JOHN DAY — Last week I was in Boise for a few days and tried to send you our senior center news and it just would not happen. After I typed it all and worked to send it, the laptop would not cooperate. When home it was impossible to get the typed document out of the laptop to send to my desktop PC to complete and send. It did not happen after all the time I spent doing it. Things happen and we get through it, so now I am at my desktop PC and getting everything going.

Monday, July 1, Dave was alone at the desk and did a great job. There were about 20 in-house diners who stopped by at the desk and signed in and put their names in the drawings for the day, and Dave accepted all the donations that came by and counted it up after lunch and got it deposited into the bank. Thanks, Dave, for your service on this day.

The servers who were on our schedule were unable to be with us so when they called to let us know, a call was made to the First Baptist Church, and they were on the spot ready to assist us. Peggy Molnar, LaDonna Jernigan, Meloni Cochran and Michael Wyrich, along with Pastor Jessie and his two teenage boys. They all served coffee and water and picked up dishes and prepared them for the kitchen to wash. Thanks to all of you for your service to our seniors and especially to be agreeable to be with us on a moment’s notice.

Pastor Jessie asked the blessing for our meal of baked cod, wild rice pilaf, zucchini, and cherry pineapple dump cake. Yum.

Elsie won the Len’s card, and Calvin Johnson won the free meal. Congratulations to both of us.

The Grant County Piecemakers Quilt Guild is hosting a fun night on Aug. 3 starting at 4:30 p.m. with a taco buffet for $8 for everyone except the veterans — they eat for free. At 5:30 p.m. they will be giving away 20 quilts to veterans.

Our menus have been so lovely these past weeks, so come tomorrow, Thursday, July 11, and let’s all share a great meal that Shay and Alesa have planned and prepared for all of us. They keep asking how the meal was and they desire a great answer from us, so we know they are looking to please all of us seniors.

Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly into the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

MONUMENT — Wow, we are in July! Half of summer has come and gone. Sigh … I am totally convinced that time is going faster and faster. Someone just told me the other day that in scripture it says that if God did not shorten the day, there would be no flesh left on the earth. Hmm, I am beginning to see that it could very well mean that our days are shorter, literally! Question for God, for sure.

None of us knew what we were having for lunch until we got to the senior/community center. I read the menu and gasped! We were going to have spaghetti. The reason I gasped was because I was going to make spaghetti for our family dinner later in the evening. This is the second time that that has happened to me. The last time that happened was when I made sloppy Joes and the next day we had sloppy Joes for lunch. Ha.

Our cooks, Terry Cade and Carrie Jewell, made us a wonderful meal of spaghetti, garlic bread, fresh green salad, and sugar cookies for our dessert. It was a very hearty and filling meal. We thank our awesome cooks for feeding us so well.

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 out the paperwork. Bob led us in the flag salute and made the announcements. Yours truly prayed the blessing over the meal.

We had some guests join us for lunch. Jan Ensign’s daughter, Kim, and her husband, Brian Martin, came all the way from Great Falls, Montana. We also had Judy Cavender’s son, Matt Arbogast, from Colorado join us. We hope they enjoy their time here visiting.

We had a fire up here in Monument. It came very close to Max Breeding’s house. Many people came quickly to help put the fire out. Nearby neighboring towns, Long Creek and Dayville, offered to come out to assist in the firefighting. Sheriff Todd McKinley was also present. I tell you, I just love it out here! What more can one ask for? People just rush to help when there is need out here, and that fire was contained in a short amount of time. There were people still working on it, making sure there were no burning areas, even on the Fourth of July!

We just thank everyone who came out to help put that fire out! I praise the Lord for our community and the genuine care and concern for others. We are truly blessed to live out here in God’s country. My heart is overwhelmed with God’s goodness, grace and mercy. If we look around, we can see God’s hand in everything. Even in the bad and hard times, He is still there. He is still God, and He is sovereign. He will work out all things for the good of those who love Him according to His plans and purposes. That is how good He is!

Psalms 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusteth in Him.

PRAIRIE CITY — By the time you read this, the heat spell should be easing. Today was just perfect! We even had to turn the heat on for a little bit to get the dining room comfortable for eating. Del came to prepare the swamp cooler, but we had a problem turning the water on to it. Hope to get it remedied before it gets too hot. While we were working in there after dinner, it was only up to 72 degrees, so the new roofing must be doing OK, we hope …

We were blessed with some special guests today in the persons of our grand marshals for the parade tomorrow, the Camarenas. Since Tom is off at church camp, I asked them if they had any special words of wisdom for our trivia board. Rebecca stated, “Don’t order any kite string for Rose until she has checked upstairs.” If you want to know the story behind that, you’ll have to come to dinner and ask me. (Tee hee!)

Another pair of special guests were Linda and Willy Stoppa from Germany. She is Ginger’s sister-in-law and I vaguely remember her from the olden days at Prairie City High School. The connection is that Linda’s parents were related to our next-farm neighbors in Idaho in the ’50s. How’s that for a small world?

And I think Dave and Traci Frazier were dining with us for the first time, too. Glad you all could come. The more the merrier, you know. Another pair of diners were lan and Carle Coombs. That’s my grandson and Carla’s granddaughter. Carle’s parents and grandmother came, too.

So back to business: Gwynne led the flag salute, and Ginger asked the blessing. The gift certificate for Katrina’s Barber Shop went to Jason Wright. Sharon, Mary, Carla, Gwynne, Teresa and Colin were our volunteers today. Some delivered meals, some delivered drinks and tableware, and some took care of the returnable cans.

Our meal consisted of cheesy beef and broccoli pockets, green salad, watermelon and a chocolate cookie. There were also lots of other fruits and vegetables to add to your plate. So you shouldn’t have gone away hungry! The sponsor of today’s meal was Slide Mountain Beef. Thanks so much, guys!

Do you know how many seeds are in one cantaloupe? Almost a fourth of a cup! I saved a dozen seeds from a very tasty cantaloupe last summer. I planted them around June 1. Eleven plants are growing very well. That is a very high germination rate! Do you have any idea how many seeds are in 1/4 cup? I counted them. Close to 500! Talk about overabundance.

Which brings to mind the story of the seeds of a special fancy begonia. The gardener said that you prepare the pot, open the seed package very carefully over the pot and let the seeds fall. Then you pray that the seeds hit the dirt.

Matthew 13:8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.