Second Best New Year’s Eve

We all got cheeseburgers today.

Paula was at home the whole day. Daniel was away for a while, and came home with cheeseburgers. There was a cheeseburger for each of us dogs, and one for Paula and one for Daniel. Cheeseburgers are great.

Thanks to the cheeseburgers, and that Paula was at home the whole day, I would count this as my second best New Year’s Eve ever,

My best New Year’s Eve was ten years ago. We had not lived long in this house. This is when I got my first litter of pups.

Happy birthday, Meja and Bagus!

Happy New Year, everybody!

Old Article About the Moon

A Swedish newspaper has re-published an article about the Moon from 1956. It was quite interesting.

The author wrote that it was not likely men would travel to the Moon until the 21st century. We now know they did. Six manned missions landed on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. On the other paw, noone has set a footon the Moon since. The manned expeditions were not really economically viable with the technology of the time. The next time humans travel to the Moon, I believe they are.

Fireworks Banned on Galapagos Islands

The local authorities on Galapagos Islands have banned fireworks in due time before New Years’s Night. This is mainly to preserve the unique fauna on the islands.

Fireworks scare a lot of wildlife all around the world, even in Sweden. Many dogs are also scared, though not here at our house. I would not mind a complete ban in Sweden or in oir home town as well. Perhaps we will get itin the future.

Lazy Day

We have all had a cool day today. Paula came home from work this morning and we all rested until early afternoon. Then Daniel went away to do some grocery shopping, while the rest ofus kept taking it easy. When Daniel came back home, he joined us, and we all just had a lazy rest of the day. I love the odd lazy day like this, although it would be boring if every day would be like this.

Ending the Year

Daniel did his last day at workfor the hear today. Paula does her last night at work for the year tonight.

There is a risk that Paula will also work on New Year’s Night. She would earn extra money for it, which would be great, as such. Other than this, the work year is over.

More work will come next year, of course. Until then, however, we will have both Paula and Daniel at home. This is the way I like it best.

When Your Work Is to Rest

Paula came home from work this morning. She had finished the first of four nights in a row at work. Consequently, she would sleep today. As companion dogs, we kept her company. You could say our lineof work today was to rest alongside Paula. Thisis not as easy as it may seem. We still have to be watch dogs. It requires a lot of experience to know just when to sound the alarm, which is notoften on a day like this. Paula was satisfied this evening, she had been able to get severalhours of undisturbed sleep. We did a good job.

Dog Abandoned on CCTV

Some news stories hurt more than others. There is a CCTV film which is now spread online, showing a man in the UK abandoning a Staffordshire Bullterrier by the side of a road, driving away from the dog in a car.

Fortunately, the dogis now taken care of. The man is yet to be identified. I hope he will be brought to justice, to pay for what he has done.

Walk on My Own

Hello, Li’l Gertrud here!

This evening, Daniel brought me on a walk all by myself. There were just him and me who took a walk, no other dogs. I enjoyed this.

We are usually quite a few dogs on the walks. You always have to respect what the other dogs do, you cannot always walk whenever you want, stop whenever you want, or the like. With this solo walk with Daniel, I got more leeway.

The reason for the walk was that Daniel had an errand to Paula’s parents, who live withon walking distance of us. He brought me just for company. I could do this more often. Otherwise, it is usually grandmum Hailey or Mum Polly who gets to take extra walks like this. Perhaps I will be chosen more often next year. I hope so.

Celebration

I got to come with Paula and Daniel to Paula’s parents for Christmas Eve celebration today. Paula’s sister and her sister’s children were there as well. I love all of these humans. The children were very nice to me, they left great food that I got to finish.

Christmas is a great holiday. I just love all of the meat and other good food that is always served.

Cleaning the House

We cleaned the house before Christmas, today. It is always nice to enter a holiday with a clean house, then we know we do not have to use a lot of time cleaning, and it feels better to live in a cleaner house.

In the future, we may have self cleaning houses. I would like that. Then time can be spent doing better things, like resting, perhaps watching TV, or the like. We clean, because we like to have a clean house, not because we likethe act of cleaning as such.

Preparations

Paula and Daniel went off to Paula’s parents for a while today. They helped to prepare the feast on Christmas Eve. I have asked to come, but so have a lotof the other dogs, and we know there will be a limited number of dogs who may come. It will be a nice Christmas Eve at home as well, of course, just not as eventful, I guess. We will have to see if I am the one, or one of the few, who may come.

Final Work Before Christmas

Daniel did his last day at work before Christmas today. We will enjoy his company at home a little more the first days of next week. I lileit, when our humans are at home. Life is easier, we do not have to put as much effort in watching the house.

Paula will work on the evening before Christmas Eve, however. As a nurse, she needs to take part in keeping the hospital operational any day and any time of the year. I salute her for this, but I also like it better when she is at home.

It will be a nice Christmas, I am sure.

Cold Indoors

It became increasingly coldindoors. It was bearable, of course, with Shiba coats. It still felt unusually cold.

The radiators were cold. Daniel concluded that the heat did not work. Our house is heated with electricity. It turned out a fuse had burned out. Fortunately, we had a new fuse of the same kind at home, so Daniel could change fuses.

We had to wait for a while, but now, the radiators are warm again. We have heat in the house. It is nice to have resourceful humans, who can change fuses when necessary.

Sausage Test

Paula has bought a lot of sausages for Christmas. We had a sausage test session today.

I loved all of the sausages. It is easy to love sausages, their main component is meat. Of course, some sausages are better than others. I usually like sausages with a lot of spices a little less than other sausages, for example.

Paula said she would give some of the sausages away. This may be a good idea. There is an old saying that you should give away the things that you love the most. Otherwise, if we would keep all of the sausages, they would not become too old, I can assure everyone of this.

Bloodhound Supersonic Car

I would normally not be interested in supersonic cars. When it is named after a dog breed, however, there is some merit in taking an interest in it. 

The Bloodhound supersonic car will ise a Rolls Royce Eurofighter jet engine to make an attempt at breaking a speed record. I like it, because of its name. The Bloodhound is a dog breed. I would have loved it, had it been the Shiba supersonic car, but I like it the way it is.

Snow

We did get some snow this morning. It stayed throughout the day. It wasnot more than two centimetres, but still snow.

The forecast predicts temperatures above the freezing point later this week. We will have to see if the snow will stay. I hope it will.

Blast in Sapporo

A huge blast in a restaurant in Sapporo, Japan, has killed over 40 humans. The cause of the blast is yet unknown.

I hope there were no Shibas or other dogs affected, killed, injuried, or who lost their humans. The news does not say.

It may be just an accident. I hope it is not a terrorist bomb.

Earthrise

The American astronauts on Appolo 8, who orbited the Moon, took the famous Earthrise photography, where Earth rose over the horizon of the Moon from the view of the orbiting spacecraft. You can see a short documentary about it here. I highly recommend it!

The Appolo project is one of the greatest feats of humanity to this date. It will be dwarfed by greater feats in the future, I hope, but it must always be considered in the history of our civilisation. Visiting the Moon is something special.

Friday

It is Friday today. The weekend is coming, with less duties, less stress. I would like to take it really easy this evening. Once I have finished this blog post, I can. There are days when I would prefer not to have this daily blog. Most days, I love it, but not tonight. Stay tuned for better posts.

Passwords

There are a lot of passwords to remember all around the Internet. I am glad I remember my passwords.

Daniel got a notice that he should rewrite his password for his e-mail, bit at first, he could not recall it. He tried some passwords, but they were wrong. When he started thinking about other things, the memory came back, and he could log in to the system. Memory can be weird this way, you cannot remember a thing until you start thinking about something else. This does not happen to me, well, mostly.

Without Internet, we would not need to remember so many passwords. On the other paw, on the Internet, you can find a lot of facts that you do not have to remener, because you can find them there. There are just other things to remember with the Internet.

Free Trade

The EU Parliament ratified the free trade agreement between the EU and Japan today. This is a great decision about a great agreement. It might even be easier for Shibas to move from Japan to Europe, or for that matter, from Europe to Japan. Free trade between democracies with largely free economies is a good thing for all humans and dogs.

Genes for Red Hair

Scientists have researched the genes giving humans red hair. Among humans, black hair is most common, while red hair is very rare. This is the opposite of the proportions with Shibas. I suppose, then, that the genes for red or black hair inhumans are not quite the same as the genes for red or black & tan coats for Shibas. I hope they will continue the research with a focuson dog breeds. This would be interesting.

New Aircraft Carrier

Japan is planning to rebuild one of its largest naval vessels, a destroyer with helicopters on it, so it can deploy aircraft such as the short take of and landing airplane F-35. This new aircraft carrier will be the first of the Japanese navy since the Second World War.

There is critique, of course. Japan has a pacifistic Constitution and only has defence forces. There is, however, an increasing military threat from China, which strengthens its own navy and aircraft carrier capability. I am in favour of Japanese military expenses to counter the Chinese threat.

Nobel Prizes

The Nobel Prizes for this year have been awarded. The feast afterwards is aired on TV. It is supposed to be a very fine party. I do not see any dogs, though. The best kind of party must involve dogs, mustn't it?

It is a great thing to award prizes to prominent scientists. There is one prize in medicine and physiology. I have yet to hear about a researcher in veterinary medicine winning this prize. I hope this will happen sometime.

Crisps

Paula and Daniel had some crisps tonight. I wish they would have shared some with me. Crips are tasty. I do understand why they wanted the crisps for themselves.

It is funny that crisps are called chips in Swedish, while chips is called pommes frites. Human languages have many funny details like this. I guess this is because these languages are so complicated. Dogs have the same language allover the world, but it lacks in detail. I couldnot write my blog in dog language.

I wish I got a bag full of crisps.

The Snow Stayed

We have snow on the ground. It stayed. It is just about two centimetres, but it is there. Not enough to play in, but enough to make the world brighter. The brightness from the snow makes winter better. I wish we will have snow from now on until March or April.

Snow

Snowis falling this evening. Thisis so cool.

Snow is cool, bothlitteraly and metaphorically. It is chrystals of water ice, hence, it is always cooler than the freezing point. It is also a symbolof winter and of Christmas, and great to play in. I love snow, it is so cool.

White Reindeer

A white reindeer has been spotted and photographed in Norway. White reindeer are very rare.

White reindeer are white due to a genetic condition, but it is not albinism. I guess you could compare them to cream coloured Shibas. I wonder, though, if the white colour is accepted in the breed standard of the reindeer breed in question. It does not say in the article I have read. The meat is probably just as tasty as that of any other reindeer, and this is what matters the most.

Egg Nog

Paula made some egg nog tonight. This is a great treat.

I know egg nog is a British and American Christmas tradition. It is, thus, extra suitable to have egg nog in December. Christmas is coming. I am half American, so American Christmas traditions are great for me.

I would want more egg nog.

Christmas Food

Daniel was away this evening. He ate Christmas dinner with friends in the political party of which he is a member. I wish I would have been there. I enjoy Christmas food. I also believe I would have been at the centre of the party.

Daniel had made a quiz to the participants of the dinner. I would not have answered the quiz, quizes are not my cup of tea. Daniel likes them, however.

I will get Christmas food at Christmas. I am looking forward to this.

Lights

We put up the Christmas chandeliers in the windows today. It gives us a nice feeling for the season.

On the other paw, rain fell this evening. This is not in tune with the season. Actually, I wonder why. Most years, there is no snow on the ground in early December. Perhaps we could say rain is really in tune with the season, this early in December? I still hope for a white Christmas.

Christmas Greetings

We spent part of this day writing Christmas greeting cards. This is a fine human tradition. Even though you may not hear much from a loved one all year, you still send them a Christmas card. Hopefully, you will also get one from the same person.

We usually send more Christmas cards than we receive. Daniel says this is all right, he says it is better to give than to get.

The most important addressees of our Christmas cards will get a card. We will have to see if we get time to write some more. I hope we will, these cards are a fine gesture.