Today I made Ted’s day, bringing 6 people up to see Ted in the off season when human contact is down for him. Interacting with people is what makes Ted’s day, and he makes my day. The Behind the Scenes Tours are what perk Ted up in the summer. 
Today, when we are closed for the winter, he got a treat and he responded. A group from Kraus-Anderson Construction Company, the company that constructed the Bear Center and the new addition, came to see if they could help with a new Bear Center venture. Just getting cost estimates at this time, but Ted didn’t care. He responded with his happy grunts and came right to the fence to be the Bear Center ambassador to them. The group was delighted and fell in love with Ted. Ted made my day. The world seemed right. All is well.
On top of that, a friend/neighbor showed me a picture he took today of what he said were tracks of a mother and 2 yearlings less than 4 miles from here (the Wildlife Research Institute). Another sign of spring.
Steph Zin of the New York Times was good to send me a link to her article about hibernation https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/24/science/hibernation-spring-bears-bees-bats-arctic-squirrels.html. She or the staff there found impressive pictures to go with her article, too.
Last night, about 1 AM, Peggy solved the mystery of who has been eating more than we would expect from Mr. Mink and Ms. Marten, our regular visitors. The second floor deck lights were on to get picture proof. She caught a masked bandit in the act. We had never seen a raccoon on the second floor deck before, and we haven’t seen one anywhere near here this winter. He is the one who has been lifting, moving, and removing bigger pieces of bacon than would be possible by our smaller visitors. Another sign of spring.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center