Category: Snow.

Still waiting for that snow.

November 19, 2025 · 2 Comments ·

Still waiting for that snow to arrive. Well to be honest we have actually had some but so little that it’s hard to find 🙂 🙂 They are threatening us with more later on though so I guess we’ll get it sooner or later. There has been snow chaos in other places though and I’m so glad it never came to us.

We have had fog though, so thick in the early morning that it was hard to see anything and then it slowly started to thin out just to come back again later. I do like fog so I didn’t complain but it did make the day a bit dark to be honest. The eyes didn’t notice it that much but the camera did 🙂

I had prepared for a snowy day so I made lots of rice porridge and learned that it worked just as well on a foggy day 🙂 Rice porridge is not something one make unless it is cold and snowy because it takes a long time to make, easily gets burned and if it is burned one has to toss it away because it tastes awful. Making it on a stove is hot and boring since one must stir it around pretty often. I however make it in the slow cooker so even though it takes almost three hours to make one only have to stir it a few times.

I put on a new collar on the monsterkitten yesterday and she wore it for almost half a day before she lost it 🙂 🙂 This time I wrote my phone number on the collar so I got a call just minutes ago, she had lost it at the farm just up the slope 🙂 So I’ll get it tomorrow when I’ll check if I’ve gotten any mail. I guess that’s the place she mostly walks to because she does tend to smell like a cow now days. I’m pretty sure her mother was one of the feral cats living there and that’s where the cat looking almost identical to her lives at as well 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day. It is pitch black outside and the temperatures will drop considerable so tomorrow morning might be the coldest morning so far this winter.

Have a great day!

The snow is closing in.

November 18, 2025 · 8 Comments ·

We might get up to two decimeters (eight inches) of snow from tonight and until Friday afternoon so I decided to go to the store already today so I don’t have to drive in that garbage weather on Friday. I know, snow is pretty but I truly dislikes it. The only time I actually liked it was rather many years ago when I spent Christmas in a cottage even more remote than where I live now.

I rented a cottage back then in a region called Dalsland, close to the Norwegian border, and I had the best Christmas ever (I think that I have written about it here in my blog a year or two or perhaps even more years ago 🙂 ). Over half a meter of snow (much the same in yards), -28C (-18,4F), no electricity but a fire stove and my then two dogs and one cat. There’s no light pollution at all there so even if I can see lots of stars here it’s nothing compared to there. I spent an entire week there and as I said it’s the only time I actually have liked snow 🙂

This and the rest of the photos are taken with analog cameras and if I remember it right it’s an Agfa Ambiflex I took these six first ones, then two with a Nikon F90 and the four last ones with an Agfa Colorflex (can be wrong with that last one though).

Back then mobile phones just started to become popular so to hope for any kind of signal there was to hope for a miracle 🙂 🙂 🙂 I would have loved to live there but I think there’s a bigger chance to find a job on the planet Mars than in that region 🙂 🙂 🙂 Well I’ll have to endure the snow here no matter what but I do think that if I ever won the lottery I would buy something small in southern France so I could stay there during winter and move back here when spring arrives 🙂

I didn’t bring any digital camera with me on our walks today but it looks much the same as it did a few days back and I also have some wintery photos taken with film cameras last winter so perhaps I’ll put in a few of those. I think it is time for that last cup of tea for the day, I will not bake a mug cake today no matter how yummy it was so I’ll just have that tea and perhaps watch some tv even if I doubt that there’s anything I want to watch, there rarely is.

Have a great day!

A day outside for the monsterkitten.

March 18, 2025 · 8 Comments ·

We’re having a really nice day here, a bit frosty in the morning but temperatures rose when the sun did. So today we’ve had 11C (51,8F) 🙂 There is a wind blowing but it isn’t that cold and like most days it can’t reach my garden.

We walked down to the creek and I must say that Alma is getting better and better walking well. Malkolm is just the opposite but that could be that I only notice it now when Alma has started to calm down 🙂 🙂 🙂 We could hear lots of cranes but couldn’t see any, the big migration north has just started and soon I’ll be able to see them flying over us as soon as we’re outside. The doves have arrived too, I do like their sound in the morning when we go outside.

I took a look at my small vegetable garden yesterday and since the weather is so nice I decided I would start removing all the weeds today. This early in spring I can only see the biennals and the perennial weeds and thankfully they grow big enough in autumn that they are easy to see now. It was mostly Aarons’ rod, a few dandelions and also small stinging nettles. The Aarons’rods grow so big that they need to be removed and I did remove most of the dandelions as well, left a couple since I like the leafs in a salad.

Also stinging nettles are nutritious but to be honest, they spread like wild fires and no matter what people say they do sting badly already as tiny plants. Wild raspberries is a bit of a problem here, they too spread fast but then again those berries are probably the tastiest one can find but not in my vegetable patch 🙂 🙂 I also found some carrots from last year so the dogs and I shared them 🙂 🙂 All these weeds filled up that small compost I bought last summer, the black one that one can and must spin around to make it work properly.

Where the Pawpaws grow. Doesn’t look much but they have survived the winter, all green beneath the bark 🙂

It was so so full now that I barely could spin it 🙂 🙂 It works amazingly good, it’s just made of some kind of plastic that also insulated really well. They say it works down to -11C (12,2F) and I believe them. It’s counted as a warm compost and during summer it gets really warm and I put my hands in it now when it was cold and I could still feel warmth in there. I’ll continue tomorrow with more weeding and thankfully I do have a big compost made from the same material that still has some space it it 🙂

She didn’t look too happy when she looked out the door 🙂

The monsterkitten was allowed to walk out from the kitchen door by herself today. Can’t say she was especially enthusiastic in the beginning, lots of going in and out at the beginning 🙂 🙂 She did get more brave after a while but as soon as the dogs thought she had wandered a bit too far (4 meters as most wich is much the same in yards) they started to make sure she walked back to the door 🙂 🙂 🙂 We’ll have much the same temperatures the coming five days so she’ll have plsnty more times to explore the garden 🙂

Alma was also keeping an eye on her. An exciting day for the monster kitten and she’s been sleeping all afternoon 🙂

Time for dinner I think, have no clue what I’ll make but after that I’ll make a pot of tea 🙂

Have a great day!

Northern winds.

March 16, 2025 · 10 Comments ·

Warmer this morning but with an annoying wind from north but warmer, despite northern winds so why complain 🙂 Also today it took some time before the clouds flew away so that the sun could reach us.

I met our new neighbours today and can happily tell You it’s a younger couple who loves how quiet it is here. Very easy to talk to as well so that’s a relief 🙂 We met them on our morning walk when they were out walking with their tiny white dog and I shouted to them that Alma most likely would scream as obsessed but that she’s harmless 🙂 🙂 🙂 Yes Alma did shout and pulled the leash but gently greeting their dog and so did Malkolm. I told them that Alma is an escape artist and that they most likely would meet her when they walk out of their home but that she also most likely would run away from them after a sniff or two 🙂 🙂

They told me that they have chicken and that the rooster crows all the time. No problem said I. I mean roosters do that and I like the sound so that was nothing to be worried about 🙂 They had also already noticed that the wild hogs comes close to their cottage. I didn’t tell them about our wolves though, better to save the exciting things to when they’ve settled 🙂 🙂 🙂

One really doesn’t want to sink down in that mud 🙂

We walked out to the bog to see if the ground still was frozen enough so that we could walk out to my favourite island but it wasn’t. The ground was frozen all the way to where we’ve just passed the creek and that’s where the sun had reached. If I had had rubber boots I might have been able to go out there but I think it is Alma who chewed through my old ones and I’ve never bothered to buy new ones. The sun slowly started to break through the clouds on our way home but not fully until we’ve had come home, so we’ve spent a lot of time in the garden instead 🙂

I’ve baked some rolls so it is time to have that last cup of tea for the day and then try one of the rolls 🙂

Have a great day!

Snow is slowly melting away again.

March 15, 2025 · 4 Comments ·

A cold night followed by a sunny morning today, there was no wind when I let the dogs out after we woke up and no wind when I drove to the supermarket. I prefer to go grocery shopping early in the morning when the place hasn’t that many costumers, very few customers are younger than 60 at that time in the morning 🙂 🙂

The weather seems just right for the spruce cones to open up and start spreading their seeds.

There was no one before me when I reached the cashier and no one followed after me when I was done 🙂 It showed in the traffic as well, I didn’t have a single car behind me when I drove back home. I looked towards the lake but could just see photographers with lenses bigger than I thought was possible I guess You need those big ones if You want to photograph the first cranes of the year, later on one can use any camera because the birds walks just a few steps away 🙂

So our morning walk started a bit late and the wind had started to blow but just a little, that has changed now, it’s not like it’s a storm passing by but I think I can say that the wind was a bit brisk 🙂 We walked mostly in the forest though so the worst thing that happened was that big chunks of snow fell down from the trees and covered us in it instead 🙂

The new neighbours are moving in today, they have a small lorry or perhaps I should call it bigger pickup truck? I’ve just seen the vehicle but not those moving in so we still have no idea what they look like 🙂 I guess that if the morning walk is at the right time tomorrow I’ll see them sit in the kitchen having breakfast when we pass 🙂 🙂 The beekeeper removed the hedge when he moved in so we can see straight in to the kitchen when we walk by 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea but I ‘ve just had my dinner so I’ll skip anything edible this time, I won’t even have a banana this time 🙂

Have a great day!

March 14, 2025 · 4 Comments ·

It was cold this morning when the dogs, monster kitten and I woke up. -14C (6,8F) but there was no wind at all so when I walked out in to the shine from the rising sun it actually felt rather nice even though I only wore a sweatshirt and sweatpants. It didn’t take long before I could hear drops dripping from the roof.

Still I can’t say that the snow did a lot of melting during the day even though it did become rather warm. Today the birds started to sing again and I could hear cranes from fields not too far away. I could also hear Alma the entire walk because today she decided that whining in a high pitched tone would make us all happy 🙂 🙂 🙂 She did behave very well otherwise. Instead I had to scold Malkolm because he decided that if Alma was supposed to walk without pulling the leash someone else had to 🙂 🙂 🙂

I haven’t done much today though, applied for some jobs and been outside in the garden every now and again. The snow is slowly melting around the early spring bulbs but that’s it. This is the time of year when newly plants die, the ones planted last autumn that is. Their roots haven’t spread down properly in to the ground so if the ground still is frozen they’ll dry out pretty quickly when the warmer weather comes, that little soil that they brought with them from the pot will dry out really quickly and since the ground is frozen it can’t get any moisture from it. So just before the cold weather would arrive I was outside watering everything I planted last autumn and those plants that live on the border to what they can manage. All I can do now is to wish that I watered enough.

Everything down in the cool cellar are now getting tiny leafs, rather annoying since I can’t bring anything of it outside and since one of the plant lights I had broke so it is a bit too dark down there now. Can’t do much about it though, not until the nights a get warmer. As soon as they’ve gotten used to be outside they usually can take a night or two in a row without getting damaged. Doesn’t look like that will happen in the closest seven day 🙂 🙂 🙂 I think I have one peach tree, five apricots, two red mulberries and lots of quince seedlings and even though mice? (could also be a monster kitten 🙂 ) have chewed on all the giant sequoias it still looks like four of them have survived, cross Your fingers and hold Your thumbs for good luck 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I hope that it will warm up quickly tomorrow morning (after a pretty cold night again) so I don’t have to scrape ice from the car before I’ll go to the supermarket 🙂

Have a great day!

March 13, 2025 · Leave a comment ·

Lets hope the new neighbours are good ones.

It continued to snow here well in to the after noon today, thankfully the flakes were tiny so we didn’t get that much more on the ground. The snow actually started to melt on the south side of the cottage during the day but tonight they say will be nasty cold, down to -10C (14F) It will rise to above 0C (32F) during the day though but Saturday will be even warmer so I changed my plans on going to the grocery store tomorrow and go on Saturday instead.

We’re getting new neighbours again. The Beekeeper moved since they rented and the owner was too greedy to give them a fair prise. All we know so far about these new neighbours is that they’ll be renting and possibly buy later but I’m afraid it will be the same outcome again. The place isn’t worth half of what the owner wants to be payed for it. I do hope they like dogs since they most likely will have a visit from my two 🙂 🙂 🙂

The monster kitten hasn’t shown any interest at all in going out to the cold snow again 🙂 🙂 I think that one time will stay in her mind quite some time. I guess that she will mostly stay indoors next winter when it snows again but then again memory can be short lived so she might go out the first time it snows again 🙂

I was filling in a job application today but hit a wall 🙂 They wanted my high school grades! It is soon 42 years ago that I graduated from high school and I know I have them somewhere but not where 🙂 🙂 🙂 It sort of feels like they only look for young people 🙂 🙂 🙂 If I find them I will fill in the application anyway. I have a very small cottage with few places to store anything and yet I can’t find anything here 🙂 🙂 🙂

It is time to bake some rolls and have that first warm one with a cup of tea. Is there anything tastier than that first warm slice of bread, preferable with cheese that slowly melts?

Have a great day!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

March 12, 2025 · 2 Comments ·

The snow started to fall already yesterday afternoon, just tiny flakes but with time they grew bigger and multiplied as well. I’m not surprised because this always happens after the first crane has arrived 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’m not a fan of it though, I would have preferred it to stay green and nice. The weather sites seems to agree that this is the last snow for this time and from Thursday and eight days into the future we’ll have cold nights but fairly warm and sunny days, none of us will believe that’ll happen until it does 🙂 🙂 🙂

The wind today is a bit nasty so we had our morning walk in the forest where it couldn’t reach us. All birds were quiet, even the jays and ravens seems to have thought this weather was just too much 🙂 Yes I admit that it does look pretty with snow everywhere but it is enough to see it in photos and post cards 🙂 Back in the days warm weather like we had just a day ago was quite unusual in March. March was sort of the last winter month and April could go either way. Just around 21 years ago we still had winter the first of May when I opened my garden centre. It was so cold that I couldn’t bring out any spring flowers.

Now days it’s rather unusual to have winter at all in April, the only exception in recent years was last April when I brought home Malkolm, we had had spring temperatures for quite some time when easter came and Malkolm as well plus a snowstorm we haven’t had in years 🙂 🙂 🙂 40cm (16 inches) of snow here but not far away they had 90cm (36 inches) during one day 🙂 🙂 🙂 I don’t miss the old winters but they were more predictable. Winter now days seems to be shorter but more intense when they come.

Since the wind can’t reach my garden I thought it would be a good idea to let the monster kitten meet snow for the first time 🙂 Well I would be lying if I said I think she likes it 🙂 🙂 🙂 She just stood still looking at all this white garbage on the ground and falling from the sky. So I brought her to the apple tree where she was the last time she was outside with the rest of us, she didn’t like that either and suddenly she started to shiver so I put her inside my jacket and brought her inside again. I think I honestly can say that there’s at the moment no risk she freely would go outside again until the snow is gone 🙂 🙂 🙂

Spring flowers are thankfully used to setbacks in the weather but I was surprised to see this spring iris in bloom now.

It is time for a pot of tea and perhaps read a book or see if they show any interesting re-run on tv. I can also take a nap even though last night was the first night in some time that I slept really well.

Have a great day!

Warmer winds.

February 20, 2025 · 12 Comments ·

So today was the last day with cold weather and sunshine for quite some time it seems, I’ll miss the sunshine but not the temperatures 🙂 The low pressure is arriving with a roaring wind now and it might even be as warm as 10C (50F) already on Saturday.

This morning however was still pretty cold and the sun shone as well. Thankfully once again totally wind free (it arrived later in the day) so it was quite nice being outside walking. Alma behaved reasonable well but Malkolm pulled the leash instead. He’s not that big and strong though so that isn’t so bad to be honest but if Alma isn’t allowed to do it neither is he. I must start thinking about the possibility that the tutor on my kidney has grown and that I’ll get treatment during the summer so having dogs pulling the leash when I most likely won’t be especially strong is a bad idea. However we aren’t there yet so perhaps I can make them both calm down by then.

I’m so lucky that my neighbour works in a supermarket now when Alma is in heat and the shot Malkolm had doesn’t work properly yet because I realised that the cat litter wouldn’t last for long so she brought home a bag for me plus I suddenly had a craving for some soda, I normally don’t drink soda unless I have a head ache so it will be something with caffein in it. Today I wanted something else, so now I have pear soda at home. I didn’t think they still made that so when she said they sold it I really wanted it 🙂 🙂 🙂 I remember when being at my mormors’ (grandmother on my mothers side) I was always allowed to go downstairs to get a soda and I usually chased between raspberry soda or pear soda 🙂 I was also always allowed to take an ice cream if I wanted to 🙂

The monster kitten was allowed to be without the cone of shame for a couple of hours today and she really enjoyed it. Tomorrow it’ll be eight days after surgery so I’ll allow her to be without it even longer and on Saturday she will not have it any more. It should be totally healed already now I think but it might still be a bit fragile I guess so better be safe than sorry. The scar doesn’t seem to bother her at all though but to be honest neither does the cone 🙂 The only thing is that the the place where the cone is tied together seems to be itching, as soon as it goes off the itching stops.

Today I won’t have that last cup of tea for the day, instead I’ll have some pear soda 🙂

Have a great day!

A bit less cold today.

February 17, 2025 · Leave a comment ·

Another sunny, beautiful and cold day. Not even close to how cold it was yesterday but cold enough to keep the air dry and therefore not feeling how cold it actually was when we had our morning walk. Some birds were singing in the sunlight and I did hear a couple of ravens but otherwise it was rather quiet out there.

The dog food I had ordered came just in time, there would have been none left to tomorrow otherwise 🙂 Since he came with the package he also brought the rest of the mail to me. Nothing special until I noticed that I have a registered letter I need to pick up in Falköping. My neighbours are working so I’ll need to bring the dogs with me to the post office.

I’ll have to put Alma in the back attached to the seat belt and Malkolm the same but in the passenger seat beside me in the front. I doubt they would try anything while I’m gone because Alma will be too busy screaming the second I leave the car 🙂 🙂 🙂 most likely do what she can to tie herself with the seat belt 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’ll hurry in to the store where they have my mail and hurry outside again as fast as I can just as they open up. Hold Your thumbs and cross Your fingers so that she doesn’t destroy too much in the car 🙂 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea and after that we have our weekly science program on tv, one of the few programs I actually wants to look at 🙂

Have a great day!

A tad chilly :-)

February 16, 2025 · 4 Comments ·

For being me I woke up quite late this morning, I can’t say that it was anything but dark outside but I could see that it slowly was going towards brighter where the sun would rise. I took a look at the thermometer and then I took a new look at it, -18C (-0,4F). It was cold outside but it didn’t feel that cold because of low humidity and no wind. I took a look at the stars and Betelgeuse is still shining bright orange up there. It is 645,2 lightyears away so even if it had gone supernova 500 years ago we still wouldn’t know about it 🙂

The bitter cold weather we’ve had for a few days now will soon leave us. On Tuesday the day suddenly will have above 0C (32F) temperatures but nights will still be pretty chilly. Well I’m not out and about at nights so I don’t mind that but it feels nice that day temperatures will be more pleasant again. I think it was still -15C (5F) when we went out on our morning walk but the sun gave away quite a lot of heat so I enjoyed it quite a lot. Thankfully neither Alma nor Malkolm have sensitive paws. We weren’t supposed to have any snow the other day so of course it snowed 🙂 🙂 🙂 we didn’t get much though but I still don’t like it but it does make things look more beautiful to be honest.

Sara the monster kitten seems to feel much better now, she even tried to jump up on the aquarium this morning 🙂 it didn’t work of course and I think I like that cone 🙂 🙂 As soon as we get more stable warm weather I’ll bring her out so that she can start inspecting her domains. Since I think her mother was/ is one of the farm cats up the road I do hope they won’t be too hard on her, my neighbours cats might be something else though, they have reigned in my garden for a couple of years now and might not want to resign.

Nothing much else has happened here like it should be. Tomorrow I’ll go to the grocery store in Gudhem to buy a few things I don’t have at home. I’ll bring the dogs. Alma will have the back seat all for herself and Malkolm in the passenger seat beside me. That would make it very hard for them to reach each other just in case, I really don’t want puppies no matter how cute they are 🙂 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea and after that it would have been nice to just go to bed but that would most likely just mean I’ll wake up a couple of hours earlier instead 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

I should have used one more egg.

February 9, 2025 · 12 Comments ·

So they said the sun would make an appearance in the afternoon today, it didn’t. They are saying we’ll have sunshine all day tomorrow and I’ll believe it if it happens 🙂 🙂 Still we had a really nice walk this morning, yes alma did pull the leash a lot but she didn’t whine! I’ve noticed that I’m much more patient with her when she doesn’t whine, that sound eats its way in to the brain and slices it into pieces and when she doesn’t whine I’m not that hard on her when she pulls the leash 🙂

The hunters were supposed to be here both yesterday and today but I don’t think anyone showed up, the weather hasn’t been with them at all. They were supposed to hunt for hares but I have barely seen even one since last summer. The hare plague comes and goes here so I guess it was here this summer and now it’ll take a few years until they’ve grown in numbers again. We humans can actually get the hare plague via mosquito bites and it can end badly as we also can get vole fever and that can also end badly. Vole fever thankfully only if one get rid of their droppings and don’t wear a face mask. Starts like a cold and after that it just goes down hill.

I made a shrimp and vegetable pie today. The pie crust was excellent and didn’t sink a bit but the filling never really got thicker. The taste however was really yummy so I had no problems eating it 🙂 🙂 🙂 I think I had an egg too little for the filling. I didn’t want a huge pie, after all it is only for me so I reduced the ingredients with a third, I shouldn’t have done that with the egg I think 🙂 🙂 but the taste is the only thing that matters to be honest, so I could actually say that today I had a soup pie 🙂 🙂 🙂

I’ve had a little setback with the flu today, I started to boil when we were out on our morning walk and the coughing has been worse. I also have a slight headache but I think that one comes from our walks and Almas’ pulling the leash, she is rather erratic and open never knows when she’ll try and run forward in high speed 🙂 🙂 🙂

The Monster kitten is attacking poor Malkolm ferociously.

and Alma is so happy that it isn’t her 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and after that fixing the dishes awaits.

Have a great day!