2023
Well, I can't say that 2023 so far has been memorable as it really wasn't until a day in February when we got 6 inches of snow! That's the 2nd biggest snowfall here since around 1969. It didn't last all that long, but with the cold temps it closed schools for a day or two. Inland, it's been much worse and there has even been snow in CA in areas where that is almost unheard of.
This photo doesn't show the total amount we got, but it came down heavy at various times and other times gently in big, fluffy flakes. It was beautiful, but I'm glad it's a rare occurence here.
I did do exceptionally well in the NFL football pool this year. Betting underdogs works well for me and this year I also managed to win the extra pot for most overall wins as well as one of the playoff games which I've never done before. So I had 6 wins for the total. And I paid almost no attention to any of it!
On Super Bowl Sunday, I went to the movies to see "80 for Brady". The game was not on the channel I get and I could have gone to a friend's house, but I really wasn't that interested. The Super Bowl parties Janet and I had were fun and it just isn't the same without her. The movie was cute and I was the only one in the theater!
I've been quite busy with the Egyptian as we are now having events just about every weekend. I like our new Executive Director a lot and she is keeping us busy. We've lost some folks but gained others as far as volunteers go. We always need more though.
Maggie has forgotten what snow is like. When I told her to go to do her morning pee she poked her head through the doggie door and backed right up on it. So, I took her to the front door, but she didn't want to go out that way either. I finally picked her up and gently tossed her onto the driveway where, at that time, there was only about an inch. Once she got her feet wet (as it were) she was better about going out in back like normal.
Also in March, friends Laura and Kara got a new puppy. A boxer that they named Daisy. She's a cutie and growing fast. Now at 4 months (7/11), she is taller than big brother, Ryker, and she teases him unmercifully. Harley, the old man at 10, just gets out of the way most of the time.
April brought the return of the Coos Bay Library Spelling Bee for the first time since COVID.. The team I'm part of with Gail Elber and Stacey Rose was once again victorious thanks to the spelling prowess of Gail. We've won 4 of the last 5 times no thanks to me. LOL
Then, at the April ORVW rally in Bandon there was a guess on how many caps in a jar contest and I won a bee gnome. Can't wait to take him with me to the spelling bee next year as our mascot!
In May, the rally was in Elkton and a bunch of us traveled back over to Reedsport for a 9-hole golf scramble at the course there. It's the first time I've tried to play golf in over a year and I confined myself to shorter shots for the most part, and putting. I did better than I thought I would, but the old desire just isn't there anymore. No fun to play alone. Oh well. And I took the photo so I'm not in it.
The last few years I've had the fun of watching some deer in the backyard on my neighbor's property. Janet and I used to see them occasionally as well and Jan and I have enjoyed seeing them the last year or so. Last year I think there were two groups - one mother and two fawns and two young bucks who came at a different time. They only had single spikes so perhaps they were a year old? I don't know how that works although I did learn that here, in Oregon, a buck's rack is the count on one antler. In NY it's the count on both so you hear about 8 points. Here it would be 4. Interesting.
Sadly, my neighbor decided to fence in her back yard this spring so we won't be able to see the deer back there anymore. She said she got tired of stepping in deer poop and wanted to do some gardening back there. This is the last photo of the deer and the posts for the new fence are in the background.
My friend, Susan Nablo, sent me a gift certificate for Perry's Ice Cream for my birthday. It was supposed to be for Christmas, but she didn't realize they sent it as an email and one day she recalled never seeing it. So, I was surprised to get the email with the gift certificate for my birthday. A phone call later and I was filled in on the whole story. I LOVE Perry's Ice Cream and you cannot get it west of Ohio if even that far. It may not go out of NY state. The certificate allowed me to get 4 cartons of Death by Chocolate. Yumm. When I left NY, it was pretty new to mix other items in ice cream and that flavor was really, really good. Janet got me some for my birthday one year and it cost her almost $200 with the shipping (dry ice and overnight). Well, the same was true here but Sue sent me the additional funds to cover shipping - saying "What good is a gift when you have to pay your own shipping?" I really enjoyed it, but it is now all once more just a memory.
On my birthday this year (March 11) I had no plans so signed up to work the movie at the Egyptian. We were showing "Hook" and Jill asked us to dress up. I borrowed a hat and big blouse/shirt from Kara and Laura to try to look the part. One of our other board members, Mike, is here with me in his regalia. A lot of customers also dressed up and Jill gave out free passes for the best costumes.
Jan returned from Utah on the first of June and is here to stay in Coos Bay. It will be a while until the money is freed up for her to get her own place and a car so in the meantime, she's staying here and getting rides as needed from her various friends.
Father's Day weekend we took a trip up to the Annual Chainsaw Carving Festival to see what this year's offerings looked like. It was the first time for Jan. I don't know what the theme was this year if there was one. Some were whimsical, some were wildlife. All were quite amazing.
Nothing too crazy to report for the rest of June or July. Well, one thing made me angry - some of my solar panels are out again! Went out the beginning of June and I just discovered it on the 13th of July - losing the peak part of the season once again!!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
Jan's daughter, Erin, and grandson, Madden, paid a surprise visit the first week in July. They called her up out of the blue asking about places to have breakfast and then said, "We'll be there in ten minutes!" And they really were! It was nice to meet them and put faces with the people that are important to Jan that she talks about.
The ORVW rally in July was in Warrenton. I'd forgotten how freaking far away that is - almost 6 hours! I won't drive that far for another rally if I've been to the park already. Neither Paulette or I did anything special - just visited and played cards in the evening. Sadly, on the way north, I passed an accident where a man was killed on a bicycle. When I passed it, I saw a yellow tarp over the body, a bike helmet and a sneaker. I honestly thought it was a kid so while I was still sad at the loss of life, I did feel a bit better when I learned it was a man, 52 years old.
We have quite a few new members these days and now that I'm no longer treasurer, I don't get to see their names when they join up so it's harder to know who the gals are. As usual though, all are friendly and happy to be together and we have amazing pot lucks!
The rest of the summer flew by with a couple of RV rallies and lots of events at the Egyptian. I worked almost every event and have become close friends with Jill, our Executive Director. I enjoy helping her out and making sure she succeeds.
We continue to have various groups rent the theatre and one church showed "The Incredibles" and had many of their members dress up as characters from the cartoon. The volunteers got a chance to get their photo with the superheroes.
In October, I had a trip planned to visit the family in CA and missed "Hocus Pocus" which was a dress up event. But when I got back, we were showing "The Mummy" so I got a Cleopatra costume and wore that, complete with wig. Jill helped me with the eye makeup.
I'll use it again when we have our 100th birthday party in November 2025. And I'll probably use it again next Halloween.
The trip to Escondido was low-key. Sherri started out worried about entertaining me but relaxed when I said I came to see them, not go sightseeing. So everyone relaxed and I'm not sure where the time went, but it flew by.
Gavin had purchased tickets for "Seussical the Musical" the night before I left. It was at an outdoor theatre and the weather was beautiful. The amateur production was also excellent. The main "Who" is only in 4th grade and the young man playing Horton is a senior. Both were excellent in their roles.
So, Jan finally got her divorce after a 4 hour plus mediation session. She got the first payment of the settlement a few days late, but she got it finally and was able to purchase a nice 2017 Toyota Rav. It will still be a while before she gets the final settlement which will allow her to look for her own place to live. She went this past weekend (11/11) to Utah to get her belongings. Her son-in-law went with her to help which was a blessing. It will probably be February before she is able to close on something and look at moving. In the meantime, her stuff is in storage. It's certainly been a long haul from the first text I got asking if she could stay here in March 2022.
Thanksgiving was rather low key with only 5 friends here this year. No photos (oops). Jan, Linda and Tully, Christine and me, but we all had a nice time with plenty of food. After everyone left, Jan and I went over to Laura & Kara's to play cards. We arrived just as they were sitting down to eat and were invited to join, but we were stuffed. We did manage a piece of pie after playing a few rounds of Idiot.
Finally got the solar panels repaired at the end of October. I have to wonder if I have saved anything overall with all the repairs that have been necessary over the years. Sheesh. And, finally got the insulation for the dishwasher and got that on. Long story there about the rat that got into things thanks to Max. The end of the story being I finally got a hold of the bugger by the tail when it was down along the furnace and couldn't get out. I lifted it up over the furnace, took it outside and threw it as far as I could into the next lot. I hope it was mortally wounded from all the poking I did at it before I finally grabbed it. Damn cat.
Well, we're into December now and rolling towards the end of 2023. On December 12th, Jan and I traveled to Roseburg so I could have a basal cell melanoma removed from my head with a MOHS surgery. I was there about 4 hours total with only two cuts on my head to remove the cancer. It was a circle about 3/4 inch in diameter. Then I got 6 stitches which felt rather like pulling the laces tight on one's shoes. I have a bit of a face lift over my eyebrows, but I think it will stretch out again in time. Keeping it bandaged was a joke as the bandages stuck to my hair but not the wound area, so I gave up on those after two days. Stitches come out on the 26th which is over a week away as I write this.
We had a Volunteer Appreciation Night at the Egyptian on December 15th. Jill, our Executive Director, did a lovely job with this with pizza, a beautiful cake, cookies, candies and of course, popcorn. She showed the new Indiana Jones movie but not many made it through the whole thing.
I asked her if I could borrow the DVD so I could watch it with closed captioning. My hearing is not improving with age, in fact I recently had it tested again and have lost about another 10% in speech recognition.
Before the movie, she called the previous Volunteers of the Month up on stage. She started this award last fall. Then she called me up on stage and gave me and Patti Bennett "Volunteer of the Year" awards. Patti and I are there for just about every event. And I, as the Volunteer Coordinator, am also busy behind the scenes trying to make sure all of our events have adequate coverage. Sometimes, it feels like herding cats, but all in all I cannot think of anything I'd rather be doing than giving my time to this grand old theatre.
Christmas rolled on in and I had friends over for biscuits and gravy and a movie like I have these last few years since losing Janet. We had a good time and laughed very hard at the movie I chose this year, "Candy Cane Lane" with Eddie Murphy. It was really fun!
Jan gave me this sign for Christmas. I don't think she thought I'd actually put it on the door, but I think it's pretty funny.
The Christmas brunch crew. Jan went to her daughter's in Washington or she would have been here too.
I am truly blessed to be able to call these ladies my friend. Life is good.
