August 2011 – Alan Mackenzie's Blog

Sony MHC-EC709iP Mini Hi-Fi System purchase

Add high-quality audio to your bedroom, living room or office with this 360W Hi-Fi music system. You can play CDs, listen to the radio, or connect your compatible iPod or iPhone.

Powerful 360 Watt (RMS) music system
Two-way bass reflex speaker system
DSGX Bass Boost Function and EQ control
FM/AM Tuner with 30 Presets
Single Disc CD Player; CD, CD-R/RW playback recorded in audio or MP3 file formats
MP3 Playback
Audio-in lets you easily connect MP3 players, PCs or other devices
Works with iPhone, Made for iPod; charge, play and control.
Flip-Down iPod And iPhone Dock
Clock, Alarm And Sleep Timer
Remote control is multifunctional, controlling CD player, AM/FM radio and iPod/iPhone playback.

Time to replace the old Teac stereo unit which is 30 years old with something more modern that can understand MP3 files – LOL

With notepad and biro in hand we did the rounds at Knox; Retravision, JB HiFi, Dick Smith, Harvey Norman etc. We went around a couple of times, refining our selections against my previously prepared short list which had the Sony MHCEC709I at the top. The Sony unit was advertised by several of the retailers “on special” for $229 (RRP $279) but the only store that actually had it for that price (in store) was Harvey Norman. We asked the man for a cash discount as well which was a bit cheeky and he took another four bucks off so got the unit for $225 – happy with that.

Arrived home and lugged the thing upstairs into the kitchen/meals area, it’s surprising how heavy the box is for a mini stereo which is one of the reasons why we selected this particular make/model – price and weight!.

Removed the 30 year old Teac from the 35 year old storage unit and proceeded to unpack and setup the Sony unit and plugged everything; speakers, aerial and power lead – done. Popped in a CD and pressed the Play button, turn up Volume and yes we have music. Cranked up the Volume and pressed the DSGX button which is simply bass boost – nice. pressed the EQ Control to step through the presets to “Flat” and left it at that. For $225 bucks the unit is impressive.

ALDI: Men’s Professional Grooming Kit $19.99

5-in-1 men’s grooming kit includes: rechargeable shaver, large trimmer attachment for styling precision, nose/ear hair and eyebrow trimmer, 2 hair clipper attachments with 8 locking lengths for styling options

While browsing through ALDI today tossed this onto the trolley. Been trimming the beard for nearly fifty years with a pair of barbers scissors so thought why not give it a go, can always return no questions asked. After unpacking and putting the shopping away unpacked the package to have a quick look. It appears to be quite well made, flicked the switch on the shaver and the battery has charge so ET the wife (ex hairdresser) attached one of the clippers and gave it a test run around the lower part of my neck. No pulling no pain so that’s a good start! Instruction say to charge initially for 16 – 18 hours so doing that now.

More to come…

Chook run cleanup

Beautiful day so decided to rake out the hay from the main chook run and the adjoining annex area and replenish with cleaner hay that comes of the floors of the two storage sheds down at the horse agistment. We purchase 10 or 12 bails every few months and its surprising how much ends up on the floor which usually gets swept out and dumped. Now that we are retirees I find myself looking for ways to be a bit more thrifty so I bag the hay (empty horse feed bags) and bring it home for the chook run. The finer stuff contains a lot of grass seed, just throw it around where the grass is struggling to grow in the backyard and the chooks will come along and scratch it in and before long – green grass!

Raking out the two areas fills the green bin.

MAIN CHOOK RUN

The chook shed

The bedroom area

ANNEX AREA

Above: The annex entry

Above: Wooden cloths drying rack to roost and catch the morning sun

Above: The annex roof is covered with a tarp on one side adjacent to the main run so the area is more usable in the winter months.

Garden is coming to life

Bought a couple of these for the lounge to replace ones that the cats destroyed.

First time for everything

Exciting day for us backyard chook lovers, our two Pekins decided to lay their first eggs – together!

Got home from tending the horses and doing a bit of shopping and as usual straight down to the chook run to let the girls out. Checked inside their shed and found a surprise in each box – eggs!

We got them in May when Speckles (left) was about 8 weeks and Lilly around 12 weeks old.

Not sure who did what so I can’t label them S and L. They have a different cast so in the next week or so I’ll know who’s laying say the whiter one – LOL.

My last tax return

4May_ATO_800x600_t325

I retired in July 2010 and a couple of week ago we went to see the accountants with all the usual paperwork to do my last tax return. Arrived home today after tending to the horses and a bit of shopping and the first thing is to check the mail box. These days we don’t like to see anything in there but today was a pleasant surprise, a nice healthy cheque from the ATO!

So that’s it, for me personally no more tax returns – hooray.

But wait…tax returns have not disappeared completely, we have our own SMSF that requires an annual tax return around Feb of each year. Never mind next time around the tax return will be very straight forward, no contributions or any other stuff just a pension paid out from monthly interest earned on a term deposit with a regional bank. I don’t think we will need an actuary report will will reduce costs even further.