Grant County Seniors: March 29, 2023

Published 6:15 am Sunday, March 26, 2023

MONUMENT — Terry Cade and Carrie Jewell cooked us up some chicken enchiladas and all the fixings, Spanish rice, refried beans and oh, my favorite, Mandarin orange cooler cake for our dessert. It was very delish as always, and we all enjoyed our lunch very much. We thank our cooks again for their wonderful cooking!

Our greeters at the table were Bob Cockrell 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 the meal.

Max Breeding had a reading called “Wonders What a Hug Can Do” and had Judy Harris read it to all of us. It is nice to receive hugs. It is an essential part of the human psyche and emotional well-being for people. To give and receive hugs is vital to a happy and secure life. Of course, the Lord Jesus is the very best and His love for His creation is shown everywhere and His sacrifice on the cross for us. Jesus’ death on the cross was His way of “hugging” us for He loves us so very much!

The Grant County People Mover is offering free veteran medical transportation in honor of our veterans for their service to each of us and our country. They can travel to Bend, Redmond, Pendleton, Walla Walla, Burns, Baker City and Boise. You can contact them for days and times at 541-575-2370. This service is free for all eligible Grant County veterans. For other veteran-related info, please contact Katee Hoffman at 541-620-8057.

We had our friends from Spray join us for lunch, and we also had Garrin Williams’ daughter’s family come for lunch. Steve and Candace (Williams) Morgenstern, along with their beautiful little girls, Jade, Sienna and Scarlett, came from Santa Rosa, California, for a visit. Hope they enjoy their visit to Monument.

Some young ladies from the Monument School came to give a presentation and take a survey. Madaynn Grassl, Ansleigh Douglas, Dixie Jenkins and Natalya Smith are going to make a shed to store bottles and cans and recycle them. The proceeds from the recycling will be given to children in need as scholarships. We hope they are successful.

Monica Boyer, our postmaster in Monument, had a coloring contest for the kids. The winner of the contest was Wesley Jezwinski of Kimberly. He won a goodie bag full of kids’ toys and other prizes.

I had a little bit of an incident occur to me. I don’t know why these sort of things happen to me. Last year, we had purchased from a neighbor moving away their little goat shed. It had two doors with latches that lock when you close the door.

My husband made me aware and warned me to be careful about the latches. He drilled two holes above the latches and tied twine so that if you were inside and closed the door, you could pull the twine and open the latch. Timmy and Tommy are now residing in that shed and I went to feed them one night. To be continued …

Psalms 27:1 The Lord is my Light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?

PRAIRIE CITY —

Did you notice how “spring-y” it was on Monday through the 6 inches of wet snow?! And how fast it melted? Only in Grant County do we experience such contrasts, right?

Speaking of contrasts, here are the names of some people born on this day. Lots of contrasts! Chico Marx, Louis L’Amour, William Shatner, Werner Klemperer, and — ahem — Capt. James T. Kirk in 2233. I find it interesting that in 2233 babies were still born in the same old-fashioned way and they knew if it was a boy or a girl. ‘Nuff said.

On this date in history the infamous Stamp Act was foisted (there’s a good word!) on the American colonies. And that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, as it were. That was in 1765. In 1981, the price of a first class postage stamp went from 15 to 18 cents. Our quote for the day is from Capt. Kirk: “The prejudices that people feel about each other disappear when they get to know each other.”

Theresa rang the dinner bell, and Carla led the flag salute. And we all stayed together! Good job. Our meal today was in memory of Tootie Cernazanu. Our great cooks prepared tuna noodle casserole, broccoli, Jell-O and fruit salad, cottage cheese, and cupcakes and filled cookies for dessert. Theresa asked the blessing. The free meal was won by Pastor Bob Perkins. The trivia question was unique. In Forest Grove, Oregon, there is a 70-foot-tall what? Turns out it is a barber pole made out of a tree! Verrrrry interesting, what?

Our faithful drivers and deliverers Carla, Gwynne, Mary and Sharon did their thing while Tom and Theresa and Pam did theirs in the hall.

The big news is that the new flooring will be installed during April. The hope is that it can be done in stages so as not to have to close anytime during the month. There may be new, temporary configurations of the tables, but we are adaptable, right?

Been thinking about the lack of a true “service station” in our county. Someone is missing a good deal by not supplying such a place anymore. Little old ladies like myself don’t really want to pump gas, check the oil, wash the windshield, etc. Guess I’m just an analog person stuck in a digital world. But “we’ll” have the last laugh when all the computers crash and resort must be made to paper and pencil …

Meanwhile, back to spring. … The tulips that I transplanted last fall are up. One row is not straight, but has a nice curve. Thought I planted in a straight line! Ordered the Cow Pots the other day, too. Seeing all the green grass AFTER the snow melted gave me itchy fingers to get out in the garden. But wait. This is only March in Grant County. Got at least two months until planting. … Have to find something else to do. The cooks want some painting done, so that should keep me busy for awhile …

John 6:28-29 Then they asked Him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.”

JOHN DAY —

The most exciting thing that happened this week was that Billie Bullard, who cannot get out by herself to go anywhere, was with us in person on Monday. Thank you to whoever it was that helped Billie to be with us. We were all so glad to see her as it has been a while. It was great to have you at our luncheon, Billie. Hope you can do it again. You loved to come be with everyone for as long as you have been in the John Day area, so this was a great day.

The main part of our heating system has been done. Now, since the big remodel of the building, some of the heat ducts and other things I cannot even understand or remember were not re-created properly, so the next step is in the works to get all the heat ducts and all the attachments to every room done. It all takes time and patience. Apex has done a great job for us so far. Thanks, Apex team.

On Monday March 20, which was the first day of spring, Dave Pasko found himself all by himself to sit at the desk to greet the 16 in-house diners. A snowstorm happened out of the blue about an hour before we all needed to be there, so I, being less than a week out of toe surgery, did not feel safe to drive and walk in the snowstorm and stayed home. Dave did a great job to make everything run smoothly. He made sure everyone was signed in and had their names in the drawings for today. He chatted with me on the phone before things began to get busy and after he had finished with the book work following lunch. Thanks, Dave, for being such a good trouper. I really hated not being able to be there. He even did the announcements. Wow!

Carol Claire and Chris Robbins were the servers, and we are very thankful you were there to share with everyone. The lunch menu was chicken parmesan with linguini, salad, garlic toast and magic bars.

Fifty-six fresh meals and 30 frozen meals were delivered throughout the area to folks who cannot get out and share with all of us. The names of the drivers did not get in the notes, but thanks to all of you who did deliver these meals. It truly is a service of love.

There were no other announcements to be made except that we had to postpone our board meeting as not enough board members were present due to the snowstorm.

Steve Moyer won the Len’s card and Joe Pippen won the free meal. Congratulations, you two.

The notes do not show if there were any takeout meals today, so without them, we still had 102 meals go out of our kitchen today. Thanks, Shay and Kim and Nancy and Chris, that are also faithful to help wherever things need done.

On Thursday, March 23, Judy Thomas and Darlene Nodine greeted the 24 in-house diners and made sure they were signed in and their names in the drawings.

Dave led the flag salute. The First Christian Church folks were our servers, but no names of the servers got on the list. The meal consisted of turkey and dumplings, zucchini, fruit, and pecan pie bars.

Rick LaMountain, Jeanette Julsrud and Chris Robbins delivered 59 fresh meals to the shut-ins in our area. Thanks, all of you, for a great service of love.

Judy Thomas was our announcer today. She explained that since the snowstorm hindered our meeting for March 20, that we would try again for a board meeting on March 27, after lunch at 1 pm.

Chester’s donated five cases of eggs. Thanks, Chester’s. They donate goodies every week. All the goodies are appreciated by everyone. Many people partake. This is also a great service to our community.

Mike Bowe won the Chester’s card and Gloria Kulis won the free meal.

Nothing is listed about any takeouts today, so we know for sure that 83 meals went out of our kitchen today. Thanks to all the kitchen staff.

March being nearly over, a reminder to all of us that March is Ladder Safety Month. This one I had never heard of before, but it is something to remember. We all need to use ladders from time to time, and we should be very careful with them.

Tomorrow, March 30, the projected meal will be chicken divan with rice, mushroom salad, French bread and German chocolate cake. This meal is subject to change as it is a “Happy Birthday to Jim Brown” meal, sponsored by Jeanette Julsrud. Thanks, Jeanette, we all love this kind of suspense. Ha.

The April menu was not available to me yet, so Monday, April 4 will be a surprise.

Isaiah 41:13 I the Lord thy God will hold your right hand, saying unto thee, “Fear not; I will help thee.” A great promise.

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