Scribbler Patrol Bear

Today little bear was not all that please. He was walking along, minding his own business when he saw some scribbles on a garbage can. Little bear has seen a lot of garbage cans (a lot!) and while he still hasn't figured out how to operate the bear-proof containers... he does pay attention to them. And he notices how much litter doesn't make it that extra 20 feet to the garbage cans! (That's our Litter Patrol Bear).

Anyhow, he knows that garbage cans should not have scribbles on them. The scribbles are obviously in a foreign language as he cannot decipher any of it. They are just scribbles... but they look ugly. And little bear is not impressed. Mind you, it is just one garbage can... Or is it?

On his walk today, little bear started to notice that scribbles are actually everywhere. They are on the wooden hand railing of a set of stairs...

They are on the legs of a park bench... seriously, who would want to stoop down that far to put scribbles down there?

They are on the support posts of a bridge... it doesn't matter what surface... scribbles are everywhere. Little bear is quite upset with whoever the scribblers are! Whatever they think they might be doing... they are not beautifying the world! In fact, now it is a distraction for little bear... he is starting to see scribbles wherever he looks... on lampposts... on fences... on bus shelters... on newspaper boxes...

Little bear is here to say... "NO" to the scribblers. Even after little bear learns that the scribbles are called graffitti... he is not impressed... scribbles... everywhere... He is thinking of forming a Scribbler Patrol! In addition to Litter Patrol... and Poop Patrol... and a few other things... hmmm... little bear is going to be a busy bear! Little bear learned that all he has do is dial 311 and he can report scribbles... maybe if everybody reported scribbles... there'd be less scribbles out there...

Acrobatic Bear

Today little bear was out and about... as he normally is... and he came across a very mysterious object... or rather series of objects. They were a bunch of black bars coming out of the snow and going back into the snow. Little bear stared at them for a while, walked around them a little bit... touched them and then stood back, tilted his head to the side and put his little bear brain to work.

What could they be?? Well... they could be many things... but what could they be for a little bear... Because little bear is nothing if not a creative and inventive little bear. After a bit of mulling and thinking... little bear decided that these bars were obviously an exercise arrangement for little bears.

Now, the only question was how to use them... He tried to slide down between them... and come up between them, but they were a little too close together. Or he had put on too much Christmas chocolate weight over the last few months!

But little bear figured out that he could swing up on one bar, and then swing himself down on the other side... so they are a variation on monkey bars!! He'll call them Bear Bars... Maybe he'll lose some weight doing this! Maybe he'll become the world champion on the Bear Bars! Oooh... maybe he'll be going to the 2012 Olympics!!

Which is a good lesson for us too... we don't need to go to a fancy gym to lose the winter weight. We can just use what we find to get ourselves into shape!

Clumsy Bear

Well... little bear learned an interesting lesson today... always watch where you're walking... Little bear was walking along, minding his own business, but not really paying attention to where he was going. He was fixated on a very weird noise that he could hear over the river. It sounded like a squeaky rusty gate opening, over and over again. What could it be?

So he was walking and looking and all of a sudden he saw a big bird (like a very big bird!) lift up from one of the trees across the river! Whoa!!! What could it be?? The bird flew directly overhead and little bear craned his neck and looked and... wow... and then... boof!!

Little bear wasn't watching where he was going and poof and he did a full-frontal face-plant into the snow. The bird flew off... and little bear struggled to lift himself out of the deep snow with his short little arms. Well... that was fun! Little bear gave himself a face-wash! Of sorts...

He learned an important lesson today... don't birdwatch and walk at the same time. He could have walked into the river! Or into a tree! Or off of a cliff! It's a good lesson for him and a good lesson for us as well... who also tend to be multi-taskers as well... typing on the computer while we're talking on the phone... texting while we're driving...  Little bear is going to be much more careful in the future!

As for the bird... ah, that was little bear's first sighting of a bald eagle... hopefully he'll get a better view later!

Materhorn Bear

Today little bear experienced a wide gamut of emotions... excitement, terror, fear, confusion, anxiety, perseverance and finally triumph! Little bear came across a mountain today, in the prairies. Well, at least it was a mountain for him. A tall rock edifice... and little bear stood at the foot of it and looked up and decided that he was going to scale this mountain. He wanted to see what the view was like from up there. He wanted to see what it was like to climb a mountain.



Stuck bear



So little bear started up the mountain... and the first part went pretty well. He found excellent foot and hand and claw holds, and nimbly inched his way upwards. But then... at one point, he realized that he had climbed himself into a corner. There were no more handholds above him... or even clawholds...



He couldn't go upwards. He couldn't go the left. Gulp! Little bear looked down and realized how far he had come... Gulp! He was going to have to retrace his footsteps. And little bear learned that sometimes going down is much harder than going up! Gingerly he inched his way back down, losing all of that hard-won elevation, until he came to another route.

And upwards he went again, climbing and climbing, until finally he came to the ridgeline. This was the top... sort of... but along the ridge crest thre was a peak, and that was the real top! Carefully he inched his way along the knife edge ridge, a shear drop to either side. Oooh... little bear couldn't bear to look down, so he kept his eyes on his goal. Until finally, he was there!

Little bear stood on the peak and exulted in his triumph! He had done it! He didn't let the wrong turn get to him. Nor the height.

Which is a good lesson for us as well. Sometimes we go in one direction and realize that it isn't working out. And sometimes, rather than retracing our footsteps, we keep trying to push that direction, and waste a lot of energy. When really what we need to do is back up, regroup and try something else. Had little bear not done that, he might still be clinging to that mountain...

Snow Angel?

Today little bear came across a sign that had him rather perplexed (he hasn't learned how to read yet). Little bear has met a snowman. Little bear has met an angel. But little bear has never met a snowangel!! What is this sign? What could it mean? Are there snowmen out there with wings? Are there angels out there made out of snow? Are these snow angels the angels of deceased snowmen?? Or are they the guardian angels of snowmen? Or are they angels made out of snow? Or what?

Little bear had some fun trying to figure this out... he was clear that he did want to have his picture taken with this curious hybrid. Little bear is finding that quite a bit these days. That he is preplexed and confused by these things... and unable to find the answers out immediately. Luckily today, little bear had someone with him who could explain the idea of snow angel... that it was a metaphor for people who shovel their neighbour's sidewalks.

Now that made sense to little bear! And he immediately decided that he wanted to be a snow angel as well! He was up early every morning, hardly slept at all really... and he could be out there very early shoveling sidewalks. But when little bear got home and saw how big a snow shovel was... he realized he might not be able to help very much... Somehow snow shovels are not made for little bears! Meaning little bear will not get the label of snow angel, at least not today... but you never know.

Which is a good lesson for us. Maybe things won't happen for us today... maybe we can't do something today, because we lack the skill or the time or the energy... but it could happen someday... if we're open for it. You never know...

Banned

Little bear is an observant little bear and he's been noticing a lot of signs lately... like the following:

And little bear is pretty clear there are a lot of places where a lot of things can't happen and a lot of people/animals can't go... which leaves him wondering and asking the BIG question...

When will he come across a sign that says this:

Which will essentially mean this...

Oh poor little bear... he is learning that there are rules out there in the world and even some prejudice maybe... People don't understand little bears... but all he can do is be himself and show the world that little bears are a benefit to the world!

End run out of the jam

Today little bear took his courage in his hands and decided on a way to get around the log jam... The jam was caught up in the middle of the river, on a sand bank and while little bear felt comfortable sneaking out to the log jam across a narrow band of deceptive snow... he wasn't so sure about the river.

Going out on the river was a whole other story. Little bear decided to do some investigation... First he shoved the snow aside and had a look at the ice underneath. Based on his earlier ice investigations, little bear decided that this ice was definitely thick enough to take his weight... even considering that he had a few chocolates last week and was a tad pudgier than last time he was out on ice! Little bear is turning into quite the little ice scientist...

Second, little bear examined some neighbouring tracks and decided that if the river ice could hold tracks that big... then it could probably hold his little feather weight footsteps! There were some long, narrow tracks which he found a little perplexing. But also some "normal" tracks that looked liked footsteps of some sort.

And with a little tug on his confidence and courage, little bear did an end run around the log jam. Which just goes to show us... why slog through the struggle of something when there might be an easier route around the issue...