House Where Bears Want to Live #4

House #4 is in Coquille. Michelle lived next door to this house for a brief time when she was little & fell in love with the house then. It was yellow at that time and belonged to some family friends. Michelle would get up in the morning walk next door & stay all day in the house for no other reason than that she loved this house. She never quite got over it. It was for sale about 12 years ago & she almost talked Gregg into buying it & moving to Coquille, but alas common sense finally kicked in...they both work in Coos Bay & again, while it has a two car carport, there's not nearly enough room for the cars here.

And again, I know another Victorian! I swear there will be some homes on the list that aren't, but come on, how can you beat this type of house? So while this house may be #4 on my list, it's still #1 in Michelle's heart.

Cool Coastal Nights & Doug's 16th Birthday

Yesterday was the Cool Coastal Nights car show & cruise in Winchester Bay. It was also Doug's 16th birthday!

We absolutely LOVED this little pickup at the carshow. There were lots of great cars & pickups. Michelle is just convinced that we need a Rat Rod now.

Doug drove during the cruise. Here we are just about ready to start. We took our 1964 Ford Falcon convertible to the cruise. Of course by the time the cruise started, the fog had rolled in...love coastal weather, if you don't like what it's doing now, just wait 5 mins.

Here I am trying to help Doug navigate. You can see some of the cool cars & rods that were part of the cruise.

And, Doug won a prize! We got the last award of the night! It was a great 16th birthday present for him. Although, I think he liked the pizza for dinner the best.

Burn Out Contest

We went to the Burn Out Contest is Winchester Bay last night. It's exactly what it sounds like, it's a burn the tires off the back of your car contest. Several cars popped one or both of their back tires & had to "reload" before the next round of competition. They do this every year just before their "Cool August Nights" car show & cruise.

This is Andy...he won the competition.

And this is our friend Donny who ended up popping four tires before the night was through. He came in 2nd place, but it was very close w/two vote offs before Andy was declared the winner. We still think that Donny was robbed...he popped one more tire than Andy, and didn't break his car.

Look at all the tire smoke!

Sprint Car Races!

After the birthday party we decided to go out & watch our friend Al drive his Sprint car on the dirt circle track. They run three classes:4 cylinders, street stock, and late models.

This is Al's car before it got all banged up. He spent a year & a half getting his car done. This is his 2nd race. He was in a horrible crash, but still managed to finish the race & get third place. Unfortunately the only straight panel that was left on his car is the passenger door...even the roof got dented!

Here is one of the late models going around the turn. Most of them have the front tire lift up like this. We had a lot of fun at the races, even though Al's crash was scary. Riley got to sing the National Anthem again too!

THE Birthday Party

Riley's birthday was last Sunday, Doug's birthday is next Saturday, so...today we had the first ever joint Doug/Riley birthday party. Before, Michelle has always made sure they each get their own party, but this year our weekends are just too booked. We were in Woodburn for Riley's birthday, and Doug's birthday weekend is the big car doin's in Winchester Bay, Michelle has to work tomorrow, so that left today. Riley was at one end of the table & Doug at the other. It actually worked out okay, until Rosie got stung on the lip by a yellow jacket. The good news is, is that Riley doesn't need any more clothes for school & Doug only needs another couple pairs of jeans! Oh yeah, and we gotta finish school supply shopping this week, cuz we gots coupons! And tonight we get to go watch circle track racing!

Houses Where Bears want to live #3

Here is another house in town that Michelle has coveted since she was 18 yrs old. This house was first yellow & cream when Michelle fell in love with it, but the new owners repainted it & it turned out just awesome! The blue with pink & white trim is beyond lovely. They also re-landscaped the yard & took out the overgrown mature bushes & trees, and replaced them with the lovely annuals & perennials along the edges of the yard.

I know, another Victorian, we can't seem to help ourselves. If any of them came with a big garage & enough parking Gregg would just have to tolerate an old house and move with us, but since even this one on a large corner lot has just 2 car garage & limited parking we'll have to keep looking.

Return to Butterfly Gardens & Deans Creek Elk

We went back to the Elkton Butterfly Pavillion today. Check out the Echinacea that is behind me. Doug, Riley, Vanessa, and Rosie went with us today. Riley has been here before, but it was all new & exciting for the rest of the kids.

Check out this beautiful Monarch! We had them walking on us there was so many! It was a lot of fun.

Here are a bunch of them feeding on flowers and orange halves. They love the sweet juice of the oranges.

They also drink the nectar of the flowers.

Here are some pupae that are getting ready to split & some monarchs that are recently "hatched" and drying out. Soon they will be fluttering around the little building also.

In the research room we find Monarch caterpillars that are being fed milkweek, when they become pupae they are closely monitored & when they are close to ready to emerge they are moved to the pavillion.

This time we walked down to the Umpqua River at the bottom of the hill. It was really pretty down at the river, but all Doug wanted to know was what fish he could catch there.

And here is the replica of Fort Umpqua that they are building. They just got the left side of the gate hung today! There are essentailly three men who are building this fort, but they were able to hire two young men to help them with some of the work this summer. All materials, except the concrete underneath, are donated & there is no government money going into this project at all...it's all donations & volunteers. They are three years into this project and have the walls up & the two battlements done. When it is completely finished there will be three buildings inside and a cooking area. The men who are doing the work also know a lot of the history of the fort & are happy to share it!

We also stopped back at the Dean's Creek Elk Viewing area. Of course the elk were East of where the viewing buildings are...but we did see Canadian Geese! These are Michelle's favorites, so she was very excited.

You can just see me leaning up against the elk part of this sign. We had a lot of fun today & we even learned something!

Houses that Bears want to live in #2

Here is House #2. This great old Victorian has a matching garage that is not attached & not visible in this picture. Michelle has coveted this house since she was 18 years old. I love the wrap around porches & the birdhouses scattered all over the trees on the property.

And now for a nasturtium moment...

Houses where Bears want to live #1

There are some really cool houses that live around here. So, I'm going to highlight some of the houses that Michelle & I really like & would buy in a heartbeat if they ever come up for sale. One of our all time favorites is the lovely jewel behind me.

This great old house lives in Drain. Everytime we drive through on our way to I-5 Michelle looks at it & sighs...it's very sad really to see a grown woman moon over a house.

So anyway, this is house #1 of Houses Where Bears Want to Live...check back, I'll bet house #2 is posted tomorrow.

Drag Racing in Woodburn

This weekend was a special race weekend at the Woodburn Dragstrip. Friday night was the Street Legal Drags & we used the oportunity to try out Riley's car w/the borrowed clutch...it didn't work out so well since it was different that her previous clutch. The new one arrived at the house Friday, just after we left, so Riley had to limp along all weekend on the borrowed clutch. She didn't do real well, but this was the practice weekend for the upcoming Division Finals which will be held in Woodburn. Her car ran just fine, but wasn't doing well at all launching from the starting line. Correct clutch & she should be golden for the Finals.

Gregg was also racing this weekend. He went out 2nd round on Saturday which was just a test & tune day for the big cars, and also 2nd round during the All Ford Dragrace, Show & Swapmeet race. But, again learned some things he needs to know for Division Finals, so it's all good. Both Gregg & Riley qualified for the "Race of Champions" during the Finals!

Doug & Michelle were along for moral & tech support. Doug helps with towing Riley & helps Gregg keep the cars working. Michelle helps in the pits with Riley and does the photography, still & video, of Gregg & Riley running.

Here's our new trailer set up. Gregg built a rack that we hang Riley's car on & the we drive the quad under it up to the front of the trailer & then Gregg parks his car behind the quad and under Riley's car. You can just see me under the front of Riley's car on the tie down/brace for the front of the dragster.

Here are some Falcons from the show. Falcons are popular cars in the Kirby household, both Gregg & Michelle have owned several. We currently have the 64 Falcon convertible and then Gregg still has his high school car, a 64 Falcon Sprint. Doug just bought a 62 Falcon Ranchero that he's thinking of turning into a drag car for him to race next year.

Doncha' just love the color of this Torino? I do. It was a long weekend & we were all glad to get back home yesterday.

Ready to Race this Weekend

Big races coming up, starting this weekend w/the Crystal Race & All Ford Show & Race in Woodburn this weekend. We're going to be there rooting Riley & Gregg on. Then Labor Day weekend will be the NDRA Division finals in Woodburn...Gregg & Riley both qualify for the Race Of Champions (Gregg is 4th in points in Pro & Riley is tied for 1st in JR's) & we will be there rooting them on then too. In honor of the big upcoming races Michelle made me my very own race suit in Riley's colors. What do you think? I think I'm darling.

And the link to the video...

is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXn2OUQYVyI

for some reason Blogger doesn't like my videos today, so if you want to see Riley singing the National Anthem click on the YouTube link.

Ashleigh & Michelle

Progress Report & National Anthem

Check out the blooms on the dwarf squash plant. This plant is an experiment in growing veggies in a planter & it's going just swell!

Check it out! Here's one of the dwarf squashes that is starting to grow into a squash!

The apple tree is also making progress...should have apples ready to eat in a couple of weeks!

Look at the nasturtuims! I just love these & did you know that they are edible too?! They are so bright & cheerful...sigh.

Look how lush the front planter is getting. It was really a great idea to redo the whole thing this spring. We are really enjoying how it is turning out. This weekend there was a demolition derby at the track. Of course we went & watched, but the camera battery croaked soon into the proceedings so no pictures...but we do have a short video of Riley singing the National Anthem at the beginning of the program...she also did a exhibition run in her JR dragster along with Billi. Her lovely assistant, holding the words, is our friend Rosie. Enjoy!

Fair Results!

We had a great time at the fair. The Merry-Go-Round was pretty cool. Riley rode a pretty camel.

Doug rode in the sled....pretty sure he was pretending to be Santa Clause.

And the results are in. Michelle got 6 blue ribbons-all in crochet. These included a Panda Blankie Bear, a maroon goldfish, another little blue bear that's NOT me, a bear drawstring purse, this year's Easter Bunny, and a cute little ragdoll.

And the pictures got no love at all...well this was the first year Michelle has tried entering photography. She was hoping for critiques on the back so that she would know what to do to improve, but alas, there was none. Did you notice the pictures of me? How could they NOT get a ribbon? Michelle said a picture of me at the fair was going to have to do, she wouldn't part with me for a whole week the fair would take. I guess I can live with that answer.