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 — What a busy week it has been. My head is screaming at me: “I can’t even think!” Ya know, I would much rather be this busy than not have important things to do.

We cannot thank the Grant County Jammers enough for participating with our seniors, raising spirits and being terrific blessings to all of us.

On Thursdays the bridge group plays bridge in our center. They are trying to keep active and keep playing with just four of them most of the time. They had 12 before COVID hit us. Our pokeno group has not played at all since COVID. Some other activities are struggling to keep going since COVID also.

Every Tuesday at 1 p.m. we have bingo, and we have a lot of fun. There is room for more players if you want to join us.

If you have extra grocery bags, would you share them with us? We use quite a bit of bags for our grocery table. Thanks in advance.

Some of our regular greeters are not being able to continue so we are looking for two or three people to fill this gap. It is an easy task, with some responsibilities before lunch and some finish-up after lunch. See Elsie or Judy if you are interested. Thank you.

This last week, Aug. 26-29, we delivered into our community 173 meals. The folks who do the deliveries are very special people. This week they were Rachel Carpenter, Pati Davis, Jeanette Julsrud, Rick LaMountain, and Jeff and Jodi Cyphers. May God richly bless you all for your service of love for the less fortunate. We had 28 takeout meals also, and approximately 60 in-house diners.

Becky Reinhart and Jeanette Julsrud were our servers for the two lunch dates. Dave Pasko, Judy Thomas and Sonie Guttu were our greeters and paper-workers for the week.

On Monday, Sept. 2, we will be closed for the Labor Day celebration. Be safe, everyone, and be prepared for the new school year and all that it entails.

At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 3, there is a public forum at the senior center with the three city councilors being targeted in the upcoming recall election.

Oct. 12 is a fundraiser for our center starting at 5 p.m. We are doing bingo and a spaghetti feed. The dinner will be spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread and green salad and fruited Jell-O for dessert. The cost for dinner is $10, or $5 for children under 10. No smoking or alcohol in the building. Bingo cards will be sold at the beginning of each game. Game pots will be half of the total from cards sold at each game.

Oct. 3 will be Pacific Source updates at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., right after lunch. There are many changes to Medicare in 2025. You really need to hear it so you know how you will react to all of them to be sure you have enough insurance for your needs.

Carl Swank won the Greenback ticket, and Scott Farmer won the Chester’s card. Charlene Farmer and Laura Kuffler won the free meal tickets, and Ron Phillips won the 50/50 drawing. Congratulations to all of you.

Next week we will be closed on Monday the 2nd, and on Thursday the 5th we will have finger steaks, mashed potatoes and gravy, veggies and mixed fruit, and birthday cake.

Genesis 28:15 I am with you and will protect you wherever you go.

1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your cares upon Him, for He careth for YOU!!

MONUMENT — We have been enjoying some cool weather over here in Monument, but I don’t know about the rest of the country! LOL. We actually went down into the 30s, if you can believe it. I thought, Oh, my poor cucumber and bean plants. But they seemed OK, thank goodness. But seriously, it has been such a nice reprieve from that hot, oppressive weather we had. On the other hand, I better start thinking about preparing for winter!

Our cooks, Carrie Jewell and Christy Howell, prepared for us (my most favorite meal) hamburger steak with grilled mushrooms and onions, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, dinner rolls, and vanilla cake with chocolate frosting for our dessert. It was delicious. I had to get seconds and shared it with my daughter. Yes, I believe that hamburger steak is a favorite among many of us who come to lunch. We thank our wonderful cooks for that scrumptious meal.

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 announcements. Yours truly prayed the blessing over the meal. Ellie Asher and Sylvia Cockrell also made announcements. The winner of the free meal ticket was our good friend, Tom Haskins.

There will be a memorial service for Charles MacKenna (Mr. Mac) on Saturday, Sept. 7. The service will be at the Monument park, followed by a potluck lunch.

The Buckaroo Fall/Harvest Festival is fast approaching! There are still four raffles that are going on and the items are two DeWalt tools, a chicken quilt, and $500 towards a firearm of your choice at Nydam’s Ace Hardware in John Day. You do not have to be present to win these raffle items.

Well, from the previous week’s story of the cougar, that cat did come back. Nolan came early next morning with his wife, and my son heard a shot around 5:30 a.m. My hubby and son went out shortly after hearing the shot. I followed a bit later. That cougar had gotten caught in the trap and Nolan was able to shoot it and kill it.

It was a female cat. This was a brazen animal that had no fear of humans, that had dragged my goats around in the pen (I can’t even begin to imagine the terror the other goats must have felt), then had carried it over a 4-foot horse fence with two barbed wires on top of it, and dragged the goat another 200 feet. These are powerful animals indeed.

There are just too many of these around, and this cat had killed five of my goats in the last year alone. Each time, it came closer and closer to the pen, where finally it was in an enclosed pen right at the road. That was not OK.

Since the cougar had killed my livestock, Nolan was able to get a tag for us and we gave the cougar to Brian and Kathy Woodell. They wanted to try cougar meat and promised to give us a bit to try. Well, I have to tell ya’ll, it was very, very tasty! I think I would prefer cougar meat over deer and elk! Seriously, I really would!

It was very tender and juicy, not chewy or tough at all. I just seasoned it with some Johnny seasoning, olive oil, and McCormick’s steak seasoning and cooked it in a fry pan. I guess we got “revenge” on the cat that killed my goats? Ha.

Psalms 32:5 I acknowledge my sins unto Thee and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD, and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sins. Selah.

PRAIRIE CITY — We have had another proof that we live in the “temperate zone” — the heater is allowed to run in the morning and then the A/C takes over in the afternoon. I think this last week was just to keep us on our toes and help us to remember that it is only one month until fall arrives.

The cantaloupe is still frost-free, so maturity is ongoing. Won’t have to concern myself with freezing any peas this fall, but do have a good crop of carrots. Have about decided to forgo rejuvenating the garden plot and find more bathtubs and stock water tanks that anyone is trying to get rid of. If you have such, fling me a ring! FYI: I don’t text, so don’t try.

We had a nice group of diners today to enjoy crispy chicken salad. And it did the job of keeping me satisfied for over six hours! Pam and Pam put the chicken on the bed of greens in a large salad bowl, then you got to choose which other salad ingredients you wanted to add along with your choice of dressing. To add to the meal were breadsticks and cantaloupe pieces, along with chocolate birthday cake courtesy of Driskill Memorial Chapel. Thanks to one and all for a great meal.

Our volunteers included Sharon, Mary, Gwynne, Brenda, and Pam at her desk. Gail led the flag salute; Debra Wright was the winner of the $10 gift certificate donated by Huffman’s Market, and Ginger asked the blessing.

Dave Traylor brought friend Darin from the BMCC and they joined other veterans Jim Howard and Colin Kolb at their table. Other visitors included Scott and Sara Moore. He is a candidate for Grant County sheriff. People were able to visit with him during and after the meal. Would be nice if other candidates came so we could talk with them … face to face, not online.

Some government entity sent out an email to our senior programs manager that had a form to be filled out when you accessed the QR code. She told them that they would not get many answers using that type of questionnaire. She was able to print said questionnaire, but only did one. It was 30 pages long! And all it wants to know is what seniors in our area need. (Cough, cough.) My answer would be, No 1., fewer stupid questionnaires. No. 2, fewer government rules that make no sense. Anyone have a good No. 3?

Don’t forget the informational meeting on Oct. 2 about Medicare changes. It will be at 1 p.m. after our meal, so don’t rush off!

I have been running around this month between Baker and Burns for eye and ear appointments. Did the last one today in Burns, and it was really nice to be able to drive without smoke in the sky! The fire camp at Seneca is all gone. Now the restoration begins …

The sidewalk construction is ongoing. We just have to keep reminding ourselves that it will be nice when it is all done. (Ahem.)

Ps. 31:17, 18 … but let the wicked be put to shame. … Let their lying lips be silenced, for with pride and contempt they (have spoken) against the righteous.