March 19 – “Taming the trellis”

We have one of those old Franklin cast iron fireplaces.  The vent goes out through the side of the house, then turns and goes up.  The fireplace used to located in the center of one of the interior walls, and the vent used to go straight through the roof, but it always leaked.  So after Hurricane Ike we moved the fireplace to the corner and ran the vent through the side of the house as it was originally designed to do.  Our contractor had to build a frame for the part that went outside when we had it installed.  It looks weird, kind of like a spaceship on the launching pad waiting to take off.  So Chris wanted to cover it with a trellis – some of that lattice work that she could put plants near and let them grow up to cover it.   Yesterday was taming the trellis day.  It was one of those jobs that looks very simple when you begin, but the more you get into it, the more "opportunity" opens up.  We went to Home Depot to actually buy the lattice.  First hidden choice – plastic or wood?  Deep down in my heart it is very difficult for me to vote for anything other than wood, but I was determined to let Chris have whatever she wanted.  She wanted it to be white and easy, and the plastic was already white, so we almost picked plastic.  Almost.  As we talked through what we would have to do to cut it and connect it, the plastic became more trouble than it was worth.  So we bought wood.    Then we had to cut it to fit our launching pad, so which saw to use?  I got out a small hand saw, but once I laid the 4 x 8 sheet on the ground, and measured and marked it, I saw the folly of my ways and went back for the skill saw.  Power tools.  Aar, aar. Cut and ready to install, right?  Wrong.  When we held it up we realized that an extra piece of wood was sticking out on the top of the structure, but not on the bottom.  No doubt had something to do with the launch procedure.  But that meant we had no place on the bottom to nail to.  So we had to cut an old 2 X 4 to fit, then paint it to match the rest of the structure, then nail it up.   Now, nail it up.  Chris wanted it to fit as close to the roof as possible, so she had to hold it up while I nailed.  The two sides went in just fine.  But then there was the front.  How were we to connect it?  There was no part of the structure available to affix it to.  Nails?  Wire the three sides together?  Some combination of the two?  The frame-makers had not been exact in their measurement of the frame, and surely I didn't make any errors in measuring or cutting, so it didn't quite fit.  We had to bend it a little to get the edges to come together.  That meant nails wouldn't stay in.  I didn't have any screws small enough to hold them together, and I really didn't want to make another trip to Home Depot, so we finally settled on a combination of nails and wire.  It's up there.  And I added only two more cuts to my body full of aching muscles and joints.  Bring on the plants.   Isaiah 57:15 says, "For this is what the high and lofty One says — he who lives forever, whose name is holy: 'I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.'"   Father, I need some of that reviving.  Again.  Amen.