Scott's birthday a couple of days ago, I got the night off from the pub so we could go out. He hid round the corner when Phil and Carolyn brought his birthday cake out. I can't remember getting home but I woke up in bed so I guess I must have! I had a good night even if Scott had to remain sensible and responsible until everyone was in bed before hitting the Southern Comfort!
Still not a lot going on, a few days of nice weather gave us hope that Spring was on the way only to be replaced by cold, grey, wintery weather again.
Scott has rebuilt the Chinese generator (the one the engine seized up on), so that's a spare 240 generator but 110 doesn't work very well.
We must apologise to regular viewers of our site for the current problems with the guest book. We are fighting a daily (losing) battle with spammers at the moment, as soon as we block them they change their IP and post again. We are working on a solution to this problem, if you have one please let us know.
If you have tried to visit our site today you may not have got there - this is a problem with the server not us, normal service will hopefully be resumed shortly - if it's not you won't be reading this anyway.
Saturday, 23 February 2008
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
PS.... Time and Tide wait for no girl going to the dentist....
Have to just add about our recent visit to the dentist...... Last Friday
Saff has one of her second teeth coming through, no problem, all kids go through it - except her baby teeth haven't fallen out yet and the new one is growing slightly behind.
So, we managed to get her registered with a dentist (no mean feat in itself), and were determined not to miss the dentist appointment. It was planned with military precision, (Alarm clock set...) me and Saff would get off the boat before the tide, Scott would join us later - he wanted to stay on board for the tide. I tortured and interrogated Scott for hours but he would (or could) not give me an exact time that the tide would be in.
So the morning of the dentist appointment arrived. I was carefully watching the water, then took my eyes off it momentarily (I had to do my shoelaces up)..... and it was around us!
I shouted down to Scott who was still in bed, "We've missed it!" Scott replied "I've told you before it's not a time thing it's a visual thing." After I'd muttered and mumbled a bit Scott said half in anger, half joking, "What do you want me to do carry Saff over!" To which of course my response was YES! Scott leapt out of bed still in his pyjamas, put his boots on and proceeded down the ladder ready to carry Saff over to the edge of the water. Later in the day Scott reminded me of the visual not time comment (neither of us have been able to wear our boots since they're so waterlogged) to which my reply was "I know that but I wasn't looking!"
Anyway you'll be pleased to know the dentist wasn't in the least concerned about Saff's teeth, he's just keeping an eye and hoping nature takes it's course.
Saff has one of her second teeth coming through, no problem, all kids go through it - except her baby teeth haven't fallen out yet and the new one is growing slightly behind.
So, we managed to get her registered with a dentist (no mean feat in itself), and were determined not to miss the dentist appointment. It was planned with military precision, (Alarm clock set...) me and Saff would get off the boat before the tide, Scott would join us later - he wanted to stay on board for the tide. I tortured and interrogated Scott for hours but he would (or could) not give me an exact time that the tide would be in.
So the morning of the dentist appointment arrived. I was carefully watching the water, then took my eyes off it momentarily (I had to do my shoelaces up)..... and it was around us!
I shouted down to Scott who was still in bed, "We've missed it!" Scott replied "I've told you before it's not a time thing it's a visual thing." After I'd muttered and mumbled a bit Scott said half in anger, half joking, "What do you want me to do carry Saff over!" To which of course my response was YES! Scott leapt out of bed still in his pyjamas, put his boots on and proceeded down the ladder ready to carry Saff over to the edge of the water. Later in the day Scott reminded me of the visual not time comment (neither of us have been able to wear our boots since they're so waterlogged) to which my reply was "I know that but I wasn't looking!"
Anyway you'll be pleased to know the dentist wasn't in the least concerned about Saff's teeth, he's just keeping an eye and hoping nature takes it's course.
It never rains but it pours.....
.......Or so they say.
They also say bad luck comes in threes, what no one ever said was it comes in multiples of 3 - so if you get to 4 you need another couple to get to 6........
1/Not last Friday, the Friday before our generator blew up, yes that's the second one, not a problem thought Scott - engine blown up on one generator, alternator on the other, combine the two, hey presto working generator. If only life were so simple! The threads on the bolts - whilst looking at first glance the same are completely incompatible, one Japanese, one Chinese generator, imported into Britain and never the tapered shafts shall meet......
2/Yet again we prayed for wind, being the Eco friendly project we strive to be we can manage for a few days without a petrol generator. Wrong! No wind whatsoever, we did discuss buying some big scoops to attach to the blades of the wind generator - the theory being that when they filled with rain the blades would turn. This of course would not have turned the blades fast enough to produce any power but it may, knowing the way thing work out have stopped the rain.
A few days later we awoke to the wonderful sound of a gale! Scott risked life and limb to climb onto the roof and unleash the wind generator. Bliss, computers and phones charging, we could get on the internet and look for a new generator......
3/However the wind didn't last and a couple of days later we were relying on the batteries to keep us going while waiting for the next gust. Then Scott noticed nothing seemed to be charging and on checking the inverter that seemed to be broken too
So we resigned ourselves to keeping the fire going (at least we'd be warm) and bought some candles to light when we'd eeked the last bit of light (12 volt) out of the batteries. We resorted to good old fashioned entertainment (keep it clean! Reading, conversation that sort of thing) We were even in bed (asleep!) by 10 a few nights.
4/ The glass plate in the front of the fire cracked, so now we couldn't even keep warm without suffering carbon monoxide poisoning.
At this point we turned to our friendly local pub landlord, took the computers and phones down there to plug in and sat drinking coffee scouring the internet for generators.
On one of these visits to the pub Phil presented us with a pair of chest waders which had been left by Graham (hence the post in the guestbook). Graham and Rita (Concle regulars) promised us Graham's old chest waders because he got some new ones for Christmas. So thank you Graham for the waders and thank you Rita for buying him some new ones for Christmas and reminding him to drop the old ones off at the pub. Of course I had to try them on, they're more chin waders on me and I can't paddle too deep in them at the moment because they've got some holes in the knees which need patching up, also Scott won't let me paddle if it's too rough because he says if I fall over and they fill up with water I'll never get up again.
So life is slowly going the right way again, we got a new generator and some new glass for the fire, all that's left to sort out is the inverter so we can actually use the power from the batteries with something other than 12 volt lighting.
So we got to 4 pieces of bad luck in the space of a week we decided not to wait for the others to make a multiple of three but to stop being superstitious instead
Still, it'll soon be Summer..........fingers crossed.
Oh yeah hi to Mike Burns if you ever look at the website again, I assume you're Mike from Gamestation - never knew your last name!
Should probably say this more often but once is all you get so make the most of it..... Big Thanks go to Helen's dad for all his help and support so far on this project.
We'd love to see you again soon but you still have to brave the ladder landlubber!
They also say bad luck comes in threes, what no one ever said was it comes in multiples of 3 - so if you get to 4 you need another couple to get to 6........
1/Not last Friday, the Friday before our generator blew up, yes that's the second one, not a problem thought Scott - engine blown up on one generator, alternator on the other, combine the two, hey presto working generator. If only life were so simple! The threads on the bolts - whilst looking at first glance the same are completely incompatible, one Japanese, one Chinese generator, imported into Britain and never the tapered shafts shall meet......
2/Yet again we prayed for wind, being the Eco friendly project we strive to be we can manage for a few days without a petrol generator. Wrong! No wind whatsoever, we did discuss buying some big scoops to attach to the blades of the wind generator - the theory being that when they filled with rain the blades would turn. This of course would not have turned the blades fast enough to produce any power but it may, knowing the way thing work out have stopped the rain.
A few days later we awoke to the wonderful sound of a gale! Scott risked life and limb to climb onto the roof and unleash the wind generator. Bliss, computers and phones charging, we could get on the internet and look for a new generator......
3/However the wind didn't last and a couple of days later we were relying on the batteries to keep us going while waiting for the next gust. Then Scott noticed nothing seemed to be charging and on checking the inverter that seemed to be broken too
So we resigned ourselves to keeping the fire going (at least we'd be warm) and bought some candles to light when we'd eeked the last bit of light (12 volt) out of the batteries. We resorted to good old fashioned entertainment (keep it clean! Reading, conversation that sort of thing) We were even in bed (asleep!) by 10 a few nights.
4/ The glass plate in the front of the fire cracked, so now we couldn't even keep warm without suffering carbon monoxide poisoning.
At this point we turned to our friendly local pub landlord, took the computers and phones down there to plug in and sat drinking coffee scouring the internet for generators.
On one of these visits to the pub Phil presented us with a pair of chest waders which had been left by Graham (hence the post in the guestbook). Graham and Rita (Concle regulars) promised us Graham's old chest waders because he got some new ones for Christmas. So thank you Graham for the waders and thank you Rita for buying him some new ones for Christmas and reminding him to drop the old ones off at the pub. Of course I had to try them on, they're more chin waders on me and I can't paddle too deep in them at the moment because they've got some holes in the knees which need patching up, also Scott won't let me paddle if it's too rough because he says if I fall over and they fill up with water I'll never get up again.
So life is slowly going the right way again, we got a new generator and some new glass for the fire, all that's left to sort out is the inverter so we can actually use the power from the batteries with something other than 12 volt lighting.
So we got to 4 pieces of bad luck in the space of a week we decided not to wait for the others to make a multiple of three but to stop being superstitious instead
Still, it'll soon be Summer..........fingers crossed.
Oh yeah hi to Mike Burns if you ever look at the website again, I assume you're Mike from Gamestation - never knew your last name!
Should probably say this more often but once is all you get so make the most of it..... Big Thanks go to Helen's dad for all his help and support so far on this project.
We'd love to see you again soon but you still have to brave the ladder landlubber!
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
Happy New Merry!
Well Christmas and New Year passed without too many hitches.
Just before Christmas I came home from work late one night and Scott rowed over in the dingy to collect me. Getting in the Dingy - no problem, getting out another matter entirely! Scott explained it all to me during the journey, stand in the middle of the dingy, get hold of the ladder then transfer your weight across quickly but smoothly. Sounds easy!?! Try it! I got hold of the ladder, stopped to think about what I was doing and the dingy started to drift away from the ladder, with me still holding on to it. Scott told me to leave go of the ladder and sit down, did I listen? Of course not - the ladder was the only thing not moving at that point I wasn't letting go for anyone. Next thing I was knocked backwards into the dingy - Scott says he was aiming to push me across the chest but he actually got me right across the nose. Still at least he saved me from falling face first into freezing cold water. Second attempt was much more successful and we got aboard.
Father Christmas found us - Phil from The Concle was most concerned that Father Christmas would deliver all Saff's presents to the pub since that's where everything else goes - and he managed to fulfill Saff's order.
Saff's birthday wasn't quite so good though, she spent the whole day with her head in a bucket and decided it was the worst birthday ever. Scott then succumbed to whatever it was Saff had, the result of which being today is the first day any of us have eaten properly since Christmas!
Severe weather warnings - snow on the way, mind you with the wind we've got at the moment snow will hit Hull before it lands anyway!
Just before Christmas I came home from work late one night and Scott rowed over in the dingy to collect me. Getting in the Dingy - no problem, getting out another matter entirely! Scott explained it all to me during the journey, stand in the middle of the dingy, get hold of the ladder then transfer your weight across quickly but smoothly. Sounds easy!?! Try it! I got hold of the ladder, stopped to think about what I was doing and the dingy started to drift away from the ladder, with me still holding on to it. Scott told me to leave go of the ladder and sit down, did I listen? Of course not - the ladder was the only thing not moving at that point I wasn't letting go for anyone. Next thing I was knocked backwards into the dingy - Scott says he was aiming to push me across the chest but he actually got me right across the nose. Still at least he saved me from falling face first into freezing cold water. Second attempt was much more successful and we got aboard.
Father Christmas found us - Phil from The Concle was most concerned that Father Christmas would deliver all Saff's presents to the pub since that's where everything else goes - and he managed to fulfill Saff's order.
Saff's birthday wasn't quite so good though, she spent the whole day with her head in a bucket and decided it was the worst birthday ever. Scott then succumbed to whatever it was Saff had, the result of which being today is the first day any of us have eaten properly since Christmas!
Severe weather warnings - snow on the way, mind you with the wind we've got at the moment snow will hit Hull before it lands anyway!
Thursday, 20 December 2007
The Long Winter Nights.........
Still working lots of daft hours, hence the lack of updates. Still, less than a week till Christmas and I'll only have one job then.......
Scott has been spending lots of time down in the engine room, freeing off and oiling up the main engine and looking at the electrics. The donkey engine starts every time now, and he's had the main engine turning over. Can't fire it up properly without being in water - guess what Scott will be doing Christmas Day!
Talking of Christmas Saff has put her "order" in to Father Christmas - hope Playmobil have sent lots of stuff to Lapland this year!
Last Monday the tide was in when I returned from work at the pub. In an effort to get me out of The Concle so they could go to bed Phil and Carolyn kindly lent me some waterproof trousers and wellingtons. Scott said the water would be up to my knees so off I set to paddle to the boat. The words "up to my knees be buggered!" issued from my mouth as the water lapped around my bum. Needless to say the waterproof trousers and wellys didn't keep me dry!
Tuesday, tide in again, waterproof trousers and wellys still on boat drying off, but I thought it can't be any worse than yesterday so set off to paddle in my ordinary trousers and crocs on the basis I could get dried off when I got home. Famous last words.......It was worse, up to my waist this time and icy cold. I stood panicking for a while because I could see a rock and couldn't work out what it was. Scott stood on deck trying to calm me down and shout encouragement.
On Wednesday I decided I obviously can't walk on water and decided to sit in the car for two hours rather than risk hypothermia for a third night running.
The upshot of all this was I spoke to Carolyn at the pub and Phil brought the dingy he's been promising we could borrow.
So on Friday Scott and Saff went out thinking I was getting paid from Gamestation. However I'd been given the wrong date so they couldn't get any money out of the bank. The tide was in, the idea was that by time Scott and Saff had done all the shopping etc they would be able to get aboard but because I hadn't been paid they couldn't go shopping.
We decided to test out the dingy.............
First of all Scott suggested I try to throw the oar to him, tied onto a rope. I used to be quite good at the javelin at school but my skills failed me this time. I suggested I untie the dingy and let it drift towards Scott, I had to tie a longer rope onto the rope that was on it so I could keep hold. The dingy eventually got to Scott and I pulled him back to the boat so he could collect the oar. From that moment onwards the plan deteriorated, Scott rowed back to shore to pick Saff up, shouting instructions to me about which way to pull the rope to guide him away from rocks. He got Saff safely into the dingy and I pulled while Scott rowed to get them round to the ladder.
By this point we were both freezing cold and communications broke down entirely, I couldn't hear what Scott was shouting and kept crashing them into the ladder whilst he was trying to go past it. Abort! Abort! Abort! The only choice available to us once they'd crashed into the ladder so much it was floating around and no longer safe to climb up - good job Scott keeps it tied to the boat! So they rowed back round to shore and bailed out in The Concle until the tide went out. Saff enjoyed the ride anyway, adrenaline junkie that girl!
Scott has been spending lots of time down in the engine room, freeing off and oiling up the main engine and looking at the electrics. The donkey engine starts every time now, and he's had the main engine turning over. Can't fire it up properly without being in water - guess what Scott will be doing Christmas Day!
Talking of Christmas Saff has put her "order" in to Father Christmas - hope Playmobil have sent lots of stuff to Lapland this year!
Last Monday the tide was in when I returned from work at the pub. In an effort to get me out of The Concle so they could go to bed Phil and Carolyn kindly lent me some waterproof trousers and wellingtons. Scott said the water would be up to my knees so off I set to paddle to the boat. The words "up to my knees be buggered!" issued from my mouth as the water lapped around my bum. Needless to say the waterproof trousers and wellys didn't keep me dry!
Tuesday, tide in again, waterproof trousers and wellys still on boat drying off, but I thought it can't be any worse than yesterday so set off to paddle in my ordinary trousers and crocs on the basis I could get dried off when I got home. Famous last words.......It was worse, up to my waist this time and icy cold. I stood panicking for a while because I could see a rock and couldn't work out what it was. Scott stood on deck trying to calm me down and shout encouragement.
On Wednesday I decided I obviously can't walk on water and decided to sit in the car for two hours rather than risk hypothermia for a third night running.
The upshot of all this was I spoke to Carolyn at the pub and Phil brought the dingy he's been promising we could borrow.
So on Friday Scott and Saff went out thinking I was getting paid from Gamestation. However I'd been given the wrong date so they couldn't get any money out of the bank. The tide was in, the idea was that by time Scott and Saff had done all the shopping etc they would be able to get aboard but because I hadn't been paid they couldn't go shopping.
We decided to test out the dingy.............
First of all Scott suggested I try to throw the oar to him, tied onto a rope. I used to be quite good at the javelin at school but my skills failed me this time. I suggested I untie the dingy and let it drift towards Scott, I had to tie a longer rope onto the rope that was on it so I could keep hold. The dingy eventually got to Scott and I pulled him back to the boat so he could collect the oar. From that moment onwards the plan deteriorated, Scott rowed back to shore to pick Saff up, shouting instructions to me about which way to pull the rope to guide him away from rocks. He got Saff safely into the dingy and I pulled while Scott rowed to get them round to the ladder.
By this point we were both freezing cold and communications broke down entirely, I couldn't hear what Scott was shouting and kept crashing them into the ladder whilst he was trying to go past it. Abort! Abort! Abort! The only choice available to us once they'd crashed into the ladder so much it was floating around and no longer safe to climb up - good job Scott keeps it tied to the boat! So they rowed back round to shore and bailed out in The Concle until the tide went out. Saff enjoyed the ride anyway, adrenaline junkie that girl!
Saturday, 1 December 2007
All work and no play.....
All work and no play makes the Vita Nova website somewhere that's not updated very often!
Not much been going on to be honest - the weather has pretty much stopped work outside for the moment and Scott has spent loads of time inside pottering.
Today (actually just looked at the time - it was yesterday) Scott got the donkey engine going!!!!!
He was down there and there were the usual grinding noises as he turned the handle. Suddenly the noise changed and was accompanied by cheering from downstairs.
He dropped me off at work then came back and started her up again - the test now is whether she starts tomorrow when she's cooled down!
Scott's just popped out to check the TV aerial, it's extremely windy and the TV went off, he came back in going "It had my hat!", so if you see a grey "Thinsulate" hat around it's Scott's please return it!. Last seen heading towards Ireland - and we don't mean Roa!
PS
Couldn't publish this post last night, the internet was having trouble communicating. So may as well add to it.
The engine works again today, Scott said it was harder to start but that may be because he did it in the morning when he hasn't got his reserves of energy built up.
Call off the search for Scott's hat - he found it on the deck this morning so it didn't make it to Ireland, Roa or any other!
Not much been going on to be honest - the weather has pretty much stopped work outside for the moment and Scott has spent loads of time inside pottering.
Today (actually just looked at the time - it was yesterday) Scott got the donkey engine going!!!!!
He was down there and there were the usual grinding noises as he turned the handle. Suddenly the noise changed and was accompanied by cheering from downstairs.
He dropped me off at work then came back and started her up again - the test now is whether she starts tomorrow when she's cooled down!
Scott's just popped out to check the TV aerial, it's extremely windy and the TV went off, he came back in going "It had my hat!", so if you see a grey "Thinsulate" hat around it's Scott's please return it!. Last seen heading towards Ireland - and we don't mean Roa!
PS
Couldn't publish this post last night, the internet was having trouble communicating. So may as well add to it.
The engine works again today, Scott said it was harder to start but that may be because he did it in the morning when he hasn't got his reserves of energy built up.
Call off the search for Scott's hat - he found it on the deck this morning so it didn't make it to Ireland, Roa or any other!
Saturday, 10 November 2007
Full Speed Ahead!
Two blogs in as many days - should be careful you might start to think this is a daily blog.
Scott got his other piston in the engine room freed off so the job now is to put it all back together again, he just popped up long enough to eat and has now gone back to finish his reassembling.
Still too windy to go on the roof and put the wind generator back up, must buy some solar panels - bet it won't be too sunny for them though!
Scott got his other piston in the engine room freed off so the job now is to put it all back together again, he just popped up long enough to eat and has now gone back to finish his reassembling.
Still too windy to go on the roof and put the wind generator back up, must buy some solar panels - bet it won't be too sunny for them though!
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