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 read this, our first annual fundraiser with spaghetti dinner and bingo will be over. Watch this space on the outcome of that event.

Every Monday morning at 10 we are blessed and privileged to have the Grant County Jammers play and sing for us for two hours before lunch. Thank you, Jammers, for being with us.

The prior week was once again filled to the brim with things to do and activities going on. The week beginning is looking busy also.

One of our kitchen volunteers had shoulder surgery a few weeks ago and is struggling to get her arm usage back and get back to being here with us. We are thinking about you, Valeda, and praying for your full recovery.

Our assistant cook, Tammy Hyde, had a heart attack last Monday. Shay was there and noticed her clutching her chest, and called the ambulance. Later that day she was airlifted to Bend and taken care of and got good help and on Wednesday she came home.

Her doctor released her to return to work on Monday the 14th, with a limit of 8 pounds she could lift. Tammy has been a great blessing to our seniors and volunteers. We will be watching her and not let her do things she should not be doing as she is a real go-getter.

Darlene Nodine, Sonie Guttu, Judy Thomas and Dave Pasko manned our desk as greeters to those who came in for lunch or information and we are thankful for all of them.

Matt Molnar and Michelle Willey asked the blessing for lunches this week. We want to let them know that we appreciate them for being available and of service to our seniors.

A total of 163 meals were delivered throughout our community and all the way to Long Creek this past week. Good job, Shay and crew, to get all this work done and the kitchen ready to be used again. The people who delivered all these meals were Ramey Lacy, Bonnie Zick, Mike and Pati Davis, Jeff and Jodi Cyphers, Peggy Molnar and Cindy Combs. Thank you all for your continued support and your dedication and love for other people.

The servers at our in-house lunches were Matt and Peggy Molnar, the Cornerstone Church represented by Christy Finley, Heather Swank, Jo Steiner, and Michele Willey. Thank you all for your service to our seniors.

Several people brought in produce from their gardens, and one of the folks we delivered meals to donated tomatoes and peppers. Thank you, Nancy and Keith Nichols.

Oct. 30, AARP is conducting a drivers’ update for folks over 50 years old. It will begin at 8:45 a.m. and end at 4:15 p.m. The cost will be $20 for AARP members and $25 for non-members. The address is 835 S. Canyon Blvd. at Grant County ESD.

The Prairie City CyberMill is holding free educational classes for seniors 55 and older on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. until Nov. 13. Check it out. It is nice to be in a small class and be able to ask our own questions to learn and/or keep up with all the new technology of this day.

Monday, Oct. 14, Grant County’s senior programs is hosting a dedication of the Pit Stop at 1:15 p.m. There will be a ribbon cutting and refreshments. Check it out and be more informed about this site.

Thursday, Oct. 17, from 3-7 p.m. Chester’s is hosting their annual Fall Fest. There will be 30-plus vendors, wine, beer, spirits and food samples, and giveaway drawings. There will be a pumpkin patch photo booth, and tons of holiday foods and drinks. There will be a hot wing eating contest in the variety department at 6 p.m.. The entry fee is $10 and only 12 spots are available, first come, first serve. Prizes are good, too. And … there will be several things to sign up for. It will be a busy, friendly, educational and informative evening.

Monday, Oct. 14, at noon our center will have salmon chowder, Caesar salad, garlic toast and fruit salad for lunch. On Thursday, Oct. 17, lunch will be meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, mixed fruit and dessert turnovers.

Psalms 91:11 & 15 He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. He shall call upon me and I will answer Him. I will be with Him in trouble. I will deliver Him and honor Him.

MONUMENT — Our greeters at the front 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 a few new visitors come join us for lunch. Vern from Spray decided to come and try our lunch, along with Jayne, who is Juanita Newton’s sister. We also had one of our county commissioners, John Rowell, join us for lunch as well. It was nice of John to come out all the way to Monument to make himself known and available. We appreciate that. We hope that everyone enjoyed their meals and come back.

Our cooks, Carrie Jewell and Christy Howell, made for us baked chicken and fish with curly fries, garlic bread, fresh green salad, and pear cobblers for our dessert. I was pretty hungry, and it made my tummy happy. We thank our wonderful cooks for all their hard work.

There will be a volleyball fundraising game for the Monument /Dayville teams on Oct. 19, Saturday. The game will be at the Dayville gym and the entrance fee is $5 per person.

Ellie Lucas had some numbers for us on how much profit we made from the Buckaroo event. She said that last year we had a record profit of $21,651. This year our profit was $22,625! We apparently exceeded our record from last year.

Theresa Daniel was in charge of the dessert auction this year and did what was called “Dessert Dash.” From each table, everyone who wanted to participate could pitch in money for a specific dessert, and whichever table had the highest amount could choose a person to make a “dash” over to the dessert table and choose a dessert for the whole table to share. We had donations of 44 desserts that day. The dessert auction alone brought in $2,002. Thank you, Theresa, for the new and fun dessert auction idea!

We in Monument are pretty blessed with such a tight-knit community. I truly feel blessed to live here and have all these people as my neighbors.

Well, it looks like fall is in the air and you can actually “smell” it! The mornings and evenings are getting cooler and the trees’ leaves are starting to change color or they are dropping their leaves and going bald! LOL.

We took our first load of some goats to the auction in Hermiston. It took my family and I two hours to wrangle 12 goats. It was exhausting work! Some of those wether goats were strong and they jumped and leaped to get away from us. After we finally got them loaded, I had to go to the house and take a nap. My poor hubby and son had to drive three hours away to go to Hermiston. We still have more to go, but it was a relief to sell some of them.

Psalms 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my Redeemer.

PRAIRIE CITY — We are down to the last little things to be done with the installations of the fancy new crosswalks in our fair city. We even have an up-to-date lighted warning signal at one of them. I walked across one of them and they are smoooooth. The constructors did a good job. The one at the corner of South Main and Front has lots of markings from truck tires, though. That is a tight corner …

The only things that are left to do are the responsibility of the building owners, I assume. That is the little planting areas left from the demolition and reconstruction of the sidewalks. So watch your step there.

Took my mode of transportation in to have its annual oil change and etc. The technicians reported that it’s in pretty good shape for its age. I am so glad that I have an “old” vehicle! Don’t have to worry about all the electronic gizmos.

That’s the same reason I don’t have a smartphone: can’t operate it! I do operate on this principle: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of parts. That was an advertising line from a tractor company back in the 1980s.

We operated well on our great meal today. Pam and Pam made chicken alfredo, green salad, cottage cheese, pears, peaches, a slice of garlic bread, and two kinds of chocolate dessert pie or brownie. Mmm, good. This meal was sponsored in memory of Wright Gregg. Thank you, and thanks to our cooks.

Frances led the flag salute, Del Lake won the free meal, and Tom asked the blessing. Our volunteers included Sharon, Mary, Natalie, Gwynne, Teresa and Pam. The historical birthdays were interesting: The singer Jenny Lind, who was born in 1820, gave up fame and fortune, she said, so she could obey God and not man. The WWI ace Eddie Rickenbacker (1890) once had to jump into a foxhole to escape enemy bullets. At the bottom he found a crucifix. Another man jumped into the hole and Eddie asked him how to use the crucifix. The man answered with one word: pray. He happened to be a chaplain … and that’s your history lesson for the day.

I had reports back from the cantaloupe give-aways last week that they were very sweet. Well, that was the reason that I saved the seeds! Have decided that they were more trouble than they were worth to grow, so don’t plan on doing it again. I did prove that it could be done, though, right?

Still working on picking peas. They taste OK, but the pods are mottled. Hmm. Interesting gardening year, huh? Oh, well. On to next year’s planning …

Friend Rosalie has already given me a whole batch of flower seeds to plant next year. Need to give the lawn mower a super-duper cleaning. Never did get the blade sharpened … good thing I don’t have a lot of “grass” to cut. Ahem.

I Peter 1:24-25 (Isaiah 40: 6-8) For “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.