Apologies

Apologies that it has taken me so long to write again.

My health issues have continued and that has made getting out and about much less enjoyable. I have had to force myself to go out and do things.

I received so little money in sickness benefits that I have been forced to take a full time job again. I now live and work in Jokkmokk Monday to Friday each week and then travel 70 kms home at weekends so that my daughter can come and visit.

I would like to thank all of you who have read, commented and supported my blog all these years. Unfortunately I will not be continuing to publish for the foreseeable future at least.

I thought I would end by showing some photos of a landing net that I made a few weeks ago.

I cut the handle from a piece of Sallow root bur and cut the shape for the net from a piece of plywood.

I used thin slices of Pine, which I soaked to form the frame for the net and glued them together.

Then I sanded and formed the net shape.

I purchased a plastic net, which I stitched into the frame to complete the project.

I would like to thank everyone for their support once again.

Regards Kevin.

Open water

I am having problems with the WordPress app crashing so I haven’t been able to post.

The streams and rivers are ice free now and because we had so little snow during the winter, the water levels haven’t risen a great deal.

The lakes still have some ice on them.

I have been out doing a little work, monitoring birds and so far everything has gone ok.

I am going to be undergoing a lot of tests to try and find out what is wrong with me, so we will see how things go.

Still not well

Unfortunately I’m still not well and as a result I’m not getting out much.

I have got my new lawnmower working 😁

It has been a cold spring with an almost constant North Westerly wind blowing. Very few birds have arrived, but I have seen Common Cranes.

I spent a couple of hours ice fishing and caught a 1,4kg trout.

Lunch wasn’t trout, but instead I made a grilled cheese sandwich over a fire.

I hope I will soon have more to write about.

Tomatoes and cucumbers

Unfortunately I am ill again and not able to get out and do stuff.

I have planted some Tomato and cucumber seeds and Kelly has planted radish seeds. All are growing very well and Kelly has sold some plants to make some extra pocket money.

Spring is so early this year, that I really hope I can get out and about soon.

A poor ice fishing season

I have been ice fishing a few times now, but I have only caught 5 fish of a decent size, that I could take home.

We have had a cold north-northwesterly wind that blows pretty much every day, so I have used my wind breaker quite often.

Some days the wind speed has been extreme. My fire pit, which is on wheels, but still very heavy, blew over the edge of our deck and tipped over.

NATO have been active here. A C130 flew just over the treetops one day when I was fishing.

Now the temperatures are rising and the ice is melting. We will see how long I can fish.

Another use for my ice hole cleaner

I am in less pain now, so I have been ice fishing.

The first day I made lunch using my homemade spirit burner.

I caught 10 Arctic Char,but all were too small to keep.

The next day I made a fire at the edge of the lake and wanted to grill my cheese sandwich. I was trying to work out how I could make something to do this, when I came upon the idea to use the ice hole cleaner that I made recently.

It worked perfectly.

Even with sausages.

And I used it with my Original Firefox stove.

Fractured ribs

I’m still not able to get out and do much.

I coughed so much that I fractured my ribs. Three times they have started healing and then I have had a coughing fit and fractured them again. I actually believe that one has broken completely this time as I am in so much pain. Unfortunately the doctors won’t do anything to help my situation.

Until I can stop coughing, the situation isn’t going to improve. As I can’t work, I have had no income for the last few weeks.

It’s that time of year again

I haven’t written anything recently because I am unwell. It started with a virus and now I have a fungal infection in my airway and bronchial tubes.

Will write again when I have recovered.

The days are getting long

It’s so nice that the days are getting longer. It is light at 7am and dark at 5pm.

I opened the curtains yesterday morning and saw a stoat standing outside my window.

Last week the temperature was only -2, so I made a fire and cooked lunch outside.

I listened to Tim’s comment and have used old tend poles as poles for my little sled.

I am currently working, monitoring birds, so have used the sled quite a bit.

I came upon the idea to use my snowshoes as pegs for my guylines in the deep snow.

I found the tracks of a male displaying Capercaillie last weekend.

Slush remover

I was watching a YouTube video about ice fishing in Canada and one of the guys had a tool that he used to clean slush from the ice hole after he had drilled it. I tried to find something similar here in Sweden, but was unsuccessful, so I made my own.

My ice drill is 150mm and the wood burner to Dave Canterbury s cooking pot is 143mm. As I never use the wood burner, I decided to use it for this project.

I used a disc cutter to cut along the black line.

For the handles, I used the aluminium shafts from a brush and dust pan.

I bolted everything together. I used lock nuts, so that the handles can move independently.

Once a hole is drilled, you tip the plate to its vertical position.

Insert it into the hole, through all the slush. When you reach the bottom of the hole, you tip the plate to its horizontal position and lift the whole thing out of the hole, taking the slush with it.

I think it’s a really useful tool.