The making of a drum!!

   I thought that now I've putting together drums # 3 and 4 I could share some of the steps I've been through.  I have photos from all 4 here but will put them in an order closer to the steps in putting a drum together.  They are really easy, but time consuming.

I start by drilling three 1 inch holes evenly spaced around
the drum, about 3 inches up from the bottom.

The air holes make the burn out easier.  This can take
a while, and make sure you're one good terms with
your neighbors and fire deptartment.

This is what you're looking for, the liner burning and
flaking off.

It makes it easier to set the lid
partially on during the burn and
rotated it around to evenly
heat and burn.

You'll stll need some sanding,
but the better the burn, the easier
the sanding. :)

You will get dirty.

A dry fitting of handles
and bolts to check fit
before painting

After the burn of my first 2 drums,  I
put what I thought were cooled ashes
in our plastic garbage can.

24 inches up from the bottom of the fire
basket (which is 3 inches from the
bottom) not 27" like the phot has.  I used  1 1/2 x 7/16 " bolts

Other than the fire basket
itself, this is the key to
heat control. 

Adding a threaded 3/4"
ball valve to the nipple
allows you to control
air flow.
More air = hotter temps

For the base of the fire box I
use the charcoal grate from the Weber
22.5" BBQ.

3/4" expanded steel is used
to form the ring on the basket.
I use 13 gauge steel, some say
use heavier, but I have had
no problems.  It's actually easier
to form.

I use a cheap WalMart 16" pizza pan to
catch ashes and keeping drum cleaner.

Using three 3 1/2 x 7/16" bolts to attach the
pan and hold the basket off the ground
(allowing air circulation and a place for
ashes to fall).

My well used basket.
Dirty, but lots of
burns left in it.

One of my first editions.
Learned later that painting
them with a coat or two of
high temp silver will help later
coats go on evenly.

This what I mean by painting
a coat of silver first will help
later.  Looks leopard printish.

Took a long time to get the blue one to
smoke.  The red one was a natural. ;)

I use the cheap turkey frier thermometers
mounted through the wall just below the
cooking grate to watch drum temps.
Low and slow when smoking.

Another cheap WalMart feature.
A remote meat thermeometer
to watch meat temps.

My brother Gary's drum.
This is where I learned
about first coat of silver.

At least the drum smells good!
Sorry Gary, had to say it.

I'm still kicking! 

Maybe I'll start this back up with my smokes.  What do you think?

I'm alive STILL!

I know, I know. I've not been good at the updates. Where do we start? My kids are growing, but you can't stop that.

Sammie's now in 9th grade and on the yearbook staff. She has lots of friends and the only time I see her on weekends, is when we're in the car and I'm taking her someplace new. She's pretty proud of the fact that she's now as tall or taller (depending who you ask) than her mom. She loves school, her favorite class is a peer tutoring class where they spend a class helping fellow students needing help special needs. Sammie is now the President of her Mia maids class at church. Top notch kid.

Sierra loves school too (6th grade) but not on quite the same level as her sister. This one still loves to talk, on the phone or at you in person. It's only right that one of the first people she sees everyday is her Aunt Teri who she inherited her ability to talk nonstop from. Poor Sterling probably wants to jump out of the car window to get away from the yapping. She's not very happy right now with her latest "trauma", she's not yet up to date with her immunizations for her move to Junior High next year. She moves into Beehives in May. Like Sammie, we are seeing less and less of her all the time. I knew it was only time before my girls found spending time with friends was more fun than boring old people like her dad. She is a sweet heart.

Best Buds

Stacie and I have had our ups and downs, good times and bad in the last year. Last March I left my job as supervisor at Noni for a promise of bigger and better things. I'll add right now, if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, it's because the manure they use over there is thick, and in this case very thick. As a result, we've been without the medical insurance we were promised since. The owners of the new company found themselves thinking could run the company better without the partner that actually knew the industry and asked him to leave. As a result, the spiralled down hill until late September when they closed their doors, or actually had them closed for them. Imagine that, you have to pay bills, and payroll. I kept my nose clean and shoulder to the wheel so I was still getting paid up until the end. Some down there had to fight for their last paychecks. Lesson learned there. About the same time that place was imploding, Stacie lost her dear sweet Grandma J. I had been wanting to get a series of family pictures done lately and including some 4 generation photos of my girls and their grandmas. Four days after the outing, grandma suffered a massive stroke and never really pulled through. She lived 89 good, long years with the last 23 years with out Grandpa J. We've all had heavy hearts since. Sierra has really taken it hard. Grandma J and her were buddies and talked everyday which was her vocal vent for excessive build up of words that need to be used up. Grandma would listen for hours and always enjoyed their "time". After two months of unemployment and church assistance, my old bosses, boss from Noni came calling. Although I'm not where I was and do have to start over, I'm back to the workforce. It's very humbling going back to work with the guys who at one time worked for me. I've learned a lot about how and why treating employees as people is important to all parties involved. It does pay to be the type of person, employee or supervisor you would want to deal with yourself. The same Golden Rule we USED to learn in school.

So we are starting over so to speak. We've been humbled and it has brought us together as a family going the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays living with the kindness of others. Thank you to ALL secret Santa's out there. From one who now has been on the receiving end of this kind of kindness, you do make a difference.

I find myself living my own little sad Book of Mormon story. At points in my life, when I'm doing so good or living well, I'm seeing a pattern that takes me away from my faith and knowledge of what is really good or well. And like in the Book of Mormon, the Lord always humbled those in need of the humbling, and brings them back. I'm so grateful for the fact that poor choices are not always permanent and thanks to a great Bishop, we ARE on our way back again.

Hi

I'm not dead yet.

Weight loss update:

An update and advice:

When on a weight loss quest, keep your "fat pants". They will be extra motivation to keep you going and a messurment for how far you've gone.

We've been slowed down with the hurting back, but she's down 40+ pounds. Still out from work but looking for something to do that won't involve bending and lifting.

Pumpkin carving time.

Well it's pumpkin carving time around here. I thought we were a little early but the girls wanted to start NOW, they couldn't wait. They turned out super, but I don't think they will last until Halloween. But with the little fart across the street, I'm not sure they would have lasted anyway.

No I didn't fall off the face of the earth.

Wow where does the time go? We've just been here there and everywhere lately. About two months ago, Stacie hurt her back at work and has been in quite a bit of pain with two disks in her back herniated. Needless to say, she's been slowed in weight loss progress, but her comfort is more important now. But she is down in weight, which should help in the treatment of her back. She made the mistake of not reporting her injury to her supervisor, now her work is really showing their colors with there total lack of support. They've made her take FMLA and have been telling her they don't have a job for her when she comes back. They want her to quit rather than find somewhere for her to work. We've been told to make them let her go before she quits, that's what they want her to do so they won't have to pay anything. It's sad that someone gets hurt working for them and they want her to disappear and go away without offering any help.