Mon anniversaire and other matters

Those of you living in Outer Mongolia or on Mars may just be unaware that today is my second birthday. I,m sooooo excited and I thought you might like to see a photo of my birthday cake.



We were going to go to the coast today in celebration but the weather is wet and miserable so we are now going next week when it promises to be much better. By the way, a big thank you to all my Facebook mates who took the trouble to send me birthday wishes, even if some of them were in languages I don't speak (Dutch?).

So what else have I been up to? Well, earlier this week I had a trip to the vet. No, nothing serious - just a few small issues to be addressed and a six monthly MOT or should I say Controle Technique as they call it here. It was nice to see the lovely Marie Christine again and she and I had a big cuddle for a few minutes.



Other than that the event of note was that we went to a wine sale at Domaine Gayda - this is apparently the place where they make that bottle stuff that seems to feature so highly in mum and dad's lives. They of course bought some more to top up the always dwindling stocks whist I took the opportunity to pee on some of Gayda's prime vines. It also turns out that this is the place mum and dad go to eat sometimes as it is also a restaurant. They never offer to take me with them, but than again it does look quite a posh place.

Socks and snow

We had another bit of a drama the other day. Mum was putting washing in the machine and I just couldn't resist pinching one of my dad's NEW socks. What started with what I thought was a game of chase finished up with me swallowing the sock in order to resist all attempts at retrieval. Now whilst this did not cause me any great problem, it seemed to really stress out the parents. I must admit that during the evening I did feel a bit off colour but otherwise OK. The next morning said sock fortunately (for all) reappeared in one piece, although dad did not seem too keen on then rescuing it for reuse.

Now you may remember that I said a little while ago that I thought winter was on its way. Well, today it arrived. Frost and 2 degrees in the garden and snow on the Pyrennees. We all thought it was a bit early this year but checking back it seems to be a few days later than last year. Does not make me any happier about the cold though. However, this afternoon it is warm and sunny so I have been busy topping up my tan. Never know when the opportunity will arise again.



Looking forward to tomorrow when I have got the lovely Lilly coming to stay for the day. No doubt there will be a few things to tell you all about that later.

I'm now a social networker!

I have been writing my blog now for some 18 months and am thoroughly enjoying the experience, so I thought it about time I stepped further into the modern era and had a dabble in social networking.

First of all I set myself up a Twitter account and played around with that for a while, but after a few days I just could not see the point of the inane messaging that most people tweet (sorry Stephen Fry). Not only that, but I have no pockets to carry a smartphone so I could not tweet on the move. So I binned Twitter as unsuitable for me.

Next I took a look at Badoo which is a sort of French flirting/dating site and found it totally irrelevant to my needs and very intrusive, so dumped it.

The other obvious choice was Facebook so I set up my own (heavily protected) page and started looking around. Immediately I found a number of old friends and set about "befriending" them. Some of those in turn referred me to new friends, like Princess Jolly Dog - a Jack Russell - with whom I now chat. So first impressions of Facebook are OK and I think I will be sticking with it at least for the time being. However, I will be restricting my friends only to those I know and love or whom I find interesting.

Finally, many of you have questioned if I really write my own blog or whether I have a ghost writer do it for me. Well, in answer to all you doubters out there, here is a photo of me at work on my blog, so put that in your pipe and smoke it!



It's raining cats and humans today so I am going to have a lazy day in front of the telly. And the really good news is that dad has turned on the central heating! Speak to you all again soon.

First signs of winter

First of all it was the pool being covered up with my big blue trampoline (that I am now too heavy for!). Then there was all the garden furniture being put away. The grapes have all gone from the vines and the leaves on the vines are going yellow and falling off. When I get up in the morning it is dark outside. This weekend it rained solidly for nearly two days - the first significant rain in over two months. And now when I get back from a walk I find the need to snuggle down in my duvet to warm up.



All of these suggested to me that winter was about to arrive. However, I now know for sure it is. How is that you might ask? Well, dad is now wearing his cloth cap and hiking boots on our walks. No, don't be stupid. I insist on trousers, shirt and coat as well. Well, one has to keeep up one's standing in the community.





And how humiliating. Now, just because it's so muddy, I have to have my feet washed when I get back from my walk. Grrrrrh!

2010 vendage report

Well, the 2010 vendage (grape harvest) is drawing to a close so I thought you might all like an update on this year's vintage potential. They normally start picking in early September but the vendage is a few weeks late this year as all of the grapes, despite being fully ripe, were very small due to the fact that we had had no rain for the previous six weeks or so. So the harvest was held back hoping we would get some rain to plump up the grapes - we did (a bit ) and they did (a bit!).



Now those of you who remember last year's blog on my attempt at a one dog vendage will realise that I am somewhat partial to the odd grape. Personally I see no harm at all in consuming the occassional bunch but it appears that that grapes, or, to be more specific, the pips in them, are toxic to us dogs. This has resulted in a blanket ban being imposed on my grape consumption.



When the verbal instructions went unheeded I found myself suddenly enclosed (whilst in the vineyards) in a Hannibal Lecter style mask which physically prevents me eating them. I admit that if I eat too many I get a bit sick, but I find it a bit degrading and unfair.



After all, the famous bottle stuff that all the humans love comes, I understand, from grapes, and yet I never see any of them with such unpleasant appendages on, and plenty of them get sick after too much of that. Actually, come to think of it, I think I did once see one being worn in a darkened bedroom, but that was a different story!

However, I digress from my report. The grapes actually harvested this year never did get fully up to normal size but are very sweet. The resulting 2010 wine should therefore, according to my vigneron friend Francois, be of very good quality but with less of it being produced, so therefore a bit more expensive. So some good news and some bad news for all you fans of the bottle stuff.

As for me, I will just be glad when it is all over and all the grapes have been picked. Then I can get back to running around the vines unincumbered by that horrible contraption on my head. I might even find the odd grape or two that the pickers missed!

Uncle Django!

I'm soooooo excited!!!!!



When I was born I had four brothers and a sister but since leaving Bouisse I am afraid I have rather lost touch with them. However, due to the wonders of the internet, my mum has just found out that on Sunday my lovely sister, Dedicas, gave birth to her first litter of pups and that I am now the proud uncle to three nephews and two nieces. Just imagine that. Me - an uncle.



Oh, and I think I forgot to mention that dad, mum, and I now go off to the pub one afternoon each week for a bit of "family bonding". Mum and dad have a couple of beers and the landlord brings me my own special bowl of "eau de Couiza" to which I am quite partial.

The Great Fire of Montazels

Now I would be the first to admit that normally the contents of my blogs, whilst amusing, entertaining, and informative, are never normally newsworthy in a national sense. That cannot be said about this one, so standby for some serious journalism.

It all started about 3 in the afternoon when dad and I were cleaning the pool. All of a sudden sirens from all the surrounding fire stations were sounding. We guessed a big accident or something but then mum came round to say that there was some serious smoke appearing from over the hill. As we watched, the sound of lots of fire engines could be heard tearing off to somewhere.



I think we realised the situation was somewhat serious when two fire fighting planes appeared and started making passes over the smoke. Curiosity got the better of us so we all piled in the car and drove up the dirt road towards Antugnac, in the general direction of the smoke. There were already a number of cars and voyeurs up there and we soon saw that there was a major bush/forest fire developing on the large hill opposite. Some 12 or so special fire appliances used for forest fires were already there and a mobile command post had been set up.


As we watched the fires grew at an amazing speed fanned by the increasing wind. In addition to sweeping up the hill, the fires were also being driven towards the actual village of Montazels. Still more fire fighting planes appeared with seven aircraft taking it in turns to dump their loads of fire retardant chemicals and water on the worst of the fires. I even did my bit by peeing on everything in sight! Another plane constantly circled over the area, presumably relaying info on the fires’ spread to control. A fire service helicopter joined in, and the skies above our house were busier than Farnborough during the flying displays (or so dad said).



With the fire now heading dangerously in the direction of Montazels, some of the appliances were despatched to protect properties in the path of the fire and some of the planes dropped their loads between the fires and the properties. My good friends, Uncle Martin and Aunty Val, were told to pack some things and be prepared to be evacuated if necessary. Fortunately the wind changed a bit so this was not necessary, but then the fires were heading towards Domaine St Jaques, the winery owned by my good mates Daniel and Francois.



The next morning dad and I had our usual promenade up amongst the vineyards to find only small areas still smoking. Being nosey, we took a drive down to St Jaques to find that the fire had come right down the hill to within about 300m. No wonder the planes were focussing hard on that point towards the end of the day.

At the end of it all, despite being one of the biggest fires in the region this year, nobody was injured and no major properties were damaged. Our thanks go out to the more than 100 pompiers (firemen) and the brave pilots for their sterling efforts in thwarting what could have been a serious situation for our area.

Phew – this journalistic work fair knackers one so I’m off for my usual well earned kip. Speak to you all again soon.