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The answer to the "what on earth is this" competition was, of course, a beaver.
"It made us jump when it suddenly peeped in through the window", said the owner of this house after a moose turned up unexpectedly in the garden (presumably looking for somewhere a bit warmer than the forest).
I imagine that his words at the time were even more emphatic.
There's been a variety of large, unidentified paw/hoof prints in the snow around our house, but no moose peeping in on us as yet.
8 January. Driving into the tunnel yesterday, Tracy had a disagreement with a stalagmite. Stalagmites are proving to be a bit of a pest at the moment. They pop up without warning and in inconvenient places.
When underground water drips through the tunnel roof, the dribbles rapidly form sharp spikes, up to 18 inches tall and hard as steel, on the surface of the road.
Drop your lunch on one and it will turn into a kebab. Tracy, unfortunately, drove over one.
The result is one new wheel and two new tyres, as well as a headlight bulb which died of the shock.
The other result was that Tim spent a happy hour trying to jack a car up on thick ice just outside the tunnel with the thermometer showing -20° and the stiff breeze making it all a good bit colder still.
If you've ever tried jacking up a car on thick ice, you'll know that it plays amusing games.
You get the car up just high enough and the jack sinks another inch down into the ice and starts wobbling and pretending to fall over.
"Put a plate under the jack", I hear you say. But when the car's already sinking a little into the ice there's hardly room to get the jack underneath it, let alone anything else.
Still, it all went fine in the end and everything is back to normal.
Thanks to the cold snap you can now catch ready-frozen fish here in the lake. Please don't tell Findus.
9 January. Tracy and Katie spent a glorious day skating on a nearby lake. Sorry there are no pictures - camera froze!
Found out today (12 Jan) what's been making all those footprints in the snow. It's an old friend that we've got used to seeing in the summer (regularly walks up the drive and vanishes off into the forest) - but is now leaving more obvious tracks. (picture, right; click for enlargement).
An exciting day is approaching. The day we get the sun back. The sun takes an extended Christmas break behind the mountains and returns gradually, creeping a little further down our garden every day. It's now half way down (see picture, left) and we're looking forward to that day - not long off now - when it reaches the house.
It's become a little breezier today (15 Jan), which means that great snowdrifts are blowing across the road. You have to put your foot down and ram them with the car!
Not just the road - the snow is also blowing across the ice on the lake, making pretty patterns (to see film - click picture (Youtube).)
We don't get casual passers-by here. After all, there isn't any "by" - we have quarter of a mile of private lane to the house, and even the "main" road at the bottom only goes to three or four other houses before it too stops. So when we hear a car coming everyone jumps to attention and rushes for the window.
Tonight we heard sounds of an engine approaching and rushed out to see who it was. It was our neighbour in his tractor. He'd been clearing the village road of snow and had just popped up to do our drive as well.
A few times we've noticed that the drive was suspiciously clear; I think he comes up quite often. Very thoughtful and kind-hearted. People here do watch out for each other.
Sat 16 Jan Tracy is speaking at a conference in Stavanger today, so at 6am I was down the drive seeing whether it was passable. There were six-foot drifts all over the place.
Our kind-hearted neighbour came over in his tractor to clear it, and he cleared the road through the valley as well, with Tracy following behind in the big 4x4, and the road closing again behind her.
A bit like the Exodus crossing of the Red Sea except that she wasn't being chased by Egyptions.
And it didn't take her 40 years to get to Stavanger; though when she rang from there a couple of hours later she said that it was the most hair-raising journey ever (and that's saying something).
She's intending to stay the night - it's just a question of whether she'll get back tomorrow! Much more snow forecast for the weekend.
Is this an exciting new Norwegian invention that Andrew will be very keen on - a flying tractor?
Actually, somene tried to take a short cut across a lake that just wasn't quite frozen enough - and it is here being hauled up out of the water by helicopter.
Sorry Andrew!
18 Jan Tracy got back safely from Stavanger yesterday. The road was being continuously cleared all day, and two different neighbours came up to our house with tractors a total of three times to keep the drive open. It's all settled down today. Blue skies and no wind again.
28 Jan Long time no entries. Sorry! Tim just got back from Germany and now running round in circles (travel does that sort of thing to you). Gave a talk today and a concert tomorrow. Tracy just left for a couple of days (we're not trying to avoid each other!).
The best news is that the sun has at last returned: called in for a brief visit today and has promised to stay longer now each day. Now (31 Jan) up to 20 minutes!
Planning to come on a visit this year? You'll be very welcome. Your accommodation is shown on picture (left; click for enlargement). We'll try to dust before you arrive. Note the distinctive gravel floor in the bathroom (left) - the latest in contemporary drainage - and the open-plan bedroom (back right).
1 Feb - "It'll be spring now", said a neighbour a couple of days ago, "all the snow will go and it will turn warm".
We had 18 inches of new snow yesterday (on top of the existing stuff, which hasn't gone at all since well before Christmas), and it's -10 or so today.
Have to have words with that neighbour.
2 Feb Still snowing hard and a very strong wind is blowing, so the snow ploughs are struggling to keep the roads open.
But the children on a nearby island are pleased - the sea is now so thickly frozen that their daily boat to school can no longer run (picture, right), so they're on an extended winter break.
"Soon", says the local mayor, "the ice will be thick enough for people to walk across".
I can just imagine the kids creeping out with kettlefulls of boiling water from time to time in order to prevent this ...
Sola airport (left) in Stavanger is presently closed as well, which is very unusual.
Our local weather forecast (in English) is now linked from the main page. Don't believe it, though - it claims there is "no precipitation" today. Must have got its seaweed in a twist.
Tim's first concert in Bjerkreim on Friday seemed to go down well. He gave a "funny stories" talk to a local group another day, has a concert on an island just north of here this coming Friday (ice permitting) and a concert in Oslo on Sunday (assuming the airport is open again).
Tracy has just returned from a couple of days visiting Matt and friends in England and has a fairly busy week at work (snow allowing!).
So we're all hard at it, but having fun.
3 Feb. Just after 6 this morning. Still completely dark outside; just the lights of our house and a nearby farm are visible. It's silent outside (we don't even hear the river any more since it's long since frozen and deep with snow on top) apart from the "sshht, sshht" of shovels digging snow. Tracy and I are clearing the night's snow from the drive because an electrician is coming at 8ish to fit the underfloor heating in the new downstairs flat, and there's no sign of any neighbours around in tractors as yet. Our usual snow-clearing neighbour's tractor broke down yesterday. By 8 it was light and as Tracy and I retraced our steps up the drive we could see the bits we'd missed in the dark. Flopped down in the kitchen, dreaming of many pieces of hot toast and a large pot of coffee, but too exhausted to make it. But the electricians are now nearly finished (9.15 am), as is the coffee. Top surface of the floors is going down on Monday.
Have also made bread (a three-times-a-week process; three loaves at a time - how on earth do we get through so much?) and lit the fire.
You can buy firelighters in Norway, but I think it's only "posh" people in Oslo who actually use them.
Our firelighters are the normal village model. Take an empty cardboard drinks carton, fill it with wood shavings (we have a big sack of them in the stables) and pour in half a cup of diesel from the can in the garage.
Remember not to use the same cup for your coffee afterwards, especially if you smoke. Works a treat - the fire never fails to light first time!
This evening, Tracy, Katie, Tim and the two dogs set off from home for a little skiing trip. The dogs didn't ski, by the way. See picture sequence by clicking picture, left.
4 Feb. Astonishing development. It's just started snowing ...
6 Feb. Last night, Katie went to a birthday party and Tim played a concert on a nearby island (view from the church door, right - click picture for enlargement).
Very difficult travelling, with heavy drifting. But today there's quite a heatwave - above freezing - and the snow is melting fast. Wonder whether Spring is on its way?
7 Feb. Last question answered - No.
7 Feb. 10 years old today. Katie was singing at a "show it" service (putting faith into a contemporary context) at church today. Click picture (left) for an enlargement and a couple more of the same service)
8 Feb. Don't quite know how the driver managed it, but a fully-laden 12-wheeler cement lorry the size of the house managed to squeeze up our lane between banks of snow hardly wide enough for an ordinary car to get through, to lay the floors for the downstairs flat.
Progress!
10 Feb. After school today (i.e. around lunchtime), Tracy and Tim joined most of the rest of the village up at the ski centre for an afternoon of coffee, chat, skiing and sledging in brilliant sunshine,
The temperature may have been -11, but the hot sun made it feel like Spring. Click photo (right) to see some pictures.
13 Feb. Tim went to Sauda yesterday (a small town at the end of a fjord about four-and-a-half hour's drive north of here, but still in the same county) for a concert. Spectacular drive and a lovely ferry ride; then drove back through the night so feeling shattered today.
But the weather is so wonderful - brilliant, hot sunshine on crisp snow - that we just had to go on another ski trip.
Today we explored the valley directly behind our mountain. Skied into the valley, enjoyed the absolute peace, the undisturbed snow, a picnic in the warm sunshine.
Absolute bliss. There's a limit to how many sets of pictures of ski trips we can or should put on the blog, but these really are worth seeing! (Click picture, left, to see the sequence).
14 Feb. Rather than pancakes, Norway has fastelavensboller just before Lent.
So after several years in England without them, we had them after church on Sunday.
Tracy was tempted to have one for every year she's missed out - but decided it wasn't a good idea.
17 Feb. We simply can't keep on going on about the snow all the time: it's going to get boring.
But it's still at it, and seems to have become a part of life.
Just to give an impression, Tim and Tracy both went off to work this morning and this (photo left - click for enlargement) was the state of the road.
Coming back was even worse (too bad to start jumping out to take photos!) - a case of repeatedy ramming the snow, reversing and trying again, occasionally getting out to dig a bit.
It's great to have what they call a "stable winter" (i.e. continuous snow from early December until spring without any thaws in between) - but we're beginning to feel that a bit of spring perhaps wouldn't be unwelcome now.
18 Feb. We've found out how to stop it snowing. We've bought a snow clearer - the kind that's essentially a lawnmower with a little Briggs & Stratton petrol motor but with big blades that dig up the snow and throw it out of a chute at the top.
Having bought this we can now confidently predict that not another flake will fall this year (and probably not next year, either).
21 Feb. Plan failed.
See a short documentary series: "the three stages of snow clearing" by clicking picture (right).
23 Feb. Tracy and Andrew went shopping in Sandnes today. On the way back, they dropped in on a neighbour to deliver a book and were invited in for coffee - to Andrew's slight irritation. His irritation at this turn of events evaporated when the neighbour lent him a snowscooter and sent him out on it for a couple of hours. Suddenly the visit wasn't so bad after all. He's invited back to take the snowscooter out again another day this week and help with some maintenance.
The footprint we photographed on the ski trip last weekend (see picture here) is causing some debate.
Opinion is divided about whether it is a bear or a lynx.
If the former then we have a bear at the bottom of the garden (or at least literally forty yards beyond it).
We're going on a bear hunt (photo, left, of Katie with a bear behind). We're not scared.
27 Feb. Spring is at last in the air.
For the first time in two-and-a-half months, it's been above freezing yesterday and again today, the snow is melting like, well, like snow in spring, the birds are singing without their beaks chattering and there's a general smell of spring in the air.
Feels good. We're just hoping it won't rain before much more of the snow has gone.
Snow Sweep. With that in mind, we have a sweepstake on what date the last of the snow will be gone from the garden/drive (excluding the mountain - say everything below the level of the barn).
Just a reminder that although it's now melting fast there's a fair bit of it.
Amongst other things we've made three big heaps beside the drive whilst clearing; picture of one of these heaps left (click for enlargement).
Send us your vote (to [email protected]) and we'll see who's nearest. Several votes now received!
2 Mar. A wildlife update. Should have mentioned before that for some weeks now we've been watching red squirrels up in the forest.
You can see them particularly well from the bathroom window, which has been causing queues on occasions.
There have also been sightings of moose in the valley, and there are moose tracks just down at the bottom of the drive.
So perhaps we will get one peeping in through the window one day! (a reference to this story).
There have been a lot of reports of moose doing odd things over the last couple of weeks (perhaps the weather has been getting to them).
One was photographed at the top of a ski-jump slope (photo, right).
The photographer expected that the moose would loose its footing any moment and come sailing through the air, but apparently it managed to get down safely.
A number of motorists have had cause to regret encountering them crossing the road.
There was a time when new cars were sold with a "bonus" offer of a year's free moose insurance.
But one motorist particularly regrets his meeting with one.
It was reported on Norway's NRK news that when an unfortunate driver stopped by the roadside to relieve himself, a nearby moose took offence and demonstrated this with what the news described as "a well-placed karate kick".
Car and driver were apparently towed away; the driver in need of repair rather than the car.
2 Mar.On the same theme, "our" eagle was circling the river today, just beyond the garden: huge wingspan.
We don't normally see it right down here (it nests up in the cliffs way above the house).
3 Mar. The ladies of the valley have a monthly get-together (we won't call it an old wives' club) which apparently is really good (food, gossip, putting the valley to rights, etc). Next week they're having a day out and (since one of them is the wife of the owner of the ski centre) they're going to have the whole ski centre to themselves. Not a bad outing.
4 Mar. Andrew has had a school "outing" today: to the ski centre on the same terms as above. In other words they had the entire place to themselves - with all lifts working and so on - and in brilliant and glorious sunshine, as well. A very enjoyable day had by all except for one girl who was airlifted away with a broken rib and another boy who was whisked off by ambulance to mend a broken arm. But Andrew is in one piece and very satisfied.
Tracy went to Sandnes by bus today to collect her car which she left there yesterday, having a larger-than-usual service.
We weren't sure what time the bus went, so before going to the bank to get some money out for the bus fare we drove to the bus stop on the main road to check the time table.
The bus was there, and about to leave - and it was the last bus of the day and, no, they didn't accept "plastic".
Three passengers (strangers) jumped up to offer to pay for her: "you can give me the money back sometime".
You get a good quality of bus passenger here.
6 Mar. Someone's making a film on Wednesday that involves the outside of Stavanger Cathedral (which was also used, by the way, in one of the "Harry Potter" films).
The only trouble is, it's not supposed to be winter on this film, which is why they're spending the weekend desperately trying to melt snow by blowing hot air under a large plastic cover.
That's one way of making summer arrive, I suppose.
Today's addition to the list of things that moose have been up to.
A number of people who'd parked cars up by some cabins were puzzled when they came back to find that someone had washed and polished the cars whilst they were gone.
This happened on several different days.
Eventually someone spotted who was doing it.
It was a moose, which apparently was enjoying licking off the salt that had been thrown up from the roads.
7 Mar. Katie's swimming-pool birthday cake (right - click to get a larger piece) (birthday party was deferred from February due to weather!).
9 Mar. Katie's "concert debut" - at a pupil's concert in the town hall at Vikes� arranged by the local music school, Katie played a short piano piece, with nervous father in the audience. Went very well.
Spring is still getting ever nearer. It's been above freezing for a few days now and there are patches of grass showing here and there.
Rain is forecast, which will cause complete chaos when it mixes with the snow which is still deep on the roads.
The real problem with this time of year is avalanches, especially of rocks from the mountainside.
Every time we drive anywhere at the moment there are new piles of stones beside the road, and today there was a rock the size of a chair in the road.
This evening someone was killed a few miles from here when big blocks of ice fell on their car as they were driving past.
Rain will make things worse.
But we're still looking forward to seeing what spring is like here.
11 Mar. Woke up this morning to the sound of a waterfall. Last summer and autumn the only sounds we ever heard (apart from wildlife and an occasional distant tractor) were the sounds of the river and all the waterfalls. Since mid-December, however, the river and all the waterfalls have been completely frozen, so there's been absolute silence. The little trickle of water off the mountain is another sign of spring on its way.
The drive, though, is solid ice.
The snow has been melting and re-freezing to turn the whole thing into a very effective bob-sleigh track.
Tracy reminded me this morning of a similar time about 15 years ago when our house in S�vik had a few hundred yards of winding driveway leading up to it.
We seem to make a habit of this.
I wrote this tale up in those stories that I mentioned at Christmas.
On that occasion too, spring was approaching and the snow was melting fast during the day and re-freezing in the evening.
I'd been out in the car and by the time I got home again the steep and winding lane up to our house was impossibly slippery.
The car struggled half way up the hill, but just after a sharp bend it refused to go any further.
Unfortunately I soon found that, although the car was happy to stay where it was whilst I had my foot on the brake,
if I tried to take my foot off the brake and get out, the car slipped backwards - and behind me was a 30-foot drop.
The house was within sight and I tried sounding the horn and flashing the car lights to attract attention.
This produced merry waves from the house window for a while, before Tracy eventually came out in the snow to tell me to stop fooling around and come home.
I sent her to the shed for a rope, which she tied round a tree and fastened the other end to the front of the car so that I eventually could get out and hobble home (my foot was stiff from pressing it hard against the brake pedal for so long).
The temperature continued to rise that evening and by morning all the snow was gone.
A neighbour called by and sat in our kitchen drinking coffee.
Several times he seemed to be wanting to make some remark but didn�t quite know how to say it.
Just before leaving he enquired cautiously: �do you always tether your car to a tree at night?�.
12 Mar.
Where does your modern teenager hang out at weekends?
Thomas Andrew spent yesterday evening in a barn with a couple of friends, sheering sheep and driving tractors.
This evening it's the School Ball (the suit and tie are so newsworthy that they can be enlarged by clicking on the photo, left)
and tomorrow (Saturday) he's off to drive a snowscooter over the cross-country ski route to create prepared tracks for skiers.
The usual sorts of things.
15 Mar. The snow is vanishing fast - you can see lots of patches of green on the webcam - and I don't think there'll be any more snow clearing to do this half year, But as a quick reminder of the way it was, here is a film clip taken from our front door step three months ago.
19 Mar. End of a busy week!
Tracy enjoyed her outing to the ski centre yesterday afternoon (the place was opened specially for ladies of the valley) - great time was had by all.
The snow is still melting very fast - there's more and more grass to be seen hour by hour.
Where Beth is living, though, there is 8-9 feet of snow on level ground and many roads are closed, not because of the amount of snow on them but because of avalanche danger.
M�ndalen, where we used to live, has been cut off for days except for some supervised passing of traffic during daytime hours.
25 Mar. As the snow vanishes all sorts of debris is emerging. We're obviously going to have to have a big clearup soon.
First priority is that a huge stone that was hung over the shaft that the pond drains into seems to have fallen down into the shaft itself;
presumably pushed down by the weight of snow (and maybe the odd tractor driving over it). So we'll have to find a way of getting that back.
But Katie was pleased to re-discover the sandpit under the big overhanging rock behind the stables (photo, right - click for enlargement).
Even better, Tim has declared it summer by changing the wheels on the car over to the summer ones. The winter wheels have studded tyres, with little metal spikes to grip in the ice. But once the roads start to be clear they're a nuisance (they go "clip-clop" while you're driving - and they damage the road, the metal spikes tend to drop out and you can't drive as quickly). It's a great feeling to be back on proper tyres again.
And it's funny what else you find when the snow goes! (photo, left)
This road rocks! We've been out watching avalanches - mostly great chunks of ice rolling down the mountainside as frozen waterfalls begin to thaw.
But we keep finding larger or smaller rocks on the road, too. (photo, left).
It pays to keep your eyes open whilst driving - both to avoid unexpected rocks lying in the road and to have half an eye to the mountainside above!
What's going on here? (photo, right: click to see more).
Snow work with an Easter theme.
30 Mar. Today's weather (left: click to make the snowflakes bigger).
But despite it all, in a moment of sunshine, the cricket season has begun (photo, right - click for two larger pictures).
31 March. Years ago we used to be fascinated to see the types of stories that make it to the national and local news.
The low point (or perhaps high point) was reached when the front-page story for our local paper was a report that we had taken our dog to kennels whilst we went on holiday.
We're now into the 21st century and weightier matters now occupy the news.
The online news page for NRK (the Norwegian equivalent of the BBC), for instance, currently devotes a whole article to a story headlined "Priest forgot to put clock forward".
The congregation apparently had to wait on Sunday morning and the service started a whole ten minutes late!
(Just for reassurance - this was not in our parish, nor was Tracy the priest in question)!