Pictures, at last.....

If I were reading this blog, I'd want pictures, and moreover, I'd want pictures with captions. Alas, I can't figure out how to caption the pictures (or turn them so they're in the right orientation). So you'll have to make do with matching pictures up with the text below...

As promised in the last post, I've included a photo of the land (a bit of it, anyway) in late fall, so that you can see the topography a bit. Also, a picture of our not-so-dearly departed moving truck. Abrahm was quite enamored with it, but Ben and I stuck to mere appreciation of its utility in getting all our stuff out here. For some reason, these photots posted first show up last.

And on to the yurt-building photos. The first shows Andy with one section of lattice, which, along with seven other sections of lattice and the window frames, forms the structure of the walls. It does look a bit like Andy is looking through an oversize drying rack.

The second photo shows the lattice sections and window (6 of them) and doorframes put together to form the circular wall. The bottom is held by a skirt board; the top is reinforced with aeronautical cable. The next photo shows Dad and Ben up on the scaffolding, trying to rig up a support for the center ring which holds the dome of the yurt. This is the ring into which all the rafters attach.

This is the point at which we are stuck, as the yurt maker (inconveniently) neglected to ship the pins which attach the rafters to the ring. We didn't know this until we had already put up the walls of the yurt. So here we are, waiting for rafter pins, firewood split and stacked, and antsy to keep going. We hope that by Monday afternoon we'll be back on track. Keep your fingers crossed that FedEx is not any more delayed than they already are.

The other pictures are of Abrahm helping with stacking wood, and of our finished wood pile. We hope this wood will dry enough before heating season. We'll get a bit of insurance by buying some of Mom and Dad's excess firewood that is well-cured.

Alisa and Andy have been out here for the past week; they flew back to MN this afternoon. It was so good to have them here, though we were disappointed that they didn't get to participate in more yurt building. It was hard to see them go, as it made it very real that we are indeed in Maine, and they (and so many other people we love) are back in Minnesota.

I should get this posted before any computer meltdowns occur. Thanks for your comments - it's a fun way for us to keep in touch. We won't forget about individual emails (and calls and visits) too though!

Good night,

Leslie (and Ben, Abrahm, and Cooper)