HOT, HOT, HOT ........ draft post that was written 2 years ago

JUNE:

SUMMER COMES EARLY:
We haven't had rain for over a month, the temperature in the last two weeks of May was in the high 30s and we're already discussing setting up the pool and our outdoor sleeping .....

NETTIE:
Poor little Nettie came in shaking her head a couple of weeks ago, as luck (bad luck as it turned out!) would have it we were taking the dogs for their annual vaccinations the next evening. So we asked the vet (in Penamacor) to check her ear. First off he didn't have the correct instrument (the thingy that goes in the ear with a light attached) he used something that stretched open the ear canal and a hand held torch! Our poor puppy was whimpering. Then, after saying he couldn't see anything, he started digging around inside her ear with cotton buds!!!! After a couple of days her ear started weeping badly so we took her to the vet in Castelo Branco. Her ear was so badly infected the vet couldn't see down the ear canal (with the correct instrument) so Nettie was put on a course of antibiotics, ear drops, and ear drench. Yesterday we took her back and the vet extracted this (see below) grass seed from her ear, Nettie was so good she didn't even require sedation.

Two weeks in Nettie's ear and it hasn't deteriorated at all

She's been getting rather unresponsive recently; instead of coming, when called, she lies down or rolls on her back and, the other evening, she actually tried to run back down the track rather than going into the sheep shed - we think it could be because whenever we call her to us something negative happens like ... a visit to the vet, ... administration of medication (in an already painful ear), ... being locked in a shed away from the other dogs etc. so we're going to have to make it a more pleasurable experience (with lots of treats).

She's growing rapidly, she's already bigger than Lily and fast catching up with Looby.

"you called ?" ...

I CAN'T BELIEVE I DID THAT ....

The old bathroom is going to become our dressing room; at the moment Brett's clothes are on the mezzanine above the kitchen and mine are in a chest of drawers in the living room and hanging from two hooks. Brett has been making doors for the ... new bathroom, ... dressing room, ... our cupboard bed and the cupboard above, ... between kitchen and living (this one is a stable door). Two of the doors have been made for me to install glass in (bathroom and dressing room), the dressing room for one of my degree pieces (the other piece is going in the dressing room window).

The two kites were to go in the door.

Brett made, and hung the door; I was so excited, I picked up my glass (without waiting for Brett ... guess where this is going ...), the glass slipped through the door, I couldn't save it, it landed on the concrete floor and SHATTERED !!!! I was rather upset for a couple of days but now it's turned into a positive as I'm designing a couple of pieces now, for the door and the transom window above, 

BATHROOM

I found some beautiful handles on Ebay for the bathroom cupboard, really cheap with free postage from China. They arrived within a fortnight - I gave them a 5 star review. Brett just attached the handles to the cupboard's doors .....

They sent two different styles of handle !!!

I order two of the one on the right.

The supplier offered a £2.00 refund after I'd asked them to send me the second handle I ordered. I'm hoping if I threaten to involve Ebay they will sort it out, because they don't look good as they are! Update: I got a full refund (and to keep the mismatched handles!).

LIVESTOCK: 

Haha, we have a crowing hen! I googled the phenomenon and it's actually not that uncommon. It was hard to tell fact from fiction (everyone on the internet speaks with such conviction), some sites implied that they could actually change sex - I don't believe it ......

MAKING HAY:

Brett had just started cutting the hay when the belt on the drum mower went. We went to several tractor places, to replace it, to no avail (will look on the interne)t. We had to get Antonio, the man who bales our hay, in to cut it. 

Brett raked it into lines with the wheel rake then phoned Antonio to let him know it was ready to bale. 

We went to Bar do Clube for a couple of beers (with the local crew, plus Helen who was visiting), when we got home OMG disaster ...... a whirlwind had torn through all three hay fields, destroying Brett's lines and taking away about a third of our hay!!!!!