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.