Meet Billy

In order to keep up with the single woman typecast, I added another cat to our household! Billy is a year old and was raised with a dog; that’s probably what attracted me to him. It shows good dispositions and that’s very important. Although he seemed quite independent and had no problem spending long amount of time exploring the outdoors, he also keeps close by if I’m outside or just follows cat #1, Nita around. Today was the day he was being neutered. That’s the responsible thing to do but I’m also hoping that will be the end of the spraying he’s been doing around the house to mark his new territory. So far, so good with Nita; although I must say this week was a bit more difficult: lots of fighting and loud meowing. I’m hoping we’ll all get along nicely soon!

Feb 12 2010

What's with this weather? No accumulation of snow so far and the lake is not frozen yet! I'm so afraid spring will never come because winter didn't happen!

This picture is from February 12th, but it's still the same today, other than being a gray-ish fall-like day.

Guilt

This is what guilt looks like! Guilt of leaving my cat alone for 3 days. Not available in Canada (yet), I saw this Fancy Feast cat food in St. Louis and decided to splurge for my cat nita! I hope she'll like it; all the flavors looks very good, human grade, but I also hope she won't like it too too much: I don't want to have to bring back cat food each time I travel to the States!

Wood-Fired Oven ~ Cement Block Base

Last week, after modifying my plan a dozen time, I was finally fully satisfied and was ready to start, at last. But I realized that I really didn't know how to put the cement blocks together; I had plenty of witten material on the subject but felt I was missing something. So I placed an add on Kijiji in the Skilled Trade section, asking for someone to come by and graciously spend a couple hours with me to show me how. The first respondant asked me what I was doing and after a few missed calls and emails, came by Friday night. He arrived at the time scheduled and with all his tools! I was glad to impress him with how ready I was with my own set of tools! A very nice man, originally from Haiti, currently out of work from a call centre but obviously well versed in building with cement blocks. We did the first 4 blocks, as I intended, and he was then on his way.

On an unrelated funny note, we're both French speaking, but I couldn't understand a word of what he was saying because his French accent is so different than mine, so we spoke English to each other!

Yard Sale Loot

All that for only $1.00! Quite happy about my luck! I was ready to pay double but I gave the quoted amount gladly; it could be because I stopped by at 6pm and she looked like she was ready to pack everything in!

In the lot, there's a Henckles knife, so even if don't even use anything else, that was worth it!

But with those 24 small tart molds, no excuse not to try some tasty phyllo cups!

And how about that vintage cheese knife set? Cute! I might have to invite people over for a cheese and wine affair just to show them off!

Wood-Fired Oven ~ Mock-Up

I did the inventory of the cement blocks I got so far and modified my paper plan accordingly. I have much more block 8X10X16 so the oven hearth floor will be slightly smaller than the Alan Scott plan, but it's ok. I laided the blocks to see if it all made sense and I think it will look good. I just made a slight modification to use the 8X8X16 block for the center pilar instead of the corners. The metal wash bassin will be the ash recipient and it's there to make sure the front opening is large enough to access under the oven easily.

In the meantime, I was able to acquire an old cement mixer: that will save me a lot of elbow grease! I will retake all the measurements, redo the mock-up and hopefully start the actually work soon!

Wood-Fired Oven ~ Cement Pad

Finally done!! I came back from work on Tuesday and it was finished!! There are cute little bird footprints on it but unfortunately, they will get covered by the cement blocks and bricks; too bad they aren't at the other end where nothing will cover the cement.

I guess I'm somewhat of a control freak: it bothers me not to know exactly how the cement was poured and how the reinforced mesh was positioned inside but, I can't be everywhere at once and I need to learn to trust people. That's the tough one....

Wood-Fired Oven ~ Ready!

The gravel is packed, the frame is secured and I'm ready for the cement to be poured. Maybe tomorrow?

My neighbours are starting to ask when we'll have a pizza party! We all need to be patient; the oven will probably not be completed before next spring. But it's so worth the wait!!

Wood-Fired Oven ~ Taking Shape!

Now Randy, the handyman, finally got the form up. It's 14" above ground so it will be the same height as another deck I have beside the house. It does look odd, and big, in the middle of the yard but I'm hoping that once all is done around it, it should all make sense and look good. Everything is taking a loooonnnng time.....I have to learn to be more patient........and remember that to keep the cost down, I'm relying on Randy's help, on his time schedule.

Wood-Fired Oven ~ Now it's Really Starting!

Finally! The excavation is done but we were only able to go down 12" before hitting the shale rock. That could be a problem if I didn't plan to go 14" above ground.

I will also do some irrigation channels around the base to make sure there's no accumulation of water there in the fall and springtime. It's been quite flooded the past few years....

I read somewhere that the entire oven will weight 3 tonnes; hopefully, that's enough to keep the cement slab secure.

Wood-Fired Oven ~ the location!

Before marking the cement pad location, I had to think about the big picture and how I wanted everything to look, once all the components are done, in a few years. Also, after discussing with a few oven experts, I changed the orientation of the oven due to the prevailing winds. So the back of the oven will be what I will see when I step out of my kitchen but it will make the efficiency much better. The long line starting at the bottom left of the picture, is actually the boardwalk to build from my existing deck to the future outdoor kitchen. The large rectangle is the cement pad: 118" X 80". Once the oven is build, the heat is all contained and therefore will not affect the lilac tree just beside it. Unfortunately, the 2 small lilacs at the small furthest end of the pad will have to go.

Wood-Fired Oven ~ the beginning!

My project this summer is to build a wood-fired oven. It actually started in the winter time with the thinking process and it has broken ground last month. I first had to remove 2 pine trees that didn't not fit in the future landscape plan. Don't feel too bad; one was already sick and was in worst shape than last year. It was just a question of time.

The local handyman, Randy, is helping me and said the removal only look 15 minutes. When you have the right tools, everything works out faster and better! And he's helping me keeping the costs down by doing my work when he has some spare time, between 2 jobs. So far he's happy with the cold beer I gave him when he was doing landscape work on my neighbour's property, on a hot day!

So here's the photo after the trees were removed and I filled in the ground as best as I could. I think it's ok until I work on the overall landscape plan (maybe in a year or 2...) when I will even out the grounds properly.

I am using many sources for the building: Jim Wills from Mary G Artisan Breads, Alan Scott & Daniel Wing book "The Bread Builders" and Rado Hand with his web site Traditional Ovens. There's also many other sources of inspiration and advice and I will mention them as I go along.

Just impossible

to get ahead.... I received today my electricity bill and my new "budget monthly" amount has been increased by $43.00. I consider myself frugal with the energy: I keep the heat to a minimum all winter long, no air conditioning in the summer, I mostly live in the dark at night, TV is not on unless I'm actually watching it, I cook as much as possible on the propane BBQ grill and half the time, I not even home! How can it be $261.00 per month for a one-person household????

I already looked at my budget 2 week ago to slim it down and I just don't know where this money has to come from. Just depressing.

Storm Coming from the West

Can hear the thunder and see the lightnings, and it's getting increasingly dark. The rain should start any moment now....That might change my plans to drive around for yard sales this morning......

There's Hope for Me!

TheStar.com
Horoscopes for Saturday, April 4

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