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.
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 🙂
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 🙂
Sorry about the quality on the photos. None of them came out especially well.
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Nothing much have happened here today. I noticed the other day that the monsterkitten has been a bit sloppy when it comes to hunting mice because I found mouse poop in the cool cellar. So I put up a box trap and filled it with coconut flakes. Our mice love coconut and I think it’s the best thing to load traps with, at least when it comes to box traps. It took a bit longer than I thought but today when I went down to the cellar I found two mice in it! Last time I had to use the box trap I only caught house mice but this time it was two Yellow-necked wood mice. I waited until we had daylight and then I carried the box to the forest. I always leave them at the same place, at a piece of tree trunk which is hollow. I poured down a handful of peanuts so they have a full stomach before finding a new home.
They were so fast when running out of the trap that I didn’t have a chance to take any photo of them, the house mice I’ve caught are always a bit slower so I have photos of them in an old computer. I have also baked a traditional christmas bread today. We call it Vörtbröd and the only English name I found for it is a Swedish word, Limpa which means loaf 🙂 🙂 It is normally a rye bread but since I can’t eat that I used my normal mix of Sorghum flour, rice flour and normally corn starch but I forgot to buy that so I used corn flour. There are a lot of spices in it as well, malt extract, salt, cloves, bitter orange peel, anise, fennel and cardamom plus one should use a dark beer like Porter or why not a Guinness. For us who can’t have that a Swedish Julmust (it isn’t far from beer tasting)  works good as well 🙂 The two loafs I made taste just yummy 🙂
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Vörtbröd. The colours are a bit off here, it’s much more dark brown and not at all towards the orangey brown as it looks here.
Also one can have raisins in the bread (half of us love it half hate it 🙂 ) and I did of course forget to buy any so instead I cut down dried apricots instead, not the same but surprisingly well working. I’ll make more loafs closer to christmas. I’ve had a couple of slices while they were warm so when warm it’s cheese on but as cold why not have christmas ham and beetroot salad (not the American kind but our mayo and pickled beetroot based one) and of course meatballs or perhaps wiener sausages as well 🙂 Pickled cucumber is almost a must 🙂 It is time for that last cup of tea and also I’ve just realised that I have forgotten to give the animals something to eat. I will of course have a couple of sandwiches with christmas ham and pickled cucumbers 🙂
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.
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 🙂
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
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 🙂Â
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 🙂 🙂 🙂
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 🙂 🙂 🙂
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 🙂
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 🙂 🙂 🙂
The Cottage by the crane lake. 