Washy

What sort of percentage on sales would I pay on paintings in a small gallery in SW France please?

I have managed to keep two of mine looking good this summer for the first time.  They are rare down here on private houses so they have been much admired.  I cannot stress deadheading enough.  It prolongs the life of any plants in baskets.  I periodically take my baskets down and soak them in an old baby bath as however much we water them the outsides always dry out quickly. I use coconut fibre liners and put a layer of small bubble wrap in the bottom (inside). I use ordinary compost but I do add water retaining granules.  In fact I put the granules in a bowl of water a couple of hours before I make up the baskets so they have plenty of space to absorbe the first lot of water. I grew my own trailing lobelia with seeds sent from UK but I bought everything else locally. Petunias, Gaura (looks great in middle and is a perennial so can be put in garden to use next year if it does not get too big), verbena - had to replace this after about 2 months, a trailing plant that looked like Nepeta, geraniums of course and I put in several morning glories in UK but they have not been great here although they are coming late now.  Nasturtiums I grew from seed.  I do replace and move plants about and 3 weeks ago I completely redid two baskets, from three leggy baskets.  I do feed a geranium liquid feed.  I water first, then wait an hour and put the feed in slowly with a watering can.  We do have to water two or three times a day if it is hot or windy.  I have a small submersible pump in my large water butt, this was very cheap in Lidl and has been great so it takes seconds to water the baskets.  We are rigging up an auto watering system for next year but I think most people underestimate the large amounts of water needed every day. Well those are all my secrets, pretty basic, I have not got a clue how to put a picture on here I would post one, sorry....but good luck next year.

Any ideas or information on commissions charged by art galleries in France please?

Hi there. What has happened now AMS to the direct payment?  I have some new CAF tenants and have not received the deposit yet which is supposed to be coming from CAF.  It arrived for the previous tenants with no problem as it was their first rental.  I think it is the new tenant's first rental as well, they have paid the rent for June and July and the rent for August went into my account no problem, but still no sign of the deposit.  I have no reason to think they are going to default on payment as they are quite well thought of in the area.  CAF seem to want receipts for payments before the amounts have been paid.  I had to write out receipts for June, July and the deposit but strike through them with the words 'NON Aquitte', no problem with the rents just the deposit.  If anyone thinks there is anything 'fishy' going on here please let me know.  I have in fact promised the couple a washing machine....WHEN I get the deposit, so I have something to hold over them.  I do not however want them to give notice, not pay the rent and 'forget' the deposit.

We have rescued llamas and love them. PCWhizz echoes my views of the alpaca trend ten years ago or so.  I bought all the magazines, went to all the shows, met some great people and also some awful people but gathered a lot of information and decided llamas were cheaper and even better guard animals for goats and sheep and I could brush out enough for my spinning needs. I resisted being sucked up onto the pyramid.  So I looked in Loot free ad paper one day and saw a llama to good home add and then adopted another from a couple who were moving, then I transported them and my goats to France.  Vets bills have been nil and they are not as susceptible to illness as some breeds of sheep.  They guard the goats and the hen house is in their compound as well.  They screech when the neighbour's cows come near my veg patch and also when wild boar are about.  I wish you luck and if nearer the time you want some more detailed info please do not hesitate to PM me.  Washy.

Mooky, I think you should be able to find a friend for your hen.  Try to find one the same colour and size, then section off a small corner of your hen house with some chicken wire and put the new girl behind there for a day or so with food and water and let them look at each other. Then after a couple of nights take the new girl and in the dark when the old girl has already roosted place the new hen on a different part of the roost pole, that way they will not fight for position and the existing girl will already be in her favourtie place.  The next morning they should come out together and after a couple of little spats they will know their pecking order.  I recently introduced 5 large hens to my two bantams and small cockerel this way....no problems and after some failed atempts as mating the cockerels now realise the hens are too big for them and just stick to their original bantam girls.  Good luck.

I do not want the stray that has deposited three healthy kittens with me to get pregnant again. The SPA frightened me by saying she could get pregnant as soon as she stops feeding them.  Well she is feeding them on and off and they are eating kitten food as well? Quandry....can I give her the cat 'pill' now or could it affect the kittens in any way?  Thanks p.s. we call her Spitfire, as she is tiny and when she arrived all she would do was spit at our thankfully docile large dog.

I have just logged on again after some time and my password having been changed I had received notification from James P, and when I posted a message my name showed up as Tintin not Washy, and said that I had joined in October 2006, and had posted twice when in fact I have posted hundreds of times and have been on this form almost since it started.  I was able to go in the Tintin details to change them to mine but when I changed them it said my email address was already being used.  So maybe a glitch somewhere, could it be me? I am not the world's most computer literate granny.......

Don't know why this has come up as Tintin????  I am Washy and have been posting on here for years........

I went to the SPA in Lezignan yesterday and I think the ladies in there thought I was trying to off-load my own cat and kittens. They did not want to take them yet and wanted me to pay 55 euros for spaying the mum.  I explained I have a large menagerie of rescued animals at home and the mum just popped in through the cat flap 5 weeks ago and has just brought her kittens to us.  I will not abandon them. The mum is tortoise shell with an orange flash on her forehead, kitten 1 is same as mum with no flash, kitten 2 is a very light cream colour female we think, and kitten 3 is pale ginger with darker ginger ears, muzzle, feet and tail, looks like he is going to be like an orange siamese. The mum is only a kitten herself.  I am going to give her the cat pill until I decide what is to happen to them all. We are near Mouthoumet in the Corbieres, department 11, about an hour from Narbonne and an hour from Carcassonne.  Thanks if anyone can help.  Will send photos.

Does anyone else out there rent properties out to tenants on social money, CAF, the rent being paid by CAF for them?   I have some questions about the legalities.