Saturday, January 14, 2012

Watching Bears

My older daughter and I went out to a movie late this afternoon. We saw Joyful Noise -- great music within this movie, but that's not what this posting is about. On the way home we were listening to Prairie Home Companion on Minnesota Public Radio and Garrison Keilor decided to call Dr. Lynn Rogers to inquire if the warm Minnesota winter is causing any confusion for the bears in their dens. Dr. Rogers was excited to announce that one of the bears is about to bear cubs. Now there's a sentence that will confuse anyone who reads English as a second language. You can watch the bears from anywhere via web cam. Go to www.bear.org and if you want to see the new Mama click on Jewel's bear cam. You can see this at any time of the day because the bear den is lit with subdued light .

Bears may not be what others associate with Minnesota. By the time one gets about 50 miles north of the Twin Cities, there are signs in the rest stops cautioning visitors to dispose of their trash correctly so it doesn't attract bears!

One of the funniest stories I've heard -- a work colleague was describing camping with his father somewhere in northern Minnesota. During the night something rolled into him and had quite a body odor. He thought his father really needed to find a shower. That is, until next morning when he walked around the tent and noticed the indentation in the soil next to the tent and realized he had been snuggled next to a bear for most of the night!

Update on January 22 -- Jewel delivered what is believed to be two cubs on this date. The web cam is still there, but the video from January 22 may be found on You Tube. 

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