The Sun came out today and we all went out to play.

 

Winter has been trying hard to hang around with some unseasonably cold weather but Spring is fighting a battle to uphold the prediction made by Punxsutawney Phil that said it would arrive early. So the Sun came out today and I was given a request that I could not refuse. Who could say no to a face like this, anyway.

So I grabbed the trusty camera and we all went for a walk in the back yard. And the first thing that Ruff and Axl did was to stick their noses into the ground. I guess that we must have had a few visitors in the days and nights since their last walk. Anyone watching these two would think they were Rootweilers instead of Rottweilers.

Once in awhile someone asks me "Where is Sassy?" since most of the pictures are of Ruff and Axl.  Well, Sassy did come with us but she sat down by a tree and watched over us while the boys were exploring. Sassy is doing fine with her new diet and the Levothyroxin pills are starting to keep her thyroid and weight under control, too. I'm hoping by Summer Sassy will be able to keep up with us.

  

Sunday evening we watched the Academy Awards.

 

I just had to add this post as a footnote to yesterday's activities. While we were watching the Daytona 500 and I was taking pictures of Ruff watching the television, old man Axl was sound asleep on the couch next to me. So after dinner last night we retired to the living room to watch the Academy Awards and Axl resumed his position on the couch where he left off. And he took another nap. The poor old Rottweiler can't live on just 12 hours sleep next to my wife at bedtime, he has to take more naps during our waking hours. But did you ever see a dog sleep like this?

 

Sunday afternoon, we all watched the Daytona 500.

 

Ruff loves excitement. And girls and horses. But anything that moves fast gets his attention. Girls just make him act like a silly clown. We all watched the Daytona 500 on TV this afternoon and I must say that Ruff really enjoyed watching the Budweiser Clydesdale horses in one of the commercials. And he did turn his attention to the TV when Danica Patrick was on the screen but I still think he likes Vanna White better on the Wheel of Fortune.

Sorry for the poor angle.

We'll have to chalk up NASCAR racing along with The Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes.

   

Mom's got biscuits. Ruff is the only one who knows.

Last night my wife Jackie sat down in the living room with three biscuits wrapped in a paper towel. Ruff immediately spotted this when she unwrapped the biscuits in her lap.

One is never enough.

Two is good but I did see you had one more.

By the look on her face I don't think my wife appreciated Ruff climbing over her to get the last biscuit. Meanwhile, Axl slept through the whole thing, on the couch laying next to me.

  

Snow is all gone, too muddy to play outside.

 

Well the snow did look pretty while it lasted and the Rottweilers enjoyed the two weeks of cold air. But when it started to warm up above freezing and the snow began to melt, it was just to mushy and muddy to go for a run down the back. So we stayed indoors. Watched TV. And took pictures. This night it was Ruff's job to keep Mom company. The two boys seem to take turns.

 

Finally, some snow the boys can play in.

 

Glad to report the mid-winter thaw didn't last very long. After several days of cold weather we had some snow last night. It was only about 3-inches but that is a lot when you think that it is the biggest snowfall in two years. I took the boys, Ruff and his old buddy Axl out back for some fun. And Axl really surprised me by running around playing with Ruff. He hasn't been too interested in play lately and I was beginning to think it was because he was getting too old. At 11 1/2 years he has been really acting his age and spending a lot of time napping around the house. Today was a different story and it convinced me that the snow does make a difference.

Click the pictures for a larger view.

Judging by the look in Axl's eyes, I think he saw Ruff coming.

And then they were off.

Axl was running just like he did when he first came to his new home three years ago.  I wish every one of my Rottweilers was in such good shape when they were his age.

 

Must be dinner time again.

 

The sound of the dinner dishes rattling when the table is being set is a clear sign that the humans are getting ready for dinner. And every night the boys come out to join us. I think they were all born with famished appetites and the first thing they learn are the sounds associated with food. Every package of food comes in its own distinctive wrapper and they seem to know that crinkly cellophane means food is being prepared. And that may be their weakness as a recent news story explained how a burglar took a bowl of soup from the refrigerator and fed the family dog before he went about burgling the home.

 

11 AM

 

Some may recall that I mentioned my wife Jackie has had Alzheimer's for several years and one of the side affects is unusual sleep habits. Jackie's Doctor suggested an herbal treatment with Melatonin before bedtime and it has allowed her to get many a good night sleep since I started giving it to her. Well, her constant companion Rottweiler Axl, who never leaves her side - day or night - sleeps on her bed right on his own pillow next to her's. The joke around here is that he gets to sleep while he is at work and during the night protecting my wife is his job. Well, I woke up this morning around 9:30 AM and noticed both my wife and Axl were still sound asleep so I decided to leave them alone. I took out Sassy and Ruffin and then gave them breakfast and sat down and had my own breakfast and read the newspaper. Around 11 AM I decided to wake up the rest of the crew before it was time for lunch. I got my wife out of bed and got her dressed and Axl was still sound asleep. I literally had to shake him (gently, of course) to get him awake. He had slept for 12 hours straight and so had my wife. Needless to say, Axl promptly took an after breakfast nap on the couch with my wife sitting next to him. Axl was 11 years old last September. Every night he trots into Jackie's bedroom and jumps up on her bed with the greatest of ease and I am amazed he is still able to do this.

 

The return of sleeping beauty.

 

Not that Ruff ever went away but sometimes he takes a nap in the most adorable ways. Like tonight while we were watching television.

And as quietly as I could, I sneaked out of the living room to fetch my trusty camera and after taking 19 pictures from every conceivable angle my little baby Rottweiler never once woke up.

Look what happens when I leave the room for two minutes.

Last night we were watching a movie and I paused the Blu-Ray player to go get a snack. I wasn't gone for two minutes and when I came back my seat was taken on the couch. Now I wouldn't mind because this often happens when the Rottweiler laying next to me gets up and moves over to my side but last night both sides of the couch were now occupied. And everyone was sound asleep.

As I'm fond of saying, "You gotta love 'em."

 

We're heading into a Mid-Winter thaw.

  

The snow seems to have taken a vacation and all we've been getting lately has been some chilly temperatures and miserable rain. We are thankful for our wood burning fireplace as it does a great job to warm us up on the days we are cooped up in the house. But now the daytime temperatures are climbing into the high 40s and 50s so a mid-Winter thaw must be coming. This is not a good thing if the harsher Winter temps come back in February because the trees and shrubs will be popping out with buds which will freeze and die off.

So we bundle up and hang out in the house with our best friends.

Yesterday I took Sassy to the Vet's to have her toenails trimmed and dremeled. All of our Rottweilers have strongly resisted having their nails clipped so we have had to have the Vet give them anesthesia which requires a few hours stay in the office. Lately I wasn't able to get there early enough to have them do this since they only do it in the morning so I had to drop Sassy off in the afternoon to be boarded overnight.When I came home yesterday without Sassy the two boys were very concerned. In fact they seemed to suspect me of doing some bad thing with their little girl. But today I went to the Vet with Ruffiin and we picked Sassy up and brought her home and everything is back to normal. 

Just a brief update 1/27/2013: We've just had a week's worth of sub freezing temps and a 1/4 inch of snow following this post. And next week we'll have two days in the mid-50's. I am glad that the trees and shrubs didn't start to get any buds.

 

 

Happy New Year

 
 

Wishing all of our Rottweiler friends, wherever you are, a very Happy New Year.

Nelson, Jackie, Axl, Sassy and Ruff.

  

Now this is better. 5 more inches of snow breaks our drought.

 

Overnight we had the largest snowfall in three years. 5 more inches on top of the 1 inch we got the day after Christmas. Our Winter Wonderland looks wonderful and the Rottweilers seem to agree. At least with the deeper snow. Here are some photos taken this afternoon with Ruff and Axl. And, yes, if you happened to ask, Ruff does take his red rubber ball everywhere, even when he goes to bed.

Click the picture for a larger view.

Day after Christmas and we finally get some snow.

 

OK, it was only an inch of snow but it was the most significant snowstorm we've had in the last two years. Too bad the timing was off by a day and we didn't have a White Christmas. But the Rottweilers didn't seem to mind except the day it was snowing and they didn't want to out until it stopped.

Today we took a look at the beautiful scenery with our snow-capped trees in the back yard.

And, of course, Ruff had to bring along his red ball so he would have something to play with.

 

Always on duty - even in his sleep.

 

Here is our old man Rott Axl, 11 1/2 years old, taking another of his many daily naps. But wait, is he just napping or is something else going on?

Above is the closeup. Here is the long shot. He was babysitting his Mom all along. And he always takes naps with his eyes open. Don't they all? Axl is his Mom's shadow during the day and her bedwarmer at night.

 

Making another perfect Rottweiler family Christmas card.

Well, its that time of year again. After Thanksgiving everyone knows that Christmas is only a month away, especially when the newspapers get filled with sales ads. If you read last year's post on my first attempt to make a perfect Rottweiler family Christmas card you recall that I was forced to use a photo of a Santa Claus hat on the two boys, Axl and Ruff, because the hats I bought them were too small for their large heads. This year I was determined to do it right so I bought three large size hats for them to wear and once again I sewed elastic chin straps to hold them on. Well, it sort of worked but not the way I had expected. Along the way I also purchased a new Nikon D3200 DSLR camera and one new feature with the timer was it shot three consecutive photos each time I used it and the timer gave me a 20-second delay. Since I had to walk across the room, sit down and get one of the Rottweilers to sit in front of me, the 20-second delay was very helpful. Then I found I also had to get the Santa hat on two of the Rotts because they didn't care to have it on their heads for too long. Then we had to put leashes on them to keep them by the couch and not wander off. Anyway, I got it all right after several attempts and here is the final result. The only digital retouching was to remove the white chin straps and the leather leashes from the picture.

Click the pictures for a larger view.

And here are the out takes showing the trials and tribulations of making the perfect Rottweiler family Christmas card. These pictures are posted in chronological order beginning with the first effort. One unexpected problem I had was to keep the three Rotts from turning their heads and looking at us instead of facing the camera. And Sassy, the one in the middle kept laying down.

It doesn't help when you accidentally bump the camera and tilt it while pushing the shutter button.

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas.

  

Some pictures taken after Thanksgiving.

I hope everyone has had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. We did and so did our Rottweilers. Their new favorite food is turkey giblets, stuffing and gravy. And then we had time for some new pictures. Our ever-popular couch gets a lot of workout. It is the only place big enough for one human and two Rottweilers and in that case the human happened to be ME. I managed to talk my wife into holding the camera and basically aiming it in the right direction and pressing the button to take the picture. That's a turkey dinner not a beer belly you see here.

Then it was my turn and I got this picture of my wife and her favorite companion, Axl, who seems to be very happy just being by her side.

Later on today my two friends paid me a visit in the den.

 

I spend a lot of time on the computer in my office and this place has become a frequent hangout for Ruff and Axl. I call the boy's club and I think they call it the quiet room. This is also where I keep the camera so I don't have to go more than arm's length to get it on short notice. Well, this afternoon Axl paid me another visit and while I was petting him and scratching his ears his buddy Ruff decided to interrupt us because he was a bit jealous and wanted his share. So first off Ruff starts giving Axl some ear washes and then Axl returns the favor. And while this was going on I was taking the pictures. This ear washing went back and forth several times.

An unexpected greeting.

I walked into the living room this afternoon and spotted Ruff laying on the couch. He turned his head to look at me and gave me such a look that my first reaction was to ask him to 'hold that pose till I get the camera'. And a few seconds later when I walked back in the room there he was, just as I had left him.

 

Happy Family.

Haven't posted anything for awhile due to the national emergency. I will try not to inject politics onto this blog but the last few weeks have been filled with great stress and much worry and the results of Nov. 6th have done nothing to eliminate it. We are all heading into dark days ahead.

But here at home I try to insulate the outside world from adding to our other troubles and I find our three Rottweilers do a wonderful job of relieving some of the stress. Well, two of them do most of the time. They make wonderful babysitters.