househouse

what? the hail?what? the hail?

Posted Sat, 11/14/2009 - 12:08am by dave

The National Weather Service was forecasting for cooler temperatures with some breezy, wet conditions for this evening – we got a bit more than that. I first noticed lightning, which is rare for Seattle. Then the wind picked-up. More lightning. A bit of “rattle, rattle” sounded on the roof. Nothing serious, just amusing.  I ran downstairs to let Anne know that it sounded like it might be hailing. By the time I got downstairs, hail larger than Cocoa Puffs (as much as I’d like to claim the “Cocoa Puff” metric as a “man measurement”, Anne devised it!) was banging against the side of the house. I called my neighbor nearby to suggest that this was somehow his fault; he wasn’t in much of a joking mood as his wife’s car was parked outside. It was probably the most pronounced hail storm I’ve seen in the Seattle area. Just when we thought it was over, it would start again. I’m sure it only lasted a couple of minutes, but it seemed to go on-and-on. Three hours later, much of the hail is still on the ground; it is melting, slowly. The temperature? 36 degrees – burrrrr!

hottest day ever...hottest day ever...

Posted Wed, 07/29/2009 - 3:50pm by dave

Seattle is known for its lush green surroundings, cold clear water, and temperate weather... except today. Today we set a new record for the hottest date in Seattle history: 102 degrees. Our normal high temperature for this date is 76. We'll be lucky if the low temperature is 76 tonight. The challenge for people (and pets) here is the inability to escape from the heat. The vast majority of homes have no air conditioning. Even many small businesses have no air conditioning. Those that have air conditioning are discovering that their systems can't keep up with this much heat, or are succumbing to power outages as demand races upward. My dentist's office called yesterday to warn me that they have to postpone my cleaning; the power was out.

Our house has pretty good insulation, so we close it up at about 10:00 a.m. (when the outside temp begins to exceed the ambient temperature in the house) and leave it closed up while the temperature races upward. We’ll keep it closed until the temps cool back down tonight – probably after 7 p.m. Currently, it's about 82 in the house (at 3:45 p.m.) and will probably climb to 84 before the afternoon is over.

Then we’ll throw open every window and turn on the whole-house ventilation system. Our furnace includes a whole-house mode that pulls in outside air to flush radon gas, which is common in the Pacific Northwest, out of the house. In the case of warm weather, it will also pull cooler air from outside and reduce the house temperature quickly.

It’s been a year of interesting weather – far more snow storms than usual, and a “real” summer. I wonder what’s next.

our new security systemour new security system

Posted Tue, 12/23/2008 - 12:02pm by dave

We've added a new security system to our house: ice sickles. The example in the photo is over three feet long, over an inch in diameter, and very pointy. I'm sure that it will dig a pretty significant hole when it drops from the second-story roof. It is as beautiful, as it is deadly... bwah!

My car remains completely immobile; up to its hubcaps in snow. The weather forecasters are suggesting more snow tonight, then rain and snow mixed for the next few days. The Seattle area could see some substantial flooding this weekend; we should be fine since we’re 400 feet higher than most of Seattle on a gently sloping hill.
 

T H U N D E R !T H U N D E R !

Posted Wed, 07/02/2008 - 7:34pm by dave
Tonight we heard the peel of thunder in Edmonds. To put this event into perspective, we haven't heard thunder here since this time last year. If you know me very well, you know that I love a hearty thunderstorm. I suspect this storm is several miles away; the thunder is pretty tame and not very frequent. Still, it's music to my ears to hear it again.

not so stealthy garage door openernot so stealthy garage door opener

Posted Sat, 03/15/2008 - 4:38pm by dave
If you've known me for very long, then you know that I'm not particularly handy with physical projects. Give me a keyboard and I can do wonders - but a socket set is dangerous in my hands. Since we purchased our Edmonds home, the Genie "Stealth" garage door opener has been humming - getting louder as time has passed. One night last month it was so loud that I could hear it in our bedroom.

frightful weatherfrightful weather

Posted Mon, 01/28/2008 - 7:13am by dave
I awoke this morning to a couple of inches of snow - sitting on top of an icy bed. Our house sits over 400 feet higher than Puget Sound, so we tend to get a little colder than most of the Seattle metro area whose temperatures are moderated by Puget Sound.

when you're not, you're notwhen you're not, you're not

Posted Fri, 07/20/2007 - 10:06am by dave
Okay, we had our two weeks of summer, back to our regularly scheduled weather. The old joke in Seattle is, "How can you tell it is summer in Seattle? The mist is warmer." It never actually rains in Seattle; Seattle is the reason that intermittent wipers were invented. However, when the high temperature for the day is in the mid to low 60's, it doesn't feel much like summer... even in Seattle.

dave does not equal handy-mandave does not equal handy-man

Posted Sun, 04/29/2007 - 3:03pm by dave
Usually when I attempt to complete a physical task, such as working on the house or the car, I just make more work for the person who is paid to fix my mess. I'm getting a little better at this handy-man stuff - although I have a long ways to go. Today's challenge: Our master bathroom door only latches for four months of the year! During the warm summer months, when the door was originally installed, it latches just fine. However, in the cooler months, the door is off just a hair and won't latch. I thought to myself, "I can fix this. I watch home repair shows on TV. How hard can it be?"

drool electrons all over the floordrool electrons all over the floor

Posted Fri, 03/30/2007 - 2:46pm by dave
Today our friendly neighborhood comcast (cable) technician visted us. It seems that cable companies are required by the FCC to control leakage from their systems, even if it is coming from a residence. comcast recently discovered that our house was leaking.

nerd gardeningnerd gardening

Posted Mon, 03/26/2007 - 5:57pm by dave
We recently had Evergreen Clematis planted in the backyard next to our arbor. The service that brought the plants left them attached to the bamboo post from the nursery. I took it upon myself to begin training the plants to our arbor. Rather than using twine, which required one more hand than I possess, I elected to use my cable ties. Cable ties are usually used to tie cables (duh) in electronics projects; they seem to be doing a fine job holding up my new vine…
Syndicate content