kevin_standlee | Happy Birthday to Kuma

Lisa got Kuma Bear fully eighteen years ago on her way to Seaside, and as I hope everyone has realized by now, Kuma is very precious to Lisa. So she decided to have a little birthday party for him here in Seaside. Lisa was home for less than twenty-four hours -- arriving Mehama about 3 PM Thursday and leaving for Portland to get me about 10 AM the next morning. During that time she had to move things from the little pickup to the Vanagon (more comfortable for driving both of us; she decided not to drive the Big Orange Van for economy purposes, as it gets but only 9 MPG). She had to wash clothes and, oh, yes, get some sleep. But she also promised Bear a Seattle Mariners t-shirt and a cake for his birthday, and she managed to get those things done. After we came back from our post-dinner walk along the Seaside Promenade, Lisa broke out the cake and goodies. I was delighted that my post-dinner blood sugar was a mere 79, meaning that I would be allowed, indeed encouraged to have a slice of birthday cake.

Lisa was in a hurry baking the cake, and didn't have any frosting, so it's frosted with lemon meringue instead. She was very concerned about the cake, and after eating it, we decided it had more the consistency of a very thick cookie rather than a cake. It wasn't bad, though.

Lisa says that Kuma likes root beer, so she poured him some, although in deference to me, we got diet root beer so that I can drink most of it.

Yes, Lisa made Kuma a little party hat. I said Beware of the Cute, didn't I?

Here's one of Kuma's birthday presents -- a package of smoked salmon jerky. Salmon is always a good gift for bears.

Here are close-ups of the t-shirt Lisa made for Kuma because they don't make Mariners shirts this small that we could find. Lisa says Kuma is a Mariners fan and likes Ichiro, so we got him Ichiro's uniform number.

After cake and soda, it was time for a game. Lisa brought Santa Fe Rails, partially because we like train games and partially because it meant Kuma could play as well. The two-player rules require that you give cards on each round of play to a notional third player, and you have to beat that notional player as well as the human opponent.

As you can see, Kuma Bear has his paws full of cards. He doesn't win very often, though.

After the little celebration of Kuma's 18th birthday, I fired up the computer and found that we had both wireless and wired internet service, seemingly pretty solid, and of course included with the room. It even looks like I could hook up my computer through the S-Video cable if I wanted to watch the Super 14 Rugby final. (Which is on right now, but as I know I wouldn't be able to stay awake long enough to watch it all, I'll have to download and watch it later. I had to spend some time cropping and cleaning the photos, but I know it means a lot to Lisa.)

Now I must get to bed very soon, as I've been running on insufficient sleep. I'd actually like to sleep in tomorrow, but if I do that, we'll miss the included breakfast that comes with the room, and I hate the waste.