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[Nevol]

The weather here is a bit Topsy-turvy. Highs bet 25-30, lows between 13-18. :biggrin:

You know the old saying "Beautiful one day, perfect the next." :winkextra:

Seriously though, pretty normal for this time of year.

[Triggersmob]

The weather here is a bit Topsy-turvy. Highs bet 25-30, lows between 13-18. :biggrin:

You know the old saying "Beautiful one day, perfect the next." :winkextra:

Seriously though, pretty normal for this time of year.

I thought it was, "raining one day, cyclones the next."

[JeffH]

Actually that has been Samoa, Tonga and Fiji in the last two months.

[trout]

The weather here is usually windy one day and blowing it's guts out the next day :angel:

[JeffH]

Harvest end.
Just over a week ago the Indian summer faded and temperature got progressively colder. Last night we has our first frost -only light. So it looks like winter is here.
By my reckoning summer went about a month longer than usual and autumn only lasted a week. Still no rain either.
My summer crops are declining quickly;
•Fewer beans every day. Just six today.
•Only two tomato plants hanging on but unlikely to pick any more from them.
•Squashes, cucumber and melons have given up the ghost.

However my chillis are still going -they are on the north side of our garage so well sheltered. Probably won't last much longer. We now have over a hundred jars of chilli relish and jam of varying degrees of hotness. Jenny (Mrs Jeff) sells them at local markets and has already sold probably as many again. The hotter it is the better it sells although some buyers request a milder one.

Here is today's crop;

[redlock]

Can't eat any of the stuff in the pic above because it all gives me heartburn... :stop:

[JeffH]

I tend to get sweaty on my forehead when I eat chilli. If it is really hot my eyes will water too. The tongue and lip tingling is obligatory.

Some years ago my daughter used to complain after eating chilli, "my ears are burning".
Then she went to work in San Diego for three years. Last stop on the S D trolley (tram) going south is about 100 metres from the Mexican border. Cross there and you are in Tijuana.
So naturally there are many cheap Mexican eating places* in S D and she would regularly go out with workmates for a meal. Now she happily eats dishes with a high Chili# factor (and she doesn't raise a sweat).
Obviously there is a building a tolerance factor at play.

*Yes, Mexican dishes often feature lots of Chili.
#That's how they spell it there.

P.S. Mexican beer is also much available in California (and all the other south western US states). I tried quite few when we visited our daughter and concluded Dos Equis is my preference -much preferred it to Corona. Interestingly the most popular beer in Tijuana appears to be Heineken -the old "cultural cringe" factor; if it is imported it must be better (but probably made locally, under license, just like here).

[trout]

The ones on the bottom left are just "Nasty".
I grew some of those reapers and they were ridiculously hot.

[JeffH]

Those are a mix of Scorpion and "Brain Killer". I have some Carolina Reaper seeds to try next year.
Jenny adds one or two to a batch of relish when she wants to do an extra hot one. God knows what it would be like to make a batch with just those ones. The fumes when cooking are pretty well intolerable now.

[trout]

I made some sauce out of the reapers last year (outside of course) and even the "Chilli Tragic's" I know couldn't handle it and to be completely honest they don't smell/taste that good either.

[JeffH]

Bit of trivia. "Reaper" because the little tail supposedly resembles a scythe. Maybe they should have been named the "Grim Reaper"!

[JeffH]

ELECTRICITY COSTS
It won't be news to you that electricity prices have been escalating rapidly in the last few years.

Eighteen months ago I switched our electricity biller for one that offered a much better price. This week I reviewed the situation and discovered our current biller is now more expensive than the previous one! And several others are much cheaper.

So, just lodged application to change to a cheaper company. Likely saving, based on the twelve months consumption to our last meter reading, is $687.

To do this exercise yourself is simple. Go to Energy Made Easy and follow the prompts. Have a copy of your latest electricity bill so you can get a comparison based on your actual useage. Better still, if you also have a bill from twelve months prior, make a note of the meter reading dates and the difference in readings to get a comparison on an annual basis rather than just for one bill period.
There are other sites that offer to do the same but they want your details before they will give you any results -look to be data mining which I don't want. Energy made easy is the official Australian Government operated site.
This site will also do the same exercise for your electricity plus gas, if you have both connected.

A few tips of things to look for, especially when multiple offers come up from the same company but with different prices.
•Is the billing monthly or quarterly?
•What is the contract period?
•Is there a fee to end contract early? If so, how much?
•What payment methods are available?
•What discounts are available? Typically these will be for payment on time or direct debit payment.

And don't be afraid to call your existing biller before changing to see if they will match the best offer you found.

To save you asking the one that came out cheapest for us is QEnergy. Several others were very close on price. So far my experience with them is good -lodged application yesterday, had a reply with copy of contract within a few hours; a lady called last night to confirm my details and get my concession card number and gave me very specific details of how and when the changeover will happen.
By the way, you have a ten day cooling off period with any such biller change application.

I say well worth investing an hour of your time. (Not counting the time to try and find where you stashed all those old bills.)

[Triggersmob]

I don't think we have any choice here in W.A.,
but I did question my gas supplier a couple of
months ago. They knocked 35% off my usage
charge straight away and even back dated it
to January.

[JeffH]

Just tried postcode 6164 on the website and got message "Sorry, but you are not able to compare energy offers or usage on Energy Made Easy. This is because consumers in Western Australia (WA) are not covered by the National Energy Retail Law and the National Energy Retail Rules, but are instead covered by similar state laws.
For more information on the supply of gas and electricity in WA, visit the Public Utilities Office website." Checked that out and rates for either of the two suppliers are identical and set by State government regulation. Plugging our consumption figures in gave 9.6% higher cost than the one I just signed up for. That is actually cheaper than most in NSW.

[Unicorn]

Well a committee must have certainly came up with the names ...... National Energy Retail Law and National Energy Retail Rules 

Three parts short of a quorum I'd reckon.  :winkextra: