'appy new 'ear!

Can't be worse than 2005 now, innit?!

Place didn't burn down, when it had a chance, on Christmas Eve, innit? Chainsaw (Stihl 041 electronic, 35-y-o) didn't break down when I needed it to quickly chop down three or four dessicated she-oaks (casuarina spp.) in 41 C heat on the 24th, did it now?! My fever and throat infection abated just in time for a manic bout of exertion, felling and cutting up and dragging out of the way of a putative fire driven our way by a stiff northerly. Our youngest (herself a paragon of procrastination) volunteered kindly that I could well have done the job over winter - but then, there's nothing like a bit of urgency to get you going...

Computers caused, as is their wont, a tsunami of irritation: not only did the first of a pair of Thai- built IBM Deskstar drives konk out in my main machine, Merval, in mid-November, but its twin died without as much as a groan at Christmas. Since they were built in January and February of 2003, respectively, I speculated darkly that their firmware programmed their demise just as the warranty expired (assuming they DID carry a three-year warranty!). Must elucidate this with IBM. I replaced both with Seagate units, one built in China, the other in Thailand - but at least they come with a five-year warranty. I only lost most of my correspondence, mainly - the rest I can reconstitute.

Installation of the new Seagate 160 GB drive, a steal at $132 delivered to my mailbox, proved more difficult than I expected, with Windows 2000 Pro refusing to load onto the drive. In my hurry to get it installed, I managed to delete the surviving new Seagate in the machine... Eventually, I had to install Windows 2000 Server, which proceeded without a hitch, until I decided to reload CA EZArmor as a first precaution. No way, Jose,l EZArmor will NOT touch a Win2K Server. So I decided to let Win2K Pro loose once more on the prepared partition, and this time the installation finished properly. Go figure...

Grandson # 2 came to visit with his Mum today, doubtless attracted by the prospect of seeing my new Honda/Davey Firefighter pump in action. I hadn't tried the pump to date, but with high temperatures, strong northerly winds and a tinder-dry bush around me, I thought I'd better be prepared. So we sprayed the contents of a 200 L bin into the orchard in less than 3 minutes, just to prove the pump would start, prime and push water through the firehose...

Luckily, our twin 12,00 L rainwater tanks are full!

As I type, the local fire brigade races past with sirens hooting, and from their calls on the CB transceiver I gather that they are converging at a beachside caravan park not 5 minutes from us.

Bianca and I meanwhile sit on edge, watching an Elvis doco and sipping Yellowglen vintage bubbly. As it happened, I had just installed a new Firewire digital TV receiver on another computer before my trusty Merval went down with a slipped disk, as it were, and I haven't had a chance to reload the software for the Dvico HDBTV card inside... We've decided to decline an invitation from a pal to a NY 'do' at his beachside house - too dangerous to absent ourselves fro Clod Nine!

Tomorrow, the new year will begin with record temperatures (41+ expected), high winds and an extreme fire danger... I'll keep you posted!

Have a a good one!