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May 30, 2006
Killing Machines
The mosquitoes have claimed our yard. As of about 3 or 4 weeks ago, the kids have stopped going outside, and Mom and Dad have become hyperactive about the door being open for more than 5 seconds. "Close the door. Close the door! CLOSE THE DOOR!"
We have a nearby neighbor that does not mow, and has a V8 engine hanging from a tree branch. I image the mosquitoes over there, hanging out poolside in various cans and cylinders planning their next meal at the gourmet restaurant that is our back yard. "Mmmm, three-year-old forehead... tasty!"
There are machines for this problem. They run in the hundreds of dollars price range, but if they can really knock out the mosquito population, they are totally worth it. Two years ago, when I first looked into them, the only one I could find was the Mosquito Magnet, but there was a pretty obvious pattern to the consumer reviews. People who had just bought it loved it. People who had owned one for more than one year hated it. Three hundred dollars is great if I can kill most of the mosquitoes in my yard for 5 to 10 years, but it's too much for just one year.
From left to right, the Mosquito Sentinel available at Lowes ($199), which is too good looking to possibly work, the Mega Catch ($179) only available online, and the troublesome Mosquito Magnet ($1,250).
The idea of a greedy, evil, devil-mosquito landing on my precious and not-yet-born daughter has pushed me over the edge, so I bought the Mega Catch Premier today.
Posted by David at 10:14 AM | Comments (5)
May 17, 2006
The Angle of the Sun
Well, someone finally built the daylight application I had always wanted to build. (Not as pretty of course, and upside-down.) You can put in any latitude, longitude, and time of day and get the exact angle of the sun. And it graphically shows the sunrise and sunset times for every day of the year.
So I plugged in the coordinates (30°18'01" N 97°44'50" W) and the dates for the summer and winter solstice to get all the extreme angles of the sun in Austin, Texas.
First is the altitude. This is the angle off of the horizon. 90 degrees is straight up. We're pretty far south, so on the summer solstice the sun gets up to 80.1 degrees.
The second is the azimuth which is the position on the horizon that the sun is directly above. It is measured in degrees off of North. So South is 180 degrees.
The diagrams below all show summer solstice in red and winter solstice in blue.
The first two diagrams just show the angles of the sun at sunrise, sunset and high noon on the two solstices. The next one down on the left shows a profile of our house and the shadow cast at noon on each of those days.
The three diagram on the right show a silhouette top view of our house and the angle of shadows at sunrise, noon and sunset. The gray four sided outline is our oddly shaped lot.
The big surprise for me is how little sun our south wall gets in the summer. I wish I had had an application that did this for me while we were designing the house. We might have made some adjustments to take advantage of the shade a little more.
Posted by David at 05:36 PM | Comments (6)
May 10, 2006
The Prize Winner
At the foot of the tub was a shelf, about 12-18in deep, that sat just above the edge of the tub itself. It was ever-so-slightly angled to drain into the tub. It was the most marvelous thing. It made shaving my legs less treacherous, it was a place to sit when I wasn't feeling well, and when I felt like giving myself a personal spa day it was a perfect spot for oils and soaps and a cup of tea.
It was a stroke of luck when we ended up with just enough room in the master bath to design in The Shelf. No one knew what I was talking about; the draftsman and our contractor both thought I was on crack and advised against it.
Lo and behold, watching The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio the other night (a veritable sea of eye candy for those of us with a strong mid-century fetish), there was the shelf. David grabbed the camera and got a quick still.
This one appears to be a solid sheet of marble or possibly formica. I'll settle for either.
Too bad I couldn't find a pink, porcelain garden tub. *sigh*
Posted by Christiane at 12:32 PM | Comments (4)
May 07, 2006
Lost and Found
Yesterday's Violet Crown Festival was the best ever. It was packed to the brim with cool people, great music, tasty eats, and talented artists showcasing their work. Don't forget the kids' events: plenty to do this year from balloon jousting and bouncy castles to giant chess and rock climbing!
While there, I made sure to pick up a few t-shirts supporting both Brentwood Elementary and the festival itself. After all, our oldest helped to create the artwork for the shirts!
Since the soon-to-be Erwin is too small for a tee, I bought her a little sundress from Bonnie Martin-Hudson, owner of MiayaWear.com. Adorable! Can't wait! Sigh!
On the way back to the car, I found this little lovey on the sidewalk in the mud. Someone out there is missing this lovey! Help! Child and lovey reunited! Mission accomplished! Gotta love the internet.
Posted by Christiane at 06:47 PM | Comments (0)
May 02, 2006
Everybody Must Get Manufactured Stone Veneered
We are doing one interior wall in stone. I haven't been able to find stone selection on the net anywhere except Owens Corning, of all places. The stuff looks beautiful (online), but it's fake. I don't know if it's better or worse on any attribute; aesthetics, quality, price. But I sure could pick it out and be done with it.
Has anyone had any experience with this stuff?
Posted by David at 09:04 AM | Comments (4)