John Day — To honor my word, I will begin with the details I did not have about the week before (June 12-18). Darlene Nodine and Carol Roe were our greeters. Dale Stinnett led the flag salute and Buzz Gilmore asked the blessing on Monday, June 13. The Lutheran Church folks were our servers, and our delivery drivers that delivered 44 fresh and 34 frozen meals were Buzz and Bobbie Gilmore, Richie Colbeth and Jeanette Julsrud. Thanks, folks, for serving our community. The barbecue chicken with baked beans, cornbread salad and cookies were our menu.

There were a lot of eggs for anyone to take for their own use (bring some egg cartons to transport them in if you like), as well as items that Chester’s sent to us for anyone to have. This is such a blessing to us and anyone who enters the building.

Please be aware of scam phone calls. This is becoming so annoying and dangerous for many. Please do not say anything if a call comes you don’t recognize. Words like “yes”, “I can” and “OK” are dangerous. These people cut your words from this recorded call and put them in other places that can cause problems for us. Just do not say any words if you should answer any questionable call.

The hall board annual meeting was held with a hamburger meal to start with, and many prizes were drawn for so we had lots of winners, and we now have the correct number of people to have a quorum and decisions about our building were answered and other decisions were made for the near future. Anyone who is interested in our senior center may attend these meetings and become more aware of all the details of keeping and maintaining this building and the activities within.

Chris Labhart won the Len’s card and Dave Pasko won the free meal. There were 17 diners in attendance, and it was Betty Elliot’s 90th birthday. Congratulations, Betty.

Last Thursday Darlene and Carol were at the desk with smiles and directions for the meal. Judy Thomas led the flag salute and Maya Po asked the blessing. Our servers were of the Methodist Church: Delores Belden, Kathy Smith, and Nancy Elliott. It was our Father’s Day meal: onion brisket, loaded baked potatoes, veggies, and strawberries. It was so good.

Jeanette Julsrud and Patty Davis delivered 47 fresh meals. Thanks, ladies, for your consistent service to our community.

A big thanks to Matt Molnar for all your labor on the beds around the front and side of our building. It is looking very nice. We cannot help but notice the beauty.

Our assistant cook, Kim, went on vacation and had a great time and returned to us all smiles and refreshed. Welcome back, Kim.

Billie Bullard was blessed with a visit from her grandson and great-granddaughter for lunch. They rode their motorcycles from Boise to here, in time for lunch with Billie. It was a nice time to get to visit with them.

Delores Belden won the Chester’s card and Andrea George won the free meal. Twenty-five diners were in attendance, and I saw some to-go meals going out but didn’t get the number.

Monday, June 20, Darlene and Carol were at the desk making sure all is going smooth and everyone was greeted and feeling good. Deeda Porter led the flag salute and Elsie Huskey asked the blessing. Marita Coombs of the Living Word Church was our server and Joan Sonnerkeg and Jennie Hardrickson of the hospital auxiliary delivered 45 fresh and 24 frozen meals. Thanks to all of you for your service to our community. I sure hope you know you are so greatly appreciated.

Lunch was French toast, sausage links, fruit, and lemon bars. Yummy, yummy.

The food bank brought veggies and fruits for anyone desiring them. Thanks, food bank.

Darlene won the Len’s card and Carol won the free meal. Congratulations, you two.

Today, Thursday, Gregg Starr and Carol greeted us at the desk. Maya Ennis led the flag salute and Jim Maples asked the blessing. The Catholic Church members were our servers. Forty-seven fresh meals were delivered by Mike Shopley, Patty Davis, Jim Maples, and Matt Jones. You guys are great. Meeting needs of our community is such a worthwhile service.

Lunch today was chicken veggie lasagna, spinach and egg salad, and cherry delight. I had never had chicken lasagna before or spinach salad. It was a treat to try new foods and they tasted really good. Thanks, Shay and Kim, for good food once again.

Benita Comine brought in some fresh rhubarb for anyone who would like some. Thanks, Benita.

Mike Bowe won the Chester’s card and Ron Fluens won the free meal. Congratulations, you two.

There were 11 in-house diners and 11 takeout meals.

Please forgive all the misspelled words today. We don’t always know how to spell people’s names.

Coming in the near future, our senior center will become a convention center. Progress is in the making now. The air scrubbers in the building sure are moving a lot of air similar to fans, but they take in air from the bottom and blow it out at the top. They do create some noise, so since they clean our whole building seven times per hour, we are able to turn them off during a meeting or when someone is singing or talking to the people in attendance.

On Thursday, June 30, lunch will consist of pork loin, mashed potatoes and gravy, veggies, and rhubarb cheesecake. This sounds so good. On Monday, July 4, we will be closed for the Fourth of July.

Happy Fourth, everyone!

Exodus 34: 6&7 The Lord: The compassionate and gracious God, is slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin.

(What a mighty and wonderful God we serve)

Monument —

Looks like summer just appeared out of nowhere! We are experiencing hot weather and it is the kind that makes you feel hot and sweaty. Yay, not. Everyone is trying to get their first cutting done. All that rain that the good Lord blessed us with had made everything grow so tall! We just thank the Lord for His kindness towards us.

We are thankful for our senior lunch. Our cooks Terry and Teawna Jewell made us an Asian meal. We were served chicken chow mein, rice, potstickers, and chocolate brownies for our dessert. We thank our cooks for their hard work. We appreciate them so much!

Bob Cockrell was our greeter at the table. He led us in the flag salute and he made the announcements. Yours truly prayed the blessing over the meal. Bob checked in all the guests and filled out the paperwork. He also counted up the money and helped Jan Ensign make sure everything was running smoothly. We thank all our volunteers.

With great sadness I give this news, we lost two people in our little community. We lost Ms. Betty Richards. She was one of the founders of the Monument Senior Center. Let us lift up prayers for Carrie Jewell and Terri Hamilton and the rest of the family members on the loss of their beloved mom, grandma and great-grandma. Praying the Lord will comfort them during this time. When we first arrived here in Monument, there were three Bettys. Ms. Betty Richards was one of them. She and I like to talk about food. Ha.

The other person we lost in our community was Steve Cade. Everyone knew him as “Mang.” We are praying for Terry, Mary, and her brother Riley and the extended family members on the loss of Mang. He was a family man and we often saw him working back and forth on the four-wheeler from his house to his father-in-law’s. May the Lord draw near to Terry during this difficult time and show her how compassionate He is for the Lord draws near to the broken-hearted.

Monument Senior Center’s annual rummage sale will be going on July 2 and 3 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be lots of stuff that will be available for sale. Donations will be taken up to the day of the sale. Please no TVs or computers. Also, please bring your own bags. If you have any questions, please call Sylvia at 541-934-2220, Sue Cavendar at 541-934-9898, or Judy Harris at 541-934-2244. All sales will go toward the operating fund of the senior community center.

We had to move my mama goats and alpacas into our corral. We have no more hay for them to eat and I did not want them exposed to the boys. I am done with babies for the rest of the year! It was not too difficult until the last four, including the alpacas. Minnie and Marianne were my pain-in-my-side goats. To be continued …

Hebrews 10:22-23 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful who promised.

Prairie City —

In this world of turmoil and change, we can always count on the weather to do what is normal. In Grant County, that means that one week the temperature is 45 degrees and the next week it is 80 degrees. Aah. Normality. That’s what we’ve been looking for for two years, right? So take a deep breath. Summer … cause it might change soon!

There were some special people who came to eat with us this week from the Blue Mountain Care Center. Good to see you! Hope you get to come again. Then there were some special people who had meals delivered to them at the school: the summer staff. Thank you so much for thinking of us. Maybe someday you all can join us in the hall.

Ginger led the flag salute and Patty Perkins asked the blessing. Our volunteers included Gwynne, Carla, Mary, Carlos, Pam, Chris and Theresa. Thanks to you all. Since Tom is gone for a couple weeks at summer camp, we had no “day in history” type information. Now next week will be full of history. So be sure to attend a celebration someplace. Take your freedoms seriously. Remember, people are dying to get into this country. And if you don’t like it, you are free to leave …

Delores Scott was our entree sponsor today. We enjoyed meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, mixed vegetables, pineapple Jell-O cup, a roll and angel food dream cake. Now, that takes some explaining. Yes, it was angel food cake, but there was so much more! Like lots of whipped cream to go with the cherries and red syrup that was hidden inside the cake. Wowzer, dowzer. Our wonderful cooks go to great lengths to make food that is interesting, colorful and good-tasting. And it only costs $6! I encountered sticker shock when a meal for the two of us at a restaurant cost $35, and it certainly did not have all that this meal had. So count your blessings! We are making headway on the chimney replacement project. Down to trying to match the paint color. It’s a shade of white that requires a little bit of this and a little bit of that to come close. But we’re getting there! Tom got the hole all filled in with matching wall material. So when it’s done, you won’t be able to tell just where on the wall the chimney was. We hope …

The peas have poked their heads up and the beets are waving their little leaves. Now if the carrots will make their appearance, I will be a happy gardener. The other project involved the bathroom door. Have been wanting to refinish it for years. Since it had to come off to get the new shower in, it was the perfect opportunity. Got the old paint and varnish off, then it got too cold out in the shed to work on the sanding. If it ain’t one thing, it’s another, right? But progress is being made. We just hung up the old shower curtain in the doorway for the time being …

Eccl. 3: 1a, 3b, 7a There is a time for everything … a time to tear down and a time to build … a time to tear and a time to mend …