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.

Oregon Living 2018 – Blog #155 – Test is Done!

 

Thursday, December 20th, 2018…...  Lydia woke up in time to start the second half of her pre-test liquids and finished that with no problems. We left the house about 8:00am to drive to Corvallis for her 9:00am procedure. I got her checked in and they ended up taking her in a little early. I then took off to go get something to eat. It didn’t take too long before they called me back. She was done. The tests couldn’t have been better! While they did find extreme irritated bowels (from the diverticulitis), there were no polyps or anything else that they were concerned about. They said they did need a biopsy and they took that for testing. She does have a scheduled appointment as a follow-up the first of the month and hopefully that will now be routine. They did give her a new prescription for more antibiotics which we will pick up later today. Hopefully, that will clear up her issues and she will be back to normal soon! We stopped by Starbucks for her tea, and then McDonald's and I got her lunch. She’s feeling back to normal except I’m sure she’ll sleep a lot today and tonight. My sister came over to check on her and visit a bit. Then Lydia started making dinner (chicken burritos) while Rylee and I went and picked up her prescription. She was tired but stayed awake while we watched the Survivor finale and reunion show. But after one episode of the Gingerbread House Baking Contest she was ready for bed and called it an early night. We're ready for Christmas now!  

Oregon Living 2018 – Blog #154 – Drs. Appointments and Back to the Grapevines 

 

Monday, December 17th, 2018…...  Today we had two things to do, or should I say Lydia had two things to do… She took off around 8:45 for her appointment with the gastrologist. They needed to check with her and make sure she was able to have her Thursday colonoscopy. Her symptoms have lessened so it’s a go. It started sprinkling early so I didn’t go out this morning after I walked Rylee. But just a bit later the weather cleared up and the sun came out and it was a beautiful day. While Lydia was gone, I took Rylee out to the shop with me. But she saw activity across the street at Ollie’s house and she was gone! The neighbor from behind Paul and Corie’s house had come by to see if her dogs were ok. Seems he heard what sounded like a dog stuck in an animal trap. Everybody’s animals were ok so we figure it was an injured coyote. There have been cougar sightings in the area recently. Or maybe a coyote had killed a fox and that’s what they heard. Anyway, Rylee played with the dog they brought with them and Ollie came out and all three had a great run around the yard! I brought her back home and, since the weather was nice, I went out and trimmed some more of the grapevines. When I finished filling the barrel, I came in. My sister came by to drop off some cheesecake and after spending time out there with me, went in to visit with Lydia, who had come back from her appointment and was reading up on the paperwork they gave her about her procedure.  Lydia was on the phone because she forgot the time and missed her mammogram. They got it rescheduled for next month so she’s good. 

The rest of the day was uneventful and we ate and then watched tv until bedtime. 

       

Tuesday, December 18th, 2018……  Only One Week ‘til CHRISTMAS!  This morning we had some actual rain! It came down pretty hard for about an hour. So, now our low-lying backyard grass is now really waterlogged! The French drains help but they filled up from the downpour.  Needless to say, I didn’t take Rylee out for her walk as early as I usually do. I ate breakfast and read the paper and watched tv for a while. Later, the skies cleared up and the sun came out again. I got Rylee out and Sabrina was also out walking Camo, the English bulldog from up the street.  Rylee is now close to 70 lbs and Camo is just 60 but he’s a very aggressive 1 yr. old and even though he’s fixed, he still has his urges. Rylee just wants to play and doesn’t understand why he doesn’t want to play face to face (if you know what I mean).  She always ends up laying down and playing submissive (this time right on the wet road) and I’m done with that so I split them up and we continued with our walk. Later in the day, the skies clouded up again and it started in again. This storm is supposed to be very weak but is pretty good-sized and will hang around for a few days, so we’re not drying out again until Thursday.  Lydia took some shrimp out of the freezer and baked potatoes to go with it and we ate and watched our programs until calling it a night.

     

Wednesday, December 19th, 2018…...  I wanted to go to Lowes and/or Home Depot Albany this morning to get some new towel bars for the master bath. We’ve changed out all of the drawer pulls and need to now do the towel bars. Walt has three different styles one of which is oak, so we need to change that out. I took Rylee out and then let her run with Quincy who was visiting. Later, when they went back home, I followed them and helped my sister get her new safe put in her house. It’s a Christmas gift from us but she picked it out on to Amazon and just had it delivered direct to her place. It came last week. It’s not that big but we had to dolly it in so I wanted to make sure she didn’t do it by herself. Christmas came early for her this year! I stopped on the way home and got breakfast and brought it home. Lydia is on a restricted diet prior to her colonoscopy tomorrow so she just ate some toast. She takes a pill today to help start the process. Then later, she will take the liquids required and you all know what happens after that! So, she is staying close to the house. I want her to help choose what style of towel bars we will put in so I’m going to wait until we can both go together. So, I’m sticking around the house with her. The weather is kind of icky today. No rain yet but the skies are cloudy. If it warms up a bit, maybe I’ll go out and work on the grapevines some more.  

Ok, no working on the grapevines today. No much rain but I decided to wait until another day. I fixed my own dinner as she is on a restricted diet for tomorrow. Around 5:00pm, she started in on the liquid assignment. Later, we planned on watching the taped finale of Survivor but she transitioned to watching tv in the bedroom to be closer to the toidy! She ended up falling asleep early. Besides, she has to be up at 5:00am to start back on the other half of the liquid.