THE FIRE PIT

I had a chimenea, once. You can see one of its little legs sticking out at the right upper corner of this picture.

Living in a humidity and hail/sleet/tornado/wind/mucho rain region, made the clay weak and when Don tapped it with the lawn mower last weekend, it crumbled. I think it was just standing there out of willpower, just wishing for one more fire. We were sort of afraid to use it with the chimney broken off, though, and it gave Tracy and me a really good excuse to go out shopping for something a little more suited for our weather patterns here. This is what we came home with.

That evening, the two of us, despite Don's warnings that we were doing things incorrectly (and yes, we were, but hey, we did manage) put the pit together so we could have the inaugural fire. It probably took us about two times as long as it would have taken Don, considering we were pretty much confused by the pictoral directions we were dealt. Each of those little decorative pieces down there has to be screwed on separately.

But ta-da! There he is! Doesn't he look totally regal? We sat around it regally, too, wrapped up in a quilt as it got later and colder and the fire burned lower. Eventually I brought out speakers and we connected an iPod and had music. I didn't really realize how loud I had turned it up until I noticed neighbors coming out their doors and glaring at my patio. It sounded like we were reliving the Seventies over here, I think.

That's me, Don and Missy, the Old Woman Doxie enjoying the fire. Maybe I'll have a Pit Party sometime for everyone! If it ever stops raining again.