Catching up.

It's been a while, about a week  since I last sat here to think about writing,  and not much has happened to write about.   The weather continues to be hot, with blue skies and sun shine the same as it has for weeks now.  Much too hot and much too dry really for May and June but better that than wind and rain. 

Because of the heat and dryness we are having to water the vegetables much more frequently but still have plenty of water despite the lack of rain.  The deposito and fuente that provide Montenegro with it's water were renovated at the end of June/beginning of July and it now holds more water.  The base had silted up and a mini-digger was hired to clean it out, then the  deposito base was given a concrete floor, also the sides were rendered as it was leaking badly.  The acequia direct from the deposito was an open channel for about 100 metres and that has now been tubed so the water comes much quicker and cleaner with less loss into the ground.  The fuente itself was overgrown and had stopped coming over the waterfall - the water had made a new route out overground into the deposito with most of it being lost en route.  The deposito wasn't filling up and it was thought there might not be enough water for everyone's land this summer which is why the work started in June, even though it was really a bit hot. 

The fuente before.....

.....and after.

All of that obviously cost money, the bill was large because of the man hours and materials over the 2 weeks.  We counted about 8 truckloads of sand with sacks of cement balanced on top going passed here, sometimes 2 or 3 in a day.   The bill  has been shared out amongst everyone who is entitled to use the water at a rate equivalent to the number of hours use-age you have for your land.  Our share was just less than 4% of a 5000 euro bill,  not bad for a one-off renovation project.

after the digger had been,

laying the concrete base

finished!

The pear tree in the front garden is laden but the very ripe ones are now dropping and Pip has taken a liking to them.  She's made a path in behind a rose bush, along by the fence and looks behind the tree for fallen fruit.  There are 2 large sage bushes growing either side of the pear tree so she comes out smelling wonderful with a little pear in her mouth.  She always takes them to the doorstep, the same corner each time and very carefully eats the pear leaving the stalk on the step. 

Bite-sized pears.

 Still having early starts to beat the heat, although not as early as some.  Paco comes up to plant and water about 6.15am  so if Pip and Monty weren't awake, that sets them off as he has his dogs running behind his van.  We normally go out about 7- ish  and again about 9pm when it's cooling down.  Most of the day they spend on the tiles indoors in the 'cool' - well, it's all relative!   33 at the moment outside and only 27 indoors.  Not surprisingly we  have the fan on all night moving the air around the bedroom.  It may not be cooling the air but it feels nice.