Sunset, moonscape and a new weather instrument

Sky Castle has a new anemometer... a wind speed gage.  This model is an Inspeed Vortex 2. Thanks to help from Evan, I was able to get this heavy 30' section of galvanized pipe mounted to my deck.   Spend a good part of the day creating a support for it and then, at dusk, I checked my mail and the anemometer was there.  I HAD to mount it that night.   A High Wind Warning was forecast.   So there we were, me and Evan holding this 50 lb, 30' section of galvanized pipe in a stiff wind in the dark.  It was a challenge but we got it up there.

The height of my anemometer is 39' off the ground, 27' higher than the floor of my deck, just clear of the tree tops.   The World Meteorological Organization has set the international standard height for wind measurement devices at 10 meters (33 feet) above ground, so I'm doing pretty well.  Of course winds from the W/SW are completely unobstructed.  Last night the wind was blowing from east so the readings weren't as high as they would've been if it had been a westerly.  It blew an Adirondack chair off my bluff.

Last night, the Vortex2 got a workout -  the maximum gust recorded was 37.6 mph from the east.

Anemometer mount

Display gage - current/maximum

 The sky brought some amazing beauty again this weekend.   Friday night the near full moon was so intense you could see fog forming in Lost Cove.

The sunset wasn't too shabby either.

Next project - planning to build a screen house with a cone fireplace in a few weeks.   That should be amazing.

Moonscape - Lost Cove

Firewood, snow showers, and sunsets on the mountain

Thanks to a little help from my Dad, I replaced my stolen chainsaw with the best - Stihl MS261 Professional model.  It was the best 18" saw the dealer had on the shelf.

Stihl MS261 - the Mercedes Benz of chainsaws

With the temperatures dipping into the teens Saturday night, I had both my fireplaces cranked (although not at the same time).  My bedroom fireplace really takes the chill out of the air.

Spending nearly $700 on a professional chainsaw and accessories is a little over-kill for my needs, but I had a professional model chainsaw stolen, and I wasn't about to accept a downgrade.  This saw should last me for life.

Saturday, I spent hours cutting and splitting firewood.   It was blustery cold with snow showers.

It was cool watching snow showers blowing through Lost Cove from my perch up in Sky Castle.

Snow shower blowing through Lost Cove, 2-16

The weekend offered some spectacular sunsets and sunrises. Last week I photographed the sunrise so today, I'll offer up a sunset. The sun is setting further north on the horizon and soon it will move behind the ridge.

Painted sky over Lost Cove

Random photos

Just another sunrise from my deck.   Happy Fat Tuesday.
Looking over my shoulder from my bed this morning, I was stunned at the beauty of this morning's sunrise, though I did go back to sleep.

Sky Castle, Sewanee, TN - 2/12

Sewanee house.

Murfreesboro house, kitchen.

Ground hog day 2013 - light snow in Middle TN

A little more beautiful snow this saturday morning.

Winter in the mid-south

What seems like an increasingly rare event... snow in middle TN, just a dusting, maybe an inch before it melted. Typical tumultuous weather pattern... warm 70º tropical air, 4am tornadoes Wednesday morning, then a blast of winter. We had big beautiful flakes falling for over an hour.  Sewanee had 2" predicted but was thwarted again.  The snow missed them and went east.  All schools were cancelled anyway.   That's a southern thing.   It IS cold.  May not get above freezing today.