The Green House is very simple to build, if you have some simple construction knowledge and tools. I will give you some basic ideas on how I did it. First of all, I build two. One with PVC pipe and the other one with Wire Cattle Panels. The PVC Pipe one goes like this. It is 12 by 18. It can be larger, next year plans are in the work for a 12 by 40+. I experience alot of wind, so I made it stronger than needed. First I made a 12 x 18 box out of 1 x 6. Then I dug 4 holes in the corners for a 2.5 foot 4 x 4 post. Then screwed the box to the posts. Then cut 1.5 inch PVC pipe cut 6 inches long every 4 feet on each side. Next take a 1 inch pvc pipe that is 20 feet long and bend it into a hoop. I stress buying 20 foot lengths. I tried to glue 2 tens together and it was just a pain. Two people are nice, but one person can do it. Drill two holes through the pipe and 1.5 inch pipe and attach the hoops to the box with long screws. Optional part, I ran a 3/4 inch pipe down the middle and bolted it to the hoops. It made it very rigid. On the ends is the tricky part. They can be done many ways. I framed up a couple rectangles and mounted some old storm windows that I picked up for free. Then made the door out of a scrap piece of chipboard. Prior to attaching the doors and window, the plastic needs to go one. I used a 6 mil piece that was 20 by 25. It was not fancy greenhouse plastic, just the stuff in a hardware store. 6 mil is the best, I wouldn't go for 4 mil, waste of time. I attached one side of the plastic to the outside of the box with staples. Then sandwiched it on to the side of the box with a 1 by 4. The boards ran the whole length of the building. Pull the plastic over the hoops and pull it tight too, then sandwiched it. Then pull the ends around and wrap them through the window rectangles and sandwiched the windows on and put 1x4 sandwiched on the bottom. I attached two short ropes over the outside of the plastic and attached to the sides of the box, this stopped the "Balloon Affect". Watch the temps, it can get very hot in the sun. One day it was 45 outside and windy. It was 90 plus at 10:00 in the morning. If the plastic rips, fix it with clear duct tape or clear packing tape. Attach it to both sides, if you can. I had a rip in a 45 mile wind storm. I was able to tape it back togther and it held great! The smaller one is the same process. Made a box, set posts, bend cattle panels over, attach to the box (on the inside), put black pipe insulation over the ends of the panels to avoid ripping the plastic, cover with plastic, sandwich the sides, finish the ends and enjoy. A high tunnel can be made very easily. Google "High Tunnel" and you will find out some really good info. These two little building have survived alot. Two tornadoes, 4 hailstorms, 2 weeks fo 30+ mph wind, 5 inches of rain (in 1.5 hours), 50-65 mph winds. I think they are the greatest things ever!

Chelone - yes, I use a walker all the time - outdoors at least. (I can use a quad-cane in a house and this house is set up so that I can do some walking around without support...) The main problem with the particular mulch path at that estate was the material was too loose and the base too soft so it took a lot of effort to push the walker. It wasn't quite as bad a pea gravel - impossible to push a walker through that stuff! The path also was a bit too steeply pitched to the sides in places so the walker had a tendency to want to slide sideways. The path was running along a creek, through a wetland area so the ground was quite soft. The same bark over a very firm base would probably been much easier to walk on. My paths here are about 1/3 concrete sand; 2/3 pine bark mulch. Our soil is quite heavy clay so is quite firm - as long as it is not too wet! Only the 'wet corner' area is a problem in the spring. Over time the concrete sand has migrated to the bottom and combined with the clay to make a nice base. The pine mulch - quite fine stuff, not big nuggets - breaks down reasonably fast so it needs topping up every 4-5 years. When we first laid out the paths, we put the mulch/sand mix down and then went over it with one of those water filled roller things to pack it down. Next spring we need to do another layer of the mulch/sand mix on all the paths here. The pine bark keeps the paths looking natural in the woodland areas while the concrete sand gives firmness. In the front garden the paths have been topped up with just the pine mulch so often now that the paths can be a bit too loose in texture. But the clay soil underneath is heavy enough that the path is still quite firm. On the whole, I think the firm base under the surface material is probably the important thing as long as the surface material isn't so thick and loose that the base gets 'lost'. When we put the path material down it was probably no more than 1-1 1/2" thick once it was packed down - maybe less... A couple of years ago the Sweet Woodruff under the pines was starting to spread across the path. I was able to just run the blade of one of those J-shaped crack weeder tools along between the Sweet Woodruff roots and the path surface and peel the SW up and roll it back like a carpet! The path was perfectly smooth and intact underneath - the roots hadn't penetrated beyond the loose surface layer of decomposing pine needles.

Finally able to spend some leisurely time enjoying your thread, Woody! I dislike skimming because Im afraid IÂll miss something important and all the neat details, the dog park being a prime example, lol. Superb colors and textures in these photos, thanks for sharing the excursion. The citrus mobile really caught my eye! Saucy, itÂs not too late to make one with bird seed ornaments - plenty of winter still ahead, right? Hope you do and post a picture to inspire me into giving it a try. Woody, IÂm so curious about the doggie cookies you make for treats. Is this a recipe you formulated? Oh, and I did try some carry out samosas but even as I munched I knew they had to be a poor imitation of yours. The local Thai restaurant isnÂt exactly authentic. Also want to comment on the homemade mincemeat as IÂm not sure IÂd recognize it even if it was in front of me! My grandmother loved mincemeat pie but all I remember is that it came in a glass jar, was brownish in color and had some raisins. Probably bears no resemblance to homemade. So anytime you can get a picture of how you and Randy prepare, serve or plate it, I would be very interested. Keeping you close in my thoughts as December gives way to JanuaryÂ

Thanks,cindy,many,and Paul. Will thanks for the comments, sorry the enabling isn't intentional :). Betcha it'll be fun opening up all of those packages. Shade, thanks. The price keeps going up on 'F.B.G.' but I still think it's worth it. It's a looker and makes great babies. Gloria thanks, Yes I got some nice streaked babies this past winter, Here's a link: Thanks again everybody! Dan