Blazing through fall

The leaves changed color in breathtaking beauty and hung out for a while.  Now we’ve had our first snow and many, but not all, have fallen.

  
  
  
I haven’t said much about felines lately but they gave me a run for my money this month. My 14 year old cat, Loki, was  declared doomed by the vet. I almost left him there to be euthanized it was so grim. But I chose to bring him home instead. AND HE MADE A COMPLETE RECOVERY!  Lucky guy that one. 

  
While I was away playing with my new grand darling (thank you Shirley for that lovely phrase), Tim texted to say he couldn’t find little Elli and she was going to have to spend the night out. We don’t have lions and tigers but we do have coyotes, martens, fishers and bears, all of whom would find her little fat body a treat. Tim texted me, “Good luck Elli, good night Lynne”. She survived and came home to my call. Then stayed in for 36 hours. 

  
Friends and family chipped in and helped with the insulation layer of my earth oven. We “emptied” a few wine bottles for this layer and then I covered it with a clay-hay mixture. What fun playing in the mud. I need another layer to even it out. 

First I cemented a ring of river rocks on the base Tim helped me with. 

  
Then filled it with wine bottles and clay-hay. A good time was had by me but it was moderately back breaking. 

  
  

 

We celebrated by having the last of our single malt scotch from Tasmania in the cabin. Tim shanghaied me from my other projects to make insulated curtains to reduce the cold wind whistling through the windows and I got to see them hung on their cedar branch rods and brackets. 

  I’m knitting and felting a gaggle (15 pair!) of crab themed slippers for my darling daughter and an army of her friends. 

  

  But today I’m off to “work” to relax and fund my habits.  

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Smokin’

Home sweet home. Back to work work and deferred projects. 

 I am getting ready to build an outdoor clay earth oven to bake pizza and bread. Tim collected clay, I collected river rocks and we both contributed  empty wine bottles – that was hard work. 

   
 I am building a base and will use the wine bottles as part of an insulating layer. The ideas and plans are from a book, Earth Ovens by Kiko Denzer. 

Today I evened out the holes I dug, cut the fence posts, leveled them, and ripped, cut, and attached joists. Gotta love a table saw. 

  Opps don’t look too closely. I temporarily removed a safety dohiggy to cut the posts. I think I have enough rocks but may need a few more wine bottles. Better get to work. 

   
 
It’s a little wonky but level in all directions. 

Yesterday I made a simple card weaving loom with the table saw. I intend to try it out at a workshop in Vermont this weekend.  

And earlier this month, I smoked a beef brisket on my Weber grill as described on the Cooks Illustrated website. I soaked it in brine, rubbed it with salt and pepper and slow cooked it on the grill for 5 hours. It was amazing. I’ve tried a couple of pizzas on the grill mostly to practice sliding it off the wooden peel for the new oven. 

This week my farm share included a roast beef, pork roast and spare ribs. Fire up the grill!