A Good Dog Day………………………………….until.

The day was planned.

I was heading to the coast with all three monsters as I would be out for a long time and wanted to keep the house standing. I was heading down from the mountain to my Mums house. She lives somewhere sensible near to the ocean and with nice easy access. We on the other hand live up a Catalan mountain at 500m along a 2 KM dirt track only accessible with a 4X4.

We all got in the car and as I am on a roll with car problems of late it wouldn’t start. I am doomed I tell you doomed. The battery was flat so I spent half an hour pushing and pulling a heavy Suzuki to get a roll down the track where it started straight away. Okay, not soo bad.

The Olive picking season is in full swing so I was going to start hitting my Mums Olive trees with a big stick (as you do) and the Olives drop on to nets laid on the floor.

All the dogs were tied up all day as there is a road nearby and it is too dangerous for them. Especially in the constantly hyped state they are in at the moment.

In retrospect I believe they should have all been blindfolded.

The three girls seem to take an overly inquisitive interest in anything that happens around them and the sight of all these glorious little green and black balls bouncing all over the place was to much for a doggie to stand.

• First a lick
• Then a nibble
• Then a “yuck” and spit it out
• Then a “I think I’ll give that another try”
• Then a “yuck, but I think I will eat it anyway, what the hell i’m a dog”
• Then a “Yey girls, bet I can eat more than you”
• Then a “Don’t listen to him telling us to stop, get them down you”

Until finally they stopped out of sheer boredom, or what, I don’t know.

Now if you have never tried an Olive straight off the tree DONT. It is the foulest thing imaginable. It is unbelievably sour and sucks the moisture from your mouth so dramatically that you start looking for some sand to drink just to get some moisture back in there!

It didn’t seem to bother them though but I imagined that the raw olives really wouldn’t agree with them too much. Anyway it seemed I was wrong. By late morning all was calm and they slept the rest of the day (miracle) until I had finished Olive harvesting. 200 KG for the day was not too bad at all but there is still much more to do.

We packed up our things, i’m being generous here, and off we went. Half hour drive back to the main town (before another 30’40 mins back home) where I had to stop at the supermarket for some Dog food and petrol.

Petrol first.

Pumped in 20 Euros and went to get back in the car when something didn’t seem right. Jet was straining from the back on her dog car belt so she could just reach on to the drivers seat where she had conveniently waited until I got out so she could return all the mornings Olive rations to me and with interest.

A nice gooey mess all over the seat with little Olive stones all over the place! Why she had to wait until then is anyones guess. I spent a while cleaning up and after buying the food for the ungrateful little buggers I had to drive home sitting on a supermarket plastic bad trying not to think about the goo beneath my bum!

Ah. Some days are just perfect, no?