The start of 2021 and a New Year's resolution, lose weight (not enough exercise) and give up wine! First though all the Christmas goodies had to be consumed, so it wasn't until 10th before I could finally get started. Couldn't leave Ian to finish all those boxes of chocolates, mince pies and nibbles all by himself now could I? Would have been most irresponsible of me! Anyway, so far so good although on the wine front I found the resolution a tad to challenging to stop altogether so....instead of giving up for good, have resorted to sharing (aargh) one bottle of Shiraz at a weekend. 6 small glasses, (only size we have) two people to share means one of us gets an extra 2 glasses over the two days. "How about you having a rum and coke Ian?" said I, eying the bottle with anticipation! Thankfully it worked, so I got to get both those second glasses. Result! The diet is going well though. No more cake, biscuit, cheese bread etc, Welcome fruit, veg, yogurt, homemade soup, black coffee and lots of water. So far, over the 10 days, I have managed to lose 3 kg, a tad slower than I would have liked, but any weight loss is better than none!
Had a slight mishap a week ago with trying to drain the water tank. How that came about was because of a smell. During a shower I thought the water smelt funny, almost like musty potato, and also a slight tang to the taste after boiling the kettle for tea. It was decided then to completely drain the tank after an overnight treatment with Milton. So next morning taps were opened to empty the tank. Ian went off to the workshop leaving me to oversee the procedure. Well I was so intent on my new painting by numbers that it was a while before I got up to check on the water gauge. OMG....water was spilling into the corridor from the bathroom. Opening the door the sight that greeted me was one of horror. Water was cascading over the basin, the plug hole not being man enough for the job. Never have I turned those taps off so fast, grabbed ALL the towels to hand and smothered the floor with them. Of course, it was at that moment that Ian returned! Anyway one good thing...the floor hasn't been that clean in ages! We did have to lift the cupboard shelve in the bathroom to get to the hull steelwork, and it took a while to mop up all the water, but gosh was I glad I got up to check when I did cos it could have been so much worse! It's amazing quite how much the water tank holds! Anyway, the tank was flushed through and thankfully no more funny smell. (and yes we always flush through the hose and clean the nozzle before filling the tank if thats what is thought.)
Then there were the lights. Late afternoon and with the light fading, curtains were drawn and switches flicked to illuminate the kitchen. Ah....nothing. Switch flicked again...still nothing. Tried the bathroom...nop...tried the bedroom...still nothing. Oh 'eck, what a time to pack in. Ian fetched his electric test thingamajig and muggings here instructed to hold the torch to shine the light at various light sockets to see what was the problem. Needless to say nothing could be done that night but luckily, the plug sockets worked. Good-oh we had light from the TV and with a small table light managed to see the evening out.
Next morning Ian set too trying to discover the fault. After several hours of being totally baffled and had horrible thoughts of a broken wire somewhere between the ceiling board and cabin top which would have meant stripping all the decorative boards from the ceiling, he suddenly had one of those electric light bulb moments. Check the wall lights! Low and behold he discovered the screw holding the light to the wall had almost perforated one of the wires and with the constant expanding and contracting of the super structure due to temperature changes, it had finally moved enough to short the electrics.
We have had our fair share of freezing weather conditions. One morning ice covered the bathroom porthole and the temperature gauge read -7 outside and only 13 deg inside. Brrr, no wonder I was cold overnight! We even had more snow....didn't last long though as by the afternoon outside temperature rose to a balmy 3 degs.
Then on the 14th we had another smattering of snow and high water levels
Today we have battened down the hatches while storm Christoph does its worse. Water levels have once again risen and the paddles between the feeder and the basin has been wound down slightly to control the flow. River Erewash has flood warnings and some farmland between the canal and Sandiacre may be flooded. Hope everyone is safe and moored securely especially on the rivers. For us the only inconvenience is paddling through the half inch of water if we want to leave FS!
And the inevitable wildlife,
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| Crossing Anchor Bridge |
And an unexpected visitor to the Erewash canal
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| Goosander |
15 comments:
I thought you were going to say you had burned out the water pump. It's only designed to run for a few minutes at a time and its likely to overheat if you empty a whole tank at once. Alternating five minutes running then 10 minutes to cool down might be better for the pump next time.
Hi Paul, thanks for the warning. Thankfully we have never had an issue and we try to clean and drain the tank every couple of years. Might take your advice next time though.
Glad you're safe and well hunkered down in Free Spirit. I guess that with the amount of water about at the moment (both inside and out!) taking exercise by strolling along the towpath isn't an attractive option....if it's anything like around here (Sussex) it's mud, mud and more mud.
At least you are still recording the local wildlife, though I have to point out that your visiting sawbill isn't a male Merganser, but a pristine male Goosander in all his finery waiting for the breeding season to start.
Best wishes
Paul
Hi Irene,
Nice to be reading your blog again and to see your wildlife photos, especially the beautiful goldfinch. Hope you don't mind me saying though, but I think your Merganser might actually be a male Goosander.
Keep safe, well, warm and dry.
Jo ex n/b Sarah Kate
Hi Jo and Paul. Hope you are both well. Ah, the website I used to identify the bird was
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Merganser/id
http://www.wildfowl-photography.co.uk/wildfowl/goosander.htm
and they looked remarkably like the bird I photographed on the canal. Other websites call the Goosander a Mergus Merganser so who is right? I will leave my initial identification for the present, but I am willing to change it if I can be proved wrong.
Hello Irene,
It does get a bit confusing as the latin name for a Goosander is Mergus merganser. It's the most likely sawbill to be found on inland waters. The other sawbill, the Red-breasted Merganser is mainly a coastal bird - its latin name is Mergus serrator.
It's a wonderful photograph though, I'd love to have had the opportunity, and at the end of the day it's your image.
Jo
Thanks Jo. I think I will put Goosander in brackets. Xx
Ah, Irene, the assistant's job of 'torch holder in chief' is a familiar one to me too! Glad you are both okay. Well done on the weight loss. It is always so difficult. I too love the wildlife photos and despite our son's occupation, would not have had a clue whether the last one is a Goosander or Mergus Merganser! Jennie x
Hi Irene
Jo's explanation is absolutely spot on. The confusion arises because the main source you have used is American, and some species found there have different common names to those used here. For example what we call skuas are known in US as jaegers.
I attach a link to a British guide, which makes it clear that what you photographed was a male Goosander - this is known in America as a COMMON Merganser. The main confusion species is Red-breasted Merganser - called that on both sides of the Atlantic.
https://www.birdguides.com/articles/identification/sawbill-photo-id-guide/
Hope this helps!!
Paul
Hi Paul, Thanks, I think that clears up the confusion. Goosander it is (:
Lovely pics Irene we have never seen a gooseander around the canals or rivers.
Like you we are trying to cut back our food/drink and only have a little at the wekends for a treat.
Dificult when you like red wine, rum with cassis or some gin with cheddars, or sea salt crisps and a bit of Stilton.
It's even harder as we are all in lockdown with not much of interest on the tv, only repeats! So naturally we droole all week thinking about w/e the cheese and wine party!
Anyway, you have done better than me for losing weight, keep up the good work.
Ann and Keith XX
Thanks Ann and Keith. It's the holding back of the wine that is the hardest. I treat myself to two small glasses twice a week and tonight is one of those nights. (:
You probably don't read your own blog but, if you do and, if you scroll to the very bottom you will see the error message that "Adobe Flash Player is no longer supported" for your pics. Chrome stopped supporting it recently and other browsers will also be stopping support in the near future if they haven't already.
Thanks, Paul. I can't find anything about this at the end of the blog and have tasked Ian to look into it for me. I had a quick look on the web and find Flash Player can still be used but is now unsupported. What will replace it? This is what Ian will try and find out for me.
You need to look in Chrome (desktop or phone) and scroll to the very bottom of your blog.
Flash Player is unsupported, and unprotected from simple hacking techniques so Chrome blocks it for our safety and nobody should be using it on their blog.
If the browser you are using doesn't block Flash it then your browser isn't providing very good protection so you might consider changing it.
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