Summer's over...sigh

Saturday, we took the T-bird (with the top off) to Myrtle Point for the Harvest Festival car show. It was beautiful, sunny, and warm-we didn't even need a jacket on the highway! Sunday we took the Falcon convertible to Toledo & drove around town with the top down & part of the way home. But look at the sky today! Where did the sun go?

The Tree at city hall is even more red than it was a few days ago...

These are the trees in the park...the only place we'll see sunny yellow is apparently in the trees.

It's not dappled sunshine, but it's all we're getting.

This poor tree has it's seasons mixed up & is blooming right now!

Wouldn't this be a great place to relax in the sun...if we actually had sun.

And then the rains came...summer is over.

Autumn is coming, ready or not

Here is the tree we look at out the window all day at work...it's getting pretty red, fall/Autumn must be coming.

The Canadian Geese have returned to Mingus Park...Autumn must be coming.

But look at the pretty daisies, Autumn is not completely here yet.

And check out this Hydrangea! It's shades of blue & cream & really pretty...but it's a late summer/early fall bloomer, sigh.

Uh, oh, look at the leaf I found...definately Autumn colors...but it's not crunchy yet, Michelle loves to walk on the crunchy leaves.

Here's a better shot of the Canadian Geese. This is a mated pair that has been at the park for a couple of weeks.

The turtles are still hanging out, so it must not be TOO cool out yet.

These red berries almost match my sweater exactly!

This Japanese Maple is turning yellow! It almost glows with the afternoon sun hitting it.

The Wood Ducks are starting to return to the pond too, Autumn MUST be coming. Michelle loves the wood ducks. This one is a lovely female.

Wow, what a busy weekend

Saturday there was the 2nd to last race scheduled, but it got rained out. It was also Bay Area Fun Festival weekend. Saturday is the big day with the Prefontaine Memorial Run, Parade, and the Cruz the Coos. Michelle had to work, but we got to go to the Cruz. Sunday was bright & sunny so they did two races in one day...we were pooped at the end of the day. Here's Riley & Me already to go for the first time trial.

Doug got to race too! Now that he's 16 & has his driver's license, he can race in a regular car. He didn't like the JR dragster when he was younger, far too closed in for his tastes. He had a ball & did both races, running in Sportsman class in this Aerostar panel van. Michelle was glad that she got to see him race, so it was kinda a mixed blessing that Saturday got rained out.

Back at our house, we've got several sunflowers in full bloom! They are gorgeous!

The spiders are also out in full force! Michelle likes spiders, I'm kinda on the fence about them. I realize they do a lot of good, but still...This one is on the apple tree & has been busy cleaning up the other creepy crawlies around the yard.

Here's a close up. He's a pretty good sized one & actually kinda pretty isn't he/she/it?

And the apples are ready to be picked. We'll wait until Riley comes home from school as picking the apples is one of her favorite things.

The little tomatoes are getting ready to go to. Here are the first three to be ripe.

In Memory of Bandit

Our friend Bandit has been missing from Mingus Park for at least two months. We've come to the conclusion that we must suspect the worst & that she will not show back up. At the time she went missing, one of her "boys", Frank, got his wing broken, so we can only guess that something got her & injured Frank at the same time. So today blog is in fond memory of our friend Bandit the duck.

Bandit appeared to be a Muscovy duck, which is a domestic duck breed, and was the only one of her kind in Mingus Park. She always hung out in the Choshi Garden, usually in the Koi pond.

Sometimes at the side of the pond...

She often sat on the rocks around the pond. The ducks to the right are Jesse (the Mallard) and Frank, the one on the right, and have always been referred to as her "boys". Frank & Jesse still are in the area & Frank appears to be recovering nicely from his broken wing.

And here is Bandit on her Princess Rock...she often like to perch on one of the smaller rocks & look out over her domain.

We'll miss you Bandit.

Meet the Kittens

The girls, yes, they are all girls, are starting to get their eyes open now. The orange one is Garfield, but we call her Garfy now that we know she's a she. She's also the biggest kitten.

This little sweetie is one of the "twins" and her name is Ruby.

Oreo is the runt of the litter. She has a white stripe that runs down her belly, so when you hold her on her back she looks just like an Oreo cookie!

And the other "twin" is Hayden. It's odd that the twins have their eyes pretty much open, but the other two are still working on getting theirs open. Anyway, here they are & aren't they just cute!

Look a Woodling!

I was taking my walk through the backyard when I heard some rustling coming from Buffy's tree. I climbed up to see what was making the noise & look what I found! A baby Woodling all snuggled up in his nest.

He's very delicate and cute! I had to get a closer look.

I couldn't help it, I had to hold him. I'm gonna ask Michelle to make him a hat & blankie...I don't want him to get cold!

Check out what's growing in the Garden!

Hey, we got a sunflower blooming! We got another couple that will hopefully pop open soon too.

The cherry tomatoes are getting closer to ripe also.

Doncha just love the petals on this daisy?

Check out the little Prim rose that could...it's a tiny delicate bloom, but it's also September & way past their bloom date.

A Great Book Series to Read

Pictured is the fifth & reportedly last (but we're really hoping not) book of the Bear Collector's Mystery series by John J. Lamb. Michelle just finished this book...she got it right before we left for Woodburn & picked it up every chance she got. The books in order are:
1-The Mournful Teddy
2-The False-Hearted Teddy
3-The Crafty Teddy
4-The Clockwork Teddy
5-The Treacherous Teddy
These books are a favorite & we love the characters...I'm named after the wife of the protaganist! Anyway, I thought that since schools have started up again & fall is in the air, that you all might want some good books to curl up with & these definately fit the bill!

Totties Babies

While we were in Woodburn racing Tottie had her kittens! She had four, and they are three days old today. There are two tabbies, one tuxedo, and one marmalade kitten. Look how little they are compared to Doug!

Here's a close up. Aren't they just the sweetest little bubbas? Tottie will get spayed when they are 6wks old and we will be looking for good homes for the little babies.

NHRA Division 6 Finals

Here we are Thursday, Sept 3, 2009, at the NHRA Division Finals! Here is Riley in her team sweatshirt for the JRs. It has our track name, her name and on the back...

A picture of her driving her car! How cool is that. Michelle, Gregg, Doug & Riley also got the team t-shirts to wear, but they weren't so personalized, they just had the team name on them. Today was a test & tune day and so was the 4th, although only Gregg got to run.

Sept 5, 2009:the day of the Race of Champions that Gregg was driving in & the JR races which Riley was competing in. We had a lot of rain delays during this race weekend, but more on that later. Race of Champions is for the top 4 drivers in points for each class for each track. Gregg was in the top 4 in Pro class. They only take the top 4 JRs from each track also & Riley is tied with William for first so she also got to race. The other two on the JR's team was Nicole and Billie. Riley only got to make one pass before eliminations started and with the new clutch we didn't know where to dial her car, so unfortunately, she went out first round. Gregg had a little better luck & made it to round 2 where he cut a .012 red light, a .000 is perfect, so he was close & as Riley said "He was just trying really hard."

Sept 6, 2009:Well, we had a lot of rain delays today too! We were supposed to leave today, but Gregg had just won his race for round 2 when they shut it down for the day due to weather. We didn't have a motel room for tonight since we thought we were going home, but due to A LOT of generosity from other team members we rounded up 2 air mattresses, a sleeping bag, and three blankets (we already had our pillows & Riley had brought 3 of her own blankets) so we slept in the trailer.

Here was the track the morning of the big race. The track officials are getting it dried off & ready for the races to start. They don't run JRs during this race, but Gregg still got to compete. During the big race they run Sportsman, Compact Sport, Pro, Super Pro, and Motorcycle/sled and there's a LOT more cars than Race of Champions.

Here's one of the rainbows that was showing up Sunday night, we were hopeful this was a good sign.

And Monday morning dawned bright & sunny, but it didn't last. We had another rain delay from about 10:30am to 3pm. Gregg finally got to do round 3 about 3:30pm & broke out. He did a 12.10 seconds on a 12.12 second dial. We were already pretty much loaded up, so it was just load up his car & drive home.

Riley started 5th grade at Millicome Intermediate School today, Doug starts his Junior year at high school tomorrow & just wait until you see the little surprises we came home to!