Product Review: Nutro Ultra All Natural Biscuits Oatmeal and Pumpkin

Hellooo Good Pups and Peeps of Blogville! Macy Blue here. My secretary keeps promising a "real" update... and then only shows up to type up my reviews... sigh! But...she did go see her V E T today!! So ...hopefully.

Momma made me wear one of Angel sis Maggie's old Halloween kerchiefs for this review. Don't I look fabulous??? This month Chewy sent me some Nutro Ultra All Natural Biscuits in Oatmeal and Pumpkin. This is what the package looks like.

And can you believe Momma making me sit there and smell these??

As you can see they are a good sized cookie! And the smell!! I so wish we had smell-o-net!

Finally, I get to taste! Toss me one Momma!

L@@k at Momma catching that with the cookie in the air!!! And Nom Nom nom nom....

THANK YOU MOTHER! May I have another...that wasn't a whole cookie, ya know! I have photographic evidence!

Incoming....

L@@k at Momma's mad skills, tossing and taking a pic!!!

OK Momma...do you thing:

Creekhiker here: Macy adored these! OMG! First the ingredients being all natural and Nutro are great: 

Whole Brown Rice, Ground Rice, Oatmeal, Whole Oats, Chicken Meal, Pumpkin, Flaxseed, Lamb Meal, Salmon Meal, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols), Oat Fiber, Dried Plain Beet Fiber, Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols), Egg, Natural Flavors, Inulin, Tomato Pomace, Dried Blueberry, Dried Pumpkin, Dried Pomegranate, Dried Spinach, Dried Carrot, Dried Cranberry (preserved with mixed Tocopherols)

 

Macy really loved them. The regular price is around $10 / pound (less on autoship!)... but they are on sale at Chewy.com for $5.69!

 

The only negative for me is the smell...they smell TOO GOOD. I've never been tempted to eat a dog cookie. I have a friend who ALWAYS taste tests her dog's cookies. But these make me to want to bake fall cookies!

 

Back to Macy Blue: 

 

 Uh...I'm kinda busy Mooorm!

There are crumbs everywhere...ya know I gotta Hoover every last drop!

 

 Ok... Like I said...the Nutro Ultra All Natural Biscuits are PAWSOME!!! They'll put a tongue on your face for sure!

I give it four paws up! Mom gives it five fingers up... she's trying to bake cookies with her other hand! BOL!!!

Neither Creekhiker nor Macy Blue were compensated for this review. Chewy.com gave Macy Blue one case of  Nutro Ultra All Natural Biscuits Oatmeal and Pumpkin to devour...or not.

Last Christmas

I've been thinking a lot about last Christmases this week... I guess because the previous two were my very last with two of the dearest souls in my life.

I didn't realize that last Christmas would be Mabel's last. I didn't even take pictures of her opening the tennie ball and cookies I'm certain she got.  We had such a quiet and laid back Christmas...just the two of us. Mabel was clearly not into any toys any more but her inner labradork still loved "tennie balls."

The only photo I took anywhere near Christmas was this shot of Mabel and Sue greeting one another with a kiss the day after Christmas... Hank is in the background...his last Christmas too.

I was so relaxed and happy... I don't know what would have been different had I known.

The Christmas of 2012 was the last with my sister.  This is my sister's last Christmas tree. My brother in law and I struggled to get it up and get the ornaments just right to please my perfectionist sister. In the end, she got out of her sick bed in the middle of the night and rearranged everything to her liking just in time for Christmas Eve.

I didn't take pictures of my sister...she looked too frail and I might would have had to admit it was our last Christmas, even though some part of me certainly knew.

This Christmas, my 91 year old mom joined Macy and I for the holiday. Macy's first Christmas ever apparently... 

She clearly had no idea what gifts were...

Or what to do with them... 

I had to open it for her... Then, she was a happy girl! 

Mother brought swine flu with her...coughed everywhere and got me sick two days before surgery... Yes my second shoulder surgery date...and still no surgery! Macy just loved on us both.

We took a two plus hour hike on Christmas Day...Macy has spotted her Otto and her auntie RottRover here.

This Christmas was pretty nice... But I keep having that nagging feeling…like there something I should be paying attention to...just in case it's another last Christmas.

Her Life in Pictures: Eight

Those of you who have human children can relate to this... I've seen little kids do this many times. You are someplace...visiting family, a fair, a park... out of your norm. Your kid is running around and in the middle of lots of excitement, the kid stops and comes up to you and says, "Mom, I'm SOOOOO HAPPY!!!" and then runs back to the exciting thing they were doing.

I've had this happen with both Maggie and with Mabel. Maggie did it to me the first time I took her to visit a house with other dogs. She stopped playing, ran up and just stared into my eyes as her whole body shook with glee. And she ran back to play. I was lucky enough to be holding a camera when Mabel did this to me in the summer of 09. This is a happy dog!

Mabel Lou was in demand socially! We would regularly have "Bone Parties" with the Rhodesians. It was quite comical. Every dog was given a frozen marrow bone... they would all curl up on a favorite chair or sofa. In Mabel's case, she would stand on the the front porch and whine at her Auntie until the "company rug" was placed just so for her. They would all chew a bit and then as if some voice only understood by dogs said, "SWITCH!!" they would all change bones. Mabel would get her pick but there was always some quibbling between the Rhodies as to who would get Mabel's bone. Mabel's bone was highly coveted!

I have always treated my dog to vanilla ice cream. Actually this habit was started by my mother when we used to take Maggie to Balboa park. She would always buy Mags a cup of vanilla. And if I go to an ice cream shop and my pup is with me, they get a scoop of vanilla. Mabel got her last scoop about 10 days before she passed.

At home, Mabel would always start in the kitchen with a cup but would pick it up and go to the den. Then she'd pick it up and take it outside.

Late summer, the national forest that feeds our favorite playground would catch on fire and burn for nearly month. For several breathtaking nights, members of the Creekerati would join us on our porch as we watch the mountainsides around us glowing. We would hike Alpine trail only once more after the fire.

 

 The mountain across from Mabel used to be lush and green...

 
The first rain after the fire brought down so much soot and ash. It was a muddy mess to hike in...not that any of us minded. Rain would heal our forest and our creek...eventually. Not yet, but eventually!

And it was this next photo, taken by a friend as we were treating the dogs to cream at a coffee outing, that made me realize my girl was getting older. Where did all that gray come from?

Mabel got her favorite for Christmas...as always! And was happy about it...as always!

She loved hiking with friends...

All of my friends have always made fun of me for the shear number of dog beds I have for ONE dog!  I'm not about to explain myself again in a memorial post but, Mabel adored when it was bed washing day! All the beds would end up in the living room as I recovered them for whatever season we were headed into. She would frequently try to fit on several at once.

If I have to think of all of hikes we've ever had and pick only one to say was my favorite, it took place on New Year's Day of 2010. The wash above the Rose Bowl is an amazing hike, especially on that holiday. There's the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl game to provide a distant roar of a crowd. There were flyovers back then by the B2 Stealth Bombers. They would often organize their positions above us as we hiked... As a flight geek, I can only liken it to being backstage at a performance by your favorite singer. It was awesome!

Couple in the cool weather and water flowing... it was just the happiest day! And Mabel Lou was in fine comedic form! The stream was a bit too deep for the tiny dogs we were hiking with to cross on their own, so we would place a fallen tree at periodic spots to allow the small dogs to cross. Mabel would have none of this... as all trees and sticks were hers! ( I just remembered I've been saving pics for a Tree Saving 101 post for over a year!)

Every time we tried to place this tree trunk, Mabel would make off with it! I would go get it and place it where the little ones could cross and yet the tree would not affect the flow of the stream. And Mabel would steal it again. This went on so long... about 30 minutes of the 3 hour hike was spent dealing with the tree and the thief! I normally don't post photos of myself... so you'll have to understand how very happy I was "fighting" with my dog to be willing to show you this:


Just look at her go!

My 2nd favorite hike took place on February 9th of that year. It was another three hour hike. The Rottrovers were with us for part of it and I wrote about it in three separate parts beginning here. Part Two is about Mabel's boyfriend...her only one ever! His name was Maxi and they dated for almost a year, before he moved away. She would still go by his house and look for him for years!

But Part Three of this story was the best... Mabel decided to try her hand at being a teenaged girl! It was hilarious to watch and one of the most exciting days ever in our creek!

This year was SO exciting... I've barely touched on anything! Our friends from Minnesota came to visit... If Mabel had a human boyfriend, it was my pal Becky's hubby.

And Mabel's pal Ruby joined our pack. What a year!!!

Her Life in Pictures: One

Humor me if you will...but writing is the way I heal my heart. Mabel Lou came along at the very beginning of my digital age. I've looked and looked for photos from that last roll of film I shot the day May came home... Her baby book doesn't hold them. I wrote in the details but the only photo is from her adoption announcement. I did find several of those pics on my computer though. Must have scanned them a long time ago. But I do know I bought my first digital camera the week after she moved into took over the house.

I thought it would be fun to look back over her very large life in a series.

Mabel made it perfectly clear from her first trip through the house just where she expected to sleep. Even though she was less than 1/2 the size she would grow up to be, she still only left me a sliver of the bed.  Look at the size of those paws!

Even though she had a bed in the den...one she looked so tiny in...

Mabel Lou also made it known where she preferred to be:

Every time I came out of my office, I found her on the sofa. It was the source of so many of our disagreements. When that sofa breathed its last, I replaced it with one I called "Mabel's sofa."

I am absolutely stunned at how lush the backyard looked back then. Amazing what money will pay for! Expensive water bills are a thing of my past! It feels irresponsible to me to have a green lawn when we live in a drought! And just look at those fences that Mabel would eventually tear down! No raccoon was ever safe behind that compared to the strength and determination of Miss Lou!

She was so tiny and scared of the raccoons at first, when I had to leave her alone, I would find her asleep on top of a glass table! I could just imagine coming home to a cut up pup! But one night, we heard the racoons under the deck and she raced to the end of the patio. She stopped there and looked back at me. Her look said, "You comin'?"

I told her, "No. That YOUR job!" If I only knew how seriously she would take me on that!

The other side of the yard was just as lush. This was before we got bloom drop in this area! Oddly enough, this is the first year I've planted veggies in years. I think my girl knew I was going to need a summer project.

One of her very first trips to the creek. She looks so small in the domain she would come to rule! As I was making calls today to plan her funeral, I realized, with the exception of my bestie, every friend we have, we met at the creek!

Ah....nothing like a fat puppeh tum right after a meal! She never liked having her tum rubbed and would sometimes growl if I tried. I think it made her feel vulnerable and a pup that had seven homes before finding her forever home probably didn't like that emotion very much. As she got older, she would grant me very brief tummy rubs, but I clearly got more out of it than she did. She was all about her head being petted!

Her first Halloween... She ate the halo! Dressing up was not for dignified rottenweilers according to Mabel Lou! Note the placement of her knees to avoid the bone on bone pain of hitting her Greyhound ribcage.

 

The photo is far more appropriate... you can see the devilment in her eyes!

Her first Christmas. The whole family came here and everyone spoiled her! My sister brought her tons of toys. My brother-in-law would work with her on training and allow her to sit on him on the sofa. My mother overfed her and her cousin Huggy played and played with her. She was a rather gracious hostess! With all that attention, how could she not be?

She adored Huggy and even figured out how to open his crate!  Still, Mabel being Mabel, she would get terribly jealous over her Granny! Here she is trying (succeeding!) to horn in on Mom petting Huggy.

Hug and May using my brother in law as a pillow:

And my personal fave...one you've maybe seen before. Mabel in her "Harley Mama" phase in the car. She would straddle the console, long skinny legs on either side of it and her left forearm draped over my right shoulder as I drove. She would use her left paw between her hind legs to brace her body! This phase only last a few months and I was quite happy when she simply grew too large to sit like that! I was always terrified she would go through the windshield!

Vibrant December / Pink Christmas

Southern California blows my mind in December. It's a shame that I've lived here since 1987 and have only managed to spend a handful of Decembers in my transplanted home state.

Since we start to get a bit more rain, the clouds make for spectacular sunsets.

And the trees! December seems to be our "fall color" month and the trees seem to decorate themselves. I think it's one of the reasons I'm so unenthusiastic about decorating a Christmas tree... I would rather be outside, taking it all in.

Even a trip to the grocery store reveals trees in vibrant orange that go unnoticed the rest of the year:

 

These mulberry branches are so thick that Mabel and I hid out under them when we were caught in a sudden summer rain. We only left when we realized the stream was getting too wide to leap over. But in December, they are so bare, they wouldn't protect us from a sprinkle:

But they don't strip before putting on a show:

The crisp cool air makes the moon feel magical coming over the mountains:

It feels lovely to be hiking the North / South trail in the creek with the moon coming up on one side and sun setting on the other:

 Mabel is fascinated by the leaves, especially those floating on the water:

 

I love this shot because you cannot tell where land ends and the creek begins!

I thought I would tack a personal bit on about the holiday as my mother's Facebook minions that share everything little thing I post with her, will have gotten bored by now if they bothered to click over.

Mom somehow convinced herself that I was going Louisiana for Christmas. This freaked several in the family out! I think she truly didn't believe that I would leave her all alone the first Christmas after my sister died, even though I had begged her to come here for months. We had a very sad phone call on Christmas Eve when I had her check her caller and i.d. and "do the math" to realize... I simply couldn't make it to Baton Rouge for Christmas.

In the end, I think it's good for her to be alone with her grief a maybe start to realize her only family is in California.

Me??? I found myself having a pink Christmas! I eschewed my usual olive or forest greens with the occasional pop of red for...PINK. I think it was so I could wear this:

It was my sister's and I found myself wearing it everywhere. It made me feel like I was taking her out to see the sights of Christmas and to every party I attended. I think it might be my new Christmas color!