Personal Update

Bruno's thrilled to be back at school and I'm thrilled too. I have my 8 hours a day to myself back. Wow, the quiet it delicious. Listen to that...

Here's a few photos of his first day. He's a big guy for a 3rd grader at 55 inches and 93 pounds. We went school shopping last Saturday and when we got home Jerry said he bet I'd fit into Bruno's new jeans. I was skeptical but tried them on and they fit! Jerry took photos and said, "You've got to put those up at the blog."

Day Trip To Lockwood and Sparks

We took a little day trip (actually we were home by 11 am) to Lockwood to get hay cubes, then went to breakfast at The Alamo Truck Stop on the edge of Sparks, Nevada. Sparks was only about two miles from the hay cube facility. We hadn't eaten there in years and was pleasantly surprised that some of Jerry's tile and rock work were still there circa 2000. The Alamo was voted the nation's number one truck stop in 2003. It's still nice and has delicious food.

Along the Truckee River.
















One big honking hay barn.

















Loading hay cube bags into the truck.

















Bruno enjoying a rare breakfast out.

















Jerry installed this rock on the reception area of The Alamo circa 2000.
















Jerry set this Saltillo floor back about 2000 or so.


















He was impressed they had a car inside the casino. Kid needs to get out more.
















Bruno Loved The Sourdough Toast So Much He Took It With Him.

Jerry's Latest Project -The Charmer

A Shot of The Nevada Governor's Mansion














And these are photos of Jerry's latest project...

Homemade Colitis / IBS Friendly Pizza

Being pizza fiends, when I had to go wheat free again we returned to making our own homemade pizzas instead of relying on store bought. I never realized how oily those store bought pizzas (we've tried all brands) are until now. Our homemade pizzas leave no grease on our plates (or faces) and taste way better.

The recipe requires a mixer with a dough hook or hand kneading, and we used small 8 inch deep dish pans. I actually do both hook and hand kneading. I start with hand mixing then move to the dough hook when the dry ingredients and liquids blend. Do not over knead as the dough will get tough. The no gluten version of this recipe makes a very light and delicious dough. To convert this to low carbohydrate replace the white rice flour with almond flour.

Colitis Friendly Pizza Dough

1 teaspoon active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup soy flour
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon garlic salt
Additional olive oil for the bowl

Put yeast in water and stir gently. Let sit. In a mixing bowl combine flour, oil, parmesan, and salt. When yeast has dissolved add to dry ingredients and blend into a soft dough forms. Pour about 2-3 tablespoons of oil in a large glass bowl, place dough inside and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 60 to 90 minutes. Gently flatten dough and let rise again. Form into pizzas, add toppings and bake at 400 degrees until done (about 15-20 minutes at high altitude). Makes one dough for an 8 inch deep dish pizza.


The guys regular wheat pizza dough.













My gluten free pizza dough.













My smaller gluten free dough beside the guys wheat dough.

Ceramics Studio, Roving Offices & Storage Solutions?

Bruno's Book Storage Area in our semi slash library...















My library was neat until Jerry recently stored half his office inside...











































A Marble Coyote Back Splash In Progress.



I’ve mentioned that we bought out a ceramics studio back around 2003. We ended up with five kilns, kiln furniture, over 3000 molds, a couple of pouring tables, tools, paints, slip, marble and granite for designing back splashes, and supplies. Jerry wasn’t working for anyone else at the time and I had my small publishing / book sales business. We needed another business for him and he is a journeyman tile setter so it seemed a natural extension of his skills to get into ceramics. I began to dabble in mosaic art because it’s closely related (I can make my own materials with a studio). We bought a bunch of books and became self taught potters.

About a year later, Jerry got an opportunity to remodel houses. This would provide a steady income so we pretty much put the ceramics / mosaics venture, which is based on sales, on hold. Seeing as the studio is on our property letting things sit is no big deal. We still dabble and Jerry's designed several one-of-a-kind back splashes for the houses he's remodeled.

Then about a year ago, Jerry moved out of his office that he shared with Bruno to let Bruno have the whole room to himself. Well, his everyday stuff is in his new office against one of our bedroom walls and the rest ended up stacked in the ceramics studio and my “library” truck.

I didn’t know that guy had collected so much stuff!

So we bought two storage shed frames and he’s putting them up today. Besides the ceramics studio, mold room, kiln room, tool shed, two storage sheds, “library” semi truck, two travel trailers and various old vans I won’t count although the often double as storage, these will be storage buildings number eight and nine.

Can anybody say pack rats?

















































The last photo is the roof of the ceramics studio from the back deck. Jerry puts chairs up on the roof and it reminds me of the movie "Goin' South" where Mary Steenbergen hangs chairs on the wall. Can you say "Redneck!"