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Outside Temperature: 59 °F
Outside Relative Humidity: 84%

Sunrise: 6:10 AM EDT

September 9, 2021 - Falmouth, MA
In this issue:
Project Creep
Joie de Vivre
Effective Length
Books & Sundry
Benjamin Bunny & The Rabbit Hole
PHR Books
PHR Work In-Progress
Your Turn

Project Creep -
If you own a house, you know what I'm talking about. "What would you think about making our living room into an office? " This is a familiar thought in these days of working from home. "We could use that oriental rug from your family." "But it won't fit." "What about moving the wall a bit?" Oh, and the door, and the steam radiator, and running some new wiring in case we want to

put in a mini-split air conditioner. Oh, and while we have the walls open, we can re-insulate. Wait -- isn't this a bearing wall? How are we going to support it. And this wiring runs to the upstairs rooms. It's really old. We should probably replace that too. And if we get into the walls of the upstairs rooms, maybe we should insulate those as well. They could use a bit of repainting. And the carpeting is pretty old.

This reinforces the fact that a house is a system. Sometimes the changes can be simple and obvious. Sometimes they are a never ending stream of related issues. Just moving an old rug can result in an cascade of known and unknown events - and the fountainhead of tales and novels.

Stay well,

Paul@paulhraymer.com

Joie de Vivre - Dr. James K. Weber

This book is not what I usually write about. But then again it is an unusual book by an unusual person. I'm proud to say that the author is a friend, someone that I grew up with - so there is that in his favor. It says a lot that you can stay friends with someone for most of your life.

This book is a series of stories, vignettes, anecdotes or short monographs or memories - I'm not sure what to call them - on everything from his own life experiences to what happens when Beethoven turns 250. They are humorous, irreverent, and lyrical. He reminds me of a wise storyteller or Inuit elder who uses his humor to ease meaning into your brain. What can you expect from a surgeon turned yoga instructor living on a houseboat?

I particularly enjoyed his tale of bringing the Yale Glee Club to the Ed Sullivan Show accompanied by an inebriated Lee Marvin mouthing the words to "Paint your Wagon". And there is the story of his First (and Worst) Car Ever and the game of Poopy Foopy. "A man walks into a bar with his dog . . . " and the story of improvement.

This is a kind of Garrison Keeler way of writing a memoir, one that more than just the close family will be interested in and, beyond that, actually enjoy. For most memoirs to work, you have to be someone famous, someone that lots of people know, admire, and want to know more about. Maybe that's what makes this book work. It's not a memoir! It's a romp in the woods of an interesting past.

Effective Length

I'm going to admit right at the start of this that this is down in the weeds of building science: the difference between Actual Length, Equivalent Length, and Effective Length. But it's actually kind of important if you're trying to get the clothes in your clothes dryer to dry (among other wonders)!

The Actual Length is the measured length of the duct run from beginning to end, measured with a tape measure. That's what most people consider the length of the duct from the dryer to the world outside the house, what dryer manufacturers specify as "an effective length of no more than 35 feet". In fact the International Mechanical Code says that if the exhaust duct exceeds 35 feet, it's Equivalent Length needs to be permanently labelled! So maybe it's not so far in the weeds.

Elbows and hoods restrict the flow of air. How much can be rated by their Equivalent Length of straight duct. Metal hard duct making a 90 degree turn is equivalent to about 5 feet of straight 4" diameter ducting. The real kicker is the termination fitting or hood on the outside of the house. The air has to not only make a 90 degree turn, it has to push open a door or backdraft damper. Some hoods can have an Equivalent Length of 60 feet. 40 feet is pretty typical.

The Effective Length is the sum of the Actual Length plus the Equivalent Length. That's the resistance that the moving air 'sees' as it tries to get out of the house. So if the exit path is a measured 10 feet, there are two 90 degree elbows, and an average hood on the outside of the house, that's an Effective Length of 60 feet. And these equivalents are for rigid duct. Flexible duct has twice the resistance.

So if your drying run-times are long, maybe you're making the air work too hard! (If you want to know more about this, there is more in my Residential Ventilation Handbook.)

Books & Sundry - Plymouth, MA

Books & Sundry is a new independent bookstore offering a carefully curated selection of new books, classics and signed first editions along with bookish accessories, stationary, writing instruments, games, puzzles and unique gifts. Located in the newly constructed Harbourtown - a beautiful mixed-use development overlooking Plymouth Harbor in Plymouth, Massachusetts, this area is steps from popular tourist destinations such as the Plymouth Rock, Mayflower II and businesses offering harbor tours, whale-watching and much more.

Books & Sundry
150 Water Street, Unit 104
Plymouth, MA 02360
Tel: 774.773.9543
info@BooksandSundryShop.com

Benjamin Bunny & The Rabbit Hole

Boook: Books are distributed to many places these days. If you load your ISBN number into this software, you can see all the places that are carrying it. The Link for my Death at the Edge of the Diamond is https://boook.link/9780990678151 It's a matter of adding the ISBN number.

Seek iNaturalist: This is a cool ID program. I mean you used to just look at a plant or a bug and wonder what it was. Now you can take pictures and enter challenges and they are localized to your area. There are 20 species of plants, bugs, birds, and animals in this month's challenge for Falmouth, MA. It makes you look around while you're taking a walk.

Wayfinder: This is a calm, animated walk through the woods to make up poetry created by the National Film Board of Canada. As your wizardly avatar wanders through the woods and chopped down trees, you pick up words that form themselves together into poems and gradually re-energize the tree of life.

PHR Books
Residential Ventilation Handbook V2
Recalculating Truth
Death at the Edge of the Diamond
Also available on-line and in fine bookshops.

PHR Work In-Progress
Second Law is back from the first round at the editor. Great input. Lots of thoughts to build a stronger story. Lots of work to come!

Your Turn: What kind of flowers do you hang on your porch?

Summer is winding down and in many parts of the country it will be too cold soon for the front porch flowers to survive.

Impatiens - do it every year. Four hanging pots across the front. This year - white & fuschia;
I love the way the cyclamen hangs down. They take a lot of water on my west facing porch.
I'm thinking about fake plants for next year. I know it's cheating but if you're not attentive, the plants droop and look horrible.
Boston Ferns fill out well.

Next Question: Football! Give me your thoughts and chants. There are so many thoughts there - teams and beyond! Should the stands be full?

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