After all that folderol of TFG’s arrest and all the blathering he and the rest of the GQP are doing, I think we need something light and fluffy.
We are not even close to be out of the soup, not by a long shot, so take two small bears, a cuppycake, and some hot cocoa with little marshmallows, and call me in the morning.
Be the Bear
Bob T on the edge of my seat Panda
It is futile to resist the pookiness of the Pookies. Don’t even try!
It is a sad fact, that when bears come into contact with people, the bear is often the loser. When I visited the Calgary Zoo a few years ago (in the “before times”) their resident grizzly bear was a many times offender. They had his rap sheet posted outside his enclosure. He was one of the lucky ones. Instead of being killed for his many incursions on cars and garbage cans, there was a place for him at the Calgary Zoo, where he has lived a long and peaceful life.
Pookie Two’s mom, from Montana, was not so lucky. She had become habituated to grazing in garbage cans, and while we could only hope that she might eat a certain congresswoman from Colorado, she won’t get the chance. But don’t tell Pookie Two. She thinks her mom moved to a farm upstate. Do you want to be the one to tell her?
I didn’t think so.
Be the Bear
Bob T I hardly ever eat out of trashcans Panda
I know I tend to re-use names. For the first couple years of my descent in to Pandaholism, all my panda stuffies were named “Bob”. We will try to differentiate between the Seattle Pookies, and Bikkie’s friend from Alaska, Pookie.
I’m sure we’ll manage!
And while I really hate leaving the island to go into civilization, I am determined to shepherd the Pookies at The Woodland Park Zoo through their cubbyhood! I know I should not bring this up, but we could be looking at a temporarily (we hope it’s just temporary) panda-less existence here in the US. Memphis’s pandas leave near the end of this year, and the Pandalanta Pandas and the DC pandas contracts are running out. There is still no word on whether pandas will return to SanDiego. The pandemic put a definite crimp in the budgets of the zoos and the US is not getting along particularly well with China.
The Pookies just might be able to be the bears…
Panda On!
Bob T a bear by any other name Panda
I probably won’t have one for tomorrow. I don’t know where my time is going but I’m going to have to take myself in paw in the new year. In the meantime, here is a phot of part of what I was doing today
I got to see the Pookies! Fern and Juniper, new residents of Seattle’s Woodland Park (panda-less) Zoo. They are less than a year old, Juniper is a coastal brown bear from Alaska, and Fern is a grizzly from Montana. Obviously, their names must both be Pookie. At their age they are larger than an adult panda. They are adorable together, and I am going to have to find a way to go to the zoo more often.
I’ll be back with ‘toons next week. Meanwhile, I’m posting some of the holiday Encore Presentations on my Substack Noozletter.
Be the Pookie
Bob T they are cute even if they aren’t pandas Panda
TBH, I don’t know if red pandas are really this fiesty, but I like to imagine that they are. They provide a wonderful counterpart to the (relative) calmness of giant pandas (except where Pinky is concerned). I really need to get into the Woodland Park Zoo and see the new kids on the block (and maybe demonstrate for WOOZPPAH a little bit.)
Unka Rusty has some seriously feisty opinions!
And speaking of WOOZPPAH, if Howard Schultz wanted to do something worthwhile with his money, he could endow the Starbucks Panda Pavillion at Woodland Park Zoo. He won’t, but it might make me like him just a little bit.
Panda on!
Bob T Panda
Let’s start today’s post with a rousing cheer for all of you who supported me in my Kickstarter campaign to make the FIRST Panda Chronicles collector series pin!
Wee are pandas too!!!!
I’m very excited that we had such a huge success, and reached the minimum amount needed to do the project, (on the FIRST DAY!!!), with a couple of add ons, to make them even more pandarific!: A printed card on which the pins will be mounted on AND, a stamp will be made for the back, that I can continue to use as I do more pins from this same manufacturer.
You might wonder why I choose the Kickstarter platform to do my projects and the main reason is this: I am a one person operation, with all sorts of plates and balls (and sometimes roaring chainsaws) in the air at the same time. The thing I love to do most is to make art and write and draw pandas (and engage in a liddle panda improv on twidder and fezbook) Soooo, if I can condense the ordering and fulfillment time into a short, finite period, it means I can spend most of my time making art, and a shorter, more focused time getting it to you.
This is also why coming up with an assortment of products (tee-shirts! Pillows! Jewelry! Phone covers!) doesn’t work very well in a one person shop. Turning my studio into a warehouse of products takes space and time, not to mention the product development and fulfillment research time. (Not to mention money.) One of my goals for this year is to develop my Redbubble shop so that those more varied products ARE available, but I won’t have to make, store, or ship them.
I like using Kickstarter to develop ideas that don’t exist in the instant order world of places like Cafe Press and Red Bubble. It allows me to design (fun!!!) and have someone produce the pins, and know that I have enough interest to make the project viable.
I’m really excited to get these pins in your hands. I’m hoping to design a new pin about every two months and I hope you’ll like the first ones enough to collect the whole set! Your enthusiastic response allows me to get some extra pins, so that a couple times a year, I can have special pin set sales (once there are enough pins to make sets!) and as new followers jump on the panda train, I’ll have previously made pins so that people can have all of them, at least till they’re all gone!
Thank all of you who supported this project, once again! I hope you’ll let me know who YOU think should have the honor of being on the next pin!
Thanks for Being the Bears,
Bob T Panda
Pinky pin! #ClapLouder
Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda