With the arrival of Pookie (aw!!! He’s so cute!) at the Panda House, I thought it would be a good day to look back on the entrance of Frank and Mikey to the Panda Chronicles. Of course, Mehitabel has always enjoyed interviews of animals who have raised their paws for Justice…
You just can’t trust crocodiles.
But we were speaking of bears…
Send in the bears!Helloooooo bears!I like bears.
That was Frank and Mikey’s introduction to the Panda Chronicles, and like bears everywhere, once you feed them, it’s hard to get them to leave.
Guess who’s coming for cuppycakes!!!!“We are NEVER going to get our security deposit back!!!”Ruh Roh….
And now you know how Frank got those fuzzy dice stuck on his ear!
I hope you enjoyed this look back at the first appearances of Frank and Mikey.
Till Tuesday (if we don’t have more technical difficulties)…
Be the Bear Bob T thinks the GOP are bunch of spineless weasels Panda
A big thanks and a couple of cuppycakes to my faithful friends and readers, who send me nooz stories of bears behaving badly! Apparently a bear had to be rescued from a California amusement park. Thanks for the valuable* tip! (*No actual monetary value)
Has anyone seen Frank and Mikey around?
And who among us can resist that pink cotton candy that proliferated at amusement parks and county fairs?
Some weeks I have a time to expound upon, and then I look for archived ‘toons that illuminate that theme. Other weeks I have no idea what I’m thinking of and then I just have to spin the wheel and see what pops up.
One thing you can be sure of, it’s likely that Pinky will be involved!
On my honor, I will try…to eat as many cookies as I possibly can….
Well…no Pinky in that one! let’s try again!
Mei should not be getting all excited like this in her condition!And what better talk show is there, than Mehitabel Tonite!?I really had no idea what she was up to.Make sure Pinky doesn’t try to steal Bubba and Ping’s candy!
Well as Pinky all says, you can never have enough ‘toons about Pinky!
It’s now official. A book written by Beth Bacon and illustrated by yours truly will be released on September 6, but you can pre-order it now via Amazon. It’s called The Panda Cub Swapand it’s all about the birth of the first twin pandas born in the US who lived to young adulthood, Mei Lun and Mei Huan of Zoo Atlanta.
This book took almost 8 years to come into being. I met Beth through working on Pandamorphosis, and while the publisher she was working on at the time kind of crashed and burned, and did not ultimately participate in publishing Pandamorphosis, she helped to shape the book and we connected through our interest in writing for kids.
Fast forward a few years from working on Pandamorphosis. Beth was completing an MFA in writing for children at Vermont College of Fine Art. She needed a project, and she suggested we collaborate on a picture book, which hopefully we would be able to interest an agent or publisher. I suggested the story of Mei Lun and Mei Huan (aka the Meihems) since they were the first surviving twins born in the US and we were off to the races.
Well, if you think things are going to happen quickly and easily in publishing, you are going to be disappointed. The project had various moments of interest, then rejections, and we each got busy with other projects and put it aside. Sad, because we thought it could be a beautiful book, but there is a lot of “oh well, what might have been,” in publishing.
About 2 years ago, Beth called me and said she wanted to self publish the book and could she hire me to do the illustrations. I had some sketches from the early drafts, but really had to start from scratch other than the source photos that I had already saved. In the end, she decided to try once more to find a publisher who would be interested in the project and she finally did.
This was such a fun book to work on. She had lots of communication with the panda keepers at Zoo Atlanta, so that the story she told was accurate. I got to draw pandas! I know September seems like a long time to wait, but it will go faster than you think. Meanwhile, pre-orders really help to get the book more notice in a crowded field of children’s book, and help the publisher make a larger first printing. Over the months while we wait, I will occasionally tease you with an image for the book!
So let’s start with the cover:
But what about today’s ‘toon?!?!?!?!
Remember I said something about presents from the universe? There was this story on the mid week edition of Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me about a job posting for a Grizzly Bear Conflict Manager in Montana. Doesn’t that sound like the perfect job for Frank and Mikey? (MX: yes! It sounds perfect! Can I help you pack?)
Well, that’s all we have time for today! Alas, I think this job listing has already closed, but if Frank and Mikey are on the job, I’m sure there will be another opening *soon*!
Be the Bear! Buy my book!* Bob T Panda
okay, technically, it is Beth’s book, but I made the pictures!
BTW there are only 5 felty kitties remaining! See the Felties revisited page for all the details on ordering. If I’ve already made contact with you, your kitty is already reserved!
You’re not surprised, right? I sure hope Mommee Mei does not find out about this! I’m sure this is not what it looks like.
Be the Bear! Bob T Panda
I wanted to announce my felty cat project. It is explained in more detail on the Felties revised page, but here’s the gist:
I have now made about 25 felty cats. I want to do a special benefit with them, so after my production and mailing costs, I’ll be making a donation of $25 per (felty) cat to the Whatcom County Humane Society, in Bellingham WA. They do a wonderful service with their animals and even though I’m not in a place where I am ready to have another cat, I want to support them. For now, I am going to limit it to 25 cats, but if I find I make another surplus, I will do something like this again. I’ll post the remaining number of cats each day I post a new ‘toon. Cats are $55 each, including US shipping. (I can ship internationally, but the actual shipping charges will be added to the amount.)
Given the state of the world right now, I expect I will continue to need to keep making felties. It is almost as relaxing as watching panda videos!
Last week (or was it the week before? #TimeHasNoMeaning) Hank the Tank, a totally chonk black bear, was all over the inter webs, as he was accused of breaking into more than 30 houses in the Lake Tahoe area.
What’s a bear to do?
Does Hank have accomplices? Is he being framed? ‘Toon in again on Thursday and find out!
This ‘toon (22oon) is coming to you at 2:22 on 2/22/22 (or for you folks not in the US: 22/2/22) Just in case you care about these kind of numerical occurrences…
Anyway…
Six and Sebben hit the slopes! (Not to mention each other!)
I heard they might also participate in the four panda bobsled event with their sisters, the Meihems!
