Mid Week

An area around 50k's north of us was the only spot to get any reasonable rain from the storms predicted for last night.  We got nothing at all here.  But a cooler change rocked through in mid afternoon dropping the temperature from a steamy and hot 34º or so back to a more pleasant 28º.  The pool peaked out at around 26º or so yesterday afternoon.

It was extremely pleasant lying back in the pool on a lounge relaxing and enjoying a cool beverage yesterday late in the afternoon.  I reckon I spent the best part of an hour just sitting there and enjoying the place.

Last night we had some of the trout Trish had bought at Costco.  They were great sized fish and very nice indeed.  20 minutes in the BBQ with the lid down and around 200º and they were perfect.

This morning I was meant to be heading around to a mate's place to do some computer stuff.  He needed a few adjustments made before friends arrived flying up from Sydney.  They were due at 1:30pm so that meant we had until around midday to get stuff done.

Not only was the flight arrival brought forward by 30 minutes but there hadn't been any calculation for Daylight Saving either!  So the original 1:30pm arrival finished up being midday!  And you really need the best part of an hour to get to Maroochydore airport from here!

So the computer update was put on hold.  This now allowed me time for my bike ride and time to get a bottle washing done!

However the bike ride went on hold owing to a puncture in the back tyre.  And my tyre repair kit had run out of glue!

So the bottle washing was done and is now out of the way!

The local supermarket eventually came to the rescue re the glue, the puncture was repaired and the bike ride completed by around 10:30.  The pool was around 26.5º by the time I got back from the ride.  That was a pretty nice swim this morning I tell you!

8 of us are heading back to the "Drift Bar" again this evening.  It is around 30º today so it should be just gorgeous there later today.  There are $4 beers from 4 pm to 6pm, then a "Parmy and Pot of Beer" special deal for $15 to follow.

It should be extremely pleasant sitting in an outdoor setting as the sun goes down over Bulcock Beach with the evening temperature around 25º or so!

Summer With A Rumble!

Summer has arrived here on the Sunshine Coast!  The pool will again be the focus of much of our day to day activity.  This morning as I rode by the Private School here on the estate, the neon notice board at the front said 7:10 am, 27º!

The hottest part of the day here is usually late morning.  Around lunch time the cooler sea-breeze makes its way in and the temperature stabilizes or drops several degrees.  The last few days we have had a strong northerly blowing in from central Queensland.

The northerly breeze was so strong yesterday the cooler sea-breeze couldn't arrive until around 2 pm.  This gave us an extra 2 hours of heating up.   So it was around 36º when eventually the sea-breeze arrived!

The rumble in the title was for the thunder storms which amounted to nothing for us last evening.  We had the lighting and the rumble of thunder but this morning there was a paltry 1ml in the gauge.  That 1ml did bring our rainfall total so far for 2014 to 1000mls, or 40" in the old language!  In this part of the world we can usually expect over 1500mls p.a. or a little over 60" each year.

More thunderstorms are predicted for later on today, and are most likely to happen around the Sunshine Coast area.

Yesterday we had decided on a return trip to Costco around 40 minutes south of us.  We had emptied the freezer section of both fridges so we were prepared for the shop.  Things were a little cheaper but we expect the quality to be top-notch.  In this part of Australia we find the meat nowhere near as good as what we had when in Melbourne.  So if we can get good meat from Costco it will be worth the monthly 'safari' down there.

As we were driving home, the outside temperature was reading 39º!  Costco is that little bit inland away from the sea so that area doesn't get much of the tempering sea winds.

To the west of Brisbane in the city centre of Ipswich it was almost 42º yesterday!

Last night we watched a movie called "Frailty".  It is an older movie and one I had never heard of before!  If you get the chance have a look at it.  It was in the best Alfred Hitchcock suspenseful style!

Warming Up ...

One of the couples we enjoy drinks with on a Friday has a problem with "Silverside" or "Corned Beef".  He loves it but she isn't too keen.  Trish cooks it quite a bit so we have always intended to have them around for some Silverside so the husband who loves it can enjoy it again.

We decided to combine the regular Friday drinks with Silverside for an evening meal.  And that happened yesterday.  But this time all 6 of us who usually attend "Drinks" would stay for a meal.

We started our drinks session a bit later and enjoyed a sensational meal of corned beef/silverside.  It was a great night and Trish did a wonderful job catering for everyone.  It went down very well.

The non-silverside eater had a lovely piece of pork instead.

Starting later in the afternoon meant finishing later at night.  So it was quite late when they went all home.

With extra guests coming around and the weather warming up it seemed like a good time to set up the portable fridge/freezer (the Waeco) outside under the pergola near the back door.  (photo above left) It is great for cold drinks outside and as the weather warms up, we do spend more and more time out there and around the pool.  To have access to a cold drink after jumping out of the pool dripping wet has many advantages.

And the extra fridge room was handy last night (Fri) with guests coming around.

I found an interesting computer program yesterday.  I had seen it before and had it installed on the previous PC.  It is called Popcorn Time.  Google it and read all about it.

You will need to have a fair bit of download available to you to use the program.  It doesn't suit my purposes but there may be some people who do like it and find it handy.

They are talking about 29º this afternoon and even warmer for the next few days!

Trish rather likes the decorative lights we can usually buy to string around the outside of the house around Christmas time.  She doesn't limit the lights to just Christmas, we have them going all year.  They certainly brighten up the backyard.

As they are a Christmas item they aren't usually available all 12 months of the year.  But they are available again now and back in stores getting ready for Christmas.  So we have been busy putting the finishing touches to the backyard.  A couple of strings of 'icicles' have now completed the job.

I like to keep some pool implements close by so I can readily clean out an errant floating leaf or bug.  These have had to be relocated as they got in the way of the new 'icicles'!

But all is looking good now!

Not So Perfect

Following a spectacular Monday, the weather here did a "Melbourne" on Tuesday with showers and heavily overcast skies.  The sun did peep out for an hour or so in the afternoon and we got to 25º but much of the day was miserable, showery and around 21º.  It wasn't at all pleasant.

I didn't manage a bike ride! The black skies opened up with Melbourne type heavy drizzle for an hour or so just as I was about to set out.  I actually got to the end of the street on my bike before the obvious heavy black clouds convinced me to turn around and seek refuge at home!

This morning (Wednesday) we have already had more showers and the sky has been overcast, but there are some blue patches of sky about (see photo left) and a more pleasant day has been forecast.

Come Friday we are back to 29º and into the low 30's for three or four days after that!

I was fortunate to find a direct telecast of a One Day International cricket match from New Zealand on TV yesterday so the day wasn't a complete waste!

We both spent much of the day around the house looking busy and with me watching some cricket.  I tipped a mere 4mls out of the rain gauge this morning (Weds).

I did manage to 'scare' my brother though when out of the blue I rang him up and we had a good chat! He is travelling nicely.

A problem I do have is this blog when I call people!  My brother reads the blog (obviously he has a problem with insomnia!) so that means I really don't have any new news to pass on to him!

But it was good to have a chat.  He and his wife Jeannette have the caught the caravaning bug and are looking forward to a trip later this year along the Murray and into South Australia.

In 2015 he is looking at heading up to the "Gulf" in northern Queensland.  They would hope to be away for several months, and therefore miss out on the cold Melbourne winter.

We enjoyed catching up.

Perfect The Next!

You couldn't wish for a nicer day.  Clear blue sky, 27 degrees later on this afternoon and the pool should also be over 25º then as well.  The pool was approaching 23º for my after bike ride swim this morning around 8:30 am and even that felt great!

I squeezed in a couple of dips in the pool yesterday, one after finishing my morning's shade handiwork, the second mid afternoon with a refreshing icy cold ale in hand!

The shade fix has been completed and seems to make quite a difference to our shade pergola at the back.

There will not be any further need for anyone to jockey for a chair which doesn't expose them to the afternoon sun at one time or another.

Click on the photo for a larger view.

As we get closer to Xmas, lights and other decorations come back onto the market.  And these solar powered lights add some color to the overnight backyard.  I wouldn't quite call it an obsession for Trish, but perhaps I could call it a "high priority want"!

We still have some of last year's Xmas lights (or what is left of them that still work) flashing in the backyard overnight now.  The rectangular grid of fairy lights that Trish just loved died around April and she was most upset to learn she would have to wait until Xmas 2014 before more would come on sale!

I reckon she probably bought the first set of rectangular designed Xmas lights that K-Mart sold this season.

If you look closely in the top photo you can see the lights have been put up ready for last night's first showing!

And they went off perfectly as the lower photo shows!

And this morning I have had to move the pool's leaf rake to an obscure spot so the "Icicle Lights" could go up at one end of the pool.  Oh it will be exciting!

The next set will come from Aldi (if they have the same design as 2013) and they will go all the way around the backyard!  But I suggest Trish will be out buying some backup lighting sets not too far away, just in case one of her creations goes on the blink!

Some Short Showers This Morning

There was only 1 ml in the rain gauge this morning but we have had a brief sprinkle every 45 minutes or so, just enough to take today's bike ride off the agenda at this early stage.  So at 8:45 am I am doing the blog page instead of sweating on my bike.

Arj has a new Saudi update.  You can read it here.  So many of the things they mention in their blog brings back memories of our time overseas all those years ago.  I hope you enjoy his update.

There is virtually no change in the behaviour of the dog next door to us.  Though it is now possible to go through a whole day without being harassed down the sideway.  So I guess that is an improvement.

I scored another 1.125 litres of 40% alcohol from one of the guys at Computer Club yesterday so I am glad to report the "Bourbon" supply is back in hand.

On Thursday for a day out we visited the new "Costco" store around 40 minutes away from our home.  Our first impressions are that it is OK to pretty good.  We weren't ecstatic about it but we are pleased to now be members.

I have been after a new base for the sun umbrella we use over one end of the pool during the midday sunny period.  Previous stands I have used have generally rusted out.  Water runs down into the stand and has no where to go.  Eventually it cause the metal part of the stand to rust out.

This one which I bought at Costco can be moved on rollers and the water doesn't collect in the base of the pole which takes the umbrella. It wasn't cheap but seems to be good quality and hopefully long lasting!

I saw a Blu-Ray player there for $139.  It is selling in other stores for around $160 as RRP.  It seems the quality of the stuff you purchase at Costco is pretty good .  Afterwards we popped a few k's further south to North Lakes Shopping Centre and grabbed a $10 lunch and the drinks were cheap too.

There has been plenty of cricket on TV to keep me occupied as well.

After a few recent hiccups, the new PC is running beautifully without any further problems.  Most hassles seem to clear up after a recent Windows Update!

With the new shelter in the backyard there is a spot where the sun does peep through at certain times of the day, especially during the mid afternoon as the sun starts to go down.  I have been busy painting a sheet of ply-wood which I plan to cut up and use to fill the space.

There is nothing worse when we have visitors over and they have to shift seat for 30 minutes because of the sun in their eyes!

It is all painted now and just needs to be cut to size and put up!

Click on both photos for a larger view.  See if you can spot the brackets which will hold the ply-wood sheets in place.

Midweek

There hasn't been a lot to write about, just the usual stuff.  But I guess those readers of my blog who suffer from insomnia, a new post is a welcome further treatment for their disease!

Since I last put up a 'real' post we have had Computer Club which was the same old same old!  Not a lot of new stuff.  Most problems people had I could fix but there were some which I wasn't able to help.

There has been cricket almost daily on the TV which is all I need.  Though my state "Victoria" hasn't been doing too well, my now home state has been going OK.  There has been lots of attractive big hitting and it has been enjoyable to watch.

Yesterday (Tuesday) we completed our application for our passports and we are beginning to 'book' aspects of the trip to Saudi Arabia via Spain and the Mediterranean Sea in April next year.

Trish had us down for a 9 day tour of Spain leaving Madrid and finishing in Barcelona where we are due to board for a 24 night Mediterranean Cruise.  If you paid for your "Trafalgar Tour" by a certain time you got a 10% discount.  But as the Trafalgar Tour has been so solidly booked, that discount offer has now been withdrawn.

However for an extra $200 pp we can do virtually the same tour with "Insight Tours" which are a step up from Trafalgar.  You get better buses, better accommodation and few extra goodies.

The Insight Tours trip goes from Barcelona to Madrid, the other way around to the Trafalgar Tour.  This means we now would fly Brisbane to Barcelona and in turn this now means we fly out of Brisbane at 9:30 pm rather than 2:30 am.

So as you see it is all swings and roundabouts.  Though a little more expensive, we would now fly at more reasonable times.

My dog bite has healed OK and I had myself a Tetanus shot on Monday.  I needed a tetanus update before our trip next year so this fitted in OK.  The neighbour's aggressive dog still runs aggressively up to the fence as I wheel my bike down the sideway for my daily bike ride.

I had a ring from Council regarding the attack.  It was just a follow up call but they wanted to know if the dog may have been protecting the neighbour's kids as I rode by.

The neighbour wants me to toss some food over the fence to the dog so it sees me as a food source rather than a threat.  Having been involved with education for 40 years I don't quite see it that way.

The dog rushes aggressively up to the fence as I walk by.  I toss a couple of doggie treats over the fence to placate it.  The dog eats the doggie treats. In its mind, the dog rushes up to the fence in an aggressive way and it then gets two doggie treats tossed over the fence. So if it wants the doggie treats it rushes aggressively at the fence and then gets fed.

This seems to be rewarding inappropriate behaviour to me and actually training the dog to be aggressive!  But what would I know, in the neighbour's eyes I remain a silly old fart that his dog loves to be aggressive to and attack!

More From Saudi Arabia

Arj has just added another post to his "Behind The Keyboard" blog page.

You can check it out HERE.

Click on "More Photos" which is at the foot of the thumbnails to the right of the text for heaps more photos.

T.G.I.F.

Thank God It Is Friday!  I used to say that all the time when I was working.  Nowadays the end of the week means that people will be relaxing usually outdoors so our lovely ever so quiet neighbourhood gets a little noisier as kids play, Dads mow lawns and people tend to sit outside, chat and enjoy the sunshine.

Today has seen some excitement.

Next door have a dog.  Ever since they have had it it has harassed us as we use our sideway.  It would charge up to fence as we walked down the sideway, bump against the palings and let out a snarl or a growl.  If you are not aware its going to happen then you can be startled.  This happens to both of us.  Over time we have become used to being snarled and growled at as we walk down the sideway.

I have spoken to the neighbour and he has said it just wants to play!  I have never been convinced.  It can bark as well but overall this isn't a real problem.

They have a couple of kids and this morning mum, dad, the two kids and the dog on a leash were walking to school as I finished my bike ride.  I said Good Morning as I rode past going in the opposite direction and suddenly the dog lunged at me and tried to bite me.  It took a bit out of my shorts I was wearing.

I stopped the bike and came back to them.  The dad wanted to know if I had caught my shorts on something.  I said that his dog tried to bite me.

The usual lines came out, the dog doesn't hurt anyone else, the dog plays around my mum and dad safely, the kids can climb all over it etc etc.  Finally he said that I must have done something to intimidate it and it has been after me ever since.  All the usual platitudes!

That the dog harasses both me and Trish as either of us walk down the sideway didn't seem to dawn on them. I said with their permission I would pat the dog and see its response.  They agreed.

I slowly and carefully put my hand down to pat it.  It snapped at me and bit me drawing blood from my hand.  Being half ready for it I escaped any serious harm.

Mum began crying and dad changed his tune and was extremely apologetic.  I have now offered to work with them to try to solve the problem.  I am heading next door this afternoon to have a couple of beers with him and try and get to know the dog!  I am not confident it will work.  Trish isn't at all keen on accompanying me!

I took photos and I have sent a report of the incident off to Council but I have asked them not to intervene as the neighbour and myself will try to solve the problem.

And I am booked in for Tetanus shot on Monday!

History tells us that if a dog will attack once without serious provocation, there is a top chance it will do it again. I certainly wouldn't have my kids around it.  The safest thing for them to do is to get a new dog!

After all this excitement I managed to get another brew on this morning.  This one is a "Nut Brown Ale" and was given to me by someone after I had helped them out by feeding their dog while they were away!  That dog was well trained and an absolute pleasure to check out and feed.  The only aggressiveness from "Chubb" was when he had a ball in his mouth as he wanted to play before I fed him!

Hump Day

It is the middle of the week.All the kids roundabout have gone back to school so it is a little quieter outdoors.  We have high 20's today and the pool is sneaking up to 25º which isn't too bad.

I have been bike riding each morning and enjoying a swim when I get back home.  As the pool loses a fair bit of what ever heat it gained overnight, the pool is always at its coolest upon my return from a ride.

It has been quite dry lately, so much so that I actually topped the pool up this morning from the tap.  The water level was getting down a bit and a refill was required.  There isn't any rain on the horizon, just a faint possibility of a shower or two over the weekend.

Needless to say I spent a fair bit of time messing around on my computer, just fine tuning things a little so the jobs I want it to do are just a little bit easier next time.

I have just installed a program called "Feed Demon" which I use to monitor what new movie and TV show files are available to download.  This new program does most things pretty well, but only slightly better than what the previous program did.

Tuesday afternoon we headed into Caloundra to have passport photos taken getting ready to head to Saudi Arabia in April 2015.  After the photos we headed to Bulcock's Beach and found this delightful little spot.

And guess what, they sold cold drinks there as well.  But it is a pretty spot.

My cheap phone from China doesn't take the best photos but I think you get the idea!

As I said the other day, the one day cricket is back on TV again.  That is playing on the TV near my PC now as I type.  Regretfully today's game isn't that close.  Previously I was watching the game in the lounge room!

The little black box near the centre speaker is the media player.  Stuck behind the TV and the centre speaker is a 500mb hard disk drive which holds all the movies and TV stuff we are watching.

I got the movie "Jersey Boys" yesterday so I guess after we get home tonight we will be watching that!  If the weather remains nice and warm we will get a table outside tonight at a small Thai place we have rediscovered.  We went there recently with friends Gordon, Anne and Graeme who were all visiting from Melbourne back in August!

Daylight Saving Starts South Of The Border

Daylight saving started in NSW, Victoria and some other states overnight into Sunday here in Australia.  That now means when it says 10am here in Queensland, it is 11am in NSW and Victoria!

We have already had one daylight saving time stuff up!  Last night was the Grand Final of the Australian Rugby League Competition.  Though not a huge fan of the sport, it is the major footy code here in this state.  Being the Grand Final I usually check it all out and watch the game.

I checked out the starting time and saw it was on TV around 8pm.  What didn't click was it was 8pm N.S.W. time which translated to 7pm Queensland time.  So when I turned the TV over at around 8:15pm I was surprised to see the game was into the 67th minute!

Neither Trish nor myself was heartbroken that we had missed around 3/4 of the game.

Today is a Public holiday here in Queensland.  It is the day they celebrate Labour Day.  In Victoria labour day is in May!  They have it here to provide a break at this time of year rather than the holiday cluttered time earlier in the year.

Another gorgeous day today with a top around 27º.  The pool was 22º when I had my quick swim after my bike ride this morning.

And this afternoon we have a One Day cricket match live on FTA TV.  My rest of the day is now sorted!

Latest From Saudi

Arj has just updated his blog.

Check out his latest observations from KAUST, around 60k north of Jeddah.

http://behindthekeyboard.global2.vic.edu.au/

Many years ago (the late seventies to be exact) I took my family to live in Malaysia for a couple of years.  It was a life changing experience for us all.  To be actually living in another foreign country where the rights I just took for granted in Australia weren't quite the same.

Being a Muslim country also was a new experience for us.  But that experience had an incredible impact on us and I believe it made me and my family more aware and respectful that people are people where ever you go.

I sympathize strongly with Arj's comments on acts which show a lack of understanding in our country Australia.

End Of The Week

It is early Friday afternoon and the chores for today have been done. It is around 26º in our small protected from the wind backyard.  The pool is a little over 22º but then it has had the sun on it for a few hours now.

We have just come in from eating our rolls for lunch out under the pergola.  As you can see from the photo, there isn't a cloud in the sky and there is a stiff breeze blowing from the north-east which is our summer time cooling sea breeze here.

On Thursday we again caught up with friends Ian and Kerrie and went out for lunch.  This time we chose the Dicky Beach Surf Club.  The meal there is quite OK but you can always get a good car park and they don't go over the top when charging for drinks.  $4-80 for a schooner of VB is an OK price.  The weather was a little cooler than today but we had a great time, sitting back relaxing and having a cool drink and a chat.

Kerrie and Ian have just sold their house here in Bellvista and have moved to a nearby suburb.  Their Bellvista house was right under the flight path for the east-west runway.  They bought it off the internet not knowing the airport was there.

That is one area of Bellvista we would not have bought in.  I don't think they got as much for the sale as they were hoping for either.

With a lovely sunny day today I decided to get on with my bottling and by 9:45 am I had completed a 12.5km bike ride, bottled my beer and cleaned up afterwards!

Each year I give the blinds around the back of our house a really good clean.  And that is what I did today.  I soap them down, give them a good scrub with a broom and finally use a power hose to clean them off.  I do this for both sides of each blind.

It is a job which needs to be done before I can get to cleaning the windows.  And the windows will now be done sometime next week.

After all of that I have built up a bit of a thirst and luckily we have drinks on this afternoon!

Click on the photos for a larger view.

A Lovely Warm Day

The thermometre in the backyard says 30º but it is probably closer to 28º or so.  We have a blustery northerly blowing and expect a cooler and possibly stormy change later today.  The pool is rushing towards 24º so is becoming reasonable for swimming!

But the wind means that lots of junk gets blown into the pool.

Much of today was spent at a meeting in Maroochydore for the Community Association.  It was a long meeting and if you are keen you can read the goings on HERE.

I reckoned it was time for a bottling.  The bubbling had stopped in my latest brew so I thought I would bottle this morning prior to heading off to the meeting.  I drew some of the brew down and measured the alcoholic content using my hydrometer. It seemed a tad low but I reckoned it was close enough for me to bottle.

I now give my bottles a rinse prior to bottling to get rid of any final taste of sanitizer.  I washed all the bottles and glanced over at the brew.  It was bubbling away again.  Drawing some down had been enough to agitate it again and continue to brew!

Obviously it wasn't ready to bottle just yet!  The bottles have since been dried and put away.  I may bottle tomorrow but most likely I will wait until Friday now, just to make sure.

I do have a lot of 'crap' loading when I start my computer up.  Some of these programs are old now and don't work so well with new editions of Windows and updates.  A couple of times the new PC has stalled during startup and I reckon there is a small conflict with one or two of my startup programs.

I have a program which gives me a calendar on my desktop, another which gives me the current temperature, another which pre checks my emails and gives me a list of what emails are there.  I can then go through the list and delete the emails I don't want!

I have another program which is an RSS Feeder and checks all the latest movies and TV shows for download.  Then there is Skype as well and a program which tells me how much of my monthly internet download I still have to go.

Not all of these programs are 'critical' to the operation of my PC and each one takes a little time to load and makes my startup a little slower!

I also have a program called "True Launch Bar" which has all my most used programs readily available and easy to access.  True Launch Bar allows me to have a link to a 'bulk start up button'.

I push on the bottom button and Feedreader, Skype and Mailwasher all start up.  I have three other programs start up from the button above it.  Now I can still access all my programs but have my PC start properly and quickly!