unexpected archaeology adventure

One day last week we had decided to purchase a small trailer like wagon suitable for pulling behind min-tractors (or ride-on lawnmowers, like we have), and checked the internet and found one at a good size and a good price at one of the local stores, so we went out there to get it, and, sure enough, they had a lovely display model in the entrance way that was exactly what we wanted, but when we went into the store and asked where to find them we were told that they were out of stock. The guy says he never sells his display models because there are customers who drive in from communities quite far away to look at things before purchase who will be happy to just order one to be shipped home *if* they have seen and touched the display model. So we talked to customer service, who said that the central distribution for the franchise was also out of stock, so it could be a few weeks before an order could be filled, but the store in Skellefteå (two hours south of us) happened to have four in stock. So we called lord_kjar's little brother, who lives just outside of Skellefteå, and asked him if he could go pick one up for us. He thought that it was a good excuse to head into town so he said yes.

Therefore we went down to visit them this weekend to pick up the wagon. While there lord_kjar helped his brother out with some electrical issues with the old car they are currently fixing up. Since that was a project I couldn't help with I went for a walk in the forest near their house, and stumbled upon a site of historical interest:



(Note that the bottom half of the info sign is in English, for those of you who don't read Swedish.)

I love living in an area where one can simply accidentally find Bronze Age grave sites while out for a walk. That didn't happen at home. Heck, Alaska never made it to the Bronze Age, as far as I know--I think they went straight from the stone age to the late iron age in one jump.



If anyone ever wants to see these--go to the town of Bureå. Sweden (about 20 km south of Skellefteå), and check out the dirt roads in the forest on the far side of the highway here:

comparing last spring with this one

I have mentioned repeatedly how weird our winter was this year, and how little snow we got. I just found this photo from a year ago on 21 April, 2013, which shows how much snow was left at the time:



Coincidentally, the earliest walkway photo progress I took this year was also on 21 April, as you can see, not a drop of snow remained on the ground:



It truly was a weird, low-snow winter. Our next door neighbour normally has a big bonfire in his yard for Valborgsafton (31 April), but this year, while made ready the pile of logs weeks ago, he opted not to light it, because the field was naught but dry grass (last year the grass near the fire was still snow-covered), and he didn't want to risk starting a runaway fire.

Our choir normally performs traditional spring songs at the big Valborgasafton bonfire at the University, but this year, since we are such a small choir, we opted to instead go do two indoor performances at some old-folks homes, to bring spring to those who can't get out and see it for themselves. Afterwards half of us (which is to five--it is a SMALL choir this year) came over to our place and sang for the neighbours at their bbq--while they didn't have the bonfire lit, they did have a small fire for sausages etc.

I also found this photo, from March 2013, which shows why we still had a decent amount of snow left at the end of April last year:



This year the deepest bit of snow in the yard was only about 1/3 of what we had left in March last year...