Woofits playtime

Chemo day for Ian yesterday and for once Ian had his treatment nearly as soon as he arrived at the ward and consequently was back at the boat by 7pm instead of the usual 10pm. As the evening wore on for the first time in days we felt decidedly chilly as the temperature dropped to -5. We woke to ice on the inside of the windows this morning but the sun was out just calling to us to go back to Shipley Park and enjoy the snow. Jo ( Where I Belong ) on Nb Hadar posted some lovely photos of Paddy playing in the snow and it got me motivated to capture Jade enjoying these conditions as well.

Once back at the boat I suddenly remembered I hadn't fed the feral cat. No large prints in the fresh snow this time, thank goodness, so I emptied the bowl of snow and filled it with the Go Cat and Whiskers meat. No sooner had I dropped the cat food in the bowl then a Robin appeared. I still had my camera and took a quick picture of it thieving the cat food. This time of year is hard for all wildlife so to get a bit of a protein fix must be beneficial to keep the body weight up.

A Weasel encounter

 Overnight we have had another 3" of snow with snow still falling at lunchtime. No one else seemed to venture out in the snowy and icy conditions and so I was lucky enough to be the only person walking along the Nottingham canal today.

The bird!!! Not a brilliant photo

 I was trying to take a photo of a bird perched on a bullrush stalk when out of the corner of my eye I happened to notice a movement in the snow. So to see the weasel as it poked its head out of the snow was just brilliant. I had to stay very still for nearly 15 minutes to capture all these photo's and poor Jade must have been utterly fed up waiting by my side. I'm still not sure if this is a weasel. Apparently a Stoat is about the same size but has a black tip to its tail. As I couldn't see the tail I have assumed it to be a weasel.

It was certainly a good day to be out and about as my next photo opportunity came with what I initially thought to be a pigeon, turned out to be a Kestrel. Unfortunately I didn't have my telephoto lens attached to the camera so this was the best picture out of all those I took.

And then...... standing motionless on a gate post was this Shrew. I snapped away thinking how lucky I was that it hadn't moved........... and then it struck me. The shrew was dead!!!. Maybe it had been dropped by a bird and just happened to land on the post. Oh well. I'm still waiting to photograph my first fox but Ive ticked a few more furry creatures and birds of my list.

Whats happened to the water?

Strange prints in the snow!

We had another dumping of snow yesterday. Another 3" to be exact. It wasn't until just before 9pm when it stopped. By the time it came round for Jades walk I had a quick look out of our galley window to see if I needed my snow gear and was in time to see a fox running down the neighbours drive, straight across the frozen canal and disappear over the fence by the facility block. How it knew it could walk on water is anyone's guess. Wily old fox comes to mind. Anyway the snow had stopped and the woofit got her last walk of the night. Then this morning I had to feed the feral cat adopted by our house neighbour. To get to their house one has to walk up a fairly dark and secluded drive. Thats when I noticed the prints in the snow!!! I knew that both the fox and cat had been down that way but these prints got me completely baffled. What on earth could have produced them. The prints only started at the drive entrance and stopped before the house. No other footprints were visible other then that of the fox, cat and birds. Has the beast of Bodmin moor finally made it to Langley Mill??? And if so where did it go? I will leave you with the ever so slightly worrying prints.

Large prints next to fox and bird.

My foot prints are on the right.

Plenty of snow fell yesterday giving us another 3-4"

Earthquake????? and update on Ian

News reports here in the Midlands confirm there was a earthquake this morning at 5.20 am. Loads of people felt it, especially those living in Loughborough, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. I certainly didn't feel the earth move this morning (or the boat rocking) but I suppose that's one of the benefits of living on water. I do remember the Earthquake of February 2008, though. It was very early in the morning, and we just happened to be staying in our bungalow instead of on the boat. Suddenly, something woke us in the early hours of the morning. Imagine the roar of a high speed train as it rushes past you at a station, and that's just how it felt to us. No wonder we woke up terrified. We lay there for a moment, not really understanding what had happened. Ian even jumped out of bed to see it our chimney stack had fallen down. It wasn't until the news reports the next morning that we found out about the earthquake!

So now to my update on Ian.

Yesterday afternoon we had an appointment to see the consultant. After the usual long wait, we finally got in to see the man himself instead of his registrar.  After Ian had had the normal weight, pulse and heart checks, the consultant once again confirmed how pleased he was to see that the tumour was shrinking. He went on to say that he wasn't sure how long to continue with the chemotherapy treatment. Ian's liver tests showed things to be almost back to normal in that department, and he felt it would be a good idea to have a 'chemo holiday' in a few months time. We would know better after the next MRI, but just as I was thinking 'yes we can go cruising again' he dropped the bombshell that this wouldn't be until June!!! Oh, well.......... I suppose we are better off where we are for the time being, what with this cold snap set to continue. It would have been nice to know exactly which month we could have aimed for, though. Still, one other good bit of news. A new Chemotherapy drug has become available on the market for the sort of rare ( Desmoid ) tumour Ian has. It's one of those drugs that seem to work on the majority of these tumours. It's another option we can explore if this round of chemo stops working. Only trouble is, not all health authorities want to fork out for the drug. Our consultant, though, is not one to sit on his laurels and would keep pushing the authorities for the treatment. He seems to have been successful in other cases so there is hope for us yet. So all in all, we had some really great and positive news. Long may it continue.

The snow has just started here in Langley Mill, but thankfully it's not as heavy as in the West Midlands at the moment. It seems they are having an awful time of it on the roads, even though the gritters have been out. Judging by the weather forecast for this region, we should miss the worst of it.

 I will leave you with some more of my birdie pictures.

Wood Pigeon and Blue Tit

Cock Blackbird

Hen Blackbird

Long Tailed Tits

Help!!! Can anyone identify these birds?

I don't think these birds are from Britain. I cant find anything about them in my bird books or on the web so could they be winter visitors? Only two males and three females ( I am assuming the colourful bird is a male ) were present on the lake at Shipley Country park in Derbyshire.

Tufted duck

Piebald in the snow

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Atmospheric sunrise

Picture taken at Evesham last Sunday ( whilst visiting Ian's brother Alan ) before our snow event on Sunday night.

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First snow of the winter

Seems like my main blog picture was right after all! Snow had fallen steadily throughout the night giving us a good couple of inches by early morning. It all looks really pretty, I know, and, dont get me wrong, I love it when its all nice and crisp and white but with  4 steps to climb from the mooring before getting onto the main path, the icy conditions made it treacherous underfoot to say the least! I only just saved myself from an icy dunking!

 While Ian went for his blood test to check that he could have his treatment this afternoon, I took Jade for her first walk of the day. By the time I returned an hour later the snow had developed into what I call proper size flakes, so getting back on board the boat and sitting close to a roaring fire with a cup of hot coco was absolute bliss. Ian returned not long after with the good news that his white blood cell count was normal and that his chemo can go ahead as planned. By 2.30pm  the sun had came out. The thaw began causing great lumps of sticky snow to fall to the ground and with plummeting temperatures forecast overnight I expect a very icy start to tomorrow morning!

Winter wonderland

Proper snow.

Cor that was close!

Sunset on the Thames

Rose hips in the water

I told you, dear, I could see the bit you missed!