Suninfrance

Is anyone else having problems with Freeview.  BBC1 is no longer at 101 but rather a regional BBC at 9(something) and picture keeps scrambling.

He really is a lucky chap to have found you. He can't be feral if he is allowing you to help him like that.  I have a feral who visits each day for food.  He's been here over a year now and last year, somehow broke one of his legs.  I have tried just about everything to help him, but to no avail.  I can get to within about 10 feet of him and he's off.  His leg has healed, but badly and with this cold weather, I just know he is suffering, but still won't let me near him.  My other feral female, took 3 years to get used to me and is currently now asleep in front of the fire in the kitchen. Can I ask what colour your little chap is and whether he has any distinctive markings?  I ask as I lost a gorgeous male cat in November 2007.  I know that's a long time ago, but I still can't get him out of my mind, not knowing what happened to him.  He was such a friendly cat and loved a hug, he could quite easily have been picked up by someone and taken.  You are doing a great job - and I hope he gets better soon. Jan

Thanks for all your help - the link to the Window Help page was useful, so have sent the link to friends. Jan

Friends have a french laptop and Windows which is in French.  This was loaded by their daughter who could speak fluent French. However, now that daughter is back living in England, friends would like to change the language on their Windows to English but we are not sure how to do that.  Could someone help us to change the French Windows into the English language. I originally thought you could do it through Control Panel, but we could not find it.  I am sure it is quite simple, but I just can't think where you need to go to change it. Any help much appreciated. Jan

Hi Callie You could well be right about the tree.  We have some friends coming for the weekend and he works for Barcham Trees, so I'm hoping he will be able to tell us what the problem is. OH is convinced that his recent bout of weedkilling is responsible for the problem, but surely a tree as large as that could withstand a dose of Roundup? Jan

[IMG]http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a231/suninfrance/P1030806.jpg[/IMG] This is just one of the branches, but there are many others in the same condition. Jan

Hi Callie It's definately not a larch as it stays the same all year round.  We've also, not had a particularly dry summer.  When it stops raining, I'll get outside and take a few pictures. Jan

I have an extremely large pine tree in the garden which is now looking a bit sickly.  Many of the green needles have turned yellow and saggy and are looking particularly unhealthy. Does anyone have a good knowledge of trees who can advise me on what may be causing this please. Jan

Phew - that's a relief Chris.  Fantastic to see them though. Jan

A very large and noisy flock of cranes has just flown overhead.  Does this mean we are in for a cold winter as they seem to leaving earlier than last year? Jan

Ticking clock = heartbeat (or so I'm told).  Maybe remind kitty of being in the womb.

Christine - not been on here for a while.  I must be getting more soft in my old age (sic!) as I find all these stories so distressing.  I have just spent a few moments looking at a website called www.passionlevriers.com and wept buckets.  I would advise anyone of a sensitive nature not to read the story as told through the eyes of  one of the dogs I cannot help these lovely dogs, yours or others, but do you hold a register of people who may be interested in re-homing a dog.  Sounds a daft question, as you probably have, but if not, how about starting one by using this forum, and other forums to ask the question "Dog adoption - is this the one for you?"  You could list all the places that have dogs available, SPA's, foster carers, rescue organisations, send out flyers, stick them under car windscreen wipers, advertise in French News, Connexion, local French papers, the local radio station.  Our local radio station interviewed the man from passionlevrier last Friday and some friends have already been to see the greyhounds in question and are hoping to take one at the end of the week. The two dogs in the pictures above look so adorable, I'm sure they will soon find a loving and caring homes. Jan

How big are your dogs?  Do you have a large dog cage.  Not suggesting you put the dogs in there, but put kitty in there at night or when you go out when the dogs are around, perhaps with a warm hot water bottle(as ChristineAnimal suggests), litter tray and food bowl.  Maybe even make a bed for her out of one of your old shirts or something as kitty obviously things you are "mum" now.    Sounds like your dogs might, as you say, just be curious, but might pay to be cautious.  Mind you, I would have thought they would have gone for it by now if they had really wanted to.  Do you have a photo of the kitty you can post? Jan

Doesn't it just make you mad Anton.  When we lost our Davy (beautiful cat in my profile pic) we posted pictures and leaflets all over the place.  Two days later a ginger & white cat appeared on our doorstep with a broken leg.  We still can't get near him, but his leg had healed badly, but he seems to be fit and well and I am feeding him although I can't get near him. Clair - thanks for the links, but the other problem I have in starting an Association, is I am still learning French.  I will definately need a fluent French speaker to come to the Mairie with me to help me find out more info and set it up. Jan

Having watched a series on UK TV called "Dog Borstal", a trick they tried which quite often worked was a plastic bottle partially filled with pebbles.  When you take your dog out on a lead, if it rushes towards another animal (a horse, another dog, a cat, etc) or even a human, just rattle the bottle at them, tap them gently with it,  and say NO firmly, followed after a couple of times with a treat.  Apparently, they don't like the noise, but it isn't harmful in any way to the dog, just teaches them to associate the rattle with the word NO.  And apparently, after a while, you will no longer need the pebble bottle as when you say NO, they associate it with a treat. Don't know if this is helpful, but it worked on our friends Rhodesian Ridgeback who was very friendly but would pull on the lead every time another dog passed.  He didn't want to eat them, he was just very friendly, and a RR is not the kind of dog you can gently pull back on a lead as they are so strong. Maybe worth a try ?!! Jan

Not so much earning a living, but can anyone help me / does anyone / has anyone started an Association? I would like to try and open a charity shop with the proceeds going to one of our local vets to get stray and abandoned cats neutered at a discount.  I don't want to make any money from it (although that would be nice), but there are so many un-neutered mogs around here it would be good to try and get the kitty population down a little.  A friend who has 14 cats, seems to find unwanted kittens dumped on her doorstep occasionally.  People seem to think that because she has so many herself, she won't mind a few more, but although she is happy to feed the ones she has, she finds it very expensive to get them neutered.  She does try to find homes for them, but certain times of year there are so many unwanted and abandoned kittens around it's almost impossible.  Anyway - does anyone know how to go about starting such an Association.  I've heard that if the proceeds go purely to a charity, then no taxes are charged, but I need to know whether money can be taken from any proceeds to go towards rent, heating, lighting, etc and whether any grants are available to get the Association started. Jan

I know I have asked this question before but I can't find it.  What is the French equivalent of Plain Flour and Self Raising Flour please. I did write it down, but I'm hopeless. Many thanks. Jan

Thanks for your replies - they are very helpful. I'm taking my laptop over today to see if the lead works on that, then we can at least eliminate that issue and can then look at the others. As far as I am aware, the camera usb wasn't plugged into the computer at the time.  Just didn't work the next time friend went to use it. Jan

Friend has just phoned as he has a problem with his camera. The  camera is a Pentax IST DS and he has just gone to download some pics and a messages comes up "power surge on usb" and it won't work.  He has plugged in his external hard drive and a flash drive into the same usb port and they both work.  Could it be that his usb lead from camera to computer in defunct or is there a solution to this problem. Jan

OMG - not someone else from MK. Jan Ex Willen, MK

Now that's one angle I haven't photographed Beynac from.  Brilliant shot.

Answer:  gypsy moth.  No, not the aeroplane, but a plain brown or cream moth.

No canoeing in your area?  or Lakes with a Plan d'eau?

What will this spiky fella turn into? [IMG]http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a231/suninfrance/SpikyCaterpillar2.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a231/suninfrance/SpikyMidSection.jpg[/IMG] Jan

Seems the way of things.  Normally the birds cut down on their feeding from the feeders at this time of year, but they are still pecking away at what gets put out, but now they are having to share with the dormouse. Even the Jays have found a way to balance on the fat ball feeder.