So, we bought this old house some 30 km outside of Helsinki last summer. I had no trouble getting settled in in the middle of the fields, horses and all, but this January has tested my nerves a bit. First, I had car trouble. I had bought a 1994 Ford Fiesta as a "temporary" vehicle in July, just so I can get to work. This temporary solution lasted until December when I took my husband's brothers 1995 Ford Escort into use. Being diesel, this one saved me 4 euros every day in fuel expenses. I had already sold the Fiesta when my husband's brother suddenly needs his car back. Great.

I got tired of fixing and changing old cars and decided to choose a brand new car with no trouble at all. Driving some 70 km per day, and considering myself some sort of environmentalist, I felt no other choice but to pick a hybrid car. I have now happily ordered a Toytota Prius which takes four months (!) to deliver. As a temporary loan car, I got a nice WV turbo diesel. Niiice.

The other surprise in January was water damage in the kitchen. The pipes under kitchen sink had leaked, and one morning we found water in the basement. The old houses are insulated with sawdust, so one weekend was spent on ripping out the kitchen floor and scooping out about 15 sacks of wet sawdust. Now, the insurance company's water damage expert says the floor needs to be open for 1-2 months so it dries out well. This means no water or dishwasher in the kitchen at all. Now we're using paperplates and doing disches in the bathroom. Great.

"Just great" Part 3: We got a dog. Surely a country house needs a god. She's a Swedish Elkhound, (jämtlanninkoira) called Ronja, and we've had her for 10 days now. These hunting dogs need a lot of exercise and love to be outdoors, so as a temporary solution we pulled a long wire between two trees, and connected a long leash onto the wire. This gave her 200 sq. meters of space for running and digging. The only problem is, she got loose. She was gone for 3 hours on Friday night when it was pitch black and snowing heavily. We were calling for her in the woods and alerting all dog walking neighbors, but no sign of Ronja. It was excruciating. Finally she came back on her own, and now she stays indoors unless walked on a leash. Next summer we build a Ronja-proof fence around the property.

By the way, did you ever ask for advise from dog owners on an online discussion group? These people are brutal. You cannot ask any question without at least 2-3  replies saying that if you don't know this about your dog you should not own one. Or, the poodle owners trying to enforce their way on the hunting dogs, and vice versa. When we were considering different breeds, I asked what would be a suitable breed for very active outdoor people with no small kids, and a large yard in the countryside. You would think this is an ideal situation for a dog, but I got several answers saying that we should not, under any circumstances, own a dog at all because 1) we don't know enough about dogs if I need ask for advice on web 2) we cannot decide if the dog is an outdoor or indoor dog 3) we don't have the possibility to spend 24 hours a day with the dog because we are working 4) we also have a summer house and it would confuse the dog to be in two different houses from time to time. We got one proposal to get a stuffed animal, and one suggested we take a cat instead. Go figure.