Snow ................I got to see and feel snow....mom took me to the icerink, and this is what something called zomboni ( A zombie I think)  leaves behind...........I wasn't all that impressed, just cold and wet...............

Right now I'm resting at a hotel in Stockholm. First we took a very shaky trainride, itt rocked me to sleep in moms lap, where I was laying to keep her warm. There was no heat ??

Second train was a lot smoother, but there was a little black fourlegged

  crybaby riding next to us,which annoyed mom, and made it difficult for me to relax.

next time you hear from me  I'll be back in the sunshine state....................kisses

   Anna’s big 90 was this past Wednesday, and the phone started to ring at 8 am and never stopped through the entire day. In the afternoon lots of ladies came visiting with flowers and presents.

Her little sister ( again I don’t understand that concept of little ? She’s bigger than Anna ? ) brought 2 cakes and a great supper that I got to taste since I sat real close and flirted with her until she couldn’t resist.

I worked the crowd and since mom was busy in the kitchen there was no restrictions on how much I got to taste……………IT WAS AWESOME.

There was a steady stream of people, all day and into the evening, so it was hard work but oh so much fun, not even the macho guys could resist my begging eyes. I ate and ate until mom finally realized what was going on, and stopped the party for me, so from than on all I got was the goodies made for me.....................partypooper.....

Anna got so many flowers she didn't know where to put them all

Following day me and mom went for a roadtrip, stayed over night and than  back with Anna in the morning. 

We were so happy to see each other, and it was good to be back and relax together, she' s very tired after all the partying, so we didn't do much more than keeping each other company.

Anna's oldest son and wife invited us for dinner yesterday.................more fish !!! What's up with people in this country ?  fermented fish, raw fish, fish from the fireplace, fried fish .................I don't like it.............but mom and everybody else seem to ?

Tonight is the big party for Anna, and from what I've been hearing I'm not invited ?..................It's ok though, I can use a good nap since we'll start our travelling back to US tomorrow. 

First we'll take the train to Stockholm, and stay one night at a hotel, and Monday we'll be flying for a long loooooong time.

It's going to feel good to get back where it's warm, because even if there's no snow yet, it's still cold here, about 30 this morning.

Anna said this is the first time in her lifetime there hasn't been snow on her birthday..........90 years that is.....

Mom really appreciate that, but I have to admit I would have liked to see what it is everybody is talking about..............

Now mom says she knows a place where there is some, and if we have time today she'll show me.........................

we'll TAKE time I say.............okidoki

love ya all..............wet kisses.

It's Nov. 6 and still no snow, which is extremely unusual this time of the year. Not that mom or I are disappointed, but it’ll look a lot lighter and cleaner if it was all covered in snow. As it is now everything is gray and filthy dirty.

This morning I ran around on the neighbors’ lawn where the leaves are raked and to moms delight it doesn’t make me all that dirty. I had a shower 2 days ago, ( I so miss my tub, showers is the pits) so she’s trying real hard to keep me somewhat clean and white. Can you see which end is the front ?

A couple of days ago we went in Gudruns car for a ride out in to the woods. I don’t hear any shooting any more, so the moose hunt is all over. Still I’m not allowed to roam around by myself, because of the wolf hysteria. Mom think’s it’s all exaggerated but feel it’s better to keep quiet instead of getting into an argument with the locals ??? Doesn’t sound like mom does it ? Maybe it’s a residue from her fever last week ?

All in all it’s pretty depressing this time of the year here, not much to do, other than sitting at home twiddling your thumbs. Mom finished crocheting a scarf, and are now embroidering a typical Swedish motive, the way it looks in June. She’s also baking and filling the freezer with cookies……………not cookies for me though ?

The Swedish cows don’t seem to mind this awful weather, they’re just munching away on their hay. They have a big boss guy that are keeping watch, and he didn’t look all that friendly, so even if I did spot some “meatballs” in there I wasn’t allowed in to taste.

Besides mom said, those do not taste the same as the one you find at the stable with Karen. ……..hmmm ? I’m not sure I believe her until I get a chance to taste for myself.

Maybe next time, if the big guy will look the other way for a second.....

People around here are getting ready for the winter, and most set up feeding stations for the birds. Like this one outside heir kitchen window. Notice the giant snow shovel ? Mom remembers them well, and are so happy we’ll be leaving in eight days. Hopefully before a big snowfall.

Anna loves her flowers in her kitchen window, and every morning she has a conversation with them ??

Mom think it’s a little kooky, I think it’s cute.

The ambulance, post office, police, work agency and a bunch of other offices are located in the same building across the street. Mom always wonders who the dickens decided on pink and red paint for this building ? There’s not much activity going on there yet, but as the snow comes and the ski slopes open people from the south will be arriving in droves. Unfortunately for business it’s too warm to start up the snow canons, so all they can do is to wait for colder weather.

Time for a short walk and than a nap...............

hugs from Mom, and wet kisses to everyone from me.

Sick as a dog she says, but that's impossible, because when I get sick I throw up, eat the vomit and than I'm fine............I haven't seen her do that yet ? Still she's as warm as the frontseat in the car when I get the heat on it, and she can't eat, and hardly talk. (which isn't really a bad thing)

 All night she's tossing and turning, so between her being hot and not laying still, I decided to move in to Anna's bed for some peace and quiet.

Well, it looks like she's getting better now, she got some medecine that seems to work. She took me for a long walk today, but all other days the lady upstairs, named Gudrun took me walking. She's a great lady and I can easily recognice when she's in the staircase, and start to cry if she doesn't stop in and talk to me.

The story gets back to Jan's moms house. The surroundings was so pretty with fall colors and the village is so small everybody knows everybody, so I grew into an instant celebrity, and I don't mind that the least........

There aren't too many people around, but everyone I met sure wanted to say hello, and it seemed liked they had plenty of time to do so

Fall colors was beautiful

We took a long walk down to the small boat harbor,and around the bed and breakfast we stayed at when Dad came along, we celebrated his birthday here.

Next door is Saint Birgittas church , and I doubt much is going on there now, but it has a very old history.

Paper factory that this village is built around is still going, but with a lot less employees, since machines can do what people used to do. Depending of the direction of the wind, sometims it really stinks bad, and the chimney makes sounds like a spewing dragon, that scares me........

Nice supper after that walk

 Every time mom visits here it has become tradition to drive to the fishing dock and buy fresh smoked white fish, and if you're really lucky you can get char. This time we were lucky, but boy was it cold and windy.

Not a day for swimming for sure.

Nature around here is really gorgeous, and Tiveden is popular tourist area in the summer, so there's lots of bed&breakfast and campsites around...........mostly closed this time of the year.

this is great view to have while having breakfast mom thinks.............

Rock trolls

All good things comes to an end, so Wednesday morning we packed the car and headed back up north to Anna's house again.

On the way we saw this man in the middle of nowhere, no sign no nothing ?

Back in Malung, and from what I hear the whole town has been invaded by wolfs ?? Mom was told not to walk me after dark !!!! impossible, it's dark all the time ..........almost. They really do hate wolfs here, but I know mom feels different so we'll be on a lookout on our evening walks.

Apparantly wolf took sveral sheep, (see picture) and a few of the hunting dogs during moose hunt, but 2 nights ago one lone wolf was seen roaming in the middle of town.....................so hard to belive, but this lady is sure it was a wolf, and he was following her and her dog. She turned around and hit it with her umbrella, kind of funny mom thinks........

It's nice to be back on my old couch again, pillow is where I left it, and Anna is still wrapped around my paw.........................and now  I got the laady upstairs too ..............living a goood life woooooohoooo

wet kisses to all

Mom is being a pain in my butt, a whole week and no updates...........she says better late than never, and that's seems to be ok for her ? You should hear what happens when I say that when she calls on me !! guess that's what makes her human ...

We have now left Västervik and the 2 big cats, and went to visit Gösta and his people in Skövde.

Morre was the big cat that I scared so he climbed up the window and hid under the curtain. Mom froze and couldn't get the camera out when that happened, and everyone was roaring with laughter. I don't think Morre was laughing, despite him being bigger than me..............I thought he was gorgeous, and would have loved to make friends.

Morre had a catfriend that I didn't see a hair off the entire week.........................too bad they didn't understand how friendly I am.

I had a great time with the people there, and had pretty much trained them to drop goodies in my direction when mom wasn't looking.

Lady in charge in this house is making supper ............mmmmm tasty. All good things comes to an end. Saturday morning it was time say our goodbyes ..............Thanks for all

Again back in the car  and driving for a long time until we got to Göstas house. He's a great guy, and his parents are awesome too. I felt right at home immediatley, and found a great place on top of the desk

Mom didn't approve ?

I took over Göstas bed, and humped it until I had no strength left, but when he tried to take it back I used all the juice I had left and dragged him, bed and all across the floor.

He had a great big ball to play with, it was fun, but we never got a real game going, because he was too polite, and  let me have the ball as soon as I had my nose on it.

I'm sure he liked playing, because as soon as I stopped he hollered for me to come back.........well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

He has a real nice mom and dad, both serve lots of goodies, although the mom makes Gosta do a lot of tricks, rolling over, high five,jumping in a hoop and so on. My mom looked on very impressed, and than she told  me to watch and learn ..................hahahaha. Are you kidding me !!!!, I told her I know all that stuff, and I'll do it when I'm good and ready...............  

Two of us got along real well, he's a great buddy who's there with me without being pushy. I wouldn't mind seeing him again..................maybe he'll come to see me one day so I could show him my "hood"

   Like I said, he has real great mom ........................and dad

We said goodbye, and a short drive later we arrived at Gostas moms mom....................................and WOW, I'm lucky I'm getting to ride again................woooohooooooooooo

The coffee is on the table, so I have to run ...................this lady speaks my language real well, she knows what I want ...............COOKIEEEESS..................Gösta trained her real well.........hohoooooo life IS great...................mom thinks so too.

Talk to you soon I hope......................wet kissses

Mum had promised that she was going to help me with my blog every day!!! don't know what happened because it was quite a few days since she helped me update.  Nagging doesn't help, she says she's busy ?? with what I say, she's just relaxing doing nothing these days.........

Last Friday we rented a car and drove forever heading down south to her puppy friend in a town called Västervik.

Weather is gorgeous, not too cold and we're driving through beautiful scenery.

We arrived at her friends house and there lives two cats. I immediatley ran up to them, tail wagging on overdrive to say hello, but they wanted nothing to do with me, even though one of them was even bigger than me, he was still scared of me and refused to greet me.....,..????  Oh well, can't charm everyone.

Following day we went out to a big forest to pick mushrooms, what a great adventure I thought.

It's moose hunting week, and we did hear some shooting, but it sounded so far away we weren't worried, but all of a sudden we came up on a dead one...........at least I think it was, but mom didn't let me get close to check.......

We didn't see anybody with a gun around, so we were guessing they had left to get something to bring him home in.

mom and her friend did find some mushrooms and when we got home they sat at the kitchen table chatting and cleaning chanterellen. .I watched carefully but  didn't get even a tiny bit to taste.Later Lotta made very tasty sandwiches from them...............well, that's according to mom, I still have not been offered a taste      

Yesterday we went in to the city and browsed in the store windows. Stores are closed on Sundays in Sweden, so there was no shopping at all. That'll make dad real happy..............

They bought lunch in a place that looks and smells exactly the same way as at  home..........pretty cool I thought.

This day was warm enough to be able to sit outside if you're well dressed. 

In the middle of the town, on top of  a hill is the city church, not that mom goes there, and I'm probably not allowed in.............. but it's still a very pretty building.

Right now moms friend is making supper, and I'm keeping her company, she's pretty clumsy and keep dropping stuff, which is giving me GREAT treats, without mom getting involved.

This is it for now, hopefully I get mom to update more often, but I'm not holding my breath.............you know how she gets

Hugs and wet kisses to all my friends..................

I have forgotten to tell about the day when Annas son Bengt picked us up for a trip to his summercabin in the forest. That was a great time and a gorgeous sunny day, not too cold

Anna said I have to stay close because there's moose, wolf, bear and other wild animals that would consider me good food. Mom didn't seem too worried though, except when I went down to the lake, and she said she's not diving in after me if I fall in................HA, I know better though

 Bengt told mom the story about this thing growing in a tree.  Many many years ago when there was a famine in Sweden, a lumberjack had enough, took off his hat  and placed in on top of a small pine, and said I'm off to America, and off he went. Years later he came back and looked for his hat, and found it  grown into the stem of this large pinetree. Not sure if it is a true story, but the locals claim it is.

Another day we went to visit Annas sister Brita, and we stopped at this store with stiff animals. That place smelled wonderful, so wonderful that I was placed back in the car, because I really wanted to add my scent in a few places.

look at this fox .....................he looks terrified of what's left of a moose..........

This week it's moose hunting here, and schools are closed so the kids can be with their parents hunting!!!!!!!!!!!!!! mom think that's yuck, but it's a tradition here so she better shut up.

Mom is getting cabin fever, so she walks a lot, sometimes I come along, sometimes I stay home with Anna. Every morning we all go for a walk together, and the best part of that is the ride I get with Anna, as soon as I'm done pooing..............

  It's definitley fall here now, on my first morning pee, the grass is white and chrunchy. Mom was freezing today, but I still don't need a sweater, that's for sissies..................maybe I'll change later if it gets even colder.................yiicccchhh  

Now Anna's waiting for our daily walk, so I'm off for now.

Wet kisses to all of you..

Today was the big day I was going to meet my date, so exciting I couldn't wait.

Mom rented an itty bitty car, so small I could almost drive it myself.

We were going to see Martha, and her 2 roomies Petrus and his son Malte.

Their mom met us in town and she took us to a doggy store so  mom could buy me a new travelbag, since I ate the zipper of my old one.........I know I know, bad dog, but I couldn't help myself when mom and Anna was busy playing cards and giving me NO attention, I figured bad attentions is better than none at all......................right ?

      This is Petrus and son Malte, they were barking and jumping and twirling and ....... I was getting a little intimidated, not sure if they liked seeing me or if they told me to get the hell away. Their mom said they better stay behind that fence, and I agreed.

Here's the lady I been waiting so long to meet, isn't she adorable ?

She's a little rough, and a lot heavier than me, so I asked her to be more gentle with me, but she's deaf and didn't hear. I still love her though.

We went for a walk in her woods, it was so nice......

When we got back me and mom was invited in to their house , and their mom had made the most amazing sandwich cake, and I'm not bashful, so I took the front seat and waited to get served.

I immediatley felt right at home, and so did mom, AWESOME PEOPLE and the wiev from their house was breathtaking.

Even though we don't like cold wether, the fall colors is beautiful, and here's one last flower before snow and winter...........

     Like I said..........AWESOME PEOPLE

I explored every inch of the house, and it smelled fantastic. I even managed to get myself up on the diningroom table .................I would have gotten scolded at home, but mom in this house just laughed and took pictures.

This table is for the cat's so they can look out the window. A big iguana used to live there..................like I said awesome house.

So it was time to leave.....................the cat was praying on the front porch................." Please God, don't let that mop ball move in here, make him go away "

OK OK  stop fuzzing I'm going..............

We  left with the trunk full of presents, some for me some for mom,and a hughe chunk of the cake for Anna.  I passed out sleeping within minutes.

Almost home it started to rain, and it was sunny ? , and we saw the most amazing  double rainbow. One of them was so bright it almost looked like a childs painitng. Unfortunatley by the time  mom found a safe place to stop and take pictures, it had faded.

well, the day ended, and now it's time for a good night sleep, and I dream about a gentle Martha that whispers sweet nothings in my ear and I'll give her soft kisses back..........................mmmmmmmmmmMartha....
......night night