Caryl

Thanks for your thoughts. I will have to look into it more closely I think. At this time of year the pond is so clear and the fish all tucked under the deck so an ideal time to suck out the sludge.

You mean a clear box filter that runs on an external pump? If so, just remove the lid.

Make sure you also ask politely

In straight economic terms there isn't that much difference over time BUT we also can't get the parts for the exisiting gas fire anymore. The cost in gas last year (we only use it in winter & for heating only) from June - Oct was $678.08 (and we have had price increases since then) plus $100 per year for the bottles (no service charge, we hire the bottles). Last year our gas bill for May/June was $92.57. This year it was $135.85 for the same period and we were away for part of that!

Grant says he remembers when the night cart did the rounds!!! :lol: His grandmother used to make their soap and pour it into wooden moulds she sat on the concrete in the backyard. You never walked on that bit of concrete when it rained! :lol: ...and the batteries in the old phones were number 6 Everready. PS. For you youngin's, the night cart was the man who did the rounds emptying the outdoor toilets (no indoor like namby pamby loos of today!)

We were told almost $5,000 for fire, installation and permit etc. Pellets vary but we found some at $400 for 1 tonne. We figured that amount would last us 2 winters. Just got our latest gas bill - $135.85. That is for 1 month.

Probably both :lol:

I was worried about the sloshing. Plus, knowing what arowanas are like, one would likely jump out as I went through customs :lol: There was shop afer shop in the market and all had 2 or more very large tanks chokka full of cheap arowanas. :roll:

Thanks for all that Whetu. Jude I will have to wait until Grant is home to tell you the running costs as I can't remember :oops: We had a log fire but got sick of chopping and carting in wood (especially when cockroaches, white tail spiders and other critters came in with it). We replaced with gas as we have heat pumps at the other end but thought an alternative in a power cut might be useful and we like the look of flames. Our lounge (with many windows) does not lend itself to an efficiently placed heatpump hence the need for something else. We already had the hearth to place a free standing something on Pellets are now widely available from an ever growing number of suppliers apparently. A basement furnace would be good - but we haven't got a basement Another reason for changing from gas (apart from the ever increasing cost) is our model is no longer serviced and parts are unavailable. Although we bought a well known brand (Masport) the company was sold, then resold, and spare parts are no longer available. We just had the man in to fix it as the gas lighter doohickey whatchamacallit wore out. He had to jack up a replacement using a bit from a Moffit oven with Grant providing some sort of override for the cutout bit built into it :roll:

They were all at least 30cm+ Mystic and $5 each.

We lose water from our waterfall. I suspect some is going through the rocks somewhere we can't see and secondly, as it goes through our external filter, it is splashing outside of the filter box itself. As Alan has suggested, you will be surprised how much you lose through evaporation!

Or... "Who stole the telly? Who stole the telly?" Many knew and loved that ad but couldn't tell you what the insurance company name was! :roll: I actually like those Tui ads even though I don't drink and they don't make me want to try their prodcut.

HTH = hope this helps 8)

Fish market in Beijing... :lol:

Email looks simple (although I have never done it myself). Go to Tools, Options, Signatures. Tick the box that says "Add signatures to all outgoing messages" Click New Write the signature you want in the box Then click Apply and/or OK and I assume it will work 8)

I think it is an attempt to look younger and more fashionable? That guy did it too - Mike Hoskins or Hosking or something. They just look like older guys trying to look younger and not quite making it. A bit like older women who keep dying their hair an unatural shade of blonde. :roll: That Telecom ad makes no sense whatsoever and I still have no idea what it is they are trying to sell me.

You aren't very old then are you? :lol: When I was 16 I had a little step through Nifty 50 scooter. It cost 50c to fill it with petrol. :roll:

We were looking at them at a Home Show at the weekend and were impressed. We realise they don't go if there is a power cut, as the man demonstrating them pointed that out. The fan was running on the one they had going and, although a little noisier than the one on our gas fire, it was not objectionable (of course it was a large and noisy stadium too so perhaps in a quiet room it may be worse). Pellets are made by quite a few companies now and more are looking into it (including a local company here). Since they are approved by the government, and considered environmentally friendly, I think they will not stop making the pellets. They certainly appear to be cheaper to run than our gas fire. Gas in the South Island is way more expensive than you pay in the North Is. :evil: With 3 price rises in the past 12 months we are looking into alternatives. We have heat pumps elsewhere in the house but we like the look of flames. Besides, we have a hearth and brick wall up behind it and if we removed that we would have to get more carpet and re-wallpaper! I think I will ring the local supplier and ask if he can let me see one of his satisfied customer's fires in situ and see for myself. Zev, I think I can find a Consumer (library has them) but don't have much faith in their tests. It would be interesting to see what they said though.

Anyone had any experience with these?

Not sure what you mean by signing photos but do you mean automatically adding your name or other details to all outgoing email messages?

The Westpac(?) man in their ad seems to manage with just dishwashing liquid and a potato masher

Back to the topic :lol: Ads that imply you need more than just a basic toothbrush to make sure your teeth are clean and the ones that try to scare us with how many bugs are on everything we touch. How can we build up our imunity to these things if we keep cleaning them off??? :roll: And I still have the Jockey Junior ad song running through my head :roll:

We just use watered down dishwashing liquid

In Hokitika we would take a container to the milk treatment station and they would fill it up with really thick, spoon stand up in it, cream! YUM. Modern cream is not the same I remember... 3. Candy cigarettes 4. Soft drink machines that dispensed glass bottles (could never afford to buy a drink though) 5. Coffee shops or milk bars with juke boxes 6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with foil stoppers (except we actually had a cow and made our own milk, cream and butter when I was a child) 7. Party telephone lines (we had 5 on our line. Us kids NEVER touched it!) Husband remembers when the Motueka grocers had the phone number 1 and PO Box 1 :lol: 12. Peashooters (I had 2 older brothers. They also set fore to ants with magnifying glasses :roll: ) 13. Wash tub wringer (we had one of these until I was about 14. Be wary when leaning over the wringer! :-? ) 14. 78 RPM records (still got a lot of these, plus a gramophone on which to play them) 15. Metal ice trays with lever (still got one of these too) 18. Using hand signals for cars without turn signals 20. Head lights with dimmer switches on the floor 21. Ignition switches on the dashboard 24. Pant-leg clips for bicycles without chain guards (I use these today except they are plastic, not metal like the ones I used as a child) 25. Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner (Grant has one of these) Chips aren't that cheap these days either Alan

diver21 did you get the tank trucked down to you or did you go collect it (or are you no longer in Blenheim)? Nice rack R32GOTMLK :lol: