May 2015 – Aug 2015

My bud’s good friend is getting married in Hood River Oregon, and we’re back on the road again towards the wedding.  I made sure to bring my posse.  Bud, bunny, bot.  Check. Check. Check.

In an effort to avoid our usual route to Oregon (and my least favourite city - Tonopah), we took a route that went through Idaho.  Idaho!  I’ve never been to Idaho!  Maybe it’s cool!

Our first stop was for gas and lunch.  And outside the McDonalds were sculptures of bears.  That’s cool!  Bears are great!

And then we were in Idaho.  I was excited.  I got out for a photo.

My bud wasn’t as excited.  His loss.

Sometime later in the day we finally got to our resting stop for the night.  Boise!  It was dark. There wasn’t much to see.  We tried to go to bed.

And that’s when I realized my bunny’s got a problem.

There we were claiming our bed and getting ready for bed when I hear Peep.

“Peep” he says.

“Nice job.  You found the coffee pot.” I tell Peep.  “Now go to sleep.  Here, you can even have a coffee cup.”

“Peep” he says.  And - he. wouldn’t. stop.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to sneak more coffee in while I was asleep.

We’re going to need to do something about this.  Tomorrow.

My bud’s been working on making me a robot.  That’s right, I’m getting an electronic minion.

After my disappointment at not winning a New Matter printer I shelved the idea of printing bear sized objects for me.

And then Nicholas told me we were getting a 3D printer so he could make me a robot.  I have the BEST bear bud!  Then again he has the best bear any bud could ask for.  Because I’m THAT awesome.  So really I deserved one.

This whole printer idea was so awesome there were even high-fives at the store during its acquisition.

Yeah my very own 3D printer.  I bet I’m the first bear with a 3D printer.

Annnnnnnd then we found out it was broken.  The belt screw had snapped from being too tight.

Thankfully 3D printers are capable of printing their own parts.  So a little super glue and a lot of time on Skype with the technician later we were back in 3D printing business.

Yay we are printing!

This was exiting for about the first 10 hours.  But turns out 3D printing is really slow business.  I got tired and made Peep take over.

Annnd about 20 hours later I got my first robot buddy.

Time to print more minions.

The other day a cat showed up.  I mean, he just walked right in through our garage door and made himself at home.

Well isn’t this cat mighty bold.  He even asked for pets.

Well at least unlike those coatis in Argentina this cat lets me pet him.  So FINE Hoops, you can come visit.

The lagoon in my complex finally opened.  Time to go enjoy it in style.

Dry bear style.  I can people watch from the shore, thank you very much.

So PoOn came to town and Nicholas started talking about his favourite station, the Santa Fe station where he goes to indulge in gluttinous overeating at their ridiculously cheap local’s buffet.

“Has Sumi been there yet?” PoOn asked.

Exactly the right question.  Why HAVEN’T I been there yet when it’s my bud’s favourite station?

So it was settled.  We were going to Nicholas’ favourite station and I was coming.

Well the buffet was just O.K.  Not really much in the way of foods I like, but everyone else seemed to like it fine.

Then it was time for BUFFALO!  One of Nicholas’ favourite games at the Station Casino is the Buffalo Slots machine.  Because it says BUFFALO!!  There was a bears one too but somehow that wasn’t as interesting.  Probably because I wasn’t in it.

So we sat down and started gaming.  Time to bust out my lucky bear skillz!

And I won!  You know it!!!!  This game is easy.  I should play it more often!  Then Nicholas wouldn’t have to raid my bear box as often.

Nicholas told me he was going to tear up another bathroom. Naturally I don’t approve of the idea, but after seeing the new blinged out bathroom downstairs I decided to help. I’m a helpful bear. Give me that hammer, this is one thing I was MADE for.

Also, Nicholas said he was going to post a picture of Pokin in the new bathtub. I don’t really get it, but here it is.

Really bathtubs are a very unnecessary invention.

My bud’s been a bit distracted lately.  Too many projects going on.

Obviously, this meant the quantity of quality gaming time has been left wanting.  Preposterous!

To combat this, I started sending my bear bud appointment reminders.

My bud didn’t accept.

But at least he replied.  Close enough.  It’s a date!

So in preparation for gaming date weekend with my bud, I decided to put on a gaming outfit.  If a bear’s gonna game, a bear’s gotta game in style.

I was admiring my outfit when Peep came by.

“Peep.” He said.

Sorry pal, gaming outfits are for spirit bears only.  Don’t have anything for you.

He left.

I gamed.

“*Peep.”  *Said Peep.

Alright, I guess we’re *both *gaming in style.

Despite being a bear, I consider myself more of a cocoa bear than a honey bear.

So I was somewhat disappointed that our garden was invaded with honeybees, not cocoa bees.

After calling around, my bud found someone willing to take care of the situation and relocate the bees to their new home on a ranch, far far away from here.

Goodbye bees!  Good riddance!  You may visit to fertilize the plants but then you leave!

Anyway when the bee guy was done he left us with some honeycomb.

Turns out the bees that DIDN’T get sucked into a transport box really liked to keep guard of their honeycomb, so we were too afraid to touch the pile for a few days. Live bees on a mission to protect their honey are probably prepared to sting the infiltrators.  I wasn’t going to test that theory, I tell you that!  Eventually though, we had to deal with the pile of honeycomb sitting in the garage.  After all, we had to act before any army of ants did.  You know what I like less than bees?  Bees and ants in a sticky messy huddle.

Here is Nicholas draining the bag of honeycomb honey into a pot.

Ewww.  Bees are gross.  And honey is sticky and messy.

Get me far far away from that sticky icky mess.

That’s about as close as I need to get to this operation.

Ok I’m done with this.  No honey needed for this bear.  Honey is overrated.

I made my bud sneak out and silicon shut the water valve box in the dead of the night while the remaining bees were sleeping with even more silicon for a good measure.

These bees better not come back.  And take your honey with you!

It’s been a while since I saved the universe as Commander Sumi Shepherd.  As a dutiful guardian of the universe, I deemed it time to head to the skies to protect its denizens.

So I took up Elite : Dangerous.  Now this is my kind of space game.  I get to explore the universe and take down pirates.  Sweet.

Well an awesome captain needs an awesome flight experience.  The mouse and keyboard were not cutting it, so I busted out my bud’s wallet and ordered myself a Saitek X-55 Rhino.  What I really wanted was a Warthog, but my bud said I’d have to use my bearbox money for that, which wasn’t happening.  Saitek Rhino it is.

Delivery day came.  I wanted to rest up for my upcoming battles so I told Peep to watch for the FedEx guy.  It’s nice to have a minion.

I was in deep slumber when I heard Peep.

“Peep” said Peep.

My flightstick!  We went out together, and there WAS a box at the doorstep.

Except that it was the size of Peep.   Clearly not the flightstick.  Weak.  No more false alarms Peep!  Wake me up only if there’s a big ass box.

“Peep.”

My flightstick!  For real!

This is what we’re talking about.

Commander Sumi can now take to the skies in style!

Well.

It seems there’s been a conspiracy to conceal information about the level of force necessary to move and navigate a spring-loaded flight stick.  Saving the universe is hard work!  I’m exhausted manning the ship.  Bud take over!

“Sumi, you were only on the stick for like 2 seconds,” said Nicholas.

As I was saying, extreme levels of effort and dedication are required to man my ships.

Oh the sacrifices I make.

This morning my bud went out and got flowers and some patterned paper.

“Aww for me?  You shouldn’t have.”  I said.  *No really you shouldn’t have.  I’d rather have cocoa, *I thought.

“It’s not for you” said my bud.

As I tried to grasp the concept of gifts that weren’t for me, my bud started to explain the May Day Basket tradition.

Apparently it’s something my bud grew up with.  They would hang paper cones of flowers on their neighbours’ door.  It is, as my bud explains, a chance to give gifts anonymously without the expectation of reciprocation.

That’s a terrible idea.  If I’m going to be a giving bear, I expect it to be known so I can reap the benefits.

Still, Nicholas was intent on building some baskets for our neighbours so that’s what we did.  He cut out paper into cones.

I stuck Peep in one of them.

“Are you trying to give your bunny away?”  Nicholas asked.

“I thought I’d just hang him on our door” I answered.

“Get Peep out of the basket” was all I got in response.  We went over to admire the flowers instead.

And then the cones were made.

And it was time to deliver them to the neighbours.

I can’t believe all this effort and we don’t get any credit for it.  Not sure how I feel about May Day, but Happy May Day I guess!