Saving the Olde Sandwich Towne Post Office

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Grandpa James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.  Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful! Oh. Wait! Frankie lives with us, too!

We have an important job to do. We have to save our Post Office. Canada Post wants to close it. That's not nice. We can't get to the other Post Office to buy stamps. It's too far away but Canada Post doesn't care.  

Grandpa James helped us make signs. My sign says, "Canada Post Needs to Sit on the Time Out Chair." Know what? I think Canada Post is hard of listening. 

Canada Post needs a time out. The Time Out Chair is where you have to sit if you do something bad, you know. You have to sit on the Time Out Chair and think about what you did. I'm pretty sure Canada Post would not like the Time Out Chair.

Chance has a sign, too. He's so newborn he really doesn't know how to make signs. We help him. His sign says, "Don't Hurt my Neighbourhood." The Post Office is important. We can send letters and packages from there to your house. We buy stamps. We put stamps on the letters. Stamps are what makes letters go!

We helped our Post Office before. We walked the picket line with our buddies from CUPW.

Frankie has a sign. His sign says, "You Can Close Windows but you Can't Close our Post Office." A nice lady gave us buttons to wear. She gave me a whistle. When the people talked we clapped and blew our whistles. Blowing whistles is fun. I could be a whistle blower when I grow up. 

 

There were lots of people. It's called a rally. Our Member of Parliament came to talk to everyone. So did Mr. Jones our City Counsellor. We got to see lots of our friends and buddies and neighbours who live in Olde Sandwich Towne.

Our Post Office is more than a hunnert years old. I can count to a hunnert but it takes a long time.  I learned to count at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre. Our Post Office is almost as old as Grandpa James, you know.

Did you hear that? Grandpa James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! That's Frankie, too! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! 

Maybe it should say, "From nowhere to no one."

We gotta go find Grandpa James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Save your Post Office. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can save our Post Office together! Okay! Over and out!"

Be our Valentines

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Grandpa James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know. I help him remember.

Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's so newborn he doesn't even talk. He makes squeaky noises when he's happy and little squawky noises when he's hungry or he has to poo. He's a handful!

Know what? St. Valentine's Day is coming. It's a special day. It comes every February. It's the day when we say, "I love you" and Je t'aime." It's the day we give our hearts.  I know who St. Valentine is. He's a big boss. St. Valentine is in charge of love and roses and something else. Oh! Wait! I almost forgot! St. Valentine is in charge of Smarties and hugs and kisses, too! Wow, St. Valentine must be a very busy boss!

We send valentine cards to friends and loved ones. The nice people at Canada Post take them to your house. I know a St. Valentine poem. I'm an Internet poem star, you know. Wanna hear my poem?

Smarties are red,
Smarties are blue,
Smarties are happy
'Cuz we love you!

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? Grandpa James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find Grandpa James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Send St. Valentine's Day cards and Smarties to your friends and loved ones.  Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can have fun together! Okay! Over and out!"

Walkin' the Picket Line With Our Buddies at Canada Post

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know. He's so old he remembers when you had to lick your own stamps!

 Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He doesn't have any teeth. He just drinks condensed owls' milk out of his bottle. He climbs way high on things and he can't get down. I say, "My son! Come down from there this instant!" He makes little squawky noises 'cuz he's afraid. I have to help him. He's a handful!

Know what? Our buddies at Canada Post can't go inside the building and work. That's too bad.

 I know what postal workers do. They work very hard. They have a very important job. The are the nice people who bring us letters and packages. They bring them right to our door!  I l-o-v-e letters and packages, don't you?


I share my Smarties and gummy worms with the nice Postal Lady who comes to our house. I think she's a princess, you know. I get mail, you know. I cards and presents on my birthday. They come by Canada Post.  My birthday is on July 1st, you know. That's the same day that O Canada has a birthday, too!

James says CUPW stands for the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. It's a family. Chance and James and me are family. Our family is pretty small. There are 550 people in the CUPW family in Windsor. That's a lot of porridge to cook! They must have a really big kitchen table! Wow!

CUPW is on strike. I know what strike means. My teacher, Miss Jackie told us. I go to the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre on Sandwich Street.

Strike means nobody can go inside the Post Office. The door is locked.

Our buddies are in front of our Post Office. Our buddies are picketing. That means they carry signs and blow whistles. Sometimes good citizens have to walk the picket line until somebody will listen.

Know what? Chance and me can help! We're good citizens! We can help our friends and neighbours. We can help our buddies!  We can carry signs and blow whistles. That's a good idea! Then the big boss in Ottawa will hear them and they can go back to work! I hope it's soon. Canada Post is one of my favouritest places.

People drive past the Post Office and honk their car horns and wave. They give us thumbs up.

 Strike is what happens when the two sides stop talking. One side is the labour union and the other side is management. The big bosses sit down and talk to the workers. The workers have leaders. The leaders talk to the bosses.  When they agree and shake hands everyone can go inside and we can get letters and packages, again.

 Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Do good deeds! Help your friends and neighbours. Good citizens get to eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to Canada Post and walk the picket line with us! We can help! Okay! Over and out!"

Making Cards for St. Valentine's Day

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful! He climbs way high on things and can't get down. I have to help him. He's so little he doesn't even have any teeth. Chance drinks condensed owls' milk out of a bottle. I have teeth. I can eat Smarties but I always brush and frost my teeth when I'm done eating them 'cuz I don't want to get any cavities. Cavities aren't nice.

Know what we're doing? We're making St. Valentine's Day cards. They have hearts on them 'cuz St. Valentine is the boss of love. He has a helper, too. St. Valentine's helper is Cupid. They have a really big job to do and they're very busy 'cuz there's not enough love to go around, you know. That's why we're helping them by making these special cards. We're singing a song about love. It's pretty. Miss Jackie taught it to us at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre. She's a good singer. Know what? I think she might be a princess.

What the world needs now
Is love, sweet love
No not just for some
But for everyone
Lord we don't need another meadow
There are cornfields and wheatfields
Enough to grow
And there are sunbeams and moonbeams
Enough to shine
So listen, Lord
If you want to know

What the world needs now
Is love, sweet love
It's the only thing
That there's just too little of

This is how you make a heart. Fold your construction paper in half and cut it like this. When you unfold it, there's a heart in the centre! It's almost like magic! Then you glue the hearts to some more construction paper. Chance glued a heart on top of his head and he glued one on my head, too. He thinks he's helping but he's really not. I hope he doesn't try to eat the glue. It will stick to his tongue, you know. We can make lots and lots of hearts. We can make them in different colours, too.

Next we have to write a message in the card. Good thing I know all the letters in the alphabet. Then it will be all done and we can take it to Canada Post. We'll put stamps on the letters and put the cards in the mail. You'll tell me when you get yours, won't you?

Know why we put stamps on the cards? That's so they can get to your house. Stamps are little motors. Stamps make the letters move. I bet if f we put a lot of stamps the letter will go faster! Yeah! We'll put lots and lots of stamps on the letters!



This is what I wrote-
Roses r red
Violets r purple
I love you
Like maple surple.
THE END

I always write THE END, so you know I'm done.

Now we got the stamps on the letter. Chance and me can put the letter in the mail box.

Oh! Wait! We got to put something else on the letter. We have to put a dress on it, so the nice Postie knows which house to take it to. James will help us put a dress on the letter. I know what a dress is. It's where we live! We live at 22 Sparkle Road. Know what? two-two (toutou) is French for teddy bear. Good thing we live at 22 Sparkle Road, you know!

Look at Chance. Chance has climbed way up on top and wants to go inside the mail box. He wants to come to your house. He's silly. He doesn't even have any stamps on him. Chance will just be stuck in the box and get cold and hungry. Then he'll make little squawky noises 'cuz he's afraid. I'll rescue him. "My son! Come down from that mail box this instant!"

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Make St. Valentine's Day cards and send love to all your friends and buddies. Then you can sing songs and eat Smarties and drink hot chocolate with newborn baby marshmallows on top. Oh!

Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can make St. Valentine's Day cards together! Okay! Over and out!"

Playing in the Snow

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know. He's so old he remembers the first snowfall. That's really old!

 Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what? It's winter. I l-o-v-e winter. That's when we get to go outside and play in the newborn baby snow. Snow is fun to play in. Snow is our friend. Chance tries to eat snow. We don't eat snow. It's not in Canada's Food Guide. Besides, we don't eat our friends. It's not nice.

We're sliding in front of Canada Post. That's where we take letters so they can come to your house! There's lots of snow and we slide down the mountain of snow. I hang on tight to Chance and I shout "Wheeeee!" when we slide. We can slide really fast! Chance makes little squeaky noises 'cuz he's so happy.



We always wave at the bus drivers when they pass by on Sandwich Street. I know what bus it is, too.  It's the Crosstown Bus. It goes from our house to downtown. The bus drivers are nice. They always wave at us, too. Bus drivers are our friends. I could be a bus driver for Transit Windsor when I grow up. I would be a very good bus driver. I'd say, "Welcome aboard, good citizen. Watch your step!" I'd drive very carefully. I'd only honk the horn if someone was in the way. I'd say, "Look out, good citizen, Crosstown Bus coming through!"

Know what the best part of playing in the snow is? I will tell you. When we go inside, James rubs us down with Terry Towel and then we get to drink hot cocoa with newborn baby marshmallows in it. I l-o-v-e hot cocoa. It's yummy, and that's one of the four food groups in Canada's Food Guide. I get to drink cocoa out of my mug but Chance is really little. He drinks cocoa out of his bottle. I don't need a bottle. I'm five.

 Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Who wants cocoa? Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Go outside and play in the newborn baby snow. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can slide down the snow mountain together! James will make hot cocoa for you, too! Okay! Over and out!"

Canada Post

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

 Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what? Chance and me are hanging out at the Post Office. I know what the Post Office does. It's where we take letters and packages to send to our friends and buddies who live too far away from us. It is a nice way to keep in touch.

 We buy stamps and put them on our letters and packages so they are ready to go visit you!  If I had  stamps on me, I could come to your house, you know. A nice Postie would bring me to your door.   Stamps are fun to collect. They have pictures on them, like Queen Elizabeth and the Canada flag and polar bears, too!

 Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. 

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Keep in touch with your buddies and friends. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can write letters and take them to Canada Post! Okay! Over and out!"

Our Fountain

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

Oh! Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful! 

Know what? Chance and me are playing at our fountain. The fountain is right in front of Canada Post. That's by our house on the corner of Mill Street and Sandwich Street.  We love to play in the water and get all wet. That's a good thing to do on a hot summer day. James says it's 31C outside. That's hot enough to melt chocolate bars. When it's that hot, it's time to climb into the fountain and cool off.

Sometimes we play with our space ray guns that we got at the Mill Dollar Store. We use them mostly to hunt lions in the back yard but sometimes we fill them up with water and squirt each other with them. Chance isn't a very good squirter but he's just a newborn cubby. He thinks he's invisible when he closes his eyes!

We're not supposed to squirt people who are walking by the fountain. Good citizens don't do that. Good citizens are polite. Best of all, good citizens get to eat gummy worms in their porridge and they get to eat Smarties and drink root beer, too. I l-o-v-e Smarties and root beer. They're yummy and Yummy is one of the four food groups in the Canada Food Guide.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. 

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Don't squirt people with your space ray gun. Be polite. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can splash in the fountain together! Okay! Over and out!"

Speedy Ca$h

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's forgetful and really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know. I have to help him remember. He went to Canada Post this morning. Canada Post isn't even open on Sundays! Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what? Saturday night Chance and me went to Mackenzie Hall to see S eedy Ca$h. It's a play. I know what a play is. It's a story that is acted out. It's as much fun as reading. I love plays. James says it's theatre.  James is in S eedy Ca$h. He says things that make people laugh. Our buddies Jay and Joey and Aaron and Chris are in the play, too. They make everybody laugh, too. We laughed right out loud! Chance doesn't really laugh 'cuz he's too little. He makes squeaky noises when he's happy. He made a lot of squeaky noises during the play. He took off his diaper and tried to climb on stage. I said, "Come down here this instant, my son!" I had to go get him down. He's a real handful, you know.

After the play we all went to Rock Bottom. I got to sit with Kathryn and Brian. Then I sat between Sarah and Shannon. Mark tickled Chance's ears and made him laugh. We got to sit with Wayne and Rob and Darryl and Chris and Elizabeth. They are all pretty good buddies, you know.

Know what? I got to drink root beer out of my sippy cup with Spiderman on it. Chance got to drink root beer out of his bottle. We l-o-v-e root beer. Good citizens get to drink root beer. It's yummy and yummy is one of the four food groups in the Canada Food Guide. I'm glad we're good citizens.

We got home at midnight! That's really, really late. I never stayed up so late before. James heard our bedtime prayers and tucked us in for the night. I fell asleep before he finished reading our bedtime story 'cuz my eyes wouldn't stay open anymore. I am sure he said, "Good night, my handsome bear cubs. Sweet dreams, my Sons of Windsor. Sleep well, my Princes of Ontario." I am sure he tickled our ears and kissed our noses, too. James always does that.

This is me Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Be nice to people. Smile and laugh when you're at the theatre.  Then you can come to Rock Bottom with us and drink root beer. Over and zzzzzzzzz."

Gold Medals

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's forgetful and really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.  I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what? I'm sitting on the Canada Post truck. I know what the sign means. It tells about the Lympic Games in Vancouver. Lots of people came from all over the world. They wanted gold medals. O Canada got 14 gold medals. That's good, eh. I could win a gold medal. I'm the fastest bear cub on Sandwich Street. James says I can run like the wind!That's 'cuz I got Cat-in-the-Hat sox. They were a gift from Tanner, a big 'ole yeller dog and his friend Cassidy the bunny rabbit.

Oh! No! I've lost Chance! I have to find him. He's so tiny he could get run over by a car and the driver wouldn't eve see him! This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be a good citizen. Look after your little brother so he doesn't get smushed by a car! Over and out!"

The Golden Rule, Friends & Canada Post

Hi.  This is a picture of my little brother Chance. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy James. He is really forgetful and really really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark. I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? Chance thinks I'm hiding inside the computer! He keeps knocking on the glass and trying to crawl inside the screen! I'm not inside the computer. That just a picture of me on my blog. Chance is too little to know that. It's funny to watch him. I want to laugh right out loud. I know! I will sneak up behind him and holler, "I'm gonna get you!" Won't Chance be surprised? I might scare him. Good thing he's wearing his diaper!

I had porridge with gummy worms for breakfast. Gummy worms are full of Vitamin C. I know what the "C" stands for. It stands for "Charles" and "cub." Chance doesn't have any teeth, you know. He drinks condensed owls' milk out of a bottle. When he's bigger he can eat gummy worms in his porridge, too.

Know what I got from Merry Christmas? I got my own business cards. There's a picture of me on them. I give them to people so they can visit my blog. It's fun to share. I hope you visit and tell both your friends! I l-o-v-e friends. We play with friends and buddies but we don't eat them. Friends aren't in the Canada Food Guide. It's a Golden Rule. I don't know exactly what that means exactly but if you break it-it takes an awful lot of time on the Time Out Chair to fix it. Then you have to be sorry too, and not break it again.

Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where's my handsome bear cubs? where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario?  Who wants to walk to the mail box with me?" I do! Chance does! We want to walk to the mailbox! I know where the mailbox is. It's on the corner of Mill and Sandwich, right in front of Canada Post. That's the big 'ole red brick building with the O Canada flag and the water fountain in front.

I like Canada Post. They got a big picture of Queen Elizabeth on the wall. She watches everyone. We lick her picture and stick it on the envelope and she watches it until it gets to your house. That's a really big job! She must like us a lot to watch all the letters. The nice postie brings us letters and packages. He brings us Smarties, too. Okay. We gotta go! This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, Follow the Golden Rule. Play with your friends but don't eat them. Over and out!"

Canada Post & Chance

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy,  James. He forgets where he puts his shoes. He's old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark.   I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? We're playing Hide & Seek. Look at Chance. He climbed into this box to hide from me but I found him. He can't keep quiet. He makes little squeaky noises, 'cuz he's happy and excited. That's how I find him. He wants me to take the box to Canada Post and mail it to you! I don't think that's a good idea. I'd have to poke holes in the box so he could breathe. I'd have to pack a can of condensed owls' milk and Chance is too little to open it. He'd be pretty hungry before he got to your house.

We got lots to do today. It's snowing. Maybe we will go outside and make snow people. We're not supposed to bring snow indoors, you know. Maybe we will make gingerbread beings. I'll ask James what we're going to do. Whatever it is, I know we will have fun. This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Don't put your little brother in the mail. Be good citizens! Over and out!"

Counting

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's old and forgetful. Today he lost his marbles. I found them. They were in the fridge!   I have to look after him. Oh.Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? Chance doesn't have any teeth and he can't talk. He doesn't even have a tail, yet! I have a tail. I'm five, you know. Chance drinks condensed owls' milk out of a bottle. I don't need a bottle. I have a sippy cup with Spiderman on it. I like Spiderman, don't you?

Know what I'm doing? I'm counting up all my money. I keep all my coins in my red Canada Post piggy bank and when it's full we go to Speedy Money and trade all the pennies and nickels and dimes and quarters and loonies and toonies for paper money. Chance tries to help but he's too little to count. Besides, he eats the coins. He ate $4.67 before I could stop him!

James says we'll get the money back, we just have to wait for Chance to have a good poo. He says that there's no danger of Chance being copper deficient. I don't know what that means but I'm not looking through a diaper full of poo. That's nasty! Chance makes little squawky noises when he's hungry or his diaper is full. Then he's stinky and needs a bath. Chance shouldn't eat money! Money isn't a food group and it's not in the Canada Food Guide! When we're done here we're gonna go to Mac's Milk and say 'Hi' to Wendy and Ricky and Ruth and Sam. We can get gummy worms and Smarties. Maybe James will eat some, too. It's okay to eat gummy worms and Smarties. I know how to share 'cuz I'm a good citizen. Gotta go! This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, 'Over and out!'