Shane's lame excuses for not posting lately

Sorry, guys and girls, I have been just getting killed at work for the last couple weeks, and then there was Anne's visit last weekend, and then DNC '08 (said sarcastically only because I wish I could have been there to experience it in person!), and it just keeps on coming.

I promise to sit down some time this week and start posting again, putting down the latest and greatest news from down under, my thoughts on Sarah Palin and men who dance around in ballet tights, Orli's impending release from doggie prison and the dangers of your everyday prostitutes, the usual Shane drivel.

Orli has left the building

Orli touched down at the Christchurch airport Thursday morning and was taken to the quarantine kennels outside of town. I went to visit her that afternoon and she is doing fine; that was one of the best half hours I have had since getting down here! She was very happy to see me (although when has she not been happy to see anyone?), running around in circles and jumping and play-fighting and doing a quite happy whine. She looks to be in good shape and has a healthy appetite, as usual, and her typical high energy. Apparently, her crate was clean when it arrived off the plane, but she has been "doing her business" out at the kennel - what a trooper! The first visit by the MAF vet was yesterday and I was told I would get a call if anything was wrong; I heard nothing. I took a pile of pictures while I was out at the kennel, but due to some technical difficulties, they never made it on to my memory card. Sorry!

Blogging live from the scene

Well, at least someone is live on the scene - one Jose Fernandez has Orli in Los Angeles. She leaves tomorrow morning for Christchurch, where she will arrive at 10.20 Thursday morning.
More on this story as it develops...

Orligate, day 7

According to Plan, Orli was supposed to arrive here last Thursday. For the sake of those of you out in Reader Land who are not in New Zealand, I'll let you know that she did not arrive. The whole thing has turned into a bit of a mess. You see, Orli has to have all of her shots and tests in line before the US authorities will let her leave the country. Well, one of her blood samples got "lost" at the lab and one test, not even a crutial one, was left undone on her departure day. The lab also only does this test once a week; don't ask me why! Now, the how process is on a very rigourous schedule and if you arrive early or late by as little as a day, the NZ Biosecurity folks get very angry. This time, though, they were nice enough to grant us a 7-day extension, perhaps because they are used to the incompetence somewhere in the procedure.

So my parents, the shippers, Orli's vet, and I have been waiting nervously all week for the redone test results to arrive, hopefully in time before the 7-day extension expired. Lo and behold, the test results came in on Saturday, and Orli is leaving Baltimore today, arriving in Christchurch on Thursday. All is good, right? Well, for me, yes! But a direct quote from an eyewitness on the scene of her departure:
Orli should have been placed on the 7:15 flight out of BWI. Shane – not heard her whine like that before. She knows what’s going on…
I feel bad for what she will have to be going through over the next three days! But after that, she gets to frolic through idyllic New Zealand meadows, chasing sheep and making fun of the Ozzies!