Category: Frost.

A really nice afternoon.

April 30, 2024 · 2 Comments ·

He stops at every spot he can find something to sniff on 🙂 Drives Alma insane because she wants to walk and walk and walk 🙂

We’ve had two really nice days here. Yesterday was a bit cooler but after having a long cold winter and a few weeks where the temperature didn’t rise above 5 C (41 F) anything above that feels like summer temperatures 🙂 Even the dogs were panting when we were out walking 🙂 🙂 We had frost last night though and that can keep on happening until the first week in June. June sixth is usually the last night we have frost here.

None of us wanted to get out of bed when the alarm started this morning, it seems that Malkolm loves to stay in bed after we’ve woken up, that I like 🙂 but not even Alma wanted to leave the bed today and that was surprising. No need to hurry up tomorrow morning though, it’s May first, the workers day in big parts of the world. So I guess we’ll all get up at normal time just because we actually can stay in bed 🙂 🙂

Today however is Valborgsmässoafton, Walpurgis night which is celebrated here. No one actually knows who Valborg or Walpurgis as her English name was, is. She was actually an English princess I’ve read. She became a nun (and a couple of her brothers became monks) and was apparently really good in making pagans christians. She later became a saint and is the patron saint for those being infected with rabies. So as I said no one here knows who she was 🙂 🙂 Perhaps she does hold her hand over us because we haven’t had rabies here in this country since 1886.

So today they’ll start huge bonfires, choirs, usually men only choirs, will sing when the bonfires burn and singing spring songs. Today is a bit unusual because we have nice weather, all too often I’ve been standing is rain and / or snow freezing my b..t off not feeling the warmth from the fire because I had a tendency to always be placed on the other end far away from the fire 🙂 🙂

Tulipa tarda, spreads happily in my garden.

Lung worth. I was trying to photograph the Bumble bee that You can almost see at the bottom in the middle.

So this will be a short working week but next week will be even better because next Friday is what we call a squeeze day. Thursday is Ascension Day and a holiday here so no one wants to work on Friday. Unfortunately most must but I applied for being free the right way so I won’t work 🙂 I’ll also stay at home on Friday the seventh of June because our national day is on Thursday. To be honest very few know why we celebrate our national day that day, we just don’t care that much as long as we don’t have to work 🙂 🙂 No it isn’t because of some war or something like that, we haven’t been to war since we helped to beat Napoleon. There’s actually two reasons but I’ll tell You all about it then.

The dogs are sleeping all over the cottage. Nova because she’s old and tired but Alma and Malkolm because they’ve played wildly in the garden just before clouds covered the sky. I think I’ll join them in a while. The best tomorrow though is that the Ice cream lorry comes, I’m out of Ice cream and it’s stay warm a while they say so I’ll but more than I usually do 🙂

I really like this photo, just look at Alma 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

Now I fear the phone when I’m working :-)

April 26, 2024 · 6 Comments ·

Nicer morning yesterday so I’ll start with some from then.

Now days when the phone rings while I’m working my anxiety levels rise quite high and when I see it’s my neighbors the level hits the roof 🙂 Especially since we are way too few painters at work right now, so I wasn’t especially happy when the phone rang and it was my neighbor 🙂 🙂 🙂

Yes she had escaped once again and this time the hole was so small that it even looked like it would be impossible for Malkolm to get out through it 🙂 My neighbors said that she sat down by the fence towards the gravel road and looked up the slope. She knows I’ll be coming home not too long after she has done this 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’m going to check the fence this weekend to make sure there are no weak spots left.

Grape elder. the flowers will soon open up, nothing special to be honest but they are usually the first and yellow so I like them a lot.

This is the place where Alma saw piglets for the first time and she’s always calm and quiet here so we go there quite often 🙂 🙂

I have also noticed that one of the dogs, almost 100% sure it is Alma, has tried to dig her way out of the garage so now I’ve blocked that way with old car tires, with rims, and those are so heavy that it’ll take even her quite a lot of time to remove them before she can try again 🙂 🙂

Bog Myrtle in bloom. One of my favorite smells!

We’ve had rather nice weather today, lots of sunshine and slightly below 10 C (50 F). The morning was a bit meh though, grey and dull and -2 C (28,4 F) so the car was covered in ice, easy to remove though. Nova wanted to go out to the bog today so out there we went. Lots of small birds singing but not a sound of any other animals, normally we can hear them run away when we come too close but today nothing.

I was going to photograph this when Malkolm jumped up on the tree stump 🙂

Tomorrow it’ll both rain and snow during the night, great because can one ever get too much water 🙂 🙂 🙂 Same temperature as today but no sunshine until late in the afternoon, on Sunday it’ll be really warm, too bad it couldn’t be the same tomorrow since I’m at home and would be able to enjoy it. Malkolm took a mud bath in the root zone (where all my dish water, shower water and washing water goes to be cleaned) so today he had his first bath. He now refuses to be close to me, didn’t even follow us up to the computer, he’s really grumpy and sleeps down stairs in the dog igloo 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

If it wasn’t for the wind.

April 21, 2024 · 6 Comments ·

It could have been so nice today if it wasn’t for a biting cold wind blowing. Thankfully it comes from north so I can still have the kitchen door open but just walking a few steps from the door makes the world bitterly cold and nasty.

There was no wind when we had our morning walk though but then again the temperature had barely rose anything since I watched the thermometer when we got up, -6C (21,2F). We went down to the creek again but continued it up-stream and then in to the older forest. Lots of Ravens in the air and the Jays started to scream as soon as we closed in to the forest. The Swedish name for them is, if directly translated, Nut screamer 🙂 Sort of spot on to be honest, they behave like nuts and scream all the time 🙂 🙂

Both Nova and Malkolm wanted to stop every second meter to sniff on something and they did so for a very long time every time, so in the end I had to hurry them up because they were driving Alma crazy 🙂 🙂 🙂 She really have no patience to stand still while they sniff around 🙂

Malkolm really dislikes the collar he has to wear now when the harness is too small, it itches so when ever he can he stops to scratch where the collar is. I’ll try and find the harness I know I have somewhere here in the cottage, I never throw away things that isn’t broken and still can be used so I know it is here somewhere. Otherwise I’ll buy a new one when I order their food the next time. The problem is that I have no idea how big he’ll be 🙂 it can be anything from English Cockerspaniel to Golden Retriever. Thankfully I do have a big one that can be used if I would buy a too small one.

I think I’ll get the new table tomorrow. I know it already is here in my county waiting for being delivered but I haven’t gotten any text or mail that tells me when 😦 I can’t just stay at home (even though it would be nice 🙂 ) and hope that it’ll come 🙂 I’m sure they’ll call just as they enter the village and then it’ll take me around thirty minutes to get home. Last time it was like this, several years ago, the driver just left it inside my gate even though he really should have seen my drivers license. I do hope it can be fixed like this this time as well, if he can’t wait for me that is.

It isn’t easy to keep the balance while scratching because of the collar 🙂

Then some more scratching. Thankfully no scratching at all when collar is removed.

I do know however that some time this week a Tea tree will arrive at the grocery store in Gudhem and on the 25th all the trees and bushes I’ve bought will arrive. I don’t need to stay at home for either of them thankfully so that makes it so much easier. I’ve done the laundry today and yesterday I baked a couple of breads, they turned out quite ok 🙂 I haven’t however made any dinner for work next week, so I guess it’ll be sandwiches for work tomorrow and then I’ll buy something after work that I can have for the rest of the week 🙂

Have a great day!

Winter decided we shouldn’t think spring was here :-)

April 5, 2024 · 2 Comments ·

So this week has in many ways been rather terrible when it comes to the weather. On Tuesday we had around 40 cm (16 inches) of snow falling. I really didn’t like it at all, especially since it also went pretty cold. Easter was warm and friendly, it was fun to have a puppy in the house, You already know that a new puppy is living here again and during Easter we could stay outdoors all day. Then winter came back and I really couldn’t leave a puppy in the dog house/yard with that ammount of snow plus cold weather because a puppy wouldn’t understand that he would have to stay in the nice dog house all day long.

He would be playing with Alma and even though she would most likely have stayed in the garage it still wouldn’t be especially warm there. I really didn’t want to come home to a puppy with pneumonia. So thankfully they understood at work so I have been at home this week hating the weather because we really couldn’t take any walks while it snowed and was so cold. To make it even more fun it snowed again on Thursday, this time just a little but it was already impossible for a puppy to go anywhere. Well we were out but I had to carry him almost all the time.

Today however it’s warmer, tomorrow will be even warmer than today and on Sunday they’re guessing it’ll really warm and that we’ll have warm weather the entire next week. So back to work on Monday it is 🙂 So the new guy is nine weeks old on Monday and his ancestry is Border collie (50%) , English Cockerspaniel and Golden retriever (25% each). He didn’t look like any of his parents to be honest and was the most long haired of them all. My guess is that he most likely will look something like a wrong colored Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever 🙂 At first I guessed that he might look like a smaller wrong colored Golden though.

If You wonder why I don’t have any photos of Nova it’s because she tends to prefer staying indoors sleeping 🙂

Thankfully my neighbor works in a super market so I have been able to get what I need when it comes to food 🙂 I have a few tins in the cool cellar just in case something would happen so I mostly use them now because their dates are closing in. A couple are too old but can one eat them? they’ve been stored cool all the time so would it be ok to eat them? Two tins with ham are spoiled otherwise and that would be a shame. Well I just remembered that I’m on the internet right now and I micro biologist said no problem to eat but the taste might have become less tasty. Just put the tin in boiling water for a couple of minutes or more and it’s quite edible. Well I’ll do that with one of the ham tins and if it smells ok I’ll take a tiny bit and hope to survive 🙂 🙂 🙂

Male Chaffinch.

Alma has finally understood that it is ok to tell Malkolm when he goes to far, like chewing on her hamstring with his sharp teeth or chewing on her tail while she’s walking away 🙂 🙂 Nova does what she can to avoid him when he’s too much (which is almost all of the time 🙂 ) I’ll have to make her a raised bed so that he can’t terrorize her while I’m at work, she’s after all almost 18 now. He’s not a cuddly dog at all, he is very much Nova in that way. He usually sleeps on the floor on my slippers beside the bed. he has once or twice wanted to be in the bed but only for a few minutes. He’s very much Alma when it comes to energy though.

He did however sleep for hours after our walk this morning, despite him not walking much at all. So much new things to see, hear and smell so that was what tired him out. Many people believe that they need to run around and spend energy all day to be tired in the evening but it is actually using the brain that tires them out. So Alma wouldn’t have become a calm dog if I could have been running with her every day, she would just have become a dog with even more energy but with the same problems and I’m pretty sure that would have killed me 🙂 🙂 🙂

It is time to have something to eat and when I leave the computer Malkolm will wake up so I better pick him up and take him outside so he doesn’t pee in the cottage 🙂 🙂 🙂

Then he decided that he didn’t want to sit on the tree stump

but didn’t realize how deep the snow was 🙂

So I had him in a backpack when we went out and had it hanging on my front side so I could have an eye on him and make sure he wouldn’t try to jump out 🙂

Have a great day!

March 17, 2024 · Leave a comment ·

Chaffinches have arrived at the feeder with sunflower seeds in it. Some stay here over winter but most fly south. Now when they return the forest has changed and they need easy to get food until the insects starts to hatch. I’ve seen the second butterfly for this year today by the way.

Winter has come back but it won’t stay for long. Snow fell yesterday but not more than a centimeter (two fifths of an inch) so most of it melted away since we have had sunshine all day long 🙂 Now there’s snow in places where the sun couldn’t reach it.

The night was a cold and so will the coming nights so I guess that we’ll have snow on the ground until Wednesday comes with warmer weather. Now the Cranes are so many by the lake that I can hear them when I go out in the early morning. It’s the sound of spring 🙂

I have so little laundry that I skip to do it today but I have made dinner for next week and I’ve baked a bread. I could only find frozen gluten free bread in the german grocery store and it wasn’t a yummy kind but it worked really good when toasted. So I tried a new recipe today but had to have it in the oven for much longer time because it had a hard time to be baked all the way through, so I guess I won’t try that one again 🙂 🙂

I was told I should talk with the optician with an referral to an eye specialist about the cataract, so I’ll have a talk with them when I get my new glasses on Maundy Thursday. Better to be early than late. Not much else has happened this weekend beside me sowing some seeds that I have had in the fridge in damp paper towels in plastic bags. I filled up an old balcony flower box and placed another broken one over it so no birds or mice can reach them. Also I bought another Ginkgo tree that I planted in an big old clay pot but that one I need to have indoors until it’s farther between rather cold nights than it is now.

It is time to watch Biathlon on tv, the season is ending and the last competitions is held in Canada so for once I’ve had all mornings free to do other things 🙂

Have a great day!

Almost like the old lake is back :-)

January 27, 2024 · 2 Comments ·

They were up early waiting for more peanuts 🙂

Our painter at work managed to crack a lot of his ribs last weekend so guess who had to take his place while he is at home recovering? I truly hate that job and especially the heat that’s constant there because of the huge oven on one side of the painting box and the huge washing machine on the other side. The washing machine also adds humidity to it all making it even more nasty. Plus I wear the white overall that doesn’t breathe at all so it’s like walking in ones personal sauna all the time. I truly hate it!

I’m glad I didn’t have to drive anywhere today, usually one slides to the right and down again though and not to the left and down in to the cow pasture 🙂

Still I’m the only one that can do it and after fifteen years painting with powder paint I know what I’m doing. Side effects to the heat and personal sauna is leg cramps and lots of peeing since I drink loads of water all the time and I’m tired every second I’m awake. Working only four days a week doesn’t make it better at all since I’m napping away the Friday and still is really tired on Saturday. I think weekends would be better if we had more daylight, as it is now it still gets dark so early that I really can’t do anything outdoors, instead I mostly half sleep in front of the tv, yippee.

Today I woke up to a really nice and sunny morning, they said we wouldn’t get any sunshine today so I shouldn’t have been surprised when I saw that the sun was slowly rising behind the mountain 🙂 -) 🙂 I had to fill the bird feeders before we went out on our morning walk, the birds were sitting close to the feeders just waiting for me to wake up 🙂 After that we went out to the peninsula by the bog. No wind and sunshine made the walk really nice, I could even feel heat from the sun and I think that was the first time this year that happened.

I think these paw marks comes from Salmiak, very few other cats walk down this road normally.

Not much snow left after this weeks rain but there was still some frozen snow on the ground in the forest. When everything else is quiet it sounds like small explosions when walking on frozen snow 🙂 🙂 so there wasn’t any chance what so ever to be able to see any wild animals today. I could have stayed all day (well at least for as long the sun still wasn’t covered by clouds) out on that peninsula. Back in the days with all the old dogs we quite often did stay out there for hours but today suddenly all the dogs wanted to go home so I guess a wolf might have been close to us or perhaps lots of wild hogs, the dogs don’t like them especially much either to be honest 🙂 🙂 🙂

So much water in the bog now that it almost looks like the old shallow lake they once dried out here.

We’ve had our pancake Saturday, some of the laundry is done and we’ve also napped in front of the tv. All that is left to do today is to hope for that big lottery winning 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

Snowstorm and Dog-Igloos.

January 19, 2024January 19, 2024 · Leave a comment ·

This has not been the best of weeks, not the worst either to be honest but bad enough. Nasty cold at nights and a snow storm passing by. I’m not sure how much snow that fell but the storm strength wind also spread the snow that already was on the ground making huge snow drifts on the roads.

It doesn’t look that bad to be honest but that road is anything but even so in some placed there’s three feet of snow. Wind and snow really evens out the world.

Looking here where the wind didn’t reach I would say that we didn’t get that much new snow.

I wasn’t even sure I would be able to even leave the village but unfortunately they came and plowed the roads just in time for me to leave for work 🙂 🙂 Not early enough for me to get the package I was waiting for though 🙂 🙂 To be honest I didn’t think they would be cruel enough to actually force the employees out on the roads in weather like that but suddenly I got a call where they driver said the package was here but she didn’t dare drive down my road since there was so much snow, so I had to walk up that road with snow up to my knees as best 🙂 🙂 🙂

I was waiting for the new dog beds I had bought for the dog house. Alma always tear apart any protection I put up to cover the way out to the dog yard making it way too chilly in the dog house, so I ordered some dog beds called Dog-Igloos. Two smaller ones for Alma and Nova and one big for Alma. Two fitted in the dog hose and one will be placed in the garage where Nova prefers to stay while I’m at work. I do understand her because Alma can be a pain in the a..e to be honest. I know I shouldn’t have been either surprised or disappointed to see that Alma had destroyed the smaller one when I came home.

On the other hand both she and Albin had managed to sleep together in the big one, now sure how but they’ve done that two nights in a row now 🙂 🙂 The third one will be placed in the garage but I have to figure out how to protect it from Alma so she doesn’t destroy that one too. I think it might be possible to repair the third one but I do need better things that needle and threads, I’ll check online if I can find something that would work, perhaps those needles they use when sewing leather (even though that would be a bit much to be honest, the Igloo is made from felt I think but needs to be streangthened before I try to fix it. Also she chewed off a few sticks made from glass fiber so I need something to replace those as well. That dog drives me insane sometimes 🙂

This is the smaller Dog-Igloo, enough big for Nova or Albin. I have no idea how Alma and Albin managed to be together in the big one (a slight smaller than one yard wide) but they did 🙂 🙂 There was no space for the fluffy extra blankes though 🙂 🙂

Tomorrow will be the last cold and sunny day for a while because we’ll get above 0C (32F) degrees and both rain and snow now (and pretty strong winds again they say), so we better enjoy tomorrows walk because one never know when we’ll be able to enjoy another walk. We’ll be out on walks but we will perhaps not enjoy them in that weather 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

January 13, 2024 · Leave a comment ·

Thursday morning. On our way out to the island in the bog.

The weather this week has been really nice, lots of sunshine and no wind. I couldn’t enjoy it especially much though because the cold I had during the christmas vacation didn’t want to leave me. It has been an odd one. Sometimes I’ve felt rather fine just to minutes later freeze like a dog or boil like a kettle. Runny nose and lots of sneezings but thankfully less coughing. Also the throat couldn’t decide whether it should hurt or not so that has come and gone as well 🙂 🙂 🙂

I have been on walks with the dogs though. Alma is in heat and she’s more annoying than usual, none of us can stand her for more than a few minutes at a time 🙂 🙂 🙂 She has been really annoying on our walks as well So at the moment she’s not the most popular girl here 🙂 🙂 🙂

Our fox is very much alive thankfully, I managed to take photos of it in the cow pasture on the other side of the gravel road. The fun thing is that I didn’t see it while I took some photos on the frost covered trees in the pasture 🙂 🙂 🙂 I had the wrong telephoto lens on to be honest but then again if I had had the bigger one I might not have caught the fox at all.

DSC_0007 - kopia

Today the weather sites first guessed that we would have fog in the morning, then they changed that to snow. So I wasn’t surprised that we had misty rain when I woke up, that changed to drizzle when we went out for our walk. Naturally it then turned to heavy rain for a short while to finally become snow. We did actually get fog too but well after noon. So I guess it would be hard to complain about those weather sites since we actually had both snow and fog plus the bonus rain 🙂 🙂 🙂

From now on it’ll get nasty cold again and I’m not happy about it. Alma removes all covers I hang in the opening at the dog house, so all warmth in there goes away. Really annoying! So now I’ve ordered three Dog-Igloos. One really big for her and two smaller for Alma and Albin. So when Alma has removed and obliterated the cover once again they still can be warm and cozy when they go inside their Igloos. Alma will of course try to get in to the smaller ones as well since why wouldn’t she so I can only hope that Albin wants to stay in the bigger one so she can stay there at the same time as well. They are so big that she can’t drag them outside but I guess she will try to do that anyway 🙂 🙂 🙂

Today we walked out to the peninsula by the bog.

All puppies and younger dogs tend to destroy anything that isn’t solid concrete, so especially things made from cloth will be teared in to zillions of pieces but I do hope she for once can stay away from destroying these Igloos, they were quite expensive. Then again, why would she.

Have a great day!

January 7, 2024 · Leave a comment ·

It fell down to -20C (-4F) last night but now they’re saying, on tv, that it’ll turn towards warmer again. The weather sites doesn’t show it that well though but how often are they right in their guessings 🙂 🙂 🙂 I do hope they’re right because I’m really tired of having a real winter again 🙂 🙂 🙂

We went out to the bog when we finally came out on our morning walk, I wanted it to get less cold but the snow was still enough cold to give Albin problems with his paws. Snow cramp isn’t funny. None of them seemed to hesitate going out there so I guess no wolves have been close for a while. I did however see lots of tracks after moose and the dogs really don’t like them either, not enough to stop them from going out on a walk there though 🙂

The only animal we heard was an over active raven, it was totally alone and I guess it had found something to eat and was calling after its friends. If there were any smaller birds they must have been amongst the trees on the island. I guess if one is used to all the sounds there are in a city it could feel scary to walk around in an almost completely silent world like it is out there 🙂

I had hoped the cold would give up by now but instead it seems like it has gotten new strength. I’m sitting here very well dressed and still feels that it is way too cold 🙂 Sneezing a lot but also coughing more than before. I still feel that it is going the right way, after all I’ve had it for quite some time now.

Time to make something to eat and then stay up till really late just to get the right hours in to my brain for when I start working again 🙂

Have a great day!

They weren’t even close to how cold it actually was tonight.

January 6, 2024 · Leave a comment ·

So first they said it would be bitterly cold last night, then they changed that to just nasty cold. Turns out it was even worse than bitterly cold, it dropped down to -23.5 C (-10.3 F). It was so cold that the birds didn’t fly to the feeders after I had filled them, normally they’re there at the same time I fill them up. The temperature rose later on though so now it’s just nasty cold again.

It did take its time to do so though so our walk started much later than usual. We walked down to the creek and followed it down-stream. It snowed some almost all day so I couldn’t see any new tracks in the snow but something must have been walking along the creek because the dogs wanted to stop and sniff the ground every second meter 🙂 ( one meter is one point zero nine yards). The only bird I could hear was a lonely raven who carried something while it flew across the sky, by the look of it I think it was half a loaf of white bread 🙂

I haven’t done much today besides that walk because the fever is back again and I’m sneezing a lot. Could be worse, lots of people have gotten the latest Covid and even though they are vaccinated they still say that they’ve never been that sick before. I can only guess how bad it would have been without the vaccine shot. I started another radiator yesterday evening and guess if I’m glad i did now when the night was as cold as it was. The dogs are my radiators in bed though so I think I could have turned of the radiator in my bed room because it felt hot enough as it was 🙂 🙂 🙂

Sun up on the mountain even though it only lasted for a few minutes.

I’ve also went down to the cool cellar, which was the cold cellar this morning. Just slightly above 0C (32F). My water pipes goes along the wall down there so I do need to check how cold it is when the temperature drop that much outside. Well it rose a couple degrees when it went less cold outside but if it gets as cold as that again I do have a radiator I can put down there, freezing water pipes are no fun at all! Perhaps I should a couple more radiators online to have just in case, I still have one of the original ones in the kitchen and who knows for how much longer that will last. Then again I am a bit tired of paying bills after buying the car 🙂 🙂 🙂 I do however like my new car and is trying to figure out what name it should have 🙂

The ice was strong enough to carry a piglet after the cold night.

I should eat something for dinner but I’m not really hungry to be honest, I can make some warm sandwiches if I have enough with normal bread. I have lots of hard bread but they really don’t work being warm 🙂 🙂 I also need to stay up long tonight since, if the cold is gone, I’ll start working on Monday again. It took one day to get back to my normal sleeping routines but going back to the new ones have been a bit harder, I can stay up late but tend to wake up around five am 🙂 🙂 Well perhaps I win the lottery today so I don’t have to do that any more 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

The little hunting lodge and some kind of trailer in front of it.

There are places colder than here but I’m still complaining :-)

January 5, 2024 · Leave a comment ·

The temperature had dropped down to -15C (5F) this morning and yes I complained a lot about it to the dogs. Then again I really shouldn’t complain that much because I just read about a man whose thermometer gave up after it showed -49,9C (-57,82F) last night 🙂 🙂 🙂 He said that he won’t drive to the store to get a new one just because he wants to know how cold it actually was and I do understand that, I would have frozen to death while walking a few meters to my car 🙂 🙂 🙂

I lost the feelings in my fingers while I was swiping away the snow that covered my car this morning, after that I felt a lot, pain that is. Still no snow fell on my hands so it was just the cold air doing that to me. Today I went to my friend with the garden center. This time of year it is more or less empty with customers. Christmas is over (even though today and tomorrow is called Thirteenth day of christmas even and thirteenth day of Christmas day) and the christmas flowers are still ok. The only thing one survives on this time of year is funerals and it’s kind of sad to hope people will die just to make an income 🙂 🙂 🙂 I tend to visit just after the different seasons because one can talk without disturbing customers or being disturbed by them 🙂 🙂 🙂

Since no one is buying christmas flowers now and it costs more than it gives back to save any of those flowers I could bring some of what they had left back with me home 🙂 So I came home with three Cymbidium hybrids, one Cambria hybrid with flowers that smells rather nicely, three Paphiopedilum hybrids (Venus slipper), all orchids. I also brought home two Himalayan Ceder trees (Cedrus Deodara). The ceder trees are almost possibly perhaps maybe hardy enough to survive here if I can find the most protected and warm spot I have in the garden. They are really beautiful so I’ll give it a try anyway.

I was almost totally alone on the roads today so for once I could drive in the speed I wanted and take photos along the way. The most beautiful places are of course in places where it’s impossible to stop and take photos because the roads turn or its slightly up hill and a turn but I can at least show You some photos of what it looks on the way there. One town along the way but the rest is country side where houses and farm are few and far between.

There are more photos but I’ll show You them tomorrow.

We also managed to have a walk before the sun set and went out to the bog. The snow was so cold that even Nova had cramps in her paws, can’t remember when that happened the last time. Albin gets it all the time when the snow is like it is today, light and fluffy and more like tiny ice sheets instead of snow. A few new tracks in the snow but something must have passed there before the last snow fell because all dogs were really interested in following a track I couldn’t see at all.

This is the flower from the only Cymbidium hybrid that still has flowers, I have no idea if the other ones look the same.

The small birds eat loads of peanuts and seeds now, so I stopped by a grocery store on my way home to buy more 🙂

Only two more days before it’s going back to work time. So I’m holding my thumbs so that I win at least one of the two big lottery winnings this weekend 🙂 🙂 🙂 The biggest one is around $ 130 million US and the smaller one around $ 8 million US. I will not complain if I would win the smaller one, after all I’m lot of things but I’m not greedy 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

Defrosting the freezer, it’s cold enough outside tonight :-)

December 23, 2023 · Leave a comment ·

I had planned to do so much today but the slightly stressful character of this last week has caught up with me 🙂 🙂 🙂 Plus I think I’ve gotten a cold because last night I woke up freezing something terrible even though I had three radiators sleeping beside me in the bed 🙂 🙂 It should have been impossible to freeze so my guess is a cold and that could also be why I’ve been so tried today. We have however had our pancake Saturday today so at least I’ve been doing something.

The haunted tree looks like it is freezing 🙂

We’ve had sunshine all day today and it has also been nasty cold. When the dogs have gone outsider it hasn’t taken long before they’ve wanted to go in again. The small birds have eaten much more seeds and peanuts now when it is colder as well. It does look pretty though even though I’d rather seen this cold world on a post card. I thought that the snow would be rather icy since it rained a lot before it went cold, instead it’s really fluffy and hard to walk in. Also Albins feet tend to freeze when we have this weather so every now and again we’ve stopped so that I could get the snow out from between his toes 🙂

It’s so cold outdoors now that I’ve decided to defrost my freezer, it bis unfortunately not one of those that does it itself and it really was time to so so now. That means I’ll have to go outside with the dogs while my food still is out in the cold night, we have a clear sky showing the half moon really good. I do hope the fox stays away, I’ve never caught it with a camera on that side of the cottage but who says that will be the rule for all times 🙂

I had planned to make gingerbreads today but instead I’ll decorate the christmas tree. For a while I thought that I would just have the light there but a few decorations is sort of needed even though the red, blue and yellow lights make it beautiful enough when the room is dark.

It will start to rain tomorrow evening and on christmas day it’ll start getting cold again. I’m very glad that I don’t have to drive anywhere in the near future, the roads will be dangerous and people will not drive as careful as they need to. Lots of people have already slid of the roads while they were driving in the remnants of the snow storm that just had passed here and I guess will do the same when they’re on the way home again. After that it will be cold at nights but above freezing during the days. Well as long as we have daylight at least, days are short this time of year but it has finally turned and for every day that pass they’ll have bit more daylight 🙂

Have a great day!