The Rain In Spain...

...lies mainly in the plain!  

Dear Eliza Doolittle From My Fair Lady had it almost right.  After more than 2 months without a drop of rain, it has poured on and off for five days this past week.  So, now the rain in Spain lies mainly in my new patio!

The rain has softened our clay soil enough to dig out an area for our new patio. 

The area needs to be dug out to below the bottom step of the stairs.

The sun has come out today and it is supposed to be quite warm for the next few days, so that patio area will soon be rock-solid.  But, you know what rain and sun means... flowers!

Chaenomeles japonica

Forsythia

Looks who else likes the rain - Iberian imperial eagle and buzzard
(aquila adalberti and buteo buteo)

Fauna of La Mancha

While not much is happening in the garden during winter, I thought it would be a good time to upload some photos of the local fauna.  All these photos were taken from our living room.

This Golden Eagle (Águila Real, Aquila chrysaetos) doesn't come around much, but when he does he just takes your breath away.

 

 

My friend, the hawk (Buteo buteo), felt daring one day and decided to perch on the mulberry tree in our garden instead of down by the stream.

I had never seen this little guy before.  Turns out he's a Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis),

but I haven't seen him since. 

This is a Red Kite (Milvus milvus), which is aptly named because they love windy days. 

Here he is at the start of a snow flurry...

... and with a friend a few minutes later.

 

 

 

Not exactly wild animals (but still very much a part of our local fauna) are these soldiers from the Infantry Academy in Toledo.  In our rural area, you can often come across them loaded down with packs and carrying rifles on training missions, trying to get from point A to point B with maps and compasses in hand.  O's cousin, a military helicopter pilot who trained in Toledo, says it's not unusual for them to be dropped off some 70k (around 40 miles) away and be expected to find their way back.

 

Although I'm used to them by now, let's just say that the first time I came across a soldier, at night, jogging down a back road with rifle in hand in the middle of winter and wearing a ski mask, it took me a moment to decide whether to scream!