Droopy's K-9 Comedy Contest

My pal, Droopy the Dog, is hosting his second annual K-9 Comedy Contest...

The theme this year is Funny Stuffie Photos (with or without captions).

Deadline is March 31, 2017... hmmm... must think about this a bit...

Review of the Garden

Hullo!!! I need to check out the garden and see what is going on... Oh boy... Rascal wanted to come out too but she is not a big fan of snow!

Awww... cat kisses... I missed you too kitten!

 I wonder how deep the snow still is...

Okayyyyy... well... that's not too bad. A few days and this should all be melted!

Heh-heh... high mirrored snow globe!

Hmmm... can't really see if anything is coming up underneath the snow.

Although the kale is doing OK... it should start putting out more leaves soon in preparation for flowering this spring.

I know there are some winter beets under there but... can't see them underneath all this snow.

But we do have some spinach and mesculan greens and corn salad coming up in the greenhouse.

We are almost out of firewood though...

Not a bad view of the yard from here...

And there are even some flowers coming up! The Bergenia...

And some primroses...

I wish the snow would melt so we could make a campfire and roast some hot dogs!

I guess gardening is going to have to wait for a while.

Stuffed Animals Improve Literacy!

Hullo... I just wanted to let you guys know about a beary cool article that came out a few days ago. Believe it or not... scientists in Japan conducted a study on how stuffies (that's us) actually improve literacy in children! We've known that for a beary long time of course but... it's nice that the humans have finally figured this out. I see a new career for us stuffies!

How Stuffed Animals can boost children's reading and imagination

"Designed to get children interested in picture books, stuffed animal sleepover programs involve children taking their stuffed animals along to a library and leaving them there for a sleepover. During the sleepover the animals 'search' for books they want to read, with staff and volunteers taking photos of the animals exploring the library and reading together. Children collect their stuffed animals the next day, along with the photos of their nighttime adventures and reading, and are given the books their animals chose to read."

Or... this might be a new career for our humans! Apparently the children showed more interest in picture books after the sleepover and even started reading to their stuffies!

"Although many parents read to their children it is a passive form of reading for the child, whereas reading to their animals helps develop children into more active readers. (my emphasis)

In addition to developing reading skills, reading to the animals can also help to develop a child's imagination, with the team commenting that many of the children really believed their animals had found and chosen the books, and can help boost children's prosocial behaviour by encouraging them to read the books the stuffed animals 'chose' during their sleepover.

The team also found that these beneficial effects are long lasting, with the children encouraged to read with their animals long after the sleepover took place."

Original article in Heliyon

There you go... we stuffies have a positive impact on children! As they say out there... "boom... mic drop"!!

I'm Home!

 Hullo! I'm home!! I had a great time down in Oregon with Little Fox. But it's good to be home.

And Mama... I even brought a souvenir for you! A beautiful magnet of Multnomah Falls.

There's also some mail here for me... a Valentine's Day Card from Jerry & Ben! And a Starbucks card (with no $$ on it). It's a beautiful card... that's a bear face!

Oh... and there was some stuff that they sent a few weeks back... A bear-sized football. The smallest Nutella jar EVER! And some Smokey the Bear swag. Thanks guys!! Now... time to get to work!

Adventures with Little Fox

I've been having a tonne of great adventures with Little Fox down in Oregon. We went snowshoeing several times and LF was a great tour guide for the sites around Portland.

But all good things must come to an end (so say the humans). I'll be heading home shortly and I hear that things have been going to heck in a hand basket back at home. It's time that I resumed by Stuffy Supervisor duties!

Snowshoeing in Oregon

Hullo!! I've been having a great time down in Oregon with Little Fox... We went to some ancient (WW2) archaeological sites and... we went snowshoeing! I hear that there was a tonne of snow at home as well. Gardening is on hold for the moment... so I might stay here for a few more days.

Portland Adventures

Dear Mama...

How are you? I am fine? Little Fox and I are having a great time exploring Portland and going to the beach.

I hope things are going OK up in Canada and you guys are managing without me.

Love,
Sandy (and Little Fox!)