Prineville Reservoir

What a drive up here to the lake this morning!!!

We got everything battened down and left town about 10 am.  Since the road is so twisty and goes up and over a mountain with some really, really sharp hairpin turns, we decided that I would drive the Jeep and Richard would follow with the motorhome instead of our usual routine of hitching the Jeep behind the motorhome. It was cold and overcast when we left.  And as we were driving up the mountain, snowflakes started wafting down at us!!!!  I was so glad I was driving the Jeep.  If I had been in the motorhome on that narrow road, with my side being the side looking down the steep mountain side, I would have been soooo nervous.  Richard said he probably would have had to put duct tape over my mouth!  (No, I’m not a back seat driver. Not me.  I sit right up front and tell him how to drive.)

After we got here, we looked at our campsite and looked at our motorhome and wondered if it was really going to fit.  But Richard had no problem backing it in, he’s such a good driver.  Really, he is.  Then we got set up, with the snowflakes and the sunshine taking turns falling out of the sky.  The campground owners are so nice.  They made sure we had everything we need, and said if there is anything they can do for us to just let them know.

Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer and sunnier, so I’ll take the camera out and get you some pictures of our new ‘home’.  We have a golf cart for our own use around the campground.  We took it out for a short spin, but the cold wind blowing in off the lake convinced us to turn around and come back inside after just a few minutes.

We were told that cell phone service up here was iffy.  But we have relatively good service — 3 antenna bars.  And when I plugged in our amplifier I got a very solid 5 bars on the phone.  And my air card for the laptop’s internet jumped from -85 dBm without the amplifier to -59 dBm with the amplifier on. 

We’re all set for the summer.  All we need now is for the snow to go away.

mj

Church Bulletins

This morning’s smile comes to us from George.

They’re Back! Church Bulletins: Thank God for church ladies with typewriters. These sentences actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services:

1. The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.

2. The sermon this morning: ‘Jesus Walks on the Water.’ The sermon tonight: ‘Searching for Jesus.’

3. Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill Christ the King.

4. Ladies, don’t forget the rummage sale. It’s a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.

5. The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.

6. Don’t let worry kill you off let the Church help.

7. Miss Charlene Mason sang ‘I will not pass this way again’, giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.

8. For those of you who have children and don’t know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

9. The Rector will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing: ‘Break Forth Into Joy.’

10. Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

11. A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.

12. At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be ‘What Is Hell?’ Come early and listen to our choir practice.

13. Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.

14. The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.

15. Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM prayer and medication to follow.

16. The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

17. This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

18. Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B. S. is done.

19. The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.

20. Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7PM. Please use the back door.

21. The eighth graders will be presenting Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

22. Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.

23. The Associate Minister unveiled the church’s new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday: ‘I Upped my Pledge, Up Yours.’

mj

Prineville

Yay!! We’re in Prineville!!

On our way out of Burns we stopped to gas up and found out that in Oregon, you can’t pump your own gas!!  Apparently, when you drive across the state line you become so stupid you are no longer capable of pumping gas.  As if the oil companies don’t get enough of our money already!!  Now we have to pay them for full service.  Aaarrrgghhh!

After forking over enough money to Shell to buy a pony, we drove across the Great Basin of central Oregon.  It is more sagebrush and tumbleweeds.  The only farming done is done by irrigation.  Great round circles of hay fields were scattered across the basin.  As we drove west, the Cascades came into view:  great snow-capped peaks rising above the smaller mountains in the foreground.  We turned north before we got to the mountains and drove to Prineville.  The highway enters the town by dropping down into a valley.  Boy, does it drop: twisting and turning while it drops about a thousand feet.

We are camped in town for a couple of days before moving out to the lake.  The campground in town is at the county fairgrounds.  We watched some horseback riders exercising their horses right next to us while we set up camp.  I want a chance to do laundry and stock up on groceries before we go to the lake.

We are so excited about our new job, after we got camp set up we headed out to the lake to check things out.  The Prineville Reservoir Resort is at the end of Juniper Canyon Road about 25 miles out of town.  The road winds south out of town and gets twistier the farther it goes.  The resort is a family campground with a cafe and motel and marina.  We met with the owners and they are as nice in person as they were on the phone.  They say there are bald eagles, golden eagles and osprey that nest nearby; plenty of fish in the lake; and we saw deer right next to the road on our way into the campground.  It’s a very beautiful place with lots of trees, and the campsite we will have has a nice little yard overlooking the lake. The campground itself has about 70 sandy campsites and a nice little beach.  It is a summer getaway for the area; not an RV park where people stay for weeks or months.  We expect to have a great summer.

mj

Where’s Ory?

ORY’s GONE!!!!

(Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting to use that?!?!?!?!?!)

Yes, the Ory’s are now in Oregon. Burns, Oregon, to be exact.

Since yesterday evening was our last night in Nevada, we decided to splurge and hit the casino. We each put a $20 bill in a nickel slot machine and started playing. Well, Richard’s machine gobbled his 20 up fairly quickly, but mine let me play for well over an hour and a half. At one point I got back up to my original 20 and considered cashing out. But since we had said we would either win big or go home crying, I kept on playing. But no big wins for us. Darn.

We left Winnemucca this morning heading north on highway 95. It was a gradual uphill run almost due north for about 30 miles. The countryside was covered with tumbleweeds and sagebrush. We passed through an area where the valley was littered with sand dunes. The highway cut right through a couple of them and we wondered how they kept the sand off of the road. We went up and over a couple of passes, but for the most part the road was straight and gently rolling. We crossed into Oregon, but the scenery didn’t change much. At Burns Junction we got on highway 78 and turned northwest. If you’re looking at a map you will see several little towns along our way. If you actually expect signs of civilization you will be sorely disappointed. They are small groups of houses at most. In fact we drove for miles without meeting any oncoming traffic, and no one passed us, nor did we pass anyone. We had the highway to ourselves, which made Richard very happy. We were driving through open range and the cattle for the most part ignored us. Only one was within a couple dozen yards of the roadway. She looked at us and walked away. We saw a herd of mule deer, lots of cattle, some horses and a feedlot full of buffalo.

Tonight we are in a nice little campground on the edge of town. We will head toward Prineville tomorrow.

I know this is going to stun some of you, so make sure you are sitting down. We have a job for the summer! Yes, I know I said when I retired i wasn’t going to work. But — gas prices are killing us. So we will spend the summer working at Prineville Reservoir Resort. Our job as camp hosts will require us to work from 7pm to 11pm, Thursday through Monday. We will let any late arrivals in and show them to their campsite. Oh, yeah, and sell firewood and ice. In return, we get our campsite. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it. Did I mention it is right on a lake, so we can fish all day? And Prineville is located in north central Oregon, so we can take lots of day trips to see and do things. We will be there from May through Labor Day.

mj

Maus

This is for Maus.  But everyone else can enjoy it, too.

mj