Song Contest

We have now been able to see and hear all the 32 songs of the 2009 Swedish qualification to the Eurovision Song Contest. Tonight was the fourth out of four qualification rounds to the final qualification in Stockholm in two weeks. I believe 32 songs are too many, because there are always many songs that are not good. Before my lifetime, the Swedish qualification contest was normally done in one night with just ten entries, perhaps that would be better.

There were a couple of really good songs this time, two of which went straight to the final. The best songs of each qualifying round compete against one other song. It was ironic that Sarah Dawn Finer, who tried once again to sing a power ballad without having the voice necessary for it, went up against professional opera singer Malena Ernman. For those who had not heard it before, it must now have become very clear that while Ms. Finer may have a good singing voice, it is not great.

Daniel said he liked the golden outfit that finalist Agnes Carlsson wore. It certainly stood out in the crowd, but I liked the black dress of finalist Malena Ernman more, it reminded me more of a black and tan coat.

This is the last night with my son Bagus. He will move to Stockholm tomorrow. I am certain he will have a great life there.

Old Friends

An old friend of Paula, Lina, came to visit us around noon today, with her husband and little child. Paula had a great time. It was a long time since they saw each other.

We all have a lot to thank Lina for. It was thanks to Lina's first Shiba Inu Kinya that Paula and Daniel discovered the Shiba Inu breed. I may be the one who has the most to thank for. Without Lina and Kinya, neither Mum or Dad would have come to live with Paula and Daniel and would never have met. Consequently, I would never have been born, neither would my pups.

There are so many small things in life that are necessary for later events to occur the way they do. It is fascinating to think about it, and almost a little scarry to consider that even the smallest thing in the past may have been a necessary factor for yourself to have been born at all.

China and Satutes of Limitations

Two ancient Chinese bronze artefacts, of a rat and a rabbit, are up for sale at Christie's auction house in London. The Chinese government has condemned the sale, stating that the two artefacts were stolen in China in 1860.

I do not like theft. Whenever anyone tries to steal from me, I growl and show I will not accept it. However, these artefacts were stolen almost 150 years ago. After such a long time, most judicial systems say the real owner cannot press charges. There is something called statute of limitations, that precludes judicial action if you have not yet taken action within a certain time. Normally, statutes of limitation gives the owner twenty years to take action. This is a very long time, it is a much longer time than the vast majority of dogs live. Has China taken continuous action against the thieves or subsequent owners, with less than twenty years apart between every action taken? It does not say so in the long article that I have read. If they have not, and I do believe they have not, they are just sore losers for condemning the sale now. Nobody likes a sore loser.

In a case like this, I agree with the representative of Christie's, who said: "We continue to believe that sale by public auction offers the best opportunity for items to be repatriated as a result of worldwide exposure." If the Chinese government wants the artefacts so badly, it can just buy them. If the artefacts would be withdrawn from the auction, no such purchase is possible and the artefacts will definitely not return to China in the foreseeable future.

Fuji Has Moved

My pups were examined by our veterinarian today. They passed with flying colours. An examination like this needs to be done before the pups are given to the care of their new humans.

Later in the day, Fuji's new human came home to us. He has been here before, so we have gotten to know him as a very nice fellow. Fuji sat in his lap and was quite satisfied with him. I am glad, it seems like Fuji will get a great human to share her life with.

Last Night Together

This is the last night together, for me and both of my pups. Fuji, my sweet daughter, will move to her new human tomorrow afternoon. My dear son Bagus will move this Sunday. I love my pups, but as any good mother, I must allow them to leave and make their own lives, find their own purposes in the world. The coming and going of family members is unavoidable, like a law of nature. They will get good lives, of that I am certain, but I will still miss them. Although Fuji and Bagus have caused a lot of work, it is a work full of love and joy.

I meet my brothers once in a while, and I will certainly meet my daughter and my son occasionally as well. Those will be happy days. I will report of them in my blog, of course.

Who Will Buy the Honda Team?

Honda announced in December that it would withdraw from Formula 1. However, they have yet to find a serious buyer for the team. There has been various rumours about different buyers, but Honda CEO Takeo Fukui said today that Honda has yet to see a serious offer. Honda withdraws due to economic reasons in connection to the generally bad condition of the global car market. It honours Honda that they still have the aim to sell the team to a serious buyer. It takes a lot of money to back a Formula 1 team, this is not easily done.

For my part, I find it a bit sad that we lose one of the Japanese teams in Formula 1, and a car manufacturer as well. As a Shiba Inu, I always have hopes for the teams and drivers from the home country of my breed. It is also nice to see that companies that make cars for the ordinary driver also compete in the most advanced motor sport there is. One of these things, and probably both, may be lost for the team when Honda leaves Formula 1.

I wonder what will happen, if Honda does not find any buyer. Will they compete this year, nevertheless?

The Importance of Looking Good

A joint Swedish-Scottish scientific effort has found that looks are important for humans when they are applying for jobs. I would not think this is a surprise. Every human knows that looks are important when you seek a mate to wed and/or have children with. Humans often spend more time awake with people they work with than with their mate, so looks would play a part here as well, I believe.

For me, as a dog, the importance of good looks is nothing strange. Looks are important in the dog show ring and when we get a mate. In the show ring, the greatest importance is not looks, but conformity to the breed standard (which is lucky for dogs of some breeds), but you cannot deny that looks play a part in the judging.

Of course, there are parts of your looks that you are born with. Regardless of that, anyone can have a well groomed coat, well cut claws, and good manners. This is also very important for your looks, and any dog can do something about these things, just like any human can take care of the skin, hair, clothes, and manners.

With my Swedish Champion title, I have got the paperwork to show that I look good. I wonder whether there will ever be the same type of judging of humans? I do not think so, humans are often more sensitive about these things than dogs are. After all, we also have our excellent noses for judging other dogs, so looks are actually less important for us.

Blogging

My pups are more than seven weeks old. By their age, I had already become a daily blogger. I started this blog the day I turned six weeks old. There has been some hardships, such as figuring out what to write some days, but most days it is fun and I like to go back to read my earlier thoughts once in a while. My pups, however, show no interest in writing blogs. Sure, they have read some of my blog posts and surfed on the Internet, but none of them feel the need to express daily thoughts in a blog. I have suggested that a blog of any of them would not have to be daily, it would still give me a nice opportunity to read about the further lifes and times of my pups. They are still not interested. Well, neither is their father, my parents or anybody else in our family, so I guess I am not surprised. It is just that I am a little disappointed. On the other hand, above all, I want my pups to have a great life in a manner that suits them, not in a manner that would happen to suit me, their old mum. I believe they will, too.

Mia Visited Us

Paula's sister Mia visited us tonight. It is always fun to see her, though she left her dog Kesshi at home - which is just as well, since Kesshi and Dad are not friends. We had a nice time with Mia anyway. She babysat my pups for a while, something she did very well. The pups like her, just like the rest of us do. Some people are easy to like.

Long Time Companion Gone

In the entertainment news, we can read that actor Mickey Rourke has lost a friend of seventeen years, a faithful dog who died in his arms. It should be noted that after winning the Golden Globe award, the actor dedicated it to all his dogs, both dead and alive. He said: "Sometimes when a man's alone, all you got is your dogs." This was a very fine quote. There is a special bond between humans and dogs, dogs never abandon their humans. I mourn with Mr. Rourke for the loss of his dog.

7 Weeks

In one week Fuji will move away from home. Luckily she will be living in the same town as I do so I hope to see her soon.

Bagus will stay with us until he is 8 1/2 weeks old. Primus has promised me that he will learn him a lot of good things to know. I don't think Bagus will be dissapointed in his teacher. Primus can be fun and entertaining.

Stepping Down

The Japanese Finance Minister has resigned, after claims that he had had too much alcohol at a recent G7 meeting. It is definitely not proper to have too much alcohol when you are supposed to represent your country at a summit. Stepping down is the least thing the Minister can do. I would, for example, never eat or drink anything that would make me unfit to be shown at a dog show. We all have to consider the way we appear to the public.

A Dog Saved

In Malmo in the south of Sweden, dogs were playing on the ice that lay on the water, until one of the dogs went through the ice and fell into the water. The ice was too thin for any of the humans who were around to get out to save the dog. However, a lifebuoy was thrown out to the dog, and the dog managed to get hold of it and pulled ashore. The dog was very cold when it came up on dry land, there was ice in its tail, but it was saved. I am glad everything went well in the end.

Sunny Day

It was a sunny day today, and for the first time, we took some pictures of the puppies outdoors.



However, I sometimes feel there has been a little too much focus on the pups over the last few weeks. Here is a picture of me, to balance things up.

It Runs in the Family

My brother in law, Taichung Oh So Handsome "Oso" is now an American show champion. Oso beat his father, the famous Ch Tenkai Go Ryuukyuu Uruma, and went BOB yesterday. My former lover and also the father of my beloved pups Calvin (Taichung Classic Design) is a full brother to Oso. This makes Oso my brother in law.

Reports from Daniel and Paula says that Calvin will be shown under 2009. I cannot see why he would not become a champion too, as his brother and myself. Even though I don't love him in that way anymore he is still a part of my pups and a damn good looking shiba.

Arsonist Arrested and Charged

Police in Victoria, Australia, has arrested a man who is charged with arson. He is suspected to be responsible for some of the recent, great fires in Victoria. I am glad the police has managed to get hold of this man. There is another man also searched by the police in connection to another of the fires, I hope they will catch him as well. It would be interesting to know why these arsonist have lit fires, if, indeed, they have any rational explanations for their behaviour.

Some of the fires are still burning, although there is no catastrophic spread of the fires anymore and rain has helped fighting the fires in some places.

Cops

Kesshis "dad" Emil has a favourite show on TV. He has recently been to Phuket, Thailand, for 2 weeks together with Paulas sister Mia whom he lives together with.

I guess Emil felt a bit anxious that he would miss some episodes of Cops while being on vacation. He decided to record 13 episodes of Cops on their digital TV box. He claimes that he wanted to record another TV show instead of Cops but there was a change in the TV programme that made this "mistake". Nobody believes him. And why should we? Cops is a great TV show.

The Puppies Are Now 6 Weeks Old!

The countdown has begun. I have only two weeks left with my pups until they are big enough to move away from home. We took some picture tonight. The first three pictures are on Bagus. He will move to Stockholm and his owner Yvonne. The last remaining three pictures are on Fuji. She will move within the city limits to her owner James. I am so happy for these home I have found for my darling pups. My puppies will thrive in their new homes.

A Must Read

I will not write much today. Instead, I would appreciate if you would read this article instead. It is a great piece on the benefits of dogs.

Tudors

Paula is watching the last episode of the second season of the British TV series Tudors. She is sad that it is the last episode, since she enjoys the show very much. I have not followed every episode, but from what I can tell, it is well written, directed, and produced. I guess it would be a TV series in my taste, had I seen it all.

There are rumours that Tudors is not fully historically correct. I cannot be a judge of that, 16th century England is not my foremost interest. However, it is a TV show primarily made for entertainment, not a documentary. You have to be able to take some liberties with history in order to make entertainment. I believe that a series like this may spark an interest in history and make people read about what really happened. Thus, it is to the benefit of historical awareness in its own way.

Fires

While we have cold winter weather in Sweden, fires are raging in the hot summer of the Australian state of Victoria. Auntie Linni, whose father was from Australia, is especially concerned. The concern is not just due to the fires as such, but also due to the fact that some fires was lit by arsonists. Why would anyone light a fire like this? What is the purpose? We cannot think of any. We are glad to read that the fires are heavily fought, anyway.

Cold Weather

February this year seem to be the coldest month of the year, just like it usually is. We had a major snowfall yesterday, then the night sky was clear and we had about ten degrees below zero this morning. If my pups would have been born in the summer, they could have enjoyed a lot of hours of their lives outdoors already, but it is too cold and snowy for that now. Nevertheless, they enjoy life. We spent many hours in the livingroom today, which gives them another angle of life than just the puppy room. This is good.

Sunday

When I woke up this morning the world outside the window was white. It was snow everywhere. You can't even recognize the garden anymore. I thought it was a bit too much so I decided not to be outside more than absolutely neccessary. The other dogs enjoyed the cold and snow more than me. I'm happy that we are not all the same...

The pups and myself spent the evening in our living room. We watched some TV, played and had a good Sunday. April and Sunni were pretty intrested in the pups but the rest of the gang were not. I told the boys to keep their noses to themselves which they seemed to understand. Good for them!

I also helped Paula to use a chat function on facebook. She talked with our friend Meeri for nearly half an hour. They have some fun stuff and cool on-going plans together. This is good. I like Meeri and Meeri likes me. It's a win win situation.

Dog Genes in Wolves

Scientists have discovered that some wolves in North America has dark coat colour thanks to interbreeding with dogs. It is interesting that, not only do dogs come from the wolves, dogs have since given some genes back to wolves.

The dark coated wolves seem to have an advantage to the more common grey wolves, but the scientists say they do not yet know exactly what that advantage is. I have my own theory on that. It may just be that dark coated wolves are considered more handsome than the grey wolves by many, just like black and tan Shibas are arguably more handsome than red or red sesame Shibas. As long as I do not know of any other theory, I will stick by mine.

A fair trade.

Daniel is more sick than Paula now so I have stepped in to be a nurse for both of them. According to Paula I do a pretty good job and then Paula should now. Soon to be a reg. nurse.

Paula played with my pups and they enjoyed it very much. So did I. It is a lot of work taking care of pups. Since I took care of Paula's bo she took care of mine. It seems like a fair trade of work.

Registered Pups

If you search at http://kennet.skk.se/hunddata/ on "namn" and enter "Aangenaam", you do not only find me and my brothers anymore. My pups are also registered and can be found there. This is cool: we are now two registered generations of Aangenaam Shibas!

Quiet Afternoon

We had a quiet afternoon today, since Paula has come down with a serious sickness. She has had to laid down, not even able to play with my puppies. Once Daniel came home in the evening, the pups got someone to play with except for myself. Well, sometimes, it is nice to have an afternoon that is more quiet than usual. I wish Paula will get well soon.

An Important Bridge May Fall Down

The biggest annual dog show in Sweden is in Älvsjö in Stockholm in December. Last year's World Dog Show was also held there. Next to the show grounds is a pedestrian bridge from the nearby train station. A lot of people and dogs go by this bridge to the show grounds. This bridge is now very close to falling down. Fortunately, it is a while until the next dog show in Älvsjö, so they will have time to repair the bridge, I believe. Meanwhile, noone may pass the bridge and for now, all the train traffic under the bridge is closed. This is not good, because this is the main railway into Stockholm from the south. As long as the bridge is in order until the next dog show, I do not complain, though.

The Coldest Month

February is, statistically, the coldest month of the year. We had a week in January when the temperatures were 20 below zero degrees Celsius, but the rest of January had temperatures on or just a few degrees below zero. This February morning, the temperature outdoors was 8 degress below. It felt really cold after the relatively mild days we got used to throughout most of January.

We had some fun taking photos of the pups before Paula is going off to work night.

Happy moment!

I was truly happy today when Paula told me that she is planning to show me this spring after the puppies have left for their new homes. Everybody who knows me also know how much I enjoy and love beeing in the centre of attention. I love strutting my stuff in the show ring.

The picture above show how energetic I was strutting my stuff when I became champion. It is Paulas friend Sofie who show me.