Still here....

Ten years ago, when mini-male handler was ten, he said to female handler (FH)..."I want to be with you when the world ends in 2012."

FH has remembered this over the years, and in spite of crazy schedules by everyone, expired passports, rescheduled tickets, not to mention residing in different hemispheres and three different countries, the family is together today and for the next week celebrating family time, and fortunately NOT the end of the world.

What a gift. What a huge gift!

And what a bunch of silly gooses!

Making a home...Uruguayan style

Do you ever wonder how many ways there are to make a home? 

The Handlers had to wait until early spring to bring in this specimen of a home...formerly to about a thousand hornets. It was slightly elevated from the ground as basically the surrounding underbrush act as built-in stilts.

A duck has found one of the rows in the orchard to be ideal for her home (she obviously didn't scout the location well enough to realize that she and her babies are in danger as fox rule the nights in the orchard. We hope that they all make it).

Honeros, a native bird of South America, brown with short tails and long bills, have decided mud is their material of choice. They have built a home on one of the almond trees.

Back View

Front Door

Other honeros have even built a home under the chimney cap.

As  you can see from the horneros nest, Uruguayan dirt is clay-like, very dense and heavy. Matter of fact, this same dirt, mixed with water and organic matter (soggy hay, cow manure...), is used to make bricks.

Mixing stage

The clay is molded into brick forms, and then stacked in a tower with plenty of vent holes and areas to load additional eucalyptus wood for the 3 day firing of the kiln.

After the burn, it's time to take the new bricks and create walls.

This particular house is farther along, with the thatched roof being worked on in a rather artistic fashion.

Add loft story windows...

....and a flue pipe for the stove, and you're set.

I've often wondered where we could build the perfect home and out of what material.

One built up here might not be sustainable with the Uruguayan winds.

But the view is awfully nice.

  In the meantime, I guess this one will suit me.

Spring Views

Summer arrives next week so before these pictures become too old, let me show you what spring has looked like!

 

Early wheat harvest

Almond fruit

To J and A, with love

The Handlers rarely go off anywhere together. The reason being is I require mucho attention. The food dish, the water dish, a lap to snuggle on, a body to sleep by, and I need constant validation that I am adorable and am loved.

Eight months of planning seem to crumble just before Thanksgiving and Female Handler was looking at the possibility of sending Male Handler alone up to the US with the turkey recipe. Male Handler was stressing...

Then two angels came across the river from Buenos Aires. They were novices with cats. They were novices with goats. Within a day, I had them trained. Within 10 days, they had enough pictures of me to fill their hard drive.

To J and A, I send you my purr with love. Come back anytime!

Working with what you find...

Not too long ago, opening the front door required two hands. Although it is a big front door, only the right side really needs to open.

If the Handlers are balancing a food plate, it requires putting the plate down and putting some muscle into opening the door. Sticky doors, along with sticky drawers (as in a chest of drawers, and not underwear) do not always require the drastic action of shaving them down a tad, but perhaps...just a bit of soap.

Or maybe something else.

The handlers like to take walks along the beach and usually always find something interesting to pick up. It could be some driftwood, a few shells, or sea glass. Or it could be men's hair wax.

Female Handler (FH) was a little concerned over the extreme excitement shown by Male Handler (MH) of this particular "find". Never had he expressed a desire to sculpture his hair. What had 18 months in a Latin country done to him?!

As with many beach "finds", this one was put in a drawer (as in kitchen drawer) and forgotten until one day they had the marvelous idea to try it out on the door sill. It worked great!

So if you have a sticky door, I personally recommend L'Oreal 2 Force Wax. Or soap. Or shaving it down...