Moved the rain roof Sunday, 13-Oct-24 22:21:42 CEST

Finished the compost Sunday, 27-Oct-24 19:52:55 CET

Sunday, 20-Oct-24 21:44:34 CEST

Finished the rain roof

I finished the rain roof this week and started building the new compost. These are all preparations for building the shed.

Monday 14 October

Outside, it's 7°C, and inside it is 21°C at 6:58 AM. It is really dark outside. I had a tough night with pain in my neck, shoulders, knees, and legs. I suppose it was from the work I did yesterday. I think my body took a bit of beating yesterday. DW is going to the office today, but I work from home. First, we are going to make the regular smoothie.

I continued to work on the algorithm. I made a cup of coffee. At 9:45 AM, Merida wanted to be let out. Actually, she did not ask for it. She was sitting behind the indoor scaffold in the hallway. I went to the living room door and asked her: do you want to go outside, Merida? She came with hopping movements towards me, her tail high and shaped in a curl. That means yes, I really want to go outside! So I opened the door. It was chilly and windy outside, so she was hesitant, but I kept the door open, and after a while, she dared to go outside. I kept the door open and closed it really slowly and silently. So now she's outside, and I think she's happy. She usually sleeps the entire day, so it is good that she gets some exercise.

As the day progressed, Merida was outside a couple of times.

I had a good day. The last puzzle pieces of my algorithm fell into place, and things started to work very well. So, did I release a new version right away? No, I started on a code review because I know I have some open issues. I will close those and do more testing before I make the next release.

After work, I went outside. It was nice autumn weather. I started moving the tiles from the heaps to a position below the new place of the rain roof. I managed to finish all the tiles before it was time to eat. It had already gotten darker, so the photo became a little unsharp.

The sheep helped me with the last rows of tiles. They kept walking around me, which made the procedure effortless. From a couple of meters away, Merida commented on the situation constructively.

Tuesday 15 October

It is 7:07 AM. Outside, it is 4°C, and inside it is 21°C. Merida is hungry. This is the third night that Merida did not come to sleep in our bed. Is it weird that I am missing her?

Today, I will make a smoothie with a pear with a name you cannot say using the dictate function of Microsoft Word. Do you earn the Commission? It is a famous pear with a French name. It is possible to change the language of the dictate function, but that is not what I am doing when blogging in English and want to say the name of a French pear.

We went to the office.

I didn't have that glorious, beautiful working day today. My algorithm was stubborn, and it showed new defects. So, I dug into the gory details. I think I have it. It is unpleasant to feel you're almost done and then realize it's not working. That was my day today.

Trees and bushes have orange colors. Waiting for DW at the train station, contemplating the colors of the trees around the train station. While sitting waiting, I noticed I had pain in my right knee. I think that it's time to get the earth auger back. I have lent it out to neighbors. It would be helpful to have it because we would need to build a compost heap construction. We will do that by putting poles in the ground and then screw building fence parts to the posts. We will move the compost from the area of the new shed to a place next to the road on the other side of the driveway.

Ah, there is DW.

When we came home, I went and got the earth-auger back. DW made red beat root soup. It was delicious.

After the dinner, we went to an information event about the sewer system in the area. The municipality will replace the sewer system in the entire area. We found that our street was far away from the planning.

A sewer technician explained where they would replace the sewage system. When it is time, they will do it on the south side of our property. They will put in a new pipe along the road. We will probably get a connection point between our east neighbors and us near the road. We've got plenty of room for digging there, so that's nice. They showed us a model of how the pipes look in the ground. The model had blue water pumping around, and it looked rather lovely.

What we were most worried about was that digging the pipe along the road would be so vast that the trees would not survive. But it sounds like the technical person is saying that it is possible to leave trees outside the one-and-a-half meter area of the road. That was really reassuring.

This evening, I texted with the plumber. We arranged a meeting for next Wednesday but put it on the calendar for this time. That works much better, actually.

Wednesday 16 October

It is 6:57 AM. Outside, it is 11°C, and inside it is 21°C. I will work in the morning and be off in the afternoon. DW has a day off. Merida came sleeping next to me last night. It has been a couple of nights since she did that.

In the morning, I worked from home. It went well. After lunch, I was free from work. It is difficult to say because when I'm free, I still work, but I work for myself. I don't really know what to call that in English. So after lunch, I work for myself. Today, the idea was to prepare to make compost. As I said earlier, I wanted to use poles for that construction. During lunch, we discussed different designs for putting the poles. We came up with a design using 8 poles. It is possible to separate 2 compartments, and it's possible to make the compost get higher and higher as it's more and more filled. We already have a couple of old poles, but they are not long enough, so that would not work. The design we came up with needs longer poles, so I suggested buying longer poles. DW was hesitant, but I convinced her we could do that. Perhaps we could also go to a second-hand shop and do something fun?

That last part did not pan out like that, and she was unhappy. But we got the poles. We went to a tree import company in Hierden. We bought 1 package of 100 poles that are 2m long there. Loading the large trailer with that many poles in one go is impossible. That trailer cannot handle that weight. We had to divide the pallet with poles into two parts. The import company is closing at 4:00 PM, but reloading the second batch after closing hours was okay. They would not close the gates for us. There were no gates. There were no cameras either; we could drive in and load the trailer. How special is that? No guard dogs, no fences. I was a little flabbergasted by the countryside mentality.

 

I got two expensive locks on my sea container. They are always locked when I am not around. If someone broke into the sea container, they would find an oil spill where the tiller machine used to be standing and a lot of hay and unused planks. They would be disappointed by the lack of value stored behind the doors. The locks on the sea container are the most expensive thing in the container. That is the kind of humor I appreciate very much.

We loaded half the crate into the trailer and brought it home. After unloading the poles at home, we went to the food cooperative and picked up this week's order. Then, we continued to Hierden again, loading the second part of the pole pallet.

Driving home the second time, we drove a long stretch with the setting sun on the road's horizon. It was beautiful but annoying. It was almost dark when we were ready to unload the second load of poles. I'm happy we have the poles. It has been a long journey to get those poles. Getting new poles has been on my mind for a long time.

When I got home, the sheep looked hungry, but I cut some Willow tree branches to feed them. That can keep them busy for a while.

I heard on Ukraine-the-latest podcast that ten to twelve thousand North Korean soldiers are sent to fight in Ukraine. Mark 16 October 2024 as the beginning of World War III.

Thursday 17 October

At 7:05 AM, it is 15°C outside; inside it is 22°C. This morning, I saw an interview with Kamala Harris on Fox News. Kamela was powerful. If I could vote in America, that interview would make me vote for Kamala, just to be sure you understand.

Last night, Marida came to sleep next to me. Not the entire night, but long enough to make me really warm. She is such a warm beast. I like the purring, though; that's so sweet.

Now, I am making a smoothie. I'm using the Conference peer; well done, Microsoft. You like Conference peers. Do I? N duh com is. That is impossible.

One good thing with Word is that you can use it as a torch. Microsoft Word, the beacon of light. Who would have thought I would walk around with a torch that you can dictate into? Works well for one language, but just barely.

We arrived early at work. It was just a little bit past 8 when I arrived at work. I'm almost tired of that algorithm I'm working on now. Can I have it work? But no, it was stubborn. It didn't work. I had done something and could not figure out the problem quickly. It took a long time to determine what was wrong with the algorithm. Eventually, I found it. It was just a simple little thing. I fixed that, and now I'm back to the core thing. Can I be bold enough to hope I will nail it just before the weekend? I do hope so.

Today, I asked my manager if it would be possible to have one day off per week, perhaps Fridays. That way, I could work more on the shed, the stable, and the fencing projects. I will hear what he is saying, perhaps already next week.

I asked DD and DW if we could go on a city trip around the Yule holiday. I suggested Vienna or Paris. Both have museums with impressionistic work. That would be nice.

Friday 18 October

7:08 AM. Outside, it is 15°C, and inside it is 22°C. It is misty outside.

Merida did not come to sleep with us last night. I had a lot of dreams, and I think that has to do with planning a cultural trip to a city. It was much about traveling and visiting sites, and I lost contact with DD and DW in a crowded place. I remember I dreamed it was beautiful where I got lost, and in the dream, I thought it was a pity that DD and DW would not see those places. Luckily, I could find them in my dream, and we were a happy family together again.

This morning, I made… You guessed it! A smoothie!

I drove out from the driveway at 8:30 AM. It is not just misty; it is also raining. I was busy thinking about all sorts of stuff, so I missed the junction at the new office and continued driving to the old office. At the next roundabout, the road was closed. I could turn around the roundabout 360 degrees, but if the idea was to go to the train station, that had failed.

The mist stayed in the morning and started to clear up in the afternoon. It was an unusually stubborn and widespread mist.

There were not so many people in the office. I was working hard to get a breakthrough in my work with the algorithm, and it was only in the final moments that I managed to get things working. Before we start sheering and chain dancing (or, as we say in Swedish: "Långdans"), I still have more testing to do before this episode of the work is done.

After work, I cut another willow branch for the sheep to eat. Tomorrow, I will give them a new fencing area. That will be good.

Saturday 19 October

Good morning. It is 6:33 AM. Outside, it is a bit misty at 14°C; inside, it is 21°C, with a clear sky. We woke up early today because DW will attend a course on how to do hedge-laying. While she is doing that, I will move the fenced area of the sheep, and then the real fun can begin: I will start building the new compost heap. So those are the plans, but first we had a cup of tea in bed. I blogged, and DW read about how to weave bands. She has been into weaving lately.

After breakfast, we looked at where the compost would be positioned in the garden. The location for this was not ideal because last year, we had planted a chestnut tree in front of one of the ideal places. We decided to put the compost there anyway and decide on the tree's fate at a later point.

DW went to the hedge-laying course. It was arranged by an authority in the subject who participated in hedge-laying competitions. Apparently, the man had even shaken hands with King Charles at one of the competitions on an estate of King Charles. People came from far away to attend the course. DW biked to get there. They were busy from 9 AM to 4 PM, and when done, they had created a hedge where stems were braided into each other. The trees and shrubs are still alive and will send out shoots. It will look nice.

I wanted to work on the new compost, but it would be challenging to do it with the sheep around, and they also had to get a new area. I started with that. I opened up to the area in between our west and northwest neighbors.

With that done, I started to work on the compost. The idea was to use one fence segment as the back of the compost. I replaced the fence segment with a segment with tighter mesh. I had finished putting the poles in the ground when DW came home from the course.

When finishing the work for the day, the neighbor's cat came hunting for mice at our front door. Merida accepted it, but it was not a total friendship; they kept testing each other's intentions. It was a trial. I think Hunter accepted me, more or less. I kept working around them, collecting the tools I had used during the day.

Sunday 20 October

We had a slow morning, tea in bed. I blogged, sitting in bed while sipping on my cup of tea. After breakfast, I continued with the compost heap construction. I am sure it would have been finished if I had the rest of the day to work on it, but we had to visit the PILs.

DW harvested herbs and prepared for sowing garlic. Also, she appreciated having more time in the garden.

After lunch, we drove to the PILs. It is a little more than an hour north. It was overcast today, and a few driplets from time to time.

The PILs were in a good mood. FIL had a nap when we arrived. We had a cup of tea and talked about little things. MIL is good a smalltalking. FIL is no small talker; he is 96 and can barely hear anything. MIL urged him to put in his hearing aid, but that did not help much. A loud, high-pitched sound comes from his head when FIL uses his hearing aids. How is it supposed to work when the hearing aid is making sound? MIL is eager to get them into a home for older people, but FIL opposes that idea. MIL is persistent on this matter and is working on getting it done anyway. That is new; until now, she has just given up and let things be. This time, she will make it happen. The question is how. That will be sorted from now on. We will see how that goes.

We helped out in the garden. The PILs, or mostly MIL because she is the gardener, have a ligustrum hedge with ivy trying to take over the hedge. We were assigned the task of removing the ivy infiltrators from the hedge. You know it is crucial to do things like this while planning to leave the house. Just saying. I did not say anything; I just helped remove the ivy.

Then we had tea again, and it was already time to leave. Earlier, we had been driving scenic routes home, but this time, we took the quickest route via the motorways.

This week, I finished moving the sheep's rain roof. I started building the compost construction. We have a good heap of poles that we can use for permanent fencing for the sheep.

This week I wrote 2988 words. Next week I will be back with more words. Thanks for reading all this and welcome back next week!