Summer is here

Summer has come early to Spain and the sun is very warm. This morning I have been out in the garden strimming the weeds and grass. Its a very large area and takes forever. I can feel the sun on my back and have to come in regularly to drink water.I am trying to ignore the garden rubbish pile that seems to be growing. The cat and dogs seem very interested in the piles of branches and I wonder if there might be rats or mice underneath. One of my phobia's is rodents and I am really scared of them. One time when I lifted the carpet on my compost there were three rats feasting on the veg that I had put in there. Now I always bang the compost pile in the hope that I will frighten any unwanted animals. The rats in Spain are different to the rats in the UK. Here they are called tree rats and the live in the palm trees. I'm sure there are sewer rats but I have not seen any since I have lived here. I was just looking for an image to show the difference in the two rats but even looking at the pictures gives me goose bumps. When we managed the restaurant we had a very large palm tree in the garden. Unfortunately the tree became infected and had to be cut down. The tree cutters warn me that there would probably be rats in the tree so I made sure that I was as far away as possible standing on the upper terrace with the dogs. As the men skilfully cut the tree, the top section finally fell and to my horror four huge rats ran into the orange groves.
Since we have lived in L'Olleria our cats have caught rats and mice and last year we discovered a nest in the wall. At night I could hear the rats nibbling on the plants. Gosh writing about this brings back memory after memory of my encounters with rats and mice. I remember last year when Colin went to the UK I was in the kitchen and hear a munching sound. I tentatively looked in the cupboard and saw mice droppings. I pushed the cat in the cupboard but it just sat there. I discovered a nearly empty box of cereals and the mouse had obviously in there and munching on cornflakes. After a major panic I decided that the only thing to do was to go to the shops and buy a trap or several. My Spanish is not brilliant but with actions I was able to describe my problem. I bought four traps and put them in the cupboard and around the kitchen. That night I heard one of the traps click and felt really guilty that I had trapped the mouse. Feeling very wobbly and guilty I found the mouse and disposed of its body. The next day I cleaned all the cupboard, shelves and work surfaces.
Colin laughs at me and questions why I am so scared of these little creatures. I know that it is illogical and highly unlikely but I really fear them running over my feet. I didn't have this fear when I was a child and remember taking pet mice home from school for the summer holidays. Goodness knows where my fear came from but it is very real to me.

Well we shall see what the summer brings and just hope that the mice and rats stay away.
take care

Pat