The bears with me, of course, are Frank, Mikey, Josie, and Pookie, and of course all the pandas. I recently changed the name of my Substack to Friendly to Bears, just because. I recently wrote a new thing there, which I hope you’ll read.
There is no truth to the rumor that Frank and Mikey have taken control of the ‘toons and are compelling me to write ‘toons about them instead of pandas. We will prove this by sharing today’s ‘toon…um…what happened? Where are the pandas?
The story about Frank and Mikey’s mom came from the keeper talk about the grizzly bear brothers who live in San Diego. Their mom really did get arrested and she really did get a “job” test garbage cans. I hope she doesn’t get fired with all the firings in the park system as well as the rest of the government.
The story about Josie..well, you be the judge if this is true.
There was a story on Fezbok about a little bear that was rescued by cows, until the Appalachian Bear rescue found him. Was it really Josie? We’ll never tell!
Keep being the bear Bob T is friendly to bears Panda
We know a lot about our panda families, as they have been well documented and recorded on Panda cams, but Frank and Mikey…they have been somewhat more of a mystery.
There have been way too many revelations in the Nooz today. I think retreating to a bear filled forest is just what we need. (Well, what I need, anyway)
By which, of course, I mean NooZ about bears. Speaking of bears, I changed the name of my Substack NooZletter to Friendly to Bears. While I am still searching for my Inner Panda, I thought a change was in order. Don’t ask me why. I think it was Frank and Mikey’s idea.
Speaking of Frank and Mikey, I was inspired by the story one of the zookeepers guides told us about their grizzly bear brothers that live at the zoo, and how they arrived there. Frank and Mikey (and Josie) had a similar story about their early days, and how they ended up where they did.
Who knows…it could be true…
The real NooZ is pretty scary and upsetting. If you can make the effort to call and/or email your reps in the House and Senate, it seems to be making a difference. Even if your reps are “Rs” they need to hear from you. Let’s make them nervous that they’ll lose their jobs if they don’t listen to their voters. You are their constituents even if you didn’t vote for them & you’re paying their salary.
This has been a really hard week to wrap my head around. First the disastrous commentary on Biden’s debate performance. Granted, the debate was pretty terrible. Biden’s low energy and general demeanor was not ideal. But neither was TFG’s non- stop firehose of lies.
It’s disgusting that the media, particularly the NYT and the pundit class were all baying for Biden’s blood, and at the same time ignoring and minimizing his busy schedule and strong, stirring speeches at these events (G-7! D-Day! Major fundraisers in NY and CA! President stuff!) and completely ignoring the lies of a 34 times convicted felon who lies more than he breathes.
The only newspaper that had the guts to say, “Hey, maybe the guy who has been convicted of 34 felonies, stole national nuclear secrets and tried to over throw an election…maybe HE should step down,” was the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Honestly, I don’t know if he should step down or not. Only Joe Biden knows, and an overwhelming number of primary contest voters voted for him. I can’t imagine the chaos it would cause if he did. I’m against anything that hands the election to You Know Who. If you haven’t read about the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, you should at least read some summaries. For starters, they want to replace career civil servants with TFG loyalists. They want a national abortion ban, gutting of all regulations and the agencies that regulate them. You like clean air? too bad. We can’t tell polluting corporations what to do. You think there should be public education? Nope. That’s out. Medicare, medicaid, Social Security: they’re all on the chopping block. But don’t worry. You won’t live long enough to need elder care.
And then there is the “Supreme” Court…
What. The. Actual. Fuck.
On this, the day that the Declaration of Independence was signed, the document that said all men (well, white men, no women or POC need apply) are created equal and no one is above the fucking law, well…the Heritage Foundation Federalist Society Justices, just said, “New phone, who dis?”
In essence they put themselves above the law, as what they laid out seems to have been, “well, we’ll tell you if we think the president has immunity for this or that act, or not.” They opened the door to lawless corruption from the White House, and no way to rein it in. I’m not a historian, but I’ve listened to enough historians in the last several days to know that wasn’t what the authors of the Constitution intended.
I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade or picnic (pass the marshymallows!) I just had to get this out of my head. In the meantime…
Here are some pandas!
The only way out is through, and the only way through is to vote like everyone’s life depends on it. They want us to be demoralized and stay home. Don’t fall for it.
Be the BEAR! Bob T Vote Blue all the way up and down the ballot Panda
Let’s see if I I do a better job of figuring out what this story is supposed to be!
It is a sad truth, among we who figure out stories by the seat of our pants, that sometimes what seems like a good idea at the beginning, sometimes collapses in a heap of “well who cares what happens next?” This happened in the last story I attempted. You never know, so you head off with great anticipation, only to lose all your excitement a few episodes in.
Hopefully, this will not be the case here.
Truth is, there are already so many interpretations of various fairy tales, that there are almost infinite parody possibilities, as opposed to a story that was already perfect as it is, with The Phantom Toll Booth. Other than my idea of casting Six and Sebben as the Princesses of Rhyme and Reason (I know, right???) and having Bikkie, Pookie and Frank drive off in a little car, I really didn’t know where to take it.
So here, I offer yet another take, on the tale of Cinderella!
I hope you will enjoy this ongoing distraction from the Nooz, Pandarella!
Josie has graciously agreed to be our omniscient narrator! (Josie: I did not!) And yes, there are some excellent parts for Six and Sebben, and PPJ!
Happy first day of Spring, here in the northern hemisphere. Up in the upper left hand corner of the continental US, we are having what we like to call “fake spring”. That is when we have up to a weeklong stretch of days in the mid 60’s and the sun shines and gentle breezes blow, and everybody shrieks when they see how dirty their windows are, and all the things that need to be done in the yard…you get the picture.
2 days later, it will start to rain and temperatures will drop back into the 40’s and 50’s and we will remember those warm, halcyon days fondly and pining away for their return. If we are lucky, they will return just in time for the 4th of July, when we transition into Seattle Summer.
Enjoy it while you can!
I love the Spring Equinox, as the days grow longer every day till we reach the Solstice. We need to take some joy where we find it.
Once again, one of my faithful readers has come through with a VERY IMPORTANT Nooz story about…
Bears!
Could it be part of a sinister plot, coordinated from afar by Henrietta (or the bear formerly known as Hank), who now lives at a luxury resort for wayward bears? Is there an army of bears going around the towns near Lake Tahoe putting up posters admonishing people NOT to use bear-proof receptacles for their garbage? Maybe leaving a double cheese, double pepperoni pizza on top of the garbage can sometimes?
But seriously, feeding wildlife is a bad idea. Especially bears. Would you want to wake up and have Frank or Mikey looking in your bedroom window, wondering where breakfast was?
In other NooZ, things are heating up in the trials of Mittens. Frank, Bikkie, and Pookie are STILL on their adventure, and I promise I’ll get back to it soon. I’m also doing my Year in Reviewover on Substack so go check it out!
Till later…be the bear! Bob T pass the pizza Panda
Thanks and a Roll of Honor mention to my brother for alerting me to this important story!
