Nubs

29/01/2023

Amazon Smile is ending its charitable giving program on February 20. Since we are closing our non-profit organization, this actually make things easier for us, as we can no longer accept donations

Thank you all for your support through the years! All remaining funds are being used to print enough of our books to serve kids in need for a long time to come! I will still be volunteering with kids, of course, so distributing the books will be easy peazy 😊

The company, which ranks among the top corporate philanthropists in the U.S., will continue to pursue and invest in other areas where it can make meaningful change—from building affordable housing to providing access to computer science education for students in underserved communities.

22/01/2023

Dear Friends,
I apologize in advance for this lengthy post! It has been a little over 10 years since a 1-legged budgie named Nubs hopped his way into my heart and changed the trajectory of my life forever. We have had so many amazing experiences, and have met hundreds, if not thousands of people we never would have were it not for Nubs, and the way he inspired so many people during his short time on earth.

Over the past few months I have been thinking and consulting with my friends and family about the NUBS organization. I have decided that by April 1 we will be disseminating the organization, closing this page, and starting a private Facebook group that I will share a link for anyone wishing to join once it is up and running.

There are a lot of reasons why I am ending this chapter of our lives, and I have no regrets at all, nor does it make me feel sad. Simply put, the pressure of running an organization and having our lives exposed on social media is something I have not enjoyed or been comfortable with for several years. Frankly, I have always hated taking donations, it’s just not me. I love spending time with kids in foster care who need good grownups in their lives. But the logistics of running the organization (which was only started after our story went viral and people wanted to donate money to us) took most of my time away from being with kids who really needed us most, and I miss it.

I also want to do more living in the moment as the real me. I don’t want to be a leader, or perceived as some sort of a hero. The Lady with the Ponytail is a character from a book, created for a group of foster children to see a grownup responding to Nubs when he asked for help, so they knew they could do the same. The story of Nubs actually is true, which is why I believe it resonates with so many children in foster care. Our social media page was designed to be entertaining while promoting the need for resiliency education. Like most social media pages, we shared a small slice of our lives that was polished and made shiny for public consumption.

The parts that were always 100% reality was the love we have for all the incredible animals we have had the honor of caring for, and the appreciation we have had for all of you.

I hope that waiting for a few more months before taking down this page will give everyone the opportunity to save any pictures or videos that they wish to. That is definitely what I will be doing, as I lost almost all of my pictures a few years ago.

I am excited for the private group, since it will be a way for everyone to stay connected. It also gives me an opportunity for a fresh start - to do less painful dwelling on the animals that have passed through the years, and more living in the moment with the pets I have now. It will also afford me more privacy (yes, we have had more than one stalking incident through the years) and less pressure to “perform”. Best of all, I can just enjoy being a member of a group, and not its “leader”.

Thank you all for being here for the past 10+ years, and for all the love you have shown me, my family, and the animals of the “House of Nubs”.

Kristin

18/11/2022

I remember before the pandemic that every time I posted pictures of our visits to foster care and homeless facilities they would barely ever get any likes, while a picture of a bird would get hundreds. I had countless emotional phone calls with our Board asking why don’t people see the value in these children? Do they only care about funny animals videos? I thought if I could just pepper the life messages in with the videos people wanted, maybe the deeper lesson would sink in.

Please look at the pictures below, and look at the differences in likes, comments and shares.

I’ll be honest, it is things like this that make me not want to do this page anymore.

A murdered child and her loved ones struggling for resiliency is worth more attention than a 3 minute video of a chirping bird. I get it, you like birds. But I feel like our organization is terribly misunderstood, and has become nothing more than an animal entertainment page. It bring me to tears, and I think I am done with this. We can do the work we do without being an entertainment channel.

18/11/2022

I want to say that I am so sorry I have not had more time to thank those of you who are signing and sharing the petition. To be honest, things are not going well at all. I was just tipped off by a reporter that the Illinois Parole Board hearing has been moved AGAIN, now to January 10, without any notice to the Drobney’s and they are now closing the hearing to the public at the “request of the petitioner” (aka the man who murdered Bridget). So the murderer gets to decide that only his voice gets heard. Kelly (Bridget’s sister) and I talk about this every day. She is traumatized, her mom is shattered. Everyone is terrified about what is happening, and we are losing all faith in the judicial process.

I wish I could project happiness and cute birds 24/7, but I can’t. So please continue to bear with me and help me fight for a girl who never even had a chance to for herself. Please don’t just like and share the cute bird videos and turn a blind eye to the rest. The House of Nubs need you. We aren’t asking for your money, just your time and your words and your heart. Please help us.

Cancel the clemency hearing for Bridget Drobney's murderer

17/11/2022

The petition is already at over 1,000 signatures!! Thank you to those of you who have signed this already, and please keep signing, leaving comments in the petition, and sharing!

Please remember that although we post cute animal videos, our organization is so much more that animal entertainment. Our hearts are literally shattered for the Drobneys right now, and the stress is so high. These are the people who, from a young age, taught me what “bouncing back”, “wings up”, and resiliency are all about. So please help us help them!

Non-Illinois, and even non-U.S. signatures definitely count! If granted clemency, inmate # N66184 gets to go live anywhere he wants to, without anyone monitoring him.

Helping to keep this man in prison is, I feel, one of the most important things I will ever do in this lifetime. Please do this with me.

Cancel the clemency hearing for Bridget Drobney's murderer

17/11/2022

Phil wanted to film an Operetta he has been working on. It is filled with Drama, Song, and some of the finest Budgie Acting I have seen in a long time. 🎭

16/11/2022

To my dear “Flock” family,
As you are aware, I’ve been pretty off and on with posting on our page for much of 2023. There has been a lot going on, and one of the things I have been very preoccupied with involves this petition.

I want to offer a trigger-warning that this petition involves a very horrific crime. I will not post the details on our page, nor will I discuss it in the comments, and hopefully I have forewarned people before reading the actual petition.

The Drobneys, and all their friends and loved ones, have always been very private about Bridget’s death and the many trials that followed. So while continuing to protect everyone’s privacy as much as possible, the Drobneys have no choice but to speak out publicly now, and ask for the public’s help. They are a family that I consider family. I attribute a lot of who I am as a grown up, as well as my passion for resiliency education for child survivors of trauma, to Bridget’s mom, who is the strongest person I know. Mr. Drobney (the man in the picture) just passed away in 2020, and he was an incredible dad and an incredible person. Bridget’s sister, Kelly, is one of my oldest and best friends.

I would ask for anyone who is willing to please sign and share this petition. I would not ask for help through this page if it were not really important, and if I did not believe that those of you who follow this page know and love us enough to understand that I wouldn’t ask for this lightly.

I wrote a lot of what you will read in the petition, and honestly, that is all I am comfortable saying about the case. My goal is that this saga can end, so the Drobneys can have some peace.

I want to thank you in advance from the Drobneys, and from myself for your consideration.

Wings up,
Kristin

Cancel the clemency hearing for Bridget Drobney's murderer

13/11/2022

Well, looks like Hannigan found the snacks I was going to put out for him today. 🤦‍♀️

12/11/2022

Me: You guys, it’s 10am. Get out of bed.

Miles and Monkey: Never.

12/11/2022

I forgot to post this yesterday, in which Tulip finally redeemed herself.

Tulip is a daily source of humor for me. She has the shortest term memory of any dog I’ve ever known. Every day she barks at me like I’m a total stranger. Then she recognizes me, says hello, and 30 seconds later she is like “WHO ARE YOU????!!!! 😡😡😡”. We’ve been doing this routine countless times per day for the past 6 years, and it never gets old 🤣.

10/11/2022

Please vote for who is the biggest traitor:

A. My tortoise who is now happily romping in my neighbors yard and completely ignoring me.

B. My neighbor, who upon seeing Sprout came outside to keep him company, while I continue to rake leaves all by myself.

C. My neighbor’s dog, Tulip, who ALWAYS hangs out with me when I’m outside, but is also totally ignoring me.

10/11/2022

Ok, I knew that changing jobs during the pandemic has been a thing, but I never thought it would happen to the House of Nubs

10/11/2022

I do the raking, Sprout does the mowing. We are both turning 50 this year, so he agreed it’s time for us “old folks” to split up the work! 🤣

10/11/2022

Jack reminding me Of My Priorities.

08/11/2022

Big problem, Guys. Phil gave me a mild case of Gluebird today.

08/11/2022

This popped up in my FB memories today - it’s Moose, visiting the Oinkin Oasis in Gilmer, Texas. He also got to meet Pumba, but he liked the baby piggies better. 😂

08/11/2022

Here is the info I received. His name is listed as Phoenix, but he doesn’t seem to respond to it at all, so we agreed that I can just call him “Phil”.

I am guessing he may have been a “pandemic purchase”, and now that the parents are traveling for work again, and the kids are back in school, they lost interest. Sadly, I think this is a pretty common thing that is happening.

But, their loss is our gain, and I appreciate this result over releasing him to the wild, or neglecting him.

07/11/2022

I miss Nathan a lot, but I will say that I am really glad we had the opportunity to give this guy a home. And apparently he is a ham for the camera, so here is a nice, lengthy Budgie Video - something we haven’t been able to do for some time now!

07/11/2022

That first, big post-shelter nap is a thing. I think he was doing really well in that environment, all things considered, but it was really loud in there with all the cat and dog noises! He is zonked out already on a certain playgym some of you might remember 😉

07/11/2022

Animal Control: He’s pretty skiddish. We might need to use a butterfly net to catch him with.

Lady with the Ponytail: Hold my beer.

🤣🤣🤣

07/11/2022

I’d thought this guy might be a little more reserved, but as soon as I walked away, he let out a big “COME BACK!!” screech. The shelter ladies said they have never seen a bird pick a person so fast 🤣. Guess we’d better get the paperwork signed ASAP! 😂

07/11/2022

What do you guys think? I’m thinking a Jail Break may be in order here…

07/11/2022

This is the guy I’m going to go visit tomorrow. It turns out he is the only bird at our local animal control, which as got to be pretty stressful for him. I’m hoping someone may have already adopted him, just because I hate the idea of any budgie being the solo bird at a shelter that is mostly dogs and cats, but if not he’d certainly be welcome to join the HoN.

06/11/2022

I’m really sad to say that Nathan (our little blue budgie) passed away earlier this week. Nathan really didn’t like being videoed or having his picture taken, so I did so very rarely, but we had a special little relationship and I loved him a lot. Some of you may remember that he was the only “little” bird to survive our horrible tragedy from off-gassing a few years ago. I’ll never know if that shortened his life, or if it was all the inbreeding every budgie is America has now, or a combination of both. Either way, he was such a sweet guy. He reminded me so much of Nubs and of Gordon, and he will be very missed. Our other budgie, Amy, seems a little lost. Budgies are meant to live in a flock, so I am looking into a few boy budgies in need of a home (there is at least one in the animal control near me right now). I don’t feel like Nathan can be “replaced”, but if it makes sense to find her a new friend, I am happy to open our home to that possibility.

30/10/2022

Gearing up for the Busiest Day of the Year in the House of Nubs: Halloween!!

We get about 2,000 kids a year visiting the HoN, many of whom love seeing what Sprout will be dressing up as this year 🤣

Here is a sneak peek from last night of this year’s set up!

15/10/2022

Today I am working on a paper for my Strategic Communications class. I know what I should be writing about, but I also know Peachy would Vehemently Disagree. I am pretty sure if he were here, his version would go Something Like This:

Strategic Communications Plan, a Paper Of Wisdom, by Dr Peachy Keen, Bird of Science

Target audience: Bebo
Goal: get Bebo

Tactics:

1. The Ding-a-Ling Bell. Although the bell is evil, and Clearly The Enemy, we have been told this is the Preferred Method. 🙄

2. Use your words. “Bebo” plus kissy noise is a Proven Strategy.

3. USE THE BEAK. Options: piercing screech, bite as necessary. This option is Far More Satisfying than the ding-a-ling bell, so use is recommended even if what’s-her-name has already responded.

I found this video of Peachy from several years ago that I thought you might enjoy. He always joined in on the “Look out!” part, which was hilarious 💚

14/10/2022

You might wonder how I manage to spend quality time with each of the animals here. Two things are pretty popular during the week: “Take your _____ to work day” (yesterday was Moose), and Sleepover Parties! Pinecone is joining me tonight, and she is pretty pleased to be getting all the attention.

11/10/2022

Today is Pumba’s birthday! I got this video from Mitsy so I could see the celebration. And if you are wondering what having a birthday at the Oinkin Oasis-Forever Home at Rockn W Ranch is like, it is just as adorable as you imagined. 🥰🐷🥰

07/10/2022

Poor Miles is clearly still not the pack leader 🤣

02/10/2022

Annie has been back for a visit, and Monkey’s obsession with her has gone next-level. 🤣

01/10/2022

30/09/2022

I REALLY need to start posting more videos of Hannigan the Squirrel. He comes when he is called now, which I find hilarious. Listen and look closely and you will hear him answering me back to let me know he is on the way, then look for him on the garage roof, then watch him climb the tree to get to the telephone pole to climb down and get his snack. 🐿

27/09/2022

Pig crossing 🚦🚏🛑

25/09/2022

Not to say he’s manipulative but Miles sure knows how to turn on the charm the second we enter a drive-thru (they gave him a donut) 😂

23/09/2022

I know he’s napping, but I can’t resist him 😂

10/09/2022

Hannigan the Squirrel is so excited to have Annie around this week. I get such a kick out of this guy. Sometimes my neighbors ask me how I know which one is him, and I’m like “you’re kidding me, right?” 🤣

08/09/2022

I missed the picture/video opportunity this morning, but the HUGE smile on Boomer’s face as his head popped over the wall when he heard Annie’s Bark Of Greeting was priceless 😂. I think I’m going to have to talk to his owner and see if we can set up a play date.

07/09/2022

I can’t handle the look on Boomer’s face when it’s time for Annie to go home 🥺, so I’ve started picking her up a little on the late side so he can go home first. This whole thing is like having a kindergartner all over again.

07/09/2022

Annie is Back To School (and staying with me for the week). Today when I picked her up all her classmates had pictures up on the wall, and I can’t stop laughing at their faces 😂. Annie’s best friend is Boomer, the dog to the right of her. Annie is the one in the red bandanna.

The funniest/most embarrassing part of the days she is with me is that every morning she insists I give her a hug before I leave, and when I come to pick her up she makes me wait while she goes around and gets a hug from each of her teachers. 🤦‍♀️🤣