Ominous spanners

The ominous spanner in the works, will be visiting my blog soon. Not from my own doing, but apparently Google+ is shutting down, for good. Therefore, all comments made on my blog, signed in with a Google+ account (including my own) will be deleted from April 2.

It will also mean, all the comments I made on other blogs with my Google+ account, will be deleted too. Sorry about that, but it's certainly out of all of our hands.

Get to work

I'm attempting to download a copy of my Google+ data. How to reinstate comments, back on my blog however, is still being researched. I don't even know if it's possible. But I'm also going to save a back-up of my blog, as a precaution too. I recommend if you use a Google+ account, with your blog or comments, you take measures to save your data before it gets deleted on April 2.

I don't know what this shutdown, will mean for my blog - or how it will look in the end. But I'm just giving you all a heads-up, that things may look very different after March.

The good news is, Blogger isn't going anywhere. So my Gully Grove address won't be disappearing into the ether, along with Google+. At least, not for now, lol.

Thank you

Thank you for all the kind comments, regarding the passing of our pet cat. There are much less tears now, and acceptance without feeling guilty. Although, the reason I have been absent from my blog of late, is because I have a cold/flu. Actually, we all have it!

During my sabbatical however, I received notification that my former free Photobucket account, is now requesting $400 per annum, to share my photos with third parties - in this case, my blog.

If you see that annoying image from Photobucket, from any post during 2008 - 2014, you now know why. I'm either going to have to upload six years worth of photos (again) to other free photo hosting sites, or consider starting my blog, completely from scratch.

Either task will be an undertaking, better started when I'm well. Have any of you been hit with the same problem, due to Photobuckets recent change in policy?

As far as problems go, these are really minor ones. More an inconvenience than anything else. The passing of time, some rest, laughter and regular cups of warm cocoa, will see us all through.

Gremlins

So I went to upload the photos from my camera, today, and found something a little out of the ordinary. I didn't recognise it, at first glance...

The mystery

Okay, it was obviously MY desk, but I couldn't remember taking a photo like that? And a particularly good one too! The lighting and symmetry was better than my usual snaps. So what the heck was going on?

Gotcha!

Now it starts to make sense. Little cheeky bum, found my camera. I caught him at my desk the other day, but nothing seemed out of place at the time. He had a cheeky grin on his face though, and ran away quickly. Now I know why.

He has a knack for technology, this one. They pick it up, all too young. I'm just glad he didn't manage to wipe the photos I'd taken from our recent yard projects. Coming soon.

Random happenings

I've been doing so many random things lately, its difficult to write separate posts about them all. I've been lucky to snap a few pictures here and there, but nothing to really demonstrate the full story of each activity.

So this is my post about random happenings. I'll start in the kitchen, where I've been spending a lot of time lately.

Recycled jars

I've been making some apple cider vinegar. Which is just taking your apple peels and cores, putting them in a jar with water, and a couple of dessert spoons of sugar. After placing a breathable cover over the top, I let them sit for a few weeks. What's left afterwards, gets strained and decanted.

You can see the progressive steps in the above photo. We ate a couple of apples which I put in a smaller jar (most recent). I also made apple and rubarb (a week earlier) which used more apples, so a larger jar was required. Then the largest jar of all, is where I add all the strained liquid together (when ready) to age, at the bottom of my pantry.

Beetroot pulp

I had fun making a beetroot cake recently too. It was so rich and delicious, I got a migraine headache after eating it. I'm tweaking the recipe to use less sugar. This had melted chocolate in the cake, enough brown sugar to match the weight of the beetroot, and then it had a chocolate gnash icing.

Everyone loved it, but waaaay too sweet for my kanoodle to handle. So its back to the drawing board to experiment. My eager taste testers, await round two!

Dishwasher

This would have to be my most memorable part of the kitchen adventures. It's when my toddler attempted to stack the dishwasher, after licking the cake beaters. All on his own initiative too, with absolutely no prompting from us. It simply had to be photographed. He completely missed the utensils holder, but got the gist of where dirty dishes go, when you're finished with them. He's such a little helper.

He even helps carry the groceries inside, and will cry if you unpack them, without being able to hand you every single item from the bags himself.

Hidden

To the garden now, and when I was watering my container plants the other morning, I found a camouflaged visitor. The little green tree frog, stayed for several days and enjoyed it when I sprayed the plant with a fine mist of water.

I was a little disappointed when he left his usual post, but he probably had other froggy stuff to do in the garden. Like avoid being eaten by the predators. It's spring and everyone's being eaten for the next generation to flourish!

In flower

I was also very surprised to find my Flanders Poppies in flower recently too. The kangaroos (or hares) had munched them down, again and again. When the spring rains made the grass grow again, I guess they left the poppies alone. To see them flower was thrilling, and I plan to save the seed.

They generally self-seed themselves every year, without my help, but I've noticed only two poppy plants this year. So its time to intervene. I know there are all sorts of delightful poppies you can get nowadays, but I love the simplicity and sentimentality, of the traditional Flanders poppy.

Technical stuff

And I bet you're wondering what this is all about? Anyone who has found their DVD player's, door open, with a toddler standing nearby - knows this tale all too well. Every time I put a DVD in the player afterwards, the door would close, then open again, never registering the DVD at all. Open - close. Open - close.

Google is a wonderful thing. I did some research and pulled my player apart, looking for something (anything) that my toddler could have stuck inside.

Top cover of DVD player

Does this look like a foreign object to you? At first I thought the round metal piece, was part of the normal assembly - probably knocked out of place when my toddler opened the door, as the DVD was playing. It looked like it fitted perfectly! Why else would they place a huge magnet there, if not to hold this metal piece in place?

After realsing it still didn't work, when repositioning the metal disk - I asked myself, perhaps it didn't belong? Sure enough, once I removed it, the DVD played perfectly again! I suddenly remembered, my son had removed the bolt and washer from the safety gate earlier, which we place in front of the gadgets, under the TV.

Great how that gate has worked out, isn't it? Really keeps the toddler at bay.

So it was a WASHER from the safety gate, not meant to be in the DVD player at all. Once I got over the frustration of having to pull the thing apart, I thought how cute, he tried to put a round thing in the DVD player, just like we do.

Image source

Green card is motherboard 

In other news, my daughter broke her reconditioned laptop we bought last year. Thanks to google I managed to pull it apart too, and conclude it wasn't anything I could fix. It turned out to be the memory, which can normally be changed. Our friendly tech guy informed us, however, our model must be the only one ASUS made, with fused-in memory to the motherboard.

Model Asus X551CA-SX029H, for those who want to know, what to avoid. Because a google search showed nothing of the issue, and our tech guy had never seen it before either.

At $400 to replace the entire motherboard, however, its bye-bye laptop.

 Toshiba with Windows

I was able to save my mum's old laptop however, from a Windows meltdown. Or corrupt files, in other words. This is why I prefer to use Linux free software, as an operating system. Which happens to be related to something we learned from our tech guy recently too. There's a new (to us) Linux based operating system, called ArtistX.

It's designed for all those budding artists who manipulate images (including CAD) and video for a living - but using completely free software. I'll have to check it out.

So in my random happenings lately, I cooked and preserved some stuff, pulled apart and fixed other things, spent money finding out something else was cooked, and found some surprises in my garden and free online resources.

Makes for a rather full month! Bye-bye September, and the first month of spring.

Back-up plan

One issue living away from the conveniences of urban living is, you have to take care of certain things independently. Things such as inflating tyres. Such a simple concept, but if you don't live near a fuel station, what are you going to use on a reliable basis to put air in your tyres?

Modern solution

We initially purchased an electrical unit, on sale at around $160. This unit could jump start the car, convert to 12v and charge any number of devices, all from the built-in battery. We only really purchased the unit however, for the air compressor with digital psi read out.

It was brilliant for the first two years, even if it did seem to take a while to fill the car tyres. But then one day is just decided it wasn't going to fill air anymore. The unit turns over, just as usual, but no air comes out to fill the tyres. So we were left with what to do next!

 New-old technology

Who would think a manual bike pump became the answer? Oh, we've tried bike pumps before, but who can pump for long with those hand-held units? We even had a foot pump, but it eventually broke too! The problem with those two pump designs were, you could easily put pressure on the connections, or metal, through the motion of pumping. Eventually something breaks and you're back to square one.

The beauty with this new bike pump however, is it holds everything neatly, as you simply use gravity to push down. Up and down. That's it.

Nothing fancy

The foot holder doesn't have springs and won't warp, so long as you're sensible with how you use it while pumping. We cannot really trust the manual pressure gauge, but it does give an indication that you're near the mark. We'll have to remedy this with a digital pressure reader, which is good to have for checking your car tyres anyway.

With our pond project recently, we desperately needed our wheelbarrow back in action. It was out of commission, due to having low tyre pressure. Have you ever tried using a barrow with low air, and have the metal valve disappear back into the tyre? Then you have to rip off the whole tyre, to get access to the valve again!

Out and proud!

Well I have a few tricks to avoid all that. First, ALWAYS check your tyre is inflated before putting weight in your wheelbarrow. If you find you've gotten to it a little late, but the valve is still visible, use a pair of pliers to hold the metal valve (don't pull it). Then slowly let the rest of the air out of the tyre. While still holding the valve with the pliers, gently pull it out more to attach the pump fitting.

If you don't let the air out of the tyre first, you'll end up damaging the rubber ring inside trying to get the value out enough to attach the pump. Then you'll have to replace the inner tube. Ask me how I know *wink*.

But here is the best news, we purchased this particular unit on sale - normally around $70 retail, and we paid only $20 + postage (around $30 in total). If you are interested in having a reliable source of air at your place, you can find the same offer we used HERE. The offer only lasts until 13 April for Australians only.

I'm not paid to advertise this product, I just thought others may find it handy having a back-up for when the electrical solutions don't always work!

 Inflatable pool ring

This pump can do up to 160psi, which ain't bad for a bike pump. You can use it for wheelbarrow tyres, bike tyres, air-beds, inflatable pools, even car tyres!

My advice, if you need to be independent with inflating tyres, is don't buy a six-in-one unit like we initially did. Buy an air compressor separately. They come in all shapes and sizes, but just make sure you buy one with enough grunt to do what you need it to. Check out this link for a little more info on making an air compressor decision.

But its also good to have a manual air solution, like a suitably designed bicycle pump. We're glad to FINALLY have the barrow back again!

A tale of two towers

When I started my search for a new computer to replace my aging system, I naturally began looking for the appropriate hard drive. This is the heart of any personal computer. It *IS* the desktop after all, and comes in many different shapes, sizes and configurations.

Many of us think of name brands such as Microsoft or Apple Macintosh, when we think of owning a PC, but it all starts with the humble computer tower, where motherboards nurse their internal hardware to external peripherals. Manufacturers build the parts, and companies such as IBM, Acer and Dell put them together to make your "name-brand" PC - complete with trademark software (most likely Microsoft).

The old Acer Standard Desktop Computer

When you want to configure your own system however, it takes a bit of research. First you have to know what you want to use the computer for, and then secondly, limit yourself to that benchmark. Because when I first started looking, I wanted the MOST RAM (Random Access Memory) and the MOST HDD (Hard Disk Drive) space, because I naturally assumed more meant faster processing speeds.

It's true, the more RAM (Random Access Memory) you have available, the faster the processes of your computer will run. But there are other parts of your computer which can be delegated specific tasks too. Enter the graphics card. I never had one in my old PC, but in my new second-hand tower they provided one. It's the only reason I allowed myself to compromise on less memory than I wanted. Because with a graphics card, it could handle the video footage you're watching, while your RAM is being used elsewhere on the computer. In other words, it takes the pressure off the RAM if you have a graphics card.

Still, I asked the company I purchased the second-hand unit from, to upgrade my RAM (Random Access Memory). It was really the HDD (Hard Disk Drive) memory I had to live with. It was only 160GB when most computers come with a hefty 500GB nowadays. It was way more than the 40GB of my old system, but still, that memory can get eaten up over time with repair patches, as I discovered with all my Microsoft Windows operating systems.

But here again, I found a solution. Microsoft Windows in one option for an operating system, which traditionally eats up a lot of HDD memory, but Linux based software uses a lot less. As it doesn't get hacked as much as Microsoft, there are less repair patches constantly being downloaded. Plus as the operator, Linux allows you to pick what downloads you want to install. With Windows you just had to accept ALL the automatic downloads it decided your system needed, whether you actually used the programs on it or not.

I will do a more in-depth post on Linux and Ubuntu which was the operating system I eventually chose. For now however, I want to break down the cost of my new system, and how it compares to my old system.

The new Acer Mini Computer

The Acer Media Centre V1000 cost:     $169.00
Upgrade from 2GB to 4GB RAM cost:  $  45.00
Postage from NSW to QLD cost:           $  16.50
Insurance cost:                                       $    5.30
USB TO ps2 adapter cost:                     $  20.00

Total:                                                       $255.80


Because I wanted to use my existing Monitor and Keyboard/Mouse, I checked the cable fittings which were PS2. The Mini computer I was purchasing however, didn't have those fixtures at the back, so I had to buy a USB to PS2 adapter. It looks like this:

Image credit

I kicked myself, because the company I was buying the second-hand computer from were selling those same adapters for $11. I didn't buy one at the time because I thought Dave had one with his laptop! Silly me, he didn't, and after my run around town the cheapest I found it for was $20. I could have paid less than $2 however, if I wanted to wait over a month for it to arrive from Hong Kong. Just goes to show the mark-up rate in Australia, doesn't it?

The company I purchased my mini computer from was Express PC Parts. I liked how thorough they were with pictures on their website, plus links to manufacturers the parts were from. At a glance, I could see what I was getting and if it was going to suit my purposes. The only downside was it came with Windows Vista that was originally installed on the hard drive. But I deleted it when I installed Ubuntu.

Still, for just over $255 I'm not complaining. Compared to my old system, I've got double the RAM, 120GB more HDD memory, uses less than half the electricity than my bigger tower, plus I didn't have to pay a manufacturer for the software packages. I hated all those pesky "free trial" offers for security programs, using up valuable memory, which I could never delete.

Linux was indeed a breath of fresh air! So was the final price.

What I found most interesting from this exercise however, was the difference in size between the large tower and small. Do you want to know the real reason why one is big and the other is small? The larger towers are manufactured to allow future upgrades for internal devices. I found this interesting, because most people who buy a cheap package deal, have absolutely no intention of opening up the tower for upgrades. Yet all "cheap" package deals sell the large towers. Feels like a bit of unnecessary waste. The mini computers nowadays only house the system it is being purchased for - only a general PC for general use. If more people spend on mini-computers (for their intended purpose) maybe manufacturers will get the message?

My old tower won't go to waste however. I'm going to rebuild it. For the first time I'm going to pull apart my own computer and upgrade it myself. I don't expect it to be a pain free experience, but it will most definitely be an enlightening one. There won't be any pressure to rush finishing either. I predict my second-hand new unit has about another 6 years use ahead of it.

In fact, if I learn how to upgrade computers from scratch, I may never have to buy a new computer again! Just keep recycling the old ones and replacing the parts which are broken.

A new way to do business

My computer is 6 years old now. We purchased it as a "package deal", so we received a brand new computer with monitor, keyboard, mouse and operating system (Windows) and paid just under $1000 for it. Six years ago that was pretty good value, but now my old system has aged it can barely keep-up with all that multi-tasking. If we were to buy another computer package, it would cost a few hundred dollars less, for a more powerful computer.

We considered a new package, but I suppose after you buy a few (between us, Dave and I have purchased 4 in the 17 years of owning computers) you start to look at the whole exercise as a bit of a waste. Why do we have to replace the monitor, keyboard and mouse all over again, when it was really only the hard-drive which kicked the bucket?

I asked myself that question more seriously before going out to purchase a new computer this time. My three criteria were price, value and reliability. Could I find something different to the normal way of doing business with the PC world? Without going into long convoluted stories, let's just say I came to realise why we were locked in a wasteful cycle. We'd grown-up on package deal diets, and didn't know how to make a PC from scratch. What's more, the two operating systems which dominated the market (Windows and Macintosh) went out of their way to make computing easier for the user. Why did we have to think beyond megabites someone else prepared for us?

Basically, we were happiest to sit back, open a box and go wow when the switch was flicked for the first time. That was the problem. It was the "operators" not the operating systems. We didn't want to go looking for choice if it was a harder process to go through. After many months of determined research, often feeling like I was sitting for exams all over again (my brain turning to mush and being out of my depth) I eventually received my prize...

Two Acer computer towers side-by-side

Above you can see my old and new system, sitting side by side. Both are Acer computers and somewhat a bit of luck the new (second-hand) computer turned out to be an Acer too. I was looking at purchasing a new hard-drive originally, but the new Linux operating system I was going to install may not have worked. After all, I had never attempted anything like this before.

So I decided I would opt for a second-hand computer to experiment on instead. If I lost the money because it didn't work, then at least I wouldn't have lost as much as a brand new hard-drive would cost. The one I had priced was around $360. All up, my second-hand system cost a total of $255. I will itemize all the costs and the process involved, in another post. I believe the information is a lot easier to absorb if it's broken into smaller bits.

I think the new Acer blends in well with my existing monitor, keyboard and mouse. I didn't have to replace them and that gave me a great deal of satisfaction. I know you can get bigger monitors (mine is 17 inches) but it works perfectly fine and I don't do a lot of video editing to justify an upgrade.

At the end of this exercise, I got the satisfaction of knowing a little more about how computers work, and that I'm not as powerless a consumer as first believed. There are many options beyond the package-deal diet, but you have to hunger for something else. I like technology, I think it can be very useful, but why not learn something new in the process? We can choose to sit back and go wow when we open the new box, or we can choose to put something together ourselves that meets our needs better.

The process didn't kill me and I'm not a computer geek either. I raise a family and maintain a property at the same time - I don't have a paid job though, so that's the only reason I had the time. If you've got time available too, before your next computer dies, look into free open-source software, which uses a Linux based kernel. It's why I didn't have to pay for an operating system, or all the free software that makes my new system work.

This won't be the last post I write about this subject. It's far too interesting not to talk about.

Best solar around

We had a visit from a friendly solar salesperson yesterday. It was a big day for us, as we had avoided taking steps towards investigating solar for so long. I had read many websites and the official Consumer Guide to Solar PV from the Clean Energy Council (CEC) but a lot of the information felt like gobbledygook until we spoke to a real person face to face.

It was an enlightening discussion in many ways. I finally understood what STC's (Small Technology Credits) were and why they were so important for reducing the cost of installing solar. I also discovered how grid-connected solar is meant to reduce your electricity bills. I was glad to have the information explained with diagrams so I could ask questions. All the information I read previously started to make sense.

Yarrow

With the price they were offering (a saving of about $1200 AUD for a cash sale) anyone would think it a perfect opportunity to jump at. I must say, we are dearly tempted and still undecided. But there are still two areas I have not reconciled yet. Firstly, is value - what exactly are we buying and how do we reduce our electricity bills. Lastly, does it really meet the need intended?

Let's start with value: it's simply the best offer around. But in that offer comes two possible inverters, made by two different companies (one Asian and one Australian). I've done my research and the Asian made inverter has a reputation for breaking down. The Australian inverter does not. I discovered later (after more research) the man I was talking to was only a sales person, not the accredited solar installer that would have to design the placing of the panels on our roof, and what pieces of equipment were required. He informed me, they may need extra things that didn't end up being quoted in the price.

So what I got was a piece of paper stating what equipment would be installed, labor included, but still had no idea of the final price or what equipment would ultimately be needed. There's a vast difference between quoted offers and and paying for an operational solar system. Once you've signed that piece of paper and put down your deposit, that's it - you're committed. I would go with them if only they'd been more precise with details, and sent an accredited professional to tell me exactly how my system was going to fit on the roof. He didn't even get up on the roof.

In all fairness to solar installers though, a lot of different factors determine whether you get the value from your system or not. You could have the best equipment, skilled installers, a roof plastered with as many panels as could fit - and if your outside temperature is constantly above 30 degrees Celsius, with little wind to cool the units down, those panels won't work effectively as in ideal conditions. Same amount of money invested, but less efficiency produced.

Flander's Poppy

A lot of people shrug it off and assume that's just the price of renewable energy. I guess it is too. However it's also a bit of a design flaw. Especially in the advertising of what could "possibly" be saved on electricity bills. Apparently, the best way to reduce your electricity bill is NOT to use your household electricity during the day. Because that's when the panels will be at maximum production and can feed back to the electricity grid.

I've read a little about power traveling along cables (whether it's generated from solar or fossil fuels) losing a certain percentage to entropy. So more power has to be generated to replace the loss. It's not a huge amount compared to what power makes it through, but entropy does add up. I would think, efficient use of resources would encourage maximum electricity being used, closest to the source generating them. It's not like grid connected solar is the same as stand alone solar - where you may need to charge your batteries during the day so you have electricity at night. We have an electricity grid to plug into any time.

Less waste to entropy, would mean less demand to generate more electricity, because you're not losing entropy when the sun is feeding power directly to your house. But I gather there isn't a lot of money to be made from efficiency. The more I investigate grid connected solar, the more I realise it's about complementing fossil fuels and our existing economy - not standing apart at all. It seems consumers go to the expense of buying solar panels, taking all the financial risks that involves - only for the purpose of sending power back to the grid so we can buy it back.

My brain is still trying to rationalise that one aspect alone, LOL.

Which brings me to my second irreconcilable issue: the ideology behind grid connected solar. Does it really meet the need? We're told the need is two-fold, to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and to save the planet. In it's current form however, renewable energy seems very dubious. The same wasteful fossil fuel system designed for profit, has been given a new logo called Green Energy, thanks to renewable energy input. Some might suppose, what then is a better system?

I will never claim to be a genius or a scholar, but as a gardener, I've observed the best solar around! Have you noticed all the pictures of flowers in this post? They've been directly powered by the sun too.

Day Lilly

Above is a Day Lilly. A very beautiful flower - but only opens for one day and then dies. The power of the sun makes it bloom, but it also kills it. Maybe there's a lesson to be had in that too? Everything lives and dies under the sun for a purpose. We may have more opportunities than a Day Lilly, but I wonder how many of us appreciate the wonders that come down from the sky, has more value than a dollar sign?

I've been observing my Day Lillies opening and closing for the past week, each one unique and beautiful. No-one paid me for that privilege either. Maybe I'm onto something? ;)


PS: I know there will be some people reading who have grid connected solar. Bear in mind, this post is not a reflection on your individual choices but rather my coming to terms with understanding the process. I keep looking for that golden nugget of truth, but all I see is a lot money used towards generating the same old problem. For anyone who has grid connected solar, does it feel weird sending solar power to the grid only to get mostly coal power back again?

Has anyone chosen not to make the savings on their electricity bills, to use their grid connected solar more efficiently (ie: use it during the day when the sun is available?)

Also, before all the jokes start about powering my house with flowers (that thought even amuses me, LOL) it's really a metaphorical example of how far we've moved away from the natural solutions we supposed.