Quick Flight To Canberra

Following the death of my Aunt in Canberra we have discovered the funeral will be early Monday afternoon. This is too early for us both to be able to drive down to Canberra to attend.

My cousin who lives 170k's north of us is in his car right now as I type rushing down to Canberra to enable him to arrive in time for the service!

So I am up at 3 am on Monday to get me to Brisbane for a 5:45 am flight to Canberra. I fly into Canberra at about 8:30 am and I am due to be collected by my sister around 9 am. The funeral is at 1:30 pm followed by a burial and a reception. I am due back at Canberra Airport to fly out at 7 pm.

The flight down is a direct flight but going back I go via Sydney. I am due to fly in to Brisbane Airport at 9:30 pm so I would expect to be back at home around 11 pm.

Don't analyze those figures too carefully because they are confused by Daylight Saving!

But it looks a big day for me!

Sad News

At Christmas time Trish and I usually travel to Melbourne by car. We do this to stop off and catch up with relatives and friends on the trip down or back home. On our way home from Melbourne at Christmas, Trish and I drove back via Canberra. An elderly aunt of mine, my last family member on my mother's side, lives there and hasn't been too well. We planned to stop off and see her.

We were glad we did as this morning we received a message saying she had passed away. Trish and I will be travelling down to Canberra next week to attend the funeral. Plans haven't been finalized just yet but we expect the funeral to be either Tuesday or Wednesday.

I received a couple of great cards for my recent birthday and I really enjoyed the one below (thanks Carol and David). Click on the picture for a larger view, then click on "Back" to return to this page.


It has been cool here after the change on Monday! It has been a bit like Melbourne with lots of showers. Yesterday it got to 28 degrees but for much of the day it was overcast and more like 24 degrees. I guess the clouds parted and the hot sun shone through for a few minutes to give us our 28! I haven't been able to ride for the last few days as the showers mean the paths are too wet to ride on. Last night it was nearly cool enough for the doona!

More hot weather is due early next week (when we will be down in Canberra).

Things Are a Little Quiet At Home This Afternoon!

Don't bother reading this one if you don't want to! This is the kind of 'post' which turns people off reading my blog.

The photo shows the overflow pipe for the pool. It has a 'plug' in it as I don't want water to escape from the pool if there are three or four people swimming. I remove the 'plug' prior to a possible storm or heavy rainfall.

The overflow hasn't been working too well and I thought it was partially blocked. It is a narrow pipe and has a right angled turn not too far down it. I went to Bunnings today to buy a drain cleaner, a long piece of flexible wire with a wider end on it. You twist the wire and it is supposed to 'wind' itself along the pipe and around corners. I have since discovered it doesn't work too well on narrow pool overflow pipes with a 90 degree turn!

Whilst at Bunnings I also bought the old fashioned sink plunger for under $4. The wire wouldn't work so I gave the plunger a go. After several hard 'pumps' with the plunger and with me getting sprayed with pool water, suddenly there was a loud gurgling and grumbling sound coming from the pipes around the pool! Then there was the sound of running water! All had been fixed!

"Still awake?"

Some Might Even Say It Is Cold!

A severe weather change blew through yesterday afternoon at about 4:30 pm. The photo is taken from a Newspaper and isn't from around here but gives you an idea of what it was like. The sky became quite black as the afternoon progressed until the rain started with a sprinkle about 5 pm.

Earlier in the afternoon it was up to 39 degrees in our sheltered back yard. This wasn't an accurate temperature as the sun was really beating down on the thermometre even though I have a wooden cover over it. Whatever the temp was, it was HOT! The pool was up to over 31 degrees. The air conditioner was on again before lunch so we were very comfy inside.

As the night progressed so too did the wind and rain. Right now we have a very strong south easterly blowing with grey skies and the temperature struggling to get through the mid 20's! This photo was taken earlier this morning after I had emptied 44mls from the rain gauge.

You can click on this photo for a larger view then hit "Back" to return to this page.

A call this morning to my sister has them at Dubbo with about 500k's do before finding a spot later on this afternoon for them to camp around Albury. They will then do some shopping tomorrow before the final 3 hour drive to their home in Omeo.

I put another 'brew' on this morning so I again will have bottle washing and a bottling to do later in the week. Last night we watched an enjoyed Russell Crowe's new movie 'The Last Three Days'.

Very Hot Up Here

We have had a very pleasant but sudden and unexpected visit from my sister and Peter. A friend of theirs from their caravanning days has only a few weeks to live so they rushed from Omeo to Rockhampton to see her.

Judy's youngest boy is now here on the coast at Mooloolaba so on their way back they spent 2 days with them and then the last three with us. So things have been pretty busy the last few days.

They arrived here on Friday afternoon for three nights. We had spent the Thursday evening with them as well when we had a great meal at a local Curry Restaurant to celebrate my birthday. We enjoyed too much to drink and numerous swims in the pool throughout their stay with us.

On Saturday we visited "Dick Smith's" where they bought a laptop (i3, 320GB Drive, 4MB Ram for less than $700). Their current laptop wasn't working so well and Judy believed this was a great chance to buy a good one have me set it up for them. I think they are very happy with the outcome. Needless to say I had a ball doing it all. The photo shows Judy with the new laptop, Peter and Trish sheltering from the heat inside with the air/con on!

It has been very hot here with temps in the low 30's and high humidity. Not pleasant at all! We had the air conditioner on all yesterday afternoon to escape the heat. A thundery change is due this afternoon to cool things down. The pool has been a popular spot but even it is above 30 degrees right now and doesn't 'freshen' you up any more. Though it is a great spot just before going to bed!

Right now it is almost 10:00 am and the temperature in our small sheltered back yard is approaching 37 degrees and the humidity is 70%.

Judy and Peter headed off this morning for the cooler weather of Omeo in Victoria!

I will need to do some serious home brewing over the next few days to get supplies back to normal! The couple I did the computer reformat for early last week rewarded me with three cans of brew so I have plenty of brewing 'supplies'.

Thanks For All The Calls, Facebook etc.

I think my Facebook page was just about to be ripped down for lack of activity. I don't use it much nowadays, I prefer to use my blog page. However there were 5 'messages' or Wrote On My Wall entries regarding my birthday yesterday. Then the phone was pretty busy too with people giving me a call to pass on their best wishes.

Thanks to everyone for your very kind thoughts and best wishes.

It was great to receive them all.

However the 'best' was probably the call from our daughter Kim in India. I think I got in about 1 minute of talking and then Trish got the next 5 minutes or so! India isn't the best place to communicate from with 'iffy' internet and problematic phone lines. However this call came in loud and clear.

Kim had just completed a 6 hour bus trip which only took her 250k's or so north from the very southernmost tip of India. But that is the way things go in India.

She seems very well and enjoying herself. Her biggest cost has been last minute flight changes which has added to her trip costs. We sensed Kim is probably getting a little sick and tired of curry three times per day.

In Goa which caters for international tourists you could always get a meal of egg chips and bacon. In other parts of India the choice for any western food just doesn't exist!

Just As I Am About To Have My Birthday!

You may need to 'click' on this picture for a larger view. Then hit "Back" to return to this page!



Another 19 mls in the gauge this morning but we are promised the weather will be nicer today with fewer showers. Too wet again today for my bike ride.

Trish is off to Quilters today and I have a bottling to do. There is a local one-dayer on the TV this afternoon.

I returned the PC I reformatted yesterday (the lady was much better) and it is up and running again. They have a 3G wireless dongle they use to connect to the internet through the mobile phone network. It usually installs its own driver when it is first plugged in to a USB port. However the driver isn't suitable for Windows 7. I found the latest driver for them, installed it and now it connects to the internet beautifully.

Anyone who reckons the new 4G wireless promised by Telstra will mean the end of the NBN is joking if the 3G network is anything to go by. We had problems yesterday with the dongle, the weather had been wet and the 3G network doesn't work well here in Bellvista when the weather is wet!

I have convinced them to change from their wireless dongle connection back to ADSL2! They pay almost $50 for 3GB download with their Telstra 3G plan. What a rip off!

"Showers"

Showers have been forecast for the last two days and so far those 'showers' have given us almost 3" of rain. So when we get a 'shower', it rains cats and dogs for 15 minutes and the rain gauge has another 10mls in it.

Drinks Friday afternoon was as pleasant as usual. Most mornings I have been on my bike for a 13k bike ride but the recent showers have put a stop to that. Nothing worse than damp paths and roads to ride on and then being caught in a shower of rain doesn't help. Showers and bike riding do not mix when you wear glasses.

Right now I am again siphoning water from the pool to drop the water level!

I got to Computer Club on Saturday. Trish attended an Arts Association Meeting on Monday they talk about her web page. Needless to say they loved it and the site will eventually go 'official' when all the content has been entered. She is very pleased with herself and rightly so!

I recently got a bottle washing in so now it is time for a bottling which most likely be tomorrow at this stage.

My pension stuff is all sorted out now and I only have a couple of days to go to my 65th birthday!

My brother Geoff enjoyed his first stubby for quite a while yesterday. He is a very happy guy right now and he hopes to be able to fly up next month for a visit.

My sister Judy is in Queensland right now and we expect to catch up with them on Thursday (my birthday). She will be staying with her son's girlfriend's family in Mooloolaba for a night and then coming down to our place possibly Thursday. Judy expects to finish working in late April. Then it is caravan on the back and they will be off on the road for quite some time.

Monday afternoon I reformatted the computer for the older couple. They popped around with their PC and watched me do it for some time. Then they went as the lady wasn't feeling too good. The PC is now back to perfect working order again but unfortunately the lady went into hospital yesterday afternoon. Hopefully she will be fine.

Her health has been a little 'iffy' recently!

Kim continues to 'love' India and now expects to be there through much of March. Currently she is in southern India. Her comfortable hotel accommodation (with a pool) is costing her $8 a night!

There Is Always something To Do!

All the forms have now been sent away for my Pension, except my birth certificate because it is still to be posted up from Melbourne.

There is always something to do. I have been a little busy with the Community Association website. There are photos to take and to put online. This week is a Newsletter delivery week and I have over 100 A3 newsletters to fold and deliver. This was all done yesterday morning.

There was another 'brew' to put on as well. The brew was put on Tuesday and I washed bottles today. They are almost dry right now.

I had a call for help from an older couple regarding their PC. I don't know what people do to their computers sometimes. I recently disinfected this one from a nasty virus but then about a week later it seems it got reinfected again. The anti-virus on it has been disabled, Windows Firewall settings can't be changed and you can't get on the internet!

It is a fairly new PC without much on it so I will reformat it for them next week. They only have a wireless dongle for the internet connection so I am getting them to bring it around here where there is a decent connection. You will need an internet connection so Windows 7 can update.

I re did Tricia's Caloundra Arts Centre association website in a different template this morning. I prefer this one but Trish isn't too keen.

The old original version is HERE.

The newer version I did is HERE.

Last night we went to the local Thai restaurant with one of my friends from Computer Club and his partner. We had a great time and enjoyed the night very much. Trish has Trivia tonight so I will have the TV to myself.

The humidity has gone and we are enjoying normal (if not a little cooler) summer weather. The pool temp has fallen with the cooler weather and is again refreshing to swim in, especially after my 13+k bike ride this morning.

I'm Getting Old

Sometime next week I turn 65 years of age and become eligible for the pension. You have to put in a 'claim' to get the pension here. So I am putting in my 'claim'. The biggest mistake I have made recently has been to allow my passport to lapse. If I still had my passport all would be fine.

The document to prove who I am for my passport is called Schedule Two. It s like your Birth Certificate or "Extract" of Birth. So I was going to use my Certificate Two to prove who I was for my Pension Claim. This isn't good enough! A Current Passport is good enough and a Certificate Two is good enough to get a Passport but a Schedule Two isn't good enough to get the pension!

I think we will eventually get there though. I hope to have an 'original' Birth Certificate in about 10 days!

Did you know it took about 5 minutes to deal with an inquiry at Centrelink in Caloundra today. This means if you have 8 people in front of you in the Enquiry Queue, you will be seen in about 40 minutes. I had this happen to me twice! I spent over an hour queued up today!

The humidity here has been incredible the last few days. Recently the humidity reading in Maroochydore was 97%. Even running the air con all yesterday only saw the humidity drop to 65%. However the cool change (seen here in the photo left) rolled in about 8 am this morning .... just as I was finishing my bike ride. We have had a much cooler day today but it remains a bit sticky. Rain is forecast for tomorrow and that should wash all the humidity away.

Our One 'Cyclone Yasi' Legacy

The Sunshine Coast has fared fairly well following Cyclone Yasi hitting Australia on Wednesday. We didn't cop any extra rain or wind from the cyclone which is over Central Australia and is now classified as a rain depression. However yesterday the 'tail' of Yasi dropped "Queensland quantities" of rain on Victoria, especially its south eastern suburbs with some areas receiving over 7" (180mls) of rain.

The photo above left is from Mission Beach near where Yasi first crossed the coast. During our 8 month trip in the caravan some time ago we spent a week or two at Hull Heads 15k's south of Mission Beach. It was here I went fishing and caught mackerel, a day I will never forget. Hull Heads township now really doesn't exist! What wasn't blown away by Yasi has been swept away by the sea following the storm surge.

Sydney has experienced 6 consecutive days where the temperature hasn't dropped below 30 degrees, there are bushfires in Western Australia and the cleanup continues where Yasi first crossed the coast 1500k's away, just to the south of Cairns.

However the one legacy we have had here on the Sunshine Coast has been the level of humidity. It has been said our weather the last few days has been like what you would expect in Cairns. Our days have been extra sticky with humidity around the mid 70's which is very high even for here. The humid weather has been blown down to us from the north. Our ceiling fans have been working overtime and our pool has been a popular spot 24 hours a day!

Our big screen plasma TV is almost 5 years old now. Unlike LCD TV's, plasma TV's create quite a lot of heat. This is great in our cooler months but not so good right now in this hot humid weather!

I did my Blogger presentation at the Computer Club yesterday and afterwards I had several people say they were going to give blog pages a go! It was extremely hot in the hall where the Computer Club meets.

Meanwhile I popped into the local Aldi store on Thursday morning and picked up a High Definition Set Top Box which also has the ability to show my downloaded movies, and, can also 'record' TV shows to an attached USB drive. All of this for under $40. Trish has a small flat screen Standard Definition TV in her sewing room. She has an old VCR attached to it on which she records (on tape) some of the shows she likes. I set the box up there.

I was pretty impressed with what this little machine can do, the only downside was the poor remote control which came with it. I have an older "Harmony" universal remote control here so set it up as the remote for the new box. It does a great job. Trish isn't so sure!

We have had a couple of showers overnight and a few more are lingering this morning. This has given us a brief reprieve from the humidity. However we expect to get to 31 today and it will again be sticky. A south east change is due tomorrow which should blow the humid air away. It will still be around 30 degrees but it should be heaps more comfortable. It is raining again right now with a brief shower. The garden gets a quick water and the pool has been topped up and is now full again via the 'water diverter'.

Meanwhile thousands of kilometres away in Texas USA, Lou-Ann has been shut up in her home for several days now owing to the late winter snow! What an incredibly different way things can be in this world of ours!

The photo was taken in her front yard.

Friday Funnies

I am again doing a presentation at the Computer Club tomorrow about "Blogger" so this should get the session off to good start:


ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said , 'Where am I, Cathy?'
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan!
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget..
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?
___________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo?
WITNESS: We both do.
ATTORNEY: Voodoo?
WITNESS: We do..
ATTORNEY: You do?
WITNESS: Yes , voodoo.
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Now doctor , isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep , he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
____________________________________

ATTORNEY: The youngest son , the 20-year-old , how old is he?
WITNESS: He's 20 , much like your IQ.
___________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Are you kidding me?
_________________________________________

ATTORNEY: She had three children , right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
WITNESS: Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death..
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: Take a guess.
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Unless the Circus was in town I'm going with male.
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Doctor , how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All of them.. The live ones put up too much of a fight.
_________________________________________

ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral , OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral...
_________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 PM
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: If not , he was by the time I finished.
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: Are you qualified to ask that question?
______________________________________

And last:

ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No..
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practising law.

All Is Quiet & Well On The Sunshine Coast

Despite the fierce cyclone currently devastating northern Queensland, all is quiet and serene here where we live. The weather has been extremely humid the last day or so and the waves at the beach are hitting record levels whipped up by the cyclone to the north.

Tropical Cyclone Yasi crossed the coast at least 300k's north of where the the cyclone from the weekend crossed. So this is about 1300k's north of us!

But we don't have any severe winds or downpours of rain.

We have minimal cloud overhead and the pool is up to 30 degrees now. It was so hot and sticky yesterday afternoon we relented and put the air conditioner on for 4 hours. During that time the humidity level in the lounge room plummeted from about 75% to 55%. About 8pm the outside temp was a comfortable 26.5 degrees so we turned off the air con and opened the house up.

A cool late night swim then into bed with the ceiling fan on full and we slept very well.

It has been a busy couple of days for me with the Community Association. There was a Committee Meeting on Monday night followed by an Airport Forum Meeting on Tuesday evening. Both of these events needed to be recorded on the website. Then I transferred much of the information from the website to the Newsletter which is due to be printed this weekend.

Trish has been to her usual Wednesday sewing group, she is doing the Information Centre this morning followed by Trivia again tonight. She has another sewing group tomorrow. During her spare time she does more work on the website she has designed for the Caloundra Arts Centre Association. You can see the latest version of the website HERE.

I washed bottles recently and bottled yesterday. I pressed a fan into service yesterday during the bottling. I even found time to begin my application for a pension for when I turn 65 in a couple of weeks. I am hopeful my brother Geoff is able to fly up during March for a visit too.

I have been riding most days but I have decided to give it a miss today. It is very sticky outside right now and I am driving Trish to the Info Centre at 9 am. I deserve a day's rest!