Thursday 10th January
It is perishing cold this morning, so we can safely say that winter has returned. In fact the frost settled last night, so I suppose I’ll have to be careful this morning when I take Rusty out. Talking of which, almost an hour ago she awoke and raised her head to look around. That’s good, I thought, let’s get her out. So saying, I put my shoes on and, by the time I had done so, she’s gone back to sleep. And she’s still asleep! If she deigns to surface at 7 o/clock, that will be 9 hours without a pee. I should be so lucky!
O.K. I have now downloaded Apache Open Office and the far bigger Ubuntu. The latter because the disc was making an awful noise and I don’t want to chance it. I might just install one on the Toshiba later today, just to see what they’re all about.
Sunday 13th January
Firstly, Open Office and Ubuntu, neither of which I have installed as yet. But there’s no rush for either as I’m still sorting out the Sony. And, along with that task, I’ve been trying the new WiFi unit but, as with my past problems with Outlook, this thing is not a lot of good either, so I’m still using the dongle. Thanks goodness I didn’t chuck it.
Anyway, the WiFi unit does work but, with it being surrounded by metal, and not just that of Shiralee, but our neighbours two boats as well, the signal is no better than the dongle. In order to see if it’s faster than the dongle, as the staff at the ‘Three’ shop claim, I will have to mount it on a stick and stand it outside, on the roof. This also means it will have to be plugged into the laptop, because it does need to be charged up, unlike the dongle.
Today winter has arrived with a vengeance. We have a really heavy frost and it is darned cold out there. Still, better late than never.
As of Thursday morning we had both lost 3lb in weight. This is pretty good for the first week I think. But we made a huge mistake yesterday and bought a new set of scales. These are electronic and also measure body fat and water. Don’t ask, I have no idea how they do it. It’s something to do with an electronic pulse that the scales send through the bare feet. The scales have to be set with height and age and they show me as being about 5lb heavier than the old scales. But that’s no surprise as the old ones belong in a museum.
So, all is going well with the Hairy Dieters book. Yesterday we had roast chicken with roasted vegetables, a most enjoyable meal. For anybody reading this, who needs to lose weight, I can’t think of a more enjoyable way of doing it. A truly inspired book. What surprises us most is that we don’t feel hungry between meals.
Tuesday 15th January
The good news is, I’m getting there with the transfer of info from the Toshiba to the Sony. The bad news is, although the Transfer Cable info suggests it is possible to transfer emails, I can’t see how and, what makes it worse, there’s no Help File with the programme. So, I am still in the process of copying my emails into Word for safe keeping.
You may remember me telling about my recent experiences when ordering a book from Amazon? Well, this morning the same thing happened with eBay. I tried purchasing a book on Archaeology for my sister Carole but, as I was filling in the delivery address, the page disappeared. I immediately assumed that the sale had gone through and, sure enough, when I checked on my Purchase History, that was indeed the case. But that’s not all, it seems I had purchased two of the same item.
Of course, I checked my PayPal account and found there were no new transactions, so I haven’t actually paid for them. My next step was to contact the vendor because, with the apparent sale of both his books, the listing had, to all intents and purposes, ended, so the book was not now available.
Today has started very cold, colder than we have seen so far. Luckily for us we only had a smidgeon of snow yesterday, but we are assured that more is on the way.
I have, as you all know, upgraded my dongle to a WiFi unit and, I have to say that, within the confines of the boat, it’s no better than the dongle. The only way I can get a signal is if I tie it to a stick and stand it by the window. It seems then, that I have once again been lied to. When I was told that it will overcome the confines of a boat, they lied because it does no such thing. Well, not for me anyway, because I’ve tried at several points within the boat, and can’t get a signal at all, except on the end of the stick.
Obviously being surrounded by boats here, the WiFi is struggling but, since I can pick up the local marina WiFi signal, and that’s outside the boat and I’m picking it up even though my unit is surrounded by metal, why can’t I pick my own signal up?
Anyway, in order to solve this problem, at least while we’re still at the marina, I’m making a box in which to house it and, by attaching a magnet to the bottom, I should be able to stand the box on the roof and receive a decent signal. I’m nothing if not versatile.
In November 2011 I purchased a pair of varifocal and a pair of reading glasses from Boot’s. I was not completely happy with them, simply because the reading part of the varifocal glasses was not as efficient as the reading pair. So, when it came to having them adjusted, I mentioned this, in two separate occasions but, on both occasions my concerns were ignored.
Just recently I received a letter inviting me for an appointment for a sight test. But, instead of attending said appointment, I wrote to Boot’s telling them I would not be doing so, and why. I received a telephone call from the manageress of the Burton store, asking me to pay them a visit, at which time she will attempt to sort out my problem. Who knows, I may get satisfaction, but I’m not holding my breath.
Thursday 17th January
Hoorah! I have finally got the new WiFi unit to work in the boat, without having to hoist on a stick on the roof. Actually, it’s under the cratch cover, the other side of the front door. It’s pretty fast too, although, I have yet to test it with a download of any size. It’s a pity we didn’t try that spot before I made a box in which to house it and put on the roof. Still, I may yet need it when we’re cruising.
I have also managed to get Typeitin and eBook Starter set up in their Professional mode. But, in each case I have had to contact the programme makers before I could do so. What a palaver these people put you through. You’d think they would try to make these things easy for existing customers, but the reverse seems to be true. This especially in the case of Typeitin, or Wavget, as the parent company is called. At least eBook have a page dedicated to this problem and it’s easily fixed.
This morning doesn’t seem quite as cold as yesterday, and that can only mean one thing, snow! This might seem an odd thing to say, but experience shows that, in really cold weather – sort of hovering around freezing – when clouds build up and the edge goes off the frost, snow is on the way. Of course, I have the added advantage of the weather report from yesterday evening, which told us to expect snow by Friday morning. But, I wouldn’t mind betting it’s here before today is done.
Our water pump is now really misbehaving itself and, yesterday afternoon I counted 12 seconds before the water came through. Andy has promised to replace it within the next couple of days, but I’ve warned him that, should it stop completely, I’ll be chasing him up for an immediate solution.
Today we’re driving into Burton for Sainsbury’s shopping. Normally we would do so at Morrison’s but, since Wifey need a particular spice, that Morrison’s didn’t have, it’s Sainsbury’s. While we’re there of course, I’ll call in at Boot’s Opticians and see if I can get any satisfaction regarding these glasses.
Sunday 20th January
It’s been pretty darn cold here these past few days, with about 3 inches of snow on Friday, a few measly flakes yesterday, but no more overnight. As a result of that settled snow, along with the lack of gritting on our perimeter road, that road is now like a skating rink, a sheet of rutted ice, where the snow has been churned up by cars and has now frozen solid.
Our diet is going very well and, since purchasing our new electronic scales last Saturday, we’ve both lost another 3 pounds. The recipes are pretty good too, with very little fat and few carbs, so my blood glucose readings have stabilised quite well, apart from the occasional hiccup, caused by those lack of carbs. Anyway, we’re really doing quite well.
Our new WiFi unit is pretty good, now that we’ve found a suitable location in the boat. However, it’s still no faster in downloading stuff than the dongle. But at least I don’t have to stand it on the roof. Although, once this cold snap is over, I’ll be putting the unit in its little box and standing it on the roof, but only to see if it improves the download speed.
There’s an odd thing about this WiFi unit, and it’s all to do with the Security Code. Included with unit is a Keepsake Card, and on that card is the WiFi Key, which is needed in order to set the thing up and, if used on a different computer, that code would have to be entered, but only once. This card also tell me that, if I press the little ‘key’ icon on the side of the unit, I will be able to see the code on the screen. So much for security then! This means that, should somebody steal the WiFi unit, they will be able to set it up on their computer, simply by pressing the ‘key’ to obtain my security code. Isn’t that great?
I’ll be starting on a new pastel painting soon, this time it’s a Still Life, the subject of which is a pink flower with two Faberge Eggs sitting beside it. The detail on the eggs will certainly be tricky, but I’m looking forward to starting it tomorrow morning.
Monday 21st January
We had loads of snow yesterday, about 3 inches or so, and even more overnight. We were planning on taking the bus into Derby this morning, but I don’t fancy traipsing through the snow to the bus stop.
Well, I was going to do a bit more to this blog entry, but Wifey has just surfaced, so it’s time to do breakfast.
Tuesday 22nd January
My apologies for the shortness of entry yesterday, but Wifey must have her breakfast, this is of paramount importance. Although, if she were that desperate she would get up earlier. LOL
Anyway, after transferring all my emails from Outlook 2003 on the Toshiba, to Outlook 2010 on the Sony, I carried on with other things, thinking all would now be well. Noooooo! Oh no!
This morning, when I tried opening Outlook 2010, the darn thing would not obey me. Instead it complained that it was unable to find a certain .pst file. Now, I do know what these files are and, believe it or not, I also know what they do. (Just because I’m a mere man does not mean I am completely and utterly useless).
So, I have no doubt whatsoever that I did something wrong when I transferred my files from one machine to the other. I have now enlisted the aid of the very nice man who sold me the Sony. Incidentally, Dave, that’s the aforementioned nice man, telephoned me a couple of days ago, in response to my earlier email. Had I known I had made such an almighty cock-up, I would have asked for a few more details. I now await his reply but, in the meantime, I’ll have another crack at the problem.
Happy days from Dave Sheila and Rusty, from a very cold Mercia Marina.
Monday 21 January 2013
Wednesday 9 January 2013
Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 9
Saturday 5th January
As I reported in the previous blog, I was unable to upload a copy of my painting of Shiralee. Now, having checked on the blogger forum and found somebody else with a similar problem, it seems the fault lies with IE9. I have a problem with this excuse, as I am still using IE8 and have had no problems up until now. The engineers are working on the problem, or so it seems but, meanwhile, in the top right hand corner of the forum page we are invited to try Google Chrome, as if we don’t have enough browsers to contend with already.
So, what to do about this? Well, if, by the time I come to post this blog I am still having problems, I will have to make a decision. Do I change to a different blog supplier, or do I start hosting pictures on a free hosting site, such as Photo Bucket?
Do I need this at my time of life?
O.K., back to normal living.
We are the proud owners of the Hairy Bikers book in which they both go on a serious diet and lose umpteen pounds each. Last night we tried their Lasagne, in which they use the skins of a leek in place of the pasta. This is to cut down on the fat in the recipe, and quite delicious it was too. The fact that my evening was thoroughly spoiled afterwards with a dodgy tummy, does not detract from its deliciousness. And besides, this could have been brought on by the mini pork pies I had for lunch, or even the glass or three of red wine that we had with the meal.
This morning, just for a change, and if she actually deigns to get up at all, Wifey is doing breakfast. This will be another of the HB’s recipes and involves a couple of crumpets laced with berries and Greek yoghourt. Hopefully my tummy will behave itself afterwards.
Sunday 6th January
Well, I’m pleased to say, no tummy trouble with that excellent meal. So far we have tried four of these recipes and found them all pretty darned good and tasty. Hopefully, following their advice and only eating at proper meal times, with no silly snacks in between, we will keep to a calorie controlled diet and lose weight.
As far as Wifey’s BMI reading goes, she’s at a healthy weight and, although she is a wee bit podgy – or mumsy - now, she says she feels uncomfortable. For myself, I know I need to shed at least 20lb and will endeavour to do so before we set sail in March.
At the start of this diet I weighed in at 14st. 8lb. (204lb), and that’s on our old scales. I’m at least half a stone heavier on nurse’s scales at the surgery. My comfortable weight is about 13 stone (182lb), but my ideal weight, and a target I would not expect to reach at my age, is about 12½ stone (175lb). It would be nice to think I could do so, but I’m only human, and a man at that, so I don’t expect miracles.
Rusty took a bit of a tumble yesterday and seemed to twist a leg underneath her, so we’ve had to lift her out of the boat to take her walkies. It’s now almost 7 am and, after 9 hours on her bed, she still seems reluctant to move, although she is wide awake. I don’t know how they do it! During the day she pesters us to go out at two hour intervals.
Monday 7th January
Well, the Sony arrived on Saturday and, true to his word, the seller had installed MS Office 2010. Whoopee, I thought, but then realised there was no Installation disc with it. Obviously, should the laptop crash sometime in the future, I won’t be able to re-install Office and, even if I were to install 2003, I won’t be able to open documents made in 2010. Great! I have emailed the seller and asked about this, but I’m afraid, if the disc is not forthcoming, I’ll have grin and bear it. After all, should the worst happen I do still have 2007 Home and Student, along with 2007 Outlook.
Any computer seller worth his salt would have a licence from Microsoft whereby he can install programmes and provide the necessary discs. If they don’t have that licence, they have no right to install the programmes. Simple!
Tuesday 8th January
Well, here we go again. I just knew I would have problems setting up Outlook 2010 and, as usual, I was right. At first, after following all the settings I had written down from 2003, all seemed to go well and I downloaded my messages. Then, for some odd reason the programme refused to run. It would not send a Test Message either.
Now, I have always had a problem with Outlook. I have no idea why but, whichever computer I have had, setting this up, be it 2003, 2007 or the latest 2010, nothing goes right. Until I set this up to run properly, how the heck can I expect my new WiFi unit to work? After all, this too will rely upon the correct settings. All I want to do is download my messages from my server Absolute eMail, to Outlook. Nothing could be simpler, could it? Sickening, absolutely sickening, and I have spent over an hour on this so far this morning.
I also have Typeitin to set up. This is a web and email storage programme that allows one click writing of web addresses and emails into their relevant boxes. This is another programme I always have problems setting up. It entails going online and downloading the programme and then registering it, which is where the problem always comes.
Another programme which requires a similar registration process is eBook Starter, which I used when compiling my recipe book. Thankfully, since I have nothing on the back burner, I’m in no hurry to set this one up.
Ah well, such are trials and tribulations of owning a computer. I’ll be glad when I’m too old to bother.
On a lighter note, we’re off to Derby by bus where, I hope, I’ll be able to buy a transfer lead, so that I can copy stuff from the Toshiba to the Sony.
Wednesday 9th January
Whoopee! It’s Wednesday and it’s Wifey’s turn to do breakfast. Why? Well, we always have crumpets on Wednesdays, normally with lashings of butter, yummee! But, as we’re on a diet and cutting down on fats of all kinds, we are now enjoying our crumpets with fruit and plain yoghurt. And that’s where Wifey comes into the operation. In truth I don’t think she trusts me to do it right. It’s a shame she doesn’t adopt the same attitude when it comes to washing up!
I am still having problems setting up Outlook 2010 and have gone through the procedure several times, always with the same result. I just cannot send and receive messages. I have no idea why this should be, but I had exactly the same problem when setting up the 2007 version on the Toshiba. Why it should be a problem with the Sony and 2010 I simply can’t figure out.
As for the disc for 2010, well, I have been assured by a friend of mine, that the installation of Office 2010 should not have been carried out and is probably hookey, so I’m in a bit of a quandary. Do I keep it? Do I delete it and install 2007 Home and Student; which would probably leave me with the same Outlook problem? Or do I delete it and install Office 2003, which I know is OK?
Alternatively I could install Ubuntu’s Open Office Suite, alongside Windows and run their equivalent programme. But I also have a problem with the Ubuntu disc, it’s making an awful noise when it’s running. This problem crops up sometimes with old or dirty discs, neither of which description fits this Ubuntu disc.
Oh boy, how do I come up against these silly problems?
Now, having typed all that in and despite the noisy disc, I’m going to try installing Open Office later today. I might give it a try out on the Toshiba first though.
Thursday 10th January
The good news is that, after several painstaking hours on the Sony, I finally managed to get Outlook to send a Test message. The bad news is that, when I clicked on Send/Receive Outlook did send my message to Sandra but, despite telling me my emails had been downloaded, they had not. At least I couldn’t see anything in the Inbox.
I suspect that I may have a problem with Windows Firewall settings because, it was only after ‘playing around’ with those settings that the Test message went out. I am now sitting at the Toshiba and have checked the Firewall settings on that. My next stop, later this morning, will be to compare settings.
Now, when I bumped into my friend Chris yesterday, he’s the all-knowing one with computers, he suggested I install Open Office. As it happens and as I have already mentioned, I do have the Ubuntu disc, but that’s faulty and, to make matters worse, Ubuntu is not the only Open Office suite available. There is another one called Apache, but that is considerably smaller. Suck it and See is a phrase that springs to mind, or find Chris and see what he thinks.
Meanwhile, back to those Firewall settings, I suppose. I have nothing else to do today, so it looks like more work on the Sony. I’ll crack it eventually. However, if anybody out there can offer advice, please do so by email.
And now we will post this blog. Well, it will give you all something to read, if you have the time.
Still unable to upload picture from laptop!!
Have a great weekend.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
As I reported in the previous blog, I was unable to upload a copy of my painting of Shiralee. Now, having checked on the blogger forum and found somebody else with a similar problem, it seems the fault lies with IE9. I have a problem with this excuse, as I am still using IE8 and have had no problems up until now. The engineers are working on the problem, or so it seems but, meanwhile, in the top right hand corner of the forum page we are invited to try Google Chrome, as if we don’t have enough browsers to contend with already.
So, what to do about this? Well, if, by the time I come to post this blog I am still having problems, I will have to make a decision. Do I change to a different blog supplier, or do I start hosting pictures on a free hosting site, such as Photo Bucket?
Do I need this at my time of life?
O.K., back to normal living.
We are the proud owners of the Hairy Bikers book in which they both go on a serious diet and lose umpteen pounds each. Last night we tried their Lasagne, in which they use the skins of a leek in place of the pasta. This is to cut down on the fat in the recipe, and quite delicious it was too. The fact that my evening was thoroughly spoiled afterwards with a dodgy tummy, does not detract from its deliciousness. And besides, this could have been brought on by the mini pork pies I had for lunch, or even the glass or three of red wine that we had with the meal.
This morning, just for a change, and if she actually deigns to get up at all, Wifey is doing breakfast. This will be another of the HB’s recipes and involves a couple of crumpets laced with berries and Greek yoghourt. Hopefully my tummy will behave itself afterwards.
Sunday 6th January
Well, I’m pleased to say, no tummy trouble with that excellent meal. So far we have tried four of these recipes and found them all pretty darned good and tasty. Hopefully, following their advice and only eating at proper meal times, with no silly snacks in between, we will keep to a calorie controlled diet and lose weight.
As far as Wifey’s BMI reading goes, she’s at a healthy weight and, although she is a wee bit podgy – or mumsy - now, she says she feels uncomfortable. For myself, I know I need to shed at least 20lb and will endeavour to do so before we set sail in March.
At the start of this diet I weighed in at 14st. 8lb. (204lb), and that’s on our old scales. I’m at least half a stone heavier on nurse’s scales at the surgery. My comfortable weight is about 13 stone (182lb), but my ideal weight, and a target I would not expect to reach at my age, is about 12½ stone (175lb). It would be nice to think I could do so, but I’m only human, and a man at that, so I don’t expect miracles.
Rusty took a bit of a tumble yesterday and seemed to twist a leg underneath her, so we’ve had to lift her out of the boat to take her walkies. It’s now almost 7 am and, after 9 hours on her bed, she still seems reluctant to move, although she is wide awake. I don’t know how they do it! During the day she pesters us to go out at two hour intervals.
Monday 7th January
Well, the Sony arrived on Saturday and, true to his word, the seller had installed MS Office 2010. Whoopee, I thought, but then realised there was no Installation disc with it. Obviously, should the laptop crash sometime in the future, I won’t be able to re-install Office and, even if I were to install 2003, I won’t be able to open documents made in 2010. Great! I have emailed the seller and asked about this, but I’m afraid, if the disc is not forthcoming, I’ll have grin and bear it. After all, should the worst happen I do still have 2007 Home and Student, along with 2007 Outlook.
Any computer seller worth his salt would have a licence from Microsoft whereby he can install programmes and provide the necessary discs. If they don’t have that licence, they have no right to install the programmes. Simple!
Tuesday 8th January
Well, here we go again. I just knew I would have problems setting up Outlook 2010 and, as usual, I was right. At first, after following all the settings I had written down from 2003, all seemed to go well and I downloaded my messages. Then, for some odd reason the programme refused to run. It would not send a Test Message either.
Now, I have always had a problem with Outlook. I have no idea why but, whichever computer I have had, setting this up, be it 2003, 2007 or the latest 2010, nothing goes right. Until I set this up to run properly, how the heck can I expect my new WiFi unit to work? After all, this too will rely upon the correct settings. All I want to do is download my messages from my server Absolute eMail, to Outlook. Nothing could be simpler, could it? Sickening, absolutely sickening, and I have spent over an hour on this so far this morning.
I also have Typeitin to set up. This is a web and email storage programme that allows one click writing of web addresses and emails into their relevant boxes. This is another programme I always have problems setting up. It entails going online and downloading the programme and then registering it, which is where the problem always comes.
Another programme which requires a similar registration process is eBook Starter, which I used when compiling my recipe book. Thankfully, since I have nothing on the back burner, I’m in no hurry to set this one up.
Ah well, such are trials and tribulations of owning a computer. I’ll be glad when I’m too old to bother.
On a lighter note, we’re off to Derby by bus where, I hope, I’ll be able to buy a transfer lead, so that I can copy stuff from the Toshiba to the Sony.
Wednesday 9th January
Whoopee! It’s Wednesday and it’s Wifey’s turn to do breakfast. Why? Well, we always have crumpets on Wednesdays, normally with lashings of butter, yummee! But, as we’re on a diet and cutting down on fats of all kinds, we are now enjoying our crumpets with fruit and plain yoghurt. And that’s where Wifey comes into the operation. In truth I don’t think she trusts me to do it right. It’s a shame she doesn’t adopt the same attitude when it comes to washing up!
I am still having problems setting up Outlook 2010 and have gone through the procedure several times, always with the same result. I just cannot send and receive messages. I have no idea why this should be, but I had exactly the same problem when setting up the 2007 version on the Toshiba. Why it should be a problem with the Sony and 2010 I simply can’t figure out.
As for the disc for 2010, well, I have been assured by a friend of mine, that the installation of Office 2010 should not have been carried out and is probably hookey, so I’m in a bit of a quandary. Do I keep it? Do I delete it and install 2007 Home and Student; which would probably leave me with the same Outlook problem? Or do I delete it and install Office 2003, which I know is OK?
Alternatively I could install Ubuntu’s Open Office Suite, alongside Windows and run their equivalent programme. But I also have a problem with the Ubuntu disc, it’s making an awful noise when it’s running. This problem crops up sometimes with old or dirty discs, neither of which description fits this Ubuntu disc.
Oh boy, how do I come up against these silly problems?
Now, having typed all that in and despite the noisy disc, I’m going to try installing Open Office later today. I might give it a try out on the Toshiba first though.
Thursday 10th January
The good news is that, after several painstaking hours on the Sony, I finally managed to get Outlook to send a Test message. The bad news is that, when I clicked on Send/Receive Outlook did send my message to Sandra but, despite telling me my emails had been downloaded, they had not. At least I couldn’t see anything in the Inbox.
I suspect that I may have a problem with Windows Firewall settings because, it was only after ‘playing around’ with those settings that the Test message went out. I am now sitting at the Toshiba and have checked the Firewall settings on that. My next stop, later this morning, will be to compare settings.
Now, when I bumped into my friend Chris yesterday, he’s the all-knowing one with computers, he suggested I install Open Office. As it happens and as I have already mentioned, I do have the Ubuntu disc, but that’s faulty and, to make matters worse, Ubuntu is not the only Open Office suite available. There is another one called Apache, but that is considerably smaller. Suck it and See is a phrase that springs to mind, or find Chris and see what he thinks.
Meanwhile, back to those Firewall settings, I suppose. I have nothing else to do today, so it looks like more work on the Sony. I’ll crack it eventually. However, if anybody out there can offer advice, please do so by email.
And now we will post this blog. Well, it will give you all something to read, if you have the time.
Still unable to upload picture from laptop!!
Have a great weekend.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
Friday 4 January 2013
Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 8
Monday 31st December
Yet again we have high winds this morning but, thank goodness, no rain as yet.
This morning we will take a run out to the local Range store. Having finished my pastel painting of Shiralee and, I might add, at Wifey’s insistence, I’m going to mount and frame it. I’m not convinced that it’s good enough for displaying on the wall of the boat but, quite possibly I am my own worse critic. Emma thinks it’s very good, but she’s only seen a photo of it.
Anyway, I’ll need a backing board and double sided tape and I’ll also need an A3 mount and, eventually, a frame. But this will come after I’ve mounted it because, until I’ve done that I won’t really know what type or colour frame to use. Maybe, when it is finally framed and, assuming I am happy with it, I’ll post it here.
My next pastel project; perhaps a still life, which Emma insists I would be good at; I will do in pastel pencils. Soft pastels are just a wee bit too messy for my liking, whereas pencils have a nice, wooden barrier twixt pastel and fingers, although they do still have to be blended in. Unfortunately I only have about 15 pencils, so I’ll have to order some more before I start on anew painting.
Emma, my mentor in New Zealand, I have recently discovered, has two daughters and a son. One daughter lives in Oz and the other lives in the USA. The son, I assume, although I don’t have confirmation of this, also lives in New Zealand. On top of that nicely rounded family, Emma is still on good terms with her ex and she lives in the same house as her best friend from her schooldays. Emma will be taking a trip to the South Island, possibly around March and has promised to send postcards from her trip. Which reminds me, I still haven’t received the postcard Alan Oxley sent from China; no doubt some lousy Post Office worker has kept it for his collection.
Tuesday 1st January 2013.
How about that folks, we’ve successfully completed another year? Hopefully it will be somewhat drier than 2012.
Before anybody asks, no, we didn’t stay up to see the New Year in. Short of being struck by a wandering comet, or some such disaster, it was going to turn up anyway, and besides, at our age we need our beauty sleep. However, for those of you who did welcome it in, I do hope you had a good time.
Today, having purchased some mounting card yesterday, I will have a go at mounting my painting of Shiralee. The Range has lots of frames of varying sizes, but none that actually fit the bill in this instance, so I will probably have to take it to a framing shop. Had I given the matter due consideration before painting the picture, I could have painted it to fit a standard frame. Ah well, I know for next time.
Thursday 3rd January
We’re on a diet. We have come to the conclusion that we are both too darned fat. The realisation finally hit us whilst watching The Hairy Dieters. Not only that, we have finally realised what we are doing wrong. It’s not that we don’t get any exercise because, on most dry days we’ll walk around the marina with Rusty, and that is a mile. Not a lot I know, but at the age of 70 I am not contemplating jogging or throwing weights around.
So, having decided to lose the weight, we then went on to buy Si and Dave’s book from the series. Wow, you have got to see some of the delicious recipes in this book.
We made a start yesterday and the first thing that went was our evening snack. I should say late evening, because this usually takes the form of a scone, teacake or handful of biscuits. We’ve also bough a variety of cereals, including porridge, All Bran and Shredded Wheat, so we won’t have toast every morning for breakfast.
Wifey hasn’t weighed herself yet, but I am now sitting at 14st. 8lbs, with a BMI of just above 30, which is just inside the obese range. Unfortunately, all the charts telling you how to calculate your BMI are in metric, and I’m damn well British. So, with a bit of jiggery pokery with a calculator, I reckon that to calculate BMI in English measurements, you need to take your weight in pounds, divide that by your height in inches and multiply the result by 10.2. Well, it worked for me at my current weight and height.
Watch this space because, in order for us to achieve our goals – and I’m not sure what they are yet – I think we should have a bunch of independent observers; your good selves; monitoring our progress. To this end I will be posting my own results over the coming weeks. If Sheila agrees I will also post her results.
Today we are going nowhere, except perhaps a walk around the marina, so I’ll be attempting to mount my painting of Shiralee and framing it. I’m also hoping that my new laptop will turn up today or tomorrow, so that I can spend part of the weekend setting it up.
Yesterday we drove into Burton and, whilst we were there we called into the Three shop and upgraded the dongle, but this time for a WiFi unit. Apparently these things are far more reliable than the dongle, and they give faster download speeds. The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. I’m still not sure if I have WiFi enabled on this Toshiba, but I have been assured that the Sony VAIO is enabled. So I’ll wait until that arrives before setting the WiFi unit up.
Friday 4th January
For some time now, as I think I may have mentioned previously, our water pump has been running on when we turn off a tap. This warned me of course, that there could be something seriously wrong, such as a leak somewhere, and I was right.
So, after Wifey emptied the cupboard under the galley sink, I invited our local engineer along to take a look. He soon spotted the problem, much the same as we had and said, “Oh yes, you have a very nice puddle under here”, and promised to return with a new pump later in the afternoon.
Having replaced the pump and before putting everything back in the cupboard, Sheila looked further along from the pump, towards the stern and under the actual sink, where she saw even more water.
The next step was to check the cupboard in the bathroom where, sure enough, under the floor panel was an even deeper collection of water. Fortunately we have a battery operated hand pump that we bought some time ago for just such an occasion. However, even this gave us trouble very soon after starting to suck up the offending puddle.
At first it was just the batteries running down, so we popped off to the local Co-op and bought some more, no big deal he? But, when I put the batteries in the pump simply would not work. Obviously the on/off switch was causing problems and, no matter what I did I couldn’t get it to work. In the event I had to sit there on my little stool with the pump immersed in the water and a kitchen knife shorting out the battery terminal and, by about 10pm I had taken up as much water as I could reach. There’s still a lot there, but it’s inaccessible, short of cutting holes in the floor in order to reach it, which I will probably have to do. Still, with this water just sitting there, no doubt trapped between bulkheads or some such, at least we don’t have a hole in the bottom of the boat.
We think the problem was with the outflow from the shower unit, but we’re not sure about that either. I think it was probably the leaky pump and the water has just built up over time. If you think about how many times per day that you run water, and the fact that the gasket around the middle of the pump was leaking, it’s no wonder there was such a lot of water there.
After all that today will be a day of rest, unless Andy advises us to cut a few holes in the floor, at which time we’ll probably be working on this problem for a couple of days.
Saturday 5th January
Some time ago I made an attempt at cutting a hole in the wardrobe floor, so as to enable us to pump water out from the bilge should the need arise. This was necessary because our washing machine sits atop the one provided by the boat builders. The problem with that idea was, when I came to cut through the timber floor the cutter met up with a lump of ballast in the shape of a breeze block. So much for that idea, I thought.
So, after Andy left yesterday morning; he’d stopped by due to our concerns about the pumps operation; we popped along to the chandlery and bought an Oil Extraction Pump. This comes in the shape of a 6 litre bowl and comes with a pressure pump and thin tube, which is usually inserted where the dipstick goes in the engine.
That hole would now come in useful because, even though there is a breeze block underneath it, the pump tube is thin enough to reach between these blocks. When you count the water we extracted with our other battery operated pump on Thursday evening, we have probably removed 8 or 9 gallons of water, and all because of a leaky water pump.
We now have yet another piece of useful equipment, which will probably spend the next few years under the bed, just waiting to be pressed into service.
Will you look at this, six pages already. Time to post methinks.
So, all the best to you and yours from:
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
PS I had intended to add a copy of my framed painting of Shiralee, but that facility has been denied me. Instead, all pictures have to be uploaded from an online storage facility. I may have to change my blog address and will advise in the next one.
Dave
Yet again we have high winds this morning but, thank goodness, no rain as yet.
This morning we will take a run out to the local Range store. Having finished my pastel painting of Shiralee and, I might add, at Wifey’s insistence, I’m going to mount and frame it. I’m not convinced that it’s good enough for displaying on the wall of the boat but, quite possibly I am my own worse critic. Emma thinks it’s very good, but she’s only seen a photo of it.
Anyway, I’ll need a backing board and double sided tape and I’ll also need an A3 mount and, eventually, a frame. But this will come after I’ve mounted it because, until I’ve done that I won’t really know what type or colour frame to use. Maybe, when it is finally framed and, assuming I am happy with it, I’ll post it here.
My next pastel project; perhaps a still life, which Emma insists I would be good at; I will do in pastel pencils. Soft pastels are just a wee bit too messy for my liking, whereas pencils have a nice, wooden barrier twixt pastel and fingers, although they do still have to be blended in. Unfortunately I only have about 15 pencils, so I’ll have to order some more before I start on anew painting.
Emma, my mentor in New Zealand, I have recently discovered, has two daughters and a son. One daughter lives in Oz and the other lives in the USA. The son, I assume, although I don’t have confirmation of this, also lives in New Zealand. On top of that nicely rounded family, Emma is still on good terms with her ex and she lives in the same house as her best friend from her schooldays. Emma will be taking a trip to the South Island, possibly around March and has promised to send postcards from her trip. Which reminds me, I still haven’t received the postcard Alan Oxley sent from China; no doubt some lousy Post Office worker has kept it for his collection.
Tuesday 1st January 2013.
How about that folks, we’ve successfully completed another year? Hopefully it will be somewhat drier than 2012.
Before anybody asks, no, we didn’t stay up to see the New Year in. Short of being struck by a wandering comet, or some such disaster, it was going to turn up anyway, and besides, at our age we need our beauty sleep. However, for those of you who did welcome it in, I do hope you had a good time.
Today, having purchased some mounting card yesterday, I will have a go at mounting my painting of Shiralee. The Range has lots of frames of varying sizes, but none that actually fit the bill in this instance, so I will probably have to take it to a framing shop. Had I given the matter due consideration before painting the picture, I could have painted it to fit a standard frame. Ah well, I know for next time.
Thursday 3rd January
We’re on a diet. We have come to the conclusion that we are both too darned fat. The realisation finally hit us whilst watching The Hairy Dieters. Not only that, we have finally realised what we are doing wrong. It’s not that we don’t get any exercise because, on most dry days we’ll walk around the marina with Rusty, and that is a mile. Not a lot I know, but at the age of 70 I am not contemplating jogging or throwing weights around.
So, having decided to lose the weight, we then went on to buy Si and Dave’s book from the series. Wow, you have got to see some of the delicious recipes in this book.
We made a start yesterday and the first thing that went was our evening snack. I should say late evening, because this usually takes the form of a scone, teacake or handful of biscuits. We’ve also bough a variety of cereals, including porridge, All Bran and Shredded Wheat, so we won’t have toast every morning for breakfast.
Wifey hasn’t weighed herself yet, but I am now sitting at 14st. 8lbs, with a BMI of just above 30, which is just inside the obese range. Unfortunately, all the charts telling you how to calculate your BMI are in metric, and I’m damn well British. So, with a bit of jiggery pokery with a calculator, I reckon that to calculate BMI in English measurements, you need to take your weight in pounds, divide that by your height in inches and multiply the result by 10.2. Well, it worked for me at my current weight and height.
Watch this space because, in order for us to achieve our goals – and I’m not sure what they are yet – I think we should have a bunch of independent observers; your good selves; monitoring our progress. To this end I will be posting my own results over the coming weeks. If Sheila agrees I will also post her results.
Today we are going nowhere, except perhaps a walk around the marina, so I’ll be attempting to mount my painting of Shiralee and framing it. I’m also hoping that my new laptop will turn up today or tomorrow, so that I can spend part of the weekend setting it up.
Yesterday we drove into Burton and, whilst we were there we called into the Three shop and upgraded the dongle, but this time for a WiFi unit. Apparently these things are far more reliable than the dongle, and they give faster download speeds. The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. I’m still not sure if I have WiFi enabled on this Toshiba, but I have been assured that the Sony VAIO is enabled. So I’ll wait until that arrives before setting the WiFi unit up.
Friday 4th January
For some time now, as I think I may have mentioned previously, our water pump has been running on when we turn off a tap. This warned me of course, that there could be something seriously wrong, such as a leak somewhere, and I was right.
So, after Wifey emptied the cupboard under the galley sink, I invited our local engineer along to take a look. He soon spotted the problem, much the same as we had and said, “Oh yes, you have a very nice puddle under here”, and promised to return with a new pump later in the afternoon.
Having replaced the pump and before putting everything back in the cupboard, Sheila looked further along from the pump, towards the stern and under the actual sink, where she saw even more water.
The next step was to check the cupboard in the bathroom where, sure enough, under the floor panel was an even deeper collection of water. Fortunately we have a battery operated hand pump that we bought some time ago for just such an occasion. However, even this gave us trouble very soon after starting to suck up the offending puddle.
At first it was just the batteries running down, so we popped off to the local Co-op and bought some more, no big deal he? But, when I put the batteries in the pump simply would not work. Obviously the on/off switch was causing problems and, no matter what I did I couldn’t get it to work. In the event I had to sit there on my little stool with the pump immersed in the water and a kitchen knife shorting out the battery terminal and, by about 10pm I had taken up as much water as I could reach. There’s still a lot there, but it’s inaccessible, short of cutting holes in the floor in order to reach it, which I will probably have to do. Still, with this water just sitting there, no doubt trapped between bulkheads or some such, at least we don’t have a hole in the bottom of the boat.
We think the problem was with the outflow from the shower unit, but we’re not sure about that either. I think it was probably the leaky pump and the water has just built up over time. If you think about how many times per day that you run water, and the fact that the gasket around the middle of the pump was leaking, it’s no wonder there was such a lot of water there.
After all that today will be a day of rest, unless Andy advises us to cut a few holes in the floor, at which time we’ll probably be working on this problem for a couple of days.
Saturday 5th January
Some time ago I made an attempt at cutting a hole in the wardrobe floor, so as to enable us to pump water out from the bilge should the need arise. This was necessary because our washing machine sits atop the one provided by the boat builders. The problem with that idea was, when I came to cut through the timber floor the cutter met up with a lump of ballast in the shape of a breeze block. So much for that idea, I thought.
So, after Andy left yesterday morning; he’d stopped by due to our concerns about the pumps operation; we popped along to the chandlery and bought an Oil Extraction Pump. This comes in the shape of a 6 litre bowl and comes with a pressure pump and thin tube, which is usually inserted where the dipstick goes in the engine.
That hole would now come in useful because, even though there is a breeze block underneath it, the pump tube is thin enough to reach between these blocks. When you count the water we extracted with our other battery operated pump on Thursday evening, we have probably removed 8 or 9 gallons of water, and all because of a leaky water pump.
We now have yet another piece of useful equipment, which will probably spend the next few years under the bed, just waiting to be pressed into service.
Will you look at this, six pages already. Time to post methinks.
So, all the best to you and yours from:
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
PS I had intended to add a copy of my framed painting of Shiralee, but that facility has been denied me. Instead, all pictures have to be uploaded from an online storage facility. I may have to change my blog address and will advise in the next one.
Dave
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