Fire

We burn wood in the store in the living rom. It gives us additional heat in these cold days. It is cozy and a nice heat. The fire is fascinating, although I rather watch the TV, especially if there is a documentary on wildlife or dogs.

The heat from the stove spreads into the bedroom as well, which is really nice when it is time to go to bed.

Ice Week

Meteorologists say it may be an ”ice week” this week. This is a week when the temperature stays below the freezing point for the whole time. Apparat ly, there has not been an ice week in Sweden sinne 2011. It sure has been cold outside today. I am glad we have a warm house to live in. It is at times like these, I am glad my distant ancestors took the first steps towards becoming dogs instead of living in the wild as wolves. Human warm houses are great.

The Little Rascal

Li'l Gertrud, my dear grand daughter, sure is a little rascal. She has got all the energy so typical for her age, and she tries to play with the rest of us, whether we want to or not.

My pups were like this as well, but I reared them as a mother should do. I believe Polly could do better. She leaves too much to me. I never left this much to my Mum.

No matter what, I love both Li'l Gertrud and Polly very much.

Coming Home

Paula has been away for a coupe of days. She tok oir Poodle friend Momoko and went to the northwest of Dalecarlia, Whyred her parentes has a flat for winter sport events. It is nice tohave them back. Paula deserves to go away on a holiday, but we like it beter when she is at home. Momoko also likes it beter at home. We had a nice evening today, all together again. Life is good.

Has Facebook Peaked?

The social media plattform Facebook has been very successful in recent years, but its days on the rise may soon be over. Perhaps this is inevitable, sooner or later. I would have guessed later, however.

I have never started any Facebook account myself, but I have watched as Paula or Daniel have been on Facebook. There are positive and negative things about it. I do not think it will decline much, rather that its rise will give way to a more level development. As long as I can share my blog posts on Facebook and get more readers, I am happy.

About Cheating

Russia is not allowed to participets in the current Olympic Games due to organised cheating and doping. This is good. Cheaters should not be allowed. Some Russian fred of charge have been allowed to compete under the Olympic flag.

There is a suggestion that the ban on Russia will be lifted before the closing ceremony. Russian would then be allowed to participate with the Russian flag.

I agree with the former Russian leader who have witnessed about the problems: the Russian flag should not be allowed. A flag is a strong symbol. Doping is serious cheating. The ban should not be lifted.

Victories

It is up and down in the Olympic Games. The ladies` relay team in biathlon made a very good race and won silver. Surprisingly, the Swedish Gentleman André Myhrer won gold in slalom. André Myhrer have competed in the World Cup and championships for many years, but has never realy been a winner. Then he wins a race when Olympic medals are at stake. It is astounding, but positive, of course. I did not think he had it in him, but he did. It is great when Swedes exceed expectations.

Ice Hockey Disaster

Sweden lost against Germany in the Olympic Ice Hockey quarter final. This was the first time in twentysix years that Sweden lost a competitive game against Germany in ice hockey, and it happened in the worst possible kind of game, the first in the knock out stage in an important tournament such as the Olympic Games. It is a disaster. People should resign!

Upcoming Dog Shows

Paula and Daniel talked about upcoming dog shows tonight. A new dog show season is coming. I tried to get their attention, reminding them that I am available for any show they would want to go to. Being shown on dog shows is just so much fun. They just talked about other dogs, however. I can understand that my granddaughter Soya would need her last CAC, becoming show champion, but this is no reason not to show me. I would be shown in veterans` class, am a champion, and would not compete with Soya for the CAC. We will have to see if I get to go to other shows later in the season.

Strange Winter Season

I have been around for quite a lot of winters now, but I think this is the one where the weather has been the most odd. This morning, snow fell again. We got almost a decimetre of new snow. Yet, it was not long ago we had thaw. Winter is coming and going all the time, it seems. There is Winter Olympic Games on TV, nevertheless.

Otto

Hello, Li'l Gertrud here!

I spent a large part of this Sunday with Otto, the Aangenaam Shiba ten days younger than me who lives in the same part of Örebro as we do. I visited him and his family. We also went oit to the motor race track, where we got to run around in a fenced in area. I had a great time. Otto is a lovely companion and friend. He was a little dissatisfied when I got food, just as he did, because he is used to be the only dog, thus being the only one to get dog food. Once we had eaten, everything was all right again. I hope I will get to meet Otto again soon.

Silver

In the ladies' relay, Sweden won another silver. Norway won the gold.

Dad would have been happy. He was born in Norway by a Norwegian mother and was a Norwegian patriot all through his life. I like Norway too. I am never sad, when Norway wins, not even when they deny Sweden another gold.

Is It Winter or Not?

The temperature goes up and down around the freezing point. There is snow on the ground, but not much. Is it winter or spring? We have heard birds sing.

Cry Babies

Paula watched some kind of documentary on TV today, where people got out of prison. A woman was crying from joy and talked about the horrors of prison.

Well, if you do not want to do the time, do not do the crime. Stop crying because of a prison sentence that you deserved.

Long Meeting

Daniel had a long telephone meeting tonight. It was so boring.

Gold

A Swede won silver yesterday, but another Swede won gold today, in the Olympic Games in South Korea. Gold is, of course, better than silver. It is like winning the Winner title, and not being the first runner up, at the World Dog Show, I believe.

Congratulations to Stina Nilsson, gold medalist in cross country ski sprint.

Silver

Sweden won silver in men's biathlon in the Olympic Games today, through Sebastian Samuelsson. This was a positive surprise. He had not been on the podium in the biathlon World Cup before, so this was great. I have always longed for positive surprises like this. Otherwise, surprises are more often on the negative side, when experts have said Swedes will do well, but they do not. I am very happy for this silver.

Nemo

Hello, Li'l Gertrud here!

This afternoon, Paula, Daniel, and I went to some friends of Paula and Daniel. Two dogs lives there, among them is my uncle Nemo, litter brother of my Mum Polly. He is also a black and tan Shiba. It was very nice meeting him. I played more with his younger friend Elton, however. This was a nice afternoon, it stood out among Sunday afternoons. Life is good, when I get to meet other nice dogs.

Emergency Room

Paula had to go to the Emergency Room at the human hospital tonight. She was swollen and felt strange. This may have to do with her injuried hip. She came back home a little later, however. She had been told it had to be kept under surveilance, but that she was good enough to go home. We are all happy that Paula is back home again. Here, we can support her. This is good. This is one of the purposes of our lives.

Brush Up

Daniel will go to a "Ring Steward Brush Up" course tomorrow morning. He works as a ring steward at dog shows a couple of weekends every year. This is, in my opinion, the most important work he does, beside the things he does as a dog caretaker and breeder. His full time job as a legal adviser on a governemt agency may give him the steady income, but the work itself is not that important. His work at the city council must be considered even less important. It is great,t hen, that Daniel takes this imortant job as a ring steward seriously and participate in courses to keep his knowledge up to date. I fully support him in this pursuit.

Best Beer

My paternal grandfather was from Belgium. Apparently, Belgium does not only do the best paternal grandfathers, they do the best beers as well. Paula and Daniel shared some Belgian beer tonight. They said it was great. Calvin had a little, and agreed. I am not fond of beer myself, but if Paula and Daniel says Belgian beer is great, I believe them. Belgium mist be a good country, with good products.

Joy

Hello, Li'l Gertrud here!

Morning walks are fun. I usually fool around a bit with Auntie Orange. She is in on it, and snaps back at me in a joyful manner. Javier, however, is not amused. Whenever he gets tired of my attacks on Orange, he walks in between us. He is such a bore. when I try to fool around with him, he is just dead serious, telling me not to. If I become like Javier when being an adult dog, I do not think I ever want to be adult. Unfortunately, becoming an adult is not optional. I hope I wil get playful, anyway.

Opened Road

The road where we live has been closed off for the last half year or so. There have been work on the water pipes for a new water tower for the town, so the road has had holes in it. Now this work is done and we can start using the road again. It almost feel strange, but we will get used to it again soon, I am sure. I am glad the road is open, it makes it a little easier to go by car to the centre of town.

Crowded

There are nights when I think it is too crowded in the bed. Paula and Daniel are there, and dog upon dog. Nights like these, I rather take a place in the sofa next to the bed. Sometimes, a moderate form of solitude, though close to the others, are more relaxing than being on top of everybody else. This is one of those nights. It is nice to have opportunities to chose from.

Great Sunday Food

It was not long ago I wrote about food in this blog, but I feel like I have to do so again today. We got fresh meat again in our food bowls today. This is just great. Now it was not because of some fear that our ordinary food would not come by shipment, but just because Paula and Daniel was in a great Sunday mood. We have had a great weekend, this Sunday food was just the grand finale of it.

We will not stay up to see the Super Bowl tonight. Calvin wanted to, but he would disturb the rest of us in the middle of the night, Swedish time. We hope the best team will win, anyway.

Exoplanets, Alien Life?

Since humans discovered the first planet orbiting a star other than the Sun, a so called exoplanet, thousands of more exoplanets have been found.

Some people believe there is alien life on some exoplanets. Before the first discovery of an exoplanet, nobody actually knew if they existed. With all the discoveries in recent years, it is clear they are common.

Nobody has ever discovered evidence of alien life on exoplanets or in space. Could it be that once one example of alien life is discovered, thousands of more discoveries will soon follow? My guess is that this will happen. We just have to wait and see,

Meat

Paula had bought some nice meat for us dogs today.


We have had a few days of trouble with the shipping of dog food, even though the new shipment arrived today. This is the first time there has been trouble, we are normally very satisfied with our dog food supplier.


Because of the trouble, Paula bought the meat, to have something to feed us with if the food had not arrived. Now we will get both dog food and meat.


It is almost that I wish we would have trouble with the shipping of dog food more often.

Trees Taken Away

The fallen trees are cut up and the pieces are thrown to the sides of the road. Traffic can pass again. Now I just wonder how long the wood will be left there.

We have to commend the town for responding fast and removing the trees. This was good work. I wish all the things the town is responsible for would be this effective.