Friday 21^st of march

We thought the storm would be over by now, however this was unfortunately not the case. Yesterday the weather was tolerable, some strong winds and rain here and there but today the weather got worse again. At the end of the morning Jan decided to slip outside. 2 days inside was enough for him. After lunch we worked on the blog en made ready for the next day. After dinner the winds started blowing again and the rain picked up its pace. Jan was nowhere to be found so we went looking for him each half an hour, shaking his food bowl hoping he would react to the sound. Around 11 o’clock Megan walked around the premises of the house we are staying at through heavy winds and rain, however no trace of Jan was found. Megan slowly lost hope that he would come back for the night and we really had to go to bed by this point in time.

Saturday 22^nd of march

Megan slept horribly and could hardly get out of bed. We felt like everything was working against us at this moment. There was not a lot we could do at the moment due to the storm, Jan (hopefully) was walking somewhere outside and we have slept terribly for the last 3 nights. In the morning there still was no sign of Jan and we had to take everything with us to go and get groceries. We actually had to go yesterday but chose to wait for the winds to calm down. During the drive to the store we saw fallen trees, power and phone poles, but (luckily) no Jan on the side of the road. Even after we returned there still was no Jan to be found. Megan did something for herself to take her mind off of things while Bryan was doing some work. When dinner time came Megan was preparing herself for the worst…. Until Jan showed up just after dinner, meowing at the door almost offended that his food wasn’t ready yet, like nothing was wrong. He just had a day and a half trip like an irresponsible teenager. Finally we slept decently again with Jan next to us in bed.

Sunday 23^rd of march

Today the weather finally settled and there were no more harsh winds, so after complaining the entire morning we let Jan outside again. Our task today was cleaning, because we finally had a good nights rest and some energy to spend again. In the afternoon we had tea time with the family we are staying at, discussing the events of the last days and the missing Jan. We chose to go by bicycle to get some things we forgot from the supermarket. After we had dinner and Jan was yet again not showing up just like a teenager instead of a cat. Which seemed only more of the case because when he did come home around half past 11, he was drunk… we assume he had drunk water in which rotting fruit was fermenting and created alcohol. He was pretty unstable and out of it. So as punishment he had to stay inside a few days to detox.

Monday 24^th of march

Today Jan stays inside as punishment for coming home drunk. Unfortunately for him we had to go grocery shopping again, so he came with. Just as meowing as usual on our way to the Lidl. Unfortunately there are no gluten free options there, so we went to the other side of the street where the Continente was located. After that it was time to do the laundry at the Intermache. Unfortunately there was only one washing machine available and should we have waited for another hour because the people before us chose to use the dryer on a long program for more than an hour, but we chose to just hang the wet laundry and let it air dry. When we got home we got a call from Bryan’s family because it was the birthday of his grandma, so we congratulated them and chatted for a bit, catching up on recent events. Afterwards we went to bed early so we could work the next day full of energy.

Tuesday 25^th of march

The past week we were dressed in long trousers, sweaters and jackets so once we stepped outside in this attire, we were pleasantly surprised with the warmth of the sun. After about an hour of shoveling dirt and pulling weeds we were left in a t-shirt and rolled up trousers. Jan was allowed outside again so we didn’t see hem for the rest of the day. After lunch we were properly warmed up by both the work and the sun, so we continued until about 3 o’clock and drank some tea afterwards. During tea time Bryan discovered that his skin was turning red and put on some sun screen. We didn’t expect it yesterday that we would need sunscreen this fast because of the somber weather of the last few days. In the afternoon Bryan stayed inside while Megan look at the room museum Fender had made. After diner Megan took some picture of the surrounding landscape and nature with her camera. When she came back, we applied some after sun and prepared for bed. Just as we were done Jan showed up so that he could join us for the night.

Wednesday 26^th of march

In the morning we discovered that we were more burned than we initially thought, so today we properly applied sunscreen from the start of the day, or so we thought. Megan sheered the grass, yes sheered, with a large sheering device. The difficult corners and edges that a normal lawn mower could not reach. Bryan helped Frank and Denise with shoveling more dirt, transporting it and leveling it. We found an insect that we didn’t know. It turned out to be a Mole cricket and now we know what we hear every night. Just before the afternoon we ignited the bonfire filled with lawn clippings and clippings from around the garden. If you want to do something like that you will have to apply for a permit first before you are allowed to do so. After lunch we continued for a little while and stopped early due to the sun and the bonfire. We were all practically sunburned even though Bryan applied it almost religiously. The evening was mostly spent by relaxing and miraculously Jan was home around 8 o’clock.

Thursday 28^th of march

After 2 days of baking in the full sun we decided to stay out of the sun for today and let our sunburned skin heal for a little bit. Jan was, like usual, out and about from the moment our door opened for the first time that day. We stayed inside and spent our time with a mixture of working and being annoyed at our sunburns. In the afternoon Megan her hives started acting up and stopped because it became difficult to concentrate. In the evening we didn’t do much until we heard a cat fight just outside the camper. Jan found a street cat while waiting outside the door and they didn’t really like each other. Jan scurried away when we stepped outside to interfere, however he luckily came back later that evening and this time without any fighting.