Hey look -- it's Sid Vicious

I am just so Vicious. You can call me Sid!

And one thing I've learned in a tug-o-war is never, ever give up! You just gotta wear down your opponent. Watch and learn from the master.

Spunk in the trunk

'Nuff said.

I got it, and you probably want it.

Woo hoo!

Frito goes to the beach

Two quick movies for you when I went to Los Angeles, and got to run with Alpha on the beach.

It was a lot of fun. And much warmer than the snow wonderland we have in Germany right now ;-)

Tug-o-war close-up

You can't get much closer than this. You can almost smell my breath (hee, hee)

Eating my stick

Sometimes I needs my greens, and sometimes I needs my sticks.

Hey, at least I'm eating organically ;-)

Finishing up my boney bit

Hey, just like you guys scarfing down Xmas dinner, here I am working extra hard to finish off a boney bit. Yummmmm!

That's "Mr. Stubborn" to you

Merry Xmas everybody. Since Alpha took the holidays off, he's doing a retropsective of some never-before-seen movie clips.

I hope you enjoy them (and Alpha get's his butt back into gear ;-)

Let's go skiing

Well, it looks like Alpha listened to me yesterday. Take a look what we're doing today.

Yeah, OK, so I don't actually have any skis on myself. But that would just be crazy ;-)

Once again, I am showing you exactly who is the lead dog!

Follow me Alpha, hurry up, let's get a move on. (Hee, hee)

OK, that's better!

Pfew! Alpha finally got those booties of my feet. I mean what was he thinking?!

Now I can prance around in the snow, just like a snow bunny.

Oops. Maybe too much like a snow bunny. I was sniffin' in the snow.

Oh well, not to worry, it's OK.

Hey lookee up ahead. That, there, is someone skiing in the snow. What a novel idea?

Hey guys, how come we're just out for a walk, and not doin' any skiing?

I've got pretty good four-legged cross-country ski action, wanna see?

Pretty impressive, I know. Now if someone can just find me four little snow skis and strap those on my paws.

Oh wait, if I didn't like the booties, that might not be such a great idea (hee, hee).

You've got be kidding me

Ummm, is there anyone out there that can rescue me? Do you seeeeeeeee what Alpha is doing to me? Check out the paws.

Those are little "booties". I mean really? For a dog? I don't think so!

So ... let's see how well this works:

Oh yeah! That was suuuuuuch a great idea!

Did you like those smooth dance moves? I look like Mr. freakin' Roboto.

Um, Alpha, could you come back here? Can you open your mouth again?

I'm looking for someplace to put these booties after I make you remove them from my paws.

Hee, hee. (J/K)

Isa handsome poochie

Awww. Look at me. Such a handsome boy.

Sitting on my bed (yeah, I know it's also my parents bed -- I let them sleep there too ;-)

Such a cutie pie!

50,000 and counting

OK. Hold everything. Stop the presses!

This big lug nut to my right (that would be Alpha), just passed the 50,000 photo mark on his computer. Fifty thousand pictures! Egad.

It seems he just can't manage to take a good one (hee, hee). But at least he tries a lot ;-)

And something tells me he is not going to stop. Yes, he has slowed down (Thank God!) since is fancy-dandy lens went tango-uniform (that military talk for died -- go look it up).

But he says he's gonna try to get it fixed (or at least sent away) over the holidays, so who knows, he might still have a shot for 100,000.

Anyways, the good news is, that all means you've had lots of pictures of moi. And that's worth almost anything ;-)

Walkin' in the woods

Oh yeah. Uh-huh. I'm strutin' my stuff.

Walkin' in the woods in our back yard (in NH).

Boy, I make this look good!

The garden pond

Ah yes, one of my favorite spots back in NH. Our very own garden pond. This was back when it was brand new. Not sure what we are going to find when we go back there. Cat tails had started to take over. Oh well, nothing that an excavator can't fix, I guess ;-)

See how nice and pristine it was. This gave me good frogin' opportunities. I suspect now they have wayyyy too many hiding places. Hee, hee.

I've been better ;-)

This have not always been easy. This was one of my *two* surgeries for torn cruciate ligaments in both rear legs.

Fortunately, Mom found me a really good doctor, and I fully recovered, and am still able to run with Alpha.

Well, at least when the weather is nice ;-)

Silky!

Well, I know I'm not supposed to eat greenies any more. And I don't -- now it is just really big dog bone rawhide pieces (hee, hee).

But that's not the point of this photo anyways. Check out my hairdo! Talk about your silky boy.

That's right. Be jealous. I am simply gorgeousisnessly beautiful. And yes, that's a word. I just made it up ;-)

Alli and the Snowman (2005)

As mentioned previously, you can see that I used to really like the snow.

Or maybe that was just because Alli was out there playing with me.

Either way, now you'll find me curled under a blanket in this sort of weather ;-)

(Not so) Big Dog (2004)

This is what "assume the position" used to mean.

I would often sit atop the leather sofa, and look out the window over my lower forty (OK, maybe my lower one ;-).

Or else I would look over your shoulder when you were sitting on the sofa.

And remind you who was the "big dog". Hee, hee.

Say 'Hi' to the Li'l Guy (2002)

Jumping into our way-back machine once again. Here I am when I am less than 2 years old.

Boy, I sure look small back then. But I suppose it could be the landscape as well.

I will note for the record that I was more interested in going out in the snow as a young pup, than I am now.

But hey, the aging 'rents are also not as interested in snow as they once were; so don't blame me ;-)

Baaah, Baaah

So here we are in the fall, walking over to our normal field walk. And look what we come across.

Over night, someone put up some temporary electric fencing, and moved a whole herd of sheep into one of the fields near our house.

They're pretty cute. They'll mow down this field before nightfall, and probably be outta here tomorrow. Fun to see them every fall as they move through our town.

Uh-oh ... bundled up again

And you know what that means.

We're back to the reality of winter, cold temperatures, and my incredibly adorable outfits (hee, hee).

This time we're headed to the Esslingen Xmas market, which is pretty cool. Lots of medieval costumes and booths, along with modern crafts as well. And food, of course. Always food at these affairs.

So normally I'm walking along the cobblestones, trying to scarf up little bits of food fallout.

But today, it's just too cold. And I was starting to shiver, even with my dual layer outfit.

So look what Mommy did for me. My own personal bundler and carrier. Now that's a nice mom!

Just me and mommy

Awwww. Isn't that a nice photo of Mom.

And, of course, moi -- but that usually goes without saying. Unless, of course, I say it ;-)

And look at that. You got to see more of my shagginess. You lucky guys.

Explorin' a new bed

Well hi there! How are you doing? Me? I'm doing great. The 'rents have just set up the bed in the hotel, and are letting me check it out.

I love christening new beds ;-)

Yep. As you can see, I'm pretty excited.

I like to vigorously roll and snortle on the bed. Oh boy!

See, I've got to stretch all out, and get my belly all revved up on the bed.

Do some froggy legs first, and then ...

... start rollin' all around, flipping back and forth, and really having a great time.

Oh yeah, uh-huh, it's party time on the new bed. Woo hoo!

I wonder if humans do this each time they get to a new hotel? You guys should really try it out.

See, I can bring out the puppiness in anyone.

Holding Mr. Shaggy

Hi guys. Mom just rescued me from the high wall in Rothenburg. I was getting a little vertigo.

But now that I'm in her arms, all is well.

And you are welcome to view me in all my shagginess. Gonna be a while before we see that again in any new pictures.

Leaves fallin'

OK, check this movie out. During a nice walk on our woodland trails, we come across a runner out for a jog (great day for that), and this little "leaf storm".

You know, it's kinda like a snow storm, but with leaves ;-)

And let me tell you, I'll take leaves over snow anyday. Oh, unless I have to rake them. But since I don't have opposable thumbs ... not my problem! (Hee, hee)

Feeling stronger

So on one of our nice walks, we come to this hill. It is really long, really straight, and really steep. And it keeps getting steeper as you get near the top.

It's hard to capture a hill in a photo, but here we are heading up the not-too-steep part.

We're probably taking a respite now, as we look up the rest of the hill. This baby really gets the blood pumping, and if you were cold before on the walk, you won't be when you get to the top ;-)

And here we are. We are at the top of the hill! Yeah!

Mind you, that does NOT mean any of us are over the hill. Uh-uh. No way José.

We're more like Rocky, running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and pumping our fists in the air ;-)

Come on, I know you can hear it in your head, now sing it loudly:

Trying hard now

It's so hard now

Trying hard now

Getting strong now

Won't be long now

Getting strong now

Gonna fly now

Flying high now

Gonna fly, fly, fly...

Early Winter Wonderland

Well, will you look at that! We certainly have our own wintery wonderland. But I'm thinking this is just a wee-bit early ;-) This snowfall actually occurred on the day after Thanksgiving.

There's quite a bit of snow here. But that's no problem for me. I just need to engage my 4-paw drive system, after leaving the trail for some primo sniffing opportunities.

Here's a short movie (I hope ;-) to show you how everything was covered in white. Stay warm!

p.s. If you can see this movie, then go back and check out the movies from November. Alpha musta figured out how to fix those too ;-)

Harz Mountain towns

So this is Goslar -- perhaps the most famous town in the Harz Mountain area. It came to prominance due to silver mining.

One of its really neat characteristics is that they tile the sides of the houses in slate. Sometimes very ornately. It's pretty amazing and cool.

They also have a thing for witches in the Harz mountains. Hey, whatever one needs to do to scare the kiddies ;-)

This is a rather interesting horse sculpture, also in Goslar.

Hey Alpha, that's great with the posing and all, but maybe I should be getting down now, OK?

And here's another town, Wernigerode, in the Harz Mountains that we visited.

But then the weather turned yucky, so we decided to head home. But we had a nice visit, and got to see some cool places. Woo-hoo!

The Night Watchman

Mom, what the heck is going on? Don't you know I am usually in bed at this hour?

Oh wow, what a character. This is the "Night Watchman", and he does a tour, in English, of the history of Rothenburg. A brief description of what life was like back in the middle ages. It was pretty entertaining.

But let's be clear ... this is really where I belong. Now doesn't that look really comfy (and see, I even have some of my toys with me).

Yeah, I kinda like these vacations. Even with all the driving involved. I'm a very good traveler, donchaknow.

Visiting Rothenburg o.d.T. (on the outside)

So it's time for a short vacation. It's pretty hot right now (in August), and we've decided to head up to the Harz Mountain area. But first, a stop in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a really cool mideival walled city. In fact, here I am up on one of those really thick walls.

But this time, we are going to do something different. Walk on the outside of the walls.

Awww, what a cute couple sitting on the outside of the walls, soaking up the sun.

Here we are down in the lower valley. What a nice grassy field. Hey Mom, where are you going?

Looks like I better catch up!

OK, time for a snack break. Yummmmm, some nice, juicy, grassy nibbles

And some water, please, Alpha. Thank you very much, but, um, next time, could you bring a bowl?

Who you calling shaggy?

It's December 1st ... and it's cold outside ... so I thought it was appropriate for a time-warp.

Back to the summer. When I still had long hair, just had an outside bath, and dried myself off on the towels. My, my, I really am looking a little shaggy, aren't I?

But I'm also a real cutie pie.

Hey folks, why don't we take a break from winter, and I'll show you some photos from one of my family's little summer vacations, OK?

Stay tuned for that.