inveniam viam

This weekend, I'm going to be buying things for my projects. I have *four* projects on the table:

-- Get the upstairs bedroom wired, insulated and sheetrocked.

-- Get the greenhouse built and put the fish tank up.

-- start on the treehouse.

-- start on the gazebo.

So, this weekend, I hope to buy romex, electrical boxes, wiring nuts and insulation for the bedroom, fencing and landscaping fabric for the gazebo growing towers, and the 4X4s and footing hardware for the treehouse. I might also get 1X6s and the plastic for the aquaponics growing beds.

I have classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, and I work Tues, Thur, Fri and Sat. So I only have Sundays off -- and that is going to have to change. I'm going to break it to my client that as of next week, I'm going to go down to three days.

Our kids are coming down the first week of April and I'm so excited! I need to have that bedroom sheetrocked before they come.

Hmmmm -- maybe the family would like to help build the treehouse? That might be really fun! If I have all the stuff together and the footings set, we could put it up in an afternoon.

I make plans for things all the time. Sometimes I'm able to pull it off and sometimes not; I think I'm running about 50/50 right now. I'm excited about this new tank idea because it's very doable. Here are the steps and estimated time frame for getting it done.

1) reorganize the basement -- the area that I'm putting the tank in is full of stuff that needs to be hauled to the opposite side of the basement. This will take several hours and I'll have to strong-arm Luke into helping.

2) purchase supplies -- I'm getting 100 ft. of galvanized wire fencing, extra because I want some for a project over in the garden area, fan-fold ridged insulation, and 4 mil plastic sheeting. Total cost of about $200. I should have the money for this in about four weeks.

3) construction -- it's pretty straight forward; cut out a circle for the bottom of the tank, cut the fencing and wire it together, cut the insulation, and lay in the plastic.

4) plumbing -- the tank will need a sump pump and timer, and water lines to feed up to the growing beds. I'll have about 50 sq.ft. of growing bed, but haven't planned out exactly what I'll be growing there. I'll need another $200 for the pump and water lines.

5) garden beds -- I'm going to make raised beds right on the ground. I'll need 1x6 boards for the sides and more of the heavy-duty plastic to line it. Hopefully, I can find scrap wood for this. Then the beds will need to be filled with pea gravel I think (that's what I'm going with for now) -- so for 50 sq ft of surface area that's 1 foot deep, I'll need 50 cubic feet of pea gravel, or 1.8 cubic yards.

Actually, sitting here thinking about it, I just figured out how I'm going to design the beds. I'll have one long bed running east-west along the back of the house and another C-shaped, raised bed in the greenhouse. I'll have a used leaf-gutter hanging above the raised bed for lettuce or spinach. Or maybe strawberries, I dunno.