Good news!!!!

First things first, Chuck's lump does not seem to be malignant!!!!! Yipeeee!!!! Chuck has grown a big lump on his ribs, it's probably 7cm x 5cm x 2 or 3 cm.  It's bony hard and adhered to his ribs.  It doesn't bother him, he never scratches it or licks it and is totally unmoved when I poke it.  But it's big and it came up in 4 - 5 weeks.  We took him to a vet to get it biopsied and no malignant cells were found, only blood.  Which is good.  She did say that if it continues to grow, we should test it again.  So that's that, and it's good. We'll be keeping an eye on it.

Currently we're in a little wee town called Winkle, which is a fun name all on its own, but even more amusing when you know that a winkle in Dutch is a store!!!! So we're spending the evening in Store.

Today was a little more packed than usual.  Chuck and I went off for our morning walk and as we came back we could see from a fair way off that there were a couple of boats waiting for the railway bridge just ahead of where we were moored, and which we had to get to open so we could continue on.  As we got closer, the boats were still there.  Closer still, bridge hadn't opened.  I got back to the boat and as I'm loading Chuck aboard, I'm calling out to the man to get the key and maybe we can go through with them, and we did!!!!! All the laundry still flapping in the breeze, I think we got the cover off the tiller, X didn't have a coat on, but we made the bridge.  The next few minutes were spent getting organized, you know, coiling, finding the chart, getting dressed.... We went a few km and stopped again cause there was a public mooring spot close to an Aldi and a Welkoop and we needed groceries and dog food.  The crappy god food they sell in the grocery stores is not ideal, but Welkoop is a great store!!!! It's kind of a Canadian Tire, but for farmers.  So there was a chicken and a rooster for sale, lots of different animal feed, great practical nice clothes at fair prices, fire wood coke as in charcoal for trains, neat tools.... It's not serious farm equipment, you can't get parts for your tractor or seed by the ton, but a really cool store.  We got food for his nibs, which he actually seems to approve of (the Eukanuba is gross it seems) and groceries next door at Aldi.

We'd brought the bike cause we needed enough stuff and it was probably half a kilometre away.  Gosh it was nice to get on the bike again, but off roading on wet bumpy grass with slick tires and a wildly overloaded bike was exciting!!!! We had to go over a really steep super narrow bridge, just wide enough for the saddle bags, and then up a steep grassy dike to head back.  My feet just slid right out till I was on my knees.  Wet grass is slippery as all get out, but also makes for a soft landing.  X gave a push at the back and we got up the hill. 

Back to the boat and a fast but much needed lunch and we were off again!!!!! We're getting better luck with the correspondence between what's on the chart and the public moorings on land, which is a relief. We motored through some very pretty wetlands, this is a lovely stretch, plus it's spring so there's lambs and baby grebes and coots and geese and ducks everywhere. 

Oh, and tulips!!!!

Finally tied up at around 3.30, time for tea and a coffee, it was a little cold today.  No worries till I poured the milk into X's coffee and it was solidish.  Smelled fine, but, not a good texture.  He drank most of it, but I set off to the grocery store for more milk and the few groceries we didn't get at the Aldi.  Great, back to the boat.  X goes for a walk to the Jumbo grocery store to look for stove alcohol, readily and cheaply available in the grocery stores and I set out to make paneer and tea.  Separately,  not good together.  I get my tea ready, pour in the milk, which looks strangely thick for skim milk and take that first delicious sip.

GAH. What is wrong with this milk????? It tastes horrid.  Frantic whatsapps to X to get him to buy more milk, and some more intense work with the translator.  Buttermilk.  Damn.  2 liters of the stuff.

We had buttermilk vinegrette on the salad and a buttermilk curry on rice with the paneer I made from the milk which had separated.  Chuck however managed to tip up the pot of whey I was saving to cook the rice in, spilling a good cup of it, requiring a long and cranky tidy up because it also leaked down through all the hatches.  He has to stand on the counter to get out of the boat and for some reason he had to go out right then and could not be dissuaded. Still no tea.  But the man turned up with more milk and all is good.  Had a short nap too before setting out to walk the dog. 

Buttermilk pancakes for breakfast!!!!!