March 26, 2013 – Tuesday

24 degrees/calm/cloudy/light snow

Pentoga Road

I jerked awake and propped myself up on one elbow.  The large, white, numbers on the digital clock flashed 5:15 AM. I slid from bed, put on my glasses, and looked again… 5:55 AM.

I once again slept longer than intended. Oh well, a hundred years from now, who’ll know?

The big news? I finished the construction phase of the greenhouse! (Do I hear Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever playing in the background?!)

After riding partway to work with Sargie and hiking back Monday, I was in the barn by mid morning trying to figure out how to piece together the two windows. It was past noon before they were assembled and almost two by the time they were mounted onto the frame.

It doesn't seem like they should, but the windows were one of the hardest parts to figure out how to construct.

One on each side, the windows can be raised to allow hot air to escape.

The panels went in fairly quickly, but it seemed to take forever to remove the clear protective film from each. I had to use magnifiers to find a loose end, then pull it from the glass. Once again, unraveling the mystery of how the clips held the panels in place took almost an hour. But in the end, before the sun set, the greenhouse construction phase was complete.

I delighted in giving Sargie a tour of the 6x8 ft structure last night and at one point, she smiled and with a little girl look on her face, suggested we sleep in it. A hideout! We both laughed, quickly nixed that idea, and walked back into the house.

After my walk this morning, I’ll be going to town and purchasing some self-tapping screws. The final phase after inserting them will be to caulk the panels. Though the instructions say I’m finished, I’ve read several accounts warning to fasten each with screws and caulk as an insurance policy against strong winds.

I’m going to see if I can get my Director of Greenhouse Engineering, Yooper Brother Mark, out here in the next few days to get some ideas about moving the structure from the barn and into the back yard. I’ll use it from there until all the snow is melted. After, it will be moved down to the garden area and permanently anchored.

Sargie works early today and we should have a few hours together this evening. Things have really been busy in the Vision Center and she’s not had more than an hour or two of evening relax-time yet this week.

I hope to get caught up on assignments before I go to bed tonight. Wednesday will be spent drilling holes and inserting maple taps. I also hope to assemble the boiler, pans, flue, and have everything ready to go by Friday.

So as you can see, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…