September '11

No. 11
The work preparing the site for our new house started at the beginning of the month.

We went up to the terrace and cut down a Medlar tree which was unfortunately right in the corner where the house will eventually go. Then in came the builders with a selection of diggers and tractors with rock breakers and dug out everything for nearly two metres.

After this they chalked out the outline for the foundations and then sent the diggers back in to cut out the trenches for the footings. The good news is that they have hit rock, so hopefully the front footings will not have to go deeper than planned.

Dry Season
This spring and summer has been very dry. The only torrential rain we had was back in April, since then we had some light rain at the beginning of June and July, then nothing. Unfortunately, this means that our olives are suffering. At the moment everyone is praying for rain, but there is none forecast until the beginning of October.

Cutting Chupones
Chupones are the sprouting basal growth that you get on olive trees. In our case, they are particularly bad because the finca had been badly managed and the trees had gone wild.

Since we didn't get many chupones cut in August due to my back problems and the heat, it was full steam ahead at the start of this month. We need to get them all chopped out before the month ends, to give me time to prepare the ground for collecting the olives.

Moony
I have been trying to improve my night time photography, so I was quite pleased with this attempt, which has not been edited other than the crop to make it (approx.) 1024x768.

April 2011
October 2011

PB