Friday, April 17, 2009

For some odd reason this flower is called "Snakes eye" in swedish. It spreads like crazy if it grows in a woodland. Soon I will have a carpet of blue flowers there :-)


I actully woke up early this morning, not because I wasn´t tired but had too :-) When I came down to the bottom floor it was really cold and it was frost outside, -4C ( 25F). But thankfully no pot plants that I put outside got damage. Mostly I was worried that the nectarine flowerbuds should have froze to death, but they seemes okey. But now we´re getting colder weather again so for a moment I thought of going to Falkoping to buy some firelogs to put in the stowe, but since I´m getting both my hips x-rayd in Falkoping on Monday I can as well wait until then.





This little primula is called 'Annica'. One of the first to bloom here.

The cold front is comming. Looks worse than it is though. The clouds are very thin so the sun has no problems shining through.



My old dog Erna has problems with her back, so sometimes she´s loosing weight and has problems with her back legs (she gets lumbar paralysis ) . I noticed the other day that her backproblems had started again. She tried to jump over a small creek, that normally she just would have walked over. This time however she fell right into it. All the way home she sort of wobbled with her back legs. Not long ago that would have meant her time would be over, but nowdays there´s a great medicine that makes her back okey again. The fun thing is that she understands how important it is that she gets this medicine. Normally she can be very cranky when it comes to eating, but when I´ve let her sniff on the medicine botle (I put the medicine in her food) she eats all the food directly without fuzzing about it. So now she´s like she was as young again. Playing around and have fun with her sons. Fantastic how things can change just over a couple of days.





Where ever I´m picking out weeds from my flowrbeds Teodor is just beside me :-)



I had to mowe the lawn yesterday. It wasn´t that hard because the grass had started to grow a litte bit here and there. I have no engine on my lawn mower so it´s really nice going around with it. I can still hear all the birds sing and I don´t have to inhale all the fumes from an engine. When the grass is dry and short as it is now, that lawnmower is perfekt. But when the rains starts in early autumn it´s just useless :-) The wheels just slide over the wet grass and the longer the grass gets, the longer time it takes to dry up. Finally the grass is to long and still wet and then I wish I had an engine on the lawnmower :-) I´ve heard that there is one lawn mower that is like mine but with a small electric engine on it. Then it would cut the grass even if the wheels just slide over the wet grass. Think I´m going to look for something like that later this spring. But I´ve said that for the last three years :-)
Have a great day now!

The willow is also in bloom and that gives all the bumblebees food to start up their new community.



8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a neighbor who just had two hip replacements and is doing really well but cannot walk up stairs, hurts too much. She had friends move her bedroom downstairs to the living room until the real estate market returns and she can sell and buy again but this time on one level. My house is on one level and we are on a one acre wooded lot. I put flower seeds down 9 years ago when the house was newly built hoping for a carpet of beautiful blue flowers but none have ever come up. We had a row where the yard opens up from the woods so my wife is thinking they must need sun light as the woods are too dark. I saw these same flowers on a hillside, millions of them, the State put down as a barrier against erosion and thought they looked marvelous. I am sad they didn't take here.

I hope your dog is OK now. Back pains usually come with old age on most dogs. Then kidney problems. Your flowers show you will have a wonderful spring. Have a good day Christer. You have a wonderful way with words and I enjoy reading your blog daily.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Z&M!
Thanks for those kind words!
I´m to young to get hip replacements, because they would brake within ten years, so I get implants instead. They just take away the grid on the bone and the bowl and replaces it with titanium, so I still have my hipbone left (thats not the case when they have hipreplacements). That makes it easier for me to recover. I already have it in my right hip and it´s like I never had any problems there. It´s an experimental thing and one has to be younger than 55years old when they do it.

About the flowers. There are rather many flowers that want´s to live in the shady woods, likes those Snake eyes I have, so why don´t try some of them. They are called woodland plants over at Yours too I think. They flower early in spring before all leafs comes on the trees. One only have to buy one plant of the Snake eye and soon it will cover big areas. I think that You can have that plant too in Your warmer climat. The scientiffic name is: Omphalodes verna.

Yes, my old dog is living on borrowed time and I dread the day I have to take her to the vet for the last time. But as long she´s happy it´s okey, but the day she´s not I have to go with her. No reason to let her suffer even if it´s really hard to say good bye to an old friend.
Have a great day now!
Christer.

woody said...

Great pictures as always and good news too that terer is a medicine that puts Erna back in shape.Sorry they don't have one for your hips or for my knees for that matter. More and more your garden is comeing to life and brightening up your world and your blog. So nice that you share it with us in the blog world. Alice mary sends her best and says thanks for your concern for her ailment.

Barb said...

Hi Christer,
Your pitures are beautiful. Sorry to hear your dog is having problems. Our dog was 17 and deaf & blind when we had to put her to sleep. That's very hard to do.
I hope it is not too long of a recovery after surgery for you. I know you like to be out walking and doing stuff in your yard.
Barb

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Woody!
Thank You!
Yes it´s a shame they can´t figure out a medicine for us too, but on the other hand, they still have to figure out a medicine for a common cold too :-) :-)

Great that AliceMarys foot is getting better!
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Barb!
Yes it´s really tough when one has to put ones dog to sleep. This time I think it will be even worse, because I was there when she was born too. A horrible :-) day that I´ve written about here earlier in my blog.

The recovery takes about three months and then it´s back to work as usual, if nothing gets wrong like an infection or so. I could feel the differens already when I got up on my feet for the first time two days after the surgery :-)
Have a great day now!

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

Hi Christer..your "Annica" flower reminds me of our "Primrose." Even the leaves look similar to me. I have never seen such happy and carefree animals as yours. It is wonderful to watch! Take care Christer. How are you feeling?
Mona

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Mona!
This plants is a hybrid with the Primerose in it, but it has at least two other species in it as I know.

Well, the hip tells me that it´s there and it happens that I wake up when I turn in bed. It makes me a bit tired all the time, but I´ll survive. I hope that they think it´s time to do something about it this year.
Have a great day now!
Christer.