PRAIRIE CITY — “If at first you don’t succeed, try reading the instructions.” I think Mother Nature should do that. The first day of summer should have begun with temperatures higher than 40 degrees, to my way of thinking. And snow should not have been forecast three days before!

Ah, but remember, this is Grant County. The rules do not apply to our weather. Even within the city limits of our little burg, the temperatures can be 6 to 10 degrees apart, and when you are making the decision whether to cover the cucumbers or not, it gets critical.

I determined that the thermometer hanging by the back door is 4 degrees warmer than the one sitting in front of the shop. That was this morning. We will see what happens tonight.

Our faithful delivery persons — Gwynne, Carla, Mary — and reliable inside helpers — Chris, Theresa, Tom — were assisted by Josiah and new volunteer Susanna Tuttle (more about her later). Pam was at her post at the registration desk. She had 60 names on the book today. That means our tribe did increase! PTL. Josiah rang the bell, Carla led the flag salute, and Tom asked the blessing.

Chris was the winner of the gift certificate donated by Chuck’s Little Diner. Thanks so much, Valeria. Any other entity that wants to join in blessing us with a small monthly door prize is invited to do so. Just sayin …

We dined on beans and ham, cornbread, strawberries, cottage cheese, tomatoes and an apple cake. Most filling. Thanks to Pam G and her helpers. We signed a card for Pam W, who finally got to have her knee surgery. We wish her a speedy recovery and pain-free walking in the future.

Notable birthdays today included Errol Flynn and Chet Atkins and a whole lot of people I did not know. The trivia question was which one of those birthday people was not a musician. Aha. I was quick enough to know that one! So our table got to go first through the serving line.

We had our monthly board meeting after our meal with lots of discussion about the estate sale. It will be at 944 S. McCallum in Prairie City. That’s close to the football field. The hours are July 4, 1 to 4 p.m., and July 5-8, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This is truly a sale you don’t want to miss. And it benefits our center. Another announcement: The July 5 meal will be takeout only due to people being gone for other engagements that week. After your big meal(s) on the Fourth, we will be serving nice sandwiches and other goodies. So get your meal and then come on up to the estate sale.

Susanna Tuttle is married to a schoolmate of Ginger’s and mine, Kenny Tuttle, who also happens to have been acquainted with Carla years ago in Mt. Vernon. They have a summer home in the foothills of the Strawberry Mountains. She came to volunteer her services at our center. Isn’t that nice? May her tribe increase, too!

“People without children always know just how to raise yours.” I remember those days. Then God sent our little bundles of joy and I entered the “practical experience” phase. And all the parents said, “Welcome to our world.”

Belated Father’s Day quote: Eph. 6:4 Fathers … bring (your children) up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

MONUMENT — Terry Cade and Carrie Jewell made us chicken and vegetable chow mein, potstickers, pork fried rice, a fresh green salad, and peach cobbler for our dessert. You know you had a satisfying meal when you go home and have to take a nap from food coma. Ha. We thank our cooks immensely for their efforts!

Our greeters at the table were Bob and Sylvia Cockrell. They checked in all the guests, collected and counted up the money, along with filling out the paperwork. We can’t run our center without our volunteers, and we just appreciate Bob and Sylvia so much and everyone else who helps out.

Bob led us in the flag salute and made the announcements, and yours truly prayed the blessing over the meal. We will be needing some volunteer help to set up for the rummage sale. There will be a free lunch provided for all helpers.

The Monument Rummage Sale will be occurring July 1 and 2, starting at 9 a.m. July 3 will be the clearance and cleaning sale. That will be from 9 a.m. noon. All proceeds will be going to the Monument Senior Center’s general fund. We thank everyone for their donations and coming out to support our community and center.

Don’t forget that we will be celebrating the Monument 4th of July Jubilee. There will be lots of activities for the whole family to participate in throughout the day. The event will be starting with breakfast in the park at 8 a.m. The vendors will be open at 9:30 a.m. The parade will start at 10 a.m. Chicken poop bingo will start at 11 a.m. Family games will start at noon, and cornhole at 1 p.m. There will be a duck race at 4 p.m. At 5 p.m. will be the “bring your own” community picnic at the park. There will be a dessert auction at 6 p.m. followed by a live auction. The grand finale will be the famous Monument fireworks show at 10 p.m. Hope to see ya’ll there!

We have been having some freakish weather patterns going on over here. We had a cold front come through and gave us freezing temperatures in the morning along with frost. Many people actually had to light their stoves and fireplaces again. Seriously? Then, as quickly as it came, it went away to sudden temperatures into the ’90s during the day. That weird weather stunted some of the plants in my garden for sure!

I don’t think I will be eating zucchini anytime soon. I have eight plants that have sprouted and they have only two leaves on them so far. Yup, it will be a long ways yet for zucchini. The only thing that I may have to look forward to in the next month are raspberries. That is about it. No tomatoes, no lettuces, no beans, or cucumbers for me for awhile.

The only thing that I can be sure of is that the Lord has everything under control, even if it looks like He doesn’t. He does for everything that occurs here on this earth went through His hands first. Praise the Lord for He is good, all the time.

Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we may be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the Law. For by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.

JOHN DAY — It is the time of year for the motorcycle groups to visit John Day. Lots of tents all around the fairgrounds. They have a big convention here every year. Everyone I have seen and talked to are very nice people.

Finally, the weather is nice enough to actually be outside and be comfortable. A couple weeks or so ago people were doing controlled burns to clean up the roughage and fire hazardous debris growing on their properties. It’s a good thing they did as now it would not be safe to do the burning.

On Monday, June 19, Dave Pasko and Darlene Nodine were at the desk to greet the 11 in-house diners and see that the people with food to go got the right ones and that everyone else was signed in and their names in the daily drawings.

Elsie did the announcing. Dave Pasko led the flag salute.

Fifty-nine fresh and 46 frozen meals were delivered throughout the area by Pati Davis, Carolyn Stout, Flora Cheadle and Maurita Coombs. Thanks to all of you drivers for your service to others.

The servers were from the Living Word Church, including Carol Claire, and our own Chris Robbins was Carol’s assistant. Elsie asked the blessing, and we proceeded to dine on grilled salmon, chef salad, cottage cheese, Jell-O, breadsticks, and raspberry lemonade cheesecake bars for dessert. It was a superb meal, and our servers did a great job with all the extras and the cleanup after everyone was done eating and visiting.

Canyon City had a craft day at Canyon City Kraft Time. So far, I have not heard anyone say they went to the event, so I don’t have anything to say about it. I sure wish I could have gone. Crafting is a lot of fun.

Dayville is having lunch at the community center on the second Wednesday of each month. I sure hope a lot of us can attend and get to know some of the locals there.

The young man that was wrapping our dinnerware is out of school now and off doing summer things, so he isn’t available now, so we are looking for someone to perform this task. It isn’t hard, and takes less than an hour to do all the dinnerware we have. If you feel like you could give an hour of your time, we would sure like to hear from you. Talk to Shay, Darlene or Elsie to learn when you could help with this task.

June is Elder Abuse Awareness month, and to support it, purple clothing is the color to wear to bring attention to this new fact.

Elsie won the Len’s card, and Charlie Harris won the free meal. Congratulations to us!

Some 121 meals went out of our kitchen today. Great job, Shay and Darla, and all the others that helped with the cleaning-up process.

Come join us for lunch at 11:45 a.m. any Monday or Thursday. You will be amazed at how great the meals are. A full meal with drinks and dessert is had for a donation of $6 for all who are 60 and older. For younger folk, a donation of $7 gets you the same great meal. If you prefer, you can pick up a meal to have at home or work for a $7 donation. Where can you find a great meal for just a simple donation?

On Thursday, June 22, Dave Pasko and Judy Thomas were at the desk greeting the 22 in-house diners and seeing that everyone was signed in and had their names in the drawings. Also, they made sure that the 20 takeout meals were given to ones that came to get them. Deeda Porter led the flag salute.

The Lutheran Church was represented by Bobbie and Buzz Gilmore, who were the servers for lunch. Buzz asked the blessing, and we dined on wonderful meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, spinach and coconut bars. Buzz and Bobbie added ketchup and drinks to the tables and did cleanup when everyone was done eating.

Fifty-eight fresh meals were delivered to residents in our community that cannot get out. The delivery drivers were Pati Davis, Peggy Molnar, Nancy Wells Elliot and Cindy Coombs. Thank you, drivers, for your service of love to others.

Our kitchen is in need of 10 Bundt pans. If you know where we can get some, please let us know. If you purchase any for us, we will reimburse you for them. Thanks in advance for helping us find these Bundt pans.

We had several new people join us for lunch today. That was really nice. I for one love meeting new people and getting to know where they are from, etc.

Bonnie Kocis and Bobbie and Buzz Gilmore helped wrap our dinnerware today, so we want them to know we appreciate their efforts and time to help us with this task.

Our chef, Shay, is having a yard sale this weekend. Go by and see what he has that you may need. His place is behind Chester’s Market.

Mary Ellen won the Chester’s card, and Joe Phippen won the free meal. Congratulations, both of you.

One hundred meals went out of our kitchen today. Great job, Shay and crew.

DEUTERONOMY 31:8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.