How do I build a fire pit?

I asked this quesiton before and got one pretty good answer. I just wanted to post in another category to see if anyone else has other input.

I live out in the country and would like to build a fire pit (like an outdoor fireplace) in the back yard that I would end up being able to grill/bbq on. Do I need to dig a little bit down in the ground first or do I just clear an area where I’m going to put it and start building?

Any important things I should know before building it?

What is best to use to fuel it once it’s built? Charcoal, kindling? Does it matter?

Are my Chickadee's still alive??

I have a chickadee house just above my sunroom. It’s well protected & hidden. I have had the fortune to experience chickadees nesting in it. For several weeks, the chickadee parents fed their young ones & it was beautiful to hear the young ones chirp when they were fed. I’ve never seen them or tampered with their home, however, I was cleaning my outdoor fireplace (located at the corner of my patio @ ground level far away from the bird house) last night and notice "a" standing dead chickadee inside. My heart dropped worried that it may have been one of the parents. I buried the poor thing and was saddened by it. Today, I have noticed the parents have not yet come by to feed their young ones. I am afraid to assume the little ones have passed, or, could the possibilities be having to notice their chirp pretty loud lately, that they have flown away??
Your efforts in answering my questions would be most appreciated?

Valentines day ideas?

i was thinking of spending the night outside by an outdoor fireplace and some red wine, any other ideas that would make her feel special?

confusing dream what does it mean? (needs someone good w/ animal symbols) ?

This dream was really weird but I wrote everything down in my dream journal once I awoke so I remember a lot of little details.

In the beginning of my dream I was bathing in the ocean. It was night but a very bright night with lots of moonlight and glittering silver stars. There was a huge full moon overhead. I could hear the sound of pretty chines in the air. Flamingos were flying over the ocean and the ocean was filled with frogs. I was watching a duck and drake swimming together in ocean when I spotted a mermaid and I was pleasantly surprised because I had never seen one before. We swam together before I was startled by the sound of cymbals crashing and I saw my fiancé, Arvind. He swam out and we made love in the ocean. I noticed his eyes were darker and he smelled of allspice. Then we went onto land. I felt very affectionate towards him so I caught a gander that was in the ocean and gave it to him as a present. He was so pleased he gave me three presents: bouquets of gardenia, forsythia, forget me nots, daffodils, acacia, lavender, jasmine, honeysuckle, nightshade, lotus, and lilies of the valley, four cards (ace, king, queen and jack of hearts) and a cone-shaped aquamarine and ruby amulet.
Then I started talking about how I had to do my Christmas shopping because it was Christmas day. We walked into town bare foot in the dew and went to an antique store that looked really quaint and old-fashioned. There were pigeons on the windowsill outside. I was looking at antiques and finally purchased some oil. Arvind then said that because I bought oil we had to marry and we rode on a donkey to some wedding banquet.
The banquet was held in a beautiful cemetery. There was a long table with a feast prepared. Two canaries were in a cage on the table as a centerpiece. Incense was lit, a harp and organ were playing. Nightingales were in trees. There was an outdoor fireplace burning. Arvind was dressed as a knight. I was dressed in an ivory, lace wedding dress, the amulet and was barefoot still. We were eating celery, avocado, cake, apricot, dates, chestnuts, olives, ripe cherries, ginger, honey, jam, lamb, pumpkin, maple sugar, oysters, pickles, strawberries, and ice cream sodas. We were eating off good china and drank wine and a sweet, syrupy drink from Crystal goblets. Our wedding guests were elk and fairies. A barmaid approached me and said about Arvind, “he’s the one”. Then one of the waiters served a dead deer and I was disgusted and insisted he removed the dead deer.
A unicorn came on the scene and roared like a lion and then turned into a palm tree. A lunar eclipse took place and it became very dark. In the tree was my abusive ex-husband dressed as a ship captain in black nylon. He was sitting in the pal tree with three snakes, an adder, a python and a rattlesnake around his neck and a crow was on his shoulder. Caterpillars and lizards were at feet of the tree. He offered me a bouquet of opium poppies and primroses as a wedding gift and I rejected it. He came down off the tree and an alligator, fox, leopard and snarling dog came to his side. He went into a jealous rage telling me I should have been his wife and I was crazy not to and he took me to an asylum. Arvind chased us down and turned into a polar bear and Nikolas turned into a black bear and began to fight. I put on a white velvet cloak with a garland of garlic around my neck and Arvind gave me a blade and I found Nikolas-bear and killed him. After he died all his animal companions died and it became light again. A rainbow appeared and doves were flying overhead. Then we cooked the Nikolas-bear corpse and went back to our wedding banquet and ate that too.
Then I awoke

Would it be harmful to burn cardboard and paper on the garden patch?

We have a ridiculous amount of cardboard and paper leftover from the holidays. My city doesn’t recycle, so I was going to take it all to my dad’s fire pit. But there are several large bags of cardboard boxes, tissue paper, wrapping paper etc. It seems like it would be easier to just burn it myself, but my husband got rid of the outdoor fireplace last year and the only clear area I can burn it is where the garden belongs. Will burning this stuff over where the garden is be in anyway harmful to the soil for growing vegetables this summer?

We live in Ohio, people here put lime on their grass to make it greener… whatever that means for the kind of soil we have :-)

Adult Halloween Party Ideas?

I know Halloween just got over for this year, but I want to start planning a big Halloween party for my birthday next year. So I was just wondering for those of you who had parties this year, what kind of things did you do at your parties? How did your guests like them? I wasn’t exactly looking for games or anything, but I was thinking of something more for adults. I had a couple of ideas. I was going to decorate my entire house w/ diff. themes. Like having the kitchen like a mad scientists lab, the yard as a cemetary, etc. I wanted to have the game Rockband set up downstairs. A lot of my friends like to play that. I was also thinking of renting a movie projector and playing Halloween movies on the outside of my house. Also, we have an outdoor fireplace and I was thinking of setting up an outdoor smores table for people to make. I also have an entire Halloween themed menu and I want to have a costume contest. Those are just a few ideas that I was tossing around. Any other ideas anyone has would be great! Thank you! =)

I need a super inexpensive surface cover for a new patio.?

I am wanting to finish a patio that was started at my house. The area is a curved 24 x 17 space. I don’t want to break the bank, as I also have some other projects going on at the same time (kitchen & bath remodels, indoor/outdoor painting). So I need some super cheap ideas. Can anyone offer up some ideas?

Location is everything. In my area of Louisiana, I am limited to what I can get. I have run the costs for brick, reclaimed brick, pavers, and concrete blocks. All of these, for my area, range from 0 (concrete) to 00. Need something cheaper.

I thought about just filling in the area with pea gravel on a sand base. I can get a short load of each for about a piece. I don’t know how this would do for chairs, swing, and outdoor fireplace.

Please advise.

compost lid question?

My wife and I started a compost in a big outdoor planter. We live in a city and do not have room for much more than that. We add out kitchen scraps and our plant scraps. Right now our lid is mesh outdoor fireplace lid. My question is, does our compost need a lid that does not allow air to reach it? I know that I need to airate it, but should I have a lid that limits air reaching the compost?
ok can I use an "open" lid and just have it compost slower?

Big Brother question?

First, what in the world is everyone puffing on around the outdoor fireplace? It looks like that thing the catepillar smoked in alice in wonderland. Second, does anyone have the live feed and can tell me who got hoh? I hate waiting. Thanks.

Does anyone do crafts with pine cones?

I have 5 pine trees, always dropping something from them, some drop the huge 12-15 " cones and some are like 8" inches, if anyone wants them, I will start saving them for you.

I have been burning them in the outdoor fireplace
**People actually buy pine "straw" here, actually pine needles, I wish they would come and just take it from my yard by raking th @#$^ pine needles It is called "long leaf pine"…just long needles to me

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