Category: Drizzle.

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We are supposed to have loads of rain today, bucket fulls of rain. We did have rain during the night, a soft and gentle summer rain but after that mostly drizzle as best. I’m sort of disappointed to be homes 🙂 Ok the day isn’t over yet and the Swedish weather site says lots of rain or very little in the evening while the Norwegian says sort of what we had during last night, not enough at all. I’m afraid the Norwegian site use to be the one one can trust.

I haven’t been just idling around waiting for the rain though, I’ve made a pasta sauce in the slow cooker and I’ve baked bread as well. Also I decided that I would start the filter in the aquarium again. It is filled with a quarter to what it can take because  I thought the plants in it should survive just in case I would buy some fish again. I emptied since I had to work evening shift a couple of times and didn’t know how wild the dogs would be when I wasn’t at home. I would have liked to have them in the dog yard while I worked but since they bark at anything moving when it is dark outside they would wake up my neighbours and they are just too good to do something like that to.

It took me one hour to get the filter to actually work and not just sound as if it was working again 🙂 🙂 I did fill it with water as much as possible and it still refused to work. It turned out that even though it was filled it still had som much air inside that it couldn’t work. I’ve watered my tomato plants and tomatillo plants with the water that was inside the filter before I cleaned it. Aquarium water is an amazingly good fertiliser so I hope they will enjoy it 🙂 🙂

I was going to cut off the top on this barrel so I could have one more rainwater barrel. Didn’t happen because I can’t for my life find my jigsaw 🙂 🙂 I looked at it just a few days ago and can’t remember where it is 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day, I have in fact the cup beside me 🙂 The reason I made the pasta sauce is because I want to try and bake pierogies, something I’ve never done before. So I’ll put it in a lunch box and in the freezer until it is time to do it. For a while, long ago pierogies were the street food to eat but then the kebab came and now days very few actually seems to know what a real pierogi is. It’s actually raining outside again, still just a gentle summer rain though.

Have a great day!

I can hear the storm roaring through the forest.

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I woke up in the middle of night hearing strong winds blowing and heavy rain falling and wondered if the storm had arrived early but it calmed down pretty soon so I guess this was something else. I woke up a few hours later and the world was totally quiet, no wind or anything and since we all had woken up, I don’t know how they do it but both dogs and cats always know when we do wake up 🙂 🙂 🙂 So I let them outside for a while and it was quite nice outside.

The storm did arrive before noon and it came from a direction that made it touch my garden and cottage and the wind was pretty bad. My Chinese catalpa even bend to the wind and I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. The wind now comes from southwest and stays away from my home but I have a window open so I can hear the roar when it passes through the forest. I like that sound but I like it even better when it doesn’t reach my cottage 🙂

We’ve had a few heavy showers today and I guess more will come because the winds will continue to blow all night and all day tomorrow and they bring showers with them. Thankfully we had our morning walk before it started but I doubt we’ll have one tomorrow, walking in the forest with winds like these can be rather dangerous. Trees might not fall but pines easily will have big branches break off and it isn’t nice to get one of those in the head 🙂 🙂 🙂

So we have done very little today, I’ve done some laundry and picked some berries in the garden and put them in the freezer, I even watered my Himalayan Cedar because it stands on a mount of dirt that easily dries out when the wind blows and the sun shines which it actually has done a lot today, from next year it will have to survive without any help from me because by then it should have roots going deep enough or wide enough to manage it anyway.

The Leeks are coming fine despite that I sowed them too late, forgot about them so almost all dies and then they were covered by potato leafs 🙂
This year the butterfly bush will flower before most butterflies die 🙂 Last year it survived a frosty night and didn’t flower until October 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea and I’m thinking of frying a couple of sausages. I don’t have anything else to have with it so I might cut them and put them on a sandwich with a strong cheese 🙂

Have a great day!

I’ve done my chores.

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I mowed the lawn in the garden yesterday and planned to mow the outside parts today. Turns out my neighbours had mowed most of that so I think it took ten minutes to do the rest 🙂 I also, like always did the laundry, dinner for the coming week and a bread in the machine.

Can You see the little lizard?

I did bake a bread yesterday as well but it was an almost total failure I’m afraid 🙂 🙂 I tried cheese again and also mostly used light flour plus a bit too much water. Well I toasted a few slices and then it turned out to taste pretty amazing. So for dinner I made warm sandwiches with mackerel in tomato sauce and covered it with a strong cheese. I haven’t checked how the bread turned out today but I played it safe with ingredients I know work in the machine 🙂 🙂

The man had made a huge compost with stones. Filling it wasn’t a problem but bringing up the compost must have been a horrible job 🙂 🙂
I would like a root cellar like that!

It has been a bit cooler today and we even had some rain drizzling down from the sky, not that it was noticeable on the ground but it did cool down the air a bit more. They’re guessing we’ll get plenty of rain the coming week but they did that last week as well and we barely had any 🙂 🙂 🙂 So we’ll know better next weekend I guess 🙂 🙂

For the rest of the day I’ve done very little. I’ve watered some plants in the garden and a few in the cottage. The almost white pawpaws are now slowly turning green and as soon as they are green I’ll place them in the shadow outside. I think I’ll have them in a window where There’s no radiator close during winter since they seem to be delicious for mice. I had some mice in the cool cellar last winter, that is until I let the monsterkitten play down there every now and again. After that no mice ate anything 🙂 🙂 🙂

It is time for a cup of tea and perhaps I’ll try a slice of the new bread as well just to be sure it’s ok 🙂

Have a great day!

One cool day is what we’ll get :-)

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The Kankakee mallow is in bloom.It was so dry where it lived before (and several new plants are growing there now 🙂 ) That instead of being 2 feet high they’re now 6 feet high 🙂 🙂 🙂

Finally a cool day but the heat will come back already tomorrow. We were supposed to have lots of rain and thunder today but both missed the village. I could hear the thunder from a distance and we did get some rain to be honest, a light summer rain for about ten minutes 🙂 Didn’t do much good. Now they’re guessing the heavy rain will come on Friday instead. The one who lives will see as we say over here 🙂

Hard to see it since the background also is green 🙂

Nothing much has happened here, it has been too warm for that 🙂 Not even now when it is cooler anyone of us have any energy to do anything. I’ve watered the tree planted this year and some of the older I know grows in the driest parts of my garden. Plus the leeks and beans in the vegetable patch but that’s it. The forest doves have now moved, I could hear the parents in the trees behind the dog yard yesterday evening and now the younglings have moved too. So now I don’t have to worry that the monsterkitten will find and eat them.

It is quiet in the village, no birds are singing, no cars are driving and I can’t hear a single human or dog either. I guess the birds either think we’ll have more rain and thunder or that they all now are preparing for autumn. No more eggs laid but instead fattening up for the move south. All the other sounds I think depends on that lots of people eat their dinner now and are indoors 🙂 🙂

Much better meadow this year 🙂 Lots of different flowers growing there now and the bumblebees loves it.

It is time for something liquid, don’t think tea but most likely lots of water or milk. Also I have a bread baking in the machine and it will be ready in an hour I think. A slice or two with cheese sounds like a good idea 🙂

I don’t think my Chinese Catalpa has started to flower this early ever! Perhaps I’ll get viable seeds this year?
It is the same with one of my perennial sunflowers. They normally flower in late August.

Soon I’ll have plenty of strawberries 🙂

Have a great day!

It was easier than I thought.

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According to the weather sites we’re having sunshine right now, we don’t 🙂 🙂 🙂 but it is at least not raining. It rained so much last night that I had little lakes in my garden even though it’s just sand and no soil. I do hope that there won’t be any long living puddles anywhere because that would most likely become a mosquito explosion because that’s what they like, small long living puddles where the eggs can hatch.

For me it’s enough with the forest flies 🙂 🙂 So many now and even though they are quite harmless I still can’t stand them. I went to the bank yesterday to see if they could help me to renew my bank id because when reading their info about it I would need either an international id card costing around $ 45 US or a new passport and both would take several weeks to get and we use our bank id for everything here. Turns out that somewhere in the text it tells about another way, I should just open my banks app, press the button to renew my bank id and then ok it by using the bank id I have now 🙂 🙂 🙂

Why don’t write that first of all??? I wonder how many have gotten a new id card they don’t need just to fix the bank id and for money they might not have? Anyway it made my day so much better so I really didn’t complain 🙂 🙂 After that I made a visit to my old work friends and then stopped by at the grocery store to shop and also pay them a visit since I’ve been shopping there since I moved to this region, 28 years ago, I still shop there every now and again even though I really have no reason to go there since it’s further away from my cottage than most other stores but they sort of are my friends too 🙂

I’ve ordered a new bed mattress online (well it’s actually a thinner mattress that one put over the mattress for the sheets to be folded over but I have no idea what that can be called). I know one really shouldn’t but instead go to the store and try them out but to be honest I wouldn’t know anything more after trying several since it takes a few days or more to actually know if it is a good mattress or not anyway. I was close to buy a Hastens (for You who don’t know about Hastens bedd, it is a luxury brand that mostly rich people buy, like sheiks 🙂 ) but they didn’t have the size I need. They had bigger and they had smaller but not the size to my bed. No I’m not rich but they had a sale with very reduced prices.

Today I got a message that it will be delivered week 32 directly from the factory even though it said they had them in stock. Also on sale by the way but still rather expensive but when one need a new mattress one must buy it, night sleep is so important so if one can afford it one better buy it.The monsterkitten did horrible things to my old duvet last winter so I need a new one when winter arrives but I better order one since I’m getting a mattress and perhaps buy new pillows as well. I want firm pillows but still to be able to shape them as I want 🙂 🙂 I do that when I sleep I’ve noticed 🙂 🙂

Also my remote to the tv has died, not a huge problem except for that it’s really hard to see what one is doing when trying to do it on the tv itself. It’s made to look invisible and they’ve been quite successful in doing that so I need a flashlight to be able to see even where I can do it 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

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Outside my kitchen window.

We have thunder in the area, not especially close at the moment but one can clearly hear it. The day started sunny and cool though so we were out on our morning walk around 7 am. It was unfortunately not  cool enough to keep the flies calm so we had a black cloud flying around us. I wore a hoodie though so they never got the chance to visit inside my ears and for some reason wearing a hoodie also prevents them from trying to go inside my nostrils as well 🙂 🙂

It didn’t take long before the rain arrived again so we have mostly stayed indoors and went outside when the rain had a temporary stop. So I did the laundry and baked a bread in between 🙂  I also took a long nap in the sofa and this time both dogs decided they should sleep beside me in the sofa 🙂 🙂 🙂 Alma by my feet and Malkolm by my side with half his body over my stomach. I’m surprised that I managed to fall asleep but it could have been the lack of oxygen since it was a bit hard to breathe that was the cause 🙂 🙂 🙂

We did have sunshine for a while but now we’re back to rain and thunder is not far away. It is much warmer than they guessed it would be so I hope the thunder passes by and cool things down a bit. It’s rather quiet in the village, some birds sing and one dog is yapping a lot. Normally that starts most other dogs as well but I guess they don’t have the energy now when it is so warm 🙂 I think someone on my gravel road is trying to repair an old moped because I could hear how they were trying to start it up the road but then just slid down the slope quietly. It has happened several times this week so I guess they aren’t especially successful 🙂

I have the day off tomorrow because I need to go to the bank to see if they can help me renew my digital bank id without me having to get something called an international id card or get a new passport. A new drivers license doesn’t help at all for some reason. So I’ll also buy a couple of big bags with soil and on the way home make a visit to my old workplace and the grocery store in the same village. it will most likely rain anyway so it’ll be a nice little trip to do.

It is time for a pot of tea and perhaps something to eat as well.

Have a great day!

Lots of rain and I like it :-)

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I always take a test photo when we’re going out for our walks and it is usually this one 🙂

It has been raining all night and almost all day since I went to bed yesterday night.but there was a moment when it didn’t early this morning so the dogs and I went out for our morning walk. Didn’t last for long though before the misty rain arrived and later on just before we arrived at home we had heavy showers 🙂 🙂 🙂

We did at least have a walk and despite Alma trying to rip off my arm while passing the new neighbours she behaved really well 🙂 🙂 No screaming at all and only a quiet whining 🙂 I had hoped to see the fox cubs again so I brought a bigger lens but had no such luck plus the misty rain stuck to the glass on the lens like it was velvet  🙂 🙂 🙂 it was a nice walk though because it looks like misty rain is a mortal enemy to flies as well, almost no flies fly around when we have misty rain, I guess their wings just sticks together when those small droplets fill the air.

I had to save a lot of the potted plants from the rain water today, normally it’s saving them from not getting water but today I had to remove all the plates they stood on because the rain just kept filling them up. I always feel a bit torn placing pots directly on the ground because small red ants tends to move in, small red ants with a good ability to sting and the pain is quite gruesome. Also lots of other animals move in as well and as long as they are outside and those animals can come and of they do no harm but when I bring them in during winter they tend to start eating on the plant because they have no other place to go.

I have also had a long nap, Alma and I took a long nap in one of the sofas and Malkolm decided it was a bit crowded so he had the second sofa to himself. Alma is rather big so I must say it was a bit uncomfortable but we shared that two people sofa rather well to be honest and since the air is a bit damp and cool today it helped me to stay warm 🙂

I really should bake some bread today but I just don’t have the energy to do it. I am rather glad I mowed the lawn yesterday because it would have been impossible for my mower to cut it the next time we have sunny or at least dry weather, it wasn’t exactly pleased to do it yesterday as it was, I hadn’t mowed the lawn in one and a half week and ad water to that and I think it would have died 🙂 I like this mower so I really don’t want to have to buy another one 🙂

Potato flowers are actually quite beautiful.

It is time for a pot of tea and perhaps I will read one of all the books I’ve started to read but never finished 🙂 They are all really good, I just haven’t had the energy to read for quite some time but it feels like that’s slowly changing now 🙂

Have a great day!

Then showers passed by.

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Lots of the photos will be bait fuzzy today because the lens I used doesn’t have that anti-shaking thing.

It started to drizzle some while I mowed the lawn, I started as soon as I had come home and thought we could have our walk after I was done. But as soon as I stopped mowing heavy showers arrived So we stayed at home instead. The dogs did try to go outside during the rain but turned around and came back in instead 🙂

They say we’ll get plenty of rain the coming four days as well and we need it but it would be nice if it rained while I was working and the sun then shone for the rest of the day 🙂 So far we haven’t had lots of mosquitoes or other biting flies but I think this rain will change that. These last days I’ve had two mosquito bites and one from a horse fly I think. The horse fly bite is worst because the itching after stays for so long.

During the months when I was unemployed I never had any leg cramps but lots before when I had a job. Now they are  back. I drink lots of water at work and at home so I don’t think I can drink any more than I do so I wonder why I get them? I guess one thing could be that I stand up all day at work but then again shouldn’t every one who do get those leg cramps as well? It is ok if it happens during the day but I really hate when it happens when I’m deep asleep and quite often while I try to stretch the cramps away I get it in the other leg as well and that’s horrible because when I try to remove it from one leg it makes the other leg hurt even more 🙂 🙂 🙂

The survivor and the two seedlings from this years Pawpaw seed sowings.

I have a soft spot for Fuchsias but now days I only have this one and the Hardy Fuchsia.

I’m sort of glad it will rain a lot tomorrow because then I can’t do anything outside, so I’m already planning on having a long nap 🙂 🙂 🙂 well I might bake a bread but there still would be lots of time to take naps while it rises and when it is in the oven 🙂 It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and after that I’ll see if there’s anything to watch on tv but I doubt that 🙂

Troll grapes.

Have a great day!

A little update.

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Just a short one today. The fever goes up and down all the time but it looks like it goes down slightly more that it goes up 🙂 🙂 :-)Feel like sh.t but sleep away most of the day.

Yesterday morning was quite foggy but we had sunshine later in the day.

The dogs behaves amazingly well, before when I was in the sofa normally only one would stay with me and the other would jump to the other sofa. Now they both agree how to squeeze down just beside me, it Geta a bit warm I. can tell You 🙂 🙂 🙂

A rainy afternoon and a cloudy day before that but sometimes the sun managed to shine through the clouds when they were a bit thinner, So I sat on the kitchen stairs for a while so the dogs could play in the garden. They do need to get rid of their energy some way and playing is the best I think.

Pawpaw.
Red oak.
Buds on the Laburnum.
Buttercups everywhere now.

I’ll make a pot of tea now and after that I’ll shower my head and neck with cold water and it feels so good afterwards.  After that I’ll most likely fall asleep with the dogs in the sofa again 🙂

Have a great day!

I have a cold again.

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I think this is a Welsh poppy. It is said to behave like a bad weed but not here. I sow it every year and all I’ve gotten is two or three that usually dies during winter despite it being a perennial.

I always complain about not being able to remember my dreams, I think I’ve done that at 5 times as maximum. However I do remember the dream I had last night and I was so annoyed that I woke up at 4 am and couldn’t fall asleep again 🙂 I dreamed that there was a tiny black and walking all over my back and when ever I tried to get rid of it it rushed out of reach 🙂 🙂 I even tried to squash it by lying down and rub my back towards the bed 🙂 🙂 🙂

When I woke up I realised that I now have a cold and a slight fever. Lots of people have it now but it seems to be short lived so my guess is that it’s over by Monday. My entire body hurts, especially my neck and head and since I can’t even eat anti inflammatory pills for children I have to rely on coffee 🙂 🙂 I’ve had too much coffee today so all I can do is to wish that it’s over by tomorrow.

If You look carefully You can see the monster climbing in a bush. She tried to surprise a magpie youngling and all magpies just laughed out loud 🙂

I checked my lottery tickets on Wednesday evening. It is called Lotto and one has to pick to seven numbers out of 35. They’ll also draw four extra numbers that if one has six right and one of the extra numbers one win a bit more. You won’t be rich by having six right and an extra number but You would still be very happy. The big money is in seven right, then it can be millions we’re talking about. Well I got four right and then three of those extra also were my numbers. So technically I had seven right numbers but in the wrong way 🙂 🙂 🙂 So instead of millions I won what would be $ 2 US 🙂 🙂 🙂 I didn’t even get annoyed, I just laughed out loud 🙂 🙂 🙂

Rainy day today but we have actually had some sunshine as well. A bit chilly though but I’ve been outside wearing a sweater just so I  could get some fresh air and feel a bit less sick 🙂 The dogs and I stayed outside for quite a while yesterday evening. My lilacs have weak branches so when ever it rains they hang down so it is impossible to walk beside them to get around the cottage. So all evening yesterday I pruned away all branches that hangs low. I also cut away those being behind the huge roses and bled quite a lot after that 🙂 🙂 plus I opened up around the Red oak so it gets more light and air. So now it’s like a tunnel behind the roses and both I and the dogs can walk there now 🙂

Now I can pass without being drenched every time it has rained.
I can also walk where You see Alma.
It continues on the other side of the gate.
It ends in my woodland.
These are the roses from the other side 🙂 No one can see me from the garden and no one from the road because of the lilacs 🙂

I think it is time for another cup of coffee but before that I’ll have some honey. I’m so tired right now that I doubt any  amount of coffee will keep me awake tonight 🙂

Have a great day!

I managed the first week but I’m soo tired now :-)

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View from my window upstairs.

So my first evening shift week is over and I must say it worked better than I thought it would. I did get more and more tired as the days passed and this morning I was so tired that I would have preferred to stay in bed all day long 🙂 🙂

My black walnut is finally greening up.

The weather was perfect for that because it has been raining constantly since yesterday and will continue through the weekend. I don’t mind the rain though, wee need it because even the weeds started to look sad now 🙂 🙂 I do mind the temperature though, 4C (39,2F) as lowest during the day and it dropped down to 2C (35,6F) on my way home just after midnight.

No flowers in my woodland but Solomons’ seal has some buds now.

It’s a strange feeling driving home at night, even though I’ve driven that road so often during daylight it’s a totally different thing when it is pitch dark. There are almost no lights from the few houses along the road so even though I really can’t drive the wrong way I still don’t really know where I am :-)It isn’t before half way home when I pass the village Gudhem that I know where I am because there’s a petrols station that brings some light to the area and after that it’s pitch black again 🙂 🙂 If the sky is cloud free it really isn’t really dark here anyway this time of year, the sky is already becoming brighter after midnight so there aren’t any stars in the sky at all. o if one wants to look at stars here one better do it in winter when it is cold and nasty 🙂 🙂

I got my first pay check today so I drove to the grocery store in the village where I used to work, I’ve been doing most of my grocery shopping there since I moved to this area, must be 28 years now so many of them are like friends and they know more about me than most people 🙂 🙂 Also I know where everything is placed in that store so without the chats with the employees the shopping goes really fast 🙂 🙂 After that I visited my old work place, well my old work friends and told them how I really like working at this new place and how fast I just became one in the gang. It has never been like that in my old work place, if one is a bit shy it really is hard to get to know people there and that I know have work friends and bosses that actually treat people with respect., they asked me how that felt 🙂 🙂 🙂

The dogs have been behaving really good during this week. Ok Alma did one thing I wasn’t especially happy about, My kitchen door is to be honest just an old balcony door with no insulation in it, so I had put up insulation but not yet covered it. I now need to buy new insulation 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’m actually now thinking of making the insulation much thicker and covering it with a sort of box so that I can have potted plants there during winter. I will check with friends who now better than I how to do it so it just doesn’t comes loose drop off the door one day 🙂 🙂 🙂

My Red oak shows leafs as well.
It’s easy to see why this rose is called Red leafed rose in English.
The Kankakee mallow has adapted well to where they grow now, I think I have six more in pots though and they look fine today, I think they liked the rainy and cooler weather a lot.

It is time for a cup of tea and perhaps baking some bread but I am so tired so I might skip the bread until tomorrow since I bought hard bread today.  I will not spend much time outside because of the rain but it is a bit warmer now at least.

Have a great day!

I can hear a gentle rain hitting my windows.

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The day has been really nice despite the sun quite early hid behind clouds. Still strong winds but fairly warm. It’ll get chilly on Wednesday and a few days more but it’s too early to say anything about the weather so long ahead. I mean sometimes they can’t even say what weather we’re having without getting it wrong 🙂 🙂 🙂 At the moment though I can hear a gentle rain hitting my windows.

Some trees, like the oaks, just doesn’t care if summer starts at new year, they start when they normally do every year.

We saw another deer today and Alma actually behaved pretty well, normally she’s all over the place when she see deer but this time she just stayed excited but nothing more. I had brought an older camera with me and after a while I realised that I didn’t have any film in it 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’m pretty sure all those photos I took while walking in the forest would have been masterpieces 🙂 🙂 🙂

I’ve also mowed the lawn. At first I was going to start hilling the potatoes but since all my composts now are full I instead decided that I would cover the potatoes with the grass cuttings. It makes the plant grow potatoes along the stems but also fertilises the soil when the grass slowly decompose. I’ll keep on doing that every time I’ll cut the grass. Plus it is time to start spreading all that compost as well, No meaning having composts if I don’t use it 🙂

I’ve also baked a bread so now I can have a fresh sandwich while watching the Eurovision final. I did have a nap while sitting in the recliner but I feel that I most likely should have had an even longer nap, right now it feels like I’m not going to make it through the show that ends around midnight. I really need to though since I’ll be working until midnight next week. I better start checking what’s moving around in the garden at night, yesterday Alma chased away a poor animal, most likely a cat but it did sound heavier so it might have been a fox.

It is time for a cup of tea, perhaps that will help me to stay awake tonight 🙂 :-)it does when I don’t want it too though 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!