Oregon Living 2020 – Blog #97 – Good Times and a Happy Holiday!

 

Thursday, December 24^th, 2020……  CHRISTMAS EVE !  I had more chores to do today. But first up was Rylee’s walk, then breakfast. On the way, I stopped at Walmart and got the rest of the things I needed for tacos tonight. Then I came back home and vacuumed and steam mopped the floors. I’m glad that’s not a weekly job!  I prepped everything and got it into the fridge. Then I rested and watched tv until around 4:15 when I started cooking the ground turkey. I had the tortillas all cooked up when folks starting showing up. Everything went well and we had a nice meal.

Then we exchanged presents, at least those with Cherrelyn and Teri. We talked a bit and had some refreshments and then they all left and went back home and I put away the dishes Cherrelyn had washed and then sat down and watched the first half of It’s a Wonderful Life and called it a night.  

Friday, December 25^st, 2020……  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!  To everyone – I wish you the happiest holiday. For me, it was a lot quieter here than normal. But I enjoyed every bit of it nonetheless. I had Rylee out and walked (before it rained) and then made my breakfast. Today it was scrambled eggs with ham and cheese and tomatoes. I almost made tacos! Sis came over with Quincy and we did our own little gift exchange. I talked with each of the families and we did our ‘virtual’ gift exchange. Jeff and Krista and family got me a DeWalt drill and an impact wrench. Randy and Maryann got me a Citizen watch. Sis got me a DeWalt drill and an impact wrench too!  But I am able to give her my 4^th drill and driver set, which is still almost new. I will use one set (Hitachi) in the house garage for in-house stuff (and will take it with me in the motorhome when I travel) and the other two will stay in the shop. Later, Chuck and Linda got here for dinner. They brought a green bean casserole and a coconut cream pie and some homemade peanut butter cookies! We had salad, turkey, ham, rolls, and scalloped potatoes. It was a wonderful meal!

 When they left, I fed Rylee and sis fed Quincy then took her home. I settled in for the night and watched tv.        

Saturday, December 26^th, 2020……  Rain hit us late last night. It was still raining when I took butthead out for our walk. She likes it but I don’t!  I have rain gear and stayed fairly dry. But I changed my shoes and socks because they were damp. I had some more pumpkin bread for breakfast and then added to that by going to Jack in the Box for a breakfast burrito. I hit Starbucks and then came home. It stopped raining and we were getting bits of sun coming through the clouds. It was still on the colder side! Temps have been around 32º with some winds so it feels really cold especially in the shade. So far, no slick blacktop or driveways but I’m sure that’s coming. But it warms up to the mid-40s during the day and that is comfortable as long as you have a jacket on. The school age kids up here are playing outside in shorts and t-shirts when it’s in the 40s! I watched college and pro football games for the most part of the day. I made tacos for lunch and then I did go out and hook up all of my chargers for the DeWalt stuff and got sis’s new drill and driver bagged up for her to get next time she’s here. While I was watching tv, I took all of the ornaments off the tree and got it boxed back up. I will wait until tomorrow or Monday to take down the rest of the decorations.  I decided that I wasn’t hungry enough for a big meal so I just heated up some pieces of ham and munched on that for dinner.  

Sunday, December 27^th, 2020……  The weather is getting colder!  No rain today so it got chilly wherever the sun was not hitting!  I walked Rylee and stayed in the sunny areas on the road! No coffee yet. I waited until Teri got here about 9:00am. We had reservations for breakfast at The Point in Sweet Home. The drive was nice and the sun was out all morning. We sat inside the enclosed patio with space heaters so it wasn’t too bad. When we left there, I drove us up to where Teri used to live in town and then by her current house which is rented now. When I got home and she left, I got some more of the decorations boxed up. I worked on my village setup. I need to use those new bins I just got from Costco for all of the extra Christmas village houses I bought this year! But that was about all I did today. I spent time today cleaning up the kitchen and I did some laundry, all while watching football. No lunch today. Tonight’s dinner was leftover ham and scalloped potatoes. I watched more games and then watched the premiere of The Masked Dancer. I already have some picks but we’ll see. I was already right about The Disco Ball. I picked out Ice T just by his one-word statement because he has such a distinct voice. I didn’t think he could dance much and I was right!   

Oregon Living 2020 – Blog #96 – Good Weather but a Downed Tree!

 

Sunday, December 20^th, 2020……   I was up and out with Rylee almost before the sun was up. Once I got home and got her fed, I took off to go get my breakfast. As I drove down the street, I saw this!

This is my neighbor’s 100-150-year-old oak tree – or what is left of it!  I would think that I would have seen it on my walk, so I’m thinking it came down in the last hour!  I went back after I ate and took these two pics. I’ll have to talk to Rich and see when this happened.

Mostly football and relaxing today. We did get a bit of sun early in the morning, but for the most part it was raining constantly. Rylee likes it though. Her drag strip is now even wider than before!  Like I said, weekends are lazy days so I hung around and watched tv and let butthead out a couple of times (with towels waiting!). Dinners are simple. Tonight was soup and salad (ok just lettuce and tomatoes so not much of a salad, but hey, I needed to get rid of them!).     

Monday, December 21^st, 2020……  The weather today was wonderful! No rain during the day and temps in the high 50’s!  I asked Teri if she would like to take a carride to Albany just to get out. She is off most Mondays. I wanted to check out the ceramic tile at both Lowes and Home Depot. I am going to start the tile project in the laundry room and the guest bathroom after the first of the year, so I wanted to get an idea of what I wanted. I found several that I liked so I will go back after the year end. I sure wish that they had Floor & Décor stores up here. I miss them!  We got back to town and I dropped her off and we made plans for dinner tonight. Later, she came by and I fed Rylee and we headed off to Sweet Home. Destination – The Point. We were both super hungry and they didn’t disappoint! She had soup and the prime rib and I had salad and the seafood trio - shrimp, mussels, and halibut all sautéed in butter and garlic sauce. It was sooo good!  Her prime rib was the best I have tasted in a long time! The Point is not the cheapest place to eat, but for an occasional meal, it is one of the best! We got home and had dessert. Frances now has Lydia’s recipe for pumpkin bread and this year was her first try at making it. She sent me (and sis) a large package which arrived this afternoon. So, we dug into one of them. It was delicious!  That was dessert and perfect for the evening. Later, after Teri went home, I called Stan (Lydia’s brother in Bakersfield) back. He had called while we were at dinner. He says Joy is doing ok but visiting her in the care facility is back to zero with the new covid restrictions in place in Calif.  He thinks he will be spending Christmas with his brother-in-law or maybe their realtor friends from many years ago. I think all of the country is going to be on Zoom or Facetime or Marco Polo this year, talking with family!  Oh, forgot to mention – when Teri left here, it was almost a gale force storm, with lots of wind and rain. I texted her and she said she made it back ok and was drying her hair just from the run between the car and the house! It has slowed down now and we’re supposed to only get small shower cells between now and tomorrow sometime. I worked on posting my last blog article and then started in on yesterday’s and today’s inputs, then settled in and watched Monday Night Football and other taped shows before calling it a night.        

Tuesday, December 22^nd, 2020……  I was up and moving early this morning. I had Rylee walked and fed and then made my coffee and breakfast. Today - so far – the weather is really nice. We have sunny skies. I guess the cell missed us because the forecast is for more of the same all day!  Yaay!  For you folks in sunny climates, that’s old news. But for us Oregonians (who love the sun), reports like this make our days! I think I will change my plans and go outside and work in the shop for a while today. I was planning on running errands and going grocery shopping, and cleaning house, but I can do that tomorrow.  

Ok, it’s later in the day now. I cleaned up the shop then saw that Rich was out by his tree. So, I took Rylee out and we went over and talked a bit with him. They did not hear this thing come down!  As I have been mentioning for some time now, we have had a good soaking over the last few weeks. His property is on the same elevation as mine – meaning that he is in lowlands too!  This tree just was too waterlogged and too top heavy, that it didn’t take much wind to blow it over. He’s planning on getting estimates to see how much it will cost him. He wants to have them chip the small stuff, cut most of the rest into firewood-sized pieces and then figure out about the stump later.  He said one guy already has seen it and says it’s not going to make much (if any) timber or planked lumber because there are some signs of rot. Too bad, because there is good money in lumber, especially live edge planking. The bad part is he will likely not see any monies coming back to him. 

After my talk with Rich, I took off and make a run to Fred Meyer in Albany. I hadn’t been there in a long time and they had some things I wanted to check out. I bought some nylon rope and then hit the grocery section for a few things, then headed home. Later, I went out to McDonalds to pick up a couple of McRib sandwiches. Funny, I always liked them. I guess you either do or you don’t!  After that, I watched some of my taped programs in the living room. I will need to call in a trouble call on this Directv receiver box. It’s the oldest one I have and it has been used and abused for many years taping programs almost every day. Live tv works fine, but the taped shows are pixilated more than they are not. So, I will call tomorrow.

Wednesday, December 23^rd, 2020……  Sis came by this morning with Quincy and the pups had a good time out in the yard. Of course, butthead found the water and made her laps and came to the door half white and half brown!  It’s almost impossible to think about giving her a bath because she would be dirty in an hour anyway! After sis left, I took off and got myself some breakfast and coffee and came back and ate.  I had some cleaning to do today, including the bathrooms, which I tackled first. I also did some laundry. I was on the phone for some time, getting things straight with Directv. I certainly don’t care for them since they were taken over by AT&T!  But I got some action, even though it was “escalated to another level for further review”!  That means they will have to get approval before they can send me a replacement receiver! Meanwhile, I need to move all future tapings to another tv and then watch everything taped on this receiver before I do an exchange.  No problem. 

Plans tomorrow are for me to make tacos for dinner for sis, Cherrelyn, and Teri. For Christmas day, Cherrelyn and Teri are going to be with their families. Chuck and Linda will join sis and I for dinner here. But I needed to clean house before all of that and today was the day to get started.   Teri came by later with dinner. She had made vegetable soup using the prime rib we had the other night at The Point.  It was especially yummy! 

She also brought over another ‘gift’ for me.  I now have a new mini coffee brewer!

 

Teri loves her coffee but it’s difficult to make one or two cups with my machine, so she thought I needed one!  It is simple to use and we played with it and ran cleaning cycles and then made an 8 oz cup of coffee. Funny thing – I had just gone out and bought a smaller-handled cup and a small mug for exactly that purpose!  Teri has little hands and my mugs were too big and heavy. After a bit, she went home and I settled in for the evening. 

 

Oregon Living 2020 – Blog #95 – Getting Ready for Christmas!

 

Wednesday, December 16^th, 2020……   No rain so far today, but it’s coming!  Nothing major, just some showers off and on for the day. I have many things on order from ebay and amazon and some have arrived.  As I mentioned before, we are doing a different gift exchange where we each buy gifts for ourselves that will be considered from family. Most of the online orders have been received and I have picked up others from the store.  I had some clothes on order from JCPenney’s and they came yesterday. So, I added them to my regular laundry and got those going this morning. I made myself some coffee and breakfast and watched on tv our governor talk about the vaccination process and how it is going to roll out here in Oregon.  They even went live to OHSU in Portland and showed the medical staff all getting their shots. I hear that a lot of folks are worried about these vaccines, but I am definitely going to get my shots as soon as they are offered to me!  I ate dinner and watched the finale of The Amazing Race and also the finale of The Masked Singer. I missed out on the Mushroom, but I got both the Crocodile (Nick Carter) and the winner, The Sun (Leann Rimes). So, out of 16 singers, I got 5 correct. Not so good.   

Thursday, December 17^th, 2020……  Cloudy and showers are expected again today (and for the rest of this week). Today I was headed out to Albany for some shopping. I needed to go to Costco and, as usual, found more than I was looking for. I got back home and got everything put away. I only have two more gifts to buy – gift cards for Kirk and Carter.  Sis has already bought them a couple from her. Kirk may be coming over for dinner on Christmas eve but, if not, we will figure out how to get them to him. I need to go to Walmart but I will save that for tomorrow.  I missed out on a home cooked meal from Teri (my bad) and ended up fixing one of my stuffed salmon pieces, which was very tasty. I watched Thursday Night Football and then went to bed.    

Friday, December 18^th, 2020…… We haven’t seen rain yet today. The sun actually came out for most of the day!  I took advantage and went to get breakfast. I was going to Jack in the Box but drove by Kevin’s and saw activity in there. Turns out they were open for take outs. I stopped and went in and got my usual breakfast to go. One more stop at Starbucks and I went back home to eat. I didn’t have anything planned, and, since it was a nice sunny day, I took off to go to Garlands Nursery. My realtor, Aimee’s company, gives out cards for a free paperwhite plant, so I wanted to get one.  Not knowing much, I asked and was pointed to them and given a 3-minute training lesson on care and placement. I stopped by Dos Arbolitos and got gift cards for Kirk and Carter.  When I got back home, my sister came over and dropped off gifts for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. We found the two older plants and she cleaned them up, only to find they still were alive!  They are on the right and the new one is on the left.

Hopefully, I can watch them more now and keep them all alive! I ate quesadillas for dinner and settled in for the night of tv.

Saturday, December 19^th, 2020……  Quiet weekend planned. The rain has a lot to do with my activity. I can always drive around and get things done, it’s just that if I can wait, I usually will. Plus, weekends have always been for relaxing. That goes back to my working days (9 years ago). I did take off before 9:00am to go to Lowes in Albany to meet up with Kirk to give him mine and Penny’s Christmas cards. When I got back, I watched several football games and did some more work on my spreadsheets for my races and such. I find the schedules online and then convert them to a Word or Excel document so I can customize them. Then they get printed and put into a workbook, that I can flip around and find that particular race to tape and track winners, etc.  I have one each for Nascar’s three divisions, plus IndyCar, Formula 1, Tour de France, Supercross, Motocross, Little League World Series, Barrett-Jackson Auctions, Mecum Auctions, AGT, and Masked Singer. I also have full books each for Survivor, The Amazing Race, and Dancing with the Stars. I have records from the beginning of each of these!  Yeah, I’m sick!  But at least it keeps me busy!  Later, I ate another one of my stuffed salmon meals for dinner and settled in for the evening.  

 

Oregon Living 2020 – Blog #94 – Waiting for Word from the Moores & Driving Many Miles!

 

 

Saturday, December 12^th, 2020……   No rain today. I was showered and dressed and had butthead out and walked and fed before 7:30am. I heard from Janie yesterday that Rick was suffering symptoms of covid 19. I didn’t sleep too well last night. She called and said he was given an infusion and released so that was great to hear!  I made myself some breakfast and then went on Facebook Marketplace to answer an ad I saw for a car trailer. I am looking for one big enough to haul the zero turn, which the other trailer won’t do because it’s not quite wide enough. I hung around the house but didn’t hear back from the guy until after 1:30pm. Since he’s in Merlin, which is almost a 3-hr. drive from me, I couldn’t go today. He’s not available tomorrow but says I can come during the week ‘after 4:00ish’. So today was shot. But at least I could go to the bank and get the cash out. I drove over to my BofA in Corvallis only to find they close at 1:00pm. My fault – I didn’t check their Saturday hours online. No worries, I go to Corvallis on Monday for acupuncture so I can swing by then.  I got back home and rested and watched football and did some work on my spreadsheets for next year’s aces. Later, I fixed myself some dinner and settled in for the evening.  

Sunday, December 13^th, 2020……  More rain coming again today. It was 45º this morning. A little cold but not too bad since I had nothing planned for today and didn’t need to be outside. I had monkey butt out and back before it started sprinkling. I also had time to go out and get breakfast and coffee and get back when it was still dry. When it did rain, it was barely sprinkling. I went out to the shop and changed out the trailer hitch for my truck in anticipation of going tomorrow to look at and possibly buy that trailer. I sent a message to him later in the day but didn’t hear back until late in the evening. He wasn’t available tomorrow but he said his wife could show it to me. So, I made arrangements to be there around 1:00pm to meet her.   

Monday, December 14^th, 2020…… I have an acupuncture appointment this morning so I was up early and had Rylee walked and fed. I left and headed over to Corvallis and was there in plenty of time. After that, I went to McDonalds and got breakfast and then went to the BofA parking lot, waiting for them to open at 9:30am. I got in and out in a few minutes and was on my way south. Merlin is in southern Oregon and 180 miles south of me, so the drive was long! I timed it so that I would be there around 12:30pm and called Jessica and made arrangements to get in to her property. They had a nice piece of property with horses and a new workshop. Also, they had a nice new trailer sitting there. The old one was up for sale and was actually very nice. He had done some additional work on it, adding a rail around the sides which I liked and would work for me. But it was probably a little big for my needs and I had another one in my mind that I wanted to also look at, so I passed on this one.

So, I drove the 180 miles back home, emptyhanded. Oh well, it was a nice drive.  When I got home, I fed Rylee and rested for a while, then had dinner and watched tv. I found that other trailer on Marketplace and messaged the guy and made arrangements to go see it tomorrow. He is in Sheridan, which is only about 58 miles from me, so that would be an easy drive!    

Tuesday, December 15^th, 2020……  Again, I was up early and got all of my stuff done. Penny came over with Quincy and she left her with Rylee and I left to go get on the road. I set up the meeting for 10:00am. I stopped and got coffee and a breakfast roll and made it right on time. This was another nice trailer!  Problem was it was not quite wide enough between the fenders for my zero turn to fit!  Bummer! 

I called my friend Paul, who, with his wife Alice, just moved into their new home in Dallas. I drove through there on the way and asked if he was home. He was in McMinnville, getting a prescription filled, and then had a doctor’s appointment, so we will get together another time. I made it home when Kirk was there and I had him work on leaf cleanup. I don’t have many trees, but the ones I do have are next to the driveway so they needed some attention.  Later, sis came by to get Q and Teri stopped by with the pups, straight from the groomer, for a visit. Later, I fixed leftover spaghetti and settled in and watched tv until bedtime.   

 

Oregon Living 2020 – Blog #93 – Changing Doorknobs & Celebrating Birthdays!

  

 

Tuesday, December 8^th, 2020……  It was 40º this morning when I had Rylee out. I am back in shorts again, at least while it is not windy!  I left the house right after that and stopped and got breakfast and coffee and then went on over to Albany. I was looking for a new light fixture for the mud room/laundry room. The 4 ft. fluorescent fixture had a bubble cover and looked ok, but it was humming and I wanted that to stop! Home Depot had one but they only give military discounts to those who are 1) active duty, 2) retired military (like Bill and Rick and Ed and Tia), and 3) reservists.  Veterans (w/id) only get discounts on Memorial Day, 4^th of July, and Veterans Day.  Lowes honors ALL veterans.  I choose them most of the time, especially for bigger ticket items.  On the way to Lowes, I stopped at Harbor Freight and got a few things there. I made it to Lowes and found the light fixture I liked. This one is led and sleeker looking and will cover the area of the old fixture.  

I also found my Christmas gift from the kids in Florida.   Rather than send gift cards back and forth by either mail or electronic, we now each buy our own gifts (with our own money) and then meet up on Christmas (via facetime or zoom) to let the others know what we got from them. You can even decide to unwrap them in real time while on line if you want.  This new process – invented a few years ago by Randy and Maryanne - saves time on gift cards or mailing gifts, plus you get to get something you want during the Black Friday and other pre-Christmas sales when the stock is on the shelves. The best part is there is no dollar limit – spend what you want on you and they spend what they want on them. I was looking for a DeWalt drill/driver set and I found one on sale at Lowes so I got it. It’s now under the tree. I got back home and Kirk and Carter were just getting there. I had them clean up my ditch out front, which was clogging up with leaves and grass. They got that done so now the rain water will flow easier down the road to the drain and on over to Oak Creek. Later, I took the Acadia back in to Primasing. This time, Tony rode with me and he heard it for himself. Problem was, he was stumped about where it was coming from. He doesn’t seem to think it’s a problem and told me nothing was out of order underneath. He said to come back in if it gets worse. I’m sorry – I’m not buying that!  I will be going over to the dealer in Albany and let them take a look at it.  After that, I met up with Teri at Pizza Schmizza. She had seen on Facebook that they were serving outside on the patio. That was perfect!  They have to open the plastic windows (covid req.) but they have patio heaters so it was actually really comfortable.  We had a nice meal, including a pizza, a burger, a beer and a dessert, all of which we shared. We walked next door to the Dollar Store before each heading home for the night. I watched football and then more of my taped shows before calling it a night.    

Wednesday, December 9^th, 2020……  Rain is back in the forecast for the rest of this week. They say mostly light showers/drizzles but maybe one good storm with moderately heavy showers.  Both Penny and I are thinking about having Kirk mulch our flowerbeds, maybe late January or early February. So, he has a bunch or spraying to do to get rid of the weeds for each of our yards. He can’t do that when it’s wet so we need some more dry days in a row to get that done. I got up and showered and put some clothes in the wash and then took butthead out for our walk. She doesn’t give a s**t about the rain but I always put on some good waterproof gear and will change my shoes if they get even slightly wet while out.  Not much else going on today, so I just hung around the house.  Later in the afternoon, I pulled out a chicken pot pie and was heating up the oven for dinner. But I got a call right about that time from Teri, asking if I’d eaten yet. I know a good thing when I hear it, so I was ready!  She brought me over pork roast and mashed potatoes that she had made and I ate a very nice meal!  The pot pie went back in the freezer for tomorrow! She headed back home to her pups and I settled in for the evening an watched The Amazing Race. One more before the finale next time! I also watched The Masked Singer, but was disappointed that they only sang Christmas songs with no competition. 

Thursday, December 10^th, 2020…… Happy Birthday to my grandkids Kate and Shelby!  They turn 18 today!   I texted them early and told them I had money transferred to Jeff’s account and to be sure he gave it to them!  

I was up early this morning and got Rylee out before it rained too hard. I fed her then took off and got breakfast and coffee and then went to Walmart for a few things. Once I got those things home and stowed away, I headed over to Lowes in Albany. This time I was looking for a new door levers and hinges. These were for the master bathroom door. Back in 2003, when Walt built this house, he used all polished brass hardware and the goal is to eventually change everything out.  I have changed out a few already outside and today was a good day to get started with the first one in the house. I got what I needed and headed back home. I removed the old unit and replaced it with nice brushed nickel levers. I also changed out the hinges with the same brushed nickel finishes. One out of thirteen sets, counting the front door and the garage locksets, which will be the last ones and will come later. None of this stuff is cheap so I will do them in small groups, maybe one room at a time. I rested for the day and then made that pot pie and ate and settled in with tv until bedtime.   

Friday, December 11^th, 2020…… Sis came by this morning and brought Quincy for a run/walk and left her for the day. Aimee was coming later for a visit, but texted saying she has been down with a bad migraine for the past few days and would need to reschedule for next week. Later, I spoke with Teri about going to visit with Olivia. Today is her birthday and we went over for ice cream and cake. We also brought over their Christmas gifts to put under the tree. She wanted them to open them and both Olivia and Emmett already knew that they were both getting new computers. They really liked them when dad got them upstairs and hooked up and running!  We left and went to Panda Express for dinner and then came back and I dropped her off and came home and watched tv until bedtime.       

 

Oregon Living 2020 – Blog #92 – Breakfast at Home and Getting the Car Fixed ?

  

Friday, December 4^th, 2020……  No plans today so I thought I would take a drive down to Eugene to a second-hand store that my sister and Butch found. She took pics of a whole bunch of reasonably-priced Christmas village houses and I wanted to see if they had any left.

It was a nice drive if nothing else. Turns out they had all of what I wanted and I bought all three (for a reasonable $55.00) since these houses were all part of a collection that you can’t buy anymore. 

I also made a stop at the Eugene Habitat for Humanity Re-store and bought some shovels and another hoe. I also found a mirror I want to put up on the wall inside my garage which I think should help me see if there is a car or delivery truck in the driveway. It was $15.00 so even if that doesn’t work, I can use it somewhere else. Teri came over and she helped me rearrange the houses and I plugged everything in. Any more and I will need another ladder! We left from here and went to KFC for lunch. Problem was they are closed for remodeling until Monday. So, we went to Walmart and got chicken from their deli section. It was just ok. She bought this little fruitcake thingy which was only $3.00 or something. We were skeptical but it turned out to be very tasty! I don’t usually keep hostess stuff in the house but every now and then I will buy a package of ding dongs or suzy q’s or Twinkies and splurge. Today I bought chocolate Twinkies. These guys were so tiny, it was pitiful, BUT the box said it was a new recipe and we loved them!  I think they taste more like the old recipe suzy q’s. But now I know what to get in the future when I get that urge again!      

Saturday, December 5^th, 2020……  Today it was 27º when I walked Rylee. So, I dressed in my sweatpants over my shorts for that walk! The sun was out and there was no wind so it wasn’t bad at all. Later, it got up in the 40s.  But I headed into town to get gas and coffee and breakfast and left the long pants on for that too. I ate at home and hung around the tv for a while and then went in to work on my checkbook register. I truly don’t really need to keep it up to date because I only write a handful of checks a year – all my transactions are online now - but I can’t seem to break the habit of listing everything there. I texted to see if Teri was working today or not. She had clients all day so I took over mini tacos from Jack in the Box for lunch. She has no plans for tomorrow so we thought about breakfast at The Point and then a drive up into the mountains for the day.    

Sunday, December 6^th, 2020…… It rained last night but sunny skies are forecast for today! I was up early and had Rylee out in the dark again. Teri was coming over here and we would head out. I guess she felt lazy today because she suggested coming over in her jammies and bringing the ‘littles’ (her two puppies) and she’d make me breakfast and we would stay in for the morning. Teri brought almost everything and I cooked her bacon while she put together a cinnamon toast bake, like bread pudding, which was delicious. She even brought some gourmet vanilla-infused maple syrup, which was thin but very tasty! The pups are starting to get used to the house and Rylee. They don’t have stairs at their place so that’s a challenge for them right now!  She didn’t stay the day and went home where she said Grizzly and Meisha went right down and were sleeping soundly after that! I enjoyed the lazy day, just watching football and my taped Mecum Car Auctions. We have another ‘dispute’ going on here in the Oregon Directv market. Tegna, the owner of our local NBC station (KGW-NBC channel 8) is in re-negotiation with Direct for their broadcast and as of today, they haven’t come to terms so we are now in day 3 of blacked out NBC. I don’t have too many programs I watch on NBC but Sunday Night Football will be blacked out tonight. I also can always use my tv booster and get channel 8 through regular antenna and the airways, but no biggie – I will survive!    

Monday, December 7^th, 2020…… HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAYMOND!!! A great big old milestone 10^th birthday!  Yaay!   Also, it’s Pearl Harbor Day. I remember my parents always talking about Pearl Harbor and I took an interest at an early age. I remember seeing the 1970 movie Tora Tora Tora (at the Cinerama Dome Theater on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood) which also helped pique my interest. We have been to Hawaii and took the boat tour of Pearl Harbor and also went to the USS Arizona Memorial. Very moving. Definitely a day that will live in infamy.     

No rain today. We have had a forecast for sunny skies and temps in the high 40s. Not bad for us this time of year!  I had an appointment at Primasing GMC, here in town, to get my Acadia looked at. I have two things for them to look at – 1) a ‘clunking’ sound when I turn the wheels, and, 2) I have noticed an unrelated oil spot on the garage floor - so I want them to look at both those issues. I got it dropped off and had miss Teri give me a ride back home. No worries, I have two other cars, so I am in no hurry. Later, she came back from running errands and brought KFC for lunch. Thanks, sweetie, that was nice of you! I spent the rest of the day cleaning up around the house and adding some more of Lydia’s Christmas stuff around the house.

I also added mini lights to the ladder village. I am definitely done now!

Later, I heard back from the service guy. He said they found an end link that had play in it and I told them to go ahead and replace it. The oil leak was just a loose oil filter which they tightened and cleaned up the residue. $312.00 total parts/labor.  I went later and picked it up. Trouble was when I headed home, the noise was still there!  I called back and Tony said to bring it back tomorrow afternoon and they would test drive it with me then schedule of Wednesday. Oh well!

     

Oregon Living 2020 – Blog #91 – Dodging a Bullet & a Nice Outing!

 

Monday, November 30^th, 2020……  Continuing the saga with my blood sugars, it turns out that eating crackers was just not enough. I went to bed around 10:30pm and was restless but finally fell asleep. I woke up at 4:15am and went to the bathroom. I felt light-headed and lost my balance while standing over the toilet and fell on my elbow and laid there a while. I don’t remember passing out but don’t remember falling into that position either! I found a scratch next to my left eye which I don’t remember feeling.  I have had this low blood sugar thing happen in the past and from seeing Lydia deal with it, I knew my blood sugars were low, simply because I hadn’t eaten in several hours yesterday. I tried but I guess the crackers didn’t help. I drank some Boost and went back to bed. When I got up, I felt a little better. I had another Boost when I got going but I knew I would be taking it easy today. No dizziness so I knew things were getting back to normal again. But now I have a really sore elbow! It was a hell of a lesson in taking care of myself!  I used to eat meals at fairly regular times. But I find I am eating now only when I want to. I know I have to fix that and get back to a regular diet. I Promise!  Like I said, I took things easy today. Sis came by with Quincy and after that, I went out and got myself a big breakfast. I was back to normal soon after that and did some laundry and worked on this blog, so nothing strenuous. Later, I finished up the leftovers and had a nice filling meal and settled in for a night of taped tv programs. 

Tuesday, December 1^st, 2020……  Weather is getting colder. But the mornings are bearable, I guess because there is no wind and the air is clear. But later in the day, the fog rolled in and that wet air made everything super cold.  When Kirk and Carter got here, I went out and paid him for the month but quickly came back in to the warm house! Those guys were dressed in layers so they were ok to be outside all day. I wasn’t!  A bit later, I went over to see Teri and we helped with her decorating again. We were both hungry so we headed over to Hangry Solutions food truck and had a nice meal. I tried their club sandwich, which I found was grilled and served hot and was waaay too thick to even get my mouth around!  But it tasted great!  I ate half and had the rest for dinner later. See – I am eating regular again! Since she has no appointments for tomorrow, Teri and I made plans to take a car ride to the coast.       

Wednesday, December 2^nd, 2020…… The plan for today was to get up and going early. I took Rylee out before it was even light outside!  I got her fed and then took off. I had my acupuncture appointment with Bonnie at 8:00am this morning, and since Corvallis is on the way to the coast, I picked up Teri and we headed over. It was nice having her and Bonnie meet since I have talked about each of them to each other so they felt they had already met! After the ‘needle pokes’, we left and got coffees at the local Dutch Bros drive-thru and then drove north up 99w with the idea of going through Dallas and then keep going to the coast via Hwy 22. I remembered where Paul and Alice’s new house was so I drove by to see if they were moved in yet. We saw chairs on the porch, so we assumed they were there now, but we didn’t stop since we wouldn’t be staying to visit today. Maybe another time… But we did decide we were super hungry and we would find a place to eat breakfast while in Dallas. Driving up their Main St. we saw a little place called Tater’s Café and decided to stop. The owner took our order and even though they were only doing takeout due to the covid restrictions, she allowed us to eat outside on the patio and even served us. We both had the potato cakes meal (with eggs) which were very good. Teri had bacon and I had the best sausage patty I have had in a long time! I finished my breakfast and ate the rest of hers too, it was that good!  I left an extra nice tip and we headed off for our journey. Since we had done what we were going to do on the coast – eat breakfast – we decided to save the costal drive for another time and just continue our drive north and go up to McMinnville to see how that town has grown since Lydia and I stayed there in our motorhome back in 2012.  McMinnville is the home of the Evergreen Aviation Museum, which is the home of the Spruce Goose. 

Turns out the move up there from Long Beach was way back in 1993!  Wow!  We drove through the city a bit, checking things out for another day trip in the future and then worked our way back toward home, stopping in Jefferson so Teri could pick up grandson Emmett who was spending the night. I dropped them off and stopped on the way home and made an appointment to take the Acadia in for some work and then got home to let Rylee out for a while then feed her. I played with butthead out in the back yard. She managed to find her water-filled ‘drag strip’ and ran and ran through it and then plopped down. 

That water was cold but she doesn’t mind!  I fixed myself dinner and then settled in to watch The Amazing Race and part of The Masked Singer. I found I was tired and went to bed and I guess right to sleep after a really fun and relaxing day!           

Thursday, December 3^rd, 2020…… I was up early and showered and got Rylee out and walked. Still no rain so it is cold out there! I went out and got breakfast and coffee and came home and watched the rest of The Masked Singer. I picked Chloe Kim as the Jellyfish but only after one of the judges mentioned her name so I am not counting that. I missed on the other two that were revealed. I’m not doing too well this year without Lydia’s help!  I spent some time posting on Facebook (thanks to all of you who responded!) and then after a bit, I went out and started my buddy heater and warmed up the shop a bit then worked on the three chain saws that Randy had brought up for me. I added gas to the little 10” McCulloch Mini Mac that was my old one and tried to start it with no luck. I didn’t work on the others.  I will just drop off all three of them at Cascade Outdoor Power Equip. to see if it’s worth getting them running again or not. I already have an electric one but I could use at least one gas model for jobs way out where I have no power to plug in to.  I also read up on the new DeWalt battery powered string trimmer that Randy brought up as my (late) birthday gift. 

That thing will be nice to use for quickie jobs around the property when I don’t need to fire up the Stihl gas trimmer. Plus, I now will be looking for DeWalt drills and drivers to buy since the batteries are all interchangeable. I came back in for the day and figured out what to make for dinner. I ate and then settled in to watch tv.  Sandie called and we had a nice chat. It's always good to hear from friends!