Spring Celebration

It is the last evening of April, when spring is celebrated across most of Sweden. We call it Valborgsmässoafton (Valborg’s Mass Eve), since tomorrow is the name day of Saint Valborg. On this day, large bonfires are often lit. With the dry April we have had, many bonfires have been left unlit this year. I hope it will be better next year, and that we get a lot of rain in May to compensate for the dry weather in April. Draught is no fun.

Something Might Be Broken

There is an ugly sound coming from the back of the car, when itis on the move. We are afraid something is broken, probably the suspension or something in that area. It is difficult having a car that is not working properly, especially since it usually cost a lot of money to have it fixed.

Sometimes, I wish technical stuff would just not be so complicated, so they would not be torn or broken as often as they are. A car will not heal, either, as a dog, a human, or other animal does. I am glad they work most of the time, though.

An Excellent Start

My granddaughter Gertrud and grnadson Harry started their dog show careers yesterday. Both of them won CAC’s.

This is an excellent debut in official dog show classes. I wish them both good luck on their upcoming dog shows.

Gertrud told me she had liked going to the show. Thisis just like Ihave always done myself, so I enjoyed hearing this. Perhaps Gertrud is my true successor in the show rings?

Certificates

Hello, Gerstuhl here!

I went with Paula and Daniel to a dog show today. My brother Harry and his humans were there as well.

We both competed in intermediary class, both winning the respective classes. Harry was best male and won a certificate. I was second best bitch, but I lost to a bitch who was already a champion, so I won a certificate as well.

It was a great day. Harry and I had not met for a very long time, it was nice seeing him again. The great reaults in the show ring for the both of us were also terrific. On top of this, we got good things to eat.

I can understand why granny Hailey is so fond of going to dog shows.

A Nice Japanese Movie

Daniel and I watched a Japanese movie tonight on C More. It is called Your Name. It is a love story with supernatural ingredients. Even though there are just a few images of dogs in it, it is a lovely story of human love. If you have C More and like love stories, do watch it!

Peace Gift Puppies

A dog in South Korea has given birth to puppies. This is not any South Korean dog, it is a peace gift from the President of Norh Korra to the President of South Korea. The dog was given less than two months ago and must have been bred before this.

This must be one of the finest peace gifts ever given. There are good things coming from North Korea.

I presume the pups will be registered with the South Korean kennel club.

Draught

We have had warm and sunny weather for months, no rain in sight. There have been reports about forest fires in other parts of Sweden, the kind of fires normally just heard of in the middle of the summer. Rain might come next week. I sure hope it does. I do not like to be outdoors when it is raining, but I am tired of this draught now. Nature needs rain.

Rain Over Notre Dame?

There is a risk that the fire damaged cathedral Notre Dame in Paris may be further damaged, if rain wound fall upon it. Parts of the carhedral have been covered, but sufficient cover for all of the cathedralis not yet in place.

We yearn for rain here in Örebro. We have not had a drop of rain in weeks. I wish all of the rain that the forecasts predict for Paris in the comming weeks, would fall on Örebor instead. This would preserve the old cathedral, and it would give much needed water to all the growing things in Örebro, as well as to our well.

You cannot predict the weather, but you can hope.

We Are Shibas

Hello, Orange here!

A member of my son Fuji’s family had posted a picture on Facebook of Fuji. Naturally, a lot of people commented on it, stating that he is cute. One friend of Paula and Daniel wondered, however, what breed is was. She wrote that shehad forgotten. Daniel answered that Fuji is a Shiba.

We are Shibas. I tend to forget that not everybody knows this. As I am a Shiba, and a lot of my family and friends consist of Shibas, it is easy to forget that there are so many families around the world who does not have a single Shiba in their household. I feel sorry for them, and I can understand why people forget that we are Shibas. I wish more people would remember this. Perhaps they will in the future. I have helped populate the world with Shibas.

Late Night Easter Cake

Late at night after Easter Day, we got up and Paula let us taste an Easter cake.

There is not a single type of cake called Easter cake, as far as I can tell. This cake had an Easter yellow top and was similar to a Princess cake. It was quite tasty.

There can be many reasons for getting up late at night. Having a late night snack is one of the better reasons, especially when the snack is cake. I really enjoyed this cake.

Happy Easter!

It is Easter Day. We celebrated mainly by having a nice and quiet day at home.

Easter is the holiday when Swedes eat the most candy. We have had a lot of candy this Easter, and had it today as well. Life is good.

The Day in Between

Good Friday was yesterday, Easter Dayis tomorrow. This day is Easter Eve, the dayin between the two fundamental and great days of Christian worship.

It says in the Bible that on Good Friday, Christ died for the sins of humanity. He made the ultimate sacrifice to God, so that anyone who believes in him will be saved. On Easter Day, Christ rose again from being dead, thus defeating death and promising eternal life for those who believes.

Is this salvatio. there for dogs too,or do we not need it? If sin is something essentially human, perhaps dogs do not need to be saved from sin. Will we have eternal life? Paula says she is sure we will.

Nevertheless, Easter is a nice holiday with a lot of good food and candy. I wish you all a Happy Easter!

Bread Rolls with Cheese

One of the exciting things about feeding time is that you can never be sure what your humans put in your food bowl. It is often just your ordinary dog food, but quite often as well, we get something extra in the bowls. The extra treat today was rolls of thin bread with cheese. This was quite tasty. Bread is quite all right, cheese is great. It formed a very good combination. I wish we could have these kinds of treats more often.

Winning a Series of Games

Daniel is happy tonight. His favourite Swedish ice hockey team, Djurgården, has made it to the finals and has a chance to win gold.

I am not that interested in ice hockey, but I am happy for Daniel’s sake.

It is interesting to note that although Djurgården did not score most goals through the seven games, they won most of the games. This is what counts in the end. It is the same under many circumstances, you do not win for scoring the most, you win for scoring at the right time.

Birthday

Daniel has a sister who turns another decade old today. Congratulations to her! She does not have any dogs, but she is still Daniel’s sister and when I have met her, she was a very nice person. We have sent her a birthday card by mail, I hope she liked it.

Notre Dame

The great, old Cathedral Notre Dame (Our Lady, a.k.a. the Virgin Mary, mother of God) in Paris is on fire.

The fire probably started as an accident, in conection with renovations.

This is a great tragedy. Notre Dame is a symbol of the Church, one of the greatest such symbols. It is also a symbol of Paris and, thus, of France.

I hope most of the Cathedral will be saved and that the burned parts will be rebuilt.

Home Again

Hello, Orange here!

This weekend, I have been away, but I am back home now.

It has been a good weekend. I have learned to know a new family, very nice people. They liked me as much as I liked them, as far as I can tell.

It might be, that I will move to this new family. I would like this. I love it back home, but with the new family, I would be the top ranked dog. We will have to see what happens.

Coffee Maker

We got a new coffee maker today. Paula and Daniel rarely drink coffee at home, but often serve it when they have guests here. None of us dogs drink coffee. Our coffee maker was fairly old, so Paula got a deal for a new one. I guess this is important, since it is always important to impress guests, and good coffee is, apparently, something toimpress guests by. Thus, I hope the new coffee maker will be a success.

Weekend Journey

Hello, Orange here!

I will spend this weekend with another family in our town. They are nice people, it will be an adventure.

There are times when I have been envious of the dogs who have moved from one place to another, where the other place may be our place. I was born and raised here and still live here. It will be quite interesting to see someplace else. I will let you know more when I am back.

Floors

This time of the year, the floors tend to get dirty. It is not so bad this year, since itis so dry outside, but there are dirt coming in from outside. I guess it is one advantage of the dry spring we have. Still, the floors have to be cleaned now and then.

We helped Daniel clean the floors tonight. It feels better walking on cleaner floors. Perhaps we should clean the floors even more often than we do? It is, however, a boring thing to do. You can do it often, but not too often, in order not to be too bored. The floors are clean enough most of the time.

Cold and Dry

We have had coldmornings this week. The temperatures have been well below zero. Still, there has been no frost. It is very dry. We had a little snow yesterday morning, but there has been no other precipitation for a long time. I hope our well will not run dry.

A Year of Food

My brother Jiro has won a competition. The prize was a year’s worth of dog food.

I hope Jiro remember me, his older sister from his litter, and that I might get a little piece of the prize.

Most of all, I want to congratulate Jiro for the victory. He is a great Shiba, well worth the prize. After all, he became Swedish Show Champion even before me. He deserves this victory.

New Family

Hello, Orange here!

We had visitors today, a couple of humans who wanted to be Allram’s new family. They were very nice people and had a friendly Lhasa Apso, so we decided they could be. Allram will move to them next weekend. A red male Shiba was just what they wished for.

I believe this will be great for Allram, though I will miss him. You have to let your pups get their own families and lives.

It Goes On and On

The process on Brexit, when and how Britain will leave the European Union, goes on.

Today, the debates in the House of Commons wereinterrupted by water flowing in from the ceiling. I guess not even the forces of nature think the prolonged Brexit process is anything to be happy about.

New Era

With every new Emperor in Japan, there is a new era. Each era has a name.

In May, the current Emperor Akihito will step down. His eldest son will become the new Emperor. The name of the new era will be Reiwa.

Some people in Japan believes it is unnecessary to stick to the old custom of naming eras for the Emperors. I disagree. I cannot see any reasonable reason to discontinue this tradition, thus, I cannot see any need to do so.

I wish the new Emperor and all of the dogs and humans in Japan good luck in the new era.

Joke

No, there was no meteorite that fell close to us. Nothing fell from the sky yesterday. It was just my annual April's fools joke.

Meteorite Struck an Old House

A small meteorite has struck down in the woods between our house and the house of Paula's parents. We went there and watched the crater on the morning walk today. The forces of nature are strong. We were lucky, though, everything that was struck was trees and one of the old, abandoned summer houses. Now, there is no need to tear this house down, the town can save some money.