Oregon Living 2026 – Blog #7 – Dog Days for all of Us!

 

 

Sunday, February 15^th., 2026…… Rylee slept ok last night and is doing ok today. She is learning to get around on three legs! She doesn’t seem to be in too much pain but since we really can’t tell, we are giving her pain meds every day. Of course, no walks for a while. 

So, I was up and showered and left to go get breakfast and coffee. The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent working on the blog for me and then catching up on tv programs for both of us. Later, we left to go to our new beginner’s class. This is a first for the Club – to hold two classes pretty much consecutively. We’re not sure if we’ll get a great number of new attendees or not… Ok it’s later now. We just got back and I was surprised! – we had 10 new students. Most like those numbers but I would like to see more show up, especially couples.  But the class is open for another two weeks so we hope to get more next time.  

Monday, February 16^th., 2026…… We were up and going early this morning. No walks for the girls and they don’t understand!  They go to the door and look at us, ‘Wait, what’s up? let’s go on our walk!’ But after we feed them, they both settle in for the morning. Rylee is still doing ok, but it’s hard to watch her get around. Her appointment is Mar. 5, so she has a few weeks to deal with this. Cathye was having stomach issues so I went and picked up Penny to take her to do her lab appointment. She is still not any better. She struggled to breathe coming out of the house and I had to move her around in a wheelchair when we got to the hospital. It took a while to get her in to draw blood - which didn’t help – and she even thought about going in to the er on the way out. Turns out she was prophetic because she got a call an hour later telling her that her red blood cells were low and she needed to get to the ER now!  So, I went back and took her in. They did a massive number of tests and later would do a blood transfusion and admit her. So, she guessed right! Later, we went off to Cat’s Plus class and got word that she would be admitted but right now they were waiting for a bed. Cat did ok in her second class. But she didn’t do any review from last week and I think she found that slowed her down a bit because she struggled with one or two of the new calls. We talked on the way home and would review the calls at home to try to help.   

Tuesday, February 17^th., 2026…… Penny got into a room and had a number of tests today. In the morning – between more tests - she let us know how she was doing and said she might get to go home tomorrow. But later they told her it would be one more day!  Cat had to go to her dentist appointment this morning.  Later, we went and visited her. She looked a lot better!

Wednesday, February 18^th., 2026…… Today was busy! First up was Jamie’s colonoscopy/endoscopy. Cat had to be at his house at 7:00am to pick him up to take him to Corvallis. I stayed back with the dogs . I also had to go in to get our taxes done. Since Cat didn’t know how long she would be back, I needed to be able to go make that appointment time. But yesterday afternoon we received a letter from Cat’s investment institution saying that they were late in getting her 1099 mailed out. We weren’t expecting that one so she called the tax folks to see what we should do. They said to come in and they would do everything else and we would wait until the other one comes in. We can’t even get to it online so that’s a bummer too!  So, we have a new appointment time but not for several more weeks! The doctors told Sis that they didn’t like some of her numbers so she would be in there at least one more day. We needed to go to our Club meeting and headed off for that.

Thursday, February 19^th., 2026…… Today was my urology appointment. When we got there, I was already prepared for what came next. I have a lesion on my prostate, and also one on my bladder. Next step is a biopsy but they suspect it’s likely cancer in both organs. We stopped at Cat’s eye glass place to have them fix her glasses and add transitions to the lens. When I got back, I got a call from the office scheduling the next procedure. It’s on Mar. 17^th. Meanwhile, we went about the rest of our day. Meaning not much else to do. While we were doing all of this, the doctors released Penny. Mariglee was able to go pick her up. Long day.

Friday, February 20^th., 2026……  HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYLEE!  She’s 8 today!  Still doing ok, even with her knee issue. As a matter of fact, she’s adjusted with it pretty well! She’s learned to move on three legs to get up and down the porch steps now. And she can use her good rear leg to jump up on the coach!

We had nothing on the agenda for today. I ordered and received a Ring doorbell and got it yesterday so I installed it this morning. I also bought myself a new Shark vacuum. I can now get rid of the two yard sale vacs that I have been using. I went over the living room area rug that I did a few days ago and was shocked to see it filled up with dog hair!  Meanwhile, we have booked Penny’s housecleaner to come do a whole house deep clean. That’s scheduled for next month

Saturday, February 21^st., 2026…… Today we need to head up to Salem to visit with Brandyn. They said they are all well again so they have scheduled his birthday party for today. We got there just before 1”00pm. We saw Vikki driving away but she didn’t see us. Turns out everyone was in the car and they were heading out to do some shopping!  When Cat called her she said that the party was postponed until next weekend and that Corey was supposed to tell us!  We ended up all meeting at Paddington’s Pizza for a nice little mini party. Brandyn enjoyed the day 

and Corey was able to take lunch and come visit for a while too! 

Of course we saw the littles!

 

Once we got back home, we rested for a little while, then got changed for our ‘Mardi Gras’ Club dance. We had out beads and masks and went early to help set up. Good thing we did – there was a poor turnout for that!  We danced and then left a bit early because we don’t have to move any chairs or tables because we will be there again tomorrow.  I would find out later that only one person and the caller and his wife were left to close up. Even our kitchen person for the night left early! That will need to be addressed!     

Oregon Living 2026 – Blog #6 – Dancing During the Super Bowl, Date Night & Bad News about our Rylee

 

Sunday, February 8^th., 2026…… Today was obviously Super Bowl Sunday!

 

BUT – we have a conflict with our Club’s anniversary/birthday dance. A few years ago the Club’s executive board decided it would be better to have any ‘special’ dances in the afternoons on Sundays, instead of Saturday nights.  That way, folks can drive to and from in the daylight or dusk hours. Plus, the kids would be home early for school the next day. I guess that was good thinking – until it hits on a conflict this big!  None of the board made an effort beforehand to change this one dance and they could because the senior center was available on the Saturday night before.  So, we pretty much knew we would have a light turnout. There would be folks (like me) who would tape the game so no worries. But if you wanted to go to a super bowl party, you would miss our dance. But we had committed and were there early to help with balloons and decorations and setup and everything else. It turned out just ok. We had enough of our own Club members there to make the numbers work. I don’t have the count but I heard we might have made expenses. And that’s ok. Lesson learned. Let’s just see if they will address it at the next meeting.

Oh yeah, we got back in plenty of time to watch the game - and the commercials before we went to bed. It wasn’t the best of games, or commercials, or halftime show – but I was glad to see the Seahawks win. Anyone except the Patriots!  We also taped the American halftime show with Kid Rock. Neither of us was impressed with that one either!

Monday, February 9^th., 2026…… We got up and going late today. We walked and fed the girls and then left for the gym and Kevins. We have been watching the Olympics and for the most part have enjoyed them so far. My favorite is the 4 man bobsled, but that won’t be until later in the next week or so. Penny is also on the list of things to take care of this week. She is having issues with her meds, has no energy and now has the flu!  So, we are trying to stay away and when Cat does have to go, she masks up and washes well. I will have duty later this week taking her to three drs. appointments in one day. Hope she feels like going but if not, she needs to reschedule.  

Tuesday, February 20^th., 2026…… Nothing on the schedule today or tomorrow. So, we are cleaning the house and doing laundry. Cat is looking into having Penny’s housecleaner coming in for a one-time deep clean but that is still in work. We also have been working on reinstalling the deer/bird netting around the blueberries. But first up is screwing in a base board all around the enclosure. That will help stabilize the netting plus be a great edging block for when I mow the grass around the enclosure. I have decided to use boards that I have stored away in the rv garage. They are 15’ long and came from Cat’s estate sale way back when. I had used 10 of them for two nice long tables we use for yard sales, parties, meetings, bbq’s, etc. Now I can use the remaining few that I have left for this project. That also saves me having to take the flatbed trailer out for just a few boards. Anyway, today I asked Cat to help me pull them out from the garage. I had piled up a lot of stuff on top, including all of the leftover synthetic deckboards, so we had a lot to move!  But we got it done and came in for a bit before going out and putting everything else back in place. .    

Wednesday, February 11^th., 2026…… Today we had mani pedis for both of us. Cat has gotten us tickets for dinner and a movie at the theater on Friday. That’s her gift to me for Valentine’s Day, so I got us this. We walked and fed the dogs and then rested up and watched tv until we left for our appointments at Jenny’s. They got us in together and we were out in a short time.

Thursday, February 12^th., 2026…… HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRANDYN!  Cat talked to them this morning. Looks like we will meet up with him next week because the family is all sick right now.

Meanwhile, Penny is not doing much better. She has some new antibiotics and says she feels a bit better but she is still weak. So, that said, she has cancelled all of her appointments for today. That frees up my day. We went to the gym and then to Kristi’s and then came back home for the morning. We stopped by the hardware store and I picked up the netting for the blueberries then headed home. I will try to get to that project before it rains. I left for my massage appointment which was at 1:15pm. Cat came later for hers at 2:30pm and when she was done, she went next door and got us (and Penny ) some teriyaki and then headed over to drop it off before coming home. We were in for the night. Tv and bed.    

Friday, February 13^th., 2026……  We slept in this morning. After walking and feeding the dogs, we had our leftovers from Kristi’s for breakfast. Then it was another day of cleaning. Not sure what happened with Penny’s housekeeper, but we went ahead with our deep cleaning. Cathye did the bathrooms and the kitchen and then dusted the entire house while I  vacuumed and hot mopped the floors. Of course I stopped a few times to rest and to work on my blog. While doing that, I had the men’s figure skating going on in the background. I was stunned when our favorite, Ilia Malinin failed to win a medal in his event. Shocking! But the US is gaining on the medal count. Fun to watch!  Later, we left for our “date night”!  

Cat bought us tickets for dinner and a movie at the Rio theater in Sweet Home. Tonight we were watching Hamnet. Cathye studied Shakespeare is college so she knew what to expect. Me not so much! Dinner was excellent! We had a huge piece of chicken piccata with roasted small potatoes and broccoli and chocolate cake for dessert. Like I said, the movie wasn’t me cup of tea. It was loosely based on William Shakespeare’s life with his wife and their three children, one of which, Hamnet, died at the age of 12 from a disease. I didn’t follow it as well as Cat did. She was in tears at the end. But, it was a fun night to be out and enjoy the evening together with my best friend!  Love you sweetie!      

Saturday, February 14^th., 2026…… Today started off badly!  We took the girls out for their walk (always on leash) and when the dogs get a few hundred feet from our driveway, we let them off to explore a bit more. Rylee was walking around the ditch when she spotted a bird nesting on the ground. When she took off after it, she barked and then started limping. The limping didn’t get any better for most of the morning, so I called and we got her in at noon. It didn’t take too much for them to figure out she had torn her cruciate ligament. He discussed options which no doubt for us is surgery. It’s called TPLO. I looked it up:  a Tibia Plateau Leveling Osteotomy involves cutting and reshaping the shin bone (tibia) to change the mechanics of the knee joint, thereby stabilizing it without relying on the damaged ligament. Not cheap though. We’re looking around $4500-5000. Next step is waiting for the surgeon to call with a date. He said it would likely be in a few weeks or so. But if that’s what she needs, that what she needs!  

The rest of the day was spent hanging around the house watching the Olympics and thinking about our little girl! She is able to get around although she can’t put any weight on her left rear leg but isn’t showing any signs of pain.  So, later, we decided to go ahead with our plans to drive up to Portland for a dance. Since we missed him a year and a half ago when the Diamond Lake dance was smoked out, I had wanted to dance to my long time Rustler Class instructor and old friend Michael Kellogg, and since he would be in Portland tonight, I wanted to go.  We fed the girls and ate then left in enough time to get all the way to the hall in south Portland. Ok, it’s later now. We had a great time!  Michael remembered me (and Lydia). He was sad to hear of her passing. His son was born on my birthday and is 28 already! Wow! His calling is second to none and Cat really enjoying dancing to him and meeting him.  I had a chance to talk to him in depth and later, dancing to him brought back some old fond memories. 

We did decide to leave early so we could make the drive back (with no issues) and got in around 10:15pm to check in on Rylee before calling it a night. She ended up wanting to get up on our bed (her usual starting point to sleep for a few hours) so I did have to help her up. She gets hot after a bit and I knew she would want to get down so I put pillows and stuff on the floor for when she wanted to get down where it was cooler. I heard her later and she managed to avoid all of the stuff on the floor but it was ok because she lands on her front feet anyway. No harm done.

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.