JOHN DAY—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 vaccine for COVID-19 is available to those who make appointments 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, sausage patties and fruit pastry.

Thursday, April 8, Shay is making stuffed Sicilian meatloaf, 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 Monday and Thursday so call in early enough to reserve one for yourself and pick it up at 11:30 a.m. for special nutritional treats.

If you are feeling anxious or would like to talk to someone about the COVID-19 situation, you can call one of the following 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 Disaster 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, everyone. 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—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 Monument 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 turkey 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 growing 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, Minnie, on the other hand, is skittish and jumps away when you reach out to her. She was like that from day one. It is so interesting how they all differ and have very diverse personalities.

I feel that the little doeling 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 comfortable 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—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 singing, 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 bringing.” Pastor asked if we were going to do our Easter-themed song on Easter. Unfortunately, no, due to member commitments 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 consisted of a baked potato, green beans, seafoam salad and birthday cake supplied by Driskill 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 hoping-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 cheerful countenance…” (Proverbs 15:13) and “A merry heat doeth good like a medicine…” (Proverbs 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 reading 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/conductor 1860-1911. That statement 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. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land… blossoming vines spread their fragrance.”