Red-built greenhouse

[Smart Red]

The one I purchased came from a home improvement center here in Wisconsin. I would expect Home Depot or some such center should carry them. I found mine in the auto section.

 

[journey11]

I would think you could find them at a marine and boat supply store.

 

[valley ranch]

Pictures, pictures!

 

[Smart Red]

I won't have time or good enough weather until this weekend to work on the greenhouse. Now that I've got everyone calling for pictures, I'm getting a bit worried that the final result won't be nearly as spectacular as all this anticipation with no photos.

It may be my best efforts, but it's going to be a red-neck result working mostly on my own. Yes, the pictures will show DH out there. Despite having taught me everything I know about building, he is NOT being a help. I try to keep him feeling useful, but he cuts boards wrong then complains that I can't measure. I'm more worried that he doesn't know how to use a skill saw anymore and might hurt himself. Yet he wants to 'help'. When I asked him to screw two boards together while I held them in place, he couldn't so he started 'drilling' holes in the wood with a screw bit. Huh? He didn't understand what I wanted and couldn't figure out how to put it together himself. So much priceless information lost.

Sure wish the photo uploading was working reliably. I wish ever so much more that DH was working reliably. Sigh!

 

[canesisters]

I feel for you Red. My DH taught me SOO much that has been so valuable on my little farm. I miss him terribly.

 

[valley ranch]

Miss him? Guess I missed that. If it is as it sounds, Sorry, his light!

 

[Smart Red]

Yes, I miss the man DH once was and appreciate that I still have parts of him left to enjoy.

I understand, canesisters.

I still miss my dad after 26 years -- sheesh, it's been that long already? He is still a part of my life each and every day. It might be that my laugh sounds so much like his, I'll start singing a song he used to sing, or I'll grab a tool and remember watching him use it in the garden.

 

[Beekissed]

Red, I know exactly what you are describing. Dad went through the same thing(unable to do the tasks he has done all his life) and then he just stopped trying to do chores at all due to being embarrassed because he no longer knew how to do them(kept getting the chainsaw stuck in trees because he no longer remembered how to do the cuts, couldn't remember how to get the tractor started, etc.).

Then, all the sudden, he would uncharacteristically refuse to do any work, no matter how simple the task, claiming he was "retired" and "didn't HAVE to do any work"...would just sit in his recliner and watch westerns all day and put too much wood in the fire until the cabin was blazing hot.

It was painful to watch his efforts to do the old routine chores, getting angry at Mom~naturally, it was all her fault because she kept trying to tell him how to do things, and then his refusal to work...that was the scariest thing of all. My dad was a workin' FOOL...LOVED to work. Couldn't stand to sit around and thought TV was a tool of the devil and for lazy folks.

I think it's so wonderful that you encourage him and let him "help" for as long as he still will or can. It's a hard row you are hoeing, Red, and I have so much respect and admiration for the good grace in which you do it.

 

[Smart Red]

Thank you, Beekissed. Some days I have far more "good grace" than others, but this is a journey we're walking together, DH and I.

I am lucky that he has chosen to stop doing some things -- quit using the chainsaw, climbing ladders, cleaning eaves, driving, etc. on his own. Even before we realized his condition, he knew things weren't right.

Raking, shoveling, digging, hoeing, toting sticks in a wheelbarrow, there are so many things he can still do safely on our acreage that I'm hoping he'll enjoy getting out and doing things for a long time to come.

That's why I am so eager for spring to arrive. He needs to be out and doing things and using his muscles for him to be happy. I need to learn to bite my tongue, quit telling him how to do things, and let him do things his way even if it makes for more work.

The goal is keeping him happy, healthy, and doing. It's not reminding him of all that he can't do anymore.

 

[Nyboy]

What is it that turns seniors into heat lovers? Growing up house was always in the 60s, no one dared touch the dial to raise it. Now when I go into that same house, my father has it so hot it is uncomfortable.