Old baking pan rack made several years ago.

I am trying to finish off the kitchen so I can get outside and dig into the myriad number of projects waiting for me.  Luckily, mother nature is cooperating with me this week, it is miserable cold and windy outside.  I had to use the saw multiple times yesterday and had a coat and long sleeve coat on during those excursions.  I started cutting the hole in the kitchen floor for the downdraft fan vent.  My fear was I would hit a floor support under the house.  I am pretty sure I did.  I just about have the square cut out and I think the back one inch is a support.  I will know after I dig the cut out of the hole.  If that is the case I may try and install the six inch pipe connection and use a pivoting joint to move around the support.  If I could avoid it altogether that would be the best!  I can cover the hole and shoot in some expanding foam so the cold doesn’t creep up into the kitchen.  I will dig into that after Easter.  The kitchen window trim is next. 

Annmarie has been bugging me to fix her cooking pan sorting rack.  The pans were just kind of haphazardly tossed in and hard to get out.  She wanted a second shelf and a new plywood side that was smooth.  That was the first project I tackled yesterday.  The nice part was I reused some of the plywood from the oven stand and two pieces of old oak trim I got last week from a contractor friend.  I love repurposing old things and giving them new life. 
 

Shelves installed and fan hidden.  We are still deciding on doors.

Once that was complete and all oiled up.  I only use olive oil as the finish.  Once a year I just reapply the oil to the entire piece.  I love the way it takes the stains and oil and pan burns, it adds character.  The wood doesn’t split or crack with the oil as a buffer.  Olive oil does not spoil.  It took almost 2/3 cup of oil to work in as a finish.  It is applied liberally. 

Next was the cooktop creation shelves.  I had started to store the pan lids on the top shelf but there was no way to keep them from falling off the back of the shelf.  So I had to cut a new piece and attach it to the back of the installed shelf.  One big hurdle was I wanted it tall enough to hid the cook top and downdraft fan bodies.  This meant that after cutting the back it was so tall that the shelf could not be removed as it hit the front side supports.  I made Sarah hold it out halfway so I could crawl under and predrill and install screws along the backside to hold the back wall in place. 
I did the bottom shelf next and had to cut the sides three times before I got them right.  The bottom shelf needs to slide out as one unit.  I don’t have the vent duct work installed so I could not permanently hide the plumbing.  I did want to hide the unsightly metal from the down draft fan.  So the back upright pieces go within 1/8 of an inch from the upper shelf.  It also slides right out as one unit, shelf and back wall are attached. 

Three days ago I sent Zeke out to get the sheep on the back hill side.  He was not cooperating and kept stopping and looking back for the next command.  I had to walk out into the orchard to keep hollering orders.  Sprout was tagging along behind me.  The alpaca started to wander over toward us.  I didn’t think any thing about it and continued hollering at Zeke.  I happened to look over my shoulder and the little brown alpaca was stomping poor sprout!  He was going to town on sprout, had him rolling around on the ground trying to get away.  I had to run over and shoo the alpaca back and pick sprout up off the ground to keep him away from the alpaca.  I knew llama were good guard animals for the sheep but had read that alpaca are not as aggressive and therefor not good guard animals.  That may be true of most alpacas but no one told that to the little brown one.  This may make the alpacas hard to work with Zeke.