Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Well it seemes it works again.

Foggy and warm this morning.

Yesterday started out real nice actually. It was cloudy but the temperature had risen considerably since the day before. We were out quite early (like always :-) ) and I got some real good photo´s on the mountine. Small clouds were stuck here and there like big cottan balls blown in there by the wind. Waterdrops were falling from the trees and birds were singing.









After having breakfast and reading the morning paper I drove to Lidköping. I was a bit early and had plenty of time. There were almost no traffic, to late for those working and to early for those driving around with caravans on their vacation. I came to the store just when they had opened it and met this young girl that really knew what she was talking about when it came to cameras. I decided to order the Nikon D3000 and then all problems started :-)







No problem ordering the camera, that took about ten seconds, but I decided to get a membership card so I can pay for the camera how fast or slow as I wish (I do need other things like a washing mashine, freezer/refridgerator and tomorrow Orvar is getting x-rayed, it might be that he needs surgery and that´s not cheap). When applying for that membership card everything went wrong :-) :-) She got a code telling that something was wrong and no matter what she tried it refused to tell us what it was. So she called the headquartes and it seemed that I already had a membership card??!!


Here are some phot´s of houses in Lidköping. They are all placed in one block and I think many of tyhem once were one family houses, but nowdays I think that they all are appartement buildings.






There were people walking all over the place, but I managed to take photo´s without getting to many of them on the photo´s :-)


I did fill that form in my computor, but thought I had aborted it since I had a feeling it would be better doing it at the store. So then all had to be deleted and made all over again. Funny enough their computor system didn´t cooperate at all so nothing happened. Finally they had to do it from the head quaters but nothing showed on the compuer at the store. I also had to sign a paper showing I wanted this and that didn´t work either. So they tried to fax it to the store. Guess what?? It never arrived :-) :-) :-) Well, the camera is ordered and I´ll sign the papers when I go there to get it. I do have a memebership card, but I just don´t have it in my wallet :-)

The water tower.





When I came home I started my computor and something happens. A message was shown saying: The computer has to be inconsistency checked. Have no idea what that means but it did so anyway :-) After that I couldn´t reach my own desktop any more! So I tried to go back to a date I know the computer worked as it should, after that nothing worked :-) :-) So I called to the company that I bought it from not long ago. I must say that every one was helpful, understanding and very polite. But not many of them knew what they were talking about :-) After several hours I finally got the telephone number to Hewlett Packard. The young man I talked to there looked at the code I´ve gotten from the computer when it broke down. That code meant: Catastrophic failure! :-):-):-) First we tried to do some smaller adjustments but that didn´t work so finally he guided me so I could reformat the hard disk. Now it works once again (cross Your fingers and hold Your thumbs) but all photo´s from yesterdays morning walk are gone (and all other photo´s I had too) and all blog adresses I had is also gone. So If You don´t hear from me in a while it´s just because I have troubles finding You again.

A Swedish Mission church church.


 "Djurens vänner" (that woul´d be The animals friends) animal shelter.

Now it´s time for a cup of tea before going to Gudhems grocery store to get some food and milk.
Have a great day now!


35 comments:

Terria said...

Christer, What a day! Poor you. I hope it all is OK now, and things go smoothly from now on. I love all the photos of the houses and the buildings, so much character.
Hope the rest of your vacation is more fun for you.

Anonymous said...

Hm så du är ute o köper leksaker där ser man. Nåja en bra kamera tror jag kan roa dig rätt länge. Dumt att köpa tråkiga saker som tvättmaskin o sånt där bjäfs, det brukar finnas en å annan billig tvättbräda på loppis. Men för o få en bättre dag kanske du skulle varit hemma o målat huset, hahahaha.
Kram LjusneLotta som just nu njuter av att ha yngsta sonen hemma några dagar.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Terria!
But since yesterday was so bad all other days looks good in comparence :-) :-) :-)

Lidköping is bit different from all the other towns around here that I´ve shown You. I like it a lot and it´s placed just beside Swdens biggest lake (and Europes third biggest lake) Vänern. I´ll take photo´s of it next time I´ll go there.


Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Tjänare Lotta!
Tvättbräda har jag ju redan :-) :-) Fast tvättmaskin kommer bara jag vet vad som händer med Orvar. Pengar finns men jag tar det lite lugnt :-)

Det ligger en färgbutik alldeles bredvid veterinären, så jag tänkte slå två flugor i en smäll där :-)
Jag har ju nästan tre hela veckor kvar på semestern :-)

Ha det riktigt gott!
Christer.

caryn said...

Hi Christer,

It sounds like modern life is having a glitch with you this week. Phantom membership cards that are caught in the cyber-limbo of yes-you-have-one-but-we-can't-give-it-to-you. Helpful techs sympathizing with problems that you shouldn't be having on a new computer.
But what a beautiful water tower! Here it would be a big white pod on stilts, looking like something out of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds. Modern, functional, ugly.

Anonymous said...

I love that water tower. And Christer, we all have problems with computers. I have to take mine back because it tells me to restart it several times while using it. Something is in the system that shouldn't be. Glad you are back on. When do you get the camera?

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Caryn!
I normally never have modern life problems here, I don´t have many modern things :-) :-) :-) So when it hits it´s awful :-)

I can´t understand why I had that membership card at all and approved too??!! Because I must sign a paper before getting approved! Something got really wrong there!

It is a beautiful water tower. I think it´s really old so that´s the reason it´s beautiful. Otherwise it would look just as You described them :-) The one in Skara is even more beautiful!

Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Z&M!
Yes it is so beautiful! I´ll try to take a photo of the one in Skara again because it´s even more beautiful.

So You still has problems with Your computer! When they behave like this I really get tired of them. Hope they can fix it soon!

They thought it might arrive already on wednesday. So if it does I´ll get it on thursday since Orvar is getting x-rayed on wednesday.
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Sharon Lovejoy said...

Christer, isn't that the way it always happens? First one thing, then another, then "catastrophic failure." WHAT IS THAT? and how awful that you lost photos, blog roll, and so many memories.

Isn't there ANY way that they can repair this and retrieve the info?

Christer, you said you're longing for the beach. Go to the beach first and THEN paint your cottage. You deserve a nature break along the shore.

Love,

Sharon

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Sharon!
I guess that is a code for "We have absolutly no idea what has happened to Your computer" :-) :-)

Thankfully I didn´t have that much to loose since the computer is so new (ánd therefor shouldn´t have broken down!!) Since I´ve done the reformating it would be too hard and expensive to recover what I´ve lost. But I´m getting back more and more of my old bloglist now :-)


I know myself all to well, so first paint then go to the ocean :-) I´ll most probably go to a friend living on an island outside Gothenburg next monday :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

ana_didi said...

Christer,
All that you lived was a veritable Odyssey!
I was here reading your adventures like a movie thriller at the cinema.
I confess that sometimes I laugh (life can be absurd sometimes) but was not fun knowing that you lost your photos :(
I hope that from now on everything is fine. I'm crossing my fingers and wishing good luck to you.
Lidkoping I found a very nice city. I observe that the architecture is so different for me and I believe it is by necessity that you have severe weather in winter. The buildings always hold. I think it charming.
Stay well and have a quiet day :)
kiss
Didi

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hi christer..i sure don't envy your day. how awful. computers are wonderful when they work and a real nightmare when they don't! the pictures are wonderful of that beautiful town. we might finally get a bit of cooler weather this coming weekend but just for 2 days. hope your computer stays up and running! joyce

ana_didi said...

After I write I thinking..."hold" does not make much sense... the word is "basement"!
Google translator sometimes helps me, sometimes make more confusion. I never know for sure what will happen. :)

Susie på Stjärnarve... said...

Typiskt! Dom som sa att ALLT skulle bli mycket enklare och gå lättare när alla hade egna datorer, dom vet inte vad dom pratar om. Det är mycket mer krångel och framförallt massor mer papper i omlopp nu än förr!
Som ex; Förra lördagen när det var ett hemskt väder här som slog ut elen, då fanns den en (!!!) butik i Visby som hade öppet på hela Gotland, dom andra kunde inte ta betalt. Inte klokt!

Oldfool said...

Seems to be the time for computer problems. Your problems are what motivated me to move from Microsoft windows to Linux. My problems now are mere inconveniences.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Didi!
Now I laugh too :-) :-) But at the time I just wanted to scream out loud :-) :-)

I usually never keep my photo´s for any longer time, but the ones I took yesterday was really nice. Well we will have more mornings like that :-)

Yes our buildings must manage too cope through our winters. It can get really cold here and winters are long.
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Joyce!
It was quite awful to be honest, but things could be worse in life :-) :-) It is strange however how fast we gets used to something and even if we really doesn´t need it we get so stressed when it doesn´t work as we want it to :-)

Congratulations for two cooler bdays then :-). Over here it´s more or less the opposite :-)

Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Tjänare Susie!
Det var i alla fall en vacker dröm :-) :-) Nu är ju ingen säker på att datorerna skall hålla, så därför gör man tre extra papperskopior av dokumenten just om ut i fall att :-) :-)

Det är ju inte många som betalar med pengar längre, så när strömmen går står vi där utan att kunna göra något! Inte så lite vansinnigt egentligen!

Ha det gott!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Oldfool!
This time I think it was something wrong with the installation of all programs in my computer that caused it all. But I sure would like to use something else than explorer.

I tried Apples "Safari" for PC but I got the most amusing problem. I couldn´t type @. If I did i just jumped back to the start page :-) :-) :-) I´ll have to mail apple and as if there´s a way round that problem. To be honest, I would rather have a Mac but they are just so expensive!
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Sharlene T. said...

So sorry about your computer problems -- but, especially, the loss of your pictures!... but, they are still on your camera, right? just not on the computer... will look forward to your finding me, again, as I always enjoy your comments...

Twitter: SolarChief

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Sharlene1
Nope, not a single photo left :-) I always delete them from my camera after downloading them into my computer.

I´ve already found You again. If I only remember the blog name correct it´s not to hard to find You all again. And if I click on all commenting here I´ll get in to Your profile. So You´ll be seeing me soon :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Caddie said...

Hi Crister. The last bloom pictured, is "Suspended Motion". I just can't get over how great some of your pictures. Tonight I decided it is the quality of light you have there. So many of them actually could pass for 'great paintings'. You can donate this camera to me since you have a new one coming. :>) :>)

That little green beetle looks suspiciously like the Japanese beetles here...the blasted pests. They ravage everything. I never ever saw one of them 20 years ago
Hadn't even heard the name. They are miniature June bugs as far as I can see.

Thanks for your information on potatoes. I can sure use it next year. The heat is extreme and burned three of my houseplants completely in just a couple hours time last week. This is something that has never happened in my life. Really worrisome about this heat and winter's cold last year. I actually had snow of some amount on my property the whole winter...very unusual. I tell about the hardest few days I had then, no heat, no lights, no way to fix food. Literally thought I wouldn't survive.

Anyway, if I've said it before, will say it again: I love your blog. btw, that square of exposed soil looks fabulous. Or did you have to work it to that condition.

Kat said...

Christer,
I'm so sorry about your computer. Nothing is more frustrating.

These are great pictures. My favorites are the water tower, the "Djurens vänner" and the mustard colored house. It is so interesting to see houses so different from the ones where I live.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Sissy!
I´m glad that You like what I´m doing here :-)
Well, my new camera has no video funktion, so I think I´ll have to keep my old one :-) :-)

The little green beetle behaves nice here so I don´t think it´s the same one. I see perhaps two or three every year not more. I´ve tried to find its name but so far nothing have come up.


It seemes there´s a heat wave alla over the world this summer, we had it too but only for a couple of weeks, now we´re back to swedish summer again. That means short gaps with sunshine between the rains :-) :-) :-)
Just let the potatoes dry up a bit before planting them, they sort of get a protective skin then on the cut surfaces.

Thankfully they left the fire heated stove here when they renovated this cottage before I bought it. So´I´ll always have heat and can always cook food. I think that stove is the best thing I´ve ever had!

It´s mostly sand in my soil, so no I didn´t do anything. Sandy soil is perfect most of the time, but when it doesn´t rain in a long while it demands a lot of watering.

Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Kat!
It´s really annoying when ever it happens, but this is a brand new one so it´s even more annoying then!

My two favourite ones are the mustard colored and the one above that. I think they once were one family homes, but now it´s an appartement building. If I couldn´t live here I wouldn´t mind living there :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hi christer...the first comment did not come through! joyce

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Hi Christer, I am running a bit behind this week on reading blogs and posting (b ut I have so many ideas and photo to come). Sorry to read about your computer problems, but it seems sooner or later we all have them. Mine happened a few months ago when my desktop PC would either get a blue screen with a message OR worse yet just turn itself off. Grenville suspected it was overheating and so shut down. Nothing was ever lots (thankfully). But it was time to replace it and I did with this HP desktop and it has had no problems...yeah! So I will keep all my fingers and toes crossed that your PC problems work OK, but sorry for the lsos of your data and photos. Just a thought, but have you considered getting a small external backup drive. These little plug and play devices connect with a USB connection; larger ones also have poser connection. This way when you download from your camera (which I also do every time) you could backup onto the external hard drive too and then not loose any should your computer ever crash again...just a thought for you.

Congrats on buying the new digital SLR. I am sure we will all be delighted to see future photos taken with it. Keeping your older camera as a backup is a good idea since it's smaller and handy to carry on walks.

As always enjoyed the photos of the town.

Interesting story about the forms, paperwork and lost information. You are a very patient person, Christer.

SpinMeAYarn said...

Hej Christer,
lovely photos from Lidköping today, i love the old Swedish houses, they are quite breathtaking...
sorry to hear you had trouble with technology today, still it will all be worth it when you have your new camera in your hand! and a computer that works as it should!
I hav pictures of Lake Vänern too, only from the other end, ie Karlstad and Hammarö, we were on hols in Sweden in July and as my husband is from Karlstad we always go back there to visit his mum.
The photos of Karlstad will be up on my blogg in a few days, for now I just put up a few shots of Gothenburg.
regards
liz
ps thanks for the visit last week adn the comment, nice to know someone called by my little blogg!

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

My computer is only just a little over two years old...and I am holding my breath. So far...so good. Unfortunately, I am not really patient with electronic things that go wrong..and get the immature urg to smash them! I don't, of course..but I admit to thinking of it.
At this time I have begun a new program offered by aol called Perfect Speed. It cost me $4.99 a month..but I admit everything seems to be a little faster...not a lot..but better. I have to wonder what they do that I can't do on my own.
Maybe...maybe they clean up the hardrive like they had you do for yours.
I need to take Mele to the Vet for a check up. A couple of times she has begun to yelp in pain for no apparent reason. I am a little concerned that it might be her heart. We shall see. I will call tomorrow for an appointment.
Surgery for dogs IS expensive. Hopefully they won't need to do that. I hope not.
Gorgeous weather here. It is the hottest time of the day and it is only 81 degree's. In the 70's nearly all day long.
Enjoy your tea. I loved the photo's of the town!!!
Mona

Anonymous said...

Christer I am glad You are going to have a camera because I love Your photos so much . I get so much peace from them . I am so at home when I look at them I totally feel I am there out walking the forest , watching the animals bouncing along etc.
You know what I notice Christer when you take pics in the towns , is the low amount of traffic , of vehicles parked etc. is this common ? is it true people walk more , ride bikes ? our dd was engaged to a german fellow from Frieberg ( sp?0 and he said how they could not drive or park downtown at all , people bused or walked , if you drove you were to park on the outside of town .
over here the rumor is it is very ecogreen in Germany is it where you are too ? I am afraid to drive or ride a bike here because of the traffic . I walk or have dh drive me .the only time I drive is if leaving this horrid city ☺
anyway sorry for all your troubles but happy you will be clicking away with that camera ☺

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Joyce!
I´ll get back later today then!
Thanks!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Beatrice!
The problem with my computer came back yesterday afternoon, but now it should be gone for ever :-) I tell You more about it in todays blog.

I have been thinking a long time about buying one of those backup memories, but as soon as I come close to one of t´hose stores that thought just dissaperes :-) :-) I think I´ve been thinking to much about a new camera :-)

I was hoping they would have called me yesterday about the camera, but still no phone call. Well I´m in no hurry but it would be nice to have it already :-)

Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Liz!
Many of these old towns here are really beautiful. It´s only Skövde that is the opposite :-) But I do like Skövde anyway.

I hope all my computer problems are gone now, and I also hope they call me about my new camera today. I´m in no hurry to be honest but still :-)

Karlstad is also a nice town. I´ve lived there long ago for seven months and was very close to move there for good. But I couldn´t find a job so I moved back to Gothenburg again.

I always comes back to blogs now and again, one never knows :-) I´ll check in to see those photo´s of Gothenburg :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Mona!
This problem is something that comes from Windows 7. I have to admit that I never liked widows 7 and now I like it even less. Butr hopefully this problem is gone now.

Those programs like the one You just bought usually cleans out things in the internet program that You don´t need. Like information from all different webbsites You´ve been on. You can do it Yourself but it takes time.

I hope it´s nothing serious with Mele! There´s nothing worse than wehn our animal friends get ill. I cross my fingers and hold my thumbs for good luck!

Orvar is ok, it turned out it wasn´t that serious. I´ll write more about it in todays blog.

Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Rox!
I´m glad You like my photo´s :-) I´m not sure however I will take better photo´s with a new camera :-) But I´ll do my best :-)

I do try to get as few people as possible when I take any of my photo´s. The bigger cities are making it difficult and expensive to drive in. But we haven´t come as far as in some of the cities in Germany yet. But we´re going there but slowly. But it´s perfectly safe to bike and walk in our big cities, they have special bike lanes all over.

Here where I live we still need our cars to much. Not much busses and long distances for biking I´m afraid.

Have a great day now!
Christer.