Love my Subaru!

My Subaru has been resurrected! Well, it never really died, but with our tight budget lately, it's been parked in the yard awaiting costly repairs and registration while we drove our other 2 cars. Yes, (blush), we have 3 cars! We bought our used Honda Civic hybrid when gas soared to almost $4 per gallon, and my husband was commuting 70 miles a day in Michigan. His big truck gets horrible gas mileage. The Subaru's all-wheel drive is perfect for the Pacific Northwest, and she did an excellent job in Michigan on the snow. I LOVE the hatch back (perfect "kid and dog car"), and the way she handles. The anti-lock brakes and airbags are something I would never want to be without. I keep waiting for Subaru to come out with a hybrid, but with the reliability of my Subaru, I can just keep waiting, and waiting, and waiting...

I bought our Subaru shortly after I got my first job as a medical technologist. I wanted a safe car to replace my Mitsubishi Mirage, as I commuted the stretch of I-5 between Medford and Grants Pass in the pitch black of pre-dawn. This stretch is notorious for it's black ice, and my Subaru quite literally saved me from what would have been a horrible crash one morning when a semi jack-knifed right in front of me.

My Subaru is comfortable, it's a racy stick-shift, it carried my babies in their car seats, and I hope that my sons will some day learn to drive this car. And it's paid for! Last summer it passed 150,000 miles. I took a picture of this moment in time while out geocaching with the kids.



We revived her last week, when my husband's truck failed us, the day after we picked up mom at the airport for a week-long visit. A tow truck ride (thank you AAA), week-end at the mechanic, and over 800 dollars later, the truck is now good as new, but it only took a set of new spark plug wires, a trip to the DMV, and AAA (insurance) for Chris to get old Ruby back to work. She still needs some work (cracked CV boots (?) on the front axle), but I sure did miss her, and am having second thoughts about selling her. She's been a wonderful friend!

sorry, no pictures...

For some reason, I have been unable to post pictures to this website. Any suggestions?????

Spring Forward

I must admit... I am SO tickled to see Spring starting up here in NE Oregon. I wasn't sure what to expect, weather-wise, when we moved here from Michigan. I knew it would be a warmer climate, but I've never lived in such an arid place before, and knew that temperature extremes were the rule.

But the last few weeks have brought lost of pleasant surprises, from flocks of Robins, new birds making their appearances, buds on the trees, grass greening up, and incredibly beautiful bluebird days. Almost T-shirt weather, but not quite for me. My kids, on the other hand have already started wearing their shorts. Once again, their early years in Michigan must play a part. Having been born and raised in the deep South, I still get cold easily. I toughened up considerably living in Michigan, but no shorts or T-shirts for me yet. In fact, I LOVED the fact that in Michigan I could stay covered up most of the year.

But my favorite part of Spring this time around is that I get to start a garden!! We always had a big garden in Southern Oregon, but living in the deep woods in Northern Michigan, I became a HUGE fan of growers markets, as I could never grow much there. I wasn't disappointed, as there were some incredible farmers in Northern Michigan, especially near lake Michigan and in the "thumb" area. But I really missed being able to eat home-grown vegetables and berries out of our own yard. I cherish memories of my young boys eating red bell peppers right off the vines, like apples, or munching happily on cherry tomatoes or strawberries that only "traveled" from stem to mouth. Now we have the sun and the climate for another really nice garden, and I'm really optimistic!

Chris has really made me happy by carving out a spot behind our yard, in our "common" area, fencing it off from the local deer, and helping get the beds ready. We even planted a few seeds already. Since it's our first season here, there will be a lot of trial and error. But I'm ready!!

So here are a few pictures of our new garden, as well as a few signs of Spring that are springing up all around us! I hope you all are enjoying some Spring time weather in your neck of the woods as well!!