An Unexpected Occurrence

 Whhhhaaaattttt... noooo... dooonnn'ttt go in there! Ack!

Oh Hello... I am waiting in the truck while Mama runs in to get a Starbucks brownie for a certain bear but... on her way back to the truck, she suddenly deked into a thrift store... why??

Oh wait... here she comes... it's about time. I hope my warmed-up brownie is still warm... and..

Uh... what... the... heck... Beanie??? Jelly Beanie??

I think I might be hallucinating from lack of brownies!!! It can't be Beanie or Jelly Beanie cause there are still travel restrictions in place!

"My name is Cocoa Beanie!! Not Beanie or Jelly Beanie! Do you know them? I think they're my cousins. It's been soooo long...."

"I was looking for some clothes in that thrift store. Of course, typical, they have absolutely nothing in my size. And then.... out of the blue... your Mama saw me through the window, popped in and said she knew some cousins of mine and would I like to come with her. Well... how could I say No??"

Whoa... what are the odds?? First, we find Jelly Beanie four years ago in a rustic beach shelter north of here and now... Cocoa Beanie!

"But... I'm sooooo hungry... you know... I haven't had anything to eat for ages and ages..."

Luckily we have a double chocolate brownie and... maybe we can share it...

Um... wow... you're really tucking into that brownie...
"...munch... marf.... I... mmmm... LOVE... ***swallow*** chocolate...!"

OK... he's definitely one of Beanie's cousins cause I know they all love chocolate but...

"It's all gone... sigh... that was one yummy brownie... ***burp***. I feel soooo much better now"

"Nice plate by the way..."

That little mouse at the whole brownie! All by his self... sigh... but he was beary hungry so... I guess, as a good bear host... I'll go without today. (Note to self... get TWO chocolate brownie in future...)

"I'm sorry... I thought it was all for me... I was just sooo hungry"

No, that's OK Cocoa Beanie... I'm so glad that we found you and had some food that you clearly love. 

TO BE CONTINUED

Bear on the Hunt

 ... there's one... ooohhh...

And another one there!!

And another one!! This is a good spot!

I'll have to remember this spot...

Oh... hello!! Yes... chanterelle hunting today. This is definitely the season and... I am going to try a new trail that I haven't gone down before... paw claws crossed...

Here we go... 

And... beary quickly... I spotted a shine of white in the bush...

Hah!!! Hiding under the moss and the salal...

And there's another one under the leaves...

Whew... this is a good trail for chanterelles!

I even found some lobster mushrooms... but we're going to take a pass on those and stick with chanterelles...

But lobsters and chanterelles like to hang out... so keep your eyes peeled!

Ah-hah!!! There's another one!

A nice big one...

Beautiful...

And... look what else I found! It's an old log cabin...

With some newer log pole roof bits...

Likely kids playing at some point... although there were empty propane canisters here... so maybe a homeless camp at some point.

Next to a well-traveled trail... probably not the best spot!

Whew... I am one tuckered bear... do you think it's time for a snack?

We did bring a snack, right? And a back pack?

Let me just rummage around in here...

Paper bags (for mushrooms)... pocket knife (for mushrooms) and... what's this... ah-hah!

It's a cookie!!

Oat chocolate chip pumpkin seed cookie... yum!!!

And... this was our haul!

Too many to eat... so we are dehydrating them...

Then we can use them for sauces and stir-fries and... what have you... cool!

Fall Adventure

 Hullo... fall is definitely here (well... it was like this a month ago in mid-October!)... 

We don't get a lot of fall colours in the leaves... they tend to go brown very quickly...

Today... I am doing another geocache adventure...

This is our first spot. The clue was "up the mossy rock and down the root hole"... 

"Hellooooooo???!!" Geocache?? Mama suggested I climb down into these various root holes but I put my paw down and said "No!"... so she stuck her arm down there... no luck.

Nor in this one...

Sigh... then we read one of the other cacher log notes who said the coordinates were off by about six metres... so we widened the search radius...

Ah-hah!!! There it is!

Inaccurate coordinates... grrrr....

This one had a cute box...

But just had a log book and a pen...

But... enroute to the next cache... look what I found!!! It's a chanterelle!! 

And... there were some smaller ones nearby under the step-moss. Cool!!!

Too bad we can't bring some to gramma! And... believe it or not, we do not have a back-pack on this little jaunt so no pocket knife, no bag, no nothing... will have to come back another day!

This cache's hint said "x marks the spot"... look for the fallen trees... it took a bit (cause there are a LOT of fallen trees in the forest) but...

There it is... under the bark... in a green garbage bag.

Cool... and... just to be honest... we had one other cache where we came up empty. Other cachers said the coordinates were off... sigh... will try it on another day.