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!

Reserve Packing - Nurhan

Nurhan's take:

Okay, reserve packing might not have much to do with Newfies at first glance, however what affects me, affects Kin, also owing to the reserve course I was gone for several hours (apologies to David, who waited 2 1/2 hours for me to finish, and even (kindly) came up to the house to let Kin out before getting thoroughly cheesed off and going home... we were supposed t o be taking a ski trip); then in for an hour to feed him before sneaking off to Veraland Nord, with May, to get a late flight in:

Pic is May about 30 seconds after take off...

This meant that Kin was alone for eight hours... i.e. a proper work day.

Should be pointed out that everything in this post, after the above is to do with paragliding.


Reserve Packing Summary:

Firstly the name of the course isn't correct - the course was intended to illustrate why you would need your reserve, when you would throw it, and how you'd throw it. The reserves were checked and re-packed after throwing, but the course was not to show how to pack a reserve from scratch... Theory being that you want someone to have packed your reserve properly so it opens, and opens in the least possible amount of time.

Pointed out on the course were that most folk only think about their reserves during the SIV course... as that's when we are quite likely to need them.

Some video clips were shown, illustrating situations that reserves are required.

Following points regarding reserves were brought up:

- fly into and out of thermals with speed (i.e. NO BREAKS), this is when the glider is likely to react owing to air moving at different speeds, chap in first video put breaks on, stayed in the 'funny air', wing collapsed on one side, not corrected, got a cravat and then went into a stup spiral, causing the reserve to have to be thrown. Had he flown through the boundary quickly inklap would have been less likely;

- IF LOWER THAN 100 m THROW THE RESERVE - above this you can try to get out in various methods as taught on the SIV course, if below... THROW...

-  After throwing the reserve, pull in on one side of the glider until you have the whole glider bundled. This stops the glider getting tangled in the reserve, and in the event of a tree landing, it prevents the glider from being shredded;

-If you end up in a tree, get into a safe position, to avoid falling to the ground. I.e. grab the biggest branch and work your way to the centre of the tree, or try to tie yourself on/get to the ground safely (mobile phone/radio, and a GPS are helpful for this eventuality to call for help);

- Reserves all act differently, you might have a lot of vertical speed when returning to 'Mother Earth', try to do the parachute roll to take out some of the energy/avoid injury;

- It's worth working through/visualising scenarios when you might need to throw your reserve, and moving your body through the motions so that you fix them in your head and (hopefully) you will react correctly and quickly if you find yourself in a position when you have to throw your reserve;

- As one of the take off checks, it's useful to put your hand on the reserve handle, so it's position is fixed in your head... different harnesses have the handle in different positions and the feel is different with thick or thin gloves on.

Procedure for throwing the reserve:


- HANDLE
- LOOK
- PULL
- LOOK
- THROW
- PULL

This is an eight minute vid clip in Norwegian going through the whole sequence and explaining why the 'D' ring between the harness and the reserve should be removed. Filming by Marco, I'm throwing the reserve. (After lots of flaffing I managed to get a 350 MB clip down to 42 MB for streaming, but might still take awhile, but worth the wait for the clarifications).

- HANDLE
Know where it is/look at it as you grab it.

- LOOK

Check the air space where you are going to throw your reserve (and direction of rotation), if there is someone in your way, don't throw the reserve and get two of you tangled...

- PULL

This will pull your reserve free from the harness, but may not pull your reserve free from it's packing bag.

- LOOK

Check airspace again.

- THROW

- PULL

on a riser for the reserve, this speeds inflation and canopy deployment.

This is a 40 second clip in English showing the main features. Carlos is throwing his reserve. (2MB clip)

Reserves were not completely opened before being replaced in harnesses:

Do not try this at home!

For more information please see:

http://www.apcoaviation.com/

(which {apparently} has info on how to pack reserves and also specifications on the reserves, i.e. area, speeds, mass capacities, and so on...)

If you need your reserve packing you can contact the instructor who held this course:

Ole Andreas Haddeland
90 11 34 58
the.next.base(at)gmail.com

(Lives in Haugesund but is regularly in Stavanger)
or

"Burre"
92 22 25 15
rs(at)saltdalshytta.no

(He packs all the reserves for the parachute club, he's packed my reserves before, he lives in Hanna and works in Forus, and is quite flexible with regarding dropping off and picking up reserves).

Both charge 400 kr for reserve packing.

Last word on the course:
Part of the SIV course is to throw your reserve in a simulated environment; this reserve throwing course went into much more detail. Ole and Tina are knowledgeable and communicated the points clearly. Anything that makes us safer flying is a good thing.

Growing up- wk10 - Nurhan

Nurhan's take:

Had another trip to the vet's last week... this wasn't a planned trip... I went in to ask if there was anything else that I could give Kin as his eyes were red (wash them out with salt water). The vet assistant mentioned that if the discharge from the eyes was white, that was okay, yellow then he should be seen by a vet... discharge from his eyes was yellow... came out from the vet 600 kr poorer with the information that I should rinse his eyes with salt water... (Redness is a common problem with Newfies, Karma had it on and off. The lower eyelid tends to hang down with Newfies and this goes reddish, (all dogs) also have a third eyelid down there this can cause irritations). I did get to weigh him (now almost two weeks ago - and he was 20.5 kgs... one week later {different scales} he comes in at 25 kgs!).

Was back out again to Lager Zoo for more food.... we like Lager Zoo... a pet shop where you can bring your pet in! (I'm trying to figure out how I can drop him off there in the morning and pick him up in the evening)!

Been to puppy class, which is generally embarrassing when you own a Newfoundland, who looks at the high speed motions of other dogs with disdain, as he lies down and takes a little nap!

A lot of time has been spent 'practising' cute poses...

Problems we have:

Leads are evil... and the answer (according to Kin) is to lie down every time the lead is attached... this means that a tortoise would beat us on a walk...

Peeing... If Kin pees inside, it's only on his bed! Last two nights I've removed his bed and just left him a rug, and then he doesn't pee... I think that the breeder must have had some form of pee mat that Kin's bed reminds him of...

Kin still has a preference for hiding under things, although he can no longer fit under the sofa!

Kin playing at the snowline!

Kin paddling in a stream... Like Karma, he has the Newfie ability to sniff out puddles, streams, any source of water.

Take a toy with a Monkey's fist (knot) on it, wet snow, and a Nefoundland dog... and hey presto you get this! Sadly I didn't manage to get a picture of the Kinerist charging around the garden, raking up snow, dragging this toy around!!!

Kin met two Newfies last week... Here he is meeting Santos, and two days after he met Balder at Bråstein.

He's now had his third bath. This went well, and we got to use the dog drier! He was quite happy with it ( a cow was sacrificed during the whole bathing/drying procedure, but all in all it went well!).

Karma, loved to steal balls, sticks, toys, you name it; and the game was especially good if he had people running after him! Kin I am working on differently. He gets something, and I call him over, he comes, gives it to me, and gets a treat! It's great! He's even recovered Gita's (border collie) throw toy from the bushes and much to her owner's surprise (who was accustomed to Karma running for the border, with tail held high), dropped it at my feet!.

Kin is growing up and becoming more of a dog. So far his character and body seem to be great!