Fishing.....

Chase has been BEGGING to go on a big fishing boat in the ocean for years.

So as an early birthday present, we all took a 3/4 day fishing trip on the Norma K III out of Pt. Pleasant. The crew was great. I had a blast. The rest of my family....well.....let's just say 3 out of the 5 now know that they can't go in boats in the ocean. Poor little guy didn't feel well the entire time.

I caught some keepers and I cooked them for dinner last night. It was delicious.

This was our first and last family ocean fishing trip. Oh well....we tried!

And.....we're back to the chickens

Babies! For people with chickens, this first bit will make sense. If you don't, just go along...

My buff orpington, "Miss Claire" has been very broody for about 5 weeks. Broody means she wants to sit on eggs so they can hatch and she can be a mom. We don't have a rooster.....so just eggs. No babies. She always gets broody in the spring but it usually only lasts a few days. I have wanted some new babies to add to the flock because my girls just turned 5 and they might not be laying eggs much longer. But I wasn't sure how to incorporate new babies safely. I was always worried that I couldn't keep an eye on them with working full time. Well...thanks to Covid-19 keeping us home and a broody hen, we have four new little girls.

Chase and I picked up four baby chicks on Friday, July 3.

 We got "Olive" a Blue Buff Olive Egger (she will lay dark olive green eggs)

"Miss Turner" a Jersey Blue, named after Chase's teacher this year! She will lay tan eggs.

"Betsy Ross and Martha Washington" both Americaunas (will lay light greenish blue eggs)

This is Miss Claire. I set up a little baby chick pen inside the big part of the coop.

See how she makes herself all wide and puffy? She wants to protect some babies.

I introduced the babies to her late in the afternoon and she took right to them. They went right under her wings and got comfy. Miss Claire was so happy. Clucking away.

I put them in the started cage at night and hoped for the best. I came out in the morning to find everyone happy! See the little ones poking out under the wings?

I put the big girls out in the run of the coop and gave Miss Claire and the chicks the run of the coop house all day Sunday. She followed them around and kept a close eye on them.

This is the coop. The big girls will be in the run all day, new babies and Miss Claire have the house all day and then they all sleep together at night. I have Miss Claire and the babies in their own little pen inside the house so the big girls get used to them. Hopefully in two weeks or so I can put them all together. I'll just see how it goes. I have a feeling Miss Claire will protect them if the big girls try any funny business.

They are my older girls. Foraging a bit before bed. I don't let them out very often because we have so many predators around. But I stayed right by them to keep them safe.

I'm enjoying seeing these babies learn from their mom. It's so cute to watch!

Baby Sweater and a Movie

Hi friends. I wanted to show you a sweater I just made and also share a movie recommendation.

A co-worker of mine just had his second daughter. Her name is Lucy. How sweet is that?! 

Of course I wanted to knit something for her so I made another, YES, another Granny's Favourite Sweater. I used the same yarn I used for my Trellis shawl. It's a nice sage, blueish green. I thought it would be a nice change from all the pink she probably gets. It should fit her for the fall and winter. 

I used buttons that reminded me of our company logo. I wonder if the daddy will realize that!

Here's my little old man, Jeter all curled up next to my quilt in progress. 

He's 14 and starting to show his age. His favorite spot to be is curled up on the couch like this.

We watched this movie a few days ago and it was one of the best movies I have ever seen!

I loved it and highly recommend it!!!!!!!!

Brain Dump

I started blogging regularly again when the Pandemic hit and forced us all to stay in our homes. I wanted to document this time so I wouldn't forget. Over the past few weeks restrictions have lifted in many states. NJ was one of the last states to reopen and we are still not completely open. Restaurants had expected to open for inside dining this week but the governor changed the order and it remains outside only or takeout. I feel for the restaurants that had stocked up on food in anticipation of a reopening and on a holiday weekend here at the beach. But I understand the reason for not opening. Other states are having a huge resurgence of Covid-19 cases. Numbers are spiking again. I think that NJ has been very safe and cautious, requiring masks everywhere we go. The calmness that I was finally starting to feel is gone.

My oldest is supposed to start college in 6 weeks. Going away for the first time and starting school 5 hours away from home is nerve wracking enough. I get emotional just thinking about it! But I am also so excited for him. He met with his advisor online and set up classes. That was last week. At that time they had told the students they will meet in-person as often as possible. Then....we got an email telling them that housing will be dramatically different. IF they are in a dorm, it will be single. And the majority of freshman will be housed in hotels. The school is doing what they can to get the kids to college and be safe. Then last night we got another email......they have had to change their "level" of risk to Elevated Risk again. Meaning what? Not totally sure. But it might mean more online classes, small gatherings....just another round of uncertainty. I think I've held it together pretty well so far. My family actually thrived during quarantine. But as we get closer to college, schools opening and what that will look like as cases go up all around us, I'm starting to lose it. I know this virus is not going away. I understand the risk. I know people are dying. I don't want to feel selfish. But I have those moments. I want my son to go to college like every other college freshman before him. I want my son that will be a junior to have a varsity football season like he had last year. I want my fourth grader to go to school and have fun with his friends and learn like we all did. But I know that won't be the case. Rationally I know the world is different and this can't happen. But boy oh boy, I wish it could go back to last fall before Covid-19 existed. We are all adapting and doing our best to follow guidelines. I'm trying REALLY hard to stay positive. But today is one of those days that I'm just not feeling super positive about all of this.

But then I look at this picture that Andee took yesterday and I smile. We are so lucky to have what we have. That's my mom and dad and their seven grandsons. A pretty great group of boys if I do say so myself!

Ok...that's it. Brain dump for the day. Now back to work......

Quick Get-Away

I am very lucky to have inlaws that I love and enjoy spending time with. They live a little over an hour away and we can walk to the beach from their house. It truly feels like a vacation when we visit. I took a day off of work and we headed down for some beach time and fun. Chase got some fishing time (no catches), I read a lot of my book, Once Upon a River, knitted on a baby sweater for a co-workers brand new baby girl, visited H&H Seafood and enjoyed a fresh seafood meal (the first meal out since March!), and played a bunch with Rusty.

It was a great few days away.

Episode 50! Cheers to Being Over the Hill

Episode 50! Cheers to Being Over the Hill is up and ready for you.

What I've Been Creating....

I have always been a creative person. Always making something. It's part of me. My entire family is filled with makers. Every single one of us make things. I can't imagine life without it.

I continue to be a busy bee during these times. Things are opening up quite a bit around here but we are still sticking close to home most days. I'm still working full-time from home which allows me more time in the morning to knit and have coffee. It's sooo nice to not have to rush to get ready and out the door. More time to relax! I'm going to miss that so much when we head back to the office.

Thought I would share what I am working on. I am knitting the Trellis Shawl by Annie Rowden.

Annie has created some of my favorite knits of all time. She's a full time goat farmer with her husband and little girl now. I don't think she's been designing for a while now. 

This shawl is designed for a child. But it's bigger than I expected so I think it could fit a teen or older child, or small adult! I want to add pompoms to the ends when I'm done. I think it would be so cute. I am using Cascade Alpaca Lana D'Oro (it's a mix of alpaca and wool). It's knit up and down, not end to end like some triangle shawls. You increase to the triangle part and then decrease the other side. Very clever and enjoyable to knit.

I finally ordered backing fabric for my quilt. I hesitated to buy online but I didn't know when retail would open. So I used a coupon and ordered from Joann.com. I love it. It's a yellow color (my favorite!) I have been hand quilting at night and on the weekends. I chose to just do 2 inch spaced rows that follow the natural design of the quilt pattern. I looked online for some ideas but most people seem to quilt by machine these days. The hand quilting is my favorite part of quilting. It's very soothing to me. I am loving these fun crazy colors! Can't wait to use it. It's going pretty quickly so it might be done for cool summer nights. The quilt pattern is the Meadowland Quilt by Then Came June.

Hope you're all doing well and making fun things!