Snow in the Ricote Mountains

When the cloud lifted from 12 hours of almost continual rain, we were surprised to see a cover of snow on the mountain tops, but then the temperature was 23 degrees yesterday and here today it is 12 degrees with a chilly breeze blowing off the mountains.

Let the Lion roar

This is wrong, very wrong indeed. As reported in a posting a few days ago the pool is ready, Johns reputation as the best pool keeper in Blanca is unchallenged its looking great. So whats the problem? quite simply its cloudy weather for a third day and we have rain forecast. We had just about given up on getting any rain at all this winter having nearly got through February and  March without any much to write home about. Not that we do not want rain, indeed we are pretty desperate for a good downpour. Looking over the campo we can see many citrus trees that are suffering from lack of water. We are guessing that growers are hanging out for at least some free water. The price of lemons is through the floor, with Turkish imports killing the local market. Incidentally its not only the growers who are suffering because of this. Packers work on an as and when basis and there has very little call to work for the ones at the local warehouses this winter.
Water costs money and although it may seem cheap if you only want to water a few terraces like us if you have to work it into the cost of growing commercially it looks like many are just not able to afford the price. We are hoping the rain does come in reality, our leisure  activities can hold fire, It is so much more important that the local market gardeners get that free water before the summer. They may not sell the lemons this year but the trees need to be taken care of for the coming ones. So fingers crossed for a bit of drip drip drop little April showers and maybe the reverse of the old saying, March having come in like a lamb will go out like a lion.
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footnote

Photo taken from Villa Alba yesterday.
I wrote this post last night - then it started raining and its not stopped since!

That Mad Cat

Suzi by name and crazy by nature. We got Suzi when she was already a  grown cat and often wonder where she picked up some  of her stranger habits. For example she will sit and suck her front leg, you can hear the noise of her sucking across the room. Sometimes cats do this  when they have been removed from there mother too early but of course we do not know if this happened to Suzi. Another favourite past time is sleeping in our bed, she likes to get under the bedspread and settled down for a siesta. I get a surprise the other night as she had slept longer than usual and was still nicely tucked up when I went to get in bed myself.

Suzy seems to save her most outrageous behaviour for John. She will "box" with anyone who wants to give it a try but, mostly,  keeps her claws in while she takes swipes at you. Oh and don't get in her way if shes annoyed, usually at seeing another cat in HER garden. I made that mistake the other day walking past her to shoo away the offending moggy. Well the whack she gave my foot had me calling her Mohammed Ali for the rest of the day. But as I was saying John comes in for the hardcore cat attacks. If Suzi has spent the night in her favourite spot, pushing John and I to the edges of our bed, she wakes bright and early. What she does then if walk over to John and tap his face until he wakes up. Suzy wants her breakfast and she is not waiting. This morning she excelled her self. Maybe she thought John was sleeping the deep sleep of the just and a tap on the face would not suffice. Whatever the reason John was give a surprise wake up call indeed when Suzi bit his nose! I mean what gets into that crazy cat.

Making the garden grow

                                THE COMPOST BINS
Another tub of compost was added to the garden today. Its taken a liitle longer to process during the colder months but still light years ahead of the time it took to get compost from waste in Scotland. We are adding quite a lot of lemon skins now, our soil is very alkaline so we are trying to even things out. If you pop some soil in a jar with vinegar you just about get an explosion as the alkali material reacts with the acid of the vinegar. Our flower bed in the back garden is really starting to look good. Much of this thanks to Johns hardwork, I am more of an "artistic director"  dont you know. Hey they also serve who only stand and wait!

Our next door neighbour was fascinated by our compost making system, sounds posh, in fact its two black dustbins that have holes drilled in them. Serefino was throwing vegetable waste on his garden one day so John showed him what we do. Its really necessary to try to improve our soil as it is poor and does not hold moisture well. Its also means we recycle all the kitchen waste, less for land fill too. We had also been putting some of the wood ash from the stove on but now know this is not advisable with our soil as it can raise the PH and prevent the plants from taking in any nutrients that are available. The other great thing about making your own compost is that it comes free and is not damaging the natural landscape elsewhere.

What lies beneath

The Big reveal today. What with the weather warming up nicely we thought it was time to take the winter cover off the swimming pool. If you live in Spain you have no doubt seen some grim looking pools by the end of the winter. public pools in particular tend to be left with water but no cover, can understand that really it would be quite an expense to have a cover that worked on a really big pool. We picked our winter cover up second hand at a bargain price and its been a good investment. John had kept an eye on the water that lay beneath the cover but we were really pleased when we did the reveal. The water was really very clean. John did a sterling job and within a couple of hours the pool looked almost inviting, give or take a few degrees more warmth in the water! Suzy the cat was a little confused to start with. During the winter she has made it her business to walk on water, well on pool cover. That cat is quite crazy you know. For some reason she just loves to drink pool water, no amount of bowls of fresh clean aqua prevents her from have a little tipple from the pool. So she can no longer "walk" on the pool, she can now be seen dipping a paw then licking off the water at the edge. What a strange moggy eh?