Sunday, May 13, 2012

more quizzes

funny things i found

test your north carolina pride
carolina on my mind

pick your state
test your statehood-ness

north or south
rebel or yankee quiz

guide to american dialects

i found this, it was titled 'redneck dishwasher.'

this is a picture i took of my dog. see any similarities?

Thursday, May 10, 2012

lost in migration





ive been working as a sea turtle observer on a dredge in the gulf of mexico in southwest louisiana. we are dredging the calcasieu river channel so oil tankers can get up the river to the city of lake charles and its refineries. the dredge slowly moves along the channel with two big vacuum hoses that suck up the bottom and everything near it. unfortunately sea turtles like to swim around the bottom looking for delicious morsels also and are quickly introduced to a 15' whirling suction impeller at 250 rpm. needless to say you get very dead turtles. lucky this doesnt happen often and instead i spend my days walking around getting in peoples way.


tough guys doing tough stuff

tough guys hanging over the edge of the abyss

one of the cool things about being in the gulf during the spring bird migration is that most of the south american migrants come up and over the gulf and since we are offshore and look like a big floating island, tired birds use us like a stopover (like a layover in kansas city). so i get to break up the endless monotony by seeing cool birds. sometimes they are so tired you can pick them up with your bare hands. but mostly they just flit around; drinking freshwater and eating bugs. once they are alone and near the water they become prey for gulls, which follow us patiently waiting for the little migrants to leave the boat.

migration patterns

the species i have seen so far
yellow warbler

ruby-throated hummingbird

american redstart

little green heron


bay-breasted warbler (similar to the baywatch breasted)


magnolia warbler

magnolia warbler


indigo bunting


wood thrush


lesser nighhawk


yellow-billed cuckoo

yellow-billed cuckoo (on the rail in the middle) digiscoped through binoculars


eastern phoebe


dragonfly


american redstart

not everybody makes it. i found 6 dead songbirds on deck after a large storm.


bonaparte gulls, brown pelicans, royal and caspian terns waiting for snacks


oil tankers from far and wide

oil tanker

Thursday, May 03, 2012

newest addition to the family

it seems like everyone my age is having kids. since i cant seem to keep goldfish alive, younguns are out of the question. zermatt, the one-eyed st bernard that came with the house, died last year and i had a tough time getting over it, so wasnt interested in getting another dog.


that said in dec, my buddy brooks came to the house on a friday and since the only thing to do in mtn city is go to the roan valley auction, we headed into town. as we walked in, there was a crate of puppies in the back of the auction house and i leaned over to brooks 'my goodness theyll sell anything here.'
after sitting for awhile we couldnt stand looking at anymore antique tobacco planters or used pressurized hydraulic lines and hearing 'can i get 3 dollar bill hubba-hubba-hubba .... SOLD!'
as we walked out, we stopped to look at the pups. the lady, named scrappy, told us 'them's daddy was a full great pyrenees, and the bitch were's a half australian shepherd n golden retriever.'
'huh.. interesting mix' i told brooks.
'yeah you should get one.'
'how old are they ma'am?' i asked her.
'6 weeks and they aint never been inside'
'ok is that an asset?'
'they's tough'

can you pick her out?

on the drive home we discussed names 'panda?, dinkus?, goofus?, goofball?'
'what about paying homage to her roots? roan valley auction?' brooks suggested
'perfect! roan valley auction it is. we'll call her roan for short'

introducing ms roan!!!
the first night i slept with the pup up in the loft and brooks slept on the couch directly below. i laid out newspapers for her on the wooden floor slats in case she had an accident. in the middle of the night i hear brooks cussing and rustling around. apparently the pee had soaked through to newspaper on dripped on him. so it begans.


cute face belies horrible little monster

trapped wild animal


my mother was an easy pushover


washing the rat for the first time in the sink


gma thought we should call her skunk. she (in matching skunk clothes) was a pushover too.


favorite gma and favorite pup


cute dogs are hard to discipline


she looks like a mogwai from the gremlins movie. dont get her wet or feed her after 9pm or she turns into a gremlin.


jeds little one enjoyed pushing her in the stroller and crashing her into cabinets. roan didnt enjoy it as much.

first kill she found a rabbit at the house

strange creature

she is a vicious animal


she is very deceptively evil


two best gals


two lazy sleepers


looking innocent