Thought for the Day

"Re-electing Obama for President would be like backing up the Titanic and trying to get thru the berg again!"

Funk's Hibrids-Latest Project

It has been established that the craftsman at Funk's Hibrids are accomplished at woodworking, but did you know that they are also trained in metal work?  The latest project to be built at FH is this little contraption...very handy and needed.  Can you tell what it is?

A grand total of $8.49 was spent on materials for this project...the majority of materials coming from the scrap pile at work, and $6.49 spent at the hardware store for a spray can of high-heat paint.  Figured it out yet?

Its a rain cap/deflector for our new chiminea!  It keeps the embers from flying out(expanded metal in the ring underneathe the disk) and the disk to keep rain from getting into the chiminea.  Saw one at the store where we bought the chiminea...they wanted $40 for it, figured I could build it myself for less than that.  So a junk disck blade, a 1-1/2" cross section of 6" pipe, some scrap pieces of strap iron, and a piece of expanded metal later, there you go.  One very important lesson was learned during construction I want to pass along...TURN ON??? YOUR WELDING HELMET BEFORE WELDING!!!  Who knew that a auto-darkening welding helmet needs to be "turned on" before use...NOT ME!  So, i got to deal with a slight case of welders eye yesterday and today, but not too bad.  SO if you're in the neighborhood and wish to see this latest marvel of engineering/construction, stop by, we'll be glad to show you it.

Arts in the Park, North Newton style

Just so you know that we're not completely devoid of fun things, we did go to the first of the summer 2012 Arts in the Park-North Newton this last Thursday nite.  They have a stage set up on the west side of MoJo's coffee house and have a new act scheduled for every Thursday thru the summer.  This evenings entertainment was Ana Loucks from Hesston playing her guitar and singing her own songs.

We took our 2 hounds along, and they behaved very well...until 2 other dogs showed up, at which point Cooper had to let them know in a loud voice that he was there first.  This lady's kids really like our puppies, and of course our dogs reciprocated.  It was a nice evening for it, untypically cool. The next fun thing on the schedule (after my knee replacement) is judging a bar-b-que contest here in Newton (2nd annual) in a couple of weeks...yummy!                                      

...so what do you do on Sunday?

...you mix 5 eggs, 2 Tbsp olive oil, 500 grams flour, and 1-1/2 tsp salt in your KitchenAid, add a little water, and make homemade noodles with your noodle-maker.  Let them dry for 3-4 hours, then boil them in lots of chicken stock, add fresh clipped chives from your garden, a little parsley, and the leftover chicken...

and viola', homemade chicken noodle that has no match.  It made 5 batches to eat for lunches and enough for our dinner tommorow night.                              

Another Saturday evening...

Here's yet another beer-can chicken awaiting roasting in the oven...see how festive he is with his rosemary sash!  Bought some light apple cider at the liquor store last week, didn't care for it...but it makes a great liquid for the beer-butt chicken!                                                   

You know you're getting old when you take more pictures of your dog than you do your kids/grandson...well it may have something to do with the fact we see the dogs more and they live with us!

Cooper eventually didn't like me getting up close and personal with the camera...he actually growled at me!

Hope it doesn't rain tommorow...wanna make a run to Cassoday on the scooter!

HERE'S HOW WE ROLL....

Memorial Weekend at the Funk house, and here's how we roll...

teryaki marinated chicken drummies, fresh zucchini from our garden grilled w/ olive oil & spices, and boiled new potatoes that the neighbor dug up yesterday that they shared with us (with melted butter & parsley)...this was Friday nite dinner.

Saturday nite brought baby back ribs marinated 8 hours in Guiness Stout & orange juice, then coated with Bad Byron's Butt Rub, along with Nancy's famous 'tater salad made with new potatoes, and some Grillin beans kicked up a notch!

Sunday nite we had hor's doeuvers on the deck for our annual Funk Deck party...many different brews were in attendance and were tasted, so no big meal was prepared.

But, to finish off the holiday weekend strong, Monday dinner was comprised of 24 hour marinated flat iron steak(one of the best i've done) with a fresh spinach salad, cucumbers & onions from our garden soaked in vinegar, some pickled okra, and a little recipe i found for cheddar bites that was outstanding!  we topped it all off later in the evening with the JP Stucky recipe of homeade ice cream that has brown sugar & flour in it...it was awesome!!!

Tommorow  reality sets back in...

have you guessed what it is yet?  here's a hint...make a wish and it may come true!

I ended up buying 4-2x4's, a box of screws, and a quart of red paint for this project...everything else was wood i had on hand/dismantled pallets from work.  the design was, as usual...all in my head.

using lengths of wood for the rood instead of shingles greatly  simplified the project...

i found an ancient full quart of alkyd oil-based primer in my downstairs woodshop, and used the whole thing putting a primer coat on the well.

the finished project!  we went uptown yesterday 'cause Nanc remembered that an antique mall there had a booth in the back full of old tools & stuff, and sure 'nuf...we found an old rope pully.  we also came home with an old tin cup which i'll mount on the upright once we decide where we're going to put this thing...