This blog feature amusing and heartwarming stories about our late Leonberger dog Bronco, as well as other Leonbergers. It also has a lot of information about the Leonberger breed, the history, care, training, Leonberger organizations, etc. I also wrote a Leonberger book, which I am featuring in the sidebar.
This post is about Lego blocks and Legoland. Lego blocks in their current interlocking form were invented in Billund, Denmark, in 1949. However, the history of Lego blocks started already in 1932 (in Denmark). You can read more about it here.
When I was a kid, growing up in northern Sweden, I loved building with Lego blocks, or if you call them Lego bricks (either way is fine). I’ve always wanted to visit Lego land in Denmark, but I never got the opportunity to do so. However, about 20 years ago me and my daughter (she was a young child at the time) visited Legoland in Carlsbad, California, a 128 acre theme park. Do you know how many Lego blocks there are in Legoland California? There are 60 million Lego blocks. Below are some photos from that trip. I should add that since this was 20 years ago, a lot has been added to Legoland.
A model of Manhattan made from Lego blocks. The Lego Empire State building is close to 30 feet tall.A model of Manhattan made from Lego blocks.San Francisco built with Lego blocks.My daughter is in front of Lego Capital building.A Lego block cityLego Albert Einstein. Mindstorm is a Lego Science center.Sydney Opera House made from Lego blocks.This Taj Mahal model is made from Lego blocks.A large Lego Octopus playing music.This model of the White House is made from Lego blocks.This is a Lego model of Washington DC.City made from Lego blocks.Sleeping beauty and the prince, all made from Lego blocks.Lego model of Hans and Gretel.Lego model of Aladdin and the King of Thieves.
Grizzly bear 399 was a long lived female Grizzy bear who lived in Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park near Snake River. She was called Grizzly bear 399 because of her tag number. She was arguably the most famous grizzly bear in the United States and likely in the World. Unlike the typical female grizzly bear, Grizzly 399 regularly gave birth to triplets rather than twins. She was seen and admired by thousands of visitors. Her Instagram account has 55,000 followers, books were written about her and documentaries were made. She had 22 cubs throughout her life. Unfortunately, she was hit and killed by a car on Tuesday October 22, 2024, at the age of 28. You can read my post about the accident here. Luckily, her one remaining cub was not hurt in the accident, and he was old enough to survive on his own.
She was also special to me because we had a close encounter with her and three of her cubs during our visit to Grand Teton national park in 2007. It was a school trip organized by the math teacher, Frank Jordan, and each kid was accompanied by at least one parent to give the math teacher a break. Grizzly 399 gave us a very memorable experience.
My photo of the Teton mountain range taken from Snake River.Jackson Lake, an island and the Teton Mountain range in the background. The photo was taken in June 2007 by a fellow trip participant Gabriel Goncalves.
Grizzly 399 frequently sought human company. She came down to the roads with her cubs and stayed with the passersby for hours. She did not beg for food. She just wanted to stay with people. This article describes her as a gentle soul. Grizzly bears seeking human company is normally a dangerous situation and grizzly bears seeking human company are therefore often shot to protect the public. Grizzlies can kill people both out of aggression and for food. However, the park rangers left Grizzly 399 and her cubs alone because they deemed her harmless. She frequently interacted with people without ever showing any aggression towards people.
A photo of Grizzly 399 and a couple of her cubs taken in June 2007 by fellow trip participant Gabriel Goncalves.
Her behavior was somewhat strange, but I was told by a ranger that male grizzlies sometimes kill cubs, and this was her way of protecting the cubs. Grizzlies tend to stay away from people except for her. She used people as a shield to protect her cubs.
We had a somewhat scary experience with Grizzly 399, but as it turned out, we were never in any danger. As we were driving through Grand Teton National Park, Grizzly 399 came down to the road, so we stopped to watch her, and so did many other people. She let her cubs visit the cars and interact with people and we went outside to get closer. This is normally not recommended.
One of the visitors, with a big car and a trailer, decided that he had seen enough and began to leave. He drove his car between Grizzly 399 and her cubs. Someone rightly thought this was really dumb and decided to improve the situation by honking angrily. As a result, 399 started running towards us, the large group of tourists standing outside taking pictures. We were about 100 feet from Grizzly 399, which is indeed a very close encounter with a grizzly bear. As Grizzly 399 ran toward us, people started screaming and running, and unfortunately the math teacher who had organized the trip fell and got trampled by the panicking people.
A photo of two of 399’s cubs. The photo was taken in June 2007 by a fellow trip participant Gabriel Goncalves.
A lot of other things happened during the panic. People ran back to their cars or to any car. A couple of my fellow trip participants found themselves blocked from entering their own car (on the side facing away from the bear) because a plus sized lady was stuck in the door of their smaller car. Not a comfortable situation with a grizzly on the loose. By pushing her from behind they were able to get her inside and could then enter the car themselves. The kids were standing on top of the SUVs that we had rented and crawled back into the car through the sunroof. My son entered the car last by his own choice.
As it turned out the panic was completely unnecessary. 399 was not chasing anyone and was not really running towards us. She was running to the end of the car with the trailer to get around it to get to her cubs on the other side.
Grizzly 399 is crossing the road with her cubs. The photo was taken in June 2007 by a fellow trip participant Gary Weinstein.
One ranger told us a story about 399 that sounded a bit scary. A hiker, hiking alone (which you should not do) stumbled upon 399 and her cubs as they were in the middle of eating an Elk carcass. He had come out of a thicket and had not seen them until he essentially bumped into them. He screamed on top of his lungs because he was shocked and then he started running. That is a very bad reaction by the way.
Grizzly 399, who was equally startled, pursued him. He laid down on the ground as he had read that you should do when pursued by a grizzly. Grizzly 399 sniffed him but did not touch him. Her two cubs bit his behind but not hard. After the grizzlies had left, he stood up, walked away and went to a hospital to check out the bites on his bum, which allegedly were not bad. Well I guess he had a closer grizzly encounter than we did.
The math teacher, Frank Jordan, took this photo of Grizzly 399.Grizzly 399 and her cubs amongst the cars. The photo was taken in June 2007 by a fellow trip participant Carl Ondracek.
A dog is crossing the road. Created with the help of ChatGPT.
Top Ten Reasons as to why the Dog Crossed the Road
The dog got sick and tired of this side of the street.
The dog wanted to stalk someone on the other side of the road and then not bark at them and get a treat for not barking at people.
Because he wants to chase a cat on the other side of the road.
The dog wanted to smell something on the other side of the road.
A dog is barking at us on the other side of the road, and our dog wants to put him in his place.
There was a scary noise on this side of the road.
Someone the dog knows and love is on the other side of the road.
The dog has to cross the road to get to grandma and grandpas house.
Because someone said let’s cross. Note: our dog Rollo knows the word “cross” very well.
Because someone accidentally said the word “cross”, for example, “After graduating from college, I found myself at the crossroads”. Now we all have to cross the road.
About number 2. Our dog Rollo loves getting close to people and not bark because he knows he will get a treat if he does not bark at people. So sometimes it appears that he wants to stalk people to get a treat. He even spots people half a mile away. However, we do not actually stalk people.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd with our Leonberger Bronco who was old at the time.Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo rolling a ball.
The danger of dogs crossing the Road
Our dog Rollo loves to cross the street when we are out walking, and we cross the street many times during our walks. He knows the word “cross” because we have taught him this word so that he understands that crossing a street back and forth is a special action that he needs to pay special attention to. We want him to know that when crossing the street, you have to be careful. Ideally, we would like for him to look both ways before he crosses a street, but we are working on this. We have had a bad experience with dogs crossing roads.
WARNING: the paragraphs below are very sad, so if you are sensitive, please skip to “My Other Responses to Esther’s Prompts”.
Our Yellow Labrador Baylor
In December of 2008, we were planning a one-week trip. Baylor our yellow Labrador was maybe twelve years old at this point, and Bronco our Leonberger dog was a year and a half. We also had Baby our German Shepherd and Ryu our Japanese Chin. We needed someone to watch our four dogs while we were gone. Following a recommendation from our veterinarian at the time, we settled for a sitter who would visit the dogs, feed them, and walk them but not stay at our house full-time. This sounded like the best option at the time, but it turned out to be a disaster.
After we left on our trip, we got a phone call from the sitter, who told us that she was taking care of several other dogs in addition to ours and that she did not have time to drive back and forth to our house and attend to our dogs. The fact that she was taking care of several other dogs simultaneously was news to us. She asked if she could take our four dogs to her house. She stated that she had a fence like ours, and by having them at her house she could watch them 100 percent of the time.
We didn’t really like the idea because the dogs had never stayed at someone else’s house before. Moreover, we had never seen her house, and we had no idea how crowded it was with the other dogs there. But it sounded like the best solution under the circumstances, so we reluctantly agreed.
A couple of days later, the dog sitter called us again, but this time she told us that Baylor was missing. He had been barking at night, so she put him out in the backyard. Unfortunately, the gate at her place had been left open, and she didn’t notice that Baylor was gone until early in the morning. She asked us what we thought she should do.
We told her that she had to find him. “Go look for him; put up posters,” we said. She was reluctant to do any of that because she didn’t want to leave the other dogs alone. We told her that it was an emergency and she had to do it. We suggested that she recruit other people to help her. Baylor had to be found.
We were pretty upset about the fact that the sitter had put Baylor out into the backyard in the middle of a cold night and left him there. However, we needed her help, so we kept calm. We enlisted help from family members in Dallas, and I used an online service called My Lost Pet Alert, which sent 2,264 emails to people in our neighborhood that night. It didn’t help that it was cold and sleeting and the streets were icy and dark. Baylor also needed his insulin shot in the morning.
The following afternoon Baylor was found dead two miles from the dog sitter’s place. He had been hit by a car. He was found around midway between her house and our house, so it seemed like he was trying to get home.
Baylor had a very special place in our hearts, and I was devastated. My wife Claudia was crying, and the kids were crying. Not only had we lost a family member in a sudden cruel twist of fate, but his death was also likely an unpleasant one. That it was the result of a dog sitter’s carelessness didn’t make it any better. In fact, it made it worse. It is a traumatic event that none of has yet gotten over.
I grew up not having any pets even though I really wanted a dog. However, both my parents were working, and my brother and I walked to and from school every day. We stayed by ourselves until our parents came back home. That is not a good situation for a dog or for many other kinds of pets. This all changed after I met my wife. She was used to having dogs and other pets. While we were still students we had an aquarium, hamsters, a rabbit, and a cat. Unfortunately, I was extremely allergic to the cat and I got very sick. Luckily, we found someone who could take care of the cat.
After we got married and had kids we had a couple of aquariums, a pet snake, a frilled lizard, hamsters, and eventually dogs. On one occasion we went fishing in a lake here in Texas. We used minnows for bait. My daughter wanted to take the leftover minnows home and put them in an aquarium. She named all of them Sally. Sally #1, Sally #2, Sally #3, Sally #4, Sally #5, Sally #6, etc. She was very young at the time and did not take care of her Sallys’ very well. She wanted them to have cranberry juice, so she poured cranberry juice in the aquarium. She wanted them to have a beautiful red aquarium, so she poured red paint in it. Well eventually the minnows died.
Sally #1 and Sally #2 Asset id: 1182854671 by Rostislav Stefanek
Our first dogs as a family were our Labrador Baylor and our German Shepherd Baby. To be precise, Baylor was a mix, one quarter Rhodesian Ridgeback and three quarters yellow Labrador. They were both rescues that were adopted by our niece (Baylor) and Claudia’s sister (Baby). They were both wonderful dogs. Baylor loved swimming and he was brave and very playful.
Our Labrador Baylor and German Shepherd Baby. They were both rescues.
Next, we got a Leonberger dog by the name Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, or Le Bronco, or just Bronco for short. He was a big friendly goofball who saved our Pug Daisy’s life, probably saved Baylor’s life my smelling out an oncoming insulin shock, found and saved run away hamsters, and saved the entire neighborhood by chasing off a trespasser / intruder / peeping Tom. I wrote a book about him “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”.
Our Leonberger Dog Bronco at 3 months oldMe with our Leonberger Bronco. He was not yet fully grown.Our large but cuddly 167lb Leonberger Bronco is sitting in my wife Claudia’s lap.
Next, we got a Japanese Chin named Ryu and the Pug Daisy. Two little energetic and funny dogs. Ryu loved howling and he sounded like an opera singer. He loved the applause he got. Daisy was a funny girl, and she loved being around Ryu. They did not like it when we travelled and on one occasion they staged a protest. They defiantly sat down in one of the suitcases and refused to move.
Our Japanese Chin Ryu and our Pug Daisy are protesting our travel by sitting in our suitcase. They want to come with us.
Finally, we got our little rascal, the mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo. He is an intelligent, curious, energetic, anxious and spoiled dog that is a chore. He probably understands several hundred words. When we still had Bronco, they were best buddies. He was pestering Bronco, biting his tail and even swinging in it. Luckily, Bronco was patient. When we leave for a little bit, he sits in the window and looks out into the street. When we say “Rollo, go look out the window” he runs to the window. He knows we are leaving. He is our most misbehaved dog, but he is full of life and full of joy.
Our Leonberger Bronco with our new puppy Rollo, a mini-Australian Shepherd.Rollo, our mini-Australian Shepherd could be a pest. He loved biting Bronco’s tail and even swung in it as if it was a swing.Our Pug Daisy and our mini-Australian Shepherd barking at people passing by our house. Notice the joke.
The Joy of Having a Pet
Pets give you unconditional love, company, adventure, memorable moments, hilarious moments, protection, and lots of joy. Playing with them or taking a dog for a walk is good for your health, as this article from the Mayo clinic states.
Today, I’m having the honour to share the words and talents of one of my favourite bloggers and children’s authors, Esther Chilton. She is the host for the weekly writing prompt as well as many other blogging prompts. The weekly writing prompt is a lot of fun and very easy. I’ve written Amazon reviews for two of her books, The Secret Dragon, and this one Myths and Magic. You can read more here and here. Now, I give you Esther Chilton aka Esther Moonstomp (her very cool pen name).
Front cover of Myths and Magic.
Blog Tour Stop for Myths and Magic
Thomas has very kindly allowed me to take over his blog for a short period today as part of the blog tour for my second children’s book, Myths and Magic,written for 5-7 year olds. A huge thank you to Thomas for his support. I really appreciate it.
I’ve been sharing different extracts from the book on my tour, but as Thomas often shows wonderful pictures and diagrams on his blog, I thought I’d share a few of the inside black and white illustrations. I hope you like them.
Saffy has solved the first clue in her quest to save the magical world of Mandoreum from danger. Now it’s time to find the second.
She isn’t alone. Her new friend, Lily, a dragon from Mandoreum, wants to help. Together they take a trip and uncover special stories and unexpected surprises.
But Saffy soon learns that first appearances are not always what they seem. And plotting in the background is a witch who will do everything she can to stop them…
Author bio:
Esther has been a freelance writer for over twenty-five years, regularly writing articles and short stories for magazines and newspapers such as Writers’ Forum, Writing Magazine,The Guardian, Best of British, The Cat, This England, Yours and The People’s Friend.
Winner of several competitions, including those run by Writing Magazine and The Global Short Story Contest, she has also had the privilege of judging writing competitions and relished being given the role of head judge of the Writers’ Forum monthly short story competition.
Esther loves writing but equally enjoys helping others, which she achieves in her role as a tutor for The Writers Bureau. Always on the lookout for a new challenge, she is taking the distance learning college over at the end of July.
She has had two how-to books on writing published, with a third due out later this year, as well as two collections of short stories. Her second children’s book is coming out in May, where she writes under the name of Esther Moonstomp.
The focus of this blog is Leonbergers including Leonberger book reviews. However, sometimes I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but that are books that I love and want to promote. This time the book is Myths and Magic by Esther Moonstomp. Below I am giving an overview of the two formats for the book (I bought the paperback edition).
Paperback Edition – Publisher : Troubador Publishing (April 17, 2026), ISBN-10 : 1806342103, ISBN-13 : 978-1806342105, 80 pages, Item Weight : 4.2 ounces, dimensions : 5.83 x 0.22 x 8.27 inches, it cost $ 16.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Kindle Edition – Publisher : Troubador Publishing (May 28, 2026), ASIN : B0GX6T5C6R, ISBN-13 : 978-1806346684, 47 pages. It is currently $3.99 on Amazon or free with kindle unlimited. Click here to order it from Amazon.com. (Kindle version not released yet).
Front cover of Myths and Magic. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the paperback edition of the book.
Amazon’s Description of Myths and Magic
Saffy has solved the first clue in her quest to save the magical world of Mandoreum from danger. Now it’s time to find the second.
She isn’t alone. Her new friend, Lily, a dragon from Mandoreum, wants to help. Together they take a trip and uncover special stories and unexpected surprises.
But Saffy soon learns that first appearances are not always what they seem. And plotting in the background is a witch who will do everything she can to stop them…
First a note. I bought this book for the children of friends of ours, but I read it myself first without bending the pages. This book is an adventure filled and imaginative book that is excellent for reading out loud to children, or for young readers to read on their own.
Lily is a friendly dragon from the magical land of Mandoreum. In the earthly realm she appears as a small dragon statue that you can put in your pocket but in Mandoreum she is something quite different, but she is still friendly. Dragons are not bad and dangerous, just misunderstood. Saffy, the little girl who is the protagonist of the story, is friends with Lily and she carries her around when in the earthly realm. I should add that Mandoreum is under the threat from a witch, Narla. Saffy, her mom and brother, and Lily, visit a museum when the magic of Mandoreum begins to manifest. Magical beings appear and dangerous things start to happen in the museum.
The story is full of adventure; it is very imaginative and features harmless and non-scary drama of the kind that children love. It is a sweet and fun book that is captivating. In the book there are a couple of dozens of illustrations of dragons, dragon eggs, magical books, ogres, mermaids, museum rooms, king and queens, flying brooms, and more. In the paperback edition, which I bought, the illustrations are black and white. The book is well written, and it is a good story. I highly recommend this imaginative and entertaining book.
Back cover of Fringes, Heartstrings and Lyrics. Click on the image to go to the kindle edition of the book.
This post features various photos or illustrations of Leonbergers with flowers. The second photo below is our late Leonberger Bronco in the tall grass plants at our in-laws and the rest of the pictures are pictures featuring Leonbergers with flowers that I generated using ChatGPT or Shutterstock photos with Leonbergers and flowers (I have a shutterstock account).
Leonberger with a rose. I generated this picture with the help of ChatGPT.Our Leonberger Bronco in the bushes in front of my in-laws house.A Leonberger is sniffing a couple of tulips. Shutterstock Asset id: 1352450168 by EmmaEEVPersson.Shutterstock Asset id: 450770140 by everydoghasastory.Leonberger puppy Stock Photo ID: 561111403 by Akbudak Rimma.Leonberger puppy on a white sofa Asset id: 561113224 by Akbudak Rimma.Leonberger puppy with flowers in his hair. Shutterstock Asset id: 1921825460 by cynoclub.Leonberger Puppy with flowers on his head – Shutterstock Asset id: 2154719621 by cynoclub.Leonberger with sunflowers. I generated this picture with the help of ChatGPT.Leonberger in a field of flowers. I generated this picture with the help of ChatGPT.And a bonus photo. No Leonberger in this photo. Our Magnolia tree in our backyard just opened up its first flower for the season (lots of buds but they are still closed).
Voodoo shaman, african wizard man conjure, 3D illustration. Shutterstock Asset id: 2048753030 by artshock
We just came home from a trip to New Orleans, which is truly a magical city. New Orleans is not very far from Dallas, where we live, and we’ve been to New Orleans several times. However, it was a fun family trip with a theme. The theme we chose for our trip was Magic, including Vampires, Voodoo/Hoodoo, ghosts, pirates and St. Patrick’s Day. We also went on a ghost tour. Below are some photos from the Voodoo Museum, and miscellaneous voodoo, witches, vampire and pirate stores.
From the Voodoo Museum.I used an automated fortune teller who told me to watch out for stepping on people’s toes. That is kind of strange since we hardly ever go dancing.
Photo Tile with photos from the Voodoo Museum, a Hoodoo Queen, vampire art, pirate, and witch store.
We also ate at a restaurant that has a ghost. The Muriel’s Jackson Square restaurant is allegedly haunted by a ghost that sits in the chair. The ghost is a former owner by name of Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan.
The ghost is sitting between my daughter (right) and my son’s girlfriend (left).
What is Voodoo ?
Voodoo is a religion blending African traditions with Catholicism. It is originating from enslaved people in Haiti and Louisiana. It focuses on serving spirits and honoring ancestors and connecting with nature. It is not black magic. However, I admit I’ve made fun of the so called voodoo dolls. Marie Catherine Laveau was one the most prominent practitioners of voodoo. She was born a free woman of color in New Orleans’s French Quarter, Louisiana, on September 10, 1801. We saw her house. Below are photos from the Voodoo Museum.
Photo Tile from the Voodoo Museum
Vampire Café
We also did some vampire related things. New Orleans is often called the Transylvania of America. Author’s such as Anne Rice have brought attention to New Orleans and its vampire legends. I read a book with 40 short stories about vampires while we visited New Orleans. The book was Vermillion Highways by David Lee Summers and Lee Clark Zumpe. I will make a post about that book in a couple of days. We visited vampire stores and the famous Vampire Café. See the photos below.
Vampire CaféMe drinking (pretend blood) from a blood bag at the Vampire Café.Me drinking a glass of Pinot Noir. The name of the wine is Vampire, and it says so on the glass.
Photo Tile from Vampire Café.
I should say that we did other things as well. We visited the aquarium, rainforest, and insectarium, which is quite impressive. We celebrated Saint Patrick’s Day, and we made a couple of visits to the famous Pat O’Brien’s Pub. We all had a good time.
I had what is called post traumatic amnesia, which fortunately is temporary. Shutterstock ID: 1685660680 by MattL_Images
I have false memories, memories of things I know never happened. Not too long ago I made a post on my other blog about false memories and collective false memories, referred to as the Mandela Effect. You can read about that here. In addition to false memories I have memories that are strange, but that I know happened. I also have gaps, or holes in my memory. Memories that are lost to amnesia.
It all goes back to a ski accident that I had at the age of 22. We were a group of youngsters who rented a bus and drove from Sweden to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria in Germany. Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a beautiful Bavarian town, and it is one of the most famous German ski resorts. Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain is nearby Garmisch-Partenkirchen providing for an impressive scenery.
The town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Photo by op23 on Pexels.com
I love skiing and I challenged myself by skiing fast and selecting difficult slopes but on one of the days I made a very bad decision. I have no memories of what follows in this paragraph. It is what I have been told. There was a steep double black diamond slope with a sign stating that the conditions were dangerous and not to go down this slope. I did it anyway, and I fell badly, hit my head (I had no helmet), and I got a severe shoulder displacement. My arm was hanging on my back. I went looking for my skis and I tried to put them back on to continue skiing, but some Germans came down to stop me.
An ambulance was called, and they sent snowmobiles to pick me up. However, the snowmobiles were unable to get there, so they used a pist-machine to pick me up instead. On the way down I discovered my shoulder displacement several times. I was equally shocked every time. That’s how they knew that my short term memory was gone. I also had no pain sensation.
Zugspitze Germany’s highest mountain. Photo by Oskar Gross on Pexels.comThis is me in the ski slope when I was young. This is not Garmisch-Partenkirchen, it is Breckenridge, Colorado, but I don’t have any photos of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Amnesia
The next few days after the accident I suffered from amnesia. I did not remember where I was or my friends. I should say I still remembered my name. The first 2-3 days after the accident are essentially gone. However, I remember my friends coming into my room asking me questions such as “what’s my name?”, “do you remember me?”, “do you know where we are?”. The leader of the trip was devastated, and she was allegedly crying all day. You can say that I ruined the trip for everyone.
False Memories
On the way down to Germany, at the German border we changed out our studded tires because studded tires are not allowed on the autobahn. As my memories started to return on the third day after the accident my friends asked me what happened at the German border. I told them that we had studded tires (that part was correct) and that we all took pliers and removed the studs (that part was false). The funny thing is, to this day I remember us walking around the bus with pliers and removing studs. However, I know this never happened. How did that false memory get implanted in my head?
Strange Memories
I also have some strange memories from that trip that according to my friends happened. We stayed at a youth hostel. It was nice but it had a strange feature. There were loudspeakers in all the hallways. At 10:00PM on our first evening at the youth hostel the loudspeakers came on and someone started shouting in German “Achtung! Achtung! All guests must now wash their faces and brush their teeth and the lights started dimming and women and men had to go to their quarters. Music is forbidden. The loudspeaker came on every now and then barking orders at us in German and all windows and doors were locked electronically. Being from Sweden we followed orders, but we were laughing about it.
Suddenly new voices started shouting in the loudspeaker. It was younger sounding voices. It was still in German but this time we were told to rebel against the hotel management, we were told to refuse to go to bed, and they started singing fighting songs in German. Then, suddenly the loudspeakers went quiet. The hotel management was back. We all had to go to bed. It sounds like a false memory, but this one is real. Well, it was budget lodging after all.
Unpleasant Memories of Statistical Mechanics
The epic opening of the first paragraph in David L. Goodstein’s States of Matter, a textbook on Statistical Mechanics.
The epic opening above from the textbook says : Ludwig Boltzmann, who spent much of his life studying statistical mechanics, died in 1906, by his own hand. Paul Ehrenfest, carrying on the work, died similarly in 1933. Now it is our turn to study statistical mechanics.
One day I found a book on Statistical Mechanics under my bed, and some very unpleasant memories came back to me. I had a final exam in Statistical Mechanics after our vacation. Statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities.
More specifically, you do statistical calculations over large sets of atoms and molecules to figure out the macro condition of the corresponding gas or material. For example, temperature corresponds to the average kinetic energy of atoms, and entropy refers to the logarithm of the number of microstates compatible with the system’s measurable macroscopic state, often loosely referred to as the disorder of the system. Statistical Mechanics includes classical Statistical Mechanics as well as its Quantum Mechanical counterpart, which is a lot more abstract and complicated.
In 1905 Albert Einstein proved the existence of molecules and atoms using statistics and an observed phenomenon called Brownian motion. Shutterstock ID: 2334052703
Once I was back in Sweden, I went to see my professor, and I explained the situation to him: “hello professor, I had a ski accident, hit my head, and I lost my memory. My amnesia made me forget statistical mechanics.”. He could also see that my left arm was in a cast. I said, “could I take the exam a little later?” He asked me “are you right-handed or left-handed?” I said, “I am right-handed”. The professor answered, “well then you take the exam on time like everybody else”. It wasn’t what I wanted to hear but I took it, and I passed but not with flying colors.
It may seem like my professor was a bit harsh. However, I was later thinking that maybe he had a lot of students coming into his office claiming head injuries with amnesia. It was after all a final exam in statistical mechanics.
This is a photo of our Leonberger Bronco when he was three months old.Bronco our Leonberger dog was a very affectionate dog.Our Labrador Baylor and our German Shepherd Baby. Photo taken at the same time as the top photo above. However, we couldn’t get Bronco to sit still between Baylor and Baby.In this photo our Leonberger dog Bronco is eleven and a half years old, and we had acquired a new puppy, a mini-Australian Shepherd by the name Rollo.
One thing all our dogs loved was going for a car ride. The big dogs loved sticking their heads out the window and feeling the wind in their faces. The little dogs loved going places. And they all loved looking at the passing scenery. Oh, the things you can see when you’re “ridin’ in the car, car,” as the Woody Guthrie song goes!
There were some sights that got the dogs especially excited. They would bark if they saw people working on roofs or riding bicycles, for example. They would become even more animated if we got close to a dog park or a McDonald’s drive-through window. (That might have been because sometimes we bought them snacks at the McDonald’s drive-through.)
One time when I was taking Bronco, Baylor, and Baby to the dog park, a car passing me slowed down and started driving right next to me. I looked over, slightly annoyed, and saw that the people in the car were pointing at us and laughing. I was thinking, “What is their problem?” Then I glanced back at the dogs and realized that we did look funny. Bronco was sitting in the front passenger seat with his head close to the roof, looking majestic. Baylor and Baby were sitting in their own seats in the back. They probably looked like human passengers from a distance, but as the people in the car got closer, they realized that the heads weren’t human heads but dogs’ heads and burst out laughing.
I can add that most of the time we put the dogs in the back of our van or SUV but since they preferred to sit on a seat like humans do, we started letting them sit on the seats. If you let them sit on the seats you need to attach them to the car seat latch using dog safety restraint (dog seat belt). Sometimes, the dogs wanted to drive but it is difficult to get a driver license for a dog in Texas. In the picture below Rollo did not really drive the car. I used that photo for an April 1st joke.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo is driving a car. He is coming back from a visit to grandma and grandpa.
From Pete Springer (see comments) I got this YouTube video featuring 13 funny and cute Subaru commericals showing dogs driving cars.
Leonberger Life 