Smoke Rings

I guess with a place like this there will always be a new problem to fix and new learnings for regular preventative maintenance. This is one of those occasions.

During last weekend, the wood oven in our living room (our main source of heating) started blowing somke rings, like this



Now, especially in the damp heavy weather we have had, this oven can be difficult to get going and can smoke a little whilst the metal is not up to full temperature. On my way home from a meeting in Stavanger this Tuesday, Mrs Longship rang to complain that the oven was filling the house with smoke.

M. LS rang the local chimey sweep (this activity is organised by the local council and everybody should automatically get there chimneys sweeped every 2 years). She was informed that a new company had taken over the contract and things in this area were in disarray and they couldn't say when our chimneys were last cleaned. They then stated that they were hoping to get to everyone this year.

This evening I started the process of investigation by taking a couple of the insection holes off the oven. Heres what I found



And the view into the outlet pipe was like this



Fotunately this material which I guess one would call slag came off relatively easy and with the help of various tools I managed to get it all cleaned out, collecting half of this stuff in the oven and half in the cleaning insepection hole in the basement.



I also had a quick look and cleaned what I could reach through the inspection door in the loft, fortunately the chimney itself isn't so bad although it is well due a clean.

In total I cleaned out a remarkable 7.5Kg of this hard black soot/slag. I shall now make this an annual event.

The end result a wood oven which lights much easier than before, generates almost no smoke and gives off a lot more heat.

Red Light, Green Light

Not long back from a recent couple of eventful days in Lithuania.

Amongst the many strange things (including 80 year old Russian professors from St. Petersburgh appearing from thin air) I have to tell you about the lighting arrangement in the hotel room.

Now, before I continue, this was a new and reasonably respectable hotel, the rooms were clean and comfortable and the food and the service was good.

In my (and all other it appears) hotel room, above the middle of the bed there were three light switches, nothing so remarkable in itself. However, the light switch to the left had a red stripe on it and the light switch on the right had a green stripe on it. I naturally had to investigate, starting with the unmarked switch, a pleasent flouresent up light on the wall above the bed, then the red switch, the same only this time almost neon red, and predictable enough the green switch provided the same effect only with a green light this time.

I can only begin to wonder, the mind boggles.

Light in the Darkness

Monday night, as I had borrowed a chain saw the day before, I continued working on the eternal wood pile, with which a number of you are acquainted.

I had hoped to chop up the trailer load that I had dumped by the saw, the trailer load I had in the trailer and load the trailer one more time before it got dark. This proved a little optimisitic in the 2 hours of daylight that were left.

Not detered by the darkness I backed the tractor and trailer up to the saw and continue to work away with the rear spot lights on full blast and I also rigged up a couple of 500 Watt work lights for good measure.

Now, it can be eerie out here surrounded by trees and little else. The addittion of nearly 2000 Watts of lights only made matters worse. The darkness behind the lights was an impeniterable blackness and between the rumble of the tractor engine, the scream of the saw and ear muffs, wild horses could have been approach at full gallop and I would have been none the wiser.

Focusing on my work prevented my mind running wild with chilling fantasies. Matters were not helped by the sudden appearence of a brilliant light through the trees in the distance lightning up the surrounding area nearly as brilliantly as my own lighting arrangement. I had to walk away from my work area to cofirm that after such a dull evening, the moon could be so unbelievably brilliant, just in case they had finally come to get me.......

Oh, btw, the sharpened saw is a revalation, not a single trip of the thermal overload and straight through those extra tough knots. Many thanks to JN for his paitience with a metal file.

The wrong car,

but a splendid holiday all the same.

The Master plan was to get the Triumph finished in time for our "driving holiday" round England and Ireland. Unfortunately to go from this



and this



to this



in 2 months proved a bit to ambitious so instead it was this,



This picture was taken in the Southern Irish "Gourmet" town of Kinsale. We covered a total of 2500Km in the old Opel and it didn't miss a beat (apart from installing a new coil which packed up after 20 minutes, so the old one went back in (ain't broke don't fix routine)).

So as you can see from the above photo's a little over 1 month behind schedule we are back behind the wheel of my 1976 Triumph Spitfire 1500 which I acquired in 1995 and has been in bits since late 1998. A very satisfying achievement. It went for it's technical registration control today, it needs a new Windscreen (ordered as we broke the old one putting it in), the brake pipes secured better and the chassis number stamping in the chassis (I think I changed the bit of chassis that should have had the number on it....). More project details in due course on more-power.

Frog or Toad?

and how can we tell in the future?

"The more you do, the more you have to tell, the less time you have to tell it"

Knocking on the door

Imagine my wifes surprise when she found this chap climbing up our front door.




I guess it's just a common grasshopper but it was an impressive size,

She announced at this point that, next year, when our focus is back on the garden we should start cataloging and learning a little more about the huge variety of insect life around Haugtuft. Life cycles, what they eat, if they're harmful and so on. I will try to persuade her to include the blog in this research. I think it's all quite exciting really.

Will this make us insectologist, or am I getting confused with Tom Cruise?

Apologies,

Please excuse the lack of posts, I have been and I am very busy with this.

http://more-power.blogspot.com/2006/07/project-spitfire-update.html

Supernatural Happenings

It all began with "the phantom sheepskin mover", who frequently relocates the sheepskin from one of our Sofa's to random places in the house.

Then it was the turn of the the blanket/throw that is on the other Sofa which now frequently is found at the bottom of the stairs or under the kitchen table.

This morning after coming home from Peggy's morning walk I found our long suffering passion flower plant in the middle of the kitchen floor, some 10 metres from the window sill in the living room where it normally resides. The pot being half way between the window and the plant and the soil lying in a nice straight line between window and the plant, drawing a 2 lane highway over our living room/kitchen floor.

Creepy!

I would have taken a picture of ths carnage before I tidied up, but Mrs Longship is in Copenhagen with the Camera.

Haugtuft, from the air.

My Father in law is the sort of man that will not use new things for fear of ruining them and prefers to wear old stuff out first. This always causes a problem regarding choosing birthday presents and his 80th birthday was no different.


The decision was taken to give him something that he had to use/experience and what better than a sightseeing tour in a light aircraft. My boss, who has his own aerobatic aircraft and also has access to Tønsberg Flight clubs 2Cessnaa 172's, very kindlyagreedd to be our pilot.


We took off into a deal ofturbulencee on a bright sunny Saturday morning. Our one hour trip took us over Haugtuft, my in-laws chalet and onward towards Drøbak. On the return journey I took the controls, handing back over shortly before a quick touch and go followed by a textbook, one wheeled, cross wind landing.

The Others

As you will know from my earlier post about Lego David Blaine, I have been following the progress of LDB amazing stunt, "28 Days in a Fish Tank"

Day 25 featured a competition to spot all ten of "The Others" in the fish tank. This, I did, and quite to my surprise I was among the first 5 correct entries recieved. So, I am now waiting with great anticipation the delivery of my very own, Limited Edition LDB Badge.

Those of you who would like to know more about this enagmatic little man can watch "LDB, The movie" here, on quicktime, or if that doesn't work, here.

Day 17 included a visit of "The Flying Satans", performing their excellent hit song, "Magical Man"

Excellent stuff, amusment for young and old.

The Duckling, A very short story

Sadly, the little wild duckling, deprived of it's mum by a cat, which was the contents of the box in the previous post, didn't last so long.

We did what we could but as is so often the way with wild rescue birds but it wasn't enough.

What's in the Box?

My wife's just arrived home with this shoe box which has holes punched in the lid.

This can only mean one thing....... Still, it's been a while since the last time.

Lazy Beds

Playing blog catch up as normal, now reporting an activity 1 week ago.

Saturday of last weekend we took a trip to the nearest large garden centre and bought our set Potatoes, as follows.

Juni, Early, 8 Kg
Berber, early Main, 4.2 Kg
Laila, Main, 6 Kg (The same spuds as last year)

After reading all about Lazy beds in an edition of the excellent Kitchen Garden Magazine, it was decided that we would give this technique a go.

The procedure went roughly as follows,

1: Spread the cow muck, delivered by the young lad in the photo(no not me), into the required rows.

2: Place set potatoes on cow muck.



3: "Fold over" turf/soil on top of potatoes, ensuring most grass/weeds are face down into the cow muck

4: Admire the result of 3 hard hours work and check every day for signs of progress.....

Out of Date Seeds

Along with onions and peas, during our first days work out in the kitchen garden (now a couple of weeks ago), we sowed a good variety of Veg, Herbs, and even some flowers.

Being the hoarder that I am, my substantial collection of seed packets included a fair number of packets past the "sow by" date. The rash decision was taken that these should be used up regardless of how dense the subsequent seedlings may end up.

As much for my own records as your interest, below is a list of the seeds sown, with producer and sell by date (unless otherwise specified). I will endeavour to keep track of thess and publish a detailed germination success/rate report in the near future.

Flowers:

Aster, Suttons, 1/2004
Wild Flower mix, 6/2005

Herbs:

Parsley(Envy), Suttons, 6/2004
Tarragon(Russian), Jahnsons, Dec 2001

Veg:

Courgette(F1 Hybrid), Marshalls, 2005
Leek (Musselburgh), Mr. Fothergills, Packed Aug 1999

Sprouts (Not Brussells!!!):
Mung Beans, Mr. Fothergills, 2002
Alfalfa, Suttons, 6/2002



Other, in date, sowings, included Basil, Coriander, radish, beetroot, spinach, fennel, carrots and turnips.

On a slightly later date, we also made indoor sowings of many different types of peppers, tomatoes and such forth. I will do my utmost to update you on these after "pricking out"!!!

Found, Lost and Found (Again)

I can't make head nor tail of this

I had not been able to find my LandRover Zippo lighter for a good while before now, when it caught my eye lying in the gravel beside the back steps inside the carport as I parked up the bicycle

This is not the first time that this has happened. I first came into possession of this treasure when I found it whilst searching for good skimming stones on the little shingle beach near the hut on the back side of Loweswater lake in Cumbria. This is a place that a good number of my readers are familiar with and it's quite possible that some of you where with us that day. It must be a good few years ago, and my memory is terrible. Maybe it was AJ (AKA Thoughtful Scotsman) and family, friends of Mrs VL visiting from Liverpool, Geoffers, Doc M...... If any of you were there and you remember the occasion please leave a comment to refresh my memory

The last(first?) time I remember actively searching for(and not finding) my Zippo was before "The Lads" trip to the Swedish rally in early February. Judging by the state of it it's been out in the weather for a good while. How it could have been lying in a place that is right beside our normal way in and out the house without being noticed for the best part of 4 months I can not imagine. Maybe Mrs VL has an explanation.

I will start a full photographic restoration, a la Haynes manual, as soon as Mrs VL arrives back with the camera. I hope we've got a good quantity of Brasso to hand.

News Dog

In the lack of any willing customers, Peggy, during a day out at the vet clinic was accosted by Sandefjords local Journalist as part of an article highlighting the problems with Ticks during the summer months on cats and dogs and options for treatment/prevention.

Read the article here. I believe that a closer look at the picture shows that both animals are a little more uptight about the presence of each other than the threat of picking up ticks out in the Norwegian forests.

First Sowings

Spring is finally in full swing. The sun has shone for a couple of weeks now, prompting us, beginning last Sunday (7th May), into a flurry of activity in the garden.

Onion Bed

This year sees us continuing our soil improvement plans and reclaiming land in keeping with our long term Terraced fruit and vegtable garden plans, which will rise up from both sides of the little farm road that runs down to the field. Last year, we were very lucky to come to an agreement with the real farmer that he would use our large pile of rubble as part of the fondation of his new tractor road and replace this with the soil he dug out of the road. Giving us a great mechanically assisted step forward and removing a load of back braking work for us.

The final layout and allocation of land for soft fruit, vegatable beds and fruit trees/orchard is not decided yet. Fruit trees and bushes will have to wait another year for both readiness and financial reasons. So this year we will use as much of this area as possible for "bulk" vegetables in an attmept to keep the area weed free and blend in the copious amounts of manure that the real farmer added for us whilst filling up with soil.

After a couple hours of hard digging, stone picking and manure spreading we had an area 6m x 1.5m prepared. In here we planted 1/2 a kilo of Sturon onion sets and a row of sugar snap peas. We also prepared an area 1x1m for a 4x4 square of Marshalls Metoer Vroma Broad beans.

Futher plans for this area later in the spring/summer, include french beans, leeks, courgettes/marrows, butternut squash and sweetcorn.

Photos to follow.

Lego David Blaine

I can't imagine why but "Lego David Blaines" Amazing "28 Days in a fish tank" stunt has caught my attention much more than anything "Real David Blaine" has ever done.

Follow all the action live here..... www.legodavidblaine.co.uk

Brilliant!!!!

Show Cats

I guess it's about time that I blogged about our feline escapades again.

The whole tribe (excluding Anitra, who, quite understandable, continues to have nothing to do with the whole traveling and showing lark) set off for Smaalene Katteklubb's Show in Skiptvet on the other side of Oslofjord in the early hours of Saturday morning. In total we were 3 humans and 4 felines.

So that's Vegas, our fine stud boy, who's aversion to cat shows is significantly more manageable than Anitra's, Asia as a "Company Cat" for Vegas to keep him a little more relaxed, Skiddaw with her new foster mum (more on that later) and Little Amazing Incident, our very special AI'd boy.


So I'll start with Vegas and Asia. As hoped, they were quiet and relaxed during the journey. Vetting in for Vegas was the normal fight, which prompted the poor Vet to ask if the others where relations of his..... Aware that Vegas had a full bladder and has a tendency to spray the second he is introduced to a new environment he was put in the bare cage, before decoration with only his litter tray. As assumed he proceeded to empty his bladder up the back and roof of the cage..... Nice.. So, we took cat out of cage, cleaned up, installed curtains, blankets and decorations and put the cat back in the cage. Vegas, being the clever lad he is promptly emptied the other half of his bladder straight up the curtains...... Great...... After that, it was the "company cats" turn. As normal, Asia caused the most amount of destruction possible in a short space of time. Their litter tray was emptied, food was spread all over the cage, water on their blanket and so on.

Vegas was the first up to be judged. He was well enough behaved for the judge to award him the certificate we had hoped for but badly enough behaved not to progress any further. The final, and slightly amusing part of the story involves Vegas's amorous tendency towards Asia (even though she was not in season). She was moved in with Amazing, but not before a small crowd had gathered to watch him "trying it on". Oh how embarrassing...... Must remember not to take a "company cat" in future.

Skiddaw, who we have decided to keep in our breeding program, has been fostered by one of the nurses at the Vet Clinic where Mrs VL works. This arrangement means that Skiddaw now lives and is looked after by her new mum but we organise matings and she will come to us a few weeks before she is due and stay with us until the kittens are weaned. When we she has had a few litters ownership will be transferred to her foster mum. Thus have we an extra breeding cat without the chaos and someone, who fell in love with the breed first time she saw one of our cats, gets to own a cat that they couldn't afford to buy.


On Saturday, Skiddaw was a little unhappy and vocal to begin with, but settled down and was exemplary with the judge. Much to our surprise, she won her class ahead of her sister, Scafell Pike, who was being shown by her new owner/breeder. This was great for us, but a little daft as Scafell really needed the win as part of her plans to qualify for the Scandinavian winners show, which we probably can't attend with our cats.

Little Amazing, much to our surprise, was an example for them all. He was relaxed for the whole day. Not a peep in the car and not a grumble in the cage (apart from when he ended up with Asia shoved in with him...) Despite his independent tendencies, he was perfect with the judge, even taking it upon himself to play with her pen whilst she attempted to write notes about him. Despite being "A promising young man" he was placed second, behind a cat a couple of months older, oh well, maybe next time.

All in all, a good day out.

Londons the kew.

Today, I was finally back on Norwegian soil, for all of about half an hour. After the voyage from Hamburg to Oslo, my dear wife joined me onboard for a very enjoyable 1 night preview cruise when I swapped my boiler suit for my best attire.

I took a long weekend in London during the time that "Freedom of the Sea", my second home it seems, was laid up in dry dock in Hamburg. The ocassion was my cousins (on my dads side) wedding. A lovely affair it was too.

Mrs Longship joined me on the Friday morning and we indulged in a "shopping spree" in Harrods. Well, a few olives, some tights and some sweets. We did enjoy the Sushi bar though, I never knew just how tasty raw fish could be, it was exceptional.

Anyway, to the point of my ramblings from Freedoms internet cafe.

For me, there is no City I have visited quite like London. For people such as myself who are curious in nature and find facination in so much of life and history, London is frustrating. It's not the lack of interesting things, no, quite the opposite. There is so much of interest that you don't know where to start, and worse, when you do start you know that you'll never get to the end of it always feeling that you leave wherever you were half finished.

As an example, it was not before the umpteenth time I was in the science museum that I thought it would maybe be a good idea to start at the top floor, only to find that there was a huge aviation section on the 5th floor, which I had never seen because I was too busy looking at the steam engines, boat and cars down the bottom floors.

This time it was Kew Gardens that provided us with a wonderful but frustrating day out. We did admittingly give ourselves a rather short time, after the festivities onboard Hispanola the night before, Sunday did start rather slowly.

We headed sraight for the first victorian greenhouse we saw, the tropical rainforest one. By the time that we had finished enjoying the Banana trees, the rubber trees, the worlds largest palm, ginger, bamboo and so much more, we were already running short of time, only to discover the excellent aquatic display in the basement, which took up another chunk of time. This was followed by a wander over to the worlds largest compost heap, the one thing we had to see!!! A very friendly and peacock, who endulged us in a show of his wonderful tail. A chat with a few very brave and curious squirrels, a stroll through the Rodedendrums over the the Veg plots and the Rock Garden, before finishing off purchasing a starter kit for canivorous plants (Venus Fly trap attempt #6......)

Kew is a fantastic and fascinating place. I am so very jealous of folk who live in the proximity to make a season ticket a possibility. In the 3 or so hours we had, we were altogther to rushed and probalbly saw 15% of what we could have seen.

So, we decided that another trip to Kew is in order, a full day perhaps during our next visit to London town, whenever that will be. But then we would be missing out on the Natural History Museum, the Tate, the Tate Modern, HMS Belfast, the science museum, the London Observatory, the London Eye .................

The Struggle of the Seasons

It's a war out there.

Spring duly arrived to claim it's territory in early March only to find Winter stubbornly refusing to move aside.

This struggle is no way near over. Yes, spring has gained the high ground, the first rocks and the steepest slopes are now appearing through the snow, but it's a long hard battle. The snow which has been with us since mid November has now sunk and compacted down to around a little over half a meter depth but it is now dense and wet and the spring thaw has had little effect to the total volume of water to melt.

Just as spring begins to makes headway, for example, a light spring shower helping to wash away some snow, the temperatures fall and it starts snowing again. Just today, lovely spring sunshine managed to get the temperature up around 5-6 Deg C, but tonight, it would seem, the temperatures are on the way down past freezing again and it'll all be ice again in the morning.

This struggle has left it's mark on the landscape, once a beautiful pure white, now dirty grey. Through the constant melt and freeze, the gritting of roads, the passage through wet snow and so forth it is hard to tell the difference between snow, grass, gravel and tarmac.

It's been a wonderful winter and we have been very privileged to enjoy such conditions which haven't been seen for 40 years or more but now it really is time to start making progress with this years endeavors in the vegetable garden.

Come on winter, get out the way before it's summer.....

So the viking longship sailed full steam into Jyväskylä late last friday night. Amazing how you can fit a ship on a train, but that's the wonders of modern science for you, or at least Finnish railways. Things are going to get a little confused in about 4 lines time or thereabouts, so hereafter I will be S for Senior, he will be J for Junior, my dear wife will be D for Dear, the 4 year old F for four (alliteratively), and the almost 2 year old T for (almost) Two. Got that? try it a few more times, just for fun...

So S and J arrived home, J a little hungry and tired after the journey. Dinner over, we cycled back into town for a couple of beers with S's South African mate, who happened to also share an interest in all things Landrover and Mini, being the proud ex-owner of a 68 Landy, in a version only available in SA. J seemed a little concerned as to the temperature level and the wind chill, but S said not to worry, it's only 16 below, wait 'til you have to cycle around in -33 to experience cold. BTW D has had frostbite on her cheeks and nose from this type of experience. Emboldened by a few quaffs of Koff, we returned to our vehicles, slightly better covered up (and in J's case, looking rather like the wicked old witch, with his scarf wrapped around his head), cycled home, and waited 30 mins. or so for the feeling to return to faces, fingers, toes and other unmentionables...

The alarm clock (otherwise known as F and T) rang, reliably as always, at 6.30. S, being a dutiful father, gave up feigning sleep to prepare breakfast, allowing D and J a much needed lie-in. BTW the outside temp. was a much more respectable -25. ONYERBIKE!

And so to the first event of the day. Living within shouting distance of a small ski resort boasting approx. 30k of crosscountry tracks, 4 downhill slopes, a ski jump or three (home of the famous Matti Nykänen, the George Best of Finnish Ski Jumping, but still just about alive!), 2 saunas and an icehole for swimming (!!!), guess what we were off to do. Cross-country skiing it was. S and D's skis impressed the jury with two extremely important qualities: grip and slip. Unfortunately the grip was only when the ski was going forwards, and slip when going backwards. I just realised, it was so early and so cold WE PUT THEM ON THE WRONG WAY ROUND! After 6 km, and much huffing and puffing, it was back to the pad for a much needed coffee and pulla (finnish doughnut). (S and D have since bought end of season skis at half price to remedy the situation!)

Next stop was the skating rink, within a stones throw this time, and F showing off her skills with and without an ice hockey stick. J seemed a little apprehensive re the prospect of skates, remembering a previous visit chez S and D, so phoned up she who must be obeyed for guidance. Having been given the nod, it was off for a few wobbly circuits.

And all this before lunch! Nothing like a relaxing weekend. Back to skis after lunch. F got her much anticipated first go on downhill skis and proved to have a) good balance and b) not much fear. Oh dear. S and J walked there this time, pushing T in the buggy, who dutifully fell asleep for her afternoon nap upon arrival at the slopes. Fully kitted out off they set. J's previous experience on skis has been documented in a previous post, but S's was over 5 years ago. He gingerly slipped and slid down the childrens slope in the wake of F, while J disappeared up the chair lift. Upon his reappearance (at a considerable speed) S and J set off up the chair lift together. On the way up, S was concerned about the steepness of the upper slope, a situation soon resolved by J getting distracted by a snowboarder flying past, knocking into S and leaving both in a heap halfway up the slope. Some quick shufties sideways out of the way of the next passengers and off we went. After two hours of exhileration (J) and fear(S) that was that. The centre of the slope was icy under a couple of centimetres of fresh snow. The two solutions were a) go straight down, hence avoiding the need to turn on slippery ice, as demonstrated by J, and b) zig zag across, pray in the middle, and turn in the deep snow at the sides, as attempted by S. Fun was had by all, and we capped it off with a few runs on the stiga and the Pylkka, down the sledding hill. Most improvement F, least falls S, most speed (and best moves on the chair lift) J, best sleeper T, and most dutiful and patient spouse, D!!!

So to the sauna. J declined the Finnish practice of preceding it with an icehole swim. The air temp was by now at about -6 and the water temp at +2, so quite nice really. Shame. Having been royally entertained by S's Finnish kavereita (mates) whilst attempting to take a nice quiet sauna, it was time for a nicely cooked meal prepared by the guest, topped off with a nice bottle of red: apparently the same as was had at J's wedding 2 years ago!

Sunday morning: S managed a little better at feigning sleep, so D got up with the alarmclocks. Payback time will ensue at some stage, I am sure.... Down to the centre of town to see what was going on at the (frozen) lake. Kiddies entertainments and suchlike. BUT S and J discovered a stand renting retkiluistemet for only 3 euro a half hour: For those not in the know these are free heel skates, using a crosscountry ski boot and binding, about 30 cm long, and designed to go rather fast on rough surface. With a 4 km circuit cleared around the lake what did you expect? Again the problem was almost the same as the famous ad: speed is nothing without control. Once S and J got half a hang of what to do, they were travelling faster than was really advisable. BUT no falls, and a fantastic way to exercise - 6 km covered in 35 mins... At 150 a pair just for the blades, not sure a bout the investment though.

Lunch and then two abortive attempts to play football. First of all the gym usually used by S and friends was in repairs, and then an attempt to try to weedle a space on an outdoor allweather (!) heated pitch ended up in some misunderstood Finnish shouted by a large, erm, well, Finn, and a reasonably hasty exit. A quick cuppa back at home, and the Junior was on the train to Turku, where, if he was anything like the rest of us, he must have slept like a very tired person.

Fun, games, and thanks very much for coming! (sorry about the lack of pics, technology has yet to catch up).

Beer at any cost......

I'm up in Jyväskla, Finland visiting my Brother and his family.

Yesterday evening it was -16C and we cycled 20mins to get to the pub....... Absolute Madness........

Snow Business...

This part of Norway hasn't seen so much snow since the winter of 1968, the media has reliably informed us.

Fortunately the brief "warm" spell of a couple weeks back was enough to clear the roofs of the house and the barn but had little impact on what was lying on the ground. However, just as we were getting used to having a clear road and snow with a suitably hard surface (an effect of the slight defrost and then re-freeze) to walk on, it started to snow again. And snow, it did, solidly for 4 days. I wasn't the only slightly deranged person to be seen skiing through Tønsberg town centre. T'was a damn sight easier than walking....

It's great with all this snow, but it brings with it a fair quantity of work. I am very glad for my recently acquired and no longer defunt snow blower (read all about it on more power). All the same, when it's like this, to get to the front door for example you can not avoid shifting some of the snow by hand. Simple tasks like fetching wood down from the top barn for my new internal wall in the garage (again on more power) turned into a 2 hour farce trying to get the tractor and trailer back in the barn. It's got to the extent that it is almost impossible to walk through the snow in areas that have not been cleared, making the vast majority of our property inaccessible if you are not wearing skis.

Who's towing who?

This went past our office window not so long ago.

Amazingly, it is in fact the little boat that is towing the big boat backwards.

Sorry about the picture quality, the weather out there is foul

Clothes Shopping

The first night of our winter holiday was in a hotel. Peggy, who wasn't allowed to overnight there, traveled separately a day later with her Auntie.

Whilst we were out for our first practice skiing session with TS, Peggy did few hours overtime before going Saturday shopping in Oslo with her Auntie, who had been given some cash to buy Peggy a new jacket. We had underestimated just how fashion conscious Peggy was, she had to have a "name", (Kennel, the Prada of the dog world it seems), which was way over budget. Impressively, she did manage to negotiate a 150,- Kroner discount.

She's been told to look after it, and not to wear it out in the garage or when doing mucky farm work......

Rosy Cheeks

That's what we had during our weeks winter holiday in Bjorli, around a third of the way up this wonderful country. The sun shone and temperatures during most days came up close to freezing, very comfortable cross country skiing conditions. On our last 2 days the wind blew strongly and that ruled out a trip up to the top of the mountain, which was a shame.

A new comer to skis was The Thoughtful Scotsman. After a couple of practice sessions in Dombas, where we spent a night on route, he seemed ready for his first trip. This was an 8Km round that was described as a little up and down but all the same easy. In fact this was 4Km steep up followed by 4Km steep downhill. To a new beginner both steep up and down are difficult, so this was a long and painful trip for T.S. We chose our routes more carefully there after and by the end of the week T.S. was more or less in control going down hill and wanted more, completing a 16Km circuit in 31/2 hours (including a stop for lunch), counting the number of times he fell with the fingers of one hand.















A great week of fresh air, snow, exercise, good food, good company, good beer, fine wine, a rather delectable Scotch Whisky and most important relaxation.

Pork Update

Our two pigs, bless their souls, are now mostly confined to the freezer and after many good meals with the Christmas Crowds the estimated 200Kgs of meat is depleted to the extent that we have been able to decommission our smaller freezer and cope with only our larger 400Lt unit.

We do, however, have 2 meat products that are preserved by alternative means that freezing.

The first, which we started consuming over Christmas was our attempt at Salami and chorizo. Both of which have turned out to be very successful. It seems that whatever the cultures we used were, they have done their job. Both sausages are very dry and firm and could be described as "Authentically tasty". After couple of months hanging in the fridge they don't seem to be any worse for wear either.

Our other experiment in Dry curing is our enormous 14Kg "prosciuttio" ham. After a couple of months lying in salt under a substantial wieght, it was removed, rinsed, wrapped in a double layer of muslin and hung to dry in the basement in mid January. It will remain there until the outside temperature is rises above freezing when it will be moved outside into a windy spot. I think it should be ready after about another 4 months of hanging. What we are going to do with 14Kg of dry cured ham is another matter. I am quite sure however, that it will be put to use in Jamie Oliver's excellent "Beef fillet wrapped in porchini mushrooms and prosciutto ham" which, I am sure some of you readers will remember being served in various locations around the UK, including a castle in Morpeth......

I think the pictures speak for themselves. Again, the vast majority of our pig endeavors have been under the guidance of Hugh Fearnly Whittingstall through his excellent "River Cottage Cookbook" and "River Cottage Meat Cookbook".

Ooh, that's cold.....

As promised, I think I too would make the same face if I had just dangled my nuts in the snow..........

Winter Wonderland.

I apologise, as always, about the lack of fresh material on the blog. This is not because I have nothing to write about, exactly the opposite. There is so much going on that and so much to blog about that I don't have a second, and when I do, i don't know where to start. I promise to try to catch up....

Over Christmas and new year we were fortunate to have had a lot of snow. This kept our hoard of visitors from Warmer (and wetter) climbs thouroghly amused. Hopefully all the events from Christmas will be detailed by myself and a few guest posts over the next few weeks. In summary, a great time was had by one and all.

Now to fresh material, and snow. Last week, we were spared the storms that hit the north of Norway, but it did snow solidly from Monday evening until Saturday morning. I would estimate that heading towards a meter of dry fluffly snow is lying on the ground.

Between me and Mrs Longship, we found the time to get some pictures including a quick ski trip to a vantage point of the property, from some prepared ski tracks on the other side of the valley.

Attached, for you enjoyment are a few of these photo's. The snow is so deep and fluffy that Peggy almost has to swim through it. She manages this just fine and it doesn't seem to bother her in the slightest.

You may also wish to refer to my recent post on More Power for some unplanned winter motor antics.

In my next post, you can look forward to a picture of a cat with very cold testicles............

We put them in and we took them out....

It seems that we got our weeks wrong. When we inseminated Anitra for the second time, rating the chances of sucess as very low, we didn't keep a log of the insemination date. The correct date, it appears, meant that she was due around new years eve.

Everything did not go to plan. Anitra started with a discharge, perfectly normal except that it was tainted red. 2 days later, too long for normal, there were still no signs of contractions or pressing. Finally on the 1st of 2006, the first water bag appeared, again followed by an abscense of contractions/pushing. 2 hours later after a trip to the clinic we begun with the now inevitable cesaerian. This progressed well, the first kitten out being healthy and very lively (as it still is now), the second and final being, sadly, dead with a externally herniated intenstine. This combined with fact that it was facing the wrong way was almost certainly the cause of all the problems.

This problem, I am informed, is not uncommen in the animal kingdom and it would seem that after our incredibly good luck to get her pregnent we have been dealt our share of bad luck at the delivery.

The single kitten was accepted by it's mother after a night of hand feeding and after a couple of days struggling is now enjoying unrivaled access to milk and hence sporting a round belly and gaining weight at a rate of knots..... Pictures will appear in due course on www.starsprung.com

Christmas Message

To all of those who have been directed to this post from our Christmas Cards, and perhaps are new to this blog, welcome and again we would like to wish you a very happy festive season. To those of you who did not receive Christmas cards but are regulars of the blog, sorry, we ran out of stamps... but a very happy Christmas to you too.

So in good Christmas card tradition here is all our news from a very eventful year.

At the start of 2005, after our big move to Norway in September 2004 I was still living in Mari's uncles flat outside Bergen. Mari finished her temporary work at the Vet school in Oslo before our Christmas holiday in Ireland and moved to Bergen early in the new year to join me and the Animals. I continued at Norwegian classes until the end of February and Mari found herself with more and more work helping a local vet.

In early march, I began working for Scanship, in Tønsberg located on Oslofjord in the South east of the Country. Whilst the official company language is English (all customers are outside Norway), it had been decided that everyone was to continue to use Norwegian in everyday work and not to resort to English. This was very tough to begin with, but now, I manage without too many problems day to day and I am very grateful for this experience.

From March until May we lived apart again, with Mari continuing with her work for a local vet on the West coast. What was meant to be a couple of days a week ended up as a very intensive period of long days, working both with small animals and having a heavy involvement in the Lambing season.

We needed all the money that she had worked hard for and the money that I had saved by living in a flat kindly provided by my work when we took the plunge and bought our beautiful and peaceful smallholding, up in the Norwegian Countryside, in May. The housing market here, and the popularity of the property dictated that we must purchase it only 2 days after I had been for a viewing. Mari first saw our new house around 2 weeks after all was done and dusted!! Very luckily it was to her satisfaction. With 2 acres of land, a large barn, 2 tractors and so on, I was always going to be happy!! It cost more than we had planned to spend but most of the Small holding in the area required major renovations to either the farm buildings, the house or both. This, we have been spared. It's not all perfect but it is structurally sound and there is no major work required.

So, since May we have enjoyed our new country life. Having good success with vegetables and a great result with our first 2 pigs. We are very fortunate that our only neighbours , the farmer, his wife and 2 sons are very friendly and have become good friends. This wouldn't have happened if I could not speak the language, as our neighbours English is very limited.
On the whole, we have not been lonely. We have had many visits from friends and family, including a really fun house warming weekend when no less that 5 people made the effort to come over from England just for the Weekend.

Since July, Mari, has been working in a clinic in Sandefjord and now continues to work there 4 days a week, with 1 day a week in the local clinic in Revetal. Whilst the work is good and there is pretty much guaranteed work for the coming year, none of this is permanent, so it is not entirely satisfactory. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon situation for vets in the local area.

My work sees me traveling to Finland where Scanship is installing equipment onboard "Freedom of the Seas" which is to be the largest cruise ship in the world when it begins service in late April. As the project is in it's final phase I have had, and will have quite a few weeks away. With all the projects and plans that I have in my life, it is not always easy, but we manage.

Now we are in the midst of frantic final preparations for a Christmas visit from the whole of my family. We are really looking forward to it, but with 15 people in the house, it requires a little bit of planning to organise the inevitable chaos.

So, on a final note, please fell free to leave your Christmas greetings, comments, questions and so on in the comments page. For those of you who are new to this, there is no need to sign up for an account, simply select other or anonymous.

Again, Best wishes for Christmas and the new year.
Andy and Mari

Virgin Birth

Unbelievable News!

It's been nearly 3 Years since we first started to try to get Anitra, our first Bengal, pregnant. She's been with three different men through numerous seasons to no avail.

After purchasing our own Stud cat in a hope to remove the stress of traveling to stud from the equation we quickly found out the problem. It seems that everything functions correctly but as the boy makes his final move, she puts her tail in the way and flops over on her side. What a tease!!!

We are confident that to this day she remains pure and virginous, and yet she is expecting a child (well, at least two actually). What's more is that 9 weeks after the immaculate conception lands neatly on Christmas Day (This was not planned)..... In all reality we expect the kittens a couple of days after the 25th, but if it did happen it would be a tale to be told again and again!!!

Of course, this is not the work of some divine body, this is done by our own hands. My dear wife, the resident vet, after some research, devised our own equipment and method for artificial insemination of cats. Something which it appears is not very common (as there is not often a need, I suppose). This was our second attempt and without out the aid of hormones, she has ovulated and we have been successful. We had taken the decision that she would have one more season and one more attempt before we neuter her, so this is just in time.

During TRV's research, she came across a lady in Sweden and someone in Italy with limited experience of this. To date we have not found documented evidence of this happening before in Norway. So, could be wrong, but it is just possible that we are the first.

Road Kill

My dear wife never ceases to amase me.

On her way home from a meeting last night, she hit an animal whilst travelling at 90 Km/hr.

Fearing that it was dog or a cat, she turn around to check the situation. The animal was infact a hare and I don't believe her vast veterinary knowledge and experience was required to decide that it was, well and truly, dead.

Did she throw it to the side of the road, out of the way of following vehicles, oh no. Thinking of my desires to eat the fruits of the land, she chucked it in the car, with a nice stew in mind......

So, I was presented with this animal as she arrived home, shortly before 11p.m yesterday evening. A quick trip to the neighbours to ask advise, which consisted of a quick description of the gutting and skinning procedure followed by "If it was me I chuck it away in the forest, especially at this time of night!".

Of course, instead of listning to these words of wisdom, we took ourselves down in the basement, skinned, gutted and cleaned up the carcass, which is now hanging in the frige.

So, tommorrow night our weekend guest, Nikster, if he is up for it, will be enjoying some form of Hare Stew. No doubt The River Cottage Cookbook will be used as a reference.

Pigs Ears

After a quick review of my previous posts, I realise that it's about time that I posted about something other than pork. But not quite yet.....

In the weeks leading up to slaughtering the 2 pigs, there was alot of bravado about how the neighbours would come from a meal on the evening that we butchered the carcasses and eat the likes of Crispy Pigs Ears, Chinese style trotters and black pudding.

The Neighbours respose never varied, "If I've had enough aquavit, I,ll eat anything!"

So after all this, I had talked myself into it. There was no being squimish, it was simply a matter of it says it in the book, so make it.....

And have enough aquavit we did, but not before 4 pigs ears had boiled in water for a few hours, been sliced into fingers, given a light coating of mustard and bread crumbs and cook in the oven at a high temp for half an hour or so. Also, Chinese style pig trotters were cooked up according to HFW's instructions.

The pigs ears served with HFW's home made Tartar Sauce, went done a treat. Not so dissimilar to the Pork Scratchings that are a favourite beer accompanient of mine when in the UK. The trotters got mixed reviews, "all fat and no meat" did not go unheard. The black pudding reminded the Norwegians of their days in Kindergaten, which seems to be the last time that everyone from Norway ate it. This was approved, although many insisted coating it with suger. It seems that that is how they get all those toddlers to eat it in the first place!!!!!!!!

All in all, great food and great company.

Hams and other cured meat.

A total of over 20 Ltrs of "Basic Brine Mix" went into curing hams and bacon. These were left in the brine solution for 24 hours and then an extra 12 hours for every kilo over 1Kg. After this time the excess liquid was squeezed from these and they were hung to dry in Muslin bags for 24 hours before finding their way into the freezer. Some of these are designated for Roasting joints and some for Bacon. To date these have not been sampled so I cannot comment if these are a sucess or not.

A total of 7Kgs of "dry cured bacon" was also produced. Pieces of belly, after the (spare) ribs were removed, had a salt, cracked black pepper and brown suger mix rubbed into them every day for 5 days removing the water driven out by the salt from the container every day. At the end of this procedure, this was rinsed, packed and frozen. Before freezing, a small sample was fried for sampling. This was very tasty indeed, the slightlhy excessive saltiness being put down to the fact that the slices came from the outermost part of the bacon. Time will show if this is true.

Aside from the Salami and Chorizo, which doubtless will be the subject of many future posts, there was a "Flavoured Cure", Suffolk, I think it was. A combination of brine, beer, malt vinegar and spices, which the selected ham laid in for 3 days per Kilo. A total of around 4kg, 12 Days. This, according to HFW should have then be smoked, but in the absence of a smoker, it was simply hung to dry for 24 hours and put in the freezer. This should make a substantial dinner, perhaps for New Years, when we have our visitors.

The final, and as previously stated, most ambitious of our cures is the prosciuttio style ham. A back leg, weighing a mere 14Kg (de-boned). Salt was rubbed in to the area from which the bone was removed and the leg stitched back together. This was then packed in a total of 27Kg of salt and a couple of boards were placed on top loaded down by over 30Kgs. This is to be left for a total of 50 Days (3-4 days per Kg) before hanging to dry for a few months. Whatever happens, you will find out.

Pictures to follow.

A Butcher, 50 years ago and now

I know, by now, you have all fallen off the edge of your seats wondering how we got on with our butchering and meat processing plans and I apologise for the delay in this post.

I have 2 excuses for this, most recently, a week of long days and limited internet access in Turku, and, 200Kg of Pork.......

So now, I finally have both time and an internet connection at the same time. All this in a hotel room in Krakow, Poland.

Unfortunately we do not have a accurate measurment of the total carcass weights, the educated eye of the slaughter man put the male pig around 120Kg and the female around 90Kg. All in All, I think it is fair too say, perhaps a little too large.

As mentioned in my previous post, my Father-in-law was the master butcher with myself acting as butchers boy. A remarkable feat and a tribute to the fitness of a man who is a shade under 80 and butchered his last pig over 50 years ago, when he was younger than I am now.
His rustiness showed only briefly. A slightly too tight circle around the first back leg, not quite locating the joints on the trotters first time.The second side was almost perfect and the second carcass went like clockwork. All this in my "lower garage", complete with its newly cleaned, painted and disinfected floor.

By around 4 p.m. on the Saturday we had our Carcasses dealt up as desired. Chops, Hams, 1 enormous back leg for Curing as Prosciuttio, pieces for Sausage meat, fillets, Norwegian "Ribbe", Spare Ribs, Belly Bacon, Back Bacon, trotters, 1 head, 2 ears and much, much more. If any of you out there would like our full detailed plan, please apply through the comments, we'll see what we can do.

All the meat that was not destined for further processing was kindly packed, weighed and labelled by my dear wife, my mother in law and my sister in Law. And very gratefull we are to them. This whole procedure took pretty much the whole day, other than putting a few hams in their respective cures and cooking our celebratory feast (see next post) the day vanished.

Hugh Fearnly Whittingstall describes it as a "Pig Weekend", you will see from the next few posts that, for us at least, this is more accurately a "pig week".

On-Site A&E

There is much to write about after a very long weekend and 1 evening of butchering and meat processing, but I'll start with this.

A weekend of butchering pigs inevitiably includes sharp objects, one of which found it's way deep into my thumb early Saturday Afternoon. A particularly sharp knife that the father-in-law went to put down on the table in the same place as my thumb.

The cut was not to large, but it was deep enough to need attention. After a brief moment of panic that all our plans will be ruined by a trip to casualty, it was quickly decided that the resident vet could fix me. A quick bit of local and a couple of stiches and I was out working again (with gloves on, of course) inside 20 minutes. Very efficient.

Black Pudding.

Well, the deed is done.

As planned the 2 pigs were slaughtered on Wednesday.

Their was very little stress (for the pigs) about the whole event. They spent the 300Metre journey eating and the experience of the slaughterman was clear from the efficiency of the whole process.

The many times that I have accompanied and helped the resident vet during all manner of operations, post mortoms and so on held me in good sted and I had no problems holding the bucket to collect the blood which is now very tasty black pudding. We also took one liver, both hearts and some of the fat on the inside of the belly, which have gone into 2 different batches of Liver Pate (Most of this is within the guidance of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his antics at River Cottage).

Last night saw us make some "practice" sausages in preperation for the major processing operation tommorrow.

Wednesday was both a sad and an exciting day. It was also a relief. The weather had not been kind to us or the pigs over the last few weeks. The place was pure mud, and trying to feed 2 hungry pigs when it is dark, muddy and raining is not easy. It certainly helped that this was the plan from the start. We enjoyed their characters and their freindly nature. We were amused by their antics. However, we always knew they were not for keeps. We feel that they had a better life than most production animals and the end was conducted in the most stressless way possible.

Overnight Delivery

You couldn't make it up....

After arranging Asia's room, building a nice door (complete with magnetic key lockable cat flap), varnishing Peggys airfreight box and mounting an electric heater on the wall, Asia has had her kittens. In between Me and Mrs VL, in the middle of the night, in the middle of our bed.

Asia has learnt to operate the switch on the cat flap, and had obviously decided that she needed her hand held through this procedure. It was great to be present at the births of the 3 brown spotted kittens, probably girls but the resident vet is not going to commit to that yet.

What wasn't so great was the timing. Asia woke us at about 2 a.m as she clattered open the cat flap and joined us in bed. We organised the bed with an old shower curtain and some towels before the first delivery at around 3:25 (106gms), the second (again 106gms) came at around 04:50 and the third (90gms) shortly after.

So all in all, mother and kittens are doing well.

Strange ingredients

Part of the planning process for the 150 odd kilos of pork meat that we will soon need to deal with involves working out what we are going to make and what we need to do it.

Our recently purchased 400 Litre chest freezer, which should be delivered tommorow can only freeze 22 Kg of meat in 24Hrs. So there is a need for some clever logistics, and hopefully meat that is already nearly frozen due to the temprature in the barn where it will hang for a couple of days.

On way of ensuring that we do not have to freeze all of the meat at one go is to cure some of it. The idea of bacon and hams lying in salt for a number of days does no daunt me too much. On the other hand, Air Dried prosciutto style Ham and cured sausages are, I consider, among the most risky and ambitious things we are attempting.

Mr Fearnly Whittingstall assures that for him making Salami and Chorizo were an unqualified success. Our attempts seemed to be doomed before a single sausage skin was filled. One of the ingredients called for is "acidophilus" a bacteria/start culture, that apparently sets the desired mould growing process under way. Given the availability to the general public of uncommonly used ingriedients in this sparcely populated land our hopes were not high. However, today, 2 phone calls and I have 2 different start cultures suitable for salami and other cured pork sausages winging their way through the post to me. So, as long as they turn up, we'll have the ingredients, we already have the mincer, the eqiupment to fill the sausages and real sausages skins. Looks like theres no excuses and no backing down now.. Don't know if I'm glad or sad.......

If any of you out there have experience in Salami or Prosciutto curing, please share them in the comments.......

The Pigs leave(s) us soon

The pigs have, as you can see, enjoyed their life up until now. However, now that the autumn seems to have been and gone and it has been below zero for extended periods, caring for them has become more difficult.

Last week we had a lot of heavy rain leaving the whole of the pigs area a little of a mud bath and today it has not risen above freezing once, making the use of the hose pipe for water impossible.

The pigs seem to be comfortable and warm enough in their house with deep straw bedding, but there food intake is around 10 Kilos every day.

All in all it is time, so after some debate and waiting to find out about work travels, the slaughter date is set for Wednesday week, 2nd November. As long as the weather doesn't take another turn for the worst, we should manage to keep them outside for the last few days. Lots of planning to do then in the next week then.

Turku, Finland.

After Saturdays 10 hour drive over to Stockholm and Saturday nights ferry crossing, I find myself in Turku, Finland.

The primary purpose of this visit is not pleasure. The next 11 days will no doubt be long and tiring, as we will be seeing to the finishing pre-commissioning touches of Scanships (my employers) installation onboard Freedom of the Seas, which will become the worlds largest cruise ship when it is delivered to Royal Caribbean late spring 2006.

Yesterday though, was a day for recovery and relaxation and after our arrival to Turku at around 9 a.m also offered plenty of time for exploration.

This is not the first time I have done this journey and had a free Sunday in Finlands oldest city. The last time I was delighted to find the presence of a large fish market, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Yesterday, I had the company of a college, leading to a more in depth exploration and the realisation the most, if not all, of the cities many museums are open on Sundays.

Our tour first took us to the Cathedral, completed in the late 13th Century. A spectacular illustration of the durability and wonder of early architecture. Given that it was Sunday Morning, we did not go inside for fear of disturbing those with holier things on there mind than sightseeing. Maybe, I will return one evening this week.

After a tour of the wide streeted town and a spot of lunch it was time to hand over some of our hard earned cash to enjoy presentations of the areas history in local museums.


We mutually decided that the shipping museum Forum Marinum was a good place to start. At first it appear that our 7 Euro's entrance fee was not going to go all that far, but as we took our tour of the museum, it became apparent that this was one of the largest collections of shipping history I have come across. The museum comprehensively covers Turku's shipping and ship building history. Including freight vessels, warships and equipment, pleasure craft large and small and so on. Particular impressive for the petrol head was the room with rows of outdoor motors mounted on both walls. Must have been 8 motors high by 20 motors long, from the earliest engines to the most recent.

I can recommend this museum to anybody, especially those with an interest in shipping and things mechanical in general. If you happen to ever be in the situation that you are a couple of hours early for your ferry from Turku, don't sit in you car like lemons, take advantage of the close proximity of Forum Marinum. Great for old and young alike.

The other museum that we visited was Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova. A combination of the ancient city and a collection of Modern art.

After handing over our 8 euros, we found ourselves directed to a flight of stairs down which, quite literal, we descended into times past. The history of Turku, it seems has been preserved in the soil, and some of those clever archaeology types have spent an awful long time with their teaspoons to unearth it again. So you find yourself exploring part of the old medieval city, where it stood, as it stood. There are, of course, signs of strengthening and repair here and there, but it is amazing just how much was uncovered and found intact. You look into peoples basements, and walk down cobble streets, all now enclosed by modern concrete and steel. Absolutely fainating. Educating, enlightening and fascinating.

The modern art exhibition was entitled ars Iberica. Some of which was, in my opinion, of the "is it really art", "I could have done that" league. However, to find a number of Pablo Picassos in the middle of all this was a pleasant surprise. All of which illustrated why Picasso became a household name in the "contemporary" art
field. The Picassos certainly had something that the others did not.

So, Turku, A compact city, full of history. Come here in the summer, I would imagine that the winter is quite bleak, I will find out soon enough..... I hope to publish some pictures of this beautiful place, but you will have to wait until I am back on Norwegian soil.

Mice, Very Stupid or Very Clever?

It seems that now winter is coming the local population of mice is coming in from the cold and beginning to organise cosy places to build nests for itself.

One of these cosy places was on top of the pig food in it's sack in the wood shed which makes up part the bottom of the barn. Imagine my surprise when I opened the top of the sack to extract the pigs breakfast to find one of the little sods now trapped and trying desperately jump out of the now high edges of the open sack. Pretty much directly at me. Can be a nerve racking business this small holding lark you know. This problem is now solved as the food is now stored in a big barrel hopefully out of the reach of even the most mountaineerous mouse. Knowing my luck next it'll be one of the 3500 mink releasees.

Anyway, that lot is just an aside. Here's the real story.

From the currently distant land of Norway, I have been informed that the cat chalet is showing signs of little visitors during the night. Specifically their excrements in the food bowl obviously after licking out any residual cat foody goodness. So, it seems it's a case of Tom and Jerry. Now, my personal opinion is, to make you home in a house which is clearly regularly occupied by the arch enemy is pretty stupid. However, to live under the floor and to only come out when the enemy is not home, making use of anything he leaves behind, is pretty clever. No doubt, the presence (or otherwise) of a little mouse carcass one day will answer this question.

This unplanned experiment in animal intelligence will no doubt continue for a time. You will be kept posted of any development.

Culinary Uses for Marrows and courgettes #5

Courgette and Slow Roasted Garlic soup

Well, just to show how far behind I am with certain aspects of this blog I had actually made this soup before Irene's comment suggesting courgette soup on my previous related post.

This recipe came from Septembers edition of the excellent Kitchen Garden Magazine.

Roast you garlic cloves in the oven on a lowish heat for some 20 minutes. Meanwhile proceed to sweat your thinly sliced courgettes down to a mush. Add the garlic to the courgettes, plus some stock. Simmer for a while season and blend to desired consistency.

I can imagine that the options for courgette based soup are endless. I will try Irene's suggestions in the near future and report back. In the mean time, I need to catch up as I am at least 3 Courgette/Marrow recipes behind.

Kittens Expected.

It's all been a little bit chaotic the last few weeks and it's been difficult to find time to post. So, there's lots to catch up on, including a pigs update, more uses for courgettes, a trip to the lake district, preparations for winter and so on.

However, something very exciting has happened so I will skip all these posts and jump to the present for now.

More than 2 years after we purchased our first Bengal female, Anitra, with a view to breeding from her, we have finally had a successful mating.

Asia, our 2nd girl who we purchased and exported with us as we left England had a season during our weekend at Niksters and Frans wedding (August 20th). This was only her second season this year. The first being early in the year, which did not lead to a successful mating. It would appear that this time, pretty much left to his own devices, Vegas, our stud boy, has done his job and has truly become a man.....

Before we left for our Lake district trip weekend before last, we noticed some subtle changes in Asia, enlarged teats and slight rounding of belly. Unlike most folk that believe their cat is pregnant until proven otherwise, we have become used to disappointment, so we thought not to much of it. On our return, Asia, was even more rounded and definitely had an increased appetite.

A quick feel suggested that there was something in there, outside the norm. Again, experience said that it couldn't possibly be, so Mrs Longship racked her veterinarian brain for other possibilities. "False pregnancy" and "Pyomertra" were among the many words mentioned. But there was definitely something and Asia was in no way under the weather.

Yesterday, our minds were finally put at rest. Mrs Longship took Asia to the clinic and a quick scan showed the presence of probably 3-4 happily wriggling kittens, expected due date 23rd October.

So, this means 2 things.

1st, we will hopefully have Bengal kittens for sale, ready around Febuary next year, any one interested (bearing in mind we are in Norway, although we will be happy to arrange export) can get in touch through Starsprung.com
.

2nd, Vegas has proved that he is fertile and can do his job, so we can now seriously consider him for use for limited outside stud. Again Starsprung.com if you are interested in using Vegas.

AS you have gathered, I have finally managed to get the cats website up and running. See all three of our cats there, including the new "gallery". The link is also in the side bar.

On the road again.

So, it's taken me nearly as long as it took me to grow my spuds, but finally the Landy is back on the road after a spate of problems with oil pressure. It's great to be able to use the old Girl again.

For all the oily details read my report on More Power, the blog.

The picture enclosed is from the winter during my time living at Mrs Longships Uncles farm outside Bergen. Lovely place, but it rains all the time (Hence the mud....).

Culinary Uses for Marrows and courgettes #4

Pasta Tomato Sauce.

Chop up in chunks and use in any bolognase type tomato sauce.

In this case a very tasty home made variety by Mrs Longship.

The Harvest

Despite the late start, the vegetable garden has been and still is a remarkable success.

We have been eating salad leaves, coriander, marrows, courgettes, radish and sweedes amongst others.

The first bulk harvest to be taken was the potatoes. A Main Crop variety called Laila. Now, these were not in the ground before mid June, but all the same, due to the long days (and perhaps copious amounts of cow manure) grew at an incredible rate. In fact, they grew at such a rate that I was sure that there was going to be all stem and no tuber. They flowered in early August, not more than 7-8 weeks after planting. They were duly dug up about 3 weeks ago and as you can see, despite the late planting and the relatively small area of ground, the harvest was very satisfactory. To use, Laila is a very tasty Potato, holds it shape well when boiled without going floury. The smaller tubers were excellent in Jamie Olivers Potato and Avacado Salad. (From The Return of the Naked Chef).

The other achievement of note is the sweetcorn, the first to cobs of which were devoured last night. Unknown variety, but looks like we will get a good harvest assuming the earwigs, which seem to have taken an interest, don't manage to find their way down into the main part of the cobs. Straight of the plant and into boiling water for a few mins. Serve with a knob of butter. Lovely....

Culinary Uses for Marrows/Courgettes #3

Spicy Mexican BBQ'd Marrow and Onion Kebabs.

This recipe (well the marinade at least) came from the highly recommended "Classic Barbeque and Grill Cookbook" by Marlena Spieler

The occassion was a Cowboy party, which liking to be different, we attended as Mexican Bandits. So you can see that even our food was in keeping with our role for the evening.

The combination of garlic, chilli powder, paprika, cumin, oregano, tequila, lime, olive oil and coriander worked excellently on the duck we took with us, and certainly helped the kebabs, but I guess it going to take a lot to make marrows and onions exciting.

So, good marinade, but the vegetables kebabs were lacking some what in variety.