I’m at my desk, scratching my heading and looking across the green valley below us – where we walked this morning - to Benafim on the slopes of the far hill. It’s a lovely view although I’m not finding it inspiring. When one’s literary juices dry up it can be helpful to kick off with the weather, or so I find - a kind of mental enema. It gets the flow going again - an appropriate metaphor for the paragraphs that follow. (The weather is: hat-thieving wind with patchy blue sky – following a squally night that delivered 8mms of rain.) 
The wet bit was timely – for we had a lot of work going on around us - with many nervous glances at the sky, lest the impending rain ruin a newly-rendered wall. Under Horacio’s guidance, Helder and Isenho had spent much of the week creating the wall. It shores up the adjacent section of the upper fossa (septic tank), which had been prone to malodorous minor leaks. 
The new wall is built of reinforced concrete. Had the old wall been equally strong the new one would have been unnecessary. But the house builder was in a rush and did a job that just about lasted the five years for which the construction was guaranteed. (To be fair to him, the septic tank was not on the original plans. The three-fossa design was a last-minute whim of the woman who ran the relevant authority in Faro.) 
Unlike the original builder, Horacio is a perfectionist. It was fascinating to watch him at work. To ensure a permanent bond between the two walls, he drilled numerous holes into the old wall and super-glued protruding metal rods into them. These rods also served as anchor points for the shuttering.
Once the concrete had set and the shuttering was removed, Helder cut off the protruding ends of the metal rods and rendered the wall. Finally he and Horacio replaced the cobbles that had been dug up to permit the work to go ahead. 
I have sufficient extra patio tiles to cover the top of new wall; then it remains only for me to paint it. My interim responsibility was to tractor up supplies of sand and stone from the heap at the bottom of the driveway to the cement mixer at the top. You should be aware that ours is a very steep driveway.
BARBARA WITH HORACIOThis new wall was merely a warm-up for a much bigger task that awaits the team on the lower fossa, which is suffering the same problems. Of that, more in due course. I should add that I’m well aware of much quicker and cheaper ways of repairing such leaks. But I don’t know of any that would both last the course AND prevent future leaks emerging from new cracks – a product of the minor earth tremors that plague the region.
While Horacio’s team has been busy with fossa repairs, Idalecio has continued with his labours in Casa Nada. He laid a cement floor in Jones’s workroom-to-be, then a layer of insulation, followed by the wiring for under-floor heating and finally another layer of cement. 
This is as far as he can proceed until the timber we ordered some time ago – to create a mezzanine platform - is delivered. The suppliers are not able to give us a firm date. We are hoping that it will be early this coming week.
While Idalecio was around we got him to cut off the upper section of our leaning Cypress tree – his own suggestion. The tree, blown over by the prevailing winds (in spite of the three stays supporting it) was threatening to break the retaining wall on which it was leaning – and it was far too big to replant. 
The problem arises from the shallow earth available in that area to support the root ball. While cutting the tree in half is hardly ideal, the remaining part looks okay and the tree should survive the operation. I loaded the branches on to the tractor and turned them into mulch that Jones promptly seized to spread over her borders. 
If these were not works sufficient to keep us occupied, Carlos and Manuel, the kitchen fitters arrived on Friday morning to install a dishwasher that we ordered some weeks ago. Fitting it in meant changing the cupboards around as well. At the same time we had decided to install new cupboards under a kitchen counter to hide the bottle & can recycling containers that reside there. 
It was Carlos who had installed the original kitchen and we had no hesitation in returning to the small firm concerned to do the additional work. The quality of both the materials and the fitting leaves little to be desired. Although we have yet to try out the dishwasher we are well pleased with the finished product. Jones has invited the neighbours around for tea to admire it.
At the same time they can admire our fast-growing pups, which are entering their second month. The puppies are simply beautiful. Feeding them has become much easier since we weaned them away from the teat. They fall upon their food as enthusiastically they fall upon each other, staggering around in fierce growly tussles.
Their teeth have grown sharp as their tummies have grown fat. Both are threatening any day now to surmount the barrier that we have laid in the downstairs bathroom, where they spend the night. What we haven’t yet managed to do is to persuade them to use the sand-tray we put down for them. 
Jones is going through wads of newspaper in an effort to contain the excessive flow of puppy pee and poo. The rest of the zoo is gradually becoming accustomed to their presence – although nose-to-nose meetings lie ahead. And yes, they’re still looking for a home.
Are you tempted? Here they are again - simply adorable. You can reach me at the usual address.
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