0Helen

I have just seen your latest post.  I do not know the medicines in question, but when my dogs have any skin problems that seem to be allergies/irritation based, I bathe them with lukewarm weak tea which sooths and acts as a mild antiseptic.  I first discovered the benefits of tea used like this when one of my sons had a persistant eye infection and on my GP's advice I bathed his eyes three times daily.  This did the trick and I use nothing else on eyes in my doggy and human household. 0Helen

Londoneye, do not worry too much. My dogs are neither spayed nor neutered and the female comes into heat on a non regular basis. I use Bien Etre lavender cologne liberally on her back end and the male gets a good dose on his chest.  This confuses them no end and stops any doggy hanky-panky!!! Incidentally, the lavender cologne is good for keeping those bothersome summer flies away as well.  It also smells better than a bitch in heat.  I buy mine in the local Shopi, but I have seen it in bigger supermarkets as well.  0Helen

Wow! What a quick response Tim. I suspect that you may be right . This machine is fairly new but other issues with the supplier were never resolved despite pounds worth of phone calls and registered letters. I have given up as it was making me ill . I tried googling the name of the supplier ,which I am not allowed to name and shame on here, and was aghast at the bad press they were getting.  If I had known then what I know now!!!!!!  I do have a spare power supply and I can try swapping that. Adding the memory stick did solve other problems I was having running some programs. It was added before this big problem. In the end I shall probably need an engineer if all else fails. It is a pity that you are so far away from where I live. I am really grateful for all the help that you and every body else have given me. I shall let you all know how I get on in a few days time. Some of this stuff may be useful to others struggling with their machines out there. Thanks again to everybody 0Helen

Thanks Tim for taking the time to reply. I could not do a repair install either as the machine would not boot up from the cd drive even though I had chosen it as the first boot up option in the bios and saved on exit.  I have recently added another  memory stick so  I  shall remove it when I strip the machine back to the original configuration.  When I have stripped  the machine down and saved my data on another hard drive I will try to boot up and perform a repair.  If that doesnt work I will go for the clean install. I could kick myself as I have a 31/2 in. floppy but did not make the old fashioned back up disks that I always used to as I thought that system restore and booting from the cd would solve any boot up issues. I know better now. One further question now  that you have reassured me that I am on the right track.  Is it possible to copy the windows file 'windows/system32/config/system' from my son's xp disc or is that file specific to his system? That is the file that is corrupted, the non destructive reinstall has not repaired it and I still cannot boot up beyond  a brief glimpse of the first windows screen. 0Helen Just to add, I have thought of sticking my boot up hard drive in my son's machine and copying the windows/system32/config/system file into the correct folder does this sound feasable or would it cause other problems?

Thanks to you also Pancake. I cannot follow your suggestion as I cannot get the machine to even boot up to the start menu. I did try system restore from the rescue disc but the machine just crashed, hence the need to do a non destructive reinstall, which has not worked either. 0Helen

Thanks for replying ChezSchells. My rescue disc is legit for my machine. I will strip the machine back to its original configuration before I try any thing else 0Helen

That was an interesting article.  We went to the truffle market in Thivier once. I asked the price. It worked out at £40 for one black and wrinkled specimen the size of a walnut. I did not buy.  I am thinking of training my dogs! 0Helen

Thankyou for the helpful replies. I have already printed out some stuff from the microsoft web site but none of it helped.  I just thought that as I have read some very savvy stuff on here, from the friendly LF forum posters, that if I had missed  something obvious and simple, you might be able to help.  As a last resort I shall remove my hard disks and dump the contents into storage through my son's computer and do a clean install of windows . I was hoping that I would not have to do this as I have read that there can be problems with re-registering my copy of windows.  Any further advice would be very welcome. Many thanks to all who replied - I shall go and cry now.......... 0Helen

I always use wine vinegar for pickles and chutneys.  It acts as a good preservative and does not taste too 'vinegary'. I have just opened some peach chutney that I made 3 years ago and it is fine. 0Helen

We regularly stay more than 3 months and always travel through Eurotunnel with our dogs and have never had a problem with length of stay. We have never been asked about length of stay or advised that our dogs were resident. As long as you have the correct paperwork that is all that is needed. Have a good holiday! 0Helen

    I have problems starting windows XP.  I have tried many things and have ended up using PC Angel to reinstall.  However, there is a problem with this file - windows/system/config/system .I have reinstalled 3 times and I still get the message that this file is corrupt and the computer will not boot up.  It gets to the beginning of windows first screen, then there is a brief glimpse of the blue screen of death, then boot failure message.  Can I try copying the file from my son's copy of windows or is this file tied to his operating system only.  Both our copies of windows are manufacturers preloaded with rescue discs.  Please help before I throw my computer out of the window...............! 0Helen

I used to find this a problem too.  Here is the solution that I find works best for me.  Keep the ash pan under the fire about 1/2 full for evening/night.  Before going to bed allow fire to die down to glowing coals without flames.  Flatten the coals then cover with ash from the ash pan.  Close down the air to smallest possible gap.  Put on the biggest , heaviest log you have.  In the morning rake well, throw on thin wood and open up all the air to get a good draw [I call this the blast furnace effect!].  I find that I can keep the fire in for between 8 and 10 hours.  I sort my wood into big logs for winter nights, kindling and the other stuff.  I also keep the different types of wood separate eg fruit wood, oak etc. as they each have different burning characteristics and I can control the fire quite well depending on the climate.  It took me quite a while to figure all this out - I hope it saves you some angst! 

Asafoetida is good for wind problems.  Only a pinch is needed and should be cooked with the food which upsets you.  Bart spices, sold in many UK supermarkets, makes it.  There may be other brands - or you may find it in Indian spice emporiums, as it is used with pulses in vegetarian cooking.

This sounds crazy but it does work.  Pulverize the walnuts in a food processor.  Scrape onto a large piece of clean muslin laid over a plate. The plate should be as flat as possible.  When the cake of ground walnuts is about 4in thick tie the muslin over the top and put another flat plate over that.  Place the lot in a clean dish.  Pour yourself a glass of wine.  Place heavy weights on top and leave for a while.  Drink the wine.  This is tedious but works.  LOL I will try anything!!!!

We have installed one of these upstairs.  It was very easy. Do not forget that you need electricity for the pump.  You may also need to fit an aerator valve to prevent suction removing the water in the u bends of shower, bath etc.  It all depends on the configuration of your system.  I think they are great and we will be using this type again.   Do not forget that it is regulations to have one conventional toilet in case of problems with the electricity supply.  If in doubt, check with the Marie.