Six Months

This week marks 6 months since I started my journey with working from home and all of the changes brought about by the pandemic.  It is crazy to think that we've been living through this for half a year.  And while there have definitely been some tough moments and some adjustments, I have felt very fortunate to be able to continue working through everything and I am thankful that I have been able to find ways to explore places close home with the girls to keep us happy and healthy.

Early last week we took a nice walk around Fenner Nature Center.  This has become one of our favorite places to visit for a walk over the last 6 months.  We walk there at least once or twice each week now.  While we were strolling across the grasslands trail, I realized that we have watched the seasons change and the progression of the flowers, grasses, and trees throughout this year.  

It seems like the trees were just beginning to show their new leaves and the now empty raspberry bushes were just full of berries.  The flowers now have turned to those of  the late Summer and the leaves are just starting to show a bit of color as they prepare for their long Winter's rest.  

I'm so glad we were able to find a place like this that we have been able to enjoy so much through these strange times.  The way the girls get excited as we drive into the parking lot, I know that they enjoy visiting as much as I do.  I am looking forward to our visits throughout the Fall and into the Winter and watching the continued changes in this new familiar place.  It's so nice to have such a wonderful place so close to home.

While we have really enjoyed our new favorite place locally, it has also been fun to get out and try to find more new places to visit.  It seems that any time we visit a place that Peaches had never been before, all of the new smells make our walk even better for her.  So while walking with Maddie requires us to walk a little slower, Peaches is happy to busily sniff and sniff along the way.   We always end these walks with two happy and tired girls.  

I've been trying to find one new place nearby for us to visit every week.  Last week, after doing a little searching, I thought I had found the perfect little park for a visit, and we headed off toward Potterville to spend some time at Fox Memorial Park.  Unfortunately, after arriving at the Park, I discovered that it is not dog-friendly, so we had to quickly adjust our plans.   I decided instead of trying to find another park, we would just find a spot to park and spend some time walking around the town of Potterville.

While it is a tiny little town with a very small downtown area and not much to see, the girls really enjoyed walking around town.  And before we left, I had to make sure that we made a stop for a couple of pictures in front of Joe's Gizzard City, the one claim to fame of Potterville.  It had been a nice change of pace from walking around our neighborhood.  We always love new places!

On Saturday we were excited to make a visit to our friends Tom, Barb, and Sherman.  It has been so long since we had seen them and it was definitely time for Sherman and Peaches to have a playdate!  I had been looking forward to this visit.

These silly dogs played chase and explored and had a grand time.  I love watching Sherman and Peaches run around chasing each other.

Maddie enjoyed sniffing and wandering around the yard.  While she can't keep up with the youngsters, she was still one happy camper!

Peaches and Sherman also enjoyed hunting the chipmunk in the tree as well as any other critters that moved.  Peaches spent a large part of the day sitting in that same spot in the corner, even when the rain began to fall.   We enjoyed a nice lunch and Maddie napped on the patio with us.  Sherman was happy to join us on the patio too, but Peaches was content to sit in the corner.  It was a nice visit and we hope that we can see them again before the weather turns cold.  

Before leaving Lowell, we made a quick stop for a stroll on the Riverwalk, which is part of the North Country trail, because we hadn't been there in so long.  We weren't there long, but it was a nice stroll, and once we were back in the Jeep the girls slept the rest of the way home.

We had a relaxing and quiet Sunday morning at home after our busy week.  Sunday afternoon, we took a drive to get some garden goodies from Vanessa and were thankful that Katelyn had left us a couple dozen fresh eggs from their chickens.  It's awesome having friends that have a bounty to share.  I also spent time in the garden picking tomatoes-over 125 more roma tomatoes along with 6 slicing tomatoes, and 4 heirloom, as well as a bunch of grape and pear tomatoes-and prepping some of the garden goodies for freezing and other uses, and then preparing dinner with fresh from the garden veggies.  I have really enjoyed all of the garden bounty this year and will really miss having fresh vegetables with my dinner every night.  But I am excited for the plentiful goodies that I have prepared so that I can enjoy my garden all Winter long.  

It was a long week, made even longer by the cooler temperatures, gray skies, and rain, but I am hoping that we have some sunny days ahead.  We are in our last full week of Summer and we plan to enjoy what remains.  We also have some fun plans for the upcoming weeks as we enter Fall.  I'm hoping to make the most of the next 6 weeks before we reach November and the long Winter ahead.  I look forward to sharing more of our adventures with you.  

Until next week, I hope you make the most of every day!