Sad times and happy times

This morning our neighbour let Alison know that Megan's cat, Freya, had been killed in the road outside our house, a very sad occasion as Freya was a lovely and very gentle, shy cay. We will all miss her.

However, the family decided that, while we will miss Freya, a new kitten would be a welcome addition to the house hold. So Alison & Megan went off to a place called 'Forgotten Felines' and came back with a very little kitten. He/she is only about 5 weeks old and already is the centre of attention. Megan has named the kitten Luna from Luna Lovegoode in the Harry Potter series.

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Back at work

Well I'm back at work today, it struck home as I was putting my socks on after the morning swim,I had last worn socks to work the last time. Work isn't too bad I suppose, not many emails at all so it is not hard to ease back into it.

I did take a bit of stick this morning at swimming. I am using my old wetsuit as my newer one needs a bit of a repair. But my old one needs a lot of repair, so much so that it probably is beyond sensible repair, so I have half my back uncovered and the suit lets lots of water in, luckily it's not so cold at the moment, in fact I probably don't need it, but I am so slow without it. Added to the wetsuit, I didn't sunblock on the swim yesterday and so have a red face, with a white scalp where the swim cap covers it and goggle shaped white patches round the eyes.

I am also waiting for my Xmas present. I knew what I wanted and was ready to order it, but for some unfathomable reason left it to Xmas to order it, no logical reason, maybe I didn't want it to arrive early and then not be able to play with it. SO I put the order in on the 25th (on the web) but the shop was shut to the 3rd Jan so I had to wait longer. And then it was delivered today, but the courier dork just left a note for it to be picked up, despite the fact that the front door was open and Alison and the kids were at home. So now I have to wait till tomorrow and am now really spitting. Oh, by the way its a waterproof GPS so I can track my swimming.

2007 wrap up

I thought a wrap up of the year might be appropriate, it at least makes me think of what has gone on this year.

Duncan
Duncan started this year by getting a pet dog, an SPCA street special called Juno. It looks like she has some labrador, border collie and a couple of other breeds in her history, but she is a very good natured, if energetic dog. He has been very good at exercising her and walks her twice a day, in all weathers, sometimes with a little help from his family.

He has been a keen member of the local scout group this year, having come up from cubs at the end of last year. He went on summer camp at the start of the year, camped at Muriwai, and had a sleep over at the zoo. See some pictures of Duncan at scouts here.

It was also year 6 camp this year at Tui Ridge park in Rotorua. I got to go along as a parent helper and enjoyed the trip as much as the kids did.

Duncan & I (Dad) did a trip to the Gold Coast in Australia this year to use up some airpoints. We had a great time and stayed at Nikki Timmerman & her partner Phil's place. Some blogs on this here, here and here. And some photo's here.

Year 6 is also water wise at Glamorgan School, and I was an water wise instructor again. Duncan had a great time doing it and ended up sailing an Optimist single handed. He's keen for more and so we'll look at getting him into the local sailing club.

Megan
It was Megan's first year at secondary school this year and she is really enjoying it. She has many friends, more than her father can keep up with, and currently likes to 'hang out' at the local town centre or shopping mall.

She is still enjoying her ballet, with a goal of being able to dance on point next year.

Her performing doesn't stop with her ballet as she performed in the Stage Challenge, and interschool competition and thoroughly enjoyed doing it.

Alison
Alison keeps the family together as always, takes the kids to their activities, tries to keep the house tidy and tries to get the other people in the house to be as tidy as she is. She did a trip with Megan down to Rotorua (after all dad & Duncan had gone to Australia). Great fun was had at the Agrodome and on the Luge track as well as some quality girl time I'm sure. Photo's here.

Jim (me)

Some of what I have done this year is in the blog, but I am not the best writer so I don't do daily blogs, or anything like it. The main things for me are:
Swimming, I'm doing lots of it and have even managed to shed a few kg this year. The highlight was doing the Whale of a Swim in Whakatane. While I managed to finish I was very sore and determined to do it again with proper preparation, so I am doing it again this March with 5 other friends.
Surf lifesaving. Still involved and am looking after the Rookies this year, 13 year olds who will be guards next year. Megan is a Rookie and keeps me on my toes.
Scouts. I was a scout leader this year with Duncan but agreed at the end of the year to become Group Leader as the current one resigned. I'm sure that will keep me busy next year.

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Movember

Movember is upon us and this year I'm going to do it. Unfortunately that means I need to start off clean shaven which means I lose the beard as well as the mo. This is something that has not happened for about 20 years and so its a little hard to let go.

But then again, if its worth doing its worth overdoing so I think I'll shave my head as well. Did this a few years ago and really liked the feel, but wasn't interested in the shaving bit on a regular basis.

I'll post some photos for posterity.

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Catch up

Haven't blogged for a while, must be getting lazy

Batching
During the school holidays Alison & Megan went off to Rotorua (some more photos here). Duncan went to Hamilton and spent some time with Granny & Grandpa which left  me at home to look after Juno. It was not as quite as I expected as I ended up going out 2 nights to toastmasters, and with having to walk Juno regularly I did not get many opportunities to have a swim, but that's OK. But I did come second in the area tabletopics competition for toastmasters.

Mum's new PC
Bought mum a new PC recently from PB Tech. Built it and got it working, but when it arrived in Hamilton there were problems. It all got very frustrating for dad & I to try and fix it over the phone so Megan & I went down last Sunday to fix it. I think the problam was in the network cable, as everything was working after I replaced the RJ45 connectors on it. Hopefully this PC should keep mum going for many years.

Rugby world cup.
NZ Knocked out in the quarter finals!. I'm still in denial and am not going to talk about it again.

Health
The whole family has been crook recently. I was off for 2 days last week, but Alison & the kids were off the whole week. It seems a combination of a tummy bug (quite bad) and a cold/flu. It's a real pain in the arse and I'm feeling quite crap today. Didn't even have a sea swim on Saturday.

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Visiting the Zoo

On Saturday we took some cubs and some scouts to the zoo for a sleep-over. This was organised by Adri for the cubs, but scouts were invited to bing up the numbers (and bring down the cost).

It was a spectacular day, warm and sunny after quite a wet & cool period we have had recently. This was almost a problem as there weere so many people at the Zoo/MOTAT & Western springs that parking was at a premium. We were staying at the old elephant house, & after dropping our gear there took the cubs/scouts over to MOTAT 2 to see the aircraft collection, and have a jigger ride and a tram ride to the front entrance and back.

Then it was time for some community service (weeding and sweeping out the hay barn) and a day time walk around the zoo. Dinner was a sossie sizzle and salads followed by a quiz for the youngsters.

The highlight of the visit was the walk around the zoo at night. It started at the store where we got to see what the animals (& the humans at the zoo) eat. Then we got to walk around the zoo on our own guided tour. We got to see some of the animals that are usually nocturnal and sights most people don't get to see.

The kids (and adults) we pretty tired by the time we got back so it was all quiet by 11:00.

Up early, breakfast and we were out by 8:00, a very successful visit.

See the photo's here

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Table topics winner

I entered a Toastmaster table topics competition this morning. It was my first time entering a speaking competition and I was suprised at how nervous I was. There was no real difference between this and 'normal' table topics during a regular meeting, other than the fact that we had to wait outside, we all got the same topic and the target was 2 minutes instead of 1.

The topic was OK but boring (should AU & NZ become one country) and I thought I got through OK, but had no idea how the others went as I got to go last. We had 2 really good humerous speeched from Robin & Jon and then they announced the results. I was well chuffed, but now get to go to the area competition, that should be really nerve wracking

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Quiet weekend

I was looking forward to this weekend, there were no scouting or other activities that I was aware of and I could just relax at home. It sounded too good to be true, and it was.

The list of jobs around the house does not go away if you are busy doing other things and mine hadn't. Saturday was fairly quiet though, I did need a but of a break and the weather was wet and windy too. I did pick up the trellis to repair the fence and a whole lot of other 'stuff' I needed, then we went to Greg & Sharons for the evening.

Sunday was a bit busier, I put up the trellis to start with. Then it was replacing the security lights at the front of the house. I don't find it too much fun standing on a 3m ladder screwing fittings above my head!. Then I took Juno for a good long walk and went to Browns Bay to get Duncan's library book. Next was finishing the sanding on the balustrade and putting the first layer of Danish oil on to finish it. By then it was after 5 and I sat down for a glass of wine feeling I had done a bit of catching up.

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Homebrew beer

While I was over in Aussie Phil was making some homebrew beer, which he shared with me, and I quite enjoyed.

So I put a brew down 2 weeks ago and Duncan & I have bottled it. I put another brew down on Monday so I should have a fair supply in the not too distant future.

I did do some homebrew a few years ago and did not get round to drinking it all. I was a bit dubious about drinking it now, as it was over 7 years old, but it was fine, great actually. But there is little/no chance of the current batches lasting that long.

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Cossgrove course

I went on a scout camp this last weekend. It was a Cossgrove course, about which I knew very little, other than that it was about winter camping. I didn't have high expectations and Duncan had to pull out as he was sick so I seriously thought about pulling out, but I had to deliverthe tents so I made the trip anyway and decided to stay.
Friday
We arrived at 8:00 p.m. and did registration etc. I had ticked 'Leader Patrol' on the form, not knowing really what that meant. What it did mean was being in a patrol with Mike and 4 others, doing what the kids did, which turned out to be a really good way of learning, and also having fun. Everyone got involved in setting up camp, which was a little challenging as it was completely dark, but we got it done. The kids were given supper and put to bed, but it was after midnight before the camp was quite. The leaders had a meeting to confirm what was happening the next day, and a bit of socialising, so we only got to bed around 1:30.
Saturday
It was quite cold overnight, but not too wet although there was a bit of rain around. Some of the kids were up around 6:00, but officially wake up was 7:15 so we stayed put until 7:00ish. We had breakfast and got straight into the days activities which included rope work, axe work and fire setting amongst others. We then got some cooking fires lit and the kids (and the leaders or 'Pink' patrol) cooked our dinner in dutch oven, really a flat bottomed potkjie. Once we had eaten we took a bus trip to the Parakai hot pools and spent the evening there, then back to camp. Kids were down by 11:30 and I was down by 12:30 although some of the others did a bit more socializing.
Sunday
Woke up to the sound of rain while warm and snug in a warm sleeping bag, a great feeling. However the pink patrol (or Pink Cadillacs as we called ourselves) were first to strike camp so we had some very wet tents in the trailer. But the sun came out mid morning and another pleasant day of activities and learnings was had by all. The happy, and tired campers were able to set off at 4:30ish.
Camp photos here

In general I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, a combination of low expectations and then enjoying the activities, organisation and company. Also learned many thing that we can take back to our scout troop. Well worth the effort.

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