Aviles Otra Vez!

Last Friday I went to Manuel's parent's house in the country side of Aviles.  We once again had a big BBQ and then explored around the outside of the house.  Mauel's father does everything around the house himself.  I have no idea how he knows how to do some of these things but somehow he can just do it.  Manuel's dad owns turkeys, chickens, roosters, peacocks, different types of birds, and rabbits (which they eat by the way).  Manuel's dad build the cages for all of these animals, takes care of them, and even treats them when they are sick.   They have a dog names Quini, who is very old and has a very big tumor on the side of his stomach.  Quini is very old so it is not worth the pain of operating on him, but 3 years ago the dog had the same tumor and Manuel's dad operated on the dog! I saw pictures, they laid the dog on a table in the backyard, gave him anesthesia, and removed the tumor!  I asked why they didn't take Quini to the vet to get operated on and how Manuel's dad even knew how to operate.  I mentioned that veterinarians go to school for a very long time, Manuel's dad never went to school past high school and he knows how to operate on a dog! They just shrugged and laughed and said he just knows how. That's the definition of self sufficient right there.   In the back yard in a special room with heating there were baby chickens only a day old!  I was able to hold one and it was so small and cute and just sat there in my hand and wouldn't get off when I tried to put it back in the cage.  Next to the cage was also an incubator where the chicken eggs were kept.  When Manuel showed me the room of chickens he pointed to them and said, "You just ate one of those for lunch (in Spanish of course)", and all I could think was, wow that's fresh!  The back yard is also filled with lemon, pear, orange, and apple trees along with some grape vines.  Most of the fruit we eat here in the house is home grown.  This is how it is out in the pueblo here, people are extremely self sufficient.  They eat their own food, grow their out fruits and veggies, and fix all their own things.  Manuel's dad also has this very old antique scale that they weigh the chickens on before they sell them.  They say its the most accurate scale so of course they made me step on it.  Lets just say it wasn't pretty, especially after all of the BBQ I had just eaten!!