I could feel the difference when I opened the door.
I really hate to complain when we actually get warm summer weather as we have so far but it was just too warm yesterday, we Swedes aren’t used to have temperatures up to 31C (87,8F). Normally our summers are cool and rainy, so the weather we just had was a dream come true for us 🙂 I think I would have liked it better if I hadn’t been working beside a huge oven and a huge washing machine that pours out steam that fills the entire place where I work 🙂
I could feel the difference in the air as soon as I opened the kitchen door (it will cool down to only 21C (69,8F) today, normal summer temperatures 🙂 ), the air was cool, almost chilly and even felt a bit humid, it is around 50% so it is actually a bit low and will drop even more later during the day. One weather site says we might get a few drops of rain another says we won’t. I don’t long for rain because it is now so dry in the ground that the lawn doesn’t grow and that I like 🙂 Also, all puddles and most small creeks are now bone dry so that means fewer mosquitos and hopefully fewer biting flies too 🙂 I’m not sure farmers like it this dry though but at the moment I really don’t care 🙂
I think this is a Kestrel and it hovered nicely so I could get some photos.
I have four long strips of sticky fly paper hanging from the ceiling and two of them are full of flies and has to be changed today, they were filled during four days. The first biting ones have arrived too, oh the joy. They are all very early this year so I hope their season ends early too. It would be nice if they actually were gone by the time my vacation starts but I guess that would be to hope for too much 🙂
A lone Greylag was grazing the field close to my cottage.
Yellow Goat’s Beard (Tragopogon pratensis) grows everywhere here and its root is edible and seen as a delicacy.
Cranes grazing another field.
It is time to make a pot of tea and something to eat as well. We were up already at 4:20 this morning and went out not long after that. The sky was and still is a bit cloudy but we could see the sun rise since the clouds were rather thin, so after the tea I think I’ll take a short nap 🙂
The Guelder rose is now in bloom.
Have a great day!
I had totally forgotten that I had planted hardy pelargoniums in my garden, so guess if I was surprised to see these two growing up 🙂
Bertil is being chased away from the apple tree by two angry magpies 🙂
The cottage by the Crane Lake, life goes on. 
Hi Christer,
Lovely sun photo.
That does look like a kestrel. We have them, too. Not the same species but similar. Before there were a lot of red tail hawks patrolling the highways, I could often see American kestrels hovering over the median strips looking for food. I doubt the red tails would eat them but some of the other bird-eating hawks might. Kestrels are small.
Today’s weather is starting out cloudy and humid but cool. It’s going to warm up to 80ºF but then it’ll be cool and rainy again tomorrow. Soaking rain. The grass will be growing and I’ll be mowing, I guess.
Enjoy the day.
June 4, 2016 at 1:30 pm
Hi Caryn!
Now we have almost no clouds at all up there in the sky but it is thankfully still rather cool compared to yesterday and we still have that nice breeze so it is quite nice outside. The Swedish weather site had predicted some rain but it never arrived and the thunder we could hear was rather far away. So the grass will stay low except on places where I’ve been messy wile watering my different flower beds 🙂
We do have a couple of nesting Kestrels here so I’m pretty sure it is one of them but I’m not especially good when it comes to raptors. It was mostly the size that made me think of them and to be honest we don’t have that many other species of falcons here 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
June 4, 2016 at 2:03 pm
poor bertil! the embarrassment of a cat being chased by birds! i give up here! i think it will be 90 and humid for the next 4 months.
June 4, 2016 at 5:12 pm
Hi Joyce!
🙂 🙂 He deserved it, perhaps this will help him understand that magpies are just too big, fast and smart to be afraid of a tiny cat 🙂
We’ll stay around todays temperatures for at least a week but as You know I really don’t trust our weather forecast services 🙂
Have a great day despite the heat!
Christer.
June 4, 2016 at 8:16 pm
Hi Christer! We had rain this morning and then it cleared and it was a lovely, lovely day. Did alot of outside work, took Karma to the vet again as I thought her mange was coming back but good news it is not. She must have had a reaction to swimming in the lake when we went a few weeks ago. So we got her special soap and gave her a bath and some vitamins for dogs as her immune system is not great due to her rough start to life. Poor thing. But she was happy, didn’t want to get out of the tub and actually went back in after all the water was drained. Such a water dog. We moved 1/2 yard of limestone to our parking pad alongside our house and need many more yards to finish it up. But its a start. Then we had a nice BBQ and have just come in from sitting outside. Its starting to get dusk out and its hard to read a book when it gets like this. We are going to get rain again tomorrow apparently. We will wait and see if they are correct. Then we get hot come the middle of the week. I don’t like it when it gets ridiculous hot. Just like what you had. Your photos are lovely today, my favorite one being of the sun thru the clouds over the houses. Very nice! I hope the rest of your day went well enough! 🙂
June 5, 2016 at 3:29 am
Hi Dianna!
We got a very nice day here yesterday and today will be much the same they say 🙂 No rain which will keep the grass low and the ticks calm 🙂 There are a few mosquitoes out by the bog but I haven’t seen any around our cottages in a while and that is something most people like 🙂
I’m glad it wasn’t the mange coming back. My Orvar always had to get extra vitamines and nothing I fed him gave enough of them. So she’s much like Sune, baths are womderful 🙂 Too bad my Nova doesn’t feel the same way but then again she doesn’t seem to get as badly affected by heat as most dogs.
It is hard work moving limestone so one yard at a time is just enough unless one is in a hurry 🙂
According to precictions it will stay like this till Tuesday and after that it’ll cool down even more but stay sunny. I do hope this wasn’t the summer we got this year, last year was very similar and when vacations started it became cold and rainy.
Have a great day!
Christer.
June 5, 2016 at 6:08 am