christchurch, the tranzscenic and our ever growing brood

Hey All,

At the end of Mike's visit to Dunedin we decided to drop him off in Christchurch and then have a little adventure of our own. We booked passage on the Alpine Tranz Scenic train from Christchurch to Greymouth and back again. We would (and probably should) have booked passage back on Sunday instead of a Saturday same day round trip but we had plans to pick up a couple extra chickens. So we had a rather long but beautiful trip over the southern alps taking in the snow capped mountains and winding tracks and rivers over the mountain. Here's a few pics we took from the train...

Brief stopover in Arthurs pass.

We stayed the night in the cute little town of Sumner, headed in to Christchurch to do some shopping and then high tailed it out of town. We picked up two chickens along the way (because what's a four hour drive without a couple chickens in the boot) and headed home. The two new chickens ,tentatively named Six and Dorking (because of her breed), greatly upset the pecking order upon their arrival. It took about a week for Fore to come to terms with the fact that she no longer ruled the roost (Six is about twice the size of her) but now they've all settled in to be good friends. With the exception that the roost was a bit cramped (I have since constructed a second roost). And bonus, they've started laying eggs again. Hooray for fresh eggs!

Love to all,
Dave

Roosters bring out the ninja in all of us (or is it just me)

Hi All,

Last week we had a visit from a very special chicken admirer. Drea came home after work one night to find a wild rooster in the tree above our hen house. Obviously up there showing off for the girls. We went up in the tree that night to try and capture it to save us (and every neighbor in a 7 block radius) from the early wake-up call. After a few misses and one very bad move on my part we were able to box him up and bring him inside. At some point Drea opened up the top of the box (to give him water!!) and out the rooster came again. Unfortunately, this time inside the house. It took roost on the sink and I suggested Drea turn the lights out to help it calm down. That's when the ninja in me came out. Chickens have pretty lousy night vision so I donned a black shirt and balaclava and went to work stalking the rooster. Logical, right??? Anyway, Drea was trying to make it difficult by laughing as I closed in on my prey but her mockery was to no avail. After very very slowly stalking it I was able to make a grab at it. Rooster captured and all is safe -thanks to the Ninja!

We ended up delivering the rooster to a neighbor (more than 7 blocks away) who was happy to have him.

Dave and Drea

Eurotrash Party :-) and Jan's goodbye :-(

We just enjoyed a visit from Mike at the beginning of August. At the same time we had to say goodbye to our good friend, neighbor and fellow chicken fancier Jan. For Jan's going away he held a Eurotrash party with several of his university friends. So Friday night we decided to dress up as a group of gothic Frenchmen. Let's just say we had a good time playing dress up and giving our finest impressions of haughty disdain. But you be the judge...

We thought Mike looked like the clock from Beauty and the Beast. What do you think?

Drea also recently purchased for my half birthday a copy of Settlers of Catan (Now Drea's favorite game ever) We got a few rounds in when mike was in town.

This looks vaguely familiar to anyone who's been at the Brokaw house the last 27 Christmases.

All the best to Jan, glad that he and Teresa are finally living in the same hemisphere, but we're missing them both now.

All the best,
Dave and Andrea

what we've been doing the last month and a half

Hey all,

Sorry that we've been slow in blog postings recently. We've been really really busy. Anyway, to catch you up on our last month and a half is below in a mostly picture version of the blog...

Drea's cross country trip with Merritt:

Blue Mountains

Asheville, NC Vegetarian restaurant

Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs

While Drea was still in the States I had my company winter dinner/social/costume party:

The theme for my company winter dinner was "go as something that has the same first letter as your first name". I went as Dave the Dorky Doormat.

And believe it or not I actually won the company costume contest for this. (And no, I wasn't the only one dressed up)

We went to Arkansas to visit John, Jenny, Nathan, Ella and Owen:

Here's me with my nephew Nathan.

Drea with Ella and NathanDrea and OwenJenny and OwenWe took a trip to Devil's Den State park for a picnicWe tried to go for a swim here until it started pouring rain on us.

I got to meet my new nephew Owen. Such a cutie.

This is Owen saying, "ummmm. What are you doing? Hasn't anyone ever taught you how to hold a baby???"We also got to watch Ella's gymnastics lesson. Awesome!

We went winetasting while we were back in the bay area with mom and dad.

We also went to the brand new academy of sciences in golden gate park.

The roof is covered in soil and wildflowers.

We also went out to Boston to visit with Drea's parents and brother's family:We walked through downtown Boston, toured the historic North End.
We went to dinner at Mark and Molly's and Andrea's nephew Luke has a taste for trouble...Yup, trouble.Andrea niece Anna was another little cutie. We went to a concert of the Boston Pops.

It's been a very busy last month and a half and Andrea just got back into town. With winter in full swing down here we haven't been doing much beyond just trying to stay warm and wedding planning (yup, we're getting married!!!). But hopefully there will be some more items of interest to report in the near future.

Hope all are well,
Dave and Andrea

Earthquake

Hey all,

Some of you have asked about the earthquake we had last night. We both felt it and it lasted more than a minute but it was a pretty gentle rolling where we were. No damage and actually quite fun.

No worries.

Dave