Kevin's Watch

bugger

Before time existed in the southwest, i arrived here and beheld a chimanea for the first time. Just as it was that nobody told me about the 7th St and 7th Ave's of Phoenix being miles apart, no one informed me of the chimanea. There was one in a backyard..ceramic red clay elongated tear drop of a thing on wrought iron legs with opening to a interior bowl shaped cavity. My first thought was..a portable mexican urinal or commode as a better choice than letting loose in the pool..or trying to make it to the indoor commode without tracking wet thru a house. I'm glad I didn't act then on my intuition.

My second intuitive leap,, and I have many upon discovery of something entirely new and unknown to me..i thought perhaps it was a Mayan or Aztecian sacrificial altar of some sorts. Plenty of their descendants had made their traditions be known in America long before I arrived. After all,,there was the soot of fire and slite ashes in the bowl of it. I wondered what Xocoquotol or Quajaxactal had been paid homage to in that chimenea and what was the ashes of. A sniff told me Kingsford...with some mesquite.

So, it occurred to me..maybe they had adapted a bit of the Christianity traditions and ate their sacrifice. Again, my nose led me to the truth,,leaving me in thought of which of the pantheon of Mayan Gods represented the hot dog,,hamburger,,and was that roasted jalapeno?
And what was that white dust on the exterior of this portable tabernacle? I had read Castanetas. A tasting of the swiped finger tip told me.. flour. hhhmm.. large 8 to 10 inch circular remanents of lite flour dust on the bulb of the chimenea,, Then it dawned on me..chimney..chimenea..Why heck, it was a mexican barbi..a sonoran smoker! How about that!..Well. it is true that for what ever reasons.. the Mayan never conceived of the wheel..So thats the only thing missing from these chimneys..Maybe thats a good thing..They'd be hooking these things up to the truck and towing them all over town if they ever put wheels on'em.

lurch wrote:i thought perhaps it was a Mayan or Aztecian sacrificial altar of some sorts.

Your instincts were closer than you knew, lurch.... I have one on the balcony, kitted out inside for burning alcohol gel fuel, which I am out of right now.

Your instincts were closer than you knew, lurch.... I have one on the balcony, kitted out inside for burning alcohol gel fuel, which I am out of right now. [/quote]

Aliantha;

alcohol gel fuel.......and.. aaaa. .may i ask...tell me if it isn't any of my business,,,but..uuummmm..what does one sacrifice,,or in your case, won't be sacrificing...that aaaa,,,requires alcohol gel fuel..?..

Usually just the breathable air in the house, which is why it's now out on the balcony.

Seriously, tho, I don't use mine as a barbecue. Alcohol gel fuel comes in a can. It's smokeless and (allegedly) fumeless, so you can light it inside the house without venting it to the outside. (Altho when I *do* light it inside, I put it near a window and open the window a crack, just to be sure. ) The "firebox" I have will hold three cans, but my chimenea is on the small side and three cans make it too hot. So I usually light just two cans at a time. Anyhow, I suppose I *could* cook stuff over the fire, but I don't. It's just for atmosphere.

[quote="aliantha"]Usually just the breathable air in the house, which is why it's now out on the balcony.

...oh.....Well..i sacrifice the little geiko lizards running around the backyard. The Upper Sonoran Gods seem easily appeased by them. They are so darn hard to catch tho. I mean.. you can grab'em by the tail but their tails break off. So alls you have for the sacrifice is half a geiko tail..well, okay, a couple of 'em seem to work just as well as one complete geiko..Those lizards just grow a new one at that..And alls you need is couple of those olde timey kitchen matches and poof!..the deed is done. Gods are happy..Hey that reminds me..it got up to 110 today and aiming for 111 tomorrow..I gotta do something about that.. Be back in a bit...

I'm totally missing my Watchers. I'm completely bummed out. Wonder if I should call them for the 3rd time today?

Hey. somebody needs to prune all of this chimanea stuff out of our thread!

why? we all got lonely without you, and we had to do something to entertain ourselves. And you missed the perfect opportunity to pun! You shoulda said something about smoke or fire(smoke out all the chimanea at the very least!)! Geez, I tell you, these good-for-nothin watchers who are too busy getting together in SF!

More pics are up in the groupfest section of the album.

Everyone have a safe trip home! (Or to Denver or wherever you're headed next).

BTW, I expect a phone call or two from Denver next weekend!

dlbpharmd wrote:BTW, I expect a phone call or two from Denver next weekend!

oh, don't you worry, I'll definitely want to be calling you and telling you how much you suck for not being there with us!

So anyway...I've discovered that the Colorado Renaissance Festival will be happening while we're in Denver. www.coloradorenaissance.com It's not exactly close to Denver, being on the way south to Colorado Springs. But I just thought I'd mention it. This coming weekend is one of the theme weekends:

ROYAL ALE FESTIVAL, June 21 & 22
Military Appreciation Weekend

A variety of ale, stout, and lager beer will be on tap for Free Sampling at the Dancing Bear Pub. Join us at the "Ode to Ale" Toasting Contest, as well as, the "Best Man in Tights" Contest. Attend the "Wooing Contest" this weekend on the Rose Stage. This Weekend Only! All Military personal receive a buy 1 get 1 free w/Military I.D. plus their kids are free.

Again, maybe too far out of the way for us, and I dunno if anyone would care to go. Just thought I'd mention it.

The only thing about that is that the watchfests tend to be a fest in and amongst themselves, taking a fest to a fest gets really complicated.

Yeah, good point.

still...it could be considered.
Perhaps after those who have to depart Sunday have been hugged and cried over and seen off?

You know what's odd and sad? Sea and Damelon and Cov are all hanging out at my place waiting for Cyndi. And I am not there....

Yeah, this whole "working for a living" thing is really inconvenient sometimes....

Cameraman Jenn wrote:You know what's odd and sad? Sea and Damelon and Cov are all hanging out at my place waiting for Cyndi. And I am not there....

I am not a good.." good bye " person. As inevitable as the moment is..i have a hard time facing the conclusion of it..I prefer a " Bon Voyage'...That infers a return....So,,while sad and odd,,being at work isn't all that bad,,from my POV anyway.