Mr. Rogers would be proud...

I missed the big blow last week by a few days, but I have finally installed my weather station. And it's pretty cool being able to look at the monitoring device here in the kitchen to see what the wind is like, or the temps. and the barometer. I looked on line on eBay for one of these stations, and could have purchased one there. They sell the wireless LaCrosse stations that do all the basics (measuring rain, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, relative humidity, temperatures, wind chill) and also connect to your computer so you can track data for periods of time.

I assume you would then print out graphs and charts on wind, rainfall, and temperatures. I suppose if you're really into weather, or chart making that would be the way to go. However, I'm not into it that much. I'm pretty much a "what's it doing now" kind of guy, so I picked up the one at Wal-Mart. It is the same as the more expensive ones, except it doesn't connect to the computer. It does have an internal history mode which can give a visual readout for some period of time (I have not finished digesting the whole instruction book yet, so I can't tell you how long that period is). In any event, it's kind of fun just stopping by the monitoring device to see what is going on. Since I have convinced myself that the wind blows here every day, I have not been disappointed. Those little cups go flying around under the pointer thingy all the time. Kind of impressive. I just hope when the big winds come back, those things don't get to going so fast that they lift that whole end of the building off the ground like a helicopter.

The little box on top is the rain gauge and the bird house is really a cover for the Thermo-Hygro sensor (how's that for a fancy name for a thermometer-thingy). The instruction book suggests that this piece be installed in a bird house to keep it out of direct contact with the elements. So, I drilled some holes in it all over the place and stapled some screen on all the inside walls to keep the birds and bees out and there you have it.

I'm sure someone who just happens to be driving by and notices this on the shed (a.k.a. Lakefront Cottage, a.k.a. Remote Climatological Readings Gathering Station) will be impressed and think some real smart guy lives here.

Well I guess you've figured out by now that retirement gets boring in February and this is just something to play with. You would be correct. However, one thing I have noticed is the little thing on the display that shows climate and temperature trends shows that everything is moving in the right direction-- which means golf and fishing can't be too far down the road.

Weather is a great metaphor for life - sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, and there's nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella. (Pepper Giardino)

Hooah