I forgot to mention a couple nights ago that at the end of the day, I had gone over to Jim and Steph’s house and spent some time chatting with Jim about his future and his hopes and dreams.
One of the things that he mentioned was that he’s always wanted to be a farmer, and we started talking about that and what it might take and whatnot, living on the property that we do in having all the land that we do, but not having many actual resources other than the land.
That very night, I think as I was going from his house to ours, I jumped on Facebook Marketplace and found somebody in Oklahoma selling two three thousand square foot greenhouses for a really good price, a better price than any I had seen (periodically, I have looked for greenhouses for sale over the years).
So I got in contact with the guy right away, and I managed to arrange for him to hold the greenhouses for me until I could go look at them.
And today was the day!
I had told Jim about the greenhouses, and we chatted a bit about them and what it might look like for him to start trying to be a farmer as his source of income. He’s got multiple irons in the fire in an effort to be prepared for life at the end of the month when his current position will be removed, until we’ll be looking for another job.
I’m hoping that by getting these greenhouses, it might make it possible for him to have his dream of being a farmer. It’s the startup costs that are the biggest challenge, with greenhouses This size costing between 7 and $10,000, I think. Sometimes even more?
Anyway, so I’m crossing my fingers at this might open the door for him , but of course, he’s got a wife and financial obligations to think about, and he’s got to take all this to Mr Big Shot. But I think I see a little bit of excitement in him with the possibility.
And it’s super cool to be able to participate in helping other people’s dreams come true. Even if just little things.
And if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. If That direction doesn’t feel like the best place for him to go, then no worries. I’ll just sell what I bought, and move on to the next thing. 😊
As I work toward trying to make the world a better place with my non-profit stuff, I’m trying to make sure that I put family and friends at the top spot of what I’m doing.
I probably already wrote about that.
Most of my family, gratefully, is doing just fine financially. So that’s great. 😊
Anyway, I arranged to borrow Miguel’s truck and trailer again, wonderful friend that he is letting me borrow his truck again, And I drove out to Eucha, Oklahoma to have a look at the greenhouse, fingers crossed.
🤞
Eucha, Oklahoma is about an hour and 20 minute drive from where I live, so not too bad, but not really close either. But it was totally worth the drive in the hopes of getting greenhouses for a really good deal.
When I got there and started inspecting the greenhouses, one of them was damaged a tiny bit from what I’m guessing was a pretty big wind storm. The frame itself was fine, for the most part, but one of the rollers on one side had blown all the way up and into a tree, the metal bent in a bunch of different directions.
Still, even in the condition it was, I felt like it was easily well worth the asking price. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind.
And then there was the other greenhouse.
😲
It was just about completely intact. The plastic on the top still pretty much usable. Bug screen wrapped all the way around the outside. The roller functional so you can roll up the bottom of the huge tarp for cross breezes. It even had screen doors. 😲
I was super excited.
It was basically in a state of being able to disassemble transport and reassemble and be ready to go!
(granted, disassembling a completely intact 3000 ft² greenhouse is no joke. That’s a lot a lot a lot of work. But still, for the price! And for the opportunity to potentially give my Hill brother the chance at realizing a lifelong dream? There wasn’t a doubt in my mind. I very happily forked over the money for both greenhouses, excited and hopeful that my brother would be excited as well and that maybe, just maybe, it would feel right for him to start going strong on making a living as a farmer.
I really hope so, for his sake. 😊
Anyway, I let him know that I had bought the greenhouses, and I also let him know that there was absolutely zero pressure and zero obligation because I got them for good enough price but I wasn’t worried about him deciding not to pursue farming as his main vocation. I could easily sell them, or so I think anyway, and either break even or make money.
So, not much of a risk, and lots of upside in the code 10 she’ll for good things to happen. 😊
🤞
After buying the greenhouses, I spent probably three or four hours or so working on disassembling them.
Wait, actually, I think it was longer. I realized I didn’t have all the tools I needed for disassembling, specifically, I didn’t have any torx driver bits for my drill.
(somehow my brain didn’t register the fact that I did have torx sockets and could have used my impact wrench. 😅
So I drove about 20 minutes away and bought a set of driver bits and sockets of the common sizes that people deal with when doing the basic construction stuff for framing and sheetrock and all that jazz.
After getting back, I think that’s when I spent another three or four, or maybe even 5 hours working on disassembling stuff. Honestly, I don’t know how long it was, but it was a long time, and I didn’t leave until after dark.
When I got back, I unloaded everything from the trailer that I had disassembled from the greenhouse. It took a little while, and Jim got back while I was unloading, so he helped me unload a little bit, as I was in the road in the way of him getting to his house. 🙃
Oh, I hope he gets to be a farmer! 🙃
After finishing up in Oklahoma, I headed back by way of Centerton, I think it was. I had one customer who’d been waiting for me for a couple days, and so even though it was might 8 something (or whatever it was), I swung by to diagnose it. If I remember correctly, turned out to be a coolant leak at the water pump, quick is a bigger job than i want to do because it’s quasi part of the timing system.
I also gave them a heads up on the likely issues they’ll be facing with that car in the future (all the timing stuff that those GMC Terrains and sister vehicles have issues with.
From there, I went over to the Sam’s Club in Bentonville because i had a car on my schedule that was broken down there, so I picked up the key from it and spent a tad bit of time working on it.
Originally, they asked me to just come over and put an alternator in it, because they felt pretty confident that’s what it was.
But after thinking a bit more about it, they decided to have me diagnose it. Which was good, because it wasn’t an alternator. I didn’t stay too long with the vehicle. Just love enough to verify it wasn’t the battery or alternator, most likely a starter or something like that…
So that was that…
In the meantime, it was my mom’s birthday today! 😬
And little Stephen wasn’t around for the entire stinking day. 😕
I wished her a happy birthday in the morning.
Having missed most of it might actually help with the surprise for the beemer, though? Like maybe it would be a little sad because I wasn’t around, but then maybe it would make the Sunday morning surprise all the better?
🤞
I didn’t give her anything for her birthday on her birthday. I’m not very good at giving gifts, sometimes, so not getting something from me isn’t a shock to anyone’s system, I don’t think. 😅
When I got back, I spent a little face-to-face time with her just talking about her day and everything. We had a good little conversation as she told me about the different things that had happened during the day and how it had been a beautiful birthday.
That was nice. 😊
I realized, though, that the keys for the Z3 were in my cup holder in my work van which was at Miguel’s shop. 😅
Which meant that I needed to drive all the way back over to west Bella Vista to pick up my van, and if I was going to go all the way back there, I might as well drop off the truck and trailer and everything.
So after the nice little conversation with my mom, I drove over to Bella Vista, positioned Miguel’s truck and trailer back where they needed to go, which was quite the feat in and of itself because he had some cars parked in ways that I had to spend a good long time maneuvering and getting out and checking, and maneuvering and getting out and checking, so I didn’t hit any of his customers’ cars.
I also worked it out with my neighbor friend Dan that I was going to swing by in the morning and get the BMW moved from his dad’s shop to his dad’s garage. Dan suggested that we move it because with all the rain, it was a muddy mess getting from the gate up to the shop where the beemer was parked.
So I arranged to swing by around 10:00 in the morning to move the beemer over.
By the time I got home, I think it was after midnight? Whatever it was, it was late. But greenhouses have been bought. And the stage is set for the big reveal tomorrow.
🥳🥰
Lift the world.
~ stephen
Lift the World 