Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #3 – Birthdays and Taking Care of Dogs and Cats!

Monday, January 7^th., 2019…...  We had some rain last night and it puddled up in places on the driveway. The temps came down to 30º and that was enough to make all of that water freeze and make black ice. Even though the sun was out, the driveway and all of our street was still really slippery. Monster mutt started out and did the slip and slide for a foot or so and that got her attention! But she didn’t blink after that and was fine for our walk. The temps came up and we only got a few minutes of rain all day.  Lydia and I left a little later and went first to my sister’s (to help her move some furniture) and then to Walmart for some shopping. Among other things, we got some ciabatta bread for bbq sandwiches for dinner tonight. Once we got home and got everything put away, I got caught up on some of my taped shows and she did some swiffering around the house. We have decided to try another location for the dog’s food and water. We had it under the window in the dining area, off the kitchen. It was on our hardwood floor and we are seeing some delamination of the varnish coat. We’ve got the feeding area covered with waterproof carpet but she’s got a pretty good sized ‘slop zone’ after she drinks. We’ll try the laundry area because that’s laminate. Around 4:45pm we drove down to Lou’s and I showed Lydia how to feed Bailey and Lucy. We checked their water and fed the cat on the way out and we were done. We will do that each day until Friday afternoon.      

Then we came home and she put together our bbq sandwiches and she headed off to her tv and I settled in to watch the College Football Championship game. Go Clemson!

       

Tuesday, January 8^th., 2019……  Happy Birthday to my Sister Penny! She shares the same birthday as Elvis! (and David Bowie, Bob Eubanks, and Kim Jong-uh among others!). Imagine - Elvis would have been 84 today! She and Quincy came over for their walk and then I took her down to Lou’s to help me feed his dogs. After that we took off to Kevin’s for breakfast. But when we got there, it was closed. Not sure why – will have to check. I drove us to Brownsville and to the Pioneer Truck Stop out on I5. I had been there before and I liked it. They have the best bacon! Nice and thick! We came back home and after Penny and Quincy left, we hung around the house for a few minutes and then we left and took Rylee with us and headed off to Corvallis for Lydia’s gastro dr. appointment. She’s doing better but they are still concerned that the area is still sensitive and she’s still passing a filmy substance (which is coming from the inflamed area). So, they are going to try stronger antibiotics (flagyl). Lydia has had a reaction to the flagyl in the past but she’s willing to try it again if it will knock this thing back! As of this evening we’re waiting for the pharmacy to fill it and call us.  Later, Penny came back and we left for Coburg to have Pizza for her birthday. Plus, we each have scratch-offs and can win free food or even cash. Problem was when we got there it is still closed for renovations. They were supposed to be finished by now but guess not. So, we went to Bronco’s Saloon, just down the street. Lydia and I had been there before and liked it. The meals were really good and we even had room for bread pudding for dessert! We drove back home and stopped at Lou’s house and fed the dogs again. They are happy to see us and both dove in to their dishes pretty quickly. I’ll take pics tomorrow morning. Then it was back home and tv and quiet time (sorry – that’s not possible with monster puppy in the house!) until bed. 

     

Wednesday, January 9^th., 2019…...  This morning I got up a few times – just couldn’t sleep – and went into my office to watch tv and/or try to sleep. I did this a few times. Back and forth from bed to my recliner! I feel fine for now but I will probably be taking a nap or two sometime today. I did all of my duties this morning, though. Fed Bailey and Lucy, walked Rylee, and went and got us breakfast.  I even stopped at Walmart for a few things and got the truck gassed up on the way. Once home, we settled in and ate breakfast and I started watching Mecum Auction Kissimmee which starts today. I broke it up by going out to the shop for a while. Lydia left and went to get her prescription and then to do her labs. The weather is just ok. No rain but it’s cloudy. Forecast is for rain today only then sun and no rain for the next seven days. Yaay! We like the sun! We decided to go to Costco today and get a few things. While we were there, we saw my sister, who just got her new tires installed and was headed off to Corvallis to get the front-end alignment done. While we were in Costco, we ran across some outside security lights. We had seen them at Lowes and were going to buy two there (at $75. per light) but we saw these. They were virtually the same thing and they were $29.99! so, we added those to our shopping cart. We got back home and I took Rylee out to the shop with me. She needs to get out and I had some more of the Christmas stuff I needed to get put back up on the racks. My sister called later and gave us an update on a missing lady in the area. The story has been on the news for a few days now. She went to work early Monday morning and never made it to work. Her truck was found in the Willamette River, just across the road from the HP facility in Corvallis. They think she hit black ice (same as we had here on Monday) and skidded over the embankment. Penny said on her way to Corvallis, she went by the site and they were finished with the recovery. Boats are now out on the river, and divers are searching. They think she drowned but no body as of yet. Sad.

We didn’t eat lunch so Lydia got an early start on dinner (spaghetti) and then we went over to feed Lou’s dogs and check the house. Then it was back home and rest and tv until we called it a night.    

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #2 – Getting Out & About and Getting an Assignment

 

Friday, January 4th., 2019……We are both much better today! I can actually speak! Still kind of croaky but much better! I got up early and got showered and dressed and had Rylee out for our walk. The rains are back but it wasn’t raining while we were out. I left later and got breakfast. Meanwhile, Lydia was getting ready for her day. She had a nail appointment at 10:00am so she headed off for that.  I needed to sit down and pay some first of the year bills. For 2018, I only had one more bill to pay, for Kirk for last month, and then I can wrap up the year’s expenses. We started our new medical coverage this week. Boeing, our provider, shut down the United Health Care HMO in Oregon and we had to move over to the UHC PPO. The monthly rates went up so we have to adjust for that. But we, like everyone else, got a slight increase in our Social Security this year, so that helps a bit. We now have to make sure that we give our new cards to the dr. so they can update their records. Our mail-in prescription service (OptumRx) stays the same so that’s a good thing. We’re told we may even get a break in those rx prices but we’ll have to wait and see when our prescriptions go in again.

Even though the weather was yucky, I went out with Rylee to the shop and worked out there for a while.  Later, we just had leftovers for dinner and then watched tv.  Lydia spent time in her craft room, catching up on some shows in that room. We have DirecTV but have opted not to use Genie, where you have a master box and small slave boxes in other rooms. With Genie, you can tape and watch in any room you choose. The reason we don’t use that and have full size boxes in each room is that we want to take 1 (or 2) of those receivers to use when we travel in the rv.   

       

Saturday, January 5^th., 2019……  Today was pretty nice. No rain and the sun was out for a bit. I had Rylee out and back when my sister was here with Quincy. Of course, Rylee always zeros in on the Quince and wants to be let off her leash so she can go play. It’s so good that they can run even though the grass is soggy and they come back to the house a mess! After they went home, I left and got breakfast. Then it was just kicking back time. We usually don’t go grocery shopping or to any of the big box stores on the weekends even though it’s no way near the crowds you would get in the stores in Cali on a weekend. Besides, neither of us had anything on the agenda so we just stayed around the house. If you know me, you know I keep logs of the races and the car auctions, complete with dates and times. That way I can make sure to get them all recorded for later viewing. I have been getting all of those  schedules off the websites and getting them printed and in my book. Motocross starts tonight and I’m ready! Lydia has been catching up on all of her saved shows now that she’s watched all of her taped Christmas movies. So, we were both kicking back most of the day. Later, we ate a nice bbq rib dinner and settled in for the night.

     

Sunday, January 6^th., 2019…... Again, nothing on the schedule for today. It was really windy last night. Butthead was super nervous so I took her out to the yard where she could watch all of the leaves swirling around and the branches moving. Didn’t help. She wouldn’t go off the porch. We settled in bed later and she was ok but got me up about two hours later and had to go out. Our plastic lawn chairs that were out by the rv garage ended up next to the house and that spooked her. So, I got shoes and pants and a jacket on and took her back out there and showed her and she was ok after that. We got back to bed and luckily, we were able to sleep in a little later this morning. It rained a bit last night but it was nice and dry when we went out for our walk. When I came back in, I got stuff out to make egg and cheese and ham sandwiches for breakfast but Lydia said she could make scrambled eggs so I deferred to her. Duuuhhh, that’s a no-brainer! After I cleaned up, she got showered and dressed and we hung around the house and watched tv. Later, in the afternoon, our neighbor, Lou, came by to ask for a favor. He is leaving tomorrow for a week in Hawaii and asked us to feed his dogs until Friday, when his daughter is supposed to take over. We are glad to help out. I went over with him and he showed me everything and I was set. We will start tomorrow afternoon and then go over twice a day after that. We talked a bit and I came home and later, took off and got us dinner (Taco Bell) and came home and we watched more tv until we called it a night.         

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #1 – New Year Starts Off With Cold Days and Us Fighting Colds

Tuesday, January 1st.,  2019…… Happy New Year! Last night we went to bed early (9:30pm or so). There were some folks behind us that shot off bottle rockets at 9:00pm. Quincy was a little nervous and Rylee was startled at first but both were ok after a bit. We were in bed at midnight and ended up with both dogs with us! It was unusual for Quincy to be up there but I guess it was the best place for her – with all of us together!

No rain in the forecast for the next few days. But the temps always get cooler when there is no rain. This morning at 7:30am when I took Rylee out for her walk, it was 27º!  Needless to say, I was bundled up pretty good! Sis came over about then and took Quincy out for her walk and then they headed back home. She doesn’t want to be around us sickies and I don’t blame her! We watched the Rose parade (kind of disappointing) and Lydia watched some taped shows while I watched football games. She had white beans soaking all night and got those going for dinner. It was a nice relaxing day and we enjoyed the time together.    

       

Wednesday, January 2^nd, 2019……  I’m feeling better although I still can’t talk (hey - no comments from the peanut gallery!). Still have a cough but it’s better.  Lydia has much of the same but she has her voice back now. I got going early and got Rylee out and walked. Again, it was below freezing. Good thing is that as soon as the sun comes out, it warms up quickly and actually becomes a pleasant day.  I did go out to get breakfast/coffee/tea but that was the only time I left the house. Lydia had to make a quick trip to the store but other than that, we were pretty much homebound for today.  

     

Thursday, January 3^rd, 2019…... Today was another day of recovery. Lydia is much much better and I am feeling a bit better. We are both still coughing a lot but it seems to be less and less than before. We still have our appetites so that’s good. It will take time. So, we decided to hang around the house another day. It’s a shame, though – the weather is as nice as we have seen it for a while. But, after I walked Rylee and ate breakfast, I decided to take a few minutes to move the last of the boxes out to the shop. When I feel better, I will get them back up on the racks.  Lydia spent most of the day in her jammies but she so wants to get out and got dressed in case we needed to go anywhere (we didn’t). I took Rylee out in the backyard for a while. She ran and ran. Later, Lydia had her out again (off her rope) and she saw Ollie and took off. With Paul’s help, Lydia had her back and in the house pretty quickly.

Later, she fixed dinner and we settled in for the night and watched tv.   

Oregon Living 2018 – Blog #159 – Looking Back and Looking Forward - Happy New Year!

Sunday, December 30th, 2018…...  This morning we both slept in. Lydia got up after I fed Rylee. I went back to bed. Still not feeling well. I have a sore throat and I’m starting to get a chest cough. Coughing causes a headache. I’m a mess!  I pushed through it and went out with Rylee for her walk. But most of the rest of the day was spent just hanging around the house and resting and watching football for me and classic movies for Lydia.   

       

Monday, December 31st, 2018……  I’m feeling way better today. So is Lydia. But we both still sound like foghorns!  Today was another day of resting and venturing outside only to get some fresh air and to let Rylee play outside a bit. The weather is nice today – no rain in the forecast for the next couple of days. But we are still going to take it easy. My sister is coming over later today but won't spend the night. She is dropping off Quincy for another sleepover. Her neighborhood has a lot of young families in it and they tend to celebrate loudly. Quincy does a lot better over here in our relatively quiet street. We’ll probably go out and pick up some dinner or have it delivered – not sure yet.

Last day of 2018! Wow, it seems like it just started! I want to spend some time writing about the year in recap:  
Highlight for me for sure was our 50^th anniversary (love that woman!) and the ‘bestest’ trip to Hawaii. It took a lot of planning and execution but it was well worth it and we sure enjoyed ourselves!  I hope the rest of the family did as well.

Another highlight was getting our new puppy! She has become a major part of our life and even though we didn’t want to go through the puppy training and such, we wouldn’t have wanted it any other way! We sure love her.

Also important to us was getting the rv garage completed. It sure takes a load off us and having the motorhome now safe and securely stored out of the rain and cold is a great feeling.

It was also nice to see many of our friends and family who made the trek up here to visit with us. Mike and Cheri stayed in their rig while here. Carol stayed in our guest room. Our daughter in law, Maryanne also visited us as did Lydia’s sister, Frances.  Cherrelyn also came up twice to see us and Penny. We had visits with friends Paul and Alice and Carol and Gene, who spent the day with us. This is an open invitation to the rest of you – come on up! 

Of course, there were the low times this year, most of which was ill health. You’ve followed it all here so you know what Lydia was/is dealing with. She couldn’t have had any more happen to her all at once! But she’s gone through it all and has come out on top and I think is on the road to full recovery. Thank the Lord for that!   My sister also had a rough time with her surgeries and all of her treatments. But she too, is doing really well and getting stronger each day. My osteoporosis and asthma aren’t getting any worse, so other than that I guess that’s cause to be grateful. Now, if we can all get and stay healthy, we’ll be happy and ready to start the new year.

Needless to say, we are not planning to celebrate. I’m sure we’ll be in bed way before midnight! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  We wish you all the best in the new year and hope you can come up and visit us in 2019! And also, thanks for following us on this blog. Wow, 159 posts this year!  But I enjoy it and its fun for me and helps us keep track of things. Please keep reading and don’t forget to comment once in a while.     

Oregon Living 2018 – Blog #158 – Storage and Football

Thursday, December 27th, 2018…...  Rylee got me up early this morning – first to let her out to pee, and then to feed her breakfast. She’s getting a little chunky lately. I’m guessing it’s because we haven’t had the weather lately to allow her out to run and play and work some of it off.  But I’m now starting to cut down a little on each of her meals. She doesn’t notice so it’s a good thing! Today though, we had some time outside because the skies were a nice deep blue! No rain, just a couple of clouds throughout the day. So, I decided to take advantage of the weather and got all of the outside lights down and put away. I put Rylee on a leash out in the front yard so she spent some time exploring out there while I worked. Meanwhile, Lydia started in on the tree and took down the ornaments and got those all put away. We took a few breaks during the day but we managed to get everything else boxed back up as well. I took some of the tubs back out to the shop and will get the rest of it finished up tomorrow.      

       

Friday, December 28^th, 2018……  Today started out nice. I ate breakfast at home then went over to my sister’s house to help her out in the garage. We put up a hanger for her step ladders, then we got her Christmas stuff put back up in her storage rafters. Her new printer was delivered so I stayed and helped her get started on installing it. Once she got going on it, I left to head to Walmart. I texted Lydia and she wanted to go too so I swung back by the house and picked her up. We got what we needed and got home just before the sprinkles came. I put off my plans to work on the Christmas tubs and will do that when the weather clears up. So, except for a couple of trips with Rylee in between the drizzle, we stayed in the house most of the rest of the day and played and watched tv. Lydia made a nice dinner (turkey/tator tot casserole) and we caught up on Guys Grocery Games while we ate. Before dinner, I did sit down and finish up my year-end check book as well as my year-end expense ledger and got the template excel document revised to start up again to track 2019 expenses.    

     

Saturday, December 29th, 2018…... The weather is cloudy and drizzly again this morning. It rains a bit at night and seems to clear up in the early morning hours, then cloud up again and rain off and on during the day. This weekend is more of the same, clearing on Monday. I dodged the rain this morning and got Rylee out for her walk. We still aren’t able to walk too much on the grass around the house. You squish down and it will soak your shoes clear through! We don’t walk out there (except to clean up after super pooper!) but Rylee still wants to go out. We can put her on the long 80’ rope, tied up to just reach the porch, and she can run and play, but we still need to clean her up every time she comes back in!

This has been college football week. There are numerous bowl games (I think I heard somewhere that there are over 40 bowl games each year!), most of which don’t mean anything in the standings. All of these started on 12/15, and most have been played this past week or so. But the playoff series to determine the College Football Championship starts now. Both the Cotton Bowl (Notre Dame vs Clemson) and the Orange Bowl (Oklahoma vs Alabama), are being played today and the winners of each will meet for the championship on Jan 7^th. I have watched some of the bowl games (because there are no Nascar or IndyCar or F1 races until next season) but these two are games I have been waiting for. So, you know what I will be doing today. I think I’ve got Lydia’s cold coming on. It was a good day to stay in. 

  

Oregon Living 2018 – Blog #157 – Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 24th, 2018…...  Today was Lydia’s day to get up and feed Rylee. But I did get up and let her out earlier so I guess we’re even! After showering and getting ready for the day, I took monster mutt out for her walk. No rain at this point in the morning. Our neighbor was packing their car for their trip up north to be with family for Christmas. Another neighbor left yesterday for Christmas in the Bahamas. We’re looking at a quiet block for the holidays this year. I had vacuumed the house the other day so I didn’t have anything on my to-do-list today so I just kicked back. Lydia had bathroom cleanings on her to-do-list so she was busy for the morning. My sister is coming over today with Quincy. They will both spend the night. We’re also keeping the Q on Christmas night and Penny will sleep at home and take off early on the 26^th to hit some of the stores after-Christmas sales.

Lydia got her enchiladas in the prep stage and then got them going later in the day. Sis brought over the rice and beans and we had a nice dinner. We relaxed and watched tv until it was time to call it a night. In the local newspaper a couple of days ago, we had seen a list of the houses in Albany that had won prizes in their Christmas light contest, so we decided to drive there and check them out. The weather was nice and dry. We left Quincy in the house to have some quiet time and loaded Rylee in the car with us. She loves her car rides and enjoyed the trip and we had a nice drive. It was still early when we got back and so we watched tv until time to call it a night 

       

Tuesday, December 25^th, 2018……      MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!!!! We want to take this time to wish all of our family and friends a very merry Christmas!

 

We got up and moving around 6:30am. I decided to get Rylee out for her regular walk before we did any gift unwrapping. Our goal was for the three of us to open our gifts for each other then wait until we got the kids on facetime or marco polo. Lydia made scrambled eggs for breakfast and Penny made coffee. Lydia had her tea and we were ready! We opened up the gifts and then started making calls. We did Jeff and family first, since they are already three hours ahead of us. Their Christmas was broken up into batches because Krista had to work today. Then we called Randy and Maryanne and talked with them and we all had a nice time sharing holiday wishes. The gift exchange idea that Randy came up with seemed to work out well. Each of us was to go out and buy something they really wanted for themselves. Then, on Christmas, we shared via facetime what we had bought. Like I said, it worked out well and everyone was happy. Something to think about if/when we are away from each other again. Lydia and Penny got dinner ready pretty early and we enjoyed ham, au gratin potatoes, brussel sprouts, and biscuits, and peach and/or chocolate pie for dessert.  Everything was good and we all ate our fill.  Eating early gave us time to rest and relax for the rest of the day before having a light snack at dinner time.  My sister left and went home for the night, leaving Q with us for her sleepover. We ended up watching tv until bedtime, but we managed to clean up some of the boxes and get that stuff ready for the trash and/or packing back away in the next couple of days.      

     

Wednesday, December 26th, 2018…... Today was rainy again, at least for most of the morning and into the afternoon. We did have bits of clear skies and the sun actually came out for a while! Kirk came by but only did a bit of cleaning up and not any real gardening. He’s done for the year. I went out to the workshop and set up my new Buddy Propane heater that my sister got for me. It uses two small propane containers and really heats up the workshop! For those times when I’m only out there for a short time, it will save me from having to use the wood stove. Perfect!  I also test fired my new Gamo Air Rifle (it was part of the kids’ gift to me) that I had picked out and ordered for myself.  It fires .177 pellets and also has a 3 x 9 scope which I will have to zero in when I get around to setting up a bullseye target of some kind. The rifle will be used primarily for coyotes when they show up around here but I’m hoping it will be enough to scare off any cougars that have been known to hunt these rural neighborhoods. Later, sis came back and got her dog and took some leftovers home with her. Meanwhile, our lunch and dinner were mostly leftovers from Christmas eve and Christmas day. Lydia has been dealing with a stuffy nose and a cough for the past few days but she still has her appetite so that’s good.  She barely got dressed but, hey, we had nowhere to go so why worry! Since we didn’t have any company this year, we just left all of the Christmas storage boxes in the dining room. I spent some time taking down some of the inside decorations (garland, etc.) but neither of us had much desire to do any more. That’s for another day. We watched tv until bedtime.     

Oregon Living 2018 – Blog #156 – Working Around the Weather and Getting Ready for Christmas Eve

 

Friday, December 21st, 2018…...  Today, the weather was kind of cruddy. While it wasn’t raining, it was cloudy and cold. When I walked Rylee this morning, I had to dodge the water puddles because they were iced over.  Of course, it would be really cold - this is the first day of winter! Lydia had a good night’s sleep but Rylee is having some digestion issues and wanted outside more often to do her (runny) business. Last night she did sleep ok but got me up twice to go out. This morning Lydia smelled an accident on the living room carpet and got up to clean that up and spray it. Yuucck!  But muttley seems to be doing ok this afternoon and as we got in to the evening hours, everything looks normal again.

I’m keeping track on the motorhome fridge right now. I went out to start the coach and run it a bit and I always check out everything I can. The blue ice in the freezer wasn’t frozen and the fridge didn’t seem that cold.  So, I put some water in a cup and placed it in the freezer and put some bottled water in the fridge.  I turned up the settings and will check it tomorrow to see if I just had it set too low when we parked it. 

The rest of the day we just kicked back and relaxed and watched tv. I did take butthead out for another walk. Our grass still remains too soggy for her to run around and play on. But I can still get her out on the street and she can at least get some bit of exercise.

Later, Lydia said she wanted to go to Skyline for soup and salad. I wasn’t super hungry so I got their beef dip and a cup of soup. They give you a large sub bun full of beef so I ended up taking half of the sandwich to go. We got back home and were done for the night and just watched tv until bedtime.   

       

Saturday, December 22nd, 2018……  This morning we got up early and got our showers done and I got Rylee out and walked. My sister came over with Quincy and after they were done, she fed her here. We then left the dogs at home to rest and have the house to themselves while we took off to go to Shirley’s for breakfast. Then we headed over to Albany and went to Home Depot, Staples, and Lowes for some shopping. Christmas is done – this was for the bathroom towel racks and sis wanted to look at buying a printer. We got all of that done and headed back home, stopping by our Vet’s office to buy dog food for Rylee and get some prescription meds for Quincy. We headed home and I fed super pooper her lunch and Penny took Q home. The weather was overcast but dry. The sun came out for a bit mid-afternoon. After lunch I went out to the shop and worked out there for a while. I also went back to the grapevine pruning and got some more of that completed. I cut them up into 6-in. lengths and put them in trash containers to use as kindling for the stove in the workshop. One of the things on my shopping list was trash containers and I totally forgot about them while we were at Home Depot and Lowes! Dang! Oh well, I have one more trash can I can fill up. Instead of the trash cans, I think I’ll come up with a bin or something I can put just outside the workshop to dump these small vines into. Making a bin will make it easier to get to when I need them.  Later, we headed over to Walmart to get a few things and then came home and Lydia baked the last of the halibut that Tim & Dana had given us. Before it got too dark, I went out and checked the rv fridge. Everything is working as expected. Phew!  Later, we settled in and caught up on some of our taped shows and then called it a night.    

     

Sunday, December 23rd, 2018…... We slept right up until the time Rylee wanted us up – about 6:15am! She wanted out to go potty. I let her out and she did her business and I went right back to bed – after wiping her paws down. She’s been good about leaving us alone until about 7:00am when she comes looking for one of us get up to feed her breakfast. I was her choice today so I was now up! I got cleaned up and headed off to Starbucks and McDonald's but the rest of day I stayed around the house. Lydia went back to Walmart to get some items she forgot for our Christmas Eve dinner. We like to have Mexican food on that night and this year we’re planning on two types of enchiladas. My sister is bringing the rice and beans. I did get online and found a cabinet Lydia wants for above the toilet in our bathroom, so I ordered that. We ate an early dinner and each watched our shows until bedtime.