Cloud Shapes

Is That A Dog ?

Recently, my wife and I were on a car trip traveling on route 93N to NH. The sky was a beautiful blue and big puffy white clouds rolled by as they formed a variety of shapes. Look over there I said, is that a lion, a dog, or a butterfly?

Our two hour trip flew by quickly as we looked at one cloud shape after another and took over one hundred photos with our digital camera. Later, I cropped the pictures to take out all the roads, cars and man made objects. You can see some of the photos at the link …. http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/CloudPhotosCropped



I also remember watching clouds at other times of my life and thinking about how vast the sky is and how small we our in this colorful earth-sky landscape. In my minds eye, I can see those bygone clouds while looking out the window of a plane on a long trip, lying on a beach, or looking at dark clouds on a moonlit night.

Using an internet search engine like Google, I looked up information about clouds and found the links below to be quite interesting. Hope you enjoy the experience. I welcome any comments or corrections.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-481306/From-pig-legs-Starship-Enterprise--amazing-shapes-people-clouds.html
six leg pig shape and others

http://www.brucevanpatter.com/cloudshapes.html
cloud shapes – creative school programs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud
cloud descriptions and color

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/cloud.htm
cloud facts

http://www.wxdude.com/page9.html
cloud weather clues

Anniversary Garden Room

One way to landscape a house lot is to arrange plantings in different areas to highlight a specific feature or purpose. Some landscapers call these garden areas “rooms” where you can sit and dream and watch the clouds roll by. The garden room can be under a shade tree or near a bird bath or special shrub or even a vegetable garden.

This being my 45th wedding anniversary, I wanted to set aside a special place to share with my wife on those long summer days in the shade. Previously I had built a garden trellis and planted rose bushes along the sides. After a few years of watering, fertilizing and tying the branches to the trellis, the roses look pretty good this year. Using this as a base, I drew a design with some plantings and sitting chairs to enhance the area.

I first cut out the lawn along the garden edge near the rose trellis into a semicircle. I think curved garden edges are more attractive then straight lines. You can follow the description below with photos found at the link …..

http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/AnnivGarden61908

I then selected some annuals and perennials and Adirondack chairs to place in the area for best effect. I arranged them along the left and right of the trellis archway facing out into the center of the yard. I found that plantings look best when placed in bunches rather than separating them into single plants.

In addition, perennials can be divided and transplanted when they start to over grow an area. One of the perennials that I have plenty of is called tick weed or “coreopsis” which grow in bunches and have small yellow flowers. When transplanting keep the plants in a bucket of water as you move them from one place to another.

Hope you like the garden room. Maybe it will give you an idea to construct your own so you can watch the clouds roll by. "Look, that cloud has the shape of a puppy dog”.

Garden Stakes and Wire Baskets

The plants have now grown for a couple weeks since first planting on the last week of May. I have watered them regularly, alternating with water from the rain barrel and house water.

Water from the rain barrel is limited by the amount of rain fall and the size of the collection system. My small sytem only provides about a barrel of water per week if it rains. During drier periods, I have to supplement watering my garden plants with house water.

The vegetable plant roots are well established and the plant stalks now need stakes for support and wire baskets for spreading branches. I have a supply of stakes and wire baskets that I reuse each year and have placed them on the garden fence as seen in the photos. The wire baskets are placed over each tomato plant and a wood stake is added to the side for additional support. See link for additional photos ...... http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/GardenStakes61408

The garden needs to be weeded every few weeks. I use a hoe with a five foot handle to and scrap the weed seedlings off the top soil. Deeper rooted weeds need to be pulled out.

Although there is a garden fence, some small animals (chipmonks, rabbits, birds) have gotten into the garden and nibble away at tender leaves. One way to protect vulnerable plants is to place neeting over them. However, the bunny rabbits were quicker this year add ate all my lettuce plants down to the ground as well as the strawberries that were just ready to turn red. Next year I will have to be a little quicker with the net.

Rain Barrel Project (Water for the Garden)

Rain barrels have been used for hundreds of years to collect rain water and use it for a variety of domestic purposes. In the US, this source of water is used mostly to water landscape and garden plants. However, rain water can also be used for drinking purposes if it is first filtered and treated to get rid of solid debris and biological contaminants. A good source of information about rain water and the use of Rain Barrels can be found at the web link http://www.rainbarrelguide.com/ . Although the article shows the approximate amount of rainfall collected on a roof, you can get better estimates at the following web link http://www.greenbuilder.com/sourcebook/RainwaterGuide2.html#TABLE3.0 .
From Table 3 of this article, it has been calculated that one inch of rain falling on a 1000 square foot roof area will capture 562 gallons of water. That would be about 28 gallons of water per inch of rain for the 50 square foot roof and rain barrel project described below.

The average rainfall for Wilmington,MA is about 48 inches and evenly distributed over 12 months or about 4 inches per month. See link for average rainfalls http://www.idcide.com/weather/ma/wilmington.htm Since one inch of rain from the 50 sf. roof system described below will almost fill a rain barrel, this would produce about 4 rain barrels full of water per month or about one per week. With some conservation measures this amount of water is enough to irrigate a small 20’x30’ garden. Most plants only need about one cup of water per week.

Rain barrels can be purchased online and shipped to your home with most costing about $100 and up. You then have to buy a hose kit that attaches to a catchment system that funnels the water off a roof into the barrel. Some rain barrel types and costs can be seen at the web link http://www.cleanairgardening.com/rainbarrels.html .

However, you can build a simple rain barrel system with supplies found at the local hardware store or other retailers such as Lowes ( http://lowes.com/) . A list of the needed items is found below and can be purchased for about $50 including rain barrel and catchment system.

Items Needed: (Item and Model Numbers From Lowes.Com Online Source)
1- Corrugated Hose (Universal Sump Pump Drain Kit, (Item #: 189255, Model: 56171-LWS1, 8.97), 1- Vinyl Trash Can, 32 Gallon,(Item #: 227199, Model: 3405152BL, $12.74), 5 - Gutter Brackets, (Item #: 13777, Model: AW106, $2.38 = $11.90) , Left Gutter End Cap White, Item # 12496, Model # AW201A, $2.04, Right Gutter End Cap White, Item # 161550, Model # AW102Z, $2.04 , 1- Vinyl Gutter, 10 ft., (Item #: 13720, Model: AW100, $5.86), and Latex Adhesive Caulk, Item # 219873, Model # 11530, $2.24

Photos of the completed Rain Barrel System attached to a small yard shed (8 x 12 ft) can be seen at the web link http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/RainBarrels6108 .

Instructions:
1. Attach gutter brackets to face board on the eave of a shed roof. The brackets need to be spaced a couple feet apart to support the gutter. Each bracket has to be a quarter inch lower as it nears the down spout end so that the rain water will run along the gutter to that end.
2. Using a saw hole bit, drill a 1 ¼ in hole in the vinyl gutter about 4 inches from the end.
3. From the sump pump hose kit, find the smaller threaded hose attachment and screw the threaded end into the gutter 1 ¼ inch hole. (The corrugated hose will be attached here later.)
4. Slide the gutter into the attached brackets along the roof eave. Catch the front and back of each bracket with the gutter.
5. Attach the left and right gutter end caps.
6. Drill a 1 ¼ inch hole in the middle of the barrel cover.
7. Measure the distance from the gutter to the barrel and cut the corrugated hose to approximately this length at the nearest joint.
8. Attach one end of hose to the gutter down spout and secure it with a water hose clamp from the kit.
9. Attach the other end of the hose to the barrel cover by using the other larger threaded hose attachment inside the barrel cover.
10. Take up any slack in the hose by turning it in an (S) shape and tying it with plastic ties along its length. (See photos for visual illustration.) You can also cut hose to exact length.
11. Use silicone caulking at the gutter end caps and the down spout hole to prevent water leaks.
12. Test the system by pouring some water into the gutter to see that it runs to the hole end and down the hose to the barrel. Use a watering can to scoop water out of the rain barrel and water plants.