March 29th, 2010

So, the general consensus is that the new blog look isn’t so bad. Mom is still torn between wanting to go back to the old one, but I think we’ll stay with this for a while. Since we did save it beforehand, we can always go back when it is fall again.

Today, I had to perform one of the most important teddy duties—moral support. Mom had to return to her old apartment. For reasons she says are not important, it gives her a lot of grief. So Caleb and I got all bundled up to go out. We go inside Mom’s backpack. Being Mom, she is worried that we will get cold. She let me wear my bomber jacket though, so that made me happy.

While waiting for her mom to arrive, we went to a nearby park. There were plenty of people there, so I didn’t get to get out of the backpack. But it was nice to sit out there, and Mom packed some snacks!

I was a very brave bear, and we got through the entire thing. Mom says that the entire thing will be over soon. She says that I provided excellent moral support—and I told Caleb that he did a fine job giving me moral support as well!

While Mom has to work tomorrow, I am looking forward to Wednesday. She has the day off, and she thinks that the weather will be pleasant enough to go outside. She says that there are probably many green, growing things that we can take pictures of. On BearPlace, I am being the bird identification bear—so maybe I can take a picture of a bird and share information about it with you here. Mom has shared a lot of her nature knowledge with me and I like sharing it with you all!

March 26th, 2010

On Mom’s twitter page this afternoon, there was an announcement from the people who make this website that my blog is hosted on, Blogger. They made this new program that allows people like my mom who don’t know much about computers and HTML to make their own template. Mom and I picked and chose and came up with this new design. You all will have to tell me what you think of it. Currently, Mom is a bit peeved about the column issue, and the fact that by readjusting the template, the justification of older posts seem to be gone.

These are things that annoy Mom—I’m mostly happy about the new background. It hasn’t been fall around here for a long time, and the header was very fall themed! Our Windows Live Writer also doesn’t seem to really bring the template over to the edit window like it did before, so we’re going to have to double check our formatting before we post. Mom did save the old template just in case, so we can return to it if this doesn’t work out.

Mom feels better—she thanks you all for your good wishes. She still has a bit of a cough, but her voice is back. It makes work a lot easier, so she is glad that she is back almost to full strength.

I’ve been really enjoying chatting at BearPlace. When Mom has the day off, my path usually crosses with my English friends. They are approximately six hours ahead of me. So when Mom has the day off and we are chatting in the mid-afternoon, they are all getting ready to go to bed. I am surprised about how many things are different over there, yet so many things are exactly the same!

Speaking of my friends from BearPlace, they have helped me decide on a new friend’s name. Mom found this fellow at Goodwill a few days ago. My friends chose the name Jasper, and I think it suits him very well. He is a little shy right now, but he had lived in his previous home for quite some time before he was given up to Goodwill. We’ve been doing our best to reassure him that he will be in our hug for a very long time. Mom says that we just need to be supportive and he will realize that we are telling the truth!

March 23rd, 2010

Some of my friends that I found online a long time ago have returned to blogging. Their names are Spaulding and Teddy. They had their very own website. They had a blog on a place called Bravenet, but have moved their blog, here to blogger. Mom says that technically they still have their own website, but I’m not computer savvy enough to understand such things. I’m glad that they’ve returned to the blogging world! They are one of the reasons why I thought that I could blog! I just wanted them to know that I would be glad to play their role-playing game, but I cannot comment on any of their posts!

Things have been pretty quiet around here. Mom has been suffering from something that she calls laryngitis. It has made her voice sound funny! Sometimes, she can’t talk at all. This doesn’t really matter much around here—since we don’t really do a lot of talking. At work, it’s been mostly causing her trouble on the phone. Her mom says that it will go away soon. For Mom, I hope it does!

Spring has definitely decided to stay a while for Wisconsin. The trees are beginning to bloom, and the birds are returning. My friends and I are bursting with energy and we all want to go outside! When Mom is gone at work, we’ve been discussing what we want to do outside. The girls want to lie in the sun, but most of the boys want to climb trees! Some of the apple trees in the front yard are low enough to the ground that we ought to be able to get up on our own! (With Mom supervising, of course!) When I tell them about how scary it was to be so high up in the tree they scoff at me, but when they get up there they will understand!

March 19th, 2010

Mom took me outside on St. Patrick’s Day when she was walking the dog around the property. It has been incredibly nice in Wisconsin lately, especially since it is just March. It has been around 55-60 degrees Fahrenheit (or 12-16 degrees Celsius). Mom says that March is usually cold and still rather snowy.

First we sat out on the porch for a while. It was such a pretty day that we wanted to listen to the birds. Mom pointed out the differences between the morning doves and the red-winged blackbirds.

I told Mom that I wanted to climb the tree, and she helped me up. But once I got up there, I was pretty scared! Mom was there all the time, so I wasn’t in any danger, but it’s awfully high up there!

After a bit, I got my courage back up again and let Mom take a picture of me. I like this tree—it’s a silver maple and it’s rather old.

  After a bit of walking around, we went and sat on the benches on the porch and listened to the birds some more. It was a very nice day. It’s sad that sometime this weekend that real Wisconsin March weather is supposed to come back! But spring will soon arrive for good and we will have more of these nice days to look forward to!

March 18th, 2010

Today I am going to introduce our newest arrival. Cleveland was rescued from our nearby Goodwill. What makes him special—besides his charming personality of course—is that he is a very big bear. Our Build-a-Bear book says that his species—Polar Bear II—tops out at 21 inches or almost 54 centimeters tall. It gives him an introduction to our big boy group. He will join Taft, Briggs, Roscoe, Gulliver, and Elijah. The main benefit of being a bigger bear is that you can wear human baby clothes! (Mostly because they don’t fit in the regular BAB clothes!) Mom bought Cleveland an outfit at Goodwill and he fits into six month old baby clothes! (The other BAB and I only fit preemie and newborn clothes at best!)

When Mom went to BAB, she showed the manager lady our photos. (She has them on her itouch! She wanted to be able to remember which ones she had when she went thrifting!) The lady thought our hug was rather impressive. She told Mom about Briggs—who is a Buddy Bear—and how he got recalled. Larkspur, another of our bears, turns out to be a JC Penny’s exclusive! Look how small I am compared to all the other bears! Elijah is the bear on the left of the picture. He is not BAB but Mom rescued him a very long time ago from a thrift store somewhere. Cleveland and Taft are the white polar bears, while the bear with the soccer t-shirt is Roscoe, our American Eagle bear. Gulliver, a grizzly bear II, is one of our newer arrivals. Briggs is the bear on the right.

Tomorrow, I will tell you all about my outdoor trip on St. Patrick’s Day!

March 17th, 2010

Our St. Patrick’s Day Build-A-Bear friends wish everyone in the blogosphere a very happy holiday! Saeran is a Lucky Teddy and we don’t know what species of Build-a-Bear Sheridan is. We have a few of the holiday bears around here—I will try to remember to introduce them when their holiday arrives. They’re in charge of the celebrations when they arrive, so we thought they would deserve some highlighting here on my blog!

Things have been pretty exciting around here. Mom bought me some boots at BAB a few days ago and found my English riding habit. They’re western-style boots and an English style outfit, but Mom doesn’t think it matters that much.  I think I look silly with my ears pinned back by the helmet, but Mom says safety is the most important thing, and if I want to ride, I am going to have to deal with the helmet. Fortunately, she let me take it off for the rest of the photo taking, so it didn’t hurt my ears for very long. We have come up with ideas on how to make a bridle for Jefferson, but the saddle is still beyond our collective crafting skills. We are going to work on it for a while—it’s certainly not the end of my riding adventure. We have decided that the bridle can be made out of strips of leather. The saddle will need to be made out of some kind of fabric so Mom can sew it herself. She thinks that her sewing machine might be able to deal with leather, but I don’t want her to break it. Oh the possibilities!

I do think I look pretty snazzy when I am standing next to Jefferson. He is a good size. He has been hanging out a lot with our other four-legged pony friends. I think the added boy to our herd is balancing things out nicely! When Mom went to BAB to buy my boots, there was an advertisement for a gold and white sparkly pony, so I’m afraid that the balance is not going to last for long.

I have other adventures that I will tell you over the next few days. Mom took me outside today and we’ve had a few new arrivals. I think this is a long enough entry for now, so I hope you all are having a great holiday. I’ll talk to you later!

March 15th, 2010

It’s the ides of March! Yesterday was Pi Day! It’s all full of holidays—even if they’re minor lately! St. Patrick’s Day is a few days! That’s a major holiday!

This around here are much more focused on spring! A few days ago, Mom and her friend planted some seeds to grow in the summer garden. They were all sorts of flowers, like morning glories, and hollyhocks. They also planted various different kinds of tomato plants and some other vegetables. Yesterday, Mom noticed that the morning glory seedlings had sprouted, and today she noticed that some of the tomato plants had. They’re still very small, but it is a sign of spring that is most welcome!

These are morning glories. It turned out that Mom had bought a lot of morning glory seeds, and since she had plenty of pots, they decided to plant them all. Well, not every seed, but at least every seed variety.

Here they are pressing up against the plastic top Mom used. She explained to me that the seedlings need to have extra humidity and the plastic top gathers it. She said that it also helps protect the plants from drafts—since it is still rather cold.

These are the tomato seedlings. They’re much smaller than the morning glories.  They’re still very welcome. Later today, Mom is going to try to set up some lights that she bought for them. She explained to me that the sunlight coming in through the windows really isn’t enough for the seedlings, so we have to provide some extra light. It doesn’t matter—we’re rather patient around here. I will keep you all updated on our seedlings’ progress—along with the garden once we get to plant it!

March 10th, 2010

Mom has been spending a lot of time with her friend shopping and gallivanting around on her vacation. While it leaves plenty of time for snuggling and sleeping, it does not leave a lot of time for blogging or chatting.  As a condolence, Mom found me a brand new—new to me anyways—sweatshirt. It even has a fancy pedigree—it’s from Aeropostale!  A lot of my clothes come from Build-a-Bear, which is a bear clothing label, but I am impressed to have a sweatshirt from a human clothing label! I first felt bad that it once belonged to another bear and that bear was probably naked now, but Mom reminded me that some other human made the decision to take the sweatshirt off! So now I have my own Aeropostale sweatshirt!

Mom planted our seeds with her friend a few days ago. We have four flats of little pots filled with dirt and seeds. Now comes the anxious wait until they start to grow. Mom does not know what we are going to with all the seedlings if they grow, but I don’t think it matters. I like the idea of something growing despite the fact that it is so cold, wet and foggy outside lately. Tomorrow or the next day, Mom is going to set up something she calls growing lights so the seedlings grow short and stout. She explained to me that the seedlings need lots of sunlight that March in Wisconsin cannot provide. So we will put lights above them to give them more of what they need. Right now, all it looks like is dirt in pots, but I promise to keep you updated when things start to grow.

March 8th 2010

You will be hearing a lot from me from me for the next couple of days. My mom is on a mini-vacation of sorts. She will have plenty of time to help me blog! Granted, a lot of blogging for us is mostly days in a row rather then more than once a day, so it shouldn’t be so bad!

My new friends arrived a few days ago. Mom ordered them from the Build-a-Bear website. It was difficult not to sneak in a few things of my own, but I resisted! The bill was hefty enough!

This is a photo of Fleur and our new friends, Texas the longhorn steer and Yellowstone the bison. Fleur is no longer the only cow in our hug. Fleur is speaking to them in cow and trying to make them feel welcome. They have been bonding over their horns! Until she mentioned it, I never realized that Fleur was the only plushie here with horns! Apparently there is some kind of upkeep! I am glad that I am a simple bear!

Mom and Jefferson, our new Clydesdale friend, had a conversation and he agreed to take me for a little ride. Mom did not let me go very far, because I did not have a saddle or a helmet or anything to keep me safe. But it was very fun! I never knew how hard it would be to stay upright! We have agreed to more lessons after Mom finds my English riding habit and makes some kind of saddle and bridle. Washington, another of our four-footed horse friends, has both, but the bridle does not fit Jefferson and the saddle does not fit me! The saddle will take a little more work, but Mom has some ideas for the bridle. She says outfitting Jefferson and I for a ride will be as close as she will get to outfitting a horse and a rider for a while, so she will take what she can get. I will keep you all updated!

For comparison, this is the newest photo of our four legged horse family. Harrison, Strawberry, Jefferson, Zelda, Washington, Sarina, and Pirouette all have been getting along. He helps the boy and girl balance in this family! The girls can’t gang up on the boys quite so much right now. For a while, Harrison was the only boy pony and the girls used to pick on him all the time! Now they are Jefferson is at least a good two or three inches taller then the other horses, therefore is much better suited for allowing me to ride! Charlotte, my giraffe friend, is still bigger though, and she makes sure that Jefferson knows that!

I have been enjoying reading my twitter page and chatting on the Bear Place lately. It is very nice to talk to like-minded plushies out there. Some of them go on grand adventures! While I would like to go outside more often, I am not so sure about all of the adventures! I am very much a home bear! Teddy and Nibs go to Las Vegas and Los Angeles! The green frog from the Unexpected Life of the the Green Frog goes to all sorts of places in Europe! Hm. I will have to ponder this—maybe I should start more locally! Hm, hm, hm!!

March 6th 2010

All of my new friends have arrived! I will write about them another day, because yesterday, I helped Mom make supper! Her parents are gone on vacation, so we are in charge of all food preparation! We made a night of it. Milton, Robinson, Foster, and I went into the kitchen to watch some TV while Mom watched the dinner. Since I chose last time, we let Mom pick this time. She picked Dave Matthews Band’s Live at Folsom Field. We’ve seen it many times, but it makes her happy!

We have chose our places on the table. We would usually sit on the ground, but the TV in the kitchen is high up in a cabinet and Mom wants us to get the best view!

Here we are watching Dave Matthews Band. It’s Mom’s favorite band!

We are multi-tasking here. Mom is making two of her favorite meals from when she was a little girl. One she called hot-dish, which is made of noodles, hamburger, and tomatoes. The other she called Spanish rice, which is made of rice, hamburger, and tomatoes. The Spanish rice needs to cook in the oven.

Mom said it was very hot and I could only watch from a safe distance. She said that we didn’t have any oven mitts that would fit my hands to protect them from the heat. I still got to watch the water boil and make sure she noticed!

This is the hot-dish! I got to try some of this and it was very good. It made Mom very happy—she will have leftovers of both dishes throughout the week! Cooking was great fun! I hope Mom will let me help her again soon!

March 3rd, 2010

We are awaiting three new arrivals here this week. While browsing some of our Flickr friends’ photostreams, Mom discovered that Build-a-Bear has a longhorn cattle, a Clydesdale, and a buffalo (technically a bison!). She invited them all home to live with us. The longhorn cattle’s name is Texas, the Clydesdale’s name is Jefferson, and the buffalo’s name is Yellowstone. I will be sure to post pictures of them when they arrive.

Pirouette and Sarina, who have been getting along famously since Sarina’s arrival, have decided to come downstairs and wait for Jefferson’s arrival. They are anxious to greet him! They really would like Mom to invite a boy magical pony much like themselves home! All our boy four legged horses are ordinary horses! Strawberry is our other four legged magical pony girl. She decided that she would rather wait to meet the new boy until he got a bit better settled in. I think that’s a rational way—it’s very exciting to meet all these new plushies! Introducing him to our whole hug will take a while!

Fleur is also kind of excited. Until now, she has been the only cattle in our hug. While Yellowstone won’t be her exact species, buffalo are related to cattle. Texas will be a little bit closer. We’ll have to see who they want to hang out with. Fleur is fond of Shirley, Charlotte, and Chloe. Who knows if they will want to spend time with the girls!

They are supposed to arrive today via FedEx. I hope they come soon! I like meeting new friends!