Category: Spring.

Last warm and nice day fora while.

April 18, 2025 · 4 Comments ·

Even though it has been cloudy almost all day, with an exception for the afternoon, install has been a rather nice day. 15C (59F). Not especially windy either but then again I rarely notice the wind here in the hollow where I live.

Alma behaved really well while we were walking and Malkolm didn’t pull the leash especially hard either. Birds were singing everywhere and we had some geese visiting us in the fields close to the forest.I wore my anorak but that was a bit too much, the only reason I did wear it was because I had no where to place the treats I bring on our walks 🙂 🙂

This hole is too small for a beaver but really too big to a water vole (even though they can get rather big and purely evil 🙂 🙂 🙂 I wonder if we might have muskrats here? I also think the hole is too small for a Nutria.

I’ve been a bit busy in the garden both yesterday and today, ripping up stinging nettle roots, removing an annoying weed called cleavers. The entire vine is covered with tiny hooks, much like velcro, so as soon as it hits it stays and also spreads it seeds everywhere, especially my garden 🙂 🙂 I now have it everywhere and it is important to destroy the roots, otherwise it just comes back again 🙂 🙂 It would take forever to get rid of it so I’ll concentrate to remove it from areas where the dogs tends to walk. I was thinking of perhaps spray it with very salty water to see what happens. One can make tea from them though so perhaps I can get rid of it by drinking it away 🙂 🙂 🙂

I admit that I’ve been standing in the most odd positions to get rid of both the cleaver and nettle so today my legs have been aching a lot 🙂 🙂 🙂 It does of course help to walk around a lot but as soon as I’m sitting still the pain comes back 🙂 🙂 Could be worse though 🙂 I’ve also started to move out the citrus trees I still have indoors and in the cool cellar, perhaps a bit early because it will be much cooler tomorrow and rain will follow. The different weather sites can’t agree to how much rain we’ll have but anything from tiny amounts to up to an inch is suggested 🙂 🙂 🙂

The dogs and the monster have been outside with me the entire day as well, We did take a nap around 11 am and I was even more tired when the alarm sounded so I stayed in the bed for forty minutes more 🙂 🙂 Still that didn’t help a lot 🙂 🙂 I bought two more sacks with soil and poured them out in the big wooden box but can’t say it helped a lot 🙂 🙂 Halt the surface is for the autumn flowering strawberries (why the flower in late summer and autumn I have no idea and they continue to do so until the frost takes them. Now I’ll have to figure out what more to have in the box. I’m thinking peas and beans since there’s a net at the back of the box where they can climb.

I could have carrots there or perhaps some Japanese kale from seeds I bought, easier to cover both from any pests to be honest. I still have time to figure that out because art is way to early to sow them here now.

The white checkered lilies are always a couple of days after the normal ones.

Tulipa tarda, spreads almost like a weed 🙂

This is a natural hybrid between the white wood anemone and the yellow one. It is milder in its yellow colour and the Swedish name for it is Sulphur anemone.

It is time for that last cup of tea and I think I’ll have a couple of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies as well 🙂

Have no idea what this white wood anemone is called.

Mahonia. Has those thorny leafs that the common holly has. This one will give blue berries that is said to taste like blueberries.

Have a great day!

The potatoes are down.

April 17, 2025 · 6 Comments ·

Today I could feel that I was a bit faster while working than yesterday even though I’m still pretty slow 🙂 I got a better flow while working. I had a short day at work though because today I had my kidney x-rayed again. I guess I’ll have the result in one or two weeks. The ones x-raying aren’t allowed to say anything about what they can see just in case they misinterpret anything. I had my appointment at 12:40 but was lucky so they let me in twenty minutes earlier. It was much the same last year when I had that first x-ray.

After that I had some grocery shopping to do since easter is a four day holiday here and I really dislike having too do any shopping during that time 🙂 So I drove to the village where I worked before and did my shopping there and wished them all a happy easter, I have after all been shopping there for 28 years now 🙂 I also bought more solid so I can fill up the big box where I have my straw berries. The weather has been amazing today so I also put down the potatoes in the ground, a bit early for me but if there’s any risk of night frost I’ll cover them so they don’t freeze.

One of my favourites because of its wonderful smell, Bog Myrtle.

The Goose berries in the forest are in bloom, mine at home isn’t even close to 🙂

It will cool down considerable already tonight, northern winds will press down cold air from the arctic, still it won’t fall down below 0C (32F) but compared to today it will feel cold. They still keep saying we’ll get rain as well but the closer awe come the less rain will fall 🙂 🙂 I don’t mind the rain because it is so dry in the grass and forest now that if it will start to burn it will escalate quickly. The ground though is still not especially dry.

This White Wood Anemone will become pale blue.

It isa time for that last cup of tea and perhaps a sandwich or two 🙂

Have a great day!

The last day of my seven month long vacation :-)

April 13, 2025 · Leave a comment ·

The first plum flower. There are so many buds that the tree will be completely white in a couple of days.

They said it would be more cloudy today but I haven’t notice that much difference to be honest. the big difference is the strong wind and that we had frost and morning mist when I woke up. A good thing when it is this warm during the days is that the frost is pushed upwards by the warm ground so no frost damages on those plants I just planted in my garden.

It was a really nice walk early in the morning despite it being chilly. Birds sand and geese flew just a few meters (much the same in yards) above our heads. Alma behaved really well but Malkolm decided that he wouldn’t stop pulling the leash even if I got angry at him 🙂 🙂 Still he doesn’t pull that hard so I could live with it. I’ve been busy today, I’ve baked bread, dinner in the slow cooker, the ham in the oven and also boiled potatoes and done the last of the laundry.

So this is the last day of my seven month long “vacation” 🙂 I’m really glad to have a new job but I must admit that I have enjoyed every day of this involuntary vacation. I haven’t had to worry about the money and that makes the difference. For those having nothing saved this must be horrible, constantly thinking of how to pay bills and food.

It is time for a last cup of coffee since I don’t have any tea at home and refuses to drive to the store for just one thing 🙂 I could have coffee later but since I really need to fall asleep tonight so that I’m not too tried tomorrow morning when I’ll drive to my new work place I better stay on the safe side 🙂 🙂 I think I’ll also have a couple of sandwiches with some of that ham.

Have a great day!

Now I know the lawn mower works.

April 11, 2025 · Leave a comment ·

I used to have a really nice woodland in my garden but then dogs used that area to play so lots of plants died. Today I found Trillium leafs so I’ve put up sticks around them so the dogs won’t kill them when they run around there 🙂

We woke up really early today, at 4:10 am. It was already quite bright outside even if the sun wouldn’t rise for another two hours. We went out for our morning walk as soon as the sun started to rise above the horizon and as soon as we stepped outside the clouds arrived and no more sunshine until we came back home when the clouds suddenly vanished 🙂 🙂 🙂

I planted three more Primulas in there as well.

Scilla sibirica is usually blue but every now and again they can give other colours like white but I’ve seen pink as well.

After that the sun has been shining almost all day with a few exceptions when clouds passed by. Still 17C (62,6F) and almost no wind made a perfect day. I sat on the kitchen stairs and had a cup of coffee and Malkolm sat beside me and it was so hot that we had to go indoors for a while 🙂 🙂 So while we were cooling down a bit I did a round of laundry. I’m still a bit behind on that but I’m starting to come closer to just have to do it once a week now. I could of course have done a couple of rounds but I’m in no hurry 🙂

I have actually been quite busy today, beside the laundry I also mowed the lawn!! Not a too tough job since the grass had grown quite unevenly 🙂 I also ripped up more stinging nettle roots, cleaned away more plastic pots and actually also planted one apricot tree and the peach tree. They have been standing in the porch for several day and since they say we won’t have any frost the coming days I just thought I better start planting those trees now or it will not be done. To be honest it is a bit much to call them trees because they are after all only one year old yet and kind of tiny 🙂

Soon all I will have left in the cool cellar will be the citrus trees and if it looks like frost will stay away I’ll bring those out to the patio as well. To my very big surprise I also found one of the petunias I thought I had killed during winter show a tiny green shoot. The soil was bone dry but still it started to grow again so when I found two more that looks totally dead I watered them too and hopes for the best 🙂

I do have some tea left so I think I’ll make that last cup of tea for the day and also go down in the cellar again to see if there’s more to bring outside.

The apricot I planted yesterday, that black lid You can see behind is the grey water filter. I need to cover iy every winter because I use too little water and then it tends to freeze in there 🙂

My Grape elder always produce leafs too early so the next frost will kill all this green and then it takes quite some time before new leafs come and it looks miserable until autumn 🙂

Have a great day!

April 10, 2025 · 6 Comments ·

No wind this morning and sunshine. Really pleasant to walk around in the forest listening to all birds and some deer running away when we came close. Still it was below 0C (32F) and the water had frozen during the night. These mornings really are the best because it feels warm and nice but no flies are terrorising us 🙂 They’ll arrive some time in the middle of June. The forest flies are just annoying though and not biting. The biting ones tends to show up a couple of weeks later.

I’m slowly getting the dogs used to me being away a couple of hours every day now so today I went to my old work place for a visit, it might be the last time I do that since I now will work rather far away and after that I went to the grocery store I’ve been doing my shopping for the last 28 years now. I will go there again but not that often, I will have at least four big supermarkets and several other big stores just beside where I’ll be working.

Back in the days when one would sign a contract of employment one sat at the employers desk and signed it with a pen, that’s not how it’s working now days. I got a mail with a link and after reading the contract I signed it with my Bank ID and did it at home. It is amazing how fast things change now days. It is practical though since I now have it stored in my computer. Also I could really take my time reading it, one never did that in the office with the new employer to be honest. One just signed and smiled 🙂 🙂 🙂

I’m slowly picking up the plants I have in the cool cellar. Lots have died, either too much or too little water during the winter but most is still alive. The dead plants get tossed in places where the dogs have been digging so the ground evens out again 🙂 🙂 We’ll have fairly warm nights for the coming ten days they say so I planted one of my apricot seedlings where I used to have the Amure grapevine. It will take a couple of years but it will be a good place for the birds to sit while waiting for their chance of eating from the feeder I have outside the kitchen window. I also started to fill the big wooden box I have my , for some reason, autumn flowering strawberry plants . Turns out the packages with soil are small now days (and more expensive) so I need to buy two more.

The box is quite empty when the big gooseberry bush was removed. Just weeds and strawberry plants left.

I removed it all and filled up with soil and there’s still lots of space to fill up. I planted the young strawberries again. I’ll have to redo this when I have more soil (or compost when I can empty any of my composts).

Lots of old ones left but I didn’t want to toss them away.

So I planted them in a spot where I have removed as much of the stinging nettle roots I could. Now the strawberries can spread as they please 🙂

I have that last cup of tea for the day beside me and soon I’ll go outside with the dogs bringing more dead plants from the cellar 🙂

Have a great day!

April 9, 2025 · Leave a comment ·

We’ve had sunshine all day but also a strong and chilly northern wind blowing all day and that did take away the joy of being outdoors. It even reached parts of the garden so I mostly stayed there. Except from when I tried to rip up stinging nettle roots. Stinging nettles are to be honest good to have in many ways, especially now when the world has gone mad and food is expensive. The leafs are nutritious and one can pick them while they are small, boil them lightly, freeze them and have as a sort of spinach all year round. Still I must admit they are not a favourite of mine. Also the stems fibres can be used to make clothes and the process to get there is rather much like how one does with flax.

I went to my coming work place to get working clothes. It was a different procedure than in other places I’ve worked at. Normally one just gives the size one needs and then they arrive some time. One never knows when but they will arrive 🙂 🙂 🙂 This time I got a requisition and was sent to a huge store to get the clothes and shoes directly. So much better. The only problem was that the store had a special store day which means there were loads of people there so I couldn’t get all things I needed today, instead they’ll ship it to the factory on Monday! They also gave everyone there a free mini pizza but of course I couldn’t have one since I can’t eat gluten 🙂 🙂 🙂

I also went to a supermarket just beside and had a list with me and naturally I missed to buy cat food, luckily for the little monster I’ll visit my former work place tomorrow as well as the store I’ve been doing most of my grocery shopping since I moved here 27 years ago. After all this is the last week I’ll be able to go there again without having to take time off from work. Well I’ll go to the store anyway on weekends when I can 🙂

Stinging nettle, can grow up to 150cm (60 inches) high.

I also forgot to buy tea so I’ll have the last cup of coffee for the day and after that I’ll most likely fall asleep in front of the tv 🙂

Have a great day!

I got it :-)

April 8, 2025 · 17 Comments ·

Most photos are from yesterday when the sun arrived a bit earlier than today. There was still ice on the creeks.

The sun is shining outside my window. It should have showed earlier but I guess one should be happy for what one get. Still 10C (50F) during the day isn’t that bad but the dogs wanted to go indoors pretty quickly after we had gone outside.

A male Starling sitting on the ghost tree.

The doves are here again and lots of them, this is just a small part of the flock.

My new neighbours have two roosters and I think three hen. They said that once of the roosters keep on crowing all the time and they were are right 🙂 🙂 🙂 I do like that sound so I enjoy it a lot, plus that they have them on the other side of a building so even if I’m outside it isn’t especially loud and I can’t hear them at all if I’m indoors. I do however think that the second rooster might take over if the first one quiets down 🙂 🙂 🙂 Alma was absolutely stunned when seeing them 🙂 🙂 🙂 She just stood there watching them, she didn’t even whine like she always do 🙂 🙂 🙂

I got a call from the coffin factory today and he told me I got the job 🙂 I’ll start working there next week 🙂 So now I’ll see these last days of unemployment as the end of a vacation and I’ll most likely have “the end of vacation anxiety” on Sunday evening 🙂 🙂 🙂 I must say that I’ve have enjoyed this time I’ve been unemployed but only because I’ve had money enough myself so that I never have had to worry about expenses, otherwise this would most likely have been a long stressful period. Now instead I’ve enjoyed every day and especially those mornings when my neighbours have been outside scraping ice and brushing snow from their cars 🙂 🙂 🙂

It is time for a cup of instant coffee because I don’t have enough tea at home 🙂 By the way, now when we all hate the orange one all over the world there’s actually one thing that upsets us Swedes even more and it has nothing to do with the blob at all, the coffee price is now so high that many struggle to be able to buy it and as the second most coffee drinking country in the world this is serious to us 🙂 🙂 🙂

I gathered all the pots and placed them by the big compost before deciding where to put them, they became very interesting for a certain monster kitten 🙂

When that became boring she started to play with Malkolm instead 🙂

Have a great day!

The wild hogs comes closer and closer.

April 6, 2025 · 8 Comments ·

The wild hogs are now just 50 meters (much the same in yards) away from my cottage, in the cow pasture beside the dog house/ yard. I did wonder why the dogs kept running around like crazy during the night 🙂 🙂 🙂

-6C (21,2F) as coldest last night but it can’t have lasted that long because it was close to 0C (32F) when we went outside after we had woken up. They said the sun would start to show around 8 am, so of course it didn’t arrive until after noon but when it did the world warmed up properly again 🙂

I haven’t done much today, I sowed some leek seeds and was about to sow some bell pepper seeds but for some reason I still haven’t 🙂 🙂 I’ll do it after writing this 🙂 I can’t start sowing especially much yet because I don’t have the space indoors and we’ll most likely have frost several nights the coming week, days will be warmer again though.

This is how it looks after I removed the grapevine. I think I’ll plant an apricot tree there.

Can never remember the name on these, spreads really happily everywhere though.

I started to clean up my garden yesterday and continued for a while today. I also gathered all the pots I’ve spread around the garden 🙂 🙂 For some reason I never empty them in the autumn so I really need to do it now before weeds grow and cover them so I can’t find any when I need to 🙂 🙂 I’ve also continued to rip up stinging nettle roots and this time I managed to stay away from those nasty leafs. I have way too many nettles in the garden but then again they are edible so it is perhaps not such a bad thing to have just in case the orange idiot does something really stupid (worse than what he has so far and he’s done some really stupid things) 🙂

I also tried to nap in the sofa while the sun shone through that window. Stupid idea when one has two dogs and a cat 🙂 🙂 🙂 I can however tell You that when I gave up they finally decided it was time for them to have a nap 🙂 🙂 🙂

The orchid that flowered earlier this winter decided to give me more flowers, didn’t see that until I thought it was time topwater it 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day. I must remember to buy more tea tomorrow when I’ll drive to my health care place to give blood before the kidney x-rays. Some time this week I’ll know if I got a job at the coffin factory, if not it sounds like I have another one on the way, they promised to call back this week and give me a job if I didn’t got the coffin job.

Have a great day!

April 5, 2025 · 6 Comments ·

One of the five Pawpaw seeds I bought now have a tiny root, so I have sown it in a big pot and can place it outdoors as soon as nights get a bit warmer.

For once we didn’t have frost last night but instead we had hard northern winds blowing so that sort of evened it all out 🙂 Sunshine all day with the exception smaller clouds passing in the sky in front of the sun. It was pretty nice as long as one kept away from the wind and stayed in the sunshine 🙂 Pretty tricky when being out on walks though but worked pretty good in the garden. For once the wind blew from a direction where it actually can reach my garden but the cottage managed to block most of it 🙂

The wind is icy cold so it was rather nasty when we walked in the open fields but as soon as we reached the creek and then in to the forest it changed dramatically, even in those places the sun couldn’t reach us. We’ll get a couple of nights with cold nights but the days will get warmer and warmer again. My kitchen door is towards south and the wind comes from north so I can have it open all day thankfully. Both the little monster and the dogs can walk in and out as they please and the cottage gets rid of all the winter air with is quite nice 🙂

The monster had a little break on top of the grape vine 🙂

Yesterday I cut down the Amur grape vine I had outside my kitchen, where all the birds sat while waiting for their turn to eat by the feeder. It didn’t give many grapes to be honest and since dogs shouldn’t eats grapes I just thought it best to remove it. It was a bit too easy to be honest and most of the vines seemed dead, I could only see buds on a few of the vines. Now I need to plant something else there so that the birds can be protected from raptor birds while they sit and wait for their turn.

Lots of stack ants walking around on the ant stack .

I do have a lot of apricot trees now so it will most likely be one of those, Apricots are really hardy, the problem is that they flower no matter what weather we’re having so it can be really warm or winter and they just don’t care 🙂 🙂 So if one wants the apricots up here in the north one better be prepared to protect those flowers from cold weather 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I have baked some rolls but they sort of flattened out 🙂 🙂 The taste is just the same though so that doesn’t matter 🙂

Have a great day!

The ticks and mosquitoes are back, yay.

April 3, 2025 · 4 Comments ·

Below 0C (32F) again this morning, nothing strange to be honest because that’s how it used to be back in the days. April here back in the days could be anything from what we have now to bitterly cold and snowstorms, usually the latter. This year the warm weather started so early that it isn’t until now we can see and especially hear bumblebees in the air. Also the ticks are active, yay, and yesterday I killed two mosquitoes that tried to drink my blood.

We are thankfully out on our morning walks so early that it is too cold for ticks to be active, the ground is still frozen after the nights low temperatures. It will be less warm the coming days with especially Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights being pretty chilly but we’ll have sunshine and almost 10C (50F) temperatures during the days so it will not be as bad as they first guessed.Tuesday will be the start of rising temperatures again. So I took a bit of a chance today by sowing annuals in the little area where I’ll have flowers for pollinators. I most likely did this too early so that those more sensitive flowers might get killed even if they during those chilly nights still only will be seeds.

I’ve also brought up more trees from the cellar but those will be covered with fibre cloth so the freezing temperatures won’t reach them. It’ll be nice when I can bring out all those plants down there so that I can use it as an earthen cellar. The cool cellar works fine as a farther cellar but if summer is hot it will be a bit too warm down there as well. It is perfect during winter though when the temperature usually stays just above 0C (32F) as coldest, especially now days when it doesn’t get as cold as it used to be.

I think it is time for a cup of tea and perhaps some hard bread with cheese and jam 🙂

I have a couple of old piles with branches I’ve cut of from trees and bushes and yesterday the monster kitten went in to one of them and Malkolm was upset, he couldn’t follow her 🙂

Have a great day!

The first butterflies and being lost in Falköping :-) :-) :-)

April 1, 2025 · 6 Comments ·

I’m glad I didn’t have to remove the ice from the car windows when I drove to Falköping 🙂

-5C (23F) here this morning, it wasn’t especially nice at all 🙂 But the sun did show itself and as soon as it did it became rather warm. We walked down to the creek and everywhere the sun hadn’t reached yet was covered in white frost. I only worse a thin anorak but it still rose the temperature beneath it so it almost felt too warm 🙂

I was going to be at the coffin factory at 1pm but they said don’t stress because that’s when the lunch break ends and it will take some time before everyone is working again, that was a good thing to know 🙂 🙂 I had plenty of time when I drove from home and when I reached Falköping I turned on the GPS on the phone and when I did I realised it didn’t work as it should 🙂 🙂 🙂 it refused to show where I was and I could only get instructions on how to get there from Stockholm, our capital around 350 km away 🙂 🙂 🙂

Falköping also seems to be ridiculously bad at putting up the street names so I just couldn’t figure out where I was so I had to call them and ask for directions 🙂 🙂 🙂 Turns out that I had passed the factory twice 🙂 🙂 🙂 This isn’t the first time this has happened to me. When I looked for a job the last time, 18 years ago, I did much the same. That village is tiny and I’ve lived close to it but I just couldn’t find the factory I was looking for, so I drove to another one, the building actually looks more like a office building, to ask for directions. Since I was there I asked if they had a job for someone who worked at Volvo Cars as a painter and assembler for well over twenty years the CEO shouted, our painter is quitting and I haven’t found another, can You start tomorrow 🙂 🙂 I could and stayed there for over 17 years.

Anyway it was a nice little factory with way too much to do and as someone not being there before I couldn’t figure out the logistics in there 🙂 We did the tour and had a chat afterwards. He wanted to know if I would stay until the day I retire and when that would be because he wanted someone who would stay for quite some time. I answered that I’m 60 years old and have no ambition to look for other jobs until I retire, It’s not like I wants to start a career and looking for other jobs 🙂 The pay is more or less what I had but I’ll have a shorter distance to the job. So he said that I’ll know some time next week if I get the job. I usually say that I’ll call at the beginning of the week but that never happens but some time next week at least.

So You will have to continue to have Your fingers crossed and or hold Your thumbs until some time next week 🙂 Now it’s time for that last cup of tea for the day. Tomorrow will be even nice than today and Thursday almost summer like and Friday winter might return 🙂 🙂 To be honest it won’t be that bad but temperatures will drop significant.

This is actually the second butterfly I saw today, the first one was a bright yellow Lemon butterfly. A slo finally heard the first Bumblebee.

Have a great day!

They say it’ll rain tomorrow.

March 29, 2025 · 2 Comments ·

Another really nice and sunny spring day here. Started a bit cloudy but warm so I didn’t feel I had the right to complain 🙂 No cranes in the field though but I could hear some trumpeting in fields further away.

We walked down to the creek but in the opposite direction to what we normally do. It would have been nice to walk to the older forest but the ground is so wet around there that rubber boots are a necessity at the moment. The sun started to shine while we were out warming up the air quite a lot so after a short while it felt too much to wear an anorak 🙂

I continued to weed in the garden, today only nice weeds but yesterday I started to rip up stinging nettle roots. I could see the first shoots for the spring and decided I would at least slow them down this year. The shoots are edible after heating them up and can be used as a sort of spinach. People who do that always lies about those new shoots and say that they doesn’t burn, lies lies lies 🙂 🙂 🙂 So yesterday my hands burned and today they itch something bad 🙂 🙂

Besides that very little has happened here. Can’t say I remember what I’ve been doing but at the moment it does feel like I could have taken a long nap and still hadn’t rushed to do what I have done today 🙂 Tomorrow we’ll have a much cooler day and they’re saying we’ll have some rain as well, we barely got anything last time they said that. It’s not like we really need it but nature will love it anyway 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and after that I have no idea 🙂

The cranes had arrived outside the cottage when we were back home again, they didn’t like to see me so they flew away 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!