The weather outside is frightful...

... but I'm not talking about let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. As I've mentioned recently we are in the middle of autumn here in the southern hemisphere and with that comes changes in the weather. Not unlike you in the northern hemisphere we get fronts which bring in colder air. The difference is the fronts in the northern hemisphere usually come from the north or west. The cold fronts push cold air down from the North Pole (Santa country), which pushes the warm moist air from the south down and out of the way. Usually when this happens it results in rain or even a thunderstorm or two.

The fronts here in our neck of the woods also come from the west but the cold fronts come in from the south out of the Antarctic (the south pole (Santa's summer home). It's just a little reversed but the same occurrences happen in respect to the storms. Last night we had such a storm. As a side note there is nothing but water, specifically the Great Southern Ocean, between us and the Antarctic so we are the first port of call for those cold fronts. Lucky us.

The front started coming through about midday yesterday. The winds picked up and you could see the battle being fought between the warm air from the north and the cold air from the south, because our big maple tree in the back was pummeled by wind gust from one direction and then the other. Now when I say wind I mean wind like in gale force. We live on a very, very high hill looking down on the city and the harbour so it's not unusual to get high winds and even higher wind gusts but yesterday and last night were exceptional. We were getting gusts at the height of of the storm of 85-95 mph with sustained winds of 35 mph. This morning the wind gusts are still reaching 45 mph and sustained winds of 25 mph.

About midnight I heard this loud crash so I got up to investigate but couldn't figure out what or where it had come from or what had actually happened to cause such a crash and by then it was sheeting down with rain and I just figured there wasn't a hole in my roof or the doors so it could wait until the morning. I sure wasn't going to venture outside to have a better look. As I said it could wait.

I slept on the couch last night as James was at work (he works night duty in the ER) and because the winds were so bad I was worried about the new doors we had put in because basically we now have a huge wall of glass covering the back of our house which faces north. So the northerly warm winds were fighting the cold Antarctic winds off the Southern Ocean and they were buffeting our back doors like there's no tomorrow. I fought my way outside and put away our wooden table and chairs to make sure they weren't going to be picked up and pushed (thrown) into the new doors. I spent the rest of the night nodding off only to be jerked out of my slumber by yet another rattling of the doors. Rattling was an understatement as the entire house had been shaken so much that I could feel it through the couch where I was sleeping and I was waiting for the house to start showing some damage, what kind I don't know and don't want to know but I just knew it was going to happen. Luckily damage to the house never eventuated.

Now I don't know what I was worried about in reference to this little house. It's a quaint little wooden cottage with a corrugated iron roof which is wonderful when it rains as it bounces and pings against the roof and lulls you off to sleep, but that's a different story. Anyway as I said, I don't know what I was worried about as far as the house is concerned. I mean it's been here over 115+ years and I'm sure it's seen it's share of storms and I'm sure last nights storm won't be it's last. At the end of the day 115+ years later and this house is still standing. What's to worry

So come this morning as the sun was coming up even though it's still pouring out none the less it is getting light outside I was having look around in the back yard from the kitchen windows and to my surprise and not in a good way I found one of our large ceramic pots has been turned over on it's side by the wind. Now you need to know that this pot holds a four foot fir tree. She ain't light weight by any means. In fact pot, soil and tree I imagine weighs at least 150 maybe 180 pounds. I can only imagine what might have happened with the table. Actually sitting here thinking about the tree, I suppose it could have just as well be knocked into the windows also seeing that it was sitting just 1 foot from the doors and ended up 3 feet away.

Anyway, the back side of the cold front is moving through as we speak and as I mentioned early the winds have died down but still are a nice gentle breeze at 20-25 mph. This should pass and when it's all over the only thing we will have to deal with is some very fresh, crisp, cool autumn days (heck who am I kidding it will be down right cold). I have the fireplace on in the office as I type this and I can only imagine what winter has in store for us. I don't much care as long as it keeps the winds to itself.

We're back...

We got home last night around 6:30. A friend picked us up at the airport and the first thing we noticed is that it was cold back in our neck of the woods. We had expected it to be cold while we were in New Zealand but it actually was quite spring like all the time we were there. Our friend told us that the previous two days before we came home there had been horrendous weather including gale force winds and flooding. All of this was due to a strong cold front. It looks as if winter is still with us.

Anyway, I guess everyone wants to know about the trip. I have plenty of pictures to share but have not put them up on Flickr yet. Hell, I haven't even unpacked. I laid done on the couch last night and went out to it by 8:00. I find travelling exhausting. We thought that going to New Zealand would be a breeze because it was only a 3 hour flight compared to some of our 25+ hour flights to the States. We were wrong because in the end you still have to go through all the checks, immigration and customs. It is all too tedious and so not worth it. We've decided that for a while were are only going to take some local trips which do not involve customs and passports. Next trip is up to the Sunshine Coast near Brisbane to visit an old friend and then we are off to Melbourne for a few days so James can attend a conference and then we go back to Melbourne for my birthday where our friend Moys will be meeting us as she and I celebrate the same birthday. We will be going to see Priscilla will we are there.

I will make every attempt to post the pictures today and I will let you know as soon as they have been posted. As for the trip all I can say is it was very relaxing, filled with good food, lots of laughs and new experiences. I will make a bit of a more inclusive post when I get the pictures ready and try to explain what you'll be seeing. Anyway, I need to get on with catching up on my emails and all of my blog reading. It looks like everyone has been very busy while I was away.

Time flys (especially when you're cold)...

It is amazing how time flies by when you're not paying attention. I mean it's been four days since my last post. I thought it was like only yesterday. I felt like I should write a little something but this isn't going to be a ground breaking post, just a bit of a hey there, hi there so I won't have such huge gaps between post and I also won't feel guilty for not posting. As I said this isn't going to be a ground breaking post full of items about the most intimate parts of my life basically because I don't do that and to be honest there isn't anything ground breaking or shocking going on in the intimate department of my life. Not that I would honestly tell you anyway :) Nope pretty boring here.

So, what is happening? Well as you know it's winter here in the land down under and everyone is kind of hibernating including me. I don't mind winter as I like things like snow, wearing jumpers (American translation jumper = sweaters) and I love a nice fire in the fireplace. It's just that our house, which I'm sure I've mentioned before, is over 115 years old and there is no central heating/air conditioning. We depend on couple of space heaters, 2 oil heaters and one reverse cycle system which is located in the kitchen. We also use the fireplace in the lounge room and occasionally the one in the dining room.

What I'm getting at is, we don't leave all these item on except for the one oil heater that is in the bedroom to keep the chill off that room. So by not leaving anything on to keep the rest of the house warm over night it can be pretty darn chilly if not down right cold first thing in the morning. The first thing I do when I get up in the morning is turn the reverse cycle on in the Kitchen. It has an automatic timer but I have never learned how to make it work. Occasionally I will turn on the fireplace in the lounge room but I hate to waste the gas. I guess I should be happy it is gas fuelled and not one that I would actually have to start with kindling and such because that just wouldn't happen. I never was a very good boyscout. It usually take about 30-40 minutes before it starts to really warm up and then it only does in this part of the house. The rest of the house stays cold. Anyway, that is the price we pay for choosing to live in a temperate climate, which is hard to find in Australia. At the end of the day I will take the cold over the heat because I hate it when I start getting all sweaty and can't seem to get away from the heat. I'm sure I will survive.

Well there you have it a riveting post on how I heat my home during winter. I hope you enjoyed the read. I think I'll go fix a nice hot cup of tea and try to warm up from the inside and leave you to ponder over this this very engrossing post on how I cope with the winter chill. BTW I am very well aware of the heat wave many of you are experiencing over in the states so maybe just maybe I can send you a bit of cool weather. I'm really all about the sharing.

Baby it's cold out side...

Our backyard outdoor electronic weather station read this morning that it was -0.1 degree Celsius = 31.82 degree Fahrenheit and with a wind chill it felt like -3.7 degree Celsius = 25.34 degree Fahrenheit. Now, I know that to many North Americans and some of you in Europe don't think that is cold. If you lived here in the land down under, and more specifically in Tasmania, you would think it's cold considering most of the time our temperatures are quite moderate ranging around 26 degree Celsius = 78.8 degree Fahrenheit to 16 degree Celsius = 60.8 degree Fahrenheit . So it really is all relative. All I know is I've acclimated, there is a thick frost on the ground and snow on the mountain. It's cold!

What really concerns me is winter here runs on an even number of months, meaning we don't really go by the whole first day of summer/winter thing that happens around the 21 of say June or December. No, our seasons run in set three month lots and winter runs from June 1 to August 31. Our coldest month is July so I am a bit concerned as to what next month has in store. Oh well I always said I like cold better than hot because when it's stinking hot I can only take so many pieces of clothing off before I get arrested or people start tearing their eyeballs out. Where as in winter I can put a fire in the fire place, rug up, put on a woolly jumper and Bob's your uncle. Now for my family in America, translation (I can put a fire in the fire place, put on warm clothes, put on a sweater and there you have it)

Anyway, that's all that is happening around here. A quite week ahead with my regular three month check up with the doctor at the end of the week to see how my long, very long (21+ years), fight against HIV is going. I don't expect anything ground breaking as I take all my pills like a good boy, but you never know. At the end of the day if something where to change it would mean changing my medications which would be troublesome at best but I would do what I needed to because I've put up with this bloody (translation damn) disease for so long I sure as hell am not going to stop fighting now. Would seem kind of pointless really. And to think I have this conversation with my self daily. HMMM???