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Lebanon, Oregon, United States
We are Terry & Cathye Kinkelaar. If you've followed my blog in the past, you know that Lydia, my beautiful wife of 52 years, and I made the lifestyle choice to move to Oregon in 2017. You've seen my posts about losing her in May 2020 to cancer. Although I was left alone, I am pleased to say that I have found happiness again. In April 2021, I met Cathye, who also lost her longtime husband in 2020. Well, we fell in love and were married in April 2022. So, if folks are still interested, I will continue to post here as we move forward with our lives and adventures!

Thursday, February 21, 2019

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #17 – Taxes & Vet Appointments and Projects Around the House


 

Monday, February 18th., 2019…...   The weather was nice again this morning. I took Rylee out and then headed out to get cash from Walmart. We have a few appointments today. Lydia has to go do the next round of labs. We also have our appointment to get our taxes done later this morning. And I had made an appointment for this afternoon with the vet to get Rylee’s nails clipped. I have been doing them since we got her and she’s really good with me and it’s not an issue - but I want to see how close they cut them. I am always afraid to cut too much and make her bleed.
We took our tax papers with us and I drove her to labs. We left there and met up with my sister at Kevin’s for breakfast. After we ate, she left to take Quincy to the vet and we left to go to the tax office. I had been doing our returns for many years, but last year we used a tax service because we had to file for two different states. Our return is really simple this year and we probably didn’t need to have someone do it for us. But I wanted at least one more year to see how it goes.
     
Ok, back from Claudine, our tax lady…. She gave us some homework. We need to provide her the records for our monthly medical insurance payments as well as monies paid for any prescriptions. It’s not for itemized deductions, for which we never had enough medical to claim in the past. Turns out that Oregon gives credit for medical insurance and prescriptions paid. That’s a substantial item in Lydia’s case and will definitely reduce our taxable income, so we immediately got home and went to work gathering and/or ordering the documents. Claudine was quick to ask and that will save us money. I told her that’s why we pay her the big bucks! Sad news for us, she’s 81 and on oxygen and she says that this will most likely be her last year working. Good news for her though. She still travels and if she can get her insurance to pay for one of those portable over-the-shoulder oxygen tanks, she’ll be unstoppable!  We got all of that done and headed back home. Then it was relaxing for a few hours before we had to take butthead in for her nails….

When we got to the vet’s office, Rylee was interested in everything!  The assistant took her back and then brought her out a few minutes later. They had no issues with her and did a great job and cut her nails way farther back than I normally do. Now I know how to cut them. But going there was only $16.30 so we may go back….
Once we got back home, I went to work on the Honda battery. I took the terminals off and cleaned them and used the charger again and started and ran the car for a while. But after I turned it off and started it a few more times, it ran down again. Next stop – Walmart.
Lydia said we were eating leftovers tonight. I chose the chili. Lydia had the pork chops. We watched the finale of America’s Got Talent. We each picked our five choices to go the finale. I got three, Lydia got two. I chose both Shin Lim and Darci Lynn who finished one, two. I wanted it the other way around.   
   
Tuesday, February 19th., 2019……  This morning was dry and clear. We are supposed to get rain later so after our walk, I went out and cleaned up the yard while it was dry enough to walk out there. I went and got breakfast/tea and then later, we took off to go get our hair cut. Once we got back, I jump-started the Honda and took it to Walmart.  I told them I had bought the battery there a year ago and it has gone bad. I showed them the receipt that I had put in the Honda’s glove compartment. Then, I got my ‘duh’ moment. The guy took one look at the battery and said it wasn’t sold at Walmart. It was a Duramax battery, sold at an auto parts chain store. Now, I can honestly say I was confused to say the least!  What happened?   I came home and checked the Acadia.  Nope.  Then, I looked at the truck and it all came back…. Last year, the truck battery took a dump. I took the bad battery out of it, put it in the Honda, took it to Walmart, bought a new battery, brought it back and installed it in the truck!  I just used the Honda to go back and forth. I still don’t know why I put the receipt in the Honda! So, it turns out that the new Walmart battery is in the truck and is working just fine.  But now I need to buy a new battery for the Honda! Duuuhh! Later, Kirk came over and we gave him a task for today. We wanted him to trim that bottle bush that bangs against our bathroom window in the wind.
Today was Lydia’s appointment with her Nephrologist. She is at her Lebanon location today so not much drive time. I took her because she wanted me to meet Dr. Leonard and ask her any questions I may have. She was very thorough. They are trying very hard to balance the kidney meds against the antibiotics and she explained it’s a fine line.  We’re also waiting for the transplant team in Portland to call to set up an appointment with them. Dr. Leonard wants them to review her functions and said they can run more specific tests, especially in the area of familial blood matches. Lydia is ok with all of this because if/when she needs any further support, they will have all of her stats and know her and her case and be ahead of the game in her treatment. We left there and decided to go ahead and stop for take-out for dinner. Bigfoot Grille has recently reopened, under new management, and we wanted to stop by and see what they had to offer. Right now, they are just a burger joint, so we ordered a couple with a side of onion rings plus donut holes for dessert and headed home. Once we feed the eating machine, we enjoyed our meal. We have a menu for next time in case we want to order ahead. After dinner, we both changed into sweats and relaxed and watched tv until bedtime.  The storm came in later in the evening and we got more rain and more wind. But no banging noises coming from outside that bathroom window.    
     
Wednesday, February 20th., 2019…... HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYLEE!   She’s one year old today! I guess she’s no longer considered a puppy. But she’ll always be our puppy!



The rains last night made for a chilly morning. It was raining when we wanted to go for our walk so we waited a bit. I fixed breakfast and did some bill paying. Later, when the drizzle stopped, I took butthead out.  We did our walk and she got her treats. I started to work on the cabinet in the bathroom and got that installed with little issues. It’s 20 some inches wide and there was only one wall stud centered in that span, so I had to double up on the screws to make it stable. But it looks good and Lydia went to work filling the inside with toilet paper. She wants to go shopping for cutie items to put on the shelf.



I got out the outside dog pen we used when Rylee was little. Terri, was does our hair, has a little Pomeranian puppy and we are loaning it to her for her yard. I have 16 panels and we are using 9 of them as barricades for the sides of the front and rear porches, to help keep critters from living under there. But the 7 remaining panels are more than enough for that little pup to use. Besides, her backyard is small so this will fit. We will take to her tomorrow.
Later, I headed out to pick up deli sandwiches for dinner. When I came out of the shop, there was snow on my windshield! It was just enough to hit the ground and then melt but it took a few minutes to get the fog cleared up so I could drive. But I made it home with no issues and we settled in and watched Guys Grocery Games, then Survivor, and finally The Masked Singer. Two celebrities (Lion and Rabbit) were unmasked and I guessed both of them. I think I know who Peacock and Bee are. I have no clue for Monster, though. I think he is some sort of hip-hop talent, or maybe a black rapper or possibly a comic. That’s too millennial for me to know who it is.   

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