Celebrity Pet Quiz

I did a test on what human celebrity I resemble the most: "Which Celebrity Is Your Dog?" It turned out that I resemble Oprah Winfrey the most. This is far from a scientific test, but I think the text about her bears some resemblance to me. It is also a nice coincidence that "my" human celebrity is black, just like I am black & tan.

When the test is done, your human could publish a badge like this:



I guess they have not thought of the dogs who have their own home pages or blogs.

Proof of Good Eyes

The Swedish Kennel Club has now registered that I have excellent eyes:

Click on the picture to get a bigger copy.

You can find this veterinary data by searching for me at http://kennet.skk.se/hunddata/, first follow the link "Sök hundar".

Tax Returns

It is soon time for humans in Sweden to give their tax returns for last year to the authorities. It is supposed to be handed to the authorities no later than the 5th of May this year. Daniel always curse at this, despite the fact that the tax returns are supposed to be fairly easy nowadays. I am glad Shiba Inus do not have to complete any tax returns. Maybe Dachshunds in Sweden have to, since the Swedish name for Dachshund is tax, but I do not think so.

April Having a Happy Birthday

It is April's birthday today. I bought a stuffed toy for April yesterday, on behalf of all the dogs at home. It was a cute, long, stuffed dachshund. We gave the toy to April this morning. She seemed to enjoy it somewhat, but only sat there with it without playing. I stepped in and made sure the toy was played with on its premiere in our house. There is no use having toys if they are not played with. (Paula thought that I was jealous of the toy, therefore taking it, but this is not true. If April would have made proper use of the toy, I would never have needed to take care of it.)

Paula's sister Mia and Mia's boyfriend Emil came by in the afternoon and we had a barbecue in the sunny weather. It was fun and there was a lot of chicken meat to all dogs.

Over all, Paula was right when she said in the evening that it had been a lucky day. This was nice for April on her birthday. However, our luck ran out later in the evening when Paula was going to work. She had a flat tyre and Daniel had to go to take care of the car while Mia gave Paula a ride to work. It is no fun when they leave us dogs alone at home. I cannot believe such an unlucky event would occur on my birthday.

Wetsuit for a Penguin

Ever since Kesshi was injuried this winter, he has had to wear a blanket when he goes outside. This is because his coat has not yet grown back after his surgery. In a San Francisco aquarium, an old penguin lost his feathers, but had a wetsuit custom made for him instead. It is nice of humans to help animals living with them in this way, but it is also fair, because we give so much to the humans. The penguin's feathers grew back, Kesshi's coat is also on its way back. I hope Kesshi reads about the penguin, I think he would be glad to know there are others who have faced a somewhat similar fate to his.

Barbecue

It is a sunny and warm day in the month of April, and we had our first barbecue for the season. Yesterday, Daniel brought the grill out from the barn, where it stood in the winter. The weather was good enough for a barbecue yesterday as well, but Paula and Daniel did not have the time. Today it happened. The grilled meat sure tasted great. This is one of the times you really appreciate being a carnivore. I hope we have many sunny days this summer and many barbecues.

Foreseeing Earthquakes

Japan is a country sometimes shaken by earthquakes. These shatter the grounds of society, quite litteraly. It has always been impossible to foresee when the earth is going to quake, but a new scientific programme aims at developing an early warning system. The idea is to drill deep holes in the sea bed outside Japan. It is a fantastic idea.

At home, Paula and Daniel are sometimes startled and often surprised when we dogs bark. Dogs have much better ears than humans have and we can detect potential dangers approaching much earlier than they can. Our barks are their early warning system.

Good Eyes

April and I went to the veterinarian today to get our eyes examined. There were nothing wrong with our eyes. No signs of PRA, RD, or Cataract. I could have told anyone about this before, I know I have great eyes, but there is nothing like a veterinarian's statement to prove this to others. I believe I have trained my eyes well in my everlasting search for candy, watching TV, and reading and writing on the Internet.

Late Trains

When Daniel worked in Eskilstuna, a town which is a one hour train ride from Örebro where we live, the trains were often late or cancelled. About once a week, Daniel was an hour late. This was hard for him and for us who waited at home. However, there are always some people who have worse experiences. A Euro Star train journey from London to Paris, normally completed in two hours, took eleven hours to reach Paris this Friday and Saturday. I would not have wanted to be on that train, and I sure would not want to be responsible for such a delay. The incidents will be investigated, it would be interesting to hear what caused all the troubles.

Baked Alaska - "If it's melted it's ruined"

If you want to do something for the enviroment AND enjoy some excellent ice cream I recommend my readers to test Ben & Jerry Baked Alaska:

"Baked Alaska" is vanilla ice cream with marshmallow swirls and white chocolate polar bears. I promise you, this ice cream is so delicious. I drewled on Daniels pants. A bit embarresing but my dad told me that it was an okey thing to do though it was for a very good cause.

Ben & Jerry is activly working against global warming. You can do that too by support this company and the best ice cream in the world. We will do it.

http://www.benjerry.com/

Beowulf

Paula and Daniel went to the cinema this autumn and saw the film Beowulf, an animated movie made from an old English epic poem of the same name. They said it was great. Paula has played music from it ever since and ordered it on DVD as soon as it was available. The DVD arrived this week and we watched it this evening. It was a great movie. The only thing I missed was dogs in leading roles. Beowulf was supposed to be this great hero, yet he had no dog on his side. Well, I guess this is a minor detail to most movie makers. If there were no dogs in the original epic poem, I guess there are reasons not to include dogs in the movie.

On the Low Possibility of Finding Intelligent Extra-Terrestrials

A British scientist has recently tried to estimate the probability of finding intelligent extra-terrestrial life. He says that the likelihood of intelligent life to develop on other planets than Earth is extremely low. I believe this to be true.

However, I have to comment on one thing that this scientist said: "The view that evolution involves a predictable progression, such that the emergence of intelligence is inevitable, is today generally considered to be overly anthropocentric." Well, while it is good science to try not to view Earth's life's evolution as a blueprint for most life's evolutions, it would suit this scientist well not to be so anthropocentric that only humans are mentioned in the context of intelligent life on Earth. Dogs (and our wild cousins wolves) are also a very intelligent species. I know many dogs who are a lot more intelligent than many humans. When talking about intelligent life on Earth, I believe that we, and perhaps even some other mammals, should also be mentioned.

Downgraded Volcano Alert

Mum comes from a part of North America where there are volcanoes. Paula comes from a part of South America where there are also volcanoes. In Paula's country of birth, Colombia, a volcano alert has just been downgraded. Sometimes, I wish I lived in a part of the world where nature can make such spectacular shows as a volcano eruption. Mum says, however, that there is not much to see but that it can be dangerous. I do not know, I am interested anyway.

A Day Off

It has been a while since I last posted a picture of myself. I'm a humble girl but still enough cute for the world to see. I guess it is in order to let my readers know how I look today:

Myself

My father has some children and grandchildren. Yet, he always says that I'm his favourite. He is weak for me so I can do whatever I want to. He will not tell me off. I'm the only dog in our house who can do that.

My father

Today I slept all day. Paula has been working 7 out of 8 nights this past week so we all tucked in together with her on her day off from work. We girls need our beauty sleep and the boys will not be hurt by it either.

Immelman

At the Augusta National golf court in Georgia, USA, South African Trevor Immelman proved to be the master. In a way, I have certain feelings for everything South African, just because my kennel prefix Aangenaam is an Africaans word, thus with its origin in South Africa. I do not know if Trevor Immelman has a dog. The early World War One master of aerial combat, Max Immelmann, had a dog named Tyras. I hope Tyras fared well when his human was killed in action in 1916. It is well that most international fighting these days is in sports, such as golf. If Trevor Immelman has a dog, it does not stand the risk that he will be killed in action.

An Odd Way Out

April and I were helping Paula cleaning the bedroom today, while Daniel and the other dogs were outside. When Paula opened the bedroom window, we heard the others playing outside. It was a sunny spring day, one of those days when it is wonderful to be outside. April asked if she and I could go out to the others in the yard. Paula agreed to that, and lifted us out through the open window. Daniel was on the other side, putting us down safely on the ground. It felt a bit odd to get out this way, but it was also fun. It is nice to do things a little differently now and then.

More Women than Men in Spain's New Cabinet

Spain has a new cabinet with nine ministers who are women, eight who are men. When the prime minister is included, the Cabinet is equally divided between men and women. The fact that there are many women is something that humans like to report on as news. In a dog society, females in leading positions would be nothing new. In a wolf or dog pack, it is always the oldest female who has the highest rank (such as Mum in the pack at our home). Perhaps the humans who want more female leaders should study dogs and wolves closer.

Men Who Should Be Kings

Cameroon follows the example of several other countries in Africa, who denotes themselves republics but where the Head of State of the republic sits forever on his (it is always a man) position as a President. This is ridiculous. One of the purposes of a republican form of government is for the people to chose different people to be Heads of State. The President of Cameroon, Paul Biya, has been in power for 26 years, but has asked the Cameroonian parliament to repeal the law on term limits for presidents.

If Paul Biya wants to be Head of State for the rest of his life, why does he not make himself King? As a King, he would be safe as Head of State for life, no matter what majority there would be in the parliament. In that case, he would not have to make a mockery of democracy with bribes, threats, and violence to stay in power. Thus, the country could become a true democracy with a lifetime Head of State, as a constitutional monarchy. Prominent countries like Japan shows the benefits of that kind of government.

The Important Difference Between Cakes and Biscuits

In the UK, the government is facing a huge bill, because of VAT wrongly imposed on a Marks and Spencer teacake, the European Court of Justice has ruled. The cake has been deemed as a biscuit for the past twenty years, whence VAT has had to be payed. Under UK tax rules, some bakery products are free of VAT, others are not. This is the whole issue. It may seem insignificant, but given the whole amount of VAT wrongly payed to the UK government, it means a lot, £3.5 million (almost 42 million Swedish crowns). Since this is in the UK, it does not mean anything for my cake purchases, but I am happy that there might be dogs in the UK who may get cheaper cakes now. I hope something like this could happen to dog biscuits in Sweden.

An Electrician in a Former Life?

Since Shiba Inus are of Japanese decent, some of our ideas on life and death are inspired by Japanese thought. In Japan, many people believe in reincarnation and that every living being will be born again until she or he has come to such a high ranking life that the soul is rewarded with joining Nirvana, the Buddhist paradise. In human thought, human Buddhist monks have the highest ranking life, thus a monk has the best chance of reaching Nirvana after death. In Shiba Inu thought, Shiba Inus have the highest ranking life.

One of the ideas of reincarnation is that personal treats that we express in our present life are reminders of previous lives. We have noticed that Calvin is very interested in examining and chewing on electrical devices. This has led him to destroy some things, the latest were the remote control to the digital-TV box and one of the telephones. We believe that if Calvin was a human in a former life, he must have been an electrician. This would be reflected in his interest in electrical devices in his present life.

The only thing we wish for is that Calvin would have remembered a little more of his skills as an electrician, so that he would not destroy so many things. On the other hand, the destruction of the remote control has made Paula think of upgrading to a newer and better box, and the telephone had a broken display anyway. Maybe there were some well conceived plans behind the destruction of these devices?

New Head of Bank of Japan

The Japanese parliament has agreed upon a new governor of the Bank of Japan. This was the third person that Prime Minister Yasuo Fusuda nominated, and the first that the opposition party that has a majority in the Upper House of parliament could agree to. I suppose that the new governor is good at economy, but I cannot tell what kind of man he is. I do not know whether he has a dog or not, which is the prime factor when I judge the character of a human. Nevertheless, I believe this is good news for the whole world economy. Japan has the second largest economy in the world, if there is uncertainty on who is to run the Bank of Japan, this cannot be good. A good economy rests on certainty. Now that there is a governor of the bank, one uncertainty in the economy is gone.

Animal Artists

There are some zoo animals around the world who are artists. They make paintings, some of which are sold to animal lovers. I have never been inclined to take up painting myself. This blog is good enough for me, when I want to express anything in an artistic way. I just wish that I would earn some money on my blog. Perhaps I could get some advertisements on it? I would use the money for more food, candy, and toys for myself, so the money would certainly be well invested. On the other hand, I do have all the food, candy, and toys that I need, so what is the point for me in making a lot of money?

Silver Coins

While April's copper coins found on the 1st of April was an April's Fool's Day joke, some Swedish archaeologists actually found a large collection of silver coins on the 1st of April. They made the discovery near Arlanda Airport north of Stockholm. The reports of the discovery did not come until a few days later, thus we can be sure the reports are true. It is a fun coincidence, though, that April's and mine 1st of April joke was about finding ancient coins. Sometimes, the world feels ful of surprising coincidences.

Black and tan

Today I inspired Calvin to be a b/t shiba. I have told him about how fun it is to go through life in b/t colours. Calvin thought it was a good idea. He dug up a big hole in the garden. When Paula called him inside the house he was a three coloured shiba just as I am. I was happy and cheered for him. Paula was not so amused though she had to wipe him clean.

Invulnerable Toys?

We received a dog toy in the mail today. It was supposed to be invulnerable. Now parts of it are chewed off and it is a bit torn. When will dog toy makers realize that there is no such thing as an invulnerable dog toy? We can only laugh at them.

Yesterday

Yesterday was the First of April, or April Fools' Day. It is a day when you may joke and try to make fool out of others. I did it this year in my blog, just like I have done before. April did not find anything in the ground yesterday, neither coins nor anything else. She was in on the joke though.

The First of April is April Fools' Day in most parts of the world, even a country so distant in place and culture as Japan, though it is still not so wide spread there as in Europe. I am glad they have it in Japan, though, the home of my dog breed, since I am fond of the jokes of April Fools' Day.

A Somewhat Disappointing Discovery

It may be that April was lucky today. She was digging in one of the holes in our yard and found what appears to be ancient copper coins. I will see if I can get a picture of the coins for my blog tomorrow. Neither April nor I consider this to be a stroke of luck, though. Coins are not edible and cannot even be chewed upon. April would have been luckier, had she found some old bones to chew on. However, we know that Paula and Daniel would not want that to happen, so maybe it is better this way.