Jan - Feb 2009

OK, I've been requested to do a photo summary of 2009 as a way of ressurecting the blog, so here goes.

Most of January and Febuary were spent in Hatfield with Mrs VL doing a 6 week placement with the Royal Veterinary College. Other than Kid sister relieving me for 1 week, I was left in charge of first born son. We had a fair few visitors, t'was good to see you all. Here are some mostly baby related photo's from the time in Engalnd.

Many thanks to N,F and P for the loan of the cot, high chair and quite a few other bits and bobs, toys and so on. FBS was very happy with it all.

Daddy was not always as cheerfull as his son, especially when his main form of transport got a puncture and he didn't have a spare.....

With the Galleria shopping outlet centre just across the road and very little else worth mentioning in Hatfield, there was plenty of shopping trips.

London Son was very kind to turn up with his wheels every so often (and rent a car seat for a period). Here they are flying on a trip to the highly reckomended RAF Hendon Museum.

The other big news early in the year was the arrival of a new (Norwegian) Cousin for FBS, here he is with cousin and the happy new mum.

And finally, a summary of Jan and Feb wouldn't be complete without a photo of FBS, Mrs VL and Peggy in the Snow (back in Norway)

Kris-Kindle 2009

I've been requested by various family members to get my finger out of my proverbial and ressurect the blog to get started on this year's round of Kris Kindle hints.

The draw, untraditionally, was made in Garfunkels Cafe on Trafalgar Square, with surprisingly all Kris-Kindle couples represented. This draw is normally undertaken by a neutral party, which makes ensuring that you don't get either yourself or who you had last year somewhat easier than when you pull the names out of the hat. After about 15 attempts everyone was happy (apart from TOCO, who after getting a name that he was happy with first time round, announced he had a plane to catch and sodded off).

So, same rules as last year and it seems that Kris-Kindle has neither been hit by inflation or the financial crises. Presents are still to be to the value of 100Euros or as near as possible, with Kid Sis and London Son, who are still classed as a couple, getting a 50Eur pesent each. I haven't quite worked out if the strong Norwegian krone works in our favour or not...... As ever, who is buying for who is secret.

So Kris-Kindle members and interested parties, fire up those internet lines and get hinting, suggesting, abusing, wise-cracking, composing or whatever else comes to mind. I'm getting my brain in gear to make sure I get a head start on my wife........

Winter Challenges #1

With the spring sun warming and melting the snow, I should be outside trying to get the David Brown out of the Barn, charging the battery on the Spitfire or otherwise preparing for the fast approaching spring/summer.

However, I'm stuck inside, drugged up, with a rather nasty ear infection, so I'll blog about the winter instead.

It's been a pretty heavy winter. There's been a lot of snow and although it's warming up now, there's still a fair bit left. One of the serious problems that the country faces with heavy snow fall is the weight on the roofs. Most sloped roofs are designed to withstand many tons and, with a little bit of warmth, what's up there slides off (presenting it's own danger). Half of the old barn just up from us has collasped recently.

"What's up there" did all slide off our roof, and all in one go. Not only filling the not long cleared path to the front door with tonnes of heavy and compact snow, but also landing on top of the already heavy car port roof. Something had to be done, it was amazing that it took the impact and additional weight and we couldn't risk any more on top of what was already there.

So, yours truly had no option but to get up there and dig it all off.

Getting up there was more getting out there as the snow was up to the level of the guest room window.

The snow was pretty hard packed so it needed breaking up before it could be pushed/shovelled off.

It wasn't long before I had no more problems retrieving any equipment that happenned to slide off. It was pretty easy to get back up without going through the house!

I can tell you that this was an enourmous, unplanned and physical job. First time in 4 winters that I've had to do it though.

Top Hat

The problem of a wet and moldy roof came to light with the installation of 3 double florescent tubes in the loft. In Norwegain houses, because of prolonged freezing temperatures, the sewer pipe and vent is internal and not external as it is in England.

Our vent, as you can see from this picture, stopped just under the roof in the loft. This, during the cold weather led to large amounts of condensation on the wooden boards that are the base of the roof and also explained the smell in the loft!

The solution to this problem is to feed the vent pipe through the roof and insulate the extra pipe in the roof. We decided to go for the "top hat" option, and quite a large one at that. This will give us space for air ducts from planned ventilation fans in the bathroom and toilet, both badly needed.

Our neighbour, The Real Farmer and also a joiner by trade, had offered to fit this for us as part of our continuous competances exchange policy (this time I paid by a complete re-install on his sons very sick computer). Rather him than me, especially on a cold Sunday in January.

If I'd done it we'd probably ended up with a hole in our roof for weeks,

but he completed the job in a couple of hours leaving for me to simply buy the neccesary pipe and fittings and install them

The pipe is now also insulated but still held up by a bit of rope, awaiting a more permanant installation when I install the ventillation for the bath and the toilet.

The roof is also looking a lot better now that it's dried out a bit, looks like we've caught it in time. Once it warms up a bit we'll paint a coat of anti mould on it and it should survive for many years to come.

"Aaaaasia"

Sorry about the abscence, there's been plenty to write about, plenty of photos to post (mostly of the cute baby variety) and some progress on projects although the downstairs floor is still not insulated. I'm sure there's an excuse and I promise to make it up!

Anyway, to the point. Those of you in the know will know that Asia is one of our Bengal cats, and those of you very much in the know will know that if there's trouble going on it's most likely Asia that's behind it. During FBSs early days I jokingly said that his first word would be Asia or more likely "AAAAAsia" which is how you say it when she's doing something she shouldn't!

It seems that I wasn't that wrong. He does, already, make a good attempt at "Mamma", "Daddy" and "ello" and you get a kind of a "ank oo" when you give him something, but today, he came out with a very clear (in a baby clear sort of way) "Asia" whilst he was waving a cat toy in front of her nose.

Christmas Message 2008

As expected, our lives have changed significantly in 2008. Going from being a married couple to a family has brought it's challenges and with them incredible joy.



Our son, Une, was born on April the 9th without complications. A quick labour and a healthy baby weighing 4.27Kgs. Since then, as I'm sure with all babies, he's developed quickly. Now it's full speed over the floor, opening drawers and emptying their contents, finding his way into the dogs water bowl, eating us out of house and home and so on.

Norway has an excellent Maternity/Paternity support system, which has allowed us to share 10 Months of leave with more or less full pay, this finishes in February 2009. Mari took the first 4 months (apart from 2 weeks when she was on a course and I was full time daddy) and after that we've been sharing 50/50. I can't say it's always been easy, but I feel very priviledged to have been able to spend so much time with my son in the early days. It's also been good for Mari to be able to follow up on her PhD and Masters without loosing out too much.

Other than the baby, my new job is going well. There's been a bit of travelling but nothing too much. This year I've been to Morocco and Saudi amongst other places. Mari's Phd keeps her very busy, but she is enjoying the change and the challenges of it.

We had a big family holiday in a nearby chalet (on an island) before the Christning, it was great to have everybody in one place again. Also, this year hasn't been completely without some progress on various projects in the garden and the house. We stripped out and put new panelling and ceiling up before decorating the baby room, I've now got 2 functioning tractors (never knew how I managed with just one) and a "field" to use them in. All this and more can be found written earlier in the blog and on More-power for the mechanically interested.

Wishing all a merry christmas and all the best for 2009.

Down in the Basement - Part 1

Some weeks ago, we had a couple of mates visiting who, in exchange for good food and company were put to hard work in the basement.

When this house was built in 1952, dried Clay was used as an insulation means between the basement and the house above. This was filled in on top of the ceiling before the floor boards were laid.

Whilst this does insulate to some extent, it is not as good as modern insulation and it invariably sinks leaving an air gap and hence, cold floors. This job has always been on the cards, and having a little one crawling about seemed like an important reason to do something about it.

So, once our guests had removed all the internal walls, shelves and so on,

leaving a clear (ish) working area.

We did our best to seal up the other half of the basement, got our PPE on (it's incredibly dusty work) and set to work.

The pile of timber at the end of the basement grew,

As did the clay in the trailer.

and after 7 hours, with one break for a drink and a new set of overalls and masks the job was done.

After an estimated 4 tons of clay was carried out of the basement and that's only half of it, I am truly grateful and in debt to my assistants, they worked heroically and once we had decided that we would get the job done, they wern't going to leave without doing it. All thanks and credit to them.

Saying that, I think I'm going to have to find someone else to help with the other half, I'm not sure they be so keen to visit again if that's on the menu!!

Kris Kindle 2008

I've had requests to get the 2008 Kris Kindle advertising started, so here it is, get advertising......

We havn't recieved our letter yet, I will write some more blurb when we do. I am, however, led to believe that we are working in pairs as per last year.....

Update 29th November:

Well, our letter was waiting for me when I got back from a week in the middle east, and it seems the rules are unchanged from last year. It's couples again, and one assumes that everybody knows who they're buying for now. 100 Euros is the limit and those buying for Kid Sister and London Son, obviously, are to buy 2 seperate presents.

So, that's that, we all need adverts, nobody's got a clue what to get their chosen couple, and we havn't got a clue what we want, all suggestions greatfully recieved..........

My First - Part One.

Ok, way behind with baby reports, so here's a set of FBS's first in picture form! As you can see he's worked out to look at the camera!

My First High Chair

(Taken: 25/09/08)

My First Fruit Puree

(Taken: 25/09/08)

My First Underwater Photo

(Taken: 3/10/08)

My First Reading Session with Farfar

(Taken: 5/10/08)

My First PPE

(Taken: 1/11/08)

Coming up in part 2, my first banana (if I can find the photo), trip under the fridge, pub lunch and much more......

Pumpkins.

It's already down to 2.9 Degrees out there and threatning to freeze tonight, so I made the snap decision not to take the chance and to harvest the 2 pumpkins that have been allowed to mature down in the veg patch.

The largest of them has weighed in at 30Kg or 4 Stone 10lbs in old money, and needed a wheel barrow for transportation, although even that was a struggle.

The assistant gardener's been so impressed that he's decided to have a go himself next year, and we'll be competing for the largest specimen. I've already got some dutch seeds that are the worlds largest variety, from which the 690Kg world record pumpkin was grown. We'll both be using these seeds and now, we've got a good benchmark.

6 weeks in

Well, a slight drop in salary indicates that I have now completed my mandatory 6 weeks of "Daddy Leave". I did 2 weeks in early July, and we've been working 50% each since the beginning of August.

That means that I have been at home, alone with First Born Son for a total of 30 Days already. Despite this, every day feels like the first! Not because it's a fight, or because of dread or fear(although it is a challenge), just because time flies and every day is different.

So, 6 weeks in, but a way to go, we continue on 50% each until the end of February 2009. I really do feel privileged to have this opportunity that not many men have and I really am enjoying getting to know my son as he grows and develops (at a rate of knots!).

A random baby photo for those of you who expect and demand them.

The Field, Part 3 - Looking Good.

There was no way that we were going to be able to use all the field this year, especially with having already planted pototoes else where, so the tactic that we decided upon was limited planting under plastic and to harrow the unused ground often enough to keep the worst of the weeds away.

As you can see, the plan has worked pretty well. I've driven over the the harrow about every 2 weeks. Not only has this kept the weeds done, it's also broken up the cow muck, improving the look of the soil.


Growing under plastic looks to be an excellent idea, and will most likely become a regular feature in the field. Here you can see, a pumpkin, a courgette (which we are now enjoying) and Sweetcorn, which looks promising.

I'm very pleased with the results, it's a big change for the pile of rubble that was there 3 years ago, and it's given me the possibility to really use my tractors! Mechanised farming is the future.

Mint Garden, Part 2 - The Mint Steps

So, the mint garden has been taking shape, in a hap-hazard bit here, bit there sort of way. As it's expanded a plan has started to form and being on a bank, it will needs some steps.


The plan is to build some steps down the gap between the Mint and the Red Currant and then a path longways along the bank with mint on both sides, above and below. I've been watching the neighbour preparing the area for his new cow shed and eyeing up some of the more step like stones.

A couple of weeks back, the real farmer was up there with his digger and I had the oppurtunity to fecth a couple of fine specimens. FBS got his first ride in a tractor, I was looking after him and life must go on, projects must continue!


So, two fine steps, I'll need a good few more, and the David brown to help put them in place (so they'll stay where they are until the Potatoes are havested). The real farmers going to start blasting rock soon, hopefully a few more like these will turn up.

Taking to the Bottle.

I've had complaints, that there's too much Garden and not enough Baby on here. Apologies, I've got the whole summer to catch up on.

We started our first week of 50% leave each this week, Mrs VL went back to work on Monday, leaving me and FBS up to our own devices. Today, after three days at home this week, I'm writing this from the KLM lounge in Amsterdam, on my way towards 2 weeks in the middle eastern heat. So much for 50%, we'll make up for it when I get back.

An important part of keeping the little guy in good form is, oddly enough, getting the right amount of food in at the right times. Not having food on tap, this provides a certain challenge! Almost since birth, we have applied a policy of not letting more than a day go by without giving him a feed from the bottle. Mrs Vl has pumped dedicatedly and we have a stash in the freezer.

Not long before D-Day, our first day alone, FBS became increasing and worryingly difficult with the bottle. Fortunately, we've found the problem. It seems he's as determined and decided as his Mum and Dad put together. The answer was simple, he was going to "feed himself" from now on. He needs a fair bit of guidance, but he holds the bottle, often manages to position the teat in his mouth, and if he's hungry manages to hold it in one position once he gets milk out.

We've had no problems since, as long as he feels he's in control, everything is well.

The Field, Part 2 - Ploughing and Harrowing

With the tree chopped down, that left us with a tree stump to move and the area to level out.

After fruitless hours of hard digging and root cutting and broken chains whilst trying to pull the stump out, the real farmer came up with a suggestion. Why not wait until he was passing in his digger and he'd whip the stump out in a jiffy.

It pays to have friends with equipment, within a few weeks the tree root was up, over 40 tons of soil and 20 cubic meters of cow muck had been added and the area was more or less levelled.

So, suddenly we had a big flat area ready for the next phase. Preparing the soil.



As you can see from the videos, the first efforts of Ploughing and Harrowing were not straight forward, the ground was far from flat and also quite soft in places. The tractor ended up at worrying angles all too often and the large quantities of fresh cow muck we're more inclined to build up on the plough and harrow than be broken up into bits.



By the end of these first attempts, things looked somewhat better, the area was close to acceptbly level and looked something like a prepared field.

The "Field", Part 1 - April/May 2008

Big (little) Sis came to visit a couple of weeks after the birth of FBS. As well as support us, giving us lots of valuable experienced mother tips and help with FBS, she was also put to good use outside.

The field concept started when I began to see the advantages and neccesity of mechanised farming. It has become clear that a minimasation of pyhsical effort is a must if we are to succeed with the production of "bulk" vegetables needed, such as spuds.

Naturally enough, if one is to drive a tractor one needs an open, flat(ish) area to do so on. The area I had chosen, happened not to be flat and had a tree in the middle of it! What better job for b(l)s than aiding with the removal of said tree


With a quick zip from the chainsaw and a helping shove from the tractor, the tree was down in no time.


The tree was quickly dealt with, chopped up into 40cm long logs and split as required,


giving b(l)s the oppurtunity to see the advantages of hydraulic, reather than axe, powered wood splitting.


B(L)S also had a chance to try out the DB, a step up from their Fergie 20, dare I say, whilst we worked on splitting and stacking some more wood. An excellent weekend, many thanks to b(l)s for the help. A big step forward.