New patio and other pictures
Jul. 25th, 2008 02:37 pmAfter three months of clomping around on a horrible steel platform, we finally got our concrete patio poured. We are delighted.

Pouring the concrete... they did it in two halves, on different days.

Smoothing it out:

Washing the truck:

Color application for the faux brick:

Stamping, what he calls "doing the dance", which all has to be done in a specific time interval with NO ROOM FOR ERROR:

Puppy approval!

Did someone say PUPPIES??? Here's an actual puppy, a five week old Mastiff that belongs to our neighbor. She was the only puppy in the litter. Mastiff pups are especially cute because they're so HUGE!


I mentioned that we've got a young friend of the family here building a wood-fired Tuscan brick oven. it's coming along... it's way more complicated than it looks, with a slab foundation, a floating slab hearth, and something like five different kinds of concrete, including a funky insulating mix that's about 90 percent Perlite. I had no idea the design of these things was so demanding and sophisticated, but apparently the results you get make it all worthwhile - fire it up, and you get perfectly even heat lasting several days.


More on the oven later. With any luck, we'll be baking by Labor Day.
Pouring the concrete... they did it in two halves, on different days.
Smoothing it out:
Washing the truck:
Color application for the faux brick:
Stamping, what he calls "doing the dance", which all has to be done in a specific time interval with NO ROOM FOR ERROR:
Puppy approval!
Did someone say PUPPIES??? Here's an actual puppy, a five week old Mastiff that belongs to our neighbor. She was the only puppy in the litter. Mastiff pups are especially cute because they're so HUGE!
I mentioned that we've got a young friend of the family here building a wood-fired Tuscan brick oven. it's coming along... it's way more complicated than it looks, with a slab foundation, a floating slab hearth, and something like five different kinds of concrete, including a funky insulating mix that's about 90 percent Perlite. I had no idea the design of these things was so demanding and sophisticated, but apparently the results you get make it all worthwhile - fire it up, and you get perfectly even heat lasting several days.
More on the oven later. With any luck, we'll be baking by Labor Day.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-25 11:15 pm (UTC)Nice acid staining on the patio.
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Date: 2008-07-26 12:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-26 09:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-31 11:06 pm (UTC)Man, that's some BIG puppy!