Highs and lows

This has been a week of highs and lows. The Mac was out of commission when we got up on Tuesday morning; Sunday morning it's up and going again, and the day has been devoted to getting things back the way we like them. Tomorrow we ask Mozy for our money back. 

Having animals in the house again is a treat. It is a strange idea to be sharing a space with other beings, all getting used to each other. Ed and Sophie are bonding:

We picked up Pippin from Phoenix on Thursday. He'd been "snipped" on Tuesday and overnight he managed to remove his bandage and was working on his stitches, so we went off to the vet to get a cone for him:

He's really a cutie and thinks he's a lap dog. We're getting our exercise taking him for walks several times a day -- he's no leisurely walker. Pippin, the name from his foster carer, seems to be a naughty word in French, so we're looking for another name for him. He bounces up and down like a pogo stick when he's excited, so we thought Pogo might be the name. But this evening he seems to be Buddy. Guess we'll have to settle on a name before we take him to have his stitches out. 

We were worried about Pippin eating Sophie's food, but the problem is the other way around. We leave her food in the the bathroom window, so it's safe from the dog. But we have to put his food away while he's not eating so that she doesn't gobble it up. We've decided that the "ph" in Sophie's name stands for Perpetually Hungry.

They are still working it out, but get on reasonably well. Pippin got a bloody nose his first evening here when he was a bit too forward with her. If things are calm, they can be close and sniff each other up. But if they meet unexpectedly, he'll get another paw to keep him in his place. 

The fosse septique has been inspected, sort of. The tank whose entrance we found under the sage seems to be in good shape, as well as the filter that we need to clean twice a year -- something to be done soon. What we still haven't located is the filter bed. The pipe leading to it seems to wander all over the yard, avoiding the trees and shrubs, we think. It looks likely that the bed is actually down on the South Forty, but it's still a mystery. At any rate, the part that we've seen is all in good shape, large enough, and properly located, so this part is OK. Over the next years, all the fosses septiques in France will be inspected and we were worried we might have a bit expense on our hands replacing it.

On Friday, Ed went to Angoulême with our builder to pick up the new double-paned windows. This week, we'll go back to get the door, because his truck wasn't big enough. 

The weather has turned quite autumnal. We've just had a rainy spell and are looking forward to some sun in the next days.