Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #76 – Puppies and a Win & a Loss!

 

Saturday, October 28th, 2017…...  Today was an easy day.  I did do some minor work on the house and then kicked back for the rest of the day.  Lydia called to let me know that she heard from our breeder about an available English golden puppy.  We will pass for now and wait until her girls have their next litter(s) around February.  By then we will be done with the construction and maybe we can figure out how to fence the yard for containment.  We are also thinking about the invisible fences like our neighbor used for their Goldendoodle.  I have been filling in the day with little projects that won’t affect my back.  I’ve really been taking it easy but my lawn is getting long!  Hmmmm.  Nope, no way right now! I watched Nascar and college football and then Dodgers world series baseball.  Yaay, we won tonight!  That means no matter what happens tomorrow, there will be a game 6 in LA and we will have home field advantage which is important! 

Sunday, October 29th, 2017…...  Today was a cloudy overcast day. I didn’t go anywhere or do much of anything.  It was a very quiet day.  Lydia called and said that later she would be sending me some pics of Jeff’s leg and some of the kids. I made some coffee and ate a light breakfast. Penny came by with Quincy and they walked around and played ball for a while.  She stayed and visited.  Oh, she wanted me to correct my last post – she only has cancer in the one breast, my error. After they left, I read the paper and cleaned up the kitchen and picked up around the house at bit. I was going to go out for a bit and explore Crawfordsville. My contractor gave me the name of their tax person and I wanted to go see her office. But I decided to save that for a better less gloomy day. I did get a call from someone who said I called her number and awarded some kind of a bid.  She said I had a wrong number!  So I called Tim’s cell and spoke with him about getting the job.  We talked a bit about the timeline and next steps and he answered some of my questions.  It was reassuring to hear about it.  I’m excited that we are in process!   I filled in the rest of the day and evening watching some taped shows and then football, Nascar, Formula 1, and then game 5 of the world series.  My Dodgers make me nervous! They went back and forth and made a great effort but lost tonight.  Next game is Tuesday at home and they need to win.   

Here are pics of Jeff's leg. Yuuck!

Here are the grandkids, Shelby, Kate, and Jacob working on pumpkins and Jacob 

visiting the Halloween Spirit Store.

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #75 – Surgery and a Decision!

 

Thursday, October 26th, 2017…...  I had a busy day planned today. I had talked to Lydia this morning and she said that Jeff’s varicose surgery went well.  They did 43 pokes/stabs in his right leg plus the one main problem vein was attached to in two locations and removed.  He is home and resting with not much pain so far but the anesthetics will wear off shortly.  They said he must take the prescribed pain meds (he doesn’t like to take any drugs except maybe Tylenol) because he will be extremely hurting for the next few days.  But at least he has his mom to look after him and make sure he gets up and walks as directed and follows orders!  She already promised to make them all her pumpkin bread so he better do what she says if he wants any! 

After the call, I went out and hooked up the trailer.  I had visited my fab shop and my axle was in.  They can’t get to it right away but they want the thing there as fill-in work when they can.  Rocky wants to come by and get my electrical situation squared away so he can get me a better quote.  My sister had talked to me a few days ago but I didn’t want to share until she said so.  Her biopsy came back positive for cancer in both breasts.  She has been on the phone with several doctors, care givers, counselors, etc. who are carefully taking her through the process.  They have more tests to schedule but she will be going through chemotherapy and then radiation soon.  She has a positive attitude and that’s going to help but please keep her in your prayers. She was here and left Quincy so she could go meet with Kirk to get plants and flowers for her place.  His local source, Garland Nursery, has a sale going with 70% off some of the things she wants so it made sense to get going on that today.      

Friday, October 27th, 2017…...  Rocky was a no show yesterday with no phone call so I think I will be getting with Tim to let them know they are my guys.  I want to head into Albany and get some more cabinet hardware from Home Depot plus I want to go get that recliner.  I got rolling early and called my sister and went and picked her up for the day. We stopped at Shirley May’s for breakfast.  I’ve taken Lydia here before but not Penny.  She ordered 1 pancake with scrambled eggs and bacon. Shirley and I told it was a big pancake!

Afterward, we headed over to Albany and stopped first at the tax office in the Albany courthouse so she could pay her property taxes.  We just sent a check in but she wanted to use her card to get points so she did it directly at their office.  Next, we went to Big Lots. My recliner wasn’t going on sale any time soon and I was tired of using Walt’s old one in my room and this one fit me and was very comfortable and the price was right and they had it in stock, so we took one home. I used help (and my belt) to get it loaded and Penny helped get the old one out and the new one in at home.  It looks good and fits in my room! Now I can watch the Dodger game in comfort. 

Oh, they lost again tonight. Bummer.  It looks like their bats have gone to sleep.  They better get it going and even up the series tomorrow! Earlier, I called Tim’s office number and left a message that he got the job and asked him to get his schedule together and inquired as to what exact date he wants payment number 1.  So, pending his availability, it’s on now!  They have to submit plans to the city and get all the necessary permits, which will take some time.  Plus I need to get a copy of their plan so I can take it around to my neighbors for their “ok”.  I’m told it’s a minor formality and more of a courtesy to the neighbors.  I would want that as well if/when any of them ever do a project like this. I’ll be talking to Tim later and get a timeframe for all of this but I’m getting excited!  Whenever they can start I just hope the weather stays good in batches so they can get the site prepped and concrete poured. Tim says he and his crew work pretty much year round and will work in the rain as long as they can. 

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #74 – Lydia’s on the Move!

 

Tuesday, October 24th, 2017…...  I stayed up/slept in my chair last night because we had to get moving around 2:30am!  I slept off and on but was able to get enough sleep and managed to wake up without an alarm right on time!  We got out on the road by 3:15 and made the drive to Portland Intl Airport by 4:45am, plenty of time for her to check in and make her way to boarding.  I hit the road and made my way home, stopping for coffee and breakfast along the way.  I got home about 7:10am and napped for an hour or so then headed out to Corvallis and then Albany.  Stopped at Kmart and bought a couple of flannel shirts, and went to Home Depot for rock salt and cabinet hardware, and then headed to Albany to check Habitat for Humanity to see if they had something to compare to the cabinet I found at the thrift store in Lebanon.  I want it for my bench grinder in the shop.  Nothing there.  I headed to Harbor Freight to get more hooks for my pegboard in the shop, then to Big Lots to check out their recliners.  Walt’s leftover in my office is really starting to bug me.  It’s not comfortable and it makes it hard on my back getting in and out of it.  I don’t need anything fancy and they had one I liked.  Might go back in a few days and get it…. I also went back to the thrift store with a tape and measured that cabinet.  In the end, I think I will pass on it.  Even though it’s nice and sturdy (made with good sturdy heavy duty wood from days past) l think it’s too big for what I need.  I will keep looking. Penny brought her friend Jareth over so see our place. She’s an old friend who flew up from SoCal to see her.  They left Quincy with me and went to Sweet Home for dinner.  I opted out to watch the Dodgers play game 1 of the World Series. I heard from Lydia as she made her stop in Houston and then finally when she got picked up by Krista and the girls in Fort Myers.  Glad the flights went well but I’m sure she’s tired.  I’ll have to text them to let them know not to overwhelm her with too much too soon.  I also spoke to Bobby, my finance guy, to get him ready to get us 1^st installment on the payment for the rv garage.  I meet with Rocky (bidder number 3) tomorrow morning to answer a question he has about electrical. I should hear back tomorrow on his bid.  We’ll see. Back to baseball….. My Dodgers got off to a great start with a win!  Hopefully, they can keep this going.       

Wednesday, October 25th, 2017…...  I went to bed early last night.  No doubt I was tired but it’s very quiet here, even more than usual so it was hard to get to sleep.  But once I did I slept through the night.  Rocky did not come by as promised.  He did text me later with a quote, which was a close but still ballpark number, and was a bit higher than Tim’s, so I told him that and he needs to firm up his quote and that I still had one item left from my other guy.  I made it to my doctor’s appointment.  I previously had a had a mole scraped and tested (it’s benign) and he wanted to freeze the rest of it off today.  No worries and I was home in no time.  Penny asked me to ride along with her to Eugene to take Jareth to the airport. They came by and I drove my car (more comfortable for my back).  We dropped her off, said our goodbyes and headed over to Jerry’s hardware to exchange an electrical outlet I had bought a month or so ago.  That done, we stopped at Lowe’s for her to return some items and then we headed to Newman’s fish house for lunch. She treated since I drove (thanks Sis!).  That was good enough to hold me for the night.  Almost! I did have a piece of chocolate pie they had brought me yesterday from Skyline. I finished up some work on my trailer and ended the night watching the Dodger game. They went into extra innings but we came up short tonight so now the series heads to Houston for the next three games.  Hopefully we’ll do better there! I worked on my bills a bit and then watched Survivor (taped) and called it a night.

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #73 – Great Weather and Changing Colors

 

Sunday, October 22th, 2017…...  The rains have gone for a while and it’s a nice sunny day today.  It’s still nice to see the rains come and everything look so clean and crisp, although I’m sure there will be a time coming when I want sunny skies more than rainy ones!  This last rainstorm showed us our drainage patterns around the property.  Our whole neighborhood, 7 houses on our cul-de-sac, are all in a meadow/marshy area and our property is the lowest of all.  Walt had french drains put in several years ago to help channel water off the lawns and that is working well.  We’re hoping that continues throughout the rainy season. But it was nice enough today for us to move out and about.  I spent some time out in my shop but didn’t get too much done – still babying my sore back – so I took it easy.  I cleaned up some grapevines and picked up some apples that were blown off the trees.  The apples are about done, some have worm holes or have been chewed on by birds, but we will pick one more time and cut up what we can for applesauce or pies.  Grapes are gone. The blueberry bushes are changing color now to deep red.

Kirk is pretty much done with the landscaping.  If he hasn’t already ordered bark for the last of our flowerbed islands way out toward the back of the property, we are going to stop him and maybe do that last one next season.  The rest of day we just kicked back and watched taped shows, races, and football.  Lydia didn’t get anything out for dinner so we drove over and got Taco Bell to bring home to eat and watch tv.       

Monday, October 23rd, 2017…...  This morning Lydia is working on her packing.  Her flight leaves out of Portland (100 miles) at 5:45am tomorrow morning so we will be going to bed super early.  I probably will just stay up in my chair and nap because we need to be on the road early early early.  She has everything out and is trying to figure out how to pack it all!  We are also going over plans for my week. I have a few errands plus I need to get my financial guy going on funding for the rv garage construction.  Still waiting a few days to pick the contractor but they all want progress payments so I need to make sure I can get him paid in the increments he needs as the job progresses. I’ll keep her posted but she needs to concentrate on her visit and help Krista take care of Jeff and also relax and enjoy her time with our new daughter-in-law plus our new grandkids!     

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #72 – Groceries, Bids, and Trip Plans

 

Friday, October 20th, 2017…...  We had a few things on our agenda for today.  First up was to go eat!  We went to Kevin’s in town but they were packed. I guess folks have nothing else to do when it rains but go eat! Anyway, we drove up towards Albany and stopped at Shirley May’s place.  This is a tiny little place that Rick and I went to when they were here visiting.  Lydia had never been…  We got seats at the counter because this place was full too!  Shirley waits tables and she has one lady cook and one person for the dishes. The cook makes each order start to finish so we had several ahead of us.  We could see them being worked one at a time so we knew it would take a while.  Tough part was sitting for so long on the barstools with no backs!  I had to get up several times to stretch my back. But the food was good when we got it and we were happy that it stopped raining in the time that we were there.  From there we headed to Walmart for some serious grocery shopping.  We got home and put the stuff away and went over to Penny’s to take her some items she wanted.  She is still sore from yesterday’s biopsy. I also put up curtain rods in her living room and fixed some drawers in a cabinet for her office. Afterward, we came back home to rest.  I spent the afternoon calling my other 3 contractors letting them know if that still wanted to submit a bid, they better get it to me soonest!  I already had that astronomical ($117k) bid from Jeremy (number 1). Later that afternoon, I heard back from Arron (number 2) who gave me a rough bid over the phone.  I asked him to not work on it to get the final number as he was higher on the pole barn than Tim (number 5) was for a stick built structure. I would rather have the building made conventionally (stick frame) as opposed to a pole barn (poles buried in the ground and walls and roof made from trusses) because I’m told stick frame construction lasts longer.  Still waiting on Rocky (number 3) and Kenneth (number 4) but it’s coming on the weekend so I’ll wait until next week and if I don’t hear from them I’m going with Tim.  Lydia picked up stuff for chicken and rice soup for dinner and she got that going.  We were going to have cornbread with it but our stove is still giving us fits.  I’ve got the owner’s manual in my office now and am reading it in hopes that we can sort it out.  Brian – we need you to come visit and bring your expertise!  But we did have homemade banana pudding for dessert and that was really tasty! Later, it was tv then bedtime.   

Saturday, October 21st, 2017…...  Last night was exciting!  We had some serious winds, the highest we’ve seen since we’ve been here.  We had a plastic chair blow right off the porch last night. We have no trees close to the house but when we woke up this morning there were leaves all over the lawn from the trees waaay far away! But no damage so that’s good.

Today was a lazy day.  We had nothing on the agenda today, plus it was raining, so we spent it around the house. I did the vacuuming and then we got out some luggage for Lydia to choose from.  She wants to do carry-on all the way but she is going for 7 days, plus I don’t want her lugging a suitcase on and off the plane or in Houston for her stop, so I think she is better suited to just take a larger suitcase and check it all the way to Fort Myers. She also washed clothes and bedding so I won’t have to worry about that while she’s gone. Plus, she wanted some of the clothes to pack. We ate a bbq rib dinner and watched tv and talked about the trip a bit before calling it a night.    

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #71 – Housework, Labs, and World Series Bound!

 

Wednesday, October 18th, 2017…...  Good night’s sleep for both of us last night!  I’m hoping we are both on the road to recovery.  Just to be safe, I’m still taking it very easy.  Lydia picked up stuff around the house and I vacuumed. It’s pretty easy though, with the central vacuum system.  All I have to do is plug in at three spots around the house.  I’m getting spoiled! The area rugs and the hallway runners were also easy to vacuum. While we were resting, our latest contractor dropped off their bid.  It was exactly half of the only other bid we received.  We were thinking that that guy really didn’t need (or want) the work so he decided to come in super high. We won’t decide on this last one until we get at least one or two more from the three contractors who have been here. But it looks good so far!  Later in the afternoon, we met Penny in the old town (downtown) area to walk around a bit.  Both of the girls have been chomping at the bit to check out the little shops on Main St.  Me, not so much but we were going out to eat later so I was in.  They found several antique shops and some boutiques and I went in to the Teen Challenge thrift store here and found some things for another visit. Afterward, we went in to Conversion Brewing, right on Main St., a place I was hoping to get to, and had linner.  The food was pretty good and the beer was excellent!  We got back in time to watch the Dodgers play. They didn’t win today though.  Maybe tomorrow. 

Thursday, October 19th, 2017…...  Another great night’s sleep! The rains are coming in. We woke up to the pitter patter on the roof.  Looking at the national map, it looks like Oregon/Washington has the only rain at this time. Oh well, I guess we better start getting used to it!  Lydia went out to get her nails done and then later we rode along with Penny to Salem for her consult with her doctor. She had her mammogram this week and she has a lump they wanted to talk about.  They ended up doing a biopsy which will come back next week. She was sore from the needle so I drove us all back to Albany where we stopped for dinner at Sizzlers.  Then she dropped us off and went home to rest.  We watched tv.  Oh yeah – my Dodgers are going to the World Series!  Not sure if we will face New York or Houston – but we are in the World Series!  Yaaaaay!   

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #70 – Doctor’s Appointments & Dodger Baseball !

 

Monday, October 16th, 2017…...  Today was our doctor’s appointments.  They made them for us one after the other so we could go together.  This is our first meeting with this new guy.  He wanted an hour for each of us for consult so that was a good sign.  We’ve already filled out most of the forms they need so we were ready.  The appointments went well and we both liked our new doctor.  My meeting was pretty short.  A quick exam, vitals, medical history, prescription updates, a flu shot, a mole burned off my temple, and no need for a follow up.  Lydia’s appointment took more time, given her health issues and all her meds she needs to get ordered. She got her flu shot and also a referral for a nephrologist.  So that was done. Now we can relax for a bit and get her appointment set for the kidney specialist.  We drove around for a while because they were calling ahead to Walgreen’s for our immediate prescriptions.  We got back into town and stopped at Jack in the Box and had a light meal, got our prescriptions and then went home and finished up with tv for the night.

Tuesday, October 17th, 2017…...  Today was Penny’s doctor’s appointment.  She had to drive to Salem so we told her to just bring Quincy over on her way.  I walked her and then we ate breakfast.  Lydia made breakfast burritos (my fav!) and then I went to Wilco to pick up some bolts for my workbench.  I’m lucky that Walt left me a perfect spot where he had his chop saw for me to use for mine.  I had to cut out a bit off the sides but that was easy.  I bolted mine in place and all that’s left is to get a vacuum hose to hook up to the system I put in a few months ago.  That involves crawling under the workbench which will have to wait until my back feels better.  Lydia got some more lidocaine for her back and that is helping somewhat.  I hope she feels ok by this time next week because that’s when she flies out to Florida to see Jeff and family and be there after his surgery.   Penny got back and by then our pest control follow up treatment appointment guy was here and gone and Kirk had come by with more bark to put down.  He will be getting more for me but will just add it to the order for Penny’s house scheduled tomorrow. Lydia fixed Costco tamales (and chili) for dinner and she went to the living room for her tv shows and I headed to my office/tv room to watch baseball.  My Dodgers won yet again!  One more to go to get to the World Series!