A reload even of the latest one fixed it. Maybe he just didn't want me help furnishing the house while he was still in bed trying to sleep

I seem to have a problem sometimes loosing my followers though. First that elf from Riverdale and then Lydia( had to lload an older save to get her back. Where can I get that elf back again since I want a ranged follower? And if I lose Lydia, how do I get her back?

Oh and I play on PC. The only thing I really don't like with this game, that they didn't make an UI that is good for PC, but just got on with the crappy one they are forced to use on consoles.

I still haven't figured out how to do that part. I made loads of gold on bounty quests and selling potions, but all the ore I got is from either stealing or finding. Anyone have a picture of how it looks like? And where can I buy a pickaxe?

Apart from an ancient Nord one, I have never brought a pickaxe, you just pick them up raiding. Visit any mine and they should have plenty to spare, just be careful not to steal one. The ore veins are just differently coloured rock, you go up to anything that can be mined the prompt will come up. Again just investigating a mine will be informative, although I never checked out the mines when I first played till much later. And I had already mined half of Skyrim by then.