How to save $2500 in one year!

Oops, sorry. Now you probably think I'm trying to spam y'all. Nope, I'm not. I (we) actually saved $2500 last year by doing one simple thing:

I started homebrewing! And the household saved $2500 dollars. It's not cus we are a bunch of drunks, but when you each have a beer with dinner and one afterwards... well you'd be amazed at how much it adds up over a year.

Go ahead, try it yourselves.

*ahem*

Next topic: South Oz summer heat!

This from the Bureau of Meteorology today:

Adelaide Forecast
IDS10034
Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology
South Australia

Adelaide Forecast
Issued at 4:00 pm CDT on Saturday 9 January 2010

Warning Summary
The SES has issued an Extreme Heat Warning for South Australia.
Fire Weather Warning.

Forecast for Saturday evening
Dry and hot. Winds becoming moderate southeasterly during the evening. A
moderate early evening sea breeze.

Precis Clear.

Forecast for Sunday
Dry, very hot and sunny. Light to moderate southeast to northeast winds with a
light afternoon sea breeze.

Precis Dry. Sunny.
City: Min 27 Max 43
Elizabeth: Min 22 Max 43
Mount Barker: Min 17 Max 41
Noarlunga: Min 23 Max 41

UV Alert: 9:10 am to 5:30 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 12 [Extreme]
Fire Danger: Severe [50-74] (Mount Lofty Ranges Fire Ban District)

Monday Windy. Dry. Mostly sunny. Min 30 Max 43

Those 43's mean 110 in the shade officially (they ALWAYS guess low) which means it'll be around 115 to 118 in the shade here at the ole homestead.

Oh, that splashing sound you'll be hearing all weekend? Just guess what it is...

Next topic: No one has even tried!

I put this picture up:


and no one even tried to figure out what kind of critter it is. So I'll now give you a bit more of a hint --in the form of another picture, of course.






Do you know why I like koalas? Do you? It's cus they get to do this all day long:

Can anyone tell me what kind of gum tree s/he is sitting in?

Ishmael asked me about the taste of emu a few weeks back. Sadly, I haven't had a chance to get any... But I did TRY!:


No, I. did. not. do. that! I took the picture back at the end of November and I'm guessing this bloke got this in a fight for fornicatin' rights.

I did, however, find out that an emu drumstick weighs 7 pounds! Mmmmmmmmmmm...

Here's a picture to illustrate just how great my timing is




And here we find a sheila sparrow a helluva lot braver than a certain ADQ'er is:

Goan, ask me how I know she's a she.

These blokes look like they are planning something...



No idea what it could be though...

Something is seriously WRONG when 95 F feels chilly

Seriously! I was doing today's third arvo water on some of the plants outside and I then walked around the south side of the house. The shade on the south side felt cool! Slight goosebumps even started to make themselves known upon my forearms!

Fortunately, I was able to claw and crawl my way back into the sun (119.2 F) before hypothermia set in. Imagine my surprise to find out it was 95 F in the shade on the chilly side of the house.

How would I survive in Fairbanks, Alaska nowadays? Beats the hell out of me!

Heck, we haven't even had to turn the a/c on this arvo. Only do that when it gets hot, dontcha know.

It's a darned good thing that Chrissie wasn't hot. Otherwise I think the sushi would've gone bung. The cat certainly enjoyed another festive holiday season. In fact he's still enjoying it as we still have 3 more days of the food orgy to go.

Here he is enjoying the decorations:

I'm very glad that's a garland and NOT my intestine!


I must admit, this is just a wee bit much...




And there's only one thing to do when it's that hot!

For those of you interested, that's strawberry champagne and my world famous, extra special, peanut butter cheesecake with hot fudge sauce.


Lastly, a special message for those who have a standing invite: We's booked up from Feb to April of 2010. And don't plan your trip in our winter cus it gets really cold down here then! Plan your trip in Dec, Jan, or Feb if you need to thaw some old bones.

Ahhhhh, Summer!

Adelaide Forecast
Issued at 5:15 am CDT on Wednesday 30 December 2009

Warning Summary
Fire Weather Warning.

Forecast for Wednesday
Dry and sunny. A hot to very hot day with light to moderate east to northeast
winds and a light to moderate afternoon and early evening coastal sea breeze.

Precis Dry. Sunny.
City: Max 39
Elizabeth: Max 40
Mount Barker: Max 38
Noarlunga: Max 38

UV Alert: 9:20 am to 5:20 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 10 [Very High]
Fire Danger: Severe [50-74] (Mount Lofty Ranges Fire Ban District)


Additional note from dave: Them temps are in C and they are in the shade.

Flat Stanley decided he likes the heat:




He had plenty of these, ice cold:




I did try to tell him that my ginger beer is better, but he didn't want to wait for the next batch so I very kindly went to the supermarket and bought him a few.

That'sa Spicyea Beera!

Remember the post from a few days ago? The one where I was bottling beer and put a huge cayenne pepper in two of the bottles? Oh, you do remember! G'donya mates!

The brew was actually bottled a week ago, and this morning the bottles were clear! That means the secondary fermentation is done --warm weather speeds it along, dontcha know.

Naturally I just had to open one of them --I'll give the other one a few more days to "age" properly.

I sat down a few feet from Wifey-Poo. With an empty mug in one hand, and a 750 ml bottle of lager with a six inch cayenne pepper (poked full of holes) in the bottle.

I cracked the bottle.

Before I could even begin to pour the "beer" into the mug, WP stated she could smell the chilli already. Being the gentleman that I am, I offered her a quaff. She, being the lady she is, politely declined. I believe her exact words were, "Not a bloody chance in Hell!"

The first sip was pretty spicy. Couldn't smell the beer at all. Couldn't taste the beer at all. The spiciness seemed to creep all around my mouth and throat.

YT: Mmmmmm, this is good. I think I'll have another sip. Anyone want to join me?

WP: I know you and spicy food and if the sweat on your brow after one small sip is any indication of the potency of that firewater, then I shall pass.

YT: How about you Mike?

BIL: GET. A.WAY. FROM. ME. WITH. THAT. FILTH.

YT: Cool, more for me.

So I finished the first mug, no worries. As you read this I'm currently halfway through my second mug. Good stuff! I think all homebrewers should try this! Much much much spicier than that wussy stuff with a tiny chilli in it, that's for sure.

I'll make dinner simple tonight (snags and bacon rolls w/ onions, shrooms, and chillis) so my taste buds don't have to worry about getting back to life for a day or two.

Audience Participation Time!

Why is dave shoving this down his shorts?





The comment line is now open!

Oh, do you think it may have something to do with this?





Hey lookie! Even the locals think I'm loco!

Bonus question: Which one is the female?

Springtime in Australia --UPDATED

Just think of the Johnny Horton song, Springtime in Alaska. But, sorta, kinda, like... OPPOSITE!







UPDATE

Just got this from the Aussie BOM (Bureau of Meteorology) site

Adelaide Forecast
Issued at 11:30 am CDT on Wednesday 18 November 2009

Warning Summary
SES Extreme Heat Watch for South Australia.


And just think, 2 more weeks till summer actually gets here! Weeeeeeeee!

There's A Fine Line Betwixt Genius And Crazy

And I sometimes find myself with one foot firmly planted on the genius side, while the other foot tap dances on the crazy side.

Here's some examples.

Genius: Moving from a very cold climate (where I punched a clock), to a much warmer climate (where I'm not punching a clock.

Crazy: Living in a place where the temperature is triple digits in the shade while it's still spring.

Genius: Having a pool to jump into in order to cool off.

Crazy: Living in a place that measures rainfall in tenths of millimetres. That's 1/254 of an inch, btw. Much time can pass without any measurable rainfall.

See??? I'm sure you can think of your own examples pertaining to pretty much anything. Give it a go!

I'll now give you some visual examples. The first will be Genius --that'd be me, and the second will be crazy --that'd NOT be me.

What does a genius do when it's 103 F in the shade and 136 F in the sun?

The genius lounges in the pool with a water temp of 81 F!

What does a crazy do when it's 103 F in the shade and 136 F in the sun?



I swear to you that the bricks are too hot to walk on in bare feet. I truly have no idea how (or why) a black furry cat does this. My vote: CRAZY!


Here's where YOU get to be clever and witty! This next picture was not planned, it just happened. I have several awesome ideas (naturally since I'm a genius) for captions and stories for this pic. But I want to read yours! Be as silly or gruesome as you'd like, no worries.

Ready?

Really ready?

Really really REALLY ready?






Go for it! How funny can you be?

Hi Ho, Hi Ho! It's Off To Brew We Go!

Ahhhhhhh, that wonderful amber liquid called beer... Mmmmmmm

Did I mention I've started home brewing? Yes, I have. It's very cheap and easy too. But before I tell you a little bit about it, would you like some galah pictures?

What's that you say? You wouldn't? Well, tough shit cus youse is gittin' em anyways!

Here's one where I tried to be all artsy-fartsy with the shadows and framing:




This next one is a great pic of Mrs Tweedle doing what the missus' do best (that'd be running around waving their arms and screeching):




Mr Tweedle then flew so far up in the tree to get away from the above screeching that I had to use the digital zoom to get him (apologies for the "noisy sky"):




Last post I asked what kind of tree the galahs were on. Well, it's called a Native Frangipani. When we first moved in the this abode (the abode with the pool) I thought it was a Champac tree. But after looking at the leaves closer, it's definitely a Native Frangipani. Very fragrant flowers in spring time too. It also survives in the Adelaide climate --NOT an easy thing to do!

Speaking of climates... it's going to get warm again in a couple of days. Sigh... guess that means I'll be spending even MORE time in the pool...

Oh yeah, wasn't I supposed to tell you just what I did in the pool during the previous warming spell? Well, you'll just have to wait cus I really wanna draw this out! :)

Next Topic: BEER!

and the brewing thereof

Coopers brewery has made this just so darned EASY! We are talking simple, simple and very cheap. The whole brew kit was AUD$99, and only $15 of that was consumables. Consumables being the hopped malt extract, brewing sugar, yeast, and secondary fermentation tablets.

This means that each batch of 60 beers costs $15 in aussie currency. That's $10 US'n. Not too shabby, eh?

I've already got my second batch (the first was a standard lager, second is a standard ale) in the main fermenter. The third will be either a cider or a Mexican beer.

In ten days from now there will be 60 lagers ready, 6 days after that there will be 60 ales, and then in another week there'll be 60 more.

Yeah, I'm ready for the heat wave! HA!

I'm going to be talking about just how cool Cooper's is and how awesomely environmentally friendly the brewery is is forthcoming posts.

My Last Post...

...about the bushfires. Ha! and you thought I was quittin' bloggin', ya silly buggas.

Remember, you can always go

Right Here

to get all the latest news about the fires.

[BREAK] I'm back with parrot pics, just scroll to the bottom of the post! [END BREAK]

I'm sure you all know that PNG (Papua New Guinea) is just right above our northern shores. I'm sure you all also know that whenever there's natural disasters up there (tropical typhoons, floods, earthquakes and volcanoes) that the Aussies are generally the first ones sending immediate aid. PNG is NOT a wealthy country, in fact... ummmmm they are very poor.

PNG has pledged $2 million dollars in aid... WOW!

Indonesia. Very large island group. Very Muslim. Somewhere around 150,000,000 Muslims living just right next to us. Good thing we aren't paranoid, eh?

Anyways, along with the million dollars in aid they are sending, they are also sending teams of forensic experts to help with all the identification.

Good on ya, mates!

The red cross bushfire appeal now totals over $93,000,000 dollars. And loads of clothing, housing, etc. Everyone is pitching in, very cool.

Did you know that most of the firemen who fight the bushfires are volunteers? Yup, they have day jobs and volunteer their time to help others in a very special way. Local employers are also very good about giving the volunteers time off during large fires.

However, there is one employer (big big company) that isn't so nice... They were planning on laying off 115 people. 3 of the layoffs were CFA volunteers. Those 3 firefighters got calls from the big company telling them they are laid off, effective immediately, WHILE THEY WERE FIGHTING THE BUSHFIRES!!!!!!!

Wanna know who this wonderful company is?

BOYCOTT FOSTER'S!

Heck, their beer sucks and they aren't even locally owned anymore.

The number of homes destroyed is 1,861 and still counting.


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Ok! Back to original episodes of dave (from Alaska) in the Land of Oz!

Guess what? Go'an ya silly bastards (aussie term of endearment), GUESS!

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Time's up!

I've started home brewing. It's been something we've been meaning to start for yonks now, and it's finally happening.

I've been taking specific gravity readings the last couple of days from the main fermenter, and the first batch should be ready for it's secondary fermentation (in the bottle) by friday.

So on friday I'll be bottling up the equivalent of 60 beers. Then in two weeks I get to drink them :)

Needless to say, I'll be starting another batch soon.

This first one is a standard aussie lager. I think the next one will be a strong stout --I'll add extra sugar to get the alc content up to around 11%.

I'll keep you posted, no worries.


Tomatoes: This haet wave didn't spare the tomato plants no matter what I did. We did, however, end up with 326 tomatoes before the plants gave me the finger. And they were 326 GOOOOOOOOOD tomatoes.

The temp today got over 100 in the shade, and I saw 133 F in the sun. Darned glad the heat wave is over, that's for sure :)

Did I tell you what I did in the pool last week? No, no... I'm not talking about when I eat lunch and dinner in the pool. Or when I jump into it naked. Or when I lay in the lounger with a beer... Nope. This is something new! In fact, it was such a hit that WP and BIL joined in with the fun!

But of course I'm going to make you wait till next post to tell you.

Guess what kind of tree this galah is on:




This is the same tree, but with foliage:


Go on... What kind of tree is it? And is it a male or female galah?

I've come to recognise some of the birds that come around. Based on the behavior, when they show up and with who, etc. I might talk more about parrot behavior later, but right now that just sounds like too much work (and I hated writing up scientific lab reports at Uni).

Buuuuuuut... Meet The Tweedles!




I named them Tweedledee (the missus) and Tweedledum (the mister). For those of you familiar with galahs, the reason for the names should be obvious.

Adelaide's Deadly Heat Wave of 2009

I'll be serious today.

Yes, yes... you may now pick your collective selves up off the floor and close your collective jaws.

The forecast for today is 110 F in the shade. Officially it's 107 in the shade. At the ole homestead it's only 103 in the shade and a cool 137 F in the sun.

Last years heat wave was a record, and so is this years FIRST heat wave (we've got two more months of possible hot weather). The other day we had SA's third hottest day ever after having the hottest night ever.

Fun... NOT!

People are dying. Elderly and homeless are the hardest hit --isn't that always the case? Modern western society kinda sucks at taking care of those not able to take care of themselves, eh?

The morgue, which is generally less than 1/3 full, is maxed out. They've had to bring in some refrigerated freight containers for the bodies pending autopsies.

The major hospitals have all got together and declared that all non-emergency elective surgery is halted. All docs and nurses who would've been working on those surgeries are assigned to emergency services and ambulances.

I'm not making this up!! The official "count" is at 75, but I'm guessing you could add a "1" in front of that.

Why? Well it kinda costs a wee bit to run the ole a/c after the electricity was privatized (ETSA is now owned and ran from Hong Kong, BTW) quite a few years ago. And if you can't afford to run your a/c, then you do without.

I'm not sure why there is a drastic difference in the apparant heat between here and say... Austin, Texas on a hot day. I've walked around downtown Austin every afternoon for a week in a heat wave. I can tell you that IT'S A LOT HOTTER down here even though the official temps are the same!

On a hot day last week I put the temp sensor in the sun and left the screen in the shade. Keep in mind that this temp gauge in the shade is pretty much spot on with the "official" shade temp. Here's what I got:


Just ignore the humidity reading as I never bothered to calibrate that feature.

What's that you say? You can't read what the temp was at 2:03 in the arvo? Let's just zoom in a wee bit:


Up in Kotzebue, Alaska it was -37 F the other day; not as cold as the Interior but still bloody cold!! The windchill, however, was -64 F.

Hmmmmm, the temp diff between OTZ's windchill and South Oz's sun temp was 209 F on pretty much the same day. Funny ole world, ain't it?

Another Heat Record In Adelaide

Before I tell you all about that, here's a parrot picture for those of you who only come by to look at purdy birdy pics:




Now, as far as the heat wave goes... MY NEW WEATHER GIRL IS A LYING BITCH!!! Why? Cus we've just equaled a one hundred year old record of consecutive days over 40 C in the shade (that's 104 F if you have an enquiring mind). However: one several of those days my new Weather Pixie trollop hasn't recorded anything of 95 F. Maybe she just doesn't want to take the bikini off if it gets any warmer?

For example, on a day of an official high of 42.5 C shade temp (108.5 F) the dumb bimbo said 95 F. Ummmm, yeah right. You don't really want to know what the temp in the sun has been. I'll give you a hint: Anything between 130 F and 147 F would be a good guess.

SUPERBOWL!!!! My one US football game each year. Wee-Hoo! Although I do look forward to (and follow) the TDF much more than US football, it is nice to watch to superbowl live, Monday Morning at 10:00 am. Damn I'm glad I'm not working!

I was going to make some wings and other hot stuff for my once a year gastronomical gorge gathering, but it's just been a leeeetle bit warm. So I've went with dips and chips.

Obviously, I've got some of my Chilli Cherry Chutney that I made. A red bell pepper with chilli dip, french onion dip, cheese and chive dip, and I'm about to make a spicy cheese dip as soon as I post this. Yes, I made them all.

But I didn't make the chips. Why not? Cus that involves a lot of frying and baking and that pumps a lot of heat into an already hot kitchen. So yes, I bought loads of flavoured potato chips and corn chips.

Ta for now, gotta go pig out on junk food!

We've Abandoned The Upstairs

This was a decision not taken lightly, either. See, there's a/c in one wing of the upstairs (WP's and mine) but the unit cannot handle this heat. Sleeping in an upstairs room over 100 F is not my idea of fun.

Ole Denethor tried to tell us that he'd not so lightly abandon the upper ramparts; we told him to go fuck himself!

Sooooooo, we are camping out in the back, downstairs. There's a brand spanking new split system installed in the back (many many many thanks to the owner) so last night we moved a futon pad down into the sunken lounge in the back room. Ahhhhhhhh, bliss. Even BIL crashed down there on his inflatable camping mattress.

I had dinner in the pool last night. And lunch. And today's lunch. And I'll be having tonight's dinner in the pool too.

The official high was 43.1 C or 109.58 F in the shade. Here I saw 112.5 in the shade, and it's currently 104.9 F in the shade. I moved the temp sensor into the sun for a while... 147.2 F Ahhhhh, now I'm starting the thaw some frozen bone marrow that was amassed thru 5 decades in Alaska.

Do y'all like my new weather girl? Just look to your left... I'm sure everyone up north is hoping for the heat to continue so they can get a daily bikini fix.

I had to thaw some bacon earlier. I put it on a plate and placed it in the sun. Well, not only did the bacon thaw, but I don't even have to cook it! Yup, one plate of crispy cooked bacon. Yummy!

The cockatoos have an interesting looking way of handling the heat. They have all their feathers plastered against them (they look really skinny when the do that), they open their beak and pant, and they have their wings about a quarter of the way open. They do their best to look very pathetic. They are also very quiet --WAHOO! Quiet cockatoos!!!

Here's some pics:










I think the cat fried his little brains...

Record Adelaide Heat Wave 2009

Well, we are only 4 days into this season's first heat wave and we've already borken a record. The record was for Highest Overnight Low Temp. It only got down to 33.9 C (that's 93.02 for you who think in fartinhights) last night. I think that was around 1 am. By 5 am it was already 99 F (or 37.2 if you think in celtzers).

The forecast is for 44 C (111 F) in the shade. There's also no end to the heat. Here's the official word from the Ozzie BOM (remember, this is in C and it's in the shade):

Adelaide Forecast
Issued at 11:40 am CDT on Thursday 29 January 2009

Warning Summary
Nil.

Forecast for Thursday
Dry. A mostly sunny and very hot day. Moderate to fresh northwest winds, turning
moderate southerly during the late afternoon or evening.

Precis Dry. Mostly sunny.
City: Max 44
Elizabeth: Max 45
Mount Barker: Max 44
Noarlunga: Max 43

UV Alert: 9:20 am to 5:30 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 12 [Extreme]
Fire Danger: Extreme (Mount Lofty Ranges Fire Ban District)

Forecast for Friday
Dry. A mostly sunny and very hot day. Moderate to fresh northerly winds,
becoming light and variable during the afternoon, tending moderate southeast
late evening.

Precis Dry. Mostly sunny.
City: Min 30 Max 41

Saturday Dry. Mostly sunny. Min 25 Max 40
Sunday Dry. Mostly sunny. Min 23 Max 40
Monday Dry. Mostly sunny. Min 22 Max 39
Tuesday Dry. Mostly sunny. Min 22 Max 38
Wednesday Dry. Mostly sunny. Min 22 Max 38

The next routine forecast will be issued at 4:00 pm CDT Thursday

Another thing to keep in mind is that for the last 3 days they had been forecasting 41. Then at the morning, they bump it up to 44 for that one day. Right now at the ole homestead it is 111 F in the shade (we are spot on with the official temp) and it's 137.7 F (58.7 C) in the sun.

Ummmm, that's cooler than yesterday, BTW.

TRAIN TRACKS BUCKLE AND IGNITE IN THIS HEAT!!!!!

Yup, that's true. A couple of sections of the commuter rail track buckled and bent in the heat, forcing Adelaide Metro to use massive amounts of buses during peak commuter times. Here's a picture:





And there's also been a report or two of the rails themselves spontaneously combusting --that means the railroad track catches fire. I know, you are asking how the heck does that happen. Well, oil and grease from the engines and rail cars gets deposited onto the tracks. The sun heats the iron (that's what rail tracks are made of) up to a pretty darned hot temp and then it goes... Ka-Whumph!

Gee, and you thought Ripley's was unbelievable. BTW, CFS (Country Fire Service) crews are on alert all along rail areas --and pretty much all areas for that matter. Heck, all the national parks are closed; all it would take is for some moron to have a spark from a stink-stick (cigarette) drop onto the ground ANYWHERE and there'd be a big ole bushfire.

Oh, I just got a news report where they've said that the hottest 11 years in Australia have occured in the last 12 years. Of course, the deniers were all over the comment section... Did I mention yesterday was the hottest day since 1939?

Last year in March we had a heat wave. It wasn't this hot, but it set an Australian record for a capital city for consecutive days over 35 C (95 F). Doesn't sound too hot, but after a month of it...

Of course there's a bay up in the north end of WA (Western Australia) that holds the world record for consecutive days over 100 F. 160 days in a row. Ouch.

I've got some good pics of the morning cockatoo flock sitting in the trees here. They've been very quiet, like deathly quiet (if you know cockatoos then you know what I mean). The way they beat the heat is to lay all their feathers against their body, spread the wings out slighty, and pant. They also look very pathetic when they do this. No pictures are going to be uploaded today, cus I'm going in the pool.

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Ahhhhhh, 94 F water never felt so cool...

Summa Heat Down Unda

Yep, summer (summa to an Aussie) is finally here. And it sure did take it's darned time gettin' here, I might add. Crikey, mate! The bloody pool 'as been bleedin' freezin' in the morns and it don't get warm till late arvo!

Of course, not everyone is happy. This sheila looks like she spat the dummy:




The "official" shade temp today was 42.3 C --that's 108.14 F for you mathematically disinclined folk. At the ole homestead it hung out at 111 F for most of the arvo (shade temp of course). I moved the sensor into the sun for a bit... decided to move it back to the shade when the reading got to 139 F.

For some DUMB reason I was barefoot while watering the plants. You know, the ones in pots sitting on the hot bricks. Ummmm, yeah... Even through my massive callouses I felt the skin burning --smelled it too. Had to jump in the pool to cool my feet.

Speaking of the pool, I had to scrub the walls 3 days in a row. Darn. Jumping in the freezing water is juuuuust such a bother.

There is, of course, a very easy way to BEAT THE HEAT. Would you like to know what it is? Of course you would!



This actually is harder than it looks. I had to attach some floatation devices to the bottom of the picnic table to keep it from sinking. The floatation was a couple of empty 2 litre plastic bottles with the caps screwed on tight. The attaching was done with The Handyman's Secret Weapon: Duct Tape! Yes, I duct taped a couple of plastic jugs to the bottom of a picnic table to float it in the pool. Does this qualify me for membership in The Possum Lodge?

And now for a closeup of yours truly (that'd be me):




Mmmmmmmm




Are you wondering what dave had for lunch? Well, the beer is a Cascade Light. On hot days I prefer the light beers to more full bodied ones. The roll is one of dave's homemade rolls, the feta cheese is from a local cheesewright, and the red topping is Dingo Dave's own special homemade Chilli Cherry Chutney with onions and garlic (soon to appearing at a recipe blog near you). It's very very tasty. I'm not kidding!

Morning View Between My Naked Hairy Legs

Well, actually, ummmmmm, gosh... this was the view between my naked hairy legs at 7 am while I was in the pool lounger. Just thought I'd be a bit more specific than what a blog title can be.

HOWEVER! Here's a pic of a sulfur-crested cockatoo for all you bird junkies:




I moved around to the other side of the tree to try and get a better pic, however the bastard (Aussie term of endearment, BTW) had this to say:




Y'all can make up your own captions as you see fit. In fact, how's abouts a contest?! Put your best caption in the comment section and you just might win a new car! One that is electric! runs on AAA batteries, 10 inches long, and has no steering. Or a screensaver or wallpapers!

Switching gears --I'm sure you heard the grinding...

This is a picture of the pool temp gauge that measured the water temp in the shady, deep end... it was actually warm in the shallow end... from the other day when it was *rather* warm outside.




Now, today the pool is NOTICABLE COLDER as it's only 101.8 F in the shade and 132 F in the sun. But don't worry, I'll be fine as I'm sure it'll warm back up soon. This means the water is around 88 F or so. Better get the 5mm wetsuit out.

This brings me to the title of this post: Just what the heck DOES the view betwixt dave's naked, hairy legs look like at 7 am?

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Well, apparantly I got some sheila's attention:

Goin' my way, stud?

Notice the burgundy colouring around the iris. That tells you she's a she, and not a bloke pretending to be a she.

A Hot and Sweaty Tour Down Unda

But first, I have a picture for all the birders and parrot lovers who check out my wee corner of Oz:




Now, on with the Tour!

As I'm sure you are all aware, Lance is in town for the 2009 Tour Down Under. Last years' tour was a HUGE success with over 75,000 folks at the kickoff in Glenelg (I was one of them) and over 350,000 spectators throughout the week. This year it's going to be rather larger... The State Premier, Mike Rann, has stated that this will be the largest sporting event ever in South Australia. Very Very cool.

I'll be out taking pics on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday of next week --although I'm hoping to get up to Rymill Park for the presentations and opening criterium on Sunday.

On Wednesday I'll be near the top of Fox Creek Road, with camera and video camera. Why not at the top? Well, just before the top it finishing a nasty section of about 22% for a few hundred metres. I really wanna see just how fast these guys go up it! I then hope to be able to take the back roads through to Stirling for the finishing laps.

On Thursday I'll be at the final switchback on Wickham's Hill, a climb I know quite well.

Saturday will be spent at the top of Old Willunga Hill. They are doing the climb twice this year in this stage so there should be some serious action on the second go before the go along The Range Road.

Anyone wanna join me?

The heat is supposed to start cranking back up next week after a couple of cool days. But the teams got here just as the recent heat wave was hitting.

Lance (from Texas) referred to it as "insanely hot".

Christian Knees (Team Milram, from Deutschland) saw 49 C (120 F) out on a training ride and said, "So this is what it's like riding through a sauna."

Andre Greipel (last years winner), however, loves the heat and refers to the weather down here as "great".

I find Lance's comment about "insanely hot" to be interesting. It was only 105 F or 41 C in the shade when he said that... It got hotter the next two days. This makes me wonder about how they measure temps in Texas... do they measure the temp in the sun?

I was in Austin, Texas in 1998 for the Fencing National Championships and I walked around downtown pretty much every day. I saw temps on the sign boards of 103, 104, 105, and 106. I had no worries. No problem with the heat.

Down here an official temp of 106 F feels to me (and Lance!) a helluva lot hotter than 106 F in downtown Austin.

So what gives?????

Summa Down Unda

Yes, summer has officially arrived down in South Oz. How do I know? Well, the forecast for today is 41 C in the shade. The morning started out at 32 C at 7 am in the shade here at the ole homestead. We've already passed the 41 C shade temp and it's only noon. Right now in the direct sun next to the pool it's 51 C and holding.

Now, I've noticed there just might be one or two of my USA readers who have no idea what the temps in Celsius means. So I have therefore come up with an easy way to convert from C to F which you should be able to do in your head. Although I'm sure someone in Kodiak may have difficulties at first, I'm sure his two brain cells will eventually find each other and make baby brain cells.

Let's start with the 51 C temp it is currently at right next to the pool. The pool currently has a water temp of 90 F, but that's not important right now.

Step one: Grind teeth together and wish dave lotsa bad luck.

Step two: Double the C temp. Hence 51 doubled is 102.

Step three: Call dave some really nasty names.

Step four: Take the 102, drop the last digit, and subtract it from 102. What this means is you drop the "2" from the "102" which now becomes "10", and then subtract that 10 from 102. Which is, of course, 92.

Step five: Take out a contract on dave's miserable, pathetic life via Mario in Sicily.

Step six: Take the 92 and add 32 to it. *Note: 32 is a constant and is always added at the end*. Then your final answer will be 124 F.

See? Wasn't that simple?


Oi, mate! Where'd that tinny go?



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And I'm sure that some of you would like to do this to me right about now:









Update: I totally forgot about the Great Tomato Count. The total of tomatoes harvested stands (or sits) at 279 so far for the season. Woo-Hoo!!!!

Another Update: It's now 133 in the direct sun, but still hanging out in the middle to upper one-ohs in the shade. That means it's about 108 F in the shade. The official temp for Adelaide at this particular moment (1:05 pm, Tuesday, January 13th, 2009) is 103.1 F. Hmmmmm, didn't I used to listen to that radio station in Los Anchorage?

A Public Service Announcement to All Alaskans

Yes, it's true. I'm feeling rather contrite right now as Alaska (and specifically the Interior) is going through one helluva cold snap. Hey, I feel for you, REALLY! Yes, I've had my eyelashes freeze together, my eyeballs steam, I know what it's like to drive on square tires, I've augered through 3 feet of ice on the Tanana with a hand auger, and I know the temperature at which diesel fuel gels so that your truck stalls.

Remember, I'm pullin' for you, we're all in this together! Courtesy of Red Green, of course.

I'm gonna try and send a lot of sun and warmth your way, we've got plenty to spare this time of year. Currently it's 93 F in the shade and 129 F in the sun. Aussie meteorologists report the shade temp, BTW.

Fingers, toes and eyes crossed and I hope you get the sun!

I'd like to give everyone up in the Interior a bit of advice. This would be my Public Service Announcement of which the subject of this post is...

Here's my advice:

Drum

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m
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My advice to you all up north during this cold snap follows.

DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT DO THE FOLLOWING ON THE CHENA LAKES IN JANUARY!!!











And don't DO IT TWICE!!!!!