and again, and again...
Aug. 4th, 2014 11:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kareinaWhen last I posted the plan was to head to Haparanda (two hours drive north of here, buy a forge, a couple of anvils, and some hammers and tongs, assuming no one else had purchased them in the 24 hours since last we had talked to the guy. Luck was with us, and he still had the toys, so when ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lord_kjar got home from work on Friday we had a quick bite to eat and hit the road.
The toys were exactly as advertized, so we bought them and started driving south. However, we didn't head straight home. Instead we called a friend who lives in Kalix (about half way between Luleå and Haparanda) to see if he wanted a spur of the moment visit on our way home. He replied that they were just firing up the sauna, and come on over. We had never been to his place before, so we consulted google maps on the phone to find the house, which is actually in a small farming village some km up the river from Kalix. As we pulled into the driveway another car also pulled in. The guy in that car asked if we were also here to "helsa på" Oskar, and we said yes. We checked in the house, where there was a seriously cute tiny kitten and a young lady I had never met, who said that everyone else was at the sauna. The other guy knew where the sauna was, so he hopped into his car and we into ours and drove a short way down the road and over to the river side, where we found our friend and a sauna in one of the prettiest settings I have yet seen for a sauna.
The sauna is on the riverbank overlooking a quiet cove on the Kalix river, and it was lovely to sit in the sauna for a bit, then go into the river (which was just cold enough that I wouldn't have wanted to have been in without the sauna), and repeat.
After the sauna several of us first followed the road a bit further, to the end of the little peninsula that starts there, where one of the guys in the group lives. Talk about a beautiful farm! He has water on both sides, cute old fashioned red farm houses, and a very friendly herd of horned sheep. He took us out to the paddock to meet the sheep, and they all came over to sniff at us, and some of them accepted scratches.
After a short visit at that farm four of us (Oskar, the guy with the other car who had arrived at the same time as we did, and the two of us) went back to Oskar's place, where we sat up late talking medieval music and stuff (and I did my yoga). Around 01:00 in the morning we finally got back on the road to head home (we had had the offer to just stay over--there was a perfectly comfortable guest bed available, but we decided that if we went home we would actually make progress on our various home improvement projects), which got us home around 02:00. This made for a very long, but very fun shopping trip.
Saturday morning we finally got back to working on the earth cellar--it took four batches of concrete to set in the row of large stones that we had prepped and set into place the week before. We have both come to terms with the fact that this project isn't going to be complete this summer, but we still want to do a bit more along the back wall and around the corner so that we can fill in dirt and gravel behind that part--if we do then the walls will be nearly at ground height on the up hill side, and we won't need to worry about erosion in the spring taking away enough soil to endanger the flag pole.
After lunch I went back to work on the re-paint the east wall of the house project while he set up the new forge and fixed the bent part of the plow. This meant that I could, once again, be lifted up in the tractor scoop to do next section of the upper part of the wall, since he didn't need the tractor for plowing while he was fixing the plow.
After he got the plow fixed he needed to try it out, and it worked beautifully, so I spent the better part of an hour following the plow and carrying away rocks that got turned up. However, the hour was late, and the gnats were getting annoying (why must they commit suicide by flying into my eye?), so we called it a night.
We started Sunday morning with a walk in the forest--the first I have taken in months. Then he wanted to return to working on the field, so I once again started following the plow to carry away small rocks. Until he hit a large enough rock with it that the plow bent again. This time the metal also cracked at the bend location. So I went back to work on painting the wall, and he pondered how to fix it this time, since we don't have welding equipment. Luckily, the neighbours were out, and he showed the bend/break to them, and the neighbour made us the offer that if we straighten it back out and grind open the crack he will weld it back together for us. So we did, and he did, and then we put the repaired chunk of metal back into the forge to heat it up again and left it to cool slowly overnight (as per instructions).
Then tonight (Monday), whenlord_kjar got home from work he once again re-assembled the plow and set back to work on the field. Right after the gnats started being annoying again (this time one killed itself flying up my nose instead of my eye!) and I decided I wanted to go in, he hit yet another large rock, and, sure enough, it bent, again.
So now he is contemplating if he wants to fix it, again, or what. From where I sit the real problem is that mechanism that is supposed to flip the plow up out of the ground when it hits a rock--if that were functioning the plow wouldn't be bending when it hits a rock.
The good news from all this is that one of those large rocks now sits in the upper yard, near the beautiful fir tree, so I go out and sit on it in the morning shade and eat my breakfast. Also, he is getting better at straightening 2 cm thick pieces of metal.
In other good news, today's painting session got the east wall done. We don't need to do that one again for about five years. However, we don't intend to get to any of the other walls this summer--there is still too much we want to do with the field, the earth cellar, and preparing for that Lajv later this month. If his estimate that the walls need repainting every five years is accurate I guess that meas we do one wall a summer for four summers, then take a year off, and start over. This is such a weird concept, since I have always moved at least every three years, so contemplating projects that take longer than that is kind of mind-boggling.
lord_kjar got home from work on Friday we had a quick bite to eat and hit the road.The toys were exactly as advertized, so we bought them and started driving south. However, we didn't head straight home. Instead we called a friend who lives in Kalix (about half way between Luleå and Haparanda) to see if he wanted a spur of the moment visit on our way home. He replied that they were just firing up the sauna, and come on over. We had never been to his place before, so we consulted google maps on the phone to find the house, which is actually in a small farming village some km up the river from Kalix. As we pulled into the driveway another car also pulled in. The guy in that car asked if we were also here to "helsa på" Oskar, and we said yes. We checked in the house, where there was a seriously cute tiny kitten and a young lady I had never met, who said that everyone else was at the sauna. The other guy knew where the sauna was, so he hopped into his car and we into ours and drove a short way down the road and over to the river side, where we found our friend and a sauna in one of the prettiest settings I have yet seen for a sauna.
The sauna is on the riverbank overlooking a quiet cove on the Kalix river, and it was lovely to sit in the sauna for a bit, then go into the river (which was just cold enough that I wouldn't have wanted to have been in without the sauna), and repeat.
After the sauna several of us first followed the road a bit further, to the end of the little peninsula that starts there, where one of the guys in the group lives. Talk about a beautiful farm! He has water on both sides, cute old fashioned red farm houses, and a very friendly herd of horned sheep. He took us out to the paddock to meet the sheep, and they all came over to sniff at us, and some of them accepted scratches.
After a short visit at that farm four of us (Oskar, the guy with the other car who had arrived at the same time as we did, and the two of us) went back to Oskar's place, where we sat up late talking medieval music and stuff (and I did my yoga). Around 01:00 in the morning we finally got back on the road to head home (we had had the offer to just stay over--there was a perfectly comfortable guest bed available, but we decided that if we went home we would actually make progress on our various home improvement projects), which got us home around 02:00. This made for a very long, but very fun shopping trip.
Saturday morning we finally got back to working on the earth cellar--it took four batches of concrete to set in the row of large stones that we had prepped and set into place the week before. We have both come to terms with the fact that this project isn't going to be complete this summer, but we still want to do a bit more along the back wall and around the corner so that we can fill in dirt and gravel behind that part--if we do then the walls will be nearly at ground height on the up hill side, and we won't need to worry about erosion in the spring taking away enough soil to endanger the flag pole.
After lunch I went back to work on the re-paint the east wall of the house project while he set up the new forge and fixed the bent part of the plow. This meant that I could, once again, be lifted up in the tractor scoop to do next section of the upper part of the wall, since he didn't need the tractor for plowing while he was fixing the plow.
After he got the plow fixed he needed to try it out, and it worked beautifully, so I spent the better part of an hour following the plow and carrying away rocks that got turned up. However, the hour was late, and the gnats were getting annoying (why must they commit suicide by flying into my eye?), so we called it a night.
We started Sunday morning with a walk in the forest--the first I have taken in months. Then he wanted to return to working on the field, so I once again started following the plow to carry away small rocks. Until he hit a large enough rock with it that the plow bent again. This time the metal also cracked at the bend location. So I went back to work on painting the wall, and he pondered how to fix it this time, since we don't have welding equipment. Luckily, the neighbours were out, and he showed the bend/break to them, and the neighbour made us the offer that if we straighten it back out and grind open the crack he will weld it back together for us. So we did, and he did, and then we put the repaired chunk of metal back into the forge to heat it up again and left it to cool slowly overnight (as per instructions).
Then tonight (Monday), when
lord_kjar got home from work he once again re-assembled the plow and set back to work on the field. Right after the gnats started being annoying again (this time one killed itself flying up my nose instead of my eye!) and I decided I wanted to go in, he hit yet another large rock, and, sure enough, it bent, again.So now he is contemplating if he wants to fix it, again, or what. From where I sit the real problem is that mechanism that is supposed to flip the plow up out of the ground when it hits a rock--if that were functioning the plow wouldn't be bending when it hits a rock.
The good news from all this is that one of those large rocks now sits in the upper yard, near the beautiful fir tree, so I go out and sit on it in the morning shade and eat my breakfast. Also, he is getting better at straightening 2 cm thick pieces of metal.
In other good news, today's painting session got the east wall done. We don't need to do that one again for about five years. However, we don't intend to get to any of the other walls this summer--there is still too much we want to do with the field, the earth cellar, and preparing for that Lajv later this month. If his estimate that the walls need repainting every five years is accurate I guess that meas we do one wall a summer for four summers, then take a year off, and start over. This is such a weird concept, since I have always moved at least every three years, so contemplating projects that take longer than that is kind of mind-boggling.