20 years

Darin and I have been married 20 years! That's right, 20 years, wow. I proposed to him when we were living together in Fargo. Our second year of marriage, I was accepted to graduate school in Indiana, and he had to stay in North Dakota to finish his degree at NDSU. It was really hard living apart, but it got harder- despite his  being my best friend.  We worked it out, though. Marriage really is a process of working things out. No one stays the same forever, and that's a good thing.  One thing that has stayed the same, and it is a very good thing, is that we agree that children are not what we want. This is a very important thing for a couple to agree on- no one should have parenthood forced upon them. Go ahead and call us DINKS (Double Income No Kids) or Selfish Heathens- we wear these like a badge of honor.

This isn't a post about our choices, this is about my fabulous new ring! Check out this flashy ice! The photo doesn't do justice to the colors flashed around when I move my hand. I have been happily distracted by my ring at my job this week.  Like our first wedding bands of only gold, we found this at a pawn shop at a cost dramatically less than what a jewellrey shop would charge. Also, it is 18 karat gold, unlike most of the 9 karat crap sold in NZ.

As our anniversary was on a Monday, we celebrated with a dinner out. We went to Sails restaurant on Westhaven marina and ordered the grilled lobster for dinner. It was so delicious! I asked where the lobster was caught, and the waitress said the Chatham islands off the coast of NZ.  We were equally happy with the fresh Clevedon oysters and tuna carpaccio. We also enjoyed a bottle of Nevis Bluff Pinot Gris. 

When we returned from our trip to the US in July, we had a pre-planned trip on the Overlander train from Auckland to Wellington booked. We left Auckland the day after we returned from the US, early Saturday morning, and arrived in Wellington 12 hours later. It is a beautiful and leisurely trip with a stop at National Park (photo above taken there).  I hope to do it again.

Wellington has great public transport, so we caught a bus to our hotel, the Museum Hotel, which is in a super location, just across the street from the national museum, Te Papa.

We'd been there before, but this time we saw a cool tapa cloth exhibit and the recently acquired giant squid.  I love cephalopods! I also found a book on NZ spiders, and found the name of one I saw in our yard in Auckland, the two-spined spider.  We had the most perfect weather for cruising around the farmer's and foodie market in the morning and walking along Oriental Bay and up Mt Victoria. 

Wellington is such a nice city.

We flew back to Auckland on Jet Star, and the seats on the plane were really tightly packed. If you are tall, you definitely want to get an exit row seat on their planes. Also, I am not sure I would fly Jet Star for any travel more than a couple hours. But definitely I will take the train again.

Yes I'm from Fargo, ND

The interior of an old house at Bonanzaville in West Fargo, above, and my husband Darin with my brother-in-law Richard, the deputy Sheriff (and his dog Lucky).

Darin and I are Fargo natives. We recently returned to visit our families, because my parents had their 50th wedding anniversary, and Darin's mom's family had a reunion. My siblings and I hosted a party for our parents at the refurbished Hotel Donaldson. It was supposed to be on the roof, but the weather was cold, so we moved it inside. We had relatives come from Florida (former Montanans), Montana, and Washington state. I was really pleased that everyone seemed to have a good time at the party. Mom and Dad got lots of cards.

The city has done a nice job of restoring the old buildings downtown. The Fargo theatre is one of my favorites. No, make that my #1 favorite. The old Fargo train depot is below. I cannot comprehend why this lovely building is not being used. The train office that's in use is in a boring square building next door. Darin and I departed Fargo by train to Minneapolis to catch our morning flight at 3 am. Amtrak train was really quite roomy and comfortable; affordable even. They just don't make bells like this anymore. Maybe that's a good thing, I just don't know.The above photo was taken at Bonanzaville. I talked my old friend (from Longfellow grade school in North Fargo!) Sonja into going out there for a bit of old-timey, dusty entertainment with her two kids. Don't try to tell me Bison are uncool! Bison rule and that's final. Bonanzaville is a bit of a relic, in need of a big monetary infusion, but it's comforting how it hasn't changed at all. There's still the creepy jar of teeth in the old dentist office.

Yeah that's gross, but what parent doesn't save their kids' baby teeth? How is this any different? I guess the worst part is that you can see the roots still attached on these teeth. Ouch! Makes me glad I live in a time of anaesthesia and antibiotics.

H1N1 in New Zealand

(Picture above taken from Terrierman's Daily Dose)

News of the "swine flu" broke in Auckland last Sunday, with wild speculation about some sick students who recently returned from Mexico. Monday morning, I rode the train into the city to work, as usual. The train was more packed than usual. As I stood up to get off at my stop, I heard a woman standing in front of me yell "oh my god!" but the rest of the train was quiet. Then someone said "did he get you too?" The crowd isn't moving now, so I push through and see what initially apears to be spilled coffee on the carpet of the train. I get off the train, and realize this isn't coffee. There's a man standing against the fence with drool hanging out of his mouth, red nose, pale face, vomit down his shirt, pants and shoes. I think, "oh that poor guy, he looks terrible" and at the same time "what a dumbass! He could have infected the whole train! Even if he's just hung over, why the hell is he getting on a train packed with people when he's feeling bad?"
This is the day that I go to get my flu vaccination from the hospital, which is free for employees. Oddly, this is not a requirement for hospital staff. Fortunately, I have been feeling fine so far. The hospital's response to the new flu has been to tell staff that if you are feeling unwell, but have not been to Mexico recently, follow the usual protocols- stay home, cover your mouth when you sneeze, throw your snotty tissues in the trash, and wash your hands a lot (that goes for everyone, even if you're feeling well).

As it turned out, there were three of the 11 students who were infected with H1N1, but none were reported to have more than mild symptoms. I really appreciate that New Zealanders are willing and eager world travellers, and that New Zealand is such an excellent tourist destination, but at the same time, this does put our relatively small population at risk. I suppose if this flu were actually a real threat, Darin and I could pack up our pets and flee to our land in Maungaturoto until it was safe to return to the cities. We were up there this past weekend and found that the recent rains had filled our new water tank completely. We also saw a large group of turkeys cruising around, so we would have water and meat. Hey, can you blame me for being paranoid? The train is a serious risk these days, with so many people in close proximity.

Sometimes I have to agree with Sartre: "Hell is other people".

This idea was repeated in a book about searching for the perfect meal, in The Man Who Ate The World by Jay Rayner. This book is relatively new, and was very entertaining. The title and subject is very similar to a 1997 book, The Man Who Ate Everything. The latter is a bit more intellectual, both practical and philosophical, and a lot less shallow. Both entertaining, but I'm only a few chapters into the ...Everything book. My most recent food fun has been to make chicken apple sausage from Bruce Adells Complete Sausage Book. We used a free range chicken from the grocery and one of our backyard chickens who turned out to be a rooster. It is delicious! We'll have to make it again soon, because there's another rooster out there (at least one). Sad though, because they have names: 5 Toe and Elvis. I guess their name will soon change to Sausage.

Mt Eden Prison

Behold, the new Boston Road Train Station: directly next to Mt Eden Prison. This is where I get off to walk to work at Auckland Hospital. Ok, it's a very cool old building, I'll grant you that. However, isn't it a jarring juxtaposition? A prison just does not belong next to a train station, much less a busy road (the motorway is just up and to the left of the photo). What's more, there is a DOOR into the prison for easy access.

True, it doesn't appear to be used much. Actually the prison is really interesting to me, I like to imagine taking off my underwear, wrapping around a rock, and hefting it over the wall to see what would happen. Ha ha! The station was moved out from under the trees, and is now totally exposed and hot, so I'm not too happy with the new location. Also, because it's down a slope, they put a fence across the top. Today I had to jump the fence to run to the train, because the gate through the fence requires you to backtrack to the tracks crossing, which would have lost me precious seconds and thus miss the train.

While I'm on the topic of crime and punishment, I'll reveal my husband's new hobby. While illegal in the US without a permit, distilling alcohol is still legal in New Zealand. He used to brew beer until we moved to San Diego and discovered a wealth of delicious craft beers. In NZ, good beer can be found, but it is expensive. We particularly like the Epic, Hallertau, and Galbraith's brews, but they are not easy to get our hands on, and also cost plenty (as a good quality craft should). Distilling gives a bit more "bang for the buck" and is easier I guess- you just put 5 kilos of sugar in a big carboy, and yeast, and stand back. I don't know all the details, but the end result is basically pure alcohol. He then dilutes it down and adds a bottle of flavor. I have so far resisted drinking his "fake" tequila, because the real stuff is made from agave plants, and I'm a purist (and a snob). The gin and scotch, however, are rather tasty. Below is a picture of his set-up.

We have made a second trip to the restaurant Squid Row on a Sunday afternoon to take advantage of the 2 for 1 pot of mussels and happy hour drink specials. This is a terrific deal and the big pot of mussels is delicious. We've also returned to the Kumeu Beer, Wine, and Food Festival. This year, it rained, but it was clearing by the time we went. Though bad for the event, the rain made us happy because it wasn't crowded or hot. We enjoyed visiting with the brewers of Croucher and Epic beers. The Auckland Beer Festival is comming up, but I don't know if we'll go- we also have the Kumeu A & P show, CheeseFest, and the Northland Field Days, where we intend to shop for a water tank for our new garage.

Two years in New Zealand!

Wow, two years now. I think back to when I first arrived, and how weird I felt. I'm not sorry I moved, but I still think about and miss my friends in San Diego. I hope my friends and family aren't suffering too much from the historic failure of the US economy. I'm a bit freaked out by the train crash in LA that injured many and killed a bunch of people recently. The same thing could happen here- there are single tracks along the route that accomodate trains going both directions. Even the same company, Veolia Transport, is operating the trains here. I still continue to commute to and from work on the train. I pay $160 for a monthly pass. My drive to the station is about 3 minutes, the train comes every 15 minutes, and the ride to my stop is about 50 min. The walk to the hospital is about 10 min. I like avoiding the hassle of finding parking and dealing with traffic. As a bonus, I am getting a lot of reading done. I read The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and felt like I needed a companion Spanish-English Urban Dictionary to decipher some of the text. The book is about a Dominican boy/man looking for love, despite a curse on his family/culture. Lots of dark and dirty history there, too. I also requested the library get Mary Roach's new book, Bonk, The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex and they did! Yay for the Waitakere Library! I really enjoyed Bonk, but it could have been another 600 pages. I think I should write a sequel. Her first book, Stiff, The Secret Life of Human Cadavers, is still my favorite. Highly recommended. Now I'm reading Eiger Dreams by John Krakauer, a collection of short essays about men and mountain climbing. The book was handy, and is filling the gap until I get the next library book, Persepolis. This will be another history-rich fiction, which I tend to prefer.

LAND UPDATE

Spring is definitely here. We've been spending almost every weekend at the farm. We just go for a day, stopping at the Italian Bakery in Kaiwaka on the way. Check us out in our new coveralls! We are kicking ourselves for not getting them sooner.
The photos below show the erosion along the banks of the stream through our property as a result of the heavy rains this winter, and the evidence of flooding. On the plus side, we now have a more sandy bottom.

We plan to put in a small bridge across the stream at the corner shown below, from the tree to where I and the dogs are hanging out. In our hikes around the land, we found that we have several more swampy areas than we'd known about. I hope they'll dry out some, or we'll be sucked dry by mosquitoes. Because the land is pasture for cows and sheep, there are ticks. We found lots of tiny baby ticks on the dogs and Darin. The dogs are getting treated with Frontline for the forseeable future. We've developed some ideas for where to put the fencing, to break the land into 4 grazing paddocks. The orchard is currently being fenced, thanks to assistance from our awesome neighbor Don. Darin planted two avocado trees last weekend, and there seems to be room for 2 more. I am advocating for an apricot.
TURKEY TALK

In my previous blog I mentioned the 9 turkeys we shot and butchered. Their scent seems to appeal to Ruby, now that she's eaten plenty of raw turkey meals. We saw her tracking instinct kick in as we walked uphill toward where we'd seen the turkeys retreat when we arrived. I thought that they'd crossed the fence to the neighbor's paddock, but they were still there. She never saw them, only scented them in the grass, until they took off about 20 feet away. These wild turkeys can fly pretty well, but not very far. Still, we never expected that she would have the ability to chase one of them from one end of the property to the other, but she did. She must have surprised one on the initial charge, and trapped it in the ravine. Darin put the bird out of her misery, and butchered it for the dogs when we returned home. Ruby was so proud of herself! She and I are now going to the Dogsport (Schutzhund) club in Auckland, as a way to focus her drive into obedience training.

The following weekend we went to the land, Darin and I worked on her recalls, and I kept her on a short leash for a short walk. We didn't see any turkeys around, so I let Ruby off leash, and she was totally fine. I had been concerned that she would run off looking for the turkeys, but she didn't. She is getting so big.

THE GARDEN

We've done a bit of work in the garden at home. Darin put chickenwire around the perimeter to keep the dogs and chickens out. I turned the soil, pulled out the lemongrass (it might survive in the pot) and all the weeds, and mixed in the compost. We planted lettuce and carrot seeds, spring and yellow onions, silverbeet (chard), and garlic. I've never grown garlic before, and it may be too late to be planting it (should be put out in winter), so I'm curious to see what happens. I collected a bag of espresso grounds from the coffee shop in the hospital and put it into the new batch of compost I made.

My sister Barb was recently back in the US. I ordered a pound of the Bold Taco seasoning from Penzey's, had it sent to my sister in Minnesota, and Barb brought it back. Yay! Darin and I are huge fans. The fajita seasoning is also great.

Asparagus season is here, and I've been using our fresh eggs for asparagus and cheese omelettes. YUM! Tomorrow I'm going to make a (wild) turkey and asparagus strata with cheese.

New year in New Zealand

Happy new year, everyone! Well the time sure is flying by, filled with new experiences. In 2008, I will start a new career (Clinical Trials Coordinator in Oncology at Auckland City Hospital), Darin will learn to sail, and we will probably get a Rottweiler puppy. Three pups (1 boy, 2 girls) were born to a lovely local bitch owned by a woman I met by researching a dog in Australia. He is an import from Croatia with working and conformation titles, and his semen was imported to NZ to sire this litter. Wenno We saw the pups when they were not quite 24 hours old. I'd like to get a pup that Fargo can help to raise, because dogs are pack animals and learn a lot from other dogs. There is a Dogsport club in Auckland, so it's likely that I would join if the dog has good drive and is willing to please.

We got a little money for Christmas, so we bought ourselves a brand-spanking new wheelbarrow and a bread-making machine. The wheelbarrow was put to use hauling cut, wet wood from the front yard to the back, under the house so it can dry out. The bread machine was bought because we've been paying about $3.60 NZD for a good loaf of sliced bread, and it's unreasonably expensive in our view. Darin made pizza dough in the machine and we baked pizzas for dinner tonight, and it turned out great. The bread also turned out well, and all for a fraction of the cost of a store-bought loaf, and the benefit of the yummy baking-bread smell.

I went back to work after a two week break this past Monday. This Friday is my last day of work, and I'm really happy to know I'll soon be free of that soul-sucking environment. I will bring home all my scientific journal articles, but they will probably gather dust in the garage. I feel somewhat sad that all my neuroscience and behavioral pharmacology experience won't be used anymore, but also giddy that I've escaped the drudgery of working with rats and mice.


Since my last blog, we have had some really fun activities with my sister and her husband. Jan 2 we went to Tree Adventures in Woodhill Forest. This is a fantastic opportunity and I've never seen anything like it. The staff strap you into a leg and waist harness with two carbiners and a pulley. After a short orientation, we did obstacle courses 5-8, which is the more challenging (vs 1-4), high up in the trees, for a good 2 hours. The best part is the flying fox. Next time, and there will be a next time, I'll bring leather gloves to minimize the redness and swelling from the metal cables. Following this, we deserved a nice cold beer and some good food, so we went back to Hallertau. Love that place! After a chance meeting with out friend Misato and her husband, we kept the good times rolling with a trip over to the east coast to check out the new Auckland Luge. You sit in this plastic cart with wheels, get on a conveyor belt to get to the top of the hill, and then push the bar forward to go, back to stop, down a twisty and sometimes steep cement driveway. Barb said the one in Rotorua is better. I had fun, but it cannot compare to the joy of a motorcycle ride. I miss my bike. Also the carts created an unpleasant vibration in the butt when it got going fast. Some may like it, but it's not for me. We opted to end the afternoon with a stiff competition on the mini-golf course.
We also took a ride on WaterCare's narrow gauge railroad, the Rainforest Express, out to the Nihotupo Dam. It took us through several long and short tunnels, some filled with cave wetas (see photo), then stopped before the dam so we could walk up the STEEP steps (only one way, UP). From there you have beautiful views, and you can see we enjoyed yet another gorgeous summer day. I brought along a nice Rose wine from Hawke's Bay and a bit of cheese, which we enjoyed after walking down the road from the dam to the picnic spot.

















Finally, Darin turned 39 on January 5th. My sister and her husband joined us at Wildfire restaurant at the viaduct downtown Auckland. They gave us great service and the food was delicious.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, Darin is taking a sailing course, to begin the end of January. This was his birthday present. The course is for 5 days, and he will live on board the boat during the training. They call the course "competent crew", and following this certification, he'll be able to do a bit more training to attain the "day skipper" certification. I'm pretty sure he'll do well at it and enjoy it. If so, we'll be able to charter a boat for a day or weekend getaway pretty much anywhere. It doesn't require the consumption of fossil fuels, so that's a positive benefit. The course is expensive, but it's a great opportunity, and knowledge is usually worth the cost.

We saw the movie I Am Legend, and both Barb and I were sobbing during that scene with the dog- I won't give it away, but if you've seen it you'll know what I mean. I haven't cried like that during a movie EVER. It was horrible and sad. I also get annoyed by jerky camera movement, and there was a bit of that in some scenes. Overall though, I have to say I liked the movie. Will Smith gets extra bonus points for being a Rottweiler owner.