Solar Power

On the evening walk was surprised to find the grass drying unit at Sontheim had started production today. The evening was calm as can be seen in the vertical steam cloud. I still don't know enough about the "factory" and what methods they use to generate the heat but I suspect a large proportion is from renewable energy, there being a large field of PV units and an organic gas unit alongside the buildings. After the walk, quickly drove over to see the activity. Seemingly only one farmers load still to do and I suspect within a few hours they had closed down for the night.

I can't quite understand why anyone would have cut grass today as the snow had badly bent the relatively long grass. While the process of drying and making pellets means the grass is chopped up, I would have thought the initial mowing of the heavy went bent grass would make the collection off the field quite difficult.

Still don't quite agree with this use of energy, even though the vet had yesterday in a chat with Angie, praised grass pellets in general as a feed for horses, especially if one can get a batch with low sugar. Certainly from a dust point of view, with horses generally very sensitive lungs, it is a godsend but it does have the disadvantage that they don't have to chew, a process which is good for the teeth but also produces the saliva that is needed in the stomach for digestion. We buy a few hundredweight each year and feed a handful in winter, except to Sutan who always seems to get colic symptoms. For our OAP Asyr, it is also helpful as with his 30 years, his teeth are no longer the best and he can't grind grass so well.

Like the fields of bent grass and dandelions, kept finding poor plants in the garden which had suffered. Not catastrophic but the Bleeding Heart in particular took a knock. The bees though were very active by midday when the temperature got in to double figures. Much warmer day but still a bit cool.

Post arrived - a letter from the German Car Licensing Authority. I got a letter from them just a few weeks ago to say there was another recall on my 14 year old Jeep, again something to do with airbags. Told to get it done in 4 months (free of charge) or else it would be banned from the road. Means another day wasted and the hassle of getting it to a dealer for the approx. 2 hours of work.

So was a bit concerned about another one, especially as the Authority are also the one that maintains the register of motoring law offenders and the dreaded counters of fines and penalty points. Luckily in 26 years I have never received a point but perhaps I had now been photographed or reported, perhaps for my missing brake light! So was a nice surprise to read they simply wanted to inform me that the government was still sponsoring, with 260 Euros, the retro-fit of diesel filters to older cars. I had wanted to do this for a while  but was told it only made sense when the entire exhaust system needed replacement. I have a feeling that before the last MOT, the garage had to weld a hole. I guess now with 14 years, it could make sense especially as it will reduce the annual car tax and also mean that I can drive the car in Munich and several of the cities where diesels without particle filters are banned. Just a day or two ago, Bliper Veloflor mentioned a link to the current discussion in the UK on such matters.

My DPD parcel arrived. I didn't get any communication overnight from them but logged myself in to the tracking system, a rather good one that (theoretically) shows on a map the location of the van, your house, how many deliveries before yours and the expected 30 minute delivery slot. Tracked it's progress from time to time but when it was two villages away it got stuck and despite the realtime updates, no progress for an hour. When the delivery slot passed, I began to panic, went indoors to get a better view on the PC screen rather than mobile and at that moment the van pulled up, two young well built lads jumped out. They looked too well built for me, so as Angie was on the terrace having a chat with passing fried Corinna, I let them deal with the matter and hid behind the curtains.

Five minutes later the car was fixed. All that hassle for a 2 Euro part.But just imagine you live in the middle of nowhere, have a car you can't use, no public transport, your have a chronic illness and/or are disabled. On the one hand we are spoilt by modern day methods and have come to rely on super fast service but on the other, these companies make promises and earn good money.

Rest of news - spent almost all day repairing various neglected and broken buried garden water pipes. Along with electricity, the entire property is a mass of undocumented, unmarked, unprotected pipes and cables. Turned out quite well but the overnight test with the pressure back on will tell if the three repair sites are sound. Then can try to level back the soil from three large holes. Just hope we don't have a serious overnight frost!