Milly

She turned a year old in October, we picked her up on a very cold and snowy night in December. A year that has went flying by, watching her grow and wondering if we would ever get out of the puppy stage.

She stays in the yard (even when the neighbor kids and dogs look like they would be so much fun), we can walk in the park without wanting to stop and play with everyone we see, potty training is down pat, she always wants to sit in Tom's lap, which she is definitely too big for now but manages to sneak up when he is not looking. She knows everything - everything!! that is going on in the neighborhood - I think she can hear the mail truck a mile away and on cold nights she's a great foot warmer at the botton of the bed.

So after all that crazy puppy time (wondering if we were going to survive some of those days) - are we keeping her - definitely!!

Cowl knitting

Prettyimpressive pile of cowls if you ask me. Seven cowls knit since August for Christmas gift giving. (Also knit a scarf but forgot to put that in the pile) Pretty obvious to me by the picture which color I gravitate towards - blue or red is usually the color. (The scarf was blue too!) I am branching out though - see below - pink was a requested cowl color and the green was a BD gift. I would probably never pick that green for me but it was a gift, its Plucky Knitter yarn (cashmere and silk) and actually I can't wait to finish it. Its going to look great with my black jacket....

November just seemed to zip right by, as usual you blink and the month is over already. There was some gorgeous warm weather though and I made sure to get out and enjoy it. Thanksgiving has come and gone. It was a day of good company, good food, lots of dish washing (even with a dishwasher) and in general a great day.

Be back soon!!

Saving Sunday - 11/06/2011

Great weather for the first weekend in November!! Sunny and in the 50s. This is the same path I was down the beginning of October (the trees were full of leaves and they were just starting to turn). Wonder if I will be able to be on that path the first weekend in December?? This Sunday started with Milly and I taking an early morning walk through the park. Then Tom and I were off to Todd and Kris' for a barn raising. They are all ready for the trusses next weekend.

It was the perfect Saving Sunday!!

Saving Sunday

Thistledowns Wool Design started on her blog Saving Sunday. I have been wanting to join along on Flicker, but unfortunately seems to be to high tech for me at the moment, meaning I am going to have to get someone to help me with that. It's been fun seeing how other people are saving their Sunday. In the meantime though I am going to start keeping track of Sunday here on my blog. Yeah I know - today is Saturday, but I have a picture from last Sunday.

Sunday, 10/23/2011 we had Tom's family over for a clam bake. What is left of his mother's side of the family here in Ohio consists of an aunt, sister, cousin and their families. (Everyone else has relocated to warmer places.)

It was one of those perfect Fall days, T-shirt weater to start, sweatshirt weather later. Three generations showed up and the way everybody carried on you would have thought we saw them all the time. (We are lucky if it happens once every couple of years). We cooked 300 clams, had all the fixins to go with them and lots of desserts. There was corn hole playing, horseback riding and lots of talking, talking and more talking.

It seems like the months of September and October have had some very busy Sunday's for us. Tomorrow I am hoping my Saving Sunday post is all about football, knitting and relaxing. Hopefully I can pull that off!!

Lake Erie

Towards the end of the bridge tour we took a little detour and headed to Lake Erie - about 15 minutes off the tour. The pictures hardly do it justice. The water was so, so blue.

We walked around at one of the beaches and were actually on what was called a scenic highway so most of the time you could see the lake.

All in all our little road trip was a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Next year we plan on going back and finishing the tour.

Bridge tour - Part 2

Still cannot say enough about this Fall tour. The Boy Scouts were set up on the other side of this bridge - got to love the American flag peaking out on the other side.

At each bridge we would park and walk across the bridge, look out and see what we were driving over. The leaves were just starting to turn colors.

This bridge was decorated for Halloween!

That's all the bridges for now. Next year we have to go back and finish the tour. Instead of finishing we took a little detour and went to Lake Erie. Be back soon with those pictures.

10/09/2011 - Covered Bridge Road Trip

Finally, after awhile of saying we were going to do this - we did. Tom and I took off early Sunday morning (8:00 a.m.) and hit the road for Ashtabula County (Ohio). It took us about an hour to get there and we spent the better part of the day following the tour signs and checking out the covered bridges. There were actually 16 bridges on the tour and we managed to get 9 in. There are two different tours, both about 70 miles long. We took the one with the most bridges on the map. We only came across two bridges you could not drive over (below being one of them).

What was really neat was at each bridge you could pull off, get out, walk inside the bridge and in most places you could get down to the rivers that they were over. Also each bridge had its own welcoming group of people selling food and crafts.

For the most part the bridges were out away from the townships or cities that they were in. We traveled lots of dirt and gravel roads.

It was some of the nicest weather - I think the nicest weather we have had including Summer this year. I have more pictures to show but think I was overloading blogger as I couldn't upload anymore. I will be back tomorrow with the rest.

I'm on vacation for the next couple of days so I'm off to do some knitting and relaxing.

October Chicken House

Here is the chicken house all decked out for Fall. Now we just need all the chickens to lay eggs.

I started out with 2 chickens this Spring. Early Summer some type of critter got in (we have yet to figure out how) and we were down to 1 chicken. I picked up 2 more from the man I originally got them from. One of those chickens died in the 100+ days of summer. The other newer chicken has yet to lay an egg yet!! The other day I was out by the fence looking at them and now I am wondering - maybe its a rooster!! I think I need to go chicken shopping soon!!

October-Socktober

Two pairs of socks finished in October!! Toe up, just plain socks. Yarn is Pagewood Farms, color Crayon.

Monkey socks. These were on the needles for a couple of months but it was the first time doing any sort of pattern on socks - thus they took awhile. I think I want to try the no Purl Monkey's next. Yarn is Malabrigo, arcangel.

On more pair on the needles - I am hoping for an October finish.

This was 10/02 - early Sunday morning. The leaves are just starting to turn. I'm thinking I should go back at the end of the month and see how things have changed.

Be back soon!

One more thing.....

Forgot to post this picture of Tyler from the fair. Tom and I hung out a lot with him while Jess was getting ready for her respective shows. As you can tell he really likes the skid loader he talked Grandpa into buying at one of the farm booths.

Okay, now I am caught up. Back to knitting and watching football!!

First weekend of Fall!!

We spent Sunday at a Cleveland Indian's game. It was a good game, even though they lost. The last home game of the season. Not very Fall-like though. Humid and hot - just like baseball should be!!

So far this September--

There have been early morning walks with the sun just starting to get up over the trees- Lots of mist over the lake-

Tom and I have been trying to get time in with all the grandkids and their activities. We were at the football game with (grandson) Tom on Friday night, but the only picture I could get was the back of him.

Also been hanging out with Kris, Todd, Jessica and Tyler at their fair. This was during the steer show, waiting to go into her class. She did really well so far with a couple of firsts and then going back in for the championship rounds. That grand champion is right on her finger tips -maybe tomorrow. Tom and I are going again tomorrow, pigs and beef breeding this time.

We have also been hauling wood. For us this is a pretty impressive wood pile for just about mid September. It goes 5-6 rows deep (you can't see that). Still need to get some more, but its a good start.

That's our September so far. I have been knitting up a storm trying to get things done so I can wear them this Fall. Maybe this week I will have some finishes.

Be back soon!!

They never fail!

These black eye susans along the patio never fail to put on a show - always big and bright - this year taller than they have been over the last couple.

Note to self: Plant more of these next year!!

August 15 - already??

Okay - so its August already, the middle of August and I am asking myself where has the time gone this summer. Seems like we missed Spring altogether and went right into a very hot summer. Thankfully not as hot as other parts of the country, but hot enough to break some longstanding records in our area - like the most days over 90 in July!! Here we are in August and just like that the weather seems to have changed. Over the past week there were a couple of nights we had to close the windows, put an extra blanket on the bed and for the past two days its been nothing but rain. The rain we can use, but doesn't help the fact we need to make some hay.

Jessica, Tyler and myself have been enjoying our Wednesday afternoons together. There has been haning out, swimming, lots of eating lunch out or stops at the ice cream store. Hard to believe this will be our last Wednesday together as they are back in school next week.

Tom and I have been trying to get caught up around the house and yard. There has been new fencing put up, along with a couple of other projects and Tom did manage to get out with his horse on a trail ride. We found a new Metropark in the next county which had a really good trail, so he rode and Milly and I walked. Hopefully we can get in a few more days like that this Fall.

I had no work this morning (seems like an ongoing thing year) so I have been knitting and cleaned out a couple of cuboards. Time to go see if anything has popped up to type.

Have a great week. Enjoy these last August days!!

Weekend highlights and other news!!

Remember that puppy back in the December posts?? Well, this is Milly now - just about 8 months old and full of energy. She is a really good walking partner though and 5 miles does not phase her a bit. On the other hand, I need her momentum to get back to the truck at the end. The Farmer's Market opened up Saturday. Still to early for veggies, but the flowers were gorgeous.

Tom and Cooper on the left. Sara and Sonny on the right. We got Sonny as a rescue horse from the S.P.C.A. about 2 weeks ago for me to ride. Really great horse, but my arthritis just isn't cooperating - I am working on it though.

The big news of Spring was that my son - Matt became engaged to his girlfriend Ashley. A June 2012 wedding date as been set - so wedding plans are in full force around here.

We had no work this Monday morning so I'm off for another walk in the park with Milly. Hope your week is off to a good start.

June 1, 2011

Wow!! Way back in March is when I last posted?? Don't have any particular reason - maybe just needed a break, the weather was awful - not as bad as some though. Now its June and it finally stopped raining!! Yeah!!

Jessica and Tyler are already out of school and so today we headed out for lunch. Jessica got to pick - she picked Panera's. I could not disagree with that choice, one of my favorites. I didn't know until we got there that Tyler does not like anything they have. He had a drink while Jessica and I ate and then we headed over to McDonald's for him. New rule - tell Grandma before we get inside that there is nothing on the menu you like!! Then we headed back to their house for some hanging out until Kris got home from work. We decided we are going to use this blog to journal what we end up doing on the days I am with them.

Time for me to think about getting supper going before I head back to work. Next time up - knitting content. I have a couple of things completed.

Talk to you soon.

March - So Far

I think March is a month of changing weather and we certainly are seeing that.
The picture from below was from Friday. One of those really heavy snows that was really, really pretty, but I have seen enough white stuff. Flooding is all over the place. This was from March 5th, trying to get to Jessica's basketball game. Roads were closed, some areas looked like this and we made it through and then there was the one that had a marker that was almost 2 feet and fast moving water - we turned around for that one. Our basement was not spared and even though its a mess dealing with all that water it made me get going and start cleaning out what I keep putting off.

I'm hoping for more days like this - sunny and warmer. I'm not asking for 70ish - but maybe a few 50 days!!

Just like most of the country were hoping for Spring very, very soon!!

Have a good week.....

Happy Valentine's Day!! Couldn't have planned those knitting colors any better if I had tried. I'm still knitting baby hats - this time for a shower on Sunday where the couple don't know if its a boy or girl - so I knit a pink and blue hat as part of their gift. You can see I have pink yarn already planned for another hat. My first time using KnitPicks CotLin - I think that's how you spell it. The light pink is out of some stash, but the KnitPicks will be my choice from now on. You can also see part of the table topper that Sara made for me.

Here it is the middle of February. Even with all the snow and cold we have had the days just keep flying by. Much warmer here yesterday and today, but that wind is really kicking up today. The weatherman says near 50 by the end of the week - even if it rains that warmth will be welcome.

No work this morning again - its becoming a regular Monday happening so I'm off to do some knitting - see if I can finish up another project that has been laying around for awhile now.

Hope your day is a good one!!!

Sweaters and Quilts!!

Below is one of the sweaters that I had been working on for Christmas - this is Matt's girlfriend Ashley and if I must say so that sweater really came out great. It looks good, fits good. I love knitting with Malabrigo. Next up is a quilt - a very wonderful quilt - that Sara brought me the other day. Its from P.S. I Quilt and words can't describe it. I feel bad that her sewing machine broke while quilting it, her washing maching broke while washing it - but then again I don't feel all that bad because after all that she was not happy with it and I was the lucky person she gave it to.

The storm we were supposed to get ended up being a little bit of everything but for us not all that bad. I'm sitting by the fire, wrapped in the quilt above, knitting today. PERFECT!!

Stay warm and safe....

January happenings!!

I somehow disappeared for December and most of January but the reason is below - one of the crazy moments where you decide to get a puppy in the middle of winter. Just last night Tom asked me what were thinking - or the lack of thinking has to be it. Below you see Milly May!! She is a border collie and is about 14 weeks right now. Tom bought a paper home saying he saw some border collies advertised. I called, the next evening we were driving in lots of snow down some back country roads to take a look at some puppies and you know the rest. All of the puppy craziness aside she is really a good dog and we are totally enjoying her. Just can't wait for the weather to get nicer and we can get her outside more. I have been knitting lots. I have this goal of finishing up lots of projects by the end of January and with only a few more days to go that might not be in the stars. I think I'll have to entend that time frame a little bit. I did stop unfinsihed projects to knit this cut baby hat for our neighbor. Actually was really good timing, she had the baby the day I finished the hat.

I used a pattern by Susan B. Anderson, her bunny hat from Itty Bitty Knits, only left off the ears. Its out of Pattons and is DK weight knit on size 7 needles. I did a few hats when I first started knitting but I just didn't get the end results I wanted. This one is perfect so I see more hat knitting soon. There are 2 more babies on the way that will need hats!!

Next up a pattern by French Press Knits. Its a free pattern and if you look on her blog she has it there. Its on Ravelry but at the moment I can't remember the pattern name. Its out of Cascade 220. The buttons aren't sewn on yet. I'm not sure on the placement so I'm waiting until I see my knitting girls (Kris and Ashley) for some help.

This is pretty much what we have seen everyday since December. More snow is falling right now. At least we haven't had the blizzards like in the East and it has warmed up since last week. Warm being 27 for a high today, as compared to 4 of last week.

That's all for now. I plan on being back shortly with more January pictures so I can start February fresh with a bit more blogging.

Keep warm and enjoy your weekend!!