Miraz Jordan

0850 and I'm as ready as I can be for an all-day power cut.

With power off we can't get water pumped from the rainwater tank so the toilet and handbasins won't work. Nor can I boil the kettle for a cup of tea, and the Internet will go off. The Yeti can run the WiFi modem, but won't support a kettle.

Devices are charged. Thermoses are full of boiling water and I've brought a bottle of emergency water into the house for handwashing (and filled the sink).

Oh, and the car's out of the garage so I can go out later. Manually opening the garage door is a huge pain …

Let the power cut begin!

Hooray, it's an excellent show: Jason Kottke:

Ooh, a preview clip from season three of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. I like this crew. Season three premieres sometime in 2025 and, huzzah!, has been renewed for a 4th season.

On my way to Palmerston North to collect Deb from the airport. Eggs on toast with tomatoes for lunch at Levin Mall. Inexpensive but delicious. Noisy though!

Unsuccessful comet hunting, but it was alright down at the beach after sunset.

Spotted a pair of ducks with at least half a dozen tiny ducklings on the lake. Unfortunately, by the time I'd stopped my bike and extracted my camera they had disappeared without trace.

I waited a while, but with no luck.

I was absolutely delighted when I arrived home from 10 days away to find this postcard from @Odd in my letterbox. I must say, Hell doesn't look like too bad a place. 😁

Luckily I live in a place with very few residents and I have an unusual name. The postie knows me and where I live.

We flew over a wind farm just before landing at Palmerston North.

When nouns verb and verbs noun …

New research documents accelerating plant growth

At first I wondered how research documents can accelerate anything. Then I twigged …

Mā te wā. Farewell Whangārei.

Ready for anything! 😆 🐶

Nice: we've ordered pizza to be picked up from Pizza Fusion nearby, and a live update on the web keeps us informed about where things are up to.

We're dog sitting for Whangārei friends while they're on holiday. Their house is large, very comfortable and pleasant to stay in.

I'm missing my own bed though, and my own stuff around me.

I'd also forgotten just how much energy goes into even very well trained and well behaved dogs …

Yesterday our friend Amanda drove up from near Auckland to visit. We had dinner at Pimarn Thai Restaurant where I ate Pad Him Ma Pan — stir-fried fresh vegetables, sweet chilli paste, cashew nuts, capsicum and mushroom with roast duck.

It was good but disappointingly, not sizzling hot.

At 3.30 am I had to let the dogs out for a pee. The bonuses were that I'd already been awake for ages and could now make a cuppa, that I spotted the full moon setting and caught sight of a shooting star.

Kiwis have chance to glimpse 'once in a lifetime' comet not seen in last 80,000 years:

Stardome [astronomer] Josh Aoraki told the Herald that the best place to see [Comet C/2023 A3] would be anywhere that has a clear unobstructed view of the western horizon.

"You're going to see a really bright star which is Venus, and if you look below that to the right, you might see this little fuzzy patch in the sky. That's the comet."

The Stardome astronomer said the comet was likely to have a tail extending from the back. … [and] the prime time to view the comet would be during a 45-minute to hour window just after sunset.

"It's a fairly bright comet. We don't often get bright naked-eye visibility comets.