Tractor usage Sunday, 30-Apr-23 22:18:12 CEST

Started preparing for the tiny house Sunday, 14-May-23 21:37:37 CEST

Sunday, 07-May-23 22:17:15 CEST

Worked from the cottage

This week we worked from the cottage.

Monday 1 May 2023

The holiday is over, but we are still at the cottage. It gives a feeling of both everyday work and holiday simultaneously. Obviously, there is less blog content to write about, but that is not bad either; we were so busy last week that it was almost challenging to keep up with writing the blog.

That we don't have any holiday does not mean we do not see exciting things from the cottage windows. I took this photo from the kitchen window while we were eating breakfast. It is a Redstart bird (Phoenicurus phoenicurus). I cannot recall seeing it here before, so this stay at the cottage, we can put foxes and Redstart birds on the list of rare things.

That we have seen Roe deer makes me happy because I was afraid they were pushed away by Red deer in this area. Two Roe deers inspected our road in the evening when it was almost dark. I think they were a little surprised by the new top layer of the road.

One funny thing about this day is that it is a public holiday in Sweden but not the Netherlands. Here I was working, a Swedish person in Sweden logged in to a server in the Netherlands.

We took the time to take a lunch walk in the neighborhood. We went to Jens Bridge and back via the main road and Roads 1 and 2.

Tuesday 2 May

I was pleased with my office setup in the cottage. I even had a UTP cable. I could work very well at this spot. From my place, I could see some birds flying to and from the house, and I recalled that a lid had come off one of the house's chimneys. Could it be that the birds were building a nest in a chimney? I left this question as an exercise for another day.

We had a lunch walk again. This time we went north, and we came across a Roe deer that got scared by us coming walking and talking in the forest.

After work, I cut up more pieces of the logs. That felt like a pure bonus for me.

Wednesday 3 May

Today I worked half of the day from the cottage, and then in my free time after lunch, I did DIY at the cottage. We got two chimneys in the house. One chimney is not in use because it serves a woodstove that is out of order. One day we will have that woodstove restored, but not today. That chimney had a little lid that had come off perhaps already a year ago.

I had seen birds flying back and forth to the roof while working in the house. I was afraid birds were building a nest in the vacant chimney. So I climbed the roof and got to the chimney, and fastened a net of the chimney. I did not put the lid back because that was a dodgy construction. It would just sit there catching wind and then fly off the roof again in the next storm. If there is a lid, it has to be robust.

The next task was the television antenna. A free set of senders in Sweden can be received via an antenna. A digital decoder is required for the signal, but that is all. Most modern TV sets got that decoder already, but we bought the TV second-hand to get an extra decoder. I set up the antenna on 3 August 2022. Somehow the antenna had started sagging; it is a mystery to me how that could happen. I looked at the photo from last year, and I can see it was sagging already then. This time I got access to the antenna from the roof. I got the antenna adequately mounted, but it was not easy. When trying the receiver, I discovered someone had connected the coax cable to the TV. That will not work because the TV cannot decode that signal.

Next, I sanded the last couple of edges and gave the porch ornament the first primer layer.

I also did a small repair job on one of our garden benches. The horizontal bar at the bottom was broken. It is there so our lawn mover robot will not get entangled under the bench. The plank got one layer of primer, and when I was done with the ornament, I gave the plank a first layer of paint.

With that, I was done for today. My right arm was a little sore from the job fixing the antenna. I was lying on the top of the roof, stretching out to the antenna. I will probably feel that for a couple of days.

Thursday 4 May

Today I worked from the cottage the whole day. We took a lunch walk along Road 3, crossed the main road, and went into the forest along a path going to a more minor road. We noticed trees in the forest had been cut here and there. I don't know who owns this part.

There was a bird's nest in a tree along our road. It was so tiny. It was even smaller at the beginning of the holiday, so the bird is working on it.

We walked the minor road in the forest back to the main road and arrived back at the main road further north. So then we walked back to road 3, towards our cottage. There came a group of Roe deers crossing our road. They are a little annoyed to have us here on their land. That is how it feels; we own this formally according to common ownership laws, but the real owners are the animals living here, finding a place where they are free from hunters.

DW had a meeting, so we held a good pace. I also had a meeting, but I had forgotten about it since DWs meeting started simultaneously. I also came on time. You have to have luck sometimes as well.

I put another primer layer on the porch ornament in the evening after work.

Friday 5 May

Today DW had a day off, but I had a regular day working from the cottage. Before work, while eating breakfast, The Redstart bird (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) returned to sit in the apple tree for a very short photo shoot.

At lunchtime, we had another model that also wanted to try a short photo shoot. This was a European pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca). Pied means having two different colors.

Here is a YouTube video in Swedish about the Redstart and the Pied Flycatcher.

Having two distinguished guests like these on the same day is honorable. The apple trees are not productive for the rest, but they serve very well for extremely short photoshoots from behind the kitchen window. The photos would be better if I could clean the windows more often. That is something I need to improve.

Saturday 6 May

Today it was five years ago that we started talking about building a house in the Netherlands. Time flies when you are having fun.

Here is the development of the split wood stack during our holiday.

	23 April
	24 April
	25 April
	27 April
	28 April
	30 April
	3 May
	6 May

On Saturday, we mainly packed and cleaned the house. Made sure we had all the stuff with us as intended.

I was pleased to find the manual for the vertical tiller machine. It can come in handy when I renovate this machine.

Sunday 7 May

Today we woke up really early. Here is a slideshow with the main events throughout the day.

	04:45, You can barely see it, but a roe deer is on our road. Bye-bye, cottage.
	07:10, We switched drivers in Borgeby in Sweden. I could rest, and DW took over the wheel.
	09:07, DW drove onto the ferry at Rödby Hamn.
	It was calm on the sea.
	09:58, I drove off the ferry at Puttgarden.
	13:32, We crossed the border with the Netherlands at Poort of Groningen. Here we had a cup of coffee, and DW took over the wheel.
	16:20, we came home!

 

I even had the geist start sowing seeds in pots in the evening!

That concludes this week's blog.