Facts of Eli

When your fingers are cold, your smartphone won't acknowledge you.

Ugh

I'm sick. It sux. I googled whine and google - the bitch - autocorrected my search and gave me wine memes, instead.

This is me today

Illegal immigrants...

...or mice invasion. The war against mice is on up at the farm. I've sort of lost the battle in parts of the house. I've found a couple of places they come in, but the slim hubby has been too busy with his fishy business to close the mice-freeway entries. I can almost hear them dancing their way inside.
So instead I've emptied out the sink and cupboards in the hallway and installed mouse traps.


The traps need to be checked once a week as a minimum, but that's okay.Even though we don't spend that much time up there during the cold winter months, the place needs to be checked and looked after. Old cottages needs to be warmed up regularly. I'm not quite sure why, but it's what my dad always told me, so I go up there light the wood burner, take care of the traps, go for a hike while the house warms up and have a nice lunch before heading home again.

Slim hubby the hunter was out deer hunting this weekend. He brought his assistant, Marianne. She takes her job very serious and is absolutely pooped when they get home. She spent the rest of the day and night sleeping and hunting in her sleep.

I made scented candles and tea lights today. There is no snow around here yet and I struggle a bit getting into the spirit of Xmas. I figured some cinnamon/orange scented red tea lights would do the trick....except that apparently I don't do the color Red. Instead I do orange and/or pink. Go me?! At least they smell the way they're supposed to

Words

Be sad, 

be rad,

be ravingly mad

but, do stay around

go down,

with a frown,

go wear a crown

but, do stay around

do this,

do that,

do it with splat

but, do stay around

I see you,

I feel you,

I certainly love you

so, do stay around

Project; fixing up at the farm

We've gotten a good start fixing up at the farm. The cellar is DRY! Which means I can actually store things down there.

Runar is going to put in a water tap and I'll get a new hose. Now I have to use the indoor tap and have the hose running through the house, which is a bother, or I can carry buckets of water, which is heavy and a bother. We'll be storing garden stuff and furniture down there. Now we store those things in the barn and they get covered in goo and bird droppings...yuck!

The lawn is semi finished. Runar has put up a natural stone "wall" to enable a flat lawn in front of the house. We'll be planting red currant bushes, etc along it on the lower level and a hedge on top of the stones to shield against wind gusts. Also to enjoy sitting out there without staring the neighbours straight in the eye.

We're planning a masonry natural stone wall up against the barn as well. (to the left of photo, where Marianne is dosing in the shade) We'll have to wait until next year, to let the grass grow properly before driving on it with heavy machinery. Runar is contemplating putting in a natural stone bench - which he saw at some friends' house a few weeks ago. It was gorgeous looking! The reason we need a stone wall there, is to prevent the whole barn from gliding out.

Next weekend we're putting up stones and filling in dirt for a flowerbed from the steps along the house to the driveway. I'm going to see if I can get roses to grow up there. Because of the lower temps up there, not all flowers thrive.

We've finished with painting the upstairs hallway and stairway. The difference is huge and amazing. The 150+ old logs were old and blackened. The whole hallway was dark and scary. As you can see on the photos, they didn't use nails, they notched the logs and they insulated with EVERYTHING, like old newspapers, moss, sawdust, you-name-it. The 100+years old dry moss is hell to paint on. I vacuumed countless times, but we still had a hard time putting on paint on those old logs. The floor was easy in comparison.

 The other thing you'll notice, is that they used whatever planks and logs they had available. This cottage was built by folks who mainly got by without much real money. They bartered and swapped goods for favors, etc. There is a wonderful story about the former owner. I'll tell you another time.














Thomas and I had quite a job using wood impregnation with antiparacitics to get rid of the common furniture beetle that has been eating away on the house up there. It took a couple of weeks to finished the treatment, as we had to do a few parts twice before it helped. But, knock-on-wood I haven't spotted the fine sawdust anywhere afterwards. w00t!
(the photos are from before the second coat of paint)


Healthwise I kept it up until this week. The new meds arcoxia my doc has me trying out works wonders, but I can't take them for more than 4 days max. Neither can I use the ordinary anti-inflammatory meds Vimovo, while using the Arcoxia.  My arms and neck are killing me this week, so we're taking it easy. Right now I'm even having trouble lifting my cup of coffee without grimacing and it's so hard not getting low. Ugh!

Listening to audiobooks and crocheting when I can, watching netflix when I can't. Tomorrow I'll be able to take Vimovo again and hopefully I'll be able to avoid fullblown inflammation and fever happening.

No jobs for Runar, yet. The oil industry is starting to suffer and there is such an increase in unemployed people. With a decrease in available jobs, things are rough.

I'm on the last arm on the jacket I'm crocheting for Helene. It was supposed to be for myself, but I've sort of outgrown it... Here's a photo of the back, just to give you an idea of the pattern. I told you about it earlier. There were no pattern available anywhere for the kind of jacket I wanted, so I used the pattern for a wedding-dress bolero and just "invented" the rest of the pattern on the go


Oh, I proudly present....poppies!!! I dug up a poppie plant last year, from my garden here in Mandal and brought it up to the farm, just to see if it would grow. It did. 3 flowers happened this year. Who knows what'll happen next year

Welcome Year 2015

 PLEASE, BE A GOOD YEAR

PRETTY PLEASE?



I at least hope you are better than the previous, which  sucked balls and toefarts









I'm not doing the new year meme this year, as I hardly have any online time anymore and by the time I get less busy, it'll be too late for that

Things have been busy for a long time. I thought that when Christmas came around, things would calm down. Hunting season would be over and I would be able to get on top laundry, etc instead of living in bags moving back and forth from the farm.
Christmas was spent at my oldest sister's house Their youngest son with family were there and my parents. We had a wonderful time. Little Sigrid got scared when Santa came stomping up from the cellar and had to sit in Runar's lap, while her older brother; Magnus was not scared at all and even gave Santa a hug.

It was snowy and icy Christmas Eve and my father had a little mishap and fell while going down the steps to the car. He is on blood thinners and the cortisone makes his skin thin as well. Most of the skin on the back of his hand just fell off and he bled like a pig, of course. We got him bandaged and thought things were okay.

Turned out things were not so okay after all. Next morning we had to rush him off to hospital and he stayed there until New Years Eve. They drained 1.5 liters from his lungs. His heart isn't strong enough to rid him of excess liquid. He has yet more meds to take and hopefully he'll be around for a little while longer.

While he was in hospital, my youngest sister stayed with my mother. I stayed one night and day as well, but mostly Hildegunn was there. Bless her heart. She's a real trooper! Runar and my oldest sister had both gotten a bad cold from the kids. My brother in law and I visited my dad at the hospital every other day or so.

We need to get the old timers more help. My mother is incapable of caring for herself. She has no clue as to what day it is, what time of the day it is, nor when to eat, take meds, etc. She dresses and undresses 6-7 times a day - for no apparent reason, she has just always been into fashion and seem to think it's okay to change clothes all day. I took her with me when I was shopping groceries for her, all she nagged about the entire time, was to get her new stockings, which I did, because I didn't notice the ridiculously huge pile of boxes with stockings in her drawer until we got back - there  are stockings for a couple of decades...

My father is way too sick to care for anyone other than himself. They are both stubborn enough to not want any more help...fun times

The 30th we drove to Stavanger and helped Helene and her Runar move into their new bought flat. It was only a couple of streets away from where they rented, but it is a much bigger flat and to Helene's delight it has a dishwasher. Wheee! It was wonderful seeing her again, they both looked happy and healthy, which makes the 2 old parents happy pandas. DoubleWhee!

We aren't broke anymore, since Runar now receives unemployment pay, but we're still poor as heck and we can't afford to smoke anymore. This is a good thing, I know it is, even if I can't seem to see any good in this, yet. When I'm over the worst of the withdrawals I'm sure I will be able to see the good in this as well...


I hope my own health will improve a bit in 2015. I'll have to get an appointment to see my doctor (I almost get an allergic reaction just thinking about it, my doctor-angst is getting ridiculously bad) I have to ask her for some stronger anti inflammatory meds and hope my stomach can handle it long enough to get rid of my inflamation in  my right elbow. It's been there since summer and that is way too long. I want to be able to knit again. Hells, I want to be able to use my arms again without ending up a wreck.

I gave myself a newYear's gift this morning. I had forgotten to deactivate my alarm and when I rolled out of bed to turn it off, I headbutted one of the big old trunks(the type of traveling suitcases of olden days) They currently litter our bedroom up at the farm, because I was supposed to paint the upstairs hallway this fall. Due to my inflammation, that didn't happen, but all the shite is still stacked in the bedrooms...
I meet the new year with a black and blue cheek. Yowsa!




HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Aw Lawdy, I crashed. Books and other sillies

I've been down with a freak bout of inflammations for more than a week. It's my own fault, which made it suck all that more. That exercise class was too much and when I, in one of those I-will-get-this-place-in-order-even-if-it-kills-me type of mood, mowed the lawn, yeah... I crashed. My arms felt as if they'd been through a thresher.[ramble] I had to put away my crochet work, which is a bummer as I only have the sleeves left to do on my jacket project.  After I'm done with this one, I am either going to knit or crochet another one - with thicker yarn - a cardigan type, me thinks[/ramble] Marianne, the physical therapist - texted me today telling me I was welcome to try out another easier class. I'm going to try that - hopefully next week.




I'm better now. Not great, I'm still stiff and achy as hell, but no fever anymore. Huzzah! The last three days I've been able to do some knitting, so I started the jacket to go with the dress I knitted for Frida pre-summer. It's going to be a Christmas present.




Runar's work has been down in a dump for a few weeks, with several loose strands that he hasn't quite been able to tie together. Until this week. He's in Denmark today. He'll probably leave again on Sunday for another project. Things are picking up. Thankfully, as I have a mountain of bills to pay.

Oh, you know the car trouble that didn't got fixed, due to the Volvo shop wanting us to pay our souls for something they couldn't guarantee helped? Runar found a shop that could do the job for less than half the price. They knew exactly what Runar was talking about when the called them and had no problems guaranteeing they'd get it fixed. Hah! Take that Volvo! It does mean that he'll have to drive 4 hours to get there, but they'll provide him with a car while the job is getting done. It is SO worth the drive!

Marianne is officially a young adult. She is in heath and Mother Night, she is one very confused dog. Plus she wants some. Real bad. I swear. She's a friggin' nympho whore. Walks with her is now out of the picture for me alone. Walks without a leash is out of the picture for the boys. It's mindblowing. Another thing that is mindblowing is how much her vagina swells up. I don't know how much you guys know about dogs in heath, but their genitalia swell up a bit. Marianne's swells up A LOT! I swear, she is a vagina with a little face at the other end. Terrifying!

IN OTHER NEWS:

Books

I've plowed through a few books this summer. Here are some I'd like to point out:

Red Rising  by Pierce Brown, a supreme sci fi space opera kind of read. L.O.V.E.D. it!

Theft of swords by Michael J. Sullivan. 1st book in the Riyria Revelations trilogy. It's a classical adventure type of Fantasy read. I totally and completely fell in love with the main characters, but I have to admit that the fact that I bought the audio books, part of why I loved it so much, might be due to the awesome narrator. I am such a sucker for a sexy voice...
PS! There are some free audiobook shortstories on Amazon. The Jester is one.

Skin Game by Jim Butcher, the latest of his Dresden Files series about Harry Dresden, the licensed Gandalf-on-crack wizard of Chicago, Il. . Seriously, if you haven't read any of the Dresden Files, you are missing out on greatness. The audiobook narrator is soooo sexy [Mm Mm Mmm]. My sister, who had previously read about 10 pages of this series and had decided that she definitely did not like this cocky asshat wizard wonder, changed her mind completely this summer after she borrowed one of the books(I have some actual books in addition to the audiobooks, because signed stuff is so fun), to read on the 6 hours' bus ride home.  She is now a Dresden Files Fangirl [evil grin]

 I've also been through some anthologies Dangerous Women and Unfettered, which had some entertaining stories in them.

I'm now listening to The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks. It's boy-coming-to-age type of Fantasy with some interesting twists. I have an ambivalent relationship with this series. I hated the main character so much in book 1, that I could hardly manage to read() on, but even though I still disliked him in book 2, there were some interesting aspects regarding Brent's universe and type of magic and I kind of like the baddies. Now, in book 3, I'm catching myself in actually liking the little SOB. Weird.

I upgraded the kindle version of Shawn's The Dark Thorn to the audio version. I now have it in all possible versions, but I don't care, it's a good story that I won't mind listening to again, whenever I'm out of anything new to read/listen to. Which sort of leads me to my big problem



I need ideas for new reads. I'm desperate for some dystopian, steampunk dark awesomness to dive into when the long rainy autumn nights sets in. Help me out, plz?






PS! Just got a call from Runar. 1.  He's landed a new deal. YAY! 2. He got his ass kicked out of the business class area on the ferry, because he didn't see the QUIET sign and was talking on the phone... GROANY SIGH!

Sounds harsh? Guys, you haven't heard the type of phone-talking this hubby of mine does. Quiet is not a word that abides with Runar. Not even on a good day...

What my brain spewed out...

...when I realized how long it had been since I last blogged and knew I only had tonight to do it. 



First, Marianne is back to her good, old self. The swelling went away the fourth day. She had her last pills today, thankfully. Dogs get as low-energy as humans when on antibiotics. Poor baby. She hasn't wanted to go near that field where she got bit, afterwards. Lets all cross fingers she's learnt.


This is when we got back from the vet and the morphine kicked in. She was afraid to lay down, since the mouth hurt so bad. I had to help her, in the end. She was out for several hours and when she woke, she felt a lot better and her appetite was back....or perhaps it was the drug-munchies?







We missed Simen

Tuesday we're off to her 1 year old check up at the vet. Should be fun. She really impressed me at the emergency Vet. She hadn't been to a vet before, but took to all the instruments, benches, noisy machines and other sick animals, like a pro. The Vet could do whatever she wanted to, but when she touched the lips(?) she cried out miserably.





The shark slippers are finished.













I had to turn down a visit from a friend. That really and truly sucked. With Runar having so much to do with his new business and his stress level being as it is, I just couldn't make it happen in a way that would be an enjoyable experience. He is a gracious and understanding friend, which makes it doubly bad. But, I have promised myself to get better at saying no, rather than forcing myself to manage more than I can handle. The visit will happen and when it does, I'll likely be happy it got postponed. I hope. Part of me fears there is a train that has left and will never return. I hate that little miserable voice in the back of my mind. Someone ought to find a way to permanently stomp that dude and tell the rest of us.


I got tax refund. I didn't think I would. Very pleasant surprise, that.

 Drought has stolen all the colours. This little fellow is usually pinkish purple



Tuesday we took the boat out and ate supper sammies on an island. The drought is making everything look rather sad, to be honest. It's crazy dry. My lawn is a yellowish-brown dried out joke. Simen, bless his soul, managed to keep my flowers alive. Mostly. I love that boy.

Tuesday night, I wanted to strangle him slowly to death a time, or ten.

He had forgotten a fish in a plastic bag on the floor inside the boat. You cannot imagine the stink. I had to remove the rotten mesh and dry it up. G.R.O.S.S. We had to leave the hatch open the entire trip and we left the boat open, making Simen go down to close up late at night before going to bed. He had to clean the boat a later day. Grrrowl!

This one hasn't sprung out and doesn't know about the colours having been stolen, yet. Crude awakenings to come. Å, Jah!









 Next week, Helene and her Runar is coming home. Juhuu!









I'm crocheting a new summer hat for myself. Like this, but white.












The big cousin get-together up at the farm, is happening August 1st. None of us sisters has had the guts to start any serious planning. Runar has already started dying. It can't be helped, he'll just have to die gracefully around me, or suffer the consequences. I'm working on my mean streak this summer.

I got my hair fixed, yesterday. And my brows. I thought they got too dark and tried scrubbing the colour off with eye makeup remover.

I now have very sore and very red eyebrows. They're still just as too dark. Nobody can see that they're coloured and that I regretted it, tried to fix it and failed. Miserably. Nobody.    
Snort!


My attempt at a selfie, showing off my new caps. My photographic skillz still suck balls.  

Weekend at home

 Yesterday the boys put out the boat. Yay. Then the car broke down while hubby was on his way to work. Not so yay. A couple of hours after the car broke down, Helene contacted me on facebook telling me her phone had been stolen. WTF! Thurstay the 12th is my today. So go suck on it, Friday the 13th!

Have a fantabulous weekend, folks!

PS! I'm done with the dress for Frida.

As you can see it has a rather unique pattern. That is because I had no idea what-so-ever what I was doing and just made things up as I went along.

I did the white blonds correctly, though. Even Ellen was impressed. I can has kudos for that?








I'm not the very good at ironing and I have a new lousy iron, because Simen's ex kept mine, or Simen is too afraid to ask for it back, I don't know. Grr.

Because I am a masochist, I've started on the bonnet. A voice is ringing in my head while I'm knitting. "Forgive her, for she knows not what she is doing. She's just plain dumb." 


PPS! There should be a law against flying critters coming into houses. Especially those with a stinger, or a sucking mouth(mouthpiece? sucker? snable?)

Bling-bling and other unimportant stuff

I haven't really done anything important, or particularly interesting while I've been offline, except from buying Marianne some bling-bling.

Ramble*Spoiler*
Part of my offline period hasn't been because I've been without a net. More a case of malaware that messed up my computer. I don't deal with these things very well, I'm afraid. I go totally diva and looses my will to live. Then I turn to threatening the computer with the city dumbster, going on to planning on going off the grid and ending in throwing arms in the air, argghh-ing a lot and swearing NEVER USE A DAMN COMPUTER EVER AGAIN. I need at least a day, or many to muster up the guts to start figuring out how to fix it. */Spoiler*

Runar nearly had a heart attack when I put it on her. He is convinced she's as embarrassed as he is. "Au contraire", I say, because I think she løøøves it!

                        Loook! I haz blings!










Runar doesn't understand that kind of humour, maybe. Marianne is so little lady-like in her behaviour, it is hilarious. She is her whimsical, happy self dirty as sin, or clean as a whistle. This thing screams MARIANNE! to me. The kids share my sense of humour and dig it.


I iz sad panda

                    ...no! Can't. talk. about. it

Daddy doesn't think I'm pretty.











Poor, little Marianne feels unloved, I'm sure.


In other news
Runar is helping a friend cutting down some pine trees getting too big, messing up their garden/house. 

Saturday we're going to Frida' and her mother's birthday party.

This means we'll be spending a weekend at home, for a change.

Runar plans on going up to Vintland on Saturday evening, but I have a hunch the tree-cutting project isn't done so quickly as he expects.Time vill shåvv! (Ominous music) - We've been watching Colombo on netflix with English subtitles on. I love the explanatory text parenthesis.

Ramble-ramble-ramble-nonsense-and-shit

Tick season has started over here. I need to get some anti-tick drops for Marianne (They don't make tick collars for St Bernards - at least my vet don't have any) I also need to get an appointment for X-rays and the 1-year-old check up for her. She'll be 1 year May 21st. w00t!





Marianne has been inventive() this week(read: Runar forgot to watch her) She managed to persuade Runar(read: she looked up at Runar and waggled her tail happily as normal dogs do) to take her to work with him. He had a meeting at his partners' shop and guess what she found? A whole mound of finely ground graphite - you know, the stuff pensils are made of  - and she gave herself a graphite bath.

Runar called home and warned me and told me to rig up the hose to give her a bath on the patio, because the black dust monster wasn't safe near anyone, or anything. Only thing is that the extra piece needed to hook the hose to our shower, had disappeared during winter(read: I'm afraid I threw it in the garbage during one of my frantic cleaning-out-the-damned-shed modes). It was either ice-cold water from the outdoor tap, or we'd have to get her into the shower. We chose the shower, because it's still cold enough that an outdoor shower in cold water would probably give her a serious cold. She's fine swimming in the lake, or sea, because her fur is such that it insulates from water getting all the way down to her skin, but as soon as you add soap/shampoo, that protection vanishes and they get wet and cold as us furless two-legged beings.

We barely got her into the shower. Runar pulled and I pushed and then forced the shower door closed. I had to hold the door closed during the entire shower ordeal, because Marianne tried to gnaw her way out.

I iz sowy










The shower got more than half of the graphite dust off her, but not all, so Runar volunteered(read: I was thiis |~| close to strangle the man to death) to take her down to the lake and get her to take a long swim. It didn't really help, but it gave me time enough to clean the dust off everything she touched on her way to the shower and to cool down a bit, so as not to stand ready with a cleaver when man got back. I don't think it did much good with the swim. She still has grey-ish spots here and there and it's been 2 days, 1 shower and 3 baths since she dove into the mound. At least it doesn't smear off onto everything else, anymore.

Helene ended up in the ER, yesterday. They suspected appendicitis and kept her over night, but her CRP levels was much better today and the pain was almost gone as well, so they let her home today. She got a note giving her immediate access to a hospital bed if she gets worse during the first 24 hours.

Runar has a minor repair job to do in Stavanger tomorrow, so I'm hitching a ride with him and will spend the day with her. I just have to see with my own eyes, that she looks okay.

 (yes, I admit I'm as hysterical as any other mom when it comes down to these things). I embarrassed the heck out of her. She gave me a text saying she was on her way to the hospital and that it was possible it was appendicitis, but that I couldn't call as she was out of power on her cell. Of course I called the hospital and got them to track her down and give her a hospital phone so I could talk to her. Duh! It's what moms do under such circumstances. Actually I was ready to steal a car and start driving, but Runar managed to persuade me otherwise.

It's funny, I've never viewed myself as a hysterical mom, but when things like this happens, the infamous mother-monster in me wakes up and roars. Loudly.




Messages like "I'm quite fine, you don't need to come". translates into "Oh, my god, I'm dying, you have to come. Right now!"  It's the same with messages like "I didn't do anything wrong, but..." They translates into "I've committed a terrible crime and will be locked up in prison for life" (When Simen calls and begins his sentences like this while out doing his russe shenanigans and has run out of money and needs help to get home.) I automatically interrupt him mid sentence and  half yell, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, NOW?!?"




Also, I have sadly reached the point where I have to start dieting. *pout* Damn 40+ Things really starts going downhill fast after 40. My mind tells me I'm still quick and flexible. My body shouts otherwise. And fuck! Kilos shows up in thin air and clings to my body for life. I expect to gain weight during the worst of the winter months, because I  take shorter and fewer walks and no hikes in the wood. I've done that every winter the last few years, but earlier, those extra kilos have vanished quickly enough when spring comes and I start hiking again. Not this year. *pout*

Okay, I still don't do dieting for realz, because my dieting consists of eating whole grain breads of various kinds and no chocolate or candy snacking. I still have a ton of butter on those whole grain thingies and I still eat normal dinners as always. Meh.

I have plans on starting doing yoga, but I still haven't found a youtube yoga session that I like. It's probably more a case of me  just not knowing what to look for. Halp, plz?


Oh, OOOOOHHHH! Guess what? Those pesky cottage neighbors actually PAID!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAH!

Uhm...it doesn't really give us any extra money to use on fun stuff, to be honest. We're in the minus after a winter of little, to no paycheck, so what it means is that we get to keep both our house and Vintland and escape bankruptcy. We are fit to keep on hanging in there.   HIPfuckingHURRAY!

I'm desperately trying to de-frost my freezer. I've got one of those combi fridge/freezer thingies. It is supposed to! be of the type that does these things automatically. After enough years and after enough incidents of forgetting to shut the door properly, the automatic-get-rid-of-excess-ice function, doesn't function. Ice was threatening to take over the whole thing.

I have a regular old fashion freezer too, so I moved all of the frozen wares into that and let the door open yesterday morning. The idiotic thing with these fancy automatic thawing wonder machines, is that when you actually have to do it manually, there is no way of turning off the power  for the freezer only. Options are spoiled food in the fridge, or thawing out the ice by leaving the freezer door open.

After 24 hours of open door thawing, the ice has been reduced by NOTHING!


Like this times 9.












Naturally, I've now done what is said you should not do. Ever. I've put a heating fan right outside the freezer door and it is working excellently. So there!
At least it hasn't started any fires...yet.  Patience issues much?!?

Since it's almost Friday I wish you a fantabulous weekend, guys!

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

Happy Easter

Heading up to the mountain for Easter.

Audio book. Check (Railsea by China Mieville )
Knitting. Check
Chrochet. Check
Good mood. Check


Have a fantabulous Easter, guys and remember

BEWARE THE KILLER BUNNIES

Friday, I welcome thee!

I'm happy to say I'm back to knitting again, after a period of not being able to knit at all, it feels great! Finished with a few knitting projects - felted slippers and socks.

Working on this right now
(just that I'm using different colours)


















Charlotte (Frida's mom) visited earlier this week and she picked out a few dresses and sweaters she wanted me to knit for Frida. Yay!







I'm also going to crochet these shark socks for Helene. If they're not to difficult to do, I'll do a pair for some of the toddlers as well.







I'll probably be crocheting a few more summerhats for myself later on. With my sensitive scalp and lack of hair, it'll be that or buy a whig...




Oh, and because it's Friday I give you something to WTF over

Yoko Ono's Fashion for men:

I mean, seriously?!? That's not sexy, that's creepy! Or, when I try visualizing a REAL man wearing those clothes, like the hubby hee hee hee yeah, hilarious!  

And what's with the nipple dots? 

Here's the link http://www.weirduniverse.net/

Gotta love NEWS of the WEIRD


Have a fantabulous weekend, folks!

Pintrest

You know, it's the perfect place for when you know you ought to be doing something useful, but you just can't be bothered right now

I have nothing nice to say, really. Winter depression is getting harder to fight off. We're down on luck and every time we(Runar and I) think we'll have a chance at just chilling out with some alone-time, something happens and...well, you get the picture.

Instead I give you today's annoying, weird, sick and cute from Pintrest

There are some great stuff over there, but some of it just makes me want to scream cusswords



like these


All this does to me is that I want to say: Oh, go fuck yourself!

















No, it wont



















Deep. Any deeper and you'll have to learn Chinese
















Thing is, Pintrest is like Netflix, it gives you what it thinks you like. I get a lot of weird (what a surprise *), but it is usually the weird stuff that makes me laugh.

Then there are these random weird ones that makes you go WTH???

The text says: Donkeys have been working animals for at least 5000 years! 

heh, okay then





*not really

Just No!












I can't help it, this is too cute. I may try to knit one of these. No, I have no idea what it is, but it makes me happy just looking at it.




















...or a Thursday night





Hope you guys have a great weekend!