All Episodes

055: Spring in Puglia

March 22, 2018 • 35 mins

Another quick catchup episode, talking about spring in Puglia, our new dogs, our spring projects, and other odds and ends of life in our villa in Puglia, Italy.

Topics we cover:

•  How we lost our dog Orso recently

•  And how we decided to get some new puppies

•  Mina came to us from a farm in the Mugia

•  Mina is a girl, which is what Paul wanted

•  Mina is also a Maremmano, here's a little about that breed:

- An Abruzzo sheepdog

- Used for centuries by Italian shepherds to guard sheep from wolves

- They have a solid, muscular build, a thick white coat, a large head and a black nose

- The coat is thick and long and forms a thick collar (or mane) around the neck

•  How Mina was terrorizing the casts, so we had to get Mina a playmate

•  He is half Maremmano and half Dogo Argentino, though he looks all Dogo Argentino

•  He has very distinct markings, and after a lot of suggestions from our Instagram friends (link), Logan came up with the name Duke

•  A little about his breed:

- A large, white, muscular dog developed in Argentina

- Their primary purpose was for big game hunting, like wild boar

-  Some say they look similar to American Pit Bull Terrier

-  While breed as big game hunters, they are also trained for search and rescue, police assistance, service dogs, military work, and more

•  Here are some pictures of them:

 

 

 

•  Our off-season projects

•  How we replaced our wooden raised beds with some beautiful stone raised beds

•  The walls of the beds are drywall, meaning they don't use any mortar

•  The artistry of constructing these walls.  Here is a video:

 

•  Then we constructed a beautiful shed in the back corner of our garden

•  Here are some pictures of the shed as well

•  All the materials we used to build the shed

•  Paul's other project, making olive wood cutting boards

•  Here are some pictures of his work