Sometimes life throws a few lemons our way and we have to decide how to respond. This was what happened last week when the wind kicked up, making the tall fir tree next to the greenhouse shimmy and shake a bit, releasing a large branch.
Look closely at the third panel from the right. Yep. It’s gone.
That’s right. A big branch took out one of the roof panels of safety glass. Tiny squares of glass flew everywhere, landing even inside of my gardening gloves. This is why I do not spend any time in the greenhouse when the wind is up.
Why, you might ask, did we build the greenhouse underneath a giant fir tree? Did we just fall off the turnip truck yesterday? No, we did not. There is no place on our property that is not encumbered by giant trees. Living with this kind of danger has its own kind of beauty. And craziness.
This greenhouse stood for over 5 years with nary a branch falling through fair window. Until last year. We lost the pane next to this one last year during the really big winter storm that also caused us to lose our large picture window in the kitchen while Mike was standing too close for comfort. And they say sailing is dangerous. This whole ‘branch falling’ scenario is why I have plans to be on the boat this winter when the wind starts blowing. I learned my lesson last year. And we’ve decided any glass that gets shattered in the greenhouse will be replaced by polycarbonate or some other clear, strong material that laughs at falling branches.
So to clean up the mess, everything had to come out of the greenhouse because the glass was simply everywhere. You would not believe how much stuff a person can store in an 8 x 10 foot greenhouse. Mike started pulling it all out and I realized this was the perfect opportunity to go through and get rid of a bunch of stuff I don’t need anymore.
What did I tell you? And that’s not all of it.
So yesterday and today, that’s what I’ve been doing while I ruminate on the two boats we’ve seen lately and come to terms with my feelings and thoughts about this whole plan of ours. It’s been time well spent in a number of ways, not the least of which is that I now have a very tidy greenhouse and two big loads of gardening ‘stuff’ that can go on the free section of Craigslist.
I like to come in here during the winter, pet my succulents, and pretend I’m someplace warm. I have a very good imagination.
Time to put the succulents to bed for the winter.
Now you know why I bother overwintering my succulents. This is Epiphyllum oxypetalum.
Wow, looks fantastic all cleaned up! Great job-I know that wasn’t easy.
You got that right, Sue. But it was completely necessary. It does feel good to have it done. Thanks, Mother Nature!
Sorry about the broken glass but what a treat to get to live in an ‘enchanted forest’. 😉
Oh yes, there are all kinds of enchanted creatures living in the yard. It really is quite beautiful when I step away from the work it requires. And I stop thinking about trees falling on me and crushing me in my sleep. Just now all the Japanese maples are in full color and there’s a bit of fog. Lovely color!
I too live in an enchanted forest….when I pulled in my drive way yesterday after work there were 2 young deer eating fallen pears from my tree. I hesitated getting out of my truck as I couldn’t see momma deer and was afraid of a protective mom!
My property is also very wooded and I “clinch” quite regularly during wind storms. I feel your pain!
I have some new pictures of some improvements on Mondo I will send you as soon as I get them downloaded.
Hi Robin, I’m sure you do know what I’m talking about! How cool about the deer, though. We have had deer on our street a few times, but not regularly as we live pretty close to town. Our neighborhood is an older one with protected lot sizes, so we’re more likely to have wildlife than people in tightly packed neighborhoods up here. I’m always a little sad when I see the deer, as they really don’t have much room even in our neighborhood. I would love to see photos of Mondo Mer and would love to put them on the boat review page with your permission. We get a lot of people looking at those boat pages and it would be nice for people to see what can be done with a boat like that. Are you finding that the boat sails well?
Somebody up there watching over you knew that it was time to renovate the greenhouse as it were. So be very grateful for manna from Heaven. Well, that was an unnecessary comment since I KNOW you appreciate any help you get from wherever! And just look at all the branches and limbs that have fallen over the years and no one’s been hurt. Bet the infamous Columbus Day storm was a doozy as my Dad would have said.
You know I will talk all the help I can get, Betty. Yeah, I never worried about falling trees until last year. And we’ve lost a lot of them over the years.
Sorry you had to go through all of that, although it was a great motivator to get rid of things you don’t need.
Similar things happen to me and prompt a spring (in this case fall) cleaning.
Looks nice afterwards though!
Just part of the whole ‘getting rid of things’ plan so that it will be easier on us when we move. There’s a lot more to do.
What a motivator Mother Nature is. Great job on the clean up. After last winter’s storm I was so happy we removed 12 logging truck loads of fir trees from our property the year before. Now all we have to do is worry about the neighbors trees falling on us. Beautiful succulent!
I remember when you told me about that, Tina, and remember thinking I wished we could take some of the trees down around our house. Alas, it is SOOO expensive to remove big trees when they are close to a home. Do I want to remove trees? Or do I want a boat? Hmmmm.