We have two dogs, a slender pretty blonde one named Polly, and a not-slender black one named Sprocket. Here's a picture

One of these two dogs has very delicate feet. The skin on the paws gets dried out, it flakes off, it reacts to *everything*, salt from when the salt the snow, the slightly acid rain, rough pavement, you name it. Guess which dog...

That's right, not the delicate looking blonde, it's Sprocket who has a bag case of Princess Paws. As you can see in the above photo I've put a rubber sock over the paw that was giving him trouble this time to protetct it from the ground while it healed.

But both dogs really *hate* wearing the socks. For Polly that's not really a problem, she's got tough feet, but for Sprocket - it meant if we hit a patch of salty snow I'd have to carry him over.

And at 26kgs this was not a task I enjoyed.

I was starting to worry about how we were going to cope with summer (when the tarmac on the roads can get really hot.) as well as with the wet spring weather (given that rain water seems to also set him off)

So I was in the dog park yesterday and one of the other regulars noticed the sock and asked what was wrong. (no-one in the park knows my name, but they all know and love Sprocket)  I explained the princess paws problem, and that it had always been a bit of a problem - even in Australia, but it was definitely happening more often here.

She said "Oh yar, Labradors have such tender paws, you need to get Musher's Wax"

I said "What?"

She said "Musher's Wax, Sled dog drivers use it - it protects the dogs' paws from snow, sand, cold, heat, and it moisturised the paw pads to stop them drying out."

I was doubtful that such a product existed but I went home and Googled it.

And sure enough it does exist. So I ordered some on an overnight delivery,

I have to say, we tried it on our walk today and it does everything it says on the box. Sprocket didn't mind it, It was a lot easier to get on than the socks and it's the first walk we've done in ages where Sprocket hasn't come home and immediately started licking his paws. 

It's awesome, awesome stuff, if you have a dog with Princess Paws, I can't reccommend it enough!

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I first came to New York in June/July of 1999 for a UN conference on Population and Development, and, although I was working all the hours God sent, with what little time I had to myself I walked the streets of the city obsessively. 

I fell in love with the place, and decided then, that I'd really love to live here, it got added to the list of things I'd like to do before I die.

Well, today I turned 40, and I live in New York in an apartment in Chelsea, I walk my dogs in Madison Square Park, I eat out in the Village and I shop on 34th street.

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One of the great things about moving to New York has been watching the dogs try to get their heads around squirrels.

From using Sprocket as a climbing post to try and get a better view, to the sheer excitment of seeing one up close....

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The guys from Pixar nailed it in UP!

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Spotted on our way to dinner - a fantastic mashup of Christmas and Halloween decorations. I only wish I knew whether the spider had been sans hat before the Christmas period.

Polly sees a squirrel in Madison Square Park.

Daytime view from our apartment. One onf the things I love about this city is that while it can be *freezing* during winter. (seriously, yesterday reached a top of -7C!) The days are crystal clear with sparkling blue skies; somehow that makes the cold much easier to deal with.

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A couple of night shots from the evening walk with the dogs. It's a seriously pretty city in the evening.

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One of the minor concerns I had about having the dogs in Manhattan was the lack of park space for their walks, particularly since we weren't going to have outside space of our own...

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I wasn't too concerned about the lack of outside space of our own, as our dogs are pretty lazy, left to their own devices they'll sleep pretty much all day.

The result of today's 4.5km walk...

Labradoodles, it turns out are pretty much the perfect appartment dog. They don't want much execise, they don't bark much, they're very trainable, and they're big enough to be able to 'hold on' through the night. 

Except, if you have the brilliant idea of combining a 5km jog with their morning walk you'd better be prepared to carry them part of the way home, or lure them with treats.

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After looking at a bunch of places we've settled on a place in Chelsea, on West 26th with views of the Empire State's and Chrysler buildings. It doesn't have a terrace or balcony, but after these two weeks, it really seems that we don't actually need it.  We've got the lease and it all looks good, so with luck (and IKEA!) we'll move in on December 23.

Which means I'll have to move the Christmas tree I cobbled together from stuff I got from the tacky store around the corner. 

But it's surprising how Christmassy a cheap tree, tinsel, plastic baubles and truckload of lights can look.

And it will be easier to make Christmas lunch in an actual kitchen - rather than the 'kitchenette' we have here.

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Over the last few years Australia has been a very prosperous country. (Seriously, when families on incomes of over $150,000 a year are complaining about having their welfare payments reduced you know the country has cash)

Sydney - where we lived - is actually a more expensive place to live (ranking 14th on the Mercer Cost of living survey) than New York (number 32). Which gives Grant and I a slightly warped perspective on this city.

Rents are comparable (compare this place in George Street with this place in Manhattan's financial district.) Other things are more expensive (Olive Oil for example, the exact same brand we bought in Australia is 50% more expensive here) but beer is much cheaper. Since we drink more beer than olive oil this represents a net benefit to our wallets - although arguably not to our health

The other thing that seems less expensive to us is eating out. Last Night we went to Print a reasonably ritzy restaurant a couple of blocks from where we're staying. The review we read on Yelp suggested that it was going to be a great meal - but really expensive.

It was a really great meal (I'll link to Grant's review when he's written it) and the bill came to a total of $175 (that includes the tip) for three courses, a bottle of wine and a glass of dessert wine. (a really nice moscato). If we'd forgone the booze* it would have been a grand total of $130 (including the tip)

Maybe its the Sydney factor, or the fact that Grant and I eat out a lot - but that seemed like an incredibly good price for the quality we got. It's going to be good living here.

*Obviously we wouldn't - a meal without wine is like a day without sunshine.

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As part of the move we're now living in temporary accommodation without any kind of outside space. Which means the dogs are getting 4 walks a day. 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon/evening.

There are some significant differences between our walk routes here, versus the walks we used to do in Sydney. There are still dog parks on the walk. but there's also a river...

With views of the New Jersey skyline

And there's an aircraft carrier.

We certainly never walked past anything like that in Sydney

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The Dogs have been in New York with us for a grand total of 4 days and they're settling in pretty well. They're enjoying the four walks a day and the endless admiration from passers-by that comes from being both cute and well-behaved. (The passers-by are unaware of the liver treats that are required to ensure such showing off).

Today's walk was particularly good as Polly saw a new kind of bird.

GEESE!!!

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So on this last day I'd like to look back at a busier than usual days

The day started at  7:00am with a Breakfast Business Briefing for 20 or so of our senior executives. The people in charge of our investor and media relations, and the people who work directly with the markets came to talk about how the financial markets see the business and what the future might hold.

At 10:00am I had a different engagement

 

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The new upstairs bedroom looks fantastic!

The rainfall shower in the ensuite is wonderful

And my amazing sink is indeed amazing

Now we get to enjoy it for 6 weeks before we move to New York...

Oh well - it'll be here when we get back in a couple of years...

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We are really very fortunate that our brave dogs protect us from the evil bed... Partcularly since it only seems to be evil at night 

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