Saturday, May 9, 2015

A few updates

It's a lovely Saturday afternoon and I'm sitting on our new deck with Sooz, who's video chatting with her dad on her iPad. The sun is nice and warm, but the breeze is still crisp!

We've been busy with a few small projects. Sooz managed a fire at our traditional spot, and we were able to get rid of last year's logs, along with a big pile of fresh cuttings as we groomed our forest.

We also strung our party lights over our deck. They are attached to the house, and then strung out to a nearby tree. I'm going to figure out a better way to attach them so I don't have to climb a tree every time I set them up. I think a pulley and some black rope might do the trick. I will investigate at the hardware store and report back.

I also tried to take some star photos, with limited success. Frankly the nights are too short already. Sooz mentioned she thought the days were getting perceptibly longer, and, as usual, she's right. The day we arrived here, April 28, was 15 hours and 30 minutes long. Today will have an additional hour of daylight. At this time of year, each day is 5 minutes longer than the day before.

Annika and Olle brought me a new TV antenna pole, and I was able to raise my antenna about a meter. This enabled me to clear the treetops, and my signal is now significantly better. However, most of the local broadcasts we've watched is just the hockey, to be honest.

The other big news is that it looks like we have bought a boat!! Annika's stepfather, Bosse, is selling his little boat. It's double-hulled fibreglass,  4.3 meters long (14 feet), and has a 15HP Yamaha 4 stroke Yamaha engine, with an electric start. We got it into the water today, and took it for a spin around Aspö. I think it would be perfect to make grocery trips to Guns Livs, and to visit the little islands around us.

Photos of all this (and more!) are on the May 2015 photo page.

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