Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #39 – To Portland for a Medical Procedure and Stove Shopping

Thursday, April 25^th, 2019…...  This morning we got things ready for our trip up to Portland later today. I have booked a room for us for tonight and tomorrow. Lydia’s procedure is Friday afternoon and she needs to start the prep tonight and will finish it tomorrow morning. We wanted to be able to have a place where she can relax and go through the process. We left about 11:00am and leisurely drove up the 110 miles and checked in at the Travelodge. We are only about .7 miles from the health center. Lydia is now on a liquid diet so I went down and found Suki’s, the sports bar and grill, attached to the hotel. I had ‘linner’ (pulled pork sandwich and fries and a beer) and went back upstairs. We are pretty much locked in to the hotel room while we are here. Lydia got through the first half of her liquid ‘intake’ and soon started on her ‘output’. We just hung around and watched tv for the evening.       

Friday, April 26^th, 2019…… Our room is right above the patio for Suki’s so we could hear the folks out there up until 2:00am or so. But it wasn’t enough to keep us awake and the night went well. We got up, I showered, and let Lydia sleep. Later, I went back downstairs and had breakfast. Bad choice. I ordered chorizo and egg scramble and got through most of the chunky onions and bell peppers and pretty much enjoyed the rest until I found a long hair in the food! Yep, I was done!  Meanwhile, Lydia went to work on the second half of her prep. She was definitely ready for the procedure later in the day. I took off for a few minutes to go check the route to the health center. Portland has many one-way streets and where we were staying is part residential and part industrial. I found an easy route and came back in a few minutes. Lydia was ready. She got a call asking if she could come in earlier, as they had a cancellation. No problem, she was ready. We made the drive and got parked and checked in. She’s done this flexible sigmoidoscopy before so it was no problem this time. The dr. came in after she was back in the prep room and gave us the news. He found some really severe pockets and a lot of swelling and lesions in more than one area. He says he’s pretty sure it’s not cancerous (but they did biopsies to test) but it’s too far gone to heal properly so it’s time for surgery. He went on to explain that they will try to go arthroscopic (through the peritoneal cavity) but because she’s had peritoneal dialysis, they may have to go in conventional. Also, she may need a colostomy bag dependent on restructure issues. He put the surgery on his calendar for May 15^th.  Because she was technically under the influence, she could not sign anything so we go back on Monday and do that. We also have a meet and greet with a kidney specialty team, who was looped in from her Nephrologist here in Lebanon. She wants Lydia to register with them and be examined for future treatment as needed. All in all, we pretty much expected the upcoming surgery and she is in good spirits and she’s ready and hoping to finally get it going and over with now.  

After leaving there, we went looking for Standard Appliance but wanted to find a place to eat beforehand. We found a Famous Dave’s but the place was not there when we found the address. No worries, there was a Five Guys down the street and we ate there. Then we headed over and looked at new stoves for the house. Our Dacor oven, even though a high-end appliance, is still not working correctly, even after having recent service, so she wants to investigate other brands. After a half hour of sticker shock, we left there and headed home. Tomorrow, we will stop by Basco, another supplier up here, and check them out.  Once we settled in, we had another quiet night but, again, could hear from the patio downstairs. But we both slept soundly most of the night.   

             

Saturday, April 27^th, 2019…...  We got up and got showered and packed and checked out about 8:45am. We found Basco and got some more prices and then headed out for home. South of Portland, in Tualatin, we stopped at the Cracker Barrel for breakfast and then walked over to Cabela’s for some shopping before getting back on the road. We decided to stop in Salem at the Best Buy since it was on our way home. Having all of these stove prices helps with our planning but nothing will happen for a while. We got home and visited with my sister and played with the dogs until she left to go home. Our electrician was a no show but the circuit is no longer tripping.  That pretty much verifies my theory that the lines are getting moisture somewhere. I still want the guy to take a look though so I will have to get back to Kirk to see if he forgot us.  Lydia was tired so the rest of the day was spent just relaxing and napping. I went out and got us dinner and later, we watched tv until turning in.

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #38 – Electrical Issues Still Pestering Us & My Sister Returns

 

Monday, April 22^nd, 2019…...  Last night I rethought my gfci situation. I think I want to try a new switch. I’m not sure if the one I put in yesterday is new or not and, if not, I may have issues. We took care of the dogs and then I went out of the garage to go to the truck. I decided to hit the reset switch and see how long it takes to trip. Well, it didn’t! I asked Lydia to keep an eye on it and call me in 20 mins. I took off to Home Depot, stopping by the post office along the way. Lydia texted me that the power was still on. Hmmm. Earlier, I had called Dana, to ask her to recommend an electrician. She called back and I told her what I was experiencing. She said that any moisture from outside can get in and may be the problem. Once it dries, it goes away. I continued on and got the new switch but I will wait until there is another issue before changing it out. Crisis averted for now….

I got back and helped Lydia with the setup on her phone. We moved things around, killed alarms, changed ringtones and notifications, etc. and she was happy.

Then I went out and got the lawn rake hooked on to the tractor and swept up the grass clippings from the lawn. It looks good now, just a little high still but another mowing next week will take care of that. I finally feel that we’re caught up with the neighbors now and no the shaggy lawn on the block.

Tuesday, April 23^rd, 2019…… This morning the weather was a little cloudy. There was a 20% chance of rain but we never saw any here at all. I got the dogs out and walked and then in and fed and then made breakfast here. Still having issues with the power in the garage.  

I had to call Dana again. I told them that after I got back home, the box had tripped. So, I put on the new gfci plug. It is still tripping. Later, Kirk looked at it and called one of his carpenter buddies, who was stumped, and then another one who will try to get out to take a look. Meanwhile, Lydia had gone to the shuttle stop to pick up my sister, who has returned from her Utah trip. We had gone earlier to get her car from the house and when they got back here, it was about 2:30pm so we all went back to her place, along with Quincy, who prefers her car to ours. She dropped her off and since none of us had eaten since breakfast, we headed to Ixtapa for an early linner. We got back to my sister’s and picked up our car and once we got home, we settled our own programs for a bit then together watched Master Chef and one Blacklist before calling it a night. 

             

Wednesday, April 24^th, 2019…...  Today, it was back to normal. I only had Rylee to take out and we did our normal walk, then I went out and got us coffee/tea/breakfast. Eric, from Pointe Pest Control is coming today to do the quarterly treatment. We have seen these really super tiny black spiders in our bathroom so he will be doing the inside treatment also this time.

Eric came later in the day. I had some time to clean up some of my wood that was both piled up and standing up outside against the shop. I managed to get all of that cleaned up. Eric sprays out there as well so that will help alleviate any spiders and wasp nests. No one has come out to look at the electrical.

Lydia fixed dinner and we spent the evening watching tv until bedtime. Tonight it was Survivor and The Amazing Race so we’re caught up on those now.  

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #37 – Finally Mowing & a Relaxing Easter

 

Friday, April 19^th, 2019…...  Only one dog on our bed last night. Quincy slept in the guest bedroom (she IS a guest – right?) and we never heard from her all night. Rylee didn’t get me up at all. I woke up on my own at 6:30am to let each one out to pee and went back to bed. It turned out to be a perfect night! Once I was up, I got the dogs out for their walks and went through some training for treats out in the yard. Then I brought them in. Normally, Rylee is used to eating first thing (7:00am) and Quincy gets fed after her walk. Today we fed them both after their walk. It was easier to just fed them together. 

Another nice day, so far. Rain is predicted for later today. I don’t know how much we’ll get but it looks like a small cell moving in about 3:00 or 4:00pm. I am going out later to start some weed whacking. And if the dew dries up on the grass, I will fire up the mower and give it a shot!

Ok, it’s later now. We (actually Lydia) decided that we better get started on the lawn well before the rain just to be sure, so I got out the tractor and started. I knew that I had gas in it because l added some a few days ago when Kirk was here picking up the other tractor.  But the mower died about 15 minutes in. Oops, the gas I added was for the Orange tractor that I topped off so Kirk could drive it onto the trailer. Now I remember! Duuuhh!  So, I had to take off and go fill up my container. Once I got that in, I had no issues.  Walt must have seeded and reseeded the area just off the back porch because that part of the lawn is super thick and the grass is weed free and really plush. I set the mower on its highest setting because if I cut it too low, it will cut down to the yellow part of the grass chute and will kill it. The rest was a lot lower and looks ok for the most part. Most of the lawn was dry enough but we still did get some serious tire marks in some of the wetter areas. They will go away. I didn’t go back over it with the grass rake/catcher today because there are too many wet grass clumps. I will have to wait and let them dry out a bit so the machine will be able to rake them in. Lydia wanted to help but I was on a roll and just kept going. She spent some time out front, cleaning up some of the dead twigs on her hydrangeas while I mowed. Come the end of the day, we were both tired and enjoyed relaxing for the rest of the night. We just heated up leftovers for dinner which was ok with both of us. The rains came in around 5:00pm. It was really light rain and it stopped sometime during the night. But it will put a damper on yard work tomorrow!    

Saturday, April 20^th, 2019……  No rain this morning. Lydia heard it early hours when she was up using the restroom but it was light. I tried something different this morning. After getting up, showered, and going, I took Quincy out first. She did her ‘west 40’ field run and poop and we came back to the back field and Lydia let Rylee out. They played for a bit and then I hooked Rylee up on the leash and walked them both to the garage door. I dried up Quincy and let her in. Then I headed out up the street with Rylee. While we were gone, Lydia fed Quincy. When I got back, I fed muttley. This worked out well because even if we put down food at the same time (in separate rooms), the butthead always finishes it in .02 secs flat (just kidding but she does wolf it down!), and then goes in and sits behind Q and waits for her to finish. She won’t nose in to bother her so that’s good, but by walking Rylee, it gives Quincy time to eat with no one over her shoulder.

After their breakfast, I went out and got ours. Of course, I stopped at Starbucks. My friend, Jade’s last day is tomorrow. She’s moving downstate to Grants Pass (about 180 mi.).  She is transferring to the Starbucks down there so we can go visit whenever we travel south, but I will miss her as I’m sure others will as well. I had planned on getting her a gift but I dropped the ball and they don’t have ecards.  I will order one sent to me and forward to her later. 

Once I got home and we ate, it was time to do some work. Ok, not! It’s still too wet from the rains. Kirk had texted me yesterday asking if we should reschedule the moss removal project. He can work on that on Tuesday. So, I just did a few clean up jobs in the shop and then came in and went on eBay and found and ordered a couple of cell phone covers/cases for our new phones.  I did get out my fishing gear and went through it. I always change all of the lines each year so I stripped all of my reels and got that done. I even did the backup ones so I have enough if guests come up and want to go fishing! Still looking for a boat. But I am also looking for a golf cart for the property so I’m torn which one to buy first!  But first priority is to get tires for the motorhome but that’s no fun to shop for!

             

Sunday, April 21^st, 2019…...  HAPPY EASTER!  We didn’t have any plans today. I’m not doing any work though, just lounging round and playing with the puppies. I got them out and walked and went and got breakfast and tea, and said goodbye to Jade.  When I came back, my gfci in the garage was tripped. It happened yesterday as well.  So much for not doing any work today!  I headed out to the garage to check out my electrical system. The breaker that runs the garage door, refrigerator, sprinkler system, and septic alarm are connected to one gfci circuit. The freezer has its own circuit. The electrical heat pump, central vac, and the furnace are on another circuit. The one I’m having trouble with is the gfci. The gfi keeps tripping. So, I started unplugging each item to see if one of them is causing it. Nope. So, I changed out the gfi receptacle itself. The new one still trips. I’m stumped. I need an electrician but I will have to wait until tomorrow to start looking. I ran a cord to the fridge so that’s covered.  I left one of the garage doors open so we can get the Acadia in and out. I have a feeling I have a water issue under or next to the house that is causing the switch to trip. Nothing to do now but wait. I’m looking at some serious cash out for the electrician and/or plumber.  I guess my boat/golf cart purchase will be on hold again!

As I said, we didn’t have anything planned. I had talked to my sister yesterday but we still sent her a pic of her puppy lounging around the house.

With this being a holiday, all of the races I usually watch are on hiatus, so I spent some time catching up on other series that I am behind on. A couple of those are taped on the tv in the motorhome so I spent some time out there. I always bring Rylee with me. I want her to get used to hanging around in there so she’s comfortable when we travel.

Lydia made some pasta to go with our leftovers. All in all, a quiet day!

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #36 – Doggie Duty & New Phones

 

Tuesday, April 16^th, 2019…... This morning when I went over to feed Bailey and Lucy, I found they had cleaned up their plates! Lucy, the little Yorkshire Terrier, was really happy to see me! She is the curtest little thing and won’t leave me alone until I give her some attention. Bailey is a little standoffish and he never left his place on his chair. Yesterday he followed me around and I gave him a pre-treat of chicken before I put the plates down. But today, he was content to just sit and watch. I got all of that done and left there and got coffee/tea/breakfast for us this morning. The weather is really nice today. We have sun and warmer temps. It is still in the low 50s in the morning but it got into the 60s later in the day. I went out and got my chain saw out, ready for the apple tree removal project, only to discover I didn’t have any bar chain oil for it. I didn’t make a trip yet to go get it but may go later today or tomorrow.

Kirk came by and we decided not to continue on the moss removal project for the house today. He had finished and shop and has about ½ of the house done. Since we have nice weather, but he has limited time today, he wanted to do some more work on the flowerbeds to finish them up. His deal with me is to give me x number of hours a month, his choice, to get to my allowance of $200.00.  He does his Lebanon work on Tuesdays, including my sister’s house before me. He is also starting now with Lou, doing the same type of arrangement, so he can do us both in the same day.  He wants to come back on Saturday to do the moss work, which is ok with me. He finished up with us and headed down there to work for the rest of the afternoon. I walked Rylee down there again and checked in with him and that gave Rylee a chance to get out again in the nice weather.

During the day, I got two deliveries – one from UPS, the other from USPS. Each delivered one cell phone. Now remember, these were ordered at the same time! Go figure! I’m guessing one location didn’t have both, so they had to come from two different ones. No worries – we got ‘em! I have instructions on how to download all the data and files from our old phones and transfer them to our new ones, but we are going tomorrow to the Verizon store to have that done for us. Hey, we’re old! Let someone else do the work!

Later, my sister came over with the dog. She leaves tomorrow for her trip to Utah to visit Jody and we are keeping Quincy here. She had gone to the egg ranch and brought us our ‘order’. Boy, it’s great to have farm fresh eggs!  We fed the dogs here then left after a bit and stopped by to feed L & B and then went from there out for dinner. We chose the Point out on Foster Lake. Penny insisted on treating us. Thanks, Sis!  On the way home, I made a slight detour and toured the fishing spot that I found there last year. It looks good so now I’ll plan on hitting it soon!  After we got back, Sis went back home and rested before her zero-dark-thirty shuttle transfer tomorrow.

Later, I went online and found a hotel room for our April 26^th meeting with Lydia’s doctor. We’re going up on Thursday (4/25) and staying so Lydia will be going through the ‘prep’ work there and that will make it easier for her. Her procedure isn’t until 4:00pm so we’ll stay another night (Friday 4/26) and drive back home on Saturday. I’m glad to get that reservation done! Quincy had found her place on our bed until we settled in and displaced her. She ended up on the couch and was happy. We were done for the night.     

Wednesday, April 17^th, 2019……  Today was a busy day! I had FOUR dogs to feed. But first I got Rylee out for her walk up the street and then back in the house.  Then, the Q out for her walk (and poop) in the field, and finally, Lydia let Rylee back out to let them run together for a while. I dried both of them off and made them their breakfast before we set out to Lou’s to take care of Lucy and Bailey, on our way to run some errands. We had packed our new cell phones. First stop was Walmart for a couple of items but most importantly, cash, for breakfast at Kevin’s. That done, we stopped by the hospital for Lydia’s Wednesday blood draw. Then we drove to the Verizon store in town. There were only two girls working but they couldn’t have been nicer! It took a few minutes to get everything into the system and the download/upload process started. Since we had a few minutes to kill, we left and went to the Wilco store in the same center and bought a few things, including the bar chain oil for my chain saw, and when we went back, both phones were done. I was impressed because everything came over. We will have questions going forward because these Note9 phones do SO much more than our old Note 2 and 3!  We both got chargers with the phones of course, but we also bought a wireless charger that will go on the kitchen counter that either of us can use when needed. We came home and rested for a while then it was time to feed the dogs again. Lou was due back this afternoon so I was done over there, but we still had our two to take care of. Once they were let out for a while, we then headed off to the shuttle stop to pick up Penny’s car. Lydia drove it back to her house and put it in her garage. We left there and went by Taco Bell and picked up dinner. That was one busy day for us!

Later, we watched Survivor and then the Amazing Race which started tonight. I think we will sleep well tonight!    

             

Thursday, April 18^th, 2019…...  The weather couldn’t have been nicer the last couple of days. Temps yesterday actually got into the high 70s! Yaay!  We need a good run of this so I can get that dam lawn mowed! The nights are not as cold now either. We went from the 40’s to the 50’s at night. With the temps so nice, it was time to shed blankets on our bed. We always have the thermostat turned down to 65º at night and like to sleep cooler, with blankets as needed. Better than an overheated room! We have two lightweight cotton blankets and each of us has a flannel ‘throw’ to use as needed. Well, since the new temps, those have now gone away. Next step is to go to one blanket but that might be a while yet. Rylee got us up early and we let both of them out for their duties, then went back to bed. But an hour later, around 6:30am, Quincy came into our room, looking for me to get up and going. OK! I got showered and repeated the process from yesterday. Rylee sure is happy, but I find I’m glad not to have to take care of two dogs full time.  I went out and got breakfast/coffee/tea and we relaxed and ate.

As I said, the weather is NICE! I decided to go out and take care of the apple trees today. I filled up the chain saw with the bar oil and ran a cord out there (this is an electric saw), and got going. I have three trees, one larger one and two smaller ones. It was really pretty easy and I got everything done in about 20 minutes total, but I split it up and came in and had a cold soda after the big tree. I left the main trunks, which I will tackle another time.

The brush got piled up and I will get to that another time as well. Most importantly, I now have access to the grass below the trees. The first cut will be from the weed-whacker and then from my small gas walk-behind lawnmower. It’s still really soggy out that way, but the good news is that these last two days have really helped with drying out the rest of the lawn. Rain is forecast for tomorrow but the weather reports all say not until later in the day, so I think I will go out early and weed whack the tight areas in preparation for mowing tomorrow afternoon. Fingers crossed!

We heard from Utah today. Looks like someone got their In&Out fix!!

We have spent some serious time both yesterday and today working with and learning our new phones. The difference between our old generation models and these new ones is quite remarkable. It does take some getting used to but I have mine working the way I want it to and have all of my standbys where I can easily view them. The camera quality blows me away!  Lydia is still messing with hers and wants to go back to Verizon and ask them some questions. Hopefully, that will help. We are also looking into turning the old phones in. Sarah, at Verizon, told us they take old non-tradeable phones and scrub them and donate them to women’s shelters and such. We liked that. When we made the transition, they ran a program called smart switch, which just cloned everything to the new phones, so right now, our old phones still have everything on them except the phone accessibility. I liked that because now we can see what we had and where it is in the new screen views.

Both Quincy and Rylee are doing well. They get along fine and Rylee doesn’t pester her all the time, like she does whenever they visit. They each have their own sleeping place at night but last night we were surprised that Q came in and got up on the bed with us, - and yes, including monster puppy!  But she relaxed and went right to sleep. We thought she might have been scared from sounds or something in the house. We’ll see what happens tonight. During the day, we can let Quincy out in the yard, on a rope, and let her enjoy some time lounging in the sun, which she does at home. Rylee got her time outside earlier, with me, when I was working on the trees.  

Lou called me after he got home yesterday evening and thanked me for caring for the dogs. He said he really enjoyed the trip and the race. I didn’t ask him how his daughter did but will later. Lydia asked me if I had lunch (I had not) and since she had not, we had an early dinner.  After we ate and I got the kitchen cleaned up, we took a walk with the dogs and I showed her the new ‘treeless’ area. She also checked one section of her tulips. They are looking good!

We got back in and settled in for the evening and watched our programs until bedtime. Let’s see what happens and if we have another ‘two dog night’ tonight!       

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #35 – Soggy Grass and Caring for the Neighbor’s Dogs

Saturday, April 13^th, 2019…...  Today was another yucky day. The weather was overcast and cloudy and finally it sprinkled down. That’s ok, because we didn’t have anything planned. I have been hanging around the house since Lydia has had some tough days. She says she’s feeling better but I know she’s still uncomfortable with going out for any length of time. With the weather like it is, we don’t get much done outside the house. Rylee did get out with Quincy this morning and I try to run her around the house playing and giving her some exercise, but we can’t wait until we have some decent weather and dry grass. My stint with Lou’s dogs doesn’t start until Monday but I wanted to check to make sure that Taylor made it down to her dad’s house for the weekend. I went out to get breakfast for us this morning and her car wasn’t there. But it was there later so now I can relax. If the weather is nice tomorrow, I can get her dogs and butthead together for a playdate. We’ll see. So, we just hung around and watched tv and straightened up the house a bit. That was our day.

Sunday, April 14^th, 2019…… The weather was a little better today. No rain but it was overcast and we had colder temps since there was very little sunshine today between the clouds.  It sure wasn’t enough to help in drying out the soggy grass!  I walked Rylee and checked Lou’s house (my dog feeding duties don’t start until tomorrow morning). I saw that Taylor had the garage door almost closed. Lou leaves it open so the cats can come in and feed and get water from the community bowls he puts out. He leaves the door about halfway so he can just duck under. As I said, this morning I saw that Taylor had it only about a foot open. That’s ok for the cats but the house key is hidden in the garage, so I always need to go in that way. I’ll go back and check later. Hopefully, she’ll leave it open for me.

Lydia made bacon and eggs for breakfast. She’s feeling a lot better today. We didn’t need anything from the store so we decided to stick around again today and just watch tv and relax. I had a full two days of races taped so I started in on those. She had Hallmark and USA programs taped and watched a bunch of those. Later, just before dinner, I took monkey butt out again and checked on the house. Taylor had left to go back to Portland and the garage was still open only one foot so I was worried. He has an access door that goes to a storeroom with another door that opens to the garage. Luckily, both of those were unlocked so I’m good for tomorrow! I got back and dried off the monster puppy’s feet. She always likes to walk in the rain water in the ditches by the road. Lydia had started dinner and we ate fish and veggies and pasta alfredo while we watched a couple more episodes of Guy’s Grocery Games. I snuck in the kitchen a few times and eventually got all the dishes in the dishwasher and the pots and pans washed and the stove cleaned up.  By then we had watched three episodes so we’re almost caught up!       

             

Monday, April 15^th, 2019…...  This morning was my first day to feed Lou’s dogs. I got up, showered and walked Rylee, then went back and got in Lou’s house through the utility room door to the garage. Taylor had left out enough cat food and water so that was good to go. It’s funny, I have only seen this cat from a distance way out in the field. I have never seen him in close to his food. He truly is a ‘cat’ burglar!  I was able to get in and got started. But first I had to clean up the kitchen. I’m not sure why but she left the kitchen pretty messy. I found lettuce scraps on the counter and dirty dishes in the sink. I moved the glasses and dishes out of the way. Lou can do those when he returns but I cleaned up the counter and got the dog dishes cleaned up. I didn’t hear from her at all this weekend but I’m guessing she left early Sunday and just left out enough food for both the morning and evening feeding, which they didn’t eat. It was hardened and yucky so I don’t blame them.  No worries – I just needed to start over. Both dogs were glad to see me and once I put down their food, they both were ready to eat. I went out after that and went to Starbucks for coffee/tea. My Starbucks app needed an update and unfortunately my old phone won’t accept the new update. I tried Lydia’s later and hers will but she is at the max for storage. Getting the new phones will alleviate that. I found out I can just go to the Starbucks website from my phone and can access my account and still pay from the screen. Once we get the new phones up and running, I can add the app back in.

I think I mentioned this before, but Lou went to Boston to watch his daughter run in the marathon and the race was run today. It’s Patriot Day in Boston and this was the 123^rd Boston Marathon, and six years since the bombing in 2013.  It was televised and started early this morning but I had it on tape so I watched it with just a short delay.  Later, I decided to work on my tree cutting project but I got sidetracked in cleaning up the shop. I can start tomorrow.

I went back later for the evening feeding and found that the dishes weren’t quite empty. I guess they weren’t that hungry. I got them fed once again and left them to eat. I also made sure that the mail and the newspapers were retrieved from the mail boxes and stored in the house. I came back and Lydia had dinner going – beef stroganoff. It was yummy! We settled in and watched tv until bedtime.     

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #34 – Dealing With Some Med Stuff and Buying Phones

 

Wednesday, April 10^th, 2019…...  Q came over today and Rylee got to run and play this morning. Lydia had a rough night last night and isn’t feeling that well today either. So, we stayed around the house. We did go out and drop off her prescription for her gastro medicines for the flex sig later this month. We went over to Walmart and got a few things and then went back and got the prescription. She fixed cube steak with gravy over mashed potatoes. We even found the steak already cut up for the same price as we usually get. So, that made it easy to fix. We finished up watching Survivor before going to bed.   

Thursday, April 11^th, 2019…… Barrett Jackson is in Palm Beach this week for their auctions so I had those taped. Lydia said she felt a little better but we still stuck around the house today, except to go for mani/pedis.  Lydia made an appointment to have her nails and a pedi done and I asked to go for my pedi. I was NOT happy because we had to wait forever even though we had an appointment.  But we suffered through it and I kept my mouth shut (yeah, I know that’s not like me!). Lydia likes going there and I didn’t want to ruin it for her. On the way home, we decided she would fix breakfast for dinner. We had omelets and hash browns and raisin toast and it was all good! Then it was tv until bedtime.    

             

Friday, April 12^th, 2019…...  The weather has been really nice for the last couple of days. But, as you can see from the pics, 

the ground is way too wet still. Rylee made those tracks just sliding on the grass running after her stick. But, hey, I gotta play with her and let her run out some energy. I kept her on her rope but let her run through the puddles. This is her racetrack that she likes to also lay down in and cool off. 

But even all of the dirt on her comes off with the garden hose and she can be towel dried and all is good again. We also spent some time with Verizon buying new cell phones. We have had ours for many years, Lydia says 7-8 years. I have a Samsung Note2 and Lydia has a Note3 and we just bought Note9s so you can see it’s been a while. We didn’t want to pay monthly so we just bought them outright. It’s hard though, since new phones are not cheap! But at least they are paid for. They are on order and will be delivered to us. Lydia is feeling much better today. My sister came by and we visited for a while. After she left, we relaxed a bit. I wanted to add another shelf to one of my bookcases in my office/man cave, and I had one that was already prefinished and the right color out in the shop so I cut that down and installed it. That was the extent of our day. Lydia went out to Chau’s Little Vietnam truck and got us Yakisoba Noodles for dinner.  She chose chicken and I got shrimp. This guy can cook! My favorite! The other food truck there in town is Stick a Pork In It and that’s good as well. We alternate from time to time when we’re in the mood for fast food. I watched Nascar and Barrett-Jackson and she had her Hallmark shows and a few others to watch tonight.   

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #33 – Rains and Floods and Deer

 

Sunday, April 7^th, 2019…...  Boy, did it rain last night! It started yesterday afternoon and went non-stop until early this morning! I woke up and took monster puppy out to potty and saw the flower beds were under water! The newspaper said they had a flash flood watch going in the Willamette Valley until Monday afternoon. It was slowed to a really light sprinkle when I walked Rylee so we were good. We had no plans for today. My sister brought Quincy over and Q and R ran until they dropped and we got them in and dried off for the morning. Sis said when she was driving here, Oak Creek was about ready to breech the road again, like it did a month or so ago. We ended up not going anywhere and just stayed in and rested and relaxed and enjoyed the day. Lydia got a rack of ribs out of the freezer and she made rice-a-roni and also lima beans with it for dinner. Tonight was the ACM awards show and I watched most of that before calling it a night. Lydia has it on tape as well but we can’t watch it together. I find that I want to fast forward through some of the songs that I don’t care for and I can’t do that when Lydia watches it with me.  She will have to watch her tape later.    

Monday, April 8^th, 2019…… Still raining. I skipped Rylee’s walk until later in the afternoon. But I did go out and get breakfast/coffee/tea. I watched the rest of the ACMs and then the news that was on last night. Boy, they are really talking up the rainfall right now. They are saying it seems to be unusual for this time of year. I remember getting showers last April – ‘April showers bring may flowers’ does really apply up here! But they said we have already received more rain this month than they usually have all of April. There are several cells pushing in from the west, one after the other, with little relief in sight until next week. They are seeing flash flooding in many areas around the state. Corvallis and Albany have closed roads right now. But we are doing ok here.  I did go out and work on the recycling bins a bit. I found out that the units are just a bit too long for the space. But one of them will fit nicely under our kitchen sink for the trash. Lydia thinks that she’s seen smaller units someplace so we will go on the hunt for those. Poor Rylee is feeling neglected during the rains. She wants to run and play but the weather just won’t allow that right now. I always try to let her out when it’s not raining. I don’t care if she runs and gets soaked – I can always dry her off, but I don’t want Lydia or myself out there getting soaked. The best we can do right now is let her out on her rope, but she really needs to run. We had to keep her in the house though, when these four deer spent some time roaming around our yard....

Lydia spent some time watching her tape of the ACMs while I watched my car auctions until bedtime.      

             

Tuesday, April 9^th, 2019…...  Today, the weather broke for a bit. It started out cloudy and with sprinkles but the sun came out and the sky turned blue. It was windy though but that all was ok with me. No rain! Kirk came by and worked for an hour or so and finished his work on the weeds in the flowerbed west of the driveway. Since it was dry out, he also sprayed the gravel pads for the weeds. The grass is still too wet and rain is coming again late tomorrow so I still can’t mow. I went to work on the trash bin and got that installed. Like I said, we’ll look some more for ones better suited for that recycling space.  Later, Lou came by and asked me to feed the dogs again when he goes off to Boston for a few days. One of his daughters is running in the Marathon. I guess he feels comfortable leaving these days, knowing someone is caring for his dogs. He leaves Friday. Taylor, the other daughter, will be here Friday thru Sunday so I only need to start Sunday night thru Wednesday morning.  

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #32 – Tours and Visiting

 

Thursday, April 4^th, 2019…...  Today was tour day. Yesterday, my sister took Amber out to show her Foster Lake. It was cloudy and rainy but then the sun came out for a bit so Amber got some pics. Today, she went to Corvallis to the gym and after that we took off to drive up to Woodburn to go see the tulip fields. The flowers were late blooming but have opened up now and it’s cool to see.   But before that, I took off and went to Albany and stopped for breakfast and then headed over to Lowe’s and bought a few things. I got some earthquake straps to secure the new shop water heater. I also bought a knob to affix to the mixing valve for the water line running out to the front of the shop. I bought a hose reel as well and got the 100’ hose set up and going for that. Lastly, I bought a couple of slide out waste containers that are made to go under a kitchen sink and slide out when you need them. These will go under the Oster oven in the nook and will be used for recycle for bottles/cans and also for paper/cardboard and other recycle. I plan to mount them on temporary platforms for now but they will be put inside whatever cabinet we end up with. But I wanted them now to use in my future design for that space. Once I got back from Albany and got everything unloaded, it was time to go pick up the girls. Woodburn is approx. 44 miles north of us and I chose the back-road route to get there. We were surprised to see that there were no flowers in the fields where we saw them last year. We got to the gate and saw the sign that the fields were 35% in bloom and were about ready to turn around and the lady in the booth told us they plant in different fields each year and not to worry, “There were plenty in bloom to see”. So, we paid, parked and went in. After visiting the restrooms, we jumped on a tractor ride out to the fields. She was right. They didn’t disappoint! We walked around and visited with other folks and had a good time. I even got to hold Rufus, while his owners climbed the observation platform to take pics. Amber had never seen this before and she said it was really nice. We took several pictures around the area

before walking back to the tram stop and going back to the shops. We bought a few things and the girls tried wine and beer tasting. I had a thimble of two beers from a place called the Feckin Brewery.  One was a pale ale called Feckin Blonde (just ok) and the other, a stout called A Feckin Good Morning To You!  I don’t like stout so that didn’t impress me, but I had to try it! Didn’t buy anything there. After we left there, we drove to Silverton and went to 22 Water St. for dinner. We had been there before and everyone enjoyed it this time too. Once we got on the road again, it took us another hour to drive back to Sis’s house and drop them off and head home. We were met by a hungry puppy who had to pee! But all was well in a few minutes and we all settled down to relax from the day. Of course, I had to play with my poor neglected pooch who hadn’t seen us in 6 hours!  Poor thing!  She ran me around and around the house. All of the day up to this point there were only a few sprinkles mixed with cloudy skies. It was only about 30 minutes after we got home that the skies opened up and we got some pretty good rain for 20-30 minutes. So, we timed our day just right!                

  

Friday, April 5^th, 2019…… Today, the plan was to meet at 9:00am at Kevin’s, for breakfast. Butthead woke me up early and I got showered and got going and walked her and got my paper. We left and met them and had a nice breakfast.  Amber was not used to seeing our little town diners but she thought it was fun and the meals there are always good and she liked that. Afterward, we left for home and they left to go shopping in Corvallis, plus they wanted to have lunch there and then go do some wine tasting. Once we got back and after an hour or so watching tv and relaxing and waiting out the sprinkles, I went out to the shop and got the earthquake straps installed on the water heater. Rylee was happy because she was out of the house. The weather cooperated for most of the afternoon but it clouded up again and we had some nice rain later in the day. Lydia made fish and potatoes and asparagus and we watched the two Blacklist shows we had taped. The new one is one later tonight but we’ll watch that one another time.               

             

Saturday, April 6^th, 2019…...  This morning the sprinkles came as I was out with the monkey butt. We cut the walk a bit short. Then I went out and got us breakfast/coffee/tea. The girls came by a bit later so Amber could say goodbye. She had a shuttle trip back to PDX before her flight back to Orange County. It was nice to see her and I hope she enjoyed her visit with my sister and us. The drizzle continued for the rest of the day so we never left the house. Mecum Auctions is in Houston this weekend (actually starting on Thursday) and has 18 hours total, so I started on those last night and continued today. I have plans to work on those recycle containers but that can wait. Lydia got stew meat out to defrost for dinner later and I managed to get monster mutt out for a little exercise between showers. Our lawn is now way overgrown so we are really getting antsy for dry weather so I can mow and give her a place to potty! So sad!

We watched our taped shows and watched it rain until we went to bed.   

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #31 – Hot Water! and a Guest Again!

 

Monday, April 1^st, 2019…...  APRIL FOOL’S DAY!  Most of the schools up here were in Spring break last week. Looks like they are back in school this week. My sister’s friend and former roommate in Calif., Amber, is a teacher and is also in Spring break and will be coming up tomorrow. It’s too bad that the weather has turned. We are forecast for rain for all of this week. It started today, but was mostly just light sprinkles. Later in the evening it did get a little stronger. There is another cell off the coast due to hit land late tonight so there will be heavier rain then. We got up and I got Rylee out in the sprinkles but it wasn’t too bad. My two new Flexi leashes that I ordered from eBay were both delivered today.

These are both tape (not rope) leashes and are both 26’. My other leashes are all 16’ so these will allow her to go farther off the path for smells and such. I think that Lydia could handle her on these, we’ll see. Later, I took off in the Honda and ran it over to Albany to go to Costco to get the lugs checked. That only took about 5 minutes. Then I stopped by Home Depot and bought the one flex water line for the shop bath hookup. Earlier, I had removed the hot water line and tested the valve and got hot water. Then I tested the old water line up to the faucet. Plugged up! This was the one I had to re-hook when I got the water heater installed and I’m guessing that Walt had removed it and didn’t care to replace it because he didn’t have it hooked up. That was the piece in the puzzle that stumped me for so long. I got the new faucet installed with the new lines, and everything tightened and got the water back on and I had hot water back in the shop! Yaay!

My sister stopped by and I showed her that I also have hot water running all the way out to the spigot out in the front of the shop door. The hot water ran through a mixing valve (like a shower control) that Walt had installed, we’re guessing for washing his car/tractor or maybe for a dog wash. I will use it for all of those now!  Later, we headed off to Walmart and did some grocery shopping for the week. After we got home and got everything put away, Lydia relaxed and I paid bills. She got some more drs. appointments squared away and then made chicken and black bean burritos for dinner. Yummy! We watched Guy’s Grocery Games and then she went off to watch her taped shows until bedtime.        

Tuesday, April 2^nd, 2019…… It rained last night but it was still light rain. This morning it was wet out but no rain yet this morning. I took Rylee out on her new leash. The 26’ tape allows her to be able to get up over the ditch out by the road and explore the other side. She enjoys smelling everything. Later, I went out and got breakfast and coffee/tea. My sister called and said Amber got in early enough this morning to be able to get on an earlier shuttle and is enroute.  She’s planning meals for them for today and tonight, but not sure yet what will happen. I went out and worked on cleaning up the garage part of my workshop. I still had to reinstall the sawdust vacuum system that I moved out to install the water heater. That took a few minutes but I took time to sweep/blow out that area before the reinstall. I have a few things still to do. I need to buy an earthquake strap for the water heater and I now need to buy a hose reel to install by the outside spigot now that I have water flowing out there again.

Ok, update - Amber got in and they went out for lunch. They say that they still want to go out for dinner so we told them to decide where and when. Kirk came by but since the weather is iffy and the roof is already wet, he just worked on the yard today. He had told me that a few days ago he discovered that someone was messing around with my trailer at his house and was maybe trying to steal it. He unhooks it from his truck but found someone had cut the wiring harness and taken the plug. They also unbolted the tow chains. Not sure what they wanted – maybe just those items and not the trailer ?. He got everything fixed since he’s been using the trailer for a few weeks now but he’s keeping an eye out...

The girls came by and brought Quincy for her sleepover. We gave Amber the 5ȼ tour, then we all left and went to Pizza Schmizza for dinner. My sister treated us all. Thanks, Sis! Later, they went home and we did as well and walked Rylee before coming in and calling it a night.               

Wednesday, April 3^rd, 2019…...  Just a short burst of showers last night. Again, just enough to wet everything again. But it was ok when I took Quincy out for her walk/run in the field. We always need to take her out by herself so she can do her ‘business’ without the butthead bothering her. After a few minutes out there, and on my signal, Lydia ‘released the beast’ and they played a bit before coming in. Rylee got her water run completed and we got her dried up and then fed Q. The rains came again but only lasted a few minutes. I hung around the house today until we left for Corvallis for Lydia’s drs. appointment. This was a regular visit to her nephrologist, who said all of her numbers looked good except her vitamin d is low. She will be sending a prescription in for a supplement to take for eight weeks and then she will go back to her normal dosage. Everything else is ok. We left there and drove back to the Lebanon Hospital to do her labs for the infectious disease dr. before coming home for the day. We ate leftovers for dinner and relaxed and watched tv (including tonight’s Survivor) until bedtime.