Water storage, Spanish style!

For a few years until we had built our pool, we only had a paddling pool to keep cool in during the summer. I say paddling pools, this one is 8 foot diameter and about 3 foot high, it has an inflatable ring around the top and as the pool fills with water, so it rises up. It has been in the shed for about 18 months now so we decided to put it to a better use storing water for the vegetables on the top terrace as there was no storage there. Montenegro's main water deposit is still overflowing and the water is being sent down to the river so today seemed a good day to use some of that to fill the pool. We levelled the ground, padded it with empty manure sacks and 2 old lilos which have punctured, filled it and then fenced it off to keep animals away. I am more concerned that they might puncture it with claws trying to get a drink than anything else! Then we covered it with an old olive net to keep the frogs and leaves out. The fencing, the olive net and the sticks for support were all old things from the shed, similarly the manure sacks can't be used for anything else (too smelly!) and the lilos were just waiting to be found a use for.



The broad beans are in full flower now, this is actually the second planting, put in on Oct 20th - notice another water tank behind them - there is some sort of storage on each terrace but this is a proper tank not a kids pool! Can't remember now why we bought it, but it is being put to a good use.

Watering and cleaning.

It was our fortnightly watering day today and the onions were as dry as dry can be, so they had a good soaking. There are a few spaces where for one reason or another some haven't grown but the rest are doing well. One strawberry plant is covered in flowers, the others seem to be resting! The broad beans (1st planting) are flowering well, not sure how long before we see the first bean though, the next lot of beans planted are also looking good.

And then we decided to rinse out the pool, it has been emptied gradually over the past couple of months, but because we haven't had any rain for 16 days now, and it has been quite warm and sunny, the dirt at the bottom of the pool started to dry on and we had to rinse and brush it until it got loose enough to flush out. We have left some water in the bottom to use to clean down the walls another day. There are a couple of areas of loose paint to wire brush and re-do before filling it for the summer - not yet! Probably about May.

Orchids

Just recently I have seen the orchids starting to grow, first just the leaves and then the flower spikes. Usually the only one I have seen is the Hyancinth orchid (for obvious reasons when you see the photo) but this year there is a different one, not sure for certain what it is, our wild flower book describes one similar to it as a Woodcock Orchid but shows a much taller plant with more flowers - maybe this one is in the early stages of growth!! Anyone who knows anything about this, get in touch!

Latest news

We have finally finished the olives, just over 2000 kgs down at the mill! The price per kilo if you want cash this year is less than half last years, at 35c a kilo, if the price of oil or olives in the shops drops by half I'll be very surprised! We will take a combination of oil and money, enough oil for 2 years use is what they recommend.

Saturday - Valentines Day - we went down to Motril to have the Polo ITV'd - the Spanish equivalent of an MOT, except you drive it through the testing bay yourself and the technician asks you to e.g. turn on the lights, indicators, wipers etc, he does the emissions test, then you drive onto the rolling road for brake tests and over an inspection pit so he can test the steering from below. He only gets in the car to check seat belts. Only takes about 15 - 20 minutes, cost us E35 and that lasts for another 2 years. That evening there was a dance in the salon (village hall) in Yator, we went down about 9.30, there were probably a couple of dozen people there, which isn't many but for a village of 70 or so, I suppose it's quite a good turn-out. Had some nice local wine, same as we had at fiesta I think and then had a very lazy day yesterday sitting in the sun reading. Yes we still have sun, it's been about 16 in the shade recently.

Today we started repairing one of the landslips, digging the banking back and terracing it, making a dry-stone wall around the base and putting plants in to make it stable. We'll continue with that as we find more big stones around and about. But at least it looks more solid than it did! There have been enormous land slides between Cadiar and Torvizcon, the road has only recently been straightened/widened and it has been down to single lane after the rains as a digger was clearing all the earth and rocks that slid down from where the land was cut back. There are still 2 diversions through parking/picnic areas! And in one place the land on the outside has slid, leaving the crash barrier suspended in the air!! Our landslip is minor in comparison.

We also got some seeds in today, a few rows of carrots, spring onions, radishes and leeks and trays of aubergines, peppers, chillis and coriander for planting out later.

Shooting stars

I took Monty out for a last walk about half an hour ago, totally clear skies again - they've been clear day and night all week now - and caught sight of a shooting star. It helps not having street lights down by the house, there are some up by the chapel which doesn't help your night vision.

We had an olive-free day today and instead went down to our bottom terraces below the house and spent 3 hours acequia clearing - mud and stones had slipped in during the rains and blocked it - then this afternoon cut down 2 almond trees that were dead and took the wood up to the house. J cuts it into fire-sized logs, we put that into black buckets and pull it from terrace to terrace and then through the gate to the wheelbarrow. Sounds worse than it is, it's a lot harder/more distance to walk along each terrace and up the path numerous times. It's 200 metres from the house down to the first of the terraces....don't want to walk that carrying logs uphill too often!!