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!

$550 Saving Washers!

Despite unfounded rumours which have arisen because I haven't had a Blog Post for around 2 months, both Trish and myself are both well and continue to enjoy our Sunshine Coast lifestyle.

Since my last post my computer has again crashed (my own fault) and has been fully reloaded and we have moved from a very dry winter into spring.  Again it has been dry but a stormy night recently which yielded almost 4" of rain has got things back and green again.  However another stormy 4" of rain would not go astray as the place dries out again.

So the spring cleaning has been all but completed.  Windows have been washed (though they all look dirty again after a couple of days), the concrete pavers around the pool have been cleaned with chlorine (3 parts water to 1 part chlorine and then 5 minutes later a hose down) and are looking great again.

Needless to say new solar lights around the top of the fence are up again and working OK along with the cheap set we bought however long ago and also are still working after well over 12 months.

The other big job has been sorting the pool.  A couple of bags of salt and around $40 worth of pool chemicals got it all back again looking inviting and crystal clear.  It'll get to around 25° later on today.  With the extremely dry and windy weather, the pool always seems dirty with red dust blowing in from the Queensland interior.

As the photo above shows, there is a ledge about 60 cms below the water level which goes all around the pool which I guess is to provide strength to the fibreglass pool shell.  But it is a great place for this dust to congregate.  So I get the broom and brush along the ledge to move the dust.  Regretfully while sweeping just under the pool light, it was wedged upwards breaking the plastic where the retaining screw pinned the light to the pool wall.  The light just floated to the surface with the waterproof power cord still connected.

So we were up for a new pool light and upon making inquiries I was told they don't make that type of pool light any more and to supply and fit a new light would cost $550!  And on top of that we would have to wait a few weeks until the pool water warmed up enough for the installer to hop in the pool and install it!.

As you can see from the photo above I decided to try to re fit the light myself. and all it needed was a 37c stainless steel washer from Bunnings.  I did leave out it took around 10 goes and about 5 hours of messing around in the pool to get the excess electrical power cord to store the correct way so the light could be slipped into a bracket on the pool wall and the retaining screw (and several washers) again put into place.

I help a few people around here with TV shows and stuff and I also help them set up their TV boxes.  The best TV box is the Nvidia Shield at around $300.  An older guy I help (and a Vietnam Vet) bought a Shield and I would pop around to his place and keep it going for him.  Unfortunately Mick passed away recently (possibly respiratory problems most likely from being sprayed with Agent Orange).  That Shield has now come into my possession giving me an extra gadget to play with.

Trish has been down to Melbourne to catch up with family.

I continue to mess around with Plex and now have quite a library online.  I am very choosy with whom I share this library as so many people now have access to Netflix, Stan or one of those.  For most people this is more than enough choice.  The stuff I get comes from Netflix, Stan, stuff from the BBC and other various sources.  We are never stuck with out anything good to watch.  Currently we are watching "Sanditon" which has just finished on BBC1.

A week or two ago we watched (and enjoyed) "A Confession" which I see is on Channel 7 soon.

Our community involvement continues to keep us busy.  I am still ducking swooping magpies on my bike rides which are no longer every day and over 15k's a trip.  Now it is more like 11 or so k's up to 5 times per week.  Computer Club remains a great source of fun for me and I have gained some great friends from my weekly meetings.

So that's about it, we are both well but slowing down a little bit.  I get a bit of pain from my back most days but nothing I can't handle.  I have recently had a root canal and new crown on a tooth.  After getting the bill I think and extraction is the way to go in future!

Roll on summer time and the pool getting warmer.

Topsy Turvy Weather

There isn't any rain involved but the temperatures up here sure do fluctuate from day to day.  A glorious 29° yesterday and a freezing 19° today.  I say 19° for today but that doesn't factor in the wind chill factor.  At 1 p.m. my phone tells me it is 18.5° but feels like 13.5°.  There isn't a cloud in the sky, but finally the cold southerly wind is beginning to die down. 

The photo above was taken a week or so ago and again gives you an idea of how it may look nice outside but looks can be deceiving! This photo was taken one morning and again we had just had a cold wind change go through.

If Melbourne gets a cold weather outbreak, a day or two later we can expect a chilly southerly change up here as well.

Even though we are not travelling any where at the moment, Trish has had a second bout of a head cold.  Usually if she isn't moving too well, we are away somewhere.  But not this time.

And I have still managed to escape catching it.

We haven't seen any rain for some time and the front lawn is beginning to die off from a lack of water.  But this can be a dry time in this part of the world. Summer is usually when we get all the storms and the rainy days.

And really, that is about all the news.

With spring not far away we are beginning to get our heads around tidying up outside, cleaning down the pavers, pressure spraying the border paving blocks and just generally tidying and cleaning up.

The front garden has been done and even the brick letter box has had a pressure spray.

I was given a brew in thanks for some help I gave someone.  Every now and again you expect a failure when you are home brewing and this one didn't seem to brew properly and took almost two weeks instead of the usual 7 days.  It eventually got bottled and after a couple of weeks it was ready to try. 

I managed three or four bottles before I gave up and decided to tip it all out.  This has put me a brew down in the total I should have.  Another brew will go on this week and this will mean I have caught up again and supplies will return to normal.

I've got a new hearing aid coming along in a week or so with thanks to a government subsidy and our health insurance.  Trish has reluctantly decided to toss out her food mixer.  When we think back to when the current food mixer first arrived it turns out it was almost 50 years ago!  So we suspect we are due to get a replacement.

I still manage three or four (and sometimes when the weather is warm enough) even up to five bike rides per week.  I tend to wait until it has warmed up enough and I have learnt to go for the 'feels like' temperatures rather than 'actuals'.

Keeping up with movies and TV series continues to keep me busy.  With so much stuff available on Netflix and the other providers nowadays you could get by with not downloading.  But it is nice to have access to almost everything that is out there.

One of the guys at Computer Club has just got back from a cruise which took in Japan.  I was interested to hear him talk about how awfully hot and humid as well as expensive Tokyo was. It was so hot they frequently would head back to the ship for some air conditioned comfort and where meals were supplied.  They found a basic lunch for both of them at around $80 was a bit on the steep side, especially when food on the ship was at no charge!

As usual our news remains the same old same old.  Trish is heading down to Melbourne in September while I will stay up here.  The colder weather doesn't do anything for me down there but we will both be heading down south over Xmas and I am again hopeful of getting down for the early (and warmer part) of the footy season in March.

Nowadays Melbourne is about as far as I feel like travelling while I have lost much enthusiasm to travel overseas.  Despite this lack of enthusiasm, I still keep my eyes open for cheap airfares to Malaysia though!

The Time Had Come

And it happens to all of us, eventually the time comes.

Back in the days when we were 'rich', that is prior to the GFC, though careful with our money, if there was something we wanted, we bought it.  And so it was with my Bose Home Theatre Speaker system.  It cost close to $2000 when I first bought it, the Bose 'Mini' Speakers and the huge Optimus Sub Woofer which included all the power to run the mini speakers.

If you check today's prices for a similar modern day setup the price nowadays is closer to $1250!

On top of the speaker setup, you also needed a 'tuner/amplifier'.  All together with an OK tuner/amp and the great set of Bose speakers, you had a pretty awesome home theatre setup.

Except we live so close to our neighbours, so close that if they sneeze next door we hear!  On top of that I've now got hearing aids and 99% of the time I wear wireless headphones to hear the TV clearly enough!

So my Bose Home Theatre setup sort of just sat there gathering dust with wires everywhere  (I mean everywhere!) just waiting to be used!  Even a whole section of our home theatre cabinet was set aside for the tuner/amp!

It would be a Herculean task to move the cabinet on which the TV sits if ever you wanted to do so.

We had coils of Bose Speaker wires everywhere, hidden behind couches and stuffed down behind the home theatre unit. Every now and again Trish would suggest we move the TV unit or that we do something about all those wires!

It just so happened that all the major electrical retailers here recently had huge sales on and each them had loads of soundbars on special.  If I was going to retire my Bose system, I would want something reasonable to take their place.  But then again I wear hearing aids, we live on a tiny block of land and usually I wear wireless headphones to listen to the telly!

So I grabbed a mid range sound bar during one of those 'specials'.  It took a minimal amount of time to disconnect the Bose setup and move major pieces out of the way.  Then there was the tuner/amp to disconnect and put away.  The longest time was spent rolling up the metres and metres of wiring and putting it all away on a shelf in the garage.

Out came the new soundbar and the huge amount of polystyrene everything was wrapped in.  There was a sub-woofer as well which just needed 'powering on'.  It connected to the soundbar automatically using Bluetooth!  You powered it on and it automatically connected to the sound bar!, There were no wires, nothing!

Connecting the TV audio to the soundbar was a breeze, I just ran an optical cable from the TV to the soundbar.

By removing the tuner/amp I now had a whole section of TV Cabinet for my android TV boxes so they now could be stored out of the way from atop the TV cabinet.

But the big job was yet to come.  I use a 'Universal Remote Control' to run all my devices. So to watch stuff off Plex on my Nvidia Shield I need to power on the TV, the new soundbar, and the Nvidia Shield.  I need the TV then to go to HDMI 3 which is where the Shield is connected to the TV. Finally I need to be able to control the volume level on the soundbar.

With the universal remote control I press 1 button! The TV turns on, the Shield turns on, the soundbar turns on and the TV switched to input HDMI 3!  However because I removed the tuner/amp from my setup, meant I now had to reprogram the Universal remote Control so the Sound Bar would do the stuff the tuner/amp used to do.

And as is Murphy's Law always on this sort of thing, it didn't just work straight out of the box!

With some appropriate inappropriate language and some trial and error it wasn't long until everything was working as required.  And now everything in the lounge room is so much neater and tidier!

Of course the sound bar doesn't produce the sort of audio that the Bose speakers and tuner/amp did.  But to my half deaf ears, it sounds pretty good to me!

All in all it was a task which needed to be done and we have ended with an acceptable home theatre setup!

Let me know if you want a 2nd hand set of Bose mini speakers, an Optimus Bose Sub Woofer, around 100 metres of Bose cables and a lower end of the range tuner/amplifier!