The Arrancopelito Pet Adoption Agency

The March batch is here!

After adopting two unwanted dogs and one unwanted one-eyed kitten (which has since recovered the previously non-functioning eye), placing 4 puppies and their mother, and helping place another non-related puppy, all in the space of a couple of months, I feel I need to name this enterprise.


Especially since the new batch is in! They were at an undisclosed location for some time, but the Mom ended up succumbing to the charm of the cave at my neighbor´s yard, where the other Mom and puppies had found safety and happiness just weeks ago.


They growl and bark at me from the safety of their cave...

So we have 6 new beige puppies of approx 3 weeks now, which look more like otters than like dogs, but of course in a super adorable puppy way...

For this week only we are offering them for free! Click here if you want to reserve your cute little bundle of joy. Actually, I´m waiting for them to grow a bit with the mom, because they all look too young albeit very healthy and plump, unlike the previous batch that was more uneven.




Collie and Zeytin

Back at the ranch it would be all peace and harmony were it not for the psycho Lunes, whose anxiety pills have not kicked in yet (two weeks to go before the effects start to show). The dynamics are very cute, with Tulu in love with the cat, Collie in love with Oso who observes her like a bothersome bug, and both kitten and puppy playing and sleeping together.

Barbi keeps making no secret of his predilection for "Oso divino" as he calls him... causing more jealousy and "unacceptable behavior" from poor deranged Lunes...

Collie unsuccessfully tries to catch Oso´s attention, while Oso only has eyes for the ball

On the vegetal kingdom front, a recent visit to the nearby Proverde nursery prompted by a visit to Arrancopelito from the nursery owner yielded a new planting campaign. We´re being moderate this time, what with the globaleconomiccrisis and all that, and my husband resenting the fact that virtually all his salary goes to landscaping and plants, but we´re adding new trees to the "plaza" area and the "sidewalk" outside the fence (3 araucarias and 5 pine trees), as well as some new bushes (photinia) with cool leaves that are bright red when they just come out.

We´re also planting a whole bunch of bushes against the fence behind the pool, whose name escapes me right now, but which have a very fuzzy oval, thick leave with a little purple flower. We´re going out on a limb and planting 15 of those together, to see if we make a good, visible patch of them. I´ve seen them in very wind-exposed places such as my brother´s in La Paloma, and the Hernán Taiana restaurant half a block from the sea in Montoya, so they should have a chance here. They will replace the two dead kiwi plants, which have a very similar leaf but with more reddish tones and which definitely can´t stand the winds.

Next to the house on the bedroom façade facing the ocean we´re planting 7 sugarcane bushes, which are gorgeously purple, lush and which require only water to grow huge. They did great outside the fence next to the entrance, and I want to have lots more of them. Love the rustling sound they make also. And the gratification of having something that grows super fast.

Lastly we´re planting a couple of different grasses on the "plaza" section, to soften the abundance of trees and formios which look a bit too severe. I am definitely not into the minimalist garden, and neither do I want a classic garden. I want lushness, exhuberance and big statements, large groupings of the same variety together, rather than single specimens of each plant (old ladies´ garden we call them) and I want to see lots of texture and pattern and greenery in general, very soon.

I am at the point where, despite lots more planting required, I can begin to edit what we already have. So out goes the lavender, which in addition to not working here (it´s been withering and dying since we planted them) feels out of place style-wise. We´re putting more white oleanders and rosemary where the lavender was, just expanding the existing groups to replace the outgoing bushes.

Now all I have to do is keep the cows away from my property and pretty soon I´ll have a real garden.