Seven Billion Humans

It is estimated that the seven billionth human was born today. Nobody knows exactly what day he or she was actually born, because the population statistics is not certain for all parts of the world. Nevertheless, humans want to have a certain date for an event like this.

The good thing is that the more humans there are, the more dogs there can be. Since some wolves and humans joined forces about 40 000 years ago, whereupon these wolves started to be known as dogs, humans and dogs have walked this world hand in paw. Dogs would be almost as lost without our beloved humans, as humans would be without us dogs. With seven billion humans on this planet, there are also a lot of room for dogs. This is good news for all of us who have had, or are planning to have, pups.

Big Bang Theory

Paula and Daniel agree that the best TV show for the time being is the US comedy show Big Bang Theory. While it is funny, I cannot say it is my favourite. There are no dogs in it.

Long Night

It is going to be a long night, in a way, this night between Saturday and Sunday of this week. We are getting an hour back that the government took from us this spring, changing the time into "daylight savings time" for the summer. Daylight savings time seems at odds with the round the clock society that we have become, and is a widely loathed idea. It is still hard to change it, because it is a standard of the whole of Europe.

Now that we leave daylight savings time behind, our morning walks will be by daylight again for some time. Daylight is no longer saved for later in the day. This is good.

Idol 2011

There is a talent show on Swedish television called Idol 2011. One of the contestants have annoyed us, not just because of her general odd appearance, but more than anything because she has called herself Linni. This is a name that we feel belongs to Auntie Linni, who invented it for herself. Today, however, the Idol contestant Linni was voted out of the show. We are pleased.

International Teddy Bear Day

Today is the international teddy bear day. It is celebrated on the 27th of October because it was the birthday of US President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, whom the teddy bears are named from. Teddy bears are great toys and deserves a day of their own.

Daniel celebrated the day by traditionally wearing his teddy bear tie to work. I like that.

I now notice that I wrote a blog post which looked much the same as this one on this day last year. I guess things like this might happen, when it is an important annual event that needs a comment.

Tilting

Hello, Karstuhl here!

I have heard about some motorcyclists doing a trick: tilting the motorcycle so they go on the back wheel only. It is just that I do not see the tricky bit in this. I often tilt myself, going on my back legs only. Where is the difference? It is not hard for me, so why would it be for them? Is it just that motorcyclist humans do not have the same balance as dogs have? I guess so.

Romania's King

Romania's king Michael I celebrates his 90th birthday today. He has not been able to perform his job as king since 1947, when the communists forced him to abdicate. Today, however, he had been invited to address the Parliament in present day Republic of Romania. He received standing ovations from many members of parliament.

The president of the Republic and a couple of ministers refused to attend. I believe this is very bad manners towards an old man who has a great part in Romania's history, no matter what you think about the idea of restoring the legitimate monarchy.

The United Nations

It is the UN day today. The United Nations are commemorated today all over the world, because its statutes went into force on the 24th of October 1945. It has been celebrated since 1946.

I do not care so much about the UN. While they have a Universal Declaration on Human Rights, they have no similar Universal Declaration on Canine Rights. Dogs - and our wild cousins, wolves - would need one. Dogs have been man's best friend for at least 40 000 years, so I think we deserve a special recognition.

Sunny Sunday

We had a beautiful, sunny autumn day today. Polly and I stayed out for a rather long time.

It is actually quite odd, when you think about it, that there is a day in the week called Sunday, when there is no higher probability for sunny wheather on this day than any other. I guess there is some old reason for this day to be named from the Sun. Mum jokingly says, with reference to her name Sunni, that the day is named for her. I might have believed it when I was a puppy in the litter box, but not now. I just laugh with her.

In Memoriam

We noticed that there was an article in our local newspaper today, commemorating our late veterinarian, whom we miss so much. It was a fine article. We have yet to see any information about memorial service or anything like that, though.

Another Good Dog Deed

Dogs can be good for many things. The other day, a police patrol in our neighbour town Hallsberg apprehended a pair of men just as they were breaking in to a car. One of the men were seized at the spot, while the other fled into a nearby forest. A dog sniffed him out, though, whereupon the police took him in as well. There is not much that fleeing criminals can do against the powers of dog noses.

Tired

It is autumn. The mornings and the evenings are getting darker. The weather turns colder. We still have no snow to play in, and will certainly not have any for many weeks. I feel more tired than I usually do in the summer. It is a good thing a lot of rest is part of the job as a pet dog.

Hugs

If you want hugs, do you go to the one you want to hug you, or do you ask him or her to come and hug you? Of course, if you are sick or very tired, you can ask the other one to come, but otherwise? If I want to cuddle with anybody, I go to that one. Paula and Daniel do the opposite, sometimes. Well, we dogs are intelligent enough to hear when our humans call out for us, while they cannot understand when we want one of them. You have to give them a break.

More Annoying Technology

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Daniel read my blog entry from yesterday, and said there is one thing about modern technology that annoys him very much. It is the function that automatically adds an empty line after a paragraph when you press ENTER on the keyboard. Of course, this function is optional, but Daniel says he is especially annoyed with it anyway for two reasons. The primary reason is that his e-mail program at work sometimes reinstates this function by itself. I can understand why this is annoying. The secondary reason is that he cannot understand who would ever want this function. Sure, you can press ENTER one less time after each paragraph, but then, you are often used to doubleclick on ENTER anyway. I do not really care for this secondary reason. As long as the function is optional, who cares if nobody wants to use it? Oh, well, we all are annoyed with different things in life.

Modern Technology

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Modern technology is a blessing, most ways. Other things about it is a curse. Daniel has a mobile telephone that often beeps when he is close to the computer, because it asks whether to connect to the computer via Bluetooth. Just telling it no will not make it shut up, it just asks again a little later. Daniel does not care enough to make sure it never asks, which annoys me a little. Oh, well, there are no blessings without any disadvantages, I guess.

Computer Turned Off

We have had the computer turned off almost all day. Some of us argued that it was best to keep it off the whole day, as days without any computer access are few and far in between, but still very nice for a change. I said I just had to make a daily blog entry, so I turned the computer on, nevertheless. I will just write this blog entry, then the computer goes off again. If you are also having a computer free day, you do not have to read this today. Good luck with it!

Gone

The summer is gone. We have had temperatures below the freezing point many times this week.

We cleaned the house today. It might be time to clean the garden soon, too, because there are a lot of leaves that has left the tree branches. We wait until all the leaves have left the branches, though.

In the evening, we had meatballs. It suits an autumn evening to have nice, warm meals.

Is Corgi No Word?

Daniel was playing the word game Wordfeud with a Swedish dictionary today. We thought he would score a lot of points by writing "corgi", but the dictionary did not contain this word, so it was not allowed. This is outrageous. Corgi is a fairly common dog breed. We know from previous experience that "tax", the Swedish word for dachshund, is accepted. Why, then, is another breed not accepted? The company behind Wordfeud should amend the dictionary as soon as possible!

Nights Without Paula

Paula is a trained nurse and works at the university hospital in our city. She has a lot of variety in her schedule. Sometimes she works nights, this is one of those nights. Daniel has a job with more ordinary daily hours for work, so he is at home whenever Paula works night. We still miss Paula. Nights are not the same without her. It feels like there are more dangers outside, and there are definitely more cause to watch the house when not both Paula and Daniel are at home. I wish both Paula and Daniel would be home more often. I understand that most of the time that they are away they are working for money to keep up our household. This is a good thing, but I still wish...

Euro 2012

Sweden beat the Netherlands today in the European Championship qualification round. This victory means that Sweden became the best nation of those who came second in their qualification rounds, thereby ensuring that Sweden is qualified to the Championship next summer. We all hoped that Sweden would win, of course. It did not matter much that our kennel name is a word that exist in the language they speak in the Netherlands.

Julmust

Hello, Karstuhl here!

I have tried the first julmust for the season. Julmust does not have any good English word, but it is the traditional Swedish non-alcohol Christmas drink. The julmust that I tried tasted very good. I am looking forward to another and even better treat of Christmas, though: the Swedish Christmas ham. Pork is always nice, and the Christmas ham is the best of pork parts.

Christmas is still far away, but we will get there.

Terrible Mix Up

In Russia, two couple of human parents have found out after twelve years that their daughters were mixed up at the hospital after birth. Name tags of the infants must have been put on the wrong children.

It is a good thing I have always given birth at home. I would hate to have my pups mixed up with those of another bitch.

Home Again

Well, we are at home again. It was not an easy way home, because it was raining all the way. When we stopped along the way, we had to go out in the rain. Now we are at home, and everything is all right. We can take it easy now.

Hotel Lifts

Hello, Karstuhl here!

We are in Norway tonight, for the dog show tomorrow. This is my first time in our western neighbour country. Many things are similar to Sweden. I compare this experience to that of France this summer. In France, humans spoke very differently from what they do in Sweden. Norwegian is comparatively easy to understand.

There is one thing that is strange both here in Norway and in France. At the hotels, there are lifts to go to the upper floors where you live, but no staircases. I rather walk up to my room, instead of waiting until a lift arrives. I do not understand this. You have to use your card key to operate the lifts to go to the hotel room floors, but there could be doors with card key locks in a staircase as well. At the same time, the hotel here in Norway brags about being very environmentally friendly, but you use more electricity going in lifts than walking in a lit staircase, do you not? Could it be that Frenchmen and Norwegians are just generally too lazy to use staircases?

Show!

Yes! We are going to a dog show this weekend - and I will be shown. This is great. Going to dog shows are among the best things there are in life. Going in to the show ring is the very best thing there is.

Of course, having pups, raising them, and watching their development is also a great thing, but it is something different from dog shows altogether. Being a mother is not comparable to being a show dog, it is like comparing apples and oranges.

The show this weekend is in Hamar in Norway. I like going to Norway, the country where Dad was born. It reminds me of him.

Litterature Prize

The Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer got the Nobel Prize in litterature this year. I have never read anything by him. Those who have believe it is the right choice, though. I trust that - not having read him myself, I cannot very well say anything else. It was fun that the prize went to a Swede.

Linni!

Auntie Linni, my all time favourite friend, celebrates her tenth birthday today! It is amazing that she has reached this age. She still has her sense of childish play inside, making her an excellent play pal when she feels like it. She runs around, jumps, and wrestles just like my daughter Polly, just not quite as often as Polly. Sometimes, we just lay around, pondering over life. This can also be great. You sense that Linni has a great deal of wisdom inside of her.

Linni made sure we all got some extra treats in our food. She knows there cannot be a happy day, and no real celebration, without extra tasty food. This is another great side with Linni that I truly appreciate.

Drugs

Hello, Karstuhl here!

We were watching CSI New York tonight, and was a bit upset by a guest star playing a trained nurse. This nurse endorsed the use of drugs, such as cannabis. Paula is a nurse, and she would never ever do such a thing. Drugs are not good for your health. Even worse was that one of the heroes of the TV show was in love with this nurse, and did not say no. Sure, he did not try himself, but to know that you use passively is also bad.

If you want to feel good, why do you not use legal stuff such as candy instead? It is much better.

The Coffee Table

We have a coffee table by the sofas in our living room. You might expect that there would be a coffee table book or two lying around on it - that is big books with glossy, coloured pictures. We never have those there. On the other hand, April use to lie on our coffee table. She started this habit when she was a pup, and does not believe there is anything wrong with it. I am hardly ever on the coffee table myself, I believe that the sofas are far more comfortable. If we would make a coffee table book, though, perhaps it would be about dogs lying on coffee tables?

Tumba

One of the most prominent Swedish ice hockey players of all time has passed away today: Sven Tumba. His active career was way before my time, he died 80 years old. Daniel has told me a little about him, though. He played for the Stockholm team Djurgården, which is Daniel's favourite team, and he played in the Swedish national team for many years and many tournaments. He still holds the record of most goals scored for the Swedish national team. This is amazing, especially since fewer tournaments were played in his days, and there were fewer matches in the tournaments. I guess Sven Tumba deserves the time Swedish mass media devotes to him today.