So We're Building an Ark on Valentine's Day!

Shouldn't joke knowing the problems people are having in the UK, but the amount of rainfall here has been really staggering. We were off yesterday going up towards the hills to Seia and Gouveia to deliver the last 3 kennels and visit Lili at the Dog Shelter.

On the way we stopped to check out the burst banks of the River Mondego which flows down to us and it was inundated there. Luckily few people here build close to the river's edges, except where the dams are since the water's height is regulated. Easy to understand why when we looked over the bridge just outside Seia.We were amazed at the levels and speed of the water.









So we drove on to the shelter and arrived in time to meet the dogs and help with cleaning out the shelters. A nightmare job which Lili has to do every day, twice a day. Hosing down dog poo in the rain just about takes the biscuit for the job I would least like to crawl over broken glass to do. 

Fraser fell in love with this young Podengo bitch and would have taken her home if he could. She was a real sweetie. But then all the dogs are. So now our team has provided 6 kennels. 

More will be made over the next few months.

Planning now to collect good quality Bric a Brac for a stall at the Tábua Cheese Fair in March and I am going back to Gouveia next week to spend the afternoon and evening with Lili to sort out just what is needed to be done now. I want to apply to RSPCA International for grants to help her complete the site work needed to be formally registered here. There is a lot of structural work and additional buildings needed. So I want to help her create an action plan and link this to required finance so I can make an application on her behalf.

If anyone reading this would like to help out with donations or has connections with businesses which might like to sponsor some of the building projects... or if you just have any ideas please don't hesitate to contact me at sylviamay@sapo.pt.

You can see more on the new website once it is fully operational. There seem to be a few glitches at the moment but the site is here: Cantinho da Lili

And Finally x x x x 

Rainy Dog Kennel Days, Sparks and Lost Channels

Since our return in January the weather has been as bad here as in the UK and across Europe, rain, wind, rain, sun, more rain, but thankfully our flooding is localised so only the field is under water. Not so just west of us on the coast where record breaking surf was recorded at Nazaré.

Didn't know what to do with myself so I decided to start sanding down the ceiling in the bathroom as the paint job I did was rubbish and was peeling off! So I made a start and it was heavy going and not working well. 

     Fraser had come down with a whopper cold and chesty cough which took most of the month to clear and he is still not right. However he took over and was doing a much better job of removing the paint until the electric sander sticker surfaces decided not to let the sandpaper stick on. Aaaaarrggh! Had to get friend David in the UK to send us some Velcro stuff to fix onto them.

So we took a break leaving half the ceiling stripped. And it still is!

I had a 72 hour weird virus thing that made me extremely bone sore, grumpy, tired and lacking in any kind of motivation to do anything. We both sat looking out at the bloody awful weather and grumbled into our tea or alcohol of choice.

HOWEVER.....we eventually managed to shove our hands up our fundaments and pull ourselves together and started the marathon dog kennel project for Lili's dog shelter in Gouveia. This meant much stripping down of pallets, kindly provided by friend Felipe in December and again in January.

Fraser dismembered and I de-nailed and sanded shedloads of wood panels.
We made a design and went for it! We made two!

 
Once tested and approved by the kids we then set some dates for inviting foolhardy friends to a dog kennel day


 IT WAS A GREAT DAY!

 We had lots of donations of fabrics and stuffings to make interior mattresses for the kennels so the team of Rob, Harry, Fraser, Ness and Steve got down to kennel building.

and Marian and Judy got into making mattresses.

 


I just did a lot of encouraging and trouble shooting, tea, coffee and burger and chips making and taking photos.

By the end of the day we had made three more kennels so now have 5 altogether from here and one that friend Paul made earlier.

Rob took 3 of the kennels to the shelter this week and we hope to take the other three in the week to come. Thank you to everyone who donated materials and continue to support the project. You are all great friends. Will be planning another day in the future when the weather permits and we have had a chance to split up the rest of the pallets.

Watch this space for a second blog about our visit to the Kennels next week.

Scraps in the meantime has gone viral on facebook after having been snapped sitting in the log basket and captioned by Steve in the light of current events

The only other useful thing I managed to do was to FINALLY put a new cover on our old Victorian nursing chair! It only took a day - after 25 years of waiting.

Then at 1.30 this morning, we woke up thinking there was silent lightning flashing through the window only to find it was our electricity line shorting out among the trees behind the house. The tree caught fire briefly (too wet to travel beyond the trunk) before the line was broken. The tree was cut down and the line was replaced this morning, but I need to talk to other neighbours about clearing the trees that are growing by and around the high tension line. Ho Hum! 

 And the final ignominy is that we have lost all our BBC Freeview channels today since they have now changed to another satellite, so farewell to intelligent viewing...Bastards!!!!!!!!!!!!