The Great Backyard Bird Count 2014

We participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count of 2014.  And if you also want to participate, there's plenty of time - it runs the whole weekend February 14 to 17. All you have to do is set aside at least 15 minutes to record the birds that you see in your back (or even front) yard.

Check out the Great Backyard Bird Count website.

Alycia spent about a half hour counting birds (I helped quite a bit).  For being a "scientist" in her professional life, Alycia's methodology for counting birds lacks a certain scientific quality at times, but that's OK. We still love her despite her abhorrent aberrations from proper scientific bird counting methods.

Here's what we ended up counting:

• 10 sparrows
• 2 chickadees
• 2 nuthatches
• 1 American crow

Not the most exciting list by any means.  Not as exciting as last Spring when we saw all manner of awesome birds: Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Bunting, Baltimore Oriole, Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, and American Goldfinches.  Soon Spring will return and so will the awesome bird sightings.

Photo Credit

With a little luck, we'll see this awesome Scarlet Tanager again this Spring. First we need a little bit of snow melting to happen...that may take some time.  

Professor Cummings Honored

January is thankfully behind us.  January is the nadir of cold and snow, and even though there are two months of winter left, there seems to be some faint light at the end of the tunnel.  I'm also finally starting to approach feeling normal even though I'm not fully recovered from the malaise detailed in A Rough Month.  One sure indication of feeling better is having a sassy enough attitude to want to write a blog post.

Instead of focusing on illnesses and crunched cars and continued sub-zero high temperatures, we'll mention something more positive...like Professor Alycia Cummings being honored by her own students in the University of North Dakota student newspaper, The Dakota Student.

At the end of last semester Alycia was approached by one of her students and asked if she read the current edition of The Dakota Student.  She hadn't since she never does (chock full of school spirit is she).  Alycia was told that the students in her class (and in the National Honor Society) had placed an notice in the newspaper thanking her for being such a great instructor.  It might bear mentioning that this was unsolicited and no extra credit was granted. 

It was quite the honor for Alycia and she was proud that her students were enthused enough about her teaching to place a "Thank You" notice in the student newspaper.  Alycia was grateful for the unexpected gesture from her students and realized that things like this look great when going up for tenure (which is right around the corner). 

A Rough Month

Well gang, it's been a few weeks since I've broken radio silence.  I'm not ignoring you, this isn't some complicated tough love experiment.  Without turning this into a (yet another) woe is me missive, I shall endeavor to merely describe why I've been negligent in my blogging duties. 

Starting the weekend after Christmas I've been knocked flat on my keester with some manner of "digestive" issue (yes I'm trying to be delicate here).  Multiple trips to the doctor and many diagnostic tests have been unable to ascertain exactly what the problem is, and I've gotten slowly better.  But there are some lingering issues and my doctor has me on a gluten-free, dairy-free diet that includes avoiding chocolate, spicy foods, acidic foods, fatty foods, anything that tastes good...and worst of all coffee.  Sigh. 

The good news from the bout of who-knows-what is that I've lost a lot of weight and am reveling in my new svelte figure.  Please bear in mind though that this is NOT a diet program that I would reccomend. 

On top of that we're experience transportation woes here at the homestead.  It's finally time to put the 1992 Toyota Camry out to pasture, and last night on our way to the UND basketball game a stupid high school girl who was driving too fast (and probably texting) lost control of her car, slid across two lanes of traffic and the median and smacked into our only remaining drivable vehicle.  More hoop jumping, phone calls, and annoyance.  But we're both OK, though our only mode of transport at this point is deaf-dogsled, we'll let you know how that works out. 

So to take our minds off our various worries, let's watch a clip from an old South Park episode, yes Petey the Sexual Harassment Panda.  I dare you to not let this song get stuck in your head.

Polar Vortex, Historic Cold

I know that in winter I post a lot "jeez look how cold it is here" kinds of things.  These posts are only slightly meant to be an outlet for my complaining about the weather.  Mostly they're about cool weather related stuff that until we moved here 5 years ago, I'd never conceived of. For instance, I'd never heard the phrase "polar vortex" until this week. 

A polar vortex is a gigantic semi-permanent cyclone that hovers near each of the Earths' poles and can bring significant cold air to other areas during weakening/oscillation.  Essentially we'll have the weather that should be at the North Pole here in Grand Forks for a few days.  I won't tell you how much time I've spent browsing scientific websites reading about polar vortices (plural of vortex), but it's been quite fun.

As an accountant and numbers person, these numbers are fascinating to me.  These are numbers I never even would have thought possible until I moved here,  And granted, these are just the actual surface temperatures, this doesn't factor in the wind chill, which is expected to be in the -50, -60, even -70 range today through Tuesday - that's just plain crazy!!  Local news and the newspaper has stated that weather this cold "Hasn't been seen in the area in decades".

Weather forecast picture from the Grand Forks Herald.

Fourth Coldest December on Record

It's been a cold stretch here over the last month or so, dang cold.  We've had the kind of cold that literally takes your breath away when you step outside, makes you mutter expletives, and forces you to strongly rethink your life decisions.  How cold?  The fourth coldest December on record since some crazy ass pioneers settled here and started measuring the temperature and writing it down in 1890. 

You can read the full article here in the Grand Forks Herald, but here's the relevant piece:

"Jeff Makowski, meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Grand Forks, said December 2013 was the fourth coldest December in the area since 1890. The average temperature was 0.6 degrees."

Yes you read that correctly, the average temperature was 0.6 degrees. Average.  0.6 degrees.  And we've got four months of winter left to go.  

A Gnome-y, Doggie Christmas

Merry Belated Christmas to all of our faithful readers. John is taking the night off so I thought I'd post a few photos of some of our awesome presents.

I have a fairly extensive t-shirt collection, thanks in large part to John's diligence. I got 4 t-shirts this year: an In-N-Out shirt (I still love California and all it has to offer), a Wallace shirt (he looks shockingly like Shadowfax on the shirt), a fluffy (not fat) sheep shirt.

and quite fittingly for this blog, a gnome taxi t-shirt.

All of them are awesome and I look forward to sporting them on a regular basis. I really look forward to the day when I have tenure. Then, I might start wearing them to school...

Also in support of the gnome theme, John's brother and sister-in-law sent me some excellent gnome knee socks - let's count the silent letters there. And, they also sent us a homemade gnome. Here he is resting quietly on our new plant stand.

If you look closely on his bag, she painted a fairly good likeness of Shadowfax (complete with a pink collar).

And finally, possibly one of the most awesome presents ever, I got a dachshund lamp. Not quite the leg lamp from the Christmas Story, but quite close. I new what it was when it arrived, as the box said white dachshund, but I held off until Christmas. I eagerly opened the box.

I was appropriately amazed when it came out.

Some assembly was required, which John assisted with.

And now it has a place of honor on our TV stand - next to the dog toys.

All of us here at Deaf Dogs and Benevolent Gnomes hope that you had a fabulous Christmas. More to come soon, including the yearly news letter.

Buoy Found!!!

Last month Deaf Dogs and Benevolent Gnomes helped raise awareness on behalf of a UND professor friend of ours who had lost his scientific data-gathering buoy.  See Have You Seen This Buoy? for the full back story.

We're happy to pass along the joyous news (via the Grand Forks Herald) that the buoy has been found.  Granted it's a bit of a bummer that it's current status can best be described as "intact, but stuck in frozen mud along the shoreline".  No word on what, if any, punishment is in store for the buoy for staying out past its curfew without calling and making us worry so much. 

Sleepy Slumber Time

It's sleepy time here at the homestead.  Pups are snuggled in their slumber balls, covered with cozy blankets, warm and drifting off to dreamland. Sub-zero temperatures outside don't have much of an effect on you when you're as snug as a pug in a rug. 

It was a long day of braving the cold outside, playing tug-of-war, and barking at bunnies from the upstairs window. 

In case you're wondering what pit bulls really look like, this is it.  They're huge sleepy lumps.  They'd rather snuggle than do just about anything else in the world.