Love where you live

Schmap-Photo Hamburg

nobody@vox.com(realworld) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:48:36 -0800

P1020160 Landungsbrücken

http://www.schmap.com/hamburg/introduction_history/#r=none&mapview=Map&tab=Text&p=85700&topleft=53.69447,9.91482&bottomright=53.48784,10.10777&i=85700_77.jpg

This is one of the few photos I posted on flickr. Now I found it on schmap.

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A pause in the grain harvest

nobody@vox.com(petermcc) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 02:00:09 -0800

Grain bunker

My current employment with AWB is on hold for a couple of days due to an unusual break in the weather. After getting some excellent hours in the first week we have suddenly copped waves of heavy rain that has stopped the farmers getting the headers into the crops.

This is probably a good thing because my soft computer hands are feeling the brunt of manual labor as we have been pulling tarps around and getting plenty of broom and shovel work.

The picture at left is not from our site but it gives a good look at how the process works. Our bunkers are longer than these ones and the bunker wall is more of an angle.

The bunkers have a ground sheet on the floor to keep the grain clean and when the stack is at its maximum height tarps are hauled over the grain to keep out impurities and water. To get the tarps in place two front end loaders are hooked up to the ends of the tarp and with the assistance of a few blokes, it is dragged over the grain. The trickiest part is being on top of the stack when the tarp is in motion and stepping onto the grain. My first step had me sinking down to my waist level immediately and I had visions of going straight under and them having to dig me out. That seemed like unecessary stress so I hooked my arm over the tarp and hung on. Trying not to look like a rank amateur. No doubt I failed but at least I didn't suffer the embarassment of having to be hauled out.

For all the excitement though, it's fantastic to be working outside in the fresh air. The temps have only hit the mid 30's so far and that has been no problem. I did manage to get through 3.5 litres of water on the first day but I am aiming to do better in the next heat wave. It's very important to keep the kidneys working.

It looks like it will be Monday at least before we get back on site but even that might be a tad optimistic. We just had a heavy downpour about an hour ago that might push it back even further.

Farming must be a bitch of a job. Late last week the farmers couldn't get the headers out because of Total Fire Bans then the rain came. The monster harvest prediction must be wobbling a bit now.

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Naughty Friday funny - Old age cartoon

nobody@vox.com(petermcc) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:58:16 -0800

Old age 2

Some of us older blokes just never grow up!!

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Surprise Surprise...

nobody@vox.com(realworld) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:18:06 -0800

Yesterday at 6:00 p.m. I got a telephone call from the animal welfare. They found a chipped and registered cat and the young lady of the organisation asked for distinguished marks of the tomcat we lost in August 23. That was very easy for me (who was a bit astonished) to answer: "One eye!" I told her. That was the green light for her to "let the cat out of the bag"....

"Well I think we found your Schlumo. If you would be so kind as to call xxxxx-xxxx etc. etc......
You may believe it (or not) but it's true. I couldn't believe it but after I got a call from a village that is 10 km away from our hometown I was sure it really was our missed Schlumo. I asked for the address and after I gave the information to my love Monika who was one the way home from Hamburg we decided to fetch him at once!!!

I will never forget the reaction of Moni at the telephone and - one hour later - the eye of Schlumo when he realized that his servants are back.... What he does now is - after he realized that he has to share his flat with two little female kittens - to eat and sleep (the 'rest of him' weighs only 9 lbs. When we lost him he wought 14 lbs - and he was not fat indeed)

Back home again

I'm sure he had a hard time in the wilderness and now he is in urgent need to take time to recover.....Believe me we are so happy!!!

So good to be home again

After Schlumo checked what has changed at his old (and new at the same time) home and ate a lot of food (OMG I couldn't believe that so much food fits into a cat!) he was sleeping a while when Kari realized that she has a new roomie in her kingdome....

Close Encounters Of The First Kind

Well, a little hiss and a little bit of grumbling told her to be respectful to him - he is a great educator indeed. Both, Kari and Tony learnt to grumble and hiss. So funny to hear that.... OK the last two night we went to sleep. It was nearly impossible 'cause the kittens used our bed as a playground. They rehearsed hiding, sneaking up and attacking each other. Try to sleep at the same time. But now Schlumo is back and - as you may already have noticed - he is a great educator. He only had to be present and to give them a hit not to do that when the servants want to sleep. the result was that we could sleep again without closing the door to the sleeping room ;-)

The following morning

Look at that.......

Don't blog. I am No. 1

After I started my computer and went to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee (a coffee a day lets you work rest and blog eeh "play") Schlumo ostentatiously sat on the computer desk to prevent that I share my attention anyway.... He's the No. 1 for me now. So I have to stop at once....

to be continued

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Spring photos: ASB’s unconvincing campaign and my ﬂowers

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:51:26 -0800

I lost count of how many hours it took for the compose screen to come up, but since it is night-time now, and I am pretty sure there was sunlight when I first began clicking ‘Create’, we can say a good quarter of the day has passed, at least.
   The good news is that Daisy at Vox—a.k.a. the only lady who seems to care—has written back to me to say my issue has been passed on to the boffins there. I hope they can sort it out, but I believe that since I have tested Vox on Macs and PCs, and in two different cities using two different ISPs, and all manner of browsers, then we can rule out anything I am doing wrong. I have, after all, been on the web since 1993 and kind of know what I am doing.
   The other good news is that I have something other than technogripes to post.
   First up, the Auckland Savings Bank, which is owned by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, is trying to push how “Kiwi” it is. Kiwibank, in New Zealand, must be a real threat to ASB, because people are conscious of how much Australian banks have been ripping off New Zealand customers. Hence the whole local angle, which is not really convincing anyone except for a few people in the boardroom at ASB. (In fact, a whole Facebook group has been set up to refute these advertisements.)
   Here is the outdoor ad that reminded me of the campaign:

ASB is not Kiwi and has not been for years

to which Helen Baxter, others and I say, ‘Cobblers!’
As it is nearly impossible to get a compose screen on Vox, here is a second image I wanted to share. The yellow roses that I posted earlier were the worse for wear after some gales here, but you can’t beat nature. Here’s one of the new arrivals, photographed earlier today:

The brightest yellow rose today

Like Chance the Gardener, I have other flowers. In the spring. In the garden.

Other flowers

As you can see, the spring weather has finally come, albeit very late in the piece.

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Today....funny bikes....

nobody@vox.com(KerstinundihreSportster) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:04:08 -0800

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Our Kittens Preparing for a Photo-Session....

nobody@vox.com(realworld) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:58:47 -0800

... check the videos ;-)

Tony Kari

... and ready for the show...

... these are two of about 150 photos I shot the days Tony and Kari changed their "can openers" - u s ! ! !

P1040317 cropped

Kari

P1040316 cropped

Tony

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Spotted: ’69 Mustang

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:01:23 -0800

Wow. Six minutes to load the compose screen. That’s definitely this week’s record.
This is the other photo I wanted to show:

1969 Ford Mustang Fastback 351

A beautiful 1969 Ford Mustang Fastback with a 351 in³ V8 under the hood. I asked the owner for permission to photograph his car which, sadly, had lost all oil pressure. I drove him to the petrol station in case the car was ‘out of gas’; when I came back along this route a while later, his car had gone, so I hope he was able to get it started.
He says he has a friend with a Cobra Jet 428, which we both thought was the best of this series, and that this shape was probably the nicest before Bunkie Knudsen’s fat Mustangs hit the streets for the 1971 model year. Sometimes I like the ’68s, and the ’65s, but right now, the ’69s seem to appeal to my taste in 2009.

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Gripe about Vox, Ben Kingsley, and Wellington scenery

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:43:23 -0800

“Only” took 20 minutes for this screen to come up this time. In a day and age when we should wait no more than 20 seconds. Still, I’m sure Vox believes I should be happy because 20 minutes is less than 16 hours. ‘Yay!’ they must think, ‘our load times have come down from hours to minutes!’
   I know, no one likes the pissy tone I take when I begin these posts, but it’s so darned frustrating when technology does not work as advertised. And no one seems to think there’s anything wrong: I’ve heard from neither my ISP nor Vox on this bug.
   That’s not totally true. I haven’t heard anything recently. TelstraClear says there is nothing wrong and it can reach vox.com. Duh. I know that. So can I. I just can’t do anything while I’m there except make comments (hence I am using one post’s comment space to blog at—this is how ridiculous it has become—and to keep track of how often Vox’s massive bug is keeping me from doing what it says on the tin). I can’t compose, add photos, add videos, etc. Except once every long while when it opts to let me have a screen to write in.
   And Daisy, who seems to be the only person working at Six Apart who cares, has written to me as well. But I’ve heard nothing for a few days.
   Remember how long the Amazon conduit took to get fixed here? Considering this “can’t do stuff on Vox” bug has been around since August, and has gotten worse by the week, I’d rather sacrifice the Amazon conduit in favour of, well, being able to blog.
   Readers, I’m sorry you’ll have to put up with hugely long posts because I have no guarantee on when Vox will let me compose again.

Ben Kingsley
Here’s one thing I wanted to blog during one of the many, many blackouts on Vox.

Don Logan rants for Live Aid 1st vid

I always thought Sir Ben Kingsley’s role in Sexy Beast was a cult favourite, but that the general public did not know of it. However, here he reprises his role for a charity advertisement. Linked to this was a brilliant one of Sir Ben impersonating Sir Anthony Hopkins:

Ben Kingsley does Anthony Hopkins

More scenery shots
These would have warranted individual posts, but that’s not going to happen.
Remember when masonry was a real art, done by people and not a computer? This was beautiful work at one of our government buildings, where I was meeting a friend.

Lovely masonry

Here’s one for the car nuts:

Czech mate

Get it? A Škoda Octavia with a number plate about its origins, and a pun in the plate! This motorist has thought it through.
At last night’s launch of the Chinese New Year Festival, painter Stan Chan created a work live while Natalie Foy (niece of comedian Raybon Kan) sang a traditional song. As I remarked to the Mayor, the last time I saw something like that was Rolf Harris on the UK version of The Generation Game in the 1970s. A bit far away on the photo here:

Stan paints live

Then, we wondered, what was an ambulance doing outside some restaurants on Blair Street? Was the curry that explosive at one of these joints? (Monsoon Poon is owned by a friend of mine and does some wonderful cuisine, incidentally.) Or, did one of the Mac operators at the recruitment agency collapse of exhaustion?

Bad food experience

There were more tourists last night in Wellington than normal, which is lovely to see. Here are some examining the bucket fountain (part of most Wellingtonians’ childhoods; it was infamously desecrated when Elijah Wood urinated in it when he was here filming The Lord of the Rings). Darned Hollywood types.

Tour group and bucket fountain

Now, I can’t see the name of the establishment in this due to the lights, but I believe it was for either an adult shop or sex toys. It does make you wonder why they spend so much money advertising this stuff, but the headline was still funny:

Adult shop billboard

There is one more, but I’m going to gamble to see if Vox will let me in again. Any bets on whether it will be minutes, hours or days?

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The creatures that you meet ...

nobody@vox.com(Empress Nasi Goreng) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:44:22 -0800

Yes, I know I have been AWOL for quite a while - and I can't really guarantee that I will be back to posting regularly anytime soon. In the meantime, here are a couple of photos of some close encounters of the bushwalking kind (from last weekend when my son and I went for an early morning walk before the rest of the bushwalking hordes started scaring everything into hiding).

As well as these creatures, we also saw a swamp wallaby but it was too far away to photograph. I had to get the lizards identified later - they are lace monitors (also known as tree goannas). The education officer from the park also said we were very lucky to see the echidna as they are notoriously shy. I have only ever seen echidnas in the wild three times in my life and twice have been while walking with my son.

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