Interspecies Encounter

A couple weeks back I was privileged enough to stumble upon an encounter of the bear with a carnivore of similar gravitas in the urban animal kingdom.  From behind the couch I was able to get a couple of minutes of footage before the fight retreated behind closed doors.  Take special note of the bear's ability to stand on his rear haunches to swat drunkly at his combatants.  

Exercising

It is a challenge to keep up with the physical exertions of the bear.  Considering my own physique trends, shall we say, to the more slight of build, following the training regimen of the urban bear requires considerable straining.  As if aware of this, the subject seems content to slow down and let me trudge along in the gym in his wake.  It appeared as an act of true kindness until I woke this morning unable to lift my arms over my head.  Now it appears as if some cruel physical fitness joke has been played on me.  Clever, clever bear.

Reading Habits

Unwilling to allow gorillas to be the only large mammal engaged in human interaction, last week the bear took up a new series of literature.  Possibly in the hopes of shedding his tough guy image, the bear chose as his new literary conquest, the fanciful preteen stemwinders of a devout mormon.  With a hunger not seen since emerging last spring from hibernation, he devoured the novels like they were salmon swimming up stream to spawn.  No sooner had one partially digested novel of vampires and chastity passed down his literary gullet did he snatch another hardcover in his intellectual teeth and crush its spine...actually he only crushed the metaphorical spine, the actual spine of the book remained intact so it could be returned to Barnes and Nobles.

Migration

The bear has departed for warmer climates delaying further observation for two weeks. 

Starting the New Year

The bear arose somewhere between ten and eleven in the morning.  He made his presence known by signing online to gchat.  I noticed the den cover was cracked open somewhere after eleven thirty.  At about noon the bear emerged looking resplendent in his early afternoon glory.  A quick glance at the light snowfall elicited a grumble from the bear who set about cleaning up from a mess made two nights before at the end of the year festivities.  After a wash in the river the bear made his way into the world at about two o'clock to handle some banking issues and maybe watch a soccer match.  The Urban Naturalist remained on the couch.