SP RING ED IT IO N
CHOICES, CHOICES...
THE DEVIL AND THE POLITICIAN The Claw
OUR PET WINNER
ANNOUNCED!
THE GREAT WEATHERSAFE WALL
weathersafe wa | The Weather Report
From the Editor! Welcome to the Spring edition of the Weather Report our favourite time of the year. Lots of things happen in Spring and perhaps the best thing is that the days start to get a bit longer and a bit warmer after our winter hibernation.
clients lots of ‘stuff’ this year in the form of prizes and give aways. Just to reward all our loyal customers for buying at WeatherSafe. To be in the running all you have to do is buy your outdoor weather protection products from your only local experts, WeatherSafe WA. So what have we got planned?
I’m especially looking forward to the AFL grand final this year. I’m heading over to catch up with an old mate who is flying in from London and we are celebrating our 50th birthdays together at the GF.
Well the Grand Final promotion pack is underway, we are slowly filling our Christmas Hamper ready for someone to win in December and planning is underway for a huge Bunbury Cup package.
Now you all know that I’m an eagles supporter but I hope to be waving the Dockers flag and willing them to bring the Cup back to WA. I never thought I’d live to see the day but here goes…GO DOCKERS!
I have an amazing promotion ready for 2014 that will knock your socks off so get ready for that announcement in January!
I’m on the Bunbury Turf Club board and Spring is the start of the racing season here at Bunbury, something I always look forward to. The first meeting is Sunday the 20th of October and this season is going to be exciting with a few big announcements on this year’s racing calendar. I’ll keep you posted and urge you to join up as a member of the club for the oncoming season. It’s inexpensive and the benefits are great! Of course this time of year is the Melbourne Spring racing carnival – the Melbourne Cup especially. I love seeing all the cream of the Australian and world horse racing run over the carnival. There is a big Bunbury race meeting planned for Melbourne Cup day so I hope to see you there. We have had a busy winter this year, mainly supplying our Slidetrack blinds. Since we introduced this system to the South West more and more of our customers are finding their outdoor patios, verandas and alfresco areas that couldn’t normally be used during the winter months are now nice and cosy and useable. You know these blinds are great all year round so we are giving our customers the best possible deals on patio blinds during the Spring months. Spring is also a time to start thinking about putting your Shadesails back up if you have taken them down over winter. We normally start at the end of September and spend a month reinstalling our customer’s sails that we removed in Autumn. More about that later in the newsletter. I have been talking with my team here at WeatherSafe and we have decided to give our
We are going to have some fun in the next 12 months so I look forward to seeing all our old and many new customers at WeatherSafe. Anyway have an enjoyable Spring! Regards,
Mark Lewis Mark Lewis General Manager
weathersafe wa | The Weather Report
Brady working on the new impulse welder
New High Tech Welder at WeatherSafe I told you a while back that we went to our annual industry conference in May. It also doubled as an expo showcasing all the latest materials, machinery and trends in the industry. Now I can hear most of you saying Borrrring!!! But for myself and the team it is exciting to see new initiatives in the market that give us the opportunity to bring all the latest cutting edge trends to our customers in the south west. Anywaywe saw one of the latest fabric impulse welders at the show and have added it to our team. It was delivered last month and we have been experimenting with it to see what it can do. This welder is amazing. It gives outstanding results for joining and seaming our blinds. It makes our SlideTrack patio blinds the strongest on the market with fully welded side tracks and hems. This means not only do they look better but will perform and last longer than any other blind system on the market today. The most incredible thing about this welder is it can actually weld canvas together with a beautiful invisible threadless join. The thread is normally the first thing that breaks down due to the suns UV rays so now the lifespan of many of the products we make here has just become so much longer.
Our Pet Winner Thanks to everyone who sent in entries to our Winter Pet competition. I didn’t realise so many of our customers had pets. Sadly there can be only one winner so congratulations go to Tarryn Hancey and her dog Keshi who is clearly enjoying her snug new room. Also a warm welcome to Abi, Tarryns new born daughter who arrived last month. Our new dog Cookie is not so small any more. She has turned into a huge chewing machine, destroying everything she can get her teeth into and digging massive holes everywhere. We still love her but can’t wait till she gets over her puppy stage! We will have another photo competition in the Summer edition of the Weather Report so stay tuned.
weathersafe wa | The Weather Report
The Great WeatherSafe Wall We love trying new stuff here at WeatherSafe. The good thing is that we have a bit of space at our Bunbury factory where we can try things out. We can do a bit of research and development before we try anything different out in the marketplace. Our latest experiment is a vertical shade sail screen across adjoining front block. We did this for three reasons. The first was to create an area out the front of the block where we can display our outdoor products without them getting lost in the background, secondly to test a few shade sail tensioning techniques that we have been thinking up over the winter months, and thirdly to hide all our construction materials and racks out the back. Well the results were better than expected. Our vertical shade sail screen looks fantastic. It is 40 metres long and 2.2metres high and has the classic arcs top and bottom giving it a stylish look.
The continuous wire inside a bottom hem allowed us to pull the screen right down onto the base ring.
We tried two tensioning methods that we haven’t used before. A continuous wire along the bottom and a threaded rod bracket at the top. Our aim was to be able to tension the sail as close to the fixing point as possible so to lessen any gaps between poles and sails. The results speak for themselves, although we probably allowed a bit too much for the stretch of the fabric, the screen is drum tight and we have been able to pull the fabric right up to the fixing points. You can see with the top fitting we have a bit of room to move as the top wire and shadecloth stretches over time. We will now start using these techniques out in the field to ensure a tight sail with maximum coverage. Stay tuned for all the new and exciting outdoor structures we have planned for display out the front.
At the top, we ran the wire through a tube that we welded the threaded rod to. For tension, we simply tightened the nut.
weathersafe wa | The Weather Report
Gardening Tips With Kylie Gardening Tips from Our Resident Green Thumb Hi Everyone, Spring is a great time of the year to get your garden ready for a bountiful summer harvest of flowers, herbs and vegies. So here is a quick list of what I’ll be doing in the next few weeks. Happy Times!
What to Plant this Spring Our resident green thumb, Kylie, gives us the run down on what to do and what to plant in your garden this spring: Firstly I’ll need to give all my garden beds a bit of a birthday after several months of neglect (hey it’s been cold and raining!) so I’ll do a bit of weeding and mix in a bit of manure and lucerne into the soil. Turn it all over and fluff it up a bit (that’s a new gardening term that I just made up!)Cow sheep and chicken poo is what I use. I like planting vegies that are easy and grow quickly so with a bit of help from the kids we will plant Tomatoes, beans and zucchini (I find if I get the kids to help plant them they might just eat them!...they hate zucchinis!) I like the big round tomatoes…the Grosse Lisse variety. Chuck in a bit of chicken manure or blood and bone but not too much. Plant them half a meter apart because they will grow big and fast. Beans are great to grow. I like the scarlet runner beans because they last for years and now is a good time to
plant them. They also grow big and fast so you may have to make up some little wigwam shaped trellis thingys to hold them up. I get those long bamboo stakes and tie three of them together. They are also good for the tomatoes. Finally the zucchinis I plant are the Lebanese variety because they have smooth tasty skin and great flavour. I plant them on small mounds because I have found if they don’t have good drainage they will rot. Give them plenty of manure and compost and plant 3 seeds per mound. Pick the strongest and biff the others when the seedlings spring up. Spring is also a good time to plant other vegies like carrots, broccoli, pumpkin and rockmelon. I’m not really into growing flowers but I do grow lots of herbs. Now is the time to plant your Basil, coriander, oregano and parsley. OK that’s about it for my garden. There are heaps more vegies and herbs that are right for growing in spring the best thing is to just have a little patch that you can manage and enjoy when everything is ready to eat in summer.
Annual Shade Sail Service Did you know that WeatherSafe has an annual remove store and reinstall service for all our clients with shadesails? Although most WeatherSafe SunBan shade sails and shade structures are suitable to remain up all year, some shadesails should be taken down at the end of Autumn and reinstalled in Spring. We do this for several reasons but mainly to let the light in during those dreary winter months or because they are very big and are susceptible to storm damage in high winds. Whatever the reason we offer a service where we take the sails down, check them over and service them where necessary, store them over winter and put them back up during Spring. We charge on an hourly basis for the first service and then we hold that charge for the next three years. If you buy a new shadesail from us this summer we will do the first years’ service for free. Call the office on 9725 4433 and speak with Emily or Kylie to discuss your requirements.
weathersafe wa | The Weather Report
The Devil and the Politician In light of our recent elections I thought this was a very appropriate joke… While walking down the street one day a female senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies. Her soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance. “Welcome to Heaven,” says St. Peter. “Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we’re not sure what to do with you.” “No problem, just let me in,” says the lady. “Well, I’d like to but I have orders from higher up. What we’ll do is have you spend one day in Hell and one in Heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.” “Really, I’ve made up my mind. I want to be in Heaven,” says the senator. “I’m sorry but we have our rules..” And with that, St. Peter escorts her to the elevator and she goes down, down, down to Hell. The doors open and she finds herself in the middle of a green golf course.. In the distance is a club and standing in front of it are all her friends and other politicians who had worked with her, everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet her, hug her, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at expense of the people. They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster and caviar. Also present is the Devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes.
They are having such a good time that, before she realizes it, it is time to go. Everyone gives her a big hug and waves while the elevator rises. The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on Heaven where St. Peter is waiting for her. “Now it’s time to visit Heaven.” So 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before she realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns. “Well then, you’ve spent a day in Hell and another in Heaven. Now choose your eternity.” She reflects for a minute, then the senator answers: “Well, I would never have said it, I mean Heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in Hell.” So Saint Peter escorts her to the elevator and she goes down, down, down to Hell. Now the doors of the elevator open and she is in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage. She sees all her friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags. The Devil comes over to her and lays his arm on her neck. “I don’t understand,” stammers the senator. “Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and club and we ate lobster and caviar and danced and had a great time. Now all there is a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. The Devil looks at her, smiles and says, “Yesterday we were campaigning. Today you voted for us.”
weathersafe wa | The Weather Report
The Claw! One of the best things about being a member of The Specialised Textile Association, our national industry association, is the people in the industry that we meet and become friends with. Not only do we get the opportunity see what new and innovative products are in the market from suppliers but also the fantastic jobs that other fabricators like us make for their customers. My good mate Eric from Abacus Shade Structures in Sydney is always coming up with amazing new structures and designs and this time he has come up with an absolute beauty‌The Claw. When I saw this awesome structure I asked Eric if I could buy the rights to offer this product to our customers in WA. The Double Claw is a 10 metre by 10 metre shade structure with a single support pole shedding 100 square metres of shade. The two sides are offset in height giving a dramatic illusion of two claws reaching out. So not only do we have a structure that gives excellent shade but looks fantastic at the same time. The structure is engineered to take either the double claw or to have just the one claw on the side. We are hoping to offer the claw to the market this summer once we have finalised all our costings and have our manufacturing down pat. Although it will obviously be a fantastic addition to any public space it can work just as well in the backyard, near the pool or the BBQ! Now that will make you the envy of the neighbourhood!
Employee Profile - June Ellis June is WeatherSafe WA’s administration manager and finance expert. She keeps the place running smoothly and stops everyone from spending too much! Junes history has always been in finance. She was a field worker for the tax department for many years until she had enough of working for the government and ran a few offices before joining WeatherSafe in 2010 overseeing the changeover from Del-Ray Partner: Dean
Dream Car: Chrysler 300C
Fav Food: Roast Beef
Dream Holiday: Cruise to Fiji
Fav Music: Michael Buble Fav Movie: Dirty Dancing
When Not Working: Loves Reading
weathersafe wa | The Weather Report
Joyce’s Cooking Corner After reading Kylies fabulous What to Plant This Spring article, I thought I would come up with a recipe that is sure to get the kids to eat Kylies zucchinis. Chocolate Zucchini Muffins!
To make 2 dozen you will need the following ingredients… 3 eggs 1 teaspoon baking soda 2 cups sugar ½ teaspoon baking powder 1 cup vegetable oil 1 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg 2 cups grated zucchini ¼ teaspoon ground cloves 3 cups all-purpose flour ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
Directions Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Lightly grease or line two muffin tins with paper liners. In a large bowl beat the eggs. Beat in the sugar and oil. Add the cocoa, vanilla, zucchini and stir well. Stir in the flour, baking soda, bakingpowder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom. Mix until just moist. Pour batter into the prepared muffin tins filling 2/3 of the way. Top with a few chocolate bits if you like. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack. Store loosely covered (If they last long enough for storage!)
Plus - Go in the draw to win monthly prizes like fuel, TV’s and other great stuff! Have your friends and family contact me today TODAY for their free no obligation quote...Call 0897 254433 1 Richter Road, Bunbury, Western Australia Just off Robinson Drive bypass behind Bunbury Nissan
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