Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

Rottweilers. Computers. Cameras. World Domination. Not necessarily in that order.

Rottweilers.
Computers. Cameras.
World Domination.
Not necessarily in that order.

The summer that wasn’t

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I don’t think summer ever really got here. Except for maybe a week’s worth, in total, of dangerously hot and humid days, the entire summer was unseasonably cool and much too rainy for my taste. The yard doesn’t look as a bad as a Rottweiler-ravaged yard should, thanks to that rain and the resultant grassy growth spurts. But that’s it for silver linings.

And now, it’s the last day of August, still unseasonably cool or even cold, and summer is gone without ever having really been here. What an aggravating year this has been so far in so many ways.

(NaBloPoMo | August ’09: 31 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 219 of 274)

Life in the food chain

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“Check near the back gate for dead things before you let the dogs out. There’s a hawk… no, probably a falcon… killing something on top of the garbage can.”

What an uplifting start to the day, huh? Even though you don’t usually think about seeing birds of prey in a residential neighborhood in Chicago, we do have quite a few urban falcons and hawks in the area. It was probably a peregrine falcon, like this one (although we have seen the occasional red-tailed hawk nearby):
Falcon
Creative Commons License photo credit: stirwise

It was also considerate enough to eat or haul away its entire kill, except the feathers… a LOT of feathers… clinging to the top of the garbage can.

No time to play CSI: Norwood Park because the day’s thunderstorms were on the way. No rain yet by the time I left for work, but the wind had kicked up. Axel was standing still in the back yard and his ears were flapping in the wind like he was about to take flight. Okay, that’s not really funny given yesterday’s post about the Rottweiler in a tornado. But they were flapping pretty good.

There were a lot of areas with storm damage and power outages. Happily, we were once again unscathed. The dogs and I never actually got wet despite the torrential downpours. We managed to time all of our outdoor excursions between the thunderstorms.

This is what my commute to work looked like as I hit the Ohio Street offramp. Looking to the south, it was very grey but there were still some patches of light and almost-clear sky:
south061909

Looking to the north, the clouds were dropping lower and turning black and threatening:
north061909

I did get inside the office about a minute before the clouds made good on their threat of a drenching rain.

(NaBloPoMo | June ‘09: 19 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 146 of 274)

I wonder if I need a smaller dog

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I was looking at the video I made on Sunday to help set up future videos of obedience practice sessions in the yard. I made a short clip of Axel so he wouldn’t be jealous that Freya’s clip was featured in Sunday’s post. Okay, not really. It was so I could figure out how to set up a video album in Gallery 2. The file size of Freya’s video was a little too large, so I had to make a smaller one.

Anyway, as I watched the clip, it struck me.

Do I need a smaller dog? Is my dog that big, or am I really that short? Or does the camera just make him look bigger, and me look fatter?

Once again, try to overlook the sloppy leash handling. We were really just working on the camcorder settings for the “real” videos that will be coming soon. If it ever stops raining, that is. Yes, sad to say that the rain has come back after two short days of sunshine. It’s supposed to be around on and off all week. We’re going to rust instead of tan this summer.

Oh. I don’t really want a smaller dog. With only a very short break, there has always been a large male Rottweiler here since 1994. The house would seem very empty without one taking up that space.

(NaBloPoMo | June ‘09: 16 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 143 of 274)

A little bit o’ ranting, a little bit o’ Rotts, a little bit o’ blog

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The Rottweilers are somewhat perkier than they were yesterday. I had Freya skip breakfast and her obedience class due to her digestive upset, but by afternoon she seemed to be feeling better. She was definitely eager to eat her dinner, bland though it was. Everyone’s ears look better and there’s no scratching and very little head flapping, so perhaps there is no infection, just dirt and waxy buildup.

Unfortunately, they had no outlet for the increased perkiness and energy and general evil, as it rained for most of the day. Again. Yes, AGAIN.

I’m only happy when it rains
I feel good when things are going wrong
I only listen to the sad, sad songs
I’m only happy when it rains
     —Garbage

Ummm. Sorry. Not in agreement. I’m all for a sad song now and again, but I am pretty damn tired of all the rain we’ve been getting, and the total lack of warm weather. I don’t like the super hot humid days that a Chicago summer can bring, but it would be nice to see a tiny bit of global warming in the area.

Since it was an indoor type of day until late afternoon, I took the opportunity to update my underused photo gallery from Gallery 1 to Gallery 2. I think I’m ready to work on organizing the many photos that now reside only on CDs, DVDs or my computer. I’m not quite so ready to work on scanning the many photos that have still never made the jump from old school prints to digital. That’s going to be a major task.

I really have to spend some time tonight and tomorrow and finally catch up on the rest of the magazine stuff, including an ad for Axel. In fact, I’m going to go and do that right now. See you tomorrow!

(NaBloPoMo | June ‘09: 13 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 140 of 274)