Zecche!!! Fiori, La Mattra

6 agosto,
Ciao and sorry for the delay in posting. We are full and it takes a batch of time to take care of all 7 rooms as well as the vineyard. Yesterday I put about 650 iron poles next to the pecorino grapevines as training devices which will stay there for the life of the vine, I hope. It was 93 degrees or better, so the american went out with his arab hat as the italians call it (it is actually meant for sea kayaking) and spf 30 sunscreen, and 2 bottles of water, to labor. I have to quit when the water runs out. After returning from that work, I entered my room and asked Raffaele to look at all the black spots on my tile floor, which I thought might be mice scat, but it seemed unlikely that a caravan of little rodents had camped out in my room during the day to leave their droppings. Raffa noticed that many were moving and explained they were italian ticks. I couldn't believe how many there were! At least 200 if not more. Unfortunately the culprit was Bacco who evidently found a nest of them and rolled around in it for a while. Today I picked off another 100 from him even with frontline which I use every month (I must confess, I was 5 days behind schedule)
As misfortune continued, we had used the last of the frontline, so after breakfast I made a roadtrip to buy a stash big enough for a year.
The pool is still having hiccups, but is much enjoyed by all the guests despite its flaws. The fountains still don't work and today, I found the cascade inactive and the lower pool half empty.
In other news, I explored a bit of the coast north of us one evening and found St Elpidio to be cute and civitanova marche a bit less so for the beach aspect. There are highly rated restaurants at St. Elpidio and Porto San Giorgio, but those must wait for another day. I also visited a refuge in Umbria sunday afternoon and saw Nocera Umbra which is a picturesque town. I was able to unwind a bit after our busy week.
The pictures are of sunflowers near the house of our friends Andy and Elena who stayed with us a bunch while reconstructing their new house near Porchia, another Umbrian flower I hadn't seen before, our neighborhood pizzeria/restaurant where we go when we are too tired to cook (La Mattra) and finally and blurry so noone gets grossed out. a few score of Bacco's friends I picked off this morning.
dds