But I still wasn't done. Saturday afternoon I was packing to hit the road the following morning. Marion texted me that the handles were hot! So I took a look.
Why wasn't the shader working? It was designed for the heat of summer. We didn't expect enough solar gain to worry about heat during winter. Next, I checked the model by setting it to the same day and time. If the model was off, I wanted to know. The sun shading technology in Google Sketchup is cool. But is it accurate? Inquiring minds want to know.
The model got it right. The problem was wrong. South TX can in fact get high solar gain even in the winter. So the requirements were revised. The bins needed shading ALL YEAR LONG.
Previously I considered a different location and orientation to take advantage of shade from trees on both sides of the ramp. But staff feedback harshed that idea. They thought the bins might be in the way. And I agreed that it looked kinda dorky there.So I nixed that idea early and focused on the bottom of the ramp.
Now that winter shade was a requirement, however, the large roofed information kiosk looked great. It wasn't so much a design problem as implementation. The bins were in the wrong place. The ramp was wide enough at the top for the bins to go in the middle. That left four feet of clearance on both sides. Good access to the fences as hand rails on both sides. The bins are also now clearly visible from the parking area.
It was a good solution. The model showed coverage from the kiosk roof during mid winter. Early morning and late afternoon we already covered by trees on both sides of the ramp. In deep summer the kiosk can't shade the bins because its shadows fall too steeply to the ground. The shade structure I built provided coverage from late morning through the heat of day. Multiple design elements worked in unison. That's what I call an elegant solution.
Things don't always go as planned. Sometimes ya learn something in the process. Plans can be changed. Things can work out even better. It's beautiful when that happens.
That was half my unfinished business. The rest was the fence at Kidney Pond. Its composite (plastic) posts and rails were washed and reused. I didn't like residual stains indicating where lattice once was. It seemed to take attention away from the pond. That's what folks are supposed to see.
What to do... Should I strip it lighter? Or stain it darker? I asked fellow volunteers Judy and Bonnie for their opinions. We all liked darker better. I found a gallon of red-brown Rustoleum primer in our paint stash. It tested pretty well for adhesion on a sample piece of the composite fencing. I think darker was a good call.
Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap. That should've been my soundtrack. Because it was a very windy day. I never got spattered before by droplets of paint blown off a brush. So this day was my chance to experience that.
That work shirt may be ruined. I even spattered my jeans, boots and face. But my Tilley hat was spared. Whew!
With those details settled my work here's done. It's time to say goodbye to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. It's been a wonderful experience serving here. The staff were great to work with. I couldn't have asked for better neighbors. They even organized a farewell potluck in my honor. Spaghetti dinner.
For dessert, Janice baked a red velvet cake, and Bill churned some homemade vanilla ice cream.
Doublesweet.
