“Did you go outside today?” Yes, Mom, in fact we did.

/ Lisa R. Howeler

We spent all day Sunday outside. Well, from 12:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. anyhow. By “we” I mean my entire immediate family. The only one who spent less time outside was my teenager, but, well, he is a teenager. He did, however, go on three bike rides around town, so I can’t complain about that small amount of time he spent on the computer.

We started our day planting the flowers we’d picked up at Doans on Saturday. In actuality, we didn’t plant so much as put flowers in pots, pour some potting soil over them and deciding we’d replant them again after the expected cold nights this week.


I didn’t really care if we properly planted them or not, it was just fun to get dirt, literally, under our fingernails. My daughter loved playing in the dirt and taking care of the flowers and our dog loved chasing us all over the place while we planted, running free, off her lead, for most of the day (until she walked into the road infront of the house and wouldn’t come back out again without me sounding a mean dog owner and saying her name sharply to get her attention.).

After planting most of the day it was time for my daughter to chase the dog in the backyard, then me to cook hamburgers on the grill, my husband to mow the lawn, my daughter to swing on the porch swing, then draw with sidewalk chalk on the front sidewalk and steps, and then  . . . I don’t know because by then my brain started to melt.

Did I mention we had two meals outside as well? My daughter decided we should have all our meals outside at the table on our front porch.

All four of us agreed when our son said “I love this house.”We do love this house.

We’re still getting used it though and I see my daughter trying to see the familiar in it, comparing the smallest things to the house she grew up in. “That drain pipe looks like the one we had at the other house,” she said. “And the siding.”The siding only looks slightly like the siding at the old house, but if it  feels familiar to her, then I’m okay with her looking for similiarities.

There is a lot more room in the backyard here and while our property bumps into the neighbors there isn’t a fence, which made our property at the old house feel more constrained somehow. There is also a lot more nature here, as well. Last week we saw five or six deer (one kept wandering in and out of the woods) in our neighbor’s backyard, two cottontail rabbits hopping over each other, vultures circling our property (that was disconcerting, but not unusual in this area), hairy woodpeckers, bluejays and further down the road a Canadian goose couple and three little fuzzy goslings. 

We saw more people walking on our street today than we have in the two weeks we’ve been here and my daughter was thrilled to say ‘hello’ to them and get a few waves and ‘hellos’ back. I’m glad we were able to enjoy the day because the temps are supposed to drop into the 50s this week with off and on rain.

Our state is also set to reopen, in a small way at least, on Friday, but our governor has been flip flopping like a dying fish on the bank of a lake so who knows what will happen by then. Regardless, we’ll be able to do some planting and fixing up outside our home and hopefully have some outside adventures to keep us busy in between homeschooling lessons.  

26 thoughts on ““Did you go outside today?” Yes, Mom, in fact we did.”

  2. Pingback: Sunday Bookends: What the family is reading, cold weather moves in and a self-imposed media break – Boondock Ramblings

  3. I love your house too. Is that a shed in the back? Oh, and that porch looks like a great place to sit and read a book. I can understand why your kids want to eat outside, it is beautiful there. Have a Happy Mother’s Day.

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    • It’s a — squeeeeal — garden shed!!! And it has a little patio off the side so I can sit and write. Oh, I mean, prepare things to plant 😉 There are all these neat bird houses and windows I can’t wait to try to paint and touch up later. The previous owners even left us gardening supplies inside (They moved to your state and couldn’t take everything with them.) It really is a pretty house.

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  5. You have such a cute house and yard. What an adorable little girl as well. Adjusting, in my experience, takes a couple years. Four years ago I felt like I was living in a strangers home. Now it feels so much like ours I don’t know if I could leave!!! Love the nature and the flowers as well. I’m thinking of planting front flower bed this year, I just am SO horrible at keeping north facing flowers alive (as they are in the shade all the time!) I guess I’ll have to do my research. Loved this little update on your family. It was filled with a sweet innocence and peace 💗

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  6. Looks wonderful; I’m happy to see you all enjoying yourselves so much! And the pictures…you take the mundane things of life and make me stop and LOOK…like that picture of the TV with the curtain blowing? It’s kind of enchanting. I didn’t know I would say that about a picture of a TV!

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    • That shot of the TV was just cool to me. The breeze blowing in and blowing those windows out while we watched a preacher on TV was cool to me. Sunday really was a nice, relaxed day. I do want to get back to a church again, but I sort of like being able to watch it in my living room too.

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      • I hear that! 😊 I didn’t realize it was a preacher on TV. I guess it is kind of an iconic picture then of this pandemic time and all of us having church in our living rooms!

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  8. Sounds like you’re adjusting to your move very well in your lovely new place. That flip-flopping governor of ours is driving me crazy. We are still in the ‘red phase’ and shouldn’t be as we have only had 50 cases in our entire very rural county.

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    • We have had one. I don’t know about our governor. He explains nothing and is under investigation by the Supreme Court at this point. Oh wait — do we have the same governor? Because every time ours makes a decision he adds to it or changes it within the hour or the next day. No idea what is going on most of the time. It’s not that I disagree with every decision but he just isn’t consistent

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        • I need to pay attention better. I’m sure you’ve said that. Well, then, for that I am sorry. The Wolf can’t make up his mind and his name is perfect for how people feel about him in the county next to ours! We have one case here and they have 27 and wolf won’t give them a reason why he won’t open them. I think if his office was more transparent people would be more understanding and calmer. It’s hard to balance safety with needing to save the economy, I understand, but people in the more rural areas are suffering because they still never fixed the unemployment situation so there are people here who have gone almost two months without a paycheck. I hope it gets worked out soon for everyone and I just wish this virus would go away.

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        • I should add that I don’t disagree with all the moves made to shut down temporarily or even the mask mandates. It’s just how it’s been done and it seems very chaotic and there is a strong lack of communication from his office from what I understand from business owners and some state reps I know.

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  10. Love reading about your sweet adventures outside! And the pictures are amazing!!! We’ve been having some 70 degree days which are my favorite but the next few days are supposed to be down a bit:(

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