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 — Last Monday our week started off with Dave Pasko and Darlene Nodine at the desk to greet all passers-by with a smile and make sure that diners were signed in and their names in the drawings for the day and accept donations for lunch and takeout meals. Thank you both for serving our seniors.

Darlene assisted Elsie to gather information as she was still recuperating from an illness. Shirley Dinsmore led us in the salute to our American flag. Thanks, Shirley.

Valeta and Chris were our servers today and our cleanup crew as well. Thanks, ladies, for all your hard work to add to your regular duties today.

Fifty-six fresh meals and 39 frozen meals were delivered into our community today by Pati, Rick and Jeanette. Thanks to all three of you for your service of love to our seniors in Grant County. We had several takeout meals and 25 in-house diners this day. All total we had over 120 meals go out of our kitchen this day.

There was a closed meeting of our hall board to make decisions concerning our center. Board members play a very important part in the business of maintaining our center. A big thank-you to each member. We do have two openings for new board members for someone who is interested in helping maintain our center.

Charlene Farmer won the Len’s card, and Karrol Green won the free meal.

Last Thursday, Sonie and Judy attended the desk where everyone passes by for lunch sign-in, to get information, pick up takeout meals and everything else that happens at the center. Thanks to both of you.

Elsie gathered information and Melonie Cochran led us in the flag salute. The First Baptist Church members were our servers today, and Melonie Cochran and Tamy and Michael Wyrick were the ones that represented their church. This group was terrific. They wiped down all the tables, and Shirley Dinsmore helped with that task. They swept the floor where folks had been sitting and had the whole place straightened up before they left. We sure do appreciate all our volunteers. We could not remain in service without every one of them. I am very proud to be a part of our senior center.

Becky Rhinehart, Peggy Molnar and Cindy Combs, and Jeff and Jodi Cyphers delivered 59 meals into our community this day. Thanks to every one of you for this service. It is only love that can make this service available. God is blessing all of you and the people you serve. We had nine takeout meals and 28 in-person diners. All in all we had 96 meals go out of our kitchen this day.

Melonie Cochran won the Chester’s card and donated it to Shirley Dinsmore. Thank you, Melonie. Earl Carlton won the free meal. Congratulation to all of you.

A life celebration will be held for Marla Carlton on May 18 at 11 a.m. On the same day, there will be a life celebration for Billie Bullard from 6 pm. to 9:30ish p.m. at the Elks, who share the senior center parking lot. This makes a big Saturday for many of us, but we loved both of these ladies. See you all there.

Tomorrow, Thursday, May 9, lunch will be sirloin steak with mushroom glaze, twice-baked potatoes, veggies, croissants, and poke cake for dessert. On Monday, May 13, lunch will be teriyaki chicken with rice, egg rolls, and glorified rice dessert. Sounds interesting.

Numbers 6:24-26 May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you His favor and give you his PEACE.

MONUMENT — I will try to be as accurate as I possibly can with my article. I was not present for the Tuesday senior lunch. I was in Portland visiting my daughter and son-in-law. It was a visit that was planned last minute. “Mama” was needed, since my daughter was not feeling well. LOL. So, I will have to present to you the information that I received from my trusty and reliable hubby.

Our greeters at the table were Bob Cockrell and Sue Cavender. They checked in all the guests, collected and counted up the money. Jan Ensign filled in the paperwork. Bob led the flag salute and also made the announcements. Dennis Abraham prayed the blessing over the meal. “Uncle Mac” won the free meal ticket.

The Monument Senior Center received eight gift certificates for haircuts from Katrina’s in John Day. Two of them were raffled out to guests attending our lunch. We thank Katrina’s immensely for their generous gift and support.

Students Brooklyn Grassl and Lexi Hull, along with their Ethos music teacher, played some music for everyone attending the lunch. We appreciate their talents and for taking the time out from school to come and play for our listening enjoyment.

We will have sewing time on Wednesday, May 8. The time will be from 9 a.m. to about 2:30 p.m. We share a potluck lunch at noon. Whatever you are working on, you can bring to sewing, and it does not have to be sewing. It could be knitting, crochet or other various crafts. We just like to get together, sew (for those of us who like to sew), visit and share a nice meal together. Hope you can come and join us!

I can’t believe that we are in the month of May! Where did the time go? How can it be that summer is just around the corner? I haven’t even begun to think of starting plants or fixing up my garden area! The baby goats have been taking up most of my time, and I have little time for anything else.

My son did an awesome job taking care of my little kids while I went to Portland. I think he was quite relieved that I was back, though. It is a daunting task to feed 10 bottle babies three times a day.

The babies are getting quite big. The last batch that were born were Frita’s. She was so huge! I thought she was either going to have triplets, maybe even four, or that her babies were going to be extra big. Well, it turned out that her babies were extra big. I mean, we are talking like they looked like month-old baby kids! They were cute. The boy had short LaMancha ears and the girl had long ears. I can’t make up my mind whether I think the short ears are cuter or the long ears.

The babies love sitting on my lap and getting that extra attention. Mei Mei especially loves sitting on my lap, and when I am petting her and loving on her, she just looks up and stares at me as if wanting to give me a kiss! Ha.

Psalms 138:2 I will worship toward Thy holy temple and praise Thy name for Thy loving kindness and for Thy truth: For Thou has magnified Thy Word above all Thy Name.

PRAIRIE CITY — Well, wasn’t that a great May Day sight? Two inches of snow. For all you newbies, that’s normal — welcome to Grant County weather! I hadn’t put the snow shovels away, but I was thinking about it. But I didn’t have to use them since the white stuff melted so fast. The poor tulips, though, had to shiver their blossoms for a few hours. Good thing they are hardy!

Juan led the flag salute, and Tom asked the blessing. Colin did the announcements. We have a new door prize to give away thanks to Katrina’s Barber Shop. Our first winner was Norman Harwood. Thanks to Katrina for doing this for our center. Our volunteers included Sharon, Mary, Brenda, Tom and Teresa. We were happy to see Sharon back to helping after her stint in the hospital. Just don’t ask her to pick up anything heavy!

Tom had a couple of birthdays of notable people. Ann-Margret is 83 and looking good! Willie Nelson is 91 and still kicking. Our quote: “The right angle to approach a difficult problem is the ‘try angle.’” Har, har. Our meal today was chicken pot pie with mixed fruit and BROWNIES. Good and warm food on this chilly day! Thanks to our great cooks, Pam and Pam.

We chose the color of the soon-to-be-put-on roofing. Lots of people said that the copper color was really pretty. Yes, and really expensive! So we went with off-white. So if you see strange goings-on around the ol’ hall, the contractor is measuring the amount of roofing he will need. Then, when the weather cooperates, he will remove the old galvanized sheets and put on the new colored ones. He won’t have to worry about chimneys, either. They are all gone! And I am using the bricks all over my yard …

You know the old saying: “Eat it up, wear it out, make it do, or go without.” Sometimes the item in question is all eaten up and worn out. Then it’s time to discard and get new — for the next 100 years! People who saw this building back in the last century would not recognize it now, I don’t think. We thank the state of Oregon for the capital grant program that made this all possible. (Your taxes working for you!)

So with the cold weather and being under the weather, I have not been able to get my super-duper dirt yet. Just don’t feel like shoveling dirt in the rain … so I adjourned to the attic! Am making great progress in sorting and deciding what goes where with who. And every time I go up and down the ladder, I think fondly of our previous senior coordinator, Angie. She was horrified when she saw me grab the ladder and go out to change the sign on the outside wall of the center. Hey, I’m still younger than Ann-Margret and Willie Nelson!

Anyone want to go to the fossil beds and museum on May 20? We still have a few seats available. This is so you can tell your family that you have seen some of the wonders of Grant County!

Mark 9:15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet Him.