Wasted time.

I bought a cheap Chinese spot welder a while back but when I finally felt like giving it a go it tripped the house circuit breaker, being a fixit sort of chap I had a good look at it, then as I had the transformer out and was thinking I may have the difficult task of removing the laminations and rewinding it I had a bit of a look online and now just think its current draw is a bit to much for the circuit I was using, so this piccie shows me reassembling it, at least I have a sharper haircut than James May even if my house hat hides most of it.
I'm thinking of adding a home made ballast coil to the transformer input but I'm now in wait and see mode before I try something else.
I sort of wish I'd made up a unit using supercapacitors but this unit has a nice case as well as a pretty decent timer and physical welding probes, something I could rejig later if I decide to make a supercapacitor welder.

A bit of watch practice.

The other week Susan observed her watch had stopped, and since I make a hobby of changing batteries I checked it out but was surprised it wasn't a common size (SR616SW/321) so had to order one in.
Today it arrived and Soosie brought in a couple more that thankfully took the common AG4/377 size, so I had a bit of extra practice.

The Perry Cardin and Donna Karan (DKNY) ones here even have essentially the same movement but while the Gold one was fairly simple the back of the DKNY one had four screws that thankfully were phillips head but I also had to remove the watchband.
A big boo to the odd battery Aquaswiss watch that also had difficult slotted screws holding the back on, I'm too old to cope with the extra layer of fiddlyness they cause.
I think I've heard that Perry Cardin name somewhere, I must check it out and see how much extra they charge for the name.

More waffle.

Just a show pic, since sideshow alley is usually packed with our younger citizens this is also where the vast majority of smokers can be found, I'm unsure if there's such a person as a non-smoking carnie.

The woodchopping is a traditional event at Australian shows, and looking at the participants many of them must date from its origins many generations ago, sad really.

I took a long rest break in the grandstand and took some photos but really I should have moved closer and lower to try and get some good horse shots, a lesson for the future.

I think these three were being rewarded but the sound system used at the ground was merely loud, for some obtuse reason that had noise that was masquerading as music pumping out of the speakers in a purely distortion ridden fashion, it did a fine job of turning my smile upside down but I a frail old man now and needed to rest for a while.

Olivia posing with some sugarcane, this is something I'd keep in the show forever despite it being of no interest to me.

Our friend Sharon entered a few photos in different sections and cleaned up nicely, something like three wins and a couple of 2nds but this one which I had thought her best one last week got nowhere, further proof that I have no taste.

As we were leaving I tried to line up a shot of Narelle and Olivia with a reflection of Narelle in Olivia's eyes, but it's been that sort of day and even that didn't come off very well.
Oh well I've already worked out what photo I'll put in next year, hopefully I'll get a few more through the year.

More Show stuff.

An upstairs view of the exhibits pavilion, when we moved here 14 years ago the top floor was full of school displays, to a degree it still is but a few schools have closed since or don't display so the ones who do have expanded.

One of the school displays demonstrate why phone cameras are a bad idea for portraits, their wide lens and no zoom make for moon faces, I also would have thought all the sensors were colour ones now but I suppose the teachers are young enough now not to appalled as I am by B&W stuff.

We met up with our friends Narelle, Katie and Stephanie, three generations from old to young, Stephanie is blessed by still having a perfect complexion at 9 years of age, I'd asked her to look glum but it seems her good mood overwhelmed her.

In theory the show is a non-smoking event but I realised I was making waves when I asked the police who were standing near this smoker if that was the case, since they were only liaison officers and hadn't been issued guns I suppose that was a pretty fair attitude.

Ingham Show time.

We got a pretty good parking spot but somehow I'd forgotten to lock Daisy, but since we're in Ingham nothing happened.

Olivia got a shot of a racehorse getting judged, I doubt if it's any relation to Gunsynd as it's not a grey.

I had to check out the photo gallery where I had two entries which naturally didn't do any good, but my regret is seeing that the details that gave them charm were too far away and obscure for the public to see, the facial expressions of the girls and the odd difference of Olivia's camera screen and Mount Fox in the background were lost in the distance.

Rita and Debbie.

Mt Fox, with Olivia's Mount Mayon on her camera, and no it isn't photoshopped, I'd printed out one of my photos and she'd held it onto the screen.

The Circus is coming to town.

Olivia just saw the Lennon Bros. Circus van pull up and I caught them putting up their signs, what impressed me is the van appeared very roadworthy and the people were well groomed as well as not in the process of smoking. I like being positive about things too.
Circus isn't for me as I prefer wild animals to be wild but they're sure to provide a real experience for a new audience.
The weather station in the foreground is what I've had broadcasting to wunderground for a little while, my webcam now can be seen on that site, plus after many a headache when it was first used it now operates very reliably. for want of a better name I call it West Ingham, or as they categorise it iingham5.
The smoke/steam in the left background is from the Victoria Sugar Mill, one that we saw a show about on Discovery channel a few weeks ago.

It's sugar cane cutting time.

An earlier cut behind our place than usual.
Everywhere I've seen in the district looks like having a bumper crop this year.
Those white birds (possibly winged chickens but I'm no bird expert) love this bit of action, they must get a good feed out of it.