Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #49 – Saying Goodbye, Seeing Friends & Getting Ready for the Sale

  

Saturday, July 24^th., 2021……  Today was the Great Steam Up. It is the first of two weekends where folks get together to share their love of anything old and mechanical with an engine. Cathye’s late husband was highly revered here for his vast knowledge of his hit and miss engines. His collection was sold earlier this year, and a lot of the guys who bought one or more had them on display which was very moving for Cathye and Jim’s son, Chris to see and hear running again.

We went up there in separate cars and I left to go home to let Rylee out and to let her spend time with her friends and her stepson. When they returned, we had dinner out and Chris met up with friends and ate with them. He came back and got caught up on some of his real estate business via his laptop and we watched the finale of The Great Food Truck Race.    

Sunday, July 25^th., 2021……  Today was busy. Chris was leaving this evening and my friends, Gary and GG, were coming in to visit on their way to the coast. They would be staying here so we headed out to breakfast and then Chris prepped for his trip back home. He had come with a large suitcase and I had given him a duffle bag because Cathye had a bunch of things for him to take back home. He left and went over to the house to get that stuff packed and to spend some time alone at the place he grew up in. We went over later with Gary and GG on our way to dinner. They were very impressed with what was left of Jim’s collections. The estate guys have everything laid out nicely and priced for the sale this next week. We said our goodbyes and left for The Point to have a nice meal. After that, I took them on a tour of Foster Lake and then Sweet Home and Lebanon on the way back home. We visited and talked for several hours before calling it a night.   

Monday, July 26^th., 2021…...  Another busy day!  We were up early and had some coffee before heading off to Kevin’s for breakfast. Thanks, Gary!  We had some time back at the house before I had to leave to go to Corvallis for my 10:00am acupuncture appointment. Cathye stayed and visited with our guests. On the way back, I pushed the speed limit and got pulled over by the state police!  They had me at 81 in a 55 and I was ready for my first ticket since 1984!  I guess my honesty and humbleness – yes, I am capable! – worked for me because he didn’t give a ticket. Just got a warning, so I was happy to drive away and made it back home with a big ole smile on my face!  We said our goodbyes to Gary and GG and rested for a few hours. Later, Cathye’s friend, Robin, came to pick her up for her dental appointment with the endodontist. She was getting her root canal today.  I couldn’t take her because sis and I were going to the funeral of our landscaper’s dad. It was very nice. He was a professor at OSU and was well respected. He had been diagnosed with his second bout of cancer just about the same time as Lydia. He finally succumbed and is at peace now.  When we got back home, Cathye was already there and was resting. I checked in with her long enough to see that she was ok, just drowsy and let her sleep.  Later, we ate leftovers and relaxed from the events of the last several days.       

Tuesday, July 27^th., 2021…… Today is the last day of prep before the estate sale. They did a few adjustments to the tables and moved a few things behind one of the closed bedroom doors. The only thing left is for us to go back and get the last of the nfs items out and moved back to either here or to her mobile. We will do that tomorrow. Cathye was there to help with all of that and I stayed home and waited for my guys to come to do the last of the mulch job. We got the last 10 cf load dropped and they went to work. Cathye got home just as they finished. I had a late lunch so she fixed herself some leftovers from The Point and we relaxed and enjoyed the evening.

Wednesday, July 28^th., 2021……  After walking the pups, Cathye left for her volunteer work and I waited for the pest control company to come by for their quarterly service work. Shedree made quick work and was gone in ½ an hour. I hooked up the flatbed trailer and headed off to meet up with Cathye at her place. We loaded up everything that could go and brought it back to my place and then over to her mobile. This load included her patio set and the utility trailer and also another small trailer for the lawn tractor. We are ready for tomorrow’s sale!  We decided to treat ourselves and load up the dogs and head for the river!  We took them to Pioneer Park and we all had a good swim. 

The weather is getting hotter by the day. Today it was mid-90s. They say we are going to have another 100º day here soon! So, it was a nice break from the day’s heat. We stopped at Los Dos Arbolitos for a beer and a margarita and a nice meal and then went to Walmart so she could pick up some stuff to feed the troops tomorrow at the estate sale. She made some zucchini bread to take as well. We were pretty tired from our day so we called it an early night.

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #48 – A Little Back Pain & More Visitors

 

Monday, July 19^th., 2021……  Cathye went to work at her place after breakfast and I stayed home to work on my blog. I did another test on the motorhome and it started again.  Yaay! We will need to get it out and cleaned up soon. I also want to take it on a short weekend trip around here somewhere to do a shakedown run on everything. I talked with Randy this morning. He got his new dirt bike. It had been on order for a long time and he’s thrilled to finally get it!

We talked about Mom’s celebration in September and he gave me an update on his main bed/bath renovation. He’s glad it’s almost done! He also said that California may go back to required mask wearing again soon.  Damned virus!  Hope that doesn’t affect Lydia’s COL….

Once Cathye got back, we had lunch then worked on a few things around the house.  Later in the day, my back tightened up and I was done. This happens once or twice a year. I think it’s a sciatica issue. More on that later…. 

Tuesday, July 20^th., 2021……  This morning we slept in later than usual. Cathye had to run out to the house in Crawfordsville to do a few things. The guys were there tagging and pricing and staging the house. Most of the outbuildings are done and ready for next week’s sale. She has a few big pieces that are not for sale so they segregated them from the rest and tagged them not for sale.  Except for a few items in the fridge, there is no food left in the house. So, she packed up what was left and brought it here. She will keep drinks there for the workers at the sale and will bring over meat and buns and stuff to make bbq sliders when they are there. I hung around the house and was here when the guy showed up with the third and fourth loads of mulch for the flowerbeds. Kirk and his three guys were all here today and they distributed everything around. We figure we will still need at least one more 10 yd delivery, maybe a little more, to finish up. That will be next week. But it looks good!

 

Rylee was out with the guys but decided that it was a lot cooler laying in the flowerbeds!

Later, I got a call that my mower was ready for pickup. This one has been in the shop for several weeks and they finally got it fixed. Turns out it was just a muffler bolt that was interfering with the raise/lower mechanism for the cutter. The found it and cut it and I was now good to go free of charge!  Or so I thought!  When he went out to start it, it didn’t turn over. After a long lengthy diagnosis, it was determined that the starter had froze up. I would need another one and it would be Friday before it came in. Oh great!  But we now have Cathye’s John Deere tractor so we were good to go. But I still had to come back emptyhanded. 

After the guys left and Cathye got back, we headed out to get some dinner and came home and relaxed and caught up on three on-demand episodes of The Great Food Truck Race that I had missed last month!  Lydia and I really liked this series and Cathye is now into it too!         

Wednesday, July 21^st., 2021…...  We were up and going early this morning.  Mowing the lawn was on my agenda today. Even with my sciatica, I can sit on the mower and can even move the grass bags into the truck with little issues. I have been doing a few simple exercises that help a little but Cathye had me doing a new one and that works! Plus, she is doing the lower back massages on me and that helps too!  Such a sweetie! Before we started on the lawn, I got a call from Cascade Power that the part had come in earlier than expected and it was ready for pickup!  So, we headed over and got that done. Now we have three mowers. I called sis and she said she would be over after bingo at the senior center. Oh yeah, I forgot they had started that up again! So, I took Cathye and we played bingo for an hour and a half. The new caller has a new way to play.  They have no monies collected and now have one donated prize to hand out at the end. This week it was a gift card for the local eatery. They play a few specific game (like four corners) and they will keep playing until they reach a set number of winners, sometime 3-5 for each game. If you win, your name goes into a hat for a drawing at the end for the gift card.  I won 4 games and Cathye won 2 and Penny won 2, but someone else won the card!  But it was still fun!  We came back and started in on the mowing. With three mowers going, we were done in less than an hour. With the zero-turn, I always bag the lawn grass so I dumped that in the truck so I can take it to the recycle place. Meanwhile, the girls mowed the field grass, which is pretty much dried out now and looks like straw and was really dusty. But they made quick work of it and I took them to dinner later at Bigfoot Grille and we had a nice meal.  

Thursday, July 22^nd., 2021…… Happy Anniversary Randy and Maryanne!  I sent them a text message early in the day and heard back from them that they were going to celebrate later that night with a nice dinner out. My back feels a little better but I am trying to take it easy. We had to go to the house to meet up with her neighbor, who was bringing his tractor over. Tomorrow they will be out to do a required septic clean out and the cap is buried somewhere in the yard. The neighbor needed to use the bucket on his machine to scrape around until he located it.  I just watched. Later, we headed to Eugene to pick up her stepson, who is here for his dad’s engine group. They are participating in an event called the Great Steam Up, at which a lot of enthusiasts show and run their engines. They have several clubs doing this and it’s a big deal in these parts. Plus, her stepson gets to see his dad’s motors run one last time. And they were sold to a fellow club member who will preserve them which is important for him.  He will also get to spend some time at his old house where he grew up. Also important to him. We stopped at Coburg Pizza and had dinner on the way home. We came back home and he settled in in our guest room and Misty and Lona came to visit and we all sat out on the front porch and had a great time.    

Friday, July 23^rd., 2021……  Today is Stand By Me Day in Brownsville. I wrote about this already but the movie was shot (in 1985) in this town and every year they do a tribute day and folks can walk the town and see where some of the scenes were shot. We will go even though it will be a little downscaled this year due to covid. We went to breakfast and Cathye and Chris took off to head over to meet the septic guy at the house. I stayed home and will meet them later in Brownsville (which is in between there and here). I needed to catch up on my checkbook and bill pay spreadsheet and also needed to go on venmo and pay Kirk for his mulch job. 

I left here when they called and met up with them in Castle Rock, aka Brownsville. Even though this was not a full day event, there were tons of folks there to walk the streets on a self-guided tour of the movie locations. My favorite is the corner in town where Vern finds a penny on the street. They have super-glued a penny there for folks to see. Cool! 

 

I also liked the coca cola mural they painted on the building just for the film. It was supposed to be done with a chalk-like paint that was designed to dissolve in a few weeks. It was still visible there 22 years later in 2007 so they decided to repaint it for permanent display!

We toured the local museum and also the photo gallery and saw a lot of historical photos and displays. They do a nice job in capturing the history of Brownsville and also the surrounding areas. We stopped in the local eatery and got some turkey wraps and found chairs in a shady store front. Thanks for lunch, Chris! Later, we made our way back to our cars. Chris took Cathye’s truck and went over to Albany to visit with his brother. We came home and rested and planned the rest of our day. We didn’t do much – just hung around the house and ate leftover pizza and watched the opening ceremonies for the Olympics.  It was an ok show but we felt sorry for the athletes walking in to an empty arena. But at least they finally get to compete!     

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #47 – Getting Ready for the Estate Sale & Enjoying the Fair!

 

Wednesday, July 14^th., 2021……  The weather is really nice here this week. Yes, Oregon is seeing many, many fires already, but so far (knock on wood!), none of it has been in our immediate area. And the winds have been in our favor so no smoke so far.  I do feel for those folks in those areas!  Thoughts and prayers go out to them.

I forgot to mention yesterday about Kirk’s guys being here installing bark mulch. His dad is on hospice and Kirk is home with him but took time to call and order a delivery for the house. Justin and his brother brought a little atv with a dump bed and managed to get the first batch distributed. I will need a lot more, but I’m glad to get going on this. Cathye took off this morning to go help the estate folks price and stage her stuff. The sale will be 7/31-8/1. She is hoping to be in her place by then and that means all of her personal stuff and all of the furniture (that she’s not selling) will be out of there.  We have a ton of folks standing by whenever we can start that move. Options are to leave it with nfs tags or move it here for storage. We’re still hopeful it can go to the mobile soon!  Meanwhile, I stayed home and worked on the house. I heard from friends who are traveling in the NW that they might be able to stop by on their way back home, so I wanted to clean up around the house a bit. It turns out they couldn’t find the time but it made me clean up so all is not lost! Cathye got back and I finished up watching the Tour de France (stage 17 – they finish up this weekend) and then we had dinner and then headed back over to her place to load up some things. Once we got back and unloaded – some of the stuff here, and some at her mobile - we relaxed and watched tv until bedtime.  

Thursday, July 15^th., 2021……  A pretty busy day. After breakfast, I went out and hooked up the flatbed trailer to my truck and we went over to the house again.  Corey was there mowing and we had Cathye’s new trailer cover to try out. I also wanted to load up anything that needed the trailer. We got her little restored Bolens antique tractor and the plow that goes with it, and her rolling toolbox. After Corey finished with the lawn, we loaded up her John Deere lawn tractor and several other things to take to either my place or hers. With Corey’s help, I got the cover on the Shasta. It looks really good. 

This Shasta model has the little wings on the back and they made the cover to fit those perfectly! It will work nicely when we bring the trailer over her for the carport, since it will not have sides or a back. The cover will help keep the weather off. Sean and his team were also there today, tagging and pricing items and staging them in the shops and in the house. Even though the sale is not until the end of July, there is still a lot of items and a lot of work to be done! We left them working and headed back to unload at both places. I took some time to start up my motorhome too while we were in the rv garage. I had put the starter batteries on the charger a few days ago and so far, they are holding a charge and the coach has been starting up with no problems. Once we got everything unloaded, we showered and headed off to Albany to go to the Linn County Fair.  We were meeting her friends there to see Fate 55, which is a long-time local band of old guys who play 70s soft rock and roll. They are well known around here and the girls have been ‘followers’ for a long time. The lead singer, Donny, who works for the local car dealer, sold Cathye and her son and some of the other girls their cars.  I liked them! They were the lead-in group for the name band for the night – Blue Oyster Cult. We didn’t stay for them but we had a chance to walk around the fair a bit and saw the rodeo and watched some of the rides in the amusement park. We also watched a rodeo and went through the 4H buildings.

Like I said, it was a busy day!  When we got home, I got a call from Kirk telling me his dad had passed. He had been diagnosed with cancer about the same time as Lydia. Prayers to the family…

Friday, July 16^th., 2021…...  Today, we didn’t have too much on the list – a mani/pedi at a new (to us) nail place in town. It wasn’t until we planned on going over for another load at the house when things got busy. Kirk called and said he was having another load of mulch delivered today and his guys were coming to work on that, Chuck called and said he was bringing over another load of gravel for the carport pad, plus he would also be back to start loading up the dirt/grass pile for his mulch pile at home.  He would also like to come back with his brush hog and fine cut the field - after he got all of the hay cut and hauled out. He showed up and got that done too!  So, what did we do – we went and got our toes done!  Ok, we also went and got that other load so we did participate in something!  Later, Cathye made us ravioli for dinner and we settled in and watched a movie. She had never seen one of my top five favorites – The Sandlot – so we watched that tonight. She loved it!   

Saturday, July 17^th., 2021…… Today was farmer’s market day!  We walked the dogs and then loaded them up and hit McDonald’s on our way to Corvallis. The market there is small but they have a pretty good variety of produce and fruits plus they have pupusas! I wrote about these way back when we first went there in 2017. They are thick griddle flatbreads made from corn or rice flour, stuffed with meat or beans, and originate from El Salvador and Honduras. Kind of like a gordita. I fell in love with them then so I went looking today for their booth!   Even though we had breakfast I got us one to share. I got one stuffed with pork. For a side dish, they also include a cabbage salad which has added red salsa to it that makes it hot! Meanwhile, Cathye went across the aisle and got us a strawberry and cream cheese crepe. We took them to the park tables and enjoyed our second breakfast! While we were in the river walk area, we took some pics.

The dogs enjoyed the walk. Rylee got a lot of pets from the customers and sellers.  Of course, princess Jama got a lot of attention in her stroller too! We bought some veggies and flowers and headed back home for the day.

Once we got everything, we headed home and rested from the morning. I installed a bracket to hang up the hummingbird feeder that sis had given to Cathye. She filled it up and, in a few hours, we had attendees to the party!

 

I think we’ll move it to a chain hanger out toward the outside of the porch so we can see it from the living room. Later, we had a nice dinner of leftovers and watched tv until bedtime.   

Sunday, July 18^th., 2021……  The weather has been holding up in the 80s for the last week. We were going to mow last evening but got lazy. I wanted to mow today but forgot to turn off the sprinklers so the lawn was way too wet this morning.  Besides, we were going to church! Cathye and the girls have been going to a place in Sweet Home since they started up many years ago. It’s called Riverside Christian Church. It’s small and in a hanger just off the Santiam River. She introduced me to everyone (who all said they knew me already from her facebook posts!) and we settled in for the service. I enjoyed everything and everyone. Nick, who spoke today was especially moving and I will go back again.  Since Crawfordsville is almost on the way home, we stopped by and did the watering and fed the cat. A little info on the cat. Her mobile home park is not thrilled with outside animals and this cat is pretty much free range so when she finally moves out, the cat will go to the people next door since she spends a lot of time over there anyway. We got back home and decided to wait again on the lawn. We hung around the house until Cathye left to go to a wedding shower and I watched the last day of the Tour de France and also some races. We both had a late lunch so when she got back home, we skipped dinner and settled in and watched tv until calling it a night.      

 

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #46 – Oral Surgery, Mowing, and Another New Pool!

 

 

Saturday, July 10^th., 2021……  The weather is looking good for the weekend. I have turned off the sprinklers so I can mow again. After getting Brandyn (spelling change) delivered here for the day, Cathye made us all breakfast and then took him and headed off to her place. The guys were coming today to pick up the forklift. My plan is to mow. But I got working on the blog and posted up through yesterday. By the time I was done with that, I wanted to just kick back and relax and watch the Tour de France. Later, when Cathye got back, she joined me and we rested for a while and then I went outside to start mowing. Not!  It was too hot!  So, I will mow in the morning. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and staying cool in the house.          

Sunday, July 11^th., 2021……  Happy Birthday in heaven Jeff! Today would have been his 51^st birthday. I wore his watch and one of his hats today. We were up early and out with the girls and got them fed. Cathye made us breakfast and I hung around the house for a few minutes after that then decided it was time to go out and mow. My lawn tractor is in the shop and we only had one available, so Cathye got a break!  Haha!  She went off to church and then to check on the house and feed the cat and water the flowers. Even though the house is officially ‘sold’, she still wants to keep it up. Plus, they are still showing it on contingency.  I made pretty quick work of the lawn and dumped the grass in Chuck’s dirt pile. While that pile is here, it makes quick work for me. Chuck says he will be picking it up for his place and will mix it and use it all as mulch. Even though it saves me trips to the recycle mulch place, I’ll be glad when it’s gone! I got back in the house and showered and relaxed and watched races until Cathye got back. Later, we drove by the contingent house that her buyers are going to sell to see how they are doing on getting it ready. When we first saw it, it looked terrible!  I gave it a 3 out of 10. But they have painted it and cleaned up the junk in the yard so it looks better now. Maybe a 7.

It certainly looks better on the outside.  I checked out the multiples and it looks good on the inside so we are feeling good that it will sell quickly!  

Later in the afternoon, we headed down to the Brownsville Saloon to have a tribute dinner for Jeff. I drank a beer (ok, a pitcher!) in his honor.

 

We ordered the quesadillas. I got beef and she got chicken. They were jam packed and quite tasty!   

She drove us home and we relaxed for the evening.        

Monday, July 12^th., 2021…...  I woke up and realized I had an acupuncture appointment this morning! Wow, almost missed that!  But no worries. I was up, dressed, and out in plenty of time. Cathye walked the girls so I was actually early and had time to catch up on my emails before going in. On the way home, I brought back breakfast and then we went over to check on the mobile home. Taz hasn’t been around at all. We are getting frustrated but, in all fairness, it’s not his fault. He’s still waiting for things to come in. Carpet, countertops and appliances. Once the counters go in, the sink can be installed and the plumber can hook up the waterlines and then they will have only small stuff to do before it’s finished. I’m not complaining though!  I have become very comfortable with the two of us in this house!  But eventually we’ll get her place done and I’m sure we’ll be sharing time in both for a while. Later, I fixed steaks on the bbq and Penny came over and joined us. She brought baked potatoes. We had a nice meal.       

Tuesday, July 13^th., 2021……  Today Cathye had an appointment with her dentist for a root canal. She gets nervous plus doesn’t like needles so they prescribed a pill to relax her. Her appointment was at 7:00am in Albany so we were up early. She was to take the pill 1½ hours beforehand and did so. We planned to walk the dogs but I discovered that she is a lightweight with medication! It made her so relaxed, she was jelly-legged! I had trouble getting her in the car and out and up in the elevator to the dentist. She was in there about 90 minutes and when she came out, she was a bit more stable but still a little groggy.  The biggest problem was that they said they couldn’t complete the procedure and she needed to go to a Endodontist for the rest. I brought her back and she rested for most of the day. I got us breakfast and she stayed awake long enough to eat that and drank some coffee and then slept.  While we were kicking back, I got a UPS delivery. Rylee’s pool came. I thought it would be bigger than it is but it went up in 2 seconds and it seems to do the job of keeping her cool!  

Later in the day, Cathye said she felt better and we talked about the morning. She remembers nothing about her condition. I told her she needs to take ½ of the prescribed meds from now on! She called later and made her appointment. It’s for next week so another few more days of dealing with tooth pain!  

Later, after everything wore off and she felt normal again, we went to the store and grabbed a few things. She made us a noodle and broccoli dish for dinner and then we loaded up the dogs and drove over to feed the cat and water the yard. When we got back, we watched about half of America’s Got Talent before calling it a night.         

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #45 – Moving Bits and Pieces & Hitting a Yard Sale

 

Tuesday, July 6^th., 2021…...  We are back in a relaxed feeling. The holiday is over, the hay is done, I have my carport on order, the weather is nice, work is soon going to go on at Cathye’s trailer again, and we are able to take time to work on little things, like paying bills, making appointments, grocery shopping, etc. We went out after walking and feeding the girls and had breakfast. After that, we stopped at Walmart and did some serious shopping and got a lot of things stocked up. Then it was time to work on bills and the blog. I did the blog and she did her bills. After that, she needed to make some calls to have utilities turned off at one place and turned on at the other. Then she had to go to the bank and check in with the contractor and pick up her mail. I had a bite to eat and relaxed from the morning’s activities. Later, I worked on my bills and my spreadsheet. We needed to get some blueberries picked before they fell off! There are tons this year!  Cathye had picked some a few days ago and has frozen those. Today, she got 3 bags like this one,

 

From just one third of one bush! There are 5 bushes but one is about done so it will be replaced after the season. Also, the grapes are looking good this year! Looking at the vines, I can see ‘bunches of bunches’.  Can’t wait for those because they are really tasty!    

Wednesday, July 7^th., 2021…… Cathye works at her food bank volunteer job on Wednesdays so she took off and did that. I worked here on the sprinklers and really gave up after a few minutes. I came in and watched the Tour for a few hours. Once Cathye got back home, we headed over to her place to meet up with Sean (Cathye’s plumber at the trailer). He came by her house and he and his wife picked through what was left from the foundry pick on Saturday.  I helped them load that up and they left and we sorted things for the next load. Piles were 1) stuff for the trailer, and 2) stuff for the Shasta trailer.  We brought back the Shasta stuff to be stored here. The Shasta will be moved over here - probably the last thing to go from her house since it’s under cover there. If the carport gets installed here sooner than expected, we can always go get it.  We staged a bunch of stuff for the storage shed for pickup tomorrow. We got back home and took the dogs out. Rylee’s pool is unusable – oops, not true!  I made it work!  I lined it with an old tarp and filled it with water. Boy, I am a real Oregon redneck now!  No worries - I have a new one on order. Should be here next week.

Thursday, July 8^th., 2021…… We took the pups out for their walk and the went out to meet sis for breakfast at Kevin’s. She came back later and we all went over to scout out a sale location being run by Mark. Mark usually works for Shawn but does his own sales from time to time.  He told us there were tons of things we would like. He wasn’t kidding. Penny and Cathye found tons of things but they weren’t allowed to ‘shop’.  They plan on coming back tomorrow. Tomorrow we will have Cathye’s 7-year-old great grandson, Brandon.  His dad is working for Mark at the sale. We came back and hung around the house for most of the day. We did take off later to run over and work around the house.  We loaded up the stuff for the storage shed and then watered the flowers.   Cathye made me pose like this for a fun pic!

 

Friday, July 9^th., 2021……  The girls met up early and went to Mark’s estate sale. Corey had dropped Brandon here earlier. I stayed home and tried to catch up on my bike races. When they got back (yes, they found tons of stuff!), we loaded up in her truck and went over to Crawfordsville to work on the house and to meet with Mike Lummus. Mike is Jim’s son and lives in Tillamook. He was coming down today with his three kids for an outing (they stopped at the carousel in Albany) and also to pick up a fridge from the house. I was there to help and he sure needed it. This was on old rounded top fridge form the 50s and was probably twice as heavy as a modern one! But we got it loaded on his truck and strapped down with only minor issues. We came back to the house and dropped off Penny and headed off to Philomath (just SW of Corvallis) to go look at a glass-top kitchen table I found on Facebook Marketplace. It was priced right at $100. – if it was in good shape. Turns out it was and I was able to get it for $80.00!  Score!  We loaded it up in the truck - with Brandon ‘under glass’ in the back seat!.

We went back by the trailer and dropped it off at the storage shed. We weren’t eating at home tonight so when we got home, we kicked back for an hour and then headed over to Sweet Home to the ‘Cruise the Gut’, night, which is a cruise of old cars from The Pointe Restaurant to A&W Drive-in.  We parked at A&W and got a table and had dinner. I brought my chairs and we sat out in the parking lot and saw the cars come and go. Her girls were there and we all picked our favorites!     

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #44 – Getting You All Caught Up!

 

 

Wednesday, June 30^th., 2021…...   Wow, time flies when you’re havin’ fun!  I know that because I have been so busy these days that I haven’t been doing well in keeping my blog up to date. I find if I don’t sit down and do each day as it happens, the days run together and I forget a lot. That’s happened this past week!  So here goes….

Mostly this week has been all about dealing with the heat and trying to get things done at 1) her old house, 2) her new trailer remodel, 3) my haying and mowing and flowerbed prep, and 4) dealing with the holiday. We have been back and forth many, many times to her house. It goes on the market on Friday so we are trying to tidy it up for the walk-thrus coming. Her contractor is still AWOL due to his new baby and wife’s health issues and the upcoming holiday weekend. So, nothing new to report on the trailer. Cathye is planning on taking her vintage Shasta camping trailer out for the 4^th of July weekend. Plus, there have been various folks communicating with her about buying items before the sale and also about coming to take the foundry out. It’s all piling up for her and she’s told me many times she’s glad I’m around to help out and to help keep her sanity!  So, we bounce around trying to get things done. Meals are mostly lighter fare and done way later than normal. Relaxing time is less and less as this goes on. But they are going in the right direction and I think we have things in sight and are moving forward smoothly (for the most part!). As for me, Chuck brought his buyers for the hay (turns out they are family members) over with their trailers and they loaded up all of the hay bales.

So that’s done!  He leaves for a trip to Montana tomorrow so he’s glad it’s done and he can go rest!  I found out that with the price of hay down, with his time and equipment costs, he won’t make much on this deal at all.  He says this is his last year doing haying. Can’t say as I blame him!    

Thursday, July 1^st., 2021…… Today the weather was actually nice!  The heatwave that hit us last week is a distant memory. Temps are still in the 80s but that is ok for us up here. There is, however, a lot of dust in the air as millions of acres of crops are being cut, furrowed, seeds harvested, baled, and loaded for transport.  You can see dots of dust storms all around the valley as the farmers are out early and stay late to bring in their crops. I still am fascinated by it all! Today we had afternoon plans. This morning, though, was open, so I drove us down to Eugene for lunch. I remembered going to the Eugene Rose Garden and I was able to surprise her with a visit there before we ate. It turned out to be a perfect day and the roses were looking good!

After that, I took us to Fisherman’s Market, a local eatery in Eugene. She had never been and we had a very nice lunch. We headed back home and rested up before the next half of the day. For Cathye, today was prep day. Both she and Lona are hooking up their trailers so they can get out early in the morning. Pioneer Park in Brownsville, has camping only on the weekends. They do not have spaces and it’s:  get there, claim a nice spot, and spread out so you have room for the others coming later. Meanwhile, back at the house, the trailers are under a covered pole barn and were easily accessed.  I was there to help them hook up and they left their trucks, ready to pull out tomorrow morning. After everything was set, I drove Cathye back to my place and Lona and her daughter Misty went home. We will all meet there at the trailers at 9:00am. We stopped and got take-out and went home to eat and relax.   

Friday, July 2^nd., 2021…… Today was a comedy of errors!  We got up and walked the digs and had breakfast. When we drove back to meet up with the girls at the house, Cathye discovered that she had left her purse – with the truck keys – at my place!  I went back and got them while they got all of the watering done for the day. When I returned, we all got everything loaded and headed off together. When we got to the park, we found that we were early arrivals and had our choice of sites and they chose their favorite. It was right next to the ball field. The fire department does a big fireworks show every year and they all line up in the field and watch. They tell me it is right out in front and above them! When we got set up, we discovered that we needed one more stabilizer so I went back to Cathye’s (8 miles) to get it. Robin had arrived and dropped off her pop-up trailer and wouldn’t be back until later but it wasn’t sitting on proper support so I found a bottle jack at Cathye’s and brought that back. We got everything leveled on all three rigs and we rested for a while. I headed back home to do laundry and relax with Rylee. I got a text saying the girls were headed off to the local bar and grill for dinner. Now, if you are familiar at all with the movie, Stand By Me, Brownsville and the surrounding areas were sites for a lot of the scenes. This bar (outside and around back) was seen in the beginning of the movie. Pioneer Park was also the scene of the pie-eating contest, which was hilarious!  When they got back to the trailers, she texted me that her key would turn the lock but the bolt wouldn’t move. So, I grabbed some tools and lubricants and headed back over. I worked at it for some time and so did one of the local campers. We finally made the decision to drill out the lock so she was able to get in. Shasta sells vintage parts so that will go on the list for next week!  I didn’t mention this until now, but imagine all of this going on and at the same time, your house hits the multiples and is officially on the market!  The pics make it very desirable in these parts so we were happy they came out so well…

She’s already heard from the realtor that there are at least 4 showings from today til Sunday! She’s hoping for a bunch of offers and maybe a bidding war but we’ll see…  I headed back home and took Rylee out to the new pool that I had just set up in the yard. I ran the water hose in it to fill it while Rylee chased it around in the pool like one of those old Wham-O Water Wiggles we had when we were kids. She had fun and got cooled off!  It was a quiet night with tv alone and I turned in early.          

Saturday, July 3^rd., 2021……  No plans to go anywhere today. I got caught up on my Tour de France races I had taped and watched motocross and Nascar races as well. I don’t think I left the house all day! When I took Rylee out to let her back in the pool, I discovered that it was empty!  Turns out with all of her exuberance yesterday chasing the hose, she managed to either bite or claw numerous holes in the bottom liner!  I can’t patch that many holes but I may be able to throw a tarp in to hold the water until I can go get a hard plastic pool (which, by the way, are hard to come by up here with the heat!) to replace it. Heck of a lesson but nice to know for the future!  Cathye and I talked before she went to bed. We planned our day tomorrow.

Sunday, July 4^th., 2021……  Happy 4^th of July!  Sis was coming this evening with Quincy, to spend the night. Fireworks are supposedly banned up here but she isn’t taking any chances (plus illegal mortars and bottlerockets are easily obtained in these parts!). So, she doesn’t want to expose Q to their neighborhood activities. My house is pretty well insulated and quieter here, with little activity on the street. We made plans for dinner so I passed on C’s offer to come for their bbq. My plan was to go later for the fireworks show. I relaxed and again, caught up on my races. Sis brought dinner and we ate and visited for a bit. I left the house around 6:30pm and headed over. I managed to find a parking space and settled in with her and her friends and family. It doesn’t get dark up here until 10:00pm so we had a few hours to wait.  The field and surrounding area got pretty crowded and everyone was waiting patiently for the show. Boy, they were right!  They launch the fireworks less than 200 yards from that field!  You can see hot embers raining down but this year the wind was perfect and they landed in the river and not on anyone where we were. It was a good show and lasted 20-25 min. After that, I made my way thru the crowds leaving and got home around 11:00pm. Penny was asleep but Rylee was a little wound up. I heard booms and such long after that but I guess we both settled down and slept well through whatever was left.      

Monday, July 5^th., 2021……  After a nice walk with Rylee, I headed off to my early morning dental appointment. It was a routine cleaning and checkup and I was out of there pretty quickly. I stopped and got breakfast and then went to Walmart for a few things before heading back home. I have been tracking down prices for another carport for my property. I want one that is more of a triple wide, meaning it will hold more than two vehicles. The plan is to store Cathye’s trailer under cover. The carport won’t be enclosed, but she has already ordered a custom made fitted rv cover for it, so I think it will be pretty well protected from the elements. I went back and forth with the sales rep. and got all of my questions asked and answered and he got all of my specs so he could give me a quote. I have already done this with several other manufacturers and have a variety of ranging numbers, some reasonable and some ridiculous. I like the fact that these guys are in Tigard, which is only 100 miles so from me so that will be a plus in delivery time and setup. My last one the company was based in Utah and had to schedule a ‘bundled install-route’ for the installers to follow to make it cost efficient. They might be able to send a small crew down her and back for less than a half day trip. Still, it’s estimated to take 10-12 weeks. Maybe I’ll get lucky! Later in the day, I drove back to Crawfordsville where we met up with Justin and his two brothers. They had offered to buy the scrap metal that Jim had stockpiled over the years. It was worth it to give them a good price because one of the brothers will be using it for welding school practice so she felt good about that. Plus, they loaded up everything so that’s one less task to do in the future! We closed up the house and left shortly after they did. We dropped Jama back at home then took off together to go to Albany so she could drop off her stepson’s rent for him and give him some weekly spending money from his account (which she maintains for him). We decided to have a late sit-down dinner and went to Elmer’s and ate. Once we got back home, we were tuckered out and quickly called it a night.