Well Hi, Everybody, it's me, C.Bear. I'm sitting out here by the pool in Phoenix with my pal A.Bear and my bro, Phoenix Bear. We're thinking how lucky we are to be here, and what a really nice sunny winter day it is, and how much we miss Bob.

It isn't the same, but it is. Even when he was sick, just knowing Bob was here gave our home a special feeling of togetherness. A.Bear says what we all feel: there will be a feeling of togetherness, same as before, but different.

Oh, it isn't Alex. He tries so hard. Now that the pool is working great again, he has time for important stuff, like taking pictures of us, and writing down the days in the Bear Chronicle for us.

I must say, this morning was really pretty. Blue skies, sunny and warm, and all the birds were out. Mr. PopSlider is back, and we can hear him all over the place, but we haven't quite actually seen him, or taken his picture, not just yet anyway. The birds - lots of birds - hop from tree to tree, but we can never quite pin down which one might be Mr. PopSlider. He is harder to spot than that ol' Mr. Squirrel. Bob sure loved those squirrels and popsliders.

We can see that Alex is sure pleased how the house problems are gradually turning around. The pool repairman finally found the pump siphon problem that had plagued Bob and Alex for a year, and he said that it looked like the bad part had failed about a year ago, too. The yard is not in bad shape, but we have not had any rain in about three months.The six year drought doesn't promise to end this year, either.

There is an electrical problem with the outdoor lighting, and we can see Alex pacing the length of the circuit, figuring out how he wants to tackle that one when we get some vacation time next week. It is good to see him busy.

The old Cadillac, Junior's great white barge of state from the Sedona story, is being given to a friend of ours. Alex is driving down Bob's Toyota from northern California, to garage it here. We feel like we are getting closer to the day we all retire here, and there is plenty to do to keep our boy busy while we Bears sit and chit-chat and socialize.

We still call "Good-night" to each other on the Bear Channel every night, and now we include Bob, and we think he hears us most of the time, too. If you listen real carefully, sometimes you can hear his voice, just like it used to sound, saying "Good-night, fellas ... and Alex too".

You know, Bears can just go back to being stuffed animals any old time, if they want to, and have a perfectly good time. But something about Bob and Alex together brought us to life. We like it better this way. Alex keeps saying that we each carry a part of Bob within us wherever we go, and A.Bear says that it is so: not just the memories of all the good times, which remain ours forever, but the way we learned and grew into being the Bears that we all are today.

So, we know this is not a very long "story" in the Bear Chronicles. We just wanted to say "hi everybody". This way, we want everybody to know that we are all very much planning on sticking together, more so than ever maybe, if that's possible, because love is the glue that makes us all enjoy the wonderful things in life long after they have happened.

© Alex Forbes, February 4, 2006