Breakin' the law(s)

..on a Sunday, making noise.
I tried to finish the wall last night but the drill ran out of power. Somehow our drill is working again, right when I really need it. We built a removable divider wall in the stall so that Baasha can be separated from his donkey until he's relaxed around her. My husband ordered the wood from a neighbor who works at a construction company. I didnt' realize he'd ordered the exact same wood the stall is made of, wow! It's got a fancy name but I cannot remember it. Some sort of coated pressboard that they use to build semi trailers. This little wall will end up costing over 150E, but it does look very nice and should be kick resistant. It matches the width of the stall walls - 2.2cm.

I tried so hard to build this thing without his help, but drilling through a wall, trying to drill into a post on the other side, is impossible without a helper leaning on the post.

So this morning, Sunday, my man and I took turns leaning on posts, and drilling. My measurements were for crap, and I wish so much I'd measured three times instead of twice. Oh well.

I went to the hardware store yesterday to get longer screws, ratchet type so we can get them really tight the last few turns. I only broke one of them in half while ratcheting.

I had to put in another safety wooden threshold as well; cutting rubber mats is so tedious.

After the posts were in, we tried to get the wall pieces in, but oops, we both screwed up this time - we'd only measured the bottom width of the stall, not realizing that Baasha has been kicking the walls out at night while rolling, so the upper part of the walls is 1.5cm closer together. Ugh, I wanted to avoid this, but I got to learn to use the jigsaw finally. I made some wavy lines at first, but it's good. I didn't realize how loud those things are and needed earplugs. That's when I knew I was breaking the law, making noise on a Sunday!

We finally put the slats in and it seems taller than 120CM but it's OK, both animals will be able to hang their heads over. BTW, Bellis' wither height is 110CM so I think this will be fine. (FYI, Baasha is 150CM.)

Baasha didn't seem too thrilled about cutting his stall in half. It's really not quite big enough to be two stalls, so I hope the wall is only temporary. We took it down as soon as we proved it works. We'll just use it as needed.

***

Another mole hill popped up in the front yard this morning. I excitedly set my trap. I am confident I can have a mole-free front yard. The pasture and paddock are up for grabs. Soon Carsten will be dragging our field, smashing them down flat.

I did the gardening I'd wanted to do today - just removing old dead things to make room for the new, when things decide to grow again. We do have buds on some bushes and that is very exciting. Some daffodils are up, but not too many yet.

In Germany leading up to Easter there is a tradition of putting colorful plastic eggs in your trees and bushes, to foreshadow the colors that will eventually occur. Or maybe there is a background to this that I don't know.

For 5 years I've thought it was quaint but not something I'd do - I generally do not change my house/yard for the seasons/holidays with the exception of Christmas. But this year I just had to do it. I needed color! The drugstore had the ones I wanted with some swirls of color. So cute!

See how German I am?

***

Speaking of that, me being More German than German, I washed and waxed the car today, including rain-x-ing it and dusting and washing the door jambs and basically everything, interior and out. It goes in Monday to get a new bumper cuz someone hit us and even though I won't be driving it for a while, I can't stand a dirty car.

I had forgotten how much nicer it looks when I wash it by hand as opposed to those self-service (wash it yourself) places. Not just the parts I waxed, but everything looks better, probably due to the waxy soap we have, and the details I can get to with my mitt.

I guess I should admit this is illegal too, washing a car in your driveway is a big no-no. That is why I don't always wash it here, I sometimes try to obey the law.

I did not photograph the clean car so here are some pics of Baasha licking the post. What kind of metal is that, I wonder, some sort of aluminum? That doesn't sound tasty.

***

To show you proof that Baasha's a bread-eating horse, here's his mash from the other day. I guess that's not proof he ate it, you'll have to trust me. We give him all our bread-ends. This is the typical hard seedy German bread that's so wonderful.

***

Did I mention I recently found AFN (American Forces Network) radio? It has made me so happy to hear American radio again, esp with the two call-in talk shows in the evenings, and All Things Considered. The witty banter in the morning makes me feel right back home again. And I haven't heard anyone say "The weather, 56 degrees Saturday!" using Fahrenheit in Germany ever. This morning they played the top 20 Christian pop/rock hits - is that legal on a non-religious radio station? What about the other religions represented by the armed forces? Hm. Also I feel it helps me keep up on my native language - I've already heard a few current words I didn't know. One other thing I love is hearing from our military abroad. I am curious about our overseas activities and kind of miss seeing military in general. I'm too far from a base to reap any benefit (American food) but I can at least listen to this radio station. Wonderful!