Luggage and puppies found

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Geo: 37.0391, 27.4302

Today is wildlife day. Wildlife here is made up of feral dogs and swallows, as far as I can tell. In Istanbul it was cats, but here the dogs roam free. As I may have written before, there was a mamma dog who had puppies next to our porch the day before we arrived. The house manager told me that she had them "taken away." I didn't know what that meant and didn't really want to know. Today we found out that it meant "taken to a location that was not very far away because their mamma has been feeding them regularly and had carried them back to the porch of their birth." In other words, there are two chubby, blind little puppies in our flower bed. I have considered mentioning this to the property manager, but I don't think that there is any point. When I mentioned the "dog problem" to the owner, he spent what I believe to be several hours researching the matter at length-to the point where I felt guilty for even mentioning it.

Here is a piece of the email--I'm sure you'll get the idea: "I contacted the Complex manager, Mr. A-- in Istanbul. I asked why did we pay to install the chain fence if we cannot control dogs coming in. He said that the reason why they placed the chain fence around the complex was to prevent dogs coming from outside. However, he said that there are residents with dogs. He asked that I contact M--, the security guy. I called him, and he said that he thinks that these dogs are not wild dogs, they are owned by property no. 23. I asked M-- to provide their telephone number so that I can ask politely to put them on leash. M-- also told me that my prior guests from Scotland fed the dogs, and they became very united. This could be the reason why they may be wandering in the area. M-- also believes that the resident's dogs could be attracting other dogs in
the area to multiply (a Turkish term).

On the other side, M-- told me to call the Gundogan Municipality Government where they come and take wild dogs. I called the Gundogan Municaplity and they told me that I need to contact the Bodrum branch as they were directed by a new European Union Law that requires that animals should be collected unless they are ill or disabled. Even if they are collected, they needed to be brought to an Animal Shelter in Bodrum. According to this new ordinance, dogs are to wander freely as they belong to the nature. (I would rather not make any comment on this new ordinance!)

I also called the Animal Shelter. They said that their normal capacity is 500, but this year, they have collected over 1600 dogs and cats there. Once captured the ill and disables ones, they treat them, and if not nutured, they do it. The lady there told me that because of the new ordinance, they do not kill animals (even if they are wild dogs) as anyone is subjected to prison terms (the legislation was passed a few months ago as proposed by the Animal Rights Activists in Turkey). They cannot pick other dogs especially from developments where they are owned by others, unless they attack people. Then, this constitutes a right to file a petition to remove the dogs."

And so, we have puppies. We will not feed them and are keeping them off the porch, but we have been looking at them. Kate has named the mother Nancy, one of the babies Snowball and the other Molly. Perhaps now that her babies are back where she wants them, she will stop running around and barking.

Swallows: The swallows are the most common bird that we see here. I'm told that they have a tough time taking off, so the next high up in order to be able to drop down. Mostly they glide without flapping their wings and feed off bugs in the air. I'd like to get a nice picture of one, but haven't been able to yet since they move pretty fast and don't ever seem to stop. They are very cool to watch. Josh and Alex wanted to know if they were African swallows or European swallows. We have considered leaving out a coconut for them.

In other news, we spent the morning driving back out to the airport to get Lucy's bag. We took a little detour while we were out there to check out Milas to see if there was anything interesting going on there. The answer is, not particularly, but we did stop at one of the neighborhood minimarts to get drinks (the AC has gone out on our rental car) and had a lovely time sitting in the shade of a grape arbor after the proprietor brought us out some chairs. The non-tourist places seem to have the nicest, most hospitable people. Lucy is happy to not have to try and figure out how to get saline solution in a Turkish pharmacy (everything is behind the counter).

Baked chicken, watermelon, cucumbers, tomatoes, multigrain bread and bulghur for dinner--very yummy.
Also, I bought some fresh figs, but I was the only one who liked them. I find crunching the little seeds very satisfying.

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Photos

Kate at the pool
While we were at the pool today we observed that the incline of the hill is darn close to 45 degrees. It's amazing that that little Fiat can make it.

Bodrum harbor
We were here a different day, but I just grabbed the picture. I hope to go back at some point and do a boat trip.

Mr. Blue Lips
Even in 90 degree heat, Alex gets cold. He's still pretty cute though.

I think this one is snowball
I would have taken a picture of the other one too, but it was sleeping under a plant. I'm sure there will be other opportunities.