The Greenhouse Reality

Last weekend we had some wonderful friends come out to help with some work. I cannot even begin to tell you how grateful we are for this. It's always a little breathtaking to see how much work gets done in one day when several strong men dig in.

The Hubs and one friend worked on plotting out the chicken run while another friend worked on clearing out more brush and....sit down while I tell you this.....tearing out the greenhouse.

Yes, you read that right. I was so excited about that greenhouse when we moved out here, but as I started making note of growing conditions around the Heap, I started to realize something pretty significant- the greenhouse was in the shade. Like, all of the time. Now, I'm not an expert on growing in greenhouses or anything, but I'm pretty sure they have to get sunlight to work properly. So, sadly, the greenhouse dream is temporarily put to rest.

Since it was a lean-to greenhouse it couldn't just be moved elsewhere so it had to come down completely.

We now have boxes of broken glass to get rid of because nearly all of the panels were glass and it turns out they don't really come out in one piece. Thankfully, no one got hurt while they worked on this mess.

After it was down, we discovered that we have this beautiful, large concrete slab that is in really good condition. Funny how we couldn't see that with the greenhouse there. I immediately started dreaming about what I would do with this new found patio.

It wasn't until everyone was gone for the night that I realized what this area should be used for. We had been debating about how to make the new dog run usable and had finally settled on buying a concrete mixer and pouring a concrete floor.

"Could we move the dog run onto that slab?" I asked Hubs. It would save us several hundred dollars and quite a bit of back breaking work.

He agreed that this was a very sound plan so off we went, in the dark, to immediately move the dog run.

It is perfect.

Sam cannot dig out so both dogs are secure in there. It is in a place that is nearly always shaded so we don't have to feel bad about them being penned up and now they have a lot more space to move around in when we have to leave them.

Oh, and I still have some space for some plants and a couple of chairs so we can sit out on the patio at night and enjoy the cool air. Sometimes a failed plan can turn out oh so well.

Tonia