Last post for a few days

As I said yesterday, I'm taking a break from the blog over Christmas. We had some snow overnight and during the day today, but it's stopped now, and there's no more forecast for a few days at least.

Hopefully, that means we'll get away tomorrow for our stay with Graeme and Cathy.

We're still hoping for a thaw next week, but are well prepared to sit out some more cold weather if necessary.

I do hope you all have a good time over the next few days, whether you think of it as Yule, Christmas, Saturnalia or just the "holidays"!

A tiny bit less cold

We didn't have quite the freeze up last night as the night before, which would be encouraging if it wasn't for the Met Office threatening another cold snap on Christmas night, though Accuweather are more optimistic for a thaw starting on Boxing Day. So guess which one we're believing.

It hasn't prevented a bit of an exodus to the bank by some liveaboards; Windsong, for example, and sadly, there's this despairing account in NBW.

Meantime, icicles are appearing here and there; apparently in Sweden, falling icicles are one of the main hazards to life and limb in the winter weather. I captured this one under the railway viaduct on the way into the village:

Now wouldn't that be alarming if it were the canal overhead?

Thanks to all who have sent us good wishes, by the way; I'm trying to make sure either Sheila or I respond, but to any who get missed, it's much appreciated, and you have a good one too!

I notice that the hit rate has dropped off a bit, but that might just have something to do with fewer people being at work this week ;)

I plan to keep blogging until we go away, but will then rely on Twitter whilst we are at Lincoln.

Very cold

It's not yet Christmas, and this winter seems to have been going on forever already. The forecast is for it to continue like this for most of this week, but there's just a hint that things might warm up in the New Year.

Here's hoping.

It's stayed well below freezing all day here, so we stayed in bed for as long as we could, then did what we had to do outside (shopping, bit of a pump out) and shut ourselves up indoors again.

At least there's no more snow scheduled for either here or Lincoln, so with luck we'll still be able to get away over Christmas.

Graeme rang for a natter. He's having a day off and was alone in the house as Cathy was at work and the boys at nursery. Apparently, one of the pilots where he works told him that they've identified a third kind of ice. As well as the solid ice that forms on water or from compressed snow, and the rime or hoar frost that  solidifies out of the air, there's another kind that forms on the rubber of the wedges they put under the aircraft wheels.

It's called chock ice.

;)

Hanging in there

It was much colder last night than forecast, getting down to -9º C here, but the fire stayed in and we had no problems with the water this morning. After a trip to the village for a paper, we got two bags of Taybrite and 36 litres of diesel from the marina to keep us going.

Whilst at the main building, we were told about the Christmas do at lunchtime, and so when we'd done our stuff, we took some sandwiches across and joined in the merriment. Wandering back to the boat at half two, we've been snuggling down, stoking the fire and pottering about with stuff. There's another cold night in prospect, but there's a chance it will then start moderating a bit, so fingers crossed.

We used the strap on spikes again around the village; fastening them on certainly takes a bit of practice, but we seem to be getting the hang of it, and they certainly make things feel safer underfoot. The trick is to get them just behind the ball of the foot, almost into the instep; for horse riders, basically exactly where you don't want the stirrup iron, which makes sense if you think about it.

Snow again

It snowed overnight, more determinedly than yesterday, and left a thick rather than deep coat over everything. We swept a bit of it away before going shopping, then attacked the rest on our return, although it was still falling gently.

It had stopped after lunch, so we hit it again, this time following up with a sprinkle of salt and grit on the pontoon. As expected, the temperature is now falling, but there's no more precipitation forecast for the next few days. The big test will be Monday night, when the minimum is expected to be -10º C (14º F).

Whether we get away for Christmas mainly depends on what the forecast looks like as we get towards the end of next week; low temps are OK, but snow would be a no no. I tested out the new oil filled rad last night. It worked well, but has rather a short power lead. If I can rig an extension it would give more choice about siting it.

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday; on my way back from buying a lunchtime pasty at Tesco, I tried out the spikes I bought from the AA, as the fresh snow was quite slippy underfoot. They worked well, though you have to get them in exactly the right place under your sole, just behind the widest part of your foot, so that they don't work forward and fall off as you step out.

I suspect that there'll be plenty of reason to use them over the next few days. Tomorrow, we'll do another partial pump out, buy a couple of bags of Taybrite and put a an extra 30 litres of diesel in the tank, just to make sure we don't run out over Christmas.

A day at Fazeley

No, we've not suddenly moved the boat from Great Haywood to Fazeley through the ice and snow; we couldn't even move it off the pontoon. Will Chapman gave me a lift to Peel's Wharf, the BW office at Fazeley, where we had an interesting meeting with Sally Ash and Damian Kemp from BW about local mooring strategies.

I can't say too much about the content of the meeting just yet, but hopefully, if things develop as we hope, I'll be able to pass some stuff on in due course. The aim is to develop local solutions to problems with availability of moorings.

As I say, more in due course...

Sheila, meanwhile, had a quiet day on board as the snow fell once more.

Just a quickie

Sure enough, things have got worse...

It's started snowing here after a day of rain and sleet. Bob from Lyra gave me a lift to the coal merchant at Colwich to get some alternative solid fuel to Taybrite, but he wasn't there.

We've topped up the water tank, but the ice was still too thick to move, so we'll be using our pump to take some more off the top of the toilet tank over the weekend.

We're just waiting for Elanor to turn up for dinner, bringing the oil filled radiator we've bought, as the forecast doesn't have any positive temperatures on it now for five days.

Heigh ho, at least we're not stuck out in the middle of nowhere at the moment.

Busy day, quiet day

As I suspected, it wasn't feasible to blog yesterday; by the time I got back from Elanor's, it was quite late, and I was too tired (read, in need of a drink ;) ) to bother.

It was a successful day, though. Elanor and Sally came over for lunch, very full of themselves after their performance at the obedience class Christmas party, where Sally won the red rosette for the party games by one point over a very experienced poodle. Her speed over the ground compensated for her lack of experience in competition; in one game, hide and seek, covering the length of the arena in five seconds.

Whilst they were here, we were visited by blog readers Martin and Margaret, who have just bought Erin Mae from the marina sales office. We had a conversation about washing machine options, and hope to see them again as they will be mooring here, once they can put the boat back in the water after its survey.

My trip to the Eye Clinic went off alright, though I've been given a new set of eye drops.

Today, we've been pottering about, getting through a lot of routine stuff; Sheila has been binding the family calendars, and we posted three of them this morning. A couple of washloads have been run, and one tumble dried, and the Sainsbury's order arrived no problem (ho ;) ).

Only thing about it was, I thought I'd ordered 1 kg of bananas, and it turned out to be 0.17 kg, in fact, one banana. I must have clicked the wrong radio button when ordering. This is Sue's mistake on No Problem, but in reverse. She once ended up with 10 x 50 g boxes of mushrooms when she wanted 10 mushrooms.

Have just heard from Elanor that the oil filled radiator I ordered from Amazon (well, Bamford Trading) has arrived, the day after ordering it, so we can leave some extra heat on in the boat when we go to Lincoln for Christmas. She's coming over for dinner tomorrow, to deliver it before the weather closes in again.

A good walk

Although the weather has turned a bit dull and amp, we stuck with our plan and spent a good chunk of the day walking on Cannock Chase. I'd found a route on the Walking World site, which we joined at Essex Bridge, the ancient bridge across the Trent which leads into the park of Shugborough Hall. It took us through the park, along the busy road on the other side for a short stretch, then up onto the Chase and round to the Seven Springs car park, where we had a picnic lunch, before carrying on to join the canal towpath at Little Haywood and so home.

Including the extra walk from and to the marina, it came out at a bit over eight miles altogether, so not to be sneezed at. We're feeling pretty weary now, not having done much more than the walk into the village for the past few weeks, but hopefully we'll feel better for it in due course.

Apart from that, we've been pottering about, topping up the water tank and tumble drying the washing.

I have a trip to the Eye Clinic tomorrow afternoon, so may well not be able to post afterwards.

Busy Sunday

After Sally's marathon effort yesterday, just a short blog today, as we've been very busy and are both pretty tired.

We started the day by pumping more black water out of the toilet tank; we did two runs with the two 5 gallon drums, so that gives us 20 gallons/ 90 litres of space, which should keep us going for a week at least.

Then we visited the farm shop to buy bread and milk, and retreated to the boat for lunch.

Afterwards, I designed and printed off the family Christmas cards, and printed out the calendars. The poor old printer was beginning to wheeze and complain by the end, but it was all finally done. The calendars need binding, but that can wait for another day.

I've also started work on the masthead for next year's IWA National Festival daily newsletter, filling in time whilst the printer was chugging its way through 6 x 13 A4 sheets of calendar. We've chosen a name (no, not telling – you'll have to wait for the event!) and I'll spend a while mocking up alternate designs so that Sheila can choose one.

Meantime, Sheila finished the research on the Canal Boat Christmas quiz, and ran a washload. We'd already solved most of the quiz in a joint effort, I've just checked it over one last time, and Sheila's emailed it to Nick Wall. I think this is the earliest we've submitted it, and we have a slight impression it's a touch easier this year.

If the weather holds, we're planning to do some walking in Cannock Chase tomorrow, after all this boat bound stuff today.

Dog to dog blog

Hi guys

Seems like any time Grandpa can't be bothered to blog, he expects me to do it for him, which is a bit rich. Anyway, went to a cool party the other night, at the agility class. Hadn't seen any of my mates (ha, mates! – in their dreams) for long enough. We'd been stuck in the house for like ages, I mean yonks, just 'cos it had snowed and froze and Mummy was afraid of falling over. I don't see the problem, truly, I mean I've got twice the number of legs, and I don't fall over, much.

Had a good time at the party, raced around a lot, though probably not always when I should have according to M, and got some extra food. I was well knackered afterwards, and slept for yonks once we got home, didn't hear the alarm, even, just snored on, apparently.

Still, we went for another walk later on yesterday. It was really, really slippy underfoot, water on the ice, and I had what M calls a Bambi moment, but didn't actually fall. M dropped my lead as I was running free along the track that leads to the fields, but didn't realise it for a bit, and we had to go back to get it. Since she was having a hard time of it, walking, I nipped on ahead and fetched it for her.

I don't normally do the fetch bit, that's for soppy retrievers and stuff, not hounds like me, but M was really pleased, which makes what happened after even more unfair.

It was on the way back after a really good charge about. On the way out, I'd had one good look at a half a bunny that someone had left lying around, but yet again M wouldn't let me eat it, though it was gorgeous, just nicely ripe.

On the way back, I had a last charge off before getting the leash back on. M was hollering and I realised I'd maybe overdone the running off bit, so I thought I'd do something to please her. There was a leg left over from the bunny, so I fetched it back for her, carefully jogging along with the leg dangling down sideways so's she could see what it was.

Did she want it? What do you think? There's no pleasing some people. I could see by her face she wasn't happy, so I dropped the bit of bun at her feet and did my best sit. So she had to give me a treat for coming back, natch, but she wouldn't hold it out on her hand as usual, just dropped it on the deck for me to pick up.

Something about "not wanting my tongue all over her hand", just 'cos it still had bits of well ripe bunny on it.

Never mind, we're back to normal now, but no more snow, boo, and regular walks again.

Lots of licks (will you have bunny with that?)

Sally

Into Stafford, and the water's back

We made our planned trip to Stafford today, finishing the Christmas shopping and having excellent mushroom, bacon and cheese paninis in Drucker's in the Guildhall Centre; much better than the fare on offer at M&S last time.

When we got back, I stayed on the bus to the other end of the village to pop into the pharmacy to collect a prescription. When we checked last Saturday, they were happy for me to arrange for a repeat script to be sent from the Alrewas surgery to them, so I posted a request off last Monday.

The script hadn't arrived today, but the pharmacy showed its quality; they phoned the surgery, discovered that my request had only arrived there yesterday, and so was only just ready to be posted on today. Nonetheless, the pharmacy got the surgery to fax a copy across, so that I could have the drugs dispensed there and then.

Excellent service, and the kind of thing that makes the liveaboard life feasible.

Back at the marina, the water had started flowing through the supply pipes again, so we've been able to fill the tank. We had to use one of the backup roll flat hoses that we store under the dinette, though, as the main hose reel that lives in the bow locker was still frozen.

A phone call from Elanor has revealed that Sally was partying last night, not to mention getting up to other clever, bunny related, stuff today. I want to check some of the details with Sally, who was too weary to come to the phone, but there may well be a dog to dog blog from her tomorrow.

The cratch is back

As I recorded at the last moment yesterday, Vicky finally rang back from Wilson's to arrange to have our repaired cratch returned today. I've added a note to the other blog, with a couple of photos of the reinstated cratch.

We'd planned to go to Stafford today, but now will do that tomorrow. The weather has indeed started to thaw a bit, though there's more cold forecast for next week, boo. Having the cratch cover rolled down will hopefully make it much easier to keep the forward end of the saloon warm overnight.

Quiet day

After the excitements of yesterday, we've been very quiet today. I kept the fire well stoked overnight, and it stayed in. I also left the hatch to the under well deck space open, so that the pipework got the benefit of the warm saloon temperatures. Combined with a much less cold night, this meant that all was well this morning. We now have just one further night to get through before the promised (though probably brief) thaw means we can relax for a bit.

We've put 50 litres of water in the tank, hand balling it in two drums from the service block, so we'll be able to carry on for a few days more. Only time will tell if the thaw lasts long enough to unfreeze the water supply to the pontoon, in which case we could fill the tank and be set for a couple of weeks more.

We're anxious about plans to go to Lincoln to spend Christmas with Graeme, Cathy and the boys; if more severe weather is on the cards, we might have to think about getting a small oil filled radiator to supplement the Hurricane heating, so as to protect the vulnerable area under the well deck.

There's still no further communication from Vicky at Wilson's. Correction: as soon as I'd posted this, she rang, and they're coming tomorrow.

Following up from a post by Sue on No Problem, I've ordered two pairs of slip on studs for our shoes, to make walking around on the ice easier. These ones came from the AA; when they arrive, I'll report on their utility, though, of course, this has probably guaranteed a thaw for the rest of the winter. In which case, it will have been money well spent.

Watery winter blues

"Woke up this morning, and it was so co...old

Turned on the tap and bugger all happened"

Or something; lyrics are not my strongpoint. Thing is, the supply to and the flow from the water pump had frozen, partly because without the cratch (thank you Wilson's) the well deck over the tank is freezing down and the ventilator is feeding freezing air straight onto the underdeck pipework, partly because the fire had gone out overnight (I know, everyone else can keep Taybrite in) but mainly because it was  -9º C (16º F) at eight o'clock.

Fortunately, as usual, I had set up the early morning tea the night before, and there was enough water left in the kettle to provide that element for making the porridge (recipe: 1 cup oats to 1½ cups milk to 1 cup water, place in centre of oven on Gas Mark 3 whilst drinking tea in bed and getting up).

We finally got things flowing again by half eleven, having left the hatch into the underdeck space open and the fire well stoked whilst we pumped 10 gallons out of the toilet tank. Bob from Lyra then lent us a hair dryer, which meant I could get heat into the final nooks and crannies. I had a moment's panic when, after getting everything warm, the pump still didn't run after turning it back on, but that turned out to be  because the system was fully pressured. I opened a tap, and away we went.

Phew.

So far, touch wood, we seem to have got away with it; no sign of leaks from either the pump or the pipework. The Hep₂O fittings are very resilient, and Braidbar use the longest possible unjointed pipe runs with gentle bends in them, so they can take a certain amount of freezing without too much grief. Tonight, I'll stoke the stove and leave the hatch open, though there's not such a fierce frost forecast.

Last night, we kept being woken up by dramatic banging noises from the ice. Maybe we should have called the boat the Fram.

In amongst doing all this, I called Wilson's for a moan. Vicky promised she'd get back to me about a delivery of the repaired parts this week, but it's half past four now, and still no sign of Dick Vicky (sorry, it is the panto season). I also spoke to Peter at Braidbar in case we had probs with the pump (this was before we got it defrosted) and we had a useful chat, though he had problems of his own. His electricity supplier has cut them off for the day, in order to do some tree trimming.

This afternoon, since it was a nice day, Sheila did some more pontoon snow clearing, and I hauled stuff out from the lower bow locker and repacked it more neatly. This meant, on the plus side, I found the big funnel to use if we have to start topping up the water tank with 25 litre drums filled from the tap at the main building, and on the downside (literally) I nearly gave everyone a laugh by getting stuck upside down leaning into the depths of the locker.

The forecast is for a thaw for a few days at the end of this week and the start of next, which will be very welcome.

Still cold

Says it all really. Elanor is housebound too; there's a sheet of ice in the road outside her door, so although the main roads are clear, she can't get her car out there to use them. She's also a bit nervous about walking Sally, in view of the likely consequences of the 37 kg jumping forward as she leans back.

The forecast suggests we may see some relief later in the week, which would be good.

Meantime, we were getting all set up to do a bit of pumping out after lunch, but when Sheila went over to borrow the dedicated drums to use (well, you wouldn't want to use any general purpose ones, would you?), she was told that Dave the handyman was away for the afternoon, and that the drums were locked up in his storeroom to which no one else has access.

Good job we hadn't left things to the last minute, then – we can hang on until tomorrow, but we'll do it in the morning, in case Dave has another afternoon off.

Quiet Sunday

As forecast, yesterday's thaw has been followed by a return of the freeze, so things are even more treacherous underfoot than before.

We've had a quiet day, buying a paper in the village and the latest issue of Waterways World from the marina reception.

The toilet tank is very nearly full, so Sheila swept the pontoon to the back of the boat whilst I disposed of ash and refilled the grit bag. Tomorrow, we'll rig the pump out pump and fill some drums with it to take round to the Elsan point for disposal, thus buying a bit more time. We've still got a decent amount of diesel, despite using the Hurricane a lot, so that's not likely to be a problem for at least another fortnight or three weeks.

The water tank is now less than half full, but again we should be able to hang on for a while.

There's no sign of a change in the weather for the foreseeable future.

At least I'm a fan of cricket (yess!!!*) rather than football, so it's been a good week for me sports wise.

(*Sorry, Tom ;) )

More activity on the other blog

It's started raining here, but we're not hopeful of a thaw. I've been using the time to do the long promised review of Sanity Again, which can be read here.

Apart from that, there's not a lot to report. It looks like we'll have to use our own pump and some drums provided by the marina to take a bit out of the toilet tank on Monday, unless the forecast is wrong and we're able to start moving the boat around soon.

Dog to dog blog

Hi guys

It was Granny's birthday today, so Mummy and I went across to see her. Yesterday, we'd been to the vet's (I enjoy the vet's), and they told Mummy that I'd put too much weight on. Actually, she'd already been told this at agility, but this time I got weighed, and came in at 37 kilos, 5 more than when I first started living with Mummy. Now, I think I was a bit underweight then, but apparently I have to lose some by exercising more and eating even less than I do already.

Humph.

Anyway, to make up, Mummy took me to our favourite running around place, and I charged about in the snow. Mummy took some photos of me, and Grandpa has put the best ones up on Flickr. Here's a sample:

Does my bum look big in this?

Now, does that look fat to you? No, me neither.

Lots of licks

Sally

Sainsbury's delivers in the snow

and that's about it for today, really. Well done Sainsbury's; though the roads around here are clear of snow, the track into the marina has a layer of hardpack over it. There was a bit of confusion, nonetheless; we'd assumed he'd come to the main building to deliver, and so we both went and lurked there taking our collection of reusable bags with us, and, being the same driver as last time, he went straight to the far end by the boat.

We had to walk back smartly to collect, but at least it gave us an excuse to pick up a couple more paperbacks from the free marina library.

We might well see Elanor and Sally visiting tomorrow; if so I'll see if I can get Sally to do the blog on the subject of dogs in the snow, and the vet's opinion that she's a bit overweight.

It's a very little bit warmer...

... but we had a foot of snow overnight. Sheila swept the jetty clear again, aided by the nice guy from Lyra, and I went off to buy a paper, calling in at Reception on the way to ask for a new salt bin, as the bottom had fallen out of the old one.

(There's a gag in there about the eurozone, but I can't be bothered.)

Any road up, we've got a new bin, and the pontoon is clear again. Elanor had been going to come across for the day today, but we decided in the course of a phone consultation that it wouldn't be wise. She'd probably have made it, but with no pressing need, it seemed daft to risk even a minor bump; she certainly doesn't want an accident to make her job seeking even more difficult.

Before all this, I took some more photos, just inside the marina this time.

Next question; will the Sainsbury's delivery make it tomorrow?