Easy Mealtimes

The slow cooker has really come into it's own whilst we have been busy at home doing DIY during the evenings after work.

It has mean't that we can still enjoy fresh home cooked meals when we havine finished our jobs for the evening but without all of the preparation work and the hassle of starting afresh.

Last night for example we enjoyed this lovely beef shin and Guiness pie. I had cooked the beef shin in the Guiness gravy with some onions, garlic, mushrooms and potatoes overnight on Tuesday night, then left it in the fridge yesterday. When we had finished stripping hard to reach wallpaper last night, I simply topped it with grated red potatoes and mature cheddar and baked it for 30 minutes. Hey presto, and we had a lovely home cooked pie in double quick time.

How we ever managed without a slow cooker at home before I will never know. 

A Change in the Weather

At long last we have seen a change in the weather from mild but very, very wet to dry but very cold.

This morning was the first time this winter that we have had to defrost and deice the car before setting off for work. I had figured it was a little bit colder as the central heating at home woke me up this morning with a few odd bangs and clatters as the house warmed through, something it only tends to do when the weather is a little colder outside.

Thankfully we checked the heaters on the boat last weekend prior to coming home. They are all now set to keep Naughty-Cal toasty warm through this colder snap and should hopefully keep the cold away from the frost susceptible plumbing and raw water system. 

The cold snap doesn't look set to last that long and looking at the weather forecasts it is due to get a little warmer again after the weekend so we are not unduly worried about Cal and will concentrate our efforts this weekend on making yet more steady progress on the hallway at home. It has really come on leaps and bounds for spending a couple of weekends at home and cracking on. That said we really do need to start looking towards making progress with Cal's winter spruce up as well, the beginning of March will be here before we know it if we are not careful.

Out With the Old - Part 2

Continuing with our new year, new you theme we have the next item on the list for the chop. This time it is an internet forum, Canalworld Discussion Forum, or CWDF as it is usually shortened too.

Since owning Naughty-Cal I have been somewhat of an active member of this forum site, however in recent times it has become more heavily moderated and somewhat hijacked by a select few whose only goal is to have a dig at Canal and Rivers Trust at every given opportunity. It has somewhat spoiled the whole atmosphere of the forum and to be quite frank left it somewhat uninspiring and a bit of a waste of time and effort. It had gotten somewhat monotonous and boring, logging on each day to see the same few names whinging and moaning about the same topics time and time again, people berating CRT only for the real story to emerge and find them at fault and digging up the same old trash over and over again.

It was definitely time for a change and time to move on. 

So good bye CWDF.

Now what next for the chop?

The View From Above

This was Liam's view for much of yesterday afternoon high up on his stair ladder. Not a view for the faint hearted or those who are scared of heights. You wouldn't get me up there.

And he will have much the same view tonight as he is up there again stripping the remnants of the wall paper off the harder to reach areas of wall.

Climbing High

Today Liam is climbing high to hopefully finish the last of the cladding.

Over and Out

Our final shift at the boat club is now over and out. And yes I do know that you should never say that over the radio but it was a nice,  relevant figure of speech to use for the occasion.

It was a fairly busy evening which helped the evening pass quickly.

We have made some good friends over the years we have been members and we are sad to be leaving but we feel it is time to move on. We will still of course pop in from time to time and show our faces, we don't plan to be strangers to the club.

A Fleeting Visit

We are paying a fleeting visit to Naughty-Cal this weekend. Tonight is our last shift on the Boat Club bar so we will spend tonight on the boat before heading back home tomorrow afternoon to continue with the battle of the hallway.

We will make sure that the heaters are all working properly throughout the boat as for the first time this winter it is set to drop cold enough to warrant their use next week.

It is also about time we started to tackle a few more jobs on the boat so we should really start a few of the odd jobs in the engine bay. We really ought to start by removing the K&N air filter and bringing it home to clean. The raw water pump also needs removing to bring home for the fitting of a new complete rebuild kit. It had seals earlier on in the year but is now ready for a full rebuild with the shaft and bearings also ready for replacing. 

And finally we will remove the alternator. What a farce that was towards the back end of last year. As it now has a fault that is on and off and we don't trust it any more we have taken the decision to replace it with a brand new unit. We can't go through a whole year wondering if it will be reliable or not. It isn't worth the hassle of it breaking down whilst we are out and about. So a new alternator is in store.

That should see us finished for this weekend on the boat and should also free up a bit of space in the engine bay for my next job the next time we visit. Cleaning out the engine bay. Deep joy!