Friday, November 2, 2007

Noel Update, Cleaning Your Gauge

Hurricane Noel continues to head north in the Atlantic. The storm isn't necessarily growing in strength but is growing in size.

It may impact portions of the east coast and New England states with rain later this week.

Meanwhile, the damage has been done in Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Over 100 have died and several more are missing.

A dam broke in Cuba flooding homes and crops.

An observer left a comment on the blog the other day saying they have to clean the gauge frequently due to pollen and dust.

Yes! Depending on where you live the problem is going to be worse than other places.

Does anyone have a helpful method or tip for gauge cleaning? If so, leave a comment on the blog and share it with all of us.

9 comments:

  1. Glad to see Alabama join in the fun!
    Cleaning the gauge- thin long dowel w/ papertowel wrapped on end will get most dirt. Spray window cleaner in it for soaking hard dirt, then try dowel/towel.
    Teri
    Freeport FL

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  2. I have put some water in the gauge with a couple drops of Dawn. Then roll up a newspaper and put it in the gauge and twist. Take out the paper and rinse gauge it will look like new.
    Bryan
    in-js-1

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  3. A chopstick with a paper towel wrapped and held on with a rubber band works for me. Soon we will get freezing temps and the inner graduated cylinder and funnel will stay indoors. Tiny spiders just love that funnel!
    Kathy
    Maryland

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  4. Water and a little bit of dish soap, then twist paper towel to fit, and for stubborn dirt place paper towel in first then use bottle brush and twist till gone

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  5. No spiders here, just a couple of very confused beetles! Free Willy!

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  6. I just moved from Indiana to Alabama last year, and yes the pollen is very bad down here!

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  7. Cleaning your rain gauge is easier if you use a cleaner designed for humming bird feeders. It has a long handle, with soft spongey thing on the working end. Loosening up the dirt with a bit of mild dish soap and warm water helps the sponge cleaner finish the job.

    I'm amazed at the amount of debris that ends up in the gauge. Mine sits in the middle of a clear, half acre corral (no horses). Perhaps we should also document the variety of critters we snare.

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  8. Mockingbirds are my real problem! They have decided that my gauge their public toilet, which makes for quite a mess. Are there any tips for keeping birds away? I have tried putting Pointed toothpicks around the tube of the gauge, but larger birds just shove those out-of-the-way. Thanks for any help!

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    Replies
    1. Peter, check out this link for some ideas. If you have enough toothpick/wires they shouldn't even want to perch on the funnel. https://www.cocorahs.org/Media/docs/IL/PSPv2n1-Spring2011.pdf

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