Merry Christmas

Well it's been a snowy week this week. Sherry was housebound for 3 days because the roads were iced over in the neighborhoon. Portland just can't seem to get the streets clean. But it's getting better now, just in time for new round of stroms.

Here is a sneak peak at the newsletter if your interested.

http://cid-55b9ef14c383a73f.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/2008%20Ripley%20Christmas%20Newsletter.pdf

Just click on the link, then click on the small icon that looks like a piece of paper with a dogear, and select open when the box appears.

Snow Day

Well it snowed for the first time this winter and fortunately it was a Sunday so Portland was not paralized, but almost. The TV said, don't drive unless it was an emergency... We had 4 inches of snow... That's sort of like Maine, without the snow.

Here are some pics.

Not enough fishing, but a little.

Well I haven't been fishing too much this year but a few times. Here are a few pictures. Here's the set if you want to see them

Hells Canyon Gallery

Michelle with her friends at Club Sports..

Michelle rock climbing for her 14th birthday!

Michelle has turned 14, can you believe it? She wanted to do something different for her birthday, so we decided to take her and her friends to the largest rock climbing place in Oregon.
Man can Michelle climb, and her friends too. It was like 40 feet up. Bruce, Christine, and I were big chickens and wouldn't do it. It was quite amazing watching them climb.
Then we stop at Taco Bell, and got lunch for all 8 girls, then to our house for the lunch. Open up presents, then best of all ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. They all hung out, and had a good time. Michelle said it was the best birthday ever. Though that is what she says every year.
Now, she want to do rock climbing every weekend. I sign her up to entry level class. Rock on Michelle.

It's almost Spring

It's almost here, another 4 months and it will be spring in Portland... Summer everywhere else but spring in Portland! Two weeks ago it was 80 degrees and Sherry and Bruce went rafting, this weekend it was 35 degrees with a mix of rain/snow/sleet, oh well it will blow out eventually.

I've added a picture from a raft trip two weeks ago, what a great day, it was nice to be on the river. We are on the purple boat in the rapid.

Other than that not much going on here. Don't forget to check the Garden Blog for up to date gardening info...

Introducing.... Sandy

We'd like to introduce you to the newest member of the family, our new PUGGLE Sandy. Yes, we finally got a puppy. You can imagine how happy the girls are.

It all started, when our neighborhood friend Britta brought over her new puppy, Nala to introduce her to us. She was such a sweet and loveable puppy. We had to ask, " where did you get her and do they have anymore left?" A cousin of hers got a puppy, and then she got one. The lady had four left, and she gave us her phone number.

It was like a runaway train after that, we called her and went to her house. Then we had to have one. No, they are not akc puppies, so no papers. They are part beagle and puggle, so basically a Heinze 57 (mutt). I didn't do much research on this partically mixed. Just dove in without looking.

She has been a good puppy.. She loves hanging out the backyard, smelling all over the place. She goes potty when she is out, but still won't go to the door when she needs to go. The girls were fighting for their turn with the puppy. Now, it is like where is the puppy? The cats treat her like a scatching post, they have not warm up to her yet. Sandy barks at them. We are enjoying our new addition to the family.