Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #43 – Getting the Field Hayed and Dealing With the Heat!

 

Saturday, June 26^th., 2021…... We woke up early this morning because we had a busy day. The temps here are skyrocketing!  They say we will be at 113º here tomorrow!  It’s hot already. The plan today was to eat, walk the dogs, get them fed, have breakfast, then head up to Brooks (about 50 miles and just above Salem) to the Powerland Heritage Park, which is an event center that houses museums and spaces that reflect the preservation, restoration, and operation of antique equipment, vehicles, machinery, and farm implements. They have antique swap meets there it was this weekend and her engine guys have taken the last two of the remaining engines up there on a trailer, along with other misc. parts which they hoped to sell. We went up to check on things and to collect any monies due her. Even though it was super hot at 10:00am and some of the vendors were already packing up for the day, turns out she did ok. They sold one of the engines and the other will be taken by one of the guys and brought back for the ‘steam up’ weekend coming next month. Jim was very highly respected in the field and his engines will be run and will be in honor of him. That makes Cathye and me very happy.  After collecting her money and visiting for a bit (plus I got a special vip guided tour of the engine building), we headed out and stopped for lunch before getting back home to the comfort of the ac in the house!  Once we felt next to normal again, we went back out.  She headed down to her house to work on boxing up and prepping for the pics on Tuesday, while I went off to Albany to see if I could find a handle/lock for the shed at the trailer. The lock had been broken and I wanted to replace the whole thing. Couldn’t find anything that would work so we went by the local locksmith to see what could be done. They wouldn’t guarantee the $20.00 re-key fee unless they had the lock. So, we will have to do that another time. I had planned to mow this evening like the other night but it was just too danged hot!   

Sunday, June 27^th., 2021…… We woke up early and got the dogs walked and fed. Cathye went out and picked blueberries. Not all are ripe yet but those that were, got put into her bucket. 

Meanwhile, I got out the zero turn and mowed and bagged the rest of the yard, then took the catcher off and did the field before it got hot (She got me in the pic above!).  I did take a break along the way because Cathye made me a delicious breakfast!

After I got everything cleaned up and put away, I turned the water on for the blueberries and also on the area next to the garage (that doesn’t have sprinklers!).  I came in and rested and watched races and auctions for the rest of the day. That was, until Chuck showed up to bale the hay. Apparently, it was ready!  But we didn’t hear him come the first time and turn it over and position it in rows for the baler, because when we saw him, he was making bales. 215 to be exact. I took Rylee’s new pool out and blew it up and filled it so she could cool off. Later, the heat dissipated a little and we sat outside for a while. Cathye made strawberry shakes. Yummy!

We came back in and watched more of the Tour de France before calling it a night.    

Monday, June 28^th., 2021…… Another scorcher today!  Now the revised report says today will be hot for the most part but we could look to the coastal winds coming in and it is expected to cool off later this evening. We got up early and walked the dogs and got the plants watered and she took off to go work at her house and I went to my 8:00am acupuncture appointment. Then I took Jama to the groomers for her spa day and came back and loaded up the garden tractor and took it out to get the blade adjustment mechanism checked out and fixed. Then I came back and dropped off the flatbed. I headed back out to get some breakfast. Later, when Cathye was back, oh yeah, she went and picked up the princess,

we went by the trailer and I took the lock off the shed door and we took it over to the locksmith. We also stopped by Lowes where she found an umbrella for her patio at the trailer. I also bought a hasp which I went ahead and put on the shed when we got back. Better be safe than sorry! Later, we had dinner and later still, Chuck came back with his tractor and moved and stacked part of the bales for loading. 

He worked until dark and will be back tomorrow to do the rest. The night was very comfortable. Those coastal winds finally showed up and were cooling things off! Yaaay!

Tuesday, June 29^th., 2021…… Today was very nice!  Back into the 80s but way better than the last week! Today was picture day at the Crawfordsville house. Her realtor was coming at 9:00am so we got up early and she took off to finish cleaning up what she could. There are still tons of ‘for sale’ items all over the house but not much can be done to hide that. Oh well! Meanwhile, I walked Rylee and then went and got breakfast. Then I went to work on the blog to try to catch up on the past several days. I also had an 11:00am ‘mediumship’ meeting via zoom. This was my Father’s Day gift from the kids. I needed to have the zoom opened and we started right on time. It lasted for 45 minutes. Sharon ‘connected‘ with 3-4 friends/family and she gave me some insights as to their feelings. I’m choosing to not share any more of that here. Cathye got back and rested while I worked on the blog. Later, we took off and went to pick up the lock for the shed. Turns out they couldn’t get the key to work correctly so I am back to square one. I think the hasp will have to be the ticket for now. We drove on over to her place and looked for her prescription bottle that was misplaced or inadvertently packed in one of the move boxes. No luck and we didn’t find it later at home or in any of the cars so she will be calling in to her pharmacy tomorrow to get it replaced. We came back home and she fixed mac and cheese, which was yummy! And we settled in and relaxed and watched tv until bedtime.     

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #42 – Checking on Things & Cooling Off

 

Note: I found several errors in my last blog. Fixed those if you want to re-read.

Tuesday, June 22^nd., 2021…... Today would have been our 53^rd. anniversary! I was alone for part of the day to reflect on all of that but I was also very happy to have someone to be with for the rest of the day! Cathye headed back home with her friend Terri who was going to help her clean/box up the rest of the kitchen stuff. I was waiting for Kirk’s guys to arrive to get them started on weeding around the back porch at my place. I left them and went to go meet up with Kirk at Cathye’s. The guys were going to come over and work on the front landscaping and mulch everything. Problem was they didn’t make it and neither did Kirk. At least for the morning hours. I left and came back home with a load of radios for my trash. These are the ones that were priced at $5.00 and were either not working or hadn’t been tested. They were set outside and got rained on before the tarp was put over them. Plus, the table collapsed and they were all on the ground. No harm to toss them!  When I got back to the house, Kirk was there and was unloading his mowers and such so he could go get a load of mulch to take over. So, I headed back over and walked him through what was needed in the front yard. They got everything done but I added an extra job of creating a flower bed out by her rail fenceline and he needed to come back with more mulch and it also needed to be rototilled around the area to clean it up. We and came home to rest and shower and have dinner and relax for the night. We watched yesterday's taped America's Got Talent. I'll be glad when they get through all of the crazy stupid acts and get down to the real talent elimination!    

Wednesday, June 23^rd., 2021…… I have been having trouble with my laptop for sometime now. When I go on, it takes a long time to boot up and freezes up a lot. I brought Lydia's in and set them up side by side. Hers is lightening fast so I know it's not an internet or modem problem so I know it will need to be looked at soon!  I have everything on a flashdrive so I can always move it to the other laptop. After we got up and showered and dressed, Cathye and I took the dogs out for their morning walk. Jama is right beside Rylee on their leashes heading up and back on the road!  She made us breakfast and went off to her volunteer work at the Sweet Home food bank. I went out and worked on that pesky west side sprinkler system. Seems like every time I turn around, there is another line that I discover that is plugged or broken. There is also an oscillating yard sprinkler that wasn’t moving and I found I couldn’t fix it so I needed to get another one to replace that. Later, I headed over to her place where she and was boxing up Jim’s clothes. She found she needed help with that and Robin came by to assist. Robin brought her van and I helped her load up one of Jim’s floor model radios that she had asked for and was being excluded from the sale but we needed it out of there just in case. I was also there today to check Kirk’s job and to make sure everything was good with Cathye out there. He did a nice job and the place has way better curb appeal than ever!   

When we got back home for the day, I went to work and made us tacos for dinner. She said she liked my tacos! Good, because I always make plenty for leftovers! We have really gotten into the new cooking show called Crime Scene Kitchen. I had to go back and catch the second and third shows on demand and we watched them and are now caught up. Can’t wait for the next one!  

Thursday, June 24^th., 2021…… Today was a day off from work. The temps today would be in the 90s so we decided to take off. But we did go around to her trailer to check on the progress. They are pretty close to finishing up the little stuff. They are waiting for the appliances to arrive. The carpet and the countertops are also behind their expected delivery date. The plumber ran into a bad water line (which he definitely broke but is not claiming responsibility) which flooded up through the floor ducts. Luckily, they caught it in time so no water damage anywhere. She was told that only one element of the (electric) water heater was operational and since it’s over 10 years old, she has asked Taz to go ahead and replace it. Thankfully, they are readily available. After checking everything, we took off and headed over to Albany to hit Lowes and Home Depot. We were looking for pots for my place and I still needed to stock up on those sprinkler risers and waterers that I needed. Cathye needed ten more drawer handles. We found everything we wanted and brought all of that back home. After a few minutes to rest up, we loaded up the dogs and took chairs and drinks and cherries and chips and drove to Brownsville to hit the park and the river. Rylee sure likes swimming! 

This section we were in was deep enough that I couldn’t touch out in the middle so she got in some good laps.  Both she and Jama had a good time and cooled off. Cathye and I had a nice swim too and after we dried up the pooches, we both went back to the car and shed our swimming trunks and drove home in just our skivvies!   At least we had on clean underwear like our momma’s always told us!  Thank God we didn’t get into an accident!  We got back home and took everything out to the porch to dry out before it went to the laundry. We ate leftover tacos and watched a few more tv programs before calling it a night.       

Friday, June 25^th., 2021…… This morning we woke up with plans. After our morning walk with the dogs, we are heading out. First up is Kevin’s for breakfast, then Walmart to get another pool for butthead, then we are picking up Terri to take her to Eugene to the airport. After a nice easy drive, we dropped her off, then headed over to Best Buy to get something for my laptops. I have given Cathye the craft room and she will set up her laptop there for the time being. I moved Lydia’s laptop out of there and put it in my office. I am trying to figure out how to make my full-size auxiliary keyboard work both laptops. I think a 4-port hub will work and we found that there. Next up was Tractor Supply which was on the way home. I was looking for tires for the sprayer trailer. I found them and we headed back, stopping by her place to check to see if Eric (a close friend of her grandson and ‘adopted’ by C) was feeding her cat and watering her flowers like he said he would do while staying there (he is currently in a tift with his girlfriend and this was a good place for him to be).  I guess he hadn’t fulfilled his promise because the cat met us at her food bag and dug right in. None of the flowers had seen any water and that was verified by finding the water hose lying in the exact place in the blueberries where she left it! She has since told him he didn’t need to stay there anymore so hopefully he will patch up his relationship real soon!  That’s unfortunate since all of Cathye’s stuff is packed and ready for the move. But all is well and I am glad she is with me and we will work out times to get back there when to do maintenance when she’s not working on the rest of the move and the estate sale. We got back to the house and rested for a bit and I turned the sprinklers on the blueberries while we went to get our hair cut. Once we got back, Cathye made us dinner and I got the mowers gassed up for later in the evening. As I said, it’s in the 90s here so we waited until after 7:00pm to go out and start the mowing. It doesn’t get dark up here until around 10:00pm but we had a few hiccups with the tractor

so we only got the lawn mowed. The field will have to wait until we get this reoccurring problem resolved.  It cooled off nicely and was very comfortable. As a matter of fact, the neighbors went out and all of them were mowing in the evening as well. We came back in and showered and rested and watched tv until bedtime.    

 

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #41 – A Busy Few Days…

 

Thursday, June 17^th., 2021…... Everybody was up and going early. We had coffee and then headed off to Kevin’s for breakfast. Once we were back from that, they loaded up their dog (Hope) and we said our goodbyes and they headed out. They were trying to get back to Grants Pass so they could go pick up their granddaughter from school.  After they left, we went back over to the house to do some work. I wanted to load up some of the boxes that Cathye has packed for the trailer. They will have to go into her shed because the place isn’t ready yet. We also talked about what work is needed on the outside. She will be having Eric come over tomorrow to start weed whacking. He will also be trimming the trees out front. I’m trying to help with the curb appeal for drive-byes. Plus, it will help prior to Kirk and his team working on the flower beds and such next week.  Meanwhile, a lot of items are getting boxed up throughout the house. Most of the dishes and cookware are packed up in those boxes I am taking so she came back to the house to stay until we can get her moved in the trailer. They are waiting for appliances and carpeting and still have moulding and touchup work to complete. Taz’s wife has been helping him, all the way through her pregnancy!  She is ready any day now!   

Friday, June 18^th., 2021…… Today was Sis’s surgery. Her neighbor is taking her in (and picking her up).  It’s outpatient but they have to check in early, so I went over and walked Quincy. Cherrelyn is home working and will feed her. Cathye left to go back and get Eric started on his work and she continued on her boxing task. I need to hang around the house today to work on the sprinklers on the west side of the driveway. I already have the parts so it was a quick job. Good thing I stayed around here because Chuck dropped in and said he would be back in a few minutes with his tractor to spread the load of gravel. I stayed out there with him and helped shovel and push rock around and we got the 10 yards distributed as best as we could. Looks like I’ll need another 3 yards which he can go get in his truck (it has a dump bed). He left to go on to another job and I rested for a few hours and then went to Walmart to get a few things and to pick up a new pool for Rylee. This time, I am trying an inflatable. We’ll see if she keeps it aired up or pops it!  Turns out I was the one who popped it!  Actually, I caught it on a door corner and put a hole in it which I had to patch. I got it inflated, though, and added water. It took a few minutes for her to jump in but once she did, she was a happy girl!   Later, after we both got cleaned up and back together, we went over to see Penny, stopping on the way to get her prescription from the pharmacy. Cathye had re-potted a lavender plant and we gave that to her for planting down the road. She is in some pain but is doing well. She said everything went well but she will need to recover so I will be going back to walk Q for a few more days. We left her to rest and stopped at Hangry’s and got dinner to bring home. We watched tv until bedtime. We were both worn out after a long day!  

Saturday, June 19^th., 2021……  I was up and out early to walk butthead and then went off to walk Q. Meanwhile, Cathye showered and dressed and made breakfast. Boy, I am enjoying this!  I cleaned up the dishes and she headed back home. Eric got a lot of stuff done yesterday and Corey will be joining him today to do the rest. She went back to coordinate that. I went out and checked and found my patch on the pool didn’t hold and the bottom ring (of three) was out of air. Oops!  I’ll leave it that way for a few days to see if she is good with the pool and doesn’t damage it further. If she doesn’t hurt it, I will go get another one to replace it. We are going to the neighbor’s house later today for a graduation party. Paul and Corie’s youngest daughter, Hannah, is the last to graduate. They told us last week they are going to sell the house and move to Texas. Apparently, it is a red/blue thing. More on that later…

Cathye got here around 2:00pm and we headed over to the open house. We had a nice time but didn’t stay long. Corie says they are super conservatives and just can’t tolerate the state politics here nowadays. They think Texas will be the ticket.  Hmmm!  Not sure when they will list but they have been working on everything and it looks great and is ready to sell and will surely get top dollar! We came back home and I changed and went out to fix yet another sprinkler line that I had missed before and noticed this morning when I walked Rylee. Again, I have the parts and hopefully this will be the end of the fixes for the season. We decided to have a light snack since we ate at the party. We watched tv until bedtime.  

Sunday, June 20^th., 2021…… HAPPY BIRTHDAY TREASA!  HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! Sis needed another day to rest so I went over and walked Quincy again. Today’s walk was short because Q is huffing and puffing more and more these days so the walks are shorter. Penny gave me a couple of huge bones for Rylee because Quincy wasn’t interested. I took them home for later. We decided to take today off. Cathye made us breakfast (I’m going to get spoiled!) and then headed off to church and I planned to go get Rylee a new pool and then work on the sprinklers. I watched my races and didn’t do the sprinklers but went and checked out the pool.  The bottom ring was flat but the rest of the pool held. Rylee was a little hesitant to jump over and in but she loves the water so much, she came around!

           

Jama wasn’t interest in the slightest!  The weather here has been in the high 80s-low 90s so we will be in there soon! I dried Rylee off and we settled in on the porch and had a fireball and then went in to watch tv. I gave Rylee one of the bones and she went off to chew on it. Little shy Jama decided to try to sneak a bite and Rylee growled at her. That was a first!  So, I got out the other bone and they each enjoyed their new treats! 

Eventually, I took them away for another day!  The girls were good to go and you can see they are relaxed with each other.

Monday, June 21^st., 2021…… We got up early and had the dogs walked before it got hot. Nothing on the agenda for today, so we decided to go check on the trailer. Cathye and her friend had seen it yesterday and we wanted to touch base with Taz about a few issues they found. We got most of it resolved and then went on to breakfast at Kevin’s and then headed over to Home Depot and Lowes in Albany. She was looking for door pulls for her kitchen and I wanted to try to find some nice large pots for flowers for the back porch area. We both got what we were looking for and headed out. Then we went to Peoria Farms, a local nursery/fruit stand. I had seen some giant hanging flowerpots there that I liked and decided that nothing else was going to work. They were $64.95 each but I thought, “What the heck, just do it!”  We picked out two nice ones and headed back home and got them hung and watered in. I think they really set off the front porch! Plus, when the lady rang them up, she charged me for the smaller ones, which were $36.95 each. So I got a real bargain! 

I even went into my calendar and added reminders to water them! Cathye loves her plants and I know will be adding stuff to the pots and the flowerbeds as time goes on. Later, because it was too hot (91º) we were inside with the air on watching tv (well, I was watching my race and Cathye was on her phone playing a game) and Chuck appeared on the back porch. He was just telling us he was dropping off his grass cutter attachment for later in the week when he plans to hay the ‘west 40’.   An hour or so later we went out to put the net around the blueberries. The roof was fine but I needed to re-net the sides and with Cathye’s help, we made quick work of that. The net is really fine and hard to see in the pic but it's there!

 

The blueberries are plentiful and we want to keep the birds and the deer out of them, so this was badly needed now!  I re-installed my rainbird sprinkler and got that going. Once finished, we were done for the day!    

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #40 – Happy Birthday and Welcoming Old Friends - A Busy Week!

 

Ok, another busy week and I got behind again! Sorry! Here’s another recap – this one is 7 days worth!

Thursday, June 10^th., 2021…... We decided to go to Kevin’s for breakfast this morning. After that, Cathye left to work on packing. Her trailer is coming along and she wants to be ready to move in asap. The task is to 1) pack for the trailer, 2) pack for storage in my rv garage or her shed at the mobile, or, 3) leave for the estate sale.  She has also brought over clothes for when she is here. I needed to work on getting caught up writing and posting my last blog, which I was behind on.  I also wanted to finish out the shelves and get them installed. I think they look nice. I just need to get some more cars to fill them up! 

After I had all of that done, I took Rylee and we went over to Cathye’s place. I wanted to lend a hand and help sort and pack. We also spent some time planning trips. We talked about going together down to California for Lydia’s celebration, which looks like may happen in late September. She also wants us to go to New England the first part of September to meet her daughter and more of the family. She will coordinate that and I will work on details for Calif. She asked me to work in the shop, sorting out things for her shed at the trailer as well as stuff for my shop. I staged things in four piles 1) shed, 2) my storage, 3) my shop, 4) estate sale. I decided to just leave the items for the estate sale where they were so that the engine guys can have their pick when they come on Saturday to get the remaining hit and miss engines. After that, Shawn and his sales team will come through and price it all out. Boy, there is still a lot to do there!  Cathye loaded up her truck with a few items and I put some in my car.  I had Rylee with me in the Acadia so I could only fit a few boxes in there.  We met back at my place to unload. After that, she headed off to Albany to meet a friend for dinner and I ate Chinese leftovers and rested and watched tv until bedtime.     

Friday, June 11^th., 2021…… The plan today was to go get the rest of the things to bring back here. I was up with Rylee and out on our walk before the rains came. The forecast today is for showers all day (and into the weekend) so I thought I would just take the car. With the seats down (and without monster puppy!) I can fit a lot of things in there.  But it cleared up so I took the truck. I headed over and we made quick work of that task. We relaxed for a bit and planned out more details for both trips.  

Saturday, June 12^th., 2021……  I was up early with butthead. We did our walk and I headed over for the day. Her engine guys were coming today with a trailer to haul both the big (expensive) hit and miss motors away. They also loaded up other machine parts as well as anything else that would be a good candidate to sell at the vintage tractor / antique parts / tool sale in Brooks on June 26^th.  In addition to the big-ticket engines, the guys found a lot of items and quickly had their trailer loaded. 

Cathye went and got us all lunch from A&W and they set out after they ate. Before that all happened, Josh and Allison, friends of her kids, came over and looked at a couple of machining tools that he or his buddy might be interested in. While he was there, he volunteered us to go down to the river and replace the temporary foot valve that was on the end of the hose that sucks water out for the river for irrigation on the orchard and lawn. Of course, Rylee made herself at home in the water!  

After we got that project finished, they left and the guys and us ate and they tied down their trailer and headed off.  We finally had some time to ourselves!   

Sunday, June 13^th., 2021…… HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHERRELYN!  Although it isn’t til Tuesday, today was the day we decided to celebrate Cherrelyn’s birthday. Sis booked us a table at The Cascade Grill in Albany. The only one who had been there before was Cathye, but she said it was good. Earlier, I started the day with a walk with Rylee. Then it was a couple of races before Cathye got back from running errands. Her trailer is getting close to being done! She needed to check out the progress. We had seen before that all of the cabinets on the sink wall were backwards!  Meaning that the doors opened in the wrong direction from the sink. We had made a note and told Taz about it and he would be fixing it. I also noticed that the pantry cabinet needed to be raised about 4” or so to match the base cabinets and flow better and that we discussed earlier in the week so we needed to see if anything was done yet. Nope.  Once that was done, we came back home and rested and then headed off to pick up the girls for the ride over to the restaurant. Hope it’s good! 

Turned out it was!  The wine and jack & coke were flowing so the girls had a very good time. And the meal was good too. I had one beer at the beginning as I was driving later but it was still a fun evening! 

We took the girls back home and came home to rest from the day.

Monday, June 14^th., 2021…… Since my acupuncture appointment was moved to tomorrow morning, I had nothing planned today. Cathye was continuing her ongoing task of sorting and boxing up the contents of her house. I went over and helped. We started in on where she was working – in the hobby room. We had moved a lot of miscellaneous boxes in here and went through a lot of those. I only stayed a few hours because I needed to get back to let butthead out. She continued after I left and said we made a dent in that room!  Still, a lot to do!

Tuesday, June 15^th., 2021…… I had a bunch of things on my list for today!  Cathye went with me for my acupuncture appointment and met Bonnie.  After that, we went to breakfast and then stopped at the trailer to check on progress. Also, I needed to check in with Kirk, first about his dad, and then to ask about when he might be getting over to her place to start the front yard project. Cathye’s realtor is coming tomorrow and they will sign the agreement to list so she will want to give us a date for pictures for listing. Of course, most of the estate sale’s items will be staying because they are staged/set up throughout the house, complete with prices on them. That’s the rub for the realtor pics! But still, she/we need to get as much out as possible so the place looks more attractive to online potential clients. If we can also get the flowerbeds cleaned up and mulched, that will help the curb appeal. I also have made a few calls to get the best supplier for gravel. I found a guy and ordered 10 cubic yards for the 2^nd carport area behind the rv garage. That’s coming Thursday. I also have been coordinating with my high school buddy, Ray Newham, who is in Oregon with his lady, Darlene, visiting her family down in Grants Pass area. They will be coming up here to visit/stay and we worked on days and times. It will be Thursday - for the day, staying the night, and heading back down early Friday.  That will be fun because I haven’t seen them in a long time!  

Wednesday, June 16^th., 2021…… Rylee had a vet appointment this morning which worked out because Ray and Darlene wouldn’t be getting here until after noon. Cathye was also meeting with Jamie, her realtor this morning and worked around the house before she got there. Rylee’s appointment was pretty easy. I parked in their lot and called and they came out and got her (still covid protocol here) and checked her out and gave her the required shots and brought her back out in record time!  No issues – just reminding me to be easy with the treats! They said I need to get her some dental bones to help clean up a few tough areas in her back teeth.  I got her back home and waited for Ray and Darlene to arrive. They made it with no issues. I gave them the tour and then we rested for a few minutes and then we headed out. I drove them through town and then we went to Cathye’s via Brownsville. They said that the movie Stand By Me was one of their favorites so as we drove through town I took time to show them where a lot of the scenes were filmed.  When we arrived at Cathye’s, her realtor and her were just finishing up and were doing a walk around and were also putting out a ‘Coming Soon” realtor sign up in her front yard. So, I took them on a tour of the house and outbuildings. They were amazed at the items they saw!  They didn’t see it before any of the sales but it is still overwhelming even now.  Once we were done with the tour, I drove us over to Sweet Home and we went to The Point for dinner. After that, we drove around Foster Lake and then dropped Cathye off and headed back to the house. She joined us and we sat around and relaxed and watched the day go by. Darlene asked if we were up for cards so we went in and played a game called ‘2500’. It was easy to learn and fun. Ray remembered me teaching him Casino back years ago so I dealt the cards for that and we relearned it together. After a while, we had it again and the girls picked it up too. After a quick teach of Sevens’ we saw it was 10:30 so we called it and headed off to bed.      

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #39 – Work and Play & Remembering a Milestone Birthday!

 

I know - it’s been a few days since I have posted. So, I am making this a six-day blog just to get caught up!

Friday, June 4^th., 2021…... Today was another mowing day. The weather started out cloudy but burned off later in the day. No dew on the grass so I got an early start. Cathye came over. We are having her friends here for dinner tonight and she is making a chicken enchilada casserole. She brought everything and then stored it away and came out to help me on the lawn. It was easy because the grass wasn’t as long as before. Plus, I can just dump the clippings on Chuck’s grass/dirt pile in the back!  After we got everything done and cleaned up, we rested a while and then started on the house. I vacuumed while Cathye got some of Lydia’s clothes out for the girls. They showed up around 5:30 and we had a nice meal. I had already told them they needed to take a look see at Lydia’s clothes to see if they wanted anything. So, they went ‘shopping’. I am so glad to see her things going to folks I know and that will appreciate it. They made a big dent. But there still plenty of stuff left for the girls in Calif. when they can get up here.    

Saturday, June 5^th., 2021…… HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARYANNE! It’s the big five ohh!  I called her from Cathye’s because I had to be there early for the sale. They are having a big party at their house tonight. Guess I’ll have to check back in tomorrow to see if she survives her big day! Meanwhile, back at the sale, I was in charge of overseeing one of the rooms. I chose the garage because I could step outside and get some fresh air and cool breezes. I asked sis to come by and let Rylee out but she was with Butch out traveling for the day. I would have to leave around 2:00pm when the sale was over to go home and let her out. No worries.  The day went well. There were a lot of folks and they were interested in buying so that was good!  Cathye got the word out first hat she was knocking 20% off the radios and then changed it to 30% so that drove up interest! They will most likely be back again for the estate sale and that is even better! The big money today was in tubes.

Jim collected both radio and tv tubes and the 80+ boxes and cases were put into 7 lots. The idea was that the radio guys could look them over and then place a bid on a lot number. Turns out there was one guy with deep pockets who ended up getting all of the lots. I think he paid $2800.00 or something for them. He did give his competition some of those tubes they wanted for their needs so it wasn’t too bad for them. I had the tube testers in my room and there was a lot of interest but they are hard to test each socket so they didn’t go too well. A few of the thousands of radios went but these guys already have their own collections and were concentrating on chassis, capacitors, transformers, etc. to use to rebuild their stuff. The regular estate sale will be sometime in July and I assume that a lot of them will go then. I came back home and rested after the long day. Cathye came by later and we went out to Sizzler for dinner.    

Sunday, June 6^th., 2021……  Today I hung out at home for most of the day, watching races and being lazy.

Monday, June 7^th., 2021…… Today would have been Lydia’s 70^th birthday.  Sad day for me. RIP sweetie.  I love you!!.  I was able to spend the day with Cathye so that made it a little easier. We went to Albany for breakfast at Roger’s and then ran some errands. Her stepson, Jamie, had broken his bed. He lives alone and doesn’t get out much so we went over to the mattress store and inquired if they would replace it since it was only a few months old. She took pics and we left them to made a determination in the next few days. We also went to Kohl’s and then to Harbor Freight before coming back home.  Sleeping tonight would be tough but I talked with Lydia and then drifted off to sleep.  

Tuesday, June 8^th., 2021…… I slept ok last night and woke up refreshed. I showered and walked Rylee and then went and got breakfast. I got coffee and tea and headed over to Cathye’s. Today was dump day. She had asked Eric to go to the dump but he was busy so I volunteered. She has a little 4x5 trailer with tiny wheels and sideboards that they use to move things like trash and it was stuffed! I used her tarp and my tiedowns and she had me drive her truck with the trailer.  It went well until I had to back that dinky little trailer into position to unload!  I think everyone in the place got a kick out of watching as I jackknifed several times with that tiny thing! But in the end, all was good and we got everything dumped. Later, I managed to back the trailer back into its place at her house and then headed back home to work on my property. Kirk’s dad is ill and in home hospice so Justin and his brother were running his route today. I had them for two hours so I gave them their weeding assignments. They got a lot done but I still need more hours before I can even think about bringing in the bark mulch to lay down. They did bring back my Honda mower from the shop. I had asked Kirk to take it last week and have them go over it make it run smoothly for Cathye. She will use it on her lawn at her mobile when she moves in there. In exchange, I will get her John Deere lawn tractor where it will reside for use here. I’m sure there will be pics in the future… Later in the day, I drove over to the Corvallis Harbor Freight to see if they had wheels for a trailer that I also got from Cathye. This one carries the pesticide sprayer and pulls behind the tractor to spray for weeds. I also wanted to get another net for the truck bed. I was looking for the old style, which is being replaced by a new one I don’t care for so I wanted to stock up. No luck.            

Wednesday, June 9^th., 2021…… I had Cathye for most of the day today. She came over later in the morning after her volunteer work at the Sweet Home food bank so I found I had some time and worked a bit on my shelves. I cut and painted the shelves and, while they were drying, I worked on the sprinklers for the blueberry/grape area. I have to run a hose system out there and got a riser sprinkler from Cathye’s to try out.  But it was clogged up with something and I needed to rebuild it. That only took a few minutes and I was in business. I hooked up a timer so it will run each day for 30 minutes.

Next up is a new net system for the blueberry cage. Between Justin’s rototilling and my mowing, we have snagged and pulled down over a quarter of the netting so far!  Not going to work for the birds and deer so I must get to work on this as soon as possible!  We hung around the house and did some rearranging. I mentioned that I wanted to change out my bathroom décor and I liked the stuff in her bathroom. She is changing up the theme in the new bath in the trailer so she said she would bring me all of her old stuff. We moved out the beach themed stuff in the guest bath and put that in the main bath

and added to what was already there. Her stuff was then put in the guest room....

We still need some more and we will shop for those soon. But I like it!  We spent the remainder of the day hanging around the house. Penny and Butch came by on their way up to Salem.  We had a nice visit.  Later, we decided to go out for Chinese and headed off to Ma’s (which was the only place allowing dine-ins at this time). We came back and watched yesterday’s America’s Got Talent. It’s nice to have someone to watch tv with and talk to these days!  I am sure loving that!  

 

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #38 – More Work, Time Off to Relax, & Still More Work!

 

Sunday, May 30^th., 2021…... Today I spent time with Cathye at her house. Our job today was to work in the front garage and get all of the remaining radios down and moved to the other room. I also got everything else off the walls and out of the drawers and sorted and boxed for the sale. It was hot and dirty work!  But we managed to get a lot done and I went home happy knowing she was one more step closer to getting things ready.

Monday, May 31^st., 2021…… Memorial Day!  Time to reflect on those past heroes who gave their lives to our country. We salute you and will remember you always!

Today we headed off to play. Cathye’s friends and her always try to do a picnic on Memorial Day. This time it was at Pioneer Park in Brownsville.  She asked each person to make their spouse’s favorite picnic item. Of course, I had over 400 recipes to choose from!  I took the easy route and made ice cream sandwich cake.  I put it together the night before and froze it so it would be ready to eat later today. It worked out perfectly and thawed just in time to cut and serve easily. I met several more of her friends and their dogs.

I had Rylee and we took off for a walk and went to the nearby Calapooia River for a swim. My camera was in my pocket and I was concentrating on not getting it wet so no pics of her swimming in the water. Dang it! It was her first doggie paddle since I can’t take her to Santiam River which is too fast moving. She panicked at first but settled down and enjoyed it later!  Once we got back home, she sacked out on the floor!  Later, Chuck came by and we talked a bit about graded the area directly behind the rv garage. I need to do this for a couple of reasons. First, I need a transition from my rv pad to the back field and right now it’s a 5” drop. When Chuck comes here in a few weeks to hay the ‘west 40’, his equipment will likely break the concrete at the edge. I also want more gravel there for another carport for the future. That carport will house Cathye’s little Shasta trailer as well as any of the trailers and implements I’m bringing here to use and store. In gaining that large graveled space, I will also have that much less lawn to mow in the future!  We made a plan about how to deal with the task and what to do with the grass and dirt removed. Chuck will start tomorrow.

Tuesday, June 1^st., 2021……  I had an early appointment with my acupuncturist and headed off for that. The weather is really hot this week. Temps in the 90s. After I got home and rested a bit, I hooked the flatbed trailer up.  Chuck brought his tractor with an attachment to rototill the grass. He worked it several time and then used the bucket to move it and stack it up in a large pile.

While he was doing that, I took off for Cathye’s. The plan today was to load up anything I wanted for my place. They were going to sell a bunch of lumber and plywood so I got that. I also got a patio heater which was almost brand new. This will go on our new patio whenever I can get around to getting going on that project. I got a sprayer and a trailer for it to pull behind the mower. After the house sells, we will also be bringing her lawn tractor and using it here in the future. When I got everything loaded and tied down, she followed me back to the house to help me unload and store it. Jama rolled in Chuck’s new dirt hole and when Cathye went to put her in the pool, she turned on the faucet and the water pressure made the hose and nozzle take off!  It smacked her in the ankle and left a huge bump. I iced it down for her but we thought she needed to have it looked at. I kept Jama and she headed off to the doctor’s office. She called later and said it was just a contusion and will likely bruise up. She headed off home because there were guys coming to price radios and move more stuff around. I told her to just find a spot in the shade and sit with her foot elevated and bark out orders from her chair! LOL!  

Wednesday, June 2^nd., 2021……  Chuck came back and brought a load of gravel for the transition. He only brought 3 cubic yards but that will work for his equipment. I will order another 10-12 cubic yards for the rest of the project but not today.  

Thursday, June 3^rd., 2021……  This morning I had another Dr’s appointment. This time it for a medicare wellness check. This is where they evaluate you to make sure you can still function on your own and don’t need assistance at home. I had to draw a clock and show the time as 1:30. I was tempted to just write 1:30 and tell them it was a digital clock!  But all in all, I think I passed all of the tests.  We also talked about changing back my asthma inhaler and got that going.  Once I was done, I went back over to work. Today was the last push because the sale is Saturday.  This sale is just for the radioheads and their spouses so a lot of the other areas will be closed off. But we needed to tidy those areas as well as clean the house because his collection has the high-end models in there. I worked with Sean and his team of two ladies and we got it all done.  Cathye’s ankle is way better but I am making her take it easy for a few days.  I came home and rested and watched tv until bedtime. Long day!