\o/  … Raise a glass folks, this is my 100th Post on the Bear Feed.  Can you believe it?  100!!!!  That’s about 98 more than I thought I was going to post.

To celebrate, let’s look back at some of the favorite moments.  And by favorites, I mean my favorites and not yours … I ain’t gonna ask you what your favorites are because if you read all 100 I think you need to get your head checked.  Feel free to add your comments on what your favorite moments were too … and you more “why the hell am I reading these moments” as well.

Your Top 10 Favorite Bear Feed Moments

10) 9/29/12 — Ready or Not — “Let the record show, first snowfall of the year in Anchorage City was on September 29th.”

9) 9/2/12 — Echo Bend — I hiked back of Eagle River to a place called Echo Bend, and was surprised at my reaction.
“Echo Bend laid itself out like a fantasy.  Illusions of man-made images I have seen hundreds of times in paintings, on computers, in movies.  For a short time, I almost brushed it off like it was all those other things and something that is so easy to get used to.  But as I tried to capture it with the camera on my phone I wondered if I was really capturing anything that could do this justice. … Then a voice in my head echoed back: “You are only a short drive away.  Come back to this place, whenever you want, and see it again whenever you want.”  Vacation is over, this is home now.”

8) 10/8/12 — Oy, With the Puddles Already — “Before moving up here, all people wanted to warn me about back in Kansas was cold.  “You know it gets cold up there” is something I heard so many times that I just wanted to yell “Holy Crap!!!!  You’re right, I didn’t think about that, I better stay here where a coolest here in August is 107°.”

7) 8/17/12 – Hi-Ho Marty the Moose — Regarding a conversation with Ed Warren about getting my car up to Alaska: ”
Ed: “so what are you driving now”
Me: “They put a saddle on a moose for me … I have a rental car, been in it for a couple weeks.”
Ed: “does it have blocks on the pedals?”
Me: “Nah, I just have to strap walrus pelts to my feet for extra length”
Ed: “figured”

6) 10/7/12 — PFD’s Baby — When explaining the Permanent Fund Dividend I told this story: “But for this outsider trying to find a way to overcome the wet weather blues, I have to admit it was the reaction in the bar on Friday.  The place was packed and folks were having a great time.  As I was nudging a fairly cute girl who was three sheets to the wind (plus a few more for safekeeping) what the occasion was, her response in a whooping, drink spilling, high tone screech was a simple “F*ing PFDs, Baby!!! I LOVE THIS STATE.”

5) 2/7/13 — Live from the Salt Pile: Snomaggedon —  “Picture if you will, a poor rookie news reporter standing outside in the cold next to a three story pile of salt.  She’s wrapped up in a jacket that is supposed to make her look like she is at the tip of winter weather fashion sense; but all it really does is accent how red her cheeks are from the biting wind.  Her thin gloves grip the microphone tightly just to hide the fact she shivers uncontrollably.  Her only need to report tonight is just to say the county trucks are ready to roll to keep the roads safe and clear.  Down where I used to live in that belt of states from Kansas to Kentucky and even further south – this is the sign of the end, this is the picture of Snowmageddon! ”

4) 8/11/12 — Namesake — It was the night I saw a bear, a real bear.  And I had to describe what the experience was like.
Over the next few minutes, I went through the stages of stupidity:
1) Giddy: “Woot Woot, I just saw a bear.”
2) Fear: “I just saw a ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-bear!!!!”
3) Post to Facebook: “I just saw a bear.  I bet half of you don’t share this, and the others eat at Chick-fil-a”
4) Denial “That wasn’t a real bear, that’s just one of those you can get down town and hug and squeeze and pet and call George.”
5) Brainlessness (Aka: Darwin Award Nominee): “I bet if I a go back with a fish in my pocket, I could get a better picture.”

3) 11/05/12 — Enter the Puppy — “(I brought Auggie home this day and he) showed his gratitude by
1) Throwing up on my car seat
2) Pooping on my couch
3) Chewing on my watch
4) Fought the leash
5) He nipped my nose hard enough to break the skin
6) He cried and cried when he first went into the (kennel)
7) Ran nonstop around the room for the last two hours
And it … was … awesome!!!!”

2) 1/9/13 — Bucket List: How I Hurried, Hurried Hard — I started the post with: “My feet press out behind me. My pelvis is flat down. All my upper body weight is pressed into the handles my hand grip tightly to. My head is lifted out in front of me. All the while I am sliding forward on a sheet of thick ice in a room that is just at freezing. Make no mistake, what I was doing was not at all right. However, while I am doing this an item on my bucket list has a big thick line going thru it.”  –And thus, I became a curler.

1) 8/4/12 — Two Feet on the Ground, Two Fists in the Air — The post on the night I arrived in Anchorage for the first time.

“There were moments though today that made me very aware of the situation.  Two in particular.  One was the view as I left the airport.  I snapped a pic from the taxi and posted this on Facebook:

… And God said, “Welcome to Alaska, here’s something pretty for you to look at.”

The other was when I got on the plane in Wichita.  The flight attendant, being chatty, asked me “Are you leaving home? Or heading home?”  I thought about the question and the answer was simple: “Yes”

Ladies and Gentleman … I am home.”