The main reason that I didn't make it to the Iron Heart party this year was because I got myself a dog. This is Disco, he's a Peruvian Inca Orchid.
He's currently about four months old, and probably about the size of a Whippet. Like his owner, he's also completely bald.
This is a Kookaburra. They're a relative of the Kingfisher that's native to Australia, and they're about the size of a crow.
They're hunters, and I saw one today that had caught a small snake. That's the large worm in its beak. It's not a great photo, as I snapped it with my phone on maximum zoom.
The Aurora Australis was visible from outside my house this evening.
Continuing the theme of clean and dirty, here is Disco on Sunday afternoon posing after winning Best of Breed at the Royal Sydney show. I should cheapen the victory by pointing out that our rival failed to turn up, after she unfortunately injured her knee. But the advantage of a rare breed dog is that it is likely to win its class by default.
And here he is on Monday morning after he spent an hour chasing a Pitbull and a sheep around a small farm on the outskirts of Sydney. It was probably the highlight of his weekend.
Disco got a lot of attention at the show. I probably had to explain what a Peruvian Hairless was hundreds of times over the two days, because it's a fairly unique breed. Well, except for the Xoloitzcuintli who were further down the aisle...
I've still got the Mountain Parka, and occasionally wear it. Here it is being modelled with Flash, who I was walking at the Greyhound Adoption Programme on Saturday.
Three rare breeds that you probably haven't met in one photo. From left-to-right: Disco, a Peruvian Hairless or Peruvian Inca Orchid; Pacino, a Cirneco dell'Etna; Farourk, a Sloughi.
Dante from Pixar's Coco and my dog Disco bear a striking resemblance.
Dante is a Xoloitzcuintli whilst Disco is a Peruvian Hairless or Peruvian Inca Orchid.
@neph93 I'm glad to hear that the men in white coats have come for you Norwegian health care system is taking care of you.
Incidentally, ADHD means that you're neurodivergent, though I suspect that you'll prefer the appellation that a friend came up with: Neurodeviant.
(But he read way too much Nemesis the Warlock at an impressionable age...)
As someone whose brain is also not running the standard wiring, I would agree that knowing the underlying causes will help in managing it, and also finding coping strategies.
It's Watches and Wonders this week, which is the biggest show in the horological calendar. Naturally, there are new pieces, and here are a few of them.
Rolex haven't done much with their sports line this year, except to slap a black and grey bezel on the GMT.
Tudor have launched a Black Bay 58 GMT, which is a smaller and slimmer package than their existing GMT. It's also Master Chronometer certified, which I think is Rolex's way of saying, "Our cheap product meets Omega's fancy standard."
Patek has launched a very pretty perpetual calendar with a salmon dial.
Zenith has revived the Defy Diver with a very orange bezel.
Grand Seiko has a new Birch Bark with an equally new 5 Hz hand wound movement.
And, lastly, the LUC XPS Qualitie Fleurier is very, very pretty.
This is Topper, formerly known as Mystify Kick. He's a retired racing dog, you can find his career stats online.
I've got him for a month to help with socialisation and learning manners, but I think that he's learning bad habits instead. He does have excellent taste in blankets, though.
Michael Cerny in Germany makes Newsboy Caps out of deerskin from Gerberei Kolesch, who also supply the hides for the Big Buck shirts. I haven't handled one, but they look lovely.
I was in Melbourne a week ago, and I saw the Vacheron Constantin Historiques 222 in steel. It's a very pretty watch. I still haven't managed to get a look at the Patek Cubitus, because you need to jump through hoops for the local dealer to show it to you, but it was about 15% cheaper and a far nicer piece of design.
The only shortcoming was that it's a boutique only piece, and the one in Melbourne already had three hundred expressions of interest.
Across the road, I saw a Montblanc 1858 "The Unveiled Secret" Minerva Monopusher Chronograph. The movement has been flipped, so that its back becomes the watch's face. The case back is solid, with an engraving of the old Minerva workshop on it. Again, it's a lovely piece.
There was also a Zenith Defy Tourbillon, which is based around a variant of the El Primero 5 Hz movement.
On a more accessible front, the Longines boutique had the new, carbon Ultra-Chron. The bezel is fixed, unlike the original steel version, which got the desk divers in Hodinkee's comments section ranting!
Since no-one has mentioned it, the Indigofera x Iron Heart anniversary blanket looks great.
There's an area of native bush or woodland in the park near where I live, and there's some wildlife that frequents it.
Yesterday I saw a couple of older gentlemen on the bridge across a creek that runs through it. It turns out that they were watching a Platypus. It climbed out onto a log, and I got a rather poor photograph with my phone's camera.
The sighting came about half-an-hour after I'd been verbally abused by a woman for having my dog off-leash in an off-leash area...
I saw an Echidna back in December. They're a spiked marsupial that resembles a Hedgehog or Porcupine.
I've seen a couple of Kangaroos, and several snakes. I don't have any pictures of them, because I'm normally trying to stop my dog from sniffing them or following them into the undergrowth.
I resisted the sale. There were a couple of pieces that I was tempted by: The IHDR-502bb and the Big Buck shirt. But I wasn't sure about fit as I keep on changing size and shape, I'm currently unemployed, and I've agreed to spend a chunk of my dwindling savings on a puppy...
Omega has re-released the First Omega in Space, with a nifty sapphire crystal that replicates the original Hesalite, and the 3861 Master Chronometer movement. It looks nice.
Monochrome and Fratello have write-ups.
Meanwhile, Grand Seiko laughs in Rolex's face when it comes to accuracy. The new Spring Drive UFA is accurate to within 20 seconds per year, and it's $6K cheaper at around $10K.
More at Hodinkee.
Omega has just released a pair of Railmaster models, which are basically no date versions of the Aqua Terra. Note the lack of text on the dial compared to other watches in their collection.
