John Day — On Thursday, June 23, our menu is chicken lasagna, spinach salad and Cherry DeLite for dessert, and then on Monday, June 27, we will have hot ham and cheese sandwiches, tater tots, a relish tray and banana pudding for dessert. Our cooks do a great job to serve us delightful meals. Thanks, Shay and Kim.

Monday we delivered over 20 frozen and over 20 fresh meals into our community. This is the greatest thing we do so far. Those folks cannot get out to pick up meals or are ill at the time, so this is so important and many of us are grateful for all our delivery drivers. Due to a busy schedule today, the information I need about drivers and servers and the number of in-house diners got left behind, so I sit here depending on my memory, which is not so trustworthy.

Thursday, we had 20-some in-house diners. That was our largest crowd since we reopened after COVID. So many faces we see and know that are doing OK, and it is so good to see them and hear their voices and they can see we are doing OK, too. This togetherness is a load off our backs. It was a great day to be able to greet everyone. Several people picked up to-go meals, and around 26 fresh meals were delivered.

By the time you read this our annual hall board meeting will be over, so next week you will read about the details of that meeting.

Pokeno will be each Monday and Friday here at the senior center at 1 p.m. Bingo is closed for the summer and will resume the first Thursday of September.

Grant county has had an uptick of COVID-19 cases. How sad that is. We want to see people heathy and free to do things they love to do. No more sickness in Grant County, ya hear? Ha. On a serious note, there are three new variants of COVID, so please take care of yourself and everyone around you.

It seems the ’62 Days celebration was a success. My favorite was the parade. (That’s the child in me, ha.)

Our library is beautiful and full of books and jigsaw puzzles and is open every day we are open for lunch. Mondays and Fridays from 11 to 1 you can enjoy finding a book or puzzle, and you can return them if you like. There is a box near the entrance of the library to place them in. It seems the information about the library opening was incorrect last time, so this is the correct information.

Today was our first warm day with clear skies so that’s a clue that summer is happening. Let’s all enjoy this summer. Fall will come soon enough.

There is more information to put here, but it will have to wait till next week when all the information comes home with me, ha. Have a great week, everyone.

Psalm 91:1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. (Good News)

Monument — Have we been blessed here in Grant County, Oregon, or what? All over the nation, there are reports of drought — in fact, severe drought! Yet we have been receiving rain, tons of rain. I praise the Lord for that! He gets all the credit! I did not know that there was such drought going on in many parts of our nation. I don’t buy into that global warming stuff, either, because we had 35 degrees F. a few early morning times in June!

We have been getting so much rain here that folks can’t cut their hay to dry and bale it. Our grass and weeds are very tall. My goats can’t eat it down fast enough. Hmm, what to do? I guess I gotta get going on some weed-whacking! Ha.

Our cooks Carrie Jewell and Cindy Jewell, along with young Olivia Jewell, prepared for us sheet pan nachos! Yes, we had all the fixings to go with our nachos, corn salad, and strawberry fruit tart with optional whipped cream. You betcha that I gobbled down that food in a hurry. It was a good and hearty meal and we thank our cooks very much and appreciate them so much.

Our greeters at the table were Krisiti Guimont and Bob Cockrell. They checked in the guests and Kristi collected and counted up the money. Bob led us in the flag salute and also made the announcements. Yours truly prayed the blessing over the meal.

Don’t forget that our Monument Jubilee event will be going on on July 3 and not the Fourth. Our Monument Senior Center will also be having the annual rummage sale too on the 2nd and 3rd of July. So prepare to go through all the stuff and find that “special treat.”

Prayers are needed for Terry Cade and her husband. Terry’s husband is not doing well. But our God is powerful to answer when we cry out to Him. All we need is faith. The Bible says that faith as tiny as a mustard seed can move mountains. I am praying for healing, strength to endure, and for the Name of Jesus to be glorified, hallelujah!

My hubby wanted for our whole family to go for a walk, so I decided to have Belle and Leah go with us. They did pretty well. They followed us and did not try to stray away. So, all six of my bottle babies will follow me wherever I go — well, most of the time anyway. Ha. I am their mama and, for the most part, they keep an eye on me and won’t stray very far from my sight.

Shay and Kiki are growing so fast now! Kiki is almost as big as Shay and she is very attached to me. She tries to jump onto my lap every chance she gets. It may be cute now, but not when she weighs 30 pounds or more later! I really hope they become good mamas that I can milk later.

Jeremiah 33:3 Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.

Prairie City — This day was designated by somebody as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day and to show support you were to wear purple. So we did. And for those who did not have a purple article of clothing, we were supplied with a little purple ribbon. And placemats. And an information sheet. And even a bingo game. … Whew. So we are now informed. 

Tom said he could not find any famous people who were born on this day. So he took the week from June 9 though June 13 and found four: Cole Porter, Jacques Cousteau, Judy Garland and Anne Frank. This was also the week that the film “ET” was released. (Forgot to note the year —oops!) Anyhow, the question of which table got to go first through the serving line ended up being Tom’s choice because no one could answer the question. And it was a doozy of a question! To wit: What song that was written by Cole Porter did Judy Garland sing? Duh. … No, it wasn’t “Over the Rainbow.” That was written by E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen. So ask Siri or Alexa … and let me know!

We had a short board meeting before dinner before all the members scattered to the four winds for the rest of the month. It’s so nice to have leadership that is united in the goals and purposes of the center. Doesn’t take long to have a meeting that way! Then we can get down to the serious business of eating. Ahem.

And did we eat! A huge serving of enchilada, three-bean salad, chips and salsa. For dessert, we were served an eclair icebox cake. Mmmm, was it ever good! Helped to take away the “hotness” of the spices in the enchilada. Cooks Pam and Pam do good, dontcha know!

Our volunteer helpers today included Mary, Carla, Gwynne, Carlos, Chris, Theresa, Josiah, Pam and Tom. They all do an excellent job of delivering, registering and cleaning up. Thanks so much. And thanks to all of you who come to eat with us or pick up a meal to take home. People are returning to the idea that it’s OK to sit and visit after the meal. Yes! That’s what we are here for. The chimney project is just about finished. Then comes the installation of the new sump pump. Sounds just like home ownership, doesn’t it? One thing after another …

The rain stopped long enough that I could finally get most of the garden planted. Mercy! Hope the next round of showers doesn’t wash the seeds away! The peonies that I put in two years ago bloomed this year. Then the rain washed the blossoms all away. The transplanted hollyhocks are going great guns. Whoopee! Now if I could just get the nice morning glory vines to grow and crowd out the weedy ones. … Meanwhile, the surprise pansies are just bloomin’ all over the place! Gathered them into one 2-foot-square area of the garden. At least something is happy growing there! And that makes me happy, too.

Romans 16:19  … so I am full of joy over you.

Psalms 96:12  Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.