Tuesday, September 4, 2012

A laborious weekend

I hadn't planned to take a few days off from blogging, but the length of my to-do list was longer than my four-day weekend, 
and I was determined to finish the DIY project from hell before time ran out.

This DIY project began innocently enough, with a gift from my father. Some assembly required. 
Thanks, Dad. It really is the coolest gift ever, now that it's installed.

Step one of the installation involved drilling a hole in my house. 
In order for one end of the gift to be appropriately situated so that 
I would reap the greatest benefit, said hole in the house had to be drilled in a very precarious position.

After several telephone consultations with Dad and subsequent instruction from Professor Google, I cowgirled up and drilled the hole. 
All that stuff I've drawn in the picture above is on the opposite side of the wall. Had my measurements been incorrect, 
I would have a) lost my job, b) never been able to blog again, and c) probably electrocuted myself.
None of that happened! Par-ty!

With the hole drilled, I installed conduit up the wall of the house, across the porch ceiling, 
down the post, then out to the pipe fence, 
and then I pulled a few wires through it. Piece of cake. Not. At this point, I had already been to Home Depot twice.

Then there was the small matter of erecting a mast...

...and grounding it, whatever the hell that means.
 Dad, does this look right? Speak before I bury it.
And by now, I had made my third trip to Home Depot.

But all the effort was worth it because I can sit at my desk and glance over to my weather station control box
and know the temperature, the wind speed and direction, and how much rain is falling, assuming it ever rains again.
(This picture shows the view behind my desk–I did my best to hide all those wires, really I did.)

All that's left to do now is dig a trench and bury the conduit that runs across the front yard.
Thankfully, that won't require another trip to Home Depot.


  1. Wow..what an accomplishment!!!!!

  2. Two thumbs up for you Carson for tackling yet another project! Nothing seems to hold you back!!!

    Love the weather station, and what is ironic is we just installed one (but not like yours) just the other week! Yep, we have all the stuff on a mast on our one shed and the controls are on a wall in the kitchen. Love the info we get from it.

  3. Any chance you could employ Smooch?


  4. Wow, look at you and your latest project. Hats off to you, Linda!

    As I was reading, I thought, "Why don't you just get a weather app on your phone?" then realized it wouldn't have a rain guage. LOL.

    You go, Girl!

  5. That is a COOL gift (pardon the pun, it's early on the east coast). Besides, I'm a bit of a weather-nut myself. I gave my father a father's day gift of a Indoor-Outdoor digital temperature gauge. Much easier installation - it's wireless, but changing the batteries is a pain.

    Give yourself a pat-on-the-back for the installation. Drilling holes in walls gives me the butterflies too.

    Taking a picture of the Temp Monitor will be a lot safer than going out in extreme conditions with your camera !

    Ben Franklin, wrote: "Some are weatherwise, some are otherwise."

    Mary Ann
    (in soggy NC)

  6. Well, that all looks simple enough...

  7. I think it's time for another visit from your friend Lucy so you can have company diggin' that trench.

  8. Best always, Sandra9/4/12, 5:35 AM

    You're my heroine. Great work!

  9. ACK!! You are a braver woman than I am eh! But well done. That hole in the wall with the PVC pipe running thru it, you will be plugging it, right? (says the woman who HATES mice and other creepy crawlies)

  10. Is there anything you can't do, Carson? I'm in awe.

  11. NICE!!
    My husband LOVES anything to do with the weather, so after you posted about the water measure gauge, I bought him one and one of the max. & min. themometers. Now he's up at 7 am to measure the percipitation, he records it on the computer and he crawls back into bed.
    He has one of these too. No holes in the walls here - his is wireless!
    Love those toys!!

  12. you are soooo talented, at getting the job done no matter what it is and at writing a story that is so good i have to read to find out the rest of the story.

  13. Carson, I need some work done over here at my house. Can you come over? Seriously, that is REALLY COOL and I can't wait for you to post some data!

  14. Just so you know, whenever I come up against a problem or issue that my dad would have taken care of when he was alive, I think of you, and the little engine that could talk starts in my head, along with some rah, rah, rah, team talk, and I get a surge of 'I am woman' chorus going in my head as I enter the doors of Lowes or Home Depot...you are, always the inspiration.

  15. Great idea! Lots of work but it all came out good in the end.

  16. You are fearless! I gave my father a weather station in the early 1980's. I hope you have as much enjoyment from yours, and father did from his.

  17. We do love to know what's happening with our weather! Well done. I mean incredibly well done!!!

    Remember that saying, "Measure twice, cut once" - we have a friend who says it should really be "Measure twice, cut once, go back to Home Depot for more stuff!"

  18. I bet your Dad is SO proud of you as we are !!!!!!!

  19. Estella from Co.9/4/12, 7:40 AM

    What can I say other than "Linda, you are one talented lady". Job well done. I'm sure you will enjoy all the information. Hugs to all

  20. Very impressed!

  21. What a nice gift from your Dad. I know he's happy to see it up and running. I'm glad there were no major hitches in the project. Now if you could just have a little rainstorm to christen it.
    Thanks for the Twitter messages so we wouldn't worry about you.

  22. Carol in N. Colorado9/4/12, 8:20 AM

    Awesome job, Linda. I was wondering what you were up to with DIY project. A weather station is a nifty gift which I know you will enjoy. Your dad is awesome to have sent it to you and help you put it together long distance. Now to fill any holes to keep unwanted critters out of the house. Can't wait for the weather changes so we can get weather reports.

  23. Very well done!

    At the risk of passing on info you may not want right now....If you ever find yourself needing to drill holes in your walls again, there is a way of sparing yourself the anxiety and fear of job loss, electrocution, etc.

    Put a stop-collar on your drill bit (you can get this at Home Depot, in a real pinch, duct tape can work as well). Set the collar so that the drill bit will only penetrate the outer (or inner, you can start from either side)layer of the wall. Once you have a hole in just the one layer of wall, carefully insert a piece of plastic conduit into the hole. If you encounter any wires, you can wiggle the conduit around them without doing any harm until it is up against the other side of the wall. You can then use a smaller diameter drill bit inside of the conduit (or in the case of dry wall, even just a long skewer) to put a hole in the other side of the wall. Once you have this hole, use the bit with the stop collar to make the hole the proper diameter for your conduit.

  24. Good to see "Inspector" Alan checking out your handy work to be sure it is pasture friendly.

  25. Linda, you truly are a woman for all seasons. Can do and git er done both are your mantras. Congrats on the super job with the weather station. I'm so impressed. But I have to say....without knowledge of the big deal it is for you to get to the big box store from where you live......everyone should be extremely impressed. You are as I have said in the past a better woman than me Gunga Din. xoxo OmaLinda

  26. That is one cool gadget,and a lot of work to install but when I read this: "I installed conduit up the wall of the house, across the porch ceiling, down the post, then out to the pipe fence, and then I pulled a few wires through it." I wondered why you didn't pull the wires through before fastening the conduit down.
    Nice to see that Alan was supervising.

  27. Anne Boleyn9/4/12, 1:27 PM

    Holy crap! You are my idol!

  28. Carson.....I have to ask. How did you get the anemometer on top of the pole? I'm picturing a ladder in the bed of the pickup. I'm sure someone besides me has to be wondering.

  29. That is AWESOME! Congratulations, Linda!

  30. Wow! A thunderous ovation -- well done!

    How did you get the anemometer in place?

  31. Dear Dad: Thanks for the DIY. Next time, please make it DDI (Dad Does It).
    Congrats though, on your incredible skills! Well done!

  32. Oh my gawd. That's some serious gift, Dad. Next time, I think I'd ask for a gift certificate to the spa. *wink*

  33. well, you are a far braver woman than I ever think to be; and pretty damn clever too!

  34. Before you bury the conduit, you might as well run some more wire out for Dad's next gift, the amateur radio station, you could put the antenna on your weather vane mast!!!

    Actually, I'm surprised you don't have a license living out there (you don't need morse code anymore). When you electricity and phone and cell phone go out, you could still communicate any emergency using battery backup for the radios.

    Btw, I understand 99.9% of DIY projects require 3 trips to HD, so you lucked out - the fourth trip would have meant 2 more!!!