week 21

Week 21

Monday

Fixing the leak - but have to wait for a dry day to start the painting - maybe today, but more likely during the coming week. In fact, I might just watch the footy replay today :-)



Rust inhibitor makes it go black...


Temporary fix - good old duct tape...


 Last year the cover of the 220 volt plug broke off...we found a shop in Drachten that had them (and lots of other good stuff) - so that became an easy fix, even though I had to replace the whole unit...


First a photo of the old wiring - just to make sure I got it right...








We had a very short working week ths week - Thursday was a public holiday for Ascension Day - or Hemelvaart in Dutch (literally (to) Heaven Voyage). 

So, we went to the boat on Wednesday evening and cooked the last of our Hello Fresh meals on board.





Thursday was mostly wet but not as bad as had been forecast - and we managed a very lazy day :-)


On Friday we went to the funeral of Lucas' Mum - we knew her from when she first brought Lucas to us - our first "client" - she struck me as a very capable woman back then - doing and organising everything for her two disadvantaged boys and the rest of the family - the sister now looks after everything. We learnt a lot more about Saakje at the funeral...deep respect.


Meanwhile back at the farm

From the BBC

How gardening can help you live better for longer

Research shows gardening preserves cognitive function, helping you live well for longer. Now, dementia patients are reaping the benefits with "care farms" prescriptions.

Marianne Rogstad, a retired grandmother from Norway, is a lifelong learner. She worked as a hotel clerk in Switzerland for five decades, where she spent her days immersed in new languages and cultures.

But when Rogstad returned to Norway, she was diagnosed with dementia. She soon became isolated and lost those sources of stimulation. That was until she joined Impulssenter – a small "care farm" outside of Oslo. The care farm borrows its name from the way it serves people's impulses to work and connect with others, says Henreitte Bringsjord, whose parents founded the farm.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250509-how-gardening-boosts-brain-health?at_campaign_type=owned&at_medium=emails&at_objective=awareness&at_ptr_type=email&at_ptr_name=salesforce&at_campaign=healthfix&at_email_send_date=20250514&at_send_id=4358910&at_link_title=https%3a%2f%2fwww.bbc.com%2ffuture%2farticle%2f20250509-how-gardening-boosts-brain-health&at_bbc_team=crm

The tomato plants took off and started to bend from the weight overnight - so I had to make a frame to support them...



The old rhubarb in the ground nearby...


The koolrabi looks to be going OK - I didn't even know what it was until we had it in one of our Hello Fresh meals last year - one of my favourites now...




Finally tackling my workshed. It fell into disarray over the last 18 months - partly because of so much work on the house and the apartments. Pottering never seems to include cleaning up properly - bad habit of mine as I seem to be always moving on... to the next job. I have to watch it with Tjeerd - I heard him grumble the other day about having so many jobs to do - seemingly all at once :-). Luckily, he doesn't really grumble....

All the gardening handtools are moving out to the garage and some to our new Garden Shed...I folded down the barn ventilation flap - to make a shelf - so I have to close in the gap at the top.


 making room in the workshed for the motorised stuff...the tidy up is another one of those jobs that will "take a while".


I'm working on (yet another) project - to turn one of the old skelters into a tool buggy - I'll need to get some welding done and then put a "box" on top - I've been using a wheelbarrow for years - should have thought of this earlier...


Saturday

With Greethilda and Albert being so (very) busy in their new house, we decided to tackle their mowing before the grass gets too much out of control...just to help out - and as a "thanks" for us being able to use their electricity on the boat :-) it was almost "meant to be".





Asssembling the tools...



The end result...



Rather 'pooped" by the end of the day, we were invited to a nephew's place in the village - for an "Aussie Burger" on the BBQ (haha, so I will have left something cultural behind after all).

Ben is just back from Mexico, so it was nice having him home...














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