A neck-knife

When I was at Jokkmokks Marknad in February, I ordered some specially designed blades from a blacksmith. I am going to use the blades for making neck-knives.

Last Saturday myself and Kelly took a tour out on the snowmobile. Kelly was very happy to be out in the forest again.

Unfortunately we got stuck, but once I had freed up the machine, we were able to use the hole to make a fire in and grill some sausages.

Later on Saturday I tested my new bag in my hammock and was pleased that it works very well. The only issue is that I cannot sleep on my side.

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The bag is complete… or maybe not.

Sewing work on the bag is now complete. There are two pockets for the mat at each end and a band across the middle.

This is what the front of the bag looks like.

During the summer I can use the bag as it is, but with a down sleeping bag inside it, it is a little bit tight. The zip baffle was only 5cms wide, but they have sewed on an extra baffle which is 20cms wide.

This means that although I cannot close the zip completely, but I can close the baffle using valcro.

I am considering further alterations in the future so that I can close the bag completely.

Heavy snowfall

Last Friday it started snowing and continued until Sunday evening.  And with gale force winds the snow blew into drifts.  In some places there was no snow on the ground and in others it was up to 2 metres deep.  Teres took this picture as I cleared the snow on Saturday

and there was at least the same amount again on Sunday!

One problem that I; and most probably many others have when sleeping in a hammock, is that the sleeping mat doesn’t stay in place and I end up with a cold back.

I have tried making several designs to hold the mat in place with limited success

but recently I found a Halti Travel Sleeping Bag on sale on the internet and though that I could put both my thermarest and sleeping inside it.

Here is more information about the bag; https://halti.com/collections/sleeping-bags-mattresses/products/smart-travel-sleeping-bag

Unfortunately, with both the thermarest and my sleeping bag inside, there was insufficient room.  So I came up with a solution to the problem, and with help of our sewing department at work, they are now making alterations to the bag.  My solution is (on the back side of the bag) to sew a pocket at the top and bottom of the bag and a band of material across the middle, into which the therarest is inserted.  It will only be my sleeping bag that is then inside the bag.

The bag is not yet finished, but I will put up some pictures here as soon as it is completed.

11km ski tour

At work yesterday, myself and a friend travelled 51/2kms to a cabin which the council owns.

The weather was sunny and still and the temperature was -6…perfect conditions to be out skiing.

We skid to the cabin to take some pictures for our website and asses the condition of the cabin.

And of course while we were there, we made fire and grilled some sausages and drank coffee.

After we had had lunch, we skid the 51/2kms back to the car.

Ice fishing

The temperatures have remained above freezing during the last week.

Last Saturday I went to a local lake to do some ice fishing.

The fish were biting, but I never managed to catch anything.  I was really nice to be out in such beautiful weather even when I did not catch anything.

Later on Saturday the family gathered at my in-laws for a BBQ.

A resident bird that always appears when you light a fire is the Siberian Jay.  They know that were there is people and fire, there will be food.

A bird that started to reappear in large numbers last weekend is the Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator).  They are returning after spending the winter further south.

The weather is supposed to be getting colder again later this week and then we will be back to normal temperatures for this time of year.

Hurricane force winds and+ degrees

Teres came home on Friday and is recovering gradually.

Last weekend was very eventful.

The temperature rose above freezing on Saturday and the snow began to melt

Which meant that I had to get up on to the roof and clear snow

But at the same time we also had hurricane force winds gusting to 28m/s which made working on the roof quite difficult and unfortunately during the process of clearing snow I hurt my back again (it’s already getting better though).

On Sunday there was almost no wind and the temperature was just below freezing again, so myself and Kelly decided to have the first bbq of the year.

Hot-dogs and warm chocolate were on the menu and it was really nice to be able to sit out in the sun for the first time.

We had planned to go ice-fishing, but because I had soooo much pain in my back, this will have to wait for another time.

It’s getting warmer

Unfortunately Teres is still in hospital and they now suspect that she has a blood clott on one of her lungs.

At least the weather is improving and it has been only – 5 today. So I was out with Kelly.

She played in the snow

And then we sat and drank hot chocolate

We made a brief visit to Jokkmokks marknad (temperature was – 26), but there were so many people there and with a five year old to look after, I was not able to take any pictures.