My last post about the beautiful day had some photos that I thought needed to have the exposure boosted because they appeared too dark. The end result seemed to have lost some of the deep color in the originals. Not everyone has a monitor with the same calibrations so I am reposting the original images to see how they compare with each other.
Original image
Adjusted exposure
Original image
Adjusted exposure
Got the grass cut and still had some energy left to take Ruff and Bess out back for a walk. On the way back they decided to lounge around before going inside.
Of course Bessie had to bring along her Bola. She loves to swing it around wherever she walks.
This picture is interesting. If you look closely you will notice that Bess has the Bola causally hanging off her left fang tooth.
Since I made the contraption that I wrote about the other day, I have been entertained by the gymnastic dancing display put on by baby Bess every time she plays with it. This has become, hands down, her all-time favorite toy so I have given some thought about a name for it. Well, what it seems to look like is a Bola, most famously used by the gauchos (Argentinian cowboys). So if the name fits, that's what it is.
More fun than a barrel of monkeys.
And if I get lucky enough to capture a photo of her new toy wrapped around her snout, I will post it right away. Because of the look on her face, is priceless. This was the closest I got.
When I put this contraption together a few months ago I has one idea in mind but apparently, I may have invented the best home-made Rottie toy ever. For the last few months I have been watching baby Bess spend hours playing with a simple toy I made for her. Not only is she having a ball with it (pun intended) but it is actually very funny to watch her. We have a selection of Rottie toys around the house, mostly a ball of some sort, and they all manage to roll under the furniture from time to time. One day I decided to attach two balls together using an old puppy leash that was used when Bess was little, so that they wouldn't roll on the floor. Both balls had large holes that were meant to stick a Milk Bone dog biscuit in, so it made it very easy to join them together. The handle loop end of the leash was pushed through one ball and the clip end passed through the loop. Then I passed the clip end through the smaller ball and after cutting off the clip I tied the end into a large enough knot so it would not pull through the smaller ball. This allowed the smaller ball to slide back and forth between the larger ball and the knotted end.
While it works as planned indoors, it wasn't until Bess took it outside that I saw how much she enjoyed it. And Bess figured out how to get the most fun out of it. She can pick it up several ways, either by holding the loose ball in her mouth or holding the large knot which puts both of the balls down at one end. And when she runs with it she swings this in every direction. The most fun is when she swings it over her head and it wraps itself around her snout or her neck. This causes more running and more swinging until it gets free. Here are some close up pictures I have already posted here a few months ago.
This does seem to be a puppy toy because as the above pictures show, Ruffin shows no interest in playing with it even when Bess flings the ball at him. If anyone reading this blog has a young Rottie pup and wants to try making one of these toys I'd appreciate hearing your reaction. And look at the good part, it isn't patented. And the whole thing makes it very easy to throw fairly good distances, which gives Bess more opportunity to run. Like they say, make one for your best friend and have a ball with it.
Today was only the second time in a few months that I managed to take Ruff and Bess down the back for a long walk. And I quickly noticed that the grass is sorely in need of cutting. So this weekend it looks like that will be the one project that must be done. Good thing Ruff and Bess didn't mind traipsing through the grass halfway up their legs. But first I have another photo to post here that I took a few days ago indoors. Bess went to sleep laying half off the couch and half on the wooden coffee table I made from a tree. That seems to be a popular table as old man Axl always used to sleep the same way when we were in the room watching TV. I still don't see how it is more comfortable than just curling up or stretching out on the couch.
The three Rotts have been really good lately babysitting their Mom in the afternoon while I was away so because the weather was so perfect for a walk we just had to do it.
Why walk when you can run. She always seems to have boundless energy.
One more reason to get to that weekend project. My neighbors have already started.
Its almost too hard to believe how time has flown by so quickly. Ruffin, who I often still call Baby Ruff, will be 10 years old in November. I took him to the Vet a few days ago to get his annual checkup and found out he was 135 lbs and that's 10-pounds overweight. The Vet took another blood sample for a new Thyroid check but I already new why he had gained so much weight. He can't walk past a food dish, anybody's food dish, without checking for scraps. And Bess is still a finicky eater and often walks away leaving half a meal. I'm not always around to see it but I know Ruff is scoffing it up. I knew I had to get to the Vet so I could renew Ruff's prescription for Levothyroxine for his Thyroid. We had been running low so I cut his dosage back to one pill a day to stretch it out.
Gotta give equal time to everyone in the family. Here is old man Axl out for his morning constitutional. 20 days after the start of Spring we had a half inch of snow on the ground. It all disappeared soon after the Sun came up but the Rotts all enjoyed it.
I apologize for the lapse in new posts on this blog. I have some serious medical issues going on right now that will continue until the middle of May. Seems I didn't have enough to worry about with my wife's debilitating Alzheimer's so now I have to deal with prostate cancer. Not the kind you live with, the kind that involves daily radiation treatment. I am now finishing my third week and have five more weeks to go. The only good part is they caught it before it began to spread so the prognosis looks good. If you feel inclined to do so, a few prayers wouldn't hurt.
I realize the best way to stop people from coming back to my blog is to have nothing new to write about or show, so I have decided to post some Best of the Best photos. And I have a lot to go through and choose.
Thank you all for your loyalty.
In no particular order, here are a few of my best Rottweiler images. Click the image for a full size view.
Ruffin has always loved horses. Ever since he actually was brave enough to walk up to one and go nose-to-nose. This was on October 8, 2008 and he was only 2 years old. He even became fascinated watching horse races on television.
September 3, 2009. A year after we adopted old man Axl, who was a spry 7 years old back then. Sassy was recuperating from ACL surgery and spend most of her day keeping to herself.
A lady who often visited us years ago always brought along her long-haired Dachshund, named Tinkerbell, and Ruffin made a new friend. Which always proved that size makes no difference.
One of the photos that I used in my blog masthead that inspired the name Living With Rottweilers. This is my first Rottie, Mocha, sharing a couch with my wife way back in 2006.
I have often mentioned that Axl was a trained service dog who previously lived with a handicapped woman. From the day we brought him into his new home he seemed to become attached to my wife. Soon afterward we learned about her Alzheimer's but I always wondered if Axl sensed that she needed him.
Ruffin and Axl are both lap dogs as you can plainly see.
Axl, Sassy and Ruffin pretending to pose for the camera after my wife got them to sit next to each other.
Moochers. It is impossible to enjoy a snack in our house without being made to feel guilty for not sharing it.
My wife Jacqueline did all the training in the early years, which I should have paid attention to because I don't have the talent that she had. This was June 25, 2007. She used to tell the Rotts that she was the Supreme High Commander and they would always listen to her. I gave this photo a title, I called it The Union Meeting.
This one has its own built-in title. Young Ruffin was very much in love with Sassy, even when she didn't want him to be. The innocent expression on his face, completely ignoring the ferocious snarl.
The Valentine's Day Kiss.
Back in the old days when they were all young enough to jump on the beds it sometimes became very crowded. But in truth, the only one who regularly slept on Mom's bed was Axl. And he slept on his own pillow right next to her's.
