Puppies, pruning, puddles and electric fence installations..

OK so we've now got a puppy dog – a five month old black lab from the pound in Hamilton – and he's wonderful - really good temperament and very soppy. The ladies have been deciding a name for said pooch for the past three days and I think it's finally been settled as Rudo – which means Love in Shona. It was also a very belated birthday present for Chris.

(And some cunning photos of the girls school uniform)

The new arrival was preceded by the ultimate in garden tools in the form of a tractor mounted telescopic hedge trimmer - well actually four of the largest circular saws I've ever seen which munched off the top third of our row of conifers. It was the type of gadget that James Bond would be chased by...... It did leave a tangle of branches and debris down one side of the garden for me to tidy up…….. (but no dead 007's) .. it's still there and but we now get an extra half hour of sunshine!

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Don't laugh but I (Richard) have enrolled in a six week swing dancing class which one of my team runs one night a week - so far I've done one lesson – Rock Step, 1-2-3, 1-2-3……..

The girls made their long awaited return to school on Friday and I got my own back today (Monday) as I had a public holiday (Waikato Day) and they had to go to school. Having said that I did spend most of the day putting up 250m of electric fence around our perimeter to ensure that our black dog does not become a flat dog. I did feel sorry for him as we enticed him to explore the fence-line and get zapped two or three times but I think it's had the desired effect and he now seems to give the fences a very wide berth. He has his own private quarters in the garden in the form of an empty shed and thanks to some more of my handiwork he now has a (non-electrified) fenced area in which to sunbathe and poo. The hanging Barney is not some ancient Kiwi sacrifice but somewhere for them to dry out after Rudo left out in the 100mm of rain we had yesterday!

Sunday was forecast as light showers so I headed off to join a 50km cycle trip up the nearest big hill. By the time I'd done 10km I was soaked through from the torrential rain and the perspiration of climbing some 500m, the remaining 40km were basically going down the other side on a great gravel track and then looping back up top the top (another 500m climb in wet gravel) before a final 10km descent on tar roads back to the cars. The final climb was a complete killer, but I made it – just. Got home and didn't get any sympathy despite suffering painful cramps – Chris muttered things about self inflicted injuries…….

So there we are - another week in paradise.....