Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #70 – Yard Work and Boat Prep

 

Saturday, July 27^th, 2019……  This morning, after walking Rylee, I got on Ebay and ordered an over-the-air digital antenna for one of the tvs in the house. I expect that ATT/Directv and Nexstar and CBS will settle soon and we will get our CBS station back, but this was only $8.00 and I want to see if it works at all – just in case. Then I went out and repaired that bad connection on the bug zapper extension cord. I was right, one of the terminals had gotten hot and melted. I just replaced it with a heavier extension cord and was done quickly.

Later, Lydia went out and worked in one of the front flower beds. It was warm but the clouds made it nice to be outside. She pulled some dead flowers out of the beds and I followed behind and picked them up for the trash. We were done in an hour. I also went out and tested the sprinklers again. I have noticed white spots on the lawn and suspected the area was being skipped by the rotating sprinkler heads. We have them set to run in the middle of the night so we don’t usually see them in action, but testing them helps. I was right – I have two that need to be replaced. Again, tomorrow.

I came back in and watched the next to last day of the Tour. The last day through Paris is usually ceremonial so today’s run was the finale. I was sad to see the guy (Julian Alaphilippe) who held the yellow jersey for 14 of the 20 days lose it yesterday and not get it back today. He was a French rider and it would have been nice to see it won by a Frenchman. But not this year. The new leader (Egan Bernal) is from Columbia and is the youngest rider in the Tour this year.

Lydia fixed hamburgers for dinner and after I cleaned up, it was back to relaxing and watching our programs until bedtime.         

Sunday, July 28^th, 2019…… Nothing on the agenda today. We spent the day lazying around the house. I went out and did some work on the boat trailer. I still have to figure out if I want to just go ahead and tear apart the trailer, sand and paint it now, or wait until after I check to see if it will fit under the boat. I’m leaning toward the former because even if it doesn’t fit, I can always sell it and get back what I have in it.

Lydia made hamburgers for dinner and we watched tv until bedtime. I got caught up on my Tour de France today. They finished in Paris and it was a wacky tour for sure! They had record heat in France this year but stage 19 ended up being shortened due to rain and snow and mudslides that came down and washed out the road below the riders. It was a pivotal turn because the yellow jersey didn’t get a chance to gain time on the downhill part to the leader of the race. The winner was pretty much decided by that call.    

     

Monday, July 29^th, 2019…...  I went out and got us breakfast and then started to get the boat ready. Yes, we are taking it out tomorrow!  It’s about time, huh!  But with all we have had going on, plus the issues with the boater’s license, plus I didn’t feel like working on it while the grandkids were here, it’s finally time! I just had to clean up the trailer plug and ended up putting a new one on, but it’s ready. Lydia felt like working in the yard again today so she started pulling the dead flowers out of the new growth and I went behind and got them picked up. Later, we got the new cover off of the boat and I got the truck ready. We are not planning on doing anything other than a cruise to see how the boat performs and if everything is in working order. Of course, I will be on the lookout for good fishing areas for when I come back!

We wanted to crash early but we weren’t planning on leaving tomorrow until around 10:00am or so, so we both ended up staying up later than usual, watching our programs.

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #69 – Quiet Days With the Dogs and Nail Time

 

Wednesday, July 24^th, 2019……  Nothing on the agenda for today. I went out and got breakfast/tea and then sat around most of the morning watching the Tour de France. They are in day 17 of 21 and are starting to hit the Alps. It’s amazing how fit these guys are to be able to ride uphill for several hours! 

I did a few fixes on the newer trailer. I am now ready to take the boat out! I need Lydia and my sister if I want to make the trailer swap as planned. Will have to work out a day. The weather is certainly right for a trip out on the lake!

  

Thursday, July 25^th, 2019…… Sis was coming back in tonight. We had to go and get her car from her house and drop it back at the shuttle stop for her to drive home. But we didn’t need to do that until this evening. I got Rylee and Quincy walked and then came back and made my breakfast. Lydia went to do her labs and I took off to go get some more parts for the grapes/blueberries irrigation system. I now have timed water and added sprinkler coverage that reaches all of the plants. I had them on daily but the ground was really soggy (bad for grapes!) so I reset it to go on every other day for 20 minutes. The blueberries are done now but since we haven’t been out to pick them yet, I wanted to keep watering. Later, Lydia made an enchilada casserole and we watched a few Guys Grocery Games. We are way behind on those! After that we left and went to get the car parked at the shuttle stop. We took butthead along but she couldn’t figure out why we wouldn’t let her out at Quincy’s house and why she didn’t get out to see anything at the shuttle stop! All of that done, we came back in and settled in for the rest of the night.  

     

Friday, July 26^th, 2019…...  Nothing on the agenda today. Oh wait, we have a nail appointment at 11:30 this morning. I went out and got us breakfast and we were finishing up when my sister came over and picked up Quincy. She didn’t stay long – she was headed home to rest up from her trip.    

I worked a bit out in the shop and brought out the Dyna Trap bug zappers. I got them set up the same as last year – one in the front and one in the back.  These guys plug in and I had one cord that runs under the back porch that didn’t have power but I will tackle that tomorrow. We left and got our mani/pedis. This time there was a younger guy who had come in while we were there. He was by himself and it was his first time so Lydia and I had fun talking with him. We advised him which level to get – we like the one that includes the hot wax bag on the feet and the hot rock and oil leg massage. He chose that one but passed on the manicure so he was in and out while we were still there. He said he would be back – with his buddies!  We got back home and relaxed and watched tv. We both had leftovers of the enchiladas as our linner so we only needed an ice cream bar for dessert and we were set for the night. It was tv until bedtime.   

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #68 – Dealing With DirecTV and Tree Trimming

 

Sunday, July 21^st, 2019……  Not much planned for today. I brought in the paper after watching Rylee and read an interesting article. It seems that our DirecTV problem with our CBS programming is now going national. The article said that millions of DirecTV subscribers lost access to CBS programming late Friday after talks over a new distribution deal collapsed. It hit more than a dozen cities, including LA, SF, NY, and Chicago. I just hope now that all of these subscribers are involved, it will get some serious attention and get resolved soon!

Lydia decided to make omelets for breakfast and after that, I went out and got the mower and the grass catcher hooked up and made quick work of the clippings. Lydia came out and bagged it up and we were done. We only got 6 bags so we are doing good. The more often we cut it, the less grass to be bagged! After that, I settled in to watch my tapes of Nascar, tour de France, motocross, IMSA, etc. which took up most of the day.

I had eaten some quesadillas for lunch so I wasn’t hungry for dinner. Lydia made herself a salad and we continued to watch our taped shows.

Monday, July 22^nd, 2019…… This morning, after walking R and Q, and getting breakfast for us, I went out with my chain saw and trimmed up one of the trees out front. This one was drooping down both on the lawn as well as out in the street, blocking our view when we pulled out of the driveway. I made several trips out there, resting in between. Lydia came out to check out my work and critique it – so I put her to work hauling brush! Between us, we got it done in an hour or so. I filled up my truck but I still have a large pile to clean up. I texted Kirk to ask him to bring my trailer back when he comes tomorrow so we can load it and he can take it all away. Once we were done, we cleaned up and came in for the day. It was hot and I was sweaty!  The weather here has turned – hotter!  We had some days in the high 80s and then it cooled off for a few days with clouds and temps in the mid-70s. That was nice! But, now it has warmed up again! It’s supposed to get up in the 90s tomorrow. So, that said, we were done working outside! Later, after resting for a while, we took off to Walmart to catch up on our shopping. A couple hundred dollars later, we got back and got everything unloaded.  Lydia made spaghetti and we watched the last two episodes of The Great Food Truck Race to get caught up. We also caught up on Master Chef.

Tuesday, July 23^rd, 2019…...  This morning I decided to go out and work on one more tree. This one has little trees popping up all around the big one and they have shot up to over 5 feet, strangling the trunk of the tree! So, I got them all cut back and all of the sucker shoots cut back off the tree. It looks a lot better now. When Kirk and Caleb showed up, I was on to the third tree.  This one is on the other side of the driveway and only needed a little trimming. Kirk left Caleb and the trailer and headed off to another job. When I went out later, Caleb had everything stacked and packed down in the trailer.  Kirk came back and I decided to just have them take my truck with all of the rest of the brush, saving them having to transfer it to Kirk’s truck.  We tied it down and they hooked up the trailer and went off to the dump. They got back here and then left for the day before I could talk with them but I assumed all went well. I came in and rested and was done for the day. We had planned on driving over to Brownsville today. Every year they host a Stand By Me Day to celebrate where the 1986 movie was shot. We wanted to go see what that was all about but with all of the work going on, we just hung around the house so we missed out. Maybe next year…

I ate leftover spaghetti for lunch and wasn’t hungry for dinner, so Lydia just made herself something. Later, I had some slices of summer sausage and some cheese and that was about it. Of course, we have been going through a ton of water now that the weather has turned. So, whenever we fill up with ice, we get a glass of ice for Rylee to enjoy while we get our water.  We watched last week’s America’s Got Talent before calling it a night.   

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #67 – One More Trip to Portland, Lawn Mowing & a Wedding!

  

Thursday, July 18^th, 2019……  We got up early today. The new flight time was 11:55am. We left the house just before 8:00am and stopped at McDonald’s for breakfast on the way. We got to the airport a little after 9:30am. Again, I said my goodbyes and headed to park. Since they already had tickets and were checked in, they only had to check their bags and then go through TSA. Lydia was able to stay with them through that and then said her goodbyes and they headed off to their gate. They had a 4-hour flight to Dallas, an hour layover, and then another 3-hour flight to Ft Myers. It would be a long day for them!  I went back and picked up Lydia and we headed home. All was going well until we slowed to a stop on I5. There was a car pulling a small travel trailer on fire ahead of us! We were all stopped a ways away when the fire truck got there but we could see all of the flames. It took 40-45 minutes before we were able to get going again. We drove by and saw the car was toast but the trailer was fine! Still a bad day for that couple!

We got home and did nothing for the rest of the day! I had driven the 200+mile trip twice in twelve hours! I was glad to sit back and watch tv and rest for the day! 

But we sure did enjoy these kids! They are smart, respectful, and pretty quiet (unless you count them ragging on each other!) I think they enjoyed most of everything we showed them and let them do (like driving tractors!) and we definitely want them to come back again soon. I think the whole family ought to make a road trip and drive up next time! I know with work schedules and such that probably won’t happen next year. Maybe we can figure out something….    

Oops, I did do something!  Today was delivery day for the dining room table and server. I helped the guys with a few items and they got everything set up and were gone. But wouldn't you know it - they found a divot in the leaf. Now this is rustic wood and has barnwood wear and tear in it, but we all thought this one was a little much! So, they went ahead and noted it, and called the office to let them know, and then went ahead and set up the table with the leaf anyway and will have to come back soon with a replacement for the leaf.  

Friday, July 19^th, 2019…… My sister was off and running early this morning. She had already brought Quincy over yesterday and headed off to the Oregon shuttle. She parked and headed off to catch her flight to Long Beach. She is going down for a memorial service and also for some visiting with family and friends, plus a meeting with her financial team. Meanwhile, I got up, showered, and got Quincy out for her walk, then took Rylee out for hers. Once we had that done, Lydia and I headed out. We wanted to go to Kevin’s for breakfast. It was closed because they were working on the street out front. No worries – we’ll go to Shirley Mays. Closed as well (not sure why). No problem – we headed in to Albany and went to Sweet Waters Family Restaurant for a nice breakfast. I dropped Lydia off at the shuttle so she could pick up sis’s car. She was then off to get her new replacement glasses, which had come in. While she was doing that, I took off to go to Lowe’s and then Fisherman’s Warehouse. I wanted to add to the sprinklers for the blueberries/grapes and then go try to find the plastic fastener for my boat cover. I found one! Yaay! Plus, they had a reel on a sale table and I couldn’t resist! Lydia met up with me at my sister’s house and she got the car in the garage while I worked on a window in the guest room that was off the track. I fixed it the best I could but it still needs a specialist to repair it. But at least I got it where I could lock it for now.

The plan for tomorrow is to mow again, so this afternoon I went out and did the weed whacking ahead of time. The weather is really nice this time of year – maybe a little hotter than I like – but it’s still ok to be out. The grass seed fields around here are now just about ready to be worked. They have cut and harvested the seeds but the grass needs to be picked up. Then the fields get turned over and supplements added for the next season. All of this means that every harvester and tiller in the area will be out working for the next couple of weeks. It makes for a lot of dust and really turns the air from nice to nasty. It reminds me of California smog! Lydia made some parmesan encrusted chicken for dinner along with some mac and veggie mix. It was all yummy! We settled in and watched our programs until bedtime.      

Saturday, July 20^th, 2019…...  Today was the 50 year anniversary of when the astronauts walked on the moon!  I'll bet everyone knows exactly where they were and what they were doing when this event happened. For me, I was in San Antonio TX at Lackland Air Force Base. I think it was day 18 or something, of basic training. I remember that our training instructor let all of his squad come down to the break room and crowd in and watch on this tiny old round-screen tv.  Lydia said she was at her mom's house and watched it there. Hard to believe that was 50 years ago! One small step for man - one giant leap for mankind!

I got up early and got going. Once I got both dogs walked, Lydia fed Quincy and I fed Rylee and then took off to get breakfast/tea. We wanted to start mowing early before it got hot but the grass was still too wet for that, so I watched some of the Tour de France and then got the mowers out. We both started out in the field because that was dry and then moved on to the lawn. It took a few hours to complete everything. It was Lydia’s first outing on the mower for almost a year. No worries – she did great! I have been shopping and now have the right types of goggles for each of us to choose when mowing that works for us. So, no problems with dust or grass.  I left the clippings for tomorrow to help dry them out. We were done for the day.

Our neighbors (Paul and Cori) across the cul-de-sac have been working on their front and back yards for a while now. They are hosting a wedding this evening. One of their kid’s friends asked, and they have such a nice place, they were happy to do it. They spent many hours getting things ready and set up and last night they had a run-through with the wedding party. Paul has made it possible to park everyone out in the field just east of their house. But folks have to drive across the lawn to get there! We were glad we got the mowing done early because we didn’t know what time everything started over there. Turns out the wedding was at 6:00pm so no worries. They must have had 50 cars in the parking area. We could hear the music and we got to watch as the wedding party walked from the front yard to the back and down the aisle. The party lasted until after 11:00pm but it wasn’t too loud for us. Quincy could hear it and was antsy for a bit but finally settled down.  

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #66 – Cheese!, Ferries, and Headed to the Airport

 

Monday, July 15^th, 2019……  The plan this morning was to leave about 8:30am, and meet my sister and Jody at Elmer’s in Albany, for breakfast. They were headed off north to Salem and we went west to Newport, then up the coast to Tillamook Creamery.  Even though we had been there and done that, it was fun to show the girls. They liked the tour and learned all about the process, all they way from the pampered cows to the finished cheese.

Of course, we went through the tasting line!

And then the store, where they got some souvenirs. I decided to take them back a different way so they could have another adventure!

This was the Buena Vista Ferry, which we caught and rode across the river. The ride is short and you don’t get out of the car, but I think it was fun for them to see and experience!

Shelby had said she was craving French fires, so we stopped at Jack in the Box on the way home. They don’t have these in FL but they have been to them before so they knew what to order. We go everything to go and came home and ate and were definitely done for the day! Oops, I still had Rylee to take care of!  It was still warm out so she got her cooling run. But I still had to dry her off a bit before letting her in the house!

Later, the girls stayed in Shelby’s room and played video games but us old grand folk called it a night and headed off to bed!   

   

Tuesday, July 16^th, 2019…...  Another rest day - for the most part. We wanted to take the girls to A&W for root beer floats but we had to check first because Shelby had said she wanted to cook chicken tacos for us before they left and tonight was the last chance. My sister and Jody came by to drop off Quincy and to say goodbye since we would be heading out tomorrow morning. 

After they left, Shelby said she wasn’t feeling well so we decided that we would just go to A&W for dinner (and root beer floats!).  We had a nice meal and headed back home and called it a night.

Wednesday, July 17^th, 2019…...  Travel day for all of us. We had the drive to Portland to make, plus the girls had over 7 hours of flights tonight to get back home. We had decided to leave with enough time to stop at Cheesecake Factory (at their request!) for dinner. No problem – there are two in the city’s outskirts. I choose the Tigard location which was in a nice sized mall. Shelby had seen that they had a Tesla dealer there so that was a plus for her!  The flight out was tonight at 10:27pm. We left the house about 2:00pm and drove up.

We had a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and the girls got filled up with appetizers and then the cheesecake. 

But they each saved some of it for the plane trip! We then walked around the mall. I’ve never seen this before but they had a shop inside the mall with three Teslas to check out. Shelby said she had actually driven one recently and liked it very much. Duuuhhh!  I got a few pics of her enjoying her fantasy car!

Meanwhile, Lydia and Kate headed on to other shops and we eventually caught up. The girls hit several stores and Kate got a book from the Amazon store. We headed out toward the next journey. I wanted to show them the view of the city from one of the hills. I chose to take them to the Pittock Mansion, perched on a hill with the best view I knew. The mansion was closed for the day but you could still walk the grounds. In the backyard, we saw this….

We headed back to the car and Shelby got a text that their flight was late and catching the second flight would be at risk, so we immediately headed for the airport to check on our options. I dropped them off and said goodbye, while Lydia went in to help them check their bags and get their flights squared away. I went to the cell phone waiting lot and waited. It didn’t take too long before I got the call – come get us! Turns out that the flight wouldn’t make it to Charlotte for the connection and there were no more flights out from there to Ft Myers for over 8 hours. We knew we couldn’t do that, so Lydia and the attendant got them flights out the next morning. l picked them up and we headed back home and turned in for the night.  

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #65 – Tractors and BBQs

  

Friday, July 12^th, 2019……  More things on the bucket list for today….  First up was to get the girls out on the tractors! They were hesitant at first but these things are so easy to drive. I gave them a quick teach and told them the blades weren’t engaged so they were a little better and then they got comfortable quickly and were soon speeding around with no worries! It only took a few minutes before they were asking me if I could make them go faster so they could race!

Then we headed over to Rylee’s pool so she could have some fun. They got a kick out of Rylee chasing her water!  They had her running until she was exhausted and plopped down in the pool!

Everyone ate a nice lunch and rested until later. We left the house about 4:00pm and headed to the credit union and then to Corvallis. We had bought 4 tickets to go see the Corvallis Knights play baseball. They are in the West Coast Baseball League and tonight were playing a home game against the Kelowna Falcons, from British Columbia. Tonight was free t-shirt night. We got there with plenty of time and were let in at 5:30pm. I got us front row seats on the first base side and we settled in. Shelby and I were the first to go get food. They have a place in the park called Block 15, which is a bar and grill in town that we like. So, we went there and ordered. Once we got back in and settled in again, Lydia and Kate headed out. Kate went to the concession stand and got her meal and then Lydia went to Block 15 and got hers. The game was fun. I didn’t know that the girls weren’t into sports but with a few minutes of background and a few more questions, they seemed to enjoy the evening. We left in the 7^th inning with the score Corvallis 16, Kelowna 4. 

We drove home and everyone but me headed off to bed. I sat up and watched the Tour de France. It is day 7 of the 21 day-tour. I only stayed up to finish the race and then I was done too.     

Saturday, July 13^th, 2019…...  We got up and going early this morning., The plan was for the girls to go meet up with my sister and Jody at the farmer’s market in Corvallis. Jody had flown in yesterday from Utah for a week’s visit.  Meanwhile, I stayed home and got caught up on this blog, plus watched Nascar and the Tour de France.  Lydia called and asked me to get out a chicken to defrost for dinner tonight. They hadn’t seen Penny and Jody yet but were walking around. They did hook up and then left them to head home. P & J were doing more shopping and winery visiting later anyway.  Once they got back, they put all of the produce in the fridge and then crashed in their rooms and Lydia napped in her chair. Then they left again – this time to go to Albany to America’s Best.  Lydia has had problems with one screw on the frames of her glasses that just won’t stay tight!  So, this time they made the decision to have everything remade (at no cost). That done, they made a stop at the local Goodwill. The girls like rummaging around second hand stores, and all of the Goodwill stores in the area are really clean and well run. They found a few things but can’t take them on the plane. We’ll go back and get them and send them later. When they made it back form this trip, it was time to start the chicken. Lydia had me turn on the bbq and she got out the utensil for beer butt chicken and got that going. Penny and Jody came by and dropped off the ribs for dinner on Sunday. After we ate, we crashed for the evening.       

Sunday, July 14^th, 2019…...  Nothing on the travel agenda for today. We stayed in and lounged around the house. Later, I fired up the bbq and started the ribs. Jody had never had these and my sister told her they were tasty. I wrote down my process (pretty much just like it says on the package!) so she can have Charlie make them when she gets home. They brought salad and dessert and Lydia made mac and cheese in the crockpot. All of it was very good! The weather was pretty nice, even though we have had some cloudy mornings and some sprinkles off and on, it usually clears up in the afternoon and gets pretty warm. Of course, I have to let monkey butt do her thing with the water hose and her pool! She gets cooled down plus works off some of that puppy energy!

Once the meal was done, and the dog was dried off and back in the house, I cleaned up from dinner and the girls took off. They left Quincy here. Tomorrow they are heading to Salem for a drs. appointment and then some shopping. We are heading to the coast tomorrow. I will walk Q and feed both dogs and they will be back in time to feed them in the evening. We all turned in early.  

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #64 – Touring & Spending Time with the Grandkids

  

Tuesday, July 9^th, 2019……  Surprisingly, Lydia got up before me, around 7:00am. She got Rylee fed and stayed up. Her double door going in to the craft room doesn’t have a lock on the bottom so Rylee found out she can just push hard enough and it will open!  So, she spent time sleeping with Kate! I can fix it for tonight.

I got up and showered and dressed and walked butthead. I took off to go to Taco Bell to get some breakfast burritos for us and the girls. We ate and they slept in, but did get going around 10:30am. and appreciated the quick and easy meal. My sister came by and we lounged around and visited until after 2:00pm when the twins headed off with Lydia to go grocery shopping. I relaxed and maybe nodded off for a bit. Kirk came by later and worked by himself and got one more section cleared of weeds. It’s a never-ending job! I’m sooo glad we found him!

The girls got back and we got the car unloaded and the stuff put away.  We had steak burritos for dinner and then watched The Great Food Truck Race. This episode was shot in Ft Myers FL and the girls recognized some of the locations. After that, they said they were tired and headed off to bed. We stayed up a little longer but found we were tired too!    

Wednesday, July 10^th, 2019…...  This morning the girls and Lydia headed off to go to the chicken ranch to get eggs.

My sister went with them and then they drove over to the Santiam River by her house.

Once they got back and ate lunch and rested for a while, we took them out to Sweet Home to see Foster Lake and then headed over to Albany to take them to the carousel. First stop was a tour of the woodcarving shop downstairs. In all of the times we have been there, this was the first time we actually got to see the carvers in action. The girls got to see and touch the animals and see them in their beginning stages.

Next, we went to the paint room and they got to see some animals that were nearly done. Once we were done with that, we finally headed to the grand jewel – the carousel!  

After seeing the work in progress downstairs, I think the girls were really impressed with the final products on display. They each had a favorite. Shelby liked Harriet (the frog) and Kate liked Neal (the greyhound). They didn’t want to ride but they did want to go to the store to get souvenirs. They each ended up with postcards of their favorite animals.

Once we got back from that adventure, we rested until dinner. The girls had said that they liked Chinese food, and Kristie, formally from Kevin’s Diner, had moved over to Wing Ming, so we went and ate there. I think the girls liked it, but they said there was WAY too much food! No worries – we took it home for leftovers!

After we got back, we settled in and watched America’s Got Talent and then called it a night.

Thursday, July 11^th, 2019…...  HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFF & HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JEFF & KRISTA!!!!  Today’s agenda was already planned out. I was ready to take Rylee out when she spotted a deer in the backyard. I woke the girls and I caught this shot. If you look hard, you can see the deer out the window. 

I got Rylee fed and walked and the girls and Lydia got ready. We loaded up the car (including Rylee) and met my sister at Shirley Mays for breakfast. I had told the girls about the little pancakes they served and ordered one for them!  

Again, everyone got filled up. Yes, we brought bacon out for monster puppy! Next stop was about 40 miles away – Silver Falls. The weather couldn’t have been nicer for a hike today. We paid the parking fee and set out. Lydia walked with us to the rim of the south falls 

and then took Rylee back with her (dogs aren’t allowed on the canyon trails) to go find a place to kick back. Meanwhile, the girls and I headed down the trail. This was a short trail and led to the back of the falls, which you can totally walk under! It was really nice! We took some pics and looked around a bit, 

then headed back up. Again, we found the park’s store and the girls got some more souvenirs, and then we met up with the other two girls and loaded up and headed home.

The plan tonight was set as well. We left the girls at home to rest, and we headed off to Ace Hardware to pick up our wicker rockers, then stopped by Rife’s Furniture and bought that dining room set we had looked at when Rick and Janie were here. We had received a member’s only flyer that had sale prices plus if you spent over $999.00 you got an additional $100.00 off. Even though we were given the sale price earlier, it was the ad that got us to make the purchase.  We came back and I put the rockers on the two chairs and got them set out, then we rested until it was time to go to dinner. We called the kids and wished them happy birthday and anniversary. Sis came by and we all headed off to Coburg Pizza. Both of us had scratch offs that ended up giving us 10% off the total meal. The girls custom ordered their pizza (half and half) and we got our normal order. Of course, we had to have the dessert pizza, which Penny paid for (thanks, Sis!). We went home full and happy and I think all went to bed early after our long day!          

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #63 – Mowing and Family is Coming!

 

Saturday, July 6^th, 2019……  Today WAS mowing day. The grass is dry today and the weather is nice and it was just right for mowing! Sis came over and we got going. There are only a few areas where Walt had re-seeded the grass with something different which grows faster than the perennial rye that we mostly have. That area, right off the back porch, grows really thick and green and definitely needs the mowing. But for the most part, the rest of the yard is still pretty short. So, with the mowers set (at 2.5 in.) we are not getting that much cuttings left lying on the lawn. Of course, we also still have the back field, which is mostly dandelions, but again, not much comes in the way of cuttings. Last time, I went back over everything right away with the lawn rake and we bagged it immediately. I got everything picked up ok, but it was wet and heavy. I think we will go back to leaving it on the lawn for a few days to dry out, making it easier to rake and lighter in the trash bags. We got it completed and cleaned up the mowers and put them away and called it done for now. I came back in and rested and watched some tv. We have found that one of our Directv stations (CBS) is being blocked. It seems that Nexstar and Direct (along with other broadcasting companies) are in negotiation for contracts. So, some of our shows won’t get taped until it gets resolved. It’s sad that we get stuck in the middle of these things, because we continue to pay our monthly fees and this is what happens!  But, our tv in the motorhome is still getting CBS (LA feed) so Lydia went out and made sure her shows were being taped out there. Later, Lydia made chicken casserole which I always enjoy, and we spent the evening watching our programs before calling it a night.  

Sunday, July 7^th, 2019…...  I forgot to mention the other day that I finally got my questions answered about my Oregon Boater Education Card. Turns out the $11.00 I sent in did indeed get me my card, which came in the mail on Friday. I am now good to go with the boat. We’ll put that off until the girls leave. I don’t want to take them out on its maiden cruise in case I have issues. I got Rylee walked and then headed over to my sisters to get some eggs. We were out and she had enough to split 14. The plan is to take the twins to the egg ranch while they are here. So, we used up what we had but wanted some just in case the girls got hungry their first morning.  I also took a look at her tree trimming project. She had my chain saw and a hand saw but hadn’t started yet. I can come back and work on it later. But I found out later that she got the saw out and got everything trimmed. Later, I went out to the rv garage and looked again into figuring out how I will go about installing the vent line in the wall for the engine exhaust line hookup. I am nervous about cutting through the nice new walls that Tim & Dana just finished!  I think I have it figured out how to go through both walls, and at the same time missing the studs and wiring.  Not much else today. We are waiting on Shelby and Kate to get here before we go grocery shopping.  Lydia made burgers for dinner and we settled in for the night.   

Monday, July 8^th, 2019…... Today would be a long day! I started it off by getting up early and walking Rylee, then heading out get breakfast/coffee/tea. I went out later and worked on cleaning up the farthest island. There is no irrigation out there and only a couple of trees and a few shrubs. Kirk hadn’t gotten to it yet and when I mow around it, I can’t get too close because there are some larger rocks in amongst everything. So, I took the tractor out there loaded up the rocks and other debris and then was able to mow up and around all of the trees and shrubs. It looks a lot better now. We rested and straightened up around the house a bit. Lydia washed the bedding in the guest room and made that up again. I got out the inflatable queen and set it up in the craft room. We want each girl to have their own room and we have a nice spot in there for a bed. Once we were done with all of these chores, we were done for the day. We went out and had Oregon BBQ for dinner.  We hung around the house alter and watched tv until it was time to head off to the airport. Krista had booked late flights for the girls so they could sleep. That was ok except that the flight got in at 12:30am. We left about 10:30pm because we checked and found the flight was delayed in Dallas/Ft Worth. We got to the cell phone lot with plenty of time to spare and waited until the girls texted that they had landed. We drove to the pickup area and Lydia went in to baggage claim to meet them and gather their luggage while I went back to the cell lot. Once they were ready, we got them and their stuff loaded and headed back. They are paving I5 right now and we had seen a large backup on the southbound side on the way up. So, I decided to take a shortcut around it. Long story short, we got home about 3:40am or so and immediately got everyone settled in for the night. Or should I say for the day!      

Getting ready for the trip!

            Shelby (wearing the glasses) &  Kate