Arrived Safely

We have been in Melbourne now for 4 nights after a long 1800+km drive down from the Sunshine Coast.  We spent a brief stopover with an old cricketing buddy of mine from our time in Malaysia almost 35 years ago.  I think we will make an effort to catch up with them again but for a longer stay.  They are in Ballina which is around a 3 hour drive from home.

After a night in Coffs Harbour, our next stop was Newcastle.  We arrived with 36 degrees on Wednesday and left in about 18 degrees on Friday.  We enjoyed Newcastle a lot and catching up with a few drinks was enjoyed by all.

Friday's drive of almost 1000k's was a big ask.  It rained consistently for over half of the drive making things less comfortable.  It was almost dual highway for the whole trip so the driving though long was easy.

Then there was three nights with the lad Chris and his family which was a great move.  To spend that sort of time with the grand kids Andrew and Emily was priceless.  Kate, Arj and family joined us for a family Christmas on Saturday.  Even our daughter Kim from Perth joined in via Skype.  As usual it was a special family day.

Andrew received an Android TV Box as a present so we especially had a great time setting it all up and learning the ropes.  It seemed to go over as a big hit and will give him hours of fun and enjoyment!

On Monday we packed up and headed off to a hotel for 4 nights in a hotel.  Some of the planning for this trip began back when Kate and Arj were in Saudi.  They were considering renovations to the house and visitors for the week prior to Christmas.  With this in mind and unsure of our accommodation setup we booked the four nights.  In hindsight this could have been managed better.

From our hotel in Glen Waverley it is a 5 minute walk into the main shopping area, a residential area which has a high Asian element.  This means numerous Asian (including Malaysian) restaurants.  It is close to our favorite Malaysia Garden restaurant and also The Palms.

Yesterday's lunch was a huge plate of Char Koay Teow, today's lunch was Hainan Chicken Rice in one local restaurant and Char Koay Teow in another.  I reckon Curry Laksa will be tonight's choice!

On Monday night it was the traditional Christmas night out with our very good friends from this part of the world.  A great night was had by all, great food, enough to drink and great friendships stretching back over 35 or so years!

We have a little baby sitting and looking after kids to do this afternoon before returning home for a bit of a rest up and the Curry Laksa!.

Tomorrow it is Vietnamese with Eddie and Patsy for lunch followed by a little final Christmas shopping.

A Quick Update

The rechargeable light I ordered was supposed to be delivered in 3 to 5 days so I was always apprehensive as to whether I would get it prior to hitting the road south to Melbourne for Christmas.  It came with tracking so I was able to kind of keep an eye on where the delivery was up to.

As you can see from the attached photo (above left) it was sent on Tuesday Dec 6th from Brisbane so I could expect delivery most likely on the Thursday.  Being Christmas the delivery could well have been delayed for a day or so.

I checked out the tracking website prior to my bike ride on Wednesday 'just in case'.  Tracking info for deliveries for that day usually go 'online' well before 9 am.  There was no updated tracking info at that stage.  So I did my bike ride, got home and had my swim and then did a couple of things around the house.

I managed to get back to my computer before lunch and decided to jump online and see where my 'package' was!  The screenshot as you can see told me the package was waiting for me at my own front door!  And there it was sitting there in a big brown cardboard box.

The new light will be perfect for our outside under the pergola summer night needs.  All power to the pool area etc is now on off-peak rates and is always unavailable from about 5pm until it becomes back on again around 9pm.  So we need around 4 hours of battery powered light to fill the missing time.   A quick test gives the new light at least 5 hours of power, more than adequately filling the gap.

Then it is fully recharged in 3 or 4 hours.  And being reduced from $99 to $30 delivered is another great feature!

There have been a few computer call outs the last few days where I have been asked to go around and help people out.  For thanks I have received one $50 Bunnings voucher and another $50 local IGA voucher, all going towards a new phone for my birthday!

We have begun getting sorted for the trip south.  Bags are open on the bed and things are being added to it from time to time as our memory clicks into gear.  The bags will be filled over the next couple of days.

We have a new neighbour.  He is a single guy, around 30 who is moving from the Gold Coast to here to be closer to family.  The house has a big backyard but is even smaller than our place inside.  Much of it has been renovated with a new kitchen, fresh paint and the like.  It sold for around $15,000 more than than I would have guessed as well indicating property values in our area are moving upwards.

The wind has died down luckily and has switched direction to come from the south east.  The days are much cooler and easier to enjoy! Despite being the storm season, we have only enjoyed one decent downpour so far.  We need a few more good falls as things are becoming quite dry.  I will need to top the pool up from the garden tap before we go away!

Goodness only knows when the next post may be as we head off first thing Tuesday.  We expect to drive into Melbourne's northern suburbs around 6 pm on Friday and will be staying there for several nights catching up with family.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone down there again.

A Week To Take-Off

It has been so windy in this part of the world the last few days.  Strong winds have been the norm for us and make for tough work one way at least on my daily bike ride!  The screenshot of the PC pop-up happens daily!

The wind has ramifications for the leafy plants and bushes from next door and the pool I am afraid.  The house there has been sold and the current owners are in the process of moving out over the last week or so.

So with secateurs in hand I have been pruning back plants shrubs and bushes from next door which sway over onto my property but more importantly drop leaves.  The pool is just one destination the leaves have, the others are the house drains and the roof guttering.  At my age climbing ladders to clean leaves out of gutters is a serious no no!

We 'take-off' for Melbourne by road in a week today!  It is around a 1900km drive all up and we plan to set off around 8:30 am on Tuesday of next week and arrive in Melbourne around 5pm or so on the Friday.

On the way south we plan to catch up with a friend with whom I played cricket when in Malaysia (around 40 years ago) in Ballina for a quick visit and arrive in Coffs Harbour for an overnight stay on the Tuesday.  Then Newcastle with Mick and Janet for Wednesday and Thursday before a 900k drive from Newcastle to the northern suburbs of Melbourne.  It seems a long drive for one day but it is dual freeway for 99.9% of the trip with both Trish and I sharing the driving it isn't so bad!

We have the family Christmas gathering on the Saturday afternoon.

Almost two weeks ago I had the first inklings of problems with one of my computer back up drives.  I jumped online and ordered a 2TB Seagate Portable replacement.  With this being Christmas it took almost two weeks for the parcel to be delivered from Sydney but it did arrive yesterday.

I manage to semi retire my drives as soon as they look like they are going to play up.  The 2TB Toshiba Drive (labelled T in the photo) has been semi retired now to be an extra drive on the 4TB Seagate Cloud drive.  The Seagate Cloud drive is attached to my modem/router and stays 'on' 24/7.  So it can be accessed by any device from anywhere on my home network at any time.  You can play music from it on your tablet, your phone or any other device at any time.

Now I have the 2TB Toshiba attached as well as a 1TB old Seagate drive as well.  This gives me loads of backup space all accessible from anywhere on the home network.

I do like my online Christmas specials!  Recently we lost power for almost 4 hours.  I do have a rechargeable light which we use for out doors.  It is snazzy light but doesn't hold its charge that well.  Needless to say that during the blackout, it was useless as the battery was flat.  But I did spot a $99 reduced to $30 rechargeable 'work light' on special.

To good a bargain to miss I thought.  I had an email today saying it was ready for the Courier to pick up so hopefully it will be delivered later this week, well before we go away.

Hot and sunny again today with a top around 32°.  The pool will get to around 30° I guess though this morning's after bike ride swim saw the pool at a little over 27° and just delightful.  I have cricket on TV after lunch so that will keep me occupied!

Storm Wrap Up

The storm I featured in the last blog entry eventually just gave us a little nudge, a few flurries of wind, enough rain to wet everything and then moved on its way.

However the one we got about 90 minutes later swept in with stronger winds and 10mls of rain.  So the pool was topped up, the lawns and gardens got a drink!  It did take a good 20 minutes or so to give the pool a good clean up this morning with some leaves, twigs, and heaps of fine red dust needing to be tidied up.

There was some hail but around marble size only and not enough to do any damage.

Not that it worried us as we had been invited to the local Real Estate Agents Xmas do at the local Tavern.  Enough to drink and heaps of nibblies.  If you wanted something you just asked for it and in it came.  The photo above shows where the function was on!

With plenty of storms around we wisely parked in the underground car park.

We were invited as senior office bearers of the Community Association which has supported this agency quite a lot as the only real "local" real estate agent.  We knew quite a few people who were there so it was a good night.  The storm was only a brief interruption to a great night.

We have "Friday Drinks" again later this afternoon, all within walking distance so all good!  there is a less of a possibility of storms today but it will get well into the 30's. 

The newly cleaned pool will be a great option I suspect!

Storm On The Way

It has been around 32° or so for much of the day but is rapidly cooling off as I type.  The photo left is a blow up of what the weather radar is showing right now at around 3pm.  The major part of the storm cell according to the radar will pass just to the south of us.  But we should get something.

Click on the picture for a larger view

There can be hail and strong winds as the storm passes overhead.

The photo left shows what the sky looks like.  The photo doesn't do the sky justice as it is much much darker than the photo indicates.

The sun has been blocked out as well and it is dark inside the house.  I need a light on to type this.  There is now the occasional roll of thunder.

Both the pool and the lawn are licking their lips in anticipation of a drenching.  However it was almost the same yesterday afternoon and we got less than a ml from the passing sprinkle.  Maybe today will be different.

Summer Is About To Hit

Temperatures in the 30's and even as high as 35° are expected over the next week or so.  35° in this part of the world is quite hot.  The pool water of course is much warmer nowadays as well so it may a day for the air conditioner on Saturday which is expected to be the hottest day.

We don't have white ants I am pleased to report.  Having been hit with white ants quite severely when in Melbourne many years ago, and then followed with another brush with them up here we now have a pest inspection every couple of years.  And the time was due recently for an inspection and I am pleased to report all is OK.

We have both been busy with our associations though mine is beginning to wind up for the year.  We had a Community Association End of Year celebration on Saturday night.  Things were very quiet for much of Sunday!

Very little happens with the Community Association over Christmas and with people away we go into a minor recess.  Currently there is a problem with bellvista.com.au website too and it is off the internet.  Hopefully all be fixed in a day or two.

It is now less than 2 weeks before we begin our drive down to Melbourne.  We are due to arrive there late on Friday December 17.  Preparations are well in hand!

I have also bottled another brew of my beer.  I now have full stocks plus two extra brews in larger 1.25 litre bottles.  I won't go thirsty for the next couple of months!

Trish has been busy Christmas Shopping and is getting things sorted.  Christmas Shopping is something I am not good at!

On my PC I ensure I have backed up everything just in case something goes wrong.  It is handy to have the more important stuff on a portable hard drive as well just in case.  Late last week the main PC wouldn't 'see' my main 2TB backup portable drive.  I could plug it into one of our laptops and even then it didn't work 100%.  I checked it over, reformatted it, did everything I could think of but still it couldn't be 'seen' by my PC.

So online I went and $100 later a new 2TB external drive has been ordered.  It was good price for a 2TB drive.  Needless to say as soon as the order went through and the confirmation emails arrived I tried the current 2TB drive again.  It worked perfectly on the big PC and has done so ever since!

However once the begin to play up you seem to sense the end is not far away!  When the new one arrives the 2TB portable will be attached to the 4TB Cloud drive I have.  That increases the capacity of the 4TB Cloud drive to 6TB!  It will remain attached permanently and therefore once connected and running, it should be fine!

A little more Christmas shopping this afternoon or getting sorted for the trip to Melbourne is on the cards.

I still get amazed at what Kodi is and what it does.  One guy I helped recently commented, "Why doesn't everyone watch their Movie and TV favorites this way?"

I really don't know!

Delightful Weather

In what is usually the traditional 'storm' season, the time of the year when we are most likely to get 10" of rain over a day or two, the weather has been around 30° or a little under most days, hardly a cloud and a lovely south easter blowing in off the ocean.  There has been very little rain and the lawn and garden are looking a little the worse for wear.

The pool has reached some very warm temperatures with the photo showing one of those.  It hasn't reached that temp again for some time but most afternoons after a day in the sun it is around 28°.  I spent a very pleasant half hour or so yesterday lounging back on an inflatable chair in the pool taking it easy.

Trish has been extremely busy, she hasn't had a real day off for a week or so.  She didn't get far out of the chair yesterday (Weds) afternoon though.

Beer making, bottling and PC has taken up most of my time, inter-sprinkled with business for the Community Association.  We have a final Community Association newsletter for the year in a week or so and I spent a few hours putting it together recently.  It is now ready to go.

I continue to bike ride most mornings but I am enjoying a morning off this morning.  Today I have completed a bottle washing and have sanitized them ready to be bottled.  I put a brew together on Tuesday morning, bottles will all but be ready to use by Saturday but bottling will have to wait until early next week.

The car has been booked in for a pre drive to Melbourne service, we have the pest inspectors rocking up on Monday afternoon and I have made my final doctor's appointment for a final prescription update for the year in a week or so.

All I need now is a trip back to the Chiro for a pre Xmas tune-up!

I received a litre of raw alcohol from one of the guys at the computer club and another 1.5 litres from Bill over the road.  Therefore supplies of 'mixers' for our Melbourne trip should be up to scratch.

Ikea have opened a store about 40 minutes from us so we went down the highway for a look the other day.  It has been integrated into a Shopping Centre so it is now a full day out for us oldies.

The little Honda Jazz is living up to expectations and is fun to drive.  It isn't too keen on the hills with its 1.3 litre engine but is great economy around town.  For us it is perfect.  The fuel economy continues to amaze us.

Later this morning I am around to a fellow computer club member's home to help him out with his Kodi box setup.  He isn't that confident around the android system as he is predominantly Apple Mac.  Hopefully I will be able to help out a little and show him exactly how it works.

We have a hot one in store for us today.  The day-night cricket test match begins later this afternoon so I fancy a quick swim, a cool drink and time in front of the TV will fill the day in nicely.

Saturday Arvo

It is late Saturday afternoon and the cricket from New Zealand has just finished on the Pay TV.  Recently I did my usual Pay TV trick and rang them saying I wanted to disconnect.  I really didn't want to disconnect, just get a better month by month deal!  So my monthly Pay TV bill has dropped from $61 per month to $35 but only for 3 months.  But that is $78 better off in my pocket than theirs I suppose.

My cooking friend and his partner just loved the day at Sunnybank and the Malaya Corner Restaurant.  The Char Koay Teow was a huge hit as was the Malacca Curry, the salt and pepper squid and the Lobak.  The satay chicken was great too.  Peter enjoys cooking so his next mission is to master Char Koay Teow!

My old watch which cost me around $15 needed a new battery.  At that price I decided it was cheaper to buy another cheap watch rather than replace the battery.  This time I went a little more upmarket and bought one on eBay for a little over $20!  However, despite the instructions, I just couldn't get the alarm to stop sounding every hour or so on it when I was wearing it.

The last reasonable watch I had was around $60 and was a basic Casio divers watch as in the photo above.  I could wear it anywhere, it was as tough as nails and finished up into the pool, scratched to blazes and just an all round good hard wearing (but dressy enough) watch.

I kept my eye out for replacement for the non alarm turning off $20+ watch and was adamant I wasn't ever going to spend over $20 again!  So when this one went on special (see left) at $11 down to $6-22 I couldn't resist it.

It took a few weeks to be delivered from China but arrived late last week.  It keeps great time, is light and comfortable to wear and has a large face making it easy to read.

I did like the old Casio divers watch and it too came on special as well, this time via Amazon in the US for around $65 delivered.  This is the first time I have bought online from Amazon and I was really impressed with how quickly the Casio was delivered from the U.S.  It was great with excellent communication from Amazon as to where the delivery was up to.  I received an email yesterday saying the watch would be delivered by this Monday, then another email this morning (Saturday) saying it would be delivered today.

There was a knock on the door around 8 am, it was the delivery guy with the watch.  It was excellent service.  It has become my 'going out' watch!

We are enjoying slightly cooler weather with tops in the high 20's and mid teens overnight.  The mid teens overnight knocks the pool temperature around so after pool water temperature of 29° a few days ago, it now starts the day at around 24° and struggles to 26° mid afternoon with the cooler days.

The beer bottling went well using the large 1.25l drink bottles.  But I now have a growing supply of empty 700ml PET bottles I usually use for bottling.  So I need to put another brew on this week and look to bottle early the following week.  That should do me until we return from Melbourne early in the New Year.

A Tuesday Update

It is around 4:30pm as I look to fill in 30 minutes or so on a lazy Tuesday afternoon and add a post to the blog.

Oh how glorious it is to have a slightly cooler day, a day when you can sit before the PC without a fan blowing on you to keep you cooler.  The hot weather was great for the pool with the water temp reaching over 29° and the air temperature around 35° but with the humidity around 70%.

Today is closer to 28° and humidity around 55%.  Needless to say with high temps and high humidity there would be storms around.  We had a ferocious storm hit late Sunday evening.  Though we only had 8mls of rain the wind shook everything while the rain appeared to be going left and right at the same time.  You could hardly see the other side of the road and the houses there. 

As soon as it started it was over.  The power went off (something which happens here very very rarely up here) and the pool was a disaster area with debris, leaves, pieces of palm fronds, dust and dirt all making quite a mess.

The nearby caravan park was belted as well with caravans being swung around and others being smashed by falling limbs from trees.  The photo above left is an online photo of some of the damage suffered by holiday makers at the nearby Dicky Beach Caravan Park.

During my bike ride the next morning I counted five trees which required some clearing.

The power came back on around 9:45pm Sunday night having been off for over 4 hours.  Trish and I were sitting in the backyard, under the pergola with the solar festive lights giving us some lighting.  As the night wore on and the mid November change of weather began to roll in it cooled down nicely.

And then today when we had a very pleasant 28° or so.

We won't talk about the cricket but something really needs to be done with the selection committee.

Today has been an R/R day for Trish after 5 long days with the Arts Centre Fair.  It was a record breaking event with record profits.

I bike rode yesterday but today did a bottle washing followed by mowing the front lawn.  And we must be getting ready to go to Melbourne for Xmas as I had a hair cut as well.

Wednesday will be a 'bottling day' so I probably won't make a bike ride that day either.  Trish will be off to Stitchers.

On Thursday we are taking friends down to Sunnybank.  Peter rather loves his Asian food but has never really had Malaysian.  So on Thursday we will venture down to Sunnybank.  He is a keen cook of spicy food as well so I gather we will spend time browsing though the Asian Supermarkets there.

We plan to drop into Costco on the way home and show him around. It should be fun.

A Steamy Sunday

While watching the cricket Saturday afternoon (yesterday), for what it was worth, a storm warning message came up along the bottom of the TV screen warning of upcoming storms, strong winds and heavy rain.  It rained for around 20 minutes here after an exciting lightning show!  The rain belted down, the pool filled and the lawn and garden got a great water!

At the end of the 20 minute storm I tipped 28mls out of the rain gauge, a little over an inch in the old language!  Boy we needed the rain, the front lawn was crackly and dead underfoot while this morning there is a real green tinge to it.

With the move to summer temps. the Waeco has been pressed back in to service (as the photo shows) and is situated outside the back door making access to cold drinks from the pool area very easy.

On Monday I chaired the Community Association's AGM and then hosted the Mayor while he spoke to those in attendance.  Usually there is a big day to follow on the Tuesday as I get a report up online on the Association's website on the meeting.

So come Wednesday I was up for a bottling of my latest brew.  I then put another brew on on Thursday.  I will probably get a week or three off soon as I usually only have to do a brew every 2 or 3 weeks.  This is three weeks in a row I have been busy brewing!  It must be Christmas coming up!

The more brewing I do, the more home brew supplies I need.  I have helped one guy out with his new computer, then purchasing an android TV box and finally helping him set it all up.  Instead of accepting any payment for helping out I suggest that if they want, head up to the Home Brew shop and leave an amount on my 'tab' there.

I had a wow of a surprise when I found a $200 donation onto my tab from him the other day.  So when I now update my supplies, costs are not a concern.

Trish has been flat out with the Arts Association November Fair.  She has been out Thursday, Friday, Saturday and will be out all day today as well.  She even did a radio interview on Saturday morning to promote the Fair.

Usually they take around $25,000 over the two days.  This year they took $27,000 on the Saturday on its own!

One of the local Clubs has started an Asian flavoured menu and it includes our Malaysian favorite Char Koay Teow.  We got around to popping in for a meal on Wednesday night and I had no hesitation in ordering 'the favorite'.  We know our Malaysian food pretty well.  The only similarity between the club's Char Koay Teow and what we loved back in Melbourne or over in Malaysia was the name.

What a shame, it was tasteless and nothing at all like the dish we love.

Today is a bit cloudy over head but quite hot.  After yesterday's storm and with today's hot weather the sun is sucking the moisture back up again making it quite humid.  We are expecting yet another thunderstorm later on today.  This is fairly typical of weather here at this time of year.

It's Back!

With a top temperature yesterday of around 30 ° and with the pool around 25° this morning, there are the signs the warm weather is back.  Like down south it seems to have been so windy this year.  Hardly a day goes by when I am not dragging leaves from next door's bamboo out of the pool.

Yes it happened!  Trish jumped in the 'new' Jazz Saturday morning, turned the key, there was a grunt and then nothing!  The battery was as dead as .... The RACQ came to the rescue and $158 and 20 minutes later the car started first turn of the key!  The price seemed a bit on the dear side but when I checked online the batteries were in the $110-$120 realm for a Jazz.  An extra $30 or so to have the problem fixed within 30 minutes made the charge a little more palatable.

But I did drop in to the Car Sales place Saturday lunch time and told them the battery was no good and the car didn't start after a little over 1 week.  The sales guy is going to try something for us but batteries are never any part of a warranty.  However, only 8 days is a little on the steep side.  Trish was not happy!

I have been enduring rather than watching the Cricket Test from Perth.  I reckon I could do a better job to select a team than these guys.  Fair dinkum how some guys get selected to play for Australia seems hit and miss to me!

This morning has been a little busy.  I was on the move around 6:30 am because I have a brew just about ready to bottle.  The bottles were up for a warm rinse and then sterilising.  It is 11:30 or so as I type and the bottles have dried and been given another rinse to remove any last bit of the steriliser.

The way the sun is belting down outside the bottles will be dry and could be ready for bottling early this afternoon.  The brew looks like it may need another couple of days though.

We have a Community Association Public Meeting tomorrow night (Monday) that I am to chair.  We have the Mayor coming along, the local ALP State Government candidate, and a representative from the local Queensland Air Museum.

Though a totally volunteer organisation the Air Museum here has one of best collections of aircraft anywhere in the southern hemisphere.

We will finish the Public Meeting with a Xmas wine and cheese put on by a couple of the local businesses.

With the new residential area opening up just to the south of us, I now have another area for my morning bike ride.  I have heaps of alternatives to ride around which makes things a lot more interesting.  I did my 12 to 13k's on the bike again and finished with a ten minute swim in the pool.  It was great!

Almost A Week Has Gone Already!

I find it hard to believe almost a week has gone since the last post.  The little Honda Jazz is now 'old news'.  The longer we have it the more we learn about it and the better we like it as a small run about around town.  We have noticed with the driving we have done how little the petrol gauge has moved.

It is beginning to warm up with today getting to around 30° after an overnight low in the high teens.  The pool is warming up as well and yesterday it hit 26 degrees during the afternoon.  This morning it was a couple of degrees cooler but still great for a swim after my 12k bike ride.

Our Christmas trip to Melbourne preparations have completed stage 1.  On Wednesday I bottled my "Melbourne Trip" brew.  I use Coca Cola bottles for this rather than my regular brown colored home brew PET bottles.  This means I can just toss the empties away rather than cart them all the way back to Queensland again!

Neither Trish nor myself are really interested in horse racing.  We do have a racecourse here in Caloundra and as with most race courses across Australia there was a meeting on Tuesday with a focus on the Melbourne Cup being run at Flemington in Melbourne.  Friends invited us to join them at the local race course for a day out.

All the ladies dress up in their finery and many of the men get suited up as well.  We didn't go overboard on that stuff but found a table with an umbrella, reasonably well positioned near the track itself, and within reasonable walking distance of the bar (and the toilets!)

We had nibblies to munch on and plenty of drinks were available to enjoy.  The drinks were a little on the expensive side but we don't get to the races all that often.  We had a great day, watching the world pass by. This area is sub tropical, the weather is usually warm and there was certainly a bevy of uncovered flesh to behold.

As the day wore on and the sun popped its head out from behind some storm clouds, the uncovered flesh would turn a pinkish color as the sun did its thing!  It was a lot of fun.

We used Uber to get to and from the race track, an app on my phone I hadn't used before.  It worked perfectly, especially as the storm clouds gathered towards the end of the day.  Onto the app and a few minutes later our car was there to collect us.  Soon after arriving back home the heavens opened up, the pool was full again and the garden received a good watering.

On Wednesday The Community Association was invited to be a part of the official opening of the first stage of the huge Caloundra South development.  A feature of the new site are the veloways, dedicated cycle pathway which will service much of the new area.  As a bike rider (and President of the local Community Association) I was invited to be amongst the first bike riders on the new pathways and to participate in the opening.

The local TV stations were present with their cameras and many of us cracked a quick view on the TV News that night.

Our association gets on well with the guys and ladies from the developer Stockland.  There was plenty of banter and the morning went well. The photo above has a couple of the very senior Stockland executives Ben and Adrian, our local Councillor and yours truly dressed in cycling attire.  We did a few ride throughs for the press and the TV stations.

Today the Test Cricket Series, Australia Vs Sth Africa begins on the TV.  The coverage is from Perth on the other side of Australia and is two hours behind us here in Queensland.  That means a 12:30 pm start of play.  As you can imagine the next five afternoons are settled on what I'll be doing.

Car Update

We are now the owners of an older Honda Jazz but with under 70,000k's on the clock.  The photo shows what greeted us just after 11 am today as we went to the dealer to take delivery.  The sales guy was from Wagga NSW and he was a Richmond Aussie Rules fan as you can probably tell.

We opted for the local purchase after managing another couple of hundred dollars off the price.  Though dearer than a similar vehicle would have been through our Melbourne contact Kane, the Telstar has now 'gone', there isn't any re registering and Safety Certificates to get through, and we don't have to drive 2 cars from Melbourne back to here in January 2017.

We have a 90 day 100% warranty and then a further three years limited warranty with this deal.  The deal Kane offered us had exactly the same coverage.  There are times when the 1800k's between the Sunshine Coast and Melbourne is just a little too far and this was one of those.

We considered a new vehicle but as a second car and only having done less than 70,000k's this will suit our needs well and the price is OK if not perfect.  The low mileage makes a huge difference as we would expect to do around 7,000k's p.a. at the most giving us quite a few years of local inexpensive driving still to come.

By speaking with Kane we knew pretty well what the car was actually worth which was perfect for our price haggling purposes.  Kane's advice was crucial in our finalizing the deal to our satisfaction.

We especially liked the way the doors on this little Honda Jazz open wide and the ease of getting in and out.  Those of you who know our house are aware we do have a steep drive.  The Telstar doors wouldn't stay open and when you did get in or out and you felt like your tail was almost dragging along the ground when driving along!

We expect entering and leaving this car will be much easier than the Telstar.

Trish is doing the weekly shopping in Caloundra right now and has taken the "Jazz".

The Telstar was almost 24 years old and had served us exceptionally well.  Despite a few hiccups, it was relatively cheap motoring and we believe we got about as much out of it as we could.  Right up to the end you just hopped in to it, turned the key and off you went.  Trish was a little sad seeing the Telstar go.

Car Upgrade?

Until a few years ago, we kept our 'second' car down in Melbourne.  It is a Ford Telstar, 1992 model (re badged Mazda 626).  When our daughter Kate and family headed overseas to work for two years we brought it up here to Queensland from Victoria. Despite its age and condition, it handled the 2000k trip very well. 

So now it is approaching 24 years old, has done almost 200,000k's, is showing signs of rust, and the paintwork on it is absolutely 'shot'.

A few years ago we were offered $200 as a trade in on a new small Hyundai which we declined. It now has a couple of small oil leaks, makes a heck of a noise when first started and can chug away until you give it a few herbs before it settles down and runs smoothly.  But generally, you hop in it, the motor starts straight away and off you go!

Very good friends' son in law runs a Mazda dealership with his brothers in the SE suburbs of Melbourne and he said he could get us a good car at the right price when required. With the old Telstar showing a few signs, we are rolling around to the idea of upgrading.

We are looking at something not too big, cheap to run, lows kilometres, a good make, and at the right price.  To buy from Melbourne has extra costs of around $200 in fuel to bring it back up here, the cost of a Safety Certificate so we can register it here, and then there is the question of Warranty if something goes wrong. 

There is nothing worse than buying a second hand car and having something go wrong almost immediately. We would have to get it back to Melbourne for the repair of any major warranty items.  That would need to be a risk we would have to take and really impractical.

We have spotted an older Honda Jazz which has only done 70,000k's, it kind of fits into what we want if a little smaller than we would ideally like, is a little dearer than we hoped, but has a 3 year warranty on it. It is from a local car dealer up here

Being a great make of car and only 70,000k's seems to indicate it would serve us well for several years.

So there is our dilemma, Buy locally, pay more money but have great back up. Or save money, buy from down south, bring it back up here, register it (with associated Safety Certificate costs) but have restricted backup if something goes wrong!

What to do?

Some Rain On The Way

It is Saturday and I have just returned from "Computer Club" where I had a busy and successful morning.  One lady was so pleased with the help she had received with her laptop over the last couple of weeks she gave me a bottle of Burge Bros Shiraz.  Very nice thankyou.

The new floor coverings have been laid (as you can see below) and everything has been returned to its place (or even a few new places).  The hole I put in the plaster has been patched and some touch up paint applied.  It looks pretty good I reckon.

Several items of furniture which were no longer required finished up sitting on the front lawn with "Free" written on them.  All items had gone within 12 hours.  A new smaller (and much smarter looking) bookcase was purchased and assembled.  Our little house is looking pretty good.

Remember you can click on each photo for a larger view.

I have again sorted the shelving in the garage again and everything looks good there as well.  I did need a Mobic or two to get me through the week but all is good now.  Mobic is an anti inflammatory tablet which I keep for emergency purposes when my back plays up!

I setup up a mate's Minix U1 Android TV Box for him on Tuesday afternoon and he is over the moon with it.  There is a chance his good wife likes the TV Box even more than he does as she finds her way into the TV Series "Tyrant".  He goes to Computer Club as well so was seeking a few reminder tips this morning with which I was able to help him out with.

But probably the biggest success of the week was following up on the patching of the wall in the house.  I managed to put a small hole in the plaster when trying to manoeuvre a small bedside table around a tight corner.  I was able to patch it reasonably OK but then it needed painting!

I believed the original wall paint in the house was British Paints and the color was called Brie.  Off to Bunnings I went to collect as many color cards as I could to try to match the color.  The lady at the Paint Service desk put the color 'brie' into her computer color search and up popped Bristol Paints and the color "Brie".

Former neighbour (and Kodi tragic) Brian, who is now in his 80's but still extremely active, was a house painter by trade. He had a look at my repair job and told me what to do.  The paint in the house is "flat' but I managed to get a .5 litre plastic container of Brie low sheen for $7-50.  Brian suggested getting a cotton cloth and make a ball, dab the ball into the paint and then dab it onto the area to be touched up and slowly dab further outwards in a circular motion.  The paint went onto the patch requiring covering and as you dabbed outwards the paint thinned and it was able to merge into the old paint.

It worked very well indeed.  After the major paint repair the rest of the house walls and front step have been touched up and painted making our 15 year old house look spic and span again.  All for just $7-50 worth of paint.

It is beginning to warm up again so singlets, shorts and scuffs are the go.  The pool is around 22° first thing in the morning so is swimmable!  It has remained windy as we get the northern tip of weather systems which have been blasting Victoria and South Australia the last week or so.  The latest change is due to hit overnight giving us a change of wind direction and a drop of rain.  10 ml or thereabouts is expected which is not much more than a springtime shower up here!

The pool will get a top up again with the rain.  The warm windy weather sure gets the evaporation rate up, even the front lawn is turning yellow for the need for water.  All that should change overnight!

Blowing A Gale

It is blowing a gale outside, (slight exaggeration) with a possible storm on the way later on today.  The storm (if we get one) will be mainly a little thunder and rain without any strong destructive winds.  The Weather Bureau is saying there is a 70% chance of getting something in the rain gauge.  It is around 27° and it is mid morning as I type.

The clothes line is full!

The new floor coverings are due to go in today so we have been busy emptying the two bed rooms which are to be done.  I have just dismantled our double bed but we will request they cart out the mattress.  The bed and mattress are to be moved from the second bedroom as well.

So there is stuff all over the place, the garage being the major depository for most things.  With a windy warm day outside Trish has taken the chance to wash everything and anything from the bedding.

I suspect a trip to the chiropractor will follow later in the week.

There is an enjoyable movie for you to watch called "Mr Fantastic".  When I first saw the title I suspected it to be yet another one of those Marvel comic character movies but when I saw an IMDB score of 8.1 I looked again.  We enjoyed it very much.

We also finished off the final 2 episodes of the ITV period drama "Victoria", the story of a young Queen Victoria as she ascends the throne as an 18 year old, marries her cousin Albert and begins a family.  It builds on the success of other UK period dramas such as Downton Abbey.  And I read the BBC is doing a 6 10 part series period drama called "The Crown" which will trace the life of Queen Elizabeth.

The PC is back to 100% again after getting the electric shock on Saturday.  Considering everything I was quite lucky to get away with only a $50 repair bill.  The PC is over a couple of years old now and I am hopeful of getting another 12 months or so out of it.

We continue to wait patiently for the floor covering installers to arrive.

An Update ... At Last!

Looking towards the south there sure has been a heap of wind and rain down there.  Everyday we heard about trees being blown down, houses damaged and even more windy weather forecast for the next day.  The Sunny Coast hasn't been left right out of the equation as that wind has reached all the way up here, albeit nowhere near as strong.  But it is from the south so has been keeping the temperature down to the low and mid 20's.  For a couple of mornings the strong gusty wind has even kept me off my bike!

Today is a little on the cooler side with a brisk breeze but there is plenty of sun.  We managed a few really nice days with the pool water getting up to around 24.  However with the cooler southerlies returning, the pool water is more like 21 or 22 now.  Warm enough for a quick swim after a bike ride, but it is was sure chilly when you got out after a swim with that southerly.

Things happen in threes don't they?  And you should check the car radiator and see what the water level is like shouldn't you?

The latter is something I am guilty of not doing!  We do keep an eye on the temp gauge in the old car and as soon as the gauge wandered above midway point the other day it was time to pull over and wait it out.

3 litres of water later the radiator was again full.  That problem had been solved but the car wasn't running well at all for the next day or so.  But then after several more days the old car hasn't skipped a beat!  Then my watch suddenly lost 20 minutes and it seemed it required a new battery.  As I buy my watches from China, and as cheap as chips, it is usually cheaper just to buy a new watch rather than pay $10 for a new battery.

So I now have a new watch and this one much dearer than I usually pay as it was $24 delivered!

That was the second thing!

I do enjoy playing with my electrical toys.  I pinched the webcam off the PC and attached it to an Android TV Box to try out Skype via the TV.  After a while I worked it out and got it to work.  Afterwards I had to crawl back under the Computer desk to put the webcam usb back into the PC.  I decided to show how it worked to Trish.  Under the Computer Desk I go again and detach the usb and set the thing up again on the android TV box and the TV.

When finished, I have to return under the computer table and so on and so on!  There has to be an easier way and I remembered the 7 port USB hub I had bought (but without an official power pack).  I connected the webcam to port 7 and no go!  The same happened with ports 4,5,and 6!  I suspected the generic type power pack I was using wasn't powerful enough so I attached a more powerful one to the hub and switched it on!

The PC instantly turned itself off and there was a burning smell!  I was a bit stupid wasn't I?

I managed to get the PC running again but the 6 USB ports at the back of the computer wouldn't work and it seemed I had blown the Ethernet connection which connects my PC to the modem router and the internet!  I had a wireless adapter dongle and plugged that into the usb port at the front of the PC which was still working and at least I could again connect to the internet via our home wireless network.

I contacted the Computer repair guy from the Computer Club and he suggested he could possibly fix the ethernet connection but wasn't at all hopeful of the 6 USB ports at the back of the PC.  However he suggested turning the PC right off, even at the power point, for 30 minutes may allow the Computer's Power Supply to reset itself and get everything working again.  This I did but only checked the ethernet connection to see if it worked .... and it didn't.

The next day I started the PC up and checked the 6 USB ports at the rear of the computer and was delighted to find the reset had worked and they were up and running again.  I had no luck with the ethernet connector though.  But $50 later and a trip down the road to Jaycar where I bought a USB3 to Ethernet adapter I am pleased to say everything is working perfectly again.

The 7 port USB power hub will go in the bin, it's the one I bought which didn't come with a power adapter.  A replacement with a proper Australian power adapter has been ordered from eBay!

The second car which Trish has had since new, will probably need to be replaced.  It has done a wonderful job but we are beginning to lose that little bit of confidence we need to have in a second vehicle.  It is getting close to the time when we need to give Kane down in Melbourne a call, possibly around Christmas time this year, when we are down in Melbourne at look at a replacement.

A few years ago when we were in Melbourne we took the old car into a dealer to see what we could get for it as a trade in.  Even back then we were only offered $200 for it!  For a car which was valued at $200 it has done a fantastic job for us since then.

The garage is beginning to look a little different too.  I have redone the shelving units in there and set up a new bank of them.  Now we can keep much of the stuff off the floor and it looks heaps better.  With new floor coverings coming for the master and second bedroom tomorrow, all the furniture is being moved into garage so the guys can do their vinyl laying!

The beds and chest of drawers etc will go in tomorrow.  The workmen will be able to help move the heavier items.

A slight leak in a the ensuite shower cost us around $150 the other day.  We can have it fixed at no labour charge via a group up here which provides free services sponsored by the Federal Government.  Instead of just replacing the tap washers we have finished up with new taps and a new shower head.  Being the ensuite, the replacements aren't always in a 'public' area of the house so the pieces we have had installed are quite functional but the new shower head is great.

Springtime Brings On Spring Cleaning!

My pressure cleaner gizmo died around 8 months ago so when one came on special online I grabbed it.  The price was $100 reduced to $80, so not too bad a deal for a bottom of the line unit suitable for a home handyman's needs.  But they sold out before they got to my order so sent me the $199 model instead!

What a stroke of luck.  You wouldn't buy a cheap one again, the $199 Bosch pressure cleaner is great.  The white blind at the end of the pergola had a distinct light green hue to it from build up of mould.  (And most of it was on the other side and real hard to get to)!  It has come up quite well.

The largest blind along on the side looks like something built a nest in it over winter while it was all rolled up.  It took some determined spraying but it has cleaned up quite well.

I even dragged the BBQ out to the front lawn and gave it a going over as well.  Hopefully the grass under where I cleaned it won't die! And I am not convinced it is a real lot cleaner anyway!  There must be around 14 years of BBQ muck on it and it has never been really pressure cleaned before.

I even did the windows under the pergola too!  Thirsty work in this part of the world with it around 30° in our enclosed backyard!

Despite the glorious day we continue to be plagued with cooler nights.  It was even down to 8° the other morning.  This level of low temperature robs the pool of any warmth gained from the sunny day before so even on a lovely day like today the pool water is only a little over 21°.

When we built the house we put lower end quality carpet into the bedrooms.  The rest of the place is floor tiles.  If we were doing it again we would most likely use wood laminate instead.  A couple of spills of coffee, and 15 years use means the bedroom carpet is due for a change.  We popped into a local flooring provider yesterday to check out what was available.  The guy actually recommended vinyl over the laminates as he believed it would wear better in our situation.

Monday week the "Boston White" vinyl will be laid in bedrooms 1 and 2.

We tend to go for lighter colors to keep our little house bright and breezy.  This part of the world doesn't suit itself to dark sombre colors!  The Sunday before will be spent emptying both bedrooms of furniture that we can move.  We should be able to do most of it and the flooring guys will move whatever we can't.  The garage will be where we will store it all.

Warming Up Nicely

As the photo shows, the saying about Queensland, 'beautiful one day, perfect the next' is shaping up very true right now.  Mid morning here and the thermometre says around 28 in the backyard right now.  Our little backyard can be a little warmer than the real temperature with heaps of concrete and pavers while being quite closed in.

The nights remain cool though with a low around 12 or so this morning. The doona has now gone and we sleep under a sheet and quilt.  I could have reached for the doona this morning as it was chilly.  That all changed when I got back from my bike ride though.  I still ride where the magpies aren't but all that should settle down in a few weeks when the breeding season concludes.

So what have we been up to?  Needless to say the brew I put on last week has now been bottled and stocks replenished.  I still get the occasional 1litre of alcohol from mates who distil their own.  My stock of bourbon has therefore been replaced.

I don't tend to have the same number of beers as I get older but the odd pint of bourbon and coke is pretty refreshing.

I have completed the Community Association Newsletter and it is ready for printing.  I still add a post or two to the Community Association website News and Events tab as things happen around this area. (bellvista.com.au).

I helped a couple of people out with their Kodi TV boxes as well so there is hardly a quiet minute.  I have a Community Association Management Committee Meeting to chair Tuesday night.

We have really enjoyed another series of the TV Show "The Wire" over the last weeks and a couple of movies "The Innocents" and "A Hijacking"  Last night we watch Bryan Cranston in "The Infiltrator" which was good as well.

I did get a trip to the dentist in during the week.  I lost one filling while on the cruise, a second filling soon after we got back home and then I chipped a tooth as well.  I had put the trip to the dentist off for a few months but eventually plucked up courage.  I got two surprises that day, he did all three 'repairs' in the one sitting and the second surprise was the bill!

That much money for a 30 minute or so dental appointment seems ludicrous.  It made me think being a School Principal wasn't such a good idea, I should have been a dentist!

To top it all off he recommended I get a crown on one rather 'fractured' tooth he repaired.  That will have to wait until a new 'Medical Benefits' year!

The pool has had its pre season chemical top up as well.  Just the usual, 2 bags of salt, a couple of kilos of 'buffer' and some other concoction, all into the water and allow to dissolve.  It still needs another couple of degrees of warmth into the water as well.  The coldish nights which are persisting into October rob the pool of most heat gained during the sunny days.

As the photo shows, the backyard is beginning to take shape ready for summer.

Trish continues her involvement with the Arts Centre Association and as Secretary she has a phone call to take, a meeting to attend or an inspection to make.  Then she also maintains the website too.

So that is our news, click on the photo for a larger view or click on the news From The Sunshine Coast title above to open the full blog and catch up on what we have been up to.

Reading several posts from the blog is a good cure for insomnia as well!

Over A Week

As you would have guessed my new electronic toys have kept me occupied for a few days.  I really didn't need any help for my personal health after my footy team was soundly beaten on Saturday and thus out of the finals for this year.

After watching nearly all footy games throughout the year a performance such as that was 'par for the course', one very poor quarter when the other team got the jump on them and then virtually blow for blow for the rest of the game.  The final difference in scores was just about the same as the difference at the end of the first quarter.

So now onto the cricket season!

The weather is certainly getting warmer with shorts and T-Shirts now the norm.  Socks and shoes have gone and have been replaced with scuffs and sandals!  I have enjoyed several swims in the pool as the water temp struggles to get into the low 20's.

The wind has returned to the south the last few days bringing back colder nights which knocks the water temperature around like crazy.  The wind has been consistent and a little blustery.

We continue to prepare for the Bali trip in April 2017 for one of my nephew's wedding.  All up we will be there for a couple of weeks.  My sister is going (of course) so we all hope to hook up for some good times and a get away from it all.

We have booked some of the accommodation so far.

Computer Club remains busy as well.  Yesterday (Monday) a guy came around with his new Dell Laptop for a setup!  All is now done and he is a happy fellow.  His former laptop is to be reformatted later this week and will then become a Home Theatre PC on which he will install Kodi and connect to his TV.

Then on Monday I helped out 2 other people and just now I have had another call from a guy wanting some clues on Kodi as well.  It keeps me occupied and my mind off the disastrous footy weekend just gone.

A trip to the pool shop is in store to get the pre season chemical update completed to ensure a safe swimming period ahead.

We are both well and enjoying a busy life here  ..... but I am not looking forward to a trip to the dentist later this morning!

More Electronic Toys!

The pool water temperature has been great the last few days, even struggling to a little over 23° one afternoon.  But it is close to a little under 22° most mornings when I grab a quick dip after a bike ride.  It has been cleaned and the pool's inside walls have been all been swept down getting ready for the warmer weather.

A trip to the pool supplies shop is about a week or so away now.  But after being of no cost over winter, this first off spring chemical update will probably be around $50 worth, heaps less than the spring treatment the chlorine pool back in Melbourne used to be.

I have had Computer Club this morning (Saturday) and again it was fairly quiet.  Trish is getting over the 'straight sets exit' of her footy team last night but is not overly disappointed as they have had numerous close calls throughout the year, just managing to hold on in some matches.

Most PC's these days have only a few of the faster USB3 ports to allow much faster uploads and downloads from a PC to an external hard drive.  I have been keeping my eye open for a multi USB 3 hub like in the picture below. 

They usually cost around $25 so when I saw one for $11 I grabbed it.  Unfortunately when I read the deal more closely a little later after placing the order I discovered the one I bought didn't have the power adapter making it virtually useless.

I had an old 3 port usb2 hub and fortunately the power pack from it works fine on the new multi port USB 3 hub!  I was lucky!

For some time I have been dithering over the value or not of getting a "4TB Cloud Hard Disk Drive".  They can be expensive with a RRP of over $300 but usually available just under the $300.  I discovered they had been on special once before for around $200 so I have been hanging out for that sort of discount again.  The other day it was available for local pickup for $239.  Not the real cheap price I wanted but I relented and bought one.

I have spent much of today 'setting it up'.  The drive is connected to the modem router and stays on 24/7.  It is like have a 4TB drive attached to your PC, laptop, tablet, android TV box or phone.  All devices can 'talk' to it and swap files to and from it.  It is a very nifty device.

It is a lot of money though but then you can't take it with you.

For storing and then streaming video files to the android TV boxes it is just perfect!  I believe it can be accessed from outside my home network as well.  There is a program which creates a 'special web address' that you can click on from anywhere and then download that file to your PC.

Midweek Update

Firstly, this joke really tickled my fancy.  My brother sent it to me but to make it fit in with 'airfares' I have edited it just a little....

A friend of mine up here has 2 tickets to the AFL football grand final in a few weeks time.

Private box seats plus airfare etc. But he didn't realize when he bought them that it was going to be on the same day as his wedding – so he can't go.

If you’re interested and would like to go instead of him it's at St Peters church in the Brisbane suburb of Redcliffe at 3.00pm. The bride's name is Louise.

Let us start with the footy, what a great game and it was a shame that one team had to win on the Friday night just gone.  I have said it just depended on which team had nudged its way to the front when the final siren went. With that my team Geelong just fell over the line when an after the siren Hawthorn shot on goal just missed.

With the luck of it all my team gets a week off while Trish's team faces up to a cut throat 'winner goes through to the Preliminary Final match' this weekend.

There were some great Australian Rules footy matches over the weekend.

The bottling I had from last week is complete, android TV boxes both here and elsewhere are all up to date and the lawn has received a cut.  One guy had family up over the weekend and now his adult daughter is after one as well.

I grabbed a fold up table from Bunnings earlier this week.  I will use it for my home brew bottling and bottle washing.  It will store very easily and be a better option than the round 'outdoor setting' table I had been using.

Things have been busy but quiet.  Meetings with the local Councillor, the daily bike ride and today, the first swim in the pool after a bike ride for the 2016/7 summer.  The water was almost 22° so a little on the chilly side.  We have mid to high 20's for the rest of the week along with the possibility of a storm or two.  One wet night recently saw 40mls end up in the rain gauge.

Magpies are bad this year for us older bike riders.  I just don't ride there when there are aggressive birds around, another friend was attacked four times on his bike ride this morning.  Even Trish had a brush with one while she was delivering the Community Newsletter.

A Little Wet Underfoot

Tuesday was just like a blast from the past with the weather up here.  It was showery on and off all day and needless to say a bike ride was not going to happen.  Altogether I tipped 11mls from the gauge.  And the wind was very cool as well!

A Footyless weekend on TV has just come and gone.  I can now watch the 'local' Melbourne VFL games though as I stream them via Kodi so at least there was that.

As the photo shows it was a brewing week.  With no AFL footy on Saturday it was easy to pinch 40 minutes and put a brew on.  Bottle washing day was on Monday.  Bottle washing is always completed by sanitising where I spray the inside of the bottles with a sanitiser and then leave the bottles to dry with sanitiser all over them.  Around 48 hours later I like to give each bottle a rinse to get rid of as much as the sanitiser as I can after it has done its job.

So the bottles and caps are drying again in the backyard after their final rinse.  Most likely I will do the bottling on Friday. I will need to keep an eye out for passing showers too today while things are drying.

So it is all the same old news just regurgitated yet again!  But I do get a buzz out of it all.

I received my phone calls and Skype calls from the kids for Father's Day.  Kate has a new 4 month teaching job and Kim begins with a new company over in Perth as well.

On Monday we had the Community Association's 3rd Public Meeting for the year so there is just one more to go.  I chaired the meeting and then got a report up on the website early the next day.  It is becoming a hassle I don't really need I think.  The guy who does the Newsletter is away so I got that job done as well.

On Monday the PC went into overload as a huge update came though.  I am guessing it was the "Anniversary Windows Update" as it took the best part of three hours to complete.  I have some new icons back again on my task bar and I lost many of my 'sharing' settings.

But the "sharing" is all back again now.  I use the 'sharing' quite a lot.  For example I took the bottles drying photo on my tablet this morning.  I then get the option on the tablet to save it.  I can save the photo from the tablet to my desktop when the sharing is activated.  It is very handy and does away with the need for cables and the like.

The next door neighbours (to our right as you face the house) are selling.  They own the dog that bit me and used to terrorise us up and down own sideway.  She is OK but he doesn't want to chat much.  So many of their trees have been pruned, hedges cut back and the house painters are back doing the inside.  I suspect the For Sale sign will go up in a week or two.

A guy bought a latest model Minix Android TV Box after I had spoken with him.  It was under $160 delivered with the better remote control.  So all in all it was a great deal he got on eBay.  It arrived late Monday by parcel delivery so I spent an hour or two with him yesterday (Tuesday) setting it all up.  That was fun!

We have footy this weekend, (my team plays Trish's team on Friday night), a bottling to do on Friday so there is a few things to keep me going.

There is always the outside 'spring clean' to do as well. 

Spring Time

The temp is heading to the mid 20's today and there is a real spring feel to the air.

It is great bike riding weather except for the onset of the magpie nesting season.  Parent magpies become extremely defensive of the territory around their nests as their young begin to hatch out.  The nesting season should go on for around 6 weeks before things settle down again and get back to normal.

The parent magpies tend to charge at old guys on bikes and from behind.  You just hear the wind of their wings, followed by a loud screech and the 'clunk' of their beak on your bike helmet as they hurtle by!

One magpie had a few goes at me this morning but it is a little "I've been here before" so it doesn't scare me as much as it used to.  However as the photo above shows I have taken the added pre caution of adding a couple of long cable ties to my helmet.

The cable ties seem to waver in the breeze and shine and flash with the sunlight and this tends to slow any attacking bird making it just little more wary.  You still get the screech but an attacking magpie now tends to keep his distance making the whole episode a little less threatening.

The cable ties also give you a little ease of mind knowing you have some protection from an attack as you ride peacefully along.

The new bike is up and running from when I picked it up late Wednesday afternoon.  I quickly transferred the 'comfort seat' and carry box over along with the large bell and the trip odometer.

I then put a replacement tyre and tube which I got from the very old "Fuji" bike onto the old black bike and have it set up as a going spare bike.  The old Fuji will find its way to the tip in a day or so.

It is only now after a couple of rides on the new bike that I realize the noises, the creaks and the bumps I got when riding on the old bike.  It is reassuring to know the brakes are brand new, the tyres are in tip top condition, all the cables are tight and new, and everything works so smoothly and safely.

Kim returned the 32gb USB drive in the mail yesterday so it has been loaded up with new movies and TV shows she is after and is back in the mail and on its way from the Sunshine Coast to Perth.  That should keep her going for a few weeks on her newly acquired android TV box!

Back To Normal

Things are slowly getting back to normal.  Trish arrived home from Melbourne on Monday around lunchtime.  It was only another 15 minutes or so from Brisbane Airport to our favourite Malaysian (and only Malaysian) eating place at Sunnybank so a delicious and filling lunch followed.  A slice of bread was enough for tea that evening!

Computer Club was again quiet with enough on Kodi from several very interested members to keep me involved.  My footy was sensational on Saturday especially with finals in the next week or so.  Trish's team had a heart stopping finish but managed to get over the line at the last gasp.

Our teams are set to play each other in the first round of the finals.  However a loss by either team won't put them right out of the competition as they both finished in the top 4.

I have been bike riding again as the weather is a little more pleasant as spring rapidly approaches.  There are stories circulating on magpie swooping going on but I haven't experienced anything as yet.

Over the last few weeks there has been a repetitive noise coming from my bike's rear wheel.  Quick looks indicated some possible causes but I still couldn't fix it.

Then yesterday I had a closer look and found where it appeared a section of the tyre was lifting from the side.  I was going to swap it over with a tyre I have on the 'spare' bike kept for visitors and emergencies.  However upon tipping the bike upside down I noticed two rear spokes were broken.  The spare bike has callipers for brakes while the Fluid bike has disk brakes so a straight rear wheel swap wouldn't work.

So off to the repair place I went.  It is a "Fluid" brand, one stocked by the large outdoor chain called "Anaconda".  They have looked after me for repairs previously so off I went.  The quote was totalled up to around $60 or so.  I was going to get a new tyre as well.

The latest model of my bike was on special at around $300, marked down from around $500. So the dilemma became do I commit the $60 and finish up with a 3 year old bike in 3 year old bike condition or do I cut my losses and get a new one and take advantage of the 'special'?  I am ultra concerned about safety when riding the bike.  Are the brakes in good condition? Do the tyres require replacing? Will something conk out on the bike when I am 10k's from home?

The guy said to leave the wheel with the broken spokes with him, for me go home and think about the deal.  I was to get back to him if I decided to upgrade.  I rang him back an hour or so later to confirm, I would buy a new one.

The new one will be ready for pickup this afternoon!  I usually replace the bike every couple of years but this time I was well into the third year!  This morning I removed the bell, the seat and the trip meter from the old bike ready for transfer to the new one later today.

The photo above shows my current bike waiting for the wheel to go back on.  The current spare bike is off to the tip!

The wheel with the broken spokes will go back onto the old Fluid bike later today and I have already removed a tyre from the old spare bike ready to replace the tyre with the lifted section. This bike will then become the spare.  It should be fine for that, after all it appears I have been riding it around with broken spokes and a crook tyre for several weeks now and there hasn't been a problem.

I am pleased to report that as of today all my favorite download sites are back online and working well.  Mike found his time with me interesting as we looked at Android TV boxes and how I have things set up here at home.  He continues on his massive learning curve.

4 Doesn't Equal 40

With a promise of periods of rain and up to 40mls throughout the day yesterday (Weds), immediately a 12k bike ride went off the agenda and a day of lounging about watching the odd movie or two and just doing as little as possible took over.

It blew a gale, the day was gray with overcast clouds and every now again there was a hint of rain.  It eventually did begin to rain but the 4mls I tipped out of the rain gauge this morning shows the expected 40mls just didn't happen.

I felt a bit of a tweak in my back Tuesday afternoon and by lunchtime Wednesday I had an appointment with the Chiro sorted for Friday, the earliest I could get in.  The Mobic came to the rescue but I still need to be wary as to exactly just what I do.

I did a little tidying up with the stick vac and the broom today but the effort of a sweeping motion isn't good for me.

A couple of my preferred download sites are offline at the moment so I have been trying unsuccessfully to find some alternatives.  But I will continue to look.  There are heaps of "Scene Release" sites but very few which target my preferred HEVC file formats. The icon top left is of TV_Release which hasn't updated for almost a week now!

And of course there are lots and lots of forums on all this sort of stuff that I like to keep an eye on and learn from others all over the place.

Trish is still in Melbourne and I guess most of the getting unpacked has now happened.  Trish heads home on Monday and I am to pick her up from Brisbane around midday.

Someone is coming around this afternoon checking out downloading stuff, putting it onto your network  and then accessing it.  He is fairly new to it all and doesn't have much of a background with home wireless networks and just what they can do.

The el cheapo Android TV Box I bought works 90%, I have discovered it doesn't handle high end sound tracks all that well and when they play back via the amplifier there is a slight 'tick' every 10 seconds or so.  We generally use the box with our headphones.  These headphones don't handle Dolby Digital or the like at all so for our everyday TV watching and listening it isn't a problem.

Ah well, one quick perusal over the latest downloads and by then Mike should have arrived!