leaving footprints: By Virtue of Working Through the Holiday

All along, our goal was to have finished the greenhouse by Christmas. This particular holiday doesn't mean a whole lot to me these days, though I do take the time to think of the people I love right around the turning of the year. For Anna, the big event is Boxing Day (December 26). There was to be a big party for which she was determined to have the whole room enclosed, even if it meant she was up on the roof alone on Christmas Day. David and Dianne, wwoofers from southern England, weren't particularly keen on having the day off, not when they could be doing something productive. I have to say I agreed in this instance. It really felt so close to completion, and with the threat of rain some days later I thought it made more sense to keep at it.

Christmas Eve morning:
So close to our goal, and yet so far. The roof is more than halfway covered, but it has taken several days to get this far.

At least it doesn't look like this anymore!

Two of the three outside walls are totally done, but the west wall is only hip height. Dianne is zooming along with it, but despite her remarkable progress we doubt it'll be complete before the party.

view from up top

Luck is on our side. The weather is beautiful, warming enough for t-shirts for a couple hours. Richard from Quebec has arrived, and his presence spotting Anna on the ladder and handing up tools speeds up the process considerably. And of course, work is more productive now that we aren't all entertaining the 8- and 3-year-old grandsons like we've been doing for a week. (They've gone on to stay with their 'normal granny' now.)

A few hours later: the design in Dianne's wall is really starting to show up, the roof is only lacking a few more panels and I have managed to patch most of the holes left in the metal from previous usage. (A side effect of this: I am covered in black tar.)

With so little left, Anna insists she'll be up on the roof bright and early to finish the next morning. I figure that as long as there's more panels going up I might as well patch them then and there, so I commit to the roof as well. Dianne says she might as well continue building up the wall, and David will make more cob than she can use. Richard will continue with ladder support.

Christmas Day:
Our early morning plans meet some obstacles. We've had a few visits from a skunk these last days, and Anna has an allergy attack and goes to the hospital for a breathing treatment before the crack of dawn. Half the day passes before they release her and she arrives back on the ranch, raring to go. This time, the weather is less pleasant, cold wind blowing and the sun vanishing behind an ever-growing haze of clouds. Finally, running out of screws as we fumble our way through attaching the very last panel, Anna informs me that I am climbing down from the roof the moment she is done. Patching the remaining holes is finish work; save it for another day. We pop the bottle of champagne to celebrate--the roof is up!