A Side Trip

Female Handler had to go to Bogota a couple of weeks ago. She selected to stay in the oldest part of Bogota, full of culture, full of life! Here are a few pictures that reflect how important COLOR is for the people of this neighborhood:

FH asked this dog to stay there in the picture such that there was depth of scale. He stayed there for 15 minutes...

Anchorena

The Handlers took a road trip while the Abuelos were here to the Uruguayan Presidential Retreat up the road called Anchorena which is now a park open to the public on certain days of the week. This park was originally part of the estate belonging to Aarón de Anchorena (Aarón Félix Martín de Anchorena Castellanos) of Argentina who was one of the early aviators of Argentina. In 1907, the same year that Anchorena made the first ever flight over the Rio de la Plata, he also bought 11,000 hectares on the Uruguayan side for his family estate. During the subsequent years, he travelled the world searching and collecting unique species of plants and animals that would thrive on his piece of paradise. Consequently there are many plantings today originally from South Africa and Australia on the estate. 

Upon his death, per his request, the estate was given to the Uruguayan government as a retreat with the understanding that it would remain a public space for research and conservation. Supposedly in the next couple of years, the park will become an educational institute of sorts and so they might start limiting the number of visitors.

Here are a few pictures from the park:

Axis Deer

The view along the river northward

The President's Retreat

The Lighthouse

The view northward from the lighthouse

The lighthouse stairs looking down

The lighthouse stairs looking up

The view of the lighthouse from another point on the park

Freelancer

Miss me?

I’m cracking the whip this weekend. I can only do so much with paws and cranking on this blog is tough without some help.

We had a visitor not too long ago.

The story has it that the Handlers were taking a Sunday walk up the Camino. At their turn-around point to head back home they encountered a beast sitting in the road as if waiting for the next bus into town. Female Handler (FH) was smitten from the first tail wag. Male Handler (MH) was wary.  

The beast followed them home and decided to hang around for a bit.

I was not happy about this situation. It definitely hindered my outdoor activities.

Even the goats were cautious. You can tell by Tontin’s Mohawk (his attempt to make his little goat body look bigger than it really is--something I can well relate to).

I ended up in a tree for about 45 minutes one evening because of that beast. Coming down wasn't much fun.

Finally by the evening of the third day, MH accepted the beast as a new member of the family. He even fed it. But the next morning the beast was gone. For the next week, FH would look out on the horizon searching  …. but he never did return. MH said he must’ve been a “freelancer”.

  

Freelancer or not, he sure quieted the goats down while he was here. They were on their best behavior. I'll even admit...that was nice.

Goat Curry...

Hmmmm, sounds good, doesn't it?

The new normal...

There are a few things happening.

It's harvest time.

A haul of almonds, husk and all

Drying the almonds, without the husks

Cup of tea? 5 kilos to be exact

Faceoff between Keika and one of the resident lizards

My morning nap

The goats like to eat the willow leaves from the trees at the far corner of the property. The neighbor  cows just watch in fascination....like have they not seen a goat on its hind legs eating leaves before!?

Hmmm. Good thing we're not concerned about  the Uruguayan Fashion Police.

"Son, look like you're going to do damage, not pop a squat"

Time to call it a day

When is the best time to call it a day....and go in? This is, of course, in reference to the handlers' harvesting of almonds that is going on now at the farm.

In my humble opinion, the best time to call it a day is when....it's so dark you can barely see a foot beyond your face, but you can sure smell the skunk nearby.

Joys of mid January

1. The handlers received their first piece of mail at the farm....ever! And it wasn't junk mail or a bill. They returned from a (visa) run across the river to Buenos Aires on Saturday night to find a very soggy envelope on the ground just beyond the gate. Their excitement....is beyond me quite honestly; you'd think they had been given barrel of live fish to consume. The Christmas card was posted in Chapel Hill on December 23rd. Ok...so a month. Not bad! But no mention of my feline or canine buddies? How can you send a Christmas card that doesn't include a word or two from those members of the family? Nevertheless, the handlers seemed thrilled to have received a card....a link to an old dear neighbor.

2. The harvesting has started! No kidding!