It is almost October and really I have failed as a blogger this month! I promised canoe blogs, product reviews and even some Hummm… from our travels.
Hummmm… that didn’t happen! Why? COVID! Yup the virus finally found us and jumped smack in the middle of the last days of packing for our canoe trip! Of course I wondered where I had picked it up, I don’t socialize much, don’t really shop at the stores when it is busy, but a non stop water facet of a nose and sore throat was a sure indication that I picked it up SOMEWHERE! Two negative tests and a couple days later the Hubby started feeling a bit off (the man is NEVER sick) he did a test and immediately it was positive! I must have tested wrong so took one more and still negative even with all my symptoms. Hummmm… No vacation!
About the same time the drought here was finally broken with rain. Not just a little bit of rain but centimeters of rain!
Drought to wet…bean seeds I thought were bad germinated anyway! Hummm… maybe beans in November?
I only have one real Hummm… to share this month. This one comes from our local grocery store. I just had to purchase as I wondered what a Friendly Viking could produce!
Friendly? Viking? Really?
My home state of Minnesota is full of so called Vikings every fall. A happy sort, dressed in purple and horned hats, yellow/purple face paint, mostly friendly unless you mention the cheese heads from Wisconsin. LOL But, in all my experience with historical research I never really thought of the Vikings as “friendly”.
Until, hummm… now?
I purchased the product and looked closely at the packaging.
Ok, I can accept that.
But, that wasn’t all they had to tell me.
Hummm… did they know I was an environmental nut? Did they also know I came from a small area in Minnesota that was settled by Finlanders? Hummm… how did they know?
Now, my suggestion would be if you fear Vikings is to find this product, keep it on your shelf, and when we are invaded by mad looking people wearing pelts and brandishing swords and torches, kindly greet them with this product!
Hummm…
I will leave you wondering what October will bring with the following pictures. Stay safe and stay healthy everyone!
It is really September on the calendar? I guess I have been so busy with my new straw garden that time slipped by quickly.
The Hummm… file has been growing and now is on overload in my digital file cabinet. So where to start?
Hummm… let’s start with this!
Hummm… have small aliens landed in my garden? No! Just some slug control experiment. Everyone who has read this blog knows I hate plastic, so I have been working on a non-plastic solution for the Dutch slug problem.
This next Hummm… comes from our wonderful municipal government, a solution for traffic control. Recently, after giving out several tickets in this location, the solution was to place these wonderful traffic encourages. Now, they are suppose to work like this… green means you are driving under the speed limit ( usually accompanied with a nice smiley face also green), Red is flashing and very very bad! Must slow down.
Hummmm… we aren’t sure what green with a sad smile means… but 23 is very very slow for this street!
This next Hummm… comes from the Dutch farming community.
Hummm… this looks like a breakdown!
This old tractor was broken for sure! The conversation I had with the man who popped up from behind the tractor was so interesting I had to include it with this Hummmm…
He was practicing for … a plowing contest? No kidding! He had broken down and was now not going to be able to participate. Being a former farm kid, I just had to ask all about the contest (if there was such a thing and he wasn’t making up an excuse that the tractor was broken just to impress me). Plus, I did make a joke that the reason it broke down was it was a Ferguson!
My dad had many tractors and types while I grew up and it seemed (to me) that the Ferguson was always a bit allergic to work, it would break down just when needed most.
Anyway, there are things in the world such as plowing competitions, historic tractors and farmers who find creative ways to “Jerry rig” solutions.
Blocks of wood holding the battery in place. Hummm… looks like something my Dad would do, yup, confirmed via email, looks like something my dad would find as an appropriate solution.Hummm… is that a level on the plow? What is that for? To make sure the row is exactly level the entire length of the field! Really? Who knew! Although I was informed that they are not allowed the level use in competition. Wow! That sounds hard!
Enough about tractors let’s move to an indoor Hummm…
Hummm… what ? A replacement of a facet (simple 10 min job… right?). This project lead to a tear down of the kitchen and thus several trips to the hardware store for an exchange of the exact facet we had purchased but had a backwards off/on on the hot water side! A Friday afternoon manufacturers issue? This must be wrong! … But, no! Come to find out all new facets are made so that off/on is opposite on the hot side!!!! This is chaos! No more right is open left is closed? Who dreams up this stuff?
Completed job with chaos facet!
Hummm… what is the rumor about that gardener who is growing veggies on the straw bales? Is it an American thing?
Seriously, I am the talk of the gardening community (although most are afraid to come and ask me directly). One person admitted to me today that she called her Dutch/American aunt in Arkansas to ask if this was an actual thing in the US! LMAO! Really? The person could have walked less than 50 meters and asked me instead of confirming (actually her aunt from Arkansas had no idea) with her aunt.
Hummm… what happened to our world during COVID? Did everyone lose their communication skills? The nerve to ask questions at the source?
Hummm…
I know that Straw bales provide a nice place for frogs! This guy was hopping out of the straw when I went to move things around.
I will leave all of you with some peaceful reflection of a straw bale garden. Enjoy all the Hummm… in life!
For those of you that follow our blog for the canoe and kayak news out of The Netherlands, I must say we have been a bit on the slim side of those posts recently.
Never fear! We are less than two weeks away from the once per year event of the Open Canoe Festival located at the Weerribben National Park area.
I will be staying for a few days prior and a few days after to get a closer look into some blog ideas that have been banging against the inside of my head since my last visit in early January.
One of the cabins at Weerribben National Park
I will be testing out some new equipment and will have those blogs also available, always nice to know what to get those canoe/camping people for the upcoming holiday.
In other news… straw garden is going great! Four weeks and we already have radishes, spinach, alfalfa and rye grass. If that all sounds like a power lifter diet to you, you are right! I have to be able to lift those straw bales somehow and my old guns (arm muscles) need the extra energy.
I will leave you with this video (nope not a canoe video) but cute bunnies I was looking after for a few days. Mork & Mindy! Have fun and stay safe blog friends!
I know… it could be worse. I heard from blogger friend “B” in GB that it was even hotter than here in the Low Lands. I wish I could send him some cooler weather so he can get out and photograph more beautiful butterflies!
Yes, it is the hottest, driest summer I have ever experienced in The Netherlands. We were off to pick up some bargain fencing for our garden when I realized on our drive how bad things really are here with the drought.
Starting to drive over the Waal (it is called the Rijn River in Germany) The river normally is at the level of where all the sand is to the left of the photo. Hummmm….the river was very low! I read this morning near the border with Germany it is only 50cm in places making it nearly impossible for cargo ship traffic. The dry grass along the roadway and railways are so brown in places you can see where small fires had started and burned along the way.
The Lek was the other river we crossed over yesterday, it also was so low that the locks that lead from a smaller river into the Lek were open completely as the water levels were the same. Not something that we normally see here.
Hard to see that this river is very low but normally it is a lock where boats wait until the water level is lowered or raised to get from the Lek into this river.
Hummmm… when are we getting rain for my garden?
Hot and dry! Hauling water every day from a canal water holding tank on the other side of the garden is not what I would call fun. Luckily my Minnesota farming roots provided me with tons of water bucket experience.
We finally got (only in the very West of the country) rain yesterday. About 2 cm or just under a inch. Not enough to not have to haul more water to fill the barrels this morning but enough that I don’t have to water plants today.
Hummm… I have finally insects in the garden.
This bee was found on my marigold on the hottest day of the year. I am happy I was able to provide a nice stopping place.Hummm… all I could think of when I saw this was one of Queen’s song, Fat Bottom Girls. But, I guess wishing everyone a nice vacation when they had to work was nice.Hummm… I was worried that the Hubby was going to run off the road! There was a theme yesterday! Then I wondered silently why there were only women representing…hummm…a bit unfair! Then we passed a truck with a man in a shower! Sorry, no picture on that but I did laugh!
With all the things we have on our plate recently from the drought, heat, water shortages, high gas prices, higher food prices, Ukraine/Russian war, possible nuclear holocaust if either side gets really stupid, we were hit with a totally new one yesterday…wait for it… solar flares! Yup, we were given 12 hours notice that solar flares could disrupt our electric grid, cell phone service, gps navigation systems! But, not to worry, don’t panic, the government has it all under control!!!
Which both the Hubby and I looked at each other and started laughing so hard I started to cry! Really?!
It is enough to make all the therapists in this country rich from all the new patients they will have streaming in their doors.
So if you don’t hear from us for awhile…maybe we got zapped with gamma rays from the solar flares…
The Cedar Journal 