The concrete was finally poured in the plumbing channel.  We then quickly got to filling in the gaps and then finishing the walls with pine ship lap siding.  It provides a nice rustic feel to the store.  My grandparents built a small cabin out on their farm north of town and used ship lap siding.  i have loved it ever since I was a boy.

Once the siding was up and stained to match the other wood work in the store, we were able to finally start moving the paint equipment.  We have a 12′ color wall, a 5G paint shaker, a 1G paint shaker and a colorant dispenser.  We also have a new color match computer and spectrometer.  Our old system was 11 years old and still working, but in need of updates.

We decided to not wait any longer to start the walls.  As in all projects, delays happen, but we were able to start constructing walls around the plumbing channel.  Once we have the concrete poured we will be able to fill in the missing sections of the wall and start sheeting. 

We have a few sections of merchandise that we have not been able to move to new homes until we can get these wall sections up.  Once the walls are up, we can start moving the paint department to its new home freeing up space for the last of the product to find its way to its new home.

For anyone that has gone through the pain resetting a store, it is not a real fun process.  Especially when you are open for business.  Fortunately we have amazing Customers that are patient with our mess.  They are also very excited for the day that our Traeger grills fire up and start serving food everyday…

We continue to juggle the moving of product with some departments in multiple areas in the store.  With each product move we are painting our pegboard to match our store color scheme.  That adds to the complexity, but it really looks nicer than just plain old ivory colored shelving.

The other part of the challenge has been determining what departments go well next to each other given the space constraints that we have.  Given that our store is a collection of three buildings, we have more angles and aisles than we would prefer, though it does add character.  We are sticklers for maintaining a minimum 48″ wide aisle, which also causes challenges when laying out merchandise in the configuration that I have available.

It is our goal in the end to make the store an inviting, open and fun space to gather.  Adding the Cafe will only serve to strengthen that atmosphere that we are aiming for.  We are also striving for all the other parts of who we are to support that also.  Hopefully our next post will have rough plumbing and electrical happening…  

 

This year for Thanksgiving we used Traeger’s Turkey blend with brine and seasoning kit.  The bird turned out wonderful.  There is better than turkey on the Traeger.  We also made Baked Winter Squash Au Gratin.  We modified the recipe and used 1/3 Gruyere and 2/3 fresh mozzarella for the cheese.  Both recipes we learned in our Traeger Shop Class with Diva Q.

So, the leftover part.  Of course we had turkey on rolls with stuffing and cranberries.   I also took the turkey bones and roasted them down for several hours.  I then mixed the broth with the leftover Baked Winter Squash and then pureed it and made a wonderfully rich Squash Soup.

We had the amazing opportunity to partner with Traeger, the Children’s Center and Rico’s Foods in Salt Lake City to host students from our local High School.   The original plan was for the Youth that serve in Student Government to have a day of learning and service.  Several of the Youth did not attend, so we filled the remaining slots with students from the Middle School and High School.

Our day started out at Traeger where Chef Curtis prepared a meal that the Youth have talked about for days.  We enjoyed Tri-Tip, Roasted Potatoes and a Smoked Spinach Salad.  Chef Curtis also spoke with us about his path into cooking that ultimately led him to Traeger.

After lunch we were able to spend some time with Jeremy Andrus, Traeger’s CEO.  Jeremy talked to us about the importance of building a good team, learning from every experience and how hard work pays off. Jeremy was the Student Body President his senior year of high school.  He shared with the Youth how he had to run a strong campaign because he wasn’t well known.  His hard work and attention to detail was what helped him win the race.

After Traeger, we went to the Children’s Center.  A couple of our students have had family members who have benefited from the services that the Children’s Center offers.   They are focused on assisting pre-school age children with developmental and behavioral challenges.  The Youth cleaned all of the toys that the children play with as part of the classes.  It was a great opportunity to serve.

Our final stop for the day was at Rico’s Foods.  Jorge, the owner, sponsors the Burrito Project in Salt Lake.  Four nights a week, 20 volunteers show up and roll burritos and then another 20 volunteers deliver them to homeless individuals in town.  Our Youth had the opportunity to roll and deliver.  It was an eye opening experience for the Youth to see how fortunate they are.  They also had the opportunity to visit with Jorge.  He shared his experience of coming to America in the 80’s and being homeless for a time.  He then started 

selling refried beans in farmers markets and continually grew his business.  He told the Youth to make sure they Pay it Forward and recognize how blessed they are.

We are so grateful to Traeger, the Children’s Center and Rico’s for hosting us on such a wonderful day.  It is wonderful to be able to work with great Youth.

This past week we had the opportunity to join a Shop Class at Traeger’s headquarters in Salt Lake City.  We were taught by Diva Q, a wonderful woman and celebrity chef with tons of BBQ background.   She has a great sense of humor and knowledge of cooking using a wide variety of methods.

We learned several different recipes for cooking Thanksgiving dinner.  The first one is  a traditional turkey recipe that utilizes Traeger’s Turkey Blend of pellets and brine kit.   You can use the Turkey Blend pellets

and brine with just about any cooking style.   We also did a Roasted Sptachcock Turkey.  A wonderful way to cook a turkey a bit faster and get that wood flavor over a great surface area of the bird.

For our first side dish is the wonderful Baked Winter Squash Au Gratin.  This was my favorite dish.  A definite for our table this Thanksgiving.  This is a

decadent dish when cooked as the recipe calls out.  You can substitute half of the Gruyere cheese with Provolone or Mozzarella to make it a bit milder.  Also, easy to substitute any root veggies for the squashes outlined.

We also made a Sage and Sausage Stuffing.  A great base recipe that you can add nuts, berries, citrus and more to make it your own.   Our final side dish was the Roasted Cranberry Sauce.  Again, a great base recipe that you can add to with your favorite ingredients.

We wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family, friends and food.

With the garage doors closed in and finished inside and out, we have begun the process of resetting the store.

The first phase consists of moving plumbing, electrical, heating/weatherstripping, lawn & garden and automotive.

Once this part of the process is complete, we will be able to move everything out of the paint area of the store so we can finally begin plumbing for the Cafe.

When we purchased the store in 2010, the previous owners had built a new

lumber shed.  It is a steel building with four large garage doors.  When we remodeled several years ago, we enclosed one of the doors, but left the other three where they were.  The challenge we have had over the past few years is whenever it is windy when it rains (which is always), we get water in the store.  The bottom seals don’t hold it back, no matter what we tried.

So as part of the remodel and moving of products, we removed the doors and framed in the openings.  It was a bigger project than I estimated time wise, but

that is par for the course.  We were able to get the framing, house wrap and metal in before dark.  We then made a last minute paint job thanks to our friends, Ross and Gina.  The temperature was dropping and it ended up raining and snowing the next day, but the paint is holding.

Also a special thanks to our friends Kely and Jason for helping at various times during the day to get all of the work done.  It was after midnight before everything was done and all of the materials that I had sitting outside were brought in, just as the rain started to fall…

Our next step is to add a few windows and then insulate and finish off the inside.  The windows arrive next week and then we will have the inside finished and will start moving more product.  That is definitely not the best part of the project…