Less Air Travel

The ongoing covid-19 pandemic has seen a huge decline in air travel. This is bigger than the decline after the terrorist attacks by air on the 11 September 2001. There are even speculations that this will be the end to air travel. I do not see it as the end, but I think it will make a substantial change and decline in air travel.

I have seen how Daniel can sit and work at home, having meetings with people with sound and moving pictures through his computer. Meetings like this can be held regardless of where you are in the world. During the pandemic, people have gotten more and more used to meetings through their computers. They will not want to travel so many times just to go to meetings, when they can sit at home and have almost the same meeting quality.

Dog shows will have to be held live, however. We hope there will be dog shows again next season. People willhave to fly with their dogs for dog shows and the exchange of dogs to breed. Dogs can, thus, help preserve the existence of air travel.

Medication

Because of my injuried paw, I get pain medication. It is good that things like this are around. It makes my days more bearable. The veterinarian said it could take months before I am fully recovered, but I guess it will not hurt as much the whole time. Nowis a good time tohave the medication.

The Veterinarian Was Impressed

We went to the veterinarian today, because of my limp. The veterinarian was impressed by me, because except for vaccinations and ultra sound examinations when I have expected pups, I have never needed to go there before. This is unusual for a dog of my age. Of course, I am a Shiba, but it is still unusual. I guess it is legitimate to be impressed by this.

Limping

I have hurt one of my front legs. I am not sure when this happened, but it hurts a bit now and then and I have a limp.

Paula have consulted with a veterinarian and we will go to see the veterinarian tomorrow. I am usually not very fond of going to the veterinarian, but if I can get help with myleg,it is definitely worth it.

It would be great to have a body that would heal itself faster. Unfortunately, though, I have not got super powers like this.

Meat Sauce

Daniel cooked his great meat sauce this evening. It is his favourite dish, one of the favourites of Paula, and also one of my favourites. Fortunately, I got to taste some. There are few things that are as good as a tasty meal.

Rain, Rain, Rain

We have been wishing for rain, because it has been very dry outdoors. It seems that wishes can sometimes come true to a greater extent than you wished for. It has now been rainy weather for several days in a row. I am glad Paula and Danielis as adversed to staying out in the rain as I am. Now I wish for a few days without rain. Any rain may fall during the night, when it does not bother us, who stay indoors in the night hours.

Independence Day

This is the national holiday of my grandmother Sunni. She was born and raised an American and always proud of it. The 4 July was the day when the first part of the present day USA declared its independence from Great Britain. The origin of the feud was a small tax that the Brits levied off the American colonists to pay for the military defence of these colonies. Ironically, the Americans pay much higher taxes today. Grandmother Sunni still claimed the USA was the freest land in the world and that the taxes would have been higher, had the colonies stayed British. I hold these things to be true, since grandmum told me about them.

Healthy Japanese Food

The people of Japan live longer than most. There are more people reaching the age of 100 years in Japan than in other countries. This may have to do with Japanese food, at least in part. There may be reasons to eat more like the Japanese eat. I would support this for more reasons than health. Japanese food is very tasty. For one thing, I love sushi. I also love other Japanese food that I have tasted.

Japan is a great country with a great culture. We would all benefit from more Japanese culture, not least Japanese dog breeds. After all, the Shiba is a Japanese dog breed and the best dog breed in the world.

Read the article that there is a link to. You donot have to change allof your habits, but if you change some, it may be for the better.

The Minister’s Daughter

Paula is often reading a book in Swedish about the daughter of a minister in the 19th century Hälsingland. She consider it great litterature. Daniel begs to differ.

I only consider stories with dogs great litterature. As far as I know, this story that Paula sees as her favourite does not contain dogs. This makes it bad litterature. I guess I agree with Daniel, but on other grounds.

Grand Dad

It would have been Grand Dad’s birthday today. He wouldhave turned eightteen years old. Hardly any Shiba lives to see this age. Nevertheless, he lives on in our memories and in our hearts. We miss him.

Anniversary

Today is the anniversary of the marriage of Paula’s parents. This is important for us. Without it, Paula would not have come to Örebro and become the person she is, would never have met Daniel, and no Aangenaam dogs would have been born.

Paula and Daniel went over there and gave her parents a gift for the anniversary. They were grateful. We are grateful for them.

Rain

It may seem boring to read about the weather in this blog. I still want to tell you that we had a lot of rain today. This is good for our well. We need water in the well, so it will not run dry. In dry years, it can run dry, We rather want rainy summers than dry summers, for the sake ofour well.

Growing Things

Many things grow a lot in our garden. We may have to cut a lot of it. Perhaps not, the garden is rather nice anyway.

Leif and Billy

Paula has a new favourite comedy show. It is a Swedish show about two brothers, Leif and Billy, who live in the Swedish outback up north. They are lazy, unemployed, but manage somehow anyway. It is funny. I just think they should have had a dog too.

Eggs

Late at night, Paula had some boiles eggs. There are occasions when I have heard that boiled eggs are breakfast food. I guess eggs go just as well as a late night snack.

Unfortunately, I did not get to taste any of the eggs. Itis not that I was hungry, but there is always room in the stomach for tasty food.

Forest Fires

There have been forest fires in the vicinity of our home town. The warm and dry weather makes the risk of forest fires high. I hope there will be few, if any, and just small such fires for the rest of the summer. We want the forests to be preserved and we want it to continue to grow and draw carbon dioxide out of the air, not to release it in fires. I hope for the best.

Summer TV

It is a Tuesday after midsummer. Swedish television is true to its traditions, airing a concert from Skansen in Stockholm and a new season of the British Midsomer Murders. This is summer. The best thing about Midsomer Murders is that the main character has a dog. Unfortunately, the dog just had a small part in today’s episode, but made a great performance, nevertheless. It may be better further on.

Bacon Crisps

Bacon is a great food. Crisps are great food. What could be better? Bacon crisps are better!

Paula bought some bacon crisps today. We feasted on them tonight. There are not words strong enough to tell you how tasty, how good, bacon crisps are.

Lifeis great, when you have bacon crisps.

Regaining an Area

Paula and Daniel went to Lindesberg this Sunday. It was the first time since last summer that they went there. Last summer, Paula spent months at the hospital in Lindesberg due to illness. She wanted to go to Lindesberg in order to mentally regain this territory, to make sure she can have other memories of Lindesberg than those from her summer at the hospital there. When they came back, Paula was happy and confident that she had managed to regain Lindesberg. We are allhapoy for her about this. This is yet another of her many steps back to a fully normal self. Life is good.

No Canadian Fighter Jets

There are times when you read stories about facts you did not have a clue about. For instance, I did not know Canada had had a shot at building state of the art fighter jet airplanes in the late 1950’s. The programme was cancelled due to the high costs. In Sweden, an even smaller country, fighter jets were built by Saab. I guess it was the wish of Sweden to have its own jets as a country outside of military alliances that made the difference. Canada was and is a member of Nato. I wonder what would have happened, had the programme not been cancelled.

Midsummer Eve

We have celebrated Midsummer today, at Midsummer Eve.

It is customary for Swedes to celebrate mostly on the Eve before a big holiday. We do this at new year, Easter, Walpurgis and Christmas as well.

Midsummer is a nice holiday. It never becomes completely dark at night. This is fascinating. It is also usually a rather warm weather, and warmer than usually this year. We had a good Midsummer Eve.

Sleepover

Paula is not at home tonight. This is not because she is at work, but because she is on a sleepover at her sister’s house. This sounds fun. Paula’s sister is nice and it would be fun to visit her. Sleeping is something I am really good at. Perhaps I could join Paula at such a sleepover in the future? You never know.

Iceland

It is the national holiday of Iceland today. Iceland is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, which was independent since 1918, but which became a republic on this date in 1944. I have never understood the advantages of being a republic, but some humans see advantages in it. Sweden has a king, Japan has an emperor, this is good enough for me. Nevertheless, I congratulate all the humans and dogs from Iceland on this day, regardless of its form of government.

Rain At Last

We finally got some rain today. It was not a little rain, either, but quite a lot.

There has not been any rain for a long time. We have almost had a draught. This is worrying, not least because our well might dry up. Our luck with rain may have changed. It might be a lot of rain in the weeks to come, we will have to see.

Chips

We got chips in our food today. I like this.

Chips are called pommes frites in Swedish, a word borrowed from French. The word chips in Swedish means that which is called crisps in English. Human languages are funny this way.

It is better with meat, but we did not get meat added to the dog food today. You cannot get this every day, I suppose.

Negativity?

Daniel came across a great meme today.

The creator of the picture is not mentioned, so I hope it is free for all to spread.

The Lawn

Daniel mowed the lawn today again. It needs to be mowed often at this time of the year. Even though we have had a draught, the lawn is growing, almost like weeds. I am glad the lawn is mowed, it keeps ticks away.

Moomin Bisquits

Paula purchased Moomin Bisquits today. They came in a metal jar, so we can keep the package when the bisquits are eaten. I like that.

Summer

Summer is here to stay. We have had a couple of sunny days with rather warm weather. The forecast today said this will continue through the weekend. It may even be warmer.

It is dry, there have been warnings of fires in the forests. I hope this will not happen. We would need some rain, preferably at night. Rain is also summer weather. We will see what happens.

No Solution

The police investigation on the murder of Sweden’s Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986 has finally ended. It has become the biggest investigation in Swedish police history, yet nobody knows who committed the murder. The investigation leader believe it was a man who died long ago, but the evidence to support this is bleak and would very likely not have held up in court. I guess we just have to say that whomever did it, got away with murder.

Åland Islands

The 9 June is the National Holiday of the Åland Islands, when they got a form of home rule after Finland’s independence from Russia. We congratulate all Ålanders today.

🇦🇽

Healthy Car

Daniel went to have a check up on the car today. This must be done regularly in Sweden, mostly every fourteenth month. The car was without flaws. This is good. Now we know we have a safe car and we do not have to put money in it to make it so.

It is good that cars must have regular check ups, it makes traffic safer. We can feel more safe when going by car, knowing this, which is good. Some regulations are good.

Boiled Eggs

Paula is normally a person who loves good food. There are days, however, when she wants nothing of the sort. Today, she just had three bolied eggs for dinner. Granted, she and Daniel had had a very nice Sunday lunch. Eggs are not bad. Still, I believe a dinner of just boiled eggs is too poor for Paula. I wish I could convince her to get more food for dinner. The more food she prrpares, the greater is the chance that I can get a taste of it.

National Holiday

It is the National Holiday of Sweden today. We are celebrating Sweden’s independence from the Kalmar Union, which was dominated by Denmark, and the old constitution of 1809. If we would have had a flag pole in our garden, we would have flown the flag of Sweden. We do not have a flag pole, but we have celebrated anyway. Sweden is a good country to live in.

Friday Night

We are all spending a nice, calm Friday night at home. Paula and Daniel discussed going out for dinner, but ultimately decided against it. I like their decision, it means we were all at home tonight. It was a good evening.

Friday Night

We are all spending a nice, calm Friday night at home. Paula and Daniel discussed going out for dinner, but ultimately decided against it. I like their decision, it means we were all at home tonight. It was a good evening.

Peter the Great?

There was a documentary on TV tonight about Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia. He was the one who modernized Russia around 1700 and who defeated King Karl XII of Sweden, bringing an end to Sweden’s days as a great power. It was a well made documentary about this horrible subject. I guess it is as Daniel says: the world would have been better off without Peter the Great. Then the Lutheran Estonians, Latvians, Swedes, and Germans in the Baltics would have been ruled by the Lutheran Kingdom of Sweden instead of the Orthodox Empire of Russia. Sweden is also a much better country for dogs than Russia is.

Sick Leave

Paula is resting at home, having sick leave fromwork after having an operation in her right arm yesterday. Her arm hurts, but she knows it will be much better than before the operation. We support Paula in the best way dogs can: by helping her to rest and by giving her a lot of love. This will make her get better soon.

X-ray Examination

Peanut has been x-rayed today. An x-ray examination of your hips is necessary, if you are a Shiba in Sweden and want to become a parent. The result can be anything from A, which is excellent, to E, which effectively disqualifies you from getting pups. The hip status is inherited and you should not let pups inherit very bad hips.

Peanut would want to become a father in the future. Now he just have to wait for the result. It will take a few days for a qualified veterinarian to examine the x-ray image. We hope Peanut will pass. A black and tan Shiba with his mentality would make a great father.

Summer Times

We are entering June with a splendid, sunny, warm day. It really feels that summer is here now.

If my dear late mother would still be in charge of this blog (that she created), I am sure she would write that the best feature of summer is cancelled this year. Mommy loved dog shows and summer is the peak of the dog show season. In order to minimize the spread of covid-19, however, the Swedish Kennel Club has decided that there will be no dog shows until at least September. Mommy would be quite angry.

Personally, I have never been so fond of dog shows myself. I thought it was enough to go to three dog shows in my career and pick up my title as Show Champion on the third of them. I enjoy summer for the warm weather.

Mother’s Day

The last Sunday in May is Mother’s Day in Sweden. This is the first Mother’s Day when I do not have my mother here to celebrate.

I am a mother myself. Last year, my daughter Gerstuhl still lived here and celebrated me. Now she has got a family elsewhere. My other pups also have got their own families.

Be this as it may. I have celebrated Paula, our human ”mum”. She always deserves to be celebrated.

Mowing the Lawn

This time of the year, the lawn is growing at a high speed. Daniel mowed it today. Fortunately, it was dry, so it was easy to mow it.

The main reason for keeping a well mowed lawn, is that it makes it harder for ticks to reach us. ticks climb the grass, then jumps from the grass to the coat of a dog. We hate ticks, so we love well mowed lawns.

A well mowed lawn also looks better than when it is growing wild.

It is good to have a well mowed lawn now.

Summer Is Coming

Summer is definitely on its way. It is warm outside, especially in the sun. Daniel is pulling out dandelions from the lawn, something which he only has to do in late spring. The lawn is growing. Insects are flying around here and there. I like this weather, it is nice to be outside in the warm sun. Itis warm inside too, even though the central heating is turned off. While I like all seasons of the year, there are times when I would like to live in the summer all the time. Perhaps it would bore you, but I do not think so. Life is good right now.

European Contribution to Moon Mission

The European Space Agency (where Sweden is a member) has agreed with the US Space Agency Nasa, that the ESA will provide hardware for the project Artemis, which will send astronauts back to the Moon. ESA’s contribution will be a Service Module for the missions. It will be built by Airbusin Bremen.

I wonder if this might also facilitate a possibility for astronauts from ESA countries to go to the Moon. This would be great.

Old Chocolate

Daniel held a presentation at work today. It went well and he got some chocolate as a token of appreciation. When he got home, he realised the best before date for one of the chocolate bars had passed. This was a setback.

Archaeology Dogs

There is no end to the help dogs can bring humans, with our sensitive sense of smell. Dogs can be archaeologists, identifying the smellofhuman remains thousands of years old.

This is not surprising to me. I know what I can detect with my nose. All I would have to learn, is what smell the human remains have, and tell my humans when I would detect it. With the much less fine tuned sense of smellof humans, though, I can understand how they would think this is amazing.

I rather use my nose to detect candy, however.

Working from Home

Daniel is often working from home these days. He is allowed to do this, now that the pandemic needs to be contained. He was at home all day today. Paula was also athome, because she did not work today. This feels good for us dogs. When both Paula and Daniel are at home, we do not need to watch the house as thoroughly as we do otherwise. It was a nice, calm day. I wish more working days were like this.

Yesterday’s Cake

Daniel bought a little cake yesterday, for his birthday. Even though it was small, all of it was not eaten yesterday.

Both Daniel and I had hoped to get a little cake this morning. Paula beat all of us to it, however. When we got out of bed, there were just a couple of crumbles left. We were disappointed, but I guess Paula had been happy. Good for her.

Birthday!

We celebrate Daniel’s birthday every 23 May. He is well worth celebrating.

Happy birthday, Daniel!

Late Night Sausage

Late at night, just before our final time outside, Paula gave us pieces of sausage. This was a great evening snack.

You always sleep better, when you get a little sausage just before you go to sleep. There is something special about sausages. You can say a lot about many human inventions, but I believe the sausage is one of the best. There should often be sausage late at night.

Chicken

Paula and Daniel had chicken for dinner tonight. I got to taste some. It was really tasty. This is the kind of food I like, with a lot of meat in it.

Did you know that in Swedish, food is called ”mat”? This is derived from the same Germanic word as the English ”meat” (if I am correctly informed). Thus, meat and food may be said to be the same thing, and real food is meat. This is nice to think about, isn’t it? Chicken is good meat.

Covid-19 Detection Dogs

In the UK, dogs have been trained to detect covid-19. This is far from the first human disease that dogs can detect, we are known to be able to detect cancer and other diseases. Dogs can detect the diseases with our well developed sense of smell. We can make more detections in a much faster pace than any clinical tests, if we only learn what to smell for. This is positive news in the gloomy times of the pandemic.

The Fight Against Dandelions

Daniel is a sworn enemy of the yellow flowers called dandelions. We used to have a lotof them in our garden at this time of the year, but Daniel has been stubbornly pulling them out of the ground. He pulled a few more out today, but there are mich fewer now than there were before.

According to Daniel, his late father taught him not to accept any dandelions in the garden, and to pull them out with their roots. This is good. I like the lawn better, when it is green.

Recession

The world economy isin a recesssion due to the virus pandemic and all the efforts to counter it. For example, Japan is facing a recession for the first time since 2015.

The society and economy in Japan is strong. There are many Shibas living there, who will help. I am certain Japan will manage to get out of the recession. It is still worrying that a kind of virus can have such a huge impact on the world. I wish we could get out of the pandemic soon.

Norwegian National Holiday

My maternal grnadfather was from Norway. Mommy has told me he was a Norwegian patriot. He would have celebrated today, when it is the national holiday of Norway.

I guess that I can also celebrate a little today, to commemorate my grandfather. There are more positive aspects of having Norwegian roots. When we watch cross country ski competitions on TV, I can always be happy for the numerous Norwegian victories, because I have got Norwegian roots.

Cheers for Norway, today!

No Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest would have been aired tonight. It was not. Due to the covid-19 pandemic, the contest was cancelled. There was a different show aired from the Netherlands, last year’s winner, instead. It was nice, but not the same as the contest. We hope for contests in the years to come.

A Little Candy

Paula went grocery shopping today. One of the things she bought was candy. A little later in the evening, she took some candy and sat down to eat it. I came by and asked her if I could have some. She refused to give me, or any other of the dogs, any candy. She had just taken a few pieces of candy, she said, and needed to have these herself. Ina way, I can understand Paula. Candy is very tasty. If I had just a few pieces of candy, I would not give any pieces to anybody else, either. I am still a little disappointed. I would have liked to have at least one piece of candy.

One Year Old

Peanut turns one year old today. He does not throw a party today. We will have a big party in the weekend instead, bigger than we canhave in an ordinary weekday. This is a wise strategy. It is better to wait for a bigger party, than just having a little party right now. Peanut was a little doubtful at first, but the older ones of us convinced him. The party will be great. Now all Peanut can do is looking forward to it.

Snow

We woke up to a white landscape this morning. The ground was covered in newly fallen snow, in the middle of May. This would be special any year. This year, when we have had a record mild winter, it feels even more special to get snow now.

The anow was already thawing when we went out for the morning walk. In the middle of the day, it was gone again. This is not strange for May. I guess we will not have any more snow this side of the summer.

Clouds

It is raining on and off today. Clouds cover ghe sky. The last two nights have hardly had any clouds in the sky, and the morning temperature has been just below the freezing point. This is cold for the time of the year. If we have an overcast sky tonight, chances are the temperature will not sink so low until tomorrow morning. We will have to see what happens.

Forgetful

There are days when I forget to write blog entries. It has happened twice this month already. My dear late mother would not be pleased with the way I run the daily blog that she created and ran for so long. I must make sure I get better at this.

The Penguin

There is a little statue of a penguin in the centre of our town. Itatand sjust at the corner of the town hall and the main street, Drottninggatan. This weekend, kt disappeared. This was a disaster for most inhabitants of our town, losing this lovely little statue. Fortunately, the penguin was found today. We all hope it will be returned to its ordinary spot in town soon, and can stay there. This penguin is great, even though it is small.

Pop

Paula likes to drink pop. Sometimes, she brings a glass of pop when she goes to bed.

Peanut also likes to drink pops. When Paula puts a glass of pop on her night stand, he is usually very observat. Whenever he gets an opportunity, he goes there and starts to drink from the glass.

There are times when Paula stops Peanut. On other nights, Paula does not notice or does not really care. Tonight, she even poured the pop into a wider glass, to make it easier for Peanut to drink it. I guess Peanut likes to drink pop better than Paula does. We are lucky to have such a nice human as Paula.

Europe Day

It is the Europe Day today. This is a day to commemorate the European unity, after a declaration on such a unity by Frenchman Robert Schuman on the 9 May 1950. This was just five years after the devastating Second World War. Europe desperately needed peace and unity.

While peace was mostly preserved in Europe until around 1989 due to the terror balance between the super powers the Soviet Union and the USA, there is no doubt that peace and prosperity has also been benefited by the cooperation between European countries. I think the Europe Day is worth celebrating.

Name Day

My daughter Gertrud has a name dayin the Swedish calendar. She is quite proud of it. Paula and Danielhave three name days each, however. This is as it should be, name days are a human thing. Daniel’s third name is Åke, so one of his name days are today. We congratulated him for it, as soon as it dawned upon us that it was today. It was just another Friday, if you do not count this.

Ninety Years

Daniel’s mother turns ninety years old today. This is awesome. Not many humans reach this age, let alone with mind and body intact, as Daniel’s mother has.

Under normal circumstances, there would be birthday celebrations at Daniel’s mother’s home. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, this cannot happen. Daniel spoke to his mother over the telephone at length, at least.

Congratulations from all of us goes to Daniel’s mother today!

Explosions

Once in a while, we hear rumbles. It is the sound of explosions nearby. The explosions are done in the rocky ground not far away from here, where a new water tower for our town is being built.

Daniel says that when the water tower is finished, the communal water distribution system will probably be expanded to our neighbourhood. We have a privare water well, but communal systems are often safer sources of water. The water tower is supposed to open in two years or so, then this neighbourhood has to be developed with more houses, and the water distribution system may be expanded. I doubt I will live to see it. My grandpups maybe will.

A Microbe That Stops Malaria

It is interesting to read that just as humans are affected by the worst new disease in a century, covid-19, there seems to have come a breakthrough in the fight against the old disease malaria. A microbe found in some malaria mosquitos seem to give them full protection against malaria. This would alsoprevent the mosquitos from spreading the disease to humans. It seems like the microbe does not affect mosquitos negatively and it is found naturally in a fair amount of them in Kenya. Now the only question seems to be how to spread the microbe to more mosquitoes. It is promising.

Evening Walk

We took an extra walk late in the evening, because Paula wanted to. I liked her initiative. Taking walks out of your ordinary schedules are very nice. We had a nice, albeit fairly short, late night walk. It was Paula, Daniel, Javier, Peanut, and I. This is something I could do more often.

Run Away Cat

Paula purchased two kittens earlier this year. They have grown bigger over time and are outdoors quite a lot these days, especially in the afternoons. Today, when Daniel wanted them to go in, only Malin was there and came in. Totte was nowhere to be seen.

I wondered whether Totte was gone forever. He was not. About half an hour later, Daniel spotted Totte oitside of the fenced in yard and went out and fetched him. Daniel was happy to have found Totte again. I guess it is nice that he came back so quickly.

Coffee

Paula and Daniel went grocery shopping yesterday. One of the things they wanted to buy was a certain brand of coffee, but the store was out of this brand. Daniel was told that the store would have this brand of coffee on the shelf today. When he went back to the store today, however, there was still no sign of this brand of coffee. He asked again, and was told that the shipment had not yet arrived, but that this brand of coffee would be in the store tomorrow. Paula and Daniel may go back again tomorrow. It is not always easy, when you want a particular brand of something. It is as if you want a Shiba, but all available puppies are of other breeds. You just have to wait for the right breed.

Sometimes, I Wonder

There are times when I wonder aboit the meaning of life. We live, and we are aware that we live. We are self-aware. What is the meaning of it all. Why are we here? Why do we live? These are questions that puzzles me from time to time.

Sometimes, I have this feeling thst when we die, we fo on to a greater conciousness in the afterlife. Then we will get to know more avout the meaning of it all.

At other times, I think that when we die, lights just goout and there is no more. Then I think that there just is no true purpose of life. Life and self awareness is just a coincidence that mocksus all.

I hope for the former.

A Lot of Dogs in Bed

A lot of us dogs sleep in the large bed with Paula and Daniel. This is not enough for them, however. They also have two atuffed animal dogs in bed. These are called Mr Hund (from the Swedish word for dog) and Mr Dog.

This evening, Paula thought there were too few dogs in the bed. She wondered about this for a while, but she soon realised that Mr Hund and Mr Dog were not lying in the bed. She got up and fetched them. Now that they are also keeping us company, we can sleep tight. This is great.

Wabi-sabi

Here is an interesting article avout the Japanese concept of wavi-sabi. Roughly, it can be translated into the appreciation of imperfections, and the beauty of that which isnot perfect. Read the article, it explains the concept better than I can. I may be of Japanese decent and love Japan, but I am stillno expert of Japanese culture. I wish I were, but I am not.

Day of Rest

This day was a day of rest. We all took it easy. It was almost too much rest, I believe. After a while, it can get boring. When I was outdoors for the final time this evening, I did not want to goinsode. I stayed outside for a while, walking about in the garden in the lovelyweather. This made my day better.

Tomorrow is a Monday and work day. It will be more vusy, less boring. I am ready for this now.

Extra Work

They called from Paula’s work this morning, ordering her to come in and work in the afternoon and evening. She did, of course. Paula has a great sense of duty.

As always when Paula is away, we miss her. She is a fantastic human to be around. We managed to make the day go by, nevertheless, by cleaning, washing, et cetera. There are always things to do around the house. Peanut spent most of the time playing with a ball, but this is because he is still so young. Over all, it was a good day.

Friday Night

It is Friday night. Daniel will not go back to work until Monday. Paula will not go back to work until Tuesday. When they stay at home, we do not need to watch the house as much. We celebrate free days tonight. It is nice.

Sunny Weather

We have been able to stay outside in the warm sun rays this afternoon. It is nice. I have even made Daniel a little annoyed by staying outside, even though he wanted me to go in. As a Shiba, I am entitled tohave a strong will, this is oneof the features of our breed. Eventually, however, I did go in. It has been comfortably warm indoors, too.

Working from Home

Daniel worked from home today. This is mostly good.

While I like that Daniel is home, it also deprives me and the other dogs of our reason to watch the house. When both Paula and Daniel are away, we are watch dogs and take care of the property. When one of them is at home, this is not as necessary. There are downsides of not being watchdogs.

Well, while there are downsides of not being a watchdog, I mostly likeit when Daniel or Paula is at home. Thus, this was a good day.

The Queen

Peanut noticed my blog entry about the birthday of Nils-Olov yeaterday. He told me the Queen of his home country, Elizabeth II, celebrates her birthday today. She turns 94 and is still going strong.

Elizabeth II is not only Queen of the United Kingdom, she is Queen of many countries. One of these are Australia, the country where my old Auntie Linni’s father was born. Auntie Linni had a special place in her heart for Australia because of this.

For our love of Peanut and the late Auntie Linni, we celebrate the birthday of Queen Elizabeth today.

Birthday

This is the day to congratulate Paula’s father Nils-Olov on his 75th birthday. Nils-Olov isoneof our favourite humans beside Paula and Daniel. I have a complicated relationship with him, personally. I have this urge to bark, when he arrives, but I do love him. When he pets me or when I sit in his lap, everything is fine. This is the way I love him.

Shrinking Chinese Economy

The economy of China shrinked in the first quarter of this year. This was the first time since China started to record its quarterly economic growth in 1992, that the economy shrinked. It is mostly due to the lockdown due to the covid-19 pandemic. Even though China has slowly started to come back, the over all figures for the year will probably be bad.

It is not that I am happy about shrinking economies, but some people say that the growth of the Chinese economy is what keeps the Communist party and its dictatorship in power. If the economy would not recover fast enough, who knows what will happen? Perhaps the Chinese people will rise against its communistic overlords? Perhaps an uprisning would be the first step towards democracy and freedom for the Chinese people? If so, there may be something good about the shrinking economy.

Working on a Saturday

Paula went to work this Saturday. As a nurse, she has to go to work anytime in the week, when duty calls.

We who were at home were also working. We cleaned the house. Then Daniel put in a few hours at his job, with our help.

It was a productive day. It feels good, now that we are going to bed.

Trouble

It disturbs me that the program to write blog entries does not always work properly. This evening, when I was avout to write a blog entry, I loaded the page, but no matter how I tried, I could not put the cursor on the area for writing text and I could not write anything. I had to reload the page, to be able to write anything at all. When the page was reloaded and I was able to write a blog entry, I jad forgotten what I had though I would write about. Life gets unnecessarily complicated sometimes. I hope it will be better tomorrow.

My Aunt

My Aunt Suri turned eleven years old yesterday. She was the last pup that my grandmother Suri got. Suri still has her health. She lives with my sister Milou with a nice family in the same town as we do. It would have been better, if I would have congratulated Suri in the blog yesterday, but better late than never. Congratulations, Suri!

Working from Home

Daniel worked from home today. This was fairly nice, but not as nice as whenhe spends a lot of time with us dogs onhis daysoff from work. He just sat at a desk, mostly working with his computer, all day, however. It was not that much different from when he is away at work. He will work at the office again tomorrow. I will miss him, but not really his working from home persona. It is best when we spend time together.

Back to Work

After the long Easter holiday,it was back to work again today. Daniel went to work. Paula went to make errands. For us dogs, we went back to our duty to watch the house.

Holidays are nice and give us rest. Work days are satisfying in another way. You feel that you make a difference when you work. If it were not for us dogs, who knows what would happen, when Paula and Daniel were both away from home. We keep the house safe. It feels good to do so.

The Name of the Blog

Paula asked me if I had any plans on changing names of this blog. It is named for my mother Hailey, who started it. Now that I run the blog, Paula’s question is not strange. Would it be better to have a name reflecting me?

I have considered this even before Paula asked me. There are probably other readers who wonder the same thing. I can tell all of you that I will not change the name of the blog. This is primarily because I want to honour my mother and her blog. She made it what it is today. The second reason is that ”Daily Hailey” is a great name. It rhymes. I cannot think of any better name of the blog, with the name Polly or my alias Karstuhl in it. No, the name will remain as it is.

Perhaps I will get a granddaughter sometime, who gets the name Hailey from my mother. Then she would be the perfect new blogger when I am gone.

Easter Day

Christ is resurected! Happy Easter, everyone!

I am not sure I understand all the details of the Christian lore around Easter. What I do know is,it is the greatest holiday of all. The story of Christ is supposed to be the Greatest Story Ever Told.

I have always wondered if Christ did not have a dog. He is supposed to be the greatest of all humans who have ever lived or will live. As a dog,Iwould like to think he did have a dog. There is no mention of a dogin the Gospels, however. I think this is sad. The greatest of all humans should have had a dog.

Easter Eve

We cleaned the house and prepared food for Easter celebrations. It would not be much. With the covid-19 pandemic, there would not be the same gathering of people as usual. Paula’s parents keep for themselves. Daniel’s brother, who had invited Paula and Daniel for tomorrow, has cancelled it. Paula’s sister Mia came around to our place, however. This was nice. Miais a very nice person.

I wish a Happy Easter for everyone, despite the pandemic.

Good Friday

This really was a Good Friday, because we started a bit early with the Easter Candy.

Good Friday is actually about the suffering and death of Christ, but on Sunday, we celebrate how he was resurected from the dead. It is a complicated story, but I like Easter, nevertheless.

Free Air

They say that the air is free. This is true,in the sense that you do not have to work or pay anything in order to breathe.

However, the air is free for the virus which brings covid19 as well. Unfortunately, we cannot do anything about this. Humans can regulate or tax other humans to make them change their behaviour. This do not help against viruses. Regulations or taxes would not stop viruses, they do not understand or care. What viruses may care about, is antibodies in the blood of people, through infection or vaccines. I hope vaccines may soon be here.

Intensive Care

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, is in intensive care at a hospital due to the covid-19 virus. He is getting better, according to the reports.

Peanut said Prime Minister Johnson could not get better care than in the hospitals of his country of birth. I begged to differ. I said I am sure the PM would get better care in Örebro, where Paula works as an intensive care nurse. When I said this, Peanut did not have anything more to say. I guess I won the debate.

Daily

There are days when I consider taking a break from this daily blog. Sometimes, I think there should be at least one day off every week from the blog. Then I thinkof my dear Mommy, who never failed to write inher daily blog. I have promised to follow in her paw prints, and continue to update her daily blog. It is when I think of this, that I decide that I will continue to update this blog on a daily basis. For the love of my Mommy Hailey, this will continue to be the Daily Hailey. Stay tuned for more daily blog entries!

After a Short Night Comes a Long Night

We went to bed late last night, since Paula came home from work really late. We all gotup early in the morning, since both Paula and Daniel had to go to work. When they go to work, our duty as watch dogs gets more important.

Tonight, we are all at home fairly early. We all agree that there are advantages of going to bed earlier tonight than last night. Daniel must get up as early as he usually does tomorrow morning. This also means there will be an early morning walk with him. 

You often have to adjust your schedule according to the work of your humans. This is something dogs like to do. We like to make things easier for our humans, just like they make things easier for us. It is a matter of give and take, that makes everyone happier. Life is good.

Late Night

When Paula comes home late at night after working late, we often stay awake dor a while. It become late nights. This night was such a night. Now I wish I could get some sleep. Stay tuned, I will write more tomorrow.

Cleaning

It is Saturday. As usual on Saturdays, we clean the house. Daniel takes the lead, but we all help him. I believe my efforts are essential. It is important to have a clean house. I make it so.

Charger

Daniel bought a new mobile charger this week. It does not work properly. Luckily, though, we have got other chargers. It is better when you have many chargers, but a few can be enough. It is annoying, though, that the new charger does not work. Daniel will have to go back to the store with it next week.

Silly Attempt

When Mommy ran this blog, she often had good jokes on April’s Fools Day. I made an attempt yesterday. It was not true that dogs deliver food. I do not think this was that funny. I do not know about anyone who was fooled by it. I guess Mommy was a better joker than I am, God bless her soul.

Dogs Fetching Food

Old people are told to stay out of harms way, stay at home, due to the covid-19 pandemic. They can get food sent to them in some places. In other places, dogs have been trained to deliver food for the elderly. I think this is a great initiative. I could help, if there were any elderly nearby that I could help.