Finally after many years of saying we should get eavestroughing we bit the bullet and called "the man" to come and get us all outfitted.  In our many years of procrastinating it had become clear to us that when we did finally get our act together we would want to have rain barrels to help buffer the flow of water coming out of the system.  The theory with rain barrels is that by storing some of the water that would otherwise be trying to get into your nice dry basement and releasing it later you can both save money on water to water your plants and help keep your basement dry.  Win, win all around.  Right only problem is that for $100 to $200 per barrel (and we wanted four) it adds quite the cost to the project.  Also most of the barrels out there are ugly or flimsy or both.  So when we found out recently that you could get used barrels that look just like some of the better rain barrels they sell for dirt cheap we immediately jumped at the idea.  Apparently they transport olives in 55 gallon (~210 liter) food grade barrels with nice screw on lids.  Aside from a few stray olives and a bit of brine in the bottom they were quite clean and seem to be quite strong.

We came up with a basic design and parts list based on observations of other barrels.  The design involves a hole in the top for the water to enter the barrel with a two layer screen to keep debris, mosquitos, animals, kids, etc... out.  The fine mesh keeps the mosquitos and small debris out while the heavy screen underneath ensures that a squirrel / kid doesn't go right through the fine screen.  Add a spigot 6" or so from the bottom and an overflow hose near the top and that's it.

Parts list:

Used olive barrel $15.00

Solid brass spigot $20.00 (this is a big of splurge but won't ever break like the cheap plastic ones)

Sump pump hose kit $8.00

ABS fitting to attach sump pump hose with $3

Fine fiberglass mesh window screen $10 (enough for 4 barrels)

Heavy galvanized 1/2" mesh garden screen $10 (enough for 4 barrels)

Other items we used:

6 Nuts and bolts

6 Washers

Heavy duty metal snips

Drill

Screwdriver

1/8" twist drill bit

1" spade drill bit

1 3/4" hole saw

The assembly process was pretty straight forward.  We started by giving the barrels a quick rinse.  While they dried out we brought the lids inside and drilled holes about 3/4" in from the inside edge evenly spaced around the lid.  (Note that the barrels seemed to come in two varieties: one with a one piece lid and the other with a two piece lid.  The two piece design is much simpler in that you don't need to cut a hole in the lid.)  We then cut out the heavy and fine screens to match the size of the lid.  The mesh is attached by holding in place (fine mesh on top, heavy on the bottom) and pushing the screws through the hole, and popping a washer and a nut on and tightening them up until snug.

We then drilled a 1" hole for the spigot 6" up from the bottom and a 1 3/4" hole about 6" down from the top for the overflow hose.  The spigot just screws in and has a washer and nut that secure it from the inside.  Having really long arms helps for this.  Otherwise you might have to lay the barrel on its side and crawl in.  The overflow assembly just screws on the same way but thankfully right near the top.  We've seen designs that have the overflow at the bottom and use a tube inside the barrel to prevent the water from draining until it reaches the desired level.  This sounded more leak prone and wouldn't work as easily to link multiple barrels for additional capacity.  The sump hose then just attaches to the overflow assembly and lets you direct the water far away from your foundation when (not if) the barrel gets full.  We ran a quick test (as it was already freezing at night) and found that a single barrel filled overnight with moderately heavy rainfall.

One of the big drawbacks to a lot of technology is that it requires batteries.  I think that there is a certain rule about batteries which states that they are always full when you check them but always empty when you go to actually use them.

One of the more often used battery powered devices in our home is the Gyration mouse in the kitchen.  It is on and off of its charging base dozens of times every day.  Over the course of a couple of years the batteries cease to function and we are left trying to remember all of the keyboard shortcuts to open and close windows and navigate around the screen (is it enter or space to click a link in a web browser?).

Last time this happened we were fortunate to have a spare handy since a family member had already been down the road of having their mouse die and needing to get a replacement.  After swapping out the old one I noticed that the battery pack said it was an NiMH battery.  This piqued my interest and I decided to take it apart to see what was inside.  As it turns out the battery pack is a multi-purpose plastic case with ordinary rechargeable AAA cells inside soldered together.  Lifting the cells out you could see the markings telling you how to install your own AAA cells in the case.  There were even plastic clips and such to hold springs in place so that they could use the same casing for non-rechargeable battery packs as well.  After seeing all of this I decided that next time the battery pack needed replacing instead of trying to track down a new one I would try my hand at building one from the old pack.

Well after a couple of years here we are with a dead battery pack.  Mary fluttered her eyelashes at me and off I went to the store to pickup some AAA NiMH rechargeable batteries.  I had originally intended to just solder the new batteries together and call it a day but upon seeing the little slots for springs again I decided that if I spent a little longer I could probably add the spring in and have a user-serviceable version which wouldn't require soldering next time it needed new batteries.  I proceeded to dig through the endless drawers of random small parts that I have in the basement and found some small springs and flat metal plates which I had carefully removed from some previously defunct battery powered device.  I soldered them together and slid them into the battery pack (noticed that I had done it all backward since the markings on the case don't match the polarity of the cells which had been in the case before - and redid it all).  I then popped the new cells in, installed the new battery pack in the mouse and slid it onto its charging base.  It worked!

Now next time the batteries need replacing it will be a simple matter of popping out the old ones and popping in some new ones.  In principle the same sort of thing ought to work for lots of "custom" battery packs.

Oh well it was a nice thought...  But wait.  Why not try and build our own?

Supplies we would need:

• Camera - A webcam should do the trick
• Microphone (optional) - Since new computers seem to come with these we had a bunch lying around.
• Means of broadcasting the signal - we used a laptop in this case since it is small and quiet (we don't want the noise of the computer to wake the baby)
• Means of receiving the signal - Another computer somewhere else will do for this.
• Some kind of software to act as a capture / broadcast server, as well as a client to view the video stream.  We started with VLC, the universal video program but due to issues with VLC not liking some of the webcam drivers we ended up switching to Windows Media Encoder.

VLC Setup

After lots of painful searching I found some settings which more or less worked for VLC.  Here are the basic steps if you want to give this a try:

So first things first download and install VLC on all of your computers (if it is not already on them).
Server
On the system with the webcam run VLC.
Media => Open Capture Device
Select your webcam and microphone from the video and audio lists
Down at the bottom beside the Play button click on the little arrow and select Stream from the list which appears.
Check off HTTP and type your IP address.
In the Profile section:
Encapsulation: ASF/WMV
Video codec: Check the Video checkbox and set Codec to WMV2
Audio codec: Check the Audio checkbox and set Codec to MP3
Click the stream button

Client (the system(s) you want to view the stream from)

Run VLC.
Media => Open Network
Change the dropdown to HTTP
Type your IP address followed by colon 8080 and click play.

Windows Media Encoder

WME is a free addon to windows which allows you to capture and stream audio and video from your PC over the network.  While not as flexible as VLC is seems to be a little more polished (at least for streaming webcam video from a Windows based system).  Using WME is basically a point and click job.  To view the stream we found that we had to use Windows Media Player on the other end (figures).

The really neat thing here is that with this setup you can tweak settings to your heart's content and can view the stream from almost anywhere with almost any device that has network access. Grab your laptop / portable media device with WiFi and sit out on the deck enjoying the sun while having a clear view of what's going on in the baby's room.

Of course like any baby monitoring device, this is no substitute for proper parenting...

Cleaning is one of those things that needs to be done but generally isn't high on the list of fun things to do. In recent years there have definitely been more than a few people looking at technological solutions to reduce or eliminate our need to clean.

Here are a few of our favourites:

• Self-cleaning showers. Okay, so there's the somewhat gimmicky "Shower-Shower" from Intelligent Consumer Products which is a rather expensive misting device designed to coat your shower with a shower cleaner of your choice at the touch of a button. It has three different cleaning levels (light, normal and heavy) and all kinds of sensors to ensure it doesn't accidentally spray cleaner around your bathroom or dump it all over an unsuspecting shower occupant. Kind of a neat idea, but only if you have a separate shower stall, and only if you like shower cleaning fluid. Even if we didn't only have tub/shower combinations, we have brass fixtures which tend to be incompatible with most shower cleaners on the market. Not to mention that the "Shower-Shower" simply wouldn't blend into our bathroom decor.
  
• Self-cleaning tiles. Although we're still waiting for this technology to make it into the consumer market, some of the self-cleaning material research being done in this area is pretty interesting. Wouldn't you want a self-cleaning bathroom tile?
  
• Self-cleaning underwear. Okay, so the nifty fabrics that are now being developped aren't limited to self-cleaning undergarments, but it seems that's what captures the imagination of most journalists... Mary can't wear 90% of them - many synthetic materials just make her feel miserable, but who can resist the idea of high tech clothing that doesn't need to make a trip to the laundry machine every time you wear it?
  
• Self-cleaning house. One creative solution that we read about many years ago involved a lady who had completely redesigned her living space, removing all fabric and replacing it with water proof synthetics. All the cupboards, bookshelves and other storage locations had doors which could be closed. Then (and this is where it gets really fun) she had a gigantic sprinkler system installed throughout the entire place and drains put in the floors of every room. At the press of a button all the doors would close and the water would turn on. This was her solution to cleaning (and apparently also served as a unique way to shower and wash dishes). The article in question has since been lost, but it's possible that the woman in question was Francis Gage, the designer of the self-cleaning house. The only problem is that none of the information I've seen on Francis Gage talks about the showering part, which is a detail we remember quite vividly! (So efficient!)