Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #80 – Yard Work and Light Shopping

Monday, Aug 26^th, 2019……  I slept in a few minutes after 7:00 and got up and showered and prepped for the day. The weather is warming up! It got up to 90º today but tomorrow that is supposed to go up even more! I got Rylee out and we did our walk. I went and got breakfast and then went out to work on the boat. Short of removing and replacing the seats and carpeting the boat, I am done with the inside. That stuff can be done when the boat is put away in the shop garage for the winter.  Lydia had her nail appointment this morning so she took off for that. While she was gone, I called FMCA and got our reservation made for the 2020 Rally in Indio in January. So that’s done. I will still need to get tires for the motorhome. All that takes is $$$! I also went out and drove a fence t-post into the ground and roped off the bent tree we are saving. I had Lydia come out and help push while I pulled and we got it almost straight. Caleb and Kirk can help tomorrow. I showered again and we headed off later to go pick up my sister and then head off to Block 15 Brewery and Taproom. Tomorrow is Kirk’s birthday and we wanted to take him to dinner. Plus, we had never been to their newer second place. This place has the brewery and really only serves burgers and appetizers (besides all of the beer choices). But we found tasty faire and it good fresh beer so was nice and we had a great time.  

Tuesday, Aug 27^th, 2019…… Today was mowing day. I got the dog walked early and went out to check the grass. Even though the day has been a scorcher, the nights cool off as soon as the sun goes down, so it was still wet with morning dew. I would have to wait. I came in and rested and watched tv. About 9:45 or so. Lydia headed off to her mahjong game and I went out and did the mowing. Pretty easy this time. Most of the grass is going dormant but there is a hardy batch that Walt put in right off the back porch that grows like crazy and that needed attention. Also, I didn’t need to do any weed whacking so that saved some effort. I got the mowing done in about 45 minutes. I will pick up the grass tomorrow so I was done for the day. I came in and showered and cooled off. Plenty of liquids and sitting in the air-conditioned house, I was good to go! Kirk dropped Caleb off and then went over and did Penny’s lawn. While he was here, I went out and we re-tied the rope and managed to straighten out that tree. Now let’s see how long the rope will last before it snaps! Bets anyone? Lydia took off to go to Safeway and get something for dinner for tonight and tomorrow. Tonight was spaghetti which we ate while we tried to knock out three more Guys Grocery Games episodes. Then we moved over to the living room to watch America’s Got Talent before calling it a night.

   

Wednesday, Aug 28^th, 2019…... This morning, after breakfast and dog walking, we took off for Eugene. The plan was to go Home Depot to stock up on bags of rock salt, then to Clemson’s Marina to check on getting the boat trailers swapped out, and then to go to a lighting store Lydia had spotted. We are still looking for light fixtures to change out in our master bath. We met with Clint, who lives here in Lebanon. He is coming over tomorrow morning to take a look at our ‘unique’ mounting plates behind the lights we have. But I really think he wants to seal the deal as well. No way. We’re still looking. Once we were done there, we headed back towards home and stopped at Costco. We even found light fixtures there which were certainly way cheaper! Still looking though. We had lunch there on the way out and then headed home. My sister had come by earlier this morning to walk Quincy and left her for the day. She was there when we got home and we visited for a while. I eventually went out and hooked up the grass catcher and managed to pick up a whole bag of grass this time! So, pickup was easy and Lydia and Penny took care of that quickly. Then sis wrested Quincy away from her kingdom and they headed home. I was done for the day. Lydia rested and cooled off and then later, made scallops plus baked potato and asparagus for dinner. It was delicious!  We knocked out some more GGG and then later watched the AGT results show. They are now down to 21 semi-finalists. Afterward, we split up and watched our own shows until bedtime. Tomorrow we head back down again to Eugene, but this time we will be picking up Frances and Raymond!      

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #79 – Baseball Finale & Plans for Another Family Visit

 

Friday, Aug 23^rd, 2019……  Not much planned for today. We got called over to help unload a bench that my sister and her neighbor found at a yard sale. Once we got back, I took a fencepost out and drove it in the ground so I could rope off a tree to help straighten it. Over a year ago, we had seen this little thing growing next to one of our bushes and I wanted to pull it out. It was a wild seed from one of our trees up toward the front of the yard. Problem was, I forgot to do it and never asked Kirk to do it either. Like I said, that was at least last year. It has grown and nobody did anything about it. It’s turned out to be a nice tree and it can grow where it is and will shoot up above the bush that’s beneath it. I had Lydia come out and help me and I tied the tree to the post and pulled it as straight as we could. I think I can do better with Kirk’s help next week. I also dug out two of the three trees that Kirk had transplanted over a year ago from my sister’s house to a nice spot along our driveway. Too bad only one made it. Lydia stayed out and helped with that too. We cleaned up and then came in and rested and later had a nice dinner. We finished up the evening watching tv. There are no LL games today so I got some of my other programs watched.

Saturday, Aug 24^th, 2019…… Today, the kids are back to baseball again. The two top international teams met and also the two remaining US teams played. The winners of each (Curacao and Louisiana) go to the championship game tomorrow afternoon. The losers (Japan and Hawaii) will play the consolidation game tomorrow morning.

Today was also the day we had on our calendar for the Christman’s bbq/pool party. For those of you who have been here before, they are the first house on the left when you turn on our street. So, at 2:00pm we walked down and joined the party. We had a nice meal and met and talked a bit with most of them. Some of the kids and grandkids went in their pool. After a few hours, the party wound down and we came back home and had the rest of the evening to rest and relax and watch tv. Of course, I had to get monster puppy out for a while to give her some exercise and let her run a bit after being in the house most of the afternoon. I finished up the night catching up on the Saturday races and went to bed late after a long day.

   

Sunday, Aug 25^th, 2019…... Nothing on the agenda today. The Little League games started early and so did I. Hawaii was outplayed by the better team from Japan. Japan gets third place. Later, the championship game started. I remember seeing the final game when we were in Williamsport in 2012. It was exciting to say the least! And this game did not disappoint either! The kids from New Orleans took charge from the first inning and easily dominated the Curacao team. Final score was 8-0. I had watched the Louisiana kids from the regionals and they were my pick to win it all. I was also hoping to see someone other than Japan or Korea representing the international side so when Curacao beat both of them, that made it work for me. Maybe one day we will get back there for another round. It is certainly something I would recommend that everyone go see at least one time.

The rest of the day was spent watching more races but I finally got all of them caught up. We had leftovers for dinner and watched some more Guys Grocery Games. We also talked about plans for next week. We are excited because Frances is coming up again to visit and this time, she is bringing Raymond with her! It will be fun. They will only be here for three full days so we are trying to decide what to do while they are here. We know we’ll take them to the Enchanted Forest and the Carousel. Maybe we will go up to Silver Falls and let Raymond run up there. Maybe the fish hatchery too. We’ll see…    

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #78 – More Little League, Chasing Deer, and a Little Rain

 

Tuesday, Aug 20^th, 2019……  Weather is still hot here. But I slept well last night and was up early. Rooster (aka the Rylee dog!) woke us up but I was ready anyway. I showered and walked Rylee and then fed her and then fixed my breakfast and settled in to watch some tv. We are into the crunch time for the LL world series and had three elimination games today. In between, I watched and finished all of my taped Mecum Monterey auction. Lydia got herself ready and then headed off to her 10:00am mahjong meeting at the senior center. While we were watching tv, Rylee saw a small buck walking through the back yard.

We have had the same four deer (all small bucks) come through for the past month or so. So often that Rylee now knows when to start looking out the window to see them.

Kirk was coming today and we have plans to weed the front ditch area and then spray the entire back yard. He has a spray to take care of all of the clover and it won’t hurt the rest of the grass. But I will have to keep monster puppy out of the back yard for the rest of the day. I set a chair up in front of the slider so we won’t forget.  When Lydia got back, she had lunch and rested for the afternoon. She had got out cube steak and made that in a gravy to go over mashed potatoes. One of my favorites! We finished up the night, between outings with monkey butt, watching tv. Tonight was America’s Got Talent.

Wednesday, Aug 21^st, 2019……  This morning we got up before 7:00am and got going. We were headed over to Corvallis. Sis came by and dropped off Quincy for a little R&R and we took off. First stop, after the ready-teller at BofA, was Wise Cracks Café for breakfast. They have recently changed names and remodeled and now have celebrity comedian’s pictures on their walls with a quote from them. It was our first time there so we never saw the old décor. The food was ok. I ordered the mother lode which had two bacon, two sausage, two eggs, and hashbrowns, with two biscuits and gravy. It was a lot of food and was ok. We’ll go back. It was just a few blocks away from the farmer’s market. Today, Aimee’s hula group was performing so we timed it so we were there for their first show. We hung around for that and visited for a bit after, then we walked around and bought a few things. The tomatoes are now in and they have peaches and corn now too.  It wasn’t too crowded today so we got through in a few minutes and then headed home. Once we got back, Lydia watched GMA and saw who was on the next Dancing with the Stars, coming up. We were disappointed but will still watch this season. I don’t think the cast and celebs they have this year will help them get their ratings back after last season’s screw up. We were both sad not to see Sharna come back. She was part of the winning team but is not on this season. Too bad.  Lydia took off again after watching the show. She went to the senior center for bingo. My sister met her there. I hung around the house and watched LL baseball. The rains have found us. This front is nice and cools everything off and helps keep the dust down as they work the grass fields. Once the seed is harvested and the hay is cut and baled, they turn the field and work in amendments and get ready to plant for the next season. This happens all around us here in Linn county, and the Willamette valley starts to look like the smog has moved in! So, the rain will help that for now. Plus, I can turn the sprinklers off for a day!

   

Thursday, Aug 22^nd, 2019…... Well, the rain lasted just one day! It did give us a break from the heat but that will start up again soon. I walked Rylee and then went out and worked on the boat. I found I needed to make a run to get some stainless steel bolts for the stern light. I drilled out the old pop rivets on the old light and found out what color the boat used to be. It was kind of a baby poop color. I’m sure glad the guy painted it! I got the holes drilled and mounted the new light. This one folds down so now I can put the cover on easier. I also worked on some of the wiring. It’s ready to go now. But I still want to get the trailer situation worked out. Will make a trip to Eugene next week to check on a boat shop to see if they have a boat lift and if so, how much to swap out the trailers.                     

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #77 – More Baseball and a Little Yard Work

 

Saturday, Aug 17^th, 2019……  I walked super pooper and then headed off to get breakfast. My sister came over with Quincy and I brought back breakfast and we ate. Then it was time to head in and start the Saturday little league games. Plus, I had the Mecum Auctions, Motocross, and Nascar to watch today. It was nice and cool this morning but the sun came out and heated up before the day was over. I think Rylee has a cold from getting in and out of her pool so I kept her out of it today. She was pissed!  I had ordered a new stern light to replace the one on the boat. It was fixed and I wanted one that would fold down when I put the cover on and ordered one on eBay and it came today. It’s riveted down so I will have to drill it out but that should go ok. Maybe tomorrow.

We ate leftovers for dinner and watched tv until bedtime. Quiet day.

Sunday, Aug 18^th, 2019……  Another quiet day. The weather is getting warmer here again. We are in between leaving the windows and doors open and closing up and turning the air on. The nights are nice for sleeping though. We leave the bedroom slider open partway and that gives us a nice breeze. Rylee likes it too. She has found her spot on the floor in front of it and only gets up on the bed for a short period then moves down there to cool off and stays there till morning.

I made my breakfast run and then I settled in for the day, just lounging around and watching tv. Lydia got outside for a bit and worked on pulling weeds in the front flowerbeds. When she worked her way to the sunny spots, it got too hot and she got too sweaty so she was done. I brought butthead out and we helped her with the deep-rooted weeds and with the cleanup. But, for the most part we just stayed in.

Later, we had grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and cantaloupe for dinner and settled in and watched our programs until we called it a night.       

Monday, Aug 19^th, 2019…... Neither of us could go to sleep right away. But once I did, I slept soundly and didn’t get up once all night. Our alarm clock (the Rylee dog!) woke us up right at 7:00am. I showered and dressed and took her out while Lydia showered and got ready. We left for Albany to have breakfast and run a few errands. We stopped at America’s Best to get her new glasses adjusted again. They are still kind of tight but she figures if they make small adjustments a few times, it would be better than going too far and have them too loose. Next, we went to Pop’s Branding Iron for breakfast. It’s a ‘B’ grade at best. After that we hit Harbor Freight. I was looking for electrical wire and found a storage container with 12 rolls in it. I used a 20% off coupon from my phone and got it for $31.00. I’m set now for a while!  We discovered that I didn’t feed Rylee before we left so we did that as soon as we got back home. Bad Grampy! She went right for it (after Lydia gave her some bacon that she saved from her BLT).

The rest of the day we stayed in again. I am still watching the LL world series and catching up on the Mecum Auction.

For dinner, Lydia got out some steaks and I cooked them out on the grill. She made a veggie medley and also a hashbrown casserole. It was with frozen hash browns and was just ok so I had only a small bit.

I had Rylee out earlier for a run around the pool, chasing her water hose. It was super hot out and she enjoyed the cool water. I think I am forgiven! That was it for the day. We watched tv and plan to turn in early.    

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #76 – Mahjong and Baseball

 

Wednesday, Aug 14^th, 2019……  I slept in a bit this morning. Guess I needed to catch up from last night. My sister was already here and out with Quincy. Lydia got up and let Rylee out while I got into the shower. After they came back in, she fed the butthead and then went in and got her shower. She was going off to her first mahjong meeting this morning. They are looking to form a group at the senior center but no one knows if they will have enough. Lydia was gone for a couple hours so I knew things were going ok. When she got back, she said they will be meeting on Tuesdays. She needs to go out and get her mahjong card now. I didn’t have anything on my list today so I hung out with Rylee. We visited the pool and rested after that. She crashed for a few hours and I hung around the cool house watching tv.  Later, we went to Walmart. I needed to restock the garage fridge with soft drinks for Kirk and Caleb (and me). While we were there, we bought another HP printer. This one will go in Lydia’s room. It was only $40. – cheaper than ink! I am having color quality issues with the old printer. We’ve had this printer for many years, and over those years I have tried some off brand ink cartridges and they worked well, but lately with this last batch the color is bad. I have since gone back to hp ink and still have to replace the black cartridge. If that doesn’t work, we will still have a backup until we can buy another one.

We had roast for dinner and then watched the AGT results show. Every year we keep track of the talent and make our choices on who moves on. America votes now. I was surprised at a few who did move on this week. They chose a muscle strength balancing trio over a golden buzzer singer. Go figure!   Must be a bunch of ladies who chose the young hunks! 

Thursday, Aug 15^th, 2019……  Lydia has agreed to print up some mahjong cards for the girls for next week. One of the ladies has her 2019 card and brought it over to print from. They will use them until they order their own cards. The lady who came over lives in Brownsville but plays in Albany at the senior center so Lydia has one more place to go if she chooses.

The Little League World Series starts today and I started in early. They got one game in before the rains came. They will have to play seven games tomorrow now to keep on schedule. Mecum is in Monterey this week/weekend. They have one car that is supposed to go in the $20 million range!  I think I’ll place a bid!

We hung around the house and Lydia made a taco casserole, something she just made up and put together. It was really good – a sure keeper!   

Friday, Aug 16^th, 2019…... Nothing on the list today. I stayed home and ate breakfast at home and then turned on the LL games. I hate to admit this but other than taking Rylee out for her walk and then to her pool a couple of times, I didn’t venture outside except to get the mail. But I watched all of the games so I’m caught up now. We had stuff for spaghetti, this time with macaroni noodles, so she fixed that. We ended up watching Guys Grocery Games which we were behind on. We watched 3 out of the 10 I had taped. Then we each caught up on our own shows until bedtime.  

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #75 – Mowing & Making Travel Plans

 

Sunday, Aug 11^th, 2019……  Another lazy Sunday! I walked Rylee and turned back a little early because our neighbor’s dog was loose. I didn’t want him to take off after Rylee before they could catch him, so we turned back and cut the walk short. I took off after giving Rylee her treats, and went out to get us breakfast/coffee/tea. It was another overcast day and we were ok with that because we didn’t have any place to go. We ended up just catching up on chores and then relaxing for the day. I watched my races and Lydia watched her programs. She had gotten some chicken out to defrost and ended up making chicken and black bean burritos for dinner.

Monday, Aug 12^th, 2019……  Today was mowing day! I got out early and got the string trimming done. The grass still had dew on it so we waited until about 10:45 to get everything out. I started on the lawn and my sister did the field. I start out doing the patch where the septic tanks are located, then I go out and run the perimeter of the field, getting as close as I dare along the creek bank. My sister starts out after me and works the field grass. Then I head over and do the left (west) side of the driveway and around the grapevines and then around the back of the rv garage because it is very rough back there and the black mower makes for a slightly softer ride. Today, once I finished that section, Lydia took over and did the back and front yard. If you’ve seen pictures (here’s one from back when we moved in), the yards, for the most part, can be mowed in continuous circles. She finished that and then went out to start the area around the front two islands. I sat on the front porch and watched and had a few swigs of Pepsi and then went out and took that over and finished it up and then helped sis do the field. Including the weed whacking and cleanup, the three of us can get the job done (minus grass pickup) in about 2 hours.  Grass pickup is on the list for tomorrow when it dries out. I came in and got in the shower. My sister left and took Quincy, who was here to keep Rylee distracted, and went home. Once I was done, Lydia went in and cleaned up.

Later, we spoke with Janie. We are going down in the motorhome to SoCal early in January and will be camping part of our time in Indio at the FMCA rally, with the Camping Squares. It will be fun to see them all again. We’re not sure of the other dates but we have some time to figure that out. But we need to send in our registration form for the rally before the electrical hookups are gone. We gave Janie a heads up because we have to coordinate with the other members to come in to the rally all together so we can park together. A lot more to discuss but at least we are starting now…

I am watching baseball right now – wait, make that softball!  The Little League Softball World Series is on now. They play that series here in the Portland are. The Oregon team is still in it and plays tomorrow. The Little League Baseball World Series in Williamsport starts Thursday.    

Tuesday, Aug 13^th, 2019…... I am waiting till this afternoon to clean up the grass from yesterday, so, after Lydia made us bacon and eggs for breakfast, I headed out to run a few errands this morning. I wanted to go into Albany and visit a couple of auto parts stores. I am going to paint the new boat trailer with truck bedliner paint. It’s tough and waterproof and should last a long time. I probably will order the gallon size from eBay but if I can get it local for only a few bucks more, I will. I still have to get going on the prep work first, though. I also wanted to make the rounds to Habitat for Humanity in both Albany and Philomath. You never know what deals are there!

I got back from my tour and put stuff away. Yeah, I found some ‘deals’. Before I went out to work on the yard, I called FMCA to book a space at the January Indio rally. Turns out the folks that do the reservations are at the Minot ND rally this week. I can send a check or go online if I don't want to wait until next week.  Then I went out and got the catcher hooked up and made the loops to pick up grass. This time we only needed 1 ½ bags! It helps that we mow more often – a lot less to clean up! After that, I came in and rested a bit. The weather has turned again. It is supposed to hit 90º today. It was less than that when we went out so I’m glad we are done now. Kirk and Caleb came by during the hottest part of the day! They weeded and sprayed and called it a day. 

A bit later, Lydia came in and said she wanted to go out for dinner. So, we fed Rylee and then headed for Albany and went to The Depot. That is my favorite spot for seafood in the area. She had shrimp and I had scallops. Yummy! When we got back, we settled in and later watched America’s Got Talent. I wasn’t sleepy so I stayed until after 11:00 before calling it a night.  

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #74 – Trip to Gresham, More GFI Issues, & a Nice Gift

 

Thursday, Aug 8^th, 2019……  This morning we got going early. We were driving up to Gresham (about 15 miles east of Portland) to Mt Hood College. Bobby and Dianne’s oldest was doing her swim meet. We met Dianne at the entrance and brought our lawn chairs in and went to their saved spot and set up. It was earlier than Bethany’s heats, so we talked a bit with Dianne. Bobby was down at the pool helping out with timing. He monitors his assigned lane and uses a stopwatch to backup timing in case the touch pads don’t register the finish. The meet was well attended. These are swim clubs and they had representatives from all around the western states. They have age groups up to 16. Bethany just jumped up an age group so she’s no longer dominating the races and didn’t make it to the finals in the 50 IM and the 100 IM.

Her next heat was the relays which wouldn’t go off until after the finals and that wasn’t until 6:00pm or later. So, we headed off with them to go eat teriyaki and so Bobby could bring her back some. He decided to go get her so she could eat with us. Bobby was going to take the rest of the family back to the hotel and then go back with Bethany to rest in the van and wait for the later heats. We volunteered to drive Dianne and the girls back to Portland on our way home. We dropped them off at their hotel and said our goodbyes and headed home. It was a nice visit and a good day outing for us. We told them about a few spots to hit while in town and they shared a few places – namely Voodoo Donuts and The Grotto with us. We have heard about Voodoo Donuts from the food channels and knew where it was but had never been there. We drove by and found a line of 60 or more people outside the building! We definitely have to go back there!

We headed back and got home about 4:30. My sister was there and was moved in for her stay with us. Problem was she had just got a call from her doctor’s office. They had a small elevator fire in the Salem hospital that morning and it shut everything down. So, they postponed her surgery. She hadn’t got a schedule yet and was very upset. So, she packed up and went back home. We kept Quincy for the night     

Friday, Aug 9^th, 2019……  I woke up later than usual this morning. My sister was already here and out with Quincy.  When I went out through the garage to do my walk, I couldn’t get the garage door to work. Turns out, that pesky gfi had tripped again. I spent a few minutes testing it and found it would only stay on for a few seconds before tripping. So, I had Lydia come out and hold the button down so the garage door could open. It rained a bit last night and I never had an electrician run a ground test but I’m sure the system is damp enough to trip the breaker. A few hours later it tripped in minutes, then even later still it didn’t trip at all as it dried out. I am told that I can just remove the gfi. But that scares me. I don’t want to, but I am going to call an electrician to come look at it.  

We went off to Kevin’s with my sister for breakfast. After we got home, Lydia took off to go meet with Penny in town. This week starts The Quirky Turkey contest. Several businesses and/or organizations decorate styrofoam turkeys in whatever theme they choose. They are displayed on pedestals on Main Street. Folks are asked to check them out and then to cast their vote for their favorite. Lydia voted for hers - done in purple, Duuhh!

While she was gone, I drove the truck out to the woods at the back of our property and dumped the tree branches from the other day. I got the truck bed cleaned out and I was done. Once she returned, we were pretty much done for the day. She did head off to Walmart later to get some groceries for dinner and for the next few days.  

We got a package from UPS today. The grandkids had sent us a little gift!

We called later to thank them. I told them that Rylee was scared and barked at it (but not really!). It was a nice treat!

Later, Lydia fixed dinner and we each finished up the night watching our own taped programs before going to bed.

Saturday, Aug 10^th, 2019…... We had no plans today. I have all of the Little League regional finals taped, some of which are on the tv in the motorhome, so I went out there with Rylee and we watched those. Lydia had a nice relaxing day, lounging around and watching her programs. The weather has changed in the last few days, from hot to mild. It is supposed to go back to hotter days starting on Monday.  Poor Rylee, she doesn’t like it when I don’t take her out for her pool party!  But maybe soon. Because of the electrical ground fault issue, I have left the sprinkler connection unplugged in the garage but that’s ok because we will be mowing on Monday so the grass will have a chance to dry out.  Lydia started dinner. She had bought some nice fresh buns yesterday when she was out and she made garlic cheese bread to go with spaghetti. Yummy! We ate and watched the rest of our games/races/programs before calling it a night.   

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #73 – Baseball Time! & More Tree Trimming

Monday, Aug 5^th, 2019……  I had only one or two things to do today. First up (after breakfast) was to clean up and prep the house to dust and vacuum. I got that done while Lydia worked on the bathrooms. Once I finished vacuuming, I was done for the day. Next up was baseball. Today starts my favorite time of the year – Little League Baseball playoffs! I already have the schedule and have got all the games for this week ready to record. Eight regions have their playoffs and the final three games in each region are televised (ESPN) this week.  The winners of each region go on to Williamsport for the LL World Series which starts next week. The international games have been played so those teams have time to make travel arrangements to Pennsylvania for the series. The Northwest region has Salem LL representing Oregon so I’m anxious to see them play. No matter who goes, it’s always fun for me to see how well these kids play ball.

I helped Lydia prep the meat for dinner. Lydia made steak burritos and I got that cut up and went back to my game. After cleaning up, I finished the first game and went on to the second. More tomorrow….

I also spent some time monitoring a new Windows download. I just didn’t think it would take 3 hours!  I knew it would open or maybe have to have me open it when it installed so I decided to just stay up. It finished at 11:32pm! But I wasn’t sleepy, so it was ok. Plus, everything seems to be working fine.  

Tuesday, Aug 6^th, 2019…… I got up this morning about 5:30 to let Rylee out. But I was able to go back to sleep with no problem! I awoke feeling fine. Lydia said she did not sleep well. That was a problem because our financial manager, Bobby, was coming to see us this morning. He and his family are up in Oregon for a swimming competition for their youngest daughter and he wanted to drive down this morning, before they had to report in for check in. They got here about 9:30am and we gave them the grand tour. The kids all liked Rylee, especially Brookelyn, the youngest. She had her iPad and was taking tons of pictures of everything. After that, Lydia and I sat with them and talked about going up to Gresham to see Bethany swim. They had to leave but wanted to take us to lunch before they left, so we took two cars and split everyone up so we could each show them the town on the way to Pizza Schmizza. We had a nice meal and finalized our trip up to the meet. Brookelyn made a collage of pics of Rylee and I had her dad send it to me.

It’s too cute and she is truly talented! Then, we had our waitress take a group picture and then we said our goodbyes and they headed north, and we headed home.

l to r, The Garcias: Bobby, Dianne, Breleigh, Brookelyn, Bethany (and us)

Good thing. Lydia said she was really getting sleepy at lunch! But she did good and once we got home, she settled in and took a nice nap. I rested too until Kirk came by. He dropped off Caleb and went and did my sister’s house and then came back. Once they left, we relaxed again and then later went out and got dinner (Jack in the Box) and brought it back. Later, we watched our tape of America’s Got Talent and then Lydia headed off to bed. I stayed up a while and watched some of my programs before calling it a night.   

Wednesday, Aug 7^th, 2019…...  This morning I let Lydia sleep and got up early and got dressed and went out with Rylee. I went off to Starbucks and then to McDonald's to get us breakfast and coffee/tea. My plan today was to go back out and finish trimming one more smaller tree out front, on the east side of the driveway. I had noticed yesterday that one of the branches on the other tree that I had trimmed last week had cracked and was hanging down. It wasn’t even close to the part I trimmed and was above those that I did remove. So maybe it was supported by one of them and just gave way. I only needed a trim saw and got that tree evened out and then went on and got the smaller one done. I decided to just load the brush on the truck today. I left it full and, have it planned for Friday, to drive it to the back of the property and dump the branches in the back woods.  I was done for the day and came in and watched two of the final regional games (Southwest and Southeast). Those winners will now head for Williamsport for the World Series. Game one of each of the remaining six regions start tomorrow. I have those on schedule to tape. My sister made a couple of trips here today, dropping off some clothes and food.  She will stay with us, starting tomorrow. Her reconstruction surgery, in Salem, is early Friday morning. Lydia made steak sandwiches and steak fries for dinner and we settled in and watched our own programs until bedtime.     

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #72 – Mowing and Weeding & an Old New Recipe

Friday, Aug 2^nd, 2019……  We had mowing plans for today. I had Rylee out early. My sister came by and brought Quincy and walked and fed her. Then we headed off to Kevin’s for breakfast. It was crowded and only Corina and Rick were working. So, we waited for a bit to get our meals. After that, my sister dropped me off at the house and she and Lydia headed off to Albany to go to Hobby Lobby to get something sis had found there a few days ago. I did some posting and then went out and got the weed whacker going and trimmed up before getting the tractors out.  We didn’t need to mow the field this time so it went quickly. Lydia did some more weeding around the front porch and once we had that done and cleaned up, we were done. I came in and started watching the Mecum Auctions. I’m wishing now I would have built the rv garage a little bigger – I would sure like to have a classic car to play with. Oh well, maybe in another life! Later, Lydia made hamburgers and fries for dinner and we settled in and watched tv until bedtime.

Saturday, Aug 3^rd, 2019…… Plans today called for finally picking the blueberries, plus I needed to get the tractor and grass catcher out and do the lawn. I also wanted to install the new sprinkler heads today too. I walked Rylee and then headed out to get coffee/tea. Lydia made omelets for breakfast and after she had eaten, she just vegged in her chair and watched tv. My sister asked me to text her when I started on the lawn and I did that. She came over and bagged up three bags of grass and we were done. She left to go home and shower and I went in and showered. By this time, it was too hot out to go pick berries or dig in the grass so we put those off til tomorrow. It was also too hot to cook. Lydia had got out some chicken for an old recipe she found and wanted to try, but since she fell asleep this afternoon, she said she didn’t have time to make it today. So, we took butthead for a ride and went to Stick a Pork In It and brought back dinner, which we ate while we watched our programs. A quiet evening…   

Sunday, Aug 4^th, 2019…...  Nothing on the plans for today. So, I decided to go out in the morning while it was still nice and cool and get those sprinkler heads installed. I turned on the system and tested the heads. This time I could only see one that wasn’t working correctly, so I just fixed that one. Of course, the monkey butt water dog was there to help me. Our timers are set to water the lawn and flowerbeds early in the morning so she doesn’t usually see them in operation. That’s a good thing! She loves to chase the water and goes from sprinkler to sprinkler to ‘eat’ that water!  But at least she had a chance to run and cool off.  I came in and had a cold soda and cooled off myself and watched my races and relaxed for the rest of the day.  Later, Lydia started that new dish she wanted to make. It’s just called baked chicken but it’s made with apricot/pineapple jam, Russian salad dressing, stove top stuffing, and chicken breasts. It took a while to bake and then we ate. Turns out neither of us were fond of it at all. Oh well, sometimes they are not all keepers!  

I took Rylee out for another run in the water and in her pool, dried her off and we came in and called it a night and watched tv until bedtime.         

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #71 – Boat Outing & Yard Work

 

Tuesday, July 30^th, 2019……  Today was BOAT day! Yaay! I was actually nervous all morning. I got Rylee walked and my sister brought Quincy over and walked and fed her and left her here for the day. She went home to eat and I went and got us breakfast/tea and came back and after eating, I went out and got the boat hooked up. We met sis at the boat launch at Foster Lake and I got the boat backed in and off the trailer (easy peasy) and she parked the truck while Lydia and I got in and I got the motor started and warmed up. Once my sister got back, we headed out. I can’t tell you how great that trip was! Everything, and I mean everything, about the boat was working as I hoped. It starts easy, idles nice and I can run it at trolling speed if I want with no bogging down. It planes quickly and has nice power. It’s not a ski boat but I could probably pull a tube if I wanted. We cruised around the lake and each of us had a turn at the helm. 

We spent most of the time down at the opposite end from the dam so we can go there another time. We headed back to the docks and while the girls held the boat, I went and got the trailer. This is where we had some issues. 

I got it backed down and we got the boat up on the trailer but we had trouble with the winch clearing the tow cradle. I know the other trailer is similar so I will have to figure out how to deal with that. We got everything tied down and headed for home. I stopped at Jon’s to ask his advice about the trailer issue. He said that most everything is adjustable and wait until I get the new trailer going before worrying about it. Once home, I got the boat put away while Lydia showered and got ready. I followed suit and got ready and then we left right after that and went to see Teri for our haircuts.  Penny was just leaving when we arrived. Once we got that done, we stopped for linner at the Linn Lanes and had hamburgers and mushrooms, while we watched the kids afternoon bowling session. It was fun. Once we got home, we rested and I actually took a short nap. Sis came by and got Quincy. After they left, we went back to relaxing. Kirk came by and left Caleb to work out on the east island finishing up the weeding there. When he got back, I went out and paid him for the month. He still has my trailer and said he had dragged the electrical connector, rendering it useless. He bought another connector and asked if I could wire it up. I did that while he went out and worked on the driveway area. After they left, I was done for the day and came back in to watch tv.  Later, we each had a little snack (cookies or chips) and settled in for the night and watched America’s Got Talent before calling it a night.        

Wednesday, July 31^st, 2019…… Lydia decided to go back out this morning and work some more on the yard. I left for the DMV. This trip was for registration for the truck. I got my tags and came back home and put them on. Lydia had finished up the weeding (for today) and had everything cleaned up already. It was getting hot so she was done for the day. I came in and worked on my checkbook and my spreadsheet then settled in and watched Mecum Auctions (starting today in Harrisburg PA).

Later, we had leftovers for dinner and caught up on a couple more of Guys Grocery Games before calling it a night.  

     

Thursday, Aug 1^st, 2019…...  After showering and getting dressed and walking Rylee, I headed out to get coffee/tea and Lydia got stuff out to make egg sandwiches. After we ate, she showered and got dressed and then we took off.  We needed dog food and went to Wilco and got that. While we were there, we looked at hanging plants. We’ve not had very good luck with those that we’ve put out on the front porch. We found a couple there but decided to look some more. We came home and swapped out the truck for the car so we could haul them home more easily with no issues with the wind. We headed to Albany where we had seen a pop-up nursery with all kinds of plants and stuff. But when we got there, they were closing it for the season. So, we headed off to Lowes and I found my sprinkler heads and she found two plants. They were on sale (plus my mil. discount) so we saved a bunch. Once home, we got those up and watered and settled in for the day. 

Later, my sister came over to walk Quincy (after her vet visit) and we talked about what time for dinner. She is picking us up and we’re going to The Point in Sweet Home.

We got going about 4:00pm and drove the 15 miles there. The Oregon Jamboree starts this weekend in Sweet Home. This is a big deal around here. They always have top name performers and the jamboree sells out quickly. Problem is the crowds and the price. We would like to camp there but we have never found any sites with hookups and dry camping is $170. for the weekend. Plus, a three-day ticket is $385 per person. So, we have never been! It starts tomorrow. As we were driving thru, we could see that they were all set up and were admitting rvs in one gate and vendors in another. Tonight is a free concert for the workers and those in the rvs. Our contractors, Tim and Dana, live a few blocks from the venue (which is just a field next to the high school) and have told us they don’t need a ticket – they can hear everything from their house. But they say the crowds make them leave and they usually head over to the coast and spend time on their boat during the festival. We had a nice meal and headed back home where she dropped us off and went home. We settled in and watched tv and headed off to bed.