My lab now has a web page

It will need work, and I will need to learn lots more about how the system for adding stuff to the web page works, but I have a basic web page for the Laser-ablation ICP-MS laboratory I am responsible for.

Since last I updated you

Wednesday was my first, official, day on the job, but, of course, I hadn't been able to resist sending work related emails before I started, so I was able to hit the ground running and made contact with all kinds of people who have information I need to get the lab set up and functioning.

Thursday I finished getting approval for the email address for the lab, so now people don't have to be able to spell Chmielowski if they want to book time with us, instead they just send a note to LaserICPMS (at) ltu.se. That evening was the business meeting for Luleåhembygsgille, the local folk music and dance group, so I made some progress while listening to the meeting on a sewing UFO--a cloak I started for clovis_t when we were living in Tasmania, but which didn't get finished before we moved away. I had shown him how to work on it (it is a simple tablet-woven edging onto wool that doesn't fray), but he never made time for it, and then he dropped out of the SCA after moving to Scotland, so I got it back from him a couple of years ago, when we visited Scotland, and, now years later, I am finally working on it again.

Friday was a day off, since my new job is 50% time, and I decided that my ideal schedule would be four five-hour days, working mornings Monday-Thursday. So, after taking a walk in the forest, where I found (and devoured) some yummy blueberries that survived the frost of last week, I enjoyed a lazy morning getting useful stuff done inside the house, then in the afternoon one of the guys from choir came over and we planted some garlic. By "we" I mean I choose the spot (next to the chives that were already growing here when we moved in), he dug up the soil a bit and broke up the clumps of grass, he broke apart the cloves of garlic and stuck them into the soil, and I raked up some leaves and pine needles from the yard to cover them. He said he appreciated the chance to do some gardening--he grew up on a farm, but is now living in an apartment while attending uni. Then I fed him some home-baked garlic bread (the kind with chunks of soft roasted garlic in the bread) and tea make from blackcurrant leaves we have dried.

He had to head home around the time that others from choir showed up for our weekly music session, and we had another delightful evening making music with our friends.

Saturday was "what else can we get accomplished before we return lord_kjar's father's tractor to him?" day. We added a few more tractor scoops of dirt to the space behind the earth cellar walls (and, of course, gravel right up next to the walls), so that it is now completely filled in as high as the walls are now (I really should take some progress photos, but haven't remembered to do that), which is to say shoulder height on the north (uphill) side and hip high on the south. We also packed dirt against the walls of the hole, so that there should be far less of a problem next spring with erosion.

Then we took a lunch break, and after lunch we went down to the small shed on the far side of the field to clean it out. This is the shed the previous owners had used as a shelter for their two horses, and it was still full of straw and manure. So he parked the tractor just outside the shed door, and we filled the scoop 6.5 times before we got it all cleaned out and down to bare dirt floor. Sometime soon we need to do some more work on this shed if it is going to last. The previous owners cut away a couple of timbers to make the door taller for the horses, and while the sort of nailed some boards around the larger opening, they didn't do so in such a way as to prevent that wall from starting to sag, so it has. They also set the shed upon the dirt/plants rather than putting it onto stone foundation, so the bottom most logs have started to rot and are not in good shape. They also put on a very good new roof, so if we get a decent snow year I am not certain the walls will be up to holding the weight. With luck this is one of the projects we will be able to do something about next weekend when lord_kjar's brother is here.

Saturday evening one of our friends had invited us over for a movie night, but, much to my delight, the small group of us just hung out and chatted and we never got around to turning on a movie, though I did get a leg massage, since my legs were protesting the fact that I had spent a couple hours shovelling dirt, followed by a couple of hours wielding a pitchfork full of straw etc.

Sunday we got up early and got ready to return the tractor. lord_kjargathered together the things that needed to go back with it, and I cleaned out a summer's worth of dirt/dust that had accumulated on all the surfaces inside the tractor. Then he started driving the tractor to his dad's property in Hemmingsmark (the village he grew up in--his parents sold the house and farm when they moved to Piteå, but they kept the forest). Since we knew it would take him three hours I went for a walk in the forest and accomplished a few things around the house before I took the car and followed him. It took me exactly one hour to get there, including stopping to fill up the gas tank--the trip is now slightly faster than it used to be, since the highway department has made a few improvements that mean that some stretches that used to be 90 kph are now 110 kph.

After dropping off the tractor we went to his parent's house, to help celebrate his dad's birthday. lord_kjar little brother, sister in law, and nephew also joined us for the occasion. Before we arrived he had mentioned that his mother promised us "cake", and I expected to see the normal Swedish birthday cake--a layer cake, with a filling of mashed berries (or jam) blended with whipped cream, and the cake covered with whipped cream and decorated with fruit slices. However, when we sat down to the table his mother put out two plates covered with cookies (two types), a plate covered with square slices of a thin cake with a thin chocolate-looking frosting, and a fourth plate full of home-baked cinnamon rolls. For only 7 people (including the toddler).

We sat and visited and made decent progress on making the cake, cookies, and rolls disappear (I had three of the rolls and one cookie myself). Then, when I was feeling proud of myself for not eating more than that, his mother brought out the birthday cake—a lovely whipped cream covered thing decorated with rings of green grapes and mandarin orange slices. Yum! After eating a slice of that, too, I started feeling sleepy, and noticed that lord_kjar's dad had gone to lay down on the couch for a nap. This sounded like a good idea, so I took the other part of the (huge L-shaped) couch for a short nap myself. I only slept for about 15 minutes, then returned to the table and conversation and working on a nålbindining project when dad got back up. But then lord_kjar started looking tired, as did his brother, so they took the couch for their nap, and slept a good 30 to 40 minutes, until his mother had dinner pretty much ready.

After dinner we hopped back into the car and made it back to Luleå exactly on time for our normal Sunday folk dance session.

Today I walked to work for the first time since the snow melted last spring. Sure, I could still cycle for another week or three, depending on when it starts snowing, but it is smarter to get back into the habit of walking now. (Sure lots of people bike year-round here, but my trike is low enough to the ground I wouldn't want to ride it in fresh snow, and one can't guarantee that it won't snow whilst one is in the office).

This afternoon lord_kjar brought home a useful item—a large cabinet that used to be used for sorting mail at one of the businesses he fixes computers at. This will be very useful for organizing stuff in the shop.