More Bad News

We are now in Newcastle staying with friends Janet and Mick. Mick doesn't sleep well if he drinks too much alcohol! He had a bad night's sleep last night!

I managed to see my 88 y.o. uncle yesterday who is seriously ill in hospital in Canberra before we drove the next 450k's to where we are now. I have just learnt he passed away peacefully this morning at 2:45 am.

We are just about to head off to Trish's brother's funeral this morning. We will probably stay here in Newcastle for my uncle's funeral now. This will mean another drive through Sydney to get back down to Canberra.

From Yass

Monday at the cricket was great. The weather was warmer and I again met a chap I had sat with the day before. We both enjoy our cricket and took it in turns to tell each yarns from our days gone by. In between we watched as Australia began to take control of the match. When I eventually got back to Berwick, Trish and I had fish and chips for tea and got everything ready for our drive to Canberra the next day. We packed as much as we could and soon were ready for a good sleep.

We were on deck early Tuesday. Trish wanted to do some last minute washing too. We were on our way by 8:30 am. The traffic was minimal as it is holiday season. We dropped Kate's car at Chris' near Tullamarine airport so they could get home to Berwick easily.

650 k's later we pulled into a motel at Yass not too far from Canberra. The motel room was small but the air con worked well and everything was clean. There was free internet, thus I am doing this post and keeping one eye on the cricket on TV. The road between Melbourne and Sydney is nearly all dual highway nowadays but as you can see this part of Australia is very dry. Sorry about the dead bugs on the windscreen.

I have rung ahead to ensure all is OK for our visit in Canberra first thing tomorrow but there was no answer. Hopefully all is OK.

Eventually we got a call through and did not get good news, my elderly uncle now has pneumonia and hospital staff now intend to keep him as comfortable as possible.

Drouin And Then To The Test Match At The MCG

Our trip to Drouin was great. Again there was too much to drink and too much to eat. Plenty of friendship was found there too. It was great to catch up with everyon again and exchange our news. The weather was cool with a breeze ensuring people kept jumpers and jackets on. Trish had had a great Christmas day and was in a form of "Recovery Mode" for Boxing Day so we arrived back in Berwick that evening while there was still plenty of daylight. I think Trish has her brother's funeral on her mind too.

Today (Sunday) Trish dropped me at Berwick Station and I travelled almost an hour into the city and the Melbourne Cricket ground (MCG). I arrived at the ground much too early, got a sensational seat and settled down to enjoy the day's play. The cricket was slow and the breeze was very cool again. However I enjoyed the day very much. I played for Dandenong when I played cricket many years ago. Peter Siddle (Australia's opening fast bowler) plays with Dandenong too so there is a real interest here.

I travelled home by train as far as Springvale where I met with Trish as well as very good friends Eddie and Patsy. We all enjoyed a wonderful Vietnamese meal together. It was a great end to a great day.

I won't head in to the cricket as early tomorrow. Early tomorrow morning (Monday) Trish is driving Kate, Arj and the two kids to Tullamarine Airport for them to take off for Perth in Western Australia for a two week holiday. Perth is expecting 40 degrees.

On Tuesday we head north to Nelson Bay and the funeral with two major stop offs on the way.

Now It Is On To Boxing Day

After the excitement of receiving gifts in the morning the rest of Christmas Day day was relatively quiet. Christmas night was Arj's family's get together and it was being held at Kate's this year.

In true Sri Lankan tradition people arrived after 6:30pm and we ate about 8 pm, a tad late for the kids but this is the way it has always been.

Arj has a great family and his two older brothers plus his Mum and Dad come with all their kids as well as in-laws. The three boys and Arj's mum cook various Sri Lankan dishes while others supply sides, sweets or nibblies. Again there are more gifts and as usual the young kids get spoilt. We have another 'Kris Kringle' to keep costs within reason.

After too much to eat and drink, people started to find their way home at about 11pm. With cleaning up out of the way it was bedtime about midnight.

Today we are down to Drouin to the home of former neighbour's Barry and Rainy by 11am. John Loagan and Sue will be there along with other friends Wayne and Launa. Again there will be too much to eat and drink.

Tomorrow Sunday I am off to the cricket for Day 2 of the Test match, Australia Vs Pakistan.

Our arrangements are all in place for the funeral of Trish's brother, Bevan, in Nelson Bay NSW on Thursday morning. We will be leaving here about 10 am on Tuesday and will be staying with friends Janet and Mick in Newcastle. We expect to arrive there about 5pm or so on Wednesday of this week.

Christmas Day

We all ventured out on Christmas Eve for a meal at a favorite Malaysian restaurant here in Melbourne. It was fine, but they have changed their Chicken Curry recipe and we think we prefer the older one! Christmas Eve was spent enjoying the Carols on TV. The two children, Charli and James slipped off to bed leaving Santa some milk and bikkies and some water for the reindeer!

The kids did not wake early!

It was about 8 am when Charli emerged with a look of gleeful dismay on her face at the range of gifts Santa had left. She had a quick ride on her new bike, then a quick scoot on her new scooter before delving into her Santa Sack to retrieve everything she could.

Dad (Arj) then put the new doll's house together. He was a study of concentration as he carefully followed the instructions so the 25 included wooden pieces fitted together to create the new Doll's House. Some nerves were tested as the product slowly but surely reached completion.

James actually had to be woken after 8 am but he soon was fully active checking out his Santa Sack as well. This checking out is a big deal when you are only two and the Santa Sack is so full! But he managed OK!

Nanna was put to work putting the train set together for James. There were great looks of glee and surprise on all faces as the morning progressed!

Christmas Day had got off to a great start.

Funeral Update

After some discussion the funeral for Trish's eldest brother who passed away on Wednesday morning will be conducted at 10:30 am on Thursday December 31st in Nelson Bay. It is over 1000kms to Nelson Bay from Kate's home in Melbourne so it will require an overnight stop for us as we drive up.

At this stage we are hoping to make a quick visit to Canberra to visit my uncle who is now in his mid 80's. This will mean we will need to leave Melbourne Tuesday morning and drive about 650k's and stay overnight possibly at Yass. The next morning we will drive the final 70k's into Canberra for the quick visit. Then it is another 450+k's to Newcastle where we will stay if possible with friends Michael and Janet on Wednesday Dec 30th.

We would then hope to spend two further nights with Michael and Janet in Newcastle before setting off for another 1000k's back to Caloundra.

Great Night Out Soured By Sad News.

Last night we caught up with good friends for our annual Christmas get together. The ladies share the meal preparation and the venue is rotated from year to year. This year it was a June and Keith's turn in Berwick so it meant this time we did not have to travel far. We had plenty to eat, heaps of laughs, enough to drink and exchanged Christmas Gifts Kris Kringle style. We seem to start a little earlier these days which allows us to finish a little earlier. We don't seem to drink as much as we used to either. This means we either have more sense nowadays or we are growing older!

We arrived back home at Kate's place well before midnight.

One of the reasons for driving down to Melbourne this time was so we could visit Trish's eldest brother Bevan in Nelson Bay. Bevan has been suffering from Parkinson's these last 10 years or so but only recently he started to deteriorate quickly. He is 75 years of age and is in full care.

Another of Trish's brothers, Billy, rang last night at about 8 pm to say Bevan had suffered a turn for the worse. Bevan passed away at about 1 am this morning.

At this stage no arrangements have been announced so all our plans for our trip here to Melbourne are in limbo. We will just have to wait and see.

Christmas Day Approaches

Days have been reasonably quiet while here in Melbourne. Some of the time has been spent keeping an eye on the grand kids while last minute shopping is being completed. The Cricket has been on TV too so I have been occupied. I bought myself a 500GB external USB powered disk drive which I have 'set up' to be my new place to keep movies for the Media Player. It has taken some time but all is up to date now.

The internet connection has had a battering, this morning I downloaded 6 movies in just an hour and a half!

We had our family Christmas get together on Sunday here at Kate's. Our three kids and their families (where appropriate as Kim doesn't have kids) were all there along with my brother's wife Jeanette. Presents were exchanged and there were shouts of glee from those receiving them. James (seen here) is just 2 years old and really enjoys presents. We enjoyed a great meal consisting of baked fish, ham, prawns, chicken and salads. Everyone brought some food offerings and we had a sumptuous feast.

Monday night saw us head out to friends of Kate and Arj's home for a BBQ. Her parents were there too so the oldies sat and chatted while the young ones cooked, prepared and cleaned up! Spicy chicken, prawns, salmon and good old sausages were there as well as several salads. It was a sumptuous feast yet again!

Tonight it out for a meal with other friends and Wednesday night we will see our daughter Kim for a meal at St Kilda. Kim is heading to Thailand for her Christmas hols and won't be here Christmas Day.

I must contact Tony back home to see how all is there. Tony is keeping an eye on 13 Kilbride for us.

The weather is warming up at last and 36 is expected here tomorrow. Today will be about 26 while Christmas Day looks like being "Clearing Showers" and about 20.

In Melbourne

According to my car trip meter it is 1866k's from our home to the home of our daughter in Melbourne. Trish and I did 900k's the first day and the rest on day 2.

We left Caloundra just before 5 am on Wednesday and arrived in Gilgandra 900k's away after 10 hours travel. The temperature on arrival was 40 degrees with a stinking hot wind blowing. The motel room had a new air conditioner fitted a few weeks earlier. The air con was effective and quiet. We enjoyed a meal at the local bowls club. Because of daylight saving we 'lost' an hour after crossing the border into NSW. We were on our way the next morning at about 5:40 am. The temperature was still 28 degrees at that time of the morning.

As the trip continued the temperature continued to rise until it peaked at 42 degrees. The car and its climate control worked perfectly all the way. We stopped for a bite to eat for lunch at 40 degrees just south of Wangaratta which is in northern Victoria.

We arrived in Melbourne three hours later where the temperature was 20 degrees and heavy rain was falling, the cool change had arrived. It wasn't much fun battling the peak hour traffic and wet weather through the suburbs. We collected Trish's car from where she had parked it in St Kilda the week before and through stop start freeway traffic eventually arrived our destination at about 5:30pm.

Some quick observations, the grandkids have grown, the tap water is cold and it is strange to again be wearing track suit trousers first thing in the morning. There is a chill in the air when you put your head outside first thing in the morning!

Travel Day Tomorrow

Our drive from here down to Melbourne will begin at about 5 am tomorrow morning! The total trip is about 1900k's (about 1200 miles) and will take a couple of days. As we drive via the Newell Highway through central New South Wales we expect temps to get to about 40 degrees. With such hot weather we will need to take it a bit easy with the car. We will get to about Gilgandra and hopefully arrive there mid to late afternoon. We would then hope to finish the trip off the next day and get into Melbourne late Thursday afternoon. Melbourne is expecting a cooler wet day on Thursday which will be a lot easier for driving.

Our bags are pretty well packed now. We are all (Tony, Angela, Paul and Linda) heading to our newly discovered little Thai restaurant this evening for a Christmas meal and will get back home tonight about 8:30 and finish packing the car.

I awoke this morning to find this chap swimming in the pool. I fished him out with the leaf net and put the three iron to work. These toads are pests in this part of the world and authorities want them disposed of! Speaking of the pool, Tony came round yesterday and we went through the watering and pool maintenance routines. Tony will keep an eye on the place while we are away. The most important job is to ensure the water level is maintained in the pool. If the level drops too much it will not feed the filter and then the pump will overheat and require replacement!

We did a 14 kilometre bike ride this morning and decided to do the 'beach' ride. At last the wind has backed off and the riding is a lot more comfortable now. However it was about 28 degrees this morning at 7:30 am and humidity was around 75% so plenty of sweat was lost during the ride! How great the pool is to come home to after a ride like this today!

I am considering changing my Internet Service Provider from Netspace to Internode. I currently get 30GB download per month for $60 where Internode will give me 50GB for $50. Internode will charge me for upload too but this would still see me much better off. Still thinking about it right now though! It is a hassle changing your email address and we use the Netspace Address as our main email contact address!

There isn't much more news. The next post I make on the blog will come from Melbourne.

A Little Cooler

The pool has had quite a workout this week with most days sunny and above 30. Nights are pleasant enough, we put the ceiling fan on "Low" and sleeping is no problem. As usual at this time of year there is always some humidity around. I usually have a quick swim before heading to bed at night, this too ensures a good night's sleep. A 'cool' change went through yesterday so today is expected to be high 20's rather than 30+.

Busy doing the pre Christmas and a trip to Melbourne things the last few days. Pool water has been checked at the Pool shop, lawns are to be cut, and general tidy things up prior to getting away. One of my riding mates (Tony) will be looking after things while we are gone and I am sure he and his wife will use the pool.

Trish has been busy with End Of Year Christmas lunches this week for Stitchers and for Quilters. Trish also attends a Trivia Night each Thursday with a group of girls (including our GP). They were just pipped for first prize on Thursday night with a Tie-Breaker question required to split the top two teams.

Yesterday was the last day for 2009 for the Computer Club. Again I was busy helping some people out. When I got home I did another bottling. My beer supplies are now all up to date! The boxes are looking a bit tatty now and are probably due for replacement

We have enjoyed a couple of good movies which I have recently downloaded or copied from the TV. One was Samson and Delilah (which has just won the best Australian movie award) and the other was Balibo. We found Samson and Delilah a bit slow but Balibo was a very good movie.

The pool filter cover has been painted and all looks pretty good back there. My shoulder is improving but could be another three weeks yet till all is fine again. It is to do with the shoulder Rotator Cuff. These can take quite a while to heal.

Noticed some oil under the car during the week. It appears to be the result of a spill when it was serviced recently. It certainly sent shockwaves through the place as we are driving to Melbourne on Wednesday! Not sure if I will use that car service centre again after this. I even had oil dripping on to my driveway yesterday.

I had a call from Eddie saying tests had all proved OK and he was pretty fit for a guy his age. We will enjoy a couple of beers together when we get to Melbourne.

Trish Is Home

It has been quite warm here lately with temps into the low 30's. The wind has been strong though making it unpleasant to sit outside for long. The wind generally freshens during the afternoon but by then it is a sea breeze bringing slightly cooler temps to the coast.

I collected Trish from Maroochydore airport yesterday. She left Melbourne in driving rain and arrived here into blustery north wind.

Trish is off to a Christmas Lunch today with one group of quilters. I have been putting a How To sheet together on editing the Bellvista Community Association website this morning. At this stage I am the only one who knows how it all works.

Tony and I did our 13k bike ride this morning. This looks a pretty good way to spend a few months of the year doesn't it! We spotted the yacht on our ride this morning! The strong winds made the bike ride a good workout for us.

Trish went through the mail upon her return. It was intersting to see the many entries on the bank statement which read one after the other, Paypal, Paypal, Paypal! This is the way I pay for stuff on the internet. It looks like I have been busy buying online.

My most recent purchase is this power board. When I look at the entertainment unit I can count over 11 items plugged into cheap power boards. This one will allow me to individually turn items off when we travel away from home. I now need my back to come good so I can bend down behind the unit and put the new power board to work.

Looking Busy Already

Trish is due to fly home from Melbourne tomorrow (Tues) and then on Wednesday Dec 16th we are planning to drive to Melbourne for Christmas. Already our time in Melbourne is looking busy.

We expect to arrive in Melbourne during the late afternoon of Thursday 17th. We already have babysitting duties for Friday afternoon/evening. I am then hoping to catch up with Keith and the boys on Saturday afternoon. Our "Thomas Family Christmas" will happen on Sunday 20th and we have a commitment for the evening of Monday Dec 21st. We also have a 'booking' for Tuesday night as well.

Christmas Eve will be spent with the kids getting ready for Christmas Day! Christmas Day I expect will be with Kate, Arj, Kim and two of the grandchildren while Christmas Night we will be with Arj's family. Boxing Day is traditionally spent with Barry, Rainy and friends at Bazz's place in Drouin while on the following four days I am hoping to get to the MCG for the Test Cricket match at the MCG.

Soon after that we will be driving back north to the Sunshine Coast where we are hoping to catch up with friends or relations in Canberra, Newcastle, Nelson Bay, and possibly Burleigh Heads.

During the day seems the best time for us to try and catch up with people.

Let us know if you want us to catch up with you while we are in Melbourne and if you have a time and date that suits everyone.

It Is Saturday Already!

Time flies! I did not realize it was so long since I last posted here on the blog.

My trip to Kingscliff was great. Kingscliff is about 200kms from here just over the border with New South Wales. I have to drive past the Gold Coast and its theme parks to get there. The road is quite good and there are improvements to it each time I drive down. Graeme lives in an apartment which overlooks Gudgen Creek. As you can see from this photo taken from Graeme's balcony, it is a bit more than a creek. The new boardwalk footpath will take away his privacy and the unit right next door is now a permanent rental. Graeme has just sold the unit and with the changes going on and the loss of privacy it makes selling the apartment seem less of a loss. We had a few drinks, a lot of laughs and a bit of a look around the town. I drove back home on Wednesday.

I had put a brew on the previous Sunday and this means a bottle washing session as well as a bottling has to be done during the following week. It is now Saturday morning and I have just finished bottling. The brewing equipment is drying in the sun after it has been cleaned. 32 bottles are now spending at least two weeks completing the brewing process before they can be chilled and enjoyed.

There has been plenty of cricket on TV the last couple of days so much of my time has been spent camped in front of the TV. Trish is still in Melbourne and she is loving her busy time down there. She is flying home on Tuesday.

In between I have been finishing off the pool filter cover by re staining the timber and putting primer over the metal side strips. I have added a small cover for the Controller which keeps the hot sun off it, especially the plastic covered control pad buttons. The plastic cover can harden in the sun and crack allowing water in.

This afternoon I have a public meeting of the Community Association to attend. 6 of the 8 Committee members are unable to be there today so I have to drag myself away from the cricket on TV to run the meeting and help with a sausage sizzle. Not happy about it at all! I will give the Computer Club a miss today.

I had a call from my brother this morning where he is now at Beechworth. He hopes to give us all a call again on Christmas Day when we are all in Melbourne.

First Decent Rain For 5 Months

At last Caloundra received its first decent storm for the season and it dropped 24mls of very welcome rain on us here in Caloundra West. When I checked my figures, the last time we had a figure greater than 24mls was June 30th! That is 5 months ago! However the grass at the front of our little home has disappeared, it is almost a sandy waste. Hopefully the rain will get the grass growing again! There was no need to water the potplants or top up the pool today, mother nature had done it for us. Can you see the rain falling in the photo?

Today has been spent with me watching good friend Paul building a new Pool Filter Cover. This photo doesn't show the new structure at its best but that is nothing a good coat of paint won't fix. After the work was completed Paul and I tried a little beer testing and it was unanimous that the "Black" beer was the best. The two pics show a before and after comparison. There is now a drop in the filter pump noise level which was a major aim of the new cover.

On Monday night I enjoyed a lovely meal with Tony and Angela. Again a few beers were had as well as the enjoyable meal. A very successful and pleasant day all round.

Tomorrow after the morning bike ride I am down to Kingscliff in Northern NSW to catch up with Graeme Williamson. I will spend an evening there before driving back home on Wednesday.

Cricket Match All Over In Three days!

I did myself a little harm when manually rolling up a blind on Friday night. I injured my shoulder again and it is still very tender today!

I went to Computer Club yesterday morning and spent some time setting up an email account (old Hotmail account) so it would work in Outlook Express. Hotmail stopped allowing people to download emails via their email client (Outlook Express, Thunderbird etc) but changed their mind again about 12 months ago. However the new settings are different so it took a bit of trial and error to make sure we had the 'new' settings to get it to work properly. I have since created a new Gmail Account for Trish so she can send and receive her own emails rather than using the Netspace address all the time. This will also enable Trish to access emails online when she is visiting Melbourne.

It has been hot lately. Last night was a balmy 24 overnight and today it is about 30 or so with humidity in the high 60's! We had heaps of thunder and lightning yesterday afternoon but we just managed to get the pool surrounds wet with the little rain we had. Inland got a bit more rain. It did drop the temperature a bit and much of the afternoon was spent in the mid to high 20's. The pool was about 27 degrees this morning when I had a swim!

I have been enjoying watching the cricket on TV. Test matches can last up to 5 days but this game was over in less than three days. I was planning on spending the whole day enjoying the game today but now that isn't going to happen.

Our daughter Kim was robbed on Thursday. She lost her new TV and her laptop. Insurance is replacing the lost items. It appears the intruders came in while the three of them were all asleep upstairs. It is scary when this sort of thing happens while you are at home.

I Have Had A Good Day!

Our pool has a salt chlorinator. The pool water has salt in it. The chlorinator uses this salt to create chlorine which keeps the pool water safe and clean from bacteria. A chlorinator is an expensive part of the pool. The chlorinator needs to run for so many hours a day to keep the supply of chlorine up to what is required. At this time of year the chlorinator needs to run for about 6 hours a day, 3 in the morning and 3 more in the afternoon and this is set using the inbuilt timer. I wanted to change my morning timer settings from a 7 am start to 6:30 am. I adjusted the settings to 6:30 am to 9:30 am for the morning run.

I got a bit of a fright when the timer wouldn't start automatically at 6:30 am! I could start it manually and it would automatically turn off at 9:30. I again adjusted the settings and again the chlorinator failed to start. The afternoon session from 1pm to 4 pm worked fine. I gambled and hit the "Reset" button and reset up all the settings, the clock, the amount of chlorine I wanted made and the timer settings too.

The afternoon session timer setting worked perfectly and this morning I waited patiently for the clock to tick around to 6:25 am the new start up time. I was very thankful when at 6:25 sharp the chlorinator and pool pump started up. I did not want to have to spend the best part of $1000 to have the chlorinator replaced just before we headed to Melbourne for Christmas! The automatic function is crucial for when we travel, we know the pool is being chlorinated even though we may be 2000k's away!

I was invited out to tea last night by Linda and Paul. Linda prepared a lovely Laksa dish. We enjoyed a few drinks together and all in all had a lovely night.

Cricket is on TV all today with Australia taking on the West Indies in a Test match!

Not A Lot Of News

We have had a couple of 'cooler' days with a lovely north easterly breeze. The top temp has been about 28 degrees both days and the cooling sea breeze has made for very pleasant afternoons. I had the car serviced yesterday afternoon so there is another job out of the way before our drive to Melbourne in mid December. I really enjoyed my Pizza I bought last night for my evening meal.

There was cricket from New Zealand on TV all yesterday and today and I enjoyed watching it very much. I continue to bike ride most mornings and today was no exception. The pic to the left is from the path we ride on around "Little Mountain Common". There is plenty of cricket over the next week as Australia take on the West Indies tomorrow here in Brisbane.

I have booked 6 seats for a show at the RSL late in January with the old English 60's group "The Searchers". Trish and I have seen them about 4 times before. It is a great night's entertainment and brings back fabulous memories of music from the 60's. Friends Tony and Angela and Paul and Linda are coming with us. It will be a good night.

My shoulder is improving but only slowly. I have stretched some ligaments and it is taking some time for the strain to heal. I take an anti-inflammatory tablet daily but it seems to have worn off by the time I go to bed. However last night there wasn't a lot of discomfort when it came time to head to bed. It was warm enough for me to have a quick swim prior to hitting the sack!

I washed bottles Tuesday ready for my next bottling which should occur about Friday.

Trish has settled in to some baby sitting duties in Melbourne and is finding her calendar becoming quite busy already so she is in for a busy time down there.

Warm Days

It looks like being 30 or thereabouts everyday this week. There could be a shower or two and possibly a little cooler tomorrow but we have heard that one before! For the first time since we moved here about 7 or 8 years ago the Sunshine Coast will have water restrictions beginning December 1st. We will be allowed to water gardens, wash cars, top up pools etc. 6 days per week but not between 10 am and 4pm. This will not make any difference to us. The abundant Sunshine Coast water supply has now been connected into a grid which also supplies Brisbane which has experienced severe water shortages in the past. We have therefore inherited Brisbane's restrictions.

It was warm and very breezy yesterday. So breezy in fact that the umbrella was whisked out of its base and finished up going over the shed (seen in the pic) and ending up in over the back's backyard! There wasn't anyone home so I put the aluminium ladder against the fence and climbed over. I rescued the umbrella just as the people arrived home. There weren't any problems and we had a bit of a chat.

Then came the need to get back over the fence. I had to drag the ladder over the fence and use it to get back. With a crook shoulder this was no fun.

I got the drill out and made a hole in the umbrella stand so now the base screws into the umbrella stand. It won't blow out again!

Trish has arrived safely in Melbourne. There was a load moan from all the passengers as the pilot announced the temperature in Melbourne was 13 degrees as the plane taxied to drop off passengers at the Melbourne terminal.

On My Own Again

I have just dropped Trish at Maroochydore Airport for her two hour flight to Melbourne. There is a birthday party on for one of the grand children in Melbourne this afternoon and Trish was going to arrive in time to attend. She is looking forward to her visit south and is due back in 16 days.

Weather has been low 30's during the day and low 20's overnight. The pool is over 28 degrees during the day (it was almost 27 degrees this morning at 7 am) and is a very popular spot nowadays. The new area is just wonderful giving us great shade and extra room. It is now worth every cent we paid.

My shoulder remains tender after visiting the Chiropractor again, she suspects I have strained some tendons in my shoulder. I am back on anti-inflammatory tablets and it is feeling much better now. I need to be careful with what I do.

John and Sue arrived in their Winnebago Friday afternoon. It seems a great unit and they find it very comfortable. John isn't overly technically minded so he had little idea on how to tune his TV. After a few quick lessons he can now do this effectively and efficiently. We then visited the local Camping Store where he managed to spend quite a bit of money. He bought a map book for Australia, a kettle which worked off the car cigarette lighter for his coffee fixes while on the road, a large step to make getting into and out of bed a lot easier, some protectors so the seat belts wouldn't cut into him while he drove without a shirt on and then a Satellite Navigation unit to help him find his way around. The Winnebago has everything that opens and shuts, automatic hatch closers and opener and then an electrically operated fan. It is a great unit.

They headed off to Brisbane yesterday about lunchtime to visit the guy who was having a 60th birthday party after John rang to find the address! I guess you now can see the value for him in the Satellite Navigation unit he bought. They expect to be back in Melbourne on Thursday of next week.

Another Warm Sunny Day

I have again just returned from the Chiropractor where more work has been done on my right shoulder. I will need to be very careful with it and make sure I don't do anything which will aggravate it further. I am typing here with a cold ice pack on it.

I have done further work on fine tuning my all in one remote control to work with the upgraded Pay TV box. As we can now watch nearly all our free to air TV via the Pay TV box it has become the major piece of equipment in the entertainment unit and I needed to change some remote control settings (which I do via the internet) to reflect that.

We had a great night out on Wednesday when we went back to the newly discovered Thai Restaurant. The food was quite OK (but not as good as we get when we are in Melbourne) and the surroundings very pleasant. The bill for the 6 of us came to $80 and this ensured we had a very good night. 6 people being served for $80 is an excellent deal. And as we were allowed to bring our own alcohol (and at no corkage charge) it made for a great night. The other two chaps in this photo (Paul and Tony) helped me dig out the 'new' area.

The garden area in the backyard has now been finished and things are back in place. Trish and I trekked to Bunnings (a DIY warehouse) yesterday and purchased a new pot and plants. These are now in place and add to the backyard. There won't be any further work done until my shoulder improves.

Friends John and Sue are due to arrive later this afternoon in their new Winnebago Motor Home. John (my finance guy) was always keen to get into this sort of thing when he retired and this quick trip to Queensland is their first go in it. Looks like the RSL and the poker machines for tea tonight! They are only staying the one night.

It has just gone midday here and the temp is getting towards 30 degrees. However the 60% humidity makes it feel a bit warmer than that. The pool was 26.5 this morning and should be 28 this afternoon!

A Much Cooler Wednesday

My trip to the Chiropractor on Monday eased many of my pains but I am still having a problem with my right shoulder. I get the greatest discomfort when using the computer mouse. This is indeed extremely serious! With each day it improves a little.

Yesterday (Tuesday) we had a 35 degree day which is quite hot for up here in this part of Queensland. Strong north westerly winds kept the temp up. The hottest time of the day was at 10 am. A sea breeze then kicked in and the humidity rose substantially while the temp dropped back to the high 20's. We have been riding our bikes each morning but this was the overcast sky which greeted us this morning. We are expecting 29 today when the cloud clears with a possible storm tonight and then back in to the 30's again for the next few days. The pool was heading towards 29 yesterday and was 26.5 when I swam this morning after the ride.

I had the air-con on for much of the day as we were having our upgraded Pay TV box installed. It is all operational now and how the quality of the picture has improved. This is achieved by a better quality Pay TV box and the introduction of High Definition Channels. I am very impressed with the way it worked out. My recent purchases from China (HDMI Switch and DVI to HDMI Adapters) have worked perfectly.

Trish continues to do some volunteer work at the local Information Centre and today she is back to Quilters. She heads to Melbourne for two weeks on Sunday while I stay here and do more to the backyard!

Tonight we are off to the new Thai restaurant we 'discovered' recently. Six of us are going and it will be a good night.

Off To The Chiropractor Today!

Thanks to Lou Ann for her comment.

My car tyres needed pumping up today so I popped into a service station and gave them a well deserved inflate! Noticed one of the front tyres was looking a bit bare so I immediately headed to the local tyre sales place for a closer examination. I now have two new tyres and a wheel alignment. One of the two front tyres was down to the canvas on the inside of the tyre where I couldn't see. A blowout could have occurred by just driving over a large stone left on the road.

I am off to the chiropractor this afternoon. My shoulder and upper back are killing me. My shoulder hurts so much I can hardly manipulate the computer mouse! Both problems are the result of the work recently completed in the back yard. I think I need a rest from manual labor!

Trish does volunteer work with the local Tourist Information Service run by the Council. A large new super modern and super deluxe resort called "Rhumba" has just opened up here in Caloundra and all the volunteer workers have been invited to attend an "Information Day".

A meal and a tour of the new resort will keep Trish occupied today. I am picking her up at about 5 pm. I managed to download these photos from the internet, the one above left is inside one of the units, the other is of the pool and the one below is a view of the new resort itself. It looks pretty nice doesn't it? This was one day's volunteer work Trish was really looking forward to!
We have hot northerlies blowing today and a top of 30 forecast. It is expected to get to the mid 30's in Brisbane later this week. It won't be quite that hot here. Hopefully we will get a thunder storm and a quick downpour to water our parched lawns! The pool and the 'new' area will be popular spots this week!

Sunday, A Day Of Rest?

The concrete has now set, the form work has been removed and two coats of sealer have been applied. This morning Vincent, the concrete guy, returned to tidy up some edges. I had wanted them nice and straight so the border stones could clip onto the edge easily. That was no problem for him today. Usually there are two guys and they have spent at least 5 hours with the initial day's work followed by time yesterday to do the sealing. Then Vincent was back again today with this saw to do the edges for me.

Then I placed the border stones along the edges of the pavers as well as the new concrete area and here is the finished product. We still have some more trial and error to go so things look as we want them to. Already we have dispensed with an extra tier of the border stones, they made things look a bit too bulky. We will put a tall pot with a plant in it in the far corner to break up the red ochre color. It gives us that little more room we wanted.

This is the view from the new area, it is so strange to have a decent area between where we were sitting and the pool. It gives things a much roomier perspective. Over the next few days we will get the remaining garden back in to some order. We still plan to re cover all the fences with some new 'brush' covering. It is also time to do the pool filter cover again and block it right away. That will keep me busy for a few days ........ and I think a trip to the chiropractor is in order too.

Our updated pay TV box is to be installed on Tuesday afternoon. Not only we have access to high definition Pay TV but we will be able to record either free to air programs or Pay TV programs too.

Is This The Dearest Piece Of Concrete In Caloundra?

It was Thursday and D-Day, the day three of us (Tony, Paul and myself) chose to dig out the area where the palm had been ready for concreting! I had been quoted $300 just to dig it out. To save some money Paul suggested the three of us get together and do the work ourselves. I had been quoted $650 to have it dug out and have a concrete slab poured. So by using our own labor to dig it out I thought to then have the concrete colored and have a pattern in it would possibly work out to be between $500 and $600 as a top price. To finish the day off we were going to have Paul, Tony and wives around for a BBQ tea!

This is what we started with. We had three guys, two barrows and Tony's one ton truck to move the dirt. We were under way at about 7:30 am (instead of our usual bike ride). It was a coolish day so we set to work. Paul has a crook back and wore a corset, Tony had just been told he needed yet another knee replacement and my back is touchy at the best of times.

We did the work slowly with plenty of rests and drinks of water. Paul (see above) has done quite a bit of this sort of work so he was the 'foreman!

After 4 hours and two trips to the tip with the soil we had dug out the work was completed. The digging rate had slowed remarkably as the morning wore on, the rests became longer and the drinks of water become more frequent. There were still plenty of roots from the palm which had been removed and these slowed us down a lot. But eventually we got there.

We were very happy with our job so we rang the concrete guy to come and see if we had done everything OK. He was working locally so just as we were finishing he popped in a gave it the seal of approval. He went on to say he would probably do the job during that afternoon. It wasn't too long till he had the formwork ready to go. Trish had discussed the color with him as well as a feature stencil to add a point of interest to the area. He assured us he would keep his charges down to a minimum for us (he was the guy who had quoted $650), he would use the less expensive coloring and he had a stencil left over from a previous job. It all sounded good!

While the three of us sat back to have a well earned beer, we watched as things began to take shape. The concrete was delivered, barrowed around to the back and laid. It was smoothed, angled so water would flow in one direction to a drain and then out came the dust to color the concrete. The concrete was a little on the wet side and as the afternoon wore on the area being worked on moved into the shade.

Well we finished up with red coloring dust everywhere, all over the patio, in the pool on the fence, just everywhere! As the guys worked, they stood in the dust and then there were even more red footprints. They began to wash the dust away thus creating more mess from their red footsteps. The day crept on and after quite a few beers Paul and Tony left for home to tidy up and come back for the BBQ. The concreters were still here courtesy of the wet concrete at 6 pm. They were unable to seal it that night.

They were back again this morning to seal it but still it was too wet! It was then I was told the price. You could have knocked me over with a feather! It was dearer than the $650 he had originally quoted me! As I said, this must be close to the dearest slab of concrete in Caloundra!

It will certainly give us more room to enjoy around the pool. We will now be able to easily accommodate up to 6 of us without nearly falling in to the pool. We have spent quite a bit of money to have the backyard set up beautifully, so in the scheme of things some added costs will not detract from the lovely are we will have.

Next week we are looking at temps getting into the 30's so the thoughts on how much the new area cost will fade as we enjoy it!

Remember to click on a photo for a larger view. Then hit "Back" to return to this page.

It Is Wednesday

I had a great day Sunday enjoying the cricket from India on the TV. It was great to see an understrength Australian side defeat India in a series win on their home turf. It was a great effort and a wonderful testament to the strength of First Class cricket in Australia when guys can step straight out of a domestic competition and succeed on the international stage.

We ride most mornings and I won't tell where we rode today, I will just let you guess from the photo here on the left. Most day's rides are completed for me with a quick dip in the pool. Monday was spent just messing around, I can't remember what I did to tell you the truth. I did spend a bit of time at Paul's place sorting out a couple of issues on his PC during the afternoon. I have also spent some time fine tuning the BeCA website. It is all finished now.

Tuesday saw me head in to Kawana for a my annual visit to the Ear Nose and Throat guy to check out my ear. I have had my eardrum in my right ear replaced several times and I have an annual inspection and tidy up. I also grabbed a 500GB external Hard Disk Drive to which I have now copied about 300 movies and heaps of music. This is for Russ and Irene in Victoria. Their new Samsung TV has a built in media player so by attaching this external HDD they can easily playback movies and music with just the press of a couple of buttons.

During the morning we had the anode replaced in our hot water system. The anode 'attracts' the rust and prevents the hot water tank from rusting itself.

Then Tuesday afternoon Tony and I went into Caloundra to the local MP's office to print off 1250 copies of the Bellvista Connector, the newsletter produced by BeCA. They are now ready to be given out and distributed! Took under an hour to do the job and at no cost to us.

Today was time for yet another brew to go on. It is just beginning to bubble now as I type. Trish is at Quilters this morning. I seem to have a bit of my sore throat back again, I have had extensive problems with colds the last month or so. I just can't seem to fully throw it off.

Tomorrow is digging day. Paul and Tony are coming around and the aim is to dig out the area ready for some colored and patterned concrete to be laid. Hopefully this concreting will be completed before Trish flies down to Melbourne on Sunday week.

Trish Is Very Pleased With Herself

Trish enjoys her quilting and stitchery. She is also into creating things with small beads, making pendants and the like. She attends a couple of sessions each week at the local Arts and Crafts Centre. This weekend the Arts and Crafts Centre are conducting their Annual Arts and Crafts Market. People are able to put things they have made into the market and sell them.

Trish made a heap of small Christmas decorations using small beads. I know she uses small beads because a few of them have been sucked up off the floor by the vacuum cleaner! She put them all on a small stand and put them up for sale. This is her 'work area' in the spare bedroom.

Every single one of the beaded decorations sold on the first day of the market and she has made herself over $100. She is just delighted that other people thought what she had made was worth buying. This is not all profit of course as the cost of buying the bits and pieces to create the finished handicrafts has not been included.

Trish is again helping out with the Market today.

The antibiotics have worked already with my sore throat now completely gone. My cold is on the improve too and I am feeling fine.

Lately temps have been in the mid to high 20's with 27 expected today. Some showers are forecast for later but we will wait and see. So many promises of good rain recently have turned into nothing! The pool was 24.5 when I swam after this morning's ride. It will warm up more today to about 26 or so. Very pleasant for swimming. However I will be in front of the TV watching India Vs Australia live from India this afternoon in a One Day International cricket match.

All Wired Up

My sore throat and cold are on the mend. Another trip to the doctor yesterday so me back on antibiotics for the infection and some high strength lozenges for the throat. I have only taken 3 antibiotic tablets at this stage and the throat is already on the improve. After a call from my mate Russell in Victoria it seems I am not the only one to be hit by this sore throat - cold bug.

I forgot to mention a great night out we had with Tony and Paul and Linda when we went to a newly opened Thai Restaurant here in Caloundra on Wednesday night. The prices were very reasonable and being BYO (Bring Your Own) alcohol the home brew made it an inexpensive night out. Food was good, the little restaurant was homely and the company excellent.

My package of bits and pieces which will allow me to connect three devices to my older flat screen TV arrived yesterday from China. As I have said in an earlier post a DVI to HDMI converter costs $18 at the local electrical parts store while one from China costs $4. I received and set up my HDMI switcher on Friday so I can now connect three electrical devices to the TV with the best possible connection method and switch between them using my remote control.

The three devices to be connected via the HDMI Switch will be a HD Set Top Box, the WD TV Media Player (used for playing downloaded movies) and Pay-TV. Our Pay TV provider is releasing an updated High Definition box in the next week or so and when we have a new one installed it will have a HDMI connection. We should have the new Pay-TV box installed before Christmas. The HDMI Switch came with its own remote control which worked spasmodically. It has three buttons, one for each HDMI input. We use an all in one remote control (Logitech Harmony 880) which allowed me to 'teach' it the three signals for each HDMI input and it works perfectly. You can see the installed HDMI Switch in the photo above left.

Modern TV's have up to 4 HDMI inputs built in. Our older set only has one DVI input so I needed to purchase a couple of DVI to HDMI adapters as well as the HDMI switch.

I bought the stuff from DealExtreme. Its pricing is all in $US and the electrical plug connections are usually US. I have bought some cheap US to AU plug adapters. I was a bit peeved when this one turned up with a UK plug! It cost me $10 to buy a UK to AU converter from K-Mart which gobbled up some of my 'savings' I had made in buying overseas.

If I were doing it again I would probably buy the HDMI Switch via E-Bay as then the unit would come with an Aussie power plug.

Last night we watched Julie & Julia on the WD TV Media Player through the HDMI Switch connection. The picture quality was certainly improved on what we had previously experienced through the 'composite' (red, white and yellow connectors) connection.

I am very pleased with the way it has all worked out. I would have been disappointed though if I had had to use the supplied remote control!

Now I am off to clean the pool and get ready for today's Computer Club. Trish is spending much of the day at the Caloundra Arts and Craft Market helping out. She has handmade some Christmas decorations which are for sale. If she sells some that will be great, if she doesn't sell anything it doesn't matter!