Why I Oughta...

My brain is already moving ahead to the exterior of the pizza oven.  I don't know if I'll get to cladding the outside of the oven, but I'd like to try this year.  You can go a lot of directions, but the one that I've focused on/been drawn-to is brick.  I've talked about brick and used a TikTok as potential inspiration for a brick pattern . That means that I've been poking around Facebook marketplace and Craigslist to figure out what kind of brick is available.  Every listing quotes the number of bricks available, but I had no idea how many bricks I actually need to clad the full oven.   In terms of oven facade inspiration, I'm very much looking to this oven build on YouTube as inspiration .  That oven is from the YouTube channel named:  The log cabin life style by Jerry Tyson .  This screenshot below is from his oven-build video ( source ) and I'm eye-balling the height of his corners to be five-feet-tall.   I know my stand is 70 ...

With excavation started on the site of our backyard wood-fired pizza oven (on our drywell) , I need to move from the theoretical (What could an oven look like?  How high should it be?  What would it need to be made out of?  How many cinder blocks? What layout?) In my recent post on excavation , I ran through some mental math to figure out what size the hole needs to be, what size the slab will be and how wide the block foundation will be once constructed.  I ran through both a 10x8x16 block scenario and an 8x8x16 block scenario.   The 8x8x16 is the traditional block, but I was considering if the extra 2" block in the first (one or two) courses is appropriate to all for the footing of a brick face on the sides of the oven. Off I went to Menards to poke around in the construction block section.  Back in January, I posted the details of how there are L-shaped cinder blocks that help make proper corners and I wondered if I should be using those to make a s...

Earlier this week, I posted my 3-D model using LEGO bricks of my proposed wood-fired pizza oven stand that would be built from a couple different sizes of standard cinder blocks - 16x8x8 and 8x8x8.  In that post (and using the model), I determined that I needed 4.5 blocks deep (from front-to-back) and 4 blocks wide (side-to-side).  That gave me a 74" deep by 64" wide block stand.  Or 6'2" deep and 5'4" wide. But...there's a new development.  At least...new to me, the novice bricklayer.  Turns out, there are 'corner' cinder blocks.   I discovered this fact when I was at Menards looking over the block inventory.  Here's a few photos showing these L-shaped corner-forming cinder blocks  below and how they work together with normal blocks.  These are 12" block compatible. Below is a drawing from Menards that shows the dimensions of these L-shaped corner cinder blocks in 10" width: There are so many variables that I still need to work out...

Menards has moved completely away from Lemax Christmas village buildings and now exclusively carry what I think is their own private label brand:  FG Square .  At one time, I was a Christmas Village guy, but I, umm, went a different direction and have abandoned them completely.  And, I've been happy with that decision.  But, it doesn't mean that I stopped looking at them - especially at Menards.   I often invoke my collecting mantra when it comes to Christmas Villages:  It is enough to enjoy the existence of (Christmas Villages) things without possessing all of them. Here's a few structures: Country Creek ice staking rink, a ski hill called Powder Ridge Resort, Tree house Haven and Prime Cuts Steakhouse.  All lovely.  None of which came home with us.  The animated ski hill is a small-footprint structure that has some good action: Here's a photo of the same ski hill:

Back at the end of February, I posted my 2023 lawn care plan that included applications of both organic and synthetic fertilizers across the growing season . 5 feeding applications in total.  The first...was slated to be an early feeding that was combined with a pre-emergent.  I've gone back and forth with early Spring fertilizers over the years - doing it sometimes and skipping it others.  Why skip it?  Because, I don't want to have to mow.  But, buying pre-emergent WITHOUT fertilizer is hard-to-do around here, so this year, I went with the combo.   As for the timing, the GDD calendar tells you when to apply .  Here's the screenshot from today, showing that our Zone/Zip Code is in the the "Optimum" category this week.  Yesterday, I went out and applied two bags of this synthetic combo from Menards that comes from Forever Green.  I posted about the new Menards organic biosolids product from Forever Green earlier this year .   B...

Yesterday, I posted some photos of a new organic (biosolid) lawn fertilizer from Menards that is a Milorganite replacement that comes in $10 cheaper per bag.  I mentioned that I was getting started on my 2023 lawn care program and bought a few products to get started.  Before I talk about the first application of lawn food I'm going to put down, I intend to start with a soil amendment.  Over the years, I've applied pelletized lime to our backyard in an attempt to change the makeup of the soil.  Why?  To help make the lawn a less-hospitable place for Wild Onions to grow .  I've fought those jerks every Spring - with both removal and lime application. Does lime do anything?  I'm not sure.  But, it isn't expensive, so my not throw the stuff down - if it can help, right? It seems that I haven't put Lime down since 2021 - skipping last year.  Or...I didn't post about it, at least. Here's what I'm putting down this year in the backyard:  thr...

We were at the Menards in Bolingbrook and wandered out to where they keep the bags of lawn fertilizer.  I was hoping to pick up a few bags of fertilizer and pre-emergent that I could put down late this Winter/early this Spring.  As I've talked about over the years, I've evolved in my approach to feeding our lawn.  When I started....I was all synthetic.  I used the four-step program - all synthetics and some with weed/feed combined.   Then...my eyes were opened (thanks to YouTube) on organics.  Specifically Milorganite.  I started to use biosolids.  And, I stopped early Spring feedings.  And, did a late season (Thanksgiving) feeding.  And 'spoon fed' during the warm months and all of those things that people talk about online.    Starting last year, I've kind of swung back on the synthetic --> organic spectrum.  But, only half-way.  I'll post about what I'm doing with the first application in another post....

It seems like Menards Halloween has come back this year.  After a down year (at least it appeared to me to be 'down' and likely due to COVID + Supply Chain issues), it appeared that - on our visit this month - they had TONS of new stuff.  This post is going up in late August, but our visit was on Saturday, August 13th, so they had all of their stuff up mid-August.  I've covered this in the past - here's last year .  Below is a look at their Halloween village.  Of note, they've TOTALLY phased out all Lemax Village buildings and are now showing their own house brand of Pumpkin Hollow Halloween buildings and structures.  Menards always has a good set of holiday inflatables and this year they're showing a new (to me) Disney licensed Halloween inflatable featuring the three Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus (and soon... Hocus Pocus 2 ).  It is just five feet wide, but costs more than $100.  Dang that Disney license.   Menards is also selling...

Last week, I wandered around the shrub section over at Hinsdale Nursery to figure out what they were going to be carrying this season in terms of hydrangeas, viburnum, various evergreens and even a fothergilla that I spotted at the Morton Arboretum .  As part of the various backyard bed 'slices' and the 'explorations' that I did a few weeks back, I ended up with a shopping list of sorts that included upright evergreens and a bunch of flowering shrubs.  On that list was four Chicago Lustre Arrowwood Viburnum - two along the north fence, two along the back .  They would go along with the two that I planted last year .   While at the nursery, I found a whole bunch of Viburum that I found interesting and decided that I should think about using some alternatives.  One of the varities that really captured my interest was this (below) Doublefile Viburnum - Viburnum Plicatum Tomentosum 'Mariesii'.   The listing calls out a few features:  tiered, hori...