A Reader Asks...

Bettsi at Tender Arts asked me a question a while ago (Your life as a tribal leader sounds very interesting. Do you think you would have the same interest in bears without it?). Before I forget, which is often, I'll respond to it now. I've always liked bears and it so happened that I moved to a town that harbours +/-100 resident black bears living in the surrounding mountains and forests. I started carving bears as a way to use some of the better pieces of pine, cherry and cedar I salvaged from construction sites. The rest gets burned for indoor heat. The name came to me last winter while watching 'Dances With Wolves' on late-late nite TV, interrupted with commercial breaks consisting mostly of Lakota Vitamin Supplements endorsed by Chief Ten Bears himself, Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman. At the same time my wooden bear population hit double digits. Like The Dude in 'The Big Lebowski' who was vehement about rug in his apartment tying its decor together, Chief-Ten-Bears ties this blog up for me.