Laguna Closure

When I wrote up the Bin Shader it wasn't quite done. I added smooth trim to the front edge and painted it yellow. Hopefully to keep folks from bonking their noggins. At least not leaving a mark for those hapless noggin bonkers out there. You're welcome in advance, BTW.

But I still wasn't done. Saturday afternoon I was

Frankenbike

Bicycles have long played a role in my life. Growing up in MI we had full up winters with plenty of snow and ice. Peddling season was spring to fall, minus rain. One summer that really mattered to me. The street I grew up on was originally unpaved. This particular summer the town installed sewer. Which was good because everyone hooked up and retired their septic systems. The downside was construction work to lay the pipes. Our gravel road turned into a clay mess. Horribly muddy when it rained.

Did I mention it was a

Ken's Hitch

Some new neighbors at Laguna this winter are Ken and Bonnie. They arrived during the week of Christmas while I spent some days in FL. Before returning I had an unplanned detour to CO to deal with storm damage. When I returned to south TX two more couples had rolled in. Plus another couple with the new year shortly thereafter. The refuge was ramping up for the busy season.

We have eleven RV sites in our volunteer village. Of which eight are now occupied. The neighborhood is really bustling with activity. Especially on weekend firearm hunts when our volunteer outpost (community building) doubles as a check station for harvested game. Our schedules are staggered throughout the week, three days each. There's always something going on. Especially when your reputation precedes you.

When Ken found out I was

Bin Shader

One of my winter projects at Laguna was a shade shelter. Outside the visitor center they had two bins for trash and recycling. To keep critters out they ordered a BearSaver - Hid-A-Bag Double Combo Trash/Recycling Enclosure. Brown was the obvious color choice to blend with fences, signs, etc. Except, as it turned out, on hot summer days solar gain made the handles too hot to touch. Ouch!

The lead ranger, Marion asked me to make something to shade the bins. I worked through several designs. The assistant refuge manager, Leo wanted a canopy of sorts. Using Google Sketchup plus local coordinates (lat, long) helped with requirements gathering. I modeled different sizes and shapes. Then played with "time of day" and "day of year" sliders to understand where shadows fell.

Prototyping on computer was extremely useful. The cost was several days. Much cheaper to iterate on screen than build anything. Plus winter's the wrong time of year for testing. So computer simulation was very helpful. We quickly understood what would and what would not work well. For example, a canopy tall enough to walk under would require a pretty wide roof. Probably west side walls as well to effectively provide shade from mid to late summer, noon to mid afternoon. Even sitting on open fence with lattice for the side wall it was too obtrusive.

So I focused on

Kidney Pond

One of my projects at Laguna Refuge was restoring a scenic viewpoint at Kidney Pond. The area had been let go for some years. Trees choked the view of the pond.

During heavy rains the saturated ground had

Deer Friends

One reason I enjoy resident volunteering on public lands is living in a more natural world. Wildlife is usually close by. Sometimes they come to me. This morning it was 31F - cold for tropical south TX. While savoring fresh hot coffee and watching the wind rustle through the trees in my back yard at Laguna Refuge a couple of deer made an appearance just outside my window. Here's a short video from my phone camera.

Southern whitetail deer are small - maybe half the

Segway

I'm currently a resident volunteer at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge in South Texas. (Way down near Brownsville.) One of my projects was a new ramp outside the visitor center. The old one was made of wood and decaying from weather and rodent damage. Instead of just rebuilding it I poured a sloped concrete pad that functions identically but is now pretty much weather and rodent proof.

I shared that project on Facebook a couple months ago. In my post I described it as a wheelchair ramp. Because that's what refuge staff called it. I suppose accessibility ramp might be more appropriate language but I think fewer people immediately understand what that word means. It's also longer with more syllables and humans can be lazy so I suppose that's why calling it a wheelchair ramp stuck.

One of the comments I got on that post was from a cousin who

Happy 2017

With 2016 in the rear view mirror, it's time for a new year. I'm starting off 2017 with a new blog.