Thunderstorm Sunset.

After having yet another thunderstorm and heavy downpour, the compensation for this miserable weather was a glorious sunset. The sunset managed to sneak under the storm clouds!

 

Storm clouds looming.

It really was this orange!

Trick of the eye, or Spirits?

On reading one of Cesca’s posts titled “Ghost Boat”, it reminded me of the odd experience I have had occasionally.

I always have the side hatch open on the boat, weather permitting and as I potter about I will look up when passing the hatch and wave to passers by, either on the towpath or fellow boaters.

As I pass the hatch sometimes I will look up to wave to somebody I have seen in the corner of my eye, only to find there is nobody there…..

I thought it was just me being slightly bonkers, but my ex John said it would happen to him too!

Is it just eyes playing tricks or are these indeed spirits from the past going about their daily business?

As I have mentioned there is a ruin of a chapel close by, (as photographed in previous post),when this happens on a Sunday I often wonder are these apparitions of people making their way to chapel for the Sunday service?

Ok, I will come quietly, just don’t tie the Straight Jacket too tight… 

There once was an ugly Duckling?

Well actually these are Cygnets, but as the song goes……the ugly Duckling turns into a Swan, oh go on!

This was Mum and Dad in the Winter. The Cygnets above were just a twinkle in their eyes then!

After the heavy thunder storms earlier that provided much needed rain, the sky was magical…

Every cloud has a silver lining…

Show Off!

 

I had a lovely day out with my Mum and Daughter, we had a nice Roast Dinner lunch at the recently reopened, Scarisbrick Arms, we were lucky to get a table as it was Fathers Day so it was really busy. The Pub has been refurbished to a high standard and is well worth a visit. The staff are lovely, pleasant and nothing is too much trouble. The Scarisbrick Arms is canal side and is situated at Downholland Bridge on the Leeds Liverpool (Bridge 20A). If you are travelling through to the Liverpool link its a nice place to moor for the night and have a nice meal.

After the meal we stopped off at the local farm shop, this too is a nice place to visit, its a lovely fruit and veg shop, with a cafe and gift shop. There is a Duck pond and many species of birds wandering about the place. I quite often buy my fruit and veg here, but have never been lucky enough to see these show offs at their best……

They are gorgeous arn’t they?

       click on images to enlarge.

After shaking their booties for all they were worth, they gave up as the hens didn’t look in the least bit interested!

We moved on to have a look at the old Lydiate Hall ruins, I have visited the ruin on many occasions but still find it facinating, I got a lovely photo of Mum and Kirsty too….

 

We then moved on to another ruin near by, of  St Catherines Chapel, I can always imagine seeing all the people sitting at their pews on  Sunday morning in years gone by, here too I got some nice photos

It was a lovely day, to think next time we visit we will have a baby with us!

Who eats all the bird food?

As I have mentioned before, I work in Discount store. One of the most popular lines we sell is Bird food. In fact we sell that much of the stuff I am wondering how the birds around here manage to leave the ground! Would it be worth my while starting up a weight watchers for birds?

I can't help but smile to my self when I hear people in the checkout que talking about how quickly the bird food they put out disappears, if only they knew......

Many of the customers are heard to say, " I put food out every day, I don't know what they do with it all?". Well granted the birdies do indeed get through quite a bit of it, but I think all the customers who buy Bird seed, nuts, fat balls, sunflower seeds, don't realise its not just our cute little feathered friends who are feasting on the goodies!

Squirrels, rats and mice are the culprits!! I have a bird table on my mooring that I used to fill with bird food, its one of those ones you can hang from railings. When I first put it up, it was quite close to my shed, I actually saw a rat climb on to the shed and then on to the bird table and devour copious amounts of the birds dinner! To out smart them I moved the bird table right away from the shed to deter them using it as a ladder, only to watch in amazement as a rat climbed up the railing, without the use of a rope too!

Now I know all creatures have to eat but this was taking the biscuit, or should I say Bird food!

Once when the canal was frozen, I had thrown bread out for the ducks, only to look out later that night and see the rats dining alfresco on the ice eating the ducks bread.

The best ever site I saw, was a rat swimming across the canal dragging with it a whole fat ball, no mean feat as they are quite heavy!

I love all creatures great and small, but when washing the dishes on the boat one night, I looked up to see a rat peering at me through the window! waiting for dinner no doubt, needless to say I don't put food out now, they can go scale someone else's railings!

So to all you people out there who think all the birds have mammoth appetites, its not them who eat all the bird food you buy, because when our little feathered friends are all tucked up in a tree for the night some where, that's when the other creatures dine and polish off the lot, and here was all you lot thinking it is the birds dawn chorus in the morning, they arn't singing, they are screaming and shouting that some bugger has eaten all their Breakfast!

Long time no blog!

Thought it was about time I wrote a post. Been busy working, as I am the sole breadwinner now there isn’t much time to sit and blog these days!

Had a great May Bank Holiday weekend at Parbold, a load of us boaters got together for a good old drink and catch up, we all moored at the disused lock at Appley Bridge, and a fine time was had by all!

          Arriving at Parbold.                All moored up and ready to party!                                 

We all had a great weekend, including Eight very well behaved Dogs that came with us, here are four of the little cuties!

Out of the blue!

 

After a real hectic week in work, is was bliss to get home last night, ( Friday ) and look forward to the weekend. The weather forecast looks good which makes the weekend all the more enjoyable.

All you retired people out there, ( jealousy rearing its ugly head me thinks)! who are living just one long weekend, will have forgotten the buzz you get on a Friday, when you come to the end of the day and wallow in the fact, that for two whole days you don’t have to go to work! Now wouldn’t you all love to go back to work to have that feeling again? Yea right!

Anyway on arriving home I take Bobby for his walk,put all the shopping away, light fire, ( as its still quite chilly in the evening), light candles, feet up and nice glass of red!

I made myself a nice sweet chilli chicken noodle dish for tea, and then sat to read and reply to emails I had let build up over the week.

Just as I was starting on my second glass, I heard an engine running outside the boat, resisting the urge to jump up and see who it was, I sat trying to recognise the noise. Was it a Dinghy? Was it a Helicopter? I knew it wasn’t a a narrowboat or cruiser. My curiosity got the better of me, so I went out on the back deck to see what was creating this noise, to be met by the site of this……          

It was my Brother, John, flying passed the boat on his Paramotor! He flew low enough to give me a wave and then flew up in to the blue again. I wasn’t expecting to see him, so it was a lovely surprise! Personally I think he is mad flying around with a hairdryer strapped to his back, but it must be fantastic to be flying around up there like a bird, all be it a quite noisy bird. Would you ever get me up there? Not on your nellie!  I prefer to have my motor firmly under my feet, chugging me along the Cut!

Problems?

As you can see I am having problems with the layout on my blog pages, there is a HUGE gap before you can see any of my blogs!.
Can anybody help?

Make molehills out of mountains!

I need to make all the mountainous tasks I have ahead of me into molehills! I keep going into absolute panic mode when I think of all the things that need to be done!

So instead of worrying how on earth I will climb those mountains I need to tackle them like they are little hills. Does that make sense?? If it does please let me know!

So as soon as I stop being the proverbial Ostrich, and make a start, the sooner I will have something to blog about. Its too easy just to sit and make excuses why I can't do something, too cold, too windy, too tired, too can't be bothered!!

Right pep talk over. I have wasted a couple of weekends now not doing anything, which just won't do, now I need to give myself a hefty kick up the back side and get myself motivated.

Now where do I start? Have you seen the size of that Mountain..........(sorry, molehill)!

Bobby has a new friend!

Bobby was two years old when we got him, so we didn’t know much about how he was as a pup. He was quiet and a bit confused about what was happening to him. He soon settled in though, and now he is a fantastic little dog!  

I was walking down the tow path with him today, when a cat decided to come and say hello, my initial reaction was to brace my self for the scrap that would surely take place, blood and fur flying everywhere!

I needn’t have worried……They were lovely with each other, I was lucky enough to get a picture of them, how cute!

Spring Clean!

Lovely sunny day today, so many things to do, where to start?  After having breakfast, toast and marmalade, shared with Bobby, I decided to get stuck in.

I am one of those people who starts doing one job then move on to another without realising it! I end up doing six different jobs in one go, bouncing from one to the other, I think it’s what you call organised chaos. Eventually it all comes together and the boat is all nice and clean.

Where did spring cleaning originate, is it to start the new season off all clean and tidy, or is it just that the sun comes out and shows up all the dust and dirt!

One pitfall of having a coal fire, is the dust it creates, but it is worth putting up with the dust to have a nice fire burning away in the corner.

Bobby spent all day outside today in the sun, just now and again reminding me he was still there by plopping his tennis ball into the canal then barking at it, to let me know he needs it scooping out, yet again! I swear he has a grin on his face when he accidently on purpose drops the ball in the water!

Well its the end of another weekend, how quick do they go? Back to the grind tomorrow, to get the pennies together for Tickety Boo’s paint job in the summer She is looking really tatty at the minute, and unloved. The harsh winter has given the blacking a bashing and she is desperate to have her bottom redone! I am happy with the inside of the boat for now, so my main aim this summer is to get the outside looking better!

One of the nicer jobs I did today was putting new bedding on for the summer, gone is the cosy cream and gold…..

  

To be changed to a nice cream and duck egg blue for the summer

I love this colour, the cushion was from a great shop called, Dun elm, an Aladdin's cave of curtains, bedding and accessories, bliss!

 

 

 

Best Laid Plans....

I did have plans to maybe jump the bus in to Liverpool today, its Chinese New Year, so quite a bit going on. It would have been even nicer to have the boat down there, at Salthouse Dock, so you could just fall back on board after the celebrations.

On waking this morning, those plans were quickly rearranged, as we have snow again!
You may ask where my sense of adventure has gone, in answer to that question, it is sitting right next to me, keeping warm by the fire!

Irony again!

Just a quick one to add to my last post. Why is it that, just as you sit down and start to eat your tea, they put the advert on tv for the bloomin, 'Pedegg' you know that thing you use to get rid of all the dry skin on your feet. Not satisfied with just telling you what this little mirical can do, they show you the damn thing being emptied into a bin! doesn't go down well when you are just about to put a forkful of food in your mouth, yukkety yuk yuk!

Ironies!

A music track I really love is, Alanis Morrissette, Ironic. For those of you who haven't heard it, here are the first couple of lines.
An old man turns 98, he won the lottery and died the next day,
Its a black fly in your chardonnay,
its a death row pardon two minutes too late.
Anyway, you get the drift, if you haven't heard it, You Tube it, the lyrics are really clever. It got me to thinking....
Why is it that when you are two minutes late, your bus is two minutes early?
Why is it that the very day you leave your brolly behind it rains?
Why is it you always bump into an old friend, who looks fabulous, and you look
like you have been dragged through a hedge backwards, twice!
Why is it that when you are out on your boat alone, you steer, turn, moor up
and manouver perfectly, only to make a right prat of yourself when you have
freinds on board?
Why is it that the cruise you have planned in advance starts on the very day
it decides to blow a Hoolie and you merrily go on your way down the cut side
ways?
Finally, why is it that when you have just climbed into bed and got warm,
your automatic bilge pump decides it doesn't want to be automatic
any more and jams on, so if you ignore it it will either burn out or flatten
your batteries!

I could go on, as I have many more, 'Why is it thats' but my tum is telling me its tea time, just when I am on a role writing my blog, now, why is that?.....

Introducing..My Little Grand Bump!

   

       Ok so they all look like little beans all cosy in there, but this little exceptional Bean, is my first Grandchild! Mum to be, my Daughter Kirsty, is having a great pregnancy with no morning sickness, which is a blessing.

The only problem I have had is nearly falling off my chair when she told me how much the Pram is! After gaining my composure, I asked did it make tea, and babysit?

I am so out of touch with all that now, mind you, my baby, Heather, is twenty in April, so a long time since I looked at pram prices!

The pram is aptly named, Bugaboo, ( sounds like your swearing, and then giving someone a fright)!

So when I am babysitting on, Tickety Boo, I can take baby out in the Buga Boo! Sorted!

     The lovely Mummy to be and the equally lovely Daddy to be!

( Kirsty and Ian )

Just a quick apology to the Men who read my blog. Not very boaty I know, but I promise to make my little Grandchld a narrowboat fan. I have an orange box on order as we speak. As soon as the little mite is big enough, He/She will be taught to steer the boat, and shown the Ropes,pun intended! (Just don't tell Mummy and Daddy to be)!

A Photo to Share

After reading Heth’s blog,(Takey Tezey Tales) and seeing her swan photo’s, I couldn’t resist posting this gorgeous photo that was sent to me in an email.

Straight Jacket required!

I have a great Mum, who on many occasions has helped me through difficult times. It wouldn’t do to tell you all how old she is, she would kill me. So to give you some idea of her age, I am fifty and Mum is twenty two years older, oops!

When we had the real bad weather, snow and ice, you would think a lady of her years would be wrapped up warm indoors, with a nice hot drink and swooning while listening to her Daniel O'Donnell Cd, but oh no not my Mum!

Here is the photographic evidence of what she got up to, if any of you were in any doubt as to where I got my streak of madness from, here is your  answer!                                                                                                                                                                          My Mum just got this overwhelming urge to go out in the garden and build this lovely Snowman!

   

       Not content with letting the neighbours know how mad she is, Mum decided to throw herself on the floor to make a snow angel, this would leave onlookers in no doubt that action would have to be taken………….

              Straight Jacket on order!!

Joking aside, Mum is one in a million, and I won’t hold it against her that she has passed her, loopy genes on to me!

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you

After reading one of the Blogs I follow, ( Lesley, Nb Caxton) about us all pulling our weight to clear litter from our waterways and towpaths, I left a comment on her Post agreeing with everything Lesley had said.

How much nicer would our towpaths be without litter, left by rude people who dump it and then go home to their litter free gardens! Well the towpath is our garden and we don’t want your litter, thank you very much!

About ten minutes after leaving my comment, I looked out of the window to see this……………..

I have seen this man before on numerous occasions. He gives up his time to litter pick on the tow path opposite Tickety Boo. I don’t know who he is, but I am very grateful to him for the thorough job he does!

As you can see from the two big bin bags of rubbish, there are still people who think it is acceptable to just dump litter anywhere they like.

A very BIG thank you to you, our mystery litter picker, just to let you know your hard work doesn’t go unnoticed, and is really appreciated. 

Dancing on Ice!

Triple Axel, Double Toe Loop, and Spiral, and that was just me trying to walk down the towpath! I did admit I love the snow, that doesn’t include the ice.

I was really happy when the big thaw kicked in, it was becoming a bit tedious, walking like a constipated duck!

The ice was a nightmare to walk on, I lost count of the amount of times I nearly went, just about saving myself by throwing my hands up in the air and letting slip from my mouth the, s--t word! Then to look around sheepishly to make sure no body saw my slip, or heard my expletives!

Anyway thankfully its all melted away now, but who knows it could be back.

I loved the snow when it first fell, we all got great photos to remind us of winter 2010. I think we have had quite enough of that weather now thank you!

The Canal is thawing out nicely and I am looking forward to seeing the water moving again. Its fascinating to see the canal frozen, but it then,  becomes a bit eerie. Its good to see the ripples back, oh and the Ducks!

                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Best Christmas Present Ever!

I have been keeping a secret since Christmas day, its been hard but I was sworn to secrecy, but now I can share my news! My Daughter Kirsty and her lovely partner Ian, gave us the fantastic news that they are having a baby! I am to become a Nan in August and I am ecstatic, can’t wait!

When needs must!

I have no problem with the weather being cold, nice warm and snug on the boat. The only thing spoiling my “ smugness”, ( there’s that word again Pickles no 2)! is the fact I have no water! I do have some in the tank and I am being very frugal with that, but once that goes I don’t quite know what I will do.

You can’t really take water for granted on a boat as you do in a house, you only have water at your disposal when you keep your tank topped up, in this weather that is nigh impossible! All the water taps on this mooring have been turned off as we have had a few bursts, sooo , there is no water to replenish the tank.

Strip washes at the moment and a trip to Mums for a shower. I have been scraping snow off the roof of the boat and heating it to wash the dishes, very, “ Little House on the Prairie-ish”! it does save using the tank water though which I would sooner use for cups of tea and cooking. Heth, ( Takey Tezey) was worried I might scrape up snow that Bobby may have earlier used as a toilet!, but I assured her that was why I was taking it from the roof, as he doesn’t, do “it” up there. Mind you I can’t say the same for birds that fly over! Anyway all the snow I scraped up was as pure as the driven…… you know how it goes!

I am heating the snow on top of the wood burner in a pan, very boaty I must say, but its all good fun. I don’t want to be a fair weather boater, so I will take any challenges that are thrown my way, ( within reason )! This cold spell is set to last according to the weather forecast, so we will see how I feel about these," challenges” after being without water for a few weeks!

I am sure I will be able to organise some containers of water from somewhere if the situation gets really bad.

Earlier on today I was filled with horror to see two lads playing with a ball walking down the middle of the frozen canal!. My heart was in my mouth watching them, they were totally oblivious to the danger they were in, if they were to fall through the ice into the water….. it just doesn’t bear thinking about.

Well must go, my snow is boiling!