July
'10
Beach
or Pool
Managed to make a visit to the beach for the first time in ages,
then we went two weeks running. The first time the wind was a bit
to strong for comfort. The second time was just perfect. In the
meantime, we try to get down to the village pool and put in some
lengths before the crowds arrive.
Fire
& Vegetables
There was a lucky escape, when a fire started at the side of
the main road near our finca. One of our neighbours reported at
to the "Bombers" who put it out before it did too much
damage. A few trees in one finca were scorched, but I think they
will come back eventually.
Our
chillies and tomatoes are doing well, despite the occasional gale,
which means we don't know what is what until the start producing
because all the labels disappeared.. This could be tricky with the
chillies, as there are 6 varieties. We will find out what is what
soon enough.
Dogs
Cleo had her pups down in the barranc on the 18th of June. We eventually
found her hide. It was an abandonded burrow under a south facing
olive tree on the edge of the barranc. It was very well hidden and
she took different approach routes to it to avoid detection. Anyway,
one morning in the first week of July, PondGirl was filling up the
watering can from the tank behind the almacen when she heard noises,
shrieked, and we found the Cleo's puppies tucked into the gap between
the back wall of the almacen and the rainwater tank. She had carried
them up one by one, from the barranc (about 300 metres away) and
put them in a sandy excavation she had made near the end of the
gap sometime during the previous night. We took these photo's and
counted 9 pups, which must have made it quite a chore.
A little
later, we realized there were 11 puppies, 6 girls & 5 boys.
By now they were already 3 weeks old and full of beans. We made
a temporary barrier with breezeblocks to pen them into an area that
was safe for them and tried to work out what we were going to do
with 11 puppies. Cleo would still barely let us touch her, so vets
trips were out. One morning we found Cleo walking away from the
den with the black one (Piglet) in her mouth. We assumed the puppy
was dead and after a bit of trying coaxed it from her mouth. Actually
the pup was lying doggo and we think that Cleo was taking her off
to dump her as 11 mouths were too many. The only thing we could
do to help, was to start them on a mush of dog food & water
straight away. They loved this, but still loved the milk bar.
June
2010
August 2010
PB
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