15th January to 24th January – Weather and Beasts

 

The Weather

This week started by being fairly uneventful, settling back into work after the Chrimbo break.  Not a lot to report at all.  Apart from maybe the weather, the weather is always a good conversation starter when you have bugger all else to talk about.

I have good reason to talk about the weather though.  For Christmas I got a present that I have wanted for many years.  Don’t ask me why but I just always have.  A WEATHER STATION!!

You may have noticed the banner at the top of the page which shows the current weather here in Sunny Tauranga.  This is constantly updated from the weather station which now lives in the garden outside Aidan’s bedroom.

(Picture: The NotShetland Weather Station)

Now from the picture above you may notice that I didn’t have a conveniently sized piece of wood available to attach the station to.  Tania looked less than pleased when I walked past the balcony carrying her broomstick, minus the broomhead (she’ll find another way to fly, I’m sure).

The Station itself continually updates to the base station in the house which in-turn updates to the PC which then uploads all the data to the NotShetland Weather Website at www.notshetland.com/weather/ – Eat your heart out Mr Metoffice!!

Now the great thing with this is that anybody that hasn’t had a reply to their email can see whether I am on the balcony drinking beer or not.

I managed to get the Weather Station up and running on the 2nd of January so I will hopefully have a nice gauge over the year as to how the weather has been doing.

Beasts

Aroundabout the 20th of January we got some new additions to the household.  Branston & Pickle – Not the small brown lumps of tangy-ness, although they do create quite a few, they are the names of the rabbits which have appeared.  I did suggest they be named Stu & Pot which didn’t go down terribly well.

(Picture: Branston & Pickle)

On the 23rd Aidan returned from his travels in Russell.  We had neglected to tell him about the bunny wabbits.  Needless to say, we had a very happy boy when he returned.

(Picture: Aidan discovering the rabbits)

(Picture: A happy boy)

You may notice in the photo above that a picture of a rabbit hangs on the wall above Aidan’s bed.  This was his last rabbit which Hazel & Tommy kindly adopted for a life of roaming the greenery of Yell.

I was thinking that this might remove fishing from his brain for a little while, seeing as he has done nothing but fish for the past month or so.  No such luck.  The very next day he wanted to go fishing.

(Picture: Aidan fishing…again)

That pretty much rounds up this little update.  Coming up next is Up Helly AC/DC…

8th January to 14th-ish – The Last of the Sophie Rover

Soooo, update time again.  I am getting grumps and groans from various directions that I haven’t been updating the blog enough!  At least I know that a few people are actually looking at it I suppose!  Currently about 3 months behind with updates so bear with me while I get back into realtime.

Sophie Birthday Meal

So what has happened?  Good question.  It was that long ago that I can barely remember.  Around about the 7th or 8th of January we went into town for Sophie’s birthday meal with Wade.  Quite a nice leisurely evening was had by all.  We dined out at Zeytin, a Turkish restaurant on the Strand.  A bluesy band were playing which was quite nice.  They even managed to sing Happy Birthday to Sophie which she thoroughly enjoyed.

Sophie managed to stay totally sober for the evening which was a nice change.

(Picture courtesy of Sophie: Sober Sophie)

Wade also abstained.

(Picture courtesy of Tania: Wade)

Night Oot

The following night we headed out into town again.  This time for a few drams.

We spent the majority of the evening at the Cornerstone Pub where drinks flowed quite nicely.

(Picture courtesy of Sophie – Taking advice from Oli’s T-Shirt)

Unfortunately the drinks appeared to have been laced with some form of plasticine or silly putty mix.  It caused unnatural dynamics within the epidermis, dermis or hypodermis… possibly even all three.

(Picture: Cheeky!)

Mount Stroll

On the 10th of January we went for a stroll around Mount Maunganui.  This was quite uneventful apart from the fact the Sophie managed to fall in a hole.  How somebody can do this sideways is beyond me.

(Picture courtesy of Tania: Holy Sophie)

The walk around the Mount proved to be quite successful.  So much so that Sophie said she had an absolutely swinging time.

(Picture: Hangman noose fail)

We also went to the beach and had our lunch.  For me this involved half a sheep in a burger which proved quite difficult to eat.

(Picture courtesy of Sophie: MmmmMmmm Lamb-burger)

Auckland Airport flood

The following day I received reports that Auckland Airport had flooded.  Flights were delayed due to the storm drains backing up.  Strange thing was that there had been no reports of rain.  To this day nobody knows where the hundreds of gallons of water came from…until now…Tania went to see Sophie off at the airport.  You know what it is like when the water pressure is so strong that it pops the hose off the tap?

Anyways, they said their goodbyes and Sophie was gone.  Until next time.

Coming up next, the return of Aidan!