As we are all aware, our good friend Jim is in dire need of hobbies to pass his time till spring. I thought we could all help by offering suggestions,
I will start it off. My recommendation:

BODY PAINTING

don't get me in trouble now..............

Okay, how about knitting? or crocheting, I could teach you. Cooking, mechanics, drywalling, plumbing, electrical. Oh so many things and after you have learned all these, I shall hire you.

oh, I can do all those things--my problem is its just too darn cold to do it.
I was laid off work a year ago after 40 years of being an auto tech. In the last year, I've added more cabinets to the kitchen, changed the counter top because "we" didn't like the color, installed wood flooring in the living room, changed all the floor molding in the entire house, 2 days ago replaced the engine wiring harness in my old volvo because it caught on fire, lets see...I cook every night, threw a super-bowl party in which I cooked for about 16 people, and run errands every day. I think my problem is I'm used to getting things done, and since the weather has gone(or come south), I'm just sitting around waiting for spring. My greatest dilema is just sitting around waiting and trying to keep the coleus alive. But this happens to me every winter. The first time the weather gets warm and stays warm, I'm a new person. I'm not really an inside person,but cannot stand the cold. We got a 55" samsung LED for the living room last thanksgiving, and I've spent more time in the house watching HGTV garden shows in the last 3 or 4 months than I've been in the house for any reason, in the last 10 years. My next project is building a greenhouse-not a shadehouse-so this won't happen again. Something with heat,air,vents-whatever it needs so I always have something to do REGARDLESS of the weather............

Yes Jim, if you build a hoop house you can put plastic and shade cloth on it depending on weather. The problem with the steel framework is attaching stuff to it. Actually 4x4 posts will work just as well.

I'm actually thinking about something along those lines or attaching a "lean-to" roof with sides to my existing garden shed-( which is 12x22) and having everything all in one--from lawn mower repair to woodworking to plants.............
perhaps using that corrigated plastic"smoke colored" roofing material.

Jim, As to that corregated plastic for the roof, if you get the cheapest, the pvc, it will not last 2 seasons. However, if you get the higher cost one that is greenhouse quality, you will get more life from it.

My GH/Ochid House/porch was done with 2/3's opaque plastic and it's still good from 6/2006. The 1/3 I did with clear pvc, went brittle and cracked within a year. It took me 2 years to get around to replacing it.

The GH quality clear is still good since 2008.

Using the PVC clear as walls works differently since they are vertical surfaces and don't take the sun beating of the horizontal ones on the roof. Also, I take them down and store them in the carport attic from March until November.

Molly

I'd like to get the "smoke" color because I need 80% sun in the summer for most of my coleus. In fact, last summer I had to shield the west side of the shade house because it got too hot and intense. I used some shade cloth for that. Yes I'd like to make the sides were they are either detachable or fold out from the bottom for venting. When we get the afternoon t-storms, it gets windy and blows the plants off the shelves. Yes, the better pvc is expensive--about 20 bucks for a 12 ft. sheet here at lowes. The stuff has got to have a better R-value than the tarps I'm using now to retain heat. And I would never have guessed that kerosene was 4.59 a gallon!!-if you can find it. Had I known that last fall I would have gotten some l.p. gas heaters of just electric at this point would have been cheaper. I don't know how these big greenhouse guys do it-heat that is--its got to cost them a fortune . Plants at lowes this year will probably be 25% higher. I saw a small boston fern at lowes yesterday--I mean small-about a qt. container hanging baskets for $9.97 EACH.Thats nuts. Will probably be like that for everthing here shortly................

Good plan Jim, take pics so we can see your process start to finish.

First step in the process is convincing the wife "we" need to do this......LTM(laughing to myself)

Behind our house used to be an 18 acre lot with 2 acres of corrugated fiberglass greenhouses. It was built with 4x4x12s buried upright with 4' in the ground and 2x8x12 stretchers above with the panels nailed on. They used portable propane heaters in the winter and lots of huge fans in the summer. The air inlets had shade cloth with mist sprayers for a cooling effect. In 1995 the nursery owner sold the lot for 1.3 million, retired to south florida, and the new owner tore it all down, and built a housing development with 100 homes.

oh man, it would have been nice to get a couple acres of that with the greenhouses already there!

We had a huge grower near us (Earl J. Small) that went out of business and was replaced by condos. I kept looking for going out of business sale signs but never posted any. Probably just sold it with contents. They bulldozed it all down. What a waste.

whats going to happen when we put buildings on all the land we used to use to grow things??

They'll tear down the buildings to make room. LOL

I guess that'll keep someone busy...

back in the 90s I remember Earl J. Small grew some of the finest Gloxinias.
Rest In Peace.