The Great Greenhouse Grip of Gr

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Just can't find a way to complete that title. So like so many things, it remains unfinished, yet hopeful for the future.

Saturday, Michael had great fun at the paintball games. He came home unhurt but for a direct hit on a knuckle which remains awfully stiff, and remarkably devoid of paint on his camouflage outerwear. With 8 kills notched on his stock, he was sadly killed 9 times. Die Another Day, James Bond.

However, he did bring home some germs and we both have been dealing with headaches, eye aches, body aches and sore throats ever since.

While he was gone I managed to get the center purlin pipe up by myself. All the old bolts that came with the unit many years ago were cheap ones and had rusted in completely locked positions. Most of them had to be cut off.

We don't have a bolt cutter, or a vice to hold clamps while we hacksaw them off. So I borrowed a hand-held band saw from my dad and reluctantly and extremely c.a.r.e.f.u.l.l.y held the purlin pipe clamps with their rusted bolts up to the inverted band saw. I still am a little more wary around a saw blade than I was before I ran my fingers through a skill saw a couple of years ago. But all went well, and after several hours, I got all the bolts off.

The replacements were galvanized for long wear out of doors. I had purchased all our bolts when we dismantled the greenhouse originally. It's a good thing, because those alone were about 75 dollars. Ignore the sound of a body thudding backwards in a faint.

So picture me, balancing on a rickety step ladder on a rough field, trying to hold up 45 foot of pipe and fasten it over my head.

Pretty funny, eh?

The day was beautiful and I enjoyed getting this project even further along. It's been a long wait.

So after a Sunday of office cleaning, we came home and just crashed on the couch, hoping for a movie. I don't recommend the comic book action movie "Constantine". Hallmark seems to be running endless repeats of holiday movies. Why do so many holiday movies involve the death of mom and loss of a house? I am in serious need of chocolate after watching these things.

Today we are back at schoolwork and putting two more rows of purlins along the sides. I was going to buy treated 2x2s for this, but they were 3 dollars each. 2x4s were only 2 dollars. Don't tell me it costs 2 dollars to run a board through a saw blade. We'll have great places to hang tools inside the greenhouse with these.

Wish so much I had photos to share with you for future project ideas, but I'll try to document when it's all done. A dear blogging friend has sent me money towards fixing my camera. What a blessing. As soon as I've got a little more, I'm going to send it off and have my DSLR back and running again. WOOT!

Off to the purly greens...

~Faith

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