Hello, Alycia (the GF girlfriend) here. Now, before you immediately surf away from the blog because it's not John writing, hear me out. John is starting a new job this fall (more on this in a later post - he promises) and with the new job, he will have much less time to devote to the blog. Due to this lack of time, he gave me an ultimatum: either I contribute or the blog shuts down. Now, who knows what the future will bring, but I thought I should at least try to contribute to the blog instead of just preemptively quitting on all of our faithful readers.
Long story short, there will (hopefully) be more posts by me in the future, as John and I start to share the Deaf Dogs blog load. If any of the readers have any burning questions for me regarding John, the dogs, the garden, or even myself, please feel free to post and I'll do what I can to address them.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
More Deaf Dog Antics
Since everyone seemed to enjoy that last puppy video I posted, and since I'm swamped with work as well as life changes (much more on this in a later post) and have no time to write right now, I'll just put this video out there to sate your appetite.
Shadowfax chewed a piece off of her rubber toy (if you listen closely you can hear her scronching on it) and ran around with it, chomping it repeatedly, throwing it in the air, and just generally thinking it was the greatest thing in the world. The piece was small enough that if she ended up ingesting it (which she did) that there was no worry about it getting stuck in her puppy innards. For the record we usually fish the toy/fuzz/string bits out of her mouth before she has a chance to gulp them down.
Shadowfax chewed a piece off of her rubber toy (if you listen closely you can hear her scronching on it) and ran around with it, chomping it repeatedly, throwing it in the air, and just generally thinking it was the greatest thing in the world. The piece was small enough that if she ended up ingesting it (which she did) that there was no worry about it getting stuck in her puppy innards. For the record we usually fish the toy/fuzz/string bits out of her mouth before she has a chance to gulp them down.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Go Fighting Sioux!!
Awesome (not so) little nephew Jacob shows off his University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux t-shirt.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Deaf Puppy In The Pool
We're big believers in doggy day care here at Deaf Dogs and Benevolent Gnomes. If our schedules dictate that we won't have much time to play and pay attention to the puppy, we take her to doggy day care for the day. This really only happens when I'm out of town for work (this will change though...more on this in a later post) and Alycia is left to be a single doggy parent. The puppy always returns home from doggy day care a tired heap of pup, but on warm days she is frequently wet and her "report card" talks about how much fun she had in the pool.
Seeing as how she allegedly has so much fun in the pool at doggy day care, we figured we'd get her a pool of her own and fill it up on hot days for her to enjoy. Since the pool was just a cheap plastic disk, it wasn't much of an investment.
As you can see she wanted nothing to do with the pool (in spite of Alycia's Dad and his coaxing) except to have a bit of a drink.
Unbeknownst to us we were simply using the pool incorrectly. It's not supposed to be right side up and filled with water, it's supposed to be upside down and empty, that way you can chew on it and get a running start and jump on it like a sled.
I try not to malign Alycia very often, mostly because there is no occasion to do so. I love her very much, and she is a very smart lady with an enormous array of skills and abilities and talents. Unfortunately for you, video recording is not one of them. On the one hand, it was impressive of her just to capture this scene at all, but on the other hand, you can barely see the puppy getting a running start, jumping on the pool, and sliding under the temporary fencing we have set up to protect our new not-yet-established plants from puppy related carnage such as this. I just feel like a more accomplished videographer would have captured the scene better...
And just for fun, one more puppy video of her tearing around the house, trying to get Tito to play with her (Tito is just out of frame to the right, probably glowering with anger).
Seeing as how she allegedly has so much fun in the pool at doggy day care, we figured we'd get her a pool of her own and fill it up on hot days for her to enjoy. Since the pool was just a cheap plastic disk, it wasn't much of an investment.
As you can see she wanted nothing to do with the pool (in spite of Alycia's Dad and his coaxing) except to have a bit of a drink.
Unbeknownst to us we were simply using the pool incorrectly. It's not supposed to be right side up and filled with water, it's supposed to be upside down and empty, that way you can chew on it and get a running start and jump on it like a sled.
I try not to malign Alycia very often, mostly because there is no occasion to do so. I love her very much, and she is a very smart lady with an enormous array of skills and abilities and talents. Unfortunately for you, video recording is not one of them. On the one hand, it was impressive of her just to capture this scene at all, but on the other hand, you can barely see the puppy getting a running start, jumping on the pool, and sliding under the temporary fencing we have set up to protect our new not-yet-established plants from puppy related carnage such as this. I just feel like a more accomplished videographer would have captured the scene better...
And just for fun, one more puppy video of her tearing around the house, trying to get Tito to play with her (Tito is just out of frame to the right, probably glowering with anger).
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Update on the New Ads
They are gone. They were annoying. They were links to sketchy sites that simply incorporated the name of our blog, and not really to any sites of substance. They were annoying to me and I didn't want to subject my wonderful readers to these crappy/shady ads.
So the good news is they're gone! The bad news? I replaced them with a few more Amazon.com ads. But at least the Amazon ads are selling cool things like books and music and crossbows and garden gnomes. And as always, I encourage you to click on the ads and buy things from Amazon.com, all proceeds from sales go to help deaf dogs in North Dakota.
So the good news is they're gone! The bad news? I replaced them with a few more Amazon.com ads. But at least the Amazon ads are selling cool things like books and music and crossbows and garden gnomes. And as always, I encourage you to click on the ads and buy things from Amazon.com, all proceeds from sales go to help deaf dogs in North Dakota.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Hand Built 3-Bin Compost System
Here's the great unveiling, the new Deaf Dogs and Benevolent Gnomes 3-Bin compost system extravaganza. Yes it is hyperbole to call a compost bin an extravaganza, but this sucker has been quite a while in the making. Like, a year in the making.
Why the heck did it take so long? Well I did build it by hand, and I mean literally by hand, using only hand tools - hand saws, hand drills, screwdrivers, hammer. So that certainly added to the time it took to construct it. It also just sort of lingered in the garage for months in various states of semi-assembly. Since my garage isn't climate controlled (not heated or cooled), there were many times in the summer when it was too hot to work on it, and in the winter when it was way too cold.
So it ended up that the compost bin became a rainy day project, something to do indoors when it was rainy and I couldn't play in the garden. Thus it took close to a year to build. And yes, there was a healthy dose of procrastination involved as well.
Why the heck did it take so long? Well I did build it by hand, and I mean literally by hand, using only hand tools - hand saws, hand drills, screwdrivers, hammer. So that certainly added to the time it took to construct it. It also just sort of lingered in the garage for months in various states of semi-assembly. Since my garage isn't climate controlled (not heated or cooled), there were many times in the summer when it was too hot to work on it, and in the winter when it was way too cold.
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| 3-Bin Composting system with removable front slats, which make working and turning the compost much easier. |
Friday, June 22, 2012
When The Sunbeam Attacks
It's best not to fight it.
In fact, the best course of action is just to roll over and let it warm your tummy.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Deaf Dog Antics
It's been a several weeks since we posted pictures (and video!!) of any doggy antics, this should make up for that shortcoming.
Tito may be old, going on 12 years old, and half the size of the puppy, but he can still bring it. Every week or so Tito brings his special brand of tug-of-war thuggery against the puppy for a precious few minutes. I captured the second round, only a few seconds worth of them playing. The previous round went about 30 seconds and was over before I could capture it on video, but I did grab this final tussle. It's brief, but pretty impressive for an old man.
After a rousing game of tug-of-war the puppy sat down and enjoyed the deliciousness of a stuffed toy. If she could just sit down and destroy the toy, we wouldn't mind, but instead of simply destroying the stuffed toy, she has to eat it as well. All of it. She eats the entire toy, from fuzzy innards to squeaker device to plush exterior. As such we need to maintain a watchful eye on her and actively supervise her when we allow her to play with any toy that's remotely edible. The end result is this scene is oft repeated.
Alycia is a pretty brave lady to just stick her hands right into the angry maw of a deaf pit bull. The puppy is really good about this, she just lets you jam your hand in there and remove the fuzz/plastic/fabric/rope/whatever from her mouth. Despite our vigilance plenty of fuzz gets through and we wind up with multi-colored rainbow poops out in the backyard.
Shaak Ti sat by and leisurely chomped on her own toy. This was a Christmas present (thanks Bill and Christine) that we saved for when the pups needed a new little treat or the bit of excitement that comes with playing with a new toy.
It was a new toy and she was pretty enthusiastic.
Tito may be old, going on 12 years old, and half the size of the puppy, but he can still bring it. Every week or so Tito brings his special brand of tug-of-war thuggery against the puppy for a precious few minutes. I captured the second round, only a few seconds worth of them playing. The previous round went about 30 seconds and was over before I could capture it on video, but I did grab this final tussle. It's brief, but pretty impressive for an old man.
After a rousing game of tug-of-war the puppy sat down and enjoyed the deliciousness of a stuffed toy. If she could just sit down and destroy the toy, we wouldn't mind, but instead of simply destroying the stuffed toy, she has to eat it as well. All of it. She eats the entire toy, from fuzzy innards to squeaker device to plush exterior. As such we need to maintain a watchful eye on her and actively supervise her when we allow her to play with any toy that's remotely edible. The end result is this scene is oft repeated.
Shaak Ti sat by and leisurely chomped on her own toy. This was a Christmas present (thanks Bill and Christine) that we saved for when the pups needed a new little treat or the bit of excitement that comes with playing with a new toy.
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