Zoey, Lizzie & Piper

Guess what this post is going to consist of? Mostly puppies and Piper. We have the girls with us this week until at least Thursday, maybe longer if they want to stay longer. Our camping plans were disrupted when they got Covid. We were in London for two weeks, then they went to Paris and London right after we got home. The day after getting home they tested positive for Covid. Then, when Mandy & Piper started getting better, Brad got it. So here we are with the summer going quickly and we hadn’t had our girls to stay with us yet. The outside of their house is being painted this week. Mandy is trying to work on the phone and we figured Lizzie might be barking at them so here we are.

So far we’re having a fun time. We went to the zoo yesterday. It was HOT but we still had fun. Piper talked Papa into climbing to the top of the tree fort. It’s higher than it looks. I’ve zoomed in on them. Here they are, three stories high.

Just before we left we decided to stop for the bird show. To our surprise it was not a bird show. At the last minute they had to change it to a reptile show because it was too hot to bring the birds out. We saw a giant tortoise and a snake, I don’t remember what kind, and a skink. After the zookeepers told all about each animal, the children were able to go up and touch them all. Of course Piper was up there with all of the other kids. Dennis and I stayed where we were sitting and reminisced about when her mother was the same age. Mandy was so shy she would have never jumped up and ran down there right away. She may have taken Alex by the hand and led him down there, but never on her own.  Piper is very outgoing and self-confident and Mandy was always very shy. It’s funny to see how different our grandkids are from their parents. Jamie‘s kids are the same way.

Either Mandy or Piper took this picture of the girls on Sunday when we were visiting their house. Isn’t it sweet? They hadn’t seen each other for over two weeks because of Covid. They were so glad to see each other. Doesn’t it look like they’re hugging? Sorry about the lighting, I don’t know what was up with that.

Miss Piper has spent a lot of time giving Papa and I foot rubs, especially since our trip to the zoo. She is very good. She massages lotion into our feet and then she puts plastic bags on our feet. I’m not sure the reason for the plastic bags, but she has tells us that they are necessary, so of course we comply.

Here she is this afternoon giving you an idea of the size of the blanket that I am crocheting. It’s almost the same size as she is and it’s still growing!

I have also started another pair of socks with Knit Picks Static yarn. It is a simple cast on of 64 stitches with a  K1P1 ribbed cuff and then K2P2 for the leg. I really love these colors.

On Monday I got this beautiful package of treasures in the mail from Tammy, who lives in Kuwait. You can find her on my side bar at “T’s Daily Treasures”.  Tammy has been back in the States taking care of her mother. She has lived in Kuwait for many years and has the most interesting tales of her adventures there. I have followed her for many years and always enjoy her posts. Thank you so much Tammy. I will treasure your gift. Obviously you remembered how much I love snowman!

Tomorrow is grocery day. Mom‘s leg has really been bothering her, so she’s not sure she will be up to going with me. When she has days like that I usually take her grocery list and shop for her and Dennis buys the things that we need. Tomorrow will have the added adventure of having Piper along. With Papa and I, it will be no problem but if I’m trying to herd Mom it could be interesting with both of them. I’m always a little bit afraid Mom will walk out the door without me, but she doesn’t like me staying with her the whole time. She feels like I don’t trust her or that I’m spying on her.

My best friend Jenny is taking a road trip beginning this weekend. In two weeks so she will drive from Spokane to Maine and back again. Her aunt in Maine is turning 95 years old and Jenny wants to make sure she’s able to see her one last time. She will be stopping along the way at various relatives homes to visit them. The first place she stopping is with us. She plans to be here on Sunday and we have the honor of having her stay for two nights before she continues on her way Tuesday morning. She says we are the longest stop of her trip. That means she’ll be with us for the Fourth of July. I am so excited to see her, as it has been over a year. That’s a long time to go without seeing your best friend, although I guess it’s not technically true. We do see each other most Thursday nights on ZOOM for Bible study. Then, July 14th Dennis’ three cousins and uncle from Minnesota are coming to visit. Two will stay at mom‘s house and two will stay with us. We’re looking forward to that visit very much.

Shortly after that we will leave for our trip to Spokane. We will be camping along the way and hopefully will not have to take out a loan for diesel to get us there and back! That’s not as funny as it sounds. I cannot believe the price of gas and diesel right now. It’s absolutely ridiculous and there’s no real reason for it that makes sense to me. We plan to be gone somewhere around three weeks. It will take us almost a week to get there because of a stop in the Black Hills and then at our son’s house in Montana. We plan to have about two weeks in Spokane before we make our way back to Omaha. We’re thinking about coming back through North Dakota instead of our usual route across South Dakota. I have never been to North Dakota before and it sounds like a new adventure.

Sorry. I seem to have written a novel. 😍 Take care and have a wonderful week my friends.

Blessings,

Betsy

Change Of Plans

Hello everyone. How is your week going? We’ve had very hot and very humid weather here, but it’s supposed to cool off into the 80s beginning tomorrow for a few days. We are all looking forward to that.  We have been basically hibernating in the basement. Dennis goes out and does yardwork in the early morning and then we have been making our way through watching the “Midsomer Murders” series on YouTube. We have watched them all before, but we’re enjoying seeing them again. I guess a benefit of getting old is although we remember the individual episodes, we rarely can remember who did it!

I have been busy with various types of needles while in my cool cave. You might remember this photo from my last post. I had started a blanket to replace the afghan on our bed that is pretty old. Dennis didn’t care for this one very much so I ripped it out and let him choose the pattern.

My cute little assistant is showing you the pattern I’m working on now. It’s called the modern granny rectangle blanket. It doesn’t take a lot of thought, although I often forget to do the connecting round between the “cubes” and have to rip it out. Regular granny squares don’t have the chain going around the entire blanket that you then double crochet into on each round. It is fun and I’m enjoying it. As you can tell I’m using five different shades of brown with the cream in between each one.

I also finished cross stitching all of the Christmas ornaments for this year. I still have to do the finish work, but I feel like the most time consuming part is done. I am not a neat cross-stitcher where the back of the work looks as nice as the front. Don’t judge! Ha ha!

I showed you this first picture in my last post also. This was my Hobby Lobby clearance yarn haul

 and the total I spent was $39.56. The original price was $158.80.

Two days later we found our self driving by a different Hobby Lobby and Dennis suggested we stop. I love that man! This is what I came home with that day. They had completely different types of yarn on clearance at that store. Now I wish I had gone to the third Hobby Lobby in our town, but I restrained myself. The total I spent at the second store was $38.27 and the original price was $157.80. So close to the first haul! It was not planned at all. With the second store I was able to find a lot of “I Love This Cotton,” which is my favorite for making dish cloths. They also had quite a lot of baby yarn which the first store didn’t have, so I stocked up on that.

I had been using up a lot of yarn and had some empty cubbies. Now they’re all full again and I’m ready to go. On the top left shelves the two top cubbies are sock yarns. On the right top six shelves are baby yarns. The rest is a mix of specialty yarns, mostly worsted weight yarn and my cotton dish cloths yarns. I don’t think I will need to buy yarn for a long, long time. The two bins on the far top right have completed projects in them for charity. The middle one has mittens and the one on the right has shawls and baby hats and blankets.

And speaking of my cute little helper, today is her birthday. She is one year old! How did that happen? I honestly don’t know what we did without her. She is such a loving dog. She’s always by our side and is kind of like what they call a velcro dog. We love her.💜

These two sisters have brought so much joy into our lives. They are both equally loving and affectionate and happily shower you with kisses. They both love to snuggle up in your laps, either alone or together. I can’t believe that the two of them are as sweet as they are. How lucky are we? We gave Zoey a new bag of mini tennis balls this morning and she is in seventh heaven.  She throws them all over the place on her own and plays soccer with them too by kicking them with her front feet. Of course she also loves to play fetch with us.

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the summer, or winter if you’re down under. I also hope you are managing to find some peace in this crazy, mixed up world we’re living in. Although the price of groceries, gas, and diesel, along with everything else is completely out of control and skyrocketing right now, there is somewhere that we can find peace for our souls. And that is with the Lord. I know that when I leave this crazy world, I won’t have to worry about any of those things anymore and that He will ultimately sustain me.

Have a wonderful week my dear friends.

Much love and many blessings,

Betsy

Stormy Night!

Boy howdy, we sure had a stormy night last night. Tornado warnings all around us and lots and lots of rain. We have had so much rain this year that so far everything is very green. I wish we could share the bounty with the drought stricken areas.

Dennis wanted to mow this morning because it’s the only day for the next 10 days we’re not predicted to be in the upper 90s and over 100. Everything is so wet though, I don’t know if he’ll be able to get it done.

 Last night we went to see “Top Gun Maverick” with Curt and Barb. We went on our first date with them almost 44 years ago! I highly recommend the movie if you enjoyed the first To Gun. It was excellent. I usually don’t care for movies when they try to re-create the parts of the actors years later, but this was done very, very well. The flying and dog fights in the air were nail-biting.

I finished my “Monkey Socks” and kitchenered the toes about midnight last night. These will actually be for me. I used Knit Picks Hawthorne fingering weight yarn in the Willamette colorway. They are actually a bit more purpleish than is showing in this photo. None of my pictures turned out very well this morning because it’s so dark and rainy. I apologize.

Val, from Wandering Cat Studio, told me there wasn’t much Static yarn left at Knit Picks so I placed a small order. The two skeins on the left are actually green but in the light this morning they are showing blacks and grays. What’s up with that? The skein on the right is very true to its color. I do enjoy knitting with Static. It feels very good in the hands and yet it makes a fairly hard wearing sock.

I was reading online about the clearance sale at Hobby Lobby, so while dropping some things off at Mandy‘s house, we decided to take a peek and see what they had. Hobby Lobby is very close to their house. This is what I came home with. I was very, very pleased. When I added the prices up, the original price for all of this yarn was $158.80 and I only paid $39.56. I think that was quite a bargain. I got lots of Kroy sock yarn and various other skeins. Dennis is quite the enabler.

I began a new blanket for the end of our bed. I made one years and years ago and it has developed a rather large hole, courtesy of the puppies. 😍 In all honesty, there was already a small thin spot because it was so old and the babies just found the weakest link and made it bigger!  I began this very late last night and only finished three rows. Here it is in my lap. Zoey is sleeping under the blue blanket!

Here is a little section straightened out so you can get an idea of what the pattern is.

Based on the prices at the grocery stores these days, I thought maybe this chart would come in handy for some of you. I know a lot of people think things need to be thrown out by the date on the item, but that’s not true. Many things can be saved and eaten long afterwards.

Dennis picked Brad, Mandy and Piper up at the airport Saturday night in the middle of a thunderstorm. They had tested in London on Friday before leaving, as required to get back into the US. All three were negative. By the time their flight landed in Omaha, Mandy had 103F temperature. Monday morning, both she and Piper tested positive for Covid. Brad had his booster just three weeks before they left home, so we’re hoping that will protect him. We have dropped some things off for them in the front door without being near either one, except through the window to wave. They both have bad coughs and just plain aren’t feeling well. I would appreciate prayers for both Mandy and Piper if you would. So far Alex and his little family are doing fine. I was worried about the baby getting it because Piper was so good about taking care of her while they were visiting, but so far so good. We all managed to avoid this plague for so long. Mandy even worked with Covid patients. And now they get it.🤷‍♀️ 

I hope you are all well and surviving the wacky weather that has been hitting for the past several months. Take care of yourselves. From the sounds of it, it wouldn’t hurt to buy some extra food and anything else you might need.

Blessings and love, 

Betsy

Summertime!

Hello my friends! The calendar may not say it’s summertime quite yet, but it sure feels like it here. We’ve been busy just doing things around the house for the most part this week. I took Mom to the grocery store this morning. We’re trying to limit our trips there to once every two weeks because of the distance we have to drive and the cost of gas. While we were gone Dennis trimmed, edged and mowed both yards. My teeny tiny garden is all planted, but out of an entire package of green bean seeds, only four plants have survived. We put a fence around it last week and and no animals have eaten off anymore of them since then, but I had lost several plants before the fence was put up. There are still a lot of rocks and every day I go outside and pick more out of the dirt. But considering the fact that they were 7 inches deep throughout the entire area at the beginning of last week, it looks pretty good. There are no rocks where things are planted. I have four hills of zucchini, one green pepper, one cherry tomato, one cucumber and three rows of green beans. Out of those three rows we have four plants. How disappointing. At one time there were about 14 little plants poking their heads through the dirt and the next morning all of them were gone. The fence was put up that afternoon! It’s not fancy but it works. I’ll keep working on the rocks and soon they’ll be gone.

Last Friday we took the puppies and went to Mandy and Brad‘s so Dennis could mow the grass. I took care of the fish and watered plants inside. The puppies sure had a good time running around the house and through the yard, but Lizzie seemed a bit confused as to why her people weren’t there.

In this picture they’re watching Papa go back-and-forth with the lawnmower.

I think it was love at first sight with these two when they saw each other. I’m sorry for having to mark out baby J’s face, but from what I’ve been told she and Piper definitely have a mutual admiration society going on. Piper is in heaven with a real live baby to take care of. How I wish they lived closer to each other. Piper would be a great babysitter in a couple of years.  Mandy just FaceTimed with us and when I started singing to baby J she started smiling and kicking her feet. I think she remembers me. 💜💕💜

Today they’re visiting the tower of London and they sent us pictures from there. It looks as though they are all having a very good time. 

And from the top of Primrose Hill. It sure looks as though they’ve had beautiful weather while they’ve been visiting both Paris and London. They ate at the Queen’s Pub. Very appropriate, wouldn’t you agree?

Last night we got a photo of them walking across the Abbey Road crosswalk in the classic Beatles pose. Our daughter-in-law was pushing the pram and Mandy, Brad and Piper were striding in behind her just like the Beatles.

Now, back to regular life. 😍

I finished four more baby hats for the hospital.

Also a pair of socks made with Patons Kroy socks FXin the “Geranium Colors” colorway. I just used a moss stitch for the cuff. I almost ran out of yarn for this pair too and I made the cuffs shorter than usual. I think Patons is putting a little less yarn in the skeins these days.

I have also started working on the Christmas cross-stitch ornaments for this year. I have two with the stitching complete and one almost done, leaving me four more. I have another grandbaby to make for this year, and the three sets of parents. I didn’t want to be stressing over them this Christmas like I did last year. I’m trying to get all of the things that are being homemade done early.

I have started another pair of socks and I have the cuff almost finished. I’m using the “Monkey Socks” pattern and Knit Picks Hawthorne fingering weight yarn in the “Willamette” colorway. It reminds me of the Oregon Willamette Valley. I don’t have a photo of those but will show you next time.

We’ll go back out to Mandy and Brad‘s tomorrow to mow for them and make sure everything is in order before their arrival back home on Saturday evening. The two weeks have flown by and I’m not sure what we’ll do without Lizzie here. She has been so much company for Zoey. Maybe we’ll have to see about shared custody of the both of them! Ha! One week at their house and one week at our house. I know the puppies would love that.

Take care everyone and remember that God is with each of you. Every minute of every day. 

Blessings and love,

Betsy

Busy days!

My goodness! The days are flying by! Dennis said to me today, “How did I ever have time to work?” He’s right. The days are so full and busy between taking care of the lawn, the very, very small garden that I’ve planted, the house, and watching over Mom, I don’t know how we ever had time to do anything else. 

I have finished a little bit of knitting/crocheting that I’ll show you today. First a sweater for baby J. that I sent along with Mandy. I’m not sure if I showed it to you or not. If I did, please forgive me. I just used a basic baby sweater for numbers of stitches and then I made up the pattern for the sleeve cuffs and the bottom of the sweater.

The front:

The back.

This is just a simple crocheted  shawl I made from a Red Heart Super Saver skein I got in one of the batches of yarn from Facebook marketplace, but I’m not sure of the colorway. It is for the hospital cancer patients.

Then I needed to make another baby set. I had wanted to get this done in time to send along with Mandy also, but there was no way I could possibly finish it in time. Our daughter-in-law’s sister is expecting a baby girl at the end of June. She and baby J will only be about two months apart in age. They live within blocks of each other, so these two little girls will be able to grow up with each other. That makes my heart happy. I hope Mama likes the same colors as her sister, because those are the colors I chose. First is a crocheted blanket using the corner to corner stitch and a made up border. The border is two rows of half double crochet in each of the two colors of dark gray and cream and then a scallop stitch in light gray.

I also made her a sweater and hat in the 3 to 6 month size. I have not put the buttons on yet. I also haven’t washed and blocked any of the projects that you see in this post except the sweater for baby J that Mandy took with her.

One baby hat completed and another on the needles. These are for the University Hospital Medical Center. The completed one looks gray in the photo but it is really baby blue.

Brad, Mandy and Piper are in Paris this week and part of next week. They are staying with friends that have an apartment there. She sent me a picture of their room that overlooks Notre Dame but for some reason it’s not posting here.

Miss Piper is having a wonderful time. Here she is posing in front of the Eiffel tower. Look at those long thin legs! Grandpa says she’s 9 going on 16! 💜

And lit up at night!

They will go on to London next week to see Alex and family. I know Mandy‘s disappointed in not seeing the Queen’s Jubilee this week as she enjoys the Royal family very much. However, I think she’s just as excited to see baby J and hold her in her arms soon.

Meanwhile we have Lizzie while they’re gone. She and Zoey play and play and play all day and then fall into bed exhausted at night and don’t move until morning! It’s hilarious. These two love each other so much. Please ignore the dog hair on the chair. Even though they’re tiny, they still shed a little bit. It’s impossible to keep it all off of the furniture.

Meanwhile, Dennis spent a couple of hours at the camper yesterday putting in a fantastic fan and a few other small upgrades. Those things are great. It will help cool the camper off so much when we don’t want to use the air conditioner. We are planning to go camping in the Black Hills with Miss Piper at the end of this month. That is if the diesel prices aren’t completely out of this world. After Paris and London she probably won’t want to go camping with grandpa and grandma anyway. It won’t be nearly as exciting!

At the last minute I decided to plant a very small garden. The only place I could do it has about 8 inches of river rock in it. It’s about 8‘ x 5‘ and is taking a lot of work to get the rock out of there. Dennis has spent hours making a space big enough for me to plant three rows of green beans and four hills of zucchini. Today I planted a cherry tomato plant. We still have a lot of rock to remove in the next few days because we have to get a fence up around it on Saturday. My green beans have just started poking through the ground and the deer already ate two of them off last night. It will be a very, very small garden this year and maybe next year when I can get an earlier start I can organize it better and get more vegetables.  I sure miss the raised beds that Dennis made for me at our house in Spokane.

We have had the most amazing week of beautifully coolish weather in the 70’s and bright blue skies. We have had every window in the house open day and night since Monday. I love that. There’s nothing better than sleeping with the windows open on a summer night and waking up to the sound of birdsong in the morning.

It’s getting late and I need to go to bed before too long. I can’t seem to find time to post during the day anymore. It seems we are always doing this or that. Take care everyone I’m trying to keep up with all of your blogs. May God in his mercy bless each one of you.

Blessings and hugs,

Betsy