There is a house-size vertical ruler on the side of a home in my area. Here is a picture taken as I drive by:
Not the best picture, my apologies. The “ruler” is marked from 1 to 19, I assume these to be feet. None of my friends have come up with an explanation, although guesses abound (getting ready for the big flood, etc). For the record, there is no water nearby so a “flood ruler” is unlikely.
The house sits on a the end of a narrow, long, flat piece of land. There is a garage with a tattered windsock aloft at the opposite end of the property. I always figured they flew an ultralight at one time. Could the ruler be related to that?
I’ve seen tall rulers in Michigan where they get a lot of snow. It is used to record record snow falls(OK that looks really weird, but it was meant to say “ree CHORD REK ord”. )
It’s a tower used by siding companies to side a house. Two adjoining towers are put up and ladders/scaffolding is put between them. They’re simple to put up and take down and easier to work with while siding; unlike ladders which always need repositioning and are dangerous, or scaffolding which is cumbersome and time consuming.
It looks like, in the interest of fighting ignorance, you are just going to have to get out of the car, go up to the door, and ask. Please report back soon. Thanks!
Nah, Giraffe-o-meters aren’t graduated in feet - they have fewer markings; one near the top that says ‘giraffe’, and several nearer the bottom that say ‘probably not a giraffe’
Is there a large orchard on that side of the house that is not visible in the picture? Could there have been one in the past?
I don’t know all that much about orchards, but the math geek in me tells me that having a huge vertical ruler like that would allow one to measure the height of pretty much anything (like a tree) that is within visible range. In fact, given a property big enough you can use a range finder to determine your distance/angle to the metering stick and a tree, and you can compare relative heights. Seems elaborate, but… it’s a giant ruler on the side of the house!