SPRING!!! and a new project

[cvdukes]

[quote=egalecki;33015]So how do you hide a hole?
1. "Honey, I'm building a new pool"
2. Claim its a mud-wrassling pit.
3. Blame a meteorite shower.
4. String police tape around that part of the yard.
5. Don't cut the grass around it!
Serioulsy, whatever kind of grass is growing back there is up around 3 feet...of course, part of the edict was to cut that too... so it'll soon be evident.

[Frances]

How about: "Quick, call the police! Somebody came in the night and nicked a whole bunch of earth from our garden!!!"

[Pryncess]

How do I post pictures here...we have a new project...an outdoor fireplace with cultured stone...I would love to share

[cvdukes]

Pryncess...
If you've read any of my posts, Its pretty obvious that there ain't nothing "cultured" about what I do...'cept maybe southern redneck culture!
With the name "Pryncess".., I'm pretty sure that you might not want to be associated with the this project.

You might want to start a new thread so that your cultured fireplace just doen't get mixed up with my redneck-nation firebeast monster chimena. Because of its unfinished state, a friend insists the firebeast looks like something off the Planet of the Apes set... I always did root for the monkeys, so maybe sub-conciously it affected my design.

We would like to see pictures of your project and also anthing else wood-fired...Why don't you post a little about yourself in the Newbie forum...do you have a cooking oven too, planning one etc? Once you get a couple of posts under your name, you can start attching photos. Oh, and welcome to the forum.

[dmun]

There are two ways of attaching photos. You can upload your photos in the photoplog area of the forum, (or any other photo hosting service) copy the location of the uploaded photo (a URL that starts http...and ends with .jpg) and then when you are typing your entry here, you hit the little postcard icon over the text box and paste your URL there. This allows you to insert full size images in your text, where you want them.

Or, you can scroll below the text box and hit the "manage attachments" button and this will allow you to upload a .jpg file directly from your computers hard drive. These pictures show up as thumbnails below your message.

Welcome.

[Modthyrth]

Originally Posted by cvdukes

Because of its unfinished state, a friend insists the firebeast looks like something off the Planet of the Apes set... I always did root for the monkeys, so maybe sub-conciously it affected my design.

Too funny. The image that came to my mind was the world's most appealing giant termite mound--which, of course, apes love. Too many primate studies anthro classes in college, clearly.

How's the mad construction before the party progressing? The pergola looks fabulous, and I can't wait to see the finished chiminea.

[cvdukes]

Well, back to thinking the monster won't be finished while its still officially Spring. Four days of slogging and never even turned my attention to it this weekend.

First I hd to cut that 3-foot tall grass, which burned more time than I figured (rule of thumb ....always double the amount of time...add beer and quadruple it!)... so now the hole can't be hidden anymore.
Then when I constructed the pergola, I had cut a ramp from it up to the pool level...One of the minor details was that the ramp needed a handrail with pickets, and of course once that was done, then it needed a gate... so much for Friday.
Saturday, I decided that the pergola needed some furniture...so all day saturday and sunday was spent building a porch swing and matching bench... oh, & 4 bar stools to go up against the grill island. I'll have to shoot a few pics, cause its' shaping up nicely.
Today, I realized that I've got a partially finished outdoor kitchen and a partially finished outdoor den ( the pergola with monster chimena) so might as well go for a partially finished outdoor dining area. I needed a large enough level spot to stick the glass top patio table with umbrella that been moved around the yard 10 times now. So that meant moving more dirt...hey, I already got a hole, so why not just make it bigger?
On top of all that, turkey poop man finally showed up with the truckload of composted litter that I've been trying to get all spring...every year I forget just how big that truck is... oh well, it'll just have to sit in the garden a few more weeks til I move it.

[dmun]

Much in life is governed by the rule of "2": Everything costs twice as much and takes twice as long as originally anticipated.

[egalecki]

You could put the turkey poop in the hole.... How does turkey poop stack up to composted horse manure for fertilizing? I have an unlimited supply of horse poop, so that's what I use, but I think I can get poultry manure too if I wanted.

I am waiting for the pictures of your projects. They sound fantastic.

[cvdukes]

Originally Posted by egalecki

You could put the turkey poop in the hole.... How does turkey poop stack up to composted horse manure for fertilizing? I have an unlimited supply of horse poop, so that's what I use, but I think I can get poultry manure too if I wanted.

I am waiting for the pictures of your projects. They sound fantastic.

Ah, Elizabeth.... I guess we have progressed to the finer distinctions of poopology...of which I do hold a few opinions .
I used to haul in horse manure ... drive about ten miles to the stables and muck out stalls that hadn't been cleaned in something like 30 years. Each stall would produce 2 of my pickup truck loads (old long bed toyota)...and there were 84 stalls in that barn. After about 50 stalls, the owners got greedy and started wanting to charge ME!
So I progressed to other sources...had a lady for a while about a mile away that would load my truck for me (a woman that can handle a front loader...if I wasn't already married....) and also dug out a few cow barns. What I started noticing was that I was getting really bad weeds with both. Stuff that passes thru those animals! I hadn't had that problem with the really old horse manaure because anything had died by the time I came around but fresher stuff was a a weed waiting to grow.
Then I got turned on to turkey poop. First guy was hauling straight from the poultry houses. Learned to only get it in the middle of winter, cause there is a smell. Made the mistake one summer and got a load... you could hear the flies from 300 feet away. Luckily, also got my nearest neighbors to use the stuff too so they couldn't complain about my smell ..er, the poop's smell. Poultry tends to be hotter (more nitrogen) than the others so it can burn your plants if used fresh so you have to compost it before use.
Eventually got hooked up with Big Tony (sounds like a Mafia Don).... at first he was bringing fresh stuff too, but then one time he was complaining about all these old piles he's got in his fields...so told him to bring me that from now on.
I guess we're in our 5th or 6th year with Big Tony As gas prices have climbed, so has the price but still the best deal going for me. His truck carries somewhere between 18 and 20 cubic yards and the quality is comparable to the best mushroom compost that sells here for ~$250 per yard. Price this week? $100! for the truckload I can't haul in a quarter of that for the price of gas in my litle truck.
Using the turkey poop is probably my last resort for filling back in the hole. There's about 700 feet distance between the poop dumping area (sounds like the toilet) and the hole... Thats a long way back and forth with a wheelbarrow...I can load the pickup and go back and forth, but the last 200 are still by hand. With the various brush piles I've accumulated, my plans for the hole are fill it with ground brush. One of the neighbors has a big chipper he blew the engine on... its mine if I want to put effort in it or I might just rent one for a weekend...but either way, that feels like a fall project.

I'll shoot a few pics a little later this week.
Craig