Children; Seen and Heard

Nobody needs to be sent to panda cub daycare more than Tai Shan. Here he is furiously working at getting Mei's attention during another meal. Bad timing, Tai.

aaaand again...

If all else fails sit on her head... don't ask for permission, just climb up and plant your butt right there. She can't help but notice your claws flailing mere milimetres from her eyes.

Another Darn Panda Post

Mei and her son Tai Shan in Washington DC, trying to have a peaceful meal despite Tai crawling all over her face. She huffed and moved herself every five minutes, enough time for Tai to migrate towards her and ruin another bite of bamboo.

Su Lin at San Diego, having a nap in her 30 foot high nursery. She is rolling over on a branch while half-asleep.

Illustration Friday; Cake

Roscoe's mother taught him as a cub to be gracious and polite. When he grew up, he even extended this courteous behavior to raiding campsites.

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Bears will be bears

I'm putting in my two cents worth to Conan Vs. Bear with a new illo. My bear is being introduced to the gentlemanly sport of litigation rather than engaging in fisticuffs, like most of the illos on this site. I'll let you know if it gets accepted.

TLC for Bears

Here's two more bears from eBay that I bought bruises and all. This smokey bank was missing its original base. I glued on a wooden one and painted it with leftover paint from the kitchen.

A nick in one ear and missing toes are the only thing that keeps this bear from mingling with the other bears in my collection. I think I can solve that.

He looks great with a few accents and a base to stand on.

Part III of V: Death Valley

This land has seen many a mushroom cloud in its time. Area 51 is nearby and a military base too.

Mountains of soft rock everywhere... a climber's paradise.

Flash floods cause these old river beds to wind all over the place. I'm sure they dry up as fast as the rain can fill them.

At the time Dave took this pic, the shade temperature was 112f. Where one could find shade to take a measurement, I don't know.

Tracks of an anonymous critter. Despite the name, Death Valley is teeming with jackrabbits and coyotes.

We took a detour through the ghost town of Ryolite on our way back to Vegas. Dusk feel fast and there was just enought light for a few pics. This former railway station once serviced 10,000 inhabitants.

I wish I had more time to explore, but the danger of rattlesnakes are much more real in the night. Time to hit the road and see what else we find...

Next post in this series, Part IV: Red Rock Canyon. I'll resume this subject in mid-June.

Illustration Friday; Sorry

What's a little flatus between friends?

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Part II of V: Hoover Dam and Stuff

This trip didn't come up with very many bear motifs for me to find. The Hoover Dam has a number of memorials, statues and comemorative plaques; this one marked the various states that participated in the project more than 70 years ago.

Water goes in, electricity comes out. The locals wax on about before 9/11 how the dam tour was exciting, the access to the turbine rooms, water intake towers and corridors several hundred feet underground. Nowadays for $12 a head, you get 100 feet closer to the dam walls than the schmucks (like me) wandering outside on the promenade.

There is plenty of construction going on around the dam. Other than an alternate freeway being dug into the surrounding mountains, I can't figure out anything more. Sure are a sh*tload of cable lines strung and being strung everywhere.

Total wall height is approximatley 700 feet, of which only 400 or so is visible at the surface.

Some of the end result of all this activity; keeping Vegas lit like daytime 24/7.

The Venetian is the nicest looking casino exterior-wise. Every corner provides a great photo opportunity.

Next Post: Part III, Death Valley

Part I of V: Whirlwind in Vegas

The glass sea anemonae sculpture at The Bellagio. Another fine product of Dale Chihuly's fertile imagination. Big thanks to Dave the Husband and his Nikon D2H for the superb photos.

My neck got sore looking up to the ceiling at The Venetian.

A copy of the Three Graces stands at the lobby of Ceasar's Palace.

The fake Arc d'Triomphe at Paris Casino. Makes me want to go see the real thing in France.

The fake Eiffel Tower at Paris Casino. Again, makes me want to go see the real thing in France.

A light show occurs on the hour at the former Vegas strip on Fairmont Street. The surrounding marquees are automatically shut down for maximum effect.

On the next to last night of our trip we found the famous winking cowboy, also at Fairmont Street. His right arm no longer moves back and forth.

The dude in charge of replacing light bulbs at The Riveria Casino, where we stayed at. Not a small job by any standard... the outdoor marquees alone most use hundreds of thousands of different coloured bulbs.

Plenty of derelict signs on Las Vegas Boulevard leading to hotels that no longer exist. Nearby, the Boardwalk Hotel got razed one night without warning. I only found out by tuning into CNN an hour after it went down.

Next Post: Part II, The Hoover Dam

illustration Friday: Angels & Devils

Another fine product endorsed by bears... by the way, I just got back from my Nevada vacation and am processing the pics as fast as I can. They'll be up on the ol' blog sunday!

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Illustration Friday: Fat

The bears in Whistler are not fat at the moment, having just woken up from their winter hibernation. In six months time they'll be filled out like this fine specimen.

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Goin' to Vegas

Las Vegas Paris
Originally uploaded by canon_trevor.

Blogging will be a bit slim this week as Dave and I are heading to Nevada for 6 days... hope to hit the state parks, see the natural side of things and bring back lots of things to blog. Ciao for now!

Tossed Salad O' Links w/ Chief-Ten-Bears Seal of Approval

Get your fill of teriffic cutting edge paintings and illustrations at Art Dorks. The artists there set a benchmark of quality I would consider a admirable investment of time and effort for anyone inclined to strive for it.

This bear theme park in Japan is advertised here with the fervor of an itinerant monster truck pull derby. The only thing I like about this place is the ad itself. A few amateur pics of the place can be found here and as you can see, these bears don't exactly live in 'the happiest place on earth'. Poor things.

Once the domain of neighbourhood dollar stores and imported food markets, a plethora of common, yet oddly named comestibles can be perused at Rude Food. It's elementary school humour without the shame of larfing out loud in public.

The 'toughest' bear on the planet is not a bear, but a microscopic invertebrate called a Water Bear. I think it looks like the most elaborate balloon animal ever twisted together by a street busker.

Maria Adelaida Lopez has made an exhibit of house models flocked with, well, house dust. I've spent most of my adult life removing dust out of the house and this interesting idea has never occurred to me... partly because I'm so allergic to the stuff.

Secret Nocturnal Habits of Panda Cubs

Su Lin @ night

Another rare evening sighting of Su Lin, this time noshing in the huge pile of bamboo normally occupied by her mother.

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illustration Friday: Under the Sea

This is also my 429th post and first blog anniversary. It actually happened on April 29th, but my own birthday on the 28th occupied me till now.

After a bit of thinking, I'm giving this blog thing another year till I reassess just how much further I want to go... enough chit chat, on with the show!

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