Suninfrance

Can anyone tell me what type of frog this is?   It jumped out at me while I was weeding.  Sorry about the picture quality, but I dropped my camera on a concrete  floor and now my zoom control is jammed. [IMG]http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a231/suninfrance/P1100194a.jpg[/IMG] Jan

Seems that it depends on where you live.  I suppose the beginning of August is not a good time to get things like this sorted out.  I shall just have to keep checking the post box.

How long do they usually take to come through. My UK licence expired at the beginning of August, so filled out al the paperwork, got the relevant  copies of what was needed and handed everything over at the sous prefecture in Brive.  I was given a sheet of paper with my UK driving license details on it which runs until February next year (I assume it's a temporary licence).  Has anyone else changed their UK licence for a French one and how long did it take for the new licence to arrive? Jan xx

Can anyone help me identify these caterpillars which are busy munching my weeping birch tree  into a bare branched stick: [IMG]http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a231/suninfrance/P1100173.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a231/suninfrance/P1100125.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a231/suninfrance/P1100123.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a231/suninfrance/P1100131.jpg[/IMG] ... and then any ideas how I can get rid of them.  The hairy bunched ones are just one "cell", there are about 30 of then in all. Look forward to your replies. Jan xx

Thanks for your replies. Have just spent 2 days ripping up a glued down musty carpet, glued to even mustier smelling chipboard randomly nailed down over the original floorboards.  In places was a self leveller which has now been chipped away.  I'd go for the chipboard option myself, but because of the door heights being low and my OH being tall need to keep floor level as low as possible.  We are however, considering putting new doors and frames in after OH having nearly knocked himself unconscious twice today, but are told by the previous owners that there are supporting beams just above the top of the door, so we are going to have to give that one some serious thought.  I knew I shouldn't have painted the room first, but it's one of those houses where one job leads to another.  Only decided to strip off the skirting boards after I put my foot through one getting off the ladder while I was painting.  Rotten all the way through, so a simple "lick of paint" job is turning into a major operation now. Jan

Hi Can anyone tell me what "self levelling cement" is called in French.  Completely gone out of my head.  Need it to level up a knackered wooden floor. Many thanks. Jan

We got our cat feeder from our local co-op agricole.  It was called a Pet Cafe and they do one for biscuits and one for water.   The biscuit one was about €11 and the water one a little more expensive.  I have four cats.  The feeder takes about 1 kilo of biccies and with my four (at the moment because the weather is warm and they are out supplementing their diet with mice and rabbit), the contents last around 2-3 weeks.  It also depends where you put it.  If it is going to be put outside, then it's an invitation for other cats, hedgehogs, etc to munch on the biccies, unless your cat has a safe place to go and eat. This feeder has been an item well worth the money.  Although we don't go away for days on end, it's good to know that if we are out early and back late, the cats have fresh food and water they can go to. Jan

My friends returned home yesterday lunchtime to find one of their cats dead.  Her bottom half (chin, legs, stomach and bottom of her tail) were covered in a yellow, oil based liquid.  Is there some kind of weedkiller or pesticide that fits this description. The cat has been taken to the vets who will hopefully do a post mortem to find out the cause.  We wondered whether she has walked through an area that had been sprayed and then tried to wash herself, ingesting the poison. They showed me a photograph of the poor cat and it was so distressing, so if anyone has any ideas what this substance might be then the source can hopefully be found and the person using it, asked not to use it again. Any help gratefully received. Jan

We moved house in December and the new house had a small fridge.  We put our old fridge/freezer in storage and we picked it up yesterday, only to discover that food had been left in the salad drawer.  So after 4 months in friends barn with the door closed, you can imagine what it smelt like. I have cleaned the fridge and it came up OK, but it is still minging.  Any ideas what I can do to neutralise the odour? I do remember on "How Clean is Your House" something to do with bicarb or a lemon, but not sure what.  HELP Jan

Great photos - thank you.  Around dusk last night at St Bonnet la Riviere, Correze, we had 4 different groups - one after the other - flying across the back of the house.  The noise was incredible, I've never seen so many in one go.  There must have been over a thousand.  Incredible.

Yes, they fly at night.  Another noisy lot flew over us last night about 10.30pm.

I think with many people, the return of the Cranes means that Spring is just around the corner.  It is always a spectacular sight and sound. Also, using the  thermals to gain height means they can rest their wings and let the thermals do the work for a while.

It could be a contact call.  I have noticed the blue tits and great tits are getting their mating plumage and there's a lot of squabbling going on in the garden. 

The birds you are hearing may be the Black Redstart - as I have noticed they have returned over the last couple of weeks. Check out the RSPB website http://www.rspb.org.uk/ as they have some audio files for different bird song on there,. and also a section for bird identification.

Friday afternoon, heard the familiar sound of the cranes overhead and went outside to find them all circling just over the house.  They did this for a while, climbing on a thermal, then broke away into the familiar V formation and flew off.  Spectacular sight.

Never mind - would really love to see some photos of the Cranes, if anyone is can get some.

Any chance of some photos please - I've only ever seen them flying.

Two massive flocks at St Bonnet la Riviere, Correze (19).  A wonderful sight - spring is on the way.   Yaaaayyyyyy

A friend was adopted by a female cat last year, who then went on to produce 3 kittens - 1 male, 2 female.  Unfortunately the male is no longer with us, but this means that my friend is left with 3 female cats that now need to be spayed.  One local vet wants €107 each another local vet wants €102 for each cat - this is way too much for my friends to fork out.  They phoned their old vet in England just to see how the prices compared and the vet in England said £26 per cat.  What a  difference!!!!! Is there any organisation in France that will spay these cats for a lot less money, bearing in mind these cats are semi feral.  Anywhere in the Pompadour/Lubersac/Paysac region (19). Look forward to your replies.

A friend was adopted by a female cat last year, who then went on to produce 3 kittens - 1 male, 2 female.  Unfortunately the male is no longer with us, but this means that my friend is left with 3 female cats that now need to be spayed.  One local vet wants €107 each another local vet wants €102 for each cat - this is way too much for my friends to fork out.  They phoned their old vet in England just to see how the prices compared and the vet in England said £26 per cat.  What a  difference!!!!! Is there any organisation in France that will spay these cats for a lot less money, bearing in mind these cats are semi feral. Look forward to your replies.

Were supposed to collect the car today, but when we arrived, it's still up on the ramps awaiting a new fuel tank.  There were actually 2 splits in the tank, one which would have been fixed with a new seal, but the other could not be fixed.  Mechanic suggested we only quarter filled the tank if we didn't want to have it fixed.  Bye bye €300 for a new tank.  Just what we needed (NOT) after just moving house.

Thanks Polly Makes more sense to me now.  I will take a look at the link and pass it on to my other friends who tend to help people out with things like this. Jan

The car is six years old, so on old plates.

It's diesel, and  six years old.  We've had it from new.  No smell through the vents and no rainbows in puddles.  The tank goes right across the rear of the car, but no visible inspection hatch.  Even the mechanic said "c'est un comedie". 

We recently moved house within the Correze area and went to the Sous-Prefecture to inform them of the change of address for the car.  We did this, but were told that we had to have the car re-registered immediately which we did at the cost of €42 for the new plates.  I questioned this at the time, but the guy as the Sous-Prefecture was insistent that we had to do this.  French people we have spoken to about it, have never heard of this being the case as we are still in the same area, although our postcode has changed from 19230 to 19130, but seem to think this shouldn't make a difference.  Has anyone else had this problem when moving house within the same area? Jan