Ducklings ahoy

We have five mad little Muscovy ducklings, our first and they are very cute. They are fairly independent, just needing mum for warmth between feeds. I hope to get some pictures on here in the next few days. We also purchased two turkey poults at a local market which are settling into another stable. They appear to be standard bronze turkeys which is ideal for us as they taste good and mate naturally. Male double breasted birds are unable to mount females so they have to be artificially inseminated which seems to be a crime against nature. We are now looking for another couple so we have one to eat and an unrelated trio left for future breeding. Once they have settled down we will build them an outdoor run so they can behave naturally and still be safe from the many Galician predators.

I also have a broody hen sitting on more eggs and two duck nests being filled with eggs prior to further brooding. It will be a difficult balancing act to control duck numbers, quite why the world is not knee deep in muscovies I am not sure. We plan to keep our core flock of 1 male and 6 females intact and eat or sell/give away everything else. Any less than 6 females is bad because the males are well endowed and mate frequently, females have been known to die from too much attention.

Finally Tim has secured another contract which is brilliant news in many ways. He is off to central London on Monday for as long as they need him. Obviously I shall miss him and will be advertising for a bed warmer locally as soon as he is gone.

My man is back

Tim's contract ended a little sooner than we expected but it is brilliant to have him back home. Despite the drizzle and heavy rain that has been falling for a couple of weeks now As Petas once again is full of the sight and sound of a canoodling couple who have missed each other terribly (sick buckets provided).
Although we survive apart we flourish together and so the apple blossom is a little more beautiful, the bees buzz more sweetly and the rain feels a little warmer and falls more gently when we are together.

Enough of the mush.... the downside is that Tim is once more on the corporate job hunting treadmill, pretending that he loves computers and would love nothing better than to be in a battery cage being fed pellets that fall from the ceiling and writing pointless code. It is currently a necessary evil but we both dream of the complete escape for both of us. A dream that I suspect increasing numbers of disillusioned lab-rats share. We are tied by the bonds of a mortgage however so compromise is the name of the day. As Thoreau said, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."

Reality check

Well dog ownership has not turned out to be a bed of roses. Yesterday they climbed over a wall into my courtyard and killed a 6 week old chick whilst I was on the phone to my daughter. They have killed my chickens before, they are terrier cross collie types and it seems to be in their blood, along with chasing anything and everything. They still run up the drive and chase cars, they nearly killed my cat when he fell off the roof in front of them. I didn't know cats could run that fast.... They also chase the neighbours cows and generally they are a nightmare. They jump or climb my gates, walls and fences or dig under them. When chained they are so miserable they won't eat or drink. Otherwise they are affectionate, toilet trained and eager to please.

Very regrettably I took them back to the dog home they came from yesterday. I am still feeling dreadful but I was worried about the psychological damage I might have caused by chaining or enclosing away from me (the courtyard is at the back of the house) and at 9 months old they have time to be adopted into a more suitable home without the temptation of livestock. With hindsight I probably picked dogs with unsuitable temperaments for a smallholding setting. I just couldn't compete with their urge to chase.

Finally my daughter is unwell and waiting for neurological tests, she is only 22 and its a pretty horrific process to go through. Although it is not life threatening, it might be life changing depending on the results. Sometimes Spain feels an awfully long way away from family. Thank goodness for the telephone. I can't do very much for her physically but I am an available ear which is the best I can hope to be at this time.

To end on a better note, Tim has got his 3 month contract and the money is slowly dribbling through so my plans to set up a brothel for the locals has been put on hold.....

Hanging on in here

Well despite all the problems I am still hanging in here. Tim is currently in Exeter desperately trying to secure a 3 month contract and I remain in Galicia keeping the home fires burning after cutting the wood first of course.

It is not how we wanted it to be but it will hopefully help us to survive a bit longer. Spring is springing here, all I can hear are woodpeckers drumming away, the birds are singing lustily and my peas are starting to emerge. This winter has been very cold and frosty but NO real rain to speak of. Our seasonal stream has dried up already, none of the grass is growing and the newspapers are full of local farmers spending fortunes on dry food for their cattle.

We hoped for rain yesterday but after thunder and lighting no rain actually fell and today is bright and sunny with a clear sky again. After last years drought people will be in real trouble, I am reluctant to plant too much because I will have to water it by lugging buckets of water about. The dry weather hasn't stopped our drake and cockerel from pestering their ladies though. Eggs are in abundance and I had 3 chicks hatch on Valentines Day which are still alive despite the best efforts of their mother, who in a frenzy of scratching likes to bury their food and water as soon as they are put down. I am surprised they haven't starved to death, but their is still time I suppose.

Finally I couldn't do all of this without the support of all of my friends out here. A cup of tea is always available in any one of a dozen houses if I wanted it. The sense of community is alive and well in Galicia and long may it stay that way.

Yet another new beginning

One thing you can't stop is the wheel of life from turning. After a year living in paradise it looks like Tim and I will have to return to the UK to earn some money. When we came out here Tim had a permanent job with remote working but after it stopped he has been struggling to get another job from here.
Rather than spend lots of time apart we are hoping to go back to the UK together so we can maintain our married status and I can keep my feet warm while we try to get some bills paid.

The good news is that we are not the people we were when we came here. Galicia has shown us life as we want it to be. It is achingly beautiful, the people are amazingly generous with their time and indeed with anything they can give. We have raised our own pigs, grown vegetables, kept poultry and performed so many tasks that would have stumped us in our previous life. We have drunk wine, spent time with very good friends, had more than one night singling along to Tims guitar playing, in other words we have really LIVED LIFE.

I have spent precious mornings watching the sun rise over our valley (I never had time to do this in the UK) and precious memories of the glorious summer nights, when we rolled in merrily from a party late at night and then sat on our patio and just gazed awestruck at the clearest stars I have ever seen. You can see the milky way from our patio and more stars than you can imagine. So....I have had a privileged year and it has made us both doubly determined to get back here by hook or by crook as soon as we can sustain it.

In the mean time... does anyone know any house sitters????

New beginnings... again

This time of year is very exciting. A whole new year to enjoy. Tim and I have just finished fencing our first bit of veggie patch with supplies paid for by my mother as a Christmas gift (thanks Mum). As it was our first bit of cultivated ground we put in it all of the fruit bushes we had bought with us from the UK, most of which seem to have survived. It is therefore going to be the official soft fruit area which we hope to net this year. Last year the birds cleared all of the currents in one morning. A massive flock descended like a plague of locusts. We did get some nice strawberries though and a handful of raspberries (the ones the ducks didn't get). We also lifted the huge piece of black plastic and moved it on a bit and I now have a beautiful area of dead grass for this years proper veggie patch. Turning the thin soil over is a complete joy as the thick former turf parts like butter. As I found out last year, trying to dig through the living turf was a nightmare. Even using the local satcha (mattock) I struggled.

I now find I am behaving like a miser, going though my tub of veg seed packets whilst fantasising about the huge luscious crops I will grow in my new veg patch. Of course the reality is unlikely to match the fantasy (like so much in life) but it is the new year and the time for dreaming of the good year to come.

Improved Creativity

One of the many reasons we moved here was to spend more time creating things. Too many evenings spent watching TV in the UK had left us feeling as though life was passing us by.

In Galicia we still have the TV but only for playing DVDs. We spend much more time playing cards and chatting together. Tim plays his guitar whilst I wail along, frightening the dogs. We have resurrected board games which get very competitive and staring at the wood fire whilst sipping wine in silence is a very nice way of passing the time.

Now Tim has a few weeks off he has decided to put one of his novels on Amazon for the kindle. Shortly to be followed by the rest as he transcribes them from scanned paper copies (The Mac died with all of his work on it). In his heart he is a writer and poet, and always has been. Its strange how people get identified by the jobs they do (Computer Programmer in Tims case) and yet so often there are secret urges buried within. Since coming out here Tim has started on his 4th novel, the first book he has written since we met. He may never be famous or rich but the act of creation is the most fulfilling. Else why are we here at all?

For those that are interested, you can find it here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006N87A0Q

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006QK9RDO