Friday, May 18, 2012

Look Up

If you look up when walking around my house, what will you see?

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7 comments:

Lisa Shafer said...

A very fun post. :)

Alexia said...

Very creative thinking - I like your take on this theme very much.
Love the colours on your house!

What's a swamp cooler? You have a hot swamp under your house???

21 Wits said...

Thanks for such a cool tour (love your colors) and of course the gecko and kokipelli! Which reminds me the rabbit on the moon! We've closed a couple of those birdy entrances already, but I fear the worse one is still open! I just really don't want them poking around my attic! I forget again what your swamp cooler is. It's like your air cooler right? or air conditioner? I'm happy I caught your look up for TP!

Bob Scotney said...

Great fun, but what's a swamp cooler?

Max Sartin said...

When I moved here from very-humid Boston and first heard of the swamp cooler, my reaction was "you put more water in the air?"

Officially it's an Evaporative Cooler. The sides of it have pads in them and water is pumped to the top of the unit and trickles down through the pads soaking them. A huge fan sucks air through the pads, humidifying and cooling the air, and then blows the air down a shaft and throughout the house. You can regulate which rooms get cooled by opening or closing windows. It can be run with or without the water, so in the spring and summer it is a great way to get a good flow of fresh air.

I may have to suffer through two or three hot and humid days in the average summer, but otherwise I prefer it over central air (which a lot of homes in Salt Lake don't even have). It's main benefit over an air conditioner is that the swamp cooler is dirt cheap to run. One fan and one small water pump, I can run it 24/7 and only increase my electric bill by about $20, as opposed to central air which would cost around $100 or more for the same cooling.

When I first moved here I found it funny seeing these tan boxes perched on top of everyone's homes.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

I was going to ask the same question, but now I understand...it's a dry heat you're usually working against, isn't it.

I like the gecko and kokopelli, too.

;-)

Max Sartin said...

Yeah, humidity in the single digits is not unheard of here, especially in the summer.
when I went with the xeriscaping in the front yard and since the house was stucco already, I just continued the desert/south-western look. Gecko and kokopelli are perfect.