Who's your favorite famous bear?

Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!

OOOOHHHHH, spookey jack-0-lanterns in the dark on the front porch.
And here they are still waiting for dark.

Candy & creepy crawlies to hand out to trick or treaters...


Riley's candy stash after trick or treating...



Highness Princess Riley and me getting ready to go trick or treat.
I had a great time on my first Halloween. Riley was sick off & on, but it was still fun.




Meeting the Wicked Witch! And Puppy Update

The puppies are one week old today. Look how much they have grown! They're greedy little gluttons though.
Then while wandering back to my basket I encountered this very interesting lady. She introduced herself as the Witch of the West. She said some people think she's wicked, but she's really not. Apparently, it's just a vicious rumor started by someone named Dorothy and another witch named Glenda.

She showed me some of her magic. Can you believe I'm actually floating!? It was a lot of fun.


We parted as friends & I hope she'll become a frequent visitor.



Today we make Jack O Lanterns!

Today it was finally time to carve the pumpkins into Jack-O-Lanterns. Here I am with the biggest pumpkin. Riley is home from school today with stomach bug, so she helped to decide what faces each would get. For the big pumpkin it was decided a more traditional face would be appropriate.
Here it is after Michelle scooped out all the guts & seeds. Then she scrapes it clean on the inside so there are no danglies showing behind the carved face.

Here it is before we started the process. Michelle always washes them off first. A clean Jack-O-Lantern is a happy Jack-O-Lantern.


We always save the seeds for baking. MMMMMM, Michelle says pumpkin seeds are one of her favorite treats.



We always save some out from each pumpkin to plant in the spring. Michelle says we have to start early here, like inside in February, since we don't get as hot on the coast as they do further inland & it takes a little more time.




The medium pumpkin became a Kitty Jack-O-Lantern, and the smallest pumpkin became a...





Bear!






Sunday, October 26, 2008

Fall Leaves in My Neighborhood

Well, these little round button like mushrooms are one sure sign of fall. They always show up around the neighborhood about this time of year.
Here are the leaves on our neighbor's tree, they're a really pretty red.

Here's our apple tree. Usually the leaves don't get to stay on this tree long enough to turn color. Usually, the wind blows them off, but so far our weather has been pretty mild.


This pretty tree belongs to the medical clinic just down the road.



Here is our Japanese Maple in the backyard. It's just starting to turn from green to red. The leaves look really pretty w/the purplish cast to them.




This gorgeous tree is just down the road. From a distance with the orange, red, and yellow, it almost looks like it is on fire.
BTW, Mommy dog & puppies are doing very well!





Saturday, October 25, 2008

PUPPIES!!!!!

The leaves are going to have to wait, we have puppies! Gracie Lou gave birth last night to two darling little dapple girls, Elf & Pixie. Pixie is the one closest to me & we can only see her backside in this picture. Elf is the one whose nose you can see on Gracie's flank. Both mommy & babies are doing wonderfully this morning.

Friday, October 24, 2008

EEK! - A Tree's True Color

EEK! - A Tree's True Color

Read up on this, tomorrow we're leaf hunting! This site has some great info on why leaves change color.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Ashleigh Makes New Friends

Michelle sometimes like bears made by other people. She really likes the TY Attic Treasures. She sometimes finds them at thrift stores. She found Darlene this week. She is really a lovely lady. I like her hat, I'm going to ask Santa for one for Christmas.
Michelle also made a "ragdoll" this week. One of her online groups is starting a book next month and some of the activities include making a doll & doing stuff with her. Michelle likes to get started early on stuff. We're still working on a name for the doll, but may go w/the name of the doll in the book.
This is another TY Attic Treasure that Michelle found recently at a thrift store. She was very excited when she found Dexter. Apparently, he's a first generation (whatever that means), and still has his hang tag (even though it's a little bent), and his ribbon isn't all frayed. Personally, I feel sorry for the bears that have to keep their tags & can't change their clothes. I love getting new clothing & can't wait to see what my new dress for next month will look like.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Saturday was sooo busy!

Riley had a gymnastic meet in Ashland. Here she is at the awards ceremony receiving a medal. She did well, it was only her 2nd meet.
When we were driving back through Medford we went past this cool mountain. We like the flat top...it's probably not really flat, just appears to be, but it's still cool.
Here is another view of it...this would be more north than the first one...we're gonna have to find out the name of the this mountain.
We stopped off in Roseburg on the way home to visit Aunt Sue & Uncle Bill. They have a nice place out in the country. This tractor belonged to Grandpa Kirby. We really love it & wish we had the money to buy it. It's a Ford 8N tractor and it's old.
Here are Isabelle & I pretending to drive Grandpa's tractor. It was pretty fun sitting in the seat. It was a very long day. We left Coos Bay at 3:40am and returned home after 9pm...we all promptly fell into our beds & went to sleep.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Check out all the little Pumpkins

Well, Michelle finally worked through all the orange yarn she had stashed all over. Here is the centerpiece decoration for the dining room table. Of course, this doesn't show the pumpkins given away, or the pot holder, etc that burned up the very last of it. Now that these pumpkins are done, I'm campaigning for my pumpkin costume.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Wow! It got cold!

It was freezing last night! Thank goodness for my quilt & the pellet stove. Michelle went out this morning & picked the last of the tomatoes. Some were ripe, most were green. Michelle says that they will ripen now that they are picked. Apparently, the freeze will kill the tomato plants. It's supposed to freeze again tonight & Michelle didn't want to take any chances with the last of her fresh tomatoes.
The good news is that we still have some flowers blooming. Check out these gorgeous fuschia blossoms! And they're huge, almost as big as me!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Pumpkin Patch Visit

Michelle has been busy making a different types of pumpkins. Here is her very own pumpkin patch. Aren't the bears dressed as Jack-O-Lanterns cute...I'm campaigning for one for my Halloween costume...hopefully, hopefully, but we'll see. I like all the pumpkins though, it's feeling very Fall around our house.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Ashleigh & Her Sister Isabelle

This is my sister Isabelle. She is Riley's bear & hangs out with her most of the time. Like me she has a travel bag & spends most of her time in the 4th grade with Riley.
After school we like to hang out. We like to listen to music and dance. We always have a good time together.
Last week our new sister, Terri, was born. She is made of terrycloth yarn and can actually get down on all fours, as well as stand and sit. Pretty talented for a relative newborn. This picture was when we were introduced to her.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Fall is Here!

I got to get dressed in my "witch" dress today! I love the furry fringe on the bottom. This is the entry way display. Isn't the black cat handsome?!
I met this cheerful fellow hanging out on the front door. He loves watching people & cars to by the house.
The pumpkins were ready to be harvested from the garden. Here they are on the front porch waiting for carving time. There are still two pumpkins in the garden, but they are very green & probably won't be ready in time for Halloween.

These are the Halloween pansies that Michelle found at the store. They are orange & black & a lot of fun in the planter.
And surprise, surprise! Michelle got me my very own jack-o-lantern to keep in my basket!