Ruth

Testing the new cell phone - Samsung f480. The damn thing would not send Email. I went back to the shop with everything in the box to be returned (after spending 2 hours on the phone this morning going through settings with a technician). I almost got into an argument with the salesman. He told me he wanted everything back. He wanted the packet the sim card came in and I told him that it had been thrown out in the rubbish. No packet - no return. That did not go down to well. After trying earlier in the day, he suddenly got it working. He was the same guy who sold it to me on Wednesday. He was not sure what he had done - just fiddled with the settings. Could it be that he did something that should have been done on the day of sale?

Ron P.

Taken by me in his kitchen today while doing some IPA work. This will be the last pic sent by me old phone. I bought my new one today and I am now on the new Telecom data plan.

Linux Beauty

clipped from www.youtube.com

Scott

test Scott demonstrating his new mobile phone. I asked him to take a pic and send it to this blog to see how well it could do the job. Not bad for a cheaper phone. I have bee amazed at what this phone can do.

Sunset

This picture was taken at about 6 pm on Tuesday 11th August 2009. I took several pictures - so did Ruth. I thought this was the best of mine.

Diary 9th August

Diary Sunday 9th August 2009 It was a very lazy laid back day today. The weather was good. After breakfast, at about 10 am, Scott contacted us - we were expecting him to do so - and asked if he could come over. I arranged to pick him up at 11 am. At a little after 11 am, I sent him a text to tell him that I was on the way. I picked him up and we came directly back to the house. We had a cup of coffee and later, Ruth cooked a light lunch. When Ruth settled down for her rest, Scott and I left and we went to Riccarton Mall and looked around Dick Smith's new store in the new part of the mall - upstairs. We also checked out the Sony Shop - I haven't seen it there before although I have been passed and I think something must have closed down for it to have opened in that location. We went back to Dick Smiths to check something out and then left for home, stopping at Globbalpc on the way. We arrived back at about 3-30 pm and soon afterwards, we set off for our Sunday drive to Tai Tapu. We stopped at the hotel for a glass of wine and after about 45 minutes, we set off home, stopping at Halswell Mall. We got a few supplies from the Supermarket and then came home. Ruth had something cooking in the oven. We had another glass of wine, prepared the vegetables and soon we were sitting down to a meal. Afterwards, it was tv and a computer session, until about 1030 pm, when I took Scott home. Not long after arriving back it was time for bed and the day was at an end.

1939 Ford

1939 Ford

At Halswell Tavern 08 08 09

Michael McIlroy Adresses Group

clipped from www.youtube.com

John Childs

Taken at Halswell Tavern at about 8-30 pm Wednesday 5th August 2009. John was in Christchurch for a few days and Ruth and I and Nerollie took him there for a few drinks.

Tests

Test

Geothermal house at Tai Tapu

Taken today . Foundatin is down now.

Light Bulb Hack

clipped from www.youtube.com

Ipa

At mid day today, Ruth and I met with members of the I P A for our mid year luncheon. The venue was Hintons, at the top of Wairrakei Road, just before Russley Road. This picture was taken at our table. This was the table that Ruth and I sat at. Ruth is out of view (on the other side of the table to the people shown). I of course, was taking the picture. We were looking forward to the event. Just before we left to attend, I received a Text from Garry H. that Lesley was ill and they could not attend. I put in their apologies. I was a pleasure to meet up with every one and we enjoyed the chit chat. When we had organised the luncheon, we had looked at two or three other venues and we had decided on this location, mainly I think, as not many of us had been there before, whereas, at the other venues discussed, most of us had been to several times. As usual, the I P A contributed to each member and partners dinner. I will now give my (and Ruth's View) of Hintons. We would definately not go again. The meal was as follows. Two dishes - one with cold potatoe salad. I like this dish but here it was not very appetizing. Another salad dish, with Kumara Salad. It was not too bad but cold. The meat dish was thick slices of roast beef. It was cooked around the edges but raw inside. There was about 1 cm around the edges cooked, the remainder was virtually raw and bleeding. I am familiar with "rare" but this was raw. The remaining dish was chicken. I do not normally eat chicken when out, but on this occasion, as there was nothing else appetizing, I ate a piece. It was actually quite nice. There was a dish of "lasagne". I do not normally eat this dish. Everything was "help yourself" so I took a small portion. The long stringy pieces were very thick. The cheese on top - probably parmessan, was hard and dry. The entire meal was poor, not enjoyable and very overpriced. The dessert was slices of cheesecake and a bowl of what appeared to be whipped cream. It was not whipped cream, but that horrible stuff which has an additive, usually icing sugar. I hate it. I was not the only person who had to cut the cheesecake base with a knife. It reminded me of a dish I had recently at a private home - the base being made of mashed up biscuits. It was very enjoyable. The total cost of the meals for Ruth and I was $90.00. We had a glass of wine each. That was $37.00 each for a very unenjoyable meal. For that sort of money, I expect quite a lot. In the last few months, I have had meals at Rossendale, Fleurs at Moeraki and the Cotswold. I may have paid a little more at some of these, but at each, the quality and quantity of food was superb. There were no hot plates for food to be served on. Tea and coffee was available - tea bags only - and no herbal tea - and not offered when I asked for it. I enjoyed meeting everyone - talking to them and looking at the large picture - block mounted on the wall. At first, I thought it was the Waimakariri. Carol was sure that it was. I studied it closely and realised that it was not. The geography was wrong. There was an inland damn with a town at the base. I concluded it was Alexandra and it turned out I was right. Would I go to Hintons again - No. My advice to anyone - spend a little more perhaps - and go to Rossendale or Larcombs. I will put some more pictures of this event here later - Not tonight - I took them at high res and they will have to be "squeezed". Doing bulk image resizing is something I have not achieved on Linux yet so each picture will have to be done manually.

Meeting 16th June 2009

At 52 Hereford Street - The cafeteria - Taken from the table that we had eaten our meal. I was demonstrating sending a picture to the blog via cell phone.

Dinner at Tai Tapu hotel

We have just had oysters and chips.

Geothermal house at Tai Tapu

Takentoday. I see the foundation is down now.

Visited 13 06 2009

On the way home

We stopped here for lunch.

On the way home

We had to get a picture of the Onawe Peninsula .

Wainuiomata

We thought it was an old army jeep but it is a cut down Range Rover.

At the opposite side of the bay from Akaroa.

Not France

About ten minutes from Akaroa. Well known to Chrstchurch locals

Our walk

During our walk,we stopped for tea & coffee at a shop. We used the Internet terminal to check my blog sites to see if these posts via cell phone are working They are.

Later,I took this picture. Surely there mus tbe a preservation order on this property.

View from Hill

Walk up hill

Akaroa House

We left home at 1030 am today. We stopped at the cheese factory at Barry's Bay. We bought a couple of small blocks of cheese as did J & D.

We stopped and looked around town for a while. We were not allowed into the house until 1 pm.

I bought some biscuits from the Supermarket.

At 1230 pm we bought fish and chips and when they were ready we went to the house,arriving at 1 pm.

We opened up and ate our meal right away. The crumbed fish was excellent.

We unloaded the vehicles and set up for our stay.

This picture shows the house.

Test

This is a test. The image downloaded from a site and saved to the desktop. The size of the image is 46k. Then, I just prepared this Posting and sent it in the normal manner. Regards L L L

Diary Sunday 24th May

Diary Sunday 24th May Another very cold wet day. We were around home all day until it was time to go for our afternoon drive. As usual, we went to Tai Tapu. When we go half way along Rhodes Road, we found the road covered in flood water. The paddocks on the left were very deep in flood water. We have never seen it so wet there before. I was unwilling to continue. The water could be any depth. There was a vehicle coming up behind me. I pulled into the left and let it pass. It was a four wheel drive vehicle and it headed into the water. I am glad we did not go through. That vehicle got through ok, but after about 150 meters, he was going very slowly with a large bow wave. It looked as though it was getting close to floor level of the vehicle. We back tracked and went around to the Duck pond in the other direction. From the duck pond back towards where we had stopped and turned back, the water over the road looked even deeper. We turned around again and went to the Tai Tapu hotel. We went inside and had a glass of wine. We stayed in the Public Bar by the Pellet fire – our favourite alcove in the lounge bar was already taken. After about an hour, we set off home. We stopped at Halswell and bought a bottle of wine. I had bought a rigger from the Tavern last night. We came home and had a light meal and a few drinks.

Diary Sunday 24th May

Diary Sunday 24th May Another very cold wet day. We were around home all day until it was time to go for our afternoon drive. As usual, we went to Tai Tapu. When we go half way along Rhodes Road, we found the road covered in flood water. The paddocks on the left were very deep in flood water. We have never seen it so wet there before. I was unwilling to continue. The water could be any depth. There was a vehicle coming up behind me. I pulled into the left and let it pass. It was a four wheel drive vehicle and it headed into the water. I am glad we did not go through. That vehicle got through ok, but after about 150 meters, he was going very slowly with a large bow wave. It looked as though it was getting close to floor level of the vehicle. We back tracked and went around to the Duck pond in the other direction. From the duck pond back towards where we had stopped and turned back, the water over the road looked even deeper. We turned around again and went to the Tai Tapu hotel. We went inside and had a glass of wine. We stayed in the Public Bar by the Pellet fire – our favourite alcove in the lounge bar was already taken. After about an hour, we set off home. We stopped at Halswell and bought a bottle of wine. I had bought a rigger from the Tavern last night. We came home and had a light meal and a few drinks.

Wednesday 18th March

Wednesday 18th March 2009 I had a very sleepless night. I had an appointment at Milford Chambers at 10-45 am for a medical examination. I decided to give breakfast a miss. I had not eaten or anything or had anything to drink since about bed time last night. We left here at 10 am. We arrived at our destination and had about a twenty minute wait. I then went into the surgery or examination room and was I glad to get out of there. I drove home and I had intended to go to the bank on the way. I had bought a usb video key on Trade Me last night. It was only $31.00 (a buy now price) and seemed cheap for a new item. I wanted some cash to pay into the owners bank account. I changed my mind about the bank visit - I was not feeling well at all. It was good to get home and lie down. I had to drink plenty and at first, I did not eat anything but gradually took food as the day went by. About dinner time, I was feeling a lot better. I had a light meal and we are now watching tv. I am still not completely right, but much better. I am hoping to be back to normal tomorrow morning.

Painting

Click here

Nice New Looking House

Last Week, at long Last, the house was painted from top to bottom. Prior to doing so, the spouting was removed. There were repairs to be done to the fascia board before the painting could be done. Here is the finished results: Note that the high structure that was over the spa has been removed. A layer of scaffolding is still on the deck Here is a picture from a different location: And another:

Godwits Again

It seems a while since I have put anything here. Nothing since this article on the Godwits. Well, it is now February 15th - almost the 16th. I read in the paper this week that the Godwits started leaving the Estuary early this week. They are faced with an incredible journey north west across the pacific to the south China Sea - where they will rest for a while before they continue - somehere up near Siberia I think. Hopefully, I will get more articles here before they get back.

The Godwit

They are back. They arrived a few days ago at the estuary after their 11000 kilometer non stop flight.

On the next sunny day, we are going down to see them.

On the T V news last night, a guy wants them removed from the protected species list and suggests that people be allowed to eat them.

Rather than that, why not sell six breeding pairs to an interested person and allow theme to breed in captivity.

The deal being, that 50 per cent of the chicks are returned to D O C to be released - and the remainder used by the breeder to build up stocks and sell to people who want to eat them.

clipped from images.usatoday.com

Bill Martyns Party

Bill Martyns recent birthday party

Naughty Cat

This was from Dawnae this week. The caption was I can't respond to any emails today; something has crashed on my computer and the mouse is missing. I thought it was quite good so I have put it here. If anyone has any good cat pictures, please send them. Ruth loves cats and always gets a thrill from them. L L L