Wyoming Dreams Rammed Earth Home: Summer 2010

MAKING PROGRESS - OUTDOOR KITCHEN, SHED and a FIRE PIT

Site for the outdoor kitchen and shed (in front of the rock formation)

FIRST, MAKE FIRES

It's finally feeling real!

This weekend, I rented a backhoe and we worked on my firepit design, leveled out the ground for an outdoor kitchen and shed, and also spent a little time leveling ground for a yoga, tai chi, and meditation area near some cool granite outcrops.

My friends are still talking to me and said it was more fun than work. I hope I wasn't too much of a drill seargent on any of them! :)

Pre Backhoe Digging

Johnny with a scoop of dirt from the firepit

Johnny and the Backhoe, after the front bucket scoop action. Chris and Wayne are supervising

Chris shaping the seats and floor of the firepit

First, we worked on the firepit. Johnny and I had spent a weekend digging out the perimeter and some of the inside area to make it easier when the backhoe arrived. There's one radio station that comes in really well up there... 102.9 ... a classic rock station that played all the music I listened to when I was in high school. It's funny how you can remember the words to all those songs that you haven't heard in 20 years!

Chris, Wayne, Johnny and I took turns on the machine clearing out as much dirt as we could with the front bucket before using the backhoe.

On Saturday night, we were able to christen the firepit. It worked like a charm. The smoke went straight up and outside of the pit. The pit is approximately 15 feet wide (diameter) and 4 feet deep in the center. The back seat is approximately 2 1/2 feet tall with the seat approximately 18 inches wide. We ran into some rocks in the lower section and so the footing is sloped towards the center. I wanted to have a 18 inch vertical drop for the feet but instead made some natural curves to the center. Also, Chris and I worked on a stone stairs leading into the firepit.

Chris, Tilly, Wayne, Jack, Johnny and Suz

Next steps will include building a berm around the low spots of the pit; tamping down the soil; preparing the pit for concrete. I'm planning on using rocks, wood and other materials to make a mosiac pattern within the concrete mixture that will support the walls.

OUTDOOR KITCHEN AND SHED

Once we made a bunch of progress on the firepit, Chris and I moved up to the outdoor kitchen and shed area. We took the machine with us and started scooping and leveling out dirt while Johnny and Wayne were digging out and forming (by hand) the firepit. After a while, we switched roles to give each other breaks from the harder labor. Johnny and Wayne made a nice platform for the outdoor kitchen and shed. Still a bit more work to do on Sunday before its ready to go.

First scrapings for the outdoor kitchen and shed. The shed will be furthest left and will share one wall with the kitchen. The kitchen will have a gravity operated sink with a drainage tub beneath. There will also be room for either a stovetop or a grill in the designated space.

Getting closer

We woke up to another beautiful Sunday morning in Wyoming. Chris and Wayne said they heard a bunch of coyotes or fox in the night. I must have slept through that! Wayne wasn't feeling well and realized that he might have gotten some sun poisoning on his scalp. Make sure you protect yourself while working outdoors!

Johnny and I started working around 10AM. We cleared, scraped and leveled out more of the kitchen/shed area. When we felt good enough with our leveling progress, we headed up to the yoga, tai chi and meditation area and started moving dirt up there. I was amazed at the amount of dirt we had to move to make it somewhat level. This area still needs some work but we made some progress. It will also be a great tent pad for friends coming to the "Party with the Perseids" in August. No pictures of this area yet. You'll just have to wait til the next posting.