Wednesday - Flood Power Back On

Chris tells me the power is back on.

Tuesday

Still no power.
Running off Derek's Generator.  Although right now the generator is off and the ADSL is on the inverter.  We have a gas light on the verandah.

Dinner was fish and vegies fried up on the gas cook top.

We very deliberately chose gas cook top and electric oven so that we had a diversity of energy sources.

A looming problem is that the hot water heater is electric and it will soon go cold.  Perhaps I should investigate a solar water heater.

Today,
Marcus and Morgan took most of the chairs and tables back to the church.

Megan and ??? Morgan + ?? took the stuff that was in our carport back to the neighbors in Logan ave who were concerned that they may be flooded.  Thankfully no flood.

Chris went to BGS rowing land training.  BGS evacuated the boats from their shed to a nearby empty industrial shed.

We heard that the Warwick VS family made it home safe.  I am assuming James and Kay likewise made it back home safe yesterday

10:40pm
Megan has just seen an electricity truck and is very excited.

flood tourists

The Warwick VS family who kindly attended my party and the after party have graduated to the status of refugee.  The excuse provided is that they are staying until my actual birthday.

James, Kay and family left for Syndney from their hotel at South Brisbane sometime after dawn this morning.  We received an update from them that they had been turned back due to flooding.  Having given up on the New England, they tried the coast road.  Latest text message had them passing through Newcastle.

We have no power and Logan avenue has water over it.  The boffins have predicted that our house will be well (3.2m) below the flood peak.  This is confirmed by my friend Bob who has provided me with analysis and predictions.

Derek has sofetned the refugee experience by lending me a generator.  This seemed to come on condition that I do not make a death lead so we have extension leads everywhere.  Earlier this year I had bought Chris a 4' fluro and so he and I put a plug on it and plugged it in.  I had another old one in storage in the carport.  Chris and Morgan wandered down to Logan ave with a pair of side cutters.  They came back with a power lead from an abandoned fridge.

Franks 50th BBQ Roasting

Going to do roast on the BBQ.  Did a similar thing for Megan's 40th.  See here.

This year instead of hiring a roasting oven $300 odd plus trips to Logan to pick it up and return it, I am going to try using a BBQ with a hood.

The meat has arrived.
beef 7.12kg
beef 6.035 kg
pork 7.9kg
lamb 2.6kg
lamb 2.3kg.

So the questions are
a) How to position in the BBQ.
b) What temperature.
c) How long
d) How to tell when done.

It seems that
a)  Position in BBQ
raise it up so its not directly on a hot plate.
Turn the burners on at the ends but not the burners directly under the meat.

b Temperature
Set the outer two burners to high and the next pair in to low.  No burners directly under the meat.
200 deg C (if it drops below 180 turn up.  Above 200 then gently down.)


c) How long.
Hmm.  That depends on who you speak to

d) To determine when done
Shove in the BBQ thermometer.  75deg C is well done.


5:40 Light BBQ1
5:45 Pork on BBQ1 (Church one)
5:55 Light BBQ (Chris's one)
6:10 Beef on.
8:30 Temperatures Pork 33 Beef 33, 35 deg C

Frank, Lewis, James, Henry

Ah those all in a line family photo.

Chris, Megan, Frank, Marcus, Lewis, Henry, Morgan, James, Andrew, Clare.

Dan, Jemma, Sarah, Clare, Peter, Charlotte,

Woodford Cameras

 Dereks remote camera on a pole above the drum kit

 Camera 2 remote control.

Beside the video projector.

 Franks remote control camera.  High up on stage left.

 And here it is again.

The white corflute keeps the rain off.  Black would have been better.

Franks remote camera centre front of stage

A back view of the ark.

And back stage.
The Vito is behind the video donga.  The white tent to the right of the donga is where the vision switcher was in the yellow van.

Dereks van nose in.

 Here you can see the ark and the side of stage.  I should have checked after the fire event to see if any of the stage melted.

 Chris in the video donga.  Dismantling and reassembling iphones for fun.

 Marcus & Sara stage right while Kate Miller-Heidke entertains.

 Jemma "Cable Pulling".  The job is to make sure that the operator of the roving camera can move freely without his cable snagging.

 Joel to the right is the roving camera operator and Jemma is in the red smoke.  You will have to look carefully.








Chris

 Daniel

Megan, Jemma & Sarah at the camera out in the middle of the audience.  The camera is wrapped in garbage bags to keep it dry.  The operator can have a rain coat and sits on a table made from a scaffholds crate and some playwood.

BA Falcon ute window winder broken again

The drivers window winder has broken ..... again!  @#$%$^

HISTORY
It died some years ago.  At that time, Megan's dad perormed surgery on it and that kept it going for about another year.  Then it died again and I purchased a non genuine one over the net.  That died about 13 months later (4-Mar-2012) and the suppliers kindly replaced it.  Now that replacement has died.

OPTIONS
a) Wreckers - but the one I get may be at deaths door.
b) Complain to the original seller
c) Buy another non genuine one.
d) Sell the ute.
e) Dismantle & rebuild the current broken unit.

WHY
The question of course is WHY?
Why do these things keep breaking?
Too much friction between the glass and the track? - I lube it with a teflon spray.
Design flaw that results in too much power being required from the motor?
(Mind you in the orignal unit the gearbox connected between the window motor and the cable drive failed.  In the non genuine one, a plastic pully failed.)

BTW
they seem to call these assemblies "Regulators".
and you have to ensure you are buying a drivers door one.
My google search is "BA Falcon window regulator drivers door"

PURCHASE OPTIONS
Ebay $60
getautoparts    $72.20  ?freight   Wrong type
carsrus.com.au    $46.90 +Freight  Wrong type
express car parts  $76.00 +$12.90 eparcel standard freight. =$88.90  seems ok
nationwideautoparts   $110 Free delivery

"Wrong Type" means does not have pullies at both end of the track.
(See example pictures here) The problem is that all the photos I can find on the suppliers web sites are taken from the wrong side.So I am not sure.  The picture from "Express Car Parts" looks like their unit has pullies.

Ordered one
We wait and see.

Blast.  Same design as the failed one.

New one on left.

Here it is photographed from the other side

Here is the photo I looked at before I purchased. 

The comparison is at the right hand side.

Oh well should have asked but there is just so many hours in a day.

Discoveries Canoeing

 We had 6 groups of usually about 6 kids, 2 team leaders and a couple of older assistant leaders (SLRPs - Special Leadership Resource People).

 Each group canoed for about an hour.

It was very very hot.   Noticably cooler on the lake.  There seemed to be local showers from time to time.

And some stability problems









Possibly due to over loading.

 Dan at left

 Heading against the wind we got into pairs like a catamaran.  Helps to keep the boats pointing the right way.  Otherwise the wind can blow the bow round.

 Cripes with an instructor like this we are in trouble.

7:00 Arrive Lake Moogerah.  Join the campers for breakfast
        Did the safety talk in the main hall.
        Everyone wears PFD, Wear hat, closed shoes, sunscreen, sunglasses if you like.
        If you tip over, stay with canoe.  Try to keep paddle,
        Don't deliberatly tip unless near the launch site.

Set-up at the waters edge.  Only needed 4 canoes.
Each group did 1 hr including messing around at the end.
The smallest kids did the biggest canoe because we went until we could see the Dan wall and then canoed back against the wind.  Leter groups either did not go as far or had the wind behind them on the way home.
Water guns were great.  Some died though.  The old small round ones survived.


12:00 lunch - Wonderful sandwiches.
5:00 we were done.
Had shower and dinner with the campers
Came home.
Washed and hung out the life jackets.  (PFDs for the purists)

 Thurs AM took the canoes to store at work (Syndetic)



Next year- Consider
a) Some groups canoe on an expedition to the dam wall.  Then swap with a group who walk.
or
b) Get the guy who runs the camp site to do tubing.

and here is my certificate
 https://docs.google.com/open?id=1_MqbD4BWWuHv_E8R_qHfAW759PLA6jZiNy4JvsgoTCgk9uJxqZtnJ8iQI-O6

2012 Woodford 4 Packup

After the fire event, we gathered back stage.  Megan and Frank went in search of "Betty and the Betty's" which we missed and inflicted our children on Glynn et al.  After missing Betty and the Betty's we purchased Pofferjies.  Around to the blues stage where Frank watched the final act while Megan went to the toilet.  Then we walked to the "Duck and Shovel" stage in time to hear the man announced that that was their final song and the final song at the duck and shovel for 2012.  Do you detect a pattern here.

 Glynn & Owen pack up.

The Thomson's eat.

Woodford 3 - Fire Event

Woodford pretty much concludes with a thing called the "Fire Event" on the evening of 1-Jan.

The fire event is I think seen by some as a sort of religious spiritual ritual. This years event seemed to have a few parallels with traditional religions.  We had an ark, A captain who at one stage lost his way.  A devil who pinched the suitcases of the people boarding the ark and walked a fire lined road to hell.

Or in reflection, perhaps the whole thing was a reminder of people fleeing persecution and arriving in Oz in boats.

Who knows and since they don't narrate it, you can make of it what you will.

Next year we should take marsh mellows and a dam long stick.

In the afternoon, Megan, Jemma and Phoebe (Next door neighbor from Brissy) made lanterns.  This entitled them to march out and a ring side seat.

There was this nice oooh arrrr moment where an aboriginal fellow made a fire by rotating a stick in has hands (as they do) and then this fire was shared to staff with candles to share with us.  Unfortunately some over enthusiastic people just lit up with their cigarette lighters and shared their fire. A casualty of the lack of instruction.  Anyway it was still pretty awesome.

The ark went the way of most Woodford edifices and I believe illegal immigrant boats.

The audience got to feel it was well as watch it.

It got hot.
Hopefully a timely reminder of hell.
:)

Here Emily (no one you know) and Chris turn their heads away from the heat and you can see the audience de-camping in the back ground.

 The fire was still burning the next morning.