Crackers

It is New Year's Eve, and people have been firing crackers since early this day, more and more the closer we get to midnight. I am not afraid of the cracks, but I dislike them and I loathe the people cracking them, because I know how many dogs are afraid of them. It is a completely useless and unnecessary way of amusing oneself. It costs a lot of money and is over in no time. Furthermore, the historic origin of firing the crackers is that people used them to scare of demons, in the days when people believed in demons. People nowadays should not be that supersticious. They should just stop firing crackers.

Happy new year to everyone out there who are not firing crackers!

New Manned Mission to the Moon

China plans manned missions to the Moon, nearly 40 years after the last time a man walked the surface of that celestial body.

I have mixed feelings about this. While I love the Moon, and always like to learn more about it, I do not like that the Chinese are planning to go there. China is no nice country, and I would not like to see any scientific progress or the PR value of new manned lunar flights go to that country. China is a communistic dictatorship, and in China, they eat dogs. Enough said.

Hopefully, these plans by China will make the USA, Japan, and European countries to take up the challenge of putting men on the Moon again. Perhaps even putting dogs there - and not in the form of food.

The Pillars of the Earth

We have seen a rerun of a great mini series on TV this week: The Pillars of the Earth. It is a story about politics and battles in Medieval England, and the TV production is very well made.

The only bad thing about this series is, there are no dogs in prominent roles. Otherwise, I can highly recommend it.

Hamburgers

Hello, Wärstuhl here!

We got some hamburgers tonight. I like hamburgers. Enough said.

Christmas Is Not Over

My dear daughter Karstuhl asked me if Christmas was over now, when we have had Christmas Day and Boxer Day. I told her it is not. We have got plenty of days left to celebrate Christmas. In Sweden, Christmas is not over until the 20th day, that is the 13th of January. In other countries, they even say Christmas is longer than that. Thus, we can look forward to many more days of good Christmas food and candy.

Agility on TV

We watched some agility on TV. It was not a real competition, merely a side show in a horse show. Nevertheless, one would like it to be good. There was a Poodle who raced first. Of course, our poodle friend Laila hoped the Poodle would win. It was not quick, but managed to take the whole course without any faults. Later dogs were quicker, but had faults. Strangely, though, the faults did not count in the ranking of the dogs. We were upset, especially Laila. What is the point of an agility track, if speed is all that counts?

The Night Before Christmas

Hello, Wärstuhl here!

It is the night before Christmas Eve, and we are busy preparing for the celebrations tomorrow. So busy, in fact, that we did not have the time to write a blog entry for the 23rd of December. This does not matter so much, I believe. We will just have two entries for the 24th instead. Mommy is more disappointed, she always want the blog to be daily. Granny, on the other hand, believes the Christmas preparations are much more important than blogging. This is nothing strange. There is nothing more important to Granny than food and candy, and this is a huge part of Christmas and the Christmas preparations. I do help Granny with the preparations, but have found a little time to write this blog entry, nevertheless.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Almond Paste

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Daniel made Christmas candy from almond paste and raisins this evening. I knew how to make better use of the almond paste, so I helped myself to some when Daniel had gone away from his workplace. It was really tasty! Unfortunately, Daniel soon came back and stopped me from getting any more. I hope there is some for me on Christmas Eve, at least.

Prison

A man in Sweden tortured his puppy dog to death. He has now been sentenced to one year and three months in prison for animal cruelty. While this is supposed to be a record long sentence, I still believe it is way to short. In the news article, it says what he did to the poor puppy, but I cannot bear to write it here.

Daniel says he is puzzled any human could torture a little dog like this man did, and not be sentenced to psychiatric care. Beating and even killing humans may be done by mentally healthy people, Daniel says, but torturing a dog, he does not understand that. I want to agree with Daniel, though I think I am too cynical to believe only the mentally ill humans would do these things. Unfortunately, many humans have a tendency to become beasts.

I hope the murdered dog has found peace in the afterlife.

Christmas Tree

We have a lot of fir trees surrounding our garden. At Christmas, this is not enough. There is a tradition to have a fir tree, a so called Christmas tree, indoors as well. You have to have a special foot for this tree to stand. Daniel has tried to mount our tree in that foot many times this evening, but has not succeeded. The tree is now standing at an angle, leading towards the wall. Daniel is just sighing. I wish I could help, but to screw the tree tight in the foot, I guess you have to have opposable thumbs. This is one thing dogs lack.

Well, maybe it will be better tomorrow, if Daniel is less tired by then.

Christmas Shopping

Hello, Karstuhl here! (A.k.a. Wärstuhl.)

Paula and Daniel went shopping for Christmas gifts again today. They did the same last Friday. I have already done all the Christmas shopping I need. It is much easier being a dog when Christmas is coming - the Christmas shopping you need to do can be counted on the fingers of one paw - that is, none. Nice, is it not?

Snow

We got some snow about a week ago, but it quickly thawed away. Today, we got some more. It is not more than last time, just about a centimetre. I believe this will disappear as well. I do not mind if it does disappear. Snow is nice, but only when it is at least a decimetre or so, thick enough to play in. If it does not even cover the tops of the straws of grass in the lawn, it is not worth much.

Late Night Lunch

Paula is working this weekend. Late tonight, she is preparing lunch. This might seem odd, but it is because she wants lunch for tomorrow at work. I understand this perfectly. Paula is a great cook, and while she is able to buy lunch at work, it cannot be as tasty as her own food. She also says her own lunch is cheaper, though I believe she could sell it for more money than the cost of the food you could buy at her work. I help Paula making the lunch, she says this will make it even better.

Stable Power Plant

The Fukushima nuclear power plant is now stable, according to the Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. This is positive news. I was certain the Japanese would be able to stabilize the situation, but it has gone quicker than I anticipated. Dismantling the reactors is another matter, this may take decades. Eventually, dogs and humans will be able to return to the Fukushima area. No disaster is forever.

Clothes Do Not Heal

Daniel slipped on an icy road today. He landed on his knee, but it does not hurt. However, he ripped up a little hole in his trousers. They do not heal, like dog coat and dog skin would if I would slipp and fall. I am glad I have my coat instead of clothes.

The South Pole

Exactly one hundred years ago today, dogs and humans reached the South Pole for the first time. It was Norwegian dogs who helped the Norwegian human Roald Amundsen and his fellow countrymen to get there. Without the dogs, the expedition would surely have been a failure.

Perfect Lunch Boxes

Japanese always strive towards perfection. Why not watch this piece on Japanese lunch boxes? What is better than to make food perfect?

Saint Lucia

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Today is the day when we celebrate Saint Lucia in Sweden. It is the only saint who really gets celebrated. As far as I have understood, this is because the night of Lucia was the longest of the year during the last century or so with the Julian Calendar. Saint Lucia was a Christian excuse for celebrating midwinter. I do not mind. I do not think god would mind either, given that he created midwinter as well as everything else. Instead, I enjoy the special, yellow lussekatt cakes.

Late Night Snack

Hello, Karstuhl here!

It is late at night, but Paula is about to have a snack of taco shells and cheese. I hope I can get some. I will certainly make my wish become known.

Sad

Eventually, you get to a point where you get sad. We have lost our friend Primus, the Pharao Hound. He was always nice to me. I counted him as a friend, and I miss him. We may meet in the afterlife.

Four Paw Drive

The first snow of the season came tonight. The temperatures have been above the freezing point all day, making the muddy snow watery and very slippery.

This is where dogs have yet another advantage over humans. While dogs and humans walk dry surfaces with equal ease, dogs have far less trouble walking slippery surfaces. We have a lower point of gravity which is always located between the four paws which propells us across the ground. The claws help us get a good grip. Meanwhile, our humans try to balance their high point of gravity on their two long legs, often with shoes that get a bad grip on the ground. This is like comparing a four wheel drive car with spiked tyres to a two wheel motorcycle with summer tyres.

I cannot help but feeling sorry for the humans under these conditions. This does not stop me from walking on in my ordinary pace, however. You always want to get a proper workout on the walks.

Answering the Telephone

Hello, Karstuhl here!

There is always somebody at home at our place. However, when you call us on the telephone, you may not notice. This is because dogs always leave such tasks to their humans. If no human is at home, or just busy doing other chores, they cannot answer. We dogs could answer, but it is beneath us to communicate with nothing but sound. There are so much more things to say through body language and smell. This is why we do not answer the phone; we could, if we would want to.

Christmas Carols

Hello, Karstuhl here!

We are playing Christmas Carols at home these days. It is a terrific way to get into that perfect Christmas mode. The only trouble is that it makes you very hungry for Christmas food, and we have to wait before we get that. Some say it is worth waiting for, but I would rather have it both now and at Christmas.

Congratulations

Paula and April came home from Finland today. April brought a new winner title, she is now FINW -11. I congratulate her warmly to that title. She was Best of Opposite Sex, and has yet to come close to a Best in Show title, like I won when I was as young as a pup. This means that she needs the extra encouragement of my warm congratulations even more.

Another Dog Island

Another Dog Island may be in the making. I am talking about the Canary Islands, of course, whose name means Dog Islands. This Spanish archipelago off the northwestern coast of Africa is full of volcanoes. This year, another volcano has formed and erupts south of the island El Hierro. This might become another Canary Island, or add territory to El Hierro. Either way, the Dog Islands will get more territory.

This is nice. For obvious reasons, I like the name, and I would like to go there sometime. I do not know if you can get a Canary Island championship or if it is Spanish there too. The Islands is a province of its own in Spain, but I do not think it has any special governing status. It would be nice if there was a Dog Islands Dog Championship, or Winner title, though.

Black Wolf

I read this interesting article on wolves in the Yellowstone National Park in the USA. What intrigued me even more, though, was the adjacent picture of two wolves, running while playing with each other. One of the wolves is black. Never before have I seen a picture of a wolf of this beautiful colour. I was uncertain they even existed. Being a black and tan dog myself, this makes me really happy. There probably were black wolves tens of thousands of years ago, before dogs. We may have a really long story, we who are black. It continues now with me, from my Dad and onwards through most of my pups. I like that.

England, France, and Ukraine

Sweden will face tough opponents in the Euro 2012 football championship. The other teams of the group include England, which has been very successful in the qualification round, and France. The easiest opponent may be Ukraine, which, however, has the advantage of playing at home soil. I would like for Sweden to move on from the group, but I am not sure this will happen. In England, they believe they have an easy group. I guess they are right, from their perspective.

Christmas Party

This evening, Daniel is at a Christmas party with his work mates. Meanwhile, we who stay at home have a Christmas party of our own right here. It is a nice and quiet party, there is no need to trash our own home just to have a good time.