Where do I start with this post after so many years?  The year is now 2020, October to be precise.  So much has happened between my last post and this one.  We left our beloved cave house in 2009, and that was a year of significant change for all of our family.  I manage to fall off a mountain whilst rambling with my youngest daughter, and it turns out I broke my back. One by one the family moved back to the UK, first my daughter and her partner, then my brother, and then my husband.  Mother and I rented a small place back on the costa blanca whilst we waited for the final documents for the pets we were taking home with us.  Sadly we had to put to sleep three of our lovely pets, they would not have passed the medical requirements for entry into the UK due to age and infirmity.  On reflection it was their time, but it did not make it easier knowing that.

Mum and I were due to travel in September of 2009, back to the Uk.  Mum's health was becoming more of a concern as time passed, and was one of the reasons to return  The other was the economic recession that had not just blighted our lives and livelihoods but those also of our dear Spanish neighbours and friends.  It was with a very heavy heart we made the decision to return.

Mun sadly did not make it and passed very suddenly 05/07/2009 😥 

R.I.P Audrey May Elsey. This was the last photo I took of her, she died the next day.

I returned to the UK 20th July 2009, to reunite with my husband and family.  The pain did not end there.  I found after an X ray I had in fact broken my back, which has taken some while to mend..  I also found out I had breast cancer, and also my sister in law had bowel cancer.

Swift move on to 2020.  Sadly my sister in law did not make it, she died in 2010.  My darling brother Ade who lived with us in Spain passed in November 2019 when he lost his fight with pancreatic cancer, and then in the Spring of 2020 we also lost Austin my brother in law.

Not sure how we have made it through but we have, somewhat battered and most certainly bereft.

This post is a catch up but not all doom and gloom as the title tells you this is a tale of 3 kitties, just wanted to put a positive out there as Rona is doing her worst, we all need an uplift.

So........A Tale of Three Kitties

My husband and I became publicans on our return to the UK.  Our two kitties we brought back were Spanish strays we rescued, my daughter begged me to let them live with her in the farm cottage, I accepted as they were not used to roads or traffic.  One has since passed the other is alive and well.

Because we were publicans it was not conducive to pet ownership, we still had our mad spotty dog and took on a cat in one of the pubs we had, said cat is now living on the farm.  Spotty dog had a brain tumour and had to be put to sleep.  We decided that we could not take on any more pets due to the nature of our work, the pain it caused having them leave us, and our constant moving around from job to job.  We finally retired from the industry in early 2019 and decided to become minions.  I work in a well known supermarket and him indoors works driving local taxi's  All was well in our world.

When our world started falling apart, when my brother Ade was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer we decided to rescue a cat.

We went to a RSPCA centre close to us and picked out a kitten called Tobias, however we were shown a battered kitten called Jenson, and we were told his tale of woe.  I could not get this guy out of my mind so when it came down to signing the forms and paying the money, I just decided that battered guy was coming home with us.  So here begins the first of the three tales.

John's Story

Tobias or as he is now called John, was a very tenacious kitten who made his presence known the moment we went into the kitty pens.  We had youngest grandchild with us, so his views were going to dominate the proceedings, and it duly did.  Tobias was picked.  He was from a litter and had not really known a tough life, the only life he had known was in the kitty pen and as such he was a happy teddy.

Tobias was,we thought, a naf name for a cat, he needed a rounded and proper bloke name, so he was called John.  He is pretty barmy and very vocal.  He likes to sit on the top of doors, and then launch himself onto his unsuspecting Dad whilst he is asleep, not one of his most endearing qualities.  He is however a bit of a charmer ( although at this moment in time he is on my lap demanding affection and wanting to suck my hand).  My neighbour stated when we moved in he hated cats it took me 6 months to tell him I had two cats.  Neighbour christened him tinkerbell (bell on his collar) and has been seen feeding him bits of ham that he was cutting up for fishing bait.  So clearly the neighbor was telling porkies or John is the charmer we thought he was.

John is happy in his skin, but he is also a great cat ambassador.

Jude's Story

Well Jude has quite a sad but eventually uplifting story.  Jenson was the battered cat I was first shown, he was, beyond doubt the most wounded cat I have seen, it was not just the physical but the mental trauma he had been through.  I knew this journey was going to be tough, I just did not count on how tough it was going to be.  Thankfully we had a kitty ambassador although at the time we did not realise, nor did we realise how important his role was going to be. Jenson got a new name and that is Jude, named so because of his journey, taken from the lyrics of the famous beatles song 'Hey Jude'

"Hey Jude, don't be afraid

You were made to go out and get her
The minute you let her under your skin
Then you begin to make it better"

This poor battered kitty was found in a garden with a very severe maggot infested wound in his tail, he was pretty close to death and not yet thought to be a year old.  He was rescued and his tail was amputated but it was considered he was feral so they clipped the top of his ear and were about to release him back out onto the streets having had his boy bits done.  Luckily for him there was a wonderful lady there who rescues hedgehogs and heard about their intention to release him so she took him to the RSPCA in Langley Moor Durham which is where I found him.

We collected these guys on our way to pick up my older brother who had flown in from Portugal knowing his brother was dying.  It was not our best plan we had to drop the cats and sort out cat litter, courtesy of Jen, my husbands eldest, scatter cat food and dash to pick up my brother.  When we finally got home we found John the kitten but no sign of Jude......worrying !

He had hidden under the couch where he stayed for two weeks, only venturing out when we had gone to bed to eat and use the litter tray we had left for him.  Nightmare...

In the end I decided that we were in fact facilitating him with his game of hide and seek and we were going nowhere with this.  I took the feet off both of the couches so he had to come out......brutal but very necessary.

John kitten as he was then known befriended Jude, he would make noises to him and gently try and play, he would go and try and steal the tuna I was putting down for Jude and Jude would then come out of hiding and make sure he got his tuna.  Eventually he stopped hiding but would run away from us not accepting any form of contact.  It was heartbreaking, we just wanted to love this fur buddy but he was not having any of it....until !

One day I found him on husbands bed tucked up and fast asleep, so I quietly sat next to him, he woke up but I did not give him eye contact, I just placed my hand near to him, he did not move or run away, so I moved my hand closer and talked to him telling him was a good boy he was.  I then went in for a stroke, that was it, he lapped it up.  A cat so broken and so afraid made those huge steps and allowed himself to be loved.  I sat and cried whilst I stroked him, my husband did not think we would get there with him.  He has since moved on leaps and bounds, he loves tummy tickles and he is now a  big fan of the husband and he loves his little brother John.  He is not completely healed but he is now a whole cat who understands love and wants love.

Jeff's Story

Jeff is a new addition to the family, and I am still getting earache over this one.  Jeff formerly known as Marley had been in two homes locally.  He is about the same age as John which is about a year and four months.  Not sure why he went from the first to the second home but I know why he came to me. The family who had Marley (now Jeff) had just got a puppy and Jeff was not happy and was hiding everywhere and clearly was not having a great life, despite all efforts, he just clearly did not like dogs, so needed to be rehomed.  Being the smuck I am I was first in the queue of hands up....me .....me.....me.

And so you have it.  He fecked off the first couple of days and had me and the rest of my community of animals lover searching the streets for him.  He eventually tipped back up, but was proper arsey with my two boys.  I had to have word with him and told him he either shaped up or he was moving on.  The very next day he found his manners and was very respectful toward my boys.  I still have to train him not to get on my kitchen counters and not to use my new couch as a scratching post.  I have since bought a cat tree, he is getting there.  This morning my broken, nearly fixed cat did a very wonderful thing and something that makes me so proud of Jude.  Jude was going out but Jeff came in, they usually give each other a wide berth, but today Jude nuzzled against Jeff and then Jeff did the same.  I think this is a start of a friendship.  John and Jeff are already friends and play together and sleep together at times, but for Jude that was a huge leap of faith...well done son !

So that is the story so far :-)

16/02/2022

Jeff has since moved to pastures new.  A wholly horrible decision we had to make, but as he got older his play with his brother John had become a lot more aggressive.  John is considerably smaller, and I watched him getting battered every day, and become more withdrawn and hiding in places so Jeff could not find him.  Jeff was not a nasty guy just full of energy and wanted to play, but he played hard.  

Jeff now lives in Manchester with a lovely lady who has had Siamese cats all her life and is wise to their quirks and foibles.  He is happy in his new home, and I received a picture of him the other day which shows how content he is

Signing off for now.  I wonder what 2022 brings to the table !

Baby Emma

This is a heart wrenching story about a little girl and her family. This is an small passage from their website.

"Emma Louise Clittie is 2 years old. Emma has been diagnosed with a very rare childhood cancer called NEUROBLASTOMA.
This cancer is so rare, it only affects around 80 children in the UK. Emma's cancer is at stage 4 and is an aggressive form of NEUROBLASTOMA, she has been given a 20% to 30% chance of beating the cancer.
Emma is currently undergoing chemotherapy in Liverpool's Alder Hay Children's Hospital and is on an 18 month action plan.

Neuroblastoma has not been researched much in the UK or Europe so the Doctors in the UK can only do there best with the research they have. Under the current treatment plan that Emma is on, there is a 70% to 80% chance of this NOT working and if the cancer goes and comes back then there is no cure in the UK or Europe for this.
We hope and pray that Emma will be one of these special children and will beat this nasty cancer.

In America, they do a lot more research into Neuroblastoma and they don't see it as none curable if it comes back, they have researched and have different treatments options available, some taking Emma’s chances to 50%.

This Appeal is about raising money to take Emma to America if no other treatment in the UK works. We have said from Day 1 that even if there was a 1% chance of beating this cancer then we will take it and grab if with everything we have. The treatment in America cost around £200,000. This is a lot of money!!!
But if it cures Emma then it's worth every penny!

To raise this much money could take months or even years and if we ever need to send Emma to America we would need the money there and then to go straight away.

IF WE NEVER NEED TO SEND EMMA TO AMERICA FOR THIS TREATMENT THEN THE MONEY WOULD GO TO RESEARCH FOR NEUROBLASTOMA IN THE UK."

If you would like to learn more then please go to Emma's Website.

Baby Emma

We Raised the Roof

I have not been able to make a post since early November, which tells you how busy we have been. Work has continued both inside and outside the cave, and the difference is discernable.

The roof has been raised to form a roof terrace, this was a last minute decision, as previously we were just going to tile the roof with conventional tiles. We looked at the views from the roof and decided that the view would be one of our greatest assests, so it seemed a shame not to grasp this opportunity.

A void was created on the outside edge in order to bring the roof level, and then walls and piers were created to take the wooden vigas. These had to be cleaned and the ends stained to ensure that they would not absorb moisture. Failing to do this would have caused the vigas to swell when they got wet and consequently crack the cement that surrounds the ends.

Piers up the rest of the building was ready for the render, and then later the piers and the upper terrace walls were also rendered.

The stairs are almost complet just requiring the final step at the top and the wall below which will form the hand rail. Then the stairs must be tiled. We will be fitting another door on the lower wall which will afford us a little more in the way of weather protection, and a useful under stair storage area.

The whole building in more or less fully rendered now and will have a full thick coat of monocapa next week.

We have drainage spouts leading from the roof terrace to help drain standing water, and we have to finish weatherproofing the vigas which we hope to get done before the end of the week.

The whole place is now starting to look more complete, and the views from the terrace are stunning. We will be tiling the terrace in the spring and giving the whole place a good coat of paint. We hope to get an area fenced for the animals in the spring too, but as usual there is so much to do and so little time in which to do it.

Work inside has also happened at some pace, with all the rooms apart from the cave lounge being tiled and grouted, all that is left is to finish painting these rooms, and move the bath from the main part of the cave house into the new cave bathroom. This will be a precision operation as one the bath is removed we have to get it installed pretty quickly as it is the only bath we have. Once in place we can use this bathroom whilst we refit the other bathroom.

We hope to finish the painting this week and move into one of the bedrooms, so that we can prepare the bedroom we are currently using, for my daughter who returns to Spain in 6 days.

Our next area of work will be in the pantry bringing new wiring into this area and building some open units for storage. I have already opened out a large cupboard and I have nearly finished the yeso work on the walls and new shelves, which will then leave some painting before it can be used. Pan hanger is up and working but I will leave the pictures for the next post, when I hope to have a little more work completed in that room.

Hope you all had a great Christmas, we enjoyed our first Christmas in our cave house, and the fireplace looked very festive and felt very cosy with the wood burner chucking out oodles of heat. Hope you all have a great New Year.

Online Petition Please Sign

Okay this is a quick entry but a very important one. Please follow this link and read the story, if you feel that you can support us please sign the online petition, it will only take you a minute but would make the world of difference to a lot of people

Sing For Your Supper.... TCR

If you cannot be arsed to read the story and just want to support then just follow this link and sign the petition.

TCR Online Petition

I thank you, TCR thanks you, the young people of Teesdale, Co. Durham , UK thank you XX

UPDATE

I would like to thank all you who took the trouble to sign the online petition, your support was greatly appreciated. Sadly TCR lost the vote and will now have to go back to the drawing board. I will post again when I have more news. If you would like to read the full story from the local paper please follow this link TCR Story

Raising The Roof

We are finally raising the roof of the extension. The picture below shows the leve it was at. That is my sister and brother in law checking out my motorbike....lol






As you can see the level of the roof has been raised with the intention of putting an additional terrace on the roof. We had elected to have a pitched roof but after much deliberation we have decided to opt for the extra terrace.




At the weekend the builders will be back, weather permitting to carry on with the job. Photos are more for OH's benefit as he is currently in the UK leaving me to oversee the work..........I mean what was he thinking ........

Sitting Room Completed

One room down and this is the next one on the list, the sitting room. This is next to the Television room and we plan for this to be just an area to sit in and chat away from the television. This room was not in a bad state of repair or decoration, but as is typical the electrics needed a vast amount of sorting out to make it not only practical but also safe.

The channels for the new electrics had been dug some time earlier, but time constraints and other more important projects had to be done before we could consider making a start on this room.

There was already a light and two sockets but they were not the best. Whilst the ceiling light had 3 lights it was at best candle power, and the electrical circuits had a happy knack of just switching off if you plugged too much into them. We also had to route the cable for the sky in through this room, so there were quite a few channels to fill and a lot of wires to fill the channels.

Filling the channels was not too much of a problem, as they already had yeso rapido holding the conduit in place, so any remaining gaps were filled with another mixture of rapido and then contralado and the finishing plaster to give as smooth a finish as was possible.

A good deal of sanding down and it was starting to look the business. Word of advice, even if it sounds like common sense, to most. Always wear a mask as the dust created was something else and got everywhere.

One of the last jobs before painting was to remove the old light switches, plug sockets and light fittings. This bit was hilarious to say the least. For the first time in my life I saw how they attached the ceiling light and I was gob smacked. One thing for sure it would have never fallen down.

I mean that has to be at least an 8" nail, which had to be removed with a crowbar. Now I understand that light fittings must be secure but there is overdoing it a bit and this was a perfect example.

Not content with using nails to secure the light fitting the plug sockets were also secured in the same way, albeit not with such sturdy nails, I can only imagine that they must have run out of the big long ones and had to use smaller ones for this plug socket.

We realised when removing the cabling for this socket that it has been working on the equivalent of bell wire or speaker wire, just really glad we did not use any of the sockets

Two good coats of pain were applied and here we are the done job, well almost we have to build a proper base for the fire and the grate to finish the job, but that is not rocket science.

We are currently using this area as a temporary office until we have the office premises open in Cullar, which should not be too many more weeks now.

As you can see the improvement in the lighting quality and the benefit of some furniture has made a vast difference to this room.

Next up.......Nope not the pan hanger as I have a set back with that....lol Next up Work on the roof starts......whoo hoo!

Another Room Completed

We have managed to finish another room in the cave, and this was a very important room, Mum's TV room. Up until now Mum has been camping out in what will be the sitting room, where the channels for the new electrics had been dug out quite some time ago. There were cables and extension leads running across the floor and because we have both the back door and the front door open most of the time, a hefty draught could sear through. The lighting was also ancient so rather that a good light you had, at best, two candle power. Plus due to the accoustics in this room the sound from Mum's TV could be heard throughout Pulpite and I suspect into parts of Cullar too. So it was time for action. The picture below shows the room as we bought it. The wiring was stapled across the wall and then down to a lazy switch for the solitary light. There were no other lights or sockets.

Junction boxes, light fittings, light switches, double sockets were all dug into the rock and the cables ran through conduit which was then hastily held in place with yeso rapido and then when that had set yeso contralado. A little tip here to anyone who is undertaking this sort of work. If your walls are reasonably flat, like these were, if you run a damp sponge over the contralado you can, with some practise get the wall pretty smooth. We also had to run the cables for the sky into this room which is 3 deep into the cave, and from this room we also ran the sky cables into Mum's bedroom which is next door to her tv lounge, just in case she is feeling unwell one day and would like to be able to watch her sky in bed. We like to make sure that Mum is well looked after and has all the creature comforts that we can provide for her. She is well into her 80's, and is a lovely person who has looked after her family very well all her life, the very least we can do for her.

Once everything was in place we left it to dry out, which did not take long, then we gave the whole room a good sand down, ready to paint. We managed to get the filling of the channels and the sanding and painting done in a day. A good clean round and Mum's furniture in. Not an easy job but we did not want her to be without her TV for too long.

Pleased to say she is delighted with the results, and I managed to get some of her beloved family picture put onto the walls today so she is really, really happy. The uplighter in the corner of the picture below is stunning, it has a very bright light at the top which can be controlled by a dimmer switch on the cable and it also has a flexible reading light. Found this in Carrefour in Granada and a bargain at €24.90. I am going back for one for my lounge

Sorry about the photos I am having a mare of a day with blogger and that is no fun with a migraine .....sob!

Next up I hope will either be pan hanging.....(yeah I know that should have been next but there is a story with that one) Or it will be the sitting lounge as we are busy with that now.