My guess is if you were using any of the browsers I mentioned in the last post apart from Chrome then you didn’t see them.
I’m now going to attempt to insert a photo into OLW from our Google Photos Album
Didn’t work
It appears Google will not allow photos stored in Google Photos to be embedded into OLW. Nor will it allow photos that have been inserted into OLW to be published in Blogger.
Back to not seeing photos on the blog.
Using Opera Browser. No photos, just a small icon with the filename
Same with Brave Browser
Same with Firefox Browser
If I use TOR (The Onion Router) which uses Firefox I see the photos
And if I use Google Chrome Browser I see the photos
Google has done something which only allows Google products to display images in Google Blogger!!!!!!!
Can I start by thanking my readers who sent a comment advising they could see the blog photos. Yesterday I could only see them if I used Google Chrome, but today is a whole new day and i’m back to seeing them in my usual browser. I don’t know what happened; but everything is now right. Dave the ‘little thief’ hasn’t returned to steal more fruit!
The title of today’s blog post is “Slow Post” and it has nothing to do with the blog. Back in March, when I was planning to do another outback trip, I ordered three metal whistles from China for the grand price of $6. Then COVID came and the trip was deferred until 2021. The whistles never arrived. Well actually they did arrive…. Today! Eight months after I ordered them. One can only wonder what route they took? Well I know they came by air via Singapore and can only assume Australia Post “lost” the small package. Why did I want the whistles? When you’re geographically embarrassed out in the hot and dry desert you rapidly discover you quickly lose your voice calling out for help. the sound of a whistle travels much further and uses significantly less energy.
Today I sat at my desk and made three neck lanyards from some recycled paracord.
Then I played experimented with some of the coloured paracord making a key fob. Jan has decided to use it for the key to the french doors.
In less than 50 days I’ll reach the big 70. Never thought I’d make it this far. The bucket list is still quite long and one of this items on it is learning to fly. I’ve decided to do it before falling off my perch. Every pilot probably starts their flying career on fixed wing aircraft but I’ve decided to take the rotary route. I’ve flown in the back of a number of helicopters and it didn’t look that complicated. Jan has even agreed to allow me to purchase my own. Why leave the money for the kids!
There was a knock at the front door this morning and as Jan was stuck in her electric recliner chair I got the call to answer the door. The courier had already departed but he had left an orange parcel.
Whatever the contents were they were well protected with foam wrapping.
To my surprise inside was my aircraft.
I’ll probably be boring you silly with my flight training experiences.
Early in the day Jan pointed out we had a thief in the front yard who was stripping her mulberry bush of fruit.
Even the windfall was taken
Yesterday I had a problem with publishing photos embedded in Open Live Writer to Blogger. They wouldn’t appear in blogger. Eventually I resorted to writing the post in blogger. It will be interesting to see if today's photos (above) are published.
Now in Blogger and I see the photos are NOT being displayed. I've also noticed there are now no photos in the older posts where they were previously seen. Bloody Google has does something again!!!!
I’ll come to the sex part shortly. First I want to finish the last blog post by explaining I completed the VSR wiring this morning. The BIG question was “Will the VSR work?”
With the engine turned off the battery voltage was below the cut-in level of 12.9V. Once the engine was started the alternator produced an initial 13.9V which steadily rose to 14.2V. You may recall I disabled the ‘smart alternator system’ which tended to reduce the alternator voltage.
The next step was to check if the VSR had recognised the cut-in voltage.
Peering through the grill I could see the small Green LED indicating the VSR was connected. Success!
Now to the noisy neighbourhood sex. It’s obviously that time of the year. The magpies are swooping to chase off anyone approaching their nest and two kookaburras have decided to do their courting in the large gum tree opposite our house. They aren’t half noisy with their courting.
They are quite a large bird with an even larger beak.
I’ll be pleased when all this local wildlife is too busy raising a family to think of sex. 
For several months I’ve been avoiding completing the installation of the bullbar. The kit was missing two small rubber strips that fit between the bar and the body of the vehicle. This meant I had fitted the bar without them. They arrived several months later and I’ve subsequently been working up the enthusiasm to complete the task. If I was to follow the manufacturers instructions I’d need to removed the bar (again!) as the rubber strips are held onto the bar with small clips that need to be inserted through both the bar and the strip. Rather than remove the bar I decided to just loosen the bar dropping it slightly and then Sikaflex the rubber strips in place.
However this still necessitated removing the grill to access the bullbar retaining bolts <grumble>. Fitting one strip was quite easy but the bar wasn’t prepared to drop on the opposite side. I placed all my weight on top and the bar then moved allowing me to fit the second strip.
Strip in place
Pulling up is significantly harder that applying my body weight down. The darned bar wasn’t moving. That’s when I decided to use brain rather than brawn.
Using the trolley jack and a suitable length of 4x4 did the trick.
I’m old enough to remember there was enough room in a car engine compartment to hold a 21st birthday party Not these days!
I’ve been looking for a location for the new voltage sensitive relay (VSR). I bought it cheap as a replacement for the original VSR. This new one has adjustable voltage settings; which I wanted! But it’s larger and I haven’t been able to find a spot for it. Today I made the decision the vehicle will not be fitted with a 12V electric winch, this would allow me to fit the replacement VSR in the winch cradle position.
I could have fitted the VSR directly to the base of the winch cradle, but that would have meant the VSR cable terminals would be point upwards and between the terminals are small status LEDs. This would mean I wouldn’t be able to sight the LEDs and I therefore decided to make two angle brackets from scrap steel. This would allow the VSR to be mounted with the terminals horizontal rather than vertical. I would mount the VSR behind the front right vent in the bullbar thereby allowing me to peer through the vent and see the LEDs.
My VSR bolted to my two home made brackets which have been primed and painted. In an effort to ensure the nuts don’t loosen with vibration I coated them in Sikaflex.
The VSR terminals will be facing forwards and exposed to the weather. Water is not a great conductor of electricity. However I decided to make the terminals waterproof using a combination of Sikaflex and the terminal shipping caps.
One cap on and the other about to be fitted
I’ve set the VSR so it connects at 12.9V and cuts out at 12.6V. A rested fully charged 12V lead acid battery voltage is 12.8V which theoretically means the VSR won’t connect until the engine is running (the alternator produces 14.2V). At 12.6V the battery is just under 90% charged which should be sufficient to restart the engine.
I used duct tape and a marker pen to mark the location of the bracket holes on the winch cradle base before drilling and bolting the bracket to the cradle.
Then the nuts received the same Sikaflex treatment.
The wiring was run up behind the left headlight assembly terminating adjacent to the battery.
I needed to check I could see the LEDs through the grill
The LED’s aren’t illuminated because I haven’t made the connections to the battery
All OK! By now I’d had enough and decided to leave the wiring connections in the engine compartment until tomorrow. But not before I’d reassembled the front of the vehicle!
Years ago I used Microsoft Internet Explorer to search the Web however I ceased using it when I became concerned Microsoft was getting too powerful and wanted to know too much about me. These days I use a number of browsers for different purposes. My reasoning is I can protect my privacy better using different browsers and minimise the browser owners efforts to direct me to content they have a vested interest in promoting.
Firefox is exclusively used for Facebook. I don’t post much on Facebook, but I do lurk watching others. A couple of years ago I uninstalled Google Chrome for the same reason I’d ceased using Internet Explorer. My main browser became Opera. However more recently I’ve commenced using Brave when I discovered Opera is based on Chromium, which is the source of Chrome.
Brave is also derived from Chromium source code. However the developers have made some significant changes to the original source code. I use it because; unlike Internet Explorer and Chrome; it blocks Ads and Web Trackers. Unsurprisingly Brave looks very similar to Chrome.
When I switched browser to Brave I also changed my search engine from Google to DuckDuckGo.
DuckDuckGo claims to never record or share your personal information. It earns revenue from Ads, but the displayed Ads are based on your search results rather than your personal details or search history. When using Google have you noticed how Ads tend to follow you around. That’s Google tracking you and recording your internet history.
Fourteen years! Apparently that is how much bad luck I now have after breaking two bathroom mirrors. I suppose this means I’ll be unlucky until the day I fall off my perch!. The original mirror needed to be removed to allow the Tiler access. When it came to replacing the mirror I carefully cut two pieces of scrap melamine timber to act as supports for the bottom edge of the new mirror. They were taped to the new wall tiles.
I didn’t want the second mirror to fall off the wall and liberally coated the back with a combination of sikaflex adhesive and double sided tape. We held the mirror horizontally with the bottom edge resting on top of my timber supports before swinging it vertically against the wall. Then I realised the lower left corner had dropped behind the timber support. It was my fault; I should have anticipated this risk. The mirror now had a 10% list and was well and truly stuck fast. Not wanting the wet sikaflex to be smeared all over the place, I left the mirror for 24 hours to allow the sikaflex to set before smashing the second (new) mirror and removing it from the wall.
The second attempt was successful.
Note Jan’s throne has also been installed in the corner.
Twenty-four hours later……
This morning I removed all the tape from the mirror and installed the toilet paperwork holder. The only outstanding step in the project is the installation of the window horizontal timber louvre blind, which is being manufactured in China and isn’t expected to be delivered until early next year. When it is fitted the old brown aluminium window frame will be obscured.
We are still waiting on the delivery of the pool pump. I guess that’s also coming from China
There are approximately 26,000 Australian citizens or people with residency rights wanting to return to Australia. This is despite the government tell all overseas citizens and residents to return back in March. Moreover the government told citizens in Australia not to travel overseas.
The media is full of stories from overseas citizens and residents attempting to return and being unable to due to the lack of flights, the cost and a cap in Australia on the number able to be accepted due to limited quarantine accommodation.
Who are these people? It seems to me they likely fall into one of the following categories
I can imagine there will be many young people who went on their OE (working holiday) and when the virus hit decided they didn’t want to cut short their experience and return early. Now the employment has dried up and they have run out of money.
Many overseas dual citizens draw an Australian government pension which goes much further in their country of residence (Greece, Turkey, India, Cambodia, etc). However after six months overseas the government pension ceases. They are likely to be running out of money.
It’s therefore likely the majority of these affected citizens or residents cannot afford the high cost of return airfares. This is certainly what they are saying in the media.
This clamber to return asap via the media has resulted in the government arranging to open more quarantine capacity in Darwin along with announcing there will be additional charter flights arranged by the government.
The cost of a one way ticket from London will be $2000 per person and from India approximately $1000. Two weeks quarantine will cost $3000.
The government has stated returnees will have to pay their own airfares and the cost of two weeks quarantine. How will these people pay when so many of them are claiming they can’t afford the airfares?
The answer is in the fine print on the federal government website.
If you’ve been unable to return to Australia due to COVID-19 restrictions and are experiencing financial distress, you may be eligible for interest-free loans to cover living costs while you wait for a flight to return to Australia and/or to help cover the costs of the flight. Find out more on the COVID-19: Overseas financial assistance page.
And with respect to the cost of quarantine
Financial hardship
You may be eligible for a fee waiver under the grounds of financial hardship. You must be an Australian citizen or a Permanent resident to apply for this waiver. Eligibility is assessed against criteria including, but not exclusive to: An individual being unable to meet current financial obligations (e.g. home loan, immediate living expenses), including due to the quarantine period itself. Unemployment or on Jobkeeper/Jobseeker or another relevant Centrelink service or an Australian studying overseas Loss of a business entity, home or possessions due to COVID 19 or a natural disaster.
It appears to me anyone return from overseas will be eligible to claim financial hardship and not pay any up front cost for flights and quarantine. Moreover I suspect the government won’t pursue the matter and will ‘write-off’ the debt. In my opinion this is rewarding poor behaviour and contribute to it increasing in the future. Furthermore, it is the ‘responsible’ tax payer who pays the cost.
To a lighter subject
The video below shows an Australian woman who obviously isn’t frightened of spiders.
file size approx 19.2MB
You would think that after living in Perth for the past three years I’d be used to the temperature but I felt it today. I’d like to think it’s a combination of age and level of fitness. Or more accurately; unfitness! Anyway, Jan kindly agreed to provide an extra pair of hands for the fencing project.
We install two panels and then I filled the remaining gap with temporary fence panels.
I’ve not completed the permanent pool fence for two reasons. First, the pool installation isn’t complete and leaving a gap allows easier access to the enclosed area for items like paving stones. The second reason is; the change in the pool layout has resulted in a change to the fence design which requires an additional panel and post. Both have been ordered. However they need to be manufactured.
The rear fence (where the wheelbarrow is) will be turned back into lawn and then we will plant the final three fruit trees in the area.
It’s again that time of the year when we go strawberry picking. Has to be early in the day because the mercury rises by noon.
Jan has started processing them whilst I’ve done some quality control testing.
All our married life we’ve regularly picked fruit in season (even scrumping the towpath ) and have fond memories of taking the children to the orchards on the east side of State Highway 57 at Levin. (Jenny are the orchards still there?)
Yesterday was our first hot day this spring. However I managed to install two more fence posts and hang the second gate. Today is supposed to be even hotter, which may curb my enthusiasm! Further inland the fire danger has been rated catastrophic. Controlled burns are being conducted in the National Parks around greater Perth in an effort to reduce the fuel load on the ground thereby reducing the consequences of wildfires.
Dave and Ade the pool is only 5.7 metres long and 2 metres wide with a full length bench seat on one side. Somewhere to sit on a hot day. If Jan wants to swim I’m thinking of using an old leather belt and elastic cords anchored at one end of the pool.
Jenny I’m working as hard as the old body will allow……. And that’s not very hard these days!
Santa visited Jan early this year. His sleigh arrived being pulled by Prancer, Dancer, Rudolph, Dasher, Vixen, Cupid, Comet, Dunder and Blixem. along with another 150 horses.
Into the sky he went
Before heading east
And over the house
Will it reach
It appears I have some fencing to install; landscaping to complete; and a garden lawn reticulation system to reinstate.
By now you will have realised neither Ken nor I are flower people. We’re weren't in the 60’s either!
We’re also not fly people, which is why we were wearing our head nets.
The west coast of the state is famous for it’s rock lobster (crayfish) industry which annual accounts for some $400m. Approximately 230 professional boats are licensed to fish the waters mostly using pots. The stock was almost exhausted, but in 2015 a sustainable limit was set on the size of the annual catch and stock levels have recovered. More than 95% of the catch is exported by air from Perth to China.
Our planned coastal route south saw us stopping at
The memorial to HMAS Sydney is located on top of a hill in Geraldton. HMAS Sydney was the second Australian warship to bear the name and was launched in England in 1934. She was one of three light cruisers purchased by the Australian government in the years leading to WW2. Sydney served with distinction in the Mediterranean before returning to Australia in 1940.
In 1941 Sydney relieved her sister ship, HMAS Hobart in patrolling the Indian Ocean. Sydney was returning to Fremantle, WA from the Sunda Strait on 19 November 1941 when she observed a merchant ship. The merchant ship didn’t respond to Sydney’s signals and eventually Sydney got so close to the merchant ship that her superior (longer) gun range was negated. The merchant ship was actual the German raider Kormoran. When Sydney was within a mile of Kormoran the raider lowered it’s dutch ensign and hoisted the German Naval Ensign immediately opening fire. During the ensuing battle both ships sank. Sydney never managed to send a radio message and all 645 crew were either killed or drowned without trace. There were 317 survivors from the Kormoran found in 5 lifeboats and two rubber rafts.
In 1998 the rotary Club of Geraldton erected a memorial to HMAS Sydney. Whilst there is no direct affiliation between the ship and the city (it had visited three times) there was also no memorial in Western Australia.
The ‘Dome of Souls’
Wall of Remembrance
Eternal flame
Statue of ‘The Waiting Woman’
In 2008 a search for the wreck of HMAS Sydney was undertaken and on 12 March Kormoran was found. Four days later the search team found HMAS Sydney at a depth of approximately 2500 metres.
Port Denison
At Cervantes were decided to turn inland and find a quiet freedom campsite. I was at the wheel when we rounded a bend only to see an Echidna waddling across. I managed to avoid it and quickly stopped to take a photo.
By the time I’d run back it had reached the far side of the road and we heading into the bush. Echidnas can grow up to 40cm and weigh 7kg. They are also known as ‘The Spiny Ant-Eater’.
Whilst Echidnas are mammals they are unusual; like Platypus; as they lay eggs rather than giving birth to live young.
Some 11km from Cervantes were found a quiet off road rest area and set up our campsite only to have a large off-road caravan and dual cab ute arrive. The couple were originally from Liverpool and mum still had the accent despite them emigrating 13 years earlier. She informed us they had absolutely no intention of going back to UK weather
Early the next morning we quietly packed up and departed for home.
