Spring is here

Easter was great! Weather was unbelievable. We had temps up to +20C (68F) which is exceptional to say the least. Trees are sprouting leaves and flowers are starting to bloom and the wildlife is abundance.

So far I've heard the Black Grouse "play" which is a sure sign spring is here. My dad teased one doing the "choowee" blowing of air sound and got immediate reply as it reckoned my dad for a pesky challenger. The big grin all over my dad's face was priceless.

The video is from Froland - a few hours east of here, but it is much the same all over

At nights when I'm on the front steps waiting for Marianne to do her business, I've heard the Common Snipe do his famous pick-up-line to get some bird.

It's quite a fascinating sound. You can't see it, but by the sounds of it, it sounds like something is diving down to shoot you dead.

I've grown up being explained it sounds almost like a machine gun, but I think that is just because my dad grew up during WW2 and is a bit weird, but with a vivid imagination it does kind of remind me of old war movies with those(by the sound of it) sewing-machines with wings they used with machine gun firing. Especially when there really isn't any other sounds around. It appears a lot louder.







The common lizard is out and about.  (PS! See the little white flowers growing all over? They cover the undergrowth like a carpet. They're white wood anemone

Norway's only venomous snake - the Viper, Vipera Berus also comes out of hibernation these days. Apparently this will be what we call "a Viper year", meaning there appears to be a lot of them. They're not particularly dangerous. Venom is about as dangerous as a wasp sting, but they say it's painful. They usually try to escape and hide, but if you tick them off, they can get nasty like this one. It hisses and strikes.

You don't want them around the garden. They don't go well together with dogs, nor kids...

We saw a Buteo buteo bird of prey dive down and catch a mouse in the field. Afterwards it sat searching for more on top of a telephone pole for a long time. We got to study it through binoculars. It was just like this one, dark of colour.  They're beautiful.












The owls and the wood peckers are active like crazy and more and more of the migrating birds are coming back. The White Wagtail is already busy building a nest in the barn.

The neighbour's lambs are baa-ing and doing their silly jumping dances. All in all, nature is letting it be known, spring is here and I can't explain how happy it makes me feel.


Oh, was at the doctor's with my mother, yesterday. She is now start using "Remember more patches" Or Exelon Patches  They're a bit like nicotine patches with much of the same side effects, it seems, which is odd, but.... They're supposed to help brain cells communicate better with each other.

Hopefully they'll help her and if not exactly make her better, they might slow down the dementia process. We're to see a specialist to try establishing exactly how bad things are.

Otherwise we can tell that spring has done both my parents loads of good. My father is in the process of re-painting the veranda rails. He shouldn't be doing things like these, but we have to let him, because it is so important to him to still feel ...manly, I guess,  and useful.


I'm working on this set now. I'll be doing a jacket as well, that isn't shown on the photo.

It's the first time I'm knitting using a drawn pattern instead of just instructions. It's difficult. I'm not doing it quite right, but pfft, I'm calling on artistic freedom and make things up as I go :P