The Day Before Christmas

It is the day before Christmas – at least in Sweden. Christmas starts at Christmas Eve in Sweden. This is good. We do not have to wait until Christmas Day, as in some other countries. We have Christmas tomorrow. This is good, it means we get to start eat Christmas food.

Actually, we had some Christmas food to eat today. We cooked some of it, so we had to taste it, to see if it was good enough. It turned out it was. 

Evil Acts

The Russians are killing Ukrainan prisoners of war. This is evil acts. It goes against the laws of war. We would consider it murder.

We hope no Ukranian military dogs are murdered this way. 

Cleaning Out the Fridge

We cleaned out the fridge today. This gives us more space to fit in new groceries for Christmas. Cleaning can be good. 

Christmas is a good holiday, because it means a lot of candy and good food. We love to celebrate the birth of Christ this way. 

Christmas Gifts

Paula and Daniel bought their final Christmas gifts today. It is good that they are done with this.

We dogs finished our Christmas preparations long ago. It might be that humans should follow our lead to a more laid back approach to Christmas. 

Brush Up

On the 12 January, our local kennel club will have a brush up for ring stewards. This is to make sure all the ring stewards are up to date with new rules and regulations for dog shows.

Daniel published the invitation to the brush up today. Several ring stewards have already told him they want to come. This is promising. We hope the brush up will be a success. 

A Nice Visit

A visit to a veterinarian can be really comfortable. I came long to a veterinarian today, because Polly’s granddaughter Honey had an appointment. The veterinarian dig not do anything to me.

If Honey would have lived with us, this blog would belong to her. She would have inherited it from her grandmother Polly. I am just a custodian of it. This made it extra exciting to meet Honey. She was not very interested in discussing the blog, however. I am not sure why. Perhaps it is because she would have wanted to have the blog, but this may be wishful thinking on my part.

Anyway, the veterinarian appointment turned out fine. Honey is perfectly healthy. This is good. 

Chips

Paula and Daniel had chips with their dinner tonight. I got some of the softer ones. While I don’t normally like potatoes, I liked these chips. 

Daniel told us chips are called French fries in America, while crisps are called chips there. I guess Swedish has borrowed the American word. Then Daniel told us that in Australia, both crisps and chips are called chips. This seems like it could cause confusion. I an glad we do not have to think of such confusing things in the British English we use in Europe, nor in Swedish or American English.

First Time

Paula worked as a ring steward at an official dog show for the first time today. This was just the day after she was finished.

We wonder if this is some kind of record. It usually takes time to send the signed protocoll of trainee services to the tutor of the theory course, who will then sign it and send it to people at the headquarters of the Swedish Kennel Club. In this case, the dog show this weekend was managed by the Swedish Kennel Club itself. The tutor and all of the relevant people from the headquarters were there, so the protocoll could be signed and registered at once, and Paula could be authorised. 

This is great. We may have a record holder here at home. 

Finished!

Paula made the final trainee work in order to become a ring steward today. We are very proud of her for making it. We celebrated a little this evening. 

Now Paula and Daniel can work together as ring stewards at dog shows. We will have to see when this happens. 

Lost in Plain Sight

Paula thought she had an important document in the entrance hall. It wasn’t there. She then thought she had moved it to a secure place, but could not remember where this would be. A little later, Totte pointed out that some documents of the kind lied on the kitchen table. It turned out that the important document was there, in plain sight. Well, I have also lost important things which I have later found lying around in plain sight. I wonder if the item can really be lost this way. 

Early and Late

Paula came home early from work today. This is always a thing to be happy about. We don’t have to watch the house as intensely, when we have a human at home.

Daniel came home later than he was supposed to. He had had a lot of work to do at the office, he said. We were happy that he came home, but he could have come home earlier, in our minds. 

Daniel

It is the name day of Daniel today.

Humans often have name days, while this is not very common for dogs. As long as we can celebrate anyway, I do not really care.

We got treats as part of the celebration of Daniel’s name day. This was great. 

Nobel Prizes

Humans are intelligent. Just like dogs, some humans are more intelligent than others. Many really intelligent humans become scientists. The most successful scientists can be awarded with a Nobel prize for a discovery. The winners for this year got their prizes today. 

If I were a human, I might have been a scientist. They seem to have interesting things to do. 

Meatballs

We got some meatballs today. 

Meatballs are tasty and healthy food. 

Rumour has it, wild meatballs are fierce animals, whom only dogs (and our wild cousins, the wolves) can hunt down and prey upon. I’d like to think this is true. 

Second Sunday in Advent

It is the second Sunday in Advent. Christmas is getting closer. Paula and Daniel have been away to do some Christmas shopping. They are not planning as well as us dogs, all of our Christmas preparations are taken care of already. We just wait and look forward to Christmas. 

Dachshund Is Tax in Swedish

The dog breed which is called Dachshund in the original German language and in English, is called tax in Swedish. (This has got nothing to do with the English word tax.) It is a little painful to see an advertisement where the copywriters do not know this. In order to protect the integrity of the makers of the advertisement, I have cropped the advertisement, so the company which sells the product cannot be seen.

New Device

Daniel has an Ipad which he uses for his work as a politician for the town where we live. His Ipad was damaged in an accident a few weeks ago, which is why he got a new Ipad yesterday. As always, when a new device is used, it needs to be configured and software needs to be added. There are a lot of passwords to be used here and there. I often borrow this Ipad to write my blog entries. I have also had to log in and and passwords. It is frustrating. This is all because there are so many humans whom you cannot trust, so you need a lot of long and complicated passwords. I have been able to log in to the blog account now, however. It wasn’t easy, but it is done now. Life is good again. 

Finland

It is the national holiday of Finland. We congratulate all Finnish dogs and humans. It is also cause for us to celebrate the sovereignty of our neighbour.

Veteran and Pup

Paula read a heart warming story today. A former soldier in America, who had been injuried in his military service, had wanted to buy a pup. The seller did not want to accept the money offered, though, but gave him the pup as a thanks for his service. Apparently, the pup and the former soldier got a good life together. This was a really nice story to hear of.

Christmas Dinner

Paula and Daniel went away tonight, to go to a Christmas dinner. They came back home satisfied and happy.

I wish I could have come along. A lot of Christmas food is great, such as meatballs, sausages, and ribs. I think I would have made a success, too. People actually do use to think I am rather cute. 

They Don’t Bother

There are times when I ask Morran or Pepe if they want to write any blog entry. Most of the time, none of them want to. I just have to write all of the blog entries myself.

On one paw, I can get tired of writing in this blog every day. On the other paw, it is nice to rule over the blog myself. When everything comes around, this outweighs the downside. Then it does not count very much that they don’t bother. 

Lights in the Dark

It is the darkest time of the year, just a few weeks are left to the winter solstice. This is when Paula and Daniel puts up lights here at home, that can stay on throughout the night.

These lights are a way to celebrate Advent and the upcoming Christmas, and it is a way to make these dark weeks brighter. I like it.