Cartoons, Design

Happy Mother’s Day

A Mother’s Day mystery

This morning we woke up to find a Mom’s Day thank-you gift on our table (photo at left). Our cat denies having any part in it, but the sawdust on his feet makes me highly suspicious.

As told in the cartoon, he apparently tip-toed out while we were asleep, drew out his idea, used my tools to make a little present (wearing hearing protection like a good cat), and then slipped back in to the house. In true cat fashion, he left a mess in the garage for me to puzzle over-and clean up.

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers, and all the women in our lives who take such good care of us.

Design, Garden/Furniture

Two Story Deck: Awning Update

Bad weather prompts a new design

We have enjoyed the awnings on our deck for years. They provide great shade for us and our plants, and help us conserve water. However, San Diego recently got some very bad weather that made us reconsider the design.

The original awnings were each 10′ square, supported on two edges (see previous Two Story Deck articles). They were very dramatic, with one large swoop between the supporting beams. They did, however, have one drawback. Strong winds tended to blow them up, and then “pop” them back down. This put a strain on the awning material. We had very strong winds recently, 55 miles an hour, much stronger than we have ever had before in our 30 plus years in San Diego. The awnings got a little worn in the wind, and we decided it was time for a new, more stable design.

We wanted to keep the swoops and really like the transparent shade cloth we used on our recent shades (see previous Garden Shades articles). We selected a design that uses stainless steel cable, steel poles and multiple swoops to stabilize the awnings. The awnings can be moved back and forth along the cables, allowing us to adjust the amount of shade to the weather and plants. The material is a 90% shade cloth in royal blue. It matches the color of the new shades, and the light on the deck is wonderful.

Photos of the new awnings

Top: New awning on left, old on the right. This shows the difference in the awning designs

Second from Top: Both new awnings installed

Third from Top: View from the same corner as the two photos above, giving a sense of how the deck fits into our garden.

Fourth from the Top:
Awning open, sliding back along the cables

Fifth from the Top: View from the back corner of the yard, showing the lower and upper shades.

Sixth from Top: View of the upper deck. Although the awnings screen out 90% of the sun, they are still very transparent. It is so nice to see the plants and sky through them, something we learned from our other transparent shades.

Bottom: View of our new awnings from our back door.

 

 

Cartoons, Design

Introduction to Animation (.gif’s)

I was invited to be a guest writer for the “Blogger Tips and Tricks” website, one of the main sites for technical help with websites like mine. I was asked to talk about how I make my short animations (.gif’s). My article was just posted at:

http://www.bloggertipsandtricks.com/2010/04/animated-gif-images-blogger-and.html

It’s a technical explanation of how I make them, and is of interest mostly to graphics and tech types.

Whether or not your interests run to technical details and software, I thought you would want to know its there.