IKEA Hobo Stove project

I am planning a bit of camping soon and last year I did not get around purchasing to a stove for cooking.

I was not comfortable storing propane or butane in my car where I was sleeping. So, I decided to do some research.  

I discovered several you tube videos documenting the making of an IKEA Hobo Stove using an Ordning Utensil holder.  It is made of stainless steel and very available at thrift stores.  It serves as the fire box for the stove.  I think overall the supplies for the stove ran about $10.  Mark Young in Nova Scotia has several good videos.

I needed a base which raised the hot box to allow air to flow from the bottom and prevent coals and ashes which may fall through to the ground.  

This is an IKEA Ordning food warmer which is designed to work with tealights. It raises the fire box about 1.5 inches and provides protection from falling coals and ashes.

With holes in both pieces I just needed to connect both pieces.

I used a short bolt and nut with washers on both sides. I small washer on the inside the fire box and a metal plate on the bottom in the ventilation space of the warmer.

Now I needed  away to elevate my cooking vessels above the top of the fire box which provide ventilation at the top and a way to add wood to the fire box.

One of the videos by Charles documented the process of a triangular support for his veggie steamer stove.  After trying several options which did not turn out I decided to give this a try.  

I had bought 2 stainless steel drinking straws so I combined those with lengths of wire hangers cut with my home pliers and a little persistence.  

I straightened the wire then put it in the straw and made the first bend.  I made the triangle about 6 inches on each side then put the other end in the next steel straw and cut the end of wire to the bottom of the straw.  

Repeated this 2 more times but I need another straw.  I was lucky to find an aluminum tube yesterday that will do the job.

It supports my cast iron fry pan, my stainless steel water kettle and my camping pots. 

It is great because it folds down flat and is easy to store. 

You can see the 2 pieces in the image above.

I needed a bag to store the stove and chose a black bag because the stove will get dirty with soot in the process of making the fire. 

It holds the stove, the tongs, the cooking triangular support folded, the pellet holder and maybe even the saw.  I used a couple of the leftovers from the wire hangers to make skewers which will allow a support for alcohol fuel as well.  I saw several fondue burners at the second hand store the other day which would likely work well.  More immediate than wood.

This stove can burn wood pellets as well.  I bought a stainless steel sieve with a handle which fit perfectly in the fire box. The handle prevents the pellets sitting on the sieve from dropping down too far in the firebox and makes removal easy.  Pellets can be purchased at several stores.

The triangular cooking vessel support works well with this option too.

Now I need a bit of wood and fire starter.

On my regular walks in the river valley I collected small pieces of dead fall wood. They have been sitting on the balcony to dry out and letting any bugs around time to leave.  The firebox is 7 inches tall so today I just broke the pieces that length.  I found a plastic bucket which will store pieces that tall.  

I bought a small saw in case I need to trim longer pieces into shorter lengths.  Of the wood I collected I was able to break most of them with my hands.  There were 2 that needed the saw.

I have no idea how many fires this much wood will make.  In campgrounds I will likely be able to gather more wood if I need it.

I gathered a few supplies to make fire starters.

Dryer lint, shredded paper, toilet paper roll strips, and some wax.

I stuffed the rings of toilet paper roll with paper and lint.  Dripped melted wax on top of the stuff all contained within the small roll.  I hope they work well.  There were several recipes recommended.  I will keep you posted about how it goes!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

A walk to the community garden is always inspiring.  Plants are blooming, producing edibles and folks are harvesting at this time of year.

I just capture the wonderfulness with my camera.

Found this beautiful red poppy this week.

Speaking of harvesting.

I spent some time with my niece on the weekend and she helped me pick chokecherries.  In the end, I had 4 cups of berries to make pancake syrup.  This is the Chokecherry Syrup recipe I used.

With another camping trip under my belt I have honed my supplies and equipment.

I bought a larger tote to hold the kitchen stuff.  I added a stainless steel kettle, a 4L water jug, a second cooler and a mat. 

I am happy with my progress and hopefully I will get a trip in after school starts and things quiet in the travel business.

Maybe campsites will close after the September long weekend. I will have to check that out.

I received and paid for my first set of prescription glasses this week!  I have been making do with readers for years.  Not having sunglasses for driving was getting to me so I finally bit the bullet.

They are black frames with checkerboard pattern on the sides. I got progressive lenses which I was quite unsure about but it is working out well.

The lenses darken in the light and even in the car behind the windshield.  They have a scratch resistance coating and anti glare coating for night driving.

A lovely microfiber cloth to clean them with a special spray, along with a sturdy case to store but most of the time they will be on my face.

I had to make a few adjustments at home as well so the computer monitor had to be lowered so that it aligned with the bar on the progressive lens for that distance.  

It took a bit of fiddling and something that was adjustable so it is a stack of old Somerset Studio magazines which came to the rescue. 

It was nice to spend time with family.  We celebrated my grandniece's birthday which is in April but was postponed due to COVID restrictions.  With all of us vaccinated, we were free to enjoy time together.

I visited the wetlands near my niece's house during my visit on the weekend. What a lovely area with wide open spaces but still within the city limits!

A female Redwing Blackbird, the bulrushes are tall, and the ducks are swimming around after raising their young.  

I expect the red berries are not edible but very pretty.  Update - Red Baneberry - poisonous.

The theme for Flickr Macro Monday this week was "foil".  With foil used as packaging for all kinds of things there was a good variety of pics.  You can check my Flickr Photostream (SMDPics) to see my entry. 

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #142 and

Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #300. 

Have a great week and be safe!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

Ladybugs are brightly colored to warn predators that they taste bad and should not be eaten.  They do secrete a foul smelling substance from their body which makes them unappealing to those who may want to munch on them. 

I headed to the grounds of the Conservatory for my walk yesterday.  I am not sure yet about being indoors with other folks.  There was lots of room outside and I was there before the place opened at 10 am.  The parking lot was quite full when I got back to the car at 10:10 or so.  Our Covid numbers are climbing again so it behooves a person to be careful.

I found this Hosta bud just waiting to unfurl into beautiful blooms.

I love the lovely soft colors against the wonderful large green leaf.

We have had some rain recently which has allowed the plants some reprieve.  The lawns on the south side of most places are parched and brown.

I have not posted my books for a while.  This book was very interesting.  Again, I am struck by reading a book with a main character having mental struggles.  

A Cry in the Night by Mary Higgins Clark.

Divorcee Jenny MacPartland struggles to support herself and her two small daughters. The father and ex-husband is of no help. She works at an art gallery where one day she meets a new man. Rich, handsome Erich Krueger sweeps her off her feet, they marry and she moves to his mansion in the country. Everything seems to be perfect, and Jenny feels like a fairy-tale princess. But gradually the fairy-tale turns into a nightmare. Something is very wrong in the great house that has slowly, imperceptively, become her prison. Something that threatens her marriage, her life - and her children.

The ending is a big surprise but a welcomed end to the story.

Murder inside the Beltway by Margaret Truman. 

A Washington call girl is found bludgeoned to death in her Adams-Morgan apartment. As police detectives scour the apartment, they find a digital video camera nestled high among books on a shelf. Had she used the camera to video some of her clients during their sexual romps?

Then they discover a small, book-sized DVD case, full with the exception of two slots. Could they possibly get lucky? Is the murder on one of those disks?

As the investigation picks up steam, the business of Washington, D.C., rolls on. It's an election year and the sitting president, Burton Pyle, is running for a second term. His opponent, Robert Colgate, is odds-on to defeat Pyle.

Then, on a lovely Sunday afternoon on Washington's famed Mall, the daughter of Bob Colgate's closest confidant and advisor is kidnapped.  The these events connected?

But no one is prepared for the explosive development that erupts when the daughter of Colgate’s closest friend is kidnapped and Detective Mary Hall and rookie cop Matthew Jackson uncover a shocking connection between the abduction, the Curzon case—and a killer no one will see coming.   

I enjoyed the fact that the lead detective is a woman.  I will add this author to my list and check out more of her work.

This was the sun day before yesterday.  Rising red orange.  The haze in the air very visible.  

Forest fires still raging on all sides of our province. 

I discovered this 2 spotted lady bug on rose bushes recently. 

The whole purpose for the Ladybug being brightly colored with spots is to ward off predators. The Ladybugs want to let their predators know that they taste bad and could even be poisonous.  They do secrete a foul smelling substance from their body which deters predators.

Genes determines the number of spots on a ladybug.  They can be several different colors and have 0 to as many as 24 spots.

I had to replace the lamp switch when it stopped working.  The one on the lamp was a nice Bakelite kind of dark hard plastic. It screwed together very nicely.  The lamp is 30 years old so things were made differently then.  

Thank goodness for you tube.  I sorted out which wires went where. The cord did not have the ridges the video described so I had to mark the leads with tape to make sure they were attached properly to the new switch.  Part of maintenance when you own stuff for years and years.

I am always up for a book with tea in the tittle. I found this one at the small library at the park.

The Color of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe.

A story about following your dreams and passions.  

Macau: the bulbous nose of China, a peninsula and two islands strung together like a three-bead necklace. It was time to find a life for myself. To make something out of nothing. The end of hope and the beginning of it too.

After moving with her husband to the tiny, bustling island of Macau, Grace Miller finds herself a stranger in a foreign land—a lone redhead towering above the crowd on the busy Chinese streets. As she is forced to confront the devastating news of her infertility, Grace’s marriage is fraying and her dreams of family have been shattered. She resolves to do something bold, something her impetuous mother would do, and she turns to what she loves: baking and the pleasure of afternoon tea.

Grace opens a café where she serves tea, coffee, and macarons—the delectable, delicate French cookies colored like precious stones—to the women of Macau. There, among fellow expatriates and locals alike, Grace carves out a new definition of home and family. But when her marriage reaches a crisis, secrets Grace thought she had buried long ago rise to the surface. Grace realizes it’s now or never to lay old ghosts to rest and to begin to trust herself. With each mug of coffee brewed, each cup of tea steeped and macaron baked, Grace comes to learn that strength can be gleaned from the unlikeliest of places.

A delicious, melt-in-your-mouth novel featuring the sweet pleasures of French pastries and the exotic scents and sights of China, The Color of Tea is a scrumptious story of love, friendship and renewal.

I would recommend this book as I enjoyed it a lot.

This week was my second time camping and sleeping in my car. 

The bag on the left holds the window coverings I made for the car.  These are black and held in place with magnets. Quite effective actually.  The second photos is a small IKEA hanging container I put on the back of my front seat to hold my keys, my watch, and cell phone.  White makes easy to see even in the dark.  I have repurposed an old vinegar jug for drinking water while camping.  My sister is using squarer jugs which may be more stable as this one fell over and dripped water onto the carpet in my car.  I will check those out when I go grocery shopping this week. 

Sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #141 and Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #299

Sylvia's Simple Shots

All creatures are seeking shade as we endure time under a heat dome here on the prairies.

I found this wasp resting in the shade this morning as I was seeking shade myself.  I managed about 40 minutes outside this morning before heading inside.

 

We are expecting almost another week of over 30C highs which is very unusual for this part of the country.  

It's cold herbal tea with ice cubes this week instead of hot tea.  This Chai Green tea is pretty good.

I finished this book recently. Nice light romance about a girl following her dreams to run a tea shop instead of working in an insurance office.  Of course, when she gets the opportunity it's in a castle with a handsome manager. 

With a few bumps along the way, she wins on all fronts - family, love and work life. 

I have been making decisions about what needs to be cleared out so that I can store the things I want.  One of the things that needed a home was camping equipment.  

The shelf in the storage room has been cleared of paper. Rolls of gift wrap, pads of card stock, and freebies from years ago that I never used.

I have been consulting my Stampin Up color samples to see which card stock is going to be stored in the card making area and which is going.  This green was a great match and stayed.  Trimmed to letter sized sheets and added next to the other Always Artichoke card stock.  I have added an aluminum table and a lantern to the mix.  I am working on getting a fry pan for cooking on a butane stove.  This latest recipe includes tortillas on the top and bottom and cheese to hold the middle together.  The experimentation continues.

I picked Haskap berries when I visited my aunt last week.  I am a berry picker from way back and could not leave them on the bush.  The berries remind me of gooseberries.  

I found a recipe on line for HASKAP Chutney.   I replaced the raisins with cranberries.  Changed the flavors to ginger, garlic and curry.  Check out that color and it tastes great. Three small jars were processed and are waiting to be enjoyed.

I finished this book today!  It was really too hot to do much work so I sat near the fan and read instead.

Love Nicholas Sparks books and this one was full of mystery and suspense and a few scary bits. The Guardian involves a Great Dane dog which comes to live with Julie after her husband dies. 

Once she starts dating, she meets a man and goes on a few dates. Then things go a little strange and he will not let her be. She moves onto to another relationship but is plagued by problems with Richard.  The police get involved when a crime is committed then the chase begins. 

It was a good love story with some tense moments.

Flickr Macro Monday`s theme this week was `Pins`.  There is a good variety of them - straight pins, clothes pins, cotter pins, garment pins, head pins, safety pins, jewelry pins, and many more. 

Here I have put Love Macro Monday on punchies held onto a cord with tiny clothes pins.  Check out my Flickr Photostream (SMDPics) for the one I submitted.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #137 and 

Mersad at Through My Lens #295.