Spring is here and there is a bear in charge!

Uh, hello bloggers.  My name is Bear and I am filling in for Little Fox as he is off on a journey up North to Canada then to London courtesy of the famed adventurer Alexander McKenzie Bear. 

As I mentioned my name is Bear and I was put in charge of the blog by my friend Little Fox.  I have a series of blogs I was am supposed to write and a requirement to go on many adventures with his roommates.  I think I can handle that.

So as you gathered from my post spring is here. Let's take a quick tour.
Looks like the tulip's LF's roomies planted in fall are taking shape.  I wonder what color they will be?

The winter garden did well. A couple types of lettuce, arugula, some small onions and cilantro.  Almost time to replant.

Onions did well too.

The grass is really green.

The fruit trees have lots of buds on them.  There is one cherry and two plum trees.  I heard there is a bear who is a chef in Minnesota who might have some ideas for plums.

Final stop is the garage.  LF wanted me to check in on the hard cider.  The bottle caps are holding up and the cider was ready to drink on April 1st (no joke). 

In fact, I am making another batch so when LF comes back there will be some fresh cider for him.

Bear in charge of blog signing off for now.

Little Fox's Brewing Company Part 1

Hello Blog Pals,

Whew, I am tired.  A few days ago I went to the library to browse books to learn a new hobby.  Initially I wanted to raise chickens in the backyard.  My roommates nixed that idea pretty fast, then I decided to beekeep but that isn't allowed in our city code so that idea got cancelled.  I have made cheese before (yum) and decided to open a micro cidery.  Basically, it's a microbrewery but with hard cider rather than beer (and according to the clerk at the home brew store cider is easier than beer). 

Step 1: Research.  This recipe is called "Master Hard Cider Recipe" and it seems like a good starting point. I better read up on it first before I begin.

One of the key ingredients is cider yeast.  This packet looks the right size. 

I need a primary fermenter (that's what this bucket is for).  Bottle caps for the finished product (still weeks away) and Sequoia wanted to check everything out to make sure it's dog approved.   

This fox was never into science in fox school (yes, foxes go to school).  However, I can follow a good recipe. 

So...............there were a few more pictures that got lost on my sekrebearies phone and they are now gone forever.  Guess who is not getting a good eval this year?? 
Fast forward.  

We fermented the cider in a plastic jug, sanitized all of our equipment and now our cider is settling in a dark cool place (yup, the garage).  

Two weeks till it's ready to bottle.  Then it's a month to drink.  Yipee!

West coast beach

Hello Blog Pals,
As my readers may know I decided to visit Florida to get away from the cold winter weather.  Any good trip to Florida includes a trip to the beach. I'm back from Florida and it's spring so I decided to explore a local beach.
I am at a Cannon Beach.  This area used to be called Elk Beach but in 1922  a cannon washed ashore from the USS Shark and locals began calling it Cannon Beach and apparently the name stuck. 

If you ever saw the movie called "The Goonies" you might have seen this scene.  This is Haystack Rock.  In the movie it was where the kids were rescued.  It's a migrating bird habitat and a tide pool area so it's protected. 

The beach has all sorts of little rivers flowing from the hills to the ocean.

My favorite beach waterfall.  It's called Little Fox Falls.  I named it in honor of myself being that it has a nice little bench and viewing area for me.

As you can see it's quite an elaborate waterfall. 

Time to head back home.  The sun is setting and this fox needs dinner!

Happy Birthday Little Fox

Hello Blog Pals,

Happy Birthday to me!  Today is January 19th my birthday.  Yipee.  What do my roommates have planned? 

First, we went to the airport.  You can see there are lots of layovers scheduled here today at Canadian Geese Airways.  We went to the parcel shipping department and retrieved my gift.

Once we got home I opened my gift up.  What is it you ask?  Fresh cooked chicken.  Ahh, they know what I like.  Thanks roommates.  

My roommates hinted that there was a special dinner too.I chopped some of my chicken up and my roommates got some pizza crusts, cheese, and sauce.  Looks like I am getting homemade pizza for my birthday dinner.  Do I have to share?  

Now that the pizzas are cooked just waiting for them to cool.  

Actually there were three pizzas all for me.  Now, who is going to cut them into manageable fox sized slices? 

Of course no birthday would be complete without a mail call. 

First up is a card from Ajdin, Parker, Ms. Feathers, Ooogie, and Uncle Tibbs.  

Droopy and his pals sent a nice card (homemade?).  

No hiking this birthday but it was a great one none-the-less.  Thanks for the cards and wishes. 

Finally, a card from Sandy.  He mentioned I should have a chicken dinner for my birthday and then a Canadian holiday.  Sounds like a plan for me. 

A certain mouse who lives in England might recognize this postcard.  It's an amazing postcard of a cool watercolor (I think)  that Beanie's human did of Paris.   My pal Wolfy is getting into art so he wanted to be part of this post as well.

Thank you everyone for the great cards.  I really appreciate it.

LF  

LL Stub Stewart Hike

Hello Blog Pals,

What a nice day for a hike.  It's I, Little Fox and my hiking companion Sequoia waiting for my roommate to get things set up for our hike.  It's a nice day (cold) but sunny and you can see I am soaking up lots of vitamin D. 

I am at LL Stub Stewart State Park.  LL was a lumber company owner (he was the shortest person in his high school and college classes hence the nickname "stub"). and a representative to Oregon's legislature and volunteered on the Oregon State Parks board for over 40 years.   

I wonder if LL Stub Stewart was ever confused with another famous LL?  LL Cool J. 

Enough talk.  Sequoia is ready to go. 

This sign could offer more detail.  It just says "Trail".  

Looks like I am heading to a place called "Unfit Settlement" I wonder why it's unfit?

Well, this is it. Unfit Settlement certainly seems unfit for this fox.  There wasn't much online about who claimed it as a settlement, why they felt it was unfit, and what was it unfit for? 

A nice little view of the coast range from unfit settlement. 

Ah, back on the trail and to my final destination.....lunch. 

Brrr..it's cold in Florida.

Who gets cold in Florida?  No one I know except for little stuffies that make a conscious choice to visit an Ice exhibit. 

The exhibit is at the Gaylord Palms hotel, a fancy (i.e. expensive) place to stay in Orlando.  They do an ice sculpture show every year.  This years theme is based on the movie called "A Christmas Story".

This is the family car (all out of ice).

Massive bears out of ice. 

A nice Christmas village.  Yep, all out of ice. 

Ice dogs. 

This is a very popular attraction for stuffies.  Look at all of these friends I met.  I wonder if they have blogs too?

Time to go out of the ice into the warmer parts of the hotel.  This looks like a nice area. 

This stature is a fountain.  A fox could really reflect and relax here. 

Looks like other stuffies come here too. 

Besides the relaxing area and the ice sculpture they also have a Christmas tree trail. 

Found one:

Here's another.

Found the big tree!  Now it's time to relax. Perhaps this fancy hotel has an ice cream shop?

A familiar friend?

On my trip around Florida I think I saw Ooogie.

Ooogie, were you hanging out at SeaWorld anytime recently?