Mount Wonky-Ponky

My Dear Princess & Dear Fellows,

I remember when Cazza first told me where she was from. Mount Maunganui* sounded so glamorous and exotic. 

Of course some people have trouble with that. Too many syllables. I remember Sally Damage referring to Cazza's home town as "Mount Wonky-Ponky".

Actually, I am not in Mount Wonky-Ponky proper. I am in Papamoa. Both the Mount and Papamoa are now suburbs swallowed up by the rapidly-growing city of Tauranga. Tauranga is about a 2 hour drive from Auckland, but with property prices being what they are in New Zealand, people are moving down the coast and a lot of Aucklanders are settling here now. Hence the "rapidly growing" part.

So anyway. I am in Papamoa, but that is the actual Mount you can see in the background of today's blip with Tiggydog gamboling around in the foreground. 

Tiggy knows that I am the Walkies Man because I always take him out for a good long jaunt and wear him out whenever I visit. He was very excited this morning when I got up, and when he heard the "W" word he was beside himself, whining and squealing and whirling to have the leash put on. He then dragged me down the road to the beach and he was OFF! Like a little black doggie rocket! 

So happy. I just love a happy dog. He bounded in the surf and tried to bury his ball and ran and ran and ran. 

We even ran into a couple of little doggy pals! They saw us coming from way off. 

"IT'S A MAN! IT'S A MAN WITH A BALL-THROWER THINGY! OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOOOOOOD!!!!"

You can see the look in their eyes in the extras. That little guy at the front was bouncing around and dancing. Desperate for me to throw the ball, throw the ball, throw the BAAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!

So I threw the ball. The little guy at the front had the speed advantage, but Tiggy had momentum. He basically SLID through the sand like a baseball player sliding into home. A huge cloud of sand enveloped the three dogs and then Tiggy emerged triumphant!

The four of us walked together for a wee while, and then the other two dogs got taken home by their owner (a little old dude with a tanned face like a walnut). Tiggy seemed disappointed and I could tell he was getting a bit tired from all the excitement. He is not used to walking for such a long time. So I walked him home and threw the ball a bit, but I could tell he was worn out. For one thing, he was starting to refuse to give the ball back.

"You'll just effing throw it again," he told me, in dog.

Now we are home again. Tired but happy. Feefs and Cazza are off to get their eyelashes done** and I'm back under the a/c. We are seeing Shetland Dad tonight. He is coming over for tea. But I sense an early evening for me tonight and another long walk tomorrow.

If I can persuade Tiggy to take me for another walk, that is.

S.

* It means literally, "Mount Big Mountain" because the early settlers did not speak proper good Maori like wot I do.

** Or something.