It’s a busy weekend here on the farm. Marie Carmen dropped over to give me a head of cabbage and to remind me to start planting our starts for the garden.
‘Don’t wait, Kelli. It’s too warm this year.’
So we were up and out early. I had to head into Melide to sign my new auto policy at our insurance agent’s office. If you remember, we bought our car 20 minutes before la pandemia hit. And couldn’t drive it legally for three months due to Covid restrictions. It was purchased in my name, as I had my license for a year at that point and Jeff had barely passed his tests. Our car insurance was 10 million euros a year because Spain considered me a ‘new’ driver. Even though I had been driving for 35 years before that. Yeah, OK. 10 million euros might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it was stupidly exorbitant to insure that little station wagon. Now that we live in rural Spain, in a tiny village, our car insurance is 1/4 of what it was in Valencia. And you have to wait for the annual renewal to cancel it. Ugh. But today is the day. Adiós crazy expensive Mapfre. You’ll receive my break up letter shortly.
Jeff and I have other fish to fry today. Jeff has been out in the barn building frames for my paintings. I’ve been supplying him with food and beverages. On my forays out to farm land I have noticed a marked change outside the gate. The number of Peregrinos have more than quadrupled today. And they just keep coming in packs. Lots of kids, too. Nice to see them on this stunningly gorgeous day. Like hope is walking past the house. It made me smile.
And another thing that had me smiling is our new dryer. Jeff unpacked it and got it level in the barn. I did a load of laundry last night before we went to bed. When we returned from the insurance agency this morning we headed out to the barn to kick off drying the inaugural load. Ta Da!!
In the US, dryers are vented with a long coiling hose that goes through a hole in the wall to the outside. But not in Europe. You can read about it here. In Europe, ventless dryers are more practical and more prevalent. My first load was dry at the end. But not hot. The clothes were soft, like from a dryer I am used to. But there was no shrinkage. And less lint. It has a hose that drains water into a sink afterwards. Or to a well in the bottom, if you have no sink handy.
I’ve noticed that the timers on washers and dryers are more of a guideline and less of a set-your-watch-by-this-machine experience. It says its 1:58 to dry. But it was actually 1:20. It does have a moisture sensor so that may be why. Yet that doesn’t explain why our washer does the same thing.
We are off to Lugo after Jeff mows the lawn. I need seed starter stuff. I feel Marie Carmen looking over the fence waiting for me to follow her instructions. There are a lot of people this world that I don’t mind disappointing. But Marie Carmen is not one of them. Feliz fin de semana.
Viva Espana 