Campfire Pit Completed!
A couple of days ago, I finished the campfire pit! I had one layer of rocks in a circle around the perimeter previously, with plans to create a second wall next to it on the inside, then to place rocks straddling the 2 lower layers. I was finally able to complete it! Yay!
Also, for the area improvements, I cleared a bunch of brush to the fence line so we could clearly see the campfire pit from the house after we are done using it so we can make sure there are no problems after putting it out. We’ll use water to put it out when done. I have water that runs underground to the veggie garden nearby so I can run a hose down to the campfire pit to use for any emergencies, if any, and to douse the fire well to be sure it’s fully out when done using it.
The brush is all cleaned up and I raked it, too! I also created an opening in the fence so it’s easier to access the area! I still have to cut out some of the brush cuttings that are sticking up. I cleaned it all up in the access area but still need to do more work to clean up the other side to make it look better.
We also had poison ivy along the fence line that we sprayed with poison ivy killer last week. It worked great! But I had to remove the dead stuff too. I didn’t get it all but just ran out of steam and didn’t get it all yet. It’s so hot outside and I was sweating buckets! Just too much with the heat and humidity! Can only do so much when it’s hot outside! Especially when the sun hits hot and heavy where you’re working in the afternoon! Just brutal! It’s not as bad when it’s shady but the sun hits the area directly from early afternoon to around 5 pm.
After cleaning up some of the dead poison ivy that I was able to get done, when I took a shower (I was filthy!), I wanted to be certain that I got any poison ivy oil off of my skin as I’m highly allergic to it. I washed with ivory soap first, to get all of the dirt off of me, rinsed it off, then washed with Dawn dishwashing liquid soap, rinsed, washed again with the Dawn, rinsed, then washed again with the ivory soap. I figure if Dawn is gentle enough to be used on wildlife that is covered with oil after an oil spill, and it cuts through the oil, maybe it will safely have the same effect on poison ivy oil! Fingers crossed I don’t get poison ivy! So far so good! But too soon to tell. I would think that between the two washes with ivory soap and two washes with the Dawn soap, that it’s unlikely I’ll get it.
So, more work to do along the fence line. Also need to cut out some small stumps from the walking area so nobody trips on them at night. And I’ll likely take down a couple of small trees as well. Will gradually continue ti make improvements to the area! I’d eventually like to get some pea stones for around the campfire pit and possibly make a walkway using pea stones too! In the spring I’ll spray it with roundup ground killer so nothing grows through. It supposedly lasts a year! My neighbor was telling me about this! She buys it to keep her campfire area clear. She has a campfire area out behind her house in the woods too, which is where I got the idea for ours!
My neighbor also has the string lights that hang up in the trees and creates beautiful lighting! I thought our campfire area was too far away to run an extension cord but now that the brush is cleared, we can plug in an extension cord from the outlet at our deck and can run it down to where the fence line is, and run the lights from there to the campfire pit area! It’ll be beautiful! I’m going to get the longest string of lights I can get! I think the longest is 200 feet! That should easily run from the fence, along the walkway in, and down to the campfire pit area! I’m going to order them in a few minutes!
Even though next weekend is Labor Day weekend and the summer is pretty much over, we can still get a lot of use from the string lights and campfire pit this fall! In fact, the cooler weather will be great for a good campfire! Summer is just way too hot for sitting by a hot campfire! Looking forward to using my new campfire pit soon! Maybe next weekend! By then I’ll have the new string lights and I’ll hang them before the weekend! I also need the e tension cord; probably 100’ will be more than adequate! I’ll have to measure the distance from the outlet to the fence line before I order one, just to be sure!
Anyway, here is where it’s at for now! A work in progress! But plenty good enough for now to use it! Can’t wait!
Here is the open fence! I used the 2 stringers on another section of fence elsewhere that were missing the bottom stringers because they had rotted out.
Nice touches!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sis! Commenting from my phone so I couldn’t log in to comment!
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