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!

Great weather!

Hello everyone,

Well we have realized that this hasn't been updated in quite some time so here goes.

A lot has been happening around here in the last week and a half. We have the underground portion of power run to the yurt so we are getting closer and closer to having electricity on site. Up to this point we have been lucky enough to borrow Will's generator. It was quite a production with the excavator digging a very long trench and then going back and back filling with sand and then loam. It's great to have it done, and we're looking forward to the power company running some new lines down the hill to tie into our line.

On the yurt end of things we have continued to have delays related to missing pieces, but they are slowly getting resolved, and as you can see from the photos, things are moving along. We were able to rig up a platform on top of the staging that we had to put up the compression ring and the rafters which was great. It worked beautifully, and it saved me from having to stand on the staging and hold the ring while all the rafters were put in place. We decided after the initial rafters were in that we wanted to add a second set for snow load purposes. They are visible in the photos as well. They're the set that are connected to the initial set of rafters with cross pieces. The whole thing is much sturdier with that addition. Leslie's uncle John happened to arrive during the rafter fabrication and installation process which was quite fortunate given his carpentry skills. Always nice to have the additional help, and fitting the rafters was not the easiest task. We are very thankful for all of the help that we have received during this whole process.

Next came the insulation which we had to wait on for about a day after we realized that the window frames were assembled incorrectly. Sorry Alisa and Andy, but it wasn't our fault! The example frames were done backwards. This seemed to be a bit of a hurdle as they are part of the frame work of the yurt so we could not just take them out and fix them. It had to be done in place on piece at a time. We came through that unscathed, and were ready for insulation! The only problem insulation wise was that 4 of the sections of insulation were too short. This was remedied after a trip to local lumber yard. The installation turned out to be quite easy once we got going though by the end it felt like we had constructed a giant tanning booth. I think at this point we all look as though we just stepped off a cruise ship from the Caribbean. So we've been cooking ourselves in the solar oven for the last few days. It was now on to the wall canvas which of course was not all there either, but after much head scratching we made it work, and as of the end of today all the wall canvas is up! Hooray!!

So tomorrow it's on to the roof. Luckily we have enlisted a few other helpers for this part. The roof is comprised on three layers. The inner liner which is what we will see, the insulation (more tanning ahead), and the exterior roof vinyl which is very heavy. We'll see how it goes, and with any luck things will be closed in in the next couple of days.

Bear with me on the photo business. This thing is not the most intuitive. Sorry there are a few similar photos.

I've got to get to bed so I'll sign off for now.

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)

We're Mainers now!

We made it to Maine on Monday, August 6, after three days of driving from Minnesota. Both Ben's and my mom drove with us so that we had two drivers each for the moving truck and the car. Abrahm and Cooper (the dog) travelled well, but we're all glad to be here and give up the confinement of the vehicles. Our belongings are stored in various places; the biggest challenge is remembering what we've stored where.

We've been working on details for installing electric service, septic system, phone, etc. We also split 3 cords of firewood in the last 2 days. We're looking forward to putting up the yurt - we start tomorrow. We'll post photos of the process as it evolves.

I'm posting a photo of the land, taken last November. It gives a little bit of a sense of what the terrain looks like. Also, a photo to commemorate the moving truck, which we hope not to have to use again for a LONG time!

PS - the computer doesn't seem to want to upload photos at the moment, so I'll try again later.