The neighbors keep telling me how much I missed, snow-wise, and how it's "all gone now" but by that I think they mean it's off the streets, hehe. No, it's receding slowly but my field and hang were deep with it (6 inches) even though neighboring fields and right next door was already showing green. Last night, however, it rained all night, and today it rained all day. This little leak in our roof dripping into a bucket about drove me insane, and I couldn't sleep til 2 and got up at my usual time now of 4:30 AM. The other day my man and I both were up and alive at 5 so we played Dominion (2009 game of the year).
Mercer trying to walk in snow.
This is my visa which we are in the process of renewing permanently. They test you to see if you are still married, if you have enough money to not burden Germany, and if you have commited any crimes in the last 3 years before granting the visa.
They want to make sure we are not faking our marriage to better my circumstances. The irony of this is deep to me as an American. I think next photo next week, less lipstick.***
The grass that is showing is squelching, that is the only word for it. It has been under snow for so long it is flattened and even a person walking across it leaves muddy tracks, so you can imagine what a hoof does. Every bit of green that shows up is a happy thing, but a shocking one to see the state of the grass. There are actually puddles in the grass, the earth just cannot accept any more water.
Our creek is flooding and what is normally a less-than-one meter wide creek is now a raging 5 meter wide one. It comes right up to and around the Tposts and I thought, "Hm, I know we did not build our fence that close to the creek! There is also a natural spring in our field which has turned into its own creek, raging down grey and mad, and joining the other. The trout ponds are holding so far. Hang in there fishies!
I love that the rain barrels have defrosted and I can rinse Baasha's buckets in them again, and use the greenhouse runoff for watering him. Yah, the horse is a mud-pie, thoroughly disgusting, but MUD IS BETTER THAN SNOW!
I love snow but this deep snow and ice made it impossible for my horse to even walk around - he basically spent the last 3 weeks standing outside his barn, and it was too dangerous for Sonja to take him for walks.
Why is he standing outside? *sigh* He does not like his new barn. It is dark and needs insulation - it sounds kind of hollow in there. I think he sees it as a big horse trailer so I don't blame him. His priorities have changed drastically - he used to feel a drop of rain and run for shelter - now he just stands out in it. Aarene showed us her ceiling insulation and we contacted the manufacturer of our barn and will be adding something - the condensation is really a problem when there is a foot of snow on the roof (LOR asked about this last month). We feed him in there so he has to be inside if he wants to eat, and that works. We switch between his two winter turnout blankets so that he's not wearing a heavy waterlogged one. We're thinking of putting in solar lights and maybe even cutting windows if possible. We used to have the problem that Baasha loved his stall too much (stalls become security blankets to single horses), but it's all changed now. Tonight I locked the door and he has to spend the night in there. It could be worse - he could be fretting and stall walking and weaving and chewing, I tell myself.
***
Norbert came by with the terrier and said, "Oh you really missed it, you know we had icicles on our house that were 1 meter 30! I said "You measured of course?" "Of course!" He'd never seen icicles like that in 40 years of living here. He excitedly told me the story of how our road shut down due to a snowplow getting stuck in our ditch. He asked me why I was out in a Tshirt but I explained "I've been sweeping our driveway and I was sweating!"
Then Petra came by with the terrier (that dog is so lucky, he gets several walks per day). She told me of the snow chaos that we missed. She told me Eisenberg lost his entire horsefence to the snow. I had trouble speaking German and kept using words like "because" instead of "weil." Gee I hope the German comes back.
***
Today a lady came by to check out our place to see about keeping her pony here. I am totally, totally wary after our last experience, and told her how badly it went - how the owners didn't feel the retiree deserved an appropriate level of care, and how the pony would attack Baasha. I decided to go to her place in Solingen Saturday to see the pony and watch how she cares for her other horses. I'm praying about this situation.
***
I finally called that company back that I did intensive interviews last month with, after not getting the job they wanted to provide feedback. How unsettling is it to make that call and say, "Please tell me why you didn't want me?" but it went OK; she told me what I expected to hear - I seemed uncertain if I wanted the job. That was true, I was honest, I expressed my hesitation when they asked me if I had any. But one very encouraging thing happened, which made the call worthwhile. She said that of all the candidates my work quality was the best - their top choice. Woo! I've still got it! (Companies in Germany make you do several hours or days of work, unpaid, to see if you qualify--it's part of the interview process.) In case you are curious why I was uncertain about this job - I would have been the only technical writer - all alone, my own project manager, with no team, nor TW manager to bounce ideas with. That made me totally uneasy and although I knew I could have done the job, I knew the endless status meetings would have driven me nuts. She told me that if/when they ever need to add to the team, they'd like my permission to consider me again. I said "On a team there, I know I'd be happy." I admit I'm pretty insecure after not working for 3, almost 4 years in my field. But my passion and the basics are still in my head - my devotion to make user documentation easy and clear for users. I can do it - I just need to find it, an English position in a foreign land, not common.
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6 comments:
First - I loved the Dandy story - I just wandered away before I hit submit on my comment!
Your passport/visa photos look better than mine! You're appropriately somber. You look very Teutonic and stable. Someone who would be a boon to Germany. ;)
I would love to hear what works to help Baasha like his new stall. Dixie doesn't like her run in, and I'm going to open it up some and see if that helps her. She also used to be a stall princess - how funny that they both stand in the sleet now.
It's probably a great sign that you're mixing up German and English. I bet it means you're not thinking as hard about translating in your head.
First thing: Mercer in the snow = hilarious. Puzzle is laughing his stripes off.
Second thing: passport photos = hilarious. You look sober but stoned. But at least you look human, which is more than can be said for my most recent enhanced driver's license photo.
Third thing: not liking the stall = hilarious. Fiddle's advice: "PUT THE FOOD IN THERE." She can't imagine anybody ever willing to leave a place where there is food.
But srsly, I hope you get the moisture thing figured. There's a water cycle in my TRAILER right now, argh.
funder, i look even more teutonic now, sad to say, after eating yummy american food for 3 weeks. scary that i have to get a new passport photo looking like i do now: ( about the german/english - i still do a little translating in my head but i've been here long enough to think in german, depending on the content. when i speak english to my man it's funny cuz i use german words for things in most of the sentences cuz they are at the top of my brain. but i had to tell a lady to slow down on the phone today, i'm a long way from being fluent. and about dixie's shelter - do you feed her in there?
aarene - GOOD NEWS! today baasha chose to stand in the stall to get out of the pouring rain. he wasn't eating at the time, either. i was so pleased! maybe being locked in there for the last 24 hours reminded him of the usefulness of a shelter?
lytha - no, she doesn't eat in there. Hmm...
She gets a cup of ration balancer. I have to hold the bucket while she eats it, lest the goats come steal it. Takes maybe 2 minutes for her to eat it and lick the bucket. Then their hay feeder is out in the open, near the shelter - I don't want to mount it on the wall inside, because the little baby goats stand underneath and behind it to eat.
I am thinking about switching to small-mesh hay bags. I could hang one inside the shelter and one on the outside corner of it. It's kinda complicated feeding mini-goats with horses. :-/
Yay for Baasha hanging out in his stall!
Good to have you home....how was your visit? Did you bring back lots of goodies? That is good news about the job I hope they call you when they have a team. Have you thought about teaching English? Our neighbor in Germany was from Canada and he taught privately and in Adult classroom. Hope your jet lag subsides soon...sucks to be up in the middle of night ! Have a great weekend!
I wondered how you were faring with the jet lag. I'm not sure exactly how many hours from here to there but I know it's a bunch.
Sounds like maybe Baasha is getting the right idea about his new barn. That's a good thing. Although I am wondering how you have turnout blankets that are getting wet. Those things are supposed to be waterproof, aren't they?
Odd they are worried you are pretending to be married to stay there. I guess they don't get you love it here. As for passport photos, I've never gone that route but they look just like DL photos to me. Those things always suck and I swear they pay those people extra if they can get a particularly ugly shot. I agree about less lipstick, BTW.
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