JOHN DAY — On Dec. 7, Bennett Hall of the Blue Mountain Eagle did an article on Linda’s Library at our John Day Senior Center.

Since then, Linda has needed to put up 10 more shelves in the library to house all the new books, puzzles and DVDs, etc.

Joe Phippen is one who brought in many hardback books by the author Clive Cussler. Also he brought some paperback books on rocks, minerals and sports. Thanks, Joe, for all the books. They are all appreciated by our center and Linda.

John and Diane Aasness donated religious books and magazines. Veanne Weddle offered to help Linda pick them us as there were a lot of books. Thanks, John and Diane, for helping Linda with keeping our library stocked to be of interest to more people as time goes on.

Rick and Karen from Ritter Junction brought several boxes of novels and great romances — wow! Thanks, Rick and Karen, for delivering this great supply of books.

More about the library is to be told, so next week there will be more about the library.

On Monday, Jan. 9, Elsie Huskey and David Pasko were at the desk to greet diners and make sure they were signed in and got their names in the drawings for the day. Elsie did the announcements. Gloria Kulis and Buzz Gilmore led the flag salute.

There were 16 in-house diners and two takeouts. Fifty-seven fresh meals and 142 frozen meals were delivered throughout our community by Mike and Patti Davis, Francis and Bonnie Kocis and Shirley Manca.

Buzz Gilmore represented the Lutheran Church by being our server for this day. Thank you, Buzz. We always appreciate you and you great smile. We dined on tuna casserole, veggies and a dessert.

On Jan. 26, we are having a special luncheon to celebrate Lucie Immoos, who is the founder of the Carrie Young Memorial. The Grant County Senior Citizens Advisory Council will be presenting Lucie with the very first Service to Seniors Award for her decades of service to Grant County seniors. There is a sign-in sheet on the desk for this lunch. Our chef, Shay, wants to be sure and have enough food prepared for this expected larger crowd. We hope to see many of you that we do not see very often. This is a very special event.

Every Friday at 1 p.m. a group plays pokeno here at our center. Check us out. The game is just like bingo, except cards are used instead of balls.

Rick LaMountain won the Len’s card and Francis Kocis won the free meal. The staff at Len’s hopes that we all enjoy winning these cards and will come into the store and spend them. They need to know that we like getting them. We do not want them to stop supporting us, so please use the Len’s cards that you win.

Wow! Some 217 meals went out from our kitchen this day. How wonderful it is to know that our center can provide this service to folks who cannot get out. Thanks to everyone who has a part in this endeavor.

On Thursday, Jan. 12, Deeda Porter led the flag salute. Judy Thomas and Dave Pasko were at the desk to greet each person who came in and be sure that they were signed in and had their names in the drawings for this day.

Jean Willey, who was well known by many in this area, has passed away (Jan. 11). Services will be held in the spring when more people can move around easier. She will be missed greatly. I for one enjoyed many visits with her, playing cards, taking her for rides, occasional shopping and lunch out.

We are collecting pull tabs from pop cans, vegetable cans and any other pull tab. Jeanette Julsrud delivers them to the McDonald House and they can exchange them for goods they need in their centers. This is a great organization that helps many people, so help us out so she can take a nice bunch of tabs to them. Thank you all.

Mr. Johnston won the Chester’s Market card and Dave Pasko won the free meal.

Sixty fresh meals were delivered around this area (frozen meals are only delivered on Mondays) by Mike Davis (Patti was ill), Jeanette and Shirley Manca, and Rick LaMountain. Thanks to all of you for your service of love.

We had 16 in-house diners and 10 takeout meals. A total of 86 meals went out of our kitchen this day. Thank you, Shay and Darla, for all you do to make this happen.

The Cornerstone Church was represented by Chris, Andrea, Pete and Jeanette. Pete asked the blessing for our food today. Thank you, Pete. You all did a great job keeping our lunchtime pleasant. Smiling is always good. Thanks to all four of you.

We dined on mashed potatoes with hamburger gravy, yum, veggie mix, I sure like the mixed veggies, and bread pudding, oh so good, and a dish of mixed fruit. Thanks, Shay and Darla, for another great meal.

Jude 1: 24-25 To the only wise God, our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion, and power, both now and forever. Amen. Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.

MONUMENT —

All the guests were greeted at the front table by Kristi Guimont, Carolyn Peterson and Linda Abraham. Kristi and Carolyn checked in the guests and collected the money. Linda made the announcements and led us in the flag salute. Bob Yukawa prayed the blessing over the meal.

Our cooks made for us this week chili dogs, tater tots, a fresh green salad, and chocolate pudding with whipped cream for our dessert. We thank them for all their hard work!

We had a smaller crowd than usual. We still had some of our friends from Spray join us for lunch. The winner of the free meal ticket this week was Loni Lawrence.

There is a sign-up sheet at the back table for cleaning all the tables after our meal. We need volunteers to help with that, so if anyone would be so kind as to volunteer, it would be much appreciated.

We pray that Roger Langbehn of Spray, a regular guest at our senior center lunch, is recovering well and quickly from back surgery. We pray in the mighty name of Jesus that Roger will have a new lease on life, be completely mobile and free from pain.

I took a walk down my driveway and breathed some good old-fashioned fresh air. Ahh! It felt so good! Of course, I petted a bunch of kitties and that was such a comforting feeling. I dared not go in to pet the goats for they would have jumped on me.

I am hoping that in a couple of weeks I will be able to go and see my goats and assess their health. I will also look at how they are coming along in their pregnancies. I think the goats have more personality than sheep. In my opinion, they are smarter and more cunning than sheep, which is why they are escape artists. Ha.

One of my friends disdains goats. She raised sheep and she said there is a reason why most people don’t like goats. She definitely prefers sheep and declares that she would never raise goats. I will agree with her on one thing, I think the baby lambs are more gentle; not that I raised any. Goat kids, they can be stubborn from day one. I have seen that kind of behavior, so I would have to concur with her.

It’s really muddy out there. You know that is the case when you hear that slurping noise as you walk and your boots kinda get stuck. But I thank the Lord for the moisture, the snow and the rain.

Don’t forget to mark on your calendars that we will be having our sewing get-together on Wednesday, Jan. 25. You can bring other projects to work on, not just sewing. Some ladies like to bring their crochet or cross stitch work, or just plain hang out. We start at 9 a.m. and share a potluck lunch at noon. We usually conclude our time around 2:30 p.m. Hope you can come and join us!

Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.

PRAIRIE CITY —

Have you gotten used to writing 2023 yet? Tom wanted to help us remember so he put today’s date up in Roman numerals. I — XI — MMXXIII. Now, you have to remember that in other parts of the world, the day comes before the month. Am reading a book about the English car company Rolls-Royce, and all their dates have the day before the month. If you do that, the date in Roman Numerals would be XI — I — MMXXIII. In the music publishing business, all the copyright years were given in Roman numerals. I was always interested in when a piece of music was published, so had to learn to read Roman numerals. Aren’t you glad that we use Arabic numerals now? Can you imagine trying to multiply using Roman numerals? Yikes!

Theresa rang the dinner bell and led the flag salute. Ginger announced that we will have our monthly business meeting on the 18th. If you would like to join our board of directors, you are welcome to sit in and see what we do at these meetings. We meet after the meal, so you won’t miss that! She also reminded us of the special occasion on the 26th at the John Day Senior Center. If you don’t know, check out the ad in the paper. The winner of the Len’s Pharmacy gift card was Fran Bunch. Tom asked the blessing and went through the trivia for the day. Birthdays included Theodosius in 347 and Alexander Hamilton in 1755. Couple of quotes: “Most people wish to serve God, but only in an advisory capacity.” (Ahem.) “If we ever forget that we are ‘one nation under God,’ then we will be a nation gone under.” (Ronald Reagan) The question to answer for first through the serving line: How many snowmen are on the tables in the dining room? Some forgot to look on all the tables and then there was a “snow woman” … hardy har har.

Our volunteers included Mary, Carla, Gwynne, Sharon, Tom, Chris, Theresa and Pam. Thanks to one and all. Our great cooks made spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic breadsticks, cottage cheese and pears, and vanilla pudding for dessert. Yummy in the tummy! Our contractor was one of our diners today, too. He and the cooks have a special relationship!

As in all building projects, what you plan on happening may not. Such was the case with the backsplash areas in the kitchen. The plan had to be revised and new parts ordered which could not be shipped to Grant County (???) So another trip to Bend had to be made. Oh, well. He will check on the next phase — the new flooring — while he’s there. One day at a time …

You know the new year has come because the new garden seed catalogs start coming. The stores even have their new supply of seeds already! Got a catalog from a company that I had never heard of back in Maine: Pinetree Garden Seeds and Accessories. The most interesting item is the little planting pots made of “renewable, recycled composted cow manure.” Now, there is a smart item! They are called “Cow Pots.” When transplanted into the garden, the pots degrade and enhance the soil! They fully decompose with no waste or odor. Cost: $9 for 25 3-inch-square pots. Hmmm. This company must supply large truck gardeners, too. You can get 300 beet seeds for $2-$3. I don’t think I could get that many seeds into my 16-foot-by-14-foot garden plot!

Also reading a book about P.G. Wodehouse. If you think the last name is unique, wait till you see his given names: Pelham Grenville. No wonder he used his initials!

Proverbs 22:1 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches …