Fallen Trees

A couple of trees have fallen across the road just by our driveway. They stood across the road, but one of them must have fallen down, bringing the other trees with it. This happened this evening sometime,

I cannot recall hearing the trees falling down. There must have been some noise, but I did not notice it.

Daniel will contact the town tomorrow, since the town is the land owner and the keeper of the road, and ask them to take the tree away. It is in the way for traffic. We can get in and out, but since our road is blocked in one end due to road maintenance, it is not so easy for everyone else.

Snow Again

We had snow again last night. It is still on the ground, because we have temperatures below zero. I like this. It is still January, so it is supposed to e winter for many weeks to come. We will have to see how long this layer of snow will remain.

Election

They have had an election in Finland in order to appoint a head of state. This is because Finland is a republic. The people do not just elect the parliament, but the head of state as well. I think this is unnecessary. It is as if a pack of dogs or wolves would elect an alpha bitch, when everybody knows that the alpha bitch gets her power without the need for an election. Electing the head of state seems like a poor alternative to letting the position of head of state be inherited, like we do in countries like Sweden and Japan. Nevertheless, I hope the Finns are happy.

A Little Snow

We had a little snow on the ground again this morning. Most of it disappeared in the warmth of the day. It is a disappointing winter.

Disappointed

Hello, Li'l Gertrud here!

Grand Mum Hailey is disappointed with me. We had agreed that I would write a blog post for this Saturday, but I did not fulfill on my promise. I was too busy playing. While I can understand that a daily blog is supposed to have a blog entry per day, I do not think kt is such a big deal as Grand Mum makes it out to be. I am sorry, but it is not the end of the world, is it?

Trip

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Fuji went away today. His services are asked for, apparently, as a stud dog. I have got mixed feelings about this. Fuji and I have had pups, but I have also had pups with other males. Am I allowed to be jealous, then, if Fuji has other females? Regardless, I am sure I am the best bitch he has ever known.

Fish Pate

Paula made fish pate this evening. This has almost become her signature dish over the last couple of weeks, and for good reason. It is very tasty. Daniel thought so too. I got to try some, and it was better than ever before. Training makes for perfection.

Fish is a good ingredient in food. As a dog with Japanese roots, I love fish. In Japan, dogs eat a lot of fish, just like humans do. I wonder if they have anything similar to Paula's fish pate, though. Probably not, it is so tasty.

Thaw

The rumour turned out to be true. We have had very high temperatures outdoors today, for late January. The snow is melting. I do not fancy this. Fortunately, I am old enough to be excused for being grumpy sometimes. Winters used to be better than this.

Training

Hello, Li'l Gertrud here!

I have been training for dog shows lately, and a lot today.

Grandmum Hailey says that dog shows are the best thing you can ever experience. Mum is not convinced, but I am. I also think dog show training is fun. Paula makes it fun. I look forward to my first dog show. If it is half as fun as Grandmum says it is, it will be fantastic.

Refreshingly Cold

We had minus nine degrees Celsius this morning. It was refreshingly cold. This time of the year, it is supposed to be this cold and snow on the ground.

I hope the snow and cold weather stay for a while. Rumour has it, however, it will be mich warmer in just a few days. What about winter, then? Could the rumour be false. We will have to see.

Old Good News

There was a piece broadcasted on Swedish radio today about China banning its legal icory trade. While this is a good thing, since elephants are endangered, it is old news. There were many reports on this around New Year and before. It was good to hear more about it, but I d wonder about the news value. It was as if it was news, not a documentary. Very well, it might be news to some. I hope the elephants can notice the ban.

Power Nap

Dogs are great at taking naps. Whenever there is a chance to sleep, we do. Humans may talk aboit power naps as a new phenomenon, we have practiced it for ages. I take naps every day. It is a great thing to do, and it makes you able to stay alert when you have to. Life is good.

Snow

We have received a lot of snow over the last few days. This is nice. It feels like winter for real.

I have seen deeper snow many times before. Now we have about a decimetre. It is still good enough to play in. We all like this.

Bears

Hello, Li'l Gertrud here!

Written language is a funny thing sometimes. The blog entry yesterday was called "Ears". You would think "bears", as in the great toy "teddy bear", would be pronounced the same way, except for the b at the start. It is not. Teddy bears are great, nevertheless. You can chew on teddy bears.

Ears

Hello, Orange here!

I have had an itchn one of my ears. Daniel helped me clean it. This was far from comfortable. It is almost that I would have wanted it not to happen at all. I guess the ear feels better, though.

The Sofa

Hello, Li'l Gertrud here!

I may e litte, but I grow, and today I jave learned how to get up in the sofa in the loving room myself. This feels like a huge achievement for me, though the older dogs do not care.

My next goal is to learn how to get up into the bed in the bedroom myself. This will be an even better achievement. I love being in the bed, especially when the others are there. It is comfortable.

The sofa is a great piece of furniture.

Otto

Hello, Li'l Gertrud here!

This Sunday, I got to visit Otto, Karen's son who was born a week and a half after me and whom I got to now grewing up. He lives not far away from us with his family. It was nice seeing where he lives and catching up on what he has been up to.

While the humans had coffee and cake, Otto and I got a chewing bone each. Otto did not need his, so I took it from him. They were tasty.

On the way home, we passed by Paula's mother. She is also called Gertrud and I have been named in her honour. It was nice meeting her too.

All in all, ot was an eventful and nice Sunday.

Dark Nights

The nights will be dark again now. Daniel has taken down the Christmas ornaments and lights today. It is tradition in Sweden to do this on the 20th day of Christmas. I believe it will be easier to get a good nights sleep, when it is darker without the Christmas lights, many of which have been burning day and night, according to tradition. I like the Christmas lights, but there are advantages of taking them away. They will come back next season. Now it is time to sleep.

Editing

My granddaughter Gertrud is a great addition to our pack. She also writes blog posts in my blog from time to time, which is good. It makes my job maintaining a daily blog easier, when Gertrud, Karstuhl, or Orange writes blog posts.

Unfortunately, Gertrud's blog post for yesterday had a few spelling flaws. I have edited it and corrected the flaws. Gertrud was probably just a little too quick writing the blog post, not proof reading it before posting it. She is actually just as good as I was at her age at writing. At her age, I already had this blog up and running. I will have a talk with Gertrud about the importance of correct spelling and proof reading. It will improve things for the future.

Evil Growing Things

Hello, Li'l Gertrud here!

Paula invited us to taste some banana today. Dogs are mainly carnivores and bananas are herbs. It was possible to eat bananas, nevertheless. Daniel hate bananas. He says it is the most disgusting thing that you can buy under the name food. I still ate banana, I thought it tasted all right. It might be evil, anyway. Daniel says bananas are evil. In this case, I guess it is good killing and eating them. I did with great joy.

Bad Reception

I often borrow Daniel's Ipad to write my blog post. It does not work well today. Somehow, it is bad reception and when we try to load something on the Ipad, it takes a lot of time. I hope I can manage to upload this blog post. It will not be longer than this.

Bun

Hello, Karstuhl here!

I got a semla today. This is a very tasty Swedish pastry with whiped cream and almond paste. Paula put it in front of me, essentially giving it to me.

I ate it in a hurry, because I was not alone with the semla. It was great. Tasty food always tastes better when you eat it quickly.

Later on, the other dogs got dog food. I did not get any, Paula and Daniel said I had already had my share of food for this evening. I think this was unfair. Why would I be denied the ordinary food, just because I had been given a semla? Couldn't I have had both?

Crowd

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Paula and Daniel have a huge bed. It is still crowded every night, because all of us dogs want to share space in it. Sometimes, I get tired of it all and lay in one of the dog beds instead. Many of the others do this much more seldom. I guess I am more independent than they are. Shibas are supposed to be independent, free spirits. Maybe I am more true to the breed standard than the others in this way?

False Earthquake Warning

This Friday, people in Tokyo got an early earthquake warning. It was just that it was a false alarm. The early warning system probably misread two minor quakes as one bigger quake.

Japan is one of the most seismic active areas of the world. People on Japan are used to earthquakes. Still, it is important that the warning systems work properly. I am sure the ingenious Japanese will learn from this mistake and finetune the system. The false alarm will, thus, make future false alarms less likely. This is good for the humans and dogs of Japan.

Silver

So the Swedes won silver in the Junior World Championship in ice hockey. This is a good result, even thoug gold would have been better, of course.

Winning silver is like being Second Best in Show at a dog show. You cannot say it is anything but a good result, even though the initial disappointment at not being the ultimate winner is understandable.

I congratulate all the players in the Swedish junior team. They will be proud of the result, just give them a little time.

Junior World Championship

Sweden will face Canada in the final of the IIHF Junior World Championship in ice hockey.

Sweden beat the USA in its semi final. Mum would not have liked that. Calvin did not like it. For my part, despite being half American, I always root for Sweden. Calvin agrees with me that Sweden should beat Canada, however. Mum would also have done so.

The final game starts at 2 a.m. Swedish time, since the championship is played in Buffalo, NY, USA, and it is played in local area prime time. We will have to see whether we will get up to see the game or not. I believe not.

The Bed

Hello, Li'l Gertrud here!

Sometimes, I am not lifted up into the bed. I am still not big enough to get up there on my own. I wish I were. Fortunately, I can often convince Daniel or Paula to lift me up. Sleeping in the bed makes for the best sleep ever.

Another New Year Party

Paula and Daniel celebrated the new year once again tonight, together with Paula's parents, sister, and sister's family. This was because they could not make the celebration work at New Year's Eve. I think this was a good solution. If you need to wait, but then still can have a party, so why not? A party is still a party and a good thing. Happy new year!

Potentially Lethal Cake

In Japan, one New Year tradition is eating mochi, a certain rice cake. It is big and sticky and if not cut or chewed properly, it you can choke on it. I guess Japanese people like the thrill. Hopefully, of mochi is served to dogs, it is first cut into small pieces.

Happy New Year!

My precious blog post was meant to be published before midnight, thus yesterday and last year. I discovered that I must have missed publishing it. How annoying, not just because it was around the turn of the year, but also because it looks like I was a day late congratulating my own pups Meja and Bagus on their birthday. I actually was not, it just looks like it. Well, I hope my blogging will be better this year!

Happy new year, everybody!

Happy Birthday!

My very first litter of pups were born on New Year's Eve 2008. Happy birthday, Meja and Bagus!