What have we been up to lately...

What have we been doing during the current stay-at-home orders here in Oregon?
I prefer to focus this blog post on some things that we have been doing, not on what we can't do.

Fishing is allowed so we've had a few fishing days. Most of the time we catch something.

Just a few fish 

We've been taking more walks in the neighborhood and have discovered more greenway spaces that are close by.

I've been focusing on my running. In January I signed up for a 10K that is August 29th, we'll see if that happens. I get to expand my running territory to the neighborhood and those greenway spaces are fun to run in. Even if the 10K doesn't happen I'm enjoying running.

We've stayed on top of yard work and completed yard projects: ie: planting more blueberry bushes-now we have 6, garden is in, flower gardens are weeded (mostly), and we've been moving plants around the yard.

our sunniest spots are in the front yard, so there we put the bushes 

We get to practice dinking in the garage as we play a modified version of pickleball. We take the truck out of the garage, pick up the mats on the floor, run a rope across the area and play pickleball.

Kayaking is allowed so once the weather got warm we took the kayaks down from the rafters and off we went. It was so nice to get back on the water.

First day on the river this year, Mother's Day 

I've complete sewing projects for the barn that I volunteer at and I've complete projects here at home.

I've been meaning to make a confetti quilt with sunflowers 

Added surprise was what it looked like with light behind it!

We figured out how to store the kayaks during the kayaking season. Now Mr UAW will not have the kayaks on the floor of the garage in front of his workbench all summer long.

Don't know why we didn't do this a few years ago. 

I get to practice more 35mm camera skills.

I now have a sour dough starter that I've made and have been experimenting with all kinds of sour dough recipes. Sometimes it takes a few times to get it right, or close to right.

Meet Joey, apparently starters have names and Zeke named this one. Then Micaela decided it needed a middle name so it's official name is Joey Bob. 

english muffins, it took 3 tries to get these right 

the batter was so soft to work with that my swirls weren't very swirly but it tasted good 

experimenting with oven temps, they both tasted fine 

I've learned how to use the click and pull to pick up groceries at the local grocery store. I might just keep this going, I don't like shopping.

I've made a master list of all the things I buy from the store, put it in a see through sleeve and use a dry erase marker to keep track of the needs of the household. (Actually, this feels a little like the job I just retired from.)

I can still volunteer to take care of a horse, Willow since taking care of livestock is allowed. I've been using a skill that I haven't used in quite a while-long lining with a surcingle. Willow does really well with it and now I'm starting to come up with exercises for her to do that go beyond just going around in circles.

We've learned how to use Zoom meetings. We have a few groups at church that we meet with on a weekly basis and Zoom helps us to stay connected.

We can watch our church on line and that's a good encouragement for us.

I've been learning how to speak Cherokee thanks to one of my daughters. I even surprised her and learned how to say Happy Birthday on her birthday. (And I still remember how to say it!)

happy birthday in Cherokee

So I hope you find yourselves focusing on things that you can do during this unique time. It helps me to spend my mental energy on what I can do. I heard a question once that has stuck with me, "What are you training yourself to do?" It's a good question, one that I have to stop and ask myself every once in a while. Sometimes that question helps me to reframe thoughts and actions, hopefully seeing things as opportunities rather than negativity. 

So what have you been doing with your time lately? Post more later...