In Heat

I am in heat. Not as strongly as I used to be in my youth, but still. This is a little annoying. I really do not want to be controlled by my hormones like this. I am a grandmother and I do not like the idea of getting another litter of pups. The sex drive is still there, though. How can I control it? Paula and Daniel help me by closing gates between me and the males. Hormones are bitches, aren’t they?

George Russell Takes Pole Position

In the qualifying to the Hungary Grand Prix in formula 1 today, Briton George Russell was the fastest in the final qualifying round. He will start first. He drives for Mercedes and his team mate Lewis Hamilton was seventh, so this was a great effort by him.

Peanut was happy with the result. He was born in England and always roots for British formula 1 drivers. Mercedes is a German car, but Peanut said the Germans could not come up with a good enough driver. I guess he has a point, now that four time world champion Sebastian Vettel has announced that he will resign by the end of the year and there are no other German front runners. 

We will have to see if George Russell manages to win the race as well. 

Having a Cold in the Summer

Both Paula and Daniel are having colds. They have some throats and cough now and then. I guess Paula is worse of than Daniel, but this might be because she got the cold before he did. 

Colds are due to viruses, not cold weather, so it is not uncommon to get them in the summer.

I hope they get well soon. On the plus side, Daniel will not go away this weekend to work as a ring steward. It is always best when everyone is at home, I think. 

Crackers

Paula found an old box of crackers today. She or Daniel had put it in an odd place and it had been forgotten. The expiration date was passed. 

I took care of the crackers, disposing of all of them. Strangely, though, this made Paula upset. She told me she had wanted all of the dogs to dispose of the old crackers. I cannot understand why she was so upset, just because I performed this hard task myself, saving the other dogs from it. I did them a service, they did not need to dispose of old crackers. 

As we say in Swedish sometimes: otack är den armes lön.

Knees

Our Chihuahua friends Piffy, Viola, and Pepe went to the veterinarian today. Chihuahuas need to have a veterinarian’s paper on good knees, before they are bred. Now they have documents on the status of their knees. This is good. 

Semi Final

Sweden plays England in the UEFA Euro 2022 football championship. 

Most of us root for Sweden, of course. Peanut roots for England, however. This is because he was bred and born there. Since he was, it is understandable that he roots for England. At the same time, this only makes me more eager to see a Swedish victory, so I can tease Peanut about it. 

It is an exciting game, regardless of whom you root for. 

Rain Again

Daniel had planned to mow the lawn tomorrow. He is not sure he can, though. We got a lot of rain this afternoon and the lawn is probably to wet to mow tomorrow. 

I guess rain is a good excuse to push the plans for mowing the lawn forward to a later day. 

Volcano Eruption

The Japanese volcano Sakurajima has erupted. The people living close by are warned of falling rocks. 

I hope the dogs and humans of the area will make it. 

Volcanos are fascinating mountains, where the hot interior of the Earth comes up to the surface. I am still happy we live far away from the closest volcano. It would not be nice to have to fear falling rocks. 

Wet Lawn

We had a lot of rain yesterday. It was cold for the season today, so many raindrops stayed on the grass. When the lawn is wet, it cannot be properly mowed. Hence, Daniel did not mow the lawn, but stayed indoors with the rest of us. 

We had a nice, lazy day. This is my kind of summer day. 

Sweden versus Belgium

Sweden plays Belgium in its quarter final of the Euro 2022 in football. 

My maternal grandfather’s father was from Belgium. He was from Norway himself, and always rooted for Norway in sports, but he held Belgium as his second favourite. I have always lived in Sweden and root for Sweden. For the sake of my grandfather and his Belgian father, however, I must say that I would not be very sad to see Belgium win. 

Go, Sweden!

Pop Corn

Paula made some pop corn tonight. I got to taste some. When the bowl was almost empty, I told Daniel I needed the rest of the pop corns in order to be inspired for my next blog post. Daniel thought I made a good argument, so he gave me the bowl. This was great: pop corns and some butter. I have nice humans. 

Ice Cream and Popsicles

Hello, Piffy here!

Karstuhl has allowed me to write a blog entry on ice cream and popsicles. Daniel had an ice cream cone with vanilla ice cream and toffee. Paula had a popsicle with taste of pear. I got to taste both of them.

There was a bit of chocolate in the ice cream cone. As a dog, I cannot eat this. The ice cream and the toffee was very tasty.

I could have eaten the whole popsicle, if it had not been so big. It was also very tasty. 

What was the best? Both were tasty, but different from one another. If I have to pick a favourite, it would be the popsicle. It lasts longer than an ice cream and I could eat everything from it. On a warm summer day like today, it was also more refreshing and made me cooler than the ice cream cone. Of a scale of five paw prints, I give the popsicle five and the ice cream cone four. I would gladly get more of any of these another day. 

The Rise and Fall of Parts of the Bed

Paula and Daniel have beds where they can make parts rise with an electric motor, then lower these parts again. It is comfortable for them to be able to sit up supported by the bed occasionally, but lie down on other occasions. The function has not worked properly for a while, but Paula has arranged for it to work again. It is fun to go up and down with the bed once in a while. Life is better in the bed now. 

Quarter Final

Sweden won its last game in the group versus Portugal, 5-0, in the UEFA European Championship in football. With this result, Sweden won the group and will get an easier opponent in the quarter final than the group second the Netherlands. We are all happy for this result. Peanut still says he hopes England will win the gold, however. He is free to think so, but I hope Sweden will win. 

Candy

Paula and Daniel hid some candy in the bed room. When they both left, Peanut dig the candy out. He got a lot, I also got some.

Paula and Daniel were mad at us, but if they leave candy, it is ours to take, I believe. It was tasty. I am not ashamed. 

Wrong Game

The UEFA European Championship had a game with England versus Northern Ireland today. We wanted to watch it. Peanut was especially eager, since England is his country of birth. The TV channel aired the Norway versus Austria instead. We were so disappointed, we turned the TV off. 

The England game was aired too, but on a channel we do not have. 

Thunder

In the afternoon, we had a short shower of rain. A little later, we could hear thunder far away. We never got thunder close by, never saw any lightning. Weather can be more exciting than this. I wish it were today. It was a rather uneventful day over all. 

Paula Is Back Home

Paula came back home again this afternoon.

Piffy came along, when Daniel went to get Paula. I was a little envious of this, but it passed. Now we all have access to Paula again. Life is good when we all are together. 

Covid-19 Again

There is a new rise in the spread of the virus infection covid-19. Chances are that the new version of the virus is not as lethal as the former versions, and that the general spread of vaccines among humans can save many of them. No new restrictions are planned in Sweden.

There is a new rise in Japan as well, but no new restrictions are planned there either. 

It is good that covid-19 is not so dangerous anymore. You cannot ignore it, but you do not have to change your life because of it either. More dogs will have their humans spared from serious illness.

Too Early

Daniel started to work again today, so we went out on the morning walk as early as we usually do on his work days. This is earlier than we have gone out during his days off. Pepe said it was too early for him, so he did not come along.

This was a bit disappointing, as a rule of dew claw on walks is: the more, the merrier. (Dew claws is what dogs have instead of thumbs.) Pepe did not care, he rather stayed at home. We let him. Perhaps he changes his mind until tomorrow morning.

Last Day of Vacation

Daniel will go back to work tomorrow. His two week vacation did not turn out the way he planned, because Paula had to stay at the hospital. He did not go on the five day journey that was the plan. However, he says there are advantages with this as well. He has had time to take care of some things at home that he might not have managed to do otherwise. He has also spent more time with us dogs. I like this latter statement. I also like it that Daniel has been at home. 

European Championship

The UEFA European Championship in football for ladies has started. Sweden plays its first game versus the Netherlands tonight.

We all root for Sweden. I hope Botan does, as well, the Aangenaam dog who moved to the Netherlands as a pup. He must remember where he comes from. 

Political Murder in Japan

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been shot and killed. This happened as he Held a special in the campaign of a candidate for the election in two days.

This is horrible news from a country where politics is usually peaceful, even in the instances when controversial issues are debated. 

My thoughts go to Shinzo Abe’s dog and the rest of his family. 

Is Pepe a New Regular Participant?

Pepe came along on our morning walk for the first time yesterday, as I wrote about then. This morning, he did the same. Daniel has not had to ask him, he just walks along out to the door, so he is allowed to walk with us. Is Pepe a new regular participant on our morning walks? He will not say, when I ask him. I guess we will just have to see. It is nice to have his company as well on the walks. 

Pepe Came Along

We had a late morning today, so the morning walk was later than ordinary. This is not strange. When Daniel has a vacation, he often sleeps until later than usual in the morning. The odd thing was that Pepe, our Chihuahua friend, decided that he wanted to come along on our walk. The Chihuahuas usually take shorter walks. Pepe did good, it was nice to have his company as well on the walk. We will have to see if he comes along tomorrow morning as well. I would not mind. 

Snow Shovel

We got another snow shovel today. A used one, but fully functional. A neighbour of Paula’s father gave it to him, but he did not need it, so we got it. We have a considerably longer drive way, so we can put it to use.

It may be odd to think of snow shovels at this time of the year, in the very height of summer. However, if you get a snow shovel for free, and you know it can be useful in the winter, the best thing is to say yes, thank you, to it. The snow shovel is a good invention. 

At the Hospital Again

Paula is not well, again. She is admitted to the hospital, again.

We all miss Paula, again. It is always more empty at home, when she is not around. We wish for her Quick recovery. 

Warmer Elsewhere

We may think we have a warm summer. It is, however, warmer in other places, not just due south.

In Tokyo, they have had a record streak of nine days with temperatures above 35˚ C. This is a city by the sea with a climate normally about the same as western Europe. I hope the dogs in Tokyo are taken well care of in a heat wave like this. Japanese humans like dogs, so I am sure they generally are. 

Not the Super Bowl, but a Swedish Final

In America, ”football” means a different sport than in the rest of the world. This sport is played in Sweden as well, where we usually call it ”American football”. (Some people call the sport handegg, because it is played with a ball that is more shaped like an egg than a sphere, and played more with your hands than with your feet.)

Today, the American football team from our town, Örebro Black Knights, won its semi final in the Swedish championship and will play the final next weekend. This is far from such a great event as the American Super Bowl, but a final is always a final. We hope they win the gold.

Molly the Doping Dog

We watched some news from the allround Swedish Championship week in Linköping this week. They had a piece about a doping dog, Molly. She is trained at discovering illegal doping substances. This is great for the fairness of sports. It is also great for the public perception of dogs. I liked watching this. 

Married for Fifty Years

The 1 July was the birthday of my late maternal grandfather. It is also the anniversary of the marriage of Paula’s parents. They have been married for exactly fifty years today. This is a long time. 

Paula and Daniel went to congratulate her parents. They brought greetings form all of us dogs and cats. The celebrations were small, with just the immediate family, but everyone had a lot of fun. 

Humans are lucky they can live so long.