Regardless of my wishes, which I expressed in my blog yesterday, there has been thaw today. We have had temperatures of several degrees above the freezing point. I want to have winter and more snow to jump around in.
We will have to see if the thaw persists. I hope not.
Snow fell this morning. While there was snow on the ground already, it was less than a centimetre. Now I think we have at least three centimetres of snow. We have also had temperatures a little below the freezing point all day. This is good, it is real winter and I like this.
This evening, Paula asked Daniel for a kiss. He said he could not, however, because he was busy petting me.
Paula is such a great human, that she accepted this objection hands down.
Nothing comes between a dog and her human.
Daniel is working again, the days between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve. He is satisfied with this.
I cannot understand the joy Daniel sees in sitting in front of the computer reading and writing all day. For me, writing my blog for a couple of minutes is quite enough.
The advantage of the pandemic is that Daniel works from home a lot. He did this today as well. We can have him with us, even though he is working. Life is good.
It has been a cold day outdoors. We have spent most of it indoors, just because of the cold. Life is good, when we have lazy days like this.
Paula has misplaced her mobile phone more than once today. I can see why this annoys her. Unfortunately, it annoys the rest of us as well, when she asks for help again and again to find it again.
Apart from this, it has been a good day. We have mostly taken it easy. Christmas Day is a good day, this way.
It is Christmas Eve, and we get more tasty food than ordinary. Christmas is great this way.
Now I have to return to our Christmas celebrations.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
My granddaughter Honey moved to her new family today. This is a great family, where my brother Nemo lived. Honey will not replace him, but there was room for her when Nemo left. I do not even need to wish Honey a great life, I know she will get a great life with this family. This makes me happy.
Hello, Honey here!
This is my first installment in my grandmother Polly’s blog. I am at her house, at the kennel whose kennel prefix is in my name in my pedigree. Grandmother says I could write more entries in the future, whenever I visit the kennel. I would like this. It feels like a good idea, writing a blog. We will have to see when I can do this.
Merry Christmas!
My grandson Dino moved to his new family this afternoon. They were here to fetch him. It was a nice couple of humans. I am sure Dino will get a good life with them.
It feels good that my grandpups will live with great families. My granddaughter will move to the family where my brother Nemo lived. These are great people, too.
Paula and Daniel are good at finding new families for pups. They have experience now, but also talent. This is a good combination. It makes for happy lives for the pups.
A new Swedish company is starting a production of batteries made primarily out of wood. This seems like a great product. I hope the company will succeed.
Paula had promised Daniel homemade lasagne for dinner. She is a great lasagne cook.
Of course, I helped. I believe this made the lasagne even better.
We all got to taste a little lasagne. It was as great as ever. It was a good evening.
From temperatures well below the freezing point for many days, we have had +5⁰ C today. The snow and ice has thawed. Will we have a green Christmas again this year? We had our hopes up for a white Christmas.
It is not to late for more cold days and snow, but it seems like the odds for a white Christmas has gone up. The hope is still with us, however.
Christmas Eve is in just ten days. This is a day of great treats. I just wonder what we shall give as Christmas gifts to Paula and Daniel. It seems like I am the responsible one who have to take charge and see to it that this happens. I will get back to this issue later.
The Formula 1 championship seemed to go to the same man as the last years. He led with a few laps to go. He needed to end before his closest competitor, which he would do. Then there was an accident. The Safety Car came out, the competitor changed to new tyres, and could catch up. The Safety Car left for a final lap, and the competitor passed and won both the race and the championship.
You often have to have a little luck to win. The main things are talent and a lot of work, but in the end, a little luck can be the final touch of fate that you need.
The new world champion sure is worth it.
Sometimes, you need to clean your home. We cleaned our home today. It feels better when it is clean. Life is good.
Daniel was supposed to be at a meeting with his Odd Fellows lodge tonight. Since he had a cold, he stayed at home. This benefitted us, who had his company the whole night.
I feel sorry for Daniel for having a cold, but I like it that he is at home because of it.
It is still cold outside and not very warm indoors. Paula took another blanket to sleep under. She is wise.
It was even colder today, colder than ever before this winter. At the morning walk, we cut it short, because we could. It was about -15° C.
I have a feeling this will be a long and cold winter. This many cold days makes everything colder, which will affect the temperature ahead as well. We will make it through, however.
Our Poodle friend Laila is rather old, but she is in heat. She has never been fond of pups, but it is not easy to override your hormones. Laila says she can, but Paula and Daniel do not believe her and take precausions. I guess nothing will happen.
It has been really cold for many days now, but when we finally got some snow, it was just a millimetre or so.
We have heard that there is much more snow in other parts of the country, even to the south of us. We would like to have more snow here. With this cold weather, it may very well be a white Christmas this year. This would be nice.
Paula got up early this morning and prepared a great breakfast. It was an English breakfast.
Peanut says English breakfasts are the best breakfasts in the world. He usually claims anything English is the best in the world, but in this instance, I can agree with him.
We got to taste some of this breakfast. With a start of the day like this, you cannot be sad ever again this day.
We have news about Gertrud. She is back home, feeling fine. She has regained her apetite and mobility, everything is fine again.
I am so happy to hear this. When you have had pups, the well being of your pups are always more important than the well being of yourself. It does not matter how old they become. When Gertrud is fine again, I do not have to worry, so I am fine again.
We celebrated a little for Gertrud tonight.
My dear daughter Gertrud has been injuried. Apparently, she made a wrong calculation for jumping up in a bed, and hit her head. She went to a veterinarian today. The prognosis is yet a little unsure, but we will hear more as soon as Gertrud’s family knows more.
We all hope she will get well soon.
It is really cold outdoors, about five degrees below zero. I do not really care, neither do the other Shibas. It has to be much colder than this for us to complain. The parking brake on Daniel’s car complain, however. It does not want to let go of the car. When we use the climate control, it losens up, but it is still annoying. Cars should work better than this.
Hello, Gerstuhl here!
Finally, I got to go home.
I like it at my breeders’, where also my Mum lives. Nevertheless, there is no place like home. Now I am home. Life is great.
My dear brother Nemo has been ill for a while. His family has done everything they could to make him feel well, but it has not worked out. He could not walk properly and could not get enough energy from the food. The veterinarian could not help him anymore. This, thus, has become his last day. I miss him! Rest in peace, Nemo.
It is Friday and Paula made pancakes for lunch.
Pancakes are actually a Thursday lunch tradition in Sweden, but it is tasty and I do not mind getting some on a Friday. This is especially true since we did not get any yesterday, despite the fact that yesterday was a Thursday.
Life is good when you get pancakes.
Paula worked in the afternoon today. She slept until late in the morning, and we joined her. It was nice, until Paula discovered she had allmosa overslept. She had to rush to get us out, herself ready, and get going. Then We had a calm afternoon at home. It is no trouble to rush now and then, if you can relax in between.
Sweden got a new prime minister this morning. In the afternoon, the State budget proposed by the cabinet of her party and another party lost in the parliament. Then the other party of the cabinet decided to leave the cabinet. Thus, the new prime minister resigned. Politics can be complicated. I am glad I am not responsible.
Paula and Daniel were in a hurry this morning. It is not that they had overslept, but Paula suddenly realised she had to be downtown by seven o’clock in the morning. We had time to go out before they left, but it was by a narrow margin.
I am not sure what it was Paula had to do, but I hope she got there in time. It would be a waste to hurry, if she did not.
We had an open fire in our store tonight. This is cozy. It gives us heat and a fascinating thing to look at. I am glad my wolf ancestors decided to side with humans and their ability to control fire. Fire is a good thing, properly managed, and our humans know how to manage it. Life is good.
Hello, Gerstuhl here!
At first, the plan was that I would go back home last Sunday. However, my family at home suffered from bad stomach. Then the plan was that I would go back home today, but Daniel and Paula caught a cold.
The new plan is that I will go back home next Sunday. I like it here with my breeders and the other dogs, but there is no place like home. I look forward to next Sunday.
Daniel has a cold. He coughs a lot, and rests a little more than the average Saturday. He has still gone grocery shopping and done some laundry. Daniel is annoyed with the ordinary view that men feel close to death from a common cold. He says he does not and that when he grew up, his father never did. I do not accuse Daniel of faking feeling close to death, but I understand his view. On a Saturday, you may rest, nevertheless.
Paula’s niece Nadja celebrated her birthday today. She turned five years old. Our Chihuahua friend Piffy was specially invited by Nadja and came along with Paula and Daniel, when they went there for the party.
While I enjoyed staying at home, I was told it was a nice party. I would like to congratulate Nadja here in the blog instead. Congratulations, Nadja!
Two years ago, the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris burnes down. Work is in progress to reconstruct it. This is good, cathedrals are awe inspiring buildings that we need.
Here is a nice article about reconstructing it. There is a lot of work reconstructing a building many centuries old, but I think it can be done. It has been done before.
The US space agency NASA has postponed the next planned manned Moon mission from 2024 to 2025.
It excites me to know that there will be new Moon missions. However, I am afraid will not live long enough to watch the news about them as they happen. For a dog like me, whose name is Full Moon Eclips, this is a little sad. I wish grandpups of mine will be able to follow the news, at least.
We had gone to bed a while ago tonight, when Daniel realised he had not put on the alarm for tomorrow morning on the alarm clock. He had to get up and do this. This made a disturbance in the harmony in the bed. On the other paw, it would have been a greater disturbance tomorrow, if we would have overslept. Harmony is restored now.
Daniel always keeps the alarm clock at a distance, so he has to get out of the bed to turn it off. This makes him avoid the risk of turning the alarm off and just go back to sleep.
Sweden finished second in its qualifying group to the FIFA football World Cup next year. This was not just due to the loss versus Spain yesterday. It was worse that Sweden lost against Greece and Georgia in the away games. At least Georgia is so much lower in ranking than Sweden, that Sweden should have won. Now we have to hope that Sweden succeeds through the play off games among the teams that were second in their groups. We hope this will happen.
Hello, Gerstuhl here!
The plan was that I would go back home to my own family today. However, there had been illness and fever there. We all agreed that Paula, Daniel, and I will go there next weekend instead.
This means that I will stay with my breeders and the other dogs here for another week. This is good, but there is no place like home. I long to get home. On the other paw, if you wait for something great, you never wait for too long.
Hello, Gerstuhl here!
This evening, Paula and Daniel went away to a party. They were eating goose.
I would also like to taste goose. Not that I know, but I believe it is tasty. It is meat, after all. Meat is always tasty. It is not that I was hungry or anything, but I am always open to try meat.
We will have to see if there can be goose some time in the future.
Daniel was away this Friday night, as he occasionaly is, as a member of an Order where they have meetings Friday nights. He usually come home late, past midnight. This night, he arrived home early – at least relatively speaking. He came home when the clock had not yet turned eleven in the night. We were happy that he came home before the rest of us had already put our lights out and went to sleep. It was a good Friday night.
A new airline will open with regular flights between Örebro and London. This is great. London is one of the biggest cities in Europe. If you can go there, you can also continue to most of the rest of the world.
Peanut is more happy than the rest of us. He was born in England and believes England is the centre of civilisation. If you go to England, why would you need to continue, he asks.
I believe that if there is a centre of civilisation, it might be Japan, where the Shiba breed is from.
At the start of this week, we allmosa had freezing degrees. There was frost on the groende in the mornings. Today, however, the mild and rainy autumn has returned now.
Daniel is pleased, because he has not had time to change to winter tyres on the cars yet.
Rain is always good for the water level in the well.
Our router does not work properly. We cannot watch TV or use the wifi.
We suspect that one of the cats have rested on the router once again, pushing the wrong buttons. While we love our cats, we do not like everything they do. When they disturb the communications channels, it is bad.
We have to see what can be done about the router tomorrow.
It is Monday night, work day tomorrow, but Daniel came home really late. He was satisfied with the evening, but sorry that it had become so late.
If I were to decide, we would often have early nights and late mornings. Resting and sleeping in the bed is just the best thing you can do.
In some countries, a special TV channel has been introduced which specialises in shows for dogs. I am not sure of this is necessary. Nature shows on TV can be entertaining, but other than that, I do not think I would ever care, even though the channel would be made for dogs. Life is good as it is, without very much TV.
Perhaps this channel would be good for dogs who are alone when they are at home. We never are, but have each other.
I guess we will get to know of this channel will be a success.
Paula cut the claws of the Chihuahuas tonight. They were not happy about it, but it was necessary.
I can understand the hesitation, when you are about to get your claws cut. It is not nice. There is always the risk that the cut goes a little too deep. I was relieved that it was just the Chihuahuas who got their claws cut. Necessary or not, it is better not to have to have the claws cut.
Hello, Gerstuhl here!
After a week and a half, I returned to the hospital where I had the Caesarian on Tuesday last week. My scars looked good, I had healed well.
I had not expected anything but a quick and full recovery. Shibas are healthy and strong dogs, we endure most hardships. It is still good to have a human from the hospital staff to observe me and conclude that everything looks good.
From what I hear, the pups are doing well, too.
While most of the dogs here at home share the bed with Paula and Daniel, I use the space of the sofa next to the bed. It happens that I say the bed is occupied. I think I could find a place to sleep in the bed, but I prefer to have the sofa on my own.
Do remember that if your bed is occupied, there might be a sofa close to it where you get much more space to sleep.
Paula and Daniel went to the cinema to see the latest Bond movie tonight. As dogs, we are not allowed in the cinema, so we have to wait to see it. However, we were told a bit about the movie when Paula and Daniel came home. They said it had some good action scenes, but that it was still not as good as many other Bond movies. I guess they cannot all be as great as others.
We went to bed a little earlier than usual today. I like this. Getting a good night’s sleep is underestimated as a means to feel good.
It will be a good night.
Hello, Gerstuhl here!
Daniel tried to write on his Ipad, but I wanted to be petted. My wish won, Daniel petted me. I cannot understand why anyone would rather write on a mobile device, than petting their dog.
Indeed, it is like Daniel says: petting your dog is never a waste of time.
Hello, Gerstuhl here!
Paula, Daniel, Piffy, and I went on a walk with a couple of prospective puppy buyers today. I think I charmed them, because they wanted to be the family of one of my pups. This is good, they were nice people. I believe this will be fine.
Paula cooles lasagne for dinner. Gerstuhl got to be around, when Paula and Daniel eat, and got to taste some lasagne. Paula cooks great lasagne. Gerstuhl was there, because she had her surgery earlier this week. I guess you should have some advantage from being a convalesent.
Paula and Daniel have talked about my granddaughter. They have started to make plans to let her live here by us.
This is good. My granddaughter will ensure the succession. This is the succession of the female line from my grandmother Sunni onwards, and the succession of bloggers in Daily Hailey, this daily blog started by my mother Hailey. We just have to hope the female line continues and that my granddaughter is interested in writing the blog when I cannot do it anymore.
The future is full of opportunities.
Daniel has made another road trip over the last two days. I do not envy him. Road trips take their toll.
Life is better when everyone is at home, accounted for. Now that Daniel is home again, we can take it more easy. I like this.
My grandpups are one day old today. I will not have the opportunity to take part in their upbringing. Gerstuhl went through a harsh ordeal yesterday with a Caesarian and emergency removal of her uterus. She could not take care of her pups. Fortunately, Paula and Daniel have good friends who are also Shiba breeders and who had a bitch who gave birth to pups on the very same day. This bitch took on Gerstuhl’s pups as her own.
If you are a female dog, ”bitch” is a badge of honour.
I would like to thank this foster mother. Perhaps I will, some day.
Hello, Gerstuhl here!
My pups would not come out. We went to a nearby animal hospital and they performed a Caesarian on me. The wounds hurt.
The pups are doing fine. As Mum says: this is the main thing.
There are days when you want to be confidential with what has happened. It may be something really important in your life, but also something you want to keep to yourself. On days like this, I write about other things in this daily blog. I will come back and tell you about what has happened today. It is not tragic, but something I want to keep confidential for a little while longer. Stay tuned!
Gerstuhl has still showed no signs of begetting her pups.
I cannot wait to become a grandmother.
Daniel is not home this weekend. Paula is, but not Daniel. He is representing our home county at the highest council for the Swedish Kennel Club. This council takes place every second year. I do not knowif it has a true name in English, so I just call it highest council. We are proud that Daniel is there. I hope he votes wisely.
Some mornings, we take walks that are a little shorter than usual. I enjoy the narrower walkway through the forrest for these walks, so when I get to decide, I chose this way. This is what I did this morning. The other dogs do not really care. I think Daniel likes the ordinary, little longer walk the best, but he allows me to decide once in a while. I enjoy this, so these days I am on a better mode. Life can be better through small means like this.
Hello, Gerstuhl here!
Paula, Daniel, and I went to the veterinary clinic today. With the help of x ray examination of my tummy, we got confirmed that I expect two pups.
I have wondered what my pups will be like for a long time. After the x ray result today, I am even more curious.
Mum has told me having pups is great. Then she joked and said that this was with the exception of me. We can joke with one another in this way. This is fun.
Hello, Gerstuhl here!
This evening, I was in the kitchen, when suddenly, everybody else were in the living room and the gate between the kitchen and the living room was closed. Paula asked Daniel where I was. He could just say that he had forgot to take me along, as he went from the kitchen to the living room.
I guess it was all Daniel’s fault. I am not to blame for not passing before the gate was closed.
Apart from this incident, it is really nice to be here at Aangenaam.
Paula made her famous lasagne for dinner today. There was more meat sauce than necessary, so she poured this in the dog food bowls. We got this for food. You can hardly imagine anything better to eat. I do not even believe that pure, fresh meat is tastier than Paula’s meat sauce. Paula is such a great cook.
Paula and Daniel have nerver had any fixad time for when they give us food. Most of the time, I do not mind. Today, however, it was a little too late for my taste. On the other paw, we got minced meat and spaghetti in the food. This really made up for the late time. The day, thus, turned out nicely. I liked it.
Paula and Daniel brought otur Chihuahua friends Piffy and Peppe on a long walk. They walked over to Paula’s sister Mia and back. This is no distance for a Shiba. For a Chihuahua, with their shorter legs, especially for the pup Peppe, it was quite a distance. Peppe was really tired when they came back.
It would have been a nice walk to join, but I also liked to stay at home and relax. It was a good day.
A Vietnamese coupe who were hospitalised due to covid-19 had their dogs killed by the authorities. Apparently, the authorities were affraid the dogs would spread the disease. The killing has caused controversy, in part because the coupe did not get to now about it until after the fact. I am so sorry to read about this. Unnecessary killings of dogs must be among the worst things authorities can do.
It is Friday night, and we celebrate the start of the weekend. The weekend gives is freedom, because there is no work for our humans, so they are at home more. Then we do not have to guard the house in the same way as other days. Freedom is good.
There has been an election among the members of the political party where Daniel is a member. (Paula is also a member.) In the election for the candidates to the city council, Daniel came fourth. He was happy for this result. I am as well, for his sake.
We have yet to see the result for the Swedish parliament and the regional election.
Sweden plats Greece tonight in the European qualification games for the FIFA World Cup of football next year. Sweden won, and sent up to the top of the group. This was a nice result. It is especially nice, since Spain is also in the same group. We can hope Sweden will end in this position in the group and go directly to the World Cup. We would like this here at Aangenaam.
Paula gave us food today. Most days, Daniel give us food. When Paula does it, the routine is slightly different. This is good, life should not be the same every day. Paula did it great, there was just a significant difference that appealed to me. Life is good, when it is not the same every day.
Hello, Gertrud here!
Now that I am back at Aangenaam, I have made new friends. There are some Chihuahuas living here now. They are small and speedy, and nice to be around. I always like to get new friends. Life here is good.
Hello, Gerstuhl here!
I am back at kennel Aangenaam. This is where I will get the pups I am expecting to get late in October or so.
It is nice coming back. I was born and raised here, so this is where the best pups are produced. My pups will, thus, be the very best of pups.
Friday afternoons are often great. They are the start of the weekend, when the humans take it easier, and we dogs can do the same.
This Friday afternoon was better than usual. Daniel opened up a package of minced meat and portioned it out among us dogs. This is always great. I wish we could always get minced meat on Friday afternoons.
A hobby of minne is chewing on togs, plasticitet bottles, and other chewy things. This is a nice passtime. It also results in nicely formed stuff.
This evening, Piffy had one of those plastic things I enjoy chewing upon. I waited patiently. As soon as Piffy left the thing, I grabbed it. Life then got more relaxing. Life is good in these instances.
Today I discovered that my blog entry for the day before yesterday was still not published. I do not know why.
I made sure this blog entry was published today. At least, it gave me something to write about for the blog today. There can be some positive things with badly published blog entries anyway.
There is a general election in Sweden next autumn. Daniel was away on a campaign tonight. I think it is too early. Daniel says you can never be too early, people need to be reminded throughout the election cycle. He may be right. I hope he will not be away on campaigns too many times long before the election, nevertheless.
The bad thing about autumn is that it is almost always damp air and wet ground. It rains quite often, it is seldom sunny, and the water does not evaporate as in the summer or freeze as in the winter. It has not been rain all day today, but it has still been wet and damp all around. I do like many things about autumn, but not this dampness and wetness. Life is good anyway.
New evidence have suggested humans were in America as early as 23,000 or 22,000 years ago.
There is no evidence of dogs, however. Dogs were with humans in Eurasia this long ago, so they could easily have been with humans in America as well. In the future, such evidence may emerge. I hope it will.
We still have daylight saving time. This menas that daylight is saved from our morning walks. It is dark. Daniel wears a reflective vest on the outside of his coat. The street lights shine. I rather walk in sunlight than in street light. It will come back for a little while when daylight saving time is removed, then the dark winter mornings are here. I can accept dark mornings in the winter, but it is too early in the year yet. I do not like daylight saving time.
My dear daughter Gertrud was at the veterinärinspektör today for an ultra sound examinationer her tummy. It turnés out that she is pregnant with at least two pups.
For the very first time, I man going to be a grandmother! I am so looking forward to this.
Gunnar is the father of the pups. He is a nice looking guy and a Japanese Show Champion. With my daugher, it will be great pups.
There is a saying that the one who gives, gets the double back. For England, you could say that the one who gives, gets Dublin back. England gave the world the modern democracy, dog breeding, and industrialisation. These are about the most important things ever. Nevertheless, England lost Dublin, when Ireland broke free from the United Kingdom. No matter how good intentions you have, of you are a conqueror, you are always viewed upon as a bad person, and you will not get Dublin back.
After lunch today, I had a little stomach ache. Luckily, I could tell Daniel, and he let me out.
It is good to have so nice humans.
It did not take long for me, then I wanted to come in again. I barked, and was let in.
Apart from this, it was a calm Sunday.
There are too many auto correct functions. When I write a text, I always have to go back to check the words, to make sure auto correct has not changed them into something I did not intend to write. Many people are annoyed with auto correct, so I wonder why the software manufacturers keep including it in their programs. Something is weird about that. I wish they would stop.
There is a federal election in Germany tomorrow. Germany is a neighbour of Sweden, across the sea to the south, and an important trade partner. Our Affenpinscher friend Morran is especially interested in Germany, since her breed comes from Germany. This is like my interest in Japan.
I am not very interested in German politics. Morran and Daniel have discussed the upcoming election, though. Daniel says it would be best if CDU stays in power, even though a shift in power could be a good thing after many years of CDU rule. There are pros and cons, as Daniel says.
Morran comments that the colour of CDU is black, just like her coat and the majority of mine. I do not know if Morran’s argument is valid, but I like it, anyway.
It is Friday night, and we all go to bed, well aware of that tomorrow is Saturday and we can sleep until late in the morning. Saturday mornings are great.
Paula and Daniel have mobile telephones of different brands. They have different chargers. Paula cannot charge ber telephone with Daniel’s charger, and vice versa.
The EU Commission has now proposed new rules requiring all mobile devices to have the same type of chargers. While this may be convenient, some manufacturers say it will impair innovation.
I guess there are merits to both arguments. I would want chargers of the same sort for all devices, anyway.
Everythong is all right. lite is great.
There are days when the apps do not work the way you want. This is one of those days. Once you deal with it, life is great again.
We had some herring for lunch today. It was actually Paula’s and Daniel’s lunch, but I got to taste some. It was very tasty. Our Chihuahua friend Pepe also liked it very much. He has got good taste, the little fellow.
I wish we would have fish more often. Fish is good food.
For the first time since before the pandemic, Daniel has been away to work as a ring steward at a dog show. It was a Dachshund specialty here in Örebro.
Dog shows are good for many many reasons. They give breeders chances to evaluate their breeding and to meet other breeders. Many dogs think they are a fun activity with their humans. They also add to the economy of the clubs who run the shows.
I am glad Daniel could work as a ring steward again. He will do the same tomorrow. It is also good to have him back home, now that it is a show in our own home town. Life gets better when the pandemic does not affect us as much any longer as it once did.
Daniel was at the office for a while. Work from home is still the norm, but he had some things to attend to. Then he came home, pitom other clothes, and left again. This evening, he will be away again.
I like going on walks, but going to and from the centre of the town like Daniel does today is much longer. I am glad I do not have to go here and there like this.
Paula has hurt her right arm a couple of times. She was operated at the hospital the day before yesterday. At first, when she came home, it did not hurt much. She had pain killers to deal with the pain. The real pain has arrived today. This means Paula has had the need for a lot of support. The other dogs and I have been close to Paula and supported her. We all believe she has benefited from this, Paula is included among those who believe this. Life will become better.
It is the 15 September. On this day, sixteen years ago, my mother was born. She was the first pup born of the first litter of kennel Aangenaam. This makes the 15 September the ultimate birthday. It is even better than my own birthday in February. Being the first pup of the first litter of the best breeders there are, must be the ultimate birthday.
Life is good. I have my mother to thank for it.
There are days when we do not get our ordinary dog food. This was one of those days. We got minced meat of pork.
Did you know that meat is derived from the Swedish word ”mat”, which means food. This os because meat is food, amd food is meat. Anything else than meat is not really food.
Paula and Daniel had sushi for dinner. I rarely ask for food when they eat, but sushi is so great that I could not discipline myself. Respectful of my Japanese heritage, Daniel took a piece of sushi with his eating sticks and gave it to me. I took it from the sticks and ate it. Sushi is eaten with sticks, you know.
Since Daniel is a politician, he participates in meetings some evenings. This evening, I took some part of it as well. I sat in Daniel’s lap, in front of the camera in the on line meeting. I made a success, people asked to see more of me and asked about me. Daniel told them a lot. I charmed them with my looks. This was a huge PR success for our breeding. Life is fun when people say such nice things about you.
For the first timein a while, we have had rain. It has been raining almost the whole day. It is nice to stay indoors in this weather. We did go out now and then, but kept it short.
Rain is good for nature and for the water level in our well. Still, it is annoying when you have to be outside in it. I hope for a lot of rain tonight, but no rain at the morning walk tomorrow. We will have to see if this wish of mine come true.
Ten years ago today, my grandmother Sunni wrote her only entry in her daughter (my mother) Hailey’s blog. It was for the ten year anniversary of the terror attacks primarily on the World Trade Center in New York, USA. Grandmother wrote about it, since she remembered that day from when she lived in the USA in the early years of her life. Her humans had been very upset, which also affected all of her dogs.
Grandmother Sunni is not with us anymore. Dogs very rarely live for up to twenty years. The attacks on the ninth of September 2001 are remembered by many humans, but not by dogs. Still, we accompany our humans in commemorating it today.
These attacks are often referred to as ”nine eleven”, after the American way of saying dates. This is the reason for my headline today.
Paula and Daniel tookit easy tonight. They shared a frozen pizza for dinner, heated in the oven. (I could have given you the name of the pizza manufacturer, but would not get any revenue for the commercial value of the fact that I would mention it, so I do not.) I got to taste some. While I have tasted better pizzas, frozenpizzas are comparatively cheap and this was quite tasty for the cost of buying it. I liked it. We could have frozen pizza more often, if I were to decide.
It can be a little annoying when you run into an interesting piece of news a while after its publication. This happened to me today, when I raninto this interesting piece about the inheritance of dogs’ coat colours. Scientists have unraveled how coat colours are inherited and can trace one aspect back to relatives to modern wolves two million years ago.
It is not a short article, but far from long. I recommend that you read it.
It is twenty hears ago to the day today, that Paula and Daniel married each other. This was long before I was born,of course. We have celebrated the anniversary today, however, and we have had fun.
It is a good thing Paula and Daniel found each other. I would not be, ifit had not been for them. This can be said about a lot of other dogs as well. We are all grateful for this.
Congratulations, Paula and Daniel!
My daughter Gertrud is named for Paula’s mother Gertrud. While my daughter had her birthday yesterday, Paula’s mother has her today.
Paula and Daniel went to Paula’s parents’ this evening to celebrate Paula’s mother. They brought greetings from allof us dogs and cats.
Birthday celebrations are always fun, but we had fun at home as well.
My last litter ofpups were bornon this date. It was Gerstuhl, who sometimes writes in this blog, and Harry, who moved to Upsala. Gerstuhl was here for two weeks until yesterday, but left before we had the chance to celebrate her birthday. She has a good life. I hope Harry has as well.
Happy birthday, my dear pups Gertrud and Harry. To me, you will always be pups.
Hello, Gerstuhl here!
It is time for me to go home to Solna again. My humans come and pick me up today.
This has been a good time at my breeders’ place. I have come to be friends with Gunnar. He is a somewhat grumpy Shiba male, but he does have his heart in the right place.
I might come back later in the autumn. This is if I am expecting pups, in which case I will get them here at my breeders’. I hope it will be so, it seems so interesting to be a mother of pups.
The Prime Minister of Japan, Yohsihide Suga, has announced that he will resign. He has just been PM for about a year, but his approval points has gone down substantially. The ruling LDP will certainly fill the post of PM with someone else from their ranks. It will be interesting to see who may get the job.
Hello, Gerstuhl here!
It is somewhat disturbing that I am not in heat anymore. My darling Gunnar is less nice to me now. I still like him, but he treats me like just another dog who annoys him. Gunnar is a loner by heart. While I understand this view of life, I still think he could be a little nicer to me. After all, he was so nice while I was still in heat. Male dogs are weird in this way, they should be able to be civil without me being in heat. Oh, well, life is nice, anyway.
The 1970’s Swedish super pop band ABBA will release new music. This is huge, according to Paula and Daniel.
I do not really care. Music is not a big thing in the ears of a dog.
Hello, Gerstuhl here!
It is the last day of August. This is the last day of summer. It is, however, not the last day with my darling Gunnar. I have lived with him for a while now. He is a very nice fellow.
It has come to my knowledge that my humans will come get me this Sunday. I love them, butin a different way than I love Gunnar. I look forward to seeing them again, but I will miss Gunnar. Gunnar has told me he will miss me as well. We will certainly see each other in the future. Until then, we have some days until Sunday is here.
Itis the 31 of August. By the calendar,it is the last day of summer. It has been a sunny and fairly warm day. I have liked it and I believe this weather will continue for a couple of days. Summer may very well continue into September, if the weather is right. I like autumn too, but it does not have to start yet.
At the Belgian Grand Prix in Formula 1 yesterday, it was so heavy rainfall that there was no real race. The cars went around the lap twice, after the safety car, then the race was red flagged and discontinued.
We have had much rain in August, but far from the kind of heavy rainfall as they had in Spa in Belgium. I am glad we have not.
The Formula 1 organisation has now decided to review the rules, to see if it will be possible to avoid such events as yesterday. We will have to see what rule changes may come about.
A radio host in Florida who made a name of himself criticising vaccines got sick with covid-19 three weeks ago. He has now died. He even used to call himself Mr Anti-Vax.
I guess this man’s next of kin would now have wanted that he had vaccinated himself against covid-19.
Sometimes, as it is often said, karma is a bitch.
Hello, Gerstuhl here!
I have been back at my breeders’ for almost a week. It has been a week of constant rain. If there has not been rain falling from the sky, rain has still been left on the ground and in the trees. It is very humid and cold.
This is not the place I remember. It used to be better weather here, if I remember correctly. Prehaps I am just nostalgic. I do remember days with good weather, however. Will there be any of those this time around when I am here? I do hope so.
Nevertheless, life is good here together with my new friend Gunnar. We have really hit it off. This is great.
Sometimes, you wonder avout the great questions in life. The questions like: why are we here, what is the purpose of it all, why are treats so tasty? Then you just settle with the fact that life is full of wonders.
We have got wifi at home. Thisis usually a great means to communicate with the big world out there. Sometimes, however, it does not really work. I cannot see any pattern for when it works or not. It works well most of the time, but then you can just lose the connection, for no apparent reason. We have to be glad for all the time it works, but lesser downtime would be even better. It works when I upload this post, anyway. This is good.
Yesterday was Paula’s birthday, but I did not write about itin the blog. This made some readers to ask why. It is a very simple reason: Paula celebrated a week ago, when her parents, sister, nephew, and niece were here on a crayfish party. We did not forget the birthday yesterday, but it was just a little extra celebration between Paula, Daniel, and us dogs. Now life is back to normal again.
Hello, Gerstuhl here!
This is my third day back at the place where I was born, Aangenaam breeders. I have come to know a very handsome dog called Gunnar. He is not the friendliest dog I have met, but once we got to know eachother, we have gotten along fantasticly great.
It is nice to be able to come home once in a while. I miss the humans I live with, but when I am with them, I miss this place. Life is good, when you can go back to both.
Now and then, unknown numbers dial your number on the telephone and try to get a call through to you. I have learned not to nswer such calls.
Daniel got calls from unknown numbers on two different occasions today. He dismissed both. I am glad he did, since this is what you are supposed to do. There are too many weird people out there, trying to contact you through unknown numbers.
Life would be better without calls from unknown numbers.
Daniel took his bicycle to the office today. The weather was promising, with sunshine and all. Once he was done and would ride home again, the sky opened up for a heavy rainfall. When Daniel came home, he was wet from head to toe. He hurried to change shirts, then he was happy again.
I am glad I did not have to go out in the pouring rain. Water is all rightto drink, but I am not fond of it falling on me from the sky. Rain is good for al, the growing things and fills up our well. Still, I want water in some instances, but not all.
I am glad I could stay indoors throughout the rain today.
For various reasons, we got food very late in the evening today. This made me more hungry than usual, but it also made the food taste a little better, once we got the food. I do not blame our humans, they did give us food, like they always do. It is just that some days, the food comes a little late. I do not mind.
It was raining heavily all morning. It was like a shower of rain all the morning walk. Luckily, we all agreed to cut the walk short.
Later in the day, the rain was over. Then we could stay out for a longer time, making up for the shorter morning walk. It turned out good, regardless of all the rain in the morning. It feels good when everyone is in on a decision, this time to cut the walk short, and it turns out to be a good choice.
Paula was supposed to work at the court of law today. She got up early in the morning, only to read a text message that the proceedings were cancelled and her services not needed anymore. This was a great disappointment. I can understand this. It is like when this blog belonged to my late mother, I was supposed to write the daily entry, but she beat me to it. Life can be disappointing when you have to do something you do not want to do, but also when you want to do something, but your chance to do thisis cancelled. I feel sorry for Paula.
We had a crayfish party today. This is a Swedish specialty that most humans in Sweden love.
The party involved Paula, Daniel, and Paula’s parents, sister, nephew, and niece. These are all nice people. It was an early birthday celebration for Paula, because her nephew and niece will be with their father next weekend and could not celebrate at that time.
Peppe made friends with everybody.
It is difficukt to know what to do avout a day like this. We had rain in the morning, so Daniel put on a coat when we would take a walk. During the walk, we didnot experience a drop of rain. It was sunny weather and Daniel felt the coat made him too warm. In the afternoon, we had rain again. Daniel had had plans tomow the lawn, but he could not do this when the grass was so damp. I am not sure if he was more sad than relieved over this. Changing weather conditions are funny, in a way. As long as we stay indoors, however, we do not need to care much.
We got another Chihuahua friend today. Sir Paddington is a black and tan Chihuahua. This must be the very best colour combination of a Chihuahua.
We had some smörgåstårta today. Thisis a Swedish mix between a sandwich and a cake, and it is really tasty. It is Paula’s favourite food. I guess it is among my favourites, too, though I like pure meat better.
If you have never had smörgåstårta, you should. It is like a combinationof the best dishes there are (except for pure meat). Try it, you will like it!
Daniel started working again today, after a few weeks of vacation. It have been good weeks for all of us. Even though Daniel works a lot from home, he is more available for us whenhe is not working. We understand that Daniel needs to work to earn money, money is necessary to buy food and treats. It is still a nice thing when Daniel does not have to work, but can devote more time to us dogs. Well, life is good anyway.
The small dogs went with Paula and Daniel to the Ånnaboda Lake today. They got to swim in the lake. In the summer, it is warm enough to do this.
I am glad I got to stay at home. Swimming is nothing I fancy.
It is late summer now. When we are in August, summer is soon over. In September, it will definitely be too cold to swim. We take care of the last days of summer, but I like that I do not need to swim.
It is late in the summer and thunder and rain have visited us. Thunder is rather nice. It is a good thing that none of us who live here now are afraid of thunder.
Daniel often says that autumn is his favourite season. In some ways, I agree. There are fewer insects flying around and ticks are disappearing. Autumn is soon here. This is good. I wish the flying insects and ticks would always be where they are by late autumn.
A dog charity in England have had dogs in their care create paintings. The paintings are then sold to raise money for the charity.
This is a good initiative, I believe. It is always a good thing to give money to a dog charity. If you get a dog’s painting in return, it is a plus for all parties.
I want to see news on more initiatives like this.
The Swedish equestrian team won the gold in the team competition today. One of the horses was All In, for whom Peanut has received his pedigree name. We are all happy for this third Swedish gold of these Olympic Games. This must surely be the foremost Swedish sport victory of the year, despite the other Olympic gold medals, world championship gold medals in orienteering and skating. It would only be surpassed by an Olympic gold in a dog sport like agility. However, alas, there are still no Olympic competitions in dog sports. As long as thisis the case, equestrian sports may be the foremost sports. Go, All In!
It was the final in the ladies’ Olympic tournament in football, Sweden versus Canada. Sweden started out great, but made a less good second half. It went on through the additional time to penalty shots. Some team needs to win. Unfortunately, the Canadians were best at the penalty shots. They won the gold. Over all, the Swedish team has done a great tournament, but it did not end well enough. We should be happy for another silver, nevertheless.
Hello, Piffy here again!
This afternoon, Paula and Daniel took me and Viola to the Ånnaboda lake. We had to swim a bit. It was quite fun for a little while, but I prefer life on terra firma. It was a nice outing, anyway.
Peanut was pleased with the equestrian results in the Olympic Games. A Briton won the gold, Peanut is from Britain. A Swede won the silver, with the horse All In, for whom Peanut has got his name. It was a grand slam of sorts for Peanut.
Hello, Piffy here!
Morran, Viola, and I got to go with Paula and Daniel to the Ice Cream Temple. It is an ice cream cafe in a park about a kilometre away from our house. Paula and Daniel had someice cream, we were there for fun. It was nice to do something other than the usual stuff. I can live without ice cream.
We sat up until late this night. It became too late for me to write a blog entry for the second of August. I always strive to write a blog entry every day, as it is a daily blog, but it does not work every day. I hope you like my blog anyway.
August is here, the last of the summer months. It is not as warm outside, as it was many days in July. We will have to see how the weather will be in August. I guess it will be less warm. Autumn is closing in on us.
Daniel use to say that autumnis his favourite season. I do not know if I have a favourite season. Each season has its pros and cons. We still have summer for another month, though, which is great.
Hello, Piffy here!
This is the first day I can celebrate my birthday. I was born exactly one year ago today.
We celebrated with the Swedish specialty smörgåstårta. If you have not yet tested it, you have a great treat to look forward to. Smörgåstårta is like the greatest sandwich you can imagine, upgraded to a cake. It is more than great.
I thank all of my friends for their congratulations.
This afternoon, we watched the quarter final of the ladies’ Olympic football tournament. Sweden played Japan. Since all of us Shibas usually root for Japan, but also forour home country Sweden, this called for a heated debate. Peanut, who counts England as his homeland, where he was born, decided to root for Japan. Laila, our Poodle friend who was born in Japan, sided with Peanut. Javier and I rooted for Sweden.
Eventually, Sweden won, 3-1 (1-1). None of us were deeply disappointed.
Peanut was, however. disappointed that Australia won her quarter final versus Great Britain. As an English dog, he rooted for the British team. For him, it was a small comfort that Australia has the same Queen as Britain has. It is still a sovereign country, as he pointed out, not a British colony or dominion anymore. Nevertheless, this result will call for all of us to root for Sweden in the semi fonal versus Australia, which is not a bad thing.
Hello, Viola here!
I am one of the two Chihuahuas who are so close friends with Polly, that we are allowed to write entries in her blog. The other one is Piffy,
Piffy and I ran around in the living room this afternoon, barking at each other, for fun. Polly told us to stop. She tried to take a nap, but we disturbed her. She told me that if I could just calm down, I could write about it in the blog. This was a nice offer, so I did calm down. I believe Polly got herself a nice nap. This was a good trade.
Piffy realised that I had misspelled a few words. I have now corrected them. I think I am excused, since I am still a pup, but it is better to write correctly.
There were fewer bils to pay this month than usually, Daniel said today. While I do not really understand the concept of paying bills, I know that the fewer the bills there are, the better it is. There is more money for dog food and treats, if there are fewer bills to pay. This is good. Life is good.
We are having a late night, now that neither Daniel nor Paula are working days. Paula just said we can have an even longer night up, because it is just eleven o’clock. I like this. It is nice when we all are gathered in the livning room and just hang around. This is life as it should ideally be all the time. Life is good.
There was bad connection for a while today. This was because it was thunder and lightning outside. The bad weather affected our Internet connection in a bad way.
It was actually quite funny. The host of the Swedish Olympic Games broadcasts on TV said that there would be bad weather in Tokyo. Immediately after she said this, we heard the first
In the Olympic Games, Sweden beat Japan in the gentlemen’s handball. I am not so ure what to think of this. I am born and raised in Sweden, but I am of a Japanese dog breed.
It would have been nice, if Sweden would win against Japan in the final game. Then Sweden would get the gold medal and Japan the silver medal. In the beginning of the tournament it is another matter. I am ambivalent. What should I think? What do you think?
Paula and Daniel have beds that can be elevated into different positions by a remote controlled electric motor. This is cool.
The remote control to Daniel’s bed has been broken for a while. He got a new one the day before yesterday, but it did not work. He went back to the store to complain today. It turned out the new remote control must be initiated to the bed in a certain manner, and nobody had told Daniel or Paula about this. When Daniel came back home again, he tried to do what he had been taught. At first, it did not work, but after some tinkering and experimentation, it did. Now the bed works the way it should again. We are all happy for this.
The Olympic Games in Tokyo started today.
Whileit isin Tokyo, Japan, home of the Shiba breed,you have to take it seriously. At the same time, there are no dog competitions on the Olympic Games schedule. This makes the Games less serious. How can you claim that Games of all nations and all sports are there, when no dog sports are there? It is ridiculous.
Well, dog shows will soon start again.
Ten years ago today, a terrorist killed 77 people in Oslo and on Utøya, Norway. It was a Norwegian who was angry with the established political parties and was weird enough to commit mass murder because of it.
We watch a direct broadcast from Oslo, commemorating the victims and what happened. It feels important.
I wonder how many dogs lost humans that day.
For Sweden, the Olympic Games in Tokyo started today with the ladies' football tournament. Sweden best the favourite USA, 3-0. We are happy for the victory.
The official opening is yet to come. The main things is that it is in Tokyo. I like to see many views from there.
It can be cozy to lie in cramped quarters sometimes. This evening, I crawled in under the sofa in our living room. This was also a place where noone else came, so I was not disturbed, but they were close by in the living room, some on top of the sofa.
The down side with lying under the sofa, was that I had to struggle for a while to come out from under there, when it was time to go out for the evening. It was worth it, though. I will get in there again, when I feel like it.
Daniel is happy that his football club Djurgården won today, in the Swedish football league, versus Sleipner from Uppsala, 5-1. This is a good victory, but it is still not enough for winning the Swedish Championship. We hope, for Daniel's sake, that Djurgården wins the Championship.
Paula roots for Örebro, but they have played so badly this year they have no chance of winning.
Paula’s parents invited Paula and Daniel to a barbecue this afternoon. I wish I could have come. Grilled food is so tasty. It is not just the cooking method itself,it is also that grilled food is often nice meat.
I do get enough to eat. It is just that human food is often more exciting than dog food. Humans usually eat different things each day, while we dogs often get the same food every day. Ilike our dog food, but it could be better if we got different food more often. Grilled meat would be great.
The Appelate Court of Scania and Blekinge has sentenced a man to several years in prison (judgment 14 July 2021 in case B 1895-21) for possession of narcotics.
The narcotics was detected by a dog working for the Customs. Yet another time, thus, dogs prove to be of great use for humans. There just is no better way to detect drugs than with the help of a dog’s nose.
Daniel's summer vacation started this afternoon. We will have more of him in the coming weeks. This is nice.
Once in a while, Paula and Daniel have smörgåstårta for dinner. This is a great Swedish dish, a mix between a sandwich and a cake, but better.
Tonight, it was time for smörgåstårta again. I do not think they celebrated anything in particular, but I liked it anyway. You do not have to celebrate inorder to have smörgåstårta, even though people often do. I got to taste a piece, it was just the way I liked it.
I wissh we had smörgåstårta more often.
It is hot weather these days. As it is in the middle of July, this is not surprising.
We are lucky our house keeps the temperature indoors down. Houses are not just great for staying dryin the rain and warmin the winter, they are also good for staying cold in the hot summer days. This makes me happy.
We have had a nice day today. Nothing special happened at home. In the evening, the smaller dogs went with Daniel and Paula to have dinner with Paula’s sister. When they got home again, we watched a new episode of the Midsommer Murders. The episode was bad, not allmurders were explained, but it still had that cozy rural English feeling that you expect from the series. Ove all, it was a great day.
There were arguments and discord between Paula and Daniel tonight. There sometimes is. You cannot always be friends. Still, I would want Paula and Daniel to be friends all the time. It would be for the best, not just for them, but for all of us dogs as well. I take my part of the responsibility to make this a peaceful and respectful home. I wish our humans would sometimes do more of the same.
Italy won the final of the Euro 2020 in football on penalties.
Peanut is very disappointed, English as he is. Nevertheless, Italy was worthy winners.
Dogs are not only writing blogs, as I am. The Welsh Corgi Pembrokes who live with the Queen of the United Kingdom have written letters to dogs of the Queen's staff, and have received replys. For those of little faith, it is the Queen and her staff who write the letters. I know what I believe.
In the World Championship in Orienteering, Sweden won gold today in the relay for both ladies and gentlemen.
Orienteering is a great sport. It is about finding your way through the terrain with a map and a compass. Dogs would not need the map or the compass, but humans do. It is exciting to watch the competitions on TV. It is great that Swedes are the best at it.
Peanut is celebrating tonight. His country of birth, England, won the semi final versus Denmark in the Euro 2020.
Most of us rooted for England, but Paula would have wanted Denmark to win. It is another Scandinavian country and a long time friend of Sweden, so I understand this. Daniel said he has always had England as his second favourite in football, after Sweden, and he did not change his view tonight. He also pointed out that he wants Sweden to be the generally best football team among the Nordic countries, which he would have less proof of, had Denmark went on to the final.
It was a good game. Denmark did it well, but England did it better and were worthy winners. Denmark can be proud of the semi final.
In the first semi final, Italy and Spain played evenly. It had to be decided on penalties. Eventually, Italy won.
Javier rooted for Spain, because his father was from Spain. The Chihuahuas rooted for Italy, because they have relatives there. Personally, I had no favourite. When analysing the whole tournament, Italy has been better than Spain and deserve the place in the final on Sunday.
The Italians will meet England or Denmark. I will root on either of the latter.
There was a documentary on TV tonight about the origin amd behaviour of dogs. While it was well made, amd would have been interesting for someone who would not know much, it did not tell me any news.
I guess this is a downside of being interested in science about digs – Iusually already know what is toldin documentaries and articles. I am still glad it was aired, because others may have learned a lot.
My maternal grandmother Sunni always celebrated the fourth of July. She was born and raised in America and this is the national holiday of America.
Sometimes, I wish I knew more about America, and could visit it. According to my grandmother, for as long as she lived, it was a great country. She liked Sweden and her life here as well, but she loved America. For my part, I have lived my whole life in the same country. It seems more exciting to move fromone country to another. It may be too late now. I can still celebrate grandmother’s country. Go, America!
England beat Ukraine in the Euro 2020 quarter final tonight, 4-0.
If Sweden would have won against Ukraine last Tuesday, Sweden would not have fared better. It will be difficult for Denmark to win the semi final versus England.
We will see what happens. This European Championship has had many surprises. This adds to the excitement and is good. I would still like to get a little more forseeabiloty, I think, but perhaps not.
In the Euro 2020, we have reached the quarter finals. I was disappointed that Italy won versus Belgium. I had a great grandfather from Belgium, so I would have wanted the Belgians to win. You cannot have it all, though.
There may be a new wave of covid-19 in Europe, the World Health Organisation warns.
While covid-19 does not inflict disease in dogs, as far as I know, it still affects us, if our humans get the disease. I hope the increased vaccinations will help. People need to continue to keep social distance, at least to some degree. We do not need more dogs who lose humans to covid-19.
Paula and her mother went to see some old ruins today. I am not so sure why, but they said they were interested in the history behind the ruins. Apparently, there was a nunnery there in the Middle Ages. The concept of nunnery is something I have never fully comprehended. On the other paw, it is intriguing that there are things that one cannot fully comprehend. Life gets a little more worth pondering about this way.
Sweden is out of the Euro 2020.
We are all very disappointed. Most of us because we root for Sweden, our home country. Peanut, who was born in England, because he will not be able to see England beat Sweden in the quarter final.
Now we can all root for England versus Ukraine.
The Euro 2020 games today were not between teams that I am very interested in. There were many goals, however, which is exciting.
Spain won against Croatia in over time. After 3-3 in full time, Spain won 5-3.
France and Switzerland also played 3-3. There was over time without any goals. Switzerland then won on penalties, 5-4.
This afternoon, Daniel and I cleaned the floors of our house. Daniel has this personal rule that the floors need a good cleaning at least once a week. It feels better to walk on clean floors, so I agree with him on this. I just wish it would not demand so mich work. A modern house should have some kind of automatic floor cleaner. I guess we are not there yet, however. Life can get better in the future.
Our neighbours in southwest, the Danes, can celebrate tonight. Denmark won its game versus Wales in the final sixteen in the Euro 2020 football championship. I rejoice with the Danes.
The summer solstice was last Monday. We celebrate Midsummer Eve this Friday, because officially, Midsummer Day is the first Saturday after the summer solstice. I think this is strange, but humans are sometimes strange, when they decide the times for celebrations. I think celebrations would be due at the summer solstice. I do not say no to celebrations today, though.
There were no football matches on TV tonight. After the groups, we have to wait until Saturday to watch the first games of the final sixteen. Paula and Daniel were a little disappointed. I do not care much. It is good, however, that no games will disturb the traditional midsummer festivities tomorrow.
In the Euro 2020 tonight, Sweden won versus Polamd, 3-2. This also means Sweden won the group and will face a relatively easy opponent i. the final 16. In a championship, no opponent is easy, but some are a little leas difficult to beat than others. We rejoiced forthe Swedish victory and hope for more victories to come.
In between the football games, we watched a documentary from an English veterinary clinic. They had found a stray dog, who turned out to have humans wh had not seen her for six years. The dog was united with her human and recognised her. She could return to a happy home.
This story made us all very happy. We would like to know where this dog had been all of those years, but we will never know. All is well that ends well, however.
Finally, Daniel was able to mow the lawn today.
He also had to take care of a tree, that had fallen over the drive way this morning. Paula’s father Nils-Olov helped. It will be much appreciated wood for fires next winter from this tree.
It was a warm day, but it was nice.
We have had a couple of warm days. It was notodd that we got thunder and lightning today. Thunder usually comes after some warm days.
I like thunder and the heavy rain falls that usually accompany it, when we can stay indoors. None of us dogs are afraid of thunder, which is good. I feel sorry for dogs who are. To me, though, it is just cozy, when I am indoors. This will probably be a really good summer.
We rooted for Englamd tonight. when playing Scotland in the Euro 2020. Peanut was born in England and led the cheers for England here.
Actually, we hope both England and Scotland proceed from the group. It would be better than Czechia or Croatia. England probably will.
In the Euro 2020 today, Belgium won against Denmark, 2-1. This makes me happy. Paula and Daniel rooted for Denmark, but I had a great grandfather from Belgium, so I rooted for his home country.
Belgium has now won two games and will proceed to the quarter finals. Denmakr has lost two games. However, there is a slight possibility for Denmark to get to the quarter finals, if the Danes win against Russia in its final game in the group. This also has to do what will happen in the game between Finland and Belgium. Even though Belgium is already in the quarter finals, the last games in this group will be exciting.
Daniel had a day off from work today and went to Stockholm. He had an aunt who passed away a while ago, and it was her burial today. Daniel also got a chance to meet his mother, brother, and one of his sisters. He was satisfied with the day, he said when he got home.
Burials are important things for closure, especially for humans. Dogs get closure in different ways. I am pleased that Daniel could get this closure.
Daniel is a member of the city council. Since this winter, they have had meetings on video link. There was a meeting today. I have never realized how boring these meetings must be, until I have heard their discussions as Daniel participates from home. I hope they can meet in person again in the autumn, so we do not have to hear the meetings here at home.
Sweden played its first game of the Euro 2020 tonight, versus Spain. Spain is a mich better team and played much better. The Spaniards did not, however, manage to score a single goal. Sweden should be happy for a goal less draw. The Spaniards must be disappointed. Sweden’s goal keeper Olsen made many great saves, he was the Swedish player of the game. I am not happy for the game, but satisfied with the result.
The European Championships in football of 2020 started two days ago. It would have been played last year, but was postponed due to he pandemic.
We hope Sweden will win. Sweden plays its first game versus Spain tomorrow, which is a hard opponent, but we have a fair chance against the other teams in the group.
Peanut, who is born in England, was glad that England beat Croatia 1-0 today. It was a revenge for the loss in the World Cup semi final 2018.
Daniel tried to mow the lawn today. It has grown quite high, while the lawn mower has been to service. He just managed to mow part of the lawn, before a great rain fall came across our lot. You cannot mow very wet lawns, so it was no use to try to mow any more of the lawn when the rain had stopped. We hope the lawn will be dry enough tomorrow for Daniel to continue to mow it.
There was a board meeting with the regional kennel club of Örebro county this evening. Daniel is a member of the board. This must be the most important board anyone inour county can be a member of. I like that Daniel is a member of it. It makes me proud of him, prouder than before.
The remains of our dear Poodle friend Momoko came home today.
We miss her so much. She was a true friend.
It is the national holiday of Sweden today. We have celebrated by taking it easy at home. When life is good, we knoe we live in a great nation. Happy national holiday to all of you who have any connection to Sweden!
The Chihuahua pup Viola has raised her ears. Chihuahua ears are smaller than Shiba ears, but they are bigger, relative to the head. We are all happy for her. Dog ears should be raised, if the breed standars says so. It says so for Chihuahuas ans Shibas.
Paula’s and Daniel’s beds can be moved up and down by electric motors. They have remote comtrols to move the beds. This morning, Daniel discovered remains of the remote control for Paula’s bed. A dog must have chewed upon it until it broke. Peanut is a suspect, but he pleads not guilty. Regardless of who chewed on it, Paula knows that she laid the remote control in a place where a dog could reach it. Daniel always tucks his remote control away.
We believe it is possible to get a new remote control from the store where the beds were bought.
In the song, when it is summer times, the living is easy. This is the kind of summer I have always longed for. I have never really experienced it, though. Life is not hard, but it could hopefully be as easy as in the song.
It is June and we have sunny weather with a clear blue sky. It is not very warm outside, despite the weather, but this is understandable after the cold spring we have had.
The negative thing is all the insects and ticks that have come back from their winter hide outs. I often wish they would stay there in the summer as well, at least the ticks, who have no positive impact on the world, whatsoever.
We hope for a nice summer, with a lot of sunny days and rainy nights.
There was pasta with ham and peas for dinner. Paula did not want all of her serving, so I got some. It was quite tasty. Pasta is always nice. Ham is always great.
I wish we could get part of the dinner more often. We always get our food, and it is good and tasty, but it is nice with other things now and them.
Hello, Gerstuhl here!
This blog entry is my mother’s day gift to Mum, whose blog it is. (We ceelebrate mother’s day in Sweden on the last Sunday in May.)
Congratulations to the best dog mother there ever were, even though I was a little tough towards you from time to time. I love you!
Every time this season, Daniel goes out to extract dandelions from the soil in our garden. He says dandelions are weed, that they take nutrition from the plamts we want to grow. I guess he has a point. There are a lot of the growing things that look and smell better than dandelions.
Daniel spent a large part of this Sunday in the garden, ridding it of dandelions. We have lived here for allof my life, and hos work has made an obvious difference. There are far less dandelions now than before. I just wish there would be none. so Daniel would not have to care.
This evening, the Chihuahua pup Viola got some whipped cream before bedtime. I would also have wanted whipped cream. It is tasty and has a good amount of energy. Daniel said, however, that late evening snacks are primarily for pups. Too bad she is not my pup; when I had pups, I could usually get some of their late night snacks.
Paula had a very light dinner tonight, just something called ”kvarg”. I do not know what it is called in English, but itis a dairy product similar to yoghurt. I am not very fond of it. Paula often hands out small bits of her dinners for us dogs to taste. I wish she would give us something tastier than kvarg tomorrow.
We have had a quiet and peaceful day today, in honour of our late friend Momoko. We all miss her deeply. Momoko was such a dear friend to all of us.
Our dear Miniature Poodle friend Momoko has left us. She has now gone to Heaven.
Momoko was such a nice, friendly little dog. She will be missed.
As a general rule, human age can be recounted into dog age by dividing it by seven. Humans often celebrate the most, when they reach an age evenly divided by ten. This is just because they have a number system with the base ten, since they have ten fingers. Humans who have dogs should also celebrate when they reach an age evenly divided by seven, because this corresponds to dog years.
Today, Daniel turns 49. If you divide 49 by 7, you get 7. Thus, it is an age evenly divided by seven. Daniel is now an age which corresponds to seven dog years.
Congratulations, Daniel!
We have one Chihuahua friend, Tiffy. Today, we have become friends with another, Viola. She is still a little pup, but I am sure she will make a great contribution to our pack. We can never be too many.
Daniel is a member of Örebro City Council. We are proud of this.
During the pandemic, they have started to have meetings with the city council on line. At the meeting today, Daniel sat at home. We could hear a lot of the debates, some of which Daniel participated in. Daniel certainly was one of the best speakers.
At this city council, there were no questions on dogs. Daniel submitted a suggestion on more dogs and cats in the community homes for the elderly, however. The text was originally written by Paula, but since sheis not a member of the city council, it has to be sibmitted in the name of Daniel. It is a really good suggestion. We hope it will be approved of.
A man in Wales died, when he went down a narrow tunnel to rescue his dog. I feel so sorry for the dog and for the rest of the family. This was, however, a heroic death. Trying to rescue one’s dog is always heroic.
Both Paula and Daniel were supposed to participate in a video meeting this evening. Paula could not, however, since she was late home. She was serving on the court (she is a ”nämndeman”) in a case that was supposed to end half an hour before the evening meeting would start. She did not make it in time. She did arrive home before the meeting was over, but most of the meeting was already over by then, so she did not bother to ush just to participate in the last minutes. In the end, Daniel said, the decisions were good even without Paula’s vote. This was nice to hear.
Paula has a fever today. This is probably a side effect of the vaccine she got yesterday. There are risks that humans can get side effects of this kind from the vaccines for covid-19. Not everyone gets side effects, but some do.
I am glad I have never had side effects from any vaccines. It has been a hard day for Paula. She will feel better tomorrow, though, I am sure.
As dogs, we are regularly vaccinated. This seem not to be the case withour humans, although they say they have had their shots in their childhood years. There is a pandemic going on for humans now, and vaccines have been developed. Paula got her first shot of this vaccine today. She will get a follow up shot in some weeks. Daniel has yet to have his shots, but they will come. I am glad our humans will be vaccinated, it is good for them.
Our Poodle friend Momoko visited the veterinarian a few weeks ago. Shehad a followup visit today. Everything was fine, but the veterinarian wants to see Momoko next week again. Momoko was not sure why. I guess it is because Momoko issuch a gentle and kind little dog, that they want to meet her as often as possible.
Paula came home with some new toys today. It was some small plush dolls. Peanut fell in love with one of them, taking care of it for a long time of the evening.
Toys are nice. You could think toys would just be for pups, but this is not true. Humans also like toys as adults, whether they admit it or not. Toys are pass times and make your fantasy soar. This is great. There should be more toys for more dogs and more humans.
There is a surge of covid-19 cases in Japan. The Olympic Games of 2020 were postponed until this year. International fans will not be able to come and watch. It is uncertain if there will be Games at all. Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka says she is not sure there will be Games.
I would love to see TV broadcasts from competitions in Japan. It is the home country of the Shiba. At the same time, it is important toprevent the spread of the pandemic. The Olympic Games are supposed to be held every four years, this has already been compromised by the postponement of a year. I believe it would be better if Japan could host later Olympic Games instead.
Paula assured me today, that she does read my blog. She had read my blog post of the day before yesterday and thought it was appropriate to tell me she does. She does not read the blog every day, but comes back to it quite often and makes sure to read every blog post.
I am glad we have straightened this thing out. Paula is my human and I am glad she follows my blog, if any. Life is good.
Today would have been the name day of Daniel’s father. This great man passed away a year and a half ago. Daniel has his father’s name as his third name. Thus, we can also celebrate Daniel on the name day today.
Congratulations, Daniel, on the Åke day today!
Our Chihuahua friend Piffy told me tonight avout a conversation between Paula and Paula’s sister Mia. Paula and Daniel were visiting Mia, and Piffy were there with them. Paula talked about reading blogs. Apparently, Paula used to read many blogs, but do not do this anymore. According to Piffy, Paula does not read the Daily Hailey either.
I am not sure Piffy is right. It is my experience that Paula do read my blog. When I said this to Piffy, she aknowledged that she was not sure herself. She had made an interpretation of what Paula said, but Paula had not mentioned my blog.
We have to ask Paula directly. I hope she reads my blog. If she does not, I have to ask her what I can change to make it interesting enough for her. If my own human would not read my blog, there must be room for improvement. I will plan improvements.
China makes sure not to do business with Australia. The two countries have been fairly close, China has been Australa’s biggest export market, but the ties are torn. I am sure China is to blame. China is a dictatorship, intent to impose its influence and rules on others. It is good that Australia takes a stand against this. All countries should do this.
Paula’s sister Mia is celebrating her birthday today. Paula and Daniel went there in the evening to celebrate her. I sent my greetings. Mia is a special person, I love her almost as much as I love Paula herself. I wish her all the luckin the coming year of her life.
We have entered the last spring month, May. It is still cold outside, especially in the mornings. Daniel says he has experienced colder springs, when winter went on into May, but he says summer is always with us by the end of May. It is actually my experience as well, that summer is here, when we reach June. I hope this will be true this year as well.
It is the 1 May, a day when socialists often go out to protest. It is funny that the Social Democrats in Sweden do this every year, even when they rule the country. Of course, there are less organised protests now that we have a pandemic.
Daniel went out to put some flyers in mail boxes in favour for his political party. It is not a socialist party, but they do not have a monopoly on propaganda on the 1 May, as Daniel says. I agree.
The Kingof Sweden has his birthday on the 30 April. This day is also a day when speing is celebrated with bonfires. It is nice to be able to combine more than one reason to celebrate.
The first time humans went to the Moon and landed, there were two humans on the Moon, while one stayed in lunar orbit. The man in orbit was Michael Collins. He has now passed away at the honourable age of 90, because of cancer.
Our thought and prayers go out to Michael Collin’s family.
There is now just one of the Apollo 11 astronauts alive, 91 year old Buzz Aldrin. I hope humans will land again on the Moon before all of the Apollo astronauts have left for the afterlife.
Paula and Daniel order in pizza occasionally, This is special and tasty. However, I always consider the pizzas Paula is doing herself is the best.
We got pizza in our food bowls today. It is always nice to get something you do not eat often.
There are things I like better than pizza, such as minced meat or sushi. Still, pizza is very good. I would eat it more often, if I were to decide. It is a shame there are no wild roaming pizzas outdoors, that you can hunt down and eat.
Paula was a little upset about the blog entry I wrote yesterday. She thought I wrote it in favour of Daniel. I heard her. I did not.
Daniel asked Paula to talk to me about this and how I should describe it in my blog. She did not. Then I guess her criticism was not that important. I love Paula, but if she wants me to write my blog in a certain way, she must tell me. So far, she has not. Then I just have to keep the blog the way it is.
In the evening, Paula and Daniel often disagrees on which one of them will turn off certain lamps. Daniel can do it, but does not want to, since Paula was the last one to leave the room where the light was on. Paula can also do it, I believe, but says she cannot. Then they argue.
If only I could turn off lamps. Then we would not have these arguments. My paws are not done for this, however.
We usually walk the sameroute on our morning walks. This Saturday was no different, except that we walked about an hour later than we usually do. Then we nearly encountered another man and dog, who in part took the same route that we did. Fortunately, we could hold a slower pace and the others eventually made a different turn and cleared our path. It is easier not to come too close with others, because they are sometimes intimidated by Shibas and growl or bark. We hardly care, we are confident in who we are, but I feel sorry for them. We just want to go about our own business, which we could today.
Our home town Örebro has an ice hockey team in the top league in Sweden. For the first time, it plays semi final games. The opponent is last year’s gold medalists Växjö, a team which also won the series this year. It is not an easy opponent. Växjö won the first of the five games. However, tonight, Örebro won the second game. We are happy for the even match series. We hope Örebro will win the gold this year.
