Another Water Trough

Some of my confidence has been restored, I have found another water trough that still has water in it. I did check inside to make sure that there wasn't a bung ready to be pulled out or even some kind of syphoning device but I think it is all clear. Obviously the water thieves haven't found this one yet!

And Now The Water Trough!

I am beginning to suspect foul play here at the moment. Yesterday it was the pond water, STOLEN!!!!! I can still not find any suspects, it seems to have just vanished into thin air. Then today I went for a little ramble about the farm after lunch, I don't get any lunch but apparently The Owner deserves some, and I made a bee-line for my first option of a little aquatic adventure. Imagine my absolute horror! Empty! Not only empty but disconnected!!!! I run the risk here of wearing out the exclamation mark key if I'm not careful. I will keep you informed of any developments.

The Disappearing Pond Water

There has been a theft in the village while we were away! I managed to get out for a bit of solo rambling around the farm today, just to check on one or two things..... like dead badgers and stuff. I thought I would be a bit clever, not wanting to upset The Owner as he is in such a good mood since we have been back, so I went and visited the dead badger up on the hill first and thought I would round the trip off with a quick splash around in the pond on the way back.

Imagine my surprise, SOMEONE HAS STOLEN THE WATER! I did have a good root around but it definitely isn't there. Now this left me with a bit of a problem, a very smelly shoulder and nowhere to wash it off. I thought if I bounded through the door and went straight behind the desk he wouldn't notice. The Owner didn't say anything when I got back and I thought I had got away with it, he soon got up and went outside and I breathed a sigh of relief. Yup, definitely got away with it! Then he called from outside, so I went rushing out as it was about coffee time and that always means its Bonio time, but he closed the door behind me quickly and then produced the hose pipe from behind his back.

I felt he was a little harsh with the way he used that stiff broom as well!

Back Home

We took the boat back yesterday and only had the one argument with someone who, The Owner felt, was moored where we should be and he had a minor discussion with the boatyard man who by now had heard about the sinking. The Owner threw all our stuff into the car and spun the wheels in his hast to get out of the car park. Not sure why coz I'm sure I saw him pay.

He only grumbled the once at the staff in the motorway services forecourt on our way back, about their standards of training and how they "Couldn't make a decent cup of coffee if their lives depended upon it!". We virtually crashed through the front door and he fell straight into his favourite armchair, turning the telly on and opened a beer before his bum had even hit the chair. He settled back with a sigh of relief as the very fast and noisy cars started racing very fast back to the same place. This was clearly the reason for our chase all the way home! I still don't understand the rules but then neither did the bright red cars apparently. He gave up in disgust at that point and with a fresh beer or two we went over to watch the cricket. I was very good and even when the red ball rolled right to my feet I didn't pick it up! I wanted to go up on the hill and check out that dead badger, another week on since I last visited it and it should be getting quite interesting by now. But we had to do this bonding thing and sit and watch the cricket 'together'! There was also a deer up in the woods before we went away which warranted another look by now I felt. We had a spell of this bonding once before but after a good roll in a dead badger we soon got over it.

Early Morning on the Canal

What a lovely morning I've had, just a shame The Owner got into so much trouble over it. Not my fault this time I might add! I was curled up in the early hours of the morning under one of the lazarettes (now aren't you impressed how I am picking up the boating language?). It was barely light and certainly before the sun came up.

I became aware of movement in the galley, so I went to investigate. It was The Owner, making tea, and already dressed in his shirt and shorts. He tells me that as it was such a lovely morning he thought he would get up and "see the morning in". I'm not sure how he arrived at that conclusion as he hadn't even looked out of the curtains at that point, but I went along with it. He took his mug of tea and went and sat on one of the seats in the bow (more technical terms!). So I sat up there with him. He was right, it was a beautiful morning, the mist was rising gently from the water and forming an eerie mist on the fields from which the cows appeared almost to be hovering. The odd moor hen calling from the canal bank somewhere. The gentle hum in the distance of the pumps in the dairy and otherwise, peace and tranquillity enveloped the emerging morning scene. I sat beside him watching the scene and catching the odd sniff on the almost imperceptible breeze as he gently and absent mindedly ruffled the fur on the back of my head. After his second cup of tea and when the sun was starting to burn off the mist from the field announcing the arrival of a new day, drowsiness started to get the better of him and he started to fall asleep again, so he took himself off for what he described as a little lie down. All that was left of that pleasant hour was a ring of tea on the deck where his cup had stood. I curled up back under the lazarettes; the next thing I heard was a loud banging on the roof of the boat and a very aggressive, official looking chap was getting very agitated saying,"It's 11 in the morning and this is a night time only mooring area! People should not be drinking so much they can't get up in the mornings if they want to be mooring on my canal bank!". As far as I know The Owner only had a tea and an orange juice last night. The Owner emerged, bleary eyed, from the cabin wondering what all the fuss was about and got a fixed penalty notice slapped in his hand from Horrible Man, (that wasn't what The Owner called him) from Inland Waterways, who went off up the path tutting loudly about people shouldn't drink so much they can't get up in the morning. The Owner has been talking grumpily to himself all morning since then.

His Special Mug

I was a little concerned that he may have forgotten where I was this morning and started the engine with me still in the engine room. I needn't have worried, he was not about to turn down the opportunity for a good scowl and frown with his hands on his hips as he lets me out. He is of course milking it over yesterdays events.

He's been sitting there with a piece of dead cow draped over his eye, which by this morning was quite a peculiar colour after his little argument with the other Hoomun Boat Owner yesterday. It did give me a bit of a funny turn when I saw him with the dead cow on his face as I came back from my morning wee over the mooring ropes. After trying hard for a bit of sympathy for a cold he hasn't got, not brought on by his late evening dip in the water last night we got under way. He was not about to run aground for the third day running so he set a very purposeful course down the middle of the water and everyone else, if they knew what was good for them, had to navigate around the side of him. There were several little altercations with other boat Hoomuns who felt he was being a little too confrontational, but I knew him better. He hadn't got warmed up yet! He had bought a special unbreakable cup which apparently could keep a drink hot for hours from the shop beside the pub before we left this morning and he put it proudly, full of hot tea, on the shelf at the back of the boat beside the railings where the chimney thing had fallen. Well I was never very happy with the way he had wedged the chimney back in place with twigs after it got knocked over! When he came across someone who was a bigger bully then him and made him get over towards the side of the water he had to go under a low tree. This managed to dislodge the chimney which fell down again with a big thump just beside where I was snoozing. I jumped up (well who wouldn't?) and managed to knock the new special mug into the water. He thought about putting me in the engine room and thankfully chickened out and settled instead for grumbling and moaning loudly. For me, I felt the boat wasn't quite long enough but I still went and curled up right at the front of the sharp end. I think I may stay here for the duration today.

Lady Hoomun Policeman ad her Lady Chocolate Lab

Well we got The Owner out of the hospital, the other Hoomun Boat Owner out of the police station, our boat re-floated and a big crane in to lift the other boat out of the water where it had sunk. That was really impressive! Dangling on the end of a big piece of string high in the air, leaking water from many holes that I think I may have caused and put on the back of a really big lorry to taken to Shorance.

Not sure where Shorance is exactly but I heard The Owner say that it would be repaired in Shorance. The best bit was that somehow I didn't get the blame for not pointing the boat properly. There was a Lady Hoomun Policeman who came and asked him lots of questions about what happened and wrote it all down. I really liked her as well coz she had a pocket full of Bonio's. I haven't tried to get a Bonio from the Hoomun Police around home, perhaps they get issued with Bonio's as well as other stuff? That evening Lady Hoomun Policeman turned up where we were moored, near a pub since you ask, without her uniform and guess what? She had a Lady Chocolate Lab as well; and Bonio's! Me and New Lady Chocolate Lab ran up and down the bank, in and out of the water having great fun whilst The Owner and Lady Hoomun Policeman sat and drank and talked and other Hoomun stuff until they went back to the boat for more drinks and stuff. Well I've been planning this game for a day or so, but I've just had no-one to play it with. If you run across the roof and drop over the side and onto the little deck in through the window and across the table out the other side and back on to the roof again to do it all again, it just looked perfect for a game of chase. So I got Lady Chocolate Lab to follow as I dropped over on to the deck and launched myself through the window to the table. This is the point where the evening went down hill a little for me! Well how was I to know he had biscuits, cheese and stuff and glasses of wine all over the table? They weren't there when last I looked! I managed to knock them all on the floor, which was no bad thing as I could then clear them up, but The Owner didn't seem to share my enthusiasm for my new game. I also heard a very large splash outside as Lady Chocolate Lab missed the deck and went over the side. The Owner wasn't impressed about the table and even less impressed that he had to get in the water and rescue Lady Chocolate Lab. There isn't a boot room on board but there is an engine room, a little smaller than I am used to but I think I could be here for some time to come.