But before I tell you what that progress is, meet Piet. He is our harbour turtle, and if you look closely, you can see his small round shape on the brick of white polystyrene in the photo here. This is his house, which is hooked up to the bows of my neighbour's ship. After a hard day's swimming and entertaining the tourists, he returns here every afternoon for a rest. Every now and then people threaten to rescue him, and when one day, I told a group of boys that he lived there, they looked at me as if I were batty. We love him, and until the winter, when he will need to be rescued, we hope he'll be able to enjoy his freedom in Turtle heaven.
Now for the progress on the Vereeniging. As of this afternoon, the floor and walls in the water tank area have all been replaced, the water tanks themselves are clean, and tomorrow, Jodie and I hope to be able to put them back in their place with a few minor modifications.
Then I'll be able to tackle the last part of the bottom below the bed. I think that in another week, I should be ready to start painting and restoring the place to normal. Well at least I hope so!..Only three weeks now till Anne Marie and Austin arrive.....yippee!
Looking good, I bet you cannot wait now to put it all back together. Love Piet!
ReplyDeleteI've never met him and I already like Piet the independent turtle. That's a great story.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the repairs are coming along well to. Hopefully you'll be able to have a bit of a rest too.
Looking good, Val. We are so excited about seeing you again. I will email you during our trip when it is closer to the date.
ReplyDeleteLove to Koos!
xx
AM
Oh, Piet is clearly a turtle with a spirit! Did the neighbour make the house for him?
ReplyDeleteVery good to hear that you've made progress with Vereeniging!
This is a good post, it has positivity all over it :D A turtle living his brilliant life in freedom... de Vereeniging turning into a home again. Sounds great!
ReplyDeleteAt the moment I'm reading Watery Ways and it's difficult to put it away... I actually look forward to the trainrides at the moment :D
xx
Glad to see the visible progress Val.
ReplyDeletePiet is so cute. I'm glad you've named him and he keeps you all company. Isn't amazing how long turtles can live (up to 100 years old)
Have fun with Austin and Anne Marie. I know they are excited to see you again.
Great progress Val!
ReplyDeleteWould it be possible to install some kind of pan beneath the water tanks in case of leakage and provide them with some kind of warning system like in dishwashers?
Maybe regular condensation would trigger false alarms but anyway a false alarm every now and then is better then have to remove the floor once in a while. :)
heehee Hello Piet! He should come meet Dave the Cormorant on the Thames. I bet they'd have lots of stories to share about those &@#*$ boats!
ReplyDeleteSo, you all like Piet, our territorial turtle, do you?
ReplyDeleteHe really is a special little chap, and I think he's pretty adventurous too. He swims his way even down to the end of the neighbouring harbour now and then. Stu, he most definitely has an independent streak as we sometimes worry that he doesn't come home at night - a proper little stop-out he is on occasions!
Janys, I expect you're right. He seems to feed on the algae that collects on our ropes and at the water line of the boats, and I've even seen him chowing on a dead fish, so there's obviously plenty of food around.Come the winter, we'll have to decide what to do for him though, because I don't think he'll survive then.
Maria, my neighbour did erect the little house for him, if you can call it that. He fastened the polystyrene to his ship by means of a long piece of string. This means Piet always has somewhere he can go to get out of the water and breathe, which is what little turtles need to do, I believe.
Melissa, when Piet gets tired of our harbour, I'll send him to check out the Thames with Dave ;)
Ladybird Simone, I'm so glad your are enjoying WW. It's great to get that kind of feedback! Thank you!
Thanks for all the kind comments about the Vereeniging, Fran, Anne Marie, Lesley and Janys. It is coming on, and yes, Hans, I do intend to put a pan under the water tanks, but I'm not sure if I can manage the alarm system, although it is a good idea ;)
looking very good.
ReplyDeleteHow cute the Turtle. When I was at the Teaching Hospital University this week, on the way out, there were 4 turtles from Africa rescued from a fire. The man had pics of their poor charred bodies right after the fire, and then seeing them now, they looked amazing, their shells and colour patterns were back. They look beautiful.
( I made a big reply to your comment @ my blog)
stay cool. xx