Header picture: Stream by Ørsdalen tunnel, 31 Jan (Full picture here)

February has begun fine and sunny ... and still snowy. Photo at other end of Ørsdalen tunnel today

1 Feb - an unexpected visitor - A friend in Sandnes has had a minor accident and broken her knee very badly. One of her resulting problems is how to take care of her slightly demanding black-and-white border collie. The result is that we're embarking on a month's dog sitting (and a bit of re-training while the dog's owner is out of sight). It's a demanding project, but we're winning so far.

If you can bear more snow, click picture, right, for some more pictures of the road by the Ørsdalen tunnel, or click here for this month's lake picture.
We seem to have slipped into a habit of a "lake of the month" picture: here is the past year's worth of lakes.

Comments Cheryl - February 14th, 2018 I love the lake photos :) Tim - February 14th, 2018 We're lucky to have these places on our doorstep, you and I!

4 Feb - Ready for this year's boating season (above left). The weather, though is hovering around -12 at home (weather forecast here) and very much colder than that up near the tunnel, so we're needing to wrap up well for all these dog walks!

7 Feb - Happy 18^th birthday, Katie!. Birthday tea at the Thai place.

Comments Joanna - February 6th, 2018 Tim I have sent an e-mail card for Katie please will you forward it! Tim - February 6th, 2018 Sure thing - thank you so much: well remembered! Katie - February 7th, 2018 Thank you for the card Joanna, it was very nice! joanna - February 9th, 2018 Katie I would call the card twee!! Nice is a non word, but what else did you expect from a birdwatcher! I pray you will all get dug out eventually! Tim - February 9th, 2018 Thanks Joanna! We can already hear the sounds of digging: they're due to have us out before the end of the afternoon.

9 Feb - This morning's regional news has two items. The first describes some sort of scuffle in Stavanger during the night during which someone hit someone else and the police went out to arrest the offender. They were apparently able to identify the offender without a great deal of effort because he was clad in a pink dressing gown. That's Stavanger for you. The other news story is more relevant to us, though — especially as T&T were both due to be doing funerals today (the same ones, as priest and organist respectively). But instead we're sitting at home with a second pot of tea. There have been frequent snow avalanches this morning, and at one point we both heard what we thought was an airplane flying very low overhead and wondered what was going on until I looked out and saw a massive avalanche on the other side of the valley - a few hundred yards wide and deep enough to be covering the trees in the forest. The kind of thing where the press tries to count up afterwards how many houses and passers-by were under the snow. Except that this is Ørsdalen so there weren't any of either. But Ørsdalen has made it to the national NRK news and TV2 news anyway — the tunnel and road are closed until further notice due to avalanche and all Ørsdalen residents are having a day at home. Heavy snow-clearing machines are being sent in, so we should get out again at some point! Click headline, right, for photos of the road here. The regional newspaper reports on "priest misses funeral due to avalanche".

How do you get an electrician to come to Ørsdalen? Before Christmas we bought a new oven (the old one had stopped working) and rigged up a temporary power supply via an extension lead in through a cupboard door. It wasn't ideal, but it did for a day or two ... which turned into a couple of months because we're still waiting for an electrician to manage to get all the way out to Ørsdalen. This weekend, though, we've got guests here — an electrician and his family (good friends of ours) who've come to visit us and go skiing. And he's going to fix our oven, and even put a new thermostat on the heated floor in the bathroom. The old thermostat had also stopped working, which meant that the floor was either stone cold or impossible to walk on in bare feet without lessons from one of those Indian walking-on-coals people. So now the road has re-opened, they've managed to arrive nearly here (they had to leave their car half a mile away at the bottom of the drive) and walk the last bit and we're enjoying their company (pictures here).

11 Feb - A lot of snow has fallen in the night and today the road out of Ørsdalen is again closed due to another avalanche. So the priest and the organist both missed their respective Sunday services today. This time the road is closed all day and at least until mid-day on Monday - which poses something of a problem because we were all due to be on a flight first thing Monday morning. Our weekend visitors are supposed to be back at work tomorrow, so we've just had to tell them that they won't be either!

12 Feb - We were dug out by about 4 on Monday afternoon — about 6 hours after our flight left, so we're all rather sorry about a missed holiday. But we're warm, safe and well fed, so there's lots to be thankful for. The tunnel and road are to be closed at nights but open (with highways people around to keep an eye on things) during the days until further notice. Several more feet of snow are due to fall over the next couple of days, so there's certainly no shortage of the white stuff. Our visitors escaped and we were able to get out in the evening to re-stock up on food (see very brief dashcam film of avalanche area) and we're now trying to decide what to do with the rest of the week.

Comments joanna - February 12th, 2018 How is Andrew coping with the snow and his sheep? I am so glad I am here on the coast! Had a cold but sunny day today and it looks as if 1/2 term could be kind to folk!! Keep warm and safe Tim - February 13th, 2018 He's doing fine, thanks! Click picture, right, for a quick film of him clearing his road - he's got even more snow than we have! His sheep are all tucked up indoors for the winter, though, so they're OK. The Hunstanton weather forecast is for 6-7 degrees and sunshine by Thursday: can't you send a bit over it over here? I'll pay the postage. joanna - February 14th, 2018 I tried to parcel up our weather it didn't work!! I pray you have plenty of sacks of potatoes to keep you going! Is it worse weather than normal? Tim - February 14th, 2018 Yes, no shortage of food in the house! We've had several winters now with little snow, but this kind of weather would have been more normal in our early days in Norway in the 1980s and '90s. Even now there's not as much snow here at home as there was in 2009 (the winter we came to Ørsdalen and Katie prayed for snow), but we've not had these avalanches constantly closing the road before. It's not just us - lots of roads closed throughout the district. It may be, though, that your package will arrive next week; the forecast says that from Monday the temperature will be up to -1, the wind will drop and it should — should — stop snowing!

14 Feb - A road sign at the tunnel entrance is looking a little drunk in this picture (it's a full-height sign, by the way, to give you an impression of scale).

Comments Cheryl - February 15th, 2018 Impressive amounts of snow around the road sign! Tim - February 15th, 2018 Yes, you could make a great snow castle. Or an ice hotel, perhaps, for ski tourists?

.. and the road is closed yet again - this time from Wednesday evening until at least Friday morning. "Huge" amounts of snow forecast for Thursday (another couple of feet level depth due to fall during the day).

15 Feb - Sure enough, another 6 inches level depth fell before 10am and it's continuing to snow purposefully. Here's a photo of someone clearing snow off his roof today. Despite Thomas Andrew's best efforts, his road is also closed at the moment. Just in case you're wondering, we could get out in an emergency — snow or not, any emergency in Ørsdalen is automatically a candidate for the helicopter. And sure enough, what I thought was another avalanche just now was the helicopter landing on the field between us and the next farm (pictures here). Don't know yet what has happened, but will find out soon.

There's a big political push at the moment to merge Norwegian local authorities (to create fewer but larger authorities) and even to merge counties. Not unexpectedly, the most contentious question in merging counties is what the new larger county will be called. There was a terrific fuss when two out of the four present-day counties in western Norway decided to merge and call their new county "western Norway". The other two were displeased. So a public vote was held to determine the new combined name for what are currently the two most northerly counties — Troms and Finnmark (which incidentally have a combined area two thirds the size of England). Suggestions were submitted by the public and then voted on. Nearly all the suggestions attracted just one to two percent each of the votes: Finntroms, Tromsfinn, Tromsmark; I rather fancied Hålogaland (a very old name for the region) but that fared no better. But one suggestion ran away with nearly all the votes: Mordor. It's just been announced that the new county will be called ... "Troms and Finnmark County". Perhaps they'll learn belatedly from British experience and call the lifeboat Mordor.

16 Feb - Friday morning and the road is apparently due to be re-opened by this evening, even though it's still snowing. They've taken the decision and have started work on clearing it. Joanna's Red-Cross parcel of better weather is apparently waiting to get through customs. But we have half a mile of private lane up to the house, so clearing 3-4 feet depth of snow from all that by hand would take until Easter. So in the absence of Thomas Andrew we've had good help from a kindly neighbour (photos, right).

Joanna - your weather parcel has just arrived. Stopped snowing, the wind has dropped to nothing and the temperature right up to zero, or even half a degree above. Feels tropical. Nils, who has the contract for snow clearing up as far as Ørsdalen, has just dropped in with his tractor, re-cleared our lane after another foot of snow has fallen since this morning's efforts, and said that he reckons the road out of the valley will be OK from now on. Nevertheless, T&T are both planning on going to Sandnes on Saturday evening to be on the safe side for Sunday's services!

Can you spot the two parked cars by the end of the Ørsdalen tunnel today?

Our neighbours' daughter had felt very unwell yesterday, so they rang for help. What with the road closed and a major snowstorm in progress they did not think that anyone would be able to get to them, but in less than an hour the helicopter arrived and managed to land, as we saw in yesterday's pictures. The daughter was taken away for inspection, but there was no room in the helicopter for parents. So the next step was for the fire brigade to bring a large commercial RIB by road from the fire station over to the Bjerkreim end of the Ørsdalen lake and drive full speed over to Ørsdalen to collect the girl's father (25 minutes each way at 30 knots, which must have been quite something in an open boat on a stormy lake). Coming back, of course father and daughter couldn't get the blue-light treatment, so they were driven to the point at which the road was blocked by the avalanche, near the wrong end of the tunnel, climbed over the snow and were collected by a neighbour's tractor, and driven the last few miles home in the tractor bucket. This story was related in the local newspaper which concluded that they are hardy people who live in Ørsdalen: not easily alarmed. To which we can add that you get amazing service when you need it!

Comments joanna - February 16th, 2018 Tim I have noticed when reading press things that Forteller crops up! Hannah has kept Fort and added Teller to it!! As 2 separate words but it still looks as if your papers are talking about Hannah!!!!Glad to hear about the helicopter, your photos were better than the news paper or did they pinch one of yours and its the news print that makes it look worse!! Hope all goes well at the weekend! Tim - February 17th, 2018 I'm sure they would have written about Hannah had they thought on, but in Norwegian "Forteller" is the verb to tell (a story). The newspaper usually uses my photos, but on this occasion I didn't send them any because I wasn't sure what the background for it was and didn't want to intrude. I saw the neighbours yesterday and was glad to hear that it had all ended well. Weekend looks promising, thanks - no warnings out on the road and the better weather you sent seems to have kicked in, so it all looks good! At least until all this snow starts to melt - that will be awful for a few days!

17 Feb - Visiting Thomas Andrew (photos, left).

19 Feb - The road seems stable and well now; the weather bright and sunny. Across the valley, the avalanches have left trails of snow probably 100 feet deep (dwarfing the well-established trees), while the wind is blowing loose snow off the mountain tops (film here). So this time it was much more tempting to take the borrowed dog for her morning walk around the village (click right for 2 pictures) and admire the Ørsdalen panorama (click on the photo to enlarge, then scroll left/right - picture shows road out of the village snaking its way up the mountain).

Like a swan with a sore tooth - "Angry swan stopped people going to the dentist", says this evening's headline. Patients in Mandal (just down the coast from us) complained that they had to nip into the Joker shop to buy bread "to bribe the swan to let them into the dentist's".

Comments joanna - February 24th, 2018 It looks as if we will be getting some of the cold and even snow from your side the North Sea! Hows your weather? I have been reading Norse Myths Neil Gaiman and Odd and the frost Giants also by him. They are good and I love Odd and the Frost Giants, have you come across his work! Always slightly off piste and should appeal to your sense of humour! Also Katie if she is not feeling too old for the slightly childish books! Tim - February 24th, 2018 Yes, I heard we're sending you some snow over the next few days: good luck! We've still got plenty to spare; couple of feet in the garden. Had some visitors today for a ski-day and roasting sausages round a bonfire. The forecast for the next week takes us back down to -16, so no chance of loosing any of this snow for the time being. Not come across Neil Gaiman - must look him out. Sure Katie would enjoy it too!

24 Feb - Several families from Tracy's church in Sandnes came on a visit today, to play in the snow, cook sausages in the garden and generally to relax together. Click photo, left, for page of pictures.

25 Feb - two services - This morning, Tracy was in Sandnes Church together with Tim for the morning service (photos here); but this evening was our last-ever evening service at Norkirken. Tracy's "farewell do" was in the morning service back on 21 January, so this evening's event was a bit of an anticlimax (a bit, "oh yes, you're off aren't you ... well bye-bye then"). (Tracy's farewell comments). Actually, the highlight of this process was the evening service last Autumn when Tracy announced to the congregation her intention to leave. She slipped this in just before the end of the service, in which she had been preaching and someone else was leading. The person who was leading (a good friend of ours) was either taken completely by surprise or had not planned properly for this announcement, because as soon as Tracy had delivered her "I'm leaving" speech he popped back up onto the platform and announced: "Now we'll sing the hymn: 'O great joy that the Lord has given us'". We've been teasing him about it ever since.

27 Feb - February is drawing to its end as it began: fine and sunny ... and still snowy. With temperatures pushing -20° this week (which is the normal temperature for a deep freeze; but the forecast also promises us a "perceived temperature" - taking windchill into account - heading down towards -30° on Thursday), it doesn't seem very likely that the snow will be disappearing any time soon, either, but it is giving us the famous "blue light" just after sunset (where the brilliant blue sky, lit up by the moon, is reflected in the snow) and some wonderful stary nights, with trees and walls casting sharp shadows on the moonlit snow. Very beautiful — but very cold!
And you can imagine with what dismay and sympathy we react to this "shocking image" from the UK.

Outdoor playtimes will be shortened today in nursery schools in Østerdalen (some of you visited us there when we were temporarily stationed for a few months at Os, at the end of the 1980s). Today's temperature in Folldal is -42°C (that's -44°F). All schools and nurseries are open — of course — and everything is carrying on as normal; "it's a very nice day", commented one individual.

Comments joanna - February 27th, 2018 Hi the blue and clear skies sound fabulous! It is cold here and the East wind is due to get stronger We have about 2 inches of snow! When I think the photos you send on-line and some of the fun we had when the kids were little in Kelbrook! the fuss that the snow there is down south makes me laugh! We always did reckon that flaks o so made London and Kent panic!! Having said that I am not too keen to get out at the moment am not as steady on my pins as I would like!! Take care and keep warm!!