Five

Today is my birthday. It doesn't seem that long since I was a young pup able to move FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT  PARKED CARS. Being able to move so fast is now being questioned, but I know I was so fast around and under cars that oil never had time to stick to my fur and mum couldn't catch me on her camera without laughing and blurring the photos.

However, now that I'm five my birthday started differently from last year, when I was four and had the full attention of my humans and packages to shred open. First I found out that dad had disappeared in the middle of the night to drive to a mountain where he can ski. Then mum started howling. She went on and on. It was quite disturbing and all I could do was look at her. She says she was singing a birthday song but I wasn't convinced. Then she told me that because she's had such a crazy week, she hasn't got me any presents yet and she feels really bad about it, but it's OK as I already have too many toys and young Enzo thinks "what is his is his" and "what is mine is his", so I probably wouldn't get to play with any new toys anyway.

Instead she promised me a day of attention with us going out together, a nice massage (you may recall she did a dog massage course), a special pass to allow me to lie on the couch tonight with her to watch sport (I've only been "allowed up" maybe eight times in all my years here - though I do sneak up when my humans are out as I don't think they have noticed the dent in the leather that I make) and best of all she told me she was going to give me some of my favourite foods.

Food glorious food...there is nothing better! I would do absolutely anything for food and my favourites are smoked fish, steak, potato chips (crisps), tasty cheese,  egg, mashed potatoes and Cheezels (bright orange "O" shaped corn snacks). I have had some of these already today, and small portions of the rest are going to be in my dinner bowl with my usual ration of kibble tonight. There are many other foods I enjoy including liver, sausages, some vegetables and ice cubes (strange but true - I will spin circles and do tricks for frozen water) but having some special foods today has made me happy.

Now it is almost time to climb up onto "my couch" and see how our NZ rugby team do against the French.

Woofs,

Riley

PS What are your favourite food treats? Is there anything I should request for my next birthday? If I put my order in early, perhaps mum will be more organised.

 

Wordless Wednesday

The World in Union

Tonight, at 7.30pm New Zealand time, in my hometown of Auckland, Rugby World Cup 2011 begins. NZ is only a small country of just over 4 million people, but we hope to put on a wonderful World Cup. There will be 48 games of rugby union held around NZ to find the best team.

Is your country competing? Do you recognise all twenty flags below? If you click on this image to make it bigger you will see the Maori name for each country. Maori is one of our three official languages. The other two are English and NZ Sign Language.

If you watch the opening ceremony you will learn about where I live – there will be wakas (Maori canoes), volcanoes, the sea, and some of our history. You will hear our Maori language in greetings (and also at the start of our national anthem) as well as English to welcome all the countries that are competing in and watching this event. Then you will see fireworks over our Waitemata Harbour. Some of the fireworks will even form the shape of our native flowers, like the kowhai (yellow) and pohutukawa (red).

Tonight’s game is NZ versus Tonga. After the national anthem of each country, our team, the All Blacks, will perform a haka (which is a war dance). Tonga also will do their war dance and then the game between Tonga and NZ will begin. Then the competition begins, as all teams try to get to and win the final game which is on the 28th of October.

As well as the opening ceremony and first game at Eden Park tonight, there is a huge party at the Auckland waterfront that starts at 4pm, with 600 Maori arriving in wakas, lots of bars and restaurants, big screens to show the game, live music and something called “The Cloud” (as my country, Aotearoa, is known as the land of the long white cloud).

It is getting very exciting. There are flags on cars and buildings, people are dressed in their team colours and everywhere you go people are talking about rugby. The Tongans have really gotten into the spirit of things starting with a massive welcome to their team at Auckland airport earlier this week. Mum has lost count of how many red and white flags (for Tonga) she has seen on cars and houses! There are also lots of black flags (with a fern) for NZ, our NZ flag (blue with the Union Jack and four red stars) and flags for other countries flying too.

What do you think of me wearing an All Blacks jersey? I'm still waiting for the coach to call me. My humans will be dressed in black tonight  too, but have told me that I have to stay at home with Enzo.

Which team are you supporting?

Woofs,
Riley

Spring is here!