080717 - Pinnochio - The Birds - Things Heating Up

I don't know Pinnochio - that nose seems to be getting longer to me - I think you do know what happened to our email. Well even if it's been deleted - accidentally of course - (because who would go deleting our emails on purpose, Penny?) - they're all still on-line. Jiminy Cricket only has to click on the buttons on the bottom of any email - to find them all.

We've had a few busy days - with a lot of running around - which we'll tell you all about soon - but we need to keep things in the proper order - and the photos - as we took them. So first of course - we have an 'into the sun' panorama fromm the other morning. Taken directly into the bright morning sun - the camera has to 'close down' and it makes everything seem much darker and more dramatic than the actual bright sunny morn it was.

It was a bit of a surprise the other afternoon - to hear Penny going mad - and barking her head off up on deck. So naturally I went straight up as always to investigate - and what should I find but the yacht under veritable siege - by an assortment of seabirds - of all shapes and sizes - that had decided to all land in the water near the yacht.

After having days of 'blow your head off' freezing cold winds - it's been nice to have a few super, calm warm winter days. Penny has slept on her cushions in the warm closed in cockpit - and it's like a nice sunroom for her.&nnbsp; But the nights have still been freezing cold - and for most we've been going to bed soon after 8pm - and for a few nights there - I even slept in a tracksuit and thick woollen Explorer socks - and still under about 5 blankets.

When we were out at Erskine Park - building the yacht - we were always connected to power - and could run the normal electric heaters, here in the saloon - and we even have a long bar heater mounted on the wall over the bed - which warmed us and the whole bedroom nicely.

But here on water - we would need to run the big 10 KVA diesel generator to provide enough power to run several 2.5 KW heaters - and so we haven't had them on at all.

So when we stopped by the other day to talk to Bruno and Anne - on their yacht - where they live with a beautiful Jack Russell Terrier called 'Ariel' (but who barks too much - while Penny just sits quietly and well behaved) - and I commented about how freezing cold it was. They said, that they use an LPG heater - for themselves and Ariel.

Well fortunately Penny didn't hear this conversation (because she's deaf) otherwise I'd have been lectured and nagged and blamed by her - until I went straight down the street and got one. After all - why should barking, misbehaving Ariel have one - and the damn 'Queen of the Nile' not.

So - yesterday - with Penny in her usual spot on the back window shelf - overseeing everything - we went to the local big camping supplies outlet - which is only a couple of blocks away - and she witnessed me purchasing a new LPG Reflector Heater ($40) - that goes on a gas bottle - and according to the assistant - gives off a whopping 4,500 BTU's of heat (however much the hell that is??) And should run for 150 years on one small bottle of gas - so that's pretty good.