The wisest men know that love’s light glows brightest when snuggled up with your honey beside a crackling fire. And so, in the pursuit of this happiness, my wife and I have been putting some energy into making this delightful fire-pit area. Before Christmas, we engaged a landscaper to come and install the border stones and lay down pea gravel over a plastic weed barrier.
I guess the project really started in 2018 when I picked up this Catalina Creations 34″ Cauldron Patio Fire Pit off Amazon as a Christmas gift for the family. It came with a screened lid to keep the sparks under control. I also bought a heavy waterproof cover and a good selection of long-handled marshmallow forks to round out the package.
This worked fine for the few times we used it, but every time we’d have to schlep chairs out and spend a lot of time setting up for a proper weenie roast. We wanted to have a dedicated always-ready setup to do it right, though. So this year, for Christmas 2020, we moved the project forward.
With the help of a railroad spike, some orange string, two pencils and a rubber band, we marked out a 14′ diameter circle. We asked Slinging Grass Landscaping to build out the area. With Covid, our material choices were limited, so after some back and forth, we settled on what you see in the photos. We didn’t have any other stone accents in the yard, so matching an existing style wasn’t a concern.
Here, Nick has already arranged the border stones along our inscribed circle, while his helper is leveling out the area within. Next, they’ll spray the grass to keep it from growing up in the spring, and lay down a heavy plastic barrier. Adding a few inches of pea gravel on top is the last step, and the transformation is complete.
Among the quintessential manly interests, I think that fire ranks pretty highly. Fire is bad-ass. As I stood admiring our new fire-circle, I remembered the legendary Prometheus, who stole fire from the Gods and gave it to mankind. Poor guy, Zeus caught up with him, and chained him to a rock for all eternity, to have his liver pecked out daily by a blood-lusting Eagle. That other famous bad-ass, Heracles, came along and sprung him from that awful predicament, which is nice. But in honor of Prometheus and in celebration of fire, I thought to call this area our ‘Promethium’.
I thought I was clever, coining this new word. I didn’t recall ever hearing it before, so… Well. Wikipedia kindly informed me that I was not nearly as clever as I thought, and that I have almost certainly heard the word before, given that it’s the address of a chemical element that lives at #61 Periodic Table. But I like the name anyway. And so I present, Our Promethium.