Extended Hiatus

Chief-Ten-Bears headquarters suffered a serious fire last June. The house was fodder for the blog and now that it is out of commission for the immediate future, so will the blog. As scary as the fire was noone including my two budgies were injured in the slightest. Big thanks to the Whistler Fire Dept. and my neighbours who came to our aid. Ciao for now.

Timeout for Chief-Ten-Bears

After nearly three years of continuous blogging, I need to take a long break, travel for a month, then figure out what to do next. I'll be back, and most likely in a different way. Ciao for now :-)

Dyslexic Bears of the World, Untie!

I thought they secured those traps in the truck bed for transport. Now we know. (click on pic for link)

That panda loaf needs to be popped out of the pan.

Can I has lint roller?

Ancient pic of Burt Reynolds on a bear skin rug. I remember sneeking a peek in a Playgirl magazine wayyyyyy back when...



Clever, scary Knut. He's all growed up.

A wonderful collection of ad posters from the 20's and 30's.

Tent inspector, please submit your tents for inspecting.

Thank you Jeeves, that will be all for now.

One day when I have time, I'll join the Bears In Ill-Fitting Hats pool.

For Jon

Tacky Sign Alert

This is common tourist fare for sale in Whistler Village. I don't normally waste money on trinkety crap but the sign had comedic potential for...

...electrical tape placed in strategic areas.

It lives with a few other tacky traffic signs by my staircase.

White-Out

Sadly, the pink bear by the front door used to look like this.

I think its my turn to shovel the shed roof. Mona and Dave have already done it each once. At least there is a mound of icy snow on the side I can use to scramble up the back (see bottom left).

If you look long enough, there appears to be a replica of Moby Dick's face in that pile atop the house.

Bears, Links and Bear Links

Unfortunately when I'm eating jello, it's in preparation for a colonoscopy. (click pic for link)

Steppenwolf's 'Magic Carpet Ride" might have looked like this.

I don't recall seeing a model of Care Bear anatomy in Biology class.


Calm down, there's a plate of glass between the bear and those kids.

A bear equally menacing from behind as well as the front.


A bear equally menacing from behind as well as the front.

Winter is a Cold Bitch

For perspective's sake, let us zoom out a bit from these north facing icicles hanging from my house...

... a bit more...

Aargh, that tree is in the way. The longest one is half way down to the ground. I affectionately call them 'guillotines'. That snow on the roof is at least two feet deep.

Dry, cold weather of late has done funny things to the south facing icicles over the porch.

They resemble translucent deep sea crab legs.

I haven't seen the sun in a month. Armchair mountain is lookin' great from the backyard today.

Tree upskirt! I think I see some camel toe!

Big Ones

One night after a snowstorm two weeks ago, I snapped off the worst offending overhead icicles before shoveling snow from underneath them. I worry about one of these bad boys dropping down, and you know, uh... killing me.

Bear Fruit Salad

Bear Fruitsalad
Originally uploaded by von_brandis.

Right To Arm Bears

A Bear with a Gun
Originally uploaded by Jacob Krejci.

I'm Stuffed

American Museum of Natural History 01
Originally uploaded by von_brandis.

Momma Wants Respect

Katmai Female Brown Bear
Originally uploaded by MarkWells.

Smarter Than Your Average bear

Sun Bear
Originally uploaded by guppiecat.

If Mickey Mouse Had Teeth

If Mickey Mouse Had Teeth
Originally uploaded by Azaz the Unabridged.

Babies

Watch more videos on this little guy's official site here.

Sweet Jeezus, No!

Girl, you might not directly burn your house down but heating up the metal stair rails may just melt the vinyl siding, singe hidden wood studs and electrical wiring. (click on image for Boing Boing link)

Little Known Whistler

My house is not the most funky place in the neighbourhood (Emerald North).

That distinction belongs to Mushroom House (click on photo for direct link), about a five minute walk uphill from me. I was pleasantly surprised to see it blogged in Netorama... which reminded me of this:

A photo Dave published while working for a local newspaper almost 20 years ago. Out of the ashes of Mushroom House 1.0 came an even better 2.0 version. The truly amazing story is of the fact that this place was built twice by Zube, and with his own hands. (click on photo for Dave's blog)

There's a Park Underneath all that Snow

Dave has taken up cross-country skiing on set tracks at Rainbow Park, so I asked him to take pics of anything blog worthy on his next trip. Judging from the scoop shaped piles, the Municipality plowed the parking lot and buried the park trail. Folks compacting the snow with their boots have made an ersatz path beyond the entrance sign (see arrow).

No swimming today. That's the lake behind those trees. No walking on the surface either. It hasn't been cold long enough to make a thick ice layer out there.

Someone was nice enough to dig a pit around the pay phone. You'll have to squat down to use it.

I think it's safe to say anything done in four feet of snow is a huge inconvenience at least, a stupid risk at most.

Chief Ten Bears

Chief Ten Bears
Originally uploaded by carletaorg.

While locked out of my Flickr account last week, I surfed for my own photos and found none other than the real Chief-Ten-Bears himself. He was a great negotiator and leader; only considered war if everything else failed and to my knowledge, never had to.