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Lebanon, Oregon, United States
We are Terry & Cathye Kinkelaar. If you've followed my blog in the past, you know that Lydia, my beautiful wife of 52 years, and I made the lifestyle choice to move to Oregon in 2017. You've seen my posts about losing her in May 2020 to cancer. Although I was left alone, I am pleased to say that I have found happiness again. In April 2021, I met Cathye, who also lost her longtime husband in 2020. Well, we fell in love and were married in April 2022. So, if folks are still interested, I will continue to post here as we move forward with our lives and adventures!

Monday, May 10, 2021

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

 


Thursday, May 6th., 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 7th., 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 8th., 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 9th., 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!          

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