Oregon Living 2018 – Blog #126 – Dirty Dog, New Screen and a Clean Dog!

Wednesday, September 26th, 2018…...  Rylee has been in trouble lately. The other day she was off leash and took off to investigate the freshly mowed field. No worries about that but the problems start when I want her to ‘return’. She just buries her nose in the ground and ignores me. I had to go out with the leash and drag her back to the house. We had been tying her up on a long rope when she’s out in the yard but I thought I’d give her some slack. Well, now she’s back on the rope again! Another problem we have is the doggie door. The weather is really nice right now and the slider to the back porch is open, giving her access to the door in the screen. If we don’t put a chair in front of it when we don’t want her going out, she escapes and goes exploring. Well, sometimes we forget the chair, and this afternoon she made it out and then headed for the front yard ‘ditch’ out by the street. There is water in there right now (overflow from the sprinklers) so she romped through it and turned it to mud and came back in before we even knew she was out!

Needless to say, she got hosed down before she was allowed back in. Bad dog! 

Today I did a few small errands around the house and at my sister’s. Then it was just hanging around. I did have to run the vacuum and mop the wood floors to clean up the mud prints but it was still a quiet day.         

Thursday, September 27th, 2018…...  Rylee has really been good about sleeping later. She sleeps on the bed for most of the night but gets down when she gets too hot and wants to cool off by the slider. Plus, one of us can get up, let her out for a bit, then feed her and then come back to bed. Of course, she joins us but at least we get to relax for a few minutes longer!  Once we do get up and moving, we make the bed and she’s out of there for the day. Today, I walked her and then took off for Albany and the Home Depot and Lowes. I was looking for a replacement screen for the living room slider. That’s the one that has Rylee’s doggie door in it. The screen was scratched and torn in one spot plus I installed the doggie door where she could get through as a puppy. Well, she’s still a puppy but she’s 62 lbs. now (we took her to the vet to get her flea meds renewed and they weighed her) and the door is too low for her. I found the pet screen I was looking for and brought it home. I took the slider off and removed the screen. Problem was the longest screen was 84” and our windows were bigger than that! So, I had to take it back and look for a longer one. You can buy regular screen by the roll up to 25’ but it was not pet screen. So, I came back home and went online to Amazon and found some and ordered it. Meanwhile, I took the sliding screen off the bedroom door and put it in the other spot so we can use it.

That done, I was done for the day. We heard back from Tim and Dana today. They were back in town and were going to come over to look at the concrete cracks I’m experiencing. They volunteered to bring elk steaks to bbq. We set it up for tomorrow since we are going to Brewfest on Saturday. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watching tv until bedtime.   

Friday, September 28th, 2018…...  For some reason, we both woke up early this morning. I didn’t have anything on the list for today so we just spent time cleaning up the house a bit. We decided that since it was going to be warm today, I would give Rylee a bath. I have a stool that I can take in our walk-in shower and the spray head is on a flex line so I can reach her to wash and rinse. She is now sparkling white again and smells a lot better than yesterday!  Later, we headed off to Walmart to get some things for dinner tonight. My sister called and said she was going to go get presale tickets for Brewfest. She had heard they were on sale in town. We had heard nothing about presale and we were shocked to find out that the vip tickets we bought last year at the gate were already sold out as presale!   No worries, we didn’t use the vip seating last year and we both already have t-shirts and we can buy extra beer tokens as needed, so we’re good. It might even be a little cheaper all told.

Tim and Dana came over and brought the marinated elk steaks and some cut-up fruit. Lydia made green beans and rice. I fired up the bbq and we cooked the steaks. They were very tasty! While I was cooking, we had monster puppy out loose and exploring the back yard. She looked up and spotted Ollie across the street. Turns out he was out too and they were trying to get him in so they could leave to go to the local high school football game. Well, Rylee saw that and the chase was on! I turned over the bbq duty to Tim and headed off with my leash to help out. We got Rylee with no problem and they coaxed Ollie into the car just to get his leash on him to take him to the house. So, all was well and I got back to the grill. Tim came up with a possible solution to my concrete issue. Problem is there’s a 1-2” drop off from his new approach pad and my existing blacktop.  When the motorhome crossed over it the first time, there was a hairline crack in the cement. I want that addressed before the piece chunks off. As I said, he has a possible solution. I asked him to think about it for a bit and get back to me and we can get it going. They are busy but at least they will get it fixed. They also need to contact the garage door installers. I am having issues with the smoothness of the door opening and closing. It’s an adjustment so he will call them to schedule.

After the meal we visited for a awhile and they headed home and we relaxed and watched a few shows before calling it a night.   

Oregon Living 2018 – Blog #125 – Mowing, Movies, and Running Errands

 

Monday, September 24th, 2018…...  This morning we got up earlier than normal. Rylee has been letting us sleep in a bit later in the mornings - usually until 7:00-7:30am.  But for some reason I woke up around 6:00am and got up instead of laying there. I showered and got Rylee out for her walk. Sis came by and Quincy and Rylee played for a bit. I took off for coffee and breakfast and Lydia got ready to go do lab work prior to her upcoming doctor’s appointments. We both left about the same time. I wanted to go get the truck washed. We then met up at 10:00am at the nail place for our appointments there. She had to go back to the labs after that to do the urine part of the lab. Once we both got back home, we rested for a bit. I took off to the local junkyard. This guy’s dad had been collecting for over 40 years and the son has been at it for over 20. Needless to say, they have a lot of stuff! Most of it is junk but I needed some metal to make a threshold transition from the workshop to the front garage shop and I thought he might have something I could use.  Before I left, our friend Chuck, came by to mow the west 40. My sister had made the arrangement with him for us. She wants to pay him direct as she feels she needs to help out plus she will be staying with us next month after her reconstruction surgery. I left and came back quickly because the junkyard wasn’t open yet/today. We decided this morning that we would try again to see The House With a Clock In Its Walls. We figured it would be easier to go to a Monday matinee. We were right – it wasn’t crowded at all. We both liked the movie, although it wasn’t what we expected at all! Afterward, we headed back home. Poor monster puppy hadn’t eaten in over 5 hours!  Oh no! ☹  We got that taken care of and she was happy again!  We fixed leftovers and later settled in and watched some of the new fall season programs.  

Tuesday, September 25th, 2018…...  I realized this morning that I haven’t posted many pictures of super pooper lately. Here’s one I took a few weeks ago. Lydia had come in to my room so we could watch Guys Grocery Games on my tv. Rylee has to be wherever we are so she made herself at home. Because she’s forefront in the pic, it makes her look like a monster doggie. Yes, she’s 65 lbs. now and about the size of our full-grown Bailey, but she’s not too big – yet!

We got going this morning and after walking Rylee, I left and ran a few errands. Lydia was going to go play pickleball and I headed off to my sister’s to drop off about 8 bags of grass for her trash container. I also got down her fall decorations from the rafters and then took off for Albany to pick up a few things plus go to the Philomath Habitat store to check in there for anything interesting. I found another nice cabinet (for $10.00) plus a stepladder ($4.00) and the piece I needed ($1.00) for the threshold in the shop. I stopped at a farmer’s market and bought some ears of corn then headed home. I got back in time to find Kirk working away. He got more of our weeds pulled and then sprayed so we might keep them in bay. I relaxed and watched tv for a while then offloaded the cabinet and ladder and got those put away. That was it for my day. Lydia threw a couple of ears of corn in the microwave and made cube steak and hash browns for dinner. We finished the night playing with the white tornado and tiring her out so we could relax and finish the evening watching tv until bedtime.       

Oregon Living 2018 – Blog #124 – RV Appointments and Chilling on the Weekend

Friday, September 21st, 2018…... I got up early and made a run to Albany to check again on the Habitat cart. It was gone. I also stopped at Lowes and Home Depot to check on a couple of things for the yard and shop. While I was out, I got a call from Mary, who gave me Ed’s number at the rv repair shop in Portland. I called there and left a message and when I was on my way back home, he called. I now have an appointment the first week of October to take the coach up there. So, I called Mary back and told her we were coming to pick up the coach. Lydia dropped me off and I paid the bill for the new batteries and used the rv dump and then went home and parked it back in the garage. I can now plug it in on 50 amps and make sure the new batteries get fully charged.  Lydia said she wanted to go see The House With a Clock In It's Walls, so we drove down to Eugene to catch the 4:50 showing. We got to the window and found that the reserved seats (these are the recliners) were all sold out. Only seats were in the front row and we won't do that. So, we went over to Buffalo Wild Wings and had dinner and then drove back home. We watched tv for a bit then called it a night.   

Saturday, September 22nd, 2018…... This morning we didn’t have anything planned. I walked Rylee and then we went to Skyline Diner for breakfast. I didn’t have enough room for all of the grass clippings so I left some in a pile. When we got back from breakfast, Lydia helped me bag them up. As I mentioned before, I will probably take a few over to dump in my sister’s yard waste can. Later, I went to Walmart to pick up a few things that Lydia needed for dinner.  We each watched our programs (I had Nascar races to watch) and then we headed off to bed.  

Sunday, September 23rd, 2018…...  Another lazy Sunday. Lydia had told me her friend Linda was coming by this morning to pick up some more moving boxes (she’s a friend that we met a few months ago who is moving to Arizona). So, I went out and got the ladder out to get them down. They visited for a while and then sent me out to get ten boxes down and loaded in her car. Lydia took off to go to Walmart to get bread for our spaghetti dinner. We had a nice quiet day and watched tv until bedtime.

Oregon Living 2018 – Blog #123 – Mowing and Jury Duty

 

Wednesday, September 19th, 2018……  We need to keep on the grass mowing so that it’s cut as low as possible right before the rainy season starts and we have to quit for the season. So, we decided to mow it today. We needed to wait until the dew dried off the grass. I needed to go to Sweet Home RV to pick up my checkbook that I had left there so we took muttley for a car ride and headed there. I talked a bit with them about the progress on the rig. They are in communication with the Norcold warranty folks in Portland and they are getting serial numbers so we can see if there is anything they can do. Also, Mary told me that Sweet Home RV isn’t going to be able to do the install of the cooling unit. She says that they don’t have the staff and also her husband can’t do the work by himself. She suggested that we take it up to them in Portland. I have no issues with that but asked them to coordinate everything and give me some choices when I can take it there.

On the way home, we stopped at the Weddle Covered Bridge to give Rylee a chance to run and play a bit. Later, we got home and I went out and did some string trimming before mowing. I always get the mowers out and started and left Lydia’s for her. I got started and she came out and we got everything done pretty quickly. I set both mowers on the lowest settings to get the grass down as much as I could. That left a ton of clippings, but that’s on the list for tomorrow.  

Oh yeah, we had heard earlier in the day that my sister had jury duty today and got a seat in the jury but was not kept. So, she’s done. We cleaned up and had dinner. Lydia had made a crockpot meal and it was yummy. Later, we watched the finale of America’s Got Talent. I was surprised at the order that the top ten finished in but Shin Lim did win. Yeah!      

Thursday, September 20th, 2018…... Today was jury duty for Lydia, and teeth cleaning for me. She got up and going and out early so she could park in close. I left a few minutes before nine and got my visit done. I hung around inside the house for a while then went out and put the catcher on my mower and got the grass clippings picked up. That took about an hour. Lydia called me to tell me she was on a jury. Well, at least one of the three of us got on a jury!  A DUI case. She was recessed for lunch. The case was expected to go to the jury later today. But you know how these things can drag out. We’ll see.

Working out on the clippings, I quickly found out that I need a bigger trash barrel. I had to wait until this morning after the Thursday trash pickup was completed so I could start with an empty container. Well, I filled that up with just the clippings from the west side of the driveway! I have two more giant piles that will fill up two more containers. They tell me I can add cans out on the street but each one will be an additional $8-12.00 charge. So, I will put these in the smaller cans I have scattered around and transfer them when I have room. My sister’s (residential) neighborhood has a container strictly for yard waste so I will probably go borrow it since she rarely fills it. That will help a little. We don’t have that service out here since we’re considered rural and can have burn piles and take care of our own. 

Oregon Living 2018 – Blog #122 – Just Running Errands

 

Monday, September 17th, 2018……  Back to work today.  Well, ok, not real work, but some chores. We have no rain in the forecast for the next few days so I wanted to run to Home Depot and pick up some more rock salt for my water softener. I walked Rylee, ate in, and then took off for Albany. I also wanted to revisit Habitat for Humanity. They had a step ladder and a workshop fan I was interested in.  I made the first stop at Habitat. The fan was gone, sold I’m guessing. The ladder turned out to have a broken part so I passed on that as well. I did see a trailer that attaches to the back of a lawn tractor and I have been looking for one. I asked but they said it wasn’t for sale. Odd, since it was sitting out in the lot with a bunch of other stuff. I will check back another day. I ended up with just the rock salt and headed home. Lydia did some laundry today and I stayed out of her way! Later, we both did some checking account work and paid some bills and then it was dinner and then tv until bedtime.

Tuesday, September 18th, 2018…...   After the normal morning routine, Lydia headed off to play pickleball. I had nothing on my plate today so I decided to head off to Eugene this morning. I am looking for a pellet gun for the coyotes and wanted to see what Cabela’s had. I wanted to take an alternate road to Eugene. I had just seen a quarterly booklet that gets put out in stores and restaurants. This publication lists all of the small towns in the area and posts events in and around there. They have decent maps as well and I noticed a road going south that comes out on Hwy 126 (just east of Eugene) that I wanted to take. It was an interesting road and went through the woods and also some farming areas and a few smaller towns and then came out in the heart of Springfield. While in town, I did drive by Graveyard Carz to see if they were filming for the new season (not) and then worked my way to Eugene and to Cabela’s. Then I wanted to hit Jerry’s building supply to check on a mailbox and a threshold. Didn’t see much more than Home Depot or Lowe’s so I headed back home. Lydia was working on more laundry so I just rested for a bit and then went out to the shop to clean up a bit. She and I both missed Kirk who worked on clearing out some blackberry bushes way out back that I had asked him to do. Later, we fixed chili dogs and watched a few episodes of Guys Grocery Games and then the first night of the AGT finals. I like the magician Shin Lim and Glennis Grace. Don’t care for the Aussie teen Janice Joplin wannabee. We’ll see tomorrow.      

Oregon Living 2018 – Blog #121 – Seeing The Zoo and A Little Trim

Friday, September 14th, 2018……  This morning we had to get up pretty early and get rolling. The Oregon Zoo opens at 9:30am but it takes a while to get up there, given it’s a workday. We fed and walked Rylee and then left the house about 7:30am. We stopped at McDonald’s and picked up breakfast then went to pick up Penny. We ran into little traffic and made good time so we chose to take Hwy 99 into downtown Portland and then we worked our way to the west side of the Willamette River and up the hill to the zoo. We got there about 9:45am. Not bad timing. We read that parking was $25.00 for the day but we had free admission due to the Oregon Fun Pass we purchased in the spring. Admission was $17.00 so we would still be ahead. Turns out that all day parking – right up by the entrance! – was only $8.00 all day. Cool! We paid that and showed our passes and made our way through the park. The Oregon Zoo is the oldest zoo west of the Mississippi, opened in 1888. Of course, it is completely remodeled and looks as good as any zoo we’ve been to. They have several specific areas: Great Northwest, Elephant Lands, Pacific Shores, Predators of the Night, Africa, Condors of the Columbia. They are rebuilding Polar Passage, Primate Forest, Black Rhino, Chimp Viewing so they were not open. Something to go back to at another time.

Penny says we need this pool in our back yard for Rylee! 

 

After we left there, we headed up the hill to the Pittock Mansion. 

One of Portland’s first families, Henry and Georgiana Pittock had both crossed the Oregon Trail in the 1850’s. Henry started the Oregonian newspaper and together they helped put Portland on the map. They built their mansion with the latest and greatest amenities and lived the ‘gilded age’ rather nicely. Their home is certainly grand and the City of Portland has saved it and restored it to the glorious stately manor it is today. Our pass also got us free admission here. The self-guided tour lets you see all of the floors and rooms at your own pace. Plus, you can roam the grounds and get a great view of the city sprawled out before you. It was a little cloudy but we could even see some of Mt Hood in the distance.

Georgiana also was instrumental in establishing the International Rose Test Garden, farther down the hill, in Washington Park.  We stopped there and Penny and I walked it a bit (Lydia’s feet were telling her she was done for the day!). Even though it was past its peak blooming season, the grounds were still very pretty, with hundreds of thousands of roses looking and smelling wonderful.

We finally made our way back home, fighting the usual I5 southbound traffic along the way. On the way down, we called the jury hotline number and found that both the girls have to report in. Penny goes in on Wednesday, Lydia on Thursday. We dropped sis off and then went to get dinner at Stick a Pork In It, the food truck we love up here. Penny called ahead and ordered and told them she was paying for us so they wouldn’t take our money! We had porkadillas and street corn and brought it home. Yummy!  Rylee was sure glad to see us. Kirk and Caleb came by and made sure she got fed and exercised mid-day, but she was ready to have us come home! After dinner, we played with her and then we were pretty much done for the day and hit the bed early after a long day!   

Saturday, September 15th, 2018…...  We decided to stay home for the day. Turns out super mutt wouldn’t leave our side anyway!  She wasn’t going to let us go unless we took her too! So, the only thing we had planned for today was to cut back the grapevines a bit. They have taken over the apple tree and made their way over those and on to the tops of the blueberry cage.  I only had so much room in the trash container so we had to cut each vine into small pieces so they would compact better. My sister came by and she and I cut vines. Lydia came out later and harvested some grapes (now that she could see them!) for Tim & Dana and for Penny and her neighbors. Even with Kirk and Caleb taking what they wanted, we still have a mess left out there. We filled up the trash container plus three extra cans for next week and called it a day. Penny went home and we came in and cleaned up and rested for the day.

Sunday, September 16th, 2018…...  Today we rested and did absolutely nothing. We got rain last night and the field grass got a good soak. We have on big-leaf maple out in the back along the tree line that I was going to run a garden hose to, but I think we’re past the heat now so we should be fine. I will do one more mowing before the rains come and it gets too wet. I also will have the west 40 mowed one more time before it’s too late. It was nice and dry after noon so we could get Rylee out for a while. She did find Ollie out and hightailed it over there before I could tie her up. She knew she was in trouble but at least she got some exercise!   Like I said, we did nothing – watched tv and took naps.

Oregon Living 2018 – Blog #120 – Birthday Wishes and RV Expenses

Tuesday, September 11th, 2018……  Today was a fun day for me. I received a ton of birthday wishes, via phone calls, texts and emails. Lydia even got some via her Facebook account. Thanks to everyone!!  Kirk came by today and he and Caleb worked more weeds along the driveway. They also finished the brush pile in the back of the rv garage. Later in the afternoon, Penny came over and took us to dinner at the Depot (my choice) in Albany. When we got there, it was raining pretty good but it was dry as a bone at home. We got the rain a few hours later and it rained lightly off and on for most of the night. It’s the first measurable rain of the season. Remember – it hasn’t rained up here for over 90 days – a record! It is supposed to last through Thursday. That’s good since we are planning on heading up to the Portland Zoo on Friday.

Wednesday, September 12th, 2018…... Today we had nothing planned. Truth be told, we are both still feeling the effects of the virus we had. We both have been drinking plenty of fluids and we’re taking it pretty slow until we get our strength back. Lydia stayed in her pjs most of the morning, just lounging around, watching tv. I took the white tornado out to give her some exercise but we stayed close to the house today. I’m still waiting to hear back about the rv. Last call was that I needed batteries (total of 6 x $150.00). They then will still have to run more tests to see if that got the 12v feed to the fridge up and running correctly and the cooling unit functions. Fingers crossed – that’s a $2000+ hit!  Lydia asked me to go get something for dinner and I chose Bigfoot for burgers. They have huge specialty burgers and they are really good! We just don’t go there that often for some reason. We ate them while catching up on the last three of the Shades of Blue episodes, including the series finale. We also watched America’s Got Talent so we’re caught up on that. We are also trying to catch up on Master Chef. Those are two hour shows and we are several weeks behind.  Earlier in the evening I got the call that I didn’t want – they put in the new batteries and ran their checks; the cooling unit fault code is still coming up. They have to get to and run through the next steps, but they think the cooling unit is going to be the problem. They are in the process of finding prices.  I didn’t tell them, but I already checked - rebuilt units go from $325.- $625., brand new from $700.- $1300. That’s just the cost to buy them. They will inflate that price plus add their shop/install rates ($55.00hr). Again, we are in wait and hold.  We do have another option - to go through a complete removal and install a residential fridge - but as much as we'd like that, we’re passing on that option. Simply because of the added expense and also they would likely have to temporarily remove and reinstall one of our slideouts because we don’t have a window (or door) big enough to get a fridge in of that size. And that doesn’t account for the fact that we may need to upgrade our batteries (unlikely) and/or the invertor. The major thing is we don’t think this little shop can pull that off without issues.           

Thursday, September 13th, 2018…...  I slept great last night – once I got all of the fridge issues out of my brain! I got up energized and ready for a day of doing stuff! Lydia hung around the house all day again but I got out and got breakfast then started in on working on some hanging storage for the rv garage. After I got that done, I got out the tractor and went over the recent area where Kirk removed the brush, trying to level it out and knock down the grass I couldn’t do before. I also picked some more grapes. They are really tasting good now! Tim told us to get picking just after a cold spell. Well, since the rains came in, the temps went down into the mid-forties last night and the night before (it’s been in the mid-sixties in June-July and then in the mid-fifties in Aug.-Sep. at night), so I did a test taste and they were ready! Now we need to start picking! I also spoke with Kirk today. I asked him if he could let Rylee out tomorrow mid-day when he comes to pick up our tractor (for his Monday mowing job). He will also feed her so we don’t have to hurry back from our Portland Zoo/Pittock Mansion tour tomorrow. Later in the day, we made a Walmart run and picked up a few things for dinner, which we ate early and then settled in for the night, watching tv until bedtime.

Oregon Living 2018 – Blog #119 – Yard Sale and a Pair of Sickies

Friday, September 7th, 2018……  Today we had plans to go to Chuck and Linda’s yard sale. My sister had agreed to help so she needed to leave before 8:00am to help set up. I had doggie duty. I showered and took Rylee out first for our normal walk up Oak Creek Way. Then I took Quincy out to the west forty like she’s used to. We still have some remnants of the weed pile that Kirk & Caleb and I are in the process of transferring out of here so Quincy hunted in there for a big part of her outside time.  Of course she still likes a few rounds of fetch with her tennis ball but mostly she hunts for field mice or whatever else she finds. Like I said, we had planned on going over after Lydia got ready. But – she came out and said go without her, she wasn’t feeling well. I took Rylee over there and we visited for awhile and then we came home so I could check on Lydia. She wasn’t feeling any better and said she had diarrhea and was nauseous. She went to bed and took a couple of Tylenol. I hung around the house and watched all three of the girls today. The pups rested and Lydia slept in between runs to the bathroom.

Saturday, September 8th, 2018……  Lydia was doing better but stayed in bed all day today. I did make a couple of trips to Walmart to get Imodium and Gatorade and soup and crackers.  She’s tried and can’t eat or drink anything without losing it. At least she has no fever but if she still isn’t better later, we will be heading in to urgent care or to the er.

(Later) she was able to relax and sleep and so we were ok for now…..      

Sunday, September 9th, 2018……  I got to bed pretty late last night and right away I realized now that I was in trouble! I was really queasy and I knew I had the same thing she had! Nothing stayed in and I was in for a rough night! I have never had that extreme kind of stomach and bowel issue ever! Wow! I now know what Lydia went through. The good news was that she was doing ok when we got up this morning. She took Rylee out and closed the door so I could rest. I ended up staying in bed all day. She brought me Tylenol and water to keep me hydrated and by the end of the night I was able to keep some peaches down. She was still having issues but was keeping things down and doing ok.    

Monday, September 10th, 2018……  We took everything super easy this morning. I did get up and managed to rest in my recliner all day and didn’t nap too much. Lydia took the monster mutt out for her exercise so we were good. We’re still not sure what happened for us to get this. It could be something we ate but since it took an extra day for me, I think she got something from the folks at pickleball. We’ll never know.

Another easy day.  Neither of us cared to do much. We were still not 100%. My sister came over to check on us and took Rylee back home for the day which gave us a chance to rest. She stopped at the store and picked up some things for Lydia to make for dinner. She asked for cube steak and Country Crock potatoes. Thanks, sis!  Problem was they only had garlic mashed. Bad choice for us and we could only eat a small portion each and tasted it all night. But at least it all stayed down. That was the last few days. Sorry that they weren’t that exciting.

Oregon Living 2018 – Blog #118 – Mowing Day & RV News

 

Wednesday, September 5th, 2018……  Today was mowing day. We wanted to mow all of the property (except the west 40) so I wanted to wait until Kirk brought back our co-owned tractor. That way we could reduce the total time out in the yard. I always get started by first string trimming all of the areas we can’t reach with the mower. I can do that as early as I want. But we usually have to wait until the dew gets off the lawn and the grass dries out a bit before we mow. We started that about 11:00am. My sister came over to help. I took the orange 48” Husqvarna out and did the tight-turn trimming and Lydia took the black 54” Craftsman Pro out to do the lawn area. My sister took over for Lydia and we got everything, including the back field, knocked out in short time. Lydia went to pick up Subway for lunch and then Penny left to shower and I got my shower and then it was Lydia’s turn. After that, we were beat and rested for the day. Lydia threw chicken pot pies in the oven for an easy meal.   

Thursday, September 6th, 2018…… Super pooper let us sleep in this morning. But she is always anxious to go on our walk. I try to do that right after showering and before breakfast. I took off on a breakfast/coffee run after the walk. But since Lydia was heading off for pickleball, I drove to Albany and had breakfast there. I made my usual visit to Habitat for Humanity then went over to the Linn County Dog Control office to get Rylee’s dog license. I took my folder that has everything. Problem was I held out the spay certificate and the rabies certificate and put them in a separate folder and then went and left that at home!  Duuuuhhhh! Oh well, I’ll come back tomorrow. When I got home, I got a call from the RV shop that the motorhome was ready for pickup. They reset the code and it was working so the charge would only be $55.00!  I was thrilled!  When Lydia got home we ate lunch and then drove to Sweet Home and she dropped me off. I paid for the work plus a fee to dump the tanks and headed out to do that. But first I checked the fridge and found that the error code was back! So, I headed back in and we decided I should leave it to be further analyzed. I’m thinking I still have the cooling unit problem but they will keep it overnight and check it to see if codes again. Bummer!  Later, I had Lydia come help me hang the license plates in the shop. This is before and after pictures.

The collection has all 50 states. Some are newer plates, some are older. All are actual plates and came to me boxed up, complete with road grit on them. I had soaked them and scrubbed all of it off and they look pretty good hanging on the shop walls. I now can look as we travel to see if there are other state plates in better shape and/or different styles to replace as needed…

My sister came by to spend the night. She has agreed to help out at her housekeeper’s yard sale tomorrow and asked me to walk Quincy. They live just around the corner so it works out for her to just stay here tonight. She had her treatment in Salem today and had an early linner so Lydia fixed dinner for just us. We let the dogs play outside until they were pooped and then we all settled in for the night.   

Oregon Living 2018 – Blog #117 – Labor Day and Motorhome Goes in to the Shop

Note: two posts today to get caught back up. Please read #116 (Sat-Sun) first!

Monday, September 3rd, 2018……  Today was Labor Day Holiday. We didn’t have anything planned although there were a few things going on around town. We chose to pull out the motorhome and clean it up a bit. Lydia had previously done pretty much all of the inside and we had already put the new recliners in. I added a twelve-foot runner so when we take it in tomorrow they won’t mess up the newly shampooed carpet. While we only power washed the coach (no soap and water) I think we got most of the grime and grit off of it. It will still get detailed sometime down the road but at least it was ready for tomorrow. We ended the day with a nice bbq at my sister's house. She invited one of her friends (Janice) over and we had a nice meal. 

We ended up staying quite a long time and enjoyed the conversation. We even made plans to go to Portland in the next few weeks to use up our Portland Fun Pak coupons.  We left and went home to watch tv and then hit the sack.

Tuesday, September 4th, 2018……  I got up early and got moving. I skipped the dog walk this morning so I could get the coach ready to move to the shop. Lydia was looking to go to play pickleball this morning so I decided to just hook up the Honda and tow it so she could make her start time. It’s hard to believe but I haven’t hooked up the tow car in sixteen months! But no worries. I had it hooked up and drove to Sweet Home RV and unhooked and got the rig parked in their back lot and then drove the car around to the front and checked in. I found out that their chief mechanic had recently left and that the owner would now be doing the work. Never met him so we’ll see what we get…

I got back home after stopping at Home Sweet Home Café for breakfast. I found Lydia was on the phone, talking to her brother, Eddie, in Wisconsin. Eddie just had heart surgery and is doing well. I took Rylee out for the walk we missed this morning and fed her treats. Lydia was still on the phone. I found out later Ed called her right after I left with the motorhome and they had been talking all this time. The call lasted two minutes short of three hours!  So, she didn’t get to go play pickleball. But no worries. They needed to get caught up. Hopefully, they will be able to travel soon and will come visit us.

Next up for me was working more on my license plate project. I just worked on the nails this time. Kirk came by and dropped off our tractor and he and Caleb went to work on more weeding around the front yard. At the end of their allotted work time he pulled the trailer around behind the rv garage and I helped pitchfork all of the weeding clippings into their trailer to go to the dump. We filled up the first of two loads total and they left for the day. We’ll get the rest next week.  

After cleaning up and resting for a bit, Lydia said we were having leftover noodle casserole so all that was needed was a quick heat up. That done, we took off in the car to give monster mutt a car ride. We drove into Albany and I showed Lydia the courthouse and where to park when/if she has to report next week. After that, we drove to Monteith Park and let Rylee explore a bit. She sure enjoyed that! Once we got home, we watched America’s got Talent and then crashed for the night.          

Oregon Living 2018 – Blog #116 – Working Around the House and Keeping Surgery Girl in Check

Saturday, September 1st, 2018……  The weather was terrific today! It started out sunny and in the 60s and got up to the 70s later in the day. After the normal start of the day, Lydia started in on cleaning up the inside of the motorhome. I worked out in the shop. She had previously asked me what I wanted for my upcoming birthday and I told her I was looking at buying a complete set of license plates from all 50 states to put up in my shop. She told me to go ahead and I could search and buy one on eBay. I ordered them a couple of weeks ago and received them a couple of days ago. So, I spent some time out in the shop working on the wall layout. I knew what I wanted to do but I had to measure and mark everything before I started. I got that done. Next step is 50 nails to put in. Maybe next week. I also need to soak the license plates and wash them before I hang them up. I’ll take before and after pictures when I get to this project.

Jury duty – I went online and checked the schedule – and I’m not on it! I don’t understand why because there are 160 numbers on there for three days next week – but it skips my number so I’m not questioning anything. Lydia and my sister start their term of service September 10 – 21.

Later, after both of us finished our tasks, we took off and went to dinner. But on the way, I wanted to stop by an address that has a boat for sale that I saw on Craigslist.  We didn’t stop, I was just curious. I may look into it later. I have an appointment to take the motorhome in to the shop next week to have the refrigerator worked on so that will most likely divert my finances away from boat shopping. We drove to Sweet Home to Casa de Reyes for dinner and then got back and played with our poor mistreated pet for a while. She is back to normal but we still are being careful about her overactivity. We let her run now but that’s about it. After we gave her a little playtime, it was a little tv time, then bedtime.   

Sunday, September 2nd, 2018……  Today was very quiet. Rylee has been getting us up later now. It was after 7:00am when she jumps on the side of the bed wanting to know if we’re up yet!

I have to admit, I like her new hours! Like I said, we didn’t do too much today. Mostly just a few things online, and doing my spreadsheet for my bills.  Later in the evening, we decided to take Rylee out for her walk. We had seen Ollie out with his new little brother. They got a miniature Yorkshire and he is so cute! So, we went out to play and introduce them. Lydia immediately snatched up the little guy and Rylee was so jealous! After a bit, Rich came out and then his wife, Linda. Then Sabrina and her hubby, Jeremy and their son brought out Camo to walk. They all had a ball! We had to hold Rylee back because of her stiches but she sure enjoyed herself. Turns out of the six dogs on the block, she’s the only female! So, all the boys love her! Sorry, we were so busy we forgot to take pics! Maybe next time. We ended up talking with them for almost an hour! Then we came back in and settled in for the night. 

Oregon Living 2018 – Blog #115 – Rylee’s Recovery and Jury Duty (Terry)

 

Thursday, August 30th, 2018……   Rylee did well last night and slept very peacefully. She did whimper a bit but the vet told us that’s from the meds and should wear off later today. I got her fed and skipped her walk this morning. They told us to minimize activity for a couple of days. We are looking forward to a couple of quiet days (!) although we want her feeling better and moving around and back to normal as soon as possible. I got going early and left to get breakfast on the way to report to jury duty. I made my way to the courthouse early because they said there is limited parking. I had a parking permit and used it for the ‘court business only’ parking lot that was right across the street. After a bit, I found out things that things are done a little differently in the courts here in Hicksville! Well, ok, not really that different. You still get signed in and get an orientation in the jury assembly room. But the Albany court clerk is a happy guy! Not like the jury clerks in California – you know – the ones with zero personality who think they are army generals and like to bark out directions and orders! Our guy even sends out personal emails to his people, reminding them of their start day. Once we were there and the orientation was completed, we had about fifteen minutes wait and then we were sent up to courtroom five. I’m guessing there were about 35-36 of us in total. The judge did his thing, explaining in brief what case was being tried today, then the clerk called twelve people to the box, and then another twelve were seated in the next front row section. I was number thirteen. The judge asks each of the 24 to tell a little about themselves. They still use names up here unlike my experience in SoCal when we were just numbers. Then the attorneys get to ask questions. I was called on to answer a few. Then this is where it got different. The judge called a recess – but no one could go too far – just to the restroom if necessary – and he and his clerk and the two attorneys went into his chambers. They came out a few minutes later and the judge had the first row of jurors get up and move center court. Then he called them back, this time replacing them with other folks. Same thing for the back row. Apparently, the attorney challenges are done in private and agreed upon as well. So, those twelve, including a couple of folks chosen from my group (13-24) were seated and sworn in. He let us go – with instructions from the jury clerk - to call again after Friday for possible service next week. Remember, this is a two-week service.  But they do not call you back again for a full two years.  By then I’ll be over 70 and that excuses you here in Oregon. Since we have Labor Day next Monday, I’m not sure if they will be needing us but we did hear they had full dockets so maybe I’ll get called back in again.  I got back home and found that Rylee was doing very well. She has perked up and is about 60%. She wants to play but we have to calm her down. No running or jumping on the bed (which she wants to do). No walks this afternoon/evening but I will take her out for sure tomorrow. My sister came by for a short visit. She has some friends visiting her and wanted to bring them by. She also dropped off a thank you gift and note from our new friend, Daisy. She had sent us, vis Penny, a couple of containers of chips from the Katella Deli (yummm!). Thanks Daisy! We made a good friend!

I ended up running a few errands this afternoon and got back and rested prior to a really good spaghetti dinner, which we watched while catching up on the last two episodes of The Great American Food Truck Race. We still have other shows to watch together but at least that one is done now. Good show.            

Friday, August 31st, 2018……  I’m putting drops in Rylee’s left ear for the infection the vet found, but other than that, she’s not needed any pain meds. I took her out first thing this morning and we had a nice walk. Penny brought Quincy over later but walked her out in the west forty, away from the house so super mutt wouldn’t get excited and want out to run after her. After breakfast, we decided to take Rylee out for a car ride. We chose to go to McDowell Creek Park. We had heard that they have three separate falls there and were worth seeing. We stopped at the first of the three parking areas and walked a bit to see the first one. Now, we knew that there is not a lot of water running through right now so we weren’t expecting much. Lower McDowell Creek Falls was pretty much nonexistent. Not much water, remember!  

We then drove up the road and finally found a sign to Majestic Falls. Turns out this way just a part of the trail to get to those falls!  On the way there, we walked through a parking lot and picnic area we missed (no signs) on the way up. So, we kept walking, saw the falls (now Majestic Falls is nice!), 

and then I left Lydia at the picnic tables and Rylee and I walked back on the trail to get the car. We didn’t make it to Royal Terrace Falls on this trip. I’ll take Rylee another time and if it’s worth seeing, I’ll bring Lydia back.  We drove back home and rested for the afternoon. Kirk came by to pick up the tractor for his Monday job. Lydia fixed dinner and later, I took Rylee out for another walk. We watched tv and called it a night.