Every now and then we run a web search of ‘Sahalee’ to see what pops up. Since starting our blog a couple of years ago and promoting it more over the past year or so, we’ve noticed a much higher frequency of the posh Sahalee Golf Club in Washington. (We’re still not sure if they were feeling squeezed since we came on the web, or coincidentally hired a better marketing firm. haha) While our high desert Sahalee is worlds away from the lush greens of the Evergreen State country club, we admit the inspiration came from their neighborhood.
I mentioned ‘tipi’ with an air of seriousness, and the discussion wobbled clumsily off of the Airstream. (You can read more about why a yurt.) From viewing the enticing collection of nomadic structures at Colorado Yurt Co., to drawing out a footprint 20′ in diameter in our Florida front yard, our plans for long-term temporary shelter at Sahalee came full circle with Groovy Yurts.
As we were wandering around the hardware store last summer we came across this AcuRite Weather Center (model 00615). We weren’t in the market for a weather station but it was on sale and as we walked the store getting the things we came for we convinced ourselves that we just couldn’t live off-grid without this particular weather station right now… Long story short we were the proud new owners of this piece of technology.
This is a 3 in 1 model, it measures; temperature/humidity (inside and out), wind speed and barometric pressure. The kit comes with a display unit and the 3 in 1 sensor that is mounted outside in a location of your choice. The display unit houses loads of good information as seen below and even has trending arrows for outside temp/humidity and pressure as well as a bottom scroller that you can adjust to flash the info that is most important to you.
Display Unit
The 3 in 1 sensor was very easy to install, and certainly seems like it would be easy to install in numerous locations. It is really the work horse as it wirelessly transmits all the data to the display unit inside. The instruction manual says to keep the display unit and sensor within 330 feet of each other and I think we are certainly at that limit and operating fine.
3 in 1 Sensor
While this a great product overall and we are certainly happy we did make the decision to buy it. We have identified a few opportunities for improvement…
1. It has a “future forecast” feature in which it “predicts” near term weather using the trending temperatures and barometric pressure. We are doing better licking our finger and sticking it out the door to create our forecasts than this weather center does.
2. We think it needs a backlight on the Display Unit. It would probably be better if we didn’t know it was 45mph winds at 1:00 in the morning but dangit we still feel we should be able to if we want to.
3. You lose your historical data when you change the batteries in the Display Unit. Simple solution is to just write it down if you are interested in saving it, wish I would have thought about that before I changed the batteries. 🙂
It’s important to understand that we weren’t shopping for a weather station so we just got one on the spur of the moment… If we had been shopping for one, it’s pretty likely that we could have found one that would have solved problems 2 and 3 at least…These are very minor flaws for us, we definitely feel like we made the right decision on this purchase. While we may upgrade to a more robust weather station in the future we think this was a great start and was Worth the Cash!
It is really hard to describe in words this ancient and mystical place and convey the appropriate sentiment. Chaco is a marker in time that connects us to the eternal order, and is a waypoint for the spiritual traveler on this earth.
Most of you who know me know that I am a compulsive recycler. I describe it as an addiction because I literally can’t stop myself from picking up recyclables whatever and wherever they are in hopes I’ll be able to reclaim what little value they have left in the post-use waste stream (along with helping to make the planet a little more picturesque and critter-friendly).
Yes! We made it!! It’s just incredible- everything just as we remembered, and filling us with an electric energy. So surreal knowing that we are here to stay… Just perched on the side of a mountain with nothing but ourselves to create this whole new world and way of life.
Two thousand miles in 48 hours to reach our high and heavenly grounds!!
Many, many thanks to our dear family and friends for wishing us well and hosting along the way. We have a ton of work to do to unload the truck, so we’ll check back in with pics in a few days.
In bed at 2:30am and up at 6:00 for some final tear-filled farewells before our 7:00am departure, today is the day we’ve been anticipating all these months… Lots of mixed emotions, but we’re finally and enthusiastically on the road to fulfill our modern day Manifest Destiny.
