Nasty Weather and Unfinished Business

I've barely been able to come up for air this past week. It feels like all I do is milk, morning and night. The weather has been absolutely disgusting - cold, grey, and unrelentingly wet - and no matter how careful I am, I always get grubby doing the morning chores. It really puts a damper on your day when you start out chilly, muddy, and smelling of four different kinds of animal shit. I have to get up extra early to give me enough time to take a quick shower after chores and before leaving the house.

It's time to trim the goat's hooves again, but I just can't face the disgustingness of the job right now - I'm waiting until it dries out a little. Seems like many tasks are waiting for something or other - usually for money to become available (ha!).

Several weeks ago, I began a project near and dear to my heart: tearing down the Parthenon (read: falling down shed full of trash) and using its foundation to erect a greenhouse. The impetus for this project was a friend from church telling me that a buddy of his had a huge job tearing out old sliding glass doors on a large condo and was selling the glass panels cheap. We bought fourteen panels for ten bucks each. With the glass in hand (so to speak), we went ahead and tore down the old shed. Many boxes were thrown away, and a few items of value were recovered (like the deed to the property. Yes, I admit I was wrong - never throw away a whole box without looking through it, no matter how long it's been sitting unopened in an old shed.). In one day, Homero and one other guy took the shed down to the foundation.

Now there was a tricky part - I really didn't want Homero to build the greenhouse. I wanted someone who actually knew something about carpentry to do it. Lest you think I am being overly persnickety and/or just plain bitchy, please know that I have PLENTY of hard-won personal experience that informs me without doubt that my husband, accomplished though he is in many fields, is NOT a carpenter (A Handy Man is Good to Find...?).

Instead, I reached out to the trade network. Mr. X is a decent carpenter and willing to accept partial trade for one of our 275 gallon totes. He wanted it for his hydroponic greenhouse system. He had also recently built his own (very nice) greenhouse, so I knew he was capable.

Mr X drew up some rough plans and made a materials list and when he saw it, my husband pulled the plug on the project, saying we didn't have enough money right now.

Then he went and took a week off work to make a totally unnecessary trip to Mexico, which cost us considerably more than the greenhouse would have, without providing any (material) benefit. Such is marriage, am I right?

Mr. X took it well enough - I told him to go ahead and come get the tote, and we'd just apply it to his first day's work whenever we DID get it together to build the greenhouse (hopefully before fall planting season). As always on a farm, there are plenty of other unfinished projects - the biggest one is probably figuring out what to do about the rotting wooden floor of the main barn. The horses are starting to put their feet right through the floor. That's not good.

I have an idea, but I can't write about it right now, because it is time to go milk the goats again.