After an exciting run in the back yard, a quiet evening of TV.

After dinner we took the three Rotts for a run down the back. On the way back we stopped to have a conversation with our neighbor and while we were talking Sassy started to do her howling WOOO WOOO alarm. Then I noticed that another neighbors dog, a German Shepard name Maggie had spotted our boys Ruff and Axl and had come running over for a visit. Maggie lives on the next street about a 1000 feet away so we decided to walk her home. Ruff and Axl always get excited when Maggie comes for a visit and they were both running around playing chase with her. 

When we got back to our house everyone was tired from all the running so we had a very quiet night watching television. 

One quick dinner time picture tells a whole story.

In our house the Rottweilers get fed before we do for the practical purpose of not having to be surrounded by starving hungry dogs while we eat. That doesn't mean it takes their minds off food, it just removes some of the anxiety. Well, last night after they had their dinner I started to put our's on the table and I spotted Ruff and Axl taking up their spots around the table. They were just laying there, quietly waiting for something to happen. I wonder if they dream of me tripping over them and spilling our dinner on the floor? Now that would be exciting.

I can't imagine what life would be like without them because they have a natural ability to fill in all the little empty spaces in our day.

Ruff's two best friends come for a visit.

We celebrated the completion of the stone wall project yesterday and threw a beer party. Our good friends Bev and her husband Rich came over and Ruff was thrilled to see them both. Acting like he used to when he was much younger, Ruff made repeated attempts to shower his friends with kisses and face licks. He then tried to get what he wanted by jumping up on the back of the chair that Rich was sitting in. Well, that called for the old Nikon and I managed to record some memorable shots before it was over. The pictures that follow are posted in sequence from the first one I took when I walked back in the room.

Click the pictures for a larger view.

I think it is fairly obvious that Rich was enjoying his buddy Ruff as much Ruff was enjoying his friend Rich. And Bev holds the distinction of being Ruff's "Auntie Bev" and as the last shot taken a few years ago shows, Ruff has a fond affection for his Auntie.

 

Now, the new wall is finished.

The crew of masons from Don Moore's Masonry who rebuilt my stone walls by the swimming pool came by after work tonight and installed the slabs I made for the caps. Now I can begin getting the backyard ready for Summer. Take a look.

These guys worked fast and finished up at 8 PM just as the Sun was setting. Now I have to get some flowers to plant where those weeds are.

And this is how it looked the next day in the morning sunlight.

It took about 5 weeks to make the 11 wall cap slabs I needed but it saved a bundle of money. I went to a stone company to price limestone and they wanted $300 for each piece cut to the size I made (3x14x34).

  

Ruff and his family watched the Kentucky Derby.

As soon as I turned on the TV tonight to watch the Kentucky Derby, Ruff took up his spot right in front as soon as he saw the first horses. The local favorite from Northern Kentucky, a horse named Hanson, started out strong but fell way back after the last turn. Here are some pictures.

Number 19 won.

  

We're almost back to normal.

Well, I finished making the cap stone slabs for the new wall and because they came in to weigh 110 lbs each I hired the same crew who rebuilt the wall to come in next week and lay them on the wall with mortar. It took me six weeks to make them and everyone thinks they look pretty good. I used two kinds of Portland cement, the common gray and two 100 lb bags of white along with some brown cement dye to give them a tint. The idea I had was to simulate cut sandstone which was way too expensive. The caps I made are 14" x 3" x 34" and it would have been more than $200 each from a quarry. I spent about $20 each for my material and made 16 of them. Here are two pictures.

During the time I was working on this project we did manage to take the happy crew out for a few runs in the back yard. The weather here has been really strange with daytime temperatures running as high as 88 degrees (which would be normal for August) and many night-time temperatures dropping below freezing. In fact, I managed to propagate seven Montauk Daisies last year from seeds that came from a plant I brought down to Kentucky 20 years ago and this year have had to cover them at night to several times to protect them from the cold. The early Spring has has them growing like crazy along with everything else. In fact I did get some frost damage on the top leaves of our Japanese Maples.

Any way, here are a few pictures of the three Rottweilers enjoying the nice weather. In spite of the warm temperatures my wife was still wearing her hat and coat, but that is a different matter.

Sassy doing her upside down excercises.

Ruff and Axl exploring.

And Ruff watching Vanna on Wheel of Fortune after dinner. He does this every night.

I'll post some news pictures next week after the wall is completely finished.

 

 

Problems with having an early Spring.

We had no Winter here last year. In fact, the day before the First Day of Spring it was 85 degrees outside. As I feared, it has been necessary to start cutting the grass more than a month earlier than usual. Now more yard work is required along with a special project I'm working on to make some heavy cap rocks for the new stone wall I had rebuilt. All this takes time and I haven't had any to spare to take new pictures, which I'm sure is the main reason people visit this blog. I hope to have the project done in a few weeks so please check back for the updates.


Thanks for visiting and for all your nice comments about my wonderful Rottweilers.

 

Some new pictures of our happy crew.

Here is a nice shot of two of our Rotties. The smaller one in the background was a Christmas gift and the larger one in the foreground is our pride and joy. His name is Ruff.

This next picture is our oldest Rottweiler, Axl, whom we adopted 2 1/2 years ago when he was almost 8 years old. I know when he is happy because he smiles and his eyes seem to twinkle.

And here is Axl and Ruff. They have been best friends since the day we brought Axl into our home. Axl is 10 1/2 years old now and Ruff is only 5 and they have two different personalities. Ruff is very strong and filled with boundless energy, always excited and just waiting to give anyone he meets a ton of kisses. Axl is quiet, gentle and reserved. I'm not sure if he is the product of his training as a service dog or his breeding but he has been a perfect companion to my wife and seems to know how much she needs him.

Axl takes lots of naps all day long because he works so hard.

And here is a picture taken today of the two boys taking an after-breakfast nap on a rainy Sunday morning. And why not? There's nothing else to do when the weather outside is nasty.

 

A happy intermission.

Watched some new movies the other night and caught this happy look from my wife and Ruff and Axl. Not only do the two boys follow us around the house all day but they both seem to want to share the couches when we are watching the TV.

 

Some needed repairs on the last day of Winter.

The stone wall around the swimming pool has been deteriorating for years and it got to the point where it was beyond fixing so I got some bids from a few companies to rebuilt it. Moore's Stone Co. came in last week and took down the old wall in one day and came back today and with a full crew working almost 10 hours rebuilt both walls. Great job guys. By the way, it was 85 degrees out and today is the last day of Winter.

Click the pictures for a larger view.

  

Another day and another crowded room.

I coached my wife Jackie into taking this picture this morning when I noticed the camera was handy and the two boys had settled in for a nap. Jackie was a little shaky with the Nikon and I was afraid she would drop it but everything worked out fine. So here is one more picture of my crowded den.

 

Our crowded floors.

Took this picture a few moments ago. After breakfast I usually go to my den and turn on the computer to check my email and read the news. And, as usual, I am often paid a visit by my ever-diligent boys, Ruff and Axl, who drop by to take a nap. And that makes things very, very crowded. It was so crowded that I even had some trouble reaching my camera bag seen in the very top of the photo to grab my camera.

 Click the picture for a larger view.

 

An assortment of resting Rottweiler pictures.

One thing that Rottweilers do best besides eating is to take naps. They can doze off to sleep in a matter of seconds and just as quickly jump to their feet at any unexpected moment, especially if they hear the sound of a food wrapper being opened. I just love to take pictures of them and most of my collection of photos shows them resting on the furniture. Hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we do living with them.

Last night I noticed Ruff sleeping on the floor while Axl was occupying the couch and it occurred to me that Ruff was almost as big as the couch when he was stretched out.

 

We are all OK. The tornado missed us.

I am not going to trivialize what happened Friday. Too many people died and too many homes were destroyed by a string of EF-3 and EF-4 tornadoes that swept through Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. The closest it got to us was in the town of Piner, Kentucky, 5 miles away where at least 3 people were killed. For several hours we all hung out in our basement watching the storm move through our area on the local TV station.

The only concern I had was getting everyone to go downstairs and stay there after the weatherman told everyone to take shelter. I did get my wife Jackie and the three Rottweilers to go down to the basement but due to some confusion when I went back upstairs to grab some things of value everyone followed me and that led to some panic as I got excited about getting everyone to go back to safety. The Rottweilers didn't understand why I was yelling and they went and hid so I had to put leashes on them and walk them back to the basement. 

The local television stations take bad weather very seriously out here and one station we watched, WKRC, channel 12, continued live coverage from 2 PM until 11 PM. I started watching Intellicast radar on the Internet and picked up this ominous picture just before we headed to the basement. Those boxes are confirmed tornadoes on the ground and we were right in their path.

Click the picture for a larger view. See where Piner in located just below Florence. 

Anyway, to make a long story short, once everyone was back in the basement the three Rottweilers all decided to just take naps, like they always do.

What a bunch of lazy hounds.

No words are necessary to describe what goes on here. The pictures are self-evident.

Yes, that's Axl doing an imitation of Ruff in Ruff's chair.

 

Winter has gone away again. Spring makes a preview.

This off again on again Winter weather has frazzled our nerves. One day its cold and the next day it warm. Well, at least it hasn't rained as much as a few weeks ago so we all got a chance to walk down to the end of the backyard. Here's a few pictures to share. First one is my wife wearing her Rottweiler-embroidered coat, followed by a few pictures of Ruff and Axl exploring. We must have had a few visitors out here because they were both very concerned about the scents.

Then it was time for a nap. The cool, crisp fresh air was so exhilarating that it tired everyone out and when they came back in the house they all climbed on the couch with their Mom.