Potential missus problems......

[gary1968]

Not sure where to put this so if its in the wrong place maybe the mods can move it.....

Anyway, I have now completed moving things around in the garden to allow the build of my summerhouse/warmroom. Once in position I will be able to finalise the position for my Pier, Debbie now realises what this will be like and she aint happy with a "ugly monstrosity" permanently in the garden.

So, what do you guys spouses think of your Piers in the garden and how did you get her/him to accept it? Do you have a way of dissguising it as something else, say a sundial, when not in use?

My Pier will be going ahead but I just wondered how others kept the peace with the other half...........

Gary

[Psychobilly]

How can anyone think a pier is ugly

Cover it with an obs it will be fine then - out of sight out of mind

Peter...

[kev 102 42]

Hasn't she got dishes or ironing to do,woman there's days got to much time on their hands poking their noses in mens business ........Kev:D:D:D

[George]

How can anyone think a pier is ugly

Cover it with an obs it will be fine then - out of sight out of mind

Peter...

Yeah mines covered in a shed

Its every mans right to have a shed:headbang:

[blinky]

Well all I can say Gaz is that she puts up with living with an "ugly monstrosity" so how can she complain about having another one!

I just got mine cemented in before she could complain. Not much you can do when there is 1 ton of cement holding it in the ground!

[Mike W]

Hi Gary, I had the same problem so I had to make it some sort of feature, rains stopped play at the moment but you should get the general idea what it will be like when finished.

Mike

[beamish]

Caroline wasn't too impressed by the lack of aesthetic beauty of my pier either when I first built it............................................

So i made it prettier by extending the base around it and put some nice square cobbles for an edge and some gravel on top of the hoggin ooh and a nice green scope coat to blend in with the foliage.

I had muted the idea of an obsy- well that didn't go down well at all so I then went to plan ( (actually plan (A) but don't tell her that !) which is to build a separate obsy right at the top of the house. Passed initial planning

Karlo

[gary1968]

Thanks for the replys folks, not sure that all answers will be passed on to SWMBO though....... :-)

Thats a novel thing you are doing there Mike, I like that. Do you have to take the pier adaptor off to fit that decorative item or does it fit onto the pier adaptor? if you know what I mean.......

Gary

[beamish]

Umm I can fully understand the predicament and the reasons behind a decorative ornament, however it kinda negates THE great benefit of a permanent pier- ie leaving the mount on and having it ready polar aligned etc.. shame another resolution cannot be found

[Astro_Baby]

I'd have liked a guy to have built an obs in my garden - you'd not have gotten a complaint from me

Annoyingly when I had a big garden that would have been perfect for an obs my kids were small and I didn't have the cash or the time for the hobby.

[gary1968]

Karlo, I was thinking that once the mount is properly polar aligned then small paint marks can be made on the alt scale on the mount and on the mount to pier adaptor line for azi. This would allow the mount to be taken off, leaving the pier adaptor in place to accept a ornament. The mount should then be able to get plunked back on, line up the paint marks and Bobs your Aunties Husband as they say.

Gaz

[Mike W]

Hi Gary, I do have to remove the pier adapter to fit the sun dial but its only three nuts to undo. As I don`t do a great deal of sky watching because I work away a lot generally the mount will be safe and sound in the house so the boss usually only has the sun dial to look at which has the thumbs up from her.

Mike

[beamish]

Karlo, I was thinking that once the mount is properly polar aligned then small paint marks can be made on the alt scale on the mount and on the mount to pier adaptor line for azi. This would allow the mount to be taken off, leaving the pier adaptor in place to accept a ornament. The mount should then be able to get plunked back on, line up the paint marks and Bobs your Aunties Husband as they say.

Gaz

Yeah that should work, perhaps a bit of tweaking but you can live with that:icon_salut:

[saturn5]

Not blowing my trumpet or anything like that but this idea worked a treat.

http://stargazerslounge.com/diy-astronomer/66613-pier-design.html

[lulu57]

What about growing a clematis around it(!)

[Psychobilly]

Have you dug the hole yet....

[astromerlin]

Why not make a bird table/house to stick on top when not in use. The birds dont feed at night.

Cheers

John

[gary1968]

Not dug the hole yet Billy, gotta wait until the warmroom is built for final pier position, warmroom gets delivered Tuesday next week. The positon of the pier will be a compromise so that I can see polaris, a good bit to the east and south. There are trees blocking views to the west and my house pretty much makes anything below 45 degrees unviewable to the north. Oh, and the less obstrusive it is in the garden the less hassle I'll get from Debbie.

I also want to run comms cables from the pier to the warmroom so that'll restrict the distance I can have the pier from the warmroom.

I'm only gonna get to do this once so I want it to be as right as possible, although once it is up and running I'll no doubt wish I had done something differantly.

Gary

[gary1968]

Why not make a bird table/house to stick on top when not in use. The birds dont feed at night.

Cheers

John

A bird table was mentioned by Debz, so that is a possibility, cheers John.

But, she likes the idea of a sun dial, any suggestions where I can get an unusual / ornate one from?

Gary

[themos]

David Harber does sundials, our kids go to the same school, he does some extraordinay stuff. They do look pricey though.

Sundials, Garden Sculpture, Water Features. Stunning garden art. UK.

[Beyond_Vision]

Just do what I did promise you are going to make a stone circle with a pier and a sundial on it then slowly but surely leave the EQ head on it longer until they get used to it

Regards

Kevin

[tinvek]

why not leave the mount on it but then mark the ground were the pier's shadow falls as a giant sundial. there's something similar, without the mount, outside the imperial war museum

[beamish]

Just do what I did promise you are going to make a stone circle with a pier and a sundial on it then slowly but surely leave the EQ head on it longer until they get used to it

Regards

Kevin

LOL- Hee hee I now just have to look at reproducing the astro Yurt

[Beyond_Vision]

I was thinking of making a Bandstand like structure or Pagoda style roof then arranging it so the roof can slide off or swing around out of the way. When I am imaging I would then run a tarp around the outside to keep the wind off and if it rains just put the roof back. During the daytime the tarp would be removed so the garden is returned back to some normality.

Regards

Kevin

[michaelmorris]

Personally, I think it's really important to keep one's partner 'on side' with anything that will affect a shared space.

I like the idea of the sundial, sculpture or bird table. The advantage of the bird table would be that it might to relatively easy to make something that fits on and over the mount adaptor plate without ruining the aesthetic of the bird table.

The area underneath the roof run off area for my observatory has been turned into a patio with a water feature, sandstone paviers, a bistro table and trellis with Clematis Lonicera and Roses growing up it.