Rain in the Winter

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Why is it, that rain is falling in January? It is supposed to be winter this time of the year. If anything is supposed to fall from the sky, it is snow. We do not even have snow on the ground. It is cold, all right, mostly temperatures below zero degrees Celsius. Still, with no snow and even a rainfall, what kind of winter is this? I wish we would have more snow. Snow is nice to jump around and run in. Rain is just a little annoying, when it is falling upon you.

Shibas can do a lot of things, but, unfortunately, we cannot control the weather. I wish we could. Now all we can do is whine about it. There will surely be a more interesting blog post tomorrow.

Serow, a Japanese Animal

Japan is a special country. It is not only great for being the home of the best dog breed of all, it is also special in many other ways. For one thing, it is the only place where you can find a mammal called serow. This is a herbivore which could be described as a "goat-antelope". Many animals can, in fact, only be found in limited areas of the world, but most are spread over larger areas. The serow is, thus, not uique. It is still special enough to make Japan a little more special – if ever this was necessary. I would like to see a serow sometime.

Day of Rest

It is Sunday, and this morning, we really had a day of rest. We went outdoors for a little while early in the morning, then we all went back to bed and back to sleep. It is uncommon for our humans to do this, but they did today. It felt better, when they had a morning of rest alongside us, than it does when they go off to work or something. Life is good when everyone is around, and when everyone is relaxing. I wish more mornings could be like this.

Fifty Years Since Apollo 1

Fifty years ago, the Lunar space craft later named Apollo 1 burst into flames. I t stood on the ground with three astronauts on board, Virgil Grissom, Roger Chaffee, and Ed White. The astronauts died. The reason behind the fire has never been fully understood, but later Apollo space craft were made much safer. The three astronauts did not die in vain. They are part of the history behind the first time humans walked on the Moon. Let us remember them.

End of the Week

I wrote "end of the week", but the automatic spelling program changed it into "endorphine". In a way, I think this is quite correct. I will just leave it at that.

Race to the Moon

Privately owned enterprises to put devices on the surface of the Moon have been competing over a prize, the Google Lunar X-Prize. There are five competitors left in the race. The aim is to leave Earth no later than the 31 December.

I am looking forward to seeing the result of this race. It may be the first step towards true colonisation of the Moon. Humans need to go back there sometime. Dogs also need to go there. It is the stepping stone into further travels out into space. Unless we destroy ourselves or our civilisation, we will expand to other celestial bodies. We do not know why, but I hope it will happen sooner rather than later.

Let's go to the Moon!

The Intelligence of Cats

A Japanese scientific team has tested the intelligence of cats. They say cats may be as intelligent as dogs. I doubt it, but you can read the article about it and make up your own mind.

I have to admit, I have not met many cats. I do not have any close cat friends. It might be that I have the wrong impression of them. Nevertheless, I like to think dogs are more i telligent than cats. As long as I have no conclusive evidence to the contrary, I will keep this belief.

Ice

It is winter, and even though there is not much snow on the ground, it can be quite cold. There can be ice here and there. On the morning walk today, Daniel slipped on ice and fell to the ground. We just looked at him. He has done this before, so it is not that surprising. In just a few seconds, he was back up on his legs and we continued our walk. I guess he was just annoyed, he did not seem to be hurt at all. He managed to stay on his feet for the rest of the walk. This was good, it meant he did not interrupt the pace we held. The rest of the walk was just uneventful and nice.

Meeting

Daniel is a member of the board of the Swedish Affenpinscher Club. This is a small club for a rather rare breed, so I guess they need him. He was in a telephone meeting with the board almost all evening. This was tiresome. This is when I wish he was not on this board. Still, I am proud of his efforts.

Breed clubs need many members who put down hours of work. I wish more people would do this.

Latest, Not Last

The latest human who walked on the Moon, Eugene Cernan, has passed away. My thoughts go to his family – especially his dogs, if he had any.

Eugene Cernan's life is the subject matter of a documentary called The Last Man on the Moon. I believe the title is wrong. We must see Eugene Cernan as the latest human to have walked on the Moon, not the last one. There must be a mindset saying humans will walk on the Moon again in the future. Hopefully, it will not even be such a far future. At the very least, we must say it will happen, sometime. Would the Moon landings between 1969 and 1972 not be less useful, if no humans ever learned from them, using this knowledge as part of the knowledge needed to go back to the Moon?

The documentary should be renamed.

Resigning President

Yahya Jammeh, the long time president of the Gambia, a small country in West Africa, has resigned. He lost an election last month, but at first tried to refuse to resign. He has been president for decades, having won many elections where people have doubted the outcome. Now he could not continue. There were too many people who opposed him.

If Yahya Jammeh had been wise in his wish to continue being head of state, he could have made sure to form a constitutional monarchy with himself as king. Democratic elections would have been held to form a parliament, which would have been the basis of a cabinet. Nobody could justify critique against such a government by stating it would be un-democratic. Still, Yahya Jammeh would have continued being head of state for the rest of his life.

Constitutions like this works very well in countries such as Japan, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. They could work in Africa as well, but are very rare there. I do not really know why.

Wolves in Ethiopia

Did you know there are wolves in Ethiopia, in Africa? Most people who think of predators in Africa probably think of lions and cheetas on the savannas. Wolves are around most places, however. Lions, on the other hand, are mostly just in Africa, and some live in Asia. Then again, dogs are everywhere where humans are. Felines are not as successful as canines, you know.

Momo

Our Poodle friend Momo went on a trip with Paula and Daniel today. At first, I did not know whether to want to come along or not. They told me, however, that they did not go to a dog show. In that case, I might as well stay at home.

Fish Market

An old, well-known fish market in Tokyo, Japan, will soon move to a new location. Many people are unhappy with the decision. The new site is too far from many customers. It is also built on a place where an industrial plant has been before, and the ground is contaminated. We have to see what happens. Is it really wise to move a fish market to a place with a contaminated surface? I do not think so.

Going Abroad

Daniel went to Denmark today, in the line of duty. At first, I wanted to come along. When I found out he was not going on a dog show, however, I changed my mind. I have got more importandt things to do at home, than accompanying Daniel on a trip to a meeting at an office in Copenhagen. Daniel understood this. He did have a pleasant trip – as pleasant as it can be without any dogs, that is.

Bottas Joins Mercedes

It is settled, then. Valteri Bottas (FIN) joins Mercedes in Formula 1, replacing last year's World Champion Nico Rosberg (D), who decided to retire after the season. Lewis Hamilton (GB), thus, gets a good colleague. I still think Hamilton will outperform Bottas, but not by much. Bottas leaves Williams, which is a loss for them. It will be another interesting season.

Charging

Many electrical devices run on batteries. The batteries may need to be charged. The Ipad that I sometimes borrow from Daniel to write these blog entries on, did not have enough charge to stay on today. I had to busy myself finding a charger, then I had to wait for a while, until it was charged enough to be used. It is annoying, but it can be solved. It is solved, when I write this entry. Still, I would like batteries to be a little better. I guess I am not alone thinking so. In the future, batteries will surely be better. The future will be good.

Health

Paula and Daniel had a little health care session with some of the dogs this evening. None of it was even close to requiring veterinary care, but it was still making it better. For example, Orange had some dirt in one ear that Daniel removed.

I did not need any health care. I may be the oldest dog of us all here now, but I am in full health. A couple of days ago, I told you about a limp, there is no trace of this left. Everything is just as great as it should be. This is nice. Mum lived until she was very old, but I would not be surprised if I reach an even higher age. Life is good.

Friday Night with Paula

Daniel is not at home this Friday night, but we are having a nice time with Paula. Everybody really does not have to be at home every night.

Limp

I have hurt my leg, somehow. I cannot say what happened. There are no visible wounds or anything, either. It does not hurt much, but it makes me limp a little. Most probably, it will just pass during the night and I will be able to walk as smoothly as always on the morning walk. I hope so.

I am happy I was not on my way into a dog show ring, however, because then the limp would result in me getting the judgment Cannot be judged. Other than that, the limp is just a little annoying. It is no big deal. If you do not read anything more about it in my blog, it is because it is gone and forgotten. There will surely be other issues for me to write about tomorrow.

Imaginary Countries

The foreign minister of Poland made a slip of the tounge, and invented a new, imaginary country, San Escobar. It was supposed to be a Carribean country. Mockery soon followed, and San Escobar now exist on the Internet and has a flag.

Indeed, the minister had been awake for 22 hours, he explained, and had the real country St Kitts and Nevis in mind.

A lot of people make up i agi ary countries for fun. This was for real, bit a mistake. I think it is rather funny. I would like to explore the possibility of becoming a San Escobar show champion. This title would not be worth less than the titles of some real countries (without mentioning any names), I am sure.

Spring?

For a couple of days, we have had temperatures above the freezing point. The snow, that we had waited for, has shrunk. It is still early January, but it feels like spring. I do not like this. I would like to have winter and snow for a while longer. Then again, what can you do? We cannot do anything about the weather. We can just hope winter will return soon.

Mao

Hello, Orange here!

This is the last night before my son Mao moves to his new home. I have met his new human, who visited us some weeks ago. He was a nice man. I am sure Mao will get a great life.

Mao will probably travel a lot. His new family is from Switzerland, though they live here because the  man is currently working here. It must be exciting to see new places, although I feel there is no place like home. I hope Mao will enjoy travelling.

Back Home

Paula came back home from the dog show this evening. We had the house cleaned before she came, I believe she liked this. She had a lot to say about the show, and was actually sorry she had not had any Shibas to show. I told you, I should have been there! Well, there will be more shows later in the year.

Show

Paula is in Gothenburg, at the My Dog dog show. I would like to have been there, too, but I was never entered. I hope there will be some shows for me in the summer. I may be old even for the Veteran Class these days, but I still find it as fun as always. I may be able to convince Paula and Daniel to enter me at some shows. If they want to show somebody who really enjoys it, they know it is me. This will always speak in my favour. We will see what happens.

Three Wise Men?

We have a holiday today, celebrating when wise men came from the East to baby Jesus, giving Him three gifts fit for a King.

It does not say in the Bible that there were three wise men, just that they brought three gifts. It is reasonable to think they were three, each with his own gift. Oral tradition says they were three, and even names them as Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. I guess it is reasonable to think they were three, even though we cannot be sure.

We can celebrate, no matter how many or few wise men there were.

Cold Weather

We had about 13 degrees Celsius below the freezing point this morning. This is not too cold for a morning walk. This evening, however, it was 19 degrees below. This is when it starts to be too cold even for a Shiba. We were outdoors as short time as possible. It is warm and cozy indoors. I like this.

No Final for Sweden

Sweden lost the semi final in the ice hockey junior world championship. The team will play for bronze against Russia. I will root for the USA in the final versus Canada.

Junior World Championship

The IIHF Junior World Championship in ice hockey is played now in Canada. Sweden faces Canada in one of the semi finals in the middle of the night tonight, Swedish time. I hope Sweden will win, but this will probably be the toughest game so far.

In the other semi final, the USA faces Russia. I root for the USA, of course, Mum's home country.

It would be great to see a final between the USA and Sweden. If there will be such a game, we will probably be up to see it, no matter how late in the night, Swedish time, it is played. I do not stay up to see the semi final, however.

A Decent Amount of Snow

We got almost ten centimetres of snow this evening. This is a decent amount of snow, enough to run arou d and play in. I almost feel like a pup again, when the snow is newly fallen.

Daniel is not as thankful for the snow, as every dog is. He shovels the driveway, which takes some time and effort. The result looks nice and is easier to drive on, however, so there are advantages with shoveling the snow away.

I hope there will be more snow and that it will stay for a while.

Night Snack

Paula is about the best humans you can have. Sometimes, she exceeds even this. One of these instances is when she prepares a night snack and I get to taste. She did this tonight. A warm cheese sandwich late at night makes you sleep tight. This is great.

Rest

We took the day off today. The whole family just took it easy, with a lot of rest and just a little small talk and easy to cook food. I believe everyone needs such days once in a while. It is not like this will define the rest of this new year, far from it. New Year's Day is, however, a holiday. This year, it is also a Sunday. It was a fitting day just to be a little lazy.