Lazy Football Players?

For the first time since the start of the World Cup, there are no games on this afternoon or evening. The football players are all well paid professional players, but it is said they need to rest for several days between each game. This is unheard of in many other sports. Look at tennis, where the Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon is played now, the players there have a maximum of one day's rest between each game. It is similar with ice hockey. In Tour de France, which starts soon, the professional bicycle riders are competing every day for much longer than the ninety minutes that a football game goes on. I think the football players should be able to play games with fewer days of rest in between. It would enhance the interest during the last days of the World Cup, I believe. Maybe football players are just too lazy to do this, or is it I who cannot understand the hardship of playing ball for ninety minutes?

Sorrow

Japan lost in the football World Cup today against Paraguay and is out of the tournament. The USA is also out, after losing last Saturday. Australia did not even make it to the final 16. Now we do not really know which team to hope for.

The Door

Our front door has been difficult to close, lock, and unlock. Today, Nils Olov came by and helped Daniel to mend it. It works much better now. We send our gratitude to Nils Olov for his great help.

Polly, unlike the rest of us, was not happy to see Nils Olov. I guess she does not know Nils Olov well enough yet. We have to work on that. It will be easy, since Nils Olov is a very friendly person.

Vacation

We have been off on vacation since Tuesday. I had hoped I would have had the opportunity to write blog entries anyway, but this has not been the case. A lot of our vacation has been spent riding the car, at other times, we have just not had access to the right equipment to write blog entries. We have been in the south of Sweden, it has been sunny but not too warm, and we have seen new places and met new people. However, it feels good to be home again, where we are able to get back into old habits that we like.

Yet Another Blog

Not only does Daniel's brother have a blog, his sister Filippa has one as well. I will add this blog to my links too. There are a lot of pretty pictures of houses and gardens in this blog. I like our garden, but sometimes, it would be nice to smell new gardens here and there.

Another Blog

I read just a few other blogs. Today, I have learned that Daniel's brother has a blog. This blog, Elias Granqvist (m), is interesting. It is written in Swedish and is mainly about Elias as a local politician in Stockholm, but with national and global perspectives. His blog entry of today is extra interesting, it is about the sandwich spread Nutella and EU rules.

I have added Elias' blog into my list of blogs on the left side of my own blog. I am sure there are many more interesting things to be read there, especially for all the Swedish humans who plan to vote in the Swedish general election this autumn.

Hope for Japan

As Shiba Inus, our roots are in Japan, so Japan is one of our favourite teams in the World Cup.

Japan lost its game against the Netherlands in the World Cup today, 0-1, while Denmark won against Cameroon, 2-1. However, since Japan won against Cameroon in the previous game, 1-0, while Denmark lost to the Netherlands, 0-2, odds are Japan will go on to the Round of 16. The Netherlands have already secured its advance, While Cameroon cannot go on. Japan and Denmark will meet in the final game of the group, which will determine which of these two teams will go on.

If Japan wins, Japan goes on. If there is a tie, Japan goes on too, because Japan has not got as many goals against it as Denmark. Denmark has to win in order to go on. Odds are, Japan will manage to win or get a tie. We certainly hope for a Japanese victory, but a tie is almost as good, since the result will be the same.

Wedding

The Swedish Crown Princess Victoria got married today. There was a lot about this on TV. Weddings are always nice, I hope they will live happily ever after. This sounds like a sentence from the end of a fairy tale. In this case, it actually is like in many fairy tales: an ordinary man got the princess, so let us hope the true marriage will be just as happy.

World Cup Scandal

At our place, most of us have our hopes for the USA in the football World Cup. Mum, April, and Calvin come from America, and I am half American myself. Dad says he can also hope for the USA, now that neither Norway (where he comes from), Sweden, nor Belgium (where his father comes from) have qualified for the World Cup.

The USA played Slovenia this afternoon. While Slovenia led by 2-0, the USA came back and made a tie. Late in the game, the USA scored a third goal, but the referee had already blown his whistle for off side. We doubt very much that the American really was off side. If he was, it was a very close call, to close to tell. It is a scandal that the goal did not count. The game thus ended 2-2. We now have to hope the USA will beat Algeria in the next game.

Polly's Blog Entries

The last three days, Polly has written the entries in my blog. It should be noted that if nothing else is said at the beginning of the blog entry, it is I, Hailey, who write the blog entry. I did not know Polly would want to write so many entries in a row, but I am not complaining. Other things I would not complain about are the things that Polly has complained about, bathing and cutting claws. As Polly wrote that I said yesterday, these are facts of life. It is unnecessary to complain about them, since complaining cannot ever make them go away, even though it is good that Polly shows that she has got a strong will and strong beliefs. I will let her write again, whenever she wants to, if it suits me and my plans with my blog.

Another Hardship

Polly is writing once again. I tried to persuade Mummy to write a blog entry about the hardships of cutting claws, but Mummy just shook her head, saying it may be hard, but just one of the things you have to endure throughout life. I fear this is true. Regardless of what the truth is, I was enough annoyed this morning that I agreed with Mummy that I would write the blog entry of today as well, reacting to the hardships of having the claws cut. Shiba Inus are always sensitive about our paws. When claws are cut, Paula or Daniel hold the dog whose claws are cut in her or his arms, while using a sharp cutter very close to the paws. It goes without saying that this is uncomfortable. A Shiba Inu wants to be free to roam around, not held and threatened with sharp cutters. I did object to having my claws cut, but to no avail. Mummy says that if I can come up with a way to be able not to have the claws cut, she and every other Shiba Inu in the world would be very grateful, but she had no ideas as to what that might be. Unfortunately, neither have I. This is something to consider in the days to come.

Bath

Polly is here again. I persuaded Mummy to let me write the blog entry for today as well. This is because I must tell the world of a great injustice committed against me today. I had to take a bath. You would think that a bath is necessary if you are dirty or if you are going to a dog show, but neither reason was applicable in my case. All I did was being out in the yard when Paula bathed Daddy and Aunt April for the dog show they are soon off to. Then I got a bath just for being available. A bath is no pleasant experience, which I told Paula repeatedly while being bathed, but she kept bathing me, nevertheless. Sure, I got cleaner than I was, but there actually was no real reason to make me take a bath. This was so unfair! I am not used to be treated this unfairly, and I hope it will be a long time until I ever get a reason to write another blog entry like this.

Featuring Polly

This blog entry is written by Polly, daughter of blog owner Hailey. As my Mother wrote in this blog the other day, she has offered me to write the daily entries in her blog once in a while. This is my first entry. I am still a pup, but older than Mother was when she started her blog. It may be interesting to write something once in a while, so I have accepted the offer.

I thought I would start with a presentation of myself. I am Hailey's youngest daughter to date. Like both my parents, I am a black and tan Shiba Inu. I am interested in candy, anything that can be chewed upon, and the world around me. Daniel and Paula photographed me today, it is me in the picture above. Paula believes I will do good on dog shows. I am not sure myself, since I have yet not been to any dog shows, but I have a pedigree that suggest that I have the genes that can make me successful.

This Saturday, I turn four months old. If you see or hear any celebration this Saturday, it may thus be because people are celebrating me.

Water on the Moon

The Moon may hold much more water than previously thought. New examinations of lunar rocks from the Apollo project and a meteorite of lunar material in North Africa has proved that the lunar soil may hold at least 100 times as much water as previously thought. It is not very much, ranging from 64 parts per billion to five parts per million, but it would still be enough to cover a surface the size of the Moon's in 1 metre of water. This is positive news for all of us who look forward to a future when humans and dogs will colonize the Moon, as the first step towards colonizing many celestial bodies. Water is essential for life from Earth, so colonization will be much easier when water is already there.

Honda Behind Japanese Victory

If Honda would give Japan victories, one would normally think this would be in motor sport, even though Honda left formula 1 a year and a half ago. There are, however, other Japanese people than the owners of the car manufacturer who are called Honda. One of the football players of the Japanese national team in the World Cup is Keisuke Honda, whose goal in the first half of the game against Cameroon this afternoon was the only of the game. This goal gave Japan its first World Cup victory outside of its home country, having won in the 2002 World Cup in Japan/South Korea as well. We are pleased Japan won, and hope Japan will go on from the first round. After the victory today, there really is a chance Japan will manage to do this.

Auntie Linni Was Disappointed

Auntie Linni was greatly disappointed this Sunday. Her father was from Australia, so she always hopes for Australian victories when she has no Swedes to hope for. However, in the FIFA football world cup, Germany beat Australia 4-0, and in the Canadian Grand Prix of formula 1 in Montreal, Aussie driver Mark Webber did not do well enough to defend his lead in the championship. While Webber did not do bad, Linni was greatly disappointed with the referee in the football game. There was a situation when Germany led by 2-0, where a penalty should have been given in favour of Australia, but was not. Later, an Aussie player got a red card. Germany may have had the better team, but a 4-0 victory was too big. We will have to hope Australia does better in the following football games and that Webber will get back to the top in the next race.

Will I Get Help?

I have considered whether to feature thoughts by my daughter Polly directly on my blog. She could be responsible for writing the occasional blog entry. I have talked to her about this, but she is a little reluctant. She says she would rather play than spend time writing a blog. I was much younger than Polly is now when I started blogging. Polly is aware of this, but she says that she has just got different interests. It is not that she has turned my offer down completely, but she says the responsibility of blogging on a daily basis is not for her, at least not for now. It sounds like she will make some contributions in the future, she is just not sure when to do it. I am in no hurry, I can wait, but it would be nice to have her pawprints on the keyboard of our computer as well as mine. Time will tell when this will be.

The World Cup

The FIFA World Cup in football has started. It takes place in South Africa, the country where one of the languages spoken has lent us our kennel prefix.

We saw the game between Uruguay and France, and hoped for the gold medalists of 1930 and 1950 over those of 1998. That is, we hoped for the South Americans over the Europeans. Paula almost always does, since she was born in Colombia in South America, thus we do too. Unfortunately, Uruguay never scored a goal. France did not either, so Uruguay got one point, but we would rather have seen an Uruguay victory. It was an exciting game, despite the lack of goals.

We all agree that, if all else is alike, it is a better game if there are more goals scored. Sometimes, I believe it is too hard to score a goal in football. Games are tied too often, and there are seldom many goals at all. On the other hand, you cannot change the rules too much to allow for more goals, because then it would not be the same sport any more.

Mushrooms

Polly ate some mushrooms today. She liked it, but then she was concerned that mushrooms would be similar to vegetables and that she would be inclined to being part herbivore. She rightfully believes herself to be a dog, thus a carnivore. This is true, we are carnivores, even though the occasional grass straw may go down on us as on wolves to help our digestion. I told Polly that according to recent scientific research, mushrooms are actually closer related to animals than to vegetables. She should not be concerned about not being a carnivore. We are on top of the food chain, this is something we are justified in being proud of.

Bath Tub

We have purchased a new bath tub, specially made for bathing dogs. I am not fond of bathing. Dogs have the fortune to have coats that most dirt cannot stick to, so baths are seldom necessary. I believe this was an unnecessary purchase. Paula is happy about it, though, so there are some advantages with buying it. We will have to see who will be the first dog who have to try it. I hope it will not be me.

My First Litter

I have heard from my oldest daughter Meja today. She has made hip X-ray, which came back with a good result. She has B on her hips, just like I have. There are good genes behind a good hip result, so a small part of it is thanks to me.

Coincidentally, we also got a letter from my oldest son Bagus today. The letter was short, but it contained a lot of photographies of dear Bagus. You can see from the pictures that he has a good life. I will see if I may be able to publish some picture here in the near future.

It feels good to know that your pups feel well.

Teeth

Polly have lost a tooth. This is the first step on her road towards getting the teeth she will have for the adult part of her life. To me, she will always be my pup, but she will still grow up and become a lady. I am proud of Polly as she grows and becomes more sure of herself, but part of me will always miss the little, little, cute pup that she once was. Mum tells me she has had the same feelings about me. I guess this is something that all of us parents have to experience. It is as the saying: growing old is not bad, if you consider the alternative. Seeing your pups grow old is also not bad, if you consider the much more horrible alternative that they would never be more than small pups.

I wonder if Nemo has also lost a tooth. Perhaps he has. I know he lives happily with his family, and I am not worried for him, but sometimes, I wonder a little about him.

Nothing

Nothing really exciting happened today. Yesterday was Sunday, and I wrote about the results of the dog show that Paula went to with Kuro chan and April. I could also have written about it being the Swedish national holiday or the final game of the French Open in tennis, where a Swede was beaten by Spaniard Rafael Nadal. Today, in addition to the fact that nothing special has happened in my life, I have not found any news to write about either. I guess we all have these kinds of days. Come back tomorrow, hopefully, I will have some exciting thoughts to give you then.

International Champion

Kuro chan, father of my pups Polly and Nemo, became international champion today in Norrköping. Paula went with him and April to the international dog show there, and Kuro chan managed to win Best of Breed and the final international certificate that he needed to gain an international champion title. April did well too, she became Best of Opposite Sex. It was a good day for us. It would probably have been an even better day, had I competed as well, but it was not my turn this time. I will be back later this summer. Meanwhile, I congratulate Kuro chan and April for their victories.

No Barbecue

When Paula came home from work this afternoon, I overheard her and Daniel talking about having a barbecue this evening. They went grocery shopping shortly thereafter, so I anticipated that they would buy some nice meat for the grill and that all of us dogs would get some. Once in the store, they must have changed their mind, because they came home with minced meat. They did give minced meat to all of us four legged family members, but I did miss the barbecue. It was a while ago since we had one, and it is the season for it now. I guess we will have to wait for a little longer. If you wait for something good, you never wait for too long.

New PM

Japan has a new Prime Minister again. There have been a few over the last couple of years. After the resignation of Yukio Hatoyama last Wednesday, the Japanese Parliament has now elected Naoto Kan new PM. He has been Finance Minister until now and becomes the fifth PM in the last three years. I do not know much about Naoto Kan, but I hope there will be less turbulence in Japanese politics soon, if not now. Japan needs political stability to regain its economic strength.

Suntory Hibiki

Daniel was away to Finland for his work yesterday and today. He bought a bottle of tax free whisky on the trip, the Japanese whisky Suntory Hibiki. This is the whisky that April's son Biki got his official name from. It is nice that Daniel thinks of Biki when he choses what whisky to buy.

I do not expect him to buy anything of the kind that my youngest son was named from: the United Kingdom Royal Navy Eclipse Class Cruiser. This would be a little too expensive for him. He could not buy a Lunar Eclips either - this is priceless.

Bear

A bear has been sighted close to our home town. Paula does not feel good about it, she fears it may come our way. I am not as concerned, I do not believe it will come this way. I have never met a bear, but I do not believe I would want to, either. Bears are big predators, one has to have respect for them.