A Moose Cam

I've posted about my Dropcam, which is a very simple and efficient web camera. I use it to keep an eye on Ollie here in Texas, and last summer, I used it to spy on wildlife (and visiting neighbors!)

The big flaw with my dropcam is that it isn't made for outdoor use. I have to shelter it under the deck when I'm away, which limits its vision.

I recently read of a new camera, made by Flir, It's a direct competitor to my drop cam, with a few improvements. The biggest thing for me, though, is that it comes with an outdoor housing! I could mount the camera in a much better location to capture wildlife passing by overnight.

Sooz already has the hint this would make me a great present. If all goes well, we'll be capturing moose video in July.

Moose Hunting!

Let's be honest. The real reason I have a camera at our stuga is to catch a picture of our moose. I'm happy to report that today is the big day:

She (or he) came walking by my dropcam about 4:20AM Aspö time, hence the night-vision.

Don't worry, I won't fill the blog with random webcam images, although I will always share moose video!

Back in Texas

We had an uneventful and enjoyable flight home last night. In fact, we arrived a half-hour early, and having no checked bags, we were able to get through the airport and pick up Ollie very quickly. Our furry boy was excited to see us and showed no ill effects of being apart for 4 weeks. There was a little break in the Texas heat as well, so the temperatures were in the low 90's, not the low 100's, thankfully. It makes the adjustment from Swedish weather easier!

I left the dropcam on for a few days, at least, and I do love looking at the timelapse of our deck view:

We're planning our fall return around early October. More on that later. I also have a number of topics lined up for the coming weeks, so stay tuned, dear readers!

Our arrival

We're here, all safe and sound. Once again, our logistical chain worked perfectly. We arrived on Aspö with just exactly as much stuff as we could possibly carry. One more can of herring or box of nails would've tipped us over, I think.

As a bonus, the weather is perfect. It's going to be a great 3 weeks!

Here's a fun little video of our dropcam's record of our arrival and subsequent evening in timelapse form.

Painting, the final chapter

I posted about three weeks ago about how much we liked Ove's paint job on the front of the house. Not only have we protected the wood, the house looks great, and it smells good, too!

I asked him for a quote to do the other two facades. The short side still looks perfect, but the back of the house has an issue to address.

We've kept the trees around back; many of them are quite close to the house. The shade and moisture there has allowed a bit of green growth. I hesitate to say mold or algae, but it's clear the wood there needs to be brushed off and protected.

From the wood's point of view, the front of the house was clearly too hot & dry, and the back appears to be too shady and wet. Thankfully, linseed oil paint can fix both of these problems!

Ove's price to paint the house was high by Texas standards, but not really by archipelago rates. The best news is that he thinks he can be done before we return in July! It will be great to have that all done.

We decided not to paint the guest house right now; we have to economise in some ways, and it's a simple enough job that we can do it ourselves, perhaps next year.

UPDATE: They've already started. I caught a glimpse of the workers on my dropcam, and Annika sent me a photo of the back of the house with the caption "looking good"! So it will all be done by the time we arrive, for sure.

The Wild Kingdom

I've been playing with a Dropcam at my home in Texas. It is a teriffic little webcam; easy to setup, simple to access over the internet, and it has great picture and sound quality as well.

I took it to the stuga on my last trip and set it up on the deck when we left. I had paid for a month of mobile broadband, so I've been able to watch its view from Texas over the past few days. One of Dropcam's best features is its recording service. I'm able to go back and watch the past week's worth of activity to find any action the camera might pick up.

Most days, I just see passing clouds and swaying trees. We do like listening to the birdsongs, though. It is fun to turn up the volume on my iMac and hear the Aspö birdies chirping away.

What I really want to do is catch the moose on my camera, but I don't think the moose are in the neighborhood. I have, however, seen a few of the little red deer walking around most mornings. I've shared a clip of our visitors from this morning.

I don't know if I will leave the camera out while we're away for the winter. Once I have permanent broadband connectivity, I certainly will have a camera (or two). But for now, at least, it is fun to have a real-time glimpse, even if it is just on a screen.