I can't decide whether 'wind vane' is one word or two. The same goes for 'windsock' and 'wind frog'. I'm having a bad day for spelling. I've also had a bad few weeks with wind vanes. My £5 plastic weather station which had sat on a fencepost (or is it fence post?) for some years (it even survived the hurricane although I did have to go and retrieve it from down the croft) finally gave up the ghost last winter whilst I was away. I think Pat muttered an incantation at it because she liked it only marginally better than the red back door to the garage which, she claims, offends her view. From half a mile across the valley? I don't think so! Anyway, for whatever reason, it gave up the ghost. So when I was in the Garden Centre in Stornoway and saw a wind vane I decided to treat myself. I do like to know which way the wind is blowing and it's not always convenient to pop outside.
I set up the wind vane on a strainer at the far corner of the garden away from the air turbulence created by the house and garage. I was puzzled by the fact that the wind for 4 days appeared to be coming from the same direction when I didn't think it had been. The vane didn't turn even with our strong winds. Grease was a mistake. WD 40 helped. It turned. However it decided that it would always be a 90 deg to the wind direction. How can that happen? I went back and they replaced the vane itself (a robin by a cockerel). The result was the same. I took the whole thing back. The gave me a new one. Same results. The whole things gone back and I have my money back. But I still didn't have a wind vane.
Then came my birthday and with it came my frog in shining armour. Or rather on top of a tube of nylon material. Not a wind sock but a wind frog. And he works. What will Pat say now that there's a green frog with pink and yellow entrails blowing in the wind and offending the view?
The original vane
Wind vane with hanky showing the true wind direction.
Wind frog: this pic is to prove that it can 'fly' what CJ calls the right way up. Personally I like to be able to see the frog.
The Frog
The 'right' way up. Everything is a point of view.
Pat said: Oh yes - it bloomin' well does. Sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb. The frog is perfectly ok as it makes me laugh - a bit like you really! And if a man can make a lady laugh..............
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