Well this begins the saga of yurt building and living in Jay Maine.
I arrived on monday after a very eventful trip out hauling all matter of tools including our New Holland skidsteer. Unfortunately it was not a fun eventful trip. Our truck broke down in south eastern Vermont. Transmission troubles. The truck and trailer with skidsteer still on it were then towed the rest of the way out to Maine by a tow truck driver from Wilton where Leslie's parents live. Boy you can learn a lot riding in a tow truck for 7 hours!. We finally made it, and I got somewhat settled in at Leslie's folks.
Tuesday dawned a beautiful day, after making a number of phone calls in the morning off I went to dig in the dirt! Boy was it fun to finally be able to do something rather than just plan. I spent most of the first day leveling the area where the platform for the yurt would be, and in the process discovered just how many rocks lay beneath some quite nice top soil. This included several good size boulders all of which I was to move with the skidsteer. I did however encounter on rock that was a bit more stubborn. I was getting tired by this point, and was also in need of some diesel fuel for the machine so I decided to call it a day. The next day saw was also perfect weather for working so I decided to have another go at that boulder. After working away for quite some time and thinking that I might never get it loose low and behold it moved. I could not lift it however so it had to be rolled out of the way. I didn't realize at the time but apparently I had some spectators in the form of Leslie's aunt and uncle. Apparently it was quite a scene as I did battle with the boulder, and Will proclaimed afterwards that the skidsteer must be indestructible, as he could not imagine anything being harder on it.
Today I was able to move on to some layout work with the help of Leslie's folks. It has been great having them around to help. They are very enthusiatic, and very skilled as well which has been a great asset.
We'll see what tomorrow brings. There have been predictions of rain the last few days, but nothing has materialized and progress has been great. Until next time. Ben
