Effie

 tiny gold G string...and on his bare bouncing buttocks a tatoo which said.....

Oh Ford Anglia...I'm so glad you're only joking...I've always lived in the country...and been quite amazed at people who've moved from towns to the countryside expecting silence...and sweet country air. I had to smile when I heard them moan when it was muck spreading time...(phew...merde)...or when the tractors left the quiet country lanes full of mud from ploughing...or when the combined harvester clattered and clanged all day and most of the night...or when they they had to slow down...and follow a herd of cows going back to the farm to be milked !!! Our last home was close to the Norfolk Broads...and I loved hearing the cattle on the watermeadows...the owls...the geese...the ducks...the early morning wake up call from a rooster way across the fields....magic. I loved it all Effie I had my first driving lesson in a Ford Anglia...Many many many...moons ago[:)]     

My cousin lives in the middle of a vinyard...and apparently they spray at least 30 times during the season. We bought a property...halfway up a hill...overlooking an apple farm down in the valley...they spray every week!!! When we lived in Norfolk...we were surounded by wheat and sugar beet fields...during harvest times...and when the farmers sprayed we just closed all the windows...it's all part and parcel of living in the country. If you live in a town...you inhale petrol and diesel...if you live in the country...the air is not necessarily much cleaner...but at least it's more peaceful. Effie [:)]

With all due respect Emma...I've just asked my French neighbour who has a small holding with 14 goats...and two horses on his land...and he assures me that if the animals are on your land simply for your own pleasure...then you don't need to have them tagged. I live in an area where there are a lot of little holdings with various animals on them...and I have to confess that I've never seen anything other than cattle tagged...I also visit the market every week...where a man sells all kinds of poultry etc. and his stock isn't tagged either [:)]   Effie  

Well Adrian...I took over the four pygmy goats that were living here in their paddocks...when we bought the property last year...and none of my French neighbours have told me that I need to register...we're great friends...and they've helped us get over many problems...so I think they would have told us by now. Effie    

chinese silk lined travelling box...which was also large enough to hold a pair of his dear departed father's.....

However on entering the brocante...the thoughts of knickers dropped from her mind when she saw Harry Corbet's son... (His father having long since gone to the Puppetteer's Paradise in the sky)...demonstrating to the pretty plump 'anglaise'...the correct positioning of his long fingers inside...Sooty's smooth velvety....

Sooty aphids...

Hi well done...don't want to pour cold water on your achievement  but do fruit trees from seed bear fruit...or do they have to be grafted? I used to grow oranges and lemons...until I was told that they had to be grafted...if I wanted them to flower. I think I remember Titmarsh putting cuttings in a trench to root...but on second thoughts...maybe that was black currants. Effie[:)]   "To have all give all" Raj

Would that be garlic salt? We used to use table salt...you don't need much...but it has to be renewed after rain. I tried not to kill the little creatures...but when they attacked my lettuces...I decided that enough was enough...however I did relocate two large orange ones to an unused part of our land today...along with two huge snails. Effie  

Hi Hoddy...well I brought over most of my seeds from the UK...they were a mixture of climbers...and various bush varieties of UK nasturtiums which had self seeded year after year...with no problems. I also bought some new seeds here from Lidle...and a local garden centre. It's not that they haven't come up...but many are very spindly...(they're supossed to do well on poor soil which is what we have here)...and they've also got some sort of leaf curl...which I've never seen before. I had visions of them cascading down my steep banks...and drive... like a waterfall of colours from a painters palette...but I think I'm in for a big disappointment...unless the weather is affecting them and they suddenly take off...if not...it's back to the drawing board for me. Effie[:(]    

Every year in the UK my garden was full of nasturtiums...a veritable blazeof colour...but although I've planted over a hundred here they're a great disappointment at the moment...maybe they'll pick up later. They die off at the first frosts...though as they self seed they'll return the following year...Cabbage White butterflies love to lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves...(do we get Cabbage Whites here?) Have you considered solanium...it seems to grow well here...a member of the potatoe family I believe...it comes in white and mauve...and is evergreen too...or perhaps viginia creepers...though they will lose their leaves after they change into their lovely autumn colours. The orange trumpet climber...sends suckers up everywhere in my garden...several feet away from the parent plant...and even through tarmac...lovely to look at but not my choice of climber.  Effie

Problems with grass...water well with whisky...and it'll come up...half cut[:)]   Effie

[[I would like to come up with a creative way to keep the dogs away, just like you did with the cat litter.  I thought this was a great idea]] We've moved many many times...and on one occasion I let the cats that we had at that time....out too soon....and one went missing...never to be found again...(heartbreak hotel)...so I got the idea of boundary marking with the cat's litter trays. If you do this as soon as you move in...and before you allow your cats out in their new garden...it not only tells any neighbouring cats/dogs that there are new cats in the neighbourhood...but also gives your cats their own scent to home in on...if they go too far from their new garden. We've never lost a cat since we started doing this twenty years ago. With regards to keeping your cats in and your new neighbour's dogs out...as I said in a previous post...Jade one of our Siamese was almost blind due to progressive retinal atrophy...she was a great hunter...her ears became her eyes...and she soon cleared our garden of all the little rodents...(cats will be cats)...and then taught herself to climb the chain link fence. Her greatest joy was to sit in the sun...in the church yard next to our house...and listen to all the new interesting noises...however she was then at the mercy of the feral cat...who would chase her...and being semie blind she was not only unable to find her way home quickly...but unable to get back over the fence...and on one occasion was lost for twenty four hours...we finally found her half a mile from our house...completely bewildered...and very frightened. So...we made the fence higher...and when that didn't keep her in...we used an electric fence. However we now found that we had become prisoners in our own home...garden gates had to be locked...the front door could never be left open...and I was constantly checking to see where Jade was...as I knew she'd find a way to get out eventually. I wish that I could think of a simple solution for you Herbie...but short of building a huge cage for your cats...which I'm sure you'd find unacceptable...I don't know what else to suggest. I had to put our last remaining Siamese to sleep eight weeks ago...he was attacked by a local cat soon after we moved here six months ago...what with that....the trauma of the move...(catteries/flying etc)...he became ill...withdrawn...and terribly unhappy...so rather than watch him suffer I asked the vet to put him to sleep. No more cats for us. Blessings to you and your cats Effie  

[[Shoot them with an air gun if they trespass.]] Why punish the dogs who know no better...if the cats trespass on the neighbour's land...do the neighbours then have the right to shoot them? Several years ago...we we moved into our new house in the country in the UK...and a huge feral cat came into our unfenced garden...(which had been part of his vast territory until we moved in)...and attacked our three Siamese...one of which was almost blind...needless to say they were terrified...and we were distraught...however we realised that the feral cat was not to blame...and quickly had a high chain link fence erected...our side of the beech hedge...surrounding our property. We emptied the cats litter trays all around our land ...on our side of the fence...letting the feral cat know that this was now our cat's territory...it took a while...but eventually it learned to keep out. When we lived in Cornwall...my son's cat Tiger was shot to death with an air gun...it was some time before our friend ...a local farmer ...(who knew that Tiger was missing)...found Tiger in his corn field...a few feet from our property...my son was heartbroken. I feel for these three cats and they're owners...it's an awful worry...and I wish them an early answer to their problem....but hurting these dogs... is not the answer. Blessings to all concerned Effie