Back Home -- Time to Catch Up on Projects!

We're back home now and so far the plan is to stay home this summer so we can satisfy several goals:

1. Have a garden, grow vegetables and can them to replenish our stock of pickled beans, beets, and asparagus!
1 1/2.  Finish building the greenhouse so we can start seeds on time.
2. Build the quilt studio and actually finish a few quilting projects!
3. Build a hot/cold smoker
4. Add a sizable overhang to the existing garage to enable dry storage for firewood and various other items
5. Build an outdoor pizza oven
6. Landscape the back and side yard
7. I know I'm forgetting something else...

Someone once said you can't die until you finish all the tasks you have to do.  If that's the case, we're going to live to be 300!

I say the plan is to stay home, but we get work camping job listings every day... and some of them are just to tempting to pass up.  It's the gypsy in us...

Now on to the latest photos:

As you will remember, we finished the last blog entry in Glendale Arizona with three metal barrels in the back of our fifth wheel.  Item 3 on our to do list is to build a smoker.  This is it!  We have been planning for several months after experiencing the heavenly smoked ribs, brisket and turkey that  my brother makes in his.  We finally found the kit to make it while we were at Amazon.com in Coffeyville KS, but when we returned home we were unable to find the food grade barrels we needed to finish the project!  Luckily, we have very good friends and our close friend Barb sent us a link to a website that had just what we needed.  Problem is, the business was in Glendale AZ and they didn't deliver!

Luckily, we just happened to be in the Glendale area soon after looking up the web site.  It's  like good Karma has come our way and this smoker is just meant to be!

Here are the barrels, unloaded from the trailer now and ready for their new life!

Here's the inspiration for our project.  This is my brother's first smoker that turns out some awesome smoked goods!  It's a double barrel model -- fire box below, smoke box above.  His mantra is "Low and Slow"

His first model came out so well that when he had to set up a second home he built another model.  It is from these models and the memories of the sweet smoke that drifted from their chimneys, that my inspiration will come.

After several days of  discussion, e-mail advice and head scratching I finally ended up with this version.

Here it is with the smoker door open.

I'm hoping to eventually attach a 20' piece of aluminum conduit to the top smoker chamber which will run to a separate "cold smoke chamber".  This will allow us the ability to smoke cheeses, spices, and other foods that can't take the heat.  For now, it just needs a coat of stove black, the cooking grate and fire bricks, which I will pick up during our next trip to the big city!

Mark one project off the list!