Dog for 1 day

I had a dog for not more than 1 afternoon.

A few weeks ago, I heard a dog being chased by children downstairs. The children were throwing rocks at it and running behind it with sticks until it settled sleeping before garage downstairs.

I went down to have a look. It was a half grown, creamy white, healthy female dog. She had a snapped cord around her neck and was abandoned, probably even left to die. Despite her recent experiences she was very sweet and clearly accustomed to living with humans.

So, not to have her harassed longer and to give her a rest, I managed to lure her into the garden. She slept the whole afternoon in the shower/toilet building and came out around 5 o’clock, the time that I usually go downstairs to spend a few hours in the garden.

She let me take off the bit of cord that was still tied around her neck, had a drink and lied down to wait until sunset.

Soon after, Mohamed came home. He was not pleased to see the dog in the garden. The problem for him was that it is a female. She could not stay. He took her to a spot where a whole family of wild dogs is living, hoping that she would join them and stay with them. 10 minutes later she was back near the road.

That night, she found a spot under Mohamed’s eldest son’s house. She has been living there since then, sleeping during the day and going out at night to find food.

The first few days, Jabr’s children were afraid of her and throwing rocks at her, but Jabr loves animals and told them not to harm her. They discovered that she is a very friendly dog and go and watch her from time to time keeping a distance.

This is a strong minded dog, a survivor. She decided she wanted to live near people and not go off and live completely in the wild.

In the morning, I can see her running around in the fields happily before she returns home to sleep. In the evening, she comes out and crosses the road to go to a spot where there are big industrial hen houses to find food.

Mohamed is always glad to see her and I think he is a little bit sorry he did not let her stay.

Tomatoes and power cuts

On this Flemish Independence Holiday the house is quite for a change. No workers on a Friday. Some are cleaning the tiles on the veranda and the balconies and at the same time others are putting the second layer of cement on the walls in the stairway case. These activities bring along a lot of noise and dust. The only way to survive is to close all the windows and doors and leave the house.

They should be finished with the walls by tomorrow. After that someone else should start finishing the stairs. When will he start? That’s always a big question over here.

Campers start coming by again. Last week, a German forest keeper on a scooter. He travels about 300 km per day and seems to be having great fun doing that.

I’m harvesting a lot of tomatoes these days. Not to have too many wasted, I’ve sliced a whole bunch this morning and put them to dry in the sun. They will come in handy during wintertime when tomatoes are expensive.

I still have tomato paste from last year. I wonder how long that keeps. Does it never go off?

This is the time of the year (the hottest month) that power cuts occur every day. It seems to be better than last year, but we are not yet the second half of July, are we. Last year, we had 2 power cuts of several hours a day during those weeks.

I can imagine the electricity plants to be outdated and not having enough capacity. It would help, however, if everybody turned off the outside illumination they put on at night. There is so much electricity wasted, just because Syrians like their houses to be like X-mas trees.

Further down the street, they are building a house. The exterior is finished, but still a lot to do on the inside. Every night the building is illuminated inside and outside using many lamps. Why ?

There really is a need for informative campaigns about such items. Syrians should become aware of what they are doing to the environment and how much money they could save by economising on electricity. They should know that by cutting down on unnecessary power use, there is more left for the real needs like refrigerators, fans, workshops, etc.

As long as awareness is lacking, we will continue to live with the power cuts.

When they occur at night, the stars are so much more visible and the roosters continue sleeping. A few other advantages of not turning on too much light at night.