FLAT BOBBY'S SHOES

FLAT BOBBY'S SHOES, originally uploaded by ESOX LUCIUS.

Flat Bobby's original Dutch wooden shoes are in the making. But making wooden shoes is a complex craft. First they have to be carved out of wood as shown by Flat Bobby right here. They need to rest after carving, because the wood can be 'working' still and sometimes these wooden shoes split for no reason. So a rest is in order. Then they have to be painted. Normally they will be painted in traditional patterns. Finally they get a glossy finish for protection against the weather. And then we have to find Flat Bobby a minipair that would fit him! That is no small thing. The wooden shoes are bought and payed for, but as you can see with your own eyes, there is still a lot of work to be done before Bobby will be walking in them...

HARINGVLIETDAM

HARINGVLIETDAM, originally uploaded by ESOX LUCIUS.

Flat Bobby and I went to inspect the great Haringvlietdam. This dam, with giants locks to keep ot our let in the sea at will, is part of the famous Dutch Deltaworks a damming project to keep the south of Holland from flooding. You must know, Amber, that for the most part Holland is below sea-level. Without these great dams we would drown. As a matter of fact important people from New Orleans and Louisana visited these Deltaworks only a month ago. Why? They wanted to learn how to keep the sea water out and how to prevent people from drowning like when Katrine caused that terrible flooding. So we explained those important people how to build dams and dikes. I will show Flat Bobby a dike in a little while. Cheers!

MAPPING THE SITES

MAPPING THE SITES, originally uploaded by ESOX LUCIUS.

Tom Tom Flickr. Lots of notes and still adding. This is for my friend Karen from Nebraska. It shows many of the locations my pictures were taken and some links to sets of my Flickr Friends. In green are marked the nature reserves. Light blue in the left is the North Sea. Dark blue bottom right is the Haringvliet a freshwater lake with Hellevoetsluis (8) clearly marked on its northern shore. North is the top of the map.
1. De Kwade Hoek
2. Scheelhoek
3. Voornes Duin
4. Annabos (the Anna-forest where the black swans live)
5. Quackjeswater and Quakgors
6. Oostvoornse Meer (a saltwaterlake)
7. Blokkendam (a dike of big concrete blocks in the North Sea, kayakingsite)
8. Hellevoetsluis (the red dot is where we live)
All nature reserves are easily within a 30 minutes drive from homeport Hellevoetsluis.

Indian rock and Bobby

Indian rock and Bobby, originally uploaded by salgal.

we found this amazing Indian rock when we broke ground for our new house in 1998, welcome to North Dakota Bobby, the best kept secret of the whole United States, I wish you could stay and watch our new babies foals being born, but that won't be until April and May, it's much too harsh a winter to foal outside here in the winter.

Hey, my shoes are ready!

Hey, my shoes are ready!, originally uploaded by ESOX LUCIUS.

Hi Amber, Flat Bobby is happy as could be. His wooden shoes are ready and they fit!
We had to take those wooden shoes out for a test walk, so here you see Flat Bobby standing in front of the great lake called the Haringvliet. In a note in the picture you can see Hellevoetsluis, the city where Flat Bobby is staying.

If you want to find the great Haringvliet on the map, go to Mapping the Sites.

FLAT BOBBY IN HOLLAND

FLAT BOBBY IN HOLLAND, originally uploaded by ESOX LUCIUS.

I first met Flat Bobby while he was still killing time in Nebraska. When invited he happily hopped over to the port of Hellevoetsluis, Holland. I'm showing Flat Bobby the Dutch sites and making sure he's stuffed with minicheese. Wait till you see the wooden shoes I bought him this very same afternoon.

If you want to find Hellevoetsluis on the map, go to Mapping the Sites and look for number 8.

This Flat Bobby trip is part of Amber's second grade class project. Check out his travels and contact StarrGazr if you can help him travel the world.

FLAT BOBBY IN ROTTERDAM

FLAT BOBBY IN ROTTERDAM, originally uploaded by ESOX LUCIUS.

Today I took Flat Bobby to meet my Dutch Flickr friend Wessel de Jonge: JoJo4Art.. He lives in the city of Rotterdam. and took this picture of Flat Bobby with the famous Westermeijer building in the background (left). That building is a monument. Rotterdam has few monuments because in World War II (1940-1945) the city was bombarded and almost leveled to the ground. Rotterdam is all about boats and ships and sea. Allthough the boat Flat Bobby is standing next to could to with a paintjob (...).For many years Rotterdam was the largest sea harbour in the world, but recently Sjanghai took that place. Today Rotterdam is the largest sea harbour of Europe and sports many, many architectural wonders. Like the cubical houses you can see in the back of where Flat Bobby is standing. People really live in those cubicals! Thanks Wessel for showing Bobby something of Rotterdam. Not the capital of the Netherlands, but that is because the people in Amsterdam got it all wrong :-)

Flat Bobby in the far north

Flat Bobby in the far north, originally uploaded by salgal.

if you look closely in the background you'll see a group of bred mares eating hay

Flat Bobby on our mantle

Flat Bobby on our mantle, originally uploaded by salgal.

look closely on the star, here he is, this steer head came off a steer that died during the horrible winter season of 96-97 in North Dakota