What you think you need is beyond the unloaded structural strength of the materials you are thinking of. That means it won't be able to hold itself up in the center span ... without vines. "the center section needs to be about 14 feet tall and wide enough that a bus can turn in that area without hitting it" Start by figuring out how broad that span has to be ... then find materials that can make that span without sagging. What is the turning radius of the bus? If you want it to be able to make a u-turn under the high spot of the arbor ... that's a structural riveted or welded steel beam arbor. Or a hulking glue-lam beam.

I made all nine in two days. Maybe I do something different. I stack and glue the pieces all at once. I don't have the patience to wait for each piece to set...the tall thin one is my favorite. I found Candle sticks and the mini vases on top at one yard sale Saturday Morning and had it put together as soon as I got home. If you want to see them close up click on the picture and I have singles of each close up in the album on Picasa. I must confess the red birdbath is simple clear glass that I have painted with glass paint. I wanted to try my hand at revers painting on glass. I am please with the results. I may have to make another painted one I have lots of clear glass but color sure makes a statement. When I started I was only gonna make one or two, Because I had no interuptions I just kept going! I wanted One of each color of the rainbow! LOL They will all be displayed in one Bed, held in with sand then Mulch. I also found Brand New White vinyl edgeing to use but I want to paint it first or at least wash it with some color. I am worried about Hurricane season. LOL Here are some pics of the bird bath. From Glass Totems From Glass Totems Not happy with inside pics..I will be sure to post pics when I bet them all out side. Thanks ya'll!

Hi. Really nice arbor you have there. And I think that is Confederate jasmine growing on it? Yes, indeed, that plant will not take long reaching the top and your question will not need an answer at all. It took ONE such plant to turn a 4x4 8' tall post into an evergreen column thick as an oak trunk on Government Street! And every May and June, it is covered in lovely white star shaped blooms. In Italy they use this plant to cover wire fences, grow up and along the arched doorways in Tuscany. Nice thing is, it stays evergreen in our climate, it keeps leaves all along its stems from top to bottom. Which is different than the Carolina jessamine, which creates leafless stems at the bottom and top growth of leaves with its poisonous yellow flowers. Depending on whether you want an open base showing your support columns, with greenery on the top alone, or the whole thing covered in time with really lovely growth, the message is: you won't be able to see the details of the top woodwork in a couple of years. To show you what I mean, I'm uploading a picture of a much larger pergola near the pool of the villa where we stayed in Italy. The gardener trimmed these star jasmine (as they call it outside the south) on the pergola, as well as on a jasmine HEDGE. What they did with the jasmine was an inspiration to me. So much so that I am now planting jasmine to cover a new 7 foot chainlink 100 foot long fence so it will become a really pretty privacy fence in about two years. I'll also put a link below to my album of the house and gardens in this villa near Orvieto so you can see how their garden plants are SO MUCH LIKE OURS IN ALABAMA. Hope you agree. This one shows the hedge, the arbor, and how they relate to the pool Here is a link that might be useful: Italian Villa near Orvieto

Jennmonkey, the $30 comment was in the context of the story - that she was always asking for more. I didn't say anything like the rest of what you mention. I don't know where you got it from or why you used it to defend Lori. Lori didn't even say anything like that. I said it to the woman because I paid her $25 for the run, but she was asking for more. There is nothing in this story about the size of jobs. Nor is what Lori indicated that I am wasting money and time when I can do them myself. It came from nowhere except her own intention. NyceFarm, you and Uxorial asked the same thing, which is a good question. Because I never saw her at work or saw a paystub, all I can say is I have called her in the wee hours of the morning only because I knew she was at work. At her house, her husband answers the phone if I call after 11pm to let me know he hates calls at that hour LOL. I wouldn't dare call their house at 1 or 2 in the morning. A couple times she came around 3 or 4am to pick up that morning's deliveries. That's the time she got off work on those nights and came here so as not to have to make the trip again. I'm only 3 or 4 miles off her route, whereas she lives quite a ways away. It was better for her to come at that hour than to come back this way at 8am. Also, she directed me to a website for certification last year. She needed me to download some forms because she didn't have a computer. I realize none of that is proof though. So, I guess the answer is I really don't know, but I can't see all the charades either. LindaKathy, nope she didn't pay cash. She paid by debit card. I expected she would stop at the place and pay, but she preferred not having to stop. I wouldn't ask anyone to use their credit card, but that she did was fine with me. She called with the confimation number and brought the balance of the money the next day, less the $150. This was three weeks ago. Is that you were asking? Kathleen, that makes a lot of sense. As far as being tired, she fell alseep on my sofa or laid down in the boys' room several times after getting off work. One morning, she got off at 7 and was supposed to come here to pickup an order. It was to be delivered at that funeral home two miles from her house. She didn't show up and called around 8 to tell me she fell asleep in the nursing home's parking lot. I could understand that happening, knowing how often I work through the night. However, I don't want to give the impression that she was working so much for me. As I mentioned, business was way down the last year, so I didn't have to call her all that steadily.