My Boys.

I took this when Abe wasn’t feeling the greatest last weekend. Teddy kept watch over his “daddy” all weekend, making sure he was well taken care of.

So sweet

I love my boys!

Latest Finished Object – Knitting!

A compelling new subject, no?

It’s been awhile since I posted anything about knitting. Likely due to the fact that with last semester came eighteen hours of class each  week, in addition to all the work associated with said class hours.

Then, the whole Abe coming home thing threw a wrench in my knitting plans So much that I was finishing up a couple projects as we ran out the door to various family get-togethers. Bad, bad me. I didn’t get photos of said gifts, either. Dang!

I’ve been knitting socks… or A sock for Abe. For about two months. And I’m still not done. For you knitters out there, I’m using size 1 DPNs. I feel like I’m knitting an intricate, tiny sweater. Bad choice. It goes without saying that I won’t be using 1s for adult-sized socks ever, ever, ever again

Since I’d been working on these stinking socks for so long as well as knitting things for others, which I love – don’t get me wrong, I decided it was time to knit something for myself. Something easy.

I love instant gratification, even if it’s wrong

So, I decided to whip this up: calorimetry

I love, love, love how it came out. It’s soooo warm And I used a cute purple tweed yarn which I adore and will probably buy more of for something else.

Took less than a day Hooray! I may add further embellishment to the button but we’ll see…

Have a great, long weekend!

Oh, deer!

So, I realize that this blog has lately become somewhat like a chronicle of mine and Abe’s Geocaching adventures but really… that’s all we been DOING lately, so of course that’s what I’m going to write about

Anyhow, this past weekend has pretty much been a Geocaching extravaganza! We did nothing Saturday and Sunday besides Geocache. Well, I dragged Abe into our local antique mall But other than that, nothing but caching. Even in the cold rain and snow!

I can’t lie though, it is great fun and whatever gets us out into the great outdoors during winter is fine by me.

On Saturday, we encountered my (J) most favorite cache I think we will EVER find in the HISTORY of our caching… ummm… career?

Our GPSr took us out to St. Paul, Indiana which is surprisingly close to our town, Hope. We had never been there before and were surprised to discover a small Amish community as well as a charming little town just waiting to be discovered.

The cache we were after was hidden in the Hidden Paradise camping park. On the way in, we noticed a very large enclosure in which a couple bucks were standing. “Well, neat!” we thought. We’d not seen any (live) deer up that close, so it was interesting to see.

Well, we found our cache and hiked down out of the woods and passed by the deer again. Much to our surprise, one of the deer came trotting up to the fence, wanting to interact with us! He allowed us to pet him, which he thoroughly enjoyed. He also liked to lick our hands for the salt on our skin It was awesome!

He REALLY liked me

In case you can’t tell what’s happening in this photo, here is a closer look:

Yes, folks, I was kissed by another man! Haha He was kissing me on the cheek This will be one of my favorite memories for a looong time!

Then, there was THIS Lil’ Man. SO CUTE!

He and Grizz got along just fine He also induced a little bit of hunter’s guilt in Abe. Actually, Abe mentioned possibly taking him home as a pet.

Um, no.

He was awfully cute though!

Though I kind of have conflicting feelings about the deer being held in captivity, I have to say all three of the deer at the park were rescues. The Lil’ Man is actually free to roam, he chooses to come back for food. The two older bucks were both found by their “mama” deer who had been hit on the road. The owners of the camp took them in to feed them and help them grow into healthy adults. The very friendly buck is nine-years-old and the other, more shy buck, is only three. We are guessing Lil’ Man is less than a year. All of them looking incredibly healthy and were very tame, so I’m guessing their chances in the wild would be nil.

However you look at it, it was a VERY enjoyable experience getting to interact with this animal that is usually served to me on a dinner plate. These deer were so sweet and gentle! Of course, if they’d been wild I’m sure it would have been a different story

I LOVED IT!

Happy Birthday, Beauski!!!

Dear goodness, gracious! Precious little Beau is one year old today!

I cannot BELIEVE it! I know I say this all the time, but I cannot believe how fast the time is passing. They say the older you get, the quicker it goes. If that’s the case, pretty soon I’ll be blinking the years away!

I just can’t even comprehend our youngest nephew, the baby, being a whole year old now!

:::tears:::

Here he is when he was just a wee little man:

The first time he met Uncle Abey, down in Georgia:

Getting bigger!

And NOW! He’s so big and adorable

Happy birthday, sweet boy!!! We love you sooo very much and can’t wait to see you grow up Just slow it down a little, okay?

The Getaway: Part Two – Northern Indiana

So, we got off of I-80 at Angola and headed into a town Abe and I know fairly well – Ligonier! We drive through this town a couple times a year when we trek “up north” to visit my family in Shipshewana. On the way out of Cleveland, I used our handy, dandy new Garmin to search for lodging near Angola. Apparently, Bed & Breakfast-es (is that even right?) book up to no vacancy pretty quick around the holidays! We weren’t aware of this fact… So, we had to drive an additional hour off the interstate to find a Bed & Breakfast that had a vacancy.

We found a GEM! We stayed at the Solomon Mier Manor in Ligonier and it was fabulous! Brenda and Homer, the owners of the B&B were just great! They served us banana cake for desert after we arrived for the evening and loaned us a book on the history of Ligonier. As history buffs, we were stoked to have a little local history to dive into The next morning, Brenda served us a fabulous breakfast of quiche, fruit, homemade breads and jam, sausage, orange juice and coffee. It was wonderful!

Aaaand, we discovered that Homer and I are distant relatives through my paternal grandmother’s family! Apparently, my maiden name is pretty common up in Amish Country He recognized it right away, so we discussed our “blood lines” and made the discovery! Too fun

The B&B not only provided wonderful food and conversation, it was STUNNING, as well!

Sadly, we only booked the B&B for one night and left just after breakfast the next morning. We will DEFINITELY look into staying here the next time we head “up north” and would recommend it to anyone wanting to explore the area.

After we checked out of the B&B we headed up and over to Shipshewana to visit my grandparents, aka Mammi and Dawdi. Though it was a brief visit, it was soooo good to pop in for a surprise visit Mammi, of course, had snacks at the ready and we settled in for some good conversation. Hopefully, we’ll make it back up this Spring.

After we left Mammi and Dawdi’s house, we began heading south again in a VERY roundabout manner, taking time to do some Geocaching on the way home The trip, which usually takes about four hours to complete, took more like seven hours! It was fantastic

We headed to cemeteries…

Into the woods…

…and onto gravel roads!

We took a break in the town of Auburn to grab some fuel at this old school pump

And some AWESOME lunch at this deli/bakery called The Bread Basket. SO good. We also stopped in this shop, though I can’t remember the name of it now, that was filled with country/primitive treasures and handmade goods. I loved it! We refrained from buying anything, though, since we don’t really have a house to furnish or decorate at the moment

Our caching adventure continued till we made it to Huntington and it got dark. Before it go dark, we were given this AWESOME sky, just before sunset.

It was, basically, a fantastic trip Not exactly what we’d planned, but perfect nonetheless!