Covid-19 Hobbies

Fun things to do during the COVID Lockdown

This time of year, we normally spend our weekends driving all over Southern California for soccer tournaments.  But with kids’ sports mostly on pause, our family has found some extra time on our hands especially on the weekends.  In place of soccer, we’ve taken on a few new hobbies.  You may find a couple of them slightly odd but I’ll share them nonetheless.

Covid Hobbies #1 – Trash pick up walks

I live in a semi-urban area near a park in San Diego.  My neighborhood and the park are kept pretty clean overall. However it cans get its share of trash scattered here and there.  This is especially true of the park on the weekends. When the pandemic began, I started going on more short walks throughout the day. I don’t remember where I got the idea, but I decided to give my walks a purpose and started picking up trash along the way.  So I bought a couple of trash grabbers and was ready to go.  I use the medium size plastic grocery bags and usually take 2 with me. 

There is one huge drawback to this hobby – now I notice trash that I wouldn’t have in the past and feel compelled to pick it all up.  I can’t stop!

Covid Hobbies #2 – Rock painting

I’m not much of an artist so I mostly watch/admire this one.  We live on a corner and have medium sized rocks in a raised planter bordering our lot.  My wife and kids started by painting interesting designs on the rocks. Then they moved on to fruits and vegetables and then animals. Lately, they’ve painted colorful shapes with googly eyes.  They put the painted rocks out by the sidewalk.  The rocks have been a huge hit with the neighborhood kids under 4 years old with some waiting in line to check them out.

 Covid Hobbies #3 – Bird watching

• 

• 

I read where dog adoptions are trending. We have two dogs already, so had to find a different animal.

I never really considered myself into birds. However, no that I spend more time in my yard and I want to have something to look at.  We started with a feeder that holds thistle seeds for gold finches.  The finches came right away and have been fun to watch. We have some honey suckle which attracts hummingbirds but added a hummingbird feeder also which is starting to get some action.  We also added a couple of bird baths to see what they might attract and finally a bird house.  So far just a couple doves in the bath but the house has seen no action.  Next on the agenda is to add a suet feeder.  For those more ambitious consider adding some native plants.

Covid Hobbies #4 -Gardening

• 

• 

<a href="<a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083T9ZCKL/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B083T9ZCKL&linkCode=as2&tag=moderndadto07-20&linkId=46b32342e193cb3fdbe76e54798424e1">10pcs Plastic Garden Pots Yangbaga Durable Nursery Pot,Garden Flower Pots Container Nursery Pot with pallets</a>

I’ve read that gardening has increased since Covid and I believe it as we joined the trend.  We started by planting cherry tomatoes, honey dew, Japanese cucumbers, and strawberries.  We recently planted squash.  While We’ve enjoyed watching the plants grow.  The cucumbers have done well and are delicious. The tomatoes have done okay (looking a little yellow right now) and taste pretty good. The jury is still out on the rest.   We went with one raised bed and several pots.

Covid Hobbies #5 -Yard games

We have a flat backyard about half the size of tennis court.  We’ve bought an adjustable net and some pickle ball paddles.  We’ve enjoyed some mean quasi-pickle ball and volleyball games.  Washer Toss and Bocce Ball are next on the list. Don’t forget to check out this post on how to run a Washer toss tournament.

If you found this informative – please subscribe.

#mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } /* Add your own Mailchimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */