Bear ... Ranger Bear

I hate "Back to School" ads

Parents are happy about going back to school -- of course they are, they don't have to go! Whenever I see one of those happy, perky, "Back to School" ads on TV (I love Ice Road Truckers), I think to myself -- self, who are they tryin' to fool? The kids in those ads ain't that happy.

But hey, next week we kick off another school year here at Parkside. I like meeting new students. Some of 'em are pretty funny, though, bein' all cool like -- or trying to be. Ya wanna know what cool is? Walk around with fur all over your body and try not to sweat. You don't see me sweat. Now that's cool.

Been a busy Bear...

Where the hell did the summer go? I barely (get it, barely) had time to work on my tan. Even though the summer zipped by, I had a blast. Started out at a trade show in Orlando for athletic directors. They say I'm kind of the mascot's mascot so I had to show off for those stupid lookin' eagle bird mascot things. It was fun, didn't get to Disney, which kinda pissed me off because I spent like a whole morning in that time share sales meeting to get the free tickets!

Back in Wisconsin I was in a few 4th of July parades -- that's pretty cool, everybody wavin' at ya.

Later in July I took Baby Bear (I volunteer some time with Big Bears Little Cubs -- it's my way of givin' back) up to Door County in Wisconsin to see my cousin Yogi. I mean that guy is just smarter than the average bear. He'll sleep till noon ... don't get me started. Anyway, I take Baby Bear up to see one of  Yog's camps near Sturgeon Bay -- it's his original. Yogi wanted me to get in on these campgrounds back in the sixties, but I was just startin' my university gig. At the time I thought, who in their right mind wants to sleep on the ground in the woods. Who knew!? Today he's got like 70 of these things all across the country -- it's how he got started in TV.

While we're in Door County we had lunch at Al Johnson's in Sister Bay, played a little golf at Penn Park -- did the whole Door deal, even stopped by the Coyote Roadhouse! Check out some of the photos -- I took 'em.

After a couple of weeks with Baby Bear, I needed a vacation -- but I just couldn't get away from the office. I mean Keating's been working me like a dog ... photo shoots, lunch with the guv' ... it's nuts. So me and Baby Bear (I know, why did I take him along again!?) went to the Dells for a day and played at a water park. Even with my new Andis blow dryer it takes so long to get rid of that damp feeling.

And that was it. OH, WAIT -- I almost forgot my buddy Fang's birthday party last week. Fang is the mascot for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in Appleton. They're the Class A team of the Seattle Mariners. Sure, Fang is a snake ... but he's a helluva nice guy and throws a cool bash. So I head up to Appleton, sign some autographs, hug a few people -- ran into a dad of one of our students -- it was fun.