January 2018

At the end of last year I said I would try to do more interesting things this year. A very vague and quite easy New Years resolution really. Or at least, it's easy while you're still on summer holidays. We have started the year well, first off I got a motorcycle helmet for Christmas so we've started going on rides together. So there's something new. My helmet is cute and girly. The we had the in-laws visiting and they had their dog with them - she's a guide-dog pup so while she's still in the training programme she gets to go everywhere. However she has a heart condition so she won't be a guide dog. And I discovered that having a second dog in the house is way more stressful than I expected, especially when it's not your dog so you haven't trained it and it doesn't see you as the boss. Cher was OK with it, just a bit growly because she's a lot older and doesn't want to play constantly. However the cat hated it and hardly came inside the whole four days of the visit, and he is an inside cat at night so struggling to get him in at night stressed me out further. Finally, the pup chased my chooks. So all in all, I won't be welcoming someone elses' puppy into my home again! But at least she was cute.

Of course, just because I am trying to do more interesting stuff I have not stopped taking photos of the pets and garden, so here are my roses. I only choose ones that are both pretty and have interesting names. So from left to right below I have Betty Boop, Claude Monet and Blue Moon. They got black spot but we sprayed them and they're doing better.

Next up in January was Nathan's 30th and he never did think of a present for me to get him with all the money I had been saving up over the year, so we spent it all on activities instead. First we went up to Kapiti Coast and Nathan got to fly a helicopter. He said it was really scary.

 Next we went to Upper Hutt and had lunch at a fancy garden venue, then we did some clay bird shooting and archery. I enjoyed the archery most, though I was more successful at close range and they didn't have arm guards so I ended up with a huge bruise up my arm. Nathan liked the shooting most. I think both activities could probably be done better - a more open space for the shooting and a knowledgeable instructor and arm guards for the archery would have been good. And it was super hot out there. But we had fun, and I'd be keen to try archery again.

The last birthday activity was axe-throwing. There's a place here in Wellington that has set up an axe-throwing place where you go with a bunch of people and play target practice with axes. It was probably the best activity of the bunch (except maybe the helicopter flying but I didn't get to do that). It was something completely different, the guy running it actually taught you the technique and gave you tips, and made it into a competitive game the whole way through. Daniel and his girlfriend were visiting us so they came along. I was really gutted that I didn't manage to beat Daniel. Usually you have to have a large group but January in Wellington is pretty quiet so we got lucky in being allowed to book for just four people. They also played good music so all in all it was a good day.

The rest of January has been the usual. We still have plenty to do outside and around the house. It's been really hot, and on one of the really hot days we had a very impressive fog to start the day off. We are lucky in that our house sits above the fog level so we just get this great view.