Thursday, April 2, 2009

Soon the "Portal" will be all green and closed in the top, then it really looks like a hughe portal to a castle or something like that.


I´m having my weekend now and I think it was a good thing, because I´ve been so tired after the timechange. A swedish studie have shown that the rate of heart attacks goes up a lot when we change from normal time to summer time and the other way around. So if I´m ever getting a bad heart I´ll probably one of those who will get my first heart attack when they change the time :-)


They have built a new windpowerplant up on the mountin. I think they look beautiful so I would like a lot more of them on the mountin. Arkeologists are not that fond of them though. This area is one of the places they have, and still are, found a lot of stonage (and bronsage and ironage)remains. They fight every new windpowerplant as hard as they can unfortunally.



The nights are still rather cold, so the ditches freeze every night. But that´s how it is in spring here.


The sun was shining and there were only a weak wind ouside when I woke up (now it´s cloudy but still rather warm). There were one thing that didn´t seeme right though. We now have about 18500 (all time high if I understand things correctly) cranes by the lake, but I couldn´t hear a single one of them?? Okey, I didn´t go out until nine so it´s possible that they now have started to spread in the surroundings and not just stay by the lake any more. For those who hasen´t got a nestingplace it´s a busy time finding one around here. Even up north they say that cranes have a tough time finding a place to nest and to be honest, it´s a lot of space up north.



The Jackdaws are wonderful and funny but also a problem if You have a house with a chimney. They love to nest there so one have to have a fire in ones fireplace for a long time in spring so they don´t start to build a nest there. My neighbour doesn´t have a fire for a long time, so every year they nest in his chimney :-) He´s not happy about it. It doesn´t help a lot having a grid over. They are strong and can usually lift it without a problem or they just put twigs down the holes in the grid just in case they´ll be able to lift it later :-) :-) I love those birds :-)



On the other hand I can gladly say that the starling (Click on the name and a Wikipedia site will show. If You then click on “Visa ursprunglig webbsida” You´ll get it in english) has arrived. This is a bird that You have in North America, they all descend from 60 birds that they let out in Central Park, New York. The man who did this wanted every bird mentioned by William Shakespeare to live in America :-) But the starling has been introduced all over tha world and is in no danger of dying out. On the contrary I would say :-)



Yet another crocus have started to bloom now.



The starling can mimic most sounds that it meets in life. The one we have here must live near a coco-clock every winter :-) The first time I heard it I started to wonder when my neighbour had bought a coco-clock, I had never seen or heard one at his place before. But suddenly it started to sound as a car alarm :-) I don´t know how old they can get, but this one is at leats eight years old.



Teodor really enjoys spring :-)



Now I´m going to make another cup of tea and then take it outside to the kitchen stairs. The sun might not be shining at the moment but spring is in the air :-)
Be good!

The swallows like to nest under my roof :-) I know they create a mess with their droppings all over the wall and flower bed benieth but I wouldn´t want to be without them anyway :-) This nest is from last year. This one will be destroyed and then they rebuild it again.
By the way, my Erna was born twelve years ago yesterday. If You want to read how it was that day in my cottage kitchen read this: "The day Erna was born" That was a day that probably is going to be the last thing going out from my memorie when I´m getting old :-)

A cup of tea on the kitchen stairs. It´s almost to hot to sit here when the sun starts to shine, but who cares :-)

17 comments:

Fritt ur hjärtat said...

Inte kan det bli för varmt;-)
På måndag tar jag min Theodor och far till Hornborgarsjön. Självklart tittar vi på tranorna men vi gillar baksidan med naturrummet och alla gömslen bättre. Hoppas vädret håller i sig!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Ja nu är det ju verkligen en syn med så många tranor! Fast nu har de dessutom börjat sprida sig över alla fälten här, så tranor lär ni se långt innan ni når fram till sjön :-) ja, jag hoppas verkligen vädret håller i sig:-)
Christer.

Anonymous said...

It's so refreshing to stop by the Cottage each morning and read about your nature and your life in the country. Swallows,a Starling,the Jackdaws, Teodor taking in some sun, and you having tea on the back porch. It all sounds so delightful. That will help keep your ticker ticking Christer. I wonder about the archiologists not wanting the wind power plants on the hill. What could they be looking to find? Dinosaur parts? You have a good day off! And thanks for cheering me up this morning.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi ZaM!
Last time the archiologists complained it was about how the windpowerplant would destroy the atmosphere of the place?! It seemes that stonage people had put a lot of stones all over the ground, I don´t know why though religious perhaps? No one comes to look at these stones because the grass grows all over them. The village that wanted to build the powerplants promised to build the powerplant so no stone would have to be moved and they promised to cut the grass so people could see the stones (if any one wanted that at all :-) ).

But the archiologists said NO! So now there´s no powerplant and no one can see the stones?!

It´s not like it´s anything unique either, such places can be found all over this area. I can understand if they protect something unique or some of those places, but all?

Well, they are putting up new powerplants all over the country so in the long run they´ll probably have to allow "atmospheric disturbances" here too.
Christer.

woody said...

Sitting in the sun and sipping a cup of tea while you enjoy the birds and flowers of spring .It just don't get no better than this enjoy your weekend.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Woody!
So true, it doesn´t get much better in life :-) But tomorrow, if the sun´s shining I´ll have a cup of Dunkin Donuts hazelnut coffee :-)
Christer.

NinaVästerplana said...

Have the cranes left now when the warm whether arrived?
Enjoy your the
Ha dé himla gôtt
Nina

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Nina!
I looked at the statistics and there were "only" 15800 today, so now they probably are traveling north.
Jag hade det himla gôtt i solen idag :-)
Christer.

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

What a wonderful "good morning" blog this was! I just came in from outside and chatting with Howard and looking at his "before" pictures of our back yard. We just had "curbing" put in around our back lawn..and have just added bags and bags of "Amend" to richen the soil. So...now..on to the planting. I will post some "after" pictures when we are finished..but of course it will be awhile until things grow and get pretty. Anything is an improvement out there! How I do love to garden. I want to put in a raised garden this year. I get so tickled at your discription of the birds and their nest building on your roof..and the birds copying the clock..and the car alarm. Funny! :)
We have lots of swallows here in California...but not as many as we used to. There has even been a song written about them call "When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano." It is very beautiful. I don't live very far from there and the California Missions that were there so long ago are still there and kept up by the town. It is a big draw for tourists. Have you ever heard of the song? The place is covered with their mud nests..and each years they come back to breed and hatch their chicks. You can probably find out about it on the compute. (Sorry this is so long!)

OK... :) I went back and read your
"The Day Erna Was Born" and I am SO glad I did! What a fun post it was to read. You really do paint a great picture of what is going on and it was as if I was right there. I loved the part where the Vet tells you to find something else to do and leave her alone...so you go sit down in the kitchen and contiue to scream!! LOL That was one great post. Thank you so much for sharing it once again. I hope everyone goes back and reads it!! It was GREAT!!
Sending you a hug for all you went through on that day! LOL
Mona

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Mona!
It always looks a bit sad the first days after planting the flowers :-) The plants are all messed up after handling them and it takes some days for them to adjust to the new place. But still one thinks it looks fantastic directly they are planted :-) And I do love gardening too :-)

Raised gardens are bocomming more and more popular and I think they are great. If one has problems going down on the ground they are perfect! I probably will make some myself as my joints getting worse.

I actully think that I´ve heard that song at least a couple of times, have to find it on the net to be sure though. I will look up that place too.

When Erna was born was a day of horror :-) I was so prepared one could be, but this was nothing like the things I´ve read or seen on tv :-) So when Erna was going to have puppies I thought I could handle everything, but how wrong was I. Perhaps I´ll write about that soon.
Have a really nice day now!
Christer.

Anonymous said...

... Wonderful and heart-warming stories, my friend.
Nature is life, and you are such an intricate part of that ...
Take care ... GeeGee

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi GeeGee!
Thanks.
You take care too!
Olof.

Anne Marie said...

I like the first photo of your doggie running up to you :)

would love to see the picture of that same photo during summer!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Anne Marie!
Thanks!
There will be a similar photo when everything has become green :-)
Thanks for stopping by!
Christer.

NinaH said...

Woops! Is it twlve year since Erna was born?! I remember it! Or... have you told the story later...?... Hm....?
Heard on the radio about your crane record by the lake this week! Must have been noisy!;-) (Was on the radio!;-)...)
Nice to here facts on the starling. The story ´bout how it came to USA was new to me. And your starling sounding like a coco bird! Tihi!
How nice to have a nice cup of tea on the front step!
Enjoy your week end off!

NinaH said...

Nice "to hear"... no "to here"!;-)

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Nina!I´ve told that story on my swedish blog a while ago, but I probably told You that before too :-)

The story about how the starling cam to The US was new to me also, found it on the net. It´s sure a survivor thet bird!

Yes it was really nice to have tea on the kitchen stairs yesterday, this morning however is very foggy.
Have a nice day now.
Christer.