After a bit over a week without power, BBQ's and cooking on a portable gas
camping stove are now a thing of the past.

Thank Christ one of my neighbours is Italian and had one of those stove top
coffee 'percolaters', otherwise things could have got ugly :-)

However, I did cook a 4 course meal for 8 people...... mainly to use up
what was left in my (warm) freezer. It was a good exercise, using the gas
cooker, as well as my wood stove/heater.

The night was a hoot, and everyone enjoyed the food. I am now introduced to
all and sundry as "the neighbour who's a damn good cook" :-)

So I've had about 3 days 'off' in the last week and a 1/2, have tomorrow
off as well.... going to get the chainsaw out and do a bit of 'pruning'
around the house and property. Up till now I've been felling trees with an
axe... doing the "I'm a lumberjack" thing... and have the blisters to show
for it.

All things being equal, I'll have a full day at home tomorrow, before
heading off again on Thursday/Friday, and possibly the weekend as well.

Was due to fly back to Brisbane in time for Australia Day, but the way
things are looking down here, I might be staying for a bit longer.


--
Peter
Tasmania

On Jan 15, 6:24*am, "I'm back" > wrote:
> After a bit over a week without power, BBQ's and cooking on a portable gas
> camping stove are now a thing of the past.
>
> Thank Christ one of my neighbours is Italian and had one of those stove top
> coffee 'percolaters', otherwise things could have got ugly :-)
>
> However, I did cook a 4 course meal for 8 people...... mainly to use up
> what was left in my (warm) freezer. It was a good exercise, using the gas
> cooker, as well as my wood stove/heater.
>
> The night was a hoot, and everyone enjoyed the food. I am now introduced to
> all and sundry as *"the neighbour who's a damn good cook" :-)
>
> So I've had about 3 days 'off' in the last week and a 1/2, have tomorrow
> off as well.... going to get the chainsaw out and do a bit of 'pruning'
> around the house and property. Up till now I've been felling trees with an
> axe... doing the "I'm a lumberjack" thing... and have the blisters to show
> for it.
>
> All things being equal, I'll have a full day at home tomorrow, before
> heading off again on Thursday/Friday, and possibly the weekend as well.
>
> Was due to fly back to Brisbane in time for Australia Day, but the way
> things are looking down here, I might be staying for a bit longer.
>
> --
> Peter
> Tasmania

What happened? Big storm?????

Like that title Mate!! Might even consider that for your Motto. Glad things are headed toward normality. G'day.

ImStillMags > wrote in
:

> On Jan 15, 6:24*am, "I'm back" > wrote:
>> After a bit over a week without power, BBQ's and cooking on a
>> portable ga
> s
>> camping stove are now a thing of the past.

>> --
>> Peter
>> Tasmania
>
> What happened? Big storm?????
>


Firestorm.


https://www.google.com.au/search?q=t...lient=firefox-
a&hs=EkG&tbo=u&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=
8931UNzUEem0iQeS6YFw&ved=0CGIQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=686


http://tinyurl.com/che224w




--
Peter
Tasmania

On Jan 15, 2:55*pm, "I'm back" > wrote:
> ImStillMags > wrote :
>
> > On Jan 15, 6:24 am, "I'm back" > wrote:
> >> After a bit over a week without power, BBQ's and cooking on a
> >> portable ga
> > s
> >> camping stove are now a thing of the past.
> >> --
> >> Peter
> >> Tasmania
>
> > What happened? * Big storm?????
>
> Firestorm.
>
> https://www.google.com.au/search?q=t...lient=firefox-
> a&hs=EkG&tbo=u&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=
> 8931UNzUEem0iQeS6YFw&ved=0CGIQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=686
>
> http://tinyurl.com/che224w
>
> --
> Peter
> Tasmania

Holy crap!!!! I hope your neighborhood is ok and you are ok. That
sounds awful.

On 2013-01-15, ImStillMags > wrote:
>
> What happened? Big storm?????

Glad to hear it's over. Donchya jes hate that kinda stuff?

I jes spent the day figuring out why we suddenly had no hot water. I
didn't know why and hadda determine the main problem. Dead water
heater? Down electrical circuit. Frozen water pipes? Turns out the
outside electrical outlet the heat tapes were plugged into went south
and our water heater pipes froze. After a couple hours of head
scratching and cord juggling, I finally ran an emergency extension
cord to the heat tape extension cords and unfroze the water lines.
Whew!

Hope I patched it up well enough, as it's gonna be 40 deg F below
freezing again tonight. With the wind chill, the high today was 20
below zero. This CA boy hadda do some serious cold weather clothing
experimentation to even get my gimp butt outside to work. I learned I
definitely need a warmer jacket and gloves.

nb

On 2013-01-15, ImStillMags > wrote:

> Holy crap!!!! I hope your neighborhood is ok and you are ok. That
> sounds awful.

Oh. We had those 7 mos ago.

Now we're freezing our heinies off! Ain't life grand?

nb

On 16 Jan 2013 00:20:17 GMT, notbob > wrote:

> On 2013-01-15, ImStillMags > wrote:
> >
> > What happened? Big storm?????
>
> Glad to hear it's over. Donchya jes hate that kinda stuff?
>
> I jes spent the day figuring out why we suddenly had no hot water. I
> didn't know why and hadda determine the main problem. Dead water
> heater? Down electrical circuit. Frozen water pipes? Turns out the
> outside electrical outlet the heat tapes were plugged into went south
> and our water heater pipes froze. After a couple hours of head
> scratching and cord juggling, I finally ran an emergency extension
> cord to the heat tape extension cords and unfroze the water lines.
> Whew!
>
> Hope I patched it up well enough, as it's gonna be 40 deg F below
> freezing again tonight. With the wind chill, the high today was 20
> below zero. This CA boy hadda do some serious cold weather clothing
> experimentation to even get my gimp butt outside to work. I learned I
> definitely need a warmer jacket and gloves.
>
I hope the problem you had last year (or was the year before) with the
water main freezing has been solved!

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

ImStillMags > wrote in
:

> On Jan 15, 6:24*am, "I'm back" > wrote:

>>
>> --
>> Peter
>> Tasmania
>
> What happened? Big storm?????
>


This was the view as I was coming down the mountain to a place called
Eaglehawk Neck. The fire is about 3.5k's away, and the flames at one stage
were about 100-130' high.

http://tinypic.com/m/ftlc0n/3


--
Peter
Tasmania

ImStillMags > wrote in
:

> On Jan 15, 2:55*pm, "I'm back" > wrote:
>> ImStillMags > wrote
>> innews:c8adecf7-0d15-4c52-842c-8
> :
>>
>> > On Jan 15, 6:24 am, "I'm back" > wrote:
>> >> After a bit over a week without power, BBQ's and cooking on a
>> >> portable ga
>> > s
>> >> camping stove are now a thing of the past.
>> >> --
>> >> Peter
>> >> Tasmania
>>
>> > What happened? * Big storm?????
>>
>> Firestorm.
>>
>> https://www.google.com.au/search?q=t...=en&client=fir
> efox-
>> a&hs=EkG&tbo=u&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&tbm=isch&source=u
> niv&sa=X&ei> 8931UNzUEem0iQeS6YFw&ved=0CGIQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=686
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/che224w
>>
>> --
>> Peter
>> Tasmania
>
> Holy crap!!!! I hope your neighborhood is ok and you are ok. That
> sounds awful.
>


We're lucky, we still have a house.

A lot of people lost theirs.

We have a cool change happening at the moment, and things are quiet,
however, we are expecting high temps and high winds tomorrow,which means
that it will be flaring up all over the place again.

Busy, busy, busy.

--
Peter
Tasmania

notbob > wrote in
:

> On 2013-01-15, ImStillMags > wrote:
>>
>> What happened? Big storm?????
>
> Glad to hear it's over. Donchya jes hate that kinda stuff?
>


It's not over. Fires are still burning uncontrollably, most in inaccessible
areas that are close to townships, with the capacity to shift/change and
bear down on them.



--
Peter
Tasmania

ImStillMags > wrote in
:


>
> Holy crap!!!! I hope your neighborhood is ok and you are ok. That
> sounds awful.
>


There's only been one fatality so far (a firefighter), which in the greater
scheme of things is a bloody miracle!!



--
Peter
tasmania

On 1/15/2013 8:48 PM, I'm back wrote:
> notbob > wrote in
> :
>
>> On 2013-01-15, ImStillMags > wrote:
>>>
>>> What happened? Big storm?????
>>
>> Glad to hear it's over. Donchya jes hate that kinda stuff?
>>
>
>
> It's not over. Fires are still burning uncontrollably, most in inaccessible
> areas that are close to townships, with the capacity to shift/change and
> bear down on them.

Wow, I did see something about a family that tread water for hours
while the fire burned around them. I thought it was something
that had happened a while ago, not this week.

Glad you're safe.

nancy

On Jan 15, 5:40*pm, "I'm back" > wrote:
> ImStillMags > wrote :
>
> > On Jan 15, 6:24*am, "I'm back" > wrote:
>
> >> --
> >> Peter
> >> Tasmania
>
> > What happened? * Big storm?????
>
> This was the view as I was coming down the mountain to a place called
> Eaglehawk Neck. The fire is about 3.5k's away, and the flames at one stage
> were about 100-130' high.
>
> http://tinypic.com/m/ftlc0n/3
>
> --
> Peter
> Tasmania

The scariest and most helpless part of it is that you can do
absolutely nothing about it except watch and get out of the way. I
certainly hope you get some rain and helpful weather soon.

ImStillMags wrote:
>
> On Jan 15, 5:40 pm, "I'm back" > wrote:
> > ImStillMags > wrote :
> >
> > > On Jan 15, 6:24 am, "I'm back" > wrote:
> >
> > >> --
> > >> Peter
> > >> Tasmania
> >
> > > What happened? Big storm?????
> >
> > This was the view as I was coming down the mountain to a place called
> > Eaglehawk Neck. The fire is about 3.5k's away, and the flames at one stage
> > were about 100-130' high.
> >
> > http://tinypic.com/m/ftlc0n/3
> >
> > --
> > Peter
> > Tasmania
>
> The scariest and most helpless part of it is that you can do
> absolutely nothing about it except watch and get out of the way. I
> certainly hope you get some rain and helpful weather soon.

Those Aussies could at least learn to drive on the "right" side of the
road.

Gary

PS - nice hat, Peter.

"John J" > wrote in message
...

> I agree! But Americans have to switch from Fahrenheit to Celsius.
>
> --
> John



Why?

Cheri

On 2013-01-16, Cheri > wrote:
> "John J" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>> I agree! But Americans have to switch from Fahrenheit to Celsius.

> Why?

I agree. Why?

I actually prefer metric measurements. Easier to deal with. All
EXCEPT temperature. Yes, Celsius seems easier, water freezes at zero,
but you also lose the finer measurement of Fahrenheit. Gimme metric
for everything else, but lemme keep Fahrenheit

nb

On 2013-01-17, John J > wrote:

> But somebody else finds fluid ounces cute.......

OMG, don't open that can of worms, here! You wouldn't believe how
many rfc'rs still can't grasp the diff between volume and mass
ounces.

nb