Category: Home

The fence near the west side of the house was dependent on a tree for one section. This wasn’t good for the tree or the fence. Many of the boards were rotting away and the gate was almost unusable.

Barb had a vision to move the fence to the south about eight feet. The old posts were embedded in concrete and couldn’t be moved easily so yesterday we put in new posts. The concrete was set by this morning so we did the move and renovation. This involved moving one section, cutting off a few inches, removing boards from other sections, placing them on a new section and adding some new boards.

Barb contributed more time but I contributed a little more engineering to the project.

She LOVES the new fence.

There was a minor injury with a rogue handsaw. Barb patched me up and we continued.

Finishing touch: the end cap.
Done!

And from the other side.

The rate of heat transfer for many thermodynamic problems is directly proportional to the difference in temperature between the heat source and the heat sink. This difference in temperature is frequently referred to as “Delta T”.

Less than three weeks ago Barb and I were in Columbia where, with the humidity, the temperature felt like 114F:

We left there and for four days cruised north through the Caribbean Sea, within a 100 miles of Cuba, to New Orleans. Even in the middle of the night you could stand on our stateroom balcony with little or no clothing and be uncomfortably warm. It was during this time that Barb won Miss Norwegian Pearl in her bikini. We were soaking up the heat and humidity before returning home.

Last Friday morning there was snow on the ground. This morning there was more snow and it continues though the afternoon:

Today, with the continuing large delta T and Barb’s surface area to mass ratio approximating infinity, she ran out of heat to give up to the environment. Even with thermostat set at 71F she had to put on multiple layers of clothes, a fluffy sweatshirt, and put the hood up over her head. Her hands still felt like ice cubes:

She now has plans to visit Arizona.

This morning I was busy reloading ammo when Barb came back from a walk and sent me a text message before coming inside:

Two deer on the front yard.

I grabbed my camera bag and headed for the door. Barb opened it just before I got to it. My disappointed face must have been an easy read for her because she said, “They aren’t going anywhere, but I wish they would.” I carefully stepped out on the front steps and took some pictures:

I came back inside and Barb asked if they were still there. “Yes”, I replied, “Do you want me to make them go away?”

“Yes please. I don’t want them eating my plants.”

“We could have fresh venison for dinner if you wanted.”, I joked.

“No. Just get them out of the yard.”

We went out into the yard and tried shooing them away from 15 or 20 feet away. They weren’t really interested. I had to make some aggressive moves and sounds before they finally moved onto the edge of the street. Two cars drove by and the deer came back onto the edge of the yard.

I clicked my tongue (really loud, I used to find my kids in malls and stores this way because they could hear it some distance away and knew I was looking for them). This was enough incentive for the deer to run down the street a few feet and then walk through the bushes into the neighbors yard.

I came back in the house and reported my results to Barb. “Excellent!”, she exclaimed, “I was afraid they would run at me if I tried to get them to leave.”

While it’s not all that unusual to see a deer or two when we go for a walk near the park, I don’t recall seeing any deer on our street before. It’s not like we live in some rural area. This is a normal suburban neighborhood with houses all around:

Oh well, I thought it was nice to have the visitors even if I don’t think Barb wasn’t quite as pleased about it as I was.