Winter

Sunday afternoon hanging out with the non-traditional family

Winter is not something I'm very used to still. It's been cold recently, something like high 40s or low 50s, with nice sunny days and not so nice ones a week ago. But it's Uruguay, so we go from 70s one day to freezing the next.

We try to make the most of it by taking the dogs out for walks every day, unless it's raining too heavily. My favorite walk includes going all the way to the end of the road by La Carolina, and then backtracking to the beach, and back home. By then we're all exhausted enough that I have no problem getting all the dogs in the gate. If they're not too tired they go on further explorations across the street, which freaks me out.

After re-installing the bench seen in the picture above, we all sat down, including Mom, to enjoy the beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon, the sea views, and to fend off the dogs, jostling for affection as they do every second we're with them. I love having this bench here, because it gives us a completely different view than we get from other spots in the garden. We have another similar bench on the other side of the house, overlooking the pool.


Zeytin the psycho cat helps Barbi tighten some screws

We taunt the cows on our daily walk by La Carolina

This pond at La Carolina is a good reason to be rich


Earlier in the week, a very frosty morning

It almost looked like snow, everything covered in a thick coat of frost...

Fabiana II and Shakshuka

Fabiana by the fence, her napping spot

Fabiana II is the female dog we previously mentioned here as a male, possibly the father of the first batch of puppies. We subsequently found out that no, she wasn´t a he, and this we discovered when faced with her 6 puppies, which we gave away a few months ago. According to the vet, Fabiana has some Akita blood, hence the black tongue, curly tail and beautiful coat of hair.



Inside and outside the fence

Thing is, nobody took Fabiana, who carries the name of the first dog at Arrancopelito, in turn named sarcastically by the construction workers after Fabian, the architect. Well, Fabiana stayed closer and closer after the puppies were given away. She´s very shy and sweet, but very territorial and will chase away any stray that dares come near the perimeter of our place. The only problem is that Lunes, being Lunes, hates her, so she took every chance she got to go out and attack Fabiana, with pretty pathetic consequences. Fabiana defends herself quickly and effectively, resulting in a Lunes with several bleeding holes in her ears, snout, etc.



So Fabiana, who is a hunter and "free" dog stays outside the fence. We recently had her fixed, so no more puppies at least. The last time we went out to the beach all together Lunes thought of attacking and then thought better of it, but displayed her usual jealous disposition throughout the outing. Maybe in the end we can all get along, but I still would feel bad locking up Fabiana in the yard. She knows her way around the street, the fields, etc., unlike the others who don´t understand what happens when car comes in contact with their body.


Fabiana wants to make friends with Oso

Shakshuka

The calico cat, Shakshuka, came to us quite big, not much difference from her current size, also a few months ago. She took "shy" to new heights, literally, by spending a few weeks on the rafters downstairs, only coming down for seconds at a time.

She has now conquered the surroundings and a couple of times a day goes out into the fields with Zeytin. They are not super close, but they play together and go hunting together, although Zeytin is convinced she´s a dog. Shakshuka is the softest, sweetest thing, incapable any untowards behavior.


Winter day at the beach with the Fab Five

The Indoor Four