Category: Chilly.

When it’s dark here it really is dark.

So I was at the job interview yesterday and I felt rather good afterwards. I went to another place in another town but he said the other place looked much the same and I really liked this place. Not especially big but it fitted a couple of cars that they were working on. So I think if not all but most cars had dents and plastic details sanded and painted but no bigger vehicles. 

He’ll cal me wether I get the job or not so now I’ll just have to wait. I can’t remember when the job ad will be removed but I guess it will be a week or two before I’ll hear anything. So until then I’ll just keep on enjoying every day as I have so far. Just hoping for sunnier weather because it is hard to be outside doing anything, especially since the dogs hate rain 🙂 🙂 🙂 We do need lots more to be honest since the groundwater levels still are really low and I hope that all the rain that fell yesterday has helped with that 🙂

The water levels are really high now, not because of the rain but by beavers blocking the water 🙂

0C (32F) this morning but I couldn’t see any frost when we went out on our morning walk. We had some sunshine but lots of clouds did their best to stop it. Still warm enough to keep the radiators off for a couple of hours. The neighbours have now moved out and it’s so boring to see how dark it is down there. When it is dark here it’s pitch black and it is impossible to see anything. I made a video or two showing that and I’ll see if I can find it. Many years old and other neighbours but still shows what it is like here during winter. It doesn’t help much with snow on the ground because it needs light to reflect and if we can’t see the moon it will still be just as dark 🙂 🙂 🙂

I passed the big freezer in the supermarket the other day and they had giant (or are they called Jumbo) shrimp. I know one shouldn’t buy those since the “shrimp farms” destroy the mangroves, at least that was what happened years ago but perhaps they’ve managed to change that now days? Anyway I really wanted some Chinese food when I saw them, I really like deep fried shrimps but can’t really have them any more since they tend to have wheat in the dough. So I thought why not do it myself but with corn flour instead? Or should I just fry them even though it wouldn’t be the same.. Most of the time I really don’t think about not being able to eat anything with gluten but sometimes it’s really annoying 🙂 🙂

It is time to make that last cup of tea for the day. For once they actually show something on tv that I want to see. It is called På Spåret (On the tracks) where two two person teams tries to guess where a train (can also be some other kind of transport) will guess what the final destination (always a town) is. this trip can be from all over the world and they get clues all along the way, The earlier they can guess the destination the more points the team will get. Sometimes it’s really tricky but sometimes when it is a town nearby it’s easy of course 🙂 People can also compete via the Swedish Television app if they like to.  We’ve seen parts of the world one never could believe existed 🙂 🙂 🙂 No price money for the winners, only the honour 🙂

There should be two videos below here where You can hear my voice explaining what You are watching 🙂

Have a great day!

It would be a lie to say it was warm today.

Well to say that we had a warm day here would be to lie 🙂 the temperature barely reach above 10C (50F) but the sun was shining almost all day and it did feel really nice when being in it. The long side of my cottage is heading south so I could have the kitchen door open for a big part of the day anyway.

No hunters in the forest but lots of moose flies but since it was as chilly as it was they were easy to remove and kill. Wild hogs had left just before we arrived at the bog so that could be the reason we had so many moose flies. Lots of birds tweeting and we did see a roe deer out in the fields.

I’ve decided to not use the fenced vegetable garden next year, I did fence it because back then old Albin still was around and he loved to dig up and eat vegetables 🙂 🙂 especially garlic and he also tried to eat onions 🙂 🙂 🙂 and since he not is around any longer I might just as well remove that fence and start growing the vegetables around the greenhouse instead. Also since I have two different potato diseases in that soil (nothing deadly for either the potato or me, common scab and powdery scab) I’ll only grow potatoes in buckets or big pots.

I also dug up a lot of Ball thistles, the few Hostas I have and a peony. I wasn’t sure if I would touch the peony but it was much bigger under the surface than I thought it would be so by mistake I managed to cut it in two pieces. All but the ball thistles are now replanted, the thistles I just tossed in a corner of the garden because they tend to survive no matter what one does to them 🙂 🙂 🙂

Every time I’ve been going down the stairs to the cool cellar both Alma and Malkolm has been standing outside the open door whining and refusing to follow me down. Old Love followed me despite that her first year in life was being starved and tortured in a cellar. Alma and Malkolm just continued to refuse 🙂 Malkolm could follow me three steps but then turning back while Alma refused to do even that. That was until Malkolm one day realised that he would get a treat if he came further down 🙂 Still he could walk almost all steps down but never step on the floor. When Alma understood that treats were involved things started to change 🙂 🙂 🙂

Today she ran all the way down to the floor and when she got a treat I could see how proud she was. Malkolm was still a bit anxious but a piece of cheese made him change his mind 🙂 🙂 Now they almost run down the stairs before me and expects me to give them a treat 🙂 Their eyes grow big and tail wagging 🙂 🙂 Perhaps it was better before after all 🙂 🙂 🙂 It is time for that last cup of tea and today I’ll have crackers with blue cheese on 🙂

The flowerbed just beside the vegetable patch, I removed half of it because there were too many wild raspberries growing in it plus that, if I ever come around to that project I’m thinking of I will need that space.

I’ll have the vegetables growing close to the greenhouse instead. I do have two roses though that will be staying where they are. This one on this side

and this one on the other side. This rose have been growing in this garden for very long, perhaps already from the beginning 115 years ago. Has been moved around though so that’s why it is as small as it is.

Have a great day!

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

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.

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 🙂 🙂

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

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!

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!

Frosty night.

It smell a bit of burning dust at the moment, I had to start two radiators today because we had frost and -2C (28,4F) when we woke up this morning and it never became warmer than 13C (5534F) during the day. We’ve had lots of sunshine though so during the day it almost was too warm indoors. The kitchen door has been open until the sun moved over to the other side of the cottage.

So a bit chilly when we went out on our morning walk, not as much frost as I thought we would have but fly free so I forgave nature 🙂 🙂 🙂 Alma walked really well today but instead she want back to that high pitched whining she’s so good at and after four years that sound cuts in to the brain like a dull knife creating a pain I just can’t stand. I doubt that she’s a fan of nature at all. She is getting better though but I really can’t stand that sound any more.

We went out to the bog and since it was as chilly as it was not a fly moved so I could pick the mushrooms without constantly make sure any of those nasty moose flies were crawling around on my head or elsewhere as well of course. I only picked the mushrooms I could find on the forest road so I’m pretty sure that if we had taken one step in between the trees I would have found plenty more. I think we might walk there again tomorrow if it is chilly enough and take that extra step and no moose flies can fly around and find us 🙂 🙂

I mowed the lawn when we had come home, the grass was still a bit wet but it didn’t clog inside the mower. Can one hope that this was the last time I had to do it for this season? After that I brought out the compost grinder or wood chipper as I like to call it. I had all these thorny branches from the wild plum to take care of plus a lot from the other plum tree and the apple tree. I actually also have lots of grape vines. The grape vine almost never gave any grapes and to be honest, grapes are really just weeds to be honest and grows like crazy 🙂 🙂 So I tried to entangle all the vines but that’s an impossible job so I’ll do them another time.

I wasn’t done until rather late, around 3 pm, so after that I haven’t been doing anything to be honest 🙂 I have had coffee and also tea but can say I’m just as tired as if the caffeine had run out of what ever it is that livens one up 🙂 🙂 🙂 The cows in the pasture on the other side of the gravel road outside my cottage has been rather loud from yesterday afternoon and still is,  I think they removed their calfs and it’s heartbreaking to hear them call for their babies.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I’ll have a bowl with ice cream at the same time. Elsbeth is on tonight so I’ll need to go outside to check for badgers in the garden before letting the dogs outside so I can watch tv without having to do that during the program 🙂 🙂

The pawpaws grow in the most protected place I have in the garden and the frost had not reached them at all, not even the smaller ones were touched by it.

The tomato plants were protected and only the tops were slightly hit but the unripe fruits are still fine 🙂

Have a great day!

Frost tonight?

I have been a little bit stressed today, suddenly the entire internet connection died. I called my phone and internet company and the AI voice said I needed to identify myself with my bank Id, well can’t do that when the internet is gone 🙂 🙂 🙂 Anyway I was told someone would call me when it was my turn and there were a lot of people before me. Well everything suddenly started to work again so I guess that all those before me in line had the same problem. The Russians? have targeted our telephone/internet companies quite often lately so I guess it was the same again.

It was rather chilly last night, 4C (39,2F) when we woke up. But it might have been even colder in the garden because some plants looked rather sad today. Good thing though is that not even the moose flies fly around in those temperatures 🙂 As soon as we had come home again I drove to the grocery store in the village I used to work. After all I’ve been shopping there since the day I moved to this region and only because I moved elsewhere and don’t work there any more doesn’t mean I never would go there again 🙂 They are like old friends at that place and that’s more important than going somewhere closer or cheaper 🙂

I came back so early that we managed to squeeze in a second morning walk 🙂 This time out to the bog and I kept my eyes open for mushrooms and found plenty so we’ll head out there tomorrow morning again 🙂 It was still chilly enough to keep the moose flies calm 🙂 I’m not sure if there are especially many of them out there to be honest but one moose fly is way too many anyway. The wild hogs had dug up big parts of the path to the bog, it seems it doesn’t matter how many they hunt because it just takes a few days and then they’re back again. Well as long as they stay calm I’m happy.

I had planned to wait to bring in the last potted plants to the cool cellar, they can usually manage the first frost night really well and even more after being outside all summer (totally different in spring when they are brought out again, then they can’t take any frost, that’s why mu citrus trees are rather small this year 🙂 🙂 🙂 ) but I noticed that some have new shoots and they looked a bit sad after tonight so I brought in almost everything I still have out there. I can’t however not bring in my tomato plants. So I’ve just been outside covering them. I want at least one ripe tomato before frost can take the rest 🙂 🙂 🙂

I made rice porridge yesterday and today I think it is time for rose-hip soup, perfect a chilly day or evening when it is a bit too chilly outside. So I think I’ll skip that last cup of tea and have rose-hip soup and some ice cream instead 🙂

I found this and the next one for sale at the grocery store, less than US 3$ each, so I bought them 🙂

Have a great day!

First sunshine, then rain and repeat all day.

We had a beautiful sunrise today and I think that have might been the only beautiful thing happening today 🙂 🙂 The rest of the day we’ve been in and out of the cottage. The sun shone and we went out and suddenly rain arrived and we went indoors again 🙂 We’ve also had a strong wind blowing so even if we were outside while we could see the sun up there in the sky it still wasn’t especially nice.

I had hoped I cut take down the trunks of those plum trees but I really didn’t want to be caught outside with an electric chainsaw with a cord if it rained. So since most machines and tools I own is just the same I really couldn’t do much else either 🙂  So I have mostly, in between going in and out again, sort of half napped in front of the tv 🙂

Edible and really tasty mushroom.

Don’t eat, You’ll get really sick.

It won’t do much to You but they don’t taste a thing 🙂

I’m starting planning to bring down some plants down to the cool cellar already, mostly my Peruvian ground cherries, they have lots of small fruits but are far from being ripe and their relatives Tomatillos for the same reason. By the way I’ve never grown or eaten tomatillos but understand that they should be cooked, what do they taste like? 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’m getting lots of them so it would be sad if the frost takes them before they are ripe.

Never ever eat this one!

Or this one, the Swedish name for it is forest salad or lettuce might be a better word. I doubt You’ll die but …

It’s time for that last cup of tea for the day and I think I’ll eat an ice cream cone with chocolate ice cream. They sell gluten free ones from the ice cream lorry so I bought a package yesterday 🙂

They are beautiful though!

Have a great day!

So much rain.

Most of the plum tree is gone now. All I need now is a day or two with weather that dries up the ground so I can cut the rest with my chainsaw. After that I need to start thinking about what else can grow there instead 🙂

Lots of rain has been falling here today, from before I woke up until now at almost seven pm. I don’t mind the rain but it has stayed on the chilly side all the time.

One of four piles with twigs and branches from my two plum trees. I’ve started to cut them in smaller pieces so the wood chipper (compost grinder) will have an easier job.

I dug up the hardy hibiscus and thought the buds would fall off but here’s the flower. It was filled with petals before but now it looks like this to my great joy 🙂

So we haven’t done anything really, napped a short while and watched tv. All of us is a bit bored now because rain makes the dogs stay indoors  🙂 They only run out for a few minutes to do what they must and then indoors again.  Yesterday evening, around eight pm it was anything but boring here. I let the dogs outside and then Malkolm came running back to the front door and Alma started to bark.

One of the five pawpaw seedlings. If winter doesn’t kill it I’m afraid the dogs will 🙂 🙂 They run fast and wild when they play and don’t even see trees in their way 🙂 🙂

I walked around the cottage to see if I could find out what it was she barked at. She stared towards a bush and growled so I told her to go back indoors and I pointed my headlight towards the bush and there it was, a rather big badger hiding behind it. Poor thing, it must have been so scared. European badgers has a reputation of being aggressive and dangerous but that’s just nonsense. If they can they rather run away than have to meet dogs and humans.  The reason they are believed to be dangerous is because hunters. I think I also would become pretty aggressive if someone tossed down aggressive dogs in to my home and I too would attack the one doing it.

So tonight I’ll take a walk in the garden before I let out the dogs so it can be alone when it visits us. Badgers eat all those snails and slugs we hate plus a lot of other bugs and larvae we don’t want close to us. I think they also might eat apples from the ground and to me that’s positive since I have so many 🙂 It’s time for that last cup of tea and later tonight they show Elsbeth again 🙂

Have a great day!

Thunder and hail.

We didn’t have any frost yesterday night, clouds arrived just in time so instead we had a rather warm night. Today however the temperature had fallen down to 3 C (37,4 F) and mostly we haven’t higher temperatures that just below 10 C (50 F). It dropped down even more when the first thunder approached.

We did manage to have a rather nice morning walk. It was pretty chilly and cloudy when we started, rather late for being us, and on the way home the sun showed it self and in the forest it became warm enough where the sun reached so that some flies started to annoying us. Just a few though but sometimes those can be even more annoying than if there were a whole bunch of them 🙂 🙂

It didn’t take long before we heard the first thunder lazily rumbling from a distance. It never came especially close but we did get the rain. It was too cold to be outside in the garden and after a while I became bored so I baked bread (turned out great and when it was done I let the heat out from the oven and it filled the cottage together with the smell of newly baked bread :-). I had just tasted the first slice when the second round of thunder arrived and this time we had both rain and lightning and with a bonus gift as well, hail 🙂 No damage from it thankfully.

I’ve gotten a couple of warnings from the lightning app later on but by then the sun finally showed itself again and it did at least feel warmer. I even put on two radiators to keep the cold humid air outside. I’ve already covered the most sensitive plants outside, the web sites doesn’t show that there’s a risk of frost but if it is 6C (42,8 F) here at 10 pm and we don’t have any clouds the temperature most likely will fall down below 0 C (32 F) before the sun rise the day after.

I must admit that this hanging pot hasn’t impressed me this year. It is now finally starting to grow in it.

The butterfly bush is so close to open its flowers, I do hope there are plenty of especially butterflies left to visit it, normally there should be.

I’ve started to cut down the Grape elder and cutting back the rose behind it. So many thorns 🙂 🙂

There’s a hint of orange in the dahlia flowers so I hope that if I save the seeds I’ll get more orange or perhaps even red flowers from them.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and since I don’t think there is any re-run on tv that I want to watch I’ll reed a book instead 🙂

Looking at the cat.

Have a great day!

Not the best of days today.

He has one brown and one blue eye.

I’m feeling like sh.t today, no fever though so I hope this will be better tomorrow when I go to work. I’ve eaten lots of honey and been drinking a lot of tea but most of all I’ve been sleeping in the sofa a lot. It gets really warm when two dogs decide to share the sofa with me 🙂 🙂 🙂 No walk today but we did walk around yesterday so the photos comes from then.

Chamomile.

The road associating meeting went smooth and quickly and after that we just sat and talked. I gave up after one and a half-hour and I think the rest stayed for half an hour more. It bis a good way to learn to know other people in the village by going to these meeting even though they’re only once a year. Especially when they go as well as it did yesterday, then again one learns a lot when there are fights as well even though that was long ago that happened 🙂

Some sunshine today, some rain as well and when the sun showed it became so warm that it felt like walking in to a steam bath 🙂 🙂 The dogs have been going in and out of the cottage all day but I had to shut the kitchen door when the clouds became too thick. I’ve done my laundry and dinner is cooking in the slow cooker and today those were the shores I had to do.

I started to cut away big chunks of the Hungarian lilac yesterday. Still thick branches left but I’ll have to use a sw to get rid of those. When I had done that I realised that I could plant the potted gingko tree there. Didn’t go especially well because there weren’t a lot of roots in the pot, the tree managed to fall down leaning heavily towards one direction but a top branch is now instead pointing upwards so I just let it be as it is. Now I think I only have one red mulberry tree left to plant, five pear trees and possibly an apricot as well. I was thinking about possibly plants the trees as trellised but seed sown trees usually grow really high and there will be a lot of pruning to keep them low enough so I’m not sure but I will have that in mind when it is time.

It is time to check the dinner in the slow cooker and after that I’ll make a pot of tea 🙂

Have a great day!