Monday, December 31, 2007

Jim's new toy

When I first met my husband years ago, I never cared much about temperature and barely paid attention to the extended forecast. Today, if there isn't a temperature gauge next to our bed, in the master bathroom and downstairs in the dining room alerting me to what the temp is in the front *and* back of our house, I feel positively out of sorts. This is Jim's fault. He loves to discuss the weather, in particular the temperature. Inside and outside temperature are equally important. Discussions of minimum and maximum temperatures as well as temperature trends, barometric pressure, and the differences in calibration from one thermometer to the next are routine in our home. We all know, for example, that the upstairs bedroom temperature gauge shows the inside temp just little higher than the magnetic thermometer 10 feet away on the wall leading to the bathroom. Fortunately, my sons and I feel comfortable adjusting accordingly and simply round up or down to the nearest degree, but I know this sort of irrational imprecision must drive Jim crazy.

My husband is also an equal-opportunity weather instrument appreciator. While we certainly enjoy the technology of the 21st century, we also utilize a weather tool from the 16th century:

This particular device is called a storm glass or "Goethe barometer" and is regarded as the oldest barometer in the world. It allows simple weather forecasting by showing pressure changes as water rises or falls in its "spout." My aunt from Berlin gave this to him as a gift when we visited her a few years back and it really works.

But on to the new toy. Because of his weather interest, Jim has wanted a home weather station for years. In preparation for our move to the country in less than a month, it seemed a good time to finally get a home weather station. Understandably, Jim wasn't able to wait until we got to our new property to set it up, so this is the view from my kitchen window currently:

Yes, the weather monitor is stuck into the umbrella opening of my patio table.

Mental note to self: Write to Oregon Scientific, the makers of this weather station, and suggest that they make this device a bit more visually friendly in the future, perhaps choosing a color that actually exists in nature, like brown or green, to allow it to blend in with its surroundings. Right now, it gives me a shock every time I look outside.

But I guess this doesn't really matter. Jim is very pleased. He's like a kid with a new toy. He IS a kid with a new toy. He follows me around the house telling me all the latest stats. This morning, while I was brushing my teeth, he stood next to me the whole time telling me how (and how frequently) the rain gauge self-empties. Just now, I got a lesson in wind speed and direction.

Who would've ever thought I'd become so interested in the weather?! :-)

10 comments:

  1. It mus be a man thing. I'm the same, but I use Weather Watcher on my PC to tell me what is going on outside of the window. :D

    www.singerscreations.com

    Happy new year!

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  2. I feel the same about football. Unfortunately I am not as kind as you and after 15 years my eyes kind of glaze over now and it is pretty obvious that I am planning our next meal, vacation, shopping trip etc. instead of listening!

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  3. Thanks for the weather update. My husband gave his Dad one of those water devices a couple of years ago for Christmas. His Dad is also very interested in the weather..
    As for my Cannon I got it for Mother's Day last year. I just love it. Dan also got me a DVD on it which I really need to watch again. I guess I am like you I pretty much adjust a few things and shoot. I usually experiment with the f-stop click it down a few and up a few while taking a picture of the same thing. I also like to shoot black and white when doing old buildings.. My flickr site
    http://flickr.com/photos/tooter
    Dan has posted a few of my "good" pictures but he tells me to just keep practicing..
    You have a very Happy New Year.
    I will be sure and drop by again real soon....

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  4. My husband Bill is the proud owner of a fancy outdoor thermometer which is on the outside of our bedroom window. It can only be viewed by using an authentic CSI flashlight...and always registers in extreme degrees. I'm sure he will envy Jim's (!) weather station once he sees it.

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  5. My husband, Bill, is the proud owner of a fancy outdoor thermometer intalled at our bedroom window. It can only be viewed by using an authentic CSI flashlight... and it always registers in extreme degrees. Much mor interesting than the local weather reports!

    Zitrone

    http://Berlinerstrasse.blogspot.com

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  6. He should start a weather blog. I bet it would be interesting!

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  7. Happy New Year!!!

    Big Sloppy Kisses and Hugs,
    Gus and Louie

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  8. and her Mom said,
    Wow, we love the weather too. We're always watching it, talking about it or some other such thing. I guess because it is always changing so quickly in Vermont.
    We think your husband's weather station is cool!

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  9. This reminds me of going through my grandma's house after she died and finding calendars that had the weather for every day written in by her. I found it so fasinating that she did that.
    For today I would have to write....blowing like crazy
    Unfortunately the older we get the more interesting the weather is:)

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  10. You two sound too much like homeschoolers! hehe

    Isn't it fun to keep learning always?

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