Appreciating the Little Things

I have been away for the weekend, no they didn't finally lock me up for being insane, I had to return to the UK to do the yearly lets visit Nan trip. This entailed me and two children having  along, hectic weekend in the freezing cold. We left hubby in charge at Casa Chaos and he did a fantastic job in my absence.

I have come home even more tired, which is never a good thing, however, the time away has made me appreciate what I have, and what I never want to go back to in life. Everywhere you go in the UK there are people, pushing, shoving, and generally having no concern for others. The weather was OK  no that is a lie it was freezing cold in fact I stood on Brighton Pier with the temperature of 9c, and thought I am going to die.

It was lovely to see family and friends, and these are the elements of the UK that I do miss, but other than Asda, give me Casa Chaos any day! I have come home and am enjoying the  peace and quiet, appreciating all those small things that I had forgotten were there.

Chicks were born whilst I was away, and Jake and Finn are now huge. Billy has still not returned, and Jill is still as huge as ever! but apart from that all seems well, and I am now ready to face the next 12 months with enthusiasm and determination :)

Pigeon problems

Just as we think the rats are playing nice and keeping out of my way, pigeons have taken over and are becoming a huge pain. They wait until the food goes down, and like an army they swoop and eat every thing in their path. Now I have been researching what I can use to get rid of these annoying flying vermin, and it seems there are many fantastic solutions.

Rice is the all time favourite to feed pigeons, some say it makes them explode mid flight and others say it simply bloats them and kills them. To be honest I don't care which version happens, although exploding pigeons does sound quite funny.

A lady was trying to advise me on "natural" ways to remove the pigeons, and suggested removing the food and water sources. Fantastic advice I will take away all the food and water, and yes the pigeons will be gone, but every other animal will be dead, so a bit drastic! There is no natural, lets be nice and shoo them away action.

A gun is next on our list, and hubby is rather excited about this fact, and too be honest I am beginning to agree with him that a gun may be useful. We could all take pot shots as these annoying birds, however, I am still liking the exploding pigeon idea. Yes I know it is cruel, but so is eating all my goat food so Jill cannot eat it, so all is fair really.

Google has produced many fantastic ideas including alka seltzer and baking powder, apparently it reacts with their stomach acids and again they explode. The fact that there are many websites dedicated to how to kill pigeons indicates I am not alone in my quest. So, operation lets kill the pigeons is starting, and I will report back which method caused the best results....all in the name of science and experiments of course.

Is free ranging best?

Billy wandering off is not unusual, but he has been gone with no sightings for a few days now, through the calima which is the worrying part. I do feel that I am partly to blame for Billy's disappearance, as I kept stealing his eggs. I felt that for a while we would stop breeding, and that Billy could lay eggs for me to sell, and look after Finn and Jake. However, Billy had other ideas, and the last morning that I saw him, he had this look of determination.

We had been finding all of Billys hiding places and relocating the eggs to the kitchen, but it seems that he is smarter than us, and that he has found a new secret place to lay. I do hope that is the case and that he is ok, as I would rather he returned with ducklings behind him, rather than not return at all.

I have discovered that this is the worst part of free ranging, as you never know where something is at any given time. All you can hope for is that their stomachs lead them home, and that they appreciate the life they have. Would I want to cage all of the animals, no not really, as to me they need a sense of who they are, and although losing them can be tough it is the circle of life.

Anyway I have tried to contain the chickens in the POW camp and that doesn't work so well, and the goats always find a way out, so in all honesty opening the gates saves me time, energy and repair bills. So, lets hope that Bily is ok, that he is being stubborn and refusing to move until he returns smuggly with duckings, or god forbid he is stuck in a pipe again......rushes off to check the pipe!

Cooling down

Every animal has its own unique way of cooling down when the heat gets too much for them, and I feel for the animals at this time of year. There is only so much we can do to help cool them down and providing more water than usual, paddling pools, and spraying them seems to be the way forward.

The ducks of course have the pond that they use frequently, the chickens hide in the shade of the trees, the cats maintain comfy positions in the garage where it is cool. The dogs however find it more difficult, and attempt to find someone cold to lay. We often spray the dogs as this is the ideal way to allow them to run around and remain cooler.

However, Charlie took this one step further yesterday when he leapt in the pond, for a good 10 minutes he refused to get out. He swam, sat, laid and generally cooled down in the murky green water, and once he had decided that was enough he took a mud bath next to the pond. Charlie returned looking very smug.

However, I was not allowing him in the house, so he had to have another bath to wash the attempts of the first bath off. I must admit there were times yesterday that the pond did look inviting...it must be hot!

Calima time

OMG its hot, and yes I know we all moan when its cold, and we moan when its hot, but its REALLY hot! I don't think that you ever get used to the calimas here, as it goes from comfortable to intense heat within hours. In traditional Casa Chaos style the water went off just as the calima hit, which is just fantastic as water is an essential part of coping.

Animals have no built in sense of how hot it is, so everything tends to stay out in it, and there is little we can do apart from water, water, water. So, when there is none this is a HUGE problem which I needed to solve. Now, our water goes off a lot, which I usually put down to the fact that it is an old house, but it typically comes back on within an hour.

I spent most of yesterday walking back and forth between the kitchen and bathroom turning the taps on to see if we had water, very much in an OCD fashion. No matter how many times I did it still no water, let the phone calls begin.

Now getting sense out of anyone here is difficult, firstly no one will accept responsibility for the problem, and usually no one admits there was a problem in the first place. This is frustrating to say the least  especially when all I wanted to know was why there was no water. When I finally got through to someone who knew about the water, they said that it was two things 1. I had turned something off or 2. something was broken.

I did point out that if I had turned something off, didn't he think that I might have turned it back on to get water! So, I was guessing it was number 2, but no it seemed there was a third option that he didn't fancy telling me about. There was a guy working on the pipes down the road, and he had turned off the water, and had forgot to turn it back on, but this was not confessed until after I had rung!

30 seconds after putting down the phone, voile we had water! off I go to hose chickens, and the ground, and everything in the area. Lets hope it passes quickly, then we can all moan about something else!

How Not to Buy A Goat

Being crazy myself, I tend to have crazy friends, so when I get called to go and collect a goat with a friend, I have no option but to say yes. So, I find myself the other afternoon, hot, tired, and bouncing along an old Canarian goat trail in a friends jeep that has seen better days! We are following the goat man, who cannot drive, but has assured my friend that he has goats.

This goat farmer, she found whilst in the petrol station as she decided that she wanted a goat, and asked the guy filling her car up, and yes it is a perfectly normal question in our world. To her delight the guy was the crazy goat farmer, and is who we were following to our potential death. As the track got narrower, it also got steeper, and I did think that I was going to die.

We all jumped out of our vehicles, whilst the goat farmer rambled in some unknown language and set off at a fast pace. For a brief moment I looked around, and it was stunning, but my moment was removed with the sound of people shouting and waving for me to climb down the mountain. I thought I was crazy, but my friend has been promoted to insane!

As we made out way carefully down the side, the goat farmer attempted to sell my friend dogs, sheep and even a donkey. Thankfully she was strong, and had goats in mind, and just as I was about to moan and give up, I could hear goats. There was hope in my heart, but the goat farmer crossed the barranco and begun to hike back up the other side, I was not impressed.

Suddenly my friend announced that the guy we were following could in fact be a mass murderer and how on earth would anyone find our bodies! Thanks for that comforting thought as I begun to see if my phone could get signal out in the wilderness, don't be silly why would it possibly work! Why do I let myself get into these situations, up a mountain with a complete stranger trying to find goats!

Finally we reached the goats, and after much waving, negotiating and laughing business was done and we were handed a baby goat on a bit of rope. As quick as we handed the money over the guy had vanished, leaving us to get back tot he car with a goat. As we made our way back to the car, I kept thinking thank god we only bought one goat, and remind me to practice how to say NO in the future!

Morning Rant

I choose to blog for me, it is a fantastic way to document what is happening, and provides an on line diary for me to look back on and reflect. I am a sharing type of person, which is why I allow you all to have  a peek into life, and maybe realise that your life is far calmer! Which is why I don't expect an emailing claiming that what I write is c**p.

Now as a human being attempting to make a go of something I know nothing about, a little support from the people who take the time to read the blog is not too much to ask. However, if you feel that what I write is c**p feel free to keep moving, don't stop, and never return! Yes, I am banishing you from my blog, and I have made peace with that!

I have learnt that there are two choices: make peace with the dirty dishes, chicken shit, weeds, dirty clothes and fingernails, or keep fighting and becoming more stressed. I feel the same about people that take the time to write to me to moan and criticise. What I write is shared because I am generous, and if you don't like it, then leave, I am showing you the virtual door!

So, with my morning rant complete, I can move on with my day, and go back to my chaotic life, which I choose, and chase some chickens that hate me.  Watch my fat goat that has an eating problem, as people are now presuming, and wait for something to break or go wrong.

Want to stay and watch the chaos unfold, then I am glad to have you :)