Monday, August 29, 2005


all together in the den Posted by Picasa

 Posted by Picasa

Achilles by the cd rack Posted by Picasa

who, me? Posted by Picasa

It's like they know...

that we have to give them away... they are so cute and doing so well, it just breaks our hearts to think of giving 2 away!!! Ralph, having taken care of them all alone for 2 weeks, is totally in love with all 3 and doesn't want to give any way.

We're placing ads in the TWIC, with the BHC and with the American School, hopefully we can find just 2 good homes. Here's what we're placing:


German Shorthair Pointers

Found at Karavas House, these 8-week old purebred pups will be available as of 31 August, are paper-trained and have up to date vaccinations, paperwork and collars. Both will need a loving family as soon as possible. Here is a picture of both, playing with an empty plant container.

Ajax (male) with a dappled coat, is now 9-pounds, full of energy with a wonderful demeanor. He does well with eating out of his own dish, is fully paper trained and has the best developed body of all 3. He will be an amazing, beautiful dog once he gets training; very smart and anxious to please.

Athena (female) with a white coat and brown spots, is about 7-pounds. The most cuddlely, with the most proper bred markings, she was the smallest when we found her, but is now keeping up with her brothers. She’s curious, playful and breaking my heart to give her up.

If interested, please contact Ralph at work or Amy, 22 355 045 at home.

So it's submitted, now we just wait and see what happens. If you didn't figure it out, we're keeping Achilles, so far... ;)

I'll post some more pics now. If you want one, let me know!



hello? Posted by Picasa

she's got that plant container under control! Posted by Picasa

all 3 in the den, compare to 3 weeks ago and see the growth! Posted by Picasa

Athena... so cute... Posted by Picasa

Ajax and Athena, she's chewing on an empty plant container. Posted by Picasa

Ajax resting (how unusual!) Posted by Picasa

Ralph with Ajax Posted by Picasa

Friday, August 12, 2005

Names

I was trying to hold off naming the pups, afraid it would make it harder to give them up, but it looks like we have names now.

I loved all the suggestions, but since we got them in Cyprus, we're opting for Greek names...

Athena for Her

Athena (Athene) was the Greek goddess of intellect. She was the daughter of Zeus and Metis.

Achilles for the chocolate
In Greek mythology, Achilles was the son of Peleus, king of the Myrmidons in Thessaly, and of the sea nymph, Thetis, who rendered him invulnerable, except for the heel by which she held him, by dipping him in the river Styx. Achilles killed Hector at the climax of the Iliad, and according to subsequent Greek legends was himself killed by Paris, who shot a poisoned arrow into Achilles' heel. I picked this name because of the English use of the word, he's SO cute, he's an achilles for me!

and Ajax for the alpha (I liked Brutus, but that's Latin)
In Greek mythology, Ajax was son of Telamon, king of Salamis (which is located here in Cyprus), he was second only to Achilles among the Greek heroes in the Trojan War. According to subsequent Greek legends, Ajax went mad with jealousy when Agamemonon awarded the armor of the dead Achilles to Odysseus.

By the way, Ajax is now 7.5 pounds and the others are both 5 pounds!

Thursday, August 11, 2005


Collars! Red for her, brown for chocolate-man and black for alpha Posted by Picasa

sleeping on her back Posted by Picasa

Ralph being mauled by the nose biters Posted by Picasa

Tug of war, 3 ways Posted by Picasa

Really bad of me >>how embarassing<< but all 3 on my lap. This is how small they are! Posted by Picasa

Spooning in the wine cellar -now their den Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Our First (and not last!) Zenobia dive

Last Saturday we had a great couple of dives. Ralph's friend, Mike, from the Embassy set us up with Sunfish Divers and we went out for 2 wreck dives. My first! it was amazing. Ralph did one in Mexico and in the DR, but said this was the best he saw. It supposed to be one of the top 10 wrecks in the world for Advanced Divers (meaning no enhanced oxygen or other specialty certs needed).

The Zenobia went down on her maiden voyage and sits on her port side. There are dozens and dozens of new lorries scheduled for delivery on it, or should I say, around it. It's only about 3-kilometers from the Larnaca harbor, so it's about a 10-minute boat ride out. Which makes it very nice, as between dives, we came ashore for a frappe and a sandwich.

The first dive was 30-meters for a total bottom time of 39-minutes. We started at the propeller and moved about 1/3 of the way up the open deck. The water was perfectly calm, amazing how far the visability was, maybe 30-meters. Crystal clear.
The air temp was about 38-c, the water was about 28-c for the first several meters and there totally were thermals; cold if not over the ship, and when passing over empty spaces and warmer over the metal.

Second dive was 26.5-meters for 45 total water time and we started about 1/4 of the way from the front, went in through the cafe (which still has tables, carpet and needs a good cleaning!) and out to the very front. However, this was later in the day and the winds and swells had picked up.

Getting in wasn't too bad, just wait for the deck on the back of the boat to go up and jump out as far as you can. No problem. Visability had diminished, and getting out was very well assisted by the 2 dive masters and guides, however, it was the freakiest I'd ever done. After equalizing for 5 minutes, I had to take off the flippers, one dive master held my BC and we ascended to about 1 meter from the bottom of the ladder which was bucking dramatically in and out of the water as the boat bobbed on the swells. Another dive master assisted me in getting a knee on the low rung and as the next swell lifted the boat out of the water, I made it up the ladder as fast as I could with the guide on the deck lifting me up by the strap of the BC. It went quickly, and I saw several others go before me, so I knew what to expect. It confirmed my confidence in Jack, the Master Diver. We will go back to see him! (BTW, he has a Bachelor from CSU Sonoma in Environmental Studies, so it was fun to talk with him!)

It's truly amazing to see a 560-foot ship just laying on it's side with trucks littered around like toys. It actually makes me think more about the Titanic and the amazing pictures we've been able to pull from it and the way things there are preserved. In the Zenobia sinking, no life was lost.

I've heard stories of disorientation in blue water diving, and thought, "Why not just look at which way the bubble go?" While I didn't get disoriented, with everything at 90-degrees, I could totally see it happening. Very odd to see something like this.

I saw the biggest school of fish I've ever seen. Not the largest fish, but what seemed like a huge school. There were more Turkish Wrasse, AmberJack, a couple types of Grouper; very nice.

I'm off to Las Vegas this Saturday and Ralph has Monday off, local holiday, of course! So he is going to take another dive. Most likely a shore dive this time.

Friday, August 05, 2005


little girl Posted by Picasa

the alpha and the little boy Posted by Picasa

the little girl on my work chair... so little! Posted by Picasa

the girl snuggling with the the little boy Posted by Picasa

my new office mates, under my desk Posted by Picasa

fighting the ficus tree Posted by Picasa

the chocolate one... on the Hilton mat :D Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, August 03, 2005


Huey, Louis & Dewey or Larry, Curly & Mo? Posted by Picasa