Happy Halloween!

Hello! Happy Halloween! I worked beary hard on my pumpkin and costume this year... And no... this is not my costume... although it is my pumpkin! I carved a ghost pumpkin this year (with a bit of help). As for my costume this year...

I carved a ghost pumpkin this year (with a bit of help). As for my costume this year...

Step aside stuffies... make way for the Guerrilla Gardener!!

Yes... it has taken me a while but... I am all ready to do some guerrilla gardening. What s a guerrilla gardener? Well... someone who goes around growing gardens where others see barren land.

Of course, working on the sly, like I do... I needed a good camouflage outfit. I think this works well. I have a head bandana, a scarf for the face and... a camo poncho... I blend well into the fall leaves.

And what am I planting? Well... call me Sandy Pumpkinseed (a la Johnny Appleseed). I am well-stocked. I have a backpack full of pumpkin seeds and my satchel too.

 But it's much easier to access my crossed-bandoliers which are stocked with pumpkin seeds.

Sandy Pumpkinseed, Guerilla Gardener signing off.

P.S.
Thanks to Gramma for helping to sew the outfit!
Thanks to Droop for providing the material!
Thanks to Jerry & Ben for hosting the contest!

Sunrise

Good morning! It is 6:30 am and we are at the beach to see the sunrise. As it turns out, we got here a tad early... the eager bear gets the sun... or something.

The horizon does look quite pretty... and there are even a few starts still out.

There we go... if Mama plays with the exposure a bit, you can actually see me and not just a shadow... but it is beary dark here.

And cold too. There is a stiff wind off the ocean and although I'm wearing my fleece, wind cuts through fleece quite nicely. Thank goodness there are some wool blankets in the truck!

Hmmm... it's slowly getting lighter...

I think the sun is coming!

I wonder if it will come up over the little island? I can see some light on the edges of the clouds...

Nope! A bit to the right!!

Hooray!!!

Now to take some pictures...

This log is kind of cool with the early morning sun.

It's not quite warm yet though...

 Oooh... even better with a bit more sun.

Heh-heh... this is fun.

Of course, a photo is always better with a stuffie in it.

 I like sunrise photos...

Strange lock... almost looks like a beak or a hand with thumb and forefinger touching.

OK... I'm done!!! Brrr... it's cold out there! My paws are frozen. I think I deserve a hot chocolate at Starbucks (of course!).

Halloween Preparations

Whew... working hard to make my pumpkin and Halloween costume for Jerry & Ben's contest. It's been a busy week, so I was working on it Friday night.

Last year, I worked with Spooky to create an integrated costume, pumpkin and side-kick....

This year, I'm going in a different direction and Spooky is a bit miffed. She is seriously frowning at me but... what can you do.

So... first up is pumpkin carving while watching the Blue Jays & Royals. (The Blue Jays lost... sigh.)

Before we can get around to carving, we need to gut the pumpkin.

Cut off the top... being careful because of the knife.

And then use our pumpkin carving kit from last year to scoop out the guts. The gut-scooper with the kit works WAY better than a spoon.

There we go... all scooped.

These are the guts and seeds. I told Mama to fish out the seeds because I need them for my costume.

She looked a bit skeptical but I used my trade-marked "little bear stare"...

And chilled out with Rascal for a while.

Ah... see... it worked. Pumpkin seeds all washed and drying.

Why do I need pumpkin seeds for my costume? Well... you'll just have to wait and see!!

Mail!

Hullo! I got a tonne of mail last week! It seemed like every day there was a post card for me. Excellent!

First up, we have Hammie. He went to Bremen, Germany to listen to a concert. It sounds like a beautiful city! Thanks Hammie!

Next up is Droopy. He and his pal Spunky got to go on a business trip to San Antonio, TX, where they visited the Alamo and had ice cream. I'd never heard of Doggie Crockett before, but I'm not beary familiar with American history. Thanks Droop!

Finally, a post card from Ajdin! He also tagged along on a business trip and went to Memphis, TN, where he visited Graceland!! That's the famous home where Elvis Presley lived. I've never been there before, but it sounds like a cool place. I need to get some blue suede shoes before I go I think! Thanks Ajdin!

Now... where is that mid-term review form... I need to make a note that all of my stuffie pals are taking trips and me... moi? Nada! Hmph...

Breaking News...

Hullo! Sandy Bear here, political correspondent extrordinaire. Reporting on Canada's federal election...

Early results strongly suggest we will have a Liberal Government... Prime Minister Trudeau (#2) coming up. Still too early to say if it will be a Majority or a Minority but... we are keeping paws crossed. In honour, I am wearing my patriotic red and white pajamas...

 P.S. It is official. A majority Liberal Government. Stuffies... Canada is back!!!! Hooray!!!!

Handy Sandy fixes the Sink

Hello there! Handy Sandy here... reporting from the closet in the master bedroom. I am supervising a painting project today. Little bears do NOT paint... nope... no way... too much space for accidents.

This is what the closet looked like before. It has one of those cheapo Walmart closet organizer systems and the center shelves meant usable rod space was at a premium. Plus... the red colour was just wrong.

 So... here we are. Before we can paint, of course... we needed to prime the closet walls... a couple of times.

 We used KILZ, the high hide variety. We'll need this for the spare bedroom closet which is a fetching shade of deep, deep blue.

Right... I am supervising...

Of course... supervising is more fun when there are two of you.

Focus... right... focus!And sometimes I hold the headlamp... This is hands-down the most useful tool to have in your toolbox. Closets can be beary dark places and the 500 watt work light would have also made it beary hot. But the headlamp is perfect.

Voila... the closet is painted... we only did one coat of the beige... it's a closet after all.

 And then there is a top shelf... and soon enough there will be two closet rods...

But... while that is taking place, I thought I would tackle fixing the sink. How hard can it be?

First... gather all the tools you'll need... or think that you will need. Including the parts.

Then clean out and inspect the worksite.

Hmmm.. awfully dark in here. I think I need the headlamp!

Much better... What we are fixing today is the mounting nut on the cold water supply. It broke off a few weeks ago...

You see... the hot water supply (on the left) has a black mounting nut that helps to hold the faucet fixture snug to the sink. But the cold water supply (on the right) has nothing...

Which means the fixtures pivots around... It shouldn't be like that.

It should be snug and level...

Right... off we go then.

 It's a good thing I'm tackling this job because the 9.5" wide opening under the sink is a bit tight for humans... unless they are children of course...

First we turn off the cold water...

And check that it is off. Definitely no water coming out...

Then I wrestled with the cold water line and finally got it off the fixture...

Needed to use one of these to encourage it to loosen.

Then you get out your spare parts... $1.99 for two...

Put that on the fixture... and then reconnect everything.

Make sure there are no leaks. We... er.... I... had to use the expandable pliers to give the fastener a tiny bit of a tighten (not too much).

Turned on the cold water supply and... voila!!! It works.

Although... I might just hang out here for a while to make sure it's not leaking...

Nope... no leaks... and now it's time to put everything back under the sink. But I'll let the humans do that. Handy Sandy signing off!