Kitten

Notice the missing "s" at the end of the heading? Yes we've manganged to reduce the number from 6 to 1. Not bad.


As you can see from the photo, the remaining kitten is almost black, she has flecks of whiteish hair which gives her a kind of fuzzy appearance. She is now 1 month old. Hopefully we'll find a home for her soon.

Anyone interested in giving her a home, let me know.

Kittens

Yesterday the 9th of August 2010 Mica gave birth to 6 "lovely" kittens.

We knew she was expecting, what we didn't know is that she would choose our bathroom as her delivery room.

Now we have to find homes for them, not easy. We've asked the girls, Nicol, Sara, Aldara and the latest addition, Patricia, to organize posters, announcing the arrival of the 6 kittens in the hope that someone will take them of our hands.

If we can't find homes for them then I think it will be Chispas that has kittens......

Trees and yet more trees

I think it is about time I documented the trees that we planted over the last 4 or 5 years.

While most of the trees I plant are "native" to the area, Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) European Hackberry (Celtis australis) the Common Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and the Pyrenean Oak (Quercus pyrenaica) we have also planted a number of exotic trees.

In general the trees we plant tend to be trees that will withstand central Spain's hot dry summers, those trees less drought resistant, as in the case of the beech tree (Fagus sylvatica), we plant where we know they will get the water they need ie on the lawn or within reach of our drip irrigation system.

So here is a listing and in no particular order with the dates they where planted more or less and the number of specimens. I'll update this with notes and of course new additions (deaths) as time goes on.

Chinaberry (Melia azedarach)
Planted in 2009
7

Silver Wattle (Acacia dealbata)
Planted 2006
1

Persian silk tree (Albizia julibrissin)
planted 2008-2009
4

Small leaved lime (Tilia cordata)
planted 2008
1
Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera)
planted 2009
1

Beech tree (Fagus sylvatica)
Planted 2008
1

Walnut Tree (Juglans regia)
Planted 2008-2010
3

Golden raintree (Koelreuteria paniculata)
Planted 2009
1

Mountain Elm (Ulmus glabra)
Planted 2007
1

Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba)
Planted 2006
1
Died 2008

Canadian Poplar (Populus x canadensis)
Planted 2006
1
died 2008

Boxelder Maple (Acer negundo)
Planted 2006
1

Field Maple (Acer campestre)
Planted 2007
1

Spanish chestnut (Castanea sativa)
Planted 2008
2
as of 2013 only one has surviced

Indian horse chestnut (Aesculus indica)
Planted 2006
1

Bay Laurel (Laurus nobilis)
Planted 2006
2

Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica)
Planted 2009
1

Holly Oak (Quercus ilex)
Planted 2009
1

Judas Tree (Cercis siliquastrum)
Planted 2006
1

Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo)
Planted 2006
1

Pomegranate (Punica granatum)
Planted 2006-2008
2

Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica)Planted 2007
1

Common fig (Ficus carica)
Planted 2006-2009
3

Olive tree (Olea europaea)
Planted 2006
1

Japanese Camellia (Camellia japonica)
Planted 2008
4

Common Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea)
Planted 2009-2010
2

Common Hazel (Corylus avellana)
Planted 2007-2008
2

Apple tree (Malus domestica)
Planted 2008-2010
2

Japanese flowering crabapple (Malus floribunda)
Planted 2008
1

Pear (Pyrus spp)
Planted 2008
1

Cheery (Prunus spp)
Planted 2010
1

Japanese Persimmon (Diospyros kaki)
Planted 2010
1

Persian ironwood (Parrotia persica)
Planted 2011
1

Mulberry (Morus alba)
Planted 2011
4

Weeping willow (Salix × sepulcralis)
Planted 2012
1
died 2012


Honey locust(Gleditsia triacanthos)
Planted 2012
1


Still in the nursery


more Indian Horse chestnuts, update 2013 not any more, they can't survive the summers here, so I've stopped this experiment

Siberian Elm (Ulmus pumila)
Cork Oak (Quercus suber)

lot's of Australian natives
etc

Bats

Chispas, that's our official cat, has discovered the pleasure of hunting for bats. Unfortunately for the bats, she is quite good at catching them, she's not so go at keeping them, but I suppose that's half the fun.

I'm not keen on the idea of her killing the bats, despite what our local vet said about them. They are small mostly inoffensive, mostly because they will insist on rousting in between the window and the shutters and they have this rather unfriendly habit of defecating all over the windowsill. Anyway the point of this blog is the document the fact that as a result of her night time batting adventures I decided to vaccinate her against rabies.

Bats are a well known source of rabies and the last thing I want is to have a deranged cat try to claw out my eyes while I'm asleep.

The last reported rabies outbreak in Spain was in 1977, however the last reported infections of rabies have all been provoked by bats, the last one in 2002

http://www.iberianature.com/material/bats_spain.html#rabies_bats


so to be on the safe side she has been jabbed. you know what they say

Once bitten twice shy...

Ye old shed

After a some, what could only be described as, psychedelic conversations with the local mayor and his cohorts, we finnaly built a small potting shed just behind the house.

I'm sure it wont take long to fill it and regret having it made it so small.....

The arrival of Mika...

December not only saw the arrival of rain, it also presented us with an early Christmas present
in the form of Mika, or so she has been baptised by Nicol.

Mika is a very friendly 18 month old cat who someone kindly abandoned.

I never expected to see her after Christmas, after all a young cat, no experience in taking care of herself, cold and wet not to mention what ever other predators that might be out there.

January came and so did Mika, March rolled on and Mika was still with us. So she had survived the winter and although every time we saw her she was ravenous, she remained very friendly, although she has developed an annoying habit of trying to bit me on the ankles whenever I'm walking around the garden and we now need to make sure all the doors are closed otherwise she will get into the kitchen and eat whatever she can lay her paws on.

It is now June and Mika is still with us, she has obviosuly learnt to look after herself when we are not arround, and when we do show up it doesn't take her long show up. I suspect that she shows up at the neigbours house whenever they show up, which makes life easier for her.

The dogs give her a wide berth especially when there is food around, Chispas doesn't want to have anything to do with her. She has become one more member of our extended "family".