Finished plastered all walls of the barn Sunday, 08-Feb-26 22:09:45 CET

Sunday, 15-Feb-26 20:25:54 CET

Started preparing for painting the barn

This week, the last plastering took place. DW started prepping for painting. On the weekend, I went to Austerlitz for a course in Swedish folk music.

Monday 9 February

I had an active day! Before work, I gave the sheep hay, then I prepared the robot vacuum cleaner to clean both floors. Then I had the regular day working from home, while the robot cleaner was rumbling around. DW worked from the office.

The work went fine! I released the new version of the reporting module.

After work, I gave the sheep more hay, then mixed the 2 Kg bucket. This time, I plastered only on internal window sills. I tried to figure out the official name for the sides of the window. I recall reading somewhere that it was called an inner window box, but I couldn’t find the term.

Anyhow, when I was done for the evening, I had 3 surfaces still to do. I will have them done by Wednesday.

This evening, I also worked on the blog from last week and uploaded it. I also edited the film of me plastering and trying out the new microphone. The film was way too long. I will upload it to YouTube anyway.

Tuesday 10 February

This morning the sky was beautiful!

Today, DW worked from home, and I went to the office. I brought the car to the garage to have one of the headlights repaired and the rear suspension fixed.

The new reporting module was tested today. Apart from some minor issues, it worked well. The operations department will use the new reporting module to evaluate the product offerings and further rollouts to different countries.

It is completely overcast this afternoon. It is not raining, but it is misty, and the pavement is wet.

Unfortunately, the headlamp could not be replaced this time. I got the suspension fixed, so that was nice.

In the evening, I continued working on the YouTube movie. I edited it and chopped out as many unnecessary sections as possible. Then I uploaded the movie to YouTube and published it on the previous week's blog. This movie gave me ideas for improving the situation, and I would like to make a new movie in the future. I will make a script before I make a new movie. Coming up with the text on the fly isn't working well.

Wednesday 11 February

Good afternoon. So this morning I worked from home, and although DW had a day off, she logged in to a meeting at work. Merida came to supervise my work.

After work we went to the grocery store, and now it's time plaster the last pieces of the barn. I can tell you that it feels great!

I was surprised to receive a feedback dialogue in Microsoft Word. I did not hold myself back and reported four issues:

1. When you connect a Bluetooth keyboard to your Android phone, and you are using English UK or US, then you have to double-tap space to get a space, and that’s annoying.
2. On Microsoft Word for desktop, the dictation function disengages after 20 seconds of silence. That is annoying.
3. On Microsoft Word for desktop, advanced settings for copy and paste aren’t persistent. That is annoying.
4. I so much wish that in Microsoft Word for desktop, in the settings of the table properties, adjusting cell size to content would be stored in the normal template. But it’s not, and that’s annoying.

So there you have it, that’s my four irritations with Microsoft Word.

You can hear bubbles of air escaping from the powder as it sinks into the water. The package says to pour the powder slowly into the water and let it sit. Sometimes I don’t take the time for that. Those moments when I do let it bubble on its own, I notice the mud gets a better consistency.

In the YouTube video I made, I asked: Should you plaster? That is a good question, but in my case, it’s obvious you should plaster something I didn’t talk about: using gypsum boards on the walls, why you should do that, because that might not be obvious. Well, the building is wooden. I’m planning to weld here, so I wanted to address fire safety. The way it looked when the house was delivered, you could see the wooden beams in the ceiling. There were plenty of cavities for a fire to start in the barn. So one thing that you’re doing regularly when you’re welding is grinding. The sparks from the angle grinder are flying off, and those little sparks could cause a fire.

So now we have a white barn. DW even slightly regrets buying cheap windows for the barn, "now when it is this nice, we could have had better windows," but I think it is okay like it is.

Thursday 12 February

This morning we had a power outage exactly when our coffee was finished! It is not good with a power outage, but the timing could not be better.

Today I worked from the office. DW had a day off. I went home early because we had friends coming for dinner.

Merida had an epileptic seizure this evening.

Friday 13 February

Today, DW had a day off. I logged in at work this morning to make up for the time I missed yesterday. DW started preparing to paint the barn.

After work, I packed my bags for a weekend in Austerlitz to attend a course by Täpp Ida Almlöf.

When I drove there, Google Maps acted up. It centered the map a couple of kilometers behind the current location. It was annoying. I stopped and switched to Waze, which worked better.

I arrived on time.

The teacher was Täpp Ida from Sweden. I got a room to stay in the same building where we are practicing. This year I got my own room. The building is left without heating when it is not rented, and the maddrass keeps the cold exceptionally well. I brought with me a lot of extra blankets to compensate for the cold mattress.

When my things had found their place, it was time for dinner. The dinner was pasta with salad.

After the dinner, the course started. Täpp Ida taught us three tunes. While we were practicing the tunes, I discovered that my violin had a crack between the neck and the fingerboard. That was not a nice experience. I spoke to the event organizer, and there is a spare violin I can use if the one I have breaks completely. I got my violin from my grandfather, Erik Malmgren. I like the violin a lot. It is not an especially expensive violin, but it has served me well.

After the course, the evening was not over yet. The entire group played various tunes. It was great. The spontaneous music held on the rest of the evening until midnight.

Saturday 14 February

This morning, I discovered I had forgotten to bring a towel. It was a little challenging to get dry after the shower.

After breakfast, we continued to practice the tunes of Täpp Ida Almlöf. When it was time to record her tunes, I rigged the microphone as I had planned. I did not realize that the sound in the room was too loud for the setting. The recording had clipped in some places. It was not until I listened to the recording that I realized this mistake. I have to learn how to adjust the levels accordingly.

The violin held together today, so that was good—no drama on that front. Next to me, I had a lady who banged into various things with her violin, so I held my violin away from her. I have no hope that the crack will survive an impact as well. If I keep the violin going the rest of the weekend, I would be so happy. Then I will have plenty of time afterward to go to a violin repair shop and discuss the violin's condition. Can it be repaired, or do I need a replacement?

I had the task of writing up the list of tunes we were taught.

In the evening, the compound was open to visitors. It was people fond of Swedish dancing who came to dance to the tunes we played.

It was late when I got into bed, or should I say early. The first hour of the night had already passed when I went to bed. It was warmer, but I had a window open a little tiny bit to let in some oxygen, so it was also cold. I handled the cold better this second night.

Sunday 15 February

On this day, we were taught another couple of tunes. The total ended on ten tunes, which was sufficient.

When recording this morning, I botched it again and did not get the microphones to start on time. This annoyed me, but I will be fine. I have the recording anyway. In the worst case, I take my film and overlay the sound from someone else, which could work as well.

I am not going to publish the films. I will use them for myself to practice the tunes.

The organizers of the weekend were a bit anxious about the weather conditions. Snow was expected to arrive in the late afternoon. Some people came from Belgium, and they had a long way home. I did not expect any issues during the 42-minute commute.

Here is a compilation of recreational moments between the practicing.

Here ends this week's blog. I wrote 1638 words. That is not that many, given all the other activities. DW started preparing for painting in the barn while I was making music. She put down floor covers and taped surfaces that should not be painted.