GreenThumb

I have been pretty fascinated by the idea of upside-down strawberry these few days, especially since the strawberries are rotting due to contact with the soggy soil. However, I refused to pay for a poorly-made-expensive upside-down strawberry planter. This morning, I went through the basement stores and found a plastic pot, a tray, and a plastic hanger.. and I made a upside down strawberry planter!.... Let's see if it works better than the in-ground strawberry plant. :)








Also, the orchids have not been doing well. I reckon they have been rained on too much, and most of their roots are rotting. At the same time, the pots are way too small since most of the them have numerous new bulbs. I split up the bulbs, replanted them in smaller pots, and placed them indoor by the bedroom windows (as they get the morning sun). Hoping they will flower next season.

Jet (9 months) OB with distraction

Jet is 9 months old now. This morning, I worked on some basic OB with Jet while having Kaly as a distraction. There is no compulsion involved, but more letting Jet choose which is more fun. If Jet chooses to play with Kaly rather than tugging with me, I keep the tug straight away, and ended the game with him. After a couple of times, he started to think about the process, and decided that playing tug with me is more fun... This is about the 5th time we did distraction work. The first time was a complete failure, but there is progress.



And after the work, Jet wins the tug!... and he got to play tug-o-war with Kaly :)

2010/ 2011 Vegetable patch

After gaining valuable lessons from our not-so-successful vege patch attempt last year, this year we ...
1) started the vege patch earlier
2) added in some new soil and compost
3) did a better fencing and netting arrangement
4) put the herbs in a "herbs corner" for easy access
5) keep the dogs out of the vege patch

Keeping our fingers crossed and hope there are some "rewards" at the end of the season.

We went on a hike with Justine...

Last weekend, we had a small BBQ gathering with a couple of our friends. It wasn't a huge elaborate BBQ, just some chicken wings and kebab, and everyone brought some food and drinks. It was nice to meet Andy's wife and baby girl, and Sean's wife and daughter.

Justine, unfortunately was called to work at the last minute and could only joined us during the evening time. She stayed overnight. The next day, we went on a hike on one of the tracks around the island. It was a VERY gruesome hike because the hills were much steeper on this track! However, all our efforts were rewarded with the beautiful views!

Small incident while working with Jet

Jet is almost 9 months old now, and he is very fast and strong. Sometimes, it can be really tiring and stressful on my shoulder while playing tug with him. Also, when he gets worked up after I teased him enough with a toy, he can get a bit too "eager"! However, working with Jet is somewhat different from working with a pet dog since I am working in the hope of him titling in Schutzhund and other dog sports. Therefore, most of the time, even if he is over enthusiastic about the game of tug, and accidentally scratched or bit me, I never scold him. I will reprimand him if he doesn't obey the rules such as biting my hand or the tug when he is not supposed to etc.

Today, I was working with him on obedience with the home-made leather tug. Unlike commercial leather tug, this homemade leather tug is not stiff, thus have the tendency of folding over my hand. Jet was doing well with obedience.... we were just working on "out" and "sit" commands in different scenarios. The final time I gave him the "ok" command, as always he would enthusiastically go for the tug. Unfortunately, this time, the leather tug folded itself over my right hand, and as he went to grab it, he bit my hand! He had done this before in previous training sessions, but this time, his bite nearly went through my index finger! Ouch! Note to self: Need to be more alert! :)

Diving the HMNZS Canterbury

This weekend, Hamish(dive buddy) and I went diving on the HMNZS Canterbury.

HMNZS Canterbury (F421) was one of two broad beam Leander class frigates operated by the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) from 1971 to 2005. Canterbury was decommissioned in 2005 and after extensive works to remove potentially toxic materials, she was scuttled on 3 November 2007 at Deep Water Cove in the Bay of Islands to provide a dive wreck. She lies in 38 metres of water.

Northland Dive, owe by Shane and Julia, is the operator for the dive. We stayed on their dorm which is surrounded by a 100 acres of land with beautiful scenery, including a stream, mountains and a creek. The dorm used to be a cowshed, which they did major remodelling to convert it into a 26-bed dive lodge. Adding to the excellent dives we had on the wreck, Shane and Julia are excellent underwater photographers. Thus, we posed for them on dives and ended up with numerous great photographs.

Skive off to Piha

I had a University-rented car for the day (Thurs 11/04/10) to pick up my corals and other supplies around Auckland. Since I was done earlier than expected, Hannah and I decided to drive over to the famous Piha beach.

Piha is New Zealand's most famous surf beach. Situated on the west coast of the North Island, about 40 kilometers from the city of Auckland, this black iron-sand beach has a reputation for awesome surf. Piha is not just surf and sand. With rugged cliffs and the majestic Lion Rock standing guard over the beach, the scenery is dramatic and inspiring. As always, Hannah had to break the law and climbed over the non-entry-restricted part of Lion Rock. :) The beach is backed by the Waitakere Ranges, a protected parkland of sub-tropical forest, accessible through numerous bush tracks. We will definitely be back there again to do some bush hiking.