Dog Demonstration

We had the opportunity to make a Dog Demonstration for the largest event in Santa Cruz, the Sao Joao festival.
The dogs all performed wonderfully after such a long break in their training. Izzy is still resting her sore muscles, and Dink is waiting eagerly to get back out on the field.
In the photo is my new "bad guy" from Flores, Cesar Furtado. He is a quick study and seems to have the dog training bug. I have been training his Dogo Argentino for the past few months and the two of them are making rapid progress.
I have a few new clients lined up after making our demo, now I just have to brush up on my Portuguese.

Solar Electric "Mad Max" Style

I managed to salvage two old 10 Watt Solar Panels from a friend. Using some styrofoam, an old pallet and a sheet of glass, I made a new housing for them. Then with silicon sealer and duct tape, I waterproofed it. So far, it is holding up to the torrential rains of Summer.







Inside the house, we have a huge truck battery to store the sun for night usage. Now we can enjoy music while we have dinner, and even watch DVD movies. More panels will be ordered as soon as we can organize it. Having a little electricity makes such a difference!

Next, I will rig some 12 Volt lights and we will be "modern".

The big project is a water turbine to generate enough power for a Deep Freezer and a Subwoofer to rock the forest.

Sarah

This is Sarah, our first milking goat. She´s very ornery, yet sweet when it suits her. It mostly suits her when Konswan bring her some fresh greens from our garden. Sarah´s a bit picky, about her greens though, prefering sweet young greens, turning her freckled nose at those that have gone to seed and therefore take on a more bitter taste. She stands well and cooperates during milking time, however she demands lots of loving caresses and scratches along her sides, neck and top of her head after the milking. She´s not satisfied until all her hard to reach places have been attended to. She indicates these areas with a swish of her head, pointing with her freckled nose. This spring, she gave birth to two kids. Only one survived, little Edison. He is now four months old.

Visitors from Norn

We had a lovely surprise this week. Friends of ours that live aboard a sister ship of Venus, the boat I grew up on, dropped by Flores for a visit.

They are on their way to England from the Carribean.