And so it begins.

Hello Dear Friends and Followers.

How has your day been?

Mine began at 5 am, when I was woken by Marmite trying to curl up on my legs. Having got her settled down at the bottom of the bed. She then got excited when something was running around on the roof of the back cabin. It was a family of Crows, which had been hanging around yesterday. It sounded like they were giving junior a tap dancing lesson, which was highly amusing to Marmite, who would have been only to pleased to go out and take them on. Oh before I go any further, I must tell you about Marmite and the baby Blackbird last night. I wish I had photographs, but I did not have the time to get the camera. There we were sitting outside enjoying the last of the days rays, with Paddy and Marmite on the dock with us. Marmite was as always on her lead. I was reading the latest book I got out of the Arm book swap, it is called Secret Lives by Diane Chamberlain and it is brilliant so far. Anyway I digress. All of a sudden out of the brambles behind us flew a baby Blackbird, it flew over Keith's head and crash landed right near Marmite, who sprung into action as if her life depended on it. She pounced on this poor Blackbird, who must have wondered what had nabbed it. Feather began to fly, the poor bird was making such a racket. I jumped out of my chair and stood on Marmites lead to stop her chasing the bird any further, because I was worried the damage she might do. The baby Blackbird in its panic, went head first down the side of the boat between the dock and the hull. As I ran towards it, I just prayed the boat did not move, otherwise it would of been bye bye Blackbird (see what I did there). For those who do not understand Bye Bye Blackbird was the name of a song. It has been sung by a few people, but Ella Fitzgerald comes to mind. Anyhow I managed to grab the bird before any damage was done and of course it was none to happy with me holding it and so it began to peck my hands, which at least reassured me that the thing was definitely alive and happy to put up a fight. I put the bird back in the hedgerow from where it had come and saw it disappear into the undergrowth. I just hope it survived and its parents did not witness it almost being eaten by Marmite, who was by now playing with the feathers she had gathered.
Back to the boat. Having tried to go back to sleep, I tossed and turned in an uneasy sleep until 7 am when I got up and made us a cup of tea. We knew the owner of the boat yard would be arriving at some time, so we decided to get up early so we would be ready and waiting. It gave me the chance to take Paddy out for his walk and take photographs of the locks and for us to remove the stern fenders. 9 am Ian arrived with Andy. They got Hadar into position, put the stop planks in and began to empty the dock.

Soon Hadar was high and dry and ready for pressure washing.

We would normally do the pressure washing ourselves, but this time the boat yard did it for us. Keith and I just watched as the hull was washed clean. I made us lunch and we sat in the sunshine and waited for our turn to get some work done.

It was late afternoon, by the time the washing was finished, but as we want to start the blacking tomorrow, we had to get the preparation work done, so we set up the electric, got out the grinder and scrapers and began our part of the job. I do so love getting my hands on power tools.

I did let Keith have a go, but his back was struggling, so I did most of the work. Just hoping his back is going to be ok tomorrow for blacking. With all the prep work done, it was time for dinner and a much needed shower, because we were both black.
Having enjoyed a nice hot shower, we sat outside to enjoy the last of the days sunshine and warmth, when we were showered with what looked like tiny dandruff. It was in fact from the harvest which has begun in a field near the locks. Yes folks it is harvest time again and we take a slow slide towards Autumn. In many ways a very productive day and a big day tomorrow, so see you then.

Ta ta for now x