At last, Langlaufen

A few weeks ago I got me a pair of beautiful langlaufskis from the internet for only € 15. They were standing there all the time in the barn staring at me, but no snow, no sir. Now at last, snow! But, the thaw was going to set in today! So, I got up this morning at seven and hit the snowy trails. For more details read my biking blog.
After an hour or so I found out why the skies where that cheap, the soles of the shoes got of completely. But hey, I am a son of a shoemaker, so I will glue them together again.

Folding papers

The six tons of paper arrived yesterday. The papers are not folded by the printer. We use them as they are, but about 10.000 copies are send by mail or distributed on the counter of stores and therefor have to be folded one extra time. It is Christmas holiday, so this is an opportunity for the kids to earn some hard cash. And with the music and drinks it is fun tot do. This is a few hours work.

The voltige girth

The Voltige competition team is very ambitious. They work very hard and win a lot. In 2006 the two oldest members of the team, Milou and Nicky, will start solo also. In 2005 they were third in the National Championships and in 2006 they want to come out again. The two competition teams that are trained by Hellen become more and more professional, so they need good material too. This year we got the new bigger horse Zazie that improved the results dramatically. Now they also needed a new harness for the horse. On internet they tried to find a used one, but that is very difficult.
A completely new competition harness with white girth and head-stall costs almost 1400 euro.

The team earned some money with demonstrations and had 300 euro in their savings account. They got 100 last minute euro’s extra and a donation from some grandparents. This was enough to do a bidding on a used girth on a German internet site. It all worked out and we went to Germany (a real voltige country) to buy the girth. On the picture we are in Emden in North Germany, where the girth was sold by a member of a well known German team. With this girth they became European champion and World Champion! A very inspiring idea!

When we came home they had to try it, although it was almost dark and it snowed. They are all very happy. Jazzy jumps on the galloping horse with her hands on the new girth.

The last sold advertorial

There are always people who want to hav a last minute advertisement. The one I got this time came in only 12 hours before delivery of the files at the printer. We fixed it al in time. I donated half of the revenues of this last minute advertorial to the saving fund for a new voltige girth for the competition team of the prinsepaard. They need a new very expensive girth. Luckely we found one on e-bay in Germany. The other half I donated in my own saving fund for my bike. I bought it in Winschoten from a nice old man. It has a nice sexy aluminum frame. Now I can return Johns bike.

So much to say, so little time...

This beautifull woman is the covergirl of my new product,
'The Watersport Krant'. I worked day and night for three weeks, but now at last its finished. 24 pages, an attractive magazine and a nice profit.
In januari we are on two boatfairs to distribute the paper that wil be printed next week in a circulation of 100.000 copies. That is 6.5 tons of paper that will be delivered here 29 december.

That good old Sinterklaas

In Holland we celebrate the birthday of Sinterklaas (Santa Claus, although he is not the same as the US Father Christmas). He brings us presents, 'pepernoten' (gingerbread cubes), and chocolate letters. Each present has a little covering rhyme that has to be read aloud. This rhyme usually concerns the persons mischief. Nicky reads a rhyme about her MSN habbits in relation to her homework. Sometimes the present contains a surprise for the one who gets it. Very common are packages that are hidden somewhere in the house or barn. Twan got this knight because of his obsession with knights, vikings, wizzard kings of angmar and all the weaponery they wear. He made a complete arsenal of weapons at the pottering club with daddy.