Category: The fields.

I can hear the storm roaring through the forest.

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I woke up in the middle of night hearing strong winds blowing and heavy rain falling and wondered if the storm had arrived early but it calmed down pretty soon so I guess this was something else. I woke up a few hours later and the world was totally quiet, no wind or anything and since we all had woken up, I don’t know how they do it but both dogs and cats always know when we do wake up 🙂 🙂 🙂 So I let them outside for a while and it was quite nice outside.

The storm did arrive before noon and it came from a direction that made it touch my garden and cottage and the wind was pretty bad. My Chinese catalpa even bend to the wind and I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. The wind now comes from southwest and stays away from my home but I have a window open so I can hear the roar when it passes through the forest. I like that sound but I like it even better when it doesn’t reach my cottage 🙂

We’ve had a few heavy showers today and I guess more will come because the winds will continue to blow all night and all day tomorrow and they bring showers with them. Thankfully we had our morning walk before it started but I doubt we’ll have one tomorrow, walking in the forest with winds like these can be rather dangerous. Trees might not fall but pines easily will have big branches break off and it isn’t nice to get one of those in the head 🙂 🙂 🙂

So we have done very little today, I’ve done some laundry and picked some berries in the garden and put them in the freezer, I even watered my Himalayan Cedar because it stands on a mount of dirt that easily dries out when the wind blows and the sun shines which it actually has done a lot today, from next year it will have to survive without any help from me because by then it should have roots going deep enough or wide enough to manage it anyway.

The Leeks are coming fine despite that I sowed them too late, forgot about them so almost all dies and then they were covered by potato leafs 🙂
This year the butterfly bush will flower before most butterflies die 🙂 Last year it survived a frosty night and didn’t flower until October 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea and I’m thinking of frying a couple of sausages. I don’t have anything else to have with it so I might cut them and put them on a sandwich with a strong cheese 🙂

Have a great day!

Misty morning and spider webs.

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We had a wonderful morning here, just below 10C (50F), morning mist and a sun slowly rising. If I hadn’t just woken up I would have taken our morning walk there and then. however newly awake, quite tired and both I and the animals needed some food before we went out. So by the time we were ready the mist was gone but it was still sunny and cool.

We walked the same way we’ve done lately since the grass is way too high in the forest since it’s only us walking there and we haven’t been there for a while now. Plus the grass was really wet after the rain we had during the night so it would also most likely be full of ticks. Only two flies were out to pester us but as soon as we walked in to shadow it was a bit too cool for them to follow 🙂 🙂 We did however see two Roe deer on our walk and we haven’t seen any when we’ve been out walking in all summer I think.

We actually had several showers today, not heavy and not long lived but if we’ll get more as they are guessing we will the ground is now a bit softer so that the water has a chance on sinking down into the ground instead of just running down through the garden and down to the bog that starts more or less behind the old garage and dog yard.

No need to mow the lawn yet so instead I dug out some space to plant the rhubarb seedlings I sowed in spring. The sand beneath the grass was so dry that one c an find more water in a desert 🙂 🙂 I also mixed in some compost from my smallest compost, a black one that stands n legs and can be rotated and should be rotated once a day I think. The fun thing is that since one is rotating it the compost becomes sort of round and to be honest all those round pieces looked like dog poo 🙂 🙂 🙂 I need to empty at least two of the three other composts I have, the third one I think still has a family of mice living in it 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day, I’ve already eaten so I won’t have anything with it. The summer apples are now falling of the tree so tomorrow I’ll buy things I need to make an apple pie 🙂

I have two small Ginkgo trees growing in my garden, this one has huge leafs and the other one quite small.

Have a great day!

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So I’m again unemployed and since I can’t write anything about what happened since I signed the paper that says I’m not allowed to write anything about the company that can show it in a bad way all I can say is that it wasn’t any fault from my side. I really liked all the employees and will miss them. I feel fine about it all though so now I’ll be searching for a new job, well I’ve done that for a while but now I’ll intensify the search.

I won’t be able to see the haunted tree next year when they’ll get green again.

So today was sort of my first vacation day for the summer and even though it mostly has been cold and a bit warm it still has been rather nice. We’ve had thunder passing by north of us but not especially close and for a few seconds the wind grew strong and some rain fell. Not as much as they had guessed but at least something. I had been out watering an hour before it arrived so the water from the sky should at least on those places have sunken down in to the ground. We might get more rain but the odds are low that it’ll fall around here.

I went to grocery shop at the store in the village where I used to work so now I think I won’t have to do it again until late next week, it depends on how much milk I use, I hate being without any milk in my home 🙂 🙂 On my way there I saw that they had sown corn in a big field, not especially common here since it needs more warm weather for a longer period of time than what we usually have here and it also needs way too much water, so I wonder how it could look as great as it did since we have had a drought here for quite some time.

These two bumblebees were sleeping on the thistle and when Malkolm came a bit too close one of them raised a leg as to say don’t come to close 🙂

Once again I was surprised about how little flies we have here now, I could walk the entire morning walk without being annoyed by any. At the same time I heard someone say that he wondered why they suddenly had so many flies since they didn’t have any before 🙂 🙂 So I guess that all our flies must have moved to them instead 🙂 🙂 🙂 I don’t mind though 🙂 🙂

I’ve bought seeds to this flower, Lythrum salicaria or purple-loosestrife, one doesn’t want seeds from the wild because it can be really invasive I’ve heard but the garden varieties should be calmer. I’m going to have it in the root zone if I’m successful with the germination.

It’s time to go downstairs because I have a bread baking in the machine. I’m already longing for that first slice with some cheese on 🙂 The dogs can smell that it is close to be done so as soon as I move my feet they’ll run to the stairs 🙂 🙂 They know they’ll get both a piece of bread and a slice of cheese like they always do and it is a good thing I already have a pot of tea waiting 🙂

My little Red oak (or so I believe anyway, could be some other kind of hardy north american oak).

Have a great day!

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Outside my kitchen window.

We have thunder in the area, not especially close at the moment but one can clearly hear it. The day started sunny and cool though so we were out on our morning walk around 7 am. It was unfortunately not  cool enough to keep the flies calm so we had a black cloud flying around us. I wore a hoodie though so they never got the chance to visit inside my ears and for some reason wearing a hoodie also prevents them from trying to go inside my nostrils as well 🙂 🙂

It didn’t take long before the rain arrived again so we have mostly stayed indoors and went outside when the rain had a temporary stop. So I did the laundry and baked a bread in between 🙂  I also took a long nap in the sofa and this time both dogs decided they should sleep beside me in the sofa 🙂 🙂 🙂 Alma by my feet and Malkolm by my side with half his body over my stomach. I’m surprised that I managed to fall asleep but it could have been the lack of oxygen since it was a bit hard to breathe that was the cause 🙂 🙂 🙂

We did have sunshine for a while but now we’re back to rain and thunder is not far away. It is much warmer than they guessed it would be so I hope the thunder passes by and cool things down a bit. It’s rather quiet in the village, some birds sing and one dog is yapping a lot. Normally that starts most other dogs as well but I guess they don’t have the energy now when it is so warm 🙂 I think someone on my gravel road is trying to repair an old moped because I could hear how they were trying to start it up the road but then just slid down the slope quietly. It has happened several times this week so I guess they aren’t especially successful 🙂

I have the day off tomorrow because I need to go to the bank to see if they can help me renew my digital bank id without me having to get something called an international id card or get a new passport. A new drivers license doesn’t help at all for some reason. So I’ll also buy a couple of big bags with soil and on the way home make a visit to my old workplace and the grocery store in the same village. it will most likely rain anyway so it’ll be a nice little trip to do.

It is time for a pot of tea and perhaps something to eat as well.

Have a great day!

Lots of rain and I like it :-)

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I always take a test photo when we’re going out for our walks and it is usually this one 🙂

It has been raining all night and almost all day since I went to bed yesterday night.but there was a moment when it didn’t early this morning so the dogs and I went out for our morning walk. Didn’t last for long though before the misty rain arrived and later on just before we arrived at home we had heavy showers 🙂 🙂 🙂

We did at least have a walk and despite Alma trying to rip off my arm while passing the new neighbours she behaved really well 🙂 🙂 No screaming at all and only a quiet whining 🙂 I had hoped to see the fox cubs again so I brought a bigger lens but had no such luck plus the misty rain stuck to the glass on the lens like it was velvet  🙂 🙂 🙂 it was a nice walk though because it looks like misty rain is a mortal enemy to flies as well, almost no flies fly around when we have misty rain, I guess their wings just sticks together when those small droplets fill the air.

I had to save a lot of the potted plants from the rain water today, normally it’s saving them from not getting water but today I had to remove all the plates they stood on because the rain just kept filling them up. I always feel a bit torn placing pots directly on the ground because small red ants tends to move in, small red ants with a good ability to sting and the pain is quite gruesome. Also lots of other animals move in as well and as long as they are outside and those animals can come and of they do no harm but when I bring them in during winter they tend to start eating on the plant because they have no other place to go.

I have also had a long nap, Alma and I took a long nap in one of the sofas and Malkolm decided it was a bit crowded so he had the second sofa to himself. Alma is rather big so I must say it was a bit uncomfortable but we shared that two people sofa rather well to be honest and since the air is a bit damp and cool today it helped me to stay warm 🙂

I really should bake some bread today but I just don’t have the energy to do it. I am rather glad I mowed the lawn yesterday because it would have been impossible for my mower to cut it the next time we have sunny or at least dry weather, it wasn’t exactly pleased to do it yesterday as it was, I hadn’t mowed the lawn in one and a half week and ad water to that and I think it would have died 🙂 I like this mower so I really don’t want to have to buy another one 🙂

Potato flowers are actually quite beautiful.

It is time for a pot of tea and perhaps I will read one of all the books I’ve started to read but never finished 🙂 They are all really good, I just haven’t had the energy to read for quite some time but it feels like that’s slowly changing now 🙂

Have a great day!

Quite a nice day despite the rain.

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To me this has been a rather nice day, no sunshine but still rather warm, mostly misty rain but every now and again it changed to a nice summer rain, You know the kind that isn’t too heavy and not drenches anyone outside.

So the fox cubs were playing just by the gate but the lens was covered in misty rainwater.

We took a walk rather late today down to the creek. Both Alma and Malkolm behaved so well until we had passed our new neighbours, then we met them just after their home and both Alma and Malkolm were so excited that Malkolm for some reason started yapping, yes it did sound just like that and Alma started bawling like insane 🙂 🙂 The good thing was that their dogs did the same 🙂 🙂 They all really wanted to meet but sort of scared each other at the same time so we had to just keep walking 🙂 🙂 🙂

I just like how difficult it is to see that there’s an opening to a path in to the forest that is really hard to see just in front of us.

That’s when the misty rain arrived and unfortunately misty rain sticks like glue to everything no matter what direction it comes from so I couldn’t get any photos of the two fox cubs that played on the gravel road in front of us, they didn’t have the patience to wait for me to clean the lens from rainwater. So I was sort of relieved when the nice summer rain started to fall instead.

Almost no wind today so we were surrounded by forest flies almost all the way. I’ve realised that it is enough to wear a hoodie to keep them away from both the ears and nostrils. I mean they do no harm at all but they have this idea that they need to go inside there to see what they can find and I hate it 🙂 🙂 🙂 Still no biting flies here and that sort of builds up hope that they might be very few this summer but I’m sure that’s a false hope 🙂 🙂

The Fireweed in bloom just outside my livxingroom window.

This weather also removed all ideas that a nap would be wrong, not even the dogs wanted to be outside, so I had a nap in the sofa together with Alma, Malkolm decided it was too crowded so he chose the other sofa and the floor. I’m pretty sure the sofas would be great to sleep on during hot days when the bedroom would be like an oven but it tends to be too crowded with me and the dogs but I think I’ll try it next time the temperatures rise too high, after all I might be able to convince the dogs that they can share the other sofa instead sleeping close to me 🙂 🙂

Can You see the spiderweb?

I’ve just baked a bread and for once I let it rest and not take a slice or two just after bringing it out in to the world 🙂 So as soon as I’ve done this blog I’ll have a slice or two together with that last cup of tea for the day 🙂

Have a great day!

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The sun is shining, a few clouds flies in the sky and both windows and doors are open 🙂 It has been like this all day but a low pressure is on its way with more rain but not especially much of it. Today the temperature reached above 20C (68F) and that’s summer temperature for me.

Alma behaved really well on our morning walk today and was almost quiet when we passed the new neighbours, both of the way out and when we were going back home again. Ok no human or dog was outside but for being Alma she was really good 🙂 We didn’t see any birds but sure heard them all the walk. Cranes and geese from a distance and all the small birds close in the trees and shrubs. I think we passed lots of interesting animals on the way because both Alma and Malkolm were really interested in what was hiding behind the trees.

We always have lots of morning dew here so my shoes and socks were soaking wet when we came back home 🙂 The shoes are now standing towards the cottage wall drying up in the sunshine. I’ve also mowed the lawn and all grass cuttings were placed around the potatoes so I don’t have to hill up the soil around them. The grass clipping’s will decompose with time so I need to place more around them a few more times while mowing. I think it will be time to sow beans, peas and cabbage this weekend plus what ever I might have seeds for in the space that might be empty.

It is time for a pot of tea and then I’ll bake a bread again. I’ll add rosemary of course and some cheese as well if I have any small piece in the fridge.

Have a great day!

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I think we’ve had really beautiful weather here today. Sunshine and warm when I drove to work, I think it was cloudy during our breaks but it was warm and now sunshine and warm again. Tomorrow will be sunny and warm until the night when more rain will come for a visit. Friday rainy again but since I work I really don’t mind 🙂

Chamomile.
We call this flower for Dog biscuits but I have absolutely no idea why 🙂 It is a close relative to the parsnip and can be eaten as such as well. The problem is that almost at the same time it flowers a few other that look almost the same flowers as well and those can be highly poisonous.

We met one of our new neighbours when we walked down to the creek after I had come home after work and Alma was only her insane self, so with other words so much calmer than when we met the puppies 🙂 She behaved really well the en tire walk after that though and that seems to be the norm now. Well if something moves or she think it will move or a bird burp she will be slightly crazy for a few seconds but then calms down again 🙂 🙂

Tomorrow is a holiday here but I’ll work on Friday as usual. Some people will have the Friday off but from what I understand they’re not as generous with giving time off as they were at my previous work place. We have loads to do though so that is something I fully can understand. I’ve always liked when I have one day off in the middle of the week because then the rest of what’s left of the work week feels quite good to work at. Sort of a mini vacation 🙂 🙂 🙂

I think it is time to have a cup of tea, after all I don’t have to get up really early tomorrow so it doesn’t matter if I can’t fall asleep as soon as I lay my head on the pillow like I usually do. I remember when  first realised that if I had a cup of tea or coffee after a certain time in the afternoon I then would have problems falling asleep. It happened from one day to the next, the day before I fell asleep like always the next I was awake so long that I only had two hours of sleep, thankfully it happened on a Friday evening 🙂

My new neighbours ponies, so beautiful.

Carrots and beetroots growing fine beside the strawberries.

Have a great day!

 

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Still very windy with northern winds but today they were almost lukewarm. We only work to 2:30 pm on Fridays so I had the chance to experience it for a while 🙂 We walked down to the creek and thankfully the winds were so strong that the forest flies never came to us.

I had forgotten to buy toothpaste and a toothbrush yesterday when I was at the store so I had to make a stop at the smaller grocery store in Gudhem. They only had toothbrushes for kids 🙂 but any toothbrush is better than none 🙂 I’ll get a bigger one next time I’ll go to the supermarket. I was supposed to work overtime tomorrow but they had missed that lots of people at work are going out to have fun tonight so they had to cancel it. I must admit that I’m quite happy that they did, it’s one thing to say ok on Monday because one never knows how tired one will be on Friday evening 🙂 🙂

I’ll work the evening shift next week and it’s a long time since I did that. It usually messes up the sleep for a while but since this only will happen every three weeks I’ll take it without complaining, at first they said it would be every second week. It would have worked for a while but I’m pretty sure it would have been too much in the long run. When one need a job one has to take what one gets 🙂 I have had another call from a staffing agency but I really like this place so I didn’t answer the call.

I often get the question if it isn’t scary to work with coffins all over the factory but it’s just like working with boxes to be honest. I guess there’s just too much of them. The only time it gets a bit sad is when one need to pass the coffins for children. Especially the tiny ones but thankfully they work with them in a part of the factory we seldom pass.

It is time to have that last cup of tea, today I need to start wit being up late so it won’t be a shock for the body on Monday 🙂 Also later breakfast tomorrow and dinner tomorrow as well.

Have a great day!

No sunshine but so nice.

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The first strawberry flower. For some reason these strawberries give very little berries now but will produce lots in autumn, it shouldn’t be like that but I have no idea why they behave like that 🙂

Today was really nice despite no sunshine but it was warm, no wind and a few times we had some rain. Showers of drizzle is perhaps a better name for it though 🙂 Alma woke me up at 5 am , was outside for a minute, came straight back in and went to sleep on the sofa 🙂 I wouldn’t have mind sleeping an hour or so too but I had a cup of coffee and a bowl of corn flakes instead 🙂

We walked down to the creek and it’s so nice to do that this time of year when there are no flies annoying us and what’s even better is that no mosquitoes did either. Unfortunately I can’t say the same about ticks, I picked six of them from the dogs by the time we had come home and I also found two already drinking the blood from Malkolm.

I tried three of a work friends allergy pills this week, the kind one can buy over the counter. First day nothing special happened beside the fact that I didn’t have any nose bleed any more, second day nothing happened at all but after the third pill I suddenly wasn’t that tired any more and now my nose isn’t that stuffed either, so I went online and bought a packet together with eye drops. It’s not a nice feeling when it feels like having sand paper under the eyelids 🙂 🙂 🙂

I also did what I always do on Sundays, the laundry and the dinner for next week ate work. I’ve promised to work overtime on Saturday and I’m already regretting it 🙂 🙂 🙂 Then again I’ll have to start saving money again so I can sacrifice one Saturday and still survive it 🙂 I have also sown melon seeds, I always fail with melons but always try it again 🙂 I have actually sown a lot of seeds both yesterday and today but can’t for my life remember what 🙂 🙂 I’ve also replanted tomatoes and some other things and brought out the last plants from the patio, the risk of frost the coming week is minimal.

I have a Fuchsia in my garden, Hardy Fuchsia (F. Magellanic), and it has survived outside this mild winter. All parts above ground will freeze but new shoots comes from the roots.

The fight with the nettles and cleavers is also going on and even if I’m successful at the moment I know both will win over me in the long run 🙂 🙂 I still have lots of vegetable seeds to sow, like beans and peas but I’ll with with those until the ground is a bit warmer. It is time for that last cup of tea and perhaps a sandwich too and after that some snoozing in front of the tv 🙂

Three of my worst garden enemies at the same place. Stinging nettles, cleavers and white bryony. The last one can cover an entire tree during one summer. I have no idea where it came from but it always grows so it’s hard to remove it. Smells bad and is also poisonous 🙂

Have a great day!

Surprisingly pleasant day.

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We’ve actually had a really nice day here as long as one wasn’t too long in shadow 🙂 Ok , it wasn’t that bad there either but I preferred to sit in the sunshine and drink tea 🙂 I have moved a perennial that comes from Illinois, the Kankakee mallow (Iliamna remota). It has actually thrived in my garden beneath the Juneberry tree but it was time to move it because the ground is just too dry there during summer.

It actually started last weekend and removed a part of it just to see how well it would adapt to the move and it adapted really well. It sort of divided itself to smaller parts so there’s still one growing where it has been that easily can be four new plants and I’ve already have it in6 other places now 🙂 It has been a favourite of mine since I sowed it well over twenty years ago so I do hope it will thrive at the new places they can call their homes 🙂 Mine spreads via its roots but I’ve read that a fire will start the seeds but I didn’t have a fire when I bought the seeds back then so I think it will work again without it if I try again 🙂

The clouds covered the sun when we went out on our morning walk but as soon as we were almost at home the clouds opened up. We’ve had lots of smaller clouds in the sky all day but now it looks like bigger clouds are coming in again, they say we’ll get rain but they said we would last night as well and as far as I could see the only reason the grass was wet was because of dew. A day or two with cloudy weather and some rain will only be good for my Kankakee willows now when they have moved all over the garden.

We won’t get much rain though, mostly just enough to keep the soil surface slightly damp 🙂 I’ve also heard the Cuckoo bird for the first time this year. According to folklore it means different things from what direction one hear it for the first time. From north and summer will be dry, from east one will be comforted because if it comes from south it means death in the family but it is from the west we want to hear it because that’s the best 🙂 The coming year will be great. We here will have a dry summer this year 🙂

I think this could be a Red Kite or a brown. I’m not that good when it comes to birds 🙂

Besides that I’ve done very little. Mostly I’ve been sitting in the sunshine drinking tea or coffee.  Last year when the warm weather came the entire garden was buzzing because of the beekeepers bees, it is considerable more quiet this year. Yes we do have pollinators like bumblebees flying around but all those hives did make a big difference, so it’ll be interesting to see how it will be next year, to many honey bees can actually make life really tough for the wild bees by being too many for an area. Also everything started so early this year that there wasn’t much for the bumblebees to eat and that could have killed a lot of them. I think we’ll know better when summer starts and all workers starts to fly around.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and today I’m so tired that I most likely will fall asleep in the sofa 🙂

In my woodland right now.

Have a great day!

Not this one though, it grows in full sunlight and dry soil.

I didn’t rest on the workers’ day :-)

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Yesterday was supposed to be the last nice day before wind and rain would arrive. We would get some light rain here in the morning and the rest of the day would be rather dull. So I’m not the least surprised that no rain arrived and we’ve even had a lot of sunshine 🙂 So I don’t trust what they say about the rest of the weekend, we’ll know when it happens 🙂

The cherry trees have started to flower on the mountain. There’s a mountain on the way to a town called Skövde and when one takes the train to go there there’s an entire mountain side that it pure white this time of year, so beautiful.

So instead of taking it easy and enjoying the day I instead started to mow the lawn early in the morning. Mowing the lawn when the grass is wet and one have an electric mower (with a cord) is stupid and also wet grass clogs up the entire mower and I’ll have to stop mowing every five meters dig out that green mess that sticks to the mower, The fun thing is that when one person starts to mow the lawn the rest of the neighbours starts too 🙂

We saw two pairs of geese walking in the field beside the creek, they had this field totally for themselves and still they really disliked each other 🙂

I continued my war against the nettles and the cleavers as well, I dislike those plants even more that the actual work it takes to keep them away 🙂 One thing though is that they are indicator plants, they show that the ground is rich in nutrients and I’m not surprised having dogs and cats in the garden for well over 24, soon 25, years by now 🙂 If the dogs hadn’t been here it would be quite the opposite since all I have is sand in the ground.

I don’t think this crab apple tree will get any apples this year because it’s the only one in bloom.

I found to my very big surprise this Shadbush in bloom in the forest 🙂

I also realised that I hadn’t prepared any food to bring to work. Instead of making something I instead baked a loaf of bread and had a few sandwiches to work instead. After that I was so tried that I fell asleep in the recliner 🙂 🙂 🙂 Now I’ll have to work full work weeks until June sixth when we have our national day and thankfully it’s on a Friday 🙂 It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and after that I think I’ll doze off again 🙂

Have a great day!