A6
Seniors
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
G RANT C OUNTY S ENIORS
John Day
Seniors
Nicky Essex
This was National Catfish
Day. I have anticipated this
meal for a long time. Monday,
June 27, Olivia and I were on
the greeter’s desk, and Ra-
chel Carpenter and Suzanne
Taysom from the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints did our table service.
They also did deliveries to
John Day and Canyon City
while David Gill and the
guys from Step Forward did
the Mt. Vernon route. Al-
together, 30 regular and 36
frozen meals were delivered
to our housebound friends.
Suzanne led us in the flag
salute, and Rachel gave the
blessing on our meal. The
catfish was great. I could
have eaten the whole bowl of
it. Do you have favorites that
you never get enough of? I
can’t explain it; all I know is
I could live on catfish. Shay
served hush puppies and
fried okra, and for dessert we
had chocolate pudding. A very
satisfying meal. We had three
tables full. We were happy to
have Les Church and Allan
Macmillan visiting.
Wow, we had a larger tai
chi group than usual. Tyler
Stoneman has such a warm
and accepting way of helping
us learn the moves. He also
has some real tai chi shoes!
Thanks, Tyler.
Jeanette Julsrud and Ev-
erett were greeters on Thurs-
day, June 28. They welcomed
a larger than usual group,
who filled seven tables. I
think the menu is the draw.
Shay has been putting out
some great meals, and today
was no different. Thank you
to our sponsors, who make it
possible for the magic to hap-
pen. Twice this month, Boyd
and Bonnie Britton have
sponsored our meals, and
they came to say goodbye,
too. Retiring to the wilds of
Arizona. They will surely be
missed, by the entire commu-
nity.
St. Elizabeth Catholic
Church did our table service
with the willing hands of
Walt and Agnes Hall, David
Turner, Jimmy Maple and Fa-
ther Christie. David and Jim-
my took out the deliveries to
John Day and Canyon City.
Altogether, they delivered 34
meals. Thanks so much.
Walt gave the salute to
the American flag with the
Pledge of Allegiance. Virgin-
ia Binches won the Chester’s
Thriftway gift card, Agnes
Hall won the Valley View
meal and of course Father
Christie gave the blessing.
Our meal was beef tamales
with refried beans, incredible
Spanish rice, a green salad
with lots of tomatoes, and
our sweet Lisa made us the
traditional pie dough cinna-
mon and sugar cookies. (I ate
too much, but I made room
for this!)
We enjoyed our guest,
Ginger Gragowski, longtime
member of the Grant County
community. Don’t forget to
come on (most) Thursdays
and play bingo with us right
after lunch!
Romans 8:6-8 “The mind
governed by the flesh is death,
but the mind governed by the
Spirit is life and peace. The
mind governed by the flesh
is hostile to God; it does not
submit to God’s law, nor can
it do so. Those who are in
the realm of the flesh cannot
please God.”
Monument
Seniors
Soo Yukawa
We had a most excellent
meal for our last lunch of
June. Our cooks Carrie Jewell
and Teawna Jewell made us
chicken-fried steak, mashed
potatoes and gravy, along
with carrots, dinner rolls and
vanilla cake with chocolate
frosting. Yes, it was quite del-
ish. We thank them immensely
for their work.
Our greeters were Jimmy
Cole, Linda Blakeslee and
Kristi Guimont. Lonnie Law-
rence made the announcements
and led us in the flag salute.
Yours truly prayed the bless-
ing over the meal. Jimmy and
Kristi collected and counted the
money.
There were 55 guests on the
books and 14 takeouts. Yes, we
had quite a crowd. The winner
of the Len’s Drug gift card was
Linda Blakeslee. Carrie Jewell
and David Stubblefield both
won free meals. We thank our
generous sponsors.
We had a few visitors from
different areas join us for lunch.
Dick and Pam Wanous, Louise
Britt and Jimmy Tankerslee
from Spray. We also had Fran-
ces Preston from Prairie City,
and Chris Labhart, Ron Dowse
and his wife from John Day. I
hope I got everyone’s names
right.
There was a free raffle of a
beautiful Fourth of July wreath,
which was won by Ron, one of
the new owners of the Monu-
ment RV and Motel.
I can’t believe that it is July!
Wow. I’ve been pretty busy
and haven’t kept track of a lot
of things. Did you know that
the days are getting shorter al-
ready? One of my friends told
me that, and I just can’t believe
it. I mean, didn’t we just start
summer?
Speaking of summer, I’ve
been picking and picking lots
of romaine lettuce. It’s been
great. I can just go pick a few
for a sandwich or pick a bunch
for a nice salad. I’ve been giv-
ing tons of it away too, and it
just seems never ending. I’ve
noticed some others enjoying
them too. I found grasshop-
pers munching on my lettuce.
Well, we just can’t have that
ya know? I’ve been catching
them, tossing them into an old
Parmesan cheese jar (because
the lid is easily flipped open
and closed) and then feeding
them to my chickens. Ha, the
best revenge!
Yes, I must admit, I do get
a certain amount of satisfac-
tion when I toss those pesky
grasshoppers to the chickens
and they get gobbled up. A few
manage to get away and oh,
that just bugs me. They are kind
of hard to see sometimes be-
cause they blend so well. Some
are just downright sneaky.
They move in such a way to
hide behind a stem. I think the
most I’ve caught at one time
were over 50! I would shake
the bottle to stun them when
I had to open the lid so they
couldn’t jump out.
Hope everyone has a safe
and wonderful Fourth of July
holiday. Freedom is not free. I
thank all the men and women
who have sacrificed their lives
for our freedoms, and that
they did not die in vain.
1 John 5:20 “And we know
that the Son of God has come,
and has given us understand-
ing, in order that we might
know Him who is true, and we
are in Him who is true, in His
Son Jesus Christ. This is the
true God and eternal life.”
Prairie City
Seniors
Rose Coombs
We got Derrol’s latest sur-
gery done. Hope that is the
last for a while. Three surger-
ies in nine months is a little
much. But when it needs to be
done, I’m very thankful that
there is professional help only
four hours away. (Did you
get that? “Only four hours
away.”)
Which brings up the speed
limit between Mt. Vernon
and Prineville. Why doesn’t
ODOT discover that that
stretch is OK for increased
mph? We made a tour out to
Bear Valley and found that the
speed limit south of Canyon
City is 65. When did that hap-
pen? But across Waterman Flat
it’s still 55. Give me a break!
OK, so much for that rant.
The flag salute was led by
Drew Harmer and Jack Reth-
erford asked the blessing. This
was June birthday recognition
day and Karen Barrietua was
the winner of the $10 gift cer-
tificate donated every month
by Huffman’s Market. Lar-
ry, Carlos and Ken made the
home deliveries, and our sum-
mer kitchen volunteer, Ellie
Justice, began her duties. Our
cooks, Marjean and Joy, are
very thankful to have her.
The meal: pizza, green
salad, cottage cheese with
pineapple and “sea foam” for
dessert. If you’ve never had
sea foam, you have missed a
great dish. Starts out with lime
Jell-O with walnuts, pineap-
ple and coconut added. Then
they put a dollop of topping
on it. Whew. We were stuffed
again. All 69 of us. And there
was still room for you! Check
us out on July 11, and you can
stay for the tai chi class after-
wards. What a deal.
We were glad to see Jack
and Betty Retherford back af-
ter their vacation in the south.
Also, Pam and Jim Howard
after their trip north to Alaska.
My, we do get around, don’t
we?
Lorna and Krystin brought
Sandi Burns, Bud Salisbury,
Marilyn Randall and Gordon
Sindt from the Blue Moun-
tain Care Center. And I can
tell you, that bunch has been
around! Also, if anyone knows
what happened to the bright
orange cone that we were put-
ting out to keep the opening
to the emergency ramp clear,
please let us know. When we
were locking up and wanting
to put the cone away, it was not
there. Another mystery.
Tom’s food for thought:
A diamond is a chunk of coal
that made good under pres-
sure. Right on!
Got the garden weeded and
discovered that some of the
seeds must have blown out of
their intended plot. Found car-
rots in the beets and broccoli,
tomato in the divider between
plots and one lone broccoli (or
cauliflower — can’t tell at this
stage) out by the propane tank,
six feet from where it’s sup-
posed to be. Yes, I know that
they should have started a long
time ago in the greenhouse.
But I was kind of busy with
my housemate and his recov-
ery from the shoulder surgery.
Maybe I can get Joel to build
a greenhouse over the garden
plot, hmm?
Genesis 2:8, 9 “Now the
Lord God had planted a gar-
den in the east, in Eden… And
the Lord God made all kinds
of trees grow out of the ground
— trees that were pleasing to
the eye and good for food…”
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