I’m watching the hearings on replay, in case I need to switch over to panda cams or fishing bear cams to calm down a bit, between revelations. No wonder I’m so stressed out!
Panda On!
Bob T Panda
Yes, it’s that time of year! The grizzly bear equivalent of the Oscars, The World Cup, and The Great British Bake Off, all rolled into one! It’s almost time for the annual Bear Cam!
In honor of this annual display of fish catching excellence, we share from the archives, the story of Frank and Mikey’s trip to their ancestral homelands!
Mr Poppee would never disappoint Bikkie!
Panda On!
Bob T Panda
I can’t believe we need to remind people not to do this. There is more and more information that invading the personal space of a wild animal is a really bad idea. It can endanger the wild animals, not to mention, they might decide to eat you.
More to come from our exclusive ZooNooz coverage of the hearings about Mittens Coup attempt! Be there or be the bear!
Panda On
Bob T 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)
And who among us can resist that pink cotton candy that proliferated at amusement parks and county fairs?
Be the bear everyone!
Bob T Panda
But really…who can blame the little piggy! Chips are really hard to resist!
I really don’t want to think about the clean up. I suspect the owner would be better off just torching the car.
Be the Bear (or piggy!)
Bob T Panda
I sure hope Bikkie doesn’t decide to stow away on Frank, Hank, and Mikey’s summer trip to the ancestral homestead!
Be the Bear!
Bob T Panda
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 Swap and 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!
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
It was 50 years ago in April when when the Nixon Pandas came to live in DC. They were not the first pandas to arrive in the US…that honor goes to Su Lin the first, who lived for several years at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.
But 50 years of pandas at the Smithsonian National Zoo is a big milestone to celebrate. The arrival of Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, after the deaths of Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing was cause for celebration. The pictures of Mei Xiang as a demure cubbie make my heart sing.
Who would have imagined the bounty of cubbies, from Tai Shan to our beloved miracle, Xiao Qi Ji (aka Bikkie), who arrived when we thought all hope had flown.
Be the Bear!
Bob T Panda
Visit the Felties Revisited page for details!
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!
Oh, that Biscuit! He’s always getting into something!
Be the Bear!
Bob T Panda