The Other New Family Additions

 Without pictures, but I wanted to give recognition to the other three new member of my family in addition to Octavia.

First, is her mom, who shall be known here as Two-EEs.  Because her name is a very popular late 1980s/early 1990's girl's name, only her parents chose to differentiate it from all the other girls of that name by spelling it with two E's.  You'll just have to wonder if she's an  Ashlee, Brittanee, Courtnee, Haylee, Katee, Kelsee, Lexee, Sydnee, Toree. . . 

Next would be Octavia's oldest sister, Two-EEs daughter from her first marriage (pretty much right out of high school).  She lives with her bio dad and step-mom on step-mom's parents' cattle farm, so I don't see her as often as the others.  She's in high school, a member of 4-H and loves raising a steer each year as her project.  Her name shall be Cowgirl.

And then there's Octavia and Cowgirl's brother, Two-EEs son from a different marriage (and, from what I've been told, whose bio dad isn't part of his life) who will turn 4 this November (I think, it's November anyway need to be a good Grandma and verify the date). He absolutely loves tractors and is obsessed with everything tractor related.  So his name obviously is going to be Tractor.  

Which, incidentally, is the nickname one of the softball dads gave DD1 when she was about middle school age and would fearlessly plow through any defensive player blocking the baseline when she was baserunning.  I guess that makes it kind of a family name; I'm hoping that Tractor will, over time, be as comfortable with me being his Grandma as my grandkids who've known me their whole lives are.

Which means that at gatherings of me and DH and our descendants, there now will be nineteen people!  Definitely time to clean out our basement and get it set up for comfortably seating big groups.

Octavia's Quilt

 I decided on a blog name for Grandbaby #8, who has joined us this past weekend.  Going with the numeric theme I unintendedly started with Grandbaby #6, Sixlet, and continued with Grandbaby #7, Lucky, I like Octavia (meaning, eighth) for this next one.  And I have to confess that yes, I do tentatively have a name in mind for Grandbaby #9, if there ever is one, and if it's female.  Time will tell, we'll all have to wait and see on that.

But now is about Octavia, her name official, and the baby quilt I made for her.

Her quilt was completed at the beginning of June, and has been gifted to her and her parents, so therefore I can now publicly show pictures of it!

true to color photo of backing (and a little of the front border)

while I was working on the binding.

Like K3, Toad, and Rascal, her quilt is a simple design of 6" squares of fabric.  That is the design I picked for all my grandkids sired by DS1 back when K3 was born. Like I talked about in this post, it also contains fabrics that are in her older siblings' quilts as well as a fabric that is in her cousin Faline's quilt.

a very untrue-to-actual-colors photo of the quilt top

Right now our weather is way too hot to wrap her up in her quilt.  And she's so tiny (being induced early because her mom was showing signs of going into pre-eclampsia, she weighed in at 5# 11oz) she would get lost in it anyway.  But this quilt is big enough for her to cuddle under for about a decade to come.

For now, here's a picture of her meeting her Papa.

Sixlet, On The Move

 Sixlet, our sixth grandchild, is now 15 months old.  He got the long, skinny (but kind of potbellied) body  type of my side of the family.  He so much looks to be of the bean pole variety so far that we're all expecting he will be taller than his older brother Buck in another year or two.  Poor Buck got DH's big boned-ness (like DD1) but the shorter genes from Honorary Son's side of the family.  

Recently, Sixlet decided it was time to just stand up and walk.  He's been furniture walking for months and months, many months before his birthday, but had preferred to crawl speedily through open spaces rather than worry about balancing himself when there's nothing to hold onto.  With grass growing outside and the weather being warm enough for shorts rather than pants, he had to debate the prickly feel of grass on his bare knees and shins versus the effort of balancing to walk unassisted.

The mildly unpleasant feel of grass on skin won out, and now he walks everywhere. Almost as if he's been doing it forever, not just a week or two.

watching Faline's T-ball game

With his strawberry blond hair, and the fact that because of his need for length, most of his clothes are kind of big around/baggy looking, this picture of him in this outfit makes me think he's auditioning for a mini Steve Irwin role.

Time will tell if he's actually an intrepid outdoor adventurer. Thus far, all indications are yes.

Randomosity

A bunch of random stuff from recently.

The peonies here are nearly done for the year.  Last week, they were blooming in full bore, and I cut some for bringing inside.  They replaced the vase of irises that had been on the kitchen island, and infused my kitchen with that peony/rose-like aroma.

The vanilla extract I started in April (mentioned in this post) has now steeped it's minimum two months before using, and just in time because I ran out of the previous batch at the end of May.  This is how it looks now

compared to what it looked like in April when I started it

DH and I observed our 32nd wedding anniversary by attending a local free concert that evening.  We got take out Cuban sandwiches (he got chips and pop with his, I got a slice of cheesecake with mine), and ate our dinner while sitting in the park listening to the concert.  The band played 70s and 80s music, right up our alley.  In addition to the good music (all of which we knew and most of which I sang along to) the weather was absolutely perfect and there were no mosquitos!

Another night, I made a batch of pepperoni calzones for dinner.  It's been a while since I had made them, and we were also out of what I call 'lunch box food' in the freezer--homemade stuff I can toss in DH's lunch box for when he has to work in-office rather than from home.  So they killed two birds with one stone: a yummy dinner plus three days worth of lunch box entrees for the freezer.

DD1 had a doctor appointment, and asked me to watch Faline, Buck, and Sixlet for a few hours while she was at that.  DH wrapped up his work a little early, and went with me to their house.  The kids were surprised that he came too (they'd only expected me), and they put him to work.  Faline wanted to show us how she can ride her bike, but sadly reported she couldn't because the chain was off.  Well, DH had her get it out, and he proceeded to do a tutorial in bike repair, which Faline and Buck watched raptly.  Now Faline knows how to put a chain back on a bicycle (whether or not her little arms and fingers have the strength to do it herself next time remains to be seen).

Waste Not, Want Not

 This Spring, when we had tornadoes nearby that gave us straighline winds at 100 mph and there were some cosmetic damages to the house and shop at this little place here, one of the casualties was the screen/storm door we've had on our front door for almost 20 years.  It got ripped open, and the closing mechanisms (top and bottom) were badly bent.  One of the hinges was also damaged.  So, our homeowners insurance approved us for a new one.  Being set in my ways and if I like something I typically like it forever no matter what newer stuff comes out, we ordered an identical screen door to replace it.  It took a while to arrive, and then it sat in the garage for a couple of weeks before DH decided it was time to remove the old one (we'd had that door locked shut for months since the storm in order to keep it from flapping) and install the new one.

That's actually not where this story really begins.  For years, DH has off and on speculated if we should add a screen door to the door that sits between the garage and the mudroom.  It is the door we use most often, and we've always thought, due to the location, and the ease of not having two doors to open just to get into and out of the house, that it didn't need a screen door.  However, in the summer, since we don't have air conditioning, our house does get rather hot at times, and DH has wondered if having a screen door in that spot might allow more air flow through the mudroom and kitchen (and therefore into the rest of the house) by being able to open the regular door while still keeping out bugs (and critters).  His thought was that with two huge north-facing garage doors open, that would let a whole bunch of coolish air into the garage, and with just a screen door between the garage and mudroom, the coolish air would get sucked into the house.

Being that money at this little place here nearly always has a better designated purpose than a full length screen door for a spot you usually don't put a screen door, we never bought one.  But now, now we had a 'perfectly good' (if you don't need a closing mechanism, or mind one hinge being marked up from being pounded back into relative straightness) screen door for no cost.  That 'perfectly good' door being the old one from the front door.  

When he removed the broken one from the front of the house and installed the new perfect screen door, he decided to see if he could adjust the broken one to be straight enough to latch without having to be jimmied into position and then locked to keep it there.  So he did some clamping and banging out in the shop, then brought the door into the garage, where he flipped it (having been a left hand swing at the front door and now needing to be a right hand swing to work in the garage where you came up the porch from the left side of the door) and screwed it into place.  

Well, it fit the opening fine.  But it didn't latch.  Something about the flipping to reverse direction and the jamb of the existing garage/mudroom door he was trying to attach it to didn't quite work as well as he'd thought it would.  After about three hours of fuc--- messing with it (now 10 p.m. when at 7 he'd thought it would be a 15 minute install) he called it quits for the night.  Hopefully sleeping on it would provide the insight he needed in how to correct whatever the root of the problem was.

The next day was the one I left to go to Shipshewana with DD1, DD2 and the granddaughters.  The door was hung in place, but didn't latch.  Sometime after work that day, DH worked on it again.  He came up with a solution.  A little unorthodox (removing something on the frame usually considered necessary), but it did the trick.  When I returned from Shipshewana, I was surprised and delighted to find a screen door between my mudroom and garage that latches without being locked!

garage side

mudroom side

Is it beautiful and undented and scratch free?  No.  Does it hang properly in the opening and latch closed easily?  Yes.  Does it have a closing mechanism that lets it open only so far and then slowly brings it closed again?  Nope.  Does it really need one in the location it's now in?  We don't think so.

Most importantly, when you open the overhead garage doors and then open the door between the mudroom and the garage, does a cool breeze come into the mudroom and kitchen through the screen door?  Oh heck yes, it does!

And, during the cooler months of the year, when we won't want to leave the solid door open so don't really need a screen door there, we'll just open the screen door all the way, and block it open resting flat on the garage wall (out of the way) so we won't need to open and close two doors all winter while going into or out of the mudroom from the garage.  Brilliant!

We're really glad DH thought to try to salvage the broken door and see if it was usable in this space, where he'd thought a screen door might actually be beneficial, rather than just tossing it into the trash when he installed the replacement screen door.  Kept it out of the landfill (or, at least, the parts that wouldn't have gone to the scrap metal pile) and fulfilled a need we weren't even totally sure we had.

Waste not, want not.

As a bonus, it makes a really cool 'snick' sound when it latches shut.  Brings up childhood memories of running out screen doors belonging to our grandparents back in the day.

The Shipshe Trip

 Shipshe being the dialectual shortening of Shipshewana, the town in Indiana not far from the Michigan/Indiana border known for it's Amish community.  In the past 10 or so years, I and one or both of my daughters plus a granddaughter or two, have done an overnight trip to there annually or biennially for some time away from home, men, and general life responsibilities.  

We always stay at the same hotel, the Farmstead Inn, which is typically peaceful and quiet, clean and well run, and provides a hot breakfast along with many choices of cold breakfast if that is your preference.  

Over the years, we've found which places we like to shop at or otherwise just revisit, which places we like to dine at, and have developed a routine for our trip.  It's always a summer trip, being that it's hard for DD1, a teacher, to get away during the school year.  Also, the flea market in Shipshewana is open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Initially, the flea market was our main destination.  However, in recent years, we spend less and less time at the flea market (which seems to have become less of a handmade/Amish made market and more of the types of goods you'd find at pretty much any flea market anywhere in the US).  Our main targets are 

• the Davis Mercantile with Lolly's Fabrics, Simple Sounds (a music store with instruments and sheet music and all things instrumental), a candy store, a puzzle/toy store, and random other stores (typically we skip most of the random others); 
• Yoder's Hardware and Yoder's Department Store; 
• The Redbud Coffee and Tea Cafe in the Red Barn (very delicious tea blends including my favorite--those with no leaves!  since I don't like traditional tea, only floral/fruit ones); 
• Yoder's Meat and Cheese Co, 
• and of course the grocery store E&S Sales.

There are lots and lots of other shops and attractions in Shipshewana, but the ones I listed are on our 'Must See' list and are places we go to every time.  After this most recent trip, however, I'm wondering if in the future we need to extend our trip by a day in order to have more time to explore more of what's there (most shops are open only until 5:00 p.m.), or if perhaps I need to maybe do a separate trip without the group. . . I'd love to take a 'just me and DH' trip to Shipshe, but I don't think he'd enjoy it quite as much as I do.  For one thing, I'm fairly sure the hotel doesn't allow alcohol, which is fine with me (and one reason I love staying there), but is a hard thing for him to find enjoyable on a 'vacation'.

Anyway, we got to Shipshewana around 1:00, which gave us time to hit the Davis Mercantile first, and not have to rush through Lolly's.  Lolly's always takes time, partly because the sheer size of the store and their offerings, and partly because they have a boat which is always overflowing with fat quarters.  Looking through the boat can easily take more than an hour.  

As soon as we walked through the door, Faline went right to the boat and quite literally dove in.

Once we convinced her that being in the boat wasn't allowed, she found a shopping basket and proceeded to put all the fat quarters with fabrics she liked into the basket.  According to her, her Barbies were in need of pillows and blankets made with fabrics that featured bananas, hot dogs, flowers, stripes, fish, and more.  DD1 talked her down to just two or three of the fat quarters she had chosen.

My personal mission at Lolly's was to get fabric for two flannel nightgowns: one for Faline (she'd called me two weeks before to ask me to sew her a new nightgown because the one I had sewed her previously had 'suddenly' gotten too small) and one for K3 (if she should want one; she did.)  I let each girl pick the fabric for their own nightgown and had it cut to the length needed before I allowed myself to figuratively dive into the boat and look at fat quarters. Of which, I very responsibly limited myself to two.

A thunderstorm blew up unexpectedly, and we got drenched going from the Mercantile to where we'd parked.  Our original plan for this trip had included a swim in the hotel pool after Davis Mercantile and before going out to dinner.  With our wet clothes and hair, we all were chilled and decided to just hang out in our room for a bit after checking in, and move the swim to after dinner.  There was some bored shenanigans from Faline (it's tough being 4 years old and having to wait for the grown ups), but overall she was pretty good with waiting and hung out on one of the beds with K3 watching a video on K3's phone.

After a good dinner from the buffet at the Blue Gate Restaurant, the girls did finally get to go swimming.  We all went to the hotel's indoor pool and swam, played in the water, and relaxed in the hot tub for well over an hour.  The only picture I took was at the end, when Faline and K3 were putting their wet towels into the bin for housekeeping to launder.  The whole trip, Faline was totally hero worshipping her older cousin, and thankfully K3 was willing to go along with being the cool chosen one.

A new tradition we started on our last trip, in 2023, is to hit the breakfast area beside the pool area after we finish swimming.  There is ice water and hot water available there 24/7 (as far as we can tell, we've never checked after 9 p.m. or before 6 a.m.), as well as tea bags, instant coffee, and hot chocolate packets.  I didn't believe it until I tried it for myself, but a cup of hot chocolate after swimming on a summer evening is actually really good.  Rather than making you feel too hot, it's just kind of cozy.  Maybe if you don't have long, wet hair your experience might be different.  But for all us chicks with long tresses, a good cup of hot chocolate post swimming pool is enjoyable.

The next morning, while sitting in the breakfast area savoring our hot breakfast (egg burritos, biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, sausage. . .), Faline commented that there was a playground outside and that she'd never gotten to play on it before.  Indeed, out the large windows of the breakfast area, you could see a nice playground belonging to the hotel.  And, indeed, on previous trips, Faline (or K3) had not had the opportunity to play there.  So I asked, since both she and I were done with our breakfasts, if she wanted to go back to the room with me so I could finish packing up my stuff, and then I would take her to the playground to wait for the rest of our group to be done eating and packing.  Of course she said yes!

Once out there, she had to try out every slide and swing and the teeter-totter (yes, this grandma attempted to teeter-totter with someone about 1/2 my height and roughly 1/4 my weight; it was hard on the knees, LOL).  I was amazed, after the first big push I gave her on the first swing, to see her keep the momentum going by pumping her legs.  Apparently pumping is a newly acquired skill for her.

Once we checked out of the hotel, we began our shopping excursion at E&S Sales.  In addition to great fresh baked goods (Whoopie Pies, anyone?), they have lots of scratch and dent, close dated, and bulk food items.  I typically stock up on some bulk spices I can't find around home in bulk (such as bay leaves for soups, marinades and canning dill pickles), as well as random candy (typically chocolate, plus a bag of Bit-o-Honey for DH).

The food purchases, mostly from E&S, but meat and cheese from Yoder's

Next stop on our planned route (which, after E&S, had us making all right turns onto and off of the main road through town until, at the last, we had to turn left to get into the Yoder's Shopping Center for the hardware and department stores ), was the flea market.  Splitting into three groups for most of that part of the morning, I think we made it through the 40ish acres of flea market in record time: about 1 1/2 hours!  Like I mentioned before, a lot of the flea market has become things you can find at just about any flea market, so we cruised right on past many, many booths without stopping to look individually at their items.  I did pick up a few things, as shown in the photo below.

Rubberized gardening gloves for weeding in dewy/wet conditions,

teal blue duct tape for using in the barn (because it doesn't have to be gray or black),

a leaping deer cast iron bottle opener for DH (only $2!!)

After the flea market, we went to the Auction House restaurant for a yummy lunch.  I think they've changed hands again since we were there in 2023, or at least, their menu has changed.  The food was still good, but with the exception of their traditional included side dish of applesauce, coleslaw or cottage cheese with every meal, and the selection of pies for dessert, not much of the menu of stereotypical Amish foods (like the awesome chicken and noodles) from the previous ownership (2020 and prior) remains.  I was a little bummed out that it had a lot of typical burger/sandwich fare with french fries these days.  The BBQ pulled pork sandwich I had was good, but it wasn't those chicken noodles I'd been dreaming of when planning the trip.

More shopping ensued after lunch. Due to where at the flea market we'd parked, Yoder's Red Barn Shoppes and Yoder's Meat and Cheese Co were on our way from the restaurant to our truck, so we walked and stopped at each.  The meat and cheese store has delicious offerings; their smoked gouda is a family favorite. In fact, Honorary Son had asked DD1 to bring home 5 pounds of it!  

Once finished up there, we packed our meat and cheeses into our cooler, tucked everything else into the bed of the truck, and drove to our last stop: Yoder's Shopping Center.  I love looking at fabric in the Department store, but I also love going to the Hardware.  Before I left home, DH asked what I could possibly want from that hardware store that I couldn't get from any of the hardwares near home.  I then had explained that they have way more than nuts and bolts and tools and hoses.  They have beekeeping and syrup making and wine making and canning and baking supplies, as well as tons of off-grid living type stuff, livestock supplies and even puzzles and toys for kids.

I treated myself to, from the Hardware, 

• a new large frosting spreader (my other one having gotten loaned out a handful of years ago and never returned), 
• a French style rolling pin (something I've been considering for a number of years), 
• a new clothespin bag to replace one I'd sewn many years ago that is on it's last legs and I doubt I'll have time this summer to whip up a new one, 
• two nice dish cloths (Rada, I believe; they sell Rada there) with pale green stripes.  Because, while I have, and love, my other Rada dishcloths, none of them have green! (Green being my all time absolute favorite color.)
• a pie crust decorative cutter, which is something I'd never heard of before but was instantly enamored with.  I don't typically make two-crust pies, now I guess I'm going to have to make them more often so I can use my fancy cutter.  I mean, look at that super cool crust on the label!

At the Department store, I reined myself in.  Before leaving home, I'd sternly told myself that other than flannel for granddaughters' nightgowns, I don't need more fabric.  *Sigh*  But there's so much lovely fabric in Shipshewana. . .  So I only allowed myself a few remnants (1/3yd each), two fat quarters, and a 2 1/2 yard piece of bubble gum pink cotton that I intend to sew Faline a surprise summer weight nightgown with.  I did good.  It hurt to leave so much loveliness behind, but I controlled myself.

Flannels and flannel fat quarters and a hot pad pattern from Lolly's,

pink cotton, remnants, thread and fat quarters from Yoder's Department Store.

It was a good trip.  Both in fellowship with my daughters and granddaughters, and in the items on my lists that I managed to bring home with me.  I really would like to go back and check out some of the places I've never been that we just didn't have time for.  Although I think I need to do a whole lot of sewing first, and use up at least a double digit percentage of my fabric stash.  Because I'm not sure I can be so good a second time at not buying all the pretty fabric.  =0)

I Thought I Was SOL on Broiler Chickens This Year

 When I looked, back in early March, at the website for the hatchery I've almost always ordered my chicks from, it said they were totally sold out of broiler chickens (and fryer chickens, and any other chicken hefty enough to be for dinner) for the 2025 season.  OH NO!

Trying not to panic, I looked at the website for a hatchery I've ordered from once before, a few years ago.  Same deal.  UH-OH!  Now I was starting to panic.

Looking at the websites of every hatchery I'd ever heard of, and some I'd never heard of (desperation Googling at that point), the likelihood of me raising some meat chickens this year was looking very, very grim.  Maybe I could get lucky and find some broiler chicks at one of the farm stores within a 30-40 mile radius of this little place here.

Meanwhile, I decided to try to ration the chicken that was left in the freezer from last year's crop and hope for the best.  

Well, all Spring I've been checking for chicks at the farm stores.  Limited breeds of laying pullets, but zero meat type chicks at any of them any time I checked (or asked about the coming week's chick delivery).  My hopes of finding broiler chicks pretty much hit rock bottom.

At the end of May, looking in the freezer and recounting what packages of what chicken parts I have, I knew that strategy would not get us through until Summer 2026 without having to buy chicken from the grocery store.  Which, after doing that over a decade ago, I knew without a doubt I did not want to be reliant on grocery store chicken.  It's just not the same as homegrown chicken; not the same flavor, not the same texture. 

In early June, I happened to get an email from that one hatchery I'd once ordered from.  In their email, they stated that they currently were having overhatches and that as long as I wasn't picky about the date my chicks arrived (maybe as early as three days from the date I was reading the email!!) I could put in an order for broiler chicks and get on a waiting list, as it were.

Which got me curious if the availability status for broiler chicks had changed at my preferred hatchery, too.  So I got online and looked.  And, hallelujah!!!! They had Cornish Rock cross chicks available for limited dates, the first of which was the next week!  

Quickly, I added the quantity I wanted to my cart, threw in a few Rhode Island Red pullet chicks, and hit submit before the hatch was sold out.  There was a slight possibility that they would arrive before I got home from the Shipshewana trip that DD1, DD2, K3, Faline and I were going on, but, based on previous experience with shipping times via USPS, I figured I was safe to order for the first available hatch.

Just in case, and because I figured I'd be really tired when I got home from that Girl's Trip to Shipshe, I got the brooder out and set up before we left.

Well, guess what!  When we arrived at our hotel in Shipshewana, I checked my email and saw that my chicks had shipped from the hatchery in Iowa while we were driving the 2+ hours from home.  No big deal, as they have, many times, spent a whole 24 hours sitting in Minneapolis awaiting their flight to Detroit.  We'd definitely be home before the chicks hit the local post office.

The next morning, right before we checked out of our hotel and were ready to begin our adventures for the day, I checked the tracking and saw that my birds hadn't gone through Minneapolis this time, but had made Indianapolis in the night and were currently on their way to Detroit.  Hmm.  But should still be fine; I mean, the hub in Detroit wouldn't get them until afternoon, which meant they wouldn't be arriving my way until the following morning. 

Just after  3 p.m., literally 5 miles out of Shipshewana, on our way home (ETA for us: definitely after 5:15 p.m. even if we didn't need any potty stops) my phone rang.  It was the post office near this little place here.  They had my chicks and wanted to let me know so  I could pick them up before the post office closed at 5:00.  They did not want to hold onto them overnight.

UH-OH!

I explained my situation and asked if I had to pick them up myself or if I could send someone for me.  Apparently they would be happy to hand my box of chicks to anyone who showed up and knew they were there.  So then I tried to call DH, but he didn't answer.  Not knowing if he was working from home that day or working in office (which he usually does that day of the week),.now I wasn't sure who to call to run and get my chicks.

DD1 said that Honorary Son was working in the vicinity of that post office that afternoon (he does IT) and that he was scheduled to be done at 4:00, did I want her to see if he would be willing to do the pick up?

Which is how Honorary Son got a message that said "Go to (City) Post Office after work and pick up chicks".  Taken out of context, that is a very strange message to get from your wife.  Rightly so, he was confused and called for clarification.  Once DD1 explained it was a box of day old chickens that was in need of transportation to my house, Honorary Son was happy (I think) to stop by the post office, get them, and drop them off in my house on his way home.

Once we got there, an hour or so after Honorary Son had done the package drop, I plugged in the brooder light, filled the feeders and waterers, and with Faline and K3's help, unpacked the 16 broiler chicks, 4 Rhode Island Red chicks and the one 'free' cockerel chick.  They all seemed to be energetic and healthy, none the worse the wear for their travels.

I think I owe Honorary Son a roast chicken dinner, with all the fixings, in about 7 weeks after these guys go to the processor.