Oregon Living 2026 – Blog #20 – Mowing, Getting Together With Friends, and Getting a Delivery!

 

  

Sunday, May 24^th., 2026……   Since this was Memorial weekend, we didn’t have a class scheduled for tonight, so we had the whole day free! So, we decided to mow while we had a dry day. Cat went off to church while I went out and got the mowers out. They still had enough gas from last time to mow again. Penny came over and we started in. I think it was an hour and a half and we were done. Cat found a sprinkler head on the lawn and it was one of the ones I had just installed. Turns out the pressure was too much for the fitting I tried to use and it just blew out!  No harm though. I will need to put a hose clamp on it and try again. Once we were done and had the mowers blown off and stored, we were done for the day. I spent the rest of the day watching races. The Charlotte 600 and the Indy 500. I had taped the two other Nascar races and watched those first. I have been following the story about the Nascar world losing Kyle Busch. 

He was never my no. 1 favorite driver but I really liked him. I was always a Tony Stewart fan and Kyle was a younger version of him in my eyes. No doubt, he was one of the best race car drivers to date and he will be missed. It is so sad to see his wife and kids lose him at only 41 years. Goes to show you that, even in the best of health, you need to be careful and not ignore symptoms and just try to push through. Trust me - it makes more sense to you as you get older!  Anyway, such a tough loss for everyone! He will be missed. I know I have several cars of his that I will keep in a special place in my display.      

Monday, May 25^th., 2026…… Celebrating MEMORIAL DAY today. 

Please be sure to remember those servicemen (and I also include first responders here as well) who gave their lives to this great country we live in. I myself can remember several of my high school buddies who didn’t make it back from Vietnam. Especially my good friend Mitch Silvers. You will all be remembered!

We skipped Kevin’s today because they were closed and ate breakfast at home. I helped Cat prep her famous Jim’s Beans for later today. She also made a blueberry cobbler. Later in the day, we packed all of the food and drinks and chairs and loaded the pups and headed down to Brownsville for Cat’s annual Memorial Day get together with her girlfriends. It was rainy but we were in the covered patio area and had it to ourselves today. It was nice to visit and enjoy all of the great food everyone brought. Cat brought extra containers so her friends could take leftover beans and cobbler home. Even with that, we will still have so much left that we will freeze the beans. We’ll nibble on the cobbler for a few days though!

We stopped by the cemetery where Jim is buried....

Today was also the 6^th anniversary of Lydia’s passing. I had spent some time by myself this morning just quietly remembering….

When we got back home, we unloaded everything and rested for the day. Nothing else so we watched tv till bedtime.    

Tuesday, May 26^th., 2026……  No rain this morning, so we got up and showered and then walked and fed the girls, then headed out to breakfast, since we couldn’t go yesterday. We drove to The Point in Sweet Home. Becky waited on us and we had a good visit and a nice meal. The lake looks really good, although the cooler weather (and the holiday yesterday) kept folks away today. I kicked myself for not taking our fishing equipment since we had nothing to do the rest of the day! Next up on my to-do list is the get the boat out and serviced before it’s too late! Later, we talked about the side by side and decided that it was time to go for it!  I will message Sam and ask if we could come up and maybe make a deal.

Wednesday, May 27^th., 2026……  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM IN HEAVEN!  It started out as a beautiful morning. We had the girls walked and fed and Sam, the owner of the Kawasaki, said he would be there today after noon, so we set a time to meet. We left the house and took the back roads to his place. Cat had never been this way (or couldn’t remember) so this was a nice morning drive.  We met with Sam and looked at all three of the vehicles he had. He had just got in one from his shop where they finally received the needed parts for the steering column. So, it was there for us to consider. It is a single seat, whereas the one I liked (a 2019 Kawasaki 4010 red mule) has a back seat and seats 4. This other one is only a two-wheel drive, but Cathye liked it because it “was cute”!  But, in the end, we decided that it would be better to get the one I first saw because it has four-wheel drive and would be a better fit for our property in the long run. Sam and I negotiated and I made a deal for a cheaper price, including delivery. We paid a deposit and arranged for a Friday delivery at our place. Needless to say, I was excited!  We drove home – this time on the I-205 and then down the I-5. We got lucky because on the way down the I-5 everyone chain reacted to something ahead of us, and the pickup directly in front of me swerved but still hit the guy in front of him. I got stopped with inches to the rear bumper and the guy behind me just missed rear-ending us! Whew! On we went and about three miles later, we saw a police car pulled over and then saw the accident. But the story doesn’t end here!  This happened again several more miles down the road. Another fender bender. But everyone got stopped in time. We considered ourselves very lucky! When we got back home, we fed the girls and I spent some time reading the manual I took out of the mule and brought home!     

Thursday, May 28^th., 2026…… An open day. Again, we had a nice day again. Temps in the 70s today!  We left and went to the gym, then to Kristi’s for breakfast. We stopped and got the Honda washed. This time we chose to spend time to vacuum. We called and checked in on Frank and Maryanne who were in a car accident and had  totaled their car. They said they were ok, just a few bruises. Maryanne has issues getting in and out of their pickup, so we offered them the Honda until they can get another car. We texted them and then Frank called later because I had volunteered to drive them up to Portland to look at another car. He asked if I could go tomorrow because he has an 11:00 am appointment. Turns out that wasn’t going to work because Sam was scheduled to deliver the Mule around noonish. They decided to just drive and look and, if they buy, they will need a few days to get everything together. Saturday would be ok for both of us if that happens. Later, I heard back from Frank that they didn’t like the car in Portland and will continue to look.  We settled in and watched tv until getting into the spa before calling it a night.        

Friday, May 29^th., 2026…… I couldn’t sleep much last night!  I am excited and have been thinking about projects around the yard again!  Of course, I have already been on Amazon looking for Kawasaki parts and accessories! We had some rain when it was time to walk the girls, so we cancelled that.  Sam messaged me that his google maps showed that he would be here around 11:20am. Just before that, I went out and brought in the trash bins, and was out there when he drove in.  It only took a few minutes to unload the mule and pay him the balance and he was gone and I was already playing with my new toy!

 

Both Cat and I drove it around the yard and got used to it. My first job was to take the doors off for the summer. I had that done and then decided to take off the side-view mirrors that were attached to them to maybe put on the mule for the year. I had an issue and broke a screw so I will now need to use an easy-out to remove it. But no hurry. There is also a yellow service light installed on the roof which I don’t have a need for, so I will have to get Cat to help hold the wrench from inside while I remove it. I also found a second operator’s manual. This thing has two glove compartments and when Sam didn’t find it in one, he just took the one out of the sister mule to give to me. So, now I will have to mail one back to him tomorrow.

Later, we ate leftovers and watched some of our taped programs before calling it a night.

Saturday, May 30^th., 2026…… No dances or anything tonight so we didn’t have any plans. I got in the new handlebar grips for the Can Am and they went on pretty easily. I went out and worked on the mule for a bit. Later, we were scheduled to go over to Nick and Kaynor’s for a yard game day and potluck. I had texted Frank to see if he needed me to drive them to pick up their car. As I said, they didn’t get the one in Portland and were headed down to Eugene to look at one. I volunteered to drive them so we met up in Corvallis and they parked their truck and got in our car. Turns out that was the best idea because they found one on a lot in Eugene and ended up buying it that day and were able to drive it back to where they parked their truck. Meanwhile, Cat was set to go to the party. But when I called her from Eugene saying it would be a while, she said she didn’t want to go alone, so she ended up staying home. No worries, just a nice relaxing day. We spent the rest of it hanging around the house and then watched tv until calling it a night.