Another long weekend :-)
Yesterday morning. We had plenty of time for a walk before i went to the hospital and what a morning it was.
It’s a holiday here today, Ascension Day, and normally when we’re having a holiday on a Thursday we also take the day off on Friday. But we’re having so much to do so this time they said no to that which I can understand fully. But we were allowed to switch days and work today and stay at home tomorrow so that’s what many of us did at work. It wasn’t that bad to get up in the morning as I had thought it would be, on the contrary actually.
Something way up on the mountain reflected the early morning sunshine.
Nova was so exited when she saw this little hare that none of us noticed the animal further up in the Portal 
Nova seems to believe that hares comes from hell and must be killed, it is because of that idea she always walk leashed now days.
The sun was shining, birds singing and the wind stayed calm. I couldn’t hear any sounds from the big road either. But the weather got bad during the day and it has rained big parts of it and the wind started to blow, so it was rather nice to work after all It’s strange but everything works so smoothly on days like this. No one comes and disturbs us and every one seems to cooperate so much better than normal days. So we actually managed to do almost everything we were supposed to even if we only works four days this week.
I bought Hydrogen peroxide at the hospital pharmacy after they had x-rayed my hips yesterday. So the first thing I did when I came home after work was to pour it over my thumb. It bubbled and bubbled for a long time and I started to wonder if it still was working, so I rinsed it off and poured more on the wound. I continued to do that for over fifteen minutes and then I felt that it started to eat its way in to my thumb I have never felt any kind of pain when using this before but the sting yesterday was quite nasty It turns out I had bought a stronger kind than I usually do and I must say it was effective
They are the best of friends most of the time the two brothers, but sometimes they can’t come close without getting in to a fight.
Sometimes Nova just has to run around the cottage like crazy, to get rid of all extra energy. I guess she hunts imaginary hares
She really needs a younger friend than Orvar and Hector. They play some with her but not as wild as she wants to But four dogs again? Well I’ll see when the vacation comes.
I did the same thing after work today and the result was much nicer. It did bubble but not for such a long time and this time it didn’t sting I take that as a positive thing, that must mean my thumb finally starts to close the two parts together again. But as I’ve said before, I won’t say hi before I’ve crossed the creek It doesn’t hurt to use the thumb either. So if it isn’t healing I think it must be dying The fever I had was just a cold and that is almost gone now too
The white Trillium has opened up now.
This is one of the self sown Trilliums that now flowers for the first time. It was a bit hard to say what color the flower had.
I can’t say it was easier to say what color it has today either Pinkish? I think I’ll know better next year.
Today the first flowers on the wild strawberries opened up in the forest
I feel it is time for something to eat now and at least a pot of tea. I doubt there’s anything good on tv so I think I’ll go to bed early and read a book. I would most probably have been outside if the weather had been nicer because our days are rather long now. The sun went up at 4:35 am today and will go down 9:30 pm tonight but we’re having daylight at least an hour before and after the sun doesn’t show. By midsummer it’ll only be dark for a couple of hours
Have a great day!
Isn’t that typical?!
The crabapple tree will flower this year
The improvement of my thumb was unfortunately short-lived, didn’t look that good today I’m afraid but I think I know why. The nurse did open up the wound to let out that blood and then insisted on putting on a plaster that “breathes” over it again. It doesn’t breathe at all so the wound didn’t get all that air around it as it should have and then it didn’t close up again. So I just have a couple of compresses loosely around the thumb so the wound can breathe again, just like I had when it started to heal. I’ll see tomorrow morning if I have to go to the clinic again.
I found a Shadbush (amelanchier) in the forest today, not a common site here.
I also got a fever today, short-lived but fairly high. But I think that is a cold My nose is stuffed and my nose bleed every now and again. I’m so tired of this now. Couldn’t this cold have waited a week or two before it hit me? But then again, it can be the antibiotics that lowers my immune defense, it says so on the package so I better call the doctor tomorrow anyway
I used my little camera today and I have to say it has a fantastic zoom! This bird would only have been a tiny brown spot if I had used my big camera.
The wild trees and bushes rarely have more colorful flowers than this, slightly green or yellow.
I’ll also x-ray my hips tomorrow morning. It is time for my hip check up that I do every second year or so so they can see that the implants still stays as they should. I’ll know next week when I meet with my doctor. I’m a bit tired now so I’ll give up for the day. I’ll just make myself a cup of tea and then I think I’ll go to bed. I apologize already now for not visiting Your blogs tonight.
These two does didn’t care about us at all even if e only were 15 meters (much the same in yards) away. I think it is a mother and her daughter from last year.
P.S I just checked my thumb and it looks good again I knew it was that damned plasters fault!
Have a great day! great day!
Finally!
I found Teodor sleeping in the first sunshine of the day this morning when I woke up. I just had to take a photograph of him before I let him in. I took the photo through the smoked old glasses by my entrance.
I went to the District nurse today and she took a look at my thumb, it had healed Well there was no skin but no openings where yuck comes out. She squeezed my thumb a bit and said I’ll have to open it up again Isn’t that typical?! It turns out that yes the two halves had healed together again finally but there was a big blister beneath the surface and she had to see what was in there. So she cut it open and no yuck only healthy looking blood and that is a good sign!
We were a bit lucky because it only drizzled when we were out on our afternoon walk.
Mosquito farms
So this second kind of antibiotics is doing its job well. But I won’t shout “Hi before I’ve crossed the creek” (swedish saying), Things can turn to worse faster than I can say hi So unless nothing turns for the worse I won’t have to go to the clinic again, just continue to take the antibiotics until I have no pills left and that is next Monday. Cross Your fingers and hold Your thumbs so nothing happens!
Bird cherry. Some smell wonderful some smell cat pee
Most of the wild cherry trees in the forest are very high, but there are a few that doesn’t seem to become higher that three meters (much the same in yards). They have smaller flowers as well. I think this is the kind we call Bird berries, they have the most delicious berries but the birds take them too early.
We’re having dreary weather here today again. Strong winds, cloudy sky and rain. But it hasn’t rained as much here as it did where I work thankfully. It isn’t fun to walk by the fields in this weather so in to the forest and out to the bog we went. I could hear some strange noises while we were out there and it sounded like someone was building something. I thought it might be one of the hunters making repairs to the oldest fox trap. It is so rotten that it won’t hold any animal stronger than a mole
Suddenly I heard a sound behind us and I could see two horses walking down the road. I thought it was my neighbor taking his horses out for a ride with a carriage behind them but I was wrong. The forest owner is thinning out the forest again and this time they have hired people who only use horses while working in the forest That means no damages on the ground, no new deep ditches where mosquitoes can lay their eggs either We have to many of those places as it is anyway
I have a red leafed clematis that I sowed years ago. It is a survivor because it has managed to stay alive despite my dogs They have torn it to pieces, dug it up and peed on it and still it lives It has only flowered once and it had a fantastic flower, this year it has several buds and I’ll show You how the flowers look when they open up.
I would like to say that this is a Trillium grandiflora but the one giving it to me said it most likely is a hybrid.
Trilliums likes it in my woodland and self sows well. But this one is a bit different than the others, the bud stands straight up unlike the others who are hanging down. So this might come from a pot where I sown seeds and thought I had failed
Now I’m sitting in my kitchen, Orvar sleeps by my feet and there’s a fire burning in the stove. Orvar has dislocated his shoulder once again so now he’s limping pretty bad. But we’re used to that now since he does that every six months. Tomorrow he’ll be walking better again and already in a week or so he’s back to normal. It is time for something to eat and today I have a green tea with anise in it, it’s very tasty if I don’t drink it too often
Have a great day!
I’ve been effective this morning.
Today is just as beautiful as yesterday was dreary. The sun rose above a frosty white landscape filled with sounds with spring. Black Grouse roosters tried to impress both each other and the hen surrounding them and the sound echoed over the village. Geese, cranes and ravens did their best to drown out them but had little success since also all the other birds and the cows did what they could to be heard.
I like how the frost makes it look like gold has been sprinkled on the rust.
There was no wind but that changed later in the day, something I was grateful for when I mowed the lawn for the first time this year. The wind both cooled me down and it also dried the grass after the last days rain. It is amazing how fast the grass has grown these last days and how many Dandelions that shone like little suns in the lawn. Just minutes after I had cut down those flowers new stems rose and new dandelion flowers opened up I’m glad I like them a lot
Suddenly she just stood there. I think it must be Doris the Doe’s daughter because she had nu hurry to walk away and showed no stress about meeting us. She just slowly walked away not even looking at us You can see on her shape that there soon will be a new one running around here
We waited a while before walking after her. I saw her watching us from the edge of the forest
I moved two ferns to the pond area this morning and one of them split up to four smaller plants. I noticed that the white Wisteria is alive and so is two different Clematis, they will all soon climb on those tree trunks I’ve placed by and around the pond. Later on I’ll get some small fish that won’t eat any tadpoles but lots of mosquito larvae instead. There’s not a single frog egg that hasn’t hatched but I can’t see any tadpoles, I guess they hide in the plants.
After that I washed my clothes and my thumb. I’m not an expert but I do think my thumb look better now, yes there’s still some yuck left but only very little and when I had washed that away fresh blood came out of the wound. My thumb feels much better though so I take that as a good sign. I also replanted some plants (another species of maple seed has germinated ) and I’ve done all this before the clock reached two.
Now I feel I deserve some rest but first I’ll kill some flies in my kitchen, yes the fly season has started. But so far none of the really annoying ones are out and about yet. The flies in my kitchen are just confused ones that can’t find their way out even if the door is wide open It is time to put up those nets in front of the doors and windows again!
This fern just started to grow on the north side of my cottage one year and now I moved it to the pond. I think it is a Matteuccia struthiopteris, Ostrich fern.
This I know what it is though It is a special variety of Male fern, Dyopteris filix-mas. It split up in to four plants when I divided the old one by the woodland.
Have a great day!
Grey and dreary.
It is a dreary day, windy cloudy and most of the morning rainy as well. It started out as an intensive drizzle and then it got worse. Now it looks as if the clouds are opening up some so we might get some sunshine later on. This is a day made for relaxation and I do my best My dogs think I’m boring but it can’t be helped, as long as the sun stays in hiding so will I. The birds and plants seems to like the weather though so who am I to complain
I brought the “new” camera with me today as well but it eats batteries. There’s absolutely nothing left in the batteries after around 110 photographs. But now I know it takes good photographs so now I’ll get back to my old one, the Fuji one is a very good spare camera though and I’m glad I bought it. I must by rechargeable batteries though otherwise I’ll be ruined
No news about my thumb today, I won’t change the bandage until tomorrow. But it feels ok though or actually I don’t feel a thing from it. Some tingling and one time I could feel a nerve telling me it still exists but that’s it. I do however feel one side effect from the new pills I take. It seems most antibiotics gives a lot of gases in the stomach I sound like a slow going moped most of the time now
I’ve seen this weathervane for many years now and always wondered what it looked like. The “new” camera has a great zoom and now I know it is a rooster.
The Portal is getting green again and soon it will close in the top.
I might replant some plants in to bigger pots today and I’ve placed a lot of them in the open so that they can get soaked by the rain, that always seems to make them grow better. I might also start a fire in the stove to push out the dampness because it isn’t especially cold here. But I better ventilate my cottage before I do that, with all these gases I let out I might create an explosion
Have a great day!
The continuing annoying story about my thumb.
All photographs comes from my “new” camera today. I’ve done nothing more than adjusting the size on them.
So off to the doctor I went and I can’t say it looked nice beneath the bandages. The doctor smelled the wound and said it smelled dead skin. I guess I should be happy he didn’t say it smelled like rotten meat To be honest, it doesn’t smell that much but if one comes close one can feel some strange smell. So he gave me a new antibiotic and then a nurse cleaned the wound thoroughly with some special antibacterial soap. She even scrubbed hard this time so now I hope thet have gotten rid of anything nasty still in there.
This time they let the wound stay open so that it can start to dry, something I think they should have done as soon as they saw that it was infected. Now it finally can dry and start to heal properly, I really don’t mind if my thumb might look a bit strange in the future I suddenly got hit by high fever, sweating like a pig and boiling inside. But suddenly the fever dropped like a stone and now I’m back to normal again. I guess the new antibiotic has started to work in my body because the thumb itches like crazy right now
It has rained most of the day and the wind has been almost as strong as yesterday. But small gaps allowed the sun to shine down on us as soon as my dogs and I started our walk. I brought the “new” camera with me and all photographs comes from that in todays post. I haven’t read the instructions yet so I had it on automatic the whole time. I have to say that it really is a good camera. It do have some problems towards pale backgrounds though, either the photograph becomes really dark or almost totally white Otherwise it works very well.
The Super Nova.
Hector.
Orvar waiting for us to finally start walking again
I feel it will be an early night tonight. The fever made me very tired and that hasn’t let go even if the fever has. So I’ll make a pot of tea, perhaps a sandwich and then I think I’ll go to bed and perhaps read a book. Or I might look at some episodes of the sitcom Friends, I bought the first season the other week and have enjoyed a couple of shows now and again
Some of the Cherry trees are blossoming in the forest now.
Daffodils, or as we call them Pentecost lilies, behind my garage.
Mecenopsis cambrica, Welsh poppy. We call them English poppy. The easy sibling to the Blue poppy. This behaves much like a weed, nothing the Blue poppy never does.
Checkered lilies, they also behaves like weeds in my garden but that’s ok with me
Uvularia grandiflora, my absolute favorite amongst the woodland plants I have.
Have a great day!
Today I got what I bought at the internet auction.
No photographs from today I’m afraid, well one further down. I hope I haven’t shown these before
This thumb of mine, I’m not sure what to say about it. Yesterday the yuck looked sort of healthy if You understand how I mean Not so much today though, but the itching and tingling continues most of the time. I did notice a sort of blister beside the injury when I washed it yesterday, the skin was stretched and it was a bit painful to touch that area. So naturally one of the first things I do today is to hit my thumb just on that spot and hard too I think that blister burst when I did that and that’s why the yuck didn’t look healthy at all But I’m going back to the doctor tomorrow just to be on the safe side. Thank good it doesn’t cost much to pay the doctor a visit here
I wonder who lives here. I could see that the entrance is used often because there’s no moss or grass growing in front of it.
The day started out just as pleasant as it ended yesterday, warm and a bit damp and no wind to speak of. But that didn’t last long Gale and pouring rain most of the day, the weather is actually so bad that not even my dogs wanted to take a walk It isn’t especially cold though so I placed two hibiscuses and a bougainvillea on the entrance stairs, they deserved that after being more or less forgotten most of this winter.
Geese walking around outside my cottage.
I’ve told You I placed a bid on an internet auction and won and today I fetched the thing at the post office in Gudhem. I had to know it was a safe place so I wouldn’t loose my money and not getting anything and found a chain of pawn shops. This chain is well known so I didn’t hesitate when I saw a little camera. It looks just like a SLR camera but it’s really one of those handy small digital cameras that are so advanced that they can do almost everything as the SLR’s can. I can adjust everything manually but it is a bit awkward to be honest, in that way the SLR’s are so much better.
Here it is my little camera. What I really was looking for was a new lens to my Nikon but I had just missed one. So when I saw this I placed a bid (after looking at reviews about it) and won
But why did I buy a camera like that when I have my Nikon You might wonder. Because it is easy to bring everywhere, especially when I’m going to Gothenburg or any other city/ town. The SLR is a camera worth steeling but this one isn’t worth the risk to be honest, even if it will take really good photographs. It is easy to just put in a pocket when I don’t want to use it as well. It came in the original package with the original receipt attached to it, I don’t think it has been used more than a couple of times. I’ve already tried it and it works just fine, I need new batteries though. This time I’ll read all the instructions so I actually will understand how it works
The violets comes up everywhere in my garden now.
I have no idea what this is to be honest But it does get white flowers
It is time for some food, put some fire logs in the stove and then some reading in the instruction book. There’s a cd with it as well but I’ll wait to watch that.
Have a great day!
Yes I know it’s Wednesday :-)
The photographs today will be a mix from these three last days.
Sorry about yesterday but the time just ran away from me I worked one hour overtime and that must shocked my brain because after that everything took so long time But it seems many had internet problems the other day and I started to wonder if the internet actually could break down. I would survive an internet break down but it sure would be boring
I had to go to the clinic on Monday to clean the injury and it still looked unhealthy yucky. They washed it and put bandage over it and told me not to clean it until today. I’m not allowed to bend my thumb either and they saw to it that I can’t with the help of the bandage. It looks a bit funny and now everyone say thumbs up all the time I cleaned it today and there’s still yuck but today it looked sort of healthy if You know how I mean. It’s still there but has a nicer color and I’ve had a tingling sensation beside itching in the thumb all day so I think it finally has started to get better.
It looks like even the Bog Ladies thought this day was a bit too damp and started a fire
Soon they’ll open up, the apple blossoms.
Paeonia anomala ssp. veitchii.
It is raining today and it is fairly warm, around 14C (57F) so I didn’t mind it at all. I actually got a feeling of a gentle summer rain. The vegetation just exploded so now almost all trees are green and most spring flowers are flowering. I’ve seen cherry blossoms all the way home but the trees in the forest here are much later. The crabapple tree by the dog yard is going to flower soon. It is so old that we’re lucky if it does that every second year We always get more apples than we want to when it flowers. This will most likely be a good apple year.
I’m not sure I’ll write anything tomorrow but if I do I’ll show You what I bought on that internet auction the other week. I’m almost certain I will write but since I didn’t make it yesterday because of one hour over time I won’t promise anything. But I will write as usual on Friday, that’s sure
Uvularia grandiflora.
Trillium hubrid.
Yellow wood anemone (anemone ranunculoides) and White wood anemone (anemone nemorosa).
Tulipa tarda.
It is a bit damp in my cottage today. I have turned off the radiators and this rain sort of makes its way in to the cottage and makes it feel colder than it is. So I have a fire burning in the stove and now I’ll make something to eat. I’m not allowed to eat one hour before or after I take the antibiotics so I better hurry on if I don’t want to stay up all night
Have a great day!
Sorry but the internet doesn’t like me today.
I don’t know why but I get tossed out from the internet all the time today. Even when I have a good signal I still have problems connecting to the sites I want to visit. So I’m giving up and tries tomorrow again.
Have a great day!
Chilly morning.
Here’s the moon for those of You that missed it last night.
The sun is fighting against the clouds to make it through down to the ground and it looks as if it is winning the battle. I’m sitting in my rather chilly kitchen with a steaming hot cup of tea by my side. I’ve just started a fire in the stove and it’s probably just stupid since the sun soon will heat up this little cottage of mine. We had a clear and cold night so I got the chance to see the moon when it got as big as it will this year.
The frost covered the newly plowed field. I have no idea why they didn’t plow the entire field this time.
This was way to far from Teodor’s comfort zone But I guess it was better to follow us than to walk home alone
Now starts the time of year when I can’t trust my thermometers in the morning. The sun goes up that far towards north that it hits the thermometer and it can show that it’s really warm outside, like this morning, even if it is way colder than 0C (32F) The frost covered the ground when we were out walking but still my thermometer showed almost 10C (50F)
One of the ditches were filled with dove feathers. I guess it met its destiny here last night.
I thought I finally would get a really good photo of the fox when we started this mornings walk. I saw this orange-red animal running towards us along one of the ditches but it turned out to be our own fat Teodor He almost never follow us on our walks so we passed him and didn’t think more of it. We had come rather far from the cottage when I suddenly heard this sad howling, he had followed us from a distance and realized that he had went way to far from home.
Teodor chose to take a shortcut when he realized we were close to home again So we met just outside the cottage. Now he’s asleep upstairs
This is how the sky mostly looked yesterday.
I called for him and then he followed us almost all the way. I had to have him on my shoulder when we passed the cottage where the nasty cat lives. It is a huge cat that attacks anything that walks by. He even attacked me and my three dogs one day I really can’t complain about it since Bertil does just the same thing when he see dogs he doesn’t know
Gemsrot (Leopard’s Bane).
One of the Clematis I planted by the pond seems to have survived.
The heat from the stove is finally spreading in the kitchen. Soon both Hector and Nova will come down from my bed on the upper floor, the heat goes straight up in to my bedroom You see and especially Hector prefers when it is below 0C (32F) Orvar already feels it’s to warm up there so he sleeps by my side here in the kitchen.
I saved the beat one for last since I know how much You love spiders The thing beside it is a clematis seed I think.
