JOHN DAY — The weather is changing again. Fall leaves are here and so beautiful. This is great weather for long walks. Cool enough to keep you moving for the warmth it provides.

Monday, Oct. 9, Dave and Darlene were at the desk to greet everyone who came by and see that registration was completed correctly. Elsie gathered information and did the announcing, and Kathy led the flag salute. Father Christie asked the blessing on the meal after he sang “This is the day that the Lord has made,” and then we dined on Hawaiian pizza, Hawaiian pasta salad, a Jell-O with fruit salad, and dessert with coffee or juice. Our servers were Kathy Radinovich, Barb Comer and one other lady who wishes to remain anonymous. It was a delectable meal.

Thank you, Shay and Darla. The servers did a great job and were sure everything diners needed was provided.

Forty-seven fresh and 51 frozen meals were delivered throughout our county by Barb Comber and Father Christie, Jeff and Jodi Cyphers, and Becky Reinhart. Thanks to each of you for your service of love.

Vern Pifer won the Len’s card, and Dave Pasko won the free meal. Congratulations to both of you.

All total there were 121 meals served out of our kitchen today. Great job, Shay and Darla.

On Thursday, Oct. 12, Judy and Sonie were at the desk greeting everyone who came by and seeing that all the details were done correctly. Elsie gathered information and did the announcing, and Dave led the flag salute.

Fifty-five fresh meals were delivered throughout our county by Peggy and Cindy, Rayme Lacey, Jodi and Jeff Cyphers. Thank you all for your service of love for others.

Our servers were from the Cornerstone Church, and they were Valada Grant and Glenn Hassett. Glenn asked the blessing for the food before we dove into this great lunch: scalloped potatoes with ham, green beans with bacon, green salad and honey apple puffs. There were many comments on how good the meal was. Thank you, Shay and Darla.

With the 29 takeout meals, 55 delivered meals and 23 in-house diners, we had a total of 107 meals went out of the kitchen today. Good job, Shay and Darla.

Jeanette Sheridan won the Chester’s card, and Joe Phippen won the free meal. Congratulations to both of you.

At the front desk is a stack of resource guides for four counties. Pick one up as you go by, it is full of great information to help you acquaint yourself with this area. It has food banks, churches, welfare information, medical information, transportation guide, veterans information, legal information, and even help for child care.

Oct. 18 will be Billie Bullard’s 102nd birthday. She still comes to play bingo but doesn’t go out much other than that. She just gave up driving early this year. She is as sharp as a tack still, and loves to smile and laugh. Happy birthday, Billie.

Monday, Oct. 9, was Columbus Day, so we celebrated indigenous people. Many of us did not know the meaning of indigenous. It means the first people on the land. There are 30 million indigenous people in 91 countries. We learned some new things about Columbus Day.

Oct. 19 is Fall Fest at Chester’s. They will still have their Christmas event also.

Thursday, Oct. 19, we will have a speaker on domestic violence. Seniors are prone to be victims of domestic violence. Come and hear what she has to say about this topic. It is growing in our neighborhoods these days.

Go out to lunch at the senior center. Nowhere else can you get a full meal with drinks and dessert for a donation of $6. No time for eating lunch? Grab a takeout meal at the senior center for a $7 donation. It is the best way to have lunch in John Day.

Tomorrow, Oct. 19, we will dine on lasagna, green salad, garlic toast and cheesecake. On Monday, Oct. 23, we will have hot ham and cheese hoagies, tomato rice soup, and the cook’s choice for dessert. Come join us and have a great meal, conversation and relaxation.

The senior center has a new phone number. It is 541-620-5242. Call this number for anything except the kitchen.

The kitchen will keep the number we have been using. It is 541-575-1825. Call this number only for food.

John 11:25 I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even tho’ he dies.

MONUMENT —

The fall colors are being seen all over the place. I love seeing the different hues of orange and red. The cool, crisp air early in the morning and sudden coldness in the evening when the sun goes down represents to me that summer is definitely over and winter is just around the corner. Ah! I just wish the fall would stick around a little longer over here.

Well, our cooks outdid themselves with a new item on our menu. Million dollar chicken with rice pilaf, garlic bread, fresh green salad, and an assortment of cookies for our dessert. We all wondered what “million dollar chicken” was?

It was tasty. It was a hit. I had to go back up for seconds. We thank our cooks, Terry Cade and Carrie Jewell, and their talent in feeding us.

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

The Flying Tigers had two of their reps, Bethany Wilburn and Lexie Hull, selling their baked goods. They had an array of different cookies, cheesecakes, bread, doughnuts and cakes available for sale. They sold pretty much all their assortment of desserts except for a couple of things. I would call that very successful. So remember, the Flying Tigers Bake Sale will be going on the second Tuesday of every month at the Monument Senior Center.

We had Reba Smith and Janice Hunt join us for lunch from Long Creek. Not to mention, of course, our usual friends from Spray. Hope they all enjoyed their meal. And lastly, Lonnie Lawrence was the winner of the free meal ticket.

Please mark this on your calendar: The Flying Tigers will be having a shotgun shoot from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28, at Brad and Julie Smith’s place. The cost will be $3 per round. Come on over and have some fun and help support our kids.

They will also be selling a pulled pork lunch. My advice: Just make sure you bring enough in your wallet. Hee hee.

We will be having our sewing get-together on Wednesday, Oct. 18, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. It is great to come and join us with other projects too, like crochet or knitting, or just to visit. We share a potluck lunch at noon. Our next sewing get-together will be Wednesday, Nov. 15. Hope to see you there one of these days!

I am counting the days till when I will be putting the boy goats with the girls. The girls are in heat, and they are getting pretty restless. Well, they will just have to wait. I hope my bottle babies will have some really cute babies and let me milk them. In the meantime, I need to get everything ready for the coming winter. Are you ready?

Psalms 145:5-6 I will speak of the glorious honor of Thy Majesty, and of Thy wondrous works And men shall speak of the might of Thy awesome acts.

PRAIRIE CITY —

Theresa rang the dinner bell at promptly 12 noon. Frances led the flag salute, and Theresa asked the blessing. Ginger gave the announcements, and boy did we have them! First was the fact that the Grant County Health Department was in the building to administer shots. And we welcomed the Blue Mountain Care

Center activity director, Aries, and her helper, Janae, who brought Sandra, Marilyn, Darin, Julie and Bessie to dinner today. Our entree today was given in memory of Wanda Kaufman, who enjoyed her time at our center in years past. The winner of the gift certificate donated by Valeria at Chuck’s Little Diner was Lonnie Davis. Our volunteers today included Sharon, Gwynne, Mary, Theresa and Teresa, Pam and Laynie and Paisley, our new teenage helpers. We certainly appreciate all of you!

Theresa’s trivia: In 1884, Eleanor Roosevelt was born. In 1929, J.C. Penny opened his 1,253rd store. And it wasn’t until 1983 that the last phones were converted to direct dial. (And when did the first cell phones appear?) FYI, apples, pears, peaches, plums, apricots, cherries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries are in the rose family.

What I want to know is, how do “they” know that? What determines what plant family a certain plant is in? And how come roses make blossoms and all those others make fruits? By the way, I counted all the petals on one rose blossom that I got at my award ceremony. Would you believe 55?! If there are a dozen on a wild rose blossom, they are doing good! Have to remember and count one next spring …

The trivia question: Betty Grable was married for a couple of years to Jackie Coogan. What character did he play on TV’s “The Addams Family” — or was it “The Munsters”? Anyway, the answer was Uncle Fester. So, our table got to go first again because Son No. 2 knew that. Hooray!

And we picked up our tater tot casserole and a piece of garlic bread at the serving window. Then scooted over to the long table that was loaded with all the other goodies for today’s meal. There was a green salad, pears, and rhubarb dump cake for dessert. We had a choice of juices today, too. Mine was mango!

Ooh, that stuff is good!

Baked a cake a few weeks ago and discovered that the “use by” date on the baking powder can was 2009. (I don’t bake very much — ahem.) So then I looked at the vanilla bottle. It was much newer! 2021. I had bought a package of lard to use to season the skillets. It is also dated 2021. Guess if you store it correctly, it still works!

Trying to get all the weeds out of the garden before the snow comes. Was digging around and found two carrots that were of eating size — so I took them in and cleaned the dirt off and promptly ate them! There, the harvest is complete. And for a meal this week, I used carrots, peas and beets from this year’s garden. Mmm. Nice and sweet, all three of them were.

John 4:36 Even now … the reaper … harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 2 Cor. 9:6 Remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.