A8 SENIORS/HISTORY Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, April 7, 2021 GRANT COUNTY SENIORS John Day Seniors Elsie Huskey April Fools Day has come and gone. To my knowledge there were no tragic events or no shock treatments needed. That is good news. In John Day and throughout Grant County the Moderna vac- cine for COVID-19 is available to those who make appoint- ments to get one. The news is that this vaccine will be good for at least six months after you get it. The best place to have a good chance to get one is the health department. Call 541-575 0429. You also can email vaccine@ ccsemail.org and ask for your appointment. The sooner we all get this, the sooner we will be able to meet in person again. For April Fools Day, Shay made hot ham and Swiss on a hoagie bun with baked beans, macaroni salad and birthday cake for dessert. Monday, April 5, he made breakfast of egg bread bowl, hash brown, sau- sage patties and fruit pastry. Thursday, April 8, Shay is making stuffed Sicilian meat- loaf, scalloped potatoes, rolls and cheesecake brownies. That sounds so good. And then, on Monday, April 12, the meal will be cream chicken pasta, veggie soup, garlic bread and yummy lemon bars. Wow, I think I just gained 5 pounds. Goodness. Lunch is served every Mon- day and Thursday so call in early enough to reserve one for yourself and pick it up at 11:30 a.m. for special nutri- tional treats. If you are feeling anxious or would like to talk to someone about the COVID-19 situation, you can call one of the follow- ing phone lines: • The Oregon Warmline at 1-800-698-2392, available seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. to speak with a trained peer. • Also: SAMHSA’s Disas- ter Distress Helpline at 1-800- 985-5990 or text “talkWithUs to 66746 to speak to a trained crisis counselor to help people experiencing distress related to natural or human-caused disasters. Have a great week, every- one. No matter how tough it gets in our world, we have a promise: This is it. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son so that every one who believes on Him should not perish but have EVERLASTING LIFE.” Monument Seniors Soo Yukawa Our last meal for the month of March was a very happy meal, yes a very happy meal indeed. Our cooks Terry Cade and Carrie Jewell made for us one of my favorite meals. I call it Salisbury steak. We had that with onions and mushrooms in the gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans and birthday cake with chocolate frosting. Mmm, it was delicious. We thank our great cooks. Our volunteers were Kristi Guimont, who filled out the paperwork. Bob Cockrell and Jan Ensign counted the money. Sylvia Cockrell delivered the “to-go” boxes at the door for the patrons coming to pick them up. I am quite sure that everyone else were also greatly delighted with their lunches as well. I was driving into Monu- ment one day, and I saw some kind of object, an animal in the middle of the road. I started to slow down as I got closer, and I was squinting my eyes trying to figure out what it was. It did not look familiar to me. Do you know what I saw? It was a male turkey fanning his feathers and strutting his stuff! Only, there weren’t any other turkeys or females around that I could see, the big weirdo! Ha. I stopped, and looked around, and saw nothing, no other turkeys. Was that crazy turkey strutting and fanning his feathers for my car? I must say, that strange tur- key did look pretty with his fan of feathers. I saw another turkey on our property a few days later, near our goat pen, fanning and strutting. Only this turkey had a whole bunch of females around him to impress. Ha. I think that will be one of my questions for God. Why did he make the males, like most birds and other animals, more pretty than the females? I don’t get it. Minnie and Darla are grow- ing healthy and fast. Darla is like her namesake. She is just a cute darling. She has become quite strong, is jumping and leaping into the air very playfully. She likes to come over and climb onto my lap. She is not scared at all, but loves to come over and investigate you. Her sister, Min- nie, on the other hand, is skit- tish and jumps away when you reach out to her. She was like that from day one. It is so inter- esting how they all differ and have very diverse personalities. I feel that the little doel- ing kids are strong and healthy enough that I can release them out from the goat shed to the goat pen. I was a little worried that Marianne would try and suckle on Frita after that last incident. Also, now that Darla is strong and feisty, I feel comfort- able that she won’t get lost and can’t find her mama. There is something strange that I must investigate, though. Chevre, weaned from her kids, still has one teat that looks big. I think someone is suckling on her and I can’t figure out who it is? Psalms 144:1 “Blessed be the LORD, my rock my strength, Who teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight.” Prairie City Seniors Rose Coombs It’s almost a shock to look out the window and see green. We know it is fall because the yard is brown. We know it is winter because the lawn is white. And now we know that spring has truly arrived because the yard is glowing with new green growth. We’ve survived winter! The robins are sing- ing, and the flickers are pecking and our little “cooeybirds” have arrived in the neighborhood. The garden spot is almost all out in the sunshine, so weeding will soon start. How appropriate that we celebrate the Resurrection at this time of year, as the song says, “For new life he’s bring- ing.” Pastor asked if we were going to do our Easter-themed song on Easter. Unfortunately, no, due to member commit- ments to be with family. But that’s OK. Every Sunday is a celebration of the Resurrection, so we will keep practicing and present it at some point before September, I hope. That was quite the wind that blew through. Removed a few of our letters from the reader board so that it displayed “Eat Loaf” instead of “Meat Loaf.” We did have meat loaf, but not much of the rest of the published menu. Remember, the menu is subject to change! The balance of the meal con- sisted of a baked potato, green beans, seafoam salad and birth- day cake supplied by Drisk- ill Memorial Chapel. Assistant Cook Laura and helper Tom were in charge today, and they did a bang-up job. The baked potato was of a style-kind-sort that I don’t remember seeing before. It was baked, then sliced open (filleted?) and cheese and butter drizzled on. Interesting and quite tasty. Carlos did the home deliveries, and Pam and Ginger took care of the front door pick-ups. I came back after I’d eaten my meal and made the bank deposit. We are all hop- ing-wishing-praying for the day that we can all come inside and sit down and have the meal while visiting with each other unmasked. Did you have any April Fool’s Day tricks pulled on you? Some people spend a lot of time thinking up gags to pull. I’m just not that bright, I guess. Have enough trouble keeping track of real life without trying to think of a “false life” situation just for laughs. Not that laughter is bad. “A merry heart maketh a cheer- ful countenance…” (Proverbs 15:13) and “A merry heat doeth good like a medicine...” (Prov- erbs 17:22). I know that I like to see a cheerful countenance when I look at people. Hard to do that behind a mask. I recall read- ing about a man who had a very serious illness, and in addition to the drugs, etc., he embarked on a journey of watching funny movies and TV shows. He beat the deadly disease — through laughter. We were created to be happy! Remember, there are more muscles involved in frowning than in smiling! So it should be easy to smile — and laugh — and rejoice! “With the coming of spring, I am calm again.” — Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer/con- ductor 1860-1911. That state- ment is especially true for those of us who suffer from SAD: Seasonal Affected Dysfunction. (Don’t think that’s the right word, but it works.) Song of Solomon 2:11-13 “See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flow- ers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land… blossoming vines spread their fragrance.” OUT OF THE PAST 75 years ago 50 years ago More sawmills for Grant County Looks like Grant County will have no less than a half-dozen more sawmills before snow falls this fall. There are indications that there will be two more mills in the Dayville neigh- borhood, another one near Ritter, perhaps two mills on the Middle Fork river east of the Three Flags highway and one or two between John Day and the upper river section. Jacksons to continue oil firm distributorship The widow and son of the late Cecil E. Jackson of John Day announced plans this week to continue the American Oil Company distributorship which serves Grant County. Bernie Carson of Canyon City, who has been with the company 22 years, will con- tinue to be in charge of deliver- ies throughout the county. Greg Jackson will assist with deliver- ies and handle the business end of the business with his mother. Cecil E. Jackson owned and operated the company for the last 19 years. He died suddenly at his home in John Day on Feb. 25. Greg Jackson moved here shortly after his father’s death from Oregon State University, Corvallis, where he had been completing work on a degree in business, to help his mother con- tinue the company’s operation. Mrs. Jackson said the com- pany will continue to serve all of its customers and plans to make no changes in tanks, pumps and other service units now on loca- tion to serve customers. 25 years ago Incendiary fires reported John Day Fire Depart- ment personnel with mutual assistance from Cnayon City, Mt. Vernon and Prairie City responded to two fires early Sunday morning at John Day Floral and the office of Dave Freeman, CPA, both on West Highway. Both fires were incendiary, and the investiga- tion is underway to determine if Eagle file photo arson was involved. The inves- tigation is being coordinated by From 25 years ago: Sunday morning incendiary fires: Pic- the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s tured here, John Day Fire Chief Steve Keegan, left, gives a Office and Oregon State Police. damage report to Dave and Betty Freeman. MT. VERNON PRESBYTERIAN Community Church SUNDAY SERVICE..............9 am SUNDAY SERVICE ...........9 am Redeemer Lutheran Church Come Worship with us at 541-932-4800 EVERYONE WELCOME 627 SE Hillcrest, John Day 1 st Sunday Worship/Communion ..................10am 3 rd Sunday Worship/Communion/Potluck ...4:30pm 2 nd , 4 th & 5 th Sunday Worship .........................10am Sunday Bible Study .....................................8:45am For information: 541-575-2348 FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH Grace Chapel (EMC ) 154 E. Williams St. Prairie City, Oregon 541 820-4437 2 Corinthians 5:17 Every Sunday in the L.C. Community Center Pastor Robert Perkins Contact Paster Ed Studtmann at 541-421-3888 • Begins at 4:00pm S211472-1 Sunday School (all ages) 9:30-10:30 Sunday Worship 10:45-12:00 (Corner of Second & Allen) John Day Valley Mennonite Church Meeting every Sunday at Mt. Vernon Grange Hall Sunday School ...............................9:30 a.m. Sunday Morning Worship ............10:50 a.m. Pastor Leland Smucker Everyone Welcome • 541-932-2861 JOHN DAY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Sunday Worship • 9AM (541) 575-1326 johndayUMC@gmail.com 126 NW Canton, John Day Food Pantry Friday 3-4PM Like us on Facebook! 24/7 Inspirational Christian Broadcasting Tune into KSPL 98.1 FM For more information, call 541 620-0340 CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE Sunday School .......................... 9:30 am Sunday Worship Service......... 10:45 am Sunday Evening Service ...........6:00 pm Children & Teen Activities SMALL GROUPS CALL FOR MORE INFO Weekdays: Sonshine Christian School Pastor Randy Johnson 521 E. Main • John Day • 541-575-1895 www.johndaynazarene.com St. Thomas Episcopal Church Join us on Facebook live Sunday 10am Like us on Facebook! Sunday School ..................... 9:45 am Sunday Worship ...................... 11 am Fox Community Church ............. 3 pm Sunday Evening Bible Talk ......... 6 pm Saturday Men’s Study ............... 6 pm 59357 Hwy 26 Mt. Vernon Full Gospel- Come Grow With Us Celebration of Worship 541-575-1202 Church 311 NE Dayton St, John Day Pastor Al Altnow Midweek Service Cornerstone Christian Fellowship 139 N.E. D AYTON S TREET , J OHN D AY 541-575-2180 Sunday Worship Service 10 am Sunday Youth Group 3 pm Thursday Celebrate Recovery 6 pm Pastor Levi Manitsas cornerstonejohnday@gmail.com ccfjd.org Sundays 5:30pm Youth: 0-6th Grade Thursdays 6:30pm Youth: 0-6th Grade Jr./Sr. High Youth Connection Wednesdays at 6:30pm Overcomer’s Outreach Mondays at 6pm at LWCC A Christ-Centered, 12-Step Recovery Support Group Pastor Sharon Miller 541-932-4910 www.livingwordcc.com S237012-1