Holydays are over so everybody is back to work in Barajuen

Juantxo, Joseba and their team are back to work after having been on holidays the entire month of August.

They've started to build the walls that demarcate the area of the kitchen, the laundry-room and the bathroom at the upper floor. Now we can perceive a lot better what the open plan area is going to be like.

From the main entrance the first cubicle to the right will be the bathroom.

The kitchen furniture wil go against the wall you see underneath. And the door at the left is the entrance to our future laundry-room.

Next picture shows the view from the kitchen to the living-room.

We´ve decided what our next dog will be

I've always liked big dogs. I love the huge ones actually. My favourite one has always been the Giant Schnauzer, so elegant and athletic as he is.



But considering the area where we're going to live, how much it rains here and the kind of hair that the Schnauzer has - it soaks water as an sponge!!! - we tought that a different option would be wiser. That one was no other than a Doberman. Yes, a Doberman. Everybody gets absoutely shit scared just but hearing the name, even though they're lovely dogs. That's why we wanted this dog; and because since Susanne's family had a couple of them in the past.



But it was Susanne's parents who advised us that it wasn't the best choice if we wanted the dog to remain outside the house because, apparently, they cannot stand cold winters. So we had to start all over again.

And all of sudden, some days ago, while walking on the streets of Rissen (Hamburg), there we saw a stunning dog that somehow looked like an oversized Schnauzer. But it wasn't! It was a Black Russian Terrier!!!



We'd never heard before about the Black Russian Terrier but it seems to be the perfect choice for what we want.

The Black Russian Terrier (Russian: Чёрный терьер), Sobaka Stalina (Stalin's dog), or simply BRT is a modern breed of dog developed in 1953 by the USSR army as a guard dog and police dog. It is believed somewhere around twenty breeds were used in the development of the BRT. Breeds used in the development include the Airedale, the Giant Schnauzer, the Rotweiler, the Caucasian Ovcharka and the extinct Moscow Water Dog. The dog was bred solely by the state-owned Red Star Kennel until 1957, when some puppies were sold to civilian breeders. The breed was recognized by the FCI in 1984.

These majestic black beauties are calm, confident, and courageous guard dogs who love to play with their families' kids and hang out by your side. These dogs have exceptionally stable nervous systems and radiate confidence and tranquility. They're also highly intelligent. It is said they're so smart it's scary. Bred to work as a partner with their owner, they're thinking dogs who respond better to logic than to force.

Besides, he will bring the shopping up the hill from the village...

Next week we plan on visiting a kennel here in Germany to find out more about this fantastic dog but, as I said before, it seems to be the perfect choice for us.


Hopefully he'll join us Easter or summer 2011. Any ideas for names are more than welcome!

The ceilings are done

The ceilings on the top floor and the ground floor are finished.



They are done in wood and given a lick of white paint. The beams in the big room will remain natural as they are now.



Here's a view of the sauna room...



And here's the structure between the two floors just before being closed and finished. We are looking from the master bedroom up into the living room.