Category: Hot.

It missed us again.

May 31, 2024 · 6 Comments ·

The factory where I work is almost surrounded by fields and I really like to stand outside in nice weather just watching what ever they are growing, sometimes a fox pass by and deer kan be seen gracing there too. — Took this one with my camera at work today, I think it came out rather nice 🙂

Another day another thunderstorm passing by but to be honest even though it did go through nearby I couldn’t even hear it this time. It was much worse along the west coast where cities and town have been flooded and cellars being filled with dirty water. An old gardening enthusiast who grew up nearby well over 90 years ago told me that the bog I live beside is so big that during hot summers it creates a high pressure area all by itself, so when rain comes close it push it towards its sides. So the rain can pour down on the mountain but we can have sunshine. It also makes it much colder here when winter arrives and so far I can’t say that he was wrong.

View from my window upstairs. Some sheep in the foreground and behind them the ground is covered by morning mist. — Not bad views when driving to work 🙂 This one however was taken from a window upstairs.

Photos taken in the village on my way to work. The sun is breaking through the mist showing how it floats around in different patters when the sun heats it up. It doesn't take long before the sun burns it away but here the last of it is rising upwards behind the gravel road.

We’ve had mostly thin clouds that the sun has shone through or clear blue sky. There was a strongish wind blowing when I came home after work so even if I thought it might be too warm for both Nova and Malkolm I took the dogs for a walk, I thought the wind would cool us down. Turns out that the wind wasn’t strong enough to blow through the forest. The odd thing was that there were no mosquitoes?! The first horse fly annoyed us for a while and the first forest flies a bit longer but even they gave up, so I guess it must have been much warmer in the forest than I actually thought.

This and the next photo showsmostly the did up fields and a small bit of the creek and a thin layer of morning mist floating around over it all. — And tow from the lake.

Dog biscuits, a quite common flower that looks much like wild carrot and smells rather nice. — The Swedish name for the white flowers is Dog biscuit, have no idea how they came up with that long ago 🙂 It is edible and the root is said to taste like Parsnip. They are closely related. The problem is that several other flowers looking similar are deadly poisonous so one must know what one is doing if one wants to eat them 🙂 Also We have wild carrot growing here, believe me when I say that it’s like chewing on a stick 🙂 the taste is there though 🙂

A cloud slowly building up to become a Thunder cloud.

The morning was cool and nice though, 8C (46,4F) and I would rather have had a walk with the dogs than having to go to work 🙂 🙂 🙂 Morning mist floating above the ground and birds singing like crazy. I brought one of my cameras with me and managed to get a few photos with the morning mist before the sun burned it away.

I'm bad at butterfly names but lots are flying around here now, This one was feeding n Lingonberry flowers just when I saw it. — Lots of butterflies here now.

The forest is filled with strwberry plants. Thankfully we have the law called Right to access so we can pick any berries everywhere (unless it is in a garden of course). No land owner has the right to stop us doing that. — Wild strawberry flowers

Have no idea what these tiny yellow flowers are called but I like them :-) — No idea what these are called.

WE have lots of Veronica's growing in the wild, I think these are called Granny's' goggles. — These veronica’s’ are everywhere now and I think our name for these are Granny’s’ goggles 🙂

The birds just stopped to sing, it is oddly quiet so I checked the lightning app and there isn’t any thunder even close to here. There’s also a tractor working somewhere nearby that also just stopped making noise. I don’t think they are related in any way but it feels odd when it suddenly becomes totally quiet 🙂 Well th

Chamomile grows along the gravel raod towards the forest. — Chamomile.

The forst star loves living in the forest where it doesn't get too much sunlight that would dry out the ground. — Forest star.

More and more Buttercups are opening up now, soon the fields will shine yellow again nw after all the Dandelions have stopped flowering. — Buttercups.

This is a deep hole in the bog, it looks like it has a bottom rather shallow but it is in facy just roots that covers the water below. Hare tail cotton grass grows well there. — The little tjärn still has water in it and the hare tail cotton grass looks beautiful.

e birds are back and I hope they won’t drive that tractor any more 🙂 🙂 I noticed earlier when I was watering all the new trees that it is time to do something about some of my sowing, like the Hollyhocks and Morning glories, they are growing fast and I was wondering for myself if the best thing is to re-pot them (but I have very little soil) or just plant them where I want them to grow?

This small creek is almost dried out now but the ferns are covering it up instead.

Salmiak , the beekeepers cat, is sleeping on the patio table. We think he is as old as Nova, 18 years old. — Salmiak sleeping on the patio table.

These grow everywhere except in my garden 🙂

I sowed a Black Walnut almost 16 years ago and last year it gave nuts for the first time and this is the first time I've seen the male flowers :-) — The Black Walnut in bloom.

Also several more Giant Sequoias have germinated, still none of the Dawn Redwood but I still have hope 🙂 I have too much of the Greater celandine so I’ll remove some of them tomorrow, I’ll wear gloves when doing that because the sap in them are bright orange and it is more or less impossible to remove that color and I never know where smaller stinging nettles can hide 🙂 I also need to figure out where to plant that last Mulberry tree I bought and four Sea Buckthorn I have waiting as well.Plus the rose that I planted where Teodor the cat is buried seems to have died this winter, so I’ve bought another one, completely different. I doubt it’ll flower this year but it is much more hardy. Seems to spread happily with its roots though so perhaps I need to contain it with a bottomless big pot.

Four photos where You can see Alma and Malkolm playing. — It was too hot for Malkolm to have a walk but he and Alma could play for over an hour in the garden when we came home 🙂 🙂

It is time for a pot of tea and I bought a packet with gluten free oatmeal cookies. I’m pretty sure I’ll fall asleep in the retainer as soon as I’ve taken the last sip of the tea 🙂

Have a great day!

So slow today.

May 28, 2024 · 7 Comments ·

This day has been so slow! I’ve been able to do what I wanted to do and have had lots to do as well, still this day has been slow as cold molasses 🙂 We’ve been waiting for the rain and thunder to arrive but today it never did. Well I did hear some thunder at work, at least I think it was thunder but there were also some people up on the factory roof working and at one time it sounded more like they dropped something really heavy 🙂 I also hear the thunder once when I came home but it was from far away.

We had morning mist here in the village when I drove to work. I was already a bit late already from the start and it didn’t help that I stopped here and there to take some misty photos on the road to work 🙂 I made it just in time thankfully but I missed my morning coffee. I stopped drinking coffee for a while because my stomach got upset, well more upset than it usually was. Then we found out that I couldn’t eat gluten, my stomach became much better and now I dare to drink a cup of Cappuccino each morning, so far so good 🙂

We are supposed to kill all Lupines we can find in nature because they are invasive, they have even created a special day when everyone is supposed to go outside and remove them. The problem is that we love our Lupines so no one touches them 🙂 🙂 🙂

NO attempt from Alma to dig her way out of the dog yard today but I found evidence that she had tried after I went to work after getting the summer tires on. So I blocked it and put new obstacles in the way. This does not mean she’s given up, she’s just biding her time, checking out eventual weaknesses and will most likely try again soon. I was supposed to measure the length of the fence today so I can get what I need to repair the fence but now I can’t fine my tape-measure. I used it a few days ago and I was pretty sure I knew where I had placed it but no I didn’t 🙂 I had even borrowed tools from work to fix some things today so I guess I’ll need to do the same tomorrow, including a tape-measure 🙂

More from Falköping. The streets around the town square.

The original church that stood here almost a thousand years ago is actually still there, it’s built in to the “new” and bigger one.

Even Alma has figured out how to get the treats out of the little bottles I place in the dog yard every morning now so I better come up with something else soon, a few treats only keep her occupied for so long after all. I did have an amazing toy like that but old Sune, a dog who liked his treats for himself dug it down somewhere in the garden 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’ll need to buy something similar. I do have one in the kitchen but it’s been put away fro a while. looks like a turtle with a see through cover. It is supposed to be pushed by the dogs and the treats will sort of pop up through a hole in the back. Alma never got that one but happily stole the treats from Albin who to my very big surprise understood it after a few minutes and he wasn’t the brightest star in the sky 🙂 🙂 I’ll put it back on the floor as soon as Malkolm is big enough to at least get a few treats as well 🙂

The red house to the left is actually for sale.

Alma and Malkolm is playing wildly at the moment, they’r running in and out of the cottage, up the stairs to me, run back out and chase each other like crazy. Even Alma seems to be on the edge of what she can managed and not collapse 🙂 🙂 🙂 I hope that means I’ll get just as good nights sleep tonight as I had yesterday, they were playing just as much yesterday as the’re doing now 🙂 🙂 🙂 Unfortunately Alma just decided that she would go on a hike by herself to the other side of the little lake behind my garage to eat wild hog poop, it’s a gift she has, to sort of ruin the fun they had and have a breath that smells horrible 🙂

Sibylla sell hotdogs, hamburgers and other things like schnitzel. They were here before the big hamburger chains moved in and to be honest they are so much better.

If You want me to calculate how much more expensive our petrol is compared to Yours I’ll do it. This was the last photo of Falköping for this time. And if You wonder why there were almost no people in the photos it’s because Falköping is more or less dead until the shops open around 10 am 🙂

It’s time to prepare something to eat at work tomorrow, I think I’ll save that chicken I bought for next week instead 🙂 I’ll see what I can find in the freezer and put together something from that 🙂

Have a great day!

Sticky flypaper.

May 26, 2024 · 2 Comments ·

I’m waiting for the rain and thunder, we already have the strong winds that usually comes with it. The dogs haven’t any energy to play. Every now and again they go outside to try and have fun but comes in again just to take a long nap. Even I joined them in one of their naps 🙂

We were up early today though, when it still felt a bit cool and the sun was shining. We took the short walk out to the bog and then back home again. None of them was especially enthusiastic about having a walk but they sure were when we headed back home again 🙂 🙂 🙂 I don’t blame them because there were about a gazillion mosquitoes out there and Nova is so badly bitten now that her face is a bit swollen and she has small wounds after scratching herself in the face. I can’t even imagine how bad it is for all the wild animals out there. Thankfully we don’t have any midges here. They are tiny and many and some years it can be so bad that if a Moose can’t get away from them all those midges actually can kill them. It’s a good thing this country have so many lakes they can flee out to.

So I haven’t done that much today, I’ve done the laundry and it dried up within a few minutes :-)I’ve watered the newly planted trees and also the Persimmon where the new branch is growing out plus the Pawpaw that survived the winter. I’ve also placed my summer tires in the car because tomorrow they’ll be put on and my winter tires taken off. I’m a bit late with getting that done to be honest 🙂 If the garage doesn’t have a car I can borrow I’ll just have a walk in Falköping while the job is done. I always do so when the car is in the garage and I always bring a camera. So if You want to see photos from Falköping wish that they don’t have a car, if You don’t wish to see Falköping just wish they have a car 🙂 🙂

If they don’t have a car I’m planning on buying a new garden hose and some other things while I’m there, that is if it takes long enough so that the stores open before the job is done and I have to go to work again. Some of them don’t open until 10 am and since I’ll be leaving my car at 7 am I might go to work long before that,unless the garage is really busy. Then again who says I need to go to work immediately 🙂 🙂

I haven’t done any dinner for work next week either, so I’ll buy something on my way to work for tomorrow and make dinner when I come home again for the rest of the week. I’m just looking at the thunder app and it is slowly closing in to us. It will feel good when it has passed and the temperature has dropped. I have done one more thing though, the first sticky fly papers now hang from the roof downstairs. A few have already found their way indoors even though I do have nets put up by the kitchen door and the windows. No matter what one does those flies always find a way in and thankfully they like to land on something close to the roof, those fly papers are heaven sent 🙂

Potatoes keep comming up even though it was three years ago I had potatoes in that patch 🙂 Those red leafs looking like clover is actually an Oxalis, a popular annual pot plant. Turns out it thrives in this climate so now it’s one of the more common weeds we have in our gardens. I don’t fight it , instead I embrace it and it does get cute yellow flowers 🙂

This is a native annual Geranium (not the pot plants You call geraniums because those are actually Pelargoniums).

Columbines comes in all kinds of varieties.

Have a great day!

I didn’t mind they were wrong about today’s weather :-)

May 25, 2024May 25, 2024 · 4 Comments ·

So today was supposed to be all cloudy and hot but without any wind. It started out that way but then the sun broke through so the hot part was right because we now do have a wind blowing thankfully. Before it started it was like living in a steam bath here. I couldn’t move a meter without sweating like a pig.

The cattle walking in the pasture outside the beekeepers place for the first time this year.

Rowan trees usually don’t grow especially high, this one is at least fifteen meters high (much the same in yards). We had one much bigger but that one was a victim this years thinning. A bit odd because it seems they’ve saved almost all other Rowan trees this time and we do have lots of them here.

We walked down to the creek while it still wasn’t too warm, we couldn’t follow it down stream though because now they let the cattle walk in to the pasture outside the beekeepers so they block the road with those electric wires and I really didn’t want to go through passing them with Alma 🙂 🙂 🙂 I really didn’t want Malkolm to learn from her how to do it 🙂 🙂 🙂 So we walked it up-stream for a while until the grass became too high, damp grass close to a creek is a tick magnet. After that we walked back the same way and suddenly four wild hogs ran out in front of us, perhaps ten meters (much the same in yards) away from us. Alma reacted like always so no photos of them I’m afraid 🙂 🙂

This flowers Swedish name is Hag’s tooth 🙂

We actually woke up at 3:45 this morning because someone needed to go outside to do his business 🙂 Normally we would all just stay up and then take a walk as soon as the sun would start to rise. No sun was supposed to shine today though so we all just went back to bed and slept for two more hours and that is really unusual! The sun was shining when we went up again, went back in to the clouds while we were out walking and then came back and has stayed here all day and by the looks of it it’ll stay until it sinks down beyond the horizon. One good thing with yesterdays heavy showers is that I didn’t have to water anything today 🙂

The Persimmon hybrid that I bought last year and that looked healthy all winter through until that last snow storm is dead. Since it was a variety however it’s always grafted on a root from the actual persimmon, Diospyros virginiana, and I have hoped that the root has survived because it is so much hardier than the rest of the trees in that family. Today I noticed that a new branch is growing up from the root 🙂 🙂 So since I bought a real Persimmon this year I now will have two 🙂 Lets hope that one is female and one is male so I can grow my own fruits in the future 🙂 So now I have two Persimmon trees and with the my own seedlings nine Pawpaw’s 🙂

Can You see the little green dot at the base of the dead tree trunk? That’s new growth from the Persimmon roots 🙂

This is a new variety of White Mulberry tree with tasty berries. Normally the white mulberry tree gives edible fruits but someone said if one likes the taste of dry grass they’r pretty good 🙂 🙂 This one however gives sweet and tasteful berries. It was quite damaged by frost before it arrived here but it is coming back again.

This is on the other hand another Mulberry tree with the name variety name Mulle 🙂 (Morus accidosa). I once had a smaller tree here but one day my two big dogs dug it up and had lost of fun tearing it apart 🙂 🙂

I’ve bought a tea bush as well this year (Camellia sinensis). It’s just as picky as the Camellia we have as pot plants or in the gardens where the climate allows it but it doesn’t flower until late spring I’ve read plus if it gets big enough I can always try to make a cup of tea from its leafs 🙂 🙂 🙂

We’ve had our pancake Saturday, I’ve sown almost all of the flower seeds I still had (but there’s at least two more but I just can’t find the seed bags 🙂 ) and we’ve had a short nap when it was as warmest. I don’t think we slept for especially long but that nap did more for me than the two more hours in the morning did 🙂 So for the rest of the day I’ll just relax. I didn’t win the Euro jackpot yesterday which is strange since so many really hopes that I will win 🙂 I’ve promised that if I win that much money (around 100 million US dollars) no worker at my work place would have to work any more 🙂 (not even the ones I dislikes). With that much money I still would have perhaps 25 million US dollars left to myself and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t miss the other millions 🙂 🙂 🙂

I did sow Salvia pratensis seeds last year and I think this is it 🙂 The Swedish name for it is Meadow sage and it looks like it’s the same in English!

When You think all the Greater celandine have died out but then You remove some grass and cut away some branches and suddenly it’s everywhere in the garden 🙂 🙂

This is a rhubarb but not an edible one, this is the Chinese rhubarb. Well it is used in traditional medicine but don’t try it for a pie 🙂 Mine has grown in the shadows and too dry for too long so this year I moved it. It can become really big and is quite beautiful as an ornamental plant.

Well the smaller lottery is today with “only” 7,5 millions US dollars as minimum maximum winning. I think it might be higher at the moment. I’ve said that if I “only” win those millions all they can expect from me is a cup cake 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

Rain and thunder is close but won’t reach us.

May 23, 2024 · 8 Comments ·

There’s thunder nearby but looking at the radar sequence on all weather sites it will miss us, I wouldn’t mind if we had gotten the rain because my two big water barrels are closing in to be empty and the cooler air would be nice as well. The cool air will come tonight though but only stay for one day, it’ll be warm again on Saturday.

A tiny part of my Lilac hedge, I have around 30 meters (much the same in yards) of it and I truly dislike Lilacs 🙂 🙂 In front of it stands a Red leafed Rose.

Whitebeam. A close relative to the Rowan tree and can become fairly large. I would like to have one in my garden but I have so many other trees growing now so it’ll have to wait until I win the lottery and can buy lots of new land 🙂 🙂 🙂

We haven’t had any walk today because it is just too hot for a puppy and an eighteen year old dog, it was bad enough yesterday when we were out for a short walk. Still I’m not yet complaining about it being too warm 🙂 Alma and Malkolm have been outside playing a lot though and now they sleep here beside me on the cooler floor while Nova sleeps on two fleece blankets and snoring loudly as well 🙂

Alma has stayed in the dog yard all day today, Yay 🙂 funny because today had been the perfect day for her to do it when it comes to me and my job. The same company all day long, only one color and long series of what I painted. She always escapes those days when it is most inconvenient 🙂 🙂 🙂 I must admit though that the dog yard hasn’t been this clean and tidy in a long time. I’ve been there fixing and cleaning almost every day and all eventual plants that tends to grow in there are almost totally gone 🙂 Nothing bad that doesn’t bring something good with it as we say over here 🙂 🙂

So I’ve mostly hand watered the vegetable patch and all the potted plants. The vegetable patch has only been fried by the sun but the wind can’t reach it, so the ground was actually a bit damp on the surface now in the evening. The potted plants however needed a lot of water. It’s always a bit tricky to water all the potted trees and bushes because some need acidic water, like the Pawpaw and other preferres water with lots of lime in it, like peaches and Apricots. So now I need to place them in two groups so that I don’t use the wrong water.

One of the Ginkgo’s I had in my garden survived the snow storm, the other one seems to have died.

My seed sown Pawpaw’s. Three of them now have new leafs growing out and three have leafs since during winter and I think those need to drop before they too get new leafs.

Can You see the tiny green dots? New leafs on the outdoors Pawpaw!

This and the next one shows the two Pawpaws I bought this spring.

I can also tell You that the Pawpaw that stayed in the garden all winter has survived because today I could see the first tiny leafs growing on it 🙂 The Columbines are opening up now and the tree peony has big buds 🙂 My seeds sown Gardenias are either flowering or just about to. The seeds sown aren’t filled with petals like the ones we can buy and has a slightly weaker scent so they are easier to have if one has problems with strong smells.

Columbine. If You look at the petals they look like a dove seen from the side, hence the name, columbine means dove like.

This and the next one is the same species but since they self sow all kinds of varieties can show.

I “won” almost nine dollars US on the lottery yesterday 🙂 I use ” because if I don’t win on Saturday I’ve only lost 3 dollars US 🙂 🙂 🙂 It’s a bit sad when one is happy because one only lost three dollars 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

Doing everything while it is cool.

May 19, 2024 · 2 Comments ·

Another warm day here, My thermometers aren’t to trust when it comes to how warm it has been since both are hit by the sun. But I think that 25C (77F) is most likely. So everything I had to do today had to be done before it went too warm. So I watered vegetables, trees and a rose while it still was fairly cool, after that we went out for our morning walk.

Lots of water still and the reason for all the mosquitoes we have around our cottages.

It could have been much nicer if it wasn’t for all the mosquitoes and the first of the oh so annoying forest flies. Forest flies don’t bit or anything like that, they annoy! They come in big swarms flying around our heads and do their best to try and fly in to nostrils and ears. They are usually quite calm in the very early morning when it still is cool, almost chilly, after that I need to wear a mosquito hat while walking in the forest because they drive me crazy! On one hand I truly hate them on the other it is amazing we have so many and that they are food for lots of birds and other animals. Now days when driving during summer there’s no need to wash off all crushed flies on the windshields because there are no crushed flies any more. I guess they all moved to this bog 🙂 🙂 🙂

The laundry is done as well and everything dried within 20 minutes 🙂 despite the lack of wind and hanging in the shadows. We will get stronger winds again the coming week they’re guessing and I won’t mind, strong winds means no mosquitoes or forest flies, they will do what they can to hang on to vegetation and not blow away 🙂 More wind however mean more watering. The ground is still damp but the surface will dry up and since I’ve just sown seeds that mustn’t happen until the roots have grown deep to more reliable water sources. The ground water is just 2,5 meters (much the same in yards) down here.

Ash tree. The first to drop its leafs in autumn and the last to get new ones in spring.

I’ve also re-potted most of my orchids. I’ve now placed them all on the north side of the cottage and after a week or so I’ll place them in the trees and leave them there doing nothing (unless we’re having a drought, then I’ll water them but not otherwise). I’ll also place my Christmas and easter cacti there as well. All I have left to do now is to make dinner for work next week and take a look at my notes for the road association meeting next week. We’ve already had a long nap but I’m still just as tired, pollen season does this to me. Then again the warm weather arrived so fast that the heat does this to me as well but I refuse to complain about that 🙂 🙂

I do need to check the melon vines I planted this morning as well. I think I better cover them with something now when the wind will arrive, they really can’t manage dry soil especially well. I haven’t seen many Cabbage butterflies yet but I better start to think about covering the little cabbage seedlings as well. The sun is coming back from behind the clouds we’ve had for an hour or so so I better go out and check those melon vines!

The extremely hardy Rosemary. It is said to survive -25C (-13F).

I have to protect the young Tree peony so the dogs don’t break it 🙂

One Ginkgo and most of my smaller citrus seedling plus all of the Guava seedlings to the right.

Three of the first kind of pear tree seedlings survived winter in the cool cellar

Here are the bigger citrus trees, they all need more iron, hence the yellowish leafs.

Have a great day!

I have a few Sand cherry trees in my garden, I love the berries but birds are fast.

There isn’t any big difference between the subspecies but the first one seems more easily hit by mildew.

My new Persimmon tree (Diospyros virginiana).

Old Nova was outside too before it was too hot even for her.

The snail had a long shower while I was watering the vegetable patch 🙂

First week soon to be over.

July 14, 2023July 14, 2023 · 3 Comments ·

Magpies, funny birds but also bl…y annoying 🙂 🙂 🙂 They can terrorize an entire neighborhood and attack cats and dogs and are really intelligent.

The weather has been rather mixed this first week of my vacation. Everything from sunny and hot to a bit chilly and heavy raining. Today is really nice though, mostly sunshine, a nice breeze and around 20C (68F). It was supposed to be like this yesterday but like always our weather service managed to miss that we would have rain almost half the day 🙂 🙂 🙂

The rain started quite nice on Wednesday

Another one on the back by my kitchen door. It needs to be a lot of rain to create a lake there because it’s only sand and runs down through the sand as soon as it hits, normally that it 🙂 🙂

We’ve gotten well over two inches of rain this week and nature loves it. Well I don’t complain about it either to be honest 🙂 Unfortunately the ticks loves it most of all. After every walk I’ve picked over twenty ticks from Alma while the two others have had perhaps five together. I have no idea why Alma is such a tick magnet but they do seem to love her. Nova decided that we should walk along the creek this morning so I was a bit worried that they all would have lots more walking around on them but to my surprise they had just a few, not even Alma had more than six walking around on her.

Yesterday morning felt quite chilly so not a fly was flying around annoying us.

The weather has made it more or less impossible to do anything outside and it has been perfect 🙂 🙂 🙂 I can’t remember when I slept this much before. The heavy rain day I must have slept well over six hours during the day (mostly with the window open so I could hear the rain hit the ground and cottage, until it changed direction and it started to rain in through the window 🙂 🙂 🙂 ) and I still fell asleep at my usual hour and sleeping all night without any problems. I guess I needed it but have no idea why 🙂 🙂

We could pass this doe without Alma screaming like insane 🙂 🙂

The flies have calmed down because they’ve now cut down all the grass and made silage balls of it. That always happens when they do that so I guess that flies prefer to stay in high grass instead of trees during nights and perhaps even during days and when it’s gone the flies go to? Well there’s plenty still but not near enough to what we had before. I don’t even bring my mosquito hat on our walks, it’s enough with a hoodie. Alma has calmed down even more now, she still pulls the leash but the screaming when seeing anything move is almost gone! So now days we even see the odd deer again, still hares do make her a bit too excited but we’re working on that. The sitting down until she’s calmed down seems to work pretty well 🙂

I’m waiting for the package delivery car to come. I’ve ordered dog food and I have almost no dog food left so these packages will arrive just in time 🙂 🙂 I’ve just recieved a text message that they are on the way. So anytime from now until 5pm I’ll need to stay at home. Just a few weeks back they changed it to that packages below 20Kg ( 44,1 pound) can be delivered without me being at home but above that I need to be at home to recieve it. I’ve just bought a new kind of food for Alma and Nova because they didn’t really like the one I had and they have been a bit wobbly in their stomachs since we started with it. So today I’ll get one package that weighs well over20Kg and one well below. Does that mean they then would deliver the lighter package while bringing back the heavier if I weren’t at home? 🙂 🙂 🙂

Nova can be the most stubborn dog in the world 🙂 🙂 I called for her because she went away on her own and to a road we weren’t going to take. She could hear me very weel and she knows the sign for coming back and she just didn’t give a crap 🙂 🙂 🙂

After around five minutes she slowly came towards us.

Then she stopped again and just stood there for another five minutes 🙂 🙂 🙂 She finally started to walk towards us again but refused to go all the way and instead went to where we were going to walk but through bushes and high grass instead 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

Not much in bloom in my garden at the moment but the Creeping Bellflower has opened up. It’s voted to be the worst weed one can get in a garden 🙂 🙂 Here it has to fight with other plants almost as bad as itself so it’s no problem here.

A Perennial Sunflower is almost as bad as the bellflower.

The Nepeta sibirica or as its Swedish name is Great Dragon flower can also compete with it.

the Large yellow loosestrife isn’t much weaker.

Hotas are however not a match and would lose the battle fairly quick 🙂

Now I hope I can start what I planned to do during my vacation, lots of napping :-)

July 9, 2023 · 2 Comments ·

So yesterday was mowing day and today it was filling the holes, or perhaps ravines is a better word, with gravel. We were four people with shovels and rakes and one with a tractor with a huge scoop. So we worked quite fast and effective to be honest. We might have worked for forty minutes but after we stood and spoke for at least an hour and a half 🙂 🙂 🙂

I was a bit worried about my back because it felt really bad this morning when I woke up but it didn’t bother me especially much at all to be honest. I am however a bit worried about my back right now because it really bothers me and I know this is nothing compared to how it will be tomorrow morning 🙂 🙂 🙂 Anyway now the job is done and now I hope I can start with how I planned this vacation to be, lots of napping and doing nothing 🙂 🙂

It was cool in the early morning when we went out on our morning walk and not a fly could be seen or heard but as soon as the sun started to heat up the air things changed rapidly. I’m glad I brought my mosquito hat because I think there were a gazillion flies just waiting to annoy us, no biting ones though, they all seems to have moved to my garden and the cows in the pasture beside. Lots of butterflies where we walk but none in my garden. Lots of bees though but to be honest they aren’t as beautiful as butterflies.

Tomorrow will be hot as well but the rain will arrive in the evening and with northern winds it will cool down quite a bit. The guessing about how much rain we’ll get varies quite a bit but at the moment the Norwegian site says almost an inch and the Swedish one four fifths of an inch. This morning they guessed we would barely get anything. One could say that we’ll know for sure about how much rain we’ve gotten afterwards but to be honest they usually says we’ve had a very different weather than we’ve actually have had 🙂 🙂 🙂 That’s what happens when they trust computer programs instead och checking the real world 🙂 🙂 🙂

A perennial sunflower. It took ages for it to start spread and when it finally did it spread to a place where I don’t want it 🙂 🙂

This is a rose that has been here in this part of bthe village for well over 70 years. Have no idea what it is called though.

I’ll get ten Sand cherry cherries this year. This one is really drought tolerant but this early summer managed to make them let go of their berries.

I will need to go to the supermarket soon but I think I can wait until Tuesday when the weather won’t be anything else than rain anyway. I have enough to eat, I have enough with milk and I have enough with ice cream so I’m pretty sure my planned napping will happen tomorrow 🙂

Catmint and it loves dry and sandy places and spreads happily but I’m not swarmed with cats 🙂 🙂

The worst parts of the road was upp the slope here but I didn’t want to walk up there to photograph it because of all the biting flies.

Have a great day!

Well that didn’t go as I had planned :-)

July 8, 2023 · 2 Comments ·

a (4)

So my plan was to do nothing today besides taking walks with the dogs. So of course I’ve now mowed the lawn 🙂 🙂 The reason I did that was because we now are going to fill the holes in the gravel road tomorrow. We will thankfully be several people doing it (me and my neighbors, we’re only doing our little gravel road) and we don’t have that many holes but the ones we have are big and deep. It’s a job that needs to be done even though it’s heavy and boring.

a (9)

Nova decided that we should walk in the forest this morning. We were out later than usual because I actually slept an hour and a half longer than normal, so it was warm enough for the flies to become active. No biting ones thankfully, just the annoying forest flies and it looks like the drought has done its job to stop the mosquitoes to become more, there’s not a single puddle anywhere and the water level in the creeks ar low or not at all. There was lots of biting flies in my garden when I mowed though.

a (14)

I put all the mowed grass in my vegetable garden in between plants or along them. I might have buried some because the flies, even though I also wore a mosquito hat, were driving me crazy. Plus it has been really hot today and that didn’t help at all. It’s only the weekend that will be hot and sunny, the coming week will be cooler and they’re guessing we’ll get lots of rain as well. I don’t mind the rain, I have vacation and can sleep all day to avoid it 🙂 🙂 🙂

a (16)

Have a great day!

When the rain comes the grass will both stop the water from evaporatiung and at the same time fertilize the ground while it slowly decays.

My new neighbors. They were the ones bringing the biting flies I’m afraid.

Too hot!

June 25, 2023 · 4 Comments ·

DSC_0001 (5) — I filled up with mowed grass, sloe, roses and false spirea. That will keep the ground damp for several days before I have to water again. I might water it already today so that it’ll let the rain pass through easier if it actually will rain 🙂 🙂 🙂

It is hot and humid and I really don’t like it. How many times can one shower in a day before doing harm to oneself 🙂 🙂 🙂 Mosquitoes irritates and horse flies bite but Alma actually managed to take one that was a bit too brave and flew a bit too close to her mouth. I think both was just as surprised when it happened 🙂 🙂 🙂

DSC_0029 (4) — There are sixteen citrus trees in this photo, A Grape that is two years old and the rest are from clementine kernels sown at Christmas one year ago. The different sizes in the clementines are because of how good they had it during winter, the small ones not so good with other words. There’s also the only Date Palm seedling that survived. Is it three years ago we sowed some Caryn? With a bit of luck it’ll produce the palm tree like leafs it has as older already this year.

DSC_0018 (3) — One plum on the wild plum tree.

DSC_0022 (4) — There should also be blue Irises here but it looks like the yellow one has killed of the competition in the root zone.

The rain they predicted for Tuesday were later on removed but is now back again and they are now guessing it’ll be much more than before. I’m pretty sure it all will be gone in the predictions already tonight but most likely tomorrow 🙂 🙂 🙂 The fun thing is that they, when heatwave stays a bit too long, always predict lower temperatures and lots of rain the next week and almost always that doesn’t happen 🙂 🙂 🙂

DSC_0023 (5)

I’ve done the laundry that was left but I still have to make dinner for next week at work. It’s too hot right now and it’ll most likely be too hot later on as well but I will make something for at least two days 🙂 🙂 I’ve also placed all my cacti in a couple of trees in the garden. I won’t water them unless they are looking like they’re dying and if the rain actually comes good for them 🙂 🙂

This is the only orchid I have left, It flowers once a year during winter.

Some of my cacti now living in the trees until just before frost arrives. This one I’ve sown and it is called Queen of the night but it is most likely a hybrid since the real species are quite rare. It hates anything living and doesn’t hesitate to toss out a branch when a hand is nearby 🙂 🙂 🙂

This was all I had the energy to write today, another shower will help at least for a couple minutes 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

Finally a mango tree in my garden :-) :-)

June 24, 2023 · 2 Comments ·

We’ve had a hot day here even though it started with fog. Still it wasn’t especially cool in the morning so the flies and mosquitoes were a bit annoying but since it did rain a couple of days ago the ticks were really happy. I picked away at least twenty ticks from the dogs, six from Nova and Albin and the rest from Alma, she’s a real tick magnet but fortunately they are easily spotted when they walk in her fur.

My neighbor started to trim the grass close to their fences so I thought why not mow the lawn? Normally I wouldn’t have done that because big parts of the grass are still yellowish. It wasn’t so much the grass I wanted to mow though, it was all shoots from all the roses, sloe bushes and fals spirea bushes I wanted to get rid of. How come does never things like that suffer in a drought? 🙂 🙂 🙂 I did the rest anyway so now I finally could cover all the open soil between the potatoes in the potato patch. That’ll save lots of water and time spent on watering. Still I must admit that the cool water falling from the sky while I was trying to kill flies with the water hose felt rather nice when hitting me on these hot days 🙂 🙂 🙂

I’ve even done some laundry today. I was a bit behind so I washed half of what I had and I’ll take the rest tomorrow, one use lots of clothes when it is hot I’ve noticed 🙂 🙂 The prediction on us getting four fifths of an inch with rain on Tuesday is now forgotten, now we won’t get anything at all, instead we’ll get sunny and hot days the entire next week. Well those having their vacation right now are most likely quite happy about it though 🙂 🙂

Besides that I’ve done very little today and that is just as it should be 🙂 I haven’t even made any dinner or hardly eaten anything at all, it’s just too hot. Still nothing compared to how hot it can be on the north American continent and guess if I’m happy about that 🙂 🙂 I noticed that finally the vegetable seeds I sowed now slowly starts to grow. I think it just has been too hot and dry, even though I’ve been watering every day. Still plants know when it is real rain falling and when it’s just us watering. Even a light rain can do miracles even if it doesn’t give close to enough water. So tomorrow I’ll have to start weeding again, well I guess I should be happy about it but I will be an easy target for those horse flies. Same thing every summer and I’ll never get used to it, I’ll use my mosquito hat but that won’t help the rest of my body 🙂 🙂 🙂

In my garden right now. I finally have a mango tree in my garden 🙂 🙂 🙂 It’ll love it out there as long as it is as warm as it is now, the problems come during winter when it most likely will die due to dry air.

I still have two loquat trees. these two will continue to stay in my cool cellar during winter until they are three years old. They should be able to deal with the cold but I’ll never have any fruit on them, unless the climate change really speeds up because they ripe during winter and only if it is above 0C (32F).

The new Pawpaw thrives beneath the apple tree in the old woodland.

So does the old Ginkgo after I really cleaned up that place.

Have no idea what rose this is, the one grafted on these roots died and this one showed up.

The Japanese Climbing Rose, Rosa multiflora.

They are finally opening up in the old broken wheel barrow.

Have a great day!

Midsummer.

June 23, 2023 · 2 Comments ·

The decaying lilac flowers smell pretty nasty and I have way too many to be able to remove them. But Bullfinches loves to eat those seeds when winter arrives and they are always nice to see when winter is here.

The morning was just cool enough to keep the flies away but still warm enough to let the mosquitoes fly around when we went out on our morning walk at 5:30 am. We couldn’t stand still for especially many seconds before we were swarmed by the annoying insects and now all the dogs have itching bites all over their bodies.

I really wish I was rich so I could buy this area and replant the forest again, now it looks like they’ll let cattle walk there instead. The owner is a bit too greedy and wants way too much money so no one is going to buy it from him.

I didn’t want to walk in high grass or by the creek but Nova decided that we should do both so we were also full of ticks when we arrived here at home. Even I had one climbing up my leg on the inside of my trousers. Alma is always the one worst hit so I removed ten from her and a couple from both the others and one from me. I truly despise those tiny blood sucking animals. It was so warm when we finally came home that the sweat was running down my back 🙂 🙂 It’ll be a warm and sunny day here.

Today we have a day off for celebrating Midsummer. It’s always on the first Friday after the solar equinox (or of cours if the solar equinox actually happens on a Friday). This is a day when all the beings are out and about and we all should be very carefully if walking in the forest. Especially if we’re out walking in the dark they say but since it only is dark for an hour or so and quite late at night I don’t think too many people are out walking in the forest anyway 🙂 According to most folklore most people will be outside picking wild flowers (so they during their dreams can see to whom they’ll marry) or just as the sun rise again because they are collecting the morning dew that is said to have magical powers.

That dew is especially important to save to the late autumn and winter when a bath with that dew in it is said to cure any disease and depressions. If one would meet for instance a troll while doing either one shouldn’t worry too much, well unless it is a mountain troll because we all know that they can be evil and shrewd. The forest trolls however are much like You and I (except for them having a tail) and is nothing to be worried about. There are several stories about how humans and trolls lived close together, helping each other with the daily life and troubles with the farming. However while we live in houses they usually lives in caves.

However all the other beings can be tricky, never accept help from them because they will take advantage of it but if You can help them do it because they will make sure You’ll be safe and perhaps even wealthy. One good thing to know is that it is always good to have some pellets of silver in the pockets, beings loves silver and that will most likely make You safe if You meet any of them. I’m nere worried about beings when I’m out walking in the forest despite never having any silver in my pockets, I do however worry about meeting wild hogs, they are always something to worry about 🙂 🙂 🙂

Some of the flowers in bloom in my garden.

Have a great Midsummer!