If I Were A Bear ...

I want to be a bear. 

That’s right, a bear. And I don’t care what kind of bear.

I could be a grizzly bear. I could be a black bear. I could be a polar bear. As long as I could hibernate, I would be happy.

If I were a bear, I could stuff my face with all the calories I could get in the late summer and fall in preparation for hibernation. Then I would crawl into a cozy den and sleep throughout the winter. I hate winter, so the thought of being warm and cozy in a den as the temperatures dropped would be wonderful. I would burn stored body fat to keep myself alive during the long, cold and dark months of winter.  Then I would wake up in the spring as temperatures rise and food becomes more plentiful.

Of course there is a major downside to being a bear: getting shot for fun by some mighty hunter. And some places think it’s OK to allow the mighty hunters to actually murder bears, including cubs, while they are hibernating. Not much of a sport.

As nighttime temperatures consistently drop below freezing, and as a frigid wind often blows, hibernating sounds better and better.