Bootcamp

On Saturday evening we were infested by millions* of tiny white flies. A little googling revealed they were male cochineal flies, confirmed by the lovely purple streaks they left in their wake if you swiped them off anything. Further googling revealed that they feed off cactus plants of which we have a giant one. Apparently the wingless females stay on the plant laying eggs which cover the leaves in a sticky white larvae. (The biology / zoology / insectology may not be entirely precise but you get the picture). My dad planted the cactus from a leaf about 10 years ago. It is now over 8 foot tall. Well it was on Sunday when we tried jet washing it as our first line of attack (or defence I suppose). When this was only partly successful Carl was investigating chemical warfare options but we were concerned my dad might be fond of the plant and my parents were arriving the next day. Turns out we needn't have worried as he has been more than happy to get his chainsaw out and hack the beast and all its subsidiaries to pieces. Today our hired skip arrived to cart the remains away.

The week of work has also seen the dismantling and tipping of a set of bunk beds and the ordering and delivering of a new bed. And as Carlos has been surviving on his individual meals for one doing his bit at the coalface for the week I have also added Chief Pool Operative to my duties.

Yesterday the dog was so ill following the excitement of her bounding around the terraces adventure she was refusing all food and water and I had to resort to trying to syringe some into her mouth. She eventually rather pathetically took a little from my cupped hand. Fortunately today she is restored to full form which saves me having to learn a whole new set of vocabulary for the vet.

It has slightly felt like we were on some odd reality show.

Tomorrow Carlos returns and the plan is to stop doing jobs of any nature (well he will take his CPO role back but he loves that so not sure it counts).

Lesley x

*they are so tiny I do feel this is an accurate statement