Wherein Brunhilda and Borris Meet and Greet Miss Keetha's History

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Brunhilda and Borris Bearsaltandpepper here, but you may call us Brunhilda and Borris Bearsaltandpepper.

We are taking over Miss Keetha's blog today, and we don't EVEN care if she minds.

We noticed that some of Miss Keetha's bloggy friends have even given their "little people" blogs of their OWN!! Miss Keetha, we think that's a great idea - - - we might just go on STRIKE and stop DOING these guest posts until you give US a blog of OUR own.

We're just sayin'

(Miss Keetha, this is Borris - - - I just want you to know that ALL of that stuff up there was from Brunhilda - - - sometimes I just can't CONTROL that she-bear.)


Brunhilda again - - - This is the way Borris thinks he should write his blog posts. SLOW, SLOW, SLOW!!!! Can you imagine how long it would take him at THAT rate to do an entire blog of his own?

Well, I don't have TIME for that, so I just pushed him out of the way and - - -


Hopped right on Miss Keetha's lappy keyboard. Man, THIS is the life!!! I wonder why bear dens don't come equipped with these?

OK, back to the real business of this post.

This summer, while we were traveling the wilds of Wisconsin with Miss Keetha, she let us meet her "history."

Now, I gotta tell ya - - - meeting her history turned out to be meeting PEOPLE. Miss Keetha said that the people who are the threads that weave together to make the tapestry of your life are far and away more important than any places or things you encounter along the way.

Wow - - - she waxed a little philosophical on that one, don't'cha know!?! But maybe she has a point. Maybe this life is all about relationships. I know Borris and I surely did enjoy going back to our "roots" and seeing all the bears of our past.

So then, on to show you Miss Keetha's root history.


This is her friend, Pastor Mark. She already did a post about him, so all I want to say BESIDES that is: he was totally unable to see us as living, breathing bears. Can't you just see by the look in his face that he feels silly even HOLDING us up for the camera??

And you know, when a human can't "see" us as living, we are, in his hands, the inanimate objects he expects.


This is Miss Keetha's friend, Pastor Ron. Can you see that he ALSO didn't believe in us? He wasn't quite as big a skeptic as Pastor Mark, but we weren't real to him either.

Pastor Ron is one of Miss Keetha's friends from Burr Camp.

She says "back in the day" when she would take her wee cubs and go to camp to teach the other cubs, Pastor Ron was there to play the organ in the evening services. (Note from Miss Keetha: and you should hear him play!!! AMAZING!)

Pastor Ron did NOT grow up going to camp. He did NOT grow up experiencing the joys of "back to nature" roughing it. Therefore, he found the week of camp nearly un"bear"able.

Well, Miss Keetha couldn't have THAT - - - not at her BELOVED Burr Camp, where so many wonderful experiences had woven into her spiritual and personal life. No, she couldn't have THAT at all. If Pastor Ron were to be her friend, she MUST help him cultivate, not just tolerate, a LOVE for camp.

With that end in mind, she and he embarked on many evenings of chatting, laughing, and sharing ministry ideas at a picnic table in front of the snack shop following the evening worship service. Miss Keetha would always BEGIN these times with the same query: "Are we having FUN yet?"

Borris here: I'm so happy to tell you, I PERSONALLY heard Pastor Ron tell Miss Keetha, that now that Burr Camp is gone, he "gets" it and she was always right. But let's not let Miss Keetha DWELL on that, she might get the big head, and none of us could "bear" that!


This is Pastor Dan. He and his wife, Reenie whom you will meet later, have been Miss Keetha's friends even from beyond Wisconsin. "Back in the Day" they worked Wesleyan Youth Conventions together. Later when Pastor Dan moved to Wisconsin, he invited Miss Keetha to come speak for a VBS in his church. Several times she was a guest in Pastor Dan and Reenie's home, and they took her in just like she lived in their Den.

Pastor Dan came close to believing in us and we were ALMOST real for him - - - ALMOST.



This is Jeremy. Jeremy is a children and junior high pastor.

He and Miss Keetha worked together for several years at a "cub's camp" in the northwoods of Wisconsin. Jeremy was the head counselor there, and Miss Keetha was the head counselor for a teen camp back in Indiana. They shared a lot of "shop talk."

Jeremy is a blogger AND the daddy of two little girls. He understood that we were real, but felt a little silly letting OTHER ADULTS know he "got" it.

Male humans - - - how to figure????


This is Pastor Don. He and Miss Keetha's Daddy both pastored in Wisconsin while they were raising their families. Miss Keetha grew up with his children - - - even spending time with his son, Steve, in that hallowed social center known as the pump house. (click the Burr Camp link above for clarification)

One camp, Miss Keetha and Steve spent many UNNECESSARY hours scrubbing pots and pans in the kitchen - - - unnecessary because they COULD have been finished sooner if they hadn't been having so many water fights.

Unfortunately for Miss Keetha, the water fights stopped all too soon when Steve got a really good look at Sister Pam. But don't worry, neither Sister Pam NOR Miss Keetha regret those idyllic summer days.

Oh the tortuous paths of young cub love - - -

Borris: Brunhilda, do you really think you need to tell ALL THAT????? Good grief, it's ancient history!

Borris, that is what this post is ABOUT - - - ancient history, and there ain't many ancienter than Miss Keetha!


Pastor Al and his wife Irene.

Irene and her family were part of the church Miss Keetha's father pastored until she was about five years old. Irene lived on a big old farm and she and her siblings spent hours entertaining Miss Keetha and Sister Pam with ponies and OTHER country fun.

The first "store boughten" (that's Wisconsin for mamma didn't MAKE it) dress Miss Keetha ever remembers having was a gift from Miss Irene and her family.

Pastor Al was also a boy in Wisconsin at that same time, though Miss Keetha doesn't remember him from then. After he and Miss Irene were married he came into Miss Keetha's world, and now is even a self-proclaimed Butcher, which is Miss Keetha's mother's side of the family.


Miss Faith.

THIS is more like it. Miss Faith "got" us right away. For her there was no awkwardness about us JUST being salt and pepper shakers.

That's probably 'cause Miss Faith, Sister Pam, and Miss Keetha grew up, all the way from birth, together. You wouldn't BELIEVE all the things those little girls did together. Made "secret" places under stairways at camp - - - played "war" in the woods - - - gave each other special nick names - - - and as they grew into their teen years, went fishing, rowed around the lake, and wore huge pink plastic curlers in their hair.

Borris: Besides which, Miss Faith is a LOOKER, ain't she?


Miss Karen, Pastor Ron's wife and Reenie, Pastor Dan's wife.

These two didn't need ANY 'splaining about Bearsaltandpeppers.

Borris: I think your readers, if you have any, can SEE that on their faces, Hildy!

As soon as Miss Karen saw us, she said, "Oh, like Flat Stanley!!" and we knew right then and there she was a friend to Bearsaltandpeppers.

She-bears are like that, they have a greater capacity to "see" ALL the world around them.

Miss Karen and Miss Keetha haven't really had much time to weave any threads together since she came into Pastor Ron's life after those camp days mentioned above.

Miss Reenie, as you've already heard, has welcomed Miss Keetha into her den. Miss Keetha remembers lots of long talks, pop corn and movie nights, fabulous meals, and great books. It was Miss Reenie who introduced Miss Keetha to her FAVORITE author when she loaned her "Kathryn Wentworth" to read.

Well, that's it for this edition of Miss Keetha and her History.

This is Brunhilda saying "over and out" until the NEXT time I usurp Miss Keetha's lappy or until she condescends to give us our OWN blog - - - whichever may come first.

Borris: Hildy, I personally think THIS will come first:



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