Lovely Hilde had to visit the vet a couple of days ago – she seemed a little lethargic and passive in the last few days and we wanted to avoid a catastrophe as with Schakkeline at all cost. I assume she wasn’t exactly happy about having to sit in her travel box and being transported in the car, but eventually – after a profound examination and survey – it turns out she might well have been just a little bit lazy… 🙂
Wifey’s Tour to the Baltic Sea
My sister in law’s birthday was a few days ago, so my wife invited her to a campervan tour to the baltic sea. Amazingly, they even had some decent weather and enjoyed some quiet days in the wild coastal nature.
Among else, they stayed at a lovely coastal campsite, located in a small village named “Brazil“, right next to the village of “California” – no joke!
Wind Egg or “Cock’s Egg”
Priscilla laid a so-called wind egg the last days, the first one I ever even saw in real life. It’s a complete egg, but with only a membrane, thus just missing a calcium shell. They were called cock’s eggs traditionally since it was believed they were laid by cocks in former times.
Here’s wikipedia’s information on this (german language, since unfortunately the english version isn’t worth a dime).
Cute and Curious Chickens
Henriette, Hilde and Waltraud.
Stirling Engine
How cool! I found my old model stirling engine (similar to this one) while rummaging through the basement. It even works with a cup of tea! Read more about this cool gadget and the underlying interesting principle here on wikipedia.
Wintertime…
The Lady of the House snuggling up cozily to sleep through the gray and boring winter days.
Blacksmithing Course, Part II
So, today I took my second part of the blacksmithing course at Schmiede Bötersheim. Again it was absolutely great, but:
I could kick myself in the a** so much…
I didn’t pay enough attention for a moment and let a thin part of the poker I’m working on get too cold while hammering it, which made it brittle and weak at that point. Grinning knowingly as well as indulgently, the blacksmith stated that’s a really common beginner’s fuckup and she welded it safe in seconds 🙂
At least I’m learning and (hopefully) I’m improving.
Blacksmithing Course, Part I
I was gifted a beginner’s blacksmithing course for christmas way back in 2019 by my (deeply beloved 🙂 ) wife. Unfortunately, due to Corona it couldn’t take place for almost two years, but now I was finally able to take part.
IT WAS FRIGGIN’ AWESOME!
I recommend everyone (even if only slightly) interested in blacksmithing take such a course. It’s an eye-opener, it’s loads of fun and it gives a great feeling of achievement. Ahhh… and yes, of course, you also LEARN exponentially along the way. I’m so hooked right now.
Kitchen Remodel
Finally the 15-year-old kitchen in northern germany is completely renovated! It was a lot of work, a lot of dirt and some impatient waiting. Some $$$ too, unfortunately, but it was absolutely worth the ordeal.