A6
SENIORS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
GRANT COUNTY SENIORS
John Day
Seniors
Dusty Harris
Jeesh! I know I was grip-
ing about cold weather last
week, but this is ridiculous!
Did you know that it got to
negative 26 in Seneca last
week? That is outrageous.
I guess we should consider
ourselves lucky that we are
blessed enough to not be get-
ting the cold weather like the
Midwest is getting.
On Feb. 4, our greet-
ers were Everett and Dave,
whom we would like to thank
for always wanting to help
us out! There were 36 regu-
lar and 36 frozen meals deliv-
ered to John Day and Mt.
Vernon by our wonderful vol-
unteers. Thank you!
We would also like to
extend our thanks to the Blue
Mountain Hospital ladies,
Chris Yriarte and Carol Jean
Schwonacher, who served
the meal. They were so very
wonderful and delightful
during our time together. Our
yummy dinner was hot turkey
sandwiches, mashed potatoes
with gravy, peas, Jello with
fruit and maple bars for des-
sert. Our amazing cooks give
us the best comfort food for
these cold, dreary days! The
winner of this week’s Len’s
Drug gift card was Ron
Dowse, and Adea Porter won
the free dinners.
I love these light evenings!
It’s nice to look outside at
5 p.m. and see a setting sun
rather than have it be pitch
black. I don’t think anyone
is ready for the time change,
though. Mark your calen-
dars: Daylight saving time is
a mere month away! Not sure
if I’m ready to “spring for-
ward,” but I am very thankful
for the lighter evenings.
On Feb. 7, our greeters
were Gregg Starr and Jea-
nette, who welcomed each
and every one of our lovely
diners with open arms. 48
meals were delivered to Mt.
Vernon and John Day, thanks
to our lovely volunteers, Joe
and Joan Taylor and David
Gill, who are gracious and
selfless enough to deliver
meals to those who wish to
remain in their cozy homes.
We had folks come down
from the Church of the Naza-
rene to serve the meal, which
was delicious. Dinner was
smoked salmon fettuccine with
sun-dried tomatoes and spin-
ach, fresh vegetables, Caesar
salad and homemade bread
with birthday cake for des-
sert! The meal was donated by
Doug’s Motor Vehicle Repair,
and the cake was donated by
Driskill Memorial Chapel. The
food was great, and we want to
thank you for your contribution
and interest in the senior center
lunch program. Dale Stennett
won the free meal ticket from
us, and Jan won the free meal
from Valley View Assisted Liv-
ing. Thanks again for all that
you do!
Be careful on these slick
roads this week, and drive
carefully. We thought win-
ter was over, but behold, it is
back again. God knows we
need the moisture.
Isaiah 55:10 “For as
the rain and the snow come
down from heaven and do
not return there but water the
earth, making it bring forth
and sprout, giving seed to the
sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes
out from my mouth; it shall
not return to me empty, but it
shall accomplish that which I
purpose, and shall succeed in
the thing for which I sent it.”
Monument
Seniors
Soo Yukawa
How have you all been
faring in this crazy weather
we’ve been having? I just
want to lift up my hands in
praise to the Lord! We had
some great rain, and the
rain seeped into the ground,
and then we got the snow.
Oh, yes, we got some mois-
ture in the ground now. Yip-
pee and praise be to God! I
believe we have about a foot
of snow on the ground at our
place and more to come.
Well, we had a few more
people for lunch than the
previous week. We had 42
guests on our books and
seven takeouts. Some of
our visitors included Katee
Hoffman from John Day and
Dick and Pam Wanous from
Spray.
Our greeters were Linda
Blakeslee, Kristi Guimont
and Judy Harris. Linda and
Kristi checked in the guests
and collected and counted
the money, Judy led us in
the flag salute and made the
announcements and yours
truly prayed the blessing
over our meal.
Our cooks, Terry Cade
and Carrie Jewell, made
us some delicious spa-
ghetti, garlic bread, fresh
green salad, canned peaches
and chocolate cookies.
We welcome Carrie back
from being away for many
months to help care for her
sick husband.
The winners of the free
meal tickets were Dick
Wanous and Bob Cockrell.
Linda Blakeslee won the gift
card to Chester’s Thriftway.
There will be a sewing
class on Feb. 23. It will be at
the Monument Senior Cen-
ter from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. We
share a potluck lunch around
noon. Come out and join us
in the fun.
I don’t know if tak-
ing care of your animals is
harder in the summertime
or in the wintertime? Sum-
mer can be so miserably hot;
you just don’t want to do
a whole lot for fear of get-
ting heatstroke, that’s for me
anyway. It can be a struggle
to take care of your animals
in the cold winter. Animals
are extra thirsty in the cold
so trying to keep their water
source from freezing up is
sometimes a battle.
The other day, while
at the barn, the dogs went
crazy looking for some-
thing. I assumed it was that
elusive pack rat. Well, our
male dog kept scratching
at the barn door. He kept
walking around, scratch-
ing, biting and getting agi-
tated. So, I was like, “What
are you looking for?” I was
looking at the little space
between the barn wall and
the door, and I found a piece
of wire and poked around.
There were old bits of hay
in between about 2 feet high.
Then there it was, a pack rat
at my eye level!
I was not going to let it
get away this time, so I shot
it. It then slowly slid down.
Unfortunately, it slid behind
the old bits of hay. I got it,
but it is still behind the heavy
barn door, and I can’t get it
out. I can’t move the barn
door. I gotta figure out a way
to get that nasty thing out
before the weather warms up
and it starts to stink!
Psalm 12:6 “The Words
of the LORD are pure words:
as silver tried in a furnace of
earth, purified seven times.”
Prairie City
Seniors
Rose Coombs
Boy, o’ howdy, you’d never
believe what happened to
my pinochle partners and me
today! There is a special meld
in this game that requires two
jacks of diamonds and two
queens of spades and it’s worth
300 points. If you only get one
of each, it is worth 40 points. I
cannot tell you the percentage
increase, but it is substantial!
Back to the story, we managed
to get that big meld not once,
which is nice, not twice, which
is super, but three times in one
game! Didn’t take long to fin-
ish that game, which we did
win. Ahem.
In other news, Carlos and
Jay did the home deliveries,
Drew led the flag salute and
Jack asked the blessing. It was
good to see Jack back after
his long bout with the Grant
County crud. The winner of the
$5 gift card donated by Len’s
Drug was Marilyn Randall.
Tom’s Food for Thought:
“Winter is on my head, but
eternal spring is in my heart.”
— Victor Hugo. So, we had
to look through all the paper
hearts scattered on the tables
in honor of St. Valentine for a
purple heart to discover which
table got to go first today. The
calendar in my office/studio
has a quote from Albert Ein-
stein; “You can’t blame grav-
ity for falling in love.” I bet he
could have told me what the
percentage increase from 40 to
300 is.
So we ate tuna noodle cas-
serole, carrots, rolls and a
blueberry turnover for des-
sert. There were 55 names on
the registration book. We wel-
comed new diners, Karin Cor-
win, Nancy Schlagel and
Thomas Harris, whom we hav-
en’t seen for awhile. Lorna and
Krystin brought Marilyn Ran-
dall, Gordon Sindt and Mary
Crawford from the Blue Moun-
tain Care Center.
While we were playing
pinochle, Fran Bunch brought
in a lot of items for our lit-
tle Senior Sales corner. Thank
you so much for your donation,
Fran. It is much appreciated.
Joel finally got started on
my kitchen floor replacement.
It is more than just installing
the new floor covering. First
problem was to determine why
the floor was so uneven. So,
he cut a hole about two-foot
square where the worst dip was
and found — as the guy says on
“This Old House” — a surprise.
Whenever the old furnace was
put in (I’m guessing at least 50
years ago), they did not make
sure that the joist under it was
properly supported. There were
a lot of mortised and tenoned,
rough 2-by-6 pieces around the
area, but they were not sup-
ported by anything. So, he had
to fit himself into that area, put
a jack under the joist and raise
the whole kit-n-kaboodle as far
as he could — only made two
cracks in the wallboard. Then,
he put four cement blocks in
the area, covered up the hole,
and proceeded to screwing
down the old wooden floor-
ing to the sub-floor. That took
care of the squeaks, but not the
cupping of the old floorboards.
Hmmm. The water heater had
leaked for quite some time and
apparently enough had gotten
under the four, five, six layers
of linoleum and vinyl to dam-
age the wood. That repair will
be continued next week.
Psalm 22:14 “… poured
out like water …” Micah 1:4
“… rushing down a slope.”
Ezekiel 32:14 “Then I will let
her waters settle …”
Church Services In Grant County
Tuesdays at 6:30PM
Use Main Entry Front Doors
102915