castle trip today #'s 4 & 5

I need to take my camera to the castle but either way I still go without it when the opportunity presents. Today I got some time to head up to do some more work. I went last thursday too and did a fair amount of work on the front wall. Had some visitors again, this time with a couple guitars and purple fragrance. About time for some sage incense making.

Today I got a lot done with the front wall now built nearly straight up from the large base rocks that use to sit out from the castle wall with nothing on top. The front wall will have a circular feel to it extending out a couple feet from where the fire pit is. Hoping to make room for a couple more people to sit comfortably around the fire. I also took a nice chunk of time to dig out the fire pit and use the ash for fill between the rocks on the rock floor. I had so much fill that I just started to throw in into the new front wall that has a couple more feet to go. I got the outer part of the front wall built strong and started to disassemble the wall directly behind the fire pit to move it back a couple feet.

I was able to find quite a few rocks in front of the castle to help build the wall up. I rolled a few more big ones down to the back wall too. The main entrance had some rearrangements and a couple new big rocks added. I spaced the rocks around the tree near the main entrance to allow it space to grow. I also added charcoal and ash to its base along with most of the other trees.

I contemplated extending the castle rear wall out about 4 feet allowing the two big boulders to have the ability to free stand with a few large rocks as stairs. I'd like to incorporate a line of trees on the southeast side of the castle but would need to prune and make a wall that included them in. That would pretty much double the size of the inside area of the castle. Make it more of a garden around the south and east sides while preserving the front wall.

The front wall is taking shape. The fire pit will be surrounded by what appears to be a circle within the larger circle that the castle makes. The two circles connect behind the fire on the front wall. Thinking of maybe having access to the fire from all sides. That would be accomplished by having large flat stones arranged as large steps on the inside of the front wall leading down to the pit. The steps would make the seating into a circle rather than a half circle. I realized that the fire is prone to break the rocks that surround it. Kind of like the idiots who built a fire in the past week right in front of the large sitting rocks causing one to break a layer off.

After seeing the damage to the valuable sitting rocks I found a perfect staff for digging out the fire pit. A paper plate and cup where the first items used to remove the wet ash but they gave way to a powerade plastic bottle. I had to use my finger nail clippers to puncture a hole for my car key to get in and be used in a sawing motion until I got the top off. I filled that thing for an hour or more. The rock floor looks more flat and even now with the filled in cracks. Once the wall behind the old pit is removed I'll have more ash to clean out. I think the pit will need to be dug down a foot below the ground level.

It seemed like after working for 4 hours today that I hadn't done anything. It kind of feels the same even though its different. I got a nice sunburn on my arms and face. Caught a tic on my arm too today which kind of worries me since my mom once had a bite from a deer tic put her in the hospital with a staff infection.