Ready, Aim, Fire Pit

This weekend we built a fire pit in our backyard. Granted, it isn't the biggest or most impresive fire pit you've ever seen, but it works and only cost about 20 bucks for materials and took less than an hour.

First we found a relatively flat area of our yard that was a safe distance away from the garage, bushes, trees, etc. and laid out our stones to form a circle. We marked ground inside the stones with the shovel and moved them away.

That made it easier to dig our hole. I dug down about a foot, trying to keep the walls as straight as possible.

Inside the first hole, I dug a second hole another 8 inches or so down. Doing this, I'm told, creates a sump which aides in draining your fire pit. The draining is the most important part, otherwise you could just dig a shallow hole and be done with it.

Then I added a bag of pea gravel. I filled it up to roughly 4 inches from the top. The gravel will allow water to drain.

Then I covered the gravel with a healthy amout of sand and replaced the stones, and it was done. One of the easiest weekend projects ever.

Of course, I didn't just come up with the idea myself. I used the Google to find a great resource walking me through the construction. I think we'll call it, "The Little Fire Pit that Could."

So, would you like "The Tour?"

"No. I get it." - Larry David.

We've finally gotten all settled here in Slater, Iowa. This is our awesome house. I love being a homeowner, but I hate property taxes. We live kinda on the edge of town. The street that runs in front of our house is by far the busiest in Slater. About three blocks from our place it turns into a highway that runs 9 miles north to Ames, home of Iowa State University and the Cyclones. People are really, really into college sports here. I think I'll stay out of it.

Here's the backyard and our oldest tree. Unfortunately the wind usually blows in the direction that would make the tree fall on our house in a big storm. It's still a sturdy tree, but we'll have to cut it down in the foreseeable future. Storms in the midwest are way different than Montana storms. The wind is crazy and the thunder is louder than I've ever heard.

Darcy and her mom painted the kitchen last week. Before it was a mint green. It looks waaaay better now than it did.

We picked this metal table up in Des Moines, which is about 20 miles to the south.

This table also came from Des Moines. The awesome China hutch came with the house. And here is photographic proof that Jeffreys survived the 18 hour car ride from Missoula. He did really well for the first 17 hours, then got ansy and scared for the last hour. All in all he made the trip like a real trooper.

Owning a couch set makes me feel really old. But they're really comfortable, so who cares. We also go to bed around 10:30 most nights. Uh oh.

We finally got our entertainment center hooked up and the speakers are fully operational. It's good to be vindicated after hauling heavy speakers accross the country. Darcy admits they sound better than the TV.

Upstairs we just have 4 rooms. They're pretty boring and not really ready to make their debut yet. Once they're painted and set up, you'll see them.