Jungle Gym For Dogs

For Christmas we decided to purchase a jungle gym for the pups to play on.  But since we frequently have weather that isn't conducive to outside playing, we chose an indoor jungle gym.

Just climb right up there.  Don't fall.

All the way up to the top of the jungle gym you go.

Shaak Ti wanted to play on the jungle gym too, so she hopped on up. 

In case you couldn't tell. the jungle gym is actually Alycia's Dad.  Whenever he sits in this particular chair the dogs (Tito excepting) feel compelled to climb on him and sit on his lap/chest/neck.  He's a pretty good sport about it. 

Morning Temps

It's -18 this morning, with a bit of a breeze from the North makes the wind chill about -35 (or so says the Grand Forks Herald website).  We're currently under a wind chill advisory from the National Weather Service and headed for a forecast high of -5.  These are the rough days, when the high temperature is still negative.  Ugh. 

We're supposed to stay cold all week with a possible break on Friday for some light snow.  It could be a good week to spend most of our time inside, today for sure.  I hope you're warm and dry wherever you are. 

The Princess Bed and the Puppy

My parents never let us have a dog when we were kids.  The excuses were pretty standard parental excuses - house cleanliness, adequate backyard space, walking and feeding responsibilities, my sister's allergies etc.  Every time we asked to get a dog, the answer was a firm and decisive "No".  End of story. 

I think it was that childhood doggy repression that has led to the overabundance of pooches that all us siblings currently have.  I have 3 (assuming I count Tito as a dog, which I usually don't), my brother has 2, and my sister has 5*.  And since my sister has begun recently downsizing to a smaller house, she's had to get rid of some of the several dozen dog beds** that she currently owns.

* sizes of her dogs - 2 XXL, 1 L, and 2 XXS.  The sizes could not be more extreme.  Two of them are black Labs that are 120 pounds and two are Chihuahuas are like 6 pounds. 

** I'm actually not embellishing on this one, she has a TON of dog beds in her house.  Their bedroom is huge and the floor is literally a sea of dog beds. 

She generously gave us a few of these extra dog beds, which was great.  You can always use a few extras and they're mother expensive to purchase.  As I've mentioned before, one of the beds was a pink and white frilly bed that said "Princess" on the side.  From the second we brought it home and set it on the floor, Tito loved it.  Loved it.  Who knew that Tito was a princess trapped in a angry ball of fur?  Well, I suspected.  As the old adage goes "give a dog a princess bed and they're a princess for a day, give Tito a princess bed and he's a princess forever".  Or something like that.  

Tito on the right loves his princess bed.  Loves it.  This of course leads to an inordinate amount of smack talk on my behalf towards him.  Since he can't hear (and likely wouldn't care anyways) it seems perfectly fine to taunt him about his preference for a pink frilly, lacy bed.  Puppy is not to be outdone in the princess category and tries to fit in the little orange princess bed* on the left.  She's a little too rough and tumble to be a delicate little flower.
* OK technically it's not a princess bed since it says "Happy Spring" on the side, but since we're in the throes of winter, it ain't no Happy Spring right now.

Not to be outdone by Tito's frequent princess Tours de Force, puppy tries to be a super double princess, by laying in both princess beds.  Sorry kiddo you're too big for those. 

You Can't Fight City Hall

Or so the old saying goes.  But right now, I don't want to fight City Hall.  In fact if I could, I'd go right now and give City Hall a big hug.

My previous experiences with City Hall and official business was in San Diego when I had various legal type items to deal with, mostly simple property issues related to the house in San Diego.  A handful of visits there always yielded the same result; waiting and waiting for some jackalope to break away from their coffee break with the five other "workers" so they could be bothered to come help me.  Said help was always slow to materialize, hampered by poor communication skills and abject indifference, and almost always resulted in my being told to go a different department where the process was repeated ad nauseum.

This process was merely annoying and time consuming until I realized that these city employees were the same jackalopes who could retire at 50 with a six figure pension and were the reason that San Diego, and cities just like throughout California, were sinking in a financial abyss.  This made me angry.  Very angry. 

So when it came about that I had to go to City Hall here in Grand Forks to get a building permit for finishing our basement and dog licenses for the pooches, I dreaded the visit.  Not only did I dread the visit, but I did what I always do with unsavory tasks, I procrastinated.  Yes, I procrastinated like a champ. Delaying, dallying, making excuses, and otherwise putting off things I don't want to do is probably one of my best characteristics (and also probably my most unmarketable job skill). Eventually I ran out of excuses to toss Alycia's way, sucked it up, and went down to City Hall. 

Since I don't know the area and things were covered in snow, it took me a few minutes to find the right building.  This made me a little frustrated and I anticipated taking out my frustration and angst (there was some of that in there too) on some hapless city employee.  Unfortunately for me and my cathartic anger urges, the process couldn't have been easier or more pleasant.  I had to go to two different departments and the total time it took was maybe 10 minutes.  Each employee was pleasant, competent, efficient, and very helpful, a super good combination. 

I literally walked out of City Hall happy and enthused, thankful for the helpful folk I encountered and determined to apologize to the Grand Forks City Hall employees who I prejudged, in the most public forum available to mankind, the Deaf Dogs and Benevolent Gnomes blog.  Sorry Grand Forks City Hall, it was wrong of me to judge ye.  Ye are quite awesome. 

Chilly Willy

The mythical cartoon penguin would probably even be chilly outside in Grand Forks, North Dakota tonight.  The vaunted local weather folks have predicted a low this evening/tomorrow morning of -26.  Sorry my Canadian friends I don't know what that translates into in terms of degrees Celsius, but it's probably like -144 Celsius.  Luckily there is no wind, which is nice because any breeze would make it feel even colder, which would be whack. 

If I can get my fingers thawed out tomorrow, I'll take the camera outside and get some artistic shots of the large icicles hanging from the Grandma-mobile.  Or Alycia and I will go to Arby's.  We'll see which one happens.

Or if you're cold enough, you could find a furry companion to snuggle up with.

Christmas Bandannas (not Christmas Bananas)

When we went up North to Cavalier for Christmas we naturally took all the puppies with us.  Who better to appreciate the splendor of a Christmas morning in the country (as well as the tasty handouts after Christmas dinner).  Puppies and people had their first Christmas surprise when Mama Bear (Alycia's Mom) announced that she had purchased handsome bandannas for all the puppies to wear on Christmas.

I laughed out loud when I heard this idea since it didn't seem feasible to me to dress up not just one dog, but all the dogs up at once, and I quickly set about mocking the idea.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  You see we never dress up our dogs (except for vital winter survival sweaters on walks) and between their lack of familiarity with dog clothing and puppy, well being a spazzy puppy, I thought the odds of those bandannas staying on any of our dogs were infinitesimal.

Uncle Mozzie and his green bandanna.  He gets dressed up pretty frequently by the Bear Family so I wasn't shocked that he didn't put up a fuss.  He also gets lured into submission with tasty treats, so I wasn't surprised that his holiday neckerchief stayed on.

Tito models his Christmas Cravat from the comfort of Leesha's lap (say that five times in a row really fast).  Tito HATES wearing anything but an angry glare, so I was shocked when he didn't scratch at it and it stayed around his neck all day.  I'm chalking this up to his being distracted by the turkey in the oven and all the delicious smells and dropped tidbits on the kitchen floor.  But still...

 

Here's Shaak Ti in her striking blue and black bandanna, very sharp indeed.  

And lastly, the puppy in her multi-colored neck ornament.  Ms. Puppy left her kerchief alone all day long, didn't try to pull it off, chew on it, or mess with it.  I was shocked, shocked. 

The dogs kept their festive neckwear on ALL DAY.  Not only did I have to have a mega mea culpa and take back all my smack talking to Mama Bear, but after dinner when everyone else was enjoying delicious apple and pumpkin pies, all I had was a large slice of room temperature humble pie.  Sigh...

One last shot of Tito and Shaak Ti, aka the Bandanna Duo. 

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year faithful blog readers!!!  May 2011 bring you much happiness, financial success (if desired), many puppy kisses (if you have dogs, if not that might be weird), tasty gluten free goods (if applicable), and all the friends and family you can shake a stick at.  Hopefully you've made all your New Years resolutions by now, one of which should be to bring new readers here to the Deaf Dogs and Benevolent Gnomes blog.  Remember any new readers that become a follower get their own personalized shout out (apologies to lifeshighway - I'm getting to yours I promise)

We had a decent snowstorm roll through last night (Blizzard Dave to be precise) and I've got to get suited up, throw on my bunny fur lined "Mad Bomber" hat and attend to some snowblowing and shoveling tasks outside.  I've much more to say about the awesome-ness of my Mad Bomber hat, but I'll have to save that for another post. 

BD (Blizzard Dave) only left 6 or 8 inches but there were some wicked winds that left bare concrete in some places and 2 foot drifts in other places.  The neighborhood is starting to buzz with activity, snowblowers and ATV's with snow plow attachments are making their rounds, and I don't want to be the last one with an uncleared driveway.

After a couple of hours of outside work time I'll settle down, watch some college football bowl games, and post all the puppy pictures from Christmas and recent fun festivities.  So stay tuned for awesome puppy pictures and whatever other awesome-radness may be up my sleeve (gluten free recipes, rants about current events, a new poll for the New Year, and maybe pictures of the elusive breast cancer crane in Grand Forks which is becoming my white whale, my golden unicorn).  That which is unattainable yet constantly pursued. 

Cummings/Chappell Environmentally Friendly Holiday Newsletter

Welcome to the Cummings/Chappell Environmentally Friendly Family Newsletter – 2010 Edition!!!

Holiday lights brighten the neighborhood, fattening confectionary treats abound, and a blanket of snow has fallen that covers up the previous layer of yellow snow.   That means the Holidays are here, and with their arrival you and your inbox are both being blessed with the greatest Holiday Sacrament known to humankind – the Cummings/Chappell Family Newsletter.  

2010 was our epic first full year in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Alycia’s first full year as a professor at the University of North Dakota.  We observed the full complement of North Dakota’s seasons: mud, mosquito/road construction, leaf raking, and painful bitter cold in their proper chronological order.  

Alycia has quickly become a student favorite on the UND campus, which on the one hand is flattering, but on the other hand comes with the obligation of writing dozens of grad school application letters over winter break.  Ahh, the burdens of being well loved...  She continues to teach and inspire the future Speech-Language Pathologists of North Eastern North Dakota, as well as doing clinical work helping small children in the local area with their speech production problems.  Her research lab on campus is now fully operational and is staffed by a loyal cadre of completely unpaid research assistants and does NO animal testing.  Alycia’s other firsts for the year included operating a snow blower and participating in an Irish drum circle for the first time (no I’m not making this up).  

Alycia finally succumbed to old triple jumping injuries this year. She had ankle surgery in May and was therefore able to continue the annual Cummings/Chappell family tradition of vacationing in a National Park while Alycia is on crutches.  We joined family from California for a wonderful low-speed week touring around Yellowstone National Park.  Alycia’s crutches were actually a blessing as they made us both slow and appreciate things we might have otherwise marched by in an attempt to see all the sights.  The pictures below are of John and Alycia in Yellowstone at the Mud Volcano and Alycia and John’s sister in Yellowstone at the Keppler Cascades. 

 

After more than 8 weeks on crutches, and being called a robot by more than one screaming crying child, Alycia had large enough biceps (we call these “guns” in the business) that John was wholly intimidated.  It probably didn’t help that she frequently wore sleeveless shirts while repeatedly flexing and yelling “you got your tickets to the gun show?!?!”  Luckily the gun show phase passed, physical therapy was attended, and the ankle healed, which enabled us to visit Las Vegas at the end of summer.  We met up with friends from California and spent a nice weekend pretending to be youthful and vibrant, and actually managed to stay up past midnight multiple evenings in a row.  

On the family front we celebrated John’s brother William’s wedding and proudly welcomed our new sister-in-law Christine to the Chappell family.  Welcome to the crazy house Christine!!  Good luck, you’re gonna need it.  We’re also looking forward to being an Aunt and Uncle for the very first time as my sister and her husband are expecting their first child in late January.  Even if our new niece/nephew isn’t blessed with red hair, we’ll still love ‘em. 

John’s major accomplishments for the year include learning to make local delicacies like Tater Tot Casserole, guest posting on a fine culinary blog (Thanks Sara!), learning to garden in Zone 3, and beginning a few minor woodworking projects.  He spent the year planting various apple trees, blueberry and currant bushes and setting up some of the infrastructure of the garden.  Spring will determine how many of aforementioned plants are still alive after the winter, but hopes run high, and like spring, our optimism blooms eternal.  John continued to make repeated trips back to San Diego for work purposes and enjoys being able to have a work vacation to his old hometown and visit family and friends.      

Tito spent the year like a fine wine, mellowing with age, but also like a fine wine, sitting in the dark remaining sedentary.  Actually in all fairness to Tito (which John rarely exhibits) many folks have commented how friendly and accepting of pets from strangers he has become, and he relishes trips to Alycia’s parents’ house where he can beg for meat treats and accompany Alycia’s Dad to and from, and to and from the Barbecue outside.  Since Tito never really changes (and he hates the camera), this year we’re going to include an old Tito picture, from when he was just a little puppy.   Those of you who know Tito are probably just as surprised as I am that he was actually once a cute little pup - a long time ago indeed.  The other picture of Tito is recent – note the orneriness, you can see it in his eyes…

Shaak Ti enjoyed her first full year in North Dakota and became well acquainted with the local squirrels and bunnies, and greatly enjoyed barking and chasing butterflies, dragonflies, falling leaves, and snowflakes, in that precise seasonal order, around the backyard.  In her second winter here in North Dakota she’s managed to grow a thicker fuller winter coat (eat your heart out premium shampoo marketers) which has enabled her to take longer winter walks and enjoy the snow to its fullest.  She’s currently thriving in her role as big sister and has dusted off many of the old wrestling moves that fell into disrepair when living with only Tito.  Huh?  You say.  Well that brings us to….

The big event of 2010 brought the memorable addition of yet another deaf dog to our family unit.  She’s a 5 month old pit bull puppy that was in a shelter in Texas, and through the magic of the Internet and the devotion of dog lovers from Texas to South Dakota who performed a mammoth dog transport relay, we were able to bring her into our home.  She’s a full fledged puppy tornado, fearless in the snow, wanting to play at all times, and then having epic crashes when the energy supply runs out.  Irrespective of the proud parent commentary, she’s very well behaved, sleeps through the night, has good manners, takes very well to training, has been accident free (hopefully this doesn’t jinx it), plays very well with Shaak Ti, and ignores Tito most of the time, which is all Tito really wants.  Alycia’s parents were initially reluctant when they heard she was a pit bull, but it took only a few hours upon the first trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for their hearts to be won over by snuggles and kisses and puppy happiness of our magical little pup.        

Oddly, we got motivated to complete a few unfinished projects around the house and will be finishing our basement this winter, which means soon there will a lovely bedroom suite for guests.  So except for the expensive plane ticket and distance from anywhere, you’ll have no excuse not to visit!  Most of John’s family (Dad, sister, and brother-in –law) came to visit during the Potato Bowl festivities in September and had so much fun that they’re already planning their return trip (seriously, I’m not kidding).  Below are pictures of John and his Dad on a hike at Turtle River State Park and the requisite picture of the whole family with the moose in front of Cabela’s.

We wish you the happiest of Holiday seasons and a productive and fruitful New Year.  Thank you to all of our family and friends, near and far, four legged and two legged who make our lives brighter.  We love you all.  Our last picture is of Alycia, Tito, and Shaak Ti.  John was out of town when they had the picture sitting (for a small donation to the Humane Society you get two free 5 x 7’s; it’s pretty sweet), and we didn’t have the puppy yet, so don’t freak out that the whole family isn’t in the picture.  We’ve also added a second bonus picture of John and the puppy so you get a complete montage of the family unit. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to Everyone!!!