Fire Pit

 Look what we built Sunday morning?

We used this YouTube Video - LINK here. Our costs were about double of what they described and we had to use 12 stones to make a circle not 10.

The fire Marshall required that we have 1 foot of area outside the circle.  He was surprised that we built it so fast.  He came on Saturday to review whether our placement was okay and then I called him on Sunday afternoon to approve it and issue our burn permit (required by state law).  He was impressed.

We invited daughter and family over for a campfire Sunday night to inaugurate the fire pit.  Emily brought the makings of s'mores except no graham crackers - she substituted gluten free cookies.

After they went home, we sat outside listening to the radio (streaming from WAMU FM a Washington DC station) until the fire burned down.  It was lovely.

p.s. you can see the finished deck there too.  No real furnishings there yet so I'll save featuring that until until next Spring when we make deck furniture purchases.

And today the driveway is being redone!  Progress!

The Fair

Last weekend was the Fair in our township.  It's a very big deal around here and lots of folks volunteer for different aspects: ticket taking, parking, exhibits, first aid, sales, and food.  The rides are contracted out of course but the fair entrance fee ($12 adults and $3 kids) is a big money maker for the school PTO.  

We volunteered to take tickets for 3 hours (4 pm-7pm) Saturday evening at one of the 5 entrance points.  Ours was right across for the largest parking lot which generated lots of traffic to our booth until it filled up.  There were waves of people.  I never have handled so many $100 bills!

Emily and I handled the ticket sales and Dan did the hand stamping and vehicle monitoring for those needing access to school parking lot.

We attended the Fair on Sunday.  Here's what we saw.

Tractors

Animals

Rides

More animals

More tractors

More rides

Historical stuff

More animals

And more rides

And more tractors new and old.

I would bet that before tractors became so prominent horses would have had a bigger showing at a fair. There was only one building devoted to a few horses - the rest were filled with cattle.

We are definitely in a farming community here in New Hampshire!

TImely Words

 

Thank you, Marilyn, for sharing these with me.

Sunflower Season and Other News

 These lovelies are from my daughter's garden.  They self seed each year and she transplants them to the ends of her garden beds.  Next year I'd like to have some of my own growing.

For other news: we have a concrete slab in our barn.  It was poured in the rain last Thursday.  Dan has been keeping it wetted down each day as it cures.  Later this week Dave the concrete guy will come back to saw expansion joints in it.

You can see the mess in front of it and our driveway below.  Another contractor has promised a visit this week to do the grading of the driveway including French drains along the house to keep the winter melt out of the basement.  The surface of the drive will be hardpack not asphalt.

Once that's all done the barn whisperer will be back to put on the doors.

Finally just posted nine books to my 2021 books read list.  I've been remiss in posting there.  Check it out if you need some book suggestions.