Week 45 Today is a Good Day

 Week 45

Kids' Weekend again...

4 of the 6 are taller than me!

One of the kids was caught shoplifting during the week... "police or parents" were his options - he chose the parents and the "punishment" was that he is barred from the supermarket for 12 months...Of course, I don't know the details, but it occurs to me that he could have been offered a chance to "work" at the supermarket - stacking shelves or cleaning - he is actually one of my better workers - it reminds me sometimes of the old days of the fire service - everybody was much better "working" than being idle. Same here with the kids...

Today is a Good Day....

(we had a picture frame with that "message" - and it seemed like a good idea to wake up with that notion to start the day)

Getting out of bed is always a good start!

Monday

Work on the boat - antifreeze in the motor - water out of tanks and hoses - doors and other woodwork off... Planning for painting at the end of April - a bit later than I had hoped. OIl, filters and impellor to be attended to at the start of next season... if the end of April seems too long to wait, I think I can skip the painting until the end of the season - 6 months until the end of April  always seems like such a long time to wait...

The boat next to ours is from "Wijnjewoude" - I think the owners were originally from here and now live in Gorredijk - it features as an oldtimer at the Admiralty Days Festival.

The winter doors - I still marvel at how well the 2 component varnish has worked - must be 4 years now - taking the doors off for the winter extremes also helps.

On Tuesday we had an inspection from Local Council Smallingerland (Drachten) - more a visit to see what we are doing...it all went rather well. A few extra clients came in on their day off, so it looked busier than usual - although Tuesdays are already the busiest. They wanted a better appreciation of what type of clients should be sent our way - and we are at the point of being able to handle a few more - especially if we stop doing the kids when they have grown up - it seems to be going quickly now.

Our next important date is the 6th of December - An Open Day/Christmas Market - we have tidied just about everything - setting up the tables will be a bit of a rush just after our next Kids' Weekend...but good to be busy :-)

Setting the eels on their way...

Peter is one of our long-time clients - he was a bit later on Tuesday as he was busy helping eels escape - two or three times a week he goes to check some nets - the eels gather in one spot and the volunteers carry them over the dyke - so they can continue their journey...

https://www.dupan.nl/

Welcome to DUPAN: the partnership for healthy eel stocks

Within the Sustainable Eel Sector Netherlands foundation, the vast majority of the eel sector is committed to healthy eel stocks and the preservation of eel farming in the Netherlands. We promote the release of eel into the wild and conduct scientific research.

Professional fishermen help sexually mature eels over the dike

The eel population in the Netherlands needs to improve; everyone agrees on that. Research shows that eel stocks have been declining in recent decades.

The main cause: young eels have difficulty reaching the nutrient-rich freshwater in our country, while mature individuals cannot migrate to the sea to reach their spawning grounds in the North Atlantic Ocean. The eel's migratory routes are blocked by thousands of obstacles, such as pumping stations, dikes, locks, and hydroelectric power plants.

With the "Eel Over the Dike" project, commercial fishermen help mature eels navigate past pumping stations and hydroelectric power plants, preventing them from being killed by the pumps or turbines of these obstacles. The eels can then continue their journey to the North Sea. From there, they swim across the ocean to the Sargasso Sea, the Bermuda Triangle. There, they care for young eels, which, about a year later, reappear in their hundreds of millions along European coasts.

"Eel Over the Dike" takes place between early September and late November, during the eel migration season.

This film explains how Paling (eels) over de dike works. (It has English subtitles)

Thursday, Friday and Saturday

Bad weather , so Tjeerd cleaned and tidied the kitchen and I spent quite a few hours trying to get the 3D Printer to "connect" to the computer - for some reason it has to connect via a cloud server of the company - I tried on Friday and Saturday as well - all to no avail.

It is possible to print without the connection - the designs have to be transferred to a micro SD card first - numerous YouTube videos indicate that other people have the same problem.

New Electric Trike

A few months ago, our 93 year old Rennie rented an electric bike from a service organisation - she tried a couple but they were too powerful for her, especially at take-off.

So, another search and this time a purchase (they are not cheap!)...