No wonder water didn’t get through

Sludge from the water hose

This pile of gunge is what emerged when I forced water through a section of hose between the spring and the pond.

It’s hard to believe it built up over just a few months.

I was glad to hear water tinkling into the pond once more.

The lower pond

Tucked away under a fig tree

This little haven is the result of diverting the spring.

The water trickles down the rocky ‘waterfall’ to the right of the picture, fills the pond, and soaks away down a slope.

The willow tree just beyond and to the left was no more than a sapling when we gave it this supply of water.

Galileo and Florence immerse themselves in the pond to cool off between bouts of rough-and-tumble.

Grubby little spaniel

Not what you want on the arm of your sofa

Galileo goes in and out of water all day.

He has four places to choose from: two ponds, the basin where the spring comes out, and now the swimming pool, where he crouches down on top of the inside steps.

I reckon his last visit can’t have been to the swimming pool because he’d probably have been a bit cleaner.

He’s impossible to keep off the sofa, and he circumvents any protective coverings we put there.

His last bastion is the sofa arm.

Out of the lion’s mouth

Spring water emerging

There isn’t a lion’s mouth for the water to come out of but I’d love it if there were.

This is water from the spring, emerging to cascade down the waterfall we built for it years ago.

The pipe above was broken after a stake got driven through it, but Giovanni and I repaired it by threading through a new pipe of a slightly smaller bore.

Now the pond at the bottom is full again and there’s the music of water in the garden – for as long as rain feeds the spring, that is.

Playing with water

Galileo by the blue pig, contemplating the destruction of my cascade

I’d been aware for some time that the water wasn’t reaching the pond from the ‘blue pig’ water tank.

It has about twenty-five metres of garden hose to go along (the original buried pipe having got furred up long ago due to the exceptional hardness of the spring water).

The thing to do is to find out where the worst blockage is, so I unscrewed in turn the joints along the length of the hose.

Aha, it wasn’t getting through the section right next to the blue pig. I substituted this piece of hose temporarily with a clean piece from elsewhere, and took the blocked length to the mains water to blast it through.

A great deal of mud, and dense sausages of algae like green icicles, plopped out.

I walked back to reposition the hose I’d cleaned. I was thinking – This is Heaven, playing with water on a windy mountain-top with a beautiful view. This must be the best activity in the world.

But fairy-feet Galileo had been drinking and climbing in the roof-tile cascade that takes excess water away from the blue pig and I had to spend a merry quarter of an hour scrambling about on the bank fixing it.

I didn’t feel quite so euphoric after that.

Shrinking Galileo

Galileo balancing on the edge of the pond

By ‘shrinking’ I don’t mean making him any smaller. He’s already small enough. What I mean is – trying to understand him.

He’s the most rumbustious, daring, energetic little dynamo you could possibly imagine. I saw him today racing through the long grass of the olive grove and thought he was a rabbit running away from himself!

He adores water, and now has to seek solace in the pond having been barred from the top of the pool tarpaulin.

He play-fights constantly with Taylor who’s 3 times his size and no push-over.

He jumps up on the sofa next to Clive and even seems to enjoy Clive’s teasing.

He sleeps beside me at night and I wake up most mornings to find him tangled in my legs.

So far he sounds like a well-balanced, affectionate dog.

HOWEVER he’s terrified of ALL strangers and has been since Day One. He hides when they arrive and doesn’t emerge till they’ve gone.

AND he’s developed a new trait. He often refuses to go outside unless I go with him, which can lead to accidents in the house.

It’s nice to be wanted, though …

He swam!

Balancing on the rim of the pond

Today was the first time I’ve braved swimming in the outside pool since the middle of May.

As usual, Galileo came to the top of the outside steps to peek at me.

After taking off his bell, I lifted him gently into the water.

There was a bit of panic-stricken scrabbling (with scratches on my chest and arms to prove it) and then, in a flurry of splashes, he was doggy-paddling on his own.

He made for the side, obviously wanting to get out, so I lifted him back onto the outside steps.

But the important thing was – he swam!

I hope we can find him a more suitable place and that it will help to build his confidence.

In the meantime he balances on the edge of any water he can find and fishes out stones and dead leaves with his mouth.

He also dips his head and blows bubbles in his drinking water!

There’s water in here somewhere