Making the Best Out of Summer

Like the bears in this frame (Jeanie and her cubs of 2004), I've been taking advantage of the warm weather to do some much needed exterior house repair and firewood gathering, except that bears are fattening themselves up for their hibernation season instead. I certainly don't need fattening up... anyway, my posts will pick up in frequency in mid-september. In the meantime, check out these funny bear links:

What the queer bears are wearing lately.

Run amok this halloween in a rented robotic panda suit.

Tai Shan's upside-down-bamboo-chewing antics and Bai Yun says hello to her cub.

Did you know you could get Rock'em Sock'em bears and uncannily realistic bear figurines? Thanks eBay!

Someone's come up with garbage bags shaped like their trash contents.

Ricky Gervais' Bears in Educate Me, Y-front, and Mittens.


Update: Thanks to Maureen in QLD for this clip of a startled Panda mum.

Fun With Fish Eye lenses

Dave added a 10.5mm fisheye lens to the bag full of gear he usually lugs around for work and it is a fun little thing to play with. That's Pike Place Fish Market above (Dave took it for a test spin in Seattle) and him in his first floor office below. We've got software that removes the distortion on jpeg files, though if it were up to me I wouldn't bother to take out the wonky bits.

Beautiful Oregon, Part I of II

Rather than blog about tearing up a rotten 300 square foot deck on the side of my house this week, I've got some lovely pics from a trip Dave and I did last June. Oregon is known for its variety of bridges, some of which are quite the feat of engineering.

Tidal pools teem with life and colour, like these anemonaes on the beach.



Sea Lions beside the largest coastal cave in the world named after them. The males hate each other and are separated by their harems of females, and they smell as bad as they sound.

Stalking Money

I got this marked twenty dollar bill at the post office on my way home from errands in town, and thought to post my find to the url stamped on the queen's forehead... but whimsy gave way to necessity and I spent it later in the day on groceries before writing down the serial number.

Taking Care of Lady Business

After being problem free for six years, I was shocked to come down with a UTI last week. Within hours of knowing I made a grocery run for yogurt and cranberry juice, drank water (with baking soda) like a fish and put my feet up so to speak, so as not to irritate my 'lady business' any further. So far, so good. No new signs of infection other than a day of discomfort. I've got to say, Liberty 0.1% pro-biotic raspberry yogurt really saved my ass this time around.

Nail Guns and Paintings Don't Mix

... finally finished this 16" x 20" canvas of Jeanie the Bear that I started oh, ten months ago. After these photos, I accidentally shot two 2" brad nails through the painting while adding the frame. Because of that, it unfortunately won't be added to the "Ten Bears Shoppe".

Making Stuff While the Sun Shines

The garage is a pleasant place to work when summer is in full swing. This little ongoing project as you see here are new shelves for my bedroom closet. Since Dave doesn't share this particular closet (there are two in the master bedroom) I'm opting for a girlish style by cutting a picot lace edge with a 2 1/2" hole saw in 1" knotty pine. Each bump is 5" long. The sides are 5' high and 20" deep with four shelves in between.

A close up of the lacey edge. The power drill needed to cool down before it could be put to work on the other side.

Our trusty F250 bush truck gets a new sign with its name for all to see.

A collection of beat up and discarded skis rescued by me from the municipal dump, and standing in a neat pile by the front door. I intend to use them on the house someday.

A Big Dump of Vegas Pics

'Bear' with me as I unload Part V, the very last of my vegas pics. These are interesting on their own for various reasons...

The mascot of a native reserve convenience store on the outskirts of Vegas. We bought tequila, gas and bottled water. I just had to go shop there.

The pallet of fireworks that greets customers at the front door. Actually, half of the place (2000 square feet) was dedicated to selling fireworks alone. The other half housed a casino, cafeteria, gas bar, liquor store and gift shop. The store partially burned down a few years ago, but that didn't stop it from being open for business throughout fourth of July weekend.

A chirpy little love bird comfortably riding shotgun in a truck with all the windows rolled down. Another parrot rode in the back.

A local bar in the desert where we had a good ol' time.

Souvenirs from customers from all over the world.

Close-up of one of many monetary bills that decorate the walls.

Dave in Red Rock Canyon watching his namesake flying overhead.

Buzzards at dusk.

A glossary of petroglyph meanings. Note the swastika at the lower right corner.

Abandoned rail car in Ryolyte.

Abandoned chapel on the Vegas strip. There were many like this all over town, which made me guess that people preferred to get married at in-house casino chapels instead.

Casino workers handing out mardi gras beads on Freemont Street. In so many droll looks they alluded to the fact that their jobs, outfits or both, really suck.

Long Time No See...

Boy has it cooked these last two weeks! Now that the summer heat has calmed down by 10c/25f in Whistler I can set down to do some blogging on a warm computer. I love my iBook but it bakes one's lap after 30 minutes of typing, not at all appealing on a hot, hot day. That's where this melon, straight out of the fridge, comes in. Off goes the iBook and on goes the melon in my lap. Aaaaaaaah.

A Whore for Ice

Recently, I was in Portland Oregon and neglected to visit the Zoo there. They have a website and in particular, a short movie about the polar bears with scenes of one diving head first into a pile of ice cubes. Very funny.

Check it Out!

New Bears for 'Ye Olde Ten Bears Shoppe'

These bears are for sale and added to the Shoppe at the sidebar.

Su Choy (For the life of me, I couldn't come up with better names than those of chinese vegetables for the pandas. Sorry.)

Gai Lan

Mariebelle

Louise

eBay is a Shopper's Bane: latest finds

I'm really digging these Russian bears lately. They are quite expressive and come in a number of shapes and styles and I've got a few more of 'em to blog in the future.

This is one of the worst coin banks I've ever come across and I happen to own it. The pop-up bear is cute but displaces most of the trunk space to 30 pennies at a time. Well, it weighs 6 pounds and can double for a handy paperweight.

Nip in the bud that nagging question whether you're for or against forest fires with this pin.

Once in a while an exception to the bear rule is made. This nohohon nods its head and tail to the amount of sunlight passing through the window and onto the little solar panel. The nodding gets to be a bit lulling and I find myself needing to wake up and stop staring into space.

Wade characters wre plentiful when I was a kid in the 70's and I'm kind of kicking myself in the butt for not collecting them then. They bring back memories of my Dad drinking vast mugs of Tetly orange pekoe at the kitchen table.

Antique glass bear beads from the Czech Republic.

No idea on the provenance on this one, looks to be either Ainu or South American but I may be wrong. I like the way they appear to be living on this burl.