Sun Due Back This Afternoon

The gray clouds are beginning to lift and the wet roads and gardens are beginning to dry. We have just enjoyed almost 4" of rain in this which is usually one of our drier months. It pelted down overnight after a gloomy day of light rain yesterday.

It sure didn't look like the Sunshine Coast at 7 am this morning!

Not a lot of news as you would expect with such gloomy weather. I caught up with mate I have known for much of my life yesterday. Fred and I played cricket together in Melbourne and we go back about 40+ years. Fred now lives close by but we have each gone our own separate ways.

Fred's youngest daughter "Ginnie" is in her early 50's and has suffered a stroke. Fred is now experiencing the difficulties of distance. Ginnie is having speech problems and is partially paralyzed down one side of her body. Speech and movement are slowly returning though. Fred speaks with others there (none of his family live in Melbourne) and tries to sort out bills etc by phone and via a friend.

Fred is considering the pros and cons of moving back to Melbourne to live. However the property market is slow right now so he would have trouble selling and getting a good price.

Trish is at Stitchers today and will be home around lunchtime. Hopefully the clouds will have parted and we can get a little sun this afternoon.

Once Was Sunny

Monday and the footy is over for another weekend. Both our teams (Trish and mine) were defeated over the weekend so I am not unhappy the footy part of the weekend has come to an end. Lovely sunny days (with brisk mornings) have greeted us for a week now and most days I have enjoyed a bike ride. I say 'enjoyed' but the enjoyment only starts about 4kms into the ride after the initial chill has been overcome. This morning is overcast and showers are due to return today with rain expected tomorrow.

There hasn't been a lot of news since I last posted. Trish's team came 3rd in her Trivia night on Thursday, I got to fold and deliver 140 Bellvista Connector newsletters on Thursday. As per usual, Friday drinks were very pleasant around at Paul's place.

I have washed another 32 bottles for my next Home Brew bottling.

The guy I have been helping connect to the internet has now been connected. Everything is working fine for him, his internet and email. Though it took a little bit of time to get everything running properly.

This has lead me to find a 'free' program called TeamViewer which I have now installed on my PC. If you run a related program called TeamViewer QS (download it HERE) on your computer it allows me to work on your desktop at your place but from my PC here at home! I have only tried it between my PC and Trish's laptop and it works well. It is rather strange watching your cursor move around your screen when it is coming from my PC on the Sunshine Coast!

TeamViewer QS does NOT require installation. You just double click on the program and it comes up with an computer ID address and a password (see picture left). You tell me the address and password (email/Skype) and I key it in on my TeamViewer on my PC. My computer then 'connects' to your computer and I am able to work on it as if I were there beside you!

There is another link to where you can download TeamViewer QS (2.2mb) under "Les' Links" on the right hand side of this page.

I have been busy updating the Community Association website over the last few days. I take my camera with me when I head off for a bike ride. We have a couple of man made lakes on the estate and both have been nearly completely covered with algae. They are both being cleaned now and look heaps better. However unless we get a heap of rain and the lakes are flushed out, they will return to be as unsightly as ever.

We also have a small shopping centre being built on the estate. It will have a reasonable size supermarket, newsagency, chemist, doctor, cafe, etc and be a wonderful asset for the estate. It is due to open in 6 to 8 weeks. I have been busy updating the website on a regular basis with all the latest developments. This photo was taken a week or so ago and more has been completed since then. You can follow this and all the local Bellvista news by clicking HERE.

We are flying down to Melbourne next week for three weeks so we are beginning to prepare for that getting some jobs out of the way. Packing will begin in earnest in about a week. We leave here on August 19th and return September 9th.

It's Wednesday

The weather has reverted to 'winter' from the warm days of late last week. Overnight is generally single figures while days are in the very low 20's. Nice and sunny but yesterday was very windy making it feel much cooler than it really was. I have again been back on my bike getting in between 13 and 14 k's per day. Yesterday was too cold because of the strong wind so I had a day off from bike riding.

I am involved with the local Community Association and do both the Newsletter and website for them. There are 8 newsletters per year and just recently was Newsletter publishing day. So I have been busy with that.

The Community Association met with the Estate Developers to hear the latest news on the next stage of our estate. That was interesting too as there are some local issues which require addressing that won't be covered in the new development. Again following the meeting there was website to update and people to be informed. The new Newsletter now means I have 130 A3 newsletters to fold and then deliver. That may happen tomorrow, weather permitting.

I am hoping to get a little in front with my home brewing as well. I had an 'extra brew' on and that needed bottling. That job was done yesterday but followed up immediately by putting on another brew. Yesterday was a home brew double whammy day, a bottling and another brew on!

I am also helping a Computer Club member swap ISP's. He is moving over to a budget provider called TPG. One of the problems with a budget provider is the level of support which is available (or should I say NOT available). That the application (the incorrect bank details for direct debit were incorrect) was messed up didn't help either! With all this in mind, the local club member decided to change his modem log in details before he had been swapped over. Now he can't get on the net at all!

Trish has been busy with Gym, Tourist Information Centre, Stitchers and Quilters. A couple of ladies only luncheons have been on her agenda too. This means it is a little harder for me to get the car. Anyway I don't feel like driving in to town to fix a computer connection that someone else messed up.

Spent a little time cleaning the pool this morning. It was a bit of a mess following yesterday's strong winds. I gave the garden a water too. Our backyard is protected from cool breezes and the outdoor thermometer was saying it was about 24 or so up in the back corner at 10:00 am this morning.

And I have just heard my brother Geoff will be back home again on August 14th. I am looking forward to catching up with him when we head to Melbourne on August 19th. We return home on Tuesday September 7th. I expect to be able to get back into the pool about 3 or 4 weeks after that!

I hope you got a laugh out of the jokes below.

Are We Putting On Too Much Weight?

And now you can read today's post below!

A Welcome Visitor

Splendour In The Grass is the name of possibly the biggest outdoor music festival in Australia and is usually conducted annually at Byron Bay, a seaside town about 400kms south of us here on the Sunshine Coast. Our youngest daughter Kim loves going to it and usually 'sneaks' a day off work and travels up to attend it. This year the festival was conducted about 40kms from where we are at Woodford.

So Thursday evening we welcomed Kim and three of her good friends (including the couple with whom Kim recently travelled to Germany and Europe) to our home for a meal on their way to the music festival. Trish cooked a lovely seafood pasta and and a scrumptious lamb curry. It was great to see Kim (even if it was only for a few hours) and her friends. It was a great evening.

To cap everything off for the music goers, this part of Queensland experienced summer like conditions on Saturday with a top temp of 28 degrees! The weather was sensational with not so cold nights and pleasant days.

Our own news is more of the same, helping people out at Computer Club, going to Quilters, recovering from possibly one too many wines while Kim was here, a lovely Friday afternoon with friends and a few drinks and with the warm weather, getting heaps of washing dried!

Spring is in the air with wattle trees in full bloom.

Recently some neighbours decided to upgrade their PC. They are an older couple and we have got to know them as great neighbours. Brian especially enjoys getting movies from me which I have downloaded. Now he has a new PC I said it would be easier for him now to burn his new movies to DVD format as he wanted to watch them.

Since then he now has bought a WDTV Media Player and uses one of my 'old' external HDD's and watches his movies that way. He has become quite keen on the PC and what it can do. I even had him downloading a CD the other day to play in his car! He has taken to the new echnology like a duck to water.