Life Decisions
2005 was not only a year spent enlarging my collection, but other life decisions were going on as well. Some people look at the web as a blessing while others a curse. True, it is a wondrous source of information…good and bad. It can also lead to fantasies such as me getting a greenhouse. There. I said it. I wanted a greenhouse. By this time, my tiny grow room was packed with all sorts of plants and I was making a mess. I was also pretty darn fed up with lugging the plants up and down the stairs. Something had to give and since it didn’t look like I was slowing down my acquisition of plants, a bigger grow room was in order.
But it wasn’t as simple as just going out and getting a greenhouse and setting one up in the back yard…at least for me. This is Ohio and it gets nasty here in the winter. Nasty and cold. So something cheap was out. I don’t half-ass much of anything I do and this was to be no exception. I scoured the web looking closely at any company producing greenhouses. I also discovered the GardenWeb greenhouse structures forum on the web too. What a wonderful source of info at the time. I got to know a couple guys that were kind enough to give me some good advice during this process. Biggest thanks goes to Robert Pierce…who later became a good friend and constant PR trip companion.
It wasn’t just a greenhouse I had to be concerned about. There were environmental controls such as heating, humidity, and ventilation. There was a lot of things to be concerned about. But first and foremost, I needed to find a structure. I wanted a beefy structure to hold up to Ohio winters. I preferred the aesthetics of glass.
One other thing to consider going back to that life decisions comment…we were looking to buy land and build a new home. I wanted the perfect land, in the perfect location, and to build the perfect home. I wanted the sun and moon but they were both just outside the budget…unless we wanted to continue working for longer than I had planned and certainly wanted to. Oh….and all of this must include a greenhouse on this new land as well. So maybe just the moon.
We had been looking for land for nearly a year now. It was truly a frustrating experience. There was always some issue that would be the deal breaker. It went something like this: developer was a dick, no water, neighbors too close, next to busy train tracks, too far from dad, too far from work, too flat, soil was wrong for a pond, horseflies. Horseflies? Yeah. We stopped by a tract of land for sale one day during lunch and the car was swarmed with horseflies. None of us was getting out of that car into those nasty bastards! My wife is far from being a country girl…or wanting to be, but even this was too much for me. What a pain in the ass I was!
This budget thing might have a negative bearing on my greenhouse ideas too…something my wife would mention now and again…and again. After yet another tract of land fell through our grasp, the frustrations with our search for land came to a head. Around this time my wife made an astounding observation and offer. She said if we stayed in our current home, while not perfect, we could retire on schedule as well as get a nicer greenhouse. She also added that the greenhouse must be a nice structure to compliment the house. No eyesore. Have I mentioned lately just how much I love my wife?! So with the prospect of not having to work 30 more years and have a new, large house payment, we made the decision right there and then that we would stay. We would make some improvements here and there but this home would be it. It was like a giant weight was lifted off of our shoulders.
As it turns out, the very next day after this decision was made, we were contacted by our real estate agent to tell us that the sale of one of the parcels of land we were wanting had fallen thru, and that the owner would accept our offer. My wife and I surprised each other. We both stood firm by our decision to stay. Didn’t even give it a second thought. The attraction of earlier retirement and a greenhouse was just too much to ignore…at least for me!
I had been researching greenhouses for some time now and have come to a few conclusions. Good ones are expensive. Large ones are expensive. Glass is expensive. I communicated with several manufacturers…most of which were mainly sunroom companies.
My goal was to have a large enough structure to house the plants I wanted to grow. The structure must stand up to our brutal Ohio winters where temperatures can and do hit -20 degrees Fahrenheit. We can get lots of snow as well. So my structure needed to be sturdy and insulated. I also wanted glass. Nothing beats the vision and beauty of glass. And glass meant more light available to my plants. I do not like the looks of polycarbonate glazing. Last and most important of all, the structure had to pass my wife’s main requirement…it must NOT be an eyesore. All of this meant the structure would be more expensive. I determined that normal greenhouse structures were not suitable for my needs. While you could get nice, large greenhouses, overall, the structures themselves just seemed puny.
This was going to be a lean-to design attached to our home. I settled on this design for the following reasons:
I went with a sunroom manufacturer. Sunrooms, or four season rooms, are large and designed to stand up to the elements. A big reason for this choice was my wife’s number one requirement. The greenhouse could NOT be an eyesore. It had to be an attractive structure. The size would be 22’ deep and 26’ across with a ceiling height in the front at 9’ to 13’ in the back where it attaches to the home.
I finally settled with a company in Kansas, Sunshine Rooms, who seemed willing to work with me and accommodate my needs. There was a local company but unfortunately, everything was either their way, or no way at all and I had heard some negative feedback from others around town. So much for supporting local business.
The company took my requirements, dimensions, hopes, and dreams…and would manufacture a kit that would be delivered to me come spring of 2006.
It wasn’t just a greenhouse I had to be concerned about. There were environmental controls such as heating, humidity, and ventilation. There was a lot of things to be concerned about. But first and foremost, I needed to find a structure. I wanted a beefy structure to hold up to Ohio winters. I preferred the aesthetics of glass.
One other thing to consider going back to that life decisions comment…we were looking to buy land and build a new home. I wanted the perfect land, in the perfect location, and to build the perfect home. I wanted the sun and moon but they were both just outside the budget…unless we wanted to continue working for longer than I had planned and certainly wanted to. Oh….and all of this must include a greenhouse on this new land as well. So maybe just the moon.
We had been looking for land for nearly a year now. It was truly a frustrating experience. There was always some issue that would be the deal breaker. It went something like this: developer was a dick, no water, neighbors too close, next to busy train tracks, too far from dad, too far from work, too flat, soil was wrong for a pond, horseflies. Horseflies? Yeah. We stopped by a tract of land for sale one day during lunch and the car was swarmed with horseflies. None of us was getting out of that car into those nasty bastards! My wife is far from being a country girl…or wanting to be, but even this was too much for me. What a pain in the ass I was!
This budget thing might have a negative bearing on my greenhouse ideas too…something my wife would mention now and again…and again. After yet another tract of land fell through our grasp, the frustrations with our search for land came to a head. Around this time my wife made an astounding observation and offer. She said if we stayed in our current home, while not perfect, we could retire on schedule as well as get a nicer greenhouse. She also added that the greenhouse must be a nice structure to compliment the house. No eyesore. Have I mentioned lately just how much I love my wife?! So with the prospect of not having to work 30 more years and have a new, large house payment, we made the decision right there and then that we would stay. We would make some improvements here and there but this home would be it. It was like a giant weight was lifted off of our shoulders.
As it turns out, the very next day after this decision was made, we were contacted by our real estate agent to tell us that the sale of one of the parcels of land we were wanting had fallen thru, and that the owner would accept our offer. My wife and I surprised each other. We both stood firm by our decision to stay. Didn’t even give it a second thought. The attraction of earlier retirement and a greenhouse was just too much to ignore…at least for me!
I had been researching greenhouses for some time now and have come to a few conclusions. Good ones are expensive. Large ones are expensive. Glass is expensive. I communicated with several manufacturers…most of which were mainly sunroom companies.
My goal was to have a large enough structure to house the plants I wanted to grow. The structure must stand up to our brutal Ohio winters where temperatures can and do hit -20 degrees Fahrenheit. We can get lots of snow as well. So my structure needed to be sturdy and insulated. I also wanted glass. Nothing beats the vision and beauty of glass. And glass meant more light available to my plants. I do not like the looks of polycarbonate glazing. Last and most important of all, the structure had to pass my wife’s main requirement…it must NOT be an eyesore. All of this meant the structure would be more expensive. I determined that normal greenhouse structures were not suitable for my needs. While you could get nice, large greenhouses, overall, the structures themselves just seemed puny.
This was going to be a lean-to design attached to our home. I settled on this design for the following reasons:
- I didn’t have to purchase a fourth wall…structure nor glass.
- One less trench to dig for the foundation, less gravel, less concrete.
- This would give me the added thermal benefit of the house being the fourth wall on the northern side.
- I don’t have all that big of a yard to start off with, and having a structure right up against the house still gave me some back yard and garden area.
I went with a sunroom manufacturer. Sunrooms, or four season rooms, are large and designed to stand up to the elements. A big reason for this choice was my wife’s number one requirement. The greenhouse could NOT be an eyesore. It had to be an attractive structure. The size would be 22’ deep and 26’ across with a ceiling height in the front at 9’ to 13’ in the back where it attaches to the home.
I finally settled with a company in Kansas, Sunshine Rooms, who seemed willing to work with me and accommodate my needs. There was a local company but unfortunately, everything was either their way, or no way at all and I had heard some negative feedback from others around town. So much for supporting local business.
The company took my requirements, dimensions, hopes, and dreams…and would manufacture a kit that would be delivered to me come spring of 2006.
Restraint
Most of you out there have had to deal with a local planning office in one shape or form in your life. No? Then count your blessings. I’ve gotten a permit from the city long ago to build my deck. No big deal. Give them some simple plans and a couple of inspections later, we were good to proceed with the building of our deck. But this? This greenhouse business was a whole new ballgame. I realize that the permit process is there for our protection. I get that. But there is no guarantee that common sense comes into play. Far from it.
Sunshine Rooms provided professional blueprints for the greenhouse itself. I had to produce very detailed plans and drawings of the foundation, knee wall, sill plate, and how the structure would be attached to the home. Oh yeah…electrical too…which turned out to be a separate permit process.
Armed with graph paper, pencils, and a ruler, I started drawing and narrating my plans. Folks, I’m no engineer by any stretch, but I made me up some damn fine looking plans for the city! I learned a lot during this process too. I learned just how bad I wanted this thing because this process really tried my patience. Everything going into this structure had to be accounted for. Depth and width of foundation, type of block, height of knee wall, type of gravel to fill in, types and amount of rebar, anchor bolts, outside grade. I gave them that and more. I was thorough and I was confident.
My first meeting with the city planning office didn’t go off quite like I expected. “You want to build what?” A greenhouse. Yeah. “You can’t do that.” I will admit that at this very instant, I probably exercised more restraint than I had in my entire in my life. All sorts of vile comments were competing to be set loose upon this…person. Good sense won out and I proceeded to explain to him what I was hoping to accomplish. “Nobody’s ever done that.” Strength Jay, strength. Count to four billion. He got around to mentioning a four season’s room. I said yeah, something like that but with plants in it. “No, you can’t do that either. A three season’s room would be okay.” Seems they had a problem with heating living spaces. The damned meeting was just wearing me the hell out both mentally and physically…all that restraint was costing me! Then things started to click into place…just tell the damn people what they WANT to hear! Yes…it will be an unheated three season’s room. NOT a living space. I’m sorry. I was confused and didn’t make this clear in the beginning. Sorry again.
Yeah…I’ll play along with this silly assed game, but I had to go home and redo all of my documents to pretty much say the same thing on every page and on every drawing and every picture…”NOT A LIVING SPACE”. I guess they didn’t believe plants were living.
The plan was finally approved and I was given a long list of construction stages where an inspection was called for. But I had the green light to proceed and I gave Sunshine Rooms the heads up to start making my greenhouse…I mean my three season’s room! Sheesh! Believe me…I thought the difficult portion was behind me. Just how bad could the rest of this be?
Sunshine Rooms provided professional blueprints for the greenhouse itself. I had to produce very detailed plans and drawings of the foundation, knee wall, sill plate, and how the structure would be attached to the home. Oh yeah…electrical too…which turned out to be a separate permit process.
Armed with graph paper, pencils, and a ruler, I started drawing and narrating my plans. Folks, I’m no engineer by any stretch, but I made me up some damn fine looking plans for the city! I learned a lot during this process too. I learned just how bad I wanted this thing because this process really tried my patience. Everything going into this structure had to be accounted for. Depth and width of foundation, type of block, height of knee wall, type of gravel to fill in, types and amount of rebar, anchor bolts, outside grade. I gave them that and more. I was thorough and I was confident.
My first meeting with the city planning office didn’t go off quite like I expected. “You want to build what?” A greenhouse. Yeah. “You can’t do that.” I will admit that at this very instant, I probably exercised more restraint than I had in my entire in my life. All sorts of vile comments were competing to be set loose upon this…person. Good sense won out and I proceeded to explain to him what I was hoping to accomplish. “Nobody’s ever done that.” Strength Jay, strength. Count to four billion. He got around to mentioning a four season’s room. I said yeah, something like that but with plants in it. “No, you can’t do that either. A three season’s room would be okay.” Seems they had a problem with heating living spaces. The damned meeting was just wearing me the hell out both mentally and physically…all that restraint was costing me! Then things started to click into place…just tell the damn people what they WANT to hear! Yes…it will be an unheated three season’s room. NOT a living space. I’m sorry. I was confused and didn’t make this clear in the beginning. Sorry again.
Yeah…I’ll play along with this silly assed game, but I had to go home and redo all of my documents to pretty much say the same thing on every page and on every drawing and every picture…”NOT A LIVING SPACE”. I guess they didn’t believe plants were living.
The plan was finally approved and I was given a long list of construction stages where an inspection was called for. But I had the green light to proceed and I gave Sunshine Rooms the heads up to start making my greenhouse…I mean my three season’s room! Sheesh! Believe me…I thought the difficult portion was behind me. Just how bad could the rest of this be?
Destruction
It’s now March of 2006 and we start ripping out our deck. I remember all the time and hard work that went into building this deck. It’s 24’ across. The lower deck is 12’ feet deep and the upper deck is 16’ deep. That’s a lot of wood and screws. That’s my wife above starting to remove the deck screws. Must have been a billion of them.
My wife’s expression pretty much sums up this whole project. Once all the decking was off, we were left with an incredible amount of lag and carriage bolts to remove. We got this thing out in one weekend leaving only the support posts in the ground. I was going to leave those for the dude operating the backhoe when it was time to dig the foundation.
The next step was to load all of this crap into my pickup truck. I wanted to make only one trip. My truck has never been loaded like this. The rear suspension was completely and totally compressed! The front end was way up in the air. I so wish I had taken a picture of this. But we got every last scrap of wood in there. How’d the truck handle you wonder? Like the front-end was on skis. I also had to remember that I wasn’t slowing this damn thing down as quickly as before either. While taking one turn thru an intersection, I ended up going straight across the other lane into a parking lot. Guess I was taking that turn a little hotter than I should have. I was turning the wheel, but the truck had other plans! Close call. Need to slow my ass down here. We could feel every pebble and imperfection on the road. It was like riding with no suspension.
The next step was to load all of this crap into my pickup truck. I wanted to make only one trip. My truck has never been loaded like this. The rear suspension was completely and totally compressed! The front end was way up in the air. I so wish I had taken a picture of this. But we got every last scrap of wood in there. How’d the truck handle you wonder? Like the front-end was on skis. I also had to remember that I wasn’t slowing this damn thing down as quickly as before either. While taking one turn thru an intersection, I ended up going straight across the other lane into a parking lot. Guess I was taking that turn a little hotter than I should have. I was turning the wheel, but the truck had other plans! Close call. Need to slow my ass down here. We could feel every pebble and imperfection on the road. It was like riding with no suspension.
Need Serious Therapy
It’s now April, 2006 and this is a month of WTF’s? As you can see in the picture above, in addition to starting the greenhouse project, we are finishing up the insulation and walling up of the garage. When I look at now and think back to then, it’s quite obvious I’ve used up all of my wife’s energy in this one year alone.
Guess who shows up with their backhoe with only a 2’ bucket on the damn thing? Not me. I didn’t understand at the time, but this would mean double the amount of gravel I was going to have to back fill around the foundation wall. That’s me in the red jacket and standing beside me is my buddy Randy. He is a construction god and is there to make sure the foundation is dug with the proper dimensions. He’s also my block and concrete dude and all around go-to guy when I need help.
Even my dog was asking WTF?!
All the dirt has been hauled away and we start laying rebar for the footer and the first inspection of many.
Doesn’t look that deep in the pic but it is 3’ down and every bit of 2’ across and more in some areas. Randy enjoyed the extra space to work in!
I really had no idea what I was in for during the next several months. There were so many long, hard days ahead with an incredible amount of stress heaped upon my shoulders. There is no way in hell I could have gotten thru this without my wife. She worked her ass off and had to keep me sane in her spare time.
The Hard Work Begins
There’s Randy again spreading out the concrete for the footer. Oh yeah…the extra wide trench also resulted in a larger amount of concrete for the footer. But I got to drive the concrete buggy and that was a freaking blast! Tore the shit out of the rest of the yard but hell, we were just getting started and that yard could not compete with what was coming.
One of my favorite pics. That gesture pretty much summed up our day…or maybe it was because he was pushing around wet concrete and I was skipping around taking pictures?
How Stupid Can One Guy Get?
Remember when I said this was a month of WTF’s and that I needed my head examined? Do you also recall me saying that when my wife and I decided to stay in this home, we would do some improvements here and there? Well, in addition to starting the greenhouse and finishing up the garage, why the hell not remodel the effing kitchen while we are at it?!!
Just thinking back to this period and looking at this pic almost causes me to start crying. The cost of having someone do the cabinets for us was probably a couple grand at most. With all the money going out for the greenhouse project, I thought I could do the cabinets myself. How hard can it really be? Well, under normal circumstances, probably not all that difficult. But with all the crap going on and trying to rush everything I was doing, it was a miserable project for sure.
Seriously…this is the look of someone who knows he may have bitten off more than he can chew. I felt like a guy who kept digging a hole until he looked up and thought..."how the hell am I going to get out?" I still had to go to work during the day at my normal job. I had to assist Randy when he got the time to come over and work on the foundation. The kitchen work fell to whatever time was left over…which means this particular project dragged on much longer than it normally should have. But my hard headedness would not admit defeat. We grilled and ate out quite a bit. This whole section of the house was just a disaster and it drove me nuts. I was my own worst enemy during this period and there was no one to blame but myself.
Even the weather was against me. Randy wanted to get started with laying block in the next day or two. We didn’t want the trench filling up with water so I attempted to cover it it. It only half worked and I spent a day pumping water out, shoveling mud out, and shoring up the walls that caved in from all the rain.
Now we’re getting someplace! When the expert does the actual work, it was left to me to lug around all these blocks where they were readily available for Randy to grab and slab. Jesus! Those things got heavy after a while. Construction workers are bad dudes man!
What is this?! Are those new cabinets up on the walls? You’re damn right they are! See the molding around the top of the cabinets up against the ceiling? What a pain in the ass those were! My patience for detail work was wearing thin at this point so I really needed to concentrate on not screwing these expensive pieces up. Words, without a lot of foul language, could never describe how bad I wanted this crap completed. The mess alone was driving us nuts.
My dog Mandi. Not a happy camper during all this. Hey look! Oranges on the tree! I can honestly say that my trees were being looked upon with evil eyes…like it was their fault I was going thru all this.
Phase One Near Completion
More WTF moments. This is really an incredible amount of effing gravel. I’ve already made several trips with my little red wagon full. That pile never seemed to diminish.
Need I say more? I really hated the guy that dug trench for the foundation.
And I hated that pile of gravel.
Never underestimate pity. It is not always a bad thing. My neighbor…another Randy, saw me struggling with that load of gravel and was kind enough to help me out for a good while. It’s amazing what TWO shovels can do versus just one. I still believe to this day that some sick bastard was dumping more gravel on the pile each time I got to the back yard!
The knee wall is progressing and as you can see, I finally finished up with that load of gravel. If it hasn't been obvious before, I'll let you in on a little secret. My buddy Randy here is a hard working SOB let me tell you. Not only does he do crap like this all day for a living, he does a bunch of side jobs in the evenings and on the weekends. His cell phone never seemed to stop ringing. People were always looking to him for projects such as mine.
I believe I'm digging out rocks here...or...I could just be so damn tired I can't get to my feet.
Looks nice doesn’t it?
And let’s not forget that I’m still dicking around in our kitchen. Look at the mess! Doesn’t look like I’m making much headway does it? The reason for this is my fault again. I failed to inspect each and every cabinet pieces and parts when they were first delivered. I just dove right in. I’d get a few hung and then come to one that was damaged. I would then have to start with another section and hope nothing else had damage. Unfortunately, this was not to be and further delayed the project while waiting for replacements. It’s one of those situations where you know what you have to do…but you really don’t KNOW how to do it properly. My knowledge ran deep enough to be more hindrance than help!
The good news is that we were breezing thru all of the necessary foundation inspections up to this point. When you have a professional doing the work during this phase, how could we not? It’s only when yours truly got put in the game where inspections turned lively.
What’s left to do you wonder? Well, Randy still needs to put in the patio surrounding the knee wall. We’re waiting for the structure itself to arrive and then start on that. How bad can that be? I have pretty detailed blue prints and instructions that I’ve gone over and over and over…and over. There will be electrical work later to worry about. And then there are a few items that pop up that spawns even another project! It’s only April and I’m close to being institutionalized.
The good news is that we were breezing thru all of the necessary foundation inspections up to this point. When you have a professional doing the work during this phase, how could we not? It’s only when yours truly got put in the game where inspections turned lively.
What’s left to do you wonder? Well, Randy still needs to put in the patio surrounding the knee wall. We’re waiting for the structure itself to arrive and then start on that. How bad can that be? I have pretty detailed blue prints and instructions that I’ve gone over and over and over…and over. There will be electrical work later to worry about. And then there are a few items that pop up that spawns even another project! It’s only April and I’m close to being institutionalized.
WTF?
The title above is the only phrase that could describe my feelings of this next section. May of 2006 was busier than hell for us trying to finish up the kitchen and prepping for the arrival of the greenhouse…or “three season’s room”. After God knows how many times we had to order replacement pieces for the cabinets, we did finally finish that crap up.
Sunshine Rooms called and set up a delivery date for the greenhouse. It would be delivered by FedEx. We ordered a semi bed with a lift gate knowing some of the items were going to be quite heavy. I really had no freaking idea just how true that would be. But at the time, I felt that my wife and I would be able to handle the unloading no problem. After all, it was a “kit” and doesn’t the FedEx people help unload?
Well, the big day is here and FedEx is out front with a large semi trailer being backed into the side of my yard. I’m pretty excited. The driver, who I notice is by himself, tells me to sign on the line and to call FedEx when I want them to pick up the trailer. He then walks away, unhooks the cab from the trailer, and drives off. I stood staring at the FedEx dude driving away. When he got around the next corner and out of view, it finally dawned on me that he ain’t helping. I also noticed that FedEx did NOT give me a trailer with a lift gate like we asked for AND paid for...those dirty &^*$@# %^(*#$%! Things went from exciting to pissed off and worried in a matter of moments and I haven’t even opened the trailer yet.
When I did, what greeted me made my stomach drop to my feet. The largest groan and “oh shit” came out that caused my wife to stick her head out the garage door to see what was wrong. The thing was packed with all sizes of boxes of every dimension and most of them extremely heavy. On top of the whole mass was nine cardboard wrapped pieces that spanned the entire length of the trailer. These were obviously the huge support bars that would run from the house down to the front onto the block. So the longest portion ran roughly 23’ or more with another 7’ coming off an angle. Bottom line was that I could barely even budge one end let alone attempt to move one. I was stuck before getting a single piece off the damn truck. There was no way in hell, even with my wife’s help, that we were moving one of those pieces.
I could not reach my brother and I really couldn’t think of anyone else I could call this late in the afternoon. It’s when an individual is at one of these very low and desperate points where salvation, when it arrives, is at its sweetest. A coworker of mine, Dave, called at that very moment and asked if I thought I needed any help. I damn near cried right there on the spot. Dave pretty much figured I was biting off more than I could chew and was on his way over to help.
Sunshine Rooms called and set up a delivery date for the greenhouse. It would be delivered by FedEx. We ordered a semi bed with a lift gate knowing some of the items were going to be quite heavy. I really had no freaking idea just how true that would be. But at the time, I felt that my wife and I would be able to handle the unloading no problem. After all, it was a “kit” and doesn’t the FedEx people help unload?
Well, the big day is here and FedEx is out front with a large semi trailer being backed into the side of my yard. I’m pretty excited. The driver, who I notice is by himself, tells me to sign on the line and to call FedEx when I want them to pick up the trailer. He then walks away, unhooks the cab from the trailer, and drives off. I stood staring at the FedEx dude driving away. When he got around the next corner and out of view, it finally dawned on me that he ain’t helping. I also noticed that FedEx did NOT give me a trailer with a lift gate like we asked for AND paid for...those dirty &^*$@# %^(*#$%! Things went from exciting to pissed off and worried in a matter of moments and I haven’t even opened the trailer yet.
When I did, what greeted me made my stomach drop to my feet. The largest groan and “oh shit” came out that caused my wife to stick her head out the garage door to see what was wrong. The thing was packed with all sizes of boxes of every dimension and most of them extremely heavy. On top of the whole mass was nine cardboard wrapped pieces that spanned the entire length of the trailer. These were obviously the huge support bars that would run from the house down to the front onto the block. So the longest portion ran roughly 23’ or more with another 7’ coming off an angle. Bottom line was that I could barely even budge one end let alone attempt to move one. I was stuck before getting a single piece off the damn truck. There was no way in hell, even with my wife’s help, that we were moving one of those pieces.
I could not reach my brother and I really couldn’t think of anyone else I could call this late in the afternoon. It’s when an individual is at one of these very low and desperate points where salvation, when it arrives, is at its sweetest. A coworker of mine, Dave, called at that very moment and asked if I thought I needed any help. I damn near cried right there on the spot. Dave pretty much figured I was biting off more than I could chew and was on his way over to help.
Here are those damn support bars. Even with Dave, we had one hell of a time getting them out of that trailer and into the back yard. While carrying each of these, I kept trying to chase away a nagging thought…how the hell was I going to get these up against the house and on the block? A worry for another day. We still had a million boxes to unload.
One side of the garage was for all the other support bars, cross members, and other crap I didn’t know the names of. The big, tall box are the sliding doors.
The left side was all the glass pieces. Without a lift gate, these pieces were a pain in the ass getting out of that trailer. Heavier than hell. Awkward. And we were worried about breaking anything. Doesn’t really look like a lot of stuff, but it was. Each of those boxes were carefully packed where there was no extra space remaining. I had a packing list of materials about an inch thick. Like the cabinets, I was supposed to go thru each box, check off and examine each and every piece. Really? I had no idea what any one of these pieces were or what to call them. I tried. I had not only the blue prints out, but the instruction manual as well trying to match up these pieces and parts. Remember me saying a while back that I had just enough knowledge to be dangerous?
Thank God for Dave. If it wasn’t for him coming to my rescue, this crap may still be sitting inside that trailer! Oh…by-the-way, I was reimbursed some money from FedEx because of their “mistake” with the trailer and no lift gate. This was only after several calls and ass chewings I gave to whoever I got on the other end of the line. It’s all unloaded and that this episode is behind us. But it’s far from over!
Thank God for Dave. If it wasn’t for him coming to my rescue, this crap may still be sitting inside that trailer! Oh…by-the-way, I was reimbursed some money from FedEx because of their “mistake” with the trailer and no lift gate. This was only after several calls and ass chewings I gave to whoever I got on the other end of the line. It’s all unloaded and that this episode is behind us. But it’s far from over!
As you can see from the above pics, I was far from done hauling around gravel. We were prepping the site for the patio that would surround the greenhouse.
All set. Got plastic covering the colored block of the knee wall and siding on the house. Need to protect these from concrete getting splashed upon them.
I’m pretty stoked about getting to drive the concrete buggy around again. Had a blast driving it around when pouring the foundation. Notice how beautiful it is outside? Weather forecast called for another nice day Saturday, tomorrow. That’s good news since we have a crap load of concrete scheduled to be delivered that morning.
What?! Prepping is hard work and a few beers were necessary!
Randy is back for this job as well. He brought another guy with him. The plan is for me to get the concrete from the truck and get it to wherever Randy points for it to go. Randy’s helper will spread the concrete while Randy does the detail work with it. My job is to keep the concrete flowing and stay the hell out of the way. Once the concrete is in the initial set, we…meaning Randy, will throw down the color and “stamp” a pattern into it. Timing is everything and jacking around was not on the schedule.
Remember how nice it was on Friday and the forecast called for the same on Saturday? Nope. The temperature dropped down to around 50 and it started raining.
Randy is back for this job as well. He brought another guy with him. The plan is for me to get the concrete from the truck and get it to wherever Randy points for it to go. Randy’s helper will spread the concrete while Randy does the detail work with it. My job is to keep the concrete flowing and stay the hell out of the way. Once the concrete is in the initial set, we…meaning Randy, will throw down the color and “stamp” a pattern into it. Timing is everything and jacking around was not on the schedule.
Remember how nice it was on Friday and the forecast called for the same on Saturday? Nope. The temperature dropped down to around 50 and it started raining.
Remember I mentioned timing? This rain was screwing us big time and we were busting ass to cover the area with tarps…piecing several together hoping to keep the rain off that fresh concrete and stamping. We could only get it about 4-5’ up so we did the rest of the work all stooped over. Miserable. Freaking miserable. Cold, wet, tired, sore, pissed, frustrated. Randy was like a bear with a red, sore ass. He's a perfectionist when it comes to doing his job and this rain was trying its best to ruin his hard work.
Did I say cold and wet? Here we are after finishing. Isn't the the sorriest looking couple of assholes you've ever seen?! We still had to load up the damn concrete buggy and return it. We also had rented the stamp from a concrete supply center and it was due back before they close at one o'clock. My wife had fifteen minutes to go nearly that many miles or we would be charged a whole bunch. She made it. How she did it, I don’t know…except that she must have set some speed records in doing so!
And here is the finished product. There were a few spots where rain had poured thru a gap in the tarps and ruined the finish. Randy had to come back later and repair those...and he bitches to this day about it! Hell, no one even notices and I have to look hard to even find them now. But this first phase of the project is complete! It’s now time to start the structure itself. This is where the real madness begins.
I hope you all enjoyed part one of my greenhouse adventure. A good lesson to take away from this is not to schedule multiple projects at the same time...especially when they are all major!
I hope you all enjoyed part one of my greenhouse adventure. A good lesson to take away from this is not to schedule multiple projects at the same time...especially when they are all major!
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