Brian couldn’t sleep at night. He was having nightmares about the plastic. It just goes to show that fine craftsmen and artisans take their work home with them. They don’t leave anything …
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Brian couldn’t sleep at night. He was having nightmares about the plastic. It just goes to show that fine craftsmen and artisans take their work home with them. They don’t leave anything at the office. The problems they are working on stay with them, even in their subconscious. They don’t have a choice. He woke up in the middle of the night. We had one day left to get everything right and he had it worked out in his sleep how to pull that top plastic tight as a drum.
Saturday the sun was out but the forecast was cold. I have to say we didn’t feel a thing.
We removed all the wigglewire holding the bottom of the sides shut from last week’s winds and then we took all the wire out holding one end of the “roof” to the end arch. That means we had one whole quarter of the plastic sheet (reminder: 100 feet x 40!) free from any encumbrance. Brian has an old bucket truck he bums around in locally to help him on projects, and it has been invaluable on this task. I got in the bucket with him and up in the air nearly twenty feet. It is a good thing Brian is skin and bones so together my stomach wouldn’t violate the weight-limit regulations on the bucket-lift, and I pulled the plastic tight while he began to reinstall the wigglewire into the arch’s channel lock. We followed this method all the way down the arch. We could begin to see the difference.
We went back to the center of the side of the greenhouse and began stretching the plastic straight down and slightly towards the corner we already re-pulled. Tuff work. Hard on the fingers and wrists. We got one quarter of the greenhouse done. We moved the truck to the opposite end of the greenhouse and repeated our efforts. Garcia showed up to help and to harass. He thinks about his job while at home, too, and sends us “how to” videos hoping we will learn something in our down time. With three people now on the job, things sped up a little and we needed that as the days are dark early and we have a lot to do.
With one side re-pulled, we moved to the west side of the greenhouse, and I suggested, since much of the southwest corner was already tight, we do just the arch and a few wiggle wires back from the corner. This saved us considerable time. We moved to the northwest corner and repeated our process. Wow! What a difference. I began putting in the second string of wigglewire which separates the rollup sides from the permanently sealed roof plastic, although, with this system (Rimol Greenhouses), it is all one sheet of plastic.
Next, the rollup sides needed to be attached to the roll bar and we began to pull down the side plastic and get it under the locking strip to this roll bar which runs the whole length of the greenhouse and will allow, during hot July days, for the sides of the greenhouse to opened up for cooling, for cross breezes. A greenhouse can get too hot. Excessive heat can kill everything.
To keep these rollup sides from blowing in the wind, the design calls for a nylon rope strung in a “W” pattern down the wall of the greenhouse. I ran the cords and Brian used some fancy Navy knots to tie them off, and man, things were looking good. We cut off all the excess plastic and looked around and the moon was up.
And so was the Gothic high tunnel greenhouse.
The state inspector comes tomorrow. “Inspector for what?” citizens concerned with government overreach are asking. Well, the greenhouse is being built, in part, with a USDA grant, so an inspection to determine if the government is getting what the grant intends is only reasonable. Wish me well.
Next up: building Brian’s stone Rumford fireplace. I hope it doesn’t keep me up at night.
The Commissioners of Elections would like to remind voters that Primary Day will take place on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, and various poll sites throughout the County will be open 6am to 9pm. …
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