A New Use for an Old Greenhouse

When we built the house in ’97, we had specific plans to attach a greenhouse at some point. The builder looked askance when we told him NOT to put a window on the back side of one room because we were going to build a greenhouse. Actually, the builder looked askance fairly frequently at some of our strange requests…

In 1999, the Boss finally got around to building that greenhouse. We have used it constantly ever since. Without it we couldn’t start our seedlings for planting and would be forced to buy starts. This would get incredibly expensive. By starting our own seedlings, we are also able to have a diversity of plants and varieties that would otherwise be impossible.

We have used it for all sorts of other projects, too. Drying things, painting things, you name it, the greenhouse has probably seen that kind of use.

However, we never intended to use it as easy access to the roof. Never even thought of that one!

The back porch is fairly close to the greenhouse. The curved shape makes it accessible to the cats. One of the cats found that by jumping from the porch to the greenhouse, the roof is an easy climb. What a vantage point for bird “watching”!

One cat had an ongoing “issue” with a mockingbird who would sit on the roof and mock her. She took matters into her own paws and began stalking the bird while it sat on the roof! There are little claw marks up one side of the plastic where cat traffic has been repeatedly.

We hadn’t had a cat on the roof for a long time…until yesterday.

The Boss and I were in the office when we heard a BOING…or was it a THUMP?... outside. “WHAT was THAT?” The sound reminded me of…reminded me of…oh, yeah…a cat on the greenhouse!

When I walked out back, there he was…scaling the roof. The Indiana Jones of the cat world.

Booooyyy was checking out the chimney, talking to himself. By the time he got over the ridge and down to the front porch, he had apparently decided this adventure thing wasn’t such a good idea, and he started to cry. (look close, he's under the dormer) The dogs were cavorting around, trying to figure out how to get their furry immenseness up there and have a little fun. The more he cried, the more they cavorted. I called them all from the backyard.

The thrill of adventure behind him, Booooyyy went back over the house to begin the descent.
Hmmm, looks like it’s a long way down!

Mama? Help me Mama!

Oh, wait….what’s this interesting thing? Hmm, something to eat?

Finally, he decided to hop off the side of the greenhouse.


With that adventure over, he’s off looking for something to eat elsewhere.

With interruptions like this one being regular occurrences...it's no wonder I don't get anything done!