Regrowing Bones

A dog in Scotland has had her leg saved by a new method to regrow bone. The method will now be tried on humans as well. Medical science is amazing, whether it is ordinary (veterinary) or human medicine. It speaks for an even better future. I am glad for the dog.

End of the Year

We are closing in on the end of the year. It will soon be 2018 instead of 2017.

The date for the new year is actually a random date. There are a lot of historical reasons why the 1 January, ten days after the winter solstice, is new year.

Tradition says this is the date for the new year, but there is no need to fear anything. Nevertheless, superstitious humans fire crackers many days before and after the clock strikes twelve on New Year's night. I call these people superstitious, because thefiring of crackers goes back to old superstition that you should fire crackers to scare away demons, who could haunt you in the new year if you did not scare them away. These days, all the crackers do is scare innocent animals who do not know they are mostly harmless.

I wish humans would stop firing crackers to scare the demons away.

Getting Old

Humans do a lot of research in medicine, aimed at making themselves live longer, healthier lives. This is good. It does not say so in the article, but I think the research can benefit dogs as well. They have done research on mice, for example, and dogs are not that different to humans or mice.

The older I get, the more interested I get in living a longer and healthy life. Mum lived until she was many years older than I am now. Her mother became even older. I hope I can live to be old and stay healthy.

Back to Work

Both Paula and Daniel are working these days between Christmas and New Year. This means we dogs have to work at home as well, watching the house from time to time, when we are alone at home. As dogs, we are superbly equiped to keep watch. We have excellent hearing, we can scare people off, and we are very loyal to our family. It is not an easy task, but we like it, and it has to be done. Granted, we are not alone much, and never for long, but it is still a vital task that we take seriously. Anybody who has loyal dogs can be sure they will watch the house.

Boxing Day

Hello, Li'l Gertrud here!

This is the Second Day of Christmas. Apparently, it is called Boxing Day in English speaking countries. Nobody seems to know why. I asked the older dogs if the name meant we could have some mock boxing fights, but they did not approve of the idea. It has been a nice day, anyway, with both Paula and Daniel at home. I guess the only downside has been the mud in the yard, it does not feel nice getting dirty paws. Over all, a good day, despite not having any boxing fights.

Christmas Day

It is Monday, but a holiday, since it is Christmas day. It is the birthday of Christ. We all took the day off as a day of supreme rest. Such days are great to ave once in a while.

I hope you all have had a great start on this Christmas season. It does continue until January, even though the last dayay vary from one country to another.

Merry continued Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

It is Christmas Eve, the greatest day for Christmas celebrations in Sweden. We have cleaned and decorated the house. We eat good food. We have a good time. Over all, Christmas is a good time of the year. The only thing I would want is a thick layer of snow, even though we mostly do not have snow at Christmas. You cannot have it all, however. It has been a good Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Bath

Our Poodle friend Laila took a bath this evening. I do not envy her. She is a Poodle, however, so she needs to take baths more often than Shibas. In this way, Shibas have a better coat than Poodles. I am glad we do. Laila actually wishes she had the same, on all of the instances when she needs to take a bath. It is nice, however, to be clean in time before the Christmas celebrations that start tomorrow.

Cleaning

We are cleaning and tidying up for Christmas. I was so busy cleaning that I forgot to write a blog entry before midnight. This is strange. Cleaning is not much fun, so I usually remember taking a break. This was not the case tonight. Oh, well, it gets cleaner, at least.

Heartless Woman Gets Her Case Before the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of Sweden has decided to hear a case (decision on the 18 of December 2017, case no B3079-17) on whether a woman convicted of a fellony can get free of prison time, because she has got small children to take care of.

The woman and her husband, the father of the children, are both convicted of smuggling dogs from another country to Sweden. This is a crime that only heartless, ruthless people will commit. Taking advantage of helpless, live dogs, and paying no attention to disease control, shows a lack of compassion and a fundamental flaw in the mindset of the human doing this. How this woman could be considered fit to take care of children at all is beyond me. The children should be removed from the care of her and the father and put in foster care for the rest of their childhood years, regardless of when her time in prison is over. I hope the Supreme Court will not cut her sentence short.

Belgium to Appoint First Female Ambassador to Saudi Arabia

According to local mass media, Belgium is about to appoint its ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Ms. Dominique Mineur, to Saudi Arabia. There has never been any country sending a female ambassador to Saudi Arabia before.

The news media also reports another female will become Belgium's ambassador to Iran, Ms. Véronique Petit.

This is true feminist foreign policy, unlike the policy of the self proclaimed feminist cabinet of Sweden.

Belgium is a nice country. Dad's father was from Belgium.

Christmas Cards

We have written Christmas cards and sent them by mail. We have also received some. As usual, we receive some cards from people to whom we have not written, whereas some people do not send us cards, even though we send cards to them. I was especially pleased to get Christmas greetings from my son Bagus, and a little sad that we have not yet sent any card to him and his family. It seems like Bagus is doing well, which pleases me. We do have some cards and stamps left, so there are opportunities,

Terrible Train Crash

A new train has derailed and crashed south of Seattle in Washington State. There have been a lot of casualties and injuried people.

Washington is where Mum came from. I am concerned about the welfare of any dogs affected by the crash. There may even be relatives of mine who are affected. I hope there are no news of this kind, but that dogs have made it.

America needs more passenger trains. I hope this crash does not affect the public support for it.

Thaw

So the cold weather came and went in a day. It has been thaw again today. Most of the snow is still around, but drops of water has come down from the roof and from the trees. I guess we will jave to ait for yet another couple of days before there is a real winter.

Snow

We have got snow now. Just a few centimetres, but it is many degrees below the freezing point, so it will stay for a while. It makes the days brighter and the nights more Christmas like. I love it.

Moomin Bed Sheets

Paula and Daniel have new bed sheets. They have pictures of Moomin trolls and other characters from the Moomin Valley. The Moomins are great and the bed sheets look really nice. It is hard to even say anything that can live up to the greatness of Tove Jansson's Moomin literature. We love the new bed sheets.

Weird Weather

The weather is weird this December. The temperature jumps up and down around the freezing point. There are snow, rain, snow, thaw. We still have our hopes up for a white Christmas.

Flowers for the Queen

The Labrador Yama was supposed to give flowers to the Queen of the United Kingdom. The Queen visited Canine Partners, an organisation which has placed 400 dogs with disabled owners. However, as can be seen in this video, Yama dropped the flowers on the floor right in front of the Queen.

The Queen loves dogs. She has bred Welsh Corgis. She did not mind the little mistake. She is a great woman.

A Blister

I was hurt a little today. I started to bleed a little on my left front paw, so I limped. It was not dangerous, but would have healed. I guess I just stepped on something sharp.

Daniel and Paula saw my limp, however. They cleaned the wound and put some ointment on it to help it heal and kill bacteria. This will make the small wound heal faster, which is great.

Humans are good to have in so many ways. It is not only that they give us food to eat, water to drink, a warm house to live in, they also tend to us when we are hurt. I love this.

Music Help

It is the time of the year when "Musikhjälpen" is broadcasted on Swedish radio. This is a way to make people help other people. I wish the theme would be to help dogs. Maybe it will be in some years.

Name Day

Hello, Gertrud here!

Daniel has name day today. There are some humans and some dogs who have their names in the almanack. This is because we have names of saints or other holy people. Daniel has a name from one of the prophets in the Bible, I have the name of a prominent saint in early European Christianity. Neither Mum, nor Grand Mum, have name days. This makes me feel a little special.

Nobel Prize

Sweden is in focus in the world today, the Nobel Prize is given to the laureates. It is one of the most presitgious prizes in science and literature.

I might be a productive blog writer, but I do not believe this will ever make me become a Nobel Prize laureate. The vast majority of writers around the world do not win any prizes. I just hope my work amuses some readers.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Missiles for Japan

Japan is planning to get medium range missiles for their fighter aircraft.

The plans will spark protests in Japan, whose constitution states the country must be pacifist. Still, there are military threats against Japan. The object is to arm Japan against the threat of North Korea. There have also been tensions between Japan and China.

If the government of Japan believes these missiles are necessary in order to preserve peace, then I am all for it. You often need to arm yourself in order to preserve peace, thus staying true to thr pacifism required by the Japanese Constitution.

Lights in the Night

We always have lights on throughout the nights at this time of the year. It is tradition, a way to commemorate the time before and during Christmas. It is coz and nice. It may make it a little harder to sleep, but the advantages are bigger. I like the upcoming holiday, it is so full of joy and good food.

Rain and Ice

It is cold outside now, but it is raining. Then the rain on the ground may freeze. Nothing is more slippery than this. I wish no one will fall and get hurt. By Christmas, I wish there will be snow.

Readers

Hello, Li'l Gertrud here!

There are logs on the number of readers of this blog. My blog posts have fewer readers than the blog posts of Grand Mother Hailey. She says the readers will come to me too. She is actually quite supporting. I can still see the numbers, but I trust Granny. It will be better. This is good.

In the Bed

Hello, Li'l Gertrud here!

Life is unfair. I must not be in the bed, while the others may be there. The official reason is that I am too small, because I am not yet big enough to get up into the bed on my own. The theory is that if I cannot get up myself, it is too dangerous, because I would not be able to get down from bed without hurting myself. I say this is slander. Of course I could be in the bed without falling off or hurting myself. Oh, well, I guess it is a passing problem, anyway, because I am getting bigger.

Dog to Work Against Cheaters

A lot of work is done to counter cheaters in cross country skiing, cheaters who uses unallowed substances to boost their own performance in the track. A new method will soon be active, the Springer Spaniel Molly, who has been trained to discover many of the substances that are not allowed.

This is a good measure. Cross country skiing is a high endurance sport, where cheating by using different unallowed substances can make a huge difference. Working against the cheaters is important, to make the sport legitimate in the eyes of the spectators. Using a dog in this work is great.   This is but one of many instances where dogs contribute a lot to society.

There should be more dogs in society. We all contribute.

The Emperor Will Abdicate

On the 30th of April 2019, Emperor Akihito will step down from his duties as Emperor. His son Naruhito will take over the Chrysantemum throne. This is in accordance with a special law allowing the Emperor to  abdicate, which was enacted at the request of the Emperor due to his health issues.

Long live the Emperor, even after his abdication.

World Cup Groups

Sweden will start the FIFA World Cup in a group against Germany, Mexico, and South Korea. Japan will start against Poland, Senegal, and Colombia.

Germany mist be the favourite to win the group where Sweden plays. Sweden does stand a good chance to be second and continue in the World Cup. Japan will have a hard time, at least against Poland and Colombia. It will be interesting.