The Adventures of December!

Hello!!! I know, I know... it's been eons since you've seen me!! And almost as long since we've posted anything. But... it's been a busy time!

First... a recap... you remember that in... June(?) I went and saw Jerry & Ben in Minnesota!

I got a tonne of cool stamps and stickers in my passport!

Ah yes... I left in May and then spent some time with them...

We saw a tonne of cool places!! (You can see the highlight reel here)

It was beary cool!!

And then I was home for August and a bit of September and then...

It was off to visit Little Fox in Oregon!! in late September!

Little Fox was an amazing host and you can read about our joint adventures on his blog!

I got some super cool stamps and stickers there too!!

This one is so apropos of Little Fox!! Although a beer glass would work too!

And then... I came home and... well... that's a whole separate blog post... Let's just say, this little bear was not pleased!

Cause when you leave two mice alone together... they can sure get into mischief!!!

Anyhow... before we get to my return from Oregon... I just wanted to share some Christmas mail!! This is from Little Fox!!! Thanks LF!

And then we have... excuse me!!! Minnie!!!

You'd think this cat would keep two mice in check but... nooooo....

OK... anyhow... 

I received a couple of other Christmas mail pieces!!

The first is another handmade card from Droop & co!

Thanks Droopy!!! Yes... we agree... we've not been the best correspondents this year either... we blame it on Covid!

Hmmm... or is it really sekrebearies??? Time to do the year-end review I think!

And then we got this piece...

From Jerry & Ben!!

"Beary Christmas!!"... I like that!!!!! Might have to steal that!

Aw thanks J&B!!!

It's always nice to get Christmas mail!!!

Now... are you ready... OK... stay tuned for the next blog post for details of my return from Oregon and what I found... or didn't find when I got home... (hint: 2 absent mice... and humans!!!).

Mouse Mail!

 Hullo!!! Cocoa and Navy here! I know, I know... it's been far too long since our last blog post!

So we have a stockpile of mail to share! First up a card from Beanie... with a Mutant Ninja Turtle pizza coupon on the front! Well... that would be fun!

It would be handy next time we go to London!

And... we did notice the two cat stamps... hmph...

Next... a card from J&B!!

A Halloween card? Oh... nope...

It's Sandy's prize for his Smokey the Bear Halloween costume!! He got first prize in Jerry & Ben's Halloween contest... and he gets a Starbucks gift card... hmph.

But you know what... Sandy's not here... we got honourable mention for our dementors' costumes (beary scary by the way)... sooo... Starbucks here we come!!!

OK... this one is weird... oh... we mailed a Halloween card to Droopy and it got returned to us!!!

Droopy... dog... send us your address please!! We're sure we had the right one soooo...

And then... this massive envelope covered in stickers! It's from Beanie & Co!

Let's see... a card for a Tas restaurant... supposed to be super yummy!!

And another London Bus Guide!!!!

Oh... Nope... another 5 London Bus Guides!!!! We are going to be so set when we get over to London!!!

and a nice card!

And.... voila... Navy Beanie's passport!!!! With semaphores too!!! (They say "About to Sail" and "Keep Clear")

The the official USoR passport stamp. We are all set to head off on an adventure!!!

Whew... what a great pile of mail!!! Now... where is Sandy????

Cause... you know... there apparently is an adventure trip coming up...

And... if Sandy's not here...

Then we're leaving without him!!!! 

More Coal Mining Remnants

***Editor's note - this adventure took place before Navy Beanie! (And Cocoa was in England)

Hullo! Our tour of the old coal mine continues. We went on the other side of the power lines to see what we could find there.

So far not much!

Oh, some old bit of metal... 

Might be from coal mining or might just be junk!

Hmmm... interesting...

If the boot doesn't fit... don't wear it!

This looks more like an old bit of car...

More car... maybe people dumped their garbage here. Back in the day, people would just drive their old cars into the woods and leave them to die...

That doesn't look like cars... but might be coal mining related.

Something that got crushed down so people wouldn't go into it and get hurt!

More cars!

Oooh... and there's some water shining through the trees...

But it's hard to get down there...

But you can see the black soil showing through...

A slab of concrete!! That's definitely something coal mining related...

Still no way down to the lake!

But don't worry.. .this little bear is persistent!

Yep, a lot of coal detritus here...

Don't sit on the ground... you'll get a black bum!

Ah... finally!!! A way down to the lake!

And an old rail... 

Wow! This is beary pretty!

Don't you think?

These old stumps tell me that this is a man-made lake - so there's probably a dam at the other end. The old coal mining era made a lot of dammed lakes here...

Alright... well... we didn't find a lot of exciting stuff... although online resource said there was something over by those trees but the brush is too thick... maybe we'll check in the spring when the brush is low!

Maybe...

And as we were heading back under the powerlines... we saw this!!!

It's bear poopies!!! And it wasn't meeeeeee!!!

***A short while later***

OK... no bears. Whew! We went to the far side of the lake just to check out the dam...

Yep... there it is...

Oh... well... that's a really effective barrier but I guess it's more... "you were warned!"...

No fence or anything!

I wonder when this was built? Probably in the early 1900s...

A little sluiceway... beary pretty

There's lots of cool old stuff like this around... if you start looking for it.

We were waaaayyy over on the other side before!

And just to show I am an intrepid bear... I'm going to sit on the dam!!! 

But I'm not intrepid enough to walk all the way across...