Our House

Our house - well, the Roosevelt's house - is on East 64th Street less than a block from Central Park. The outside is covered with "brownstone" (like a lot of homes in New York). It has three stories.

Just inside the front door is the vestibule, and past that is the parlor, where the family spends a lot of time, and where I often sleep. Further back is the dining room. Beyond that is the kitchen. And there is a nice, but small, garden in the rear.

The second floor bay window you can see in the picture is Gracie's room. Sometimes I get to sleep in there, too.  And in the rear is Laura and J.W.'s suite.

Up on the third floor, Teddy lives in the front, and housekeeper Hannah at the back. There is a nice guest room in the middle. Both the second and third floors have big bathrooms with "claw-footed" bathtubs. The children love baths. I hate baths.

Gracie usually takes me down to the Park every day. We enter through what is known as the "Children's Gate," which is near the menagerie. If we keep on walking we get to the playground, and how I love to spin on the little merry-go-round, the breeze blowing in my face. Ah, the life of a dog.

Toodle-oo!     D-O-G                                                                                               ©2014
     

A Taste of Mr. Sherry's Ice Cream

It was such a pleasant, warm day today that Mrs. Laura Roosevelt took Gracie, Teddy, Hannah, and ME for some ice cream at Louis Sherry's confectionery shop on Fifth Avenue - the most famous in all New York City.

Mr. Sherry is a friend of the family and we often visit there to buy cakes and pastries and ice cream. Mr. Sherry himself waited on us. Gracie ordered a cup of vanilla and strawberry. Hannah and Laura got chocolate (with chocolate sprinkles), and I was allowed to have a small bowl of vanilla (under the table, of course). Little brother Teddy out did us all. He ordered a Super-Duper-Double-Whammy Banana-Split with Extra Chocolate Sauce and Cherries, and no Peanuts. The huge silver platter barely fit on the table. To his credit, Teddy ate the whole thing - though when he was finished his face and the front of his suit were covered in a gooey multicolored mess. Mr. Sherry personally escorted brother to the kitchen where the cooks sprayed him down with warm water and dried him off with towels. I am proud to say I made no mess at all, and even got a nice pat on the head from Mr. Sherry.

Afterward John Jay drove us home in the carriage to East 64th Street. Hannah offered to make dinner, but we were all so stuffed with sweets that everyone said no - even me. It was a wonderful outing.

Happy Day!    D-O-G    (oh, that's me in the photo, sitting in front of Mr. Sherry's shop) ©2014

D-O-G's First Video Post

Gracie! - post on your own blog (see below), not mine. Jeepers, snapping me when when I'm sound asleep - that's not fair!

Anyway, hello again! I thought you'd like to see a video of me and my Cousin Lola playing at a friend's house in the woods. We're well matched. She can out turn me, but I can out run her. We have lots of fun when we play.

Cheers.  D-O-G                                                                                                        ©2014

Picture From Gracie

Hello, everybody. Gracie here. I wanted to show you this photograph I took with my Kodak Box Camera of D-O-G napping on the sofa. He grins when he sleeps! That's pretty funny. And I think his teeth look so human. What do you think?

All the best to you,  GRACIE ROOSEVELT                                                             ©2014

Our Friend, Officer Big Mac

Big Mac is a patrolman in the New York City Police Department. His beat includes the Roosevelt house on East 64th Street, all the way over to Third Avenue. They call him Big Mac because, well, he's a big fellow. Gracie says he's well over six feet tall, and he weighs a lot (I think because he eats a lot - like me). She said he's about 250 pounds. I'm only 60. And Gracie is about 75. So to us little folks, Big Mac is gigantic. He's a very friendly person. He smiles a lot. And his laugh is loud and "boisterous" (that's a word Gracie told me about).

My human and I sometimes walk the beat with Big Mac. He carries a stick with him, and he's really good at swinging it back and forth and around and around without hitting anybody. He wears a dark blue coat with a row of shiny brass buttons down the front. Pinned on the left breast is a brass badge (Mac calls it his "shield"). His hat is kind of funny looking. It's tall and tan and looks a good bit like a spittoon.

Big Mac is somewhere in the back

Once, when were out strolling with Big Mac, he saw a man push a woman down to the sidewalk, grab her purse, and run. The thief wasn't very smart. Instead of running away, he ran right toward Mac (I guess he didn't see him - though how you could miss a policeman standing there is beyond me). Anyway, the bad guy ran straight into Big Mac's arms. "Gotcha!" he said. And we waved goodbye as Mac marched the thief back to the station.

Until next time.  D-O-G                                                                                               ©2014

A Visit With Lola

My friend Lola came over for a visit yesterday. Brother Teddy took this picture of us on the sofa getting ready to take a nap after a hard play date in Central Park. Don't we look cute?

Lola is a pure-bred brindle Boxer. She's very smart. And she has almost as much energy as I do (I can still outrun her, but she can out turn me, so we're pretty well matched). Her human is Geoff, who got her when she was just a few weeks old. Lola is now almost five - the same age as Teddy.

We wrestle a lot, which is fun. No biting allowed, of course (but we do growl at each other). It's all great fun.

Nap time. See you soon.   D-O-G.                                                                             ©2014

A Stroll in the Park

Gracie took me to Central Park today. It's the first week of April, so it's pretty early yet to see signs of spring, but on this sunny, warm day there were a few. We saw some daisies poking up through the ground, and lots of tiny buds on the trees. And we watched robins hopping across the still brown lawns looking for a tasty treat.

Because it was Sunday there were a great many carriages on the roads. Some had two wheels, but most had four. Some had a single horse, most had two, and a few really fancy ones had four or six - just to impress dogs like me, I guess. New Yorkers love to drive through the Park.

There were lots of dogs, too (but I didn't see any of my friends). They were barking up a storm. Between the barking dogs, the clip-clops of the horses' hooves, the sound of the wheels grinding on the gravel, Central Park was a pretty noisy place today. The skating rink was closed. The dairy hasn't opened yet. But it won't be long.

On the way home Gracie stopped by a sidewalk vendor and bought a pair of pretzels - one for her and one for me. It was the first time I'd every tasted a pretzel. Good, but awfully salty.

Have a nice day.    D-O-G.                                                                                        ©2014