Coastline Treasures

The patio in your backyard is a great place to entertain guests or just relax.  But unless you enjoy sitting on cement, garden furniture is a must.  Unfortunately, patio furniture can be very expensive.  Building your own furniture is a great and easy way to save money.  With a quick trip to your local home improvement store, you can build yourself a great patio set.

A table with benches is a great simple piece of furniture for your yard.  And all you need to build your own is the wood, basic tools like a hammer and a drill, clamps.  Once you have your materials, its time to begin building.  Start by building the table.  Cut each piece to the size you want it.  Then build the base.  Once the base is constructed, secure the table top.  Now move on to the benches, the basic idea is the same.  Make sure everything is securely fastened to avoid breaking. 

While building your own furniture may take more time than just purchasing it, you will be saving a significant amount of money.  Also, the endeavor is a great family project.

Arts and crafts are fun for people of all ages.  But there comes a time when coloring just won’t work anymore.  So, it’s time to find a new craft.  How about glass blowing?  Do you want to learn to make your own glass figurines to decorate your home with?  While it takes time to learn and master, like any craft, the process itself isn’t that difficult.

Glass blowing is not something that you can do from home though, unless you have a furnace that can reach 2400 degrees to heat, cool, and reheat the glass.  The first time the glass is heated, it is done so to melt it and remove any bubbles.  It is in the cooling and reheating stages that the glass is blown and shaped into the elegant pieces.  It is a time consuming process, but like anything, very rewarding when the task is completed.  If you’re interested in learning to blow glass, find a center close to you that offers lessons.  Enjoy your new craft.

Lighthouse décor is a great way to celebrate the start of our nation, especially since the first American lighthouse is almost as old as the country itself.  The first American lighthouse stood on Beacon Island in Boston Harbor.  It was lit for the first time on September 14, 1716.  Unfortunately, this historic landmark did not survive the Revolution.  It was blown up by retreating British troops on September 13, 1776.  

The oldest surviving lighthouse is in New York at the southern entrance to the New York Harbor.  Built by Isaac Conro, this lighthouse, standing at eighty five feet in height, was named one of the three best built lighthouses by a congressional investigation in 1852.  This lighthouse is one of the few that remains active today.  It is preserved by the National Park Service in order to be able to continue to shine its light.

Have you ever looked at a dolphin figurine and noticed that even in a statue, the dolphins always seem to be happy and playing?  Just like people, dolphins play games for fun and to teach their young.  Studies have been done on these games to study dolphin habits.  Stan Kuczaj and Lauren Highfill are two among many researchers who study dolphin play and behavior.  In one encounter, they found two adult dolphins, and a young dolphin tossing around a plastic bag like they were playing catch.  What was more interesting though, its the bag was tossed more softly at the young dolphin, and right in front of him, to make it easier.  Years of research have been conducted to search for patterns and purpose to games like these.

It has been concluded that dolphins’ games show extreme creativity and cooperation.  They seem to follow the same patterns as human childhood games do.  They are designed to develop social connections and group cooperation as well as sharpen intellectual and communication skills.  These studies have been compared to studies on humans to draw connections between us and other animals.  It truly is interesting and remarkable to find those connections.  Next time you are out in the ocean, and are visited by a playful and friendly dolphin, carefully engaging with him may not be such a bad idea.  After all, play time is important.

If somebody asked you a question about the wooden model ship on your mantel, would you know the answer?  Because these ships are replicas of real ships, knowing nautical terminology will make you sound real savvy when talking about your décor to a guest.  Besides port, starboard, forward, and aft (that’s left, right, front, and back respectively), what other nautical terms are important to know?

Some nautical terminology is very technical.  For example, do you know what a binnacle is?  My guess is that unless you are a full time sailor, you did not know that a binnacle is the stand on which the ship’s compass is mounted.  But other terms are much more common.  If you hear the captain say the ship is floating at 100 fathoms above Davy Jones’ Locker then you know that there is six hundred feet from water level to the bottom of the ocean.  The fathom is the most common form of measure of depth in nautical terms.  So, next time you are sitting around with company and someone asks about your ship, be sure to amaze them with your nautical knowledge.   You may even be able to point to the binnacle on your model.

It’s all too easy to forget that birdhouses can offer a multifaceted appeal. They are obviously appreciated by birds because of the valuable shelter they provide. Birdhouses allow birds to lay their eggs and tend to them without interference from predators or the elements. And of course they act as a safe haven during a storm. But birdhouses can also be appreciated for entirely different reasons.

Birds don’t much care about a birdhouse’s aesthetic appeal, but people certainly do. The best birdhouses fit in with the exterior décor of a home. If you live in a seaside bungalow, for instance, a beach birdhouse offers an excellent complement. Likewise, a lakeside cottage retreat is accentuated perfectly with a fishing cabin birdhouse.

You just bought a lighthouse birdhouse to add a little decoration to your garden, but where is the most functional place to put it?  Well, that is up to the birds really.  When trying to find the best place in your backyard for the bird house consider, of course, what type of bird you are trying to attract.  Then, pay attention to the natural patterns of this type of bird and try to recreate it.  If you notice the bird likes a certain type of tree or bush, putting the house next to these would be appropriate. 

There are other things to consider when placing your birdhouse as well.  Birds generally like a direct flight path, so keeping the entrance easily accessible is important.  Also, keep the entrance away from direct, hot sunlight.  A little morning sun is okay.  Finally, if you can, keep the entrance away from prevailing winds so rain doesn’t fly in.  By following these ideas, you have a better chance of having your birdhouse occupied.

A wood model ship makes a great decoration on any mantel piece. But knowing what type of wood the ship is made of makes the beauty of the ship even greater.  The three most common woods used in a model ship are walnut, boxwood, and pear.  But many ships are a combination of different types of woods.  Pine is often used for masts and planks.

When trying to determine what wood was used to make your ship, or if you desire to build your own, look at the color and grain of the wood.  Walnut is a moderately coarse-grain wood that comes in a variety of brown ranges.  Boxwood is a softer wood that can bend and comes is yellow.  Pear is has a very uniform grain and is found in a pink-brown color.  Finally, pine is found in colors from white to yellow.  With all the different colors of wood, your ship may look a little disjointed.  To give your ship a uniform look, use a wood stain to transform your ship into your desired color.

Generally when someone thinks about a lighthouse, they think of the coast.  But lighthouses can be found in places other than just next to the ocean.  Often they are found next to trafficked rivers.  Serving the same purpose that the coastal lighthouses serve, river lighthouses still warn marine travelers of dangerous rocks and shallow waters.

The lighthouse located on the St. John’s River in Florida is one of several of its kind.  Built in the 1800’s, this light house has many towers dotting the longest river in Florida.  However, like most lighthouses today, none of these are operational.  But also like many of the other lighthouses in the United States, the St. John’s River houses are all preserved for historical purposes and immortalized in lighthouse home décor.

Its a gorgeous coastal day and while sitting at home in your living room, looking at your dolphin décor, you and your family decide to venture out to the beach.  The water is warm and you go wade in and splash around.  While you’re out enjoying the water, you all of a sudden see something swimming towards you and you begin to panic because all you see is a fin.  How do you know if the fin coming towards you belongs to a friendly dolphin or a terrifying shark? 

There are two easy ways to tell the difference just by looking at the fin.  A dolphin’s dorsal fin is rounded at the top while a shark’s dorsal fin is straight.  If the fin is too far away to see, or you are too panicked to notice, pay attention to the pattern of movement.  Sharks swim in a back and forth motion, so the fin will be going from side to side.  A dolphin though swims up and down, so often the fin will go underwater and then reappear again, or it will move in a straight line.  Now that you know how to tell the difference in fins, you will be able to enjoy the ocean safely.