed for the day. I did have tons of hours of Barrett Jackson and Mecum auctions to watch. Lazy day. I did hear from Cat that they were enjoying the coast, although it was windy and cold.  They spent time at the casino where she said she stayed ahead for most of the day. I waited until the end of the day and since I still haven’t heard from the urologist, I sent him a message. I think it might be a timing thing because the MyChart system in Portland OHSU doesn’t interface with the MyChart system here in this area, so they will have to contact him directly. Anyway, we wait….

Saturday, January 31^st., 2026…… Cat was due in later this afternoon. That worked because I had Grace come over this morning for a procedure meeting. She is part of my committee and is the last to review my first draft. She is very thorough and spent a lot of time reviewing the entire manual. So, when she came here, I would pull up the file and make changes as we went through the pages. That would turn out to be a long process and Cathye couldn’t sit still that long!  So, it worked out! When she got home, she shared her time away and sent me some pics from their adventure…..

She did call to check on Penny but she didn't have to go over there so she was able to just rest and stay home for the day. Tv and bed.