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 — By the time you are reading this, the fair will be over and you will be thinking of preparing the kids for school starting or getting ready for fall. Summer was short with all the smoke. It isn’t summer without our blue sky and the sun in the sky.

Even though we couldn’t see the sun, it still keeps the plants growing and we can still get sunburned, and all the solar things we have are still working. Interesting. The one positive thing I can think of in this smoky time is the temperatures are lower. There has to be a positive about everything.

Our center has agreed to be a cooling center for those who need to escape the heat for a while. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday we will be happy to have you come in to be cool and have cold water to drink, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Someone made a comment about all the amenities John Day has and is losing. Be sure and support the businesses and groups in our community so we can remain an active place where we are happy to be, and travelers will be pleased and happy to spend some time here.

Stephan Rogers brought peaches from Kimberly to share with whoever wants some. He did this last year also and it was received with much gratitude. Thank you, Stephan, for the peaches.

Monday, Aug. 5, was Sally’s birthday, so we just had to sing to her. It is always fun to see people smile when we honor them. Her family surprised her with a birthday party 10 days in advance so she would not be aware of it. She was so surprised and is still talking about how she cannot figure out how they pulled it off without her knowing anything about it.

Jim and Sharon brought in zucchini to share with others. Thanks, you two, for honoring our seniors.

We now have nice-looking used doors in our center. They have been there for a long time (years) without any TLC, so now they got it. They look very nice.

Kim Kell from the Blue Mountain Eagle stopped in to educate us on what is happening with our newspaper. We appreciate that they made the effort to help us understand what is happening. Subscribers to the Blue Mountain Eagle now receive the print edition of the East Oregonian, which includes stories from Grant County. Additional local stories can be found online at the Blue Mountain Eagle website.

Monday, Aug. 5, the Grant County Jammers were present and playing and singing good music from 10 till noon. We are so happy they are with us. It lifts our spirits. Words are not good enough to express our gratitude for this music. Thanks to all who play and sing with them.

Dave was at the desk, greeting and accepting donations for lunch, and getting everyone signed in and in the drawings.

Darlene did the announcements and Linda Christensen asked the blessing for our meal. We dined on biscuits with bacon gravy, scrambled eggs, fruit and bread pudding. It was all so good. Thanks, Shay and Alesa.

Our new assistant cook was training this week before Alesa leaves for her new adventure in life. Tammy is very friendly and puts a smile on for all of us. We are going to like her very much. We will miss Alesa, though, as we have learned to love her and she gives back to us, too.

Our server was Linda Christensen, and she did a splendid job. She was friendly and courteous and kept us all up to date on anything we needed for successful dining.

Mike and Pati, Rick, Linda and Larry, and Jeannette delivered 58 meals into our community to those who cannot get out to come and dine with us in person. This delivery act is so special to all who are the recipients. Thanks to you all for your service of love for other people.

Robert Johnston won the Len’s card, and Mike Bowe won the free meal. Congratulations to both of you.

Thursday, Aug. 8, Judy and Sonie were at the desk to greet everyone and keep track of everything and everyone.

The Cornerstone Church was represented by Jeannette, Stacey, Jo, and Heather, as our servers. This lunch was swift, and all went so smoothly. All four were attentive and helpful, and the cleanup went well and fast with all four ladies keeping going till it was all done.

We were visited by a new resident of John Day, Ed Newby, and he wants to meet us all and hear where we are all from and our achievements through the years. It was a very nice day with many telling about themselves while we all gleaned from the knowledge. Thanks, Ed, for being yourself and letting us get to know you.

Jeff and Jody, Becky, Peggy and Cindy, delivered 60 fresh and 36 frozen meals into our community. Once again this is such a pleasant experience for all the recipients of food. Thank you all for your service of love for other people.

This was Alesa’s last day with us. We presented her with a bouquet that will never die so she can remember us.

Darlene won a gift in the drawing, and Lonnie won the free meal.

To shorten things up, we had a total of 229 meals served from our kitchen this week.

Monday, Aug. 12, we will dine on taco salad, chips and salsa, fruit and cake. Thursday, we will have barbecue brisket, potato wedges, baked beans, green salad and cookies.

Isaiah 40:31 Those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.

MONUMENT — We’ve gotten back to our “normal and regular” routine, sort of. LOL. We finally got to enjoy our Tuesday senior/community lunch! Yay! Everyone was so glad to be able to come and gather together to eat and visit with one another. We surely missed our lunch gathering.

Our greeters at the table were Bob Cockrell and Sue Cavender. They checked in all the guests, collected and counted up the money. Bob led us in the flag salute and made the announcements. Yours truly had the privilege of praying the blessing over the meal. The free meal ticket went to Brian Woodell.

There will be a funeral service for Peggy Clark on Saturday, Aug. 17. at 11 a.m. at the cemetery in Mt. Vernon. Immediately following the services, there will be a potluck lunch to be shared at the Mt. Vernon Grange. We send our deepest condolences to Rusty and the family.

Things are ramping up now that it is August. We are preparing for our biggest event of the year. The Buckaroo Fall Festival and Harvest Auction will be on Sept. 21. Mark your calendars so that you will not miss out on this most important day! There will be the salmon and elk dinner, of course, plus live and silent auctions, music and more.

The meal prices will be the same as last year’s so that the whole family can enjoy without breaking the bank: $20 per single person, $35 per couple, $7.50 for children ages 6-12, and free for children 6 and under.

The event will begin at noon with the EMT Food Booth serving up lunch. All donations at this booth will go to the EMT fund. Bidder registration for the live and silent auctions will also begin at this time. Live music, kids’ games/activities with prizes, cornhole and silent action start at 1 p.m.

The live auction will begin at 3 p.m. at the back of the Monument Senior/Community Center and the dinner will be served at 4:30 p.m. Silent auction will close at 5 p.m. and the raffle drawings will begin. You do not have to be present to win these items.

The dessert auction will begin at 5:30 p.m. and will continue through dinner. There will be drawings for men’s and women’s door prizes, valued at approximately $300, at 7 p.m. You must be present to win these prizes.

I will have more information later about the many different auction and basket items that will be presented. Thank you all to those who have donated or contributed to this wonderful event of the year! Hope to see you all there!

It’s still a little smoky out here in Monument, but the air is slowly clearing out. I am truly forever grateful, as I am sure the rest of the community are too, for all the firefighters and those local heroes who came out with their bulldozers making fire break lines for everyone. I think our local heroes made the biggest impact in insuring that people’s homes and outbuildings were not burned down. Again, we are truly blessed with a wonderful community and the Lord is good, all the time!

Micah 7:7 Therefore I will look unto the LORD. I will wait for the God of my salvation: My God will hear me.

PRAIRIE CITY — We had a nice group of happy people come for our weekly meal today. Now, why do you suppose they were happy? For me, it was that I did not have to prepare a meal for myself today! That’s always a good thing, right? And when our cooks prepare such good meals, that makes it even better.

Pam W. and Pam G. worked on Tuesday to get the meal ready, then another Pam W. came in to help Pam W. serve the meal. And, of course, Pam H. was at her station at the registration desk. (Do you get the idea that at a certain point in time the most popular name for a baby girl was Pam?)

That’s like at a family reunion and someone hollers “Mrs. Smith” and six ladies answer “What?” Anyway, we are thankful for all of you who came to dinner, especially the new faces! Glad to see you came back. May your tribe increase!

Colin led the flag salute; Sharon Thissel was the winner of the $5 gift card donated by Len’s Pharmacy; and Tom asked the blessing. Our volunteers included Sharon, Gwynne, Mary, Teresa, Tom, and Brenda. Thank you all for your service.

So what was this great meal? Oven fried chicken, scalloped potatoes, green beans, cottage cheese, Mandarin oranges, and a berry cobbler. Aren’t you sorry you missed it? I had to be in Burns at 2 p.m., so I took mine home and ate it when I got back. It was delicious!

Del keeps asking me how my garden is doing. That is a sore subject this year! I do have a passel of cantaloupes growing larger every day in their tank. And the cucumbers have tons of blossoms, but very few fruits. Hmm. Did pick two pea pods from the second planting (six plants actually sprouted). Someone had commented that they may taste smoky, but I didn’t detect any off flavor. Hope the third planting is able to keep growing and get pollinated so I can justify the water bill …

The carrots have lots of length on their tops and it looks like a cat took a nap in the tub. Trying to find a cool place, I guess. The. “fence” keeps the deer out, but it is difficult trying to keep felines out of the yard …

And then there is the matter of the grasshoppers. Where are all the birds to eat them? I see the robins pulling up worms. Don’t they eat grasshoppers, too? Ah, the trials and tribulations of farming (Ahem).

I did see that the deer eat weeds, along with the alfalfa growing between the house and the street. Which brings up another question: How did alfalfa get started in the city? I don’t remember any of the hayfields having alfalfa. And those plants have very deep roots!

Once they get below the rock tailings, there is no way to dig them out. So I usually dig as deep as I can, then lop the stem off. That seems to “cure” it. Why doesn’t that work with morning glory!?

Genesis 3: 17, 18, 19 Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it. … It will produce thorns and thistles for you. … By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food …