Strange days

They say that living on a boat is a stress free life; though it's undoubtedly less stressful than most others, it has its moments even so. The night before last, as we were sat in the saloon thinking vaguely of bed, we started hearing some strange noises whilst the heating was running.

A bit like a shower pump running, but louder and more insistent. It stopped when the Hurricane stopped or when the dehumidifier stopped (the dehumidifier sits on the engine box during the winter, reducing the amount of condensation we get in that unheated space). I suspected that it was just some odd "beating" between the vibrations of the two pieces of kit, but that didn't stop me waking early and lying there brooding on how to cope if the heating packs up again.

Touch wood, when I had the boards up for a routine battery check yesterday afternoon, whist the Hurricane was on, there were no signs of any problems, and it's not happened again.

Just one of those things I guess.

After walking Sal for Elanor yesterday, I made up a batch of bread dough using the malted flour we'd bought in the Farm Shop, then left it to rise in a covered bowl in the cratch. Unfortunately, last night was very cold and the dough got well chilled, so much so that I couldn't get it warm enough to rise properly before I needed to bake for lunch.

So I baked the back up, some part baked ciabattas I had in, and did the rolls afterwards. They are very brown and malty, I'm really not sure what they are going to taste like. I think we may need to try one before tomorrow, in case we don't want them for lunch.

Here's a photo of some of them:





Strange, aren't they? Probably, the flour would be better used making sticky malt loaf with sultanas in.

Whilst Sheila was off at the hairdressers, I popped round to the Farm Shop for some wholemeal flour instead. Next time, I'm going to try leaving the dough overnight in the engine room.

The next few days will see us working in the lodge; we're now in the one month closed season, so it's a chance to do routine maintenance jobs like oiling the wooden furniture and giving the windows a thorough clean.