Sarah's Progress Photos

[RCLake]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

Well this won't rival what you are experiencing, but we got a dusting last night and it's still on the ground. Unusual for central Texas! It was gone by 10am.
I almost had enough to have a snowball on top of my tarps that were on top of my snowball of a blanket that is on top of my dome. Oh well. That seemed to melt off faster than the snow of the ground. Must be the retained heat in the WFO.

[Les]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

Wow Sarah - your snow makes ours look like a small dusting. I'll quit complaining about our weather now - you won...

Les...

[Frances]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

That'll teach me to stop grousing, eh?

Impressive snow! OK, you're let off cooking and building for the time being...

[gjbingham]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

Sad, sad, Sarah. My heart goes out to you. It will end in no time. El Nino is just around the corner and you will have an easier winter soon. Cool pic of the snow. Perhaps a snowman on top of the oven would brighten your spirits?

[sarah h]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

I was looking at Frances' pic of spring in Switzerland and couldn't resist posting a photo of not-spring-yet here in Ottawa. I would love to be able to report some oven progress (either finishing or baking) but it's not happening - the storm that's coming this weekend is expected to be the worst this winter and will make this the snowiest winter in this area since they started keeping records! I may just be able to find my oven sometime in May .

The only progress I can report is that I now have a laser thermometer. So far, it's been very good for locating the cold spots in the house and testing the heat loss around doors and windows, but I dream of better uses ...

Here's my oven tonight (yes, it's there, if you open the thumbnail) - can't even get to it any more .

[Acoma]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

They look perfect. Keep experimenting, get a log book for your recipies and the success levels.

[sarah h]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

Tenacity wasn't so much the driving force on Friday, more a wish to see something positive come out of a sad day, as we had to say goodbye to our poor dog on Friday morning (we had known it was coming for quite some time, but still ... he'll be sorely missed).

Baking ... GRRRRR ... the weather was iffy yesterday and we didn't want to risk getting the blanket wet so the bread and bagels ended up in the kitchen oven. The bagels were not great - we almost threw the dough out but then reconsidered and carried on to the finish - I'll look for a better recipe for next time. The bread, fig & fennel, was better, but still not as good as the oatmeal & cinnamon swirl that I made a few nights ago (still regular oven though, sigh) - it was terrific, if I say so myself - the perfect breakfast toasting bread! I'm not sure if it would be cheating to post it in the bread thread since I didn't bake it in the wood oven, but I've put a pic below.

I can't wait to try it in my wood oven, if either:
the weather cooperates, or
I get a solid roof on it so I can bake regardless of rain or snow.
(That's the main reason for trying to frame at this time of year but the framing may all come off again in the spring if we decide to finish it igloo-style - still undecided).

Our daytime temps are expected to be well above freezing for the next week and maybe longer but there's a lot of rain forecast too, so much more progress is anyone's guess. We may make some trusses in the basement and run them outside for installation if the opportunity arises.

Sarah

[gjbingham]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

Sarah,
Glad to hear you got a break in the weather. The framing looks great. Don't stop now!

George

[Frances]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

Its looking really good! How did the baking go?

I guess framing the oven gives you the big advantage of being able to work on it even in cold weather - as long as you can stand the cold that is Keep up the good work!

[Les]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

Sarah,

I admire the tenacity of the human spirit (and you must want pizza real bad) As close as I want to get to that snow is looking at it through a window with a hot toddy in my hand. You go girl!!!

Les?

[sarah h]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

It's been a while but I can finally report more progress - installed the insulating blanket & some steel stud framing this afternoon. We have a January thaw setting in so I hope to test out the blanket's heat retention by doing some bread baking tomorrow, before the rain hits on Sunday. Maybe more framing too.

[RTflorida]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

Sarah, there ya go. Its amazing what we can justify doing in the name of good pizza. I think everyone's project seems to expand once started, why not do a room addition and kitchen redo around an oven? All it takes is money and back breaking work. Oh, your gonna need a bigger pop up tent as well.
Sorry to hear about all of that nasty four letter word your getting. I know many folks enjoy it, but it forced me south 11 years - I just couldn't take it any more.

[sarah h]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

So far, this winter ... wait a minute, it's actually still fall! ... has been some kind of cruel joke - we have more snow now that we had all last winter ... with another foot of it coming my way tomorrow and Sunday.

That shelter (thanks for the link Jim) looks great but I don't really have any desire to be outside cooking in the cold when it's like this. Instead, I keep eying my very outdated kitchen that is long overdue for a reno and thinking how nice it would be to work an indoor-access oven into the plans for an overhaul ... just wishful thinking, though, unless I build an addition onto the house while I'm at it! Hmmmmmmm, I could build it out and around the existing oven ...

[Acoma]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

I bought an ebay 10 x 10 pop up 4 wall canopy tent. $50 w/ steep shipping cost. Worth it if you want it done this winter. hard to believe some of us can look at an unfinished oven all winter, what patience.

[jcg31]

Re: Sarah's Progress Photos

Sarah,
Check out the link below. It is the enclosure I am using. It is cheap, rock solid, great guarantee, great resale value on ebay. Huge (10x10x10) . It's allowing me to work through the miseable weather in Wisconsin.

Jim

EZ UP Embassy II Instant Shelter

We started on a steel stud frame - it really IS there in the pic below (gotta open it to see the snow flakes falling last night), but under the tarp, which doesn't look as though it's coming off any time soon. The weather is keeping us from moving ahead so I had to settle for baking in the regular oven (second pic, though it may be cheating a bit to post a baking pic from a regular oven).