Oregon Living 2024 – Blog #19 – A Busy Week!

 

Managing her Monitor, a Casino Run, Hosting Dinner, a Family Concert, Dancing, Mowing, & Missing the Aurora Borealis

Sunday, May 5^th., 2024…… Yet another rainy morning. The skies would clear up later. Like we always say up here – if you don’t like the weather, wait 10 minutes! I know - we complain about the rain a lot, but other folks will complain about it being too hot, or too cold! I still wouldn’t trade this place for anything! We were up late this morning, so we split up tasks after walking the dogs. I went for breakfast sandwiches and coffee/chai tea, while Cat fed the girls. She got ready to go off to church and when I got back, we just switched places in the car and she took her breakfast to go!  I spent some time watching my races. I forgot to mention yesterday that I spent a few hours watching the Kentucky Derby. 

It was the 150^th running of this great race. I have been to the facility and want to take Cat one of these days. The place is fascinating. Of course we would like to actually go to the race. But they already have all of the seats booked for next year’s derby (and maybe past that too!) so we would have to plan this one out. When she returned, I was watching one of my races when she got a call from Cheryl that they were taking an afternoon trip to the coast to Three Rivers Casino and did she want to go (yes, I was asked too but declined). They came and picked her up and they spent the afternoon and evening going to and from the coast and enjoying a few hours of happy gambling time with the machines. I heard the machines won!  Once we got settled in, we watched our own shows for the rest of the evening and then went out to the spa. She has figured out she can sit in one of the higher seats in the spa and keep her device dry!  

Monday, May 6^th., 2024…… Normal day for us – except we were monitoring Cat closely at the gym. I mentioned this before about her monitor and logbook - if she feels short of breath or anything else, she presses the button on the device and then logs it into her logbook/journal as an incident. She says once the device gets sent off for analysis, the logbook helps explain any jumps in the readings on the device. I think she said she pressed it once during her workout.

Later, when we got back home after breakfast, we got a 3 cubic yard scoop load of sawdust delivered and dropped off from Mike. It will go in the blueberry cage after we get in there and weed a bit. I already ran a soaker hose around each of the 6 blueberry plants and tested them to see if they are getting enough water. Like I said, the sawdust will go in later and keep the weeds out and the ground wet for the berries.

Tuesday, May 7^th., 2024…… The weather is now fantastic up here! Sunny and nice! Temps in the 70s and 80s for the next few weeks!  I think the rains are behind us for a while! We still have soggy grass in the lower sections of the lawn but it’s getting better. But we are now starting to use the irrigation system to water the flowerbeds and especially the raised bed, which is soaking up the water! Later, we went off to class. Cathye did better and only sat out the last portion. But she still will log in an incident. When we got back home, she called her doctor’s office because they said to if she didn’t get a call with a schedule date for her echocardiogram. It went back and forth for the afternoon but she did get a call. It will be in July! Wow, the wheels have come off the medical wagon here in Oregon! It seems like everything is booked out 6-8 weeks. We are figuring this timeline out – next step is a call from the doctor after he gets the results from the monitor (we mail it on Mon. the 13^th. to a lab in Calif for analysis so that will most likely take a week or more). He will most likely wait until the echo gets done and back to him. Then we think he’ll refer her to a cardiologist and if we get a call back to schedule that in a week or two, we’ll feel lucky. After the cardiologist calls, they will most likely be booked out 4-6 weeks!  And who knows what the timeframe is if they want to install a pacemaker. We are looking at October November !!!  She says her two friends each got fast-tracked after they both fainted and went to the ER! We hope it doesn’t come to that….

Wednesday, May 8^th., 2024…… Cathye slept in a bit while I walked the dogs. I went out and got us breakfast and then later went back to the store with a list of things she needs for her chicken pot pie for tonight. We are having three square dance couples over for dinner and games. After we had everything ready to put together, she worked a bit in her garden/flowerbeds. Don’t ask me what she has put in – there was a ton of stuff she has accumulated in the last few weeks! She took a picture of the roses that are doing nicely now

During her time out there, she pushed her monitor again and came in rested for a bit. I vacuumed the house and then I rested too. Later, Cat got the ingredients together and I helped her load it into the pie and she got that going in time for it to be ready when they got here. 

We had a very nice meal and then decided to play Mexican train. I had to explain my house rules since there are numerous ways to play this game. It took some time, but everyone got going. I think we played until 11:30 or something. A long but fun day!  

Thursday, May 9^th., 2024…… Today we had several things on our agenda. We walked and fed the girls then headed off to the gym (monitor again), then breakfast. We barely had time to get back before I left again for the first of our massage appointments today. Cat and I crossed as I was leaving and she was coming in. I fed the dogs their dinner and we had a few minutes before we headed off to Salem. We were invited to Brandyn’s and Baylee’s school chorus concert tonight. We stopped at Applebee’s for dinner and then drove to their school and got parked and met up with the kids. We got seats – behind this guy…..

and watched a great concert. They had a group of kids who played violins who started off the program. Then a small group of students played ukeleles and sang one song. The chorus was next. Both Baylee and Brandyn did great and knew their songs! It was short (about 35 minutes total) and we got back home in plenty of time to let the girls out. Then a few minutes of tv then spa and bed.   

Friday, May 10^th., 2024…… Nothing on the agenda today. Well, we did have…. Corey was going to come pull weeds with Mike’s friend. But last night Corey informed us that he would be waiting until the kids got out of school then all of them would be coming. Vikki would help share his time. Well, we read between the lines and figured that the kids would want in the spa, and Vikki would be wanting to help with dinner – which we didn’t plan. So, since Cat was not feeling well in the morning and was needing a ‘chill’ day, I texted him that his grandmother was feeling tired and we needed to reschedule. Also turns out Mike’s guy was a no-show. We would tell him that later at the dance. So, after she had her morning sleep-in (with Butthead joining her)...

we went across the street to Paul and Corie's yard sale. Yes, we found stuff! I worked some on the yard. We now hope to mow tomorrow. Later, we headed off to the senior center. They were having a meeting of the just-formed senior rv/camping group. We met some new folks and listened and learned that they are not as well organized as we thought at this time. But they had some great ideas for campouts and were just needing input from the group before they can get a schedule going for upcoming campouts.  We volunteered to give them feedback about the park we will be in when we go down to Grant Pass in our motorhome for our memorial Day square dance weekend. They also were interested in Crater Lake camping – which we told them would be extremely hard to get in with group camping. We shared that Diamond Lake is only about 5 miles from there and we would also check that out in July when we got there for another festival weekend.

After that, we dropped by the town’s Garden Club plant sale (Cat just got a couple). Once we got back home, we decided we were done for the day. Temps got up into the low 80s and we aren’t used to that so we came in the house. Our a/c even kicked on for the first time this year. Later, I got dressed for tonight’s alliance plus dance in Albany. We picked up Lynn and then went and got Mike and Cheryl from the senior center parking lot and went over. Cat doesn’t dance Plus but Lynn has just learned and we convinced her to go. She was nervous and made a few mistakes but overall did great. There wasn’t anyone there who was perfect! The IOOF hall there in town is really old and doesn’t have a/c, so we rested when we needed to to cool down and we got through the night. After the dance, some of us went over to Denny’s for an afterparty. It was midnight when we got home. That was planned because we wanted to see if we could catch the Northern Lights, which we were told could be seen from our area right now. We checked it out when we got home but didn’t see anything. The next day we would see Facebook posts from friends in town who saw it…

Awesome pics!  Maybe tomorrow…       

Saturday, May 11^th., 2024…… Even after our late night last night, we found ourselves up and going early. We walked and fed the dogs, then went over to Tallman Brewery to meet up with Penny and Cherrelyn. Penny goes to the local pool for exercise classes and found the swim team there is hosting a fundraiser breakfast at Tallman’s. Penny bought tickets for all of us. Thanks, Sis!  Cherrelyn got there early and got us a table. We had pancakes and sausage and coffee. 

Plus we bought mimosas from the bar. We finished up and came home and rested for a few minutes. We both went out and got to work on spreading the sawdust on the blueberries. I would haul wheelbarrow loads and Cat would spread it out. I think it took about 45 minutes for the entire project but we were both pooped. Another incident for Cat to report! 

After we rested for a while, it was time to get ready to mow! Yaay!  I left Cat and went and got the mowers out and gassed up. Penny came by and we started in. The grass was pretty thick but we managed to get it all cut in quick order. Temps got up in the 80s again but we all had our sunscreen on so we were good.  There was a Mainstream dance in Corvallis tonight (which Cat could do), but we were both ready for a night off. We watched tv until about 10:00pm then went out to check out the northern skies. Nope. I set the alarm for 2:00am and we went to bed. For some reason, Cathye woke up at 1:00am and checked. Nothing. I got up at 2:00am when the alarm went off. Still nothing. Oh well!     

Oregon Living 2024 – Blog #18 – Dealing With Weather & Some Life Changing News

 

Sunday, April 28^th., 2024…… Not much on the agenda today. We walked the pups and I went out and got us breakfast and coffee. After that, Cathye had church and I watched my races. Later, we went to Sweet Home to help at their beginner’s class. Tv and spa until bedtime. A lazy Sunday.

Monday, April 29^th., 2024…… Cathye was tired this morning and slept in a bit while I took the girls out for their walk. She didn’t feel like going to the gym or to breakfast so we passed on that. She can’t figure out why she is tired all of the time. She has been in to her doctor before and they had her do labs, but nothing’s changed. So, she decided to go into their walk-in clinic this morning. We took off and drove to his office. They looked at her but didn’t have time to do anything more because they had an emergency come in just before. Her doctor is very thorough and wants to spend more time and do a full workup, so they got her into the schedule for tomorrow. So, we came home to rest. Later, I spent some time out in my shop cutting and fitting shelf brackets for my cars. After all my additions, I have two continuous shelving units now – running around the entire room. BUT – I have more cars! So, I have been thinking about adding some shelves in the corner where there is wasted space. I got those done while Cathye transplanted some of the plants she bought last weekend at the plant sale. They look great and the planter box is also coming along well!

Dinner and tv and spa then bed.  

Tuesday, April 30^th., 2024…… We had an 11:30am appointment so we hung around the house today just waiting. We made it in and they did an EKG before the doctor came in. Well, it turns out that her heart rate is too low for her body needs when she is moving about and exercising. That makes her labored and weak and out of breath easily. That definitely explains it!  He had ordered a 10-14 day home monitor for her and that will determine next steps. He has also ordered an echo cardiogram for her. He said it wasn’t a major issue and most likely these results will indicate that she would likely just need a pacemaker. He said that would help when she needs a faster heartrate while exercising. She is to continue her normal activities and rest when she needs to.

On the ride home, we talked about all of this. Of course we were shocked and it will take some time to process all of this. But she has learned there are two friends at her church with pacemakers and they both lead normal lives and neither of us knew they had them!  Later, we drove to our Tuesday workshop. Cat danced part of the first bit then needed to sit down. We came home and rested and talked about the day. Tv and more talk while we tried to relax in the spa.

Wednesday, May 1^st., 2024…… We got a call this morning telling her she has an appointment for the monitor later this afternoon.  

We had decided to go try a new place for breakfast this morning. Well, it’s not new. Hangry Solutions started out here in town as a food truck, then moved into the old Seeds Italian place. Now, they have relocated yet again and have added to their schedule and menu items. We had heard they now serve a pretty good breakfast so we went to try it. Cathye especially liked the gravy. For me, it was just ok. In my opinion, both Kevin’s and Kristi’s are better. But we will be going back again. We ran into a couple of square dance friends there and they ate with us. They just got back from snow-birding in Arizona, so It was nice to catch up. From breakfast, we headed over to Costco and stocked up. Later, we drove over to the local hospital and went in for the attachment. It mounts just over the heart and records data. She’s not allowed to get it submerged (like in the spa) but can shower with it. There is a button to press when she feels exertion. Then she logs in a journal the time of day and what she was doing at the time. She pushed it after she came back in from the garden. Later that night, she said she had to adjust a little in bed to avoid the tape pinch but – trust me – she slept soundly through the night!     

Thursday, May 2^nd., 2024…… It was another normal morning. Walk and feed the dogs, go to the gym (Cat knocked down time and reps and did well), and go to breakfast. Another time to press the button. Jamie is back home now and she checked in on him. With med changes, he seems to be doing ok. The folks there will be monitoring him closely for a while. Later this morning, we spent some time working on the cruise details to add to my spreadsheet.  We needed to input the excursions as well. Our agent also asked us to resubmit our personal profile forms. Turns out I had left out our middle names on her forms which have to exactly match our passport because she will book everything based on that ID.  No worries – that was done in quick order. She also found us flights both going and coming home. As a bonus, they are on airlines with association with Cats Alaska Airlines’ frequent flyer program so we will each earn miles going and coming!  Great job!  After that, I went out and put a coat of paint on my shelf brackets.

Later, we watched our taped Survivor and Home Time shows and then went in the spa. Cathye sat in a higher seat so she could keep the device dry. It worked and that will help these next couple of weeks!    

Friday, May 3^rd., 2024…… Today was beautiful!  Blue skies and warmer temps (for us anyway!). Cathye continued with her plantings. I put another coat of paint on my shelf brackets. We both took it easy today. No plans this afternoon. There is a dance tonight and I will leave the choice up to her. Later, the skies opened up. It’s supposed to be rainy off and on for the next several days. We are sure looking forward to sun and dry skies!  Ok, it’s later now, we decided to go, even in the rain. Turns out they only had one square plus a few extra so we were able to sit out every other tip, which worked out for Cat. We left before the last tip and headed home to the spa and then bed.

Saturday, May 4^th., 2024…… More rain – just like they said!  A couple of our neighbors were out early yesterday mowing while the sun was out. For us, it takes a little more organization to get everyone out there. So, we missed that window of opportunity and will have to wait. But Adam came over for his weekly work and did most of it in the rain. We hung out inside for the day. We had signed up for tomatoes for Taco Night at our Club dance so I worked on that. The Club sets up and serves the meal 45 minutes before the dance and we had to get there early so I could help set up tables and chairs.  We also volunteered to bring cut up fruit for the munchy table during the dance and Cathye got that ready. The dance was fun and the Club has tons of Cinco de Mayo decorations and with the taco buffet, it all looked very festive. Once the dance was over, I helped clean up and we headed home. Cathye danced enough and was pretty worn out. She was very diligent and logged in when she was feeling labored. But we are watching carefully and she knows when to slow down. It will take some time to adjust but this data (which the instruction says will be gathered for 10-11) needs to get honestly recorded with everyday life and analyzed so they can see what next steps will be. Time will tell.    

Oregon Living 2024 – Blog #17 – Checking in on Jamie, a Happy Anniversary to Us, & a Trip up North to Say Goodbye to Family!

 

 

Monday, April 22^nd., 2024…… We slept in a bit this morning even though we went to bed early last night!  We went to breakfast and skipped the gym this morning so Cathye could go over to Corvallis to visit Jamie. They did surgery and he is recovering slowly. She said they will be keeping him for observation and evaluation. Since she spoke to the doctors there and explained his history, we hope that they take the next step and seriously look into his meds. When she got back, we rested and then she worked on the flower beds. The irrigation system we had upgraded last year has been off all winter and is in need of a few tweaks (especially in the flower beds where the isolators and drippers are) before we can use them. Of course we have rain forecast from Wednesday through next Tuesday but she needs to get water on those new bulbs and plants she just put in. I can turn on just those areas as needed so we’re good for now.     

Tuesday, April 23^rd., 2024…… Cat called the hospital this morning to check on Jamie. No changes. She went out to work more on her plantings while I got all three mowers out. Since this is the last dry day for a while, the plan is to mow around 11:00am. Yesterday, I had to run a battery charger on the Sears Pro tractor since we hadn’t used it yet this season. After the charge and adding some gas, it’s good to go!  Penny came over and we started in. I think it took an hour and a half. Penny left and I hosed off all three mowers while Cathye came in to clean up and change because she and Lynn and Judy were going to an afternoon tea at the senior center.  Our square dance workshop was cancelled today because they needed that room for the tea.  So, I relaxed and watched this weekend’s races that I had recorded. Cat got back home and said it was a fun afternoon. She brought back some of the ‘crumpets’ they were served for me to try. Yummy!  Later, we watched tv and rested from the day. Spa and bed.

Wednesday, April 24^th., 2024…… HAPPY 2^ND. ANNIVERSARY TO US!! We were up early and out with the dogs. Once they were fed, we headed off to recreate our first date. It was on this day three years ago that we physically met at Appletree for breakfast. She drove up in her truck and parked next to my truck. I had truck envy! But our date was wonderful and I thought let’s do it again! She was going from there directly to the hospital so we took two trucks again! We parked in the same spaces and even got the same booth!  She brought her binder with our back-and-forth texts printed out. She also brought our wedding vows that we each read again. We said our goodbyes and she headed off. I had some errands to run on the way home and took care of that. I had to take the detour around the back way to get home. They started Monday on the main street for us coming and going into town. It’s being re-paved (finally) and it will mean taking a long detour for a few weeks. We did it last year when they tore it up for new sewer and water lines. Not fun but we’re looking forward to a nice newly paved drive in a few weeks! When I got home, I saw we had visitors!...

 

Snow geese occasionally land here, these two stayed a while!  I even waited to get a pic of them when they walked by Morris the moose!!

When Cathye got home, she rested for a bit, then went out to plant the lily I gave her. Oops, I guess she changed her mind because she left it in the pot and put it in our bathroom!

While she was doing that, I headed out to Wilco to get some more pvc pipes and fittings. When the water spigot got run over last season, I just shut off that valve.  I had previously gone out and bought and glued up and installed all of the fittings last week to make the repair. Turns out when I cut the broken pipe off, I didn’t go down far enough because there was still a small crack below where I made the repair and it was really leaking. With pvc glue, you can’t just undo – you must replace everything again! I have all of the parts again, but it is raining now so I will wait on that install.

Later, we dressed and headed off to celebrate our anniversary. We went back to 1847, which is the name of the nice restaurant in the same complex where we were married.

We had reservations and got seats overlooking the Japanese gardens. The appetizer (salmon cakes)

and the entrees (pork tenderloin for Cat)

and (rockfish for me)

 

were all really delicious. With a couple of drinks each, we were stuffed! After the great meal, we walked the gardens. It was nice!  They do an excellent job maintaining all of the varieties of plants and bushes and shrubs as well as the koi pond.

 

After that, we stopped in on the Club board meeting which was just getting started. Typical square dance meeting – too much chaos and drama, too many voices and not enough order! But they have been doing it like this for many, many years so we (ok – me!) try not to intervene!  After the meeting, we came home and got in the spa and talked about the day. It was very special and enjoyable. We agreed that we could have skipped the meeting but since we are part of the upcoming Strawberry Festival planning, we knew we had to go.  

Thursday, April 25^th., 2024…… We slept in this morning. I have one item on today’s agenda – take Rylee in later today to the vet for her annual checkup and shots. It was 9:15am when I looked at my phone’s calendar. Oops, my appointment was at 9:00am! I arrived late (blamed the road closure) and they got me in within 15 minutes. Rylee is healthy – she just said she could slim down a few pounds!  We got back home and Cat went off to visit Jamie and I worked on re-installing the water spigot. Later, I tested it and no leaks! Cathye worked on her raised bed garden. I bought some topsoil and she mixed that in with her new plantings.  

Friday, April 26^th., 2024…… We were up early Jamie didn’t want visitors today so she got a rest from driving in. Nothing on the agenda today so we caught up on small chores. We had planned on going down to Eugene/Springfield for a dance, but as time got closer, neither of us really could get into it. So, we stayed home and lounged around and watched tv for the evening. Spa and then bed.  

Saturday, April 27^th., 2024…… This morning we were up and going early. We were going up to Portland this morning to load up and bring back some items from Tait’s place. She has decided to move back to New Hampshire and will leave in a few weeks. After showering and dressing and walking and feeding the dogs, Cat made us coffee and we heated up breakfast burritos and then headed out. We had loaded up bubble wrap, cardboard boxes and tarps in Cat’s truck. On the drive up, we stopped by to pick up Josh, who was helping today. It was sprinkling off and on so we decided to go out to have lunch first before loading up the truck. Her little sofa was only 64 inches and she just had a few items which we wrapped and loaded with little issues. I had to leave the tailgate open and needed to tie down and tarp the overhanging load, but it should ride just fine. We said our goodbyes to Tait and headed back home. The load did fine and we got home and unloaded before the sprinkles came our way. We came in and rested from the day. The dance tonight was in Salem, but since we drove all day, I just didn’t want to go out and drive 80 miles up and back! So, another relaxing spa night before bed.   

Oregon Living 2024 – Blog #16 – A Fun Campout & then Some Scary News

 

Sunday, April 14^th., 2024…… The weather is on and off today. We had clouds early and it was in the 40s when we walked the dogs but the sun came out and it was a great day until mid-afternoon. The rains came in but didn’t last too long. After breakfast, Cathye headed off to church and I worked on cleaning up the lower storage compartments in the motorhome. We will be leaving on Friday for our square dance weekend at Camp Koinonia  (Koy-o-nea) and although we won’t have any amenities, I wanted to make sure I had what we needed in there. After that, I was in the house for the rest of the afternoon watching my races. Cathye worked in the garden and in her shed then came in to relax too.  Later, we went to the Beginner’s class in Sweet Home to help out there, then we went to the senior center where I helped at the last night of our Club’s Plus class. Our Club will sponsor our own Beginner’s class again this year, but that won‘t start until September. Our last Club dance will be in June where we culminate the season when we have our Strawberry Festival Weekend. Most all of the square dance clubs in the state here only dance from September to June. They say there are two main reasons. One is that the summer crops come in and they lose a lot of those members for the harvest. The other is that most of the facilities up here are older and do not have AC. So it’s too hot to dance during the summer nights. Either way, we are bummed!  But they say there are clubs around the area who will have special dances and we hope to find those to help keep Cathye’s skills on point.       

Monday, April 15^th., 2024…… Typical Monday for us – Walk and feed the dogs, then head out to the gym and then breakfast. They are doing a special retirement party for Frank at the campout. Frank, a beloved long time member of the Lebanon Square Circlers, is retiring from Pape´ Machinery, who sells and services farm equipment. He also runs his family’s farm. All of the Club members have been asked to dress up in ‘farmer’s outfits’ for the Friday night dance. We also have a skit planned and we are part of that, so, I made sure we had those outfits loaded up in the coach. I also like to get my other clothes out there early so I don’t forget. I got everything packed and went out to the shop to work on our Club badges. The folks up here are big on ‘dangles’ on their club badge. When we got them, we hung them one under the other from the badges. That got too long and they got in the way when we dance. We saw someone who had a bar under their badge to hang multiple dangles. Great idea - so, I found some aluminum binder posts for computer books out in my old boxes in the garage. I was able to modify them and drill them out to hang under the badge. We can now add more and more dangles as we get them. I went back into my old badge boxes and found some that meant something to me (like dancing at Disneyland) and added them to my badge.

Later, we went out to dinner and then came back to try to catch up on more of our taped shows. Spa then bed.

Tuesday, April 16^th., 2024…… More nice weather. We don’t have rain in the forecast until this weekend. I guess I have to think about mowing again! We did our regular senior center sponsored square dance workshop today.  Charlotte tells us that even though she’s retiring, that as long as she has folks show up, she will continue these Tuesday workshops all year. There are folks who only come on Tuesdays and don’t go anywhere else dancing so they don’t get too much floor time but still like to come out with us.  She loves to help them!  

Wednesday, April 17^th., 2024…… After our walk and breakfast, we went Walmart for more items for the casseroles we are planning for breakfast at the outing this weekend. Later in the morning, when the sun was out and it was nice and warm, I pulled out the motorhome and we washed it. I have always had a process and it’s even easier here in the Northwest. In Calif. we would always have to rinse off the rig with de-ionized water and dry off everything quickly because the water would spot. Nasty!  Since we have clean, soft water with not a lot of oxidants, we do not have to dry off anything! So we were done quickly and after an hour or so, I was able to back it in the garage. Another job done!

Thursday, April 18^th., 2024…… Both Judy and Lynn are coming over this morning. They are helping Cat get six casseroles cooked up. I pretty much stayed out of their way. They sent me off to the store (again). I would go back yet again later after I dropped the dogs off at the groomers. We are also making a large bowl of cut up fruit for the Saturday morning breakfast and we needed more fruit variety.  Well, I went in and went crazy! We already had strawberries, blueberries, apples and pears. I bought tangerines, grapes, a cantaloupe and a pineapple. I also bought whipped cream but later, we would decide not to use that. It would be just fresh fruit. I cut up and bagged the fruit while they cooked. While things were in the oven, I showed them the videos I have from the 2007 Rustler Christmas Party and the 1989 Rustler Talent show. Some of us guys dressed up and did a ‘Square Dance Ladies Of the Night’ fashion show skit for that party.  Between that and the ‘If I were Not a Square Dancee’ skit we did in 89, I had a hard time deciding which one I had more fun doing!  Everyone laughed through both videos. Once we had everything cooked, the girls went home and later we wrapped everything in foil and got them in the fridge, ready to take out to the motorhome tomorrow. I went and got the pups and we all rested from the day.      

Friday, April 19^th., 2024…… We were up early and going 90 miles an hour. We are on the campout committee so we were allowed to come in at noon with the rv.  Cathye and I loaded up the rest of our clothes and we got the food transferred to the rv fridge. She ran over to a plant sale just around the corner from us. The local Future Farmers of America (like the 4H club) is close by and they had a fund raiser. Cat ended up making two trips and surely added to their funds! She got back in time for us to head out and check in to Camp Koinonia just after 12:30pm. Mike was there and got me parked right next to the buildings. There aren’t too many hookups anywhere and this was the best spot for our coach. I was able to run a cord to the building and we would have (limited) power. The other rvs came in later. I think the final count was 9 rigs. They also have cabins and rooms for those who want to stay. I think they had 6 or 7 rooms with bunks in use for this weekend. We helped stage the hall with tables and chairs and got the fireplace going for those who were chilly. We personally took our chairs outside and soon there were 12-15 folks out there with their chairs, enjoying the wonderful sunshiny day! Later, we changed into our outfits and got Cathye’s cherry crumble out to for the potluck. Turns out she did not have the brown sugar for the crumbles so she used a ribbon crust instead. Naomi made a peach cobbler and they both got great reviews! We had tons of food. It’s true – square dancers are great cooks!

 

The dance was fun!  We had three squares tonight. Later in the evening, we did a skit using ‘Farmer in the Dell’ as the song. I started it inside a circle and took a wife and she took a child, and a dog, cat, rat, and cheese as the song goes. It ended when the cheese turned out to be Frank and he stood alone! Then we sang him the Happy birthday song except it was Happy Retirement to you! He blushed a lot! A lot of fun. Thanks, Cheryl for coming up with this one!

More pics from the day and evening….

 

After the dance, many stayed to play games. The next morning I heard they were up until past midnight! 

We went out to go to bed. But we got a call around 11:00pm from Jamie, who was in the ER in Lebanon and wanted a ride home. He said they brought him in because he couldn’t breathe. They checked out his vitals and found no issues and eventually he wanted to come home. We told him to call for an Uber which would be faster since we weren’t around. It was a long day and both of us fell asleep quickly.

Saturday, April 20^th., 2024…… We were up early – thanks to a call from the kitchen coordinator, Grace – asking me to get out the butter from the fridge. I got the coffee going and then Lynn and Cat got the casseroles in the warmer and I got the fruit out and ready in time for the 8:30am start time. We set up two lines in the kitchen and had signs for each. (2 sausage, 2 bacon, 1 ham, and 1 veggie).  

People came and went but in the end, I think we fed 38 people! Of course we had plenty of food. We cut the portions at 8 per dish (x6) and they were big enough that most folks cut them again so they could try all types. So, we had plenty of food. The leftovers would remain in the kitchen and get pulled out to get reheated for lunch as they chose. Later, we went off to the fish hatchery for a tour. We are camped on the Santiam River and the facility is only  a ¼ north of us, at the base of the Foster Lake dam. The hatchery incubates and raises spring Chinook Salmon and Summer Steelhead as well as rainbow trout. Once released, the salmon head to sea and will return to the gates and holding ponds of the hatchery, where they are captured and used for broodstock for the cycle. The kids in the group were fascinated and got to feed what fish they had at that time. 

After that tour, we headed down to the holding pond to have a short square dance to earn our ‘fish dangles’. 

Once we walked back to camp, we rested and got ready for the bbq and Saturday night dance. Oh yeah, we got teepee'd !

After dinner, Mike and Cheryl’s family came and they set up and mc’d a special presentation to celebrate mom and dad’s 50^th anniversary. At the end of the video, both Mike and Cheryl were wiping their eyes!  It was super fun. We had previously helped them celebrate last month when we took them to breakfast on their actual anniversary, but this was such a nice surprise for them. I only got one pic from the presentation but here they are after 50 years together!….    

We hung around the dance for most of the night but a little later we heard from Jamie’s home that he had another bout and this one was more serious. He had major anxiety and actually hurt himself enough that paramedics saw he needed immediate medical attention and also some deeper psycho evaluation so they transported him to Corvallis. We later talked to the folks and they said it wasn’t life threatening but they would keep him there and he would be watched. Cat called his brother in AZ, who called their aunt so all were informed. So, we adjusted our plans for tomorrow before calling it a night. She would take the car and head off directly to the hospital in the morning and I would help the ladies set up for the oatmeal breakfast and then later, do the required cleanup of the hall and then break camp and take the motorhome back to the house. A long fun day and we were now both stressed as well as tired!  

Sunday, April 21^st., 2024…… I wanted to continue today as a follow up from Jamie’s situation. As stated, I stayed and helped out and Cathye drove over to Corvallis to see Jamie. He is stable but the doctors want to do more psychiatric tests on him. The doctors spent time with Cat and she explained his history (he has had these issues before) and that his doctor has recently changed his meds and she thinks that is causing this behavioral pattern to emerge again. I don’t have all of the details and I don’t want to get too detailed since this is their personal family business, but she and I are hoping that they will get his meds straightened out. More as I can share as this progresses….

I did get everything put away and when she came home, we relaxed and tried to unwind from the day.