Category: The creek.

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Dark and grey again even though we almost could see the sun for a few seconds in the afternoon 🙂 We were supposed to have rain but it missed us. Perhaps a good thing because there’s so much water in the creek now that if we would get lots more it would overflow.

I could see a few ravens in the sky but no other bigger animals, they tend to stay where it is calm and today was nothing but. We did however see a big forest machine in the distance and the sound from it stressed Alma so much, she really doesn’t like strange sounds or any change what so ever. We managed to have a walk without her freaking out too much anyway 🙂

I realised how old I am now when I was on Reddit and looked at their different forums about aquariums. Back in the days when I was a kid I learned one way to have and keep an aquarium healthy and have never really changed my ways as it has worked well. Today having an aquarium is high tech! They fertilise the plants, use CO2 as well and they even use soil  and having soil in aquariums was something they always said was a big no no.

They also test for the, for me, most odd things like ammonium. Can’t remember that I ever had a problem with that, must smell horribly if that happens 🙂 🙂 I don’t however think necessarily were better back then but it sure was less complicated and less expensive 🙂 🙂 Anyway when I looked at those forums I started to remember all the old books I read until they broke and realised I don’t have any left and started to look on the net. So now I have two of those books I read and a third is on its way. These are of course old school because I’ll never start with any of that they do now days 🙂 🙂 The book that’s on its way is printed in 1938 so it’ll be interesting to see how things have changed since then 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day. There’s absolutely nothing I want to watch on tv so I guess I’ll be reading those two books all evening long 🙂

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!

Saint Lucia’s day.

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Grey, dull and rain all day here.

We didn’t have an especially long morning walk today, we had walked perhaps half of what we usually do when I suddenly heard a shot not especially far from us. It wasn’t our hunters but in the castles grounds neighbouring to this area. Well even if they were outside where we usually walk I really didn’t want to get too close just in case those hunters weren’t sure where to shoot, so we turned back home again.

A male Bullfinch.

So today, December 13, is Saint Lucias day and even though it isn’t a holiday now days we celebrate her. Its origins here is from the 16th century when we still were a catholic country and that’s when it was a holiday as well. I don’t know how they celebrated back then but that it wasn’t the way we do now. One can say it’s a procession led by a Lucia, all in white wearing a crown with lit candlesticks (kids have electric candles of course) she is followed by maids, star boys and sometimes gnomes and almost always a Saint Stephen. I’m not sure how all these are bout together but that really doesn’t matter when it comes to traditions, does it 🙂 🙂

This procession then travels to different places to sing  Christmas songs, like in retirement homes, hospitals or work places. Schools usually have their own ones. I hated that because I was always forced to be Saint Stephen and had to sing solo for the entire school about Stephen the stable boy 🙂 🙂 🙂 The gnomes sing about gnomes and the Star boys sing other Christmas songs 🙂 (I’ll try and post a video at the end). Everyone looking at this have coffee and gingerbreads and a wheat bun called Lussekatter 🙂

This is also broadcasted on tv so the ones at home gets a chance to see it as well. The first written story about a white dressed Lucia was written down 1764 at a place called Horn in this region of Sweden. It was traditionally a feast day here so I guess it fitted to have the first Lucia procession here (It’s a bit of a story to how they celebrated this day here before Lucia took over but that’s for another day). She was dressed in white but instead of having burning candles on her head she had candlesticks in her hands and she also wore wings. The way we celebrate now is from the early 1900’s when it spread from this region to all of Sweden and to our neighbouring countries.

It is time for that last cup of tea that stands beside me 🙂 I woke up at 4 am and as soon as I did Alma came over to me and placed her chin on my head. I took that as a I must out now 🙂 She is much much better now but she still poops out the occasional peanut 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thankfully the farting has stopped so now the cottage have gone back to smelling like it usually does 🙂 🙂

There isn’t a specific Saint Stephen in this video or gnomes but I guess that pagan gnomes perhaps doesn’t fit in a church 🙂

Have a great day!

They are not the most courageous :-)

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So yesterday after it had gone dark I found another little mouse in the box trap. I thought I really couldn’t leave it there all night so I took the trap and started to walk towards the forest. Since I was sure I wouldn’t  meet anyone (even though there are some people who loves to walk in the forest in the dark) I let the dogs follow me unleashed.

This is what spruces look like when cattle is around 🙂 They don’t eat it but scrub themselves towards them when it itches 🙂

They were running all around me and had lots of fun. Then I suddenly realised that they’ve stopped, turned around and watched how they hurriedly ran back home 🙂 🙂 🙂 I have no idea why but suddenly I stood there all alone in the dark not knowing why 🙂 🙂 Well what ever it was it left me alone anyway so I just let the mouse out and walked back home. That little travelling cage I’ve bought hasn’t arrived yet but I know it is on its way. I’ve learned one thing, if ever anything serious will happen to me I really can’t count of any help from the dogs 🙂 🙂 🙂

I said I hadn’t seen any signs of beaver actions lately, well I saw this today 🙂

The morning walk was rather pleasant, no wind and it almost reached 10C (50F). No sun of course but slightly more daylight than previous days. Alma and Malkolm almost behaved all the way as well. We did see a Roe deer around a football field away and that did of course stress out Alma and it didn’t help that they were cutting down forest somewhere close but as soon as we were on the way home again she calmed down.

Tomorrow is Saint Lucias day here and oddly enough we Lutherans who rarely celebrate anything celebrates this catholic saint 🙂 I’ll tell You more about it tomorrow but I can say this that this custom actually have spread to the US even if it still is very few who does this over at Yours.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and even though I’ve just had dinner I still think I’ll have a couple of vörtbröd sandwiches with cheese, spotted sausages and shrimp salad 🙂

Have a great day!

Lots of water in the creek.

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So we had a night without any disturbance thankfully but Alma was in a hurry to go outside. She hurried away behind some bushes in the garden so I couldn’t see how bad it was but she’s full of energy and happy so I guess she’s ok.

She’s not the one pooping outside the garden unless she’s desperate and that was what she was when we were out on our morning walk and this time I could check how bad her stomach was, I have seen worse 🙂 and most of what comes out are peanuts! I have no idea how much she ate from that big bag of peanuts but by the look of it at least a third of it 🙂 🙂

So she’s getting better but she farts and the smell is something that most likely can knock down a rhino 🙂 🙂 It is a horrible mix of sweet, sour and something that must have been dead for a week or so. I’ve tried to let the wind blow through the cottage, sprayed more of that air cleaner and used loads of matches but it has already sort of stuck to the walls and furnitures! I better go to the grocery store in Gudhem tomorrow to buy more rice.

Besides that the day has been rather nice, we walked down to the creek this morning and the latest rain has really filled up the creek again. It would of course not have been this full of water if the beavers hadn’t blocked the concrete pipe that goes beneath the gravel road. The thing is that I haven’t seen any more traces of beaver activity and haven’t in a few weeks so if they’ve moved they really should unblock that pipe. If we’ll get more rain which is quite possible that creek soon will overflow and start filling the fields as well 🙂

It is time to have that last cup of tea and some ice cream as well 🙂

Have a great day!

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If the weather two days ago was meh, yesterdays weather was meeeh and today we were back to meh again. Not a lot of variation but today we didn’t have to deal with misty rain. If we’re going to have rain just give us regular showers so we at least can put the right clothes on, misty rain eats its way through most clothes and it just makes us feel miserable 🙂

We walked down to the creek today, nothing special to say about that but both Alma and Malkolm behaved so well!! I’m not used to that so I’m starting to worry about both of them being sick 🙂 🙂 🙂 They did pull the leashes hard one time and I’m paying for that at the moment, my back every now and again hits me with a pain that feels something like my nerves being burned at both ends. Not so often thankfully but that makes it a bit worse since I never knows when it will hit 🙂 🙂 🙂

Every Christmas I buy myself a huge Quality Street tin bucket, 2.5 kg (5,5 pound) 🙂 It lasts for a very long time so I don’t gulp it down the same week, that I think would kill me 🙂 🙂 🙂 This year however that tin bucket is so expensive so I bought two smaller ones 0,55 kg (1 pound plus a bit more) because I will not stop my tradition to have my quality street bonbons 🙂 Anyhow, I did the math and if I had bought 4 I had almost got just as much as the big one but for less money. Well I’ll survive to have less, probably even better because that’s a lot of sugar and fat 🙂

Just before sitting down to write anything here I let the dogs out in to the garden. They just rounded the corner and both stopped and refused to go any further. They just stop there looking towards the fence. So I thought I better go and have a look what might be behind the fence but couldn’t see anything they were quick to go inside as well so I guess a wolf must have passed by. The only time they refuse to leave the entrance like that is when we have wolves around. I’m mostly annoyed by still not have seen any wolves myself, especially since plenty of the villagers have 🙂 🙂 It would be nice to have a photo on a wolf from a good distance 🙂 🙂

My cool cellar and it is time to harvest the tomatillos. I’m not quite sure what I think about them to be honest but I’ll still use them in my food 🙂
My Date plum tree (Diospyros lotus) is starting to grow way too early. It is good in one way because I have over watered it so the risk of it starting to rotten is much lower now.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day. Yesterday I had it way too late and woke up in the middle of the night feeling that I had around ten seconds to reach the bathroom 🙂 🙂 I will not do the same mistake today so it’ll be an early last cup for the day.

Have a great day!

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A slow day, windy and cloudy and some drizzle in between. I did almost see the sun for a second though 🙂 Not especially cold but not close to be warmish either. Mostly a meh weather day with other words 🙂

So close to actually see the sun shine 🙂

Thankfully for me the only sport I like to follow, Biathlon, season has started so I could at least watch that for an hour or two. It’s too early to start the winter sowing for those plants that either need a cold period to germinate or a longer warm one for the same reason. This year I have seeds from two different bananas 🙂 Both will have a slim chance to flower and give edible fruits so why not try them 🙂 I also have seeds for two different passion fruits and since they tend to start growing quickly it’s way too early to sow them.

I have however slowly started to fill the new aquarium with water and today I moved three smaller plants from the bigger tank to the new one. They have plenty of time to grow big before any fish will live in the aquarium but it does look a little poor at the moment 🙂 🙂 At the moment I can only find an extension cord with only one socket so at the moment the filter is doing its job and later on I’ll have the light on instead. Without any fish in it there really is no use for a filter running. I can of course find the extension cord I know I have somewhere so I can have both on at the same time but I think You all now know that I will not find it when I look for it, it sort of must happen by chance if it ever will turn up again 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea and after that I’ll most likely fall asleep in front of the tv 🙂

Have a great day!

I used my headlamp to be able to take this photo 🙂 The water looks a bit hazy so that’s why the filter is running instead of the light but I sort of like how it looks 🙂

It continues to stay warmish :-)

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I can’t for my life remember the name on this little bird but they are adorable when flying around looking for insects on the trees. Quite small but with long tail feathers. They only sit still for a second or two so I’m glad I managed to get this photo. Now I remember 🙂 It is a Long-tailed bushtit.

The days have been warmish now with a bit of sunshine yesterday but with mostly drizzle today. Not cold enough to feel that it’s ok staying indoors all day but not warm enough to actually wanting to do anything outdoors 🙂 We’ve been out on our walks but nothing more really.

We were on our way out and the monster wanted to go indoors and she showed really well what she thought of me when I continued with our walk 🙂

I’ve put together the table for the aquarium I bought, looking at the descriptions on how to do it it looked complicated but to be honest it wasn’t. It was like putting together something from IKEA but for some reason nothing was missing and for once they had put some extra screws and other things in the package and that was a good thing because I did need them. They had also put in lots of other screws, nuts and rubber things I think should be around some of the screws but not to this table 🙂 🙂 🙂

Here’s a raven gulping down something. This and the next photo were taken yesterday and since Alma is the dog she is these were the only ones I managed to take 🙂 🙂

This and the next one was taken today. Ravens are very aware of what is happening around them so if they see a camera they fly away.

Then I had to find somewhere to place it. I have had an old fridge in the kitchen that stopped working long ago but that I for some reason never moved out, I’ve used it as a storage unit more or less 🙂 🙂 The thing is that after a while it just collects dust and dog hair so I decided to move it out to the garage, (nowadays an indoor dog yard for the dogs since they dug their way in so I couldn’t have the car there any more 🙂 🙂 🙂 ). I tied and taped together the door because if dogs are determined to get inside they will and the risk of them getting in and the door gets closed so they suffocate isn’t something I would like to experience. One day I’ll move it to the scrap yard 🙂

A Magpie in flight.

It isn’t a big one but get it outside and in to the old garage wasn’t easy, especially when I dragged across the gravel road 🙂 🙂 Well it is done and I was surprised over how much dust and things had managed to get in under it 🙂 🙂 So now I’ve put it all ups and now It’ll stay empty for quite some time since I really don’t need it until next autumn when the goldfish I’m planning to have in the little pond and three water barrels need to go inside during winter. I can of course fill up with sand and plants and have some kind of fish in it until then it all depends on when I can drive to the pet store that still sell aquarium fish. The rules to sell aquarium fish are so hard now days and the licenses they need are so expensive that fewer pet stores sell fish now days. Cats and dogs have never been allowed to sell in pet stores here.

Either we have hunters here during nights or the lynx or the wolves hunt here at night because we came really close to ravens yesterday, They were clearly eating either leftovers after a hunt or what’s left after something a predator has killed. Yesterday they were sitting in the middle of a field and today they flew up from the ground in the forest. A raven would never be on the ground in the forest unless they had something to eat. The dogs were a bit stressed when we followed the creek up-stream but not like they usually are when we have wolves around so if it is an animal my guess is on the lynx.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day, I haven’t really eaten anything since noon so I guess a couple of sandwiches would be great to have at the same time. Nothing interesting on tv to watch as usual so perhaps I’ll watch a dvd or read a book

I wish You all a nice first of advent!

Warmer again :-)

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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 🙂 )

Have a great day!

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Another cold day, the temperature reached 0C (32F) as highest and to be honest that’s not so cold this time of year now days. I remember one year, about 21 years ago when winter started with snow and below freezing temperatures all the time in October and it lasted until early May. Lots of snow as well so that was for me a nightmare winter 🙂 🙂 🙂 and I hope it’ll never happen again 🙂

I could hear the wind blowing in the tree tops but it never reached the ground. So even if the sun was hesitant to show itself we still had a nice morning walk, especially since Alma only whines once in a while.  She pulled the leash like insane some times though but rather that than her high pitched whining. For me that sound is like a fork drawn over a plate would be like for the rest of the world I guess and hearing it constantly on every walk (which lasts at least an hour, often much more) it’s like torture. So days when she only does it every now and again are joyful days 🙂

I got that light chain in the mail today, so I put it up in the spruce with an odd shape. No matter how I do the lights looks really odd 🙂 🙂 🙂 Still any light is a good light. I’ll take photos tomorrow. I have one in my phone but either I miss something or the transfer of a photo from a phone to an iMac computer is ridiculously complicated. In a PC one just mail the photo to oneself and voila! It’s in the computer easily reach when needed, in an iMac not so unfortunately.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and today they show the weekly science program on tv. I’ve slept badly for a couple of days now because I have gotten pimples on my earlobes 🙂 🙂 🙂 I didn’t know one could get pimples there but now I’ve learned something 🙂 They hurt like h..l when I rest my head on the pillow. One on each ear so it doesn’t matter on what side I sleep on 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

They say it’ll warm up again.

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So another really nice and sunny day but rather cold. I could see the wind power plants up on the mountain moving with the wind but that wind didn’t reach us down on the ground. We walked down to the mostly frozen creek and when we walked out on the field there I saw two White tailed eagles fly up from the ground just 50 meters (much the same in yards) away from us 🙂 I guess they were eating something but I didn’t check what it was 🙂

Instead of following the creek all the way down to the forest we took a turn and crossed the field and walked in to the forest further away. There’s an old road there no one ever use (unless when they cut down the trees) and followed it till the end where we then walked in to the older forest and later to the creek up-streams instead. This is wild hog area but we didn’t see or hear any today. Well I think the dogs might have since they both stared towards a thicket of spruces but that was it.

White tailed eagles.

I thought the water level in the creek would be lower now when we didn’t have any rain or snow but it is actually much higher.

They say that it will turn to warmer weather again already tomorrow and I’ll believe it when it happens. I will miss the dry ground if it’s right but then again I will also feel happy about the warmer air even though it might mean less sunshine. As the saying goes, we can’t have it all unless we are rich enough to travel to where the weather is to our liking of course 🙂 🙂

I haven’t been walking g in this part of the forest in many years, mostly because this is a very swampy area but frozen water is really great to walk on 🙂

I’ve ordered a new wallet, my old one is falling to pieces and I haven’t found any in any store so when I found one on the net I bought it. Younger people now days don’t use wallets, they sort of combine the wallet with their phone case but I really don’t like that. Yes I know I’m old 🙂 🙂 🙂  but I don’t want to lose it all by losing just one thing, like the phone. If I lose the phone I still have my wallet with everything important in it and if I lose my wallet I still have the phone so I can make those calls to stop anyone from using my cards and get a new driving license 🙂

I’ve also ordered Christmas lights for my oddly shaped Korean spruce. If one looks at that spruce it looks like some kind of armchair made in the sixties 🙂 🙂 You know those laid back space inspired ones 🙂 🙂 Well it is the only one I have bog enough so this year I’ll have some outdoor lights. The lights is eleven meters long (much the same in yards) and battery driven. It can either shine all the time or shine for six hour and then start at the same time next day. No one here is outside at night anyway so that will be great. I will of course take a photo of it when the light chain has arrived and dressed around the spruce 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and later today I’ll watch the game show On the Tracks. My oldest brother and I send texts to each other when we think we know the answers, we are usually very wrong 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

Cold.

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Pretty chilly here and even though I ‘m not that fond of cold weather I still have to admit that it is nice to walk on ground that isn’t muddy and as long as we have almost no wind it’s quite nice. Ok no wind means higher price on electricity but I guess that’s something we need to take wether we like it or not.

Nothing has happened here so I have very little to write about. We did have the first real snow this morning but it was so little that I only could see it lying on my entrance stairs. If I knew we won’t have any more I would even say that I liked it 🙂 🙂

I was planning on having a little nap every day now when I am at home but so far I’ve had none. The morning just flies by and when I think of having one it’s too late, at least if I want to have any more daylight hitting my eyes. The sun sets already at 3:43 pm now and it is a long time left until it turns again. I really should have been born so much further south where the sun stay up longer during winter and the temperatures never drops 🙂 Then again I would miss our summers here when it never gets especially dark, just a couple of hours in the middle of the night.

I made a mug cake today. I can’t remember if I ever have done that before. I wasn’t hungry but wanted something so I went out on the net to see what I could find. The recipe said to use cocoa but I put in a piece of mashed banana and some cinnamon instead and it turned out really yummy. I would have made one more if I hadn’t eaten my last banana 🙂 Well now I know what I can do if I feel that way again 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I really wish I had made that mug cake now instead 🙂

Have a great day!