Category: Sunrise.

I’ve finally found out what she’s good at!

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Not much walking in this heat but I did go up the the mail box yesterday morning.

I’m writing this early today because yesterday was so hot here that my computer had a slight heatstroke πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Suddenly the fan inside it worked insanely hard, have never heard it working that hard before and then the computer froze and the fan stopped working at all. I quickly went down to the freezer and brought two cooling pads, placed one beneath the computer and one on top of it. I checked if it would start after a while and have had no problems at all after that.

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Lots of chicory growing in the field outside my cottage. I think we all know that it can be used as lettuce but back in the days it’s root was roasted and used as a coffee surrogate. One can still buy that but I haven’t tried it.
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Today will be even hotter than yesterday and we might break our heat record if we’re unlucky. I think we had one of those rather rare tropical nights here, it was 20C (68F) outside when I went up at 4:25 this morning. Inside the cottage however it’s still 28C (82,4F).Β  The fan worked all night and I like it but the dogs don’t seem to see the good with it πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ They actually avoid the bed when the fan works, can’t remember when I had that much space for myself πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

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The piglets aren’t morning piglets at all πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚
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The last flower on the Dog rose.
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Still plenty on the big rose beside it.

I actually mowed the lawn yesterday morning when it still wasn’t that hot. Why You might ask? Well the grass on the north side has been growing fast so it was quite high and needed to be mowed before any rain will fall. Well we might not get that rain they had promised was on its way, still changes in their guessing about that but we do need it now. I also wanted to use that cut down grass to cover the ground in the potato and vegetable patches. The grass will keep the moisture in the ground for much longer at the same time grass is full of what plants need to grow so while it decomposes it’ll give that to the ground and plants growing there.

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My now three? year old date palm seedling. It takes quite some time until it finally starts growing those leafs we all know.
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My Chinese Catalpa is in bloom again πŸ™‚

So the first thing I did after feeding the dogs was to water the vegetable and potato patches. Albin and Nova stayed indoors to sleep some more but Alma followed me outside. I’ve finally found out what she’s really good at (as long as Albin isn’t close though), she’s really good at fetch! She comes back with what ever it was I threw away and does so every time I throw it away!! If Albin’s close it’s just grab it and run away so that he will follow and chase her πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Nova has never been good at it and now days she really doesn’t care at all πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ She prefers to mostly sleepΒ  on the sofa πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

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I still need more grass klippings to fill up the vegetable patch though.

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Can’t remember the name of this flower but it should be growing in sunshine and fairly wet to like life, so I’m wondering why it thrives here when it grows really dry and mostly in the shadows πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

It is time to go downstairs and make another cup of tea and perhaps something to eat.

Have a great day!

I really don’t like to change phone.

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Another rather nice day, at least after a while. The morning was quite chilly but we had sunshine and the flies were still hiding in the vegetation trying to stay warm. We went out on a short walk because Nova didn’t seem to want to go at all. She isn’t as alert that she once was πŸ™‚ She really didn’t want to eat much either so I was a bit worried.

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Turns out that if she can eat my food she can eat rather a lot πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ It does look like the ear drops finally have made her feel better though because she, after eating a lot of my food, also ate most of her own food as well. She didn’t even have any problems gulp down lots of dog biscuits either and they are pretty hard πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Also she is, to be honest, not a big fan of Alma so she’s either walking a big distance behind or in front of us when she can πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

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So I’ve finally started to use my new phone. I really don’t understand why I need to go through zillions of questions and decide zillions of things how to manage my phone every time I need to change phone? They already know everything about me, it should be enough to just log in to Google and after that I shouldn’t have to do anything more. There was something called quick switch I could have used if I had downloaded that on my old phone (don’t think I could get away from all those questions and settings anyway) and even though it said that I could get that on my old phone even if I started to use my old one it still didn’t work. At least all my contacts followed the phone this time. I am very grateful that I can call my work friend, who’s much younger than I am, any time I need to ask how to deal with new technology πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

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I’ve now baked a bread in the slow cooker. I looked at the recipes ina cook book that followed with the first one I had and it’s more or less regular bread but there’s one thing I didn’t understand. They never say that the bread should rise before putting the dough in the cooker. Shouldn’t it taste horribly much of yeast if one do it like that? I just did like I always do and let it rise once outside the cooker and the second time I just started the cooker when it was supposed to rise the second time. Worked perfectly! However no matter how much towel one puts beneath the lid the top of the bread will not become brown but that’s no problem since the rest of the surface towards the cooker will be. Just turn the bread upp side down and one will have a nice brown surface πŸ™‚ I had a bit too much basil in my bread though, I like basil but this time I learned my limit for it πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

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The sun is still shining and it’s 21C (69,8F) outside. Clouds and some rain will arrive later today or just after midnight and by looking at how the flies are behaving even here in my garden I’m guessing we might get thunder as well. Tomorrow will be just as warm or cool depending on how hot it is where You live but after that we’ll have a three day heat wave. I’m glad it won’t last for longer but then again our meteorologists aren’t know to be the best in the world so it might just stay for much longer πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I’ll go down to my friend with the garden center again tomorrow and I do hope that my brain will make me stop at the big store to buy that hose I’ve said so many times that I’ll buy πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I don’t have much to put on sandwiches either, today I went outside and picked some dandelion leafs as lettuce (and i also thinned out some small iceberg lettuce to have together with some ham and cheese and tomato slices. All I have left for tomorrows breakfast (if I want sandwiches ) are a couple of boiled eggs and the last piece of cheese.

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It is time to go downstairs and make a cup of tea and to have a couple of bon bons I think πŸ™‚

Have a great day!

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There’s a heat wave on the continent, some places here had 8C (46,4F) as warmest today :-) :-)

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So I wrote a post here early this morning when suddenly the web site froze and refused to save any drafts. The odd thing was that I could continue to write without any problems. I also couldn’t post what I had written but clicked to save it so I just could update the site and then just paste it here again. For a reason I can’t understand I then couldn’t find the saved post again even though I did look at the right place. So I gave up and now I’m writing it all down again πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

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Sort of annoying but at the same time perhaps a good thing nothing worked as it should. Nova has been under the weather all day with a slight fever and an infection in her ear, again. SI’m pretty sure the infection make it hurt when she eats because she refused to eat in the morning. Still she would take some blue cheese, no need to chew a well ripe mold cheese πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ She also followed us on our morning walk so I wasn’t too worried. I started with her ear drops and already in the afternoon she ate a pancake πŸ™‚ Ok she tried to lick it up while lying down πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ which really didn’t work but if I picked the pancake pieces up and gave them to her she happily gulped them down πŸ™‚

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When she got her afternoon food she still was pretty picky and still tried to lick up the pieces, it sort of worked but I decided that I would pick the pieces up and give them to her. Turns out that she only wanted the orange colored pieces πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ She just looked at me with disgust when I tried to give her any other color pieces πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I do hope she will be much better by tomorrow morning because she is a bit of a drama queen to be honest. Then again at the age of sixteen she’s allowed to be πŸ™‚

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Besides that nothing much has happened today. I bought several different houseleeks this week because I have a rather big pot, low and wide, that needed something in it. Houseleeks are succulents so they don’t need much soil, to be honest wet soil during winter can make them rot, so I used the sand I have beneath the grass in my garden (I still have a lot around after digging my grey water root zone). I had bought eight and they just barely fit in the pot. I’ve watered a lot just so that all the sand will fill up the empty spaces between them because it’s almost impossible to do that while planting and having very dry sand πŸ™‚

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The pot will stay outdoors all winter but I’ll make sure to place it so that no rain or snow will make it too wet for them. I used to have hardy cacti in my garden years ago but too many problems with thorns and dogs to make it worth while πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Houseleeks also get pretty flowers but I doubt that I’ll see any this year. It is time for another cup of tea, some bon bons and to watch the athletic world championships. We’ve had a rather chilly day here today, it didn’t even reach 20C (68F). There’s a horrible heat wave down in Europe (even Britain is hit by it) but it doesn’t reach us, at least not yet. Some placed here in the middle of Sweden didn’t even get more than 8C (46,4F) and that is really unusual even up here in the north.

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Some sprouts fell off when I was putting down the potatoes in the ground so I planted them in two buckets. I wonder how many potatoes I’ll get from them πŸ™‚
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I planted several different Houseleeks in a big clay pot this morning. Only sand and stone in the pot and I do hope they’ll thrive πŸ™‚

Have a great day!

A little surprise thunderstorm.

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The weather has been rather mixed today. Quite warm and very windy. Lots of clouds but still lots of sunshine and one surprising shower with five lightnings hitting not too far away to the south west of the village. I had almost all windows open but the ones in the living room when I looked outside and thought it must be raining. I did manage to close them all before the heavy raining started and the thunder started to thunder πŸ™‚

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I’ve ordered a “new” mobile phone. I really didn’t want to but realized that I really need to. I have a few cracks in it but so far that hasn’t been any problem but so the other day, when I had the phone in my hand while looking at Albin and Alma playing, I suddenly heard a rather quiet but still clear cracking sound. Turns out that the phone now cracks more and more and it’s just enough to hold it for it to happen.

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So I went to the website where I bought my computer, the one that sell used computers and phones. Turns out they had a sale on phones so now I bought an almost new Samsung Galaxy Note 9. It was almost a third of the price buying a new in a store. They go through all phones and deletes anything personal from the previous owner. My guess is that some company had it as a phone for an employee and that the company stopped to excists not long after they got the phone and that it is repossessed. Still I would rather continue to have the phone I now have but I doubt that the glass will hold much longer. I really dislike having to get a new phone or computer.

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I’ve mowed the lawn today, haven’t mowed since before the heatwave so in some places the grass were pretty high. Especially in those places where the water hose were placed, the one that is perforated so that the water slowly waters the plants πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I did think the flies were slightly insane since the wind reached my garden but now I understand it was because of the coming thunder. I was actually planning to just mow a part of it all but since the wind blow so that it felt cooler than it was I just continued and mowed it all.

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My bon bons and film rolls have arrived at the grocery store in Gudhem today so I’ll go and pick them up tomorrow. First however I’ll go and buy a new garden hose, one that isn’t perforated πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ There’s really no need to water the lawn, the less it grows the better for me πŸ™‚

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Have a great day!

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Almost white now.

Lots of napping today :-)

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I really haven’t done much today besides napping for a couple of hours and going through the dogs checking for ticks. The rainy weather really brought out those nasty critters again. We have very few slugs and snails though so that’s at least something.

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I’m not sure if it is wheat, rye or wheat-rye they are growing in this field. Back in the days it was easy to see the difference between the different kinds but now days they’re so mixed up with each other that one really need to know what it is to be able to see it πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚
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It stayed towards the chilly side until noon today. It was mostly cloudy but as soon as the sun showed between the clouds it warmed up pretty quickly. We went out on our morning walk just after five am and unfortunately that was enough warm for the forest flies to start annoying us all. There were even some horse flies and I can now tell You that we’ll have a few less next years since I killed any of them that landed on me πŸ™‚ Still they managed to give me a couple now quite itching bites.

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Yesterday I ordered a few rolls of films to my bigger cameras, it’s hard to get any now days and I’m not sure if it is because of the war in Ukraine or if it was during the virus they stopped producing those films. Today however I ordered a tin box with bon bons from Quality Street. I don’t have many memories of my father but I do remember that every time he came home (he was a sailor) he always brought a box with Quality Street bon bons. They are really hard to get around here so this box actually comes from Denmark. Hopefully it’ll arrive in the middle of next week πŸ™‚

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We’ll have much the same weather tomorrow they say, a bit on the chilly side in the morning but it will never really be warm at all, it won’t reach 20C (68F). I’m ok with that since they’re guessing it will be slightly warmer the coming week, no rain though and we really would need some more to be honest. Then again with no rain I’ll be able to finally mow the lawn and with no rain the grass will grow much slower as well πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

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It is time to get something to eat and then doze off in front of the tv, like always πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ The swedish ladies will play against the ladies from the Netherlands later tonight in the European football (soccer) Championship. I might watch that, otherwise I’ll just check videos on Youtube or Facebook all evening πŸ™‚

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Have a great day!

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I bought two of the rose that would be planted where Teodor is buried. This is the one still standing in a pot (the one on Teodors grave is a bit behind still). If I learned right this orange flower will now slowly fade to almost white. So it’ll have both of his colors.
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We had thunder but I didn’t notice it :-)

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I knew that we would get both clouds and rain and most possibly thunder later today so we went out on our walk as soon as we had woken up because the sun was shining and it was cool and nice outside. Just enough warm for the forest flies to fly around but cool enough to keep the horse flies calm.

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It was almost cloud free when we started our rather short walk but the sky was completely covered by clouds by the time we came home again, perhaps 30 minutes later. It didn’t take long after that when the first rain arrived. They had guessed that it would arrive after noon some time so I wasn’t surprised at all that it arrived rather early in the morning πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I really didn’t mind though but decided to do the last of the laundry before any thunder might arrive. It did but I didn’t notice it at all. I just noticed that the app on my phone had warned for lightnings long after it had passed πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

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They’re now guessing we’ll get more rain tomorrow and on Tuesday as well but after that it’ll slowly dry up and sunshine will return. I do hope the coming week will be cooler since I’ll be working in the hot powder paint department again. All other painters are on vacation so I’m the only one who can do it. We do however have other people who can paint with normal paint so what ever needs to be painted there will be painted by someone else. I think I’ll appreciate my comming vacation so much more after a week in that hot place πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

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I haven’t found that add about bread baking machines again but while looking I remembered that it would be much better if I actually bought a new slow cooker since the ceramic pot in the old one broke. I do like the food we now can buy at work but the price is really insanely high compared to what it costs to make the food at home. So when I’ve finished here I’ll check for slow cookers instead. I managed to convince my work friend that it is one of the best inventions ever so he bought one and now he makes all his dinners in it πŸ™‚ When I get it I’ll try to bake a bread in it too, I’ll still do all the work but I must try it πŸ™‚

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I planted two melon vines earlier today and watered them of course but it is time to water some more because I’m pretty sure the dry ground around them has stolen most of that water. After that I’ll fall asleep in front of the tv as usual πŸ™‚

Have a great day!

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The heat has arrived.

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From the window upstairs where I have my computer.

So the heat has arrived and so far I’m ok with it but I’m sure I won’t be tomorrow when it’ll be even hotter. 28C (82,4F) today, 30C (86F) tomorrow and 31C (87,8F) on Sunday. The hottest I’ve ever been through is 35,6C (96,08F) and that was in 2018. I really never want to go through that kind of heat again.

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It was quite nice in the early morning though, we were out on our walk around 4:30 am and the hot air was on its way so we had a thick layer of fog all over the village. It doesn’t last for long after the sun has risen so I thought it best to get outside as soon as possible. I doubt we’ll have any fog tomorrow morning though since the ground now will already be warm when the sun rise again.

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I watered the vegetables and potatoes as soon as we had come home and I must say we do have unusually many mosquitoes this summer. They all went to visit me as well and even though it doesn’t itch any longer the sound of them is quite annoying. I just heard one flying around my head when I was closing the kitchen door so I sprayed some insecticide towards it. I rarely use insecticides but fly season can be nasty here and suddenly those sticky fly papers can’t take any more flies and then I will use it. I now have two open windows upstairs and one downstairs, all covered with mosquito nets of course.

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I hope that will make the wind we have flow through my cottage and I will be able to sleep upstairs tonight. I do have the recliner and I do sleep very well in it but not as good as in my own bed. Then again there’s no place for dogs so I might even sleep better to be honest πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I also did my laundry, well some of it anyway, and it felt like it dried up even before I managed to hang it up to dry πŸ™‚

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I’ve done very little besides that today, a lot of napping because of the heat and that I still have very little energy after that cold I had. I didn’t even have the tv on most of the time, summer is rerun season so they show very little I not already have seen or is interested in anyway. I have lots of dvd’s I haven’t seen, the latest ghost buster movie for instance so I mighty watch that one before going to bed tonight.

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Have a great day!

The heat from south will reach us after all, they think.

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This was a good day to have off from work, the sun has been shining all day and it’s been around 23C (73,4F). The winds have been rather strong so that makes it feel a bit cooler. The weather predictions have varied quite a lot about the coming week and at the moment it seems as if we’ll get up to 30C (86F) during the weekend. I’m not happy about that but there’s nothing I can do about it.

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For someone who really doesn’t like roses I sure have a lot of them πŸ™‚
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A lot of people will love it though since we celebrate midsummer this weekend. Many will go to the beach, others will barbecue and some will start forest fires because they can’t use their brains and understand that open fires when everything is dry and hot aren’t such good ideas πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ We really should celebrate it today though since it is summer solstice now.Β  Then again we won’t notice any change in daylight anyway since several days now are more or less just as long. Today the sun rose at 4 am and it will set at 10:16 pm. The only difference to Friday will be that the sun rise one minute later πŸ™‚

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The giant rose has just opened its first flower. It is later than the common Dogrose and a bit deeper in color.
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Common dog rose.
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I stopped at my favorite garden center on my way home and bought a couple of plants, two melon plants since the ones I have really doesn’t seem to grow at all and one Kiwi vine. It isn’t really hardy enough to grow here, close but no cigarr as they say but I’ll try and protect it from the worst cold if winter gets bad. That was bad luck for You though because I couldn’t find any parking spots in the shade so I couldn’t stop and take any photos for You and instead I had to drive home again. Well I’ll most likely take trip up there again during my vacation.

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Tiny caterpillars have eaten almost all leafs on my gooseberry bushes. No bigger harm for the bush since they’ll grow new leafs and they never touch the berries.
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My fig tree was hit by the frost a month or so ago and finally it grows new leafs again.

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Magpies found it funny to rip up the beans that had started to grow and just leave them on the ground so now I’ve covered most of the vegetable patch.

So tomorrow it’s back to work but only for two days since we don’t work on Friday. Midsummer is almost as big as christmas here and anyone who doesn’t have to work will not work.

Have a great day!

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Neither Albin nor Alma screamed??!!

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We did get rain last night, I woke up at some time hearing a shower passing by. We didn’t get especially much though, just enough so I won’t have to water the patches today. I still have some sowing to do so I’ll do that tomorrow morning I think.

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We weren’t supposed to have any sunshine this morning but the clouds would go away some time before noon. So I wasn’t the least surprised that the sun shone through big patches of cloud free sky already in the early morning πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ We had breakfast before we went out on our walk so the temperature was above 10C (50F) which means the flies are flying around. We have a really strong wind blowing though so I hoped it would keep the flies away. No it didn’t. I didn’t want to walk down to the creek because horse flies reign there at the moment so we went in to the forest instead.

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We swapped horse flies to forest flies and mosquitoes instead. The forest flies are still a bit shy so they just circles around the head and don’t aim for ears and nostrils so the walk was quite pleasant. We walked to an opening in the forest where they cut down the trees a few years ago. We stopped just where it opens up and the dogs were quite interested in something out there. If it hadn’t been for my tele photo lens starting to argue about where to focus I would now have been able to show You photos of adorable striped piglets.

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She isn’t that big thankfully, perhaps 50 kg (around 104 pounds ).

The lens calmed down so that I at least could take photos of one of the sows.Β  She had her eyes on us all the time and I think she didn’t care about us especially much because both Albin and Alma were quiet???!!! So we stood there for a minute or so but since I know wild hogs are fast and the boar must be around somewhere we slowly turned around and went back homewards. I have by the way bought another lens. I did it as soon as we came home. I went out to check our EBay, called Tradera and found a used Tamron telephoto lens. It has reasonable good reviews so I’m hoping for the best.

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My neighbor looked out the window when we were on our way out to the forest and I asked how she (well they because they are a family after all) was doing. Turns out that she got sick on Tuesday, her daughter just after and her fiance yesterday. All the symptoms are the same except for her, she has lost her sense of smell and taste. Could be corona but it can just as well be a normal influensa. I do feel better today even though I do cough a lot from time to time. I have very little energy so I’ll skip the lawn mowing until that returns.

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I may not have poppies around my garage but I do have buttercups, dog biscuits and stinging nettles πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

We’ve just had our dinner, well I had my dinner and the dogs had lots of my french fries :-). They’ll get their food as soon as I’m done here. I think I should have some dessert, ice cream πŸ™‚ The banana split ice cream I bought is ok, too much chocolate sauce on it for my taste. It’s strange, I really like chocolate but have problems with chocolate sauce, it’s just sticky and way too sweet πŸ™‚

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The roses are opening up.
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Flag Iris? The first one to open up.
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Rosa glauca.
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The Dog rose will soon be almost pink. The rose behind will open up a bit later. It is now well over 4 meters high (much the same in yards).

Have a great day!

I didn’t expect that :-)

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Took this when I woke up, view from where I have my computer.

We’e had a rather nice day again, mostly sunny till afternoon arrived but now a sheet of grey clouds cover the sky. It’s just above 20C (68F) with a kind lukewarm wind blowing. I’ve had the kitchen door open since early morning so the dogs have been able to go out and in as they’ve pleased.

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Took this and the next one a few minutes later when the sun just had started to rise above the tree line and with another camera.
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We had our first walk this week, I finally felt enough well to do that. The sun was shining and the temperature well below 10C (50F), so none of the flies annoyed or bit us. Yes the fly season has started. Still mostly biting flies and they are annoying enough but still not as many as the overly friendly forest flies who seems to have only one wish in life, to take a look inside our ears and nostrils πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

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I bought a garden hose yesterday and today I used it to water my now showing vegetable plants and potato plants. I also now have the cleanest kitchen floors in the world, why You might ask? Well because the hose I bought turned out to be a dripping hose. It has loads of tiny holes in it so that while I water where I want to the hose also water gently where I place it, like in my kitchen πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

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We only walked down to the creek and turned back again. The grass is filled with dew and most likely with ticks as well.
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The thought behind it is that if one place it strategically in the vegetable patch (or inside a green house) one just plug the end of it and the water will then gently drip out of the hose, a perfect way to not waste water. So now I really need to buy a new hose long enough so I just put this “leaking” hose in the two patches and let it slowly water the ground. To be honest not what I had planned but kind of right anyway. This time I think I’ll order the hose online. To be honest I also totally miscalculated how long the hose needed to be and it should have been at least twice as long as I thought πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

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I also bought a toy for the dogs, well at least Alma and Albin. Nova doesn’t play that much any longer. It’s a big Cotton? rope. They had fun with it for around five minutes and then they left it πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ It is still fun if I throw it up in the air and one of them catch it. Then they play with it for five more minutes πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Those dogs don’t seem to be the toy kind of dogs, they’re more in to chewing bones and preferable hard ones that will take a year or so to chew through.

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Rain is on the way and for once I really hope we’ll get lots of it. The creeks is getting narrower and narrower and the swamp behind my garage is no more. Ok we’ll get fewer mosquitoes if it is dry but we’ve gotten unusually little rain this spring and early summer so the vegetation really needs it. Back in the days June, July and August were the most rainy months we had. Still it’s much better than down south in Europe, It isn’t that nice in big parts of the US either to be honest. It’s time for something to eat and perhaps a cup of tea.

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In my garden right now.
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Blue Irises are in bloom in my root zone.
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The yellow ones aren’t far behind.
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Grapevine flowers aren’t pretty to be honest πŸ™‚

Have a great day!

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If You ever are about to buy a new garden hose, don’t buy this black one πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

So nice day!

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I really can’t complain about anything today to be honest. 23C (73,4F), sunshine, a weak but cool wind blowing and Alma has behaved all day! There was this one deer that refused to move out in a field but Alma didn’t see it and only pulled the leash forward. It’s when she suddenly make quick turns that my shoulder gets worse.

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The first horse flies have arrived, still they aren’t too bad, just annoying by circling around showing they are here. Well I think one bit Alma because most of the day she has been chasing everyone of them that has been close to her. These look like wasps so I’m a bit worried she will try and catch one of those, a sting in the mouth isn’t a good thing. I can also tell already now that it’s a wasp year, long time since I saw these many as I do now.

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I’ve finally done the potato patch πŸ™‚ I haven’t placed the last pieces of lawn over the stinging nettles yet, I was so tired and my body hurt so much when I was done that I decided to do that tomorrow. It was so fun because every time I went away for a short while small birds landed in the patch and took any maggot, larvae and worm they could find. Some were even so brave that they came down while I still was working there. I’ll rake the place tomorrow before I put down the potatoes so they’ll have another chance to find food. There is this larvae (who eventually will become some kind of beetle) that feeds on grass roots, when the grass roots no longer is there they will go for the potatoes so any of these the birds will take is a good thing.

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Tomorrow I’ll start with the vegetable patch and do the exact same thing there. I’ll have some very well fed baby birds this summer πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I think there are lots of birds nests in the garden this summer because I could hear when they fed their younglings. It’s amazing how loud they are, especially since there are so many who would love to have them as a snack. I don’t have any cats now but the neighbors have plenty but they are of course not in my garden if I and my dogs are there.

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Tomorrow is our national day and that’s a day very few actually celebrates here. Most of us didn’t want it to become a holiday because we knew they would remove another holiday we had if it did become a holiday. The one they removed was Whit Monday. No one did celebrate that one either since no one actually knew why we had it as a holiday πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ The thing was however that it always was on a Monday so we all knew we would get a long weekend.Our national day can come any day since it is a fixed date. So since no one actually wanted it both the employers and the union agreed on us getting eight hours of compensation time every year it happened on a Saturday or Sunday so that we actually could take a long weekend anyway πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

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I can feel I have drunk way too little water after working in the sun all day so now I’ll have something to drink and I will also open a tin of canned peaches because I feel I deserve it πŸ™‚

Have a great day!

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Tiny little spiders who are all ready to start to eat each other πŸ™‚
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Finally I’ve mowed my lawn.
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The potato patch. I’ve planted three hardy kiwi along the fence. It looks like one might be dead or on its way to so I’ve ordered a new one.
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I’ve made a path for the dogs with the cut out pieces of lawn.
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This is a male plant of the hardy kiwi. It’ll get small beautiful white flowers. None of my female plants will give any flowers this year so I’ll have to wait for a chance to eat the berries.

The first potatoes are in the ground now.

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I can barely see my gate during summer πŸ™‚ I like it any day as long as it hasn’t rained. The slightest touch and all rainwater on those leafs will fall down on me πŸ™‚ :-)

Β 

We’ve had such a nice day here, sunshine for half the day and it reached almost 18C (64,4F). Very little wind and the wind we had was lukewarm πŸ™‚ Quite chilly in the morning (almost frost) though but with the sun shining it didn’t feel that bad anyway.

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I have continued to remove the lawn in my new potato patch and it does take much more time than one might think, especially since I want to remove as much soil from it as possible. I now have removed half the surface from grass and I’ve also put down the first potatoes. I know it’s good for my body to do things like this because moving my body is the only thing that actually keeps my rheumatism in place but I can tell You that it won’t feel that way for a couple of days from now πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ If the weather permits I will continue to remove the rest of the surface the coming days. After that I’ll have to do the same with the vegetable patch I’m planning πŸ™‚

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Clouds are now covering the sky and every now and again I can hear some drizzle fall from the sky, not enough to actually call it a rain fall but I do like the sound it makes when hitting the leafs in the lilac hedge. Also so little that having an open window doesn’t even making it wet πŸ™‚

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I’ve picked up the last plants from my cool cellar and turned off the lights until next autumn when I’ll move those plants back again. I’ve realized that I’ve sown loads of clementine kernels last autumn and most of those tiny plants have survived, both those who stayed in the kitchen during winter and those living in the cellar. Can’t say I can see any bigger difference in size between them but I guess that if it matters how they stay over winter I’ll most likely see the difference after this summer.

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It is time for a last cup of tea for the day. I’ve tried not tro fall asleep in front of the tv all day so I’m so tired now that I doubt that any ammount of tea or coffee would be able to keep me awake during the night πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

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Have a great day!