Category: The bog.

Cold and sowing bananas.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Haste great day!

More snow will come or perhaps not :-)

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Hunters were out in the forest this morning because it didn’t snow, they wouldn’t have if it had snowed they said 🙂 So I drove to the supermarket while they were out there. I actually woke up pretty late today, at least the last time 🙂 The dogs needed top go outside just before four am and afterwards we went back to bed for a while 🙂 I woke up well after eight am 🙂

The smaller roads were no fun to drive on but the big one to Skara was pretty good actually. The reason I drove today was because of snow warnings the coming days. Now when I look at the biggest weather sites they really can’t agree. The big Swedish one says snow and the same temperature as today (around -6C (21,2F) but the Norwegian one, the one I trust the most, says no snow but bitterly cold. I don’t want it even colder but then again I don’t want more snow either 🙂

Wild hogs had been working on the forest road before the hunters arrived 🙂

I used a big brush when I went out to remove all the snow in front and on the car. It was so fluffy that it only took a few minutes but the snow on the car had melted to a thick ice sheet.It was more or less impossible to remove that on the car roof but the ice on the windows was sort of fragile so I didn’t even have cold fingers when I was done 🙂

I’m so glad that our hunters are a bit lazy because instead of walking to where they are supposed to be they take their cars. To be honest I can understand them because it is so hard to walk on this fluffy and dry snow because nothing can get a good grip while walking in it. Anyway that helped me a lot when we finally could have a walk because the cars are so heavy that I could walk in the car tracks and actually get a grip. Only when walking on the road of course but still. I walked in their foot steps in the forest and that didn’t help at all 🙂 🙂 🙂

There were lots of tracks from mostly wild hogs and roe deer and the occasional fox as well but this weather make the animals stay where they are. I guess it’s just nice to get out and get fresh air and saying they’ll hunt is just a good excuse to get out of their homes 🙂 Well it is time for that last cup of tea for the day but I think I’ll instead have a last cup of coffee. Waking up so late as I did today sort of mess up my day, I don’t have a headache as I usually get when that happens but my brain is sort of a few seconds behind if You understand what I mean 🙂

Have a great day!

I wish You all a good continuing of the new year!

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So it’s a new day and a new year. Back in the days that meant that one needed to remember to not write last years number when signing something, now days we tend to sign everything via apps and they already know what year it is 🙂 If we do need to sign by hand it most likely don’t happen for a while and by then we do remember what year it is 🙂

 

The new year has started with above 0C (32F) temperatures but also with both snow falling and showers of rain. Not a nice combination, especially when the rain mostly falls while being out on a walk with the dogs. Also the monsterkitten has managed to go outside when the snow has fallen just to be hit by showers of rain as soon as the door has been closed behind her, she’s not happy 🙂 🙂 🙂

 

The temperature will drop again and more snow will fall and we might get a lot of it, nothing compared to the area around a city called Gävle and further north, that area might get up to a yard of snow so who am I to complain about possibly getting eight inches of that white garbage 🙂 🙂 🙂 I am however pretty sure I will complain and complain a lot next Time I’ll have to use my car, the first snow will most likely start to melt while freezing towards the windshields. That layer will most likely be really thick before it is cold enough for the snow to just settle without melting. It’ll take forever (well quite some time) when I’ll try and get it all off from my car.

 

The box trap caught the mouse I could hear in the walls the other day, well I hope it’s the one anyway, so I trotted away to all the logs and let it out there. It will be protected from the snow, rain and winds if it decides to stay there. It is after all a wild animal who has lived its life outside my cottage so it should know what’s best for it. Then again I noticed lots of paw prints from a fox around the pile of logs so I might just be feeding it instead. Then again the red fox is a favourite animal of mine so I guess that’s a good excuse to let the mice out at that place.

 

I fell asleep at 10 pm yesterday and to my big surprise slept until eight am! Can’t remember when I slept that much before and the good thing is that I didn’t get an head ache, normally if I sleep for longer than usual my head aches like crazy until I’ve had a cup of coffee. I can’t take any pills since my stomach was destroyed (well destroyed sand really catastrophic but You know what I mean 🙂 So coffee and any soda/drink with lots of caffein is my saving when a head ache comes. Well I had a cup of coffee anyway just in case 🙂 🙂  I think I’ll skip the tea for once and just have a last cup of coffee for the day instead. New year new traditions perhaps 🙂

I have absolutely no idea why my photos show in this way 🙂 🙂 🙂

I wish You all a good continuing of the new year!

I’ve been sleeping so bad lately.

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I’ve slept bad for a few days now and the closer I came to today the worse it got. I haven’t had especially many hours of sleep to be honest and the reason? The annual vehicle inspection 🙂 🙂 🙂 It doesn’t matter how new my car has been and also knowing there’s absolutely no wrong with it, I still have a slight panic when it comes closer 🙂 🙂

These are taken through my kitchen window so they are a bit blurry.

I had the appointment at 7 am today and my first thought when I woke up was, why didn’t I take one later in the day 🙂 🙂 🙂 Don’t get me wrong, I really think we do need this since I want my car and the ones with me in the traffic as good as possible but I just can’t stand it 🙂 🙂 🙂 I knew it wouldn’t pass this year because there’s a clonk sound when I drive over bumps or potholes, I didn’t know why though. Turns out the spring to the front right tire had broken. At the bottom and just a little so it is still safe to drive it. I was also tole that the Lamda value, something to do with the exhaust fumes) was a bit too high. 1,03 is ok but my car had 1,05. My car had that problem last year as well but and it takes a few minutes to fix so no bigger deal.

They build “tipis” several years ago and it looks like they still use them, It’s for the grandkids to the forest owner.

So now it’s over for this time and I know I’ll sleep like a baby tonight 🙂 🙂  Well below 0C (32F) this morning but there was no ice on the car! I had it on the inside instead 🙂 The humidity here is almost always high so it creeps in to the car and when one doesn’t drive every day it builds up inside and I’ll have to dry it off as soon as the motor works and heats up the ice. I drive perhaps once a week now so I’ve just accepted it 🙂 The weeks before when I drove to pick up parcels however I had no such problems at all.

The horrible wind we had yesterday was even more so today, not even the forest managed to keep it away. So I’m now for the first time this winter wearing my winter jacket. The wind will calm down towards Friday but instead we’ll get snow!!! I had hoped we had seen the last of that white garbage this winter 🙂 I know it was stupid because if we’re unlucky winter can continue here until early May but it was a long time ago that happened.

If I had known if we would have an early spring this coming year I would have started the sowing now. Some I think I need to sow now, perennials, bushes and trees that needs a period with cold temperatures to be able to germinate. I also have some things that needs a long growth period before they start to flower, like tomatoes for instance, but it is way too early to sow them now, too warm indoors and too little daylight so they grow slow enough. Not even having a greenhouse now will help a lot with that.

There’s a newly dug hole in the old tree stump, I wonder what animal lives there. Could be a water vole, Ratty in the Wind in the willows are a water vole, I only see them as big aggressive monsters 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day. I baked two loafs of bread earlier today. I’ve already had a couple of slices but one can never have too many when they are absolutely fresh 🙂 I haven’t caught a mouse in two days now. I know there’s at least one still here, I could hear it earlier today. I hope they haven’t learned that they’ll get caught in the box trap 🙂 🙂 The monsterkitten has been down in the cool cellar so I’m pretty sure she’s after it and hopefully successful in taking it.

Have a great day!

Nice thick fog :-)

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We woke up to a foggy world and the weather reports said fog all day long. I knew the hunters wanted to hunt for hare today but guessed since it was so foggy that they wouldn’t. It is really difficult to cook hare so it actually is edible so to sit in fog not being able to see what they hunt would be a waste of time and also if they would shoot anything it could just as well be their hunting dog. It happens way too often and beside traffic it is actually hunters that are responsible for killing more dogs than any wildlife would do.

Still they came for some reason and stayed for much longer than normal so I was quite annoyed the whole time 🙂 🙂 They sort of destroyed our morning just by coming here and make us have to stay at home. Yes I could go out but why risk ones life for not being able to take a walk in the early morning 🙂 🙂 🙂 They did however leave before the sun set so we did manage to have a walk anyway. For a couple of times it even looked like the sun would make an appearance anyway, it was close but never happened.

I sat  in front of the tv watching Tangled and suddenly remembered that when I was a child we had all those storied the Grim brothers had written down (and H.C. Andersens stories as well) I read them so often that they in the end fell apart. So I went online and now a book with all stories written down by the Grim brothers is on its way home to me 🙂 Those stories usually don’t have the happy endings Disney show us and it’s the same with H.C. Andersens books, the little mermaid has a horrible ending but I guess it wouldn’t be a great thing to show in a children’s story now days 🙂 🙂 🙂 I really need to find Andersens stories too 🙂

I’ve had lots of christmas leftovers today and still managed to squeeze down lots of rice porridge 🙂 I’ll have the rest of the porridge as breakfast tomorrow. Now however I’ll have that last cup of tea for the day and later on watch On the Tracks on tv. They say we’ll have fog in the morning tomorrow but most of the day will be sunny and warmish 🙂 By the way! Do You remember that I told You about finding two kernels/ seeds in the Kaki fruits (the Asian relative to the Persimmon fruit)? I put them in plastic bags in damp paper and then in to the fridge. Both have managed to germinate! So now I’ve planted them in pots and placed them by the kitchen windows 🙂

Have a good continuing of Yule!

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It was still rather cold when I went out with the nights catch and also a bit foggy but the fog was gone by the time we went on our morning walk. The cold weather was still on though but that is changing now. The snow has already started to melt and my guess is that it will be gone in a few days. After that however it’ll be pretty cold again so in a way it had been better if the snow had stayed for a while. Then again we might get more since winter isn’t especially old yet.

Alma behaves very different each time we’re out on a walk, yesterday she was a pain for a while but today she behaved so good that it surprised me. Almost no whining or pulling the leash!! I always wonder in what way she’ll punish me the next time we’ll be out for a walk 🙂 🙂 Since that walk was so amazing I’m almost afraid to go out with her tomorrow morning 🙂 🙂 🙂

If yesterday was the big day at christmas here today is the day people to other relatives meeting the same people they met the day before and tomorrow (boxing day is a holiday here) will be much the same but in a different place 🙂 🙂 Also the food will also be the same, Ham, pickled herring, beetroot salad, herring salad (truly one of the most horrible things we can eat, I’d rather eat pigs feet again than having herring salad 🙂 🙂 🙂 ) and if there is any rice porridge left we’ll make risalamand as dessert, lots of whipped cream is mixed with the porridge plus in my family also lots of berries mixed in to it, some prefer tangerine wedges.

I didn’t make any porridge plus I’m not a fan of too much whipped cream so I just had leftovers from yesterday and since I bought so much of the christmas food it feel like I’ll have leftovers for at least a week 🙂 🙂 🙂 I will however make rice porridge tomorrow 🙂 After all it is often called yule porridge over here. I had planned to make an oven omelette and cover it with a mushroom stew but I can do that for new years eve instead, I like that because I don’t feel full for several days after eating that 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day, I actually have the cup beside me 🙂 No more food today though. I’ll actually watch tv tonight, the Swedish version of Task Master, the Christmas edition 🙂

I wish You all a good continuing of Yule!

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I haven’t caught any mouse in over a day and a half now 🙂 I won’t say hooray yet because since I do have a sort of semi wild garden there’s most likely more just waiting to come in 🙂

I was lucky to get a photo of our smallest bird, the Goldcrest. It rarely sit still for more than a second 🙂

We couldn’t have our morning walk today because the hunters came, I doubt that they had any luck though. So I was even late with getting the sod far last mouse out of the cottage. It didn’t suffer because I put in plenty of food before it was caught 🙂 So cross Your fingers and hold Your thumbs for good luck so none of the rest out there decides to move in 🙂 I guess it’s useless to hope but anyway 🙂

Dark and murky all day long, ok the day isn’t that long anyway 🙂 Only less than 23 hours left before it oh so slowly turns towards longer days again. In the beginning the sun will rise slightly later though and at the same time set later as well but in a few days even the mornings will turn again. No one will notice much for quite some time though but just knowing make life better 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I’ll have my vitamin D at the same time. I do still get a lot of vitamin D anyway since I can be outside in the daylight despite not having any sun but that’s not really enough anyway.

Have a great day!

A new morning routine :-)

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We’ve had two really grey and dark days but today the sun suddenly appeared again (of course not while we were out walking) and it felt really strange 🙂 It didn’t give any heat away though so I guess it appeared just for show 🙂 Still we were in the garden enjoying it as much as we could. It is and has been very windy as well but no wind could reach us here in the garden.

Well I guess it’s a bit wrong to call it logs, they’ll grind it down and make pellets of them. So this is the place I let the mice free.

It was so dark for a while yesterday so I switched to black and white for a short while.

I’ve sort of started a new routine. Wake up and let the dogs out to the garden and when they’ve come in I go down to the cool cellar and check what the box trap has caught during the night. When it gets brighter outside I take the mouse/mice out to the forest in the travel box and let them out just beside a big pile of logs they haven’t removed yet and walk hone.

The clouds thinned out so I turned back to cooler again 🙂

When I come home I leash the dogs and out we go on our morning walk. They are really interested in the smells at that pile of logs 🙂 Alma seems to have understood that if she is quiet we will see bigger animals and two days ago we saw a big moose. Unfortunately just as it vanished in to the forest so I didn’t get a chance to take a photo. Lately I’ve driven to the different places where I can pick up parcels so we might have our walk after that instead, it’s usually brighter outside if we do it that way.

Thankfully I don’t have any more parcels waiting to be picked up so I hope I don’t have to go anywhere until Monday when I’ll visit my old work friends again and also do that last christmas food shopping. I need a small ham and mustard and I’ll also check what I need for making gingerbreads. It’s always nice to have some gingerbreads at christmas but the gluten free we can but are an abomination to the world but I’ve made this kind before and they are delicious but perhaps a bit strong spice-wise 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea and most likely a slice or two of the just a few hours old Vörtbröd I baked today 🙂

Have a great day!

They behaved really well today :-)

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Rain all day long, not even the monster likes to go outside. It is warmish outside though but that doesn’t help much since we really can’t be outside anyway.

The travel cage for hamsters that I bought arrived today so I went to the grocery store in Gudhem to pick it up. They have so many parcels there now that one really can’t wait a day or so to pick it up, sort of annoying since I’ll get another one tomorrow. I’ll most likely have to go to the supermarket in Skara to pick up another one and that’s a bit annoying since that means I’ll almost go all the way back home just to continue 20 km the other way 🙂 🙂

We went out to the bog this morning and we could hear lots of animals moving around. I must say that both Alma and Malcolm showed their best behaviour all the way, even when we met a young Fallow deer buck. There was some whining and some pulling the leash but I don’t think they ever have behaved better than today 🙂 Before our morning walk however I went out to the forest by myself with the box trap.

It had caught a small yellow necked mouse but it was still so dark that I had to wait a couple of hours before I could release it. When it was time to do it another one sat in the trap as well 🙂 Rather big so I guess the small one was a female and the big one a male. There was no coconut flakes left so I guess the big one wasn’t out to get fed 🙂 🙂 This time I went further away in to the forest just to make sure they can’t find their way back home again 🙂

The Fallow deer buck has two tiny antlers, hard to see though. Must be around two years old.

Now I don’t have to walk out to the forest with two cowards following me to release the mice, They can stay in this cage until it is time. I’ve put some peanuts in it so they have something to eat while waiting 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea and I’ll also have the last of the ice cream. I’ll buy more tomorrow since I most likely will have to get that parcel at the supermarket anyway 🙂

Have a great day!

So tired.

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I’m a bit tired today because a certain big dog decided to raid the peanuts that was supposed to go to the birds. Of course this created chaos and havoc to her stomach. If I’m saying high pressure diarrhea due to huge amount of gasses sort of ruined the night 🙂 🙂 🙂

I wish I could say that we had morning mist here but it was misty rain instead, the nastiest kind of rain.

Today my home smells of an oddly mix of shit and air cleaner spray 🙂 🙂 🙂 She isn’t the dog that tells You that she needs to go outside, she just sneaks down the stairs and waits to have the door opened. To be fair I think she only thought it would be a fart but so much more happened 🙂 🙂 🙂

So I’ve boiled a lot of rice and she’ll have some fish in it as well. I have Malkolm on the same diet since he has been a bit sad in the stomach as well because the previous food didn’t really agree with him. He will however have some of the new food I’ve ordered in his rice.

Besides that I’ve had a calm day. I’ve been to the supermarket and bought rose-hip soup and Orange ice cream with lots of strings with chocolate 🙂 The cold isn’t any worse than before so I don’t think it’s any of the three flus going around that I’ve gotten. I do try to avoid humans as much as possible but today it was tricky because I was later than usual to the supermarkets so lots of customers walking around but to my surprise no line at the cashiers.

I think it is time to give the dogs something to eat and I’ll have ice cream and later on most likely some of that rose-hip soup 🙂 Some people love to put vanilla ice cream in hot rose-hip soup or a layer of whipped cream on top of it but I prefer to have it by itself.

Have a great day!

Only 13 more days till the winter solstice.

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So I had another little mouse in the box trap this morning, I do hope that’s the last one for this season 🙂 But just in case more will visit I’ve now bought a small travel cage for hamsters on our eBay called Tradera. So if they’ll get caught while it still is dark outside and to be honest it seems to be dark all the time now, I can put it in there until the daylight returns. I guess it’s best to give them some peanuts during the time they’ll be in the arrest 🙂

Today it was so dark that I had to put the camera on ISO 5000 and the photos still came out rather dark, so most of them are being brightened up. The colours did look a bit odd so I changed it to black and white as well (any coloured photo I might put in was taken yesterday). To make it even funnier it has rained all day.

At the beginning just drizzle but after a while we had heavy rain instead plus a small storm was passing by. Didn’t notice much of it here in the garden though, the neighbours cottage and garage plus the forest took all of it instead 🙂 That wind did bring warmth with them so we might even reach 10C (50F) on Wednesday.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day. I have a slight fever and a slightly sour throat now, Don’t know how I got it since I barely leave my home. I noticed my neighbours were at home as well today so I guess they have it too. It doesn’t feel like an influenza thankfully t I’ll drive to the supermarket tomorrow morning and buy some ice cream and rose-hip soup 🙂

Have a great day!

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Perhaps the darkest day so far but fairly warm, no wind and no rain so I can’t complain too much. We had our morning walk fairly late because I had to pick up two parcels that arrived a bit late yesterday at the grocery store in Gudhem. One was the two quality street boxes and the second was with two peonies.

Yule is here soon so they really need us to pick anything we get as soon as possible otherwise I could have waited until Monday, even though the peonies do feel better to be planted as soon as possible. We walked out to the bog and since both Alma and Malkolm behaved so well we walked to an area we seldom walk at because it’s more or less a big thicket and walking with wild leashed dogs there is a nightmare 🙂

Worked well today though so the both gf them had so many more treats than they usually have on our walks 🙂 We didn’t hear any animals walking close to us but we did hear lots of hunting dogs from a distance. I guess most animals laid low listening if the dogs came any closer or moved away.  After that we’ve been doing very little and I think I should have taken a nap because I really had time for it. I did look at my neighbour while he was carrying a dryer over the garden and up the stairs to their cottage though 🙂 Looked exhausting 🙂 🙂

There’s ice under the water and that’s a bit surprising since it has been warm for so long now.

It is time for that last cup tea and then watch the news I think. It’s most likely the same as yesterday and the day before and most likely about the orange blob doing something stupid or Hegseth doing something even more stupid. Well our politicians do stupid things too but on a much lower level. The hunters will be here tomorrow morning so we’ll have a late morning walk I guess. We’ve most likely had a wolf passing close to the garden because the dogs still refuse to go especially far from the entrance even during daytime.

The wild hogs have dug a hole just a couple of meters away from the hunting lodge 🙂

Have a great day!