Pullen Plan 2011

Ever since I met Ian we've been writing Pullen Plans. I am sure one day we will look back and laugh at the crazy ideas we didn't pursue - as well as those that we did. Actually I think our ideas are becoming remarkably less crazy and our Pullen Plan for 2011 makes relatively sensible reading:

Pullen Plan 2011

• BestCraftPages
• BuyandSellStockPhotos
• Niche Stock Photo Site
• Broad Stock Photo Site
• Miojo
• Review all our other sites
• Continue writing for About (both)
  
• Continue giving classes
  

New Sites
We've got some quite ambitious targets, we're planning BestCraftPages, a 'FreeNeedle' type site but for general crafts. This will be a biggy, but should be worth the time investment. We'll aim to get that launched in the first quarter. We're then working on another set of sites that are related to stock photography. The aim here will also be to derive income from advertising, but also from acting as referrers to some stock photography sites. This is going to take a bit of research, however this is quite important to get away from our core crafty sites - not having all our eggs in one crafty basket. And all our existing sites need reviewing too.

One thing that we're both good at is working to routines and are disciplined workers. This has incredibly useful given that we have so many different things that we work on. It is quite easy to get distracted or just work on the nice stuff. With our most recent website, which we are constantly working on and have just had our first few cents in advertising, Ian has set up a system whereby every morning we get an email that tells us what page we've got to write. This has been brilliant, as there is nothing worse than sitting there with a blank page wondering what to write.

Other
Ian's starting the year with quite a big project that will be interesting. We'll both continue writing for About. We've got this pretty much in a good routine now. Ian's planning on developing his photography business Miojo. I'll continue giving classes with a view to taking on another one or two. I'm considering selling digital images for crafts, similar to the digital stamps I do for About, but coloured versions. I'll also continue my other writing assignments as they arise and keep reviewing audiobooks for Audiofile magazine.

Phew!
So in 2011 we'll have another interesting year with lots of different things going on. It's quite a nice way of working - and although there's always lots to do - it certainly beats having to go out to work (I remember that horrible time when Ian started the job in Malaga - how grateful I am that he didn't have to continue this) and an improvement on some of the other things we may have had to do, such as bed and breakfast or running courses. And of course, we still have the option of doing these in the future if we need to.

I'd never have guessed five years ago that we'd have such interesting twists in our careers. I'm pleased with the way it has turned it so far....

Worming

We spent what felt like most of last night worming all the animals - what a struggle! The dogs are relatively easy as they will gulp it down first and ask questions after. The cats are a different matter and the tablets that they had were quite bitter, so made it difficult to disguise in pate. Pirata was the most difficult - not surprising I guess. He must find it a little disconcerting to be held in an armlock and force fed pate with bitter bits in it. He must have felt very clever as he carefully spat all the bitter bits out. We had to resort to giving Pirata his wormer as a liquid. This was still a struggle, however he was less able to spit it out.

Rosie is doing very well. She's about 8 kilos, which means she has put on 3 kilos in 10 days, which is a sign that she's healthy. She's also started taking herself outside to spend a penny. We do get accidents as she makes a little puddle when she's barked at. I think this is something that she will grow out of. However we are clearing up much less in the way of puddles and piles than I had expected. She's quite boisterous, but not overly so, and much of her boisterousness comes from her size and lack of agility (she's inclined to barge into something rather than trying to jump over it). She's also quite a Spanish dog - very laid back. Ever since we've been here (exactly 5 years ago today!), we've noticed how Spanish dogs just wander around the village. We know full well if ours got out they'd be in a frenzy running round, in and out of people's houses and generally causing mayhem, whereas their Spanish neighbors generally seem happy to live life without the frenzied excitement.

We've spent this week quietly working away on different projects. Ian's been working on photography, getting some photos ready to be printed onto t-shirts and other things and I've been working on our new craft site. These are two of our new initiatives for 2011.

All the cats and dogs are appreciating the fire - so, indeed, are we!

Three Kings Story

When children get to an age when they realise that the three kings cannot possibly deliver presents around all of the world, and start to question whether the Reyes Magos are real, they are told this story:

When the baby Jesus was born, three kings who came from the East led by a big star came to the site to worship. They brought gifts as a token of love and respect and the child was so happy and seemed so happy that the oldest of the kings, Melchor, said:

"It's wonderful to see a child so happy! We should bring gifts to all children in the world and see how happy they would be.

"Oh, yes! Exclaimed Gaspar - a good idea, but it is very difficult to do this. We will be unable to reach many millions of gifts to children as there are in the world.

-Baltasar, the third of the kings, who was listening to his two companions with a happy face, said: It is true, it would be fantastic, but Gaspar's right and although we are magicians, we are already old and we would be very difficult to walk the world delivering gifts to all children. But it would be so nice ... and the baby Jesus, who from his cradle poor seemed to listen very closely, smiled, and God's voice was heard in the portal:

"You are very good, dear king, and thank you for your gifts. I will help you make your beautiful desire. Tell me: What you need to bring gifts to all children?

"Oh, sir," said the three kings on their knees. We would need millions and millions of pages, almost one for every child who could carry while our gifts to each house, but we can not have so many pages, there are many children.

"Do not worry - said God. I'll give you not one but two pages for each child in the world.

"Tell me, is it not true that the pages that you would like to be very fond of children," asked God.

"Yes, of course, that's fundamental”, nodded the three kings.

And, is it that these pages should be very familiar with the wishes of children?

"Yes, yes. That's what I would demand of a page” the three responded excitedly.

"Well, tell me, dear kings: is there anyone who wants more children and more aware than their parents? Since they have wished and that on behalf of the three kings of Orient all the world's children receive some gifts, I ordered that to commemorate this moment all parents become your pages, and in your name, and your party give to their children the gifts they want. Also ordered that while children are small it is made as if the Kings do themselves. And when children are old enough to understand this, parents would tell this story and since then children also make gifts to their parents as a token of his affection. And, around Bethlehem, remember that thanks to the Three Kings are all happier.

More Pics...

Extractor fan tube now fitted and working.



A working stove - just need to fight our way through mounds of pups and cats to get to it


Rosie under the cat tree - that's Pirata towards the top



Ian wrestling Rosie

Sugar Mice, Kitchen and Christmas

Pirata joining in Christmas


Our cheese feast with asparagus from earlier this year


My activity session with the children went well - as well as can be expected anyway, with 8 over excited youngsters and the lethal combination of glitter and glue.

We had the back room set up ready - and low and behold, the plumber turned up to to fit the tap and appliances. So we had to move into the room outside Ian's office. This wasn't great, however we didn't want to scare the plumber away. They made chocolate balls, some sort of cornflake cakes - and were going to make sugar mice. However I couldn't find icing sugar, but I read on the internet that you can make it at home by crushing it in a food processor. Well, you can't. So I then had to change plan to making a fondant using boiled sugar. However I missed out an important part of the recipe - the bit where you stir it to thicken it, so it remained the consistency of treacle. Much to their disappointment. Sugar mice might be on the cards for their first lesson back.

They did make a peg angel, a paper angel, a paper monster and a Christmas card though - and a hat. So that gave them plenty of opportunity for getting covered in glue and glitter. They also had lunch and the burgers went down well. They were a little nervous on the food side, which I understand. However they did tuck into their burgers and pizza happily. They gave the plumbers some chocolate balls. While the plumbers weren't daft enough to eat them, they did have the grace to hide them amongst the packing material from the sink.

So we now have a functioning kitchen - hoorah. We spent much of Thursday looking at our new tap, and trying to work out how the hob works. We boiled a lot of water....

Christmas was good - and quiet. It was a miserable rainy day, so we spent the whole day bunkered up in the living room. Not a bad way to spend the day and the first day where we have spent the whole day without doing any work for ages, probably since last Christmas. As Christmas Eve is the main celebration here, Christmas Day is more like Boxing Day and Boxing Day is a normal working day (the bin men came yesterday which seemed odd). Yesterday was a glorious day so we went for a walk. We were going to do a circular walk, however we came across a fast flowing river, where a small trickle of a stream normally is, and we couldn't cross it, so we had to turn round. As this was about the half way point, we hadn't done too badly. We had lunch outside listening to traditional songs that were playing from the clock tower.

Our festive cheese feast has been a great success with two award winning cheese gracing our plates. As it so happens, with our new kitchen we could have cooked a roast meal - however our cheese feast was a convenient option and will keep us going this week.

Of course, the build-up to the celebrations is only just starting. The shops will be busy for the next ten days as people prepare for the three kings celebrations. The main gift giving time is on the 6th, so people will be buying their gifts and getting ready for their parties and celebrations.

The plumber is here now fitting the extractor fan and Manuel is coming round later to sort the stove pipe. A warm and working kitchen gets ever closer....

Oh yes, here's my Archers prediction. The big event on the 2nd Jan that means that Ambridge will never be the same again will be to do with Lizzie. I think the Mad-Helen / Tony-turned-into -a-doormat thing is a red herring. Lizzie and Nigel have become more prominent, and his position as a doting husband has been reiterated several times. The other option would be Jolene setting fire to the Bull because of St Sid, however I wouldn't call that changing the face of Ambridge. However a disaster a Lower Locksley potentially would.....?????

Rosie Week 1

We've been working out the best way to take a photo of Rosie each week so we can see how she's growing. This isn't quite right, but shows her in comparison to Basil, Pirata and Davy and a close-up on Ian's lap.

The Kitchen So Far...

The kitchen so far with running (cold) water, hob and oven. The water is cold as our boiler isn't working, however we're not surprised as it has just been sat there for over two years. As it's our old one that wasn't that good anyway, we may just replace it.


I guess the novelty of having running water in our kitchen will wear off eventually...


Ian boiling water - again.

Next we need the tube that will go from the extractor fan to outside - and then agreeing on doors.

Kitchen, Rain and Rosey

Well, the kitchen moved on a pace this week with the worktops being fitted. We are really pleased with the way that they look and have definitely made the right choice for us and the house. The sink is in place and the hob is in the work top. The plumber is coming round to do his bit - apparently before Christmas, but I'm guessing probably not. But at least we can look at it and imagine it finished, and as we'd planned on a cheese feast for our Christmas meal it won't really make any difference.

Manuel has been unable to unblock the stove pipe as it has been raining too much and he doesn't want to stand on the slippery roof. The stove was very blocked just as it comes out through the wall with soot, but appears to be blocked further up too, so he's going to have to stand on the roof and look down the pipe.

We've had a lot of rain over the last couple of days, in fact, we were on 'yellow alert'. This has made things a bit difficult as all the dogs have had a 24 hour stomach bug, and are being sick a lot, but it is difficult to keep them outside - or indeed to get things dry after we've washed them (they seem to like to be sick on soft things).

Rosie is fine and hasn't been affected by the stomach bug. I wonder if she may be the cause of it. She's had kennel cough, but that's not come to much and is getting noticeably less. She is getting on well. We've made a little pen for her with a puppy cage inside. She gets fed in the puppy cage and sleeps in it, but we keep the door open for now and she can walk around the pen. When she gets older she may be too big for a cage, however it does help having somewhere safe where they can stay. She cried - a lot - the first couple of nights, but doesn't seem too bad now. We're trying to keep to a routine where she is put in her pen a couple of times a day. To give the other dogs a break, but also so she gets used to being on her own.

Tomorrow we've got manualidades here with the youngsters. I've planned making sweets, which they quite enjoyed last time, plus making christmas cards, paper monsters and paper angels. I've got from 5 year olds to 11 year olds, so it's going to be quite challenging to keep them all entertained. They are having lunch, and they were worried about being just fed vegetables (they know I'm a vegetarian). It's difficult to know what to offer, so I thought that burgers would be a good idea. However I have been really surprised at how difficult it is to find them. Eventually we got some in Zafra. I thought Ian could make them burgers like they get in burger bars with all the trimmings. However looking through our fridge I think that might mean lettuce. We've also got some potatoes to do potato wedges. Next year when we have our oven fitted, I might go for pizza and they can make their own toppings, however we'll wait and see how tomorrow goes first. There's a very real possibility that I may swear, again, that this is an experience that is best never repeated...

Rosie

This is Rosie!

As you may notice, there's only one pup. This is because permanent homes were found for all of the pups - which was great news. Obviously great for the pups, but good for us too. However nice to know we would have helped out.

We went to pick her up today and we had the pick of the five. We'd already chosen, however we were pleased when we got there to find that we were still happy with our choice. No real science behind our choice, four had no tails, so we picked the one with a tail! She also seems to have big paws, which is good as we want a big dog. They all seemed nice though, although they did appear to mug Ian by gathering together in one puppy pincer movement. Quite amazing to watch as puppies dangled off his arms and legs.

Rosie seems very nice natured, not at all scared and has taken the whole day in her stride. It was a vet who was doing the co-ordination and she was in a great place, sharing a paddock with horses, cats and dogs, so she is well used to other animals. Although she is not much smaller than Tinkerbelle, she is very much a baby and struggles with steps - and basically anything that involves coordination.

The other dogs were suitable unimpressed. They were more concerned that she may be getting nicer food than them than anything else.

I am sure some better pics will appear over the next day or so....

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

I broke the news to Manuel today of my vision for our Hanging Gardens of Babylon / Greco / Roman / Byzantine vision for the patio. Happily, this seemed to excite him rather than cause him any concerns. And he even went as far as to say that he liked working with us because he enjoyed doing things that we a bit different. We've been given the task of drawing up a plan and we'll take it from there.

One thing that we will do is to have a channel in the middle of the yard to collect water. This ought to keep the back of the house dry and stop flooding.

Puppies should be coming this weekend. We'll need to read up about training. I guess at four weeks, however, getting them to do anything other than play, sleep and poo will be a little unreasonable. They will live in the shower room, where there's not too much that they can harm themselves with. It's also easy to clean. I don't know how big they will be, however they will certainly be too young to spend time unsupervised.

Kitchen Tap

We have a kitchen tap! Admittedly we don't have a kitchen sink, but we do have a lovely new tap. It is so lovely that it came packed in a nifty little cotton bag.

Manuel is coming round tonight to fix the stove that got blocked. Which means we'll have heat in the house again. As it has started to get cold (went under freezing last night for the first time) we shall be glad of the fire. The marble and granite man is coming round tomorrow to do the final measurements for the worktop and the plumber is going to be fitting the sink -plus the appliances. So, we could be cooking on a proper cooker for Christmas. But seeing that we've decided on a bread and cheese feast, it won't matter too much if we don't!

I broke the news to Ian last night that we've got a morning of manualidades to look forward to next week. There'll be eight children this year. Seeing that we were finding glitter and glue globules for months after the last Christmas craft session, goodness knows how we'll end up after this year's mess-fest.

The pitter patter of 12 little paws...

We are fostering three puppies over Christmas. One of which we will keep. This isn't as much of a surprise as it might be. We had decided earlier this year that we'd keep a look out for another large dog.

[[shhhh - Whisper so Basil can't hear]] We want to have a large dog and don't want to be in the position of 'replacing' Basil so we thought we'd keep a look out for one that could join Basil rather than replace him [[End of Whisper]].

I'm in regular contact with the people who we have adopted the kittens, Pirata and Fragel from. They are not a dog home, they are a welfare organisation that cares for animals through a team of fosterers while they find homes. There is a dog pound in Badajoz - however it is a terrible place. Really, REALLY horrible. Animals are killed after three weeks and they are not cared for during this time. There was an expose in the paper recently and they reported that many of the poor animals die through ill treatment before their three weeks is up. Some animal welfare people went in and rescued some healthy animals. Five puppies have been rescued from the dog pound and they needed a home urgently. Two have been fostered elsewhere and we are going to adopt one and foster two others. They are four weeks old so obviously cannot fend for themselves.

They are a cross between a Spanish mastin and a Griffon (dog, not dragon). The father is the mastin - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Mastiff and the mother is the griffon - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirehaired_Pointing_Griffon. I'm not sure how they will turn out, but we think they'll be like big fuzzy mastins (which is what we are hoping for - we'd actually spoken about how we'd like a cross between a poodle and mastin, although admittedly I think that this would raise an eyebrow locally)

Here are some pics of 'Grifona' and the pups, I am not sure which we'll be getting:





Needless to say, we are currently arguing over names. Ian is refusing TwinkleToes and I am refusing FluffyBaps....

Winter

One of the things that I like most this time of year is the fact that it still doesn't get dark until after six. So we can go out for a walk or cycle ride comparatively late in the afternoon. Of course, it doesn't get light till late in the morning, but as our new routine involves us starting the day working on our new website it really doesn't make any difference.

We went for a cycle ride today, and left it till later in the afternoon. We decided to steer clear of anywhere which might be waterlogged so we headed over the road out of the village past the romeria ground. Think we made a good choice as there was certainly a lot of water in the fields and I think that some of the stream beds that we cross without problem when they are dry, may be a very different matter now.

Pirata is increasingly confident. This week he came into one of my classes. He jumped over the gate and came into the room wandering round quite happily despite the noise of excited children. He ended up sitting on a chair and 'watching' what was going on. He's a funny little cat.

I am pleased to report that, having gone through a Mr Potato Head stage, my swellings have reduced. I am pretty certain it was something to do with the giant mosquito that was hovering around.

Pirata and the Pigeon

I was rather surprised to wake up this morning and find I'd turned into the elephant man. One eye was swollen, purple and shut, my nose appeared to be growing a turnip and there was a very strange shape on the other side of my head. It took a few minutes to recover from the shock. Then I remembered that my last moments awake last night involved chasing a super-mosquito around the room. It was quite the largest mosquito I have seen and I think it took revenge over night.

I'd had a bad night sleep anyway as we awoke at 5 to find Pirata stood in the bedroom with a pigeon. He is a very quiet cat and instead of hissing he just makes a hhhhhhhhh sound, and he does the tiniest of growls. Therefore it was a little like watching a silent movie as Ian was trying to wrestle the pigeon from him. Goodness knows how Pirata caught the pigeon. I don't think one of the others could have as they wouldn't have surrendered it. It rained heavily last night so I wonder if a pigeon may have got waterlogged and plopped out of the sky.

The weather has continued to be odd. It is very warm - so much so we were eating lunch outside and moaning about the heat. The house feels really damp, but I think that is where it is cold in the house and warm outside. The chimney is blocked so we can't get the fire going, which doesn't help. I think we'll get a dehumidifier as condensation will always be a problem - part of the reason all the walls are generally half tiled.

We have had some tremendous storms. We were on 'orange alert' yesterday and there were proper rain and electrical storms. Our new storm drain outside the back door worked a treat and I think we would definitely have flooded otherwise.

The kitchen is progressing. Manuel has polished the cement in the main bit and they need to finish the other part in the pantry.

We've also started planning landscaping the inner courtyard. I am imagining some greco-roman-bezantine type design. Ian is making that slightly scared face that he does at this stage. However I am sure that we'll reach a happy compromise.

Sam's Three Year Anniversary

Wow - it was three year's ago that we found Sam. It was actually three years ago tomorrow that we picked him up, but it was three years ago today that I saw him in the street and I was worried about him. I had Bob and Petal with me and Sam wouldn't come to me, so I asked Ian to come up and take him away from the road, however Ian couldn't see him. It was the next day that we found him injured by the side of the road.

He had obviously been living rough for a long time before he came to us. Surprising what a difference three years make as I don't think now he would sit on anything that didn't have several layers of padding or sleep on anything that wasn't a bed. However when he first came here, he looked at everything with suspicion and would get off the blanket we put down for him to purposely sit on the hard floor.

I remember this as it was Constitution Day which is a public holiday and Constitution Day is today. Wednesday is the day of the Immaculate Conception which is also a public holiday so things have slowed down on the kitchen. However it is looking pretty good so far.

The weather has been really odd this last few days. It is actually very warm, although it is raining. The wind must be coming up from Africa and it is noticeably warmer outside than it is inside - in fact, had it not be raining we could easily have had breakfast outside wearing just t-shirts. However we have had a lot of rain, and this looks like it's going to continue for a while.

Ian and the Storks Return

Ian arrived back yesterday safely and his journey hadn't been affected at all by snow. He arrived back into the end of a sunny day here, although cold. To celebrate we went out to buy cat litter. Oh yes, we certainly know how to celebrate in style! On the way back we popped into Pepe's and found Pepe and a group of regulars collected around a television set, randomly waving a remote control around trying to get it to work. There appeared to be a lot of gesticulating before moving onto the plugging and unplugging of wires. Ian was steadfastly trying not to make eye contact in case they asked him to help. 10 years without a television has taken its toll and Ian's inclined just to stare open mouthed at the miracle of a box containing things that move rather than know what wire goes where.

When we left they were still no further forward. I think they may have been hoping to watch the football world cup announcement, so perhaps it was just as well that they weren't successful.

We were on our cat litter mission as the poor cats are shut away in my workshop while the builders are here. This is particularly important while Manuel is working in the house. Already we have little kittie footprints in our of the kitchen units he's building. I quite like it, but I don't think that Manuel was impressed. I've also been keen to keep Pirata away from building work. It is unsettling for him as things aren't where they should be for him, but importantly, I've been worried about the cement dust getting in his eyes.

When we were at the jumble sale on Saturday we noticed a few storks around Badajoz. Yesterday I saw that some had returned here. All the nests will be filling up over coming days as they get ready for next year's stork chicks. There generally seems to be a few that arrive back first. I don't know if they lead the way for the others, or race back to be first and bags the best nests.

Jumble Sale, Bike Rides and Kitchen

It was the annual jumble sale this weekend. Which involves a few British people staring forlornly at a few Portuguese people who are staring bemusedly at a pile of junk. True to form, I think we accounted for a good percentage of the day's takings, having bought two painting easels, another wicker seated chair and a really cute little box seat - oh and a vegetable rack thing on wheels that I can use to carry my things around the house and workshop. We had a picnic on the way back though, and stocked up on Vinho Verde in the Portuguese supermarket, and when I got home I defrosted in a warm bath - so not too bad a day really.

Sunday we went for a bike ride. We went on one of our favorites, which is towards Usagre, cut across to the Bienvenida track and home. We had a picnic - soup and pasties of course - this time sat on the edge of an olive grove which was rather pleasant. Ian carried the soup and pasties in a backpack. He is refusing my latest idea which is leg warmers with a pasty pocket. I think this is a great idea for several reasons - not least if we warm the pasties before we go they'll keep his legs warm. Needless to say, we have different opinions about this.

What we did learn on our bike ride is that there were quite a few dried up streams - which have now turned into flowing rivers. All were passable, but not without a certain amount of gymnastics...

Manuel has started on the kitchen. He arrived yesterday having been rained off another job. However it's not raining today, so he is back on the other job and coming back here this evening.

There is a lot of building work in general going on at the moment. The next phase in the pavement project appears to be going on with a vengeance. The aim is that wherever in the village someone starts from, they will be able to walk to the cemetery on a pavement with lighting. The pavement is currently being built around the fiesta ground, and around the tennis courts. They also have started building changing rooms for the tennis courts. Tennis is popular with the youngsters, and the tennis courts are well used. The building work at the castle continues too, this is a massive project and it does look good. They are really 'just' making the walls safe, however because they are so big, it is obviously a significant project. The new trading units are coming on too. These are nearly finished and there is a new road to them which makes things take shape. We also noticed that when they did the new road, they also scraped the surface of a lot of the tracks, this evens out the holes and bumps and is a big improvement. There is a track that we cycle up that would have been impassible for cars, however the new scraped surface has evened it all out.

Davy is still limping, but not quite so bad. He is jumping a little more, so that's a step - or jump - in the right direction.

Limping Davy

Having said that everyone was ok after the crash of the kitchen cupboard, we noticed that Davy was limping and unable to jump very high. Davy is normally able to jump onto the fridge where their food is with no problem, however he couldn't make it, or jump onto a table which is lower. So we wonder if he may have fallen off the fridge when the cabinet fell down. We took him to the vet who couldn't find anything, so hopefully it is just a sprain.

Pirata had his first fall yesterday. He just walked off the wall in the patio and fell on his head. He was fine - I think it was much more traumatic for us than for him. He is normally very careful and puts a paw out to feel his way.

The Fall of the Kitchen Cabinet

Our kitchen cabinet fell off the wall on Friday. It is a very large cabinet and was quite full. Amazingly all that broke was one egg, and even more amazingly, Ian happened to be stood right by it and managed to catch it, superman-like, as it tumbled off the wall. All the animals were ok, but Pirata was scared and ran into a wall with a bit of a bump. If it had fallen on the floor it could have been a very different story. We'd put the cabinet onto part of the wall that Manuel hadn't redone, so I guess there's a message there. It has been up for a couple of years, but I guess must have been slowly coming away.

On the plus side that made us think about how to lay out the pantry. Manuel hasn't started yet on the kitchen so we've time for a bit of a re-plan. We're now thinking about putting marble work surface and units into the pantry and taking out the units, or at least moving them. I think that will work quite well and won't increase the total cost too much.

The lovely weather that we've had through autumn has now broken and it's cold and wet. Although Monday and Tuesday were both nice and we went for a cycle ride on both days, doing both of our favorite rides. On Tuesday we saw two planes refueling overhead (I had thought one was towing the other, which seemed unusual). This is a picture here - Tues 16th.

Actually, it didn't matter that the weather wasn't so nice this week as we have spent the week working on our new site. It wasn't too bad and after a week we have a site that is ready to launch. We've still a lot of work to do on it, but the basic framework is in place. We did spend much of the week working together in Ian's office and it soon reminded us why we enjoy our own workspace. It took Ian about a nano-second to comment on my 'unreasonably loud typing' where I was much too polite to comment on his consistent sighing, mumbling or listening to music at ear-bending levels. Needless to say, my little peaceful haven otherwise know as my workshop is looking pretty good at the moment.

Our websites are doing quite well at the moment, we had our best day ever earlier this week. However we're very aware that we have to keep pressing forward, if only to stand still. The new site is much more general and hopefully will be a good balance to the others.

We trimmed all the pups yesterday, which means that there is now a heap of shivering dogs under the blanket....

Another Picnic

Yesterday we went for another lunch bike ride and picnic. This time we went to what we think is an old quarry. It's actually less that two kilometers away, so we were easily able to be there, back and picnic within the hour. Just as well as my class started early yesterday - to my surprise. They turned up 40 mins early. This was because of the circus arriving. It was a tricky class as they were fit to explode at the thought of the circus, even though the high point, as far as I can see, was a 15 year old pig and a pony.

Pumpkin Soup and Quince Cheese

Ian and I have been busy making pumpkin soup and quince cheese. Ian has been making the soup from a huge pumpkin that one of my class give us and I have been making quince cheese from some quinces we scrumped. The pumpkin soup is delicious and it is now in our freezer which appears to be at least half full with pasties.

The quince cheese that I attempted was slightly less successful. Although, as Ian stared forlornly at the sticky slop, he did say that it would probably taste nice. I tried leaving the quince mess to dry in the kitchen, but eventually gave up and put it into a jar where it now looks like something you might find in a Hammer Horror laboratory. Happily Carlos bought us round some yesterday which his mum had made and was properly set and can be sliced. I thought about sneaking it into the kitchen and telling Ian that mine had eventually set, however honest side got the better of me.

We've had a few days of wind and rain but yesterday was nice so we went for a lunchtime cycle ride. We went to and sat behind the bull ring to eat our pasties and sup our soup. I realized that I had forgotten that I was going to make Ian a pasty bag for his bike. Judging by the tears in his eyes I think we was very touched by the thought that I am going to embark on such a project specially for him.

Pirata Settles In

Pirata is settling in well. He is very confident and doesn't get fazed by much. Ian wonders if Pirata can determine light and shade. Certainly he does sometimes seem to 'look' at things. I'm not really sure of how things work, but I think because he wasn't born with eyes doesn't necessarily mean that his retina and other optical doodahs weren't formed.

It is fascinating watching how he finds his way around. He now has the run of the house, but we shut him in my workshop at night. He loves exploring and climbing. He sometimes is a little nervous about jumping down from things, however when he's done it a couple of times he's fine. We try not to help him down from things as this doesn't allow him to learn. I'm not too worried that he's wary about jumping down, better that than his having a disregard for heights. Of course, he broke his leg when he fell out of a window, so I think that may have made him wary - although perhaps not as much as it should have done!

When he's not exploring he's quite likely to be found on Ian's lap or snuggled down by me in my workshop. He's quite a cuddly little cat and enjoys a good purr!

All the others - dogs and cats - seem to take him in their stride. I think they must think he is a little odd as he doesn't react in a predictable way - for instance if he turns and walks into a wall. Because he doesn't have eyes he doesn't give the impression of staring and I also think that this is helping the other not to be afraid of him or react negatively. I have read that animals use staring as part of their way of establishing a pecking order so they would regard a blind animal's staring as being aggressive.

The weather has been glorious for the last month or so, although we did have a big storm last weekend. It's still hot in the afternoon, but cooler in the morning. Since the clocks have changed we've been making the most of the lighter mornings and either going for a cycle ride or walk. The sun rises now at 7.45 (I know because we watched it rise yesterday when we were cycling) and drops again at 6.15 (I know because we watched it set from our sun terrace yesterday).

The banister for the sun terrace was fitted last week and it's really finished it off nicely. It also means that going up and down the stairs feels a lot safer - it feels surprisingly high from the top step!

We've started work on a new website. This is purely commercial and we hope to generate revenue from advertising. It's a little different from our other sites and hopefully we'll have it launched later this month. We're dedicating a week to it later this month which should get it to the launch stage.

Manuel is going to be starting on the kitchen next week. We're already planning what our first meals will be cooked in a proper oven with temperature controls that give us something inbetween complete incineration and slightly warm. Not having to go outside for water is going to be a big step forward too!

Pirata Settles In

Cat Trees

We went ahead and bought a couple of cat trees. A small one for Pirata and a big one for the rest. Needless to say - the box was much more interesting - you can see Tib's tail as she plays inside the box with Fibs sat on the top.




Babbity Bumble, Miss Moppet and Davy do eventually get the hang of playing on the cat tree - however Ian has to lift them up first!



We also bought a dog bed - much appreciated by the cats. In previous years we've just made a pile of old blankets on the floor for dogs to sit on during the winter, however thought a proper dog's bed might be more practical.

This is Pirata's cat tree. Much appreciated by Bob!

Halloween - my class come to visit...

I defy anyone...

...to look at this chair (click here for more info) - and the $85,000 price tag - and not start mentally planning a soft toy round-up. I did check to make sure that the price wasn't in Zimbabwean dollars or some other run-away currency. But no, for a cool $85k, this panda chair could have been yours.

I noticed that the limited edition of 25 chairs had sold out, so obviously there must be a market - however small and mad. Needless to say we both got straight onto eBay looking for job lots of soft toys...

A Picture Tells a Thousand Words (therefore this is a small novel)...

The sun terrace looking over to the yard next door (and our new chest)


Ian and the sun terrace looking towards the castle


The sun terrace looking towards the police house. We'll be able to wave to them.


Nicely painted sun terrace


Outdoor kitchen (old garage), painted and nearly finished.


Outdoor kitchen looking out to back yard.


The green door will be a table for the outdoor kitchen. The brown table is being cut down to make legs.



Chickens still declaring that the new garage is theirs. The railing for the stairs to the sun terrace are going to be fitted over the next couple of weeks. We'll need to paint the outside too, but that will probably be next year when we embark on Project Back Yard.

Bells on His Toes

I thought that it would be great if Ian and I wore bells so that Pirata could hear where we are. So much so that I've been looking for Morris Men bells that we could wear. I must admit that I've been a little surprised by Ian's refusal to embrace this obviously brilliant idea. I've even given him some options of a knitted ankle warmer with bells on it or a felted pair of slippers with bells on the toes - his reaction to both has been quite frankly disappointing. Shame really as I've ordered 100 small bells and 20 big bells.

I shall make some toys with some of the bells as it's quite difficult finding interesting cat toys here. Particularly interesting toys that make a noise. The cats love little felt balls, so I might try sewing a bell onto one of these and seeing if Pirata likes that. That just leaves 99 small bells and 20 big bells to do something with....

Busy Bees

Well, we're having a really busy week. We've cleared and painted the outdoor kitchen which is now looking pretty good. We've painted the back gate with the super expensive 'extreme' paint which has given us a rather unusual mottled effect. We've also varnished the front door - although I did clean it first and it was amazing the affect of removing layers of dust - we found that our front door was shiny after all. But the varnish will help to protect it for another year. I tried to fill some gaps in the front door, but the filler was such an odd color I decided to leave it. We've also painted the sun terrace and started to get things in order in our 'store'. This is the bit that is behind the new wall in the outdoor kitchen. What's left is to make tables from our doors, put electricity into the outdoor kitchen and sun terrace and wash down the outdoor kitchen floor. We've removed sackfuls of dust, a lot of this would be from when Manuel's been using this area as his base when he's been working in the house, but a lot of it is just the day to day dust that accumulates. I think that dust is one of the few negatives about living here. Of course, dusting more frequently than once every four years may help.

We've also turned the small front room into a classroom and reclaimed the big front room. The big front room wasn't really set up as a classroom and I was always worried that they might damage something - or themselves.

I've got a new class on Wednesdays. These are very young, one five year old and two six year olds. I've decided that they will either be really hard work or really easy. The first week was just a 'getting to know you' session and I was just trying to find out how much they knew. Yesterday was their first class and we spent about 20 minutes on numbers and then I gave them a picture of a doll which they had to label with parts of the body, and then a picture of Hello Kitty that they had to color following my instructions ie color the ears of Hello Kitty green; color the nose of Hello Kitty red. We then went on to give her a hat with three flowers, five pet sheep etc which tied in numbers as well. So we got in numbers, colors and parts of the body - which is quite a lot - however the little one just said how much fun she was having. When they left, I could hear them outside telling their mum's what they had done and how much they enjoyed it. I just hope that their parents realize that they are doing the coloring and drawing following English instructions and not that I just give them a load of pens to get on with it! But anyway, so far so good...

I've split the others into two classes now, which isn't ideal, but I was finding five in a class too many, particularly as they are in two groups at school, working from two different books. I've now got eight or nine children (one only comes during the holidays) . If I get any more I may need to look at becoming legal, however I'm not sure what that will entail.

Pirata

We went to meet Pirata yesterday and he's going to come and live with us on 26th October. He has one more visit to the vet about his leg. The people who are fostering him are very nice and I am sure they are going to find it difficult to part with him. They feed street cats in Zafra and found him as a kitten. The knew he wouldn't survive so bought him into their flat. They've been looking after him for 6 months and nursed him through his broken leg, so I am sure they have strong bonds. But they want a permanent home - which we can give.

He is very cute, doesn't seemed fazed to be blind - but I guess as he doesn't know any different that's just what is world is like. He is very used to being handled and quite happily sat on my lap. He sniffs the air a lot, which is one of his ways of sensing his environment. I've never really seen a cat sniff before - except when they sniff their cat foot before proclaiming that they will never eat such muck.

I think it will take a while to integrate him - which we are expecting. He doesn't have eyes, just little holes with scar material. I have read that animals can be scared of blind cats as eye contact is one of their ways of communicating. I had assumed that the problem was with blind cats with eyes that were unseeing. So I am not sure whether it will be different with a cat that doesn't have eyes.

When he broke his leg it was actually quite a small fall that he had, so that is something we need to be aware of. It was only a couple of feet drop, but I think he got his leg caught in something.

He is quite big - much bigger than Babbity Bumble who appears to be a midget cat, although they are the same age. Judging by the size of his paws he is going to be a big cat, which is quite unusual. I think that this is a good thing as even if he doesn't know that he's big, the others will and I think it will help him to have a size advantage!

We've got quite a lot to plan. It is important that we don't keep moving things around or moving him around to start, so deciding where his safe area is to be is the first thing we need to do. As is making sure his bed, food and cat litter are placed where he can get them. the people who are fostering him are going to give us his bed and bedding so that will be familiar. I was thinking about getting him something like this below to play on - however having now realized how he broke his leg I shall be looking for something decidedly smaller. I might get something like it for our other cats though, I just know that they will love playing on it so it might be a nice treat so they don't feel left out when Pirata comes.

It is sometimes surprising what we can buy here....

We've been mulling over what work surface to have in our new kitchen. Obviously having spent the last couple of years minus a kitchen, another couple of months while we debate work surfaces won't matter. However, surprisingly, we've reached a consensus on either polished cement, one of the fancy colored new resin and stone aggregates ie Silestone, marble or granite. Having spoken to Manuel, he sent us up to the Marble workshop in the village to see what they had. We were amazed to find that we could buy a wide selection of surfaces there, including Silestone. He had a wide range of local marbles and granites, as well as imported marbles and granites, including a natural granite that contained labradite - which shone green and blue.

They told us not to get the Silestone, as it wasn't very robust and not to get marble as it stained. So we were choosing a granite of some description. We decided not to get an imported one, thinking it would be nice to support local or national business. As it so happened, the one that we liked the best - a sort of neutral grey color, lightly speckled with bits of mica - is a Spanish granite so it worked out well.

We don't have a price yet, however I'll be surprised if it comes over budget.

I'm not sure if we are Manuel's favourite or least favourite clients. This week when he came round to talk about the kitchens I was asking him what we could do to stop the house from flooding when it rains. Our drain can't cope with the really really high volume that may only come once a year, but it is still annoying. The problem is because when the drain was put in, the gutter shot the rain water from the house into the street and into the neighbour's yard. Now houses have to be responsible for the disposal of their own rain water, we had to have the new down-pipe draining into our drain. Manuel suggested digging a small storm drain by the back step which we'd put a grid over. This will help the flow of water into the drain. That makes a lot of sense.

In the meantime he said to put the hose down the drain and give it a good clean to make sure that there was no silt in there.

So when he came round the next day, he was a little perturbed to find Ian lying on the floor by the drain with his arm, up to the shoulder in the drain- we'd managed to get the hosepipe stuck in the drain! We've a cheap old hosepipe and the top is bent back on itself and a small metal tube held in the end with a hoseclip. Either the top of the hose or the hose clip had got wedged somewhere. 'No problema', said Manuel, who rolled up his sleeves to have a go at getting the hose pipe out. After a while he decided that it was a 'grande problema' and next thing we know he's got a lump hammer out and was digging up the drain to get the hose pipe out. At the same time he was digging our new storm drain. As it started to rain I'm not sure whether his grimace was an expression of 'hey, it could happen to anyone' or something a little less polite.

While we were musing that we can buy almost anything in the village, Ian did also point out that we had to go 120 kilimeters to buy a turnip.

Obviously we didn't go to Badajoz just to buy a turnip, it was just a happy addition to our mega shopping trip. We also bought some paint to paint the sun terrace, some 'extreme' paint to paint the back gate, a chest for our sun terrace, 8 wooden legs to make two tables with (which we didn't necessarily plan to buy - we found some bargain ones in a diy store). One will be for the outdoor kitchen. We'll be using one of the old doors to do this. Plus, of course, our turnip for a new pasty baking session and a tray of baked beans.

Our plans for next week are to paint the sun terrace and outdoor kitchen. We've also decided on furniture for the sun terrace - see it here.

Pirata

This is Pirata, who is a little 5 month old blind cat. He also fell out of a window, so also has a broken leg which is pinned, but the leg will make a full recovery.

We enjoyed the experience of looking after Batman and both agreed that we would look for another special needs cat. Pirata is currently being fostered in Zafra and we've been talking to them about adopting him.

Hopefully we'll have more news soon...

Road Testing Pasties

We decided to take our pasties out for a road test at lunch time. We went down to the village picnic spot which wasn't far away. Pasties stood up to the journey well, but Ian cheated, putting his inside a rucksack. I stuck mine into a small bag on my bike, only to find that a/ it didn't fit in and b/ was so big I kept knocking my knee against it. This resulted in a very slow ride to the picnic spot as I couldn't bear the disappointment - or indeed the mess - of dropping the pasty onto the road.

Our verdict...?? Thumbs up. They were nowhere near as bad as we feared. Ian confidently pronounced them fit for breakfast, lunch or tea. Which is good!

Manuel came round yesterday to talk to us about the kitchen. He's going to come back over the next day or so to tell us what he thinks- plus with some quotes for worksurfaces. How exciting!

Happy Pasty Day

Actually, it's Spain Day, or in the rest of the Hispanic world, Día de la Hispanidad. We celebrated by making pasties. The thought being that now the weather is cooler during the day and dark in the mornings, we can go for a cycle ride at lunch time and take our pasties with us to eat en-route. Our aim was to fill the freezer with pasty delights that we could take with us next time we venture out.

I don't think that Mr Ginsters needs to worry just yet. Our pasties were perhaps not the success that we had hoped for. It isn't helped by the fact that our cooker has two heat settings - complete incineration and very slightly warm. Which means that some have rather black bottoms.

I'm also wondering whether baked bean and onion is the best filling. Although on reflection, it was probably better than the lentil based slop that we added to the other half of the pasties.

As the pasties are cooling, so is our enthusiasm for packing our pockets with these lentil filled time-bombs, which are ready and waiting to leak their sloppy contents. At least, I suppose, we could follow the lentil trail back home again if we get lost.

Mind you, Ian's enthusiasm seemed to wane somewhat after I told him I would knit him a pasty carrier that he could strap to his arm.

I have a Kindle!

I have bought an Amazon Kindle. I've had some money in a US Amazon account from when I used to write for BellaOnline. I've not done anything with it, however when the new Kindle was released, I thought this would be a good opportunity to spend the money.

Living in Spain, we have to buy Kindles from Amazon 'International'. It is not supported if we buy it from the UK - so as it happens it worked out well. The cost works out well buying it from America too, and they take a deposit against duty and tax, guaranteeing that they will pay any additional costs.

My Kindle arrived within 5 days - which is pretty good. Obviously no problem with customs.

When I opened the package, both Ian and I thought that there was paper on the screen - however it's not paper. That is what the screen looks like. It really looks like paper!

So far I am very impressed. They refer to the technology as 'electronic paper' and it is really very different to anything else I know. It isn't at all like a computer screen, it is matt and is as clear to read in sunlight as it is in the shade.

It holds something like 7000 books - so that will keep my quiet for a while....!!

Gruesome Ants

Quite honestly, I don't think that there is anything more gruesome than ants. After seeing them dismember a lizard earlier this year, there is little that would surprise me.

After the flying ant hayhem of yesterday, today we found a little pile of what looked like bits of blackberries by the back door. On closer inspection it was a pile of bits of dead flying ants that normal ants had dismembered, plied up and were in the process of taking down their ant hole.

Yet again, I was reminded how glad I am that they are the size they are. I honestly don't fancy our chances if they were our size.

Talking of not fancying our chances, we are in the middle of a battle of the wills with the chickens as the moment who are certain that the new garage is their new chicken house. Admittedly, it was earlier in the year, however it is now where we park the car. I'm not certain that I fancy our chances on winning this battle either, as chickens can be remarkably determined when they put their minds to it - although happily they don't seem to have the intellect of ants - I could otherwise imagine the car being taken to pieces and piled up somewhere else!

Second Spring

This time of year is sometimes referred to as the second spring. It is easy to see why, when the grass is coming back and the countryside is turning green again. Where it is still warm during the day, flowers are coming out too. I think we are noticing it more this year as we are seeing more of the countryside while we are out on our bikes.

I've been harvesting cotton - I don't think that Ian will need to worry about wearing a handknitted cotton sweater this year...!

Flying Ant Day

Judging by the number of flying ants that have suddenly appeared today, today is flying ant day. Really! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_ant_day

The Things You Find Beside the Road

I never cease to be amazed by the odd things that we find discarded by the side of the road.

Basil Improves

Basil is getting much better. How do we know? Because he spends from about 2.30 wandering between the garage where the food is kept and Ian down to let Ian know that it is nearly tea-time. This is typical Basil behaviour and a sign that his legs are much better. He's still a little wobbly, but he was before.

Basil Gives Us a Scare

The DHL man came with our kitchen appliances on Monday (yey!). In his excitement, Basil's front went in one direction and his back legs in the other. Unfortunately he couldn't get up onto his back legs after this.

In a dog of Basil's size and age this is a real problem, however Monday night he started to get onto his back legs and today he could wobble around. The vet has given him anti-inflamatories, and we need to give it some time. He's not been great on his feet for a while now, so we're not expecting miracles, but as long as he can have a wander and sniff, get to his food and be able to go to the toilet, then he'll be fine for a while longer.

On the plus side, Basil is getting his tablets in a spoon of pate, which he thinks is a very good thing!

We Are Offered a Home Visit by the Virgin

Ian was a little surprised to be offered a home visit from the virgin. As he recovered from the shock, he realized that the nice people at the door were asking if we'd like a visit from the statue of Mary, mother of all pains, the virgin mother and village saint. However I can't help wondering what it would be like. Do we offer her a carrot and glass of sherry like Father Christmas's reindeer, offer a her a cup of tea...? I don't know, however I guess a safer bet is that it would involve a lot of praying and penitence.

Quite nice to be asked though - perhaps they realize that we're really not going away!

We flooded last Thursday, the day before Viv, Helen and Sian were arriving. The flood was followed by a power cut which was unfortunate. I think it was worse than last time as the water went into every room bar the shower room. At least this time there was only one flood, however. The drain just can't cope with the volume of water, and this has been made worse since we've had the drain drain into our yard, rather than into the street. We'll get some sandbags, however longer term we'll get Manuel to dig a storm drain into our well.

These big storms are never out of the blue. I am rather annoyed with myself for laughing at the severe weather warning that we saw on the weather forecast rather than putting together an action plan. A big water drum would also have helped. I did go and get Manuel's from out the back, but the rain had stopped by then.

Sadly we had to have little Batman put to sleep on Monday. It was very sad. Poor little fellow deteriorated quickly over the weekend and there was nothing we could do for him. He faced one last challenge that was too great for him. We've buried him by the new sun terrace with Billy. I like to think that where ever he is, he has his little tail back and can run and jump like other kittens.

Photos

Today Manuel started - and finished - on the wall in what was the garage and will soon by our outdoor kitchen. It won't go right the way up, the main thing is to make a divide between where we'll store things and our outdoor kitchen.


This is another view looking through to the back yard.



This is the stairs going up to the sun terrace. If you look closely (click on the image to see it full size) you can see Henry and Bob looking through the gates at us.


These are our chicks - nearly full size now!



Miss Moppet and Schukes looking at Batman.