We have had some interesting visitors this week, and, no, I am not referring to Jonathan and his mate Jake who are spending a few weeks with us over the summer! This morning Chris and I were sitting
on the back porch enjoying our breakfast cuppa, and we were idly watching a pale gecko running up the wall of the pump house. It became very still and we saw what we thou
ght was another one, emerging from the reel of hose fixed to the wall. But the head we saw stretched up the wall followed by a slim black body that just went on and on. Yes it was a snake. I don't know what sort it was, but I do know that there is only one sort out here that bites, and it is fairly benign, on a par with the adder at home, so I was not worried by this one in our garden. I was just fascinated to see it inch its way up a sheer wall towards the gecko, which I am sure he saw as his breakfast. Of course I had to grab my camera, and whether this disturbed him, or whether he just changed his mind I don't know, but he suddenly slithered down again and as he slid along the hose towards the ground we realised just how long he was. I went over to t
ake a close up of the gecko and realised that he had recently lost his tail, so maybe this wasn't his first encounter with the snake today. We thought they had both gone, but a few minutes later we saw the snake reappear, poking his head out of the black pipe protruding from the top of the wall. He must have climbed all the way up the wall on the back of the pump house, and onto it's flat, recessed roof. The pipe is to run off for any rain from the roof. The snake stayed just inside the pipe for a long time, sometimes hanging out a long way, and sometimes just showing its head. It will be interesting to see if it comes out again tomorrow. Hopefully the gecko will have found a new base. We like having them in the garden as they eat the mosquitoes and other flies.
Other visitors who helps combat the flies are all the birds on the green land at the back of us. We are now pretty sure these are swifts, not house martins as we first thought. Every morning and just at dusk, a huge flock of them dive and dart around catching air-borne bugs. They also dive bomb the building next door where there are lots of sparrows nests. They make a loud shrieking noise as they fly w
hich the locals call 'The devil's screech'.
Another bird came to visit us quite late one evening while Jean and Dorothy were with us. It settled on the corner of the roof next door. I took this photo of it, hoping I would be able to zoom in on it and see it better, but it was gone 9.00 and the light was fading, so I only have this vague outline, but it looks as though it is a small owl. Chris said he could see it had talons. We often hear a solitary bird call during the night, and it is quite possible that there are owls in the trees behind the house, or in the chimneys of one of the half-built houses across the back.
We had to take one of the pups to the vet today. Chico developed a limp in his front, right leg, and it was obviously causing him a lot of pain. Poor Miki is used to playing rough and tumble with him, but he snapped at her so fiercely that she kept her distance for the rest of the morning. The vet thinks he has bruised the bone just jumping and playing, and has given him pain-killer and anti-inflammatory tablets which he takes very willingly, and they seemed to give him several hours of relief. We have to take him back to the vet tomorrow so she can keep a check on it. I sat outside with them this afternoon reading a book, but I had to go indoors to do something, and when I went back out I found they had eaten my book. At least they had shredded the top half of the last few pages. They might have chewed the ones I had already read. Now I shall have to read the bottom half of each page and try to guess what was at the top, so I may never be quite sure how the story ends! I guess I am going to learn some lessons the hard way too!
I know I am full of surprises and little sense, but here I go again!! This lovely girl is Foxy. She is a Husky-cross, with the bluest of blue eyes and lovely markings on her face. We were first introduced to her some weeks ago, when an elderly English couple found her and her brother/sister abandonned at the edge of their property. The couple already had a dog and didn't feel that, at their age, they could take on new puppies, so they advertised for a home for them. While they waited for some response, they put food down for the pups each day, and they made their home in a foxhole. The other pup was dark and resembled a small alsatian and we decided to enquire about it. Unfortunately, around this time, the d
ark puppy died, blocking the entrance to the foxhole so the light one could not get out to feed. The couple's daughter, who happens to be an assistant at our vets, dug him out and buried him, and Foxy continued to live in the hole, just emerging each evening for food. She was lonely of course, but also very nervous and no-one could get near her to catch her. She just darted below ground again. Here she is just peeping out of the fox hole when we first went to see her. They decided to set a fox trap near the hole, but the man at the house did not want her to get hungry enough to scavange, so he continued to put food outside the trap, and it seemed unlikely that she would be caught. She grew accustomed to the sound of the lady's voice, but was still too timid to be approached. We felt that she was getting older and more used to her independence, wandering into the campo (open countryside) by day, and probably catching rabbits etc to eat, and she would be difficult to socialise, so when we saw Chico and Miki, also abandonned pups needing a home, we decided to take them instead. Then about a week after we had them, the lady phoned to say that the pup was in the trap and her daughter had taken her to the vet for a full medical, (she was thin and covered in ticks and fleas), plus all the necessary injections. The couple then took her home again and kept her tethered on their patio, unable to set her loose as their grounds are unfenced, plus their own dog might chase her. The next time we went to the vet with one of our animals, the daughter told us how well the little pup had settled down. Although she was very timid, she wagged her tail at the couple who were looking after her, and got on quite well with their dog, but he is old and did not always want to play, so they were still desperate to find her a home. Jonathan and I went to see her and fell in love with her. She sat on my lap and seemed happy to be near us. So we decided to 'foster' her for a couple of day
s to 
see how she got on with our two and the kittens, and more importantly, how they reacted to her. Well that was on Friday and she is still with us. I think she has adopted us as her new family. You would think she had always been here. She romps and plays rough and tumble with the dogs, and they just accept her as another play mate, and she shows little interest in the kittens. I think the feeling is mutual! She will never be as big as the other two though I think she will fill out when she eats better. She doesn't eat much yet but she walks on a lead. I take her and Chris takes the other two; we are becoming a familair sight going down the Calle; and at night she sleeps in the outside run with Chico and Miki. So our family has grown a little bigger than we intended, but we love them all. I have taken nice 
portraits of them all. They are growing fast, particularly Chico who will be a bi
g dog. (He's also the most intelligent and trainable). The cats get on quite well with the dogs, and are learning to walk away when they have had enough attention form them. I love this picture of Miki who is a bit of a bumbling clown. It was taken just after I threw a bowl of water over her to cool her down! In case you are now totally confused, the new blue-eyed beauty is Foxy, the black dog is Miki (Michaela), the brown dog is Chico, the tabby/white cat is Paco and th little ball of grey fluff is Destino. Welcome to the new Perry clan!
