"Slicker than snot," is the expression my husband used to describe our courtyard one day. I must be living under a rock that I've never heard that expression before, but it cracked me up. The worst thing was that it was totally true.
Since the new year, it's been all about ice here. Driving is challenging; walking is even worse. The temperature has been hovering near 0 C/32 F, so the snow is melting. Some days it melts quickly, and the ice is covered with water. Other days it doesn't melt much at all, and the water covering the ice refreezes. Every now and then, it snows a little to add some fresh slush to the situation.
The slush covered ice track is a lot of fun. In our case, this usually happens where there are walls of snow on either side, so driving is like riding a bobsled down a slush filled track. The tires get caught in the ruts, so steering isn't an option as one bounces back and forth between the snow walls.
The dirt roads are solid ice. With a coating of snow, they're not too bad to drive on, but when it melts and refreezes, it's almost totally impossible. Thank goodness the Jeep has 4 wheel drive with the right kind of differential and really good winter tires. One night we came home to find a small car blocking the dirt road. It had not made it up the little hill with the S-curve, and it slid backwards so that it completely blocked the road. Erik tried to help, but even with his rubber-soled shoes, he had difficulty standing still without sliding down the hill. He was not able to get the car unstuck, but he did straighten it out enough that we could get by. (We wouldn't have left her if she hadn't insisted that it was ok--her husband was on his way with a truck.)
The asphalt roads may or may not be better than the dirt ones. The larger roads usually get enough traffic and salt that they stay relatively clear as long as it's not snowing or blowing too much. The smaller asphalt roads can be trickier. Around here, a lot of the smaller roads have been three-track roads where the center track is shared by traffic in both directions. This works fine until there's oncoming traffic, then somebody will have to move. I feel like everyone's playing chicken all the time because nobody wants to take their chances on the ice. Since I'm the one driving the car that is almost always the one better able to handle the uncertainty of the ice or deeper snow, I'm the one who yields. Sometimes the snow and ice is soft and slushy (hard to steer), and sometimes it's solid (think catching an edge on skis). So far I haven't had any problems, but when Erik met a full sized truck on a very small road, he pulled too far to the side and discovered that the road had been plowed over a ditch. The truck stopped and pulled him out of the ditch in only a couple of minutes, but I'm so glad it wasn't me.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
The white Christmas continues
The days between Christmas and New Years were all about snow and whether or not one was snowed in. There were a couple of times that snow drifts blocked the front door, so we had to send Lina out the window to go around and shovel the snow from the door. Unfortunately the snow was very heavy and she couldn't quite manage, so Erik had to jump out the window and help her.
Snow drifts also blocked the satellite dish which is mounted on the roof of the barn. We had to clear a lot of snow before the dish had a clear line of sight again. Quite a few buildings in the area had problems with roofs collapsing under the weight of the snow. Fortunately we have sturdy old fashioned construction with steep roofs, so it wasn't a problem for us.
My mother in law was supposed to come celebrate Christmas with us on Tuesday, but by the time she was done packing, she was no longer feeling up to it. She tried to come on Wednesday, but then her car died. We ended up bringing Christmas to her on Thursday.
We were all invited to a friend's house on New Year's Eve. We were there last year also, and I remember it being so cold out that the champagne froze in people's glasses as they made their toasts. This year, we must have run out of cold. The snow was melting and dripping off the roof, and the ground was covered in a good layer of ice with a good layer of water on top. It was also super windy, so drifts of heavy, wet snow blocked the roads. I baked a chocolate layer cake and a sherry bunt cake for the party. I also made some jello shooters. Our hosts are big fans of jello, but I don't think the other guests were so impressed. We shot off some fireworks at midnight, but fireworks really don't do so well when it's that windy. The rockets blew over the house and exploded lower than usual. Instead of cascading down, the sparks seemed to be blown out almost immediately. The wind chill also made it very cold, so most of us didn't mind the quicker than usual fireworks display.
January first was spent cleaning. January second was our annual neighborhood gift exchange party. Only four people came this year which I found quite disappointing. However, that meant there were lots of yummy things left over from my holiday baking.As they say in Swedish, "Good continuation!" (of the holiday season).
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Snow, snow, and more snow
Erik finally got home from his two week speaking engagement in Beijing, Tokyo, and Seoul on December 20. There were a lot of things to do and not much time to do them. One of the things we skipped this year was the Christmas tree. I was afraid my daughter would be crushed, but she took it quite well.
December has been all about the snow. On December 23, we had a full on blizzard. We heard that even major roads were closed not too far from here, but we have a 4 wheel drive jeep, and my husband was determined to get out. After the neighbor came by with the plow, we were able to make it to a friend's house to celebrate his 40th birthday. He had been prepared for a lot of guests, but we were pretty much the only ones who made it. That must have been so disappointing.
On the 24th we were to visit friends in Denmark. We budgeted an extra hour for driving time, but that was nowhere near enough. It took my husband 3.5 hours with the backhoe to dig 100 meters to the neighbor's mailbox. We then tried driving out but promptly got stuck about 1 car length beyond where he had dug. While he was pulling the car out of a drift with the backhoe, the neighbor came with his big loader and started digging out the road from the other end. The drifts were far too deep and heavy to plow, so he had to take the snow one scoop at a time. It took about half an hour before both my husband and neighbor got that last stretch of road cleared, but then we were off. The neighbor recommended which route was likely the clearest, and while the road was at best one lane wide, we made it the 20 km into town. From there, it was like there was no snow problem at all. The roads heading west were nearly clear. (East was another story entirely, but fortunately not our problem.)
We arrived three hours late, but our friends were understanding and happy to see us. The weather conditions in this part of Sweden had even made the news in Denmark. They had saved some home made rice porridge for our lunch. Yum! We played a board game before dinner. The kids chose Monopoly, so we put a time limit on it.
Dinner featured roast duck, caramelized potatoes, boiled potatoes, gravy, red cabbage (both mine and the kind from a jar that her husband likes), and the fruit that had been stuffed in the duck. I am a huge fan of Danish caramelized potatoes, but I've always found it a bit odd that potato chips are served as part of the holiday meal. Dessert was rice pudding with almonds and cherry sauce. As usual, amongst all the coarsely chopped almonds was one whole one. The person who got the whole almond got a special present.
After dinner, we sang Christmas carols and danced around the Christmas tree. I'm always impressed that our friends have real candles on the tree. This year, they had electric lights for the first time as well, but the electric lights were not used until after the dancing was over and the candles extinguished. Next we opened presents, and finally we ate the cookies that I'd brought (pecan butterballs, spritz cookies, peppermint meringues, caramel popcorn, and fudge) with coffee and tea.
On the 25th, we took it easy, played with our presents, and enjoyed each others company. I think this has become as important a tradition for us as the meal and the presents. We ate leftovers and soup. We went for a walk, we played Monopoly again, and we did a puzzle.
It was so nice to relax after all the holiday preparations and stress. We'd originally planned on going home in the evening, but after calling the neighbor to check on the road conditions, we decided to stay an extra night. We drove home on the morning of the 26th, and by then the neighbor had plowed so it was no problem. We were a little concerned about how the cats had handled being left alone, but they did just fine. The only damage was that Lina's gingerbread house was a bit nibbled.
December has been all about the snow. On December 23, we had a full on blizzard. We heard that even major roads were closed not too far from here, but we have a 4 wheel drive jeep, and my husband was determined to get out. After the neighbor came by with the plow, we were able to make it to a friend's house to celebrate his 40th birthday. He had been prepared for a lot of guests, but we were pretty much the only ones who made it. That must have been so disappointing.
On the 24th we were to visit friends in Denmark. We budgeted an extra hour for driving time, but that was nowhere near enough. It took my husband 3.5 hours with the backhoe to dig 100 meters to the neighbor's mailbox. We then tried driving out but promptly got stuck about 1 car length beyond where he had dug. While he was pulling the car out of a drift with the backhoe, the neighbor came with his big loader and started digging out the road from the other end. The drifts were far too deep and heavy to plow, so he had to take the snow one scoop at a time. It took about half an hour before both my husband and neighbor got that last stretch of road cleared, but then we were off. The neighbor recommended which route was likely the clearest, and while the road was at best one lane wide, we made it the 20 km into town. From there, it was like there was no snow problem at all. The roads heading west were nearly clear. (East was another story entirely, but fortunately not our problem.)
We arrived three hours late, but our friends were understanding and happy to see us. The weather conditions in this part of Sweden had even made the news in Denmark. They had saved some home made rice porridge for our lunch. Yum! We played a board game before dinner. The kids chose Monopoly, so we put a time limit on it.
Dinner featured roast duck, caramelized potatoes, boiled potatoes, gravy, red cabbage (both mine and the kind from a jar that her husband likes), and the fruit that had been stuffed in the duck. I am a huge fan of Danish caramelized potatoes, but I've always found it a bit odd that potato chips are served as part of the holiday meal. Dessert was rice pudding with almonds and cherry sauce. As usual, amongst all the coarsely chopped almonds was one whole one. The person who got the whole almond got a special present.
After dinner, we sang Christmas carols and danced around the Christmas tree. I'm always impressed that our friends have real candles on the tree. This year, they had electric lights for the first time as well, but the electric lights were not used until after the dancing was over and the candles extinguished. Next we opened presents, and finally we ate the cookies that I'd brought (pecan butterballs, spritz cookies, peppermint meringues, caramel popcorn, and fudge) with coffee and tea.
On the 25th, we took it easy, played with our presents, and enjoyed each others company. I think this has become as important a tradition for us as the meal and the presents. We ate leftovers and soup. We went for a walk, we played Monopoly again, and we did a puzzle.
It was so nice to relax after all the holiday preparations and stress. We'd originally planned on going home in the evening, but after calling the neighbor to check on the road conditions, we decided to stay an extra night. We drove home on the morning of the 26th, and by then the neighbor had plowed so it was no problem. We were a little concerned about how the cats had handled being left alone, but they did just fine. The only damage was that Lina's gingerbread house was a bit nibbled.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
Yup, I might as well get used to it and make the best of it, because it looks like it will be a long and snowy winter. Since my last post in November, it has continued to snow. We got as much as an 18 inch base, then it blew around, and for all of one day, it started to melt. As of a couple of days ago, we were down to about a 6 inch base on top of a good layer of ice. Yesterday it started snowing again, and it's still snowing. This time it's a wetter snow, so it's compacting, but I'd say we've got another 8 inches.My days have been all about chopping and carrying firewood and keeping the fire going in the fireplace. Despite that, it's still been cold in the house. But enough complaining.
On Monday, kids all over Sweden dressed up in white dresses, santa suits, or as gingerbread people. According to tradition, they wake their parents up in the morning by singing and delivering saffron buns. That has never happened in my household, but at my daughter's school, the do the Saint Lucia thing at the church.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
A bit chilly
It's been a while since I've blogged. I could say that while trying not to complain about the weather, I haven't been left with much else to say. However, the rain and sleet finally went over to snow a few days ago. We have about 6 inches of snow now, which is just fine with me. It's enough that everything is beautiful and white but not so much that it's really in the way. The roads are slick, but driving is still quite possible and the drifts are not enough to block the roads.
While it's not unusual that it snows here in November, it is unusual that the snow sticks for any length of time. It now seems obvious to everyone that we're in for a long and cold winter. According to US websites, they've been aware of the North Atlantic Oscillation (the same weather pattern we had which made for a rough winter last year) for a month already. I'm surprised that that didn't make the news here. Perhaps it would make the Swedish weather service look bad were anyone to mistrust them enough to look for a second opinion. Or perhaps it's news that Swedes just don't want to hear.
Electricity prices are sky high, so we're trying not to resort to the electric space heaters yet. The heat exchange system we installed a few years ago is dimensioned for having in-floor heating. Unfortunately our remodeling project has only come so long that we have this in two rooms. The rest of the house still has the old fashioned radiators, thus there is not enough heat to go around. Without supplemental heat, the heat exchanger keeps the house at about 15 C (59 F). Brrrrrrr! Thank goodness for the wood burning stove! At least it gets one end of the house nice and warm.
So why are electricity prices so high? Apparently water reserves are low in the major reservoirs because Sweden sold a lot of water based electricity to Norway over the summer. Norway of course has their own water power plants, but they were refilling their reserves so they'd have plenty for the winter. Sweden's not entirely dependent on water power; there are also some nuclear power plants. Last year, it was a big scandal that just in time for the hard winter, the plants were at only 50% output because they were down for maintenance. Did they learn anything from this? Apparently they learned that they can make a lot of money by jacking up the electricity prices when demand is high and the supply is low, because this year they are at only 40% output due to scheduled maintenance. Don't even suggest doing maintenance during the summer, because everyone's on vacation then. The worst thing about getting screwed by the power company is that it is government owned!
While it's not unusual that it snows here in November, it is unusual that the snow sticks for any length of time. It now seems obvious to everyone that we're in for a long and cold winter. According to US websites, they've been aware of the North Atlantic Oscillation (the same weather pattern we had which made for a rough winter last year) for a month already. I'm surprised that that didn't make the news here. Perhaps it would make the Swedish weather service look bad were anyone to mistrust them enough to look for a second opinion. Or perhaps it's news that Swedes just don't want to hear.
Electricity prices are sky high, so we're trying not to resort to the electric space heaters yet. The heat exchange system we installed a few years ago is dimensioned for having in-floor heating. Unfortunately our remodeling project has only come so long that we have this in two rooms. The rest of the house still has the old fashioned radiators, thus there is not enough heat to go around. Without supplemental heat, the heat exchanger keeps the house at about 15 C (59 F). Brrrrrrr! Thank goodness for the wood burning stove! At least it gets one end of the house nice and warm.
So why are electricity prices so high? Apparently water reserves are low in the major reservoirs because Sweden sold a lot of water based electricity to Norway over the summer. Norway of course has their own water power plants, but they were refilling their reserves so they'd have plenty for the winter. Sweden's not entirely dependent on water power; there are also some nuclear power plants. Last year, it was a big scandal that just in time for the hard winter, the plants were at only 50% output because they were down for maintenance. Did they learn anything from this? Apparently they learned that they can make a lot of money by jacking up the electricity prices when demand is high and the supply is low, because this year they are at only 40% output due to scheduled maintenance. Don't even suggest doing maintenance during the summer, because everyone's on vacation then. The worst thing about getting screwed by the power company is that it is government owned!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Österlen Lyser
In 2005 an idea was hatched for extending the tourist season around here. November is generally miserable in this part of the world, so that wasn't easy. It's cold and dark and wet. The fall colors are off the trees, but it's not cold enough for snow to stick. What they came up with is Österlen Lyser. Österlen is the name of the area; lyser means shines or glows. Pretty much every little town in the area comes up with their own way to light up the night during the first weekend in November. Some have performance artists or artwork or fire or light. In the little town of Lövestad, it has become tradition to launch Asian paper lanterns then parade around town with torches. In short, it's a pyromaniac's dream!I was impressed that over a hundred people showed up in Lövestad where the event was organized by the town chamber of commerce. Besides the usual chamber of commerce people, there were a lot of families with kids and even some people from the old folks home. They've been doing this for a few years now, so they've gotten pretty good at it. There were lighting stations set up for those who didn't want to kneel on the ground, and there were plenty of people who could show you how to do it.
My husband sold lanterns, and I ran around taking pictures, but we felt perfectly comfortable letting our daughter roam around. People were more than happy to help her light her lanterns.
We were lucky that it had stopped raining and it wasn't very windy. A steady stream of lanterns floated over town.Eventually the wind started picking up making it more difficult to launch the lanterns. If the wind blew the lantern on it's side before it the flame had warmed the air enough for it to take flight, the warm air would escape. There was also a chance that if could burn a hole in the paper lantern. If this happened, it wouldn't take flight. Some of these damaged lanterns hovered near ground level and got blown into trees. Amazingly enough, nothing caught fire.
When the lantern launching started winding down, torches were distributed, and people formed a parade through town.
They stopped at the new sculpture park where some fireworks were lit, then they proceeded through town.
The final destination was a barn where a mystery guitarist performed. The kids were intrigued and tried to peek and see who it was. Eventually the screen was removed, but it wasn't anyone I recognized.
By this point, it had been over an hour since I could feel my frozen feet, so I was glad to get home and have a bit bowl of homemade chili.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Dismayed by democracy
After a week of relatively mild but rainy weather, today is crisp and clear. I probably won't spend much time blogging before I go out for some manual labor.
It was election time again in the US, and once again I find myself disappointed and dismayed: disappointed that it will now be even harder for President Obama to accomplish anything, and dismayed by the impatience of the American voters. President Obama failed to perform miracles, thus we can turn our backs on him and leave his hands tied. This article (American Public Gets Exactly What it Deserves) seems to sum it up nicely. Yes, I realize that the Onion is satire, and it's not true in a literal sense, but I do believe there is a lot of truth in it. We do want instant gratification. Show me the money, and do it now!
I am also dismayed, no downright shocked, that Californians would once again elect Jerry Brown as governor. He ran the state into a financial crisis the first time. How on earth could people believe he could dig the state out of one? On a more positive note, I'm encouraged that the city of Westminster (near where I grew up in California) has voted to lift the ban on fireworks.
Closer to home, I recently spoke with a friend who was running for city council. "How'd it go," I asked, of course. It's been weeks since the election, so they had finally figured out the results. "Both good and bad," was his reply. There are 49 seats on the city/county council (complete overkill for a county of only about 18,000 people, in my opinion) and he's a member of the traditionally dominant party, so one might expect him to have a chance.
So here's where democracy totally breaks down. In Sweden, one votes for a party. Within that party, candidates are listed in order, and one has the option of checking a box for an individual candidate. These checked boxes can move people up on the list, or that's at least what they're for in a theoretical sense. My friend was in the middle of the list, so he would have to pass some people up in order to make it into the city council for his party. Exactly how many spots his party would have on the council depended on their percentage of the total vote.
It turned out that once again, his party dominated and got quite a few seats. Within the party, he got the second most votes. I started congratulating him, for certainly that meant he would get seat number two, right? Wrong! It turned out he didn't get a seat at all. Apparently all the people who had seats in the previous term got to keep their seats. Only if one of them decided not to continue would a new person have a chance of getting in. It didn't matter at all if anyone had voted for these people in years! Needless to say, they're all old white men, and many of them don't do anything to contribute to the city council except for warming a chair and collecting a paycheck.
Meanwhile, all over the country on all different levels, unholy alliances are being forged in order to keep the newly elected right wing/anti-immigration Sweden Democrats out of power. I'll try to put this into a context that my American readers might relate to. Imagine a system where conservative republicans were on the right, ultra-liberal democrats were on the left, and there were 5 or more other parties in between. Now shift this entire scale so that moderate democrats are on the right, and communists are on the left. Now none of these 7 major parties gets enough votes to lead on its own, so they have traditionally divided themselves up so that 4 are on the right and 3 are on the left. While these parties can change alliances, it's not likely to happen. What happened this year was an eighth party with unpopular and politically incorrect ideas got voted into power not only on the national level but also in quite a few local districts. The election was close enough that neither the right or left alliance got a majority nationally or in a lot of districts, so this eighth party suddenly gets the swing vote. We don't know yet how this is going to work out on a national level. They'll probably have to try to negotiate new alliances for every issue that comes up. However, some local districts have solved this problem in a different way. The largest party on the right and the largest party on the left have formed an alliance and completely shut out all of the other parties. Needless to say, the other parties aren't too happy about this. The worst thing is, many of the people who voted to these two parties aren't too happy about it either. Clearly a lot of compromise will be needed in order for an alliance between conservative republicans and liberal democrats to be able to generate anything. Most likely, the result will be a whole lot of nothing.
It was election time again in the US, and once again I find myself disappointed and dismayed: disappointed that it will now be even harder for President Obama to accomplish anything, and dismayed by the impatience of the American voters. President Obama failed to perform miracles, thus we can turn our backs on him and leave his hands tied. This article (American Public Gets Exactly What it Deserves) seems to sum it up nicely. Yes, I realize that the Onion is satire, and it's not true in a literal sense, but I do believe there is a lot of truth in it. We do want instant gratification. Show me the money, and do it now!
I am also dismayed, no downright shocked, that Californians would once again elect Jerry Brown as governor. He ran the state into a financial crisis the first time. How on earth could people believe he could dig the state out of one? On a more positive note, I'm encouraged that the city of Westminster (near where I grew up in California) has voted to lift the ban on fireworks.
Closer to home, I recently spoke with a friend who was running for city council. "How'd it go," I asked, of course. It's been weeks since the election, so they had finally figured out the results. "Both good and bad," was his reply. There are 49 seats on the city/county council (complete overkill for a county of only about 18,000 people, in my opinion) and he's a member of the traditionally dominant party, so one might expect him to have a chance.
So here's where democracy totally breaks down. In Sweden, one votes for a party. Within that party, candidates are listed in order, and one has the option of checking a box for an individual candidate. These checked boxes can move people up on the list, or that's at least what they're for in a theoretical sense. My friend was in the middle of the list, so he would have to pass some people up in order to make it into the city council for his party. Exactly how many spots his party would have on the council depended on their percentage of the total vote.
It turned out that once again, his party dominated and got quite a few seats. Within the party, he got the second most votes. I started congratulating him, for certainly that meant he would get seat number two, right? Wrong! It turned out he didn't get a seat at all. Apparently all the people who had seats in the previous term got to keep their seats. Only if one of them decided not to continue would a new person have a chance of getting in. It didn't matter at all if anyone had voted for these people in years! Needless to say, they're all old white men, and many of them don't do anything to contribute to the city council except for warming a chair and collecting a paycheck.
Meanwhile, all over the country on all different levels, unholy alliances are being forged in order to keep the newly elected right wing/anti-immigration Sweden Democrats out of power. I'll try to put this into a context that my American readers might relate to. Imagine a system where conservative republicans were on the right, ultra-liberal democrats were on the left, and there were 5 or more other parties in between. Now shift this entire scale so that moderate democrats are on the right, and communists are on the left. Now none of these 7 major parties gets enough votes to lead on its own, so they have traditionally divided themselves up so that 4 are on the right and 3 are on the left. While these parties can change alliances, it's not likely to happen. What happened this year was an eighth party with unpopular and politically incorrect ideas got voted into power not only on the national level but also in quite a few local districts. The election was close enough that neither the right or left alliance got a majority nationally or in a lot of districts, so this eighth party suddenly gets the swing vote. We don't know yet how this is going to work out on a national level. They'll probably have to try to negotiate new alliances for every issue that comes up. However, some local districts have solved this problem in a different way. The largest party on the right and the largest party on the left have formed an alliance and completely shut out all of the other parties. Needless to say, the other parties aren't too happy about this. The worst thing is, many of the people who voted to these two parties aren't too happy about it either. Clearly a lot of compromise will be needed in order for an alliance between conservative republicans and liberal democrats to be able to generate anything. Most likely, the result will be a whole lot of nothing.
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