With great pool comes great towel mess! This is a simple DIY project that uses inexpensive PVC pipe, a few screws and a shade umbrella stand to make a very practical towel tree for summertime poolside organization. I think it took me all of an hour, maybe two, to assemble and paint. Total cost, a hair over $50. If you don’t paint it, less than $50.

It’s been a while since I posted the article on building my backyard fire pit. A good portion of the traffic to this site is because of the fire pit, so I thought I’d post an update with some new photos and tips on how the fire pit has been improved since it was built. Here is the completed fire pit sanctuary in the back yard, complete with 400-lb. steel pergola and new fire rocks.

Citrus trees in our back yard We HAD three citrus trees in our backyard. They were lined up at the west end of our pool (top right of the photo below). The middle tree was called, “Frankencitrus.” It had lemon-esque fruit on it, but the fruit had absolutely ZERO flavor. Ick. A tree nursery person […]

I was contacted by Element 14 (Newark.com) recently about doing some product test drives using some of the products from their line card. I took two to three seconds to think about it. I know, tough one… I have been chomping at the bit to use ZigBee wireless technology in a project. Digi International makes […]