It's been forty years since we last saw a blacksmith at work. We can no longer say with certainty where exactly that took place in Germany.

In our article on the Kangal, we already reported in detail about this large Turkish shepherd dog, which is enjoying increasing popularity. There are other types of shepherd dogs, which are sometimes difficult to distinguish from the Kangal.

Long before domesticated horses were introduced to Mesopotamia around 4,000 years ago, the people living there were breeding hoofed animals that they harnessed to war chariots and plows and used for diplomatic and ceremonial purposes: so-called kungas.

When we looked out of the window of our apartment in Izmir this morning, I could hardly believe my eyes: everything was white and there was a heavy drift of snow.

Color-conscious people can easily color or recolor their textiles in line with fashionable trends or personal taste. Today there are countless colors, mostly chemically produced, sometimes with more or less natural ingredients, which make life easier.

For centuries, Lake Tuz in Turkey has attracted large colonies of flamingos. The birds breed in warm weather and feed mainly on algae in the shallow bank regions.

Wonderful days with lots of sunshine once more lured us out into the forest, which must have felt a lizard in a similar way. The lizard needs solar energy to get its body temperature going, because like all reptiles they are cold-blooded.

A Sunday hike along the Borbach near Witten had led us to the Hohenstein-Berger monument, where we took a short break with bread and tea that we had brought with us.

For a long time now as much snow is quite rare nowadays, the thick layer of snow also messed up the lives of many animals, including "our" blackbird, which almost belongs to the farm, which now delights us again with a lot of singing, hardly that the snow was getting less.

Gray sky with numerous showers, not exactly tempting weather for a walk through the forest. Alternatively, spending the afternoon before Christmas Eve in front of the TV wasn't really an alternative either.

On the way for a walk along the Unstrut river from Roßleben to Memleben, we came across gnaw marks on the bank that only beavers can create - gnaw marks on the willows and alders and corresponding shaving-like wooden pieces on the bottom.

Who does not know them, the medium-sized songbirds with their powerful feet, whose plumage can be so shiny that it reflects the sun and usually ranges from typically black or dark colours to multicoloured.

Once again the almost autumnal sun had lured us outside and once again our walk was to lead us to the small lake at Abtsküche.

First, it was just a short view of a corner lot on busy street in Thalheim near Wels, almost directly on the banks of the river Traun.

Very well, we can remember the oncoming hectic of a family member who was triggered on the approach of the gray heron to the koi carp living in the own garden pond.

Veterinarians and their organizations, following a renewed case of rabies in Italy, recall the obligation to vaccinate pets accompanying travelers on holiday.

After the tiring days during the CMT in Stuttgart, our hosts Heidi and Rainer were able to surprise us once more when they told us about a guided bird watching tour over the local golf course,

The Ohrid Lake, as mentioned several times, is one of the oldest lakes in the world and is the last survival of a former ocean that reached the Vienna basin 15 million years ago.

We had already reported about the artificial Danube Island, which had been erected several years ago to protect floods in the city of Vienna, in order to create the largest possible floodplains in the case of floods.

In parks, public gardens or even in between buildings, as well as at the monastery complex of Sveti Naum, the visitor meets the Blue Peacock, due to their striking appearance, especially the males are regarded as the oldest ornamental birds in the world.