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!
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…
Maybe we all need a break from the weather? I know I sure do! My DNA was never meant to spend any sort of time in weather above 75 degrees with any humidity over 50%!!!
Today the inside the house temperature is 75 degrees F!
I feel like I am either going to explode or melt.
Best time to add a small Hummm…
This picture of taken by Gunilla and sent to me. Hummmm… not sure I would interfere with this carrot situation! Looks very private to me!Hummm… these odd looking fruits are Russian tomatoes! How does a Russian tomato make it into an American garden hands living in The Netherlands? Hummm… I am sure there is more than one strange story in all of this. But really, if the world was run by garden people who give freely to others then the World would be a much better place.Hummm…what is this Little Orange Bear doing? Hiking the Western Scottish Highland trail with a pair of Dutch ladies! Congratulations ladies (and Bear ) on your accomplishment!
As my regular followers know the Hummm file never knows what the universe will throw our way, this month was full of such surprises.
Let’s start with this…
Was at the grocery and found this new toilet paper. Wonder what they are making the comparison. Is it less crappy than other TP? Or is this the option to use when you have choices to make and just wish for a less crappy one? Congratulations you sold me! I laughed out loud and placed several packages in my basket. Not much Hummm…in this photo, just Namekagon on the water for a paddle. But getting to the lake and back takes us through the Green Heart Land (farming country) of The Netherlands where we noticed the following.Hummm…What a cool celebration, is it like a National holiday? Nope the Dutch flag is upside down… this is farm country and the upside down flag is the protest symbol of the farmers.Hummm… here…and…Here…
We then had our own farming moments of the summer as we finally were called and offered a garden plot close where we live. Late in the summer to start a garden but we got to work and within a week we have cleaned out the weeds, hauled in 26 bales of straw, built a processing table, and started amending the nearly dead soil.
That has gotten some raised eyes from neighboring plots but hopefully by next Spring we will have things going towards raising all our own veggies. Since I don’t like to weed and have a bad back the straw bale garden method should be a win/win for adding nutrients to the very poor soil and not having to bend or be on my knees pulling weeds.
Hummm… if you are wondering what this entire straw bale thing is… it comes from my home state of Minnesota. You can listen to a podcast all about it here …
Our back porch on the hottest July day. Hummm…the heat didn’t stop these people from having a great BBQ at Adult Care Facility. Just look at those 80 somethings go with the dance line!!!Hummm… what can I buy on ESTY, how about cotton from the USA! No way! Yes! A 1/4 lb of handpicked cotton from North Carolina arrived in the mail. With the seed. Could our readers see a future Hummm of a cotton farmer in The Netherlands? Let’s see if Fox News could get that as wrong as how they explained the farmer protests. 😳🙄👩🌾👩🌾👩🌾
The truth is out there and people should not get on the conspiracy bandwagon without all the right information!!! The environmental laws were placed into law here in The Netherlands years ago to help control the CO2 emissions.
Some of the smaller farmers who didn’t and still don’t have the capital to make the upgrades could be forced out of business.
That sucks if you are a farmer or a consumer of farm products (like that is anyone who likes to eat!).
The fact is the climate is changing, and all people on this planet have to make changes to help everyone, not just one nation or one culture or be fearful of what others have or don’t have!
I do feel that the farming community here in The Netherlands was unfairly targeted when the laws were made. There are many large corporations and businesses that place toxic chemicals into the air here and around the world each and everyday and are not held to the same standards. I do not think the way of protest should ever be the destruction of property (that goes for anyone! Even the farmers). Peaceful protests with constructive helpful diplomacy will make for a better future.
The Cedar Journal 