IN WHICH BEAR GOES IN FOR A CHECK-UP AND LEARNS . . .

that he is more or less healthy. Despite all the aches and pains.

Terrible weather here — up around O°C (32F). Snow and ice, in the sun, melting. Water sneaking down into Bear's den. Bear, wet, cold, and dirty — also unhappy. (I should have known better than to lie in that position.)

One of the things I usually do is go see my doctor — er, um, vet — when I come out of hibernating. Only this year it's going to be earlier than usual. Much earlier.

On the plus side, there were some berries left over from last fall, hanging on trees. I had a quick snack on the way.

Vet gave me a good going over. My heart is fine; my blood pressure is up a bit (from all this non-hibernating non-sense). Eyes are fair. Ears are good. Nose is excellent, as usual (we Bears make our way around the forests, grasslands and waterways via our noses, since we can't see much at all). Paws are good; claws are a mess, and will have to be sharpened before spring.

But what about this annoying, restless, yearning that keeps me from getting a good winter's snooze? Vet says she can't help me. "It's all weather-related," she says. "Go have a swim in an icy pond," was her suggestion, "then try to get some rest." Right. Sure. But at least she didn't tell me to go and soak my head, or something like that.

"In fact," she continued, "a whole lot of Bears have been coming in early, both the americanus and the arctos horribilis types. Vet predicts there will be an outbreak of generalized grumpiness among Bears in the spring. Great. Just great! Yearlings will be acting up more than usual, picking fights with everybody. Somebody might get hurt, for nothing. (Sigh!) Meaning I will spend a lot of my time trying to calm things down. And the americanus crew — black, brown, cinnamon, whatever colour — will be pushing the habitat boundaries into our area. Drat them anyhow!

A warm winter followed by a hot-blooded spring. I'm getting too "advanced in years" for this stuff. Pretty soon they're going to start calling my Jerry (as in Jerry Atric). And you Humans think you've got it tough with shovelling snow and scraping windows. Hrumf! Grrr!

OK. So, I'm going to try to get back to hibernating. But, well, you know, I really don't feel like sleeping. To tired to do things; too awake to sleep. You ever have that problem?

See you in spring, perhaps.

Update: IN WHICH BEAR FINALLY GETS TO HIBERNATE

Ah, well, finally. The snow came last night. It is still being blown about by swirling winds. The temperature feels like -27°C, which is about -17°F.

◊Update: The temperature today is -38°C (or -36F). The wind chill takes it down to -48C (that's a balmy -54F). With all the ice crystals in the sky, there are huge sundogs, and I can hear them barking. Great background noise to which a Bear can fall asleep.◊

I'm looking forward to seeing all of you in the spring (whenever it arrives, hopefully later than sooner). If I wake up before spring, I'll try to come by for a visit. After which I'll doze off again.

Blessings and Bear hugs to all. And (Janie, especially), ciao for niao.

IN WHICH BEAR WAKES UP IN MID WINTER . . .

. . . because it way too HOT. We've had temperatures around the freezing point — sometimes just above, sometimes just below. When you're living inside a heavy Bear coat, it's too hot to sleep comfortably. Sort of like having seven wool blankets on your bed on a hot mid-summer's night.

Also, after about six weeks in the computer hospital, my computer is working again. It's not working entirely right, but well enough that I can send this message to you. They didn't have the heart to charge me for all the work they had done, but I gave them money for their first hour's work. (Hey, this is a local business; one has to support local enterprise, or it disappears.)

Anyhow, I also have several thousand e-mail message in my box (and spilling out all over the floor in our apartment). It may take a while (I would expect no more than six months) for me to get back to you, so please be patient.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Delightful Kwanza, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Yule, or whatever you may have been celebrating in the last few weeks.

Yup, that's about it. There are a lot of delightful smells around here; I must go and investigate.

Ciao for niao. Blessings and Bear hugs, too.