1st advent
Now I'll show you my fairly new boot on my fairly new bedroomcarpet:
Two thing I've been longing for, for years :-)
T.
Upsidedowns
Although not very much has happened. Last week I was very social; went to funeral in the village (old man - father of friends), helped old lady to bath and clean old fat cat ( and promised to take lady and cat to vet next week)(me and my big mouth......).
The weather has been the same for over one month now; cold mornings then warm sunshine. That is, I avoid indoor work after noon, when the sun comes out. I must admit it's getting hard finding anything to do outside, that make sense, since everything is already prepared for snow and ice. But I thought it would be a good idea to isolate the rabbithouse. It's very snug and fancy now and I think Albrecht (the rabbit) likes it.
Today I washed the car. And waxed it.
Look ! - you can see the evening sky in the roof. Pink evening sky means good weather next day.
On the right peak we had pic nic in september. The other way round...... (the entry with alpine walking me)
This was last sunday at Vilsalpsee, our very favourite lake - always good for a walk (sometimes even for a bath)
T.
STOP
STOP
T.
....... at least until December. Or so. Maybe.
Ramburger
Mmmmm, good little sheep!
T.
Tradition
Julia rode, Pia (a girl from the neighbourhood) rode.
Pontiac, Sidney (mule) and I walked.
At home we had tea and warm bagels. As every year.
T.
Last weekend
Emil looks satisfied, doesn't he!?
That was Saturday.
Sunday:
What gets out has to be brought in again :-)
T.
Last tuesday
Alla hallons dag, som familjen Sandberg i Laholm kallade den dagen. All saints day.
I used the day for gardening.
Not much gardening to do, this time of year, except raking leaves together.....
Well, I did cut back the balconyflowes as well. They've been standing, covered up, on the balconyfloor, since the first morning frost. Since then I've haven't looked at them, but seemingly they all survived (so far!!!!) and I just left them out there. The weather is still nice and warm, except the chilly mornings, and mostly sunny. No winter in sight, I heard on the radio this morning. That's ok with me :-) I never really now where to put those flower and most of them die during the winter, but I just can't throw them away!!!!
As the gardeningpart was fast done with, on tuesday, I took an "alpine walk" to Emil, on his mountain, as well. It was sooooo beatyful!!!! The best workout in the best sportstudio you can think of; Mother Natures Sport Studio. Fantastic! I went up from the other side, from Haldensee. More scenic than straight up, from our house. But as I got a new biketyre, I had to test it, and biked up the normal route last saturday.
Today the weather was nice,again, but my duties not so nice; I had to take Niki one ram to the butcher (the slaughter..?) Anyhow, that's one person. In Zöblen, next village. And now the poor animal is dead. That was the one we couldn't sell, because of the narrow horns. I held him and scratched his neck, as he got shot. I think that is your duty, as animal owner. He was so cute. But he had no future, with his horn handicap. Probably he will be like chewinggum with muttontaste, to eat. Have to ask Charly, neighbour and chef, how to cook him. Out of the liver, heart, lungs and tongue I will try to make Haggis. Scots specialty. Have to google that. If I can make experiments I like better to cook - but when the result is a disaster I'm not so happy........ - not to mention the family!!!!
I'll report!
T.
Halloweeeeen
Same procedure as every year! Only the recipes of the insides changes. This year we turned it into a huge bowl of soup, with cinnamon, ginger and cayennepepper and a wee drop of cream. Delicious!
Weather is still wonderful; some morningfrost, then sunshine. I'm not very fond of the "wintertime", though. I prefer it darker in the morning, and more daylight in the afteroon. Today it was dark before six o'clock. Disgusting! I like it in December, yes, when the world is turning "christmassy" and white, but not noooow.... But - in two days I'll be used to it again :-)
This morning, at breakfast, Niki and I found THE solution for Greece: Let the chinese have Greece! If they pay their debts, they can have Greece as a colony for 99 years, or so. I bet they would find a way to make some good business there! Probably the greek people wouldn't agree, but on the other hand they don't agree with anything..... I'm happy to live in Austria!
Upcoming week, Julia has lectures on monday and friday. Niki on Wednesday and Thursday. Tuesday is sunday. I hope I won't need the car!
T.
Last weekend....
And now we're already having weekend again! A very looooong weekend, indeed. From tomorrow off just until the 2nd of November. Or the 3ed. At least Niki. Julia has a clausur on Thursday and lectures on monday.Tomorrow is national holiday in Austria. That is, tomorrow wednesday, turns into sunday. Today, tuesday turned into friday, regarding traffic. I went to Innsbruck to bring JuNi home. So much traffic. Where is everybody going?????? They should all stay at home, instead of polluting the air!!!!!! I mean "the others", of course:-)
Anyhow, as we came home, tonight, the bedroom carpet had been laid. The carpetguy called around 5 o'clock, telling he's got our carpet on the carroof. Are you at home? I said no - call Emil. He did. At last, I have my new bedroomcarpet!!! Hurra!!!!!
T.
T.
I continue
If the dog can do, so can I.
This was Wednesday, 10 days ago. That means today is the 22nd. In those ten day we got more snow, it has turned a lot colder, all the leaves are off the trees, I have got the varnish off all three doors, we've torn out the carpet (at last!) in our bedroom, scraping off glue (puh!) and next weekend, or so, a friend of ours will come and put in a new one. Before I will paint the walls. White, again, as we have a lot of wood in the bedroom. When that's ready, I'll try to free the doorframes too, from that dark varnish. So we keep busy. Emil was on "holiday" this week. Working holiday. At home. Brought in a lot of firewood, so now we are prepared for the winter. We managed one more hikingday. A half one. More an extended walk with the dog, crossing over Hahnenkamm, from Höfen to Wängle. And of course we took the cable car up :-) There is a new one in Höfen, that Emil had to check out on. Well, not THAT new anymore - almost one year now.
Julia and Niki is home over the weekend, as usual. I have been baking and cooking almost all day, I have the feeling. Promised the youngsters bananabread, so I thought as I have the oven heated anyhow, I might as well make a pizza and breakfeastcrackers as well.
Yesterday evening we were invited to friends 60th birthday. Friend who gets 60! That sounds real old..... But the man doesn't look that old at all - nice guy. Horseguy. Do horses keep you young?
It's getting dark, have to take Pontiac for a little walk and put a candle in the pumpkin and light the lantern in the tree.
T.
Sunday oct. 16 2011
But right now we still have beatyful autumnweather and we brought the sheep to a new pasture. Thursday I took one of rams to Innsbruck and sold him to a zoodealer. Yes, in the back of the car, where we normally have the dog. Yes, it did smell a bit strong, but I kept the temperature low in the car, 16 °, and almost froze my ass off, so it smell did not come out so strong. No remaining odeurs in the car -NO! The other ram, we found out, has got very narrowgrowing horns, so s
....... puff!!!! (the rest got lost - so, to be continued :-(
T.
Wintermezzo
Today is October 9, 2011. We had summerweather since september 21, so I wouldn't complain. Friday was rainy, saturday SNOW. By tuesday it should all be gone again, so Niki left the sheep on the pasture with some hay.
Yesterday I turned 53. I must admit that the outside does get a "little" wrinkled, as years are passing by, but the inside is still in perfect shape :-)
My cruel daughter made this photo yesterday - but I guess it's better to face reality.........
As almost every year, I gave myself a mountain for birthday. Tuesday we had great weather so Pontiac and I climbed Rhonenspitze, more or less round the corner. We had a great day, dog and me.
As we had such wonderful and warm weather I found a lot of outdoor work; like harvesting tomatoes and pumpkins. Guess I need at least one week of very bad weather to prepare and freeze (and whatever) all that stuff. It's never my idea to grow vegetables, it's Niki's. But I do admit it's nice looking at :-)
Have a recipe for "pickled green tomatoes". Ought to work out even for me..... Sounds good!
My birthday gooseberrycake turned out delicous, by the way. Sweet and sour, as I like it - mmmmm....
Last monday, at last, I decided to start getting rid of the brown varnish there still is on almost every door in this house, since some 50 years, or so. A project I have been planning for years. It's a loud and vibrating and dusty work but it's just great to see the bright nice wood coming out after brushing and sandpapering with different machines. It'll still take some time to get ready but as I have already started I can't stop :-) Then I want to rub it in with beewax, as a slight protection, preserving the natural wood look. Hope to be ready by christmas!!!!!!
Tonight Julia and Niki will leave for Innsbruck, for the second week, on their third term. I'll drive the car back home, as usual, and bring it again on thursday or friday,for them
to come home for the weekend. Back to normal!
T.
Tired legs
Geisshorn in the background. The highest peak around here. 2249 m.
Unexpectedly I found some very nice mushrooms. At least nice looking. Cleaning them, today, I found out that they all had extra protein. Nasty little worms, unvisible at the outside. As we all prefer other sources for protein, about 80 % landed in the waste. But the remaining 20 % were very tasty. Unfortunately indeed only to taste, as the whole mushroomharvest was only about one kilo from beginning. But it was nice finding them :-) Usually I never find mushrooms - except these beautyful red ones with white dots.....
Saturday was also the day the sheep came home from the mountainpasture. Not our sheep, they are around all summer long - other peoples sheep. Huge ugly white sheep, out of some are made the most excellent sausages, or hot dogs. Or better - hot sheep. So saturday night we had the same programme as with the cows, on wednesday; tent, music, beer and sausages. But in smaller and not until so late.
Friday was the day I did my very best to beat my record in alpine walking ( or speed hiking...). I did beat my self by two minutes: 38 minutes. Maybe even a little less. But only maybe, so I'm not sure if I did beat my contrahent Bertram. But on the other hand he is much taller than me an younger, so I will leave him in the believe he is faster than me. I doubt I could make it faster, I think my legs reached their physical limit in fastmoving and longstepping. Hui!
Tomorrow I'll take it easy, cooking for the family (Emil has monday off), ironing and maybe do some gardening. JuNi and I are harvesting weed. So we hopefully can harvest some more edible things next year. (We had the potato crop for lunch today....) Niki has decided I shall extend the vegetablegarden with the double, so he has been digging like a mole, last week, and together we've tried to produce nice black good earth. So, sometimes I really do efforts to be a good housewife. The motherstuff is easier and more fun, but householding and gardening and cooking and that kind of stuff is not really my thing. But as it is part of it and makes me feel good I always do my very best :-) And I reckon I haven't been THAT bad, throughout the years, because tomorrow is Emils and mine 24th wedding anniversary! Or was it today? We're never quite sure wich day counts, as we needed two day to get married as we wanted to do it properly. Seem to have paid off :-)
T.
September 21st
That was yesterday. The day the cattle comes down from the mountainpastures. Same procedure as every year! Die Almen. It's called Alpfahrt here. In other places Almabtrieb. Well, the milkcows came a little earlier, as I wrote. They need more to eat, of course, as they have to produce a lot of milk.
The weather was nice; blue sky and snowy higher regions.
In the village there was a huge tent. I think 90 % of Tannheims population was there, at some time during the day and evening. Some longer than others. Yaaawn.......
T.
Summer coming to an end
Swimming-in-the-lake-season is over. Now it's more mountain season.
This is sunday lunch pic-nic, sunday 2 weeks ago, on one of our "kitchenwindowviewmountains"
Here the lunchnap, last monday September 12th, at Timmelsjoch, on the border between Austria and Italy. I have to admit that the car is only 10 min. walk away :-)
After we came back from Scotland, Julia and Niki made the reflection, that they hadn't seen much of Austria and the closer surroundings. So true! So we decided to take a little trip, on Emils two days off, last week.
We took the tents with us, in case we would stumble over a nice spot to put them up. We did! Pordoi Joch in the Dolomites. It was a full moon night and this is the early morning view from my sleeping bag.
The camp ground is just above the village of Canazei, at the Sella group. At about 1850 m. We skied here, two or three winters ago. The "Sella round". 
We even had a bathroom for a small refreshing wash-up and brushing teeth.
That night was incredible beautyful. Not the best hotel can offer you that view and feeling. For breakfast we drove on little bit, to the next station, for cappuccino and a croissont, in the morning sun. We had two really great days in magnificant nature.
The week before that little trip, Julia, Niki and I made another little camping trip; I had to go to Saarbrücken to get the horse trailer, as so often (belongs to our neighbours Hotel Jungbrunn)(we can use it) and have long thought about combining it with a visit to Luxembourg. That is only another 80-90 km to go. So on monday we went there, had a look at the town in the afternoon, drove back to Saarbrücken, stayed over night in the trailer and went home next morning. Back home at lunch time on tuesday. Tomorrow I have to take the trailer to inspection, reminds me.
We have also done quite a lot of mountainbiking and some alpine - walking. Generally known as "speed hiking", since this summer. Somebody stole my idea!!!!! They even brought a reportage in the radio, about this "new" sport.
As usual - I was too slow........
But Julia made some new fotos the other day, actually, as I still intend to take it up in my programme.
What about this? I still intend to call it "alpine walking!
Except for hanging around in the mountains, we got Opa's (= grandpa's) 2 cows down from the mountainpasture. (Lucky that we had brought the trailer ), because the pasture is getting rare, up there. The rest of the cattle is coming on wednesday the 21st.
Further I have finished five buckets and cans of paint. Now one bathroom door is yellow, the horse stable is partly freshened up and 4 barrels and 4 cavallettibars have been painted. Julia and Hombre are training for a local competition. Trail riding, like.
Niki and Emil have made a lot of firewood so we are well prepared for fall. And Julia and I have brought loads of sawdust, to keep the stable cosy and clean.
Autumn is actually my favourite season. When everything is getting slow and cosy after the fast active summer (which I of course, also enjoy, but I wouldn't like to have summer all year long; then you couldn't look forward to it!)
Almost forgot the new bench we made friday evening; on the sheep pasture, overlooking the village and our "farm".
Of course we had to try it out, at once, with an after-work-beer.
Oh, almost forgot; I have a sad announcement to make: The Hen got killed last sunday night :-( By a weasle.Because I forgot to lock it up properly. I feel sooooo sorry!!! I hope the weasel enjoyed the meal, though!
For my own comfort, I am sure, that our hen suffered less and had a better life, than any broiler you can buy in a supermarket. Or the chicken nuggets in a fast food restaurant.....
T.
Still august
Sunset in the mountains is beatyful. Last week, Emil and I rode the motorbike up to Neunerköpfle (that's the name of Emils mountain!) one evening and tried to catch it on a photo:
Well now, of course we also have some of the "real life" here in paradise. Like a leaking waterpipe, last week. First I thought is was a cat. Then the dog. That yellowish water on the bathroom floor. Luckily it was only a rather exterior bend, so we didn't have to tear up walls. But I got a general cleaning of my dertergent storage :-) Then we had a television set that suddenly showed only a tiny picture on a huge screen, beyond repairing, so we now have a new plasma monster with a diameter of 106 cm. The old monster, with the small picture, now lives in Emmas flat and the kids can keep the small TV, that used to stand in there, in Innsbruck - for alway and ever. And today I had to bring the tractor to service. An one hour ride, for 20 km. Every bump in the road, that you don't even notice with the car, catapults you from the seat. Aj!
What more? Yes! I harvested the garden crop. Spinach and dill. The potato plant, is still out there, together with two rhubarbs. Maybe it gets bigger. My garden is about 6 squaremeter, so you can imagine all the work I had! I think I have enough spinach for one pizza and enough dill for two loads of majtes with potatoes. Better than nothing, I would say. Not to forget the gooseberries - a whole bowl full of my favourite berries :-) I think I will make me a birthdaycake out of them, mmmmmm......
T.
August
Uffe was here with a bunch of blondes. Stayed looooong, for a change ; two nights. We had a lot of fun, always something going on. I even forgot to take pictures. Not one single! Of course I have the pictures in my head, and Marge, sis in law, took a lot. See if I can find them......
Doesn't seem very much, that we've been doing,when your read this, but we just sat out long every evening, enjoying the warm weather. In the morning I was out early enjoying the fresh morning. And inbetween I enjoyed the hammock. The flowers were extremely thirsty and so I had to carry a lot of water. So, as you see, NO time for computering. And of course we were swimming. I didn't have to cook a lot in august (which I wasn't sad about!) as everybody was mostly happy with fruit, salad, icecream, youghurt, berries and stuff like that. If at home, at all?! We did some BBQing, though.
Like here, in the hayfields above the lake
(Yes, Niki was there and climbed it!)
One evening we had a kräftkalas - with focus on the kräfeating part. Found them at IKEA Innsbruck. Kräfta? Rivercrab?!
Well, I still had some time for some "real" work ( horses and hiking) and even for some sport. For example I improved my time from kitchen door to Emil's top station from 56 to 50 minutes. Ha, hah!!! And sunday (in spite of snowy summits) Niki and I made a pretty long, very beatyful, MTB tour in the surroundings. Very rough road. Dont't like rough roads. So we decided to go down on the other side of that mountain, instead of going back. So we more or less back packed our bikes and walked down a steep trail. More dog friendly, I thought, as Pontiac was accompanying us. He wasn't tired at all, chasing marmots between the turns. Niki wasn't very tired, either. Was I the only one tired????? But just a little.....:-)
T.
Late summer romantic
We've went swimming in our beautyful lake almost every day.
But this morning (saturday) summer was over; temperatures down about 20 degrees within hours, snow in the mountains.
Incredible!!!!
T.
Julia & Niki
Julia is working for the vet, as last year. This year, more as his private chauffeur, as the "poor" man "lost" his drivers license last week. Speeding. So Julia is on duty day and night, lately. At least when her boss is on duty at night. His paying well, though. Tonight she came home ( for a change) with blood stains on her sneakers, so it seems she may help with the "real" work as well. Anyhow she is quite happy with her job, every day there is something different going on. Poor Niki can't claim that, concerning his duties at Metallwerk Plansee; together with an another student, he is making 25 kg molybden bent roundbars straight. They place them in a 1100° C hot oven, wait 20 minutes until they are through, take them out, put them in a stamping machine to get them straight and edgy (fyrkantig). For 8 hours, without lunchbreak. It's loud. It's hot. It's heavy. But he gets paid well, as well. This week he leaves home 10 past 5 in the morning and returns 2.30pm. Next week he is on another shift and hopefully gets another task.
Last monday Emil and I were invited to a birthday party, next door. I got home just in time to fix Nikis breakfast. Geeee, was I tired on tuesday! I'm not used to nightlife anymore. But apparently I enjoyed it :-)
Aaaaand - the holiday impression: Julia and Niki insisted on sitting on a canon in Edinburgh Castle - just like at Skansen in Bastad.
T.
Hay, hay (pa daj...)
Today is august 3rd and we haven't been swimming once (yet....) this summer. Considering the 16° reported from Haldensee (lake in our valley) I'm not sure if I maybe should wait until next summer........
In Scotland we found lovely beaches with greenblue clear water. Cold atlantic water. Just fine for a footbath :-)
Today I "alpine walked" up to Emils top station in 56 min. Satisfied :-) Yesterday I made my first "workshop" with these typical tyrolean wooden hiking/cowpunching poles, with guests from Hotel Ritter. Good :-)
Tomorrow Niki and I go to Innsbruck to check up on the flat and to bring my bike back home. Julia works at the vet's, since monday, and tonight she is staying over, in Reutte, dogsitting. What does that man do with his dogs when Julia is NOT around?????
T.
