In The Home Straight!

It is Sunday morning and our time in Melbourne is coming to an end.  We set off tomorrow (Monday) for Newcastle around 1100k's away.  We will have an overnight stop most likely in Goulburn NSW and arrive with friends Janet and Mick around lunch time New Year's Day.  The plan is to spend two nights there and then hit the final stretch for home on Thursday.  It will be a long trip for one day but with getting home as the goal it should be OK for us.

The Test match finished in less than three days throwing heaps of plans into disarray.  It allowed me time to catch up with friends Gordon and Anne on Saturday afternoon and Barry and Rainy on Saturday night.  Other friends John and Sue are popping in this afternoon at Kate's place.

The previous evening we enjoyed a meal with Keith and June.  I took the laptop around as well as the hard disk drive and copied a heap of movies and TV shows over for them.  I packed the power leads and mouse into a separate package.  However when we got there the mouse was nowhere to be found.  For all intents and purposes it has vanished from the face of the earth!

The last day or so has been spent using the touchpad on the laptop.  The missing mouse cost me $4-95 from China!  I have another one exactly the same at home so it will be pressed into action.  I am becoming more proficient at using the touchpad though!

We have known Barry and Rainy from when we were neighbours in Hampton Park.  Our kids have grown up together and have been lifelong friends.  Their daughter Tammy even works as a teacher at the same school as Kate and Arj.  We were delighted to be with them last night when they received a text message from Tammy last night saying her long time partner Kane had proposed to her Saturday evening.

Today will be spent quietly but beginning to tidy everything up as we go.  We hope to be on our way around 8:00 am tomorrow morning (Monday). The trip to Goulburn should take around 8 hours.

UPDATE:  We have just dropped the Melbourne Car (Telstar) off at Keith and June's who look after it for us.  Trish found the lost mouse near their TV set.  It must have fallen out of the the zip up case I use for carting the laptop around while I was looking for a electricity powerpoint the other night.

To The MCG

Yesterday (Thursday) promised to be a warm sunny day for my trip to the MCG to watch Day 2 of the Australia vs Sri Lanka Test match.  My tummy had improved and so Trish dropped me at the nearby station around 8:15 am ready to catch a train into the city.

It was around 9:30 when I arrived at the ground.  I quickly found a seat and checked out my view.  The top photo shows the view from my seat.

What you can't see is the large screen TV which was in clear view a couple of metres away.  This would show the score board and any replays. I was also able to have easy access to the seat over the back to the concourse.

Click on the photos for a larger view.

I had a quick tour and visited a couple of the places I like to checkout.  The lower photo is the view from the MCC Library overlooking the practice nets.  You can see plenty of people watching as the Australians warmed up before batting on the second day.

I enjoyed the day very much.  I caught up with my two nephews Marcus and Beau in the bar.  We spent a very pleasant hour in there with a chat and a few drinks.

A cool change blew in later in the day sending the temp from around 30 down to 20 degrees. The Aussies had a great day with the bat setting up a strong position going into Day 3.  I won't bother going back in for day 3, the seats there aren't the most comfortable and my back does get sore spending a whole day there.

Around 5pm I left the ground back to the Richmond train station and then I hopped off at Springvale.  I caught up with Trish and the grand kids for another Vietnamese meal.

The kids hit the sack around 8:30 and Trish and I watched a couple of 'Christmas Specials' I had recently acquired.  They were the Mrs Browns Boys and Call The Midwife Christmas Specials.  They were great!

Christmas Has Come And Gone

Overnight Sunday was extremely hot, much hotter than any overnight weather we ever experience up north.  No one slept well.

Monday was spent quietly getting ready for the big day on Tuesday, Christmas Day.  We did a little last minute shopping and that was really about all.  My sister popped in for an hour on their way through which was a pleasant surprise.

We first heard the patter of little feet around 6 am on Christmas Day.  They jumped into bed with us while waiting for a suitable time to attack their pile of presents.  Kids sure get a lot these days for Christmas.  There were squeals of glee and joy as wrapping paper was shredded and yet another new toy or piece of clothing was unwrapped.

The kids loved it.  I think the new console Wii was probably the longest lasting gift.  After tidying up the kids continued to explore their new toys. The Wii was put to use.

I now had enough vouchers to buy my $150 3TB external drive.

Trish made us Garlic Prawns for lunch which again I over ate!  A few drinks, more nibblies and the day went on.

Arj and family hosted the Bartholomeusz family Christmas Night gathering that night.  By 8 pm there were people everywhere.  We had more gifts, more wonderful Sri Lankan curries to eat and heaps of chatting and drinking to do.

There were carols being sung and Charli sang for everyone as well.  She played the piano too and loved performing in front of everyone.  Click on all photos for a larger view.

Needless to say there was even more present giving.  Gifts are limited to $30 each.

Guess what? I received a $30 voucher!

Come midnight I was feeling decidedly uncomfortable around the stomach area.  And so it was for the rest of the night and throughout the following day as I ensured I was always close to the 'loo'.

We cancelled our usual trip to Drouin for Boxing Day as I just wasn't well enough to make the trip.  I watched cricket on the TV for all the day and ate vegemite sandwiches and drank lemonade.

Hopefully all will be improved for Wednesday when I actually attend the cricket at the MCG.

The Hard Drive I had my eye on was on special as a part of the Boxing Day sales.  Trish picked one up for me for $118.  That was a great deal down from the 'Special Price' of $149 and the RRP of $179.

As Hot As Hades

Melbourne is well known for its 'changeable' weather.  The top temp today (Sunday) is around 39 degrees, while day 3 of the upcoming Test match against Sri Lanka at the MCG will see an expected top temp of 20 degrees.

A mild change is expected later today with tomorrow being around 26 degrees.

The two nights we have just spent as a family celebrating Christmas was wonderful.  The house was great with plenty of sleeping accommodation, an upstairs and downstairs, a couple of bathrooms, toilets and kitchens as well as two living areas. It was perfect for our needs.

We had 7 adults and four kids.  There were a couple of TV sets, XBox, dvd players and lots of games and things as well.  There was even a 'cubby' house in the backyard.

We were a good 15 minute walk from the beach, close enough to get to on foot if we needed.

We walked down with the kids for a swim Saturday morning, they loved it.

It took us around an hour to drive from Kate's so driving times were at a minimum for us.

The photos here will give you a glimpse of what we had.  There were two large deck areas off the top floor, a couple of BBQ's, basketball ring, and some toys.

The rooms were large and the weather was lovely.  It was around 30 degrees the one full day we were there and it wasn't cold overnight.

Kim and I enjoyed my 'Black Ale" which I had brewed myself and brought down from Queensland.  There was plenty of red wine as well.  Arj had enough bourbon to keep him going and there soft drink aplenty for the kids.

As usual Wendy was in charge of the kitchen but others pitched in to help as required.

Yours truly did the BBQ tea on Friday and the other ladies hopped in to help with serving up and then cleaning up.

Wendy was banned from doing any washing of dishes, the dishwasher was OK but not the very best.

We had our Kris Kringle as well and everyone seemed pleased with their gifts.  I am a 'monty' to get gift cards and this year was no different.  I now have $100 worth of gift cards and my new external hard disk drive is a certainty!

We arrived back at Kate's late morning on Sunday.  The evaporative cooling went straight on when she arrived home and this exceptionally hot day has passed by quite comfortably.  I am enjoying an A(lcohol) F(ree) D(ay) .... and an early night as well.

To The Holiday House

Thursday was busy again for Trish.  She was busy sorting out last minute purchases and then keeping an eye on the grandkids.  Thursday was Charli's last day at school, James finished kindergarten on Tuesday.

Meanwhile I jumped in the old car (the one which lives in Melbourne) and headed down to Drouin and the home of Irene and Russell.  Russ has been experiencing problems with his media player so I headed down in person to check it all out.  It only took a few minutes and I was unable to help but the rest of the time was spent chatting and with coffee.

I drove back to Kate's for lunch and touched base with Trish.  She reported the car didn't want to start too well.  I too had noticed the start hadn't been the usual instantaneous over the last few weeks.  I got the address of a good car battery place and headed off.  The guy said drive the car around the back and he would check it over for me.  But the car battery had completely given up and wouldn't start.

A replacement battery and a bill for $143 and everything is OK again.  The battery was the car's original and had lasted almost 7 years.  I had done well I felt to get that long out of it.

We headed to Springvale with friends Eddie and Patsy for tea.  It wasn't the usual top class meal but still it was very pleasant.  We ordered too much so Trish and I have left overs for lunch today.

As the photo shows the restaurant Hoa Tran is 'around the back' and out of the way since the new large carpark was built.  Despite being out of the way it is always well populated with people eating.

Later this afternoon we will head down to Tootgarook with the grand kids and set up the holiday house we have booked for a couple of nights.  Our whole family will be there, kids, spouses and grand kids.  It is a great time.  The weather looks like being perfect with warm weather and we will get back home later on Sunday.  Kate and Arj will get there later today after their school break up drinks.

In Melbourne

We arrived in Melbourne late in the afternoon of Monday, 3:30 to be exact.  All our plans on covering added ground on Sunday worked to perfection and we rolled into the western suburbs of Melbourne around 2:30 and through the city and out into the suburbs by 3:30.

Sunday had been a big day as we covered over 1000k's.  We were both pretty tired but arrived in Peak Hill safely.

Trish dashed about doing some Christmas shopping on Tuesday while having missed the last two days of the cricket settled down in front of the telly for some serious cricket watching.  The game was eventually won by Australia over Sri Lanka but it was coming down to the wire when the last wicket fell.

Then it was out for the first of our Christmas functions with friends at a private home for a Christmas meal, a chat, drinks and wonderful friendship.  It was a great night when we rolled into bed around 12:30 am.  So it wasn't with great joy we welcomed the grand kids into our bed at 6:30 am the next morning.

So today Wednesday was spent catching up with our financial planner for our annual visit.  Then it was a little more shopping before I again got my computer fix.  We won't be long out of bed tonight I reckon!

In Heading South Mode

It has been an exciting week.  There is nothing I prefer more than to have a problem with something on the internet.  And it seems I am not the only one coming to grips with the loss of the website NZBMatrix.  I have tried and swapped several sites since I last wrote on my blog.

Slowly but surely I am building a suite of websites to try to take its place.

I have put a website together called MoviesHowTo.  Someone on one of the forums I visit was having problems with creating "Movie Sheets".  I had put a page about this on my MoviesHowTo website and I directed him to it.  He was able to create his own Movie Sheets and thanked me for putting the page together.  He then went and advertised it on Whirlpool.bc as a great reference for others needing help.  I got quite a kick out of that.

Also this week I have had a little to do with the Community Association attending openings and answering requests from the Council.  I have had to do a little lobbying with Sunshine Coast Airport Management, our local MP, our Councillor and a few others over a problem which has arisen.

We have had a very brisk south easterly blowing all week.  It is blowing dust in off the new estate beside us.  I hadn't needed to clean the pool for three days, such is the improvement since removing the palm trees and the garden in the backyard.  When this wind is blowing and we are getting the dust, I need to clean it every three hours!

The house gets coated in dust as well.  Fortunately it hasn't been hot this week, just the high 20's most days so we can close the house up and keep some of the dust out.

We got 10mls of rain Thursday morning but the 'overflow' rain  water I farm from the downpipe didn't work.  I took it apart and cleaned out all the gunk and it is OK again now.  Trouble is I missed out on 9 mls of the 10mls we got!

Been slowly getting things together for our trip south on Sunday.  The old computer, the old AV Receiver have both been sorted ready to be packed into the car.  The Melbourne Black I brewed is excellent and is waiting to be loaded as well.  Clothes and other bits and pieces are being collected on the 'spare' bed ready to be packed.

Trish has had Christmas turns all week for her Stitchers and Quilters.  I have Christmas with the Computer Club tomorrow.  Trish cut my hair yesterday, all the bits and pieces which require attention before we head south! The lawn was mowed this morning!

The cricket Test match from Tasmania is just about to come on TV again so I will have to dash!

End Of The World?

People all across the internet are asking "Is this the end of the world as we know it?" 

The website NZBMatrix has been taken down.  The website was the home that many downloaders of illegal matter from the internet would go to select their movies or their TV Shows for download!  And just suddenly, from out of nowhere it has shut down.

Threads on the local chat forum Whirlpool are up in arms over this!  There is page after page of people asking, "What am I going to do ..... NZBMatrix has gone?"

Much of the hassle is being caused by the authorities in the US clamping down on illegal downloads.  What usually happens is that when one website closes down, within a few weeks another is up to take its place.

So the sun will rise again tomorrow and everything will go on none the less.  The world won't end, we'll just have to find our illegal downloads another way!

(I already have!)

The new AV Receiver had a small hiccup last night, nothing that was unmanageable.  I had a setting in the media player which sent a message to the TV that whenever the media player was turned on that the TV should automatically turn itself on as well.  I set this up on the chance that by the two devices 'talking to each other' that the better digital sound from the media player would pass through the TV to the old AV Receiver I had.  It didn't work.

And when I turned the media player off, the TV would turn itself off as well.  This option didn't work previously but now did with the new AV Receiver.

I changed the setting in the media player back to what it had been previously and now everything works fine.

A warmish day in the high 20's.  There could be a shower of rain later.  We need the shower of rain desperately.

Latest Acquisition

The wet weather has cleared leaving us with sunny days and top temperatures in the high 20's.  The sea breeze meanders in again around early afternoon allowing us to throw the house wide open and let the sea breeze through the place.  The pool was around 26 degrees this morning after I had returned from my 13k bike ride. Most likely the pool will be up to the high 20's later today

Computer Club yesterday was plain sailing and I helped a couple of people out, generally with problems relating to emails.  There are a few Android mobile phone users now looking for advice and help as well.

When I had my big party for my 60th birthday down in Melbourne almost 7 years ago, I was given lots of vouchers for JB HiFi Gift Cards.  I wanted to buy myself a new AV Receiver. I bought a Yamaha which had the older style component video and optical audio connectors.

You plug all your entertainment equipment into an AV Receiver (your DVD player, media player, Pay TV etc) and the audio then goes through your speaker system while the picture passes through older style analog component cables to your TV.  Nowadays everything connects via HDMI!  HDMI is digital and carries both audio and video in the one cable.

I could work around it with the old Yamaha but there were wires everywhere and every now and again there would be audi-sync problems where people's mouths would move out of sync with what they are saying.  On top of that I needed another whole set of separate connections for our analog headphones.

I could still use my expensive Bose speakers but it took some messing around.  I often drooled over replacing my older Yamaha but couldn't justify the expense.

Then along came the good old internet and JB Hi Fi's 30% off sale which ends today (Sunday).  One of their specials is a Yamaha RX-V373 with 4 HDMI in and 1 HDMI out.  It usually sells from JB at a $487 but here it was on sale for $200-20.

I hummed and haa'd over it all Friday afternoon and then thought, "Well I have these expensive speakers which I can hardly use, a $200 investment would see me using them again!"  I was sold!

I picked it up yesterday around lunch time and had it setup later in the afternoon.  Not only does it do everything I wanted, it also sends an audio signal on to the TV as well which means my headphones all work perfectly off the TV as well.  The digital audio signal is converted by the TV back to stereo so it would work on the TV's speakers.  But this also means it is in stereo on my headphones as well so it works perfectly.

The local JB Hi Fi had a stack of these units for sale but there wasn't a sale price on them.  The first sales guy who tried to help me said each unit was $487 each.  After I told him they were on special at $200-20 he confirmed the sale price and went to buy one for himself!

It was great watching the Big Bash cricket last night with the theatre like sound of the crowd cheering the players on.  I even put away my headphones, put my hearing aids back in and enjoyed being a part of the crowd at the cricket!

Friday Update

Possibly the biggest news over the last day or so is that we have had a little rain. This morning I missed my bike ride owing to a couple of heavy showers, we had 9mls of rain.

Thursday morning I topped the pool up but not right to the top.  It is now full and the lawn has had a good drop of rain.  Everything around about us is so yellow and dry.  Hopefully this rain will green things up a little.

Click on the photo for a larger view.

The gazebo didn't handle the drop of rain well at all.  I am only able to anchor three corners of the roof securely with guy ropes.  This keeps the roof tight and causes most of the rain to fall off onto the ground. The fourth corner of the roof is only held in place by a couple of Velcro strips at the top of the supporting leg. Click on this photo for a larger view of how the gazebo roof is 'anchored'.

With any sort of rain beginning to pool, the Velcro 'peels' up and creates an area where the rain can gather at the fourth corner of the gazebo.  As it gets heavier, the pool of water becomes larger and the Velcro peels even more.

It seems when we go out and if there is any chance of rain I just need to unlock the height adjustment on the front leg of the gazebo.  This causes that corner of the roof to sag and ensures rain water is unable to build up. There is a release height adjustment push button about 45cms from the base of the leg.  The other three legs are securely attached to the fence by guy ropes and by other Velcro strips tying it securely to the fence palings. The roof here is quite tight and any pooling of rain is minimal.

We have enjoyed extremely low humidity the last few days.  So despite registering 33 degrees or so it has been quite comfortable.  The wind direction has changed today to off the ocean from the south east and we are seeing the humidity level increase.

Tonight we are all out for Italian to celebrate Ian's 60th birthday.  Kerrie has returned from Sydney after caring for her father who is in hospital.  However they set off again by car for Sydney for their daughter's wedding.  We have just over a week before we set off for Melbourne.

We are up to episode 10 of Boardwalk Empire Series 3.  It is as good as any of the other Boardwalk Empire series we have watched.

33 Degrees Today ... But It Is Cooler!

The heat of yesterday has passed us by.  We survived very comfortably thankyou. We stayed locked up inside till around 2 pm and then adjourned to the pool.  It was still around 35 degrees when we came inside around 5pm and turned the aircon on to 27 degrees and set the ceiling fans running.  By 8pm we had a slight shiver or two, turned the aircon off and opened the place up.

Another quick swim before bed ensured we slept well.

Overnight the bedroom ceiling fan was turned off as the heat disappeared.  We are expecting around 33 today.  But earlier when I looked the humidity was a mere 20%, almost unheard of in this part of the world!  So the 33 degrees is probably closer to a normal 29 or so up here.

As you can see from the photo, it was a pretty 'tough' day!  The photo also provides conclusive proof that you can fatten thoroughbreds!

Temperatures are expected stay in the high 20's for the next week or so.

I rode my 13k's this morning and enjoyed a quick swim afterwards.  As you can see from this photo, I put another brew on this morning.  By early next week it should be ready to bottle, thus ensuring I have a plentiful supply upon our return from Melbourne.

Trish is at Stitcher's today while I have just updated one of my websites.  There is cricket from India this afternoon live on TV so that should just about see the day out nicely.  I will most likely pop into the pool for a swim or two.

I have a meeting this evening and it should be over by 7 pm.  Trish is pleased because we get a 'light meal' with this meeting, therefore she doesn't have any meal to prepare for me!

Then it will be home for the next three episodes of Boardwalk Empire, Series 3.

Hot Hot Hot!

It is 10 a.m. up here and I have just grabbed the photo left.  The temperature sensor is attached to our back fence, right above some dark colored concrete.  It does have a hood to shade it but it is still right in the sun!

That the temperature there is above 40 degrees is offset by the low 31% humidity.  A gusty north westerly breeze is blowing hot air from inland Australia right over us.  The wind should remain dominant all day and not allow the cooling sea breeze to establish itself after lunch.

My bike ride this morning was several kilometres short of the usual 13k's but I was anxious to get back home.

The pool will be a popular place this afternoon.  The house is locked up "Melbourne Style" with windows shut and blinds drawn to keep the heat out.

We still are lacking rain.  There wasn't any predicted thunder storm at all last night so I was forced to again top the pool up from the mains this morning.  Fortunately the pool is small in capacity, so after 15 minutes or so, it was topped up nicely.

Good friend Ian celebrated his 60th birthday yesterday.  His wife Kerrie is in Sydney looking after her ailing father.  With this in mind we all went to the RSL last night for tea and a few celebratory drinks, despite Kerrie not being here.  Ian's daughter Michelle who lives with them attended as well and did the driving home.

Ian seemed appreciative that we would all go out to help him celebrate.

I am not used to full strength beer and the red wine we had.  Therefore I am a little sluggish this morning.  Trish and I had the "2 meals for $25" deal.  We both felt for the quality of the meal that we had eaten we were ripped off!

But it was a great night!

Later at around 10:30pm Trish and I sat outside for a few minutes on the 'new' concrete area.  I had just had a pre-bed swim.  The pool lights were on, the Christmas lights were dancing on the back fence and it was just a sensational way to finish an excellent evening!

The Heat Is On

We have had consistently warm temperatures for around 4 or 5 days now with tops around 30 degrees.

The weather here is different to what we used to get when we lived in Melbourne.  Here the hottest part of the day is either late morning or just after lunch.  As we are so close to the coast, we enjoy the benefit of a cooler sea breeze.  Here the sea breeze is a north easterly and on most days is strong enough to overcome any other breeze and usually arrives any time from early in the afternoon.

This breeze is enough to cut around 2 degrees off the temperature but also to prevent it rising further as the day goes on.

By mid afternoon the cooler sea breeze is usually well and truly blowing and we can open the front door and the garage door and have the benefit of the cooler breeze throughout the house.

Today the sea breeze will be kept at bay a little longer as the winds will be powerful enough to hold up its arrival for an hour or so.

But tomorrow we probably won't get any sea breeze at all, so the conditions will be similar to a hot northerly wind blowing all day down in Melbourne.  We won't have the cooling sea breeze and correspondingly, we will enjoy a top temperature tomorrow of around 37 degrees!

Another thing about the weather here is the instability of the atmosphere at this time of year which can lead to late afternoon showers and thunderstorms.  There is a possibility of both showers and thunderstorms this afternoon and tomorrow as well.  The pool needs a lift in water level so hopefully we can enjoy the benefit of some heavy rain to top the pool up and water the lawns and gardens.

Our little house is set up to accommodate this sort of hot summer weather.  The blinds are down all day today and will be down tomorrow as well.  Tomorrow may also be a day where the air conditioner goes on.  We will run it at around 26 degrees (or warmer) and run the ceiling fans as well from early in the afternoon.  This will keep it very comfortable.

There was a small chance of storms last night so the gazebo has come down.  We get great afternoon shade along the back fence now.  And we have the beach umbrella as well to give us shade too. I am not sure how the gazebo would handle a thunderstorm in this part of the world!

Trish has a meeting to get to this morning while I will be watching the cricket from Perth in between quick swims in the pool!

Busy Morning, Plenty of Sunshine!

I was up and at it around 6:30 am this morning.  Any expected thunderstorms last night fizzled out before arriving on the Sunshine Coast.  Brisbane had some very light showers but we missed out completely.  It took around 25 minutes to top the pool up from our domestic water supply.  I had been hoping a thunderstorm would have done that for me but no luck there.

I rode over 14k's this morning.  We are expecting around 5 hot days in a row now, today being the first.  Therefore I tend to get any jobs done early in the day when it is a little cooler.

The photo sums it all up really.  I put the gazebo up this morning to give us some 'permanent' shade during the warmer days. The gazebo also adds some shade over the pool later in the afternoon.

Click on the photo for a larger view.

Then I did a bottling, you can see the empty brew keg drying out in the sunshine on the new concrete.  It doesn't take long to dry at this time of year.

When all that was done I spent around 20 minutes just soaking under the umbrella in the pool in the shade.  The pool is 27 degrees this morning so no wonder the water evaporates!  I even had a quick before bed swim last night, just to cool off before falling asleep.

Last night we watched the first four episodes of Series 2 of "The Tudors". There are 6 episodes remaining, 4 more tonight then the last two after the First Day of the Third Test from Perth tomorrow night!

More Sizzle

It has been warm and sunny up here the last few days.  It is 'normal' for my morning swim after a bike ride for the pool to be around 26 degrees nowadays.  If I have another swim later on it is usually around 28 or 29 degrees.  The one downside is evaporation and as we have had no follow up rain from the couple of inches we got 10 days ago, I may need to top it up tomorrow if the promised thunderstorms do not arrive tonight.

The car is all fixed.  The sensor has been replaced and it now has new tyres all round.  It has been serviced and ready to take us to Melbourne mid December.

We had our final Community Association Committee Meeting on Monday.  Wives and husbands joined us for nibblies and drinks and we enjoyed each other's company.  We eventually arrived home before midnight.

The big drama came yesterday when the Community Association website went down. We pay all costs for the website but Stockland had not passed on a renewal notice for the bellvista.com.au domain name.  Therefore when it expired, the website ceased to exist.  Some frantic phone calls to Sydney and a quick EFT cash transfer had all well again by late yesterday afternoon.

As another hiccup, a product I ordered from China has not arrived.  I sent them off an email this morning.  It is less than $6 in value so it isn't a major drama.  I expect they will repost it or give me a refund.  Unfortunately when it does arrive we will be in Melbourne, not ideal but can't be helped.

Trish is at Stitchers today and I have 'washed' bottles ready for a bottling tomorrow.  They are predominately 'new' bottles, so only required a quick rinse.  What can take around 45 minutes took less than 10 today!  It being so hot outside, they dried quickly.

A Sewing Machine repair guy is due after lunch to look at Trish' s aging sewing machine.  I think she will get herself a new one as a "Christmas Present"! I am in the market for a 3TB external hard disk drive to back up all my movies and TV Shows.

A Gorgeous Spring Day

And there are a few more delightful days to come.  A sea-breeze, around 28 degrees, the pool is even warmer and the forecast is for more to come.

I am now completely over the 'procedure' I had on Tuesday.  It did take a day or two to get back to 100% but everything is fine now.  I am 'back on the beer' and enjoying the cricket on TV, especially as Australia is doing well right now.  Hopefully tomorrow (Monday) the last day will see Australia win the match.

I have been bike riding every day and now I have even discarded the 'cable ties' attached to my helmet to keep magpies at bay.  I have added 'Little Mountain Common" back onto my route and I do around 13k's per day.

I must admit the bike rides exceptionally well since it had the service earlier this week.  It was money well spent.  Even little creatures like this one are enjoying the warmer sunny weather.  Click on the photo for a larger view.

My sister's youngest boy Beau's partner Jess is a Mooloolaba girl but lives in Victoria.  They had a wedding to get to here on the Sunshine Coast so planned some time up here, allowing Beau to book in to have a procedure carried out on his eye.  Jess has since picked up a new job on Mornington Peninsular and was unable to get to the wedding.  So Beau is up here on his own recuperating after the small operation and staying with Jess' family.

Beau popped in to watch the cricket with me yesterday which was great.  He is also very keen on my home brew.  Needless to say we had a great time together.  Therefore I gave the Computer Club a 'miss'.

Trish is doing a two day "Workshop" this weekend so I relax in front of the TV, or pop into the pool for a quick swim and later endeavour to keep my hydration levels up!

Hardly a cloud in the sky and just beautiful today.  More top temperatures around 28 degrees are expected for most of this week and then cooler sea-breezes during the afternoons.

Life is tough!

Update

The cricket starts on TV shortly for the 2nd day of the Adelaide Test so this post will be quick.

As I have said earlier, things are geared towards our car trip to Melbourne in a few weeks.  The "Check" light has come on in the car.  Cars are so 'computer' centred nowadays it could be anything,  As the car was going in for a service yesterday I got the guys to check the light out as well.  Turns out it is the fourth sensor used to check the engine emissions and to adjust fuel mix for greater fuel economy.  The sensor has stopped working properly.  A 15 minute job to install a replacement but $250 to buy the new sensor.

It goes in on Monday for the new sensor and hopefully the 2 new tyres will go on on Tuesday.

The service people also reported a rumble noise from the back of the car, most likely tyres but it could be rear wheel bearings.  I guess I will know more after the new tyres go on.

I have pretty crook ears but I have heard that sound for the last few years and just put it down to tyres.  Trish doesn't hear it.  Therefore I am 90% sure it will be tyres.

Friends Ian and Kerrie are heading to Sydney for the weekend so we went to the little Chinese in the main street for a meal together last night.  The fish with ginger and shallots was extremely tasty with enough ginger flavour, the salt and pepper calamari was as good as any we have had and the satay chicken wasn't too bad at all. This was all preceded with San Choy Bow which was a great way to start the meal. At $25 a head it was a delightful meal.

We made some inquiries regarding hokkien fried rice which they said they could do for us if we wanted.  That is a dish Trish and I will save for a trip to this restaurant on our own.

I bottled my Melbourne Black brew into Coca Cola bottles this morning ready for the trip down south.

My tummy is taking a few days to settle down after Tuesday, I guess it is because this time I am that little bit older.

All OK

I managed to lift myself up from the loo long enough to get to Caloundra Private Hospital for my Top N Tail this morning.  A small polyp was removed, nothing too scary and I am not due back there for another three years.

All in all I am happy with that. My tummy continues to rumble from the activity this morning, I am not brave enough to pass wind though!

I put my bike in for a 'service'.  The handle grips had gone 'sticky' with the heat and humidity here and I thought it was time to replace the brake rubbers.  A little over $100 to have it all done, service and replace the parts.  I can get a new bike 'on special' for $300!

The car goes in for its pre Melbourne service on Thursday.  All it now needs is another two tyres on the rear. Trish went to the Physio this morning regarding her shoulder.  She came home a little more enthusiastic with the news the Physio thought she could do the shoulder some good.  We hope so.

A gorgeous day today, around 28 degrees and a lovely breeze blowing in from the north east off the ocean.  No need for ceiling fans today, just open the windows and the doors and enjoy the sub-tropical weather!

Back on the bike tomorrow morning, back into the pool.  Most likely I will be bottling on Thursday!

Some Murmurings

There are a few murmurings around right now, everything isn't quite plain sailing and I am off solid food for 36 hours.  Of course I am talking about my top n tail 'operation' which I am due to have tomorrow around lunch time.  I took several tablets yesterday afternoon.  I am due for several more tablets in around an hour and then at 3:30, the sachet of "Prep"!  Then the murmurings will move to become actions!

I am to live on strained "Cup Of Soup" as well as jelly for both lunch and my evening meal today!  It will be great when it is all over soon after lunch tomorrow.

We have had our first decent rain for around 4 months.  We had 22mls overnight Saturday and another 36mls last night.  The last time we had better falls than this was back in late June!

The pool is full, the gardens are watered and the lawn is returning to green albeit slowly! The bike went in for a service this morning as well because I am 'out of action' from bike riding for a day or so.

It took some time with the rain yesterday but my bottles are ready to fill with Home Brew to take down south with us. The wet weather made them difficult to get dry.

Some of the plastic "PET" bottles I have been using with my home brew are around 10 years old now and have been in constant use.  The vast majority of them no longer have their original tops, they now have Coca Cola tops which last superbly! Some are looking 'tired' and no longer new and clear.

Therefore I have decided to 'update' my bottle collection.  I have around 10 dozen plastic bottles in use, some of which are 'relatively' new.  They all have dates on them so I am going to remove all the older bottles as I go. I reckon I will have around 90 which need swapping over.

I got a $45 credit left at the Home Brew shop from someone I helped with their laptop.  I added $10 and bought 60 new bottles which I brought home this morning.

Now as I drink my beers I will toss the older bottles out and just keep the newer ones. I reckon I will need around 3 more boxes of 15 new bottles per box to completely update the collection!

Computer Club was great on Saturday.  I was able to help most people out and those I couldn't I referred onto the resident Computer Technician. 

And we had Ian and Kerrie over for drinks on Saturday afternoon which was very pleasant as well.  Their daughter is getting married in Sydney in a couple of weeks so they are making flying visit south next weekend to do the right thing and attend the Buck's and Hen's Nights.  They fly down on Friday and return Monday!

There has been plenty of One Day Domestic Cricket on TV which I have been watching. I watched the Victorians chase down 351 runs (on a small ground) yesterday afternoon and win with around 20 balls still to go.  I was an extravaganza of big hitting.

After the rain it is back to being hot and sticky today.  We are expecting low 30's and I hope the pool warms up quickly after all the rain it has taken the last couple of days.

Today Is A Sizzler

I took the photo of our indoor weather station which 'lives' in the lounge room a few moments ago.  It gives you an idea of what is happening today with us as far as the weather is concerned.

The 38 degrees is out of the wind in the back corner of the backyard.  That is the hottest spot here at the house and out of any cooling breeze. Look how low the humidity is!  22% is extremely low for here and shows the strong wind is coming from the northwest.  Later the north easterly will blow in off the ocean and the humidity level will rise but the temperature will cool.

Click on all photos for a larger view, then on the cross (top left hand corner) to return to this page.

The heat sizzles up from the dark concrete below it. You can see all this in the photo left.

The 'sender' lives under the small wooden shelf!

But today is a great day for getting things dried on the clothesline!  The possibility of 'severe' thunderstorms exists for tomorrow Saturday and all of the South East can expect anything up to a couple of inches of rain (50mls).

A new and very large shopping centre has opened in Maroochydore.  It was built by Harvey Norman who have closed several local stores they had and now moved them into the one super shopping centre.  The centre also houses Domayne, Joyce Mayne, several furniture stores, an Apple store and several others still to open.

My hearing aid hasn't been working as well as I thought it should so I dropped it off at the shop in Mooloolaba and then headed into Maroochydore to check out the new centre.  Though not quite as big as the store in Dandenong Victoria, the new Harvey Norman store is a great size and at last gives people on the "coast" a reasonable place to check out various electrical items and closely contrast and compare them them.

I have since learned my hearing aid needs to be sent off for repair.  This is at no cost to me as a pensioner who has paid his two yearly fee of $39 for all maintenance, testing etc of both of my hearing aids.

We are keeping our Melbourne trip in the back of our minds.  This morning I put on another black ale and I sorted out the 1.25l softdrink bottles I will use.  This means when in Melbourne I can put them into recycling bins when finished and not to bring them back home with me.

I am having a 'top 'n tail' on Tuesday, the first I have had for around 5 years,  I begin the prep with a tablet Sunday afternoon but get into the liquid 'prep' Monday afternoon.

The car is being serviced on Thursday of next week, my bike is being checked over as well.  Hopefully everything will be completed 'in time' for our departure from here in mid December.  We have a dinner to attend in Berwick on Tuesday December 18th.

All Clear From Pest Control Company

The pest control company did a routine follow up visit this morning to confirm the recent infestations had been successfully eradicated.  It seems all is now fine.

We can have the 'barrier' around the house repaired at around $750 front and back.  That will be a job for early January after our return from Melbourne for Christmas.  This will entail drilling holes at the front and back of the house, filling them with poison and flooding the ground underneath and then plugging the holes up again.

Much of recent days have been spent enjoying the cricket on TV.  I again was most caught up with it all.  I enjoyed it very much.

I attended a meeting in a neighbouring hinterland town on Monday evening and spoke on the benefits of a Community Association.  Then I attended a meeting with Council and the developer on the future of the Land Sales Office becoming a Community Facility on Tuesday.

Trish was busy all weekend with her "Fair" for the Arts Centre Association.

We went out for a disappointing meal at a local Thai restaurant on Tuesday evening.  One of the dishes was allegedly ginger and shallots.  I think they just 'waved' the ginger over it, there wasn't much taste at all.

The days are lovely and warm, around 30 degrees but still quite cool overnight.  Last night it was down to 15 which is cool for this part of the world. The pool looks pretty good right now.

There has been minimal greening up of the lawn from the rain on the weekend.  I did mow the lawn yesterday after I had bottled my latest brew.  I reckon I got more dust than grass in the mower catcher.  I will put on another brew in the next day or so so I can take some of my "Black Ale" down to Melbourne with me.

Trish's shoulder isn't good, she will need follow up on it next year which may see her left arm in a sling for 6 weeks.  She would not be able to drive during that time.

I am due for a colonoscopy next Tuesday and I begin the "prep" for it late Sunday afternoon.  It will be good when it is all over!  We are getting ready to head south for Christmas and getting preparations underway is beginning to take up our time. 

And finally, we watched a TV series called "The Paradise" last night.  It hasn't shown here yet but I reckon it will be very popular when it does so, almost as popular as Downton Abbey I would suggest.

Rain At Long Last

I couldn't believe my ears when I heard the Test cricket in Brisbane was washed out yesterday.  We are around 90 kilometres from the "Gabba" and only had a couple of very light showers up until around 4pm.  There was less than 1ml in the gauge at that time and things were very dry.  I took this 'pre' rain photo of the dried out front lawn yesterday morning.

Around 4 pm the drizzle began in earnest.  It was just like being in Melbourne, continuous drizzly rain but little of any consequence.  By 10 pm we had around 7mls of rain in 6 hours!  By 5 am this morning that had gone to 11mls.  And then the heavens opened up.  The expected S/E wind change came through around that time and in the next couple of hours we another half an inch of steady soaking rain.

The total was a little over 24mls, around an inch and exactly what the doctor had ordered.  The early drizzly rain soaked into the soil so when the heavier stuff came, the lawns, the garden, the pot plants and the pool all benefited.

The pool hasn't been this full for around 6 months.

It is till quite grey outside right now but there is a stiff breeze.  A few lingering showers are predicted for this morning but there should be a fine afternoon to follow.

The chap who wanted his laptop setup during the week didn't have a home wireless network.  I suggested he should update and get a wireless modem router so he could access his laptop from anywhere at his home.  As it tuns out he lives at the biggest and plushest high rise in the main street in Caloundra.

Computer club was a little quiet on Saturday so I headed around to his place around 11 am to set up his new wireless modem/ router.  He is pretty pleased with everything now and has his wireless setup all up and running.

They have a great view from the 3rd floor balcony but their place is so small.  2 bedrooms and a medium sized living area is all they have.  The 'position' is sensational but he went on to say the body corporate is very expensive and with heaps of holiday makers using the facility, Security is called more frequently than one would prefer. There was a little door thumping and raised voices from somewhere else on the same floor while I was there doing my networking stuff.

The Caloundra Arts Centre Association has one of its two annual Fairs on this weekend so Trish has been busy there the last few days.  She really enjoys it and has met some lovely people and good friends there.

This leaves me at home to watch the cricket!  Tomorrow will be bottle washing day so today I need to ensure I have 3 more empty bottles.  It is a tough job but someone has to do it!

What Termites?

Another sensational day, 28 degrees, plenty of sunshine but perhaps a little windy.

My 12k bike ride got the day off to a brisk start.  Then there was the swim afterwards, the pool was around 23 or 24 degrees so just perfect for a swim.  I had someone around at 9:30 to help them set their laptop up.  All went fairly well, not too many hiccups at all.

He asked me how much I wanted for helping him out.  I said I don't accept cash but if he wanted to head up to the Caloundra Home Brew Shop and put something 'on account' for me that would be fine.  He was very happy with that and that should provide me with Christmas Drinks!

Our neighbour Brian (who just loves the movies I give him) has a son David who is a builder by trade.  David is currently working on Groote Eylandt off the Northern Territory. After a couple of months he comes home and usually pops around to his Dad's place.  He always brings his hard drive with him and I top it up with movies and TV shows.  There isn't much on TV there so the movies I provide are invaluable.

David is currently 'in town' and Brian got him to pop over and check the termite damage yesterday afternoon.  "Too easy" was his response.  He arrived here around 11 am this morning and had the two pieces of board replaced in around 20 minutes.  I had topped his hard drive up with movies and TV Shows overnight so he was happy and I was delighted.

Around 1pm Brian (an ex painter) was over with his painting gear.  With his expertise we were able to rejuvenate the paint left by our house painters 10 years ago and within an hour undercoat and then a top coat of paint had been applied.  It looks as good as new again!

People here really appreciate what you do for them and in turn they are only too happy to help out in any way in return.

The "First Cricket Test" Australia vs South Africa is on tomorrow on TV.  Guess where I will be!

Most Days 28 Degrees!

We are continuing with our spell of lovely fine warm days.

We have now watched all of season 3 of Downton Abbey.  After a huge Community Association Meeting which I chaired on Monday we didn't get home until 9pm  Trish went to the meeting as well. We still had almost 3 hours of Downton Abbey to finish the series.  So just before midnight and the finish of the final episode we headed off to bed.

With such a 'big' meeting it was always going to take me time to update the website on Tuesday morning.  So after a 12k bike ride I gave the car a wash.  With all the dust and a brief sprinkle of rain the car looked pretty awful.  Then it was time for a quick swim before spending almost 2 hours updating the BeCA website.  It was just after midday when we arrived at Ian and Kerri's for a Melbourne Cup afternoon.  It was extremely pleasant and just what was required to settle back, relax and enjoy good ale and company with friends.  We arrived home around 7:30 pm.

A mixture of a late night the night before followed by a few drinks and heaps of lovely food a good night's sleep beckoned.

After a good 7+ hours sleep overnight we awoke to yet another 'perfect' day.  With a top around 28 degrees a bike ride and a chat with walkers along the way made for a pleasant start.

While Trish headed off to Stitchers I put a brew on.  I am probably a couple of days early getting underway but it is better to be sooner rather than later.

I think the pool will be a good spot to sit by and relax after our appointment this afternoon regarding Trish's sore shoulder.

Perfect Weather

The weather is perfect, not a cloud in the sky and a top of 27 today with humidity around 50% (which is low for this part of the world).  But if we had our 'rathers' I reckon we would opt for 50mls of heavy soaking rain.

The extremely dry weather means everything is yellow.  The lawns, the parks, nature strips all are yellow from a lack of rainfall.  Everything is dry and dusty!

Well not so dusty as they were a day or so ago.

We had been putting off the annual wash windows etc until we got some rain to settle the dust.  But enough was enough!  It started a week or so ago when I cleaned the blinds across the the patio in the backyard.

Then the front door and the screen door were so foul they needed a good hose down as well.  Anything with flywire was a dust trap! This then made the garage door look pretty ordinary so yesterday, Sunday, I gave it a pressure clean too.

This spurred Trish to do the inside of some windows which in turn got me to do the outsides!  I reckon we could have top dressed the front lawn with all the built up dust and grime we have cleaned off everything in the last day or so.

Come 11 am the whole house windows and flywire screens had all been cleaned!  The rest of the day was spot cleaning bits we had missed!

The pool is at last beginning to warm up.  Most afternoons sees it at around 25 degrees.  This morning it was over 22 and quite pleasant for an after bike ride swim.

We have a big Community Association Public Meeting tonight.  We are hoping for around 50 people to be in attendance with local MP's, Sunshine Coast Airport Senior Management and our Councillor all there.  As President it is my job to chair tonight's meeting.

Tomorrow is Cup Day and we will spend it with Kerri and Ian.  They head away again, back to Fiji a favorite haunt of theirs for a week on Thursday!  We are around to their place for a BBQ ... and a few drinks!

Trish's shoulder still causes her concerns and her specialist's appointment is still a week away.  It is beginning to cost us money!  Another resident also fell in the same carpark.  He has had his surgery already.  He requested that we contact his solicitor as he is seeking to have his out of pocket expenses reimbursed.  The shopping centre management doesn't return messages or emails.  Phone calls with them on the subject are treated curtly and impersonally.

We are meeting with the solicitor on Wednesday afternoon.

The 8th and final episode of Series 3 of Downton Abbey was on UK TV last night.  I have acquired that episode already.  Last night we watched the first 5 episodes, tonight (after the meeting) we will enjoy the final 3 episodes!

They're Back!

The pest control guy returned yesterday to confirm the small infestation of termites/white ants he previously treated had been successful.  They had all now been killed he believed.  He then proceeded to inspect the whole house.  He found a second and much smaller infestation in the main bedroom.  They were in one stud in the wall.  Again they have been treated and he will return in another 10 days to ensure the treatment has worked.

In both cases any damage is minimal.The rest of the house is clear.  In many respects we have been lucky.  He suspects there is a big nest somewhere, most likely on a neighbour's property.  The termites took 10 years to make their way to our place!

Termite and White Ants are a perennial problem in this part of the world.

The best suggestion is they got in where the front concrete driveway had been laid which was above the termite protection shield built into the brick wall.  They were the same concretors who also built the concrete patio again above the protection line.

Holes will need to be drilled into the front and rear of the house concrete areas and poison poured in to build a wall of protection to keep the little pests out!

A very warm day today with the temp around 34 degrees in the backyard.  The cool weather which has hit Melbourne is due to arrive after lunch causing the temp here to slip to around 25 degrees.

No drinks this afternoon.  One couple are off on a holiday in their mobile home.  They are heading south.  I suspect they will strike some cold weather along the way.  Ian and Kerri have been entertaining friends for two weeks so both are taking a rest from festivities and 'drying out'.

Mid Week Already!

After a couple of quite cool days summer has again reappeared today with a top temp around 30 degrees.  Yesterday it struggled to get to the low 20's and the pool temperature has fallen quite a deal as well. Today I had a quick dip at under 21 degrees.

Since I last wrote here on the Blog I have completed a bottling of my home brew, always a good job to get out of the way.

Community Association updating and Computer Club preparation have both been keeping me busy as well.  However I was able to catch most of the one day cricket match between S.A. and Tasmania yesterday.

I have been loaned a 10" tablet by the Computer Club and I have been finding out all about them.  I said I would do a presentation on it this Saturday so I have been doing a little preparation for that.  I will post it here on the blog and show it from there on a TV screen at Computer Club.  So if you see a strange 'post' on the blog, you will know what it is about.

This Tablet is around $180.  It is a cross between my android phone and a laptop.  I had been kind of itching to get one but after having this for a week or two I don't see what all the excitement is about.

Tablets (or iPads) would be handy if all you wanted to do was some simple office work, get on the internet, grab emails, check out Facebook, watch a movie and do everyday basic stuff.  I am not sure I would even pay that sort of money for one.  It may be handy if you are travelling perhaps.

Trish has found it too big and a little heavy for reading a book as an eReader.  I suspect there could be some value in a smaller model, e.g. 7".  I certainly wouldn't pay $370 for an iPad 7" Mini.  I did find a cheap Chinese 7" dual core tablet for around $90.  However if someone gave me $100 right now I would probably spend it on a 3TB USB3 external Hard Disk Drive.  My Movies and TV Show collection is so big I really need more storage space!

Speaking of which, lately we have been watching a TV Series called John Adams.  He was one of the founding fathers of the American war of Independence, and went on to become the second president of the U.S.  A great story about a time of history of which I knew little.

Last week we watched Series 1 of "The Tudors".  There are 3 more series of that to go!

Rain At Last (2mls!)

A colder southerly change with showers blew into SE Queensland late yesterday.  By the time it arrived at Caloundra a fair bit of its 'oomph' had disappeared.  We awoke this morning to cool winds, overcast skies and 2mls in the rain gauge! It wasn't enough to really wet the grass!

I have had to do several "System Restore" for people on their computers the last week or so.  Trish's laptop would start up and then finish with a solid black screen, I had the same with another neighbour today and even a couple of people from the Computer Club contacted me looking to solve problems because things had stopped working.

System restore is built into Windows and allows users to return their computer system back to the way it was up to 4 weeks ago.  You find System Restore after Start, All Programs and open the folder "Accessories".  Then you open the "System tools" folder and it is in there.  The system is restored to the date you nominated but all your files (photos, documents etc) are not interfered with. System Restore works most of the time but not always.

So if suddenly a program you are using worked fine yesterday but won't go today, get into System Restore and restore your computer to a day or so earlier and most likely your troublesome program will run OK again.

After Computer Club yesterday things were a little quiet so I decided on a bottle washing.  I will be bottling tomorrow.

Heat Returns

I keep some rainfall figures here at home.  I am fairly routine at entering new info but there really needs to be the best part of 1ml in the gauge before I record it.  Check my figures out here.  Now I haven't updated this page for a few weeks now because we haven't had any rain.

Since mid July there are only 5 rainfall daily entries, and 3 of those are 4mls or less. So it has been 'dry!'

So the news levels have been low.  Yesterday I had a quick meeting with a reporter to do with the Community Association and then Trish and I had to go to Buderim for an MRI on her shoulder.  We won't know any outcome on that for several weeks.

The terrible winds from earlier in the week have abated.  Today will get to around 30 degrees and the wind is from the north west, and shouldn't be full of dust from the new development.  I cleaned the pool filter yesterday, you could tell it has been dusty.

The pool certainly looks inviting. The pool was 21 or so this morning and a little brisk for my swim after my daily bike ride.

We have drinks this afternoon as usual. 

I have had the use of a $200 Android "Tablet" for the week from the SC Computer Club.  I have had a bit of a play with it and I have certainly learnt a bit about them.  It has been a bit of fun.  I can connect to my home network and watch movies.  I can easily get onto the net and do some 'surfing'.  It really is a glorified and much bigger 'smart phone'.  Even at that price, I really couldn't justify spending the money on one for my needs.

Some of the downloaded TV shows I watched on it looked great.

I spent a little time today deleting some of my personal stuff off it as I am due to return it tomorrow morning.  If I didn't know how to do something on the tablet I just used Google on my desk top to solve the problem.  Google works very well.

Southerly Buster

After a hot Monday, a southerly buster change blew in early Monday night.  The temp dropped quickly but the wind speed stayed up all night.  It was blowing in straight off the new housing development across the road.  We awoke Tuesday morning to see everything covered in dust!  Trish swept the house out, then vacuumed and steam cleaned the floor.

The house remained closed up for the rest of Tuesday.  Outside one of the tall pot plants had blown over and potting mix was spread over the pavers and into the pool.

I started cleaning the backyard and pool around 5:45 am on Tuesday and had it looking reasonable by around 7am.  But then the wind blew a gale again and went all day, it was so unpleasant outside.  The wind was so bad they even stopped work on the new estate!

Today is still a little windy but nowhere near as bad as yesterday! This is what I had when I swept under the pergola around lunchtime today.

Tomorrow morning the wind is expected to be gone so I will hose everything down around the pool to wash away the dust!

I had a guy ring me asking for information on what sort of laptop he should buy.  He has now bought an 'ultra book' online from Catch of the Day.  These are light weight very thin laptops.  It has an i7 processor (the best available in the Intel range), 4GB Ram, a 1GB video card and a 500GB drive.  He will eventually pay $660 after a $148 cash back deal from the manufacturer.  I reckon that is a great deal for an extremely lightweight laptop.

Trish visits the surgeon tomorrow to check her shoulder out.  She hurt it after a fall several months ago and it seems to be taking an eternity to get better.  Tomorrow's appointment will tell us if it will right itself eventually or if some surgery is recommended.

Meanwhile I will have Community Association stuff to deal with tomorrow.  We have a local newspaper coming out for a photo on a project we have been successful with.

This morning I braved the windy weather and had a bike ride.  I had to cut it short because I met up with three different groups of people who wanted to chat about Community Association issues.  Needless to say I didn't mind! It still took me well over an hour to do the ride.  Then I put a home brew on!

Today is around 24 while yesterday was a little cooler.  The pool is back down to 21.5 after being almost 26 on Monday afternoon.  The blue blow up pool chair has been resurrected and is in use.  It is a great place to enjoy an icy home brew!

The Sopranos And A Nasty Surprise

It has been a few days since I last posted.  During that time the weather has been quite warm, the pool is now around 27 degrees in the afternoon.  Morning swims see it around 24 and just beautiful. Today is 34 in our little backyard.

I tried putting the gazebo up to see how it fitted.  It looks pretty good but we weren't sure we would leave it up for days.  However with today being around 34 degrees in the back corner, some regular ongoing shade may be an advantage.

I took it down because of the threat of a storm .. which never eventuated!

So it will be set up as required  Click on all photos for a larger view.

Friends Ian and Kerrie have friends up from NSW for the week.  Our lunch on Thursday was to a new spot and the group was up to 8 in total.  Too much to eat and drink yet again but heaps of fun.

With them having visitors and John and Margaret not available Friday drinks were put on hold.

Computer Club was as per usual on Saturday and a friend gave me the first 4 series of The Sopranos on DVD.  So the weekend was busy 'ripping' the files so I can play them on my Media Player.  I have ripped 3 series of them so far, I have another series to go.  Each series is 13 by 1 hour episodes. That is a total of 42 shows.  The Sopranos scores 9.2 on IMDB!

Trish got into some spring cleaning yesterday cleaning some of our vertical blinds.  She would carefully take them all down, put them into the bath to soak, give them a light scrub and then dry them off a little and rehang them.

While they were soaking she cleaned the architrave around the doors and windows.  She had quite a fright when the cloth went through the wood .... white ants.  We had planned to have an examination for white ants  a month or two ago but one thing led to another and it never happened. 

The pest removal guy came around today, inspected the damaged area and sprayed it.  The damage is only in its early stages and there won't be much of a problem.

The duct tape is to keep the poison in! They will be back again in 10 days to do the inspection.

However the damaged timber will need to be replaced.  It appears the concrete back patio slab is built above the shielded line of the house allowing the insects access.  Therefore holes will need to be drilled into and through the concrete and long term chemicals used to soak the ground under the slab and provide a protection barrier from future possible intrusions.

More expense we just didn't expect.  But it could have been much worse.  I give plenty of movies etc to Brian over the road and to his son David.  David is a builder so Brian said he would get him to replace the timber for me.  The whole slliding door will need to be removed.

We are watching a TV Series called The Shadow Line.  It is a great detective story.

All Finished

It has been quite hectic the last day or so.  Most has been to do with the Community Association.  The Council here has released a Draft Masterplan for the nearby airport.  As the closest residential area to the airport and with a forecast that aircraft movements will double in the next 20 years the sensationalizing journalists have been after a statement which will 'shock' everyone.

The truth is the local helicopter training school has lost its big contract from Asia to train helicopter pilots.  This means they are dealing with fewer pilots thus fewer training flights over local houses thus you hardly know the airport is there.

Click on both pics for a larger view.

We had a meeting with the local Private School principal Tuesday morning and last night another meeting at Council Offices on the masterplan.

Today I have had a call from a local radio station wanting to record an interview tomorrow morning.

On top of all of this I ordered more stones to finish off the backyard.  The stones would fill an 8cm gap between next door and the 2 tiered back wall of border stones.  I ordered too many stones so some areas around the house have had their 10mm river pebbles topped up!

The stones will act as a further backup to accommodate any water seepage through from next door.  There is a 12cm gap between the new concrete slab and the back fence which should allow any excess water to drain away.

The Christmas lights are in position along the top of the back fence, the Father Xmas masks which light up after dark are working and the two flood lights have at last found a home at the back of the middle pot plant.  I have added another 'lizard' to the wall hangings along the back fence as well.

Right now it is around 27 degrees in our little backyard, the pool is heading towards 25 degrees.  Tomorrow is looking like around 30 degrees and there will be similar temperatures over the weekend as well.  The pool should get a chance to really warm up.

Trish is on a Ladies Day Out to a Craft Show in Brisbane today. Tomorrow we are again planning on fish n chips at the beach.  This time there could be 8 of us.