Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #37 – Mowing & Estate Work

 

 

Wednesday, May 26^th., 2021…... Had a really restful night last night!  It was surreal lying in bed trying to turn off and shut down. But I eventually did and woke up very relaxed after a great night’s sleep! 

Weather is iffy today for mowing. There are great big clouds around a blue sky for a few hours, then it turns dark and grey. If it doesn’t rain, I will go out and mow because the grass is really getting thick these days! I did manage to get a couple of pieces for the shelf addition cut and painted and installed. More to do on that tomorrow.

Ok, it’s later now. The sun has come out and actually it’s getting warm!  Cathye volunteered to help and came over and I fired up the Craftsman Pro mower and she set out to work on the field grass while I continued to mow the lawn. I had let it get too long again and I kept the blade cut at 2 1/2“, so I had some issues with too much grass clogging up the system. We ended up making two runs to the recycling place but it went quickly with Cathye helping me. After I was done with the lawn I went out to the field and helped her out there. I gave her a turn on the zero turn and she wouldn’t get off!  But she sure looks good on it!

After we were done, we cleaned up and I took Cathye to The Point for dinner.  We had a very nice meal and went back home to relax. It was a long day!  Later, she stayed and we sat together (which was super fun for me!) and watched the finale of The Masked Singer. I am proud to say that I correctly guessed all three of the finalists! Spoiler Alert!  I’m sure everyone has seen the show by this posting but if you haven’t, don’t read any of the blue type below!   I am proud to say that I correctly guessed all of the three finalists!  The third-place winner was The Chameleon who was Wiz Khalifa. Second place was The Swan which was JoJo. The winner was The Piglet who was Nick Lachey. This was also the order that I hoped they would finish in! Counting the ten original contestants, the four wild cards and Clue Dle-Doo, I got nine out of fifteen!  That was way better than I thought I would do. Of course, I only got those that I either knew their voices or made some way out guesses if I didn’t. I used the clues they gave and listened to the judges on one or two of them. Still not too bad!     

Thursday, May 27^th., 2021…… The rains came as promised today, although we didn’t get too much here. Still, I was glad we mowed!  Today Cathye had some items to take care of so I met her over at her trailer late in the morning. The contractor was there and he went over a few things. Our assignment was to go pick out paint colors, backsplash, countertops, and floor coverings. So, we drove over to Albany and hit Home Depot (where he gets a contractor discount) and found pretty much everything. She then headed home and I rested for a few hours then set out to finish the install on the under supports for my shelves. I ate my leftovers and settled in to watch tv for the rest of the evening.

Friday, May 28^th., 2021……  Good weather is back!  They say we can expect to hit the 80s by the holiday weekend! The plan today was to go get a large shelving unit from the trailer and bring to my rv garage. That way, when she needs/wants to store anything that won’t fit in the mobile home, it will be here. There is also a list of things she wants to bring here for me/us to use. There is a large supply of milled lumber and steel pipes and angle iron that I can always use. Better at my house than the scrap yard! We are also going to store her two garden tractors and her little Shasta travel trailer here. I just needed to know that which gives me a reason to look into ordering another carport for my property. Now I will have something to put in it! I went over and we went through the stuff and made a plan for tomorrow. Besides the estate team and Ron, the radio guy, her grandson Corey, and Eric, will be here to work on projects on her list as well. I went home and she went on to Eugene to pick up a friend who is here to visit her mom in the mobile home park. I went over later to the trailer later and met her and we visited for a bit then loaded the shelving unit into my truck. After it was in my garage, she went on home and I hung around the house and then made a light dinner and watched tv until bedtime.          

Saturday, May 29^th., 2021……  Today I was up and out early. I had Rylee walked and then went out and got breakfast. I made a run to the store and then went over to Cathye’s to work for the day. She is still trying to get things sorted out to be priced for the estate sale. She plans on having the radio guys (and their spouses) come out to a special sale so getting those out and sorted and priced was the plan for today. The estate team had three people there plus Ron, who is the radiohead and knows all about that stuff. I assigned myself to him and we went straight to the car garage.  Our job was to find and pull out all of the tubes. We moved boxes and boxes of every type of radio part you can think of (knobs, capacitors, transformers, etc. etc.) around and I think the final count on the boxes and cases of tubes was 33. These are important because there are some of these tubes that will sell for over $200.00 each! This is a pic after we got most everything sorted and moved out. 

Meanwhile, the other crew was sorting and pricing all of the other items and getting them staged. Corey and Eric worked in the yard and helped move things around. Did I mention she has a forklift!   She is lucky that there are seven outbuildings on the property so things can be spaced out and sorted for folks to see. Still, it’s a big job!  I left after my task was completed and came home to take care of butthead. I also took some Aleve and rested after the workout! Tomorrow will be more of the same, just with the two of us though.    

 

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #36 –  A Moving Celebration, Remembering My Love & Pickin’ Up Sis!   

 

Saturday, May 22^nd., 2021…... I slept well last night and got up early and had Rylee out and I fed her and then took off to go walk Quincy. Later, Cherrelyn sent me a picture of Quincy sitting patiently waiting for me to pull up in the driveway! 

Too cute!  After I brought her back home, I stopped by Kevin’s and picked up breakfast to go. I had no plans for today and stayed in the house most of the morning and afternoon. I did go off to Walmart to get some things for dinner. Earlier, I had invited Cherrelyn over for lobsta’ and au gratin potatoes.  I picked up a banana cream pie for dessert. I spent the day watching the Mecum Auction and Nascar races. I did go to Cathye’s Facebook page a few times. They were streaming Jim’s Celebration of Life. It made me smile and cry at the same time. Cherrelyn finished work for the day, fed Quincy, and then headed over about 4:30pm.  We had a nice meal and a nice visit.  As she was leaving, I got a call from Cathye asking me to come join her and her family around the campfire out in her yard. I drove over and spent time with everyone. It was nice to see them and meet the ones I hadn’t met yet. After a while, I needed to get back and let butthead out so I left them to their little gathering and came back home. Tv until bedtime.           

Sunday, May 23^rd., 2021…… Another round of dog walking. I got back home and fixed myself some breakfast and turned on the taped races. I also had more auction to watch. All of that took up the morning. I needed to go back to Cathye’s to take down the tarps and wanted to say goodbye to those leaving today. I got over there around noon. The guys again made quick work of the tarps and poles and I had everything loaded up in the truck in no time! I visited a while and was going to say my goodbyes but they decided to go to James Gang Pizza before they left. I came home and unloaded everything and then headed over there. We had a nice meal and I said my goodbyes and came home and spent the rest of day relaxing and watching my races.  I have decided that I like the shelves I just put up so much that I am going to add to them and wrap around that wall. So, I sat in my chair and planned that out in my head. Easy peasy! I wasn’t hungry so I passed on dinner and just relaxed for the evening and went to bed early.    

Monday, May 24^th., 2021……  Up early again today. The plan was to mow the yard today. But as it turns out the forecast is for showers off and on for today and tomorrow. I was out and had Rylee walked before the rains came. I then headed over and took Quincy out for her walk. We made it almost home before it started to sprinkle so I considered myself lucky!  I stopped and got breakfast and coffee and came home and planned my day. I ended up taking measurements for the 2^nd shelving project and went out to the shop and cut the pieces. Later, Cathye came by and we spent the rest of the day and evening together. We went out to dinner at The Depot in Albany. I’m SO glad to be able to go out to eat with someone!   

Tuesday, May 25^th., 2021……  One Year Ago Today!  It’s truly hard to believe it’s been a year!  Not a day goes by that I don’t think about her in some way or another. Things I see around the house - things I pass by somewhere out driving - or a song on the radio - all of these will bring back wonderful memories. I love her and miss her so much!  I know she’s looking down at me now smiling because she knows I’m ok.  And I am truly ok. 

Plans are still in the works for a trip down to Calif. and a Celebration of Life. I still don’t have a place yet but there are folks who have said they are looking and will let me know when things 

 open up (maybe in their clubhouses or churches) and we can do this.

I was up and out this morning. Last day to walk Q. Sis comes home later today. Cathye and I will be going to pick her up at the shuttle stop. Later, we coordinated with Penny and found out she was going to have to wait at the airport for a couple of hours for the next shuttle to arrive. So, we decided to just go there and pick her up. It was a nice drive but we ran into some serious traffic (Yuucck!) but still got there in time. We were able to sit at curbside with no officer moving us along. We waited and waited…. Turns out her luggage (and another gentleman’s) got misrouted to Oakland! It will be FedEx’d to her tomorrow. So, we picked just her up and headed back home. We stopped at Big Foot Grille for dinner (thanks Cathye!) and then took sis home. It was Cathye’s first visit to Penny’s house. After a nice but short visit there, we came home and rested before Cathye left to go back home. All of the family has left now so she’s trying to reorganize her home and get back to normal. She does still have the estate sale coming up so plans are to sort through her items and decide if it’s going to her new place or will be stored or will be priced and made ready for the sale. That’s coming up in July but there’s a lot of things to go through! Of course, I will be there to help.  I spent the evening by myself, just thinking and remembering life and good memories. I was sad but got through it ok.     

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #35 – Mani/Pedis, Moving and Getting Ready!

 

Tuesday, May 18^th., 2021…...  I had Rylee out and walked and then worked on cleaning up around the house. I got a text from Cathye that she was able to get us in for mani/pedis this morning. We went to Jenny’s but learned that she had sold the place and so we met the new owner. Turns out it wasn’t the same!  We both got pedicures and had fun while doing that.

 

But I found out later that after I left, Cathye had to wait almost two hours for her manicure! Plus, they kept doing it wrong.  So, needless to say, we won’t be going back there anymore!

The other thing on the agenda was a trip to the airport shuttle service terminal in Corvallis. Sis was leaving early tomorrow morning on a flight to Arizona to hook up with her gal pals from school. I just crashed in my recliner and then set my alarm for 12:15am and then went to pick her up. She needed to be there before her 1:30am ride to PDX and we made it with time to spare. I drove back home and crashed because I needed to be up early to walk Rylee and then go over to sis’s house to walk Quincy.    

Wednesday, May 19^th., 2021……  Yep, made it up in time to get both dogs walked with no issues. Today was moving day for Cathye’s friends Lona and Misty. Lona is the mother and Misty the daughter. They live in a really nice mobile home community, and actually bought Cathye’s old mobile several years ago. It’s a single and Misty found that a double was for sale and quickly jumped on it. That was perfect timing because it gave Cathye a chance to buy back her old unit. She has plans to remodel that single unit and will move there when her house sells later in the year. The remodel on Lona and Misty’s unit was completed today so they could move in. We had help from several younger relatives and we started in. Although it started raining right when we started, the rain didn’t hold us up any and it didn’t take too long.

The u-haul was loaded and unloaded a couple of times and when I left for the day, they only had one more run to make. I drove Cathye back home and visited with Michael and Crystal and Chris for a bit then headed back home to rest after the day. Later, I headed off to Jack in the Box and picked up dinner and stopped and got a prescription and headed home to eat and later watched The Masked Singer before turning in early after a long day!  Spoiler alert! Skip over this blue part if you haven’t seen it yet!  As I said before, I didn’t have a clue about who The Yeti was. I don’t know Omarion of B2K. But I did correctly pick Donnie Wahlberg as Cluedle-Doo. I certainly did better than his wife Jenny McCarthy! As a reminder – my guesses for the final three:  Piglet (Nick Lachey), Chameleon (Wiz Khalifa), Black Swan (JoJo). Let’s see how I do….     

Thursday, May 20^th., 2021……  Rain in the forecast off and on today. I slept well last night. Nothing on the agenda today except the dogs. I took a shower and then walked Rylee before going and doing the same for Q, stopping for coffee on the way. The weather held up. I decided to stop for breakfast and then go on to Albany and to Lowes and get some sprinkler parts, some wood filler for the shelves, and a brushed nickel shower arm so I could finish the install on the shower head I bought (at Chuck and Linda’s estate sale) a month ago! While I was there, I browsed the DeWalt tools and found a 20v blower that was calling my name!  (Yeah, I bought it!).  Once I got back home, I filled the screw holes in the shelves so they could dry, then took the old shower head off and installed the new one. When I tested it, I found it had some old cracked ‘o’ rings and leaked so I made a trip out again, this time to the local Ace Hardware and got those parts. I got back home and got it all back together again. Now I have to test it tomorrow to see if I like it better than the old one!  I sanded and touched up the screw holes with a couple of coats of paint. Then I could put up all of Jeff’s cars.

I think it looks good and will remind me of him every time I’m in that room. During all of this, Cathye came by with Lona to show her my house. Cathye had Jama and Lona had her yorkie (her name is also Rilee - just different spelling). My Rylee likes little dogs but they are not ready to play with that big white scary monster puppy!  We all visited for a while and they had to leave so we said our goodbyes. I will be going over there tomorrow morning to set up my large tarps for her Celebration of Life on Saturday. All of hers and Jim’s family is there now so I will just go get that job done and leave to let them have their family time together. I only had a few minutes to check out where the new sprinkler heads will go before it started to rain so that will have to wait.  I came in for the day and relaxed and watched more of my taped Mecum Auctions. Later, I ate the last of the steak for dinner and settled in and watched tv until bedtime.        

Friday, May 21^st., 2021…… Another round of dog walking and I was ready for breakfast. I came back home and made some sausage and eggs and coffee. Then I headed over to Cathye’s. The weather is supposed to cooperate today and tomorrow for her outside celebration. I think she said she is expecting 50-60 people, not counting family. She’s sure put a lot of time in the planning of this and I hope everything goes well and the weather is nice. There was plenty of help and we got my two tarps and their four popups set up in record time!   

I left them to spent quality family time and headed out. I got back home and settled in for a day of car auctions.  Mecum is in Indianapolis for this event and it’s the biggest one in their lineup, lasting a full six days, with 2500 cars passing through the auction block.  NBCSN is showing 31 hours so I have my tv time taken up for a while! 

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #34 – Working and Hosting and Making New Friends!

 

Friday, May 14^th., 2021……  I was up and out with Rylee early again today. Beautiful weather this week!  Temps in the high 70s and low 80s for now until Monday. More showers coming next week. But I still need to get the sprinklers adjusted and operating. But first up was a trip down to Cathye’s. Her place is about 20 miles south of me. I told her I would take her to her appointment at her cosmetic surgery clinic in Eugene. She said Yaay! And she would buy me breakfast!  Win-win for me! She has a tattoo script on her forearm that she wants removed and goes in every 6 weeks for laser treatment. I love her tattoos (she has 3-4 other small ones). I have always wanted one so I’m jealous! After she got out, I took her over to my new favorite place, Prairie Schooner for breakfast. She has more appointments this afternoon so we hurried back and I left her and came back home. Later, after a short rest, I started in on the sprinkler system check. Surprisingly, everything was in working order. I only have to replace a couple of the drip lines. I also will need to re-strap some of the bed risers which have fallen off the stakes. But it will be easy fixes.  I need to make a Lowes run for parts so maybe next week.  I came back in and watched tv and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.         

Saturday, May 15^th., 2021……  I spent most of the day at Cathye’s, working on staging for her estate sale. Her son Michael and some of Jim’s radio buddies were there and they were working on boxing up radio tubes. These are very sought after and they decided rather than sell to one buyer, they would bunch these into lots and sell them that way. Meanwhile, my job was to work in the ‘ebay room’. This room houses, in its own right, a very large collection of floor model wooden based antique radios. Here’s just one of several hundred in the collection.

He also has thousands of desktop models, both wood and plastic.  The ones in my room will be first offered to the radio club, then will be sold on both ebay and at the estate sale. I needed to pull out anything that was not a radio as well as move out enough of them to another room so that a path was created and the rest of the radios were visible to buyers.

The experts will be moving in next to price all of these units. Penny came by and had a look at the vastness of Jim’s collections. We walked through what is left of the old hit and miss engines.  They have sold almost all of them. They plan to run a couple as a salute to him at the celebration of life next Saturday. This is one of the larger models that they started up and pre-tested.

After my day was over, I came home and crashed for the day. I had races to watch and did what I could before calling it a night.    

Sunday, May 16^th., 2021…… Today was a rest day for me. At least for the morning. I headed off to Walmart and picked up steaks and potatoes and asparagus for the dinner I was making for tonight. Cathye, her son, Michael, and his new bride Crystal are coming over for dinner. I got everything set up and they arrived right on time. They brought Bandit, their 18 mth. old Australian Shepherd and he and Rylee got along really well. Bandit is for sure aware he is a boy dog and she is a girl dog!  Rylee just wants to play, but he is interested in the other end! Poor puppy!  

Jim’s son Chris stopped by as well and we all had a great time.  

Monday, May 17^th., 2021…...  I had another doctor’s appointment this morning. That went well and I was out of there pretty quickly and stopped and got breakfast and headed home. Later, I worked on the shelves and got them installed. Next up is to putty and paint the screw holes and then I can get all of the models out and put up there. I made a trip to Albany to Lowes. I was looking for another Genie garage door opener for Cathye’s car. It makes it easier when she needs to drop off something for the fridge or if she wants to pick up boxes from the garage. I went to three stores but none of them had what I wanted so I found and ordered it from ebay. Should be here this week. Last week I was on ebay and found and ordered two more wireless charger stations for my phone. I still have Lydia’s phone and I like that I can just lay the phone down on this one charger without plugging it in. Since Cathye is here a lot, I wanted more of these. They came in today and I wasted no time setting them up!  Cathye is still working on estate planning and banking and such so she was in town today. She also dropped off Jama for grooming and that gave us time for us to have lunch together.    

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #33 – Meeting Family, Getting My Ears Lowered & Making Plans

 

 

Monday, May 10^th., 2021……  Penny and Jerith were heading out on a roadtrip to Washington for a few days, so she had asked me to walk and feed Q this morning. I got up and showered and walked and fed Rylee and then went over there, stopping for coffee for the walk. It takes 30-45 minutes for the loop and we did that and then I fed her and left. Cherrelyn is back home and will feed her tonight, but I’ll still go back and walk her again tomorrow. On the way home, I stopped and got breakfast and came back home. I was behind on the previous blog so I worked on that for a while and got caught up. Cathye is working with a contractor at her new house in the mobile park here in town. He was coming in today to go over a few things and to get the contract signed. She asked me to be there so I got to meet him, see her new place, and meet two of her four best friends. I liked the contractor and her friends!  Gonna be fun times ahead!  She came back here to spend some time with me before heading back to the tasks at hand back at her current house.  Tomorrow Kirk and I will go over to see her place and he will give her an estimate for landscaping for the front yard. This will definitely help with curb appeal for when she puts the house on the market later on. When we got back, I was pretty much done for the day and settled in and ate a light dinner and watched some taped shows until bedtime. 

Tuesday, May 11^th., 2021……  I had Rylee out for her walk then went over and did the same for Quincy. I stopped and got breakfast. I want to mow the lawn today but just never got around to it. But I did size and cut the shelving for Jeff’s car display. I also got one coat of paint on them before Kirk got here. I drove him over to Cathye’s and introduced them and then left them to their task while I sat with Corey, Cathye’s grandson. Cathye and I planned our day. Corey’s dad Michael, and his new bride, Crystal, will arrive today from Missouri.  So, after she sees them and gets them settled in, she wants to give them some time together and will come visit me for a while today. Yaay!  Kirk had left Justin here to work and when we got back, he joined him and they made quick work of the weeds on the other side of my creek. I went back to her place later in the day and loaded up some of her stuff that she wants to keep and I volunteered to have her store them here. I also got a few things she wants me to have. I now have a very nice portable generator and an extension ladder nicer than mine!  I came home and unloaded and stored everything and Cathye got here later and we went over to the Hangry Food Truck and got some wraps to bring back home for dinner. She had never been and was astonished by the size of her chicken bacon ranch wrap! Definitely will have leftovers to take home!  I am finding I am so comfortable with her! Aside from her stress from the upcoming celebration and the estate sale, we have some great conversations. She says I am definitely helping her stay calm through all of that process. I hope I’m not just a friendly distraction!  LOL!   Later we said our goodbyes and she headed back home.  I feel lonely now… Does that tell you how I am feeling these days!   

Wednesday, May 12^th., 2021…… Today was definitely mowing day. The grass has really taken off and I missed my normal mowing window so it was super tall and thick!  But I went ahead and set my cutter at the normal setting anyway and started in. That was not the smartest decision! It made for a really tough day! I kept clogging up the bagger and the grass chute and had to stop and clear them more than I wanted. But I stayed the course and got it done! I have never had so much grass to dump to date!  I made two trips to the recycle place and still have another loaded and ready for tomorrow!  Cathye was in town running errands and stopped by on her way home for some hugs and gave me a nice break from my otherwise busy day! I will go to the dump tomorrow morning and then finish up the field grass so I stored the zero turn and came in and showered and had my leftover wrap. Oh yeah, she left her wrap here and forgot it again today!  Oh well!  Later, I settled in and watched The Masked Singer. Spoiler Alert! Don’t read any further if you haven’t seen it yet!....

They are now down to the final five. It’s tough because all of them are very good. But someone had to go home. The Russian Doll was unmasked tonight. I had correctly predicted from the beginning that it was Hanson Bros.  For the four remaining, here are my guesses: Piglet I think is Nick Lachey; Chameleon is rapper Wiz Khalifa (known to me only after I googled him); Yeti I think was on the show as a judge but I can’t remember his name; I think Black Swan is JoJo. I remember her as a child actor in the movie, RV. Although not competing, Cluedle-Doo is my wildcard. I first thought it was Joel McHale (and it may still be!) but now I’m thinking they are throwing in a fun curveball. I think he’s Jenny’s hubby, Donnie Wahlberg.  Even if I get these right (probably not!) I am still not doing well on guessing this season. That’s mostly because I don’t follow all genres of music (ps: rap is not music!).  

Thursday, May 13^th., 2021…...  I have a recycle run to do this morning so I was up and out early with Rylee. I had bought two Taco Bell breakfast crunchwraps the other day and only ate one so that was breakfast this morning. I will be mowing the field later today. Cathye has a haircut appointment this morning and I am tagging along in hopes of getting in as a walk-in. I put the recycle run on hold so I wouldn’t smell like a wet lawn!

Ok, it’s later now and the walk-in worked!  We both got our haircuts.  I’m sure her hair will grow in quicker. Mine was just a trim because I need all of the help I can get! But she likes it and that’s all that counts! We made a few stops on the way home to get a few things for her grandson’s birthday bbq tonight at her house. She dropped me off at home and I got back to work. I made my grass dump run and completed my second round on the field grass and got everything cleaned up and put away.  Next up (probably tomorrow) is the sprinkler system. We are starting to get warmer weather and less rain so it’s time. These guys (lupine) are just starting to bloom.

 

Color in a garden is always good I say so I want to keep them watered.  I always have to go through each of the zones and cycle them to check the heads and the risers for the lawn as well as the flowerbed lines to make sure all is working. Of course, I always have to replace a few drip lines or sprayers in the flowerbeds after butthead steps on them! No worries though. But I want to keep everything nice and watered.  I also thought to bring in the finished shelves for the nascars, but didn’t have time to start the install today.  I am wanting to go get that new stepladder I have been looking for and today was a good day to do that.  So, on the way to Cathye’s, I detoured to Fred Meyer in Albany where I had previously found the one I wanted. I headed over there later and we all had a great time!  Each time I visit, I get to meet yet another family member, which is fun. I got back home before dark and settled in and watched the last two episodes of Race to the Center of the Earth. Randy and Maryanne had turned me on to this series and I was hooked. Of the four teams competing, I had my favorite. I was glad when they won!  But after back-to-back two-hour shows, I was done and called it a night.       

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #32 – Finishing Tasks and a Busy Weekend!

 

Thursday, May 6^th., 2021……  Not too much on my agenda today. I was up and out with Rylee early. Penny had an early doctor’s appointment so I went over and took Quincy out for her walk. After that, I stopped and got breakfast and came home. I spent more quality time with Cathy today, both on the phone and later in person. Her family (coming in from Missouri and from Arizona) is due in next week. They will be all working together to get her place sorted out, some stuff packed up to move out, and the rest prepped to stage for the June estate sale. They also have to get the place ready for Jim’s Celebration of Life coming up the end of this month. Daunting tasks for sure, but she is getting through it very well and I’m proud of her! Meanwhile, I have some smaller tasks of my own. I got a call that the urn for Jeff’s ashes was in so I made arrangements for tomorrow to drop them off.  I also got my turtle wall art from Wayfair and got it hung up in the bathroom. The colors are perfect!

Friday, May 7^th., 2021……  The weather is off and on today. No rain, just overcast but the sun would come out later and make it a nice day. The plans today were to bring Cathy’s dog over to get to know Rylee and this house. Jama is a Shorkie (Yorkie and Shih Tzu).  Rylee loves small dogs so that wasn’t going to be a problem. Cathy says that Jama (pronounced Jay-Muh) will snarl at me if we get too close. But before all of that, I had to get butthead in for her grooming. I got her loaded up and stopped to drop off the ashes at the mortuary and then took Rylee around the corner to get her in. I stopped and got some stuff at the liquor store and at Walmart before heading back to the funeral home. I got the urn put on the shelf

and took some pics to send to Krista and Randy. I got the call a bit later and went to pick up my big white puppy!  Cathy had business in town and finished that and then stopped off and got dinner on the way here. We ate and the dogs got acquainted. No issues there.  I mentioned about Jama’s snarl if we got too close.  Wrong!  Jama jumps up in my lap and wants lovin’ and comes up and gives me kisses. I think she approves!  Here's Jama's Christmas pic..

We all had a nice night!  Later, we said our goodbyes and planned our day tomorrow. More on that later….

Saturday, May 8^th., 2021…… So, Rylee is all now one big white fluffball!  At least for a few days or so before she ventures out into the yard and the dirt and the water!  She smells better (so I’m told!) but doesn’t look any thinner even after her trim. So, I need to slow down the snack train and get her out to run more. Hopefully, she will drop some pounds.

I mentioned the liquor store yesterday. Today I went to Costco hoping to find my favorite meal these days - stuffed salmon. They had fresh salmon fillets but not the crab-stuffed ones that I like. I guess it’s the wrong time of the year. Anyway, I would have to find a substitute for the dinner I was making for Cathy tonight. I was going for a nice quiet evening with dinner, and some wine. I made a last-ditch stop at Safeway and was surprised they had it there. Back on track!  Ok, for the record and going forth, it’s Cathye, so the spelling will change from here forward.  Here are a few pics of her and us!

I made rice and a salad and we had a nice meal. Penny and her friend, Jerith, who is up here from Calif. on a road trip, came over later and we visited and had a nice time. After that, we settled in and listened to music and had some Fireball and just sat and talked. I know you already know how much time I can take up in conversation but can I say, she holds her own too and we both spent hours on the loveseat just talking away, back and forth, about so many things, that the time just got away from us. We couldn’t believe it was 2:37am when we noticed the time!  She had brought a kennel for Jama and Rylee settled in at our feet and was sound asleep too! Must have been my soothing voice!  Yeah, right! Anyway, our plans for tomorrow were continuing together anyway with a day trip in the car planned along with the dogs - so we just settled in and slept there for a few hours, saving the trip back and forth tomorrow.

Sunday, May 9^th., 2021…...  I think we slept in a bit and each of us showered and we got ready. She made do with some clothing here that would fit and then we headed off to get coffee and breakfast. Once we got back, we packed a picnic lunch and drinks and loaded up the girls and headed out. I had mentioned in our talks that one day I would like to go up to see Detroit Lakes. Today was that day. Detroit Lakes is a small community and also a pretty large lake that is about 50 miles away, up in the Cascades. They were part of the area heaviest hit by the wildfires last fall and we already knew most of the town was destroyed. But what we saw when we got there was so heartbreaking!  Houses by the dozens, businesses, churches, etc. were all reduced to rubble.  This one shows a house and to the left, that used to be a pretty good-sized boat! 

 

Motorcycles were lost too.

 

For those more fortunate, there were some residences that came out unscathed. But cleanup continues and a lot of folks have already started rebuilding.  Still mind-numbing and surreal. We continued on and headed home via a circuitous route that took us back south, along the McKenzie River into Springfield and Eugene. We were on hwy 126, so I detoured off that road and we drove by the Leaburg home that was one of the three we were considering. The fires hit here too, but stopped about 6-7 miles up in the foothills above Leaburg. The new owners have added an rv garage in the back, similar to what we would have done if we had settled on that house. The house and grounds have been freshened up as well and looked really nice. But, even so, we know we made the right choice. We continued on and stopped along the road and had our lunch.

Later, we continued on and made our way home. Cathye loaded up her dog and they headed back home. I was super tired and tried to watch the rest of my races but didn’t make it through before calling it a night. Rylee was exhausted too! A fun weekend!          

 

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #31 –  A Full Schedule of Appointments & Seeing My Very Special Friend Again!   

 

Sunday, May 2^nd., 2021……  Nice day today! I had a commitment to head down to Eugene this morning. Dominique had asked for some help with her house project and also needed another dozen boxes. So, after walking Rylee and talking with Cathy, I headed down there. I met her at Prairie Schooner and we had breakfast. Turns out she only needed my expertise at the hardware store today. She is buying some luan or masonite for a project and I followed her over to Jerry’s hardware. She picked the masonite and we went to go have it cut. She also got some paint, rollers and brushes and once she had everything loaded, I left her and went home. Later, I talked with Cathy again and she shared her day with me. Always fun! She’s leaving tomorrow to go to Springfield to get a room by the airport hoping to beat the inclement weather expected in the area.  I started back in with my races, trying to get caught up. I gave up around 10:15pm and headed off to bed.          

Monday, May 3^rd., 2021……  Today was my acupuncture appointment in Corvallis. A couple of good morning texts back and forth with Cathy and I was on my way.  Everything went well and afterwards I drove over to Albany to stop off at Lowes. I was looking for shelving material for Jeff’s Nascar display cars that I just recently received.  I found what I wanted and then drove on home. I had decided to mow the field grass today and got the zero turn out and took the connection off to the bagger because that’s too much to bag! It came off easily and I started in. It didn’t take too long and I hosed off the mower (and Rylee - who likes to roll in the fresh grass!) and reattached the bagger hose and left it to dry and came in and rested for a bit. Cathy said the weather didn’t materialize so I was happy to hear that. She’ll call me later when she gets settled in her room. I decided to make cheese quesadillas for dinner and went back to my races.

Ok, it’s later… We had a nice visit. She’s ready to come home! And I’m so looking forward to that so I can see her again!       

Tuesday, May 4^th., 2021…… No rain in the forecast today. I was up early and out with butthead. I have my second scheduled appointment of the week today. This one is a routine appointment with my new doctor. Ok, not a doctor – she’s a family nurse practitioner (FNP) so I’ll see how that goes. If I don’t like her, I can always request another doctor.  More on that later…

I’ve talked to Cathy through most of her legs from Missouri to Portland. She says she’s had an interesting day. Gates in completely different terminals, extra-long layovers, etc. I’m sure she can’t wait for the day to end!  Meanwhile, I made it to my appointment and checked in with my doctor/FNP. Her name is Sally and I found that I liked her! No real issues other than some elevated numbers in my triglycerides. I will go back in four months for another check. I got my asthma meds changed (back to the previous inhaler) in hopes of maybe using the one I’m on might be a factor in my loss of smell. Time will tell. I also got my pneumonia shot. This one turned out to be tough!  No problem with the shot but later my arm got really swollen and sore – so much that I would have trouble sleeping.  I checked in and found Cathy made it home and, of course, was exhausted from her day. We already had made plans to meet up tomorrow after both of our scheduled appointments.  We said our goodnights and I went off to bed. I am sure glad she’s home!      

Wednesday, May 5^th., 2021…...  This morning I drove over to Albany to my estate planner to pick up an updated document for the house deed. Then I went down the street to the recorder’s office in the courthouse to file it. After that, I came back home and cleaned up the house a bit. Of course, that starts with picking up the tons of toys left on the floor. You’d think I had a house full of kids running around!   Rylee watches and goes, “That’s ok, Grampy, I can always dig them out again!” Later, I drove up to Pizza Schmizza and met Cathy and we had a very nice lunch. Did I mention it was nice to see her again! After that, she left her car there and I drove her to my place for a tour. Butthead is always glad to see people, and it was no different today!  Rylee and I took her back to her car and then we headed back home. I hung around the house for a bit, then took off to go see her place. I had never been there so I was excited. Her late husband was a collector of many things and, with the help of an estate assistant she is getting them ready for a sale. They’ve already had a few sales days but that didn’t begin to put a dent in what he has!  Hit and Miss engines, old antique radios of all shapes and sizes, plus tubes and tooling to repair all of the above!  It was amazing!   

Lots of work left to do before things thin down. Plans are to sell the property and move into a mobile home park here in town. Good for me because she will only be just down the street! We said our goodbyes and I came home and fed monster puppy and let her out. I settled in for the night and watched the Masked Singer. I was surprised that Robopine got unmasked. Did I guess who it was? Nope.  I'm not up on Tyrese Gibson so I wouldn't have gotten it.   I thought it was Luthor Vandross. Him I know.