Thursday, April 25, 2024
ANZAC Day 2024
Friday, April 05, 2024
Bridge Repair
Monday, March 11, 2024
Wine Cork Taint / Removal by Cling Wrap (Saran/Glad)
The term is short for cork-tainted, the chief culprit being a chemical chlorine compound called 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), although there are others.
TCA imparts an unpleasant, musty smell and taste.
It can infect cork through a number of pathways.
Cleaning chemicals and disinfectants used in a winery or cork forest are possible causes.
But it’s not always the cork that carries the TCA.
It can be in the staves of a barrel or even the timber in the winery.
A single, tainted barrel can ruin an entire batch if its contents are carelessly blended.
But rumour has it that cling wrap eg. Saran/Glad can come to the rescue.
The idea is that you put cling wrap in the wine by either pouring the wine into a jug and letting it soak with it for a while or push some cling wrap into the bottle.
Nope….doesn’t work!
The Australian Wine Research Institute’s senior oenologist, Adrian Coulter, confirms that cling wrap doesn’t remove cork taint and published scientific work backs this up.
Polythene or polyethylene (PE), the world’s most manufactured plastic, does, in fact, remove cork taint from wine, but it has to be 100 per cent pure, food-grade PE.
Cling wrap contains various polymers other than PE.
Pure food-grade PE can only be obtained from manufacturers and is not generally available to the average Joe.
The best insurance against wine taint is simply buy screw-capped bottles.
Friday, February 09, 2024
Mud Dauber Wasps and Air Conditioner Units
One of the most remarkable skills of mud dauber wasps is their nest-building ability.
Females carefully construct nests using mud, hence the name “mud dauber.” The nests are typically composed of several cylindrical chambers stacked together, with each chamber housing a single egg and a paralyzed prey item for the developing larva to feed on.
The daubers employ a unique technique where they gather mud from moist areas, which they mix with their saliva to create a pliable substance for constructing the nest.
As solitary insects, mud dauber wasps do not form colonies. However, it is not unusual to see multiple nests built by different individuals in close proximity to one another. Male mud daubers often establish territories near these nests, exhibiting territorial behavior to attract females for mating.
We have these nests all over our house, mainly on the brickwork. There’s no real reason to get rid of them. The wasps are not aggressive and they keep our insect population down.
The only problem we’ve had in the past is their building of nests in our air conditioning units’ drain hoses. Easily fixed by inserting fly screen wire.
A week or so ago, the outdoor unit of one of our split aircons started vibrating quite violently.
We call the service man who began taking it to pieces.
And what did he find?
The mud dauber wasps had made nests on the inside rear cavity of the plastic exhaust fan causing it to be unbalanced.
Who would have thought that?
He didn’t.
He’s used to snakes, rats and mice causing aircon problems in this area.
Anyway, all fixed.
For great service call Jake at Kings Point Air Conditioning Pty Ltd.
Wednesday, February 07, 2024
A Weekend Away / Sydney & Central Coast
There the co driver and I parted ways and I caught another train around 2 hours north to Woy Woy.
It’s scenic trip through rugged bushland and across the very wide Hawkesbury River.
Some of the stations on the way are very small. You have to be on a certain carriage of the train to get off. One was so small you had to go to the rear of the train and tell the guard you wanted to get off there. No one did…going or coming back.
My friend of 55 years was at the station waiting to pick me up and drive me to his relatively new town house.
I hadn’t been there before as he usually visits us.
That night we had a nice bbq steak and two bottles of very good wine over a few hours.
On Sunday after breakfast he took me to his favourite coffee shop and then we walked along the beach front. It was turning out to be a very hot humid day so we continued the ‘tour’ by car.
It was nice to revisit the area. Hadn’t been there for years. The view over Broken Bay from the lookout was pretty spectacular despite the heat haze.
Then a butterflied leg of lamb on the bbq with more good wine for dinner before a 50 over game of cricket between Australia and the West Indies on TV.
Next morning we had breakfast and another cafe coffee before he dropped me off at the station for my trip back to Sydney.
The co driver had a great time by all reports.
She said the Ludovico concert at the opera house was amazing.
She also attended the Banksy Exhibition at Sydney Town Hall and went to the Elvis Jukebox musical at the beautiful old heritage listed State Theatre.
I met up with her at Central Station and we had lunch at a small cafe nearby which I’d found on Google and which was excellent proving all the reviews correct.
Then we caught to train to Kiama connecting immediately with the motor rail back to Berry to pick up the car for the hour and a bit drive home. Video of return trip here.
A very pleasant long weekend but, as always, good to get home.
Friday, January 26, 2024
Australia Day 2024
Tuesday, January 02, 2024
Some Summer Colour to Welcome 2024
Monday, January 01, 2024
Friday, December 22, 2023
Wednesday, December 20, 2023
A Summer Storm
And down it came.
Extended video here.
The Cairns area in north eastern tropical Australia was just recently impacted by cyclone Jasper.
The flooding has been devastating.
Monday, December 18, 2023
COVID-19 / Our Experience
We had taken the necessary precautions during and post pandemic and our vaccinations, six, were up to date.
I had come home from the USA in early November with some sort of flu thing.
Regular Covid tests during this period were all negative. I had passed this virus onto the co driver and were both coming out the other end of that not feeling too bad.
So it was a bit of a surprise in early December to suddenly not be feeling well again.
A very sore throat made us suspicious that this was something new.
We don’t go out in public much.
Anyway we were both feeling pretty awful presenting with most of the typical symptoms.
Here’s where we are glad the Australian socialised medicine scheme kicked into action.
Original cost for the tablets according to the pharmacy details on the package was $A1114.
Our cost $A0.
I had experienced the cost of medical treatment recently in the USA where I needed antibiotics for cellulitis of the foot. Not the best diagnosis for a diabetic.
There was no doubt the service was exceptional but that hour at the local hospital ER cost the equivalent of 30 GP visits here.
Thank goodness for Travel Insurance.
Anyway, we are coming out of the covid phase which was quite unpleasant for the initial few days.
The ongoing problems are sudden onset of fatigue and loss of taste and smell.
*How does Paxlovid work in the body?
It's used to treat early COVID-19 infection and help to prevent more severe symptoms. Paxlovid is a combination of 2 medicines called nirmatrelvir and ritonavir. Nirmatrelvir stops the virus from growing and spreading, and ritonavir helps nirmatrelvir from being broken down in your body long enough to do its job.