Started plastering the bedroom hall Sunday, 19-Feb-23 19:58:36 CET

Stayed at our cottage in Sweden Sunday, 05-Mar-23 21:31:26 CET

Sunday, 26-Feb-23 21:13:16 CET

Regular work vs DIY week, holiday from the weekend

We did our regular work and DIY routine at the beginning of the week. During the weekend, we went to our cottage in Sweden.

Monday 20 February, week 8

This was a work-from-office day. DW decided to go by train, but while eating our breakfast, she realized the train she wanted to go with was canceled. Now we could wait for the next train or catch the earlier train. We tried the earlier train. So, suddenly, we were hurrying to get her to the station to catch the earlier train. We skipped a part of the breakfast, did the final packing quickly, and then drove to the station. She got on the train on time. Things like these you can only do if you can work well together and I think we can do that.

Now I was early, and I had anticipated piece and quit while sipping my morning coffee, and slowly, the colleagues would drop in one after another. My computer at work would not start up. I had to arrange a replacement. There went my ideas of peace and quiet morning out of the door.

For the rest, this was a magnificent Monday. Apart from that, I took a bite of a piece of bread at supper, and it hurt. No idea why but it wasn't enjoyable.

In the evening, I worked on my next song. It was funny because I wanted the song to become an earworm and got this stuck in my brain. I think I was humming this song in my sleep. The result was I was not sleeping that well, actually.

But Jens, did you not say at the end of the last blog that you would take a break from blogging to celebrate the 200^th weekly blog post? Yes, that is what I said, but I was not honest with you. I just wanted to wait to publish the blog post until after the holidays. We are going on holiday this weekend, and I will blog as usual.

Tuesday 21 February

I still had a sore feeling in my chaw this morning. It was a work-from-home day, so I worked from home but was unhappy with the chaw. I kept thinking it was actually a little bit warm as well.

After lunch, I called the dentist and got an appointment later in the afternoon. The dentist could not find any problem.

Wednesday 22 February

As usual, I worked from home for the first part of the day. After lunch, I started plastering the bedroom hall. I did two buckets of MP75 mud. When mixing the first bucket, I rechecked the recipe again to see if I had used the right amount of all ingredients. To my surprise, I had the same experience. I concluded the current bag has a drier MP75 than the previous bags. It is not a big problem because I can add more water, but I would like the recipe to be correct. I did not record how much extra water I used, so I could not adjust the recipe.

I plastered extra wide scrim tape to the top of the wall. Unlike I usually do, I plastered both sides at the same time, but it worked out well.

For the next bucket, I added one extra cup of water, which was good; I now know how to adjust the recipe.

Now I filled up around the metal corners of the opening and around the window. I still need to do the other side of the corners, but I will do that again when the first part is cured. I learned that doing a corner outer or inner is more manageable when doing one side first.

I enjoyed plastering the walls today. I have to do a couple of corners, and then I am finished with the coarse mud.

Thursday 23 February

Today I had an appointment at the tire shop. They changed the tires of the car. Now we are ready to drive north on Saturday. The old winter tires were to warn out they could still be used as summer tires, but I decided to buy new ones. DW and I drove to the city center, she took the train to her work, and I continued to the tire shop. I left the car at the shop and then walked to work.

This tire shop was really tidy! At this moment, I had no idea that I would see another tire shop from the inside one week later, but that shop was a little more chaotic.

I asked them to put the old tires in the car's trunk. We will try to use the tires in our garden this season. The idea is simple: Put a tire on the ground, fill it with soil, and plant two or three potatoes. The potatoes start growing; when they grow far enough, you put another tire on the first. Fill also that tire with soil around the potato plant. Then when the potato grew far enough, you repeat the procedure. We got three tires now to try with.

Friday 24 February

This was the last working day before the holiday. The computer I arranged on Monday did not start anymore. A colleague and I looked at the problem and arranged another solution. I finished the tasks I had on my planning, so that felt great. I'm not too fond of going on holiday, feeling I did not finish my tasks.

DS was going with us and wanted to treat us to pancakes while driving. He made an impressive stack of pancakes. Then he filled them with cheese and other fillings.

After work, we packed our luggage and prepared the car for the journey.

Saturday 25 February

Today we went to Sweden. DW started driving, as we usually do. She drove from Almere to Groningen. In Germany, we switched, so then I drove.

In the beginning, it was four degrees Celsius. Gradually the temperature decreased.

We arrived at the ferry around noon, just missing the ferry with a couple of seconds. Then we were not let on board the next ferry either. It was the first time this had happened to us. At the ferry station, it was three degrees celsius and windy.

Eventually, we got on the boat, and the journey could continue.

Occasionally, throughout the day, we ate a pancake when we were hungry, and they were delicious.

DW took over the steering wheel when we arrived in Denmark and drove us to Sweden via the Öresundsbridge. Directly after the bridge, we Switched again. Now the temperature was two degrees Celsius. We went to a shopping mall, Emporia, and bought a hat for me and starter cables. They might come in handy if a car battery is dead.

We filled up E10 at a gas station as well. It was getting dark. In Helsingborg, I took the wrong exit to A4, so we drove into the city instead of driving to Stockholm. That was slightly confusing, but we drove to the entrance of A4, leading us to Stockholm. It was getting dark.

At Värnamo, we stopped at CityGross to buy groceries. It was now minus four degrees Celsius. There was a thin layer of snow lying on the ground.

We arrived one and a half hours later than usual. This had to do with the missed boat. It was pitch dark when we arrived. DS took a photo of the tire tracks when we arrived at the cottage. We ate the rest of the food we had brought with us. The pancakes were finished earlier, so we had other bread as well. Then we went to bed.

 

Sunday 26 February 2023

It was a beautiful morning! The sun had warmed the roof so that ice formed, and this was slowly gliding down. It looked special. DW took a foto, but I also wanted a foto of this.

After breakfast, we had a walk around the property. On the north side, all was fine. We could see one rabbit and one red deer on our walk.

Then we walked along the road and Jens stig to the creek. I was glad to see that other people had also been walking there. Jens bridge was still okay. After the bridge, we walked along the creek, over the municipal road to the south side of our property. There we found that trees had fallen. A lot of trees, perhaps 20 trees.

We decided to dedicate this holiday to bringing those trees to the cottage so that they can be cut into firewood.

Thus so said, so done. We went out into the forest and started to prepare the timber.

 

I cut the trees into five-meter pieces, and we finished preparing about eleven pieces this afternoon.

We went to DF and DM and ate supper after the tree-cutting. They were happy to see us. We had much to discuss and catch up with the latest developments. They were doing fine.

It was late when we came back to the cottage.

This week marks the 200^th contiguous blog post. I use the spelling checker Grammarly, and they tell me I succeeded in writing consistently for 200 weeks in a row. With that, I earned the badge of Bicentennial Boss! From here, there is just one way to go: Forward!

This ends this week's blog post. See you next week!