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Lucky, lucky, lucky, VERY envious ! S

We bought our run-down farmhouse in Umbria at the beginning of 2005 and decided that, for the first year we would not do any renovations because the top floor (the one lived in until fairly recently) was in relatively good condition and we could spend the summer there without too much discomfort. In order to make sure that everything was set up for my family of four, my sister and I went to spend a couple of nights there about a month before I came with husband and kids to start our holiday. She and I slept in two of the rooms. The first night I was kept awake by her fiddling around next door and really making odd noises, so the next morning I asked her what she thought she had been doing. “Me!” she exclaimed, “I thought it was you making that racket!” We looked at each other in horror and decided we had rats or, at the very least, mice in the loft space. We got the workmen who were putting in the pool – notice our priorities here, no renovations but a pool – to net off the porthole window on the outside of the house to prevent any further infestation and went off shopping. When we came back we went outside to check if they had done so and were greeted by the upsetting sight of a beautiful barn owl staring out at us from inside the netting. I yelled for the workmen to come back and liberate her immediately, which they did reluctantly, all the time muttering under their breaths about these mad tender-hearted townies who were not prepared to let a silly bird die! We had a wonderful summer with these owls appearing every evening in low silent swoops. Unfortunately, now the house has been almost completely renovated and we spend a number of months a year there, they are nowhere to be seen. Sad.

I hope your going to enlarge that gap so she can raise those eggs.

Kestrel ? That's nothing we have a whole  family of rats living  in our outhouse!! How cool is that??

Raggio, I wonder what exactly the workers were muttering as they released the owl. Friends in the nearest village have told us that they've spotted an owl roosting in the roof space of a neighbour's house, but they have deliberately said nothing to them because they're certain that superstitious beliefs would mean that the owl family would come to a rapid, gruesome end. We often see and hear owls around our place. Our most interesting bird sighting of late, however, is a buzzard who has taken to roosting in a tree that overhangs our driveway. We've seen it several times flying over one of our fields, but the other day we came home and surprised it as we drove up the drive. It swooped down from it's perch about 20 metres in front of the car and flew up the track between the trees until the point where the road gets to an open space, then it disappeared off over the fields. Al

One of our favourite pastimes is having breakfast (or lunch), (or drinks !) by the pool and watching the swallows dipping and diving ( I assume for a drink ?) into the pool. A sight to behold indeed ! They're VERY good and almost acrobatic flyers(or is it fliers ?) aren't they ? S And by the way..........I know this was mentioned earlier..............the fireflies are performing VERY well in the evening at the mo !! 

The Grand Hotel. People come and go. Nothing ever happens.

Here's a tip for the unwary - Returned to our �������� house after a winter break to discover that a barn owl or gufo had taken up residence by going down the chimney and out in to the salone via the camino - what a mess! Advice close that flap in the chimney before leaving your house for any time. The gufo? he pushed off just before we got back!