In Heat

Hello, Karstuhl here!

I believe I am getting old. I am in heat, it has just started. For the first time since I was very young, Paula and Daniel do not even discuss another litter of pups from me.

This may be good and bad. I have never been so keenon making pups, but I love taking care of them when they are newly born. My daughter Gertrud, who lives with us, can be a brat. She has got strong opinions, which fits a Shiba, but she will not always take no for an answer when I or her Grand Mother tells her off. Gertrud is mostly a great companion, but when she turns her stubborn personality on, I would rather have seen her moved to another family as a pup. Since I will get no more pups, there will be no other brat like Gertrud. One is quite enough, even though I love her.

Sweden Edges Forward

Sweden won the quarter final against Germany, 2-1. The Swedish team will now face the Netherlands in the semi final on Wednesday. There will also be yet another game next weekend, either the final or the bronze game.

I am happy for the result. Most informed people thought Germany would win. You can never be sure, however, and this is one of the great things about sports. It is exciting, and you know there is not always a happy end. For all of us who rooted for Sweden, there was a happy end tonight. We are already looking forward to the next game.

The USA Won

The USA won the quarter final against France, 2-1, tonight.

Norway lost to England, 0-3, yesterday night.

Mum would have been pleased. Dad would have been disappointed. I guess I have mixed feelings.

Bills to Pay

This isnot the first time I comment about the human habit of paying bills once a month. It will probably not be the last, either.

Daniel sat for a couple of hours this evening, going through paperwork and typing at the computer. It all has to do with money being paid for this and that.

This is one time, out of many, I am glad I am a dog. Humans have invented so many good things. One would wish they would also invent things you would not have to pay so much for. Perhaps they are not intelligent enough to do this, with all the intelligence they have.

Nevertheless, Daniel was satisfied, once he was done with the bills. He said there are easier ways to pay bills, like automatic payments. He does not like these, however, he want the controlover his money that he has when he pays the bills himself. Perhaps it is intelligent to spend some hours with the bills?

Japanese Box Office Hit in China

In 2001, the Japanese animated film Spirited Away was launched. It is a great film. Only now, 18 years later, it has been released in China. It has been known by Chinese people for a long time, some have seen it. It has now dominated the boxoffice in the first few days after release.

Part of the reason forthe late release in China, is the strict Chinese quota on foreign films. I am glad for the Chinese who can now see this Japanese film in China.

Japan Failed

So, late in the evening, the Netherlands defeated Japan in the final sixteen. Thus, I have no self evident favourite in the final quarter final between the Netherlands and Italy. I am greatly disappointed.

It was unfair that the Netherlands got a penalty shot by the end of the game. They got it after VAR examination. I believe thisis taking VAR too far. If it would be just about checking whether there is a goal or not, when in doubt, it would be better. You should not be able to demand VAR for next to anything.

Sweden Rolls On

Sweden continues to the quarter finals in the FIFA football World Cup. The Swedes beat Canada, 1-0.

The day before yesterday, Norway also continued to the quarter finals. Earlier tonight, the USA did, too. This means that Dad’s team, Mum’s team, and my team are all in the final eight. Now we just have to root for Japan to do the same tomorrow night.

Interestingly, if Japan does make it to the quarter finals, I can root for all of these four teams i. the next round, because none of them face each other. Norway face England, the USA face France, and Sweden face Germany. If Japan goes on, it will face the winner of Italy and China.

I hope for the best. There have been good results, so far.

Growth

Daniel mowed the lawn last Sunday. Today, he mowed it again.

We have a summer with warm temperatures, but not as hot as last year. We also have a fair amount of rain, which we certainly did not have last year. This causes a lot of growth all around our house. A well mowed lawn is necessary to keep as many ticks away as possible. It also looks better, when the lawn is mowed.

Trees and bushes also grow much more than last year. There may be cause to cut some of them. We want a nice looking garden.

Midsummer

It is Midsummer Day. Midsummer is one of the more traditional Swedish holidays, celebrated for centuries. Most of the celebrations happen on the day before, on Midsummer Eve. This is not unusual in Sweden, we do the same at Christmas, New Year, Easter, and Valborg as well. We celebrated yesterday and have had a calm and nice day off today. We were all satisfied with it.

Hydrogen Trains

In Germany, hydrogen driven trains have been operating since last year. This was the first in the world. This year, the first hydrogen driven train will be tested in the UK.

Will hydrogen trains be the trains of the future? They are much more environmentally friendly than trains run on diesel. They may not be more environmentally friendly than trains running on electricity, but you do not have to have electric power lines along the rails, which makes these trains less vulnerable for accidents. Electric trains in Sweden are often late or cancelled, because the electric power lines are damaged one way or the other.

It will be interesting to follow the further development of hydrogen trains.

Mum’s Team Won

The USA won against Sweden tonight, 2-0, in the FIFA football World Cup. Mum would have liked this, as she was from the USA. Calvin likes it too, as he is from the USA. I do not mind, either, being half American.

The USA won the group, Sweden came second. This means Sweden will face a group winner, while the USA will face a group second, in the final sixteen games. The USA will certainly have an easier game. If the Swedes want to win, however, they must beat any team in the final sixteen, so it does not matter that much.

I hope for Sweden, the USA, Norway, and Japan.

Half of the Groups

Half of the groups in the FIFA football World Cup are finished. Countries like Norway are ready for the final sixteen. This would have pleased Dad, who was born in Norway and always held his Norwegian roots high.

Japan is playing tonight. It seems like Japan will also be among the final sixteen, even though England leads the game. Japan have a sufficient amount of points anyway, as Scotland leads against Argentina. We will see what happens.

Summer and the Flying Things

It is summer. It is warm, sunny, bright nights, and mostly lovely. The bad thing is that there are many flying insects around. I would gladly do without them, they are just so annoying. If they could just stay out of a sphere close by, I would be quite satisfied.

I guess there is always something to complain about every season of the year. we have to think more about the good things. I try to, myself.

Final Sixteen

Sweden wonits second game in the FIFA World Cup and is guaranteed a place in the final sixteen. Thailand was not a hard opponent.

The next game will be against the USA. Both countries have won both of its games, the USA has scored many more goals. Sweden will only win the group, if Sweden wins this game. Mum would have rooted for the USA, as an American, so I will not be terribly sorry if the USA wins or there is a tie, so the USA will win the group.

It is exciting.

White Nights

They call it white nights in English, when we are in the middle of the summer and it never turns quite dark. It is like this now. For my part, I think nights are more white in the middle of winter, when there is snow on the ground, roofs, and trees. Io not decide what is correct English, however. Even though it was my mother’s native language, as an American dog, it is not mine. Human languages are interesting, regardless of what language it is, since they are so complex. They have many expressions like ”white nights”, which are not litteraly true, but still conveys a great meaning because they are short and widely known. I wish I knew more about human languages.

Vaccinations Regardless of Religion

In the US State of New York, the lawmakers have made it unlawful to cite religious reasons for not giving vaccines to your children. New Yorkis the fifth State to do this, while more States are in the process of doing the same.

This is a good law, I believe. You do not only cause unnecessary risks for your own children by not vaccinating them, but also for other children who have not yet had the vaccination shot.

I believe there is much truth in what one law maker said: ”I’m not aware of anything in the Torah, the Bible, the Koran or anything else that suggests you should not get vaccinated.”

I hope nobody refuses to vaccinate their dogs or pups for religious reasons. If anybody does, perhaps this new law should apply to dogs too.

Dropped Key

Daniel was devastated tonight. He realised he had dropped the car key, he could not find it. After a while, he went outside to look for it. We had to wait, but he came back happy. He had had the car key in the same pocket as the house key, and when he pulled out the house key, the car key had tagged along. It lay on the ground, a little wet from the rain earlier today, but the electronics was fully functional.

Daniel said the car key was about the worst thing to drop. Only the wallet and the house key could be worse, he said.

I am glad I let Daniel and Paula take care of such things as keys, then I never have to worry about dropping them.

Rain

It is raining tonight. It is so much rain, that we can clearly hear it when we are indoors.

It said in the forecast that there could be rain. We have not had much until tonight, though. There has been quite some rain in May and so far in June. This is great for the levels of water in the ground. I do not think there will be a heavy draught this year, as we had last year. It might be a typical, rainy Swedish summer. These summers have their charm.

Sweden Won

Sweden won its first game of the World Cup, against Chile. Sweden was ranked higher and was a favourite, but it was not until the end of the game that the Swedish team scored for the first time. Then the Swedes scored again in overtime.

The end result was 2-0, which is a result that takes Sweden on the first steps towards the knock out phase. We know if Sweden plays excellent, if Sweden goes on to this phase.

World Cup

The FIFA football World Cup has started. There was a World Cup last year, and there is another this year. The difference is that last year, the men competed, this year, the women compete.

Some say men’s footballhas higher quality. This might be the case, since there are more male than female players. I do not care about this. A World Cup is a World Cup.

Unfortunately, Japan just played a tied game with Argentina. Sweden will play its first game tomorrow, I hope the Swedes will win.

Bad Air

After a long night, we mayhave stale, bad air inour bed room. This is nothing compared to the air in some places in South Korea, that is so heavily polluted that both humans and dogs wear masks to protect them when breathing outdoors.

This is insane. Air should not be allowed to be so polluted. Not anywhere. Not in peace time, anyhow (if you need it in defence in war time, it may be different). Things must be done to come to terms with this problem. Sometimes, I wish I could do more.

Paula Is Back Home!

Paula has had a high fever due to septic chock. She has been to the hospital for ten days. She came back home again today. Needless to say, we are all very happy.

It is not that Paula is fully back to normal again. She is still tired and needs medication. Still, I believe she can become better much quicker, when she is at home and we can help her.

Welcome home, Paula!

Thunder

We had a heavy rainfall with thunder this afternoon. At night, we could see there had been more than 13 millimetres of rain in the short time that we had rain.

There was thunder, but it was probably far away. We did not see any lightning. The thunder came back on and off for a while, though. I guess the warm weather yesterday and this morning was a cause of the thunder. It is not so hot outside anymore. I like the weather better this way.

Sweden

It is the national holiday of Sweden. It is to commemorate when King Gustavus I came to Stockholm, having liberated Sweden from a Danish controlled union; and the Constitutionof 1809, which is no longer in force; and the flag of Sweden, which was officially hoistedin its present form for the first time in 1906.

I am proud to be Swedish. It is a beautiful country full of nice dogs and humans, and we have good laws and traditions to take good care of dogs.

Hurrah for Sweden!

Denmark

It is the Constitution Day of Denmark, their national holiday. I have been to Denmark, it is a nice little country. I wish all Danish dogs and humans a happy Constitution Day!

Noise

Noise does not have to have a high volume. Noise is the sound that annoys you. We have a fly in our house, or whatever flying insect it might be. It makes a noise when it flies. This is really annoying. I wish I could catch that insect and make it stop doing this noise. it does not just annoy me, it annoys all of us. Putting an end to the noise would be a blessing. Ijust do not know how to come around to it. Meanwhile, I am glad that the insect is not flying constantly, but just occasionally. You have to be happy about the small. lessings as well.

Police Dog on Duty

A police dog in the north of Sweden was left at home. His handler had forgotten to bring him to work.  This did not stop the dog. He ran to the police station by himself. When his handler opened the boot of the car and realised he had forgotten the dog, he received a phone call and was told his dog was waiting outside the police station.

This is what I call sense of duty. Dogs do this.

Rain

We have had a lotof rain lately. It is good for everything that grows in our garden, even though Danielhave to struggle with mowing the lawn. It is also good for the amount of water in our well. It is not easy having a private well, when there is such a draught as last summer. I believe it will be better this summer. It would not be probable that it would be as drythis summer as the last one. We will have to see, though. Nobody can predict the weather for the whole summer.

Second Place

The running contest Stockholm Marathon was held today. A Japanese runner came in second in the ladies’ class. There are representatives of Japan all over the world, in every kind of competition. As a Shiba I have held the Japanese colours high in the dog show rings. I am proud to be a Swede of Japanese origin.