U is for....

'U' is for ...

...UNIQUE

Of course everyone thinks their sons or daughters are unique, and I'm no exception.  We've been visiting our number two son in Boise this past week and frankly I'm confounded as to where he got his talents from!

These are three of his UNIQUE accomplishments that blew me away while we were there. O and V have a very pretty little home which is quite adequate for their needs, and is beautifully decorated in a definitely unique style by V. It is even on the historic  houses of Boise list.  However now they are both working from home, mostly from their computers they found they needed a little more space so V can have her own office area.  So between them they designed, built, furnished and decorated from the ground up, what they call V's Retreat.

It is a free-standing building located in their beautiful backyard, and is officially known as a shed! It has large patio glass doors with transoms above. (That's Moth relaxing  with V.)

Fully insulated, with heating and cooling, it is bright and airy and just a delight to work in.

See how bright and airy it is?  V has impeccable taste in interior decorating as you can see here...

...and here.

 Fanlights and a fan (plus chandelier) all contribute to the ambiance.  I tell you, this is going to be my 'granny flat' in not too many years from now!!

Now here is something else UNIQUE son number two is creating.  I have reduced it to understandable terms I hope.  That meant taking notes and asking a lot of questions.  Basically it is an underwater roving video and TV camera that he is in the process of building from scratch. He and V. like to vacation in the Bahamas, so they have become curious as to what is underneath them as they go skimming across the beautiful blue waters.  ( I have forbidden him to explore those mysterious blue holes, but he is itching to get into them.)

So, for the camera he has adapted the remote controls from a remote controlled airplane and adapted them to an Arduino -- a micro controller, for which he has then built circuitry.

Remote Controls

The Circuitry

 He has it all rigged up to be able to control a model boat with an antenna to which he has attached a 100 foot tether to a small model submarine which will contain the video camera.  The submarine will be able to go forward or backwards or turn left or right or angle a bit and will be propelled by bilge pumps that will be adapted as thrusters for the submarine. The camera will transmit the view to the surface.

Now if you've understood all that  you will understand that the end product will mean that he can explore what is is under water to a depth of 100 feet and at every angle while sitting on his boat.

OK,  here is something unique that is more on my level...

At the back of their house is an enclosed porch where the kitti-litter is kept.  But that was not good enough for him so he built a run through the wall and out along the outside wall and placed the kitti-litter  at the end of the run.  Neat!

As my grandmother would say, "The brains of him and the price of fish !"

******

This is my contribution to ABC Wednesday, the highly popular and successful project begun by Mrs. Nesbitt.  We are winding down the 9th round so why not start thinking about joining us for the next round coming up soon.  To see more of ABC entries click HERE http://www.abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com/