Fig marmalade (31 July 2021)

Suddenly we have ripe figs. They’re good! 3.5 kg figs, 2kg sugar, 3 oranges, 3 lemons, both zest+juice, 5-spice, extra star anise, cinnamon, vanilla, orange blossom water, elbow grease. Result is 4 liters jam.

For a special jar add some orujo or marc.

Kaasplankie (25 July 2021)

Kaasplankie, cheese platter, plateau de fromage, selección de quesos.

Which cheese is NOT Spanish, it’s one?

Hot (12 July 2021)

 

Vaczeuria, 2nd dose (5 July 2021)

 2nd AZ dose in. (Vaczeuria)

We were 15 mins early, saved an hour queueueing.

Car before us in the queue had two women, the driver left to do something at the front of the queue. Then the queue started moving.

Aaargh! If you get us stuck here behind you I’m going to and yell at you.

Then the queue started moving, still she wasn’t back.

Grr ! Damn! Blast! *naughty words*

Suddenly the car started moving, without a driver.

Brits.

Tex (25 June 2021 +)

Did we mention Tex yet? Here he is, at a small park here in the neighbourhood, May 2021. Some people encountered him, petted him, called in some officials for a chip test, but did nothing. Suppose he had fleas, can't have that in your car! So they left him but put his pic on Facebook.

Then a few weeks later, there he is again, at a house not far from here:

Went over there, and indeed he was there, but was afraid of us and fled, so we could not catch him. Apparently he slept on one of the neighbours terraces, and they fed him once in a while, and provided water. We said that if they could catch him we'll collect him. And they did. 

Skinny!

They do seem to get along well, so far.

Best friends!

Until...! There was some excitement, and a fight between Lucero and Tex, early October 2021. Tex got bitten like this, while Lucero was bitten across his head, and had a puncture in a cheek, which was nastily swollen..

Lucero bettered quite quickly, with antibiotics and anti-inflammants, but Tex not so quickly. This wound is in a nasty spot, as the skin there moves with every step. But, by applying honey-salve, and bandaging in December 2021 the wound finally closed. Currently the skin has it's black pigment back, but still no hair.

What to do. 

First advise: "cut off their goolies"! Tex is now a year old, which means his testosterone levels are super-high, irritating Lucero, causing trouble irritating Tex, etc. 

We hesitated to do an actual castration right away, as some dogs change their character, or become frightened. Fortunately there is a temporary and reversible solution: a hormone implant called "Suprelorin".  That sits under the skin, and suppresses testosterone. There are 6 and 12 month versions. The vet had the 6 month available, so they both got that. Then wait 2 months for their balls to shrink (really), and testosterone levels to go down. 

Meanwhile we needed to keep them separate at all time, or they'd fight again. And dog fights are no fun. Scary too. So, either Tex was free in the garden, while Lucero and Papaya were inside the house, upstairs. Or, text would be locked up on the cave room downstairs, while Lucero was free.  We had to keep that regime up since October 2021. 

Currently (May 2022) we still cannot let them free together. They are reasonably ok together, but there still are moments of excitement where they will growl at each other. Mainly Lucero at Tex, actually. That means we still have to keep up a dog watch where either Lucero is free and Tex on a leash, outside, or both on a leash outside, or one of them inside the house. A bit like the river crossing puzzle with the cabbage, the goat and the wolf..

There are cute moments like this:

But, as soon as one gets a bit agitated there still probably is trouble.

So, in March 2022 they both lost their goolies, and we now have to see how things develop. Currently the separation regime is bearable. The alternative would be to rehome either Tex or Lucero. Tex would have the better chance of finding a new family, he's a really very good dog. But were quite fond of them both, so.. We hope the best of their castration, and will see how things develop.

The table, sanding, oiling (25 June 2021)

 The table, sanding, oiling.

Solar eclipse (10 June 2021)

https://janswaal.home.xs4all.nl/iMaan/

Shade sail extension (29 May 2021)

 Added a shade sail extension along the garage, so there is more shade, and longer.

Grasscutter, again. (19 May 2021)

 The reason the wire was loose is that the motor itself has turned inside the housing. It is “fixed” with a plastic ring with some notches that correspond to protrusions in the casing. If the mower gets stuck or whatever it gets a bump. Maybe it's sort of a safety feature? Better that the motor inside turns than the user gets hit.

I can imagine with the added aluminium it’s more prone to such impacts. Engineer Jansen has resorted to some screws and a blob of 2-component glue (probably made in China).

Koningsdag (27 April 2021)

 

Vaczeuria, 1st dose (20 April 2021)

AUTOVACUNA: Covid jabs done! Almost two hours queueing in line with a few hundred cars. One appointment today, the other tomorrow morning, but they were flexible enough to jab us both. Eat that, Hugo de Jonge! (in 12 weeks time the other jab)

Vaccination coming (10 April 2021)

Grass cutter re-engineered (2021, March 22)

Know these grass cutters with a nylon wire? Endlessly the wire gets entangled in a big knot, so you need to load new wire onto the spool. Was about to throw this damn machine in the bin. Made in China, obviously.

Engineer Jansen thought about replacing the coil of nylon wire with a length of iron wire, but decided against that, for safety reasons.

Here is his other solution, that works *extremely* well, actually. (Obviously.) Just a length of cutter wire, and a knot. More than 30 minutes of undisturbed mowing has been achieved.

Mango (2021, March 22)

In the background you can see the big irrigation water supply pipes. When in use, every few weeks in summer, a lot of water spills. Mangos love spilled irrigation water!

And we love mangos that love spilled irrigation water!

Mango 3. And irrigation. (Mango 4 easily added...)

Irrigation... (2021, March 10)

You haul 20 tons and what do you get...

Plastic irrigation tubes don’t like sun, so into the ground they go.
It has been raining a few days, so the soil is nice and soft, so this is the chance to get this done...