Raspberry season

When the raspberries exploded into ripeness, Boris and his student helpers headed out early in the morning and harvested all of the plump purple berries. There were so many berries that the could not process them all in one day, so they spread them on shallow pans to flash freeze them, once frozen they placed the berries into containers in the freezer to be made into jam at a later date.
Later that same afternoon, Boris and his team returned to the berry patch, just as many berries as they had picked in the morning had ripened during the heat of the day. Another round of picking and freezing of berries before dinner, then the tired harvesters finished the evening with a large bowl of berries and cream as the sun set.

The following morning dawned warm and the big bear farmer spent it, once again, picking berries with his students. Before they put the trays of berries into the freezer, he reminded his crew to pick out the leaves, spiders and inch worms from the fruit. The many legged animals would be released back into the forest, and the leaves into the compost pile. 
Most of his customers for the raspberry jam were herbivores, so Boris was careful to keep as close to animal free as possible. His omnivore customers didn't really mind some extra protein in their jam, nor some of the herbivores, but there were a few who were strict to their diet and appreciated the extra effort that Boris put into his product.

Strawberry season

Boris had been working hard on the farm this week and today he was outside at dawn to get an early start before the day grew too hot for work.  It was strawberry season, the first sweet few weeks of early summer.  This morning he gathered the yearling cubs, and the students who where in his summer semester botany and forestry classes, and led them all out to the strawberry fields for a morning of picking.

The group started in the cultivated strawberry patch, there grew the large cat paw size strawberries that would be sent to Loupe Falls for the annual Strawberry Festival at the end of the week.  When all of the ripe berries were picked from this area they moved on to the wild strawberry patch. Here were the tiny berries that made the best jams and sauce.  Boris planned to start processing some this afternoon, they were a key part of his sweets business and he had customers waiting for the first batch.

Once the group finished with the picking fields, they moved on to the foraging fields and had their own feast of strawberries for lunch.  After eating, the three yearling cubs headed to the river for a swim and the Temperate Biome University students carried the strawberries back to the barns for processing.

Boris gathered up two large baskets of wild strawberries and with his students, headed into his house to start a batch of jam.

To borrow and to learn

Essie was now 11 years old, and had stepped up to the next grade level at school.  Today she was faced with some new vocabulary words; borrow, give, lend, take.  She looked at the two words closely, then began to write them on to her vocabulary practice sheet. B-O-R-R-O-W, G-I-V-E, L-E-N-D, T-A-K-E.  On the next line she repeated the words, continuing; as instructed by her teacher; until she had written each five times on her practice sheet.
Never very interested in reading and writing for very long, Essie began to chat with her classmate in ASL, both were Deaf and continued to develop their skills in American Sign Language. Like many deaf children of hearing parents, both girls did not begin to sign until they were school age, leaving them many years behind other kids their age in communication and academic skills. Because they didn't really have anyone to chat with at home in ASL, they took every moment of opportunity to finally have a conversation with another person, who could understand what they were trying to say and vice versa.
Essie's teacher allowed the girls to chat for a few minutes, she knew that both of the girls had been struggling with reading and vocabulary.  For a long time Essie would easily read the words, finger-spell them, attempt to speak the syllables as her speech teacher had taught her, and even put the words in proper order for phrases and sentences.  She would even sign all of the words on the page in her vocabulary or reading workbook, but when it came time for a test, Essie struggled with the deeper meaning of English words and grammar.  Unless there was an example of the words or sentences to use as a guide, Essie sometimes appeared to be seeing the words that she had been working on for a long time as if seeing for the first time.  The teacher could see that there was no connection between the printed word on the paper and the signs that Essie so easily used.
Today her teacher sighed to herself, and redirected Essie back to her vocabulary work sheet, and then to the page in her reading book that used the vocabulary.  The reading for this week started with the sentence "The boy gave the book to the girl."  Essie started by signing in English word order as she had been taught at her old school, "THE BOY GAVE THE BOOK TO THE GIRL."
Her teacher translated the sentence into ASL "BOOK (rhetorical eyebrow lift and head nod) BOY (body shift left) GIVE-TO (directional verb to the right) (classifier to indicate another person, eyebrow lift with facial 'who') GIRL (body shift to the right).
Essie watched her teacher, they copied the sentence in ASL with a look of bewilderment on her face.
The next line read, "The boy borrowed some paper from the girl."  Again Essie signed the sentence in the English grammar structure that she had learned at her old school, and then watched as the teacher translated the sentence into ASL.
This time as Essie copied her teacher, she did so with the look of bewilderment changing to curiosity.
As she read the next sentence, Essie started to make the changes herself, the sentence read in English, "The girl loaned some paper to the boy." Essie asked the teacher what the sign was for 'loan' and was shown the sign.  In ASL the sign for borrow and loan are the same sign, with only the direction changing indicating to another person or from another person.  Essie asked a second time, to be shown the sign, and the teacher took a moment, reached over to the paper cubby and took out a piece of paper.
Placing the paper in front of Essie, the teacher signed BORROW, and took the paper, then she signed LOAN and gave the paper back to Essie.  Then she wrote on the paper, 'I borrow the paper', showed it to Essie, then repeated the signed phrase PAPER BORROW-TO-ME and took the paper again, wrote the words 'I loan the paper', and repeated the signed phrase for the sentence and the action of loaning the paper to Essie.
Essie's eyes widened with understanding, she made the connection, the words on the page had the same meaning as the signs in American Sign Language.  Picking up the paper, she ran to another student and signed PAPER LOAN-TO-YOU, gave them the paper, then PAPER BORROE-TO-ME and took the paper back.  For the rest of the day, Essie borrowed and loaned a multitude of items from and to other students and adults in the classroom and in the classroom next door where she went for math and science.
From that point on, Essie's ability to understand written English began to improve as her ability to translate written English into ASL, by the end of the month she was translating many of her reading assignments easily, and remembering the meaning of the assignment.  By the end of the school year, Essie was reading books on her own and had finally begun to enjoy reading for pleasure, opening new opportunities for learning things that interested her.

Lou the bobcat - an aging old animal

Lou circled around to Boris' farm again, he was hungry, he was always hungry, though he had no idea why. Luckily for Lou, he had good friends who were willing to help an old bobcat, he just couldn't remember who, but he remembered where and this afternoon he was near a scent that seemed very familiar to him, something that meant not only food but a place where he could relax and not be anxious about the confusing world around him.

In many ecosystems of this biome a bobcat of Lou's age would have gone out to the local Free Game Preserve on their own and returned to the earth, but here Lou was a local hero who had suffered a serious concussion in his younger days saving the lives of so many young animals, now in his old age it seemed fitting that the community take care of him since it was really could not remember anything about the Free Game Preserve, or even what he had done five minutes ago.

Driven by the need to satisfy his bodily urges, Lou followed his nose when he was hungry, found water when he was thirsty, and rested where ever he fell after pacing in circle for hours at a time.

As he approached Boris' house, he could smell a pot of porridge that was cooking on his friend's stove. Boris spotted the old bobcat and ushered him in, presented him with a large bowl of porridge filled tenderized meat bits and goat cheese, and sat down to watch his old friend eat.

Lou was not a neat eater by any means, his old teeth were sore at the gums and he would shake his head as he ate, then circle the bowl before diving back in for another bite. This left a large ring of food bits around the bowl, and Boris didn't mind cleaning up for his friend, and did so in front of the cubs who were all watching from the edge of the room. With luck they would learn compassion for old animals and take care of the elderly when they grew up.

After eating his fill, Lou drank heavily from the water trough beside the door and looked around for a place to lay down. Boris had brought in and arranged a soft bed of straw and warm blanket in the corner of the living room near the hearth. Here Lou lay down and fell into a deep slumber, snoring loudly, and contently after a good meal in a safe home.

Environments

Skinny finished up the meal that Boris had served him, there was nothing like a big meaty bowl of porridge and Boris was the best cook on this side of the pass. The meal was followed by some maple pastries and an hour more of socializing before Skinny said good night and headed back toward the Truck Road.

It was almost summer and the daylight lasted well into the evening giving Skinny a chance to admire the farm as he walked back to his motorcycle.  It was a long walk, but well worth it to visit a good friend and see the workings of the farm and forest once again.  

Skinny had time to wonder that maybe he was spending too much time indoors working in the IT department of his company and for the University.  Maybe it was time to take an extended vacation, not that he wanted to take up the wild life, but to reestablish his connections to the environments in this biome that had all of the things he needed to survive.

Pollen

Skinny walked up the path toward Boris' house, he had left his motorcycle in the parking area on the Truck Road since the farm area between the mountains was strictly a walking zone, no motorized vehicles were allowed here.  It was the end of the Spring semester and Boris needed to submit his grades to the University, but his farm was out of range of the closest cell phone tower and he didn't use the internet, he preferred a low tech lifestyle that gave the students who worked for him a chance to really see and appreciate the environment around them.  The University knew this and sent Skinny to pick up the grades and bring them back.  

Having adapted to city life, Skinny only spent a minimum of time outdoors, mostly when on a family hunt in the Free Game Preserve outside the city. The long walk from the Truck Road was taking its toll on his nose, he was sniffling and sneezing so much that he had to stop repeatedly and clear his head.  For a short time he thought that he had come down with the virus that his brother, Shifty, had last year, but when he walked straight into a pollen cloud that was blowing out of a pine grove, Skinny realized that his sinuses had fallen victim to the reproductive processes of the local forest.

 

Sunshine after a week of rain.

Boris was happy to see the sun today, after several weeks of rainy, cold weather.  Finally his garden was starting to grow. The early crop of radishes and lettuce had sprouted and seemed to reach upward as he watched, toward the sunlight in effort to increase photosynthesis.  This made Boris glad to be a farmer, the constant change of the season allowed the different types of food available as the garden progressed though the late Spring and early Summer. 

Soon there would be small radishes and leafy salads to go with his soups and porridges.

 

Len the bobcat and his long decline

Boris' friend, Len, showed up today. An elderly bobcat who was near the end of his days.  The local community of animals kept an eye on and took good care of Len, since he had developed dementia from a nasty blow to his head while rescuing a group of young animals from a spring flood. He had been hit in the head by a log that just missed the last pup that he pulled from the water, he was able to pull himself ashore but suffered for weeks after with concussion, and now in his old age had developed dementia.  He walked in circles around the forest, forgetting where he was, or going.  The community animals would bring him food and leave it in front of him.  His nose still knew food and he would eat anything that was left for him.

He knew his friend Boris, more by scent and the calm, and patient manner that Boris always met him with, today though, Len seemed a bit more off than usual and Boris was concerned that something more had progressed in Len's long decline.

If a bear were a professor...

Being a professor at the Temperate Forest University, Boris had to spend a few days a month in Loupe Falls, to meet with students in his office and to turn in grades and reports. 

 Occasionally, he gave a guest lecture on botany or the local environmental changes that were being studied by his graduate assistants, but most of the time he was in his outdoor classroom, teaching students through hands on learning, at his farm.

 I

Orphan bear cubs

Boris was caught in a spring down pour while out in the garden with the three yearling cubs, his daughter Izzy, and the two male cubs. All three were recovering well from their near starvation when they came out of hibernation, due to the lack of enough food in the forest last fall.

The two year drought seemed to be ending and Boris would note this in his weather journal later that evening, now he was showing the young bears the finer points of planting peas and early greens in the garden. Izzy was quite attentive to what was happening and the male cubs showed some curiosity that what they were doing was about food. Loosing interest quickly as any young animal would, the two male cubs tumbled off into the tall grass and began wrestling and testing their muscles against each other.

Izzy stayed with her father until the section they were working on was planted, then she too headed into the tall grass to play. Female bears need good muscles too, and Izzy was quick to pin one of the boys in a good wrestle hold. They tumbled and played for what seemed like a long time, then Boris called them all in for dinner, porridge again, and what a porridge it was filled with all kinds of good and healthy things for a growing bear cub, including a bit of maple syrup for taste.

Starting the gardening season.

Boris stood out in his yard and felt the morning breeze, which carried the flowers from the maple trees like a cascade large yellow and green snow flakes.  Looking down as they reached the ground, Boris noticed that the tiny flowers were a bright contrast with the leaf humus from the previous fall.

 

 Above him, Boris saw the emergence of the tiniest of maple leafs, this was the signal that he could start planting the cold weather crops into his garden. Hoe in hand and seeds in his bucket, Boris headed out to his garden humming a happy song.

 

Parasites

Boris was a bear that liked to keep well groomed.  He worked in the food industry and clean food handling was important to his business.  As a bear he was susceptible to various external and internal parasites, the worst of which were wood ticks that would burrow into his fur and latch on to his skin in spots that he could not easily get to for removal.  The tick had a goal of a blood meal and then reproduction, Boris had a goal of removing the tick and inhibiting that same reproductive process.

When his family was out of hibernation and living together during the summer months, they would groom each other with claws and teeth to remove the ticks and other biting insects.  Luckily, this spring had remained cool enough to keep most insects from emerging early, but Boris knew that it would not be long before he would be scratching again,

If the parasites became too numerous at any time, Boris would put in an order with the Loupe Falls Chemical and Pharmaceutical for a treatment, but for the most part, he preferred natural grooming over the harsh chemicals that upset his stomach and caused his skin to burn for a few days. 

Hope for the next generation on the farm

Boris had come out of hibernation after only three months of sleep, he was a male black bear and did not need to stay in the den as long as his wife did.  She still had the two cubs that had been born last year with her and it was best for the three to stay in their den until more food was easily available.

With the turn into full spring, his family would be awakening soon, though Boris knew it was best to stay away from his young children until their second year, when they were big enough to fend for themselve, he had his hopes for the future of the family farm on one of the cubs of this litter.  Last summer the littlest female cub began to show interest in how the plants grew in the garden rather than just eating her share and moving on. This is how Boris had started and was noticed by his grandfather.  Where most bears ate whatever they found that was good to eat, a few were curious about how food grew and how to grow more for themselves and their community.

Light

As the days continued to get longer with more available sunlight, the maple trees on Boris' farm started to bloom.  Still a little too cool for the bees to pollinate this spring, the maple grove would have to depend on the weather, birds and chance for fertilization and the production of seeds.

 

Spring rains

It had been raining for several days and Boris was happy.  At this time of year the rain would soak into the ground and fill the local aquifers.  Along with the spring runoff from the snow melt in the mountains, the groundwater was being quickly recharged this spring.  The weather had turned cooler and the leaf sprouting had slowed a little bit, but with the increasing sunlight this wouldn't last for very long.  Once the leaves were out and the trees began their full cycle of growth and photosynthesis, taking up all of the water from the surface around them and as deep as their roots, which for some was quite deep.

A forest needed plenty of water during the growing season and could quickly put an ecosystem into drought conditions if the ground water wasn't replenished earlier in the spring.

In a world where survival depended on the amount of water available, it wasn't always survival of the fastest or the fittest, but of the one with the deepest tap root.

PigBadWolf reviews

Some reviews on Amazon for my book PigBadWolf

Spring planting

Boris spent the last few days getting some early greens planted in his garden. With  weather being warmer than normal for this time of year, any opportunity to work in the garden was welcomed.  Boris was happiest when outside in the garden or woods, making a connection to all of the life and land around him.  It was a special feeling, he was a part of a whole, and an important part too.

 

A bear takes a break

Boris the bear had been busy this week turning over his part of his garden and starting more seeds in his greenhouse. With maple sugaring season over, he had spent the week getting a jump on the farm products of the next season. Tonight though, he was sitting back and taking a much needed rest. Relaxing in his favorite chair, Boris was enjoying a good book while he snacking on jelly beans out of his new jelly bean pot. He thought to himself that life on the farm was good, and he was happy.

Seasons begin with maple sugaring

Late Winter – early Spring

On the glacial carved mountains that divided the Loupe Falls watershed from that of Point-du-Farme there was a large and prosperous farm owned by Stanley Boris Bear.  Boris, as he was known in the temperate forest, was a large black bear who provided communities on both sides of the mountain with a wide variety of products.  As season followed season throughout the year, his many customers purchased a variety of sweets, and summer crops provided by Boris, all produced on his farm.

            The farm had belonged to Boris’ grandfather, for whom he was named, and keeping with the example of his grandfather, Boris was a bear who took his den to hibernate for only three months of the year.  He had tucked into his bed late last fall, after the last of the leaf drop in his maple grove was covered by the first snow.  Waking now as the season was beginning to change again, Boris stretched, yawned and began to move around to get his systems going again.           

            Spring was a busy time of year, with maple sugaring first on the list, trees needed to be tapped and buckets hung to collect the sweet sap as it ran through the stems and trunks of the large grove of sugar maple trees that grew on the higher slope of the farm.

Over the first few days since he woke from hibernation, Boris walked in the maple grove, clearing branches and trees that blew down over the winter to make gathering sap easier for all involved.

            Boris hired students from the Temperate Biome University, to help with the work. Most of the students were studying forestry, botany or were interested in earning some extra money and class credit, with an opportunity to work outside of the classroom walls.

This morning several students were arriving as Boris finished his breakfast and cleaned up his porridge dishes.

            Stepping outside to greet his helpers, Boris noticed a young wolf among the group.  He had never had a wolf on his maple sugaring crew before..

Turning over the garden in the temperate forest

Boris stepped back from his digging and scratched behind his ear. The first really warm day of spring had him turning over the sunniest section of his vegetable garden, getting it ready for planting in a few weeks. The unexpected warmth brought out a number of biting insects, that were getting a jump on their reproduction cycle with the blood of any mammal available, Boris just ended the life of the one that bit his ear. He felt bad about this for a minute, but knowing that biting insects can carry diseases, he didn't feel bad for too long, and got back to his digging.

Foggy morning in the temperate forest

Boris, the bear, woke with a yawn, stretched his big body and scratched his black fur by rubbing against the rough beams of his den. Today was the day to take down his maple sugaring buckets, the season was over as the buds of the trees had begun to swell with the warmth of the past few days. In preparation of the long day of labor, Boris ate a good helping of porridge and a large mug of strong coffee, with cream and a drop of syrup.

Opening his door to step outside, Boris was faced with a fog so thick that he could barely see the barn that was only a few feet to the left of his den, today was going to be an interesting day...

Spring itches to awaken in full

Still now, the forest was hushed and silent with anew coating of snow.  The night seemed bright as the full moon reflected off the snowpack, almost as bright as dawn.  Silently, under the snow the season stirred, restless and eager to begin.

Tiny plants in their seed coats ached to stretch toward the sun.  Buds of deciduous trees awaited the first warm days to swell with new flower and leaf growth.  Winter had lingered far too long this year, days were lengthening and Boris was eager to start turning over his garden and begin planting.

Ducks

 

After the Spring snow

Morning broke brightly upon the new fallen snow, Boris had risen before the sun and put his paw up to shade his eyes as the first rays of morning sun lit up his farm. Blinking and squinting in the glare off of the white snow, Boris quickly surveyed his farm and the forest beyond. A foot or more of new snow covered the ground from yesterday's storm, heavy wet snow that continued into late last night.

Boris had slept through the storm, as any black bear would, though he awoke several times to the sounds of branches creaking, breaking and on one occasion the sound of a whole tree falling not too far from his den. The first order of business today was to clear the snow from his doors and the path leading to his sugar house, and he got started right away. Once done, he went inside for a hearty breakfast of porridge, which he covered with warm syrup made from his labors this week.

After cleaning up his breakfast dishes, Boris headed out to his woods, he was eager to find the tree that fell and to check that his maple grove was not too badly damaged by the storm.  The early morning was still cold with a nip in the air, but the rising sun warmed Boris' back and he had a feeling that the sap in his maple trees would be flowing well very shortly.  Walking past the first few trees, he pushed the snow off of the lid and peered inside.  Nothing yet, so he closed the lid and moved on continuing to brush snow off the hanging bucket as he made his way up the slope.

Here and there, Boris spotted downed branches from a variety of trees, both leafless deciduous and several large coniferous branches, one that looked like the whole top of a large pine tree.  Stepping carefully around some young birches, that were bent all the way over due to the heavy snow the top branches, Boris was aware that they could snap back quickly if the snow suddenly slid off.

Reaching the top of the hill, Boris spotted the tree that fell overnight, he could see it well from this vantage point and was saddened that it was one of the oldest of the maples in this grove.  He remembered the first time that he tapped it with grandfather bear all those years ago, the tree was big then and gave many gallons of sap over the years.  Boris had not tapped this tree for a long time, it was too old and many of the branches on top had died back.  He left it in the woods as a habitat for the local birds and small climbing animals.  Woodpeckers had drilled holes in the dead branches, and a host of squirrels and song birds had built nests in the still living branches.  The tree also shaded the undergrowth and kept the younger trees from growing to fast and overcrowding the forest.

Today the tree was stretched out across the forest floor with a coating of new snow upon its length.  Having uprooted as it fell, the exposed soil and root ball was already being investigated this morning by several birds and squirrels, for the insects and other food sources that might be there.  Boris knew that no tree ever went to waste in the woods, over time this one would nourish many animals and plants that live here.  More sunlight will get into this area of the forest and the young trees will start growing quickly in the years to come.  

What happens when elephants are used in 8th grade science.

Today we had a winner for the show what you know writing exercise.  I asked the eight graders to show their understanding of using the formula for force. Force = mass x acceleration.

For the following known facts students were asked to write a short paragraph that included quantitative and qualitative statements and found the acceleration of one object.

Force = 150N

Mass = 1000 kg

Items that exert or receive force = an elephant and a truck.

The winning write up was this;

One day, an elephant walked upon a smelly Honda Pilot. Dark grey elephants are common in Dunbarton.  The elephant which had a mass of 1000 kg made a loud honking noise and stepped onto the truck. The 150N force of the elephant made the roof of the truck accelerate down at 0.15 m/s/s.  Unfortunately, the insurance company wouldn't pay for the truck because they didn't believe an elephant stepped on it.

A bear and his seeds

Boris the bear entered his greenhouse on a very snowy early spring morning.  Today would not be a good day for gathering sap in his maple groves, it was far too cold outside for the sap to be flowing like it had earlier this week. Temperatures in the temperate forest this time of year were unpredictable, as unpredictable as the snow this morning.  The only thing that Boris knew for sure was that winter had always been followed by spring, with summer close behind.

Summer was why Boris was in his greenhouse today, he needed to start some of the plants that he would be growing in his gardens this summer.  He had customers who depended on his crops of vegetables as well as the honey that the local bees made for him.  Today he was starting some zinnias for the bees and some long growing tomatoes and peppers for the community.  ThirdLittlePig over in Point-du-Farme, had requested several varieties of peppers and a large variety of herbs for his new diner, that he opened last fall and Boris decided to start the herb seeds today as well.

A few hours later with the scent of fresh soil in the air, and new pots of labeled seeds on the greenhouse benches, Boris smiled to himself and thought; here was a time of year when many a bear would turn over in his den to sleep out a few more weeks of hibernation, but instead he was happily busy planning and planting with summer gardening on his mind.

My very educated mother just made us nice ... ???

A short story based on a sixth grader's question in class this week.

Finishing up his science work for the day, Collin was thinking about what the teacher said about Pluto, that it probably didn't mind that it was now a dwarf planet and not one of the main nine planets of our Solar System.  Then it hit him, from out of nowhere, he had the thought; "What if Pluto does CARE?"

Suddenly he realized that he was actually thinking out loud.

"What are you talking about?" Alex said, as he continued packing up his backpack at the end of class, "Pluto is just a bunch of frozen ice and rock, it doesn't have feelings"

"How do you know? Maybe does and we just don't know it,"  Collin continued, "it could be true, you know!"

The rest of his classmates just rolled their eyes in disbelief, "Seriously? said Samantha, with an air of sophistication, "Pluto is an inanimate object, it is just rocks and ice like Alex said, it can't have feelings, have you been paying attention at all in class, sheesh."

Collin wasn't about to give up so easily and shouted, "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" as the rest of his class left for lunch.  "I'll show them, I'll show everybody" he said to himself taking a detour towards the computer lab instead of the lunch room.

Some older kids were already in the computer lab as Collin signed in for the lunch period then headed to the back of the lab for his favorite computer.  He worked through the whole lunch period, missing his recess.

Several days, and missed recesses later, Collin ran into his science class super excited and shouted "I FOUND IT!" then more quietly, "You all have to come and see this."

"Shhhhhh," said the teacher, "Not so loud, but what is it that you want us to see that seems more important than learning science?"

"It is science." Collin replied, "But you have to come to the computer lab to see it."

Curious now, the teacher said, "All right, if only to settle everyone down and get back to work before the period ends, lets take a quick look at your computer."

The class lined up and headed for the computer lab, Collin led the way.   Once all had gathered around the computer screen, Collin hit a button that turned the screen on.

There were gasps, giggles, and screams, along with the teacher picking up the phone and asking for direct contact with NASA.

"See, I was right," said Collin proudly, "Pluto does care, that photo says it all."

What was on the screen?  Do you know?  Once he gets the copy of the photo back from the International Astronomical Association, who are double checking his findings, Collin will post it here.

Stanley Boris Bear

Stanley Boris Bear, who was named after his granddad, went by the name Boris to avoid confusion while his granddad was alive, and had taken over the family farm after his granddad passed away. By improving the farm here and there, today he owned a large business that centered around crops that produced sweet fruit, honey and maple syrup.

This morning Boris walked up to the top of his maple grove, to a ledge that had a grand view of his farm. From here he surveyed all that the new year had in store for him. The late winter was starting to turn into spring when the maple sugaring season would come to an end. Boris observed healthy trees in his maple grove, about half were currently in their peak production years for creating good sap for syrup. The other maples were a mix of young saplings and very old trees that had lived long enough to be left alone during sugaring season. Several dead maple trees stood in this grove, Boris chose to leave them standing as homes for birds and small animals. Eventually these trees would fall, sometimes the whole tree at once, but most often piece by piece, or limb by limb, adding to the humus layer of decaying materials that provided nutrients to the living forest.

Sap House at Work - B. Bear

As he took a break from his work in the sugar house, B. Bear spotted several pair of cardinal in the pine trees nearby.  Out among the trees and shrubs, next to the sugar house ,were a large number of chickadees, house finch, junco and other birds that either did not migrate for the winter to the south or had migrated to this area from farther north.
A coopers hawk had been sitting on a high branch of one of the maple trees causing the bird activity to cease for a short time.  Once the hawk flew off in search of an easier meal, the small song birds began grousing for food in the tree branches and on the ground around the area.
Soon a family of squirrels walked up to the sugar house, knocked on the door to announce their arrival.  B. Bear welcomed them all in and showed them the evaporator and how it worked to boil down the sap into sweet sticky syrup.
   "Who wants to try a taste?" offered B. Bear.
   "I do, I do, I do", came the quick reply of several young squirrels with great enthusiasm.
   "You will all get a turn," added a more mature voice, "let the youngest go first, this is their first taste of the sweetness of spring, remember how it was for you last year."
   With a murmur of agreement, several young squirrels stepped aside and a tiny yearling reached up her paw to take the small acorn cap full of syrup from the large, though quite nimble, hand of B. Bear.
  "MMMMM!!" the tiny squirrel exclaimed, "this is the best thing that I have ever tasted!"
   With that, her siblings lined up for their turns and also gave their approval of B. Bear's syrup, and generosity.
    Taking their leave a short time later, the squirrel family thanked B. Bear for his time and went on their way.  B. Bear returned to his work bottling his syrup into fine glass containers and jugs that bore his trademark paw print with his initials inside.

B. Bear - working on ideas for the maple sugaring theme

B. Bear overslept this morning, he was surprised to have his sugar house buried in over two feet of new snow from the storm overnight. After spending an hour digging out the door, B. Bear stepped inside, lit the fire in the arch and got to work thawing out the sap in the collection tanks. He knew it would be a while before the frozen sap thawed and the sugar house warmed up, so he kept himself active by bringing in wood from under the covering outside and splitting it into smaller pieces to fit better in the arch.

Space Junk Collector - a student question story

One of the kids asked yesterday, "wouldn't it be cool to be a space junk collector, like have your own space ship and gather space junk?"

Gabe turned his ship around and headed back toward the inner Solar System.  He had finished his rounds near the gas giants his debris hold was full.  One of only a few adventurous ship captains who took the extra risk of gathering space junk while transporting humans and cargo to their destinations either moon, asteroid or planetary, Gabe did his job well and had a fine reputation as any in the space industry.

In the early days of space exploration, space junk was allowed to burn up in the atmosphere of the planet that it was orbiting.  That was until resources became scarce on several planets that had big manufacturing facilities and the call went out for volunteers to gather up the bits and pieces of old satellites, abandoned space homes and even tiny nuts and bolts that fell off of or were dropped by construction crews as they built or repaired space homes and stations.

Though he did not volunteer, Gabe knew a profitable idea when he saw one and quickly chose to clean out a section of the cargo hold in his ship to store space junk picked up in his travels and sell to the highest bidder.  Other space ship captains had done this as well and the extra income had helped all of them plan for their eventual retirements on one of the more hospitable planets in the Solar System.

With his extra money, Gabe had upgraded the gravity controls of his ship.  This allowed for him to adjust the gravity onboard for his passengers as they travel from one planet to another.  He would set the gravity for the planet that they were leaving and gradually throughout the trip adjust the gravity to that of the planet that they were headed for.  By the time that they reached their destination passengers had physically adjusted to the new gravity and needed far less time acclimating upon arrival.  Word had gotten out that Gabe's ship had this feature and the number of passengers on each flight had increased quite a bit recently, which was good for his retirement fund.

On this run, out near the gas giants, Gabe had picked up an old Earth space probe that had stopped functioning over 400 years ago.  It had been launched on August 5, 2011 and began orbiting Jupiter on July 4, 2016.  After its mission to orbit and gather data was completed, the space probe was to be crashed into the Jovian atmosphere to gather data prior to its destruction to learn as much as possible about the atmosphere of the planet.  Unfortunately, the space probe stopped transmitting information back to Earth just prior to receiving the program to end is mission and had not been heard from again.  A recent sweep of the moons of Jupiter by a telescope orbiting Mars had spotted the defunct space probe near the moon Ganymede.  The Inner Planetary Space Agency, the modern name for the founding organization NASA, had hired Gabe to retrieve the space probe and to bring it to Mars for analysis.

Curious about his cargo, but careful enough not to mess with the very old and delicate machine, Gabe had carefully stored the space probe in his debris cargo hold.  He set the gravity and atmosphere in the hold to match that outside in space to protect the fragile cargo from damage due to sudden pressure and gravity changes after having been orbiting in space for so long.  Earlier today as he sealed the hatch to the debris hold, Gabe thought he had heard a faint, but continuous. hum coming from the space probe that had been silent for so many years.  He thought to himself that he was imagining things, he had been in space long enough to know that the mind would play tricks on him at odd times, this seemed to be one of them.  He was happy that he would be heading home soon to a long awaited vacation on Mars with his growing family.

He was thinking about the space probe as he turned his space craft toward home, he wondered what would be learned from the long missing relic.  Little did he know, but indeed the space probe was humming in the debris hold, now that it had been in contact with a human it was beginning to wake up.  It had a message stored in its data banks, an important message that would change humanity forever.

Loupe Falls

Loupe Falls was a prosperous town with in the temperate forest biome, bordered on the east by mountains, through which a pass led to Point-du-Farme. To the north were rolling hills of drumlins and moraines left behind by the last glacial age thousands of years ago. South and west of the town a large expanse of deciduous forest stretched for as far as a wolf could walk at a leisurely pace in five days. Beyond that, the land began to rise again and with increasing altitude, the forest changed from deciduous to coniferous.

Near the north edge of town a river flowed following the path of least resistance as it meandered its way to the sea many days travel to the southeast. As the river approaches the town, it flowed over a high granite ledge in a spectacular and roaring waterfall. The waterfall was not only a place where animals from other areas of the biome came to visit in their travels, it was also the name sake of the town. The falls were named for a prominent resident of the area back in the days before Free Game Preserves were established, when each town was populated by one species and raids on other towns for food. This memorable wolf had gone to a neighboring town one spring morning in search of dinner, found the homes of three pigs, and in the course of the home invasions ended up with his tail being lit on fire by one smart pig who had plans for longevity.

According to the rest of the story, told to local children, this wolf came home quickly from his hunt and sat down in the river to cool his sore, tail. Unfortunately, the river current was running high at that time due to a higher than normal spring run off from the snow melt, and the wolf was quickly swept from shore. Witnesses said that the wolf scrambled wildly trying to get back to shore to no avail and eventually was seen going over the falls to his death.