Goodbye Love

My Rottweiler, Fargo, who came with us from San Diego, CA, was beaten by the cancer growing in his liver and adrenal gland.  He was 12 years old, and was an excellent dog. I miss him terribly.

I had been asking myself when would be the time to euthanize him. No one could answer this or help with this question. Fargo's vet had told us some time ago that there was nothing that could be done for him. He was still eating, and able to conduct his day to day living, but his gut was just not functioning properly. That couldn't have been comfortable for him. He had been doing well for awhile, but seemed to decline fairly rapidly after we returned from Wellington in August.

We decided that we had to be strong for him, and decide what he could not- to end this mortal coil.  I am ultimately happy that I could release him. We were there with him, when he went, and it felt like a relief. That sounds bad, but it is not- he had peace and comfort at the end. 

I have Zeus and Ruby to keep watch over me.  Zeus is quite a collector. He brings all sorts of stuff onto the front porch to play with. This includes logs, plant pots, plants, watering cans, and other assorted detrius. He especially loves LOGs and rocks.  In the house, he likes to tear up stuffed toys, and after we stopped buying these, he moved on to pillows and his dog bed.

I found this amusing, but not so much when I had to pick up all the fluff.

I bought more fabric to make him a new bed, but I am fairly certain that this was a waste of money.  We'll see. I haven't made it yet.

What better to soothe the soul than a walk in the woods? Or bush, as we call it in NZ. To contemplate the giant Kauri, hear the falling and running water, to touch the fuzzy moss- very nice.  The poto is from Fairy Falls, a walk that's about 15 min from our house.

The Rugby World Cup is in New Zealand this year, and we're seeing lots of upgrades to Auckland.  One is the new Wynard Quarter, formerly known as the Tank Farm.  The highlight is the pedestrian bridge that draws up for passage of boats in/out of the marina.  The bridge goes from the Viaduct area, which is full of restaurants, to this newly developed area, with more restaurants.  I was amazed at the number of people there. This will likely drop off as the novelty wears off. 

Happily, it gives greater access to the seafood market, which is the freshest shop in the city. But is this good? I recently watched the doco, The End Of The Line, the premise of which is that if the world population doesn't stop supporting the work of large industrial fisheries that rape the ocean of inhabitants, we will all rue the day. I'm thinking, it's too late, we're all doomed. Enjoy it while you can, everyone!

So it's September now, and that means Spring is here.  I'm so OVER winter- sick and tired of wiping muddy dog paws, thank you very much.

American in Niue, part 3

Monday
Our first dive day was Monday, and we met the boat at the Alofi wharf. As there is no harbor, boats are launched via a winch.

The inflatable boat takes four divers and one driver/divemaster. On the way to the dive site, we had dolphins cruise with us. We hooked up to a mooring ball near the Limu pools area and dove a site known as Twin or Two Caves. I was comfortable in my 3 ml neoprene with a beanie. The highlights of diving in Niue include the incredibly clear water and hence terrific visibility, and the caverns and caves. And the whales- during our surface interval, we watched a group of 3 beaching and spy-hopping, and saw another two that were approachable. Annie, our divemaster, got the boat in front of them and told us we could slip into the water with snorkel and fins. I didn’t see them at first, but then they came into view, out of the blue- right below me. It was so incredible to be in the same water space as them. The most visible one just sort of hung out below us for a good 5-10 minutes before swimming off. Our second dive was called Bubble Cave. You swim into a cave and come up above water into an enclosed cave. The structure was so interesting to swim through, and the water so clear, there was nothing to be scared of despite being surrounded by snakes swimming all around. They breathe air but live in the water, and are curious so they will sometimes follow divers around.

The other divers in the boat recommended the lemon cheesecake ice cream at one of the shops, so we had some to recharge after diving.

Tuesday
Our second day of diving departed from Avatele ramp, about 15 minutes south from Alofi. The surf was a bit larger today, and so it was good that our dive sites were relatively close. The first was Matavai Bommie, a small coral head, and the second was Snake Gully. Both sites had much more coral than the previous day’s sites, and also a wide variety of beautiful fish. Darin had his underwater video camera with him and got some great footage of the fish. Snake Gully was my favorite, because it had lots of fish and coral variety as well as a gorgeous cave and cavern. Not to mention lots of snakes! They are curious and not dangerous.
For lunch, Darin cut up the yellowfin tuna for sashimi, and I made rice- both eaten with soy sauce. We ate tuna again for dinner with one of the package pasta meals I brought along. Diving really tires you out, and I was coming down with a cold, so we watched a couple movies while here- Hancock, which was good except the ending, and Burn After Reading, in which Brad Pitt totally aced his role.