A couple of weeks ago Scott tried to put some paint on the outside of the wheelhouse but it was still too cold and the paint went all gloopy. A few sunny days later and lots of work has gone on, paint can, at the moment, be painted - pics will be posted soon!
Scott has told Saff he won't take her out in the dingy unless she can swim a length so Saff's challenge at the moment is to learn to swim without armbands. Although she was scared when we went swimming on Wednesday she eventually took the bull by the horns and tried to swim. What she's actually realised now is she can keep herself above water, if only for a few strokes at the moment!
Saff is also working on getting on and off the ladder by herself. She almost gave me heart failure earlier today when she went to leave the boat with no assistance. Scott stands there arms outstetched ready to grab her, but he wasn't ready earlier today when she was off.
Thanks this time must go to Tony for the fishing reels - just waiting for a rod and some hooks now! And Sue for taking Saff off our hands for a few hours today (sorry yesterday!). Saff had a great time and was spoiled rotten by sounds of it.
More thanks must go to Graham for his valiant efforts in the Concle (Sat night), whilst its not our place to thank him for keeping the Concle going he certainly provide Scott with entertainment for the evening!
Sunday, 11 May 2008
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
The Tide is High - But I'm Holding On!
Well we survived the latest round of high tides, see website for details.......in fact since the high tides this refers to we've weathered another lot!
Don't forget when you look at our website to scroll your mouse across the menu bar, whenever I get around to it more sub pages are added, so although it may look the same at first sight dig a little deeper. Apologies for the engine room page when you do look at the sub pages - I haven't actually got round to doing it yet, so we don't have an apple balanced on a lap top or a strange woman in there!
Also when you look at our pictures look in folders you've looked in before because we may have added some!
Not much else to report at the moment, except at least I don't have to speak to my dad every day now - during the high tides and severe weather he said I had to phone after every tide or he would send out the coastguard - I'd like to think our lot would have been here before he could alert help from the other side of the country!
Don't forget when you look at our website to scroll your mouse across the menu bar, whenever I get around to it more sub pages are added, so although it may look the same at first sight dig a little deeper. Apologies for the engine room page when you do look at the sub pages - I haven't actually got round to doing it yet, so we don't have an apple balanced on a lap top or a strange woman in there!
Also when you look at our pictures look in folders you've looked in before because we may have added some!
Not much else to report at the moment, except at least I don't have to speak to my dad every day now - during the high tides and severe weather he said I had to phone after every tide or he would send out the coastguard - I'd like to think our lot would have been here before he could alert help from the other side of the country!
Saturday, 1 March 2008
Spam Free!
Apologies to any one who has tried to access our site recently and found they couldn't because the bandwidth was exceeded, we were as you may already know being plagued by spammers leaving entries repeatedly on our guestbook.
Having taken advice from our service provider we now have a nifty little gadget called a CAPTCHA (for Completely Automated Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart) which in theory stops automatic entry of comments and means every spammer has to enter a code manually in order to leave a message.
It also means unfortunately that you ordinary mortals who just want to browse our site and leave us a message have to undergo the same procedure and prove you're human (incidentally on a slightly different version of CAPTCHA I failed twice!)
On a different subject, did the earth move for you last week? The whole boat shuddered and I thought it was just the wind until Scott shouted down that the news had said there'd just been an earthquake.
Really windy at the moment, last night on my way home from work I got blown from one side of the road to the other and ended up clinging onto a lamppost for dear life to stop myself falling down the bank. I decided I just needed to get home and set off at a run, taking as small steps as possible to not have my feet off the floor for long and with my arms outstretched to create as streamlined shape as possible. I hope there are no CCTV cameras down the causeway, I must have looked a right sight.
Regular readers of this blog will know we do not believe in superstition...........So, here's to a Spam Free Summer just around the corner...........Fingers Crossed!
Having taken advice from our service provider we now have a nifty little gadget called a CAPTCHA (for Completely Automated Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart) which in theory stops automatic entry of comments and means every spammer has to enter a code manually in order to leave a message.
It also means unfortunately that you ordinary mortals who just want to browse our site and leave us a message have to undergo the same procedure and prove you're human (incidentally on a slightly different version of CAPTCHA I failed twice!)
On a different subject, did the earth move for you last week? The whole boat shuddered and I thought it was just the wind until Scott shouted down that the news had said there'd just been an earthquake.
Really windy at the moment, last night on my way home from work I got blown from one side of the road to the other and ended up clinging onto a lamppost for dear life to stop myself falling down the bank. I decided I just needed to get home and set off at a run, taking as small steps as possible to not have my feet off the floor for long and with my arms outstretched to create as streamlined shape as possible. I hope there are no CCTV cameras down the causeway, I must have looked a right sight.
Regular readers of this blog will know we do not believe in superstition...........So, here's to a Spam Free Summer just around the corner...........Fingers Crossed!
Saturday, 23 February 2008
Happy Birthday To Scott!
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.
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.
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!
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