A Boy and a Girl

Hello, Orange here!

I gave birth to two beautiful pups last night. It was not easy, the boy was big. Then there was a girl as well. It is a litter of two pups, both are beautiful. I love them! This is the best thing there is in life: taking care of pups.

Further Games

Sweden will face Switzerland in the next game of the World Cup. It is the first game of the knock out phase. I wonder what people will think, who often confuse these countries.

If Sweden wins, it may face Colombia or England. In the case of a game against Colombia, I hope Paula and her sister will root for Sweden, despite having been born in Colombia. I think they would.

Joy and Sadness

We rejoice that Sweden won 3-0 against Mexico and won the group. Mexico came second and will also go to the final sixteen. 

We feel sorry for our Affenpinscher friend Morran and her Germany, which lost against South Korea and are out of the World Cup. Germany has the record number of World Cup medals in a row: silver 2002, bronze 2006, bronze 2010, and gold 2014. This fine line of results is now broken.

The World Cup sure stirs our emotions. 

Hungry

Hello, Orange here!

I am a little more hungry than usual. It is not for a lack of food, I never have a lack of food. It is just because I have pups in my belly to take care of. For the sake of the pups, I ask for more food. Hailey says I am fuzzy; she never needed that much extra food when she expected pups, she says. I do not care. If my pups need for me to eat more, Hailey may call me fuzzy if she wants to. The pups are my main concern. Still, I know from previous litters that I get even more extra food when the pups have been born. This is something to look forward to.

Unclear Brexit for Dogs

The United Kingdom will leave the European Union, according to a referendum two years ago and ongoing negotiations. There are still many questions without answers. I was particularly concerned to hear that it is still unclear what the consequences will be for British dogs living in other EU countries. The people negotiating the rules on the exit should take better care of man's best friend, in my mind. I hope there will soon be some answers, for the sake of these dogs and their humans.

Might Have Been

Paula said I would join her to visit her parents today. They are great people whom I meet far too seldom, so I thought this was a great idea.

Later, Paula changed her mind. She did not say, but I guess it is because it is so important that I stay at home, watching the house and looking out for the younger dogs. When you have duties like this, it is not really disappointing to stay at home and take care of the duties. I do it well. There is comfort in the trust Paula has in me.

Loss

Sweden lost its second game in the World Cup. The opponent was Germany, who always has a strong team, and played better throughout the game. It was a time until the very last minute, however, when Germany scored 2-1. Over all, Germany deserved to win, but it was hard to get that goal against our team in the very last minute. We have to hope for a victory against Mexico on Wednesday.

The Litter Box

The litter box is back into the bathroom. I was there inspecting it this morning. There will soon be pups in our house again. The litter box looks comfortable with a soft blanket for the mother and pups to lie on. It is on days like this I miss getting pups more than usual, but those days are over for me. Now I am giving advice to younger bitches getting pups.

I am looking forward to getting to know these pups.

Summer Solstice

Summer Solstice is soon here. We do not have full darkness in the middle of the night. I like this time of the year.

It will soon be darker and darker. This is not bad. Autumn is also a great season, and then there is Christmas. Each season has its own charm.

Let us celebrate midsummer now, or John the Baptist, as Christians. It is a nice thing to celebrate.

Twigs

We had a windy day yesterday. This morning, twigs lay scattered here and there, when we went for the morning walk. It was not that many twigs, but enough to stand out from a normal day. I wonder if the trees can feel when they lose twigs in hard winds, or if it is more like when we sned our old coats. I guess we will never know.

Roots

Paula has her roots in Colombia. We Shibas have our roots in Japan.

Today in the World Cup, Japan played Colombia. While we love Paula, we rooted for Japan. Japan won, 2-1.

We had a diskussion about whether this is proof that Japanese roots are stronger than Colombian roots. We conclided that a singel football game is inconclusive evidence. Paula certainly has strong roots. We hope Japan wins the group and Colombia becomes second, so both countries continue to the final sixteen. This would be nice.

A Good Day in the World Cup

There are three games per day in the begining of the World Cup. Today, all three games went my way.

First, Sweden played South Korea and won, 1-0. I would have wanted to see a stronger Swedish team, but a victory is most important.

Then my paternal grnadfather’s home country Belgium played the renegade province Panama, which should be part of Paula’s country of birth Colombia, Belgium won by 3-0, just the way I wanted it to be.

In the last game of the day, England played Tunisia. England is the home country of football. England is also the home country of modern dog breeding and where the greatest event of the human civilisation was invented: the dog show. England was, by far, the better team, but Tunisia was lucky enough to get a penalty and score. It was not until the final minutes that England’s dominance paid of, and the English team won fairly by 2-1.

Over all, a great day of football.

Loss

Hello, Morran here!

As an Affenpinscher, I have my heart in Germany, home country of my breed. Germany is one of the best football nations in the World. Of course, I watched the game today, when Germany entered the World Cup in a game against Mexico. Surprisingly, however, Mexico won 1-0. I feel devastated. Will Germany come back? Can Germany win the group despite this loss, will it be second, or worse? This is difficult for me. I have grown up knowing of Germany as World champion. Will they not defekt their title? I am so nervous now.

Let us hope Germany make it through anyway, and Sweden.

World Cup

Hello, Karstuhl here!

We have spenat a lot of the day in front of the TV set, Both Paula and Daniel believe the FIFA World Cup in football is worth seeing. Mommy believe so too, if I am to judge from her previous blog posts. I think it is far from interesting. I would rather have a ball to play with on my own.

I think I could be a good football player. I would never have to worry that I would use the hand to steker the ball, something which is not allowed in football. As a dog, I do not have hands, but four paws.

The World Cup would be more interesting if there were a dog in each team.

K

We watched Spain versus Portugal in the World Cup today. This was the first great game. Both teams were great. It endes in a 3-3 dras, and I think this was fair. We rooted for Spain, but Portugal has a good team. These teams will surely be number one and number two in the group and continue to the next level. We just have to see which team will win the group.

White Nights

We do not have completely dark nights this time of the year. I would say it is cool, if it were not in the middle of the warm summer.

Thunder

We heard some thunder, then the rain came falling down. It was in the late afternoon, about the time when Daniel comes home from work. He did come in the middle of the shower. We had the opportunity to go out, but I refused. I waited until later, when the rain had stopped. It was good that we got some rain, but I do not want to go out into the rain if I do not have to. Life is a little better now, after the rain.

Closing In

The FIFA Football World Cup starts on the day after tomorrow. Sweden and Japan participates, so there is more than one country for me to root for. The USA and Norway did not qualify, but my parternal grandfather’s home country Belgium did, so this may be a third country to hope for. We will see what happens.

Rain

We got a little rain this morning, then a little more in the late afternoon. It was not more than a millimeter in the morning and about the same later. Normally, this would be nothing to write about, but this time, it is the first rain for many week. We have a draught. I wish there would be more rain. I do not want our well to run dry.

Stabbing in Japan

Japan is one of the countries in the World with the lowest rate of violent crimes. Now, however, a man has stabbed three random victims on a bullet train. He has been arrested and admitted to the acts.

In less safe countries, a stabbing like this would not make news, especially not in international mass media. This proves how rare it is in Japan, how safe Japan is. This is good for all the Shibas living there.

Staying at Home

Paula and Daniel might have gone to a meeting with friends of Shiba breder Honto No tomorrow, but they will stay at home. Daniel has been away today, visiting his family in Stockholm, especially his father, who is ill. Paula worked last night and works tonight. I can understand why they want to take it easy at home. It is also nice for us who would stay at home, nevertheless, that they stay at home.

Honto No is where Auntie Linni was born. I miss Linni. She was like an extra mother, besides Mum, but also a great friend. She also helped me rear all my pups. She has truly menat a lot for many pups, though she never got any of her own. How sad it is to think she left us long ago now.

Early Morning

Paula got up very early this morning. I am not sure why, she was not going anywhere, there was no love broadcast on TV or anything. She just did. It was nice, though, because she gave snacks to us dogs. If I get snacks, I do not care if I am awake very early.

Capturing Carbon Dioxide

Canadian scientists have developed a new method to capture carbon dioxide directly from the air. It has been possible to do sobefore, bit the new method cuts the cost by a large amount. The result will be used to produce fuel. This shows hope for the fight against green house gases and global warming. I like it.

People Defying Rules

With the many consecutive days with warm weather and no rain, it is very dry all around the countryside. People are prohibited from starting fires. Still, two times today, when the fire department got alarms about fires, the fires had been started by people who defied the prohibition.

I wonder what these people are thinking. Do they not care about the risk of the fire getting out of control? A lot of animals could get hurt.

National Eve?

It is the national holiday of Sweden tomorrow. The tradition to celebrate is rather new. I ask myself whether this is the cause why the little celebration we have is on the day, not the eve before.

Swedish tradition is to celebrate annual days on the evening before the actually day of celebration. We celebrate New Year’s Eve, not New Year’s Day; Easter Eve more than Easter Day; Valborg Eve, not Valborg Day; Midsummer Eve, not Midsummer Day; and Christ,as Eve, not Christmas Day.

Why do we not celebrate Sweden today, on National Eve? Perhaps we should? Perhaps this would make the celebration feel more real, and not artificial? I do not have the answers, but maybe future will tell.

Warning

We never heat the loud speakers calling out Important Message to the Public. These are tested on the first Monday of the month, a few months of the year, always at three o’clock in the afternoon. This was one of those Mondays, but, alas, we did not hear it. We usually have the radio on at daytime anyway, so if there is a message broadcasted, we will hear it. Hopefully, no such situation will ever occur, but it would be nice to hear the alarm on a Monday like this. Oh, well, life is full of small disappointments. It could be worse.

Mosquitos

There are far too many mosquitos.

The Shiba coat preserves us, but our humans are very annoyed by the mosquitos. There are many more than usual this year. However, I am glad for the birds who eat mosquitos.

Final Paddington Bear Book

Hello, Orange here!

The final book about Paddington Bear has been released.

I have had a litter of pups, who were named for Paddington Bear books. These are Aangenaam A Bear Called Paddington and Aangenaam Paddington Here and Now. As with all my pups, I love them dearly. It is just that I think of these pups a bit more, when I read about Paddington Bear. The books will live on for ages. I hope the memories of my pups will too.

No Show

Paula is not feeling well. She would have been going to a dog show tomorrow, with Danielsons some of the other dogs, I was not invited.

I feel sorry for Paula. I also feel sorry for the dogs who would have gone to the show, but who will stay at home. At the same time, I will not deny that I do not feel as sorry as I would have, had I been invited to be shown at the dog show in the first place. I want to go to dog shows! I think I am jealous of the dogs who might go. Am I tooold to go myself? I would not think so, I am still alive, this means I am not too old. We will have to see if I get Togo to some dog shows thissummer. I do hope so.