Had a busy morning chasing cows! in Haarlem of course nobody except  Sheila keep their animals in some kind of a camp or some such thing, and this sometimes result in the animals breaking the fences if it is not strong enough, But this time a big herd of cows came through the river again, and when I got up they were munching away on the peach blossoms that they could reach.
So, even before I could wake up with a cuppa, I had to don my outdoor shoes, that being a pair of platform step-in swede shoes that had seen better days, and are now used outside, because on days like this day, time to sit and fasten laces may result in big losses! Actually, my shoes are not that old, but I had bought it on a hot day when my feet were a bitty swollen, with result that I now have to wear them with thick socks, otherwise my feet slide forward, resulting in my toes peeping out so far that they actually touched the ground! As I can't go to town with step-in shoes over thick socks, I now use them outside, and feel that at least they were not a waste!!
This herd of cows are quite cheeky, and I don't blame them for not wanting to leave, as it was very dry up to now, and as the owners do not feed them a bit of extra hay or so, they are always hungry, and looking for a place to raid! So I was running around like a bally mad woman, as the herd had, I think, a quick talk, and decided that as there was no other human in sight, they would resist being thrown out. Luckily for me the cheeky young bull that gave me one terrible fright before, was not with them today, probably slaughtered and eaten by now, so I was not at all scared as I raced from one fruit tree to the other shouting abuse loudly and angrily, as I was never at my best before I had my coffee! But the beasts just neatly avoided my rocks that I threw at them, and laughed, I thought, at my attempte to chase them off.
In the end I resorted to the hose again, but for that I had to run all the way up to the opposite fence to open the irrigation water, as that was very strong, and the cows usually leave after a good squirt, I think it must have hurt a bit. But all this is hard work, as the heavy irrigation pipes had to be dragged all the way down to where the cows were, and only then could I open the hosepipes connected to them.
So by the time I had made my coffee, I had just enough energy to creep down to my wee lean-to, where I sat slumped, too tired to quite enjoy the beautiful songs my birds sang to me!
Then I saw a big, overgrown snail gnawing at one of my almost ripe strawberries, and I got so cross, I chucked it in a bowl of water, as I had no beer to drown it in!
So now I couldn't really enjoy my coffee as I should, as my mind was racing like a mad thing, trying to remember where I had put the little calico squares that I used the previous year to tie around the ripening strawberries!
Must say, Haarlem is just not the easiest place to try and be self sufficient, as between cows, and moles, and pigs, and snails, and goats and horses, and donkeys, and the owners of the life stock, you just need a lot of guts!