Awesome Nephew Pictures

It's been a little while since I posted pictures of my awesome nephew Jacob. He's growing up pretty dang fast, and even though I'm not a kid person, I think he's pretty dang cute too.

His future is so bright that he has to wear (his Dad's) shades.

For Christmas he got a sandbox from Grandpa, which he apparently loves.  My sister appreciates it since it's a fun place for him to play and burn off little kid energy, but as she told me the other day on the phone "there is sand EVERYWHERE".  I had to laugh. And laugh. 

Mr. Fish

In honor of our beloved Grommie, who passed away recently, I figured I should discuss the other important fish in my life: Mr. Fish.

I had won/fished him out of a fish pond during one of Cavalier's summer Crazy Days when I was a kid. And unlike all other free goldfish that you get as a kid, he refused to die. He lived for 7 or 8 years before I headed off to school at Stanford. My sophomore year at school I decided that I was going to bring him with to school. Since my parents and I annually drove from North Dakota to Stanford, it wasn't that big of a deal, other than the 4-day road trip. We just emptied out half of his tank and let him slosh around in the car all the way out. I believe his favorite stop was a night at one of the stateline casinos in Nevada.

Once at school, Mr. Fish made lots of friends. My draw group (extended group of roommates) all doted on him. In fact, when I would go back to North Dakota, Mr. Fish went home to Fresno/Clovis, CA with my friend, Sue. Her family loves to fish and they treated Mr. Fish as a demi-god. Sue's dad refused to let her fill his tank with their tap water, instead insisting that she use their bottled water. Anyway, I digress. Mr. Fish lived with us through that sophomore year at Storey House, the following summer when we lived in moderate filth at the Sigma Chi frat house (it was the cheapest place to live), and then the following year when we lived in the Arroyo dorm.

Toward the end of his life, Mr. Fish stopped moving very much. He pretty much lurked on the bottom of his tank. He had been white for years, having lost all of his coloring sometime before heading out to California (and no, he didn't tan in the CA sun). Eventually he also developed some sort of cataract thing, where his eyes bulged, and then one day (one at a time) collapsed inward - very weird.

Anyway, Mr. Fish survived through finals week of Spring Quarter, and then he went quietly. Since I was quite attached to him, there was no way I was going to flush him down the toilet, and there was the issue that he was so big, he stood a chance of clogging the toilet. I briefly pondered taxidermy, but when I found out how much that cost, I instead opted for a frozen funeral. All summer he lived in my dorm fridge's mini freezer. In August when I flew home to North Dakota, I bought him a very nice little thermos and ice pack, put his frozen carcass in the thermos, and flew home with him so that he could be buried in the Cummings pet cemetery. Obviously, this was pre-9/11 when security wasn't quite so tight.

So the take-home point from my little ramble today. Of all my pets, my dogs are definitely the ones that I love best, but there is no reason why I cannot also have some attachment to my fish, too. There is no shame in wanting to provide a proper funeral for all of your pets.

Saying Goodbye

We have some sad news to report from the Cummings-Chappell estate, one of our beloved fishies, Grommie, passed away on Valentine's Day, 2013.

Grommie, who got his name from me because he was a Gourami fish, actually pre-dated me in John's life. Thus, up to now, Grommie has been a constant in my life and relationship with John. He was a quiet, peaceful fellow always just hanging around in the aquarium. He watched many other fish come and go and was a nice, predictable constant in my life.

When we moved from San Diego to North Dakota, I convinced John that Grommie should come along. I don't quite know what John thought we would do with him if we didn't bring him along, but I didn't want to think about it. We bought a small 10 gallon "travel" aquarium and so Grommie sloshed around in the back of the Camry for 2000 miles. Every night on our roadtrip, John would have to carry the aquarium into our hotel room so that we could fill his tank with more water and then plug in his air filter/pump so that we could give him some more air.

Recently, Grommie hadn't been doing well. He had been resting a lot on the bottom of the tank, often not moving very well - some days it almost looked like he was paralyzed on one side. I am glad to say that I did not find him, John did. It's always a sad day to have to fish out your dead fish from the tank. Currently, Grommie is resting in a plastic baggie in a box in our freezer. When it is warm and the soil thaws, we're going to bury him next to some of our purple irises.

 Photo credits: http://www.aquariumfish.net

Page View Milestone

Your obedient blogging servant El Gaucho is greatly honored by the recent milestone of 50,000 page views that we reached at approximately 2:44 AM EST this morning.  From humble beginnings and its even humbler current state, the Deaf Dogs and Benevolent Gnomes blog continues to exceed all expectations.

Unfortunately Shadowfax was less than impressed with this announcement, radiating sleepy indifference from her cozy slumberball/blanket cave.  Fear not little deaf dog, there are more earth shattering happenings in your future.  You see, Spring is just out of reach over the horizon...and the gnomes are stirring.

Snowdrifts and Icicles

A decent snowstorm blew through on Sunday night and into Monday, not a lot of snow only 4 or 5 inches, but a whole lot of wind.  Wind gusts reached into the 50+ mph range Sunday night and all day Monday causing blizzard conditions and the town of Grand Forks to effectively shut down.  The drift below was in front of the garage door, facing West.

Even though there wasn't much snow, that much wind can leave some large drifts and strange formations carved out of snow. 

This beautiful snow drift was along the south facing wall of the garage, was nearly two feet high, and had a near vertical face on one side.  It was gorgeous and mysterious at the same time.  The force of the wind and eddies created by the buildings worked in combination to sculpt this snow drift.  

Enjoying the unusual snow formations went a long way to make up for the cold early morning snow shoveling and snow removal.  As the front passed, bitterly cold air filled in behind it, leaving the area in wind chill warnings from Monday evening through the end of the day Wednesday.  Chilly.  Even though the calendar says it's coming soon, Spring seems a long way off.

Blind Dachshund Painter

Via Facebook friends I came across this lovely little gem - a blind longhaired dashund who paints and sells her paintings with the proceeds going to help one of her local rescue groups. I'm trying to convince John that we should buy a painting. I'm not in to art, but I think this is in a class all by itself. Check it out, it's fun!

http://www.hallieart.com/index.php

Avian Amazonian Ecto and Endo Parasite Research

What?  You heard me.  Avian Amazonian Ecto and Endo Parasitie Research.  Essentially, researching the different kinds of external (ecto) and internal (endo) parasites in Amazonian birds.  Why the heck would I be mentioning this?  Do I have avian parasites myself?   Well no, though I wouldn't blame you for making such an assumptions, but even if I did this probably wouldn't be the forum for such a revelation.

Alycia was accepted in a grant writing workshop at the University, it's essentially a writers workshop for 6 professors with 6 mentors.  But instead of sharing their respective fiction writing with a group of fellow writers, each person is sharing their scientific grant proposal with a group of fellow scientists.  The purpose of the group is to improve their grant writing skills and for the next several weeks each group member will read a grant proposal from another Professor in another field.

So this morning when Alycia asked me "Guess what I'm reading?", I was a little taken aback when she said "an Avian Amazonian Ecto and Endo Parasite Research Proposal".  A biology professor who specializes in avian parasites had written a grant that the group was reviewing.  It made for an interesting discussion and apparently interesting reading too.  For this particular proposed study they intended to capture most specimens in a mist net, and the secondary method of specimen collection?  Let's just say that shotguns were involved.  Yes science and shotguns can go together.

"Excuse Mr. McCaw, I apologize for the nature of my inquiry, but uhhh, do you have worms?  Ticks?  Other parasites?  Please just answer the question, I am armed."

Unbeknownst to many, Big Bird and Hilary Clinton were part of a Blue Ribbon Commission back in the 1990's to study avian parasites, but the Republican majority House buried the bill in committee.  Scientific research in the field has never quite recovered.  The photo credits (which are actually in the National Archive) didn't disclose who the third person is in the photo, but if I'm not mistaken it is the Speaker of the House at the time Mr. Newt Gingrich.

Waiting for Bigfoot

Entertaining article from Outside magazine about spending the night in the Ohio wilderness hunting for Bigfoot.

Waiting for Bigfoot

Spoiler alert - they don't actually find Bigfoot.  The author comes to realize that camping out in the middle of nowhere with good friends is an enriching component of life, whether or not you find proof of a giant hairy hominid.