Mt. Vernon resident Billie Bullard, who turned 101 on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022, celebrates her (almost) birthday with friends and family at the John Day Senior Center on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022.

JOHN DAY — It seems that winter ran its course and now spring is here already, but I heard that snow is coming soon again, so if we just wait awhile, it will change. Snow was needed for us to have good water levels in the summer. God knows how to do it.

The Grant County Jammers were playing and singing from 10 a. m. till noon. The atmosphere was so great, it really sets everyone’s spirits at a great level. Thank you, Jammers, for blessing us.

On Monday, Jan. 19, Darlene and Dave helped all diners to see that they were signed in and got their names in the drawings for the day. They also collected all the donations for lunch and so forth and stored them securely. Elsie gathered statistics and other information and did the announcements. We all recited the Pledge of Allegiance together.

Rick, Rayme and Pati delivered 58 fresh meals and 54 frozen meals into our community and surrounding areas to residents who cannot come dine in person with us. Thank all of you for your service of love for others. There were 16 takeout meals and 32 in-house diners. Altogether there were 160 meals that went out of our kitchen today.

Our assistant cook has resigned, so we are relying on our volunteers to fill in till we find a new assistant cook. The ladies who volunteer regularly in the kitchen are Aleesa, Nancy, Chris and Valeda. These ladies really do work hard. They not only do work in the kitchen, but to help the servers out with several tasks as needed. Thank you all for all you do to support our center.

Chris Robbins was our server today, and she was terrific. Earl asked the blessing before we proceeded to dine on roast beef and cheddar melt, potato soup, carrot salad and white cake with fruit. Thank you, Chris and Earl and Shay, for the good food. We must not forget to thank Shay’s angels for all they did to make this meal a success.

The Dollar General blessed us with a good supply of pies and ice cream. Thank you, Dollar General.

Rhonda won the Len’s card, and Darron won the free meal. Congratulations to both of you.

On Thursday, Feb. 1, Sonie and Dave were greeting everyone who came by the desk and seeing that all the diners were signed in and their names in the drawings for the day. Darlene manned the 50/50 drawing station. Elsie gathered information and did the announcements. We all said the Pledge of Allegiance.

Pati and Jeanette, Gary and Bonnie Zick, and Rick LaMountain delivered 59 meals to residents throughout the area. Thank you all for your service of love for others and your support to our center. There were 15 takeout meals and 35 in-house diners for a total of 109 meals that came out of our kitchen today.

The First Baptist Church was represented by Pastor Jessie, Michael Wyrick, Peggy Molnar, LaDonna Pickett and Sandy Johnson as our servers for lunch today. Thank you all for helping our center be successful. Today there was lots of chatter in the room, and it was so nice to hear everyone sharing.

Pastor Jessie asked the blessing for our lunch and then we proceeded table by table to go to the window to get our food. Lunch consisted of chicken with mushroom sauce (yummy), mushroom rice (yummy), veggies, bread with butter, and birthday cake. Thanks, Shay, for a great lunch. Also, thanks to all the ladies that helped prepare it.

The city of Mt. Vernon, via Chantal DesJardin, blessed us with 40 pounds of fresh fruit. Shay was so pleased to be able to add fresh fruit to the delivered meals as that is not something he can do very often. Thanks to Mt. Vernon for this special treat.

Carolyn Stout won the Chester’s card, and Carol won the free meal. Carol Roe also won the 50/50 pot and shared it back to the center. Thank you, Carol, and congratulations to both of you for your wins today.

It was a surprise today to hear that Aleesa was hired to be our assistant cook. We let her know we appreciated her work thus far and were happy to have her on board now. Welcome, Aleesa, to our center (home).

Our Valentine’s meal will be tomorrow, Feb. 8, and the menu will be chicken Oscar with hollandaise sauce, rice pilaf, veggies, and chocolate mousse for dessert. Hope you all come and share some of this with us.

There will also be a hall board meeting at 1 p.m. following lunch.

On Monday, Feb. 12, the menu will be Mexican lasagna, black beans, cilantro-lime rice, salad and cherry empanada.

Matthew 6: 21 & 22 Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged.

MONUMENT — The snow is pretty much gone except a little patch here and there. We sure needed that snow and it was good. We thank and praise the Lord for the moisture! Hallelujah! The ground is nice and wet and squishy.

I am already thinking about planting stuff! Crazy as it may seem, spring is just around the corner.

Our greeter was Bob Cockrell, and he checked in all the guests, collected and counted up the money, and filled out the paperwork. He also led us in the flag salute and made the announcements. Yours truly prayed the blessing over the meal. The winner of the free meal ticket was Buckley Jezwinski.

The next sewing event will be on Wednesday, Feb. 14. We will begin at 9 a.m. and end around 2 p.m. We share a potluck lunch around noon. I believe the ladies are going to be working on the production of making tote bags. I am not sure what I want to make, but I will be attending for sure. All are welcome to join us, and we always have a good time.

Calling all bakers in the Monument area: On Monday, Feb. 19, we need from every baker two dozen cookies to put on the plates to give away. We will then be putting the plates together on Tuesday, Feb. 20, and delivering them to the various people in our community. We would appreciate any and all help with baking, sorting and plating, and delivering of the cookies. Thank you all in advance. If you have any questions, please give Sylvia Cockrell a call.

Don’t forget to get tickets for the upcoming Valentine’s tri-tip dinner on Sunday, Feb. 10. This is being put on by the Monument Flying Tigers Club. This fundraiser dinner is to help the students raise money for their trip to Boston, Massachusetts, in May. You can purchase tickets from students or at the school. The kids would very much appreciate your support.

I took a little tumble while walking back to my house from the car after a walk. I had not laced up my shoelaces all the way up my hiking shoes. Well, the hooks caught on each other and oh, boy … I scraped both my knees and my hands on the gravel. That hurt quite a bit. I had to clean my knees, and I applied some raw honey and Band-Aids. Luckily, only the dogs and cats saw me fall! LOL. This getting older business is not fun and I can feel the pain in my body more, that’s for sure.

My baby goats from last year are still pretty small and very cute. Victoria still knows her name, and so does Squeaky and her sister Sissy. They still come over and let me pet them and they love the peanuts-in the shell treats. I am not really looking forward to bottle-feeding baby goats but I am looking forward to new baby goats. It is getting harder to part with some of my goats now that I’ve raised them by hand. Nope, can’t get rid of my bottle babies! Ha.

Psalms 5:11-12 But let all those who put their trust in Thee rejoice: Let them ever shout for joy, because Thou defendest them. Let them also who love Thy Name be joyful in Thee. For Thou, O LORD, will bless the righteous with favor wilt Thou crown him as with a shield.

PRAIRIE CITY —

Have you noticed that the daylight is getting longer? I don’t have to turn on the back porch light when returning from the care center service at 5 p.m anymore. And here comes Groundhog Day. Whatever he sees, WE better have six more weeks of winter! That 2 feet of dry snow isn’t gonna cut it come summer! Ah, the good ol’ days, when winter had snow enough that we had to use the Cat to plow a trail for a place to put the hay for the cattle.

On to the present: Tonya led the flag salute, and Bob Perkins asked the blessing. The winner of the $10 gift certificate donated by Huffman’s Market for having a birthday in January was Anna Smith.

Our trivia was all about Jackie Robinson, who was born in 1919 on this date. A quote from him states, “I hate to lose.” Jackie started running with gangs, but an older friend told him to have the courage to be different. So he quit the gang and went to UCLA, where he starred in football, basketball, track and baseball. After serving in WWII, he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers and in 1947 broke the color barrier. He was named Rookie of the Year in 1949. He led the Dodgers to six league championships and one World Series victory. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. Another quote that applies to all of us — and covered what Jackie did: “Many a good man has failed because he had his wishbone where his backbone should have been.”

Our cadre of volunteers today included Sharon, Tonya, Carla, Teresa, Tom and Pam. Frances even got into the act by delivering some meals to one of our regulars who had forgotten that it was Wednesday. Hey, that happens. That’s one of the first things I tell myself when I wake up is what day it is.

So what was the meal? Spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread, green salad, peaches and birthday cake. It has become a practice for the cooks to put out the dessert on the serving table before the meal just so they don’t have to do it later. And it has become the practice of lots of us to avail ourselves of the dessert before noon, so we won’t have to juggle it and our meal plate getting back to our seats. The joke is that we have to have dessert first cause we may not be there by the time the meal is ready. Thanks to Driskill Memorial Chapel for the birthday cake each month.

By the way, many thanks to our cooks, Pam and Pam, for their wonderful meals. And thanks to the volunteers who deliver around town and help in the kitchen and take care of cleanup after the meal. We appreciate all of you who are willing to step in and help where needed.

We have some new doormats in the entry to protect our new floors. Now we won’t have to chase you down and wipe up the water under your shoes. We anticipate joining the citywide yard sale in the spring, so if you have any donations to the cause, we stand ready to receive them.

Job 19:25-26 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.