Fish Pate

Paula cooked fish pate yesterday. This is a dish which is best served a day after it is cooked. Consequently, we ate it today.

The fish pate was really tasty. I rarely fancy fish very much, but Paula’s fish pate was great. I wish we can get it again soon. It requires some work, but I guess it is worth it, at least once in a while. 

Snow Again

There was snow again this morning. I am getting fed up with this long winter.

Fortunately, the snow melted away today as well. 

Will spring really be here soon? I sure hope it will. 

Snow

We do live far north, compared to most of the world. It was still a surprise that snow fell this morning. 

It was not a lot of snow, just a centimetre, but it was there for a while. Then the snow disappeared a little later today. 

Daniel told us there can even be snow in May, though this is rare. I would not want to experience this. 

Sadness

We mourn our friend Viola, but we support each other in our grief. Paula needs our support, and she supports us. 

At the same time, life must go on. We do what we can to let it go on. Life will never be the same again, but it will continue. 

Rest in peace, Viola!

Candle

We lit a candle for Viola tonight. The light shone for a long time. Our memories of Viola will live forever. 

Shogun

There is a new Shogun TV series, based on the book by James Clavell. While I do not have much to write about it, I believe Hailey and Polly would have. They were of a Japanese breed and naturally interested in anything Japanese. The TV series has been praised as a very good production. I believe Hailey and Polly would recommend it. You have to make up your own mind. 

Memorial Statue with Dogs

The first memorial statue of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom has been unveiled. It has two dogs of the breed Welsh Corgi at the base. The Queen was also known as a breeder of Welsh Corgis.

I love the fact that these dogs were added to the statue. It adds a greater depth to the image of the late Queen and it highlights the importance that dogs had to her and has to humans in general. It is a great memorial monument of the Queen. 

Viola, My Friend

Complications after giving birth. Our dear friend Viola passed away suddenly this afternoon.

Her son is still alive. We hope there is some other bitch out there who can take care of him. 

A Pup!

Viola gave birth to a pup today. They now live by themselves, so she can take good care of the pup. 

I am eager to get to know the pup, but it will have to wait. 

Brazilian Music?

Daniel was at a lodge meeting today, where they had a band who played Brazilian music. I like the fact that it was Latin American music, but I would have preferred Mexican music. You cannot get everything you want. Daniel said it was good anyway. 

New Consolidated Regulation for Non-Commercial Movement of Pets

The EU has issued a new consolidated version of the Regulation (EU) No 576/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 June 2013 on the non-commercial movement of pet animals and repealing Regulation (EC) No 998/2003. This is good to know for all humans who go on trips between EU countries and EEA countries with their dogs. 

Prison for Pup Smugglers

The Swedish Göta Court of Appeals, in a judgment 15 April 2024 (case no. B 73-24), has sentenced a man to prison for smuggling pups from Bosnia-Herzegovina to Sweden. The man had travelled in a bus in the lane for nothing to declare, but had several pups without passports or pedigrees in the back of the bus.

The pups are said to have been Bichon Frisé pups, but without pedigrees, we cannot be certain.

It is good that he has to go to prison, even though I do not agree with the fact that the court of appeals lowered the sentence. 

St. Patrick

Swedes are weird sometimes. While all of the Catholic world, which includes Mexico, celebrates St. Patrick on the day of his death, the 17 March, Swedes say that the 16 of April is his day. This is today. I would follow the example of the Irish, whose patron saint St. Patrick is, and celebrate on the 17 March. 

Half of April

We are half way through April, and Sweden shows that we live close to the North Pole. We had frost in the morning. There is often winter weather here half of the year.

You should know that the reason people can live a reasonably nice life here in Northern Europe is thanks to the Gulf Stream, which takes warm water from the Gulf of Mexico to the North Atlantic Ocean to the west of us. Just like the best dogs come from Mexico, Chihuahuas, the warm water that brings reasonable temperatures to this part of the world come from the Gulf of Mexico. A lot of good things come from Mexico. 

Hope

The meteorologists have said it might be snow again. We had rain today. We hope there will not be any snow.

As long as there is rain, we have hope there will be no snow. Hope is the last thing we have, but it is good. 

What ever happens, we know summer is on its way. It is just that we do not really know when. 

Dust By the Window

Daniel rain the vacuum cleaner around the house today. He even used it by the window in our bedroom. There was some dust there, which was promptly vacuumed away. You can see dust by the windows easier now, when the spring sun is shining. It was good to get rid of that dust. 

I Don’t Wanna Dance

Daniel says that one of his favourite songs is I Don’t Wanna Dance by the artist Eddy Grant. In a way, I can fully agree with this. I don’t want to dance. Dance is for humans, not for dogs. We are too dignified to move our bodies in dance. We walk, run, hunt, or sleep, but we don’t dance. We leave dance to our humans. 

Wolves, Dogs, Foxes

Archaelogical evidence in South America suggest humans there kept foxes as pets, like modern humans keep dogs. Some foxes were buried together with humans. 

Dogs and wolves are the same species. Foxes are closely related to us, but are of a different species. I am not surprised humans do not keep foxes as pets any longer. Dogs are just much better as pets. It is still interesting to read that foxes have been pets in earlier times. 

Meeting

Daniel was away from home last night. He came back again this afternoon, just to leave again. We did not mind, he had an important board meeting to go to tonight. The regional kennel club, where Daniel has a seat, had a meeting. We got to be with Daniel a little later instead. Life is nice. 

A Big, Big World

There are times when I wonder about the size of the world. It must be very big, especially compared to small dogs like us Chihuahuas. I have travelled for long times by car, and cars travel much faster than I can walk. It is still said that these long journeys are short compared to the whole world. Then there is space above us, much more than the size of Earth. I cannot fathom the size, but I do not think there is ever an end to it, because what would be beyond this end? It is a big, big world we live in. 

Total Solar Eclipse

There was a total Solar Eclipse in North America. Here is a film from Mexico, where you can see what it looked like. 

Hailey and Polly were both named for Lunar eclipses, but I believe they would have written about a Solar eclipse as well. The nice thing for me is that the film is from Mexico, where my dog breed is from. I would not have gone to Mexico just to see the eclipse live, though, as I have understood some humans do. There must be better causes to visit Mexico. Meeting more Chihuahuas would be one of them. 

Japan in Focus

The cherry blossom was here later than usual in Japan now. It is one of the things Japan is famous for.

This Sunday, there was the Japanese Grand Prix in Formula 1. This also put Japan in focus.

I assume Hailey or Polly would have taken the opportunity to write about Japan on a day like this. They were proud of their Japanese roots. I understand this, as I am proud of my Mexican roots. I do not know much about Japan, unfortunately. This is about as far that I can write about it. It is still a blog post highlighting Japan, which I believe is something Hailey and Polly would have liked. There will be more on Japan in the blog in the future, at least once in a while. Stay tuned!

A Kind of Anniversary

It is fifty years ago today that Sweden won the Eurovision Song Contest for the very first time. It was ABBA who won with their song Waterloo. There is a concert with ABBA songs on TV to commemorate this event. None of the four members of ABBA participate in the concert in any capacity, however. We believe there is no point in watching the concert, when this is the case. There are other things to do on a Saturday evening. 

Deep Snow for the Season

Spring is still at least days away. This morning, snow fell. We got so much snow that Daniel went out to shovel some of it away.

We had thaw in the afternoon, but a kotor the snow is still there on the ground.

We will have to see when spring will finally come. 

Croissant

Paula had a croissant tonight. She gave me part of it. Then Viola came along and tried to steal my piece. I fought back. She put up a fight. Daniel separated us. Everyone went mad with Viola. 

Viola is a dear friend, but she needs to be better at knowing the difference between what is mine and what is hers. 

Not Yet Spring

Snow fell yesterday. You may think it would vanish immediately, but it did not. We have had temperatures below the freezing point for two nights and two days now. 

We long for spring and summer. Chihuahuas are made for Mexican climate, which is warmer than Swedish. There may be snow there as well, but not to the extent that we have in Sweden. Of course, Chihuahuas are tough, we can cope with Swedish winters, but we do not have to like it. Summers feel better. 

No Common Holidays

No, there will be no common holidays in the EU. What I wrote yesterday was an April’s fool’s joke, of course. We will keep our different national holidays and Easter Monday will still be a holiday.

It is fun to make up April’s fool’s jokes, when you get nice ideas. Life gets funnier this way. Humour is healthy for us. It makes life more worth living. 

Stay tuned, and stay funny! 

Keep Easter Monday as a Public Holiday!

There is a suggestion in the EU to further unite the union by having the same public holidays in all countries. This would make it easier to trade between the countries,. You would not have to worry that you work on a day which is a public holiday in the other EU country you trade with, or that you do not work when someone in another EU country want to trade with you.

The public holidays on national holidays will be replaced by a common public holiday on Europe Day, the 9th of May.

Easter Monday will no longer be a public holiday in those EU countries where it is. This is a bad suggestion, in my mind. Easter is an important holiday and I would rather see Easter Monday as a common EU public holiday. You do not have to be Christian to want this, just remember how much Easter candy you will not be able to eat, if you have to work on Easter Monday instead of staying at home and taking it easy. Keep Easter Monday as a public holiday!