Home Brew Day

Yesterday's promised 'downpour' yielded 1 solitary ml of rain! It was enough to wet the road and that is all. We have a stiff S/W wind today but temps still expected to be around 26 degrees.

With recent home brew failures I have been busy restocking supplies. Today was the day to bottle the black ale I recently made. I am now using all new equipment and a revised cleaning regime to hopefully get back on the right track. I am drinking an ale right now which still requires some 'help' to make it drinkable. I use a splash of lemonade to improve the taste. However I have been led to believe that the my brew wasn't so good because I used sugar substitutes which don't go well with a lager. It is great with a black, but not with ordinary lager.

I have taken to mixing the brew in a large stainless steel bowl. Mixing in the barrel can lead to scouring of the plastic base and creating a future haven for germs and bacteria.

I have another lager to try which has recently become 'available'. It is a 12th of September bottled brew so it will be interesting to see how it is.

Tomorrow is AFL Grand Final day. I will pop in to the Computer Club for an hour or so in the morning but then I am heading back home to take in the atmosphere and enjoy a few beers. Trish is buying the meat pies and the hot dogs today getting ready for tomorrow. It is to be a little cool and wet in Melbourne while we are expecting mid 20's ad sunny here.

Waiting For The Heavens To Open

I continue to play around with the internet radio. It is a very nifty device.

I have an old remote control with several buttons that don't work too well. The button requirements to run the Internet Radio are quite few. I am in the process of getting another battery for this old remote via eBay. When it arrives I will put the old remote back into service to run the Internet radio.

We had a pleasant meal at an Indian Restaurant on Tuesday. The prices were a little on the high side but it is 'around the corner' or a quick 5 minute drive away. Needless to say we had a voucher which gave us a second course for $2. They have a $30 all you can eat session for lunch and dinner on Sundays. Looked a good deal to us.

On Wednesday I went to Maroochydore Cricket Ground and enjoyed a day watching Victoria and Tasmania. There were heaps of current and former Australian players there in the two sides. At one stage we had Ben Hilfenhaus bowling to Mathew Wade and Aaron Finch. Wade and Finch will play for Australia's T20 side in South Africa in a few weeks while Ben Hilfenhaus was Australia's leading bowler in the last Ashes Series in England. Victoria had Peter Siddle who bowled for Australia in the recent Test Match in Columbo Sri Lanka. Peter Siddle can be seen in this photo.

Also in attendance were Cameron White, David Hussey, Xavier Doherty, Jason Krezja and James Pattinson, all current or past Australian players.

Last week we had some items fall from a garage shelf onto the bonnet of the car. Several smaller dents were left on the bonnet. Bonnet repairs usually mean panel work and a total respray. I was recommended a paintless 'dent' repairer. I had the job done this morning with all three dents pushed out for $100 and done in a little over 30 minutes.

We are hopeful of some thundery showers today. It is grey outside and looks like rain is imminent. Hopefully we will get a few mls which will be great for the garden, the lawn and will top the pool up. It has been extremely dry for several weeks so some rain would be very welcome.

My Latest New Toy

I have been getting sick and tired of going to bed, turning on the radio and listening to Tony Delroy interviewing relationship specialists on getting along with workmates, financial advisors telling everyone about the GFC or others telling how to get the best from CentreLink! Over the weekend I can listen to country music or religious discussions. No wonder I fall asleep depressed and ready to slit my wrists!

When in Melbourne I can always tune in to SEN, the 24/7 sports radio station. To a certain degree I could do that with my new phone up here via the internet and my home wireless network. That was until yesterday when soon after lunch my new Internet Radio was delivered!

What a great invention this is! I have previously spoken on this blog about Internet Radio and the incredible range of stuff there is to listen to. There are in excess of 15,000 free internet radio stations out there.

Recently we had friends over for a meal and in the background I had Sky FM "Oldies" playing through my media player off the internet. About half way through the evening one of the guests remarked what great music was playing in the background! It was Sky FM "Oldies" playing 'off the internet!

This unit is sold by Kogan and usually retails for around $190 with another $20 delivery on top of that. I had bought a $200 Kogan voucher recently for $99 on one of those 'daily specials' websites. Add to this the $18.50 delivery charges I had to pay and now I have my Internet radio! It also plays 'Digital" radio, FM radio and you can plug your iPhone or any other auxiliary device and play music from it as well.

It is much more flexible to listen to internet radio than my phone as I can 'add' my own internet radio stations to what is already there. My ISP (Internode) has free radio it streams which does not come from your monthly internet bandwidth allocation. They have around 80 stations in their 'collection' including Australian ABC stations and all the Sky FM online stations. I can easily add these stations via the internet. I have already added a few of them and then added them to my favorites as a "Preset".

When I turn the unit on, it connects to my home wi-fi network, goes to its website and loads 'my' stations as well as heaps and heaps of others!

I now have as many stations to listen to as I want.

It comes with its own little remote control. I have programmed one of my Harmony Remotes to work the internet radio. The benefit of this is with just one click on the remote I can move from one of my 'favorite' stations to the next. The remote control's screen is illuminated allowing you see what you are doing in the dark!

Click on each photo for a larger view, then click on "Back" to return to this page. I'm off to listen to the radio and catch up with all the AFL news from Melbourne before this weekend's Grand Final.

Three Posts In Two Days!

Currently I am 'stuck' at home waiting for the delivery of my "Internet Radio". It is being delivered by the courier company "Toll". Their website and tracking code says the package was loaded onto a truck in Maroochydore this morning just before 7 am. I have to be at home to sign for and collect the package.

Trish went to a sewing group gathering today which left me a little late to head off for a bike ride. So, as the photo shows, I washed bottles, getting ready for my next 'brew bottling' which should be ready to go, possibly Wednesday or Thursday.

After a couple of disasters with home brewing, I have made some changes to the way I wash bottles. I am now using a 'paid for' sanitizer spray and giving each bottle up to 8 'squirts' and then whisking the fluid around inside the bottle. There is no need to rinse using this method, just allow the bottles to dry with the sanitizer inside. The previous method using bleach was a high user of water and this new method I tried today is definitely quicker and uses less water.

I had a Skype call from a mate John Logan who is currently in Florida. He was wanting to know if there were any shortcuts to get the AFL live on his PC. It seems he is having a ball over there.

I rang my brother this morning. His footy team and my footy team are meeting in the Grand Final on Saturday. He is planning to come up for a visit soon after Christmas.

We are really hanging out for rain right now. Last night's storms turned out to be a light 60 second sprinkle. It has returned to clear and sunny again today with a top temp around 25 degrees. The lawn is so dry it is beginning to crinkle under your feet as you walk over it.

I hope any older golfers enjoy the golfing joke below.

For Any Golfers Out There!

Arthur is 90 years old. He's played golf every day since his retirement 25 years ago.

One day he arrives home looking downcast. "That's it," he tells his wife. "I'm giving up golf. My eyesight has got so bad, once I've hit the ball, I can't see where it went."

His wife sympathizes. As they sit down, she has a suggestion:

"Why don't you take my brother with you, and give it one more try."

"That's no good," sighs Arthur. "Your brother is a hundred and three. He can't help."

"He may be a hundred and three," says the wife, "but his eyesight is perfect."

So the next day, Arthur heads off to the golf course with his brother-in-law. He tees up, takes an almighty swing, and squints down the fairway. He turns to the brother-in-law.

"Did you see the ball?"

"Of course I did!" says the brother-in-law. "I have perfect eyesight."

"Where did it go?" asks Arthur.

"Can't remember."

Perhaps a Storm This Evening?

The weather has been glorious the last week. September is usually the driest time of the year so the lack of rain isn't surprising. I even had to use the hose to top up the pool earlier in the week. Speaking of the pool, I did the annual trip to the Pool Shop for a new season pool chemical update. For $35 I walked away with buffer, stabilizer and a bag of salt which altogether should get me through to Christmas. The pool was around 21 degrees this morning and heading towards 23 just now at lunch time.

It is the annual 'cricket' time here on the coast with State cricket teams from down south heading to the Sunshine Coast for warm weather, dry cricket conditions and some pre-season practice. We have both Victoria and Tasmania here this year and they played a one day game under lights at Caloundra on Friday afternoon. Needless to say it was extremely enjoyable. I had quick chats with Clinton McKay, Cameron White and Dave Hussey, all Australian players in one form of the game or another.

I couldn't stay to the end of the game because we had AFL footy on TV Friday night. Speaking of which the footy was heart-breaking for Trish but a breeze for myself. Trish's team was pipped at the post while my team had a comfortable game and won their way through to next week's Grand Final.

I took my phone with me to the Computer Club on Saturday. I was quizzed about it by several people and we compared notes on providers and what is available. One English lady had trouble believing you could listen to BBC radio on the telephone! I took this photo of the group I usually help. Excuse Peter in the foreground of this photo, despite looking happy in this snap, he wasn't at all happy in Rome a week or so ago after he and his partner's passports were stolen!

Like many up here, Peter is an ex-Victorian. He worked as a policeman at St Kilda Rd before heading north around 1990. Peter lost his wife to cancer a few years ago. We socialize together and enjoy nights out. Peter is a keen cook and makes a mean curry or stir-fry!

It is a little quiet today as there isn't any footy on the TV. However I will try and get to a couple of days at the cricket early in the week.

My new internet radio is expected to be delivered tomorrow! Another new toy to play with!

A Very Busy Few Days

It has been flat out here at the Thomas household. The weather can only be described as sensational though a little hazy. Most days have seen temps in the mid to high 20's with lows around the low teens. This isn't good for the pool as any warmth gained during the day is lost during the coolness of overnight.

Trish's footy team had a great win on Friday night so they go ahead to this week's Preliminary Finals. On Sunday friends Eddie and Patsy arrived from where they had been holidaying with friends on the Gold Coast. Eddie is into his mid 70's now and is slowing down (thank heavens). He has recently had a hip replaced as well making him even less 'dangerous'.

We had a marvellous time with them. Patsy has just got a new phone exactly the same as mine and on exactly the same plan. Patsy is more technologically inclined than Eddie. Patsy and I had a great time sorting out email, wi-fi connections, camera, and apps. We found great apps such as Shazam, a few games, Tunein and a thing called Bar Code Reader. They are really sensational little hand held computers.

As we each discovered something new we would rush off to share our new found discovery with each other. Remember you can click on each of these photos for a larger view. Then click on the "Cross" in the top right hand corner to return to this page.

Throughout the time together we enjoyed lovely food, a few drinks and each other's company very much. On Monday we did a tour of the Hinterland and finished up at the Mapleton Hotel for lunch. As you can see mobile phones were the major focus of the whole three days they were here. The flathead tails for lunch we sensational and filling. The view from the hotel veranda was exquisite.

It is a delightful spot.

After a wonderful lunch (and a couple of drinks) we were back in the car and heading to "The Mapleton Falls". The viewing platform is suspended above the valley and the Falls would be spectacular after rain. The small creek feeding the falls has some glorious small pools of water like the one in this photo.

We arrived back at our home late afternoon. Needless to say Patsy and I again were 'playing' on our phones. However I did manage to keep one eye on the cricket from Sri Lanka on TV.

Before they headed back to the Gold Coast this morning (Tuesday) we had a short drive to the beach here at Caloundra. The photo here shows Eddie and Patsy again engrossed in their phones.

Patsy has the smart phone while Eddie even started to explore his older "Nokia" and worked out using the camera. There are some 'free' Wi Fi spots by the beach and Patsy and I tried to get onto them.

Being School Holiday here in Queensland meant there were lots of holiday makers enjoying the beautiful sunshine and the attraction of the beach. It does look inviting doesn't it? Trish missed this as she was scheduled to work at the Tourist Info Centre this morning.

All good things must come to an end so they jumped in their hire car and headed back their other friends on the Gold Coast. Patsy was all fired up to show Marion and Peter what the new phone can do!

Finally a couple of my purchases from China have started to arrive. I now have decent bell for my bike, a bell that sounds like a bike bell! The bell that came with the bike is OK but not the usual recognisable sounding bell!

And I received a couple of "Pool Thermometres" too. The one you can see here comes in at $3-50 each delivered to my home. It seems the pool temp today is around 20.5 degrees, still a little cool for swimming! The temp showing on the digital readout is what it was under our back pergola.

I still have some new accessories for my phone to arrive over the next few days as well. These include a leather case and a plastic protective backing case for the phone and a couple of in-car phone chargers. Yesterday I jumped onto eBay and ordered a silicon phone case and a phone protective screen cover as well. The dearest of these items is less than $4.00!

I also expect to get an email in the next day or so saying my "Internet Radio" is on its way too.

Late On Thursday

I almost cried when I tipped out over twenty of my bottles of home brew. I had had enough, it tasted lousy and was not fun to enjoy. They were two brews in a row, one after the other and both brewed in July. I checked out my mate at the Home Brew Shop in town and we both reckoned it was most likely something to do with the barrel I was using. The base of the barrel had become quite scarred and scratched and this was a perfect spot for germs to harbour. I thought my boiling water trick would fix it but he said using sanitizer was a lot better.

I opened a August 11th brewed beer and it again tasted great. Late in August I started using the new barrel so hopefully all will now be OK.

The Community Association keeps me busy. I am keeping the flow of emails to local councillors up as well as repeatedly updating the website.

I continue to have a ball with the new phone. I downloaded an ebook and put it on the phone today. It is all a little bit of hit and miss.

I continue to bike ride but now have a cable tie infested helmet. And it works. A troublesome magpie flew over me today but kept its distance as it got closer to me. The cable ties had persuaded it to think twice before swooping.

On Wednesday I finished my bike ride, I put a new brew on, I mowed the lawn and did the edges, I vacuumed the pool and swept our favorite sitting spot. It was all a little too much with the temp in the middle 20's. The pool looked so inviting I stripped off and had a quick swim. I did a quick lap as it was mighty chilly in there!

We were hoping to have two couples over for a meal this week. One couple, Tony and Angela headed off to Sydney recently. We didn't know exactly when they were going or even when they may return. So we settled just to invite one couple around for a meal. Trish made her Garlic Prawns which were a huge success.

John and Margaret arrived around 6:30 pm and didn't head off until after 11:00 pm. It was great company.

Our neighbours on our right as you face our home moved out. They were renting the house. I suspect there was a marriage break-up as we didn't see his car too often recently. As you can see the house now has a "For Sale" sign. It is a very small home, no en-suite and just a single garage. Not the sort of place which would entice someone to buy.

With the housing market forecasting tough times ahead it may be empty for some time. We shall just have to wait and see.

Temps should reach the high 20's on Sunday. Friends Eddie and Patsy from Melbourne are visiting on the Gold Coast and they are popping up to stay with us for a couple of nights, beginning this Sunday. Should be fun, more Garlic Prawns I guess.

Suuny Days And Warming Up

It continues to be coolish with a strong southerly still blowing. This tends to make bike riding a little unpleasant. We are into September which is the beginning of the magpie swooping season. We have been quite lucky here with few swooping problems however one magpie found me out today and had a bit of a go at me. As you can see from the photo further 'precautions' have been put into place.

Temperatures should be above the mid 20's later this week.

The fallout from the recent approval of the large estate to be built next to Bellvista continues. I had a call from another local paper yesterday for a comment. Feelings on it all are quite high as there may well be a negative outcome for the nearby airport. Letters to the newspaper have been quite willing. However I was a little upset when one Bellvista resident (and a resident member of the Bellvista Community Association) signed a particularly nasty letter with his name and followed it with BeCA! We moved into damage control quickly with disclaimers to the newspaper and people who were singled out for attack in the article.

Trish had some sewing ladies around Monday morning and I bottled my 'brew'.

I was disappointed that another brew I was beginning to drink isn't too good either. That is two brews in a row now that have been a bit ordinary. Previously I have probably had no more than three crook brews in 6 years, now suddenly I have two in a row!

I continue to enjoy playing with the new phone. I installed Skype onto it recently and I am using a totally different Skype account for it. If you want to be added as a contact do a search for the Skype name 'thomfam90'.

On TV Again

The weather turned wet yesterday with strong winds. I had an email to give a Channel Ten News Reporter a call over the approval for the new development. The weather today is sunny and clear with a maximum in the high teens and a very strong southerly wind is blowing.

At least I managed a couple of sentences this time, but it is amazing how little of what you say gets to air with these things. The piece was shown on the Queensland Channel 10 evening news so I received a bit of a welcome at Computer Club this morning!

The word is getting out that the helicopters are the major concern of residents here. Not the best photo this one but overall it could have been worse!

There was always going to be a loser when Trish and my teams met in the first of the finals last night. My team Geelong won fairly comfortably in what was atrocious conditions. Our cold weather today is the northern tip of the inclement weather sweeping across Victoria right now.

Busy, Busy, Busy.

After some delightful weather (mid 20's), today is still not cold but some rain has blown in from the west. It is probably the northern tip of what is currently sweeping through the southern states.

I have bought the phone referred to in the post below. The phone (a Galaxy S) is sensational and does heaps of things. However it is with the Optus network, the lesser network we have here and the signal I get at home is nowhere near as good as that provided by Telstra. I can still use it inside the house but for lengthy calls I need to move to the front bedroom for a totally clear call.

The new plan costs me $9 more per month than the old plan. With that I get around 7 hours of included calls at any time and to any Australian phone. This almost negates the 'just so' coverage we get at home. Also any unused call time at the end of a month is carried over into the next.

I can connect the new phone to my in home wi fi network and access all the internet stuff the phone provides. Probably the best thing is its ability play internet radio. As long as I am within home wi fi range, I can listen to any radio station anywhere. I like to tune in to the radio when I go to bed or first wake in the morning.

The new phone has been a huge learning curve for me. I have even created an email account just to use with this phone as it receives and sends emails as well.

The government has just OK'd the new housing development here. It is a little controversial as the developer got so hung up with the local Council that they bypassed it and went straight to the government for a decision! Eventually the new development will be home for over 50,000 people when fully completed. This is just the first 'stage' of the development and it is referred to as Bellvista II. We have been promised that both Telstra and Optus will extend their mobile phone networks to accommodate Bellvista II!

The local press is having a party over it and with me as the President of the Community Association I have been in the thick of it all. I did a radio interview with the local ABC yesterday afternoon, a quick bit on the local Channel 9 news last night and later today I am doing something for the Channel 10 News.

Much of the controversy is caused by the new development's close proximity to the Caloundra Airport. I am guessing this is what will be the focus of things this afternoon when Channel 10 want to talk to me.

We have issues with helicopter training flights which occur directly above the estate. It is the repetitive circuits where they practise take offs and landings which are the problem. When this is happening it can go on for several hours. It can make sitting outside a bit of a pain to have the noise there going on and on.

I bottle washed today which was a brave thing to do considering the weather has turned wet! By the way, I took the photo with the camera on the new phone!

It is a big weekend for sport on TV. My team plays Trish's team in the first match of the AFL finals tonight. There are then three more finals footy matches over the weekend and all live on TV. There is coverage of the second cricket Test from Sri Lanka on TV as well.

Should be a good weekend.

Wet Mornings, Sunny Afternoons!

It has been a couple of days now since I added a post so I had better update things.

Again sport on TV took up much of the time over the weekend. My team played in a Friday night blockbuster against the top side and had a resounding win. It was a surprising and unexpected result for both sides. Trish's team also had a win.

On top of both our footy sides winning, Australia won the cricket as well.

The last two days have seen a heap of overnight rain, a wet morning followed by a lovely sunny afternoon. The rain has amounted to almost 2 whole inches.

I am considering a new mobile phone. However as we don't spend much on a mobile phone service, I am looking for the best deal I can get. Unfortunately the best deals are available from providers using the Optus service. The service strength here is best described as OK. I even bought a $5 Sim Card to see how it worked. It received and made calls OK but the signal strength was way down. But it worked.

Today I had a guy from the computer club around, he has a new Optus phone so we did another test. It worked OK.

The deal is a brand new smart phone (Galaxy S) with around 7 hours of talk time included! This is for $29 per month which is a bit more than I am currently spending. I currently get an hour free each day. This is always during a pre-determined hour. This service will allow me to call outside the prescribed hour.

You can check the deal HERE.

I had my first BeCA Committee meeting as President last night. It seemed to go OK.

A Good Deal

Our delightful weather has continued the last three days.  Hardly a cloud in the sky and around the low to mid 20's most days.  Even the pool is a little above 21 degrees right now.

Wednesday was especially busy for me as President of the local Community Association.  Firstly there was a photo session for the local paper.  The new Bellvista II development is about to be fully approved and work will begin.  Then it was time to catch up with local MP to discuss what is being done with the main road into our area.  The new development means the road needs some upgrading and as a result some residents will need to backtrack down the main road, make a u-turn then back up again to get on the main road into Caloundra or to Brisbane.

Trish has Stitchers followed by Mahjong yesterday so she was out all day.

Today Thursday saw me on the bike for a shorter ride than normal as I had a Computer Club member popping around for some help.  She put Bellvista into her GPS (we are really Caloundra West) and discovered Bella Vista is 700k's away! She possibly shouldn't be allowed near a computer either.  But I think she appreciated the help.  We managed to get the printer to work, she had been plugging the USB lead into the ethernet connection on her laptop!

I have been keeping my eye out for a good deal on an internet radio.  That is a radio which can go 'online' to my wireless network and play online radio stations.  There are in excess of 1500 stations out there which this gadget can access.  The better model available via Kogan seen in the picture here, is usually $189 + $19 delivery.  I visited a website called "Spreets" today and bought a voucher for $99 which allows me to buy stuff from Kogan to the value of $200.  So my $210 delivered internet radio will cost me less than $120. It is also a DAB digital radio, an FM radio and an iPod Dock. I have to pay any delivery charges.

I am please with my deal!

I haven't ventured far from the TV whenever possible, I have been watching the Test Cricket live from Sri Lanka.  I have sport all night on TV tonight while Trish has her Trivia night.