A Nice Day

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.

Discord

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

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.

Dog Correspondence

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.

Late Night

It is Friday night. Both Paula and Daniel are free from work tomorrow. They plan for a late morning, so they stay up until late tonight. I like this. It is cozy.

Swedish Gold Medals

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. 

England

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.

Italy

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.

About Dogs

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. 

Fourth of July

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!

Perhaps Sweden Was Lucky

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.

Quarter Finals

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. 

More Covid-19

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.

Ruins

Paula and her mother went to see some old ruins today. I am not so sure why, but they said they were interested in the history behind the ruins. Apparently, there was a nunnery there in the Middle Ages. The concept of nunnery is something I have never fully comprehended. On the other paw, it is intriguing that there are things that one cannot fully comprehend. Life gets a little more worth pondering about this way.

Out

Sweden is out of the Euro 2020.

We are all very disappointed. Most of us because we root for Sweden, our home country. Peanut, who was born in England, because he will not be able to see England beat Sweden in the quarter final. 

Now we can all root for England versus Ukraine. 

Many Goals

The Euro 2020 games today were not between teams that I am very interested in. There were many goals, however, which is exciting.

Spain won against Croatia in over time. After 3-3 in full time, Spain won 5-3.

France and Switzerland also played 3-3. There was over time without any goals. Switzerland then won on penalties, 5-4. 

A Little Cleaner

This afternoon, Daniel and I cleaned the floors of our house. Daniel has this personal rule that the floors need a good cleaning at least once a week. It feels better to walk on clean floors, so I agree with him on this. I just wish it would not demand so mich work. A modern house should have some kind of automatic floor cleaner. I guess we are not there yet, however. Life can get better in the future.

Denmark

Our neighbours in southwest, the Danes, can celebrate tonight. Denmark won its game versus Wales in the final sixteen in the Euro 2020 football championship. I rejoice with the Danes.

Midsummer Eve

The summer solstice was last Monday. We celebrate Midsummer Eve this Friday, because officially, Midsummer Day is the first Saturday after the summer solstice. I think this is strange, but humans are sometimes strange, when they decide the times for celebrations. I think celebrations would be due at the summer solstice. I do not say no to celebrations today, though. 

No Games

There were no football matches on TV tonight. After the groups, we have to wait until Saturday to watch the first games of the final sixteen. Paula and Daniel were a little disappointed. I do not care much. It is good, however, that no games will disturb the traditional midsummer festivities tomorrow. 

Sweden Won

In the Euro 2020 tonight, Sweden won versus Polamd, 3-2. This also means Sweden won the group and will face a relatively easy opponent i. the final 16. In a championship, no opponent is easy, but some are a little leas difficult to beat than others. We rejoiced forthe Swedish victory and hope for more victories to come.

Lovely Evenings

Paula is blessed with so many dogs who loves her. Many of them have been fortunate to live close to the sunset. Life is great, when you are close ro the sunset.

A Beautiful Event

In between the football games, we watched a documentary from an English veterinary clinic. They had found a stray dog, who turned out to have humans wh had not seen her for six years. The dog was united with her human and recognised her. She could return to a happy home.

This story made us all very happy. We would like to know where this dog had been all of those years, but we will never know. All is well that ends well, however. 

A Fallen Tree

Finally, Daniel was able to mow the lawn today. 

He also had to take care of a tree, that had fallen over the drive way this morning. Paula’s father Nils-Olov helped. It will be much appreciated wood for fires next winter from this tree.

It was a warm day, but it was nice.

Thunder

We have had a couple of warm days. It was notodd that we got thunder and lightning today. Thunder usually comes after some warm days. 

I like thunder and the heavy rain falls that usually accompany it, when we can stay indoors. None of us dogs are afraid of thunder, which is good. I feel sorry for dogs who are. To me, though, it is just cozy, when I am indoors. This will probably be a really good summer.

Draw

We rooted for Englamd tonight. when playing Scotland in the Euro 2020. Peanut was born in England and led the cheers for England here. 

Actually, we hope both England and Scotland proceed from the group. It would be better than Czechia or Croatia. England probably will.

Belgium Won and Goes On

In the Euro 2020 today, Belgium won against Denmark, 2-1. This makes me happy. Paula and Daniel rooted for Denmark, but I had a great grandfather from Belgium, so I rooted for his home country. 

Belgium has now won two games and will proceed to the quarter finals. Denmakr has lost two games. However, there is a slight possibility for Denmark to get to the quarter finals, if the Danes win against Russia in its final game in the group. This also has to do what will happen in the game between Finland and Belgium. Even though Belgium is already in the quarter finals, the last games in this group will be exciting. 

Away

Daniel had a day off from work today and went to Stockholm. He had an aunt who passed away a while ago, and it was her burial today. Daniel also got a chance to meet his mother, brother, and one of his sisters. He was satisfied with the day, he said when he got home. 

Burials are important things for closure, especially for humans. Dogs get closure in different ways. I am pleased that Daniel could get this closure. 

Long Meeting

Daniel is a member of the city council. Since this winter, they have had meetings on video link. There was a meeting today. I have never realized how boring these meetings must be, until I have heard their discussions as Daniel participates from home. I hope they can meet in person again in the autumn, so we do not have to hear the meetings here at home. 

Sweden Won a Point

Sweden played its first game of the Euro 2020 tonight, versus Spain. Spain is a mich better team and played much better. The Spaniards did not, however, manage to score a single goal. Sweden should be happy for a goal less draw. The Spaniards must be disappointed. Sweden’s goal keeper Olsen made many great saves, he was the Swedish player of the game. I am not happy for the game, but satisfied with the result. 

Euro 2020

The European Championships in football of 2020 started two days ago. It would have been played last year, but was postponed due to he pandemic. 

We hope Sweden will win. Sweden plays its first game versus Spain tomorrow, which is a hard opponent, but we have a fair chance against the other teams in the group.

Peanut, who is born in England, was glad that England beat Croatia 1-0 today. It was a revenge for the loss in the World Cup semi final 2018.

Interrupted Lawn Mowing

Daniel tried to mow the lawn today. It has grown quite high, while the lawn mower has been to service. He just managed to mow part of the lawn, before a great rain fall came across our lot. You cannot mow very wet lawns, so it was no use to try to mow any more of the lawn when the rain had stopped. We hope the lawn will be dry enough tomorrow for Daniel to continue to mow it. 

Bad Connection

We have bad connection to the web tonight. We had yesterday too, which meant that I could not post any blog post yesterday. I hope this blog post will be posted online. 

Board Meeting

There was a board meeting with the regional kennel club of Örebro county this evening. Daniel is a member of the board. This must be the most important board anyone inour county can be a member of. I like that Daniel is a member of it. It makes me proud of him, prouder than before.

Just an Ordinary Day

Some days, it seems like nothing special is happening. This is such a day. Daniel has been working. Paula has rested a little, studied some. For us dogs, there has not even been much to bark at outdoors. We would like to have seen some action. I hope tomorrow will be more eventful. 

Momoko Came Home

The remains of our dear Poodle friend Momoko came home today.

We miss her so much. She was a true friend.

National Holiday

It is the national holiday of Sweden today. We have celebrated by taking it easy at home. When life is good, we knoe we live in a great nation. Happy national holiday to all of you who have any connection to Sweden!

Ears

The Chihuahua pup Viola has raised her ears. Chihuahua ears are smaller than Shiba ears, but they are bigger, relative to the head. We are all happy for her. Dog ears should be raised, if the breed standars says so. It says so for Chihuahuas ans Shibas.

Remote Control

Paula’s and Daniel’s beds can be moved up and down by electric motors. They have remote comtrols to move the beds. This morning, Daniel discovered remains of the remote control for Paula’s bed. A dog must have chewed upon it until it broke. Peanut is a suspect, but he pleads not guilty. Regardless of who chewed on it, Paula knows that she laid the remote control in a place where a dog could reach it. Daniel always tucks his remote control away.

We believe it is possible to get a new remote control from the store where the beds were bought. 

Summer Times

In the song, when it is summer times, the living is easy. This is the kind of summer I have always longed for. I have never really experienced it, though. Life is not hard, but it could hopefully be as easy as in the song.

Summer

It is June and we have sunny weather with a clear blue sky. It is not very warm outside, despite the weather, but this is understandable after the cold spring we have had. 

The negative thing is all the insects and ticks that have come back from their winter hide outs. I often wish they would stay there in the summer as well, at least the ticks, who have no positive impact on the world, whatsoever.

We hope for a nice summer, with a lot of sunny days and rainy nights. 

Pasta

There was pasta with ham and peas for dinner. Paula did not want all of her serving, so I got some. It was quite tasty. Pasta is always nice. Ham is always great.

I wish we could get part of the dinner more often. We always get our food, and it is good and tasty, but it is nice with other things now and them. 

Mother’s Day

Hello, Gerstuhl here!

This blog entry is my mother’s day gift to Mum, whose blog it is. (We ceelebrate mother’s day in Sweden on the last Sunday in May.)

Congratulations to the best dog mother there ever were, even though I was a little tough towards you from time to time. I love you!

Dandelions

Every time this season, Daniel goes out to extract dandelions from the soil in our garden. He says dandelions are weed, that they take nutrition from the plamts we want to grow. I guess he has a point. There are a lot of the growing things that look and smell better than dandelions. 

Daniel spent a large part of this Sunday in the garden, ridding it of dandelions. We have lived here for allof my life, and hos work has made an obvious difference. There are far less dandelions now than before. I just wish there would be none. so Daniel would not have to care.

Whipped Cream

This evening, the Chihuahua pup Viola got some whipped cream before bedtime. I would also have wanted whipped cream. It is tasty and has a good amount of energy. Daniel said, however, that late evening snacks are primarily for pups. Too bad she is not my pup; when I had pups, I could usually get some of their late night snacks. 

A Lot of Rain

We have a rain gauge in the garden. It is nice to keep some track of the amount of rain falling, especially since the amount of water in our well depends in part on this. Every morning, Daniel checks the rain gauge and empties it.

This morning, we had a record high amount of water in the rain gauge. The gauge measures up to 35 millimetres of rain (this is the imagined height of the rainfall on a flat surface of 1 metre squared). The rain gauge had more water in it than this. 

It rained all day yesterday and all night before today, so the resultin the rain gauge was not strange. It was still a record. We are happy we can stay indoors most of the time in rainy weather like this. 

Kvarg

Paula had a very light dinner tonight, just something called ”kvarg”. I do not know what it is called in English, but itis a dairy product similar to yoghurt. I am not very fond of it. Paula often hands out small bits of her dinners for us dogs to taste. I wish she would give us something tastier than kvarg tomorrow.

Mourning

We have had a quiet and peaceful day today, in honour of our late friend Momoko. We all miss her deeply. Momoko was such a dear friend to all of us. 

Good Bye, Momoko

Our dear Miniature Poodle friend Momoko has left us. She has now gone to Heaven. 

Momoko was such a nice, friendly little dog. She will be missed. 

Evenly Divided By Seven

As a general rule, human age can be recounted into dog age by dividing it by seven. Humans often celebrate the most, when they reach an age evenly divided by ten. This is just because they have a number system with the base ten, since they have ten fingers. Humans who have dogs should also celebrate when they reach an age evenly divided by seven, because this corresponds to dog years.

Today, Daniel turns 49. If you divide 49 by 7, you get 7. Thus, it is an age evenly divided by seven. Daniel is now an age which corresponds to seven dog years. 

Congratulations, Daniel! 

Another Chihuahua

We have one Chihuahua friend, Tiffy. Today, we have become friends with another, Viola. She is still a little pup, but I am sure she will make a great contribution to our pack. We can never be too many.

Meat Sauce

Daniel made his famous meat sauce tonight. He served Paula and himself. It smelled really good. Paula did not want anything, however, but gave her food to me and some of the other dogs. This was really nice of her. 

Daniel thought that Paula was ungrateful, especially since it was she who had asked him to make meat sauce. While I have some sympathy for this stance, I cannot be mad with Paula, when she gave me meat sauce. 

It was a good Friday night. Any night with meat sauce is a good night. 

City Council

Daniel is a member of Örebro City Council. We are proud of this.

During the pandemic, they have started to have meetings with the city council on line. At the meeting today, Daniel sat at home. We could hear a lot of the debates, some of which Daniel participated in. Daniel certainly was one of the best speakers. 

At this city council, there were no questions on dogs. Daniel submitted a suggestion on more dogs and cats in the community homes for the elderly, however. The text was originally written by Paula, but since sheis not a member of the city council, it has to be sibmitted in the name of Daniel. It is a really good suggestion. We hope it will be approved of. 

Heroic Death

A man in Wales died, when he went down a narrow tunnel to rescue his dog. I feel so sorry for the dog and for the rest of the family. This was, however, a heroic death. Trying to rescue one’s dog is always heroic.

Coming Home Late

Both Paula and Daniel were supposed to participate in a video meeting this evening. Paula could not, however, since she was late home. She was serving on the court (she is a ”nämndeman”) in a case that was supposed to end half an hour before the evening meeting would start. She did not make it in time. She did arrive home before the meeting was over, but most of the meeting was already over by then, so she did not bother to ush just to participate in the last minutes. In the end, Daniel said, the decisions were good even without Paula’s vote. This was nice to hear. 

Paula’s Drawer of Socks

Paula happened to leave her drawer of socks open today. A little later, our cat friend Malin made the drawer a place to rest. She said it was very comfortable.

Some of the drawers in the desk are high above the floor. The drawer is small, but nevertheless, it is so high above the floor that I could never reach it. Cats are better att jumping and climbing than dogs are, though. (It is a good thing for cats there are a few things cats do better than dogs.) 

When Malin left the drawer, Paula let it stay open. A little later, Malin was back in the drawer. She really likes it. I am happy for her. 

In Lieu of Dog Shows

The kennel club of Örebro county (a regional club within the Swedish Kennel Club) had an event today when dogs were judged by their quality relative to the breed standards. This is as close to a dog show we can come, and stay within the limits of people due to covid-19. There were no competitions between dogs.

Daniel was there helping out. He is a member of the board of this kennel club, which we are proud of, and they all help out with these things. It went well, he told us afterwards. Everyone agrees, however, that regular dog shows are better. We hope there will be some by the end of the year. 

Fever

Paula has a fever today. This is probably a side effect of the vaccine she got yesterday. There are risks that humans can get side effects of this kind from the vaccines for covid-19. Not everyone gets side effects, but some do.

I am glad I have never had side effects from any vaccines. It has been a hard day for Paula. She will feel better tomorrow, though, I am sure. 

Vaccination

As dogs, we are regularly vaccinated. This seem not to be the case withour humans, although they say they have had their shots in their childhood years. There is a pandemic going on for humans now, and vaccines have been developed. Paula got her first shot of this vaccine today. She will get a follow up shot in some weeks. Daniel has yet to have his shots, but they will come. I am glad our humans will be vaccinated, it is good for them. 

Another Visit

Our Poodle friend Momoko visited the veterinarian a few weeks ago. Shehad a followup visit today. Everything was fine, but the veterinarian wants to see Momoko next week again. Momoko was not sure why. I guess it is because Momoko issuch a gentle and kind little dog, that they want to meet her as often as possible. 

Toys

Paula came home with some new toys today. It was some small plush dolls. Peanut fell in love with one of them, taking care of it for a long time of the evening.

Toys are nice. You could think toys would just be for pups, but this is not true. Humans also like toys as adults, whether they admit it or not. Toys are pass times and make your fantasy soar. This is great. There should be more toys for more dogs and more humans. 

Will there Be Olympic Games?

There is a surge of covid-19 cases in Japan. The Olympic Games of 2020 were postponed until this year. International fans will not be able to come and watch. It is uncertain if there will be Games at all. Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka says she is not sure there will be Games. 

I would love to see TV broadcasts from competitions in Japan. It is the home country of the Shiba. At the same time, it is important toprevent the spread of the pandemic. The Olympic Games are supposed to be held every four years, this has already been compromised by the postponement of a year. I believe it would be better if Japan could host later Olympic Games instead.

Paula Does Read My Blog

Paula assured me today, that she does read my blog. She had read my blog post of the day before yesterday and thought it was appropriate to tell me she does. She does not read the blog every day, but comes back to it quite often and makes sure to read every blog post.

I am glad we have straightened this thing out. Paula is my human and I am glad she follows my blog, if any. Life is good. 

Name Day

Today would have been the name day of Daniel’s father. This great man passed away a year and a half ago. Daniel has his father’s name as his third name. Thus, we can also celebrate Daniel on the name day today.

Congratulations, Daniel, on the Åke day today!

Reading Blogs

Our Chihuahua friend Piffy told me tonight avout a conversation between Paula and Paula’s sister Mia. Paula and Daniel were visiting Mia, and Piffy were there with them. Paula talked about reading blogs. Apparently, Paula used to read many blogs, but do not do this anymore. According to Piffy, Paula does not read the Daily Hailey either. 

I am not sure Piffy is right. It is my experience that Paula do read my blog. When I said this to Piffy, she aknowledged that she was not sure herself. She had made an interpretation of what Paula said, but Paula had not mentioned my blog. 

We have to ask Paula directly. I hope she reads my blog. If she does not, I have to ask her what I can change to make it interesting enough for her. If my own human would not read my blog, there must be room for improvement. I will plan improvements. 

China Does Not Want to Do Business

China makes sure not to do business with Australia. The two countries have been fairly close, China has been Australa’s biggest export market, but the ties are torn. I am sure China is to blame. China is a dictatorship, intent to impose its influence and rules on others. It is good that Australia takes a stand against this. All countries should do this.

Rain

It has been raining all day. It rained on our morning walk. It rained, when we were outside in the later morning, in the middle of the day,in the afternoon, and in the evening. 

Rain is good for the trees and other growing things in our garden. It fills up our well, so we can have a lot of tap water indoors. These are reasons I like rain. Nevertheless,it is annoying, when you have to be in it. Days like this, it is better to stay indoors. I am so happy we can. We are dogs, friends of humans who give us the shelter of houses. Wolves have to stay outside in the rain. I am sorry for them.

Paula’s Sister

Paula’s sister Mia is celebrating her birthday today. Paula and Daniel went there in the evening to celebrate her. I sent my greetings. Mia is a special person, I love her almost as much as I love Paula herself. I wish her all the luckin the coming year of her life.

It Is May, but Still Cold

We have entered the last spring month, May. It is still cold outside, especially in the mornings. Daniel says he has experienced colder springs, when winter went on into May, but he says summer is always with us by the end of May. It is actually my experience as well, that summer is here, when we reach June. I hope this will be true this year as well. 

May Day

It is the 1 May, a day when socialists often go out to protest. It is funny that the Social Democrats in Sweden do this every year, even when they rule the country. Of course, there are less organised protests now that we have a pandemic.

Daniel went out to put some flyers in mail boxes in favour for his political party. It is not a socialist party, but they do not have a monopoly on propaganda on the 1 May, as Daniel says. I agree. 

The King’s Birthday

The Kingof Sweden has his birthday on the 30 April. This day is also a day when speing is celebrated with bonfires. It is nice to be able to combine more than one reason to celebrate.

Apollo 11 Astronaut Collins Passed Away

The first time humans went to the Moon and landed, there were two humans on the Moon, while one stayed in lunar orbit. The man in orbit was Michael Collins. He has now passed away at the honourable age of 90, because of cancer.

Our thought and prayers go out to Michael Collin’s family. 

There is now just one of the Apollo 11 astronauts alive, 91 year old Buzz Aldrin. I hope humans will land again on the Moon before all of the Apollo astronauts have left for the afterlife. 

Friendly Reminder

Paula and Daniel order in pizza occasionally, This is special and tasty. However, I always consider the pizzas Paula is doing herself is the best.

Pizza

We got pizza in our food bowls today. It is always nice to get something you do not eat often.

There are things I like better than pizza, such as minced meat or sushi. Still, pizza is very good. I would eat it more often, if I were to decide. It is a shame there are no wild roaming pizzas outdoors, that you can hunt down and eat. 

Criticism

Paula was a little upset about the blog entry I wrote yesterday. She thought I wrote it in favour of Daniel. I heard her. I did not. 

Daniel asked Paula to talk to me about this and how I should describe it in my blog. She did not. Then I guess her criticism was not that important. I love Paula, but if she wants me to write my blog in a certain way, she must tell me. So far, she has not. Then I just have to keep the blog the way it is.

The Trouble of Turning Out Lights

In the evening, Paula and Daniel often disagrees on which one of them will turn off certain lamps. Daniel can do it, but does not want to, since Paula was the last one to leave the room where the light was on. Paula can also do it, I believe, but says she cannot. Then they argue.

If only I could turn off lamps. Then we would not have these arguments. My paws are not done for this, however. 

Our Route in the Morning

We usually walk the sameroute on our morning walks. This Saturday was no different, except that we walked about an hour later than we usually do. Then we nearly encountered another man and dog, who in part took the same route that we did. Fortunately, we could hold a slower pace and the others eventually made a different turn and cleared our path. It is easier not to come too close with others, because they are sometimes intimidated by Shibas and growl or bark. We hardly care, we are confident in who we are, but I feel sorry for them. We just want to go about our own business, which we could today. 

Even

Our home town Örebro has an ice hockey team in the top league in Sweden. For the first time, it plays semi final games. The opponent is last year’s gold medalists Växjö, a team which also won the series this year. It is not an easy opponent. Växjö won the first of the five games. However, tonight, Örebro won the second game. We are happy for the even match series. We hope Örebro will win the gold this year.

Snow Again

We are close to the end of April, and snow fell for hours today. Most of it thawed during the afternoon, but it has still been just a few degrees over the freezing point. 

It is not strange that we have snow in late April in central Sweden. Most years we have not, but it is still not so uncommon that it is strange. Summer will come.

Life is good.  

Sushi

We had sushi for dinner. Sushi is great food. I got a couple of pieces of sushi.

Sushi is one of the greatest things from Japan. Not as great as the shiba, of course, but tastier. If you have not tried sushi, you have something to look forward to. 

City Council

Daniel is a member of the city council. He is one of 65 humans, out of the more than 130 000 humans, who are elected to decide upon things for everyone in our city.

There was a meeting in the City Council today. Daniel was at home the whole time. Due to the pandemic, the city council meetings are held through video links. This is good, it keeps Daniel at home, where we are. I hope they will keep having videolink meetings after the pandemic. They surely will not, but I hope so anyway.

Mini

Paula has a Mini. This is a British car which is quite little. Our Chihuahua friend Piffy says it is actually her car, because she is the one who use to accompany Paula in the Mini to Paula’s sister Mia and her son and daughter. Piffy likes it there, and the chikdren loves her. I still have to object to Piffy’s claim of the car. Everyone knows that the cars are the property of the alpha bitch of the family. I am the alpha bitch. Take that, Piffy!

Charger

The Ipad had low charge on the battery, when I started to think about what to write about in my blog. Low charge on mobile devices is one of the small curses of modern society. I just have to make sure I finish this blog entry before the battery is empty. This was something I managed to do today, which is good. 

Cutting Down Trees

Daniel and Nils-Olov cut down trees in our garden today. It will make the lower parts of our garden brighter, because more sunlight will reachit. We will also get wood to burn next winter.

The work put in to cut down trees is nothing to be taken lightly. It took hours, and some work is left for tomorrow. It is honourable work. I wish I could help, but I guess I would just be in the way of the proper work being done. Life is good, anyway.

Birthday

It is the birthday of Daniel’s sister Filippa. I have never met her. I have been told she has a dog as well. I assume she is a nice human. Most humans who have dogs are nice. 

Ham and Shrimps

Daniel had ham amd shrimps as accessories for his dinner today. (Paula was not at home.) This goes to prove he isnot a vegan, despite what he ate for dinner yesterday. 

It is good to know Daniel eats ham and shrimps. He is no vegetarian. This is good. He is a good human, a carnivor.

Sallad

There are days when I do not understand my humans. Today was such a day. Paula made a sallad for dinner, and both she and Daniel said it tasted good.

It was not even ham or any other meat in this sallad. Appart from lettuce, cucumber, and tomatoes, all I could see was a little cheese. This is no food for carnivorous animals, that I know humans are, just like dogs. Humans and dogs are both on the top of the food chain. By this dinner, it seemed like Paula and Daniel paused from this top position.

I think it will be better tomorrow. I do not believe Paula and Daniel have given up on great food. It would not be like them. While I would consider taking care of the meat in the fridge and freezer, I also want carnivorous humans as leaders of our pack. If you are not on top of the food chain, you cannot be a true leader. Paula and Daniel sure are true leaders.

Deer

This morning on the morning walk, we saw a deer. It stood right in front of us,perhaps twenty metres away, when it spotted us and ran away. Peanut wanted toun afterit, but I told him it was not worth it. We let the deer run.

It is great to live close to nature, so you can see deer rather often. Our wolf ancestors would have hunter and killed the deer, then they would have eaten it. This would have been a good death for the deer.

More Snow

We had even more snow last night. It thawed during the day. 

I do not know if I have experienced any April with this much precipitation. If we do not have a lot of rain, we have snow. It is good for the water level in our well.

Snow

Spring is here, and yet it is not. We got snow this evening.

The temperature is around the freezing point, so I think the snow will not last for long. 

It is quite funny that the weather in April can vary so much. One day, it is sunny and warm, the next day it is overcast, colder, and we get snow. It makes life more interesting.

Lung Transplants From Living Donors

A woman in Japan is the first in the world to get lung transplants from living donors. Parts of her lungs had failed due to covid-19. Her husband and her son donated parts of their lungs to her. This is yet another example of Japanese scientists who are in the forefront of development. I am proud of my Japanese heritage.

Slowing Down

Both Paula and Daniel have been very busy this week, with their respective duties. They are winding down this Friday night.

This means life can slow down for us dogs as well. When our humans are relaxed, we can relax. Fridays are nice this way. Sometimes, I wish there would be Friday more often. 

A Negative Side of Automatic Payments

A man in Norway has been found dead in a flat last December, believed to have been dead since April 2011. He had been married and had children, but had obviously lived in such a way that neither if these had tried to hear from him in all these years.

The man’s bills had been paid automatically from his bank account, so no creditors had ever asked for him. This must be a negative side of automatic payments. The man would surely have been found earlier, if creditors would have searched for him.

It is a good thing the man had no dog, who would have suffered and died after the death of the man. Perhaps a dog abandoned by the death of its human would have barked and made other humans find out about the death, but this is not certain. If you have a dog, be sure other humans would ask for you. 

Not Gone Shopping

Paula and Daniel had plans to go grocery shopping this evening. They decided not to, however. I guess they had enough food as it was. This is like wolves or humans of old would decide not to hunt, because they had enough food anyway. This is wise. You should not go out to get food, if you already have enough food. It isunnecessary, and unnecessary things can be skipped. We all had a most pleasant evening, when voth Paula and Daniel stayed at home. 

Spring

We got snow yesterday, but it is gone today. This is spring. Still, it is rather cold outside. Daniellit a fire in the stove this morning, and it became warmer indoors. I like fires in the stove. 

Second Day of Easter

The second dayof Easter is a holidayin Sweden. While we spend Easter Day taking it easy and doing pretty much what we felt like, Paula and Daniel cleaned and washed clothes today. It was far from a day of rest for them, so it was less restful for us dogs as well. It is nicer when the house is cleaner, though, so this was a good thing. 

Easter

Our Saviour is resurected. Happy Easter!

Some humans doubt that dogs are part of God’s salvation of humans. I do not agree. If any animals are just as saved as humans by God, dogs are. We are part of himan culture, just as much as most humans are.

Timber

Daniel and Nils-Olov were taking down trees in the garden this morning. One of the trees did not fall immediately to the ground, but got stuck in the tree top of another tree. They had to work around the problem. Eventually, they got the tree down. It makes for a lot of wood to be burned next winter. This is good, wood makes for good heating. 

A Long Day’s Wait

This Good Friday, we had to wait until the eveninguntil we got food. Paula and Daniel were otherwise engaged and did not have time to give us food earlier. In a way, it was reminicent of the torments of Christ on the original Good Friday. He had eaten late the night before, but imagine if he would also have been hungry. 

By the way, I did not find a flag yesterday. That was just my April’s fool’s joke. 

Finding a Flag

It is interesting what you may find outdoors on morning walks. This morning, I found a flag. It was a Japanese flag, no less, its bright red circle standing out from the white field. Daniel said that because it was a bit torn, he did not want to take a picture of it. I wonder what a Japanese flag does in a ditch near us. Perhaps there are more individuals of Japanese decent than US dogs close by?