Now on ScienceBlogs: The Galaxy's Biggest Valentine
Martin Rundkvist's blog. Archaeology, skepticism, Sweden. And books and music and stuff.
Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, public speaker, chairman of the Swedish Skeptics Society, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, and father of two.
Category: Homeownership
Three years ago when we moved into our house, the stones of our patio were newly laid and all level. Since then we have been walking across that surface, usually along the diagonal between the patio entrance + shed...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 5 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
Here's what's currently outside my kitchen window. Rosehip in the foreground, rowan berries in the middle, and cloned white brick houses like my own in the background....
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 2 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
Earlier this summer I did some upkeep on the board fence, pergola and yard gate of my house. Swapped some rotten boards and beams, put on some paint, whacked a few nails back in that had crept out. Easy...
Posted by Martin R at 8:44 AM • 15 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
I've come across a curious notion here. Several neighbours have told me to beware *wet* snow "because it's so heavy".
Posted by Martin R at 10:30 AM • 26 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
While digging a hole for the peony, I set aside all the stones I came upon as lo-tech farmers have done for millennia, only at a smaller scale.
Posted by Martin R at 5:03 AM • 14 Comments •
Category: Biology
I bought some insecticide. It looks like pale pink ice-cream sprinkles, and in fact consists mainly of sugar. But mixed into the sugar are two chemicals: one that makes the stuff taste awful to children and other large animals, and another that kills insects.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 16 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
My house. It's L-shaped; of its six walls, only these two lack windows. In January, a house near ours caught fire in the middle of the night and was pretty much burned out. A malfunctioning electrical blanket on a...
Posted by Martin R at 9:50 AM • 11 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
Our crawl space is not a healthy place to be, at eight times the max radioactivity value. Radon collects down there and seeps up into the house. Luckily the problem is easily fixed.
Posted by Martin R at 5:19 AM • 15 Comments •
Category: Language
Scandinavians generally speak pretty good English. But every now and then you come across reminders that they are still very far from being native speakers. Witness this pail of wall-paper glue that I bought earlier today. Dear Swedish glue-maker,...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 13 Comments •
Category: Photography
Sunday, 07:53 Sunday, 11:13...
Posted by Martin R at 4:29 PM • 6 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
I took the hood off the thing, removed the rotor and hacked away the ice, taking care not to bash the fine heat-exchange lamelles.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 17 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
A heat pump dribbles water through a spigot on the under side. It's been an unusually cold winter, and so the water has collected as ice on the ground beneath the box, building up layer by layer until it made contact with the casing and blocked the spigot.
Posted by Martin R at 12:41 PM • 13 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
Last year my wife and I bought a house. Since then we have been tenants of Nacka municipality who owned the land the house sits on. It's a tiny plot, hardly larger than the house itself, and surrounded by communal...
Posted by Martin R at 4:47 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
The wasp nest is ejaculating its little emissaries, and my house is one big latex contraceptive.
Posted by Martin R at 2:41 PM • 13 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
Dear Reader, if you are a wasp, do not attempt to nest in my house. You will only Release the Fucking Fury, said with a bad Swedish accent. I will plug your nest's entries and vacuum your workers as...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 17 Comments •
Category: Books
I'm now in that state of summer leisure mixed with the responsibility of providing entertainment for the kids that causes a man to forget what day it is of the week. And so a week's fun is no longer...
Posted by Friendly Scibling at 4:26 PM • 9 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
Moving into a house has conferred a number of unforeseen advantages. The first one I discovered was that I now have a continuing relationship with the sky again, something I really only had before during my scant two years...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 4 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
The only effect of the financial crisis on my life that I am aware of is that our mortgage is absurdly cheap.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 17 Comments •
Category: Tech
An air source heat pump makes your house into a fridge turned inside out.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 20 Comments •
Category: Tech
The bandwidth of a wifi connection is extremely sensitive to obstacles.
Posted by Martin R at 9:03 AM • 5 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
After a bit less than a month's wait our new house is finally on-line! The winter of our off-line discontent dissolvèd made glorious broadband summer. So far only at 11 Mbps when we were promised at least 12, but the...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 10 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
The houses in our new neighbourhood are clones of one basic design: an L-shaped single-story structure with a fenced yard inside the angle of the L. The main entrance (1) is on one of the L's outer long walls. The...
Posted by Martin R at 8:30 AM • 4 Comments •
Category: Blogging
I'm still having fun and hope you are too!
Posted by Martin R at 10:42 AM • 6 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
Very timely, a friend told me that his ex-employer is getting rid of furniture. We have enough for about 90 sqm, which leaves us with 24 sqm to furnish in the new house. So, I took the opportunity to...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 8 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
Here are two snaps of my new home, taken just after breakfast today (the first bread I've baked in the house!). Both are taken toward the north: one from the kitchen door toward the dining room, the other standing...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 12 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
I'm typing this on my smartphone while digesting an evening meal of ramen noodles, egg and Chinese Sauerkraut from the tin. I'm in our new house. It's a mess, boxes everywhere. My wife is having a foot bath. Juniorette is...
Posted by Martin R at 12:07 PM • 6 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
After a bit more than seven and a half years, we're leaving our apartment on Burbot Street and moving to a 114 sqm house on Shroud Street. Fisksätra's four main housing areas have street names themed for fish, fishing...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 6 Comments •
Category: Homeownership
For the past ten years, I've lived with my family in rented apartments in a 1970s housing estate that covers the erstwhile infields of the poor tenant farm of Fisksätra. Yesterday, my wife and I signed a contract to...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 14 Comments •
