Oh dear

For the past couple of weeks we've been nursing Chaos's hobbly leg. I'm not quite sure what the problem is, sometimes I think it's toes and sometimes maybe shoulder, he get worried at the mere thought of being examined even by me so his signals are a bit confused. We decided not to take him to the vet as he's so scared, since his bottom ops he's terrified and we've not managed to get him over it (I have tried!). I was pretty sure Keith would only advise rest to start off with anyway.

By the end of last week he was doing pretty well, slightly showing on hard surfaces but pretty well 100% on grass.

We're now in Normandy and the first thing he did yesterday was hurl around the garden, which is huge and on quite a slope, before we could stop him and he's now hopping again. Fortunately, I brought some leftover Loxicom so I've put him on that and we're booked to see the vet here on Tuesday anyway.

But no lovely long walks in the hills . It's lovely being here anyway and the girls will still get to go with George but I'll be on 'trying to keep Chaos quiet' duties. I might need a trip to the butcher to get him another bone.

Aww poor thing.
It's not easy keeping them quiet!

Hope you're having a lovely time though.

Oh no! Wishing Chaos a speedy recovery and lots of courage at a foreign vet. Despite the lack of walks out with the girls, I’m sure the change of scenery will do him good

He's in the middle of 'a taste of France' - I've stuffed his Kong with brie. It's keeping him very happy!

Ah! Thanks for the tip

Hopefully it'll just be a sprain Liz. I guess if it keeps happening more investigation might be needed

Can I have his Kong Liz? I lurvvvvv brie I know the problem, Katy overdid it today teasing Wednesday with a stick making her chase after it!!

You'd steal the kong of a poor injured puppy dog??? No!!!

Good luck today Chaos.
Be brave, we’re thinking of you !

We've just been for a 15 minute potter on the line in the woods and he looks 100%, and he only had a 15kg dose of Loxicom last night (he weighs about 25kg), so my fingers are crossed. He wasn't impressed by the girls going out with my husband without him earlier, though.

Hopefully we'll be able to do longer walks later in the week, as long as we can plan something vaguely flat. It's rather steep round here!

That’s encouraging.
Are you going to skip the vet visit then ?

Fingers crossed... he seems to be on the mend. With only a tiny bit of Loxicom, he did a 'proper' short walk this morning, about 4km, and looked fine. I'll stop the Loxicom now and we'll go for a bit longer tomorrow. I think we still need to be careful in the garden, no 0-60 downhill following by a handbrake turn at the bottom, just in case, but I'm hoping we're out of the woods. Or maybe not as we're on the edge of a huge forest!

I'm glad to hear Chaos is ok & hope your having a lovely holiday

Yipee! We just did a 6.5km walk, including hills, after no Loxicom for 36 hours and he's fine. I think we'll still keep to the 'no charging down hill in the garden' rule, just in case, but at least we can now do a couple more proper walks this week.

So the holiday is now great! This area is just so wonderful, the walking amazing and you never meet anyone. I am distinctly eyeing up the house that is for sale over the road... not sure George is ready for that yet though.

I'm so happy for you Liz & Chaos of course. are you home now or still on holiday. I hope you have managed to drop some not so subtle hints about the house for sale

We're home and have, in fact, put in an offer on the house!!! Or sort of, it's dependant on whether they will agree to get the septic tank upgraded as we're reluctant to take it on knowing it's failed the inspection but not knowing what it would cost to get it passed.

Glad to read that Chaos is all ok now Liz and wow, how exciting with the house

Ooh, wish you many exciting times ahead

Hopefully! It's just nail biting at the moment waiting to hear if they'll agree to do the work. It's one of those awkward divorce situations, with joint owners on non-speaks, so it might take some time. Otherwise we have to get the SPANC (love the acronym!) report and see what has to be done and whether we'd undertake it from here.

I have to say, thank heavens for speaking good French otherwise we wouldn't even have picked up the issue.

Maybe if they drop heavily the price, it would be worthwhile ?
Not sure what it didn’t pass during the inspection. Could be that it leaks or else it’s not a certified model/size for the house.

What kind of delay are you in for before you have a reply ?

We'd rather they fix the septic tank, it would be a nightmare to try and get it done from here. We think it's just that it's not all going into one system - a 'fosse a toutes eaux' is what's required - but having not seen the SPANC report there could also be issues with the soak-away/filtration as well. If that's the case you're talking about digging up half the garden - not great if you live in the same country but even worse if it's in a different one.

The upside, of course, is that our knowledge of French domestic sewerage legislation has increased massively (from zero) over the last few days!

I'm assuming it'll take a few days for them to sort themselves out at least, but we're not in a hurry and no one else is interested. I keep telling myself.

So glad Chaos is on the mend.
Ohhh wow how exciting! good luck on the septic tank negotiations, it sounds like a fantastic place otherwise.

Hey Liz - any news on the house front ?

Do you know, I nearly posted something in the dog n bone bar but wasn't sure anyone was really all that interested! Thank you for asking, it's really sweet of you.

Yes, full steam ahead. We've spent the last couple of days ploughing through the compromis de vente and the technical report, I'm afraid we lost the will to live when it came to the lead survey figures! We've got a few comments but nothing deal breaking, so in theory the compromis will be signed on 12th Dec by the sellers, we're signing here. I should then be nipping over in January some time to sign the acte definitive.

This, then, should be our new house...

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/1995+Rue+d'Auffay,+76950+Les+Grandes-Ventes,+France/@49.7722459,1.2197078,491m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x47e0ba25c551f84f:0x9edb3b3f913995b5!8m2!3d49.7722447!4d1.219819

The main vet (not our usual one) here has done a certificate for Chaos so that's all sorted, we just need now to keep our fingers crossed that Brexit negotiations continue to creep forwards and the rampant hard Brexiteers don't scupper things. It's starting to look more promising on that front.

I tell you, though, what a learning curve! Things like trying to find someone to mow the lawn who doesn't want to be an employee look like fun! We'll get there, though.

If you zoom out on that google link, you'll see the forest, with an entrance just down the road. That's what makes this 'the' place for us. And no immediate neighbours for the dogs to bark at, other than the cows.

Well of course I’m interested, what an adventure !

It's a really pretty house and well located too.
No catastrophe for the septic tank apparently.

Maybe one of the neighbours has a teenage son (or daughter) looking for pocket money who would be willing to mow the lawn ?

And for Chaos’ certificat, have you thought about joining a translation even if it isn’t an official one ? The fact that you bothered to have one available in the first place, if asked for, would help put you in more positive light, if you see what I mean.

Exciting times

Wow, that looks beautiful!

Thank you It is a sweet house but deceptive, 3 bedrooms upstairs and a little outbuilding that might one day get turned into my Pilates/sculpture space, so more room that you'd think.

The septic tank.... they've reduced the price to cover 50% in case we decide to get it replaced. However, there isn't yet any known case of SPANC issuing any fines in the area (apparently due to the grants they'd have to issue outweighing them) and the amount of any fine is actually quite low, so we'll probably hold off for a bit. There are a few bits and pieces that came up with respect to the electrics - nothing major but stuff that's best sorted out and that's getting priority.

I've already got the certificate in French. I drafted it in French so it would say the right thing, then translated it into English for Don to sign. I was hoping he'd sign the French but he understandably wasn't keen on signing something he didn't understand.

I've gone from excited to terrified back to excited. Probably we'll hit terrified again at some point, it's a pretty big thing to be doing, but overall now just super excited.

Exciting will definitely outweigh the rest every time

That looks absolutely fab Liz

No near next door neighbours yet people not too far away. Is there general access to the forest?

I can see why you're excited

-Ian- wrote:Is there general access to the forest?

Yes! There are forest roads and tracks all over the place, with full public access.  And within just a few km there are oodles of circuits with woods, fields, lakes, and the coast is short drive. We've not yet found a good off-lead beach but I'm sure there's one somewhere... But with the variety of walking nearby we've sort of forgotten that one of the reasons we first visted the area was because it's not far from the sea.

From a practical point of view, although the town's small there's a little supermarket with petrol station and a range of shops (including 2 bakers, and I'm gluten intolerant   ).

There will be not so good bits - dreadful ticks for example - but those you cope with for the amazing rest of it.

Wow that looks fantastic, how exciting.