Zero Waste Report #7: Got the flu?

Mum & I went potato-weeding the other day last week, & Mum got the fever.. 39°C & more! at first we thought it was just the sun.. but Sis was down with the fever too...!

So we were quite scared..

We were joking around with the pig flu over at MyZerowaste the other day, but let me tell you, if your family has 39°C + fever, you don't exactly laugh about it!

(& Mum *DID* hug an American last week!)

What to do?

I looked online & got scared - they had all the 'official' signs (almost) - though surprisingly, those were 'just flu' signs too!!

& then I read 'just flu' had killed more people than 'pig flu' & that Rumsfeld (?) was in charge of the Tamiflu company (conspiracy theories etc) - & how Tamiflu had killed 14 kids in Japan or something?

I printed out some of the info & didn't know what to do...

Mum said defiantly she would have no Tamiflu anyway!!

Cousin (another one) said potatoes on the head & on palms of hands can reduce temperature... So we tried this..
Mum drank beetroot juice...
Still, she had 39°8C at night, & that is no joke!!

So she & Sis took the 'official' get-the-fever-down/anti-pain drugs... (see pic above)

They are over-the-counter & readily available in pharmacies.. but still.. there's no recycling sign on the packaging, so...?
Mum did ask if at least the aluminum-only packaging of probiotics (far right) can be recycled?

Also, a by-product of the flu (or whatever it was) was a lot of - TRASH!


You can't deny ill people their hearts' desires, can you?
(& traditional cures for.. stomach trouble!)


Sis & Mum insisted on 'overbaked bread' & butter cookies!
(Sis also wanted unhealthier things & didn't get 'em!!)

I got the more expensive 'overbaked bread' labelled with PP #5 recyclable plastics sign.. (who knows, is it really recyclable & does it get recycled?!)
One could get 2 cheapie ones (non-recyclable) for the price! (& they wished for 'plain one' - didn't complain over what I got 'em though! so I guess it was 'plain enough'!:))
Probably the see-through cellophane-like inner wrappings are - cellophane? (& non-recyclable?)
The cookies are not labelled recyclable in any way!!
/Mum seems slightly addicted to them though!)

I also cooked them a lot of thyme tea & blueberry tea & such.. & eventually they did get much better - I think yesterday Mum had more energy than I did!

So:


So now we have quite a lot in the bin! (Remember, this is Week 6 though! - Oops, week 7!! WOW!!:)
we did let it slip a bit, so hopefully next week we'll get back on track & start anew!
/There is some small trash in the bathroom bin too, including some not-so-pleasant stuff! What can I say? Sis can't be persuaded to go for cloth pads or a mooncup or such! She still swears by plastic throwawayables! /sigh/)

I was bashed & trashed at a Slovenian forum, how unhygienic cloth pads are etc - but I was the healthiest one at home at the time?! (Dad had a bit of a cough/cold/flu before Mum & Sis did! He was quickly over it though!)

& now I can say - flu, indeed (any kind) *IS* creating a lot of rubbish!!

& we all need an 'emergency plan' for zero-waste policy when anyone goes ill!!
/not sure exactly how that plan would look, I am envisioning zero waste overbaked bread - & cookies! - somehow! :)/

But could I (or anyone?) make 'em like they are in da supermarkets?
& how would they keep? (would one freeze them? or eat every week/month?)

Mum & sis are much better, still it's better if they don't go shopping & such.. Dad is not to be trusted to go shopping alone though!!

Today he brought home this (& chicken breast not-in-a-container! /sigh/):

Old non-eco non-fairtrade bananas in a plastic bag WITH HOLES!! - cause they were on DISCOUNT! (cheaper)
Why on earth do they need to be in a plastic bag WITH HOLES?
Doesn't this defeat the purpose? (if they got rotten, the bag would leak.. & they'd still get rotten sooner, cause they were put in a bag-?!)

Ah well!!

I've never seen this done before, usually you'd just take 'em - the packaging industry must really be going crazy - ugh?!!

Which brings us to the point: is it better to be ill with the flu - or - packaging crazy? hmm!!
(Not sure if there is a cure for that!)

LUSH is lush-ous!

So, on my trip to the capitol I FINALLY managed to get to Lush!

I didn't know quite what to expect so first I ventured into this shop:





Everything looks awfully pretty, & I got excited! - But upon further inspection I saw everything was individually cling-wrapped!! (there were some 'bulk' soaps one could get pieces cut from, they were cling-wrapped & the pieces could be put into my containers - I wasn't entirely convinced by them though.. & wanted to see Lush first!) Also, the prices weren't.. exactly what I expected!


only the samples were 'naked'!

So I ran along, to Lush!

There, I was flabbergasted by the heavenly abundance of naked soaps!!


(the bulk is cling-wrapped, there are 'naked' samples with everything though!)

I bravely resisted the lure of coconut-smelling massage thingies... but did buy a 'naked handcream' (even though it was orange - couldn't resist it! my family buy Nivea in a recyclable aluminum box, but no box would be even better!)



I also ran out of reusable plastic containers at the farmers' market already (I didn't intend to use Tupperware-style containers, as we use those for food, but old cottage-cheese/quark tubs) - got the mozarella-like yumminess (young cheese), organic aged cheese & kaymak (as a butter alternative - all butter was clingwrapped or wrapped in plastified paper..
So I hate to admit I did take their paper bag.. (It's of a lovely design!)


(lesson learnt: the smell CAN get overwhelming - so now I know why everything is in clingfilm! Also, don't put soaps & creams in a paper bag too long!! Or with the labels with ingredients.. creamy stuff can erase the labels! The friendly sales assistant wrote colors on them for me, so I knew at home what was what & didn't try to wash my hands with a handcream!)

I bought not only 1 but 2 (!) shampoo bars, although I have no idea if I'll be able to convince Sis & Dad to use 'em!
There was a 'buy 2 get a metal container free' marketing strategy & I fear I succumbed to it!!

It *IS* a rather CUTE metal container, if I may say so!!

At home, a lightning struck my head: I didn't need to buy the metal container (although it's soo cute!! I could re-use existing ones!!)

Sooo...


(old Nivea boxes put to good use! :D)

All in all, it was rather expensive, but a lovely experience!!
There was a very cute guy teaching a new sales assistant so they gave me a 'tour of the store' (on everything zero waste :D) - & I spent on the soaps almost as much as I would on a dress for the bridesmaids-thingie!!

So, now I'm tempted to make my own soap when we run out of this lot!! :)

PS Does anyone know if old remains of Nivea hand cream are compostable? /sigh/

The Best in Slovenia! :)

So yesterday I went to see the best in Slovenia: the one council where 50% diversion of waste from landfill is achieved - 2nd best is supposed to be the 2nd biggest city in Slovenia with only 20%!

Plastics are sorted according to type:


& baled - there is still a lot of plastics though! :(

(I forgot to ask which are destined for recycling & which to be made into 'energy' for cement factories & other industrial use abroad! which I'm not too happy about..
We sort of rushed through the facility after a very informative briefing!)

Electronics are collected properly - this is the new system!

& that is why our local TVs were under trees - waiting for the wooden & metal 'cages' to put them on for safer transport! (in containers many cathode tubes with toxic lead broke - hopefully this would be better!)
I am HAPPY to report our local council had already received them & put the TVs & monitors on the wooden storage units too!
(Unfortunately there's a lot of plastic wrapping involved!! :( Hopefully they'll find something better & reusable?)


Styrofoam is collected and given to packaging recovery company too!


If people bring their own waste (wood or other stuff to put into separate containers!), they are given a discount & can reduce their waste disposal bill up to 20%!!

They even compost wood 'big waste'! (grind & compost it, they then perform tests on the compost to figure out what it can be used for!)


They also have a composting facility, & that's the only place where they warn about smell!:)

A new center for handling 'dangerous chemicals' has just been built, & a center for recycling fridges is planned to be built - would LOVE to see what will go on there!


(center for 'dangerous chemicals' looks slightly ominous, hopefully all will be well!! - I was assured the chemicals will not be burnt there, but taken to an appropriate facility abroad to be burnt! - still, this is more incentive to make LESS dangerous chemicals!!)

I asked about recycling CDs & DVDs, & they said there's no one they could give 'em to, so..?!! (Ideally, these would be collected separately too & recycled!)

I had a few nitpicks & considerations (& questions!) - & hopefully I'll manage to return with the Mayor & some local waste company people!!:) Or maybe even with all Mayors of the valley? (That would be truly awesome!!:)

Overall, I think they are really doing awesome things, educating people, raising awareness.. I wish more councils had as dedicated people as here!!

& the capitol? They are 'sloppy'!
(a more 'bad' word was used, lol - & not by me!!)
/I found online the capitol had 90% landfill & 10% diversion of waste in 2004/05! - I was really quite shocked at this!/
Many other councils need to learn more from this waste company!
They even have educational programmes for kids & adults to visit & see everything & learn about better waste/resources management!

I was delighted with how friendly everyone was, & - the lack of smell!
Are these waste/resources management companies of the future?

The council was motivated for change because the landfill was running out of space - with careful management & education of people they managed to extend its life for a few years & saved quite a lot of money!

In the past, there used to be a landfill here. '28m of waste is underneath, with an old clay mine under that,' we were told. The smell was ever-so-faint, almost non-existant..

As our local landfill will be closed in July (due to EU regulations), hopefully local councils could be inspired to make less waste too?

I was given some excellent tips & info, & hopefully we'll manage to make some of them reality!

I'll report more as we go along! :)

Dad's Horrible Sins!

My Dad is a workaholic.

It's really horrible.

Here in Slovenia, we have a word 'priden' /pronounce: preedn!/ (meaning: good, hardworking) and my Dad is just, well too preedn!!

I wanted to boast about our zero waste week resulting in less waste in a month than in a week before!

& partly, it is true: our kitchen bin is after 5 weeks (!) only half-full, approximately!

Before zero waste week, we made 1 bag of trash a week, now it's been 5 weeks & it's not even fully half-full!

But, the very last weekend before 1 month anniversary, my Dad really did something horrible & ruined it all!

He stuffed a crate full of old dirty glass oil bottles - into the bin! Yikes!

& while I was asking myself on Tuseday (emptying-the-bin day!) how my neighbours could be so stupid to put so much glass into their bin (the bin lorry machine chewing glass is LOUD!! & glass doesn't burn!), I learnt the horrible truth - it wasn't my neighbours, it was my Dad!!

& he wasn't even ashamed of it!!

Door was slammed, Dad got yelled at (& still remained clueless! /sigh/)
I was devastated. I hid under the duvet & cried. (& contemplated staying there forever).

How could I preach to inspire anyone to go zero waste or talk to my local politicians on anything trash if my Dad did such horrible things?!!

The worst part of it is I know it was partly my fault for not figuring out what to do with the bottles in the right time.. (First I asked Dad to give me one week, then one month to figure out..) Mum just thought I was meaning to wash 'em & put into recycling. 'But they were too dirty to be washed,' Dad said..
I was meaning to call the two companies who could tell me more, & kinda hesitated (afraid they'd both tell me different things anyway!)

Then, I got even more furious.
It was precisely because of this sort of thing that all matters trash should be really accessible to the masses (so I or Dad didn't need to ruminate for a month over what to do with the old oil bottles!)
Ideally, all info would be readily available online, & trash consultants happy to answer all questions, & consult people! & the battle against trash should really be increased, not abandoned completely out of all misery!

Like in Star Wars, 'one battle may be lost, but we can still win a war!'

So I went & knitted crocheted not 1, but 2 dish cloths!!


(while watching Pride&Prejudice - the series! to calm my nerves.. & get more 'into' the 'spirit' of ladies' handiworks! I also coveted the lovely hats & dresses!
I didn't even know if I could still knit crochet!
At first I fumbled about a bit, didn't really follow a pattern, due to a storm we had to turn off the PC - & well, doesn't look to shabby! so I was quite proud!)

Do you know the story of a wife who made a doll every time her husband really made her mad? (I think she was ideal wife, never raised a voice, & got rich selling the dolls or something!)

'So it was your pride that got hurt?' Dad asked me 2 days later when I calmed down. & we talked. & he says it was because a relative was coming to visit & he might see the damn bottles!
/sigh, whose pride are we talking about?!/

So then Dad & I made peace, & I thought that was the end of it!

Next day or so, I find our old doggie house (kennel) roofless!!

'Why did you do that, Dad?' - 'Oh, it was old & in the way...'

Grr!!!

I had asked him to donate the kennel to someone 2 years ago already..
'Oh, maybe we'll get a dog...' - Grr! Of course we didn't, Sis & I are still lamenting our old doggie too much!! & everyone's too busy with other things anyway!
(& since neighbours' doggie isn't walked enough, I prefer to take him for a walk!)

He told me to fix it & donate it myself, & well, I couldn't figure out what to do with it in 2 days.. (not really handy with fixing roofs without Dad! & he was busy until today..)

So now we ended up with this:


And this:
without further notice! :(

I want our old doggie house back!! :(

And why all this maddness?
Why is Dad removing everything like a mad man?

Well, our big balcony is to have a wall & a roof over it, & Dad is 'making space'... which is all in all, a good thing. (as water has been going into Sis's room!) I just hate the way he goes about it.
No consulting with the family, no family meeting.. maybe sometimes he casually asked Mum, who half-misunderstood him & gave him the 'go ahead' to 'remove' the kennel? (But where, I said? Mum thought he'd just move it away, Dad saw as permission to annihilate!)

I printed him out an article in Slovenian warning about burning trash or painted wood! (because of dioxins!)

It's making me frantic, both the balcony workings & the promise of 'building trash' - this is another 'sore spot' of Slovenian trash & waste & building companies..
Dad said at first he just meant to shove the balcony tiles by the river (to improve the banks anyway!) - not half a bad idea, though are the tiles & the cement glue they were glued on with really so harmless?
Then, he said, 'he couldn't do it if I'm so strict about it, soo.. he might give 'em to a mate to shove in a ditch where he puts such waste!'
He mentioned some building waste (including plastic - possibly PVC - flooring?!!) being already put there (not ours! but still!!).. Grr!!

So I lamented & wondered if it will ever be sorted, the War on Waste!!

& now I truly saw it as WAR!!

Especially after reading the awesome Saga of the Otori trilogy!

You may win one battle (like my own bathroom, & now the kitchen!! YAY!:)
But you must always WATCH THE BIN!! (One month of my family behaving well made me careless!! so first someone slipped a recyclable chocolate wrapper in the bin, then other things followed, now even the budgie's waste!! grr!!) And that's despite me making zero waste cookies AND muffins for the 1-month anniversary (& the relative's visit!) previous weekend! (Okay, almost zero waste! just previously-used baking powder baggie got thrown away. Better than tons of cellophane or plastic bags or containers when buying cookies!)

I was trying to be zen about it all, & many times didn't 'fly into the air' & make a terrible fuss, cause I thought I was making too much fuss as it was, & wanted to give my folks a bit of a break!

AND, seems like the 'downstairs' will be a new & tough battle!!

Dad has always seen the 'Downstairs' as his supreme legacy, Mum had the upstairs & kitchen etc in her command, his downstairs was where he could be free!!

hmm!!

To make garbage? - I don't think so!

It may be a long tough battle, but already there have been some victories too!!

You know how loud noises REALLY annoy me? I mean, REALLY annoy me!!
My Dad used to mow the lawn in a really non-eco way, with the loud gas guzzler!!

So I objected & demanded it be mown old-style, with a scythe!
'Then mow it yourself!' Dad said, not believing I'd do it!

He didn't even tell me, one day he just started mowing the lawn! I ran outside & yelled!
Then, we negotiated the lawn! He'd mow the harder-accessible half, since he had gas in the lawn mower already (& we have small fruit trees) & I'd get to mow the better half.. I felt quite smug, negotiating it all!
He grunted, but since he had promised to teach me to mow, he had to comply!


(scythe in the backround, I felt like Death's daughter Susan! :)
okay, I didn't use the old-time transport means, I used a wheelbarrow)
but our compost looks nice now:



& I may be ADDICTED to making dish cloths now!! :)
/if only I knew what size to make 'em? 12 - 14 cm might be too small? What do you guys think? Also, Mum suggested a softer pattern-?)

Sub-Mayor Is Slightly Interested! :)

So yesterday I managed to grab the sub-mayor by the button. So to speak.

Actually, he was fixing a garden gnome, or something like that.

I was tired & hungry, but thought, 'What the heck?' How often do you get a sub-mayor basically on his knees before you?;) So I inspected the gnome & then ASKED! :)

It seems there *IS* political will for a reuse station in our little town, and maybe for making people more aware how to recycle & minimize trash too!! :)

Will it be a simple reuse station like already existing in Slovenia? (Please take a look & comment - the yellow board on the wall announces a reuse station corner - simply some shelves by the wall.. easy to make & very doable.. I was told that mostly they have furniture & not electronic stuff.. It looks a bit, hmm.. uninspiring, though..)

With other options, finding financing (& a space for a mini-store!) might be a challenge.. Two more superstores have expressed interest to come to our little town, sigh!! (& those are a hefty competition for council land!)
'Tourists & visitors come to our beautiful town to see nature, not supermarkets!!' I pointed out, & sub-mayor agreed, & said how supermarkets & building companies also bring jobs & eg sponsored playground (mostly plastic! sigh!) & some money.. (& more trash, I thought..)

I'm welcome to see the sub-mayor again about this (he did have to repair the gnome!) & hopefully we'll talk more with other parties involved in this too..

Ideally it would be a 'real' small shop like these in the USA offering awesome stuff cheaply - just furniture, sins, doors, garden ornaments etc... crockery, art supplies, old candles.. It's 'creative reuse', not just a thrift store..!! :)

Or something like what they have in Nova Scotia, Canada: a longer film on waste management shows a VERY cute store with furniture & other stuff for house renovation (after 19:10) selling bathroom articles, some things like old doors are creatively re-styled into other furniture like kitchen cabinets etc..

One of my favorite ones was this shop in Burlington, Vermont, USA (film also available with more videos about communities worldwide going zero waste on AmericanHealthStudies.org - Prof. Paul Connet's website it seems)
Recycle North is a non-profit that takes even old PCs & fridges, repairs them if necessary, & sells again for a small price (tax-deducted!), low-income families get coupons to get stuff for free..

At the same time it's a job training center for people who'd find it difficult to get a job otherwise.. Now if we could just figure out a way to fund something like this?!! :)
/Both neighbour & I sought for an old computer mouse one can't get anywhere else.. :)/

Apparently The RecycleNorth main shop is being renovated, a ReStore selling artsy crafts is still working! (now that sounds lovely too! :)

Our sub-mayor actually thought a reuse station was quite a nifty idea, & now I have both the local charity, the local waste company & a country-wide electronic-waste collecting company slightly interested. :)

Yes, I made some phone calls this week!! :)

If only one could get some easily available EU or country-wide resources..? hmm?
/More phone-calls & e-mails to write next week!/

Apparently the computers on grass (under trees) were due to a change in system of collecting the old computers & TVs etc.
I agree that the old system wasn't good - old TVs were shoved into big containers & apparently a lot of them broke.. so the electronic-waste collecting company now switched to a different system, but apparently was overflown with demand & they didn't have enough of new-style collecting plateaus, so...?

They promised to bring the plateaus this week, we'll see if that's true..

I also talked to a wonderful friend of mine who's now almost-married off to another town & has a big chunk of potential eco-farm (belonging to her new hubby-to-be relatives!) to work on with her man! She gave me lots of useful ideas & recipes! & even some names of eco-aware people in our hometown to contact next! (& I did offer my services!:)

Interesting, how great minds think alike, the synchronicity of it all.. Mrs Green & her guest blogger Sophie blogged about 'non-monetary' work, land & crop exchange this week.. & JustGai was Grow Zoned!
I was thinking lately too, how land & food can be exchanged with no monetary investment!! We got some sausages & some wood from our relatives just cause Dad helped at their farm! & this friend got wonderful workable rested land to use & work on for free! (from her man's relatives!)
Mum & I planted beans & pumpkins at Uncle's farm (even the ones with non-peel seeds!) 'Free food' again! :)

Oh, & I quarrelled with our neighbour on whether tetrapaks can or cannot be recycled!
Overall, quite a productive day & week! :)

Sub-mayor seemed slightly interested on how we managed to reduce our waste after zero waste week too!! /& glanced uneasily at his big bag of waste!;)/

Do you have a reuse station in your town? What is it like? What do they have there? Just furniture or also other stuff like clothes or electronic gear? How has it been financed & set up? Just curious!! Do tell!!

What do you think about the different options for reuse stations presented here?

A Day At the Farm :)

So now you know my Uncle has a farm.

It's not an eco-farm, Alas!

He has about 6ha grass, which is the average size of a small farm in Slovenia.
(Other stuff is woods & hills, I mean woods in the hills mostly.
The grass is mostly hills too, though the hills used to be fields earlier on, before the farm went 'modern'.)

The place is called the Slovenian equivalent of 'Beautiful Field', & they do say that there is one 'beautiful field' in the whole tiny valley/village!

My Uncle sort of has 1 'good field' too.. ;) Hills & woods all around, mostly..

And there is the beehive.

I had permission to rummage, though without a digital camera I didn't dare do any significant progress!!

We found some treasures though.

Uncle found a bottle with silver bullets, uhm, small lead bullets.
Then there were 2 perfectly okay glasses for petroleum lamps.

Some of the bee-thingies seemed okay-ish/still usable too..
Though hornets and wasps had had homes there too..

Some tiny wasps and - wild bees? (bigger than bee, smaller than bumble bee-hmm?! - but Uncle says wild bees are tinier than normal bees?) came into 'lookout' - when I started rummaging around.. (Uncle says wasps look for places to make nests.. My romantic imagination likes to think some of Grandpa's bees went wild & came looking for home, or check what's happening - if someone's gonna save & salvage their home. I can be quite horrible this way!:)

The beehive is a real dump, I was awfully sorry it had come this far..
Sort of thought Uncle would see to it that it stays okay..
And that beekeeping is a 'man's business. :)

My Dad is afraid of the bees. lol!!
Uncle isn't afraid of them, he just has no joy for them. Prefers mechanical stuff & such: he okayed the old hinges: some elbow work may be necessary, but they could be restored. YAY!!

Apparently at a time my Grandpa smuggled/kept some stolen nails & wire in the beehive that his ex-lover the maid stole from a building site where she worked..
It's all horribly romantic, & quite new to me, as it unfolds before my eyes...

He 'hid some things he didn't want kids to find' (& take apart, there were 6 illustrious kids at the farm!) in the beehive!

There seems no logic at what is there..

Okay, some of it is beehive equipment.. Wooden boxes for the bees, including one to catch a new bee family when it takes off..

Some fabric (from old bags!) to burn and make bees dizzy & calmer.. (equivalent to a more expensive fancy gadget!) No it isn't marijuana!! :) - Or is it?!!

And there are old magazines & newspapers there..
Or have been, I took them to a (hopefully) safer space. Some beekeeping magazines & some church magazines for kids or farm youth from 1935, half gnawed through, copies of 'Reporter' from 1953... :) with headlines like 'Horrible politics of the Soviet Union'... (approximately at the time when there was the end of love affair between Yugoslavia & Russia..)
'Finest Love Letters' and 'Lives of Saints'... there seems to be no logic!! :)

I try to piece together the pieces of my Grandpa's life through this mozaic of illogical gnawed-through pieces of his soul.. like scribbles into advertisments for 'magic potions'... (not very different from what some modern internet marketers claim!)
He just wrote what he went to get (untranslatable but hilarious!), or some silly sayings..
Scribbles of numbers on the beehives... 1+2+2=6 (?)

I wonder if there's a special code..? :)

some half-destroyed tools, bits & ends... some homespun flaxen yarn... (throwawayable, Uncle says, cause it's so dirty.. I can't seem to part with it..:)

Alas, Uncle had given permission to a neighbours' kid to rummage the beehive & take what he wants, when he started his own beehive.. Maybe I can take a visit sometime & see what they have taken..?

Another discovery in the attick: the old spindle & a tool to wrap wool on!
They're in really bad condition... Not sure what it will take to restore them to their former glitter!!

Some horrible clothes & some papers that belonged to my Grandma too.. I know even less about her than about Gramps.. Who was this tiny old sometimes-bitter woman that taught me to cook carrot soup (I forgot now!) & claims to have sufferred 'irrepairable damages' in a car accident I've known nothing of?!

Stuff to find out.. Stuff to de-clutter & polish & shine.. wonderful old wardrobes & chests - will they fall apart or stay in all their glory?! (Nothing fancy, just peasant/farm stuff.. but pretty.. I'd love to have 'em! :)

What's in the 'secret drawer' of the chest? (If anything?!)

I didn't do much at the farm (we usually do more..) but I felt quite tired .. maybe all the excitement & weight of the well, not centuries, but quite close..? :)

Dad & Uncle may not be happiest if I rummage through old memories, not all of them have been happy.. & I'm still 'too weak' to do any serious work! (But stubborn enough to at least make up for a little of it!)
Uncle, Dad, Coz & I also don't agree on farm politics & eco stuff etc.
At least the puzzle of why-Slovenian-farms-are-not-so-eco is coming together too.. And we got some apples from Uncle's orchard.. (They're in horrible condition mostly, but still yummable! Ideally they'd be sorted a month ago!:)
Uncle also has adorable kitties!!

So all-in-all, it's been a lovely day...

'I got bored of the computer,' I say, & my Dad is quite thrilled!! :)