Life is Good

I know, I know. Been hearing from many of you about not being on schedule with my posts! Well, today is catch-up day and this post is a whopper!!!

The sweet little owlet next to my stone sculpted one, which is 20 cm (8 inches) tall.

First, an update on this year’s clutch of barn owls in the pigeonnier. We had five owlets hatch and they screeched like crazy each night for their food. One day, I was working in the garden and thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye in the window of the pigeonnier on the ‘second’ floor (the owls nest is on the ‘third’ floor in the rafters under the roof). And so I pulled out the extension ladder and climbed up to find one owlet dead and the other desperately jumping towards the window to get out. They were much more developed than the little guys that fell out of the nest last year, so I took her down the ladder to inspect for injuries. She seemed fine, but her belly was not full. She really seemed to like cuddling with me and I took her out in the grass to see if she could fly. She happily hopped around before I climbed up and put her back in the nest. I buried her brother in the yard. The next day, I climbed up to check and she was, again, by the window, but was dead. Yes, I shed a tear as I buried her next to her sibling. For them to be this developed must have meant there was enough food to get to this point, but we had a lot of late rain this year. Barn owls have very soft feathers, which makes them silent, but also makes them susceptible in the rain. During these rains, it’s my guess that mom and dad could not hunt for all five babies, so they kicked the two weakest out. That’s nature.

Fortunately, the three remaining owlets have fledged and provided us with some short footage when we borrowed our friends’ trail camera. Here’s mom or dad dropping off a snack, with the third smaller sibling peaking out of the triangle. I believe all three have now finally left the nest to start their own families elsewhere.

We really enjoyed a short visit from friends who stopped by in their brand-spanking new black Porsche 911 TurboS on their way home from a tour around Spain and Portugal. It was great to have some one-on-one time with them and hope to host them again very soon.

Katya and Reinhard in their new baby.

Our friend brought us these delightful quail eggs from his flock of birds. He said to boil them. I thought, “Too much work to peel them.” And so I fried ’em up in a skillet. Yum, yum. It is good to become friends with French neighbors!!! And it didn’t stop there, he also generously donated the quail ‘fumier’ for my potager beds.

Speaking of which, getting water to my veggie beds proved a little more challenging (and expensive) than expected. (I keep telling Theo that he has to amortize the cost…)(and he tells me I’m growing €100/each tomatoes!)

Theo making a wish?

First, Ms. Researcher (that’s me) plugged in the vertical lift, hose diameter, pipe length, and head loss into formulas to figure out which pump to order, and decided on a powerful exterior one. Once installed, it didn’t have enough umphff to pump the water out. Shit! And it can’t be returned once it’s used and your husband left the box out in the rain. Well, we’ll use it for other pumping needs…

On to Solution #2: This time, I opted for a submerged pump (don’t even ask how much IT cost) and after testing everyone’s knot tying skills, we lowered it into the well and it pumped like crazy! Completely quiet, it filled my brand new IBC tank. (After the initial fill, it crushed the cinder blocks (oops!) and now sits on a stable concrete base!)

Christian fiddling with my new tank.

And Mrs. Einstein, here, figured there was enough elevation drop down to the beds that we could at least try to use a gravity-fed system. And, low and behold, it works. You’re not going to be doing any power washing down there, but it provides a good, gentle stream for my veggies. Hurrah!

Here are the guys zip-tying the irrigation hose to the fence so it doesn’t get mowed (Theo is helping by holding the zips!)

My beautiful daughter turned 40 on July 2. Made this little slideshow for her and thought I’d share it with you all.

Various other goings-on:

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