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 🙂
Mixed weather here today, anything from misty rain to drizzle and then showers but also a lot of sunshine and it was so nice to stand in it feeling the warmth from it. Tomorrow it’ll be 4C (39,2F) all day, both day and night but with no chance of seeing the sun they say.
There was almost no vegetation growing in the bog (except for the pines) when I moved here 25 years ago but long draughts have made sure that birches thrive. The idea was that they weren’t allowed to keep the ditches so that the water level would rise but nature has another idea. So now when animals walk here I can’t see them, just hear them.
It was a joy to have our morning walk today, Alma behaved all the time and Malkolm pushed the leash much less, I guess the smell from what ever it was that the ravens ate made them more focused 🙂 🙂 🙂 This time of year the birds don’t make a lot of sounds, the occasional tweeting but they are so focused at finding food that they really don’t have the time to do other things. That makes it easier for us to hear other things, like wild hogs trying to move as quietly as possible .
We had lots of them around us today and as long as they keep trying to avoid us I don’t care about them 🙂 there were lots of ravens in the air and Great tits flew between the trees looking for insects hiding in the moss and lichens. No woodpeckers today though and oddly enough I didn’t hear any Jays arguing, normally those are the ones one mostly can hear 🙂
I also went to the supermarket today. I didn’t need especially much but came home with more than I had written down on my list 🙂 They did have whole chicken on sale so why not and I found this cereal that was supposed to taste like apple pie (and it was also gluten free) and I thought I really needed to try that one. Well it didn’t taste anything like apple pie and one could think that since it was made from oat that it possibly at least would taste like oatmeal cookies but no. So sit was like eating hard bread in a bowl of yogurt 🙂 🙂 🙂
Then I thought I should buy sand for the aquarium so I walked in top the pet store just beside. They now have a license to sell fish so they actually had a few aquariums with fish but they were so expensive that I doubt anyone will buy any fish from that place. I did eventually find aquarium sand but I couldn’t find how much it weighed but took it anyway, I would need around 10kg (22 pound) and it looked like that bag would way something like that. I did think that I must have lost a lot of muscle because it was so heavy. It was expensive too but since the fish was expensive I didn’t think much of it. Turns out that I bought a 20kg (44 pound) bag 🙂 🙂 so now I have around 22 pound of sand just standing in a corner 🙂 🙂 🙂
I think this might be the last leaf still hanging on in the entire area, it’s on my peach tree 🙂I really should cut of this big branch on the apple tree but I like all the moss that’s growing on it 🙂
It is time for that last cup of tea I think. Perhaps I should have some of that apple pie cereal as some kind of cookie 🙂 🙂 🙂 I can always pour some cinnamon over it all and pretend it’s a Christmas cookie 🙂 🙂
They come to the feeder long before the daylight arrive.
The weather has changed rather dramatically from freezing cold to rather nice and warmish. 7C (44,6F) as highest so now everything is muddy again 🙂 The wind has stayed though. One good thing is that the water barrels all now has thawed so I can bring in water to all the potted plants. It seems that most of my potted plants either wants slightly acidic water or rainwater. Actually, my aquarium fish are just the same so I do need more rainwater than I actually thought I would 🙂
It will stay much like this weather-wise the ten coming days but with some rain every now and again and more or less just as windy., no sunshine though. We all know how wobbly these weather forecasts are so things can change in seconds 🙂 🙂 🙂
It would be great if the temperatures could stay up for at least ten more days because I’ve ordered two peonies and really want them in the ground as soon as possible. They are potted so I can have them in the cool cellar but it’s always best to plant them as soon as possible. You can plant anything this time of year as long as You can make a hole in the ground because most plants should have lost their leafs by now and will be resting and will not be disturbed by being dug down in a new home. It works just as good if You live further south and You still have leafs on everything but then You will need to water for a couple of days to be sure the plant won’t dry out. Doesn’t matter if it rains because the soil the plant comes in will dry out really fast if You don’t.
We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here and I guess that’s a good thing, one less holiday where families starts war between them because of no reason at all most of the time 🙂 🙂 🙂 First of advent is on Sunday though and that’s quite important though but not like families gather but more like having Julmust (a very Swedish soda) coffee and gingerbreads while lighting the first candle. That’s when Christmas starts here. Many have already started the decorating with the electric advent candlestick in the windows, the advent star as well and many have their first christmas flowers in the windows as well, like hyacinths (now days usually without any scent since many can’t take that) and Poinsettias (we call them Christmas stars) and of course some kind of light in the gardens.
Back in the days people would start with the cookie baking but I think most people just buy the cookies now days. I will bake gingerbreads for the first time in. ages because the gluten free ones one can buy taste like poison 🙂 🙂 🙂 They are truly horrible so if I want any I better bake them myself but that won’t happen until much closer to Christmas, they wouldn’t last a minute otherwise 🙂 🙂 🙂 I guess it is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I think I’ll have a sandwich or two as well, I have some blue cheese I really need to eat now 🙂 (have You tried blue cheese and gingerbreads? really yummy 🙂 )
We woke up to a cold and foggy world today which, despite the cold, is one of my favourite weathers 🙂 So as soon as it was light enough the dogs and I walked out to the bog. If I had known the fog would stay all day we would have had a longer walk down to the creek and out on the bog there. Days like these are quiet days, not only does the fog dampen sounds from the big road but also no birds make any sounds at all. Well there was these two ravens flying above us who made their metallic sounds a couple of times but that was it.
Alma behaved so well so if there had been any animals out on the fields we would have been able to see them, at least if they were close enough because the fog was so thick sometimes that the camera couldn’t find places to focus on 🙂 we walked out on the peninsula and when we stood there looking out over the bog we could hear something moving around but it never came close enough for us to see it. It was most likely one or two wild hogs because if they know we are around they really don’t care if they can be seen 🙂 and really doesn’t care if we hear them. I always thought the wolves would hunt them but I’ve learned that wolves aren’t especially interested in wild hogs and I guess that’s why they don’t care about being heard or seen.
I sat in my recliner after we had come home and started to think about what time I was going to x-ray my hips tomorrow and after that see my doctor. I have experimental hip implants in my hips since I was too young to get hip prostheses since they would wear out way to fast. Turns out that these implants mostly were quite horrible to those getting them. They leaked lots of heavy metals in to the body and both the bones, muscles and tendon attachments could start to dissolve because of that. The doctor I had for my first surgery however is a snob 🙂 🙂 🙂 so he chose the most expensive kinds there was and therefore I have no such problems 🙂 My “new” doctor of course chose the same kind for my other hip 🙂 They do check my blood and take new x-rays every five years now (before it was every year) just in case something goes wrong. So if they can’t find any heavy metals in my blood I’ll do this again after five years 🙂
Anyway it turns out it was today I would go to the hospital 🙂 🙂 🙂 I still had lots of time going there so no panic 🙂 Normally I don’t mind driving around in fog unless it is dark outside or that it is colder then 0C (32F) since fog is water and when it hits the road it starts to freeze. Most of the way was fine though but it had started to freeze on my way home. No traffic at that time though so I could drive in the speed I felt safe, also it helps if one drives behind a tractor the last 500 meters before driving in on the village gravel road 🙂
It started to become dark again as soon as I had come home otherwise we would have had another walk to the forest but since we have hogs, moose and eventual wolves here I didn’t want to meet any of them when it was dark 🙂 🙂 🙂 I haven’t figured out what to have for dinner so I guess it’ll be warm sandwiches with meatballs and sausages and lots of cheese 🙂 Plus I*ll of course have that last cup of tea for the day 🙂
Have a great day!
So this is my Korean spruce. Its top was destroyed long ago and it took may years before a branch decided to become the new top 🙂 So it does have an odd shape.So the lights also have an odd shape 🙂 🙂 🙂
So it is warmer but instead we got a wind that makes everything feel colder. The dogs and I have been in the forest mostly so we haven’t felt much of it to be honest. Nights can still be a bit chilly so the ground is frozen when we get out first thing in the morning.
I drove to the supermarket in Skara this morning, the big road was just fine but the smaller one just outside my village was a bit scary to drive on 🙂 I always do a test brake when I drive out on it now when it’s cold in the morning and even though I have really good winter tires on the car still slid around as if it was drunk 🙂 🙂 So all the way to the big road I wished no hogs or deer would jump up on the road 🙂 🙂
We haven’t seen much of the sun except for when the clouds were so thin it shined through them. We walked down to the bog and out to my favourite island and walked in the forest there. I could hear one hunting dog bark in the distance , last time they were all over the bog. I couldn’t find a single track from wildlife oddly enough, not even from the wild hogs that I know are plenty out there. I guess the wind and generally cold weather made them stay in the thickets until they really needed to eat something.
Now when all the leafs have fallen down we can hear the traffic on the big road but out on that island it’s totally devoid of traffic sounds. Mostly because most of the trees there are spruces and they’re so thick that not even sounds go through. It is a nature reserve so no one has cut a tree there since I don’t know when. The thought is that when these trees have fallen more “natural” for this area trees will start to grow there instead. I guess the idea is nice but since 70 years back nothing than spruces have grown there there will also be lots of spruce seeds just waiting for a chance to grow up 🙂 🙂
Every time I see this old tree I start to think about the monsters in the movie Miss Peregrine’s home for peculiar children 🙂
There was a small Sparrow hawk sitting on the table in front of the bird feeder this morning just waiting to have a small bird as breakfast. Well the small birds were nowhere to be found oddly enough 🙂 🙂 🙂 I think it must have been a young male (because of the size, males are smaller) and that he hasn’t figured out that being seen by his food is not a good thing 🙂 🙂 Beautiful bird and even though I like the birds by the feeder I do hope this one will survive the winter.
It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and then watch some tv if I can find anything that interests me, which I doubt.
Have a great day!
The photo was taken with my phone camera through a not so clean window 🙂
Still waiting for that snow to arrive. Well to be honest we have actually had some but so little that it’s hard to find 🙂 🙂 They are threatening us with more later on though so I guess we’ll get it sooner or later. There has been snow chaos in other places though and I’m so glad it never came to us.
We have had fog though, so thick in the early morning that it was hard to see anything and then it slowly started to thin out just to come back again later. I do like fog so I didn’t complain but it did make the day a bit dark to be honest. The eyes didn’t notice it that much but the camera did 🙂
I had prepared for a snowy day so I made lots of rice porridge and learned that it worked just as well on a foggy day 🙂 Rice porridge is not something one make unless it is cold and snowy because it takes a long time to make, easily gets burned and if it is burned one has to toss it away because it tastes awful. Making it on a stove is hot and boring since one must stir it around pretty often. I however make it in the slow cooker so even though it takes almost three hours to make one only have to stir it a few times.
I put on a new collar on the monsterkitten yesterday and she wore it for almost half a day before she lost it 🙂 🙂 This time I wrote my phone number on the collar so I got a call just minutes ago, she had lost it at the farm just up the slope 🙂 So I’ll get it tomorrow when I’ll check if I’ve gotten any mail. I guess that’s the place she mostly walks to because she does tend to smell like a cow now days. I’m pretty sure her mother was one of the feral cats living there and that’s where the cat looking almost identical to her lives at as well 🙂
It is time for that last cup of tea for the day. It is pitch black outside and the temperatures will drop considerable so tomorrow morning might be the coldest morning so far this winter.
It was a bit colder this morning than I thought it would be, it had dropped down to -9,4C (15,08F) as coldest. No wind and sunshine all day made our walks really nice though. I wore my studded boats because it is no fun sliding on ice and breaking something while being out at the bog where it would be very hard to find me 🙂 🙂 🙂 That however made it impossible to walk silent, those studs against the gravel road sounds like I’m crushing the stones 🙂 So instead of seeing them we could hear them run away in panic in all directions 🙂 🙂
It is much the same when I have them while shopping, people don’t run away but everyone looks around to see what it is breaking down 🙂 but it’s only in the beginning of winter that happens because after that most people use studs in either ones that can be removed from the shoes (no one will because they are horrible to try and get back when going outside again) or shoes with studs already in them. Even teenagers use them now days, might be nice to not have to go to school but no fun not being able to go anywhere anyway 🙂
Lots of hunting dogs moving around us while we were at the bog, not from this area but dogs doesn’t know any borders, especially not if they follow what ever it is they’re hunting. So we didn’t walk as far as I wanted to. Not that those dogs actually would care about us but because Alma would go nuts and start to screaming like crazy and I really didn’t want the hunters believe that their dogs was mauled by wolves 🙂 🙂 🙂 I hope there are less out hunting tomorrow 🙂
Despite it being so cold now I haven’t heard a single mouse in the cottage walls, it looks like the monster is doing a good job 🙂 It is time for that last cup of tea for the day.
Have a great day!
I took lots more photos today so perhaps I’ll save them for another day 🙂
Even darker today even though it did light up some every now and again.
Rain all day except for in the morning plus strong winds blowing so we’ve mostly been indoors today. Still rather warm for this period of the year but what good does that make when we can’t be outside enjoying it 🙂 🙂 Still, the morning walk was nice since the wind hadn’t reached us yet.
The aquarium I had ordered arrived yesterday and as soon as I saw the package I guessed that it was broken. Too bad I was right. No real damage to it but one could see that they had placed other heavier packages on it because that is what one does when the package is more or less wrapped in red Fragile stickers, well that is at least what the Swedish postal service think is the right way to do it.
Lots of glue and tape and it might become a mini greenhouse 🙂
So I mailed the business I bought it from and they shipped away a new one as soon as they saw the photo of the damages and it will arrive tomorrow!! They didn’t want the broken one back so with some glue and tape I guess I will be able to use it as a mini greenhouse 🙂 I do wonder about our postal service though, back in the days even if a letter had the wrong address they still managed to get it to the right person but that a package marked fragile isn’t supposed to be placed at the bottom with other packages on to of it seems to be a mystery for them 🙂 🙂 🙂
Also a couple of years ago the constantly placed my packages at the wrong places even though they said they used the GPS. In the end I had to threaten to report it to the police as a harassment if they missed one more time. Haven’t had the slightest problem with that since then 🙂 🙂 🙂
It is so muddy now in places we walk all the time in the garden that I started to pour out those wood chips I got after I’d cut down all those branches from the trees. It works really well and I have more chips to use in other places 🙂
It is time for that last cup of tea and after that I’ll watch a dvd I think. I have so many but no place for them 🙂 🙂 Storage units is nothing I really have in this small cottage. I have one closet and mice went in there and chewed on all my clothes 🙂 🙂 🙂
Much the same weather today as yesterday so still quite nice. They say we’ll have a couple of warmer days before it drops significantly. By that it means below 0C (32F) during nights and just barely above during days. Well the ground will at least not be muddy any more so I guess I’ll be fine with that 🙂
It isn’t as wet in the ground that I thought it would be and I didn’t think it would be especially wet at all but it is even worse. Normally this time of year, if the ground isn’t frozen it would be hard to walk out to my favourite island in the bog. I thought it would be less water but still very muddy. There was neither water nor mud but completely dry so we could walk out there without any problems what so ever.
Normally it would be hard to walk over this area because of water and mud. The mud can be up to half a meter (much the same in yards) deep 🙂
Fun being able to get out there but still a bit worrying because this is what it is like out there during heatwaves and droughts in summer time but without the ticks and blood sucking flies. No hunters in this area but I could hear hunters all around us (safe distance so no risk of getting shot). I really would have liked to go on the north side of the island because it is much more beautiful there but trees have fallen during storms this year and since it is a nature reserve a fallen tree lies. It is possible to walk around them but if we do it means we’ll have to go through thickets and that’s not fun with two dogs in leash 🙂 🙂 🙂
We didn’t walk far on the south side, which is much easier to walk but less beautiful but now when I know we can go out there again we can do that later in the week instead. That was actually the first place I saw wolf tracks a couple of years ago and the dogs were anything but happy to be there. The tracks were as most an hour old because we had new snow on the ground that had started to fall just an hour before we went out. It showed that at least three wolves just had passed , could be more but they tend to walk in their own footsteps. I’ve never seen any wolf though but several in the village has and also some of the hunters have seen them. If I ever will I’m sure that I either have no camera or that it malfunctions when I try to take a photo 🙂 🙂 🙂
I think this lichen is what they used to have ,back in the day when we had one glass windows, as insulation when they put in another one glass window (Is that perhaps what You call storm windows?)when winter arrived and we of course call it window lichen 🙂
I think, if I’ve learned it right that this lichen is the one reindeer eat, so of course we call it reindeer lichen. It is more towards greenish than the photo shows.
I’ve ordered my Christmas present. I really don’t want it now but I’ll need it next winter. Before covid I would just have waited since they have things on sale every day and it wouldn’t have become any more expensive. Now however we have all learned that things have changed and prices will up because of tariffs and inflation (even though our inflation is lower than it has been in years now that’s not the case in all countries). So I bought myself an aquarium, a smaller one, because next year I’ll have goldfish in the little pond I’ve made and also in some of the water barrels I’ve put up. Those fish will be too big for the aquarium I now have changed to an aqua terrarium so they’ll need somewhere to stay the winter.
One problem though, I haven’t a clue where to place it 🙂 🙂 🙂 Well it’s about a year until I need to have it up and running so I’ll figure it out by then 🙂 Well it is time for that last cup of tea for the day and after that I still haven’t a clue what to do, absolutely nothing to watch on tv but I can always watch a dvd.
A grey and dull day but since we didn’t have any wind it actually turned out to be a rather nice day even though the temperature never rose above 7C (44.6F) and as it looks it will not fall especially much during the night either.
The hunters were out in the forest today and I doubt they had any success, turns out they had hunting dogs but I couldn’t hear any barking until they were about to jump in the the cars again just before they left for the day. To be honest I’m a bit worried about the wild life here because it looks like we have very few of the bigger ones at all. I hope it is because of the wolves being here for a while and that they will come back when the wolves move back towards the south again.
I haven’t see a single hare either in a very long time. I really don’t like hares (or bunnies) to be honest Those front teeth can bite through anything and I’ve felt this way since, when I was a kid, my best friend had a pet rabbit 🙂 I can’t remember it ever biting me but it is enough to see those teeth to be honest 🙂 🙂 🙂 I do have the same feeling about water voles, they can grow pretty big to be honest and their front teeth are even worse (and very yellow with looks pretty nasty 🙂 ) and if getting too close to them they’re pretty aggressive 🙂 🙂
No sights of any animals more than some ravens and woodpeckers when we finally could have our walk but there are lots of rather tine mushrooms growing up in the forest. Usually pale grey or sometimes the same brown colour as fudge. Actually quite pretty where they grow in dark green moss and it feels sort of christmassy 🙂 One of our Christmas ornaments, especially in our advent candle sticks but some also have them in their Christmas trees are red toadstools. Have no idea why but I guess the red colour helps with that.
It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and since there’s nothing I want to see on tv today I’ll need to find something else to do but can’t come up with anything, not because I have nothing to do but because I really don’t want to do any of it 🙂
Normally or perhaps back in the days we would have winter now, mostly the temperatures would stay way below 0C (32F) at nights and barely reach above it if it even managed to do that. To be honest, I don’t miss it at all 🙂 🙂 🙂 I know the greenhouse effect and climate change is anything but good for us but I must admit that I like these warmer days and nights.
I can’t tell You how warm it has been today because the battery died in the thermometer 🙂 A new battery in today so I’ll know what it is like tomorrow 🙂 They are however guessing that it might reach above 12C (53,6F) and it will stay like that until at least Friday. No sunshine though but cloudy and a bit rainy. With the sun shining it would have been t-shirt weather in my garden 🙂 🙂
I went to the supermarket today and I saw a heard with Red deer not too far from the road and on my way home here in the village a young Fallow deer buck crossed the gravel road just in front of me. I saw it early so there was no risk of me hitting it with the car thankfully. Normally it is suicidal cats that cross the road way too close to the car so it was nice to see something else for once 🙂 🙂 🙂
This time of year is when I normally feel the Christmas feelings just to see them go away some time in the middle of December 🙂 🙂 Not so far though, I guess I was annoyed enough to see a big Yule gnome (or Santa) standing by the entrance to the supermarket already in the middle of October. Personally I can’t understand those people who start with any holiday two months before it happens, I usually get tired of it after a week or two.
I’m not a Christmas present guy at all but I usually buy myself a present this time of year, something I really want but perhaps normally wouldn’t buy, not because it is expensive but because I really don’t need it 🙂 🙂 One year I bought myself a Hasselblad camera for my birthday, I really didn’t need any camera since I do have way too many as it is anyway but I wanted to spoil myself with something 🙂 Today I think I have around 60 cameras, both for film and digital ones 🙂 🙂 🙂 To be fair, most of them pretty cheap, like an over a hundred years old Kodak camera that I bought for less then $ 3 US 🙂 It still works perfectly.
I have an idea about what I would like to buy this year even though I should be careful with money since I still am unemployed. So I will have to think a lot more about it before deciding. I’ll be just as happy at Christmas without it just as long as it doesn’t snow and is cold 🙂 The last cup of tea for the day is standing beside me and after that there’s a science program on tv I want to watch 🙂
The mist rolled out from the forest when we went out for our morning walk and people growing up here says that it’s because Mösakärringen ( I can’t find the phonetic letter but o and e goes together and so do the a and e so it should be something like this: Moesa Kaerringen) a translation would be something like the bog hags puts out there fires after a cold night. They are a local variation to wood spirits but I call them Bog Ladies because who knows they might exists and that sound much nicer 🙂 🙂 🙂
I saw it at several places and sometimes in the forest. We were lucky to have sunshine when we were outside but mostly it has been cloudy today. Rather nice and warm though to be honest. We went out to the bog and when we reached the end of the peninsula we stood still there for a while and both the dogs and I could hear something walking behind some trees. I have no idea what but it really tried to be as quiet as it possibly could. It might have been the two moose we happened to scare away on our morning walk yesterday.
Do You remember when I pushed all those thorny rose branches through the compost grinder? Those tiny thorns are now aching their way out from my hands. The spot gets swollen and there’s usually a small blister filled with puss and that has been happening all over my hands for a couple of days 🙂 🙂 🙂 Not nice but it’ll soon be over thankfully.
Today I put an entire chicken in the oven, I’ve done that so many times before but those times I mostly did it without any spices because it was meant for my severely food allergic dog Albin. He couldn’t eat any kind of fish or meat but he could eat chicken. Also he couldn’t eat all kinds of rice either so it was always rather tricky to get his food right. Mostly however he ate vegan dog food, the first time I bought it I must say it felt so wrong because dogs usually eat meat but it worked so great that I finally could stop cooking chicken and it too na couple of years before I tried chicken again 🙂 🙂 🙂
Since the oven was on I also baked a big loaf of bread and even though it didn’t rise especially much it still turned out to be rather good. No matter how tasty these gluten free breads can be when one doesn’t use readymade mixes nothing will beat a French roll with butter, cheese and a slice of bell pepper 🙂 Oh how I miss them 🙂
I’m drinking the last cup of tea for the day and since there’s nothing I want to look at on tv I’ll continue to watch Eureka before it is time to go to bed 🙂
The Cottage by the crane lake. 