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 — Spring is now in full swing. The sun is shining, the air smells fresh, the temperature is getting warmer each day. We are happy campers. Let’s all get out in this fresh air and get healthy and enjoy it.

On Monday, March 18, Judy and Dave greeted everyone who passed the desk, signed them in for lunch, and they made sure everyone got their names put in the drawings for the day. Dave led the flag salute, and Judy did the announcing. Judy also gathered all the information for the announcements.

Carol Clair asked the blessing for the meal. The servers were Carol Claire and Carolyn Stout from the Living Word Church. Lunch consisted of Tuscan chicken, white bean soup, scalloped potatoes and blackberry cobbler. Yum! Eighteen diners enjoyed this meal together. All total there were 132 meals that went out of our kitchen today. Six takeout meals were picked up.

Pati, Flora Cheadle, and staff members of Blue Mountain Hospital delivered 69 fresh and 39 frozen meals into our community to homebound folks. Thank you all for your service of love for others.

Leo Buzzard has been assisting our kitchen on workdays to do tasks that help everyone get things done quicker. Thank you, Leo, for your continued help and support.

There is still time to sign up for the OTEC meeting on May 4. The bus leaves the senior center at 8 a.m. and will get you back to the senior center by 3 p.m.

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

On Thursday, March 21, Veanne and Sonie were at the desk to be sure everyone was welcomed and signed in and their names in the drawings for the day. We all said the allegiance to the flag together, and Pati asked the blessing for the meal. We dined on pepperoni pizza with a green salad and garlic bread, and that wonderful, beautiful fruit and cream cheese pizza. What a fantastic meal! Thanks to everyone who help make this meal possible.

Jeanette and Pati were the servers today and cleaned the tables and dishes after lunch was done. A new lady I had not bet before and did not get her name helped wipe down all the tables to sanitize them. She was so appreciated by all of us. Jeanette and Elsie swept the floor while Pati readied the dishes for the kitchen.

Rick LaMountain, Jeff and Jodi Cyphers and Jeanette Julsrud delivered 61 fresh and five frozen meals into our community, and there were five takeout meals. Thirty-two people partook of this meal together. Altogether we had a total of 103 meals go out of our kitchen today.

Mya won the Chester’s card, Calvin Johnson won the free meal, Paul Gill won a gift and Scott Farmer won a gift. Heather and Carl Swank won the 50/50 pot. Congratulations to all of you.

We are looking forward to a second painting class since the first one was such a great success. Thanks to Misty Palmer and whoever else was responsible for the grant that provided the way to make this happen. Included in that grant was the “write your life story” class that was also a big success. We are looking forward to more like this.

Tomorrow, Thursday, March 28, lunch will be our Easter dinner, pineapple-glazed ham, mashed sweet potatoes and coconut mousse. You can get a new menu at the desk to learn what Monday’s meal will be.

Ephesians 2:10 KJV For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

MONUMENT —

We had an invasion at the Monument Senior Center. Don’t worry, it was not bugs or vermin or that sort of thing, LOL. We had a whole bunch of people from Spray join us for lunch. Apparently, the ladies who came out the previous week were so impressed with our lunch and had such a blessed time, they convinced some of their friends to join us this week! We hope they enjoyed themselves and return real soon.

Our cooks, Terry Cade and Carrie Jewell, made us a wonderful new item for our lunch. We were served Mongolian beef noodles, fresh green salad, and brownies for our dessert. It was good and I almost went back for seconds, but restrained myself. Ha. We are truly grateful for our cooks and we thank them immensely for their hard work.

Our greeters at the table were Bob Cockrell and Sue Cavender. With the help of Jan Ensign, they checked in all the guests, collected and counted up the money, and filled out the paperwork. Bob led us in the flag salute and made the announcements. Sue Stovall was the lucky winner of the free meal ticket.

There will be bingo on the last Saturday of this month, March 30. They always have bingo on the last Saturday of every month unless otherwise stated. Bingo starts at 5 p.m. and goes until they finish 20 games. They also share a potluck dinner during the break after 10 games. Cards are 25 cents apiece, per game. Cheap entertainment and besides, you get to share a very tasty meal!

Kyle and Kathryn Jezwinski are hosting a Bible study get-together at the Monument Senior Center on Thursdays at 6 p.m. All are welcome.

Ellie Asher is still working on trying to get a project going with a grant from the state and working with the Monument School. This would be a project that anyone interested may attend and it is looking like it will be a potting plants project. All materials will be provided at no charge. Ellie will let us know when the plans are finalized and we have received the grant.

It’s a waiting game right now. Some of the girls’ bags are so big, I am in shock. It is always a thrill to wait and wonder what the new baby goats will look like. I am always pleasantly surprised at some of the colors that come out. I’m trying to check their back ends on a daily basis.

Continued from the previous week: We drove back to Ms. Jean’s place and waited for my hubby to get there. He arrived after about 15 minutes. I really thought the ladies were going to change their minds about going to town but they did not. We changed cars and were finally on our merry little way, really! LOL.

You know, God gets all the glory because He kept us safe. That tire could have gone flat somewhere in the middle of nowhere and that would have been pretty awful! By His grace, it happened in town and we were able to get help immediately. I praise the Lord for He is good, all the time!

Who knows? Maybe that all happened because He was keeping us safe from some other thing that might have happened had we been able to just leave when we did.

Psalms 116:1-2 I love the LORD, because He hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live.

PRAIRIE CITY —

Well, the thermometer may say 65 degrees, but I’ve still got a snow shovel at each door! Had a fleeting thought to take out the cement block weight that’s in the back of the pickup, but then heard the weather forecast for next week when I have to make my trip to Burns to see the Miracle Ear lady, and decided to not get in a hurry. And remember those violets? Some of them have bloomed already! Don’t quite know what to make of them.

We are still celebrating St. Patrick. Tom found another batch of things that we put the word green in front of that are not vegetables, like green thumb and Green Bay and several more that I didn’t write down. But did you know that the 19th of March was National Ag Day? Supposed to let people in the cities know how dependent they are on the people who supply their food. I found it interesting that it comes the day before spring begins. If we didn’t have spring with rain and sunshine, the ground would not produce the food and fiber we need. OK, off that soapbox …

Colin led the flag salute and made the announcements. The free meal was won by Fran Bunch. Tom asked the blessing. Our volunteers were Tom, Brenda, Mary and Carla. We’re thinking about taking a field trip to the fossil beds in a couple months. So there is a sign-up sheet to gauge interest. Think about it.

Our great cooks prepared lasagna and garlic bread for us today. It was super delicious! There was a lot of food left over from the memorial dinner on Saturday, so we got to help it disappear … all kinds of salads and fruit and desserts. There was no reason to go away hungry today! I got to have some items that I didn’t get to on Saturday, so that worked out very well. (Ahem.)

History lesson: You know our county was named for Ulysses S. Grant. But what do you know about him besides the fact that he was in the Civil War and is buried in New York City? I just finished reading a book that filled in all the details of his life. We can be proud of the fact that our county was named for him. This book should be required reading in the schools, not just in our county, but nationwide. It definitely is not “dry” history! I know the old history books were very difficult to absorb. This one reads like a modern day novel, a real page-turner. I found out a lot of things that I did not know before.

OK, enough of that (but I get so excited!). Haven’t made it to the attic yet, but since the weather was so nice, I started on the shop and shed. Got the garden cart all re-linseeded. Found the original instructions from way back in the ’70s when we bought it. I wonder if that company is still in business. The cart still has the plywood it came with. Don’t know how much longer it will last!

2 Tim. 2:20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay: some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble.