Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  We've been on hiatus, but plan on doing more again.

Ashleigh's New Dress

So Michelle finally made me a new dress.  I like the Spring colors & the little rose.  She's working on one that will be really fancy when she's finished, but it will take awhile & this is supposed to hold me over.

Happy Easter!

HAPPY EASTER FROM ASHLEIGH & THE EASTER PLUTES!!

20 Hats Completed

And these 6 hats make 20! CPS is picking them up today along w/3 blankie bears.

Joker-a very good dog waiting for his home

Joker is a sweet boy who is currently at the Coos County Animal Shelter. He's been there since the end of April. People walk right by him all the time because he's a big, black, pitbull. But, he's so much more than that. He gets along well with most other dogs, will chase cats if they run from him, but otherwise is fine with them, loves people and most especially kids! He is neutered, about a year old, has pretty good leash manners, and knows most basic commands. I'm sharing a link to a video of him playing fetch w/my 11yr old daughter Riley. He really is this good, and this was right after we took him out of his kennel to the play yard...and trust me, I don't trust my kids around just anyone, but I'd trust Joker with them w/out hesitation:

http://youtu.be/lA9p6Vv9GME

Mascot of the Day!

Michelle entered our little girl, Clarice, in a contest at the Animal Rescue Site called Mascot of the Day...Clarice was picked for today!!! You can check out the page & vote for the Coos County Animal Shelter in the Shelter Challenge here:

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/ClickToGive/home.faces?siteId=3&ThirdPartyClicks=ERA_073111_ARS_Html

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope Everyone Had a Merry Christmas!!

I had a great Christmas...got a wonderful new quilt and some lollipops! We'll do pictures later when I get it all set up. Michelle did the small tree this year, she didn't feel like hauling out all the ornaments and stuff & doing it all herself, so we just set up on the dining room table. It still turned out well & everyone had a great holiday.

It's starting to look like Christmas

December Mother Bear Project bear holding a couple of the angel ornaments Michelle has been making for friends. And yes, December bear has a definate Christmas type thing going on.

Close up of the face. Michelle likes this face best of the ones she has made.

Happy Halloween!

Have a safe & happy Halloween!

Finally, Michelle gets back to her projects!

Well, Michelle finally sat down & got some projects done...she's been getting her Angels For Hope done weekly, but this is the first time she was done by the weekend. She also FINALLY finished the pink blankie bear that has been a work in progress for over a month-they never take that long! And last but not least she finished September's Mother Bear Project bear...she's usually a month ahead on this, so she's running late by her standards.

Tomorrow Gidgett the Foster Chihuahua gets to be driven to Eugene to meet up with the mother of her new little girl. Gidgett just got her last bath here & is currently running around acting crazy like dogs do when they get out of the bath. She will be missed, but it's a great comfort to know that she's going to a home where she is much wanted & will be greatly loved.

Drag racing in Woodburn

We raced this weekend in Woodburn...They have a big JR dragster Wally race on Saturday, although they let the big cars race also, and then on Sunday it's the All Ford Dragrace/Show/Swapmeet. Doug got perfect light on Saturday! He got stickers for his car & also a t-shirt showing that he's in the Perfect Light Club.

Riley went to the quarter finals on the Wally race, but went out first round during the regular et race & the Run Tough race. She was having major car issues...first she fouled a spark plug, then fuel filter, and then had a flat tire, and finally her clutch driven broke into pieces...by the time we're done it will be a new car!

Here's Michelle's camera bag. It contains video camera, digital camera, cell phone, me, and sometimes Gregg's camera...and on this trip the chargers for all of the above. Saturday the temperatures had to be almost 100 degrees...not good for us Coasties. Thankfully, our hotel had a swimming pool...our first stop after the races.

This was the first time Doug has run a 1/4 mile track. He broke some stuff also. Day one he broke his driveline...it was changed over to his spare. Day two he broke the spare driveline-Gregg & Dean patched one together from the broken two, his starter...again had to be patched together since we didn't have a spare & couldn't find one, and the thing that did him in was his tach broke & he didn't know where to shift. We gotta teach him old school and how to listen to his motor to know when to shift.

Today is Riley's 11th birthday, so a special shout-out:Happy Birthday Riley!

August Mother Bear Project Bear

Michelle just finished her August bear today & got him/her mailed off. She made this one a sleeping bear...just to shake things up a little.

Drag Race Weekend

Here is Riley getting ready to make a pass on Saturday. She didn't run on Sunday because she would've been the only JR dragster & that's no fun.

Her friend Tess came out w/us on Saturday to watch Riley run. She got 2nd place on Saturday. She was beaten by Shannon, someone new to our track, but who has been racing for long time & has a really cool car.

Doug ran on Saturday & Sunday.

You can't see it real well in this picture, but there's rubber from his tires from about where I am clear up over the trunk from him doing his burn outs before the race.

He's not really happy about it, now he's got a mess to clean off his car. He went out 2nd round both days, but had a good time!

Garden & Doggie Updates

Here I am w/Gidgett the foster Chihuahua. We had her for about 10 days & then a family took her for a trial week. They returned her over the weekend while Michelle was at her class reunion. However, she has a great new home lined up & will be staying with us until her new people can make it up here from Southern California to get her.

Here I am in a pot of Dahlias & Impatiens that Michelle recently planted. They are all a pretty happy pink color.

Here is the bush Michelle planted with the Great Crocus Experiment crocuses. They still haven't popped up, but the bush is growing fast!

The Nasturtiums & lavender are blooming in the front planter...

And it looks like we will have tomatoes after all! After the spring we had we weren't sure we were gonna get any tomatoes.

Also still blooming in the front planter...

And we have a few apples! Not as many as last year, but again we didn't think we'd get any after the wet, cold spring we had this year.

And look at this planter on the front porch! Michelle loves the little pink flowers and the geranium has been blooming like crazy this year. I'm gonna have to be better about prompting Michelle to do MY blogs & not just HER blog...but we have been crazy busy lately. Hope everyone else is having a great summer too!

Happy 4th of July!

Have a safe & happy 4th of July!

July 3rd car show in Lakeside

From left to right:Riley's JR dragster, Doug's 66 Mustang, and Doug's friend JR's 57 Ford in the Lakeside July Celebration car show.

Here I am on Doug's car...I'm the little blue bear in front of the windshield.

Here's the plaque Doug won...pretty cool huh, his first car show & he wins a prize!

And here's Doug proudly showing off his plaque.

And of course, not to be out done, Riley won a plaque also! Gregg won the 50/50 drawing so it was a good day for the Kirby clan all the way around!

The Great Crocus Experiment-Failure

As you can plainly see, this is just NOT working out. So we declare this experiment a failure. But...

They're getting a 2nd chance in this pot outside. They are planted now in a half circle around Ashleigh. Will keep you updated on how it works out now that they are planted.

More June Bears

Michelle finished up 3 more Blankie Bears for Child Welfare. That makes a grand total of 7 for this month & a personal best!

Tomorrow I'll update you on how the Great Crocus Experiment didn't work at ALL.