Euro 2012

The European Football Championships 2012 started 8th of June and for a couch dog like Bella, it's an ideal sport.

I've got the Carlsberg and remote, now what's missing? Slave, do your work!

 

Baby Magnus runs for NOMS.

 

Omnomnom!

 

Now we can watch the matches. Owner, get outta the way!

Bella is real serious when watching the players. Who be the fittest? Who be the fastest? Who could play frisbee with me the whole day?

Not this one...

Hmmm...

Oh, a cute one! With a prize! Did he win???

ZZzzzzz....

Racedog

Yesterday afternoon, after a busy day cleaning the apartment, me and Bella went out for a bike ride. I didn't know what hit her but she was craaaaazy, running like she was late for the last meal of her life.

We went so fast that there was no time to catch us on camera. Instead we had a small photoshoot during a pitstop.

Mr. Bike seems a little tired.

After the pit stop I thought we would relax a little but Bella took off like a rocket and my leisurely afternoon bike tour was like a thundering race down the homestretch. Bella didn't even have time to bathe in the awe people we meet have for her shoes.

When we got back home in record time Bella's victory lap was a little lacking:

Gimme a sec here!

Of all the things we conquered, the new blue shoes were the true victims of Bella's terriorism on the track:

 

From riches to rags?

Afterwards, I felt I had to get to the bottom of this transformation Bella took from a terrier to a greyhound. 

Is the furry Lady a greyhound in terrier disguise??

I soon realised that while I had been cleaning the whole weekend a certain someone had been taking advantage of the iPad. I carefully peered over the edge of the sofa to oversee what Bella was looking at inbetween her naps.

Ponies??

Then it suddenly dawned on me that this was Belmont weekend where Union Rags won with a photo finish! Bella had secretly been following the Triple Crown trail without letting me in on it. Sneaky little iPad stealing dog!

Union Rags's Photo Finish

AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Reykjavík Fashion

Me and Bella have never been afraid to stand out of the crowd, first with our backpack and as of today we have biking shoes.

Sporty for sure and they even match our bike trailer! Bella was dancing to begin with and launched herself forward over any obstacles at home like a steeplechaser.

Once outside, she made sure to look lika an old pro, the envy of other dogs. We even overheard one woman tell her son how nice shoes "the dog" is wearing. Of course blue isn't Bella's colour (which even my fiancé pointed out) but with the trailer as the main accessories, she rocks the colour anyway.

Once we got home we had to admit that we were a little tired, especially Bella, after biking to baby Magnus's daycare and back home. It has also been really super hot this past week and the owner is overdue on stripping the overcoat to sport a summier look.

Yay! Backyard agility with homemade equipment!

Bella wasn't really feeling the agility vibe after our biking but once I had completed a pair of jumps she decided to show that annoyingly silent and overly obedient border collie who was watching from above how we rock agility as well. Nevermind the owner's crouching position, I was being overly leading into the jump. It's a terrible habit! In my defence I have never let her loose in our backyard before and Bella was rather lazy so I had to lead her to almost all the way up to the jump before letting go.

Now our backyard arsenal consists of weave poles, a tunnel and four jumps. This is so much less distracting than going to agility class, I love agility but the stress level it puts Bella at is so enormous that neither of us truly enjoys going... yet.

Longer days

Summer finally arrived after this long cold winter.  We are already enjoying it, staying out on our lawn or going on the bike. I often ask myself why I still live in this cold and windy country but I really love summer in Iceland. Well, at least on those days when it's not rainy and windy.

I have been rather busy lately, a week long vacation, then my fiancé left me and Bella for two weeks. Now things are gearing up for the long summer days and at the end of this week I stop working office hours and return to working shifts again. I'm going back to the steering wheel for the summer. It's nice trade, a bit of a change while I wait to go on my vacation.

Still Alive...

It's well past midnight and before going to sleep I just wanted to do something completely trivial and finally post something on this blog.

I have spent the last 11 days or so writing over 30.000 words on top of my fulltime job. My wrist and fingers are incredibly sore but it is finished now and I am going to try and never write with such a steep deadline again.

Tomorrow, Bella and family time. Ah, I am going to enjoy that. A bottle of sparkling wine as well.

A Quiet Moment

After Eight Years

I've been feeling heartsick lately, especially after returning from my holiday since a big decision awaited me. It has taken me over two months to bring myself to make this decision, hoping I might find other options. Most recently things have happened that render other options impossible.

That's why today I finalized the arrangements and my horse will be put down next Tuesday.

The final straw was that he collapsed from under his own weight on Easter Sunday. My friend was there and she said she has never seen anything like it. He was running in a paddock when he crashed really badly, so badly that he lay flat on his side after the fall. Whatever has been causing him to stumble in perfect condition is just getting worse, he stumbles some every time I exercise him. Stumbles in good conditions with only his own weight to carry.

My horse, whose name is Nökkvi, is the first and only horse I have had the pleasure to own. I have gone through so much of my life with him. It has, in fact, been my entire adult life. He has taught me so much about responsibility, persistence, training, companionship and not to mention my own personality.

However, I think he hasn't been well for a long time. The stumbling has been persistent for a few years now with no solution despite my attempts to find a cause. Now he seems to be detoriorating something awful. He's not safe to ride anymore and if he gets any worse I fear he may be a danger to himself. He already seems to be.

I don't really know how or what I'm feeling exactly beneath the numbness. I think this is the best I can do for now:

:(