keeping up with the lopezes

We awoke at 6am to the banging of a ladder and the scraping of paint. It's been a frenzy of housepainting the past two weeks. First, Antonio and Iluminada; next, Antonioformerpoliceman; then, the Herb Thief; and now Almendena. The painter is living large. Big Jim and I await the comments that our house is looking shabby....This is the third round of painting of the year. The women have already done touch-ups the week before Semana Santa and again before the feria. Having not touched the paint since we moved in 19 months ago, we are officially shamed. The pups are exhausted from our walk this morning. I decided to take them on the goat track, and they had good fun as always: Mr. Beebs chasing precious Boo with an oversized olive branch hanging from his mouth and dragging behind, running through the water in the irrigation ditches, etc., etc. As we reached the edge of town, I called them so that I could put their leads back on, and then realized I no longer had my keys. Checked the pockets, but no keys there. Bugger. I removed the leads and herded the dogs, who looked up at me with big confused eyes, back onto the goat track. Retraced our steps and thankfully found the keys by a large rock at the far end of the path. Must have dropped them when we pulled aside to let a man and his huge German shepherd mix pass. The dogs made the most of our second journey and replayed their earlier antics on our way back to town. Sweating from the mid-morning sun, I was half tempted to join them in the water ditch. :-) Things continue to be crazy here on the Big Jim job front. I hope to have news to share soon. But as M.A. tells me they say in Norway, we're not skinning the bear until its shot. :-) hasta pronto, mylifeinspain