The Lawn Is Mowed

Daniel had planned to mow the lawn today. It was a bit overdue, but rain and other business has stopped him from doing it before. None of us dogs can mow the lawn, the lawn mower is too heavy for us and is built for bipeds anyway. According to the news paper this morning, there was a rather huge risk of rain today, but Daniel started to mow the lawn anyway. It turned out that we only had a little, little bit of rain in the middle of the afternoon, and it did not stop Daniel from finishing. We are glad he finished the job. It is better with a freshly mowed lawn, there is less risk that we get ticks when the grass where the ticks sit and wait for their prey is not so high.

Amazing US Victory

The American national football team did not look like winners in the FIFA Confederation Cup, having not scored a point before the final game in the group. However, the US team managed to beat Egypt 3-0, and when Brazil won over Italy with the same figures, the USA came in second in the group and goes on to the semi final.

Of course, not many people believed in the USA before the game. Mum claims she did. Mum is always an American patriot and believes in the USA under any circumstances. On the other hand, she is not interested in sport, especially not sports which are not considered important in the USA, such as football. I am not even sure Mum knew the USA would play tonight. Be that as it may, as half American, I join Mum in celebrating the US victory.

Anti-Piracy Bill Passed

On the 23rd of April, I wrote about a bill in the Japanese parliament which would allow Japan to join the fight against pirates in the sea outside of Somalia. Since then, Sweden has joined the fight. The Japanese bill did not pass in the Upper House of the Japanese parliament, but the Lower House has now used its power to override the Upper House by a 2/3 majority. Thus, Japan can now join the fight. This is for a good cause, so I believe it is a good thing the bill passed.

Dead by April

It is too bad that the group that sings this song is called "Dead by April". Everybody who knows our April knows that she is the most kind shiba inu girl in the world. Despite this mistake, the song is really good.

New Mission to the Moon

I have always had a certain interest in the Moon. This is mostly due to the fact that my kennel name is Lunar Eclips.

The USA is now preparing to let new astronauts travel to the Moon and back. A lunar probe is now set to blast off in preparation of such a journey. Last time humans visited the Moon was in 1972, the year when Daniel was born and many generations of Shiba Inus before me. It is about time they go there again. If I am lucky, I will be able to see live TV broadcasts of men on the Moon. I am looking forward to this. Eventually, there will certainly also be dogs on the Moon, but I do not expect that to happen in my lifetime.

End of Recession?

The Bank of Japan has said that the Japanese economy had stopped receeding. Growth may come back by the end of the year. This is good news. Japan is the second largest economy in the world, and the home of the highest number of Shiba Inus in the world. If the Japanese economy starts to grow again, it is good for world economy, and it is good for the Shiba Inus living in Japan. Thus, this is good news, though the recession is still there.

Shows this Summer

We will not attend to as many dog shows this summer as we usually do. There is a simple reason: our main focus will be on the World Dog Show in Bratislava in October. We will make sure we are fit for fight there and then. If you will go there too, I hope to see you, if not, I wish you will have your hope for us. I am looking forward to it.

At Work

Mum got to go with Daniel to work today. This was in part due to that Suri would visit Daniel's work. Suri's humans are also work mates of Daniel, this is how they got in touch with us from the start. Suri was happy and playful as ever, Mum said in the evening. Mum only had one objection, Suri tried to eat the sandwich that Daniel had bought for Mum and that Mum had saved for a while. Mum had to eat it right away to keep it from Suri. I know Mum and her love of food, so I know how annoying this must have been for Mum. I can also relate to what Suri must have felt, I have been in her position. Apart from this sandwich incident, Mum and Suri were happy to see each other. I guess they will see each other more times in the future. I hope I will also meet Suri again soon.

Art?

In our home city of Örebro, we have this thing called open art. It is an event where artists may place their work around the centre of the city. The police have, however, removed the art-work of artist Conny Blom. He had made mock bombs out of carrots, taped together with alarm clocks and coloured wires. People were scared, mistaking the carrots for dynamite, thus the police removed all of the carrot bombs. Mr Blom may face criminal charges for his stunt, but he says he only made caricatures of bombs. Well, ridiculous as I think this excuse for art is, it did put Örebro in the focus of international mass media. This is worth something.

Greetings from Family Members

We heard from my son Bagus today, and from my sister Suri, the latter whom moved to her new home yesterday.

Bagus has a happy life in Stockholm. He is the only dog in the family where he lives, but he has many dog friends anyway.

Suri has adapted well to her new life. True to her habit, she slept all night. She has become friend with everybody whom she has met at her new place, including a dachshund in the neighbourhood.

It is always nice to hear from the family members whom you rarely meet. I hope that I will meet Suri and Bagus several times in the future.

Visiting a Show

I got to go with Paula and Daniel to a dog show today. However, I was not shown, but had to settle for being a spectator. It went well, nevertheless. Calvin, father of my pups, won his first CC with excellent critique. This goes to prove I did not make the wrong choice to accept him to father my pups. It was a grey and rainy day at the show, somewhat cold even in June. With a good result, we were happy anyway when we returned home.

Until we meet again Suri!

Today my baby sister Suri left our house to go and live with her owners. Suri lives in the same city as we do which is a good thing. Her owners have invited us to come and visit her. I will do that and check all of her toys and food.
I know Suri will be spoiled rotten and she deserves all the love she will get in her life but she is still my little sister whom I love deeply. I still miss her. The feeling is blue. It is an empty house tonight.

TV Murderer

We saw the TV crime show Criminal Minds tonight. This is a good show, but I was more upset than usually by the episode tonight. It turned out that one of the murderers had not just murdered his brother, but earlier, he had murdered his family's dog. I usually do not get very upset with crime stories on TV, they are made up and the victims are usually humans. However, when one victim is a dog, I do get upset. While there may be reasons to kill humans, as is often shown in TV crime stories (though the reasons are not good enough to free the murderers of the charges against them), what reason might there be to kill a dog? Dogs always love their humans. If there is anyone who love a human more than that human himself, it is his dog.

Well, in this case the TV murderer was a sociopath, and the lack of compasion that sociopaths have can make them kill without reason. It has to be a sociopath in order to kill such a loving animal as a dog, hasn't it? Thus, the inclusion of a murdered dog in the story must have been a way for the writer to make it plain for the viewers that the murderer indeed was a sociopath. I know this was just a made up story and no dog was actually killed, but still, I would have felt better if there would have been no dog murdered in the show. I hope future episodes of Criminal Minds do not involve murder of dogs.

Pizza

Suri celebrated eight weeks of age today. She was examined by our veterinarian, who could not find any fault whatsoever on her. We got some pizza in the evening, a good way to celebrate.

Lost Game

This is Sweden's national holiday, but this year, we have not got any good reason to celebrate. Paula took Kenny and April to a dog show, and while they did OK, they did not win.

Sweden played Denmark in the football World Cup qualification. I got to go with Paula and Daniel to Mia, Emil, and Kesshi to watch the game, which was fun, but the result was not fun. Sweden lost, 0-1. Neither the Danes nor the Swedes played an excellent football, but the Danes got the only goal.

Yet Another...

Yet another dog show weekend, yet another weekend when I stay at home. Paula take some of the dogs and go without me, though she knows I love dog shows more than any other of the dogs in our house. Now I have no chance whatsoever of winning.

One man that has a chance to a great win this Sunday is Swedish tennis player Robin Söderling. He has won yet another match in the French Open Grand Slam tournament, his semi final game today, and meets world number two Roger Federer on Sunday. Odds are Federer will win, but odds has been against Söderling in many games before in this tournament. It will be exciting.

A Better Night

Paula has worked the two most recent nights, but she will stay at home tonight. While you cannot blame her for wanting to make money, it always feels better to have everyone at home during the night.

Upcoming Election

This Sunday, adult humans in Sweden may vote in an election to the European Union Parliament. Dogs may not vote. The EU has, however, made important differences for dogs in Sweden. Sweden is a country free from rabies and dwarf tapeworm (hymenolepsis nana), which previously meant that dogs coming to Sweden from countries not free of these diseases were quarantined for months. This was not good for the dogs and expensive for their humans, and it had negative impacts on breeding, since it made it difficult to import new dogs. Thanks to the EU, Sweden has other rules now, that requires vaccination and health statements by veterinarians, but no quarantine, if you come from a country where there is low risk of being ill with the diseases I mentioned. Most European countries are low risk countries, and so are the USA and Japan. I believe every adult human should vote, but try to check what the candidates think about the free movement of dogs and other animals and on rules against animal cruelty first. It is important to have rules to keep dangerous diseases out.

Meat Balls

It must be nice to be so young as my little sister Suri, and have so many good things in life left to discover. Today, she discovered meat balls. Paula made meat balls for dinner, and we all got to taste some. Suri sure enjoyed it, just like the rest of us. Still, there are many more great tastes for her to discover. This is something I can envy her.

June

It is June, and summer by the almanack. The summer weather arrived a while ago. Unfortunately, it is said that it will be colder tomorrow. Well, if there is rain tomorrow, Daniel will become happy. He says it is to dry in the soil, which is bad for the vegetation and the water level in our well. So far, I think the vegetation grows just as much as it usually does and Daniel had his usual trouble with thick grass on parts of our yard when mowing the lawn yesterday. Rain may not be a bad thing, but I do not think it is as importand as Daniel seem to think.