Category: Windy.

The nettles slid down my arm.

a (1)
I went up the my mailbox to see if I’d gotten any mail yesterday and took this photo on my way up the slope.

I have a thorn in one of my fingers and it hurts every time I press down a key with it so now I’m trying to not use it at all. I can see the thorn so I’ll get it out after this. I have the thorn there just because I cleared out another area in my garden. This one was filled with mostly False spirea, an old gooseberry bush (hence the thorn), a few wild raspberry bushes and lots of stinging nettles. I did manage to get a few stalks from the stinging nettles to slowly slide down my arm. The pain is gone but now it’s itchy and warm πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ So now it’s a new place where I’ll have to mow no matter what weather we’re having otherwise it’ll all come back again.

a (2)
And I took these on my way down again.
a (3)
Rhubarbs in a pot I think.
a (4)
Guess where I live πŸ™‚ My cottage is barely visible behind the lilacs and that Rowan tree in bloom.

a (5)

I really need to stop drinking lots of water before going to bed, today we were up before the sun rose (and it rose at 4:19 today) and it sort of felt wrong to go back to bed because I know I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep again anyway. So we went out just as the sun rose and it did feel quite chilly, I think it might have been around 5C (41F) but no wind and sunshine from the start. To be honest a walk with Alma will make anyone sweat like crazy anyway so I didn’t use the fleece sweater that I thought would be needed if we had been able to walk like normal humans and dogsΒ  πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

a (8)
.
a (9)
.
a (10)
.

a (11)

I watered the vegetable patch and potato patch as soon as we came home , sowed some seeds and when the clock reached 10 am I started to mow the lawn. Before that I cleared that space of course.I really would like to plant my Persimmon tree there but all those roots makes it hard so I would have to rip them up (both the false spirea and raspberry roots are relatively easy to remove since they lay just beneath the surface but there’s a net made of those roots now so it wouldn’t be that easy because of that). I’ve also done some laundry so now I’m really tired, aren’t weekends supposed to be the time when we relaxΒ  πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

a (12)
.
a (14)
.
a (15)
.

a (16)

Suddenly most of the wildlife is gone again so I guess that the wolves are elsewhere at the moment. Today we only saw one young roe deer buck and he was sleeping in a field just beside the forest. I wish I could see any of them but I only hear from other people that they have seen at least one. The wolves are in trouble right now though, don’t think it is our pack but one in the neighbor county, because they killed a lot of sheep the other day. People here aren’t used to wolves so fences are way too low and not electrified in most places and to be honest the fences needed will cost a fortune. I think the government should pay most of that cost but the government we have right now instead wants to eradicate the wolves completely. Well the EU Court of Justice will not allow that thankfully πŸ™‚

a (19)
I hate it when they put up those electric wires even when there are no cattle walking in the field. It is anything but easy to get those wires down so the dogs can pass, especially when I need to keep Alma calm. They do like that because they’re too lazy to have to do it when the cattle actually arrives.
a (20)
.
a (21)
.
a (22)
Outside my kitchen window.

Swedish forest authorities, experts and the swedish forest industry always complain about how other countries manages their forest, especially if we’re talking about those with rain forest but when we get complaints about how we take care of our forests we then always hear them say that we know better and that we have other conditions in this country than other countries πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ The Eu says we don’t have a sustainable forestry by only planting either spruce or pine and that when we cut down all trees at once we let too much carbon dioxide out into the atmosphere. Instead we should have a mixed forest and just thin out the biggest trees every now and again. Also we Swedes are complaining about how we treat the forests as well so now the authorities, experts and industry tries to tell us all how wrong we are πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ To be honest we’ve cut down so many trees now (yes we plant new ones as soon as possible) that we now have almost no older forest left. So when they cut down new trees they are either too young or they’ve cut down forest that should have been protected. I really hope the EU Court of Justice sues the shit out of them all πŸ™‚

DSC_9603
I had forgotten how much space there actually was behind that wooden box πŸ™‚
DSC_9604
There is this one really big root system that I think belongs to the old gooseberry bush. If new shoots grow up from it I’ll move it to a better place. The gooseberries were red and really tasty.
DSC_9610
.

DSC_9611

It is time for a last cup of tea and also to get that thorn out of my fingertip πŸ™‚

Have a great day!

The sunshine is really hot.

a (4)
Clematis *Propertius’. It has a weak but pleasant scent.

We were supposed to have a gray and dull day here with little to no sunshine so is anyone surprised when I say that we’ve mostly had sunshine all day? πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ 21C (69,8F) but really hot in the sunshine. I even hesitated to take the dogs for a walk because of how hot it was. Albins fur is so short that I doubt it can regulate heat especially well, Nova is old and Alma starts panting as soon as I open the door before the walk πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ But we did take a short one i the forest where it’s mostly shadowy. Still they are now all sleeping on the floor beside me here on the upper floor. The windows are open and there’s a wind blowing so it feel almost chilly here now.

a (1)
35 meters (much the same in yards) of this and I’m not happy about it but also too lazy to do anything about it πŸ™‚
a (17)
.

DSC_0002 (4)

c (6)
I got this one from my friend who owns a garden center. They didn’t have time enough to take care of it and bring it back to what it once was and was going to toss it away. I have the time and now new leafs are on the way. This is by the way a Calamodin. The fruits can be used for jam but aren’t that wonderful to eat as they are.

I’ve never seen as many flowers on my lilac hedge as there is this year. It’ll be horrible when they all open up but even worse when they wither away. It is too much work to remove it though so here I am complaining every spring when they open up πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ It will rain tonight they say, anything from light drizzle to heavy rain. They are guessing that we’ll get nothing up to 25 mm (an inch) of it during the night and early morning. They are also guessing that the warm weather will stay but one day or two the temperature might not reach 20C (68F). I can live with that πŸ™‚

a (8)
.
a (9)
.
a (10)
.

a (11)

I’m continuing to sow seeds and today it was mostly for flowers but I do have some more vegetables to sow but I want to see what of the seeds I’ve already sown will come up before I continue. Any bare spot will be filled with something new. I’m also pretty sure I won’t get any walnuts this year either, not a sign of “flowers” on my black walnut and the one I just planted barely has any branches or twigs at all πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ My Pawpaws looked fine until that rain/ hail and snowstorm passed by but now they look dead. There will be new leafs some time during the summer but it is annoying and that will make it harder for them to survive next winter if it is a tougher one.

a (12)
.
a (13)
.
a (14)
.

a (15)

So back to work tomorrow since I didn’t even get one number right on the lottery ticket πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ The laundry is done and so is dinner at work for next week. I’ll only have to add baked beans and fried eggs. I I didn’t want to fry eggs today for something that won’t be eaten until next Friday and I don’t know how fried eggs make it if they are frozen.

DSC_0004 (4)
.
DSC_0011 (4)
.
DSC_0012 (1)
.

DSC_0017 (4)

Have a great day!

This year might become a great berry and fruit year.

a (2)
My plum tree (Czar) is in bloom. The risk of frost at night is minimal so I think it’ll actually give plums this year πŸ™‚

Β 

Β We’ve had a rather nice weather this week. Pretty warm, up to and over 25C (77F). The wind has been rather persistent but lukewarm most of the time but now it seems to have calmed down a bit. I’ve mostly been able to see the sun this week but yesterday and today I’ve been “forced” to work inside the factory. Yesterday was quite awful but today I had an apprentice when I learned her what to do with the big washing machine before the weekend starts. She did most of the work and I said great work πŸ™‚

a (3)
Sweetberry honeysuckle.

a (6)
The Sloe, which I’m trying to get rid of flowers too.

a (8)
The bumblebees loves it though.

DSC_9241
The Juneberry trees/bushes are opening up as well.

We had the annual road association meeting on Wednesday and a few new people actually came!! and all behaved really well. The meeting itself didn’t take long, it was the coffee drinking, cookie eating and chatting after that made the meeting quite long πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I hadn’t told anyone that I can’t eat gluten but since the one bringing cookies to the meeting have a work friend, who also just recently discovered that she can’t eat gluten,Β  she thought it would be best to bring something gluten free to the meeting, just in case πŸ™‚ It was of course something I’m not especially fond of but I just couldn’t bring myself to tell her that so I ate two of them just becauseΒ  πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ and she also brought pear juice just in case someone couldn’t drink coffee, which I hadn’t told anyone either πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I do like pear juice though πŸ™‚

DSC_9238
Marsh marigold in my root zone.

DSC_9243
Old variety of tulip. Today one mostly see tulips as annuals since they are so hard driven that they usually don’t survive till next year. These however comes back every year.

a (13)
Filled White wood anemone.

a (11)
Tulipa tarda.

I’m planning on putting down the potatoes in the ground tomorrow and perhaps sow some lettuce and other vegetables that like and cane take cooler weather. The temperatures will drop some next week and we might even get some rain they say. At the meeting everyone was complaining about how dry it is now, everyone but me πŸ™‚ I told them that I just had planted a walnut tree and a cherry bush and the ground wasn’t dry at all. All water in the ground runs down via my garden so I’m the last one that actually will notice if we’re having a drought πŸ™‚

Β 

a (15)
This one will, believe it or not, become really beautiful. Suddenly it will be totally filled.

a (16)
Like this one, a filled Yellow wood anemone.

a (17)
We call this one Sulphur anemone, a natural hybrid between the white and yellow wood anemone. I have both so it’s no surprise this one popped up πŸ™‚

a (18)
This is the Yellow wood anemone, quite much deeper in color.

It is time for a cup of tea even though it is after 4 pm, The dogs have woken me up before 4 am every morning so I’m pretty sure that no ammount of tea will be able to keep me awake tonight πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I’ll also have the bedroom windo open all night for the first time this year πŸ™‚

DSC_9214
Nanking cherry. I unfortunately only had one bush and this needs two different ones to give berries. So I’ve bought another one but that one won’t flower until next spring.

DSC_9188
Nuns wort (Corydalis).

a (20)
I have a suspicion this flower grows on a ground stem that survived when my old plum tree died, that is called St Julien. Gives small oval yellow plums that are quite tasty.

DSC_9176
Eight pots with at least six new Apricot trees πŸ™‚ I had the kernels (well the seed inside) in the fridge during winter and they are growing quite fast now. These kernels came from a red skinned variety of apricots.

Have a great day!

Β 

Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β 

I’m ready for the vegetable season.

DSC_9169
Flowering Bog myrtle (Sweet gale). Smells really nice.

We’ve had a really nice day here, it would have been wonderful if it hadn’t been for the pretty cold night and sometimes the wind being a bit too chilly. To be honest it was warm enough to have the kitchen door open all day and the little wind that actually reached the garden helped when I worked in the vegetable patch and potato patch. The vegetable patch mostly only had grass that I needed to remove but the potato patch also had dandelions, greater celandine, a few small elder bushes, wild raspberry bushes and that red leafed oxalis one can buy as a potted plant, usually have yellow flowers and really is a spreader. Many oxalis can be used in food but this one isn’t one of those but I musty admit that amongst weeds it’s quite beautiful.

DSC_9160
I checked so that there were no bees visiting the dandelions before I removed them. There are plenty more dandelions in the lawn anyway so bees of all kinds won’t be hungry πŸ™‚
DSC_9161
.
DSC_9159
The vegetable patch were much easier to clean out even though it’s almost twice the size.
DSC_9162
The box is almost falling apart and I think I won’t have another there next summer.

I’m happy to say that today was one of those days when Alma behaved pretty good even though two Roe deer ran in front of her eyes and she even noticed a hare in a field without going insane. She did however almost fall of the entrance stairs and pulling me with her when we went out for our afternoon walk. I wonder if I should put on her harness when we’re not taking any walks because as soon as I put that one on she starts to tremble, panting and whining a lot. If I open the door and she doesn’t have it on she behaves like any other dog. When we start walking and I can keep her reasonable calm the first two hundred meters the rest of the walk usually works rather well. If not it’s horrible for both of us. She has become much better though, now days I can actually hear the birds sing, I couldn’t do that from the day she arrived until some time in the middle of the winter that just passed πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

a (1)
.
a (2)
.
a (3)
.

a (4)

They are finally putting more gravel on the road outside our cottages πŸ™‚ The “big” road in the village belongs to the village and all of us are responsible for it but the roads leading from it are private roads and are supposed to be taken care of us who live along them. The problem is that it is timber lorries that destroys it so therefore it’s the forest owners responsibility to keep it in good shape. This winter was warm and the road was soft so now we have huge holes in it and the forest owners have been no where to find but finally one of them said he’s taking care of it. I don’t know how many times I’ve done what I have been able to to fix the holes outside my cottage but that doesn’t help when a new lorry arrives and just makes it worse again, also I live at the lowest point of the road so all water runs down to me and sometimes I have to wade in water when I’m trying to go out from my garden (well wading is a bit much but there’s at least 5 cm (2 inches of standing water there, five meters (much the same in yards) wide)Β  πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

a (8)
.
a (9)
.
a (10)
.

a (11)

It’s the finale in the Eurovision Song Contest next Saturday. To be honest they have been really quiet about it so I didn’t know until a few days ago. Our song is the absolute favorite an it is Loreen, who already have won this with the song Euforia, who sings for us. The music isn’t that much different than when she won the last time but I can’t for my life hear what she’s singing πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I’m not sure if anyone actually can hear that but she’s like always very dramatic in her performance so I guess that’s what they fall for. I must admit that even if I can’t hear what she sings it still was the only song that should win, the rest were actually total crap and probably the worst I’ve heard in years πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

a (17)
.
a (18)
.
a (19)
.

a (20)

Have a great day!

A15398_008
One from the Agfa Ambiflex.

It’s greening up :-)

DSC_9098
It’s starting to green up πŸ™‚

Β 

The week has been mostly sunny but with a nasty cold wind from north. Also well below 0C (32F) every morning. Most days though the sun has melted away most of the ice on the car so it was only this morning I had to use the ice scraper again.I was a bit worried when the dogs and I was going out on our walk after work because the last two ones Alma has been horrible. Mostly because hares run out in front of us and instead of running out in to the forest continued in front of us for quite some time. I really wouldn’t feel sad if all hares just died out πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

DSC_9099
.

DSC_9102
.

DSC_9104
.

DSC_9105

Today however, despite some other hares, she behaved really well again. I don’t know it it was what I told her yesterday that helped, that I would let a hunter shoot her to oblivion πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ She’s smart but I’m not sure if she’s so smart that she would have understood what I told her but I think she could understand how tired I was after those walks πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ So today she’s forgiven again. It’s so fun because my neighbors like when she jumps over the fence to them because she’s so calm when she plays with their oldest daughter, sometime I wonder if we’re talking about the same dog πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

DSC_9106
.

DSC_9108
.

DSC_9109
.

DSC_9110

The road association meeting is next week so I have put out notices about it in the mailboxes here in the village. The village road is more or less a circle so if I would do it all by car before going to work I would have to pass my mailbox twice and if I did that the dogs would have thought I was on my way home again and would have started to bark like crazy. Not a good thing at six am, so I decided I would walk to the four closest. I haven’t been able to walk there in a long time since both Albin and Alma behaves like they do when seeing wild animals, they would wake up the entire village. So I brought my camera and took a few photos since it was not just sunny but also so cold that we had morning mist. I realized how much I miss walking there but I just can’t reach those two when they start behaving like that and those times are the times I miss my old dogs the most πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

a (9)
.

a (10)
.

a (11)
.

a (12)

More and more flowers are in bloom in my garden now. I hadn’t checked that this week so I was surprised to see so many flowers πŸ™‚ I also found a flower I tried to plant in my garden when I moved here, 23 years ago. They survived a winter or two but suddenly they were gone. Now I found a lump of them in my hedge and I’m pretty sure I didn’t see them there last year. I have no idea how they managed to get there but who cares πŸ™‚ Also I now have six apricot trees growing from kernels I saved from last autumn and it looks like three nectarines are on the way too πŸ™‚ I have no space for them really but who cares, I’ll make space for them when that day comes πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

a (14)
.

a (15)
.

a (17)
.

a (18)

Have a great day!

DSC_9114
Yellow wood anemone and the now everywhere growing Nuns worth and Scilla of course.

DSC_9115
I still have a Trillium but since first Albin and then Alma arrived they’ve slowly died away, those two run over them and dig everywhere.

DSC_9116
Checkered lily.

DSC_9119
The more normal one.

DSC_9122
Cowslip.

DSC_9124
Lesser periwinkle.

DSC_9126
This is the one I thought I had died out in my garden, the Pilewort.

The wind is the same but now it’s raining.

DSC_9046

So if yesterdays weather looked nice from indoors todays wetaher doesn’t and isn’t either πŸ™‚ There was at least no wind in the earky morning when we went out for our walk but it did rain consistently for the entire hour we were outside. To be honest, none of the dogs wanted to take a walk but I forced them because I wanted them to get rid of some energy. Albin and Alma can destroy an entire house when they’re going full force playing πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

DSC_9049
.
DSC_9052
.
DSC_9053
.

DSC_9054

The rain did stop and naturally during the time I did the laundry. Almost as soon as I’ve finished it the rain came back πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ During that time I also saw the sun for almost ten whole seconds πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I wouldn’t mind that much if the wind just could stop blowing, especially since it is just as cold as it was yesterday. The birds doesn’t seem to mind the weather as much though, they sing a bit less I guess but then again lots of them are on the ground eating what ever they can find and it looks like they find a lot.

DSC_9057
………
DSC_9060
.
DSC_9062
.
20230501_160823
Can You see the bud?

I did my taxes today and even before I made the car deduction for driving to and from work because I really can’t use public transportation (it would take 150 minutes one way and it takes 30 minutes with a car) I would get a few dollars back πŸ™‚ Can’t remember when that happened the last time With the deduction I’ll get a few more back but since our inflation is insane here that money won’t last for long πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚Β  Well it’s better than to have to pay back πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

A15398_002
Four from the Agfa Ambiflex. A bit too wintery but they make today look nice and cosy in comparison πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚
A15398_003
.
A15398_004
.

A15398_005

Around five? years ago I sowed some Gardenia seeds, I’ve tried before but have always failed. This time however I got five little plants and I still have five living even though one really look more dead than alive πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Today I found flower buds on the two of them that I looked at!! I also noticed that they were attacked by something, can’t really say what I only saw the larvae or what it was. So now I’ve sprayed them with soapy water. Soapy water suffocates everything insect-wise and I do hope I didn’t destroy the coming flowers by doing so.

A15265_020A
Four from the Agfa Ambi Silette. These photos on the other hand make today look like a nasty november day πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚
A15265_021A
.
A15265_022A
.

A15265_023A

Tomorrow’s a working day again so back to work it is. I actually almost won back all the money I spent on the lottery, not quite but very close πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ not enough to stop working but I’ll at least not have to pay more than less of a $ US next week πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

A15266_004
Why not ad a wintery photo from the Flexaret VI too.

Have a great day!

This could have been such a nice day.

DSC_0006 (8)
Maple flowers.

Today should really have been a wonderful day. The sun has been shining all the time and the temperature rose to 10C (50F) but there has been a nasty and bitterly cold wind blowing and that has sort of destroyed the entire day. I couldn’t even have the kitchen door open because the wind came from the only direction where it actually can hit my cottage and it chilled down the entire cottage. Still when we were walking in the forest where the wind had troubles reaching us it felt quite ok.

DSC_0009 (9)
.
DSC_0011 (10)
.
DSC_0012 (8)
.

DSC_0015 (8)

Everything comes in cardboard boxes and everything in those cardboard boxes are wrapped in enormously much plastic, usually bubble wrap and I have finally got my thumbs out of my a..e and started to break it all down in smaller pieces. It is insanely boring in the long run to be honest πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ It doesn’t take especially much space when I’ve packed it all in the car though. I also vacuumed the entire cottage and by entire I also mean the ceilings πŸ™‚ I thought I had removed all spider webs from the ceilings a couple of weeks ago but the spiders are either really fast in making new ones or I was half blind when I did it the first time πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I realized that I had missed one place so I’ll get a stick and remove the rest later today.

DSC_0016 (7)
.
DSC_0017 (5)
.
DSC_0026 (5)
.

DSC_0027 (5)

I found a dead kitten in my garden a week ago. I noticed that Albin was licking on something and realized it was a small cat. I called my neighbors and asked if they had all their cats but they weren’t at home so they sent me a photo of their cats and thankfully it wasn’t one of them. I couldn’t find any injuries on the kitten (can’t have been more than half a year old) so I don’t think Albin has killed it. He is a cat hater and have tried to take the beekeepers cats, I must admit that I’m afraid. He did (nor Alma) not show any signs of interest when I removed the kitten and not the place where it was lying so I don’t think he did anything to it. Anyway, it hadn’t been in that spot a couple of hours earlier so what ever has happened it must have happened almost just before I noticed it. I have a tradition that when one of my cats has died I bury it and plant something above it.

DSC_0028 (4)
.
DSC_0029 (4)
.
DSC_0034 (3)
.

DSC_0035 (3)

Cosmos the kat is buried beneath some Irises, beside a big rose (rosa rugosa), Bertil i buried beneath a small cherry tree and Teodor beneath a rose that first gives orange flowers that then fades to almost white. This little unknown kitten is now buried beneath a Nanking cherry. Cosmos the Cat will have something else this summer because I plan to reduce the size of that rose, or remove it totally and the Irises never liked that place to be honest. Perhaps that’s the place where I’ll plant the Walnut, it is rather protected from the wind by the neighbors cottage and it will get sunshine all day.

DSC_9024
.
DSC_9025
.
DSC_9035
.

DSC_9044

We’ve had our pancake Sunday and I checked on the box what the mix is made from. Turns out it’s mostly corn flour! Had no idea. I have now also learned that the brand of oat flour I’ve bought lately can contain gluten so that’s the explanation to why my stomach is so upset again πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚Β  Well I better keep my eyes open the next time I go grocery shopping. I might come back tomorrow since it’s a holiday here, otherwise I’ll see You next Friday.

A15398_028
These four ate taken with the Agfa Ambiflex.
A15398_032
.
A15398_033
.

A15398_034

Have a great day!

The wind was a bit too chilly.

a (1)

I can’t say that the day has been pleasant because that wouldn’t be entirely true. The day has mostly been cloudy and light grey but there was no wind in the morning so it was quite ok anyway. Then the wind arrived and it went from quite ok to rather unpleasant. Then the sun started to shine between the gaps in the clouds and the wind calmed down so suddenly it was quite nice again πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Now there’s an evenly grey sky again but I’m indoors and I really don’t care about what it is like outside πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

a (2)
There’s already flower buds on the wild gooseberries.
a (3)
.
a (4)
.

a (5)

My home is a mess and has been for quite a while now πŸ™‚ But I decided that I wold clean up a little at a time so that’s what I’ve been doing today, plus I’ve baked two breads and I also made french fries for the dogs and me (and sausages and meatballs for me πŸ™‚ ). Still I don’t think I’ve done especially much at all. Time has flied away though but I can’t expect it to do otherwise since it after all is a weekend. We’re having a long weekend because it’s a holiday on Monday the first of May here (and I think in the entire of Europe). May first is the workers day and back in the days everyone were out demonstrating for workers rights. Nowdays most of us might have a picnic or barbecue if the weather is nice πŸ™‚

a (6)
.
a (7)
.

a (8)

A couple of days ago I planted the inner seeds from red skinned apricots, I had removed the thick and hard shells and placed the seeds in damp paper towels in a plastic bag and then tossed them in to the fridge. I planted them in one of those see through plastic boxes one can buy grapes and other fruits in and today I could see that the roots had grown down to the bottom of the boxes. I really have no need for more apricot trees but I could do it so why not πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I have plenty more in the fridge plus some from peaches. Well I can always give them away when they’re a couple of years old πŸ™‚

a (9)
.
a (10)
.
a (11)
.

a (12)

I did also, a couple of days ago, lay a bid on a camera, an Agfa Flexilette. An odd camera because it’s a twin lens reflex camera but in the shape of an SLR. I did not expect to win it and wouldn’t have been especially sorry but of course I did πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Ok it’s not a lot of money but I could have bought some plants for that money instead πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ They’re guessing that we’ll get really nice weather tomorrow so I hope they’re right for once. I guess I better check if some shoots from the sloe and rose bushes have started to grow and if I need to mow that area again already tomorrow. Then again it’s been so cold at nights that I doubt anything shows yet but I guess all those roots are preparing to make my life a bit miserable for a couple of years before they finally gives up πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

a (13)
.
a (14)
.
a (15)
.

a (16)

Have a great day!

x (3)
One from the Agfa Ambiflex.

The tick season has started, yay.

a (4)

Well we have to take the good with the bad I’m afraid and yesterday I found a tick on Alma. So I brought the tick repellent spray (it is supposed to help towards the biting flies too but that’s harder to check) from the cupboard. It smells like one of those cheap perfumes one can buy when going to (in our case) either the Canary Islands or somewhere along the mediterranean coast. They might smell nice there because You actually think more of the surroundings than what it actually smells but way too much here at home πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

a (5)
.
a (6)
.
a (7)
.

a (8)

Alma has a very well made harness when we’re out walking and it has two attachments for the leash. Well today Alma tore off the one in the front so now there’s only one place. I’m amazed that it lasted this long to be honest but surprised at the same time since she has calmed down considerable. I guess that seeing two deer was one too many πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ She behaved much better on our second walk. Thankfully the attachment that still is there looks like that if she managed to break that one she would rip the entire harness apart πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

DSC_8756
The beekeeper seem to have lost one hive this winter.
DSC_8766
.
DSC_8770
.

DSC_8772

I might have to buy a new spray because I just picked a tiny tick from Alma, it walked on her where her fur is lighter colored and the tick was black, the tick is no longer. It is rather nice outside even though we have a rather feisty wind. The morning was dark and cloudy but the cloudy sky has more cracks in it now so we do see the sun every now and again. Tomorrow will be all sun though according to their guessing. They have already started to lower the temperatures they’re guessing we’ll have around next weekend so I’ll have a few work friends who planned to fill up their outdoors bathtubs feel rather sad πŸ™‚ Ever never believe what Swedish weather sites and meteorologists say if it is longer than twenty minutes into the future, sometimes they don’t even get the weather we just had right πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

DSC_8786
.
DSC_8759
This is the only bush with flower buds I could find unless one counts the willow we passed on our walk today.
DSC_8760
.
a (19)
We call this one Porcelain Hyacinth (Pushkinia scilloides).

Have a great day!

a (3)
The swamp behind my garage. There was a really beautiful duck swimming around there this morning but Alma refused to stand still so all photos I tried to take were so fuzzy it was hard to see anything.

Not as uneventful as I wish it had been :-)

A15266_005
From the Flexaret VI.

WordPress have lowered the amount of gigabyte I can use for free, from 3 GB to 1Gb and that would mean I would have to start a new blog so often that I finally caved in and bought more space. Now I have 6GB per year but I’ll have to pay for it. So from now on this is the place I’ll stay at.

A15265_001A
From the Agfa Ambi Silette.
A15265_002A
.
A15265_003A
.

A15265_004A

We’ve had a cloudy week but rather nice temperatures but since it has been so cloudy I’ve taken very few photos so all photos today are older ones. I would have liked to say that the week has been totally uneventful but that would be to lie a bit πŸ™‚ Twice this week I’ve had calls from neighbors telling me that Alma had escaped from the dog yard πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

A15264_005A
From the VoigtlΓ€nder Bessamatic.
A15264_009A
.
A15264_010A
.

A15264_011A

I have no idea why she does it because she’s miserable when she can’t get back in again πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I do hope I now have secured the fence enough to make it too difficult for her to get out again until I can fix the dogyard properly again. It is a good thing my neighbors like her a lot πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ but we are all a bit worried that she might get hit by a car, not many comes here to be honest but if anyone who doesn’t know about her habit of escaping comes here I really don’t want her to be hit by them. A good thing though is that she doesn’t approach strangers.

20220827_060429
From my phone, a Samsung something.
20220827_060433
.

20220827_062845

They are now guessing that it will be really warm towards the end of next week so now people are planning to fill up their outdoor bathtubs and all kinds of things one can do in warm weather. They really shouldn’t since it’s over a week and at best our weather forecasts are slightly worse than bad πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I’ll be happy if the sun shines, if nothing else it at least makes it feel warmer πŸ™‚

a (9)
.
a (10)
.
a (11)
.

a (12)

Have a great day!

The crocus are in bloom.

a (1)

Well all I could find out about beings and easter is this. It is said that gods power over this world was as weakest between god Friday and easter Sunday and during that time the evil trolls and witches moved around and created problems. That isn’t much, compared to any other big holiday here that’s nothing, there are loads of info about what all the beings would and could do when they had a chance otherwise πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

a (3)
.
a (4)
.

a (7)

We’ve had another rather nice day here, it would have been a wonderful day if it hadn’t been for the chilly and rather strong wind that just keeps on blowing. Still we had our mostly had our walks where the wind couldn’t reach us and I have to admit that the laundry dried up really quickly. It was however a bit chilly in the cottage because i had the kitchen door open most of the time so that the dogs could run in and out as they pleased. Now the sun is on the other side of the cottage so I have closed the door for the day.

a (8)
.
a (9)
.

a (10)

It’s just not the last of the laundry I’ve done today. I’ve emptied pots and poured the old soil in to my compost, I’ve moved out two more trees/ bushes from the cool cellar, a hazelnut bush and a Ginkgo. I really have no idea where I should place them and the problem is that I have already ordered a few more trees and bushes πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Plus the only place I’ve found where I could plant the walnut (so it has a sporting chance to survive) is where my Laburnum (well call them Golden rain) grows.Β  I have also baked a bread that now is put in the oven and will be ready to bring out after I’ve written this.

DSC_0001 (4)
.
DSC_0009 (3)
.

DSC_0011 (5)

I think I’ll make this a weekend blog so I’ll see You all here next Friday.

Have a great day!

Does it stand for Does Not Serve? :-)

DSC_0006

I tried to go out on the net yesterday and I don’t think I’ve had such good coverage in many years but still I couldn’t. When my computer tried to locate what the problem was it said that something was wrong with a DNS server. I have no idea what that is but I guess that DNS stands for Does Not Serve πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

DSC_0008 (1)
.
DSC_0010 (1)
.
DSC_0011
.

DSC_0016 (1)

We’ve had a couple of really windy days here, so windy that I had to pick up a work friend on my way to work because he has one of those covered mopeds and it’s so high that he wasn’t sure if the wind would pull it of the road πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ He lives just beside the road I’m driving on to work so that was of course no problem at all. Well the good thing with this wind is that suddenly the price of electricity dropped to the lowest we’ve had in years πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Doesn’t help me because my new contract starts on December first.

DSC_0020
.
DSC_0022 (1)
.
DSC_0024 (1)
.

DSC_0025

I talked with work friends and checked the different contracts they offered me and the fixed price is so high that if I chose that one my electricity bill would rice with 400% (it would be around half a US dollar per KWh). I could also chose the price by the hour and try to live my life after how the prices went up and down. One could say that if I wanted to use more electricity for something I would have to do it at night when the prices are as lowest, especially at nights during the weekend. Well I tend to like to sleep during nights so that wasn’t really an option either.

DSC_0026
.
DSC_0029 (1)
.
DSC_0031 (1)
.

DSC_0033 (1)

So I chose something that can be described day by day or ongoing. I’ll pay for the average price for each and every day. If the prices would plummet I can change the contract already the next month if I want to, the fixed price is for a year. It seems that most people at work who needs to renew the contract will chose the day by day variant. So I’ll check if I’ve won the lottery later today, I think that if I won those 500 million kronor (around $45,5 million US) I would be able to feel safe during at least this winter πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

DSC_0035 (1)
.
DSC_0036 (1)
.
DSC_0039 (1)
.

DSC_0041 (1)

I’ve had a rather exciting job at work these last two days. I was standing on a sky lift 6 meters up and spray painting the roof beams in a part of the factory. My brain told me that this is completely safe and nothing to worry about (I have to admit that I volunteered to do this and when I did I don’t think I used my brain at all πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ ) but my body screamed otherwise πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Every time I finally had gotten used to it something happened, like the boss phoned me and I really refused to start talking in the phone at that hight, or the spray painter, which is almost as old as I am I think, started to behave oddly. It hadn’t been used in years so when paint mixed with thinner flowed through those old hoses they slowly gave up.

DSC_0043 (1)
.
DSC_0045 (1)
.
DSC_0048 (1)
.

DSC_0051 (1)

Well I’ve done it by I must admit that I will never do anything like that in my life again πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I think that this was a thing where I was too old to learn and enjoy something like that. My work friend who came to help to paint in those spots I couldn’t reach (he’s much longer than I am) is much younger than I am and he leaned over the railing painting well outside of the sky lift, I held on to the beams like my life depended on it πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

Have a great day!