Another 'Is But Feels Like' Morning!

As the photo shows, it is another delightful (but brisk) morning on the Sunshine Coast.  It's just turned 9 am but a little on the cool side for bike riding just yet.  The problem is the longer you wait, the more likely it is that the breeze gets up making cycling less attractive and less comfortable.

So sitting under the pergola at 9 am on a Sunday is warm and fuzzy.  In short it is delightful. The pergola remains as one of our best ever decisions.

News remains somewhat limited.  The bottle washing was completed satisfactorily and the bottling on Friday went without a hitch.  With the cooler weather the heat pad comes into use to keep the brew bubbling along nicely.

It is that time of year when the heart attack doctor wants to see me again so it was in for a 6am blood test midweek.  Blood tests are not high on my list of great things to do.  Then there is the ENT specialist for my annual ear check up and clean up early next week.

I had a bit of a go myself at relaying some of the border stones in the new garden wall we had installed.  The promise of heavy rain during next week that should finish off the garden ready for planting.  I am quite pleased with what I have achieved.

We went out with friends to the Vietnamese Restaurant Miss Hoi An mid week.  Just delightful food and now others are beginning to agree with us that it is the best Asian Food at our end of the Sunshine Coast.

The Community Association has been simmering along quietly meaning not much has been required to be done.  This I don't mind.

I had a text message from Peter (the relative whose wedding we are attending in Manila in December) during the week.  He works with Virgin Airways at Brisbane Airport and has offered to include us on his friends Virgin discount list for fare reductions.

Flights out of Sunshine Coast Airport are more convenient to get to but don't always have the travel times that suit.  But Virgin are a little different and fly around mid day to Melbourne and while depart Melbourne around 9:00am for a sunny Coast arrival just before lunch.

The fares are OK too but still not quite as cheap as flying Tiger out of Brisbane.  We could probably get a free lift to and from the Sunshine Coast Airport which offsets the cheaper Tiger Flights.

Tiger have a bit of a habit of switching passengers from one flight to another.  So now when Trish returns from Melbourne in August her return to Brisbane arrival time has been swapped from around lunch time to mid afternoon and peak hour driving time from Brisbane to Caloundra.

We don't get back from the Philippines until around mid December meaning a very short turn around before we have to drive the 1800k's down to Melbourne for Christmas with the family.  With the offer of a good deal with Virgin, we are carefully considering whether this year we should fly down rather than drive.

It means we don't have a car while in Victoria which severely limits what we can do so perhaps a shorter stay and flying may be the way to go.  Trish will chat to family down south during her August trip to Melbourne.

The new Washing Machine didn't go exactly to plan either.  Just being the two of us meant we didn't require the best top of the line model.  We grabbed a 7.5 kg Whirlpool front loader from our local The Good Guys which was being discounted at the time.  It was delivered the same day which was great.

The deal was to deliver the new one, set it up and then take away the old machine with the busted door.  All went well until he turned the new machine on to test it.  It didn't work properly so it too was uninstalled and placed back on his truck.

The replacement washer was delivered around midday the next day.  It now works fine and serves our purposes nicely.  However during last week The Good Guys had a 20% sale with front loading washers one of their featured items.  Delivery was around $75 and I am not sure it would have included installation and take the old unit away.

It would have been a little messy to send back a 'purchased online' washing machine and to get rid of the old machine.  But then 20% is 20%!

14.2° But Feels Like 6.3°

Here it is at 9:15 am on Monday morning and bike riding is well and truly off the agenda.  The bitterly cold weather from down south has spread its tentacles and has now reached Queensland.  The photo looks great taken from the front door this morning but the wind chill factor is enormous.  Thus the "feels like 6.3°" quote above.

I managed around 17k's yesterday morning.  I had delayed the start of the ride owing to the colder temperatures.  By the time I had completed the ride the temperature was still below 16° but the "feels like" was around 11°.  It's too cold for me.

This morning the wind is up as well adding to an even lower 'feels like".

If you can get out of the wind it is OK but it's that sort of gusting wind that gets into every corener of the backyard!

With the large trees in the small front garden now gone, the morning sun streams into the bedroom and warms it up delightfully.  It may still be some time until Trish emerges I suggest.

Trish enjoyed the footy over the weekend and I (though a little disappointed) am not devastated by my team's loss.  It will be great if and when we get all of our players back from injury.

With a quiet day on the way for today I may do a bottle wash.  It is still around 10 days until I would expect to bottle, I have almost enough empties for a brew.  It also means something gets done today.

We drink a bit of soft drink so I always have an endless supply of new bottles to use for my bottling.  Currently I'm tossing out some older bottles so a new 18 lot of 1.25 litre bottles isn't far away.

We've just finished watching a TV series called "Chance".  Currently there are only 2 series and I reckon Series 2 was better than the first one.  It wasn't too bad at all!

Somehow I have fluked getting the new series 20 of "Midsomer Murders" which hasn't even shown in the UK yet.  I have no idea where it came from originally but needless to say it was a popular download at Computer Club on Saturday.

Time to get stuck into that bottling I reckon!

Mid June

We have finished the first two weeks of winter so we have another 4 weeks of the coolest weather to go.  As a general rule, we may only need the heater on for two or three nights and then only for an hour or so.  So far the heater hasn't been required.  So come mid July the nights begin to get a little warmer and so too do the days.

By the end of September we are looking at a swim in the pool again.

I have been bike riding when I can.  I tend to wait till closer to 9am when the chill of the morning has gone and there is some warmth in the air.  However Newsletter, other Community Association bits and pieces can interrupt the cycling calendar.  Missing the odd day or too from riding doesn't faze me at all.

Today the reason for not riding was we had a you guy come in a rearrange our small front garden.  The photo above shows before and the one below 'after'.

It takes away a nasty drop which was ever widening between the driveway and the small front garden.  We had to tier the garden wall as the driveway is so steep.  Next is some plants and mulch to finish the job off.

The cornerstones need a good wash with the pressure cleaner and they will improve.  New plants and the rest will finish it all off.

I am enjoying the updated smart hub remote and it work s very well indeed.  After waking from sleep it may take 20 seconds or so for the Bluetooth to reconnect with the Shield but to now only need the one remote to do everything is great.

I washed an item in the front loading washing machine the other day.  We have had a bit of a problem with the door not closing properly and sometimes it needs an extra push before the machine begins its cycle.

After my items were washed the other day the opposite happened.  I couldn't get the door open again.  I suspect the latch had broken so a large screwdriver and some 72 year old muscle was required.  It is ten years old now and Trish wasn't overly keen on how it operated.

So with a busted door and being that old we are off to the nearest whitgoods store for a replacement.

The CACA Fair over the weekend made the usual great profit but took a lot of time.  Trish was out for a few days with her involvement so a couple of quiet days to follow was perfect.

So that's about it for now. 

Wet and Cold, Around 18°

Yes, that's right, the cold and wet weather of winter has arrived here on the Sunshine Coast.  Around 20mls overnight and then another 30 or so throughout today!  That's a couple of inches in the old days!

At last the sun is poking its head out and it seems the rain has gone.  Needless to say there wasn't any bike riding today.  As a matter of fact the bike is back to the shop for it's 2 month post sale service.  They adjust the brakes and the gears and ensure everything is OK.  Tomorrow Friday is a bottling day and the bike should be ready to pick up after lunch.

It has been a busy week as usual.  We did have a Public Meeting for the Community Association on Monday and usually a large post goes on our website the day after detailing all the news.  So that took time and there is a Newsletter I have to put together and hopefully that is now all done and out of the way.

Then it began to rain or cloud over on Wednesday.

You may know that I have a great time with my android TV box and I have developed quite some expertise with it.  I have an Nvidia Shield which is the most expensive of them all but also is the most powerful as well.

Unlike many Android boxes, the Nvidia Shield remote is via Bluetooth rather than Infra Red (IR) like 99% of electrical items with remote controls.  I have an Nvidia Shield Bluetooth controller to run it but I now need two remotes.  I do have an all in one remote control known as  Logitech Harmony ONE.  It is great but it is IR so it won't run my Nvidia Shield.

I press "Watch Foxtel" and the ONE turns on my TV, sets it to the correct input, then turns on my AV Receiver and sets it to the correct input and finally fires up our Foxtel Box.  All this happens with the push of a single button on the remote control.  Then to watch FTA TV I press "Watch TV", it turns the TV to the antenna input and runs my AV Receiver, again via the correct input.

As the Dick Smith Electrical Stores went into receivership a year or so ago they had heaps of sales.  I bought a Logitech Smart Control for $39 when I just saw one of these online at eBay for $199!

 It has sat in my cupboard for some time waiting for me to set it up.

During some of my surfing on the internet I read where the Smart Control was both IR and Bluetooth! And I can tell you that the Smart Control actually is Bluetooth as well as IR.  It took a few hours to set up but it is a very nifty device.

As with many things electrical, setting it up was not straight forward and required a little intemperate languge, some trial and error and patience.  I am not good at 'patience'.  But today's wet weather was perfect for trialling and erroring to my heart's content.

At first I focused on the Android Phone App to set it all up but later switched to the Windows PC App.  The latter is so much more sophisticated and really allows you into the nitty gritty of the device and allows you to overcome problems very powerfully.

The Arts centre where Trish is involved is conducting a huge "Fair" this weekend so she has been out almost every day organizing and getting things ready.

With both of us being so occupied this week, getting in some sleep hasn't been a problem.