Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #49 – Memorial Day Weekend - Visiting with Friends and Family

 

Saturday, May 25^th, 2019…...  The weather started out dry today. The forecast was for rain, but not until the afternoon. I showered and took Rylee out. I went and got us coffee/tea while Lydia made bacon and eggs.  Once we ate, I cleaned up and rested and watched the skies. It was cloudy but there were blue skies to the west. A few minutes later and the sun was shining and the grass was drying out.  I waited until around 11:00am and started mowing. This was all on me today and I was going to just mow the lawn and wait on the field grass for another day. But it went so well I just kept going!  About halfway through the field mowing, I stopped and switched out mowers, giving one a rest for the day. It took me about 3 ½ hours total but I got it all mowed. Right as I was coming back in, the sprinkles started. I got everything cleaned up and put away and by then, it was raining. I came in and showered and rested for the day, until my sister called me and asked me to go feed Quincy. She and her neighbor, Mariglee, were out wine tasting and they didn’t want to rush back so I went over and fed the Q dog.  Lydia broiled steaks in her new oven and made baked potatoes in the toaster oven. With cheese sauce for the potatoes and veggies, everything was yummy! We kicked back and watched our taped shows until bedtime.    

Sunday, May 26^th, 2019……  Today is race day for me. It starts with Formula 1 racing from Monaco, then the Indianapolis 500, then the Coca Cola 600. All three are big races and it’s a busy day!  I did manage to go out and get breakfast for us but that was the only time we left the house all day!  We each snacked for lunch and made our own meals for dinner. Then it was back to more tv until bedtime.

Monday, May 27^th, 2019…... Memorial Day…..    Memorial Day is not a time to celebrate, but a time to remember those that paid the ultimate price for our freedom. We honor those men and women today. I always think of my high school buddies, especially my good friend, Mitch Silvers, who we lost in the war in Vietnam.  

This morning I got up early and got Rylee out and walked and then went out and got coffee. After breakfast, I went out and cleaned up more of the downed trees that I had drug back to the shop. All that’s left now are the bigger pieces that still need to be cut up for firewood. Later, we headed off to Walmart. We learned that, after the chemical fire, as a liability issue, they had ended up restocking the ENTIRE store. Everything was moved out and we’re told went to auction houses or were donated to food banks. It took them just short of two weeks to reopen. The store looked almost completely full again except for maybe some of the clothes racks, some dvd shelves, and a few of the shelves in the grocery section that were lacking. We got a few things we needed and headed home. I fired up the bbq and put the ribs on. Today, we followed the suggested instructions on the Costco packaging. I seared each side on medium high for 15 minutes each then left them on indirect heat for another hour. Turned out that was the right way to go! They were cooked perfectly and were very tasty.  Janice and my sister joined us and each brought dishes to share. Lydia baked her first apple pie in her new oven. It turned out nice. She used a frozen crust which was broken in the package so we got some leakage while cooking. But she was smart enough to put the pie on a large baking sheet which caught all of the spillage and saved the new oven!

My sister made a stop at Verizon and got her new phone. She is on our plan so I got a text that there was a change in our plan so I knew it before she came over to show it to us! Haha! So, after dinner, we fooled around with the phones and she got hers almost the way she wanted it.  We had everything cleaned up before they left, so we were able to settle in and relax for the evening. A really nice day!    

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #48 – Getting ready to Mow & A New Stove!

 

Wednesday, May 22^nd, 2019…...  Rylee got me up early today. She likes to nuzzle on me when I turn over or right before I get up to go to the bathroom. “I want out to pee!”, is what she is telling me. That usually happens about 2:30-3:30am. I can usually go right back to sleep but not last night. So, waking me up at 5:15am was WAY too early! But, if I ignore her she will settle down until 7:00am or so, which is not too bad. I got showered and got her walked and then went and got breakfast/coffee/tea. I have a roll of craft paper for painting and I had to find that for tomorrow. While I was out in the shop, I cleaned up my tractor a bit. I also put the new handle on the shovel so that was fixed and ready to go.  We didn’t have anything planned for dinner so Lydia made spaghetti. We had the other half of the Texas Cheese Bread from last time so it was a quick meal.      

Thursday, May 23^rd, 2019……  Our new stove is being delivered today. Best Buy contracts their installs with a third-party company.  They had originally scheduled it for yesterday but they wanted a full day because “This is a big heavy oven and it takes longer to load, unload, and get it moved into the space”.  Plus, they had to remove our old ‘big heavy oven’ as well.  They made it from Eugene to Best Buy Salem and back to our home by 11:00am, but it was the only thing on their list for today.  The first step was to take out the old stove. I had laid down protection on the floor from the garage to the kitchen. They weren’t exactly happy to see that though! They prefer to use their own mover’s blankets. Oh well, this was starting off wrong! But they managed to get the old one out (with my muscle). It helped that the doors and halls were made extra wide for wheelchair access when they built the house. I had them take the Dacor out to the shop, where I will finish cleaning it up and get it ready to put on Craig’s List. They also had to change out the gas fitting on the Jenn-Air because it wouldn’t allow the stove to go tight against the wall.

But they got everything going and cleaned up and left. Here’s the old stove:

  

And the new one:

I know, they don't look too much different. But trust me, happy wife - happy life! 

Once they left, we decided to wait another day to test it out. I still had the $50 gift card for 1847, a nice restaurant in the Best Western Hotel in town, that Lou had given me for taking care of his dogs the first time. So, with my sister, we left and went to ‘linner’ and enjoyed a good meal. When we got back, I had decided it was time to cut and haul all of the downed branches from the snowfall last year. I ran an extension cord out to the back of the property. It was made easier because I had an external plug added to the back of the rv garage. I took the truck and my chainsaw out and cut up the branches to fit in the bed, just to get them up to the shop to cut into firewood later. It was pretty easy work and once I got them unloaded, I headed off to get some gas for the tractors. I plan on mowing tomorrow. Sis is coming over so we can get it done quickly.

Later, we watched the last two episodes of The Amazing Race and then went off to bed.

               

Friday, May 24^th, 2019…... The best laid plans…  It rained last night. There was a 25% chance and we had hoped it would miss us, but guess not! Anyway, the mowing is on hold for now. Maybe tomorrow, but if so, I might be a one-man-crew because my sister is busy. I may be able to wait until she’s done with her scheduled tasks. But I was able to go out later in the afternoon and get the string trimming done ahead of mowing. Still have those pesky apple tree stumps to cut around. I may try to pull them out with my truck just to see if I can!

But for the most part, I stayed around the house and worked on little projects. All of the wood I brought in needed to be cleaned up for firewood/trash so I worked on that a bit. Of course, Rylee has to be out there with me! She’s happy even though she’s on a long rope. She likes to sneak in and grab the branches and take them away and lay in the grass and chew on them. I also spent some time paying bills and catching up on my spreadsheet. Fun stuff! I also had a call to make to Best Buy. Since we bought the floor model, we were not given the owner’s manual. I called to ask them to see if it was in a drawer or something in the store. No luck. So, I had to go online to print it out. No worries, it looks pretty much the same and will work. Lydia likes to read the manuals through so she knows how everything works. It will work if/when she has any questions.       

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #47 – Recovering, Chores, and Shopping

Sunday, May 19^th, 2019…...  Nothing on the agenda today. Lydia is still very sore from the surgery, but Rylee doesn’t realize that! She senses her discomfort but only knows she wants to be close to her. So, she tries to nose her way in, no matter if her Grammy is on the bed or in her chair. Sweet girl! As I said, nothing going on today. I walked butthead and then headed off to get breakfast/tea. I don’t drink coffee when the weather is nice or when it’s later in the morning. We slept in so it was after 8:30am by the time I left so I didn’t get coffee today. Weather was nicer in the morning and the sun came out for a while. But it soon clouded up and dropped a few degrees. I managed to go outside with monkey butt to let her run. I checked out my grapevines. There are a bunch of vines popping out now so I guess I didn’t kill them when I cut them back last year! I also checked out my apple stumps. I can almost push them over so I think my friend’s tractor will have little problem yanking them out when he comes next month to mow. 

I also started up the motorhome and ran it for a bit and checked everything out. Everything's good. I think tomorrow I will go off to Lowes or Home Depot. I need to go anyway to get water softener salt but I think I will try to get everything I need to put an exhaust vent in the rv wall plus get some flexible vent pipe so I can hook it up to the motorhome exhaust pipe so it will vent outside.

Lydia got some stuff out for dinner and I helped her fix it. We made up the stuff for a mashed potato casserole and had that and then watched tv until bedtime.    

Monday, May 20^th, 2019……  No rain yet today. I decided to go to Albany and do all of my errands. I walked Rylee then took off, stopping for breakfast on the way which I ate in the Home Depot parking lot. Today I hit Home Depot, Costco, Habitat for Humanity Lebanon, Lowes, and Habitat for Humanity in Corvallis. I got a new handle for one of my shovels, plus all of the necessary items to make the exhaust line for the rv garage. It took some time but I got it all!  When I got home, I found that the table we took over to Paul and Corie’s yard sale was back in my shop!  Lydia didn’t hear anybody so I started feeling bad. We were sure that it sold that same day but guess not. Now Paul had to bring it back over! I definitely owe them an apology for not following up on it.  Later, I called Dana and asked them some questions about cutting through the outer wall and the drywall when I install my vent. She called back later and we had a nice conversation. They want to come by and visit with Lydia in the next few days. Speaking of Lydia, she was feeling ok and made up a shake and bake parmesan chicken with rice and brussel sprouts. She is still in some pain from the surgery but is getting up and around and doing a little more each day – good to see. We find that we have a semi-resident female turkey on the grounds! We’ve seen her a few times, always by herself and always in the back yard. She makes the rounds out in the back and gets just so close to the house and then heads away.

We both have been catching up on the shows we missed and spent the evening watching those and then went to bed. The predicted storm came through last night. It was only sprinkling at 9:30pm but I heard it coming down on the bathroom skylight later in the middle of the night. Temps are warmer now so it was good sleeping weather tonight!     

             

Tuesday, May 21^st, 2019…...  Not much planned for today. Kirk came by and needed to haul all of the grass out in the ditch away. So, I got out my wagon that goes behind the tractor and when he got here with our co-owned one, he just drove it off the trailer and hooked up to the wagon and was good to go. That only took about 20 minutes so the rest of his time he weed whacked out by the creek. I saw Corie today and I apologized for not following up with them on the table. She was ok with it and didn’t know that Paul had brought it back. She said they were trying to figure out where they could use it so they could keep it. But I guess Paul wants the garage cleaned out. No room for more stuff!

Later, we went to the store. Walmart is still closed. We have heard on the news that a 49-yr old man intentionally mixed the chemicals in the pool section to start the fire. He actually bragged to someone so that is how they caught him. He has been previously banned from the store but he was heard to say that this was just a ‘test run’. I sure hope they keep him in jail long enough for that plan to leave his head! We went to Safeway and went down each aisle and Lydia was doing so well, we ended up shopping for the week. When we got home and everything unloaded and put away, we rested for a bit. Then I helped her make spaghetti, which hit the spot! Like I said, we are each still getting caught up on our taped shows. I have been watching 24 hours of the Mecum Auctions and finally got those all watched so I can now go back to all of my other series.   

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #46 – Visiting & Going Home!

 

Thursday, May 16^th, 2019…...  I slept in this morning but once I moved, Rylee was all over me to get up and let her out! I showered and took her out for her walk. The rains are back and it had just stopped sprinkling when we went out. After that, I went and got my breakfast and settled in and rested for the morning. I only had a few items on my to-do list for today and waited to get started after reading my paper. I dusted the house and then vacuumed and then straightened up the kitchen. I was done for the day after that. I called Lydia and checked on her. She has been up but still has some muscle weakness and she is worn out after a few minutes. The doctor is due in later.  I spoke to several folks who have called me asking about her. I nuked the spaghetti leftovers and was good to go. Later, I called back again and she sounded a little more rested. She has been up 3 times today. The doctor says she should be able to be released Saturday or Sunday. I am heading back up tomorrow to spend the day with her.  We have had a lot of flowers open up in the last few days. I went out and took a couple of pics of these. I'm not sure what they are called but we have a bunch of different colors!

  

Friday, May 17^th, 2019……  My sister suggested that she come over and walk Quincy, then we feed the dogs and then go to breakfast before I leave to head up north for the day. Good idea!  We drove out to Shirley May’s only to find a sign on the door saying they were closed today due to illness. So, we decided to head back to town and go to Kevin’s instead. No big difference in the quality of food – they are both delicious!

We got back and I took off, this time driving the Honda to get it out on the ‘road’ again. I decided to drive to Corvallis and get some gas and then follow 99E this time to the Portland area. That was a good choice but a whole lot slower, taking me through Hillsboro and into the city from the west. I got there and made my way up to her floor and we visited for a while. She was just finishing up her lunch. She said she had been up and walking and had done her ‘chores’. Dr. Herzig had put on her board to get up and sit in her chair three times, and then walk three times. They took her catheter out so she had to get up and go pee on her own again. She was allowed to go back to a regular diet as well. The only thing out of whack was her blood sugars. They have been monitoring her since surgery. They had gone up right after surgery and today, they were lower than normal. This happened when she had her kidney transplant as well. She was told she was borderline diabetic but after about a month she was off all of the testing and was back to normal. This time they were not worried either but have been poking her finger every two hours and getting readings. His assistant came in a bit later and said that she could go home today. We were surprised but didn’t say no!  They gave her one new prescription plus they want her to continue monitoring the blood sugars. I will have to go get that stuff when we get home. It took a few hours but she finally got released. I went and got the car and they brought her down and we headed home. We did get stuck in the usual southbound-Friday-get-out-of-town traffic but once we cleared the normal bogdowns, we made pretty good time. No rains today, even though it was predicted. I think we only got a few drops but that was all. We stopped and picked up burgers and went home. Rylee was excited to see her Grammy and I had to hold her back so she wouldn’t jump up on Lydia. We ate and then she got back into her jammies and settled into her recliner and relaxed and watched tv until bedtime. Rylee felt better now that she had both of us in her bed again!       

  

             

Saturday, May 18^th, 2019…... Rain is in the forecast but it was clear last night. We both slept well. Lydia has pain in the surgery area but other than that, says he feels pretty good. She’s said she had not passed any solid food yet so we’ll see how that goes today. She good a good shower and got dressed for the day, even though we weren't going anywhere!

The morning was clear so I got Rylee out and walked and then came back in and made us egg and cheese sandwiches for breakfast. My sister had found that they carry Farmer John link sausages at our local Safeway so I added some of those to my sandwiches. After that, I headed out to Walmart to get the glucose testing equipment. Our local Walmart is closed right now. On Tuesday, while we were in Portland, someone had gone to the pool chemicals area and mixed a couple together and started a fire. They evacuated the area and the news said the sprinklers only came on in one area. That is conflicted by locals who say the whole store went off and that they now have everything wet in the store. All we know is that the store is still closed. Anyway, I drove to the Albany Walmart and got everything so she can now do the twice-a-day tests, starting tomorrow morning. We spent the rest of the day just hanging around. The sun came out and it was a nice day and we had the house opened up. But later in the day the skies darkened and we had a thunderstorm pass thru. But it only lasted about 30 mins. And it was dry again for the evening. I still need a few days of sun so I can mow again so I watch the weather closely so I can plan ahead.  Later, I went out to Taco Bell and picked up dinner. We ate and watched tv until bedtime.     

       

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #45 – Randy is Leaving & We Head North & Finally – Surgery!

 

Monday, May 13^th, 2019…...   Randy left about 9:30am or so and headed to McKenzie River to see about riding the trail. He had read last night on his mountain bike trail app that this particular trail was rated number 1 in the US so he was anxious to go check it out. After he left, I went about business around the house. Just a few errands and I was done. Lydia and I made a trip to Walmart to see if they had a robe for her to take for after surgery. They didn’t have much so later, when my sister came over, we went out to dinner, and she chose Albany so we could stop at Kohl’s and see what they had. We found one and then we headed over to Elmer’s for a light meal. Once we got home, Penny left Quincy and went home. Lydia spent a little time packing for the hospital.  Randy sent me a few pics from his ride. He said they were right – this was one of the best trails he has been on!

  

Tuesday, May 14^th, 2019……  Sis came by as I was out walking Rylee and came in and took Q out for her walk/run. We have to be at her first appointment at 1:00pm (with the anesthesiologist), so we left around 9:30am.  We wanted to go check out the hotel (Inn at Marquam Hill) first because the reservation says check-in is from 2:00-3:00pm and room type will be picked at check-in.  I wanted to at least go see if I could reserve a king non-smoking room and come back later. Lydia has a 2:30pm appointment to learn about the colostomy bag should they put one in. The hotel is just up the hill from the hospital so I could run over and check in while she is in the doctor’s office. But when we finally found the place, the owner was out walking his dogs so I was able to explain our situation and he went ahead and gave us our room. We had thought this was a regular hotel but it turned out that it was more of a bed and breakfast, with only 8 rooms. He had my request for a king and he told me it was ready now so we unloaded our stuff. He said I could finish check-in (he still needed my credit card info) later. We went ahead and left and headed to the hospital for the first appointment. That one was down the hill, which we reached via the tram. The doctor we saw did all of the pre screening to see if Lydia was able to be put under anesthesia. No issues and we were off, back up the tram, for the second appointment. This one was at the ostomy center, which was just one room in the specialty physicians building. Meredith was super and gave us an idea of what to expect if they attach a colostomy bag after the procedure. Once we were done with that, we headed back home and, while I headed out and found a small pizza parlor (Hot Lips) and got a slice and a beer, Lydia started her prep. This is where it got interesting. Our floor in the inn had to share a bathroom!  So, needless to say, Lydia dominated it throughout the night! She felt bad because one time she was in there, she found someone left the window open! Oh, well! She had to use her special soap and scrub up really good. After that, we settled in and tried to get some sleep. She had found out earlier today that her check-in time tomorrow morning was 5:30am.  I usually carry a small battery powered alarm clock in my overnight bag but I had thinned it out yesterday and I guess I missed it. No worries – I set my cell phone clock alarm for 4:00am.

Here are some pics from the house. The place was older but very well taken care of. Everything was neat and tidy and the rooms and bathroom were very nice. They have the kitchen for made-to-order breakfasts. They have the living room as more of a parlor (we didn’t use it) which was very nice. The price was $115.00 plus tax so we will go back there again (but maybe reserve the master bedroom with its own bathroom!).   

     

             

Wednesday, May 15^th, 2019…... We got up at our designated 4:00am. My sister also gave me a back up text just to make sure we were up. Lydia took her second scrub shower and got dressed and I got ready and we headed out. We got checked in with no problem. The staff there sure does a nice job! She must have seen twenty people prior to being wheeled in for the resection. By the time she left pre-op it was almost 7:45am. I was told the surgery would last about 4 hours plus recovery so I should leave the hospital and come back later. I gave up my nice parking space (no charge for parking at the complex) and drove around. I wanted to go back to the rv place where I had the fridge work done last year to see if they had moved out to their new location yet. It is on the east side, way on the other side of Portland so that took up some time. I then drove over the bridge into Vancouver WA and explored there a bit. While I was out touring, I got a promised call from one of the surgical assistants in the room. She said Lydia went under at 8:10am and was doing well and the dr. was still doing the procedure laparoscopically and everything looked good. She would call back later with an update, but I had plenty of time to kill.  So, I headed west to Beaverton and Yamhill, just to kill some time. When I got back, all of the parking in the structure was full so I valet parked and went to check in at the surgery waiting room. I sat in there for an hour or so, checking her status number on a monitor in the room. Not long after that, Dr. Herzig came in and told me the good news. They got everything cleaned up and reattached with no issues. We had signed a paper allowing them to use a new apparatus which uses a button instead of squeezing a stapler to activate the suture staples. These were the ones used to reattach the colon sections. We were told beforehand that Lydia was a good candidate for that new procedure and, if she authorized it, she would be one of only 165 people across the country to use that technique. He said that it was way easier and he will be recommending it to go nationwide now. He also said they got a good tight seal and good flow with little swelling so he didn’t need to attach the colostomy bag. That would have been a separate procedure and would have to have been surgically removed down the road (3-6 months down the road!) so we were extremely happy not to have one! All that was left now was to get through recovery and then go up to her room. That took a few hours but they finally got a room assignment and I was able to be with her as we went up and got settled in. She looked good but was still worn out and had not yet come off of all of the drugs and anesthesia. I spent a good amount of time with her but left to make the 90-mile drive back home, stopping for dinner (Arby’s) on the way home. I was exhausted but still stayed up and watched 90% of the season finale of Survivor before I couldn’t stay awake any longer. Rylee was quick to take over her side of the bed and even used her pillow and was snoring just like her Grammy in a few minutes!           

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #44 – Patio Table Moving & Mother’s Day!

 

Friday, May 10^th, 2019…...  This morning after I had Rylee out and walked and had breakfast, my sister called and needed my help. She had purchased a patio set from a yard sale around the corner from her house. I brought my truck and we first moved out her old set and then went and picked up the new one and got it set up. Lydia said we could use the old one so we loaded it up and I brought it back. Penny came over and helped me unload and set it up on the back porch. That left the one we had. I texted Janice but she wasn’t interested. Oh well. While my sister was here, we decided to take butthead out and all of us went over to Paul & Cori’s house across the street to go see what they had at their yard sale. We bought one or two things and then my sister asked if they wanted a table. They didn’t but said to bring it over and put a price on it and they would try to sell it. Too good an offer to pass up so we loaded it up and took it over there. I had them put a $20. price tag on it. Later in the day, I looked over and it wasn’t where we had left it so I assume it sold.  I will have to go back over tomorrow and see. A bit later, we took off to go grocery shopping at Walmart. We picked up stuff for spaghetti and watched Guys Grocery Games while we ate. I watched the Nascar truck race and called it a night.    

Saturday, May 11^th, 2019……  Our son, Randy, came up to see his mom. He left California and drove up and stayed with friends around Sacramento and then one night in Ashland, where he was able to join a mountain bike run in the area. They have a van that transports the bikes up to the top of the ski area and the riders find trails to go down to the bottom. He always enjoys getting his exercise that way. He got in this morning and will be here through Mother’s Day, leaving Monday to head back home and to work. That works for us because we were afraid that he would want to stay through the surgery and recovery and wait to leave after she was home. That would be too much time away from work (with no paycheck), so, as I said, we are happy. We hung around the house today but did go over to my sisters to open up all of her crawlspace vents around the house. Like me, she has residual water left from the rains and she needs to get air in there to help dry it out. I have some that I need to open as well and did that today too. Lydia bought stuff for chicken and rice and Aunt Penny came over and we all had a nice meal.  Afterwards, Randy and I left to go see the races at the nearby Willamette Speedway.  Tonight, they had 5 different types of cars - hornets (4 cyl. stock), late models, sportsman, street stock, and super sports. We found seats in the general admission area just up from the starting line (note - we need stadium chairs for the next time because the aluminum seats are haarrd!) and really enjoyed the evening. Even though the weather was in the 80s all day, it got kind of chilly so we were both glad we grabbed sweatshirts to wear! 

Everything ended around 9:15pm so there was still some daylight left on the way home (maybe a mile). We sat up for a while then I took Rylee out for her business, then we all called it a night.     

             

Sunday, May 12^th, 2019…... HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!   This morning Aunt Penny came back with sausage and eggs and we made potatoes and biscuits and had a nice breakfast. Randy left about 11:30 and went to Falls Creek to go mountain biking. He said he met a guy from Salem there that was by himself too, so now they could ride together and can take some extra risks and watch out for each other. He had a good time and they exchanged numbers so when he next comes to Calif., they can go out again down there. Meanwhile, we had all the fixins ready for a bbq. Once he texted that he was on his way back, we got the baked potatoes going and when he got home, I started the steaks on the grill. Everyone seemed to like them and the rest of the meal was tasty.  

Jeff had called and talked to Mom for a good while so that was nice. All in all, a good day.  Randy will be leaving tomorrow morning to head back, with maybe one stop on the way to ride the McKenzie River Trail. He tried to make a call to see if they operated a Monday shuttle for that ride but it was too late and they were closed.  

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #43 – Walking Dogs, Mowing Lawns, and Going to the Show

 

Tuesday, May 7^th, 2019…...  This morning I got up early and got Rylee walked, then I headed over to walk Quincy. My sister was headed up to Salem for an early-morning Drs. appointment. I took the Q out for to the Santiam River for a good walk/poop and then brought her in and fixed up her breakfast. On the way home, I stopped by and got our breakfast. Kirk came over today and worked on our ditch out by the road. I still have standing water in the ditch and there are green plants that are doing well in that water. I want that dried up so I had him pull out all of the vegetation, which will help. He also brought our mower back this time, so now tomorrow we can use both of them and get the back field mowed. Two makes it go so much faster. I won’t let Lydia on the mower right now so Sis will come and help tomorrow. The weather right now is awesome! It was 86º yesterday and got to 78º today. I saw on the news that SoCal is getting rain, so things are now reversed! I also spent an hour or so and installed the ceiling fan we just bought in my room. It’s got a remote so I’m thrilled (it’s a guy thing)! 

Not much else planned today.  

Wednesday, May 8^th, 2019……  Today was lawn mowing day. My sister wanted to come over with Quincy and then go to Jack in The Box and get breakfast then come back and help me mow the lawn. She wanted to get started before it got hot. Good plan, except that we went to Kevin’s for breakfast. Much better. When we got back, Lydia watched the puppies and I got the string trimmer out and started around the faucets, and sprinkler heads and then got both tractors out and started. We got going and it went smoothly – for the most part.  We have three islands, two out back. One of those is irrigated, the other isn’t. It has a few trees but not much else and its way back on the property so we decided to let it go back to grass rather than weed and mulch it. My problem came when I went over the berm and didn’t see the log laying in the high grass! It caused my drive belt to disengage. Actually, it came off the pulley. It took a few minutes to get it back to concrete to be able to get to it and get it back on and get out there again. But all in all, it went pretty well and looks good. I will get Kirk to string trim the reeds on the creek and it will be good to go for a while.  Afterwards, my sister went home and showered and did a few errands and then came back for Quincy. I crashed in my chair and actually slept for a while. Later, it was my turn to go out to get dinner – Taco Bell. We ate that then later I watched Survivor and Amazing Race. Lydia was tired and went to bed early. She’ll watch it tomorrow.      

             

Thursday, May 9^th, 2019…... Our day was laid back for the most part. I walked Rylee and then fixed my breakfast. Just before 10:00am Lydia went to get her nails done but before she left, we had decided to go to Eugene and see Marvel’s End Game. I took Rylee out and played with her to wear her out and when Lydia got home, we took off to Cinemark. We liked the movie, although you really have to know all of the Avenger’s characters to stay caught up. We did ok, and were able to follow it for the most part so it was a good movie. It was a long movie so afterward I texted my sister and asked her if she would run over to the house and feed the monkey butt while we stopped at 5 Guys and had dinner before heading home. Then it was tv until bedtime.     

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #42 – Planning and Planting

Saturday, May 4^th, 2019…...  No plans today. I don’t think we even moved the cars once today! I finished up the wood cutting and stacked a small bit for firewood. Now all that’s left are the stumps. I am going to try some digging just to see how the roots look. I have three trees to dig out. I hope I can get them loosened up so I can yank them out with the truck. Next week. The Kentucky Derby is today, so I watched that. Lydia and I took a tour of Churchill Downs when we were in Louisville a few years back. That place is awesome and I would like to go to a derby one day. It’s not cheap but maybe just once we would spring for some good seats and maybe even dress up like everyone does. Something to plan…

This year’s race ended in a disqualification of the winner for interference. I hope all of the second-place tickets didn’t get torn up and tossed! There were other races today so I was happy just to lounge around most of the day and watch tv. Lydia cooked the salmon we bought the other day at Costco. Yummy! She got a call today from the hospital in Portland. They wanted to do a preliminary check-in. We still don’t know what time the surgery will be, that will be determined by the surgeon. Lydia let Rylee out to run and she took off and went straight to the creek out back. Her little runway is all dried up but she managed to find water in the creek! She called me out and, once we got her back, hosed off, and dried, we came in for the evening and settled in.   

Sunday, May 5^th, 2019……  Another Sunday and no plans. My sister came over and walked Quincy and I walked Rylee and then took off to get breakfast/coffee/tea. I forgot to mention that on Friday we went to the annual plant show, done here by a group of local gardeners. Lydia bought one plant but my sister was there and she was loading up when we left!  So, today, I asked her where she wanted to plant the woodland hyacinth and got that in the ground. That was it for the day. Pretty easy!  Plenty of races going on so no problem for watching tv. Nascar race did get postponed (for rain) until tomorrow morning.

             

Monday, May 6^th, 2019…...  I got up and showered and walked Rylee and then headed out to go get breakfast. We saw on tv that Taco Bell has breakfast burritos for $1. So, we decided to try that. It was actually pretty good but they were small so we each got two. Plus, a couple of cinnabons as a tasty treat! I will put them on my list for different places to go. I watched the Nascar race today, then went out and worked on the bathroom in the workshop. Besides, needing a good cleaning, I wanted to upgrade to the fixtures we recently removed from our bathroom. I got the old ones off and those new ones installed and then mopped the floor and washed the counter and sink. It actually looks clean now!  When we replace the light fixtures in the master bath, I will reinstall one of those out there as well. I also want to eventually install a new toilet in the master bath and the one in the house is way nicer than the cheapy one Walt put in the shop, so that will get moved as well. That done, I went out to the rv to catch up on a couple of my taped programs out there. I also hooked up an extension system to my diesel aqua hot exhaust line coming out on the underside of the coach, so the fumes will go outside. That worked well so now I can run the diesel system and cycle the water system and make sure everything is operational when we can get the rv out and going again. We heard from Randy today. He is wanting to come up to visit his mom for Mother’s Day and be here for her surgery. He’s still planning right now and isn’t sure if he wants to fly or drive. Both have positives and negatives but if he flies, he needs to get his reservation asap. Lydia had a few calls today and forgot to get something out for dinner, so she volunteered to drive to Big Town Hero for sandwiches. I love their turkey, bacon ranch panini. 

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #41 – Yard Work, a New Ceiling Fan and a New Oven

Wednesday, May 1^st, 2019…...  As I said, the weather is great right now! Temps are in the low 70s and are expected to be 78º on Sunday. Quincy was here this morning for a walk and romp with monster puppy. After they left, we left and met her again at Kevin’s for breakfast. When we got back home, Kirk was here, just getting set up. Turns out he has help today. His sister Becky, came in yesterday from Virginia to visit. He’s working so she came with him and helped him today. She worked in the yard while he finished up the moss removal on our roof. I won’t have to do that again for several more years. I was going to scoop up the grass today but wanted to wait until Kirk was done. Lydia usually bags the grass after I dump it, but she wasn’t feeling well so she stayed in and rested while I spent the time cutting up the apple tree branches into smaller pieces for the trash can. The grass clippings can wait. I had tacos for leftovers and Lydia fixed turkey and mashed potatoes and that was our dinner. We settled in and watched Survivor and then The Amazing Race and then called it a night.

Thursday, May 2^nd, 2019…… This morning I got up and going early. I wanted to go to an estate sale that I heard about from my sister. I was told that there were tons of interesting things there. I got Rylee walked and headed over to Walmart to get cash, then drove over and waited for them to open.  My sister got there a few minutes later. I told Lydia later that it was good she slept in. Although there were tons of stuff, there wasn’t much that interested me. They had a few collections, like 30 or more hurricane lamps, all sizes. Not interested. Vases, maybe 40 or so, Nope. I was out of there in 20 minutes and came home.  I had told Lydia I wanted to go to Costco to get a Hunter Ceiling Fan I had seen in their sale paper, so we left to go do that. Of course, we had to do more shopping once we got there. We got all of that back to the house and unloaded and then I went out and got the grass catcher hooked up to the tractor and started picking up grass. My sister came over and helped bag it all and even took several bags home to put in her yard waste bin for pickup. Thanks for your help, sis! Later, we made plans to go to dinner tonight. Skyline has prime rib specials Thurs.-Sun. and both Lydia and sis were ready for that so we went tonight. She came back to the house and picked us up and drove. It was a nice meal.  We still had daylight when we got back so I went out and cut up some more apple tree branches. Almost done with that project.

             

Friday, May 3^rd, 2019…...  After getting up and showered and going for the day, I fed and walked monkey butt and played with her around the yard. We have plans today to go back to the Best Buy in Salem. I think we are ready to buy the Jenn-Air stove from there. We have been all over the place looking for something to replace the Dacor we have now. It’s a high-end stove but it doesn’t suit Lydia, who says the oven isn’t calibrated correctly. Sometimes it cooks at the perfect temp, other times it goes lower or higher. Assuming the electronic circuit board is the issue, is it available still for this older stove, and more importantly, will there still be an issue with other parts in the future?  The seal around the door has been replaced but the hinges are the next thing we have to fix. I think I need to make her happy and cut our losses and just get her a new oven.  We wanted to buy from Costco because they have great prices and they do carry a 36” model (NXS – ever heard of it?) that would work, but the reviews are terrible. As is with several other brands we have never heard of – they get lousy reviews and are not recommended. So, we have been looking at Thermador, Jenn-Air, Kitchen Aid, Wolfe, and Viking. These are all priced from $6000-$10,000. so we have been in sticker shock for some time.  I have found scratch and dent models from Wolfe and Viking but they are all online and would have to be shipped. I don’t want to pay $3500. up front and trust that they drop ship a stove at my curb. We found a new scratched Jenn-Air at B&R used appliances in Beaverton (priced at $4999. but I don’t know if it can be warranted or not). We found the same model at Best Buy and the price was lower). So, we drove up to Salem and found Justyn, who had helped us before. They had a floor model (with no scratches or blemishes) that was marked down, plus they gave us 20% off that (it was on sale last week so we said we needed that discount and they gave it to us). Delivery is free. Even with the extended 5-yr warranty and installation, we are spending $1000. less than the scratched one. Delivery is set after Lydia gets home from her surgery so we’re good there. Plus, I think I can sell the Dacor on Craig’s List for upwards of $2000. Lydia is VERY picky about her baking but this oven should be perfectly fine for someone wanting to upgrade to a Dacor for 1/4 the price of a new one. That done, we came back home and rested from the day. I did go out later and I finished cutting up the apple tree branches. Well, I finished cutting off the smaller pieces, which went in the trash, saving the larger ones to be cut later on my chop saw for firewood.  I ate a really late lunch so Lydia fixed herself some soup for dinner and I had a small snack later and called it good.  We watched tv until bedtime.