Saturday, January 23, 2010

Life up here

Cold, cold Saturday morning here in the Arctic. We had milder temperatures in between but are now back in the very cold digits below zero. It was -28°C early in the morning and I doubt it is any warmer now since the sun is not shining and if it chooses to shine a bit, the rays don't bring any heat yet.

As you know she is in charge of the security of the house. She dutifully fulfills her job but last night she just gave up in the end.
Couple of reindeers found out that the grass under the snow blanket in the garden right in front of the steps on the lake side of the house is very juicy and tasty and once they got the taste they really could not get that tasty table out of their minds. So the obviously well-fed pair were having a bite early in the morning yesterday and Tina just did not like it. She shot out of the door after the creatures who fled along the ice on lake. She knows she is not allowed to chase them in the woods and really never bothers them in the wild but she was not having them that close of the house. Reindeers, the survivors of the arctic, never give up, and they returned the second she retired inside the house. Her little house is in the other side of the house and from there she can see everyone who enters the yard from the road but if someone sneaks in from the lake, she has to trust her hearing. She monitored the yard from the various spots outside and at times chose to sit in front of the window inside. Several times a day she was forced to charge out and bark them out to the ice. She was very annoyed.


Evening came and then the night fell and as I was turning out the lights I looked outside and sure enough the reindeers had returned. Tina looked at me weary and sighed and I told her to go to bed and not to be bothered any more.

I have often told you how I love the sound of waves in summer and just listen to it in the quiet before going to sleep. Last night, even though it was very cold, I had the window open for a while and instead of listening to the birds and waves I was listening to reindeer digging through the snow and I actually could hear them munch. Eventually one of them came so close to the house that his antlers scratched the wall. Those sounds made me feel at peace with my world, the house was quiet, it was dark, very cold, and I was alone listening to reindeers eat outside.

And when the day broke this morning, the garden looked like this.

Wool with you,

Lene

PS. I turned off the comments last week, I was getting comments that I thought did not belong here. They belonged to different forums. I am turning the comments on again, but will read them through before posting. Sorry for the delay.



41 comments:

  1. Ahhh...peaceful, beautiful, wooly winter days.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for a good story on a Saturday morning -- Tina seems like a wonderful companion.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a fascinating place that you live in with your beautiful dog. I would luv to experience it :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Priscilla in London17:41

    A lovely post, thank you for giving us a glimpse of your world.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love this post--this glimpse into your world that is so very, very different from mine here in very southern California, USA. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing!?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Very nice story. I grew up in Northern Michigan, on the shores of Lake huron. I loved falling asleep to the sound of the waves in the warmer months and the sound of the ice creaking and cracking in the cold months.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Tina is such a Beauty, I can well imagine how wonderful it feels to have such a companion.
    I'm really quite envious of your Winter. in a good way :^)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Poor pup...my dog will agree that it is SO tiresome when the local wildlife prevents us from doing our job properly! Here, it is relentless raccoons, which are chased off but return, over and over again. And at some times of year, bears - they are simply not impressed. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your little Tina looks like a fox! She's beautiful and I'll bet a wonderful companion for you. Your blog fills me with a kind of peace and serenity that seems to be missing these days - thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous20:41

    I love and admire your world. It's a real pleasure knowing such a magical place exists and I aspire to one day enjoy such a place myself. Thank you for sharing! And your pup is gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your dog is so sweet and your description of the reindeer interesting, they really are survivors. Thank you for sharing this wild account with your readers. I can experience nothing like that in Southern California.

    ReplyDelete
  12. what a happy pup! I love your story...thank you for telling it!

    A. xx

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a beautiful peaceful Winter day. Tina is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous04:47

    What a gorgeous, clever girl you have! I love the photo of Tina with her belly up :-) I also love the posts about your life WAY up north, as much as I do the posts about your knitting! Maybe seeing the northern lights makes up a bit for short winter days...

    ReplyDelete
  15. love the dog and the reindeer and that you have peace listening to them munch. i love winter and always wonder if i still would had i lived far north of my mountain home.

    ReplyDelete
  16. What a beautiful world.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Poor Tina! But how wonderful to listen to the reindeer at night - so many of us live completely out of touch with the natural world.

    Lene, I have started a Lilleput and am loving your pattern and the instructions are excellent. Unfortunately, as I look at my lighter colour, I think I am going to have to rip out and swap for an off white. It is light and variegated, and some of the colours are fighting with the other two yarns. One question, though. Is there a trick to having a neat edge on the hem? I have been bringing the yarn to back, then slipping the last stitch, but several of the hem stitches look sloppy. I will post a photo on Ravelry (knittinghobbit) if you would like to look and see if you agree about changing the colour!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Such an interesting story. Tina is lovely and such a good guard dog. I think my Alfie would have run and fled!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Lene, Thank you for the glimpse of your world.

    Tina looks so happy, asleep and warm where there are no reindeer to torment her.

    Your pictures are lovely and words peaceful.

    ReplyDelete
  20. We have black-tailed deer that are that bold, and our dog tries his best to keep them chased off our property. We also have horses, and hearing them munch their hay while we do chores morning and evening is such a peaceful sound!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful observation...

    ReplyDelete
  22. What a beautiful place you live in! So much more interesting than New Jersey, USA!

    ReplyDelete
  23. For the sake of your American readers, that would be -18 degrees Fahrenheit. Cold in any language!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous08:24

    Love the sleeping TIna picture
    thanks
    margieinmaryland

    ReplyDelete
  25. Ihana koira, ihana tarina.

    ReplyDelete
  26. love your story our dog barks at the possums and wombats and the foxes we often hear them yapping at night but you dont want to hear the possums they are so noisy. I could do witht eh sound of the water but still love the sound of wind in the trees gentle wind not howling gale. sometimes the wind comes up like a train it is so loud

    ReplyDelete
  27. What a wonderful place to live. I just love how small the internet makes the world. I would never know what pretty the Artic is, if it wasn't for the iternet.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I hope someday you write a book, Lene. I felt like I was there...

    ReplyDelete
  29. Lovely, lovely post. Thanks, Lene. Tina sounds like a great friend to have around (for a human, not for deer!).

    ReplyDelete
  30. Poor Tina... those rascals just wouldn't get the hint. Hopefully she got a good rest after all that commotion.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Lene - I look forward to your blog so much. How long are your days now? Tina looks a wonderful dog. Give her a pat from me.
    Janet in Seattle/Dublin

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous17:59

    Thank you for that piece of Arctic magic.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Aw, sweet Tina and her unreachable goal! Our spaniel dreams to rid our yard of squirrels.

    ReplyDelete
  34. When I went out this morning, my deck was covered with hoof marks from the deer - don't know if they are taking a short cut or checking out the planters in hopes.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Anonymous07:49

    I love your blog. Its great to hear about your life in the cold.
    We are currently in a heat wave here in New Zealand, and its not nice at all.
    Especially for a knitter !

    ReplyDelete
  36. Magical! I love reading about your Tina and the reindeer.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Your part of the world sounds and looks so peaceful and beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Anonymous04:03

    Tina is such a sweet pup! What a precious little face.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Your world sounds magical! My father has been wondering what's been causing his sunflower feeders to empty so quickly. The other night he looked out the window and saw 4 deer in the backyard. One of them had the sunflower feeder in his mouth and was shaking all the seed out!

    ReplyDelete
  40. Tina is looking very vigilant. I've been absent from blog reading for quite a while now and it is good to get a peek back into your beautiful creations.

    ReplyDelete