Category Archives: Life in the Panda House

Pinky Learns Election Results

And reader, her reaction is about what you would expect it to be.

Every once in a while I have a tiny bit of trouble figuring out what the exit line of a ‘toon should be. And sometimes when that happens, a little voice comes down from the universe and tells me what it should be, and sometimes, someone writes a comment, which turns out to be the perfect line, and I appropriate it.

Which is what happened with today’s toon. So thanks, Jeannie!

We are going to need a REALLY big flyswatter.

Panda Solidarity Forebber
Bob T is under the bed Panda

Are we brave enough for this new world order?

I’m not sure I am.

While my production goals are somewhat inconsistent these days, here’s what I’m gonna do: When I don’t get new toons done for either Tuesday or Thursday (or both!) I’ll post something that makes me happy from the archives, usually more than one ‘toon, so that’s kind of a bonus, right?

But today, I have the continuation of last Tuesday’s ‘toon, before the awful thing happened.

Huzzah?

Do you think Pinky is going to react well to the NooZ?

Hold your pandas close,
Bob T somehow we will get through this Panda

This Brave New World

Well, this is it. Today is the last day to vote, so I am posting this early so that more people see this. I’m writing this on Monday night (because I actually got today’s ‘toon done before dinner time.)

We had quite the windstorm on Monday, which started sometime in the night. Then it died down for a couple hours before it picked up again from another direction. The power went out for a bit, but it came back on again after a couple of hours at the most, so I didn’t have to put my usual outage tricks into effect. (also I was able to post this!)

Now to distract myself from the day ahead I listening to Taylor Swift (yes really) and switching off to occasionally to the SNL cold open with Kamala Harris and Maya Rudolph. If you haven’t watched this yet, I hope you will. Each time I watch it, I am struck all over again by watching the true joy between Harris and Rudolph… The roar of the crowd when they see Kamala on the other side of the mirror. I mean…I realize it couldn’t have been a total surprise to the audience or crew. I read there had been a few hints. The audience must have had to go through extra security. There must have been a bunch of Secret Service folks. Still, it could have been cancelled at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances. Each time I watch it (not gonna tell you how many times) I feel the joy radiating off the screen. I hear it in the roar of the crowd that pauses the interaction between Harris and Rudolph.

I don’t know what we are going to wake up to on Wednesday, but the choice seems clear, has always seemed clear to me. Do we want a leader who will cheerfully do the hard work that needs to be done to try to get the country and the world in a better place? Or do we want a mentally and physically collapsing would be dictator who will bring in unprincipled grifters and con men to be his advisors, who are using him for their own purposes? Watch any of his appearances from the last week and tell me that this is someone you would trust the future of your children and grandchildren to.

Please vote for a better future, if you haven’t already. Do it for the pandas.

As you might remember, the whole panda family has moved to China, so that Binky Li and Qing Bao could move to the Panda House. I’m not sure where this story is going, but I’m sure it’s going somewhere.

Stay ‘tooned, keep Kamala and carry on-a-la

Fa la la la la!

Be the Bear
BobT wake me when it’s over Panda

One More ‘Toon from the Panda House Kitchen Table

I wrote this a couple weeks ago, and one thing and another jumped up and down and yelled “I’m more important! NO! I am” and so I finally got this one done.

There will be a bit of a rant after this ‘toon, so feel free to skip that if you are tired of me ranting! I am still a wreck, and I suspect many of you are too, so let’s just get to those fun-loving pandas!

Cheating is definitely not winning.

Be the Bear and Panda On
Bob T stress napping for the next 5 days Panda

So here goes my rant:

I seriously can not figure out how anyone with a brain could possibly consider voting for TFG. He is visibly deteriorating every time he is on camera, and we have no idea what is going on when he is not on camera. At this point it is clear he is being used by the extreme wing of the Heritage Foundation/GQP because he is (inexplicably) popular with his rabid base. At this point it is clear that the goal is to get him elected, either pull his puppet strings or replace him with JD, who seems to be full on board with a live action version of The Handmaids’ Tale/Hunger Games.

And can we talk about Pastor Mike’s plan to toss out the Affordable Care Act? Were it not for the ACA, I would have been without healthcare from about 2010 till I was eligible for Medicare (which they also want to get rid of, along with Social Security.) In a recorded conclave with big GOP donors, he talked about the affront of having the government get between you and your healthcare.

I’ll wait while you consider that statement from Pastor M…

Yeah…the party who allows women to die of sepsis/blood loss in the parking lot when they have miscarried rather than let her determine with her doctor that she needs an abortion to save her life, is concerned about the government sliding into your doctors office.

Every time I watch Kamala Harris and the people who support her (Michelle! Beyonce!) I feel a flood of hope for the possibility of being governed by adults. I can’t listen to any more news about polls or the horse race the major media seems to want to keep talking about. I can only worry so much about TFG and Pastor Mike’s BIG SECRET for that One Great trick That Big Democrats Don’t Want You To Know About to Overthrow Democracy and trust that Marc Elias and all his clever lawyers will protect us from such fuckery.

I know everyone who is still here with me is the choir I am preaching to and believe me, I am so glad you are here and understand the assignment: To vote for Kamala and all the D’s on the ballot. Big shout out to all of you in Ohio (Sherrod Brown!!!) and those in swing states who have to listen to all the hyperbolic political ads non-stop.

Thank you who have chosen hope over retribution. I’m so glad we are here together.

5 more days!

as a reward for listening to me rant, here’s our favorite seasonal ‘toon!

Fabulous Furry Friday KNOWS that this is one of your favorites!

THE PANDAS ARE HERE! THE PANDAS ARE HERE!

We watched them land…but what was really going on inside the plane…???

The pandas have arrived in the nick of time, even if we can’t see them yet. But knowing they are here, well, I’m going to take that as a sign that life will continue.

And on that note, I REALLY hope all my peeps here have registered to vote and have already voted or have a plan to vote as soon as you can. It becomes more clear every day that TFG is in no condition to order a pizza, let alone be president. It becomes even more clear that the Heritage Foundation/Project 2025 folks are desperate to get him over the finish line so they can install tech bro fascist JD.

Democracy is a process. It is not perfect and it is full of imperfect people. But we can’t let “perfect” be the enemy of the good enough. It is kind of weird to be agreeing with Liz Cheney, but if uber conservative Liz and her dad think that electing Kamala Harris will get us to a place where democracy survives to disagree on policy another day, well, I’m agreeing with Liz.

Let’s support a democracy, where we can host pandas from China, who happen to be the descendants of Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, and the Son of Pinky. I want to wake up on November 6th to a President Harris, who embraces joy and possibility.

Let’s do this. we have 2 weeks.

Be the Bear
Bob T Panda

Oreos and Bears and Pandas, Oh My!

Ya know, I thought about doing something about the trial today, and then I thought, “nah…I don’t want to jinx it by assuming you know who would be found GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY,” so instead I planned this nice little ‘toon about Oreo, the Oreo stealing bear, and THEN, what happens at like 5 AM yesterday morning, my text messages start blowing up with nooz of Binky Li coming to Washington DC, so this time procrastinating worked to my advantage, because I could work the arrival of Binky Li and his girl fren into the ‘toon.

So here ya go! I’m pretty sure Nixon’s ghost will pop in next week to gloat over TFG’s 34 COUNT GUILTY VERDICT.

There will be champagne popping and dancing in the streets tonight. Hopefully the gun totting minions of TFG will be kept under control. Be happy and stay safe, panda friends. We have two new sets of bears to welcome later this year!

Enjoy some Oreos and milk and no double dipping!

Be the Bear
Bob T is not a crook Panda

California Dreaming!

The newest residents of Panda Canyon have gotten their golden tickets to their new home! We don’t know exactly when they will arrive, but reports are for sometime this summer. Like the Three Chipmunks sang, “Wee can hardly stand the wait…

The San Diego Panda Dynasty continues!

Of course ZooNooZ scored the first interview!

For explanations about Yun Chuan’s vocal stylings, and reports on Xin Bao’s witticisms, do visit the San Diego Zoo’s write up of the new cubbies!

Be the Bear
Bob T I’m excited! Are you? Panda

Return to the Panda House

Maybe I couldn’t get my heart into Bikkie and Mister Poppee’s latest adventure story, or maybe the potential implosion of democracy has me too nervous to concentrate, but, at least for the time being, I have brought Pookie, Bikkie, and Mister Poppee home to face to Mommee music.

Needless to say, it did not go particularly well.

Of course they are all grounded.
Pinky: even me? I didn’t have anyfing to do wif dis!
Mei Xiang: especially you!

Meanwhile out in the real world, Bal’mer Bridges falling down, TFG mouthing off to the (various) judges and prosecutors, Ronna McRomney finding a job then losing it again, (and rightly so: How can a nooz organization hire a KNOWN prevaricator, who will say whatever whoever is paying her to say it?) , and we are trying to keep one step ahead of the blackberries here at the headquarters for The Panda Chronicles!

I hope your week is off to a better start than Mitten’s is!

Be the Bear
Bob T am I grounded too? Panda

We have NOOOOOOZ

Panda watchers around the US woke up to the NooZ that negotiations have been underway, agreements are being signed, permits are being applied for to BRING MORE PANDAS TO PANDIEGO!!!!! Before the end of this year!

We west coast folks have been having a real sad since early in 2019 when Bai Yun and the Very Wu Self left for China. Papa Gao Gao had left earlier in 2018. We were hoping that more pandas would be coming, but You Know Who had been messing things up with China since his reign of terror began and then the Covid pandemic arrived and we despaired of ever getting pandas on the west coast again.

To put an extra helping of frosting on the cupcake, part of the negotiations is to get one of Bai Yun’s descendants as the female half of the new panda pair. Bai Yun has a LOT of descendants. I need someone with better record keeping abilities than I have to inform me on just how many grand babies and great grand babies Bai Yun has, but there are a lot of them. Next to Pan Pan, Bai Yun could be one of the most consequential pandas to have participated in taking pandas off the extremely endangered list. If you have info to share with the panda fans here, feel free to chime in in the comments.

And now, our story (well, one of our stories) continues

I’m sure the new pandas at Pandiego will be way more better behaved than Pinky and Six and Sebben. Probably.

Be the bear,
Bob T pandas return to San Diego Panda