Our fourth Christmas afloat, Ruby’s operation and more boat maintenance

Ravensdale's Christmas lights reflected on the still water at Maryport Marina in Cumbria, UK

I can’t believe we’ve just spent our fourth Christmas on Ravensdale at Maryport Marina in Cumbria, UK.

That said, I’m not sure if it feels like longer or less time since we moved on board our 43ft Neptunus 133 motor cruiser 😊

I also can’t believe it’s almost a month since I last published a blog post, but my time seems to have been taken up with working full-time and dealing with orders for the calendars I had printed to raise money for our local inshore rescue team.


Christmas on Ravensdale

Ravensdale decorated for Christmas

Wet and windy weather meant we didn’t manage to get our Christmas lights up until much later than usual this year.

We put coloured fairy lights around the guard rails on the Saturday before Christmas but ran out of daylight before we could finish the job.

We had intended to add more lights on the flybridge the following day but didn’t get time to do it before the weather broke, so we decided to leave it as it was.

Some of the colourful lights on Ravensdale's aft deck

We couldn’t use the Christmas tree we had as Ruby sleeps where we put it last year and, at four-foot, it was too tall to put anywhere else on the boat so we bought a little three-foot tree and even then I had to bend the top over 😊

Christmas cards and our little Christmas tree in Ravensdale's saloon

The other liveaboards in our marina went away to stay with family for Christmas so Phil and I were the only ones here on our boat for Christmas.

And there was only one member of the marina staff on duty, so we invited Evan to join us for dinner, which we timed for just after he had closed the marina’s sea gate.

Phil managed to cook a full Christmas dinner on Ravensdale’s little stove, with the help of our air fryer and microwave so we had turkey with all the trimmings followed by Christmas pudding with brandy butter and cream.

It was so good that we’d eaten it all before I even thought about taking a photo 😊

The star and twinkling icicle lights in the window of Ravensdale's saloon

Ruby can be a bit of nuisance when people visit us on the boat as she wants to jump up at them and play with them.

I had tried to stop this by saving her Christmas presents until Evan arrived and, to an extent, it worked.

Ruby with the new treat ball that she destroyed in about 10 minutes 😊

Ruby with her new lickimat

I managed to distract her with her new toys and chews for a while, but, from time to time, she discovered he was still here and had another go at jumping up at him. Thankfully Evan likes dogs 😊

Ruby and I on Boxing Day

Charity calendars raise over £1,000

Me presenting the cheque to Maryport Inshore Rescue team

I was delighted to be able to present a cheque for £1,120 to members of the Maryport Inshore Rescue team last Sunday.

This was the profit from the sale of calendars featuring some of my photos of Maryport harbour, the shore and the town.

I sold the calendars for £10 each with every penny, other than the cost of printing, postage and packing, going to our local rescue team, which is independent of the RNLI and HM Coastguard.

The cover of my Maryport calendar for 2020

It is totally reliant on donations and sponsorship to keep this life-saving operation running.

When I decided to produce the calendar, I was only going to order 25 and hoped I might be able to raise as much as £100 for the inshore rescue team.

It proved far more popular than I expected, and I ended up having four batches printed and selling a total of 226 calendars.

We obviously have a personal reason for supporting our inshore rescue team.

We hope we will never need to call on them for help but it’s good to know they’re there if we do need them.

Another image of Maryport Inshore Rescue boat at this year's trawler race

Posting the cheque presentation on Facebook, the team’s operations manager Michael Messenger wrote: “We would like to thank Sue and everyone who bought the calendars for this amazing amount of money.

“It’s very much appreciated and really does make a huge difference.

“As an independent organisation, fundraising is absolutely vital so thank you all once again.”



Ruby of Ravensdale

Ruby looking sorry for herself after her operation

We took Ruby to the vet to have her spayed on Tuesday, December 3 and this time they were able to go ahead with the operation.

This was our fourth attempt to have her neutered. The first time, she became unwell with a tummy upset the night before.

It was put off for a week, but she still had a bad stomach so it was put off for another a week by which time she’d started her second season so we had to wait another couple of months as it needs to be done mid-cycle.

And this time Ruby was fit and well and able to have the operation that will prevent unwanted pregnancies.

Ruby having a cuddle with Phil after her op

She loves going to the veterinary surgery so that wasn’t a problem and she happily went off into a back room with the vet when we left her there at around 10.15am.

We got a call to say she’d had the op and everything had gone well at about 2.30pm and went to collect her straight away.

She was a little drowsy when we brought her home in her little romper suit that stopped her from licking and chewing the wound on her tummy.

She whined a lot during the first evening but slept well and seemed much brighter the following day.

The most difficult part was stopping her climbing up and down the boarding steps and all the steps inside the boat. We lifted her wherever she wanted to go being very careful not to lift her under her tummy.

We also tried to keep her quiet and stop her leaping around for two weeks, as the vet had recommended, but she was back to her usual self after a couple of days and it was practically impossible to stop her jumping.

Ruby looking cute in her romper suit

Ruby trying to persuade Phil to share his food

We checked this with the vet, who said to let Ruby do whatever she was happy doing and she had no trouble at all after the op.

She went for her final post-operative check-up about 10 days after surgery and the vet was pleased with the way it had healed up.

We’re both very glad it is over and done and Ruby is fine now.

I'd been a bit bothered about whether living on a boat would make her recovery more difficult, but it wasn’t really a problem at all.

Ruby with a stick she found on one of her walks

Since she got over the operation, Ruby has had lots of lovely walks with Phil while I’ve been at work, with runs on the beach whenever the weather and the number of other dog walkers permits.

Ruby waiting for me to take a photo of the harbour

She has also accompanied me on walks around the harbour with my camera and still waits patiently while I take photos.


Servicing the pump on the black water tank 

The pump on Ravensdale's holding tank

The pump on our black water tank didn't seem to be working properly the last time we took Ravensdale out on the Solway Firth.

Phil took a look at it when we got back and discovered that one of the valves wasn't working so he ordered a service pack and serviced the pump while I was at work.

Everything seems to be OK now but we won't be able to try it until the next time we take our boat out on the water.




New TV aerial

Ravensdale's new TV aerial fitted on her radar arch

Our old TV aerial hasn't been working properly for some time.

We were getting frequent interruptions to the signal and turning the aerial around didn't help.

Phil checked the coaxial socket discovered that water had got into it causing it to rust.

So he ordered a new aerial and fitted it while I was at work.

We're now getting a much better signal and more channels than we had before.


My return to the world of work

Me ready for my work Christmas do

I’ve been working full-time at Chimney Sheep for the last couple of weeks because we’ve been so busy filling orders for draught excluders for chimneys and boot insoles made of sheep’s wool, among other items.

Getting up early in the morning to go to work is never easy at this time of year but it helps that I enjoy my work when I get there.

At first, I was coming home with a backache after being on my feet for most of the day, but my body seems to have got used to it now and my back is fine.

And I’ve enjoyed the Christmas celebrations at work.

On Friday, December 13, I went along to our work’s Christmas do at Shill’s Restaurant in nearby Cockermouth, where there was a lovely atmosphere and the food was delicious.

The following Friday, a local caterer delivered a festive spread at lunchtime, courtesy of a wholesaler we supply in the US.

And, later that afternoon, Santa and the Grinch turned up at the factory with presents for all of us. Thanks to the same wholesaler.

Our work Christmas do at Shill's Restaurant in Cockermouth

Santa and the Grinch distributing presents at my workplace

Our boss gave us a paid day off on Christmas Eve and left a lovely present for each of us under the Christmas tree in the warehouse.



My new mobile phone

The first photo I took with my new phone - taken without flash in a dark room

I now have a Google Pixel 3a that takes much better photos than my old phone, which was a Huawei P10 lite.

I always struggle with changing my phone but I’m getting used to it now with a little bit of help from my younger work colleagues 😊

The photos are so much better than I was getting with my old phone, which means there’s no excuse for missing a photo of anything.


Photography

My photography opportunities have obviously been curtailed by the amount of time I’ve spent at work as it is dark when I get home in the afternoon.

However, I’ve still managed to get out with my camera whenever I get the chance and my mobile phone is always on hand if I don't have my camera with me.

Here’s a selection of some of the photos I’ve taken over the past month…

Maryport shore looking towards south pier with the Scottish hills in the distance

Looking in the opposite direction along the shore

Waves rolling along the pier at Maryport

Reflections on the still water in Maryport Harbour

A calm day at Maryport Harbour

Maryport Basin at sunset

Stormy skies over Maryport's south pier

Choppy water in the harbour at Maryport

Another view of the harbour on a windy day

Fishing boats in Maryport Harbour on Christmas Day

Colourful fishing boats in the harbour

More colourful fishing boats in the harbour

Reflections on the still water at Maryport Marina

More reflections at Maryport Marina

Stormy weather

Big waves whipped up by high winds on the shore at Maryport on December 8 

As this blog post covers a longer period than usual, I decided against recording the weather for each individual day.

However, we’ve had a lot of very wet and windy weather over the past month, so I really haven’t missed much by working full-time.

Ironically, the weather was considerably worse before and after Storm Atiyah - the first named storm of the UK storm season - than it was during the storm itself.

The strong winds associated with the storm, which swept across western Ireland, Wales, south-west England and the south coast during the evening of Sunday, December 8 into Monday, December 9, hardly affected us in the north-west.

But either side of this we had winds gusting up to almost 50mph.

Ice on the water at Maryport Marina on Saturday, November 30

We’ve had a few very cold spells, with ice on the water in the marina and on the pontoons.

Early in December, overnight temperatures fell below zero and we had to put anti-slip snow grips on our shoes so we could walk safely on the pontoons, but the cold snap was short-lived and it wasn’t long before the milder wet and windy weather returned.

Sunshine and an almost clear blue sky at Maryport Marina on Christmas Day

Christmas Day was the first good weather we’d had for weeks – the sun shone, there was very little wind and it was fairly mild with a top temperature of 6C (43F).

But Boxing Day (yesterday – Thursday) was grey and damp again with heavy rain late morning and around lunchtime.

Heavy cloud over Maryport Marina before the rain arrived yesterday (Thursday)

And, so far today (Friday) the weather has been calm, but wet.


Happy New Year!

I hope everyone reading this had a very merry Christmas and that you have a very happy and prosperous New Year.

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions.

However, if I did, it would be to get back to writing a weekly blog post again as I like keeping a record of what we’ve been up to onboard and hopefully some of you enjoy reading it too 😊