Category Archives: Garden/Furniture

Garden/Furniture

Hummingbird Nest

Wonders from our Garden

Recently we have been getting buzzed by a hummingbird when we walk in front of our garage. We knew this meant that we had a nest nearby, but we couldn’t see it. Yesterday I looked up into our tupidanthus and saw the nest,  6 ” above my head and 2′ from the edge of our open garage door. With us walking by all day, the door opening and closing, and our hunter cat on the premises – I can’t imagine why they picked such a busy spot for their nest.

I have never had any luck taking pictures of hummingbirds before, they move too fast. But I got lucky this morning and, using our zoom lens, caught Mom sitting on her nest and buzzing around, waiting for me to leave.

First       nest from above

Second  close-up of nest from the side
Third     Mom in nest
Fourth   Mom hovering
Fifth      Mom waiting impatiently for me to leave
Sixth     Mom back on nest

 

Architecture, Design, Garden/Furniture

Two Story Deck: Railing Update

Second chance to get a detail right

I try to think of everything when I do construction drawings, but sometimes I miss something. When I did the construction drawings for our two story deck (see previous articles) I did careful drawings of the handrails. I forgot, however, to show how the top of the rails met at the corners.  In the absence of a detail,our contractor Jack Murphy did the corners the way everyone does them. He mitered them together (first photo).

I had wanted the corners to overlap, the way all the other pieces of the deck do. I always felt a little disappointed that I had missed this.

In the years since the deck was built, the sun and rain haven’t been kind to the handrails. We recently decided to replace them, this time using non-rotting trex. I finally got to fix the corners!

It’s a detail no one else notices I’m sure, but I feel better knowing its there.

Photos:

Top: Mitered old corner in wood

Second from Top: New overlapping corner in trex.

Third from Top: Inside corner-notched, not mitered

Bottom:  View from below, with your head tilted way back, looking straight up. Overlapping corners seen in the context of the other overlapping connections.

Cartoons, Design, Garden/Furniture

Christmas Day Scrapbook

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Some images from a wonderful day

A spur of the moment card. Very quick and rough, I drew this when Lisa wasn’t looking. The “Wizard of Oz” effect in the last panel, where the colors turn to Christmas intensity, was Lisa’s idea. I went back and changed the card.

Cats and wrapping paper, a perfect match.

A hummingbird sitting in our orchid tree, caught from our two story deck.

Our Cat regally sitting on the warm garage roof in the late afternoon, also from our deck.

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