Strange Deal by Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean has made a deal with China. This might mean that China can set up a military base there. Australia is concerned. If I lived in the Solomon Islands, so would I be. China is a harsh dictatorship and the Chinese are cruel to dogs. I do not understand why you would want to make a deal with China. Solomon Islands must gain a lot of other things – or so they think. 

The Winding Road to Summer

This morning, we had seven degrees Celsius below the freezing point. This was colder than in many weeks. It is still March, so we were not really surprised.

This is a setback on the road to spring and summer. However, there is never a straight line of ever warmer days from winter to summer. It is always like a winding road, where some parts of the road make you travel backwards for a while. This is the winding road to summer. We know it will get here, we just do not know which day, or even month. Weather is exciting this way, you can never predict it. 

No World Cup for Sweden

In the last attempt to reach the FIFA World Cup in football later this year, Sweden played a play off game versus Poland. The Swedes did a pretty good game, but did not manage to score any goals. The Poles got a penalty and scored, and later scored again. 

It will not be as exciting to follow the World Cup without Sweden, but there are other teams to root for. Peanut will, of course root for England, where he was born. Morran will root for Germany, where her breed is from. Laila will root for France, where her breed is from, as well as Japan, where she was born. I will also root for Japan, where Shibas are from. The Chihuahuas hope that Mexico will qualify, where their breed is from. It will be some exciting games, nevertheless. 

Meatballs

Paula gave us meatballs for food today, and less ordinary dog food. We did not mind. Meatballs are great. 

There are times when my blog posts are really short. This blog åost could have been this way. After all, when you get meatballs, there is no need to explain why this is great. Everybody loves meatballs, don't they? Since this is the case, I could have just ended the blog post after the first, short paragraph. A blogpost about meatballs deserves to be longer, however. Meatballs deserve this. 

I wish we could get meatballs more often. 

We Lost an Hour

Humans are obsessed with keeping time and making sure which hour, minute, and sometimes second it is. This is important for their cooperation with each other, Daniel says. With this obsession, I do not understand why they want to just skip one hour between the last Saturday and last Sunday in March. We now have what is called Daylight Saving Time, which means everything will start one hour earlier for half a year. Then we go back to normal again in the autumn. It is silly, the way that you doubt that humans are the most intelligent beings on Earth, as we would normally think they are. Meanwhile, we have to live with this. 

A Little Cleaning

Part of the weekend is normally spent cleaning. It is in the weekends that Paula and Danielhave more time for this. We all helped cleaning the house today. 

Appart from the cleaning, we spent most of the day resting and just having fun. Life is good whenit is like this. Still, the cleaning was more special, since dogs can rest a bit almost every day. 

We will see what happens tomorrow, the other day of the weekend.

Continuous Trouble

We have no functional wifi. This is connected to the troubles with the telephones which started yesterday, I am sure. 

While I am not very interested in working telephones – as I blogged yesterday – I do care about the wifi. It is easier for me to upload my blog posts, when the wifi works. I can do it without wifi, but wifi is faster.

Paula tried to get hold of our telephone and internet provider today, but she did not succeed. This was a shame. It is certainly not easier in the upcoming weekend. I hope the troubles will soon be over. 

Telephone Trouble

Both Paula and Daniel have had troubles with their telephones today. They did not like this.

If I were they, I would not care much. I think it would just be rather nice, not to be disturbed by the telephone at any time during the day. Sometimes, I think humans live too much in the future and in the past, using their telephones and other devices to plan and to remember. It must be more relaxing to live more in the here and now, like dogs tend to do. On the other paw, I guess this is just another oneof those differences between dogs and humans that make us add our traits so greatly to each other. Life is good this way. 

Hamburgers

Paula and Daniel had hamburgers for dinner tonight. I did not get to taste, which made me a little disappointed.

Hamburgers are not made of ham. The name probably comes from the city Hamburg, and Germans who moved from there to America in the 1800's. Regardless of the origin of the name, the dish is tasty.

I guess there will be hamburgers for me other times. I have to look forward to this. 

Under the Blankets

Our humans sleep under blankets. I always think this would be too hot, but humans have no natural coat, like most dogs have. Our short haired Chihuahua friend Viola also likes to sleep under the blankets. I guess this is because of her short hairs. I am glad that she can do this, when she likes it. She can stand cold winter weather, however.

Our long haired Chihuahua friends do not sleep under the blankets. They would also think this would be too hot. I can relate better to this. 

Spring Equinox

Yesterday we had the spring equinox. Days are now longer than nights. I like this. While dogs have rather good night vision, I still like it better in daylight. Spring is almost here, summer is on its way. The outdoors will be warm again. Life is good, but will be better. 

Start of the Formula 1 Season

The 2022 season of Formula 1 started today. Daniel watched the race on TV. It was a nice race, he said. It ended with a double victory for Ferrari, with their drivers Leclerc and Sainz. Daniel has always liked Ferrari, he hopes they will dominate for the first season in many years, but he doubts it. We will have to see what happens. 

Elected to the Board

Paula has been elected to the board of the regional kennel club of Örebro County. We are very proud of her. Paula will make a great contribution to the club, we are sure. 

Daniel was re-elected to the board. This is also good. 

Refugees

There are a lot of refugees from war torn Ukraine. Paula shared a Facebook post by a dog handler from Ukraine who is now a refugee in France. She held herself out as a dog handler om dog shows. I hope France allows her to get paid for this work. Refugees are not always allowed to be part of the regular work force in the land that they come to, until their application to stay as a refugee is approved of.

It is an honourable work to be a professional handler at dog shows.

Olives

When Daniel came home from work this evening, he brought a sandwich for Paula. She had asked for olives in it, but she thought they had put too many olives in the sandwich. In a way, I can understand Paula. Olives are vegetables, you do not want too much of this. The tuna and the cheese in the sandwich were good, however. 

Sallad

Paula and Daniel had a sallad for dinner. Sure, there was some cheese and pasta in it, but a lot of vegetables. Humans are carnivores, just like dogs. That our humans are having a sallad, with a lot of vegetables, makes me disappointed with them. Carnivores should have meat as their main ingredience in any meal. Mostly, they have, just not today. I do think, and hope, this is not the start of a vegetable trend. 

Home Delivery

It is very rare, but there are times when Paula and Daniel buy food for home delivery. They did this tonight. Paula got a platter of meat and sauce, Daniel got spaghetti carbonara. This was late, all ofus dogs had already eaten. It smelled good, though, and our humans enjoyed the food. They are worth the occasional luxury like this. 

A Special Veterinarian for Humans

Paula visited a veterinarian today. This veterinarian was specialised in human diseases, thus, she was not called a veterinarian, but a physician. I believe that the field where humans see the biggest difference between humans and other animals is in medicine. Dogs and humans are fairly close related. Yet, dogs go to the veterinarians who are called veterinarians, just like cats, guinea pigs, birds, lizards, and fish do. Humans go to this other kind of veterinarian, who are not called veterinarians. I believe those who are called veterinarians are better, because they know a lot about many species. Veterinarians are the medical practitioners for me. 

Pez Dispenser

Daniel is the proud owner of some Pez dispensers. It is not that he always have Pez candy in them, but he likes them. He says Pez has a special place in popular culture.

One of the Pez dispensers is in the shape of Woodstock, the little bird from the Peanut comic strip. There was Pez candy in this Pez dispenser today, and Peanut grabbed it and started to chew onit to get all the candy at once. Daniel went mad and took the Pez dispenser from Peanut. While I understand that Peanut wanted to get to the candy, he did it the wrong way. He should have simply asked for it.

Most of the Pez dispenser made it, but it was torn. Daniel said it would still work. He could not be mad at Peanut for long. It was a short anger, then this day went back to being nice. Life is good.

Sick

Peanut was sick this afternoon. He vomited in Daniel's bed.

Daniel was a little angry, mostly because he got some vomiton himself when taking care of it. 

I felt sorry for Peanut. However, it was good that he was the only one who was sick. Even Peanut himself admitted to this. 

Later in the evening, Peanut felt well again. He did not know what caused the sickness, but hopes it will not return. I guess it will not. 

Watching the House

It is not common these days, when Daniel often work from home, and Paula is often home a lot, but they were both away for a while today. This means that it was up to us dogs to watch the house. We did it well, of course. There were no uninvited guests here. 

You may think there would never be any uninvited guests here anyway. This is, however, just theories. In reality, we are at home, and no uninvited guests come here. We do it well. 

Sunny Weather

We have had beautiful, sunny weather for many days. It would feel like spring, if it would have been warmer, but it has been temperatures below zero throughout the nights and mornings. It is still early March, so it is not strange that winter is hanging on. I do not mind these outdoor temperatures, a Shiba can cope with much colder weather. This makes me feel good. Life is good. 

Chicken

There was chicken for dinner tonight. I got a piece of chicken filet. It was great.

Chicken meat is very tasty. I wish I could get chicken more often. On the other paw, there are a lot of different kinds of meat that are tasty. I would not want chicken all the time.

Meat is great. Did you know that the Swedish word for food, mat, is originally the same word as the English word meat? This is because meat is the essence of food. 

Ongoing War

The war in Ukraine is continuing. People are fleeing. Dogs and other pets are often brought along.

I hope most of the dogs will manage. It is a war, so I make no illusions that every innocent individual will manage, regardless if it is a dog, a human, or any other one. Nevertheless, I hope many will take care of the dogs in need. They deserve it.

Another Norwegian Victory

For the tenth year in a row, a Norwegian skier won Vasaloppet today. Vasaloppetis theoldest and biggest annual cross country ski race. It has a length of 90 kilometres. 

My maternal grandfather Kuro, who was born in Norway, would be happy for this victory. He was always a Norwegian patriot. 

We do rejoice that Paula's father, who is a veteran Vasaloppet skier, finished the race at a time which is great for a man his age.

Fudge

We had some evening snacks tonight, vanilla fudge. This is great candy.

It was a while since we last had fudge. It was worth the wait. Still, I would like to get fudge more often. With the way all of us dogs devoured the fudge, I think we made this point clear to Paula and Daniel, until the next time they buy candy. 

Friday

Thank God it is Friday!

Friday is when your humans come home and spend the weekend with you. Fridays are good.

Decisions Against Russia

The international football federation FIFA and the European federation UEFA have decided that Russia or Russian football clubs will not be able to participate in international competitions until further notice. 

The federations decided this on Monday. I think it is the correct decision, now that Russia wages war on Ukraine. What I would like to know more about, however, is how the last qualification rounds will be played. Sweden was in the same pool as Russia. Will Poland, which would play its first game versus Russia, just go on until the next round? Is this fair, considering other teams ranked as Poland? I have still not read anything about this. I guess we will have to see further on. 

Chicken

Daniel worked from home today. He had chicken for lunch.

Peanut, Morran, and I got to taste some, we all ate quickly. Then Malin the cat got some. She took it slowly, licked and picked. Eventually, she left some pieces. This was good for us dogs, Daniel gave Malin's pieces to us. Cats are too picky, but I do not mind, when I got the spoils. 

Chicken is great meat. 

The British Queen Recovers

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and other realms were tested positive with covid-19 last week. She has now recovered well enough to engage in two on line engagements. 

This is good for the UK. Peanut, who was born in the UK, is happy. Personally, I am mostly happy for the Queen's dogs. The Queen is known for having many Welsh Corgis, and having bred some. When she is healthy again, her dogs must be happy. This is good.