This article was on xtra this morning. It does make me hope that in this world with 1 billion people classed as starving that those 3000 rabbit lives are getting turned into something useful and not just being wasted. For those of us with pet rabbits in our backyard it is something extra to think about. I bet our rabbits are feeling happy that they live with us! On that note our oldest rabbit Lotus has just turned 10 - not bad going for a domestic rabbit with a life expectancy of 5 -6 years!
The photo to the left is one of Haylee and Pierre Rabbit from 2003.

I know rabbits are a terrible problem in Southland, we have seen it first hand when down that way a few years back photographing Kingsmill's vineyard in Bannockburn (Central Otago). Hopefully the pet food producers would see this as an opportunity for free product.

Click on the read more link to read the article.

We have it pretty easy these days, all things considered. The next time you are taking a shower and complain because of the water temperature, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s (and probably applicable until a lot later in Eurpoean history):

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water".

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs".

Another gem from the neverending email chain, but so relevant right now. Who knows if he actually said it without doing some research into this matter, but the sentiment is there. By the way, does anyone know who owns the IMF and The World Bank? We are doing some research into this for a website we are working on. Send me links if you know.

Quote from Thomas Jefferson in 1802

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered".

After abit of testing it is time to say goodbye to our old site that has done us so well for the last couple of years and move into a brave new world. Now it is just a case of maintaining and keeping relevant a web 2.0 site with all of the interactive features that we are continually harping on about to our clients. As with any new website we expect a few moments of dispair as the dust settles. This new site uses a different URL protocol (which is much better suited to Google and other search engines) so with abit of good old kiwi ingenuity we have cobbled together a method of retaining most of our old search results URLs whilst Google recognises our new naming protocol. Some saved bookmarks may be lost however. I will set up some customised 404 error pages at some point but for now I must plow on with work that will pay the mortgage!
If anyone using this site is having issues please just let us know.

I recently turned this lovely image of Haylee and Sophia into a large A1 poster print onto canvas for Haylee's birthday. It is fantastic what you can do for a very reasonable cost with Paul and the wonderful folks at Speedy Print these days. We recently did a range of large photo prints for Tasty Buggers on Hardy Street and I got motivated to do something nice for us.

Sophia is now 17 months old and very much looking forward to the arrival of her little sister in February. She is such a lovely little girl, full credit to Haylee for all of the time she puts into teaching her the wonders of life. We are all having a blast, and I am so thankful to be working from home. The compromise of a few late nights here and there means I don't miss out on the milestones and the joys of her growing up.

Another wee gem via email regarding something we all face these days - STRESS. It is all too easy to carry the stress of work with us. But what is work? Do we work to live or live to work? New Zealander's are working increasingly longer hours these days in order to survive the rapidly rising cost of living. Sometimes there is not alot we can do about this, especially if you have your own business, but the one positive thing we can do is switch off when we walk out of the office door.

A lecturer when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked 'How heavy is this glass of water?'

Answers called out ranged from 1oz to 25ozs.

The lecturer replied, 'The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it.
If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem.
If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.
If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.
In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.'

This interesting article came my way recently and got me thinking about appreciation, and what we choose to see and not see around us every day.

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:
the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

Interested in finding out the twist to this story........