Friday, October 31, 2008

Tasmanian Salmon

Bazza the neighbour showed up with buckets of salmon. Wanted me to take two. Between us we'd only eat one. So here is K cutting the sushi!


Was in Harvey Norman looking at TVs and saw my own DVD on their screens running as a demo! They ought to sell them...
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Thursday, October 30, 2008

Garbage!

Here is a refreshing photo of our curb-side recycling and garbage, indicative of a spring clean...

Every wednesday morning we put our own bin out with our recycling in the black plastic bucket and a box with paper for recycling. I am always amazed how the wind doesn't blow this recycling everywhere all the time. Seems really odd to put it out in the rain and wind like this without a cover. Now there is talk about stopping the curb-side recycling in Devonport! The garbage bins  are not council property, us residents have to buy these for ourselves. So what are our ever-increasing council rates used for instead??
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Spring is happening

Getting warmer every day now. Katherine is planting vegies and brushing the spiderwebs of the fence. Here are some pretty flowers we saw on our walk up Kelcey Tier this morning.

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Sunday, October 26, 2008

Graffiti in Devonport


Devonport City Council has adopted a Graffiti Management Policy and Plan last year which sees a whole of community approach to tackling this issue. It must be working as I don't often see much graffiti around - apart from the odd defaced signs! Today I ran around the Don path and found heaps of broken glass on the track just above the pool, complete with a (used) condom. This piece of nice graffiti was found at 41°10'42.29"S 146°19'27.91"E in case you like to visit it. Hopefully it wont last long with people riding and walking over it.

So should I walk over to the council and tell them? Wished they had email!
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Thursday, October 23, 2008

Enhanced Senseo Sensation


The eBay purchased Senseo accessories arrived via mail from Germany! Super quick delivery too! 

By now we are a little tired of the Senseo's choice of coffee. You really need to use two senseo coffee pads to make one half decent cuppa, and these pods are expensive! You buy them in packets of 18 pods for about $7, so if you think about it that is only 9 good cups - compared to a kilogram of beans which makes 324816754 cups for about $20.

So we now have two good alternative options. One is the coffeeduck (see above) a little basket that holds coffee, and the other one is a set of 5 refillable ecopads (see below), plastic pods. Both work fine, and both give you a good cup of coffee with your own choice of coffee! 

I prefer the Ecopad refillable Coffeepods as you can fill all 5 and use them conveniently. The Coffeeduck is a bit more clumsy as you have to rinse and re-fill in between each cup. Anyway, we are much happier with the Senseo now and do not feel pressured into buying a new e$$pre$$o ma$$ino!


If you have a Senseo I would highly reccomend you click Der Auctionator's store on eBay and order one for yourself:  <click here>.

...We are getting quotes for a new kitchen, but it is pretty expensive I think. Maybe we can do it after Christmas, but the other option is to leave the kitchen for now and get a garage and convert to gas hot-water/heating - about the same price as a kitchen renovation.... Choices...

Lillico Straight Clean Up


This morning with the blessing of a blue sky and a fresh breeze a dozen volunteers from The Friends of the Lillico Penguins (that is me!) and The Friends of the Don Reserve met to do a roadside clean-up. Outfitted with orange safety markers on the busy Bass Highway they picked up litter along the Lillico Beach Conservation Area. Parks and Wildlife employees coordinated the morning and supplied the required gear and equipment. Amongst the dozens of cigarette butts and broken bottles the volunteers found one intact chicken egg, a dead penguin and a dead kookaburra. Oh, and a discared parking infringement notioce too!

Friends of the Don carry out a variety of activities including planting of native trees and shrubs, weeding and general maintenance within the adjoining Don Reserve area. New members are always needed and welcome to join them. Contact Phil Murray on (03) 6420 2700 (wk) or 0438 002620 for general information.

Friends of the Lillico Penguins volunteers take turns watching and protecting the recently renovated and improved Lillico penguin viewing platform each night of the breeding season (3rd week of September - 1st week in May). From mid-December to mid-February they are supported by a Summer Ranger from the Parks and Wildlife’s annual Discovery Ranger Program. If you are interested in helping the Friends of the Lillico Penguins contact Peter Britton on 6425 2785.
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Friday, October 17, 2008

Senseo

Here it is. We replaced our aging (4 years old?) Espresso machine with a Senseo. K and I both thought it was a bit of a joke. How could we downsize to that! But when I was fed up with the espresso machine and the grinder (also 4 years old) as the coffee was just not coming out so good anymore and the grinder requiring coffee to go through twice in order to get a usable espresso ground, I had to go shopping quick in order to still use K's birthday as an excuse. Also, our plunging dollar is going to cause gadgets like it to go up in price very soon.

Anyway, there I am in the store realising the machine I want is $800, or I can get a cheaper one which does not have a conical bur grinder built-in for $350 but a grinder that will satisfy me for a few years is another $200.... And then the Senseo was discounted down to $39.... Well gosh golly miss molly... We had joked about it before, but now I saw fit to get one and see if we could deal with it.

Everyone I know in Holland has one.... I saw it in the rest of Europe and in the USA, it must be good.

So here it is. Makes alright coffee. Nothing seriously espresso about it, nut it is very simple, very clean, very fast, no fuss. Instead of having one seriously good industrial strength coffee in the morning, I now have a few coffees throughout the day.

Not being that popular in Australia yet the supermarkets do not have too many Senseo coffee pods on the shelves, so the choice of coffee is limited and expensive. I went to eBay and purchased a Coffeeduck for the Senseo so I can put my own coffee in. Can't wait to get it.

Wish us luck!

But maybe one day soon we will get a good espresso machine and grinder again.
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Friday, October 10, 2008

Back to the good ole routine

Katherine is working at the Devonport station again. Rode with her to work again the last two nights. Nice firde home for me along the tracks. Lots of flowers out as it is spring. Lawn mowing has commenced as well!

And today I discovered that the baby who lives behind us is called Oliver! This is funny because their black cat Oscar we always for some reason thought was called Oliver (for years before the baby was born and unbeknown to the neighbour) and we called the cat Oscar-Oliver as we never remembered which name it really was. As a matter of fact I keep on forgetting the neighbours name too, but now I will remember James and Emma and OLIVER! Who knows what their doggy is called.... I've been told many a times.

Here you can see how Afullah and Oscar-Oliver play nicely: The Great Afullah Rules

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Birthday at Sheffield


Sheffield Ambulance Station is not exactly an architectural wonder.... Katherine's little house is the shady area in the back. It was where she was last night for her birthday.

I went over and arranged dinner for her. As she was on duty we couldn't go anywhere or drink anything alcoholic. We'll make up for that tonight! She got two nice cakes and a birthday card from the Sheffield Volunteers who all showed up (a dozen or so) for training - which Katherine had to do on her birthday!


Happy birthday wife!

Husband-----
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Monday, October 06, 2008

It still stumps me..

After the World Trade Centre towers neatly 'collapsed' and the little (!) TC 7 Building was badly damaged the reporters were told 'we are going to have to let go Building 7' and twenty minutes later they neatly 'collapsed' that building too somehow. I was all convinced that crashing a big jet into a building conveniently collapses it - we saw it happen twice in one day - but no, it turns out they can just press a button as well!

Normally it takes weeks/months to prepare explosive charges to safely 'implode' a building. How could they have done this on such short notice in a burning building, and why didn't they do this with the Oklahoma Federal Building (remember that one). It burned for days and never came close to collapsing.
Anyway, I just saw this on the internet and it reminded me of the conspiracy theory! On the right is a controlled demolition:


collapse @ Yahoo!7 Video

If anyone remembers, Hitler conveniently started his dictatorship banning other political parties from existing after the Reichstag Building was burned down supposedly by a 'communist'. Hitler suspended all of the basic rights of citizens and imposing the death sentence for arson, sabotage, and disturbances to public order. Arrests could be made on suspicion, and people could be sentenced to prison without trial or the right of counsel, and this was 'For the Protection of the People and State,'. Sounds a little like a Counter-Terrorism Bill doesn't it!

Just like President Bush was able to start the 'War on Terror' after 9/11, President Clinton instigated the Counter-Terrorism Bill after blaming the Oklahoma Federal Building bombing on domestic right-wing terrorists. Timothy McVeigh was arrested for the crime, but there is plenty of controversy about that as well. Enough of this, it is outside our fence of 2 Rose Court!

Personally I think there is just soooo much we don't know about and so much we do not want to know about. We ought to just trust the press and not think for ourselves. Ignorance is bliss!

Here is just one link to the 9/11 conspiracy if anyone is interested. There are plenty more of course.
http://www.serendipity.li/wtc5.htm

Friday, October 03, 2008

Living the Dream


Went for a walk with Katherine at our Kelcey Tier... Well, wow, what a difference a tune-up makes! I know the tracks back to front and how hard/easy they are. Today I flew, my legs barely touching the ground. I felt like running the whole way up, never felt there was much of a hill. A month ago I had to sit down 5x to get up the hill and had real trouble doing any of the walks. Today I left K. well behind. She is scared I might stay this way.

My belly is getting (to look) funny with the blood thinner injections going into it twice a day, but that is only a temporary thing. Can't wait to stop that. The extra inhaled antibiotics I am still inhaling are cumbersome and slow, but I deal with it.

The physio in the hospital was fantastic, and I feel I have really learned to clear my airways more efficiently with the autodrainage (?)techniques that Jenny taught me with lots of patience. They are not easy to pick up, but I find them very useful, doing some whilst driving and walking. Lets hope I keep on feeling this good.

I have no idea why I feel so good as my lung function has not increased particularly much, and my oxygen levels are not particularly high.
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Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Freedom


This is the Royal Hobart Hospital in Tasmania - my torture ground for the past couple of weeks.


Before heading home, on my 3 hour drive to Devonport, I stopped at Paul and Jane's place to say gidday. Eli and Caddy were out in full force cheering me up with nail polish, cake and sunshine. Jane was in her nursing uniform about to leave, a nasty reminder of where I had just come from! I wonder if released inmates have these reactions to uniforms too.
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