Burra Maluca

Tie-dye!

So I guess that at some point one of you will appoint yourself as the guinea pig and use the bike again to see if that person gets ill and the other one remains healthy?

I remember when my son was a year old and broke out in eczema. I took him to the doctor and asked if it could be a food allergy, maybe to milk. I was told categorically that I should not mess with my son's diet and take out a vital part of his nutrition.  He was still being breastfed at the time, so I totally ignored the advice and put both of us on a really restricted diet for a couple of weeks until the eczema had completely cleared up. Then I would re-introduce one food item at a time, first to my diet and a week later to his and watch the results. Turns out I could eat anything without it effecting him but he couldn't have either cows or goats milk. Which kinda sucked as prior to his birth I'd been the local goat relief milker...

One of the other toddlers in the same town had a similar problem. His parents also ignored the local doctor but instead of the diet testing they took him to Harley street and invested a small fortune to be told that he too was allergic to cows milk. And oranges.

I would occasionally re-test my son to see if he'd outgrown the allergy. Or sometimes accidental tests would happen. Or, very annoyingly, my mother would test him and not tell me about it - cue some seriously heated discussions after I'd spent a week going insane scouring my house for allergens and failing to find any and wondering what he'd become allergic to now. Mercifully it turned out he was NOT allergic to sheep's milk so when we moved to Portugal we were able to source a locally produced cheese made exclusively from sheep's milk. It turns out that many sheep milk cheese is actually a blend as most flocks run a couple of goats with them, so we were very loyal to our producer. Which kinda backfired a decade or so later after I was widowed and he seemed attracted to his most loyal customer. But that's a story for another day. That cheese was tempting though. Plus all the manure I could ever want for my garden. Is it bad I was tempted?

But anyway, what I think I started off wanting to say was that, unless you're looking for an excuse to banish the exercise bike, maybe one of you could give it another go, by way of a test.

edit to add - he stopped being allergic to milk at the age of fourteen or so.

My husband found that saw palmetto was excellent for prostate health and it seriously reduced the number of times he would need to pee.

When it stopped working, it was the first sign that he'd developed bladder cancer.

John F Dean wrote:Well, yesterday, I figured it out.   In all cases she is herding the animal to me….and not to where I want it to go.  

I think a lot of herding dogs are like that. Mine is the opposite - he's a drover not a herder by nature, though he will herd if persuaded. He's also obsessed with putting critters back where he thinks they should be if they dare to wander.

These days we don't have any livestock but he thinks it's his job to get as many of his family together as he can. In particular he gets obsessed with the woman next door to talk with me. If ever he achieves that particularly well, he tends to sneak off and attempt to find my son and bring him over too by claiming that he's escaped so my son brings him back. Whereupon he sits there grinning from ear to ear and you can almost hear him saying "Well that's three of you..." while plotting who to fetch next.

Sam - is yours a Welsh sheepdog? We should start a fan club... ;)

I salvaged what I could from the patched-up duck T-shirt and with the help of some offcuts of a moving blanket made from recycled cotton T-shirts which I trimmed to make it fit better as an undersheet for the bed, I made up a pot holder. Which I have just given to my son. Complete with the traditional pink edging stitches because pretty much everything I patch up for him is done like that to match the pink paint he puts on all his tools to stop them accidentally going home with the wrong workmate because he's the only one who is willing to be seen in pink.

I think keeping the grass short and keeping the log-pile under cover are the two most important things.

The fire we had here a couple of years ago was started by someone half a mile away cutting metal outdoors which sent sparks onto dried grass. The resulting fire reached his log pile, which caught fire and then went into overburn. We first saw it before the overburn stage and my other half went to investigate, my neighbour showed up on the doorstep to warn us, and I went to fetch the hose pipe to start damping the area around the house. But less than a minute later the overburn had started and sent burning bits of wood right up into the air, which were caught by the strong winds that were unfortunately blowing in our direction, and fires broke out in a line from the source all the way to just past our place. One landed on the tractor, which was lost. One landed in the back of the truck, which they managed to put out. One landed right behind the truck, which they also managed to put out. I never managed to get the hose pipe to the front of the house as I had to stop to put out a fire that one of the falling logs had started in the garden. Unfortunately by saving the garden in front of the house I'd failed to notice the burning log that had landed next to the new roof sheets behind the house, which were lost. If one had landed on the house, which was roofless at the time, that would have been lost too.

200 hectares burned. On the same day several miles away 400 hectares were lost to a fire caused by another immigrant taking chances using machinery outside during August. That is the real danger - people who don't understand the risks doing things they've always done and not understanding how dangerous it is.

If I had to write a list of Things to Do it might look something like this...

Keep the grass very short.
All firewood to be kept under cover.
Have a good water supply and hosepipe with sprinkler available.
No using any machinery that might cause sparks outside during dry weather in fire season.
Keep a bug out bag packed
Keep your exit route very clear
Keep your phone charged and near you at all times.
Be on very good terms with your neighbours and encourage them to take basic precautions too.
If anyone shows up at your property smoking a cigarette, throw a bucket of water over them and give them a piece of your mind.

As for what to grow where, and how to prune it, I try to find my own balance, weighing risk against what I want out of life. The official regulations here are quite strict but almost never followed to the letter.

But I think mostly just don't freak out. Do the obvious things, bear the risks in mind when you make decisions, but don't let fear rule your life.

I tried to explain to Rosa about how we all have parts of ourselves that we have chosen to forget. Little things that we do that people seem to disapprove of. Things that we are embarrassed about, that someone might have told us were undesirable, or bad, or that we got told off for when we were very young because someone didn't understand what we really trying to do, or that whoever was trying to teach us something didn't understand so we learned to keep quiet about them, or just not the sort of thing that we would like to admit in public. And those parts of us are what Negredo is made of.

But Negredo heard us talking about him and hopped onto the bed to come and see what we were doing.

He noticed the little crochet rose that Rosa had made and peered at it for a minute as though trying to decide what to do next.



And then he picked it up in his beak, flipped it deftly into the air and caught it on his head, looking very smug and pleased with himself.

I seriously have no idea what he was trying to do and he looked ridiculous.

"Negredo - it's not a hat!" I told him.

His eyes glinted mischievously at me.



But Rosa, who seems to understand him better than I do, gently removed the rose from his head and looked very thoughtful.

"Mum, can we learn a new song on the recorder?"

It sounded suspiciously like she was trying to change the subject, so I grabbed the recorder bag, pulled up the next lesson and attempted to learn to play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

I didn't get very far though because Negredo seemed to want to talk to me, even though he gets terribly tongue tied and ends up not being able to speak even when he has something important to tell me. I guess it's because he represents all the aspects of myself that I've repressed so he's learned that I tend to shut him down. I really must work on letting him speak, or finding ways to understand what he's trying to tell me even when he can't use his words. But anyway, whatever he was trying to say I couldn't see the notes for Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on the laptop screen because he kept sticking his great black head right in front of them and totally blocking the light.



Gwen had heard the music playing though and had slithered out of the laundry basket. She started chatting with Rosa about the tune and when Rosa realised it was about stars she got very excited and remembered all about the Natural Philosophy of Dragons thread. The two of them went off to look at some of the treasures on my bookcase and talk about their adventures in space visiting Draco and the Bears. I really should go back and work on that thread as there is a whole lot more I should share with you all...



After they'd had a good chat and Gwen had shared all the memories that seemed appropriate to be sharing with a young dragon, Gwen slithered back into her basket. Rosa followed, closed the lid and very thoughtfully placed the little rose on top.



And that's when I understood - I shouldn't be talking to Rosa about Negredo, I should be talking to him directly. Because he represents all my hidden and repressed aspects that haven't come to light yet, even though they probably should. But they are for me, not for everyone. And certainly not for youngsters who could be traumatised by them. Until I have shed light on them, worked with them for a while, brought out anything of value from them and disposed of anything that it's time to let go of, they should stay very much out of the public domain. Sub Rosa, as it were...

Rosa had understood what Negredo was trying to say, even if it took me a while to.

She is a very perceptive young dragon...

I settled down to attempt to communicate with Negredo. He shuffled awkwardly and pecked at some of the keys on my laptop in an apparent attempt to dispel some of the awkwardness.

"You could choose a video to watch if you like Negredo, maybe that would help." I suggested, and so he started to browse youtube, his great black head still blocking the screen so I couldn't what he was choosing.

At that moment Austin burst into the room.

"Did you know there's going to be a total eclipse, just before your birthday? I think we should go and watch it, we might not get another chance."

"I think that would be an awesome thing to do!" I agreed. And then, remembering that great black shadowy head blocking out Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, I wondered if Negredo had known too, so I added "Can Negredo come with us? He likes shadows..."

Austin went off to make some plans and I turned back to see how Negredo was getting on.

He'd chosen several videos he thought might help and over the next few days we spent a lot of time together watching them one by one and seeing where they led and what they could teach us about communicating with each other. We still have a very long way to go but he is gradually learning to trust me a bit more, and I'm gradually learning to understand him a bit more.

We may be some time...



Here's the list of videos he came up with and would like me to share with you, just in case any of you might find them useful in talking with any parts of yourselves that have been hidden away for too long and might benefit from having a bit light shone on them.

The Solar Eclipse Within - meeting your shadow

The Childhood Traumas That Are Controlling Your Life

Understanding Your Father

Jung on Generational Trauma Cycles

Why Success Scares You More Than Failure

Why Healing Can Make You Less Tolerant

Embracing Your Shadow

Sandy Cromwell wrote:Any chance there is actual information? I truly hate these AI videos, and seriously doubt the validity of the 'information' contained in them.

The information in that particular one is pretty good, which is why Samantha and Paul recommended it.

Here's an older video Paul made himself about them which you might prefer.

Nina Surya wrote:
"Wild fires is a “normal” thing here … 
We need to cut down every spring all grasses so that if the fire cones it doesn’t spread and we have installed sprinklers around the houses ... 
Else there is not much you can do."

I'm going to share some of the official recommendations for protecting homes from fire in Portugal.

The deadline for land clearing 50 meters around houses and 100 meters around settlements is May 31st 2025.

FUEL MANAGEMENT DOES NOT MEAN ELIMINATING ALL VEGETATION. The aim is to prevent rural fires, as well as prevent their spread.

For your family, for your home, for your village, for you, for everyone comply with the fuel management rules!

Fuel management - is the reduction of vegetable and woody materials to make it difficult for fire to spread vertically (from the herbaceous layer to the shrub layer and, in turn, to the crown) and horizontally (throughout the various layers).

A tree, provided it is pruned and there is a distance of 4 metres between its canopy and that of other trees, and more than 5 metres from the house, does not need to be cut down.
Fuel management is mandatory and must be carried out within a range of 50m around buildings or facilities (houses, yards, warehouses, workshops, factories and other structures) located in rural areas.

This fuel break (strip of land cleared of combustibles) is measured from the exterior wall of a building or structure.

In the case of population clusters (10 or more houses) the fuel break must be widened to 100 metres.

All owners, tenants, users and entities with land in the list of parishes, even if they are not the owners of the buildings, must perform fuel management.

After the aforementioned deadline, city councils will be entitled to clean scrublands in lieu of the owners, who will be obligated to provide access to their land and to pay any expenses incurred by the city council.

The entities responsible for road, rail, electric and other networks, as well as the managers of industrial areas, campsites, logistics centres and other infrastructures, are also required to perform fuel management.