Week 13
Every week I read the notes of Alphons van Winden at
https://www.waterpeilen.nl/
Last week he had a story about the Rhine and how it "hijacks water from the Danube" around the area of the red circle in the diagram below...there is a lot of limestone in the region and water flows underground through a series of caves that have been created over time. They did a test with some red salt - it showed up 3 days later in the Rhine.
The research is interesting in itself - but in the last paragraph there is a reference that is looking ahead rather than just reporting on what is happening in any given week.
Ultimately, the upper reaches of the Danube upstream of Fridingen will face the same situation and all the Danube water that now flows along it will flow into the Rhine. This will probably take some time, but if we see how quickly the number of days that the Danube dries up increases, the situation underground will change quite quickly and it will therefore not have to take thousands of years before this happens. But I don't think we need to take this extra water into account for the time being when determining the strength of the Dutch dikes.
In the meantime we began the Spring Cleaning - outside means simply getting rid of the green and black grime...
An oak beam
We bought some strips of oak veneer - from an amazing timber business in Drachten
The plan is to make our steel girder (already encased in fire-retardent sheets) look like an old oak beam...I have to cut it to size and glue it on - after the painting
Tjeerd and I finished the plumbling of the heating system in our apartment - I won't be in a hurry to do any more of that work - Tjeerd says we should have a "diploma" now that we have learnt so much
Still too wet
Bertha (Janny's sister) asked if they could park their caravan at our place - we thought it might still be too wet...but they tried anyway :(
Janny's brother Geert to the rescue...
Boat back in the water
Tuesday
Friday
Janny and I did the big clean up job - but still too cold to sleep on board
With help from Boeke
We took everything off the boat, including the dishes and cutlery - all going through a long cycle in the dishwasher
...and as happens every year - boating season coincides with mowing season...
So, we bought the Old Man a new mower - two, in fact - the red one for behind the tractor.
We're saving the old ride-on for the front of the house - the rest of the mowing is just too rough - maybe we can extend it's life a little longer
Maitiid (my-teed) Frisian for Spring
We place the words with the changing of the seasons in our Day Activity workroom.
(The background picture was painted by one of our refugees about 23 years ago)
I asked the group if they knew of the origin of the word "maitiid"? Nah, no idea... I wondered if it had anything to do with mowing ( Dutch = maaien)? Purely because in English there was a word "aftermowth" (after mowing - also Springtime, I think) - that word evolved to become aftermath.
But I looked up maitiid and couldn't find any reference to mowing - so there's that theory shot to pieces :)
One of the references thought that it may have something to do with May - but that is awfully late for Spring.
Ben still in South Korea
He was in a video clip production for a K-Pop group - he had photos but he had to sign a non-disclosure document that they wouldn't be used - so I can't place them here yet. Sometime in April, I think.
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