Saturday 20 November 2010

Adventzeit

As most of you, me fans, by no doubt have noticed already: It's that time in the year again! That's right! So please start sending in your parcels! I use the same address as last year.
Hard parcels give you bonus points. The donators of the three best presents will get a handmade and handwritten christmas card made by no other than yours truly!
In additon, the person presenting the very best christmas present will - yes I know I'm way to generous now!! - win a guided tour in me home village Hinterwald!!!!
So if you want to sing christmas carols with Toni the farmer, clean out the barn with me and meet me uncle Gerald and me business partner mr I. - then start sending in your parcels. Yeah, merry X-mas yada yada, yada..

Saturday 6 November 2010

Monopoly

Today I played Monopoly against redhead and norski. First it was boring, but then I went into me 'money is money'-overdrive!
I invested in real estate, houses and a hotel (the bank cheated me at the deal, but I managed to turn the situation into a moneyfall - mostly by tricking me opponents into paying a rather stiff rent )
Needless to say, but I'm of course saying it anyway: I WON !  hihi!

Mit einem Mobiltelefon von Sony Ericsson gesendet

Sunday 8 August 2010

Should I adopt the wee one?

Yesterday I visited the 'Landesausstellung Oberösterreich'. A major subject of the exhibition was the Reformation and Martin Luther. Basically it was all about how bad the Austrian protestants were treated by some not very nice guys from their catholic environment.
In order to get away from it all I went for a walk in the forest around the castle in which the exhibition was situated. Suddenly I saw a dead mother-mouse struck - nay, rather squeezed - down on the path, apparently a biker had driven over her. Poor mouse! A classical hit and run.
Not two meters away from the sad spot I found this baby mouse (see picture above!). An Austrian 'spitz maus' I believe. He (I called him Fredi) was a bit dehydrated, but otherwise he didn't suffer of anything a bit of water couldn't cure. Fredi was sleeping soundly in my pullover using part of my sleeve as a blanket, but for the photo I had to wake him up.
Should I adopt him, poor little Fredi, what do you think?

Update: Actually, we did not keep Fredi after all but left him in the deep, deep forest nearby a medieval castle. Rumours tell, he now makes his living by acting as castle-mouse there....

Sunday 18 July 2010

rainy Sunday

Today I've been staying in bed all day long. The only sensible thing to do regarding the wheather; just a nuisance that Norski and Readhead are cycling around aimlessly in the city, hence there is no one that would prepare hot chocolate for me.

nighty, G.

Tuesday 8 June 2010

Chillin' and dreamin'


Howdy fans!

Our TV broke down like a 18 year old mustang through the Arizona desert. So after to many days in front of an old 12 inch screen, my live-ins finally caved in and bought me an 37 inch (or something like that) LED-TV. So now its HD-movies and a heavily increased dosage of popcorn and TV-diners and generally being lazy. Indeed, its a tough job being a piglet.  Just yesterday, I managed 18 hrs straight ! How about that?
I wonder if they give out medals for telly watching?   Norski claims that TV-watching is bad for small piglets.
Keep dreamin' I said!

Pfiati !

Mit einem Mobiltelefon von Sony Ericsson gesendet

Monday 31 May 2010

Wilderness Pt 2

As it turned out my "Bivouacking in the Mühlviertel Highlands" was cut short, as my rescuers found me after 10 minutes or so.


We followed a rather interesting path. I belive it was made for kids, but even for a piglet it was a nice experience. In the middle of the forrest we found a cave. Being a prudent piglet, I sent in the norski first. Apperently as he went in, lights turned on automatically and a display of foxes and badgers were shown. Indeed, you could also hear their voices crying out in agony (I think...) Cool!  The norski said if this solar-powered museum cave had been in Norway, som viking descendant would have pillaged the place long ago. and generally made a wreck out of it. "Why" I, the piglet asked!   " 'cause it's there!" the norski answered.
Here is a shot I took inside the cave:













Me and norski taking a break somewhere in the north-eastern Mühlviertel.

After a small incident with the car GPS, wich led us astray,  we went back to the capital (of Upper Austria)

Pfiati !

Mit einem Mobiltelefon von Sony Ericsson gesendet

Saturday 10 April 2010

Wilderness pt 1

Dear Blog

It was Easter - hence time for a prolonged stay in my home region Mühlviertel.  I demanded to be transportet into this area - so the Redhead and the Norski vere happy to oblige.  As I had some unfinished business in the little hamlet of "St. Georgen am Walde", this village was our first objective.



















Pic.1:   Here we see parts of St Georgen am Walde in the eastern part of Mühlviertel.


After I had finished my business in downtown St Georgen my two chauffeurs wanted to "tour the area". So off we went.  We actually walked...   The first stop was a small lumberjack museum. It was really small and not very impressive, but they managed to shoot some nice pics of me:



















Pic 2: Here I am bravely inspecting part of the lumberjack museum. Observe the dangerous waterfall just beside me.















Pic 3: Chillin' on the museum porch.
















Pic 4:  Part of a large tree. Someone with too much time on his/her hands actually counted all the rings, and the tree was older than the Redhead and the Norski together, would you belive that!.

But of course we couldn't stay around that phony museum all day long som we forged into the lovely forest. Lots of trees, mud, irritating birds ..well all the thingies you normally expect to see in a forest. I am sure the Redhead and the Norski loved it.
I was looking at a whole lot of different things, and...suddenly I was alone !!  
"Helooooooo!!?"  I shouted into the forest which now appeared to be more hostile.  It was colder now, or was it the fear or the longing for my slippers, bathtube and hot chocolate?

Between two large trees I met a Badger (Dachs) whom I asked for sustinance and lodging, but he was sharing a small flat with a fox and had no room for a towny piglet.  
But having read the SAS surviving-manual on many a cozy evening at home, I had of course some idea what to do. I build a bivouac!
















Pic 5: Piglet taking on the elements. Bivouacking in the Mühlviertel Highlands.

A bit cold and hungry (not thirsty as I found a small "burn" (as they say in Scotland)) I fell asleep.
More to follow.

Monday 5 April 2010

Happy Easter!

From all of me to all of you : Hope you all had a great Easter. I was travelling in Mühlviertel. Pics to come. This photo was accidentically taken of me while I was sleeping in the scanner - and woke up as the Norski started the machine...  say no more...

Your
Grunzl - the scanned one

Saturday 13 March 2010

Hello blog-fans!!

Dear blog

One of these days I will sit model for a more serious artist, but some time ago The Redhead asked me to sit for her. She likes to sketch now and then you see! While I don't consider the result very flattering for me, I also understand there is something called artistic license...    Heck, I might even find me own pencils and a sheet of paper one of these days.
In the next month or so I will probably go on a couple of journeys, so stay tuned for "The Grunzl Files - A piglet goes Europe"!

Your Grunzl

Tuesday 16 February 2010

At last; some professional reading !

Dear Blog

Sometimes you just want to relax and generally be lazy, but at the same time you might want to be entertained. So today I felt like being immersed in literature. But being to lazy to read, what should I do?
The answer was quickly found: get somebody to read for me.  A short phonecall, and a very nice woman showed up !  She was a fast reader, and I could not understand everythin' ,   but as it is not so easy to find slav... eh competent house help nowadays, what could I do?    
Thanks to Verli for reading to me.

Grunzl

Sunday 14 February 2010

New indoor shoes

Hi again!

I've just got a pair of NEW indoor shoes (well it was Knut that got new shoes, but heck: I can use them as a sleeping bag or sleeping mat or somethin')     They were really big, but I arranged 'em to be washed on 40 degrees - and now they are much smaller, much nicer and probably much warmer.  Whattya think?
Thanks to Helene Harelabb (AKA Helene Kanin) for the shoes. One shoe got a Nemo look-a-like on it, the other a nice purple octopus and some seaweed.

Makes me long for the seaside...

Sunday 7 February 2010

Piglets and snow

It is snowing!!  :-)   What more can a small piglet demand on his sunday stroll.  Of course me ring-tail is feeling ...odd, but the sudden quietness that the falling snow brings is excillerating!  I danced through the snow all the way home. Now I am waiting for some italian veggie soup! "Hurry up Redhead! A piglet is waiting for his afternoon soup!"
Wish you all a nice sunday!

Friday 5 February 2010

None EU conform carrots...

Hi again!

As some of you already know, I am not such a big fan of the European Union (quite contrary to the readhead, I have to say...). No big surprise, maybe, as I am from a small farm with a very modest agricultural yield in the Boehemian forest. My former boss, Toni, had lotsa problems, and I am sorry to say that my relatives on the farm did not excactly go out of their way to help him (Something of a family feud my grandfather told me!) - and when Toni turned to the bottle... Well it was downhill from then on...

Anyway; you've probably all seen those cucumbers complying with EU regulations at the local grocery? But did you know that EU-law also applies to something as mundane as carrots? So on my latest "tour de force" to Mühlviertel as I were shopping veggies for my cellar in Vienna, I happened to come across these anti-EU carrots. The last picture shows me and an almost criminal carrot. Cute guy eh? (I mean the one with the attractive ears..)
Hmmm  my tummy is in the mode for some carrot soup tonite....
Pfiati (as we say here in Austria)








Sunday 31 January 2010

Teatime in the Vienese forest.

Dear Blog
Today I had planned for a day in solitude and contemplation, but alas! my live-ins had decided going for a walk in the snowy Vienese woods. As they probably feared it would be too boring for them alone, they forced me to join them. Not without proper substinence I cried out! And the norski filled his backpack with hot chocolate and and assortment of dried fruits and other delicacies from a local deli-shop here in my neighborhood. And away we went into the deep mysterious forest by way of train, and later on foot.
We walked for hour after hour. Deep snow. Icy winds. My ring-tail was constantly exposed to the elements.
Took a small teabreak close to something that looked like a forest-fireman watchtower. I was of course expecting a dash of my favorite Brandy in my tea, but was deeply disapointed... The break was abruptly shortened, 'cause the redhead was feeling a bit cold.

Well, to make a grueling experience short; We reached the trainstation after miles on slippery paths, and after a relatively short train journey we were home again.
Time for a bath!
Grunzl


Me somewhere, lost actually!, in the forest.

Teetotaling (norski didn't bring along my Brandy)

Is this what they call the "blue hour"?

At last; on my way home, on the train, to an appointment with a hot bath.

Friday 29 January 2010

Blackadder

I watched a DVD with some of the genial Blackadder episodes the other day. If you haven't heard about it: SHAME ON YOU! In order to commemorate the series I took this photo of meself.  Nice eh?


Thursday 28 January 2010

Floorball

Yup! It's Thursday again, and this time I AM going to play Floorball with the norski. It will most certainly be blood, sweat and tears. Of course not piglet blood! Anyway now I am geared up to go. Ok, so me sweat-band is a bit jerry-rigged and the gear is made for the big people but do I look like a piglet who cares?
I hope someone comes along to carry me to the venue...
Grunzl
NB: at least I could be the stereotypical mean referee.

Cooking

Cheers!
It's really a piglet's life; Redhead is feeling ill and the norski is not to be seen. What's a hungry piglet to do? Make me own dinner...again.
ps: This is actually the first blog post I made with my, err.. one of my live-ins' mobile phones. Great! I don't need to borrow one of their computers any more.

Saving electricity !



Actually I am not exactly into green stuff, but my live-ins rather forced me into some hours of candle-light during the last Earth-hour. I like to play with the fire...  - so I helped them with lighting the candles (I also wanted to light up some other stuff, but was outrageously denied doing that!)  My friends, the backyard rats, also had some bright ideas in that direction.  Well, well, well......

Welcome

Hi

My name is Grunzl, and this is my first blog.
On this site I will post different kind of pics from my life in the big city, and say my opinion on a number of subjects.  Obviously English is not my native tongue - my every-day language is in fact a dialect of German -  but I think I will reach a broader audience by using English.  Stay tuned!

Grunzl