“Aim at the sun, and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far higher than if aimed at an object on a level with yourself.” – Joel Hawes
Friday, September 06, 2013
Decadence Defined
Tonight it was in the low 60s. We swam. The heater had maintained a pool temperature of about 83° and it felt like a bathtub. Not too may lengths, but enough to get exercise. I built a fire in the fire pit and it created a nice warm fire while we did laps. The water was so warm it had a layer of steam above it and occasional steam cloud funnels that looked like miniature tornados. No cicadas. I think they may be done for the year.But, we did have a nice tumbler of whiskey. It is supposed to get warmer for the next week and that will be nice--a final week of "summer" before we end up moving into "fall". Renn Faire tomorrow.
Posted under: New Jersey • Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 09/06/2013 at 07:15 PM
Permalink • eMail this article
Monday, August 12, 2013
Robbie the Robot
As you probably know, we have a pool. And, pools require maintenance. Opening and closing. Chemicals. Cleaning.
When we first moved into the house in NJ, we bought a pool cleaning robot from AquaBot, and nicknamed it "Robbie". Each weekend we throw Robbie in the pool to clean up grunge from the bottom. It is amazing how many leaves and worms, along with sand, dirt and bugs can accumulate on the pool bottom in a week. Robbie does a "random walk" around the pool diligently vacuuming up this stuff. He occasionally gets stuck on the ladder (he really loves the ladder), or on pool-bottom drain. And, he seems to spend more time cleaning the sides of the pool than the bottom. He ingests his own power cord sometimes. But, mostly he works unsupervised for six or seven hours and produces a clean, sparkling pool.
I decided to use the time-lapse camera that Lynne gave me for Christmas last year, and make a movie of Robbie cleaning the pool last Saturday. This movie filled the memory in the camera, but Robbie was about done by then anyway. Enjoy!
(PS: The pool heater should get installed next week!)
Posted under: New Jersey • Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 08/12/2013 at 07:18 AM
Permalink • eMail this article
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
I Couldn’t Have Said It Better
Read this post on Lynne's site
Posted under: New Jersey • by Rick on 07/23/2013 at 11:32 AM
Permalink • eMail this article
Friday, July 19, 2013
Change in the Air
It has been hot, hot, hot. Yesterday the temperature at our house got up to 99°F, with a heat index ("feels like" temperature) of 106°.
That has heated the pool nicely. It was about 87° when Lynne and I took a swim around 8:30 p.m.
While swimming some leisurely laps I noticed the fireflies are about done. A few remain, mostly high in the trees. Their lights seem to be brighter and stay on longer than earlier in the season. Desperation, perhaps. The need to attract a mate before it is too late. Because, they will be gone within a few days, I'm sure.
But, the (non-17-year) cicadas are starting to buzz. Pretty soon the air will be filled with their buzzing and chirping -- a real sign of mid-summer.
The bats are busy, too. They've been around for a while, and we see 3--maybe 4--in the evening swooping over the open back yard and pool. Eating bugs, I hope. Maybe they are a huge contributor to our lack of mosquitos.
Posted under: New Jersey • by Rick on 07/19/2013 at 07:18 AM
Permalink • eMail this article
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Great Swim Tonight
Water temperature is about 86 degrees. Wonderful. Swam 40 lengths tonight, will go for 50 tomorrow. I know that is not much, but the best of the season. Swimming is my favorite way to get exercise.
We have committed to a pool heater. Should get it installed this summer. Going with propane, so need tanks, etc. Will set it at about 82 to 84 degrees and extend the early Spring and late Summer seasone by a few weeks as well as keep the mid-Summer temperatures very comfortable. We'll see!
Posted under: New Jersey • Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 07/17/2013 at 07:26 PM
Permalink • eMail this article