A6
Seniors
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
G RANT C OUNTY S ENIORS
John Day
Seniors
Nicky Essex
The next couple of weeks
will be busy ones — and then
we can rest some. I know I need
to be counting my blessings. It
is easy to gripe about the things
that spoil my sense of peace.
I will begin my thanksgiving
list right now by being mindful
of our dear friends here at the
John Day Senior Center. We
have been fellowshipping here
for about three-plus years now,
and I don’t want to become
complacent. Life changes, and
before you know it, one thing
can change everything. I just
want to tell you all, “Thank you
for your hospitality.”
On Monday, Nov. 6, Jea-
nette Julsrud stood in for Ron
Dowse, who was ill, with me
at the greeter’s desk. Isa Lar-
kin and Joyce Nodine from
the Blue Mountain Hospital
Auxiliary delivered meals to
the John Day and Canyon City
folks, while Shawn Palmer
and Rodney Bruser from Step
Forward took the Mt. Vernon
route. Altogether, they deliv-
ered 30 regular meals and 28
frozen meals. After doing de-
liveries, Isa and Joyce served
us at the tables.
Isa Larkin opened our time
by leading us in the flag sa-
lute. The drawings produced
the following winners: Isa
won the Len’s Drug gift certif-
icate, and Ken Henry won the
free meal. Then, Dale Sten-
nett gave the blessing on our
meal. We enjoyed breakfast
for lunch: biscuits and gravy,
hash brown patties, Western
scramble and Danish for des-
sert. We served 26 diners.
On Thursday, Nov. 9, Cor-
nerstone Community Church
members Linda Sprouffske,
Zola Pike, Carla and Andy An-
derson and Pastor Levi Manit-
sas served us at the tables. The
pastor did his usual and very
much appreciated coffee refill
service. Brenda Taramasso
and Simon Gee took meal de-
liveries to John Day and Can-
yon City while Rodney Bruser
from Step Forward delivered
meals to Mt. Vernon, with a
total of 35 delivered.
Andy Anderson opened
our time with the Pledge of
Allegiance. Carla Teague won
the free Valley View meal,
and Carol Roe won the Ches-
ter’s Thriftway gift certificate.
Pastor Levi read a very funny
story before leading us in a
blessing on our meal. Our en-
trée was sponsored by Dennis
and Linda Dickenson. We en-
joyed a taste of Greece from
our guest chef Anne Lewis,
who made moussaka, (aka
Greek lasagna), a Greek salad,
French bread and halva, a sem-
olina cake topped with syrup
for dessert. We had many ex-
pressions of enjoyment.
Some have asked why I
don’t “visit” like the other two
senior reporters. We all get the
same amount of space, but I
have two events to report on;
they only have one, so they can
fill the extra space with their
personal news.
We had Jim Thomason vis-
it us at lunch and Eve Morris,
Dalene Norton and her mom,
Barb Gentry, with us for bin-
go. Next Thursday, Nov. 16,
we will enjoy our senior cen-
ter Thanksgiving meal, and
Monday, Nov. 20, it’s popcorn
shrimp, fries and coleslaw.
Philippians 4:6 “Do not be
anxious about anything, but in
every situation, by prayer and
petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God.”
Monument
Seniors
Soo Yukawa
We had a simple and de-
lectable meal prepared by our
cooks Terry Cade and Chris-
ty Howell, and of course, we
were very grateful for their
efforts. They prepared for
us a variety of different piz-
zas to choose from. We were
also served a wonderful fresh
green salad, fruit and cookies
for our dessert. I don’t always
write this, but we always have
available fresh coffee, iced tea
and punch for our self-serve
drinks.
Our greeters were Bodean
Andersen, Jimmy Cole and
Debbie Reed. Bodean led us
in the flag salute, made some
announcements and prayed
the blessing over our meal.
Jimmy and Debbie collected
and counted the money. There
were 49 guests on the books
and four takeouts. The win-
ners of the free meal tickets
were Karen Elton and Phoebe
Yukawa.
We want to thank all those
who gave their time for the
kids at the Halloween candy
giveaway. Among some of the
volunteers were Sylvia Cock-
erell, Doug Sweek and many
others.
Judy Harris and Bob
Blakeslee are both home from
their stints in hospital care,
and both are doing well. We
are glad as a community that
they are back in the comforts
of their home and are on the
road to recovery.
As a reminder, don’t for-
get that Saturday, Nov. 18, is
the sewing class. We start at 9
a.m. There is a potluck lunch
around noon, and then we
continue to sew until 3 p.m.
Just bring your sewing ma-
chine, a meal to share and ex-
pect to have a great time with
people who have a passion for
sewing and wonderful fellow-
ship.
There will be the Mis-
soula show at the Monument
School Friday, Nov. 17. For
more information, please call
Shawnah at the school.
It’s been pretty chilly here
in the mornings. Brrrr. I think
many are still scrambling to
prepare for the winter, my-
self included. Another thing, I
can’t believe that Thanksgiv-
ing is in a week. Yikes. Are
you ready? I don’t think win-
ter will wait for us.
So, my victory over the
battle of wills against Perry
the “Pill” of a goat was very
short-lived, I’m afraid. He
managed to get back into the
goat pen. That rascally goat
was very persistent. I can’t
believe that Perry outwitted
me. He managed to get back
into the pen four times. I am
hanging my head down in
shame (if you could see me).
I finally had to just leave him
and felt very, very vexed and
exasperated.
Well, on a happier note, our
dog had some puppies. She
had five, but one did not make
it. I think she might have acci-
dentally laid on it. My son is
very happy. He is hoping for a
return on his investment. The
mama is a very good dog and
mellow. I really like that she
doesn’t jump on people, which
is my biggest pet peeve about
dogs. Life on the farm, frustra-
tions and rewards.
Revelation 22:14 “Bless-
ed are they that do His com-
mandments, that they may
have right the tree of life, and
may enter in through the gate
into the city.”
Prairie City
Seniors
Rose Coombs
We had music, music, music
this morning with the return of
(for want of a better name) The
Three Amigos. Never heard of
them? Well, it has been six years
since they have been together,
so that’s understandable. Who
are they? Janine Goodwin, Nan-
cy Nickel and yours truly. We
sing and play and have a high ol’
time. We will be performing live
here at the hall on an every-now-
and-then basis. So show up and
see if we’re here…
Pam registered 62 names for
the cool day. Lorna Askew from
Blue Mountain Care Center
led the flag salute, and resident
Alma Joslin asked the blessing.
We had a little difficulty with the
BMCC bus parking area. Some-
one parked where I had told
them not to. Please do not block
the new ramp/exit area. But
Lorna was able to get situated,
and she and Krystin brought in
Alma, Lois, Joan and Marilyn.
Larry, Ken, and Carlos made
the home deliveries. Ken and
Del handled the floor sweeping,
afterwards. Bonnie and Pam
helped with the clean up, too.
Before we ate, I asked all the
veterans who were here to stand
up. There were seven in atten-
dance. We thank you for your
service.
Food for thought: Cook-
books are exciting because they
contain so many stirring events.
Har, har. Well, our worthy, effi-
cient and skillful cooks, Marjean
and Tom, stirred up another new
(to me) concoction for our din-
ing pleasure: a kielbasa skillet.
Uh huh. What’s that, you say?
A kind of stew with potatoes,
cabbage, tomatoes and Polish
sausage. Very tasty. To go with
it was some pickled beets, ap-
plesauce and rolls. Dessert was
a gingerbread cake with top-
ping. I was so satiated by then,
I had to take half of my dessert
home for later. We will be hav-
ing our Thanksgiving meal on
Nov. 15, so bring a pie to share.
There will be no meal on Nov.
22. But if you have nowhere
else to go on Thanksgiving Day,
go to the Teen Center for a tra-
ditional Thanksgiving meal. I’ll
be there, and, Lord willing, so
will the kids and grandkids. The
time is 1 p.m., and if you are so
inclined as to want to help with
preparation and/or cleanup, let
Diana Burril know, and she will
steer you in the right direction.
Soo from Monument sure
has a time with her goats. In
Prairie City, we watch out for
the deer meandering through the
neighborhoods, and the occa-
sional bear or cougar sightings.
But the most interesting depic-
tion of small-town life is the
parade of the geese and ducks
across Johnson Avenue. It’s
beautiful.
Hope you got your table re-
served for the Nov. 18 rendition
of Christmas on the Prairie. And
if you didn’t, be sure to browse
those who did.
Derrol is making great prog-
ress now that we have the sodi-
um levels up where they should
be and the medications adjusted
for optimal absorption. He even
drove all the way to Baker and
back. I was along just in case
he got too tired. Was surprised
when we made a visit to the doc-
tor that they didn’t even listen to
his heart. Guess they figured if
he wasn’t complaining, it must
be OK. …
2 Thessalonians 2:16 “May
our Lord Jesus Christ…and
God our Father…encourage
your hearts and strengthen you
in every good deed and word.”
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