Apps

In modern mobile phones, there are often this thing called apps. It is an abbreviation of "applications", I believe. The thing about apps is that they make it possible to use the mobile in more ways than would otherwise be possible. A mobile owner can download the apps of her or his choice.

Paula and Daniel have both downloaded a game app called Wordfeud. They play with each other, being rather equal most of the time. Daniel has used a picture of me as his profile picture, although his username derives from Dad's name. Dad was from Norway, and so is the creator of the app Wordfeud, so there is an extra point there.

I might also play Wordfeud, if only I had the time. There are just so many other things to take care of here at our home. Perhaps I change my mind if somebody insists, but I will pass for now.

New Food

Paula has bought new food, and a lot of it. She came home with two sacks, each containing 20 kg food. This is great. These amounts of food will surely last for a while. It is dry food, and we are many who eat of it, so it will not go bad. Dry food is good, it gives you something to chew upon. I would not want to eat porrige or anything like that every day.

Pups in the Future

In the future, there will be pups again. I am just not sure who will have pups the next time. It might be April. It was a while since she had a litter. I have had two litters since she had her first and so far only litter. Well, perhaps I am just a better mother than her.

For the moment, though, I am more focused on upcoming dog shows. We are going to Norway next week for a show.

Japan to the Rescue

Greece is close to financial collapse. It has been for most of this year. Many people talk about bankruptcy for the Greek government.

Now Japan has said it is willing to take part in an international rescue effort for Greece. It is so typical of the friendly and financially strong Japanese to do such a thing.

Sorrow

Our great veterinarian has left us. He passed away suddenly this weekend. We are very sad to hear this news. He was a great man who really knew how to handle dogs with the respect and expertise that we are worth. He took care of all of our needs, except those that required more expensive equipment. We were, for example, x-rayed for our hips on another clinic. Our veterinarian was our favourite, though.

It is not that there are few veterinarians in our home city. We know others who are good, just not as good as our favourite. We will miss him forever.

Cleaning

We cleaned the house today. Not fun, but it has to be done. I would rather have done something else, but it is, at least, nice when it is done.

Moving

We have a wonderful house and garden, especially with our big dog yard. The surroundings are also great, with a rather scarcely used road and forrests, even though we live close to the centre of the city. Paula's sister Mia, on the other hand, has lived in a small flat close to a street in the cidy with a lot of traffic. She does not have a dog (I cannot understand why, but it is a fact), but a dog would not be as fond of such living quarters as we are of ours. Now she has moved, though. She has a new love in her life and has moved in with him in a house with a garden. This is good. As far as I have understood, there is a cat living there as well. April has met the cat, but the cat was not fond of her, but hid away. I guess a cat is better than no pet at all, and a garden is always nice. It definitely seems like a change for the better for Mia. She is worth that, because she is a very nice person.

Speed of Light

An experiment in Switzerland and Italy has showed results that indicates that neutrinos has travelled faster than the speed of light. According to current scientific theories, this would not be possible. The scientists behind the experiment are baffled and interested to know whether others can make the same findings with an equal experiment. If the results turn out to be true, our world view might have to change. What the implications of this is, I do not know. I believe it is too early to tell. In the everyday life, these results surely means nothing. Perhaps they will matter for our great great grandchildren. Until we know more, I just treat this as an interesting but rather pointless piece of news.

My Daughter Anzu

This is a current picture of my dear daughter Anzu, who lives in Bergen, Norway. There is no need to comment how cute she is, is there?

Affirmative Action

Some humans are in favour of affirmative action. This means that, instead of discriminating against minorities or other groups of humans in the same way as usual, you discriminate against those who have mostly been favoured by laws and policies before. In essence, you change one discriminating action into another, going the opposite direction. I do not really see the point. Then again, dogs never discriminate against other dogs because of their breed, sex, or anything else. We take each dog as a dog, that is all.

I cannot see why one discrimination would be better than the other. The best thing must be to see each human as an individual. Dogs do that. We never discriminate against groups of humans. Perhaps the humans in favour of discrimination can learn something from this. After all, if we never discriminate among humans, and we are "man's best friend", is not our non-discrimination policy worth following?

Autumn

The days are getting shorter, colder, and more rainy. Strong winds are blowing. It is autumn, and nature is preparing itself for winter sleep. Despite the fact that September is the month when I celebrate my birthday, I am not particularly fond of it. When snow arrives, it is more fun to be outdoors, instead of the rain and mud of the middle of autumn. Daniel says autumn is his favourite season. He says he is always energized after summer and likes the temperatures and colours of this season. I can agree with him that a sunny day in the fall is beautiful, but in the choice of favourite season, I cannot agree with him. Well, we are all entitled to our own opinions.

Nothing

It is quite funny. Close to us, there is a place called Ingenting. This is Swedish for "nothing". There are also road signs pointing in the direction of Ingenting. I wonder what tourists and other guests in our city think, when they see this. There is a difference between a sign pointing in the direction of "nothing" and in the direction of a place called "Nothing", but this subtle difference is not visible in the road sign. I believe these signs are funny, even though I know of the reason for them.

Grapes

There was some extra food today, except the general dog food. Paula had herself some grapes in the evening, and I was invited to eat some of them. It might seem like grapes would not be anything for me, as a blood thirsty carnivore, but meat is not the only thing I like. Grapes are sweet and people say they are healthy, too. Sure, a bloody steak would be my first choice, but in the absence of that, I do like grapes.

Bad Stomach

The day before yesterday, we got more than just dog food in our bowls. We got meatballs et cetera. Yesterday, some of us were sick. Thus, all we got for food yesterday was regular dog food. All we got for food today was also regular dog food. I love getting extra food, besides dog food, and I never get sick because of it. It feels so unjust that just because some of us get sick, none of us gets extra food. I just do not know how to convince Paula and Daniel to give me extra food, but not those who tend to get sick from it. If you have got any ideas, please write a comment here in my blog.

New Sofas

We received two new sofas for the living room today. They are in black leather and are very comfortable. The old sofas have been moved out into the guest room by the entrance hall.

The sofas are actually used. We have smelled them before, when visiting Paula's sister Mia. Mia is moving in with a man today and had no room for these sofas, whence we got them. This is better than completely new leather sofas, because sofas are more comfortable when people and dogs have been sitting and lying in them for a while. They are softer and better formed then. I like it.

Loss

It was disappointing to know that Japan lost big time against the host country New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup. New Zealand scored 83 points to Japan's 7. This would be embarassing in most cases, but I am given to understand that New Zealand is supposed to be a much better Rugby nation than Japan. Sweden did not even qualify to the World Cup, so Swedes have nothing to say about Japan's result.

Six

I am getting older. It is my sixth birthday today. Now I am half the age of Mum. It does not feel different from yesterday, though.

We celebrated my birthday, among other things with spicy minced meat and cheese in the dog food. This was nice. Otherwise, I appreciated that it was a rather calm day without too much ado about the birthday.

The 13th

It is the 13th today. Not that it matters. It is not Friday the 13th, but a Tuesday. Not that it matters. I am not supersticious.

We have a ladder in the yard. It often stands up against the wall, where the chimney sweeper climbs up to the roof to climb further up to the chimney. He did so today, when he paid us his yearly visit. I often go under this ladder. Not that it matters. I am not supersticious.

I believe superstition is something utterly human. Humans often pride themselves with being the most intelligent and wisest creature on Earth. Still, I do not think there are any dogs who are supersticious, as many humans are. Sure, dogs can be afraid of thunder and other loud noises, but this is something different. We are not afraid something evil might happen to us just because it is a certain date of the month, a certain day of the week, or that the path we are walking are taking us under a ladder. If we are afraid, it is because of real experience or that we really do not understand loud noises and such. How does this count, if you compare our wisdom to that of humans?

Pickled Herring

We got pickled herring with our food today. Pickled herring is a Swedish specialty. It is essentially raw fish from the seas around Sweden, that is preserved through pickling.

To be fair, pickled herring is enjoyed in many other northern European countries. I still believe that the Swedish use of pickled herring surpasses most other uses. In Sweden, you eat pickled herring at all the great holidays, Easter, Midsummer, and Christmas alike, though the other traditional food courses differs from one holiday to the other.

In a way, you can compare pickled herring to the fish in sushi. Both are served raw, and both are delicious. All of us devoured our food today faster than we usually do. I would like to have pickled herring more often.

9/11

Hello, Sunni here!

My daughter Hailey and my granddaughter Polly could not agree on who would write the blog entry for today, and finally they asked me. After all, I remember the event. The attack on New York City and Washington, DC, on the 11th of September, 2001, that is.

It is something I am sad to recall, this attack on my home country. I remember how upset all the humans were, and for good cause. The attack came out of the blue, figuratively as well as literally. Dogs like me were equally upset. I do not think any of us realized the scope of this event at the time, nor did we anticipate what would come next. This attack was the start of the US war on terror. I am not particulary fond of this war, but at least we have got rid of Osama bin Laden now. Hopefully, there will be no more attacks of this kind in our lifetime.

My thoughts go out to all the dogs and humans who died or who lost someone close to them on 9/11. There were not many dogs who died, if I am informed correctly, but I am sure many dogs missed the humans who died. I believe that missing someone dear might be harder than if you are the one who is missed. Rest in peace, all victims.

Blah

Paula and our night guest went away to a dog show early this morning. I did not get to go. Life is dull.

Rugby

I am not that interested, but today is the first day of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. This year, the world cup is hosted by New Zealand. Neither Sweden nor Norway participates. However, the USA and Japan does. I am not sure whether to hope for the home country of the Shiba or Mum's home country, though. It is one of the major sport events of the world. I guess it is more interesting for those who knows the teams and the rules better than I do.

Carnivores

We are carnivores. By we, now, I mean all of us dogs and all the humans in our family. Paula had this weird idea the other day that she would stop eating meat. She would eat sea food, but apart from that, she would be a vegetarian, she said. I told her this goes against everything that I stand for.

The ancestors of us dogs originally teamed up with humans to form better hunting packs. Humans and dogs together are formidable hunters. Hunters eat meat. Meat gives us proteins and feed our brains with the energy that our intelligence requires.

I know neither Paula nor Daniel hunt. Nor do any of us dogs, except for the occasional field mouse that Mum has caught. Still, meat is what brought dogs and humans together. If Paula would not eat meat anylonger, I could not fully respect her as the leader of our pack.

Fortunately, Paula got to her senses. She does eat meat.

Congratulations

Congratulations, and jubilations, for Paula's mother Gertrud today. It is her birthday.

Today is also the 380th anniversary of the Swedish victory at Breitenfeld in the Thirty Years War. Of course, Gertrud is far from that old. If you divide that number by 10, you get closer to her age.

Euro Qualification

The Swedish national football team played San Marino tonight in a qualification game for the UEFA Euro Championships next year. San Marino is one of Europe's smallest countries and has one of the worst records in football. This should have been an easy victory. However, San Marino managed to keep the score even 0-0 well into the second half of the game. We were a little nervous, and it was not without seriousness that we joked about Sweden not winning or even losing the game. It was not until after one of San Marino's players got a red card and Sweden managed to score its first goal that the game really turned Sweden's way. Sweden finally won 5-0. The victory was not as sure as the numbers show, because San Marino's team stopped trying so hard after the first Swedish goals. In the first half, Sweden's team did not play well, but they improved later. It was nice to get a victory, though. Sweden is now one step closer to being qualified to the tournament next summer.

Idol 2011

We are watching the new season of the talent show Idol on Swedish TV. It is fun to watch when the jury puts bad singers down. Daniel usually only watches the first part of each season, because this is the part he enjoys the most. I guess there is a little devil inside of him. On the other hand, he, just like the rest of us, also enjoys the great singers that appear.

This is the eighth season. The show has been aired longer than I have lived. It is amazing that they still find many talents. My favourite tonight was the Russian singer Oleg.

Typhoon

As if it was not enough with the earth quake and tsunami in March, Japan has now been hit by a typhoon. The typhoon called Talas struck the western parts of Japan, first striking the island of Shikoku. There are reports on 19 humans being killed and about 50 missed.

As always, I have not found any reports on how many dogs have been killed or gone missing. I believe this is a grave mistake made by news agencies all around the world. Being a dog myself I am more concerned about my fellow dogs than humans, so I have some understanding of this way of making reports. Nevertheless, dogs are such a vital part of human society that I believe the reports should be about dogs too. I do hope there were not too many dogs killed or missing, and that no dogs where deprived of all of their humans.

Sleep

Hello, Polly here!

Paula worked last night, and will work tonight as well. The great advantage of this is the many hours of sleep we get. First we sleep through the night with Daniel, then we sleep through the day with Paula, and then there is another night when we sleep alongside Daniel. You might think we would get tired of sleeping, but if you get tired, the best cure is to sleep, is it not?

Loss

The Swedish national team in football went to Hungary tonight, but lost to the Hungarian team. Hungary won by 2-1 (1-0). This loss means that it is harder for Sweden to make it to the UEFA European Championship next year. It is still far from impossible. Sweden needs to win against Finland and San Marino, which there are good odds that the team does, and then win the play off among the teams which has come second in their groups. We all hope that Sweden will make it.

No Sushi

I overheard Paula and Daniel talking about having sushi tonight. Unfortunately, they did not, when it was time for their evening meal. Otherwise I would have loved to taste some. On the other hand, I did not have to be disappointed for not getting more, when noone got anything.