The bears have a joke they'd like to share with you:

Q: How many teddy bears does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Only one but it takes a lot of light bulbs.

The bears would like to remind you that November 2002 was the 100th birthday of the Teddy Bear. In honour of this momentous occasion they would like me to pass on that they are accepting gifts of chocolate all year long (until Nov '03).  Please feel free to send your favorite chocolate confection to them at any time.  They only say that because we won't indulge them as often as they would like. There's a website the offers 100 ways to celebrate the Anniversary.  

Well our family just keeps growing!  We now have a total of 29 bears in our 'hug' and we just can't resist the call of another bear with a tag in it's ear and the need for some love.  So we keep bidding on Ebay and making new friends.  Since we last updated this page Mirage and Tobler have joined us (you can find out all about any of our bears at the BearBios page).  We've had to diverge a little from our completely chocolately names (Caramel for example) but all names are sweets that either are made with chocolate, or could be made with chocolate.  We have standards here!
 

Before I go rambling on about everyone, let me give you a little background on how this all got started...

Lynda gave Joe Fudgie as a birthday present in October of 1994.  We were living together at the time so I thought that I might get to enjoy this cute fluffy cuddly fellow too.  At first Joe wondered why I would have given him this giant (28 inches tall -- fairly large for a bear) bear and what he was to do with him.  I liked the way he would be proportional for Joe --  as big for an adult as a regular sized bear would be for a child.  Since Joe had never had a bear as a child, I thought he would like having Fudgie.  Well it wasn't long before Fudgie (when we got him he was named "Pudgy" which we thought was a little insulting, so we changed it to Fudgie) began to show signs of a personality.  Fudgie says if your want to find out how he came to be you have to go to his page "Fudgie's Story".

Fudgie dancing with grandma Lyn

After Fudgie came to life and showed us how fun he was, we needed to expand our little family.  In about 1997 we thought we would like to have a brother for Fudgie but found to our chagrin that the Ty company had stopped making the Pudgy line in 1996.  It's a shame since they are a sit down & stand up bear and so very cuddly and squishy.  But I wanted a bear of my own since Fudgie had bonded so well with Joe and I felt a little bear-eft (sorry).  We looked around in stores for any pudgies and found that they had all been sold.  So we turned to the internet and discovered that we could find them on the Ebay auction site (more on that later).  So Brownie (notice we kept to the chocolate theme with his name) came to us in September 1997.  Fudgie and Brownie are "Big Pudgy" bears.  After we moved to Houston we had some more bears join our family -- Cookie, Tootsie, Cocoa, Truffle, Mocha, Cupcake, Smartie, Toffee, Hershey, Cadbury, Chip, Godiva, Caramel, Praline, Crunchie, Nougat, Reese, Chocolate, Pudding, Ganache, and Nestle  are all "Pudgy" bears and are about half the size of Fudgie and Brownie.  We have five more Big Pudgies: Dove, Purdy, Mousse, Mirage and Tobler.  To find out all about them, click on Bear Bios.
 
 

Sisters and Brothers:

"Save all Pudgies" (SaP):

Often we see the Pudgy bears advertised for sale on the Ebayauction site with notations about their condition and the condition of the tag in their ear. Things like "from a smoke free environment" are great but "mint condition" really means 'never played with' and often 'kept in plastic' as well.  This is an actual listing from Ebay -- see what you think!

Pudgy, style #5006, was produced by Ty from 1994-1996, and is retired. He is a beautiful shade of brown with soft, longer fur. He is mint, has been stored in a ziploc bag since purchase, and has his tag protected. [Emphasis mine -- LR]  The tush tag is the red and white version and is mint. His hang tag is the folded style with fat TY lettering, and the addresses are on the inside left side of the heart. It is in mint condition. (The picture shows a reflection on the right side of the tag that is not a crease or flaw of any type.)  This is a very pretty bear and would make a great addition to your plush collection.

The picture he refers to shows a line on the tag.  Look at the extraordinary emphasis put on the condition of the tags!  It seems cruel to have a bear that no-one plays with for fear of decreasing it's value and which still has a tag in it's ear, years after being sold.  So we have launched the "Save all Pudgies" movement in the hopes that all bear owners will (as our fuzzies remind us to do) cuddle their bears and remember that they give as much love as they get and more!  So take off those tags and start cuddling!!!  Since we started our foundation to Set the Pudgies Free, we have rescued 25 bears in various states (brand new, never been played with to well loved then abandoned to sell on Ebay).  Imaginenever being cuddled, played with, or even HUGGED!!!!!!  Existing in plastic bags with tags permanently in their ears.  So sad...  We have pledged to take as many of the pudgies out of this wasted life as we can and so will continue to scour the Ebay site for potential adoptees.

Note: We have significantly slowed our personal adoption of Pudgie bears.  We have found that they are actually quite a handful in quantity.  So although it's unlikely that we'll be adopting any more (but never say never), we urge you to check Ebay out for Pudgies and give them a good Home.  Become a member of SaP (be a Sappy!) and rescue a bear!

Big Bed Tours:

The bears call the trips Joe and I take "Big Bed Tours" (BBTs) because they stay in different places, often with bigger beds than at home and more than one different bed over the course of the trip.  It's always fun for a bear to try out a new bed.  Fudgie got to go on our honeymoon Big Bed Tour and Kelowna and then Fudgie and Brownie went on the best Big Bed Tour of all* -- the trip from Vancouver to Houston.  Since we arrived in Houston and added bears to our family everyone has gone on at least one.  If you want to know who went where, look on the Bear Bios page.

*This title is under dispute now because Dove and Purdy went on a pretty great BBT of their own this July through the American Southwest on the way to "Vegas Baby!".  To see a discription of what Joe and I saw, check out the link from the Travel page.

When Fudgie and Brownie went on the Vancouver-Houston BBT they sat in the back seat of the car and were very well behaved.  Fudgie complained that all he could see was the tops of trees (when there were trees) but they liked all the places we got to see.  Some of the bears have been on BBTs where they didn't get to go in the car -- they were hiding in the backpacks and went on the plane.  This is a little more uncomfortable, but cool when they get to look out the window.  Truffle, Mocha, Smartie, Toffee, Hershey and Cadbury, Chip, Godiva and Caramel went on airplane BBT's.  Everyone else watched the tops of trees, billboards and light poles go by from the backseat.

Addictions:

Fudgie and Brownie have always been addicted to Chocolate and Café Latte.  They have managed to convince (not that it took much trying!) the other bears that Chocolate rocks, but they don't really like the coffee as much.  Brownie and Dove likes thiers a little latte sweet and Fudgie, Purdy and Mousse likes theirs plain. Mocha likes his best when it has chocolate in it.  Toffee likes hers frozen and then blendered into a Coffee slush.  Cupcale just likes the foam.  Luckily for us all, Joe makes a great Latte -- and we are totally spoiled on the weekend.  Cocoa has discovered hot Chocolate and is totally smitten.  Joe also makes a mean hot cocoa in addition to his latte prowess and all the bears enjoy this treat.  As for the Chocolate thing, all the bears are much chagrined that they are not getting much of it lately, but if we kept the stuff in the house, they'd eat it all and whine until we got more for them.  So we try to save it for special occasions.  Luckily they haven't found our credit cards yet, or they'd  have ordered a ton of it online, as they were surfing to share their favorite sites with you.

 Bears Love Coffee!

Try the Coffee Universe!  Pretty much everything you  could want to know about  coffee can be found here.	Okay, Fudgie and Brownie  know Starbucks is everywhere, but the site is quite good --  and there's not a lot of non-Starbucks coffee  places near us.	Fresh Cup has some great  links on their links page!  Plus interesting information  on coffee and coffee culture.
Fudgie and Brownie waiting (somewhat) patiently for Lattes! Brownie enjoying his weekend Latte!
Ooooh, Chocolate!!
Fudgie, Brownie and the gang trying to get at the Valentine's Day chocolate meant for Joe!   Purdy's -- mmmmm, chocolates  from Vancouver.  Don't miss  the Hedgehogs! Hershey's.  What more can be said?! Cadbury's has more chocolate  than just Easter Cream Eggs! A mainstay of Victoria's Government Street, these chocolates are not to be missed!   Bernard Callebaut has updated their site and it's filled with lush and creamy looking chocolates.  Oooooooh, they're soooooo goooood!
This site is not to be missed -- besides the wonderful chocolates,  there is a Chocolate Soap Opera, Recipes and much, much more.  Fudgie and Brownie were totally drooling after visiting there!

Bear Sites!

Fudgie and Brownie, under the tutelage of Toffee, and the rest of the gang have been playing with the new computer and found a few places that they like to hang out.  There are lots of bears out there if only you know where to find them.  Rosemary and Michael told them about one site and from that point they were off.  They really like Mawson and now have their picture on his page and a link to here.  They just don't understand why more bears don't have their own sites.  So many sites are devoted to selling (gasp!) bears but not to bears' lives after they find a family.  If you know any sites that are about bears for bears like the ones listed below, please email our bearies so they they can enjoy the sites too (there's a link at the bottom of this page).

• TB's Bear family -- read TB's Diary!
• Mawson's page on Being a Bear
• If Teddies don't speak, how do our hearts hear them? (from Mawson)
  
• Mokey's Bearland page
• Perry Bear is a Cub reporter and a well travelled bear!
• I Wanna Be A Bear
• Why Teddy Bears make the Best Friends
• The Teddy Bear Rules
• More Teddy Bear Rules, Fudgie especially likes #9

Here's one story of the  History of the Teddy Bear

Joe and I visited them in Bath  in 1997. It's a great store  with wonderful teddy stuff.

Cookie says that since she doesn't like coffee, she should get a place to tell you about her addiction (other than chocolate -- she'll never tire of that!). Cookie, being the forceful bear that she is, and with Fudgie's indulgence, usually gets what she wants. So here's her spiel. She discovered the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" TV show in the summer of 1998 when WB was re-running the first season episodes on Mondays and the second season on Tuesdays so we got to see a lot of Buffy. Not since Fudgie was addicted to "Melrose Place" has there been so much excitement over a TV show. And it is a really good show! (Surprise, surprise -- but that Cookie can pick a show!) If you like the X-Files but are a little put off by the gore, and like a strong female lead and some good humour too, this one's for you. Cookie gives it two paws up! She doesn't. however, give Fox (who produces Buffy) two thumbs up since they have started cracking down on fan sites. This has caused the disappearance of her favorite site, Domain of the Slain! We had to go surfing around for another link for her to show you. The official site is pretty good (looks like the designers played a lot of Myst if you go the "fully interactive" route). She also liked The Complete Buffy the Vampire Slayer Episode Guide which gives tons of information on Buffy. Cookie is also a big fan of Angel, and perhaps the attention paid to Angel (by the creater of both Buffy and Angel, Joss Whedon) is why Buffy was a little weird this year.  Meanwhile Angel Rocked.  We are eagerly awaiting Season 4 of Angel to find out how he can get out of this one and if Cordy will be back.  Buffy is supposed to be getting back to her  roots with the re-opening of Sunnydale High and we hope to see less of the evilWillow in Season 7, starting Sept. 24.

This is the official Buffy the Vampire site ~
click on the banner to go there.

Other Addictions:

The bears have all manner of addictions -- to Hershy's Ice Cream for dinner addiction to Smartie's addiction to peanut butter -- we couldn't add them all to this page.  That's why the Bear Bios page exists.  Each bear gets to tell all about what they like and their favorite things.   

 
 

The bears wish you good night (no matter what time of the
day it is where you are) from their favorite place -- the bed!
(L-R: Brownie, Tootsie, Cookie and Fudgie)