Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!  There won't be any corned beef, or cabbage, or green beer, but Shadowfax the deaf pittie celebrated anyways with a few things green.

She played with her green stick, the awesome and very hardy Goughnuts dog toy. 

Then heartily napped in her green slumber ball.  OK, so she might not have even understood that it was St. Patrick's Day today, but to her each and every day is a holiday and that's just one of the many reasons we love her. 

Camry Update - It Lives!!!

The hero has just stabbed the creature from the deep/crazed psycho camp killer and breathes a sigh of relief that the ordeal is over, only to have the creature lurch back to life once again.  Why on earth these movie characters don't decapitate, hack, chop, mince, puree, and set fire to the creature to make sure it's dead has always troubled me.  Horror movies aside, the Camry that we said farewell to lives on like a horror movie creature.  Well a tiny little piece of the Camry lives on...the license plate. 

Unbeknownst to us (and poorly communicated to us by our local Subaru dealer), we were supposed to keep the license plates from the Camry before we traded it in to the dealership.  Miscommunications and non-hilarity ensued and we ended up having to request new license plates from the North Dakota Department of Motor Vehicles, but these "new" license plates were actually the same ones as from the Camry.  There's some manner of bureaucratic issue here where it's easier to keep the same plates and switch the car that they're associated with than to request new plates.  I don't pretend to understand the mechanations of the North Dakota DMV.  

The vehicle that replaced the Camry (a Subaru Impreza - more on our new car in a later post) will now proudly carry around its' license plate, so a tiny piece of the Camry spirit will live on in infamy.  If the new car doesn't feel like starting or begins leaking various fluids, a vehicular exorcism may be in order to expel the Camry demons from the new car, but for now we'll just assume the best.

Slushy Snow Playtime with Shadowfax

It was 40 degrees outside today, the first tangible and credible evidence of Springs' arrival.  The snow was soft and slushy, perfect for getting some fresh air and sunlight on our winter weary skin. 

The dogs were all exhibiting Spring fever and we happily obliged them with some time outside.  I had on shorts and a sweater, Alycia had her more typical pink jacket and track pants.  Alycia's outfit was more about puppy-splashing management than being cold though, so don't judge her.

Alycia is utilizing the unconventional "two-handed" throwing method for tossing deflated basketballs to Shadowfax.  The deflated basketballs are one the best toys we've ever purchased.  Not only are they less than $1 at a local thrift store (or free from Freecycle), but Shadowfax loves them.  They have just enough give but still offer chomping resistance and haphazard bounces when thrown.  She's a happy little pup. 

O'Keeffe's Working Hands - Hand Salve Testimonial

We don't usually pitch products here on the Deaf Dogs and Benevolent Gnomes blog.  Our humble blog is small enough that it never attracts the attention of companies who would offer us free samples in exchange for a glowing product testimonial.  So any praise you read here is genuine and all products were procured by us, at relevant market prices. 

OK, legal disclaimers and other information aside...If you have dry or cracked hands, you should pick up some O'Keeffe's Working Hands.  It works and it is awesome.  And this is coming from a dude (me) that hates anything that makes my hands greasy, so when I say that I actually don't mind using O'Keeffe's, that's about as high praise as I could offer.  I'd seen ads for it in Mother Earth News over the years and finally bought some several months ago on a whim during a visit to a local hardware store. 

Between the extreme cold here and the dry air of winter, my hands get pretty gnarly in the winter.  And for some reason, playing basketball and volleyball causes the ends of my fingers to simply split open.  All the time.  All winter.  It sucks and is pretty darn unpleasant.  It's like constantly having a half-dozen paper cuts on the tips of your fingers, but O'Keeffe's has really fixed the problem.  And not only do I love this stuff, but so does Alycia.  Double endorsement ahoy!



On the rare occasion that we do pitch products, it's always something we truly believe in like: Tuffy Dog Toys, Goughnuts Green Stick Dog Toy, and Iron X Weed Killer.  We don't put our Deaf Dogs and Benevolent Gnomes stamp of approval on much, but when we do, it's something that we use and love.  We've accordingly added this product to the DDBG Stamp of Approval Amazon widget on the left side of the page.  You can buy it online, but we've been able to find it locally at Ace Hardware, Lowe's, and Menard's.

Anyone else ever used O'Keeffe's before?  If so what'd you think?  If not, what's your go-to remedy for gnarly, chapped, or winter-battered hands?  

Deaf Pibble Butt Rub Video

During the prolonged stretches of cold weather we start to run out of ideas for indoor exercising and burning off puppy energy in the house.  Sometimes the best we can manage is sitting on the floor for some active tummy and butt rubs.  Even that can burn off a little bit of energy, and every little bit helps.

A quick video of pittie puppy smiles and heavy dog-breathing is maybe just the thing you need to pep you up on a Monday morning. 

Thursday Morning February Temperature

It's a crystal clear morning here in Grand Forks, North Dakota.  The sun is bursting forth over that Eastern horizon and it's truly a lovely start to the day.  The only problem is that it's -25F. Yup 25 degrees below zero.  Chilly. 

We plugged in the block heater on the car last night.  While it's not necessary (it's our new Suburu), as one mechanic told us "it's just a lot easier on the car".  I'm always amazed that anything can operate at this temperature - cars, people, dogs, houses.  I'm always appreciative each day that the house doesn't just spontaneously collapse out of exhaustion of keeping us warm. 

Hopefully this last week of February will be the end of the really chilly temps for a while. 

Shadowfax - GSD

Every passing day brings us new deaf dog related discoveries and entertaining new revelations about our four-legged companions. After years of trying to decide what type of breed she was, we finally realized that Shadowfax is in fact not a Pittie/Bulldog mix, but a GSD.

Now traditionally GSD has stood for a long admired dog breed - the German Shepard Dog.  But Shadowfax is a new breed of GSD - a Green Stick Dog.

The green stick is a goughnuts dog toy.  We've extolled their virtues before, but are now here with photographic evidence of their awesomeness.  We have had this particular toy for a year, and it's still fully intact with little more than a few minor teeth indentations.  And it's one thing to have a toy for a year, but quite another to use the toy every single day like Shadowfax does, and still have the toy remain intact.  This is one impressive dog toy, seemingly perfect in it's ability to hold her interest (she plays with it EVERY day) and remain in one piece. 

Shadowfax with her stick again. One of her favorite things to do is plop the end of the stick on my laptop as I'm sitting on the couch working.  (Yes I sit on the couch and work, don't judge).  If you ever read a blog post that says "jladhf ajksdhf;kauyer;aljkdhf kjladhsflkauyeblahgfasderlndkc" it's either because I've finally passed on to the other side of sanity or Shadowfax and her toy have written and posted the story together.

If you have a dog that's a heavy chewer I'd recommend trying one of the goughnuts dog toys. They're not cheap by any means, this green stick was $20 or so, but if it lasts for a long time, it might be worth it.  We also have a few other gougnuts toys that Shadowfax plays with semi-regularly, and they've also withstood the chomping jaws of our little pup.

And naturally after playing with her green stick, it's usually time for some snuggles and pets with Alycia.  Shadowfax is a pretty spoiled pooch. 

Farewell to the Camry

John here with a stern warning - this may be an emotional post.  It may be tough news for many of you to handle, especially those who have come to love Alycia's Toyota Camry over the years.  Don't ruin this moment by saying something snarky about how in the world Alycia could still be driving that piece of vehicular rubbish.  Mostly because it's not nice, but also because it's not true. I've been driving this unreliable hunk of crap/four-wheeled curio of nostalgia for the last two years while Alycia has been styling in the comfort and heated seats of our new Subaru Outback.  Now I'll turn things over to Alycia.

Yes indeed. It seems like yesterday when my mom (aka, Mama Bear) brought home the Camry. Well, it was actually August 1999 and the Camry was already 7 years old and had nearly 100,000 miles. Soon enough, the Camry and the Bear Family took off for the first of the Camry's many adventures - a cross-country road trip back to Stanford for my senior year of college. Note - look how young I am, and how good looking the Camry is.

That first big trip was perhaps an indication of all that the Camry represented. Not 100 miles down the road we had to stop to buy a headlight for the car. And then in the middle of the Nevada desert in September, the AC died. Good thing that the AC system had been recently recalled and we got it fixed up as good as nearly new. My mom had paid for the extended warranty on the car, and I made good use of it, having all sorts of subtle mechanical issues with it in that first year.

But the Camry survived and was my constant companion through a few years of "working" at Stanford, and then through all of my grad school years in San Diego. During those years, it made countless trips throughout California: to the Tahoe area multiple times for ski trips, to Ukiah for camping, to the City (San Francisco) for shopping in the Haight, to Napa/Sonoma for wine tasting, to LA to see friends, and throughout San Diego county for many years.

By the time I finished grad school in 2009, the AC had died again in the Camry. But, since my Camry was the better of the two Camrys that John and I owned, we fixed it up again for an unimaginable trip back to North Dakota - the Camry's homeland. Never did we think that it would come back to North Dakota, but it made the trip home with no issues, carrying not only John and myself, but also Shaak Ti, Tito, and our 2 fish.

Once back in North Dakota, the Camry remained the "good"car for 3 years, as John drove the Grandma-mobile (the 1989 Ford Tempo that my Grandma owned prior to her death). When the Tempo was on its last gasp, we bought our Outback in 2012. That is when I went from the Camry's primary caretaker to its occasional rider, and John took over driving it. The past few years haven't been quite so kind to the Camry, as it became less and less reliable in starting, and it did not handle very well on the snowy and icy roads. John finally got fed up with the enigma of the Camry (Will it start today? Probably not) this January and declared that we needed another new car.

In a very ironic twist, we had decided to buy a new car the same week that the Outback got smushed by an irresponsible teen driver. And perhaps even more surprisingly, when we went through the new car paperwork, the dealership offered us $500 (American dollars no less) for a trade-in of the Camry. We were planning to donate it to some non-profit to get the tax deduction, but the $500 was a better offer and so we jumped on it before the salesman had second thoughts.

The dealership was even OK with the fact that the car didn't start and they offered to come and tow it away. It took them a week and a half to come and get it, but that gave us time to say our goodbyes to the Camry. We cleaned it out and found numerous interesting relics from the 15 years that I had the car. Directions to all sorts of places I visited, and of course the little notebook in which I kept notes on all of the mechanical fixes the Camry had over the years. I wanted to give that notebook to the dealership, but they took it away before I could put it back in the glovebox. Now they'll never know how many miles ago it had its timing belt replaced. Oh well. And in a somewhat anti-climatic end, the dealership's guys came with a pick-up and a tow-rope a few Tuesdays ago and towed it out of our driveway. At 235,000 miles, the Camry was a great car.

Here, in its last photo, the Camry doesn't look quite so beautiful and graceful. It's covered in snow and ice and we hadn't been able to start it for over a month. But it was an excellent, awesome car. One that many people would have been proud to own, and I was. We had many adventures, the Camry and I, and I hope that its new owners will treat it with the respect that it deserves.

And yes,  I know that my pink coat is a little gray there - I blame playing with Shadowfax and her dirty basketballs in the backyard. It is just my dog walking/playing coat. I wouldn't wear that coat anywhere fancy...