Painting and Birdsong.

Hi Friends. A rather chilly beginning to the day, but at least the mist had gone away, so I was ever hopeful of getting some painting done. Whilst I waited for the sun to appear, I made up the fires, walked the dog, whilst Keith cooked the breakfast. Still no sign of the sun, so I stripped down the Lamb Shank which had been cooking in the back cabin stove over night. Into the broth I put Potatoes, Carrots, Soya Beans, Onions and Mushrooms, the Lamb would go back in later. I popped the pot back into the oven, so the stew could carry on cooking (There's a film title there somewhere LOL). With all my jobs done and a coffee made, I stepped off of the boat to see how warm it was. It was neither cold nor warm, so I bit the bullet and decided that the paintwork had to be started, after we had spent yesterday afternoon masking the cabin sides. Keith started painting the slide, mops and pole, whilst I got on with rubbing down the cabin side. We then both started painting the cabin side, Keith at one end and me at the other. In no time at all it was done and we could stand back and admire our handy work. It will need at least another coat of Blue, but at least we have made a start. I then painted a second coat of Blue on the back bulkhead, front locker and cross beam. A good mornings work all done. Both Keith and I are in agreement, that we do love the new colour, it is a rich and vibrant colour, more in keeping with the boat. Whilst the paint was left to dry, I made us some lunch and a coffee. The sun was still showing no real sign of coming out.Whilst we had very little to do, Keith spotted this Common Buzzard sitting in a tree, no more than 100 metres away from the boat. It kept flying around the area looking for some lunch. Such a magestic looking bird.Not far from the boat are some cut down reeds and sitting on them was this delightful Reed Bunting. Until last week, I had never seen one, and now I am seeing them everyday. There were several going in and out of the reeds. As I stood watching them flying in and out of the reeds, I could hear a Frog croaking, calling a mate no doubt. It will not be long before there will be Frog spawn in evidence.The paint on the cabin sides was still drying, so I took myself off with my camera and tripod to see what birdlife I could snap. There seemed no point in listening to the birds singing, if I could not photograph them. Of course some of my photographs do not turn out very clear, but because I have a digital camera I can dump them if I do not like them. I had been watching Yellow Hammers search for seeds in the field by the boat and was able to snap this one sitting in the tree. They are such colourful little birds with a song which sounds like 'little-bit-of-bread-and-no-cheese', which always makes me smile.

With the paint still tacky we called it a day, which ment everything had to be tidied away.

Why is it the tidying up takes longer than getting the stuff out?

With paint brushes in White Spirit, Sandpaper stowed away in the engine room and workbench put in the hold, we climbed into a very cosy boat, with Paddy and Marmite snoozing in their beds.

The Lamb Shank casserole was almost cooked, so I added the Lamb and some dumplings and put it back into the stove to finish off.

As I type the film 'Oliver' has just come on Channel 5, so I am off now to watch that, it will then be time for dinner. We cannot watch the final of 'Dancing On Ice' because we do not have ITV1 and our connection speed is only GPRS, so I cannot even watch it online arghhhhh. I guess we will have to watch the flims on 5 instead tonight.

Hope your Sunday has been a lovely one?

Chat soon xx.