The Fire pit...

I had an idea a few of years ago (I know, surprise - Russ had an idea!?!) that I wanted to have a fire pit in the yard; something to sit around on summer nights and relax under the stars. The first fire pit was one of those pre-fabbed steel bowls with legs....very mobile and it was great. (no picture for this first pit)

We had lawn chairs around at night and everybody loved it. It did make me a little nervous with the idea of the dam thing tipping over and setting something or somebody on fire, and there always was the occasional oops of touching the hot metal grate/cover, and the circles of dead grass where it had been set up. It also wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing aspect of the yard.

I thought...why not have a real stone pit, like a campfire pit when we were kids at camp or up at Black Lake as adults. I decided on a good spot in the yard and dug a hole and lined it with stones.

We had that the first year and it was great. Some nights, as the dew settled or in the fall when it was colder, the wet grass wasn't high on the list of comforts, so I thought, wouldn't it be cool to have flag stones around the fire pit. They have a fire pit at Gracie's old school, where we had a festival every year...good food, singing, and people sitting around on dry stones.

I decided to do just that, build a flagstone patio around the pit. Last fall, I managed to get one huge flat stone and put it in front of Tracy's spot. Not quite the patio I envisioned  :)

 

 

For the past few weekends, I have been dragging big flat stones from out of the woods up back, and setting them around the fire. It's been hard work and I have to go farther and farther into the woods each time for the good flat ones.

I have all my stone now, and only 3-4 more to set, and maybe a couple to reset, now that it's all together and my surveyor’s eyes finds fault with things not level or evenly spaced. Still...Its good!

 

 

I think this might also deter my little fire starters from carrying fire far afield, and keep the sparks on the hearth. 

I would love to build an outdoor bee hive oven next; something close to the fire pit, where I could cook pizzas and tostadas outside with a wood fire.

 

Maybe next summer....I still have to build a roof for my shed. We also need some more Adirondack chairs and that swing set to disappear :)

     

  I'm looking forward to sharing food, fun conversation and whatever else with family, friends old and new, around the fire pit.