I’m always happy to glance out of the window and spot the neighbour’s white horse next door. 🐎

White horse grazing on bracken covered hill at sunrise.

OK. Siri gave me a great laugh. Verbal exchange: Set timer for 20 minutes. Siri: “Done.“ But look what she also wrote: “I see you shiver with antici … pation. “

Screenshot.

Many folks here pick up rubbish from the beach. My haul today was mainly all kinds of plastic, plus a glass jar & rusted lid, chair foam, a bag of dog poop, a drink can, paper ice cream cup, shotgun cartridges, rope & string. Photo shows part of today’s haul.

A collection of mainly plastic rubbish on top of a bin.

It was stormy overnight but today is splendid. Photo: cabbage tree (Ti Kouka) and, ummm, oak?

Green leaved cabbage tree and leafless winter branches of a large exotic tree.

Glad to find Season 4 of Veronica Mars. Really enjoying having the show back, especially now all those main characters are adults. I’d happily watch a whole lot more. Only 8 episodes, unfortunately, and we’ve already watched 2… Poster: By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use.

Veronica Mars Season 4 poster, showing the lead, eponymous character.

On Sundays we get the dog grooming table out so Deb can iron her work clothes for the week. We also brush ears and tails on the dogs. Here’s Oshi with silky ears. 🐶

Small dog on a grooming table and looking at the camera.

So pleased Season 2 of Derry Girls has arrived on Netflix. Disappointed there are only 6 episodes and we’ve already laughed our way through three of them.

Crazy: I have only 10% free space on iCloud and thought I might upgrade. The only upgrade choice is from my current 200GB to 2TB. The price goes from $5 per month to $17. How about smaller upgrade steps, Apple? That’s way too big a step! And too much $$$$ for a limited budget.

iCloud plan upgrade option from 200 GB to 2 TB.

In 2014 I went to Mars (well, my name did). In 2020 I’m going back again. You can too. This is a cool thing that NASA does, and it’s even free. Great for awareness and engagement. I love the boarding passes, mission patch and whatnot. Go have some fun on Mars too!

2014 Mars mission ‘boarding pass’. Screenshot: send your name to Mars page. 2020 Mars mission ‘boarding pass’. Orion Test Flight ‘mission patch’.

Sometimes dead animals wash up on our beach (3 goats right now) and I report them to the Council. I only just discovered that in Apple Maps (and GMaps) I can mark a location and then tap on the marker, swipe up far enough and see the GPS co-ordinates.

Selected location pin on a map. GPS and other info for the selected marked location.

Found this in a folder labelled screenshots. Date: 14 June 2011. Obviously the dogs had just been groomed. I’m so impressed by Oshi’s posture, sitting up, being a good boy. And Sasha looking at the camera too. 🐶

Two small freshly-groomed dogs sitting on the floor looking at the camera.

And of course I should have waited to take that photo of the snowy peaks of the Tararuas. Sunset…

An orange sunset photo of a dusting of snow on the mountain peaks.

The Tararua peaks were dusted with snow overnight.

Mountain top with a light dusting of snow.

“Just bite together normally and hold for 2 minutes.” Except, after 45 minutes in the dentist chair and with half my face numb, my lower jaw aching from holding my mouth open, I no longer know what a ‘normal bite’ is. In 2 weeks I’ll have another crown, but not the good kind… 👑

It was very chilly overnight so Sasha and Oshi had to huddle up for warmth. 🐶

Two small dogs cuddled together in a bed.

In English we put spaces between words. It turns out, we have 6th century Irish monks to thank for that. Listen to The Allusionist, Episode 9, The Space Between for the details. The podcast episode is only 10 minutes long, and extremely interesting.

Screenshot of the podcast page.

Over several sessions I watched Jupiter Ascending (2 hours). It’s about a woman, set in space. It’s massively overblown, weird, creative. Chases, explosions etc. Not terrible. Jupiter sure ascends a lot: ladders, pillars, whatever… Fave subtitle: “both continue screaming”.

Juipter, dressed in wedding garb, walks towards her marriage.Jupiter in wedding garb, subtitle: Oh! Holy crap!

Car crash at the corner on 30 July 2019

Two cars crashed on the highway at Manakau, near the intersection of Waikawa Beach Rd, about 8.40am on Tuesday

The crash blocked the northbound lane of SH1 for about an hour.

Started watching the Netflix series, Another Life:

… follows the story of an astronaut and a space crew, who are on a mission to investigate the origins of an alien artifact that mysteriously appeared on Earth.

Good to see Katee Sackhoff in the lead. I’ll be watching more.

In the last couple of weeks I seem to have got behind on everything. I’m finally starting to sort that out, for indoors stuff anyway. The rainy weather helps.