It felt much colder this morning even though it actually was slightly warmer, or less cold is better because there was no warmth what so ever πŸ™‚ Β It was a bit cloudy when we went out on our morning walk so the cold air stayed and the moose flies weren’t near.

Bittersweet berries.

At least one moose fly did wake up when the sun finally showed itself, that fly is no more πŸ™‚ I think it walked over to my hand while I was lifting some branches to pick a mushroom, still cold so it was pretty easy to get rid of it. We walked down to the creek and followed it up-streams and there’s definitely a beaver living in the creek again. The water level was pretty high and since we’ve had little rain it shouldn’t be possible to have that much water there unless the creek is blocked. They have placed materials to build a trap so I guess it won’t be long until we have no beavers here again.

The sun really made the day so much nicer so I’ve finally planted the last two Quince tree seedling, I now have six of them but this is a bit tough climate wise so I’m not even sure if any of them will manage through winter. It all depends on if winter will continue to behave as it has for several years now or if we’ll get a “normal” winter again, very cold and very long. Most likely it won’t be like the old days though but we’ll not know until next year.

I’ve also continued to cut down that huge rose with all the small but plentiful thorns. It’s not because I don’t like it, I do and it gives the birds lots of rose-hips to eat during winter. It is because this rose is seen as an invasive species and it might soon be illegal to have it anywhere. I actually have two of it and both have become huge during the 25 years I’ve lived here. So I’m slowly cutting it away but will leave some so if it isn’t banned it can grow back again πŸ™‚ I might remove the other one totally because even if it is big it still has problems because of other invasive plants I have πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

It is time for that last cup of tea and I’m waiting for a bread to be ready to be picked out of the oven. I might have a slice or two with the tea but I really should eat the last piece of the bread I still have, then again a warm slice of newly baked bread with strong cheese is a good excuse to wait and use the last bread tomorrow morning instead πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

Have a great day!

Frosty night.

It smell a bit of burning dust at the moment, I had to start two radiators today because we had frost and -2C (28,4F) when we woke up this morning and it never became warmer than 13C (5534F) during the day. We’ve had lots of sunshine though so during the day it almost was too warm indoors. The kitchen door has been open until the sun moved over to the other side of the cottage.

So a bit chilly when we went out on our morning walk, not as much frost as I thought we would have but fly free so I forgave nature πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Alma walked really well today but instead she want back to that high pitched whining she’s so good at and after four years that sound cuts in to the brain like a dull knife creating a pain I just can’t stand. I doubt that she’s a fan of nature at all. She is getting better though but I really can’t stand that sound any more.

We went out to the bog and since it was as chilly as it was not a fly moved so I could pick the mushrooms without constantly make sure any of those nasty moose flies were crawling around on my head or elsewhere as well of course. I only picked the mushrooms I could find on the forest road so I’m pretty sure that if we had taken one step in between the trees I would have found plenty more. I think we might walk there again tomorrow if it is chilly enough and take that extra step and no moose flies can fly around and find us πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

I mowed the lawn when we had come home, the grass was still a bit wet but it didn’t clog inside the mower. Can one hope that this was the last time I had to do it for this season? After that I brought out the compost grinder or wood chipper as I like to call it. I had all these thorny branches from the wild plum to take care of plus a lot from the other plum tree and the apple tree. I actually also have lots of grape vines. The grape vine almost never gave any grapes and to be honest, grapes are really just weeds to be honest and grows like crazy πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ So I tried to entangle all the vines but that’s an impossible job so I’ll do them another time.

I wasn’t done until rather late, around 3 pm, so after that I haven’t been doing anything to be honest πŸ™‚ I have had coffee and also tea but can say I’m just as tired as if the caffeine had run out of what ever it is that livens one up πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ The cows in the pasture on the other side of the gravel road outside my cottage has been rather loud from yesterday afternoon and still is, Β I think they removed their calfs and it’s heartbreaking to hear them call for their babies.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I’ll have a bowl with ice cream at the same time. Elsbeth is on tonight so I’ll need to go outside to check for badgers in the garden before letting the dogs outside so I can watch tv without having to do that during the program πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

The pawpaws grow in the most protected place I have in the garden and the frost had not reached them at all, not even the smaller ones were touched by it.
The tomato plants were protected and only the tops were slightly hit but the unripe fruits are still fine πŸ™‚

Have a great day!

Frost tonight?

I have been a little bit stressed today, suddenly the entire internet connection died. I called my phone and internet company and the AI voice said I needed to identify myself with my bank Id, well can’t do that when the internet is gone πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Anyway I was told someone would call me when it was my turn and there were a lot of people before me. Well everything suddenly started to work again so I guess that all those before me in line had the same problem. The Russians? have targeted our telephone/internet companies quite often lately so I guess it was the same again.

It was rather chilly last night, 4C (39,2F) when we woke up. But it might have been even colder in the garden because some plants looked rather sad today. Good thing though is that not even the moose flies fly around in those temperatures πŸ™‚ As soon as we had come home again I drove to the grocery store in the village I used to work. After all I’ve been shopping there since the day I moved to this region and only because I moved elsewhere and don’t work there any more doesn’t mean I never would go there again πŸ™‚ They are like old friends at that place and that’s more important than going somewhere closer or cheaper πŸ™‚

I came back so early that we managed to squeeze in a second morning walk πŸ™‚ This time out to the bog and I kept my eyes open for mushrooms and found plenty so we’ll head out there tomorrow morning again πŸ™‚ It was still chilly enough to keep the moose flies calm πŸ™‚ I’m not sure if there are especially many of them out there to be honest but one moose fly is way too many anyway. The wild hogs had dug up big parts of the path to the bog, it seems it doesn’t matter how many they hunt because it just takes a few days and then they’re back again. Well as long as they stay calm I’m happy.

I had planned to wait to bring in the last potted plants to the cool cellar, they can usually manage the first frost night really well and even more after being outside all summer (totally different in spring when they are brought out again, then they can’t take any frost, that’s why mu citrus trees are rather small this year πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ ) but I noticed that some have new shoots and they looked a bit sad after tonight so I brought in almost everything I still have out there. I can’t however not bring in my tomato plants. So I’ve just been outside covering them. I want at least one ripe tomato before frost can take the rest πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

I made rice porridge yesterday and today I think it is time for rose-hip soup, perfect a chilly day or evening when it is a bit too chilly outside. So I think I’ll skip that last cup of tea and have rose-hip soup and some ice cream instead πŸ™‚

I found this and the next one for sale at the grocery store, less than US 3$ each, so I bought them πŸ™‚

Have a great day!

It will get colder they’re guessing.

Two nice days in a row, yesterday started out sunny and it wasn’t until pretty late in the afternoon the rain arrived, today started with deep dark clouds and rain but later in the afternoon the sun showed itself. From no on they’re guessing that we’ll have sunshine all day long for a couple of days but the temperature will drop rather a lot.

So today I started to bring down the smaller citrus trees and the hardy hibiscus I have outside plus one little tree called Date-plum (Diospyrus lotus, a Persimmon relative). I bought it late in the season since it was for sale and affordable so I felt it was too late to try and plant it since this is on the border to what it can take climate-wise. I do hope that if any mouse would go down there that it doesn’t like to eat the little tree πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I know they don’t like any kind of citrus so those will be safe. Then again the monsterkitten is a great mouse hunter and so far I haven’t heard any mice running inside the walls πŸ™‚

The dogs and I went out to the bog yesterday morning so I could pick the mushrooms I found. It looks like I now days am the only one picking mushrooms so I don’t have to worry about anyone else taking them before me πŸ™‚ I fried them with butter until all water had evaporated from the frying pan and then I tossed them in the freezer. I think we’ll be taking that road again tomorrow πŸ™‚ After we had come home I got the idea that I should preserve apples in sugar syrup. It is easy to be honest if one has the right kind of apple, I didn’t πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I can however tell You that I might have made the best applesauce I’ve ever tasted πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

After I had drained off most of the sugar syrup I poured it down in to jars, so do anyone know what one could do with lots of rather good tasting sugar syrup πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I also baked a big loaf of bread with lots of cheese in it (at the same time I did the laundry) and I must say it is really tasty πŸ™‚ Since I did so so much yesterday I’ve done almost nothing today (except for bringing down those trees to the cellar) , not even napped. I did however since the morning was so dull make some rice porridge,. It’s really a winter porridge but it sort of fitted to the mood both I and the dogs had.

Still getting strawberries but they don’t taste especially much now.
I need to clean the table for some cacti I have but otherwise it looks pretty good. I also have a new led-light ramp beside the old plant light ramp.
Soon I’ll also place five bigger citrus trees here (not so big nowadays since that frost we had early in spring) and a tea tree.

The only thing I still need to do today is to go out to the garden before letting the dogs out for the last time today to make sure there’s no badger out there πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I have to do that until it gets so cold at night so the badgers decides to just sleep until it’s nice outside again πŸ™‚ I’m just about to have my last cup of tea for the day and perhaps I’ll have a sandwich or two as well. I don’t have much in the fridge but I’ll always have cheese and milk, so tomorrow I’ll have a trip to the grocery store again, So many colds going around at the moment so I’ll drive away as early as possible.

Have a great day!

I sort of miss those days.

I really like my birthday present I got from my eldest brother πŸ™‚

A sort of meh weather today, mostly cloudy with the sun peeking through the clouds every now and again. It has been warm though so I really shouldn’t complain. Our morning walk was rather late today just because I hoped the sun would show itself more later in the day.

Instead I drove to the big grocery store in FalkΓΆping to get what I need for the weekend, nothing much really but cat food was a must πŸ™‚ Β It’s not that I don’t have any at home but more because she demands the cheapest brand there is, for some reason she loves that wet food and who am I to complain that it is cheap πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I had to stop at the grocery store in Gudhem on my way home because I had two parcels waiting to be picked up. The small one was a camera I’ve bought myself as a birthday present (Nikon D5200), nothing special with that camera more that I can turn the little screen at the back in almost any direction I want. So much easier to photograph something on the ground when I don’t have to lie down to get a nice photograph. I just turn have the camera close to the ground, turn the screen so that I can see what I’m photographing and take the photo πŸ™‚

The blueberries are getting autumn colours.

The other parcel was more interesting, it was actually another camera that my eldest brother gave me as a birthday gift πŸ™‚ It is the camera shown in the first photo πŸ™‚ It is a TLR camera (for film) As You can see there are two lenses on the camera. The upper one is the one you look through and the lower one is the one taking the photo. A bit expensive as a gift but I would be an idiot if I didn’t accept it :-):-) πŸ™‚ As You can see there’s also a second lens pair beside it and that’s a telephoto lens. not too common for these old cameras to have that. It weighs a ton so It is perhaps nothing one just hang over the shoulder when going out for a walk, the shoulder would be needed to be adjusted after that πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

This is a really nice mushroom to fry and perhaps make a stew. Or just fry them and put them on a sandwich with cheese and other things πŸ™‚
This and the next ones are even better πŸ™‚ I’ll think I’ll bring a bag so I can pick them all tomorrow on our morning walk πŸ™‚
By the way, almost all photos today are taken with the “new” camera (I always buy second hand and when it is cheap πŸ™‚ ). It takes a few days until we know each other well enough so I can get photos to look like I want them to look πŸ™‚

It hasn’t rained today and the grass was surprisingly dry so after the walk I cut down those trunks from the plum trees, they really don’t look that big but they were so heavy that I almost wasn’t able to move them away πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ If I’ve been handy and known how to carve I would have had plenty to work with when they have dried up πŸ™‚

I had to take this and the next photo through the kitchen door window so they look a bit off I’m afraid.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I’ll also have an ice cream at the same time.There’s absolutely nothing to watch on tv tonight. I remember when I was a kid, You know back in the Stone Age, that Friday and Saturday night were family tv nights. When everyone in the family gathered in front of the tv, perhaps having sodas/coffee and something nice to eat. Not so any more and I sort of miss it even if it only be me and my dogs sitting there. The monster would perhaps join us but she would only sleep in the sofa anyway πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

I really hope we don’t get frost next week because this is the only squash (I think it is squash, have actually no idea because I used seeds I had saved from something I harvested years ago and can’t remember what it was, could be a pumpkin as well πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ ). The plants only gave male flowers until now.

Have a great day!

First sunshine, then rain and repeat all day.

We had a beautiful sunrise today and I think that have might been the only beautiful thing happening today πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ The rest of the day we’ve been in and out of the cottage. The sun shone and we went out and suddenly rain arrived and we went indoors again πŸ™‚ We’ve also had a strong wind blowing so even if we were outside while we could see the sun up there in the sky it still wasn’t especially nice.

I had hoped I cut take down the trunks of those plum trees but I really didn’t want to be caught outside with an electric chainsaw with a cord if it rained. So since most machines and tools I own is just the same I really couldn’t do much else either πŸ™‚ Β So I have mostly, in between going in and out again, sort of half napped in front of the tv πŸ™‚

Edible and really tasty mushroom.
Don’t eat, You’ll get really sick.

It won’t do much to You but they don’t taste a thing πŸ™‚

I’m starting planning to bring down some plants down to the cool cellar already, mostly my Peruvian ground cherries, they have lots of small fruits but are far from being ripe and their relatives Tomatillos for the same reason. By the way I’ve never grown or eaten tomatillos but understand that they should be cooked, what do they taste like? πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I’m getting lots of them so it would be sad if the frost takes them before they are ripe.

Never ever eat this one!

Or this one, the Swedish name for it is forest salad or lettuce might be a better word. I doubt You’ll die but …

It’s time for that last cup of tea for the day and I think I’ll eat an ice cream cone with chocolate ice cream. They sell gluten free ones from the ice cream lorry so I bought a package yesterday πŸ™‚

They are beautiful though!

Have a great day!

Just as it dried up it started to rain again :-)

I have no idea why but today I slept until six thirty am. Just in time to see the sun rising. So the dogs had their breakfast and I a cup of coffee and out we went. Lots of birds tweeting, a few song swans flew by and we even saw a Roe deer. Alma behaved so good today that I was really surprised, we passed the new neighbours but soon to be moved away neighbours she actually didn’t scream or whine at all. Isn’t that nice, just as they will move she has become calm about them being here πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

Despite all the rain we’ve had lately I still continue to water the more dry sensitive and newly planted plants in the garden. One can see that the water has started to sink down in to the ground but only perhaps 30 cm (12 inches) ad that’s not enough. The sun kept on shining so I placed my garden shoes, meaning old shoes that no longer can be used while being out walking, to dry in the sunshine. They are full with soil and sand and now days constantly wet so my feet are packed in with that mud as soon as I have worn them πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Suddenly we had two rather heavy showers passing by so now they’re more wet than before πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

I’ve been looking at my aquarium for a while now, I emptied it to one third oaf how much water it can hold because I worked evenings one week a month and had to have the dogs in the cottage because they bark at anything moving when it is dark outside. So after some thinking I said to my self why not making it to a sort of aquaterrarium? A third of water and two thirds of open air where one can plant small plants and so on. No I won’t have any replies or frogs in it just a sort of land part. So I checked the water quality and most parts were ok but not the nitrate levels, that means there’s too much waist after the fish I had and decaying plants.

So I think I have around 35 litres of water in it at the moment. So I thought I have plenty of rainwater now so why not use that? The water I have to drink has a lot of lime and most fish and plants don’t like that. I think I’ve changed over 60 litres (15.9 gallons US) and finally I can see the water getting a bit better πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Β I really cleaned the sand while getting the water out but it is clear I have to do more πŸ™‚ Β So now I know what I’ll do tomorrow πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and today I’ll have an ice cream as well. the ice cream lorry drove down on our road Β for the first time this season, turns out the driver had been hit by a brick wall hitting one of his legs and had been on sick leave until now. The one replacing him never cared to come to us on my little gravel road. We are very pleased to see him again πŸ™‚

Have a great day!

So much rain.

Most of the plum tree is gone now. All I need now is a day or two with weather that dries up the ground so I can cut the rest with my chainsaw. After that I need to start thinking about what else can grow there instead πŸ™‚

Lots of rain has been falling here today, from before I woke up until now at almost seven pm. I don’t mind the rain but it has stayed on the chilly side all the time.

One of four piles with twigs and branches from my two plum trees. I’ve started to cut them in smaller pieces so the wood chipper (compost grinder) will have an easier job.

I dug up the hardy hibiscus and thought the buds would fall off but here’s the flower. It was filled with petals before but now it looks like this to my great joy πŸ™‚

So we haven’t done anything really, napped a short while and watched tv. All of us is a bit bored now because rain makes the dogs stay indoors Β πŸ™‚ They only run out for a few minutes to do what they must and then indoors again. Β Yesterday evening, around eight pm it was anything but boring here. I let the dogs outside and then Malkolm came running back to the front door and Alma started to bark.

One of the five pawpaw seedlings. If winter doesn’t kill it I’m afraid the dogs will πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ They run fast and wild when they play and don’t even see trees in their way πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

I walked around the cottage to see if I could find out what it was she barked at. She stared towards a bush and growled so I told her to go back indoors and I pointed my headlight towards the bush and there it was, a rather big badger hiding behind it. Poor thing, it must have been so scared. European badgers has a reputation of being aggressive and dangerous but that’s just nonsense. If they can they rather run away than have to meet dogs and humans. Β The reason they are believed to be dangerous is because hunters. I think I also would become pretty aggressive if someone tossed down aggressive dogs in to my home and I too would attack the one doing it.

So tonight I’ll take a walk in the garden before I let out the dogs so it can be alone when it visits us. Badgers eat all those snails and slugs we hate plus a lot of other bugs and larvae we don’t want close to us. I think they also might eat apples from the ground and to me that’s positive since I have so many πŸ™‚ It’s time for that last cup of tea and later tonight they show Elsbeth again πŸ™‚

Have a great day!

Both fog and morning mist.

The morning was really perfect today. It started with rather thick fog but moved in to morning mist when the sun rose just to turn back to fog when the rising fog made clouds so it blocked the sun again πŸ™‚ Also chilly enough to even keep the moose flies calm. What made it even better was that Alma actually behaved almost the entire walk πŸ™‚

The sun stayed until just after noon I think it was so I decided I would cut down the other plum tree as well, it never gives more than six or seven plums and always get hit by some kind of disease. I did de-bark in in early spring but it has stayed green all summer so I thought it best to do something about it. I know I now will have lots of root shoots but I’ll deal with them when they arrive. No thorns on this one thankfully πŸ™‚ There was some damages on those other things living in that area but I think they’ll survive. It was where that plum tree is growing I had my old pond but since the ground now is filled with loads of roots I won’t be able to use it for that any more, I really don’t want to hire a digger to get those out πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

I also cut of the top of the thorny wild plum, the strong wind we’ve had today helped me to bring it down πŸ™‚ I really don’t like cutting dow my trees but there are other trees I can plant there next year instead. Β As long as I keep fertilise the ground all summer, for quite a lot of years, because there will be nothing left when it comes to nutritions for another tree and it can’t be another tree in the same family since diseases easily can stay in the ground and attack the new tree. Β It didn’t take long after that when the rain arrived. Mostly a nice autumn rain but also a couple of heavy showers.

The sun came back after five so I planted the two remaining pawpaw seedlings just behind the Laburnum. It has been very dry there for quite some time but I’ve thinned out the branches a lot so now when it rains it actually reach the ground as well. So cross Your fingers and hold Your thumbs so they survive the coming winter, all five of them πŸ™‚

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and after that I’ll watch a science program on tv. I think I’ll actually have some ice cream with that tea, orange ice cream with chocolate strings in it πŸ™‚

Have a great day!

Thunder and rain.

The morning started out much the same as they have been lately, a bit chilly and sunny. We walked out to the bog even though the grass was pretty wet with dew. No ticks on us today but I had to kill quite a lot of moose flies instead. I had hoped it would be a bit too cool for those flies but unfortunately not.

I hadn’t planned to do much in the garden today, just watering the dry sensitive plants I’ve kept on watering all summer and those I’ve just planted but found a few dead branches in the big apple tree that I used the new saw to remove. I also trimmed the Golden rain, Laburnum, and then I got the idea to start cutting down the wild plum tree. Its branches are full with big thorns and I have been a bit worried that those would injure us badly if one of those branches hit us so I had to plan every branch I would cut down so it wouldn’t fall the wrong way.

It almost went as I had planned except for one big branch that fell down over the strawberries and rhubarbs. No big damage but it made me even more careful with the rest of the branches. I guess it was just before 1 pm and I only had the top left to cut off when the thunder and rain arrived. So at the moment I have a rather long and thin and very thorny tree standing there looking really sad πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I’ll use the chain saw to remove the rest as soon as the grass dries up.

I also planted the last Perennials I had in pots, well I hope they were but one never knows what is hidden in the flowerbed close to the entrance because there are so many self sown flowers there now that they can be hiding some pots I’ve forgotten about πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Β So now all I have to dig down are two pawpaw seedlings and two quince trees, I think I know where the pawpaws will go but still can’t figure out where I should plant the quinces, I’m not even sure if they will survive the winter here.

It is still raining here, it’s so much that it looks like they have fog on the other side of the village, we need it so I’ll not complain. We might get a foggy morning and then towards the evening we might get more rain. In between we even might get some sunshine. I have that last cup of tea by my side and at the moment I’m waiting for the loaf of bread in the oven to get ready and so do the dogs πŸ™‚ They always get a piece with cheese on it when the bread still is warm πŸ™‚

Have a great day!

I’ve started to use those wood chips I’ve made.

I was expecting a sunny morning and I hoped for morning mist again. We had sunshine but the mist wasn’t here but closer to the mountain. Β It was a bit chilly when we walked down to the creek and my shoes got drenched in the morning dew and Malkolm who always wants to walk in the grass and follow tracks was even worse πŸ™‚ He had no ticks walking around on him though so that was a good thing πŸ™‚

Lots of small birds tweeting and Jays arguing but there were now bigger animals around. Once I saw a pure white wild hog and I have to admit that it was really beautiful. I didn’t manage to get a photo of it and have always hoped to see another one. Turns out that they are quite common, perhaps not pure white but with spot or markings of other colours on them. Since we don’t have white moose in this area I really think I deserve to see a white wild hog again πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

I’ve put up the new LED light ramp in the cellar so this morning I started to clean up down there. Lots of soil and sea leafs and twigs on that floor so it took its time. I knew that the monster pooped down there when she had sucked in when I didn’t notice it and therefore locked her in for hours sometimes πŸ™‚ I did however not know how much until I had that light put up, on the plus side though is that I didn’t find any moose droppings which I see as positive πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

I took some photos to show what my garden looks like at the moment. This shows the south side east corner.
South side western corner.
North side towards east where the cottage stands.
North side towards west.
And the north side towards west corner where my Pawpaws grows.

Lots of smaller lorries have been driving up and down to where the latest neighbours live, looks like they’re moving out today. Too bad I liked them but I fully understand them, the owner of the place is just too greedy. So now we’re waiting for new tenants or perhaps someone from a big city buys it, they usually have no idea. what places like that costs here, anything is cheaper here than I the big cities. I’m not even sure if they could buy a two bedroom apartment in a big city for what they want for this place but it is still too much. Lets hope that who ever comes here are just as nice as the ones moving out.

This is one the other side of the cottage, the northern side looking towards west.
And this is the opposite side towards east. Big and thorny roses on both sides of the entrance πŸ™‚

I’vedecided to plant those five Pawpaw seedlings I have, I can’t trust the cat wanting to go down in to the cellar so I think it is best that they’ll stay outside and I’ll cover them as good as I can instead. The biggest threat to their lives are the dogs running around playing with each other πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ So I’ve put up sticks so the dogs can avoid running in to them. Oddly enough the dogs actually tends to avoid those sticks but can happily run in to smaller trees so hard that they break them πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Β According to our folklore the winter will be harsh if the Rowan trees have lots of berries, this year they have almost no berries so it should be warm, almost hot here πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Unfortunately it doesn’t show anything more that if they have lots of berries the spring was absolutely perfect for them.

I’ve started to fill up the area around the English walnut with the wood chipping I made from what I’ve been cutting down. The layer is around 20 cm (eight inches) thick. Just remember when using fresh chips they will when slowly decaying steal a lot of nitrogen from the ground. No bigger problem with a walnut though since they have taproots.
The Pawpaws are small and while living in a pot they were eaten by slugs. So far I’ve never seen a slug in this part of the garden, there’s just too little to eat for them I guess.

It is time for that last cup of tea and perhaps a bowl with corn flakes. Β Nothing on tv at all so I have no idea what to do for the rest of the evening πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

Have a great day!

Now I can see the mess :-)

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We were supposed to have rain all day today, not much though, so I’m not the least surprised that we until 5:50 pm had sunshine all day long πŸ™‚ A strong wind has been blowing and that kept the flies away and it has been warm as well.Β 

I didn’t look outside the window when we went up this morning and since I do have a rather high lilac hedge around big parts of the cottage I missed that we had morning mist. I did notice it before it evaporated though so there was still some left when we had our morning walk. A walk in a sunny, misty and cool morning is better than most things in life to be honest. Small birds were flying around everywhere, Jays argued somewhere in the tree tops and I could hear some animals trotting away from us.

The ground is drying up again so I still need to water the most vulnerable trees and perennials and I do that either just before we’re out on our walk or just after. Today I once again had to pick up a parcel, this time it was a LED light bar. The old fluorescent lamp I have down there is long gone, I’m not even sure if one can get parts to it any more. During winter I always have plant lights on but now one of those broke as well. I’ve put the new one up and almost regretted it because now I can see the mess πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ I’ll need to clean it all up before I start taking down the trees I must have indoors during winter.

I haven’t done much after that, we did take a long nap though but I’m not sure that can count as doing something πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Isn’t it strange that the phone can be quiet all day but as soon one is falling asleep the entire world wants to reach You πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ and then as soon as the nap is over the phone gets quiet again πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ Mostly it’s telemarketers so I’m happy to say that they now are discussing a new law that forbids telemarketers to call privet persons unless we specifically have allowed them to πŸ™‚ This is a law I’m really looking forward to!

The Dahlias I sowed had only bright yellow flowers in the beginning.

Then some showed some orange as well.

Yesterday morning I found this bud.

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And today it opened up bright red πŸ™‚ Dahlias are supposed to have migraine-inducing colours according to my taste so this one I like πŸ™‚

I is time for that last cup of tea for the day. To be honest I think I could drink an entire pot without having problems to fall asleep because I’m still just as tired as I was before the nap. πŸ™‚

Have a great day!