AUTUMN IS ARRIVING

Another long gap since I wrote anything.  Life has been somewhat hectic of late and the uncharacteristic weather from this summer has contributed, along with work constraints and visits to the UK, to the craziness of life.  

I am sad to say that our final original hen has passed away.  I found her stiff as a board in the hen house on Friday afternoon. I've no idea what she died of, she was not showing any signs of obvious disease. Now I am left with 3 hens who only lay when they feel like it! so rather a shortage of eggs at the moment.  I will probably need to buy a few more hens to get the egg supply going again.  I loathe buying them from the supermarket.

A whole day of rain yesterday - which was good for the land, but dark and dismal for me - means that the earth is soft for planting.  However, I am not sure I have the time on my hands to plant anything this week - we shall see.  I could do with cauliflowers, broccoli and cabbage.

The pool turned emerald green the other week and I couldn't get it back to its wonderful blue colour, so we've emptied it and we'll start again.  

Puss-cat is sleeping in a little more, especially over the last couple of days, he isn't keen on rain!

Puss, having a snooze and chilling out

 As the Autumn is upon us, when it isn't overcast and grey, we are having chilly evening sunsets, some of them are beautiful but I haven't caught a great one yet.

When the skies aren't overcast we are having wonderful Autumn sunsets

 J and I went snorkelling up at La Victoria - there is always lots to see there.  Sea urchins, octopus, lots of different fish, crabs etc.  I don't think we'll be going again this year unless we have another hot spell, but that's doubtful.

A dead sea urchin collected on our final snorkelling trip of the season at La Victoria near Alcudia.

 The farmers are harvesting their corn at the moment and I watched as they gathered it up in the next door field.  Their corn is used for animal fodder.  After the harvest, the field lies bare with only the short stems remaining and we can see over to the poligono (industrial estate) across the fields.

Jess, keeping me company as I watch the harvesting of the corn next door.

Harvest time - this corn is used for animal fodder.

Ruffa Roo waiting for the huge combine to reap the corn

The cloud builds, on a walk with Ruffa in Sa Pobla

OLD CATS, NEW CATS AND OTHERS

It has been sometime since my last post, due in part to the craziness of life and also living here in Mallorca.

There are so many things to write about and catch up on that I am sure I won't remember them all, but here we go..

Our cat population increased to 11 in total.  Adolf, if you remember him from previous posts, has managed to see-off Samuel Sprat, which I am very sad about, Samuel was a very loving pusscat and he'll be missed around here, especially in the vegetable plot where he took up refuge, but perhaps he'll come back one day and challenge the moustache off Adolf.  Our lovely old Abuela (grandmother) cat has also been seen-off by the same culprit.  Again, another one that will be missed.  Where she has gone, I have no idea, there is no sign of her.  The two tiny kittens that never seemed to grow stayed very tiny and never really flourished.  They were constantly skinny and bony and even though they ate and drank without any problem it seems there was an underlying fault in their biology.  The little brown and white one passed away the other day and the black and white is wrapped in a blanket in the kitchen as we speak, I don't think he'll make the night.  All really sad, but you kind of get used to living with the ferals' and dealing with life and death as it gets thrown at you.

This week, we had two new additions to the cat clan, both kittens, probably about 5-6 months old, they were bothering a local farmer, so we bought them home.  However, they seemed quite happy for a few days and even fitted in well with the rest of the cat clan, but suddenly they disappeared yesterday.  They may return, unless they belong to someone nearby.

We managed to get two more hens to keep our solo one company.  They are all doing well and laying abundantly.  Don't ask me their names as I can never remember, something like Bertha, Dorothy and Gloria - who knows.  But they are happy and enjoy corn and mixed greens as treats.

The vegetable plot is now ready for rotovating, once done I will lay a layer of compost or dung over the top and leave it to settle for about 15 days, then it will get churned in and then I can begin planting again.

The weather has definitely changed.  We now awake feeling cold, time to get the duvets and heated blankets out of hiding.

The dogs are both great, the pool is now covered, the trees have produced an abundance of figs/pears and oranges this year, amazing.  Next fruits are the olives, which are already growing.  I also need to prune back the vines and the various overgrown fruit trees, but that will wait till its a little colder.

So just to say that we managed to grow tomatoes, aubergines, corn, chillies and other peppers and swiss chard.  All did fairly well considering I didn't water them all as much as I should have! I know for next time.

Pebre Bord - Tap de corti peppers.  These, when they turn red, are picked and hung in the sun to dry, when dried they are ground into a paprika powder and used in the making of sobresada sausage.

The two new girls.

Protected grapes.  The birds didn't get them this year.

Corn

Resting wherever they like! (Mittens)

Some harvest, including a 5 litre bottle of great olive oil from a local farmer.

AND THEN THERE WAS ONE...

Today has been extremely hot.  37 degrees C in the shade and about 40+ in the sun.  The dogs have managed to survive it, just about, the cats did what they do best and slept all day but I am sad that one of my hens didn't cope!  We now only have one hen, so I need to get some more quickly.  I am certain it was the heat that killed her and nothing else.  The other girl was ok, although panting a little.  I am going to have to keep a close eye on her tomorrow as it will be another scorcher!  I have decided that I might plant a tree in the coop, so that next year they have extra shade!  I am going to spend a bit of time tonight researching 'things to do for hot hens'!

The only girl left! I am sure she will be lonely till we pick up some more!

I have given the plants an extra watering tonight also.  Even though I was told by a local farmer only to do it every other day, but all the plants looked very dry and thirsty.

The corn is coming along, and in the afternoons now gives some extra shade in the coop for our remaining hen.  

THE CORN  - AS HIGH AS THE CHICKEN COOP NOW!

Well, that's it for now really.  We have a busy week coming up as we have guests arriving, but I expect I will put them to work in the vegetable plot at some point.  At least our pool is functioning well this year!

Keep cool and carry on..