"Showers" = 32mls (1.25")

Yesterday's showers developed in to a 1.25" downpour later in the afternoon. It began to clear about 6 pm and we headed to the RSL to celebrate friend Angela's birthday. I won't say exactly which birthday it was but Angela is a little older than Trish. It was a great night out.

At the Computer Club Saturday morning I thought I had my first disaster but everything turned out OK in the end. I was using Window's System Restore to fix a problem on a member's relatively new laptop. System restore shut down the laptop and restarted. All seemed to be going fine until the screen just went black! A power off and power back on again eventually resulted in another black screen. A power off and power on and this time I selected "Start In Safe Mode" which got the laptop up again with an error message saying the system had not been restored, "please check your anti-virus". This prompted a response that that morning instead of hitting 'Cancel' the member had hit 'Activate' on her free trial version of Norton Antivirus! So I uninstalled Norton in Safe Mode and to complete the uninstall we had to restart the laptop! I was a pretty relieved guy when the laptop started and loaded OK. Norton had not been fully uninstalled so after a few minutes I had a Norton Uninstall Tool and finished the job off. A restart and everything was running 100% again!

Today (Sunday) I have been doing some work on the BeCA website by adding a few pieces. I also added something to the BeCA Blog site and then decided to do my Blog too! Before this I washed enough bottles for a bottling in the next few days. They are drying in the sun right now along with these bottle tops.

This afternoon is two cricket matches and an AFL footy match to keep me occupied.

Rain is expected to return tomorrow!

Have you read the joke below?

3 Maoris and 3 Aussies

Three Australians and three Maoris are travelling by train to a Rugby match at the World Cup in England. At the station, the three Aussies each buy a ticket and watch as the three Maoris buy just one ticket between them.

"How are the three of you going to travel on only one ticket?" asks one of the Aussies. "Watch and learn bro," answers one of the Maoris

They all board the train. The Aussies take their respective seats but all three Maoris cram into a toilet and close the door behind them.

Shortly after the train has departed, the conductor comes around collecting tickets. He knocks on the toilet door and says, "Ticket please."

The door opens just a crack and a single arm emerges with a ticket in hand. The conductor takes it and moves on.

The Aussies see this and agree it was quite a clever idea. So after the game, they decide to copy the Maoris on the return trip and save some money (being clever with money, and all that).

When they get to the station, they buy a single ticket for the return trip. To their astonishment, the Maoris don't buy a ticket at all!!

"How are you going to travel without a ticket?" says one perplexed Aussie.

"Watch and learn bro ," answers a Maori .

When they board the train the three Aussies cram into a toilet and soon after the three Maoris cram into another nearby. The train departs.

Shortly afterwards, one of the Maoris leaves the toilet and walks over to the toilet where the Aussies are hiding. He knocks on the door and says, "Ticket please."

A Showery But Cool Start

This was taken this morning during my bike ride. Needless to say I hightailed it home to beat the impending shower of rain. I made it OK but today's ride was just a little under 10k's, a bit shorter than usual. Even though the day was off to a cool start, by mid afternoon the sky had cleared and the sun was out and it was 31+ in the backyard. The backyard is shielded from the wind which is great in winter but not so good in summer. Despite the brief shower of rain, the pool was very pleasant after my ride.

I received a parcel this morning from my youngest daughter Kim. It gets a bit hard to buy a birthday present for a Dad in his mid 60's. But I think people will enjoy watching me cook over the BBQ with my new apron on! At least it will look like the meat is pretty fresh if they see me wearing this

Thankyou Kim! Hopefully the red has just been painted on!

Trish and I had a trip in to Caloundra just before lunch. Aldi had quite a few specials relating to bike riding so it was a chance for us to get some things. Trish bought a new Gel seat for her bike while I got myself some new bike riding gloves. Trish had determined my favorite blue singlet I ride in was destined for the rubbish bin so I bought myself a new top for riding.

This afternoon I will head around to Tony's for a few beers. We may not get time for our usual get together Friday afternoon so we will have a chat today instead!

Back Into The Swing Of Things

The weather has been hot and sticky. It must be humid here when even the locals are complaining about it. But it is all due to end later today when a cool southeasterly change blows in bringing less humid and cooler weather along with showers. As summer is nearly at an end, the days are shorter now and the house hasn't been as warm. We may even turn the ceiling fan off over night nowadays.

Yesterday was the warmest day this February. As you can see from this photo yours truly did discover a way to cool off later in the afternoon! The pool temperature remains around high 20's so it is very comfortable in the water. I have a quick swim most nights before going to bed!

I have temporarily completed the double palings along the back fence. Paul is due to come back with his nail gun and complete the job. I have screwed the final panel of palings into place which I will remove when Paul is available again. Currently he is a bit busy with work and the markets they do, you almost have to book an appointment to see him! The fence looks OK though and finishes off the backyard.

I spent some time yesterday helping an older couple out over the road with their computer. I put Office 2000 on for them so they could read an Excel document which had been emailed to them. Then today Brian was over saying their printer wouldn't work. Somehow or other it had gone back to an older printer they used to have and had made it the default. I just swapped the default back to the new printer and all worked OK.

I am having a couple of problems with my computer too. The screen doesn't always turn on at start up. Again I think it has become a bit mixed up and the computer forgets there is a screen attached to the DVI connector (not the regular VGA connector). To fix this I will turn everything off overnight, pull the plugs out of the wall and disconnect the screen totally from the computer. In the morning I will reconnect it all, plug in the power then turn it on. Hopefully the computer will need to reconnect to the screen via DVI and it will 'remember' from then on. You need to remove the power for a good couple of hours from both the computer and the screen to totally clear the memory of the PC and the screen. So when I restart it the next day the computer needs to reset everything.

Or maybe I need a new PC!

Home From Hervey Bay

Kondari Resort Hervey Bay is a former Conference Centre. It used to have well over 60 units in various setups, a pool and poolside area as well as a small hotel with a Bistro, Bar and a Gaming Area. The latest owners have removed most of the Conference buildings and have even sold off a section of the "Resort" to another organisation which runs its section as "Lakeside Resort". There is a man built lake complex throughout the place with heaps of wildlife surrounded by tropical plant growth.

The accommodation requires some refurbishment. Though quite comfortable it looked like it could do with a makeover. Each room was air conditioned and was your typical motel type style. Ear plugs would have been handy when sleeping as the air con wasn't very quiet.

The hotel side did have and excellent Bistro Area with very good meals at excellent prices. One night was a steak night at just under $11 with an all you can eat Salad Bar. The steak was great and if you looked hard enough you also found some baked potatoes, cauliflower, baked pumpkin and vegetables. The Bistro was about 30 metres from our rooms so it was just a matter of a quick change of clothes and a short walk and we were ready to eat. They had similar arrangements for breakfast and lunch at $10 per person.


Hervey Bay still doesn't do anything for us as a destination. However, with the two other couples joining us for 2 of the 3 nights we were there we had a fantastic time. February is the quiet season so we almost had the place to ourselves. The rules were stretched a little so we could enjoy our drinks etc in an area very close to the pool (see photos left and above left).


We had the pool on one side and the lakes on the other. If you look closely at the photo of the lake you will see tortoises in the water. Remember to click on the photo for a larger view. Then click on Back to return to this page.

I Don't Need To Water The Garden

I tipped 113mls out of the rain gauge this morning, Texas Lou, that is 4.5 inches! And it looks like there is more to come today. This rain really fell over two sessions, the first several hours yesterday afternoon and the second, last night from about 8 pm. There are not any floods around us though some areas of Brisbane were flooded. This is a photo from a Brisbane newspaper.

It is about 22 degrees right now and it is expected to get to 27 later today. More showers are forecast.

Today we are off to Hervey Bay 220k's north of here and we expect to be back home Saturday. I am expecting some phone calls later today so we will see which of my children read their Dad's Blog! The rain we have just had is heading north so we are in for a damp day on the road.

Today is my birthday!

Relief At Last

The air conditioner eventually went on last night (Mon) at about 5:15 pm. Humidity has stuck around 70%+ for all the day! Last night it got down to about 26 but we still slept well under the fan. This morning Tony and I rode for almost 13 kilometres in 85% humidity and I finished up in a lather of sweat but the pool fixed all that. At lunchtime the pool water temperature was 31 degrees!

A cool wet southerly change was promised for this afternoon with possible storms. It seemed like the storms passed us all day until about 2 pm these clouds built up to the south (see the photo)! We could hear thunder all day but the clouds seemed to bypass us. The clouds slowly worked their way towards us from the south.

Then the skies opened up and the temperature fell from 33 degrees to 26 in a matter of minutes. After 10 minutes I turned the water diverter off, the pool was now full of water! Trish and I are sitting back quietly just cooling off while the rain continues to tumble down outside. We still have the fans running though because the house will take a little time to cool down.

Last night we watched a couple of movies, Robin Williams in "The World's Greatest Dad" and Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon in "The Greatest". "The Greatest" was a sensational movie, especially compared to some of the poor movies which have been nominated for Oscar Awards coming up. This years nominees really are an ordinary bunch compared to 2009.

Both movies were very good and we would recommend them to anyone.

Today Is A Queensland Stinker!

The temp is around the mid 30's and the humidity is over 70%. We don't get too many days as bad as this one so it is a matter of hang in there and see it out. The pool will be a popular spot today as well.

Trish is out with a friend from Stitchers searching out some handcraft shops in the hills nearby. From there they will visit a friend for a chat. Hopefully it will be a bit cooler up there for her. This is a picture of the hinterland I got via Google Images.

Later we can expect a possible storm but previous experience regarding "possible storm" isn't positive.

I have bottled my brew from last week already this morning so all tasks for the day have been completed.

Very Quiet Valentine's Day

Valentine's day doesn't mean much to us, it will be a usual quiet Sunday.

Saturday was again busy at the Computer Club! I don't know what some people do with their computers and the huge tangles they get themselves into! One lady was sending 2MB photos as email attachments so I showed her how to drop them down to a more manageable size. Another guy wanted a Google sidebar but I couldn't convince him it was a waste of computer energy! Another guy wanted to import phone numbers he had on an Excel sheet in to his phone. We couldn't solve that one! Along with other small bits of help it was a busy morning!

This morning I washed bottles after delivering 150 Bellvista Community Association Newsletters. I now write the Newsletter, help print it, help fold it and then deliver some of them!

Like yesterday we have cricket and now Aussie rules footy on TV this afternoon along with a few coldies in the fridge! I will sneak in a few swims in the pool and thus complete another great Sunday. Heavy rain is forecast to hit us from Monday night and go till mid week.

On Wednesday Trish and I are off to Hervey Bay (about 200k's north of here) to stay at Kondari Resort for several nights. Tony and Angela as well as Paul and Linda will join us for Thursday and Friday. This is good because we will possibly have an extended Bellvista Home Brew Appreciation Society Meeting lasting a couple of days! We should be home here by Saturday afternoon. The place we are staying at is pictured.

Fence Update

Just prior to 6 am today I was up removing the brush screening from the back fence readying it for the second layer of palings. You can see quite clearly how big the gaps are between the palings in this photo. Both properties are the same small size and both have a pool in the backyard. Needless to say there is little privacy. It was nice and cool early in the morning.

We then put in a 13k bike ride around the estate and I was back home again about 7:15. I now have to get rid of all the old brush screening so I cut it into manageable sizes and bundled it into rolls.

Paul arrived about 8:30 with his nail gun and a couple of hours later the fence looked like this and all privacy has been returned! And it looks great too. The finished product looks so good we will remove the temporary reed screening and use palings there too!

It was about 35 degrees in the backyard this morning so I enjoyed a swim after the work was finished.

We are very pleased with the results!

Thursday And A Sunny Day

The rain from the weekend has passed and we have had lovely warm sunny days with temps in the low 30's. The pool temp has recovered to just below 30 degrees so all is well.

As a member of the Community Association Tony (Secretary) and myself headed down to the local MP's Office where we can photocopy for no charge. Our mission was to do 1250 A3 double sided copies of the Newsletter. I have taken the role of putting the newsletter together now and it has been revamped in to an A3 size publication, a lot more spread out with most items just copy/pasted from the website (which I also do). It took 4 hours to do the photocopying yesterday and we have both vowed "NEVER AGAIN"!

We both reckon we will suggest 2 x 2hr shifts for the next issue to the Committee, one duo does from 12:30 to 2:30 when a second duo comes in and finishes it all off. Share the load a little.

We have been updating the side and back fence of our small backyard. There are 1/2 inch gaps in the back fence and we have put some brush screening along it to keep our privacy. This screening is virtually disappearing with age so is up for replacement. We will put double palings over the back fence and replace the reed screening on the side fence. The palings go on tomorrow (Paul has a nail gun and will do it tomorrow morning!) and I have just about finished replacing the side fence reed screen. The photo shows the replaced screening and a single paling I screwed on to the fence just to see how it might look. You can see them both (as well as the size of the gaps in the back fence) in this photo.

Looks better already!

This afternoon I will have a haircut and then finish off the side fence. I will probably sneak a swim or two in as well as it is a bit warm out there!

The Power Of The Blog

In yesterday's blog post I complained about the Sunshine Coast missing out on the rain which effected areas south of Brisbane. I spoke too soon! These Blogs are very powerful things, turning comparatively dry days into days of heavy rain! Yesterday's post worked a treat!

This morning I tipped 75 mls of rain (3") out of the rain gauge. We had heavy showers on and off all day. I turned the water diverter (which diverts water running down the downpipes into the pool) off after about 20 minutes the pool filled so quickly! And another little advantage of the wet weather was that it was a cool day with temps around 24 or 25.

I am not riding this morning as though the peak of the rain has passed, we still get the occasional short and very sharp heavy shower of rain. One little shower this morning only went for a minute but dropped 1.5mls of rain (6/100ths). It would have totally saturated anyone who was foolish enough to be bikeriding.

The photos don't provide a full picture of just how heavy a shower can be here. You will probably need to click on each photo to get a bigger view to see the rain, then just click on Back to return to this page.

It's Pouring Rain South Of Brisbane.

We were promised dark skies and rainy periods for today. However as I type we have had less than 2mls of rain (8/100ths of an inch) while areas on the Gold Coast about 180kms (110miles) south of us have had up to 250mls or 10" of rain overnight. And the rain is now heading inland. Our skies are grey and overcast as this photo shows but the heavens just will not open up! After a hot and sticky 32 yesterday some drenching rain would certainly refresh everything here on the Sunshine Coast.

Yesterday afternoon was an air conditioner afternoon! The house warms up quickly at this time of the year and as the humidity rises things become more uncomfortable. I managed an hour or so in the pool which was extremely pleasant.

I did a presentation yesterday at the Computer Club on Media Players, small TV add ons which allow you to play many of your photos, music and movie files from your PC on to your TV. You transfer the files you want to play on to an external hard drive from your PC. You then attach the Hard Drive to the Media Player which in turn is attached to your TV. Media Players are ideal for showing movies you have downloaded from the internet. This is an illegal practice and is severely frowned upon at the Computer Club. Needless to say I had to tread carefully with my presentation so as not to upset some of the Computer Club hierarchy.

The presentation went well and a couple of people were up speaking with me after the presentation asking more questions.

Last night we watched The Hurt Locker, one of the nominations for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Trish and I have seen quite of few of the nominated movies but there isn't anything we have seen which gets close to the quality of the 2009 nominations. We haven't seen Avatar (and probably won't bother with it - it isn't our type of movie) nor have we seen "Precious" though it is there on the internet. The story line just doesn't grab either of us. We have seen the cartoon movie "Up", and George Clooney's "Up in the Air" and the Coen Brother's "A Serious Man". Again none of them are as good as Gran Torino, The Changeling and other movies which missed out in 2009.

Bit Of A Laugh

A group of 40 year old buddies discuss where they should meet for dinner.

Finally it is agreed upon that they should meet at the Gausthof restaurant because the waitress's there have low cut blouses and nice breasts.

10 years later, at 50 years of age, the group meets again and once again they discuss where they should meet. Finally it is agreed upon that they should meet at the Gausthof because the food there is very good and the wine selection is good also.

10 years later at 60 years of age, the group meets again and once again they discuss where they should meet. Finally it is agreed upon that they should meet at the Gausthof because they can eat there in peace and quiet and the restaurant is smoke free.

10 years later, at 70 years of age, the group meets again and once again they discuss where they should meet. Finally it is agreed upon that they should meet at the Gausthof because the restaurant is wheel chair accessible and they even have an elevator.

10 years later, at 80 years of age, the group meets again and once again they discuss where they should meet. Finally it is agreed upon that they should meet at the Gausthof because that would be a great idea because they have never been there before.

What Has Been Happening!

After the rain last weekend, the level of humidity has risen. Temperatures have been in the high 20's the last couple of days but it feels a lot warmer with the weather being hot and sticky. And it looks like more rain is on its way. This photo doesn't do the dark color of the clouds justice but it seems a storm is brewing. This will build up over the next day or so till eventually a storm does come.

Wet weather is tipped for the weekend.

It was our turn to repay some people for their hospitality over the last 12 months. We had previously been hosted by a Computer Club colleague Peter Gilks and his partner Cheryl, and also by Enrica (one of Trish's sewing buddies) and her husband Fabio. We had them all over for a meal last night. Trish prepared some curries with all the add-ons and we feasted and chatted (and enjoyed a few drinks too). It was a great night but the curries did not mix well with the warm humid weather. The air conditioner sorted that out though!

Fabio was awarded an "Order of Australia" for Services to Medicine in the recent Australia Day Honors. So there was another reason to celebrate.

All three of us are into movies from the internet so some time was spent around the computer!

Wet & Windy

I have tipped about 40mls out of the rain gauge the last two days. It hasn't been non stop rain, just lots of very heavy showers. It has been accompanied by strong winds too which make cleaning the pool a waste of time. As soon as it is cleaned, more grit, bark and mulch blows back in to take its place. It isn't too bright outside right now as this photo shows.

There hasn't been any bike riding the last two days as it has either been too wet or much too windy.

I popped around to a Computer Club Member's home yesterday and sorted out a problem or two for her. I reinstalled a copy of Nero so she could burn CD's again. For some reason it had stopped working but I am pleased to report all is up and running again.

Last week my hearing aid stopped working. It seems to rust up quickly especially after bike riding or something where I perspire a lot. I tried to remove some rust from the battery contacts with a cotton bud but inadvertently bent them. In trying to reposition the contacts they became loose. I put it in to be repaired expecting the bill to be well over $100 as the aid is now out of warranty. It came back from the repairers in Sydney and all I had to pay was the courier fees.

I attend the Hearing Aid place once a year for a general hearing checkup and a check of my hearing aid. I went in yesterday to have the Annual Checkup and was explaining the rust problem I have. Matt (the audiologist) gave me a a small electronic hearing aid drying box at no charge. Though I paid top dollar for the aid when I bought it, I am doing OK with it now as far as costs are concerned.

Last night we had a meeting for the local Community Association so this morning I updated the website with all the latest arising from last night's meeting. If you want to be bored even more, you can see the update here. I enjoy looking after and updating the website.

Last night we watched an Australian movie called Beautiful Kate. It wasn't too bad at all with quite a sad and bizarre twist in the tale. It starred several Australian actors, Ben Mendlesohn and Bryan Brown as well as Rachel Ward.

I see where the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) now has the 'score' for this movie dropping to 6.7. I guess this reflects the taboo subject of it and the majority of 'voters' who would have been American. It seems that some movies covering controversial subjects score less, where as a feelgood movie appeals more to American IMDB voters and gets better scores.

But this was not always true. The movie "Milk" told the story of the first homosexual elected to public office in USA and was an Academy Award winning movie. It received an excellent score at IMDB!