Posts Tagged ‘plan’
The photo of the bison sculpture is from the trip and was taken in front of Wells Fargo Bank on Main Street in downtown Grand Junction, CO. The group I was with, a bunch of gearheads, was geeking out on this because it is made entirely of old bumpers. How cool! We walked around and marveled at it for at least ten minutes, it is very impressive – and large. By the time I returned on July 1st the trip had lasted 19 days, a bit longer than expected. Pete picked me up from the airport and we went directly to East By Southwest for sushi. We got to try something new, Pacific Blue Marlin, and wow was that ever terrific! Very similar to Walu, a light colored flesh with a mild flavor and very “meaty” in texture. It was presented sashimi style (my favorite) with a balsamic fig sauce and peppery micro greens, delicious! Before picking me up at the airport Pete had stopped at Wal-Mart for some new shirts and also picked up a huge lodge-style tent so we can go camping. He set the tent up yesterday, all 11’ x 20’ feet of it and boy is it great! We’re planning on going camping for a couple days next week in nearby South Fork along the Rio Grande river. It’s really pretty over there, and it’s only a little more than an hour away. I have a lot of data entry to do before we go, but there has to be time for fun with all the work I’ve done over the past three weeks. I haven’t worked this many hours in years. Oh well, feast or famine as they say. One thing is for certain though, it is so nice to be home and to be with my honey and all our kitty kids. I missed them all so much!
Pete started smoking meats last summer, using a propane grill that my mom bought for me when I purchased my first house in 1997. (Thanks, Mom, we still use that grill at least three times a week!) He’s got a system that works great and produces excellent (m)eats, but he wanted a dedicated smoker. He was so serious about it that he’d done a bunch of research and had even picked one out, so I thought it would be fun to get it for him this year. On April 10th I found the best price on the Char-Griller Outlaw smoker at Amazon.com, with the best deal on shipping. The smoker weighs about 140 pounds, and most places wanted over $100 for shipping; Amazon charged $39. I ordered the smoker and it arrived within 5 days, heavily damaged. The box looked like it had fallen off the back of a truck and had been taped together with at least one roll of packing tape, maybe two. (Click here or on the thumbnail image to view the smoker pics.) The smoker is powder coated and the lid had such bad dents that it cracked the powder coating, which will just lead to premature rust. It was also missing a bunch of assembly parts like bolts, nuts, and even the thermometer. I’d bet that one of the parts bags fell out of the gaping holes in the box. I sent Amazon an email with photos of the damage and they said they would send out another smoker and we can return the damaged one using the pre-paid shipping label they included in their email. The tracking number I got for the replacement says it’s being shipped to Oregon, so I call Amazon to try to figure out what’s going on. They don’t know either, but assist with getting the package bound for Oregon re-routed to Colorado and is expected to be delivered on Friday, May 1st. At this point it seemed that things were sorted out. On Tuesday, April 28th I went to our mailbox in town and guess what’s waiting for me? A smoker! Fine, whatever, as long as it’s not damaged and we can get on with the fun part of making some yummy food. We swap damaged smoker for good smoker, damaged smoker gets put back in good smoker’s box and sent back to Amazon on Friday May 1st. That same day, when I get back home from town, the UPS truck comes driving up our road at 3:30 pm. Now mind you, I live in B.F.C., and for the most part no delivery company will bring packages to the house which is why we have a delivery address in town. Guess what was on the truck? Smoker number three! I went outside to stop the driver before she unloaded the monstrosity and briefly told her about what had happened. We both had a good laugh, and I refused the delivery. It is the only time Amazon has made a mistake, I just wish it would have been something less heavy. But everything’s copasetic now. Pete is very happy and is already planning his summer meat smoking schedule. I can’t wait!
Pete’s been working on a patio for the barn and it’s just about done. There’s been a bit of a mud problem since we bought the place; the sloping around the building is not correct causing water to pool around the entry doors. He used some rail road ties that we got for free to create a base for the patio and borders for raising the area near the doors to divert the water. We bought pressure treated 2×10’s for the patio from a local lumber yard that’s going out of business and saved 30% off the regular price. The patio looks very nice, and Pete also built a bench next to the door with a shoe rack below. I’ve started on a low rock wall to extend the railroad tie border to the end of the area in between the parking spaces, and the plan is to make a fire pit and put a table and chairs in the section between the two big pine trees. I’m going to make a rock pathway in the space right in front of the barn, to keep down the amount of mud that gets tracked onto the patio, and next to that will be a small grassy area. The past few days it’s been raining off and on so I’ve not been able to make much progress on the rock work. Hopefully the rest of the week will be nice so we can get this project finished and start refurbishing the table and chairs that will go between the pine trees. When it’s all done the mud factor will be somewhat under control and we’ll have another place on the property to sit and enjoy the scenery.
