Grand birthday party Sunday, 18-Jun-23 21:55:55 CEST

I got the DJ controller Sunday, 02-Jul-23 19:40:07 CEST

Sunday, 25-Jun-23 18:16:28 CEST

Tiny house installation was finished

This week we could select a kitten. It rained for the first time in a long time, and the tiny house installation was finished.

Monday 19 June

Today we both went to the office. During the lunch break, I bought a Hibiscus plant! It will be large, and it will get pink flowers. I thought it would be nice to have it in the flower garden.

In the evening, we went out in the garden and collected strawberries for dessert.

After picking strawberries, we talked about our mice and rat situation. Several beetroots have already been munched on in the vegetable garden. It happened last year as well, but much later in the season. Tonight we decided it was time for a cat. We got friends who know friends with kittens. Tonight we contacted the kittens' owner and asked if it was possible to get a kitten.

Tuesday 20 June

Today I worked from home while DW went to her office.

This evening it rained for the first time in many, many weeks. It rained so long ago that I cannot tell when that was. It does not help that I don't make a record of the rain as I did in earlier summer seasons. Perhaps it is about time to set up the new rain gauge.

There was also strong wind; the wine grape came down. I had to fasten it with new strings. Not many branches were broken, so I think it will be fine.

The kittens' owner replied that they are now 6 weeks old and that the cat can leave the nest at 9 weeks.

Wednesday 21 June

This morning it was beautiful weather again. We picked more strawberries for the smoothie and for the freezer.

I also discovered the first squash flower! That is an essential milestone in the season. I got squash flowers before DW this year. She was much earlier with runner bean flowers, so she is still ahead of me.

I worked from home in the morning, working for my employer at home. I worked at home in the afternoon, doing things for myself. With the help of the brushcutter with the trimmer head, I removed thistles on our property along the dirt road. This worked very well, and I am so happy about that because it is the plan for this season to take control over the thistles. When I cut along the road, the battery was exhausted, and I had to stop. Last year we did not have any plan. We spent a lot of energy trying to solve the thistle situation after it had grown over our heads.

This year we, or rather I, cut the thistles before they get too high and strong. I also cut reed growing along the road. I do hope the reed will not like being cut all the time.

I installed the water gauge this afternoon! The runner beans reached the top of the bean scaffold, and we thought it might be an excellent idea to make a runner bean cave™. No, it is not an actual trademark; that trademark is just a joke on my behalf.

After dinner came our electrician. He finished the job with the tiny house; set up a proper water-tight connection box for the three-phase connection. He also installed a meter for electricity and another for water.

 

He had forgotten about the rainwater connection. No worries, it is not raining that much anyway. Or is it?

Thursday 22 June

In the morning, we picked strawberries again! They are not that big, but that does not matter; they are ours.

Today I worked from the office, and DW worked from home.

It rained today, and I collected a sample in the rain gauge, 4 millimeters. I created an Excel sheet in other years and noted the amounts, but that old rain gauge broke last autumn. Then the climate broke this season. I am a bit clueless about when it rained for the last time.

I found a diagram of the rain here in this area.

The blue is the amount of rain in millimeters. February was dry, and March was okay. From April it has rained very little and in June it stopped entirely. I got this diagram from Meteoblue.com.

I was thinking about the party last weekend. Today I brought back the DJ controller table to the colleague. I felt sad to return it because I had so much fun with it. It had been nice to have such a controller myself. I checked out what controllers there are and what they can do. Around a thousand euro, the controllers are excellent. I figured I didn't want a controller in that price range but one slightly cheaper. It is possible to get cheaper controllers, but they are not from Pioneer, and I figured out I would like one from Pioneer. Also, I want to have one with Rekordbox performance mode unlocked by the controller. There is software for DJ maintenance and performance called Rekordbox. Some DJ controllers have a license for that software built into the controller. That seemed like a clever solution. I wanted to have colored cue buttons, but that was too expensive. Secondly, I had really liked to have a stand-alone controller, but that was also not possible in the price range I was interested in.

All this information had to sink in for another day.

How about the kittens? Well, I asked if we could come and look at the kittens. We will see how that goes.

Friday 23 June

We both worked from the office today.

After work, I had a look again at different DJ controllers. When all pros and cons were sorted, I decided on a secondhand Pioneer DJ DDJ-FLX6-GT 4-channel DJ controller. I ordered it, and it will arrive next week. It has four channels! The jog wheels are larger, indicating that the music is "spinning," which I like.

We also had contact with the kittens' owner, and we will go to her place on Saturday.

This evening, the plumber came by and finalized the installation of the tiny house. He installed the rainwater pipe. With this, all the installations were finished for this time!

I made dinner this evening, the classic broccoli curry. I was cooking when the plumber arrived, so I turned off the stove. He also got back the scaffold that we borrowed from him. He also borrowed the gypsum plate elevator. I hope he will keep the elevator long so I don't need to store it here.

When he left, I restarted the dinner, and it tasted good. It was late, though. We invited DS to eat with us. That was nice.

Saturday 24 June

This morning we went to the farmers market. We had coffee at the market under the apple trees. It was nice! We came to drink coffee beside an older couple living in the same area. When we finished the coffee, the man knew our names, but I did not know the man's name. That was strange.

We were not that quick and efficient, and after the market, we went to the grocery store. I bought seeds for salad and for kohl-rabi.

In the afternoon, we went to look at cats. Two cats were left, one calm red cat and one lively cat. We decided on the calm red cat. I don't see myself enjoying a cat with ADHD, so that was not an option.

When we came home, it started to be really warm. I don't enjoy too hot weather. When it was less hot, I went outside and sowed the seeds for salad and kohl-rabi. I hope this is going to be a success. I also sowed mangold. I also want to sow kohl-rabi in the garden at the driveway, but that is perhaps for tomorrow.

DW moved some cabbage plants from the second salad bed to the front garden. I prepared a new area for the sheep. I set up the nets so the sheep could graze along the southwest side of our property outside the dyke. We have a couple of willows outside the permanent net. The first time the sheep grazed there, they had not discovered the willows. The last time they found the willows and caused carnage on the trees. I mounted protection on the trees using nets around the trunk.

This new area had a lot of dandelions. I think that the watering of the grass by the neighbor has made the vegetables in the area between the properties prosper.

 

Sunday 25 June

This morning I was thinking about what we will call the cat. It became "Merida." I do think I will like this cat a lot.

It did not appear that the sheep were eager to graze the new area. They kept grazing in the old area.

Today it was hot. The weather forecast said it would be 31 degrees Celsius, but we measured 34 degrees.

In the morning, we arranged the net over the new cabbage bed in the front garden. Transplanting plants is always a risky operation. The plants looked like they were not that happy. They got plenty of water and love from us, and I hope it will make them survive the move.

DS decided to make a massive stack of pancakes for several upcoming meals. Perhaps baking pancakes would not be the activity I would do if it was as hot as today, but he is doing fine.

So what is there for me to do when it is as hot? I decided to clean the workshop a little. We cannot have the tiller machine in the workshop when the cat comes because it is standing in a bucket and leaking oil a little bit. I could, of course, make sure the cat cannot reach that oil and keep the machine there; we will see how that goes.

Today I discovered we had beautiful mallow plants flowering at the water pond. One pink mallow and one white mallow. The first plant we migrated to the new property was the pink mallow on 17 May 2020. On 18 June 2022, we moved the white mallow to the new house. I would be delighted if the mallow appeared in the flower garden beside the road, but the flower garden at the water pond is also acceptable.

Here ends this week. I do hope it is a little less warm next week.