The heating/cooling system is finished Sunday, 16-Jul-23 16:38:50 CEST

Cupboard backpanels finished Sunday, 30-Jul-23 22:42:39 CEST

Sunday, 23-Jul-23 21:54:07 CEST

Cupboard preparations

This week the paint for the cupboard in the hobby room arrived. DW started painting the backsides of the cupboard. For the rest, this was a week when Merida learned how to walk down the stairs.

Monday 17 July

Today I had an opportunity to work from home. The colleagues I collaborate with most were not in the office today, so I could work from home. That was great, actually. I made good progress, and Merida kept an eye on that I kept working and was not getting distracted. DW worked from the office.

	So sweet that the camera can hardly focus properly.

It was not a great feeling that Merida rolled down the stairs. To avoid that, I set up cardboard so that if she starts rolling, the cardboard will stop her from falling. Her skills walking up the stairs improved over the week. We kept carrying her down the stairs. After a while, she came climbing up again.

Tuesday 18 July

Today I kept working from home. Usually, Tuesdays are work-from-home days, so that was nothing special. Today DW also worked from home. Same procedure. In the basket next to me, I had Merida. She kept sleeping most of the time. I have turned the mirrors around so she does not need to be confronted with "that other cat." In the bedroom, the mirror is the door to the cupboard, so she has to deal with it.

I went to the train station to pick up DD in the early evening. She just had to come home to be with Merida.

Wednesday 19 July

Today I worked the first half from home. DW had a day off. Next to me, I had Merida in the basket. Today I finished the enormous project I have been working on since May. It was great to be able to deliver the result.

In the afternoon we went to the dentist. DD came with us. We had a checkup, and all was fine!

Thursday 20 July

This morning we caught a rat alive. It was huge. We let it out in the forest, a safe distance from most houses, especially ours.

I could work from home again. The direct colleagues were elsewhere.

	Sleepy, but want to keep an eye on me.
	You do keep work do you?
	Keep hitting those keys, Jens, while I hang here looking at you.
	Oh I am tired.
	Snoring sound.

 

After work, I looked at the long overdue storm damage to our twisting willow. Since it has been some while since the storm, we can conclude that the damage to the willow branch is substantial, but the leaves of the branch have not gone stale. This branch will not become the main branch of the tree, but it is nice to still have it. I decided to duck-tape the damage.

Here is the image after I duck-taped the branch. I had hoped I could get the branch back in its original position to close the gap, but it started cracking, so I just put it back a little bit and then put tape around it. If this experiment fails, I can just cut off the branch anyway. In a way, the experiment cannot fail; whatever the outcome is, it is okay.

I also weeded a little in the garden at the driveway, which has grown so much that I lost momentum on the weed. The courgette has grown so large leaves that I cannot reach the garden tiles. It is challenging to weed when you cannot walk in the garden.

Friday 21 July

Today it was not possible to work from home. Both DW and I went to the office. DD also came with us. DD said goodbye to Merida. Not for long, though.

I brought the ladies to the train station and went to my office. Merida stayed alone at home. That was the first time.

I had two meetings. Meeting people is also great. I had a productive, concentrated week working from home but seeing colleagues is also great. I am less productive when chatting, but it is part of the deal. Besides, when I help other people, they are more productive.

DS came home from work early and checked how things were going with Merida, and she was fine! She showed DS how she learned how to walk down the stairs! That is a significant milestone; now, she can walk up and down the stairs!

Friday evening, I first went and picked up the paint DW ordered for the cupboard, and then I decided to give neighbors a handful of runner beans. It was great to give away our surplus of beans. We have so many beans right now, and they do not have many runner beans. At least, that was what they told me a couple of days ago.

Saturday 22 July

Today the perpetually sunny weather was over. That is great because there is moisture needed in nature. We had almost one month of no precipitation, which is not good. There are still cracks in the clay of the drought, although there has rained several times. Now it rains more, and although I complained a lot about the sunny weather, it feels unaccustomed. We decided to bike to the grocery shop. I had the feeling it would be beneficial to bring a jacket. So we did, and that was a good decision.

We biked to an alternative grocery store. It is a cooperative. The prices of groceries are higher than in the regular grocery store. It is not so that the alternative store has no palm fat products; that would be too good. It is also not so that they have products with less plastic packaging or no products from far away. Anyway, it is interesting to shop there. I shut off my sense of regular prices and pick the products I think we need. Then we biked home again, and we took a detour around parks. That was nice. On the way home, it started raining, which was less pleasant.

DW started painting the back panels of the cupboard we received on 8 July. We selected the color for the back panels on 15 July. Now she paints the back panels! This cupboard is essential because it is the first step in the decluttering campaign. When it stands, many things currently stored in my office will move to this new cupboard in DWs hobby room and office. Then I can start thinking about how to bring order to things. There are nine back panels on this cupboard.

Sunday 23 July

This morning I decided to drill holes for the next part of the permanent fence. When I came out in the yard, I was greeted by the sheep. They told me they were just about to run out of food. DW and I discussed the options. I could work on a temporary patch for the sheep for a couple of days. That would be much work for little result. It is always essential to regard return on investment! It was not a good idea.

We decided to give hay to the sheep. That way, we can feed them until Wednesday. Also, I figured that the place I wanted to drill holes was the same place where the nets were standing. I gave up on the idea of drilling holes. Besides, we would visit MIL and FIL today, so we did not have much time for drilling anyway. Not only that, I had promised a neighbor that he could borrow the drill. So after much back-and-forth thinking, I packed the drill kit in the car and drove with the stuff to the neighbor. There I explained how the thing works. That was it: no drilling for me today.

At FIL and MIL, we had tea and caught up with the latest developments. A couple of weeks back, on 1 July, we helped them remove their box tree (buxus). BIL had mounted a windshield as a replacement for the box tree. It was a work in progress. We got to remove a couple of more Mullein plants. The Mullein plants we got on 17 September last year are doing fine. Now we got a couple more of these plants. We also got a pokeweed. It is unclear if it is the Asian or North American sort. I rinsed the roots of all these plants to avoid getting weeds. MIL got some really nasty Ground Elder (Zevenblad) that we prefer it stays at her place.

It was nice to meet them. I planted the plants directly when we came home.

Merida greeted us when we came home. She wanted to play, and when done with that, she wanted to sit next to me, purring loudly. This week's blog ends here. From my side, it was not an active week in the house. That is why I am so happy that DW started painting the backsides of the new cupboard. That is also the main achievement of this week.