There's a short street of abandoned ruins (tautology?) in our village. One end of it is very near our house, and it won't surprise you that the cats hang out there. We call it the ruined street. Around 40 meters along it finishes and there is a sort of bridge made of timber which spans from the first floor of one side to the first floor of the other. It would have been a place to store grain - an horreo once. It is quite picturesque and the kitchen window of the house of our neighbour, Josefa, looks down on this bridge/granary construction as her house is at that end of the ruined street. We have often remarked that the street itself could be a film set from the19th century. Looking along it you can imagine a stagecoach rumbling along past a saloon or two, chickens scattering.
 
Sadly, the buildings along the street are falling down, one by one. There was an almighty crash a couple of months ago as a large section of roof that had been propped up with a long piece of timber succumbed to the weight of recently rained-on clay roof tiles.
 
Like the rest of the structures along the ruined street, the bridge is delapidated. Where it once had a floor it is now missing planks here and there and the whole thing looks precarious and rotten. When I pass under it I do not linger!
 
There is a rather sad resident of the bridge at the moment. Remember the ginger male balanced precariously - asleep, on a branch? Well he has moved in to live on the bridge. I'm sorry to say he is a sorry sight. He is very thin and could be on his last legs. The neighbours say he's old, and not from the village, and that he has been in his lofty position for a couple of weeks. I only caught on to this situation the day before I left and realised there was little if anything to be done. If he were more mobile, I would try to trap him and take him to the vet. But according to Josefa he doesn't descend. Below the bridge is where the neighbours feed the cats so if I did set up a trap there hoping that he might descend for delicious tuna or something I would no doubt catch a variety of others.
 
So what to do? There's no going up to where he is. The structure wouldn't support a human weight and it would likely come tumbling down, it and you.
 
I went there the day before I left with some canned food in a bowl, and managed to borrow a long ladder which Pedro, one of our neighbours, then used to get some food up to him. The cat did move backwards a bit when we did this. But later when I went to look he was back in his spot -  hopefully having eaten something.
 
He and Frank Sinatra are mortal enemies and I suppose this is a good strategic position to be in to see when Old Blue Eyes is coming along, and perhaps the ginger one makes a furtive descent at night to get some leftovers. He can certainly tell when dinner is served as it happens underneath him! Maybe Frank is so absorbed in being 'top cat' that he has no idea of the watcher above, but I fear the worst for this cat as it gets much colder.

I'll leave you with a very healthy-looking photo of Tortipizza. Her robustness since her teeth were fixed was a highlight during the last visit and maybe that is a positive omen for this latest challenge. The neighbours described her rather bluntly as 'gorda' (fat) and whilst she didn't come to our house as she normally would, I did catch a glimpse of her (running from me!) in the ruined street and she looked great. I guess she might be expected to give us a wider berth than normal considering she had a few weeks before spent two long nights of trepidation and downright bizarreness in a cage in our house listening to the extraordinary goings-on of humans 'at home' ..... weird!

I wrote yesterday that I would check to see if the cats had been using the new cosy(ish) plastic boxes in the abandoned house. Well, I went over the courtyard armed with my wad of sticky tape, wrestled with the broken door, and am pleased to say I have evidence that at least, er one cat, has used one of the boxes at least once!

​

And said cat is light coloured. This is brilliant and allows me to say I told you so Adam!

​We will have to set up better shelters one day, and this will be prompted by the impending renovation of the abandoned house where at least one cat has slept - or spent some time - once. Here it is below. 'Needs work'. 

​The reason for the lapse in communications is that we've been in London, and Canada in Adam's case. I am now here for a very short spell before Xmas, to talk to some builders and to check on the cats, and see how the village is. The truth is I can't keep away! Even in winter.
 
I drove from La Coruña airport last night. Usually uneventful and around an hour and a half. Last night though, the fog (la niebla) was terrible most of the way. This was especially true on the brand new highway from Lugo (Lugo's around 50 kms north of here) to Monforte de Lemos. The fog got really bad around Sarria. I was able to do around 100 kph until there was what appeared to be a wall of white and I had to slow down suddenly, eyeing a car in the rear view mirror to ensure it was slowing down equally quickly. Soon after, feeling my way along with only a few metres visibility in front, there was an overtaking lane and I gratefully moved into the right. The car behind followed suit and I realised the driver was probably as freaked out as I was, and he or she wanted someone else in front thank you very much! It was quite scary.
 
Anyway, I did make it and 24 hours later am sitting with the pellet stove making everything very cosy in the barn conversion. It's getting down to about 3 or 4 degrees at night at the moment. That's bad enough but we can get below zero here and there is often 'mucha niebla' in the morning.
 
I set up these large plastic boxes last time I was here, in an abandoned house nearby (well, actually, it's our next building project!). I bought some warm igloo type things and put them inside. Tomorrow I will get some sticky tape, wad it into a ball, and see if I can detect fur! I really hope they're using them as I reckon they could get quite snuggly in there in a heap. They are certainly somewhere in the morning as I didn't see them until late.

So, who have I seen cat-wise? The first visitor this morning was Frank Sinatra. Then I saw Jessica, then TortiMiniMe, then her brother, and finally Jessica's sister the tail-less cat and the one I call La Tigre who is the only female who comes around who is not yet neutered. No sign yet of (either) butterfly cat, or Tottipizza.
 
Jessica and her son were catching the last few rays on the wall this afternoon, looking pretty content - and robust, which in early winter is an encouraging sign. Sorry about the photo, taken with my phone this time.

All had canned food, and I will add some brewers' yeast to the next few meals as I have read it helps keep the fleas under control  see link here​ . Getting flea treatment onto necks is not an option!
 
I was thinking that although we can't get physically close to these cats, we do have relationships with them. They certainly know us, our voices, and they seem to trust us. When I approached Jessica this afternoon for the photo above she didn't move at all and I was a metre from her.
 
When we are here they (or the colony at this end of the village) work it out pretty quickly and tend to be here too, or at least pass through frequently. Our neighbour Manolo said this evening he suspected we were here, as there had been fewer diners at his macaroni restaurant.