Heatwave 3

The widget says 34C ( at 6.40pm) but it feels hotter than that INSIDE!

I guess there's a point where the evaporative cooler becomes inefficient. Maybe our pads need cleaning.....?

Oh and yesterday I killed a scorpion in the front hall and a redback spider the size of a walnut in the porch. Gross.

Did I mention heat brings out the bugs :-(

Off to get into the pool and let the BA onto the computer so she can plan her weekend. What a social butterfly. Think it might involve being in an air conditioned movie theatre!

Heatwave 2

5pm

41C

A Free Man has just called to say their air conditioner has died.

I told you things break in this weather. I have a terrible feeling about our old evaporative cooler............

Heatwave

This weather is not just unbearable, it is downright dangerous.
This is the kind of weather where things break, sometimes even people break.
The day is a long nightmare and when you finally get to sleep at night with ice packed around your neck, you know you will wake up to the same thing again tomorrow except that the retained heat will make everything just that little bit hotter, the car air conditioner will have to work a little bit harder and the train lines that didn't buckle yesterday might just do so today. Every ensuing day adds to the interminable surreal quality of life.
People start to do strange things.

Don't know what my little weather widget is saying right now but as I type it is after 11pm and the outside temperature only recently dropped below 40C.

The 'evaporative cooler' is not cutting it and it was so hot outside today that it hurt to breathe.

And of course, with this hideous heat you get BUGS.

On a positive note they have cancelled the Swimming Carnival on Friday so we get to skulk in air conditioned close proximity to sweaty, smelly, teenagers. Joy.

On another positive note we haven't seen the snake for a few days. Maybe he has baked behind the retaining wall? Mmmmmm. Snake-kebab.

Off to do a chapter of Year 10 Algebra in order to be ahead of the class.

Wish I could concentrate but it's so........hot...........

By Way Of Explanation

I currently have about three posts in the offing. There are more wonderful photos from the beautiful Kangaroo Island showcasing the lovely kids in my family; there is the BA's latest cooking catastrophe (hee hee hee); my beautiful sister's birthday and of course the start of school.

This last event kind of explains why I will not be posting on any of the other things for a few days. At its current running speed, uploading anything onto my computer can take hours and I mean hours. I do not have the luxury of that time at present.

So I will leave you with a couple of quick pictures and a promise of updates on the weekend.

If I survive the week.

What on earth made me think I could teach maths?

Jeep Cherokee In Review

Jeeps suck.
Do not buy a Jeep.
Jeeps are a heap of trash.
Do not waste money on Jeeps.

(I hope you are getting this Google)

Explain to me how a five year old vehicle can show you a warning light for under 5 minutes before stopping completely; then, when taken to the repair shop, have need of a completely new engine with a repair bill quoted at between $15 000 and $20 000 (Au). Furthermore, the same vehicle was deemed 'not worth repairing' and by the way we have some nice new ones in the show room next door and we'll give you a trade in on this now non-functioning vehicle.

Let it be said that for the first year that the new vehicle was on the road, an engine warning light would come on repeatedly. When the repair people examined it, they could find no fault with the engine and decided that the light was malfunctioning and so.....we suspect....they disconnected it.
Could this be why we had no warning of the impending engine failure?

But anyway....what five year old car has engine failure?????????

And explain to me why, even when we suggested that we would prefer to replace the engine, the service shop laughed condescendingly and all but refused to do the job.

Jeeps suck.
Jeeps suck.
Do not buy a Jeep.
Jeeps are a heap of trash.
Do not waste money on Jeeps especially when you live in Australia and all the parts have to be imported.

Believe me, this is not the only problem we've had with the Jeep. There was the failure of the automatic windows, locking system and back door closure. That took over two weeks to fix. There was the promised fuel economy which did not eventuate until three years after purchase. At each service we were told that it was 'running in' and that 'the service would fix it'.

Jeeps suck.
Jeeps suck.
Do not buy a Jeep.
Jeeps are a heap of trash.
Do not waste money on Jeeps especially when you live in Australia and all the parts have to be imported.

Then there was the detailed report of damage that we were promised. At least we could take this to an independent mechanic for a second opinion.


Do you see this?
DO YOU SEE THIS SCRAP OF TOILET PAPER???????????

This cost $200.00 and do you know what it says??????

It says :
LOW OIL PRESSURE-ENGINE INTERNAL DAMAGED.

Not even correct grammar!!!!!!

I did not need to pay $200.00 to find out what I already knew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Perhaps I did not make that clear?????????????

Jeeps suck.
Jeeps suck.
Do not buy a Jeep especially when there are only two Jeep service/retail centres in town.

Oh, and apparently the transmission was also on its way out! Hence the vehicle was not worth repairing. Why is a five year old transmission on its way out???????????????????????????
My Husband has many failings and weaknesses and believe me I am the first to tell you about them but one of his strengths is his driving. He is a steady, conservative driver. In 36 years he has never had an accident (praise the Lord) and unlike me, he rarely gets a speeding fine. So WHY is this vehicle failing in both engine AND transmission after... ( did I mention this already?) FIVE YEARS.

Jeeps suck.
Jeeps suck.
Jeeps suck.
Jeeps suck.
Jeeps suck.
Jeeps suck.
Jeeps suck.
Jeeps suck.

There. I feel better. We are still down $40 000 as we have had to buy a new car (do not start me on that little discussion or I will start telling you of my Husband's weakness....see above) but surprise, surprise we will NOT be buying a JEEP.



image credit

Visit To An Island: Part 2

When I left you, we were frolicking on Baudin Beach on Kangaroo Island. Baudin Beach was named after the French explorer Nicolas Baudin who charted the southern coast of the island in 1803. At around the same time, the English navigator Matthew Flinders was charting the northern coast, closest to the mainland. On 4 April 1802 he climbed this 'sandy eminence' and named it Prospect Hill.

As you can see, there are now stairs to facilitate the ascent but *phew* it was still a tough climb. We were rewarded by this view however.
As the whole hill is a sand dune, there was plenty of evidence of wildlife on the sandy ground.

This sign however, might have been more useful if it had illustrated the tracks of Nike, Adidas and Puma. There seemed to be plenty of those around!
Our other stop on the way to the hill was a small cove near Pennington Bay where we were delighted to find this wonderful sandhill just perfect for rolling down.
Of course, those of us who preferred climbing to rolling were rewarded when they reached the topby this sensational view at their feet. We found shells which sang of the sea and hid in rock crevices. It's amazing how much fun you can have just exploring. Eventually we came home to a game of, my new favourite, Rummikub Word.
And this guy in the toilet!
More tomorrow.

Visit To An Island: Part 1

I do love Kangaroo Island.

Because of Himself's work, the two of us have been there a number of times and last week we were excited to find, at short notice, just about the last holiday house on the island.
There may have been a reason for that! Still, rustic but available.
Catching the ferry across last Wednesday, we were able to share some of the Island's rugged beauty with our families, for the first time.

We stayed at Baudin Beach and on the first afternoon we ventured out to find the beach which, we had been informed, was at the end of the road.


Knowing how I love to read every sign or plaque wherever we are, my sister was keen to continue our walk without interruption.

"Move along there Sis, nothing to see here!"I could not be deterred however so she and the BA went on ahead. This is the approach to Baudin Beach.

And this is the beach itself.I never fail to be awed by the size and emptiness of the beaches on the island. Mind you, they're not that empty. I took advantage of my recently discovered macro setting to capture a few examples of the natural beauty. This one is taken in a rockpool.This is samphire and looks brilliant up close. See if you can click and enlarge it.Salt and shells in an ex-rockpool.My sister reflects on the relative sizes of the UK and Australia.
And of course, with such an expanse of beach to play on, there was much frolicking.
I told you there was a plethora of pictures.

More tomorrow!