31 March 2008

The Benefit of Communal Living

I know we don't mention them much, but we have neighbors who live on the floor below us. They started out pretty active in the yard when they moved here about a year ago, but they have been kind of keeping to themselves indoors for a while. This place can be rather deflating if you allow it to get to you. It's nice because we sort of have the yard to ourselves, but it's not cool if it's because folks aren't happy.

Well they were out and about yesterday and whoa boy did they do something sweet. What you are looking at is the brand new, house fire pit. I think the inside diameter is about two and a half feet.

What I'm really looking forward to is roasting my hot peppers over some coals before I zap them into sauce. I am curious though, is there a particular wood that I should use, or will any old log do? Hmm.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Woo, a fire pit! If it weren't for suburban fire regulations we'd have one of those.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Are you sure they placed it there as a fire pit?

A friend of mine has something similar that she uses as a planter.

I was just thinking...wouldn't it be seriously funny if your neighbors came outside with their compost and dirt and flats of flowers and herbs, only to find you out there roasting marshmallows?

hehehehehe

Anonymous said...

*How* exciting!!! We use our constantly, but it doesn't look nearly as cool as yours.

Danni said...

Ok, I'm confused...I seriously thought this was leading up to a "unhappy neighbors and how to resolve communal living conflict" post or, at the very least, tell us why they've been so remote and reclusive lately. I'm with twinville...are you SURE this is meant to be a fire pit? Is it made out of clay? If so, I think you need to heat it up slowly with something like compressed sawdust...what are those logs called again, Presto? I can't remember. Anyway, share the scoop on the downstairs neighbors...please! :-)

Danni said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Danni said...

Oops...sorry, I got excited and posted the same comment twice. I deleted one since, as enjoyable as my writing is to read, I didn't want to overdo it.

Unknown said...

Amy,
I swear there are way too many rules and regulations set up in the burbs. They do far more harm than good. I think things like fire pits and cloths lines are the seeds to wonderful neighborly conversations. What better way is there to get to know someone than chillin with a beer around a fire talking about your other neighbor's underwear?

Twinville,
Oh it's a fire pit alright. I heard him fartin around out there and went out to investigate. He said he wanted it in a new place because we could see in our other neighbor's bathroom window where the old one was. I've got to agree that it is kind of difficult to comfortably hang out when you can see your neighbor in their whites brushing their teeth.

Ben,
We have fires quite often during the warmer months. I really want to start cooking with this new one. I can taste now, grilled veggies and an ice-cold beer. Mmm.

Danni,
Sorry to throw you a curve ball. As I said to twinville, this thing will be used for nothing other than burning logs.
I hear you on the possible dangers of the tube material and intense heat. It's kind of along the lines why you don't want to use river rocks for a fire ring. The material looks like it has a lot of grog in it so I'm guessing that it can take the heat, but we'll still take cover when the first fire is lit.
There really isn't any conflict with our neighbors. We all get along quite well. The main issue is that the property has a tremendous amount of potential, but the landlord is extremely counter productive. You can tell that the neighbors are fit to be tied at times and I'm sure that I would be the same way if we didn't have the garden. I think Meg and I also really play into our landlord's interests and speed of business so that tend to help our situation too. The bottom line however, is that as soon as we can save the money, we are out of here and moving to Future House.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Well that's good to hear. Chilling with a beer while in your undies sounds like even more fun! hehe