Category: My dogs.

A very polite hunting dog :-)

· Leave a comment ·

 

Today would have been so great if it hadn’t been for the biting cold eastern wind. The sun has been shining all day and if the wind has been coming from almost any other direction my garden would have been wind free, instead it has hit us hard all day except for in the morning when we had our morning walk 🙂

A fox and a hare have been walking on the frozen creek.

Alma tried really hard to behave and I think she would have been really successful in doing so if it hadn’t been for that hunting dog 🙂 It isn’t that long ahead in the future that Alma will be in heat, in fact I think she just might have started and he was smooch more interested in her than any hunt 🙂 🙂 🙂  I have to say that he was very polite and kind though, he started by greeting Malkolm and then Alma. Alma was very happy to meet him as well but when he showed a bit too much interest she barked at him and he walked away.

Not for long though, he returned a few more times with the same result from Alma and the guy knew he wouldn’t stand a chance today 🙂 🙂 🙂 Alma was a bit all over the place after that for quite some time but eventually she did calm down. It wasn’t any from “our” hunting guys so I guess he must have come from the castles grounds. So since the hunting season continues until late February (wild hogs and foxes can be hunted longer though) this might happen again 🙂 and as long as the dogs are as polite as this one there’ll be no problems from me 🙂

There he goes the very polite hunting dog 🙂

I checked the web site that sold those heart nuts to me and they said the heart nuts must spend two months in cold surroundings, so I brought five pots outside to the green house, the sixth one is still sort of semi floating but I’ll give it a couple of days more to sink down before I bring that one outside as well. Normally I sow seeds that needs a cold period in damp paper and put them in a plastic bag and in to the fridge but these are so big that I for once put them in soil directly. This was good news for me because it gave me so much space to place other seeds I’ve sown (walnuts of any kind need high and deep pots because of their taproots and it’s really important not to disturb those roots or break them.

So now I’m thinking of sowing melons, I’ve already sown tomato seeds, Tamarillo, guava and two different Passionfruit seeds and I also have Chinese dogwood in a plastic bag waiting plus raisin tree seeds in the fridge. I’ve always failed with melon seeds because they do need a greenhouse to grow here but I’ve tried them in the sunniest and warmer spot I have outside but as I said always failed. Now I have that greenhouse so if I fail this time I will give up 🙂 🙂 🙂 Well it is time for that last cup of tea for the day and after that the Swedish part of the Eurovision Song Contest will start today. I don’t have high hopes since they rather tend too have famous YouTubers, tiktokers and anything else than trying to have good artists competing.

I haven’t seen my neighbours chickens in weeks because they refuse to go outside if they don’t like the weather 🙂

Have a great day!

Rather dull days.

· Leave a comment ·

 

I had to drive to the garage early this morning so they could fix the problems the car had and clear it so I can drive around with it legally 🙂 I was there just after 7 am and picked up the car I could have while waiting for mine. It is a small Opel of some kind and to my very big surprise I actually understood how it works 🙂 🙂 It had a real key and everything showed clearly what I had to do to make it work, like the heating system. I’m used to French cars and that’s not always the case in them 🙂 🙂 🙂

We walked down to the bog two days ago.

We never went out for a walk because I didn’t know when they would text me telling me my car was ready. They close at 4:15 pm and no message, it did come at 5:30 pm though 🙂 The dogs and I were in the garden as much as possible though. I  actually dared to have them in the cottage while I was away, Alma never intentionally brakes anything but she’s big and clumsy so one never knows 🙂 It worked well though, I think they mostly had been sleeping by the door waiting for me to come home. Since the text I got after Malcolm’s surgery said he mustn’t sit or lie on the ground until after ten days (eight days today) so the risk of getting an infection was minimised, the dog house/ yard/ old garage wasn’t really an option.

Absolutely nothing has happened here these last days, even the walks have been a bit dull to be honest and the sunshine we were supposed to have never showed up, instead we had snow falling 🙂 🙂 It snowed all day but I really can’t see where it landed 🙂  The only fun thing that has happened was that the heart walnuts arrived in the mail today. They’ll be soaking in water until tomorrow at least. Normally the rule is that if they keep on floating for more than four days they’ll never germinate. I say normally because a couple of years ago I bought Pawpaw seeds that were so dry I thought they never would start to grow, some seeds were floating for well over a week. I sowed the seeds as soon as they had sunk and never thought I would get anything, all seeds germinated?! Anyhow, the walnuts need a cold period before they start to grown so when they’ve sunken down in the water I’ll put them in separate pots and place them in the greenhouse.

By the way, do You remember that I found two seeds in the Kaki fruits I bought (less hardy relatives to the Persimmon tree)? Well they have started to grow and soon They’ll show leafs 🙂 They will become a big problem in the future because these can not grow outside here, so I’ll have to have them in pots and bring them down in to the cool cellar. I must figure out a way to be able to bring them down without killing anything if I drop them because they’ll need big pots after a while 🙂 🙂

And to the creek yesterday.

It is time for a cup of tea and I’m wondering if they want the car I borrowed when they open the garage tomorrow or if I can wait so the sgrocery store in Gudhem opens so I can pick up a parcel on my way home?

I’ve noticed that the monster spends a lot of time in the doghouse/ yard/ garage.

Have a great day!

We might get sunshine tomorrow :-)

· 4 Comments ·

 

 

I was so tired when. I woke up this morning around 5 am that after the dogs had been outside I went back to the bed and slept for two more hours, that’s very unusual for me. Normally I just gets up and starts with the food for us all. I would have guessed that I had a cold but no it doesn’t feel like that at all. Perhaps I had nice dreams and wanted to continue with them but I almost never remember what I’ve been dreaming about so I don’t know 🙂

WordPress is acting weird lately, I can only write and post something if I do it in edit mode 🙂 🙂 Have no clue to why but this works as well. So it has continued to snow all night and day and with big flakes but looking at the ground I’ll say we might have gotten two fifths of an inch as most. Almost no wind so the snow hasn’t drifted away with the gusts. There were lots of tracks from different animals and I could see that we’ve had Roe deers passing by the cottage. Also the wild hogs have been almost everywhere but thankfully not close to our homes.

cars have been passing my cottage after it has become dark so I guess there might be hunters out in the forest tonight and when they are here at nights it’s because of wild hogs.  Alma and Malkolm don’t like them so if some are gone our walks will be easier I think. Malkolm have been without the cone of shame for a couple of hours and has behaved really well 🙂 They said that he isn’t allowed to clean himself  ten to twelve days after the surgery but surely the wound should be healed enough after a week? Can’t remember they ever was that strict with all the other dogs I’ve had here.

We might actually have some sunshine both tomorrow and on Tuesday! After that the stronger winds will come back and of course they won’t come from south but north to east. Always nasty winds when they are from east or northeast  except during the summer half year because then they come from the continent where summers can be nasty hot and then I’ll complain about them again 🙂 It is time for that last cup of tea but I’ve had enough to eat today so it’ll just be the tea 🙂

Have a great day!

Snowy day.

· 4 Comments ·

 

 

It has been snowing here all day but it barely shows on the ground. I’m not happy about it but I feel I really can’t complain about it since there are places in the US that will have it so much worse. According to the weather sites the temperatures will stay as they are now for at least ten days and sometimes we’ll get snow and sometimes sunshine. Almost no wind here now but it’ll come back next Wednesday till Friday they’re guessing.

 

Today was nice though, despite the snow falling. Almost no wind but I chose to walk in the forest and out to the bog anyway. We could hear animals moving away from us but I never saw any. I wouldn’t say that Malkolm is especially bothered by the cone but I can see the difference in mood when we go out for a walk and he doesn’t need to wear it. I’ve had to calm both him and Alma down because they play a bit rough in the garden and I can see they think I’m sooo boring 🙂 🙂

 

Nothing much has happened here, the only thing I’ve done is to put some pork chops in the oven, boil a few potatoes and made a mushroom sauce, I have to say the sauce was the best of it all 🙂 :-)I had bought a big pack of chops so I’ll need to put some of them back in the freezer.  A neighbour, well his mother is still a neighbour even though he has moved away, texted me yesterday evening and gave me 3-4 cubic meters of fire wood if I wanted. His mother doesn’t use firewood any more and he had more than enough where he lives now, so it’s time to make some space in the wood shed. No panic though because I can bring it home when I want. The space making can start now but I can bring home the fire wood when it gets warmer again. I’ll use my big wheel barrow (two wheeled) when it is time.

I think I’ll start with the sowing of Tamarillo seeds tomorrow. I really like that fruit and used to grow it when I lived in an apartment in Gothenburg. The plant itself smells like come and help me to die (Swedish expression 🙂 ) but the fruits are delicious. I’ll also need to see what tomato seeds I’ll sow, I think I mostly will skip the vines varieties and instead go for the ones growing like a bush and perhaps have a few in the ground instead of in the green house but I will of course have a few vines too in the green house. I do hope we’ll have an early and warm spring this year otherwise I’ll be in trouble 🙂 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea and after that falling asleep in the recliner 🙂

Have a great day!

Nasty wind and sowing season has started :-)

· 2 Comments ·

Same nasty wind as yesterday but from a slightly different angle, south east this time and that made the walk so much nicer since it couldn’t reach us most of the way. Still not especially fun weather and both Alma and Malkolm pulled their leashes almost all the way. Well it could have been worse I guess.

After removing the old microwave oven yesterday I have been continuing to clean and declutter my kitchen counter, it was really needed already long ago 🙂 I have to stop temporarily because I need a new bib plastic sack to throw most of what’s on the counter away. No it isn’t hysterically much but I’m waiting for a door food sack to be emptied and I do need to throw other things away as well 🙂

While cleaning up I realised why it was so cold by the little window. The insulation list must have either become worn out which I doubt or it have broken somehow at the bottom of the window. I do have several potted plants standing there so I couldn’t feel the flow of cold air coming in through there. I don’t have any at home so instead I duct taped the window all the way at the bottom of it. Didn’t take long before it felt much warmer and nicer again.

Somewhere beneath that ice and snow there’s a metallic bridge, I didn’t trust that is for a second so we took a detour 🙂

I found the name of two of the cacti/ succulent seeds I found behind the microwave. One is for leaf cacti and the other one is some sort of agave. There’s a number on each little paper bag so I had to go through 44 pages with 48 species/ varieties to find them 🙂 🙂 The three left I’ll assume are cacti and I’ll wait trying to sow them until it is much warmer outside. I have however started to sow Two species of edible passionfruits, a Chinese dogwood, Japanese raisin tree and also lots of Guava seeds. The guava trees I had I killed last winter by over watering them and also keeping them in the cool  cellar, they didn’t like that at all. I’ll also sow seeds from a pink dandelion I once had, well it wasn’t totally pink, it had a yellow center and the rest of the flower was pink.

I guess that normal dandelion seeds would germinate no matter how old they are but this species isn’t that tough, the last ones only lasted three years before they gave up but I’ll give them a chance anyway. I have more seeds I also bought five Heart seed walnuts (Juglans ailantifolia cordiformis) that needs some time in cold weather to start growing. I don’t know why I keep on sowing walnuts because I really have no space for them 🙂 🙂 🙂 I already have a black walnut tree and an English walnut tree, well tree is too much to call it but it is alive and if it makes through this winter I guess it’ll survive in the long run as well 🙂  ) The one moving here the day I’m gone will have some interesting days to figure out all what I have or it’ll be someone who just will cut it all down 🙂 :-).

It is time for a pot of tea and a French roll I think. The last of the meat sauce was eaten today and now I have pork chops slowly thawing in the fridge. It was cheap and a big pack so either I’ll have the same dinner the coming eight days or I’ll have to put some of them in the freezer 🙂

Ravens passed above us and all at the same direction, I guess an animal must have lost its life.

Have a great day!

Windy and cold and the cone of shame.

· 8 Comments ·
Most of the snow is gone but there are a few places it still hangs around, even though it is mostly ice now.

Nasty and cold winds from east but oddly enough not that cold, just below 0C (32F) during the day. Temperatures will drop during the night though. I can say that our morning walk was anything but nice, there was just one place in the forest where the wind didn’t reach us.

I now know that it was the microwave that made the fuse pop because it happened again when I wanted to re-heat the meat sauce today. This time I had fuses though, 21 of them 🙂 🙂 So I decided to put the microwave in the wood shed until I can throw it away. It was old, most likely over 25 years old actually so I wasn’t surprised that it happened. I did not remember how heavy it was though 🙂  When I removed it I found lots of things that had fallen down behind it 🙂 I now have stamps for the rest of my life and also envelopes 🙂 🙂 I also found seed packages that I had forgotten that I once bought. A few more tomato varieties, nasturtium seeds, something I’d picked myself, wild geranium seeds and something I think must be for succulents. The name of the one selling them to me sort of rings a bell about succulents. It’ll be exiting to see if they’ll germinate one day 🙂 🙂 🙂

Malkolm managed to destroy the cone of shame and I duct taped it so it would hold together but then I remembered that I have some old ones that were made to hold together better, slightly different material I think plus it is reinforced all the way round. Thew biggest one is perhaps a bit small but he can breathe so it’ll have to do 🙂 He mostly behaves when he doesn’t wear it but every now and again he wants to clean himself and I fully understand that but it is still not allowed. He behaves as usual so the painkillers work well and he eats anything hidden in cheese 🙂

I think I’ll skip that last cup of tea for the day and instead I’ll have hot cocoa, it fits better on a cold and windy day I think.

Have a great day!

The day after the vet visit.

· 4 Comments ·

It hasn’t been as cold as they guessed it would be but anything beneath 10C (50F) is too cold for me 🙂 Well it works with colder degrees as long as the wind doesn’t blow and it hasn’t until now, we have a biting cold eastern wind blowing and it is anything but nice.

So Malkolm went to the vet yesterday to get neutered and all went well. He has inside stitches but is still not allowed to sit down outdoors. I do try to make sure he doesn’t but of course it happens anyway. Also today my neighbour was outside bringing in firewood and both Malkolm and Alma loves my neighbours and the first thing he did was to, with the cone of shame, jump over the fence to say high 🙂 🙂 I thought it would be best to bring him back home through the normal way we all do, go through the gate but as soon as he saw me walking to the gate he jumped back over the fence again 🙂 🙂

Anyway, Alma is a pain in the a..s to walk with but she’s even worse in the car!! Even though she’s attached to the seat belt she still does her best to become a danger by trying to be everywhere at the same time, preferable between me and the steering wheel 🙂 🙂 She was however very confused when we drove back home without Malkolm, she actually laid down and slept for several minutes and after that only whining quietly. When we went back to the vet to pick him up all the vet did was to tell me how they all had fallen in love with Malkolm 🙂 After a while it felt like they wanted him to stay 🙂 🙂 I’m pretty sure they won’t say the same about Alma when it is her time 🙂 🙂 🙂

I Asked them about how much it would cost to do the same job with Alma and guess if I was surprised, it’s a third of what it would cost at my regular vet!!! They said that the nurse at the regular place must have read it all wrong and that the price she said must have been an emergency operation if the dog would have pyomatera. I know the big chains cost a lot but this is a free standing vet station and so is the one we usually go to and that was the only explanation they could give. Well it seems we now have a new vet 🙂 Today I got a parcel that I had to pick up at the grocery store in Gudhem and it is the same road as to the vet. Malkolm wasn’t happy and Alma was back to her usual self. I had to bring them because it’s only a day after the surgery and I couldn’t leave them in the cottage or dog house this soon after.

Malkolm is ok and he’ll have painkillers for four more days. He doesn’t have to have the cone all the time, just when I can’t see him all the time. So no cone while being outside walking and when he’s sleeping in the sofas as long as I can see him. Normal appetite as well but now I’ll have to reduce the amount of food he eats, they say that they usually have a bigger appetite than before and gain weight easier as well. I’ve never noticed any of that with my previous dogs but I’ll keep an eye on him and his weight. Alma had to follow us in to the vet, screaming and whining a lot. The vet said: oh she anxious being here and I said no this is how she is when we’re out walking. She just looked at me 🙂 🙂 So I said that perhaps we could drug her for a while 🙂 🙂 and she said that we can have that discussion later on if I wanted to 🙂 🙂 🙂 I do love that big stupid dog but she is a handful sometimes 🙂 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I’ll also have one of the newly baked French rolls I baked this morning. Lots of cheese in them so they are delicious 🙂

Have a great day!

It’s melting but too slow.

· 8 Comments ·
The photos today are old because I didn’t take especially many today since it was slippery and wet everywhere.

I think that the interview went well yesterday so now I’m waiting for an answer that I’ll get on e-mail. If I then would come to the department where the one talking to me work at there’ll be lots of heavy lifting so I hope it helped that I once walked up ladders with 25Kg (55,1pound) boxes  filled with powder paint 🙂

This morning however I realised that I must have Malkolm neutered before I start to work so that I can stay at home while he’s healing. I guess that if I get a job I won’t start working next week but the week after, so I called the vet as soon as they were going to open. Naturally they were closed today (could have been a longer time because they didn’t even have the emergency vet at the moment, So I had to call another vet in Falköping. They have good reviews but it always feel better to go to the usual one. Anyway it’ll happen on Tuesday morning.

This place was cheaper and that doesn’t hurt. I’ll ask what they charge for Alma, my usual wet takes over $ 2700 US and that is at the moment way too much and even if I do get the job it’ll take some time before I dare paying that much money, I really want to have some savings if there’s an emergency of any kind. Perhaps Alma would calm down some when that surgery is done, it can happen but it’s no guarantee that happens.

It is warmer here now and the snow is melting but not fast enough for my liking 🙂 The problem is that the ground is frozen so the water has nowhere to go. I now have a little lake growing on both sides of my gate 🙂 🙂 It will start to get colder again this weekend and on Monday we’ll have below 0C (32F) both day and night again. I do hope it won’t get as cold as last week but February is usually our coldest month. I have at least started to notice that we do have longer days now even though it perhaps is just half an hour or so.

Have a great day!

Finally, it is melting!

· 6 Comments ·

It took its time but now we’ve finally had above 0C (32F) but the day began with mostly snow falling but also some rain. The roads have been rather bad and for once even worse in this village. My neighbour was going to take her children to pre school but had huge problems to even go up the small slope up to the village road. After that it was even worse, so she had to go back home again and can’t work tonight.

Our fox has survived the hunters so far 🙂

I walked up to my mailbox just a few minutes ago and if it doesn’t freeze too hard tonight it’ll be much better when I have to drive around noon tomorrow. I’ll go to a job interview so hold Your thumbs and cross Your fingers for good luck 🙂 Anyway, it had rained before we went out for our morning walk but it turned to snow when we were out. Instead of dry fluffy snow we now have what and slushy snow 🙂 I could get a grip when walking though so I think that was better 🙂

I can’t figure out if this is a track from a piglet or perhaps a small roe deer. I think it is a piglet.

Bot Alma and Malkolm behaved better than they have ever done I think. Well the only thing Malkolm does is to pull the leash because he wants to follow tracks as fast as he can but he does listen when I tell him to calm down, the majority of times 🙂 🙂 Alma is a different thing but today she stayed mostly quiet and also followed Malkolm to see what he thought was so interesting 🙂 So no aching shoulders on me today 🙂 Otherwise I haven’t done much. I baked some French rolls before we went out and I’ve realised that it’s the cheese that make any bread much better. I didn’t have any leftover cheese this time so the rolls sort of missed something 🙂 I also did some laundry just so I have some clean clothes tomorrow 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I’ll have another of the rolls I baked because they’re always best the day they’re made 🙂

Have a great day!

Finally, it is getting less cold!

· 4 Comments ·

 

It is slowly but steadily getting less cold now and that makes me smile. Thankfully we had clouds covering the sky during most parts of last night so it wasn’t as cold as they guessed it would be but to cold for me 🙂

So it almost felt warm when we went out for our morning walk today, only -11C (12,2F). No wind and a thick layer of clouds so the whole area sort of had a led grey hue to it.  The wild life had noticed the change towards less cold as well so today we saw lots of tracks in the snow. Mostly wild hogs but also deer, both Roe and red deer and also some moose tracks. The squirrels are to light to make any prints in the hard surface the snow now has (still powdery beneath the surface though) but the foxes were just enough heavy to make paw prints.

We did hear a few smaller birds tweeting close to the village but that was it, no Jays or Ravens made any sounds. A squirrel ran down a pine trunk on the back side of the tree but we could hear it and just had to follow the snow that fell from the surface while the squirrel ran downwards. It felt like walking in a world where only the vegetation was left. Well the whining from Alma sort of destroyed that feeling a bit but she was actually much more quiet than she normally is.

Tomorrow I’ll brush off all snow from the car and go to the supermarket. I really don’t have much left in the larder or the fridge 🙂 I also need seeds for the birds, some birds just don’t like peanuts, especially not those who only comes to the feeders when it’s too hard to find food in the forest like the Bullfinches. To be honest they are rare then to but it looks like both the House sparrow and the field sparrow prefers seeds before peanuts. 

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day. If I hadn’t had dinner just an hour ago I woukld have made a couple of sandwiches because I made some French rolls yesterday that almost tasted like normal ones and as always I’ll never recreate them since I just mixed together what ever kind of flour I had. Perhaps one day I should write it all down 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

This must be the most sad looking Thuja in the world. The ground is dry and it never get any sunshine 🙂

Nasty cold!

· 4 Comments ·

So last night was cold, the temperature dropped down to a bit lower than 19C (2,2F). The sky was clear so there was nothing stopping what was left of the heat from going straight out to space. Tonight will be even colder they say and it is already -16.4C (2,48F). The weather sites says it’s only -13C (8,6F) at the moment and won’t fall that much more 🙂 🙂 🙂

We did go out for a morning walk when it was slightly less cold but the dogs changed their minds after a while. Malkolm refused to walk where there was less snow for some reason so his paws got really cold and I did warm them up but that did only help for a short while. Thankfully my neighbours had to buy food so they helped me with a few things because I had no wish what so ever to be out driving when it was that cold 🙂 🙂 🙂

They say that it will be much warmer the coming week and even above 0C (32F) from Wednesday and for the rest of the week but since they can’t get what temperature we have now right why would I believe them about what might happen later in the week 🙂 🙂 🙂

So it has been a lot of tea drinking most of the day, so I have already had that last cup because what goes in must come out 🙂 and so far not all has come out 🙂 I think I’ll make myself some warm sandwiches  and try to stay close to the radiators for the rest of the day 🙂 🙂 I truly hate winter!

Have a great day!

It does at least not snow.

· 2 Comments ·

Nothing much to write about today, the wind is back and is nasty cold but for most of the day it didn’t reach my cottage or reach in to the forest. Now it clearly reach the cottage and the kitchen feels a bit chilly. Now both big weather sites says cold during Sunday and Monday but one says -13C (8,6F) and the other says -16C (3,2F) I really don’t like either of those options 🙂 🙂 Two days after they say above 0C (32F). cold roads with melting water will be fun to drive on.

I could almost see the sun but those blue gaps in the clouds were never in the right place 🙂

No mice have been caught in the cool cellar but the monster has been very interested in going down there and of course I let her do it. She tells me when she think it is enough 🙂 Lots of people are sick here now, lots of coughing and nose dripping 🙂 So far I’ve been spared but I do feel tired all the time but that can also be because the lack of sunshine.

We walked down to the creek this morning and as long as we walked on the gravel road everything was fine but then we followed the creek and only had our old tracks to walk in and the wind had blow a lot of snow in those tracks so it was like walking in potato flour, I never knew what way I would slide 🙂 🙂 It was even worse in the fields because the perfectly smooth snow surface didn’t show where the wild hogs had been digging 🙂 :-)Sometimes the snow barely reached the sole of my shoes, sometimes I stood in knee deep snow 🙂 🙂 🙂

Not a sign in the snow where the wild hogs have been digging 🙂

It was even a bit too much for the dogs in the end and the walk took much longer than normal. I didn’t mind the longer time especially but I did mind the wind that hit us all the time. I could barely feel my hands when we came back home. It was so nice to be able to sit down and have a cup of tea just doing nothing after we had come back.

I think it is time for that last cup of tea for the day and to fall asleep in the recliner. I’ll have to have the alarm on though because today it’s On the Tracks on tv, something I actually like to watch 🙂

Have a great day!