Monday, November 9, 2009

The Hoop House....

We are recycling people. So much of what we do starts with parts and pieces of other things.

The hoop house is no exception.

My Husband built this marvelous hoop house for me. Unfortunatly, I can't get a better picture of it for you, as we have disassembled it now, and given it to a friend to use at her house. We needed the room for the expansion of the SHOP (more about that later)....
This hoop house started very modestly as two (2) junked trampolines. Bobby took them apart, and cut the legs off each section. He put two arcs together to form a main rib of the house.

The two trampolines provided 4 main ribs. We used inexpensive PVC that is used for sprinkler systems for the additional ribs. The whole thing is held together with long (21') pipe that is actually the top rail of a chain link fence. They come in various lengths. Bolt it all together with carriage bolts, and use lengths of treated wood at the bottom. Also, we used some pieces of rebar to secure the bottom of the hoop and keep it from blowing away. I think he drilled holes in the trampoline frame, then hammered the rebar through at an angle and into the ground.

The hoop house is 22'L x 18'W x 11' in height.

A purchased shade cloth for summer, or greenhouse grade plastic in winter, this hoop house is wonderful for propagation or storing plants. It saved many plants from the summer sun, and from the harm of freezing in winter.

AND..... it kept those trampolines out of the landfill, and it was cheap to do.

Cheap can be real good.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

I've been honored with the Honest Scrap Award again.....

Twice! I hope that vrtlarica at Moj Vert and Wendy at Greenish Thumb will both forgive my tardiness in attending to this. You have all read the Honest Scrap Awards. I love to read them. I learn something good about someone, every time they start telling things about themselves. Most really make me chuckle at how alike we all are. It is that little ornery streak in everybody that keeps us interesting. How interesting would we be if we were all puritanical and perfect?

The rules are;

1. Praise the Honest Scrap Award.
2. Name some others as winners of the Award.
3. Tell 10 true things about yourself.

O.K. so lets see if I know 10 honest things about me. I've done this before already; there may not be a whole lot left!

1. I love to buy shoes. No, I mean, I LOVE SHOES! I bet I have over 100 pair, stuck back in odd places, where they are not too obivious. I am always giving shoes away. I wear a size 71/2, so if you or anyone else needs shoes, please contact me. Also, I need counseling on this, so if you know the magic words to make me stop buying shoes, I would appreciate hearing them!

2. I have only been to Starbucks once, back in May, when we went to Conference in Marshall, Texas. The guy waiting on us talked a foreign language, I could not understand all that 'mocalattahalflite' whatever, so I just ordered a cup of regular coffee. Big mistake! I got some of the strongest, really nasty tasting coffee! I meant like Folgers, you know? REGULAR coffee!

3. My husband is really proud of me. Right now, he is proud of me for going to Weight Watchers. (I need to lose weight, I want to lose weight, it is just hard to ignore good food. Back to what I was thinking about...) A couple of weeks ago, I was shopping and dropped him off at the Eagles Lodge so he could visit with all those birds, and enjoy a Lite Beer from Miller while I shopped. When I came to pick him up, I made a little side trip to the powder room and some woman followed me. "I just wanted to tell you that I am so proud of you for going to Weight Watchers!" she said. I don't even know this woman. WHAT the hell has he TOLD all these people I am wondering! My friend Linda, who is whatever a girl Eagle is called, told me he is just proud of me, is all. LOLlol. He is such a sweetie.

4. I am having the greatest time watching my kids raise their children. I always have to stiffle a snicker, try to keep it from becoming a full blown GUFFAW, when they bemoan something their children have done. My daughter looked at me with such a look of suspicion the other day as I was trying to NOT giggle over her tale of the younger daughter showing such 'dis-respect'. I remember it like it was yesterday, she doesn't have to tell me! Kids are always going to be kids.

5. I love office supplies, (much the same way that I love shoes...hummm.) I seldom shop that I don't bring home some pens, or notebooks, folders, hanging files, reams of paper, reams of colored paper, calendars, a new stapler, hole puncher, rulers, scissors.......I just LOVE OFFICE SUPPLIES! I could spend hours in an office supply store! Some of my best friends are clerks in office supply stores!

6. I was out of high school for 17 years before I went to college. It was a good thing I waited. By the time I went, my mind was made up about just about everything. I was primed to learn.

7. I have never suffered a broken bone- yet. Not saying it couldn't happen, and for that I pray for protection, but hasn't happened yet. Also, I have never had the mumps, nor chickenpox. Knocking on wood, here,

8. I have been privileged to live all over the world. Daddy was a soldier, and we got to go with him. It was a great life for us, but I was always the 'outsider'. I still am, having lived here only 11 years, but it is o.k. I have learned that sometimes, it is advantageous to be an outsider. Nobody asks you to take sides, if you are an outsider. LOL

9. I have a greenhouse, and I love to putter around in there. We built it of windows from an old church school. It has no heater, but it does have an exhaust fan and a chandelier. I had another, a hoop house, but we took it down and gave it to my friend Pat, so she can putter around too. Click on Pat, to see a picture of her explaining to us just how she injured her knee doing the YYYY-Mc-AAA dance!

10. I don't think I have a favorite plant, but I am very drawn to cacti, succulents, desert plants, and native plants. I have a big blue agave that has the most beautiful markings. I am not sure it is normal to be so enthralled with markings on the agave plant, as most people (I have noticed) don't pay the slightest bit of attention to them. Why do they have such a profound effect on me?

The last thing I am supposed to do is name people to write their own truths. I would like to invite some of our new Blotanist to join in here, and tell us about yourselves. We would love to hear from you and about you.

This a pretty friendly group of folks. Don't be a-scared, as my grandson used to say.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

It makes me dizzy....

Did you notice? I have changed my blog. Not all of my blog, it will still be the same blog it was when it had a cream colored background. I just wanted to spiffy it up a bit, so it would look the best it could, but I am not always certain what looks best, so I got out a colorwheel. First, I tried using this one. It turned out to be pretty complicated, so I got out another.
This one is complicated too, and I wasn't exactly sure what to do with it. So I tried again.
And again, and again.

Each colorwheel offered a n new set of choices, and each got more complicated than the last.

How would I use this?
These would seem to be pretty straightforward, but they are really more complicated than I can handle. Simple!
I need simple!

Not this, although it is very pretty...
And not this one, WHAT does that one mean, anyway?
And I am not sure what Pearl, Hot, and Ultra are supposed to do for me either.
I finally gave up on color wheel charts, after I found this one, and I couldn't use it. This one is the Aggie Color Wheel Chart, and it should be easy. Is it me, or is it the color wheels?
So, after all this, I just went to clicking on buttons, changing this and that color, until I came up with what you see. I may leave it awhile, but don't be surprised if you come back and it has a cream colored background again.