The Mountains of Victoria

Hi all!

Mommy is busy watching the Obama Inauguration, so I have taken over the computer again and decided to take a moment to update our blog (I also bought some rawhide bones on E-Bay and chatted with some of my fellow Weimaraner friends on DogBook to catch up on the latest tricks of the trade, but don't tell Mommy!)

The big news is that after the Christmas and New Year holidays, we went to the mountains! We stayed in a city called Bright in the Australian Alps of Victoria. Our apartment was on the banks of a river called The Ovens and we had such a great time!

My Mommy and Daddy bought a collapsible crate to take with us on holidays, but since I set about tearing it apart when we were at Lakes Entrance last October, they decided that it might be better just to take my normal crate where I would feel more comfortable. They spent a long time trying to arrange everything in the car just so, so that everything would fit and we would all be happy and comfortable. I was to sit in the crate on the way there, which they had taken apart for the journey.

Only one problem: they forgot the door!!! Mommy realised it about halfway up to the mountains, and by then it was too late to go back for it. hahahaha. It was so great! It meant that I got to spend every single minute with my Mommy and Daddy! They couldn't go anywhere without me, not even dinner! It was the best holiday ever!


When we arrived on Monday evening, we had a quick walk around Bright town centre, and then we had a beer at the brewery. Well, Mommy and Daddy did. I just drank water.

Then we went to The Cosy Kangaroo which is a sort of typical Aussie restaurant. We were going to try to sit outside, but then Mommy and Daddy noticed that all the food on their menu was available for take-away, so we got our meals to go and ate them in the house.

After dinner we had a walk down to the river and relaxed during the evening.


The next two days involved lots of lovely walks along The Ovens, including one 45 minute walk and one 2 1/2 hour walk! We were all so tired, and it was hot every day too (30-35C/86-93F) but it cooled off during the night so it was always comfortable for sleeping. On Tuesday I fell into the river and almost died! Well, Mommy just laughed so maybe I wasn't quite as close to meeting my doom as I thought at the time, but I did float downstream a few feet until I was able to attach to a rock and then Daddy pulled me out. My Daddy is such a good man! Of course, being a fearless Weimaraner, I had to go back to the rock where I had fallen in to see where I went wrong. Mommy and Daddy were bemused and insisted that I leave the rock at once to get back on the trail. What's that about?


On Wednesday during our epic walk around the river and through the pine forest, it was very hot and we were out in the noon sun, so I took a moment to cool off with Mommy and Daddy in the river. We met another dog named Jasper who looked sort of like my old American friend, Charlie!


He went into the water more than I did, but I did chase some sticks and I went in somewhat. I'm still not much of a water dog but Mommy and Daddy were pleased with my forays into the river during the week.

I became more and more brave about it as time went on. By the end of the week I was rescuing large rocks from the bottom of the river! I have no idea how they got there but I was determined to get them all out!


On all of the walks we occasionally had to walk across a swing bridge. I wasn't crazy about them at all, but I did manage to get across every time!


Wednesday night, Mommy and Daddy decided to go out to dinner to a nice restaurant called Poplars. The brewery man told us that they were dog-friendly, so we sat outside under the trellis and they enjoyed a wonderful meal! (they stuck me with treats, but hey, that's better than nothing). They shared an appetizer of a gazpacho-style soup served with fresh, homemade bread and smoked salmon, and then Mommy had local rainbow trout in broth and Daddy had rabbit! Mommy tasted the rabbit and she really liked it as well. Turns out rabbit tastes good to humans too, and not just doggies. Only one thing was weird: the rabbit my Daddy ate had no fur on it and it came with potatoes and some sauce! I have never seen a rabbit like that running around outside! But they were happy with it so I guess this is just one of those things about humans that we dogs will probably never understand. Ruining a perfectly good piece of meat.

The service at the restaurant was impeccable, and the chef even gave us a loaf of sourdough bread when Mommy told the waiter how much she liked it and would love to find something like it in Bright! The waiter said he could probably sell us a loaf, but then the chef decided just to give it to us. They were so nice. Did I get any bread though? nooooooooooooo.

On Friday it was time to go home, and so we got in the car but stopped by Michelini Winery, one of many in the area, to pick up a bottle of Barbera, a grape that is from Daddy's region in Italy. It was a nice wine. The day before, Mommy and Daddy bought a painting from a local artist as their Christmas gift to each other. The painting is called "Autumn on The Ovens" by Stephen McCall and it's a good reminder of our time up there.



It was such a great holiday and I hope we get to do it again!

Leans 'n' Licks,

Silver

PS yesterday after dinner we all went to the beach to play with the other doggies, but Mommy and Daddy managed to lock both their keys in the car! So we had a much longer beach visit than we had originally anticipated. It was such fun!

Christmas in Oz

Hello and Season's Greetings to one and all! What "Season" is that, I hear you ask? Why, summer, of course!

So, Christmas in Melbourne has been an interesting time, which was expected. But it was interesting in different ways that we had expected. For instance, we imagined that we'd be sitting on the beach, drinking beer or sipping champagne in our bathing suits while watching the sun set over the horizon, laughing at the sounds of "Let it Snow" and "Winter Wonderland" playing in the background.

Not so much.

Sadly, it's been a chilly summer so far; the weather hasn't really been conducive to going to beach most days, and the evenings are consistently cool because there's very little humidity in Melbourne, so nothing holds the heat from the day into the evening. But it's not really cold either (although apparently it did snow two years ago at Christmas in the local mountain range!) so the music isn't exactly weather-appropriate.

The weirdest thing has been the Christmas decorations; they are all over the place in the shopping centres but the homes aren't so crazily decorated as they are in the US. Christmas is only a few days after summer solstice; the sun doesn't set until 9:30pm! What in the world do you need lights for?

We met up with a couple friends from Perth who are now living in NC and came home for the holidays, and they said that after spending time in the northern hemisphere, they "get" the whole concept of Christmas decorations much more because there's so little sunlight that you need all those lights and colorful decorations to brighten everything up. It really makes sense. Here they are kind of pointless.

That said, we did opt to buy a live pine Christmas tree. I will give you a run-down of the process of discussing, buying, decorating, and disposing of a live tree in Australia vs. the US.


Live vs Fake Tree Discussion
US (at least among people I know): sure, fake trees exist and some are very beautiful, but in general people prefer a live tree because it smells nice and it's real and it's traditional. So the discussion usually revolves around whether to get a Douglas Fir or a Pine, or how someone grew up with a fake tree and then one day s/he couldn't take it anymore and bought a real one.
Australia (at least among people I know): the concept of putting a live tree into someone's house is a bit strange. There are plenty of people who do buy live trees, but fake trees are far more common. Australians are pretty laid-back people who don't tend to pass judgment on other peoples' lifestyle choices, but there were times when I could just hear them thinking "crazy foreigners" when we asked where would be the best place to buy a live tree. Which brings us to...

Live Tree Purchase
US: first you buy a tree stand for about $8 (maybe $15 if you want a really posh one or you have a particularly big tree) from some place like Kmart or Wal-Mart or Home Depot, and then you walk outside to the parking lot of said store which will inevitably have a Christmas tree sales lot. Alternatively, you can go to your preferred charity to buy the tree and support them. Once on the lot, you look for anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours, depending on your own tree-related OCD level, until you find the "perfect" tree... "perfect" meaning stands up straight, is full and bushy, doesn't have any obvious holes making the trunk visible, is basically in the shape of a triangle, has a top that will allow a star or angel to sit happily, and doesn't cost a freakin' fortune. Once you have selected the Perfect Tree, you inform one of the assistants who is happy to sell you the item, ask if you'd like to donate any extra to the charity, just for shits and giggles, and then puts the tree on your stand until it stands on its own without leaning, to your satisfaction. Then they wrap it in that plastic stuff, tie it to the top of your car with a protective velour underneath, all of which they have provided, wish you well and tell you Merry Christmas as you leave.

Australia: First, you call every Bunnings (the Aussie equivalent of Home Depot, complete with "sausage stand" outside) in a 10 mile radius to find that they have sold out of Christmas tree stands even though everyone you had talked to beforehand about the live tree thought you were a lunatic for wanting one. Well, apparently we were one of many lunatics in the area because tree stands were hard to come by. Then you call every major supermarket chain, Target, and K-Mart who all tell you (rather incredulously), "no, you have to buy the whole tree" -- the stand comes attached to the fake tree, of course, is what they mean, and how could you possibly be so stupid as to ask for a stand on its own? What the hell would you need one of those for?

So you decide that you'll look for the tree first, and lo and behold, there's a place near you that sells them for charity. GREAT! And when you get there, you ask if they sell stands as well, and yay! They do! So you tell the gentleman that you are in the market for a tree, and immediately he grabs the closest one to you which is 12 feet tall and asks if that one will do. Well, no sir, we were thinking of something a bit smaller. He points to the three foot trees. You ask for a six-footer. He shows you a six-foot tree that kind of leans funny and has a big hole in the side and gruffly asks if that will be fine. Because you're scared to request to see others, you say yes and buy the tree. Since you foolishly assumed that they would wrap the tree up for you and attach it to the hood of your car (after all, they do have the plastic tree-wrapping machine there) you don't bring anything like rope. Well, they don't have it either, so the gentleman kindly shoves it into your car -- without wrapping it up first. As you go inside to pay, you notice that the cheapest tree stand costs $45. I don't f****ing think so, you say to yourself. The next day you find a stand for $25 at another tree market.

Decorating a Live Tree:
US: you buy about 500 lights, 100 balls, and various and sundry random decorations. You put everything on the tree until it looks like some sort of fire hazard, albeit a beautiful one, because you need as many lights as possible to make it look festive and all the balls need to reflect the lights to make the tree look even more festive. You top it with an angel that lights up with the other lights. Oh, all the strands of lights are designed so that you can plug one end into the other until you get to the bottom, and then plug it into the wall
Australia: you buy 300 lights but only put 100 on because that's really all you need, and because you realise that there isn't the "plugging into the other light strand" option and you don't have a spare power strip lying around. You also attach 36 balls and about 10 random decorations. Then you shove a star onto the top and call it a day. At 9:30 every night, you turn the lights on for half an hour. It sure is beautiful though.


Disposing of a Live Tree:
US: at some point in January, you decide you've had enough of the tree and you take it down. You put it outside next to the curb and one day it's gone.

Australia: at some point in January, you decide you've had enough of the tree and you take it down. You notice that nobody is putting their live trees outside of their houses next to the curb, so you call the City Council who informs you that there is no pick-up of live trees, and you have to take it to the "transfer station" yourself to have it disposed of. Naturally, you pay a fee for this privelege but it's not a hefty one. You still have no rope, so you have to put the tree back into the car AGAIN (shortly after you cleaned it from last time) but you do remember that you have a covering that you can wrap it in. You drive down the road toward this transfer station with a large item in your car resembling something out of a CSI-type program, and you can't see out the rear view mirror either.

Cultural norms. Good times :)

Silver's first Aussie holiday

Hi everyone!

Silver here again. I'm starting to enjoy this blogging stuff. And I know I have to work hard to keep the fickle public wrapped firmly around my paws, lest they forget me and start reading about the global economic crisis, or worse, a cat's blog!


So, here's an update of the last week or so. The big news is that I went on vacation (here we call it 'holiday') with Mommy and Daddy.


But a few days before we went, I had to have a check-up with the vet. I know what you're thinking: I was just at the vet a lot before moving to Australia, so why do I have to go again? And that's a good point, but the fact is that I was due for some of my jabs. So it was time to go. Unfortunately, Dr. Jon lives too far away, being back in North Carolina, so we went to the Carnegie Veterinary Clinic which is about 5km or 2 miles from home, and I met Dr. Ketan. He's so nice and gives me lots of treats! He also told Mommy that some of the shots I had to have back in the US aren't necessary here, so I managed to get out of there with only one shot! Dr. Ketan is a great man. Mommy is also happy with him because, in her words, "he has a very good bedside manner, he's very laid-back and mild-mannered, and he doesn't dumb down the facts but does explain everything very well". Whatever that means. The important point here is that he gave me a lot of treats and only one shot!


So, a few days later, we were off for our long weekend in Metung, Victoria, close to Lakes Entrance. We did not get off to a very auspicious start because the smoke alarm in the house decided at 4am on Thursday morning to let us know that the battery was getting low. It beeped once every minute. Mommy was not impressed!


She was even less impressed by the 14 foot ceilings in the house that she had loved until that very moment, when she realised there was no way she could reach the alarm without a ladder, which we don't have. Daddy managed to climb onto a stool on top of a chair (don't try this at home, kids) and, as he and Mommy were discussing how this could only end badly for him, he did disable the alarm for two hours until 6:30 when it started up again. tee hee! For my part, I took the 'awake' time to go out and check for news in the backyard. There wasn't any.

At 8am Mommy and Daddy got up to take Daddy to work, and Mommy came back home immediately and started preparing for our journey. At around 3pm we went to collect Daddy, and headed on down east to East Gippsland, Victoria for our holiday.


At 6:30pm we arrived at the Hill View Cottage, where we stayed for three nights.

It's a lovely studio-style cottage set on a 15-acre farm that has lots of beautiful flowers everywhere, inside and out.


It also has an organic vegetable garden and free-ranging chickens. The owners, Ken and Lyn, were so kind to all of us, and I had a lot of fun running around the farm with their two Spaniels, Will and Scarlett. When we arrived, we were presented with a loaf of home-baked bread (which I wasn't allowed! Can you believe that!?), plus a bowl of fresh veggies and eggs from the farm, and homemade raspberry jam. Ken and Lyn told us about the area, and we settled in for the evening to be ready for our big day on Friday.


Friday morning we woke up mid-morning after a wonderful nights' sleep on the quiet farm, and we had breakfast with some bread and jam, and then Lyn gave us a list of dog-friendly walks in the area. We decided to go to the Tambo River Bay, where I ran around like crazy, rolled in dead fish -- yay! --and even was brave enough to chase the stones that Daddy was skipping into the water!


It was so nice to be on the sand and nobody else was around.


Afterward, we went to Lakes Entrance where we walked around for a while but then I kept trying to go into the shops so Mommy and Daddy had to stop. Tee hee! They punished me though by eating fish and chips for lunch by the river and they didn't give me any!


Well, they gave me a fry or two, but that's not the same as the fish! I was a good girl but they wouldn't give me any fish and even acted annoyed that I was salivating on them. They don't understand that drooling is a sign of affection and love. Living with humans is a constant exercise in training...You can never let it slip or else they'll back-slide and then it's nothing but work, work, work! Clearly, Mommy and Daddy need to be reminded of some things.

That evening they cooked local salmon on the grill at the cottage with some fresh vegetables and rosemary. Lyn, who had offered a lettuce from the garden earlier, instead brought over a prepared salad complete with olives, bell peppers, parmesan, and anchovies. Yummy! Of course, I didn't get much salmon because they never share the goodies with me, apart from a little bite. It smelled and tasted delicious!


On Saturday we took a special trip to Raymond Island. It was my first ever time on a ferry and it was weird!


First you cross water but don't actually get wet, and then the machine makes a really loud, scary noise, and then you get off! I was a very good girl but I was a little spooked by the loud noise. Anyway, the point of Raymond Island was to see the koalas, but I was much more interested in the Clydesdale horse pulling a carriage! Koalas are all up in trees and they don't do much, and I like to keep my nose to the ground, if you know what I mean. The horse was captivating though, but Mommy and Daddy didn't let me get very close.


We took the ferry back to the mainland and then we went back to the cottage for lunch. Mommy and Daddy had the farm-fresh free-range eggs from the farm, and I was given kibble. What's that about? Later on I ran around with Will and Scarlett and then we went for a walk on the Mouth of the Tambo River. That was pretty with lots of unusual flowers, but there were plenty of fishermen so I wasn't allowed off-leash very much. There were also biting flies everywhere, so our walk was a little shorter than the one on Tambo Bay the day before!

That night, Mommy and Daddy actually left me to go have a nice romantic dinner on their own! So rude! They wanted to have a seafood dinner at Ferryman's Restaurant in Lakes Entrance and they enjoyed themselves a lot.


They were worried that I would be distressed in my new wire crate, but Ken and Lyn promised to keep an ear out for me. I didn't make a peep though, because as soon as they left, I promptly set to work destroying the crate! I did manage to pull off a couple of the wires, but I was unable to make my escape. Mommy and Daddy were disappointed that I behaved that way, but really, they only gave me 2 1/2 hours to try to get out! If they had left me for longer, I would've escaped for sure, and then they would've been so proud at my Weimaraner intelligence and resourcefulness. Next time...


On Sunday we had to head home, and it was nice to be back but I loved my holiday on the farm! Ken and Lyn were such wonderful hosts, and Will and Scarlett were a lot of fun to play with on so much land! Mommy and Daddy definitely want us all to go back there one day. I can't wait!

Leans n licks,
Silver

Interesting things about Australia

Hi everyone,

I hope you're all doing well back up North -- no matter where you are, I can say "up North" and be right 99.9% of the time because there's not a whole lot south of us, and nobody that I know lives in Tasmania, New Zealand (which is more "to the right" than "to the south"), or Antarctica.

Now that Silver is home

we have all of our furniture

and things are generally pretty settled, I'll let you in on a few secrets about Australia that you may or may not be aware of....

1. It does get cold here. And that kind of sucks. Don't let anyone tell you that it's always hot in Australia because they're either lying or selling something! There are parts of Australia that are subtropical and thus never get cold; unfortunately, Melbourne is not one of those places. The weather is generally milder than the winters in Europe and the US (north of Florida and SoCal, that is), but because there are very few times a year when the mercury drops below freezing, the Aussies haven't been as meticulous about things like insulation and quality heating systems in homes and buildings. This isn't so much the case in newer homes, but in old ones (like where I live and work), sometimes we can feel a draft inside when the wind blows :| New homes are required to have a 5-star energy rating, though, so they are much better insulated -- hermetically sealed is probably more the word. It's my understanding that in the future, anyone who wants to sell an older home will be required to bring it up to 5-star energy standards. Sooner rather than later would be ideal! In the meantime, Silver enjoys warming herself by the gas fireplace when she comes in from outside. It's kind of sweet but in a way, a little sad too.


2. It's really weird to have winter in the summer. It just is. I don't know if I'll ever get used to that. It is NOT, however, weird to have summer during the winter. I never complain about summer, whenever it happens to arrive. With that said, I haven't yet spent a Christmas here so it will probably be a little surreal to hear "Let it snow" and "walking in a winter wonderland" in the shops when it's 85 degrees outside. I'm so about spending Christmas and New Year on the beach though.


3. Melbourne is placed at the top of the Port Phillip Bay, and most of our beaches are actually bayside beaches more than open ocean. You can get to the open ocean, but you have to drive to the bottom of one of the peninsulas (about 1 to 1 1/2 hours driving) to get there. The open ocean is an extremely scary place, however, and I wouldn't recommend going in alone, or at all.
There's even a popular TV show here called "Bondi Rescue". Bondi is Sydney's most famous beach, and the show is like reality TV meets Baywatch. It's amazing how many people risk their lives by going outside of the safe zone or almost drown and when they're interviewed, they're oftentimes tourists who say "I've never been in the ocean before"... derrrrrr... Occasionally they have visiting lifeguards from places like Hawaii's North Shore who talk about how much more dangerous the ocean is here. That's frightening!


4. Australia is about the size of the US, but it has 8 capital cities and about 10-12 major cities in total (depending on how you define "major"), all of which are a plane flight away from each other with the possible exception of Sydney and Canberra. Imagine if the US only had 12 major cities, and the entire middle portion of the country was completely uninhabitable. That's what Australia is like. Thus, there are no day-trips to Sydney. So, we haven't seen much of the country yet, but we will! Our next trip (we hope) will be Adelaide and Kangaroo Island. We'll drive to Adelaide -- about 10 hours by car -- and then ferry over to Kangaroo Island. We hope to bring the dog. We'll wait till it's a bit warmer though, probably October or November would be nice for that.


5. Never say never: I bought a pair of Uggs yesterday. But let me explain! First off, I still think they're the ugliest things you can put on your feet apart from Crocs which beat them by a mile. However, yesterday they were on sale for half-price (the end-of-season sale), and I bought a pair of slippers, so you'll still never see me step foot in public wearing them. With all that said, I am SOLD on the Uggs. They are the most comfortable things I have ever put my feet into, including those water foot massager thingies. It's like walking on a sheep (I guess it sort of IS walking on a sheep). And of course, they are sooooo warm it's lovely. I highly recommend them, for use in the house only!

A few other minor interesting things:

• full-flush and half-flush options on the toilets. That is cool.
• It's very chi-chi to use re-usable grocery bags. Safeway supermarket (along with just about all the others now) sell green bags that you take to the shop with you. They are ubiquitous. They exist in the US, yes, but you only see them at earthy-crunchy shops like Whole Foods.
• Netflix has an Aussie cousin named Quickflix. And Quickflix, for all its wonders, sends whatever movie it feels like sending you from your Q, not necessarily the one at the top (or even in the Top Five)
• The price and quality of fresh produce varies greatly depending on the season. That's fair but it does take some getting used to. Limes go from about $1/kg in the summer to $2.48 each in the winter. It's a little bit of a shock at first
• A lot of our neighbours have citrus fruit trees. This has proven to be quite the exercise in restraint for me (see note above).

Well, that's about enough for now. Things are going well; we're sick of winter and ready for the sun to return. Work is going fine for both of us, and there's no real news of late. Hope everyone's doing fine and enjoying the summer!

July 2008 in Melbourne

Silver's in Australia!!!

Hi everyone. Silver here again. It's been a while since I've written, and for that I am very sorry. I know how much my public adores me, but sometimes even we famous dogs need a bit of time off, just to ourselves, to relax and chase small animals.


But now I'm in kennels, and so I'm a bit bored and I have some spare time to write. I'm not exactly sure how or why this happened, but basically, here's a run-down of the past several months:

In January, my Mommy and Daddy went for a ride in the car without me and never came back! Can you believe that??? Anyway, I was with my Grandmommy and Granddaddy, so it was OK. I like staying with them because they feed me donuts and let me sleep on their bed, and I just love playing with Charlie and Rasta!

Every now and then I could hear my Mommy's voice coming from the big box on top of the desk in my parents' office, but I could never see her. That was confusing. My Grandmommy said it was something called "Skype", but I don't really know what that means.

All this time, they were taking me on a very regular basis to see Dr. Jon and have blood taken out. I don't know why this had to happen, like, eight times, but it did. Humans! I just don't get them.

Anyway, last week, my Grandmommy and Granddaddy drove me up to Washington, DC. I thought I was going to see the sights, check out the Lincoln Memorial and all that (my Mommy and Daddy went in December and talked a lot about the monuments, so I assumed I was going to learn more about what it meant to be an American dog -- of German descent), but apparently there were different plans for me.

I was put into a huge crate, and then put into a really big flying car with wings, and sent to Los Angeles, California! I thought, well, that's OK that I didn't get to see DC, because I've always wanted to see the Hollywood sign and shop on Rodeo Drive and stuff, but I didn't even get to do that!! All I got to do was go to another vet, a different one this time, and then two days later, I was put on another flying car inside my huge crate and sent to Australia! I am in, like, a completely different country now than I was last week. It's so weird.


I have to stay in Quarantine for 30 days, but I've already been visited by my Mommy and Daddy. Yesterday they came to see me and we went out and threw the ball around for a while, and caught up on the latest news.

They told me that they had moved indefinitely to Australia, and they couldn't bear the thought of not having me with them (obviously!) and so they shipped me out here as well. My Mommy will be able to come visit me twice a week until I'm out of jail, and Daddy will come when he can because he works full-time so he's not quite as free as Mommy. Mommy and Daddy also told me I have to go on a diet --I hope that doesn't involve another long trip on a flying car -- because I've gained weight eating too many donuts! tee hee!

Since this is my new home, I asked Mommy and Daddy what it's like living in Australia, and I am so excited about what this new life holds for me! It sounds like so much fun. Here are some of the important things about Australia (and Melbourne in particular):


1. There are some really cool animals here. There are kangaroos and wallabies and koalas and wombats. All of these animals are called "marsupials" because they have little pockets where they keep spare change and their babies (or "joeys").
My Mommy says that kangaroos are easy to spot if you go out of the suburbs, and they aren't as shy as the deer that I liked to watch in America so they don't always run away. And the koalas, well they are like the slowest things ever but they stay up in the trees or in bushes. They don't run away either because they're too tired. They're always sleepy. Which is weird because they sleep a lot.

There are also parrots all over the place, and magpies too which are very beautiful but really loud and obnoxious. Damn birds. I'll chase 'em when I can!


2. Australia smells really good. There are plenty of food smells in the city (my favourite smells of course!) but since the country mostly has Eucalyptus trees, the country smells like Eucalyptus. The nickname for Eucalyptus in Australia is "Gumtree" so it's common to hear someone talking about "Red Gum" or "Lemon Gum" and that just means a species of Eucalyptus. The best smell is Lemon Gum because it smells like a cross between Eucalyptus and Lemon. It's sweet and fresh!


3. There's a saying "Pizza is like sex. Even when it's bad, it's still pretty good". In Melbourne, this phrase is absolutely true. Now, my Mommy and Daddy don't let me eat pizza apart from what I can steal --hehe-- but they have told me stories about the wonderful pizzerias in Melbourne and how good the pizza is here. Even the take-away pizzeria in Oakleigh makes really good pizza. It's not the same as the gourmet pizzas that you find at posh restaurants, but it's better than chain pizza! I have had "the snip" so I have no real interest in sex any more, so I'm hoping that pizza will give me some idea of what I'm missing!

4. Because we're in the Southern Hemisphere, our winter is happening right now, in July. That is going to take some getting used to! But in December when it's nice and warm, we won't be complaining. Spending Christmas on the beach sounds like fun! We also have our own special constellation that can only be seen from the Southern Hemisphere, called the Southern Cross. It's the stars that are on the Australian flag.

Well, that's about all the news for now. I am doing very well in kennels and eating everything I can get my paws on! Everyone tells me I'm very sweet and well-behaved. Mommy and Daddy are skeptical, but they are so happy to have me here. And they just filed their permanent residency application, so we're all in this for the long haul!

Hugs and licks,
Silver (world-travelling canine)