Good morning to you, Cynthia. How about sending some of that rain up to northern Michigan? We're a little bit short this year.

I like your question, and I don't think it's too easy, at least not for me. A few measuring possibilities have gone through my head: spirit level, plumb bob, tape measure, framing square, transit level, ... That's all I have come up with so far, but I'll be digging for hints to see if I can do better.

ThinMan

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, thinking.....

Annette

Easy?? I have no clue. I with Annette, thinking, thinking...

Nancy.

Something to do with lighting?

Annette

Oh, yippee!

Hasn't started raining here yet, but it has turned colder than this morning. I prefer warm rain that makes the summer more comfortable rather than this when we don't need cooling off.

Not thinking of leveling for the hanging of the art...this could be another "not-well-thought-out" clue since da Vinci was such a prolific inventor. Will try to think of more clues.

Welcome back, TM. How was Arizona? Dry and warm????? Hope you had fun.

Cynthia

Sorry, Annette, not lighting, but keep thinking along those lines. I think it is surprising that an artist thought of this, but perhaps he wasn't thinking of taking care his own art as much as just randomly inventing a way to track something. Sorry I didn't come up with a clue. You'll have to settle for the hint.

Cynthia

Now, you probably don't have a stand alone one of these in your home, but you do know when what it measures is off or out of whack or too little or too much...

May I say that science is a little outside my comfort zone?

Cynthia

So Tm had it in one??

Nancy.

Not quite. It does measure something, but not lighting or straightness *which I should have said instead of level since there is an ideal level involved. Wonder how the length of time it took his paint to dry had anything to do with this.

Cynthia

Not quite. It does measure something, but not lighting or straightness *which I should have said instead of level since there is an ideal level involved. Wonder how the length of time it took his paint to dry had anything to do with this.

Cynthia

Hmmmmm, what could be out of whack in a home that we would notice? Walls not plumb? Floor not level? Walls not flat, but bulging? Corners not square? Colors clashing? Too dark or light? Did daVinci invent some kind of photometer (light measuring device?)

Arizona was warm alright, Cynthia. We saw 102 F on the car thermometer one day in Phoenix, and 104 the next. Sedona and the Grand Canyon were considerably cooler. We had a good time with DD1 and family, who met us there. DW didn't care how hot it was in Phoenix --- malls are air conditioned. Thanks for asking.

TM

Humidity reader?

Good one mnwsgal I think maybe you have it, since I didn't come up with anything I'm hitching myself to your coattails;).

Annette

A humidity reader would would help you estimate how long the paint would take to dry.....

Nancy.

Does Bobbie have it? It sounds reasonable. I know there is a simple kind of hygrometer you can make using strands of hair, but I didn't know that da Vinci invented it.

TM

**** for Bobbie, Nancy, Annette, and TM!

Yes, da Vinci created the first hygometer. Although a German first came up with the idea and drew a picture of his idea, Leonardo was the first to actually build one. It was a scale-like instrument that used a tuft of wool on one side of the balance and either wax or stones on the other (I read both, but it seems that LDV probably used wax which does not absorb water). As the wool gained or lost humidity, the balance would indicate the humidity level. I wonder if he was concerned about preserving his paintings or if it was just that inventive mind of his.

Very cool even though very crude. It would be about two hundred years before a more practical version was built. The link also notes TM's mention of one using human hair. Wonder why blonde hair was better. Perhaps our resident scientist can tell us!

Happy Sunday all. I am going to run to a nursery to look for Distylium myricoides 'Vintage Jade' and or D. 'Emerald Heights' that someone mentioned in the shrubs forum. Looks like a wonderful evergreen shrub-one 2x5 and the other 5x5 feet. Sun/shade, dry/wet...sounds like it would suit almost anywhere. I have places for both! Hope it is a good as it sounds-probably though, "if they say it is too good to be true...". ;)

Have a marvelous Sunday all and thanks for playing.

Cynthia

Here is a link that might be useful: Hygrometers

Thanks, Cynthia, though I probably don't deserve all those stars for coming up with the name hygrometer. I was just adding a little bit to Bobbie's answer.

I don't know why blonde hair would work better in a hair hygrometer, but there might be a blonde joke in there somewhere.

Thanks for the fun question, Cynthia.

TM