Meet 'Rosie' Bremner

No, Claire's new baby hasn't yet arrived. No, he won't be called Rosie!

This is the new soft coated Wheaton puppy as selected this last weekend down in Patea. We left Auckland at 5am on Saturday morning and drove on down through darkness and fog, then, by about Otorohunga, just foggy/low cloud stuff most of the way. We got to see the coastline from Awakino down through a number of little settlements heading towards New Plymouth, Water was flat calm and smooth with very modest swells breaking on shore.

Saw only the base of Mt Egmont (or Mt Taranaki as I think it is these days) on our way down to Patea.

Once there, we met the gaggle of puppies, some of which were already spoken for, and the two girls from which we could choose. One of them effectively chose US (as is often the way) and greeted us like long lost friends.

We have been tossing around a whole slew of girls names for several weeks wondering what would suit. Some were classic Irish names, but we didn't really feel we needed to limit ourselves to just those. Our 'short list' grew.

In the car on the way down, we wondered about Rosie as a possible name. When we first saw the extremely cute 6-week old puppy, we noticed a slight reddish tinge to her present colouring and immediately recalled the Rosie name. It seems to suit her bright & sunny disposition and friendly nature. It will also be easy to call - unlike our 1st little dog Muffin's original name of 'Raggedy Anne' which with a "Here," in front of it made for quite a mouth full!

After we finalised arrangements with the breeders, who will fly her up to Auckland on the 11th once she's 8 weeks old, we drove up to New Plymouth around the so-called Surf Highway. By this stage, the cloud had lifted enough to give us some pretty impressive views of the symmetrical volcano. We enjoyed the drive, despite some anxious moments regarding the prospects of buying petrol on a Saturday afternoon which we didn't imagine would ever be an issue!

We arrived safely in New Plymouth and mooched around around and explored the town a bit. Found some accommodation, looked around some more, including the interesting Len Lye wind sculpture on the foreshore; had a nice steak for dinner and then went back to the room to watch the All Blacks deliver a pretty unconvincing win over the Italians.

Having read the inscription on the sculpture which talked about the permanent Len Lye exhibition at a nearby gallery, we went there at opening time of 10:00 on Sunday morning to have a look around before leaving for Auckland. They were very apologetic, saying it had all been shipped to Melbourne for an exhibition! We decided not to fly there this morning (or tomorrow morning) and then started our drive north to Auckland.

We were 'relieved' to see the sign in Otorohanga which had amused us so much on the trip down was still there, and had to take a photo. It points to where men and women can P(ee) for free. The Herald's Sideswipe column might appreciate it!

Popped in to see Claire on the way home. Still in one piece and just looking forward to the safe arrival of the new baby.

For those who complain bitterly when there are no one-liner jokes, here you are:

I went to a seafood disco last week...and pulled a muscle.

Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly. They lit a fire in it, it sank, proving once and for all that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

Man goes to the doctor, with a strawberry growing out of his head. Doc says 'I'll give you some cream to put on it.'

'Doc I can't stop singing The Green, Green Grass of Home'. 'That sounds like Tom Jones syndrome. 'Is it common?' 'It's not unusual.'

Cheers,
Bruce
bbremner@ihug.co.nz

I should think so!

Yeah, I know, it HAS been ages. Is that really such a problem? Probably!

Life is busy and full and time is again at a premium.

Claire is about to give birth to her 2nd child any hour soon (a boy this time).

Jeanette has now finished her contract at Hampton Jones and is working on several different ventures and projects as we speak. Never short on ideas!

This weekend we drive down to Patea (about 5 hrs away) to check out/choose a puppy from a litter of Wheatons. They look reasonably cute as puppies, but lots cuter when they're grown up. Check out http://www.downderrywheatens.co.nz/ if you want to see what they look like.

My broken foot is about 95% back to normal. I've now played 36 holes of golf on it and it hasn't complained.

Here's some Tommy Cooper one-liners for your amusement:

Two blondes walk into a building..........you'd think at least one of them would have seen it.

Phone answering machine message - '...If you want to buy marijuana, press the hash key...'

I went to the butchers the other day and I bet him 50 quid that he couldn't reach the meat off the top shelf. He said, 'No, the steaks are too high.'

A man came round in hospital after a serious accident. He shouted, 'Doctor, doctor, I can't feel my legs!' The doctor replied, 'I know you can't, I've cut your arms off'.

My friend drowned in a bowl of muesli. A strong currant pulled him in.

Enough already!

Cheers
Bruce
bbremner@ihug.co.nz