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.