Weather Vane Watch 4-20-09

It's time, once again, for another Weather Vane Watch! I haven't done one of these in quite a while now, so I've been thinking about it very much lately. I didn't want to do it unless it was in some way special and different from the others though. Well, I got lucky in two different ways with that.

This latest Weather Vane Watch was going to be quite a bit different than what you see here, but then my friend John over at English Wilderness was generous enough to send me more photos from across the ocean. A little over a month ago he also sent some very good pictures of Tattershall Castle and it's lightning rods. Visit John's site and tell him Ratty sent you. Seriously.

This time he gave us all the gift of pictures from the Royal Garrison Church. This place not only has a pretty good weather vane, it also has a lightning rod! Two for the price of one. That's a pretty good deal, if you ask me. Now from what I understand, this church is a pretty famous and historic landmark. That's not all.

Here's some information about this great place, directly from John:

"The Royal Garrison Church on Penny Street, Portsmouth, originally called Domus Dei. The church was founded in 1212 by Bishop de Rupibus as a hospice for pilgrims. From the 1560's it was used as the garrison church. King Charles II married Catherine of Braganza there in 1662. The nave was destroyed by fire bombs on 10 January 1941, but the chancel was saved."

That's some very interesting information. This church obviously has a very long and rich history. I decided to do some research, and I found some even more interesting information and pictures of this place. I won't write it all out here, but I'll point you to three places if you want more. They're very interesting, so you should take a look.

The first link has very many interesting photos from in and around this church. You get almost a full tour of the place there, so I urge you to take a look.

The second link is from the English Heritage website. It has tourist information about the church, and more places on the main page.

The third link is from a site titled Memorials & Monuments In Portsmouth. This may be the best link of all, because it contains more information about this place than you could ever hope for. Visit all three links, you'll be glad you did.

Before you go, read the rest of my post. I'm telling you, this is a deluxe extravaganza!

Since I decided to take you all the way to England today, I figured it was only right that I brought you back as well. Being the wonderful guide that I am, I wouldn't leave you in the middle of a world tour. Of course I'd bring you back home, safe and sound.

As I was putting this post together, I decided to take a break and visit some of my favorite websites. Wouldn't you know it, when I began reading one of the first sites I routinely visit, I found something very interesting.

Over at a place that is geographically very close to me, called Michigan In Pictures, there is a good post about lightning rods, and there is a very nice mention of me! I've been a fan of this site since I started my blog, so this is a real treat for me. What a wonderful coincidence to see this just as I was preparing my latest Weather Vane Watch. Again, take a look and tell them Ratty sent you!

Okay, I guess you're wondering where this weather vane from the last two pictures is from. I decided to show you this one as a contrast between an English weather vane, and one you might find in an American city. This fancy weather vane is actually from the top of a building that is being used as the offices of a real estate company.

For all of you who are local to the area, this one is located on Orchard Lake Road, just north of Twelve Mile, in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Take a look around, you'll find it when you get there. And although I'm sure they're fine, I'm not advertising the real estate company here, just the weather vanes. Yes, this building has two!

You see that? I just took you on a whirlwind adventure across the ocean and then back again. You just got two everyday adventures, in two completely different places on Earth, from a very kind and modest tour guide, I might add. Where else are you gonna get that, and for free?

Wow! This has been one of my longer posts, but it was definitely worth it for the valuable information this time. Every link was a gem. I hope you all agree. I'll try to bring you something equally as good, but different, in my next Weather Vane Watch.

Tattershall Castle Lightning Rods

I found another lightning rod that I'll show you today. Well, I didn't exactly find it. It was sent to me all the way from England by my friend, and fellow adventurer, John from English Wilderness. He knew I've been looking for this type of thing, so he decided to do me a favor. Take a look at his site. I know you'll like it.

These aren't just one lightning rod. They're a series of lightning rods that protect the top of Tattershall Castle. The castle is a tourist destination in Lincolnshire. There is even a website with official information. Here's a link to it: Tattershall Castle

There are three doors at the bottom. When you enter the one on the left, you'll see a spiral staircase that leads to the top of the castle. I like spiral staircases. The second goes down to the basement and the storerooms. And the third, which is close to the middle of the castle, enters right into the great hall.

On the top left tower you can see a pole sticking up. It's actually a flagpole, not one of the lightning rods. There are lightning rods on each of the towers and on the three chimneys in the middle. These towers look smaller compared to everything else, but they look huge when you see them closer.

This is a closeup of the three chimneys at the middle of the castle. I told you they looked bigger when you see them closer. You can get a good look at the network of lightning rods from here. Here's a little better description of the castle from John, since he's the one who was actually there.

"The castle is about 40m high. There are 5 floors, plus the roof and a walkway around the battlements. Tattershall Castle was built in the 1440s by Lord Cromwell. Most of the windows have pictures in stained glass.

There's a lightning conductor on each of the chimneys and each of the towers. I followed the conductor as far as possible. They connected together and eventually disappeared through a wall.

There's some really old graffiti in the castle... Most of the dates are from the 1800s, but I spotted a few from the 1700s and a couple from the 1600s. 1642 was the oldest. I looked up the chimneys, but didn't find anything interesting."

Cheers,

John

That was some interesting stuff! It's fascinating to me to know that someone from as far back as 1642 would write graffiti on the walls. I don't think we'll find very much English graffiti here in America from that far back. Maybe a little from the 1700s and 1800s.

Here's a closer shot of one of the chimneys. You can get an excellent look at what the lightning rods look like in this one. These lightning rods aren't fancy, and they aren't meant to be. These have a very important purpose here.

These lightning rods are on this castle to protect it from lightning. They don't need to look good for that. They are serving this important function so that the castle won't be damaged. This castle looks to be the highest structure in the area, so it's probably struck by lightning frequently.

This last photo is of one of the stained glass windows John told us all about. If you click on the photo to get a better look, you can maybe make out the words that are written on it. It's okay even if you can't. The glass is beautiful nonetheless.

Well, that was a little bit of a different kind of adventure for today. This should show you that you can have great adventures wherever you are, whoever you are. All you have to do is go out and claim the world as your own. So many of you already do this. Others of you only need to step outside. Things like this are waiting for you there.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to have another special adventure, so Friday Fiction will be canceled for this week. For those of you who have enjoyed it, don't worry. What I hope to have tomorrow will be just as good. I'm telling you, I laughed out loud when I found out about it. Talk to you then.


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My First Lightning Rod

After my visit to the Detroit River I decided to drive around Wyandotte. I haven't been there in awhile, and I wanted to see the town again. I worked in the area at my first job, and I used to like to go back here for several reasons. The river being one of them.

As I was driving around I decided to see if I could find any weather vanes. I actually did find a few, but I'll save them for another time. While I was looking at the top of a few buildings, I thought I saw another weather vane. It turned out to be something a little bit different. It was a lightning rod.

After my first Weather Vane Watch post, I had a request from The Retired One to look for lightning rods as well. I really very much love requests, so I included them in my search. Besides, lightning rods are a similar tool to weather vanes. Instead of measuring wind direction, they divert lightning into the ground where it is diffused.

I'm still not sure what to look for with these, so I hope this is actually a lightning rod. From everything I've read so far, this fits the description. There's not really much else it could be, so it must be a lightning rod.

I found this lightning rod perched atop the main tower of this church. I left the sign on the right in the photo, so you can see where it is located. It's a nice looking neighborhood. I actually wanted to move to Wyandotte for several years, but it never happened for some reason.

Churches are a main location to find lightning rods. My hero, Benjamin Franklin invented his version of the lightning rod not too long before his famous kite experiment with lightning. He actually did the kite experiment because he grew impatient waiting for Christ Church to be built.

He had planned on putting his new lightning rod invention on top of it, so he could experiment with lightning from there. Even though that experiment didn't happen at the time, his lightning rods decorate the tops of many American buildings now. They became a symbol of American ingenuity.

I won't go any further on the history of lightning rods right now. There is plenty of information about them all over the web if you want to know more. The important thing here is that my search for them has finally found it's first results. Even if this turns out not to be a lightning rod, it's still an interesting structure.

To end this post, I'd like to say that our cold winter seems to be warming up quite a bit right now. We are experiencing a false springtime right now. I had planned on visiting one of my hiking trails today, but it began raining shortly after I got home. Maybe tomorrow will be better, but the weather forecast says no.

I want to get a few photos of what all those frozen places look like right now. Whether I get them or not, I still have so many other things to show you that some will be lost to time. My latest little adventure with Alice isn't over yet either. I'll try to show you as much as I can. I'll be back tomorrow.


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Weather Vane Watch 2-4-09

Here's my second Weather Vane Watch! I found this on my exciting weekend adventure a few days ago. I was looking around for more everyday adventures for this site, and this is one of the things I found.

I think this was the first thing I actually found that day, but I guess the order of things doesn't matter that much. I actually saw this weather vane from the freeway, and I made sure I came back to this place to take a few pictures. It was a trip of a few miles to get from where I first saw it, to get all the way back around to this place.

The day was only partly cloudy, but the clouds kept moving into my photos. I guess the clouds are camera hogs. So for anyone who ever said they'd do something when pigs fly, now is that time. I'm waiting to get a shot of one of these things on a clear day.

For anyone who is in the local area, this weather vane can be found near the corner of 9 Mile and Farmington. If you don't know how to get there, you're not very local, but I'd be happy to give you better directions if you leave a comment. I'll leave the exact location to you though. It will be fun to search a little bit for it.

If you don't live around here, which I know most of you don't, I'm sure there are weather vanes somewhere near you. These things are all over the world. They have an ancient origin, and they are very useful, so I'm sure with a little bit of searching you can find at least one.

Now look at that second photo. The top of that building looks kind of fancy, doesn't it? This place isn't what you might expect. This weather vane is on a strange place. I don't know that anyone would expect it to be on a place like this. The building is actually a mechanic shop that does oil changes.

How's that for strange? I took a lot of pictures here, but as I was taking my last few shots I noticed something extremely funny. One of the guys that was working in the shop came out, and was looking at me with a suspicious glare on his face.

I don't know what he thought I was doing, and I really didn't care. I said before that people in town were suspicious and mean. I would have taken his picture too, but I'll only do that to somebody if I get their permission first. I thought about it, but I really didn't feel like having to explain anything to him. Maybe next time.

I'm still looking for other weather vanes, and some lightning rods if i can find any. This search will continue as I travel from place to place. I've seen a few weather vanes on private homes, but I'm not going to take pictures of those. I feel as if I should ask permission for those too, so I'll just leave them out for now.

I'll be back tomorrow with more things that I found on my weekend expedition into the wilds of the suburbs of Detroit. The mean streets of Farmington. Any of you that know this place would understand how funny that is, maybe. That's enough of that, see you tomorrow.


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Weather Vane Watch

My subject for today is going to be a little different. It's not wildlife, or plants, or trails. It's about Weather Vanes, also known as wind vanes. I'm actually going to start hunting these weather vanes, and do a series of posts called Weather Vane Watch.

I did part of this post before, but now I'm going to update it in a big way. I noticed after doing the first one that weather vanes are harder to find now than I thought they would be, so I thought it would be an interesting quest, and a great everyday adventure. I now have two different weather vanes in my collection, and more on the way.

I was out walking around town, and saw this weather vane on top of one of the public buildings. I never actually thought of anything like this before, but a weather vane is a part of nature, just like anything else. But what does it do? What is it's intended purpose?

The purpose of a weather vane is to tell us which direction the wind is blowing. It is designed so that the wind will push it to the direction of least resistance. Then it will point into the wind, therefore pointing in the direction the wind is coming from. In my picture you can see that the wind is coming from the west.

Let me give you a brief history of weather vanes. The oldest known weather vane was on the Tower Of The Winds in Athens, Greece. It's in the shape of the Greek god Triton. It dates back to around 48 BC. Later as the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, they began to put weather vanes on top of their churches.

These weren't Tritons anymore, they were now in the form of roosters, and called weather cocks. Now you can find them on the top of churches everywhere. Today a weather vane can be in the form of anything the maker wants, and they come in all shapes and sizes.

You can find weather vanes on many different types of official building today. All you have to do is look up. In almost every case, it will be found on the highest point of the building, because that is where it works the best. You can even find them on houses and barns. Look to the rooftops around your area, and I'm sure you'll eventually see one of these.

These last two pictures are from the top of the Nature Center at Heritage Park. There are more things up there with the weather vane, and it is actually a crude one, but it still qualifies. I'll be getting them from anywhere I find them from now on. Some will be very beautiful. Of course, I'll only take pictures, not weather vanes.

I think this is going to be a fun addition to the rest of my stuff. One of these times, the sky will be blue again when I get new shots of these wind vanes. These first few were taken in cold weather, so the sky is very gray. I guess that's kind of appropriate for this though.

I guess as I continue, I should start getting pictures of the buildings that these weather vanes are sitting atop. Hopefully this new quest will be a fun and interesting part of The Everyday Adventurer from now on. I like things like this, and I'll be hunting for new ones whenever I can.

A hunt for a weather vane should give anyone a fun, quick outing, and a great everyday adventure. Go out and try it for yourself. It doesn't take that long and you shouldn't have to go very far. Happy hunting!


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What A Weather Vane Does

After the strangeness of the last few days, I thought I would get back to something a little more serious today. As you can see by the picture, my subject for today is a little different. It's not wildlife, or plants, or trails. It's about Weather Vanes, also known as wind vanes.

I was out walking around town, and saw this weather vane on top of one of the public buildings. I never actually thought of anything like this before, but a weather vane is a part of nature, just like anything else. But what does it do? What is it's intended purpose?

The purpose of a weather vane is to tell us which direction the wind is blowing. It is designed so that the wind will push it to the direction of least resistance. Then it will point into the wind, therefore pointing in the direction the wind is coming from. In my picture you can see that the wind is coming from the west.

Let me give you a brief history of weather vanes. The oldest known weather vane was on the Tower Of The Winds in Athens, Greece. It's in the shape of the Greek god Triton. It dates back to around 48 BC. Later as the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, they began to put weather vanes on top of their churches. These weren't Tritons anymore, they were now in the form of roosters, and called weather cocks. Now you can find them on the top of churches everywhere. Today a weather vane can be in the form of anything the maker wants, and they come in all shapes and sizes.

You can find weather vanes on many different types of official building today. All you have to do is look up. In almost every case, it will be found on the highest point of the building, because that is where it works the best. You can even find them on houses and barns. Look to the rooftops around your area, and I'm sure you'll eventually see one of these.

A hunt for a weather vane should give anyone a fun, quick outing, and a great everyday adventure. Go out and try it for yourself. It doesn't take that long and you shouldn't have to go very far. Happy hunting!