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.
