Monday, April 12, 2010

Thin layers of mist were sort of floating around in the village before the sun had heated up the air.



It was really cold this morning -5C (23F) and the ground was covered with a thin layer of frost. But since the sun was going up and I could feel the heat from it I didn´t mind. It was a wonderful morning. I could hear cranes out on the fields, a woodpecker just above my head and some Black grouse cocks trying to impress on the hen out on the bog. Unfortunally they are very shy so if I want to see them doing it I have to stay out all night under behind a shelter. I´m not that kind of person any more :-) :-)


The ditches out on the fields were frozen, but when we came inside the forest the water was unfrozen.


To make the morning even better I once again saw the two squirrels we have here. Normally we don´t have squirrels here because of the martens. Martens loves to eat squirrels and they are very fast and effective doing so. Even if I do like martens I like squirrels even more :-)




After the walk I drove to my work just to say hi to my work friends. Some of them had been given notice of losing their jobs but since it seemes they have rather a lot to do most belives that they won´t have to quit. So most of them doesn´t care that much at the moment. But some does give the place a rather infected feeling. Especially since I didn´t get that notice and have worked there a shorter time than them. But it all comes down to competense and I have the right competence and lots of it.



If one is very much into snowdrops it´s the small things that is important. This flower has for instance a thick area with green on the upper part of the petals, but just thin on the bottom.
This however has thick layers both on the top and the bottom. I´m not that much in to snowdrops so I have no idea if these are two common species or if anyone is more rare. Perhaps a snowdrop lover sees these and starts to drool over my rare species today :-) :-)


The leaders of the union at work have had a tough time explaining why things are like they are and now they have gotten tired of it all. Next week they´ll have a meeting with all members if they want an union board of our own or if they want the big union to take over. If they still want a board of our own I will most likly become the new leader of the union. I´m the only one willing to take that job and I seldome have troubles telling any one what I think about anything :-) :-) Next week we all now :-) :-)



It looks as if my yellow Helleborus (Christmas rose) only will give me one flower this year. To my big dissapointment the flower tends to get more and more green for every year. It was butter yellow in the beginning.
I feel I can never show to many Hepatica nobilis (don´t they have an english name?). I have a couple of plants in my garden including a pink filled one.


The sun is shining outside and even if it isn´t much warmer outside today my kitchen door stays open and soon I´ll have a cup of coffee on the kitchen stairs (I´m all out of tea You see). The cold wind from yesterday is gone so it is quite nice outside. Perhaps I´ll plant the seedlings from last year in bigger pots today. Some of it I´ll plant in my own garden, but some is going to plant exchanging days. That is something we have here because most of us that sows our own plants usually sows to much :-) We can´t keep it all, so we get together a couple of times every year and changes plants with each other. That´s a good way to keep costs down and to get new interesting plants to the garden.

Have a great day now!

19 comments:

caryn said...

Hi Christer!

Hepatica nobilis = Liverwort in English. Supposedly the leaf resembles the liver.

I'll trade you a box of squirrels for a couple of martins. We have way too many squirrels and not enough things that eat them. The main predator of squirrels here is the automobile and it isn't very good at it.

Sorry to hear about the problems at work. It does affect the atmosphere in the workplace when people don't know if they are going to have a job much longer.

It's cool but sunny here and looks to be improving. Hope the day warms up for you.

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hi christer...it looks like spring is finally coming to you! i am about to go out and start cleaning up my lower gardens. i have to clean out my potting shed. i also have a bunch of trees to cut down which broke from the heavy snow. we need rain so bad here. i am afraid we will be in a drought if we don't start getting some rain. how is it we go from 6 feet of snow to being this dry so soon. weird and strange weather! joyce

Anonymous said...

A union boss, eh? I was a union organizer for 10 years and it was the best job I ever had. Organizing was down, Reagan was a union buster, so most of us were let go. It's different today, I think. What kind of bird eats squirrels? I never heard of that before. Have a great day!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Caryn!
Thanks for the name! I know they thought it would cure liver diseases just because the leafs reminded of a liver. I wonder how many people they poisouned just because of that :-) :-)

It´s not good when it´s the opposite either. To many squirrels = fewer birds. I´ll see if I can catch some martens for Yoy then. But they are fast little creatures :-) :-)

The swedish economy has turned to the better so most of us belives that no one will loose their jobs. But I think it is the feeling of not being worth as much as someone else that hurts the most. If things doesn´tb turn much to the better I think no one of us will have a job after this summer anyway.

It is really nice here now and I have enjoyed every minute of this weather :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Joyce!
Yes today is a wonderful spring day! I hope it will continue like this for at least a couple of days.

We didn´t get that much damage because of the snow thankfully. But we got it over a longer time then You did. But I´ve seen smaller damages on bushes and trees here.

Unfortunally 6 feet of snow isn´t that much water to be honest.I think that one shall devide it by 100 and then one gets the water ammount. Over here it has rained some so the ground is very wet still.
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Z&M!
Well first we´ll have to see if they want us to have a union board at all on the workplace. If so I do hope I can do some use.

Over here even the right wing polititions thinks we need the unions, they have changed opinion these last years. The US and Europe has very different history when it comes to unions and I´m happy we have strong unions over here.

The marten isn´t a bird, it´s actully a realitive to the racoon. Twice or three times as big as a squirrel and perhaps better and faster on jumping between trees. Sometimes we get the same troubles with martens as You do with possums, they can build nests in our homes up by the roofs :-) :-) Strange really because it´s so hard to see martens otherwise.
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Z&M!
I wrote wrong just now! The marten is a realtive to the skunk, not the racoon.

Sharlene T. said...

Yes, spring is coming to your lake. I haven't seen too many squirrels here but they haven't seen my fruit trees, yet! So sorry about the work situation. It's terrible to feel dispensable and it's cruel. But, as the Trump would say, "It's not personal; it's business." (Yeah, not personal to whom?) grrrr.

Gotta finish my fence mending and the spring organizing of my craft shop. Then, tonight, taxes!!aaarrggghhh. Have a great cuppa and enjoy the serenity of your little piece of heaven...

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

I knew what a Marten was but I didn't know they ate birds! It makes sense though. They can get up in tree's so...yep, makes sense.

I know that racoons eat bird eggs but I am wondering if they will eat birds too if they can catch them. I doubt they could. They steal eggs out of nest and I can sometimes see them way in the top of our cyprus trees. They will just part the branches and stick their heads out. Some are SO large! Bigger than a dog, at least my dog! :) Some are as about as large as one of your dogs. One day I saw one right in the middle of downtown, strolling across the street and on down the sidewalk. He turned into an alley and disappeared! A really odd sight.

I think it would upset me to see a marten kill a sqirrel! Actually, I would hate to see anything kill anything...but I know it's nature.
Coffee? Well, it's a nice change now and then. :) I'm drinking a cup right now...
Mona

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Sharlene!
Yes spring is finally here even if it will be colder soon again. Over here it´s the Fieldfare that are worst to eat in our fruit trees. They can do big damage in a couple of hours.

Yes I think it´s the feeling of being dispensable that is the worst. Most of them are really good at their work, so when the times changes to the better they´ll soon have new jobs. But just to know that they aren´t more important than that can break their spirits.

I have done my taxes this year thank God :-) Now I´m just waiting for the tax refund :-)

Have a great time spring organizing Your craft shop. I loved doing that in my little gardencenter/nurcery.
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Mona!
Martens eats anything they can catch. They are really fast and not even squirrels is fast enough sometimes. They hunt by night mostly so a sleeping bird has no chance.

I´ve heard that male racoons can be really big and that they aren´t as nice as they look cute :-) In a way I´m happy that we don´t have them here. But I´ve heard that there are racoons in europe, they have escaped from fur farms and now there are quite many of them.

It´s never nice to have to see an animal get killed. Not even a little vole that my cat has captured.
Enjoy Your coffee, I´ll enjoy my cup too :-)
Christer.

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

Christer...about that cup! I meant to mention it...and by your comment I knew you knew exactly what I was talking about. I'm glad you bought the cup..even though it was at the price of food. You knew food would come again but not that cup! :) I loved that!!! :)

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Mona!
I really liked that cup:-) and it costed exactly what I had left on my account :-) :-)
It was so fine! and I had it for several years untril one of my dogs whiped it down on the floor when she was happy. No use getting angry at my dog though, it was just a cup even if I liked it a lot :-)
As I remember I ate dinner at friends until I got my next pay check :-) :-)
Take care now!
Christer.

Ann said...

Hi Christer-you treated us again with a lovely photo of Hepatica nobilis-there are so few true blue flowers in nature compared to the other-this plant is a a real beauty-we have Hepatica in New England but they are either white or a pinkish hue-you have a treasure-thanks for sharing. Angie

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hi christer...the birdcage is metal. i can't believe these radishes. i planted them and they sprouted in 2 days! magic radishes!!!! joyce

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Angie!
It´s one of my absolute favourites of all flowers! There will most probably be more photo´s of it in comming blogs :-)

I have one of our hepaticas in my garden (if it not is sufficated by anemones that grows beside it). Mine has really cool leafs, looks like they are camouflage colored :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Joyce!
So it is metal. I really like it and was wondering if I could make something similar myself. But then it has to be made of wood. Have to think about that :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Perovskia said...

I like the simplicity of the snowdrop, too :)

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Perovskia!
I tend to like simpler and smaller flowers nowdyas. Just look at a snowdrop, can it be much more beautiful?
Have a great day now!
Christer.