Gold medal bricklaying

Well first I was a sound widow, then I was a SWAG widow and now I am officially a pizza oven widow! Whilst I have been watching the Olympics (and cross stitching) Andrew has spent 3 consecutive nights working on the pizza oven. Over the weekend we also found time to do some weeding, go to gymnastics and attend church. Andrew is hoping to get the formwork done this week in order to pour the concrete base of the oven next weekend.

The summer is almost over! 'Over' in the sense that in the past week the humidity has dissipated and we are left with lovely 29 degree days with lower humidity. It now feels like a Sydney summer and we are enjoying the outdoors immensely apart from the bugs. It seems ridiculous to say but for some days in July/August it was too hot to go outside! Now that summer is nearly 'over' we are making the most of being outside but missed going to the beach yesterday due to tropical storms.

Weekend bricklaying

Andrew worked hard over the weekend and was able to lay two rows of concrete blocks. He visited the hardware store three times (including once with Lucy who participated in the childrens activity where she helped nail together a birdhouse). He worked until 11pm both nights! I think he is determined to prove me wrong and have the pizza oven ready by October. The definition of 'ready' is debatable but he is one tired boy today!

Pizza Oven Update 3

The concrete slab is almost complete! Day 3 it was poured, stamped and top-coloured in one day and then cleaned and sealed on Day 4. It looks awesome! The backyard does not look awesome and has been quite torn up by various machines. However we are looking ahead and dreaming of wood fired pizzas (and so are all our neighbours, friends, mums groups, churches and acquaintances)

Pizza Oven Update 2

Incidentally the concrete slab for the pizza oven only takes 4 days of work! Day 1 as you saw yesterday was digging out the grassy area and forming up the site. Day 2 as seen to the left involves laying the reinforcing metal into the site prior to pouring the concrete. As of the end of day 2 all is in readiness for the pour.

Pizza Oven Update 1

An historic day for Andrew's pizza! We broke ground on the pizza oven/entertaining area on Wednesday 23rd July. We went from a grassy marked out area to a dug out, formed up area for concrete in just a few hours thanks to a bobcat that can easily dig through pine tree roots.

Garden project 5: Pizza oven

Okay all the other garden projects are completed but this one is still in planning, design and approval. Here is the marked out spot in our yard for the entertaining area (far right corner you can see a couple of orange flags). Dream big and you'll see what we have planned.

Pizza Oven Progress

Thanks Erika for your comment last week! We found it quite amusing that Alex remembers us by the pizzas. Alas despite my best harassment of Andrew the pizza oven plans are simple that - plans. In fact the plans still need some work done to them. Once completed I can then source bricks and other materials and get prices! We are going to do things right way around this time by completing a budget so that we don't end up with a pizza oven AND a very expensive deck. We are also going to do the pizza oven in stages. The basics first and then expand later depending on how long we are here for. The other component to the plans includes a bbq. We still don't have a bbq!! I don't know how we survived last summer but we are definitely getting one this year (for Andrew's birthday).

So stay tuned about the Wilmington branch of Andrew's pizza it may be a long time coming!