Elsie Huskey

JOHN DAY — Rhetorical question: Where does time go? Three weeks ago, I was diagnosed with COVID; a day later my son, who lives with us, and my husband also were diagnosed with COVID. We all got the medicine treatment for it, but hubby did not respond as quick as I did, and our son was over it in no time. What a time we have had.

COVID is real. I thought I would never get it as I got all the shots, but my doctor told me that if I had not had all those shots, I would be 10 or 20 times worse and be in the hospital and maybe even die. I am grateful to be here today and be able to write this news article for you all. So much more is happening in my personal life, so it is good that I have things to do to keep my mind off myself.

Since Sept. 23, our center delivered 189 meals into or community, and 63 people gathered for lunch together in that time. The people who delivered the meals were Rick LaMountain, Jeff and Jody Cyphers, Rachel and Rod Carpenter, Gary and Bonnie Zick, Peggy Molnar and Cindy Combs, Rainey Lacey and Becky Reinhart. May our God bless all you drivers for your abundance of love for others, giving you the ability to serve people.

During this time the servers who gave of their time to be of service to our center were members of the LDS Church; members of the Lutheran Church, including Buzz and Bobbie Gilmore; and the First Baptist Church, including Peggy Molnar. God will bless you for your service to others. We are grateful to have you.

Other people that shared in volunteer duties during this time were: Judy Thomas, Matt Molnar, Sonie Guttu, Meloni Cochran, Darlene Nodine and Don Porter Jr. Thank you all. We could not keep all the services we do going without all of you.

Ron Smith, who comes quite often to our center for lunch, has just returned from Portugal. Welcome home, Ron. We will look forward to hearing more about your journey.

PacificSource had two sessions last week. They will be having one more later this month. They had a lot to share and update us about our Medicare insurance. There is lots to learn about, so take advantage of this opportunity. Most of us could use all the help we can get in the medical world.

There are so many valuable notices of happenings this month. Be sure to check out the bulletin wall by the coat rack or ask at the desk for materials.

The recipients of drawings lately are Karrol Green, Diane Browning, Ron Smith, Robert Johnston, Dave Pasko, Joe Phippen and Meloni Cochran. Someone got the 50/50 drawing, but their name was not listed, sorry. Congratulations to all of you who won.

Let’s remember all the people affected by the hurricane. What a tragedy. Is there anything we can do to help any of them?

One of the fire camps donated some things they had left over when their time was done, so we want to thank them and want them to know that we appreciate all the goodies to help us with all our meal deliveries.

Finally, mark your calendar: Oct. 12 at 5 p.m. is our fundraiser for helping us be able to continue being of service to our community. Over 100 meals a week brings on large grocery bills, and that does not even mention all the volunteers that help get the meals to the residents. On Oct. 12 at 5 p.m. there will be a spaghetti meal (payment by donation) and bingo following. It will be a fun evening and will enable us to continue in our venture.

On Monday, Oct. 7, we will have a breakfast pizza, spinach salad, fruit and a fruit pizza for dessert. Sounds fun. Then on the 10th (Thursday), we will dine on chicken stroganoff with noodles, veggies, rolls, pears, and Boston cream icebox cake. This will be an adventure. Come join us.

From Isaiah 61:3 They shall be called OAKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.

MONUMENT — Well, here we are. We are in the month of October! Wow, this is crazy. You know, in the Bible, it says that in the last days that the Lord would shorten the days or else there would be “no flesh left”? Hmm, that makes me wonder. I guess winter is just around the bend there, too. I better get a move on, get ourselves ready for the winter.

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. There was a special raffle for a donated emergency backpack item, and yours truly was the winner of that item.

Our cooks, Carrie Jewell and Christy Howell, made us lasagna, garlic bread, a fresh green salad, and s’mores cookies. We all had a surprise because none of us had a menu yet for the month of October. We thank our cooks for their hard work, and we really appreciate them.

There will be sewing on Wednesday, Oct. 8. We start around 9 a.m. and go to about 2 p.m. We share a potluck lunch together around noontime. Anyone is welcome to join us. You may sew, crochet, knit, or do another craft. We all like to work on our projects, visit with one another, and share our projects with each other. It is a wonderful time of fellowship, visiting and enjoying a wonderful meal together. Hope you can come and join us! We have sewing on the second Wednesday of every month.

There will be a community dinner and get-together to celebrate our amazing little town and how we come together when it counts the most. “Rising From the Ashes” is the theme. The dinner will be at the Monument City Park starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12. The meat will be prepared by Ed Andersen.

Please bring a favorite side dish or dessert, lawn chairs and your own beverages. Meat, plates, utensils, cups and napkins will be provided. For more information, please call or text Jessie at 541-981-3176, Michele at 541-280-4789, or Heather at 541-620-3316.

A couple of announcements were made about power outage preparation information being available and also there was counseling service available for personal loss in Prairie City.

We don’t know the numbers yet for the Buckaroo Harvest Festival. They are still tallying up the numbers, so as soon as I hear, I will let you all know.

I have to share a surprise with you all. We had a new baby on our place. Reese, the alpaca, had a baby! It’s a boy! We had a suspicion that she was pregnant. The shearer thought she was pregnant. Well, she finally gave birth. She did well, for when my son and hubby discovered it, she had it all cleaned up and everything.

When I went down to the pen to take a look, I saw one of the mini donkeys around it. I have been boarding my friends’ mini donkeys for awhile and Dot, the female, was with the baby alpaca. Dot was not letting the alpaca’s mama near him. Dot was trying to steal the alpaca’s baby!

We finally had to put the harness on her, and my son led her away. We moved all the goats and the other donkeys out of the goat pen and put them out. I will have to keep the alpacas locked up in the goat pen for a couple of weeks to bond.

Psalms 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart. O God, Thou wilt not despise.

PRAIRIE CITY — Did you know that a single sunbeam is enough to drive away shadow? So said St. Francis of Assisi. He was one of our persons of note today. He died on Oct. 3 in 1226.

Our birthday boy was former President Jimmy Carter, who is now the oldest living ex-president at the age of 100, having been born on Oct. 1, 1924. His quote is this: “We will not live together in peace by killing each other’s children.” Too bad the current warring parties can’t figure that out …

Anyhoo, as the old cowboy said, on with the activities of the day. Jason Wright led the flag salute; Deb Wright was the winner of the $5 gift card donated by Len’s Pharmacy; and Tom asked the blessing after Ginger did the announcements. Our volunteers in and out of the Hall today were Sharon, Mary, Natalie, Brenda, Carla, Jason, Tom, and Pam.

The Grant County Senior Advisory Council was to have met here this morning, but they had to go to the CyberMill because our special Medicare change informational presentation had to do their set-up before dinner right in the place that the council would be meeting. So now you know.

Some of the council members came over and ate with us after their meeting and some of the people who wanted to come to the Medicare presentation came to eat also, so we had a nice full house for dinner!

And we ate macaroni and cheese with ham, pickled beets, frog eye salad, cottage cheese and peaches, and chocolate pudding for dessert. An added blessing today was that those who ate in the Hall did not have to pay. PacificSource paid for all in-house diners’ meals. Thank you very much.

And lots of people that I encountered afterward asked what we had. Why don’t you come and find out?! One of the drinks was mango juice, too. That stuff is gooooood! Thanks to Pam and Pam for another delicious meal.

As the lady was detailing all the changes that Medicare had made to its services, I kept thinking of the comment made by another former president: “I’m from the government, I’m here to help you.” (Known as the nine scariest words in the English language.)

Well, the garden is down to the late-blooming peas. Some had commented that they might taste like smoke, but I haven’t detected that. I do know that I should have planted them farther apart, though! It’s quite a jungle to have to paw through to get to the ripe pods!

One thing that I haven’t had to worry too much about is the clover and alfalfa in the “back 40” and in the alley. The deer have kept those plants in check. In fact, a nice four-point buck was working on that as I was writing this!

Ps. 42:1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God. Isaiah 35:6 Then will the lame leap like a deer … Habakkuk 3:19 The sovereign LORD is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to go on the heights.