Whimsy's Complete-ish

The lower windows were a breeze to put in, even if the windows on the north required some tetris-like puzzle solving. After that, we had to put in the upper windows. We'd designed a rather dramatic pitch to the roof so that the snow could slide off, but that left us with triangle shaped gaps on the east and west side of Whimsy that needed windows installed.

The mounting block served double duty as my stepstool.

Jay and I had found these amazing hinged windows that I wanted to install for air movement. Even without all of the windows in, Whimsy was holding a lot of heat during the day. Mom and I hung the first window, and built the frame around it. As you can see from the ratchet strap securing the window, that didn't work out so well.

Back to the drawing board. We took out the window and built a frame that would fit the space and hold all of the windows. Who knew doing it the correct way would be easiest?

The frame secured the hinged windows much better - no ratchet straps required!

I hung curtains in an attempt to keep the heat down.

We were left with odd shapes that would need to be filled in with something. Mom did some research and learned how to cut glass. It's stupidly simple, but also stupidly easy to break the glass when you get too cocky. I thought stained glass windows would look gorgeous on Whimsy, but the cost, plus the odd sizes meant that stained glass wasn't going to be an option. Bionic Cowgirl to the rescue again! While picking up the pieces of glass from the craft store, she happened upon some stencils and picked them up.

We measured the openings carefully, drew out what we needed on graph paper, and went to town on making our own windows. It was fun.

When it came time to put the windows up, I realized that even though we measured carefully, we didn't take into account the fact that we'd need some "wiggle room" to seat the windows without breaking them. Cutting glass is easy. Trimming already cut glass by 1/4" is not and I broke more than one window trying.

You can see where I scored the glass, and then it broke as I was trying to snap it off.

Dang it! Back to the craft store for more glass.

Eventually, I managed to get all of the east and west side windows in. It was definitely the most difficult part of the whole build.

I accidentally painted on the wrong side of the window,
so I slapped some Mod-Podge on it to protect it from the weather.

I broke the big window, so I just cut off the broken part,
cut a new end piece and framed it in.

Whimsy had complete windows in three sides, but I needed to do something with the upper windows on her south side. It was evident that in the summer, she gathered a lot of heat, and I didn't think that adding more glass was going to be a great idea. Instead, above each large window, I stretched some screen material across and installed solar-powered fans. The fans were smaller than I expected, but they've worked beautifully for moving air. They worked well enough that I bought a third one to use in our bedroom window during the summer.

Whimsy had everything except a door.

I had been stalling when it came to a door for Whimsy. I figured at worst, I could make one out of plywood (gross). I had a few windows left that we hadn't been able to find a home for, but I was in love with two of them and had to figure out how to use them.

I played around with the idea of turning them into a Dutch door. The more I thought about it, the more I fell in love with the idea. 

Did I have any clue whatsoever of how to build a Dutch door? Nope.

Had I any clue how to build a greenhouse when we started? Nope.

Why would I let a little thing like not knowing how to do something stop me? So I set about hanging the windows, one above the other to make my door.

I still needed to build up the frame on the right.

If you look closely, you can see the pomegranates.

Since not a thing on Whimsy is square, her door frame is more of a Franken-frame, but it works. I'll probably spend some time this summer fixing the frame so that it looks better. It was October before we got her door installed, and cold weather was right around the corner. I couldn't get my idea for the Dutch door to work the way I wanted it to, and we were running out of good weather. Jay and I just put a piece of wood across the inside of the door to join the two windows together and called it good.

The window above the door was the very last one of what we'd picked up at the beginning of the project and was the perfect size for above the door. With the big screens on each side of the door, I didn't feel bad about putting in more glass. But ... Whimsy needed something to finish her off (besides finishing the paint job). I had an idea for just the thing!

Mrs. Deejo has every craft tool known to (wo)man and I drew on her expertise to make Whimsy and the pomegranate girls signs.

I hung heavy duty plastic over the screens and all of the big windows, added a thick layer of mulch to the girls' tires, and covered it with black trash bags. Whismy and the girls were as ready for Winter 2023 as they could be.

The Whimsical Treehouse

Pretty quickly after we started working on the greenhouse, we started calling it the treehouse, since it was going to house the pomegranate trees. Also, the treehouse's personality came out, and she's definitely a she.

The big panes of glass that Mom brought down from the Lodge were the easiest windows to install. We had some help from the boys, and it went quickly. 

What took the most time was finding other windows to use. Facebook Marketplace was my savior. I found free windows in LaPorte that Mom and I picked up, and then I found a few really cool old windows in Cheyenne for cheap. I picked up a few others here and there along the way.

The freebies were a great find, but they were a bunch of different sizes.

We went shopping at LE Depot and found some planks to fill in the gaps.

In order to seal the cracks in the pallets, I used spray foam. As you can tell, I am a pro at it.

Fitting the windows in was like putting a puzzle together.

By the time we were putting the windows in the north side of the treehouse, it was July. Natasha and Yelena had moved into their home in May, so we were working around them. I'd also planted some tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets, and some concord grapes in tires Mom and I found along the road one day.

Free is good, right?

I found some old hog fence and t-posts to use as a trellis for the grapes.

One day, I was lamenting to LE that the treehouse didn't look quite like I'd imagined, with its windows of all shapes and sizes. She told me that she loved it, that it was "whimsical", and just like that The Whimsical Treehouse was born. We are definitely a nickname family, so the greenhouse's name got shortened to Whimsy rather quickly. 

The Greenhouse

Holy cow, it's been a LONG time! I started this post in September of '23 and am just now getting back to it. Frankly, my posting had been pathetic prior to my parents' accident, and basically non-existent after that. I'm feeling the itch to write again, so here I am! Friends, we have so much to get caught up on!

Jay and I took an amazing trip to Germany and Italy in September of  '22. One of the things I was surprised to learn was how pomegranates were grown. They're one of my favorite fruits in the whole world, but I never gave a thought about where they came from, or how they're grown. 

This was taken at our agriturismo in Tuscany

I became obsessed with the thought of growing pomegranates for myself, and started researching them. They don't really grow in Colorado, but there is one variety, the Russian 26, that is fairly cold tolerant, down to 10*F. I found one instance of someone growing a pomegranate in the Denver area, in his greenhouse, and I became determined to do the same.

I knew the pomegranates would need protection from the cold in the winter, so I had the grand idea of building a greenhouse out of old windows. I'd seen pictures on social media and became obsessed with the idea.

I mean, who *wouldn't* want something like this?

Before Mom and Bill's accident, I even talked it over with them, because I knew that Bill had purchased some big windows for the lodge after their picture window had been vandalized. I wanted to buy the extra windows from them for the greenhouse.

After the accident, once things were sort of normal, I decided to go ahead with the greenhouse. I had some amazing pallets that Deejo had given us years before. They'd been acting as  training bridges for the horses, but they were perfect for the walls of the greenhouse! Mom agreed to let me have the "spare" windows from the Lodge. It was a start.

Skeeter training over what would become the greenhouse walls.

In May of '23, Mom and I started our summer mother-daughter project: to build a greenhouse for the pomegranate trees I'd ordered. 

Did either of us know what we were doing? Nope! 

Did it stop us? Also nope! 

I mean, have you met us? When the GunDiva and the Bionic Cowgirl put their minds to something, the universe just better get the hell out of the way and let us do our thing.

That's not to say we didn't have a plan, we did. I put a lot of thought into how to keep the roots of the plants warm throughout the coldest days of the winter. We typically have around ten days of sub-zero temps each winter, in January or February, so I knew I had to keep those roots warm and happy. To do so, I decided that I'd plant them in tires, so the black of the tire would act as a heat sink. I also decided that I'd put black weed barrier down as the floor to attract more heat, insulate the walls with bubble wrap, and cover them with black trash bags, all in hopes of drawing as much heat as possible.

I wanted to use as many reclaimed and recycled things as possible, partly to keep my inner hippie happy, partly to keep the cost down. LE offered up her basement scraps, which I came to refer to as shopping at LE Depot. Her "scraps" were amazing! When she remodeled her house many years ago, a friend had forbidden her from throwing them away. I am forever thankful, because we found a lot of useable lumber that saved us hundreds of dollars.

Mom drew out some plans on graph paper, then on May 7, 2023, we broke ground. We spent most weekends throughout the summer working on the greenhouse. It quickly became known as the "treehouse" because it was built specifically to house my pomegranate trees. 

We chose a sunny area near to LE's garden.

Just laying out the pallets made it feel more real

Setting the posts.

Installing the "walls".

Pomegranates can grow to between 10' - 12', so we made the front just over 10'. The rear is 6'.

This beam is not even close to straight, but it came from Mom and Beel's old horse shed, so it had to be used.

We had to call in some additional help to get the beams in.

Starting to take shape.

Rafters going up.

Bionic Cowgirl channeling her inner monkey.

I had to take a selfie to prove that Mom wasn't the only one working on the greenhouse.

Once the rafters were up, we called on the boys to help get the roof on, and to cap the pallets in preparation for the windows.

Roof's on (and one window set).