crisis

My previous employer just sacked quite some people, including some I know personally. This brings the economic recession dangereously close.

I'm happy to be fully "billeable" as they say - meaning all my days are paid for by the client, since my first day at the current employer.

new temporary car

Stellegasie has a new car since last week. As you probably know I had a Seat Léon before. Very nice, very sporty, high likelihood of nasty accidents since it was so inviting to push on.

Now I have a Peugeot 308. Same class of car, a few less bhp, far more luxuries. But honestly it is the worst car I have ever driven.

Cabin quality and finish is almost up to Volkswagen standards, but the ride definitively isn't. Steering is sloppy at best, high-speed stability is too scary to try for more than a few minutes at a time, the engine is rather lazy. I don't mind the fact that it is less powerfull than my previous cars - after all, even this one goes fast enough to cost me my drivers' licence when pushed long enough.

But I'm not happy with it. In fact I hate it. I feel comfortable in it, but not safe. Not even when obeying traffic law.

Hopefully my "own" leasecar arrives soon, so I can return the rental Peugeot. Fabrication is scheduled for next week, so I'm told, and transport to Belgium shouldn't take too long. Maybe I'll have a nice Christmas present, then :)

Kong rules!

Harpo already outgrew his baby Kong. For those of you who don't know Kong: see here. Truly ingenious - and for once, it actually works as advertised.

We fill it up with his food, add a bit of liver paste, and top it off with some cheese to make sure the food bits are not flying around immediately. As I'm writing this Harpo is trying to get under the mattress in his bench, to retrieve some Kong filling that ended up there. Noisy, but good for learning basic problem solving and not being in the way while Mr and Mrs Stellegasie clean up the house.

Today I also had to give the little rascal a bath. We made a nice walk in the countryside (there is quite a lot of it here), and made quite a mess of ourselves. I did not fancy using the garden hose on him in the middle of winter, so I took him upstairs and rinsed him in the bath. No problem at all, and less messy than me taking a bath myself. I did not go in with him though: Harpo likes to bite anything loose, and I don't fancy going Jew. Besides, I don't like baths without foam.

For more pictures: I updated my flickr photostream!

chicken tonight

Apparently our indoor kennel was too large this morning: Mr Harpo did a big pee, and then very proudly woke us up.

I think he got too excited dreaming about Louie, his rubber chicken. Louie was his Sinterklaas present from my parents - Mrs and Mr Stellegasie got lots of chocolate and such. Thanks!

According to canine literature, Harpo is now reaching the phase in which he challenges us - the fight for Stellegasie domination! Bad luck for him - even Mrs Stellegasie did not manage to win (all the time)...

Note: no pictures of the real Louie yet. I ran out of flash batteries.

8,1 kg!

Harpo now weighs in at a hefty 8 kilograms!

He now eats about 250 or 300 grams puppy food per day, some treats and some delicious pieces of smoked pig's ear.

He also shits two times a day, about 3 little sausages each time.

So we wonder where it comes from? He eats his mattress as well, and we cought him today eating dry plaster walls, but they are not so heavy...

Harpo sleeping...

... as usual with one ear in his drink bowl.
Note also the panel in his bench, to make it smaller. The bench or kennel should in the beginning be just big enough to stretch out; any bigger than that and the dog will pee or poo in a corner...

Life picture archive

The Life magazine picture archive is available on Google these days. Worth checking out!

http://images.google.com/hosted/life