4

I'm going off topic. This happens to me when I overthink. I'm not hibernating for now. I'd better leave it at that. Wise bears say that only fools rush in, but I'm no fool — I'm just getting a bit old. I'll think it over when I pick up the smell of resin and pine cones carpet the ground. That'll be the sign. Meanwhile, I'll get a good scratch against that old maple. Hope it holds! I've gotten pretty big lately. Then I'll spot the river. I'm parched.

5

I suddenly have a bad feeling about this place. There should be more signs of life here. I'll keep my eyes peeled, in case I'm missing something. There's too much stillness, even for winter. Something is definitely amiss. It's not just a hunch —I didn’t have this feeling when I first came here. It’s coldly beautiful. It feels soulless — dead. I don’t know how to explain it: the river flows, the trees thrive, but the silence is deep and unsettling. Besides, there's an acrid smell I can't quite place. If this keeps up, I’ll have to move elsewhere. I still have a few days left before the winter wind lashes hard. I should hurry. Nature doesn’t wait.

3

Speaking of books, who's messing with the weather? It's really hot outside today, stupid hot. Just yesterday I was wearing a really long scarf and a pair of ridiculously thick gloves. This weather can't be normal. I want this to be over soon. I want it so bad that I've been toying with the idea of putting off my hibernation. I mean, I love hibernating. I can sleep as much as I want for months, and I look lean as a whip when the spring comes, and all that without beating myself with the damn intermittent fasting. You know what? I'm not hibernating this winter. I haven't put on enough extra weight yet. Not that I haven't done my best at it, it's just that It's not worth wasting time sleeping when there's so much I could be doing instead, like getting fit, going to the mall, or eating termites. Doing nothing is also one of my favorite activities —if you can call it an "activity." Anyway, when there's nothing to do in the cave, it's easy to fall asleep. So this morning I said to myself, "Let's go shopping, lady! It's sales season, and who knows? Maybe you'll find something nice and cheap. I'm really good at snuffling through piles of clothes. Once, I found a cockroach that cost $1.99. I usually avoid eating junk food, but I ended up eating it. I'm starving all the time, so after indulging in it, I walked away without paying. It was stale.

2

We bears don't mess with nature, and we don't put up with nonsense either. Nature doesn't jest, so we prefer to homeschool our cubs. Nature is way better than a physics lab. They learn fundamental physical laws just by watching salmon jump upstream in the fall. A salmon's leap describes a parabolic trajectory determined by its initial speed, for a start. These fish have an amazing ability to swim upstream by taking advantage of the eddies that form in the water. Salmon strategically place themselves in areas where vortices create a push they can use to their advantage, allowing them to move forward with less effort. But beyond the school curriculum, we love to watch the cubs see their reflection in the water for the first time. We wouldn't miss it for the world. You won't find that in any textbook.