Author: Christer.

I live in a cottage not far from a lake that get visited by over 20 000 cranes every spring. My dogs and my garden takes up most of my time.

Moose hunting season.

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So only photos taken from my garden or in my garden today. This is the pasture the wild hogs like to walk around in.

We’ve had a warm, sunny and wind free day today, so warm that I could turn off the radiators and have the kitchen door open until the sun decided to leave the southern wall it hit all day. Today is the start of the annual moose hunting season so we haven’t been able to walk in the forest and will most likely not have any morning walks there until Monday.

On the other side they usually leave quite early in the day after a few days so we can have walks there anyway. I would have loved to walk in the village but Alma is like she is and the last time we tried, must be a year ago now, she was so impossible that I’ve given up the thought of ever go there again. I love that dog but she has her ideas about the world being dangerous, so I’m happy we at least have the forest we can walk in.

Tomorrow will be a fun day I think, First I’ll pick up my “new” phone and then I’ll drive to a friend I used to work with. His son has caught a new cold and my friend has to stay at home with him. As You probably know parents get paid if staying at home with a sick child here in Sweden. Better to stay at home than going to work spreading what ever disease children have. Since I already have a cold as well I’ll have a day out 🙂 Also I’ll buy some fish for my aquarium because he’s a neighbour to a pet shop 🙂 Now days it’s difficult to find someone selling aquarium fish here because they need to have a license  that gives them the right to do so and it costs a small fortune.

The hunters always put up a sign when ever they are out hunting. You can see it here in front of the dark caravan.

Well they need a license to sell any other animal as well like rodents or reptiles or what ever it is they want to sell. Pet stores here have never been allowed to sell dogs and cats though. So now I have to decide what kind of fish I want and it can only be a few since I now days only have the aquarium filled up to a third and plants soon will grow in the upper third, I think I might find the right kind of plants for that too because this pet store also sale terrariums.

It is time for that last cup of tea and I bought a rice chocolate bar when I was at the supermarket this morning, it’ll go perfect with some tea 🙂

Have a great day!

I already have too many seeds for next year :-)

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The moon yesterday evening.

It is raining, sort of a nice spring rain. Ok I know it’s autumn but that’s the feeling I get when being outside and not even the dogs seems to dislike it. We walked down to the creek this morning unlike yesterday when we walked out to the bog. It is strange but those moose flies survives lots of night with frost and they love it out by the bog so I didn’t want that to do that mistake again 🙂 🙂 🙂

I’ve noticed that there are lots fewer moose flies if we walk on the wider gravel roads even though they do sometimes even turn up here in my garden. Also it is seldom that any of them stays close to the creek, I have no idea to why though and it could just be coincidence but it’s like that every year. I think the moose passed just outside the garden yesterday evening because Alma was in guarding mood the entire time we were outside when it started to go dark. I could see some big tracks in the grass just outside my fence. If it had been a wolf she wouldn’t go outside at all 🙂 and the wild hogs walks closer to the forest on the other side of my home.

Our squirrels are quite shy so it’s always a joy when one can see them.

I always go out on seed sites this time of year and to be honest I already have many more seeds than I can sow next year 🙂 🙂 Then however, a couple of days ago I found seeds to something called Litchie tomato. It isn’t a tomato but a relative in the Nightshade family and even though I could see in photos that it must have been made in hell because it has zillions with really sharp small thorns I thought I have to test it 🙂 🙂 I’ve now been out on Youtube and watched a few videos and it is clear that it can’t grow in a place I have to pass at all because those spikes will hit me 🙂 🙂

Also I’ve learned that it is quite hardy, not that it will survive a winter here but night frost isn’t a problem at all. So it is either growing in the back of the greenhouse or it’ll just grow up there and later planted outside. Anyway it will be fun to try it 🙂 An odd thing happened when I tried to order it via my phone, for some reason I couldn’t get the seeds I bought by mail? Really strange since those packages I ordered hardly would even be noticed in an ordinary envelope. I could however go and pick it up at the seed firm not too far from where I live. That annoyed me so much that I cancelled the order 🙂 🙂 However I regretted it and did the order via my computer and then I didn’t even get a choice to pick it it, I could only get the seeds by mail 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thos are the problems we have in the village at the outskirts of the world 🙂 🙂 🙂

Well it is a long time until spring so I’ll place these seeds together with all the other seeds I already have in a plastic lunch box until it is time to start thinking about it again. It is time to feed the dogs and the monster and I already have a cup of tea by my side. I have caught a small cold, nothing serious just stuffed nose, freezing a little and sneezing a lot 🙂 🙂 I still have honey that my old neighbours gave me so I’ll have some of that and hope this will pass quickly even though it isn’t that bad 🙂

Have a great day!

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Very calm day in all aspects. No wind, no rain and no sunshine and The dogs and I didn’t do anything special either. I have baked a bread though and the cottage smells really nice. I was watching tv when Alma suddenly sat in front of me just looking at me. I asked her what it was and she put her paw on my lap. So I said to her what do You want? then she started walking towards the kitchen and stopped just in front of the oven 🙂 🙂 🙂 Yes they both will get a small piece each with cheese on 🙂

Have a great day!

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They are slowly ripening 🙂 I had to take this photo with a flash so the colours aren’t quite right. They are turning towards a very dark red colour.

For a while in the early morning it looked like we were going to have sunshine while we were out walking and we did for around twenty seconds 🙂 Then the rain arrived, no heavy showers but either a steady but calm rainfall or misty rain. It wasn’t until just after noon the sun made a come back and now three hours later I can see that the rain is falling again.

The rain on the mountain missed us but another one came a short moment after.

So I haven’t done a lot today, mostly drinking tea and watching tv, well I wouldn’t be able to tell You what it was I looked at because mostly it was pretty boring and nothing I really wanted to see. When the sunshine finally arrived I’ve mostly been throwing away what I’ve had in pots and poured it all out close to where the plum tree stood. I dug up all the dahlias and for the first time in my life only one can be saved till next year, I have no idea why they didn’t create root lumps like dahlias always do. Could be that I’ve watered them too little.

No signs of any wolf still staying around, they rarely do to be honest. I did see some tracks from moose though and they looked really fresh, if they had been old the rain would have wiped them out. To my very big surprise I finally found my jigsaw!! and it was pure luck because I can’t really understand why I had placed it there, beneath the entrance stairs??!! It must have been that a shower passed by and that was the closest place I could find, otherwise I have absolutely no idea 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thankfully it is in a sort of plastic suitcase so no water from the latest rains had managed to get to it. So it still works and soon I’ll be able to have that third rainwater barrel 🙂

Well the weather doesn’t seem to become any nicer again so I guess I better make a pot of tea and perhaps doze off in front of the tv 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

Finally the storm has passed, it’s still raining though.

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Just a short one today. The greenhouse still stands, I went out several times to check how the anchors and pegs were holding up and they show no signs of even moving the slightest. The only thing that did was the broken golf club in front of the door, so I pressed it down in the ground in another place and much further down and it is still standing 🙂

The dogs barely went out to do their business because the wind was fierce and I must say I didn’t think a tree could bend that much as my Chinese catalpa, any normal tree bending so much would have broken in two 🙂 🙂

The badger visited us in the late morning, I was surprised it even had went out on a day like this. I was outside just minutes earlier to check the greenhouse and went back to let the dogs out. Took a bit longer than I expected so by the time we came out the badger had left us again 🙂 They dig mall holes searching for snails and larvae to eat and they weren’t there when I was out earlier 🙂 So everything has went well and we’re all sitting in the cottage enjoying not being outside 🙂 It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and after that it feels like an early night is the right thing to do 🙂 Well I’ll watch the news first just in case something has happened in the world 🙂

Have a great day!

Now I’m waiting for the storm to arrive.

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Sunny and nice morning again today but after that a chilly wind has arrived and I guess it’s the same we’ll have tomorrow but then with storm strength in the gusts. I’ve now done what I can to secure it with 12 new tent pegs for green houses and a few other things. I’ve blocked the door with an old broken golf club 🙂 No I’ve never played golf but I once bought a golf bag on an auction just in case I ever would be insane enough to start playing golf 🙂 🙂 🙂

There was some morning mist when we went out on our morning walk but we walked out to the bog and this time no fog had hidden in there 🙂 We might have had a wolf nearby because both dogs seemed to be uncomfortable being out there. Could also have been moose since the dogs don’t like them either.  Animals were moving around in the forest but by the sound of it I think that mostly were deer or wild hogs.

I also drove to the grocery store today, normally I would have waited until tomorrow but driving around in a storm on top of a mountain is never a good idea 🙂 🙂 It was unusually calm in the town, Falköping on Fridays are usually chaotic when it comes to traffic. It’s just a tiny town but the traffic is just as bad as it is in a big city 🙂 🙂  Also very few seems to know any of the traffic rules we have in this country so no matter how well one drives there’s always a lot of honking from other car drivers 🙂 🙂 🙂 Today there wasn’t any traffic at all so I could just as well have backed the car all the way in the village and no one would have noticed 🙂 🙂 🙂

It is time to make a pot of tea and I’ll have some ice cream at the same time. The strong winds will arrive some time in the early morning and will be as worst at around 9 am till 2 pm so I’ll be glued to the windows until it starts to calm down. We might also have up to 50 mm (two inches) of rain falling so cross Your fingers and hold Your thumbs for good luck and that the green house doesn’t fly away 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

This is one of the storm anchors on the outside.
Twelve new pegs on the inside all pointing att different directions. I should have bought 24 because there are a lots of holes on the side that won’t be hit by the wind.
I also put some support on the outside but doubt that will help much.
And the golf club outside the door 🙂 🙂

Cold night again.

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-2C (28,4F) this morning and a wonderful morning mist bordering to almost thick fog. The sun rose and we did have a rather nice walk, the only thing that disturbed was that my hands became just as cold as the air around us 🙂 We didn’t see any moose or signs of any wolves but we did see a roe deer in a field.

The rest of the day has been either nasty cold and cloudy or rather nice and sunny. Too bad the rather nice and sunny was a bit rare compared to the cold and cloudy. Tomorrow will be, if they’re guessing it right, the last day of sunny and nice before a storm hits us on Saturday. I am a bit worried about the green house even though I now have secured it with wires and storm anchors because the winds will come from south east and it will hit it right on I’m afraid.

I will pick up those tent pegs for greenhouses tomorrow though so I can secure it even better. So hold Your thumbs and cross Your fingers for good luck because it would be so boring if it flew away even before I’ve had a chance to use it even once 🙂 🙂 🙂  otherwise we’ve done very little today since it has been so chilly, we did have a nap for an hour or so and after that I made pancakes for dinner 🙂

It is time to make a pot of tea and find a good book I think because as so often I can’t find anything worth watching on tv. I’ve heard a rumour that the foreman at the coffin factory finally was kicked out, no sad feelings for that 🙂 So perhaps I should go back and see if they have a job for me 🙂 I really liked all the people but I didn’t give much for him to be honest 🙂

It is time too start making that tea so have a great day!

I was a bit stressed today and the wolves have returned they say.

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Tomatoes hanging to ripen on both sides of the window.

Really nice day, weather-wise that is, cold in the morning but we’ve had sunshine all day so even if the temperature didn’t sky rocket it still was very pleasant in the garden.

Fir the first time in ages I saw three moose running across the fields, one bull, one cow and one calf.

What did stress me out quite a lot is that my mobile suddenly went in to secure mode so lots of important apps stopped working (oddly enough I still could go in to Bluesky 🙂 🙂 ) I don’t know how it is in the rest of the world but over here we need our Bank Id every time we buy anything online or even just need to visit authorities online. So if that doesn’t work (it was shut off by the phone) we can’t do anything really. Also we have a pay system called Swish so we can pay via that in stores or just send over money to other people, could that be the same sort as venmo perhaps?

No matter how I followed instructions the phone just refused to let it go. So I checked online via my computer and then I saw the problem, if the volume button is in any way stuck (mine was since that day I dropped my phone and it hit a stone, so I always had maximum volume 🙂 🙂 ) so after spraying 556 and sort of twisting the phone, don’t know how to describe it in another way, the volume button finally loosened up and all apps came back 🙂 Now however the volume changes depending on what mood the phone is in, sometimes really loud and sometimes no volume at all 🙂 🙂 🙂

So with a slight anxiety I went online again and to my favourite site when it comes to used electronics and bought a “new” phone. I really didn’t check what it was but it was the first phone that said it works on 5G 🙂 🙂 I went back after and I have bought a Samsung Galaxy 53 and payed with shipping $235 US. A lot of money but still not compared to what any new phone would cost here. It is in pristine condition the ad says and this site has never lied about anything before so I doubt they have started now. Anyhow before all this happened my new hedge trimmer arrived today, not as expensive as the phone but not far behind, arrived today. Not many safety instructions but a few were crystal clear. If one is a pregnant woman, drunk, a child or a mental health patient one isn’t allowed to use the trimmer 🙂 🙂 🙂 Really where do they get these ideas from? Also shortly after I had ordered it I got a mail where they told me they had approved of me buying one? 🙂 🙂 🙂 Sort of like accepting me in to a cult or a very exclusive club 🙂 🙂 🙂

Also I haven’t seen the Monsterkitten today and that worries me, she’s usually working like a clock. I do hope she’s just out on an adventure and will come back tonight or tomorrow. The dogs are looking for her as well. I’ve checked that I haven’t locked her in anywhere and also been to my neighbours garage just in case she’s been there. They are now saying a wolf might hang around here again, my dogs haven’t shown any signs that they’ve noticed any wolves but if we’re unlucky the monster might have met it.

This flower covered the entire flowerbed outside the kitchen and since I didn’t see more than one bumblebee all day I ripped them up. They spread like weeds so I’ll have plenty next year again.
I found three more pots with plants in beneath them today (yesterday I found yet another potted quince seedling) It is two roses and one hardy hibiscus. They are now the first habitants in the greenhouse 🙂

It is time for a cup of tea and a slice or two from the just out of the oven bread 🙂 Tonight I’ll nit just check for badgers in the garden, I’ll also check for wolves 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

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Today is slightly less painful so we went out on our morning walk out to the bog this time. A bit chilly but the sun shone and no winds blowing so it was quite pleasant and even Alma stayed really calm for once. We could hear animals walking away from us and as always some Jays screaming in the trees 🙂 It’s not for nothing that their Swedish name is nut screamer 🙂 🙂

We even saw some morning mist in the distance but today there was none in the forest. As soon as we came back home I went to the supermarket to get what I written down on my note plus a few things I realised I would need sooner or later, like a ring spanner set. Since I can’t find what I actually have when it comes to tools I thought I better start all over again 🙂 🙂

So the first thing I did after coming home was to tighten all the nuts with the right ring spanner and it was really needed. I had used a wrench trying to tighten them but it really was too big so some of those nuts were way too loose and would most likely have vibrated enough to fall off if the wind would become strong 🙂 🙂 After that I’ve done very little, had lots of coffee, eaten a Småländsk cheesecake (a bit different than the American cheesecake) with strawberry jam 🙂 and we’ve also had a long nap because the weather isn’t that nice any longer.

The wind is cold and the sunshine is gone, it’s actually cold enough for me to have to start a couple of radiators now. Thankfully they’re guessing that we’ll have sunshine all day tomorrow and even if the temperature won’t rise especially much the sun will warm up the cottage and it will be nice to stay outdoors as well. Sunshine can really make a big difference, especially here since I sort of live in a pit where the air warms up much. It also makes it colder at night since all the cold air sort of flows down to my garden and stays there during winter 🙂 🙂 🙂

It is time for a pot of tea and after that it’s time to feed the animals.

Have a great day!

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We didn’t have any walks today the dogs and I. My body is aching everywhere and today was not a day when having dogs pulling the leash would be a good idea 🙂 🙂 🙂 (so the photos You see were taken two days ago and perhaps I’ll toss in a photo taken with my analog cameras).

I’m used to pain since I have rheumatism but today is a bit above that 🙂 🙂 🙂 It is for some reason easier to walk up the stairs than down 🙂 🙂 🙂 The weather hasn’t been that wonderful anyway, ok it is wind free and fairly warm or warmish at least but no sunshine.

I didn’t just sit still though, that would only make it worse. Instead I secured the green house for storm winds. I had already bought a set with ground anchors, wires and the small things like screws. The anchors are the kind that one simply screw down in to the ground. The thing was that I only could find three even though I know I should have four. So I walked around looking for it (I have every now and again used them for other things 🙂 🙂 🙂 ) well while I did that I found a very similar thing, it was for a dog I had and it is a kind of screw that is screwed down in to the ground and one fastens the leash in it.

I never used it though so since it had the same size and works the same way I used it. The problem was that while looking for the fourth anchor I lost the third 🙂 🙂 🙂 This is nothing new but sometimes it scares me 🙂 🙂 I looked for two hours and just couldn’t find it. So I decided to make a pot of tea and take a small break. I had old tea leafs that I needed to bring to my compost and for some reason I wasn’t surprised to see the anchor lying on the compost 🙂 🙂 🙂 So now if a storm comes and the wind actually can reach the green house it should be safe from blowing away 🙂 🙂 at least in theory 🙂

I also found the holder to the ventilation window, it had fallen down beside the big compost so I could attach that and it was fairly easy. so while I was at it I also fastened the door handle so now I’m done for the moment because I’ve ordered a sort of tent pegs for greenhouses. Amazon had good ones that will be screwed down with the help of a drilling machine. It’s not as if I don’t trust the storm anchors but I only have sand in the ground and it just feels like I would be able to pull them up by hand 🙂 🙂 This was the first time I’ve ordered anything from Amazon and so far so good 🙂 Amazon isn’t that big over here since we already have many similar sites we rather go to instead.

I hope I’ll be able to have walks tomorrow, if not for any other reason than that the dogs need to be somewhere else than here. It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and later I’ll check what’s on tv.

Have a great day!

The next project.

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My entire body hurts 🙂 and I know it will be even worse tomorrow 🙂 🙂 So I started another project yesterday, to finally start building that greenhouse I bought three? years ago. I must admit that the instructions were pretty good but the markings on the parts was so so to be honest. I also noticed that the closer to the end the descriptions became less good, like the one who did them sort of felt bored and that gave me some problems at the end.

So the only thing I had to do today was the roof with the ventilation window. The only parts that actually were missing was the parts to the handle of the ventilation window 🙂 🙂 Well I can solve that later and it will work well anyway. I really can’t call the company to complain and to get those parts since it has gone three years and I can’t even remember who I bought it from, it’s a long time since they gave up sending me ads on things they sell 🙂 🙂 🙂 Anyhow everything went well until I was going to put the door together and then hang it up. This is when the bored designer of this green house really messed it up because it is amazing in how many ways one can attach hinges and not make it work 🙂 🙂 🙂 That door took several hours to put together, mostly because the one had forgotten to show how many screws one had to pre assemble before it was time to put the door together 🙂 🙂 🙂

Also there’s magnet to keep the door closed and no matter how I put it one it couldn’t reach any metal but that’s why one always have a just enough big beak pliers close nearby 🙂 Also, and here’s the second thing that drove me nuts, the pre assembled screws. Turns out they had shown the wrong numbers of how many and on what side of the door they should be, so at the moment the door has no handle. I refuse to take the door apart again so I need to figure out another way that makes it possible to move those screws around to the right side again. All in all it worked pretty good despite missing parts and screws on the wrong side of the door and now it stands there. All I have left, besides the screws, is to put up plastic protections on the corners because those are sharp and then figure out how to secure the greenhouse to the ground. I do have storm wires as well just in case the wind blows from the wrong direction.

WE had morning mist here today and I rushed outside as soon as I could to get some nice photos and of course let the dogs have a walk 🙂 It’s amazing how fast it can vanish when the sun rise in the morning. I had brought my old Hasselblad camera because it’s really good on capturing morning mist and we even walked up to the mailbox just to get some nice photos. Just as I had I turned around and all mist was gone! So when we passed the cottage again I left the camera and we continued in to the forest. Turns out the mist was hiding in there instead 🙂 🙂 Well I can always hope for more mist but it looks like we’ll have cloudy days ahead of us with minimal chance to get it any time soon.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and today I’m having Lady Grey. A really nice tea and a change from the Earl Grey I usually have. I have no ice cream or cookies and I’m not hungry enough for a sandwich so I guess I’ll just have the tea. It is time to move down the stairs and it hurts just to think about it 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

I forgot to eat while building the greenhouse yesterday but realised I had to stop when my entire body started to shake 🙂 🙂 🙂
Today the dogs made sure to go indoors to have something to eat 🙂

My little project.

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It has been a rather wonderful day, frost again this morning but without morning mist. I was a bit disappointed about that but we did have sunshine all day long and once again it went from cold to almost Scandinavian summer temperatures 🙂

So sweater in the morning but after I had been to the grocery store in Falköping I switched to t-shirt. I have around one gazillion of flies in the grass now, I think it might be that they need water, because the grass stays wet for quite some time plus the fact the ground is fairly warm all day. These flies aren’t annoying in any way, they really don’t want to be close to neither me or my dogs but as soon as we get too close they fly up in the air and the sound from them is amazing 🙂 🙂 This is so to speak their final show so I don’t care about them.

So I started this project yesterday. I was walking around in the garden and saw an old plastic pot I’ve dug down in to the ground. I had done that because I wanted black berries in the garden but in just one place. So the pot was there to keep the roots in one place. The thing is that the blackberry bushes slowly and steadily became smaller for each year until they were no more and for some reason I just didn’t remove the pot. So I looked at the pot, rather big to be honest and wondered what to do with it. I must have brought it with me when I closed my garden center. It’s around 120 litres (31,7 gallon US) and then I looked at some rubber sheet I still had after the voles destroyed my pond. So why not make a little pond from that instead of the readymade little pond I was wondering if I could repair?

There are sharp edges at the bottom so those must be covered with something. I found some old towels I never use and placed them around the sharp edges.

So I dug out all the soil that filled the pot witch made my morning a bit hellish because I apparently have muscles I don’t know of 🙂 🙂 I actually tried to lift the pot up from the ground but it was just impossible. So I brought the rubber sheet and started to preparing the surface around the pot. It isn’t easy to try and force down a rubber sheet in a rather small space and one has to forget a big rule when making a pot, the rubber shouldn’t be folded but absolutely smooth around the edges. That works well if one actually is making a big pond but not when forcing it down in to a fairly small space 🙂 🙂 🙂 Before that though I had dug a sort of moat around the pot, that will be the future swamp zone. That’s where plants that loves to grow in swampy areas but not below the water surface can live.

Malkolm kept an eye once so I wouldn’t mess it up too much 🙂

Here You can see the moat properly. I’ll have to adjust it next spring because winter tends to make the ground settle in new ways 🙂
So this is what it looks like now. There is some water in it so I’ll have to check it for frogs and toads every morning plus the eventual other animal that might be in it.

When I had done my best to adjust the rubber sheet to it all (the easiest way to get the sheet down to the bottom of the little pond is to just start filling it with water) with lots of folds everywhere 🙂 🙂 🙂 I started to cut off the unnecessary parts of the sheet. That is of course best to do with a carpenter knife, preferable the ones with a razor blade in it. Or if You like me can’t find it one can use that bl…y expensive bread knife that is completely useless except for it is so sharp it’s possible to cut down a tree with it. After that just start to cover the rubber sheet that is outside of what it is supposed to be with soil. This one will be empty until next spring so I just poured out those wood chips I had after the compost grinder. It is a good thing to use a water measure so that it’s even, otherwise there will be problems if it rains too much.

So that’s what I’ve been doing today and the problem is that it really made me start to think about making a big pond again, too pricy to do that at the moment so this little one will have to do. This one will be big enough for three or four gold fish, they will eat any mosquito larvae or other fly larvae who will try and grow up there 🙂 This one is not deep enough to keep them alive during winter so I’ll see what I need to do before then. Well it is time for that last cup of tea and since there’s absolutely nothing I want to watch on tv it might be an early night, I’ll just have to check for badgers in the garden before I let the dogs out 🙂

Have a great day!