Friday evening

...and as usally, I'm so exhausted. It takes both physical and psycical strenght to be as cute as I am. I also spend a lot of time playing around with mum Sunni (see above).

I want to greet all my readers and friends a Happy New Year!! For tomorrow I will not bee around to write in my blog. We are waiting some dinner guests so I have to save my strenght for that.

Yours truly, ms. Hailey

New Year

A new year is coming, and I am not yet a third of a year old. In a way, that feels old, but every adult has gone through it. I wonder what the new year will bring. So far, I do not know much more than that it will be celebrated in the middle of the night and that some people celebrate with fireworks and crackers. (Regarding crackers, please read yesterday's Daily Hailey.)

Crackers

I like crackers, the kind of thin, hard bread that tastes good. Now I have learned of something else called crackers. By New Year, it is customary to use tiny devices with gun powder to make tiny blasts, these devices are also crackers. The idea is to scare demons away.

Some people are stupid enough to use these crackers many days before New Years Eve. Except for the obvious result of making the use of crackers just by the beginning of the new year less special, crackers also scare some dogs. None of the dogs in my family is afraid of crackers or fire works, but one has got to feel some sympathy with the dogs who are.

People are stupid if they enjoy throwing crackers at dogs. They are even more stupid if they would believe there are evil demons in dogs. Dogs have good hearts by nature. Actually, dogs know how to identify the whereabouts of demons. I have yet to hear of a demon dwelling in a dog. The only evil demons dogs encounter is the ones hiding in the slippers, shoes, toys, wooden sticks etc. that we chew to pieces. Remember that!

Power Faliure

In the afternoon, all the lights suddenly went out, the TV and the computer went dead. There was still some daylight outside, so we could see our front paws ahead of us. Daniel was calm and told us it had to be a power faliure, but that the electricity would soon return. It did, not more than a few minutes later, just as Daniel had lit some candles. The world works in mysterious ways sometimes.

Second Day of Christmas

On the second day of Christmas, we are still celebrating the birth of Christ. After visiting Paula's parents on Christmas Eve and her aunt yesterday, we spent this day at home. This evening, even the dogs in the house got to taste some ginger bread. I liked it. We have also tasted some home made meatballs. Christmas is a nice holiday.

Christmas Day

Santa came to me yesterday. I've got a lot of treats and a new pink necklace which can be seen above. My mum also played a lot with me, it was nearly the best thing with Christmas.

The day before Christmas.

And I'm very excited- Hopefully Santa think's that I've been kind enough to have at least one present.

I hope Christmas brings a lot of joy and play into our house. Sometimes daddy Kuro, mummy Sunni and auntie Linni is too stuckup to play with me. I can't understand why, playing with toys is the very best thing I know beside kiss my folks at home and to eat...food and treats!

Objects Hidden in Snow

The city collected bulky refuse the other day, so people had left old furniture and all kinds of strange stuff on the pavements and in the ditches. Snow fell tonight, hiding some of the refuse the city did not collect. When Daniel was out on a walk with me, he stepped on a door lying on the upper slope of a ditch, completely hidden under the snow. He slipped, off course. Fortunately, nothing more serious happened. One wonders why the city did not collect all the refuse.

Christmas Soda

There was an interesting plastic mug on the coffee table in the living room. Curious as I am, I naturally wanted to see what was in it. Too bad the mug was poorly designed and fell as soon as I touched it. I got a lot of the typical Swedish Christmas brew, julmust, all over me. Julmust is such a popular drink at Christmas time in Sweden that the sale of Coca Cola reaches extremely low rates in December. I understand that, it tastes really good.

Paula was not happy. She bathed me and cleaned the floor. I hope she understood that it was an accident due to the poor mug design and not my fault. I am just an innocent pup.

Tyres

In Sweden, there is snowy winter many month a year. Ice and snow gathers on the roads, which become slippery. You have to have winter tyres to be able to drive safely. Daniel and Paula has got a set of tyres that works all year and another set of winter tyres with spikes in them. Winter is now coming, so Daniel put the winter tyres on the car today. On dry asphalt, it is more slippery with spiked tyres than other tyres, but it feels safer anyway. You have to have a very safe car when driving shibas.

New Teeth

There are tickling and annoying sensations in my mouth. It has something to do with getting teeth. I have to chew things to calm myself. As the inexperienced pup I am, I chose the wrong things to chew on sometimes. Luckily, I am so cute Paula and Daniel forgive me.

Full Moon

I was exactly three months old yesterday. It was also a full Moon in the clear sky at night. Tonight, we could still see the Moon, but it was blurry behind a thin layer of clouds.

Our wild ancestors, the wolves, howl at the full Moon. To dogs living in the civilisation, it is not much more than a street lamp without a lamppost. I wonder if the wolves' howl is part of an ancient religion, maybe they worship the Moon?

Studying medicine

Paula is studying medicine to become a nurse. I like to study too. That is why Paula always keeps her books far away from me. She says that I'm always trying to bite the books and play with them. I say that she is just plain jelous because I'm way better than her at the University. I will probably be the puppy with honours when I will graduate.

BTW, I think my mum gave me the pretty-gene in her family. At least, that is what Paula and Dan says to me. My brothers recieved my fathers handsome-gene.

At the University

Daniel came home a little earlier than usual tonight. Paula, Daniel, and all of us dogs got into the car and went by the pet shop. At the shop, Paula, Daniel, and I purchased some more dog food. It is fun to watch all the toys and smell all the candy, but I'd rather bring some of those things home.

From the pet shop, we went to the university where Paula needed some information from the library. I met a Swedish Lapphund at the parking lot. She was nice, but suddenly left to greet another dog passing by. Isn't that rather rude? Very well, we went on for a walk through campus. This was exciting, it was the first time I visited the university.

St. Lucia

Today we celebrate St. Lucia here in Sweden. The Swedish holiday tradition on December, 13th is Lucia. Lucia is the girl with light in her hair and who illuminates the darkness of winter.

Everyone thinks that there should be a blonde girl as the lucia, but in fact. The tradition with a lucia comes from Italy and the girl was dark, not blonde. That suits me very well.

I have played a lot too, beside being just pretty. Mum thinks that I'm truly a sweet shiba girl.

Improving a Wardrobe

I chewed on Paula's leather shoes she wears on dog shows so they became unusable. She will have to buy new dog show shoes for next year's season. In my mind, this was an improvement of her wardrobe. Fortunately, she was not totally opposed to this idea. The shoes were of a good brand, but the new shoes can always be better. Pups do make a positive difference in the lives of humans.

Neighbours

Yesterday, I said hi to the neighbours upstairs. Today, I said hi to another neighbour, from a house nearby. These were friendly people who wanted to greet me. Other people do not. I wrote about this earlier, it still puzzles me. What is the difference between people who want to greet a pup and those who do not? I cannot see any difference when looking at them, so I try to greet everyone. Of course it makes me disappointed when they do not want to greet me back. How can I tell in advance who wants to greet me or not?

Late Night

I am often awake very late in the evening. This is such a night. It is so much fun to run around and play, why should I stop and lie down to rest just because everybody else wants me to?

Meatballs

I have to write about food today as well. Daniel made meatballs tonight and each dog got some mixed into the food. It was great, like getting treats in the regular food. I wish this is the beginning of a new habit of Daniel and Paula.

Minced Meat

Paula made lasagne for dinner today. Not all of the minced meat went into her cooking, she put some in the four bowls of us dogs as well. It was a terrific meal! I tried to take Mom's minced meat as well, but she did not let me. I can understand Mom, it does taste so great you do not want to share anything of it.

At the Veterinarian's

Paula took me to the vet today to get a vaccine. It is always nice to see new environments and it was fun to see Kesshi, who also had an appointment. We had to wait a long time before we got in, which annoyed me somewhat. Once we got in and saw the vet, I was my happy self again. Kesshi, however, franticly wanted to get out. I do not understand dogs like him, who are afraid of vets. Yet he is an adult dog, whereas I am still a pup. I have never had any problems with the vet.

Busy Evening

All evening, I have been busy playing with Dad. We had a great time. Paula was not home tonight. Daniel, who was, really got tired of our rushes and noice, despite my cuteness.

Wood

Wood is nice. Chewing on wooden sticks is a real treat. A fringe benefit is that Paula or Daniel usually brings the broom to sweep up the splinters from the floor. It is even funnier to play with the broom when it is swept across the floor, than chewing wood.

A Bit Jealous

A rather boring day. The adults did not want to play with me.

In the evening, Mom got to go with Paula to see my friend Kesshi. Dad and Auntie told me they and Mom have known Kesshi for much longer than I have, but I was still jealous. At last, when I came along to give Paula and Mom a ride home, I did get an opportunity to say hi to Kesshi. At least, that was something, and I was glad.

My Idol

The final episode of the Swedish Idol TV show was shown this evening. I did not vote for any of the contestants. My own idol is my father. He takes me along on every kind of fun stuff, running around, chewing on things, playing. The very best thing was stealing Paula's pencil case. I love playing with it.

Friends

I have more to tell about yesterday. I visited my friend, the male shiba Kesshi, where I also met the German Pinscher Vilja. Vilja visited me, Kiko, and Jiro before my brothers moved out. She is very nice to pups like me. We had a terrific time.

Today, the snow is melting and disappearing. It does not feel nice to walk through all the water left by the snow.