zania's space

I've been doing a bit of sunbathing up on the roof terrace this evening.  The weather today has been hot, but not unbearable, so late-in-the-day sunbathing was possible.

 

But now the sun is slowly setting behind the satelite dish so it's time to think about some dinner ...... and maybe a quick trip to the bar ......

 

We've had a busy day anyway, getting the washing machine to work, so  una cerveza or two is well-deserved.

 

See you tomorrow .... if MSN will let me get in here that is ......

 

Buenas noches!

I've just found a cartoon which has a special (if ironic ....) interest to us.

 

I found it here.

 

Anyone who knows me (or who reads between the lines of my other blog) will know exactly why this picture is so ironic .....

 

Pity I can't name names ......

God how I hate Spanish power surges!  And I'll tell you why in a minute (after I've had another go at MSN!).

Anyway, I logged on, opened MSN Messenger, which as usual took forever as my Gmail (on Firefox)is much more powerful and kicks poor little Messenger into touch.  But at last Messenger opened and promptly logged my status as 'away'  (I've tried to work out why but haven't managed to overcome it yet.  The only time it recognises that I am online [despite my fiddling with the bloody thing] is when someone calls me up (that's a note to Rainbow by the way).

 

I also have a continuing problem getting 'Live Writer' to work as, despite the fact that I downloaded it while lgged in to MSN and entered my MSN password straight away, it doesn't recognise it!   Neither, it seems, does the MSN.com website. I can log in there under an old username (which I didn't ask MSN to save), but when I re-boot and try my up-to-date password, forget it!  It just keeps telling me I don't exist!  I could delete the cookies on the pc and that might help, but I'm loath to do that as they contain so many other links which work very well.

 

So the only way I can log into my MSN Space is via Messenger.  And as I said, Messenger takes forever to load .... Grrrrrr!!!

 

But anyway, I had finally got Messenger up and running today and was about to log into Spaces ...... when there was a bloody power surge!

 

Now MSN may be slow; it may also be very contrary, but there's nothing like a power surge to really mess things up!

Power surges are a part of Spanish life it seems.  Several times a day the power either flickers and recovers or, as in this case, goes right down.  Fridges go off, air con units stop, and washing machines often go off cycle.  And as for pc's, they shut off with a load 'pop!' The power soon comes back on again but by that time anything open on the pc is lost.  Of course it wouldn't be such a problem if I was in Firefox, as that stores open web pages if the power is lost temporarily.  Not so IE.  And of course Spaces (and MSN mail come to that) only recognise me in IE...... Grrrrrr!!!

 

There is a new device  now introduced to the Spanish market here which is supposed to protect household systems from power surges.  The only problem is that at the moment it is 'Brit' suppliers who have cornered the market, thus selling what you could probably get for a few Euros from a wholesaler (or ebay...) for extortionate prices. Most Spaniards (at least around our way anyway) don't really seem to care about power surges.  They have been a fact of life for them for many years, but new-arrival 'Brits', well, as usual they are a large market just waiting to be fleeced by their fellow ex-pats!

 

Looks like it might be the only option though.  What with irregular broadband speed and MSN's slowness (plus, of course, the need to keep frozen food cool and get the washing done!), we probably have no choice but to pay.

 

But in the meantime, if you are reading this post then it means that I finally managed to get into my MSN Space, having typed the note first in a text editor.

 

I was going to write another entry here - another 'doggy tale' to follow the one I posted yesterday, but I've spent so much time moaning about MSN again, that I am now going to post this, while I can, and go and type the 'real' entry elsewhere.

 

So buenas tardes until the next time I manage to get in here.  In the meantime I may see you on Wordpress!  

I've just found a website with pictures of some pretty weird buildings - all for real!

 

I've posted three of the pictures from the site on this blog.

 

The website is Strange Buildings - 2Loop.com.  Worth a look! 

 

Whilst I was in the UK, my husband was left here in Spain with a list of things to do to the house.  But a distinct lack of funds meant that there were limits to the work he could do.  He did put up loads of shelves though - and for that I am very grateful as we have boxes full of ornaments, books and pictures and shelving is essential.

 

The rest of his time was taken up with sorting out the host of audio and tv equipment and setting up the computer.  And then, of course, there was dog walking...

 

On his walks with the dogs the trio soon found an addition; a small stray who tagged along quite happily, bounding about  between the feet of the two larger hounds and generally antagonising them!  But after the walk was over, my husband shooed her away as he took our two back inside the house. 

 

That was until the night of the storm.

 

It was May, and the weather in Spain had taken a turn for the worse.  It rained for days on end and 'tormentas' (storms) were frequent.  One night a particularly bad tormenta hit the village.  My husband made sure that everything was as water-tight as possible, locked the door, and went to bed ...... only to be wakened in the early hours by frantic howling!

 

Our two dogs were howling at the tops of their voices, but the reason for their cries soon became apparent, because outside in the street a dog was howling even louder.  It was the small stray.

 

She howled and she howled.  My husband tried to ignore her at first, knowing that if he let her in it would be hard to get rid of her again.  The woman across the street came out and took the shivering hound into her house for a while, but chucked her out as soon as there was a break in the storm.

 

But the storm started up again.  The rain pelted down, the thunder roared, and lightening flashed and crackled scarily .... and the howling began again, even louder this time.  With no sign of the woman across the street coming to the rescue, my husband reluctantly opened the door and let the little stray come inside.

 

She was soaking wet, shivering, and totally bedragled. Even our usually tetchy hounds took pity on her and licked her vigorously, trying, I suppose, to drag the rain from her coat.  My husband rubbed her down with a towell, gave her some water and food (which she devoured ravenously) and, very much against his better judgement, decided that she could stay.

 

That was three months ago.  The stray we were later told is a 'podenka' - a female version of a Spanish hunting breed.  She is very small, especially up against our two lofty hounds, but I can quite understand why she, like our other two, is classified as a 'hunter'.  She can spy 'prey' miles off.  And if it wasn't for being on a lead (when she goes for a walk with our other two anyway), she would be off, tearing across the fields towards god knows where.

 

It took a long time to house train our podenka.  Evidently she had lived wild for so long that she 'left her mark' anywhere.  But at last we found a way around this.  Whenever she wants to go out we let her go - on her own to explore the village and wherever else she wants to travel.  She at last seems to be getting the message, and comes to us and frantically paws us whenever she 'needs to go' and we quickly chuck her out the door!

 

The trouble is that she is a scavenger.  Again, probably as she lived wild for so long, she seeks out things to eat - anything - from the most unhygenic places.  This all despite the fact that she eats meals the same size as we give to our two much larger hounds!

 

And there lies the problem.  She is constantly getting 'tummy bugs'.  Vets bills out here aren't high, but they can mount up and she is often at the vets (who always tells us that she is extremely healthy - apart from the tummy bug of course!).

 

This morning our little stray came rushing in after one of her 'excursions', trembling and with her tail between her legs.  We petted her and after a while she settled down happily on the sofa.  There had been some shouting outside so we assumed that she had annoyed one of the neighbours, so we made sure she didn't go out again for a while.  But then she started vomitting .... and we found out why there had been a lot of shouting.  She had tried to swallow a whole, very large fish (it must have been nearly as big as her!) and the shouts had come from the fish seller, whose open van had been parked at the bottom of our street.  

 

She's asleep on the sofa again now, having now eaten her (proper) breakfast as well as having raided the leavings of our other two's breakfasts alsol.  Goodness knows where she puts it all as she's still thin enough (and yes, she has been de-wormed, de-mited, de-loused and de-ticked).

 

Better make sure she doesn't go on a raid again for a while though.  We actually want to get on with our neighbours here!