Back in Norway

The last 4 days in Belgium were gray and rainy - I think I had 2 "Sundays" during those 4 days ;) Nothing to do but sit inside on the couch with a blanked (filled with dogs) and watch old episodes of "Sex and the City". Thursday, we took a trip to Rotterdam to visit Nina (Avendesora, sister of Vita) and her family. Bas and Jessica + all their dogs: Nina, 2 pharaohounds, 2 whippet and old Harry. We went for a nice walk on a looooooong stretch of sandy hills, which will become a new Highway next year. For now, it's a very popular place to walk dogs :)

We got some really nice photos of the dogs running and playing (see my picasa webalbum: http://picasaweb.google.no/LenaHSD/BelgiumHolidayJuly2009# ) and also some nice stacked photos + headshots of Nina! There are some really crazy photos of the dogs there ;)


I flew home to Norway on Friday evening, and I've never been through a quicker or smoother arrival. I was sitting in the backrow of the plane, and they opened the hinddoor - quick exit. When I got down to the luggagearea, I went to the SAS desk to ask where to pick up the dogs later, and then headed straight back to the luggagebelt. They had already started to unload baggage, and my suitcase was the 3rd on - quick pickup. Then I went to the other end of the hall to pick up the dogs, who was already there, waiting - another quick pickup. Because of the dogs, I had to walk on red through customs - there were 3 people sitting there - I tried to get eyecontact with them, but none of them were paying any attention - so I just walked straight through - quick exit. So if I spent 15 minutes from exiting the plane until walking through customs, that's maximum! Rox was going to pick me up, but wasn't prepared for such a storming through the airport - and was just leaving home when I called from outside the airport!

Yesterday, I took the bus to Oslo to pick up my car at Marie's (my sister) work. Then I drove down to Evy to pick up Chivas - he's spent my holiday in the countryside with Evy and Knut Erik and their gang of salukis, iggies and cirnecos. I got a very warm and loud welcome from Saoudie, Chivas and Don ;)

While I was there, I got a call from Rox. Vita had been a bit eager to hund in the garden, and had been tasting a toad - not just once (although it tasted awful) but several times, as the toad tried to jump away from her (hunting instinct, no - not at all...?!?). She got sick - vomiting, peeing and having diarea all over the place... After checking a book (luckily in my car), Rox forcefed her lots of milk. The vomiting stopped immediately, and after shaking a bit, she fell asleep - really sleeping like a rock. When I got back up to Rox, it was all over, and Vita was as crazy as usual - it takes more than some toadvenom to stop a daughter of Esso!

So, now I'll have to adjust to "vacationmode". No work for at least a month - we'll see when, I'm applying for jobs at the moment in the Eastern part of Norway (close to friends and IG activities). There are quite a few dogshow on the agenda - first I'll go to Sweden with Ludmilla and her boys for the annual Sighthound Summer Show (formerly known as Skokloster or Tammsvik), then I'll pick up my sister and her dogs in Oslo, and we'll drive home to Svolvær, Lofoten. I'm invited to a wedding on August 8th, and (by lucky chance) there's a double dogshow at Leknes (1 hour drive from Svolvær) the first weekend of August! Of course I've entered all my dogs ;) Friday August 14th, I've bought tickets for "Øya Festivalen", a music festival in Oslo. I'll be going with my sister Marie and also my friend Malin & Catharina. I see my "non-doggyfriends" far too rarely, LOL And either Saturday 15th or Sunday 16th, I've entered the IGs for NKK International Oslo at Bjerke Travbane. That's my summerplans - nothing more, nothing less - except a trip up to Lærdal to do some paperwork and tie some loose ends (and PARTY!!!)