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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 12, 2017)
A6 Seniors Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, July 12, 2017 G RANT C OUNTY S ENIORS John Day Seniors Nicky Essex My goodness, it was still 100 degrees at our house at 6 p.m. recently. I guess summer is here for real now! On Monday, July 3, Merry Henry and I were greeters, a job we love, but we’ll be glad to get some more help. The Blue Mountain Hospi- tal Auxiliary was here to serve us. Mary Miles and Gloria Ku- lis did a great job serving us at the tables, after delivering meals to our friends in John Day and Canyon City. Michael Hagopian and Travis Estes did the Mt. Vernon route. Total reg- ular meals delivered was 33, and the total of the frozen meals was 76. I have to say once more what a merciful gift you all are to our community. Thank you so much. We want to thank Diane Blakeslee for the lovely bou- quet of white lilies. Also, be on the alert for our “Christmas in July” celebration coming soon (July 20): turkey, dressing, door prizes and fun. You have to be here to learn more. Gloria Kulis led the flag salute, and Alma Joslin prayed for our meal. Billie Bullard won the free meal, Ken Henry won the Len’s Drug certificate and the Harrison Ranch Pro- duce certificate went to Karen Barrietua. Our meal was another indoor picnic. Hot dogs with all of the fixings, sour cream potato sal- ad, baked beans and red, white and blue Jell-O with strawberry shortcake with whipped cream for dessert. Yummy. Lisa, you outdid yourself! Thursday, July 6, found Merry Henry teamed up with Drew Harmer to greet our din- ers. The John Day Church of the Nazarene served us under the guidance of Trace Andrew. With her were Dale Stennett, Everett King and Vickie Har- rison. We had a full house and lots going on. I want everyone to know that while we were eating lunch, our chef Shay, Lisa, Danny and Veanne were heaving boxes of frozen foods from our broken down freezer into their own cars, trucks etc, to take to Russell’s Custom Meats, who stepped right up to help save our food. Thank yous to all, and to those who jumped in after dinner to help as well. Our dear friends Joan and Joel Tayles made the meal de- liveries to John Day and Can- yon City, while Michael and Rodney from Step Forward did the Mt. Vernon route, for a total of 40 meals. Dale Stennett led our flag salute, and Everett King led our prayer. Drawings were won by Nadine Smith, Valley View meal; Vickie Harrison, Chester’s Thriftway certifi- cate; and Linda Christiansen, Harrison Ranch certificate! Our entrée was donated by Old West Federal Credit Union. We enjoyed chicken cordon bleu lasagna with veg- gies, baguettes, carrot salad and, of course, our friends at Driskill Memorial Chapel pro- vided a lovely birthday cake for those who celebrate their birthdays in July. We served 63 diners. The meal on July 13 will be pork chops and Waldorf salad. The meal on July 17 will be chicken teriyaki salad with summer vegetable soup. Don’t forget, we play bingo after lunch every Thursday. We are glad to welcome Bonnie and Frances Kocis back from their travels. You’ve been missed. I am not at liberty to say who, but we all want to thank our “secret pot washer,” who says it is a labor of love. Galatians 5:1 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. ... The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Monument Seniors Soo Yukawa I wasn’t sure if I was going to write an article or not this week because we did not have lunch served on the Fourth of July. There was bingo played in the evening, however. The oth- er events, of course, included the Monument Jubilee, parade and the famous fireworks that are the envy of nearby towns. I must say that it is comparable to the fireworks at Disneyland in California. So, for such a small town to have such a nice display of that caliber, it’s pret- ty impressive. I don’t know about the rest of the state of Oregon, but oh my goodness, the heat has been intense! We’ve had temps in the triple digits for the past week. I am not liking the scorching very much, but you know, my tomatoes and cucumbers are loving it. My Armenian cu- cumbers are taking off. I saw some buds, and they are start- ing to climb and send those ten- dril-like things to grab for sup- port. I got some nice Anaheim peppers that I ate. My beautiful lettuce has now bolted. Rasp- berries are starting to ripen, and we are also getting some peas. So I thought I got like three volunteer squash plants a few weeks ago that had made me so happy. While quenching the thirsty plants and watering them in the evening, upon closer in- spection, I realized they were cucumbers and not squash! I don’t know how they got there because I didn’t plant cucum- bers there last year. I planted yellow straight-neck squash next to them too. I hope they don’t cross-pollinate and create some weird hybrid. Maybe I will get some nice pickling cu- cumbers to go with all that dill I accidentally planted, ha. My goats did a fantastic job of clearing out thistle in the pig pen and trampled and ate down the rye grass too. They did much better than me trying to use the weed whacker. They have been moved to their pen but have been secured so that they can’t escape. After they are done chomping down the thistles in there, they will be loaned out to a friend. I think my hubby might just lend the goats permanently. They are handy sometimes, right? I was pretty impressed that they ate every part of the thistle plants. They really do have tough tongues, because those sharp and pointy needles on the thistles are scary! I tried to yank that purple flower to taste because someone said they are sweet, and I got poked. Oh, did that hurt. I’ve been told that the days are already getting shorter. What? How can that be al- ready? It feels like we just started summer. I can’t get over how time is passing by so quickly. There’s so much to do. Life out here is definitely not boring. I’ve never been so busy in all my life. The best part about living out here is visiting with friends and people. Life in the city doesn’t give much time for that. They are missing out. James 4:7 “Submit your- selves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Prairie City Seniors Rose Coombs Remember how we com- plained about the cold and snow six months ago? Well, is it warm enough for you now? PTL for air conditioning! Don’t forget that we live in the “tem- perate” zone, too. That means we have four seasons – usually. We were informed that long- time resident and senior lunch supporter Dorothy Blasing passed away. Our condolences to her family. Another former diner, who wishes to remain anonymous, brought in a large supply of fragrant sweet peas. So Ellie put them in vases and distrib- uted them to each table. Those who wished could take a bunch home after lunch, too. Thank you, kind sir. Larry, Carlos, Ginger and Carla did the home deliveries. Dru led the flag salute, and I asked the blessing. The $5 gift certificate donated by Prairie Hardware & Gifts went to Ev- elyn Sheets. Frances announced that an eclipse meeting would be held after lunch. Also a Board of Di- rectors meeting will be on July 19 and Site Committee on Aug. 2. We still need warm bodies to fill slots on these various groups. Come join the party. Among our 58 diners was Jim and Pam’s son, Curtis, who was visiting over the Fourth. The emergency exit ramp fi- nally appeared – two weeks late – but at least it is here. The truck driver made several circuits be- fore he found someone to tell him where he should unload. Turns out we don’t have our street number on the building. Well, how about that? Anoth- er project. At least it is a small one. The ramp project turned into more than we planned on, but we will really be in compli- ance when it gets all done. Our Fourth of July meal (on July 5) had Tom handing out cheeseburgers for us to put our condiments on, potato salad, beans and wieners and creamy cheesecake with blueberries and a strawberry slice on top. For liquid refreshment, there was lemonade, iced tea, milk, orange juice, buttermilk, coffee and tea. And it only costs $4. What a deal! Son number one and family came to spend the Fourth with us. I managed to get him to play the drums with me on the patri- otic offertory on Sunday. They did all the Fourth things here, then went to Bend to make for- ays to the High Desert Museum and Crater Lake. The grandkids made forays into the motel pool with great delight during the hot spell. We went to Bend for a CT scan on Derrol’s repaired shoul- der joint. The techs weren’t told that there was a new metal joint in it. Had to make a few adjustments to where to put the needle in to administer the con- trasting medium. But all turned out well. Not many pain nerves left in that area so he didn’t feel any discomfort. One of the technicians had even taken a motorcycle ride through Prairie City, so he knew how far away we were. That was a first! I John 4:19 “We love be- cause He first loved us.” Church Services In Grant County Come Worship with us at
