Category: Snow.

March 17, 2024 · Leave a comment ·

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a great day!

Cataract in my right eye.

March 16, 2024 · 2 Comments ·

It’s snowing outside, still just tiny flakes but I’ve seen photos taken not far from here where they are much bigger. It has rained on and off all day and now when the temperature is dropping it turns to snow instead. Tomorrow will be sunny they say but above freezing temperatures (barely) so hopefully it will all melt away quickly.

More and more Cranes are arriving to the lake and today the nesting couple nesting closest to my cottage arrived, they started trumpeting loudly when they landed in the cow pasture on the other side of the gravel road. I know it’s too early to say winter won’t make a come back but those trumpeting Cranes made it easier to actually believe it won’t 🙂

I had an appointment with my optician yesterday, I need new glasses and they always do a eye health check when I’m there. Turns out I have cataract in my right eye. I have actually suspected something was going on, sometimes I feel like I have something in the eye that sort of make my eye sight even less good. He said that this can go quickly, six months and I’ll need a new lens or it can stay like this until the day I die, feels good that he could narrow it down that much 🙂 🙂 🙂 So I guess I’ll call my health center to see what to do next.

I’m not surprised because lots of people in my family have had it so I guess I would be the next in line. Two pair of glasses, progressive, and now $ 520 US poorer 🙂 It’s almost that I look forward to new lenses in the eye, just imagine how nice it would be to not having to wear glasses all the time, if for no other reason that it will be much cheaper 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’ll pick them up on Maundy Thursday. She asked when in the day I would like to be there and I said that any time that I can leave work but not having to go back again that day, so I’ll be there just after noon 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

Winter weather again.

March 10, 2024 · Leave a comment ·

So the Swedish rounds of the Eurovision Song Contest is over for this year. Two Norwegian brothers, twins, won this year and their win was really big. Not my cup of tea but they can sing without taking a single false tune, can dance and seems to be genuinely nice guys so I’m pretty sure they’ll end up amongst the top five when the Final is in May here in Sweden. Malmö is hosting, our third biggest city just opposite Copenhagen in Denmark. My favorite came second and is very different to the winner but both the international jury and we Swedes wanted the twins to win and when both agree we usually end up amongst the top five.

I doubt we’ll win because down in Europe they’ve come to dislike our songs just because we tend to end up amongst the top five 🙂 🙂 🙂 We have after all now won the whole shebang seven times. Only Ireland has done that before. The weather has been indoor weather for two days now, cold, windy and some snow falling. Ok the snowfall was so tiny and so were the flakes that it was hardly noticiable on the ground but it was annoying anyway 🙂

I stayed home from work last Thursday and Friday because of an accident, nothing serious happened to me, bruising and a scrape. We were lifting things weighing 44Kg (97 pound) and we do that with a magnet. This thing is flat on the side I stood and has a sort of sharp edge all around. I was prepared with hooks when it was high enough to be hanged on the chain that transports the thing through the factory. Suddenly the magnet came loose and the thing fell down. I was hit on my right hand, then it hit my left knee, scraped my right shin and had it come just a half centimeter (a fifth of an inch) it would have cut off my toes on the right foot. Now it landed on the toe-cap instead so I didn’t realize that until I tried to walk away 🙂 🙂 🙂

No serious injury but I have been fairly sour until now. It’s still a bit tender but nothing worse. Even though it was very unlucky to be hit I did have luck with the weather those two days, no wind, sunny and warm enough to have the kitchen door open all day 🙂 But as I said today and yesterday were quite different. Winter jacket on and I should have worn mittens because the wind made it so cold that I couldn’t feel my fingers when we came home again this morning 🙂

I’ll be warmer again in a couple of days and I think the Cranes will arrive with the warmer weather and better winds. I’ve seen a few circling around high up in the air but that’s it. Lots of geese and swans here now though plus all the smaller birds already singing their spring songs. Still plenty of birds by the feeders though, especially many forest birds because they are now thinning out the trees, they’ll only take the biggest trees and leave the rest but before they started they also cut down almost all those smaller trees and bushes where the smaller birds nests and find food. We’ll I’ll continue to feed them for as long as they come here.

Have a great day!

February 11, 2024 · Leave a comment ·

It started to snow when we were out this morning, if it had been rain I’d call it misty rain but it was snow and the flakes so small that it mostly looked like mist from a distance 🙂

I wouldn’t call what we’re having a storm but the wind is quite strong and the temperatures below 0C (32F) so it hasn’t been especially enjoyable to be outside today and since the wind comes from eat it also reach the cottage and garden. It will stay much the same until tomorrow evening and after that the snow will arrive instead. Damned if You do and damned if You don’t is the feeling about it 🙂 🙂 🙂

It’ll snow until Tuesday morning and they’re guessing we’ll get up to 15 cm (6 inches of the garbage. The fun thing is that already on Wednesday it’ll get warmer and we’ll get lots of rain instead, yay. Nights will mostly stay cold though so it’ll be anything but boring to drive to work the coming days 🙂 🙂 🙂

The rest of the photos were taken yesterday.

The wind didn’t reach us when we walked in the forest though so it was quite nice to be out there. Unlike yesterday when we walked down to the creek and the wind hit us when we walked by the fields. The wind managed to go through my wind proof jacket so that says a lot about how strong that wind was 🙂 🙂 So we have mostly stayed indoors this weekend.

The cold made a comeback and I’ve been freezing a lot every now and again but it seems it has left me for this time at the moment. I did however miss a step when I walked down to the cool cellar so now my back feels quite sour. It’s always something isn’t it?

I have managed to change my sleeping hours though, took one day 🙂 🙂 🙂 So it feels like I’ll have no problems with going to work in the morning again. I can’t even pretend it feels fine to go to work but it feels fun to meet all my old working friends again. Some of them had already stopped working for the day when I arrived at work.

Have a great day!

Back to day shift again.

February 9, 2024February 9, 2024 · Leave a comment ·

This hasn’t been the best of weeks for five people at work. The economy is bad over here and we don’t have as much to do as we used to so on Monday we were told that the evening shift would stop but that we all would start working day shift instead.

We were told that we would get info about it already the same evening. That didn’t happen but we were told we most likely would get the info on Tuesday or more likely on Wednesday but that didn’t happen either so of course we understood that it must be more serious than that. So yesterday we finally got the info and they have to let five people go. I’ve been working there for so long so there was never any risk that I would have to leave. The rules here is that last one in is first one out when people have to leave. They can do some exceptions when it comes to competence and since I’ve been working there for almost 17 years now I do have lots of competence.

I feel so sorry for those who has to leave because this is happening all over the country right now. There is however a light at the end of the tunnel because the inflation is going down and they haven’t risen the the loan interest and will most likely lower it in late spring and when people see at least the interest rate going down they will feel hopeful for the future and start to spend money again, so perhaps they will return to work before summer starts (well it starts quite late here to be honest but it will start even if it doesn’t feel like that right now).

We’ve had lots of snow falling lately, light fluffy snow that is impossible to get a grip in while walking 🙂 🙂 and we’ll get a bit more than three inches next Monday if they’re guessing it right. The fun thing is that it will start to melt away again already on Tuesday 🙂 🙂 Nights will be chilly though so once again we’ll have slippery icy roads that makes it exiting to drive to and from work again. I’ll stop working at five pm Mondays to Thursdays and four pm on Fridays, crappy hours to be honest but way better than the ones I have so I’m not complaining.

Today I woke up to nasty cold but sunny weather and we went out for a walk as soon as we woke up. I couldn’t feel any wind blowing, unusual since we seem to have a constant storm blowing here otherwise. Nova is usually the first one to want to take a walk but today she preferred to stay in my bed, I can fully understand her because she is after all 17.5 years old now. I did worry for a while that something was wrong with her because she slept really heavy and didn’t eat especially much. The afternoon meal however was gulped down so I guess it is the changing of when we sleep and eat once again that disturbed her. Now they’ve been used to eat after noon and around three am and suddenly we’re going back to normal hours again.

The swamp behind my garage is now a little lake instead.

More and more birds have realized that they can get an entire peanut if they go in to the feeder 🙂

So even if I finally get to go up early in the mornings like I’ve always had it still is difficult to change back but perhaps I finally will get a good nights sleep again, haven’t had that since my christmas vacation. Today however have been a day of tiredness. I baked a bread and while waiting for it to be ready I fell asleep in my recliner, with Albin sleeping on my stomach 🙂 🙂 🙂 I had set the timer but didn’t understand what it meant when I woke up 🙂 🙂 Took around five minutes until I remembered that I had the bread in the oven 🙂 Turns out that it was a perfect time for the bread to stay in the oven, I must remember that till next time 🙂

Have a great day!

Almost like the old lake is back :-)

January 27, 2024 · 2 Comments ·

They were up early waiting for more peanuts 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a great day!

A slow say.

January 20, 2024 · 2 Comments ·

It has been a slow day today, I haven’t done much than having a walk with the dogs, Alma couldn’t behave at all today so it was a constant war between her and I. She’s in heat so I guess that’s why she’s utterly impossible at the moment.

I have made jam though. I had three big quince fruits that I needed to do something with so I thought jam would be the thing to do. One of the fruits wasn’t nice though so I tossed in the berries I picked before the first frost arrived, mostly strawberries (that didn’t taste a thing) and gooseberries that tasted a lot.

Turns out that the strawberries taste a lot in the jam and I can’t taste anything from the gooseberries 🙂 🙂 🙂 I can however taste a bit of quince 🙂 The jam will work perfectly with pancakes though, so instead of pancake Saturday we’ll have a pancake Sunday 🙂

There were some kernels in the quinces so I’ll sow them later today, the wet paper towel method. Put the seeds in a damp paper towel (and cover the kernels with it) and put it in a plastic bag and then in to the fridge. If they are viable they’ll start to germinate in a couple of months. I’m not sure what to have for dinner today though.

I have some sausages and meatballs in the freezer and I think I have an egg or two (must have three for the pancakes tomorrow though) plus some baked beans. That sounds rather nice to be honest but I can skip dinner as well and only have a few hard breads with cheese and ham, that’s not bad either 🙂

Have a great day!

January 13, 2024 · Leave a comment ·

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

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

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

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

DSC_0007 - kopia

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

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

Today we walked out to the peninsula by the bog.

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

Have a great day!

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

January 6, 2024 · Leave a comment ·

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a great day!

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

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

January 5, 2024 · Leave a comment ·

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a great day!

I wish You a good end of this year and a good new year.

December 31, 2023 · 2 Comments ·

The birds were patiently waiting for me to fill up the feeders again.

So I’ll end this year by having a cold. Fever, runny nose, sneezing and coughing and I guess it won’t disappear magically over night so I’ll start the new year the same way. It is at least better than what one of my neighbor has at the moment, she has what we call The Winter Vomit Disease, it’s actually worse than it sounds and that’s hard to believe 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’ve never had it, turns out that some people have a defected gene that makes it impossible for that virus to attach to our bodies. Sometimes it’s nice to be a defect 🙂 🙂 🙂

I went to the supermarket this morning and of course the list of what I wanted never followed me there. I knew some things but they were all sold out, other things never attached to my brain but I did remember seeds and peanuts for the birds 🙂 To be honest I have most things I would need and since we now have the beginning of a snowstorm passing by I won’t drive to any store before it has passed no matter how much I want it 🙂

It was very calm when we went out for our walk though but the wind has become stronger and stronger and now I can hear it roar through the forest. The snow has started to fall as well, well fall is the wrong word since it comes sideways 🙂 There were a few gaps in the clouds but none close to where the sun was. We walked down to the creek and then followed it up-stream. there was also a thin layer of snow on the ground but very few tracks from animals. Except for where the wild hogs passed the creek and after where all the water ran off from their bodies.

It’s easy to see where the pigs has passed the creek 🙂

I’ll most likely not stay up until we pass over to the new year, I’ve never really celebrated new years eve and I’ve always wondered why they didn’t change that day to when we have the the winter solstice instead, I mean that’s when we actually is starting the journey towards longer days again and slowly leaving these long depressing nights that we have. In my mind that would make much more sence 🙂

It is time to give the dogs their dinner and after that I think I’ll go to bed. Thankfully no fireworks even close to here so the dogs and I will be having a calm and quiet night 🙂

Out with the old and in with the new, sort of fitting now at the end of the year 🙂

I wish You all a good ending of this year and a good new year!

Good Yule!

December 24, 2023 · 2 Comments ·

x (6) — They had decorated a tree like this in a small village where I had to change bus to get to my new car. It reminded me of something I’ve read about, that before we started to bring in the christmas trees like spruces and pines here in Sweden, sometimes they brought in young apple trees and decorated them and if the timing was right the young apple tree started to flower just around christmas.

So I’ve done all the important stuff today, I’ve made the christmas ham and at the same time I also put the prince sausages and meatballs in the oven together with the ham 🙂 I’ve eaten some of the Quality Street bonbons, I’ve watched the Donald Ducks christmas show and also fallen asleep a few minutes in to it. I did however just doze off for a few minutes so I watched most of it anyway 🙂 🙂 The birds did get more seeds than usual and we had a rather nice walk in the morning when the temperature was as low as -12C (10,4F). No wind and sunshine made it really nice even though I couldn’t feel any warmth from the sun what so ever.

It wont look this wintery for long though, it will start raining already tonight and the temperatures are now slowly move above 0C (32F). It’s snowing at the moment, tiny flakes and I guess that if they’re guessing it right we’ll have very little snow tomorrow. It will rain even more tomorrow but it will unfortunately be sunny on Boxing day. I write unfortunately because the hunters will be out and they’ll hunt for hare and fox. I wished them good luck with the hares but they already know that we truly and deeply dislikes them for hunting fox here. We need them to keep the ammount of rodents down, these mild winters have really suited the rodents, so everyone in this part of the village hates when they hunt for fox.

I was going to bake gingerbreads but didn’t have any energy to do it but over here we say that christmas lasts till easter so I have plenty of time to do that 🙂 🙂 I did however defrost the freezer yesterday. It was cold enough outdoors so it was the time to do it if I ever was going to. I must admit that i didn’t realize how much ice there was in there 🙂 🙂 🙂 It took well over five hours even if I had placed a bowl with boiling water in there and even though there is a shallow sort of gutter at the bottom of the freezer that is supposed to lead the water in one direction out to bowl collecting it, it really doesn’t 🙂 🙂 so now the floor around it is nice and clean as well 🙂 🙂

This morning when I was about to put everything back in the freezer I also looked if anything in there contained gluten, so now my freezer is quite empty 🙂 🙂 🙂 Only the things I’ve made myself were gluten free. The reason I did that (because I’m pretty sure I would have forgotten normally) is because I bought a Julmust with orange flavor. I was talking with one of the owners of the grocery store I buy my food from because they were offering taste samples of bread with something on and I said I couldn’t eat it. So then they said that at least I could drink the Julmust. Turns out they were pretty wrong about that 🙂 🙂 🙂 I did wonder why my stomach suddenly gave up now when I’ve been so careful with having nothing with gluten. So I checked the internet and voila, the Julmust contains gluten.

Most other, if not all, Julmust only have the flavoring of malt and not the real thing so it was an honest mistake but I will inform them about it. There’s nothing more I’ll do today than watch the British crime drama “Vera” and perhaps a program about the smaller wild cats we have around the world. I’ve watched it before and to be honest, those small wild cat species are really much more interesting than the bigger ones, perhaps because we always almost only see programs about the big ones. Tomorrow starts the time of leftovers, sandwiches with ham, sausages and meatballs. I’ll make them a bit more fun by adding blue cheese as well 🙂

Taken through my kitchen window, these birds truly loves peanuts 🙂

I wish You all a Good Yule!