So I got my new mattress pad yesterday and really looked forward to test it for the first time. So this was the first night I wasn’t tired 🙂 🙂 🙂 I did sleep really good when I finally managed to go to sleep though 🙂 🙂 I’ll know better after tonight I hope 🙂
We went up to the mailbox before going out to the bog.
We went out on our morning walk around 6:30 today but it was already enough warm for the flies to be active. To be honest it wasn’t that bad compared to how it use to be but one annoying file is way too many for me 🙂 When we reached the bog mosquitoes took over instead and they usually never tries to land in my face or ears so they didn’t bother me that much. I do have a few mosquito bites on my right ankle though but those I got yesterday while watering the plants I really want to survive the summer.
It has been so warm that the dogs ran outside to play but never did because of the heat, instead they just laid down and ate some apples, the farting will be horrible tonight so the bedroom window will be open all night 🙂 🙂 So many apples are falling down now that it is impossible to get rid of them before the dogs starts eating them, I guess it’s because of the drought stressing the trees.
So we haven’t done much outside today besides the watering, I have however done some more laundering and baked a bread in the machine. I’ve learned that different kinds of flour acts really different with water and some doesn’t seem to swell at all in water while others do that a lot, so Teff for instance (a cereal originally from Ethiopia) doesn’t swell at all so it’s just like a light flowing porridge and therefore must have a lot of more time in the heat. I do like it but it sure complicates baking in the machine for me 🙂 🙂 In the end it did turn out really good.
It is time for that last cup of tea and a sandwich from that loaf of bread. I think there was something I wanted to see on tv but I can’t remember what 🙂
My tea bush is actually hardy enough to survive our now milder winters but not especially tough if one brings them out of the cool cellar and frost hits. It survived and is finally coming back.The same with my citrus trees but they do actually look much healthier this year.If You want to sow Your own citrus tree and hopes for flowers it usually take something like 10 to 15 years before that happens. However if You sow Kumquat (or any kumquat hybrid like Lemonquats) kernels they usually flower much earlier and can also stand in a sunny window indoors all winter, just remember to shower them often otherwise pests will hit them. These come from Lemonquat kernels and eventual fruit will be anything from kumquats to lemonquats since it is a hybrid, also all fruits will be edible.
We’ve had a really wonderful day here today, just enough warm with a lukewarm wind blowing, mostly sunshine but also some clouds every now and again. We must have had rain during the night because the grass was a bit more wet than it would have been if it only was morning dew. According to my phone we also had thunder in the middle of the night but even I having the window open all night I slept through it without noticing it 🙂
After we had come home from our morning walk I started to continue to remove the old stump and as many roots as I could from the old Japanese quince. There’s still lots of big roots left in the ground but what ever will grow up from them will be thin twigs and those are easy to remove until they finally gives up. I’ve removed almost all flowerbeds in my garden but this one will stay, I’ve even started to make it slightly bigger. Also I’ve planted some young perennials in to it, well the Kankakee mallow isn’t small but the others are.
I’m visiting my friend in the gardencenter tomorrow and see if they have anything I want. Nothing unusual as I had back in the days but more common flowers, I really don’t want to fuss with plants just so that they barely survives 🙂 🙂 🙂 Easy and beautiful is my new goal 🙂 🙂 Plus I bought seeds on sale online so anything growing from those will be in that flowerbed and any leftovers will be planted here and there in the garden and what survives our winters and the dogs running around like crazy over them will be welcomed 🙂
It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I might also have a bowl of cornflakes. I think it actually is the milk I’m after, cornflakes do after all not taste that much 🙂 I have to admit that I pour cinnamon all over it so it could be the combination milk and cinnamon 🙂 🙂
So the Japanese quince is gone and now I’ve put some perennials in the bed.The Kankakee mallow stands just beside the white mulberry tree that died but started to grow from the roots again 🙂
Today my neighbours oldest daughter (I think she’s six years old or perhaps five) gave me three eggs from their chickens and for a second or two I was thinking if I should by one of those cheap incubators to let the eggs hatch. Then I realised that I in that case had to fix a hen house and net so I could make a yard for them to all around in. They are a mix of a rather rare Swedish breed and a Japanese silk hen so they aren’t big but still. Also how would I do during winter if it gets really cold? I know some people actually have them in big cages but those are nasty expensive and does hen small? 🙂 🙂 🙂
So I’ll probably use them when I’ll make pancakes next time but it was a fun thought for a while 🙂 Here in Sweden, well in the entire Europe, the rules says if You want to call Yourself an organic farmer (we call it ecological farmer) hen must go outside and always have a rooster amongst them. So they say that seven out of ten eggs from those hen is fertilised and if one put them in an incubator they’ll hatch. Perhaps better to buy those eggs the day I feel I can take care of them properly.
It’s a bit warmer today and between the sunshine and clouds we had a huge shower passing by. Gave me a little more water in my rainwater barrels but didn’t do much for nature and my garden. I have a few flies flying around in the cottage. They are big ones and really don’t want to be here so I tries to let them outside without getting the annoying other flies inside. Not easy because every Tim I try to help them outside they fly the opposite direction and the annoying ones then can come indoors. Not that there are many hanging around anyway but one annoying fly in the cottage is many to many 🙂 🙂 🙂
It is time for that last cup of tea for the day. I brought it with me to the computer and I absolutely forgot about it 🙂 I’ll get my new mattress pad next Tuesday and I do hope it is as good as I think it is. Now when I’m not working staying at home waiting for it it won’t be as annoying as it usually is, I mean it will be delivered some tome between 8 am and 5 pm and when working that’s just so irritating, if it comes early should I ten go to work after? Well I wouldn’t but anyway 🙂 🙂 🙂
I saved this photo yesterday so I could show it today 🙂
Grey and dull most of the day and just enough warm so it has been a rather nice day. It had rained during the night, not much just enough to make the vegetation wet so the dogs were rather wet when they came in from the garden just after we had woken up. we did get a couple of showers during the day as well but they looked worse than they were to be honest, the water barrels didn’t get any bigger addition of water.
My Easter cactus loves it outside and it has been in bloom for quite some time.
I drove to the super market rather early in the morning so I didn’t have to deal with lots of people who never knows what they want to have and no long lines at the cashier. I had written a long list of what I most possibly needed and put question marks after those I just wanted 🙂 Well the list is still on the living room table so I didn’t get some things I possibly wanted but I did get one or two things I never thought Wanted 🙂 Like a branch cutter, looks like a big secateur and this one also had telescope arms so I could reach higher up in the trees. I’ve already tried it and removed dead branches on one of my apple trees and several on the Hungarian lilac.
I dug out an area in from of the big box to plants my rhubarb seedlings. Not too smart I think since I now will have problems reaching in to the box 🙂 🙂 🙂Finally the beans are showing 🙂 Only four plants have survived but I’ll at least have some this autumn 🙂I’ll have more peas than I can eat in a year I think 🙂 🙂 🙂
I do like most of my trees and bushes (except for the common lilac) but sometimes they grow so dense that neither light nor rain can reach the ground and that’s why I bought this cutter. It’ll also come in handy when I need to cut down my wild roses because trying a secateur on those is most likely the closest I’ll ever come to try and kill myself, those thorns are big and horrible 🙂 🙂 🙂 The wind outside is getting stronger and tomorrow we will be hit by a storm. Thankfully the worst of it will hit Norway but some will come here too. I do hope we also get some of the rain but one never knows.
It is time for that last cup of tea and today I was baking French rolls but they flattened out instead and became really good teacakes instead 🙂
The Kankakee mallow is now much higher than I am 🙂 🙂 🙂
The Jerusalem artichokes are even higher and shows buds, that usually doesn’t happen until late August.
We had a wonderful morning here, just below 10C (50F), morning mist and a sun slowly rising. If I hadn’t just woken up I would have taken our morning walk there and then. however newly awake, quite tired and both I and the animals needed some food before we went out. So by the time we were ready the mist was gone but it was still sunny and cool.
We walked the same way we’ve done lately since the grass is way too high in the forest since it’s only us walking there and we haven’t been there for a while now. Plus the grass was really wet after the rain we had during the night so it would also most likely be full of ticks. Only two flies were out to pester us but as soon as we walked in to shadow it was a bit too cool for them to follow 🙂 🙂 We did however see two Roe deer on our walk and we haven’t seen any when we’ve been out walking in all summer I think.
We actually had several showers today, not heavy and not long lived but if we’ll get more as they are guessing we will the ground is now a bit softer so that the water has a chance on sinking down into the ground instead of just running down through the garden and down to the bog that starts more or less behind the old garage and dog yard.
No need to mow the lawn yet so instead I dug out some space to plant the rhubarb seedlings I sowed in spring. The sand beneath the grass was so dry that one c an find more water in a desert 🙂 🙂 I also mixed in some compost from my smallest compost, a black one that stands n legs and can be rotated and should be rotated once a day I think. The fun thing is that since one is rotating it the compost becomes sort of round and to be honest all those round pieces looked like dog poo 🙂 🙂 🙂 I need to empty at least two of the three other composts I have, the third one I think still has a family of mice living in it 🙂 🙂
It is time for that last cup of tea for the day, I’ve already eaten so I won’t have anything with it. The summer apples are now falling of the tree so tomorrow I’ll buy things I need to make an apple pie 🙂
I have two small Ginkgo trees growing in my garden, this one has huge leafs and the other one quite small.
We’ve had all kinds of weather today, cool and cloudy morning, sunny and hot on and off during the day and even some rain plus thunder passing by both south and north of the village. not even close to what they had guessed when it comes to the rain but they did actually tell us not to trust that part of their guessing since one never knows where the showers would end up falling.
I haven’t done much today except for watering the plants outside and put the two Pawpaw seedlings I found in the cool cellar outside. A good day to do that since the sun now mostly has been covered by clouds. If You want to put potted plants or any plant that hasn’t met sunshine yet never put it in directly sunlight because it will burn just like us when we stay in the sunshine without any protection. Let it stay in the shadows for a week. That is still a bit problematic here since there at the moment only one spot around the cottage that won’t get hit by the sun some time of the day. The one place I do have also have most of the slugs that still is alive in this drought so that’s not a good idea 🙂 🙂 🙂
It is so dry here now that the little rain we’ve had only helps the grass to stay green but not grow 🙂 There’s always an upside to everything 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’ve bought both vegetable seeds and flower seeds on sale now because I have no idea what kind of economy I’ll have next year. They were on sale because they are soon to expire date wise. Seeds usually are viable many years after the date that’s printed on them and these costed half of what the other companies sell their seeds for during sales so I thought it best to buy while I know I can. I think however I need to make my little vegetable patch bigger and perhaps try to revive one or two of the old flowerbeds 🙂 🙂 I’ll also empty a big wooden box I now mostly use as a huge trashcan, fill it with soil and compost and grow vegetables in that one too.
Two male Bullfinches. The two females hid in the vegetation beside the road.
I’ve found some, what some call, a few potatoes tomatoes 🙂 (very poisonous so don’t try and eat them). Most modern varieties of potatoes don’t give seeds, they’ve managed to select that part away somehow. Good thing they have to be honest because if those seeds germinate and one of them aren’t resistant towards the potato wart disease, or black scab, one is in big trouble. Over here one need to report it to the authorities and after that one can’t grow potatoes in that soul or even nearby for well over twenty years. One can however sow them in a bucket. One can get the most odd varieties, some blue or red and I’ve read about a man who got one big black potato. If they would get the disease one can just seal the bucket and let the authorities destroy the soil.
The Monsterkitten found something really interesting today.
Even Malkolm came to inspect what it was.Turns out it was a frog who now lives safe from the cat 🙂
I’ve tried a few times to sow those seeds but it is really hard to know when they are ripe because the fruits stays green and if they fall to the ground it’s hard to find them. Also never have potatoes and tomatoes close to each other, they are so closely related thatchy give and take different diseases from each other. The sun is shining outside right now at the same time we’re having a light rain. We used to say that if the sun shone and the rain fell we would have rain the day after. Never checked if that’s true though 🙂
ow I have five smaller Pawpaws. Have no idea what I’ll do with them during winter
I now have five smaller Pawpaws and have no idea what I’ll do with them during winter since mice seems to love eating them.
I can try to let them stay outside beside the two bigger ones I already have in the garden. Lots of cover to protect them from the unpredictable winters we nowadays have.
It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and then check what’s on tv. Probably re-runs on every channel I’m afraid.
Have You ever tried to eat the fruits from the Fuchsia? They are edible and most of them taste a bit like blueberries. I ate this one a bit too early so it was a bit watery.Potato tomatoes 🙂
So I’m again unemployed and since I can’t write anything about what happened since I signed the paper that says I’m not allowed to write anything about the company that can show it in a bad way all I can say is that it wasn’t any fault from my side. I really liked all the employees and will miss them. I feel fine about it all though so now I’ll be searching for a new job, well I’ve done that for a while but now I’ll intensify the search.
I won’t be able to see the haunted tree next year when they’ll get green again.
So today was sort of my first vacation day for the summer and even though it mostly has been cold and a bit warm it still has been rather nice. We’ve had thunder passing by north of us but not especially close and for a few seconds the wind grew strong and some rain fell. Not as much as they had guessed but at least something. I had been out watering an hour before it arrived so the water from the sky should at least on those places have sunken down in to the ground. We might get more rain but the odds are low that it’ll fall around here.
I went to grocery shop at the store in the village where I used to work so now I think I won’t have to do it again until late next week, it depends on how much milk I use, I hate being without any milk in my home 🙂 🙂 On my way there I saw that they had sown corn in a big field, not especially common here since it needs more warm weather for a longer period of time than what we usually have here and it also needs way too much water, so I wonder how it could look as great as it did since we have had a drought here for quite some time.
These two bumblebees were sleeping on the thistle and when Malkolm came a bit too close one of them raised a leg as to say don’t come to close 🙂
Once again I was surprised about how little flies we have here now, I could walk the entire morning walk without being annoyed by any. At the same time I heard someone say that he wondered why they suddenly had so many flies since they didn’t have any before 🙂 🙂 So I guess that all our flies must have moved to them instead 🙂 🙂 🙂 I don’t mind though 🙂 🙂
I’ve bought seeds to this flower, Lythrum salicaria or purple-loosestrife, one doesn’t want seeds from the wild because it can be really invasive I’ve heard but the garden varieties should be calmer. I’m going to have it in the root zone if I’m successful with the germination.
It’s time to go downstairs because I have a bread baking in the machine. I’m already longing for that first slice with some cheese on 🙂 The dogs can smell that it is close to be done so as soon as I move my feet they’ll run to the stairs 🙂 🙂 They know they’ll get both a piece of bread and a slice of cheese like they always do and it is a good thing I already have a pot of tea waiting 🙂
My little Red oak (or so I believe anyway, could be some other kind of hardy north american oak).
Cloudy and much cooler here at the moment, of all the rain they guessed would fall nothing has fallen around here, now they’re guessing it will start to rain from Friday and over the weekend. I’ll believe it if it happens 🙂 🙂 🙂
Sand cherries. I need to be fast to pick them because birds and the dogs loves them too. Not many and they’re small so I think I’ll just eat them 🙂
I’ve been bitten by some insect today, I didn’t have the itching when I woke up but just before going to work.It doesn’t look like a mosquito bite because it has swollen up pretty much but horse fly bites and from other blood drinking flies usually hurts quite bad when it happens. We have so few mosquitoes this summer so I’m sort of surprised that the one we seem to have found me 🙂 🙂 🙂
Nothing much is happening here but even though the ground is extremely dry the plants seems to love it. Well they do look a bit sad when the sun is hitting them but as soon as they stand in the shadow again they go back to looking normal. I do water the most vulnerable of them all but that’s it but I need that rain so the water barrels fill up again because there’s not much water in them at the moment.
Kirengeshoma koreana. Seems to survive anything and it gets just bigger and bigger.To be honest, I like the bud better than the actual flower 🙂Nepeta sibirica, The Swedish name for it is Big dragonflower.flowers like crazy and it will continue until the frost takes them.A white and blue Cornflower.
It is time for that last cup of tea and after that I’ll see if there’s anything worth watching on tv.
A Nanking cherry soon to be ripe, I do hope I’ll get it instead of the birds 🙂
We were supposed to have lots of raining thunder today and there was lots of it but not in my village. It passed to the north and south but here the sun shone and it reached 28C (82,4F). I was hoping for the rain so I am a bit disappointed to be honest. I had planned on mowing the lawn today but since the thunder thundered nearby I never started 🙂 🙂 So that’s a funny chore I’ll have to do tomorrow or on Sunday instead but it will new a bit cooler instead so I’m not complaining too much 🙂
Nothing much has happened here lately but the monsterkitten came in one morning sort of looking defeated, only went to the water bowl and then upstairs falling asleep in old Nova’s favourite spot. The dogs and I had heard some cats fighting the evening before so I thought that perhaps that’s why she behaved like she did but there’s not a single scratch on her but then again fleeing from an attacker would be very stressful as well. Today she was back to her normal self again so it seems there’s nothing to worry about but I’ll keep my eye on her.
The rest of the photos shows what I can see sitting on my kitchen stairs.
There is this new cat the newest neighbours brought home and it has been terrorising the neighbours next door for a while now. Alma and Malkolm don’t like it but it is big and scary so they growl at it but won’t go close. So now I’ll be prepared with a bucket of water if it should feel to come to my home, perhaps even buy one of those strong water pistols so it knows who rules in this garden.
Normally it’s time for that last cup of tea for the day but it’s just too hot, both outdoors and indoors. I’ve bought some Elderflower Ade so that and some ice will be perfect instead and why now have Alice or two of the bread I baked the other day 🙂
I can hear thunder in the distance but I’m not sure if it will come our way or not. I wouldn’t mind if it did. It’s just as hot here today as it was yesterday and the dogs only wants to stay outside for short moments before they give up. Today my neighbours little dog decided to take a walk by himself so I was about to go out and help searching for him but just as I was on my way out a villager had found him and called my neighbours 🙂 He had just walked the same way they always walk in the village 🙂 🙂
We were out on our morning walk the same time as we were yesterday and it was slightly cooler today, still no flies oddly enough. I don’t miss them but they are important for all the birds so I do wonder what has happened to them. I wish this was a sign of the coming maps fly season but I’m pretty sure those nasties will be as many or more than usual 🙂 🙂 🙂 It was so cool and nice but like yesterday the heat arrived before we reached the cottage, the difference today is that a cool but weak wind is blowing and it helps a lot. Even if the ground still is slightly wet after the thunder day I still watered the plants I planted this spring plus I gave a little extra to those I planted last year. Almost all plants that were damaged by the last frost now have new leafs, all but one red mulberry tree. It’s alive and well but just refuse to grow new leafs and I have no idea why.
I’ve also started to look at seeds now for next year. Some businesses have already started with the sales but the ones selling the seeds I want haven’t 🙂 They might be offering free shipment but that isn’t much. Then again if I wait for too long the seeds I want might be sold out before I can order them 🙂 Damned if I do, damned if I don’t situation 🙂 🙂 🙂 I also picked up my first potatoes today, quite a few but mostly small, those are on the other hand the best and I like frying them hole. I had some for dinner today and the rest for dinner at work during next week.
So I’ve done the dinners and also the laundry, like always but I really should have vacuumed upstairs as well but it is so hot now that I really need to put a limit to how much I should do in the heat so I skipped the vacuuming 🙂 🙂 🙂
Have a great day!
The younglings have left the nest. I hope the doves comes back again next spring.
It was much cooler this morning when we woke up, so we had our breakfast and at 6 am we went out for our morning walk. I wore a hoodie again because flies usually fly around even in the early morning if it isn’t 10C (50F) or cooler and it wasn’t that cool unfortunately.
We walked down to the creek since the grass now is too high and still wet after the thunderstorm that it has become a tick paradise. I did rub Yarrow all over the dogs, it is said that ticks dislike the smell of yarrow, just to at least improve the odds 🙂 To my very big surprise we had almost no flies flying around us even though we walked down to their favourite spots at the creek?! I’m not sure where they were but I doubt they will be gone for long, I’m not lucky enough that they’ve all died away 🙂 🙂 plus the birds need them still.
A few birds are still singing here, normally most of them would have stopped by now because it shouldn’t be enough time left to get more babies. Things have changed though and now it’s rather warm way in to November and perhaps some birds have noticed that and try for it one more time. By the way I only found two ticks on Alma after the walk so perhaps the Yarrow really works? It had become pretty warm by the time we arrived at home and it got worse the longer the day passed. We reached 30C (86F) before it finally slowly turned towards cooler. Call it cooler feels like a joke it has only dropped down 1 degree centigrade yet 🙂 🙂 🙂
This is unfortunately one of the few Bluebells that isn’t invasive 🙂
The bread I baked yesterday should have stayed in the machine a bit longer, I guess the cheese in it was a bit too much for the machine, it tasted really good though. So to check if it was the cheese I’ve now baked a loaf again today, the loafs are rather small so I’m not drowning in bread 🙂 🙂 and this time it worked perfect! So if I want cheese in the bread from now on I’ll use a bit less and also let the loaf stay in the machine a bit longer since it takes its time to cool down.
Even though we’ve had a long nap, well all the animals have had several long naps, I feel too tired to do anything so I think I’ll make myself a cup of tea. I doubt it will keep me awake since I’m pretty sure the heat will instead 🙂 🙂 🙂
The car thermometer said 29C (84,2F) when I was almost at home and I must say I really don’t like this heat!! As a Scandinavian I’m not used to this kind of heat but preferred our more cooler summers. I do know some people actually loves this I’m happy for them but I’m personally not especially pleased 🙂 🙂 🙂
The gooseberries are almost ripe.
No summer without Californian poppies. I only had a few this year unfortunately.
My plan was to mow the lawn after I had come home after work but since I don’t plan of dying because of heat stroke and/ or total dehydration I skipped it. The dogs tried to play in the garden but gave up pretty quickly and happily went indoors when I opened the door 🙂 They are now sleeping beside me and not even the sound of cars or barking dogs seems to get any interest.
My little meadow is filling up with flowers now. Lots of different coloured Clarkia.
Yarrow grows there too, I better keep an eye on those because they tend to take over totally.
I’m trying to bake the second loaf of bread right now and this time I’ve adjusted the machine for a big loaf. I have however added some cheese this time, a strong cheese I rarely find in the stores. How’s this will affect it all I have no idea though. It’s around an hour left before it’s ready and I guess a few more minutes until I can slice that first piece 🙂 I’ll let You know how everything turnabout tomorrow.
One of my Mock oranges surprised me with a few more flowers.
The entire weekend will be this hot and how people can survive even higher temperatures is an enigma to me. The highest temperature I’v been in was 36C (96,8F) and I didn’t do a thing as soon as the temperature rose. The plants seems to like it a lot though, especially since we had all that rain the other day. I don’t think I need to water anything the coming days 🙂 🙂 I have noticed that we have more mosquitoes now though, good for birds and bats but for me it’s just another thing to be annoyed about 🙂 🙂
Finally a bean stalk not eaten by snails.My three Pawpaw seedlings, the two closest started growing this year and the third is from last year but mice ate most of 🙂 I really need to figure out how to have them during winter this year so I can plant them next spring.
We’ll have a walk early tomorrow morning while it still is a bit cooler and perhaps I can mow some of the lawn as well, my neighbours mowed the outside parts yesterday, I had a text message from them if it was ok to mow the lawn at 9 pm, it had finally cooled down so who would In have been to say no 🙂 🙂 I won’t have any tea today, instead I bought a bottle of elderberry Ade so I’ll have that instead 🙂
The Cottage by the crane lake. 