Some fun, some mishaps.

Devoted reader Elizabeth (aka "Mrs. Fox" or "Foxy E") asked for an update on Chris's first Kiwi birthday, which passed Sept. 3 without any mention on this blog. I have been off my blogging game.

I don't want to speak for Chris, but we had a great evening at Scotia, a swanky restaurant here in town. Food was good, and the birthday boy took full advantage of its excellent whisky bar. On Friday, the people from his office went to happy hour to celebrate Chris's birthday and two others. Lots of Virgo statisticians, apparently.

That brings us to this weekend, which has FINALLY been sunny and beautiful and perfect walking around temperatures. So yesterday we decided to go for a little day hike to enjoy the weather and give the puppies some exercise. It started out well enough.

Chris in the bush

This crazy tree that has paper-thin bark. I don't know what they're called but they're really pretty.

View of Dunedin from about halfway up the track (Otago Harbor is barely visible in the distance)

Then we came to a little clearing where we planned to stop for a snack. And we came across about five sheep that had wandered on to the track from the adjacent farm. And all hell broke loose. Before you could blink, Livy was chasing all five sheep through the bush, off the track, straight down the hill. I literally had to grab a tree to avoid being knocked over. Owen, I'm proud to say, was on leash at the time and handled it all in relative stride.

For the next 30 minutes, Chris and I wandered back down the track, shouting for our badly-behaved dog to no avail. We later admitted that we had both written Livy's doggie obituary in our heads, guessing she had fallen off of a steep track perhaps met her fate with an angry sheep farmer. It was not a fun half hour. Then, finally, Chris saw her little orange body slowly staggering up the hillside. Much to our relief, she was not covered in blood (dog or sheep), nor was she injured in any other way. And as much as I was REALLY mad at her, it was hard not to laugh a little at her stupid, delerious dog grin. Aside from being in trouble with us, I'm pretty sure it was the happiest day of her life.