cob oven

I love it when a plan comes together the way you want it to.....insert maniacal giggle here. I have holiday time and so does hubby, I have hauled enough marble to pretty much get it completed at least to the dome, I have design in my head and all the pieces to pull it all off, the form for the base of the bake oven.
It all started with the patio and now I am consumed with what can I do with it next. There are still a few spots that I really want to tweak like the corner by the tap is too black and the other spot is too choppy so I need to move them a bit and replace them.
The stone is beautiful, the base of the firepit is going to be beautiful. The white layer that is the one second from the top glitters in the sunlight, from the quartz crystals and mica flakes and then the black granite layer for the top with the streaks of quartz and burgundy flecks scattered about mixed with the deep almost black green with gold threads and jade green pieced together to form the top. The local stone guy identified my purple flecks as garnets, and the one piece of stone for under the firepit has what looks like ammolite in it which I hope will sparkle in fire light. I will pick up the 5 bags of mortar for the platform and hope that I have enough to do the beginning of the firepit, table, and back oven platform. I know that everyone says to use firebrick, but I have some great sheets of marble that I could even stack 2 together which would make it 2 1/2 inches thick that should prevent cracking. I have to make sure that they are at least 27 inches accross and I think 30 inches deep so the form is fairly hefty I don't know how high I am going to make the oven floor yet. I also have to figure out the chimney, door, ledges and shelves, but that will have to wait as I stack the stones. I cannot wait for the first fire. The hope is that the mica, quartz crystals, garnets, pyrates, and the beauty of the stone will shine through and sparkle in the flames.
The next step will be margaritas and mud. For that I need clay not great clay but clay, straw and sand. I need to figure out the recipe for cob. I will keep it tarped this year to prevent snow and rain off of it and put the marble top on next year, that should give it enough time to crack and be resealed and made ready for exposure to the elements. I would love to try and figure out how to make it really funky, ......a gargoyle, a candle holder, a mantle, a spit, a roof on the chimney made of stone...
Josh and I built his kendo sword bamboo pole practice target today. I think we will try to stack marble around the base as well as stomping down the fill as well. He looked so excited about it and was just going crazy on it with his bamboo kendo sword. So he seems excited and will probably spend more time in the yard with me which will give me some company and that will make my work more enjoyalbe.
I have been accused of not finishing up my projects....soooooo I will finish my projects while mom is here. I have the firepit and oven to do. The chair to recover and fix. The garden benches and flower boxes to build. Canning to be done. But I am on holidays and I want to build as much of my crystal cave, and earth oven as I have supplies for. I would love to build a fire in it before my holidays are done.
Jake wants dreads.

public health care vs private

I feel kinda perversely proud today. We have a lovely lady who is from Georgia up here visiting and she fell and broke her ankle. All her friends were in tonight visiting and they are all just lovely and they can't say enough about how great our little hospital is. They are so impressed at how nice our hospital is, how great they are being treated and just gushing. I have a country where we have universal health care and it works for all it's faults and for all the political rangling from Edmonton it works. It works well and we deserve to have it continue to work well. Public health care is looking better and better to the Georgia lady with the broken ankle.....now if only the politicians can leave well enough alone and not screw things up.
I am so proud of all the people I work with.