A6
Seniors
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
G RANT C OUNTY S ENIORS
John Day
Seniors
Nicky Essex
We missed our gang here
on Memorial Day weekend. It
is good to be back. We are try-
ing a new check-in “system”
for a while. Let us know what
you think. We like it so far. You
have to come for lunch Mon-
day or Thursday to find out
what it is.
A big thanks to Darlene at
Key Farm & Nursery for the
donation of a variety of garden
starts; Linda Stoltz also brought
in some plants for us, and the
Grant High Nursery donated
some as well. I know I will
enjoy watching a few of them
grow in my garden.
Thursday, the first day of
June, found Jeanette Julsrud
and Drew Harmer at the greet-
er’s desk. We will be missing
Bonnie Kocis for a while; they
are doing a “drive about.” Trav-
el safely, friends.
Our regulars from the
Church of the Nazarene were
serving us, led by Trace An-
drew, Duane Andrew, Vickie
Harrison, Dale Stinnett and Ev-
erett King. Joan and Joe Tayles
did the Meals on Wheels deliv-
eries in John Day and Canyon
City, and the Step Forward
gang, Amber Wright, Michael
Hagopian and Rodney Bruser,
took care of the Mt. Vernon
route. A total of 35 meals deliv-
ered in all. I wonder how they
liked them. I sure gobbled mine
up. We’re pretty spoiled here.
Everett King led us in a
very meaningful flag salute.
Our drawing produced some
special winners: Bonnie Pick-
le won the Valley View gift
certificate for a free meal,
and Greg Valentine won the
Chester’s Thriftway gift certif-
icate. Dale Stinnett prayed the
blessing over our meal and our
country.
Veanne told us there will
be two Alzheimer’s classes at
the Department of Human Ser-
vices building, behind NAPA,
tomorrow, June 8, beginning
at 10 a.m. Call for other times.
NORCO is advising everyone
who is on oxygen to stock
up on bottles for the eclipse.
Those who usually deliver
could have trouble getting
them to you. Don’t forget the
health fair, June 16. Veanne
said there are still plenty of
scholarships for seniors who
need blood tests — pre-regis-
ter.
We dined on sweet and
sour chicken, steamed rice and
egg rolls and luscious birthday
cake to celebrate June birth-
days for dessert. It was a real
treat to see Stephen and Jan-
et Pang, who joined us at our
table. I tried to get Stephen to
put on an apron and go help in
the kitchen, but he said, “I’m
retired now.” They said it was
very good, and they will be
back.
Helen Bogart’s daughter
Susan and her husband (AKA
ornery) Jim Kirkwood joined
her for lunch as they usually
do when they come through
town.
It is so nice to come here
and be loved by our gang.
Don’t be shy; come make
some great friends.
We play bingo every Thurs-
day after lunch, at 1 p.m. Come
and join us.
Shay is still looking for vol-
unteers to serve for the three
days of our eclipse breakfasts.
Sign up for one, two or three.
The sun is out. I need to go
get some. See you on Mon-
day and Thursday for lunch.
Be here by 11:45 a.m. so our
servers can start lunch on time.
On June 8, we’ll have spaghet-
ti and baguettes. On June 12,
we’ll have Polish sausage and
kraut.
Romans 8:28 “And we
know that in all things God
works for the good of those
who love him, who have been
called according to his pur-
pose.”
Monument
Seniors
Soo Yukawa
Can’t believe we are now in
the month of June. Yes, really.
Weather has been better, that it
has been possible to transplant
some tomatoes and pepper
plants. I got lucky and got a cou-
ple of plants each of Armenian
cucumber, yellow straightneck
squash and a couple of Kore-
an melon that came up from
seeds. Many, including myself,
have had issues and difficulties
germinating and starting plants
from seeds this year. It probably
had to do with the weird weather
and sudden fluctuations in tem-
perature changes.
Our last meal of May was
prepared by our dedicated cooks
Terry Cade and Carrie Jewell.
They made us a new item of Ha-
waiian barbecue chicken over
rice, a very fresh and green salad
and birthday cake for dessert. I
think it was a hit.
Our greeters were Bob
Blakeslee, Bodean Andersen
and Marva Walker. Bob led us
in the flag salute. Bodean made
the announcements and prayed
the blessing over our meal. Mar-
va collected and counted the
money.
Mary Cade and the kids
of Monument school planted
pumpkins and sunflowers in the
garden behind the food bank.
Their plan is to have pumpkins
for sale in the fall for Halloween.
Both Judy Cavendar and
Jimmy Cole won free meals. We
had a total of 48 meals served
and six takeouts. Bodean made
the announcement that there
are many rattlesnakes slithering
around so please be very careful
out there.
Our one mama cat that had
kittens caught a furry creature
the other day. I didn’t know
what it was. It looked like a gi-
ant mouse but with a long and
furry tail. I asked my hubby to
look up the image of a pack rat
on the internet. My fears were
confirmed. Mei had caught a big
fat pack rat. She wanted to feed
it to her kittens. They each got a
turn to gnaw on the pack rat. I
hope they will learn to be good
mousers. She’s been bringing
them “treats” to try. The other
day, it was a fat gopher. Good
to know that there is one less
gopher that could get in my gar-
den.
Summer will be in full swing
very soon, if it hasn’t already.
I figured out how to utilize all
those rocks that I dug up. I am
going to lay down gardening
fabric around my fruit trees and
then lay down rocks in a circle
around them. I will put down
bark inside the circle of rocks to
stifle weed growth and promote
moisture retention. Now those
are the ideas in my head, don’t
know if they will work in reality.
I will let you know.
Monument is still a beautiful
green. The grass and other veg-
etation are growing like crazy.
I actually got to use the weed
whacker. Hmm, I think I need to
work out my arms.
Jude 1:20-21 “But ye, be-
loved, building up yourselves
on your most holy faith, pray-
ing in the Holy Ghost. Keep
yourselves in the love of God,
looking for the mercy of our
Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal
life.”
Prairie City
Seniors
Rose Coombs
Well, looky here. Remember
the grape vine that I transplanted
from behind the church a few
years ago? The vine has started
growing again there – out from
under the cement. If you want a
tough vine, I think that is the one
to get. Maybe I can get another
start from it and put it on the
south (read “sunny”) side of the
house so it can cast some shade
on the big picture window.
OK, back to business. Lon-
nie and Naomi Hackler helped
Bruce Kaufmann do the set up;
Larry, Carlos, Ken and Marjean
did the deliveries; and a whole
host of people helped with get-
ting the dinner on the table and
cleaning up afterwards. Thank
you all for your service. We’re
glad to have Jerry and Evelyn
Sheets back with us, so Jerry
led the flag salute, and Evelyn
helped me count the money.
Jack Retherford asked the bless-
ing. Frances announced the
workshop that the Alzheimer’s
Association will be giving on
June 8 at the DHS office. There
was an eclipse meeting after our
meal, too.
I could only find two peo-
ple who had a birthday in May:
Frances Preston and Marilyn
Randall. Marilyn had her “but-
ton” drawn for the $10 in trade
donated by Huffman’s Market.
The gift certificate of $5 do-
nated by Prairie Hardware &
Gifts went to Lonnie Hackler.
Assistant cook Tom thought
that the big, blank white board
should have something written
on it, so he found a quote in one
of the new cookbooks: “Food
for thought: friends are the choc-
olate chips in the cookie of life.”
That’s a good one.
We had 68 names on the reg-
istration book. We welcomed
a first-timer in the person of
Bonnie Taylor to our gathering.
Lorna and Shauntele brought
Dorothy Blasing, Lois Hill and
Marilyn Randall from the Blue
Mountain Care Center. We had
a picnic for our meal: orange
juice, “pre-eclipse” macaroni
salad (Tom thought the egg slic-
es looked like an eclipse), pork
and beans, pulled pork, rolls
and a very chocolate brownie.
And we were all still eating and
visiting at 12:45. Hurray. That’s
what this is for. We’re not a fast
food joint to just grab, eat and
run. Take a break. Have a face-
to-face conversation with a real,
live human being. Set an exam-
ple for the young ones. OK, I’ll
get off that soapbox now.
The memorial for Buzz Har-
ris was uplifting and enlighten-
ing. I found out a lot of things
that I did not know about our
friend. And I was so pleased to
hear the “congregation” sing the
chosen old hymns with gusto.
Good job, people. We have been
gifted with a new-to-us 100-gal-
lon hot water heater. That should
eliminate the problem of run-
ning out of hot water. Thanks
to the John Day Senior Center
for that donation. We are look-
ing forward to getting the new
exit doors and ramp installed in
June. Then we will be ADA and
fire code compliant. Hooray.
And isn’t it strange that
with all the rain we had that the
ground is so dry? Went out to
dig more in the garden plot and
good grief. Where did all the
moisture go?
Job 37: 11, 13 “He loads the
clouds with moisture … to water
his earth and show his love.”
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