02/21/2013

Working In the hoophouse when the weather outside is less than nice.

 

The first picture is of the view across the front of the house. This is from the doors to my writing area. Outside it is 12F and inside the hoophouse it was 29 going up to 33 while I was in there; about an hour or so. 

The winds outside are under 20 mph and coming from the WNW, not blowing the hoops around much, so it was quite a pleasant work environment-considering.   Several of the hoops are no longer hooked to all the purlins and that seems to allow them to move more and not break.  The snow might be coming from the plains and I have to keep an eye on the forecast until weekend. If it snows hard I will be out popping the snow off the hoophouse. No extra weight is needed right now.

The pictures below are showing an operation that I read yesterday about deconstructing pallets. This will give me some extra wood for use in the hh and also around the outside growing area.

 

 

 

We haven’t had a bunch of snow since the big blow 10 days or so ago.  As you can see the wind first blew the most of it away and then a couple days of warmth and sun did this area in. The flat stand is a homemade bird feeder and they sure use it. We have 4 pair of cardinals, many small finches(I think) and even a few mourning doves.  There is a woodpecker or two that I think stays up here in the winter and of course common English sparrows. 

The evergreen closest to the birdfeeder is a transplant out of the woods. It is a cedar of some sort and is doing well for the neglect of the past couple years.  We have sandy soils and also the pH is 7 which is a bit high for optimum growing for trees, fruits and vegetables.

 

 

 

  

This is a little pallet project that I learned of on the net the other day.

To get them apart I was going to make or have made, a large pry bar and just lift them apart. However, this newer way uses materials I already have. 

A sawzall, with a rough service blade; these are used to take apart houses and getting large openings in existing walls. It’s an oldie but goodie-a Milwaukee that is probably 20 or more years old. It works great and the only problems are it plugs in and it needs an Allen wrench to change the blade.

It has more power than 3 teenagers showing off for the pretty girl on the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This picture is getting out the power cord. On the right is a pull strap that I used to stabilize the hoophouse when the winds and snow has kinda bent some of the hoops.  The white pipe on the top right of the picture is a ten foot piece of PVC that I stuck over the floor broom so I could pop the snow off the top of the hoophouse. The ceiling is 13 feet at the center and this allowed me to work from the ground instead of having to climb up and down the ladder. Always work smarter rather than harder. 

 

I hope that you can see the nail heads on the boards in this picture. The blade will cut right through these and most of the time it only takes about 5 or 6 minutes to strip down a whole pallet.

 

The business end of the saw-with the rough service blade. The blade is appx 12 inches long and makes quick work of the nails.

Well, let’s see how well this transfers into the places that it needs to go.

Be well; peace…dan

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