Category: Drizzle.

Autumn flowering strawberries?!

August 24, 2024 · 6 Comments ·

I did see the sun slowly rising above the forest when I woke up so the first thing we did was to have our morning walk. It didn’t take long before clouds covered the sun but the walk was quite nice anyway. WE walked in to the village again and today one of the dogs was outside when we passed.

This was the last we saw of the sun while we were out walking but it did come back for a long time later in the day.

If I as a human would walk on old stone age tombs or move a single stone they would arrest me but cattle can damage it as much as they can and the owner wouldn’t risk being arrested 🙂

We have quite a lot of crab apples in the village, these apples taste horrible 🙂 🙂

I was so glad to see that all my dogs behaved perfectly while the dog we passed barked like crazy, it was especially fun to see how the owner opened the door to try and quiet the dog, didn’t work at all 🙂 🙂 🙂 So I must say that Alma’s behaviour has become so much better. Ok she pulled the leash a lot after all that excitement but she didn’t make even the tiniest sound and that’s a huge change. Malkolm did sort of bark twice but since Alma and Nova were quiet he stopped as well. Really good for a seven month old puppy 🙂

The branch doesn’t look that big but it was and it was quite heavy as well 🙂

The only problem I’ve had today is my back. My immune system attacks my spine (and most of the cartilage in my joints, slowly but steadily, I got my first hip implant when I was 38) and most of the time I can take it but times like today it’s just nasty. The best thing I can do is to move use my back a lot and after a while the pain goes away, so today I picked up things that had flown around in the storm yesterday, I even moves away a big branch that fallen down on the gravel road and also watering the trees and bushes with the big water pitcher. Didn’t that hurt You might ask? Yes like insanely but now in the early evening it feels much better 🙂 Tomorrow and several mornings ahead will be much the same but this will pass. I can’t take any anti inflammatory medicines because I destroyed my stomach with one of those, it was amazing as long as it lasted though 🙂

This little oak always have lots of acorns even when other trees haven’t.

I went outside in the storm yesterday just before it went dark. I already knew I had planted my Black walnut way too close to the cottage, I did that just because I never thought it would survive 🙂 🙂 17 years now and it still stands 🙂 🙂 However when we have winter storms it doesn’t move that much but with all leafs still on it it almost reached the roof of the cottage, not good! I really don’t want to remove it but I might have to in a year or two. What worried me more though was the two huge Birches over at my neighbors, if they fall half of my cottage will follow them to the ground 🙂 🙂 🙂 Well I have home insurance so I’ll get another one built up if that would happen. The only thing is that my bedroom would be the first thing they hit 🙂 🙂 🙂

My Hardy Hibiscus finally shows the colors of the coming flower.

I seem to have autumn flowering strawberries, didn’t know that excisted, so I’ll pick each ripe berry when they are ready and put them in the freezer.

A few Apples had fallen off as well so I bent down and picked them up, took a bit longer to stand up straight again 🙂 🙂 and went in and made an apple crumb pie, it tasted so yummy 🙂 I did add some coconut to it and that made a big difference.

It is raining outside, it isn’t supposed to but what does the rain care about that? It’s a misty rain, You know the kind that looks like mist or fog and that always eat its way through the clothes no matter how You dress. They’re guessing it’ll be like that most parts of tomorrow as well so it’ll be a perfect day to take a long nap 🙂

Have a great day!

I took this photo on my way to work one morning, nothing special a Roe deer in a field but take a look behind it.

I never saw the giant Red deer standing in the shadow by the trees just behind it 🙂 🙂 🙂

A storm passing by.

August 23, 2024 · 8 Comments ·

The weather was rather nice this morning while I drove to work but not so nice when I drove back home. Now there’s a storm passing by, it rains on and off plus the sky is mostly evenly grey. The dogs are outside only when they really need to do their business and then runs straight back indoors again. It’s fairly warm though so even if we’re closing in to when we normally have our first frost I’m pretty sure it won’t come tonight 🙂 I’ve just taken a look at the weather sites and all show that nights will be so warm that there’s no risk of frost the coming ten days 🙂

The storm will have passed already tonight so with a bit of luck we’ll have a pretty nice morning walk with a chance of sunshine. I don’t have high hopes about the sunshine though, the sun usually only start to show when we’re almost at home 🙂 🙂

People at work are already giving me tips on where they might need more people and the atmosphere at work has never been as bad as it is right now but I know for sure that they won’t change their minds about me. I’m still not worried the least though because I’ll take any job there is as long as the work hours aren’t during nights. One thing annoyes me even though I know people mean well, many have said that they miss me already 🙂 🙂 🙂 For heavens sake can’t they wait to do that until I’m actually gone 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’m still talking to everyone every day after all 🙂 🙂 🙂

No new photos today because of the weather but I do have old analog photos (for those who don’t know what I mean with that, I quite often use the old film cameras and I have loads of those photos here in my computer) I can show and also made a folder called “For a rainy day”. Today is a rainy day so that works fine 🙂 It is time for a last cup of tea for the day and after that perhaps watch some tv, well I tend to fall asleep in front of the tv to be honest but that’s just as good or perhaps even better than to watch what’s on the telly 🙂

These photos are taken with an old camera called Agfa Flexilette. It was never popular to be honest. It’s a twin lens reflex camera and that means that one is looking through a separate lens via the view finder but take the photo with a separate lens beneath the view finder. Here’s a link to Google that will show photos of that camera: Flexilette

Have a great day!

Finally Friday!

August 16, 2024 · 2 Comments ·

Finally Friday 🙂 I was so tired yesterday so I just didn’t have any energy to do anything else than to half sleep in my recliner. Today has been much cooler again and the day started with some rain and it felt so nice. The sun did break through just before I came home after work but it has still felt cool and nice.

The Deer buck hunting season has started and the hunters will be out there on and off for a while, after that it’ll calm again until the moose hunt starts. They had already went home when I came home so we could have a nice walk in the cool forest. A wind blew slightly and most flies kept their distance to us. I thought Nova had a less good day today but she was just grumpy for having to walk in the sunshine at the beginning of our walk.

So she dragged her feet but as soon as we entered the forest she walked pretty quickly 🙂 She can’t hear much and she hasn’t the best of eyesight now days but I didn’t think much of it when she started to walk behind us, so many things to smell at. Suddenly I couldn’t find her behind us, so we walked back quite a distance. She had walked straight in to a semi big fallen spruce and couldn’t find her way out again 🙂

It is time for a last cup of tea for the day and I’ll most likely have some ice cream too, I could of course have some Greek yogurt with some of my home made cherry jam, all these choices we have to make 🙂

Have a great day!

Insurance companies aren’t there because they love to help, they are there for the money and nothing else.

August 10, 2024 · 4 Comments ·

No it didn’t look like this her this morning but it’s the test photo and it looks so much better than what it did in the real 🙂

Sunshine in the early morning and lots of wind so almost no insects around to annoy us 🙂 Nova have had a really good day again, healthy appetite and lots of energy so we walked down to the creek and followed it down-streams. She walked unleashed so sometimes she was far behind us and sometimes the opposite 🙂

There are three fields with buckwheat, first time I’ve ever seen buckwheat like this.

No Red deer today but perhaps wolves was close, hard to say when the wind is strong and carries smells quick and far away. Alma kept on looking around us all the way down to the creek but after that nothing like that at all. The only animal we met (excluding birds who flew high above us was the Fox we meat quite often and I think it is the same fox we can see sometimes in the cow pasture outside the cottage.

It rained some just before we came home and the weather has been mixed with some showers, lots of clouds but also lots of sunshine. Always a bit tricky to be outside when the weather changes so often and quickly 🙂 So we’ve only been outside for short moments and since Alma is in heat I really don’t want her to be outside if I’m not there 🙂 Thankfully still no signs that Malkolm has any interest in her in that way. I really should have neutered her long time ago but I need to take a week off from work so I’m with her while she is healing. After that it’ll be Malkolms turn.

The first Hedgehog mushrooms, they are just as delicious as chanterelles.

Like always I let Malkolm off the leash the last part of our walk and he is really good in coming when I call him 🙂 Unfortunately I had to leash him because of a cat from the farm up the slope. I really don’t want him to chase it and get hurt by that cat, they are all semi wild and know how to defend themselves so Malkolm wouldn’t know what hit him and I really don’t want to go to the vet during a weekend, emergency vets costs a fortune even if they really don’t need to do anything because it’s a false alarm 🙂 🙂 🙂

The fox sat there and just looked at us 🙂

Almost all animal hospitals here in Sweden have been taken over by venture capitalists so costs has sky rocketed and since the insurance companies get their money anyway they don’t complain. It is actually cheaper for us to travel a week to Spain for a week and get the procedure done than to do it here. People complain of course but since the insurance companies walk hand in hand with the venture capitalists nothing happens. Just remember that insurance companies aren’t there because they love to help, they are there to make lots of money and really doesn’t care about anything else. That’s why I have put aside money for my dogs so I don’t have to deal with insurance companies that always find ways to not have to pay anyway.

It is time for something to eat and perhaps a last cup of tea for the day 🙂

Have a great day!

The first autumn colors. This maple always starts in the middle and sometime those leafs fall off before the rest of the tree get yellow leafs 🙂

I walked up to my mailbox and said hello to this pig 🙂

A rainy day with lots of Ice cream :-)

August 8, 2024 · Leave a comment ·

Today we haven’t done much at all. The rain they first said would come but later that it wouldn’t actually did come 🙂 🙂 🙂 So it has rained from early morning till early afternoon. When the sun finally did show itself the humidity made the world feel like a steam bath. It wasn’t until we had some wind that it actually became quite nice outside. The ice cream lorry came yesterday so I have been eating way too much ice cream 🙂

I wish I could say it was fog in the distance but it was a shower passing by.

I’ve topped the tomato plants now and also removed most of the leafs, now I want the plant to concentrate its energy towards ripen the tomatoes.

So we have stayed indoors most of the day but has been in the garden some when the wind arrived. Malkolm jumped over to the neighbors and if they don’t mind it I won’t either but they do need to be at home 🙂 I don’t want him to become an adventurer taking long trips all over the place 🙂 I once had a dog who did that and I didn’t have a clue 🙂 🙂 I thought he walked down to the neighbors horses and spend time with them, he loved everything in this world but especially those horses.

The Himalayan cypress still look really good.

The Morning glories are finally showing more flowers. This one does at least grow up the fence, most of the other finds the grass much better 🙂

The Aronia is full of berries, I really don’t like them but the birds do. I’ll cut down the Aronia to ankle height as soon as the berries are gone.

Turns out that he visited the entire village 🙂 🙂 🙂 I learned that when he was no longer here. I passed villagers that asked where he was and it was so sad that he no longer lived because he was the most wonderful dog they had met and even people who didn’t even live here but were friends with villagers came and told me how sad it was. Turns out that he every now and again took long walks in the village and since I was the only one having dogs here in the village at that time everyone understood that he just was very social and made sure he wouldn’t leave the village 🙂 🙂 🙂

My Aaron’s rod is really high now, above three meters anyway.

His brother Hector did also take small tours but towards the forest, he wasn’t especially social at all even though he liked people too so instead of visiting the neighbors he had a Fox friend 🙂 🙂 🙂 We met the fox when he was rather young and for some reason he and Hector stayed to play with each other (Hector was a youngster as well). The fox never came especially close to me but Hector and his brother were never leashed so Hector ran out to him in the fields when we met. I’m pretty sure that if Malkolm would have his own small walks he would be very much like Orvar, Hectors brother.

To be honest I think Hector was autistic, he didn’t like to be patted, wasn’t especially cuddly and never understood how to play with other dogs, The only thing he liked was to stand on the stirs to the upper floor and then he expected me to have my head towards his, nose to nose, and then we would stand like that until he thought it was enough 🙂 🙂 If I wanted to leave earlier he just kept on standing there until I came back and did it all over again 🙂 🙂 His mother wanted to kill him as a newborn puppy. Good thing she was listening to me all the time but she wan’t happy about me not letting her do that. Instead she was mean, every time anything bad happened to her she ran and bit Hector, even if everyone around could see that it was Ovar’s fault.

Well that was a long time ago now but I do miss those two a lot 🙂 It is time for a last cup of tea for the day and perhaps more ice cream 🙂

Malkolm is now slightly higher than Nova.

Have a great day!

There are places that need water, so why does all of it fall here?

July 14, 2024 · 12 Comments ·

Now I know how effective that anti tick spray is, it is very much so. It had been raining all morning and I thought that since Malkolm would be so wet while walking around most of it would drop off pretty fast so I skipped it since he actually hate that smell. It’s a long time since I’ve picked so many ticks of any of the dogs who has lived here. Nova was the only one that didn’t have any and I guess it is because she walked after us all after we just had walked there, so no more walks without it, no matter how awful it smells 🙂 🙂 🙂

My shoes hadn’t dried at all since yesterday so today I had to wear my winter boots 🙂 🙂 They are light brown but by the time we came home all the water had made them dark brown 🙂 My feet were dry though so 🙂 I placed my shoes towards the south heading wall and even after a day with at least some sunshine they still aren’t dry. I guess it doesn’t help when the humidity stays at 100% or just below 🙂 There will be even more rain tomorrow and much of the week. There are places on this planet that desperately need rain so why does it all have to fall here 🙂

Lots of Rowan berries this year, perhaps I should make some yelly or ade when it is time. They need a couple of frost nights to become less tart and then putting some honey in it will make them rather yummy 🙂

This is a rather unusual flower, it is a parasite and has no chlorophyll of its own. The Swedish name for it would be Pine wort in English.

I haven’t done much today, I was going to bake some bread but then I found two packages with hard bread I had forgotten so I skipped the baking 🙂 We did have our nap, I realized we napped for almost two hours but I can already say that it will not keep me awake after the usual bet time 🙂 Oh I forgot I also now potted some of the Quince seedlings. I must admit that I mostly had forgotten about them, so some have grown in a 90 degree angle, I’ll need to find some sticks so I can direct them in the right position again 🙂 Two more Giant Sequoia seeds have germinated as well but unfortunately none of the Dawn redwood seeds. Well they might need one more winter before they wake up, they do look ok when I check if they still exists.

This one is rather delicious and it looks like it has a thick layer of clear coat put on it. It’s actually a thick layer of slime that protects it from pests, easily removed though and I usually pick lots of it.

It is time to go and look at at least the beginning of which team will be the European champions in football (soccer) England or Spain. I always hope for England but they have a tendency to never win when it really matters 🙂

I’ll get at least two pink poppies this year and if You look at the top of the photo You can see the leafs from the Californian poppy, no summer here without it 🙂

I wonder if he will continue to have that quilted fur in his neck when he gets older?

Have a great day!

Finally :-)

July 5, 2024 · 2 Comments ·

Something worried the geese and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t me. Lots of sound and running around.

The morning was quite nice with sunshine and just above 10C (50F) degrees. I stopped by the lake on my way to work, there isn’t much to see now but I did see some geese. I would most likely have seen plenty if I just had had more time but work was waiting and a work friend who I was going to pick up on my way.

Suddenly lots more came running from behind me (to the right). I guess it could be a fox hunting but geese are nasty so it must have been an inexperienced one 🙂

It didn’t take long though until the rain arrived, mostly short but fierce showers and it has continued like that all the day but in between we had lots of sunshine as well. Despite it being the last day before vacation the day passed fairly quick. Could be because we had cake twice today 🙂 Firstly a work friend have his 29th birthday today and thankfully he bought an ice cream cake so that I could have some as well 🙂 After that the company had cake as well, unfortunately not gluten free but I did at least have coffee and an extra break 🙂

I haven’t planted or sown anything in this pot but there are lots of plants in it 🙂 Looks like some kind of Nepeta, possibly Canadian Goldenrod and also an Aaron’s’ rod. plus something small with white flowers.

My little Mango tree. It stopped growing when it went colder unfortunately.

Yesterday we had lots of pastry because a work friend will retire next week 🙂 so it’s been a good week 🙂 🙂 The weather was nice all the way home but as soon as I stopped by the mailbox the sky opened up again 🙂 Tomorrow will be really rainy, if they’ve guessed it right but it looks like we’ll be able to have a morning walk with some sunshine before the rain arrives. The entire first week will have weather like this but I don’t mind as long as we can have a morning walk without getting soaked from above 🙂 After all vacation is meant for us to charge the batteries so we can manage to work until Christmas since we don’t have a single holiday before then.

Musk Mallow, grows everywhere in this area, I have the pink one as well.

My pees are now all entwined 🙂 Plus I saw that a few bean vines still are alive and grows well.

I think it’s time to go to bed even though I really don’t have to think about getting up early tomorrow but I always wake up early and it’s nicer to do so if I actually have slept enough hours 🙂 I can start changing the hours tomorrow instead.

The three tomato shoots I removed a couple of days ago now have roots. If we hadn’t loved tomatoes so much we would call it a weed 🙂

The Hardy Fuchsia cuttings I’ve taken are now planted in three pots. The yellow in the leafs indicate that they lack nutrients of some kind and that’s most likely because all the rain that has washed through the soil, there’s simply nothing left for the plants to use.

Don’t know the name on this one. It is a climbing vine and I think it once belonged to the Corydalis family but now have been moved to the Fumaria family, my favorite weed family 🙂

I hope All of You Americans had a great 4th of July!

Have a great day!

A persistent but nice summer rain.

June 30, 2024 · 6 Comments ·

They were very unsure about how much rain we would get today, they guessed on from nothing up to two inches. They came somewhere in between I would say. It only drizzled when we woke up but by the time we all had had our breakfast the more steady but nice summer rain started and it has kept on falling all day. I could hear hunting dogs in (specially trained to only follow wild hogs and never care about other animals but I guess all other animals still will be really stressed having barking dogs running around in the forest) the forest barking, it is still legal to hunt wild hogs as long as the sow don’t have any piglets. Those dogs must have been soaked just minutes after they were released 🙂

The tiny wisteria that I moved to the Laburnum looked really sad yesterday but since I pruned the Laburnum rain and eventually sunshine can reach it. I still haven’t seen any new shoots where it grew before but I’m pretty sure they’ll show next year because it is almost impossible to get rid of it 🙂 🙂

Have no idea what this is but it looks much like a giant Yarrow but smells and becomes just as high as a Tansy.

So we’ve mostly stayed indoors today, only Malkolm have stayed outside for any longer period of time while Alma and Nova only been outside when they really had to. On days like these I used to read books or draw or paint but now days I don’t have the patience to do that, I’m lucky if I can read a book for twenty minutes before I can’t do it any more. I guess that can be a side effect from the Corona virus. I have however no problems just sitting in my recliner having the tv on but not really watching what’s going on 🙂 I also have no problems taking long naps in it either 🙂 🙂 🙂 I have started reading a new book though so I’ll see if I manage to keep on reading it later today and force myself to do it next weekend when my vacation starts.

I think I’ll need to prune the apple tree that stop almost all sunshine down to the surviving Pawpaw tree. Not much, just enough so that at least some sunshine will reach it, it grows really slowly and I think it will have to stop growing soon so it can survive the winter.

This and the next photos shows the ones I bought this spring. One is seed sow and the other is a garden variety.

Also I think that the Ginkgo needs more sunlight than it gets.

I haven’t been too lazy today though, I’ve done the laundry, made dinner for at least three days at work and also made pancakes for me and my dogs 🙂 I only had very little jam left so I mashed a banana and mixed it with the strawberry jam, I must say it was quite good but a little too runny, I now have that jam in several places on my clothes 🙂 I will also bake some rolls because I only have hard bread at home. I really like hard bread but it is nice to change to something else every now and again.

We have several different Aaron’s rod species growing here and I always let them stay, this big one is Verbascum thapsus.

Alma and Malkolm have a lot of energy now because they aren’t outside playing because of the rain, so instead they’ve been in my bedroom and I could hear from downstairs that they jumped up and down from my bed 🙂 🙂 I haven’t dared to take a look on what it looks like in there yet 🙂 At the moment though they’re right beside me and by the looks of it they are both now trying to chew of at least one leg of each other 🙂 It also looks like Alma is trying to chew off Malkolms bot ears 🙂 he’s no better though but he still can’t reach that high on Alma so he’s aiming to her throat 🙂 🙂

I took these three shoots from one of my tomato vines and just put them down in to wet soil, they start to create new roots as soon as they stand in the soil.

I bought a potted Dahlia a few weeks ago and naturally I had to break hard while driving home so it broke just above the soil, so I just took the twigs and put them in a pot and now it’s time to plant them somewhere.

Well I guess I better start baking those rolls if I want to have any. This time I’ll freeze those I won’t eat today or tomorrow because the last ones I made started to mould really fast due to the high humidity we’ve had for so long.

Have a great day!

Mösakäringa.

June 18, 2024 · 5 Comments ·

Foxglove to the right.

We’ve had everything from cloudy weather to sunshine to rain and thunder today.It rained when I came home from work and after that we had so dark clouds that I though more thunder was on the way so we stayed at home and in the garden. I and my dogs once got caught in a thunderstorm where I had to chose from being the highest point in the fields or standing between the trees in the forest 🙂 🙂 It was one of those fierce storms so the lightning flew all over the sky above us but none hit the ground here in the village.

Grape vines grow like weeds. — I apparently still have two grapevines in my garden 🙂 I thought I had removed this one several years ago but here it is 🙂

The broken old wheelbarrow. I always sow different poppies and morning glories in it.

The poppies will soon open up, the Californian poppies however is far behind.

I sowed this Mock orange around 20 years ago and it flowers nicely every year and has become pretty big. — I sowed this Mock orange well over twenty years ago. It is now huge and flowers nicely every year.

They are guessing that the weather will stabilize towards Midsummers eve and after that become warmer and more sunny but You all know by now that they aren’t too good at their work when it comes to guessing what the weather will be like here 🙂 🙂 🙂 I know that in some folklore the beings doesn’t like to be out and about in daylight but very few is like that here in our tales. Like the Skogsrå, a forest nymph. She has lots of local names and I think that when people talk about here in this area they call her Mösakäringa (would be something like the Bog hag, personally I call her the Bog Lady just in case I ever should meet her 🙂 ). Everyone knows that when the fog rolls in over the fields from the forests it’s the Bog hags that has poured water over their nightly fires.

I have more roses than I can remember and I really can't say I like roses :-) — Found another rose that I remember I brought home after a plant swapping day. It has had a tough life fighting with wild roses I now have removed.Turns out it was lying flat on the ground so I’ve now helped it up again.

Persimmon shoots. — New shoots from the roots of the dead Persimmon hybrid. I’ve read that it is easy to make those shoots grew new roots so I’ll try that with some of them.

The Wisteria that I’ve tried to remove so many for years now but cut off a big piece of root is now growing in the Lathyrus, Golden shower. They have leafs looking very similar so if I’m lucky I’ll have both yellow and blue flowers in that tree 🙂

She’s the one that reigns over the forest /bog and all the animals and if she likes a human she will allow them to hunt in her area. In this region she’s always described as very beautiful and tries to lure men to follow her and, if she wants to, kill them or seduce them. Her backside looks different when it comes to where she lives, Here she looks like a hollow log on her back but further north she look just like a human but has a tail. In the Norse beliefs the god Odin hated her and often hunted her like an animal but she’s hard to kill, only a silver bullet could do that (and I guess that since there were no bullets back in Odins days he must have used something else made by silver. If one would meet any kind of beings when walking around in the forest it’s always a good idea to have some pieces of silver, either as an apology if one has done something stupid or a way to become friends with them Preferable that silver should be begged while walking on a pilgrimage 🙂 To be honest I don’t think they are that picky now days since so few wear pieces of silver in their pockets while walking in the forest 🙂 🙂

Rosa multiflora. Forbidden to have in many states in the US. — Rosa multiflora, Japanese climbing rose. It is still behaving nicely up here in Scandinavia but can spread fast and tends to push away other wild roses. Forbidden to have in many states in the US.

Have a great day!

Don’t try to catch a hornet.

June 16, 2024 · 6 Comments ·

The only photo I have of Malkolm today 🙂 He and Alma learned that it isn’t a good idea to try and attack a Hornet, Alma was limping for a while and Malkolm as You can see was stung on the back.

More mixed weather today than what they guessed yesterday. It was sunny and rather cool in the morning while we were out on our morning walk but the clouds arrived much earlier, so by the time we came home the sky had an evenly dark grey color.

No ALT texts today, too tired in my brain :-)

With darker day comes the mosquitoes and once again they attacked my ancles when I was watering the newly planted seedlings. The Dahlias were still there so perhaps the slugs still doesn’t know they are there. The dogs really didn’t want to be outdoors even though it has been warm but I guess they too are a bit sick of the insects now.

The little creek up by the bog is almost dried out oddly enough since it has been raining so much but the ferns shows where it usually flows.

Besides doing my chores it has been a rather uneventful day, perfect really 🙂 I’ve watched some football (soccer) and we took a nap, shorter than I had hoped for because a friend called on the phone. At least I didn’t sleep for too long so that I can fall asleep tonight 🙂 I have a short work week ahead of me because on Friday it’s Midsummers eve and that’s a big thing here.

To be honest I think it is even bigger than Christmas here and even though the church tried to make it a christian holiday (John the Baptist’s’ Birthday) it’s all pagan here to be honest 🙂 According to the folklore it’s a day when the Beings are out and about a lot and if we do it right we can keep us all healthy during winter and also see the future if we want to. For those new to this place but have been following me on post I think I’ve told You about the trolls and perhaps gnomes but there are a lot more to tell. I’ll start telling You more about the beings and how we celebrate Midsummer over here from tomorrow.

I have re-potted the Guava trees today. I think they have been a bit confused with the weather because first it was hot as h..l here, then almost autumn weatherwise plus all the rain, so they haven’t been growing that well, especially the roots have stopped to grow. I can only hope they’ll start growing again now when it has become a bit warmer. All apricots, peaches and pear trees are now re-potted as well. and I had a few seedlings from the Lemonquat seeds I sowed just before the warmth arrived. It takes far less time to get a seed sown Kumquat, limequat, lemonquat and what ever other quat there is out there 🙂 than it takes for orange, lemon or lime trees sown from seeds. For those it can take up to ten fifteen years before they flower but perhaps, with a bit of luck, only four to five years for the quats. It is time for a cup of tea so I don’t fall asleep in front of the tv later. Only four more days before long weekend again 🙂

I totally forgot that I also planted the last potatoes in pots today. The sprouts were so long that I made them follow the inside of the pot 🙂

The Guava trees has changed color to red, normally a sign that they stand in too much sunlight but these doesn’t so I have no idea to why they’ve done that.

I hope the old Pawpaw tree that survived winter here also speed up the growth of the new leafs now when the warmer weather return.

Perennials and trees can take years to start germinate so I’m quite pleased that I now have Giant Sequoias growing.

If You want a flower that will keep on flowering until autumn, smells really odd and would spread like wildfire this is the one for You, Nepeta sibirica, Siberian catmint (our name for it is Siberian dragon flower). It is 5 feet high and smother any other flower to death within a year 🙂 Only just as invasive flowers can keep it in control 🙂 🙂 It is beautiful though.

Have a great day!

It is at least warmer again.

June 15, 2024 · 2 Comments ·

Misty morning looking up the road before leaving for work. — No the coming photos with morning mist isn’t from today, I had those in my car camera.

It is raining outside, a nice gentle summer rain and the temperature rose up to 18C (64,4F) so it’s quite nice outside. It looks like Malkolm doesn’t mind rain after all, he’s the only one of them that willingly goes out no matter how much it is raining, Nova and Alma just stand by the door opening looking at him 🙂 🙂 I’m still trying to figure out what kind of dog he will be as grown up, when it comes to behavior I men. There are no signs of herding characteristics, not good at fetch but is truly gentle and like rain.

Fur photos taken in the village on my way to work when we had a few misty mornings. — My work friend once said that this isn’t a village but a wasteland 🙂 Big open fields in the middle with a few groups of houses and cottages spread here and there around it 🙂

That sort of fits with both Cockerspaniel and Golden retriever. Border-collie isn’t a retrieving dog so that fits with him, then again no herding 🙂 So it will most likely be something towards the golden and spaniel . All goldens and spaniels I’ve met have loved water 🙂 I tried to see how high he is now and he’s somewhere around (he wouldn’t stand still 🙂 🙂 ) 42cm-44cm (16-18 inches) high. That’s actually higher than what a Golden should be at that age?! He’s still the little guy here, Nova is 52 cm (almost 21 inch high) and Alma is 70 cm (28 inch high).

Malkolm yesterdxay when I had come home from work. The big package behind him is the dog food and toys I had ordered :-) — Malkolm waiting for me to walk in with him and as You can see the dog food and toys I’d ordered had arrived.

Buttercups, in the real those flowers are slightly tinged with green, really hard to get in a photo.

The haunted tree. Still can't remember the name on this one :-)

Our morning however was rather wonderful! Sunshine and cool enough to keep all mosquitoes calm but not cool enough to keep the flies calm. Still it was enough to wear a hoodie to keep them away from bot nostrils and ears 🙂 Later on a strong wind arrived so that kept most of the flies away as well. We walked down to the creek and Nova sort of thought that was a good idea, not great though so she did walk more slowly than usual 🙂 The only animal I could see, besides birds, was a deer. I had hope that we would meet the foxes again but perhaps tomorrow, They’re guessing that we’ll have much the same weather tomorrow, cool and sunny in the morning and warm but rainy in the afternoon. They are guessing much of next week will be much the same 🙂

Down at the creek, lots of flies there but surprisingly few mosquitoes.

I let both Nova and Malkolm walk without a leash on the last part of our walk, turns out Nova had quite a lot of speed in her legs 🙂 🙂 She did stop and look after us every now and again but we were never really close to her until we came back to the gate 🙂 🙂 🙂 Malkolm followed her for a while but decided to run back to Alma and me. He is very slowly accepting the smell from the anti tick spray and I could only find one tick on him when I checked him before I let him go inside. Alma had five and Nova only one.

Quite often we meet a fox here but I guess she has learned when we come by :-) I'm pretty sure that if the deer hadn't moved I wouldn't have seen him at all but they are more cautious now when we have wolves here.

Besides that I haven’t done much today, I did plant the dahlias I’ve sown but I don’t think they’ll last for long. Lots of hungry snails and slugs now when the weather is like it is. We don’t have the feared Spanish forest slug here, it behaves like a forest machine when cutting down trees, it eats anything and everything in its way but our native slugs and snails are enough as it is. One advantage we do have here though is the Panther slug, it eats other small slugs so we take really good care of those 🙂 🙂 So to be honest, it could have been much worse.

Nova and Malkolm walking ahead of us. She did stop every now and again to check where we were :-) Malkolm stopped and waited for us.

Time to go down to the tv and watch the European championship in football (soccer for You Americans). I’m not a huge football fan but I do like to see these big championships 🙂

Malkolm then decided he wanted to walk with me and Alma.

Have a great day!

I had forgotten to bring in the water bowl and (lying inside the bowl) the treat cup yesterday :-) — The water bowl I forgot to bring in yesterday 🙂

The dog yard fence is now slowly covered in Boreal vetch (and stinging nettles) on one side and

One neighbor once threw away hops he had in his garden not knowing how great it is at surviving. Male plants though so nothing to use for either scent or beer making :-) — hops on the other.

It isn’t the printer that doesn’t work as I want :-)

June 13, 2024 · 12 Comments ·

I’ve been trying to print out some documents and it has been so annoying! It’s actually not the printer that makes me angry, it’s the Open office documents I at the moment put all my hate towards 🙂 🙂 I use an old laptop and don’t have a mouse to it, so I use the touch sensible thing on the laptop. As soon as I have managed to get it just like I want it and have saved it and by accident touches that area it suddenly totally changes the look of the document, doesn’t matter that I’ve saved it. So then I need to go though it all again, fix all that has changed and ever so carefully try to print it out.

The Iceberg lettuce and also the Chard is growing fine.

It is quite often not enough to be ever so careful, so I’ve printed out three pages at least five times now 🙂 🙂 🙂 The last copies came out alright, not perfect but close enough to just give up and accept that the universe hates me 🙂 🙂 🙂 The strange thing is that the printer always works as it should!!?? Normally printers die just when one need it the most but not this one. I’ve started to call it the old faithful 🙂 🙂 🙂

The weather has been really mixed, well the temperature hasn’t been mixed at all, 10C (50F) or just around that. Lots of sunshine but even more clouds, rain and thunder plus the addition of strong winds. I guess the relatively low temperature has kept the grass fairly calm and I haven’t had to water anything 🙂 Now I can start using the vegetables I’m thinning out on especially sandwiches 🙂 The tomato vines have stopped growing though, too chilly for them I’m afraid. Also I think me melon vines dies, it looks like they have though 🙂 🙂 🙂

My Pawpaw seedlings are a bit confused I guess because they never experienced winter but it was cool in the cellar and then were tossed out into hot summer just to be thrown in to chilly weather again 🙂 but they all live and only two of them refuse to let the old leafs drop 🙂

Lupinus texensis. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed when the flowers became white instead of blue but now I at least have lupines here 🙂

I’ll get new working hours, again 🙂 , from next Tuesday but this time they’ve only changed it from 6:20 am- 3:20 pm to 7 am- 4 pm. I’ll be a resource person that they can put in anywhere in the painting department because I know it all. I would have preferred to leave the painting department for ever but for some reason they’ve decided that I’ll stay there till I die or retire 🙂 🙂 🙂

I think my cold is calming down now, I’m really sure it isn’t pollen because after all this raining there can’t be any pollen left in the air. Lots of tea with sliced ginger in it and I think the ginger has helped but then again i really like the taste of fresh ginger so if it hasn’t helped it did at least make the tea delicious 🙂

Have a great day!