Bubble Off Plumb

There has been a move afoot to display stuffed bears or bunnies or even paper Easter eggs in windows or on porch chairs so that children can look for them as they walk around their neighborhood. It is to help make up for the cancellation of egg hunts, church services and family gatherings that in normal years dot this season. 

I wrote a story about the alternate celebrations and needed a photo to illustrate it, a simple photo of a bear in a window.

Let me tell you, this town is unbearably bare of bears. I cruised all the neighborhoods where I thought there might be bears. I crept up and down streets I didn’t even know existed until today. I saw big carved wooden bears, dozens of Pistol Petes, multiple banners supporting OU, cats, a lot of wreaths and an untold number of porch pillows. You folks sure love your porch pillows.

I trolled cul-de-sacs, avenues where I knew police officers lived, even cruised the teacher’s houses that were familiar to me.

I snapped a few photos, but it was an adventure. In so doing, I was chased by three angry chihuahuas, two police officers – thanks WPD, I always wanted to be considered an outlaw – and a lady with a water hose and a baseball bat who kept yelling, “Stop! Neighborhood Watch!”

That doesn’t even begin to cover the dirty glares, getting passed by a kid on a skateboard, and more than one angry driver giving me the California howdy because I was driving too slowly.

And in all of this, not one single sorry solitary bear perched on a porch. Finally, inspiration struck, and I turned up Main Street and begged Jan Wear to let me take some pictures of her window display full of – you guessed it – bears. Bears galore, bears of every shape and size and color.

So when you take your kiddos out to look for the bears on porches and in windows instead of going to the Kiwanis Easter Egg hunt, let them in on the secret. Their young eyes and patience outdid this reporter who might have a nose for news but has no bearing on bears.