Wallpapering and leveling the cabin

Last weekend we were at the cabin.  Teres spent Friday evening applying filler to the walls to ensure they were level, so that she could later apply wallpaper.

On Saturday morning Teres glued a special thick wallpaper to the walls which also helps to create a flat surface to apply the actual wallpaper to.

Then on Sunday morning she started applying the wallpaper to the walls.

By late afternoon Teres have completed the wallpapering.

Spent the weekend digging under both the cabin and sauna, and then using a bottle jack to raise up the cabin and sauna, to make them level.  In the picture below, you can see that the cabin has dropped slightly, though the veranda is level.

Once raised up, I placed pieces of wood on the pillars to keep the cabin level.

I have also has my Little Acorn camera fixed to a tree at the cabin for three weeks, but the only picture it has taken is of this Pine Marten (Martes martes).

Another weekend at the cabin, but not much to write about.

We spent three days at the cabin last weekend.  It rained on Friday and Saturday, but fortunately I spent most of the weekend work in the cabin.

I completed the work fixing tongue and groove panels to the walls and I fixed skirting boards around the floor.

I also completed fixing up coving around the kitchen ceiling.  It can be small details that take so much time to complete, like joining two different types of coving in a corner.

On Sunday the sun was shining and so I spent some time photographing birds including this Pied Flycatcher

and House Martins collecting mud to build their nests.

Another hot weekend at the cabin!

The temperature last Friday was 30 degrees C and and after working out in the heat all day, when we arrived at the cabin, both myself and Emma headed straight to the lake to cool off.

Initially the water was cold, but after a couple of minutes it was warm and relaxing to be in the lake

I spent most of the weekend working on the cabin.  This time I was fixing tongue and groove boards around the living room walls, one metre high.

We will then have wall paper on the walls above the boards

Emma was bored, so I asked here to draw a picture on the wall where the boards were going, and she also wrote about our family, so that in future years when the boards are removed, someone can read about who was living there before.

I put up a hammock as a chair on the veranda and Emma spent quite  bit of time sitting there birdwatching.

We have a pair of White Wagtails nesting under the cabin roof and they spent a lot of time catching insects.

There were also Black Grouse displaying nearby in the evening.

We will be spending three days at the cabin this coming weekend.

A hot weekend at the cabin

Two weeks ago when staying at the cabin I took this wintry picture.

Last weekend we were at the cabin and after two weeks of exceptionally warm weather (which is still continuing now) with temperature up to 29 degrees in the shade, the same view now looks like this.

I spent most of last weekend dragging trees to the cabin, cutting them up and splitting them.

Wood from two years ago in our outside wood store

had to be moved to our inside wood store to be used over the next year

and then the new wood had to be stacked outside.

I spent quite a bit of time fishing but caught nothing.  So on Saturday night I put out my fish-trap in the lake and when I checked it next morning, there were fish in there.

There were sixteen Perch in total

Most of them I put back in the lake because we did not need them, but the larger ones I kept.

5 days at my cabin – day 5

I had left my Little Acorn camera out overnight at the cabin to see if any animals came to visit.  I was surprised next morning to see that a Reindeer had been to visit in the middle of the night.

Myself and Erik walked in the forest.  We eventually decided to stop and make fire,

and cook coffee and some lunch.

Close to where we made fire, we found a couple of really nice Birch burs.

Later during our walk, we found a site where a fox had killed a Capercaillie.

I could not understand why there was a lot of mouse droppings in one are, but then realised that this was actually the crop contents and that this bird had recently been eating Birch leaf buds.

We spent the afternoon fishing but again did not catch anything.

At 6pm we loaded our kit in the valp and Erik gave me a lift to my car.  As we drove along the track I had walked to the cabin on, I spotted fresh bear tracks.

The tracks were from the previous day and it was not a particularly large bear that had made them, so if we had travelled in the opposite direction the previous evening we might of seen it.

5 days at my cabin – day 4

I spent the morning gathering wood and splitting logs.  Late morning I heard a vehicle and eventually my friend and neighbour Erik appeared.  He had been ploughing the road to our cabins with his military valp and it was nice to see that I would have some company.

He drove up to his cabin and made fire to get the cabin warm and then came to join me for coffee at my cabin.  Later in the afternoon we decided to try and walk across the marshes to another large lake.

There was still a layer of ice under the water so I wasn’t too difficult to get across to the lake.

As we walked back across the marsh there were quite a few Wood Sandpipers, Spotted Redshanks and Greenshanks feeding there.  This Green shank sat up in a tree watching us.

We spent the evening fishing, but did not catch anything.

Later in the evening we drove around in the forest (the Valp will go just about anywhere!!) looking for birds, Moose or bear but we only saw a Capercaillie.

New bird species for the year were a pair of Smew on the cabin lake, a Dunnock and a Rustic Bunting singing at the cabin.

Clearing snow from the cabin roof

Today myself, Teres and Emma have been to the cabin.

There was a lot of heavy snow on the cabin roof (105cms in depth) which had to be removed!

While we were on the roof clearing snow, Emma was busy making things out of wood

We had a break for lunch and sat outside enjoying the sunshine.

It took us about 4 hours to remove all the snow from the cabin roof.  Here’s how it looked when I first arrived…

and here it is after we had finished.

Laleh in Nattavaara

Laleh Pourkarim is an Iranian-born Swedish singer-songwriter and former actress. She uses her given name Laleh as her stage name.  Her song “Some Die Young” was the most played song on Swedish radio in 2012.

Yesterday Laleh visited Nattavaara with a film crew who are making a film about her and her life.  They wanted to film her playing the piano in Hembygdsgarden (an old school).

I spent the  morning cleaning all the rooms and clearing snow outside the building.

At 1pm we started preparing food for their evening meal

They were delayed filming at another location and did not arrive until 5pm.  After setting up film equipment

and tuning the piano

they ate the meal we had prepared

They spent two hours filming  and recording her playing the piano and singing.

We all had a great time and look forward to seeing the program on Swedish TV later this year.

Nattavaara Christmas Market & Lunch 2012

This weekend we have held a market and Christmas lunch here in Nattavaara.

Father Christmas and his elves were there

At the market we sold home-made foods and crafts

There were also Christmas plant decorations to buy

Over 80 people also enjoyed a Christmas lunch

Yesterdays dinner guests

I was at work yesterday, but Teres was at home and took some pictures of some guests that arrived for dinner and spent most of the day at our house.

There was one almost completely white reindeer with them.  He had a bell around his neck which helps to locate the reindeer when they are in the forest.

This is a mother and calf that are digging in the snow to locate food

and this animal is fitted with a GPS collar as part of a project to study bear predation on reindeer.  When a bear comes within 100 metres of the reindeer, the collar activates and begins sending a signal to the researches.  They have found that 60% of reindeer calves are taken by bears!