Treehouse Pizza

[RandyJ]

Well I managed to scam a partial day off of work today and so I decided to make a run at some of the final bits left on the oven. I made the form for the front lip last night and bent the rebar and mixed up the concrete and got it poured. I had 2 bags left that were sitting under one of my counter tops and were still mostly good. There were a few hard parts but I dug those out. There was just enough to fill the form. I also put a milk house heater on it and mixed with hot water. It is pretty cool out now but not freezing yet. I did it in the garage too so it is warmer in there than outside. I also picked up a few 5/4 ceader tone deck boards. I cut them down and got the wood storage doors built and the parts cut for the storage cabinet door. It is amazing how much sawdust I made doing that. I am excited to get the doors done and installed. That will help keep snow and debris out from under there.

I am about to order a tote of firewood from a local land scape company. I can get .41 cord delivered for just over 300$ so I think I am going to do that. I have spent to much time gathering and splitting wood. It just isn't worth it to me to just go for free anymore. My time is worth more to me than that.

I do not have any pictures as I was just plowing through the work and didn't bother to take any as i went and it was to dark where I was working when I was done.

Randy

[RandyJ]

Well I got lucky and it was in the middle 40's on Saturday so I went ahead and ground the lip down and then got out my way polisher and went all the way up to 800 grit again. It turned out beautiful. I then had a friend stop by and help me lift it into place to check fit and then mixed up a batch of mortar to set it into final place. I think my form may have sagged a little bit as the lip is maybe 1/16 low on both sides and about the same high in the middle but I am going to call that good enough. I also got 2 of the doors built and installed so only one door left and I have all the parts cut for that one already just have to put it together. So all in all it was a productive weekend.

Randy

[RandyJ]

Well I have managed to cook with the oven a few times now that I have the front entry lip on and I am very happy with it. I like that i have enough room to set things there and have them not be in the way. It also helps with rearranging pans in the oven when moving things around. I didn't really have much space in front of the last oven. So this definitely helps.

I now have made hamburgers and wedge fries in the oven twice. It has turned out awesome both times. I love how you get the beautiful browning in the oven. I am trying to figure out how to cook most things in the oven so that I can get more use out of it. Plus it will teach me how to use it more effectively. Last week i tried making chocolate chip cookies in the oven and didn't pay close enough attention to them and burned them badly. I did it again this week and kept a flashlight with me and watched the whole time and turned the tray several times and they turned out great.

Randy

[RandyJ]

I finally got a load of good wood on Sunday. I found someone that would deliver a face cord of seasoned white oak for $200. For that amount of money I can not justify the amount of work it costs me to go find wood and bring it home and split and stack to dry. I can do a few hours of Over time and pay for it so I am just going to plan on running this way as I move forward.

of course I had to try out the new wood so I made Brussel sprouts and bacon and a pan of mushrooms and some steaks. Once again it turned out fantastic. I just love cooking in the oven and i am trying to learn how to cook basically anything I would inside the house. It may take a bit of trial and error but that is the fun part.

[RandyJ]

Well it has been a pretty cold winter here so far. I have still been using the oven some, but maybe not as much as I want. I can't wait for warmer weather to get here again. Make it easier to use the oven and hopefully get my patio in front of the oven done too.

Randy

[UtahBeehiver]

Randy, Yep, step son who lives in White Bear says it has been really cold..............We are not as cold as you but I don't fire my oven up in the winter, good for you.

[RandyJ]

Hey UtahBeehiver once the oven is hot it is not to bad as the blast of heat feels nice. But it is a fair bit of extra work to get everything to light and burn well when it is below 0F. It also doesn't help my son had type a influenza for 2 weeks after the new year and then I had to work a bunch of overtime for the next 2 weeks. Hopefully things are on the upswing now.

Randy

[Gulf]

I surely don't know about subzero temps, living where I do, in the south. In the winter time we have warm days, cold days, stormy days ant "pretty" days. Sometimes, all on the same day . I like to stoke my oven on the pretty days. I always like to keep it stoked ahead of time, just, in case of a power outage. Or, for when an unplanned event like company coming at the last minute. That way, all I have to do, is light that bundle of tender

[RandyJ]

Gulf when it gets to be very cold like -15 F or worse even a propane torch does not want to stay lit. If it is outside for very long before you try to light it it gets so cold that it won't evaporate enough Gass to keep a reasonable flame . At that point it is just very hard to light the oven. Also makes it hard to get set up to light the oven. Once it takes though everything is just fine and you can stand in front of the oven in a T-shirt.

Randy

[Gulf]

I stoked my oven a few weeks ago when it was predicted a chance of freezing rain. The tender bundle that I have in place doesn't take much to get started. I also keep on hand homemade and store bought starters that only need a spark to light.

That said, any place that gets minus degree temps would be "minus me" as soon as the leaves started falling