Boat Action

 I have been observing the waterside comings and goings of late. The two yachts are still hanging out and the theory is they are waiting for the current weather pattern to pass which is much calmer this morning.  I can see one is Green Tim and the other could be White Julie but I think the name is on the otherside in the video below. Just checked the Marine Traffic map and can see it is named Poseidon. I have also been waiting for something to happen on the Navy pier across the way. Overnight a freighter named BBC Destiny has docked there with a couple of tugs and what looks like one of those orange pilot boats. This must be some preparation for the use of the pier. Hooray.

Indoors Only

The rain is coming at my window here from the South which does not happen often.  This is a stamp day for sure.  I filmed a yacht anchored across the way for the last few days.  Last night was calm and serene but today they are getting drenched, all part of their lifestyle. At least we can go outside for a ride if want.  This rain will all be gone before Saturday comes.  I have a stamp article here that I spent some weeks working on but with no where to put it.  The first website I tried has not replied after three attempts. I have found another website which has an Australian connection, so that may be a better option.  

Nettle & Bone

 We seem to be in a pattern of rain during the day then sunshine in late afternoon.  I am taking it slower of late but I expect this back issue to go away completely by the end of today.  I was able to pack some boxes of photos getting them sprightly and tightly for mailing purposes.  So Clancy members will be getting an extra present this Christmas, don't forget to look for the USB drive in a white envelope. Just saw some nasty dog action, the owner said it was a tight leash because it always went for small dogs, so the other guy went in a different direction.  Just finished the Nettle and Bone story. It is the most recent Hugo winner from this year and if you like the Harry Potter books then this one is for you. I was supposed to use a gift certificate so now I will have to get another book.

Devices have ears

Our TV at Williamstown often picks up words in our conversation trying to act on what it thinks is a command.  We have been talking about Ibuprofen lately as something to take for some back pain inflammation. We mentioned it a lot as we rummaged to see if there was any at Williamstown. It is a unique word easily recognised and now I am seeing it as ads when I log on. There is also a video being advertised when I go onto Youtube.  We did not type it anywhere it was only mentioned in audible conversation.  There are many devices with microphones that can hear better now. There is a chatGPT wearable pin that can see and hear and works on voice but can also project onto your hand for other commands.  Be careful what you say.

Under Water Willie

Got the Kogan camera unloaded and this time I have something recorded as opposed to the first Willie snorkel where it was not recording.  Not that there is a lot to see but the area has potential, I just have to work out the right track.  My lone starfish is a standout in the Sunlight about halfway thru. It does show the effects of the light which is one of my tick boxes for a snorkel but no fish. The photos are from the end of the walkway, so half a plan is to start the snorkel on the small beach and make my way around and emerge near this boardwalk.  This needs to be thought thru as there is no path and I will need the reef shoes etc etc.

the idea is to start in the furthest bay and swim toward this location emerging to get onto the boardwalk

Dodgy Back Walk

 They say the best thing when you have a back twinge is to keep moving.  I am doing a lot of waiting today while Asher does her ballet concert. In the meantime I walked back to the arboretum if you can call it walking.  By the time I got there I was a bit looser but on the return walk it stiffened up.  The good old heat bag has worked though. The arboretum has all the trees labelled and a few seats hidden in grottoes. Not sure why they needed to label the saltbush .  You gaze around and there is swathes of saltbush all over the place.  Should be heading back to Clifton Springs shortly.

sand & stone

Willie Swim

 My back is a bit dodgy with various gardening activities but with a few pills and a heat bag it seems to be freeing up. The forecast was for rain this afternoon so I went across to the Jawbone area this morning, instead of later today.  This is my second go at a snorkel in this area. It seems that the tides arn't necessarily a consideration as it gets deep quickly, although it helps when swimming among the rocks closer to shore. I can see the area is made up of two bays and I have been checking out the closest.  There is a bit of a beach further around. I have not seen a single fish, except for a starfish but there must be some here somewhere. I think the video has worked this time but do not have the gear to unload it at Williamstown.

rock pools

bird hide

centre of the arboretum

Willie Jungle

 We have unpacked some boxes here. There will be no shortage of glasses and fancy ones at that from Grandma. We also bought a dinner set and mug sets as well, too bad there arn't many cupboards. I have just picked Debbie up from the Keilor colonoscopy clinic.  This should be the last one of these after she switches to poo tests. Between the drop off and pickup times,  I had two hours to do something about the growth in the backyard.  It took longer to do than at Clifton Springs. I could not see some of the pavers as they had been grown over. The pressure was on as it was green bin time this morning as well, so I kept going out to spread this stuff in various bins. Hooray. PS Debbie has been told to put her feet up for the rest of the day. Hooray.

Poison Pal

 The main action this morning was getting out the big spray bottle. At 5 litres it is more like a spray tank and I use all 5 litres of it to do one round of this house and that is just paths, gutters and patios, no lawns and no garden beds.  I also got the netting out to cover the strawberries but those new fruit trees will need a separate net.  The car is now loaded with boxes, beds and garden gear for Williamstown. We will be based there before shifting to Gisborne for the Wedding Day. We need all the grand kiddie gear we can handle at Williamstown, that means beds,toilet seat, high chair and toys.

Cryoburn

 This is one of the more recent volumes in the Vorkosigan series (There have since been four more in the last ten years) which is easy to tell as it has a CD inside the backcover, but still dates it to around 15 yar ago. Now I have to find an old machine that might still play CDs. In the meantime this yarn unfolds on a nearby planet that has designs on the native world whereby they want to bring their latest technology, which is freezing people, to be revived at a later time. I think that sort of thing is happening, for real life.

 I have sent some emails to the Exponet people about my stamp article but have not heard back.  I know a paper was put up there about 5 months ago which is when I started writing my own.  There are 10 volunteers in the committee so one of them has to be paying attention.

Rock Show

 These concerts are a long haul but worth it in the end.  We were not even sure who was playing as we worked our way into the venue.  It is a great spot in front of the mansion to set up your chairs in full view of the stage.  We went to a Day on the Green about 12 yar back and that was a 35° day set in a dirt paddock with no shade. It is hard not to compare. This was an ideal day, with a slight breeze and 23°.  The lawn was manicured and most people cleaned up as they went.  The crowd was older, not many people under 40.  The playlist might influence that, with Boom Crash Opera, Hunters & Collectors, Daryl Braithwaite, INXS and Icehouse. I would recommend this show over the Day on the Green. Here they have an all access Mosh, where you can come and go as you please. The songs just kept coming and they were our vintage.  Some of the band members were bemoaning the digital age and have a point.  They say the newer brigade prefer to hear their music by the push of a button rather than go to a live show.  The organisation of some groups cannot be believed.  Trays and trays of food coming out of eskies for 20 people. Parents with babies that need headphone protection.  All in all a good dayout and Laura arranged the tickets as Debbie's birthday present.  

One Electric Day

 It's got to be a sign of too much going on when you suddenly get a reminder that a concert booked six months ago, as a birthday present, is on tomorrow.   Now we are scrambling this morning to comply with all the entry rules and working out exactly where to go.  When we were at Werribee Park two weeks back there was a sign that said, avoid the Zoo on a particular day as it will be mayhem.  We didn't pay it much mind as we wouldn't be near the place. Wrong.  To be continued...

Degrassing

 It's green bin day coming up and the grass here has browned off heaps but there are those yellow perils popping up all over the place. It took less than an hour to cut those down to size.  We need to cover the fruit out back as the nectarines are starting to show some ripening. There are also many strawberries but all green hardness. The indoor plants have survived the Charlie challenge and are showing the most colour at the moment. The last of the orchids will drop this week. I did not check the olive tree but we should get a reasonable haul despite the late haircut.

Knee Tester

Had to get out and about as the clouds have kept us inside this week.  It was time to give my knee a longer go on the bike. I did go round the block last week mainly checking out the bike adjustments. This morning I went to the Jetty Rd beach area and return by the same route.  There is a bit of a hill so it was a good test.  I do seem to have a clicking type sound but then that happens with other bones as well.  The beach there is relatively clear of dried grass.  I remember it was choked previously and required the council cleanup brigade but not now and the water is also clear of growth almost all the way along the pylons. I will try a swim there at least once this Summer. 

how clear

ExpoNet.info

 I have spent almost as much time preparing the pages for submission as writing them.  It is all about giving it a try and see what happens.  Looking over the specifications, they want each page at a certain pixel size ie no less than 1280 for the width and also any images at least 300dpi, both of which I have now.  After copying each page from Word into Paint, I was able to save them as jpg images. Today I resized every page to be 1352 pixels wide which was double what Paint saved them as. These guys from ExpoNet.info are based in the Czech Republic. I do not want to load up a USB drive to wait another six weeks before they get it and then tell me I have to do something else.  There is a File Transfer method that I have asked for, which is similar to what I did years ago with my Team Sarcomere webpage.  Now that is something I have not looked at in 20 yar. Hold that thought.  It seems the Sarcomere page is not working any more. I did a quick check of the Domain name and that part is still valid and payments are up to date. So the problem is at the Optus end. Them again.. I digress.  

If you want to get somewhere don't use a stamp

 It takes five to six weeks to receive mail from Europe these days.  It took six weeks from Belgium and just yesterday a letter arrived after five weeks from Italy.  I was hanging out for these as I have written a not too scientific presentation, "tongue in cheek"even, about maps on stamps, a not too ambitious 5000 words.  Those letters had the last few stamps that I have featured in the article. The people who run the website that I will give it to, do not want a word file, which is exactly what I used to write it. They want a series of JPG files as it is easier for them to display it. I have spent hours today trying to get a page by page equivalent set of  JPG images for each page.  I think I have the recipe for doing it now but it has been a long process. I have only done the first three pages with 14 still to go. Here are the starting pages.  

                                      

Grass & Floaties

 I have closed the call I had with the Dell man. There is a configuration where my monitor problem is minimised so I am going with that, rather than start again with a new windows installation.  The last of my recent videos have been unloaded including the underwater cam. There is not much to see in this one but I put it up anyway.  Lots of grass off into the distance.  I spent some hours scanning thru photos for next years couple of calendars which I finished and have sent off to be printed. This photo is one I found that did not make it to the calendar.  I took it soon after the bicycle incident.  My knee is now back to its normal size although there is still some soreness.

Swim Track

 We are trying for a rest day here although Pure Bookkeeping never stops.   There is a coolish breeze but I took the rubbish bag over anyway.  Another reasonable haul of butts, some cans, small plastics and a teatowel.  Also walked out to the ends of both groyne rock piers.  I have photos from each end of my swim track to get a bead on direction. It's easy when you are standing above looking down.  It's a bit feint in places but you go there, then through there, simples.

From the East end there is a path that fades

From the West end

Tulla Pickup

 The main thing this morning was to get to the airport for the pickup rendezvous.  That means the Evie and Charlie one month show has come to the end.  Throw in a Bucko Day of drinking and that makes for a big weekend.  It should be a settled period for the next two weeks then it all starts up again.  I was all ready for a sleep last night and when I pulled off the covers there were no sheets.  Trying to sleep with just a prickly blanket is not what I am used to. I still haven't got the Williamstown to Clifton Springs transition quite right yet.  We called in to see grandma and grandpa on the way back and gave them a "how to" on watching Youtube.

My Preciousssss

 Managed to work the trains out to get to Richmond station and it took three of them. I wasn't intending to get the train back again but since Tim was getting a train and it is free rides for seniors at the weekend so why not.  Except they cancelled my train and I would have had to get off because of Flemington race interlopers anyway, so I exited Spencer St and went outside to find a taxi. I also got to use the secret code on the Village gate to get back in. Between all of that it was boys day out party time.  Some of these lads were looking a bit seedy as they had been at it from the day before. At the Cricketers Arms we had a pool tournament held on small tables which meant we had a better chance of getting some balls in. There was a guy on roller skates trying to hold the cue steady as well as a beer so good effort all around. I think mention should go to Larry and Brendon as the winners if I have remembered that right.  Next stop was the Wharf Hotel for some more drinks and yarns. The whole city was alive with dressed up race goers. This time there was a rather scary guy who kept drawing attention from everybody.  The third venue was off to the Crown Towers for more ribaldry but that is where Tim and  I left them to it.  I think after two nights of this stuff they will be a bit dusty tomorrow.

Can't even go for a wee wee without making new friends

Tall Grass

 Made it to Williamstown on the first leg of the Bucko. The grass here has taken off.  It must be a month since we were last here and the backyard is green as. There is no mowing this time around maybe tomorrow morning as I think Debbie's plane is around midday.  I have to get the train schedule to Richmond and the only trick is changing trains at Flinders St. 

Roses are Red and Grass is Green who cares if its long if its never seen

Swim Time

 The tide was up, the Sun out and overall very calm. The new snorkel is better than my old one but despite all that the deeper grass is thwarting my swim.  This is the second time I have swum from West to East. Next go I will turn it around to see if that is better.  It was calm except for one SeaDoo.   I have some more video, this time from Werribee Zoo. It does remind you of Jurassic Park when you drive through those steel sliding gates. This clip is from the Land of the Long Necks and Pointy Horns. The other one is from my desk here where a Kestrel was sheltering during a storm. It's ok he brought a snack.

The open plains

The Fairies at the Park

 I tried the new snorkel gear across the road for the first time. The flippers have a much better fitting system than the previous lot.  I need to get a better track thru the grass and from the groyne it seems there is a way through. Didn't see many fish. I picked up a bonus bag of rubbish as well.  Also unloaded the videos from the last two weeks. There will be four main videos, the first of which is from the Fairy Park and at 18 minutes I think it will be the longest. I have a short excerpt here. Those girls were the perfect age for this park and even Charlie was clapping along as well. I will add the others as I get them sorted.

The Cyclone has left the Building

 It was all systems go for packing up this morning and stuff was strewn from one end to the other. I think there was more to go back in the car than when they arrived considering birthday presents. It was so organised there was time for gardening before they left. I got Debbie packed off to the airport bus which is timed to arrive about the same time as the Taylors.  Hopefully this Optus shutdown has not stopped planes from taking off. When I got back, the house was eeriely quiet.  I did between 10,000 and 12,000 steps a day while the visitors were here, double what I would normally do.

Crossing the bridge Charlie style

I don't like weeds

Werribee revisited

 I have spent a lot of time at Werribee over the years and the Zoo there is changing all the time. The next big thing is a huge area being prepared for elephants.  Melbourne Zoo are moving the elephants to Werribee Zoo.  There were a lot of people being a public holiday but the zoo is so huge it swallowed everyone. We got inside at lunch time and immediately found plenty of grass under trees for lunch.  We could not organise a birthday cake for Laura but the zoo was a good outing. We walked our way, with many distractions, to the Safari station. Now this is as good as any Disney type jungle drive and these are thru real animals. There are five of these long four carriage haulers that can take 80 to 100 people at a time.  The giraffes and rhinos were a highlight as we got very close. We went straight to the water splash park after that as these kids needed reviving.  This was next to the hip hip hippo river so there was non stop hippo action.  We headed for the exit via the lions, gorillas and monkees and there was no time for meerkats.

Charlie board rider

 It was a bit of a rest day if you can count any of these days as being slightly less hectic. There was still a trip to the playground at Port Arlington then there was the beach session across the road in the afternoon. Now that I think of it the trolley ride with Charlie on board on the way down and Evie on board on the way back up plus some chairs, a shelter and other beach gear was too  invigorating.  Charlie just gets right into the whole beach scene. I can see both of these kids getting into the nippers according to Dad.

Trains Slides and Sand

 There is a good spot for family outings,picnics or just playtime near Port Arlington.  If you time it for the right Sunday there are train rides as well.  Asher has used this train before but it is the first time everyone is onboard.  We got there around midday and snagged a picnic table. So we setup with kids table, chairs blankets etc and had a picnic lunch. This was also right next door to the play area.  So that kept them going for another hour.  This was good as it meant the train queue was getting smaller and smaller.  We packed all that up and headed for the train station. It was still a 30min wait but we got a double carriage train to ourselves.  After that you simply cross the carpark to the beach.  By this stage I had shuffled the picnic gear down and the beach gear to the surface.  Another two hours was spent in an around the shallows.  I did remove a large spiny starfish into deeper water.

I think I can.  It seems these battery trains have trouble hauling adults.

How many under one umbrella