#2251 Friday 5th January

 Woo Hoo!  We have internet again!  The "internet doctor" visited yesterday and found that rats (or something) had chewed through the cable before it reached our house.  The connection was soon made and we're all very happy.  Kaylia especially!!  Her world was very bare without her YouTube music.  .... and for Naomi and I, the evenings were equally bare.

It's all good now.

#2250 Wednesday 3rd January 2024

. Our hair is being torn out! Kaylia struggles to understand why the Internet is broken. On Sunday 31st the Internet went down at home and despite numerous modem restarts and modem swaps, it is still down. I'm spending hours on the phone trying to get action..... no result yet. I'm writing this while sitting under a tree about a kilometre from home where the mobile signal is strong enough.

This is compounded by the 3G/4G issue. (I have a 4G phone but it only does LTE not voLTE..... so I have mobile data but no voice!) I have a new phone on the way but I have no voice signal till it comes. 

#2249 Sunday 31st December 2023

 New Year's eve

Best wishes to all readers.  

I was flabbergasted to read of people travelling to Sydney (for the new year fireworks) from the other side of the world!  Is this a sign of excessive, profligate consumption?

Users of iiNet mobile phone service have been bombarded with messages warning that the 3G service would be ceasing ..... and that we should upgrade to a 4G capable phone.  I did this ..... and then 2 weeks ago I found that I had no voice calls in or out.  Enquiries revealed that we were not told of a small detail....  in addition to the phone being 4G, it had to have "voLTE" capacity.  That is ... the phone might be 4G but without that other extra, no voice service would be possible.  .....  and I am sure that we were not advised of this.  .... but I did not save the iiNet communications so I can't prove it.

#2248 Friday 29th December

Kaylia is just about counting the hours till NEW YEAR when she can have four new calendars!  Calendars are a valuable tool in her management of stress and anxiety.  She can see ahead and know that her routine will be maintained.  The absence of routine can be a big stress factor.

Many readers will know of the spa that I built a few years ago just next to the balcony.  The spa is no longer needed so I'm removing it.  The fibreglass shell has been cut into small bits and taken to the dump. 

The floor frame will be constructed so that the area can have decking built.  This area will be a studio space for Naomi's brother David when he come to live with us. 

#2247 Tuesday 26th December

Kaylia's really enjoying our stay in Busselton..... we can always tell by the way she sings as she walks around. We've been for a drive "round the block"..... down to Margaret river.... then across to Dunsborough and back to base.

It was a quiet day.  We've been enjoying this spot. 

#2246 Sunday 24th December

Christmas eve..... Best wishes to you all.

We're in Busselton for a few days and we'll have Christmas day with Naomi's sister in Bunbury tomorrow.

This photo is quite remarkable...... the black images are the shadows cast by the zebras walking along! 

#2245 Sunday 17th December

Very funny!  This morning we set off on our routine trip to Kalamunda Dome..... and with zero input from us we saw that the car GPS had filled in the destination and the route!  (Hmm! Thought to myself...  "What would it do for the next routine journey to Balcatta op shops?")   Sure enough, within minutes it was showing the next route and destination!   This is very spooky.  Perhaps there's someone checking on our habits.

This was untitled but the position of the roads makes me think that it's Wolf Creek crater (about 150km south of Halls Creek).... I went there in 1976.

Later....  We're home and I thought that I would have a quick look at the mechanism of my favourite reclining lounge chair..... Last week the chair gave a loud snap and ceased functioning. Usually the next step is to put the chair on the burning pile for next winter.... but I thought that it might be fixable.  It turned out that a nut had come off a bolt.... and the lever mechanism had broken.  I stripped it down and went to the shed..... made some replacement parts..... and now it works better than ever!

This is awe inspiring.