Endangered Breeds

Hello, Karstuhl here!

In Britain, there is concern that a lot of native dog breeds are facing extinction. This is serious! I hope more humans will get more dogs, not least of endangered breeds. A lot of them are great pets, suitable for most human families.

Cold and Colder

We had a relatively cold morning today, -9C. It was our coldest morning this winter, I believe.

There is no reason for us to complain, though. It has been much colder in Eastern Europe. At least 18 humans have died i Ukraine and 10 in Poland. I hate to think of how many homeless dogs may have had a hard time. As usual, human news do not count dogs. Hopefully, the emergency shelters that has been erected are open for dogs too.

Feeco

Auntie Linni, April, and I got to go with Paula and Daniel to Paula's parents this afternoon. As always, meeting Paula's parents is great fun. It was a highly informal happening today, with the typically Swedish "fika". The word "fika" means coffee break, often along with some sweet snack.

Originally, "fika" was a colloquial word, where the parts of the Swedish word for coffee, "kaffe", switched places with each other. It has gradually entered the normal language. This is as if a coffee break would be called feeco in English. Human languages are funny!

Another Polly

Hello, Polly here!

Both Paula and Daniel are members of the online social network Facebook. There you can see all kinds of things. Daniel always gets news from a dog shelter in Texas. It struck me more than ever, when another Polly was advertised there. She is not a Shiba Inu, not even a spitz breed. If the name says anything about a dog, she has to be a great companion, though. I hope everything goes well and that she gets a new family who will love her and care for her.

Figure Skating

We watched some figure skating on TV, even though we figured out it was the European Championships. Japanese figure skaters are usually competitive, so we can hope for them; so are Americans, whom Mum hopes for. For simple geographical reasons, neither Japanese nor Americans compete in the European Championships, though. Nevertheless, we were rather happy that the Finnish skater Kiira Korpi won silver. Finland is a neighbour to Sweden, and as long as there are no Swedes or Norwegians competing, we can always hope for the Finns.

A Day to Remember

Today is the international day of Remembrance of the Holocast and its victims. It is important to note that the Nazis where to blame for this, not the Germans as a whole. Anybody who blames the Germans make the same mistake as the Nazis did: blaming somebody based solely on what ethnical group he or she belongs to.

Is This Not Generally Known Already?

The Swedish mail delivers advertisements with the mail sometimes. These are wrapped up in a leaflet with articles that can, at times, be rather interesting. Today, the main article told us that pets are not just company to their humans, but have huge health benefits as well. Is the health benefits of pets not generally known already? I believe it is, so why would anybody write about it as if it is news? Sometimes, I cannot understand humans.

Egg and Bacon

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Paula and Daniel had bacon and egg for breakfast today. Daniel must have been very tired, because he dropped some of his food on the floor. I cleaned the floor from the fried egg that fell there. It feels good to be useful like this. This was a good morning.

Solar Flares

The Sun is throwing solar flares towards Earth, which will peak tomorrow. This may cause disruptions on communications. I wonder what would happen if there was a solar eclipse at the same time? Would it keep much of the effects of the flare away from Earth? Perhaps not for long, an eclipse usually does not last very long. It would be interesting if these events would coincide, though.

High Risk of Major Quake

There is a high risk of a major earthquake soon. Not in Sweden, which is located far from any earthquake prone regions, but in the densely populated Tokyo region in Japan. Scientists in Japan say the recent rise in minor earthquakes makes a major quake likely soon. This worries me, because for natural reasons, Japan has the biggest population of Shiba Inus in the world. I am worried for my kind. The Japanese humans are very good at building earthquake safe buildings, but they are not free of faults. We all know what happened in the Fukujima region last March. I hope dogs and humans will survive any quake.

Unnecessary Election

The citizens of our eastern neighbour country, Finland, have a general election today to decide who will be their Head of State for some years to come. This sounds highly unnecessary. Finland is a republic, this is why they do this. In a monarchy, like Sweden or Japan, the Head of State inherits the position. You usually know for decades in advance who will be the next Head of State. Dogs and wolves do the same in our packs, though our inheritance goes by the female line while human inheritance has generally gone by the male line.

I believe hereditary monarchies are more natural than republics. They are just as democratic as well, because the way in which the Head of State gets the job is not in the essence of being a democracy. On the other hand, I am just a dog. My vote is cast in the decisions of my dog pack, not in the decisions of the human society. My human readers may disregard of my opinions in this matter, if they chose to do so.

Macaronis

Hello, Karstuhl here!

There were some macaronis in our kitchen today, close enough for me to reach when I stood on my hind legs. It was great to get hold of it. Macaronis is not the most tasty food, but when you catch your food yourself, it always tastes better. As I am a very friendly girl, I shared the treasure with my Mommy, Granny, and other four legged friends.

No New Region

There have been talks about merging Örebro County, where we live, with Södermanland and Västmanland Counties. These would form a new region. However, this will not come to pass in the near future. The politicians in Södermanland County did not like it, neither did some in Västmanland County. In Örebro County, everyone thought it was a good idea.

Meanwhile, today, a new ranking of the economic growth of different counties in Sweden have been published. Many factors have been weighed. Stockholm County tops the list. Örebro County is in the middle, ranked 13th. Both Västmanland County and Södermanland County ranks lower, 14th and 15th, respectively. Well, I guess their politicians did not think it was important enough to merge with a county with better ranking. It is their loss.

Old Candy?

We found a plastic bag far back among our groceries today. The bag contained a little candy. We tasted it, and found that it still tasted all right. To make sure it would not get too old, we promptly shared and ate it. It would be a waste to let it grow any older, so it would not be tasty any more.

Odd Pillowcases

I put new bedsheets in Paula's and Daniel's bed tonight. (Humans are so fuzzy about where and on what they sleep, but I grant them that their bed is comfortable.) Paula always wants more than one pillow. There is one huge downside of this. When you buy sets of bedsheets and pillowcases, there are never more than two pillowcases in each set. If Daniel and Paula is to have one pillowcase each that both match with the bedsheets, Paula also has to have a couple of odd pillowcases. I do not think Paula is the only human who wants more than one pillow in her bed. There should be sets of pillowcases to add to the main sets. Now we have to have odd pillowcases for many of the pillows, and it is not easy to make it as nicely looking as if all of them would look the same. I know what I would start to sell, if I was a pillowcase manufacturer.

Slow Computers

Our computer is fairly slow. The computer manufacturers claim that the computers are constantly developed to be faster, but as a computer user, I do not see that. All the computers I have used have been slow at times, normally without obvious cause. I guess the software companies use up all the increase in speed in the computers by developing software with a lot of unnecessary functions that uses computer power. Perhaps everything is not unnecessary, but a lot of it is.

On the other hand, what do I know? I have just been using computers almost every day my entire life.

Come Back

The dog Tuva in our neighbour country Norway was scared by fireworks on New Years Night and ran off into the forest. After a lot of searches, Tuva has come back home today and is of good health. The sixteen days in the forest has not injuried her.

The humans firing fireworks must be much more careful what they do. It is known to everybody that some dogs - as well as other animals - cannot stand the sound of crackers and fireworks. On the other hand, a dog is resourceful and can survive easily in the wilderness for sixteen days. How many humans would do the same?

What Is the Point?

Hello, Wärstuhl here!

We had a snowfall again today. Just a few millimetres of snow came down to cover the ground. This is enough to make it brighter, to cover the ice on the ground making it more slippery, but it is not enough to play around in. When this is the case, I wonder, what's the point? Could we not just have been without these snowflakes?

Nice Gift

Paula's parents have been in India and Nepal on a vacation. They brought presents home, and we got them today. The very best present was the one they gave us dogs. It was a little bag with a zipper and pictures of dogs on the outside. As such, it was nothing special, although it looked nice. The best thing was that the proceeds from selling these bags went to dogs in need. There are, apparently, many dogs in need in that part of the world. I like anything that goes to support dogs in need.

A big thanks from us to Paula's parents!

Reshuffled Cabinet

As a country which has had almost one new Prime Minister each of the last years, as Japan, a reshuffled cabinet is probably no big news. I do hope it is no sign of new political turmoil. In my mind, Japan needs some political rest. We will have to see what will happen.

Grade A Hips

Hello, Wärstuhl here!

I had an X-ray examination last week. The results came today. As I would have guessed, I have excellent hips. They are graded A, which means there is nothing wrong with them whatsoever.

Even though both Mommy and I believed I would have good hips, it is great to have the result printed in black and white. Now, there is nothing stopping me from bringing the next generation of our hereditary line to life.

Life is great.

False Conclusions About Mix Bred Dogs

A news paper in Gothenburg, Sweden, published an article today about the names humans give to their dogs. (Far from all dogs decide upon their names themselves, as we Shiba Inus do.) In the article, there are also some numbers on the popularity of different dog breeds. The writer also falsely claims that the most popular dogs are mix-breeds.

It is stated in the article that one quarter of all dogs in Sweden are mix-breeds. The article go on to tell how many dogs there are of the most popular breeds in Sweden.

From this, I conclude that three quarters of all dogs in Sweden are pure bred. This is a huge majority.

You cannot lump all of the mix-bred dogs together and compare this lump to each of the different breeds there are. The mix-breeds do not share more than the species canis lupus familiaris, just like the three quarters of us who are pure bred. A mix-bred dog can be anything from the carefully bred dog whose aim it is to give fresh genes into the gene pool of a small breed, to the stray runt of whom nobody can say what breeds there are in him or her. A mix-bred dog can come in any size, shape, and colour, and can be anything from very healthy and intelligent to very sick and stupid.

You just cannot say that mix-breeds are the most popular dogs in Sweden. They are just one quarter of all of us.

Lasagne

There is a comic strip I do not really like. The main character is the cat Garfield, and he is mean, narcisistic, and generally unlikeable even for being a cat. There is one personality treat I like about Garfield, though, his love for lasagne. I love lasagne too. Paula is cooking her great lasagne tonight, and I hope to get to taste some.

Puzzling Picture

In our local news paper, there is a crossword puzzle today with a picture of cats and dogs arguing in a Christmas tree. It puzzled me. I would never argue or fight in our Christmas tree. We have had it all through Christmas, to the joy of both dogs and humans. None of us have made anything to ruin it, except that April started to play with one of the balls that had fallen of its branch in the tree. Thus, the puzzle picture puzzled me a little. I guess the human who had drawn the picture either had completely different experiences than I have, or just had a very vivid imagination.

Eating Fir Trees?

Christmas is over in a week. We have fallen fir trees in our garden. However, I do not believe in eating fir trees, as you can do at an expensive Copenhagen restaurant. Perhaps if one of our fallen trees would have struck a mouse, killing it, that would have been a fine meal.

Epiphany

Hello, Wärstuhl here! (A.k.a. Polly)

It is the thirteenth day of Christmas today. In English, this day is also known as Epiphany. It is celebrated to commemorate that the wise men came from a country in the East to look up the newborn baby Jesus.

The wise men, often described as three men called Balthasar, Caspar, and Melchior, presented baby Jesus with three gifts. This is supposed to be the origin of the tradition of giving each other Christmas gifts.

Despite this origin, gifts are given on Christmas Eve in Sweden and on Christmas Day in English speaking countries. In some countries in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, though, Christmas gifts are given on this day. I think this is a fine tradition. I do not think we should scrap our own tradition, but I could stand getting Christmas gifts on Epiphany as well!

Christmas Gift

We have received a late Christmas gift today. It is at our local post office, for us to pick up tomorrow. It was actually shipped many days before Christmas from Oakville in Washington, USA. We know this, because Mum's breeder Laura has told us she did this. We do not know why it has taken all this time to reach us. Sure, there are a lot of things being mailed before Christmas, but for this to arrive at Epiphany rather than Christmas Day is rather strange. It is probably impossible to learn why the shipment has taken such a long time. You cannot make a parcel tell its story. Oh, well, it is better late than never.

Getting There

Paula got to the dog show all right this afternoon. Now the storm has passed and everything is all right. There is no longer any reason that I can see for me not wanting to be at the show. Too bad I am not.

For those of you who miss me in the show ring: do not worry, I'll be back!

Storm

A storm is approaching Sweden from southwest. Britain is already affected. Paula will go to Gothenburg with two of the other dogs for a dog show. We hope they will not be stopped or anything because of the foul weather. I do think it is not so risky, but I am still glad not to take this risk. For once, I think there might just be one advantage of not going to a dog show.

The Winter Came and Went

We had a rather good snowfall yesterday. There was about 5 centimetres of snow on the ground, and Daniel shoveled snow for the first time this winter. However, by afternoon the temperatures rised above the freezing point, it started to rain, and there is very little snow left after the thaw today. Will there ever be a decent winter this year? I hope so, if only for a little while. Despite my mature age, I do love to play in deep snow. So does my daughter Polly. We would like to have more snow than this.

Satellite for a Satellite

Earth's satellite, the Moon, now has a satellite of its own. The US space agency NASA has put the Grail-A space craft in an orbit around the Moon. The main object for the satellite and its forthcoming twin Grail-B is to map measurements that will give scientists new knowledge on the internal structure of the Moon. This may not sound very interesting, but I believe it can give us an idea on the natural resources that can be found in the Moon. With natural resources ready to be harvested, there would be an idea in putting permanent settlements on the Moon. This would be an exciting idea.