OPINION: Bear with us

When you ask Google for the definition of overwhelmed, it gives you three answers at first. O-ver-whelm: a verb. 1. to bury or drown beneath a huge mass. 2. to defeat completely. 3. to give too much of a thing or to inundate.

As I’m sure Cheyenne will talk about tomorrow, this is her last week before her maternity leave starts. With the knowledge that she will soon be gone, you might as well stick a photo of the newsroom in with the definition of overwhelmed.

You see, this time of year is always packed for us. The upcoming few months will be packed full with Fourth of July celebrations, various county fairs, the rest of the summer sports season and our next edition of Ag Mag. Between all of this, our regular work and taking over all editing duties, the newsroom is going to be the poster child of the above verb.

When it comes to sports, while Larry will be covering the more important games, Nick and I will be trying our hand at writing a few stories. I’m going to apologize now that they won’t be as exciting or fun to read as Cheyenne’s and Larry’s stories - writing sports will be a first for both of us.

The next few months certainly won’t be perfect, but I know the struggle will be worth it for multiple reasons. While it’s going to be a long couple of months, I’ll certainly be learning some new skills: sportswriting, better time management, how to function on less than nine hours of sleep a day.

I’ll also be able to save plenty of money for next year’s trip to Disney. Between working extra hours and not having the time to actually spend money, I’ll be up to my ears in ears come next June.

And then of course there’s the whole point of maternity leave - mom and the baby. In the little free time I do have, I’m sure much of it will be spent doing what I can to help our new mama out, or simply holding the little one.

Bear with us this summer - I promise we’re trying our best.

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Keeping with the bear theme, I wanted to share one of my favorite silly things. Every year, Katmai National Park in Alaska celebrates Fat Bear Week, an annual tournament pitting the Katmai bears against each other on how prepared they are for winter hibernation.

Held from Oct. 2 - 8, people around the world can fill out brackets and vote for which of the fat brown bears is the best. Before filling out their bracket, voters can view the profiles of each bear, which includes photos, a biography and sometimes names and family.

The 2024 Fat Bear Champion was Bear 128, “Grazer.” According to the National Parks Service, Grazer is “a large adult female with a long straight muzzle and conspicuously blond ears.” Grazer was introduced to the national park as a cub in 2005, where she is now known for her prowess in fishing.

In major fat bear drama, the final lineup last year was between Grazer and the large adult male Bear 32, “Chunk.” Four months before Fat Bear Week, tragedy struck when two of Grazer’s cubs were carried over Brooks Falls and into Brooks River.

The two cubs were carried through the water towards Chunk, who attacked them. Grazer managed to defend her cubs but not before one cub was fatally wounded. One cub did survive, going on to compete in the 2024 Fat Bear Junior competition.

Probably largely due to this story, when Grazer and Chunk were matched up in the finale of the tournament, Grazer came out with a major victory, winning 71,248 of the 101,716 votes. While Grazer might have gone through terrible tragedy, she is the people’s champion.