Our kitchen smells like food, not sawdust!

Ben is hard at work making verenike with his mom - all you Mennonite blog readers can appreciate what's going on there. It's so nice to smell cooking smells rather than construction smells. Not a whole lot new to report, but we've had some requests for pictures that show how the house looks as a whole. We don't have a wide angle setting on our camera, so it's a bit hard to capture. So you'll have to imagine... The loft covers the bedrooms and bathroom, and a small alcove. All the other space is open, with kitchen to the left and living space to the right as you stand in the door from mudroom to yurt. The bottom two pictures are taken from the loft, and the top two are from the main living area. For anyone who is challenged by imagining this, you'll just have to come visit and see for yourself! :) Glenn and Arlene can verify that there is indeed space for guests to sleep in the loft, or on the pull-out couch if you can stand sleeping that close to the stove.

The pictures show our Christmas tree - it's a bit scrawny, but you can sure see all the ornaments! It's actually a salvaged top from a felled tree for the pulp truck, so we didn't have to cut another. Dad suggested that maybe the skidder had already run over it, contributing to its flattened side. But it works well in our little house. Mom and Dad came to hike and find their Christmas tree too, and they were a bit more discerning in their choice...

I put up a few pictures from our snowshoe outing this morning, our welcome sign made by Uncle Will (who, with Aunt Tini, have dubbed us "the Yurtles"), as well as a happy boy who received his pedal tractor from Glenn and Arlene this morning. After an initial squeal of delight, he was in awed speechlessness.

Merry Christmas!

We're in!!!!!

I am happy to report that we have moved in are enjoying yurt life so far. There have been a few glitches, but it feels great to be here and not having to make a trip morning and evening every day.We actually settled in for good on December 11th, and have been getting things finished since then. Leslie just finished up most of the baseboard and much of the other trim is done, though the windows still need work in the trim department.
We've actually been able to enjoy our place a bit these days as well. We get out and snowshoe or ski most days, and the weather has been great. I've heard a number of people say this is the most snow that they can remember for the month of December. It sounds as though it's supposed to warm up a bit, but we're keeping our fingers crossed that we won't have too much melting.
As is our norm we have also moved on to other things which in this case means that we have started to do some cutting in the woods between our house and the field. We are looking at sights for a barn and other buildings as well as just doing some much needed thinning. It's been great to get out, but the snow is deep enough that sometimes it's quite hard going, especially when lugging a big chainsaw around. I've been looking at chainsaw mills so that we will be able to mill some of our own lumber. I haven't gotten one yet, but hope to soon. We'd like to build a shed this winter so that we can have a bit of storage other than the yurt itself. Also hoping to get a space to set up a small biodiesel making operation.
We're all well and Abrahm is getting used to living in the yurt. He still loves to be outside and loves to get in his backpack carrier for a good adventure. He's still very heavily into tractors and trucks and has gotten a few new ones for Christmas already. Mom and dad got him a pedal tractor for Christmas which he doesn't know about yet, but I'm sure as soon as he sees it he will want to head out and start plowing the field. We'll probably keep it down in Leslie's uncle and aunt's barn, and I wouldn't be suprised if he wants to move down there so he can ride whenever he feels like it.
Sorry we don't have any pictures this round, but we'll put some on soon. Oh I almost forgot. It is official that this is our residence since I've now managed to bake a few loaves of bread, and spend much more time in the kitchen than I have in months!

We have water! And it's HOT!

The title says it all,
The plumber came back today to finish up the connections. There was not a whole lot left to do, but the weather has been snowy and wintry for the last few days. Our plumber has been busy dealing with heater problems and well freeze ups so when they said they could come today I didn't hold my breath.They've been great though and they sure came through. After he left today I finished things up by hooking up the on demand water heater. So not only do we have water, but we can have hot water if we want.
We've been busy with all sorts of things in the last while, and have now gotten things moved out of the storage unit (just in time to not pay for December). The unpacking has been happening everyday, and with the completion of the bookcase we have gotten most things in place. I'll be working on the trim in the next few days. We have gotten the curved pieces of trim in place, but I need to get the other pieces of base board in so that we can move things against all of the walls. It doesn't make much sense move in until we can really get things set. I have the lumber though, and so hopefully I can get them in the next day or so.
Things are getting very close, and it will be a great to celebrate Christmas in our own place. If we continue with the weather we've been having it will be a white Christmas. We had a great snowfall Sunday through Monday, and finally finished up yesterday. I think we ended up with about 10". Leslie and Abrahm went out this afternoon for a snowshoe adventure, and it sounded like they had a great time. I'm looking forward to getting out in the snow as well, though I'll probably be hanging on to a chainsaw. Lots to do!
Abrahm continues to entertain, as you can see from the photo. He's a very busy fellow, and his current favorites include tractors, trucks, and stuffed animals. Often these things all go together as we have witnessed all manner of animals piloting tractors, and trucks.

We're getting there!

Well once again it's been a long time since the last post, and this time I don't have a very good excuse. Can you believe the main reason for not posting sooner was that the counter tops in the kitchen weren't clean so I couldn't get a good picture?
That sums up how things are going these days. We've come quite a long way since the last post. The floors are finished, the painting is mostly done. Just a bit of touch up and trim to paint. The last being a bit difficult since we don't have any yet. As you can see though we have a wood bin in the mudroom which was being filled as it was being completed. That happened earlier today with the help of Matt, Sean, and Sarah. It was great even if the skid steer has a flat tire, and could not be used to haul wood from the pile to the mudroom. Will's tractor did stand in duty on that front and we were done in no time. Thanks everyone!
We've been busy putting together our kitchen from IKEA, and finishing up lots of other little things. We also got our phone hooked up a few days ago. So soon we will have high speed internet as well. A first for us.
Last weekend I took a couple of days off and went to take a class on low impact forestry. It was a great class and well worth the time away. The emphasis was on the horse logging side of things, and I learned a great deal. I got to do a bit of logging with a great Belgian draft horse named Molly. Having never driven a horse before she went easy on me and no one any worse for the wear at the end of the day. I've always been intrigued by those big draft horses and this certainly makes me think that I might like to try farming and logging with one or a team in the future.
We have begun to think about a barn and other building which would certainly be a prerequisite before horses came along. We plan on doing some major thinning in the stand of trees that is close to the yurt this winter, and hopefully that will help us figure out some more specifics about barn and other building placement. The guy who has been doing some logging on our land in the last few years is also going to do some more cutting this winter and we'll see if we can arrange something with the local mill to either have some of it milled or some sort of swap for milled timbers which we hope to use in the barn construction.
It's been getting colder around here and as you can see in the picture we've had some snow which Abrahm has quite enjoyed. It's been staying pretty warm in the yurt with the wood stove so far, but we haven't had a major test yet.
Hopefully the plumber will be back the early part of this coming week to hook up the last things and then we will really be getting close to moving in. Not really interested in paying another months bill for the storage unit.
Hope you're all well and had a great Thanksgiving. Time for bed!

The New Holland Liveth! Oh yeah, we're painting and finishing the floor too

Well after another long break from blogging I'm back at it. I need to give my knees a rest after all the sanding and finishing that's been happening in the last few days.
After finishing the drywall sanding which was mostly overhead, I moved right on to sanding the floors. Pretty exciting, but also quite tiring. Once they were done it was on to a major cleanup before we started finishing the floors and the walls. Leslie helped out with the floor sanding, and then moved right on to the priming and painting which you can see the fruits of in the photos.
We are using tung oil on the floors which has been quite pleasant to use apart from having to crawl around an awful lot to apply it. It seems to be a good choice for our pine floor. It is much easier to repair if it gets scratched or dinged because it is an oil that penetrates the wood. A very nice characteristic when dealing with a soft floor, and it also gives it a nice warm look and feel. I have 2 coats on the yurt floor itself and one on the mudroom. Both areas will have a total of three when I'm done. It's a very different process than polyurethane in that it is either applied with a brush or cloth and then allowed to sit on the floor, in the case of the first coat, about 30 minutes. Then you go back and wipe off the excess and let it cure overnight. No bubbles to worry about or lap marks which is quite nice.
As you can see in the pictures Leslie has been busy building the shelves that will be the wall so to speak of the loft. They came together quite nicely as well, and will be painted in the near future and then we'll put the back on.
We'll probalby start putting together some of the kitchen pieces in the next day or so and then we'll need another visit from the plumber to get things all hooked up! The move in day seems to be in sight!! Hooray!!
Well time to sign off now Leslie has to do some school work. Oh I almost forgot. I did manage to get the starter for the skidsteer rebuilt and put back in the other day, and miracle of miracles it actually started! Just in time for the cold. No snow yet thankfully.

Isn't it beautiful?

There's not a whole lot to report today. Except, WE HAVE POWER!!!! I took Abrahm to his 18 month appointment this morning, and when I got to our place the power company was hard at work. By the time Leslie came they were installing the transformer, and soon after one of their employees came up and knocked on the door, and quite unceremoniously announced that the power was on. Not exactly the way I had envisioned it exactly, but thrilling none the less. I went around this afternoon and checked all the outlets and switches that I've put in, and they all work! It feels pretty good to have this hurdle out of the way, and we're still making good progress on the mudding so we're not so far off from sanding the floor and assembling the kitchen.
Well as I said at the beginning of the post there is not a whole lot else to report so I will sign off for now. Yes, I know that it is not a photographic masterpiece, but hey how else do you show something like this?

At last a real entry way!

Well the busy beavers have been at it again, and they have now completed the steps to our front door! We seem to have kept a bit of momentum after my dad left, and there has been some great progress this week. Dale and Rina finished the stairs on the deck so we can now walk up and down to get in and out of the yurt. Quite novel since we have been using a step ladder for months.
I put up the heat shield for our stove today so we are close being able to have a full blown fire, though there are a few other things stove related to finish before we really heat things up. We have had a few small fires this week since they are quite helpful for dry out all the drywall mud I've been using.
The big news for me though is the finishing of taping! I still have finish coats to do, but it feels great to be done with that step. It's gone well up to this point, but I'm glad that I had some prior experience. I'm mostly hoping to not have to do much sanding, and so far it's looking good.
We've also seen some progress in getting electricity. They have installed all the poles, and run support cables as well as trimmed all the trees that needed it. With any luck they will be running the supply cables tomorrow, so we may see power tomorrow! No rain please!
I may not have mentioned this earlier, but we have been without our skidsteer for a couple of months. The starter conked out, and I have not had time to get it pulled out until now. I did manage to do that the other day as well which is good with colder weather coming. It is just sitting in front of the yurt, and I was not relishing working on it if the weather got any colder. It turns out there is a place not to far from here that rebuilds starters so hopefully that will be fixed soon as well. Things are coming along.

Rocked up and ready to burn

Hey all,
Well we haven't gotten around to posting anything for quite a while again, but there's been a lot going on so I thought I had better get back to it to fill you all in.
My folks came to visit this past week, mom on Wednesday, and dad late on Friday night, which was great. Mom headed back on Tuesday, but dad is able to stay until Saturday. It's been great to share the progress with them, and having some new energy and excitement has been a great help. Mom got to spend a good amount of time with Abrahm which he loved and dad has been helping out with anything that needs doing around the yurt.
We managed to finish the sheet rocking today which is a great relief, the last piece went on the ceiling in the bathroom this evening just before packing up for the day. If that wasn't exciting enough, we also managed to get the stove installed today and finish the chimney! Now we just need to get a piece or two of sheet metal for a heat shield and we will be ready to warm the place up. Big progress! Also in the past few days we've managed to get the front door in, and the on demand water heater is mounted, though not hooked up. We'll have to see how the weather is in the next few days, but the plan is to get going on the front steps.
Leslie is of course excelling in her studies, especially the clinical areas where I think she is definitely the star, and Abrahm is enjoying the bounty of fall. He comes over to the yurt most days after daycare, and promptly heads out to scavenge for apples along our driveway. He loves finding and eating apples, and there are many to choose from along the way down the drive. He is also quite fond of our recent acquisition. He loves anything related to tractors and every time he sees ours he gets a big smile and wants to get right on.
As you can see from the photos the stove is indeed black with a green pipe before it exits the yurt through a nice shiny insulated pipe. The color scheme is courtesy of scavenged pipe from Leslie's folks garage. Can't be to choosy. You can also see that dad had a chance to get well acquainted with our wonderful rocky soil while digging the hole for the supports for the chimney. And yes we did manage to extract him.
Well time to get ready for bed. Better sign off and crawl upstairs.

Of plumbers and tractors

Well it's been quite some time since the last post, and things have been rolling along relatively smoothly here. Much of the drywall is now down, though there have been many challenges, and I'm afraid there will be many more where ceilings are concerned. Rooms that are not square on three sides, and curved on the fourth are quite difficult I must say. Our room is finished though, and I have started on the bathroom. Saving Abrahm's room for last as it presents the additional challenge of have insulation in the ceiling which makes finding the centers of floor joists for measurement that much more difficult. Oh well, one step at a time. None of this is helped at the moment by the fact that I managed to give myself a very sore neck today trying to hang a large piece of Sheetrock on the ceiling by myself. Dumb! Hopefully I'll be back at it tomorrow, with some help.
Some other excitement of this week was the purchase of a tractor! We've been faithfully watching Uncle Henry's, which for those of you not from Maine, is a buy sell, swap publication put out weekly with just about anything one could ever want in it. I spotted a good looking Massey Ferguson 65 Diesel, and went to look at it last Saturday. It turned out to be a nice machine, though a bit faded and tired looking. It should be great tractor for us as it is large enough to do most jobs that we would like including plowing. It also has an oversize bucket which is always a bonus. I brought it home yesterday, and with it a shop manual and an operators manual in which Abrahm has fallen in love. It was of course pouring rain the whole day which made the loading and unloading of the tractor quite pleasant, and no sooner had I gotten it off our trailer than I got it stuck in a big mud hole. Luckily Leslie was there to pull me out with the truck.
The biggest excitement of the week for all of us except Abrahm was the arrival of the plumbers on Monday. They took about two days to finish the rough in plumbing and install the bath/shower combo. That means as soon as the well driller comes back to finish the pressure tank installation we will be able to close all of the walls and finish mudding the joints. Then it's on to floor sanding and finishing and then kitchen installation. We're getting closer!
Well I think I'll call it a night and go nurse my sore neck.

Rock!

I started sheet rocking today, which feels like another big step in the drive towards moving in. So far things are going well Our plumber is supposed to bring over the shower/tub combo tomorrow so that I can build the walls to surround it. He's coming back on monday to do more installation so that I can keep going with the dry wall. There's more electrical work to do, but I'm almost there.
We've been thinking about how to finish things off inside, and have come up with a plan to build in book shelves in the loft. They'll face out towards the main living space, and be accessible from the ladder. It will give us quite a bit of storage space without using up much of our highly valuable floor space.
It's nice to be thinking of things like that and knowing that they are not so far off. They feel like finishing touches. Along with things like that are things like the floor which still needs sanding and finishing, but that will happen as soon as the drywall is up.
We are also thinking ahead to cold weather and needing to get the stove set up. I think that we have a pretty good idea of how that will go, but it is a bit intimidating putting a hole in the side of the yurt.
Well we'll keep you posted as thing progress.

Sightings of siding

It's been quite a while again since the last post so I thought I should put some sort of update on again. Things have been going quite well this past week, and we've seen some progress that makes it seem as though moving in is not quite so far off anymore.
This week has been comprised mostly of electrical work for me and awning work for Dale and Rina. The electrical stuff has gone well, but has of course taken more time than I had hoped. It's kind of a pain to have to do things up to code! I'm hoping that I have not missed anything, our electrician who is putting in the main box should be coming over soon to see if things are looking good. Leslie and I actually went looking for lights today so there's an indicator of progress, not that we have power to the sight as of yet, but we want to be ready!
The weather here as been unseasonably warm so far, but we're not getting fooled into thinking it will last. That means we will be looking to install our stove fairly soon as well, which will be another adventure. Luckily we have a great resource here in a local business that sells and services wood stoves.
As mention earlier Dale and Rina spent much of this week working on awnings for above our windows, and true to form they turned out really well. It will be quite nice to be able to open the windows even when it's raining.
The last few days I've been working on the siding for the mudroom, and today I had the pleasure of working with Leslie. Not something we've done a whole lot of recently since she's quite busy with school. The siding is looking great so far. We opted to go for shiplap which means that the boards are run vertically, and they have a groove on opposite sides that the next piece of siding fits over. Kind of hard to describe, but anyway we have one wall done and the front is nearly finished. Part of the reason we went for this option was that we could get the lumber locally, and I've alway found the look quite pleasing.
So tomorrow will be more siding and hopefully a look from the electrician, and then we will be very close to sheet rock time. We'll keep you posted as long as I don't fall asleep right after supper!

Septic!

We've been making lots of progress in the last few days, and we've also had a great crew working on the septic system which is now done. It's great to see that finally done, since it has, in essence, been in the works since very early on. We've had to contend with an open trench right next to the front door for a long time, but today it was finally filled in.
While they were working on that we've been working on the floor for the loft. It's been a puzzle, but I think that we have a good solution which was not quite as difficult as I had expected. I think I'll let the pictures speak for themselves on that front. The interior walls and the loft floor were certainly made more difficult by the fact that they have to been essentially free standing. A few of the floor joists are connected to the rafters, but apart from that it is all built inside the yurt with no connection to exterior walls.
As you can see from the pictures in the process of septic installation the excavator had to come very close to the building which would be quite disconcerting if I didn't know that the operator was very good. It was quite amazing to watch the whole process which basically only took a day and a half. It's great to find people who are very good at what they do.
Abrahm was very excited to see the excavator and dump trucks there as well, and it was especially exciting when he got to sit in the excavator. In general he's very into tractors and other equipment so it was a huge thrill.
Well I think I'm going to sign off for now, and head to bed soon. Ben

Moving along

We've been hard at it for a while now, and we certainly have something to show for it! We finished framing the interior walls in the yurt today, and will be moving on to the loft tomorrow. Much of this past week was devoted to installing the panels that make up the interior walls of the yurt itself. This turned out to be a painstaking process as the panels were tall enough that they had to be notched for every rafter. No small task especially since most of them had twists in them so they had to be cut at angles. They are done now except for the area around where the stove will go.The paneling had to go in prior to installation of the walls that make up the rooms within the yurt.
The other area that we have been working on is the transition area between the roof of the mudroom and the yurt. It's been difficult to get that area water tight, but we've had some good rain since the last patch job and things are finally nice and dry!
Leslie spent this afternoon in Auburn which is about 45 minutes away shopping for insulation for the mudroom, so as soon as I get a bit of wiring roughed in we will be able to insulate. We've also been in the market for some sort of siding for the mudroom, and in keeping with the buy local idea which we generally favor we will probably buy some sort of siding, be it board and batten or shiplap, from a local sawmill.
We're also expecting to have a septic system in place quite soon which will be quite nice since it will mean that the trench which is currently right next to our front door will finally be filled in. This may seem like a small thing, but for the last few months we have always had to be on the look out for it when walking around, and more importantly when we drive in with a load of supplies. It also marks on of the last things that we will have to hire out in this whole process which is nice. I'm not sure that I would ever want to be a general contractor!
Tomorrow marks another milestone in our lives with the beginning of daycare for Abrahm. Neither of us is particularly excited about this, but the provider we have found seems to be a good fit, and it will be good for Abrahm to have time to socialize with other kids. A good thing indeed as he is quite shy around strangers including older kids. Not at all surprising if you know his parents!
I better get a few pictures posted and call it a night.

tired builders

We had a marathon day of building today, attempting to get all the sheathing on roof and walls of the addition to get it closed in. We didn't quite get all of it done, but we're close. It was just in time too, as it started to pour just after I covered over the ventilation spaces at the ridge. It was challenging to join a square structure to a round one. One photo shows a little bit of how the connection was made. We're hoping for dry weather tomorrow so that we can finish getting the roof waterproofed.

We thought this photo of Abrahm was fun - maybe he thinks he can join the building crew by wearing Papa's work boots. He's pretty good with a hammer and with climbing ladders. In not too much time we'll put him to work. :) That's it for tonight, as I'm so tired I can hardly put together coherent sentences anymore.

Two days in a row (of blogging, that is)

A quick update tonight, in an effort to get to bed earlier! The framing is coming along nicely, though we're still trying to figure out how to join a square and a round structure. The pictures are a bit deceptive - it looks as though the mudroom is as big as the yurt. It's mostly perspective, as the yurt is several times bigger in floor space. It is still a big mudroom though - the most essential component of a house, in our farming/gardening/messy kid/muddy dog household. Speaking of dog - the photo of Cooper is to show what a goofy dog he's been. He has 70 acres to run around in, and he's fixated on spending as much time in the van as possible. Perhaps he's determined not to be left behind should we decide to move again. Thankfully, we're planted here with no plans to move (other than into the yurt when it's ready)!

Time for a bit of square!

Well we've made some great progress in the last few days. I have to admit though I'm very excited about living in a round structure it is quite nice to do a little traditional (western style) framing. Things progress quickly and there a results at the end of the day. Not to say there wasn't a bit of head scratching at various times during the initial rounds of framing, but it is something I know a bit more about.

We got started on labor day, and by the end of the day we had the main walls of the mudroom up, a couple of windows as well as the door framed in. Today was a bit more tedious figuring out how to frame up to the yurt itself, and I would be remiss not to mention all the additional time spent last evening and this morning figuring out rafter lengths and other related dimensions. I guess the trig is a little rusty, but I got it all figured out, and I cut one test rafter this afternoon which fit beautifully. So tomorrow it's on to the rafters and which should go quite well until we get to the portion of the framed roof that will actually go over part of the yurt room to form the transition between the two. I'm anticipating quite a bit of head scratching during that part, not to mention additional trips to the lumber yard!

Leslie started her nursing program today. It sounds as though it will be a good fit, and at least the first year she does not have to travel very far to get to school most of the time. It certainly will take some time to get into new patterns, but so far so good.

Abrahm is busy driving anything he can find around, and making attempts to get into any actual vehicle he can so that he can have a go a driving the real thing. He's as busy as ever, and there is constant chatter even if there are not really any words yet. I'm sure they'll come soon enough.

Well I'd better get to bed so I can get to work early tomorrow on those rafters! Ben

we could sleep here now (almost)

Hello from the Yurtles, as my aunt as taken to calling us, as soon (relatively speaking)-to-be yurt dwellers. A quick update on the yurt and farm progress here. Overall, we're feeling pleased with progress. We have the roof on; windows installed, trimmed, and caulked; and have materials to start framing the mudroom/addition. It's amazing how getting the space enclosed makes it much easier to imagine inhabiting the space. We probably could spend the night there now, though the absence of a door might let in a few too many bugs. We were lucky to have excellent help from Dave and Justin Jenckes, who show up in the roof installation pictures. Their skills, enthusiasm, and strength were essential for getting the roof finished this past Wednesday.

A few notes about the phots, which, as usual are not in a logical order. The roof has three layers: a liner (which you see, in one photo, from inside), the insulation, and the exterior roof material. One photo shows the roof at the point of having the insulation mostly installed. Another photo shows the crew carrying the roof material to the yurt. You can see that it's weighing them down just carrying it on level ground - then we got to heave it up onto the roof! One photo shows roof on, but no center dome yet, as Ben's still sticking out the top. And a picture of the yurt with windows preliminarily installed.

The photo of the truck full of tree limbs represents my recent realization that farming in this area includes a fair amount of woodlot management. This has not been a very big part of any of my previous farm experience, so we have a lot to learn. MOFGA (Maine Organic Farm and Garden Assocation) has some great resources for low-impact forest management, and we intend to make use of them. And yes, I know that you're supposed to do most of your forestry in the cold months, so that you don't have to haul around the leaves along with the woody parts (as the last picture shows). These trees had to get cleared out for the one area on our place where there will be above-ground power lines.

Tomorrow we're starting to frame up the mudroom, so I should probably head toward bed pretty soon. Have a good Labor Day weekend!