Willie, it's far better to vent, rant, rave, here where you can get some commiseration and not break anything. No apology needed.
My weather station stopped reporting rainfall amounts with the last rain we had. That's usually an indication of bugs, the six legged variety, inside the housing. Since it was time for a fresh set of batteries in it anyway, I cleaned it out today. Keep in mind this thing sits on top of an eight foot pole bolted to a framing member on a shed about 100 feet from the house.
First, there was a spider living in the release tab for the battery door. When I took the cover off the housing of the main body it was very obvious why the rain gauge stopped working. It's, basically, a teeter-totter style balance scale where each "seat" holds 1/100th of an inch of water and tilts back and forth to empty itself, counting the tilts as it goes. There was a really heavy spider web, dense, right at the pivot point on one side so I stuck a screwdriver in there. Out popped a brown recluse spider. He has joined his ancestors without incident, but I have to wonder -
A) how the heck did he get up there in the first place.
B) what the heck was he eating to stay alive.
He did have a dry spot with a good supply of drinking water, but where'd the food come from?
My weather station stopped reporting rainfall amounts with the last rain we had. That's usually an indication of bugs, the six legged variety, inside the housing. Since it was time for a fresh set of batteries in it anyway, I cleaned it out today. Keep in mind this thing sits on top of an eight foot pole bolted to a framing member on a shed about 100 feet from the house.
First, there was a spider living in the release tab for the battery door. When I took the cover off the housing of the main body it was very obvious why the rain gauge stopped working. It's, basically, a teeter-totter style balance scale where each "seat" holds 1/100th of an inch of water and tilts back and forth to empty itself, counting the tilts as it goes. There was a really heavy spider web, dense, right at the pivot point on one side so I stuck a screwdriver in there. Out popped a brown recluse spider. He has joined his ancestors without incident, but I have to wonder -
A) how the heck did he get up there in the first place.
B) what the heck was he eating to stay alive.
He did have a dry spot with a good supply of drinking water, but where'd the food come from?