Snow

We got about ten centimetres of snow yesterday. I am happy, it makes the world a little brighter. I thought I would want to play in it, as I have done for years of my life. It seems like I am not that interested anymore. Is it my age? I am not sure. Perhaps my playfulness will come back.

Tripping

Paula tripped and fell on the kitchen floor. This was odd. It was not dangerous in any way, just odd. Paula was not hurt. Daniel helped her up on her feet. She would have managed it herself, had Daniel not been there, but it was, perhaps, a little quicker to get upon the feet with a little help.

An advantage of being a dog is that you have four paws. If you trip, you do not fall as far. You get up easier. It is easier keeping your balance. Nothing happened to Paula, but there is even less risk that anything would happen to a dog who trips, than to a human. It feels good being a dog.

Fetching Paula

Paula was away eating Christmas food with her colleagues tonight. When she was done, Daniel and I picked her up. It is an old and good tradition that I tag along, when Daniel fetches Paula late at noght. Traditions should be adhered to. It was a good night.

Abide With Me

Paula is playing hymns this evening. Hymns are often sothing and nice. They raise you up and make you feel good. I can understand why Paula likes them. I like them too, though not so much.

As a Shiba, I always feel good, just for being a Shiba. Still, I can feel even better with nice music.

Abide With Me is a nice hymn in English. I like English, the language of my Mum. The newest member of our pack, Peanut, was born in England. English is his language too. He also likes Abide With Me. We could hear hymns in English more often, of this, we agree.

Pre School

Mia’s chldren go to pre school. I was there with Mia and Paula this afternoon and fetched the children. I am sure it worked out better than ever, because I was there.

Good and Bad News

There are good news and bad news today.

The good news is that the burning of coal has decreased this year.

The bad news is that the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has hit a record high value.

We just have to hope the decrease is the beginning of a trend and that this will soon create a real change and decrease of greenhouse gases in the air as well. Dogs, humans, and others need a stable climate.

Gigner Bread Dough

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Ginger bread is a bread of the season. You can eat ginger bread the year round, but it is more common around Christmas.

Paula and Daniel had purchased a loaf of ginger bread dough. Instead of baking ginger bread, we shared the dough this evening. I believe ginger bread dough is tastier than baked ginger bread. I got a lot of it, too. It is rewarding to be close by when the good things are cut up and shared. Sharing the dough was like a sense of Christmas before Christmas. I liked it.

Pasta

We got some pasta tonight. It was tasty.

Mudd

We have had rain today. It is typical for the season. The rain turns the dirt on the ground into mudd. The mudd sticks to our paws when we are outdoors, then stays on the floor inside the entrance of the house. Daniel has cleaned the floor yesterday, then once again today. This is also typical for the season. I like the clean floors, it feels better when walking on it. When it gets colder, the mudd outdoors freezes, then the floors stay cleaner. This is good.

Masterchef

We watched an episode of the TV show Masterchef today. It is about humans competing to become great chefs. They cook a lot of great food. However, they only cook for other humans. I would like to see an episode sometime, when they cook for dogs.

Fish Pate

Paula made some fish pate this evening. Calvin and I got a little piece each. As with most fish dishes, it was very tasty.

Fish is delicious. Some humans think dogs like meat like pork, veal, chicken, and the like the most. Thisis not true for Shibas, we generally love fish. This is probably due to the great traditions of eating fish in Japan. Nobody should be surprised we love fish pate.

No Problems

Our new friend Peanut went to the veterinarian today for a general check up. He passed with flying colours.

I like Peanut. He is a nice young fellow. He is a great match formy grand daughter Li’l Gertrud. She is, however, not yet as fond of him as I believe she should be. I guess she will, when she gets to know him better. I hope she will. Nobody else has any problems with Peanut.

I Do Not Know What Happened

When I logged in to my blogger profile tonight, I could see that my blog entry for yesterday was not published. It was saved, but not published. I do not know why. The first thing I did was to publish it. It must be noted that it was written yesterday, even though it was published today. Oh, well, everything does not go according to plan.

Left-paw Traffic

On the morning walks, we usually walk along a main road with more traffic than on the road where we live. This morning was the first one where Peanut, our new friend from England, went along. Peanut said he was a little uncomfortable with the cars going on the right side of the road. He said vehicles should go on the left side of the road. Peanut said left-paw traffic is the right way.

I have been in many countries with right-paw traffic, like Norway, Denmark, Finlanf, Germany, and Framce. Peanut was born and raised in the United Kingdom, where they have left-paw traffic. We did have left-paw traffic in Sweden until the 3 September 1967, but this was a long time ago. We changed, because all of our neighbours had right-paw traffic.

Peanut did have one great argument for left-paw traffic, however: Japan has left-paw traffic. If the Japanese, and the Emperor, have left-paw traffic, perhaps all countries with Shibas should have it, too? This is not enough. I guess it would be difficult to convince the Swedes and their neighbours to change because of this.

A New Friend

A new black and tan Shiba boy has moved home to us this weekend. He is a nice boy who has blended in with us just fine.

It is as I usually say: black and tan Shibas are something extra. We are great in almost anything we do. It is a small wonder, then, how easily he just came in to our family.

Calvin

This Friday, I have had a fun day with Calvin. He is a nice fellow, and father of one of my puppy litters. I often commend him too little, he is worth praise.

Television

We have got a new router for our Internet connection and television. At first, the TV set would not work. Paula took care of this today. One of the necessary cables had not been connected well enough, but now it is. We have good television connection again. The router and Internet is better. I guess it was worth the trouble to get a new router.

Rain

A few days ago, when we got snow, I predicted that this layer of snow would not last. This proved to be correct. We had rain today and all the snow on the ground disappeared.

The snow we had was not much to have. it was a layer of less than a centimetre. We hope to get a real layer of snow soon. Snow to jump and play in. Despite my age, I can enjoy playing in the snow. I wish I can do this at least another winter.

Chihuahua Grabbed By Bird

A Chihuahua is a very small dog, about the size of our Toy Poodle friend Laila.

In Aberdeen, Scotland, a Chihuahua who was outside in the garden was grabbed by a bird of prey, who tried to fly away with the dog. One of the dog’s humans got hold of the bird and released the dog, however. The bird flew away. The dog survived after some veterinary treatment, but is now not comfortable about going out in the garden. I do not blame her.

Adult Shibas are too big to be grabbed by birds. Toy Poodles or Shiba pups could be grabbed. We have never seen any bird of prey close by, even though we have heard owls now and then. I hope nothing like this will ever happen to us.

Father’s Day

It is Father’s Day in Sweden. I got to come with Paula and Daniel to Paula’s parents and celebrate Paula’s father. We got some great pastries.

My own father passed away many years ago. Daniel’s father passed away earlier this year. I could comfort him for not having a father to celebrate anymore.

Over all, it was a good day.

Goose

Paula and Daniel went away this evening to go to a goose party. They would eat goose meat. It is some kind of tradition to eat goose this time of the year. I wish I could also eat goose. Meat is always tasty. I am sure goose would be as tasty as any other meat. It would be great to try it.

Chicken Sandwich

Hello, Karstuhl here!

Paula gave us food today. Your ordinary dog food, which is good, but, alas, ordinary.

For herself, Paula got a chicken sandwich. Why couldn’t I get one as well? This would have been out of the ordinary and good.

A Little More Snow

We got a little, little snow last Sunday. Today we got a little, little more. The grass is still visible between the snow flakes on the ground. It is early November, I guess this snow will disappear before there will be any lasting layer of thick snow. It is still autumn.

Gustavus Adolphus

We celebrated the old Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus today. Calvin and I got to share a pastry. This is the kind of celebration I like. I believe Gustavus Adolphus was a hero, otherwise, there would not have been a pastry named for him.

Sleep

Paula wants to sleep and asks us to turn every light off. I will have to write more tomorrow.

Reflective Vest

This time of the year, it is dark outside when we make our morning walks. Danieluses a reflective vest, to make sure vehicle drivers can see us from afar with the light of their headlights. It happens that he forgets the vest, then he takes us another way than the usual, along a main road with a lot of traffic. It is interesting not to walk the same way every morning, but I think it would be better if we did so by choice rather than because Daniel had forgotten his reflective vest. Oh, well, you cannot get  everything.

Snow

We got a little snow this evening. Winter is coming.

Earlier today, Allram left us for a new family. He really has had many strokes of bad luck, whenit comes to new families. This family seems to be good, however. We wish him all the best.

It would have been fun to show a young dog like Allram the joys of snow. Now he have to discover this somewhere else.

Gold

South Africa won the final of the Rugby World Cup versus England. It was South Africa that beat Japan in the quarter finals. It feels a little better that Japan was beaten by the very best team of the tournament.

Djurgården won the Swedish Championship in football. This is the team which has always been Daniel’s favourite, and was his father’s favourite. Being from Stockholm, as the team, is a good reason. We congratulated Daniel for his team’s victory.

All Saints’ Day

It is the dayof all saints. If you do not have a name day, this is the day when you can be celebrated. It is the dayof the saints who do not have a day of theirown. It is the dayof all of those whohave left us. I celebrate my mother Sunni and my father Kuro, as well as their ancestors. The dead must be aknowledged. May they be well remebered!