We have a green-eyed monster living in our house. And a pretty young Rottie girl who loves him. Some times the green-eyed monster makes ugly faces to scare away the young girl but he never succeeds.
Isn't love wonderful? As the saying goes, "Love conquers all".
You can see it in her eyes.
You did a good job raising baby Bess, Ruff. Now enjoy your senior years.
OK, I promise not to do this again. While this is technically a "sick" joke it did happen in conjunction with a visit to our Veterinarian's office so its also dog related. Even still, I couldn't resist the temptation to share this because its true.
I’ve mentioned before that I have been sick from the side effects of the radiation but I forgot to tell you the best joke that goes along with it.
If you spotted my previous blog post you’d read that I took Bessie and grandpa Axl to the Vet for their annual checkup. Well, for starters, Bessie now weighs 100.3 lbs. and the Vet commented to me that it seems she has gotten over her eating disorder. Then he asked me how I was doing with the radiation treatment and I said, I feel sick as a dog. (that is a common euphemism over here). He came back with the reply, Well, you’ve come to the right place.
I think the weather here in Northern Kentucky is having sympathy pains. When you’re sick there is nothing worse than looking out the window at a nice warm sunny day that you can’t go out and enjoy. So it helps a little bit when the weather is cold, rainy and miserable. It also makes it more convincing when I can tell the three Rottweilers why I can’t take them out to play.
Summer begins here on June 21st. I hope everything works out by then.
I finished the radiation treatment last Tuesday. Thank you all for the prayers and good wishes.
Post Script: A friend just sent me an email saying the Vet had a wicked sense of humor for saying "Well, you've come to the right place." after I told him I felt sick as a dog. I never took it that way. I have known this person for many years and that is the way people talk to each other when they try to inject some humor into a situation to cheer them up. I hope no one else misunderstood this conversation. I would not have written about it if I didn't think it was funny.
OK, not really, of course he didn't win. But Ruffin did continue his unbroken streak of never missing a major televised horse race. And in our house that makes Ruff a winner every day.
And just for the record, Nyquist won the derby and continued his own unbroken record of wins.
Instead of taking the photos in the family room I wanted to see how well the new TV looked in the background so we got everyone in the living room. All the previous horse race photos were taken in front of a plasma TV and the new TV is an LED. Here Ruff struck his usual pose standing in front of the TV during a commercial before the race started. Then as soon as the horses came out Ruff laid down on the couch to watch the race.
And here they come into the final stretch.
Earlier in the day Ruff and Bessie lounged around the pool like a couple of tourists on vacation. Bessie seems to like laying on the stone wall. If I could get a picture from the the other direction I think she would look as regal as a Lion statue outside a library.
I took baby Bess and old man Axl to the Vet this morning for their annual checkup and I finally got a chance to put Bessie on a scale.
Holy Cow, has she grown.
Baby Bess now weighs 100.3 lbs.
And Axl, by the way, is only 15 lbs heavier than Bess.
I was going to add this as a post script to my brief mention of our 56th anniversary yesterday but decided to make this a stand alone post because of the size. I thought I would share these memories before they start to fade away.
April 29, 1960
I was in the middle of a 4 year enlistment in the U.S. Coast Guard. It was a good time. The world was at peace, we were in between wars as it seems. The Korean War was almost a decade old and we were a few years away from getting involved in Vietnam. I was 20 years old and not even old enough to vote. And I met the girl of my dreams.
We dated for almost a year and decided to make it official with a small wedding in the Catholic Church in the town where she grew up. Apart from finding my life-long soul mate, my stint in the Coast Guard was the most uneventful time of my life. I grew up on Long Island, NY and after enlisting went to Cape May, NJ for boot camp. Then was assigned to a group of lifeboat stations on Long Island 30 miles from home. Never got to see the world like those guys who joined the Navy.
We took the subway into Manhattan to spend 5 days on our honeymoon. Ate at The Cattlemen’s, the best steak restaurant ever. Went to see Ben Hur on Broadway. Fondest memory that I never told anyone before was when Jacqueline told me that when we were about to go into a restaurant one night a prostitute tried to solicit me and I didn’t even notice her because I only had eyes on my wife.
After my discharge I started work with Pan American World Airways at Idlewild, later to become JFK International Airport. In the following 30 years I made up for that Manhattan subway honeymoon. Working for Pan Am had some wonderful travel benefits and we went to lots of places where honeymoons are supposed to happen. The flights to California and the days spent in Yosemite National Park, visit friends in Santa Fe, NM, the Whale-watching trip to the San Juan Islands in Washington, two trips to Hawaii and one that took in 4 island hops, two trips to St. Thomas, then later on to see the Black Forest in Germany for our 30th anniversary, and, of course, the famous Neuschwanstein Castle. And to cap off our 10-day trip, a train ride from Munich to Zurich to spend 5 days before our return flight home. It was exciting when we discovered that we were followed by a plain-clothed German police officer all the way on the train. Yeah, I know, those were the start of some difficult times.
56 years ago we pledged to love each other in sickness and in health, for better or for worse. I am proud to say we have kept our word.
There's a running joke here with this photo. Jacqueline had a penchant for stopping at every stream in Yosemite Park to sample the mountain high fresh water. And every time I kept telling her a bear had probably taken a bath in it upstream.
And then came the Rottweilers.
And a new life filled with excitement began in Kentucky, thanks to my 10-years with Delta Air Lines... and 20 years with my new best friends.
Last Friday, April 29th, Jacqueline and I celebrated our 56th anniversary. I just wanted to share a picture of the quiet event that we had here surrounded by our very best friends.
That wasn't meant to be a joke even though this night was not much different from any other night in our house because the three Rottweilers are always close by. If you own Rottweilers then you already know the depth of their devotion and love so you will understand what I mean.
