A shirtless Sven and one very friendly bear

KARE11 viewers are just lucky Sven Sundgaard bothers to wear a shirt in the Backyard.

The meteorologist and world traveler posted a photo on his Facebook page of him in a bear hug with an actual bear. Goes without saying that Sundgaard was shirtless, as he's sans shirt or in a muscle shirt in most every photo he posts of himself since I've been keeping tabs on him.

So now the weatherMuppet's into bears? This bear certainly looked into KARE11's "Svenomenon," as the State Fair tee sold by the station called him, during their photo op.

In the picture, Sungaard and the bear -- who looks like a baby, not the Momma or Poppa variety -- are nose-to-nose. Sundgaard's eyes are closed as about 5 inches of no-doubt minty-fresh bear tongue licks Sven right across the lips. The weather guy is embracing the bear, who's dangling long claws at the end of a flaccid paw and clearly in a mood for some lovin', not maulin'.

Via Twitter I asked: "Where were you when you were making out with that bear?"

"It's a Sun Bear," Sundgaard replied via Twitter. "I didn't quite expect it. Island of Bali, Indonesia, on my 30th birthday. It's an amazing place! Incredibly friendly, warm people, too."

Since I'm not a Svenologist, I had to ask another birthday question to which he replied:

He's back at work now (at the station derided as home of the KAREbears when it adopted the KARE call letters, long before Sven was hired), so I assume he was still on vacation when he responded. Based on my recollection of all Sven photos I've seen on websites, I must rhyme: One shirt was too baggy, one shirt was too bright, so for our Sven, no shirt is just right.

At least there are no photos of Sundgaard in his birthday suit, although one photo posted on Facebook of Sven stepping out of the water in skimpy trunks leaves very little to the imagination for Goldilocks or the Sun Bears.

That'll get Sundgaard flooded with requests from Facebookies eager to befriend the TV heartthrob. Not being among his Facebook pals, I shouldn't have seen the bear hug pix.

Curiously enough, my e-mail requesting a copy of the photo for reprint here has garnered no reply from Sundgaard (I need permission to reprint the image). But, dear reader, if you see me out and about, ask if I'm carrying my digital camera. If I am, I'll show you the priceless picture of the bear cub love.

Sundgaard also did not respond to these questions: Nature Boy, what percentage of the time do you go shirtless? Why do you take so many pictures shirtless?

Sven, anybody can see that you have a very nice body. Now get over yourself.

Surgery for an iconSad word has it that an icon in local music suffered a heart attack that led to bypass surgery on Monday.

Sorry to hear about this, but we are aging in that direction. However, this happily married icon looked pretty darn fit last time our paths crossed. Get well.

One great appTelephoning Lori Fhima can cause quite a start when the voice-mail greeting intones: "Hi, C.J., it's Lori. Leave me a message and I will get right back to you."

The putty manager* for St. Paul restaurant Faces in Mears Park said she got the app that makes possible such a personalized greeting from youmail.com.

(*Putty manager, by the way, is the title she has given herself at husband and chef David Fhima's restaurant. The reason: "I fill in where needed.")