Monday, October 14, 2013

Customer Delight

Was having a look around the terrace garden with the new additions. As usual the tussle between flowering plants and vegetables goes on, with wifey giving more importance to flowers.

I noticed that now she is slowly capturing the walls too.



Not that I have any objections there, but the hard work falls on me, spending a nice Sunday morning drilling holes on those stubborn walls to hang some silly looking things. For me they look like some letter boxes but wifey insists that they are meant to hang flowers. 
I show her around and tell her about the pesticide free green tomatoes and the colourful capsicum that we can have.



“just imagine, we can pluck the ridge gourd  when these creepers grow ”


“and look at these newly planted ones, on the left is the chilly, the middle one is carrot and the extreme right ones are onions. Can you imagine the money we can save on onions.”

Wifey “you always think about saving money. Think about it this way, how beautiful it will look when we will be surrounded by these wonderful red flowers and buds that are growing on the fence”


I thought this was getting us nowhere so we decided to have an equal amount of greenery for both vegetables and flowers.

The next day morning as usual I went to the terrace to pluck a fresh leaf from the Tulsi plant which I use in the morning brew of tea.


As I looked up I saw this perfect web against the morning sunlight.


I was curious about the perfect geometry and the intricate pattern that a spider could create.  Once my tea was ready, I pulled up a chair and sat down and had a close look at this fabulous creation.  
To get some more good shots of the net I rigged up some of the dark clothes on the clothesline as the background.


Those lines looked so parallel and I was wondering how did this guy manage to get those lines so parallel row after row.


 In that perfect circle of web why was a part of it left undone?

Notice those four arcs on the periphery? The complete web is built on those arcs.


It seems the spider uses their body length to measure the distance between two weaves (that explains the parallel lines)
There are different kinds of webs and this is the orb web.
After observing carefully I found the reason for that open end. Our guy (the spider) used that open space to run down the line and capture the prey once it is caught in the net.

He was hiding on a leaf covered by a canopy of his own web woven around the leaf. After all he has to protect himself against other predators like small birds.


Spiders do not usually adhere to their own webs because they are able to spin both sticky and non sticky silk (thread) They are careful to travel on the non sticky portion of the web to catch the prey.   
I found some twists in the net at some places. Does this have any engineering significance?

As this was very delicate, the web kept fluttering in the breeze. I could not do anything about that shake, but to reduce my hand shake, I mounted the camera on a tripod and clicked using the timer.  

I clicked these pics of the web on two different days. (that explains the different backgrounds)
Just imagine, we just brush off a spider web thinking it as a nuisance, but the poor guy painstakingly builds another one by next morning.

Coming back to the garden, we fixed these solar lamps in the pot.



They get charged by the day, and as soon as its dusk they turn on and give a nice glow in the night.

The complete assembly is made of plastic and it was a good buy at $2 per piece.

Talking of good buy, we bought these book shelves at $ 19 per shelf. I don’t think we could get one made in India at this cost with pure wood.


They came in a packed box with simple instructions for mounting it. Not that one needs any instruction, as you just fix the two screws (that was provided) and hang it. But what I found useful was the strip of paper that came along with it with markings of the center distance of the screw holes. You just use it as a template to drill the holes.


But more than that what I found very useful was the spirit level (bubble level) that was stuck at the center of it.


Did I ask for it? No.
Was I expecting it in the pack? No.
But it was still there. This is a perfect example of what is known in business parlance as  “customer delight” 

31 comments:

Joy said...

Wow! Your wife is adorable doing all the gardening of your beautiful garden.
Very nice shots of the spider web:)
Have a nice week!

Mindy said...

Smart woman you've got there. ;o)
The spider web photos are awesome.

My Garden Diaries said...

Such spectacular photos of the garden! I just love the hanging plants on the wall! What an amazing display of color and creativity! I hope you all have a lovely week!

Stewart M said...

What a great collection of plants - vegetables or flowers? Thats a hard choice!

The spirit level is a good idea.

Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

Indrani said...

Fantastic shots! I liked the shots of the spider web very much. Excellent details.

Janey and Co. said...

I will stop to ponder the next web I see. So interesting.....

Flowering vegetables seem to be the way to go!

Sally said...

Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment. Your pics are wonderful. It looks like you've found a balance between veggies and flowers. Love your spider web pictures. They certainly are an amazing example of engineering.

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed the read. The garden looks fantastic! And loved the web Pictures...how often have i tried to click a a web with awful results.Thanks. Cindy

Anonymous said...

Love the concept of a terrace garden, looks beautiful, will definitely keep the place cool in summer, guess watering the plants will not become a chore as I know your wifey takes pride in fona and flora. Ivan D'Souza, Chicago,IL

Splendid Market said...

I think you two are a good team and that the garden looks wonderfully thought out and planted, no one would know of the strife behind achieving this grand plan :). Your contemplation of the spider web is most timely for me. We have SO many spider webs in the PNW this year. Ironically, as I am setting up my Halloween decorations, I find myself wiping out these webs, after walking through a few {talk about spooky}. I keep thinking maybe I should just leave them up and spray them orange! No, I wouldn't do that!
Your webs remind my of our oranges slices today, thanks for stopping by, I love your tales.

TexWisGirl said...

packaging the level with the product is cool! your garden area is really nice. your wife has a green thumb. i liked your web shots, too. seems you are all enjoying the garden area. :)

George said...

I think the flower vs. vegetable battle goes on world wide. I like the way you've mounted flowers on the wall. Your photos of the spider web are fantastic.

Kay said...

To me a perfect garden is a balance of food and beauty. I love saving money on apples, kale and leeks, but I also love to have beautiful flowers, too. Your garden is gorgeous and looks very healthy.

The spider web shots are spectacular. Animal architecture like this is amazing. And we think we work hard for our food!

Julie Marie said...

Hello... and thanks so much for visiting me today!... your blog is lovely and your photos fantastic!... love "wifeys" hanging pots of flowers and your veggies look great too... so nice to have a guy visit me!... xoxo Julie Marie

magiceye said...

You guys sure are having a ball decorating your home creatively!! Lovely pics and narration!!

Mina Menon said...

Such Pleasure for eyes!

Barb said...

The web is fantastic - great photos. I like the half veggie and half flower idea!

Ph_ said...

It is nice to see that you have surrounded yourself with so much greenery :)

Alka Gurha said...

Love the frog on the wall. Your wife is very creative. And what beautiful captures. Awesome.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

There's room in this life .. And in your yard .. For both flowers and veggies! Loved the spider web photos.. I tried to get some, but no luck, you're far more talented.

Pallavi said...

Your wife has such an artistic taste joe. Love the garden ! The vivid flowers look really beautiful :)

Margaret D said...

You garden looks lovely, thanks to your wife.
Thanks for visiting my blog back in January I think it was, I never got arond to visting yours until now..I like what I read and see..Thank you.

troutbirder said...

Interesting post. I find those orb webs fascinating. Here the debate between flowers and veggies was won after 47 years by the flowers. Actually I got tired of weeding....:)

Linda at To Behold The Beauty said...

The spider's web is truly amazing, and you've photographed it beautifully. I enjoyed the insight you provided into the spider's weaving of it. Face it... flowers look better in the letter box than letters would. :)

walk2write said...

Well, this customer (visitor to your site) is always delighted by what she finds here. I think your wife is correct in thinking that flowers deserve to be cultivated and admired alongside the veggies. A little beauty goes a long way to making life more pleasant and maintaining a healthy attitude.

Augustine Xavier said...

Dear Joe , I have always enjoyed the way you narrate the conversation between the veggie you and your flowery half....it nice - sounds like we are hearing you as i keep on reading your blog. FYI the first white flower is known as the mandolia, I have a red one too. The clicks on the spider webs are like from a clicker to a weaver...both complimenting one another. Thanks for the detailing...enjoyed every bit of it.

Unknown said...

Nice job on the spiders web. The details you captured are amazing. I have never seen such a perfectly crafted web.

Reshma said...

You have a very lovely garden. The spider web clicks are brilliant, you have managed to capture the intricacy of the web in crystal clear way.

Anonymous said...

A very well crafted garden by the ones with an eye for detail. Keep clicking and carry on blogging :)

Haddock said...

Will try to do that Ann as I enjoy doing it (clicking and blogging) :-)

Anonymous said...

Dear Joe,

Thanks so much for the lovely photos. And I really enjoyed your blog. Wish we had more time to discuss gardening when we met at Shaheen's wedding. I enjoy gardening too - though in Dubai its mostly desert plans - with some automated irrigation (3 times a day) and some careful use of nutritional fertilizers, I have had some success with fruits, veg and flowers. Again, like your wifey, mine too prefers flowers - absolutely refuses to eat any of my home grown veggies - much to the delight of friends and neighbours - who enjoy the veggies.

Best regards, Sajjad