Ice on the tree outside my front door and Snow in the neighborhood (I’m standing at my door)

The weather here has been just miserable! Snow, freezing rain and more snow has put Central Ohio at a basic stand still and more is on the way.  My son was home from school for two days but its been too icky out to do much of anything. Too cold for the park, that’s for sure.

Just before the storm hit, I met Bev and the Newfies at the dog park with Brutus and Apollo for a romp.  I forgot to bring my camera so there are no pictures of the good time they had.  Brutus was so excited and bouncy the newf girls weren’t quite sure what to think.  After a few play bows, they gave him puzzled looks and he ran off to chase Apollo.  Those poor girls had no idea what turned him into such a wild man… lol

The dogs have made themselves quite at home here and are playing with each other like crazy.  We have an empty “great room” upstairs that the girls crates are in.  I am thinking I may turn that into the bitey-face room… stay tuned!

I wish the lighting was better in here… this room is the same basic lay out as the old house with the addition of the extra window on the right.  I really need to be on the other side of them.

And one last shot - I know it’s a picture heavy post, but please bear with me.  Rufus ventured out with me to the back side of the house to romp around in the snow a bit while we had some sunshine today.  Another storm is headed our way tonight…  Just when we finished digging out.  I am sooo ready for summer!

Rufus had his annual visit at the vet today. He saw the new vet for the first time and boy did he like him. Rufus was an absolute star, even when he got his shots. The vet said he was in excellent shape/health and was very pleased with his over all being.  No signs of arthritis setting in yet either… Wooo Whooo! He talked to us for quite some time and I was very excited and comforted to find out that he had a pair of Newfies at one point so he is quite familiar/knowledgeable with giant breed dogs. We are making the switch to Senior Formula Food starting tonight.  Now all my dogs are on oldie food and I started the glucosamine/chondriton supplements.  Sad that time keeps marching on.  Seems like just yesterday they first came to me.

Poor Rufus isn’t feeling his stellar self this evening after his shots.  He had a super stinky accident in the house while I was out to dinner, poor baby!  Its totally understandable after vaccinations though so I can’t get mad.

I am still trying to get situated in the new house and have been pretty overwhelmed.  The girls are keeping me on my toes & its not a good thing! Some how the crates did not make it on the moving truck and they have been really, really bad!  I went to Petsmart this afternoon and invested in new ones.  Hopefully that will help get things back to normal.  I remember now why they had to be in crates in the first place… grrrrr! I haven’t had much time to visit blogs.  I promise I will catch up with you this week. I haven’t forgotten about any of you! Miss you all!

Happy 5th barkday Apollo!  Look what our friends at Big Dogs Porch made for us!

Brutus and Rufus were made cards for their barkday too!  Doesnt she do a great job?! Thanks for thinking of my boys on their special days Big Dogs Porch!

On a side note - we have gotten pretty much situated in the new house.  Everything is pretty much put away and the dogs are finally adjusting.  They are playing with their toys and eachother now. Even Rufus has stopped pouting and is making himself at home.

Awe!!!!! Brutus and Apollo sharing a tender moment on the couch.

As some of you may have noticed, I haven’t been around much for the last week, basically since the fire.  Why would I, a very dedicated blog and forum junkie been incommunicado? Well, we have fallen victim to the economy, (not that it came as a surprise to us) but the timing couldn’t have been much worse. The house we were renting was foreclosed on and we had to be out by Friday.

We have been well aware of the progress of the court case before we even moved in.  The place was always meant to be a temporary home and knew it would be coming soon, but we couldn’t really look for a new place until we were given the “get out” notice from the courts since we had to pay rent on the other house. So, to make a long story short… the time came and we moved.  Of course it was the coldest and snowiest days in recent history!  Day 1 we had 7 inches of snow as we carried boxes and furniture to the Uhaul and SUV.  Day 2 temps fell to -8°F as I finished moving boxes and clothes to my SUV at the street.  It was interesting to say the least.

The dogs are having a semi-difficult time adjusting so far.  We have had a couple of accidents, a whole lot of pacing and whining.  Rufus seems to be taking it the hardest and is moping around.  He seems a little more settled today though.

I am still unpacking and trying to settle in.  I missed out on celebrating Brutus and Rufus’s 5th birthday on Wednesday so I will be having a joint celebration with Apollo this week. Life should be back to normal this week and I will be back on my blog rounds checking in on everyone and posting stories and pics of my lot, so please bare with me, I haven’t forgotten about you all.

After all the excitement and drama of yesterday my house is starting to resemble a little more like normal.  With a whole lot of elbow grease I scrubbed, wipe, pryed and chisled away soot and melted gook off my stove, microwave, floor, counter and cabinets.  It looks “mostly” ok for now.  The microwave still needs replaced as does the the burner and drip pan on the stove and the ceiling needs cleaned somehow.  I was able to sit down and finally relax today.

Rufus is looking for a little absolution.  He has been very concerned about what happened yesterday and has been desperate for reassurance that things are ok. Here he is watching me eat some cookies and he is thinking if only he could have a little bite he’d be a good boy for now on.  Being the meanie that I am, I thought it would be fun to teach him a trick.  You get the cookie, but only when I say so. Patience is a virtue.

I think his mastery of his skill was more about trying to get back in the good books.  What do you think?  I think all is forgiven and hes off the naughty list.  The sweet taste of Nutter Butter redemption….

So the other day I was saying nothing was really going on and we were bored, well…..

I am about to kill Rufus!  I was out to lunch with my son and get a call from my husband about 3 minutes after we sit down.  Apparently the moment we left the house Rufus decided to help himself to something on the counter and managed to turn on the stove and knock over a few things.  The sweatshirt that was folded up on the counter caught fire and the fire alarms went off.

Hubby was upstairs sleeping and thought I had burned something I was cooking… (im not that bad of a cook dear) and when he opened the door smoke was everywhere and Brutus and Rufus were desperately trying to get in the bedroom.

There were flames about 3 feet high and he was able to smother it and douse it with water. There’s alot of smoke damage and some melted stuff here and there but the stove wasnt too damaged.  The front of my microwave was melted and will need to be replaced. GRRRRRR!

Luckily he was home of the whole house would have gone up in flames and I would have lost all my dogs.  I am so upset and now terrified to ever leave the house again.  I have to re Rufus proof my house now!  Well off to put on my grubbies and try to clean up the mess.

Not much to report here at Dogs Life HQ.  Its been gloomy and cold for two days.  Remember that beautifully sunny play date on Monday?  Well, its a thing of the past. The ground is COVERED in snow and ice.  Apollo my yellow heat seeking missile is less than impressed. This took some coaxing…

It should be around 3O°F & sunny tomorrow, I am going to try and get a couple of the dogs out to the park tomorrow to play in the snow.  I better bundle up… its cold!

Here’s a drawing I have been working on.  One of my readers contacted me to do a drawing of this special moment shared between her two danes.  It was nice drawing again… and very therapeutic.

We lucked out and had a gorgeous sunny (cold) day so I packed up Brutus and Hera and met with Bev and the Newfy girls Gabby and Misty at the Companion Club Dog Park.  They had fun running around.  The weather is supposed to take a turn for the worse tomorrow so it was nice to get out and take advantage of the sun.

With all the rain we have been having the water level has significantly improved and the pond is full again. The temps have been relatively warm for the last few days so the ice coating over the pond was reduced to a thin crust which the dogs easily penetrated.  I tried to keep then out of the pond - my efforts were in vane. Hera got in within SECONDS of arriving at the park. And the first chance Brutus got off leash near the pond he made a bee-line straight for the icy waters and submerged himself.

Brutus was absolutely invigorated by his dip and wanted to play.  He danced and pranced and jumped and bounced around finally getting Hera to join in his folly.  I have never seen him play this enthusiastically with Hera before.  It was really cool to see.

Brutus and Hera were getting a little wild and Gabby desperately wanted to join in, but she has an ouchie knee so wasnt allowed.  I didnt think it was right to let Hera and Brutus act like fools infront of her so I put the kibosh on their fun.  I am so mean…  I think I can see daggers flying out of Brutus’ eys.  He looks so pathetic.  He certainly has those “woes me” eyes mastered.

It was so good to spend some time outdoors with our favorite Newy girls… They were wearing the collars I gave them for Christmas.  They look absolutely stunning in their Sew Crazy Dog Lady collars, don’t you think.

Misty wearing Hearts on a Chain

And Love Birds Gabby wearing Sparkly Snowflakes and Brutus wearing A Pirates Life for Me

Apollo goes to the vet in the morning for a recheck on his ear.  Things were looking really good until this morning.  We ran out of the ear drops a few days ago and now the icky puss is back.  The vet has been closed for a couple of days because they moved into their new building.  We’ll see what happens. Paws Crossed.

Gallery

The legend or myth regarding Saint Bernards carrying kegs on their collars had its start in the early 1800’s in England. ‘Lion’ a Saint Bernard from the hospice was imported to England in 1815.  As young boy of thirteen Sir Edwin Henry Landseer was so impressed with this huge and majestic dog that he drew a picture of the breed. The boy’s famous brother, Charles Landseer made an engraving of the picture and published the work.

In 1820, at eighteen years old, he painted two “Alpine Mastiffs” (AKA Saint Bernards) saving a traveler in the Great St. Bernard Pass. The painting was entitled: ‘Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveler’. His father and teacher made a popular engraving of this painting in 1831.

One of the dogs pictured in Landseer’s painting was carrying a wooden keg or cask of wine from it’s collar. Some say this is purely artistic license and that the dogs never carried kegs. Others disagree because of other supporting evidence that the dogs from the Hospice did in fact carry brandy or wine for lost travelers. In any case this is the painting that started the legend or myth of Saint Bernard dogs carrying kegs on their collar.

Myth, Legend or Truth… the world may never know. I think they are pretty cool and love to take the boys out in theirs!

Our barrels are cured and functional from Dan “the Keg Man” Jordon - and no, there’s nothing in them.

I have found Saint Bernard Barrels at these online shops:

• Saint Specialties Walnut Kegs - these are AMAZING handmade barrels $$$
• The Robins Nest - They have some great custom design extras $$$$
• Thousand Oaks Barrel Company - $$ (sells on ebay as well)
• Dan “the Keg Man” Jordan - we like ours $ (sells on ebay as well)