MUD!

This is mud.
We went for a long walk on the beach this morning ,but one of us had to be carried most of the way,cos 'e was tired.

PUPPY!!!

I got a new puppy!
His name is Mud.
He is allegedly a lab/border collie cross.
He is mostly black.

I love 'im.

Pics soon.

Greetings!

So, the Commonwealth Games are on at the moment.I can't say that they hold a hugh amount of interest for me but folks here seem to get a bit excited.
Australia seems to be cleaning up in the medal stakes,however NZ have done okay too I'm told.

It's me Ma's birthday today so let me take this opportunity to sing:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MUM,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU.

FOR SHE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW,
FOR SHE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW,
FOR SHE'S A JOLLY GOOD FE-E-E-LLOW,

AND SO SAY ALL OF US!

HIP-HIP, HURRAH
HIP-HIP, HOHRAY,
HIP-HIP, HOORAY,
(how do you spell that??)

Happy Birthday Mum.

Rachels brother , Adam , recently was made redundant from his job. He is/was a bee keeper.
This sucks on a couple of levels,
obviously ,because he has lost his job, but also , Bridget (his wife) and Adam have only just moved into their very first home that they bought.
They started to build this nearly two years ago so they could have there own home near where Adams career was , which happens to be Lake Hawea.
Rachels Mum and Dad moved here to be near them and the two young grandkids. I guess that's why we moved here too.
Anyhow, now they (Adam & Bridget) are moving to Dunedin and are selling up there home here in Lake Hawea .
They are selling the house themselves on Trademe , which is an eBay like auction website here in NZ.
This is the link here if any of you want to bid on it!!
Remember , the $NZ is weak at the moment...$1 NZ = €0.52 or £0.35

Still haven't bought our second vehicle.We have looked at a couple (you may remember), but none of them really checked out when run by the mechanic.
Keeping our eyes open for something so we don't have to get up on our days off to run the other person into work.

I've been making peach cobbler (It's really yummy and so quick and simple to make.) and poached autumn fruit with lemon curd and cream from our abundant fruit stocks. Also must tackle the grapes soon as the are starting to get out of hand...i'm thinking grape jelly.

Rachels dads mac mini is in for repairs. Seems the modem and logic board are faulty. Will be fixed free under warranty.
Um...not much more to say at the moment .

I'm mucking around with a way to show some video and may have clips to share with anyone who wants to see them soon.
I'll keep you informed.

Well , keep well everyone. Talk soon.

New Post Tomorrow

THREE DAYS OFF IN A ROW COMING UP.
Time to update!!
Stay Tuned.

Ghosts in the machine

Well.
First off, I apologize for the lack of pictures but technology seems to be against me at the moment.
The camera has decided to spazz out and more or less die.Aparantly this is a common problem with this particular model of camera and I'm a little ticked off with Kodak at the moment as they are aware of the problem but never recalled this model.

My PowerBook is also still acting up. Annoying!!

On top of that,Rachels dads Mac-Mini is experiencing a modem problem (It may be a problem with the ISP though) and being the good "son-in-law" that I am, I am trying to find a solution to this problem also.

Anyhow, enough of that.
So, last week we had a couple of days off work and ,as our boxes of belongings (shipped from Ireland) finally arrived in Christchurch, we decided to drive up there have a little holiday , pick up our stuff,and head back down after doing a bit of shopping.
We had the van serviced and tuned up for the drive (6-ish hours)
The drive was nice.Great weather,good sounds from iPod (played through the van stereo using Belkins Tunecast transmitter) and some good road food packed for the journey.
All was well until we arrived in Chch and in what can only be described as an unfortunate lapse of attention, Rachel turned at an intersection when her light went green ,assuming that the oncoming traffic must have a red light.
They didn't.
In a classic moment of slow motion, I saw that it was inevitable that we were going to be side-swiped by the oncoming car.I managed to get out a "LOOK OUT!" before the impact, but even with Rachel flooring the accelerator,we still got hit.
NOBODY WAS INJURED! but the side sliding door of the van is now sporting a quite impressive crumple and is permanantly closed.No structural damage to the chassis but an estimate of NZ$2500 from the panal-beater allowed us to decide that, while it was nice having a tidy vehicle, we would have to just put up with driving around in a bashed van.
The other drivers car seemed to have only damage to the front bumper and bits around that area ( No broken lights though!).
We will now have to wait and see what her insurance company claim for , but no doubt it will be expensive.
Oh well, it could have been alot worse.

So , just to prove that we weren't detered from driving -we bought (or will buy) a second car-a little 4 wheel drive Subaru Justy.
It's nothing fancy but it is just perfect for the work run and the 4wd will be handy in the winter .

That's about it for now - oh, except that Shania Twain and her husband Mutt Lange and their young son came in to work today for lunch and she admired my beard and "earing" (nose-ring).Of course I had no idea who they were until later when some of the other staff were all like , "Ooh that was Shania!"
That don't impress me much.
For Those About to Rock , We Salute You!

Posting Tomorrow!!!!

RoadTrips.
Crashes!!
Shopping,
Bargins,
Shipping Received
....and lots more.

STAY TUNED