Is it a pig or a dog?

Shadowfax has become enamored with her Luna ball. We like how it makes her snort. The Luna ball has proven to be pretty durable so far, but we'll see if it's as tough as her Goughnuts stick or Jolly Ball (which has remained an outdoor only toy).

Deupty Kills Cow After it Twice Charges Him - Local News

We saw this item on the local news last night and laughed pretty heartily.  We felt really bad for the cow though, it possibly fell off a truck, definitely got hit by a car, then got shot...that qualifies as having a crappy day.

From the Grand Forks Herald:

CASSELTON – A Cass County deputy responding to a motorist that had crashed into a cow off Interstate 94 Monday morning had to go to the hospital himself after the injured cow charged him at the scene.

Cass County Sgt. Dean Haaland said the deputy was responding to the crash at about 3 a.m. at mile marker 332 west of Casselton when the cow, injured in the crash, charged him.

The deputy was knocked to the ground and suffered some bruising, Haaland said. When he got up, the cow charged again, and the deputy fired upon the animal to keep from being hit again, killing the cow.

Haaland said the deputy was checked out at an area hospital and is doing OK.

Cass County deputies are now investigating the area to find out who’s responsible for the cow.

So far, none of the farmers recognize the cow, he said.

At this point, they think it’s possible the animal fell off a truck that was transporting it through the area. 

Monarch Butterflies

While out mowing the lawn the other day I spotted a Monarch in the garden and stopped to snap some photos.  I've started to see a few more Monarchs around the homestead, though not the profusion that we usually have in late Summer.

He/she wasn't scared of me one bit and I got within an arms' length, snapping photo after photo.  After resettling on the flower (Summer Sun Heliopsis) below, I got this fantastic picture.

Butterflies, and especially Monarchs are one of my favorite summertime creatures to see in the garden.  We're going to continue to plant more flowers that they utilize for nectaring or laying eggs.  Summer just wouldn't be the same without Monarchs flitting about.  What critters do you most enjoy seeing in the garden?

Poweful Pitiful Pittie Pleading

The well known "pleeeeeease stop working and pay attention to meeeee" face.

I know I have like seven hundred toys, but I wanna play with you!

Hairy Woodpecker Photos & Crazy Toes

I was outside most of the day Sunday removing two large Mugo Pines (aka Scrub Pine or Mountain Pine) from the front yard.  More on that in another post!  While I was out there a hairy woodpecker stopped in to visit.

He was not afraid of me one bit, even though I looked mighty and wielded a shovel/pick axe/pry bar.  The hairy and downy woodpeckers that frequent the homestead are quite bold and not skittish around people.  The large Pileated Woodpeckers?  They're another story.  This one allowed me to get pretty close and snap some nice photos. 

If you look closely in this photo you can see the unusual toes of the woodpecker.  Woodpecker toes and feet have evolved specifically for arboreal life scampering around in and clinging to trees.  Woodpeckers have two toes facing forward and two toes facing backwards, this is known as having zygodactyl feet. 

This hairy woodpecker stuck around for a while and likely decided that my grunting and swearing while digging out the mugo pine stumps was oft-putting, and after a few minutes, flew off.  Sorry my friend, I apologize for the colorful language. 

What kind of feeders to we use to feed our feathered friends? We learned about the Droll Yankees brand of bird feeders from an Audubon Society presentation a few years ago and are hooked on their bird feeders now.  They're much sturdier than others we've had and come with a lifetime warranty.  I've heard numerous unsolicited testimonials from people who've shipped 10 or 15 year old feeders to them and gotten new back ones in the mail, no questions asked. We use the Droll Yankee Nyjer Seed Feeder and the Tube Feeder for sunflower seeds and love them (but probably not as much as the birds). 

The Ladies of the House

All the ladies posed together for a picture. This is a pretty typical scene around the Deaf Dogs and Benevolent Gnomes household.  Shakk Ti likes to sit behind your legs against the couch and Shadowfax prefers to be on your feet. 

Where are the dudes?  Well John and Tito are solitary creatures, content to hang out and do their own thing. 

The Stanley Cup in Grand Forks, North Dakota

We're having a slight departure from our normal postings of deaf dogs, canning, and gardening topics and pivot to some local news of interest.  The Stanley Cup wass in Grand Forks, North Dakota today - August, 12, 2014.  The team that wins the Stanley Cup is allowed to have it for 100 days and in 1994 the tradition was started to allow each player on the team to do (pretty much) whatever they want wherever they want with it.

Los Angeles Kings player Matt Greene attended the University of North Dakota and was bringing the cup to the Ralph Englestad Arena for ordinary everyday fans to view and take pictures of it.  I met Alycia for lunch nearby and we had full intended to go see the Stanley Cup (it was open for viewing between 12 and 3), but we were confronted by this scene:

This was a big ass line, you can't see the end of it.  And it didn't get any shorter.  By the time we got done with lunch around 1:15, the line was actually longer than when we started.  Alycia had to be back at school by 2:15, I hadn't brought any sunscreen, and I had a whole bunch of work to do back at home.  So we opted to skip it.  Instead we looked at pictures of the Stanley Cup and associated chaos thanks to The Ralph Englestad Arena. 

 

If the Stanley Cup isn't making a tour stop in your town, that's OK.  The Wikipedia entry for the Stanley Cup is a pretty interesting read, full of lots of fun facts and stories.  And there are obviously  Stanley Cup merchandise opportunities galore (it's kind of crazy). 

Final Jam Tally for 2014

Jamming season is officially done for the year.  I spent a few hours yesterday making blueberry-currant jam, which marks the end of jam making, but not canning for the year.  We'll be making our special pickled beets in another few weeks, once the beets are ready. 

The final jam/jelly making tally for the year was as follows (all numbers are half-pint or pint containers):
 - 3 Currant Jelly (this is an experimental jelly this year)
 - 7 Raspberry Currant Jam (recipe here)
 - 19 Strawberry Jam
 - 26 Blueberry Currant Jam

Your initial reaction might be "Holy Buckets!!  What do you need that much jam for?"  And verily 'tis a fair question.  55 jars of jam and jelly may seem like a lot, but we'll probably give away 15 to 20 as gifts or in exchange to friends who make other homemade things. My volleyball friend Matt and I have a regular homemade beer for homemade jam exchange.  The rest of the jam is used as an inoculation to ward off or cure the winter blues, and kept on hand in case of scurvy.

There are few other things quite as inspiring as a pantry full of homemade goods.  Also in this shot are the dozen quarts of peaches we canned this year, and some applesauce from last year.  We may not can applesauce this year, we'll have to see.

Next to those peaches, on the bottom right of the photo, are the boxes of Bob's Red Mill Hearty Whole Grain Bread Mix.  It's the best gluten free flour mix we've tried, and when we get it through the Amazon Subscribe and Save Program, it winds up being much cheaper than we can ever find in the store.  And even though it's gluten free, fresh out of the oven on a chilly winter day with some homemade blueberry jam on it, it is excellent.    

How about you awesome readers?  Any canning or food preservation victories so far this summer?

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