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 and 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.