Week 44

Week 44

Walking

Been sick again this week! Just Man Flu......

But I did go for a walk one evening, just to check out the migratory birds resting on our pingos.......

Bird Migration

 The Wadden Sea (Waddenzee) is where the Frisian Islands are located. Close enough to us.... Just as an aside, there are certain times of the year that the Waddenlopers (Wadden Walkers - people) can walk across to the islands. The ferries have to take often tortuous routes in order to have deep water.

Pingos (pools) opposite our place....

I've always been a little fanciful over the bird migration; simply saying something like "yeah, no wonder they are leaving". But in the last couple of weeks, I have been fascinated by the literally thousands of geese flying overhead of an evening and in the morning. Wave after wave heading, as it turns out, to and from our pingos (pools) - in the heath just over the road from us.
The pingos date from the Ice Age and are located in the Duurswoude Heide (Heath) - an area of approximately 150 hectares.
So, I finally decided to do a little research about the migratory birds of this region at least. It seems they come from even further north where their breeding grounds are located. There, during the spring and summer, there is plenty of food and fewer dangers from birds of prey or other predators. Daylight is for the best part of 24 hours so they can forage for much longer.
So, when they are flying over our house they are not necessarily heading away just yet. They are "provisioning" for the much longer flight ahead of them. Some species will actually remain in the Netherlands. It is also thought that the travel distances are becoming less as a result of global warming - that is to say they don't have to travel so far to escape the cold.
Bird migration has been followed by people since olden days. Migratory birds use the position of the sun during the day and the stars at night to orient themselves during migration. Scientists made this discovery by using mirrors to manipulate the sun's position as was visible for the birds. The birds reacted by choosing a different migration route. Birds also use rivers and canals to orient themselves. Furthermore, the magnetic field of the earth and polarized light also play a role.
The Netherlands Air Force base is located at Leeuwarden. There, they are using radar to track the routes used by the birds, in an attempt to be able to predict flight paths and so avoid collisions with aircraft. This has also been the subject of much research at and around Schiphol Airport.

Land birds migrate at high elevations. They don’t like flying over large bodies of water. Another place to see them is by sea straits, where the necessary crossing is the narrowest and is used the most often. There is a  good chance of observing lots of migratory land birds every year in the north of Texel (one of the Frisian Islands). In the autumn, one can literally pick them off of the beach and bushes. The birds are so exhausted; they need to catch their breath after the wide crossing. This is also where they gather in groups in the spring, using it as a pit stop before re-crossing the North Sea - ie heading northwards to the breeding grounds.

I tried to get some photos of them overhead - but always too late to get my phone out....

this is just the tail end one morning  as they left the pingos in search of food.

Around the Farm

New roof on the old shed - slowly coming along..

Our First client still with us after 9 years!

the one in the middle.....

Our Syrians leave for new home (house) in Ureterp

From the Newspaper

Food bank Friesland

The food banks in Friesland have been having trouble filling their quota. I gleaned from the article that there are approximately 1700 families in Friesland who receive food packets each week, enough food for two hot meals (i.e. per week).
The food banks have had to buy food; not a sustainable option.
The problems in Friesland are not being mirrored "down south". In fact, some places have too much food. But then arise the logistical issues of timely distribution and storage of frozen products, for example.

Our local area is Opsterland, which has 79 families making use of the Food Bank.

Changes in Health Care (that affect us)

2016 saw the transfer of the Care system funding from Federal to Local Government. Some of this has worked reasonably well for us, but our largest Local Government has been the "stingiest" in terms of providing care for it's constituents. There have been reports that the funds made available by the Federal Govt. have been underspent to the tune of 2.3 Billion Euros!, nationwide. Of more concern than that is the thought that the unspent funds are being channeled into the consolidated revenue of some of the Local Governments.

If this gets any more traction as a news story, it will surely play a role in next year's Federal Election.

From my relatively Outsider's View, I can hardly believe that they would be allowed to get away with it - the money was given to them to provide "Care" to the people living in their respective areas - our clients. One would almost think that this is a story emanating from America, not the Netherlands. Here, Government is generally relied upon, not distrusted.

From our Asian Correspondent

(Enjoying yet another break from the heavy routine of study.................)

Getting ready to board for Tokyo

In Flight

Week 43 Beanie Weather!

Week 43 Beanie Weather

Up and about again this week although still not into walking that much....

Around the farm

Finally getting on with the old hayshed. This is actually a "project" for one of our clients. When he came to us he was living in a caravan, debts were mounting and all-in-all, life was going downhill. His Case Manager found him a proper place to live and a "day-work" place with us. He has only been able to come one day a week while he gets the other stuff sorted out - hence the slow progress on his (future) workshop. He used to be a furniture maker, so he is very handy and has some great tools, which we are also storing for him. We actually get on quite well together and I find that I am enjoying working with him - much better than doing bookkeeping!! More importantly, life is improving for him - a big plus for "The System".

When it's finished, we'll try to make some proper things to sell "From The Care Farm".

Note the changing colour of the leaves. The yellow/red are from the beech trees; the rest are oaks, which are always the last to change.

For my Birthday....

The Cheesecake Challenge

Being Sunday, we'll just do coffee and cake for the whole day as Janny's family feel like dropping in. 

I made my standard lemon cheesecake and Janny was inspired to make one of her own - a Cranberry Cheesecake - and something else...the name escapes me.. Nice to have all the room of the Big Kitchen out the back.

Mine

Janny's, on the lower shelf

And some sausage rolls....

The Neighbours

Our neigbours kids have called Janny "KenJanny" for years now. The parents must have always called us Ken en Janny (en = and). We have always had a laugh about it, but they are probably old enough now to know that there are two of us.

 They always come over to our place to play or knock on the door to show us things - nice family, nice kids.

They came on Saturday to ask if they could blow and rake our leaves! At a price, of course!

(The eldest is not in the photo. They had lots of trouble in achieving the first baby.... and then, suddenly, there were four!)

So, it's not really child labour....

Our Syrians

On Saturday, I took a van load of belongings to their new house in Ureterp - about 8kms away.

They have been given (by the Local Council) new furniture, including fridge, washing machine, microwave, couches, etc., etc.  The full works, so they are almost settled!

I still have to find and fit a door, but that is not urgent. We'll do the last of the moving on Monday - and then send our bill to the Council! We haven't heard anything of another family - by rights, we should have already had two. When they first asked us it was oh, so urgent. In the 12 months(!) that it took to get it organised, the urgency seems to have disappeared.

I put this plaster wall in 

and showed Achmed what he had to do to fill the screw holes. He is 17 and very polite and helpful. They've been in the Netherlands for more than 12 months now and their Dutch should be better. They could all do with a bit of a rocket to get on top of it.

One of our clients came to help

From the News

Just a little snippet that I thought was interesting. A Dutch Documentary looking at "the" election ( a Horror story in the making?) went to New Orleans to look at the poverty and other issues.

People at or below the Poverty Line number at just over 19%

For America in general the number is 14%

In the Netherlands it is 7%

And Ben in Hong Kong...

The Great Gatsby (Party)

(There was a Police Raid at the premises - everybody had to sit still and show their ID cards - Ben doesn't know what it was about - presumably looking for someone).

A visit to Monkey Mountain

Week 42 Think of a number....and Double It

Week 42

Walking

I'm (luckily) hardly ever sick but I came down with Man Flu...... also lucky that it was the end of the week, so I could simply "go to bed".

Around the Farm

Finished the front of the chookshed.

Just in time for Janny's Dad's Birthday prezzie..(the (ex-wine) barrel).

Four Wives!

Some things get lost in translation. I mentioned to one of the Syrian's friends that I had kids and grandkids in Australia - just making conversation. The next day our man Ali came and asked me "you have wife in Australia, yes?" - ah no, an ex-wife and kids and grandkids, etc... He then said "In Damascus, I can have 4 wives - but I have only one". I mumbled something about "one being more than enough" and left it at that.

A couple of other things occurred that made me wonder about the cultural differences...

I was in their apartment where they have non-stop Arabic on the TV - via  a tablet and You Tube sent to the TV via wifi. There was a film about  Abdul Nasser and the crowd scenes were what I think of as so very typical - not a woman in sight!. So I asked Ali - why are there no women in the streets? - "Ah, no, no, at home, in the kitchen!". He had a smile, but I don't think he was joking.

I listen to the Economist every week, time permitting. One story that struck a nerve this week was about sex-education for migrants - ie young men. Even showing them how to put on a condom rated a mention as it was the source of much nervous tittering. As older teens and young men, they are not permitted to talk to the young women - so even that "norm" has to be taught here. The best line was when they were shown photos of women in fancy clothes - they have to learn that it is "simply a means of self-expression, not an invitation".

Hunting for Vintage

We're probably too late now, because it is very much the "in" thing......resulting in the "think of a number....and double it" ....to arrive at the price!

Janny dragged me out of bed and we had a look, anyway. A lot of the stuff seemed to come out of old Russian or Chechoslovakian factories......Eastern Bloc, at least. Good luck to them; they have obviously gone to a lot of trouble to collect it all....but oh!, those prices!

Meanwhile, Ben's Study

They had another typhoon warning, which gave Ben an extra day to study for an exam. Yes, he is managing to squeeze in some schoolwork...

This one resulted in a lot of rain. The following "dedication to one's daily coffee" photo went viral - the chap drinking his coffee despite the place being flooded!

Not much worse than that according to Ben, and the following day back to normal. His group went to dinner at this restaurant.

Inside the restaurant....

Oh, by the way, "I'm going to Tokyo........"