Category: Roe deer.

Cold and sowing bananas.

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WordPress is really slow today and has been for a while but I hope it will allow me to post something. We had a warning about heavy snowfall today but barely nothing extra had fallen when we went out on our morning walk. I could even see some blue spots up there in the clouds.

We walked out to the bog and I must say that Alma has become much better now, ok she still have these high pitch whining that drives me crazy but they are fewer now days and Malkolm has really learned how not pulling the leash makes my mood so much better :-)There was some new snow on the ground but it was still pretty easy to walk in the tire tracks the hunters had made two days ago.

So it wasn’t until we walked in to the forest that walking became a bit harder, it is like walking in potato starch, two steps ahead and one back so to speak 🙂 but then the sun broke through and we had a huge blue opening in the clouds and that made life so much easier, even the walking in the snow 🙂 🙂 When we reached the end of the peninsula roe deer were jumping around everywhere 🙂 I did manage to get photos of one that stood still but the rest were like bouncing balls 🙂

It tried to stand so still that we wouldn’t see it.The sun kept shining almost the entire way home and when I had closed the door behind us the snow started to fall and it was a lot of snow falling. It didn’t last for long that time but it came back several times and enough of it for the guy that plows our road to get out working. Now the weather sites seems to have lined up and says the same thing, just a little more snow but nasty cold instead, especially during the weekend. I’m not happy about that at all but can’t really do anything else than to except it 🙂 Well they aren’t too good in guessing the weather so it can be just the opposite instead 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I’ll have a sandwich or two at the same time. I baked a couple of loafs yesterday and they turned out really good, no I can’t make the same again because I just tossed in what kind of leftover flour I had at home 🙂 🙂 But to be honest, I think that it actually is the cheese I put in that make all the difference 🙂 I’ve also started with the sowing today, two different bananas, Oriental raisin tree and Chinese dogwood.

These are the seeds to the Pink Banana. I soaked them in hot water over night.
I then placed them in a damp paper towel and put them in a plastic bag. Now they hang over the kitchen radiator so they will be as warm as possible.
This is the seeds for the Ethiopian Banana. Ten times bigger but will be treated the same but soak in that water for a couple of days.

Haste great day!

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Another cold day, the temperature reached 0C (32F) as highest and to be honest that’s not so cold this time of year now days. I remember one year, about 21 years ago when winter started with snow and below freezing temperatures all the time in October and it lasted until early May. Lots of snow as well so that was for me a nightmare winter 🙂 🙂 🙂 and I hope it’ll never happen again 🙂

I could hear the wind blowing in the tree tops but it never reached the ground. So even if the sun was hesitant to show itself we still had a nice morning walk, especially since Alma only whines once in a while.  She pulled the leash like insane some times though but rather that than her high pitched whining. For me that sound is like a fork drawn over a plate would be like for the rest of the world I guess and hearing it constantly on every walk (which lasts at least an hour, often much more) it’s like torture. So days when she only does it every now and again are joyful days 🙂

I got that light chain in the mail today, so I put it up in the spruce with an odd shape. No matter how I do the lights looks really odd 🙂 🙂 🙂 Still any light is a good light. I’ll take photos tomorrow. I have one in my phone but either I miss something or the transfer of a photo from a phone to an iMac computer is ridiculously complicated. In a PC one just mail the photo to oneself and voila! It’s in the computer easily reach when needed, in an iMac not so unfortunately.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and today they show the weekly science program on tv. I’ve slept badly for a couple of days now because I have gotten pimples on my earlobes 🙂 🙂 🙂 I didn’t know one could get pimples there but now I’ve learned something 🙂 They hurt like h..l when I rest my head on the pillow. One on each ear so it doesn’t matter on what side I sleep on 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

Wolves, eagles, ravens and a try from someone to scam my mother.

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Yesterday mornings sunrise. We didn’t see much of the sun until just before it set.

So my mother just called me because she had gotten a text message from me saying I couldn’t manage any more, meaning needed money. Well the thing is that I haven’t sent her a message because I know she most likely don’t know how to answer 🙂 🙂 🙂 So the one sending it wanted to scam her for money. What that person doesn’t know is that she barely knows how to make a call and wouldn’t be able to send any money until Monday when the banks open and only if she could get a ride 🙂 🙂 🙂

I really don’t know how this works, if they can do the same to other relatives so I’ve been calling around to relatives so if they get the same message they won’t answer to it. This is at the moment a popular way to trick money out go people because who won’t help a child/ relative in need if they can? I’ve told my 89 year old mother to report it to the police even if it actually won’t help because like everywhere they have too little staff and no money to check in to it. Just imagine how much good these people could do if they tried to help people instead!

Yesterdays morning walk was a disaster 🙂 🙂 All of a sudden Malkolm refused to walk in front of me and Alma when we were walking on the very narrow path beside the creek. He did everything to avoid walking and it almost resulted in he almost tied my feet together with his leash. I just couldn’t understand what he was doing but after a long while we managed to continue. Normally he walks with his nose close to the ground but this time he looked straight ahead and pulled the leash unusually hard, then suddenly Alma joined him and they almost made me fall and they didn’t calm down until we were at home.

I can’t figure out what I didn’t understand him until I realised that they behaved like they did the first time we had wolves close to us 🙂 🙂 🙂 This time the reaction was much stronger so I guess that if I had looked around I might have seen it but I was more occupied in not getting tied up and fall 🙂 🙂 🙂 So I think we better avoid the creek for a while, not because I think the wolf still might be there but because it is still too fresh in his memory. So we walked out to the bog instead and today he was like he always is, nose glued to the ground and slightly pulling the leash. It was pretty cold and the temperature was quite low, -6C (21,2F). Thankfully we had sunshine and the sun is still warming up the air quite a lot.

So I have actually had the kitchen door open as long as the sun hit the southern wall. It is sad to see all the leafs falling off but when they are gone the sun hits that wall for a much longer time 🙂 I could even turn off the radiators for several hours. Now it’s dark outside and the temperature will drop quite a lot again tonight.

I’m making rice porridge in the slow cooker and it’s almost time to have some 🙂 So I’ll skip that last cup of tea for the day and enjoy the porridge instead with lots of raspberry jam 🙂

Sometimes White tailed eagles flies over the cottage and they always have ravens chasing them.

The Raven is a rather big bird but looks pretty small beside the eagle.

Have a great day!

It did feel much colder.

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We had a beautiful sunny morning today but it was nasty cold. I don’t understand why it felt that could because we’ve had colder mornings that didn’t feel as bad 🙂 Lots of frost, no wind and sunshine and still my hands froze to ice 🙂 

No moose flies or ticks though so that was a big plus 🙂 We walked down to the creek and followed it up stream. Small birds were tweeting and they Jays screaming but the most noticeable sound was the frozen leafs falling to the ground, for a while I thought squirrels must be jumping between the trees and sort of was disappointed when I understood that it just was icy hard frozen leafs 🙂 

Today we finally could walk up and in to the older forest, nothing much had changed since the last time we were there except that the fallen trees had been removed. I don’t know why but it always feel safe when walking there and it is a bit odd since there’s nothing dangerous anywhere in this surrounding 🙂 Also compact spruce forest isn’t even my favourite kind of forest to be honest. I guess it’s because not a sound from the outside world can reach in there, not even now when all leafs are falling off the trees outside.

he temperature managed to rise up to 10C (50F) but not even the sunshine could make it so nice that I could have the kitchen door open. We were outside in the garden quite a lot but each time a bit short because the dogs wanted to go inside, none of them are cold weather dogs 🙂 🙂 🙂 Well it is that time of year so we better get used to the colder weather. The supermarket has already put up a Christmas tree by the entrance and it is full of coloured lights. I wonder why they want us to hate Christmas by the time it’s actually here?

This little cold I have makes me more tired than I thought it would be so today we took a long nap the dogs and I. Well I’m getting older so I guess I’ll have to get used to that even smaller colds have this effect on me now. I can’t say I feel especially sick but it seems my body really doesn’t care about that 🙂 🙂 🙂 The only thing I’ve actually done today is to order new spiked winter shoes. A certain black dog who loves to chew on shoes destroyed the ones I already had. They were a few years old but still in really good shape so to say I was quite annoyed by him doing that is a bit of an understatement 🙂 For once I had just left them on the floor and Malkolm will never miss a chance like that to a new chew toy 🙂 🙂 🙂 well two since he managed to destroy both 🙂 🙂 

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day andI’m pretty sure I’ll doze of in front of the tv even though they show my favourite science program today 🙂

Have a great day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

It would be a lie to say it was warm today.

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Well to say that we had a warm day here would be to lie 🙂 the temperature barely reach above 10C (50F) but the sun was shining almost all day and it did feel really nice when being in it. The long side of my cottage is heading south so I could have the kitchen door open for a big part of the day anyway.

No hunters in the forest but lots of moose flies but since it was as chilly as it was they were easy to remove and kill. Wild hogs had left just before we arrived at the bog so that could be the reason we had so many moose flies. Lots of birds tweeting and we did see a roe deer out in the fields.

I’ve decided to not use the fenced vegetable garden next year, I did fence it because back then old Albin still was around and he loved to dig up and eat vegetables 🙂 🙂 especially garlic and he also tried to eat onions 🙂 🙂 🙂 and since he not is around any longer I might just as well remove that fence and start growing the vegetables around the greenhouse instead. Also since I have two different potato diseases in that soil (nothing deadly for either the potato or me, common scab and powdery scab) I’ll only grow potatoes in buckets or big pots.

I also dug up a lot of Ball thistles, the few Hostas I have and a peony. I wasn’t sure if I would touch the peony but it was much bigger under the surface than I thought it would be so by mistake I managed to cut it in two pieces. All but the ball thistles are now replanted, the thistles I just tossed in a corner of the garden because they tend to survive no matter what one does to them 🙂 🙂 🙂

Every time I’ve been going down the stairs to the cool cellar both Alma and Malkolm has been standing outside the open door whining and refusing to follow me down. Old Love followed me despite that her first year in life was being starved and tortured in a cellar. Alma and Malkolm just continued to refuse 🙂 Malkolm could follow me three steps but then turning back while Alma refused to do even that. That was until Malkolm one day realised that he would get a treat if he came further down 🙂 Still he could walk almost all steps down but never step on the floor. When Alma understood that treats were involved things started to change 🙂 🙂 🙂

Today she ran all the way down to the floor and when she got a treat I could see how proud she was. Malkolm was still a bit anxious but a piece of cheese made him change his mind 🙂 🙂 Now they almost run down the stairs before me and expects me to give them a treat 🙂 Their eyes grow big and tail wagging 🙂 🙂 Perhaps it was better before after all 🙂 🙂 🙂 It is time for that last cup of tea and today I’ll have crackers with blue cheese on 🙂

The flowerbed just beside the vegetable patch, I removed half of it because there were too many wild raspberries growing in it plus that, if I ever come around to that project I’m thinking of I will need that space.

I’ll have the vegetables growing close to the greenhouse instead. I do have two roses though that will be staying where they are. This one on this side

and this one on the other side. This rose have been growing in this garden for very long, perhaps already from the beginning 115 years ago. Has been moved around though so that’s why it is as small as it is.

Have a great day!

Cold night again.

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-2C (28,4F) this morning and a wonderful morning mist bordering to almost thick fog. The sun rose and we did have a rather nice walk, the only thing that disturbed was that my hands became just as cold as the air around us 🙂 We didn’t see any moose or signs of any wolves but we did see a roe deer in a field.

The rest of the day has been either nasty cold and cloudy or rather nice and sunny. Too bad the rather nice and sunny was a bit rare compared to the cold and cloudy. Tomorrow will be, if they’re guessing it right, the last day of sunny and nice before a storm hits us on Saturday. I am a bit worried about the green house even though I now have secured it with wires and storm anchors because the winds will come from south east and it will hit it right on I’m afraid.

I will pick up those tent pegs for greenhouses tomorrow though so I can secure it even better. So hold Your thumbs and cross Your fingers for good luck because it would be so boring if it flew away even before I’ve had a chance to use it even once 🙂 🙂 🙂  otherwise we’ve done very little today since it has been so chilly, we did have a nap for an hour or so and after that I made pancakes for dinner 🙂

It is time to make a pot of tea and find a good book I think because as so often I can’t find anything worth watching on tv. I’ve heard a rumour that the foreman at the coffin factory finally was kicked out, no sad feelings for that 🙂 So perhaps I should go back and see if they have a job for me 🙂 I really liked all the people but I didn’t give much for him to be honest 🙂

It is time too start making that tea so have a great day!

Trellied tree, or at least it will be.

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Once again we woke up to a pretty and cold morning. No frost but I had still covered all the more sensitive plants. I will not do that this evening because from now on nights will be warmer again and therefore we’ll be annoyed by the flies again. They might not be many but oh how good they are in annoying me 🙂 🙂

This morning however was more or less fly free, later in the day when it warmed up though lots of them did their best to irritate me here in the garden. we actually saw two deer on our walk this morning and thankfully Alma only noticed one of them 🙂 Today we walked down to the creek but from the other direction than we usually walk there. The beavers are damming up the creek so almost no water runs away from it. I noticed that they’ve brought lumber there so I guess they’ll try to trap it, don’t think regular hunting is allowed now in summer since they have small ones.

I’ve continued to cut down the big rose in the corner of my garden, it is anything but fun or enjoyable 🙂 🙂 I managed to cut of a branch that went above my head. Do You know what it is like to remove thorns from ones scalp and not being able to see what one does 🙂 🙂 🙂 I also planted that last pear tree seedling (are they called seedling when they are over two and a half years old?) I didn’t know what to do with it but then I started to think about trellised trees! So that’s what I’m going to do. I’ve put up the poles to the side of it. It is still to small to do that but all I need to do know besides waiting for it to grow 🙂 is to get some steel wire to be able to trellis it when it is time to start.

It is time to have that last cup of tea for the day and after that I think it will be an early night. I’ve had loads of tea and coffee but still feel pretty tired. Tomorrow I’ll go to the supermarket, I don’t need much but I hope they still have some of the Juniper berry soda I loved as a kid, Hadn’t seen it in years but then suddenly I found it in the super market. If You wonder how it tastes I can say that it is something between cola, dark beer and Dr Pepper 🙂

The big rose. This is what it looked like when I started

and this after twenty minutes work. My hands and head were really in bad shape after that 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’ll continue slowly and steady 🙂

Have a great day!

The work had begun. To be honest this will be so much easier to manage than a big tree. Perhaps not as much fruit but the quality of the fruit will be better. Plus it doesn’t take up as much space and it will not shadow anything behind it.

I can hear the storm roaring through the forest.

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

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

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

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

The Leeks are coming fine despite that I sowed them too late, forgot about them so almost all dies and then they were covered by potato leafs 🙂

This year the butterfly bush will flower before most butterflies die 🙂 Last year it survived a frosty night and didn’t flower until October 🙂 🙂

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

Have a great day!

I can hear a gentle rain hitting my windows.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a great day!

There she stood just looking at us.

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20C (68F) today but very little sunshine. Really doesn’t matter to me since I’ve been working all day  🙂 The dogs must have had a really nice day though 🙂 Summer arrived a month early (I’m not complaining about that 🙂 ) and so did the forest flies, that I am complaining about though. Forest flies are really harmless to be honest, no biting or drinking blood or spreading diseases, instead they swarm around the head and always tries to check out our nostrils and ears 🙂 🙂 I truly dislike them! Still I can avoid them by wearing a mosquito ha so that’s what I’ll be doing when they become too many.

If You want tulips that comes back from year to year buy bulbs from the wild species. They tend also to spread quite happily 🙂

I did wonder how it would be with the wild bees now when the we don’t have any honey bees in the village and today the sound from the flowering apple trees told me they are ok 🙂 The trees were buzzing loudly so they have not suffered by having honey bees here. I had read that it could go bad for them if there were too many honey bees in an area but how many are too many. Well there were up to ten hives for a while and by the sound from my apple trees that weren’t too many 🙂

I’ll get my first pay check soon 🙂 well checks haven’t been used here for ages even though I’ve heard they still can be used. It’s always something special with that first one, even though it only is half a month since I didn’t start working until the 14th let month. How getting paid varies here, in this place You’ll get paid the moth after so if one quits one will get paid the month after on has quit. At my previous work place they paid for the same month on had been working and any adjustments, like sick days or over time would be on the next pay check. I’ll also get paid from the unemployment agency so it will be almost like it would if I had worked a full month anyway 🙂

I’m baking a bread right now so it’ll soon be time to bring it out of the oven. The dogs are eager for me to bring it out because they always get some and some cheese too 🙂 It’s also the first semi finale in the Eurovision Song Contest. If You don’t know what that is I’m happy to explain it as good as I can. Anyway, Sweden is once again a big favourite amongst the betting sites and if we win on Saturday when the big finale is we’ll be the country that has won most times leaving Ireland behind us 🙂 🙂 I will not see any of the semi finals because it takes forever but I will watch it on Saturday.

Now many people wonder why it is called Eurovision since also countries from Asia and Australia competes but I’ve learned that since they belong to the European Broadcasting system they too can compete. I don’t mind because my favourites are quite often from those countries 🙂

We passed this roe goat on our way home from our walk. Alma didn’t notice her thankfully, Malkolm did but just stood there watching her. I took one photo and then we left because I didn’t want to stress her more than necessary.

Have a great day!

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Just as sad weather today as yesterday but since hunters have been out all day we haven’t been able to have a walk anyway. Good thing I  took some photos yesterday and that I have loads in the file “For a rainy day”  🙂

     

I went to the supermarket in the morning so now I won’t need to go there for at least five days 🙂 Good thing because my neighbor hasn’t gotten her car back from the garage yet so she’ll be having my car instead 🙂  I haven’t done much more today to be honest, I did however make pancakes but with oatmeal instead of the corn based I usually do. They did taste a bit different , not much but still noticeable. They’ll be a good substitute if I can’t use the normal one again.

     

I’ve also started to learn more with the photo editing program in my Mac. I normally never do anything else than reduce the size on my photos so they don’t use too many Bites when downloading them to my blog but it is fun to see what else there is. So I tried the sharped the photo thing and I must say I’m impressed. I tried that in my old computer and that photo came out just as blurry as it was before but in another way 🙂 🙂 This time I used a photo that I thought was pretty sharp but realized after sharpening it in the new computer that it wasn’t especially sharp at all 🙂 🙂 🙂 The “new” photo didn’t show any signs that it had been tampered with at all. So now I understand why professional photographers only want Mac computers 🙂 🙂

     

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and after that I’ll probably read a book. I’m so tired now that I most likely will have problems staying awake 🙂

Can You see that little dark spot on the road almost all the way to the old stable? I thought that was a barn cat but it didn’t run away in panic like they usually do.

So we caught up with her, yes it’s a her because it’s my neighbors cat 🙂 She was so concentrated on catching a mouse he didn’t realize how close we were.

When she did she hunkered down and took a look at us.

The dogs couldn’t see her but knew she was there somewhere 🙂 She really didn’t care about us since she knows my dogs so well 🙂

Have a great day!

Sunny and nice.

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That cold we’re having going around here never want to leave. I’ve talked to those getting hit by it before me and just like me they still have it! No fever what I know but runny noses and coughing. So I’m pretty sure this must be covid, I’ve never heard of a cold staying for this long. It’s annoying but it doesn’t seem to want to kill us anyway 🙂 🙂 🙂

    

The odd thing is that at least I don’t cough at nights, only in the early mornings and in the afternoons. Well I’ve had worse things so it’s just annoying to be honest.  We’ve had rather nice weather here for two days, lots of sunshine and rain only last night. We had a walk in the village yesterday just after noon. Alma had one of her impossible days, that dog wasn’t quiet for a second and she became even worse when first the mailman drove by and even more so when we met some villagers out walking as well 🙂 🙂 🙂

     

This mornings walk was better thankfully. At least she didn’t pull the leash that much. Both yesterday and today we passed dogs in dog yards, a under stimulated labrador in his garden. Nothing wrong with him really but to be honest I’ve never seen them taking him out for a walk and another little yapping dog in his garden but not close to the gravel road so none of the dogs cared about him at all 🙂 She didn’t care about all the bulls we passed though which I’m happy about because I really don’t want her to anger them up 🙂 🙂 🙂

     

Malkolm and Sara have played all day, even upstairs and it did sound as if they tore down everything up here 🙂 After that Sara went to Nova for a nap 🙂 Alma is still a bit unsure about what she can do since the day I had to rip her out from the couch when she twice sat down on Sara and not moving when the cat screamed for her life 🙂 🙂 🙂 Alma does after all weigh 35 kg (77 pound) and Sara 0,5kg (around a pound). So if the cat is with me and Alma in the sofa I quite often lift over Sara to Alma so that she knows she’s allowed close to the cat, as long as she doesn’t sit on her 🙂

 

It is the upper part of my little cottage You can see here 🙂

Again it is time for a last cup of tea for the day and perhaps a banana as well.

Have a great day!