PRAIRIE CITY — One of today’s trivia answers will get you ready for spring: Babe Ruth hit his first pro home run. Only 700-some to go, right. Birthdays around this time included Shaquille O’Neil and Chuck Norris. Hmmm. In a fair fight, wonder who would win between those two! Tom did a whole series on St. Patrick today because he will not be able to be here next week when we celebrate that special day. One saying attributed to St. Patrick is this one: Never trust a dog to watch your food. Definitely a true statement! Tom also wore his green leprechaun beard. That got you in the mood for the day!

Colin led the flag salute and Tom asked the blessing. The winner of the $8 gift certificate donated by Valeria at Chuck’s Little Diner was Carla Wright.

Our faithful crew of helpers and deliverers included Mary, Carla, Gwynne, Sharon, Chris, Theresa, Tom and Pam. (A milk route salesman came in and asked to speak to Pam. And all three Pams responded with “Which one?” We have a lot of fun with that situation.)

The trivia question for first table in the serving lineup had to do with the color green and the dictionary. Tom listed a whole bunch of terms that have “green” in their name, such as green tomatoes, green olives, etc. But one of the terms he listed on the white board is not found in Webster’s. Would you believe the answer was “The Jolly Green Giant”?

So we got ourselves lined up to receive a simply delicious meal: turkey that was donated by Prairie Wood Products, mashed potatoes and gravy, broccoli salad, green salad, cranberry jelly, deviled eggs and your choice of peach, berry or banana cream pie. Oh, yes, and a homemade roll. And it was all so very, very good. I gave Head Cook Pam three thumbs up! And I am certain that most of the 60 people who had that meal would agree!

I set out another batch of newspapers from 1974 for your enjoyment. Visitors Lonnie and Brian Davis had a great time going through them. Found photos of some people they knew, then took a photo with their camera to show said people. (The wonders of modern technology, huh?) Highlights were the new bookmobile; OTC converting to direct dial; Seneca got a new Post Office building; the three (!!) food stores each had full-page ads (Clark’s Thrifty Food, Reed’s Cloverfarm and Chester’s); Vivienne’s Dress Shop in Prairie City had an ad; and you could lease a VW for $68.85 a month. The Grant County Community Chorus was to begin rehearsals with John Akers directing. Eggs were 64 cents a dozen, and a used ‘61 Chevy station wagon with 12,000 miles could be had for $500. Wow!

I am sad to report that my dear friend and husband passed away on March 7 in Bend after a massive brain bleed and resultant severe stroke. Services are pending.

Job 1:21….The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.

JOHN DAY — Our heating system should be finished Friday, March 10. It will be nice to finally have all rooms in the building comfortably warm.

A pile of books were donated to the library with a $50 trade card for Dave’s bookstore in Canyon City by Mary Ellen on Thursday. Linda was grateful to get this pile of clean and well-kept books and the ability to go choose some more. Thanks to Mary Ellen for this great donation. Some time ago Dan and Karla Averett donated many books to the library, and we wanted to say thank you. Linda gets them sorted and on shelves right away. All donations to the library are greatly appreciated.

Linda found one nicely kept book called “Elsie’s Recipes” and since my name is Elsie she shared it with me. It was copyrighted in 1952 so this is a great find. Someone had donated some CDs, and one was of Betty Boop and I am a Betty Boop girl, so Linda shared that with me also. Thanks for the great finds.

On Monday, March 6, Janet Binger and Jeanette Julsrud were greeting everyone coming in and making sure they were signed in and their names in the drawings for the day. There were 10 in-house diners. Thanks, Janet and Jeanette, for a good job. We appreciate all our volunteers.

Jeanette did the announcing, and Janet led the flag salute. Veanne Weddle represented the Blue Mountain Hospital Auxiliary as our server, and Chris Robbins joined her. Thanks, ladies, for serving for us today. We dined on creamy tomato tortellini soup, grilled cheese sandwich, a relish tray and lemon cream pound cake. Thanks, Shay and Darla, for a great meal.

Sixty fresh meals and 183 frozen meals were delivered throughout our area by Rick LaMountain, Sharon Stewart, Mike Davis and Veanne Weddle. A big thanks to all you drivers for taking your time, your vehicles and your gas to serve other people in our city. This is a service of love.

Jeanette collected all the pull tabs from the jar on the desk. Now we need to fill it up again for her next trip out of town.

Please, everyone, beware of scam calls. Many people are getting several every day. Amazon calls supposedly are asking you to confirm orders. Some calls tell you your order is ready to be sent and need confirmation. These are people who want to get your information for their own interest and it is all a scam.

Billie Bullard was thrilled to get the beautiful, colorful card with the small cards attached that we all signed. She talked about it for a long time. She was smiling and was so happy. It was a good feeling for us to know we made her feel so happy.

Carol Roe got really sick and was taken to the hospital on Wednesday the 8th. We started a card for her at the desk and will get it to her right away.

We are still working on a list for people to sign up to play bingo. We have several so far and are anxious to get 15 players to start playing again. If you would like me to sign you up on the list, you can call me and I will see that your name is on it. 541-792-0202.

There will be a hall board meeting on March 20 after lunch at 1 p.m. and an annual meeting on April 3 after lunch at 1 p.m. At the annual meeting we will catch you up on all that has been happening with our building and plans for the next few months. Each person attending will get a ticket to win one of many prizes we will be giving away.

A total of 253 meals went out of our kitchen today. Wow! Shay and Darla are working very hard to prepare enough food for all of these meals, so a big thanks to both of them for their labor of love.

Ron Smith won the Len’s card, and Ron Phillips won the free meal. Congratulations, you two.

On Thursday, March 9, Darlene Nodine and Dave Pasko were at the desk greeting all who came in to make sure they were signed in and their names in the drawings. There were 15 in-house diners. Thanks, Dave and Darlene. Jeanette did the announcing and led the flag salute. Pati Davis represented the Cornerstone Christian Church as our server, and Chris Robbins joined her to deliver to each table as needed. Thanks, ladies, for your service. We dined on teriyaki pork ribs, lemon chive rice, sesame toasted green beans, fortune cookies and pineapple cake.

Sixty-seven fresh meals were delivered to shut-ins in our area by Pati and Mike Davis, Rick LaMountain, Jeanette Julsrud and Shirley. Thanks, all you drivers, for your service of love.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays at the gym in the mall on the opposite end from Chester’s, a tai chi class is being held at no charge for all who would like to improve their balance. Everyone is welcome.

Jeremiah Lambeth won the Thriftway card, and Deeda Porter won the free meal.

Eighty-two meals went out of our kitchen today. Great job, Shay and Darla.

Skillethead will be playing in the Second Saturday Series at the Dayville Community Hall Saturday, April 8, at 7 p.m.

Future dates are May 13, June 10 and July 8. These events will be a load of fun, so venture out away from TV and devices and hear great music and dance and mingle. C U there.

Colossians 2:10 I am complete in Him who is the head over all rule and authority — of every angelic and earthly power.

MONUMENT — Our cooks this week were Carrie Jewell and Diane Harvey. They made us an assortment of different pizzas for lunch, along with a fresh green salad, and brownies for our dessert. We all enjoyed ourselves and got to visit with our friends on top of that. We thank our cooks for their hard work.

Our greeters at the table were Linda Abraham and Sue Cavender. They checked in all the guests, collected and counted up the money. Judy Harris led us in the flag salute and made the announcements. Yours truly prayed the blessing over our meal.

For Prayer Warriors out there, please lift up Bruce Strange and stand in the gap for him. He is in the hospital, and I don’t really know any other details other than he needs healing.

We want to congratulate Sam and Mary Gilbert on the birth of their first baby! It’s a girl! We pray blessings over the new life, over their family and their marriage. I bet Terry Cade is mighty proud! We pray for protection over that precious little one and may the Lord shower His peace and joy over their whole family along with great-grandpa Mr. Bill Neal.

Don’t forget that there is a smoker raffle to be won. The Silent Wave Horse Foundation is having this raffle that will go until the drawing around the first of May. The tickets are $1 apiece or $5 for six. There are gift accessories that go along with it.

The next sewing get-together will be on Wednesday, March 22. You know the drill. We meet at 9 a.m. and go till around 2:30 p.m. We sew, we laugh, we visit and enjoy that fabulous potluck lunch around noon. Hope you can make it. And remember, you can also come with your crochet, knitting or whatever hobby you would like to do and just come to enjoy a good time. Hope to see you there.

We’ve got baby goats on the ground. Chevre gave birth to four babies. One did not make it. I think she was overwhelmed. This is the first time she has had four. Last year, she had three babies for the first time. Does this mean that she will from now on have four babies? Oh, no. I ended up taking the little runt of the bunch. He is adorable of course. The other two seemed to be doing well.

I milked Chevre for some colostrum to give to Timmy. My son named him. Little Timmy likes to be cuddled. I went to milk Chevre the next day and found the other little boy was not doing very well. He did not get enough milk and was cold. So I had to bring him in also. It took a little while to get him warmed up. I had to use the blow dryer to get him warm and coaxed him to drink some milk. He came around and is now with his brother Timmy. Timmy and Tommy are their names.

Revelations 11:3-4 And I will give power unto My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.