A little drop of rain....

Pitres in the glow of Christmas sunshine

The second half of December and most of January is usually a beautiful time here in the Alpujarras. One can normally expect to find settled weather with a good number of sunny days, and nights that are clear and frosty. Not so this year, it would seem. With little rain in November and October we all welcomed the forecast of some heavy showers as we approached Christmas. Finally the rain started on December 20th; light rain becoming steady, the very best sort, the type of rain that slowly penetrates the dry earth until it receives a good soaking. But then it grew stronger and become a downpour, something a dachshund would not voluntarily venture out into. And it kept on falling. By Christmas Eve, the sodden ground could take no more and it started to move. First of all the footpaths slipped a little and one or two of the bridges weakend. Rocks fell on to roads and trees were blown over as the wind built in strength. The often gentle mountain streams turned into waterfalls as all around the valleys gave voice to a great roar of cascading water. A reminder that our mountains are not always tame.

Rio Bermejo - the island you can see towards the top is where the bridge used to be.

The GR7 between Cortijo Opazo and Pitres - the site where the foot bridge once was.

As a dachshund, it has been calculated that I must have a two day bladder, meaning that I can stay indoors without having to relieve myself for about two days. But eventually even I had to set paw outside. Ears flapping in the wind I was dismayed to discover the extent of some very local damage. Our morning walk has now all but vanished, the bridge washed away along with half the side of the gorge in a landslide. In just a few days we have had 400 mm of rain, that's 400 litres of water per metre squared. And it is still raining.

But this is all good for the garden in the long term, the flowers of early summer are sure to be glorious and maybe at last those bones I planted might start to shoot in the spring. As the two tall ones say, we never complain about the rain in Andalucia, every drop is welcome. The agents responsible have set about making repairs; all roads have been quickly re-opened and already work has begun repairing the tracks and paths. Nature has roared but will be calmed once more.

It's now New Year's Eve, the house is full and my two legged companions are cooking for the guests. I'm still getting fat on turkey skin and Ella is going stir crazy since she hasn't had a decent walk for more than two weeks. The Dogblog is almost a year old now, so whilst you await the arrival of 2010 why not cast a glance back at some of the entries I have made during the year.

Time for me to think up some New Year resolutions for Ella to keep.

Best wishes for the year to come,

Yours, looking for a piece of coal to do my 'first pawing',

Fergus.

PS - Is it natural for a dog to like satsumas? Ella has a passion for them, but then Ella can develop a passion about a draught blowing under a door.