Midwinter calling, day 44

Coming home

It feels good to ride over the bridges and the islands, and then through the forest and out into the valley and see the village up on the other side. Once the Academy and the village are completed, it should make quite an impact on anyone arriving from here. This also feels a bit like a victorious home coming since we've had another successful elk shooting. It was 'far', so for safety's sake, both Iselin and me shot at the same time. We still had to reload and ride after, but the elk probably only went 150 meters. So, not the best shots, but Iselin can now say she shot a elk. Kari still doesn't want to shoot and covers her ears with both hands. Our share of the meat will be delivered, plus the antlers and elk hides and a few jugs of blood for blood pancakes and blood sausage that is so ridiculously appreciated by others. We will have about 75 kg of meat which is hundreds of meals. Thank Gods it's cold, and we'll ice, smoke and salt, and treat guests to elk meat and blood pancakes and sausages the night before the wedding. How they distribute the rest is none of our business, and we have made a lot of people happy. This have been an excellent start of hunting rights, because there is a lot of meat and parts for many landowners an people during the darkest time of the year, which they can also exchange for other things, and they have not had to do anything for it.

We are updated that Hrappr and Ida finally brought home all the animals we've bought. It is not easy to ship to an island, and only some have been delivered. Since the weather and other duties have given them time, they have fetched the last for our barns. So we now have more chickens, ducks, cows, sheep and pigs, and the cows, sheep and pigs should already be pregnant so we will have calves, lambs and piglets in April. Iselin's parents have also gotten the last of their animals, so 10 chickens, 8 sheep, two pigs, two cows and a bull. They were really looking forward to having their own animals to care for and own, and been quite shocked by how 'much' animals they have received, but it's honestly less than I spent on sex toys. Gyra and Iuli really enjoy their new life here on the islands with their wonderful farm and mild climate, and have made good friends. Personally, it's starting to feel like I should have given them a bigger, nicer and more luxurious farm. But there was a lack of time and I didn't think about it. At least they have a nice warm house, with plenty of fire wood, food, clothes, furniture and light.

One reason why we have been able to buy so many animals is that they are from many farms, and some would rather have silver than keep the animals alive during winter, which many believe will be hard due to omens and signs, and we announced long time ago that we wanted to buy animals. I don't believe in omens and I am willing to take a chance, but we also have the option of buying animal feed at a premium price if we need to. Then some animals will be slaughtered for the wedding feast, so might as well buy more animals, and I have realized that we will need more animals than that considering the food I like, and there will also be more cows and also a lot of sheep for the wool in the future. It is likely that one or two more barns will be built this spring and summer in different places, and more fields and pastures will be created in the coming years. But that takes years to do.

It is not finished on the inside, but the new 14x6 guest mansion north of the small lake is basically finished on the outside. When the weather is fine, the builders are quick to build, and I am happy that the house will be useful for the wedding guests, because the workers who remain over the winter can finish the interior sufficiently in a few days, and it is 7 or 8 days until the guests arrive. Some of the days will surely be rainy weather where they cannot work outside, and the exterior decorations will be done come spring. Bodil will surely want to help with some. Me and Jane can't really agree on what to call it, and carpentry decorations probably have different names depending on style, but I prefer the to Norse converted Swedish term 'snickarglädje' which basically mean 'carpenters delight', but no matter the term, Jane has gotten my sambos interested in 'old' style decoration of interior doors and cabinets, with routered edges and cut out decoration to add in the middle of panels. And sure, it looks good and more interesting than modern flat surface in a uniform colour. Especially when it's been painted with that furniture varnishing oil we used for the floors and pretty much everything else, and they've used a little colour in the varnish to discretely tone the surface or decoration. The kitchen and several rooms looks much nicer, and varnished surfaces are easier to keep clean. Everyone is so proud of the kitchen and the guest mansion will get the same treatment, and I am happy when they are happy. Especially as I didn't have to be involved or do the work.

The guest mansion looks really good where it is, but it is not large by modern standards, only about 200m² on two floors, but here it is quite impressive in terms of amenities and purpose. Or will be. In the future, when it gets some decorations on the outside and on the inside with beautiful furniture, the guest mansion will feel very luxurious to most people. If I hadn't had so many people in my company, the guest mansion would have felt just right to live in. The design can actually be a nice hunting lodge or similar for us, as the second floor has two large bedrooms with a double bed and a desk etc, and two rooms with two bunk beds for guards and accompanying staff, and two double or single rooms with a small table and chairs. The ground floor has a separate room for the caretaker of the guest mansion, and there is also a staff bedroom for a couple of maids on the second floor, although that room also have the water tanks and the stairs to the attic.

We are finishing the final touches on the telegraph installation and the installation of the guest mansion's small battery system. The electrical system in the guest mansion will only be two of the small 12V batteries because there is no real power need, and they will be charged by a wind turbine at the future barn across the back yard. The wind turbines are quite ugly and I don't want it to be visible from the road, and I hope to remove it from my mansion in the future. I really hope I can make good copper oxide diodes, because otherwise everything with electricity will be more difficult and require more maintenance.

The guards busy themselves by rigorously testing the telegraph station, but we decide to finish the work on more mercury thermometers, which have seen gradual progress along with other ongoing projects. One thermometer broke. Another thermometer has much higher range than wanted because I misread the note and made an oops about the mercury volume for that tube and the scale goes up to about 280C. I don't know what it will be used for but still good to have, so it got a less accurate scale and will be less protected than the other thermometers.

Two have about the same range as the first batch but a finer scale to be more accurate although with a lower top scale, so one is inside the icebox. The other we install as a permanent weather station outside the attic window on the north end of the wing where it will be in almost permanent shade and protected from ice and rain behind a small white painted wooden shield. Well ventilated and as free as it can be, and as far from the warmest parts of the house as possible, even if the outer wall of course affects a little and sunlight might reach it on the longest summer evenings. There is stone ground underneath, but at least that ground is in the shade. Not optimal but we have to live with it. I have given the staff the task of reading it every morning, noon and evening, and recording the values on a slate during the whole week so we can see it in the guards day room.

Another thermometer is shorter and got a smaller range with only a little below freezing but good accuracy, so we set it up in the living room together with the slate board where the outdoor temperatures are written, to show the indoor temperature, and the thermometer will be moved to test for different temperatures in rooms or the basement. The old indoor thermometer by the electrical panel will be moved to the pantry, but right now we mount it in the attic to check how cool it will be compared to the great hall etc. It is after all winter.

I'll wait to make more thermometers until I see how these hold up for a couple of months or so. The next need is probably a fever thermometer and I have saved the tube with the finest channel I have for them, but hopefully there will be three thermometers from that tube, because a 35 to 42C scale is enough, unfortunately it will be difficult to manufacture so the range actually ends up there.

A barometer would be fun to make, and practical to have, and is really just mercury in a tube that goes down to mercury in a bowl, and the fact that we live only 25 meter or so above sea level is practical. But the tube will be long, and at least 850mm. My ovens are not big enough to heat treat such large items but I have a several glass tubes that are thin but still too big for thermometers and some that are quite big. All of them already have one end sealed, so I decide to build a simple mercury barometer. The barometer doesn't have to be outside, so we can hang it in the main hall, and build it into an oblong wooden casing with a small window at the top. I have glass plates which makes a good enough window to read while protecting, and keeps any mercury fumes to a minimum. Building the barometer into wood also secures everything and I will try making a flexible membrane or bladder instead of a completely open mercury container.

Yet another sketch and order for carpenter Engdrid. He pretty much constantly does projects for me, and is almost finished with the pendulum clock. I don't want my ugly pendulum clock prototype to be so visible to our future guests. At the same time, it works, so we want more pendulum clocks as they are so practical. The staff room needs one, but hopefully it will be quite advanced.