I decided to keep the momentum going on the hideout and tramped over there yesterday afternoon and worked on the little fireplace.
I do mean little.
I dug up a rectangle of sod which left a sloppy, soggy hole of clay. I'm amazed at how saturated that soil is right now! Then I lined it with the broken brick pieces.
I walked on them to level them off and the clay acted a bit like mortar and they really settled into the hole. I imagine when this clay soil dries out they will be quite 'cemented' in there!
I then gathered dead branches from some of the bushes over there and built a small fire. Turns out that to get one going in this cold and damp, it's a very nice thing to have some chunks of pitchy bark from your fire kit.
It's a kind of pitiful little fireplace and I'm already thinking of ways to change it. Including getting one of these things...
That's kind of a lot of money to spend on a frivolous desire to play with fire over in the meadow I'm thinking. But the commitment of it would help me actually GO over there. I need to keep myself connected and 'grounded' with my environment. I spend a lot of my time studying some pretty esoteric material, and I can get a little 'floaty' sometimes. Getting my knees muddy and smoke in my eyes may be just what is called for.
I could spend a lot less money and build one of these:
I'm thinking this would be best. And it would be okay to leave out in the weather.
We shall see. And it's a good time to construct something like this over there right now because I can actually dig holes to make a platform. Once that soil dries out, it becomes impossible work with.
I think I feel a trip to the lumber yard coming on.... :-)
