rips…

it was a moderate winter in Southern Norway…

Most of the winter 2011 - 2012 it was cold but not much snow. The picture below, taken on New Years Eve, shows that the snow-cover was so thin that the cows was walking on gravel on their way to the barn for milking.

Came enough snow to cause problems for a few days in late January, but nothing like what we're used to in this part of Norway. Icy and slippery roads was more of a problem than snow-depth this winter, as what little snow came down in periods melted by day and froze by night. Cows don't like icy roads and paths one bit, and the truck fetching milk from the farm did have some problems also.

At most I think there were mayby as much as a foot of snow on the ground at anyone time during the wintermonths, and although the wind piled up the snow higher in places there were no real winter-storms to pile it up so high that our roads became difficult to keep open — our tractor has wheel-chains with spikes to handle the icy conditions.

The usual routines on a small dairy-farm: milking, feeding, cleaning fur and shoveling muck, went on day in and day out without anything in particular to mention, and our animals made sure we were somewhat on time — most of the time.

One can always wonder who's in charge on a dairy-farm, the farmer or the animals, but, as long as it works for all parties who cares who's in charge.

So, all in all an uneventful Norwegian winter, and now we're all looking forward to warmer days, green grass on the pastures, and all else that normally should come with spring.

the common flu and other inconveniences…

In February the flu threw me out of circulation for a few days. As I were on the mend my wife came down with the flu, so for a week or so our farm-routines were affected. Inconvenient, but that's life, and all that had to be done on the farm got done – everything just took a little longer.

A few days after the flu let off on me, a different, recurring, medical condition kicked in with full force, one that tends to wear me completely down for days and weeks in periods. The doctors say its underlying cause is a permanent damage to my system, for which there is no real cure. Symptoms can be dampened somewhat and luckily it isn't contagious, so I have no choice but to let each attack “burn itself out” and wait for the next one – may normalize itself in a week or so or come and go for months.
No fun when it hits, I can tell you, and I hope it won't disturb my near-future traveling plans too much.

vacation…

In March I'll travel (alone) to “my place in the sun” for a few months vacation. Rest and recreation in a very different and much warmer climate may do me some good – has worked before.

Plans include visiting some dedicated steel guitar shows, and meeting friends across the USA. Beyond that I leave my scedule-sheet open so I have time to take care of myself.

At the time of writing I can't upload this page to my website, as the satellite-connection keeps failing. I'll upload it later when I'm sure it'll get through.
Hopefully the misserable internet connection will be replaced with something better within this year … one can only hope. It works well where I'm going for my vacation though and that's a relief.

sincerely 
farm assistant

Hageland 12.feb.2012
last rev: 12.feb.2012