Category: Chilly.

September 30, 2025 · Leave a comment ·

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.

September 23, 2025 · 2 Comments ·

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?

September 22, 2025September 22, 2025 · 10 Comments ·

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.

September 18, 2025 · 6 Comments ·

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 🙂

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.

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 🙂

Have a great day!

So much rain.

September 16, 2025 · 4 Comments ·

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.

August 22, 2025 · 4 Comments ·

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 🙂

Have a great day!

Not the best of days today.

June 8, 2025 · 8 Comments ·

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.

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!

May 18, 2025 · 8 Comments ·

I’ve used another lens today that came with an old camera I bought, to be honest I only wanted the lens but it would most likely have been much more expensive if I’d tried ton just buy the lens 🙂 So You’ll notice that some photos will have a sort of blurry sharpness to them.

It was so nice this morning, a bit towards the cool side but with the sun shining and a rather weak wind. That has changed now, the wind is strong once again and even though it actually is warm enough it still feels chilly even on the south side of the cottage when the sun shines through the clouds.

So since I must change my hours to stay awake in the evening now I watched the entire Eurovision final. It really takes too long but I had very little else to do. We didn’t win but came fourth and that’s not bad at all. My sister and I usually text each other during this show and suddenly no texts came from her, she had fallen asleep 🙂 and texted me this at 4:56 this morning (we are both morning people) since I had forgotten to tell her that I’ll work in the evenings this week 🙂 Luckily I did manage to fall asleep as son as my head hit the pillow 🙂

I’ve been emptying my aquarium since the dogs mainly will be in the cottage while I work the coming weeks and since there now longer is any fish in it I decided to empty it instead of buying new fish. One never knows how wild the dogs play will be and if they bring down the aquarium I want the damage to be as small as possible 🙂 I’ll also unplug the radiators because they have actually once managed to trip over one of my sofas and it broke the radiator when it hit it 🙂 🙂 🙂 I always prepare for the worst 🙂

It is time for a cup of tea and then outing the garden for a while. I’ll tray to stay out of the wind and it isn’t often I have to say that because the wind can only hit my garden if it comes from north to north east.

Have a great day!

She darted in when I opened the door :-)

April 21, 2025 · 2 Comments ·

No rain and slightly warmer today so we’ve spent a lot of time in the garden the dogs and I. The monster kitten has mostly stayed indoors or went out when we’ve gone inside again :-)Yesterday evening she refused to go indoors when the rest of us were on our way to bed, first time alone during night is a big step for a cat. However I had been drinking way too much tea so I had to go up at minding and she darted indoors as soon as I opened the door for the dogs 🙂 🙂 🙂

I have mostly continued the war against the stinging nettles and cleavers and today I realised that there’s too much to rip up without having anywhere to place all roots. They need to dry up properly before one really can. place them in a compost, a tiny bit survives and new plants will start to grow. I then remembered that I have a an old big water barrel with just a tiny hole at the bottom so why not let all roots die away inside it? If it rains the water will fill up slightly but then drop away from the little hole, either the nettles root or with no rain they’ll dry up. In the end I’ll have good soil to use at the end of summer.

Nothing much else has happened here today, the slow cooker made my dinner and I did the little laundry I had yesterday. I did go to the supermarket early in the morning though because I didn’t have much wet Catford left. The monster doesn’t like the other food I bought so now at least she’s having something to eat for a couple of days 🙂 I also brought up the last two plants I had in the cool cellar, the Christmas cactus and the easter cactus. They are now hanging outside my entrance door until I can hang them in my big apple tree, nights are still chilly so the closeness to the cottage will keep them warm enough.

There were quite some drama in the cow pasture outside my cottage when we arrived back home today. Two pair of geese were arguing about the same grass 🙂

By the way! Do You remember that I wrote that I would bring in apple twigs before Christmas so that they would start flowering at Christmas? I did bring some in and absolutely nothing happened 🙂 🙂 They did drink water but nothing happened and after a while I forgot about them down in the cellar 🙂 🙂 Thankfully there still was some water but I filled it up and now I finally see some green and even flower buds 🙂 🙂 🙂 To bad they didn’t start growing last week because then they would have worked for easter instead 🙂 🙂

All citrus trees, big and small, are now standing outside. Even though it is a bit chilly they still feel better outside.

After I trimmed some trees Primroses are now popping up here and there again 🙂

The Himalayan Cedar looks a bit sad to be honest but

I’ll skip that last cup of tea for the day so I know I’ll fall asleep tonight, I’m still getting used to get up in time to get to work 🙂

Have a great day!

Finally the apple twigs I brought in early December shows signs of life 🙂 🙂

Sort of meh weather.

April 20, 2025 · 2 Comments ·

The new neighbour has decorated the bush with coloured feathers. Most people just brings in a lot of twigs, put them in vases or urns and decorate them there. Not only feathers are used though, could be plastic or papier mache eggs, tiny yellow chickens or flying witches 🙂

I don’t mind the little rain we’ve got but it is a bit chilly to be honest. That and a high humidity forces me to turn on the radiators again. Not a much but enough to keep that humidity outside. We haven’t been close to how much rain they predicted, the ground is still bone dry if on scratch the surface.

It seems like nature is a bit out of sync this spring. The vegetation started to flower long before the first Bumblebees started to fly and now when we don’t have any honey bees around very few pollinators visit my garden. Honeybees can be both a blessing and a curse for nature. If there are too many they can actually disturb the wild bees so they don’t get enough nectar to managing to survive the next winter. We used to have lots of wild bees here before the honey bees arrived so it’ll be interesting to see if we have fewer wild bees this spring. Today is so chilly that I haven’t seen or heard a single bee at all.

Badgers makes these shallow holes to get to worms and other juicy larvae.

I’ve now brought up all citrus trees as well from the cool cellar and some were replanted but I had to stop doing that because I suddenly went out of soil again 🙂 I hope that cloudy weather, despite northern and cold winds will keep the frost away. don’t think it would harm the bigger citrus trees because the cool cellar is quite often pretty cold, 0-1C (32-33,8F) isn’t that unusual down there and that’s why the cellar also works pretty great to be a root cellar and even a huge fridge during winter 🙂 🙂 All that’s left are a Christmas cactus, easter cactus and a few things I think have died 🙂 🙂

It is time for a pot of tea and perhaps a nap after that, I’m really tired so either I have a cold going on or the Birch pollen season has started 🙂

Not long before the Marsh-marigold opens up in the root zone.

The Sloe is in full bloom as well. You really don’t wants this in Your garden 🙂

The Juneberry will soon be completely white. Unfortunately they don’t like warm sunny days if the nights are cool and damp. That’s how it is here quite often and then they get attacked of mildew and then the berries are inedible and the entire bush looks sad. I’m afraid I’ll have to remove it and plants something else there, too bad because it is a favourite of mine.

Have a great day!

April 9, 2025 · Leave a comment ·

We’ve had sunshine all day but also a strong and chilly northern wind blowing all day and that did take away the joy of being outdoors. It even reached parts of the garden so I mostly stayed there. Except from when I tried to rip up stinging nettle roots. Stinging nettles are to be honest good to have in many ways, especially now when the world has gone mad and food is expensive. The leafs are nutritious and one can pick them while they are small, boil them lightly, freeze them and have as a sort of spinach all year round. Still I must admit they are not a favourite of mine. Also the stems fibres can be used to make clothes and the process to get there is rather much like how one does with flax.

I went to my coming work place to get working clothes. It was a different procedure than in other places I’ve worked at. Normally one just gives the size one needs and then they arrive some time. One never knows when but they will arrive 🙂 🙂 🙂 This time I got a requisition and was sent to a huge store to get the clothes and shoes directly. So much better. The only problem was that the store had a special store day which means there were loads of people there so I couldn’t get all things I needed today, instead they’ll ship it to the factory on Monday! They also gave everyone there a free mini pizza but of course I couldn’t have one since I can’t eat gluten 🙂 🙂 🙂

I also went to a supermarket just beside and had a list with me and naturally I missed to buy cat food, luckily for the little monster I’ll visit my former work place tomorrow as well as the store I’ve been doing most of my grocery shopping since I moved here 27 years ago. After all this is the last week I’ll be able to go there again without having to take time off from work. Well I’ll go to the store anyway on weekends when I can 🙂

Stinging nettle, can grow up to 150cm (60 inches) high.

I also forgot to buy tea so I’ll have the last cup of coffee for the day and after that I’ll most likely fall asleep in front of the tv 🙂

Have a great day!

The wild hogs comes closer and closer.

April 6, 2025 · 8 Comments ·

The wild hogs are now just 50 meters (much the same in yards) away from my cottage, in the cow pasture beside the dog house/ yard. I did wonder why the dogs kept running around like crazy during the night 🙂 🙂 🙂

-6C (21,2F) as coldest last night but it can’t have lasted that long because it was close to 0C (32F) when we went outside after we had woken up. They said the sun would start to show around 8 am, so of course it didn’t arrive until after noon but when it did the world warmed up properly again 🙂

I haven’t done much today, I sowed some leek seeds and was about to sow some bell pepper seeds but for some reason I still haven’t 🙂 🙂 I’ll do it after writing this 🙂 I can’t start sowing especially much yet because I don’t have the space indoors and we’ll most likely have frost several nights the coming week, days will be warmer again though.

This is how it looks after I removed the grapevine. I think I’ll plant an apricot tree there.

Can never remember the name on these, spreads really happily everywhere though.

I started to clean up my garden yesterday and continued for a while today. I also gathered all the pots I’ve spread around the garden 🙂 🙂 For some reason I never empty them in the autumn so I really need to do it now before weeds grow and cover them so I can’t find any when I need to 🙂 🙂 I’ve also continued to rip up stinging nettle roots and this time I managed to stay away from those nasty leafs. I have way too many nettles in the garden but then again they are edible so it is perhaps not such a bad thing to have just in case the orange idiot does something really stupid (worse than what he has so far and he’s done some really stupid things) 🙂

I also tried to nap in the sofa while the sun shone through that window. Stupid idea when one has two dogs and a cat 🙂 🙂 🙂 I can however tell You that when I gave up they finally decided it was time for them to have a nap 🙂 🙂 🙂

The orchid that flowered earlier this winter decided to give me more flowers, didn’t see that until I thought it was time topwater it 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day. I must remember to buy more tea tomorrow when I’ll drive to my health care place to give blood before the kidney x-rays. Some time this week I’ll know if I got a job at the coffin factory, if not it sounds like I have another one on the way, they promised to call back this week and give me a job if I didn’t got the coffin job.

Have a great day!