Remote medical

 Even if I use a tablet on my end, another variation on filming these is at the other end where  a phone can turn portrait or landscape even half way thru the call. This video is hot off the press where Asher is pursuing her latest favourite game using her medical bag.  I was getting my fingers examined remotely as it seems they are not quite right. I'll say, even on the phone they look warped.  This part is mainly her being examined.

Video videos

Frequent but well timed video calls are becoming the go.  Just at feed time or maybe a tummy time before bed.  Filming them on a phone does not seem to work as well as those tablet styled screens obviously with their bigger area to aim at.  I have one of each below where Estelle is just working out that there is someone talking (singing) on the other end and in Evie's case she knows that something tasty is on that spoon and wants it fast.

Pelican Way

You would think mowing the lawns was enough exercise for one day but we blew out the cobwebs with a beach walk this afternoon at the same time keeping an eye on the various rain clouds that were dripping.  The pelicans came in for some fishing but we want to know how the signal is given.  Initially there were five and from the lookout later we could see two more fly in for a feed. Molly had to answer a question on the "who wants a million?" show about how birds communicate and she got it right.  These birds were kms away from each other and on the way back another three had arrived.  Some sort of fish radar.

we dodged the clouds

Beach Frame

 Our circuit ride is just about maximised to be the longest we can get inside a 5km radius eg riding 21.3 km.  Winter has gone away today with a Northerly breeze and plenty of Sun, so the ride was crowded out with many bikes and pedestrians.  The slapstick moment occurred when a dog on a lead, lunged at a woman, catching the owner off guard who then sprawled in slow motion going down on the grass with legs in the air like a beetle.  This weeks beach frame message written with sea bombs is 'Stay Safe'.

Feathered Rock

Auctioned Out

 My Winter lockdown stockpile of aging stamp albums has completely run out.  I have emptied them all and made a selection of the stamps that I was interested in. I have thrown 10 older unsuitable albums in the bin but there are at least another 10 reusable ones that I can recycle.  So casting around for the next auction target turns out that the two that I follow were both on the same day, being yesterday.  I was leading the bids in the first but had to trump in online for the 2nd auction.  The count down is worse than watching paint dry.  It took two days for my choices to come under the hammer.  However I have managed to get my own copy of a 1840 penny black, however it is sight unseen so have no idea of its condition. All up I was successful in 4 lots from two simultaneous auctions. That's enough auction action for a while.

ILIUM

 I have been drawn to Dan Simmons before and this is part 1 of a two part epic and it is hard to grasp the scale of it.  One day Capt James T Kirk was flying thru space as he does and a hand closed over the Enterprise holding it fast. A nearby God was curious.   I remember that episode and this book has that type of theme, the Iliad comes to space.  They are all there and more, Hector, Achilles, Zeus and they live on Mars these days and let's not omit the Little Green Men.  In this saga the Greeks and the Trojans have joined forces with the LGMs and they are not happy with the Gods. Onto part two.

Mixed Bag

 This is literally a mixed bag of photos and other bits and pieces.  I knew it was in the cupboard but I thought it was mostly old frames. I was on the hunt for the six wooden sided single photo frames that hung on the wall of the Woolley St laundry. They had fallen off and broken on frequent occasions when the wall was banged outside. One of them is a photo of Laura in a trough at Mt Beauty. (This Mt Beauty hunt is still on going).  I have spent two hours scanning the contents of this bag today.  I have been dismantling frames, scanning and putting them back again.  Also there are packets of photos in there as well.  

sleeping on the ground

kissing a skeleton

describing the clouds

Crowded Rock

 I have one of the spyglasses mostly trained on the rock groyne below and it was standing room only. I have never seen such an ornthologists gathering like this.  I went down with my rubbish bag but stayed clear of the feathered friends. I went all along to the other end and back picking up mainly small plastics, a chewed dog ball and other small stuff. I was expecting the flock to have flown at any instant. I took some pics went up to the lookout and there was still no disturbance, so I made my way back. Then I could see a fisherboy on a bike coming along.  One thing about COVID, it gives boys time to fish.

Kiewa Country

 For some reason we have been reminiscing about outings to Mt Beauty, probably because we cannot go any where passed 5km at the moment. These trips started in the mid 80s with a race up and down Mt Bogong on the long weekend in March. I can remember doing this event at least three of four times and the aim was to get under 3 hrs for the 18kms or so.  I convinced quite a crowd to try this and the Disseldorp's got right into it.  These continued all thru the 90's until we settled on a beach location at Collendina however the racing part stopped with too many twisted ankles. Then we just made it an annual thing, damming up the creek and buying comic books.

during the race 1990

damming the creek 1990

Laura in the kidney pool. James on the chair. 1990

volleyball 1990

cricket 1991

damming the creek 1991

Daniel engineer 1991

Garden Update No 436

 The Japanese weeper is a lot of maintenance.  After last Summer when it was getting burned off and where previously there was a Sun screen rigged over it, we then decided to dig it up, place it in a large pot and move it into the shade. Amazingly it did not die, however now that Winter is closing, this plant has gotten no Sun at all and is showing no signs of a bud anywhere.  It seems it needs wheels so that it can be moved from season to season.  In its old spot there are now two roses  that were dug up from out the back. 

garden bed in a dish

The roses aren't red now
And there's no violets either
But what's in the bed now
Will give us a breather

20km ride

 We got a ride in before the 1:00pm countdown to lockdown. Not that we really knew lockdowns were starting in the afternoons these days.  I would say we were not more than 5kms from the house anyway.  However our big goal was to reach the 20km mark.  We added a bonus loop at the end which got us up to 21.3 km.  There was a bit of warmth to it as well and a lot of blossom, which we stopped for along the way.  Our long awaited rescheduled ASO concert has been postponed for a second time.  We knew that was coming.  

this week's beach message

the possum in the blossom (not really)

Evie's video call

 Asher needs some minding today but with current rules only one of us can go, so I have gotten onto the video bandwagon and resurrected my old facebook account in order to get messenger going on the old tablet device that Debbie has disgarded. Phew! After a few tries we got it working and had a session where my shopping was done and my elbow was fixed. However all that is not on the video below as I seem to be a few days behind with my editing, as usual.  Mind you so far, Evie does not care when the call is ending like Asher does.

Cool Water Wader

The Sun was out and the Tide was up, however the breeze was a little too breezy but I decided to go in anyway, for another waist deep slow jog thru the water.  The other main ingredient is that the water was very clear.  The sensations are hard to describe but after 10 minutes my brain was convincing me that I was warming up.  Then when you get out the sensation is way different as the redness quickly disappears. I don't think I want to try that Scandinavian hot tub cold plunge routine.  The pelicans seem to be very active of late but you have to quick on the camera draw to capture a shot before they wheel away.

This small beach was inundated with grass but now is clear

arrow head squadron

Garden Update No 301

 I don't think I put up a photo of the redressed green lady after her final touch ups.  She had been moved a bit but has settled on a spot in the courtyard.  As a part of this, some more thinning and replanting occurred out the front which meant some more plants went onto the kerb for public collection.  Lately there has also been the ever present lemon tray. We have refilled this tray at least five times now and the tree does not look depleted. There must be another 100 lemons still on there. It has been a yellow wind fall and as far as I know no one has been peeing on it.

My Gov

 There seem to be more reasons lately to be getting involved with the Government website.  This is the best place to get proof of the injections we have been taking and I have printed out my copy which I might start carrying around. There is talk of a COVID passport and I know google are looking into it.  I don't have to pay much tax lately but the amounts I do pay are no longer notified by mail, I have to read a message in MyGov and also pay it up in there as well.  I also notice there is a mathematically generated receipt showing a breakdown of where my money was spent by the Gov.  A few bullets here, a pensioner there.  Another  thing which no one else seems to have that I can find, is a list of future vaccinations that I have to get. Such as Zoster. Good thing I'm not anti vax.

Estelle's Video Call

 I have been playing around with the Samsung Tablet video recording function. Sure enough with the latest tablet, which we have one of, you can record a video call, however you cannot have a sound track if you are also using the microphone. So our first effort with this, of Evie and Laura, turned out to be a silent movie. If you are watching something with a soundtrack then it will happily record it, however a video call immediately turns on the microphone, which limits recording. So I have gone back to the trusty video camera for the next call which was from Estelle.  There will need to be more practice for these.  I have added a sunset for good measure.

                                                                         Estelle film debut

                                                                           You Yangs Sunset

To be Heirs Forever

 Decided to go for a Pub lunch because we can.  Maybe a weekday may have been better as it was very busy.  The thing I have to remember now is bringing proof of address.  There is a check for any Melburnians trying to have a Sunday lunch. People are being turned away with the wrong address. I have done some reading since the Olympics. Anyone from Perth, Fremantle or even all over WA should read 'To be Heirs Forever'. This is an account of pioneers coming out to settle on the lure of free land.  And a hard job it was without convict labour initially.  These were your original sandgropers and they did a lot of years struggling with sandy soil.

Elbows and knuckle bones

 My right arm has been giving me some trouble, mainly because I rubbed it too hard yesterday. Some massage is ok but I have to tone it down as you don't find out til the next day if there is a bruise.  So I am trying to have a day where the left hand is doing more than my right. This did not start out OK when we went for a ride this morning while the Sun was out. I have to grip with the left hand when going up the hill and leave the right hand free.  Even things like turning taps and door knobs can set it off.  We saw a different type of boat along the way. The Sea Coral is a research ship but what is it researching in Geelong.

.

                                                  The Smile is gone and replaced by a blank canvas.

                                                  Maybe they will have it finished by next week.

Sea Coral

AZ No2

 For some reason over the last three months, people who have had their 2nd jab of AZ have been asking me if I have had my 2nd jab to which I would reply the same as last time. It does seem to have been a very slow three month count down. So today we pushed in and booked it this morning and got it injected in the afternoon.  We were supposed to get it next week but there was a free spot today.  if you think we have COVID trouble, think about our Pure Bookkeeping workers in the Philippines. They have been in lockdown for a year, in small cramped apartments. We found out they have to pay for the vaccination as well. We had previously been paying for their health insurance but now we have paid up their COVID bill as well, so at least that part is done. 

Beach Report No 492

 The wind and rain came in heavy in the afternoon. It lasted a few hours but when it cleared the clouds that are left often bring the Sunsets. I went over to see if there were any big changes.  The seagrass is still laying about but there are no new deposits and if anything, seems less than before. As for flotsam, there was nothing major around and since the pipe I dragged up to the bin is still there I did not want to add anything else to the pile until they got rid the last lot.  Is it too early for Spring as there seem to be a few flowers starting to sprout along the foreshore.

retreating storm cloud

Kestrel

Barbecue

We had the world's biggest barbecue back in Essendon, plumbed for gas, plumbed for water with in built sink but we left it behind.  It is a bit of a down grade here with a small weber to work with. Daniel upgraded the court yard lights  months ago and we have not made much use of them.  The area has had a tidy up with the plant lady being moved and redressed and also we carried the barbecue down from balcony to its new spot under the flood light.  The idea is that Winter barbecuing can resume.  We may yet get a second barbie or carry our snags up to the balcony.  We gave it a go last night, the only issue being that the light attracts the bugs. 

two plant ladies

lighted snags

20000

My stamp database tally count went passed 20000 stamps today.  There has been an acceleration, in that the current batch I am following came from a source where they insisted on any stamp that was to be included was a triple ie either three horizontally or vertically, which also means the valuations are tripled as well.  I have no such requirement. One stamp will do me but if they come in tres, I will take them. This lot relate to Norfolk Island, an Australian Island, so right in my focus.  I am also on the trail of a Penny Black at one of the auctions I follow. This is already being keenly contested (two weeks to go) but it is the first time I have noticed one up for auction.  I imagine it will be a bit worn out as it would not be for sale here.  

A depiction of the Mutiny on the Bounty

Asher's Video Call

We have done numerous video calls but it has not occurred to me to try recording them. Asher now has this automated need to place us (the phone) inside her dolls house. I have a program on my computer called SnagIt which lets you record anything that is happening on the screen. However it is Debbie's Samsung tablet that we use for video calls, so taking a video of a video seems a bit over the top. After some editing of armpits, jostlations, (new word I just invented) and other couch movements, the results are reasonable.  With more practice I think I could concentrate the focus directly on the screen however in future we just need to SnagIt for the best result.  At least I had a project to do in the post Olympic time slot. There is always some reading as well, which lapsed during the Olympics.

Calm Ride

 We moved the ride from yesterday to today with a forecast of calm sunny conditions. And you know it is calm with the paragliders doing their thing as they fly right across our view. Not sure why they need a motorised fan behind them. Maybe they can switch to electric, even use a solar panel chute.  As we went along it was plain that the lockdown wasn't being observed too well.  It was actually slow in places trying to ride due to the crowds. Not sure where they were coming from but it would have been more than 5kms away.  At least we can still smile.