Stormy Weather

We needed rain extremely badly in this part of the world but not the 35 mls we got in 30 minutes on Sunday afternoon.  The long dry spell meant the grass crackled under our feet and despite it being November, the yard seemed more like Melbourne at the end of January!

The storm hit mid afternoon on Sunday.  We had missed the warnings to get the car under cover and to batten down the hatches. It was all over in 30 minutes but the wind blew and the hail belted down.  It isn't the best photo taken through the closed window and flyscreen but the pool looked like it was in the middle of the ocean.  There were waves as huge hail stones, some getting towards the size of golf balls belted the house.

It came from the southeast so we had some protection from other houses around us.  With the strong wind and the large hail palm trees had their fronds shredded and palm tree bits floated down upon us.  As large hail hit the stones in the back yard with great force, stones were catapulted into the pool.

Anything made out of plastic was shredded.  The wind weather vane doesn't look the same any more and the plastic covers on the BBQ under the pergola were smashed. Solar powered Christmas lights were destroyed, the power plug powering the pool filter as dislodged and the few plants we have in our little backyard may need replacing.

Trish's little blue Honda Jazz has small dents all over the roof.  Hopefully "The Dent Guy" will be able to pull them all out so it is again as good as new.  We expect it will be a toss up as to whether we fix it or it goes to car insurance.  We are also hopeful the solar panels on the roof have escaped damage as well.

The hail was blown into corners around the house and built up during the storm as the photo left shows.

The worst bit was the mess that was left afterwards.  As you can imagine the pool will require several vacuums and more to get it back to its pristine condition.  But the water level is full as you could probably guess.

We saw reports on the storm on our local news and it seems there were other places on the coast which fared much worse than us.  We saw cars stopped on roads with huge holes in their windscreens caused by the hail.  Goodness only knows what other hail damage they received on top of that.

Now around 20 hours or so later the place is pretty well cleaned up.  The pool filter has been cleaned once and is hard at work again.  Already dust and dirt is settling in the usual spots ready for another vacuum later today.

And tomorrow the guys are coming to install the new bench tops, dishwasher, oven and cook top. There will be an electrician and a plumber along as well.  I will ask the sparky to have a quick check of the solar panels for me as climbing ladders at my age isn't a wise thing to do.

Our neighbour will do the painting of the cupboard doors and more while we are down in Melbourne for Christmas.

Another exciting experience on the Sunshine Coast!

Kitchen and Bathrooms to be Updated!

That $550 we saved from the previous post has now been well and truly spent.  As our small house gets that little bit older things need to be 'updated'.  We still have the original new fridge we bought when we first moved in here over 17 years ago.  The dishwasher is the original as well.

Then bench-tops have aged, become scratched and lost some of their lustre.  The bench-top in the bathroom and the en-suite have been marked as well.  And what was fashionable 17 years ago is dated today.

One place we went to for a quote said they didn't do jobs like ours but they had a guy who may be interested.  His quote to replace bench-tops and arrange for all sinks or basins to be taken out and then refitted along refitting with the cook top and the oven was around $400 cheaper than the original so we went with him.

As you can see from the photo the new sink, kitchen tap and dishwasher have all been delivered.  The new cook top, oven and fridge arrive on Monday!

They all virtually get fitted at 'no' cost as the originals would have had to be taken out and then refitted when the new bench-tops go in!

Today we've been selecting bench-top colors and we seem all ready to go.  Now we wait until the guy lets us know when he can do it.

I had the bike serviced and now I can actually stop when I want to.  All other wires and things have been adjusted and everything is OK again.  Those bloody magpies are giving me a rest nowadays and I now ride between 11 and 12 k's at a go and weather permitting 5 or 6 times per week.

I say weather permitting but it isn't the rain that is the problem, it is the consistently strong winds.  I rode one day this week when the wind was fairly up, another day it was blowing a gale and I see tomorrow is expected to be almost gale force and around 35°.  The winds are usually from the west and can blow in heaps of red dust from Queensland's interior.

Today was around 32° but with the westerly wind, the humidity level is down around 22%, not the 65% we usually have in November.  Even though it was 32° today, overnight it was down to the low teens!  This afternoon the pool was around 26°.

So what else is new?  The rest of it is same old same old!  We are driving down to Melbourne at Christmas.  We will leave around the 15th of December and get to Melbourne late on Tuesday 17th.  We will grab a couple of nights in Newscastle on the way down.

My Community Association stuff is all but finished for the year.  I finished the Newsletter today so that is it for 2019.  We have our Xmas break up on Saturday and it should be heaps of fun.

Then there are the new bench-tops and that is just about it.

I am fully recovered from the root canal, new posts, crown and the cost of it all!  And I should be selling Vodafone Android TV boxes.  I've set a few up now for friends around the place.  I now have heaps using my Plex Server and enjoying movies and TV Series.

There's a guy named Ken Burns who makes TV Documentary series in the U.S..  These include The Civil War, The Vietnam War and several others.  Each series wins top awards.  The series usually has 8x90 minute episodes.  If you get the chance to watch Ken Burns Country Music take the time and check it out.  I am not a huge Country Music fan but I found this TV series absolutely brilliant!

We are both well and enjoying our spot here on the Sunshine Coast!