First Swim, Para-venting, 'kidnapping', ... Nurhan

Okay, Newfies are water dogs, however most dogs get past eight months old before they become interested in swimming... before this they tend to be curious and may venture out if their ‘family’ head for the water. Karma was a great swimmer and would swim at every opportunity AFTER he was ~ eight months old.

Last week Kin & I joined, Scott & his son, Ryan at Lille Stokkavann. Kin ventured into the water, but kept his paws on the ground. Kin watched as they threw a bath toy boat into the water, unfortunately they were not agreed on who was taking responsibility for what and boat and both ends of the string it was tied to, arched into the air... Fortunately it was an onshore breeze, and eventually the boat drifted ashore... some bushwacking latter and boat was recovered. Kin watched keenly as the boat was thrown into the water once more... and off he went.

Three times the little chap swam out and ‘gallantly’ ‘rescued’ the toy (by this time Ryan and Scott had agreed on who was doing what).

This game was interrupted by what can only be termed, an angry swan, suffering from Lake rage... over he came puffed up and hissing... Kin was curious... I did briefly wonder if this was the same Swan that had gone for Karma, right up until the point that Karma had turned to face it, stood up to full height and pulled his lips back... you can imagine the effect of the swan as his horizon takes on the appearance of a knife murder’s, over populated knife draw; on that occasion the swan’s miniscule brain registered that this was not a course that he’d do well to pursue and he retreated. Sadly, Kin’s jaw and size aren’t yet this impressive, neither was his attitude... “I wonder if this white thing wants to play with me?” I don’t like Swans, as they tend to be angry, and way more opinionated then duvet bed stuffing should really be. Over came Mr Swan and then he tried to peck Kin’s curious nose... he was only saved from a quick kick in the beak, by Scott, demonstrating how to deal with a swan. He puffed himself up raised his arms above his head and looked somewhat comical... the swan didn’t pay any heed, so he went all out and opened his jacket to increase his projected area... I was trying to growl at mr Swan, but was laughing too much at Scott’s sterling effort. Mr Swan obviously decided that he’d made whatever point he had to make and off he went. And so ended Kin’s first waterborne adventure.

(Tried writing this in word and publishing it from there... not a great success... had to import all the pictures in a second time manually... still get to use a better font...)

Kin is trying to figure out how to overcome the ghastly gates that get in his way...

This gate is over hip height to me!

Weighed him two days ago and he came in at 30 kgs, when he's dry... and as it appears we have entered the Monsoon season in Stavanger, it's is getting to be quite rare.

On last Sunday it looked like we'd get a short spell of good weather - probably not good enough for 'hanging' flying (paragliding), but possibly good enough for a sledge run down. May, Kristian, & I headed for Dalsnuten, this is not one of our normal take offs and if we have an intentions of hanging here we have to get permission from Sola airport's control tower. 

We did get some strange looks as most folk go for a Sunday stroll with at the most a Thermos flask, our glider sacks do seem excessive for such a trip. (Whilst we were doing this Kin was in the back garden).

We checked out the take off options. Checked the flying routes to get to the landing, and then we began the cruel art of para-venting ('venting' is Norwegian for 'waiting'). This is one of the least liked parts of paragliding.We have a narrow band of windspeed that we can realistically fly in (~ 0 m/s {depending onn take off location, but more normal 1 m/s} to ~ 5(ish) m/s).  Normally you sit on a hill side for several hours gripping on to rocks and shouting above the roaring wind, blinded by the snow/rain, and you get used to the weather conditions, and as you get used to them, obviously the windspeed drops... which can lead to interesting take offs like this:

(this is the NW take off at Ulriken, below on the left is the Viking capital of Norway, Bergen... the two pilots steadying me are an instructor, and a PP5 (most experienced pilot grade in Norway)... immediately after take off, and 30 m over take off...

On Sunday, we couldn't convince ourselves that the wind was anywhere near our realistic limits, and despite watching crows and sea gulls that were soaring and showing the areas of the best lift, when the rocks started rolling up hill, we called it a day and had our 'excitement' with our choice of descent route:

Kin and I have now finished the puppy course. Last session was  yesterday, out in the monsoon, in a forest doing tracking, which was cool. Kin was great with following a person trail, finding treats, and finding a person, but he bulked at the deer paw (and I can't say that I'm particularly 'upset' with this state of affairs).

Not having my own kids, I have to 'borrow' kids. Here's Eira, Isak, & Kin keeping each other entertained.

As you can see this can be quite tiring.

Keeping track of your human is a full time job - Kin

Kins's take:

Here I am checking out the terrain to ensure that it's safe for my human... really he just opens the car and jumps out anywhere, no checking, no planning.

I constantly have to keep an eye on him... he doesn't appear to realise that his actions can have any consequences.

Especially when he gets these things out...

Here I am leading the way back to the car in the hope that he'll follow me... I mean, just look at the size of his nose... it's not like he'd be able to sniff his way back to the car if the weather changes...

Here I am checking out a ferry to ensure that there's nothing dangerous for him here.

Sometimes the easiest thing is just to keep walking and hope they follow you, especially with the little humans... although my human seems to be somewhat obstinate and you wouldn't believe the number of times I've had to go back looking for him...

It can be a full time job, keeping an eye on your human, checking what he's getting up to...

Does get tiring, and just when you try to lie down and relax, you get jumped on:

No wonder when I come home, I need to have a good stretch out:

Ferries & out doors life - Nurhan's take:

Nurhan's take:

We like introduction to paragliding courses... this is mainly owing to the 'free crèche' facility available for Kin, whilst I go flying, and one of the students bought my second glider from me! Great flying conditions on Saturday, here are Kin and I at the training hill in between my two flights (40 & 32 minutes, both flights I decided when to land... really rather good conditions).

Sunday not such a good weather day.

 We 'adopted' Monica, Matt, and their three children and went to cook sausages and burgers and generally play in the woods. Here you can see Kin is holding at least three of the groups rapt attention.

Now they do say that a picture paints 1 000 words... sadly, I don't have pictures showing the kids, defending their food, or roasting food over an open fire... so here goes with the thousand words...

Now folk in the rest of Norway say that the Stavanger region is flat and gets no snow... ummmm, it's April and this is taken after a thirty minute drive from Stavanger (the middle bump in the rear windscreen is Kin).

Getting here led to Kin's second ferry trip (the first was when we brought him home, he slept and didn't get out of the car, so not sure that really counts).

Notice how 'highly stressed' he appears by this ferry trip.

Now I might occasionally knock the host nation; however bare in mind that I live here, and the reason I live here is because there are substantially more things that I like than dislike... That having been said, I'm also an engineer, and we have a terrible affliction that when we see something that doesn't work, we try to fix it (or take it apart to find out how it works and then wonder why it doesn't work any longer). Now Stavanger got this wonderfully innovative new ferry (even commented on in the Naval Architect):

(Picture taken from: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4wkxeNKFomEad5khU_d8OA )
Now she did the journey from Stavanger to Tau in 25 minutes (other ferries took 45 minutes) and she used less fuel than the normal ferries (can't remember the stats, but she's something like 400 te lightship mass, on a catamaran hull form, highly efficient). There were some teething problems when she entered service and the Bukser og Bergings tugs had plenty of work, and tragically two crew members died from fumes in a non ventilated space; however since these problems she's been a great boat... she now tied up at Buoy (island) as she's too efficient! This seems to be an irritating trend that socialist countries maintain; efficiency is to be deplored and discourage, why have a road repaired in one month for X kr, when it can be dragged on for a year for 20X kr... The ferry company commissioned a ferry, the public loved her because she was quick, comfortable and once the teething problems were resolved, she was reliable, and fuel efficient, and now they have taken her out of service... makes perfect sense to someone ELSE...

Here's Kin observing lunch preparations... Now the cunning master plan was to get Kin out for the whole day, sneak in a bit of skiing, give him lunch (he eats three times a day), and then he'd have to defecate somewhere other than my back garden... Nope! It's amazing how long he can store the stuff until he's in comfortable surroundings... think newspaper and relaxing on the toilet... maybe one day he'll crack this and I'll actually get the use of the black bags that I carry on every walk...

Here's a 'pet hate' (if you'll excuse the pun); dog crap... Now a Newfie is a giant breed, he eats and craps accordingly. If we are in the middle of the woods, or well off the beaten track, then it's fertiliser, but in town, on paths, in areas where folk habitually go, it's hygienic and good manners to tidy up after your dog. I have a dog and dog crap annoys me, imagine how irritating it is to folk who don't have dogs. It's especially bad when there is snow. The cold weather freezes the dog crap and it accumulates, which leads to a highly unpleasent time when the snow melts, and you are left with festering piles of dog crap. If I can tidy up after my dog, why can't others, especially in a country that dogs (nature in general - don't get me started on power cables across Hardangavida), aren't looked favourably on.

This is the view from the dinning area (in this obviously flat part of Norway)!!!

Interior design... Kin's take:

Kin's take:

Who says that Newfie's aren't good at interior decorating, I think that the Feng shu of this room is now downright homely.

What kind of hint do I have to give before I get fed round this place!!!

Help... Kin

Kin's take:

Little bit of help here... someone... my nose is stuck...

The world according to Kin - Kin's take:

Kin:

 My human still isn't getting any better at dishing out the treats, he still insists on putting them in boxes:

 Does he not realise how much work it is to get them out from here?!

As if that wasn't bad enough, when you do get them out:

he's stuffed the treats inside a bag and then put it in cardboard... it takes ages... when will he learn, "I look cute, he gives me treats"... How hard can this be to learn?!

 I'm also trying to train my human on lead etiquette... It's simple, when I sit down (which I do regularly, especially in the middle of roads) he's supposed to take the lead off. I don't need to drag him around all the time, it's enough that I can keep an eye on him... 

 Here you can just about see me in the middle of the picture, with another human... my human was running around below, shouting, waving his arms around, and being quite embarrassing really, but up here I could pretend that I didn't know him. Added to that folk kept giving me sausages, which made up for humans dropping gliders on my head.

 Was quite a tiring day though... was glad to come home and stretch out:

Paragliding course - Nurhan's take:

Nurhan:

Sunday was a good day in some ways.

Had discussed going flying with May, had discussed going to Bråstein with Pål and mad dog Malo... end up a bit of both!

At the mo there is a PP2 (beginners paragliding) course going on. Owing to the wind direction they had gone to the other side of Bråstein into the field at an angle. Met May there and Kin and I went to go and have a look. He eyed the gliders wielded by Master Lura and Øystein, but didn't seem bothered by them... I was a lot less bothered by them when I realised who was flying them (on the walk from the cars I commented that who ever was flying the gliders was pretty good... May had commented that these were good students!!!). Espen quashed the idea of flying from anything higher owing to the wind speed and May, Kin, and I relocated to Bråstein, where we met Pål, Hilde, + kids, + MAD DOG MALO. Bråstein was it's normal great place. Friendly, happy folk, and friendly dogs, only spoilt by regular attacks from MAD DOG MALO (Pål reads this from time to time, so have to get the digs in whilst I can!).

Back over on the other side at Bråstein, took the glider out of the car to practice ground handling. Now if this works it would mean it would be very much easier to take Kin with me to different places. A lass who wasn't flying, offered (read, 'was cajoled into') looking after him, whilst I ground handled my (for sale) glider. Now this lass was called, 'Lille Mor' (this means, "Little Mother")... What a great name! And judging how good she was with Kin, it suited her! I'm highly grateful for the help. Øystein fed him sausages! And he was quite happy to be with others, just so long as he could see me...

A couple of times gliders landed on his head, and he really didn't appear to be in the least bit fussed!

On the right of the above picture you can see him being taken up the hill by Lille Mor.

Later she had to go to the airport, so the other apprentice pilots and Øystein kept an eye on him (thanks everyone). He lay down and watch the proceedings, and for the later part of the session wasn't even tied onto anything/anyone.

I was running back and forth at the bottom of the hill, shouting instructions to folk who were floating down my way (invariably with big beaming smiles, that getting airborne for the first time does to you!). {Øystein needed someone with experience at the bottom of the practice hill, and as he couldn't find anyone else, he had to make do with me!}.

Kin had a great time, although by the end he was pretty tired.

For me it was great as I could go out and do stuff that I wanted to do, and he was fine with it.

Great day, even if I only managed three short hops on the hill and some twenty minutes ground handling!