We set out to float the Darby Creek. This time we added Bobby Lee and Jessica to our crew. We expected a peaceful float but honestly there were some rapids that surprised me. It made me appreciate life jackets and respect nature even more. 

It was a great time and took us about 5 hours to go 7 miles. We stopped for lunch and we had to empty kayaks 3 different times due to some crazy creek conditions. The only loss was a Yeti so we can't complain. 

Looking forward to more adventures on the water!

I made this arrangement from maiden grass in our yard! This is my first time using the grass inside. I am not sure if it will last or just fall apart. Does anyone know? It is beautiful in the meantime!

As you saw in my previous posts, I have been drying herbs to store them whole and ground. It was time to clear out the garden until next year but our herbs looked so good still so I decided to bring them inside to have fresh herbs all winter. The fragrance they bring to the kitchen is better than any candle! In addition to the aloe plant, we have sage, rosemary, thyme, and oregano. I didn't plan to keep the chives in the bottom left but at the last minute I found a pot and will see how they do inside.

This is the porch Bobby designed and built. We had the front of our house in remodeling mode a lot of the summer with the new driveway and porch, so we did not do much landscaping. Today we redesigned the beds and mulched to create a canvas for my Fall decor in the coming days. Normally I am not a fan of red mulch but since we have a reddish roof and reddish shutters I think it looks great and makes our white house and porch pop. 

From bright sun, beautiful flowers, hot sand, chirping birds, and long days, we now enter a new color of life. Summer ends, Fall begins.

I have always dreaded Fall and Winter. It  seems like an end to all of the wonderful things I love in life - sun, sand, and sail. As I grow older, I am yearning to embrace the seasons and be thankful for the blessings that surround us, even if they don't seem like blessings at the time. 

I wanted to try growing rainbow carrots from seed. Bobby built me a raised bed for carrots and cucumber since we didn't have room in our garden. Then we bought chickens...

Adrian is our Plymouth Rock, Ruby is our Rhode Island Red, Hennifer is our Easter Egger. They are spoiled beyond belief!

I love working from home. I can go to the coop during breaks and really spend time with nature and what makes me rejuvenate. I am blessed!

This is Ruby. She is our day old chick that really needed extra lovin'. Now she is confident and loves me right back.  

Every time I say we are done and I can post the reveal, I think of more things to add to the coop :)
Click Read More to continue.
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Another sneak peak. We honeymooned in the Gulf of Mexico and the turquoise clear water was breathtaking. So we brought a piece of it into the coop. Ruby couldn't wait to check out what we did. 

Believe it or not, there are people who take their chickens to the beach. Just sayin'

Check back for the final reveal soon! 

Our girls (Adrian, Hennifer, and Ruby) will be 6 weeks old tomorrow and are growing so fast! Bobby designed a run for them and started building it. Check back for the finished product in a couple weeks!! 

We were sitting outside enjoying the progress of our chicken run Bobby is building and something landed in my hair. I thought it was a grasshopper when I grabbed it but it was the most beautiful baby praying mantis. 
It is not green like most. My insect friends, what exactly is this? Is it in fact a praying mantis?

God's beauty and grace never ceases to amazing us. 

Thanks Terri for the info on what type of praying mantis this is!! (see comment below)

In our previous blog post, we dried herbs and stored them whole. Storing them whole is said to keep the flavor longer then grinding or crushing them. We have plenty of herbs so we decided to experiment and store them crushed for Round 2. 

We dried the same herbs as last time - Rosemary, Oregano, Sweet Basil, Thyme, and Sage. This time we added Chives. More on chives later in this post. (Click Read More to continue)
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And I find the Chicken Coop. 

Ok, chicken babies but they are still our babies. They were born on a Monday and arrived to us the next day.

Farm to table is our ultimate goal. We started with a garden now we have moved on to hens for farm fresh eggs. (Click Read More)

We have learned to multi-task and be creative with a teenager involved in many sports. We were in a baseball tournament in Warren County, Ohio but instead of staying in a team hotel we looked for a campground nearby. We found Winton Woods Campground and it didn't disappoint!! www.greatparks.org/parks/winton-woods/winton-woods-campground

Between games and at night we had fun at the campground. It was very clean, had a store, and everyone was kind and respectful at the campsites.  Add this one to your list! 

Cooking with fresh herbs makes even a basic meal taste yummy. 

This year we added an herb garden to our backyard vegetable garden. It was so fun going to our 'own store' each night to gather seasonings for dinner, or even breakfast! Scrambled eggs with fresh basil, oregano, and thyme is delicious! The health benefits to each are amazing too! (click Read More)

There have been so many wonderful things happening for us I haven't had time to post about them. We've been to Siesta Key more times than I can count, we purchased a house, which included doing a demo the day after we closed, making it 'our Home'. 

Sports was hectic for Sage, our Freshman (now Sophomore), and we've spent time with all of grandchildren: Zoo lights with Gabby, Zane, and Hank and spent Christmas with Maverick. 

I (Kathy) started a new job that allows me to work in conservation, Bobby has been promoted in his job with bountiful opportunities.  

We are blessed and I don't want to lose sight of why we started bLivelyOutdoors. It is not a coincidence that once we started giving to others and fighting for our children's future and our land, we were rewarded beyond measure. 

I will be updating more in the near future.  Thank you for your gracious following and encouraging words.

Love y'all!

When we were planning our trip to Siesta Key area for our honeymoon we joked about wanting to know where the sharks were - so we could avoid them!

We spent November participating in 3 Turkey Shoots. 

After celebrating Bobby's sister's birthday, we had a couple hours to spare so we went to the Scioto River. Just below Griggs Dam to be exact.

We saved two trips for one post since it was the same location but different times of the year. White sand, blue water, offshore fishing, and sun was our desire, so we headed to Siesta Key/Lido Beach for our honeymoon in February 2021 and again in September for our 6 month anniversary. February was our first time there and we couldn't wait to go back!

We are always looking for new places to fish and/or kayak. A coworker told me about Kiser Lake in Champaign County just past Urbana. 

One of the many things Bobby and I have in common is that we HATE surprises, especially birthday party surprises. I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday and of course he said a nice quiet day of fishing. We haven't been able to fish as much as we would like with his new job so off we went. 

With travel baseball there isn't a lot of time to tend to our garden. We did manage to get 2 okra plants to grow. Tomatoes and onions were abundant, and the brussels sprouts are almost ready to harvest. 

One of my newly tried and favorite vegetable is okra - especially pickled okra.  Even our 14 year old eats them!