Bounty

Here are some pictures of this year's bounty. Despite the heat and drought, we still managed to grow some mighty fine veggies and flowers. A jar of homemade salsa or vegetable soup in December is about the best Christmas gift you can give to yourself!

Pictures are (from top to bottom): raw ingredients for salsa, canned tomato juice, heirloom Italian Rose beans, and a "Sunbright" sunflower

The Only Block You'll Never See

Though I was bound and determined not to use a single cinder block in the restoration, I ended up compromising for the chimney base, which needs to be a solid 10 foot cube. Other options were to use brick (nearly 10,000, the mason estimated) or pour several slabs of concrete, letting each slab dry before pouring the subsequent one--both very expensive and time consuming. I'm normally not convinced by the "you'll never see it" argument, but in this case, it seemed logical. From the top of the base up, the chimney shell will be brick--as most historic chimney shells are--and then the entire chimney will be covered in the stone salvaged from the original structure.

Here's a picture of the chimney base and the openings for the two fireplaces. Look closely because you'll never see the block again!