![\"DSCN6258\"](\"http:\/\/lh4.ggpht.com\/-HM4LnPTnzVg\/UZG7HaQ5xUI\/AAAAAAAALcc\/OXZHaqM3Ots\/s1600-h\/DSCN6258%25255B3%25255D.jpg\" "\\"DSCN6258\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nAnd the hills around here are simply pretty pretty: <\/p>\n
And the birds above the hills are pretty pretty pretty:<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been playing a game with the birds that come to the feeders I placed next to our windows \u2026 how close can I get with my point and shoot camera:<\/p>\n Cross-cultural sharing:<\/p>\n The bigger birds seem to have closer limits, but even they get mad if I get too close:<\/p>\n Thankfully, the cat is leaving them alone \u2026 might have something to do with them being 15 feet in the air and with Helen trying to feed her everything in our Fridge. No need to hunt so she now lounges on our deck all day.<\/p>\n And on our laps all evening \u2026 makes for a soft tablet stand:<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been having fun tweaking the house. Here tuning the ceiling light show:<\/p>\n And I can now control the pool light remotely via Z-Wave. When wiring that smart outlet up, I ended up with an extra outlet, so seemed like a good excuse for a fountain!<\/p>\n And I moved the small fountain that was on our bedroom deck to our kitchen deck, and added a \u2018solar sail\u2019 shade. <\/p>\n Waiting for our next good windstorm to see if it will sail or not.<\/p>\n I spent most of the last 2 weeks hacking together another Arduino (a 4 watt $20 computer) to monitor and control the pool, similar to what I did with the hot tub last month:<\/p>\n In addition to temperature monitoring and pool pump control, this will allow me to remotely control the pool cover \u2026 that is the theory anyway:<\/p>\n For the fellow geeks out there, this the data collected by this new box:<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n