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

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

Sunday, 09-Jul-23 21:56:28 CEST

Merida arrived

This was an active week; much happened. The most important thing was the arrival of Merida!

Monday 3 July

Happy birthday to me. I now reached the grand age of 56 years old. It is just a fact. I don't celebrate my birthday very well at home. DW wished me a happy birthday, kissed me, and that was about it. I plan to celebrate my birthday at work, though, in a great way. On Friday, I will bring my DJ gear to work so that we can party at work on Friday evening. I have no idea how that goes, but that is the plan.

Today we worked from the office both DW and I.

Tuesday 4 July

This was a regular work-from-home day. I discovered the first flower of the runner beans in the vegetable garden along the driveway.

After work, I practiced more with the DJ gear. I had just started a tune when DS told me his new washing machine would arrive in 15 minutes.

The machine arrived, and we installed it right away. The door opening to the bathroom was exactly 60 cm wide, and the machine was just a little smaller than 60 cm wide. There were knobs over the screw holes of the door opening, and those knobs made the opening too narrow. After removing the knobs, the machine could enter the bathroom. The place for the machine was already prepared for the machine, so it was easy to install it.

One hour later, I came back to the DJ controller. It repeated the same loop all that time.

Wednesday 5 July

In the morning, I worked from home. Already in the morning, it was windy. The storm Poly arrived today. Around lunchtime, the storm was at its worst for us. In the afternoon, I went out to see some of the damage.

 

The leaves of the courgettes had knacked. The corn was lying down. I could not really take in the damage that well. Awful.

Thursday 6 July

Today I worked from the office. DW worked from home. After work, we moved the sheep to a new area. Instead of grazing on the southwest and north side of the property, we moved them to graze on the north and northeast side of the property. This way, we get access to the trees along the dyke on the southwest side. Some need to be stabilized. We will work on that Sunday. They were happy!

I emptied the rain gauge tonight from the storm Poly yesterday. It was 21 millimeters!

Our property received 67 cubic meters of rain yesterday. I hope the grass starts growing now.

I discovered that the twisted willow got a knacked branch. It is not especially funny to write about what damage the storm gave us. We got some damage on the regular willows, but we will have a look at them on Sunday.

Friday 7 July

Today I worked from the office. DW worked from home. I packed the car with the DJ gear. I went to work but let things stay in the car. I brought a large speaker with a built-in amplifier and another speaker (set) with a subwoofer. I had two "disco lights," and there was something new for this gig: an ironing board! In the first gig with DD's birthday party, I had a too-low desk. Pretty soon, I had backache while I was playing that gig. This time I figured an ironing board would be perfect for the DJ controller and the laptop. So I brought that with a tablecloth.

For the rest, it was a normal day. I worked on my projects. It was going well. I ordered snacks and had them delivered to work in the afternoon.

I set up the DJ gear at the end of the working day. When the time was right, I started playing my DJ set.

It went well, I made a couple of mistakes initially, but after a while, I got into the flow of things. The funniest mistake I made that no one noticed was mixing in the same tune as the one I was playing. The ironing board worked like a charm!

People were not dancing but mingled with the music. I could hear that it was a good atmosphere. I think this was a good second DJ set. From here, I need to continue to practice. Perhaps I can augment my music collection so it is easier to go from slow to faster pace music.

It got warmer this day. The thermometer reached 30 degrees. It was going to be worse tomorrow.

Saturday 8 July

This day was predicted to be 34 degrees Celsius. We woke up early, and it was not hot in the morning. The first task of this morning was to erect slanted willow trees. I could bind the trunk to a fence pole for the first tree. For the second tree, I had to drill a new hole, insert a pole and bind the tree to that pole.

DW had ordered a cupboard a couple of weeks ago. That cupboard arrived while I was working on the trees. When DW puts up the cupboard, we can start work on decluttering the house. So this was the second task for today; many more would follow.

I started working on a third tree, but it was time to leave for the third task for today. Attend a presentation for new house projects in our area. It was not that spectacular. The organization holding the presentation made it sound like they provided the only way to build a house in this area, which is untrue.

The fourth task for today was more exciting. There was an open house event at one of the windmills of the nearby wind park.

 

That was great!

There was no time to spare because we had our fifth task for the day already planned: Buy some groceries. After that, we had a short break! DW knitted a little cat toy during that break to bring as a little present in return for Merida.

The sixth task for the day was to fetch DD from the train station. She came just in time for our seventh task, picking up Merida!

Here is the kitten nest "mom" giving us Merida. The family said goodbye to Merida. They called her Fluffy. I put Merida in the cat carrier, and then we said goodbye and drove home. The kitten's nest place was not far from our home, so Merida's journey was short. DW drove, and I had the cat carrier on my lap with my hand petting Merida. She was calm.

When we came home with Merida, we placed the cat carrier next to the litter box. The idea was that she would get to know the place of the litter box as the first thing in the new house. She registered the litter box but decided to go back to the cat carrier and kept sleeping for a while. I pet her with my hand, and she started purring. This was going well.

She was really sleepy this afternoon. I took her out of the cat carrier and showed her the litter box again. This time she decided to sleep in the litter box. So I let her sleep there for a while. I removed the cat carrier. The next time she woke up, she had a grain of the litter sand stuck on her nose. Now it was time to discover the new house. It was huge! There were new scents and sounds, and that was scary for Merida. She learned the place around the litterbox, which appeared to be safe.

We blocked the door to the workshop because it is not that kitten friendly right now. Especially the tiller machine still standing in a bucket of oil.

When Merida arrived, could I perhaps continue erecting more willow trees? Not at all! Merida got full attention the rest of the day. Besides, it was sweltering outside. Not how I like it to be. The temperature outside rose to 34 degrees Celsius. Inside, it stayed at 24 degrees Celsius, and that was pleasant. We are so happy with the cooling of the house.

Merida got acquainted with the area around the litter box. Somehow the south hall was not feeling great for her. Once she got passed the hall, all was fine again. We carried her beyond the "dangerous" hall to the living room. There she could find something to eat and drink.

DW knitted a second cat toy. When it was finished, Merida got to play with it. That was really enjoyable for her.

 

It was late when it was about time to go to bed. We considered all options for where we would sleep and where Merida would sleep. It is a real challenge to make the staircase kitten-proof. The thought of her falling down the staircase made me feel ill. We decided Merida would stay on the ground floor near the litter box.

Just before we went to sleep, Merida woke up, used the litter box, and then wanted to play. So we played with her. Then after a while, she was happy about the attention and decided to sleep under the big speaker.

Sunday 9 July

We woke up really early, a quarter past 6 in the morning. Merida was sleeping happily behind DJ gear, standing in the hall from the party on Friday. When I called her, she answered. I tried to get her to pass the south hall, but it was still not a safe ground for her. What could possibly be wrong with an empty hall? We need to put DJ gear there to make it safer.

She also doesn't like the sound of the people walking down the stairs, and the stick mixer is also scary. She hid behind the couch when DW made our breakfast smoothie. Opening a paper envelope is also scary.

Merida plays for 20 minutes, and then she can sleep for at least two hours. I was also tired and slept next to her on the couch. At some point, she woke up and decided that my eyebrows were not clean enough, so she cleaned both my eyebrows thoroughly. Then she was lying next to me, purring loudly.

She demonstrated that she knows how to use the scratch pole at breakfast.

After breakfast, DW harvested the onion and the garlic. They were ready to be harvested anyway, although the storm made most of the onion tops fall over. DW placed the onions on the garden table. So it became a graphic picture.

She is so sweet. A real photo model!

 

The morning was slow. We played with Merida, and she slept most of the time. It was warm outside, 30 degrees Celsius. Inside, it was 25 degrees.

Here is a video of Merida climbing up on our couch. I predict the end of the couch. See how she does a few extra "massage movements" when she finishes climbing the couch.

In the afternoon, the heat dissipated. DD was caring for Merida, and I erected some willow trees. DW worked in the garden.

I erected five willow trees. They are the first five willows on the west side of the property. It will be interesting to see how well this treatment works on the trees. Perhaps some of the roots were also damaged; in that case, bringing the tree back in the correct position will not help much.

When I started working on the trees, it was hazy and hot. Rapidly the weather changed into the overcast, and it cooled down. On the horizon, a dark cloud wall showed up. DW collected the onions, and I brought the tools back into the sea container.

We carried in the onion when the first drips started to fall from the sky. Apart from playing with Merida, it was good to have done something tangible this day.

DW hung the onions to dry in the workshop. The workshop was filled with the scent of onion.

Here ends this week's blog. This week we had the storm, Poly. It was sad to see the vegetables get battered. The willows got slanted, and I managed to erect most of these again. I performed my second DJ set. The main thing for this week has to be the arrival of Merida. She is so sweet! You can expect to see much more from Merida in this blog.