Let there be flowers

So if you’ve followed this blog you might have noticed that we take on some fairly oddball and eclectic projects.  It’s not because we lie awake at night and try to think of these ‘interesting’ projects.  We actually see a need… and just aren’t scared of the work or the ‘we’ve never done that before’ or ‘we don’t know how’, or ‘we don’t have the skillset’ (my personal favorite).  Those phrases we hear from other people, just aren’t in our vocabulary.  Many of our projects, believe it or not, come about because we come up with some good idea… but we can’t buy ‘it‘ or it is too expensive to buy.

Take our concrete table for instance.  Who builds their own concrete table?  We didn’t set out to build our own concrete table… but we were just too cheap to pay the 4 figures for a seemingly simple concrete table.  We asked instead… ‘how hard could it be’?  Well… we found out!

But I digress…  We are still working on the project that just keeps giving… our pizza oven. Somehow it’s hard to work outside when the ground is covered with ice and snow.  But we are determined to find an end to this project so that we can move on to something else.  So we put in the wiring and the lights.

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We put lights under the eaves of the pizza oven roof, aiming down at the granite counter top.  We also hung mood lights in the trees.  We draped them across the drive way, drawing the eye to the pizza oven itself.  To do so, we erected a tall 12′ post to swag the lights between.  We found the tall silver post, at least during the daylight, to be a bit of an eyesore.

At night, you can’t really see the post, and the lights look good.

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So we decided that the silver post needed something to distract from it.  Maybe it’s being in the middle of winter with snow all around, and more expected.  Maybe it’s our unconscious desire for the onslaught of Spring.   Wellll…..

When we were in New Mexico in November 2015 (just a couple months ago), we went to Ruidoso as recommended by our friend Gary. We purchased a ‘bushel’ of metal flowers and brought it home, not knowing exactly what to do with it.  It has sat in our basement ever since.  That is until we were looking for something to distract from that silver post.  So we cut the base off and the flowers apart and re-purposed them… trimming them and cutting them back, flattening their ends, and drilling holes in them.  We painted the post and mounted the flowers, carefully arranged, like a vertical flower arrangement.  Let there be color in the middle of our winter.  No more eye sore of a silver post… Let there be flowers.

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Much better!

And people ask us what we do in retirement.

Nutin’ .  Sit around and drink coffee all day. 🙂

 

 

 

Costa Mesa / Newport Beach

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We haven’t been to California in a bit.. life gets in the way, there are so many other places to go… and do… you know how it goes.  But it was time to visit our friends, Danube and Bobby, in Del Mar… and pick up some sushi grade fish to freeze for awesome ‘tuna trios’ at home.

Every time we go, we try to shake it up and do different things, so as not to tire from the same ol’ – same ol’.  We have done the downtown San Diego and Point Loma thing… and  the ever interesting Solano Beach and Cedros District.  Last time we were in the area we stumbled into the Culinary District in SoCo (South Coast), where there are foodie stores, cheese stores and other culinary temptations.  So we decided to make a food holiday of it after our wonderful visit with friends.  We hit Surfas and the Cheese Shop.  We ate well at restaurants in South Coast and Newport (see my reviews at  krittersmenu.com ), trying new places… and old.

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We checked out The Wedge at the end of Balboa Island, which was a great way to watch the waves at sunset.

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We had a mocha shake at Shake Shack – highly recommended, and walked the Crystal Cove beach – very picturesque.

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All in all, it was a terrific trip… a great visit with friends… walks on the beach at sunset … and amazing food and new experiences with beautiful scenery and good weather.  Check out more photos on  kritterspix.com

Mountain Snow

My friends in the Phoenix are all talking about the torrential rains they are having.  The storm this week has given us some much needed precipitation… all in one week.  While Phx is dealing with their large volumes of rain… we GOT SNOW!

 

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Our local ski resort, Snowbowl, is reporting the best year in a decade, with up to 100″ of snow!  55″ this week alone.  Flagstaff is reporting 30″ this week, and here in Happy Jack we probably got about 16″ this week.

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Our dog, Journey is loving it.  What is it about snow and pets… they are like little kids …. oh boy, oh boy… SNOW!journey snofac_Ssi.JPG

Totally fun to watch.

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Pizza Oven Final

Finally, you get to see the finale of the Pizza Oven.  It’s been a long hard 6 months of labor… and while it’s still not quite done, here is the final installment of our efforts.

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We still have yet to complete the lower ‘cabinet’ doors, hook up the gas jets, and complete the wiring, lights, etc.  But winter is here, and Christmas is coming… so it’s time to do something else that is more in keeping with the weather… like go cut down a Christmas tree.

This project has been larger than life… and exemplifies our mantra – go big or go home.  It has consumed our year with it’s many facets, but it’s final result is something we can step back from and be pleased with.  Now on to experimenting with it and perfecting great recipes in our new wood fired / gas outdoor oven.

 

Salt Cellars

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As we continue to finish up the pizza oven exterior (currently working on the pizza oven doors), we shift our attention to the ‘accompaniments’ to the pizza oven.  Not only will be have to develop custom drawers and ‘tool rack’, we’ll have to develop the tools themselves (pizza peel, brush, etc.) and a system to break them down for storage.  Alas, we are not quite there yet.

But we did find time to make salt cellars for the salt, crushed red pepper, and oregano condiments that will accompany the pizzas once they are finally coming out of the oven.

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We made several… out of red heart cedar… and spruce.  They’ll make great details for our custom pizza oven.  I’m ready to make pizza… too bad our pizza oven isn’t.

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First Snow

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I must admit, I never ever thought I could get used to snow.  I hate the cold.

But never say never.  Now that we live somewhere where we have 4 seasons, I enjoy every one of them… including the snow.  There is something pristine and innocent about the beauty and cleanness of snow.

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It hangs on the trees and coats the ground in white fluffy clumps.  If one is lucky, the first snow of the year coincides with the end of fall… and changing of the colors, yielding an intersection of seasons in all it’s beauty.  Check out my Snow Trees post on kritterspix.com.

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Sand Patterns

While I’d like to post my 3rd and final video on the pizza oven, it’s just still a long way from done.

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It’s coming along… slowly though it may be.  Here’s a pic to show you the current progress.  So many people think… pizza oven, what’s taking so long.  So let this picture give you a different perspective and a teaser until the final video details it’s many still left undone steps.. like building our own roof, our own doors, countertop border, stone facade, etc.

So this blog entry offers a distraction from the pizza oven.  Wouldn’t want anyone thinking we’re all work and no play.

We recently got back from Page, AZ.  Now there isn’t much in Page, AZ as far as charming towns, shopping, or restaurants.  But it is full of natural wonders, textures, shapes and colors.  Page is home to Antelope Canyon (see my photos posted on kritterspix.com).

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I am far from an avant garde photographer.  I concentrate mostly on landscape & wildlife.  Having said that, Page is full of interesting difficult-to-capture textures and colors.

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I love what my friend Gayle shared… now all I have to do is learn to make countertops out of my textures.  Thanks, Gayle.  You’re awesome.  You’ll be the first to get a set when I do!

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Pizza Oven, Part Two: The Oven

If doing the prep wasn’t enough of a chore… building the actual oven, was a mathematical, mind bending, brick laying challenge.   But gratifying none the less.  The bigger the challenge, the larger the reward.  We worked hard, and yielded great results.

They have been making pizza ovens for centuries… so what makes it so hard?  As someone who saw what we were doing… “it isn’t a kit?” No.  How do you know where they go… each row is custom.. and each piece individual.  Not only is it not a kit.. we have no plans.  If we weren’t worried about doing a quality job, with good clean joints, and sharp lines… it would have been an easier task.  But we took our time to assure we could ‘productionize’ each step, making the joints as small as possible, and thermal dynamics (and heat transfer) as uniform and even as we could to make an efficient, sound, and beautiful oven.

Each day is an adventure… and with it’s own reward.

For those who have done it… welcome us to the club… it was a daunting challenge, one we feel proud and stronger for having achieved.  Wow.  What an endeavor!

Check it out….

Pizza Oven Video

Pizza Oven, Part One: The Prep

We normally do one big project each year.. along with quite a number of smaller projects.  We have moved outside for this year’s project and got a wild hair to do a pizza oven.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  We looked into buying one (which probably would have been a wise choice), but looked at the cost, particularly for a gas & wood fired oven.. and decided (like so many things we do) that we could do it ourselves.

So we embarked on this journey that continues … and continues.

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We identified where it would go and how we would go about it.  It should sit on a concrete block pad, which we would later wrap with stone and granite counter tops.  The oven itself would sit on top… and have a concrete pad lead in… and a flagstone area around it, where we would put the concrete table we made (remember that earlier post?).

Who knew how much work just doing the prep would be.  Suffice it to say it has been filled with long days and a lot of back breaking work… but it’s finally starting to look like something.  I gathered some photos and built this little video.  Wordpress does not allow me to upload directly, so I posted it on YouTube.

Check it out.  Next, we can now actually start the pizza oven itself.  Stay tuned…

Pizza Oven Prep