Being retired gives me some advantages in the Winter. I don't have to battle the snow or the icy roads if I don't want to. For all intents and purposes, a thin layer of ice is just as bad as 2 feet of snow. So Winter time here at our house is an excuse to turn into hermits. As far as the three Rottweilers go, Winter time is also the best time of the year to be outside. The cold air is exhilarating and if you happen to get thirsty outside you can just eat some snow.
Most of all, what I like best is seeing the excitement in the Rottweilers when they are young and experience the snow for the first time. There's nothing funnier than watching them try to catch some falling snowflakes. And this year it was our little girl Bess's first time. A year ago Bess was only 6 months old and too little to be allowed to run free and play. Now she is 18 months old and everything is different. She has grown up to be a real Tomboy thanks to Ruffin, and she runs and plays as hard as the boys and she has no fear exploring dangerous places.
Every Winter here in Northern Kentucky seems to be a little different. Some years we get lots of snow and once in awhile we get almost nothing. This year we got several days of snow in a single week but each snowfall brought us only an inch or less making it a quick job cleaning the sidewalk and the driveway with the shovel. While that big snow storm dumped several feet of snow on the northeast last month, we got only 3 inches. And while the northeast began to suffer thru days of clean up, our snow quickly melted after we had over a week of 60-degree Spring-like weather.
Winter is not always filled with days of fun and play outdoors. Sometimes it rains and then we all must stay inside. That means the Rotts enjoy a different kind of play.
While we get to enjoy a large back yard for our long walks, the fenced area around the swimming pool is most convenient for letting Ruff and Bess go out without supervision.
I have already written about how Bess loves to run across the pool cover, bouncing like it was a trampoline. I used to worry that she would rip the pool cover and fall through but then I realized there is hundreds of gallons of water on top of it and that's pretty heavy. And that large puddle of water in the middle of the cover is fun to run through. Yeah, I have seen her come back in the house soaking wet up to her chest so I know how deep she went in. The freezing cold has added a new experience for her when it froze the puddle and she discovered what ice skating was about when she tried to run across it.
But the puddle doesn't stay frozen all the time. And from my view through the kitchen window I can see the evidence of what Bessie has been doing.
The broken ice was proof that someone tried to walk across it. Also, those black trays were once filled with water to weigh down the pool cover but Bessie has managed to knock several of them into the pool. And it is a good thing that I don't let them stay out for long periods of time. It is not good to be soaking wet outside on a cold Winter day.
While I was writing this post Axl woke up and came in to tell me he had to got out to pee. So I took everyone along and brought the camera, too. It was a crystal-clear morning with lots of Sun and I took many pictures. This post is getting a bit long so I'll go though the photos and post them tomorrow.
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