Category: Walks.

The beginning of our three day heat wave.

July 19, 2022 · 2 Comments ·

DSC_0002 (7) — We were supposed to have sunshine from the moment the sun rose but it tok quite some time before the clouds thinned out. It was so dark actually that I needed the camera to be set on ISO 1000 (One only need to use ISO 100 on a sunny day so it’s a big difference).

It has been hot here today, Scandinavian hot that is, 28C (82,4F) and it isn’t nice at all. No problem at the beginning of it though because we had a strong and cool wind blowing but when the wind died out so did our energy 🙂 Alma tried to be full of energy for as long as she could but even she had to give up in the end 🙂 🙂 🙂 Tomorrow we’ll most likely reach 34C (93,2F) so I’m not looking forward to that at all. It’ll only last for three days, on Friday it’ll get much cooler and we’ll have loads of rain if they are guessing it right.

DSC_0005 (7) — They are now gathering all twigs and branches in big piles, they’ll make pellets from it all so that we can buy that and use in our heating systems.

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Like on me Novas joints don’t like the hot weather at all, she has problems walking up the stairs now, while she in the cool and early morning had no problems at all. She has been a bit spoiled now when she has been feeling bad because of her ear so I’ve added something she likes (well both the others likes it too), Tuna 🙂 Now she refuses to eat at all unless I put in tuna or something else she really likes 🙂 🙂 🙂 So this morning when there wasn’t anything extra in the food she just sniffed at it and walked away, she ate almost twice as much as she usually do when I had added tuna to the food this afternoon. Hot temperatures really didn’t affect her appetite for something she likes 🙂 🙂 🙂

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Fewer and fewer birds sing during the days now, they are doing what they can to secure the future for the younglings they have now rather than prepare for another batch of them, instead katydids have started playing, and loud as well especially in the evening. I do like to fall asleep to the sound of playing katydids. Especially hot days like this one can pretend that they are rather quiet cikadas 🙂 🙂 🙂 We don’t have cikadas here so it’s easy to let the imagination fly free 🙂 🙂

DSC_0026 (7) — This one used to belong to the Corydalis family but they split that family up. No idea what it is called now though. I think it is annual and really grows as much as the weed it is. It is a favorite of mine in my garden.

DSC_0029 (6) — Lots of blueberries in the one bush I still have left.

DSC_0033 (6) — The Sweet William grows here and there in my garden.

22 new species are added to the list of invasive and forbidden species here in the EU. From the previous forbidden species we already had around half of them growing in the wild but so I’m not sure if forbidding them actually will help anything. My guess is that since we have problem enough as it is, like the drought most likely will reduce the harvesting to around half of what they normally can harvest and the war in Ukraine will reduce that perhaps even more, the will of killing of plants and animals that shouldn’t be here might be a bit low. I was surprised that the The African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) actually is seen as a threat here, our winters are after all still quite chilly in periods.

DSC_0037 (5) — It is hard to see any apples in my Aroma apple tree but it doesn’t look as a successful year for that tree.

DSC_0038 (5) — However it’s a totally different thing when it comes to the tree I once sowed from an Aroma apple kernel. The apples on this tree are delicious but they tend to be hit by rot and fungus easily.

DSC_0043 (3) — Lots of small fruits on my Japanese quince bush too. I’ve never made jelly or jam from these but I have from it’s relative the real Quince and it was delicious. It is said these will be just as good to use but they aren’t even a quarter of the size from the real quince.

Lots of garden plants are also forbidden now, even though we seems to be allowed to still have them in our gardens but they are not allowed to be sold or spread by humans. Last year they tried to have a “Kill all Lupins” day here in Sweden and I think zero people cared about it 🙂 🙂 🙂 We love our lupins and really don’t care what authorities says about them. Do You know why they are seen like a problem? It’s because they start growing in places where very few other plants will grow due to really bad soil. When they start to grow someplace they actually make the ground much better and plants that can’t compete with other plants where the ground is good will then die instead.

original_file_home — This is now the first thing I see when I start my mobile. He does look a bit grumpy, doesn’t he 🙂

I’ve baked another bread in the slow cooker and it turned out even better than the first one. I really can’t understand how people can fail baking bread in a slow cooker. Just do as always but instead of letting it rise the second time just put the dough in the cooker. The temperature is so low that it’ll have time enough to rise before it starts to being baked. For once I even took a photo of the bread. It is up side down so the top is pointing downwards and that paret is very light but the rest is just as brown and crispy as one wishes 🙂 the “folds” on the surface of it are prints from the baking paper (parchment paper).

Have a great day!

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I really don’t like to change phone.

July 17, 2022 · Leave a comment ·

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Another rather nice day, at least after a while. The morning was quite chilly but we had sunshine and the flies were still hiding in the vegetation trying to stay warm. We went out on a short walk because Nova didn’t seem to want to go at all. She isn’t as alert that she once was 🙂 She really didn’t want to eat much either so I was a bit worried.

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Turns out that if she can eat my food she can eat rather a lot 🙂 🙂 🙂 It does look like the ear drops finally have made her feel better though because she, after eating a lot of my food, also ate most of her own food as well. She didn’t even have any problems gulp down lots of dog biscuits either and they are pretty hard 🙂 🙂 🙂 Also she is, to be honest, not a big fan of Alma so she’s either walking a big distance behind or in front of us when she can 🙂 🙂 🙂

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So I’ve finally started to use my new phone. I really don’t understand why I need to go through zillions of questions and decide zillions of things how to manage my phone every time I need to change phone? They already know everything about me, it should be enough to just log in to Google and after that I shouldn’t have to do anything more. There was something called quick switch I could have used if I had downloaded that on my old phone (don’t think I could get away from all those questions and settings anyway) and even though it said that I could get that on my old phone even if I started to use my old one it still didn’t work. At least all my contacts followed the phone this time. I am very grateful that I can call my work friend, who’s much younger than I am, any time I need to ask how to deal with new technology 🙂 🙂 🙂

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I’ve now baked a bread in the slow cooker. I looked at the recipes ina cook book that followed with the first one I had and it’s more or less regular bread but there’s one thing I didn’t understand. They never say that the bread should rise before putting the dough in the cooker. Shouldn’t it taste horribly much of yeast if one do it like that? I just did like I always do and let it rise once outside the cooker and the second time I just started the cooker when it was supposed to rise the second time. Worked perfectly! However no matter how much towel one puts beneath the lid the top of the bread will not become brown but that’s no problem since the rest of the surface towards the cooker will be. Just turn the bread upp side down and one will have a nice brown surface 🙂 I had a bit too much basil in my bread though, I like basil but this time I learned my limit for it 🙂 🙂 🙂

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The sun is still shining and it’s 21C (69,8F) outside. Clouds and some rain will arrive later today or just after midnight and by looking at how the flies are behaving even here in my garden I’m guessing we might get thunder as well. Tomorrow will be just as warm or cool depending on how hot it is where You live but after that we’ll have a three day heat wave. I’m glad it won’t last for longer but then again our meteorologists aren’t know to be the best in the world so it might just stay for much longer 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’ll go down to my friend with the garden center again tomorrow and I do hope that my brain will make me stop at the big store to buy that hose I’ve said so many times that I’ll buy 🙂 🙂 🙂 I don’t have much to put on sandwiches either, today I went outside and picked some dandelion leafs as lettuce (and i also thinned out some small iceberg lettuce to have together with some ham and cheese and tomato slices. All I have left for tomorrows breakfast (if I want sandwiches ) are a couple of boiled eggs and the last piece of cheese.

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It is time to go downstairs and make a cup of tea and to have a couple of bon bons I think 🙂

Have a great day!

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There’s a heat wave on the continent, some places here had 8C (46,4F) as warmest today :-) :-)

July 15, 2022 · 2 Comments ·

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So I wrote a post here early this morning when suddenly the web site froze and refused to save any drafts. The odd thing was that I could continue to write without any problems. I also couldn’t post what I had written but clicked to save it so I just could update the site and then just paste it here again. For a reason I can’t understand I then couldn’t find the saved post again even though I did look at the right place. So I gave up and now I’m writing it all down again 🙂 🙂 🙂

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Sort of annoying but at the same time perhaps a good thing nothing worked as it should. Nova has been under the weather all day with a slight fever and an infection in her ear, again. SI’m pretty sure the infection make it hurt when she eats because she refused to eat in the morning. Still she would take some blue cheese, no need to chew a well ripe mold cheese 🙂 🙂 🙂 She also followed us on our morning walk so I wasn’t too worried. I started with her ear drops and already in the afternoon she ate a pancake 🙂 Ok she tried to lick it up while lying down 🙂 🙂 🙂 which really didn’t work but if I picked the pancake pieces up and gave them to her she happily gulped them down 🙂

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When she got her afternoon food she still was pretty picky and still tried to lick up the pieces, it sort of worked but I decided that I would pick the pieces up and give them to her. Turns out that she only wanted the orange colored pieces 🙂 🙂 🙂 She just looked at me with disgust when I tried to give her any other color pieces 🙂 🙂 🙂 I do hope she will be much better by tomorrow morning because she is a bit of a drama queen to be honest. Then again at the age of sixteen she’s allowed to be 🙂

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Besides that nothing much has happened today. I bought several different houseleeks this week because I have a rather big pot, low and wide, that needed something in it. Houseleeks are succulents so they don’t need much soil, to be honest wet soil during winter can make them rot, so I used the sand I have beneath the grass in my garden (I still have a lot around after digging my grey water root zone). I had bought eight and they just barely fit in the pot. I’ve watered a lot just so that all the sand will fill up the empty spaces between them because it’s almost impossible to do that while planting and having very dry sand 🙂

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The pot will stay outdoors all winter but I’ll make sure to place it so that no rain or snow will make it too wet for them. I used to have hardy cacti in my garden years ago but too many problems with thorns and dogs to make it worth while 🙂 🙂 🙂 Houseleeks also get pretty flowers but I doubt that I’ll see any this year. It is time for another cup of tea, some bon bons and to watch the athletic world championships. We’ve had a rather chilly day here today, it didn’t even reach 20C (68F). There’s a horrible heat wave down in Europe (even Britain is hit by it) but it doesn’t reach us, at least not yet. Some placed here in the middle of Sweden didn’t even get more than 8C (46,4F) and that is really unusual even up here in the north.

DSC_0046 (2) — Some sprouts fell off when I was putting down the potatoes in the ground so I planted them in two buckets. I wonder how many potatoes I’ll get from them 🙂

DSC_0052 (2) — I planted several different Houseleeks in a big clay pot this morning. Only sand and stone in the pot and I do hope they’ll thrive 🙂

Have a great day!

Lots of napping today :-)

July 9, 2022 · 2 Comments ·

a (1)

I really haven’t done much today besides napping for a couple of hours and going through the dogs checking for ticks. The rainy weather really brought out those nasty critters again. We have very few slugs and snails though so that’s at least something.

a (4) — I’m not sure if it is wheat, rye or wheat-rye they are growing in this field. Back in the days it was easy to see the difference between the different kinds but now days they’re so mixed up with each other that one really need to know what it is to be able to see it 🙂 🙂

a (6)

It stayed towards the chilly side until noon today. It was mostly cloudy but as soon as the sun showed between the clouds it warmed up pretty quickly. We went out on our morning walk just after five am and unfortunately that was enough warm for the forest flies to start annoying us all. There were even some horse flies and I can now tell You that we’ll have a few less next years since I killed any of them that landed on me 🙂 Still they managed to give me a couple now quite itching bites.

a (11)

Yesterday I ordered a few rolls of films to my bigger cameras, it’s hard to get any now days and I’m not sure if it is because of the war in Ukraine or if it was during the virus they stopped producing those films. Today however I ordered a tin box with bon bons from Quality Street. I don’t have many memories of my father but I do remember that every time he came home (he was a sailor) he always brought a box with Quality Street bon bons. They are really hard to get around here so this box actually comes from Denmark. Hopefully it’ll arrive in the middle of next week 🙂

a (15)

We’ll have much the same weather tomorrow they say, a bit on the chilly side in the morning but it will never really be warm at all, it won’t reach 20C (68F). I’m ok with that since they’re guessing it will be slightly warmer the coming week, no rain though and we really would need some more to be honest. Then again with no rain I’ll be able to finally mow the lawn and with no rain the grass will grow much slower as well 🙂 🙂

a (22)

It is time to get something to eat and then doze off in front of the tv, like always 🙂 🙂 The swedish ladies will play against the ladies from the Netherlands later tonight in the European football (soccer) Championship. I might watch that, otherwise I’ll just check videos on Youtube or Facebook all evening 🙂

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Have a great day!

DSC_0011 (5) — I bought two of the rose that would be planted where Teodor is buried. This is the one still standing in a pot (the one on Teodors grave is a bit behind still). If I learned right this orange flower will now slowly fade to almost white. So it’ll have both of his colors.

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Vacation.

July 8, 2022 · 2 Comments ·

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I think this must have been one of the longest days so far this year 🙂 🙂 I had things to do all the time but it still felt like time stopped early in the morning. I was in the painting department as I have been all week and it is nasty hot there now so it didn’t help to see what beautiful weather we had outside.

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Yesterday when I drove to work I noticed something like looked like a big dark stone by the side of the road just beside a big tree. I thought to myself that I’ve never seen a big stone there before so I slowed down considerable and suddenly three sows and twelve piglets came running across the road. The piglets had slowly started to change colors towards brown but I could still see the stripes and dots on their sides.

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Today I drove really slowly there but no pigs. I found them beside the clearway a couple of hundred meters away instead. I drive to work an hour and a half earlier on Fridays so today I saw lots of animals close to the road, like deers, hares and some bigger birds. I never drive as fast as I’m allowed when I drive on the forest road and mornings like these show me how right that is 🙂

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I’ll do nothing at all for the rest of the day. I really should vacuum the entire cottage, mow the lawn and perhaps bake a bread in my new slow cooker but I refuse. I have four weeks to do that so why start today 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’ve already planned to have naps every day and even drink tea after 4 pm even though it might keep me awake all night. Those are the things one can do or skip to do when having vacation 🙂

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Have a great day!

She talks a lot.

July 7, 2022 · 4 Comments ·

I’ve tried to find out what kind of wild rose this huge one is. The closest I’ve come is Rosa setigera, Climbing prairie rose but the buds doesn’t look the same so I’ll continue looking.

It was drizzling when I woke up this morning and a bit cool as well. Soo nice to just step outside when I let the dogs out. I had my bedroom window open and was thinking that I should let it stay open it would stay cool in my bedroom. I’m so glad I closed it because it started to rain rather bad when I drove to work and after that it fell like it was a thunderstorm passing by 🙂 🙂

DSC_0002 (2) — It’s Geranium season 🙂 The photos today were taken both today and yesterday.

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The rain stopped around noon and by the time I arrived here at home most clouds were gone and the sun was shining. Still pleasantly cool though with a rather strong north western wind blowing. So I wasn’t annoyed on myself when I forgot to bring the mosquito hat. I did regret that when we were on our way home again because we reached an area where the wind couldn’t reach us but the flies could 🙂 🙂 Only annoying forest flies thankfully and I do hope this is one of those few years when we have very few horse flies.

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A timber lorry was loading up some of the timber that they cut down not too long ago and I thought it would be hell to pass it with Alma and Albin. To my really big surprise both were quiet and Alma even tried to stay as far away from it as she could. No growling, no screaming, not even some whining happened? They always get really excited every time it pass outside the cottage so I really didn’t expect that it would be that easy 🙂 🙂 🙂

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Sometimes, quite often actually, I wonder if Alma might have some Husky in her ancestry. The howling when she isn’t allowed to meet other dogs (because of Albin hating other dogs), the constant urge to run around in the garden with Albin (whether he likes it or not 🙂 🙂 🙂 ) and the constant talking which sounds very much like the way huskies do. This morning she had a long conversation with Albin, she wanted to play he wanted to nap until I went to work 🙂 🙂 🙂 I must admit that it would have been nice if she could lower her voice a bit but who can blame her, she was upset 🙂 🙂 🙂

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I’ll drive to Gudhem on my way home after work tomorrow, the slow cooker will arrive just before I leave from work. It arrives at the right time since my vacation starts tomorrow 🙂 I’ll have plenty of time to successfully try and bake a bread in it these four coming weeks 🙂 This is the first vacation in I don’t know how many years that I don’t have to go back to clean a paint box when everyone else is at home 🙂 I have no idea who will do that job now though because they haven’t asked me to teach anyone how to do it 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

DSC_0036 (1) — Insects have eaten the leafs but the last bud still stand.

We had thunder but I didn’t notice it :-)

July 3, 2022 · 2 Comments ·

a (2)

I knew that we would get both clouds and rain and most possibly thunder later today so we went out on our walk as soon as we had woken up because the sun was shining and it was cool and nice outside. Just enough warm for the forest flies to fly around but cool enough to keep the horse flies calm.

a (7)

It was almost cloud free when we started our rather short walk but the sky was completely covered by clouds by the time we came home again, perhaps 30 minutes later. It didn’t take long after that when the first rain arrived. They had guessed that it would arrive after noon some time so I wasn’t surprised at all that it arrived rather early in the morning 🙂 🙂 🙂 I really didn’t mind though but decided to do the last of the laundry before any thunder might arrive. It did but I didn’t notice it at all. I just noticed that the app on my phone had warned for lightnings long after it had passed 🙂 🙂 🙂

a (11)

They’re now guessing we’ll get more rain tomorrow and on Tuesday as well but after that it’ll slowly dry up and sunshine will return. I do hope the coming week will be cooler since I’ll be working in the hot powder paint department again. All other painters are on vacation so I’m the only one who can do it. We do however have other people who can paint with normal paint so what ever needs to be painted there will be painted by someone else. I think I’ll appreciate my comming vacation so much more after a week in that hot place 🙂 🙂 🙂

a (17)

I haven’t found that add about bread baking machines again but while looking I remembered that it would be much better if I actually bought a new slow cooker since the ceramic pot in the old one broke. I do like the food we now can buy at work but the price is really insanely high compared to what it costs to make the food at home. So when I’ve finished here I’ll check for slow cookers instead. I managed to convince my work friend that it is one of the best inventions ever so he bought one and now he makes all his dinners in it 🙂 When I get it I’ll try to bake a bread in it too, I’ll still do all the work but I must try it 🙂

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I planted two melon vines earlier today and watered them of course but it is time to water some more because I’m pretty sure the dry ground around them has stolen most of that water. After that I’ll fall asleep in front of the tv as usual 🙂

Have a great day!

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Almost cold in the morning :-)

July 2, 2022July 2, 2022 · 2 Comments ·

a (1)

it was hotter than in hell here in the cottage yesterday evening, well outside as well to be honest. The fan was working hard to help us make slightly less cooler than melting 🙂 I did manage to fall asleep and wasn’t the least annoyed when I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of heavy raining.

a (3) — I saw something moving towards us on the road I wanted to take but it did look a bit hefty to be a deer of any kind.

a (4) — Turns out that a semi big calf had jumped out of the pasture.

a (5) — It wasn’t happy to see us so it walked back down the road again 🙂

Just hearing the rain made it feel cooler. Apparently we also had thunder passing by but I didn’t hear anything of that though. I wouldn’t hear if the world exploded when I’m sleeping 🙂 🙂 It continued to rain well in to the morning. I must admit that it did feel a bit chilly when the dogs and I went out for our walk but I enjoyed every second of it. It was unfortunately warm enough for the flies to fly around but it was almost only the annoying forest flies and very few if any horse flies.

They’re guessing that we’ll get lots of rain and thunder on Monday and the temperature will stay around 20C (68F) for the rest of the week and after this heat wave I’m really looking forward to that 🙂 My neighbor mowed the lawn outside our gardens today, I napped 🙂 🙂 I have been rather active today though. I’ve done most of the laundry and I’ve finally planted all the carnivorous plants in the big pot I bought.

a (15)

I took a look through Instagram and I do like the few commercial adds I find there. I don’t know why but some of the adds show things only a big time farmer would by 🙂 🙂 I did however see one add from a business that seems to sell anything and today they sold a baking machine. I sort of would like to have that one. It wasn’t that expensive and had good reviews but do I really need a baking machine? Well perhaps maybe 🙂 🙂 I do bake a lot of bread in periods and this one had a timer so that I would wake up to freshly baked bread in the morning. To be honest I thought all those baking machines had such a timer. So I might buy it if that add shows up again.

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I’ve also shaved off all hair on my head and it feels so nice 🙂 I did look fro my mosquito hat before I started because I would hate to feel tiny flies walking all over my head while walking in the forest, not to forget that horse fly bites must be nasty if they bite on the skull 🙂 🙂 🙂 I wonder if horseflies would be interested in visiting carnivorous plants? 🙂 🙂 🙂

a (33)

It is time for something to eat and after that fall asleep in front of the tv. I have the window beside me open and I can hear that it is drizzling outside. I can also hear the rather annoying magpies in my garden. I wonder if they would react if I hung up a stuffed magpie toy upside-down in my garden? I know that if someone kill a magpie and then hang it in the garden the magpies will stay away. I like them too much to have any killed though so perhaps a stuffed one would work 🙂 🙂 🙂

DSC_0017 (1) — Grapevines really grow like weeds 🙂

a (27) — I hope lots of flies visit these plants 🙂

Have a great day!

The heat is back.

June 30, 2022 · 2 Comments ·

Hot again today and I don’t like it. It has even been so hot that people at work who usually go outside during every break refused to do so today 🙂 🙂 🙂 I knew I would have to fetch a package today so I managed to go home a couple of hours early 🙂

It was the lens I bought at our EBay, called Tradera, that finally had arrived. Turned out that the seller were on vacation when I won it with my bid. I wouldn’t have cared if it just had said so in the add instead of getting to know it after I had bought it 🙂 🙂 🙂 Still I’ve tried it today and I really can’t complain. It is nice to once again have a tele-photo lens that works as it should. To be honest it has such a wide range that I don’t have to have any smaller lens as long as this one works.

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Earlier this week I bought two really big peaches called Golden Peach. Nasty expensive but I thought that I at least should try once. They were really delicious and evenly light orange all over. I’ll see if I can find any more in the store tomorrow. Later on I bought some nectarines and all were just slightly bigger than a big plum. They too are delicious but I must admit that I’ve never seen that small nectarines before. So I’ve saved the kernels and I’ll sow them next winter. There’s no guarantee that, if any of them germinates and grow to be big enough to give fruits, that the fruits will look the same but then again I do like to sow seeds and see what happens 🙂

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I’ll go to the physiotherapist for the last time tomorrow and I must say that my shoulders feels much better. They aren’t good in any way but I can work and didn’t need any surgery to get here and that’s a relief. After that I’ll only have to work one more week and then vacation starts 🙂 After this heat wave I’m really looking forward to it and I do hope that we’ll have temperatures around 20C (68F) and no higher than 25C (77F).

Nova’s eyes became better pretty quick after they had swollen up last week. Have no idea why this happened and I really wish I did know why because after the walk we had today I went to take a shower and when I came back from the bathroom one of her eyes were really swollen again. She doesn’t feel any pain and had a healthy apetite so I know it doesn’t disturb her but it does disturb me 🙂 🙂 🙂 She walked by herself most of the walk and I have no idea what she was doing while I took the shower but sometime around the walk and my shower she’s been in contact with something she can’t tolerate. I guess it’s some kind of grass pollen and I’ve ruled out insect bites because insect bites are irritating for a long time and she doesn’t even seem to know something is different 🙂

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It’s time to drink something cold and after that I’ll most likely fall asleep in front of the tv, I’ve already fallen asleep in front of it once today 🙂

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Have a great day!

Finally!

June 28, 2022 · 4 Comments ·

DSC_0017 (11) — Cornflowers, poppies and Californian poppies now flower in the old wheel barrow 🙂

The temperature has dropped and the rain finally fell down the sky today and it fell a lot of it as well 🙂 It isn’t often everyone around You are happy about lots of rain and still want more to fall, especially during summer 🙂 🙂 Yesterday it was 32C (89,6F) today it stopped at 22C (71,6F). We’ll get more rain on Friday but how much varies between the different weather sites. I do hope the one with most is the right one 🙂

DSC_0002 (16) — They grow everywhere but in my garden. It might be that the dogs fertilize my garden too well for them to like it here.

DSC_0004 (14) — Chamomile always grow beside the gravel road. I really should pick the flowers and dry them so I can have them in tea during winter.

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The factory was still nasty hot though. I guess that shows good insulation but also bad ventilation I’m afraid. The first one walking in to the factory days like these also opens all big doors so the cooler air can blow in, well at least days when there’s wind 🙂 No wind ever reach the powder paint department so the heat wave still went on in there 🙂

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I was a bit worried that the flies would be horrible when we were out walking after work but they stayed calm almost all the way, only at the end of the walk they became nasty and tried to get inside the nostrils and ears. Must remember to bring the mosquito hat tomorrow. I don’t mind them buzzing around my head but I get really annoyed when they try to get inside it 🙂 🙂 🙂

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Almost all windows are open and it was really nice when the wind flew through the cottage but now there’s no wind but compared to yesterday it still feels pretty nice. I started to be a bit worried about my closest neighbors yesterday because they too got this cold/ covid? and I hadn’t seen or heard them for over a week. Then this morning I finally heard how one of them drove to work and today when we headed out on our walk I finally had a chat with them. The fever is gone now but they are still not feeling especially well to be honest, just like all of us that had this.

DSC_0030 (9) — Rubus odoratus, Virginia raspberry. The colors are a bit strong here, should have changed the settings 🙂 Beautiful weed that rarely gives any berries here and when it does the berries doesn’t taste anything. Tried to get rid of it several times but it always comes back 🙂

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Have a great day!

It comes close but then turns westwards again.

June 26, 2022 · 2 Comments ·

DSC_0001 (11) — I’ve sown this mock orange many years ago. It’s now almost three meters high (much the same in yards) and smells rather nice.

It’s just as warm today as yesterday and I can’t pretend to like it 🙂 It is raining (with thunder) to the west of us and every time it’s getting closer it stops and turns westwards again. I really would enjoy that lower temperature one always get with thunder.

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I’ve done very little today. We’ve taken one walk before it got too hot and thankfully we had a wind blowing as well. I would have loved to get out early in the morning when I woke up but there was no wind and the flies would have loved to eat suck us dry from our blood 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’m telling myself that the flies are good for all the birds and that they do good things for nature but on days like these I really wouldn’t mind if they went extinct 🙂 🙂 🙂

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I’m glad I have the fan and it had to work a lot last night. It is a bit noisy to be honest but I didn’t have any problems falling asleep. I did wake up at some time during the night and turned it off, It’s amazing how quiet it was after that 🙂 but I do remember that I heard some birds singing so I guess it wasn’t that long after I went up anyway.

DSC_0027 (7) — Another rose growing in the hedge 🙂

Tomorrow will be just as hot or perhaps hotter and guess if I’m happy I don’t work in my old department 🙂 Working beside a hot oven and hot washing machine at the same time it’s a heat wave is not a nice thing, or healthy either for that matter. Still it won’t be nice to work anywhere in the factory with these temperatures. They’re guessing the temperature will drop on Tuesday and rain will come as well. It might be hot again on Wednesday though, yay.

DSC_0003 (11) — My pink flowering and red leafed Elder.

DSC_0004 (13) — Another mock orange I bought long ago, has a weak but nice smell.

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Have a great day!

It is the wind that saves us :-)

June 25, 2022 · 2 Comments ·

The first flower to open up in the old wheel barrow, a Californian poppy.

I must admit that I slept very well last night, the bedroom wasn’t at all as hot as I thought it would be. I even woke up an hour and a half later than usual! Can’t remember when that happened the last time. The temperature had already reached 20C (68F) by then so I thought a walk wouldn’t happen.

So I watered the vegetable and potato patch, made us our breakfasts and didn’t think more about it. Then a wind started to blow and both Alma and Albin became a bit restless so I thought it best to have a walk anyway. By then it had reached 25C (77F) but the wind made it feel less warm. Nova really didn’t care about a walk but she still wanted to follow us when I picked up the leashes.

WE didn’t go far and we were in no hurry. Half the walk was in sunshine since they’ve cut down all the trees on the left side of the road but the other half was in shade since we walked back in the forest. Both Alma and Albin just fell down on the floor when we came back and slept heavily after just a minute or two. Nova behaved as if she could have continued for a couple of more hours, she wasn’t affected by the heat at all 🙂 🙂 🙂

I’ve also done the last of the laundry but that doesn’t demand especially much energy from me 🙂 It is too hot (we reached 32C (89,6F) as warmest today) so I’ve only had cold things to eat, like granola with icy cold sour milk with raspberry taste. Unfortunately I had the last ice cream yesterday evening and it is really too hot to go and buy some more, it would melt long before I even reach half way home 🙂 🙂 🙂

The first blue geraniums are opening up in the garden.

Tomorrow will be even hotter they say and I’m not looking forward to that. There’s even a risk that Monday will be even hotter and I do hope they have that prediction wrong. After that it’ll cool down again, at least that is what they’re guessing. I don’t like these temperatures when I’m on vacation and I really don’t want them while I’m working.

Bryonia alba, White bryony, is a weed one doesn’t want. If left alone it can cover an entire tree. It smell bad and is also poisonous. We call if Dog turnip because it grows a huge root looking much like a turnip.

This is another weed, Nepeta sibirica. We call it Big dragon flower. It smells odd like all nepetas but it’s beautiful and has no demands what so ever 🙂

Have a great day!