Archives for March 2007

Puppy school

We’ve been taking the puppies to puppy class. The classes are mainly an opportunity to train the owners, and to give the puppies a chance to socialise. In the first week we learned how to teach ‘come’ and ‘sit’, and gained some useful information about handling dogs. This week we added ‘down’ to the repertoire. […]

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Scientists see health promotion in organic fruit

I prefer to eat organically grown food when I can, so it’s good to see this news item: Organic is healthier: Kiwis prove that green is good: Scientists have proven that organically grown kiwifruit contain significantly increased levels of health-promoting polyphenols. They also had a higher overall antioxidant activity, as well as higher levels of […]

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How to dig a hole?

I enjoy reading murder mysteries, such as the fabulous Sharon McCone series, by Marcia Muller. I watch them on TV, too. So when it comes time to do something real, such as digging a hole in the garden for the ‘dog loo’, I get to wondering… The problem with dogs is that they poop. A […]

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Small tremors prevent ‘the big one’

Life has been way too busy lately: with new puppies, major writing jobs, existing web design clients, ongoing contracts, too much unpaid work and an actual summer, the pressure has reached venting point. Something has to go, and it will be some of the unpaid work for others. A few years ago I avowed I […]

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Putangatanga

I was outside on the phone when the puppies dug up a Wellington tree weta. With one hand I grabbed and operated the video camera as the poor weta alternately tried to attack the puppies and head off across the deck (after I’d used a sheet of paper to lift it over the pen). From […]

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Late summer on the deck

Summer was late arriving, to be sure, but now it’s late leaving too. Here it is, almost equinox, and we’re still mainly enjoying gorgeous days. It’s such a privilege to be able to sit and work on the deck (as long as there’s a shady spot). Life doesn’t get too much better.

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Kyoshi and Sascha

The puppies are now 11 weeks old and growing up quickly. They’ve settled in nicely, can now sleep through the night without needing to be taken outside for toileting, and are just as cute as ever. We’ve discovered though that our dog-proof picket fence isn’t puppy-proof. They can make themselves skinny and flat enough to […]

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Stick insect

I nearly stood on a twig this afternoon, and then realised it wasn’t a twig, but a stick insect. This is the second one I’ve seen in the last couple of weeks. According to my book, Which NZ Insect? by Andrew Crowe, it must be the female NZ native Common Stick Insect. Apparently they are […]

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