2021
Well, here we are in 2021. Trump lost the election and sued something like 64 times to overturn it. Lost all. But, on January 6th, when Congress was in the process of reading the electoral college vote to accept the results, a mob overran the capitol. 5 people died, many were injured. Congress managed to get to a safe area, but because many Republican congress people refused to wear masks, 3 Democratic members of Congress came down with COVID. But for the grace of God, no members of Congress were harmed though some of the mob were out to kill Pelosi and VP Pence.
The House has impeached Trump a second time for encouraging the riot - sedition. Some Republicans have had enough, but others are afraid to vote against him due to threats of their safety and their families. He won't go down before the inauguration, but a conviction would prevent him from running for any federal office in the future. Too bad it didn't happen.
The capitol was on high alert for the inauguration with 20,000+ National Guard on duty. It's like watching a sci-fi movie. I never thought that I would see such violence and disharmony in the United States. Anyone who says we're the greatest country in the world is delusional. If anything, we have turned into a third world country.
COVID is slowly coming under control (as of 6/18) but 600,000+ people in this country have died. I was vaccinated in March and April. We are close to 70% in Oregon, but don't know if we'll get there with all the anti-vaxxers in this state. It will be close.
January 20, 2021 - President Biden has been inaugurated. Now 2021 can officially begin - Happy New Year!!!
Not too much to report until March when I was able to go to the first ORVW get together of the year. I stayed in a motel a little north of the rally site at Turtle Rock. People still masked, no shared meals til we did do pizza on Saturday with Michelle serving it to everyone to keep contact down. She was appropriately gloved.
My back was still troublesome and I spent a fair amount of time back at the motel, but I sure did enjoy seeing everyone!
In May we were at Elkton and I rented a 5th wheel that the park owned. That worked out well for me but it reminds me of a split level house because you are up and down stairs to the bedroom all the time. I had trouble figuring out the heat and it was a bit chilly Saturday morning when it got down to 56. I did finally get it going though. Guess I didn't take photos of either of these - oh well.
In June we went to Crooked River Ranch again. I bunked with Linda. I played in a best ball event on Friday and had fun though I didn't take any tee or fairway shots. Saturday Linda and I went over to Smith Rock and Sunday we had a little birthday party for Barb Pace who turned 70 on Monday. Her mom, now 100, fell on Saturday but thankfully was only bruised. She did come to dinner on Sunday evening with all of us. It was a lovely weekend.
And of course every night we played Square Nine. One night, I ended up with 6 jokers on the board and then drew another that I had to give away! And it took a couple more rounds to get rid of my high cards so I could actually win that particular hand - but I did!
July brought the rally to Heceta Beach RV Park. I stayed at an Air BnB in Florence called the Chicken Coop. It was a little building about 8 by 10 built in the backyard of this home. The room was cozy to say the least with no place to hang anything and little room to turn around but the bed was nice. The biggest issue I had was having to go through the house to leave and encounter anywhere between 5 and 7 dogs of varying sizes. That was a little much. What I learned after this weekend is I don't want to be offsite for rallies - I felt too disconnected. Luckily, for the rest of this year it won't be an issue. Next year, I'll skip the rallies if I can't stay on site or hitch a ride with Linda and Tully. Lesson learned.
The August rally at Westfir was cancelled due to the forest fires near there. Oregon has has a terrible season of fires as has California. And Covid surged in July to levels not seen since the early days of the pandemic. Many people refuse to get vaccinated or mask up and they put the rest of us at risk. Hospitals are full and turning away people because there are no beds. People with things like heart attacks are dying because they cannot find a hospital to take them.
September found me commuting up to North Lake for that rally. It was a fun time and Char and Sharon hosted with me. I taught some of the gals to play Idiot. They seemed to like it. We had our annual meeting as well as our annual ladder golf and corn hole tournaments. I played 9 holes of golf in a scramble up at the Reedsport course. Of course I paid for it that night, but the next day felt better. I did a lot of sitting that weekend and really didn't do too badly. I guess things are slowly improving.
I recently learned that my umbilical hernia is back which explains my abdominal pain and the belly I seem to have sticking out now. Of course those extra pounds from the last year don't help any either. LOL
October ended up being an interesting month because I discovered my home had been invaded by raccoons! I came home from an overnight to discover the cat treats container on the floor empty and some muddy streaks on the door and wall. I thought it was a cat who had gotten in and couldn't figure out how to get out again so didn't do anything special. A few weeks later, it happened again but this time I was little paw prints and knew it was a raccoon. A few days later, there was a noise in the kitchen and when I opened my bedroom door, Maggie went tearing outside. Next I heard her shrieking and she ran back in. When I went out in back, I saw a raccoon and yelled at it, "You get out of here!".
I started putting the slide in the doggie door at night and piled up the block steps in front of the other door to block it. I didn't think they knew where the door in the guestroom was since that wasn't near food. Well, a day or two later, they got in again and I couldn't figure out how til I saw the blocks had been pulled down and they got through the little door. Since I couldn't lock it (too old) I ended up wedging a 2x2 in it which makes it inoperable. Some days later, I heard a noise about 2 a.m. and when I went in the kitchen (with Maggie safely locked in my bedroom) 2 raccoons were on the washer! They leaped over the back of it to get away from me and were trapped behind it. One immediately leaped back onto it (impressive to say the least!) and went tearing off towards the guestroom. I pulled the washer out for the other one and it too headed to the guestroom. So, that wasn't safe either. I had to buy a new cat door for that window because I couldn't lock the old one. Until it arrived, I closed the door to the room at night and hoped for the best. Now I have a door with a slide in the window and I put that in at night which keeps Max in. He seems to have adjusted well to that and it does save me from finding his "gifts" in the living room when I get up in the morning.
Of course, the problem was not really solved, so I hired an exterminator to trap the coons. He set 4 traps on a Monday and Tuesday morning each one contained a coon! We didn't catch any others during that week (though I caught Max one day) so we figured we got all the ones who knew how to use the doors. I continue to block them at night and hope that by next spring it will be safe to leave one open when I go away to a rally.
The last rally of the season was in Sutherlin with Helen Bressler, Ms. Halloween, and Beckey Beckey hosting. We had a lot of fun with a variety of Halloween themed activities as well as a trip to the Wildlife Park for an elephant encounter. Some of the gals dressed up for Halloween and, though we were back to no potlucks, a good time was had by all.
Thanksgiving rolled around and unlike last year, where everyone stayed home and away from each other, the usual group got together for my annual Thanksgiving Potluck. There were 7 of us and we had a nice few hours with turkey and all the wonderful sides everyone brought. It was so nice to be together again and catch up with those we hadn't see for well over a year. Sadly, I forgot to take any photos.
December rolled on in without much ado. I went to the movies in an actual theater for the first time in almost 2 years. First time I went, there were 4 of us in the theater. Can't even remember what I saw now - sheesh. Second time, Tully went with me to see "El Canto" and we basically had a private showing - just the two us of. Third time, I went to see "House of Gucci" because I wanted to see Lady Gaga's performance. It was a private showing! She was excellent but the movie was choppy (to me) due to the story line skipping fairly big amounts of time as well as jumping between Italy and the U.S.
On the 12th, I filled out an application to be a foster for a small dog through FOCCAS. I had seen this one little guy advertised twice. Within about 15 minutes of submitting the application, I got an email asking if I wanted to foster Squeekie, the dog whose photo I had seen. 4 days later, Squeekie came to live with me, Maggie and Max. He has adapted quite well - Maggie not so much. I don't think they'll ever be "buds" but they are co-existing fairly well. Max keeps teasing Squeekie - trying to rub up on him and such. Squeekie growls at him. It would serve him right if he got bitten but so far that hasn't happened. Right now, all three of them are on the bed with me - Maggie at my left shoulder, Max at my hip and Squeekie by my feet. I have about a foot of the bed to lie on and half of it is vacant as we all squeeze together. They are funny. And I decided to adopt him after he gets his dental on January 18th.
Christmas was nice though not a particularly big deal. I had my biscuits and gravy brunch for a small group of friends and then went over to Kara and Laura's for the afternoon. That was a fun gathering with good food and games.
I also went over there New Year's Eve for dinner and games. We played a new game that had us slapping the table and laughing so hard my sides hurt. Hadn't laughed that hard in year! We toasted the ball in NYC at 9:00 and called it good.
