Friday, the 6th of March 2009

Tomorrow we will head our 1000km long jorney towards the Swedish fjelds. So I took a long walk with Manuel running loose. I am not sure if he will be able to run loose when we are there...so I really wanted to give him this.

/Charlotte

Sunday, the 8th of March 2009

Saturday we drove for 7 hours (including breaks) from Malmö to Karlstad, where we had booked a hotel room. We went out and bought hamburgers for me and Mikael (Those who know me well, know that is very, very rare..I do not really appreciate that kind of fast food, but it was actually ok - it was Burger King at least. Then I went to a hot-dog place, and bought some Swedish meat-balls for Manuel. When we came to the hotel, Manuel got his food in a plastic bag, and his water from a paper plate...eee...

Sunday we drove for 6.5 hours (including brakes) and the last part went very very slow, since it was a lot of snow, and ice on the roads. We took some short breaks and at one stop we could let Manuel run free.  We had great fun in the snow. When arriving at Björnrike/Vemdalen, me and Mikael felt very sore in our bodies and it felt good to get the key to the house we have rented. Finally at the house we found it is situated on a hill. We managed to get stuck in the snow with the car, but fortunately we found a snow shovel at the house and managed to "set the car free". Manuel jumped around in the deep snow being very very happy.Then we had to use the shovel to cut in steps to the slope that was covered with snow, otherwise we would fall. That hard work was good for us, after two days in the car.

Manuel has found "his spot" already, on a rug close to the fire place (not used). We will se what kind of weather it will be tomorrow. If it is snowing we will stay here and stay away from the roads, but if it is nice weather we will drive some 100 km to watch  long distance competition (dogs and sledges). I hope it will be possible tomorrow, or the day after. There would be some very nice pictures to shoot I believe.

/Charlotte 

Monday. the 8thof March 2009

This morning we decided to have a lie-in. I believe all three of us needed it, the journey up here was ok, but still tiring.

I took a late morning walk with Manuel and noticed all the new snow we got during the night. The problem about this area is that all the houses are situated on hills, as well as the parking spaces. I realized we had some serious snow shoveling to do before getting the car to "our road". But then I was even more worried about "our road'" since it was not cleared, only the main-road was. When I got back to the house I told Mikael that we should not try to move the car unless  the vehicle that takes care of the snow shoveling had passed by.

Mikael had prepared breakfast and we sat down and talked about what to do (Manuel had also breakfast). Then - I heard a noise - yes the road was being cleared right now! So...now we had to shove the drive-way, as well as remove the huge "wall" of snow that the vehicle had created, blocking our way out (which we surely would had got stuck in if cross just like that...).

We went and rented some cross- skiing equipment and headed "upwards" towards the Fjell.  It was very very beautiful view, and we skied hedaing upwards.

Manuel ran like a maniac, and ran out in the deep snow on purpose, digging his nose into the snow, cooling his belly, jumping, falling,  racing me, and just having a good time. Sometimes he had snow all up to his chest, and had to jump up and down for a long while, but he did not complain.

Then we went by car and checked out a ski-resort close by, where men and Mikael  probably will go skiing down-hill in a few days (no Manuel does not do everything - he can not ski down-hill ). Some kids thought Manuel was a huge fox. 

When we came home, Manuel asked if he could sleep a while in the bed. I approved, since I saw he was really tired (and clean). Seconds after that he was snoring.

In the evening he had a lot to eat, actually he had double portions of food today. I see nothing strange with that. He has made some heavy work-out today. I  see that at home as well - if two out of his three walks are fairly long he eats normal portions, if he get's less exercise he does not eat a "full portion" and if he gets extra exercise - he eats more. Me and Mikael also required some major "feeding" so we had spaghetti bolognese.

Honestly he has always got the responsibility to eat as much as he wants, since he never eats too much in relation to the amount of energy he uses.

/Charlotte