Silver

We hoped Australia would win the gold in the Rugby World Cup, it being the home country of late Auntie Linni's father. This was not to be, however, as New Zealand were playing considerably better. You have to give the New Zealanders this, they deserved the victory.

Late at night, the James Bond movie Skyfall was on. We did not watch it to the end, because we were tired. Daniel switched the TV off. Javi was annoyed, he wanted to watch the whole movie. He claims it is "his" movie, because his name comes from it: Aangenaam Skyfall. I tend to disagree. My name is MultiCh Aangenaam Lunar Eclips, this does not mean Lunar eclipses are mine. Well, young dogs have so many weird ideas. It is a good thing I can shape things up.

Bronze

Hello, Orange here!

The bronze game of the Rugby World Cup was played today. We rooted for South Africa against Argentina. For some of us, it was just because it is more exciting if you root for either of the teams. Others thought of our kennel prefix Aangenaam, which is a word Paula found in the South African language Afrikaans. I was probably most eager for South Africa to win. This is because there is a great river and a part of the land in South Africa which is called Oranje. Of course I must give the South African team my support under these circumstances.

It was a good game, but one which South Africa won comfortably. I like this. Tomorrow afretnoon we will see the final, Australia versus New Zealand. This is something to look forward to.

Good Bye to Old Things

This morning, Daniel went off with garbage, among this was damaged bricka from the old chimney, the one that was replaced last week. Apparently, you can only dump garbage like this between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. where we live, so he did it before work instead of after work. I say it is good riddance.

Trophies

Hello, Karstuhl here!

A friend of Paula came by tonight with a cardboard box of trophies. This weekend, Paula is going to Denmark with some of us dogs for a dog show. The trophies will get a ride there in our car. I do not really know the purpose of the trophies. They were not for me, however, no matter how much I would earn to get some trophies. I am not going to go to Denmark. Not that this would do me less worthy of a trophy, but I will not compete in anything. On the other hand, I know the excellence of myself without competing or getting trophies. Oh well, I hope some worthy dogs will get the trophies anyway. Perhaps one of the dogs here that will go to Denmark can win one and bring it back here? I would like that. I would then have a little piece of the honour, because I always work to inspire those who do compete. This would be nice.

Fire

Humans can control fire. This is one of the first things wolves learned, when rebranding themselves as dogs and teaming up with humans. Fire gives warmth, light, and cooked meals, to the advantage of both dogs and humans.

In our house, Paula and Daniel has had a new fireplace installed. It was approved by the authorities today and we lit the first fire in it tonight. It is easier to work with than the old, slightly torned fireplace. It also gives better heat and more light. I like it. I wish for all dogs to have a cozy fireplace in their home.

Full Moon

Now there is a full Moon again. The Moon has went around Earth once since the Lunar eclipse. There is no eclipse this time, however. Not much to write about, then. We can see the full Moon every month, as long as there is not overcast weather. The eclipse is a much more rare occurence. If there is a Lunar eclipse, it is news.

Then again, if you want to see a Lunar Eclips, go see me on the next dog show I participate in, or invite me for some good meat, and I will come. A true Lunar Eclips is dark, because of a black and tan coat. I have that from my father. Some people would say I am a more spectacular sight than any Lunar eclipse, but I do not want to be a judge of this. If you would meet me, you can make up your mind yourself. Maybe we will meet in the future.

Worried

We were worried about Calvin this afternoon. He was not feeling well, his stomach was hard to the touch. Daniel took him to the veterinarian, where he was examined. Fortunately, there was nothing seriously wrong with Calvin. All of the samples of his blood showed normal values. He could come home right away with some painkillers, that was all. We have to watch Calvin carefully for a few days, but if he just returns to his normal personality, we do not need to worry anymore. This is good, we want to have Calvin in the happy way he usually is.

Orange Wine

Hello, Orange here!

Wine comes in different colours. Most are red or white. Then there are the rosé wines, which are pink. A few wines are called grey - or gris in French, where they are made - though they are basically white wines.

What I did not know, however, is that there are also orange wines. These are made by a very old process from Georgia in Caucasia, and the process have recently started to spread around the world. The orange wines are made from the green grapes that you would normally use to make white wine, but the grapes are not peeled and the wine is made in much the same way as red wine.

I do not normally drink wine. If I could taste some orange wine, however, I think I would. It feels like it would suit me to have a taste of a form of wine of the colour that is also my name. If the smell would not invite me to taste, however, it would at least be interesting to see the wine and its orange colour. Anything orange looks nice, you know.

Catching Cheese

Humans often like to watch dogs doing tricks. There is one trick I am quite good at. When we were at Paula's parets' place tonight, I was the star of a little show, performing this trick. It is catching cheese. paula throws pieces of cheese, that I catch in flight. Then I eat the cheese. It is a really rewarding trick. I like it very much. It is noce to perform and cheese is tasty. The audience love to watch, roo, so it is a win-win situation of the best kind. I just wish I could perform like this more often, because cheese is so tasty. Maybe there will be another performance in the near future. I hope it will.

Rain

Autumn is normally a rainy season. This autumn, however, we have had many weeks without any rain. Today was the first time in a long while when rain fell. I normally do not like rain, but we need rain to fill up the underground water reservoirs and get more water in our well. A well is a blessing, but you have to have water in it. The rain provides the water, which wilm then slowly run down through the soil, getting cleaner as it goes. I hope there will be more rain in the coming days.

Raising the Taxes

In Swedish, "tax" means dachshund. In English, it is a much more devious thing, the payment humans have to do to the Government for the Government to go around. In Swedish, this is called "skatt".

We will have higher municipality tax in Örebro next year. This was decided today at the city council. Daniel is a member of the city council, representing the Conservatives, who were opposed to raising the tax.

You have to remember a dachshund is supposed to be a dog with a very low wither height. In the same way, the tax is supposed to be low, isn't it?

I do not like the raised tax, it might mean less food and treats to the dogs in Örebro, because such things are always paid with the salaries after the payment of taxes. This is no good. You should have low taxes, so humans have more money to spend on dogs and things for their dogs. Lower the taxes, please!

Fire Place

We have had people here mending our chimney and switching our old fire place for a new one. It is good having this done before the winter. It is also good having it done before the new year, because then the tax rules will change, making it more expensive to have work done on your house. No matter what, it will be nice having a new fire place.

Strange Topic

Sometimes, Paula and Daniel talk about strange things. Occassionally about things I do not want to think about. Tonight, they talked about what would happen to their possessions, if either of them would pass away. It is not likely to happen in a long time, they are healthy and far from old. It is still of interest to them, as they do not have any children yet. If I would pass away, my daughter Polly can inherit my possessions. This is one reason to get pups, if you pass away, you know somebody you love will be able to inherit your belongings. Nevertheless, I prefer not to think too much about it. We will all pass away, but why worry about it way ahead of the day when it happens?

Home Again

Daniel came home again tonight. As I wrote yesterday, he was away this weekend on an important conference. However important it was, it is good that he is back home. Life is always best when the whole family is gathered at home.

There was a lot of things Daniel could tell us about his weekend. Our weekend at home has been nice as well, though not as exciting. This can be good, too. You cannot be productive, unless you take time to relax once in a while.

Conference

Daniel is away on an important conference this weekend. Normally, when he goes away himself and stay away over night, it is for his job. The conference he went to now is much more important. It is a conference for dog show judges on spitz breeds and the judging of these. Daniel is no judge, but a board member of the club organizing the conference.

Can any conference be more important than this? I do not think so. Thus, I am not upset that Daniel went to this conference. On the contrary, I would have been upset, if he would not have gone there. Judging of spitz breeds on dog shows is really something that needs top priority.

Going to the Moon

The European Space Agency, a multinational body where Sweden is a member, will work together with the Russian space agency to put a space probe on the Moon within five years from now. The hope is to go there with humans again, eventually building a permanent settlement.

Establishing permanent settlements on other celestial bodies is a good thing. This must be the future for human civilisation. We cannot stay on Earth alone forever.

I wonder when the first dog will go to the Moon. Wherever humans bring civilisation, dogs will eventually go, of this I am certain. Dogs are an essential part of civilisation. It is just a question of time.

Ice Hockey

Paula and Daniel was away to see an oce hockey game live tonight. They had fun, even though Örebro lost in sudden death against the guests from Växjö. They say it is more intense watching the game live than on TV.

Personally, I just watch sport on TV. Dogs are usually not allowed in sport stadiums when humans play their games. I do not mind. I go there anyway, when it is time for the competitions that really matters: dog shows.

Casting

Casting of film roles can be the subject of debate. I read this long article about some humans being disappointed that white humans are cast in roles as non-white humans. It was somewhat interesting. It did not say anything about dogs, though. It is common knowledge, at least among dogs, that Lassie was mostly played by male dogs, despite being a bitch. Why was this not interesting enough in the scope of the article? I guess it is the normal focus on humans. Isn't this pure focus on humans interesting, when the article is about diversity? Where is the species diversity? It is not that I am complaining, but it would be interesting to know if this pure focus on humans was intentional or not. I guess It was unintentional, but I do not think I will ever know.

Ice Cream

One of the things really making life worth living is good, tasty food. This is why I often write about food in my blog. Whenever there is a certain tasty thing I have eaten, I get inspired to write about it.

Today's treat was ice cream. Paula and Daniel had some ice cream as dessert, and I got to taste some. It is terrific. I love the creamy and cold feeling and the sweet taste. In my mind, ice cream may very well be eaten the year round. Some believe it is better in the summer, but I like it just as well in the winter, at least as long as I do not feel cold, and as a Shiba, I do not feel cold unless the temperature is about twenty degrees Celsius below the freezing point. When you are indoors in the winter, it is just as warm as in the summer, so how can ice cream be wrong? I would eat it anytime.

Frost

This morning was the first of the season when we had frost on the ground. It was just below the freezing point outdoors, so it was not that cold. Later in the day, the temperature rose. We still have autumn, it is far from winter. There are yellow leaves on the trees. Winter may wait for a while, I think.

Verdamte Online Connection

This Sunday night, I am mad about our Internet connection. It would not work before midnight, so I could not write a Daily Hailey blog post for this Sunday. I do not know why this happened. It just feels like it happens randomly. It is bad.

Japan Is Out

Scotland beat Samoa in Pool B of the Rugby World Cup, thereby clinching the second spot in the group before Japan. This means that Japan's last game, against the USA tomorrow, will not make any difference. South Africa and Scotland will have the two spots in the quarter finals from Pool B. We are not that disappointed anyway, Japan has made its best Rugby World Cup ever, and we are confident it can be even better next time.

It might be that next time, in four years, is too far into the future for me, but I will root for Japan for eternity anyway.

Loneliness

Some days, you feel lonely. You feel like there is a part of yourself missing, because you have lost what has been there all your life, supporting and comforting. I am not hurt, but I am sad. Even as I am among friends and family, I feel lonely. The sadness will pass, but there will always be a part of me who will feel the loneliness.

It is a good thing we have each other, when we feel this lonely. You are never really alone with your fellow dogs and your humans. I love you all.

By the way, Sweden won its Euro 2016 football qualifying game against Liechtenstein today. There was not such a Swedish dominance as you would think, against a country with roughly 37,000 inhabitants. Still, a victory is a victory.

Euro 2016 Qualifyer

In the 2016 European Championship in football, there will be twice as many teams participating as before. It would, thus, be easier to qualify for the tournament, you would think. This does not seem to be the case for Sweden and our Scandinavian neighbours, however. While Northern Ireland qualified for the tournament tonight, by beating Greece 3-1, Denmark lost to Portugal and has to rely on the performance of other teams. Sweden has a chance to qualify, but it is slim. I would like to see both the Swedish and the Danish teams in the tournament, and Norway as well. Finland never qualifies for football tournaments anyway. I hope it will be alright.

Pizza

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Generally, I am not that fond of bread. When there is meat and cheese on it, however, it turns into pizza. This is great. There were some left over pizza slices from yesterday that we got as supplement to our dog food today. It was great. I wish we could have extra food like this every day. It would not have to be pizza, though pizza is good, because there are many other things that are also good. I say: more pizza to the dogs!

Late Evenings

Hello, Karstuhl here!

We often have the TV set on until late at night. This was the case tonight as well.

I do not care, I can sleep anyway. So can the other dogs and Paula. Daniel cannot sleep with the sound from the TV programmes on, however.

 As far as this concerns me, I believe Daniel just have to cope with it. The rest of us are a majority who do not care that the TV set is on. If Daniel wants to have a vote, Paula would often vote against switching off. So would I, because I do not care that the TV is on and Then I agree with Paula. It is not our problem Daniel has a problem sleeping.

Early Humans Had Dogs

There are some scientific speculations on why modern humans are the only human species alive. There were others, like the Neanderthals. However, when modern humans arrived in Europe about 40,000 years ago, they soon took over. The Neanderthals had lived in Europe for about 200,000 years, but could not compete with the early forefaghers of modern day humans.

I have a theory myself on what made the present human species the one that survived all others. Humans had dogs. It was about 40,000 years ago that wolves teamed up with humans, eventually becoming dogs. Humans and dogs hunted much more efficiently together than they had done by themselves. dogs are also great at guarding the joint human-dog homes. These factors could have helped modern day humans becoming the only human species alive. Dogs could have helped doing this.

It is just a theory, but it is not improbable, is it?

Happy, Happy Birthday!

Auntie Linni celebrates her birthday today. She turns fourteen years old, an awesome age for any dog.  It is not uncommon that Shibas become fourteen, Mum became older than this.

However, Auntie Linni has lived under a constant threat of getting too much pain from her hip dysplasia since she was young. After X-ray examination of Auntie Linni's hips, a veterinarian warned her that they were so bad she would probably not live a long life. Still, Auntie Linni has never complained and still walks all the walks we walk. You can also see her run happily in the yard once in a while.

Auntie Linni is a true hero. Not only has she constantly beaten her hip dysplasia, she has also been a terrific extra mother for all the pups I have had, and all the other pups raised in our home. Unable to get pups of her own, she has still brought up more pups by these efforts than many biological mothers will ever do. She has always been my best friend.

Happy birthday, dear Auntie Linni!

Fourth

Hello, Milou here!

I made my debut in the show ring today. It was a match show just outside of Örebro, where we live. My dear friend Suri was there cheering for me, as were my humans and the humans with whom my parents live.

My mother Polly and her parents for generations, have all been successful in show rings around the world. I believe they would have been proud of me today. I made it through to the Best in Show Puppy final, where I was fourth among many puppies from all kind of breeds. It was just a match show, but it was my first, and I feel proud of my result. I also won some toys and a bag of food.

Suri and I celebrate tonight.

Motherhood Makes You Better

New science shows that you get more more intelligent, and more able to take care of many different things, when you become a mother. This is something I can relate to. I believe I became a better dog, once I became amother. Science shows this is true for allmammals, humans, dogs, and others. I believe this is true.

Sick

I have been feeling sick today. It has been on and off, but not a good day. I blame the spaghetti I ate yesterday, in combination with what may r emain from my earlier period of having a bad stomach.

At least I had some bacon to eat yesterday. The bacon must have improved the situation in my stomach. Bacon is good on so many levels, it just have to be good for your digestion as well. It is a shame, then, that I just got some ordinary dog food to eat today. Bacon must have been a better choice to get my stomach in a better mood.