Category: Walks.

17 years old, quite impressive.

September 3, 2023 · 4 Comments ·

Nova is 17 years old today and since she isn’t much for toys these days I instead mixed in some of her favorite blue cheese in her breakfast and then some boiled chicken in her dinner. She really liked both her meals 🙂

She decided that we would go out to the bog in the morning and we followed her like always. We had a thick fog as well so I hoped that we would have some out over the bog as well. We could hear cranes somewhere out on the bog and two big ravens flew above our heads.

We couldn’t stay for long out there because the mosquitoes were attacking us every time we stood still for more than a couple of seconds. I also picked away a couple of moose flies walking on both Nova and Alma while we were out there.

We must have scared away some wild hogs because the road had new parts that had been ripped up and we could also see signs of badger activity. A woodpecker was frantically searching for insects on a pine or should I say in a pine. It did sound as if someone used the tree as a drum 🙂

I picked some apples for my neighbors yesterday and today they gave me a jar with apple sauce 🙂 I’ll try it next Saturday when the dogs and I will have a pancake day again 🙂 I’m waiting for the fruit picker thing I’ve ordered, You know the kind one has on a long pole so one can pick the apples further up in the tree. I’ll try and preserve some like the pears one can buy preserved (well peaches and other fruits as well of course), I’ve only seen apples in that way once before and I think I liked them. I have no idea why they don’t do that more than they do.

Tomorrow is the first day I’ll work evening shift so I need to stay up until at least midnight today, yesterday I managed to stay up until eleven and today I woke up just before six thirty. If there’s sunshine tomorrow as they’re guessing it will be I’ll start mowing the lawn, the grass is actually dry enough now but it’s soon seven pm and that’s no time to mow any grass 🙂

Have a great day!

Morning mist.

September 2, 2023 · Leave a comment ·

I’m trying to change the hours I’m awake and I must stay up at least two more hours but I’m really tired right now 🙂 That’s why I write this post as late as I can today. We’ve had a rather nice day, chilly morning and with morning mist and sunshine as well. It was actually enough chilly to keep even the mosquitoes calm.

The dogs and I have had our pancake Saturday, I’ve done the laundry and I even made a apple crumble pie. I have loads of apples in the big tree and most of them that hang low are eaten by wasps but I found enough to give to my neighbors and also to make that pie. It was a new recipe and of course gluten free. I would have loved to recommend it but it is actually so sweet that I can’t taste any apple taste in it at all 🙂 🙂 🙂 I love custard though so even if I’ll toss the rest of the pie away tomorrow I still can use the rest of the custard 🙂 🙂 🙂

Two or three nights ago Alma and Albin started to bark like insane while standing (well most likely running and jumping along) the fence. My guess is that it most likely were deer walking on the other side or that it could be badgers. They’ve removed the lynx safe electric fence that was there before so now it’s only the old, rather low fence there again.

So I looked after my new wildlife camera and just couldn’t find it. I looked everywhere, even where I later found it 🙂 🙂 I don’t think my kitchen has been this clean in ages 🙂 🙂 🙂 The camera had slid down from the kitchen table on to a chair and then been covered with a sweatshirt 🙂 🙂 Anyway I’ve now put the camera on the old fence so if I’m lucky I’ll know tomorrow on what walks around in that field at night.

Still one and a half hour left before I can go to bed so I think I’ll play mahjong solitare until it is time.

Have a great day!

Starting with evening shift at work.

September 1, 2023 · Leave a comment ·

My Chinese Catalpa is still in bloom but hasn’t produced a single seedpod yet.

So it’s September and from today I’ll work the evening shift. I’ll work every second Friday but today is not one of those Fridays so I’m starting the evening shift by staying at home and have a long weekend 🙂 🙂 I don’t like to have to do this but I do like to have a job and I like the people I’ll start working with. Also there are a few things that are positive as well, like I’ll be able to see daylight every day through winter and also being able to have our walks during daylight as well 🙂

So if I can change my sleeping habits fairly quickly this might be a good thing because I really hate when I leave for work in darkness and it also is dark before I go home again in the afternoon. So I stayed up a bit later already yesterday and actually managed to stay asleep until just after six am, not bad for being me since I normally wakes up just before five am no matter when I go to bed. Perhaps I already is mentally adjusting towards the hew hours?

I did however wake up to a light rain that ended early on so that we could go on our morning walk. It was a bit chilly when we started so the mosquitoes stayed calm but it was much less chilly when we were half way through and the mosquitoes started to show us how much they love us 🙂 🙂 There is at least very few ticks around now, I only found two and those were sitting on Alma, she truly is a tick magnet. It does feel like it is Saturday though 🙂

Something was walking in the field outside the cottage yesterday night. I had let the dogs out for a last time before going to bed and they rushed to the back and started to bark like crazy. I have no idea what it was but I think it most likely were either roe deer or badgers walking around just outside the fence. I hope my neighbors didn’t sleep because they sure wouldn’t after that 🙂 🙂 They’ve removed the lynx safe fence around that field so now it’s just the old one and animals might once again start to walk through the garden at night. I don’t mind that at all but I need to make some noise so they can get away before I let the dogs out at night.

It is already after noon so it is time to make something to eat. I’ve started a new routine for the dogs as well. They’ll get half a portion when we wake up, a full portion around 2:30 (before I’ll leave for work) and half a portion when I’ve come back home again. They did look at me as if I was trying to starve them to death this morning but I’m pretty sure they’ll like the next meal 🙂

Have a great day!

Wild hogs.

August 27, 2023 · Leave a comment ·

It was a nice and cool morning but those mosquitoes are just awful.

Even though the sun has been shining all morning and that it is fairly warm I still can feel it in the air, autumn has arrived. There’s a sort of bite to the air that I only can feel in autumn. Still the morning walk was really nice even though the mosquitoes doesn’t understand that they now just should fall down to the ground and die 🙂 🙂 🙂

Alma was just as annoying this morning as she was yesterday morning. She were all over the place and in the end she entangled both me and Albin in her leash. Both she and Albin also sniffed in the air all the time. Nova didn’t but instead of walking far ahead of us she walked by our side. I thought it was because I possible had taped her knee in a bad way. As soon as we had come to the long straight road towards the creek she resumed to her normal position, far ahead of us.

I saw something but couldn’t really say what kind of animal it was.

Then a much smaller one came out to the road too. Then I saw the ear of the bigger one.

I didn’t think more of it than that she perhaps didn’t feel that bad in her knee anyway. We walked up-stream the creek but neither her nor I wanted to walk in the high grass and in to the more dense old forest, so instead we went back the same way we came and I thought that we perhaps would walk in the forest where we walk out to the bog. I didn’t look especially much ahead of us but when I did I saw something I first couldn’t figure out what it was, an animal that I could guess but not what.

I think I could see seven or eight piglets.

Turns out that where Nova suddenly walked ahead of us again now stood a rather big wild hog sow 🙂 Thankfully far away from us but I am annoyed at myself for not bringing the right tele photo lens. Then suddenly a piglet came out from the trees and then one more and suddenly I think it was seven or eight piglets in total. This is the moment when Alma actually decides to stand still and be quiet. There’s something with wild hogs that makes her do that, never otherwise but always when we see hogs.

My spring flowering Clematis has restarted 🙂

The Sarracenia sure is slow to open up. I do hope that at least one of the four buds will before frost takes them all.

One can hate or love the Big Dragon flower (Nepeta sibirica) but bees love them and they flower from early summer till frost take them all.

The wild hogs crossed the road and in to the forest where I had hoped we would walk so no chance on doing that 🙂 🙂 I started to talk loudly to the dogs because I didn’t know where the boar could be or if there were more sows waiting to cross the road. Both Alma and Albin did look at the direction they had come from but that doesn’t mean there were any more out there. I don’t really like to come close to wild hogs but it is fun to see them from a safe distance 🙂

No more sightings of hogs though. I took a tour in the garden when when we had come home again. There are still flowers in bloom, even potatoes flower still. This is the time the Hardy Kiwi decided to finally start growing and I do hope it calms down before the frost arrives. I’ve re-potted all but one of my apricot trees and also the cherry plum tree seedlings I have. I’m not sure what to do with those cherry plum seedlings to be honest. I really don’t need any more but have no place to plant them and since they tend to spread like wildfire via their roots I’m not sure I can give them away either. Well I do live beside a forest 🙂 🙂 🙂

I have three Hardy Kiwi vines planted towards the fence around my vegetable garden. They have finally put some speed in their growing.

I managed to break the top of this vine when I tried to pull it through the loops in the fence. I have no idea if the top will grow new roots but I’ve put it in a pot and either it dies or it starts to grow new roots.

The third one is a sad one. It does grow but slowly and when it finally put some speed into it something ate the top of the vine 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

A15398_016 — Time flies and it won’t be long until we’re back to snow again 🙂 Taken with the Agfa Ambiflex.

Back to rain again.

August 26, 2023 · 2 Comments ·

DSC_0006 (6) — Lots of acorns this year.

We actually had quite nice weather here this week, until yesterday when it poured down most of the day . This morning was rain free but thick clouds covered the sky so it almost felt like the sun had disappeared behind the horizon and that night was on its way. Well now it’s a bit darker and the rain has started to fall. We might get up to 35mm (one and two fifths inches). It all depends on where the heaviest showers will pass.

DSC_0004 (5) — Quite misty up on the mountain today.

DSC_0011 (5) — Nova decided that we should walk in the forest and out to the bog.

I now have the radiators on a couple of hours each day, yesterday because it was cold but mostly because everything is damp with all this rain falling. Still I wouldn’t want to change to how hot it is in some places on the American continents or southern Europe to be honest.

DSC_0012 (5) — Autumn has arrived. This place was bright yellow last week.

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Alma just stood by my side whining a lot because she wanted to go outside. I opened the door and she together with Albin rushed out, stopped immediately when they got wet from the rain and rushed inside again 🙂 🙂 🙂 They ran up to my bed as soon as they had come inside again 🙂 🙂 🙂 Those two wouldn’t survive for long in the wild 🙂 🙂 🙂

DSC_0022 (4)

The bear hunt has started in northern Sweden and at least three people are already injured because the bears attacked them. I don’t know if they want sympathy when talking in the news or to news papers but to be honest, if You actually isn’t knowing how bears react when being hunted, often with dogs chasing them, You really shouldn’t be out there hunting bears. These are often the people who call them selves nature conservationist claiming that they hunt to make sure there aren’t too many herbivores eating too much of the trees and the rest of the vegetation.

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Then when nature is coming back and takes care of that problem they go on about those predators taking too many herbivores so there’s nothing left for them to hunt 🙂 🙂 🙂 I could perhaps respect them if they stopped being such hypocrits. They also hunt foxes because they eat too many fawns but then when they heard that we might have a new predator, the Golden jakal (slightly bigger than the fox and eat much the same things) they started to scream about how it will reduce the ammount of foxes! There is a fun thing about the jackals though, hunters aren’t allowed to hunt them since they naturally have migrated to this country and is natural to Europe. It would have been a different thing if they had escaped from fur farms in Europe and not being a natural habitant in the part of the world.

DSC_0045 (2) — I found some Hedgehog mushrooms today and these are just as delicious as the Chanterelles. Therefore one pick them even though one hasn’t anything to put them in besides the big pocket of the hoodie one wears 🙂 🙂

It is time for something to eat and after that I’ll do something that I might show here later 🙂 I’ll tell You more about it some other time 🙂

Have a great day!

Just a normal Sunday.

August 13, 2023 · Leave a comment ·

a (1)

Sometimes, well quite often actually, I wonder if our meteorologists actually get paid for their weather predictions or if they just are drunk and having fun every weekend 🙂 🙂 🙂 I must admit that they did get the raining we’ve had but today they said that we would have a cloudy day all day long. Is anyone surprised when I say that we had sunshine almost all day with the exception of the early morning? 🙂 🙂 🙂

a (2) — We didn’t even get a good fog, just this meh fog.

a (7) — Lingonberries. I think lingonberries are the most important berries for us Swedes, we have lingonberry jam to anything and everything 🙂

We were out in the early morning and when we came home I tossed everything in the washing machine, I was a bit behind so I really didn’t have any clean clothes left. So as soon as the machine started working the sun broke through 🙂 🙂 Well since I didn’t have any clothes I really couldn’t mow the lawn so I’ll have to do a little every day after work next week instead.

a (14)

We’ve just come home after another walk and the weather was much nicer and the wind had helped to dry the high grass we walked in so for once my shoes are dry! They were soaking wet when we came home in the morning so I placed them in the sunshine so they could dry. They have been constantly wet the last week so it was a nice change 🙂

It feels like I’ve done very little today but I have actually been pretty active. I’ve done the laundry as I said, I’ve made dinner for next week at work. I’ve re-potted a lot of plants and checked the sowings of perennials I have outside. They’ll grow big enough to survive winter outside if it stays as warm as they say it will, just above 20C (68F). They’re guessing that we won’t get much sunshine but that it at least will stay warm. The hunting season starts on Wednesday and they’ll be out in the forest the week out so I hope that the pasture outside my cottage is open and animal free so we at least can take walks there.

I think the Sarracenia flower will open up tomorrow 🙂

Have a great day!

A second harvest and autumn colors.

August 12, 2023 · 2 Comments ·

We haven’t had as much sunshine today as they guessed yesterday but instead it started to rain much earlier 🙂 To be honest it was mostly drizzle but the grass went wet so I decided that I wouldn’t detsroy my day with mowing the lawn 🙂 Also the few flies that still flies around are nasty now and I don’t know what kind is biting but it sure itch a lot afterwards.

We went out to the bog on our morning walk. Nova wanted to walk there yesterday but I managed to make her walk to the part I wanted to walk in 🙂 🙂 Today we went out to where she wanted. Lots of mushrooms everywhere now but I still haven’t picked a single one. I guess I still have plenty of time because the rainy weather will continue for quite a while they’re guessing now. The trees in the bog have started to change colors and it feels like it is a bit too early even for here but it has been quite cold and rainy for quite some time so I guess the trees just thought it was time to give up for the year 🙂

I also found several flower buds on my rhododendron today, I guess for the same reason but it believing we’ve had an unusually mild winter 🙂 🙂 🙂 I guess that it’ll flower in early September, especially if we would get some more warm weather again. It will from now on reach 20C (68F) if they’re guessing right but they seldom do that 🙂 🙂 🙂

I took a look at my cacti that I placed in my apple trees this summer. They all look pretty fine and the Christmas cactus now have small buds 🙂 I also have an orchid hanging out there but that one only flower once every year and just before spring arrives so I won’t know if it liked this or not until then. I did forget to check the ones that grows in my old woodland but I’m pretty sure they like it too. The only problem with hanging all these potted plants in my trees is to remember to bring them indoors again before the frost arrives 🙂 🙂

I have a second harvest of potatoes as well 🙂 I poured out the soil from the second bucket where I planted only the broken off potato sprouts. More in this bucket than in the previous one but not as many as I had last summer. Still I’m quite content as it is because I didn’t have to sacrifice any potatoes to get these, just the broken off sprouts 🙂

My Black walnut is rather big now, higher than my cottage actually.

The English walnut does grow too but I would be surprised and happy if it survives the winter here.

But tiny white ones on my Christmas cactus.

It is time to have a last cup of tea before dozing off in front of the tv. I will not miss anything on tv if I would sleep alla night, I think the quality of the programs they show now days are crap to be honest.

In the front but hard to see since it is green towards green is my Persimmon hybrid tree. Behaind it the peach tree.

The potato leafs showed it was time to harvest the potatoes.

Have a great day!

Finally a day without rain.

August 11, 2023 · Leave a comment ·

We’ve had a day without any rain!! It feels amazing but that will change already tomorrow evening. They’re now guessing that we’ll get more than an Inch of rain from tomorrow evening until early Sunday morning. So no matter what, tomorrow I’ll have to mow the lawn before the rain arrives 🙂 🙂 🙂

I have survived the first week after the vacation, yay. The one who decides what I should paint and when was still on vacation so I did things I normally doesn’t, like grind down paint where there were dirt or someone had damaged the paint in some way. We were a bit behind on that job so I could do that the entire week 🙂 On Monday I’ll be back painting things again and I’ll continue to do so until September fourth when I must start to work evenings. Can’t pretend I like that but I will at least have a job.

A storm passed by this week, the Norwegians named it Hans and Hand was a trouble maker. There were floodings all over the southern parts of Sweden and in some places up in the north as well. One train derailed because the embankment was swept away by running water. Loads of water filled cellars everywhere, Roads were closed because they were more like ponds 🙂 🙂 but I didn’t hear anything about boats floating away like they always do during storms 🙂 🙂 It was much worse in Norway though, one house was swept away, mud slide all over the southern parts of the country and one smaller dam broke. They were just about to blow away a safety hatch when the entire wall beside it just broke down. No problems here though and like always I didn’t notice much of the wind because my neighbors cottage and garage takes all the wind 🙂

Nova wanted to take a shorter walk after work today but I managed to persuade her to take a slight longer one down to the creek and in to the forest there. Yesterday we most likely had a wolf following us because all the dogs were suddenly in a hurry to get out to the field on the other side of the forest. No wolf following us today but there were signs that wild hogs were close, especially the smell from them, so I talked loudly to the dogs because one really doesn’t want to surprise wild hogs, I rather have wolves following us than having to meet wild hogs or moose because those two are totally unpredictable when they get scared or surprised.

Two of my Sarracenias have flower buds now 🙂

I’m cooking chicken in the slow cooker for the dogs right now. They’ll get it as treats or in their food if they don’t want to eat (it is Nova I’m talking about 🙂 ). I think it’s ready now and I hope it is because the smell is a bit annoying right now. No spices and no salt make it smell less nice 🙂

Have a great day!

Back to work again.

August 6, 2023 · Leave a comment ·

It is raining and thunder is closing in as well. We didn’t have any thunder at all when the heatwave was here or when the cold weather started but now we’ve had it several times. I hope it won’t be as bad as it was the last time because it lasted for hours and sometimes the sound just kept on all the time because of all the lightnings 🙂 🙂

We did have a really nice morning and up until just after noon though, mostly sunshine and actually rather warm weather, something we haven’t been spoiled with this vacation. Still I’ve had a really nice vacation and I am so relaxed that it will be hard to start working again tomorrow 🙂 🙂 I’ll have no problems waking up, I’ve woken up the same time I normally do when going to work the entire vacation 🙂 🙂

It was 6C (42,8F) when we went out on our morning walk today, perfect because there were no flies flying around and I only found two ticks in total when I checked the dogs and we had walked in pretty high grass quite a lot. Ticks normally don’t like temperatures around those degrees. The water level is still quite high in the creek and I guess that after these four coming days it will rise even higher, they’re guessing we’ll get up to four inches of rain.

Four days ago I was stung on the backside of my ear by one of the wasps that lived between the roof and ceiling by my entrance door. I did swell a bit but not much, normally I swell like a balloon where I’m stung but I think it hit the cartilage in the ear. My ear has been aching ever since, it isn’t until now that the pain has gone away. It has been itching a lot and the skin started to sort of flake away 🙂 🙂 The ear is still rather warm though but that I can live with 🙂 🙂 It actually took three days until all the wasps were gone. I didn’t think that many actually stayed outdoors during longer periods. There’s still the occasional wasp flying there but they don’t even try to get in any more. I don’t mind wasps as long as they don’t attack me or the dogs, if they do it’s good bye!

It looks like the thunder will continue along the mountain and go north but these last have sounded to be really close even though the lightning apps says different so I better stop for today.

She will become 17 years old next month 🙂

and Alma a bit more than two years old now.

She and Albin loves to eat the Japanese quince fruits. I can’t understand that because they are hard as rocks 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

My first harvest :-)

August 5, 2023 · Leave a comment ·

The weather has been mostly meh today. We had some sunshine in the early morning and about two minutes in the afternoon but it has at least not been raining. That however will change tomorrow evening if they’re guessing right. From Tomorrow evening till Tuesday night, perhaps early Wednesday, we’ll get around 4 inches of rain. I am happy for the rain we’ve gotten but now we need some sunshine and warmer weather so that the fruits will ripen properly and become sweet.

They’ve removed the warnings about low ground water levels now and I haven’t seen so much water in the creek since the snow melted this spring 🙂 🙂 I think these last heavy rainfalls have killed off a lot of flies because I really don’t need to wear my mosquito hat on our walks now. I can’t say I mind especially much but I guess birds still need them so they can build up energy for the move south. Still lots of mosquitoes though so they can fiest on them instead 🙂 🙂

The ice cream van came by today, I missed it the last time because I was in the bathroom and had no chance of getting outside in time 🙂 🙂 Our ice cream vans doesn’t sell individual ice creams but only sell packages of different varieties or mixed boxes with their most popular varieties. I actually don’t know if they’ve ever sold individual cones or popsicles, they did however sell both frozen fish, ready dinners and hamburgers back in the day. I couldn’t see any of that today though. So now I have one box with gluten free cones with chocolate ice cream and one with vanilla ice cream covered with chocolate and crushed almond on sticks. So if I don’t win the lottery today I can at least have some ice cream to comfort myself 🙂 🙂 🙂

Do You remember that I planted those sprouts that broke off when I planted the potatoes in the potato patch? Today I emptied the bucket with just two stalks. Last year I got enough potatoes in each bucket/ pot to last a week but in this one I got enough potatoes for one dinner 🙂 Well first they almost drowned because I had forgotten to make extra holes in the bucket so one shower was enough to fill up the bucket with water. After that the drought came and I forgot to water every now and again so I think this isn’t too bad after all. I do hope for better results in the coming buckets/ pots. This variety of potato is called Asterix.

I think it is time to go downstairs and to have one of those ice creams 🙂 I think I’ll have one of that vanilla with chocolate and crushed almond 🙂

I bought a Mahonia yesterday just because I wanted the plastic pot it was growing in, narrow and deep. I’m now using that pot for one of my Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) seedlings, well it’s just a seed with a tiny root so far. I did want the Mahonia as well because it gives quite tasty berries that both look and taste rather much like blueberries.

The harvest 🙂 🙂 To be honest I did find two more as big as the two smallest in this photo 🙂

Have a great day!

Thunder and lightning and bank ID.

August 4, 2023 · Leave a comment ·

a (28)

We had fog again this morning and I think fog must be my favorite kind of weather, especially when the sun can shine through every now and again. Nova decided that we were going out to the bog again. We didn’t see or hear any animals except for the birds and only one bird still sung its spring songs. There were no wolves around either since the dogs were happy and calm. Alma has calmed down so much that it’s hard to believe she’s the same dog that tore my shoulder apart a couple of time last year 🙂 🙂 🙂

a (32)

My Bank ID, a digital ID that I must have if I want to buy something online now days (I’m sure You have it too but one never know what it can be called), had to be updated, and I asked people and they said I had to do that in the online bank. I tried but the online bank said I had to either have an absolutely new passport or an international ID card where I could scan something to proof that I am who I am. My new drivers license wasn’t ok enough to use. I know we are several people who are quite upset about that because it will cost around $40 US to get an international ID card and why should I have to have that? I’ll never use it.

a (36)

So I drove to the bank today and my bank is in a neighbor county 50km (31 mile) away. I was quite annoyed when I arrived because after all my bank is well known for helping Russian oligarchs laundry their money and I doubt that those people would have to have an international ID card 🙂 🙂 🙂 Well it turns out that I really don’t have to have anything new because all I needed to do was to update the app in my phone 🙂 🙂 🙂 The young woman who helped me had gone through this a lot of times 🙂 🙂 🙂 I still have no idea why the online bank said I had to have those things but I think that it had to do with newcomers to this country who aren’t citizens.

a (40)

I came home just before one of the angriest thunderstorms we have had here in years arrived. The Lightning app said that we had well over 800 lightning hits in and around this village during 30 minutes! I can’t remember that heavy showers falling either and the sound from the rain was so loud that I couldn’t hear the thunder at the same time. I loved it, Nova and Alma slept through it and Albin was so angry because I didn’t allow him to go outside to check what it was that made so much noise 🙂 🙂 🙂 I did open the door for him when the thunder had moved away some but the showers still were just as heavy and then suddenly it wasn’t that important to go outside after all 🙂 🙂 🙂

a (45)

After that we’ve had sunshine for a while but now it’s just as cloudy as before and the lightning app has warned about lightning in the area again. I think the worst is over but perhaps it’s best to close doors and windows again just in case.

a (16)

Have a great day!

The rain has given back what the drought took away :-)

July 30, 2023 · 4 Comments ·

a (2) — We were caught in a heavy shower this morning and all of us,except for Nova took shelter beneath big trees. I understand why she didn’t want to go there because that was the place most biting flies decided to stay as well 🙂 🙂 🙂

The weather has really been mixed today. Steady rain in the early morning but after that it has been mixed between heavy showers and sunshine. One minute sunshine and one minute showers just to go back to sunshine again. The dogs refused to go outside until rather late for being us so when we finally went out on our morning walk the flies were already there waiting for us. I can happily say that there now are fewer biting ones than there were before we went out on our walk 🙂 🙂

a (4) — I wasn’t expecting to find any mushrooms on our walk since I guessed that Nova would chose to walk down to the creek today. So I could unfortunately not pick this rather delicious mushroom because I had nothing to carry it in.

a (7)

I’m glad I mowed the lawn yesterday because it would have been impossible to do it today. My neighbor however mowed the last parts along their hedge and that mower can’t have been fun to clean up afterwards 🙂 🙂 But I haven’t been lazy despite the weather. I’ve trimmed away lots from the lilacs (and some of a mock-orange) that now made life hard for my Chinese catalpa. I’ve also ripped up some weeds around one of my ginkgos and I realized that I also ripped up a stinging nettle. I now have that burning sensation in my finger on my right hand.

a (11) — Lots of water in the creek now, so I would say that what the drought removed when it comes to water the rain now has given back.

Some of the summer apples are ripe now, I don’t like them especially much unless they are slightly un-ripe because when un-ripe they’re slightly sour. When ripe they are more bland and sort of mealy. I guess they could be great for apple sauce though so perhaps I should pick some for myself, I give away most to my closest neighbors because their oldest daughter really likes apples and especially those. In September I’ll have too many winter apples so I hope they take lots of those as well 🙂

a (14) — Snails are now eating my melon vines. I removed this one before it ate those tiny flower buds 🙂

I sowed some cone flower seeds just a few days ago and they first one has already germinated 🙂

So tomorrow starts the last week of my summer vacation. I can’t say I don’t like my work place but I desperately wants to win the lottery anyway 🙂 🙂 🙂 Just thinking of having to drive to work when the roads are slippery with ice again and most parts of the days will be dark again is depressing 🙂 🙂 Ok I’ll start working evenings in September so I will actually see daylight but still I really don’t look forward to winter again.

The Catalpa doesn’t stand a chance if I don’t do something about those lilacs and the mock-orange.

This is the result. I’ll leave the branches where they are and later on I’ll drive over them with the mower.

Finally buds on my squash plants. They really didn’t like the heat wave we had but grows better now.

The same with the chicory. They do look a lot like dandelions 🙂 🙂

The Catalpa is in bloom but the flowers are hard to find since they all are up at the top of the tree 🙂

Have a great day!