Longing for a Pup Cannot Be Wrong

In one of Sweden's largest tabloid papers, the politician in charge of health care in Stockholm County (with about 2 million inhabitants) Filippa Reinfeldt is critizised because she expresses her interest in getting a puppy dog. I do not agree with this critizism, not at all. Longing for a pup can never be wrong.

Endangered Breeds

Hello, Karstuhl here!

In Britain, there is concern that a lot of native dog breeds are facing extinction. This is serious! I hope more humans will get more dogs, not least of endangered breeds. A lot of them are great pets, suitable for most human families.

Cold and Colder

We had a relatively cold morning today, -9C. It was our coldest morning this winter, I believe.

There is no reason for us to complain, though. It has been much colder in Eastern Europe. At least 18 humans have died i Ukraine and 10 in Poland. I hate to think of how many homeless dogs may have had a hard time. As usual, human news do not count dogs. Hopefully, the emergency shelters that has been erected are open for dogs too.

Feeco

Auntie Linni, April, and I got to go with Paula and Daniel to Paula's parents this afternoon. As always, meeting Paula's parents is great fun. It was a highly informal happening today, with the typically Swedish "fika". The word "fika" means coffee break, often along with some sweet snack.

Originally, "fika" was a colloquial word, where the parts of the Swedish word for coffee, "kaffe", switched places with each other. It has gradually entered the normal language. This is as if a coffee break would be called feeco in English. Human languages are funny!

Another Polly

Hello, Polly here!

Both Paula and Daniel are members of the online social network Facebook. There you can see all kinds of things. Daniel always gets news from a dog shelter in Texas. It struck me more than ever, when another Polly was advertised there. She is not a Shiba Inu, not even a spitz breed. If the name says anything about a dog, she has to be a great companion, though. I hope everything goes well and that she gets a new family who will love her and care for her.

Figure Skating

We watched some figure skating on TV, even though we figured out it was the European Championships. Japanese figure skaters are usually competitive, so we can hope for them; so are Americans, whom Mum hopes for. For simple geographical reasons, neither Japanese nor Americans compete in the European Championships, though. Nevertheless, we were rather happy that the Finnish skater Kiira Korpi won silver. Finland is a neighbour to Sweden, and as long as there are no Swedes or Norwegians competing, we can always hope for the Finns.

A Day to Remember

Today is the international day of Remembrance of the Holocast and its victims. It is important to note that the Nazis where to blame for this, not the Germans as a whole. Anybody who blames the Germans make the same mistake as the Nazis did: blaming somebody based solely on what ethnical group he or she belongs to.

Is This Not Generally Known Already?

The Swedish mail delivers advertisements with the mail sometimes. These are wrapped up in a leaflet with articles that can, at times, be rather interesting. Today, the main article told us that pets are not just company to their humans, but have huge health benefits as well. Is the health benefits of pets not generally known already? I believe it is, so why would anybody write about it as if it is news? Sometimes, I cannot understand humans.