Young Winner of Bond Bonus

A little child in New Zealand has won NZ$ 1 million on a bond bonus scheme. The child is too young to realise what this means yet, but will surely be happy about it when it gets older. The child's parents were very happy, of course.

I would also want a pup, or grand pup, to win a lot of money. It would make me happy.

Trouble with the Washing Machine

Hello, Karstuhl here!

The washing machine did not work properly this evening. It showed a n error code on the display that meant it did not have proper access to water. Daniel read the manual, turned the water off alltogether, unscrewed ghe hose, and removed the filter. Then he cleaned the filter for the incoming water. He then put the filter back into the machine, and the hose back on it, and turned the machine on again. A little later, the same error code was displayed again. This time, the reason was that Daniel had forgotten to turn the water on again. He is good at many things, Daniel, but he could be better at repairing things at home. He did realise he had left the water off, but why forget to turn it on again in the first place? Well, nobody is perfect.

Happy Meal

We celebrated my eleventh birthday today. I got a Happy Meal from McDonald's, which was just as tasty as ever.

My birthday was actually two weeks ago, but since Paula was at the hospital that week, I decided to postpone my celebration. Today was a good day to celebrate. It was the same day of the week and everyone was at home. Life is good.

Bigly

"Bigly" is actually a word in English. Some people watching the US presidential debate yesterday night thought they heard Donald Trump using this word. Apparently, he did not, he said "big league". It is still interesting to learn that "bigly" is a word. You can never know too much about an interesting language like English.

Clean Sheets

Hello, Karstuhl here!

We have got clean sherts in our bed tonight. This always feel a little luxurious. It is really nothing special, but it still feels nice. It is like starting on a clean sheet, litteraly.

Training Aid

A scientific study has found that there is no evidence that fitness trackers, like devices counting the steps you take, improves your fitness. Among five hundred overweight humans, half of whom got training aids like this, the other half lost more weight.

I have a better idea, for any human who wants a training aid: get yourself a dog. If you have a dog, you have to walk the dog on a regular basis. If you need a lot of training, just get a dog who needs a lot of excercise. With a dog, you cannot just skip a day or two of training. No matter what weather there is, your dog will take you for a walk. This must be better than devices counting your steps.

Cleaning

We spent a great deal of the day cleaning the house. It always gets dirty, especially on the floors. Daniel did the most, but we helped him. Meanwhile, Paula was at work, earning her salary. I think it was a rather productive day. It might be hard work when you do it, but you are satisfied when it is done. A clean house is nice to live in.

Iceland or Iceland?

When I hear of Iceland, I think of the island country in the North Atlantic. Brits may think of a food retain chain instead. The country Iceland is now considering a law suit against the food chain Iceland, to prevent the food chain from trying to stop companies from the country Iceland from using the name Iceland.

I believe the country should win such a law suit. If I were to become Icelandic Show Champion, I would like this to be a title from the national kennel club of Iceland, the country, not some kind of title from a food chain.

The country has held the name since it became independent from Denmark in 1918, its island has held the name for centuries before that. The food chain started its business in the 1970's. For me, it is self evident the country, its citizens and corporations, has better right to the name than the food chain.

Idol?

The Swedish version of the singer talent show Idol is on every day this week. Before the episode today, the show was described as a show featuring idols. I thought the show was about plenty of young humans wanting to become idols, not that they are all idolsearly in the competition. It sounded strange to me. It is as if every dog at a dog show would be called champion.

A Country with Only 28 Web Pages

North Korea is generally viewed as one of the harshest dictatorships of the world. It is very closed to the rest of the world. Proof has now been found that there are only twentyeight web pages under the North Korean top domain .kp. This only goes to prove what an isolated and backward country North Korea is.

This is not a country I would want to live in. I hope there are not many dogs who have to live there. There are probably no Shibas in the country, which is a soothing thought.

I hope the North Koreans will soon see an end to the dictatorship.

Celebration

We celebrated my birthday today, now that Paula is at hone again. We had really good food and a nice evening together. I liked it a lot. Life feels better, when the whole family is gathered at home.

Veto Against Brexit Deal?

The United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union, and will need a deal to exit the EU, a so called Brexit Deal. This may take time.

Other EU countries cannot stop the UK from leaving. They can, however, say no to the Brexit Deal, if they think the deal is not good enough. Some countries in Central Europe consider voting against the deal, if it does not protect the right of the citizens of these countries to keep working and living in the UK. Any such veto will postpone the exit, because a new deal has to be negitiated. How long this process may continue is unclear.

I wonder what will happen, if the UK has not really left the EU many years from now. How much consideration must be taken to the result of this year's referendum many years from now? Only tine will tell.

Paula Is Home Again!

Paula came home from the hospital this afternoon. We rejoice!

Paula is not quite well yet, but they have found out what os wrong, and she has had medicines prescribed for her. Among us dogs, we have a friendly competition about who will comfort her the most. We have missed Paula so much. The family is complete again.

Hoping For the USA v. Team Europe

The IIHF World Cup in iche hockey starts today. Team USA plays team Europe in the first game.

I am European, but I do not root for Team Europe, but for Team USA. Team Europe is a special team,  having players from all of the European ice hockey countries that do not have their own national team in the World Cup. Sweden, being an ice hockey great power, has her own team. So do Czechia, Finland, and Russia.

I can root for the USA, since I am half American thanks to Mum. Team Europe does have a few players from Dad's home country Norway, but also players from Denmark, Slovakia and other countries. I would not be sad od Team Europe would win, considering its Norwegian players, but I prefer Team USA in this context.

It will be an interesting tournament.

Friday Night

We are having a cool Friday night.

Not Celebrating My Birthday

This is my birthday. I turn eleven years old today. This is cause for a celebration, but I will not celebrate. I have informed Daniel and the other dogs, that I postpone the party until Paula comes home from the hospital. It would not feel right to throw a party without Paula.

Daniel gave us some mackerel with our food, because of my birthday. I did not turn this down. The grand celebration will come later, however.

Missing Paula

We all miss Paula. She is in good hands at the hospital, but we would rather have her healthy at home.

Daniel has visited Paula. He says she is in a good mood, considering the circumstances.

For some odd reason, none of us dogs could come along to the hospital. They want it clean and tidy, and may believe all dogs shed coats constantly. They may also believe this is necessary for the sake of humans who are allergic go dogs. Oh well, Daniel sent our love, and came back with Paula's love. In due time, we will see her again. It will not feel like a long time has passed, when we do.

Tidal Forces and Earthquakes

The Moon affects Earth in some ways. During nights with fair weather, the Moon can make the night bright. When the tide is high or low, it is because of the Moon.

A new Japanese scientific study shows that there is also a correlation between high tidal force stress and high magnitude earthquakes. People have suspected this, but the new study is the first that really shows the correlation.

This study might help predict large earthquakes. This is good. It is especially helpful in countries often hit by earthquakes, such as Japan. I like useful science like this.

What About Paula?

Paula did not come home tonight. She was not supposed to, since the plan was that she would work night. She is at the hospital now, but not working, but as a patient. The leg that took the impact from the car that hit her last November hurt extremely much. They do not yet know the cause, but we believe they will solve it. The medical science is good.

A Day of Remembrance

Fifteen years ago, today, terrorists attacked the USA. They hi-jacked aircraft and let them fly into the World Trade Center in New York City, as well as Pentagon in Washington.

Five years ago, Mum made her first and only entry into my blog. She wrote about her own experiences of the 11th of September 2001. She experienced it first paw in the USA, were she were born and lived at the time. Mum is no longer with us, but her blog entry remain.

For me, this is a day of remembrance. I do not remember the terrorist attacks myself, but I have heard much about them. It is also a day for me to remeber my Mum, who did remeber this attack on her home country. Rest in peace, victims of the terrorists! Rest in peace, Mum!

Music

Paula played a lot of music fhis evening. I guess she loves all of the songs she played. I do not. I believe any of the songs are good, but some are bad and none are great. Am I biased. I think not, what would be my bias? This is just the way I think about some songs.

Race Day

There is a race car event in our home town today and tomorrow. It is called Örebro Race Day. I do not understand why it is called "day", when it is two days.

Daniel will visit the Örebro Race Day tomorrow. I stay at home myself. I think it is not much to see, when it is not the real thing. You can see formula 1 cars, but it is no formula 1 Grand Prix race. If we would get a Grand Prix to Örebro, it would be another matter. Then I would like to go there and watch it on site.

OK, it would not be boring to see the Örebro Race Day, but not great either. This is my mind.

Early Morning

Daniel had to leave early this morning, to catch an early train. This meant he took the morning walks earlier than he usually does. We walked in the darkness of a morning before sunrise. It was rather warm weather, nevertheless, the darkness made us feel like it was later in the year. It will soon be dark on the morning walks every workday morning. We do not care, we are used to it. Dark mornings show that you come closer to Christmas, which is nice. It is still a long time until Christmas now, however.

Bottle Refunds

Hello, Karstuhl here!

If you buy a pop in a PET bottle, a part of the price is refunded when you return the bottle. In the meantime, empty PET bottles are excellent chewing toys for dogs. They are just hard enough to make for fun chewing. A chewed bottle has always been refundable. This is logical, because the bottle is pressed together and destroyed in the refund machine, anyway.

This is until lately, however.

Over the last couple of days, Paula has tried to get refund for chewed bottles in many machines, bit all the machines have refused to accept these bottles. We do not know whether this is a new policy, or if it is just machines programmed wrongly. It seems odd that the machines would not accept bottles, because they have a couple of small chewing marks, especially when the machines destry the bottles entirely anyway.

I hope it will be possible to get refunds on these bottles in the future, otherwise we may not get to chew on them.

Red and Sesame

There are black and tan Shibas, then there are red and sesame Shibas. Mum was sesame, a great colour. Dad was black and tan, just like me and Polly, the greatest colour. Auntie Linni was red, also a great colour.

If you want a red Shiba, like the puppy buyers the day before yesterday, you still get a great dog. I want to stress this, so you will not draw the wrong conclusions of my comments the day before yesterday.

Indeed, any dog is a great dog. It is just if you do not have any dog, your life is lacking something great.

Still, I believe black and tan Shibas are the very best there is. I am biased, of course, but so are everyone else. With that said, black and tans are the best.

Britons Considering Becoming Irish After Brexit

When a manority of voters in the United Kingdom cast their vote to exit the EU earlier this year, some Britons have considered options to stay EU citizens. A lot of them have considered whether they can become citizens of the Republic of Ireland, a Member State of the EU. A lot of Britons do have Irish roots, but it is uncertain how many there are.

I find it interesting that some people considers the EU such a great thing, that they are prepared to apply for another citizenship to make sure they are citizens of a EU Member State. Many people may get dual citizenship, thus staying citizens of the UK as well, but it Must still feel like a great step to take  I wonder if they consider registering their dogs with the Irish Kennel Club as well.

Busy Sunday

It is Sunday. Nevertheless, the alarm clock went of as early as if it was any workning day. This is fine by me, as long as the Sunday is used to go to a dog show. It was not, not today.

Paula and Daniel spent the morning cleaning. I guess this had to be done.

In the early afternoon, puppy buyers came by. I am not sure what they want. I am too old to have pups, Polly neither has, nor is expecting pups. There will be some time before Polly's daughter Soya will get her first litter. – There are the red Shiba pups of Karen, of course. They are almost two weeks old. If the puppy buyers want a red Shiba, I guess buying one of these pups is all right. I cannot see why you would not want to wait for a black and tan pup, however.

Later i. The afternoon, Daniel mowed the lawn. This also had to be done. It might be the last time this season, but you cannot just let the long grass pass.

Horses

I went with Paula, Daniel, and Morran to the Segersjö Days today. It is an annual weekend of horse competitions to the southeast of our hometown. There were nice food to buy and eat. We did not look much at the horses, but we had fun anyway.

Later in the day, we went to Paula's parents and had crayfish for dinner. It is always fun to meet them. We had a great time there as well. It was a great day, full of new experiences. I liked it a lot.

Pillows

Paula and Daniel fight over pillows sometimes. This is when they go to bed and the pillows are not in order. They need pillows to rest their heads upon when they sleep. I am glad I am a dog, I do not need any pillow to get a comfortable position to sleep in.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

The next Summer Olympic Games will be the most exiting in my lifetime. They will be hosted by Tokyo in Japan, the country of the Shiba.

There have been rumours and accusations of bribery, when Tokyo was elected to host the Olympic Games. Rumours like this seem to surface whenever there is a big event anywhere.

A Japanese investigation has looked into the evidence of one payment that has been put into question. The investigation has concluded there was no bribery. Everything has been in accordance with Japanese law.

I am not surprised everything is in order. Japan is a country with an old, dignified culture. Bribes are beneath the Japanese. We do not need to give or to receive bribes.

Now we can just look forward to the next Summer Olympic Games.