Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #35 – More Family Time!

Saturday, August 5th, 2017…..  This morning we got up early and got ready to go to the Corvallis Farmer’s Market.  Penny hadn’t been and we wanted to go get some more yummy pupusas!  We walked the whole place once and saw many food vendors, but those guys weren’t there!  We found out from our friends at OSU Organic Growers Club (we bought some of their blackberries) that they are only here on Wednesdays. Bummer!  We found a booth serving burritos and tried those.  Ok, but not what we wanted.  We did buy some veggies plus some local honey before heading home.  The weather broke today.  It was only in the 80s when we got back.  Lydia and I walked the yard, rethinking our plant placements, and she decided the grass was dry enough to mow.  So guess who got out the tractor! At least I would get to do the mowing. Hey, the weather was nice today! I found out later that I have to put sunscreen on my neck and ears. 

I decided to divide the property in thirds – 1) the front and back lawns, 2) the south field directly behind the house and workshop, and 3) the west ‘40’.  I will definitely mow the lawns but I thought that I should also mow the south field and I’ll leave the back 40 to the lawn service!  That would save me some money! But after spending about 2 hours on the lawn and field, I’m rethinking that again. I may just have him do all of the ‘field’ mowing, and I’ll do the lawns.  About 2/3rds in, Penny wanted to mow.  So I gave her a quick tutorial and off she went.  Just like Lydia – my day was over!  She finished up the field.  I took a few pictures of her plus the ‘creek’ and wild blackberries at the back of the field and headed in. 

The lawn is irrigated but the field is not so it's really dry and brown!

I waited for her in the shop with wet and dry towels and we cleaned up and put away the tractor and we were done!  We came in and rested.  I actually took a nap which I hardly ever do during the day.  We got a text that Maryanne was just crossing into Oregon and would be here in a few hours.  Lydia has pork in the crockpot for dinner so the timing may work to have her eat with us.  Ok, update, we ate without her.  She showed up later and we unloaded my car and she put her stuff away plus Penny’s overflow that she also brought up. We gave her a tour of the house and everything else and she settled in and relaxed from the day.  

 

Sunday, August 6th, 2017…..  I read in the local paper yesterday that the Sweet Home Elks Lodge was doing a breakfast this morning so we made plans last night to get up early and go.  The Lebanon Elks Lodge closed a few years ago and this one is the closest for me to transfer to.  So we wanted to go check it out.  We got everyone up and running and drove the 12 miles and found the lodge. We managed to find the right door and were welcomed by the folks manning the food stations.  Maryanne paid for breakfast!  Than you sweetie! We had pancakes, cook to order eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits and gravy, coffee and orange and tomato juices.  All you can eat for $7. All of it was very good. Bloody Marys were available for $4.00 if you so chose. One of the directors (Bob) told me he lives in Lebanon and used to live in Orange County.  He transferred from the Garden Grove Elks. My lodge! So later, when I was asking transferring my membership, I was introduced to Charley, the Exalted Ruler.  SHE was very nice!  Her husband has been an ER and he said it was her turn!  Anyway, I will go back some upcoming Wednesday for meeting night and get the paperwork started. It’s a fifteen minute drive so that would be about the same as Garden Grove for me. Afterward, we drove out to Foster Lake and then back through Lebanon and to Penny’s house to show Maryanne.  Penny got excited to see that they have actually started thinning out the garage.  They are supposed to be out by Aug. 14^th. We drove back through the town and then headed home so Maryanne could rest and catch up on her sleep schedule. We all rested too! Later, the girls took off to Walmart and picked up stuff for the week. I watched the NASCAR race and Mecum auctions off the dvr. Mostly a kick back day.    

Monday, August 7th, 2017…..     This morning we all split up.  Lydia worked on the very last box for the bathroom.  I installed the wall mounted hair dryers in the master bath then took off to Albany to Walmart for two more shelving units for my office and then to Costco to buy the other three steel racks units for the workshop.  Penny and Maryanne took off to explore the Santiam River.  Since it runs right behind her new house, she wanted to check out access.  They got back a while later and said they did find a nice spot and stuck their feet in the water and cooled off a bit.  Through many breaks and lunch I worked on getting all of the metal racks built and tied together. Lots of sweat but they look great.  

Now I have to work on getting everything up and on them!  Since it was such a broken up day, we didn’t fix a meal – each of us ate leftovers or snacks for dinner and each of us turned in when we got tired.