One year ago today I got Asbjørn, my 30th birthday present to myself. He’s really a great dog and I’m so happy that I have him. He brings a lot of joy to my life. One evening last week, Lydia and I had walked to the gas station to rent a movie and as we were walking home I saw a dog out of the corner of my eye and thought, that’s a great-looking dog … I’d like to have a dog like that. When I turned my head for a closer look, I saw that it was Olof, Tage, and Asbjørn walking toward me! It’s a lucky dog-owner who covets her own dog.

The day we brought him home

Last weekend

I’ve reached the halfway mark in Olof’s Cancún Adventure, and it feels good to be in the homestretch. Only three more nights on my own (although he doesn’t get home until nearly midnight on Friday, so I suppose it’s almost like four). Last night actually went amazingly well, with Tage falling asleep around ten o’clock and staying asleep until almost eight this morning. I think the key to him sleeping through the night is probably to cut back on (or eliminate entirely) his naptimes, but that may be easier said than done.

I forgot to report yesterday my astounding electronic achievement — I fixed the VCR! I don’t remember if I wrote that our VCR had broken a few months ago when we put in a tape without checking first to see if Tage had put anything in there. Long story short, he had put something in there and the tape got stuck and we couldn’t get it out, and I ended up buying a new VCR and having my mom send me a VCR lock to protect it. The old VCR has been sitting on our TV stand since that fateful day, and we still hadn’t gotten the tape out. Yesterday I used sheer brute force and finally pulled it free, along with a double-A battery, a sizeable ball of lint/dog hair, and a Post-It note. I plugged the VCR back in and tested it with a tape I could stand to lose, and, what do you know, it worked! You should have seen the awe and respect in Lydia’s eyes when I told her that *I* had fixed the VCR.

Today’s another beautiful day in the most beautiful part of Sweden (yes, I do mean Västerbotten). Tage and I were out for about an hour earlier this morning. He played and shoveled the driveway with the snow shovel while I put the sparks in the garage and did some other miscellaneous tidying up. I was going to bring out our bikes, but I didn’t realize until today that I don’t have the key that opens that part of the garage. I could have brought them through the door that I do have a key for, but it seemed like too much work, as our garage is pretty big and cavernous. That will have to wait, I suppose.

I just got up to grab a handful of Pringles from the table and I saw the greatest thing from my kitchen window. There were three baby carriages going by together, side by side. My first thought was to remember what others have said about the “stroller mafia” in Stockholm and to laugh a bit. Then I noticed that all three of the strollers were being pushed by men in their late twenties or early thirties, and not a woman in sight. Definitely not something you’d be likely to see in the States. Cool.