We're on Funda

Is this really our house? So.. cleaned up!

Photo ready!

Making your house photo ready is a big job. They want your house to look like a hotel room: cleaned up and clean. No clutter, clean, no personal items, no family pictures, no pets, no traces of pet, no Zoomba's, no children, certainly not babies, ... In other words: nothing that hints to YOU.

Not easy if you have a lot of stuff, like to have piles of books, also on the floor, like to cook, like to use the stairs as handy extra shelves.

So, yes, this was a heavy week. But, we do have a very nice and big spacious house. Never knew that, really. Photos tomorrow.

(← See! Empty stairs!)

Tonight we'll have chinese.

(No one is allowed to touch this clean kitchen.)

Zoomba en de køtkat

Een weekje na de vorige blogpagina kom ik met hond de buuf tegen, waarop zij kreet: "héé, dat is de hond die laatst achter mijn kat aan zat!". Ik zei: "ja, dat kan". Nou, dat was niet zoals zij het zich wenste. En dat zij "maatregelen" zou moeten nemen als het nog eens voor zou komen. Ik zei: "ah, je houdt je kat binnen?". En zei, "doei!", en ben doorgelopen. Trut.

Leuk he, mensen die zeiken dat mijn hond in hun tuin achter hun kat die in mijn tuin zat aan zit. (Precies één van de redenen om een wat dunbevolkter deel van de wereld op te zoeken.)

Køtkat

[Dit verhaaltje speelt in augustus, red.] Er zit al een tijd een fraaie jonge kat in onze tuin. Dit voorjaar viel ie al op: mooi muisgrijs, slank, naïef poezig rondkijkend. Uu kent het wel.

Nu blijkt het beest er eigenlijk altijd wel te wezen, en zo ongeveer te wonen, onder de rozemarijnstruik/varen. Gezellig is het er ook, het poezenhol is gedecoreerd met enkele gedroogde vogelvleugeltjes. Zelfs met regen biedt een varen nog wel een zekere droogte. Echt schuw is ie ook niet, als ik de deur open laat zit poes binnen. Mja, hatsjoe, traan, snotter, snurf, en zo.

Een bezoekende kattenkenster riep: "hé, dat is een abbessijn! [Het lijkt eerder een "chartreux", red.] Wat een mooie!". En, "die is vàst weggelopen, ergens!". Wat toch een zorgelijk gevoel losmaakte, gezien de er reeds aankomende winterstormen, overstromingen, op stapel staande Zoomba, en zo. En dat je zo'n dier toch niet buiten in de kou...

De dierenbeschermering maar eens gebeld. "O, maar het kan best zijn dat de poes het gewoon èrg leuk vindt in uw tuin, en 's avonds gewoon naar huis gaat. Weet u wat, doe 'm een bandje om met uw telefoonnummer!".

Een bandje omdoen.. Hoe dat je dat bij een kat..?

Een blikje kattenvoer. 49 cent van de AH. Hm, ruikt geeneens verkeerd. Paté? Dat vond poes ook, en liet zich zelfs over de bol kriewelen na een paar hapjes. Een dag later en een poezenbandje+adreskokertje rijker (à 4,50 + 2,00), nog een poging: en succes. *klik!*

Erg gewaardeerd werd de halsband niet, er werden koddige sprongen gemaakt, maar daarna toch nog een hapje gegeten, dus het viel wel mee.

Een uurtje later: telefoon. Een beledigd klinkende buurvrouw van verderop, dat er een BANDJE OM HAAR POES zat! En dattie best wel een thuis had, en eten, en 's nachts bij haar op bed... (Getver, al die mensen met hun beesten op bed!)

Ach, het beest heeft dus een thuis, en daar ben ik blij om. Hij(?) lijkt het naar z'n(?) zin te hebben, en ik vond het een naar idee om zo'n beest een dierenbeschermingdomesticatietraject (3x woordwaarde) in te duwen, met pootjes en opzitten, en zo.

Zoomba part 10: Home, really, now

Well, we had just three full days here, and needed to be in Alicante early Sunday morning to catch our flight to Rotterdam, so we had to leave Saturday afternoon. And guess what? Saturday morning the RCD was dried out sufficiently to let us have power! Well, at least that allowed us to have a vacuum clean session.

And we need to make sure the house stays better ventilated when locked up. The cellar now has a big opening to the kitchen, so damp air from below enters the house. Not good. But we want the electricity to be completely shut off while not there, so we can't use the ventilator that is there now. Perhaps install a small solar cell powered fan, next time.

Pack the car, lock up the house, switch off the power and water, off we go. The hotel is on one side of the highway, so we need to drive 10 km past it, and then turn. Nice room, huge bed. Can't hear the traffic, good.

Dinner. But, Zoomba has a big preference for lying on the bed, which even in dog-friendly hotels is not "done". As a test we lock her up in her bench, and leave the room. We stay behind the door to hear what will happen. And yes, a short bark, followed by some wailing. Hm. Enter room, just to show we're still here, but ignoring her. Repeat exit. Again, "WoOoo!". Damn. Another short entering of the room, just to show we're still around, and exit. "WoOooOo!" This time we decide to give it a few minutes, or else have dinner separately. And she shuts up.

Well, even though it is not very relaxed, with a locked up dog, we need to eat. The restaurant turns out to be a big self-service canteen. You should not order lamb chops in such a place, but burgers and fries. However, we were being posh, and had them anyway, with a small bottle of ros&eacute. The fries were okay, but the rest was not. Make up with a chocolate pie and coffee.

In France you often get the most vile and bitter coffee, we've never had bad coffee in Spain yet. Every "café solo" was good, and here, too.

We let Zoomba out of her prison, put the old sheet on the bed, and had a warm little dog curled (see pic above) up between our feet. Just this once, then...

"We have forgotten something."
"hm?"
"We forgot to actually close the gas bottle downstairs."
"HM!"
The bottle is outside the house, but still, not a comfortable feeling. We must ask V&W to shut the bottle, and tell them where the key of the locker is.

Breakfast is take-away, too. A croissant, a cake and something apple-y. Sweet? "My dentist is rich."

Off to the airport. Checkin. and get a sticker for the bench. You then deliver your dog and bench to a special office, where they will scan the bench for hidden "merchandise", as we were told by a friendly fellow passenger with same bench, and quiet dog, that Zoomba was quite not in like with. (WOOF WOOF! Grr! etc.) Best you are with two people, one staying behind with luggage, the other taking care of checking in the dog, as you are scanned as with regular security. Then you lock up the Zoomba, and you are off shopping. Well, actually you only hand in your dog just prior to boarding, as to have her in strange hands as short as possible.

The quiet dog was quiet because he was on half a pill, his owner confessed. But, the airline tells you not to, because a dog may seem quiet, but isn't. And may not be able to control his body temperature well.

And once boarded the plane you must check that your pet was actually put on board with the purser. She was there, and Zoomba, too.

Rotterdam. You oldfashionedly get off the plane with stairs, and then must board a bus that will transport you the remaining 100 meters to the arrival. There you must wait behind a glass door, watching the plane, and seeing the luggage and dogs being unloaded. Ah, there she goes! And there she is! Eager to get out of the bench, but we'll only do that outside the terminal building. That strip of green may have been the first actual grass she had under her feet.

The one hour drive was okay, with a Zoomba that needed to sit on your lap to have a better view of the outside world.

At home she sniffed around, while we pointed out where her cushion and basket were. Try the garden? Why not. Open garden door, let Zoomba out, see Zoomba fly over the fence after the third neighbour's cat. "Woof woof!" (Zoomba) "Scream! Scream! Yell!" (neighbour woman).

This was rather undesired behaviour, apart from getting rid of the cat, as this dog has no notion of traffic, roads, cars, so this is potentially lethal. We found her on the pavement. So, no free reign garden for you, unfortunately. Bloody cat.

Zoomba part 9: "Home"

Here is what you need if you want to drag along your dog on a plane. A big plastic box with a door. Remembering how Zoomba reacted when only seeing a cage we were quite worried how we could have her get used to being locked up in one for a few hours.

So we tried by having the bench, inconspicuously, in the kitchen, without it's door. It was ignored. A snack, conspicuously thrown in, was retrieved and consumed without a flinch. Well, that isn't bad? Repeated that a few times. The next day her food was only to be had in the bench. No problemo.

Now with the door in, open. Still, no problem. Door closed. That was new! But, it was clawed a bit, and then she just laid down, and made no fuss.

Then it dawned on us that at SOSAdopta she probably was locked up in a cage at night, which is not unlike our bench, and she's quite used to that. Good! Another worry gone.

Meanwhile there still was no electricity. My theory was that all is actually fine, but that the RCD itself is damp, and thinks the whole house is in danger. With all switches OFF the RCD still switched everything OFF the moment the mains switch was ON.

Without electricity it's not easy to dry something. No hairdryer, no warm lamp. An RCD is a closed plastic box, not easy to get it's insides dry... We just had to wait, and keep the house ventilated. We tried putting a big pan with boiling water next to it, hoping that radiated heat would help, but no. (Quite tricky to position a big pan with boiling water next to the RCD..)

And eat early.
No tv.
No internet.
Survival!

Tune in next time to see if this family survived...!

Boxed!

How about this.

No, still won't show the other wall.

Or the floor.

Boxing days

Selling a house requires photos of the interior. Photos of the interior require space. Or, better said: the illusion of space. We managed to transfer the contents of the smaller bookcase into book boxes. Those book boxes are stacked on the other side of the room, which will not be photographed.




Really not.












No.



























Go away.

Zoomba part 8: At last!

We always frowned a bit upon people flying with their dog. And here we were ourselves, dragging a big bench with us.

We chose Rotterdam Airport, as it is a very small airport, and you can collect your pet at the door where you are unloaded yourself. And you can take your dog to the gate yourself, where it is put on a cart, and driven the last 100 meters across the tarmac to the plane. No transit through nasty luggage processing there.

The empty bench was filled with an eiderdown, shoes and some other things we thought we needed in Spain. Like sweaters, and some jumpers.

It was a bit of a gamble if the bench would fit the rented car. It did, when folded up. Which meant that we'd have to have the dog on the back seats while driving.

Alicante. As hotel Areca did not allow dogs, this probably was our last stopover here. A pity, because that means we have to pick a hotel about 10 km from Torrellano, so we will miss out on dinner at Nuestra Barra! But tonight we're still lucky.

Tomorrow, at 13:00: ZOOMBA! We need to be there in time, so she does not have to sit in her cage waiting for us, after being transported from the kennels in Pechina. We thought.

It's about an hour driving from the house to SOSAdopta in Viator, and it's about two hours from Alicante to our house, so we need to leave in time, if we want to do shopping beforehand.

We were at the house at 11:30, with our car full of shopping. We should have brought shopping bags.

It had been raining heavily, we could see the traces of running water all over. And it was damp inside. Nothing a few open windows don't cure. But: no electricity. The circuit breaker (RCD) refused to stay up. That means: no fridge, meaning: no ice cubes or cool wine. And an urgency in finishing off the sausages we bought.

But first we have a dog to collect, and it's 12:00, we need to GO! Hurry up! And why did we bring jumpers and long pants? And why don't we have any shorts left, here? It's bloody hot! Forgot your mobile? Too bad. Grr!

Arrived in Viator 13:15. "Hola! Is Corrinne here?", "not yet", "we're here for Zoomba!", which made faces brighten. "Ah, Zoomba! She's here!", pointing at our dog, who was in a nice dog basket in the pet shop.

Not in a cage.

She had not been at the kennels at all. She had stayed at the vet/pet shop and was loved a lot by all the staff, taken for walks a few times a day, and well fed.

So we have been worried for two months while our dog had been feasting and was loved. It's so fair!

We were told it was about time she left, too, as she was becoming a bit bored, bullying other dogs around, and wrecking the cage she was in at night. We were all too happy to oblige. She looks happy! And she looks well!

The goodbye was heart warming. Cuddles were exchanged, a lot of snacks supplied, and photos taken, it was obvious she was loved a lot. And we had the chance to shake hands with Corinne after all. That was good. And the puppies all have new homes. These people are saints! We won't forget that, and we'll be donators and help them.

Papers and chip were all in order, although Zoomba suddenly was four years old, instead of two. Oh well, who cares. She's a lady. And she's back home.

Transferring a house, and dog

In The Netherlands buying a house is simple. You or the estate agent go to a notary and (s)he takes care of organising the transfer of ownership. He's also the appointed legal party for collecting the funds, and transferring those at the time of the transfer of ownership, trusted by buyer, seller, and the banks.

Well, it does not work that way in Spain. The notary in Spain only takes care of registering a property with the Catastro and Escritura (land and property registry). All other legal stuff, like checking the ownership and legal status of a property, and handling the funds is done by the solicitors of both buyer and seller.

Where back home electronic money transfers (internet banking) are the norm, in Spain you use good old paper bank cheques. In this case we nearly lost count of the number of cheques needed. One to pay the seller, one to pay off the previous owner's mortgage to the bank, one for the transfer tax to the government, one to pay duties to the city, one for the estate agent, one for the seller of the extra block of land, one to pay the transfer tax on that block, one for the notary, one for our solicitor, and I'm sure I'm forgetting one or two now. So far no one has complained, so I think no cheques were lost.

Also, when buying a house, with an inventory, it's quite normal to go and see the house and inventory before the transfer at the notary. Well... that was met with objections. (eh..?) It was emotional, there was a birthday to celebrate, and a family breakfast, and.. and.. and. We just wanted to be sure everything was reasonably in order, and also we'd like to know where the main electrics switches are, how to close off the water, and some general hints and tips on the house. But no. We were told they had prepared a long list of notes for us, and that it was not possible. Luckily we have a solicitor too, and she then contacts the solicitor of the owner, and have an argument for you, and so we could see the house an hour before notary, after all.

Oh yes, and the dog with six puppies, behind the house, in the drain. (Was she mentioned already..? Hm?)

The actual transfer is a lot of shuffling paper and handing out cheques. You sign the "deed", which is in Spanish, which is then read aloud to you by the notary, in Spanish, you get the keys, and are then the proud owner of a house.

Where we were greeted with much tail wagging. Hm. Well, off to the supermarket, to do some shopping. Dog food. And some things for humans too.

And where would the list of prepared notes be? Would it be where the swimming pool pump, filter, and that nice fly curtain made of metal chains have gone? Probably.

Zoomba part 7: the long wait

How long she would have to stay at the kennel was not yet clear. It depended on when the pups could leave her, on her sterilisation, vaccinations, and when/whether she could be transported to The Netherlands. A transport by truck to Germany was planned eind of September, which would be just six weeks away!

However, such transports take two days, and we'd prefer to just come and fetch her ourselves. Better fly two hours than driving two days.. But first things first. It turned out to be not easy to keep track of her wellbeing, and that of the pups. Understandable, too, these organisations are run by volunteers, and they have other things to do than keeping people informed that are 2000 km away. On the other hand, we need to do some planning to have free time off, buy tickets, and arrange things.

According to our teacher Spanish you best call people on the phone, and not write e-mails, as those are regarded as "impersonal" and "too official" by warm-blooded Spanish people, who prefer to just talk. Hm.

Meanwhile for us it was not great to think about a lonely dog locked up in a kennel with six puppies. Can she escape them when she does not feel like having them around? Is she allright at all, there, among 200 other dogs? When will she have her operation, and is that going well? Isn't she totally bored? Won't the stay there change her? Will she recognise us?

We got news that Zoomba had a "little flu" and that her operation was postponed till she was better, which would take " a few weeks". Flu? Flu?! Can dogs have flu, too? Yes they can, and it's a nasty disease. Rare, too. Would they mean "kennel cough"? Which is not nice, either. Damn, we could have had her vaccinated against THAT...

We tried to arrange that she could come with us anyway, and she could have her operation HERE, but no reply.

All in all we worried more about the dog than about the house and moving there.

But, organising time off is not easy if you have a job that has a tight schedule, as teachers have. Better press a bit, and that we really need time to organise... She was there since August 21st, September was nearly at its end. Our next window of opportunity was end of October when we could have a whole week, else it would just be a long weekend... And the transport to Germany, end of September, was full already.

End of the first week of October, finally some good news! She had had her operation, and everything was fine. With the pups too. (Do they have new home? No answer.) And yes, we can come and collect her! When would be convenient?

Poor thing. Had we known in advance then we would have been there, then. Now we had to wait two more weeks till October 28th, if tickets were still available. And space for one dogs on board the flight.

But: YES!

Zoomba part 6: goodbye! At least for a while.

Friday August 21st. Zoomba had a pretty good week, being fed every hour with boiled chicken-wings, rice and a handful of dry dog food. But today we take her and her kids to SOSAdopta in Almeria.

We found a huge shopping bag and a piece of hardboard that we wrapped in a towel to go at the bottom of the bag. Big enough for a puppy pile. As this is a hired car we better take care to not get it dirty. An old bed sheet was wrapped over the back seats. How would these dogs react to an hour by car?

Well, pretty good, actually. The landscape whizzing by was quite interesting, and was keenly observed, while her kids were fast asleep in the bag. So far so good.

The address was easily found. The Adopta organisation had an office at a vet annex petshop, and that is where they take dogs in. We had the nice waiting room to ourselves till the vet arrived. He explained what they'd do, chip, vaccination, passport, sterilization... We had hoped that she could be spared an operation, but it's the law in Spain that dogs taken into care are neutered. Could not be helped. He explained that it's better for her, as it will protect her against tumours and other nasty diseases later in life. And that it really is better for her. Sigh.

Registered her for her passport, etc. The name "Zoomba" was met with big smiles. Good!

Well, off the pups went, in their bag. Above picture is the last we saw of them. Zoomba herself was taken to a waiting room, so she would be safe before examination by the vet. That was a tough moment both for her and for us. She had to get into a big cage, and it was obvious she did not like the look of that, and struggled. Once inside she was standing up, looking quite unhappy and betrayed.. We felt very sorry.

We had to leave. And grown men can cry, I can tell you.

Zoomba part 5: "Zoomba"

Now we needed a name. Of course two syllabes, for easy yelling. And, something Spanish.

Shall we call her Banjer too, i.e. Ban-ger, as the Spanish would say? Hmm. Naming a dog after your previous one seemed tacky.

She looks like a fox, a bit. What is fox in Spanish? Zorro. Nice! And a female fox is a "Zorra". Better!

What else. She sleeps like a log. What would "snoring" be in Spanish? We looked up the Dutch word "ronken", which turned out to be "zumbar". And her name from then on was: "Zoomba".

In retrospect we are happy we did not call her Zorra, apparently that is what the Spanish call a very greedy lady, according to our teacher Spanish.

Zoomba part 4

Today is Tuesday August 18th 2015, whatever the date at the top of this page.

When we tried to leave with the car to do some shopping, during the weekend, we needed to put her outside the house, so she could tend to the pups. But what happened instead? She came running after the car... We had to stop and tell her to go back to her children. Which she did, unwillingly, tail between her legs.

Oh dear. What to do with this lovely dog?

There was just one decent thing we could do: we'll adopt her, and if possible a pup.

We'll get her to The Netherlands till the time we move to Spain, when she'll return with us to her former home again. But, properly cared for this time.

Easier said than done, actually. You cannot just take a family of seven with you on a plane. Dogs need to be vaccinated for rabiës, and that takes time. At least three weeks. (Pups can only be vaccinated when they're older!)

So, we do need to find shelter for this family, till the time till the pups can leave her, get her and the pups properly vaccinated, and cared for.

Local options turned out to be not possible. People already had dogs, or were explicitly forbidden by their husbands to take in more puppies. Letting her stay at the house with people dropping in once a day did not feel right either. Dogs need a family, and puppies need mopping. The workshop at the house is not suitable either. It's too hot, dark, dusty, and not suited for children, dog or human.

Time was running out, too. We needed to leave Sunday at the very latest. Just a few days to get this arranged...

Alternatives... Have one of us stay longer till shelter is found? Rent a car and drive home with the whole family?

Friendly neighbours gave us the address of the vet in Vera, where we took her yesterday for Spot-On treatment, and checkup. They had leaflets of SOSAdopta, an organisation in Almeria (the city), taking care of stray dogs, an hour driving away. We could speak to Corinne of SOSAdopta later today, she's the one speaking English, as our Spanish is still pretty hopeless at this time.

We asked if they could care of this family for us in return for a proper donation, as offered by us. And to our very big relief THEY AGREED! We could bring them this Friday. They will take care of vaccination, chip, passport, and possibly even transport to The Netherlands! Corinne, you are a SAINT!

The IBAN for SOS Adopta is: ES18 3058 0021 3527 2000 7436

Zoomba and the dentist

Sorry if this blog seems to discuss Zoomba a lot (it does). Almost done.

However, today is about today, and not a flashback.

Last week, it was already dark, she grabbed something off the street and started chewing, happily. A dog grabbing "stuff" to eat off the street is not good news, and we tried to take her prize off off her.

What? Two pebbles? Why is she chewing on pebbles?

(We do feed her!)

Our previous dog did this once, too, on the beach, and managed to chew a flint off off a molar. Just a flint. The vet was worried and said: it must be taken out! We were not overly worried, and he was 11 at the time, so we bode his time. He managed to become 14, and kept on chewing sticks as happily as before, but we kept an eye on stones, and his tooth, ever since.

So, better check this one for damage then, she's only two.

No new damage. But, there was old damage. A big molar lacked it's big pointy thing completely, and was discoloured, and had a dark spot in the middle (1). Eew, yes.

The vet noted she had a lot of "scale" on her tooth (Zoomba), and tried scraping some off, not to much avail.

What to do about it? You (the vet) can quite easily extract a dog's tooth, but I was worried that when a tooth is extracted other molars will start to move around, and the perfect fit of her teeth is destroyed. She (the vet) didn't know that for sure. Or if dog teeth can be filled? It depends on the state of the tooth, and on the dog. Police dogs get crowns and metal replacement teeth fitted. Well, this is no police dog.. So, off to the specialist with the x-ray camera for dogs.

The result is above. And a little surprise there is, too: she had another tooth missing! The tooth we are worried about is the left one, with the dark spot in the middle (1). On the right of that one are two little stumps: the roots of a molar long gone, and now beneath her gums (2). They needed to go, else they will cause trouble later.

The damaged tooth must hurt her, the doctor said. Especially when under pressure of a ball, or food. (I did notice she carries a ball on the left side, probably to spare her right side bad tooth.)

He was tempted to do a root canal, "I love doing those", he noted, but maybe it is better to just remove it. Especially since the other roots must be removed.

After 45 minutes we had a groggy little doggy in our arms, who must eat boiled chicken and pasta for a week, and peed on the way home while sitting on a lap.

We better not think what would have happend, had she stayed in Spain with her broken teeth.