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New Year
It’s a new year or at least it is in this blog. I’ve been too silent lately but I’m hoping to change that. I still have a post to write about going to Brisbane in November so that might be one of the next posts I write.
We’re just about at the end of summer now with autumn officially starting on March 1st. Of course it’s still pretty warm here. Unlike much of Australia, we didn’t have so many nasty fires around the Perth area. There was a big one in December but nothing of major note since then. We’ve been quite lucky in that respect. We did have some really hot weather in early December but temperatures this summer were mostly mild to moderate compared to years past. That makes three summer where it’s not been all that terrible.
What has been harsher is the humidity. When we first got our air conditioning back in 2002 or 2003, it worked really well here as the heat was mostly dry and only a few days in the summer caused it to work poorly for us. It’s an evaporative system which had been typical here but the number of humid days is getting a lot higher and so we end up having an ineffective cooling system. We have other issues with the current system we have so have ideas of changing it in the next year or two. I think it’s quite possible we may switch to a different type of system next time.
This week has been a stormy one and we’ve had a lot of rain over the few days. It started on Monday although we didn’t get rain where we live. I’d been expecting rain so avoided watering plants but then we didn’t get any. I finally watered plants on Tuesday morning and sure enough we had a big amount of rain dumped on us that afternoon. Well I think it was a big amount since I wasn’t home when it happened. It definitely was a dumping where the Scientist and I were. The storm cell seemed to weaken a bit before it got here so I think it was just a lot of rain and storminess but nothing too close.
Today the sun has come back out and it’s mostly big fluffy clouds although it’s still possible we’ll get more rain. After that it’s supposed to be dry for at least a few days.
Oh and the other thing that we’ve had trouble with here are the hot nights. Every night lately has been above 20C which is pretty unusual. especially when the daytime temperatures haven’t been super high.
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Latest happenings
I went to give plasma again today and it all went well aside from a bit of blood leaking out from the site of the needle. There’s a high demand for plasma so I offered to go back in a couple weeks but there are no appointments available until next month. So my next donation will be in early June. I seem to have become a bit of a regular at this now. :)
We are bracing for the first major winter storm of the year. Unless one counts that nasty storm that came through in mid-March and left a fair bit of damage around the town. Seems the next few days are going to be nearly cyclonic conditions with heavy rains and thunderstorms and strong winds. So far we’ve only just got the rain with a bit of wind around here. Game Fanatic is kind of happy for the wintry weather since that means it will be good stew weather and he loves his stews.
I was going to go to the gym yesterday since I had my blood donation today…but then I spent a bit of time in our yard and realised a lot of work needs to be done. So instead of spending an hour at the gym I spent a couple working in the garden. I finally planted some chilli plants that have been sitting in our kitchen window for ages. One has grown quite tall and has two chillies on it and another one has some small Thai chillies on it. The jalapeno plants nearly died as small seedlings but they came back to life for a while. I suspect that one might survive…assuming it doesn’t get too battered by the storms ahead. The other plans should be okay as they are a bit more solid. I also planted out mint seedlings into a big pot and assume they will be okay as they tend to be quite hardy. I also did a lot of hacking on some overgrown bushes out there. One is a tea tree that pretty much takes up a huge part of the yard. I’m trying to cut it back and eventually remove it…but it’s quite big at the base so I’m not sure how that will go. There were also shrubs overhanging the driveway and making it difficult to get in and out without them scratching the car…it’s now all clear even though the one shrub looks a bit bare on one side. Hopefully I’ll get out and do the rest some time soon so make it look a bit more balanced…The nice thing about this one (a bottlebrush) is that I can hack it up and it comes right back with no trouble. Then today I went out to check on plants and noticed something growing up into another bottlebrush tree at the back (different type)…turns out it’s a wild passionfruit vine that had found it’s way up the tree. Then I found another one up there and realised we have to get rid of those soon as they will choke the trees out back. They have lovely flowers on them but are truly invasive around here. :(
Also marking the start of the winter season…Lego Lover woke up with a sore throat today. I’m not quite sure how he got it as he hardly ever goes out and he stayed well clear of anyone when we went to a family lunch on the weekend. The Scientist thinks it’s possible one of us has brought something back and he’s picked that up and we haven’t as we are both healthier and fitter than he is. We bought him some honey and lemon throat lozenges and he wasn’t too sure about them but tried anyway…and said they helped even if they tasted rather revolting (my words but his sentiment).
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Calm before storm?
It has been all excitement in Perth and the southwest the past couple of days. A cyclone from the northwest started moving in our direction and we had a cyclone watch issued on Friday with landfall expected around 2pm today. Yesterday it was changed to a cyclone warning due to hit in early evening. People everywhere have been making preparations for the storm heading our way. Although not totally unknown, cyclones don’t generally bother finding their way to Perth and the southwest of Australia. The Scientist says otherwise but I don’t recall a single cyclone watch or warning in nearly seventeen years living here. My memory isn’t so great so maybe that is one that escaped. It’s been over thirty years since Perth was hit, by Albi back in 1978, and that was a deadly one. Overnight the cyclone lost strength and we are no longer on watch or warning here. Instead we are expecting a tropical low to hit, apparently now directly aimed at Perth, and arriving late this evening. I’m guessing this is akin to the tropical storm that Hurricane Hugo turned into before it reached us in North Carolina over two decades ago. Sure, it was no longer a hurricane but it was still pretty nasty and I well remember driving home from my job at a call center late that night and having to stop because I couldn’t see in front of me. That was one of the longest drives home I ever had. So we are all in waiting and there is a certain calm around here, along with a lot of warm, humid air. To be honest, I won’t be surprised if the storm weakens so much that it totally fizzles out before it gets here and we don’t even get a good rainfall.
Totally unrelated to the cyclone, a major thunderstorm system rolled quickly down the coast yesterday and we actually got a taste of it. We’ve been lucky to get a few drops of drizzle passing through here lately, but the storm definitely made an appearance, just as I was leaving the local supermarket with several bags of groceries. Â I was totally soaked by the time I reached the car so it didn’t really matter how long it took me to get the bags into the car and return the trolley to the bay. I got home about three or four minutes later and by the time bags were in the house and I’d got out of the wet clothes, the storm was gone. The plant life in our garden is very happy.
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Late night ramble
After a chilly morning, it turned into a nice day although not very warm. Game Fanatic had his D&D this morning and even he didn’t want to get out of a warm bed. I dragged him out anyway and once there, he was fine for the most part. I spent my morning crocheting blocks for Lego Lover’s Mario afghan and I think I managed about eight of them. Not very many considered we were there for three hours. I guess I spent too much time chatting with the other mums while there.
I noticed yesterday that a tree that had been uprooted in the storm was simply taken away yesterday. I don’t know much about these things so perhaps it was too damaged to try to put it right. But it’s a shame the tree is gone, probably to the shredder.
I’ve been listening to a marathon of Beatles albums tonight. I’m currently on The White Album and it’s almost finished but I may have to stop since my eyes are burning and I don’t have eye drops. I was hoping to read a bit before bed but that’s not going to happen now. Oh well.
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Quiet day
Today was rather quiet compared to yesterday. The storms have moved out and we cleaned up some of the mess from the broken fence. We also cleared out some mess from what originally was the no-dig garden (that never got going). The Scientist cleared out a bunch of rubbish in the area so it looks less ugly than it did. Without the cloud and rain, it’s now been quite chilly and will drop to nearly freezing tonight. Brrrr..
Earlier in the afternoon, we went to a music shop to take a look at guitars. Game Fanatic has wanted to try playing for a while. He really wants to learn to play bass but decided he would learn the acoustic guitar first. With the help of the Scientist’s younger brother who met us at the shop, we found one that was suitable with a reasonable price so we decided to go ahead and get it. The salesman tried to give us the floor model because they were out of new ones but we declined and had him order another one in.
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Blowing in the wind
This morning almost half of our back fence blew over during yet another storm. We heard a huge noise, thought it was the shed, then looked out to see the fence down and a good view into the neighbors’ yard. Our neighbor was on top of things, called insurance and a fence company for quotes quite early. Because of his quick work, we will have the fence repaired on Wednesday. This is the first storm damage we’ve had in the thirteen years we’ve lived here so I suppose we’ve had a good run and it was just our turn.
The storm has continued throughout the day and into the night. We’ve had lots of rain, hail, gale force winds and more wind along with thunder and lightning for brief periods. I made the mistake of opening the front door when the last hail was falling, only to get soaked by rain and hail blowing into the house. At the moment, the rain seems to have stopped but there are still periods of strong winds and it’s quite cold.
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Wii play
Winter continues to be wet and wild. There was a fair bit of damage around Perth although most in the southern suburbs from what I can tell. I think it may be clearing up tomorrow. Funny thing is I saw some rainbows both yesterday and today and that’s been unusual for me this year. Usually, that’s one of the benefits of winter around here but I must be missing them or something.
Tonight, the Scientist and I spent time with the boys playing their new game. I had played a couple times on the previous version of this game and failed to see what was so great about it. It was always hard to follow what was happening, not to mention take part in the battle. Today was my first attempt at the new one and although I still find it hard to follow, I think there’s a chance I might be competent enough to join in a game once in a while. I will never particularly enjoy it though.
Earlier in the day, I did a Wii Fit exercise routine that lasted nearly two hours. Much of this time I was engaged in balance, yoga and muscle exercises so I didn’t burn off that many calories. I don’t really enjoy many of the yoga poses in the program, mainly because it feels somewhat unnatural to use the Wii Fit board. I do like doing the warrior pose, though and not just because I am very good at it. Most of the time it feels quite comfortable, the muscles I use for it are strong, and it is just a satisfying feeling. There is a very much modified sun salutation and that one just doesn’t have the right feel to it. Mostly I find that I don’t go into and out of poses the way I should be doing. One day I will try another proper yoga class and hopefully get proper guidance again. Meanwhile, I will keep the idea of doing some proper yoga poses at home alive…and perhaps one day make progress in that direction.
My big accomplishment today on the program is doing the jackknife challenge and completing one hundred of them to “beat” the trainer. I really like this exercise and I am getting much better at it. Far easier than trying a sit up and I think I am getting some benefit to my abdominal muscles.
I’m hoping to get back out on my bicycle on Monday to get some different exercise. I find it hard to stay with the same routines all the time and mixing it up seems to help. I don’t seem to be improving on the weight all that much but I think my fitness level has improved quite a bit. I think my addiction to chocolate may be the problem with the weight…I am just finding it too hard to resist lately.