Phone Fixed

I was mucking around on my PC around lunchtime today and noticed the internet had gone off. Trish said the mobile phone we had the landline calls diverted to gave a single ring but then nothing. I checked out the front of the house and saw a Telstra van there and the tech was messing around where the phone connects to the house. He had opened the connections box, took the wires out and things just fell apart in his hands. He reconnected it all up and was on his way. Our phone is working again and all was again fixed!

We have the sun back out again today, low 30's and humidity around 70%. I even got a bike ride in this morning which I reckon was my first full bike ride for over two weeks.

I downloaded an 'app' for my mobile phone called MapMyRide. I ran the 'app' as I rode my bike around this morning. The app connected to the phone's inbuilt "GPS" and noted where I went on my bike ride. When I arrived home I 'saved' the ride which the phone then sent to my MapMyRide Account on the internet.

You can find all about my ride HERE on the internet. If you go to the page and then click on the 'Full Page' icon it should open perfectly if you are using Internet Explorer.

If you use Firefox you may have to 'drag' the world map so SE Queensland is in the middle of your screen, you can then zoom in by clicking on the + sign (top left). Make sure you can still see the green arrow in the centre of your page as you zoom in. The map will eventually look like the one in the picture.

The numbers indicate the kilometre reading. Click on the blog picture to get a larger view, then click on the X (top right corner) to return to this page.

If you really want some fun click on the 3D icon and watch the ride again, (but this time it is in miles!) You will probably be asked to download and install a plug-in. Allow this to happen and watch the ride! It is rather spectacular with what it does. The Google map it shows is quite old because there are very few (if any) vacant blocks of land on this estate today!

The map isn't totally correct as I always stayed on either a road or a pathway. I guess the GPS picks up readings as the bike slopes over when you go around a bend giving the GPS a couple of incorrect readings. But nevertheless, still good for free!

The 'app' and the website account are all 'free'.

More Of Our News

It is still wet up here in SE Queensland, I added a further 13mls of overnight rain to the total and it has now reached over 580mls in the last couple of weeks. This means around 23.5 inches of rain in the last fortnight, around 2 feet of rain. No wonder the pool ran out of salt and demanded a top up.

The humidity level is incredible, even when it isn't raining the humidity is anywhere from 70% to 80%. You cannot get washing dry in that sort of humidity. Strange isn't it, the worst drying conditions for washing are in summer!

The ceiling fans are even more efficient with this high level of humidity.

We won't go into too many details but I was pretty crook overnight Thursday night with a nasty tummy ache. Quite a few trips to the loo were involved as well as at least 5 trips to the shower! The perspiration which came with each 'incident' was amazing! I am feeling much better now.

Drinks were great again on Friday though I opted for 1 bottle of my beer and 3 cans of Ginger Beer. We had drinks at Ian's place. On Thursday morning Ian and I had ventured into Caloundra where he purchased a WDTV Live Streaming Media Player. He is absolutely delighted with it. We continued to play around with it during 'drinks'.

Computer Club was busy on Saturday. I will need to offer some bad advice as I keep on getting recommended to others as a good source of help.

I have moved Trish's old small screen LCD TV into the office after I bought her a new 32" TV recently. I have connected a cheap high def set top box (STB) to it and watch a bit of cricket or tennis on it while mucking around on my PC. I have since been able to attach the 'old PC' to it as well. The screen makes quite a good PC monitor and as you can see it works well. It is just a matter of swapping the 'Source" on the TV back to the STB and watch regular TV again.

Click on the picture for a larger view, then on the X in the top right hand corner to return to this page.

Trish is back to the Tourist Info Centre today but it will be very quiet for her with showery weather deterring tourists. We will watch the tennis men's final tonight. The women's final was good as it was over quickly and those two grunting females were off in less than 90 minutes.

We have no phone at all connected to the phone line, just the internet. We are looking forward to everything getting back to normal when the fault is fixed. The internet only drops out about once or twice a day so it isn't too much of an inconvenience right now. We usually make all out going calls on my mobile anyway as I get so much free call allowance. We would never use it all!

Click HERE to see my rainfall totals sheet.

I hope you get a laugh from the joke below.

A Blood Transfusion

An Arab Sheik was admitted to Hospital for heart surgery, but prior to the surgery,the doctors needed to store his blood in case the need arises.

As the gentleman had a rare type of blood.

It couldn't be found locally, so, the call went out.

Finally a Scotsman was located who had a similar blood type.

The Scot willingly donated his blood for the Arab.

After the surgery, the Arab sent the Scotsman as appreciation for giving his blood, a new BMW, diamonds & US dollars.

A couple of days later, once again, the Arab had to go through a corrective surgery.

His doctor telephoned the Scotsman who was more than happy to donate his blood again. After the second surgery, the Arab sent the Scotsman a thank-you card & a box of Quality Street chocolates.

The Scotsman was shocked that the Arab did not reciprocate his kind gesture as he had anticipated.

He phoned the Arab & asked him: "I thought you would be generous again, that you would give me a BMW, diamonds & money... but you only gave me a thank-you card & a box of Quality Street ."

To this the Arab replied: "Aye laddie, but I now have Scottish blood in ma veins".

Phone Line Fault

Apparently the wet weather has got into our phone line. I lodged a line fault yesterday with Telstra and I have since received a call back this afternoon asking us to disconnect all phone lines. More tests were then carried out on the line and it was confirmed there is a fault somewhere.

Earlier today we had the phone ring briefly and it was someone trying to give us a call. Meanwhile the internet connection comes and goes. I rang Telstra this morning to have all incoming calls diverted to Trish's mobile phone. Now all phones connections except the internet have been disconnected. Hopefully this will keep the connection solid enough to be able to access the internet.

We have been told the line fault should be fixed anytime up until Tuesday at the latest. Hopefully by having all phones disconnected will mean the internet connection will remain solid enough.

Our friends driving up from Newcastle spent last night at Coffs Harbour and were to decide this morning whether they would continue on up here. They both have to be back at work on Monday so they decided not to venture onwards but to return safely home. There is no guarantee the weather will improve and all roads will be open during the weekend allowing them to return home.

Right now it is around 28 degrees, it is overcast and threatening. The forecast is for showers and possible thunderstorms. So far today we have only had a brief sprinkle of rain.

I spent this morning helping a friend Ian set up his WD TV Live Streaming Media Player. He is delighted with it and is really looking forward to using it and all its facilities.

I have just reset the router/modem as again the internet connection has again dropped out.

It has just come back on again so I will upload this post.

290mls In One Day

It rained nearly all day yesterday and we finished with 289 mls in the rain gauge. It was steady rain all day so we didn't have the flooded front street like we have had in the past. However the pool filled to overflowing during one of the heavier downpour periods.

The photos will give you an idea what it was like. The rain would ease off after 30 minutes and allow puddles to clear. So by 6am today the pool was back to its normal level.

Remember to click on the photos for a larger view, then click on the X to return to this page.

The rain has effected our phone line. Internet has been on and off all day. I have lodged a line fault with Telstra and they agree there seems to be something wrong. My guess is when the pits dry out everything will be OK again.

The heaviest rain now appears to be heading south. We have friends driving up for Newcastle to get a few "k's" on their leased vehicle and spend a couple of nights with us. We are keeping them up to speed with weather updates from here.

They will spend tonight in Coffs Harbour and re evaluate their position as to whether they will drive the final 500k's to spend two nights here!

Right now as I type the sun has poked its head through the clouds. It is around 25 degrees with 92% humidity. However the travellers will be travelling through some of the very heavy rain we have had as it heads south into New South Wales.

The cricket continues on TV in between me disconnecting and reconnecting phone line connections across the house to allow Telstra to carry out line fault checks. The phone line for the internet connection is in the wall and underneath/behind the computer table.

I am too old to be crawling underneath computer tables and feeling around to the left hand side to plug and unplug phone lines. The connection is to the left at the rear of the table in the photo!

Lots Of Rain

After two weeks of very dry weather to start 2012 the rain gods have made a complete about face and the heavens have opened. Another 54mls overnight to follow on with what we received over the weekend. The Bureau however has promised us heaps more to come for the rest of this week.

We have been trying to get to the Mapleton Hotel with friends Kerrie and Ian but each time the weather has intervened. We decided to try again yesterday (Monday) before the forecast rain set in. The idea was great until the rain arrived earlier than expected. So instead we tried the Pelican Waters Tavern which was pretty good. I had a Chicken Breast Schnitzel with salad and chips while Trish loved her steak. The girls enjoyed a bottle of Champers between them while Ian and I had several mid strength 'schooners' at $3 a pop.

We only have a single garage so we tend to leave the door open to allow the car to cool off after use. We may be closing the door in future as Trish spotted this guy hopping up passage way and into our bedroom around 9 pm last night. Armed with a bucket I tried to trap him but he hopped away into a corner behind a book shelf. Eventually we got him though as the photo shows. I don't think he will be coming back into our house again.

I have Test Cricket and tennis on TV while Trish is back to her eye specialist for a checkup after having cataracts removed early 2011. She will do a little shopping 'in town' afterwards while her eyesight 'comes good'.

More rain is forecast for the rest of the week. My head cold is a little better and I have almost finished the course of anti-biotics I was on. I am now taking some Cold Tablets to try to dry me up.

I managed to put some lawn food on the front lawn yesterday before the rain. Hopefully it hasn't all been washed away! I have a bottling to do tomorrow (Wednesday).

A Few Spare Minutes

I continue to suffer a little from my head cold. The major concern remains the middle ear infection and being a little dizzy, especially first thing in the day. I continue on anti-biotics but any improvement seems slight. It hasn't been enough to stop me going to Computer Club or enjoying drinks on Friday. Bike riding has gone onto 'hold' though.

There were only 4 of us for drinks on Friday, at our place and under the gazebo. John and Margaret joined us, Kerrie and Ian were scratchings and I didn't get a reply from Tony. Tony attended the previous week and made a bit of a mess of himself, as we all have done before in our lifetime.

Trish noticed a note on Tony's Facebook page indicating he had just had a week without alcohol and still had a whole lifetime to go!

Because I haven't been 100% I haven't been on my bike for a few days. But it has been pretty wet too which doesn't help. I did feel well enough to mow lawns yesterday afternoon and during some drizzle this morning I spread some lawn food to try and get the grass to thicken up.

The front lawn (above) looks great after a mow and with more showers expected later and then rain later in the week the lawn food should be well soaked in.

There were a couple of 'overnight showers' which left 10mls in the rain gauge this morning. It has been drizzly earlier but is fine and around 30 degrees as I type. There is more tennis on the TV so that should fill in the afternoon.

With the possible onset of rain later today the gazebo has again gone away into its storage bag. I folds up into a weighty but compact package as this photo shows. I pretty well took it down on my own this time. As long as you take it slowly it isn't too much of a problem.

Trish is helping out at the Tourist Info Centre this morning and is due home shortly. We look like heading to Mapleton Hotel for a lunch on the hotel balcony tomorrow with Kerrie and Ian which should be fun.

I managed a bottle washing this morning and the brew I made last Wednesday should be ready to bottle mid week.

135mls Later

The rain has now left the Sunshine Coast but it remains overcast and humid! Altogether we received 135 mls of rain, almost 5.5" in the old scale. The pool is full and the garden is well watered. The rain is to be expected at this time of the year, after all it is the 'wet season' here.

I have updated the link on the right hand side of this blog "Les Bellvista Rainfall Figures 2012".

I didn't get a bike ride in today as it would be just too unpleasant riding with heaps of seepage and puddles across pathways and roads. The pool has been cleaned. After rain like that it gets heaps of dust and dirt in it which has either been washed into the pool from the surrounds or brought with the rain from the dusty atmosphere.

I have been a little busy swapping hard disk drives around this morning. I am beginning to build up a collection of high quality movies which I store on my drive to watch whenever I want. A normal film may be at most 1.4mb while a high quality copy would be well over 4mb! I have a couple which are nudging 6 or 8mb.

I have taken the 320GB drive I have been using and swapped it with the larger 500GB drive Trish has to back up her stuff. The 500GB disk drive is a snazzy and sleek WD "My Passport" drive where as the 320GB drive is a little bulkier "Elements" model. It took a little time to copy files across from one disk to the other. I then had to make the new disk a "Network Drive" which means that even if my Computer is turned off, it can still be seen by other computers (or media players) for playback purposes.

Trish is at Stitchers this morning and she and a few of the 'girls' are playing cards this afternoon. I am left to 'play' on my computer and watch the tennis on TV.

Last night we watched the Golden Globe winning film, "The Descendants". Though enjoyable enough with spectacular shots of scenery on Hawaii I believe we have seen better movies this year. Trish and I both enjoyed "The Help" more than the movie we watched last night.

Rain!

After a particularly dry beginning to 2012, the rain gods have raised their heads and gave us a downpour yesterday and with even more stormy weather expected today. The wet weather started with a prediction of a few 'showers' late Sunday. More light showers had been predicted for Monday. We therefore decided to leave the gazebo up.

The rain continued to fall for much of Monday with some stronger winds developing. So much for the "Few Showers" forecast we had on Sunday! During a brief lull in the rain Monday afternoon Trish and I quickly dismantled the gazebo just to be safe and put it under the pergola 'just in case'.

By 7:30 this morning (Tuesday) the rainfall total has been just over 100mls with even windier and stormier weather expected to develop later this morning.

The lawns and gardens have welcomed the rain especially after a very dry beginning to 2012. As you can see from this photo the pool is again topped up with the built in skimmer box overflow working draining excessive pool water to the street via the storm water drains. I am sure a bag of salt will be required when the rain ceases following the overflow of water washing some of the salt into the street. Any clearance of rain isn't really expected until later in the week.

It seems much of today will be spent like yesterday and that was watching the Australian Open on TV. As we have Pay TV there is a great spread of matches. We get the free to air coverage as well as four other matches to choose from on Pay TV. One of the Pay TV matches is shown in High Definition which gives a wonderful high quality picture. It really stands out in quality from the channel 7 picture quality and the three other games on Pay TV.

I was little dizzy recently when I first got up in the morning and I felt something was amiss with my right ear. It seems I again have another middle ear infection and I am again on anti-biotics.

Our plans to head out today for a lunch on the balcony at the Mapleton Tavern with Ian and Kerrie have been put on hold till the weather improves.

Cooler, Delightful, But Cold In!

Friday night drinks was very pleasant with our attendance numbers down a little, this time there were only 4 of us. It was at Ian's and he doesn't have the seating setup we now enjoy so 4 is a comfortable number to have there. Ian is in the process of having a pergola extended right across the back of his home which will solve all seating problems.

Much of my time has been spent with 'the usuals'! That is enjoying the cricket on TV and attending Computer Club. Computer Club in particular was busy.

One of the Computer Club members lives in a retirement complex which has a monthly newsletter. The one guy who does the newsletter recently took sick and unfortunately passed away so the responsibility of taking over its production has fallen onto a couple of other residents. I have suggested "Publisher" as a great program as unfortunately they are unable to get the former newsletter format file off the previous owner's PC!

I spent a little time on Saturday helping them to setup a newsletter in Publisher. However I think I will need to spend several hours with them as a we put a 'mock' newsletter together. They expect to go into full production with a new format in March.

The weather has now cooled right off. Today will be a pleasant overcast 27 or so with a good possibility of showers. Overnight we had 1 ml of rain, the first 'recording' I have had to make this year (and we are in the middle of the 'wet season'). The pool was under 25 degrees this morning, the coolest it has been for a week. We need rain for the lawns, the garden and to top the pool up. The pool water level is getting to a stage where it will have to be topped up to keep the water level OK in the skimmer box.

We have more cricket on TV today and then we get into the tennis with the Australian Open beginning on Monday and going for two weeks.

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Tuesday and Wednesday saw SE Queensland experience its hottest temperatures for several years. It was heading towards 37 degrees here at Caloundra and with humidity around 60% it was decidedly uncomfortable. The blustery wind was from the north west which is akin to hot northerlies blowing in Melbourne.

The strong north west winds blocked out the cooler NE sea breeze so it hardly cooled down as much as usual overnight. The pool almost reached 31 degrees so, though pleasant, wasn't a great place to cool off.

The air conditioner would start up around 1pm and be set to 27 degrees. This with the ceiling fans made our living area at home extremely comfortable. We watched a little of the tennis on TV over these days.

A cooler south easterly change came through Thursday morning dropping top temps back to around 28 degrees, still very comfortable and still warm enough to swim. The air-con went back into hibernation for a well earned rest.

During our trip to Melbourne recently I noticed several people had a 32" TV as their 'second' TV. Trish sometimes watches TV in her sewing room. She has a 22" "Hicon" lcd TV in there which we bought some time ago. I decided it was time to update so I was keeping my eyes open for a 'special' deal.

Yesterday I bought a 32" Changhong TV for under $250. It has two USB ports for TV Recording and for Media Playing (it will play most of my downloaded movies), it is High Def and comes with a 2 year warranty. It also has a built in DVD player. It looks pretty good and is ideal as a second TV!

My sister's youngest boy Beau and his girlfriend Jess popped in yesterday for lunch and a chat. Beau has been on extended leave from his teaching job in Victoria while Jess spends time with her mum and dad who live nearby in Mooloolaba. The leave has now finished and Beau has to return to Melbourne to resume his job.

The home brew got a little bit of a belting!

Kind Of "Back To Normal".

While my brother Geoff and his wife did a some sight seeing up to Coolum and Noosa on Saturday, Trish did a little cleaning up around the place while I tidied up outside. There wasn't much to do, just the sort of things you can't do while you have visitors around at the time.

Our evening meal out at Thai Lime Twist in Caloundra at $20 a head was a real winner. The food was great and we sat out at a table on the footpath enjoying any slight breeze there may have been. The place was a sell out so I was pleased we had 'booked'.

Then today Sunday was an early start as Geoff and Jeannette were to begin their trek back to Melbourne. They left around 7:15 am for a quick visit with friends in Brisbane and then a longer trip to Coffs Harbour to spend the next couple of nights camping out in a caravan park.

Meanwhile I had a beer bottling to do this morning while Trish had the washing machine and dishwasher going flat out. By around 10 am most of the chores had been completed and I had even managed a 13 kilometre bike ride as well.

Click on any photo for a larger view, then click on the 'X' to return to this page.

So far today (and it is late Sunday morning) I have had two swims in the pool, one after my bike ride and a second after the bottling!

As you can see from the photo left Trish decided to give her new inflatable pool chair with sun cover a workout. I think the new pool chair workout was successful.

It will be a quiet few days for us. It all began around December 16th when we flew to Melbourne for Christmas with the family and friends. The intervening time has been great fun but we are both looking forward to having some quiet time and enjoying our small backyard (and sitting under the gazebo).

No Computer Club For Me Today

I am proud to announce that the new gazebo has now been officially 'opened'. There were 10 of us in the group last evening and a really great night was had by all. It was great fun and showed my brother Geoff and his wife just how 'good' retirement can be. Geoff is keen on the idea of retiring but Jeannette doesn't share his enthusiasm. They need to sort a few things out first before they can finally decide on a future course of action. They own two properties and this impacts on his ability to have access to Centrelink benefits.

This morning the pool was around 27 degrees with the lovely warm and sunny weather we have been experiencing. We also been enjoying too much food, too much to drink and not enough sleep! For Trish and me it all started on December 16th when we flew down to Melbourne and it is still happening now. Geoff and Jeannette will head off for their return to Melbourne on Sunday morning.

They have been doing a little touring without us. Today they are driving to Coolum for a look around and the other day they had a wonderful time at Australia Zoo.

We had a delightful lunch yesterday at the Caloundra Surf Club which has views over King's Beach where holiday makers were swimming in the surf.

Previously we had enjoyed another lunch this time on the balcony at the Mapleton Hotel.

Tonight we are off to Thai Lime Twist, a small restaurant in town with food which is OK. Our visitors plan to head off tomorrow morning for Coffs Harbour.

I will return to Computer Club NEXT Saturday!

Thanks For The Vouchers

My favorite gift to receive at Christmas time is the everyday gift voucher. There are two reasons why I like them, one they are easy to carry home especially when we fly, and secondly I can combine them to buy something I have been thinking about buying but can't really justify spending that amount of cash.

The photo shows the gazebo we picked up yesterday from Bunnings to give us more shade around the pool. As you can see it 'fits' the spot really well. My brother Geoff and his wife Jeanette found it a pleasant place to sit to read their books and keep up with the cricket playing on the radio in the background.

A big thank you for the vouchers! (Trish is using the vouchers for everyday things which freed up some cash to purchase the gazebo.) Click on the photos for a larger view. Then click on the "X" to return to this page.

Needless to say with Geoff visiting my home brew stocks are diminishing so a brew went on recently and this morning was a bottle washing day. They should be ready to put away after drying later today.

Last night we had Fish 'n Chips by the beach and then adjourned to the RSL for a draught ale. It was all extremely pleasant after the ladies had earlier in the day walked the Caloundra 'shopping strip'.

On Tuesday we drove 160k's north to catch up with my cousin Garry and his wife Maree. We had a great time together as Garry's place is around 15k's off the main road and over 40k's from the nearest major town. It was a great day in the Queensland bush countryside.

Back Home And We Have Visitors

A very brief one as we have arrived safely back on the Sunshine Coast but we are extremely busy entertaining my brother and his wife.

We visited a cousin yesterday who lives around 160 k's north of us. It was a great day.

They expect to head off some time over the weekend so there will be a lengthier post and news update then.

I have to juggle the visitors and trying to watch some of the cricket on TV which is about to start today.