A Christmas Carol

Well, we're quite a bit behind on our posts (grumble, grumble...busy seKretaries)...so as a special treat we're sharing our imitation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol: a Ghost Story of Christmas. Dickens organized his story into staves rather than chapters, and after all, ghost does rime with post...get it? So here we go:

A Christmas Carol

by Charlie Bearkins—aka Jerry and Ben

Stave One

The Post of Christmas Past

Jerry was hungry to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. His birthday, celebrated a few weeks ago, was noted by all in the household, and Ben prepared a special meal that included a yummy birthday Cake. Jerry's mailbox was filled with well wishes from many a stuffie Pal.

Thanks to all our stuffie pals for sending great postcards and birthday cards (some aren't pictured above), including Droopy, Little Fox, Sandy, and Ajdin!

Stave Two

The Post of Christmas Present

Awakening in the middle of a prodigious afternoon nap, Jerry and Ben heard a rustling outside. They felt certain that a messenger was on the doorstep, likely delivering a holiday package. They thus donned their warm winter gear–coats, hats, boots, and scarves–and rushed out in the cold and snowy back yard. To their utter delight, who was trotting toward their house but their pals Karl and Bullwinkle!

Regular blog readers know that our pal Karl visits us every winter from his home in the Canadian–and most importantly always cold–Yukon, far north in Canada. This year, Karl is spending time completing research for his Ph.D-SS (Doctor of Snowperson Studies) at the University of Minnesota. Karl is studying snowflake patterns around the world; we look forward to reading his monograph!

Stave Three

The Post of Christmas Future

Picture it: December 24, Christmas Eve! ... All of the lights in the house will be turned off save the beautiful white twinkling lights of the Christmas tree. A warm fire will be glowing in the fireplace (ok, we don't really have a fireplace but the fireplace DVD playing on our TV does seem to give off heat...). A dark shadow, gravely and silently approaches Jerry and Ben who are snuggled under a warm blanket with pal Jake and faithful pooch Boo, ready for the holiday movie to start on television. To their surprise, no ghostly figure approaches wailing about Christmases to come...it is Papa, carrying a tray of hot chocolate and Christmas cookies for all to enjoy! (SeKretaries are beary useful, sometimes...)

From Jerry, Ben, Jake, Boo, Karl and Bullwinkle

A Beary Merry Christmas to All. As Jerry observes, "God bless us every one!"

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays to all our blog pals!

We had a beary busy Christmas this year. Karl and Bullwinkle arrived just before Christmas (and luckily we had enough snow around for Karl). It was great to have them with us to celebrate! Ben was busy baking up a storm of Christmas cookies, and Jerry gladly played the role of official taste tester. Jake (who is taking this photo), tried to keep everyone fit by leading us all through morning workouts (even though sometimes we slept in instead). Thanks for all the Christmas cards from our pals (we're a bit behind in blog posts.) We had a beary relaxing and wonderful Christmas celebration.

We hope you all have a great New Year!

Karl says "See you next year dudes!"

Well, it's that time of year. Although we still have quite a bit of snow, it is m - e - l - t - i - n - g quickly (we always spell that word when Karl is around). Next week, we'll get our first 50 degree temperature of the year. Jerry is beary eager to get into the garden, especially after seeing Sandy's photos of the first flowers of the year.

So since Karl has finished his winter term studies at the University of Minnesota, he's decided to head back to the Yukon in advance of the warming temps; snow stuffies don't do well in warm temperatures!

Ben packed a few treats for Karl (something to much on during the trip), included some carrots for Bullwinkle, and Jerry and Ben bid Karl farewell until next year.

With a tip of his hat, Karl cheered "See you next year dudes!"

Safe trip Karl and Bullwinkle! Come back soon!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year

2019

A beary happy new year to all our blog pals! We hope your 2019 is full of good things: honey, salmon, chocolate, adventures, friends and family!

Winter Quiz

It snowed a little last night, and this morning we noticed some tracks left in the new powdered snow; can you guess what they are?

First up:

Well, we guess that these tracks belong to one of the neighborhood cats...what do you think? We have a large bird feeder in the back yard, and at night the cats come around to investigate.

Next:

This is obviously a bird, probably a larger one and maybe the Blue Jay we saw at the feeder this morning; they sure do like peanuts!

Next:

These many tracks are left by the NUMEROUS squirrels that hang out at the base of our bird feeder; they're looking for any yummy treats that the birds kick out of the feeder.

Then, there is this print:

This one is easy, one of the seKretaries was out shoveling the sidewalk this morning and left this print. You can see that we only received a little dusting of snow, but it sure does make everything look very festive.

Finally, this one:

Ok, this one is a bit more difficult...clearly it is two different prints, side-by-side. They look like two individuals traveling together, one with 4 distinct legs, and the second on the right is just one larger, well, bottom. What do you think?  Can you guess?

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That's right, you guessed it! It's Karl and Bullwinkle!!

Karl and Bullwinkle arrived very early this morning...regular blog readers know that Karl travels from the Yukon in Northern Canada and stays with us each winter so that he can attend classes during the winter session at the University of Minnesota.

It sure will be a great holiday to have Karl and Bullwinkle share Christmas with us.

Do you have any visitors staying with you this year?

Karl Takes His Leave...

Spring is on its way, and the snow is starting to M.E.L.T (we try not to say that word out loud too much). It's the time of year when our pal Karl returns back home to his family in the Yukon (that's in northern Canada). We've really had a good time hosting Karl!

Karl completed three winter-term courses at the University of Minnesota: Introduction to Igloo Building (He received a B+); Intermediate Snowflake Identification (A); and Great Snow Persons from the Middle Ages to the 16th Century (A-), "a freezingly difficult course" he says.

We also had a couple of warmish days during January, so we created a cozy space in our freezer for just such emergencies.

Karl says he'll be back again next winter to take some more classes, so we look forward to seeing him.

After some farewell hugs, and a few candy cane snacks for the road, we waved good-bye to Karl and Bullwinkle.

"See you next year Karl! Don't forget to write!" says Ben and Jerry. "See you next December" shouts Karl!

A Beary Cold Wait...

"Itz beary kold and snowee, and beary early to be waiting outside" says Jerry.

"Kouldn't we wait inside?" asks Jerry?

 "Well" says Ben, "to make the wait a little warmer, I've brought you some Tim Horton's coffee." "Oh yum...thanks Ben, ... but, now if only we had something to go with the coffee..."

"HONEY DONUTS!" exclaims Jerry, "thank you Ben, you are the greatezt...but um, where are yourz?" "I guess" says Ben, "I thought we could share." "Ok, thatz a good idea" replies Jerry, "say, who are we waiteeng for anyway?"

"Well Jerry, the Tim Horton's cup will give you a clue" answers Ben...

Do YOU know who Jerry and Ben are waiting for?...

Any guesses yet?

It's Karl!!! Karl's pal Bullwinkle gave him a lift to our place; it's always so much nicer to travel with a friend.

Our regular blog readers will remember Karl. He's going to stay with us again this winter while he takes some more classes at the University of Minnesota (MIN NUH SOOOO TAH for our non-Minnesota pals). Karl will enjoy the especially chilly temperatures here (-19 F on Christmas day, that's -28.3 C).

Check back for another post about Karl (and Bullwinkle). Until then, Happy Holidays to all our pals!