Making the most of the fine Weather

 I am sorry to be away so long, but it has been all work and Medical appointments, with little time for anything else.

Firstly a brief health update. As a result of the problems with my knees, I have been for the X-rays, and I have been diagnosed with Osteopedia, apparently it\’s one step away from Osteoporosis and means my bones are breaking up, apparently it can\’t be reversed, I have an appointment on February 4th with an Orthopaedic Surgeon, so should know a bit more then.


I also have an appointment with a Dermatologist the same morning for my Skin Cancer, I have had absolutely no response from my last Specialist, who I had seen for six years, whether he has decided to deal only with private patients now, I have no idea, but I had to make a decision, so we\’ll see what happens.

Finally on the health front, I had my two year eyesight test last week-end, and found I needed new glasses, which was a relief, because I have been having a lot of problems recently with blurred vision, I should have them next week, I will finally be able to see again when driving! hahaha…well maybe not!

Workwise, because I may in the end be off my legs because of my knees, I have been working every day, to get the fencing done, and start work clearing the land at the bottom of the garden, which can only be described as jungle.

I finished the fencing down to the stream bank, hopefully it will last a few years.

This is what had to be cleared, if I wanted to reclaim the land, of which there is a fair bit, I started off with my billhook and the brushcutter, it was/is hard work, I also had to be careful as our Gardener warned me there are snakes, so far I have been lucky, and not seen one, I hope my luck holds out, but that could be due to something else that I will mention in a minute.

All these saplings were a pain in the backside, so another gadget came into play

It\’s a chainsaw, but only eight inch blade, and battery operated, it is ideal for the job, and has been an absolute blessing.

I have probably done two thirds of the clearing now, once it is all done I will have to have a number of small fires to get rid of all the rubbish.

Back to why there may be no snakes, it turns out we have a friend living at the bottom  of the garden, you may remember I posted about burrows found, well I bought a wildlife trail camera, attached it to a tree, and left it a few days.

It turns out that we have at least one Possum, and they are known to eat snakes, because they are not effected by the venom, long may he/she stay around.
This work accounted for two to three hours each morning, the hardest part was dragging the cut rubbish out of the work zone, two steps up, three back, it was like working in a sauna, by the time I had climbed out of the abyss at the end of each session, I stripped off, had a shower, and then couldn\’t move for the rest of the day, my knees killed me, which brings me to another subject.

Had anything happened to me down in the abyss, I had no way of calling for help, there is no cellphone signal, and it was too far away to shout for help, so an accident with a powertool, or snake bite, and I was on my own… Not any more!

I bought these fellas, and they work a treat, the conversation is as clear as crystal, I have mine in my jacket at all times, and the other is on the kitchen counter, if Marcela doesn\’t hear, there is a siren alert, we\’ve tried it, and there is no way she wouldn\’t hear that, so I think we have all bases covered.

One problem we have, and if any of you have an answer, please comment

A family of \’Los Carpinteros\’ better known back in the UK as Woodpeckers, have taken a liking to the neighbours main electricity pole, it\’s in their garden, but would end up on our roof, just like their tree did, I don\’t want to harm them, but I could do with them finding another pecking site. Any advice, gratefully received.

Published by Phil Sale

I moved to Colombia from Spain in 2012, and I am happily married to a Colombiana.

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