Merry Christmas!

Here is wishing all Readers and Boaters a very Merry Christmas and a Fantastic 2013 from the Tickety Boo Crew x

The Question?

What is the one question boaters are asked most often?

Answer :-

“Is it cold on the boat in the winter”?

It is understandable, the boat is sitting in cold, cold water, even colder when the cut is frozen! It is made of steel, even the word steel conjures up a feeling of cool!

Scenes like this :-

A frosty moonlit morning, kind of make me understand why people often ask the same question.

Sooooo here is your answer:-

Cold ? Not on your Nelly, it’s toasty warm! ( Incidentally, just who is Nelly anyway)?…

Autumn…

I always bang on about how much I love Autumn, here’s why…

 

You can’t beat the natural colours of Autumn, just lovely!

Back to Wales!

Just spent a very wet nine days in Wales! It rained every day apart from Thursday! The change of scenery was nice though, and Wales never disappoints on that score, some of the views were lovely, so I will let the photos do the talking!

                Swallow Falls, Betws-y-coed.

Conwy Falls.                                                                                     After all the rain the River Conwy was spectacular!

 

On the only day it didn’t rain, we visited Conwy Falls and then went on to Ffestiniog were we took the steam train to Porthmadog, I would recommend the trip on the train, it was great with stunning views across the Welsh hills.

  One of the lovely views from the steam train.          

Porthmadog Marina. 

One of the beautifully kept stations we stopped at on our train journey. 

The interior of the train…

More views from the train…

Painting Started!

At last, Tickety Boo’s paint job is under way! Last week was spent sanding, filling,sanding again and painting. There are now two coats of pale cream on the roof, and both sides have one coat of a nice rich green colour. I want to get as many coats on as possible before winter sets in, the weather has been good up to now, but it is raining today, so the job has halted. The forecast for the rest of the week looks promising, so fingers crossed

I have been fortunate to have a lot of help from Mark, and would never have got to the stage I am at, without his help and advice!

On the Monday when we started the job, I developed an itch on my neck which was quite sore and irritating, I put it down to being bitten by something or other, and didn’t take a lot of notice. When the pain started to creep up my neck and the back of my head, I realised this wasn’t just a bite. I had an idea what it may have been so made an appointment to see my Doctor.

My suspicions were right I had developed Shingles! Oh happy days, why now of all times? I have been given horse size tablets so hopefully my symptoms won’t get any worse.

I am not suffering too much, so the painting will continue!

I am really pleased with the painting up to now and can’t wait to see the boat finished, still a way to go yet, but seeing the first coats on has given me the incentive to carry on. I have the rest of the week off, so weather permitting more painting will be done.

I have used Dulux Weathershield as I mentioned in an earlier post. I am really pleased with the results up to now, the paint goes on well and dries to a smooth finish. I am not overlaying with a brush, I am quite happy with the finish created by the small sponge rollers I have been using, and with Marks advice on painting technique there are no roller lines when dry, so I am well chuffed!

The colour I have gone for is a slightly different shade of green than T Boo’s previous colour, more of a bluey green this time, but I am pleased with the choice!

Oh and a big bonus, Dulux paints are on offer at the minute, three for two, which is a huge saving, so bonus!

I will post before and after photos when the job is finished!

Back In Time!

I had a lovely afternoon yesterday. I had good weather, good company, and was greeted by this lovely, lovely sight!

             The Horse Boating Society.

Bumble Bee!

While cleaning the boat today, I happened to glance out of the side hatch, I spotted a bumble bee floundering about in the canal, it was desperately trying to escape it’s watery trap to no avail. I decided to put my sweeping brush out in to the water and let the bee clamber on board, it did so immediately, no doubt relieved it was free from the water!

Now, I, as well as a lot of other people are not overly fond of wasps, they spoil are picnics and BBQ’s! They also tend to give you a nasty sting just for the hell of it, as I found to my cost a few summers ago. I was out on the boat and my bag was on the roof, I put my hand in to get something, only to be stung by a wasp that was lurking in the depths!   Boy did it hurt, it stung me on my thumb!

I didn’t fully understand the importance of the humble bumble bee, or other insects that pollinate, until I heard snippets on a programme about them. If it were not for them, pollination would cease and flowers and crops would no longer exist, we therefore would not have grown produce that we all take for granted. Not to mention the glorious honey they produce!

So the next time you see a Bumble bee in trouble please help it out, as without it, and it’s many colleagues we wouldn’t have lovely flowers and fruit and veg!

This lovely picture was painted by the very talented Eva Cassidy, famous for her wonderful rendition of,  “Somewhere over the Rainbow” amongst other songs.

    Apparently this was a picture she drew to adorn honey jars! Lovely isn’t it?

I for one didn’t know she was an artist too, and this picture just proves to me that she did indeed appreciate just what Bee’s do for us. What do we do to thank them, scream, run and swat them with a news paper!

Time Away…

I have been away for five days. As much as I love being on board it is nice to have a change now and again!

I have been fortunate enough to visit the beautiful  Clocaenog Forest, again. I have been there before as you will have seen in earlier posts, but I don’t think you could ever tire of the place, it’s so peaceful and tranquil.

 

No idea what this grass is called, but I have often wondered where cotton wool comes from??

This was just one plant on it’s own amongst many other species.

Sitting looking at this view the only sound was a Cuckoo in the distance, we watched Buzzards gliding silently in the valley and it was lovely to be immersed in the total peace of it all…

I then had the pleasurable job of feeding this little Lamb twice a day…

   Out of all the lovely photos I snapped these two are amongst my favourites, they are real Fairytale-ish!

No apologies for featuring this lovely place on my blog again, Mark and I were there for five days and only saw two other people in the forest, not many places like that over a Bank Holiday are there?…

OUCH!!

Now, I really have no right looking for sympathy, my apathy towards dental care has got me into the sorry state of getting an abscess on my tooth. I do have a fairly good  set of teeth, ( no doubt a dentist would beg to differ), I brush twice a day, but I don’t go to the Dentist unless I am in pain, and obviously by that time I have a serious problem! So instead of going to the Dentist as soon as my tooth started to niggle, I left it and left it until the inevitable happened.

My tooth had been hurting for a couple of days but I managed to keep the pain at bay with pain killers, until Sunday afternoon when I suddenly realised I looked like I was storing last nights tea in my left cheek! The Hamster look is so not chic in any way shape or form.

I managed to get an emergency dental appointment as I am not registered with a practice, one of those, “never got round to it” things.

I paid my £17:50 and asked the Dentist if she would remove my tooth. After giving me a couple of injections to thoroughly numb my mouth, you know the ones that make you look like a spitting image puppet, she set about removing my tooth.

By this time I was a quivering wreck, ( such a coward when it comes to Dentists). Now I had heard if the infection in your tooth is too severe the injections don’t work, it felt numb until she tried to pull the tooth, I won’t go into too much detail, but the indentation of my body shape remained on the surgery ceiling as they peeled me off it, and I hear the Dentist is recovering well in Hospital!!  Needless to say the tooth is still firmly attached and I have to go on a course of antibiotics for a week, then  go through it all again. There is a lesson to be learned from all this, soon as you feel a niggle go get it seen to, will I learn from this experience? Probably not knowing me…

Snap Happy!

Ever since my Mum bought me my little digital camera, it’s never far away from my side. I love taking photos, and you just never know when you will see something you would like to snap. I was coming home from work yesterday and spotted this little fella…

Apparently these are quite common, but I have never seen one before, I asked him to pose for another photo, and he willingly obliged!

Photo opportunities seemed to be in abundance yesterday, I managed to catch Bobby with a real cute smug look on his face, because he was sitting on the settee, as if he owned it!

 

Yes Bobby that’s very clever, but that’s MY settee not yours….( with that little face, he was allowed to stay there for a cuddle)!

Duckling Ramp!

After my last post about the Duckling Ramp, the lovely Jaqueline on Nb Valerie, said she would love to see a picture, so I have patiently waited for the Ducklings to perform, this was the result…

Mark made the ramp out of a piece of scaffolding plank, as you can see the Ducklings are making very good use of it!

Duckling Time!

I love this time of the year when all the little balls of fluff make an appearance, the only problem is I find nature quite cruel at this time more than ever.

One day you will see Mother Duck with her brood of twelve, only to see her the next day with some missing. I hate it when I hear the pitiful peep peeping of a lonesome little Duckling who has lost his Mum. They look like a little fluffy full stop in the middle of the Canal, which to them must feel like an ocean! They do seem very capable though, they feed themselves, there is nothing funnier than watching as they jump up to catch low flying gnats and flies.

In all the years I have been on the boat I have never noticed how many get killed by getting trapped in tyres down the side of boats, as they use them to follow their Mums on to the bank .I have lost count of the amount I have set free that have been inside tyres and can’t get out, or worse crushed to death.

I mentioned it to Mark, and he said it might be an idea to put, “ Duckling ramps” in. So he got an old scaffolding plank attached rope one end secured it with a mooring pin on the bank and just rested it in the water. I was that chuffed the first time I saw a family of little Ducks walk up the plank, I wanted one too! They use them all the time to get out of the water so result!

I noticed the other night a lone Duckling sitting at the top of the ramp, a tiny newly hatched one. When I approached it didn’t move, I gently picked him up and brought him inside. Now I know you shouldn’t interfere with nature but he seemed quite distressed, there was no sign of his Mother anywhere. I placed him gently on the settee and he snuggled down.

I put a fifty pence in the shot to give you an idea how tiny he was!

After letting him rest for a while, I decided I couldn’t keep him so decided to see if he could swim before I let him go…

 

So after a couple of laps around my Bathroom sink I let him go. I just hope he makes it!

Change Of Scenery!

Just had a lovely weekend away with the Boaty Crew! I decided on the last minute to go, after looking at my endless list of jobs to do, I pulled the pins and scarpered!

We didn't travel that far but moored up in a lovely spot, relaxed in the sunshine and just had a very much appreciated chill time. Plenty of wine, spirits and beer flowed and a lot of fun and banter took place. I have to say a big thank you to everyone who made the weekend so enjoyable. Robin, our Commodore and Patrice made the weekend a great success.

Tickety Boo nestled in the trees on her new weekend mooring.

The lovely outlook from the mooring.

Bobby Dog enjoyed the change too. We were moored adjacent to a huge playing field, that Bobby decided would be a good place to show that he actually can run, and not just a feeble trot which is his normal gait, he loved it! He had a lot of new dog bottoms to get acquainted with too! His face was a picture every time he saw a new four legged friend to go sniff out and say hello.

The weather was really kind,Saturday stayed dry, Sunday was lovely, sunny and warm, so we all trooped off for lunch at the Ship Inn and sat in the beer garden in the lovely sunshine. It turned quite chilly on the trip back, the wind was icy, it was nice to get back though and cosy up by the fire. Bobby curled up on the rug and slept for hours, his legs doing the dream shake now and again, he was obviously back on the playing field galloping about in his sleep!

So, now to today, it was raining earlier but now seems to be brightening up, fingers crossed it stays that way as I have jobs to do outside. It is great to have a few days off work this week, so next weekend will come around quickly. If weather allows it will be "S" day, S for starting to sand the boat ready for painting. Obviously I won't get her all done in one go so she will be done in sections. I intend to start with the roof, the hand rails being my first job, they are really bad so a lot of hand sanding there. There is a lot of rust on them, I am ashamed to admit. I have made a promise to myself, that now I have my enthusiasm back I will hopefully never let the boat get into this state again. The worse you let it get the harder the work to put it right!

I will sand the rails back to the metal where the rust is really bad, I will then apply Kurust, red oxide, undercoat, then top coats, I want to try and get as many top coats on as possible before winter sets in. I want to tackle the really bad bits of the boat first, get them out of the way. Bring it on!

Can I just say at this point, anybody reading this blog, if you see that I haven't started my mammoth task, you have my permission to get on my case about it and give me a firm kick up the backside to get me going, any encouragement from you will be very welcome. Just one more thing, if any of you are travelling to Liverpool, feel free to moor up and sand a patch on Tickety Boo! If all the boats that passed did a square foot of sanding she would be ready to paint in no time! Then again I could have a sanding party, now there's a thought...