In The Cool Cool Shade

Even in the winter, in the desert, the sun gets hot during the day! At night? Not so much- then even the spring and summer nights cool off considerably. But for a body....and more importantly for this discussion, vegetables need to "keep their cool." And that, dear friends, requires some shade of one form or another. And since we have no trees of any size yet, and since the shed has no porch roof overhang, we went off in search of some "cool" for ourselves and our lettuce and other veggies we hope to grow while having an extended stay here. It has been a labor of love- but a labor none-the-less. I suppose it is always like that. But what can you do? And in this case what we COULD do, was landscape another couple lots at the same time as we were doing our construction projects. Muscles....old muscles in particular, only have so much "do" in them and then they either get sore, cramp up, or go to sleep. Maybe all three! But if pushing it keeps us young, then we are just a couple of kids having a good time- and that's the way we like it!

When the light fades into the night...and if there is any energy left at all, we sit outside until the chill drives us in. Next door neighbors Tom and Michelle have a nice fire pit (gas) that throws some nice heat and we sometimes do "dogs" or marshmallows on the flames. We have a small on as well, but that is not yet set up. Soon.

Back to the shade structure. We built my design on the ground in stages and when all the components were ready we enlisted the neighbors and friends to help us hoist them into position. It could not have gone better. Parts were accurate to the 1/16 of an inch. Not bad for an overall 12 x 16 foot structure eight feet off the ground. We even amazed ourselves with that one! And because the planning was good, the application was relatively simple and effortless. It went well. Whew!

So now we have a place to hide from heat when it shows up. And the veggies have refuse both from the sun and the rabbits. Now if I can just keep Michelle next door from "grazing" the lettuce- life will be good!

Here's a look at how things stand now. Finishing touches yet to come....