Further afield after a long absence, and fear of sprouts

​Wow, it’s been so long! I can’t believe it, where does the time go etc etc???

Just sneaking in under the rollerdoor as June disappears, so the right hand side of the website registers a slightly less scary gap in blogs than it would if I had left it until July (tomorrow). Obviously much has happened since the last blog in January, the ‘Before Times’, but very little has happened as well. Time seems to have done some strange things of late.

We are now, in rural Galicia, almost back to normal and there is hope – albeit with a fear of sprouts* - that we are now firmly in the ‘After Times’ of the pandemic. I think there is quite a way to go for this pandemic and I’m not complaining about being here. In fact, after years of procrastination or perhaps just sheer laziness, we have started a vegetable garden, and have been pulling out gorgeous lettuces daily.
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And what about the cats? Well, all is rather stable here in the village. Here’s a pic of Chubby Chops II in what our neighbours call his sentry box, and this photo sums things up. Nothing to see here! We have achieved our aim of having a stable colony of adult feral cats, and that’s rather wonderful. I think I saw the small figure of a tabby kitten the other day on the other side of the village, but for now I am not aware of an imminent population explosion.

There are of course other needy feral cats and other needy animals generally. Here’s a plug for a local animal sanctuary Miño Valley Animal Sanctuary http://minovalleyfarmsanctuary.org/en/ which makes our small feline endeavour look like – well, a small feline endeavour! They’re amazing people, caring for farm animals who would normally be slaughtered for some reason, be it old age and perceived uselessness or being born the ‘wrong’ sex. They have horses, and donkeys, sheep and goats, hedgehogs and chickens, and all sorts of animals. Even cats.
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Speaking of cats, we are increasingly concerned about a colony of feral cats who live on a busy road in the centre of Monforte de Lemos. We noticed them recently when we were having a drink and a tapas on a terrace, as a skinny, very pregnant female came and sat near our table asking for scraps. It turns out there are ‘many’ according to the barman, and they live on a vacant building site behind that bar. So, we’ve started feeding them. 

We entertained the idea of trapping them all and bringing them to the village but had to rethink that idea. As a friend said to me, their home may not be ideal, but it's their home. The village would not be their home. How would we keep them from trying to get back to town? How would we make sure they stayed together? We don’t have a handy place to lock in 10 or so feral cats for two weeks until they become accustomed to a new location. So, for now, we are feeding them in situ. 

​There are obviously others in town who feed the feral cats. A few blocks away we saw this recently which was a relief, but the colony above – near the ancient Colegio - seem perpetually thin and we see them darting in and out of parked cars on that busy road. 

​I’m thinking of starting a new project called “Los Amigos de los Gatos de la Calle” … but will need local help. I’ll update you next time.
 
*Finally, we all of course live in fear of further resurgences - or ‘rebrotes’ - of Covid 19. Use machine translations at your peril!