YES!!!!! I THINK IT IS SPRING!

To Begin at the Beginning

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Water on my head.

Chinese water torture! Aaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhh!

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Wait a minute. There's nobody else here!

Snif. Snif. Although the place does smell a bit of coyote. Peculiar. I had a dream that a coyote had come to visit me. Strange; very strange. Do you ever have a dream, when you're starting to wake up, and you're not sure if it's a dream or something more tangible? Strange. Odd. Puzzling. 

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Must mean my roof is leaking. 

Which means snow is melting outside.

Scramble. Crawl. Lurch towards to opening of my den.

Snout out.

The sun is bright, but not blinding. Sky is blue and cloudless, with a bit of haze on the horizon. The snow is melting; I can see lots of snirt. ("Snirt": that's a Canadian word, meaning a mixture of snow and dirt — a good thing at this time of year.)  The air is fresh. Moreover, it smells like spring. Aaaaaaah!

You need to understand that smell is very important to us Bears. (Or is it "we Bears"?) It is also very keen. As per the the following First Nation's (Indian, Aboriginal) story.

A pine needle fell from a tree in the forest.
The Eagle saw it.
The Deer heard it.
The Bear smelled it.  

(A story about the relative strengths of certain Critters. The Eagle's strong eyes see just about everything. The Deer's ears, always up and twitching, pick up almost every sound. And he Bear's nose — well, we've been through that.)

So, back to the routine of non-winter living? 

Stretch. Yawn. Grrrrrr? Maybe. 

Decision time. Do I go back to sleep or start looking for food? Actually, I'm feeling hungry. I think I can smell some fresh grass, and some berries.

Crawl. Squeeze. And I'm . . . out of the den. Strange, though. It was a lot easier getting out this spring than it was getting in last autumn. Why is that? Did the hole get bigger? 

No matter. 

Now, to find the foxes who wanted to rent my place for a family home over the summer. I'll check on them after something to eat. From the sun, I'd say it is too late for lunch, but too early for supper. It will be "lupper." (Another Canadian word; mid-afternoon meal between lunch and supper — the afternoon equivalent of "brunch.")

Changes in My Life

But I'm going to be doing things differently this year. This blog is going into archive. I don't live on the range anymore. I live in the urban forest, in a cave ablve the tree tops (which is also related to the title of my poetry blog, called Life in the Urban Forest). More important, I want to talk about what Bears Noting in the world, particularly the urban world. So that is where you will find me — at Bears Noting — my original blog. 

For those of you who have been following me around and about in my adventures on the range — thank you very much for keeping me company, and adding your own delights to my journey. I invite you to join me at Bears Noting, where you are most welcome. You'll find the same kind of writing there which you have found here — more or less. I will certainly try to keep my posts Bear-able for Humans. 

The other thing you can be Noting is that in April, based in Bears Noting, Bear will undertake to participate in the annual A-Z Challenge (if they hold it again). That means blogging almost every day — which will be very challenging and should keep me busy and out of trouble. (Bear, who are you kidding? The regular readers all know you can get into "interesting situations" at the drop of a hat.)

So, now for our moving adventure to Bears Noting.

And while I'm thinking, maybe I'll spend part of the summer at my tent on Blogland Lane. Too early to settle on that, though. Just a thought.

Blessings and Bear hugs, as always! (Now, where are those berries?)

P.S.: If you're looking for my above-mentioned poetry blog, it's here. I don't write that much poetry, but some people like what I do, so I keep doing it. And I always keep hoping to do more.