A repeat

Woke up to a winter wonderland. Niklas' work yesterday finely covered with icing sugar. However around 11 lives lost in Germany/Austria/Switzerland and a good deal of damage. Apparently one of the worst storms in last 30 years but unusual has been that it hit all Germany. Although the center over Denmark, Bavaria was particularly bad as the Alps squeezed the winds in to a sort of tunnel. As we hear more and more ..... very unusual for this time of year, a flood of a century, a drought of a millenium ...... anyone think there is anything changing in our climate patterns. Climate has always changed but was it so quickly, so extreme?

I didn't plan to use this as a Blip knowing I was going to Memmingen & Ottobeuren and would have the chance to catch up on yesterdays missed Tractor Tuesday Blip. On Monday the local main BayWa agricultural merchants had a colony of new Fendt tractors on the forecourt and the much smaller Ottobeuren branch was also overflowing. Will have to do BayWa another day as it has an interesting history and is THE key agricultural business in Germany both as supplier and buyer..

However the Memmingen forecourt was empty this afternoon, the photo of the yard with masses of equipment photographed during a sleet storm turned out to be too "busy". The sun and the parking of the equipment in front of the Ottobeuren workshop also turned out to be messy.

So I had to revert to this morning's repeat of yesterday. On the left the large tree which came to a rest by the pool was the dangerous one that luckily fell away from the house. On the far right at the bottom of the roofline, the tree that got closest and then another few trees in the center. The standing deciduous trees are on our property as are the trees in the far background running left to right. By the silage bales are two beech trees which were leaning anyway and were finally pushed over by spruces.

The entire property is full of leaves coming out of the forest as is the swimming pool and fish pond. Angie phoned the State forestry office in Ottobeuren yesterday to report the damage but I guess it will be some days before someone appears. Am a bit worried about the trees at 45° and hanging for the moment in other trees. Would be nice if they could at least fell the trees even if they can't clear them away. We also need to get the beeches cleared as they are blocking our way to the horse field outside the property.

The cats love the new climbing frames and makes their passages in to the forest much more fun than scaling wrought iron fences.

Sadly I wasn't at Memmingen airport today to pick up daughter Kate & family although when I was out walking the dogs, managed to catch a poor mobile phone photo of their plane on it's landing path. I hope they all get well soon and we will miss them at Easter.

However as Nigel (Nogbad) said on the phone this evening, trying to find the positives - hopefully they will manage to get over when the weather is better and perhaps use the pool rather than hunt Easter Eggs dressed in snowsuits. Even storm Niklas had it's upside with a record amount of electricity produced from wind and sun on Monday & Tuesday. Electricity production capacity is now over 50% from renewables, nuclear only 6% (still a long way to go on the energy issues but at least it's going the right way).

My trip to Memmingen was therefore just to the urologist. He has been dealing with me for about 10 years but I don't use him as much as I should. Never have regular checks and even worse, when I have a stone problem, I simply bypass him and go to A&E knowing he can't help when it's gone that far. He's a young doctor and one of the very very few I have ever been in contact with who treats the "person" rather than the "problem". He is also almost over cautious. He's still not happy with the bacteria and a bit concerned from the ultrasound that the one kidney and urether are not yet fully back to normal, so some tablets to take and he wants to work on a strategy of getting on top of the stone production problem - another visit on Tuesday to check up, have the blood sample results and left with the warning words to go straight to hospital if anthing unusual, fever etc breaks out over the long holiday weekend. I had felt quite fit when I walked in for the appointment!

Angie got back from Munich after her enforced stay at her nephews flat last night. Sister Sigi was also staying, so a good chance to natter. 99% of all trains were cancelled yesterday and the Munich main station was closed as parts of the glass roof were breaking away. 

On my travels, bought two new chainsaw blades and a guide bar. Will start on our own spruce and hope the forester comes soon so that I know what I can "have" of the trees for firewood. Wood prices have been very high the last few years - I suspect they will be falling soon. So all you rich Blipers with investments in Scottish forests should think about getting your money out.