So I came home from an appointment on Saturday, the 7th of September and the girls are upstairs calling for me.  After walking up the steps, I was surprised to see what those two did:  A 3.5 month old, cream-coloured, golden retriever puppy!  They had been yakking away for days about getting a St. Bernard and when I heard that those pups cost three grand down here in Australia, I thought my squawking and counter-proposing had successfully talked them out of getting a dog until after the end of the year.  WRONG!  When my wife and daughter team up, they will NOT be denied!  This dog is 100% puppy, meaning she requires a lot of work and it wasn’t long before my wife looked to me in exasperation and said, “WHAT have I done?”  Ha!  But this dog is about as sweet as they come and I must admit that I enjoy once again getting  over-the-top welcome receptions when I come home from work.   And the puppy phase doesn’t last long.  In fact, I swear that in the photo below this dog has already grown about 20% in less than 2 weeks!  And my wife pointed out that a golden retriever is MUCH MUCH lest expensive than a St. Bernard!

Ziva has also presented us with an opportunity to take her for romps at the nearby “bark park” that is only a 3 minute walk from our house.   The silver lining is that I’m spending more time talking with my wife at the end of the day so that’s good!  This bark park is right on Manly Lagoon and the fenced-in field is probably worth a fortune for its real estate value.  But to Manly’s credit, they’ve kept it as public land.  Just look at the view the DOGS get from their park!: