Tag Archives: Deck

Gotta love gadgets

Life without gadgets is simply less fun. Today my brother Karel surprised me with a new gadget; Tempest. It’s a state of the art weather station. Wireless and solar powered. As Ozuye faces north north-east, most of the possible locations for mounting are shady. So I used a pole to make it stick out above the tree line;

Next time I’m over I may mount it to the home to make it catch sun all the time, but for now this works.

This station of course comes with an app. Here’s a screenshot of the data it collects;

It also includes notifications, so I can get a warning when there’s a storm or cold front coming. But that won’t be this year, as the weather will remain nice.

I do think the pole is asking for something like a flag, but this is a pretty flexible pole and when it does storm, the wind usually comes from that direction, so I’m not sure the pole would hold. Next time I might get an official flag pole and raise the US flag when I’m there 🤠

Hot Tub Deck Progress

This morning I went to Home Depot in Bulverde to pick up deck boards and other items, such as the post lights.

The deck is about halfway in now; tomorrow I should be able to finish it.

Two old posts were cut, as the deck now extends westwards. For the hottub area I will also use Sisal rope as a guardrail, but as the 1″ wasn’t in stock, I will use 3 smaller diameter lines. There in a bucket of water now, so they shrink to minimal size. As the rope dries, it expands. That way, the ropes are an indication of rainfall/humidity; the more straight the lines, the wetter.