A6
Seniors
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
G RANT C OUNTY S ENIORS
John Day
Seniors
Nicky Essex
March 5 was cold and
windy, but a warm, friendly
greeting was waiting for all
guests who made their way to
the greeter’s desk at John Day
Senior Center, manned by
Ron Dowse and Everett King.
Isa Larkin and Joyce No-
dine represented the Blue
Mountain Hospital Auxilia-
ry for our service. They first
took meals out to John Day
and Canyon City, while David
Gill and his crew from Step
Forward took the Mt. Vernon
route.
Altogether, these wonder-
ful volunteers delivered 34
regular and 32 frozen meals
to our local friends. Isa led
us in the flag salute, we drew
names and had winners, Gene
Essex, who won the gift card
from Len’s Drug, and Rober-
ta Dowse, who won the free
meal. Ron Dowse then prayed
a blessing on our meal and
a blessing for the hands that
prepared it. We really chowed
down.
You could hear a pin drop
as we enjoyed shrimp Alfredo,
mixed vegetables, cucumber
and tomato salad, breadsticks
and, for our dessert, strawberry
ice cream. I’d like to mention
here, I missed an important
acknowledgment of our entrée
sponsor last Thursday, Jan El-
lison, in memory of Dan. It is
because of those who sponsor
entrées that Shay and Lisa are
able to provide such wonder-
ful meals. Their budget and
your gifts mean so much to so
many. Don’t hesitate to join us
on Mondays or Thursdays for
a tasty, wholesome meal for
$5. It was so nice to have Hel-
en Bogart and Lois Bidasolo as
well as Ron Smith join us to-
day. Not the same Ron Smith
who was to come on Thursday.
On March 8, Merry Henry
and Dave Pasko were at the
greeter’s desk. It was a very
special time for us, as we were
served by our wonderful local
firefighters, led by Chief Ron
Smith: Ronda and Carl Metler,
Stephen Stinnet, Tom Smith
and Don Gabbard. While Ron
Phillips did table setups, Ron-
da and Carl took meal deliver-
ies to John Day and Canyon
City, and our regular Mt. Ver-
non deliveries were made by
David Gill and his crew from
Step Forward. In all, deliver-
ies of 38 regular and 30 frozen
meals were made.
To open our time together,
Ronda led us in the Pledge of
Allegiance to the American
flag. Drawings were won by
Gregg Starr, Chester’s Thrift-
way gift card, and Karen
Barrietua, Valley View meal.
Carl Metler led us in a prayer
of thanksgiving for our meal,
which was sponsored by the
firefighters. We enjoyed spa-
ghetti, green salad, veggies,
baguettes and pineapple angel
food cake for dessert.
News of passings this past
week, Sally Limbeck and Peg-
gy Bartley.
Special notes: Sandra Glad-
ish from the Fossil Beds will
be here on March 22, seeking
input from us regarding acces-
sibility needs to better serve
the community. She will be
bringing some extra drawing
prizes for bingo. March 26,
Lon Davis will go to Boise for
evaluation of a new medica-
tion for help with his vision.
Psalm 31:15 “My times are
in Your hand; Deliver me from
the hand of my enemies and
from those who persecute me.”
Monument
Seniors
Soo Yukawa
Terry Cade and Carrie Jew-
ell made us a yummy meal of
chili dogs, french fries, fresh
green salad and cookies for
dessert. We thank them for all
that they do to keep us well
fed. We had 49 guests on the
books and four takeouts.
Our greeters were Judy
Harris, Debbie Reid and Linda
Blakeslee. Judy led us in the
flag salute and made the an-
nouncements, and yours truly
prayed over the blessing of the
meal. Debbie and Linda col-
lected and counted the money.
We had some visitors join
us for lunch, Dick and Pam
Wanous from Spray along
with Keith Galager. We also
had Louis Grushka from North
Powder.
Veanne Weddle from John
Day also was present and
made an announcement about
input being needed concerning
making the Fossil Beds facility
more accessible for everyone.
If you would like to partici-
pate, there will be a meeting
on March 22 at the John Day
Senior Center.
The Chester’s Thriftway
gift card was won by Jan En-
sign. Yvonne Baughman won
the Len’s Drug gift card. The
winner of the free meal ticket
went to Marilee Turley. Teaw-
na Conklin won the free raffle
prize of floor mats for the car.
The Tai Chi class has start-
ed, and if you are interested in
taking part, please come join
after lunch on Tuesdays at the
senior center.
I am hoping you all didn’t
forget to change your clocks
to spring forward! I’m sorry,
I completely lost track of time
and forgot to remind you. I
can’t believe that we are al-
most in spring. It felt really
weird eating dinner at 6:30
p.m. the other day, and I wasn’t
hungry. It will take some time
to get used to the time change.
The snow is melting. Most
of the Monument area has
pretty much been cleared of
the snow, except for the high
tops of the nearby mountains.
That will pretty much be gone
also I would venture to say in
a few days. I was horrified to
find flies buzzing around. The
bugs are coming out of the
woodworks literally. I also
saw a Monarch butterfly and
some wasps. Yes, spring is in
the air.
I’ve been collecting some
of the seed catalogs that
have been coming my way in
the mail. I feel a little over-
whelmed by the planning of
my garden for this summer. I
am not a very good planner. I
am a visionary. The details of
planning is just not one of my
strong points. It just doesn’t
seem to happen the way I see
it in my head. I need someone
to help me — maybe I will
get my oldest to help me or-
ganize?
The two little baby goats
will soon be going to their
new home. They are just as
happy as can be playing in the
goat yard. I know they will be
happy with their new owners
who will love and take care of
them. I’m pretty sure they will
be spoiled rotten. Ha.
1 Corinthians 2: 4-5 “And
my speech and my preach-
ing was not with enticing
words of man’s wisdom, but
in demonstration of the Spirit
and of power: that your faith
should not stand in the wis-
dom of men, but in the power
of God.”
Prairie City
Seniors
Rose Coombs
And welcome to March
with its trademark winds. My,
my, didn’t it blow. And cold,
too. Makes you put off think-
ing about seed planting, huh?
We had our “Cabin Fever”
game day, and I finally got
to play pinochle. Oh, what
fun. Those who said that they
hadn’t played in years acquit-
ted themselves very satisfac-
torily. Let’s do it again.
Home deliveries were
taken care of by Ken, Carlos
and Scott. Sharon Thissell
was doing duty as the kitchen
helper assisted by Tom after
the meal. Delores led the flag
salute, and Jack Retherford
asked the blessing. Good to
see them back after their bout
with the “crud.”
The tables had their March
decorations. Marjean is hav-
ing so much fun with the
monthly decorations. Some-
times it takes a little searching
to find the table number on the
little figurines.
The winner of the $5 gift
card donated by Len’s Drug
was Joann Wilson. We had
48 names on the registration
book this dreary day.
Our meal was comprised
of salmon loaf (which brought
forth the discussion of how
salmon is properly pro-
nounced), pasta Alfredo, kale
salad, applesauce and a roll.
Dessert was just a plain ol’
yellow cake — but the “frost-
ing” was an unexpected layer
of chocolate pudding. Well,
well. Didn’t know you could
do that. See, you learn some-
thing new every day.
Back to salmon — its
pronunciation also brought
to mind our Western names
that Easterners stumble over:
Owyhee, Wallowa, Malheur,
Ochoco, Willamette, Pully-
up, and even Magone. That’s
what makes our neck of the
woods special, right?
So March 8 was Interna-
tional Women’s Day. Hmmm.
Is there an International
Men’s Day? Can’t have any
discrimination here, you
know. Anyhow, I celebrated
by putting sheet rock on the
bare areas in the new office
space. Now it’s ready for tap-
ing, mudding, sanding, prim-
ing and painting. Should keep
me occupied for the rest of the
month. And since that room is
much smaller and the ceilings
are lower, it won’t require so
much electricity to heat.
The Blue Mountain Care
Center didn’t get to come.
That’s the way it goes some
days, huh? Reminds me of the
old saying: If you want God to
laugh, make some plans.
So, we have a plan for Der-
rol’s next surgery — the one
that should have taken place
last fall. By the time I write
next week’s column, he should
have a new shoulder joint.
Speaking of next week,
Marjean and Joy are going to
serve Irish stew and mashed
potatoes. So come and enjoy.
Did you ever wonder
where Mr. Spock’s Vulcan
salute came from? Leonard
Nimoy created it based on the
priestly blessing performed
by Jewish Orthodox priests
using both hands to represent
the Hebrew letter shin, which
stand for El Shaddai, or Al-
mighty God. Now isn’t that
interesting?
Psalm 89:8 “O Lord God
Almighty, who is like you? You
are mighty, O Lord, and Your
faithfulness surrounds you.”
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