Today’s another hot day here in Northern California. It won’t be as hot as earlier this week, the weatherman claims, but it’s already 98 degrees (F). So do I believe him? We’ll see.
But I did get out early enough to take a few Thursday doors snaps – the doors to this utility box are on the other side.
But these are the doors for this utility box. Check out other doors at Dan Antion’s place!
Meanwhile I’ve been going through a huge pile of home improvement books that I found stuffed in a cabinet we rarely use. Most of them were published by Reader’s Digest, Sunset Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens and Time/Life books back in their heydays (fifty years ago). They cover just about anything you’d need to know to build and maintain a house (and garden.) Of course, changing light bulbs these days is a struggle for us. So they won’t be going back in the cabinet. I’m not sure anyone will want a book on solar heating and cooling that was published in 1978. But I doubt the basics of electricity and plumbing have changed that much.
I did find an interesting article on installing a deer proof fence.
It turns out that deer shy away from baffles (see lower left of image). So if you don’t want deer in your yard, just build a maze! There’s another interesting idea for gopher proofing a yard. Let me know if you’d like me to post it.
The heat has done in Penito. Alas.
Whelp, it looks like old Charlie will finally get to be the king. Sigh, for the next several days, I’m sure it’s all we’ll hear about.
Saying nothing in particular 
I love it when they make those utility cabinets into works of urban art.
It’s much nicer that looking at a metal box!
We need someone to do that with our utility cabinets on the East Coast! Still hot here too, but I think you guys are getting it worse. That’s an interesting article about deer fences. We have deer all over and they decimated my morning glories!
That article on deer fencing was written way back in the seventies proving that sometimes the old ways are the best. Deer (at least in our area) are not very bright. I can believe that they would be baffled by a baffle!
Haha! We have so many around here. I love to see them, but not when they are chomping away on my plantings!
We don’t have much for them to chomp on Several years of drought have wiped out anything a deer would want. You might try a baffle!
Love those doors. I wish all utility boxes or power boxes were decorated. The Queen will be sorely missed. Will be interesting to see how Charles does as king.
I’m sure Charles has been planning for this for a long time. I suspect he’ll be less traditional that his mom but we’ll see!
I shall miss your weirdo flower, shame it only blooms every two years. What a drama queen.
Love the colorful boxes.
And yes, there will get a lot if coverage of Elizabeth, but honor should be paid to a woman who dedicated her entire life to service. That devotion will not be seen again.
It must have been strange to spend your whole life in the public eye like she did.
No privacy, not even able to voice your true opinion. It would kill me.
Don’t go, Penito, don’t go!
I’m afraid there’s not much we can do.
I wonder if you’ll get any of the hurricane effect. Hope so! Love the baffle idea. We rarely see deer east of the Boulder valley, so when I saw a golden buck chowing down my veggies, last year, I said to myself, “Welcome to my garden!” In Wisconsin, they are as common as rabbits!
Right now they’re saying we’ll only see a few stray clouds. But at least it will be cooler – or so they say.
Deer fencing? That’s an oxymoron. Around here deer find a way to get to whatever they want to eat… but if the book says it’ll work… it might.
I’ve given up trying to outsmart the animals in our area. But I thought that was a quaint solution – I love mazes.
Hi Jan, I thought your picture of the baffles for the deer was interesting. I think gophers are like moles? I’d like to know how to prevent them just for interest. The plant does seem to be finished but it lasted for a good long time. It is sad about Elizabeth, the end of an era. As for Charles, I have nothing good to say so will say nothing at all – smile.
Gophers are slightly better looking than moles but they’re quite similar. I will post the trick for baffling them! Everyone wants to read about moles, right?
Of course they do.
“The Mole was bewitched, entranced, fascinated. By the side of the river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spellbound by exciting stories; and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea.”
― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
That’s wonderful. Thanks for sharing!
I wonder if that fake halloween spiderweb stuff might deter deer. I hear pepper spray messes with them pretty well.
The baffles can be built to be decorative however fake spiderweb?
(FYI, you and Duke prolly got nix’d in my periodic subscriber purge, in case you were wondering where were all my SepSceneWriMo posts.)
Humm. I’ll have to tell Duke we’ve been nixed.
Yeah, sorry. Once I get to 500+ subscribers I go through and kill everyone. My way of rejecting social media, as silly and counterproductive it might be.
I like the art on those boxes
And bye Penito!
Enjoyed seeing it bloom this summer
—
And your old books sound interesting and hearing those old names BHG, Time/Life, etc
Remainded me if life cycles
And how Amazon and Meta will not be Kings forever
All heydays must come to an end as new waves of businesses rise up for the times
And smiling at the light bulb comment
My husband used to be quite handy around the house and actually used those books! Some of them have hand drawn illustrations which are quite rare these days. I just don’t know who would want them.
Yes – and I guess nowadays we have YouTube with excellent tutorials
Not sure who would want the books but maybe a thrift store can take them?
Good idea, thanks!