Watering system for the garden Sunday, 28-May-23 21:05:35 CEST

We got the tiny house Sunday, 11-Jun-23 22:07:18 CEST

Sunday, 04-Jun-23 22:00:48 CEST

Finished painting the north hall

This week DW finished painting the north hall of the ground floor, and the sheep got sheared. I started practicing on DJ gear to prepare for a party for DD. We got our tiles for the house, and I finished preparing for the plumber.

Monday 29 May

Today we had another compulsory holiday. This is the last day of the easter cycle of holidays. We celebrated the founding of the business selling delegation of accountability. I did not celebrate this because it is sad that one can make money by giving away their accountability. Today, when humanity is more than ever responsible for atrocities that we should be held accountable for, it is immoral when a company gives out forgiveness for money.

We ordered tiles for the tiny house today. They were 60 x 60 x 6 centimeters (about 23 x 23 x 2 1/3 inches). The tiny house will be supported by these tiles, and they need to be this sturdy because each tile will hold 400 kilos (881 lbs). We ordered the tiles online, and it felt really clever to do so. There was no hassle for us; the things would arrive, and all would be fine. Obviously, we would not hear anything from them on a compulsory holiday, but that I could understand. We got a bunch of automated emails, though.

Today DW painted the north hall on the ground floor! This marks the end of a project we started on 14 December 2022. It means it took 166 days. This project also includes work on the first floor's bedroom hall, which is unfinished. A small wall still needs to be painted here. But nevertheless, this is a considerable achievement. We removed the protective paper and could enjoy the floor as it was supposed to be.

Tuesday 30 May

Today we worked from the office, both me and DW. It was actually peculiar how that came to happen. Regularly Tuesdays are supposed to be both our work-from-home days, but today I had agreed with a colleague I would borrow his DJ turn table. DW was supposed to work from home until she discovered a colleague had booked a room for a workshop at her work. At the same time, my colleague told me he would not be in the office this day. So DW was expected at work, and I could work from home, but I decided to go to my work anyway. It was a little more convenient for DW's commute.

The rest of the day was not that confusing. I worked, and DW worked. In the evening, we experimented with the watering system. One hour of watering consumes 527 liters of water. It is not realistic that we use that much water every evening. A thousand liters cost us about one euro, which is not an economic problem. It is just that we are aware of the future water scarcity. On the other hand, if we pay for it, we can do whatever we want with it?

I wondered if we would hear anything from the tiles company?

Wednesday 31 May

Today I worked from home, and DW was having a day off. After lunch, I was also free. At 5 PM, the sheep shearer came to us. We had connected an extension cord to our outdoor outlet. The sheep were collected into a small area so that he would not need to run around to get hold of the sheep. All was prepared.

The sheep shearer came, had a little wood box with his tools, and took out a sheer tool. Connected it to the extension cord. Nothing happened!

We tried another extension cord. We went inside and had the sheer tool connected to an outlet that first worked fine with our vacuum cleaner but not with the sheer tool. So strange. I was plugging and unplugging, and the sheep Sherer was standing behind me when the central fuse box disengaged with a bit of pop sound. I turned around, and the man stood there with the cord in one hand and the machine in the other. He said, "We found the problem."

He reconnected the cord to the sheer machine, and I engaged the central fuse. Then the real work could start. Our sheep were a little afraid for this man. That is no wonder.

The whole operation was over in no time. Last year it took the entire evening. On the other hand, this was a really experienced sheep shepherd. When the sherer left, something happened we had not experienced before. Our sheep did not recognize each other! They wanted to be back in their herd, but their sisters were nowhere to be found. Well, they were right there but not according to our sheep. They bleated the whole evening. Not until it was dark they stopped bleating. It was not that nice.

DW packed her bags to prepare for going to Brussels for a conference. I prepared songs I wanted to use when I was going to DJ.

We were too busy to remember to think about the tiles we ordered on Monday.

Thursday 1 June

This morning we were really early. DW had to catch an early Thalys train to Brussels. I went to the office, and there I was the first.

Because I was really early, I could also leave early, and the shops were still open; I went to the hardware store to buy trimmer lines. With the new thistle regime, cutting thistles before they grow too tall is vital. Now that we are setting up permanent fencing, using the triangular cutting knife head on the brush cutter is impossible. The knife shatters the metal of the permanent fence. Open spaces further away from the fencing are still okay with the cutting knife, but it is not a good idea near that fence.

I learned that if you put the cutting line in a bucket of water and let it stay there for a while, it becomes less brittle. I put the new roll of trimmer line in a bucket of water.

It was a bit empty without DW at home. I made Chili cin carne for dinner, and DS and I ate it together.

I have been preparing a DJ set I will play at DDs birthday party. Tonight I finished the first batch of songs for the set. I ripped the songs and made a Python program injecting metadata into the song files. I got this working on the first 90 songs tonight.

Then I downloaded and installed Rekordbox and started playing with it. It was great fun.

I got to bed really late this evening.

The entire day I had no single thought about tiles.

Friday 2 June

Today I did the regular morning routine but without DW. She had a luxurious breakfast at her hotel. I had to do with smoothie and musli. Not bad at all.

At work today, a colleague with the DJ gear came with his controller that I could borrow. We also set it up at work and had a go at it. Some younger colleagues got interested in what we were doing, and I explained I was going to DJ at DD's birthday party. Then I got a comment that warmed my heart "I wish I had such a cool dad."

After work, I got home. I bought pizza on the way, which was unnecessary because DS had been cooking! We had spring rolls for dinner. Such a nice gesture.

He also prepared a dessert for us. Strawberries and bananas with whipped cream!

After the dinner, I set up the DJ gear and started practicing. It went really well. I found the basic operations, such as syncing the beats and tonal sorts and mixing over from one track to another.

I watched YouTube videos with tips and tricks for what one should do. It was great fun!

I went to the train station in the evening to bring DW home. Her trip to Brussels had been perfect. She learned a lot and made good contacts with people in her business.

We were busy, and the tiles were long forgotten.

Saturday 3 June

Today we moved the sheep to a new area. It is still on the south side of the property. We put up a temporary net between the vegetable garden and the west side of the property to the dyke. Our sheep do a slightly better job when they get a smaller area. With a more extensive area, they first eat the things they like, then use the other parts for pooping, then get bored of the area and upset they cannot get any good grass from us. With the permanent fencing, making smaller areas and moving them quicker is much easier.

We don't have any shelters at the new place, so we moved one of the "portable" shelters from their winter place. They did not like the shelter and ignored it entirely. Perhaps this will change, and they will discover it later. Our sheep are sweet, but they can also be stupidly stubborn.

The next big thing was the tiles. On Monday, we ordered tiles with the idea that we would have them on time. Next week on Thursday the house arrives and then the tiles need to be there. I checked the fine print of the tiles company, and after carefully studying their texts, I could still not figure out if I had to call them to book a time for when the tiles would arrive or if they would call me? It was clear that after the contact was established, our order would be planned into a driving route, and it just so depended on what other customers had ordered and where and the optimal route for the goods. It was impossible to figure out beforehand when the tiles would be delivered.

I regretted ordering tiles online.

Here was real old-fashioned action required. I would not sit and wait for something that would not happen. After moving the sheep, we connected the small trailer to the car and drove to the recycling center. The trailer had protective paper and other garbage. We got that away and drove to the first tiles shop. It did not have anything in stock. We drove to the second tile shop, where they had smaller tiles, but we wanted the correct kind of tiles, so we drove to the third tile shop.

There they had the tiles we were looking for!

The tiles we brought home were cheaper than the ones we ordered online. On Monday, I will try to cancel the order of the tiles.

Sunday 4 June

I discovered that the first train machinist pea had come up from the vegetable garden along the driveway. It is the first thing I noticed coming up in this garden. I have great hopes for a successful garden season. It is still chill and scorched, although our watering system works well.

I started digging for the preparations of the tiny house. The plumber is coming tomorrow. He expects the digging to be finished when he starts working. I found a thistle working its way up through a crack in the clay.

We had an in-depth discussion about where the house will be placed. Ultimately, we decided to put it near the halophyte filter and the water pond. That way, we have more space for grazing sheep in front of the house. We still need to figure out where the fence will be, but that is a problem for later.

With this action, I finished preparing for the plumber tomorrow.

It has been a busy week: The north hall of the ground floor was finished! The sheep got sheared. I started DJing. We bought tiles for the tiny house, and I prepared for the plumber. I think that the north hall's finished paint job is the most important achievement.