HAY BALED

21st June (Longest day of the year)

Happy Summer Solstice

Bummer; we went to the Post Office in Penamacor the lady behind the counter said that no parcel had been, or had attempted to be, delivered for me; we're to come back on Monday.

We went to pick up some more wood for our roof; our roof ladder has paid for itself over and over, it's so useful, there's no way we would have been able to pick up any wood this length without it (we even managed to bring some wood for P&M).

Louis came with his wife and a friend to bale the hay; we reckons he's got nearly 300 full size bales, so that was worth his while - and the quinta looks so much better now, very well maintained; we walked around and took loads of photos.

P&M came to dinner; they went into Remax today and came away with quite a bit of gossip including the fact that they are about to get new English neighbours who have 32 Serra da Estrella Mountain dogs - they are HUGE and can be quite aggressive. Brett was chase by three when he was riding his bike the other day - fortunately he was faster than them! We also know (we really know them, it's not hearsay) two lots of people (expats) who have had their dogs savaged by these dogs (no, not the same ones who chased Brett!), one dog died, the other had very expensive vet bills; before I heard this I really wanted one.

They're used for protecting sheep from wolves