tuesday, march 7th...the dawn brings a mixture of tragedy and beauty. there has been a fox massacring the chickens and geese in the hen house the last few nights and last night it killed one of our ducks which was in the process of hatching her eggs. during the night i heard her scream and got up and quickly ran out to try and chase the fox away, in the process locking myself out of the house. great; 4 am and everyone is asleep - will i have to sleep outside with the dogs now? fortunately, gill had not locked the door to the residents' house and i was able to go in and sleep on one of the beds. then around 6:30 or so, the sun began to come up and a beautiful rainbow formed over the valley...that's life i guess. in the afternoon, carlos lerias and his friend pedro com by to help me tear down a wall in another space which will be used to house more residents in the future. thanks to them; they are super generous...later in the evening. luis and fatima and fatima's sister bela drive us back to lisbon with all the luggage and equipment and we drop one of the pieces at braco de prata...then dinner and early night as i am completely exhausted form the early morning adventure. at least spring is here:)