C.S.Lewis and the Temporary Bed Covers

My dear old retired Bible College Professor, Wally, was a big fan of C.S. Lewis.  Wally said Lewis got the idea for his book --- ‘The Screwtape Letters’ (about an arch demon writing letters to his subordinate demon) --- while sitting in a church service during a sermon.  He speculated that perhaps Lewis found the sermon boring and was daydreaming.  I didn’t agree with Wally’s perspective. 

I believe one gets the best ideas during a church service because that’s often when and where the Holy Spirit is moving.  At least that’s how I’ve found it.  I used to write for a club newsletter and many of my articles were just the gospel according to M.R. but the very best topics would come to me in church or when I was praying.  The ones that really meant something to the Lord and to people’s hearts.

For some time now I’ve had this problem on building a quick, temporary, easy to set up, clear plastic bed cover -- kind of like a mini greenhouse.  I had hoped to make several of them and move them around the garden in the spring.  First, they’d go over the onions, then maybe the strawberries, and later the beans or corn or squashes.  The covers would give the crops that extra bit of warmth during our incessant rains of our Pacific North West Spring.

Several years ago, I built one with galvanized electrical conduiting bent in the shape of a small house.  But it was a pain to put together using extra 2 X 3’s and screws and staples and such, it turned out to be heavy and very awkward and it was only six feet long.  It also had to be dismantled to be stored properly.  Here's what the three 'trusses' look like.

 

I’ve been at an impasse for years on how to get something else going.  TOG offered me some of his new wire spring loops and some row cover cloth but the wire hoops were for 30 inch beds and all in all that wasn’t quite what I was looking for.

Two and a half years ago, my Care Group Leader challenged me to keep a prayer journal.  After a grand struggle, I went for it and after a lifetime of a scatter gun prayer style I got organized and pushed through a more disciplined system in talking with God.  It’s definitely not gimme this and gimme that but rather praying for people in my life that need His cover and support.

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—" 1 Timothy 2:1 (NIV)

 

My parents had done that – that’s what helped keep me on the straight and true, and now I was finally, more constructively, doing the same for people in my life, my friends and my family (there’s 20 of us at the dinner table when we’re all together).  But it’s still not quite an easy thing to do.

My Lovely Wife is an early person and usually turns off her light before 8:00 pm.  I’m more nocturnal and quit at midnight.  So I have this free time in the evening that could be used for good things.  If I haven’t stopped for prayer and it gets too late I do skip that evening.  And that’s what was happening a few nights ago.

It was getting late and I was debating not stopping my Most Important Activities and not taking time to pray when that old verse landed in my head.

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33 (NIV)

Okay. Sure, I’ll take time for His kingdom.  And I did.

Something I’ve done since 1965 is read a passage of my Bible each night and near midnight, that same evening, before I turned off my light I was reading in 2 Peter,….. but I couldn’t concentrate on the passage.  Into my small mind was the solution to my old bed cover problem! 

I had a bit of trouble falling asleep that night.  My sleepy brain was trying to do the math in the dark. ½ (π d) = ?  That’s half the circumference of a circle or the length of a round arc over a bed.  Where d = 4 feet (bed width).  Would this work?  3.14 X 4 = 12.56.  ½ of 12.56 = 6.28 feet for an arc that is as high as it is wide.  I finally fell asleep.

For several years I’ve been using 4 foot by 6 foot sections of wire fencing for a number of things: lying flat on the newly seeded beds to keep the neighbours’ cats from digging it up, or setting up on 10 inch flowerpots over newly transplanted lettuces or onions (cats again), and holding autumn leaves on top of the carrot beds from blowing away in winter, plus making quick bins for storing my surplus leaves in the fall.  When not in use these sections hang on nails on my fence.

By pounding four small pegs into the edges of my paths to hold the wire fence section in position I could now use them for semi rigid wire arcs over a bed.  The pressure of the wire edge against the pegs held the section in an arc. 

 

Throw on some plastic with a few rocks on the paths to hold it there and I think I have a proper row tunnel. 

 

This can all be done quickly and easily, and I can remove the plastic anytime the days are warmer.  Right now it isn’t so much for warming or heating but more for keeping the cold rain off the struggling beans.

The 6 foot sections aren’t quite 6.28 feet and the pegs are a bit more than 4 feet apart so the arc is moderately flatter than a mathematical half cylinder but it stays clear of the plants and supports the plastic well.

 

And I won’t take any credit for this idea.  I’m just a regular guy of a cracked pot variety.

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”  2 Corinthians 4:7 (NIV)

 

PTL!

Happy Gardening.