End Of The Week

There is not a drop of rain in sight.  After what has been a wet first half to 2013 we haven't spotted one drop of rain since July 30th, a little over 4 weeks.  It hasn't taken long for things to dry out and the front lawn definitely is after a drink of rain water.  I have had to top the pool up from the tap on two occasions.

But no one in this part of the world is complaining.  Tops in the high 20's most days but cooling off quickly late in the afternoon.  The wind is mainly from the west so the humidity isn't high.

Both of our mobile phones continue to work fine but I reckon we will try swapping over to a new carrier next week just prior to our trip to Melbourne.

Trish continues busy with the Arts Centre Association and I need to keep the Community Association website going.  Regular updates however trivial are required to keep people wanting to return for any new snippet of information.

The bottles for my brew are all washed and I am just waiting for the initial fermentation process to conclude.  I suggest I will be bottling on Sunday.

We received a quote on a blind at the pool filter end of the new shade area.  This blind will be an awning type blind similar to the type we had when back in Melbourne.  This will make height adjustment very easy and can be done with one hand. 

We placed the order yesterday afternoon so it will be ready to install as soon as we arrive back from Melbourne.

Click on the photo for a larger view.

Though Ian and Kerrie return from O/S today they won't be around for drinks later on.  Other friends John and Margaret remain overseas too and they are due home on Thursday, the day we travel to Melbourne.  So we will have to wait until mid September for our first real drinks session for some time.

With glorious dry weather I have been bike riding everyday.  It is so pleasant doing the k's and having a chat to other locals on the way around.  The magpies haven't started on me yet despite getting close to their nesting season.

Nice And Warm

I have just given the pot plants in the backyard a quick water.  We have not had a drop of rain for 4 weeks and the pots tend to dry out more quickly the warmer it gets.  The temp outside is about 25 or so but it is a lot warmer than that in the backyard as the photo shows (29.9).

When I checked the pool temp yesterday it was still around 17 or 18, definitely not warm enough for swimming just yet. But it is still winter right now, swimming usually begins mid to late September when the pool is over 20 degrees.

The bike ride went well yesterday, very pleasant under a partly cloudy sky.  It was a gorgeous day.  I managed another a brew which is currently bubbling away.  I will be short of bottles as I am brewing prior to having a full complement of empties.  I have heaps of 1.25 litre soft drink bottles so I will press 6 of those 1.25 litre soft drink bottles into service.  I will most likely bottle wash tomorrow (Weds).

The lawn was mown yesterday and I will probably front up for a hair cut from Trish this afternoon.  Brewing beer, mowing lawns, having haircuts are all indicators we are heading to Melbourne in the next week or so.

Yesterday afternoon Trish and I both re visited the chiropractor.  My back needed a little fine tuning but Trish isn't doing as well.  I should be OK now.

Both our phones continue to work which is great.  Slowly but surely people are 'porting' across to new carriers.  There are 120,000 people suddenly needing to find a new carrier! We could expect another week or so of service on our phones before they are cut off but I may complete the move prior to heading down to Melbourne.  Mine is due to 'run out' on September 10th.

That is all the news at this stage.

All Quiet, Enjoy The Sunshine

The lack of drinks with friends on Friday wasn't a problem, I found a spot on my own, sat back and relaxed.  Around 5:00pm I was to pop into Caloundra anyway and collect Trish (and Fish n Chips for tea) after her day in Brisbane with many of the Quilters ladies.

Not much more news, lovely bright sunny days and warmish weather.  A little cloud today but that means the wind is off the sea, the humidity is on the rise and the wind chill factor has disappeared!  So for a little cloud and extra humidity we have warmer weather.

The lack of rain means I will again need to top the pool up in the next day or so.  A little lawn mowing needs doing as well which should take up a whole 30 minutes!  It takes so long because I do next door's front lawn as well.

The footy has been great over the weekend for both Trish and myself.  Both our phones continue to work so we haven't received Telstra's second dreaded "You will be totally disconnected in 7 days!" text message yet.  But now we are ready to go.

I will put another 'brew' on tomorrow which will ensure heaps of supplies upon our return from Melbourne.  We head south in around 10 days!

Is 19.5, Feels Like 15.9

The blog post title is the sort of message my weather app on my phone keeps showing me.  It looks beautiful, blue skies and sunny but it feels a whole lot cooler.  We have noticed it cooler overnight now reaching for trackie dacks and top around 4 pm daily!  This morning it was 4.9 in our backyard.  At around 11:30 am right now it says 26.5 and the front and back doors are wide open.

Both our phones are still operating on full service despite our supplier losing his contract with the provider.  All is still going well and we are awaiting a second SMS message to tell us we have 7 days prior to the service being cut off.  I bought a couple of sim cards this morning ready for the ill fated "2nd SMS" message.

Once we receive the SMS message we will swap over to another company for a few months and see what to do when the dust settles.

The two sim cards were on special at "half price" so we could stick with them for a few months before finally deciding who to go with and then porting across when everything has settled down.  The 'half price' offer was available from JB HiFi and Harvey Norman stores. These cards have the same Australia wide coverage as we now have but are usually $40 per month.  Our other option "Aldi" is $35 per month but currently we can't get SIM cards for them.

I have been busy bike riding the last few mornings and getting my 12 or so k's in daily.  I missed my ride this morning as I needed the car and Trish was off on a Quilters "Bus Trip into an exhibition in Brisbane.  She will be home this evening, hopefully with fish and chips for tea.  I wanted the car to sort out the back up sim card issue we had.

The other reason I didn't bike ride this morning was I had a bottling to complete.  That is all now done and the container and pieces are drying in the sun in the backyard.

I have put a few long screws in the fence railing and use this as an area to dry my bottles after consuming and then rinsing, usually from the night before.

No drinks again this afternoon as both couples are unavailable, one being overseas still, the other just returning from a trip today.  That is another reason Trish opted for the bus trip. And I might even give the car a wash later on as well.

Phone Procedures

We have been having fun with our mobile phone services.  I sometimes wish I had never taken the sim out of my old Galaxy phone!

Both Trish and I (and other people we know) have gone over to Kogan Mobile.  It was a great plan, inexpensive and almost the best coverage available.  My previous "Optus" service meant I had to run to the front of the house to get reception.  Kogan uses the Telstra network and we have great reception here anywhere in the house.

Just recently there was a price increase for Kogan because the intermediary service supplier was in a spot of bother.  Yesterday that service provider went belly up!  Trish and I are both on 12 month plans with them.  Right now 115,000 customers with Kogan are scrambling to get to another service provider.  We have been told we will have up to 60 days to do so.

We have also been told we will get a full pro-rata refund when we move to another (more expensive) provider, most likely Aldi Mobile.  At this stage we have still got full service but we are getting ready to swap as soon as things stop working (despite Telstra's promises).

A glorious day yesterday, around 26 degrees and lovely sunshine.  I bottle washed first thing even before my bike ride.

The large blue container has warm water and dish washer powder in it.  I use dish washer powder as it is lower sudsing and makes rinsing easier.  I can fill and give a good rinse to 9 bottles at a time in this container.

From there the bottles go into the largest container for a first good rinse, 6 at a time, then the smaller blue container for a final rinse, and then onto the bottle drying tree.

When all have been washed they are again rinsed quickly with a sanitizing solution, then returned to the drying tree and into the sunshine to dry.

Just prior to being used to bottle the latest brew, they are rinsed again in the large blue container!

Around 3:30 yesterday both Trish and I checked out the Chiro.  My back was as sore as...  It is heaps better today after a treatment.  I may need a further tune up early next week.

There is a brisk southerly today, the skies are clear but there is distinct slight chill in the air.  Though warm enough it isn't as pleasant as the last few days.  This wind is expected to hang around as we are expecting single figure temp mornings for the next few days.  I may be a little later getting on my bike tomorrow.