Our Adventure with Loretta...Winner of Chubby Cubby...and More

 

You left us....again...

                                 -Gadget

Yes...but they came back...with TREATS!

                                                                 -Finnegan

Just got back from our trip out with Loretta (celebrating her birthday a little late).

She had a wonderful time!

We celebrated with Chinese food and a shopping spree. She went home with a new wine-colored outfit...new shoes & purse to match...and some incidentals she had been wanting including her favorite herbal teas and tea cookies to share.

It was great to see her.

John and I stayed for 2 nights and three days...spent some quality us time...enjoyed some stress-free moments...consumed an entire medium pizza one afternoon and blew off the Thursday Game.

*gasp*

I know, right???

Relax....we have The Colts/Rams game at 1 PM tomorrow.

Sadly, my Chiefs play the late game...so I'll just have to catch up with them through highlights on Monday.

(....it seems we have gotten too old for late night football...)

My roses have re-grouped and are giving it one last college try before winter.

Came out to see red blooms, everywhere.

Checked back in with the bear-folk and saw that 806jr (...this year's spring cub...often referred to as Trouble because of the numerous times it has been swept away in the river current, washed over the falls, wandered off...and even dangled from the jaws of a big boar and lived to tell the tale...)
 

anyway....he is this year's Chubby Cubby!

Fat Bear Week will be from Oct. 4th through Oct. 10th assuming  Congress passes the budget...otherwise it will be postponed until they do.

Even Katmai and our rangers will be affected if no budget is passed.

sigh

Slowly recovering from our trip, and transforming the house and patio gardens for Fall.

Sweet tea...fried pickles...pinto beans and cornbread...and slaw for the game tomorrow!

 Put some South in Your Mouth!!!!

 

 

 

 

Fall..Ball..Bears and The Loss of a Friend

 

The house smells like cinnamon, vanilla, butter and sugar and Bread Pudding baking (recipe to follow).

The tabletop is littered with silk sunflowers and other assorted Fall decorations.

The morning and afternoon light is golden...and it is time to get the patio garden and borders switched up.

Fall has arrived!

Heading outside later, as we have rain coming in tomorrow.

The first of my Morning Glories has bloomed!

Only a few hummingbirds remain and the feeder is ready to be stowed as they buzz away on migration.

A sad note...as Diane lost her fight with kidney failure...sigh...expected but never truly ready when it occurs.

I will miss her.

Now only Loretta and I remain of our original Out to Lunch Bunch....which is kind of sobering, considering there used to be seven of us.

Helping her daughter deal with all the details of after.

John and I, off to see Loretta, soon...and will be telling her then...not over the phone.

She is doing well and looking forward to seeing us, going out for Chinese (her favorite) and a shopping spree for her birthday.

Fall has also descended on Brooks Falls & The Bears.

Anticipating the Chubby Cubbie Contest later this week...and then Fat Bear Week.

Where Chunk (32) now has rolls upon rolls. One of the Bear-folk mentioned

"He has pleats."

Sadly, 101 came back to the Falls cubless...having lost her remaining cub.

I was introduced to Boarse (aka Mr. Ed) (#879)

Whose long snout, eyes and ears does look a lot like a horse swimming.

Amelia (708) is the only one left with triplets..the cubs look great...but Mom needs to gain a lot of weight before hibernation.

She is second only to Otis in age.

Next season he will be 30.

And #78's twins paling around.

 Almost as big as Mom.

Saturday, Tina and Lisa and I enjoyed chili...bread...and Dutch Apple Crumble pie...Sisters Day and chat.

Tina regaled us with tales of dispatching two of her hens who were too old to lay...and destine for the stew-pot.

By the end Lisa and I were referring to her as

"Chicken Killer!!!"

and laughing hard.

She and Chad have been cleaning out the remains of their garden....and she shared with us. 

Tomatoes, peppers and watermelon!!!

John and I watched most of the Colts-vs-Ravens Game...which we won.

Also the blow-out that was the Kansas-vs-Bears Game...which we also won, handily.

Kelce had invited Taylor Swift...and she came...sitting in the family box with his mom....and breaking the internet...

"Apparently, there is a football game before the concert...WEIRD."

Who knew??? 

And it was fun watching Kelce, after his touchdown, looking up at the box like a fangirl.

 

And heard the Dolphins had a 70 point game.

It was a GREAT Week 3.

Oh...and before I head outside...that RECIPE.

Bread Pudding

2 cups stale bread.

4 whole eggs.

1 cup milk.

1/2  cup sugar.

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup cinnamon 

(*you can add raisins, nuts, dates, figs)

Mix all well and turn into shallow baking pan.

Sprinkle top with coarse sugar.

Bake at 350 until firm.

Enjoy!

Gadget

                                                                  Finn

Virtual SA: Panama (overview)

 

This week we begin the last of Virtual Central America by exploring the country of Panama...before heading into South America proper.

The name means land of fish, trees and butterflies.

 

Panama lies between the Carribean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

 

500 lakes, rivers and streams criss-cross this country.

 

The Panama Canal originated as a French Project...but the US became involved heavily after the french realized it was prohibitively costly.

The canal was first usable in 1914.

It was still a territory of the United States until 1977...when it was transferred to the country of Panama.

 

The temperatures are tropical and aside from the high mountainous areas tend to stay between 75 and 85 degrees year-round.

 

 In the past five years, there has been a virtual explosion of tourism!

...relax...not literal...no exploding tourists...

Things to do and see include:

Canal Tours...both walking and boats.

Jungle Tours

Monkey Island 

Casco Viejo

San Blas

and more...

The religion is primarily Catholic....the language is Spanish and the currency The Balboa which has a fixed rate of 1:1 on the USD. So if something costs 10 Balboa...is is the same in USD.

The population is around 5 million.

 

Come along and discover what this land of fish, trees and butterflies has to offer!

 

 

 

Football...Bears and Finnegan

 

 

Sad news...as the triplet on the left (901's) is now missing, and presumed dead.

This one was hard- as we've watched these three since Summer.

The only set of triplets left:

 Amelia's (708) 

And we have lost 6 of this year's cubs.

Mike Fitz says that only 1 in three survives the first few years...and that is why they usually don't assign names or numbers until they are older.

This is only my second year with the bear-folk and unless there are distinct markings, scars, or sometimes activities...my identification skills are limited to (maybe) 10 or so bears.

Out of hundreds.

Some of the bear-folk not only know most of them by sight...but have vacationed at Katmai and actually seen some of them in person.

I know Otis...with his floppy ear and #7 shed pattern on his shoulder. Light brown.

747...with his massive bulk and torn ears. Chocolate colored.

Chunk...with a zig-zag scar running down his muzzle compliments of Grazer last year. Also dark chocolate brown.

856...an enormous dark brown (almost black) boar with perpetually laid back ears who looks like a pissed-off chihuahua when wet.

Grazer...blond with a 0-furious temper in seconds...this year with a huge bite/open area on her back leg.

Scuba Steve...who has a dive and splash approach to fishing. Dark brown.

Scanner...who fishes in the jaccuzi area and head moves back and forth continuously. Caramel brown.

Holly....who is just huge this year and has a distinctive backside...blond with a dark t-bottom appearance.

Gully...who fishes the lip of the falls...hanging his long neck and head over like Snoopy's vulture...oh, and he earned his name by eating seagulls. Caramel brown.

Ben...whose blond ears on his otherwise dark brown body look like headlights.

and Bucky Dent...who is a uniform dark brown...scarless...kind of a clown...with a swirl of darker brown fur between his eyes that looks like a dent.

It's a process.

And some are Fall Bears...only just now arriving.

Salt and Pepper (831 & 821)

Siblings

 

and 602...

and Zombear...

who likes to walk up-right..a lot.

 

Yesterday, we saw The Clash of The Titans...as 747 and Chunk got in several kerfuffles over territory and fishing rights.

 

But the spawn is nearly over and the die-off has begun and everyone is scooping pounds of dead and dying salmon out of the river...even the cubs are joining in.

"Now...you are suppose to chew off little pieces for me..."

                                                                                            -Alice

Making progress with Finnegan, too.

Found out this week that he adores rotisserie chicken.

Better than bacon...or pork or steak!

 

"Say...do you have anymore of that chicken!!!"

                                                                      -Finn

Today we made a huge breakthrough.

He finally took a bite of chicken right out of my fingers!

The first time he has eaten out of my hand...ever.

His sister...formerly known as Crabby Tabby...who I now call "Maggie" came by...just to see what all the fuss was about.

Maggie is entirely feral...and has made a point of catching and eating mice & birds in front of  me, as if to say

"See...I don't NEED your handouts..."

And my hummers?

Filling up their tiny tanks...readying for the Big Migration next month.

Week two of football is over...and yesterday, John and I, watched both our teams (Colts & Chiefs) emerge from their respective games, victorious.

It was wonderful!

...on a related note all of the cheese and crackers are GONE and I must re-supply...

Have an amazing week!

Love,

Carla and Finn

 

 

"Still recovering from the weekend, Mom!"

                                                                                        -Gadget

Virtual SA: Costa Rican Cuisine- Arroz Con Pollo

 

 Rice With Chicken

Wonderfully simple and inexpensive.

And delicious!

 Bake one small chicken...reserve broth and tear off 2 cups of meat.

Save the rest for another dish.

Prepare 2 cups of rice in the broth...set aside.

In a small skillet add 2 tablespoons butter...1/4 cup red chili sliced...1/4 cup chopped onion...1/4 cup green pepper diced....and the 2 cups of chicken.

Saute until peppers and onion are soft.

Add to fluffed rice.

That is it!

Enjoy :)

(...tomatoes...pimiento...or garlic can also be added if desired...)

Next Week: Panama 

 

Your Morning Cup Of Football...Mostly Bears...and Fall

 

Week One...and football is back!!!

(...just 17 more weeks....sigh)

Watched the Kansas game on Thursday...where we were beat by Detroit by one point.

Mahomes looked great

Toney couldn't catch or hold onto a pass if his life (or the GAME) depended on it...which it did.

 By the end I was yelling

"Gorilla Glue...it's the only solution!"

Ate a half a bag of chips and a half pint of French Onion Dip during this nail-biter.

Today was

 Opening game at home against The Jaguars.

It also was the debut of our new starting QB...this guy...

 Anthony Richardson

Read a bit about his life prior to the game and this 21 y/o kid basically pulled himself up from living in the projects...and never having enough of anything including food...too poor to attend QB Camp...to being today's starter with an NFL Team.

I was impressed.

When he stayed neck and neck with The Jaguars for almost the entire game...including a passing TD and a rushing TD...well...I knew we had picked the right QB!!!

His first TD pass as a rookie QB dimed to Rice (another rookie) for HIS first NFL touch-down, too!

And then there was the play that lasted forever...where Richardson was sacked...but the ball was fumbled...then stripped...then recovered...then ran in for a TD by Buckner. 

Tank...who played for the opposing team stood stock still in the midst of all the chaos with a WTF look on his face...lol.

And we got the TD.

No...we still lost 21 to 31.

Mistakes were made.

An interception in the 4th cost us the game...but...this was the first Colts Game in years I have actively enjoyed...and he looked good...really good!

Nothing but potential.

Looking forward to seeing him and the team develop together over the year!

...the chips and dip gone...football may be fattening...

We have had seven starters in seven years.

Maybe this is The One!

John and I are hopeful.

Starting and ending each day with The Bear-Folk, now. The salmon have mostly spawned and are in the die-off stage of their life cycles.

The bears are in their hyperphagia stage and all of them are stuffing themselves with the dead/dying salmon.

Most of The Usual Suspects have returned.

806 and her cub "Trouble'...who is now a serious contender for Chubby Cubby...and is being called Cubzilla.

Otis (480) is back from his walk-about and returned "..eating his way back upriver..."

(164) Bucky-Dent has been (short of DNA testing) identified as the bear cub formerly known as Walnut...one of Grazer's 2016 triplets and sired by either (151) Walker or 747.

He is called "Dent" because of the dark fur between his eyes...which looks like a dent.

One of the bear-folk posted this...this morning...with the note

"Is it WRONG that I can identify this bear by her butt??"

No honey...that is just HOLLY (435) who puts the badonka in badonkadonk this year.

 Someone else made this GIF of (151) Walker...entitling it

"Spin-Dry"

856 is back and has claimed his place again in the hierarchy. At least until 747 comes home.

 And 101 came back, sadly missing one of her twins. No idea what happened to it.

From 17 cubs this year we have lost 5.

But, for now, bears are everywhere...eating....soon to be Fat Bear Week...and Fall is already at Katmai.

Hibernation in a bit over a month.

The days sunny and bright, here...the temperatures in the 70's and dropping into the 50's and 60's at night.

The leaves are just starting to tinge with yellows and oranges.

Hot tea with maple syrup has replaced my coffee.

Usually with buttered toast.

Summer foods making way for the soups and stews of Fall.

Sweaters replacing sleeveless tee-shirts.

And all is right with the world!