PossumGirl

Me too! PG

I think it's really an individual choice.  I have lots of friends who are raw feeders and who swear by it. It doesn't work for us, however, as Maggie has eating issues and I often wound up throwing away food that she wouldn't eat for several days.  It got expensive. I use a high quality kibble with human grade ingredients and that works for us. PG

Another thing to look out for if you're having problems getting the wi-fi connection to work, is where in your house the modem is in relation to the computers. In our house, if the modem is on any floor, the computers work fine if the signal only has to go straight up and down (ground floor to third floor, for example) but works less well if it has to go from front to back, especially with a floor in-between.  That's because each story is separated by wooden floors, but there are usually stone walls in between front and back, which tends to block the signal. We had the same problem with our wireless thermostat. PG

Congrats, Afy!  Hope she picks up weight soon. For those interested, here's the recipe for Satin Balls from Wellpet: Satin Balls - The Original Recipe   The following recipe was sent to Wellpet by Diana Carreon, R.N.,C.  It quickly became one of the most requested posts on Wellpet. Ingredients 10 pounds hamburger meat [the cheapest kind] 1 lg. box of Total cereal 1 lg. box oatmeal 1 jar of wheat germ 1 1/4 cup veg oil 1 1/4 cup of unsulfured molasses 10 raw eggs AND shells 10 envelopes of unflavored gelatin pinch of salt Mix all ingredients together, much like you would a meatloaf. Divide into 10 quart freezer bags and freeze. Thaw as needed and feed raw!

We've been using our Livebox for Wi-Fi since we got it with no problems.  If your computers have wireless cards, they should automatically find the signal from the Livebox.  You will have to put in certain information (I know the MAC address is one bit, can't remember the rest off-hand) but I would go to the Wanadoo site and search their FAQ.  It will probably give you all the details. Unlike a lot of people here, we've had no problems with our Livebox and are very happy with the connection we've got. PG

It's interesting, but swearing has no impact on you when it is swearing that is not in your native language.  French people use the "F" word, because to them, it's actually pretty meaningless.  I know that there are French words I know that are inappropriate in a lot of circumstances, but I have to conciously stop myself from using them, because they have no "taboo" associated with them and therefore don't cause me discomfort. I always laugh when I see a headline about a big pot bust somewhere in France, because mainstream newspapers put the word s##t in the headline, which is, of course totally shocking for a native English-speaker! PG

[quote user="diotima"] I'm glad Maggie had a good flight, I guess she was on your mind the whole way! [/quote] I'm pretty sure the flight was way worse for us than it was for her, as I don't think dogs can tell time (even if she is a border collie!), but we felt every second crawl by. I think I asked the flight crew to check on whether she'd gotten put on the plane about five times. Mr. Possum asked if he could fly in the pet area with her, figuring it was actually more comfortable than cattle class where we were flying.  But the meanies wouldn't let him! PG

For anyone interested in the schedule of festivals, fetes and other animations in the Quercorb, here is a link to the official calendar. PG

Frankly, their website is nothing but an evil temptation to spend money!!!  I placed an order yesterday and it has already been sent out!  I'm supposed to have it before the end of the week. I will not go there again to browse, I will not!!! PG

No, no, no!  We flew Air France (only company with non-stop flights from Los Angeles to Paris -- VERY IMPORTANT consideration for us!). When we got to CDG, we went to collect our other luggage, and the Air France personnel paged us when she was brought up from the plane.  Her crate was on a luggage cart and she was brought by a representataive of Air France to their office in the luggage area.  She was never left alone and seemed to have been handled as gently as possible. You do want to get a non-stop flight if you can, as the most risk for the animal is being transferred from flight-to-flight, with luggage personnel perhaps not being as attentive as possible.  Also, I think multiple take-offs and landings are much more stressful for the animals. Clearly, Maggie was stressed out, and it was a very long flight (over ten hours in the air, probably a total of 12 hours from on-loading to off-loading), but she seemed to have come through it okay.  She was quite jetlagged, which I suppose makes sense as we always are too.  But, they don't dwell on things and once they know they are back with their pack, I think they put it out of their minds. PG

I guess I have to fall into the "pro" post office group.  Everyone at ours is charming and helpful.  It does sometimes take a while, but the ones that take a long time are really the people who come for the financial services; the postage stuff goes relatively quickly. They always go out of their way to help us, and have even allowed us to have packages that aren't postal packages (things from other carriers) dropped off there for us to pick up. It's always a very social place, so even if we have to wait, the time goes quickly because everyone gets busy chatting. PG

Check with the French consulate and airline to be sure, but we brought our dog from the States, and we didn't have any problems.  She needed a microchip that was the European Standard (which she had), current rabies shot as well as the other "regular" shots, a medical certificate filled out within 48 hours of departure (I think that was the timing, but you'd need to check) and a flea-tick treatment such as Frontline.  That was it. Of course, no one, except the airline, every checked her paperwork at all, so I suppose in the end it was moot.  We simply picked her up at baggage claim and walked out through customs without the slightest question. I don't see why coming from an EU member state should be more complicated than that. Good luck. PG

Look. I don't think y'all should be making fun of our Alien Overlords. They are very, very sensitive and are likely to punish you mightily! PG (all hail or new masters!)

Hi Kimberly. I just went to our local pharmacy and told them what I was looking for.  They called their supplier and were able to get it in the same afternoon.  Otherwise, I know that Wanimo and a couple of the online boutiques sell them. It's supposed to be the same thing as in the plug-ins, but said to help when you're not at home.  They come in two sizes, one for small dogs and one for large.  As with tick and flea collars, you can cut off the excess after fitting it to your dog's neck.  We paid 21€ for the large size.  The village fair noises are going full blast and Maggie seems to have found a corner to lie in where she appears calm.  Of course, no firecrackers or thunderstorms yet, which will be the real test! PG

One of my U.S. friends suggested that I try this for Maggie.  It stands for Dog Appeasing Pheremone, and is the pheremone given off by lactating bitches, which supposedly has a calming effect on stressed out dogs. My pharmacy put a rush order on one for me this morning, and I got it this afternoon.  I'm going to give it a try and see how it works.  My friend, Laura, says that it really helps her thunderphobic BC.  Our village fete just started this afternoon, and the buvette and bandstand are right outside our windows, so we're guaranteed four days of non-stop noise.  It should be a good test of any "calming" influence that the thing might have. Still, I'd love to hear what experiences others might have had. PG

During WWI and WWII, sauerkraut was, at least occasionally, referred to as "Victory Cabbage" & at least the "Freedom Fries" are only being called that by a few on Capital Hill!!  [:-))].  Anyone in Iran selling Danish pastries have had to change all their shop windows, price boards etc. to "Mohammedan" pastry!!  Now that's scary!!  All of it rather depresses me, to be honest. I make jokes about it, but it bothers me that it was even a subject of conversation in the States. PG

[quote user="missyesbut"]   What do they call the French horn ? a set of French doors ? the French polish on furniture ? French a,b,c,d,e,f,g, etc... (you know...[:$]) ?       [/quote] Freedom Horn?  Freedom Doors? PG

Don't forget that French Fries and French Toast are now banned in the U.S.  They must be called Freedom Fries and Freedom Toast! PG

[quote user="Christine Animal"]                                                 and specially for Ian, don't you have a "mixed Border"...                                                     [/quote] Diva Maggie says don't forget her! PG

In France, women tend to be recognized by their maiden names anyway, married or not.  ALL my documents are in both, and some places refer to me by one, others the other.  It should be less of a problem here than you had in the UK from what you wrote. PG

I think I took this picture very shortly after Diva Maggie came to live with us.  Her early life was a difficult one, and I think that she was still a little bit insecure!  (For more about Diva Maggie, you can read her page on my website) PG

Sorry.  I think it's a load of rubbish. I started coming here as an American married to a Frenchman, speaking very little (read practically none) French at the time. 99% of the people I've met over the years have been helpful, generous and friendly. Clearly, I think there's a big difference between the reactions one finds in cities vs. more rural areas.  But I think that exists pretty much everywhere in the world in similar proportions.  I know some have said that the French don't invite people into their homes easily, etc., that has not been my experience here. Still, makes for a good debate! PG

Okay.  I followed the herd and opened a Photobucket account!  So, here's the test shot: The Diva wants to know if anyone can see her! PG

Okay.  James is right.  I refreshed the page and now I don't get it either, so clearly it was still in the cache.  I will need to investigate the problem with Yahoo.  Perhaps they specifically have it set that way so that people can't copy content or link to them, thus using their bandwidth.  In which case, I will definitely need another solution. PG

It's on Yahoo, not Photobucket.  The photo is definitely still there, I checked. However, Yahoo has been doing things with their software I think, and it may be down to that.  I suppose I may have to set up an account on Photobucket or Pixma and see if that works better... PG