What Every Woman Wants For Her birthday...

"The toilets at a local police station have been stolen. Police say they have nothing to go on." ~Ronnie Barker

   After seven years the Vacu-Flush cassette toilet system on the boat gave up the ghost. I cannot say I miss it. It was a good enough system when Les was living aboard alone however adding a female user seemed to strain its tender capacity.

Vacu-Flush toilet cassette

   When it charged up it was incredibly noisy--so we never ran it after bedtime, requiring a flush first thing every morning. The cassettes weighed in at about 45 pounds when full and they were of such an awkward size and shape that I couldn't lift them. Changing the cassette required Les to get on his knees, open the door under our bed, reach in and release the clip which held the cassette in place. I always thought it was an awkward placement.
   Every six months Les had to use a special file that came with the Vacu-Flush system and clean around the toilet trap so it would shut properly and seal tightly. We also knew when the system under the bed needed a clean because a whiffy smell rose up to the person sleeping near the edge--me! The Vacu-Flush also used a LOT of our precious water for flushing. It works like an airplane toilet, sucking bowl contents into the cassette and macerating everything into a liquid.
   I have the most sensitive sense of smell and the weakest stomach in the world. The cassettes had to be emptied at a British Waterways (now renamed CaRT) Elsan disposal station. I cannot be within fifty feet of an Elsan or a boat pumping out its loo tank. The stench makes me drop to my knees retching in what feels like a vain attempt on the part of my stomach to throw up an internal organ. This means Les always had toilet detail which didn't bother him and he was more than willing to do it. It did however bother me. I am a firm believer in being an equal partner in all the S****y jobs in life. Men get stuck with them more often than not. 

   As an Alaskan girl born and raised, I am more than passing familiar with outhouses. We had one. Swept out frequently, limed generously after each use with a dose of Rid-X beneficial bacteria to help the deposits compost down, an outhouse is not a bad way of dealing with human waste. Up north it is COLD in winter and there are bears to contend with in summer...still it beats squatting in the bushes.
   On long weekend family road trips (there are no other kind in Alaska where one can drive for hundreds of miles and see nothing but Spruce and moose) eventually one of us kids would need to wee. After pulling the car over to the side of the road, mom instructed us to squat and go. My older sister used to complain that passing cars might see her. Mom replied, "Turn your A** to the road. No one should recognize you from that angle; if they do you are in serious trouble." I always waded into the brush along the roadside and contended with mosquito bites on my exposed flesh.
   My goal before I fell in love with narrow boats was to buy a parcel of land in the back of beyond upon which to live, build a straw bale, earth sheltered dwelling and live totally off the grid: solar and wind power with a composting toilet.

Envirolet composting loo aboard NB Shoehorn

When I fell in love with narrow boats I wondered if a composting toilet was even a possibility. My search found NB Shoehorn. Built by Simpson Boats, it was the 2006 Crick boat show winner. The original owner specified a composting loo and a Canadian Envirolet composting toilet was installed to mixed reception. You can read the boat test about it in the link above.
   A further search turned up Boatwif--the blog of Ken and Sue Deveson on NB Cleddau. They had a composting loo on their boat so I emailed and our friendship began. We finally met up aboard our respective boats on the Peak Forest Canal a few months ago and I had a chance to see their Airhead Marine composting toilet in situ. Ken and Sue assured us it not only worked brilliantly but there was indeed, no odor.

Envirolet turbine fan

   Several weeks back while queued up for diesel at Trent Marine Industries just before Boot Bridge on the Coventry canal, we came alongside another boat. I spotted the turbine wind fan venting on the boat roof, typical of Envirolet toilets, and had a good chinwag with the gent on the stern.
   He and his wife wanted a composting loo as they believed in the concept and the technology. He did say they still used a Porta Potti for urine since the Envirolet doesn't separate it out and they had problems with it being too wet to compost. Even still they preferred the composting toilet to either a pump out or a cassette.
    Our conversation was a revelation for me. It made me aware of the issues with which one has to be concerned when choosing a system for installation aboard a boat. I found the Airhead composting Toilet website and spent a great deal of time comparing it with the Canadian Envirolet which was designed for cabins and off grid housing. 
   Airhead loos are marine toilets designed specifically for boats. Thousands are installed on U.S. sailboats with great success. Key to its operation is the fact the Airhead separates urine from solids which facilitates quick composting of the latter and easy emptying of the former.
   After viewing the Airhead toilet online I hoped someday we could install one on NB Valerie so I could take my turn in shouldering toilet duties. I had no idea that day was just around the corner and in time for my 55th birthday!
   Tuesday, October 2nd dawned cool and bright on the Ashby canal. Les and I were feeling totally chilled and relaxed, languidly lounging over our morning coffee and tea after our weekend visit with family down south. One of us used the loo and the charging system on the Vacuu-flush refused to shut off but it wasn't emptying the bowl into the cassette either.
   Three tense, smelly, and disgusting hours were spent by my beloved husband, following the convoluted piping of the toilet from the bathroom, under the sink cabinet, behind the bathtub and under the bed. After giving a good clean to every moving part he could find, we tried turning it back on again to find the same issue still existed. The loo had crapped out on us!
   We cleaned up the mess and set to cruise as quickly as possible to Hawksbury Junction where Les caught a bus to Coventry. Meanwhile I went online to Argos and reserved a Royal brand Porta-Potti. Seven hours after the initial problem broke our calm morning, Les had returned with the Porta-Potti and we cruised into the dusk, finding a quiet spot for the night. We cruised on to Brinklow where we stayed moored for four days while Les removed all traces of the old toilet system.
   In the interim we scoured the web for information about the Airhead system. Mainly used in the U.S. where it is manufactured, sailboat owners who installed Airhead's loved them. The system worked exactly as advertised. I emailed the company which contacted their U.K. distributor, Richard Saillet, owner of the Canal Shop at Hillmorton Wharf.
   We stopped in to his establishment last Monday and purchased our new loo. Richard has had an Airhead on his narrow boat for some years. He was impressed enough with how well it worked, he decided to become the U.K. distributor. Richard sold Ken and Sue Deveson their Airhead system three years ago. 
   Before we purchased, Mr. Saillet took us through the operation and showed us how all the parts worked. For £660.00 ($886.00) we walked out of the Canal Shop with system in hand in one box. Quite a difference in price from the Envirolet which now costs $2,479.00!
   After a trip to Daventry via Braunston for a Mushroom vent, plastic pipe and a round steel cutter for the drill, Les returned and spent all day yesterday putting in the new loo.

Les on the roof with the drill

   He cut the hole through the roof down through the interior ceiling, and installed a 3 inch long 2.75 inch diameter piece of plastic pipe in the vent hole, sealing it around the circumference at both ends so no air could escape. The majority of his time was spent locating wiring with which to run the vent fan and wiring it into the bathroom.

The fan vent hole sealed with plastic piping, silicone, and plumbers caulking.

The newly installed mushroom vent for our composting loo system.

Airhead installed!

   After attaching the mushroom vent to the roof so rain and debris cannot enter the vent hole, we decided where we wanted the toilet to live, marked the bolt hole placement in the floor, Les screwed in the plates and the toilet snapped into place. The remainder of the installation took very little time. The vent hose connected to the toilet and the fan dropped into the coupling, screwed to the bottom of the vent hole and Les connected the hose to it. He turned on the juice and viola! out toilet system went live!
   Composting toilets in the States use Coir (coconut fibers) or re-hydrated peat moss bricks as a composting medium. Coir is not available in the U.K. and Peat moss comes from endangered, non renewable, fragile environments so it is not available here either.

A handful of Cocoa bean husk

   What is available in the U.K. is cocoa bean husks! Cadbury's chocolates factories import the raw cocoa beans and roast them here in England. The husks are leftover debris which is sold to a company that bags them for trade to garden centers for garden mulch. The husks are a dark, dry material that smells like chocolate!
   The airhead is in, we are using it, and it is working brilliantly. No odor, no mess either. I will say my initial use gave me a queer feeling indeed. The sound of urine flowing into the fluids container gave me an initial start--I thought I had wee'd on the floor at first! Leaving a solid deposit felt strange too. We are so conditioned to flush it away in water or hide it away in a holding tank.
   So exactly how does it work? One places a large paper coffee filter in the loo basin for a solid deposit. The paper filter contains your deposit which is dropped down into the holding tank with the cocoa husks. The trap door shuts and you turn the side handle which gives your deposit and the cocoa husks a good turn, stirring it together.

Closed solids trap and 2 forward urine holes which divert liquids to front container

   Due to the design of the toilet tank, urine flows forward into a well designed 2 gallon fluid container with a measuring window on it so one can see when it needs to be detached easily from the main toilet and emptied. A Tablespoon of sugar keeps the urine from smelling.
   The 0.06 watt 12 volt fan draws air across the bowl pulling moisture out of the solids and venting it and any smells away.

Clean cocoa bean husks inside the composting tank

What makes this system turn poo into compost? The bugs in the human gut. We have two kinds of bacteria is our systems: aerobic (requiring air to flourish) and anaerobic (requiring a closed system without oxygen).
  Aerobic bacteria are those contained in yogurt for example. They are the good bugs which break things down and dissolve them. Anaerobic bacteria cause disease and smells, which is why they flourish when dumped into water--a low to no oxygen fluid. In a relatively dry, high oxygen environment, anaerobic bacteria die quickly. Aerobic bacteria grow and proliferate, breaking down the solid deposits in the loo with help from the cocoa husks. A sweet ending to a messy problem!
It's not every wife who gets a cocoa scented loo for her birthday!! (It's undoubtedly not every wife who wants one either but there 'ya go--I am usually the anomaly in any given situation!)+1year LINK
    Along with phone calls, cards, emails, and posts from friends wishing me a happy birthday, Ma nature also gifted me with a Kingfisher just outside our window this morning.
   In magical parlance, Kingfishers bring a gift of prosperity in new undertakings, love and growth. They are a signal it is time to dive into something new out of which prosperity will grow. When we return from the States in late November we will black the boat and then I will dive into re-formatting, editing and re-writing my blog So This is Love... for publication.  

A special day

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY

 

to my lovely wife

 

 

Have yourself a fantastic day

A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip.

Mother Nature Changes Her Clothes

"I am not bound for any public place, but for ground of my own where I have planted vines and orchard trees, and in the heat of the day climbed up into the healing shadow of the woods. Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup." ~Wendell Berry

   As we cruise along the canal I see the ragged edges of large, round Butter Burr (Petasites Japonica), browned with age. They remind me of the dirty, torn edges of lace gowns, worn one too many times to the ball.
   Passing through a woodland I see Nature's waistcoat glows dully with a more somber green now. Bright scarlet berries serve as buttons to shut away the winds of Autumn. Orange and yellow catch my eye, bright threads building a brocaded pattern as leaves turn against the dying sunlight.
   Blackberries glisten in the light, winking at me from clutches of leaves beginning a turn to brilliant red. They call me to slow the boat, reach out and gather them in, hoping I will broadcast their seeds thither and yon as birds do. I will bake them into a blackberry apple crumble redolent with spices of exotic distant lands and hotter climates--cinnamon, clove, fresh lemon zest, Moscovado sugar loaded with black treacle. 
   As we move along our way Dear Sir keeps his sharp eyes open for wood. As Nature eventually sheds her leafy cloth and hunkers down for winter, the bones of trees killed off by storms or disease are easier to spot along the banks and in the brush.
   We've been fortunate to find two trees, cracked off and damaged by high winds, their broken ends protruding from amongst the bracken. Both were easily accessible to us from the towpath side--a rare occurrence as most boaters will confirm!
   As Les cuts the damaged limb down, pulls it out and braces it for slicing into rounds which I load on the boat roof, movement overhead catches my eye.
   Looking upward six swans swoop and glide overhead, amazing me with their size and grace. Turning, they bank left over a field and drop low to land on the canal--feathers ruffled, giant wings beating the air, orange webbed feet reaching for the liquid landing they seek. Settled, the swans fold their wings behind them, shake their heads and float serenely down the canal, their wake spreading a layer of downed leaves skimming across the surface of the water, summer's sad confetti announcing the party is over for one more year.
   Nights are chilly enough now to bank a fire of coal to warm the boat through the night. Wind gusts bend the branches of shrubbery and whisper a warning of winter-a-comin'! The last of the leaves sigh as low as grey clouds scud along above the tired fields of grain-gathered-in for another season.
   Nature will gather us in too, her arms large and loafy with abundance; the world is Her apron and life is a cake studded with the fruits of hard work and joy, sweetened with love and laughter, kept from spoiling by the liquor of good will and kindness, frosted with an abiding acceptance of our place in the scheme of things.

Welcome Home

It was back in October last year that British ex-pats Mike and Phillida came over from Canada to look at boats in preparation for retirement back in the UK. We communicated for a while via e-mail after Mike found the blog.

 

October 2011

 

It was great meeting them both last year and even better catching up with them now they are afloat.

 

We enjoyed their company for dinner aboard NB Valerie, and tea on both boats, with long, enjoyable conversations about canals and live-aboard life.  Finally it was time to part ways, but not before we found a half downed tree and shared the cutting of some wood for winter warmth.

White Chocolate Bread Pudding

"Dessert is probably the most important stage of the meal, since it will be the last thing your guests remember before they pass out all over the table."
~William Powell

Our regular blog reader Kevin asked for this recipe! Here you go Kev:

Ingredients: 

8-10 croissants or 2 large loaves of Brioche, torn into small pieces (the custard is too thick and rich to use every day bread)

12 oz. white chocolate broken into small pieces 

4 large eggs-separated (yolks separated from whites)

2 cups (475ml) of whipping cream + 1 cup (250ml) whipping cream (separated)

*1/2 cup (100 grams) of caster sugar (you will be dividing this sugar for several purposes)

1 tsp of pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (120ml) of whole milk

1/2 cup (4 ounces) of sliced Almonds

1/4 cup (60ml) of Godiva white chocolate liquor

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees--gas mark 5 (tiny boat oven bakers preheat to Gas mark 6)
• Place 2 cups (475ml) of whipping cream and the 1/2 cup (120ml) of whole milk in a sauce pan. Heat on low/med. heat. 
• Add 1/4 cup (50 grams) of sugar to the saucepan and stir until the sugar dissolves and the cream/milk begins to thicken--about 10 minutes. 
• Put the torn croissants or brioche in a bowl.
• Beat egg whites and 1 Tablespoon of sugar until stiff. Set aside. 
• Lightly beat egg yolks and 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Temper with a small amount of the heated cream/milk, and stir until the eggs are warmed. (Tempering means you add a small amount of a hot liquid to the eggs and stir them quickly so they heat up without cooking.)
• Now add the yolk mixture to the cream stirring constantly and quickly. cook for an additional 3 minutes. This is your custard and it will begin to thicken. 
• Take you custard off the heat and add in 8 ounces of white chocolate, stirring until it is all melted and blended in.
• Pour the custard over the croissants or brioche and incorporate. The bread should be totally moist but not too soupy. 
• Fold in the egg whites and vanilla until all is blended. 
• Put into a buttered deep sided baking dish (at least 12 x13).
• Sprinkle Almonds and 1 Tablespoon of sugar on top of bread. 
• Bake 25-35 minutes, until browned and lightly crispy on top. The pudding will rise but should still shake a little in the middle. It is okay to err on the side of less time instead of more if you need to.
• Cool a minimum of 10 minutes before serving. Serves 8-10

Sauce:

Heat one cup (250 ml) of cream. When hot add 4 oz. of white chocolate and stir until melted. Remove from the heat. Stir in Godiva white chocolate liquor. Spoon sauce over each slice and serve.

Blackberries and Grasshoppers

She smiles Blackberry picking on the offside as we cruise along

And again she smiles as once again that childhood surfaces

but none of it would be possible unless the American has her coffee fix.

Off the Ashby canal we pass Charity dock moorings plenty to make the eye sparkle as long as you don`t look to much at the many sunken boats.

Through Hawkesbury Junction we join the Oxford canal as the sun starts to set. Our toilet packed up completely so a trip into Coventry for a Porta Potti to stop us crossing our legs has made us late.
Late for what? Nothing really just later finding a mooring than usual. We are looking at getting a marine composting loo but more on that another time.

This is our mooring the morning after and looking across we could see how close we were to the trains. As we moored up in the fading light a barn Owl flew out from that tall tree on the left of the mooring picture. In the morning as we set off a Grasshopper tried to hitch a ride.
He must have known we would only be going 200yards but as to why will be told next time..........dinner awaits.

A weekend away

We have been meaning to go back to visit the family for a while now and Hinckley seemed a good location make the trip.
Trinity marina is about a 20 minute walk from the town centre but when I checked the Enterprise car hire availability I discovered they had moved just a 10 minute walk from the marina. So £10($15) per night mooring fee and we were ready. The car was a Peugeot 107 or as Jaq called it a pregnant roller skate. A 3 day weekend hire was £45 ($67) inclusive of tax. Because of all hires having a £600($(900) excess if you damage the car I decided on a £33($49) insurance to reduce my liability to £100($150) if I did cause any damage.
Anyway all went well and despite not having driven in the UK for over 2years I soon got back into the swing of it.

 

 Ok let them have their 5 minutes of fame on grandads blog. Starting top left Jack and Jordan.Below them are Kiernan and Kiera. Top right is Batu.  On the left showing me his car is Teo and next is Lena-May. Last but not least on the right is Nikole the oldest.

Well I must say we were both glad to leave the marina as being squashed between boats is to us like being imprisoned after the freedom of the countryside moorings. Still we only spent one night on the boat here so not to bad.
Now back out on the towpaths again and looking forward to our U.S. trip in just a few weeks.

A long cruise

I don`t blame Jaq for getting hot about the BA seat fiasco. I was the one on the phone and the well trained lady at the customer services was not going to give a refund. look at the last paragraph below of the e mail receipt from back in May.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS
********************

A paid seat request cannot be guaranteed as it may need to be
changed for operational, safety or security reasons, even after
boarding the aircraft.

In the event that we have to change your seat we will endeavour
to seat you in a suitable alternative.

We aim to seat your party together, and then if possible in your
choice of seat, e.g. If you have selected a window seat we aim
to seat you in another window seat.

If we are unable to offer you a suitable alternative seat as set
out above you are eligible to apply for a refund.

Anyway stuff them we will enjoy ourselves regardless and next time try KLM or some of the others flying the pond.
To be honest and not hide anything the lady did say she would refund in full BUT we then would have no seat reservations and would need to choose from what was available. Fantastic service, caring for the customer? I think not.
Makes me glad to live afloat and not have much contact with the big business`s out there.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rant over.....did you hear about Royalty on the canals? No, click HERE. I have some inside information on the Royal Barge narrowboat. It has made an unusual long  journey over a short period and is now moored on the Ashby canal after spending a hectic weekend visiting all the family. But more on that in another blog post. The journey was unusual in that on one of the days the Royals cruised for 9+ hours  over 16 miles and 13 locks. Just to put this in context a journey previous to this was 1 mile and 1 lock.
The Princess (Jaq) has told me she loved visiting the kids and little ones but it`s good to be home, and i agree.
So a picture catch up on this epic cruise.

First all good cruise ships will have adequate sustenance for the Captain (the one who thinks he is but is not). This is bread pudding as I have never known. My bachelor bread pud always had dried fruit, mixed spice and a topping of Cinnamon. This one is Jaq`s version and contains home made Amaretto cream custard, white chocolate and topped with Almonds. Recipe available.










This Rugely town guide box was by Colwich lock on that 1 mile -1 lock cruise. It was the small plate on the top that caught my eye. Has the Canal and River Trust now enlisted volunteers from our prison population. The box was empty by the way.

Autumn fast approaches and my thoughts are when and for how long will we be frozen in this winter.

Bridge numbers are  replaced by names.

 

Nice to see that at least the shell of the old canal warehouse (far end) has been kept. New walls inside will turn it into flats (apartments) at this development at  Fazeley Junction.

 

Just before Alvecote marina I spotted this old canal basin in the trees. It was probably a loading wharf for one of the many coal mines in this area. It was very large and to the left is pictured the entrance from the canal.

British Airways Screws us for £110.00

   British Airways screwed us out of £110.00 for seats we reserved back in May. They changed the configuration of the plane, the seats we paid for are no longer available and their computer reallocated totally unacceptable seats and did NOT generate a refund. 
   It also did not generate a notice this occurred. We would not have known if Les hadn't checked our reservations. So we went online and booked new seats--the best of what was left, which are crappy and nowhere near the seats for which we paid. AND we had to pay an additional £7 for them!
   We tried to file a refund form at BA's website for two weeks and kept getting an error message: "We're sorry but an error has occurred and we cannot file this form at this time. Please try again later.! I've tried a dozen times to do so and I get the same bloody message. We called them today and were told that the seats we booked again and paid the additional £7 for would have cost us £110.00 to reserve anyway!
   And we are Executive Club members--which clearly offers us no benefits. I HATE FLYING!!!! I am so pissed at BA. I would NEVER have chosen the seats we have now or the seats the computer generated. I am going to tell the world and everyone in it what piss poor service British Airways offers. I've posted this on my FaceBook page and on BA's FB page as well which I have no doubt will be removed as soon as they read it.
   There is no such thing as service anymore in this world. Corporations treat us like cows they milk for cash and then they turn a blind eye and a deaf ear when their company causes an issue and make us pay again. 
   I love my family and friends in the United States But it will be too soon if I EVER have to fly again. A bloody coffin has more comfortable room than this airplane.

What a Difference a Day Makes!

"What a difference a day makes. Twenty-four little hours brought the sun and the flowers where there used to be rain..." ~lyrics by Renee Olmstead

   The morning after the weekend of high wind and lashing rains which flooded Britain, we decided to take advantage of a break in the weather and, like geese, begin our trek south.
   We have a month plus a hand full of days before we leave for the States. We want to spend some time with family over here before visiting family over there.

The Blue star is the R. Sow. The blue dot marks part of the diversion behind Shugborough Hall; the black star is the R,. Trent; the yellow bar highlights where all three join just above Essex bridge. The red circle is the green meadow which is flooded in the pictures below.

   We woke to sopping wet towpaths on the Trent and Mersey adjacent to Shugborough Estate, where the River Sow curves around behind it allowing a diversion of some of its waters to flow directly behind Shugborough Hall, curving closely 'round and then joining the flow of the River Sow as it meets the nearby River Trent just after the weir above Essex bridge. 

Swollen R. Trent and flooded path from Essex Bridge. The green far right is the Trent's usual bank. 

    Merging of the R. Sow, left & the R. Trent  just before Essex Bridge at Shugborough Hall.

   The two rivers flow together in different colors--the Trent being darker and muddier as it carries away soil from swelling over its banks.The River Sow flooded Shugborough Park and its lovely green meadow. 

Swollen R. Trent, foreground; Shugborough meadow flooded by R. Sow, background.

   As we continued on we passed these two lovely boats breasted up together like lovers. Les said he is sure Roger Fuller also built NB Hadar--Jo and Keith Lodge's boat.

Ilford and Azalea. Azalea was built by Roger Fuller.

   Away we go southward, around the forested high ground of Cannock Chase. A pair of Swans glide past with their rapidly growing juveniles in brown feather.

A family of swans with forested Cannock Chase retreating in the background.

   The spires of Rugely power station appear in the distance, marring this lovely landscape. 

Rugely Power Station provides electricity powered by coal.

    As we enter the town itself we pass terraced gardens built down sharp hillsides to the canal. Stopping just after bridge 66 we moored up and walked over to Morrisons supermarket for a top up of our supplies.

Steeply terraced hillside back yards look down on the Trent & Mersey canal as we cruise through Rugely.

A tiny birdhouse and its larger cousin--the canal side Gazebo.

This back garden is a tribute to Charlie Chaplin!

As we pass on through town, the steep hillside gives way and back decks are  nearly even with the canal.

 I love this back garden with small green rooms

The gate's open and the kettle's on--what kept you so long?

As we cruised out of Rugely we passed a huge house for sale--with an adjacent indoor swimming pool!

    Mooring up for the night on the far side of Rugely--out in the country, we slept through still more rain. The next morning we started off late, apparently we both needed a lie-in to replenish our batteries. Through sullen, weeping skies we reached Fradley Junction where the Trent and Mersey canal meets the Coventry Canal.

Double rainbows appeared in the sky as we moored up outside Whittington on the Coventry Canal.

    I brought NB Valerie through the locks, turned and brought her through the swing bridge onto the Coventry, where we moored up. After a stroll through the Fradley Reservoir we walked back to our boat, ate lunch and decided to carry on southward to stop at Whittington just outside Lichfield.