Mum

Mum had to go to the veterinarian today. Yesterday evening, we discovered something we first thought was a tick. This would have been the first this year, but since spring has gotten far, it was not unlikely that Mum would have a tick. On closer look, though, it was no tick, but looked like a piece of the skin growing the wrong way. We all got concerned, it might be the start of cancer. Today, the veterinarian took care of it right away. He told Daniel and Mum that it was a good thing Mum came in so quickly, because something like this could have grown rapidly. It was small, though, and did not yet have any roots through which it would have been able to spread. Thus, the final news was happy: Mum is going to be completely fine.

Late Decision

The US department of defence has announced that it has lifted its ban on women serving on submarines. In about a year, the first women could take up their posts.

I find it strange that women has not been allowed before. In the event of a nuclear war, the crews of nuclear submarines are the humans most likely to survive. If the crews survive, but are all men, the species would still perish with them. There would be no women who could make couples with men and make another generation of humans. Of course, you could argue that humanity would never be able to make it after a nuclear holocaust no matter who would be on the submarines, because there would be no land to return to and no food to eat. On the other hand, a nuclear war would not have to be a full holocaust, hurting the entire Earth so badly that nuclear submarine crews would not be able to return to land even years later.

For my part, I would also like parts of the nuclear submarine crews to be dogs, so man's best friend would also have a chance to survive a nuclear war.

Polly Likes the Outdoors

Polly, my dear daughter, really likes it outside, running around in our garden, playing with the toys and playing catch with the rest of us. It was raining this afternoon, nobody else wanted to stay outside, but she was still running around, enjoying herself. Shiba Inus are not normally fond of water and rain, but Polly was not concerned. We waited and waited, and finally Daniel managed to get her attention and make her want to get inside.

I have never enjoyed the outdoors much, in any weather, neither has Mum or Dad, though Dad likes to take long walks. Auntie Linni likes to lay outside for longer periods, when it is warm and the Sun is shining. Kuro chan can also be fond of staying outside once in a while. He is the father of Polly, and maybe she has gotten her interest in staying outdoors from him, but her interest seem to me bigger than his. Well, we do not always know why our pups get their personal traits, which is one of the great things of having pups. I do not have the same interests as my parents, either.

Meatballs

Paula and Daniel had meatballs for dinner. They did not eat them all, so April and I went meatball hunting as they were busy with other things. Meatballs are tasty prey. Daniel was a little disappointed, he had planned to make a lunch box with the meatballs. Paula, on the other hand, rather thought it was fun. It does not matter to me - if you turn your back on meatballs, any dog of the right mind will hunt these meatballs down.

A Classic

It has come to my knowledge that the classic comic novel by Englishman Jerome K. Jerome, which in Swedish is just called "Tre män i en båt" (Swedish for "Three Men in a Boat") has a more suitable title in English. The English original title is "Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)". There are four main characters in the novel, the three men of the title, and the dog Montmorency, all of whom go on a boat trip together up the river Thames in England. I cannot understand why Montmorency have not been mentioned in the title of the Swedish edition. His part in the novel is significant, and the original title should have been translated in full. I guess the translator just did not care enough about dogs, as some dull humans tend to do. Maybe it is time for someone to make a new translation of the book, where the full title is translated as well.

Dog Show?

Paula and Daniel were away from home for a part of this Sunday. They claim they went to a dog show in Västerås, a town of the same size as our home town and about an hour's car ride away. I have my doubts, since they did not bring a single dog. What is the point of going to a dog show, if not to amuse the dog you are going to show? It is not like they need to look for new dog breeds, since they are breeders of the best breed there is already.

I checked the story, and there actually was a dog show in Västerås today. They also brought dog candy home of a kind usually purchased at dog shows, and they were gone for such a long time that they would have had the time to go there and back again. Nevertheless, I questioned where they had been when they got home, but they stood by their story. They generally tell us the truth about their whereabouts.

Well, I have no evidence what so ever that they are lying, so they may be speaking the truth, unlikely though it seems. I guess that even the most unlikely event may happen occasionally, and maybe this was one such occasion. In the long run, it will not matter much, and I guess I will settle with believing in the unlikely story that Paula and Daniel both say is the truth.

Polly and Dad

Over the last few days, Polly and Dad has discovered that they enjoy playing with each other. They have a great deal of fun together. When Dad think that Polly goes too far, he tells her so in a good way. It is nice for me to see my daughter playing with her grandfather in such a happy mood. When there are others who play with Polly, I can relax for a bit from my duties as a mother. Polly is growing up, but it will take a little while before she is mature enough not to have anybody watching out for her. Now I have April, Mum, Auntie Linni, and Dad helping me out with this. It is a good life for Polly, I believe.

The Dangers of Bananas - No, Methanol

There is one sort of food that Daniel hates above all, and that is bananas. He cannot stand the texture or the taste of it.

In Uganda, about 80 humans have died from drinking illegal banana gin. In this case, the gin was laces with methanol, which is probably the cause of death. It may be with a lack of respect for those who have died, but we joked with Daniel, asking if he blamed the bananas for the fate of those who died. He joked back and said he did.

Getting serious again, we agreed that it is too bad these people feel they cannot afford industry manufactured gin, but drink the potentially harmful illegal gin instead. We feel sorry for the deaths and hope no dogs lost their humans because of this bad gin.

Barking

Some of us bark a lot, occasionally. Mum, who is the oldest and wisest of us, barks the most. Paula and Daniel often say that they get tired of this. On the other hand, Mum would not be herself, if she would not bark. Odds are Mum will be the one who will leave us first, for the afterlife, because of her age. Daniel has confessed that since he would miss Mum a lot, he would probably miss her barks as well. This is a sign of love. If you love somebody, you also love her faults in a way. I would also miss Mum's barks, not only because I am the second biggest barker who would then have the misfortune of being biggest barker, but also because I too love Mum. We are all very lucky Mum is in excellent health and will certainly live for many years to come.

Tailset

Im happy to discover that Polly has inherited my fine looking tailset. Apart from that she looks more like her father than me, her mother. Well Im proud over her. If she cant be like me her father is the next best thing in line to look like. Im totally aware that Im unique, in all aspects.

Birthday

Today was Nils Olov's birthday. All of us dogs like him very much, so we gave him a cake. None of us came along to the celebrations this evening, though. We stayed at home, and got Paula and Daniel to hand over the present. They told us our present was greatly appreciated, which made us feel good. It is nice to make a dear friend like Nils Olov happy.

Late Fees

Librarians in the oldest library of New York have discovered that two books were borrowed on the 5 of October 1789 and has since never been returned. This may not have been such a big news, if it was not for the claim that then President of the USA George Washington was the one who borrowed the books. The late fees, adjusted for inflation, would now be $300,000 for being about 220 years late.

As far as I can tell, you cannot be quite sure that George Washington was the one who borrowed the books, it says in the article that I have read: "George Washington did not even bother to sign his name in the borrower's ledger. An aide simply scrawled 'president' next to the title to show who had taken them out." The word "president" is used in many other contexts in English than for the head of state in a republic. What if there was another person, president of something else, who borrowed the books? Well, New York was the US capital at the time, and other prominent figures in the federal government did borrow books there, so it is not far fetched to guess that "president" means the President of the United States in this ledger. Regardless of whether it actually was Washington or not, it would be interesting to know what has become of the two books.

Polly and Auntie Linni

Aunt Linni has always had a special place in my heart, my play mate ever since my brothers moved away from home. It has, therefore, been extra hard to see that she has never been fond of my small pups. Linni does not like the small pups, and she has made this clear on several occasions with Polly and Nemo. However, this afternoon, Polly and Linni were outdoors together, and Polly tried as hard as only a pup can do to trigger Linni to play with her. Finally, Polly must have broken through a barrier with Linni, because Linni started to chase after Polly in a most playfull manner. The both of them chased each other for a long time. Although Linni became a little tired, so, too, did Polly. Now they are good friends.

Work on a Saturday

Paula worked today, even though it is Saturday. She will work tomorrow as well, when it is Sunday. This is the way it can be, when working as a nurse at the hospital. On the other side, Paula will not work Monday or Tuesday. Daniel is at home with us dogs during the weekend, and Paula will be at home with us Monday and Tuesday. This is a rather good plan, it is better to have one of Paula or Daniel at home, than being alone. We are proud of Paula, who has an important job and earns money to support us.

Nemo Has Moved

Nemo has now moved to his new family. To you, my dear readers, this statement may seem like just a rerun of the blog post I wrote yesterday. Nevertheless, this is the most important thing that has happened in my life today. I miss Nemo, but I know he will get a good life and I will see him again.

Daniel's sister Filippa celebrated her birthday today. She lives quite a way away from us, so we did not celebrate with her, but hope that she had a nice birthday anyway.

The Last Night

This is the last night that Nemo lives with us. He and Polly turns eight weeks tomorrow, this is when they are old enough to move, and Nemo's new family want to get him as soon as possible. I can quite understand that, Nemo is such a lovely pup. We wish Nemo all the best, we know his new family and know that he will get a great life with them. This feels very good.

Puppy Food

We are running out of puppy food, so Daniel went to our usual store for dog food to buy some more. There were none of our preferred variety to buy, though. We eat salmon & rice, and Daniel got to know that many breeders buy this food for their adult dogs, but they still buy other varieties for their pups. We would like our pups to have the puppy version of salmon & rice, so Daniel ordered some. It will be delivered to the store by next week. In the meantime, we have received puppy bags for Polly and Nemo from the food supplier, and there is a couple of kilogrammes of food there that the pups can have. We believe we have the right to be picky.

Bagus

We have received news on my son Bagus, from my first litter. He is doing great with his family in Stockholm. He loves them, and they love him. He also has got other friends in the neighbourhood. It is always nice for a mother to get positive news about her pups.

Pictures of My Daughter Polly

She is cute, isn't she? I will train her myself for the show ring, with the hope that she can be at least as successful as I have been. Her father is even more successful. We are all black and tan Shiba Inus, and my hope is that Polly will hold the black and tan coat colour in high esteem, as her parents have done. It seems to me that Polly has inherited some of my personal traits, so I believe she will like dog shows as much as I have ever done. Apart from the advantages that she has of having beautiful parents, enjoying herself in the show ring is something that can make her career.

Ninety

Paula's grandmother celebrated her ninetieth birthday today. This is huge. Humans do live longer than dogs, on average, but ninety years is a lot even for a human. It is many years more than the average life expectancy of humans in Sweden, who have among the longest life expectancies in the world. Naturally, Paula and Daniel participated in the celebrations. All of us dogs stayed at home, but we participated in a gift and sent our greetings through Paula and Daniel. I heard the celebration was fun. I will have to congratulate Paula's grandmother next time I see her.