FEELING CRAFTY, BIG BORE STYLE

A true hillbilly at heart, Big Bore added his own "piece de resistance" to our classy backyard art when he rescued most of an antique wood stove from the town dump a few years ago. It had no functional purpose--the bottom and the stove pipe were missing, but we both agreed it was kinda cute in a rustic sort of way--emphasis on the rust--so we kept it.

Fast forward to last Tuesday when we were in the city and eyeballing some cool chimeneas that we thought would look mighty fine on the patio; however, BB decided it might be more fun trying to rig up the old Hardwick No. 25 to see if it would actually work. Out came the tools of the trade and soon Dr. Frankenstein was creating his monster. He fashioned an oval-to-circular adapter for the "pipe," made from coffee cans, and formed a bottom out of sheet metal. He also made the circular air flow do-dad at the front.

Next, we fetched some fallen wood out by the low water bridge, and before evening the Hardwick was ablaze. We're not taking bets on how long it will last--it has a few little holes that are bound to get larger as the rust takes it toll, but for now that ol' stove has been resurrected from the dead and has brought special meaning to Casa de la Flaming Bore.