Well, now that you've gotten an overview on how I came to live here, I thought I'd give you a little more in-depth information on what my life has been like. You see, when the wonderful Lady first brought me home, she and I got along really well. It was love at first sight. But, I didn't tell you about the Man that lived here too. As I understand it, they were husband and wife and so I had to try to get along with the Man. He didn't like me at all. He would pick on me a lot. He told me that bears aren't suppose to live in houses. They are suppose to live in the woods. He came up with the idea of a "roots program". He said I should go outside and learn how to take care of myself. He kicked me right out of the house and it was the middle of winter. He said bears forage for food and shelter and I should learn too. The Lady was very appalled but I told her it was okay and I would go out and prove to the Man that I could take care of myself. I was very scared and cold that night and all I did was sit on the roof of the house. The Lady heard me on the roof and when the Man wasn't looking, she opened a window and gave me peanut butter and jelly sandwiches throughout the night. She also gave me a blanket to keep me warm.

Come the next morning, the Lady checked on me again and I gave her back the blanket since the sun was coming up and I do have fur to keep me warm. Then I started to play in the snow, climb trees and had a lot of fun with the birds and rabbits that inhabit the yard. The sun was shining and it felt very warm. Well, I don't know what happened to the Man - maybe the Lady had a talk with him or something. But, he called me into the house and told me I did very well and I passed my "roots" program. As the years went by, it got to be a joke that every new bear that was brought into the house had to go through a "roots" program too. The Lady would always give us sandwiches and blankets and the Man never knew about it. It really got to be lots of fun as more and more bears were brought into the house. It became more like a camping party than any old "roots" program.

One day, I learned the Lady and Man had a daughter that lived far away and we were going for a visit. The Man said he couldn't afford an extra plane ticket and that I would have to sit on the wing of the plane. He assured me that he would tie a string on me and he would hold the other end, inside the plane, so I wouldn't fall off. The Lady would have none of this and that's when I became a stow-away in her suitcase. During the flight the Man opened the suitcase a little and gave me M&Ms. So see, he wasn't so bad after all. He just liked to pick on me and as I learned, he picked on me because he liked me. He always called me "berry breath" I guess because I loved berries - strawberries, blueberries, all berries. Well, I knew that the Man liked Country Music but when we went to visit their daughter, he bought a cowboy hat and those boots that cowboys wear with a pointed toe and heels. Well, when I saw him all dressed up in those heels, I laughed myself silly. I decided he needed a nickname too so I called him "sissy cowboy" because of those boots. So, eventually "berry breath" and "sissy cowboy" became the best of friends.