Day 18

Las Cruces gave us beautiful weather this weekend. So much so that it we had to pull out the sun screen and the Easy Up to give Tom some shade to work in! This time of year in the Southwest is always a bit tricky. It starts out chilly in the early morning and then once the Sun rises over the mountains it's time to shed the sweatshirts and jackets. It does make me think of John Denver's song,  Sunshine on My Shoulders - it sure does make you happy:)

Tom took a 3 day weekend to make some headway on the baking chamber. Saturday began with the construction of the side walls. One trick that Tom discovered with our first oven back in 2006 was to soak the fire bricks before cementing them in place. This added moisture helped the mortar to not dry so fast. It is amazing how much water the bricks soak up once they are placed in water, you can hear them fizzing!

The key to placing the walls is to keep them level and plumb. You'll notice how a plumb line is set in place as a guide.

Tom then worked his way to the back wall. Again, making sure everything was level and plumb.

One final check before cementing the front bricks in place. 

With all the walls cemented in place, Tom could start building up the back wall of the baking chamber. 

Can you see hints of Tom's cabinet making skills evident in this picture?

The final course of bricks are placed on the back wall.

Tom could now start on the face of the oven which is red brick. This is also part of the chimney.

It was about 83° in the sun. Time to get the Easy Up assembled.
Copper and Bradley wasted no time getting in the shade.

Once the four courses of red brick were in place it was time to cut the angled fire brick that would be the starting point for each arch of the baking chamber.

Day's end.

After we cleaned up the weekends mess, we enjoyed the view that you see right here at the Day's end. It's becoming more and more real to us that the BakeHouse will have it's new home in Las Cruces. This coming weekend will find Tom making the forms for the arches and also we'll be pouring more cement around the oven walls - so stay tuned and we'll see you all next weekend! Kath