Stairs, opinionated pups, flying with eagles - Nurhan's take

Nurhan's take:

Finally got him to stretch out so I could measure him from the tip of his tail to his nose... he's now 2 m (79 inches) long... intention wasn't to measure him, intention was to put meat on every step to try and get him to come up the stairs. This is as far as he got. His right back paw, was tempted to go up onto the next step, but this is as high as it, and he got! Any suggestions for how to get ~ 67 kgs (148 lbs) of opinionated, 11 month old 'puppy' up/down the stairs would be gratefully received!

'Crashing' out on the back door step he shares with Karma, main difference is that Karma was never as opinionated as Kin is:

Here he is looking in through the window wondering why, 'his human', is dallying and hasn't yet opened the back door, at his command!

Notice the use of resources so he can keep tabs on what's going on! 

Here he's decided that he doesn't want to go where I want to go... he's discovered that he can't out run me so he's laying down under a tree and no amount of pulling on the lead has any affect... an opinionated puppy is a terrible thing (when his opinions differ from your own!!!). The red bit under the lead is a red cycle light, he has a white one on the other side. These little LED lights are great for keeping track of where he is when it's dark (and as with boats/planes, having the different colours you can tell which way he's moving - always handy if you are chasing after him!).

I thought he had wet exceema on the top of his hind quarters; this is a strange place to have this. I've now figured out what it was. Temperature has dropped here, we've already had snow up in the hills, many folk have swapped over to piggdekk (metal studded tyres - in winter almost everyone in Norway swaps tyres from summer to winter, not by law but your insurance is worded such that you should have the appropriate tyres on your car for the conditions). This means that I've been using my fire, which is right next to the back door, and despite my efforts, Kin has a habit of leaning against the stove, whilst waiting to go out. I think he's realised that I don't want him there but about a month ago he was leaning on it; he seems not to notice, and I make it very clear that he shouldn't do this. On this occasion he was very wet. I think that he was burnt, but because he was so damp the affected area was not permanently damaged, but whilst it's repairing itself the regeneration seems very similar to wet exceema, looks healthy now but obviously itches as he keeps presenting this area to me to be scratched (which is how I discovered it). He doesn't lean on the fire now, but I think this is more to keep me happy than he realises that this is potentially dangerous.

 Snoozing is a major past time, especially if he can do it wrapped around furniture!

And contrary to how this looks his lips aren't stuck to the floor by suction.

The gap in between the tiles breaks the suction!

He's enjoy outdoor pursuits, here he is on a climbing trip, although (as with the stairs) he chose not to climb. Dina was using him as a foot warmer at one point (from top to bottom, Dina, Kin, Mel, & May).

And talking of climbing the below picture is of Jostein clawing around trying to get some lift and it's such a fantastic pic that I had to include it:

Jostein flying with an eagle at JHPGK's main flying sight. Picture is taken by Robert Oedegaard and full version of photos can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertoedegaard/6225498671/in/photostream/
but what an awesome photo and experience! (Only incredible jealous!)

Devastation, and trips in the mountains, - Nurhan's take:

 The little chap with Kin is a six month old Pyranes Sheep Dog.

 He's not shy and he's unfussed that he's the same size as Kin's head as the two play together!

Locally Staten's Vegvesen (Government agency that deals with roads) is cutting down a whole heap of trees as they need access to get a machine in to do test bores for a new tunnel that is planned to go under Stavanger for the main road Oslo-Stavanger-Bergen. We'll see how this develops.

More irritatingly is what is going on at Bråstein. Bråstein is owned by Sandnes kommune, and admistrated by Staten's Skog (Forestry Commission). So in effect the people own the forest. Now as far as I can see it someone has become greedy as they have now allowed a private company to 'help' maintain the wood... by the paths, they have thinned out the trees:

Away from the paths, they seem to have gone for a 'scorched earth policy':

 This used to be a beautiful, tranquil woodland, which has been laid waste in the most brutal manner. This is not sustainable harvest, it's rape of a natural resource without any reflection on the folk who regularly enjoyed this area. There are many more areas that have been destroyed in this manner.

As the large piles of felled trees indicate.

Also they are destroying the paths, that the Kommune worked on only about two years ago:

The machines that are being used are just about 'go anywhere' and make a land rover look like a 'sissy mobile'.

The articulate arm holds a tree, has a blade at the bottom that cuts the tree, and then the 'appocolyps now' rollers that strip the trunk of limbs. Whilst the folk using the machinary are obviously skilled they show no regard for folk who use the woods. Felling trees across the paths, sending wood chips flying.


Someone should be brought to account for the damage that is being created.

This weekend it was planned to take a trip into the mountains and give Kin his first taste of being in a kennel, unfortunately it turned out that it is a school holiday and the kennels are all full. Happily for me, Jan looked after Kin from Saturday to Sunday meaning that David, Svein, and I had a weekend up in the mountains.

(From left to right, me, David, Svein). Saturday was lovely, sunny but four degrees Celsius. Above 650 m there was some snow where the sun hadn't got to it. We took an 11 km stroll into Skåpet, a Stavanger Turistforening cabin.

Here we tried to fit Svein with a sheep bell so we'd know where he was when he wondered off.

Cabin sleeps six (friends) and is very cosy:

The walk out the next day wasn't so good weather. We started off walking in sleet with a wind of ~ 12 m/s fortunately coming from behind. There were fresh elk footprints going straight past the cabin the next morning (and I'd thought the noise that I'd heard in the night had just been David snoring).

Jan, as always, had done a sterling job with Kin;  the little chap was happy to see me, and I'm slowly achieving the balance between being a 'single parent' family and doing other things that I enjoy.

Interesting Times - Nurhan's take:

Nurhan's take:

Kin at his most dangerous.


the Chinese have an insult, "may you live in interesting times"; this pretty much sums up my week.


Looking on the bright side of things, I now have weekends and evening again, and I am no longer working under the shadow of an unrealistic workload. On the good advice of a friend of mine (Jan-Inge), the first paragraphs in this blog have undergone a dramatic edit. J-I raised some good points. I still have a very bad taste in my mouth and my views haven't changed, but it has been made abundantly clear to me that, despite public airing being one of the two forums that I have been left with, it's not in my best interest to use this forum. The last bastion of righteousness is conversation with my friends. 


Now the second 'cock up' if you'll excuses the pun, is I wrote 'pikk' when I meant to write 'pigg', so need to go and rectify this one. Look up the Norwegian words on google translate, and you'll see why this was a 'cock up' ;-)


It's been established for accidents to happen, normally a set of circumstances has to be present, in a specific order for the accident to happen. Last Tuesday, I had a car accident. I put my car in a position where it was hit by another car. Happily no one was hurt, and both cars can be economically repaired. I've been trying to get the local Subaru dealer to look at my car since July. After contacting them five times, I got a time for last Tuesday, I was also told that they'd give me a courtesy car whilst they worked on mine. Turn up at the garage, they then told me that I had to rent a car if I wanted one. Very busy at work, no bike in car (as I'd been told that I'd get a car); so I told them that I'd have to bring the car back another time. It's probably five k from the garage to the place that exploited me and then screwed me royally, and I was hit by a car on a roundabout on the way. Undeniably my fault, but had I not been so tired because of work, or had the garage given me a courtesy car, the parameters might have been enough that there was no white lorry coming off, where I was coming on with a white car tucked behind it...


For various reasons the last car I bought, I bought brand new. I did my homework and chose a car that is recognisable form it's 1972 inception (so they should have sorted all the issues out on it), had ESP (very helpful on iced roads, add piggdekk {metal studded tyres} and you feel very safe), four wheel drive, higher ground clearance but looks like an estate car. Most of the driving I do is on roads, but because of the sports that I do, I drive down farm tracks and into strange places on a regular basis,

 a Land Rover type vehicle would be excessive for my needs but the Subaru Outback should have done the trick. Like most folk, I believe that the guarantee that comes with something is a 'nice to know it's there' but something you never want to use, sadly this isn't the case with my car, that has had problems with the wheel studs falling off the hubs so that three of the wheels were only held on by 2 or 3 studs (out of five). It's had problems with the clutch (which has been replaced, more than once. It has problems with the radio, the windows, the jack for an MP3 player. The lowest gear is too high to negotiate steep tracks where you need to control the speed of the car. Car drives great on the roads, and the boxer diesel engine has so far been excellent, no power lag and plenty of umph when required spread over four wheels.


Whilst my car is being repaired/serviced, I have a rental car (my insurance company is 'IF' and they have been most efficient in helping me out). Now I am no fan of Audi's or BMW, both of which I consider to be overpriced and you generally find that these are the cars that are humping your rear bumper on the motorway, BMW are rear wheel drive, that is just a flawed concept in a country that has snow, and I don't like red cars (red cars tend to die violently). The rental car is a red BMW 316 d, top of the range. It struggles to get up the hill at Bråstein, if you have to stop, the back wheels claw impotently until it gets grip, and it's ground clearance makes speed bumps a challenge, and the controllability of the Subaru is sooooo much better. But to be fair to the Beemer, it is really well thought out, sitting inside you think, it would be handy if they had 'that', 'there' and it is. It's got some great features on it

 and the Subaru seems agricultural by compassion. I wouldn't swap the Subaru for the BMW, and I wouldn't advocate a rear wheel drive car in a country like Norway, but I am impressed by the attention to detail on the Beemer. What confuses me is why a Saab, Subaru, Land Rover dealer is doing with a top of the range BMW as a rental car?


I did ask them if they could give me a more practical car, and pointed out that I'd have to have Kin in the car, they told me just to keep him dry (yeah right) and if he messed the car up I'd be charged to get it professionally cleaned... and thus:

an integrated protection system was born!
Note that the front of the seat also needs to be protected:

Now when I changed from a Mondeo estate to the Outback, Karma liked to make out that the Subaru's boot was tiny, this BMW's boot is tiny even for a 10 month old Newfie.




So as the guarantee is running out on my Subaru should I sell the car and look at a Skoda Yeti or a Volvo XC70 (looks like a traditional Volvo but with 4 wd and greater ground clearance), that maybe better for Kin, &  my requirements?

Finally we've had summer, all two days of it, but great whilst it lasted. Here's Jostein flying a 30 minute drive away from my house (I'd already landed), we'd chosen the wrong flying area for hanging/staying airborne, but shorts, t-shirts and look at the view! And a weekend off!

Needed a proper camera to try to capture the light. This is one of those beautiful summer evenings where the air smells/feels fresh and you just want to be outside (and it's warm enough that hypothermia isn't a problem)!

I love going for walks in the early morning (not the waking up bit, but once you are out), and watching he dew burn off the fields. I haven't seen this at all this year up until this weekend.

Although for Kin, it's still business as usual... although a bit hot at the moment... although a nice dip quickly fixes that.


Anyway, the good weather seems to have broken last night and we are back into the monsoon season; and Kin and I are off to Bråstein.

Tyrannosaurus rex, 62 kgs puppy, and moral matters - Nurhan's take

Nurhan's take:

 I lost Karma (my last Newfie in July last year. Last September, I came up with the cunning plan on taking one of my neighbours (Jan - pictured above, with Kin), to a dog show for Newfies, Leonbergers, & Bernese Mountain dogs (which when I first met Jan ~ 10 years ago, he had a lovely one called 'Tony'). My cunning master plan was for Jan to get a new dog and for me to look after the little chap when he couldn't... my cunning master plan 1/2 worked... here's Jan performing an invaluable service to Kin and I, every lunch time during the working week he goes and checks up on Kin and takes the little chap out for a 30 minute stroll. Without Jan, I'd be really pushed, living alone, to have Kin, and I am hugely grateful for the help. It's also quite amusing how many folk have mentioned that there is an older chap in the area who also has a Newfie about the same age as Kin...

There's been some gratuitous editing gone on in this section, as sadly it has been pointed out to me that a public airing of some of the issues that I have to deal with are not in my best interests to do so. Therefore the next two paragraphs might seem to be a bit random as the 1 1/2 paragraphs that led to them have been removed.

There is a trend when a company calls a product something that it really isn't and then feels self satisfied that they have done what they can... take the Suzuki Swift, which really isn't...

Years ago Berty (climbing partner when I lived in Glasgow), Kim (his dog), and I, were coming off the hills by head torch somewhere in the highlands and we heard this primeval roar, getting closer. It almost felt like we were being stalked by a tyrannosaurus rex. The noise built steadily until with the sequel of tyres  a red Ferrari came sliding around a corner, and zipped past us. Now generally we weren't fans on any form of intrusive 'civilisation' when up in the hills, but this was a rare event, and surprising on these roads that the car even had the ground clearance. We could hear the car for the next few minutes as the roar of it's umpteen billion CC engine rebounded down the glen. Berty is Italian and a bit of a car buff, his gait had definitely altered with this whole event. Strange how Ferrari never feel the need to call one of their cars, the Ferrari Swift!

One of the chaps in the neighbour hood who I only know (him and his family) from talking to because we bump into each other regularly with our dogs and have done for years, made the mistake of asking me, 'how life was'. I'm afraid I might have vented a bit. Which resulted in Kjetil, giving me his card and saying give him a buzz and well go out for a drink to take my mind off work. Which was inordinately generous of him.

Now when Karma wanted in, he'd go to the back door and softly bark once... Kin isn't so patient... But he was a patient last week. He had kennel cough, which shouldn't neccesitate a trip to the vets. But he had some blood in his mucus, and this went on for three days. So I rang the vet and they said that they should check him. Which ended up with me being poorer, him probably having a burst blood vessel in his nose, the same as us having a nose bleed, and being put on antibiotics (and drops which the chemist ordered and I forgot to pick up... note to self...). Naturally by the time we left the vets he was fine! Did get to weigh him... twice as I didn't believe the answer. I thought he's probably around 45 - 50 kgs... Nope, he's ~ 62 kgs... he's not quite 10 months old... Karma fully grown, at his heaviest was 63 kgs!

This is the correct way to give your dog antibiotics... some meat paste on your finger tips with the pills on top of that.

Step2

Job done!

We meet lots of these chaps whilst we are out. Now the green ones are frogs, greeny brown are toads... this I know (and no I didn't kiss her to see if she turned into a Princess), but what I didn't know is that toads live in woods. It's also mushroom picking season here and folk I've bumped into whilst walking Kin have been pointing out which ones you can and can't eat.

This is Kin at the Hellistø beach car park after a walk, obviously he'd rather sit here then relocate, 2 m and lie in the car...

Sheep TV has been replaced by the larger, Cow TV...

This is Kin waiting 'patiently' to go out. Now the days are getting shorter, which means that in the mornings and evenings it's quite often dark, now the only way to see a Newfie in the dark is look to the side of where you think he is and if your peripheral vision notices something blacker than the surrounding blackness, then you've probably found your Newfie. To improve on this I try to get him to wear a reflexive jacket... but then he lies down and won't move. New tactic:

get him to wear it at Bråstein when he's off the lead... get him used to it and then phase it in on local walks as the days get darker. Until then:

This picture is taken with a flash, there is some reflex but the main point of the picture is to show the red LED cycle light hanging from the harness, you can also see the red glow on the ground. These lights are now affordably cheap for this application and reasonably effective, but does play hell up with your night vision.

This picture demonstrates the time when Newfoundlands are at their most dangerous... especially if you want to remain dry...

I have to round this blog off with an outrageous current news issue. One of the TV channels here filmed a Norwegian politician going into a 'massage palour' in Latvia. Now prostitution in Norway is legal - but paying for sex in Norway is illegal (doesn't that make many marriages in Norway illegal?!). This was a law brought in a few years ago and it's mind numbing in it's stupidity / naivety - we make paying for sex illegal, so it'll stop... obviously (unlike the Netherlands that taxed it and brings in mandatory health checks). This politician comes back to Norway and he's been charged and fined (25 000 NOK) for paying for sex, IN A DIFFERENT COUNTRY! Surely this means that every Norwegian who goes abroad, to a country that has a higher speed limit, and they drive at that speed, can then be charged with speeding when returning to Norway. They had some ignorant cow (of the two legged variety) on the radio harping on about how moral issues do not stop at a nations boundaries. Oh and the (married) politician (not that it's anyone else's business) has stated that he only had a massage.

Okay this really is the last bit before I head for bed. My GP (fastlegen)/and the practice's nurse,  after ten years of looking after me and generally restoring my faith in the medical profession, they are both retiring at the end of this month. This came as a surprise. Eli, the nurse even had Karma (briefly) in the surgery to meet him. I'm sorry to see Eli, and Dr Dahle go as I knew I was in safe hands with them and they are good folk too. Now I'm off (figuratively speaking) to join Kin

Adoption, holding area, kennel cough - Nurhan's take:

Nurhan's take:

Henry David Thoreau, is recorded as having come up with the line, "most men live lives of quiet desperation." I can truly say that my 'desperation' with my work has been voiced quite loudly, but no one listens, not even those who really should. This led to the following conversation (with two of the good guys):

Auden: "have to go, have someone waiting for me."

Me "so do I."

A "My girlfriend can voice her displeasure."

Me "my pup mouths me more when I come, home. You don't fancy taking him out do you?" (said in jest).

Almo "you two live quite close together."

Which led to him being 'adopted' for a few hours:

Ida (shown), and Auden, collecting Kin on the way home from work, taking him home and introducing him to Stella (Nova Scotia Duck trolling Retriever - 4 year old bitch), and potentially their cat (who was last seen evacuating out of the kitchen window). Despite taking both (water) dogs for a walk around a lake, Kin at least remained dry! I'm going to have to ask how this was achieved, as I've never managed this trick! Picture shows Stella, Ida, & Kin.

I was hugely grateful for this as it meant that I could stay longer at work without worrying about him, didn't have to walk Kin when I came home, any work I manage to do during the week, means I have less to do at the weekends, and not least Kin loves company - any walk where he gets to play with another dog, is a good walk. Here he got to 'play' with a bitch the entire trip. Auden proposed that he'd fallen in love... what can I say, Kin is a bit of a dog!

This is Kin in a 'holding pattern' before a walk. It's almost like Kin's trying to say that when he goes to his bed, it's either walk, or food time. Occasionally he grabs it and comes running into the living room. Karma used to do the same, but Karma used to bundle it up and lie on it, Kin just seems to want to destroy it! Still he's a pup and pups are supposed to have lots of energy! 

Kin has one characteristic that I've not seen/noticed before in other dogs, for no reason that I can determine, one of his legs will start to shiver, for those folk that climb, this looks like 'sewing machine leg' where your leg muscles start trembling with strain just before you either overcome what it is your climbing or you take to the air for a (hopefully) brief flight. It doesn't seem to cause him any discomfort, you can press on the leg and there is no voiced pain, doesn't favour any leg, can't find any cause for it, and he doesn't seem to notice it's going on. 

Now Newfies are built more for comfort than speed. I could easily out run Karma (my last Newfie). Kin I suspect is faster than me... which is irritating as with Karma, other than when I was injured, I knew I could get to places before him (such as roads), Kin I don't have this with; but it does mean that functionally he's growing into a great boy. One thing I enjoy almost every morning, is the walk before work when I let him off the lead and he 'takes off' through the long grass, just happy to be alive. High speed turns and more often than not, a high speed wipe out. It's great to watch.

Today I suspect that Kin has kennel cough. Karma never had kennel cough, if Kin does have kennel cough, this will be the second time that he's had it, in his short life. I thought that once a dog had it once he didn't get it again for awhile as he had antibodies to it. Still it looks like kennel cough, or at least kennel cough lite. It's taken me awhile to register, he has very occasional retching and occasional snot coming out of a nostril, but nowhere near as bad as the first time he had it. Will see how he goes and keep him away from other dogs for a couple of days. Which isn't easy to do and means that we can't take a trip out to Bråstein, this weekend, which also means that he won't be so tired, which means it'll be harder for me to work, talking of which...

What does a pup have to do? - Kin's take:

Kin's Take:

Really, what does a pup have to do to make his human learn?

Sitting down when my human tries to dress me doesn't work, so here I am lying down and after about 2000 heart beats my human disconnected the umbilical cord and walked away, then I just felt silly and had to get up and run after him... What else can a pup do to stop these indignities?

Resistance & Roads - Nurhan's take:

Nurhan's take:

Kin's putting up more resistance when we head for home on the morning walks. Do you have any idea how much of a drag it is to take a 50 kg(ish), 9 month old puppy out before work; it's almost like he's trying to tell me something...

Even when he is up, he likes to have the illusion of choice...

Now for a rant and rave about the local kommune... in their 'wisdom' they decided last Sunday that for nine hours they would shut the motorway into and out of Stavanger, including all the access roads, for nine hours and claim a 'car free day', indeed they even built a stage in the middle of the motorway to hold a dance workshop on. On Monday they expressed surprise at the huge traffic jams that this resulted in, not to mention folk who'd gone out for a trip out of Stavanger and were then faced with hour long delays in the gridlocked traffic to get home. Kin and I were stuck in it as we tried various roads only to find them closed. Seriously has no one mentioned to these morons that roads are for driving on, not for having dance workshops. Sadly this being Norway, no one is held accountable and fired for gross stupidity...

Which leads me onto my next rant on a similar subject. The Kommune has decided the bus is king and are doing all sorts of odds and sods to kowtow to the bus. This surprises me somewhat as when I cycle past buses they generally have as many people in them as I have on my bike. Lots of folk cycle here and the cycle paths/facilities seem to be designed by people who hate cyclist and seem to be actively trying to weed them out of the population, by horrendous road 'planning' (I use that term in it's broadest possible form). So now the Kommune/Statens Vegvesen (road service) has decided that the bus driver needs bigger bus stops for him and his bendy bus to park in, so they are shutting main roads and sending all the traffic through residential areas. Now you'd think, okay a bit of inconvenience for a couple of weeks... but you'd be grossly mistaken because to do this to 600 m of road has taken them seven months and they are still not finished. This mainly comes down to incompetence and not having anyone accountable. Soon they will start on the next section of road which means all the traffic will then pass straight past my front door, which makes the area infinitely worse for the many school children who use the road (that in places has no footpaths and has no crossings on it); but worse for Kin and I, if he does get off the lead the chances of him being hit by a car (probably) raise by a factor of 20. If this was for a couple of weeks, it would be tolerable, but it'll go on for months. And over the winter when snow/freezing conditions will doubtless lead to delays. Ring the number to talk to the nominated public interface and naturally they don't answer the phone... Much like the Fylkeslegen i Rogaland who nominate a person to be your interface and naturally this person seems to be blind, deaf, and dumb, as he doesn't answer letters, phone, and it's not possible to arrange a meeting via one of the secretaries... This weekend is local election day, I will be placing my vote after talking to see if anyone is going to give the disproportionate number of bureaucrats  here a shake up, and make them accountable to the people who they are supposed to serve.

On the subject of voting, there was a statistic in the last American election that more people watched 'Oprea' then voted... If you don't vote you don't deserve a say. Voting should be mandatory, (i.e. illegal not to vote), even if you only go and mark the paper no vote. In most 'free' countries people have died to give us this right and if we can just make those folk who are voted in, accountable to the people the world will be a better place.