Song, er, post for Dave
Ok, here we go, you nosy person.
Hope everybody else ain’t gonna be bored.
So, we got ourselves this greenhouse.
And now we gotta dig down to be able to build up.
Well, I say “we”. The sad truth is that I have been doing most of the digging.
Ok, David, the above shows the spot where the greenhouse will be standing - hopefully - soonish and where we had already been digging to the discussed depth of around 40cm (in some cases even less…). They had been predicting rain, so I had covered the holes and yesterday only uncovered those I intended to dig to their complete depth of a good 80cm. In the end I finished 6 of ‘em.
And this is the frame that’s gonna get fixed onto/into the foundation blocks.
…. The other way around of course…. 
Last, but not least - one finished hole. If you look closely, you will notice a bit of stone at the bottom of the yellowish line of soil. It’s sort of in the center of the picture. Oh, the joys of digging!! 
I guess this could have been written in a more fascinating way, but
1. this topic doesn’t really fascinate me that much, and
2. I am rather bluh in the head (and in my back), especially after having finished with the holes today after work.
Yay.
April 20th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Poor, brave Sis!
April 20th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
be careful not to hit China, or Oil for that matter
what nice lawn you have there..
April 20th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
Myurgh…..
Yeah. That’s the newest lawn. That one’s still nice. The others have been eaten by moss….
April 20th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Wow, a post just for me? I am honored!
I think you did the right thing by digging at least some of the holes to 80 cm. It will help to keep your greenhouse straight and level for many years. Sorry about your back. I know the feeling, as I have dug many holes myself! I will look forward to seeing a pic of the finished project! 
April 20th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Here are a few extra thoughts. You may want to rent an electric concrete mixer for a day. Your back will thank you!
Measure the volume of all the holes you need to fill. You don’t need to be exact, but lets just say its a good idea to round up generously. The bags of concrete should give you a volume estimate per bag. So make sure you have enough bags of concrete before you start mixing. If you have a few extra bags, it should be no problem to return them later (at least that’s true here). When you place concrete in the holes, rod it up and down a bit to get the air out of it. I often use a piece of rebar to do this. One more thing, Have Fun! 
April 20th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
What, what? Read closely. I dug all of ‘em to a good 80cm….
And, dude…. a tired back is cheaper than renting a concrete mixer….
April 21st, 2007 at 7:22 am
Sorry Mel, I must have misread. Good job digging all the holes to 80 cm! Have you actually investigated the cost of a concrete mixer rental? Tool rentals here aren’t all that expensive. Maybe things are different in your village.
April 22nd, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Concrete mixer? Don’t you have a nice brother-in-law to rent?
April 23rd, 2007 at 4:43 am
or a neighbor? or someone who works for food? (see? THIS is where people like me come in handy)
April 23rd, 2007 at 4:45 am
btw clowns are scary and should never be let near children.. on the other hand, scratch that, children are scarier. the clowns had it coming all along.
April 23rd, 2007 at 6:31 am
I was afraid of clowns when I was a kid, too!
April 23rd, 2007 at 4:50 pm
children are scarier
No changing diapers in your future…
I can see Mrs. Anarki will have her hands full!
(see? THIS is where people like me come in handy)
Ahhhh, if only Mel had hidden you in her suitcase when she was in Jordan. Well, there you have it, hindsight.
April 23rd, 2007 at 8:17 pm
@ David: Stuff like that is just too expensive for simple people like me.
@ Lynnette: Hm, dunno, dunno, I’m afraid that type of cement mixer’d have to agree.
@ aNarki: Er. I did mention my neighbours to you, right…? Hm, my colleague might work for beer. But the cement he occasionally mixes for our workplace crumbles rather fast….
Lol, when Ç. told me she had hired a clown, my spontanuous reaction was “Sorry, I won’t come after all.”
David, you should read “It”…..
Well, in the end I did pity the poor woman; she must have been entertaining that huge horde of kids (= bag of fleas) for 4 hours straight. No easy job I bet.
Lynnette, I dunno if he is any good with real manual tasks like that or more with computer related stuff…
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:54 pm
But, Mel, think of all those muscles. He’s got to be good at the manual stuff.
April 24th, 2007 at 12:02 am
Hhhhhhm, are you two exchanging pics……?
April 24th, 2007 at 1:58 am
David: yeah i mean, who are they kidding? a painted-up old man coming near a 5 year old in ANY OTHER circumstances would be rather dodgy..
Lynnette: well, you see here is the point: i really dont like children and stuff, but that wont mean i’ll forfeit on my share of work.. actually i dont like kids aged 5-25..
Mel: no no trust me, i am good for all kinds of labour including among others:
carring air-conditioning units (with help), taking down/putting up curtains, dragging heavy stuff around, changing 5 gallon water bottles daily, umm.. mixing epoxy to fix bathtubs, um.. mixing epoxy to fix clotheshangers, and many more!
am also familiar with shovels/garden/etc stuffs, and more importantly, as my reputation states: i work for FOOD
oh i see.. i think i should write this in my cv.
OMG that clown was a SHE? i really didnt focus and all that..
also, no i havent heard bout ur neighbor.. sounds like a relative of mine..
Lynnette: thank you! well.. honestly i dont think of myself as muscle-y, i actually want to AVOID that chiseled body-builder look.. anyway.. oh and thanx for the link you sent, am reading through it now.. like i said, it MIGHT be a good idea on paper but it has to be monitored carefully cuz it could sooo easily go wrong. sigh..
April 24th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Ahhh, Anarki, those are other peoples kids!
You might feel differently when they’re yours! 
Well you don’t really have to go for the body builder look to have good muscle tone. Which is what is needed for projects like Mel’s.
*sigh* Like anything else, these things should be done carefully. If that had been done from the get go things might have turned out differently. Now it’s a question of can we pull anything back together or not.
April 25th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Mel, what is the “It” that I should read? I already have to much to read! ;P
Anarki, try not to inhale too deeply when mixing all that epoxy!
April 26th, 2007 at 12:23 am
Well, aNarki, at that party it was a dressed up woman - who made animals and very suggestive….. objects…. out of balloons. I think they were meant to be swords.
For food, hm? Will hommus do?
@ Lynnette: Yeah, he might use kids of his own for sports practice….
@ David: *sighs* Stephen King. “It”.
I think aNarki won’t notice anyway if he takes all his medications at once….
April 26th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Stephen King?
Do you like that genre? If so you should read “The Relic” by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston. Excellent scary book.
They made a movie out of it, but it wasn’t as good as the book.
April 26th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Yeah, I like King. But somehow I like books like “The Green Mile” better than the pure horror stories he’s been writing.
I saw the movie and didn’t like it much, hhhhhhhhhhhm, do I wanna get the book….?
April 27th, 2007 at 9:10 am
I loved the movies The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption! Never read any of King’s books though.
April 28th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
I loved “Shawshank Redemption”! Yes and I liked “The Green Mile” too.
Well, Mel, if you didn’t like the movie, you may not like the book. It still has people being eaten in it.
But it really keeps you flipping pages. 
April 28th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
On topic: I mixed and poured concrete for one of the holes today…. greedy little things… eat a good three bags of cement each….
April 29th, 2007 at 8:48 am
Sure you don’t want to rent a mixer? Maybe you could afford it if you applied for all your tax refunds!
April 29th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
Me good mixer. Me Superwoman.
May 28th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
How about an update when you’re home again? The project’s finished, so you should post a pic here.
@Lynnette: people being eaten? I should read that book, I think. Sounds interesting.
April 4th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
weres the pic of greenhouse i want to see it
April 4th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Hhhhhhhhhm, will have a very hectic weekend. Check back in half a week or so?
Here’s a little teaser.
*falls over and doesn’t move anymore*
*mumbles a welcome*