Strange vole guests

Went downstairs to our bedroom - the house is upside down as the living rooms are above the bedrooms so that the livings rooms have the best views and the bedrooms are cooler in summer - and something caught my eye on the floor. It was this - a tiny vole.

I called Rachel and then immediately saw another one on the floor.

How do two very small baby voles get to be on our bedroom floor when all the doors and windows are closed so they can't just run in. Its a bit like a Coen brothers film or something.

Rachel then proceeded to turn the cupboards inside out trying to find the nest so now our bedroom looks like a bomb has gone off.

Very strange anyway.

Basking lizard

There are lots of these lizards everywhere. They tend to be quite inquisitive and so if you do any work outside then they will soon be there to have a look at what you have been doing.

You see some who have lost their tail which they do when scared or to distract or confuse a predator.

You also see some very much larger ones which are a very vivid green with no patterning. These are quite agressive in their behaviour and do not run away when you approach.

La Comunanza

This is the local community association which you are eligible to join after living for 5 years in our village of Manciano. Each village will have its own association.

There was a meeting this evening to discuss in part the building of a new community centre for the village. The groundwork for this has been done but there is funding shortfall for the building works and so the Comunanza want to call for a additional contribution from the membership and approach non-members to ask for a contribution. This was a hotly debated topic. We are not members of the association and so await the letter from the association to find out what the contribution requested is and the conditions of this contribution.

As with all community organisations there deeply held views on what should or should not be done.

A New lodger - Jerry. and....

Our friends in Manciano, have had to go to Puglia because of a family emergency and so we are looking after their dog Jerry.

This is the first time we have another dog stay in the house with our slightly over indulged Westie. She is ok with it at the moment but is showing signs of missing being the absolute centre of attention. This however will actually be good for her.

and... the best news is were having Valentino and his son start tomorrow levelling a piece of land so we can have a swimming pool.

Trevi

There are many lovely hilltop towns in Umbria - Todi, Spello, Assisi, Norcia, Spoleto to name just a few but Trevi is up there with them in my book. I took this photo today which looks at Trevi from the south. The foreground is full of olive groves.

As you can see we have had another nice sunny day and so spent the afternoon trimming the grass in the grove.

Vines and machines

Over on this side of the valley there are mostly olives with very few vines being grown. On the other side of the valley the reverse is true with Montefalco being the local wine growing centre with the Sagrantino being a very fine grape which produces a very fine red wine. There is also a dessert wine - Sagrantino Passito which is great with the local hard almond biscuits dipped into it.

Just below Casa M is a small grove which today has just been ploughed over between the lines of vines and looks just perfect. Orderly, neat, precise. I think it looks great.

Unfortunately the olive grove does not look like this as there is a lot of grass to be strimmed and our strimmer is going to be in the workshop for a couple of weeks! I couldn't believe how many strimmers this place had in various states of repair.

I have had to borrow one from a neighbour - hopefully I can get some done tomorrow afternoon.

Pheasant family

Last evening around six or so there was a ruckus not far from the back door as two young pheasant chicks were escorted off the property by our fearless Westie Winnie. Not long after the mother pheasant appeared calling after them - hopefully you can make her out in the photo above. If you can't then this shows how effective her colouring is in the grove rather than our bad camera work.

By this time we had Winnie under house arrest so she wasn't able to chase the mother off. Then after a short interval by which time the mother had wondered off the male pheasant arrived calling quite loudly.

They must be nesting not too far from the house and hopefully they managed to regain contact with each other.