qbawl wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2023 10:45 pm
Pardon my curiosity but are you using a commercial security system or is your camera system roll your own? if it is the latter I would like to know the types of cameras and how you are networking them.
We have arlo cameras that we got at Costco. We got two arlo pro-4 3-camera bundles, and pay $119 per year for 30 days of cloud storage. We can have up to 15 cameras on our plan - we’re thinking about adding three more.
The cameras all talk to arlo via the wi-fi. They came with ethernet hubs but you don’t have to use those if you don’t want (we don’t).
And neon: yes, the system flagged her as a person. It’s pretty good at distinguishing between people and animals. We have a feral cat, plus a raccoon and opossum that visit occasionally, and it accurately flags those. Insects and birds get detected as “motion.” It will also detect vehicles and packages accurately.
"Hey! We left this England place because it was bogus, and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too!" -- Thomas Jefferson
RTH10260 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 2:05 am
About the bicycle guy, how about some high mounted strong lights (simply shining down the facade) with motion detector?
This place is lit up like Rockefeller Center at night. We now have motion-activated cameras that warn us when someone comes within their view. We didn’t know about the bicycle guy because we were watching teevee in the back of he house and he was at the front. When we were getting ready for bed, our watch-cat, Stormy, was sitting on the window sill laser-focused on something outside and we were like, what’s she looking at. We thought it would be an animal - the last thing we were expecting was a dude on a bicycle.
We’re trying very hard not to get paranoid about people coming around. We have a lovely view and we’re happy to share it with strangers (within reason). But people skulking around here at night is just creepy, whatever the reason.
"Hey! We left this England place because it was bogus, and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too!" -- Thomas Jefferson
bill_g wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 10:51 am
... cuz the view is so magnificent at night ...
All these visitors should be happy you're normal people and not preppers. Preppers would have flame throwers and machine guns aimed at trespassers.
Well, it *is* beautiful at night. We look out over the towns of Luray and Stanley, and can see the lights of Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive off in the distance.
But we haven’t had a lot of looky-loos at night. Whenever there’s a super moon we’ll gat a lot of photographers show up and ask if they can set up on our property. We always allow that. It’s gorgeous seeing that full moon over the ridge in the distance.
"Hey! We left this England place because it was bogus, and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too!" -- Thomas Jefferson
bill_g wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 10:51 am
... cuz the view is so magnificent at night ...
All these visitors should be happy you're normal people and not preppers. Preppers would have flame throwers and machine guns aimed at trespassers.
Yup. Pretty much. I get that Maybenaut and hubs are generally okay with people wanting to enjoy the view and take photos. But, after dark? What the heck was bicycle guy doing there? That is creepy. Fortunately, Maybenaut and hubs don't go running out with guns raised (like that MO attorney and wife).
Maybenaut, thank you for the info on the Arlo camera system.
neonzx wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 11:06 am
Maybenaut, thank you for the info on the Arlo camera system.
2nd on Arlo, I run a few of their cameras. Also have had good experiences with Kuna.
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams
I hit a deer with my car tonight. I was driving back from Lost River, WV. I clipped her on her rear hip area. She ran out in front of me and I slammed on the brakes but I couldn’t stop in time. There was a car coming up behind me pretty quick so I swerved left (there was no oncoming traffic), and the other car passed me on the right. They pulled over and I pulled over behind them. Guy just wanted to make sure I was OK. I’m fine.
The deer ran off - I don’t think I killed it or even hurt it too bad (it’ll be sore for a while). Not too much damage to my car. The Mach E has a plastic panel in front instead of a grille - that’s cracked, but that’s the only damage that I can see. Thanking my lucky stars - this could have been much, much worse.
"Hey! We left this England place because it was bogus, and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too!" -- Thomas Jefferson
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams
Oh yeah. Aminul contacts are never fun. Glad you're okay. Coulda been a lot worse. Bambi's mom has jumped in front of me a few times. No catastrophes yet. Fingers crossed.
Maybenaut wrote: ↑Sat Sep 16, 2023 2:48 am
I hit a deer with my car tonight. I was driving back from Lost River, WV. I clipped her on her rear hip area. She ran out in front of me and I slammed on the brakes but I couldn’t stop in time. There was a car coming up behind me pretty quick so I swerved left (there was no oncoming traffic), and the other car passed me on the right. They pulled over and I pulled over behind them. Guy just wanted to make sure I was OK. I’m fine.
A deer hit me once (I didn't hit it). Pitch dark rural road and he/she came outa nowhere slamming right into the quarter-panel and then partly onto my hood after impact. It got off and limped back into the woods.
Car had more damage than yours. Fortunately for me, it was a dealer loaner car as mine was in their shop for repairs.
Deer are a real problem right here. This is the time of the year that it's particularly dangerous for them and for us. You have to be really careful coming up or down my road. Today, they are doing archery hunts in a nearby suburb and in some parks inside the city.
PA has often been number one in the country for the deer issue. This year, WV is number one.
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies." -Octavia E. Butler
AndyinPA wrote: ↑Sat Sep 16, 2023 11:42 am
PA has often been number one in the country for the deer issue. This year, WV is number one.
The deer I hit didn’t get the memo about staying in the WV side of the line - I was about 3 miles from the state line, on the VA side
"Hey! We left this England place because it was bogus, and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too!" -- Thomas Jefferson
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies." -Octavia E. Butler
Suddenly I'm flashing back to Sharon Meroni hitting a telephone pole & blaming it on a rutting deer, when we all know she was drinking cheap wine from her chalice.
That said, I had a very near miss with a deer years ago. Luckily I swerved right while braking, and she jumped high & to my left, clearing my hood by an inch or two.
It'll get your adrenaline pumping, that's for certain.
"Mickey Mouse and I grew up together." - Ruthie Tompson, Disney animation checker and scene planner and one of the first women to become a member of the International Photographers Union in 1952.
Estiveo wrote: ↑Sat Sep 16, 2023 4:11 pm
Suddenly I'm flashing back to Sharon Meroni hitting a telephone pole & blaming it on a rutting deer, when we all know she was drinking cheap wine from her chalice.
I remember that!
"Hey! We left this England place because it was bogus, and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too!" -- Thomas Jefferson
As I’ve mentioned, this place used to be a business. It started out as a fruit stand and evolved into a gift shop as it was added on to over the years. Eventually it was a B&B, and now it’s just home.
The electrical system leaves a great deal to be desired; many of the overhead lights and outlets are controlled by switches in other rooms. That was probably convenient for the original owners - most of the switches are all in one place. But the lights in my sewing room are controlled by a switch more than 60 feet away.
Rather than re-wire the entire place, we decided to swap out the switches and outlets with smart devices so we can just tell Alexa to turn on or off the lights in a particular room. We’ve wanted to do this for awhile but we had to wait until we had reliable internet.
It’s working well so far.
"Hey! We left this England place because it was bogus, and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too!" -- Thomas Jefferson
bill_g wrote: ↑Sun Dec 31, 2023 6:17 pm
Oh boy! A robot in charge of your lights!
Yup. And I think I’m going to need to get a treadmill. I used to get in 10K steps a day just turning on and off the lights.
"Hey! We left this England place because it was bogus, and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too!" -- Thomas Jefferson
The light switches in our house all just above waist height. We just found out the other day the reason for that was the original owner was in a wheelchair. We live in the GI Subdivision and all of the houses were only available to returning active duty military. We're only the third owners and the house is over 80 years old. Many of the houses in our little 4 block square sub have wide doorways and low light switches.
Maybenaut wrote: ↑Sun Dec 31, 2023 6:21 pm
Yup. And I think I’m going to need to get a treadmill. I used to get in 10K steps a day just turning on and off the lights.
We had a similar problem in our office with all the light switches ridiculously centrally located in a closet along with the circuit breaker panels. I always laughed about it because the original owners could have saved themselves some money by just leaving the switches out using the breakers instead. But, it meant we had to leave some hallway lights on permanently so you could walk from the door and alarm panel to the closet first thing in the morning, and last thing at night. Eventually we paid to have zone lighting with sensors installed. When someone entered an area, they triggered a sensor that turned on the lights near them. Those timed out after an hour of inactivity. We loved it. Good system. It actually had an ROI under two years that showed up in our accounting.
The forecast called for 5-8” of snow, but that never materialized. We got ice instead.
IMG_8567.jpeg (218.66 KiB) Viewed 7994 times
"Hey! We left this England place because it was bogus, and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too!" -- Thomas Jefferson
