Removing polystyrene Sunday, 23-Jun-24 20:06:09 CEST

I started to hang up plates on the south wall Sunday, 07-Jul-24 22:11:53 CEST

Sunday, 30-Jun-24 20:08:40 CEST

DD got her degree

DD received her engineering degree this week at the University of Architecture in Delft.

Monday 24 June

Today, I worked from home. It was getting warmer, but I had a window open, so I was okay. DW was cooking in the kitchen and preparing for the festivity tomorrow. It was slightly torturing to smell the excellent food being prepared while working.

She made apple cakes, leek cheese quiches, and spinach cheese pies.

In the evening, I finished last week's blog. I was so busy on Sunday evening that I had no energy to upload the blog.

Tuesday 25 June

Today, I had a day off. We started by moving the sheep area along the north and west side of the property inside the dyke. It opened up in front of the vegetable garden. This way, they can go to the rain roof while grazing on the other side of the house. We had a lot to do with the nets. One net along the dyke, another forming a corridor along the dyke. A third is to enclose the area around the rain roof. The chicken net and the fourth regular net could be stored.

Then, it was time to cut my hair. DW made a regular haircut. I don't think she can do many different hairstyles, but the one she can do is excellent for me.

We went and bought flowers for DD for when she finished her exam. We had to arrange a bucket for the flowers. I had not anticipated that. We could put a bucket of water in the car, which went fine.

Then we packed all the food and went to Delft, where DD studies. We arrived on time and enjoyed the presentation of the DDs project.

	The architecture studies palace in Delft
	Maquette of DDs project.
	Friends to DD started to gather. Then, DD started giving the presentation.
	Presentation finished. Teachers deliberated about the final score.
	She made it! A beautiful speech is held to DD.
	DD signs the exam.
	DD signs the exam from another angle.
	Congratulations begin.
	People ask questions, hugs. Flowers are given.

Here, I went to pick up the car together with DW. We had it parked in a chilled garage 15 minutes away. DD loaded the maquette in our car so we could bring it to her place. She went by bike.

DD had a party to celebrate the finished study. She is now an engineer! I went to buy a cake. I went to the bakery through the city's historic center.

Delft is magnificent. It is also chaotic to drive through by car.

She got a Delfts blue cake. It was delicious. We had apple cake as well. Then we started eating the other food. At that moment, the Netherlands played against Austria. We started toasting DD's achievement when the score was 2 - 2. Before the toast was finished, the Netherlands had lost by 2 – 3.

Then we went home. Happy parents: She did it! The party continued. It was a beautiful evening.

Wednesday 26 June

Today, I worked from home. It was hot, but our cooling was working great. Cooling in the floors is brilliant when the nights are still colder than the day. We can program our ventilation system to exchange the heat during the night. It does not work when the night is hot. We must install a secondary system to cool the incoming air for that occasion. That has not been needed until now. We know that we are at the beginning of a runaway climate catastrophe, so we will have to install that secondary cooling system in the future.

After lunch, I went to the hardware store to get the clamps for the rodent protection project for the ventilation of the foundation. I thought we had six openings. That was not true. We had eight. I also bought polyethylene foam.

When I came home, I went to work in the heat. I put on the clamps with a net around the ventilation pipes. I discovered that I missed two openings. I ran out of foam. Partly because I applied too much of the stuff. I think it is better to use too much rather than too little. The foam tightens the foundation. We even had openings all the way into the living room. That isn't very pleasant. Those openings are now removed.

Thursday 27 June

On the way to the office, I went to the hardware store. I picked up more foam bottles and two more clamps. Then I went to the old office for the last time. Next time I go to the new office. Until the move is finished, I will be working from home. It is slightly unclear how long time the move will take.

We walked from the old office to the new one in the afternoon. It was a lovely building. I think it will be fine. The new office's view is better than the old one, which I like.

In the evening, I transplanted the remaining beetroot seedlings into new pots. That is correct; I did not just shuffle them into the ground outside, wishing them good luck. I spent so much energy on bringing up plants eaten by slugs. Last year, I had around a 50% loss, and I thought that wasn't good. This year, I have lost all beetroot but one or two. That is about a 98% loss. After the second round, I planted into the raised bed and lost beetroot plants again. The loss percentage is lower, but I had a slug a few days ago taking out one beetroot.

So here I am with the last four beetroot seedlings. I transplanted them to new pots. I will take them out a few hours daily so they can get used to living outside. They will get platinum treatment. We will see how that works out.

I did not work on the foundation this evening.

Friday 28 June

Today, I worked from home. DW had her sabattical. It was not that hot today.

After work, I mounted the two remaining ventilation clamps. I also adjusted the straps holding our water, electricity, and internet pipes. I had to install these straps to get the installation approved. On 5 November 2020, we had polystyrene around the foundation. Now, I removed that polystyrene and then put the straps back, such as the plates can cover the straps.

While working on the straps, I was helped by three coworkers: Hannah, Bea, and Selma. They know I give them snacks while weeding the garden, so perhaps I had something for them, but that was not the case. They already figured out that polystyrene is not that delicious.

This evening, it is six weeks without an epileptic seizure. Last time, we were on our way to Sweden. DS texted us about the seizures. At that moment, we were driving through Germany. Later, we stopped at a hotel and talked to DS about the situation. We had stopped in a parking lot in the city where the hotel was. It was a little sad. DS cleaned up the places where she had her seizures.

The sky was unique this evening.

Saturday 29 June

Today was DD's birthday. She is now 26 years old. We made two tours today, and both times, we went to a second-hand shop for fun. I managed to make only one foto today. That is amazing.

First, we went to a garden and animal shop to buy more food for Merida and bentonite for the litterbox. We picked up seeds we can sow in early July: Beetroot, carrots, cutting celery, and black radish.

After the plant and animal shop, we went to the second-hand shop, where we found several glass containers with lids. We decided to reduce our amount of plastic, so we have been looking for porcelain and glass containers and found some good ones here.

At home, I painted the ends of the façade planks around the house. It is better to do that before putting up the plates. If I were to do it after, the plates would have to be covered because it is challenging not to drip when painting upside down. That was what I did on the foundation project today.

Next up, I wanted to get screws to fasten the plates. This time, we went to the hardware store near the upcycling center. I had hoped for screws with flat heads, but there were only really huge screws of that sort. Then, I had hoped for stainless steel rings, but only nickel rings existed. Oh well, it became regular recessed stainless steel screws, 80 millimeters long, with a Torx head.

We also brought the small trailer filled with polystyrene garbage. It was nice to get rid of all that stuff.

I found a sturdy vise at the second-hand shop that I liked a lot. We found glass pots with rubber-sealed lids.

DW harvested onions, so she got one bed cleared and wanted to try beetroot again. She also had a bed where she sowed flowers that did not sprout so I could remove the weed from the bed and sow in again. I had never heard of black radish before. It will be interesting to see how that goes. This bed only has one single line of watering pipe. I do wonder if that is sufficient.

I sowed in more beetroot behind the sea container. I have no idea how that will pan out. I have some courgettes and pumpkins growing there, and if they become spacious, then the beetroot will have a hard time beside slugs. We will see. I started spreading slug grit outside the garden around the sea container. I also do surveillance in the evening, actively removing slugs. I do hope that it helps.

Sunday 30 June

DW bought basil in a pot two weeks ago and used some for cooking. Then, the next day, I divided the basil into these pots. When dividing it over several pots, it is much easier to keep the basil growing. Last year, I had some in the garden, but I will not do that this year. It is easier to grow basil indoors in pots.

This morning, I decided to mount the foundation's first plate. It was heavier and more challenging than anticipated. I made a groove that the plate could get sunk into, and then it was a question of lifting it to the correct height. The photo looks brilliant because the corner is behind the pole of the sheep fence. I will need to remove the plate again and make adjustments so that the corner looks nice. It will be some work to do. I only had time in the morning to work on this.

We went to the PILs in the afternoon, and DS came with us. We helped in the MILs garden. DS plucked weed, and DW cleared the roof of a well from ivy. I pruned the fence from ivy to make it a little neater. We also had tea and snacks and chatted about the family's whereabouts.

On the way home, we took a detour. I drove to the west shore of Markermeer near Hoorn, and then we drove along the water to Enkhuisen. It was a charming route.

It was not busy at all this Sunday afternoon. That was lucky for us because it was tricky when cars were from the other direction. I had to stop at a meeting point each time to let cars through. I think it is lovely to bike this road if you have the wind with you. On the other side of Markermeer, we went to the national safari park, Oostvaardersplassen. I hoped to see Przewalkihorses like we did last time, but that did not happen. I had my Nikon camera with the tele lens this time, but that was unnecessary.

Here ends this week's blog. The most important milestone this week was that DD received her engineering degree from the University of Architecture in Delft.