As you know we have two incredibly sweet, innocent dogs who never get into any trouble at all!
And, as you also know, I recently traveled to Las Vegas for a week.
These sweet dogs, therefore, had to spend their first whole day 'home alone'. Zoe had done so before but this was a first for Lexi, and the first time they would spend the day together.. by themselves.
Ole put them in the entry way and guest bathroom area with one of their dog beds, several things to chew on, and their water bowl. Apparently the things that were left to chew on either didn't last long enough, or were simply not exciting enough. The following will give you an indication of what he found when he arrived home that first day...
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Dogs gone Wild - again!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Driving in Denmark
It was a little over a year ago that I obtained my Danish driver's license and started to really get to know driving in Denmark. One might think that roads are roads but there are a few random things I have come to know about Danish roads. Keep in mind, I live smack in the middle of Jylland, so yes, roads near Copenhagen and other cities are probably a bit different.
Unlike the states, where we have yellow lines that indicate a separation of traffic, all the paint is white here. You would think it wouldn't matter but I have to admit that initially, it was quite disconcerting. I grew up being told that if there was a white line separating your lane from another lane that meant that both lanes were traveling in the same direction. What they do give you are lollipops. No, not that kind of lollipop but a little white thing sticking out of the ground on either side of the road. On one side of the road the pops have yellow reflectors and on the other side, they have white. I can't remember which is which, which probably tells you how helpful they are.
The above refers only to the roads where someone actually bothered to paint lines. There are many, many roads in Jylland where they felt it unnecessary. And, along that same theory, there must have been a pavement shortage at some point because they also felt it unnecessary to make the road wide enough for two vehicles - even though it IS a two-lane road. I hate these roads. Everytime a car approaches from the other direction I want to close my eyes. It's frightening! There actually IS enough space to get past one another, but it definitely doesn't feel that way. It basically feels like you're in someone's driveway.
The roads are dark - VERY dark. While studying for my danish license, the translation referred to the headlights as either in 'dipped' position or in 'main' position. The weird thing about that, to me, was that 'main' position translated to what I had always called my 'high beams'. Now I know why they call them 'main beams' here. Driving in Jylland means you will use your 'high beams' more times in one evening than you would in an entire year in the states. You will have them on ALL the time - you will switch back to 'low beams' only for oncoming traffic - hence the term 'dipped' beams!
Trivia time! What bizarre, outdated driving law still exists on the books here? Get this - by law, when passing other traffic at night, you are to first slow your car to approximately 30 mph and only after you have slowed down, you are to dip your headlights from high beams to low beams. HUH???? In fairness, the law was written back in the days when low beams could only illuminate a short distance - I guess not being able to see far ahead when driving at fast speeds was a more critical issue than blinding the approaching traffic. While this is still law, I highly recommend breaking the law on this one or you'll probably get rear-ended.
For the most part, the Danish roads are designed to keep traffic moving. Perhaps brakes were or are too expensive to fix, and therefore, the laws are designed to never actually apply the brakes. Just a theory.
Traffic lights exist only in the cities, and only because some road engineer hasn't yet figured out how to tear down the surrounding homes and businesses so he can stick a round-about in there instead. Round-abouts are everywhere! Weee... ! When riding in the passenger seat it can feel a bit like you're on an amusement park ride - wooosh to the left... wooosh to the right. Okay, granted, this probably has something to do with the actual driver. ;)
Watch for cyclists in round-abouts. You may think you can just go around in the circle and turn to the right when your street appears. I highly recommend you look over your right shoulder before doing so, as that cycle next to you may need to continue to the next exit of the round-about. Yeah, it's pretty easy to forget they're circling around in the same circle!
In addition to the round-abouts, you will find little patches of pavement on the shoulder wherever there is a place off the main road that someone may wish to turn to the left. This little patch of pavement is there so that you, the driver behind the one turning left, will not be required to slow down or stop because of the one turning - simply swerve your car into the patch and keep going. Remember, whatever you do, do NOT ever stop moving.
Now, in contradiction to the 'keep moving' theory, is probably the most non-sensical thing about the roads here. On the main roads, you are permitted to drive 80kph. However, anyone pulling a trailer or driving a truck may go only 70kph. This is not a road with two lanes of traffic in the same direction; this is a freaking mess! You can just be cruising along and wham, there it is, the long line of cars behind the guy driving to Plant-o-rama with trailer in tow to pick up his 15 bags of sphagnum - everyone stuck behind him until the next really big passing area appears at which point everyone tries really hard to get around him but inevitably, you won't be able to. Why? Because there will always be someone in that line of traffic who just doesn't want to pass, causing logistical issues for everyone else.
And even those who do wish to pass have problems. Cars are small here. Lots and lots of 4-cylinder, 0-60 in 10 min, cars. These are not well designed for passing other cars. These are road cloggers but oooo, they get great gas mileage... grrr.
80kph doesn't really mean 80kph. Ole likes to say that since everything in Denmark is taxed, you can add 25% tax to the speed limit too and as such, you can drive about 100kph in an 80kph zone. Sounds good to me!
The danes like to be prepared and they like to be forewarned. Before a passing section ends, the dotted stripes in the center get longer and longer before becoming a solid white line. Before a traffic light turns green it first goes from red, to a combination of yellow and red - I call it the 'rev your engines' setting. I must admit, however, that I rather like it - quite handy when you're approaching the intersection!
So, there you have it, driving in Denmark. I'm sure there is more, but I'll give you a chance to absorb that first!
Unlike the states, where we have yellow lines that indicate a separation of traffic, all the paint is white here. You would think it wouldn't matter but I have to admit that initially, it was quite disconcerting. I grew up being told that if there was a white line separating your lane from another lane that meant that both lanes were traveling in the same direction. What they do give you are lollipops. No, not that kind of lollipop but a little white thing sticking out of the ground on either side of the road. On one side of the road the pops have yellow reflectors and on the other side, they have white. I can't remember which is which, which probably tells you how helpful they are.
The above refers only to the roads where someone actually bothered to paint lines. There are many, many roads in Jylland where they felt it unnecessary. And, along that same theory, there must have been a pavement shortage at some point because they also felt it unnecessary to make the road wide enough for two vehicles - even though it IS a two-lane road. I hate these roads. Everytime a car approaches from the other direction I want to close my eyes. It's frightening! There actually IS enough space to get past one another, but it definitely doesn't feel that way. It basically feels like you're in someone's driveway.
The roads are dark - VERY dark. While studying for my danish license, the translation referred to the headlights as either in 'dipped' position or in 'main' position. The weird thing about that, to me, was that 'main' position translated to what I had always called my 'high beams'. Now I know why they call them 'main beams' here. Driving in Jylland means you will use your 'high beams' more times in one evening than you would in an entire year in the states. You will have them on ALL the time - you will switch back to 'low beams' only for oncoming traffic - hence the term 'dipped' beams!
Trivia time! What bizarre, outdated driving law still exists on the books here? Get this - by law, when passing other traffic at night, you are to first slow your car to approximately 30 mph and only after you have slowed down, you are to dip your headlights from high beams to low beams. HUH???? In fairness, the law was written back in the days when low beams could only illuminate a short distance - I guess not being able to see far ahead when driving at fast speeds was a more critical issue than blinding the approaching traffic. While this is still law, I highly recommend breaking the law on this one or you'll probably get rear-ended.
For the most part, the Danish roads are designed to keep traffic moving. Perhaps brakes were or are too expensive to fix, and therefore, the laws are designed to never actually apply the brakes. Just a theory.
Traffic lights exist only in the cities, and only because some road engineer hasn't yet figured out how to tear down the surrounding homes and businesses so he can stick a round-about in there instead. Round-abouts are everywhere! Weee... ! When riding in the passenger seat it can feel a bit like you're on an amusement park ride - wooosh to the left... wooosh to the right. Okay, granted, this probably has something to do with the actual driver. ;)
Watch for cyclists in round-abouts. You may think you can just go around in the circle and turn to the right when your street appears. I highly recommend you look over your right shoulder before doing so, as that cycle next to you may need to continue to the next exit of the round-about. Yeah, it's pretty easy to forget they're circling around in the same circle!
In addition to the round-abouts, you will find little patches of pavement on the shoulder wherever there is a place off the main road that someone may wish to turn to the left. This little patch of pavement is there so that you, the driver behind the one turning left, will not be required to slow down or stop because of the one turning - simply swerve your car into the patch and keep going. Remember, whatever you do, do NOT ever stop moving.
Now, in contradiction to the 'keep moving' theory, is probably the most non-sensical thing about the roads here. On the main roads, you are permitted to drive 80kph. However, anyone pulling a trailer or driving a truck may go only 70kph. This is not a road with two lanes of traffic in the same direction; this is a freaking mess! You can just be cruising along and wham, there it is, the long line of cars behind the guy driving to Plant-o-rama with trailer in tow to pick up his 15 bags of sphagnum - everyone stuck behind him until the next really big passing area appears at which point everyone tries really hard to get around him but inevitably, you won't be able to. Why? Because there will always be someone in that line of traffic who just doesn't want to pass, causing logistical issues for everyone else.
And even those who do wish to pass have problems. Cars are small here. Lots and lots of 4-cylinder, 0-60 in 10 min, cars. These are not well designed for passing other cars. These are road cloggers but oooo, they get great gas mileage... grrr.
80kph doesn't really mean 80kph. Ole likes to say that since everything in Denmark is taxed, you can add 25% tax to the speed limit too and as such, you can drive about 100kph in an 80kph zone. Sounds good to me!
The danes like to be prepared and they like to be forewarned. Before a passing section ends, the dotted stripes in the center get longer and longer before becoming a solid white line. Before a traffic light turns green it first goes from red, to a combination of yellow and red - I call it the 'rev your engines' setting. I must admit, however, that I rather like it - quite handy when you're approaching the intersection!
So, there you have it, driving in Denmark. I'm sure there is more, but I'll give you a chance to absorb that first!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Baking
As the holidays are drawing near, I am back in the kitchen doing some baking. I don't particularly like cooking, but baking I do enjoy! Something about all that good smelling stuff coming out of the kitchen makes the house all 'hyggelig' and makes those dark days seem not quite so dark.
This morning I tried Kelli's sopapilla cheesecake. It's done, but we haven't yet tried it but I have to say it certainly looks good! It just seemed a bit heavy to have immediately after eating our scrambled eggs :)
But, the point of this post is that I wanted to share an extremely helpful site that I found awhile ago. This site is awesome - someone took the time to translate the names of all sorts of ingredients from English to all the Scandinavian languages, and to Russian. So, here's the link:
Multi-lingual Food Glossary
Enjoy!
This morning I tried Kelli's sopapilla cheesecake. It's done, but we haven't yet tried it but I have to say it certainly looks good! It just seemed a bit heavy to have immediately after eating our scrambled eggs :)
But, the point of this post is that I wanted to share an extremely helpful site that I found awhile ago. This site is awesome - someone took the time to translate the names of all sorts of ingredients from English to all the Scandinavian languages, and to Russian. So, here's the link:
Multi-lingual Food Glossary
Enjoy!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Tak til Kelli
Jeg er færdig med min monolog på dansk. I aften, i sprogskolen, skulle jeg lave en monolog om et emne jeg har valgt. Jeg vil gerne sige "Tak" til Kelli fordi hun inspirerede mig til at vælge Dannebrog som mit emne.
I am finished with my monologue in Danish. This evening, in language school, I had to do a monologue on a subject of my choice. I would like to say Thank You to Kelli as she inspired me to choose the Danish flag (Dannebrog) as my subject.
I am finished with my monologue in Danish. This evening, in language school, I had to do a monologue on a subject of my choice. I would like to say Thank You to Kelli as she inspired me to choose the Danish flag (Dannebrog) as my subject.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Looking back.. part 2
Two years ago today, I checked out of a motel at about 5 am, and went to my now empty apartment to pick up the cats. Squirt, Mr. Pete and Oscar were not a problem; I was able to load each of them into the carriers without an issue. Coal, on the other hand, had to be tricked into going into the bathroom so that I could get him trapped in a relatively small space. I had to then try to grab him and get him into the carrier. Coal was a feral kitten way back when and while he is very sweet, one thing he does not tolerate is being picked up. He is one of those cats who can spread all 4 paws to the limits of the carrier's door making it virtually impossible to get him loaded in without incurring battle wounds. But alas, I did get him in, and he and Oscar were set to travel together.
I then loaded everything into the car and headed for the moving company's warehouse, where they would then load my car into the remaining space in the container that they had taken from my apartment the day before. The car had to be dropped off early to meet the customs schedule, etc., but I now had nearly 6 hours left before my plane would leave. The woman who was coordinating it all was kind enough to then squeeze me, the suitcases and the cat carriers into her little car and drop us off at Seatac.
When we arrived at the airport, she helped me get everything onto 2 of those smartcarts and I then sat and waited. I was apparently a very entertaining site in the airport as I sat there with my carts full of cats. I had tons of visitors stop by inquiring as to where I was headed and why so much stuff! Following are some photos I snapped at the time:
I then loaded everything into the car and headed for the moving company's warehouse, where they would then load my car into the remaining space in the container that they had taken from my apartment the day before. The car had to be dropped off early to meet the customs schedule, etc., but I now had nearly 6 hours left before my plane would leave. The woman who was coordinating it all was kind enough to then squeeze me, the suitcases and the cat carriers into her little car and drop us off at Seatac.
When we arrived at the airport, she helped me get everything onto 2 of those smartcarts and I then sat and waited. I was apparently a very entertaining site in the airport as I sat there with my carts full of cats. I had tons of visitors stop by inquiring as to where I was headed and why so much stuff! Following are some photos I snapped at the time:
Squirt
Oscar and Coal on top, Mr. Pete on the bottom
A closer shot of Mr. Pete, the 20 lb. wonder cat
Oscar, with Coal hiding out behind him
It was about 2 hours into our wait when Oscar just couldn't hold it anymore and proceeded to pee inside their shared carrier. I couldn't bear to leave them like that so I then proceeded to attempt to wheel two smartcarts from the place we had parked ourselves, all the way across the upper level of the ticketing area, to a restroom. Thankfully there was a HUGE handicapped toilet, big enough to wheel both carts into. And then, without actually removing the cats for fear they would dart off into the airport, I did the best that I could to dry out their cage and make their journey as comfortable as possible. Poor, terrified Coal!
Eventually, after several hours, I made my way to the SAS check-in counter and decided I would just park myself at the front of the line and wait for the first agent to appear. At 3pm, SAS opened check-in and thankfully, upon site of me, the agent didn't have a heart attack or run screaming out of the building. She kindly checked me in, took my payment for all the cats, and was very sweet to not charge me extra for my overweight suitcases. I'm pretty sure she felt sorry for me having to pay so much for each cat, and I think she was entertained as well. After we made all the arrangements, she then asked me if I would like the cats to stay with me until it was closer to flight time - call me a bad mommy but I said.. 'nope, they're yours now!'.
Next stop, cat check security! I had given up my bags but I now had to be escorted over to a special security area where they would check to make sure I wasn't smuggling anything with the cats. The officer put on these big rubber gloves, which I told him was probably a good idea, considering the pee and all that. I had to be present in case they needed me to actually remove the cat from the cage while they checked it out. For Oscar and Coal, and for Squirt, he was able to check the cages without their removal. But, for Mr. Pete, on the other hand, well, my big guy had to come out. When I pulled out Mr. Pete he clung to his bed .. so there I was holding him up while he hung onto the bed that had been lining the bottom of his cage, which lead the officer to thank Mr. Pete for making the job easier!
Now the cats were in the hands of the SAS and I was able to get myself to the gate. As I sat at the gate, several people asked me.. "aren't you the one with all the cats?" - I had been at the airport so long, and so noticeably, that I was suddenly some kind of cat lady celebrity. Ahh, my greatest ambition achieved ;).
As I was boarding, I heard the agent on the radio confirming the cats on board, and we were all officially on our way....
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Looking back..
Two years ago today, I sat in my apartment while two movers went about turning this place into what looked like some massive storage warehouse...
(Notice in the picture above what I insisted would be the LAST thing packed?
(That's my brand new couch all wrapped up in packing paper!)
(Notice in the picture above what I insisted would be the LAST thing packed?
(That's my brand new couch all wrapped up in packing paper!)
Somehow they then, magically, took all of the stuff you see above and managed to fit it into one end of a container so that eventually, it looked like this:
And once they drove away, I was left with a vacuum cleaner that I wasn't taking, some cleaning supplies, the 3 very full suitcases that I would take on my flight, 3 cat carriers, and the 4 cats who would occupy said carriers.
I will confess, however, that I left the 4 cats in the apartment and spent the night sleeping at a local motel!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
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