Life On The Finca

Spring Flowers

These are the wild daffodils that grow in the forest.  When the track was being re-done I rescued some of the bulbs that were in danger of being destroyed then my wife planted them in different parts of the garden. These have taken in the side garden by the house and are looking good.  When we go walking around the finca we find quite a few so there is always a small vase of them indoors and their perfume is strong for such dainty little things.

 

If you add to these the violets that are putting on such a show this winter (only pic I have at moment) then each room in the house has a different perfume.  When the lilies eventually get to flower their perfume can be overpowering, but even I have to admit the kitchen smells wonderful, as you can tell my wife likes her cut flowers.

Look Who’s Back

Walking out towards the little house yesterday I came upon Puddytat sleeping on a pile of weeds that my wife had left out. It was nice to see he didn’t dash away when I passed but slowly got up stretched then wandered off as if to say ‘can’t a cat sleep in peace?’.  Not seen him around the ffz whilst the boys are in there but expect he will peer in through the netting at some time. Then the other morning there he was, looking well strolling around like he owned the place – well cats do don’t they –  he is one chunky healthy wild cat, so the wife grabbed her camera and wandered round the garden and got these shots of him:-  Finding the sunny spot,  having a clean up, off to find a spot in the sun and finally take a nap:-

 

An Update On Big Momma X

 

Talking of whom Big Momma X is still sitting on her eggs. Apparently it takes 20 days before anything hatches and as these are a young breeding pair they might not come to anything but as the Cooler King is helping with the hatching I think we have a good chance of a squawk or to two. They are very good at the nesting and if you peek inside the box from the front  you will see both of them sitting side by side, there is no touching the box or they will destroy the eggs/chicks so it’s a peek through the ’round window’.  However when she comes out to stretch her wings, feed or drink if he thinks she is taking too long boy does he shout. They have begun to practice feeding so we have hopes yet.  Going to cost me though, will need to go buy a bigger cage ah well they are worth it, will keep you up dated.

Us Oldies

Ok that’s it for now wife’s back in bed that nasty cough returned and she has been ill for a few days. Problem is she wont rest. Take Wednesday she woke up feeling in her words “miles better”, so we went to the market to collect some feeders from the bird man.  The ride in the car a short walk to the stall and back and she went from feeling ‘miles better to feeling knackered’! Wednesday night she was really really ill no sleep and where she had been coughing everything hurt. So yesterday morning what do I find she’s outside weeding, grrrrrr  that did it she went to see the dr yesterday afternoon and he gave her some dissoluble tablets to bring up the muck one at night and she has another appointment in a weeks time to see how she doing. Me? well I went to see the nurse and I have another round of tests to be done and I see the doctor in May so between the two of us we going great lol.

 

(c)  Michael Douglas Bosc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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New From The Forest 26

Well the gardening is going strong this is one of the bulb gardens my wife built, the stones are there to hopefully deter Puddytat from using it as a toilet.   He is still here little devil woke me the other morning chasing breakfast in the wood shed which is behind the bedroom.  I could hear this noise and wondered what was going on so took a look and there he was along with a smaller version which, I presume, is his mate.  No kittens here matey!!!!

 

 

 

Its been a long time since we ventured west to Terra Alta, so this afternoon being fine and warm we decided to visit the wine celler at Corbera d’Ebre.  This time of year is a busy one the grape harvest is in full swing. It’s now that you see the tractors pulling trailers loaded  with grapes along the roads to the various cellers to be pressed.  We arrived at Corbera late so having around 2 hours to wait we decided to take a trip up into the mountains.  We drove along winding roads through passes then down from Terra Alta to the valley turned west again and headed back up into the mountains along more winding roads and another pass.

Along the way we followed a mechanical grape picker on its way to harvest yet another field, saw tractors with trailers parked in vine fields ready to start work after lunch.  Most of the grapes are grown on short stubby vines which have to be picked by hand, hard but rewarding work.  We stopped off in Gandesa for a drink and as we sat by the road, the Moto GP 2 support lorries drove past on their way to Aragon.  Back at the Celler which was now open we bought some wine and nuts then headed back to town.

 

During the week I was over our other terraces and noticed this tree growing with strange fruit, so I asked my wife if she knew what it was.  Having posted it on FB she was informed it was a Strawberry Tree, neither of us had heard of it before so when we went to petanca we took two of the fruit with us.  It turned out it is a local tree and you can eat the fruit as long as its red.  The fruit has a nobly outside which made me wonder if it was a type of Lychee, but it has pips inside so I wont be the one eating it not saying who will though…  so guess who’s been lined up to dig up the two young ones we found and plant them on the lower level????  ooooh me back doctor…..

Now if anything says anything about how things go up here this plant does.  It is supposed to stand erect and the flowers hang down like bells.  It self seeds so we can expect a few plants from it.  But I digress, as you can see from the photos it has decided that it prefers laying down and spreading to standing upright.  The flowers are doing fine, however, the large white bell shapes stand up instead  of hanging down but it does not seem to mind.  When it was planted it seemed to struggle a little so my wife put it next to a lemon Geranium and it took off, seems it likes company.  So when its finished flowering and the leaves have gone she is going to trim the geranium then put a support under the plant in the hope that next year it will get it right – yeh???

 

So it has been a fairly quiet week really, I went into Reus to collect my driving licence, then shopping and finally school. Two hours of learning Spanish and as of next week its twice a week, next term its 3 hrs a day……. anyway I do enjoy it.

 

(c) Michael Douglas Bosc

 

 

 

 

 

 

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News From The Forest 23

Here he comes wobbling across the sky not sure where he’s going but he’s definitely high.  “Hic! who’s there? oh its you. I suppose you’re going to tell everyone I’ve been partying again, hic! Well, I don’t care!!!!”

 He lurched, became round again for a moment then wobbled on his way.  As I said, I don’t know where he’s going but I do know where he’s ‘bean’!

Party Time

It’s that time of year again and the village is in party mood.  Tonight is the villages big correfoc which is followed by dancing and music until dawn.  Yep they certainly know how to party here even the moon gets in on it as you can see from the pictures.  This being the second year I have noticed this event I am quite convinced that no matter what NASA says, this moon is most definitely a party animal.

The Garden

My wife has actually finished one of her projects in the garden, the bulb tyre.   This old tyre has been here for years and she had filled it with earth then planted up some bulbs.  This year it looked very tatty so she dug up the bulbs, putting aside the small ones for planting elsewhere, sifted the earth, then in-filled the rim with stones to strengthen it. Now I don’t know about you, but to my wife plain black tyres are not appealing in a garden, so the next job was the painting.  Two cans of yellow were needed for the top to give it a ‘weathered’ look but because of the effect she wanted it only needed one can of green. Allowing the tread to show here and there gave it a mottled look which I think works well.  All that was left was to replace the earth, plant the bulbs then top it off with compost. However, with Puddytat and the piggy wigs rooting around, she felt it needed something else. So this morning she collected small stones and scattered them over the surface. End result a smart-looking garden tyre.

Work In Progress

This is a project that is part of  a bigger on going garden thing…   It was here that I planted a bay tree that my sister gave my wife and here is where the grubs of black beetles killed it by eating the roots.  So after killing them and cleaning the ground I went to check and re-pot an off shoot I had taken, leaving my wife standing looking at it wondering what to do.

Well she has come up with a good solution.  First she cleaned what was left of the ground then we went to a farming centre and bought stuff to protect roots from these things.  Next stop one of the gardening shops in town for bulbs Gladioli and Anemones, plus more compost.  Once home she mixed the granules into the earth to discourage the beetles, planted the bulbs, topped off with compost leaving about 2-3 inches below the rim to protect the flowers from the wind.

Now I am sure you know this character, he is the cause of the stones on top of the compost, using the hexagon garden as a toilet was not a good idea matey.  All that’s left of the planting is for flowering cacti to be  planted in the holes and it is finished. However, that is her job as I have managed to get an infection in a cyst on my hand. So its off to the doctor’s again this week to see what he is going to do.  As I say it’s all go up here.

And other Things

I am hoping to have a few more pictures of the wild boar next time, they have been making a ‘pond’ on the lower level so I have set a camera up down there. This time I have cut away the leaves, so there won’t be the 600 photos like last time because the honeysuckle was whipping around.

This is the honeysuckle’s new home in the new wall garden.  We did not plant this it appeared on year in front of one of the olive trees so we left it to grow.  But because it’s in the direct line of a camera I decided to move it here, so it can clamber up into the olive tree and play.  Oh and I all most forgot,  the new bird bath is being engineered, yes I did say engineered….

(c) Michael Douglas Bosc

 

 

 

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News From The Forest

I tought I tought a Puddytat a creeping up on me  I DID I saw a Puddytat plain as he could be…….

 

I have been on about Puddytat the wild cat that has adopted us and our Finca.  Well finally I have some pictures only not of Puddytat himself who is larger with white tufts on his ears but this character who my wife calls “Puddytat Jnr”.  Healthy, cocky and definitely not friendly to humans ( I am pleased to say he/she wont come near us) and there is my dilemma because I personally think he is a she….

 

Anyway the other evening my wife was cooking chicken for tea and as I went into the kitchen I glanced sideways towards the door and there was Puddytat bold as brass looking to see if anything was in the offing.  We managed to get a couple of shots through the anti insect netting but the best one came from the sitting room back window. Not sure what he was looking at but as you can see he is completely at home.  Needless to say he had chicken later that evening, and don’t be fooled by his size he’s still growing and I can a sure you he has talons…

I have mentioned several times about the rose garden and how they have (thanks to my nieces advice) put on a really good show this year. We planted them under the olive tree which – in our unwise wisdom – we thought would be good for shade from its overhanging branches.  My wife was talking to our niece and asked her advice – she’s a gardener – and it was suggested that we lop the branch open up the area giving the roses more sun. This we did and you can see they appreciated it.  Only two have not bloomed but hey the white one was dug up by the piggywigs and the other well we will see.   Thanks Sharon advice very much appreciated.

Hang on I know that person from somewhere….  Needless to say getting old has its drawbacks one of which is recollection of people. As you can see from my expression I have to ask the wife how I know them or IF I know them.  We were sat outside one of the bars in town one evening when a car tooted whilst the occupants waved like mad as they whizzed past, being the only people there they obviously knew us. But do you think I could remember them? turned out they were petanca friends oh boy I must be getting old.

 

Now the town has closed the access to Club Nautique for construction work.  They are building a ‘cantilever walkway’ out over the river so no cars are allowed down there and pedestrians can only access the club IF they have a card saying they live in the road.  Well its mid May and the club opens at the end of the month so it will be interesting to see what happens.  It wont affect us as we can drive along the river road and park on the club side, but how they will get the boats in back and forth for the races they attend in other places is going to be really challenging. Will keep you posted on that one.   As for those traffic lights and the one way system they put into place didn’t work so they have taken them away and we go up and down the cliff like before and as there are passing places so fary so goody.

Well today was local election day so I went to vote.  Very different from the UK, you get lists of names for the council – there were three – then after registering you take one list and an envelope  fold the list up place it in the envelope seal it then pop it in the ballot box.  All this is done under the eyes of 7 people who, if asked, tell you the procedure but will not aid you or touch the paper or envelope easy really.   So after that we have retired to the café for a coffee and lemon tea.

 

©  Michael Douglas Bosc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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