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.