A day spent with friends, and a greenhouse update!

This has been a very pleasant day, especially for me! First thing this morning, (first thing, that is, after getting up, dressed, doing chores, and showering) our neighbor, Kristi and her 3 little ones (Amelia, James & Michael) came and picked me up to go with them to Napoleon for the morning. We did some errands and then we went to the nursing home I work at and watched Amelia and her daycare friends "Tumble" and sing songs for the residents. It was fun to see other neighbors there as well, and it was different to be at the care center without having to work there! After Kristi dropped me off again at my house, Mom and I made a quick lunch and, after we all ate, she and I headed for Linton to do some more errands and then drove to our friends, the K. family's (the ones who had a little baby girl about a month ago) house to help Sarah with whatever needed doing. Mother helped Sarah by taking up a broom and scrub mop and folding clothes, while I got to be outside in the nearly unbelievably beautiful weather! (Ila informed me that it got up to 65 degrees!) My job was to cut off and rake up all the dead flowers and leaves from Sarah's flower beds. The children helped me some of the time and, once we were done, they (Ila, James and Edmund) wanted to show me their big water puddle. So, after putting away the shovel, rake and pruning shears, I followed Ila over to where her brothers were already splashing around in the "Puddle"---the puddle proving to be the ditch, with quite a bit of water lying in a flat area. :) The children assured me that their Mama lets them "walk around in the water because it's so nice out", so I watched them play for a while and then, as the water was coming in my boots already from the soggy ground that I was standing on, I took my boots and socks off and joined them in the cold water that was sparkling in the sunlight.... Sarah came out a little time later with the baby to ask if I'd be willing to hold her (and keep her dry) so she could get some things done in the house, so I stayed on the dry land then, cuddling the sleeping baby. It was a great day! The following pictures were taken over 3 days time and are of our greenhouse project. The first step was to level out the ground, as our garden area is slanted and we wanted the greenhouse to be level. We thank God for tractors that can do in a few minutes what would take us a few days to accomplish with shovel and backache! Meanwhile, the boys trimmed off several branched from the trees by our garden, both so we can mow under them and so we can get to our greenhouse easier from the house. At this point, the guys were laying out the bottom boards and getting them level, sometimes piling dirt up and, more often, digging a trench so the board would go down into the dirt.

The next day, the guys built the frame and the greenhouse started to really look like something. They put the black plastic on the storage shed wall to attract as much heat as possible.

Now, what do you think they used the 4-wheeler for?

Well, the guys thought it might come in handy to stand on while putting the extra little braces in the ceiling, and they were right!

They had to dig out the long ladders though when they got to the 3rd row!

Here, Jacob is drilling holes in the boards and then putting bolts through to clamp the boards onto the rods the guys stuck into the ground several feet.... I helped too, by holding boards while Dad measured and screwed them in, and also by leveling out the dirt inside a bit, as there was quite a mess left from the tractor tires and all..... We still need to bring in some composted manure and possibly some top soil from the field and then mix it all together so as to have a soil that will actually sustain life!

Cutting...

Screwing...

And finally, enjoying a nearly finished project. We just have to put up the clear plastic now and build some doors and, yes, get the dirt ready. This greenhouse is really a dream come true for Mom and I!!! And it's so big!!!!!! I can hardly wait to start planting in it. :)