The other day I was visiting a friend and she showed me their little weather station. I said “I want one!” Really . . I need one. The weather matters a lot to me because I need to know how much rain we get. OK . . let’s just scratch that .. the short answer is NONE! Seriously, if we don’t get at least an inch of rain per week during this time of year, I have to water the fruit trees. I need to know how cold it’s going to get because I sometimes have to turn the heat on for the chickens and I need it on more often in the greenhouse. Cat . . crazy old Cat . . has gotten use to a heat lamp being on and she cries and meows and begs til we go out and turn it on, even on the nights it isn’t cold. I told Vince it’s going to be sad that we have to run the heat lamp in July and August for Cat. He says he won’t do it but I bet if she persists, he will. Speaking of Cat, that same friend with the weather station takes care of the critters when we’re gone but the last time we were gone, they were gone a few days too so we had to get a friend from town to do it. Friend #1 . . I always tell her to be wary of Cat. She may act like she wants attention but she’s pretty nervous around strangers. Cat is fairly familiar with Friend #1. Friend #2, I doubt Cat has ever seen him. They’re here often but Cat usually runs as soon as a vehicle of any kind pulls up. For some reason, Vince and Friend #2 were talking this morning and Vince mentioned Cat and Friend #2 said “Oh yes, she came up to me and let me pet her!” What? I cannot believe Cat did that. I know Friend #2 was telling the truth but I can hardly believe she did that! She’s really turning into a pet!
So . . Friend #1 has the weather station and I wanted one. When Friend #1 is taking care of the critters, I’m always having to look at the weather online to see how cold it’s going to get. She will look too and we’ll discuss whether the heater in the greenhouse or the heaters for the chickens need to be on.
I came home from her house and was looking at the weather stations online, then I mentioned to Vince how much I really need a weather station . . one more thing . . last week when it was raining so much, I was out at 4:30 in the morning looking at the rain gauge, which isn’t real close to the house, and when I pulled it out of its holder, the bottom fell off so I missed how much rain came between 4:30 and daylight when I went back out and put it together.
Vince agreed that we should get one. It arrived today.
Weather Station
This is the one I got. It isn’t the same one my friend had but this one has an app and I can check it on my phone. The rain gauge is self dumping! It will measure rain today, for the week, for the month, for the year . . that will all be very helpful with the garden. It measures heat index, dew point, wind chill. I’m going to love it! It measures wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation and UV. I don’t know that I need to know all that but . . it’s there if I do want to know. I almost got one that measured lightning strikes in the area but I figured if we got struck, it would probably kill my weather station anyway so . . who cares about lightning strikes.
When Vince came home for lunch, I said “Can you get it all installed this afternoon. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow and have thunderstorms on Wednesday!” He said “What do you want me to do this evening? I can finish fertilizing the fruit trees, I can plant elderberries, or I can install the weather station?” He was being a bit snippy because he seems to think three things is a lot to do in one evening. We have flashlights! 🙂
My response: “I don’t know. Can I only pick one? By the way . . What would you like for dinner? Vegetables, meat or salad?” I think I got my point across! 🙂
Then I asked him to do the weather station first and then if he feels like doing more, he can fertilize a few more trees. The elderberries are planted in pots and gettin them in the ground is a big deal . . besides, I need more rabbit poop.
Checking the Pipe
I wanted to put the weather station on top of one of those tall fence posts. Vince said that the installer poured a concrete cap on the pipes so he couldn’t put it on there but I told him that a couple of the pipes, the concrete cap had heaved itself loose and I thought he could easily remove it. Yep, that worked so hopefully this evening, he’ll install my weather station and it will be easy to figure out.
Jackie says
I was laughing out loud when I read the flashlight line and my husband asked what you and Vince were up to now. You’ve become famous without even leaving your house. We have a weather system as well and I love it.
Julie says
We have had a weather station for a few years, but I have no idea if it has an app! We are farmers and DH reads it on his computer and it keeps the log and really enjoys it. Wind speeds are really important along with temperature and precipitation. It was a gift from a company, but wow, it has been useful! You will enjoy it alot.
Maggie says
Re: Cat and her heater. I bought my grandcat a little mat called a self heating mat. I got it on Chewy.com for less than 10 bucks. Anyway, when it is chilly, she snuggles up on that little thing. She usually lays on boxes or the backs of chairs, but man she loves that warming mat.
Diane in CA says
Is your weather station capable of reporting to wunderground.com? There are a bunch of weather stations around Brownwood that do. You could compare weather with the other side of town..
Susan says
What fun! I’m always looking at my phone app for the weather. In Phoenix, we could just look out the window and know what it would be like for the next two weeks, but here it’s always changing!
Sherry Moran says
We have two – one here at the house and one for our RV. We really like them! Ours are very like yours. I love knowing all that about the weather wherever we are!